After more research on trip advisor and speaking to several travel agents we’ve decided to go with one of the best resorts in Zanzibar called “Le Gemma del’Est“… and although not a five star resort as we know it, it’s beach alone sold me on going.

The final quote from the travel agent was slightly more than what we’ve budgeted for and considering that this was an “all inclusive resort” it made sense to pay that extra bit. So the next day (after being hassled by the travel agent to secure the flights) I paid the deposit from my savings account with the notion to pay the remaining amount by the end of October.

Two weeks into October (more-or-less the same time of my birthday) we received a revised quote from the travel agent that indicated that the balance owed increased R12 000 due to the Rand Dollar exchange – this meant that we either loose the deposit of R 26 000 if we cancelled or pay the remaining amount of R 38 000.

Some sleepless nights and more research followed – do we cut our losses and try and go somewhere else for the R 38 000 or do we bite the bullet and just go… considering that doing anything local is a non-negotiable we decided to bite the bullet and go.

Lesson learned: book your own travel via the internet and make the full payment upfront.

So back to reality… is it just me or is Amazon.com still the place to go to get good books at a decent price? For the last two months I’ve created a shopping list of creative books that I’ve stumbled on at my local Exclusive Books store and last night I added all of them to my Amazon wish list.

After some quick calculations I’ve decide to purchase 7 new books to add to my design library which came to R1900 (including shipping) compared to Exclusive’s R3175… even with my DiscoveryCard discount of 30% it still worked out to R2222 which is R322 more than Amazon.com… so for those of you without a DiscoveryCard it’s a whopping R1275 difference between local and international shipping.

Overall the local pricing of design books is not relative to the income of designers in general… it’s just too damn pricy!

No, I don’t have anything against coda.co.za/ cherryflava/ ideate/ tertia/ chumpstyle/ 2oceansvibe/ peas on toast/ mark forrester / aquila online/ kyknoord or jo’blog… but this year I will be routing for some new guys.

If the new logo is anything to go by… this will be a good year in the SA blog land.

UPDATE: Shane Dryden (from Live Alchemy fam) is the designer behind said logo - nice one Shane!!

Now my initial thought was that as a mobile phone brand LG isn’t my first, second or even third choice – but reading several reviews and comments about this new smart phone on the block, and then playing around with it at the new LG store at Vodaworld I’ve immediately reserved my very own LG Viewty!

Now I can go into detail about the specs etc… but read the reviews and see why the LG KU 990 is called the “iPhone killer” and “what the iPhone should have been”.

No, it’s not what you think. I’m not the life of the party (anymore) but let me introduce the little critter that has been stealing most of my time (and affection) not to mention the last bit of energy I have left over in a day.

I’ve named her Becks – she’s 14 weeks old and loves to play, chew and go for long walks. She goes to puppy school twice a week and every other week she has a personal trainer to teach her paw, hi-five and hopefully how not to eat my furniture.

So if you thought I forgot you – and those friends who didn’t get any well wishes or Christmas cards from me. Please don’t think I’m ignoring you, I’ve just had a lot more things on my plate than the time to do them in.

I’m still here…

It turned out that the “dream holiday” she was planning was at the end of the day a logistical nightmare. Looking at the website you would never have guessed that the resort in question was nothing more than a construction site – with half built chalets, no pool nor restaurant and no, not even the bare essentials like plumbing!

Have a look at her you tube videos and don’t get caught with so-called “opening specials”.

Why do mobile phones have this nasty habit to start acting up just before its 2 year warranty runs out? The same thing happened with my Sony Ericsson P900 and others before that, so I think it’s safe to say that it’s not manufacturer specific.

Now that my Motorola is in for repairs and seeing that my upgrade is due end November, I’m browsing for a suitable replacement… something sexy, with built in 3G, Bluetooth 2.0 and a good battery life.

Any ideas?

Take Justin Timberlake for instance – not only has he proved himself as being a breakthrough solo artist, but he’s been setting trends in music video direction too. His latest offering “Love Stoned” has already been named as a tough contender for MTV Video of the year… and you can see why.

I’ve found this little piece of treasure on YouTube and it’s been edited beautifully – I think this is a great example of user generated perspective.

One of my co-workers love all things ‘fitness’, so much so that she subscribes to international issues of various gym and fitness magz, now there’s nothing wrong with that… but she seems to have an obsession with female fitness figures. So much so that she spends most of her free time in the gym - aspiring to look like one of the said cover models.

I know what you’re thinking… everyone loves to be toned, but have a look at this image and tell me if you think this is the epitome of hotness…

Personally I don’t like it – not at all; in fact if you had to cover the models head, her body looks even more masculine than that of your average Joe’s. Okay so my personal opinion aside… what do you think?

After 3 months since purchasing my ticket I finally had the chance to go see The Lion King at the Theatro in Montecasio on Saturday evening. Various sources will confirm that it’s the best show currently on stage – with fantastic acoustics, amazing costumes, brilliant ‘puppetry’ all leaving you with goose bumps from start-to-finish. I was truly captivated by the show and would encourage each and everyone to go and see it!

Sunday brought on a very different show – P!nk live at the Coca-Cola Dome. Now, I must admit that initially I wasn’t too keen to go… seeing as the majority of tickets on sale were “floor standing”, and knowing how cramped golden circle normally get – I just wasn’t “feeling it”.

Then a couple of my colleagues decided to go as a group, and finally talked me in to going. Admittedly I do like P!nk and yes, I own some of her CD’s so you can say that they twisted my rubber arm.

After my experience with a 5fm hosted concert earlier this year, I was expecting another poorly organised event… but I must confess that it was pretty good! The support act “Cassette” got the party starting, P!nk followed with a mix of new and not-so-new hits, and she definitely had the crowd going.

The Dome was rocking and another brilliant evening came to a close. The only thing I can falter (and not with P!nk specifically) is that international acts does a lot more to entertain a crowd overseas with pyrotechnics and such… where as we just get the artist on stage… singing. I kinda feel cheated – wont you?

Related:

• Pink rocked and so did Cassette!
• Pink Rocks!