Welcome to the world of Scaffy...
and her wierd and wonderful thoughts.. :)

Drupal 7 Release Party

Monday, January 10th, 2011

The Drupal 7 Release Party Johannesburg edition was held on the 7th of January 2011. Sponsored by eConsultant and held at their offices premises at the Dome, in Northgate, those who attended were treated to a great evening spread.

The rest of the world also celebrated this event with Drupal 7 release parties being held across the world – www.drupal7releaseparty.org. - with a decent number of parties happening in Africa itself :)

In preparation

With the actual worldwide release happening on wednesday 5 January 2011, the build up to the event and the release party was a special one. Drupal supporters and users were encouraged to Blue themselves (http://d7blue.me/), and use these images on the social media profiles, including Twitter, and Facebook.

Here is my blue picture:

Blue for Drupal 7

The actual  release party

The Drupal 7 Release Party, had a great turnout and those who attended were treated to a spread of chip and dip to begin with, champagne and sherry shots, beer and ciders, and two servings of pizza; and not just any pizza, bul Calcachinos ;)

We also had the privilage of  having our own DJ at the event. Big ups to DJ Caz for some great mixes!

Changes in Drupal 7

As part of the release party, we watched an intoduction to Drupal 7 video (twice) and were then given a short presentation by two of South Africa’s Drupal custodians George from Springfisher and Anton from Telamenta.

George discussed and demonstrated 21 features of Drupal 7. Some of these features are listed below:

  • Easier installation – including command line install option
  • The use of overlays for the admin section
  • The admininstration interface is built in; the shortcut bar can also be optimized
  • Permissions improved
  • New hooks available
  • More secure passwords
  • Built in image handling

Anton then also gave his view of the progession of Drupal to this point and its open source origins.

After the presentation we were all included in a few group photos, one of which will be official Drupal 7 release party photo for the Drupal group – hopefully!

A video taken of the event and the people at the event can be viewed here: http://youtu.be/0Ln05tHoYqc?a

Get started with Drupal 7

10.01.2011 Thoughts 1 Comment

Response to the Challenge by WordPress to Post Daily Blog Posts

Tuesday, January 4th, 2011

On the very first day of 2011, WordPress issued a challenge to the users of its blogging platform to make an effort to write and publish a post daily (or weekly).

Users wishing to participate in this challenge needs to include the appropriate post tag with each blog post: postaday2011 or postaweek2011.

For the blog post on Mashable regarding this challenge, click here >>

For me blogging daily is is a “mission impossible type challenge” and for more than one reason; even blogging once a week, consistently, for the entire duration of 2011, might be also be slightly unattainable.

For one I feel I don’t have enough subject matter to write even weekly posts, as this would constitute 52 posts for the year.

Thankfully WordPress have launched a guide with ideas, suggestions and blogging motivation as a means of assistance to those of us who are writing for their own personal blogs called The Daily Post.

Secondly, my  posts tend to be long winded, so I would need to change my style of writing or learn to write using a different structure.

Then there is the time issue. I do not have enough time to set aside dedicated hours for blogging, especially now as I am moving into a different direction career wise and that I am currently getting into the serious business of breaking in my filly (www.mysaddlefund.co.za). Plus I love my sleep to much.

After all is said and done, and the excuses are so paper thin, they blew away with the wind (courtesy of Eminem), it all comes down dedication. I can either decide to accept the challenge or not. Part of my goal set for 2011 was to blog more often, I’m just not sure this structured deadline type format is going to work for me, self-disciplined or not.

Time will tell. To those who decide to accept the WordPress challenge, all I can say is Good Luck!

04.01.2011 Thoughts 7 Comments

Inner Peace

Sunday, November 21st, 2010

If you can start the day without caffeine,
If you can always be cheerful, ignoring aches and pains,
If you can resist complaining and boring people with your troubles
If you can eat the same food every day and be grateful for it,
If you can understand when your loved ones are too busy to give you any time,
If you can take criticism and blame without resentment
If you can conquer tension without medical help,
If you can relax without liquor,
If you can sleep without the aid of drugs,
…Then You Are  Probably The Family Dog!

21.11.2010 Thoughts No Comments

Scuba Diving with Mark at Bass Lake

Monday, November 15th, 2010

Yesterday Mark (@markusher) and I (@designbyscaffy) went Scuba Diving at Bass Lake – a diving venue close to Henly-on-Klip. @zk was also there doing her qualifying dives with a NAUI dive school.

We had a whole lot of demo gear to try out, although I did have my own fins, mask, booties and for the first time my own ScubaPro wetsuit!!

Mark has been working at Prest-ige Dive School for the past two months as a sales consultant, and thus having already built a relationship with the suppliers, namely ScubaPro and AquaLung, was able to secure demo BC’s and regulators from both.

Unfortunately the Medium AquaLung Pearl BC was too big for me and I ended up diving with a SM ScubaPro LadyHawk for both dives. Not that I was complaining. It’s a nice BC.. The only thing I didn’t like about it was the fact that is makes use of Back Inflation and it makes swimming and floating in the surface slightly challenging. In the water, however, as comfortable as ever, and very little drag :)

The regulator set I used was the Micron from AquaLung – for both dives. Very light, small, comfortable – no jaw fatigue – plus it was pink and white :)

Mark and I did two dives, together, on our own. The first one we dived to the Office, Helicopter and sub portal. The visability was terrible and I freaked out on two occasions – which has never happened on any of my dives before. I think it was the pre-dive briefing we had, where Mark told me what I would need to do if something happened to him in the water. I would have to get him to the surface and screen for help; call DAN; call his dad; get him on oxygen straight away; give emergency personnel his dive computer etc etc.

It was a lot to remember and then thinking about that made me suddenly acutely aware of something going wrong. So much so that I started hyperventilating under water and signaled to Mark I wanted to go up – LIKE NOW! Once we got to the surface, I calmed down, enough to try again – only for the same thing to happen; this time though I was worried about breathing in through my nose and getting water in my lungs. I was at the point where I couldn’t take it anymore and signaled to Mark that I needed to get out of there. He managed to calm me down enough to complete the dive.

The second time around was much, much better! After getting an air-fill, a powerade and a chocolate chip muffin, we got back in for our second dive. We swam along the ledge – having started off on the grid – and visability was good, I could see the wall and I could see Mark, and I just finned about and actually enjoyed the diving; my breathing was better and my buoyancy was spot on :)

Now that Mark is back in the industry we plan to do a lot more diving; and the more I do it the more comfortable I will become in the water!

Over and out!

PS. Mark dived with the AquaLung Balance BC and Legend Regulator on Dive 1 and the ScubaPro NightHawk BC and  MK25 A700 regulator second dive.. Guess which set he preferred? :)

15.11.2010 Thoughts 3 Comments

For Granny…

Sunday, November 7th, 2010

It was my recently passed granny’s birthday on Saturday 6th November. She would have been 95. I got a reminder on my cellphone for it and it made me instantly sad knowing that we would have been celebrating her birthday with her; my parents, my sister and I.

I browsed through a folder of photos I had collected of granny for her funeral; I added one I had taken of her when she was staying in Durban with my aunt, below :)

granny-small

This is the poem I read out at the funeral:

After Glow

I’d like the memory of me

To be a happy one.

Of smiles when life is done.

I’d like to leave an echo

Whispering softly down the ways,

Of happy times and laughing times

And bright and sunny days

I’d like the tears

Of those who grieve,

To dry before the sun

Of happy memories that I leave

When life is done.

Carol Mirkel

Granny, I miss you but wherever you are, I hope you are happy and free :)

Give a hug to grandpa for me and tell him I miss him too…

07.11.2010 Thoughts No Comments

Tip of the Day

Friday, October 29th, 2010

My latest tip of the day -  for feeling and staying younger – as quoted from www.all4women.co.za

1. Eat at least 20 grams of fat a day! No, not the deep fried chips variety, but Omega 3 fats, like avos, pumpkin seeds, almonds etc.

2. Get into the country whenever you can. The air pollution you find in the cities and surrounding factories causes ageing.

3. Avoid the direct sunlight - another ager plus a cancer risk.

4. Meditate. It is a proven fact that subjects who can do transcendental meditation live up to twelve years longer than others.

5. Get a pet. They reduce stress and can give you a lifetime of love and happiness.

6. Laugh. It really IS the best medicine. Laughing helps you relax, lowers your risk of heart disease, type two diabetes, strokes, cancer, arthritis and depression.

Go out there and FEEL beautiful, and you will be!

29.10.2010 Thoughts No Comments

Good Die Young – RIP Lerato

Wednesday, October 13th, 2010

Good die young – a song by D12 that holds true for Lera. Lerato “Lera” Tshabalala was killed in a tragic motorbike accident on Saturday morning (9 October 2010). Motorbikes were his passion, his Skype status read “cars move your body, motorbikes move your soul”. He died doing what he loved.

I found out about his passing from a phone call with my boss on Monday. I was in shock and have been in mourning since. Lerato was too young to die. I found him inspirational in a way he will now never know – for his passion for life.

Lerato was a multi media designer as part of the team at our place of work – Talooma (previously known as JD Consulting). He was an incredibly talented designer. This man was full of spunk and tenacity, was always smiling and was incredibly likeable and easy to get on with – which would account for his many friends.

Today was Lerato’s funeral in Jo’burg. I wish I could have been there. Although I didnt know Lerato as well as I wanted to, its important to attend the funeral – it respectful. Mark attended on my behalf and passed on my messages of condolence to the family. He also bought yellow roses (at my request) to throw onto the coffin and shared them with those from Talooma who had also attended.

I wasnt there but I know it was incredibly sad and many could not keep it together. I started crying again when Mark told me about one of Lera’s friends revved and bounced his bike as the coffin was being lowered into the grave and how emotions flowed thereafter. What a powerful send off…

I had my own quite farewell today. I walked down to a beautiful spot on thebeach inbetween the rocks and wrote his name in the sand. I watched it slowly being washed away but the waves. It was my little way of saying goodbye.

Lerato, judging by the number of people at your funeral and the messages left on your Facebook status, you were a legend :) and you will be sorely missed.

Musa (friend and collegue) summed it up so well with his Facebook status: I heard him singing “Dear mamma don’t cry, your baby boy’s doing good, tell the homies I’m in heaven an they ain’t got hoods” – Thugz Mansion

Read his online Talooma profile here >>

13.10.2010 Thoughts No Comments

27 Dinner with Seacom and Samsung

Tuesday, September 28th, 2010

Last night I attended another great 27Dinner event coordinated by the people at Cerebra – @mikestopforth and @melodymaker. It was held at the Metro Bar and Cafe in Benmore Gardens (a venue used once before).  I personally like this venue as there is adequate seating for everyone and allows for great networking! As @handyman_can and I got there early we chose to sit at the end of a big table in the hope of meeting some interesting people, which we did :)

I met for the first time @Cynicalgrinch and @PaulBedford (and some other tweeple I cant quite remember) who sat with us for the remainder of the evening! We shared a few laughs, tweets, drinks and more drinks.

Seacom kindly sponsored the food (starters and the main course) as well as the first round of drinks! The starter was a choice between chicken livers and rockfort salad. The main meal was a choice between beef schnitzel, chicken schnitzel (both served with chips and veggies) and a vegetarian bake! Way too much food for me but I was kindly allowed a doggy bag :)

The first guest speaker was Aidan Baigre, Head of Development at Seacom, who had a brief introduction and then a conducive Q&A session – all in less than 10 minutes!

The next speaker was Brett Loubser from Samsung who also spoke briefly about the Samsung devices compared to Apple, and also conducted a successful Q&A session. He also gave away a Samsung Galaxy smartphone as part of a draw that everyone there was entered into (by way of a number discreetly added to everyone’s twitter tag label – lol).

We were then given the opportunity to play with the new Samsung Galaxy Tab (the first group of people in South Africa it seems), as a few demo models were passed around the restaurant! I personally thought it was great – with features such as a 5 MP camera, HD video, android browser, eReading and GPS navigation to name but a few features, whats not to like about it.. Now all we need to wait for is the price!

Other people I have the privilege of conversing with included: @ryangibson, @chrisdawson, @zk, @CraigN and @walterpike :)

All in all I had a great time! Looking forward to the next one!

28.09.2010 Thoughts No Comments

Winning tickets to watch a musical :)

Monday, September 20th, 2010

I very rarely win competitions.. of any kind.. It might have to do with the fact that I do not really enter many, which is also accounted for in the low winning to entering ratio :)

Never the less, I did win something recently, and yes it was by retweeting and no it wasnt spam :)

Courtesy of the Joburg Theatre (previously known as the Civic theatre), also known as @joburgtheatre on twitter, I won two tickets to the Jock of the Bushveld musical for Saturday night! 

 

Our Experience

The show we were to attend took place on Saturday night (18 September 2010) at 20h00. Mark and I decided to dress up, although this is no longer the standard with regards to attending theatre performances. Just because we could :)

We got a bit lost but still arrived with plently of time to spare and for Mark to have a smoke.. We collected our “prize” at reception and made our way upstairs for a drink. At the sound of the bell (alerting all patrons to proceed to their seats), we made our way to our seats.. Having bought some snacks to devour during the performance.

Our seats: J27 and 28; middle section; on the aisle!

The production, sponsored by Absa was amazing! The stage set was true to form, the costumes were cleverly designed and the performance highly enjoyable :)  I personally appreciated the impromptu comedy sprinkled thoughout. The music and singing, I found to be mesmerising/ with the hippo and chicken specifically outstanding in the voice department.

 The show itself was two hourrs with a 20 minute interval, enough time for a toilet break and in our case some carrot cake :)

 About the Show

This uniquely South African production of Jock of the Bushveld, is based on a true story about a man and his dog, and has been running at the Mandela at Joburg Theatre since the 4th of September 2010.

 The cast of hand picked performers include: Judy Page (Vulture Cherie), Michelle Botha (Chicken), Matt Stern (Leopard), David James (Vulture Boet), Lawrence Joffe (Vulture Bob). Multiple roles were played by Siyasanga Papu, Joel Zuma, Ruth Brown, Mark Richardson, Norman Anstey, Adam Pelkowitz, Pulane Rampoana and Lyall Ramsdon. Leads were Vaughan Gardiner as Jock and Cobus Venter as Percy.

Jock of the Bushveld, The Musical, is on at the Mandela at Joburg Theatre until September 26. Ticket prices range from R145 to R345 with performances from Wednesdays to Saturdays at 8pm, Saturdays at 3pm and Sundays at 2pm. Tickets can be booked at Computicket on                   083 915 8000            or www.computicket.com

20.09.2010 Thoughts 3 Comments

The Yellow Launch

Wednesday, September 15th, 2010

It has been a week since the launch of our new company name and brand.. TheYellow Launch was the process that lead up the actual event to which a number of our valued clients where invited and to which the only prelude was an event and the colour yellow mentioned all over the place..

8 September 2010 marked the launch of a new online digital agency which has been around for over 10 years in the web industry under a number of different company names namely: Africa Outdoors, Cybertrenz and most recently, JD Internet Consulting.

The launch had a three main goals: one, to introduce the new brand and name and colours, and two, to introduce all of the individual members of the team to those who attended, to put a name to a face as most correspondance is done “online” :) Last but not least, to introduce the new tools of the trade, as it were, as developed by the star of the company and the SEO department, Nick Duncan, known as TOM. Jonathan Housten, the online marketing manager, introduced the various components of this new online marketing tool, which is set to benefit and grow the SEO/SMO client base and revenue, and to improve the service offering of this new Digital Marketing Agency.

The main components of this sytem are as follows:

  • Enquiry Control – manages all the enquiries sent through the clients’ website
  • Copy Centre – enables clients to liase with our talented copywriter about events and news within the company
  • Rank Checker – shows up to date keyword rankings
  • Scatalyst – allows clients to send though updates for posting on any of the social media platforms

More tools and improvements on the above are in the pipeline… Watch this space: tools.talooma.com/tom

The rest of the lauch consisted of mingling, platters, drinks and yellow cupcakes..

A lot of work went into this launch, the new website, new CI, new developments and tools.. All resulting in a well planned and successful event as many of our clients concurred..

So the moral of this whole story:

JD Internet Consulting is now and forever more to be known as “talooma” with a small “t”.. and its just the beginning for this young dynamic crazy team.. :)

talooma

15.09.2010 Thoughts 1 Comment

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