It’s all kicking off…

By 6000 | 6000 | September 9, 2011

Ah. The perils of supporting England in the Rugby World Cup.

Actually, there really aren’t very many of them. It isn’t that important to me: after all, this is just rugby, it’s not football. But there’s always someone that suggests that because I’ve moved to SA, I must support the Boks. Yeah right, because when you guys go over to do your two years of bar work in Wimbledon, you all instantly revert to your colonial roots and cheer on “the Poms”, don’t you?

Of course not.

You might not like to know it,
You may not think it’s right.
But within your sea of green and gold,
There’s some proudly red and white.

Please don’t take it personally,
Or refuse to shake me by the hand.
Cos while I live in Cape Town,
I’m born and bred England.

And yes, I have a soft spot,
For Johnny Smit and chums.
But I’ll be wearing red and white,
When the final comes.

Just to reiterate my stance here, once and for all:

I will happily support the Boks (or any South African national team)
unless they are playing England. 

I happen to think that that’s pretty fair, but if it still remains an issue for you, may Martin Johnson have mercy upon your soul.

4 Comments | Tagged , , , , | Posted in annoying people, emigration, in the news, sport, this is south africa, uk

Some good service

By 6000 | 6000 | September 8, 2011

Sadly, SA is not noted for its customer service. Or rather, it is, but not in a good way. That’s why when I have some good customer service, I like to tell people about it. And this week has been a revelation in what other countries would call “service”, but what we here in SA call “fantastic service”. These companies should be celebrated and rewarded. I will do the celebration bit here, you sort out the rewards bit by doing business with them.
Companies must adapt or die. As this unnatural form of natural selection proceeds, so poor customer service will die out like the dinosaurs (but without massive meteorite involvement) and good customer service will evolve to be the dominant species.

Hi-Q Wynberg
After my op, I wasn’t allowed to drive for a while. And when I did want to drive, my car wouldn’t start. Even trying  to jump-start it via its big sister didn’t work and I deduced that it needed a new battery. Cue a call to Andre (021) 761 7063, who did exactly what he said he would, exactly when he said he would and got me back on the road.
Nice.

Geysol
Having decided that we needed to save money on electricity (who doesn’t?), we turned to Geyerwise for assistance. They got one of their distributors – Leon from Geysol (076 036 0623) – to pop around and fit our unit for us. One prompt, fast, friendly, helpful and clean job later, we are saving money on our electricity. How much, I’m not sure yet, but I’ll let you know. I’m hoping that the unit will pay for itself inside three months. After that, it’s pure saving goodness.

ADM Home Appliances
With two kids and an annual Cape Town winter, a tumble dryer is a luxury necessity. And it’s only when it goes wrong that you realise how much you rely on it. Not so much yesterday, with its 29.5°C temperatures – more on days like today with its 29.5mm+ of rain.
Ours went badly wrong last Friday and so we called in Deen from ADM Home Appliances on (021) 797 2321. He came, he saw, he took the machine away, he gave us a quote, he fixed the machine and he brought the machine back. What’s not to like?

Pool Doctor
Ironically right next door to my friends at Hi-Q (see above), Pool Doctor (021) 761 9121 dropped in right when they said they would to sort out my leaking pump. Then they sorted out the leaking pump and my pool is looking ready for summer already. This seemed like such a good idea in yesterday’s sun. Today, I’m going to see how the overflow works.

So, if you need bits for your car, to save money on your electricity bill, an appliance repaired or your pool sorted out – please give these guys a call and do your bit to promote decent customer service.

8 Comments | Tagged , , , , , | Posted in 6000 recommends, economic issues, learning curve, positive thoughts, this is south africa

“BraaiDay” song set to take SA by storm

By 6000 | 6000 | September 7, 2011

Yeah, yeah – whatever. IMHO, this is amusing and deserves more exposure so I am exposing it.
Not that anyone outside the Republic will understand the nuances of the song, but so what?
Herewith “Derick Watts and the Sunday Blues” [sic] and their rendition of Braaiday:

 You need to a flashplayer enabled browser to view this YouTube video

Of course, “Braai Day” is actually held each year on Heritage Day: “a Public Holiday on which South Africans across the spectrum are encouraged to celebrate their cultural heritage and the diversity of their beliefs and traditions, in the wider context of a nation that belongs to all its people”, but those complaining that the celebration has been hijacked by Jan Scannell and Desmond Tutu should note that their “Braai4Heritage” project does have the backing of the National Heritage Council.

And let’s face it, without their call to braai, we’d all just sit at home and watch the footy on Heritage Day – or er… have a braai.

Leave a comment | Tagged , , , , | Posted in in the news, music, politics, positive thoughts, that's a bit mad, this is south africa

The Plan To End All Plans

By 6000 | 6000 | September 7, 2011

Or so they say…

Incoming from the 6000 miles… hosting company far, far away – via The Guru:

Domain: 6000.co.za
Server: walter
Plan: The Plan To End All Plans + Turbo Package

We are scheduling maintenance for your server (Walter) on September 8,
2011 between 4:00am and 7:00am CDT in order to switch from the
standard MySQL to Percona – an improved version of MySQL. The process
will take at least 15 minutes and involves shutting down MySQL,
installing Percona, and starting Percona. During this time, anything
that requires a MySQL database will be unavailable. Examples include
WordPress, Drupal, and similar script applications. Websites that do
not utilize a database, email, and ftp will remain online and
operational during this maintenance.

While this maintenance can sound worrisome, fear not! This change will
not negatively impact your websites! In fact, database performance
should actually increase! Additionally, Percona allows us to view
statistics on a user by user basis which in turn will allow us to
better identify those users abusing resources. This alone will help us
to provide a more stable server for everyone involved.

Basically, at first glance, it seems like it’s just a quick heads up about a bit of server downtime for an upgrade, but apparently there’s so much more to it than that. The “The Plan To End All Plans” label suggests that the installation of this Percona thing (which I think is a small town in central Italy), is the biggest, best and indeed, ultimate attempt to increases database performance, detect abusing users and provide greater server stability on “Walter”.

The upshot of naming it thus does, however, create some concerns. If I should find that my database performance is not increased to my satisfaction, then there’s actually no point in my hanging around and waiting for the next upgrade  - this, after all, is The Plan To End All Plans. There is no plan after this.
If I am dying, post-upgrade, for better server stability than I am getting – I should go elsewhere. After The Plan To End All Plans, there are, by definition, no further plans to improve my user experience.

Of course, on the flip side, should I be an abusing user (wittingly or not), and my user abuse is unidentified, even after The Plan To End All Plans, then I’m home free. After all, if the local Carabinieri are unable to detect my naughtiness now, they never will be. There are no further plans after The Plan To End All Plans. This is it – the final throw of the dice.

All in all, it seems to suggest that once we’re all done here, I will be stuck with a hosting package which will never be upgraded again; and while it may be fitted with a Turbo Package and a Tuscan conurbation, even when a new, improved Turbo Package and a town with more residents, charming houses and fantastic cuisine comes along, given that the final dice is to be thrown between 4:00am and 7:00am CDT September 8 2011, those things will pass me by.

Of course, in the meantime, before those improvements aren’t made, 6000 miles… will be the ultimate display of rocket-fuelled, Turbo Package-charged, database-refined wonder.
It will be The Blog To End All Blogs (again).

Although we might not be around for 15 minutes around lunchtime tomorrow.

You have been warned.

1 Comment | Tagged , | Posted in admin, learning curve, that's a bit mad

An interview with State Honourary B.Dolgion

By 6000 | 6000 | September 6, 2011

Interesting views from the man who “was considered to be a Pagan” in the UB Post today.

Of course, many of you will recognise that his profession is a journalist, but he is well known as musician in Mongolia. On the eve of his 60th birthday, he tells us about his family, his freedom and his music.

As the UB Post request: “Please enjoy our interview”.

Three band-tastic!

What are you working on lately?
I’m working on an album with the group “One Way” group, as the producer. The group members were selected in fourth place in the “Coke’n beat” music festival. I am also the producer of the group “UB Night”. They are currently recording songs for their album. Producers don’t have to work with only one group, so I work with this group as well. And I’m also cooperating with the band “Jonon” and they are working on the album filled with songs of the Beatles. Everybody knows the Beatles, so we are recording songs with a mixture of Mongolian national music. In that way, we can advertise our national music to the world.

Electro house came from rock (via Soyol erdene)

Do you listen to electro music?
This is similar to rock music, so I like listening to electro music. Rock and pop were developed in Mongolia at the same time as the Beatles. They were “Soyol erdene”, “Ineemseglel” and “Kharanga”. From this music genre, electro house originated.

Mongolia could have been Sweden

If you were criticise this society, what would you say about it?
When Mongolia was socialist, Sweden had a socialist society too. But look at Sweden now. How developed it is. Today, it doesn’t matter who will be the parliament member of its country in Sweden. Our development is lagging behind.

No-one likes Mongolian country song

Is there a type of music that you don’t enjoy?
Everybody has their own taste in music. I don’t like Mongolian country song, because it is usually created with low expenses.

Damn straight – unless it’s mixed with the Beatles in an electro house fusion.

Leave a comment | Tagged , , , , | Posted in in the news, music, positive thoughts, recommended site, that's a bit mad
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