Too far North

We're doing a little touring over the next few months.
Now travelling on a South African Passport is far from easy. Infact, its near impossible if you're going anywhere that requires a Visa. Which is just about, Everywhere!
Its a real pain in the ass.

So I was at the French Embassy applying for a Multi-Entry Shengen Visa.
The Visa section is a tiny waiting room (Looks like a converted double garage), with 9 seats in a U-shaped layout, and a bank-teller style window where you get grilled about your intentions.

They only allow 10 applicants in at a time (the rest get to stand out in the street until someone leaves). But today, each applicant had a child in tow (except me), so it was a little crowded in there.

Jeanine finally raised the topic of a haircut. I needed one.
She claimed I looked like a Lego man...

We moved to a new Apartment.
And thats just one of the many excuses I've come up with for the lack of updates :)

I've learned a few things about being a man, and being handy around the house.

First, you need tools:
1) Leatherman
2) Zippo
3) Maglite

Every man should have these 3 items. No excuses.
The Leatherman, has everything you'll ever need. Think of it as a more robust Swiss Army Knife, with bigger pliers.
A Zippo... no explanation needed. Man make Fire!
A Maglite, not a little mini-maglite. A proper Maglite. At least a 3 D-Cell Maglite. Nice and heavy, great for attacking unwanted intruders, and useful if you find yourself in the dark.
And all 3 of them have a lifetime warranty.

I rented a few movies from the local Xtra-vision for the weekend.

So we get all cozy on the couch, with a pizza and some popcorn.
First, we get the 2 minutes of Disclaimers and Copyright notices, in 23 different languages. And then a notice from the FBI, in a few hundred other languages.
Then we’re forced to sit through a “Downloading-a-movie-is-like-stealing-a-car” clip, which you cannot fast forward, skip or even pause.

Ever wondered just how close you are to getting your pizza free for taking too long to get delivered?

Now Domino's lets you view your Order progress online, with their Pizza Tracker

I think this may be overkill though.

A few select quotes, from USA Today:
"I don't know how many consumers are twisting and turning over the state of their delivery pizza."

They said so!

68%Is Your Head Full Of Useless Internet Trivia? Quiz courtesy of Appliance Parts from Easy Appliance Parts

Sunshine!
We'd waited so long, and now we were finally in the land of the sun.

And it was hot.
A little too hot infact. I wasn't use to it anymore, I was suffering.

Then there was the drive back home, which was an experience.

Engadget has an article on the Force Dynamics 401 simulator chair.
This thing is dangerous. I’d be afraid of crashing, because it’ll hurt too much.
Now thats realism..

Read on for the video

As promised... Tales from the Holiday

We flew with Air France this time around. Dublin to Johannesburg, via Paris.
None of this 2-stop nonsense (Last time, we did Johannesburg to Windhoek to London to Dublin).

The Flights were great, the service was good, and the onboard movies were good.
I don't think they make those seats for people with shoulders though.

And with the new year, a load of new random links.

The ultimate trainset for big boys

Things you should let your kids do

Go camping much? You might want one of these

This hurts my brain..

An FM Radio modem (9600bps) from an RF-modulator

Cyborg key for everything?

Which one do you think would be more effective?