Journal of life

I bought wifeberry a Journal today. Something that she can write her thoughts and concerns and worries in. Actually not sure if she's into expressing herself like that, but she'll definately use it for keeping track of what happened. Also, it'll be a great place to put the scan print outs and photos and stuff.
Amazingly enough, there is no such thing as a Preggie Journal on the market. Maybe I should put one together and market it along with some of the other baby things we've thought of, such as babycakes.
This baby thing is a real money spinner. The little bundle's of love and joy (and poo and noise) cost a fortune. You go out and buy some expensive outfit which lasts less than a month before baby is too big. If you buy it too big, then baby is in danger of choking on the ridiculous looking sack that is supposed to be a baby grow.
Thinking about names already, which can be alot of fun. I think I will suggest Egbert... that's get wifeberry going. Altho she'll see straight through my humour. Seriously tho, I am leaning towards Micheal or Kate... We'll see how the big debate goes.
Apparenlty the mom outlaw likes to name other ppl's kids, so no doubt she will have something to say. Lets hope it doesn't end in tears.... or Cecil...

Winning Weekend

Clearly I am not even going to mention the Boks today, due to them being losers. Don't get me wrong, I am patriotic as ever, but dissillusioned by poor performance and the attempted spindoctoring by management.
No, I am going to talk Hockey instead. This weekend we were up against the top of the log, unbeaten and much younger WPCC A team on astro. We expected to be beaten, altho after our performancelast week vs the Stellies youngsters, we new we would at least push them until our legs ran out of steam. Well, it was 45 degrees in the shade, and felt hotter. This time we had a full team and 2 on the bench, much needed I might add. The Black Pearl, Gong's weapon of choice, was in scintillating form, and had the opposition under it's spell from the get go. He waved magically around the defenders and left them wondering just what the hell had happened. The poor keeper got lobbed beautifully, got a wounded rabbit through the legs and got completely whipped by two incredibly struck shorties. 4 goals to Gong and one the big A, which came from an amazing build up up the right. 5 - 0. Now thats a beating!
Our GC side needed a win with bonus points to seal the GC cup for the first time in our 69 year history. And boy did they get it. They KLAPPED WPCC 8 - 2!!! How incredible is that. Hollies is now arranging for a tour to the Champ of Champs competition, which I suspect will be a rip-roaring party of a tour, with the Pinelands Manne supporting in full force.

The Spud is now 8 1/2 weeks and causing trouble already. Told my sister on Friday night and her response was wonderful. She is so excited for us and happy and all that.

Anyway, the weekend was fantastic and I am all ready for a great week.

Wow, what a day

It's amazing how you can have such highs which can turn into such lows so quickly. Today we went for our second scan. Spud is now 18mm long and 8 weeks 2 days old! Got pics of the funny looking little alien, saw the heart beat and the arm and leg stumps (hope they grow), and the head and the brain sac thing. WOW. It is just incredible. I am so happy and excited, but yet still pretty nervous. It is so difficult not yet being able to celebrate properly. I haven;t even told my sister yet.
Wifeberry is still really nervous, and adding to the nausea, tiredness and light headedness, it is tough for her to get real excited too. Anyway, we will soon be celebrating her huge stomach!!

So, after the scan, I cruise in to work and am confronted with the wonderful task of telling all my staff that they are not receiving the 2nd part of their bonuses. They just don;t understand. It is a business decision made by the shareholders. The group and the company didn't perform as well as expected, so no 2nd part of the bonus.
Doesn fuckin help the morale now does it? Crazy sh!t. I dunno how I am going to get these guys and girls to keep going to bat for me rather than to give me bat. Makes my life extremely difficult.

So, fomr the high of the scan down to the low of the dissapointment. What a day. Lets hope the rest of it is better.

Unbelievable stuff

Watched our first team play vs UCT last night.  Unbe-friggin-lievable!  UCT have traditionally been one of the strongest sides around, and Pinelands has always been a few steps behind them and WPCC.  Not any more. 

8-1

Thats not a win, thats an ASS-WHUPPIN'!  These guy are incredible.  And its funny to think that 4 of the PHC guys and 2 of the UCT guys were once lighties in my side getting pushed around and told what to do by Snake, Tuckbox and MK!

 

Woke up at 5am this morning cos Spud decided to push on wifeberry's bladder.  Lay in bed thinking about work... see, I am a SuperHero...  I noticed that one of my guys was accessing and FTP site of the company I know he is setting up on the side.  Now I can't stop his new business venture, cos it isn't in competition with us, but you can't do that sort of thing in the office.  What about work ethic?  Anyway, I decided to confront it head on cos that normally gets a good response.  Basically he said he wasn't using company time and that I had just happened to see him testing the company's new Proxy...  I believe him, but I ain't lettin' my guard down.

 

The other feeling I had this morning was that of an over-hang.  Too many beers at hockey last night.  Did selections, had a few pots, then watched the 1sts and had a few more.  Had to mix my drinks too cos the UCT bar ran out of beer.  So, Amstel, Windhoek, Castle and finally Black Label...  I reckon thats what's made my stomach upset... 

 

Right, so much for shitting ppl out for reading private email and doing other work during company time... Maybe I should listen to my own advice.

 

Superhero Syndrome

Read about a condition called Superhero Syndrome today.  I think I may have it...  Basically what it boils down to is that as a Superhero, you try to do absolutely everything, and perfectly everytime.  The result is stress and eventual burnout!

Well, I am stressed.  I work my arse off for a company that is owned by a bunch who couldn't care less about their staff.  Oh to work for someone with Sir Richard's mentality, where he actually believes in and cares about his staff.

Also, I take on way too much.   Some of the symptoms...

I am late for appointments.

I hand in work at the last minute.
I forget to do things I said I would.

I struggle to delegate.

I have a thousand things on the go at all times.

My to do list is endless.

The result of Superhero Syndrome are not so super...

Disliking your job

Doing more but accomplishing less

Feeling trapped

Exhaustion

Resentment

Sky high stress levels

Loss of confidence in your ability

Little or no time for friends and family

 

So, what is the cure??  I actually dunno, but I need to do something.

They talk about "Spreading the load", "Working smarter, not harder", "Prioritising and staying focussed"...

 

I think its all easier said than done.  You keep fighting every day and just get used to it.  The problem is that the stress builds up and eventually something small sets you off and then BANG!  Remember that song, "Tell me why I don't like Mondays?" by Bob Geldof and the Boomtown Rats?  That was about a college girl who killed abunch of kids and teachers.  When asked why she did it, she said, "I don't like Mondays..."

Talk about going postal...

 

Okay, I'm not that bad just yet, but I need to do something about this.

 

Spud is now 7 weeks and 5 days old...

 

Arm Wrestling vs Anger Management

So, the weekend was little crazy. I survived, altho slightly battered and bruised. After a quiet Friday evening of take-away pizza's from Da Vinci's, I had a 10am Vid Conf at work with head office. Useless waste of time, repeating a bunch of info I had sent through to them 3 times during the week. Damn annoying. The red tape just seems to wind itself tighter and tighter.

Then it was off to Stellenbosch to play hockey vs the students on their new Astro. We lost 3-2, but put up a brave fight.
There are a few factors one needs to take into consideration.
- our youngest player is 30yrs old (Tuckbox)
- I am our second youngest at 31 (Snake)
- they probably have some players who aren't even 20 yet
- they grew up playing on astro
- they had 15 players!!!
- Pops (oldest but one of our better players) was sick so we didn't have ANY reserves
- between us we've been on average to 0.62 practises this season! (only this high cos Hollies, Tuckbox and me went to 1 each!)
So, 3-2 wasn't such a bad result, and in fact, we could have beaten them if I hadn't missed 2 open chances. I did score one beautiful deflection goal.
The rest of the team felt there was something suspect in my misses, cos as captain I have to have a down down for every consecutive win. So, 2 wins in a row means 2 down downs in a row. 3 means 3 in a row. So After Thursday nights walk-over win, I owed them 3 in a row!! Puts one in an interesting frame of mind for the evening ahead...
So, by 9pm I was hammered and arm wrestling for drinks from behind our bar. I remain unbeaten with my right hand, but finally succumbed to a lefty, leaving my shoulder in need of an operation.
Unfortunately the agression remained even after the arm-wrestling and I ended up almost beating up a big 6"5 130kg French twat who had tried to climb into my car and sat on my darling wife (and Spud).
Sunday, other than the bergie leaving his blanket behind in my mouth, was lovely. Went to River Cafe for lunch and told the folks about Spud. Dad cried, mom was speechless (not due to wine this time) and eventually started talking about the cows in the field... (I think she is crazy).
Watched Meet the Fockers, which is such a cringe movie I struggled to watch it and instead tried to hang a mirror in our new bathroom and all I succeeded in doing was getting angry, dropping the mirror (which luckily didn;t break), and then chipping paint of the newly painted wall.
I think I may need anger management counselling... or arm wrestle more!

frustration

Its amazing how frustrated one can get at work.

I am in a senior management at a SME in Cape Town, and unfortunately, the chaps that run this business don't have the same attitude that Richard Branson has regarding his staff.  They just don't seem to give a f*ck about them, whereas Sir Rich reckons they are one of the main the reasons for his success, and shows his appreciation.

I am attempting to motivate my staff and get the best out of them from an efficiency and productivity angle, but they look at me with this attitude of, if you ain't gonna help me, I ain't gonna help you...  I am so sick of this.

Why can't people have what I would term 'Work Ethic'?  You were hired to do the job, so get it done, no matter what the situation.  If you don't like it, then LEAVE! 

Sheesh. 

I am finally reading Richard Branson's autobiography, Losing my Virginity.  What a fantastic book.  Inspiring!  I have waited so many years to read it cos I thought it'd be one of those boring slogs, but not at all.  A humourous, interesting, exciting, awe-inspiring must-read.

 

Apparently Spud (see previous post) is now closing on 5mm.  Thats just crazy.  How can a tiny sploge like that cause so much trouble?  Imagine when it gets to it's teens!!

 

A mate of mine is running a surf-school and has some open spots all of a sudden... I wonder why people aren't wanting to get out there into the breakers at Muizenberg?

 

 

 

Spud

Today is one of the happiest of my life ever.  Went for our first scan and saw spud's little heartbeat!!!  Only a select few know we are pregnant, and it'll stay like that for a while.  Altho I do think I will eventually need to tell my folks.

The scan was amazing.  All this weird looking alien stuff, and then this little heart beating wildly, like a beacon to the womb.  Nothing looks human, and it's hard to picture what is what, but DrZ gave a good guided tour.  Eventually when I get the DVD, I will put up pics of the little spud.

Now this is real treasure!

So, now we have a new berry to add to the fandamily.  Spud-berry.

 

The family so far:

Elderberry - (dad)

Gooseberry - (as in mother goose, also mum-berry)

Strawberry - (sister just loves them)

Youngberry - (yes I am the youngest in the family also tberry cos it relates to surname)

Mrs tberry - (haven't really come up with a name for me wife...)

 

and now Spud-berry.

 

 

 

Berry the Hatchet

I have done absolutely eff-all work today, but instead have been setting up this blog over our incredibly slow internet connection.  What a pain in the ass. Having a problem with being able to add a subject for my posts when posting from the dashboard, but hey, I'm sure it'll miraculously sort itself out tomorrow or whenever it feels like it.

So I had a few drinks yesterday and woke up this morning with a pain akin to sticking a sharp stick-like thing into your eye!  It was kinda like my brain had shrivelled up and I had been head banging "Iron Maiden in the 80's" style.  So I had to get up at 3:26 and down a few pain-killers in order to try to sleep.  Damn headache kept waking me up like that friggin big Egytian goose that lives on the pine tree outside my house.  I hate that bird.

 

So, I've been readin alot of blogs recently and so far my favourite blogger out there is PEAS.  Her extreme wit and hilarious antics make for great reading. 

 

anyhoo, maybe I'll do some work now that the blog is set up.

This is a test

Are the titles actually going to appear?

OKay, here goes. New blog. This one less political and more "me talking crap" than "me talking crap about politics".