Alasdair Craig

The week of Oct 29, 2018 – Nov 4, 2018

Not much to show for it…

Monday: Gym: super circuit. Clothes shopping at Canal Walk, only fairly successful.

Tuesday: Midday body corporate site meeting, and an after-hours trustee meeting too. Tiring day.

Wednesday: Visited mom, she is frantic and beside herself with worry and anxiousness over the medical fees and the uncertainty over payment.

Thursday: Poker with the boys. Unbelievably I came first for the night, and very narrowly came in second for the year.

Friday: Received some good news and reassurance about mom’s medical bills. Visited the new location of DVD Noveau – not very convenient. Looks like I’m going to be a trustee for where I live too. Watched War Dogs.

Saturday: Parkrun, lunch with mom at The Damhuis, Melkbosstrand. An afternoon snooze. Watched the end of Better Call Saul season 3, and  T2 Trainspotting.

Sunday: Grocery shopping, lunch with mom at Rhodes Memorial. Drive to Constantia Nek and along the Atlantic seaboard. Walk around Kenilworth. Wasted the evening on YouTube.

My work week was divided into: 20% bug fixing, 80% new development.

Podcasts listened to this week: .NET Rocks

The week of Oct 22, 2018 – Oct 28, 2018

Summer is coming…

Monday: Gym session. A little side project coding.

Tuesday: A lovely hot day. After work podcast walk around Tokai Park.

Wednesday: Gym session with Johnny. Grocery shopping, drop off with mom. TV watching.

Thursday: After work beers with Greig at Toad in the Road. Good catching up with him again. Constantia Village Pick n Pay has a good hot meals section.

Friday: Wasted the evening watching TV.

Saturday: Rondebosch Common parkrun. I mostly ran it this time instead of walking it, and got a blister as a result. A little DIY painting my garage doorframe upright.

Sunday: Put  a top coat of paint on the garage door frame. Lunch with mom at the Company Gardens. Binge watched about 6 episodes of Better Call Saul season 3. Formula 1 watching.

My work week was divided into: 50% bug fixing; 40% video recording; 10% build master duties.

Podcasts listened to this week: NY Times Book Review; Inside Line F1; TED Radio Hour; Hanselminutes; BBC Books & Authors (x2); NPR What It Takes.

The week of Oct 15, 2018 – Oct 21, 2018

Mostly all good…

Monday: Slept well. Gym: squash with Dawie. Some body corporate work. Wasted the evening watching YouTube, worse than usual. I’m in a slump.

Tuesday: Slept well again, two nights in a row! Body corporate work. Watched more of the Netflix Civil War documentary. Fell asleep halfway through.

Wednesday: Grocery shopping. Researching Qt Quick, have an idea for an app.

Thursday: Podcast walk around Tokai Park. Quiz night at Col’cachio, Steenberg, another LCW charity event. I think I prefer the scout hall version.

Friday: Feeling good at work. Approaching the next period of new development. Prefer that to testing. Lazy evening.

Saturday: Rondebosch Common parkrun. Tires rotated. Haircut. Lunch with mom at Ocean Basket, Canal Walk. Grocery shopping. Lazy evening. Watched Walking Dead episode on DStv now.

Sunday: Walked around Tokai Park. Gym. Cooked oldstyle hamburgers for mom and I. Went to the Labia to see A Star is Born. Not bad.

My work week was divided into: 20% bug fixing; 40% new work; 20% testing; 20% build master;

Podcasts listened to this week: CppCast; Code Newbies; BBC Open Book; Making It;

The week of Oct 8, 2018 – Oct 14, 2018

A decent amount of exercise this week (5 of 7 days) …

Monday: Gym session. Admin. Installed Android Studio to revisit an old project of mine to put on my new phone. Found a backup of the .apk and installed that instead. Uninstalled Android Studio. Reading.

Tuesday: Walked around Harfield Village. Reading.

Wednesday: Gym session with Johnny. Visited mom. Between the hospital and the medical aid there is a big question mark around part payment.

Thursday: Takeaway pizza from Bardellis. Reading and YouTube watching.

Friday: Watched another episode of the Civil War Netflix documentary. Reading

Saturday: Finished reading King Leopold’s Ghost by Adam Hothschild. Walked the Rondebosch Common parkrun. Recycling dropoff, library visit. Met Patrick who is in town. Dinner with Helga at Lily’s Restaurant.
King Leopold’s Ghost by Adam Hochschild
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Horrifying, yet compelling reading.

Sunday: Took mom to the Paarden Eiland flea market. Brunch at Mugg n Bean, The Paddocks. Walked around Tokai Park. Watched another episode of the Civil War Netflix documentary.

My work week was divided as follows: 30% bug fixing, 30% install building, 20% new work, 20% planning.

Podcasts listened to this week: NYT Book Review; Making It; CppCast; Inside Line F1; Software Engineering Radio;Wook Talk; NPR What It Takes; BBC Books & Authors;

The week of Oct 1, 2018 – Oct 7, 2018

Busy and tiring week…

Monday: Ordered a new phone, Nokia 7 Plus. Gym session. Visiting hours at the hospital to see mom.

Tuesday: Midday visiting hours at the hospital. Mom unfortunately needs to stay in longer than thought. Evening visiting hours too.

Wednesday: Gym session with Johnny. Grocery shopping, and dropped off groceries at mom’s for in preparation for her being discharged. Visiting hours. Quick beer at Fat Harry’s.

Thursday: New phone arrived. Mom discharged from hospital. Picked her up and took her home. Poker with the boys. I came fourth.

Friday: After work drinks with colleagues. Tired, been a long week. Finished reading Faithful Place by Tana French. Early too bed.

Faithful Place by Tana French
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Saturday: Lazy morning. Watched Formula 1 qualifying. Lunch with mom at Casa Bella at the casino. Afternoon snooze. Light gym session, grocery shopping. Watched a little Netflix, reading. Nighttime spent watching Civil War Netflix documentary.

Sunday: A day of not using my car. Watched the Formula 1 race. Setup my new phone. Walked around Kenilworth, a new route, towards Wynberg rather than Claremont. Cooked a simple but nice chicken curry with cauliflower rice. Afternoon spent reading. Nighttime spent watching more of the Civil War documentary.

My work week was divided into: 20% install building, 40% testing, 40% bug fixing.

Podcasts listened to this week: Hanselminutes; Inside Line F1; BBC Books & Authors; NPR’s How I Built This;

The week of Sep 24, 2018 – Sep 30, 2018

Mom back in hospital…

Monday: Public holiday. Cooked a nice fillet of beef lunch for Greig, Paul and I. Quiet afternoon. A day of not using my car. Watched The Bang Bang Club again.

Tuesday: Went to the Westerford school One Act Plays evening invited by neighbour Trish. Not bad.

Wednesday: Grocery shopping, a couple of beers, tired.

Thursday: Slept well. Did some preliminary work on a potential CodeProject article. Looked into Coursera again. Spent time on the net.

Friday: Lunch time Tokai library visit. An emergency call from mom’s gp to get mom to hospital started off my weekend. Heart concerns. Met her there at 4.30pm, got home only at 9pm. Thai World takeaway.

Saturday: Donated blood, dropped off old clothes for recycling, collected an order from Loot. Help a Rural Child in Kistenhof has an impressive charity bookstore. Then 3x visits to Vincent Palotti to see mom. Verdict is fluid on the lungs causing pressure on the heart. A beer at Fat Harry’s.

It takes a certain amount of guts to strike up bagpipes in a crowded pub/ restaurant. But such is Fat Harry’s in Kenilworth.

Sunday: A walk around Tokai park, first time in many months. Another 3x visits to see mom at Vincent Palotti. In an amongst hospital visits I managed a chicken korma takeaway from Bihari, watched the Sochi F1 grand Prix, and chores and reading.

My work week was divided into: 50% testing and 50% bug fixing

Podcasts listened to this week: CppCast; Inside Line F1; NY Times Book Review; Wood Talk; Making It;

The week of Sep 17, 2018 – Sep 23, 2018

Little to show for the week, but a good weekend…

Monday: Gym. Grocery shopping. Made some chicken stock from the bones of Sunday’s roast. Reading.

Tuesday: Renewed my driver’s license at Hillstar. 40 minutes, friendly people, painless experience. Pleasantly surprised.

Wednesday: Grocery shopping, dropped some off at mom’s.

Thursday: Good evening spent reading.

Friday: Drinks and dinner with Brian and Di. Great seeing them again.

Saturday: A busy day. Bought a new car battery for mom. Brunch with mom at Cafe Magnifico. Took her to get her medication. Walked with Paul on Sea Point promenade. Done so little walking this year that I unbelievably got blisters from that. Lazy evening spent watching YouTube.

Sunday: Grocery shopping, dropped off a few things for mom. Pleasant afternoon, went to the Labia to see Leave No Trace. The convenient parking at Hiddingh campus is no longer on offer. Finished reading The Devil that Danced on the Water by Aminatta Forna. Watched Gangster Squad.
The Devil That Danced on the Water: A Daughter’s Quest by Aminatta Forna
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Compelling, intimate and moving.

My work week was divided into: 50% testing, 50% bug fixing.

Podcasts listened to this week: Hanselminutes; Inside Line F1; BBC Books & Authors; CppChat;

The week of Sep 10, 2018 – Sep 16, 2018

Work confrontation…

Monday: Gym session. Watched a few C++ Catch2 tutorials on YouTube.

Tuesday: I didn’t handle a work confrontation well. I came off worse than I should have. Left me feeling disappointed in myself.

Body corporate trustee meeting.

Wednesday: Gym session with Johnny. Grocery shopping for mom and a little time spent there. Watched old Friends episodes.

Thursday: Side project coding: experimenting with Catch2 test driven development.

Friday: A little side project coding. Finished watching Ozark season 2.

Saturday: A busy morning. Photographs for drivers license renewal. Grocery shopping. Lunch with mom at Vintage India. Gym, quite a tough session. Reading.

Sunday: Cooking, lunch with my godparents and mom. Took them to see mom’s new flat. Chores.

My work week was divided into: 20% install building, 40% testing, 40% bug fixing.

Podcasts listened to this week: WoodTalk; NPR How I Built This; Inside Line F1; BBC Books & Authors; NYT Book Review;

The week of Sep 3, 2018 – Sep 9, 2018

Loving the new season of Ozark, reminds me a lot of Breaking Bad…

Monday: Squash with Dawie. Admin, reading.

Tuesday: Finished reading Steinhoff: Inside SA’s Biggest Corporate Crash by James-Brent Styan.
Steinhoff inside SA’s biggest corporate crash by James-Brent Styan
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Eye-opening, easy to read.

Wednesday: Grocery shopping, quick visit to mom’s to drop things off. Watched an Ozark episode.

Thursday: Poker with the boys, I came fourth.

Friday: Not feeling 100%, didn’t attend the OpenBook event I booked for. Stayed home and watched Ozark instead.

Saturday: Recycling dropoff, library visit, OpenBook festival talk at the Fugard Theatre. Bought a couple of books at the same time. Haircut with Lynne. Slow afternoon, watched more Ozark. Charity author dinner event at The Cape Town Club. Uberred there and back.

Sunday: Slow morning, grocery shopping. Lunch with mom at Blowfish restaurant. Walked around Rondebosch Common for a little exercise. Chores, watched more Ozark.

Work week was divided into: 40% bug fixing, 60% testing.

Podcasts listened to this week: TWIT #681; Inside Line F1; Code Newbie; Making It #181; BBC Books & Authors

The week of Aug 27, 2018 – Sep 2, 2018

Voorkamerfees…

Monday: Gym, reading, started Netflix series Narcos.

Tuesday: Took on a new responsibility at work – doing the builds for new installs. Reading, Watched another Narcos episode.

Wednesday: Gym session with Johnny. Robert is in town and organised a nice group get-together at Devils Peak, Welgemoed. Nice to see faces from way back when.

Thursday: VKF travel planning. Evening weekend reading, really enjoying current book.

Friday: Slow evening mostly reading.

Saturday: Voorkamerfest 2018. A nice day out in Darling with Helga, Julia and Anneke. Breakfast at the west coast farm store, lunch at the festival, afternoon coffee and cake at Brig’s Barn.

The shows we saw were:

1. One lady’s Jewish history with a little Performance art;
2. Telling stories through fast modern African dance;
3. Opera from UCT students;
4. Afrikaans poet and pianist;
5. Songs of Shakespearesung by Graeme Weir, with guitar accompaniment byJono Tait;
6. Blaq Pearl, life story told through poetry and song.

Finished reading Presumed Innocent, by Scott Turow.
Presumed Innocent by Scott Turow
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The best murder mystery / courtroom drama I’ve read. Gripping!

Sunday: Gym, grocery shopping. Lunch with mom at the Brasserie, Tokai. Watched the Italian grand Prix – it was two years ago that I was there. Chores. Started watching the second series of Ozark on Netflix.

My work week was divided into: 40% new work, 40% testing, 20% building a release.

Podcasts listened to this week: CppCast, CppChat, .NET Rocks, NPR What It Takes, TWIT.