Alasdair Craig

The week of Dec 31, 2018 – Jan 6, 2019

On leave and doing touristy things with Byron …

Monday: New Year’s Eve. Gym session. Afternoon braai with Barbs and Paul at Barb’s place. Early hone and in bed before midnight.

Tuesday: A decent morning run on Sea Point promenade. Wasted the rest of the day watching NCIS episodes. Used Uber Eats for the first time. Pretty good, but poor selection, and difficult to give a tip using the app. Power outage in my neighborhood.

Wednesday: Gym session. After a three and a half month wait I finally have my renewed driver’s license. Clothes shopping at Canal Walk. Chores, a beer at Fat Harry’s. NCIS binge watching.

Thursday: Quite a busy day of driving around. Gym session, cut short. Grocery shopping. Admin. Took Wyness to the station, NCIS watching. Collected mom from the airport and took her home. Met Byron, Lindi and their boys. Good seeing then again and had a bit of a catch-up.

Friday: Finished reading Katerina by James Frey. Podcast walk around Tokai Park. NCIS watching. Took Byron and family to Jack Black brewery for drinks and food and to meet Lawrence. And then another stop at Forries before taking then home. A good afternoon.

Katerina by James Frey
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Enjoyed it. Interesting literary style of short, sharp sentences. Very different to Bright Shiny Morning.

Saturday: A day out with Byron and family. A drive around the peninsula. Scratch Patch, Noordhoek farm village, Chapman’s peak, Dunes restaurant, Llandudno beach, drinks in Mouille Point, short walk along the promenade.

Sunday: Waterfront, gym session. Dropped off laundry, lunch at Quay 4 with Byron and family. Harbour boat trip on board the Jolly Roger. Drinks at the V&A Food Market. Goodfellas home.

Podcasts listened to this week: Beyond the Grid.

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

Holiday in Joburg…

Monday: Woke up, sore back, soft bed. Some reading and side project coding. Slow afternoon and evening, but relaxing. Early night.

Tuesday: Christmas Day, slow morning. Nice lunch. TV watching in the afternoon and evening. Finished reading Force of Nature by Jane Harper.
Force of Nature by Jane Harper
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Easy to read.

Wednesday: Boxing Day. Why to see Bohemian rhapsody at Eastgate Mall, the prestige theatre. Good movie. Hot slow afternoon. Some side project coding. Getting bored.

Thursday: Did the Joburg hop-on hop-on red bus tour. Got off at the National Museum of Military History (interesting), Constitution Hill (dull), the Mining District (lame), SAB World of Beers (fun). Bangers and mash for supper, then we all visited the Garden of Lights at Emporer’s Palace, quite something.

Friday: A little side project coding. TV watching. Flight back to Cape Town. Uber’ed home. Straight to bed.

Saturday: Slept well. Dropped off laundry, got a slow puncture fixed. Haircut with Lynne. Met Greig and Paul for beers at Toad in the Road. Good fun. Goodfellas home.

Sunday: Lazy day. Watched TV. Dinner with David at Basilico’s in Newlands.

Podcasts listened to this week: <none>

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

Last week of work…

Monday: Public holiday. Feeling much better. Grocery shopping. Side project coding and committed a minimum viable product of what I’ve been working on. What I call Category Diary – a diary of sorts where I can log on a daily basis the categories of work that I’ve been working on. Watched a few NCIS episodes.

Tuesday: Side project coding. Another few NCIS episodes.

Wednesday: Gym session with Johnny. Grocery shopping. Tried to get my low powered laptop setup for qt Android development. Too frustrating. Admin and chores.

Thursday: Library visit, Book Lounge visit and book purchase. Visited mom. Thai World Takeaway. Sad news is that it’s to close in February. I’ve been going there since at least 2004, maybe earlier.

Friday: Last day of work for the year. Received feedback from a company in Switzerland using my best-fit library. Some very successful side project coding.

Saturday: Slow morning. Lunch with mom at Cafe Verdi, dessert from Coimbra bakery. Watched NCIS episodes. Left packing for the trip till the last minute.

Sunday: Early morning start. Wheelchair assistance adds a small degree of inconvenience to flying. Uber’ed with mom to the airport. Flight to Joburg. Easy afternoon catching up. Nice relaxed family supper.

My work week was divided into: 30% refactoring, 25% new development, 25% other, 20% building install.

Podcasts listened to this week: NPR What It Takes.

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

Stomach bug weekend…

Monday: Admin. Library visit. Gym session. Unsuccessful side project coding.

Tuesday: Side project coding. A quick beer at Oblivion.

Wednesday: Gym session with Johnny. Grocery shopping, stop off at mom’s. More side project coding.

Thursday: Walked around Tokai Park. Takeaway from Eat Out The Box. Reading, YouTube watching.

Friday: Early morning gym session. Evening side project coding.

Saturday: Parkrun in Fish Hoek with Barbs and Heidi. Followed by breakfast at the Noordhoek farm village, Paul joined is too. I started feeling an upset stomach but persevered with donating blood #93. Then it all went downhill with a most definite stomach bug and associated symptoms. Spent the rest of the day in bed feeling decidedly sorry for myself.

Sunday: Still not feeling great, but had to continue with a pre-organised lunch at the Wild fig with mom and Tom. Used NordVPN for the first time. Watched two Netflix movies.

My work week was divided into: 70% new work; 10% bug fixing; 10% testing; 10% documentation.

Podcasts listened to this week: Beyond The Grid; NPR How I Built This.

The week of Dec 3, 2018 – Dec 9, 2018

Unproductive…

Monday: Gym. Admin. YouTube watching, reading.

Tuesday: Takeaway pizza from Bardellis. Finished reading The Reluctant Passenger by Michiel Heyns.
The Reluctant Passenger by Michiel Heyns
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I liked the very good grammar and admirable use of English. Comedies are wasted on me though.

Wednesday: Grocery shopping, drop off at mom’s. A beer and takeaways from The Bombshelter, Ndabeni. Nice place, great decor.

Thursday: Reading and YouTube.

Friday: Our office end-of-year function at Bilboa restaurant, Camps Bay. Awesome fish main course. Goodfellas home.

Saturday: Slept late, parkrun was never going to happen the morning after the company function. More toilet investigations. Some DIY for mom. Some body corporate DIY work. Met Paul at The Red Herring for sun-downers. Good to see him again.

Sunday: Grocery shopping. Lunch with mom at The Hollow Tree, Durbanville – food good, service bad. A few chores on her behalf. A lazy afternoon and evening.

My work week was divided into: 80% new work; 20% other.

Podcasts listened to this week: NY Times Book Review; CppCast; Beyond The Grid.

The week of Nov 26, 2018 – Dec 2, 2018

Trip to Joburg…

Monday: I’m learning all about toilets which I something I don’t really want to know about – replacing my toilet for a water wise one is going to be a big issue. Library visit.

Tuesday: Body corporate work, Thai World takeout. Reading.

Wednesday: Gym session with Johnny. Body corporate meeting – not too painful. Packing for the trip.

Thursday: Early morning shuttle to the airport. Finished reading Dark Matter by Michelle Paver. Flight to Joburg. Brief catch-up with Steph then a boozy afternoon without Simon and James. Shuttle to the Guns N Roses concert. The concert was great, the stadium is huge. Traffic before and after was horrendous. Got back to my sister’s at 1.30.
Dark Matter by Michelle Paver
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Very good portrayal of suspense and dread.

Friday: Lazy morning. Steph showed me around Jeppe Boys school. A little grocery shopping. Easy afternoon relaxing.

Saturday: Cell C network outage annoyance. Reading my book in the garden. Watched episodes of Paranoid and NCIS with Steph. Evening braai. Good relaxing day.

Sunday: Airport. Morning beer while I waited. Flight back to Cape Town. Grocery shopping. Binge watched the remainder of season 1 Paranoid.

My work week was divided into: 33% install building, 66% new work.

Podcasts listened to this week: Making It, BBC Books & Authors; Beyond the Grid;

The week of Nov 19, 2018 – Nov 25, 2018

James concert…

Monday: Build master duties. Side project coding.

Tuesday: More build master duties. A little side project coding.

Wednesday: Gym session with Johnny. Grocery shopping, quick visit to mom’s. Chores.

Thursday: Newbie bowls night no. 3 at Mowbray Bowls Club with Brian and Di.

Friday: Lunch time meeting with a plumber to quote on toilet and geyser replacement. Side project coding.

Saturday: Park run. Took mom on various errands. Lunch at Ocean Basket. Then James concert at Kirstenbosch with Gareth and Julia. Good time.

Sunday: Morning tea at the Mount Nelson with mom. Something we’ve been meaning to do for months. Quite impressive, but probably better in the afternoon. Watched the season finale formula 1 race.

My work week was divided into: 40% build master duties, 60% new work.

Podcasts listened to this week: BBC Books & Authours; Beyond the Grid; Inside Line F1

The week of Nov 12, 2018 – Nov 18, 2018

Busy, but little to show for it…

Monday: A busy day: build master duties and repeated rescheduling of mom’s next cardio appointment. Collected my Guns n Roses concert tickets. Thai World takeout.

Tuesday: Some side project coding. Birthday drinks with Barbs and Estelle at Tigers Milk, Muizenberg. Nice place. Watched a lidar webinar.

Wednesday: At work we released the next version of our software via an impressive webinar. Gym session with Johnny. Grocery shopping, side project coding. Signed up for Google Play Music.

Thursday: Mowbray Bowls newbie competition evening no.2 with Brian and Di. Good fun.

Friday: Enjoying some side project coding.

Saturday: Park Run, and I managed to run most of it. Drive to Willowbridge to show mom where she needs to travel to later in the week. Light lunch at Primi Piatti there. Pleasant afternoon at Jack Black Brewery by myself. Snooze, TV watching.

Sunday: Some side project coding. Lunch with mom at Jake’s in the Village. Tired. Grocery shopping, chores, early evening.

My work week was divided into: 40% meetings/ meeting preparation; 40% new work; 20% installation building.

Podcasts listened to this week: BBC Books & Authors; F1 Beyond the Grid; F1 Inside Line; Making It.

The week of Nov 5, 2018 – Nov 11, 2018

Enjoying work…

Monday: Gym, reading, a beer at Home Bar.

Tuesday: Some pleasing side project coding. Reading and YouTube watching.

Wednesday: Gym session with Johnny. Body corporate AGM. I’m now a trustee where I live, unfortunately, I was quite happy being uninvolved.

Thursday: Bowls with Brian and Di, we made up a team for Mowbray Bowls Club newbie competition.

I’m enjoying work at the moment because I’ve had the opportunity to work on some much needed improvements.

Friday: A little side project coding.

Saturday: A busy day: Rondebosch Common parkrun. Lunch with mom at Ou Meul, Pinelands with mom. Finished reading Restless by William Boyd. Then dinner at Hussar Grill, Camps Bay with Helga and Barbs before going to Theatre on the Bay to see The Play That Goes Wrong.
Restless by William Boyd
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Riveting!

Sunday: Busy morning. First time for me visiting the city  Virgin Active gym. Nice, light and airy. Grocery shopping. Very nice meal of swordfish in a chardonnay sauce at Harbor House, Waterfront. A beer at Banana Jam Cafe.

I’m no longer getting much from listening to podcasts, plus I never listen to music anymore because of it.

My work week was divided into: 100% new dev.

Podcasts listened to this week: CppCast, BBC Books & Authors; Making It, Inside Line F1.

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