The days are significantly more relaxed now that there is very little that can be done before Christmas. People are calmer and the roads are quieter, but thank god I'm not in the shops. I may be speaking too soon though, I've still got to pick up Elisabeth's main gift. I'm getting her a mini Hi-Fi that plays MP3 from CD and also memory cards and flash drives, from Hi-Fi Corp. While the products offered by Hi-Fi Corp are decent the quality control of their manufacturers is rather suspect and with their seven day return policy there was no way I was picking the unit up with out leaving plenty of time for a return. So yesterday I took a little trip out to the Rondebosch branch and guess what, out of stock! They have no stock of the unit anywhere in the western cape. They took my number and promised to call me back if stock came in, but they couldn't promise it would be before Christmas. So a bit of a pickle.
Elisabeth and I have been eating a lot of wraps and salad because they are quick to make and require almost no clean up. Last night I was bored of eating the same "easy" suppers over and over, so I decided to be a little creative. I've got a bunch of salmon in my freezer and I decided to do a stir fry. I picked up a Woolies ready cut stir fry pack and I was ready to go. I fried the salmon first adding a generous measure of teriyaki for flavour. Then did the stir fry in two batches because my pan is small, I really need a wok. The ginger in the veg mix really brought out the flavour of the fish and teriyaki, it was da bazomb!
After supper we watched a little TV and then I headed downstairs to clean up the kitchen and play a little Texas Hold 'em. I played two 18 p NLHE $1.50 + $0.25 Sit and Go tournaments and finished 1st and 2nd respectively. The first tournament was all about playing aggressively and winning big hands, it was what worked. It was a whole bunch of fun twice during that game I went from big stack to incredibly small stack (at one point $800 with $600 blinds) as other players got luckier than I was. Careful playing and some amazing semi bluffs saw me steeling a few pots and building my stack up again. I also had my share of luck drawing three straights on the river, all with 9. This included my last hand where I won with a straight to K against two pair KQ. Man winning was great, the $10.80 wasn't bad either.
The second game was much more reserved, it was all about winning the small pots and outlasting the other players. Early on in the game, like third hand, I raise to 500 (with a stack on 1480 on AA one other player called, that's cool it increased the pot. We were both sitting with our entire stack already in play so the hand played out: 6d Td Ac, I'd hit my flop and went all in with the rest of my stack, the other player called and because all our money was already in the pot his cards were revealed, 9Th. I still can't quite believe he went all in on a pair of T. The turn came 8s and the river Ah, Four Aces, Ka Ching! That hand set me up as chip leader for most of the tournament and let me dominate a lot of hands. But by the time it came down to the last hand I was short stacked $6k to $21k and the blinds were $2k. I was dealt Qd 6s in the hole and as BB I checked. The flop Came 3d Ac Ad and my opponent checked, that meant he didn't have an A and was probably betting on a Pair no bigger than JJ, I went all in with a bluff trying to convince him I had an A. He called, damn. The turn came 2d giving me 9 outs for the flush, the river came 9d and I thought I had it. But the villain showed Kd 2c and stole the flush with the only card that could have beaten me. I can in second and won $8.10 bringing my winnings for the evening to $18.90, sweet!
I don't think I'm going to be playing tonight, I'm on a high from winning so much that I may get careless and lose, plus I need the rest. I just got a call from Hi-Fi Corp that the unit has been delivered so I'll probably go pick that up after lunch. The project team is going to Yum for lunch, it's a bit pricy, but the menu does look great, I'll let you know.
schpat
Thursday, December 22, 2005
Wednesday, December 21, 2005
alt.me.die.die.die
I'm sorry for the really long absence here, and for disappointing all the people who read my blog often. On the up side all the hard work seemed to have paid off because I got to see a whole bunch of people over the weekend that I haven’t seen since August and that I wouldn't have seen had it not been for SchpatCON.
SCHPATCON REPORT BACK
All in all a resounding success. Many very late nights went into the con this year, but that's probably because I was so slack getting the whole affair off the ground. Friday night started with Munchkin, my brother cam through and managed to come second, Garrick won the event and prizes should be on the way. After Munchkin an impromptu game of Texas Hold 'Em sprang up. I managed to last almost the whole thing on my initial buy in, I didn't have a winning hand dealt to me the whole night, not one! Because of that the game was quite boring for me I didn't get to the showdown more than three times the entire evening. Dieter did the worst with three buy-ins and still not walking away with a cent and Roo did best winning a total of almost R100. A special mention has to go to Graham Polter (I hope that's right, it's been a bad weekend for names) who came to the table with "can you please remind me how this game works" and "I can't really shuffle, could someone do it for me" and then proceeded to sit on Big Stack for most of the night, he was the only other person to come away with anything.
Saturday morning saw me completing my module and picking up our fine sponsor Adeeb from Outer Limits. Alex was working so we had to run the Deadlands module first. It was a great running, with three tables participating. The first session ran horribly over time with one GM taking 2 hours longer than any of the others, but people were kept quiet by the readily available PS2 and the fact that they hadn't paid a cent.
The afternoon module was played by only two tables because of the late starting time, but was still enjoyed by all. Adam came round and we "jammed" a bit on our harmonicas, I'm gonna get myself a cool one sometime, mine sounds way too tinny. The game finished at about 8pm and I gave Adeeb a lift to town and then home before getting to the One Ring for the after party at about 10pm.
Because the Steve Jackson games prizes had not arrived yet the Outer Limits spon was all we had to dish out, thanks Adeeb and Grant. Best player prize went to Robyn Saul for an amazing Calamity Jane, one of the best performances I've ever seen. Mike Dewar and Brendan Quinlevin (his ears are not bleedink) came in very close joint second place, Brendan for Doc Holiday and Mike for a piratey type. The GM prize went to Garrick for his performance in "Pieces of Hate", a one point difference. He also scored best in "Hexes Wild", altogether a deserving winner.
The last R50 gift voucher was the prize for the Drunken Foosball Tournament. Now there'd been a lot of trash talking on my part but I wasn't all that confident, there were some pretty tough teams in contention. There was a round of Round Robin where Lucas and I were undefeated, at the end it was Jason & Sean vs Mike & BETH for third and fourth, and Dave & Virolin vs Lukas & me in the final. Both finals were to be monster 20 ball games, and both went into extra time. In the end I think Mike and BETH came third in a very close and exciting runners up match, and Lucas & I cleaned the board with Dave & Virolin in extra time. Go us. The tournament took about an hour to play and the guys that were at the table before us were rather gracious in letting us hog the table after I explained what it was for. They wanted to compete, but I explained that it was kinda a private thing and they totally understood. Sniggering they introduced themselves as "Japan" and "Taste" ("Taste of Japan", geddit?) they did challenge Lucas & I though, and cleaned the floor, walls and ceiling with us. I congratulated them and informed them that they had obviously had a misspent youth, I don't think they got it. Those jock types! I gave the prize to Lucas because I was just lucky, he was the real skill behind our team.
I like to take this opportunity to really thank everybody who came, and especially those who contributed. I just organise this thing for everybody to come along and have a great time, I just couldn’t have made it happen without you.
Thanks
Wow that was long!
POKERSTARS.COM
Last night I graduated myself from play money to real money. I deposited a few dollars and entered a No limit Hold 'em tournament for $1 + $0.20. That's a $1 stake and $0.20 fee to the house, then they give you $1500 in chips and you play till the last man standing, there are 45 players on 5 tables and the top seven places are paid out. I played in that for a while and eventually finished in 29th position. Then I played a 18 player 2 table $1.50 + $0.25 Turbo (15 seconds instead of 30 to make decisions) No limit Hold 'em, in that game I made it through to the final table and finished 7th. With 18 players only the top 4 are paid. I decided to go for one more game before going to bed, another 18p 2t %1.50 + $0.25 Turbo No limit Hold 'em game. I did much better this time, having sussed out a couple of the finer points of a game with severely increasing blinds. I made it through to the final table and I wasn't even the shortest stack when I got there. By the time it had gotten down to seven players I'd made a pretty severe mistake and only had about $500 in my stack (blinds were $300 at this point). Got dealt a decent pair (QQ) and played all in, people folded an I stole the blinds bringing me up to about $1.5k again. In the very next hand I was dealt AKs (the "s" means suited, "o" would be off-suit) and after the other three shortish stacks had gone all in I decided to follow, the two (substantially) larger stacks folded out. With all four players "all in" there is no more betting and no opportunity to fold, so everybody's hole cards are revealed. I was up against AQo, AJo, ATs and I had AKs . Then came the flop Q J 8, mortified I hopped for the K to come at either the Turn or the River, there was about a 12% chance of that happening, other wise was screwed. The Turn 3, shit! From all over the world (one guy in Essex, one Guy in Terahn, one guy in Erie and me in CT) we held our breath for the River: T! Everybody had hit their under-card except for me, but I still won with the straight to A. That is one hand I'm going to remember for a long time. Now I was in the top three, but I was short stack on about $6k with the other $21k split pretty evenly between the two big stacks. Blinds went to $600, then to $1.2k and soon I had been bled out of the game, but it was great. I won $5.40, yay me!
PERSONALITY-LESS ZONE
Well Moonie, I did that personality test you've been bugging me to do and, if the blog title didn't give it away, I'm Wesley Crusher. That's actually pretty cool, I've always liked Wesley. When I was watching the series I was only a few years younger than the character and I always identified with him, he might not have been the coolest character, but he was dependable and got to live on a starship! Kinda like me, except for the starship part. Plus Wil Weaton is a geek god!
SIGN OUT
I've still got some shopping to do, hopefully at lunch time. I'll try to post more regularly, thus ensuring shorter posts.
Until later
Cheers
SCHPATCON REPORT BACK
All in all a resounding success. Many very late nights went into the con this year, but that's probably because I was so slack getting the whole affair off the ground. Friday night started with Munchkin, my brother cam through and managed to come second, Garrick won the event and prizes should be on the way. After Munchkin an impromptu game of Texas Hold 'Em sprang up. I managed to last almost the whole thing on my initial buy in, I didn't have a winning hand dealt to me the whole night, not one! Because of that the game was quite boring for me I didn't get to the showdown more than three times the entire evening. Dieter did the worst with three buy-ins and still not walking away with a cent and Roo did best winning a total of almost R100. A special mention has to go to Graham Polter (I hope that's right, it's been a bad weekend for names) who came to the table with "can you please remind me how this game works" and "I can't really shuffle, could someone do it for me" and then proceeded to sit on Big Stack for most of the night, he was the only other person to come away with anything.
Saturday morning saw me completing my module and picking up our fine sponsor Adeeb from Outer Limits. Alex was working so we had to run the Deadlands module first. It was a great running, with three tables participating. The first session ran horribly over time with one GM taking 2 hours longer than any of the others, but people were kept quiet by the readily available PS2 and the fact that they hadn't paid a cent.
The afternoon module was played by only two tables because of the late starting time, but was still enjoyed by all. Adam came round and we "jammed" a bit on our harmonicas, I'm gonna get myself a cool one sometime, mine sounds way too tinny. The game finished at about 8pm and I gave Adeeb a lift to town and then home before getting to the One Ring for the after party at about 10pm.
Because the Steve Jackson games prizes had not arrived yet the Outer Limits spon was all we had to dish out, thanks Adeeb and Grant. Best player prize went to Robyn Saul for an amazing Calamity Jane, one of the best performances I've ever seen. Mike Dewar and Brendan Quinlevin (his ears are not bleedink) came in very close joint second place, Brendan for Doc Holiday and Mike for a piratey type. The GM prize went to Garrick for his performance in "Pieces of Hate", a one point difference. He also scored best in "Hexes Wild", altogether a deserving winner.
The last R50 gift voucher was the prize for the Drunken Foosball Tournament. Now there'd been a lot of trash talking on my part but I wasn't all that confident, there were some pretty tough teams in contention. There was a round of Round Robin where Lucas and I were undefeated, at the end it was Jason & Sean vs Mike & BETH for third and fourth, and Dave & Virolin vs Lukas & me in the final. Both finals were to be monster 20 ball games, and both went into extra time. In the end I think Mike and BETH came third in a very close and exciting runners up match, and Lucas & I cleaned the board with Dave & Virolin in extra time. Go us. The tournament took about an hour to play and the guys that were at the table before us were rather gracious in letting us hog the table after I explained what it was for. They wanted to compete, but I explained that it was kinda a private thing and they totally understood. Sniggering they introduced themselves as "Japan" and "Taste" ("Taste of Japan", geddit?) they did challenge Lucas & I though, and cleaned the floor, walls and ceiling with us. I congratulated them and informed them that they had obviously had a misspent youth, I don't think they got it. Those jock types! I gave the prize to Lucas because I was just lucky, he was the real skill behind our team.
I like to take this opportunity to really thank everybody who came, and especially those who contributed. I just organise this thing for everybody to come along and have a great time, I just couldn’t have made it happen without you.
Thanks
Wow that was long!
POKERSTARS.COM
Last night I graduated myself from play money to real money. I deposited a few dollars and entered a No limit Hold 'em tournament for $1 + $0.20. That's a $1 stake and $0.20 fee to the house, then they give you $1500 in chips and you play till the last man standing, there are 45 players on 5 tables and the top seven places are paid out. I played in that for a while and eventually finished in 29th position. Then I played a 18 player 2 table $1.50 + $0.25 Turbo (15 seconds instead of 30 to make decisions) No limit Hold 'em, in that game I made it through to the final table and finished 7th. With 18 players only the top 4 are paid. I decided to go for one more game before going to bed, another 18p 2t %1.50 + $0.25 Turbo No limit Hold 'em game. I did much better this time, having sussed out a couple of the finer points of a game with severely increasing blinds. I made it through to the final table and I wasn't even the shortest stack when I got there. By the time it had gotten down to seven players I'd made a pretty severe mistake and only had about $500 in my stack (blinds were $300 at this point). Got dealt a decent pair (QQ) and played all in, people folded an I stole the blinds bringing me up to about $1.5k again. In the very next hand I was dealt AKs (the "s" means suited, "o" would be off-suit) and after the other three shortish stacks had gone all in I decided to follow, the two (substantially) larger stacks folded out. With all four players "all in" there is no more betting and no opportunity to fold, so everybody's hole cards are revealed. I was up against AQo, AJo, ATs and I had AKs . Then came the flop Q J 8, mortified I hopped for the K to come at either the Turn or the River, there was about a 12% chance of that happening, other wise was screwed. The Turn 3, shit! From all over the world (one guy in Essex, one Guy in Terahn, one guy in Erie and me in CT) we held our breath for the River: T! Everybody had hit their under-card except for me, but I still won with the straight to A. That is one hand I'm going to remember for a long time. Now I was in the top three, but I was short stack on about $6k with the other $21k split pretty evenly between the two big stacks. Blinds went to $600, then to $1.2k and soon I had been bled out of the game, but it was great. I won $5.40, yay me!
PERSONALITY-LESS ZONE
Well Moonie, I did that personality test you've been bugging me to do and, if the blog title didn't give it away, I'm Wesley Crusher. That's actually pretty cool, I've always liked Wesley. When I was watching the series I was only a few years younger than the character and I always identified with him, he might not have been the coolest character, but he was dependable and got to live on a starship! Kinda like me, except for the starship part. Plus Wil Weaton is a geek god!
SIGN OUT
I've still got some shopping to do, hopefully at lunch time. I'll try to post more regularly, thus ensuring shorter posts.
Until later
Cheers
Tuesday, December 13, 2005
SchpatCON: Hex Update
I know, I’ve been very bad with getting the website up, but for some reason I seem to have decided that the busiest work week of the year should coincided with the busiest personal week of the year, that’s right the week before Christmas and the week before SchpatCON.
Everything is still going according to schedule, and speaking of schedules here it is.
Friday
15:00 : Munchkin, yes that wonderful card game we’ve all come to know and love.
Saturday
10:00 : All Flesh Must Be Eaten. A Zombie module with Pirates, or a Pirate Module with Zombies? You be the judge! A module by Alex Millar in a genre that he has proven to have made his own.
14:00 : GURPS: Deadlands. Gunslingers and Hucksters, Missionaries and Indians, Abominations and Terrors, these are just a few for the things you can expect. A module by schpat
Later : Prize giving probably at the One Ring.
Even Later : Drunken Foosball Tournament (remember to register on Saturday for this one.
Ok the venue is the Kramer Law Building (the same place as DragonFire and the last 2 SchpatCONs. The good news is that shirts will be ready on time (hopefully) even if the modules aren’t. Did I mention that entrance was free?
schpat
Everything is still going according to schedule, and speaking of schedules here it is.
Friday
15:00 : Munchkin, yes that wonderful card game we’ve all come to know and love.
Saturday
10:00 : All Flesh Must Be Eaten. A Zombie module with Pirates, or a Pirate Module with Zombies? You be the judge! A module by Alex Millar in a genre that he has proven to have made his own.
14:00 : GURPS: Deadlands. Gunslingers and Hucksters, Missionaries and Indians, Abominations and Terrors, these are just a few for the things you can expect. A module by schpat
Later : Prize giving probably at the One Ring.
Even Later : Drunken Foosball Tournament (remember to register on Saturday for this one.
Ok the venue is the Kramer Law Building (the same place as DragonFire and the last 2 SchpatCONs. The good news is that shirts will be ready on time (hopefully) even if the modules aren’t. Did I mention that entrance was free?
schpat
Monday, December 12, 2005
Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon
Moonflake, please pass this info on to Zenstar. I should have bet!
Bela Lugosia (International House) George Burns (Radioland Murders) Christopher Loyd (One flew over the cuckoo's Nest) Danny DeVito (LA Confidential) Kevin Spacy (Outbreak) Dustin Hoffman (Sleepers) Kevin Bacon
Probably could have done it quicker, but that's not important.
Bela Lugosia (International House) George Burns (Radioland Murders) Christopher Loyd (One flew over the cuckoo's Nest) Danny DeVito (LA Confidential) Kevin Spacy (Outbreak) Dustin Hoffman (Sleepers) Kevin Bacon
Probably could have done it quicker, but that's not important.
Friday, December 09, 2005
Well, it's been a while again...
In a nutshell here is my week: Frinight, phoned people about SchpatCon t-shirts and went out for sushi with Elisabeth. Saturday and Saturnight: attempted ObsFest, was way too busy, took Elisabeth out for supper. Sunday: House work in preperation for Elisabeth's family comming down. Monday: Hectic work, home for internet poker. Tuesday: Hectic Work, rejoice as JZ is charged with rape, Elisabeths family comes round for supper, we have home made pizza. Wednesday: Hectic work, meet Ardi for lunch, meet people to collect t-shirts, online poker from home. Thursday: Hectic Work, Elisabeth's family comes round for supper again, fetch shirts from Moonflake and Zenstar see Synk there too. Friday: Hectic work, drop shirts off at printer, going out for lunch.
That's the short version, notice that working on my schpatcon module was not mentioned, I have my weekend cut out for me. That;s if I can fit it in around moonie's birthday tonight and dinner guests on Saturnight. Sunday here I come!
That's the short version, notice that working on my schpatcon module was not mentioned, I have my weekend cut out for me. That;s if I can fit it in around moonie's birthday tonight and dinner guests on Saturnight. Sunday here I come!
Friday, December 02, 2005
It's finally over
THE TABLOIDS
This morning as I drove into work I noticed two pole adverts for the local 'english' language tabloid, "The Voice": "'Jesus Killer' strikes again" and “'Satan' killer on the loose". I mean what are they doing, covering all their bases? What religious icon will be vilified next? Mohamed? Buddha? Obviously the editors are trying to get people to buy the rag, but aside from the often uninteresting page 3 girl there really is no reason, unless of course you're trying to find out about the latest porn downloads for your phone. I suppose journalism and integrity doesn't pay anymore.
ROUND 3
So I had to go back to city hall today. I arrive at 8:30 as instructed by the nice gentleman at enquiries and head on over to Court 2 to find the Clerk of the Court. On my way I see shield-mullet and wave with a huge grin, she scowls back at me, this one is in serious need of an attitude adjustment. I head past her and find Court 2, but there are a bunch of people milling around outside and none of them look like they are in charge. I ask one of the security guards where I could find the clerk and she tells me that I must go to enquiries. At enquiries I wait in a short queue only to be told that he's at the court. I get them to describe him to me and go looking for him. Eventually I find the guy, a thirty-something metro police officer who stanks of booze. He probably had a tough night so trying not to speak too loudly I explain what has happened on my last three visits. He walks into the court where a the prosecutor, a young lady, is reading something at her podium with her back towards us. Putting his arm around her shoulders and leaning in real close, this makes the attractive young prosecutor visibly uncomfortable, he whispers the story into her ear. She thanks him curtly and motions me over to her. At this point I'm worried that hung-over-letch-man has put her in a really bad mood before she hears my case.
The prosecutor then explains to me that she has the authority to drop the charges but only if sufficient evidence is provided. I "show her my evidence", she “reviews my case” and “the charges are dropped”. Well actually it happened just like that just without the quotation marks, but I was just trying to spice it up. Yay, no fine!
Final Score:
City Hall: 2
Schpat: 200
W00t!!11!!1 I win.
STUPID FUCKING DICKHEAD
This “pastor” dude from Cape Town somewhere took his kids on a shooting spree on Halloween. He drove his kids around so that they could shoot at trick or treating teenagers with paintball guns in order to teach the teens that the occult is bad. I mean WTF?? That’s not the worst of it, his son shot a very young kid in the face at point blank range before he fled the scene at high speed. This is just the kind of pro-gun activist you don’t want in your lobby, he is known for his opposition to homosexuality, pornography, communism, militant Islam, and to what he says is "humanism" in state schools. He says he did it to fight satanism, maybe he should call the tabloids.
AMUSING PICTURE
Today’s picture provided to me by Koos, and rather funny it is too. It’s entitled: “Cheated!”
WEEKEND CALLING
Well it’s been a heluva week, and it’s over now. My plans for the weekend involve taking Elisabeth out tonight, a lot of housework (family from PE is coming to visit on Monday) and going to ObsFest on Saturday and Saturnight. I’ll be there snapping a few pics, hope to see some of you guys there.
This morning as I drove into work I noticed two pole adverts for the local 'english' language tabloid, "The Voice": "'Jesus Killer' strikes again" and “'Satan' killer on the loose". I mean what are they doing, covering all their bases? What religious icon will be vilified next? Mohamed? Buddha? Obviously the editors are trying to get people to buy the rag, but aside from the often uninteresting page 3 girl there really is no reason, unless of course you're trying to find out about the latest porn downloads for your phone. I suppose journalism and integrity doesn't pay anymore.
ROUND 3
So I had to go back to city hall today. I arrive at 8:30 as instructed by the nice gentleman at enquiries and head on over to Court 2 to find the Clerk of the Court. On my way I see shield-mullet and wave with a huge grin, she scowls back at me, this one is in serious need of an attitude adjustment. I head past her and find Court 2, but there are a bunch of people milling around outside and none of them look like they are in charge. I ask one of the security guards where I could find the clerk and she tells me that I must go to enquiries. At enquiries I wait in a short queue only to be told that he's at the court. I get them to describe him to me and go looking for him. Eventually I find the guy, a thirty-something metro police officer who stanks of booze. He probably had a tough night so trying not to speak too loudly I explain what has happened on my last three visits. He walks into the court where a the prosecutor, a young lady, is reading something at her podium with her back towards us. Putting his arm around her shoulders and leaning in real close, this makes the attractive young prosecutor visibly uncomfortable, he whispers the story into her ear. She thanks him curtly and motions me over to her. At this point I'm worried that hung-over-letch-man has put her in a really bad mood before she hears my case.
The prosecutor then explains to me that she has the authority to drop the charges but only if sufficient evidence is provided. I "show her my evidence", she “reviews my case” and “the charges are dropped”. Well actually it happened just like that just without the quotation marks, but I was just trying to spice it up. Yay, no fine!
Final Score:
City Hall: 2
Schpat: 200
W00t!!11!!1 I win.
STUPID FUCKING DICKHEAD
This “pastor” dude from Cape Town somewhere took his kids on a shooting spree on Halloween. He drove his kids around so that they could shoot at trick or treating teenagers with paintball guns in order to teach the teens that the occult is bad. I mean WTF?? That’s not the worst of it, his son shot a very young kid in the face at point blank range before he fled the scene at high speed. This is just the kind of pro-gun activist you don’t want in your lobby, he is known for his opposition to homosexuality, pornography, communism, militant Islam, and to what he says is "humanism" in state schools. He says he did it to fight satanism, maybe he should call the tabloids.
AMUSING PICTURE
Today’s picture provided to me by Koos, and rather funny it is too. It’s entitled: “Cheated!”
WEEKEND CALLING
Well it’s been a heluva week, and it’s over now. My plans for the weekend involve taking Elisabeth out tonight, a lot of housework (family from PE is coming to visit on Monday) and going to ObsFest on Saturday and Saturnight. I’ll be there snapping a few pics, hope to see some of you guys there.
Thursday, December 01, 2005
Back to The Hall
THAT PLACE THAT DRIVES YOU MAD: Round 2
So I walk on over to the city hall today to check what the outcome of my appeal on the first traffic fine is. Note this is not the speeding fine I got outside George, it's the one I got in Sea Point for not having a licence. Well I go to the office were I ended up last time, where I left the fine, and sat in the queue for about 20 minutes. I get to see the mullet headed traffic lady who I gave my fine to. It appears all she does is collect the appeals and hand them over to the prosecutor who hands them back to her several days later with his decision. Effectively she is a shield that keeps the wrath of the public as far away from the prosecutor as possible. Anyway shield-mullet goes through the extremely large pile of alphabetised replied-to appeals she has received from the prosecutor and can not find my case. She checks the register (in a book not on computer!) and sees that the case has been reviewed by the prosecutor and returned to her. After 5 minutes of searching she concludes that it must have been sent to enquiries by mistake, and send me there to check. A short walk to enquiries and a 10 minute queue fails to produce anything, so back to shield-mullet. At shield-mullet's office I thank the gods of Bureaucracy that there is only one person in front of me, but when that person is done shield-mullet is off on a coffee break. Eventually she arrives back, coffee in hand, and apologises to me because the file was in fact in a different pile on her desk, the pile just returned by the prosecutor. Shield-mullet tells me that the prosecutor has queried my appeal and that I have to provide a few more details including the case number for when I reported the theft of my drivers licence. Come back when you have those details.
I go back to the office where I have the insurance details for when Elisabeth's bag was stolen, find the case number write a short letter to the prosecutor and make a copy of the licence in my ID book as proof that I have one. When I get back to City Hall I notice Shield-Mullet chatting to someone in the corridor as I go in and smile at her as I walk past on the way to her office, she smiles back. After a ten minute wait she returns to her office and tells me that she's closed for the day and that I should go to enquiries. At enquiries I explain what shield-mullet has told me, the guy behind the counter gets very pissed off and seems to take pity on me. Stamps my letter (I don't know why) and tells me to go directly to the clerk of the court tomorrow before 9am, he should be able to arrange it that I can actually see the prosecutor himself, thus totally avoiding shield-mullet.
Oh yeah, did I mention the Astrix poster outside shield-mullet's office?
City Hall: 2
Schpat: 0
SCHPATCON: HEX, AN UPDATE
Yes it's still happening on the 16th and 17th. But the t-shirt design is finished, here it is. Obviously some lettering will be added. If you want to have a t-shirt of your very own you can contact me at schpat@gmail.com. You need to get a black shirt to me before they go to print next week friday, that is get the shirt to me by thursnight. (didn't see that one coming did ya?)The printing is only going to cost about R16 and remember that entry to all events is free.
Go on you know you want one.
The website with a full time table and event summary will by up soon, I'll keep you updated.
SILLY INVENTION
Tired of wearing those damn thongs that ride up your butt? Why don't you rather check out this little garment that has no back.
AMUSING PICTURE
Well I've noticed that blogspot has had a problem with pictures, but I'm attempting to load one here for you.
OUT OF HERE
Well that's me. I'll keep you updated on both the traffic court thing and SchpatCON, until then keep on keepin' on!
So I walk on over to the city hall today to check what the outcome of my appeal on the first traffic fine is. Note this is not the speeding fine I got outside George, it's the one I got in Sea Point for not having a licence. Well I go to the office were I ended up last time, where I left the fine, and sat in the queue for about 20 minutes. I get to see the mullet headed traffic lady who I gave my fine to. It appears all she does is collect the appeals and hand them over to the prosecutor who hands them back to her several days later with his decision. Effectively she is a shield that keeps the wrath of the public as far away from the prosecutor as possible. Anyway shield-mullet goes through the extremely large pile of alphabetised replied-to appeals she has received from the prosecutor and can not find my case. She checks the register (in a book not on computer!) and sees that the case has been reviewed by the prosecutor and returned to her. After 5 minutes of searching she concludes that it must have been sent to enquiries by mistake, and send me there to check. A short walk to enquiries and a 10 minute queue fails to produce anything, so back to shield-mullet. At shield-mullet's office I thank the gods of Bureaucracy that there is only one person in front of me, but when that person is done shield-mullet is off on a coffee break. Eventually she arrives back, coffee in hand, and apologises to me because the file was in fact in a different pile on her desk, the pile just returned by the prosecutor. Shield-mullet tells me that the prosecutor has queried my appeal and that I have to provide a few more details including the case number for when I reported the theft of my drivers licence. Come back when you have those details.
I go back to the office where I have the insurance details for when Elisabeth's bag was stolen, find the case number write a short letter to the prosecutor and make a copy of the licence in my ID book as proof that I have one. When I get back to City Hall I notice Shield-Mullet chatting to someone in the corridor as I go in and smile at her as I walk past on the way to her office, she smiles back. After a ten minute wait she returns to her office and tells me that she's closed for the day and that I should go to enquiries. At enquiries I explain what shield-mullet has told me, the guy behind the counter gets very pissed off and seems to take pity on me. Stamps my letter (I don't know why) and tells me to go directly to the clerk of the court tomorrow before 9am, he should be able to arrange it that I can actually see the prosecutor himself, thus totally avoiding shield-mullet.
Oh yeah, did I mention the Astrix poster outside shield-mullet's office?
City Hall: 2
Schpat: 0
SCHPATCON: HEX, AN UPDATE
Yes it's still happening on the 16th and 17th. But the t-shirt design is finished, here it is. Obviously some lettering will be added. If you want to have a t-shirt of your very own you can contact me at schpat@gmail.com. You need to get a black shirt to me before they go to print next week friday, that is get the shirt to me by thursnight. (didn't see that one coming did ya?)The printing is only going to cost about R16 and remember that entry to all events is free.
Go on you know you want one.
The website with a full time table and event summary will by up soon, I'll keep you updated.
SILLY INVENTION
Tired of wearing those damn thongs that ride up your butt? Why don't you rather check out this little garment that has no back.
AMUSING PICTURE
Well I've noticed that blogspot has had a problem with pictures, but I'm attempting to load one here for you.
OUT OF HERE
Well that's me. I'll keep you updated on both the traffic court thing and SchpatCON, until then keep on keepin' on!
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