I have just become another uncle, and Lois an aunt! Andrew and Nikola (brother & sister in-law) have just given birth to a little boy (a meneer of note in Andrew’s words). He was born at 10:19 today, and he weight 2.36kg.

This does of course mean that the little meneer will only have a birthday every four years, I guess that saves on a few presents! Oh, and his name is Sebastian.

Congratulations to Andrew and Nikola!

Hi there all you South African bloggers.

The folks down at the Open Surgery have created a Facebook site specifically for South African bloggers. It allows for use to share our blogs, discuss the blogging scene in SA, and to meet the people behind some of our writing.

The link to join is here.

Here is an interesting website – futureme.org. It allows for you to send yourself an email which is post-dated to sometime in the future. I can think of some interesting applications of this. Here are a few:

• Event reminders (Eg birthday, anniversary)
• Follow up on goal setting
• Reminder of long-term todo lists (I need to paint the house at some stage…)

What would you like to be reminded about?

I have finally completed the initial version of my e-book, Putting the POWER back into PowerPoint.

This 34 page ebook will show you how to effectively use PowerPoint to enhance your presentation. Learn how to:

• create great slides
• get away from bullet points
• effectively use graphics
• setup the venue
• use sound and video

and of course, know what to take with you when giving a presentation. You can download the 34 page ebook here. Please tell all your friends and family to download the ebook.

I would love to get some feedback, so please let me know what you think!

I had the whole of Sunday free, so Andrew – the president of Lilongwe Toastmasters club – kindly took me to see Lake Malawi, since as I was told, "you haven’t been to Malawi until you have been to the lake!"

So Sunday morning saw us bright and early off to the lake. Although the drive was only about an hour or so, you really start to feel that you are in rural Africa. We passed several road-side villages, with countless goats wondering across the road, and all manner of produce being sold on the side of the road – from live chickens to tobacco and vegetables.

When we arrived at the lake, I literally had my breath taken away. It is like standing on the shore of an ocean. The lake is staggeringly huge. What is even more remarkable is that the photos that I took are across the width of the lake, and you still cannot see the far shore! I even found a sign warning about dangerous rip-tides, which gives you an idea of the scale. If you ever have the opportunity, it is well worth the visit.

I would have loved to spend a few days at the lake, it is very tranquil (and also very hot – it was too hot to walk barefoot on the sand). But alas, I had to get back to Lilongwe in time for my flight back home.

We did manage to stop off at a road-side tourist shop. While I am not usually one for buying "African" curios – since we are swamped with them in Cape Town – this place had some really lovely items. Many of the goods were hand-carved, and the artists were busy at their carving on the side of the road. The prices are ridiculous cheap, and it is quite fun bartering with the traders. They started at a ridiculously high price, and I started with a ridiculously low offer, and we met somewhere in the middle (unlike in Mauritius where they start at a ridiculously high price and stay there).

I got back to Lilongwe airport in good time, and this is a really strange airport. These are all the processes that you go through to depart:

1. Collect boarding card
2. Pay USD 30 departure tax (no receipt)
3. Customs official #1 checks that you have paid departure tax
4. Customs official #2 checks all your paperwork
5. Customs official #3 stamps your passport
6. Security official #1 checks your bags through the x-ray machine
7. Security official #2 opens one of your bags for security check (everbody – not just me), and leaves the other bag unchecked

So, I had to pass through seven people to board the aircraft – talk about creating employment! We left safely (and on time!), and I arrived back home exhausted, but very happy.

I had a fantastic weekend – Malawi is a country to visit for a few days.