Outside, it is pouring with rain, it seems like the sky is trying to empty on our heads. This is after I told Lois that I thought that we were over the worst of the rain, oh well clearly my prediction skills are not as good as I would like.
However, in less than a week we will be in the middle of summer, first in New York, and then in Connecticut, attending the Toastmasters International Convention at Foxwoods. Foxwoods is the largest stand-alone casino in the world.

I have been to the MGM in Vegas, if I am correct the casino floor was over 50000 square feet, so for this one to be larger than that is really quite something!

The next day, we will rent a car and meet the other half of our group, Rob and Keryn, and then off to Foxwoods, the largest single casino in the world. I am really looking forward to catching up with my Toastmastering friends, and meeting new people.

MGM Hotel in Las Vegas

So we are getting towards the final stages of packing for the trip. Packing for me always seems to be a little of a last-minute thing, I don’t seem to be able to plan it to far ahead. But then I think that it is because I don’t feel a need to have to plan it too far ahead, after all I seem to remember to take everything and I don’t really forget anything important.

Also, it is not like we are travelling to the middle of nowhere, it will after all be USA, and we really can get anything that we need there! We are going to hire a car, so that will also make the travelling arrangements a little easier.

Times Square

We are going to have Pizza on Time Square with my cousin Bruce when we get there, I have not seen him in a very long time, so I am looking forward to catching up with him, and to meeting his wife Melissa, and their new baby. I am dreading the long flight. 16 hours in an aeroplane is simply far too long for me, I have done it three times now, and I really don’t feel like a forth, but not too much choice there!

So, just two days left at work, and then off to USA – I am really excited about the trip.

Today was a little unusual in that for the first time in ages, I woke up early. Now, this in itself is not so strange, but it is strange that I work up with nothing on my mind. Usually when I wake up early it is because I am worrying about something, and I cannot get it out of my head, and hence I cannot get back to sleep. However this time it was simply because I woke up and had completed my sleep. So, I switched on the bed-side light and read my book. Actually, I finished my book. It was the third Spud book, about the boy in high-school in Natal. Kind of like the Adrian Mole books, but far better, and the character is more of a regular person that the complete lost case that Adrian is. I definitely would recommend it.

I received an invite to a reception hosted by the incoming international president of Toastmasters, Gary Schmidt. I shall be attending it. I still cannot believe that we are leaving for USA in less than a week, it just does not seem like it.

By the day. I did an on-line typing test yesterday, and my rate was 69 words per minute, with only One error. I think that is pretty good!

Hi all

Please read the important message below from the Tongmasters. Remember that 24 September is National Braai Day, and officially the start of the new braai season. As usual, we will be celebrating in style, so watch this space.

Braai Day

Giant steps are what you take,
walking on the moon
I hope my legs don’t break
walking on the moon (The Police)

It was forty years ago today, that Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed on the moon. Apollo 11, was the first lunar landing, and the 5th Apollo manned mission. Think of the progress we have made since then:

• satellites
• satellite TV
• GPS
• satellite phone
• space stations
• probes to Mars
• satellite mapping of the entire earth (think Google Earth)

Apollo 11Command Module

Landing Module (one that did not goto space because the real ones never came back!)

(pictures by me)

Hi all

Just a quick update that the recent Toastmasters induction dinner was featured in the Cape Town newspapers. They also displayed a full colour photo of me and Lois. You can read the article on my other blog.

Craig

I had to unblock the SIM card on my Vodacom datacard, which should be a simple task; I had to phone the call centre twice, and navigate through menu’s nine levels deep to eventually get hold of a real person to assist me. When I eventually spoke to a human, she gave me great assistance and solved my problem in about 2 minutes. However it took me far longer trying to navigate my was through their system.

Wouldn’t it be nice if at the first menu they gave you an option to speak to a real person?

I just wish that customer-card would actually mean the care of the customers’ needs, and not just the cheapest and least labour intensive solution to your customer problems.

The worst part is that when you finally speak to a person, you are so grateful that somebody has actually answered the phone, that you don’t complain in case they disconnect you, and you can never find you way back through the labyrinth!

Well, at least it wasn’t the Multichoice call centre, where you have to speak to the voice recognition system that never quite manages to understand you.

2 Onions to all poorly run call centres!