1. Loose weight
2. Get Fit
3. Reduce cholesterol
4. Meet your neighbours
5. See the world from a different perspective
6. Enjoy the fresh air
7. Reduce pollution (esp if you combine the walk with an errand)
8. Time out from your busy life
9. Inexpensive
10. It’s Fun!

So, here are 34 things to keep you busy when stuck in bed!

1. Catchup on your reading
2. Surf the net
3. Catchup on your newsfeeds
4. Phone all your friends
5. Cleanup your mailbox
6. Download and play with virtual lego
7. Arrange your MP3 collection and create new playlists
8. Try to understand what the globs on your MRI scan actually mean
9. Create lists of things to do when stuck in bed
10. Check your e-mail about 100x per day in case anything interesting has happened since the last time you checked
11. Change the colour scheme on your computer
12. Figure out if downloading the 3gig installation for the trial version of Warcraft is really worth it
13. Read more books
14. Play online tetris
15. Google everybody you know
16. Play on Facebook
17. Play on LinkedIn
18. Create Christmas Shopping Lists
19. Research every medical procedure known to man – just in case
20. Write aimless blog posts
21. Update the layout of your website
22. E-mail all your friends
23. Stare out of the window
24. Google your doctor
25. Shout at the cat for "bathing" on the bed
26. Read even more books
27. Wonder which book to read next because by now you have read all the good ones
28. Cleanp your desktop (on your pc)
29. Sleep
30. Play every game that came free with your computer, and realise why they are free
31. Defrag your harddrive
32. Read even more books…
33. Google your pets
34. Order warcraft online because the download is too big

What have I missed, I am sure I will be adding to this list shortly…?

Watch out for the next installment of this exciting drama – alternative treatments recommended to me (by non-experts) for a slipped disc!

1) My code is better that yours.

2) It works on my machine…well, if it works on your machine and not mine, then clearly it is not a robust application, or your installation procedure does not work very well. Remember that you wrote it on your machine, so of course it works on your machine. Now get it to work everywhere else.

3) I’ll comment the code at the end. The end of any development cycle is always chaotic, that is a simple fact of software engineering. So, if you have not got time to comment your code while you are writing it, how are you going to have the time at the end? Besides, if it is a large project with a long development time, are you going to remember what some of the earlier written (uncommented) code does!

4) I’ll add the error handing at the end. Error-handling is part of the basic design of a system, not something you slap on at the end when you have time.

5) The programme is complete – but I just need to quickly finish off…..This is a very common one. The development is not complete until you have finished writing all of the code. If you have a single line of code to write, it is not complete, and not ready for testing.

6) It is a small bug – it will only take 5 minutes to fix. By the time you have load the development environment, identified the bug, fixed, tested and rolled out the change to production, it will be much longer that 5 minutes. There is no such thing as a 5 minute to fix bug.

7) I only have to change one line of code to fix the bug. To the customer, it does not matter weather it is one line of code, or one hundred lines of  code. All the customer cares about is that the application is not working. Fix it!

8) It’s not my problem. If your application is not working – it is your problem. It does not matter if RightFax is down and you cannot print faxes, or you cannot connect to the FTP server. The fact is that if your application is not doing what it should be doing, you had better find out what the cause is, and resolve it.  While different people may have ownership of different portions of a software system, you are ALL responsible to ensure that everything is working.

9) The application works fine with my test data. Yes it might, work with the test data, but the live system does not run on test data. It runs on live data. Best you get your application to work with live data.

10) It’s a user error. If the user is clever (or stupid) enough to break your application, it is not robust enough. You need to anticipate all user inputs, and cater for them. If at a later stage you find another user error, modify your code and test cases to check for it.

And a bonus lie…

11) Of course I test my own code. Do you? Really? Promise? Ok, then let me try to break your application.

And yes – I did complete the Argus Cycle Tour!!!

So, in honour of the increased traffic flow, here are my top ten traffic dislikes:

1) Drivers that hoot at you from behind as soon as the robot (traffic light) changes to green.

2) Pedestrians that walk in the road when there is a perfectly good pavement. The same applies to joggers.

3) Cyclists that don’t ride in single file and insist on riding abreast of each other.

4) Slow drivers that insist on driving in the fast lane.

5) Unroadworthy cars and trucks that spew out black smoke into your face.

6) People who take up two parking bays when parking.

7) Perfectly abled people who park in disabled parking bays.

8) People that slow down and ‘rubber neck’ at an accident scene.

9) Drivers who think that switching their emergency indicators on makes it legal for them to park directly under a no stopping sign.

10) And finally, Cape Town drivers who forget how to drive every time it rains.

Pepper corns (in a grinder) – freshly ground pepper is much tastier that pre-ground pepper. We have a grinder in our kitchen and dining room. Most restaurants in South Africa have grinders on the tables. I am surprised that you don’t really find that elsewhere (at least where I have been).

Coarse Sea Salt (also in the grinder) – we get fresh salt in 10 kg bags (Lois also uses it to make bath salts) from my uncle up the West Coast. It is much nicer that the supermarket salt.

Dried Herbs – not as good as fresh herbs, but still really adds a nice taste to a dish. We usually use Herbs de Provence – a really tasty blend of marjoram, thyme, savory, basil, rosemary, and sometimes lavender.

Fresh Garlic – ‘nuff said

Chilli’s (fresh, dried and pickled) – an addiction of both mine and Lois’, these are used in vast quantities whenever we can find an excuse.

Olive Oil – salads, frying, yummy.

Balsamic Vinegar – mainly for salads, but often used to flavour other dishes (especially marinades) as well.

Red Wine – ‘nuff said. To steal a quote from a fridge “we always cook with wine, and sometimes even put it in the food”.

A selection of Cheeses (at least cheddar, fresh parmesan and mozzarella) – great for those pasta sauces, and of course for eating.

Curry Power & Masala (I usually have a selection and most of the ingredients as well) – sometimes we make our own Curry Powder, but we often use locally made powders. We also have a selection of Indian ingredients (cardamom, coriander, cloves, aniseed, vanilla pods etc). Our love for curry goes right with our love for chilli.

Well, that’s the list – there are tons of things I have excluded, but one needs to be selective. So, what is on your list?

(I think I need to try to find a recipe that include all of these – watch this space.)

Sharp Knives
These are almost the most important thing to have in your kitchen. How can you slice, dice, chop and score without good knives? These do not have to be very expensive professional knives, but just a good set of sharp kitchen knives. Personally I would recommend at least a carving knife and a few multi-purpose knives that can also be used at the table when serving steak.

Cleaver
The cleaver is a very versatile kitchen implement. It can be used to break heavy bones, to cut hard-skinned squash and pumpkin, and is perfect for dicing veges and chopping fresh herbs. You can also use the side of a cleaver to crush fresh garlic.

Wooden chopping board
So, now that we have got both sharp knives and a cleaver, we need a suitable board on which to cut. I always prefer wood, mainly because it does not blunt the knives, but also because it provides a solid and firm surface on which to cut. Try to get a solid piece of wood, as opposed to separate pieces that have been glued or laminated together (they often split). For those of you concerned about health, wooden boards may be more hygienic that plastic board – the jury is still out. Try to have two or three different sized boards, and when preparing food, avoid putting raw meet and vegetables on the same board.

Grater
The grater can be used to grate almost anything (except for meat). Although we mainly use ours to grate cheese, it is also used in our house to grate fresh onion (add to a potatoe salad for a variation), cucumber, carrot, courgettes and potatoes (to make potatoe burgers). Try to get a grater that has several different sized holes.

Pestle and Mortar
This is great for grinding up herbs and spices, and also for making dressings. (For a simple salad dressing, mash a few fresh herbs with salt and pepper. Then add some olive oil and balsamic vinegar, and you have a great dressing.) Although fresh herbs are always better, dried herbs really release their flavour when they have been bashed about a bit. This is particularly useful with the range of ‘rubs’ that are now available. We actually have three Pestle and Mortars, and they are all used.

Grill Oven
Lois inherited our grill oven from her mother. It is really old (and looks so), but it is the best grill I have ever used. This is not to be confused with an oven; it is a standalone counter-top grill. We use grill everything from burgers to fish to melted cheese on toast. I personally prefer to grill rather than fry meat, it is so much more healthy. Our grill also has a rotisserie attachment, which is great for cooking whole chicken or cuts of meat. You can also use the top to keep food warm, or to heat up breads.

Wok
We love stir-fry’s – they are quick and easy to make, and there are so many flavours to experiment with, especially with the huge range of oriental ingredients now available. The Wok is really the only way to ensure that the veges are crisp and retain their fresh flavour. Of course you can use a wok for loads of other things, such as steaming dim sum, or for frying samosa’s or spring rolls.

Dishwasher
This has to be the number one think in my kitchen. For day to day cooking it’s a nice-to-have, but it is an absolute lifesaver when hosting a dinner party – it just makes life so much easier.

Ok, so its only a list of eight, but all of these are used in my kitchen on a regular basis, and all would be missed if they were not there. They really do make for better cooking and tastier food.

Prelude No 1: Bach
This is the first in the series of 48 preludes and fugues for the Well-Tempered Clavier, in which each piece is written in a different key. These preludes are a very early example of the link between music and mathematics. Bach is  referenced in great detail in the book, Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid, a must read for anybody interested in human thought, creativity, mathematics, music or artificial intelligence.

Prelude No 20: Chopan
Although it is a very short piece, it is extremely stirring. This piece of music shows clearly what can be done simply by the use of harmony, with very little melody. It is one of those pieces where you have to open the piano up as much as possible, and play with total disregard to neighbours. I always love playing this prelude. I hope my neighbours love hearing it!

Rhapsody in Blue: George Gershwin
A piece of music that is really a link between classical and modern music. Written in 1924, it could have been written last week. Gershwin also wrote Summertime, a piece made famous by Louis Armstrong, and played by covers bands the world over.

The Maple Leaf Rag: Scott Joplin
This is just such a fine piece of old-time ragtime music. It always takes me back to the old western movies. Published in 1899, Joplin received a 1c royalty for each copy sold. This gained him a stead income, since over 500 000 copies were sold over the next ten years (the name comes from the Maple Leaf Club – where he used to work).

Sonata in C: Mozart
This is the first ‘serious’ piece of music that I learned. Although it is not particularity complicated, it is very typically Mozart and I still enjoy playing it.

O Fortuna! from Carmina Burana: Carl Orff
The older South African readers will remember this as the song from the Old Spice advert. With a full choir, orchestra and two piano’s, this is a very moving piece. It can only be listened to live, or played really loud on the hi-fi.

Toccata and Fugue in D minor: Bach
Bach’s famous piece for the pipe organ is best heard in a church or cathedral (Lois tells me you must be in the organ loft itself!), but almost as good on a CD. Don’t even think of listening to this played on anything but a pipe organ.

Ride of the Valkyrie: Richard Wagner
This piece is from the music drama The Valkyrie, which of course is part of the four music dramas which are collectively called Der Ring des Nibelungen, or more commonly just The Ring Cycle. To perform the complete cycle takes over 16 hours!

Moonlight Sonata: Beethoven
A piece of music which always relaxes me. To me, Beethoven was a bridge between the classical and romantic era’s of music. It is remarkable that a composer who went deaf in later years could write such beautiful music (he was not deaf whe he wrote the Moonlight Sonata).

Bohemian Rhapsody: Queen
Okay, I know that this is not strictly classical, but if you examine the piece, it has many classical influences. The structure is very operatic, and there are many choral influences in it. This is a remarkable piece of music, made even more so by the fact that it was recorded in 1975, when the studio technology was far less advanced than it is today (when it was recorded, Queen were told that at 5′ 55”, it was far too long and would never get radio play).