Great Idea from Mary-Lou

I copied this from Mary-Lou's blog today, and thought it would be fun to complete - go ahead and do the same for your blog and let the world know more about you (hah, the world, I have like 5 regulars...) 1. What time is it? 09h50 2. Name as it appears on birth certificate: wouldn't y'all like to know 3. Nicknames: Van, Vanvan, Princess Fiona 4. Piercing: Just the ears once, I know I wasn't that rebellious 5. Eye color: Blue & grey 6. Place of birth: Cape Town, South Africa 7. Favorite food: pizza with bacon, banana, garlic and feta cheese. 8. Ever been to Africa? I live here, nearly emigrated to the USA, but somehow can't leave here. 9. Ever been toilet papering? Once in our elementary school bathroom's we wet huge wads of loo paper and hit the ceiling with it. 10. Love someone so much it made you cry? Who hasn't? 11. Been in a car accident? Yeah, my own stupid fault too. 12. Croutons or bacon bits: Definitely both 13. Favorite day of the week: Saturday, cos there's still one more day of weekend! 14. Favorite restaurant: Anywhere that serves great steak and onion rings. 15. Favorite flower:Tulips and lavender 16. Favorite sport to watch: Synchronized swimming, gymnastics 17. Favorite drink: Water, soda water, lime & soda 18. Favorite ice cream: Any brand of cookie dough (can't get it in South Africa!!! GAAH!) 19. Disney or Warner Bros.: Actually I like Pixar. 20. Favorite fast food restaurant: Taco Bell (also don't get in South Africa!!! GAAAAAH!) 21. What color is your bedroom carpet: Terracotta tiles 22. How many times did you fail your driver's test? Nearly the first time, but I passed. 23. Before this one, from whom did you get your lastE-mail? WORK 24. Which store would you choose to max out yourcredit card? Scrapbook.com (online) 25. What do you do most often when you are bored? Play The Sims 2. Scrapbook. 26. Bed time: 09h30 27. This question didn't really fit for a blog. 28. Who is the person you think is least likely to respond? 29. FAVORITE TV SHOWS: Smallville, CSI Miami, Alias. 30. Last person you went out to dinner with: My hubby 31. Ford or Chevy? I HATE Ford, and Chevy's too expensive here, right now I'm a Hyundai fan. 32. What are you listening to right now? The sound of the fax machine receiving more work. 33. What is your favorite color? Indigo (purply-blue) 35. How many tattoos do you have? None, nearly got one in NYC of a horse rock painting. 36. Have you ever run out of gas? Nope, nearly though. 37. What is your favorite Book, Movie? Ladyhawke.

Help Desk Bananas for Brains

Why is it that when you ring a help desk, that the staff are always snotty, rude, condescending, impatient and thoroughly unprofessional? I am not a moron when it comes to computers and I worked in IT for a few years before changing to the travel industry. So when I rang the help desk for our accounting software (I am happy to admit that I am NOT an accountant), I expected a bit of help, and not the torrent of sarcasm that I did receive. Basically what I created another user profile in XP for my work pc, so that when I leave at 14h00 that the person who comes in then, can use their own profile, email etc. However our accounting software package is this antiquated dos based thing that came off Noah's ark and didn't appear in the programme list. So I checked to see how my computer connected, mapped a network drive to the accounting share and all I needed was the file path from that point on to find the little .exe icon. So the Bitches on the other end of the line are like "oh, you can't do that, it doesn't work, you have to install a new version of the software onto the new profile (!!!), and when I said "actually that's not true all I need is the file path", I was told...."well if you're such an expert why did you ring us?" Needless to say, I rang the help desk manager - WHO ALSO DIDN'T KNOW and was JUST AS SARCASTIC. So I ring the local rep, who emailed me the path. I mean really!! I am busy composing the mother of all complaints letters addressed to the CEO of the company. They really, REALLY don't want to mess with me, a pregnant battleaxe...

MIL trouble

Well, now that I eventually find time to blog I can finally regale my happy tale of what the MIL did when she heard about our latest scan from my dear hubby. He returned in high spirits to his office where he proceeded to tell his mom how the appointment went. He mentioned to her that the first 15 minutes were spent explaining what they look for, and if there were any genetic abnormalities (which there weren't thank god) and what the various abnormalities would mean. He said that he found this part quite scary to deal with...then before he can go on to say that thankfully everything was fine, and that he understood why they did that part first - only to reassure you with a successful scan where they measure everything etc. She starts to LECTURE him on how we (him and I) have made the wrong decision to not attend ante natal classes, and yadda yadda yadda, and how we never go to her for advice we're always going to our friends, we should be going to his sister (my SIL) for advice because and I quote "she's such a good parent". Ok let me remind you all that this is the same SIL who 'emigrated to England' and lasted all of 3 weeks before running back home. The same SIL who is married to a complete Loser, the same SIL who is currently unemployed and along with her husband who is also unemployed is sponging off the hubby's folks. So then my absolutely wonderful hubby, tells his mother everything that we've been feeling for the last while (and I am SO glad that he stood up for us!). He basically told her that it would insane for him to go to his sister for advice, because her life is currently a complete fug up. He doesn't agree with her parenting style which is totally permissive and the child is turning into a monster. He said he would never go to his mother for advice because she is the LEAST logical person he knows for not realising how his sister manipulates her, and manages to sponge off his parents by using the 'grandchild' as a crutch, etc etc etc. It ended up with him storming out of the office and telling his mother to fug off. The following day he received an abject apology, and a promise not to interfere again. What annoys me about the whole episode, is that generally I have a nice MIL and we get on very well, the same goes for the SIL, we get on, scrapbook together and are generally civil. However, it is clear that in this situation the MIL and SIL have been having a right good gossip behind our backs about how we are doing everything 'wrong'. I actually just want to laugh at them both. So WHAT if I am not going to breast feed. I believe that a scientifically formulated product is better than the ol boob especially if the mother (like me) doesn't eat a balanced diet. So WHAT if I am not doing ante natal classes. 90% of it is all 'hee hee hoo hoo' breathing and I am having a planned caesar long before any hee hee or hoo hoo is required. So WHAT if I plan to stay home for 6 months after I've had the kid because I don't expect my parents and brother to fork out for a full time au pair the way the SIL did. GAAAAAH. Now I am all annoyed again, and all this happened last week. I'll get over it I know.

More problems with Hello

be back tommorrow

Tap Dancing on my mothers' bladder!

Here is one of our latest scan pics! It was such a wonderful scan, quite funny really, because when we first got to see him, he was asleep, so the Dr used the ultrasound wand thingy to prod my abdomen in order to try and wake him up. This of course sent me into peals of laughter, and then the baby proceeded to reward us with some antics which we caught on video. One of which was this spectacular little tap dance on my bladder. Either that or he's sitting up playing the drums really hard. At one point on the video it's like he's waving "HI MOM" as you can see the hand so clearly that you can count the little fingers!!! Thankfully everything is 100% normal, and thusfar there is no evidence of any genetic abnormality at all. Not that we were expecting anything, y'know since the hubby and I aren't first cousins or anything...har har. You'll notice that I'm saying 'he' a lot, since the Dr told us it was a 95 % chance of a boy due to how his internal genital organs are developing, I didn't actually know that they don't look for 'external' evidence or lack there of! Anyway, tommorrow I will recount the story of how my MIL reacted when my hubby tried to show her the video...let's just say that it started with my hubby being super excited and enthusiastic, and ended up with him telling his mum to fug off and with him storming out of the office....but that's for tommorrow's post.

Valentine...

I had a surprisingly nice Valentines day. Got a really nice bracelet from the hubby (I had some cute red 'glow in the dark' undies delivered to his office which I'd ordered online), and that evening when we both got home from hectic days at the office, we decided to head out to the casino for dinner and to throw some money away on the slots. Of course, not having made reservations ensured that we had to spend at least two hours on the casino floor shoving money into machines, as our name slowly made it's way up the waiting list of our restaurant of choice. In the end it was well worth it, as my steak was DIVINE, the cheezey garlic sauce, suitably cheezy, and the onion rings potent enough to make me pass gas for the next 24 hrs. We both fell into bed exhausted and cursed the alarm clock seemingly seconds later when we had to face work the next day...

Just imagine if sharks got through the reef, and decided they were in the mood for horsdeuvres??!!! 

More tempting pics. 

Ok, here is a pic from a hotel that I quoted someone to yesterday. He is wanting to take his wife and two kids there. It's the Hilton Rangali Resort in the Maldives, and was not affected at all by the Tsunami. I just had to post this picture, look at that horizon, it's 'wall to wall' turquose water!!! You kind of have to ask yourself, what are those people doing in the jacuzzi, when they could be snorkeling in that awesome water! I am glad to find that Hello is working quickly again, so that I can hopefully post a picture tommorrow of my lastest scan. 

Confession time

Ok, so I stretched the truth a little and said it was cheaper than it really was. It turned out that he wasn't really phased, luckily I was armed with a few choice examples on how he spends more money than me anyway, but I didn't need them afterall. I am having big problems with 'hello' at the moment, hence the recent lack of pictures. It looks like I'm going to have to keep y'all entertained with my eloquence and creative spelling. Onto cool stuff, the hubby and I are going for our 'big' scan tommorrow. It's this new thing they're doing at 12 and half weeks now, which is in colour and you can see all the internal organs, and blood flow, heart etc and...the gender of the baby! I am really excited, I really hope we can tell, so that I can start to think about nursery decor. I'm not going to go balistic on any one particular colour, but need to know what colour to 'accessorize' in. Maybe I should stay neutral and go with purple, yellow and green. ugh, just the thought of those colours sounds pukey. I think I'll go with papyrus coloured walls with some 'misty blue' accents....

Sims 2 - Addiction

You know that you are a gaming freak, when you just have to buy a copy of The Sims 2, and then hide it from your husband, because he'll moan about the money that you've just spent. I rationalised my purchase by reminding myself that the hubby plays golf every Saturday, and that costs money too, then it's also breakfast with the guys, drinks after the 9th hole and then an entire afternoon of drinks after the 18th. So my plan is to keep it hidden until it's reasonable to think that I may have stumbled across a second hand copy, or until I can claim to have 'bought it ages ago', by which time of course it would be silly for him to complain. Or I could also remind myself that it's MY money and no-one (not even the person who puts a roof over my head and is the father of my unborn child) but no-one tells me what to do with my money... but somehow I don't think I'll win any argument using that tack. It's just quite frustrating having to listen for the sound of his car in the driveway, and then praying to be able to shut down the programme by the time his key hits the lock in the front door...I could of course also claim that it costs less than scrapbooking, so he shouldn't complain at all. :)

One thing about pregnancy that I have discovered is NOT a myth, is the VERY VIVID dreams that one experiences...

Last night I found myself in the midst of Gladiator the movie, but not 'on the set' as it were, but 'in the story!' It was the part where Maximus is about to escape. Now because I realised that I knew what was going to happen, I warned Maximus about the betrayal, and instead managed to single handedly rescue him from Rome and proceed to have an extremely steamy affair with him, once we were 'over the mountains' and in safe territory. Sigh.... Of course my over 'movie-d' brain then dragged an American CIA agent into the mix, and then there were gun fights and modern hotels and it all got very 'James Bond-ey' on me. Then my bastard alarm clock went off at six this morning....GAAAAHHHH!!!! 

Dumb ass

Oh I could really climb under my desk right now. I am so blonde. So stupid, such a moron. Really. I just did a quote to Lagos, Nigeria for a client, and then promptly sent her the Angolan visa requirements and application forms. A travel agent that books her client to one country, only to send her the application forms and visa requirements for an entirely (and geographically quite distant) different country. Man she must think that I am THE THICKEST human being that she has come across in at least a week. I also didnt' go the 'I'm sorry, my mind is fudge because I'm pregnant' route, because then she'd have some serious doubts as to the mental ability of my unborn (and of course genius) child. Then again, she is going to visit the most crime ridden city in the world, so who's stupid now huh??!

Does anyone ever wonder what ever happened to Atlantis? Myth, legend, another dimension? Did it simply lift off and settle elsewhere in the galaxy? Was it destroyed? Did anyone survive? Where did they settle. Is all their technology lost?

Johannes Ewers is the artist, and imaginaire. 

I stumbled across this picture on the internet and it fascinates me. I love those graphic-y futuristic pictures that stretch the imagination. I can't remember the artist's name, but here is the link where I found it: http://www.irtc.org/stills/1999-02-28/view.html there are some amazing shots on that site!

Otherwise apologies for the lack of post yesterday, the office was completely insane I kept getting curve balls that I had to swat out the way so that I could get out of here! 

Ever felt like a horses's ass?

Actually I don't but I just love this picture that Pixy, from giggel.blogspot.com sent me! It makes me smile everytime I look at it. So much so, that I am now using it as my avatar on msn messenger. I watched Shrek 2 the other day and found it even funnier than the first time around. I was not impressed when later that day my husband started referring to me as 'Princess Fiona' - the ogre version. !!!! (Yes I did marry this man). 

I had an email out of the blue from my cousin in Holland. It was SO great to hear from her again. She came out to visit nearly a year ago, and since then we've not had contact for various reasons, my f*tard brother wouldn't give me her email address (because he's a schmuck) and she couldn't contact me because I changed jobs just after she visited, so my email had changed. Somehow via other family in Australia she managed to obtain my new address and hence her email.

It just makes me feel all 'travelly' again. All I want to do right now is get on a plane and go and visit my family in Holland! I have not been there since I was 5 and altough we've had sporadic contact over the years and see occasional photographs of each other through various family members it's not the same as sitting down over a glass of wine. (Even though wine is out of the question at the moment!). Anyway, I guess for the moment email and instant messenger will have to do. ***big sigh*** 

I have just been working on a honeymoon quote for a couple. It's rather nice doing some leisure research as opposed to the strict and quick corporate stuff that I am used to. However, now I remember why I left leisure travel, because this person took a look at this picture, taken at the hotel which I quoted her very reasonable rates at, and she doesn't know if she likes it. What!? Pray tell is NOT to like abou this picture!!!???? Is this not idyllic?? Is this not a effingly romantic getaway?????