My short and sweet take on the quarter final! And all that's left to say is... GO SHARKS!!!

To petition or not to petition?

There is a lot of attention being paid right now to Mr Bryce Lawrence and his lack of refereeing skills.  For those of you who have not yet heard of the Facebook petition to get him banned as a referee, feel free to click the link below, visit the site, join the petition and leave a comment or 10.  For those of you who have, well done!  I am going to assume that you have already joined.  For those of you who have boxed those of us who have joined into the category of "Sore Losers", I would simply like to give you some food for thought.

Australian journalist puts the OZ/SA QF into perspective

I'm still smarting from the result of the quarter final between Australia and South Africa along with the rest of the country.  In fact, to such a degree, that every time I sit down to pen something my anger boils to the surface and I abort the attempt as I have a golden rule... never write out of anger, it can never be taken back.  You can imagine my delight when I received the article below from my bestie today.  I could not have put it any better and what makes it so much sweeter is that an Australian journalist from The Australian wrote the report.  Enjoy...

Incompetent Police Work Leads to my Son's Arrest

As a mother, how would you feel if you saw this on your son's BBM status? "At police station, stupid ******* detained me 4 car theft."  I felt instantly sick, my legs turned to jelly and I started shaking.  If I didn't have him on speed dial I'm quite sure I would still be trying to dial his number right now.  

Personal Information on Your CV Could Result in Identity Theft

A while back I was kicking up my heals about how people don't come back to you if you are unsuccessful when applying for a job.  This got me thinking.  Are all jobs advertised on the internet the real deal?  The unsurprising answer is no...

Crime Intelligence Unit Targeted by Hoaxter

Hi all,

It's been a while since my last post for two reasons.  Firstly, I've been busy doing a whole lot of nothing and, secondly, there hasn't been much that's caught my interest up until now.

There is currently a message doing the rounds via both bbm and e-mail as follows:

Back off buster! You are oh so married!

It's not often that I go out to socialise, perhaps once a month or so given the current financial situation, so when I do venture to the local pub I do so with the only intention of having a couple of drinks, more than a couple of dances and to have a right royal good time.  Our local pub (name witheld for good reason) is fantastic.  It's a pokey little sports club that is locked firmly in the 80's where the patrons range from their mid to late 30's to geezers that have been going there for so long that their bar chairs have been firmly moulded to their butts.  The prices are reasonable and the music is awesome - I would venture to say that it is probably the only pub that plays such music as the owner is a huge fan of 80's high energy and disco and I supply all his music.

How to deal with scam artists

Just recently I have had an onslaught of scam e-mails.  Under normal circumstances I would simply mark the e-mail as spam and block it but I recently read an amusing artical on a blog (http://www.sodahead.com/) where one of the posters said that he signed up scammers for free casket measurements, which got me thinking.

Now, before marking and blocking the scammers, I sign them up on a site called Free Stuff (http://www.free-stuff.co.uk/).  All you need to do this is the scammers e-mail address and name.  The e-mail address is pretty simple and as for the name - I use one of the bogus names in the scammers e-mail.

I think I may just have found a new (and extremely enjoyable) past time...

High Alert Update

As promised, I have responded to the ad with the following.  Please note that I have not included the pictures as they may be viewed as offensive by some.

HIGH ALERT!!!

I was scanning vacancies via Indeed and came across the following ad.  When I clicked the link it directed me to Gumtree.  I found it to be highly suspect for several reasons which will become glaringly obvious to you as you read through it.  This prompted me to do a little research and I found that the company MKC academy of fashion, beauty & print is located in Los Angeles, California and not Paris.  The poster of the ad is obviously using this company to give his "job opportunity" credibility.  What he gets for this is pictures of women in costumes and lingerie which he will probably sell on to porn sites that will use the pictures to advertise their sites.

Another hoax?

Hi all,

I have just received the following bbm's within minutes of each other:

BBM 1

A 4yr old boy went missing in heaton park yesterday he was wearing shorts and a thomas tank top and jelly shoes, If seen ring 07876355234 please pass this on to all your followers and send the message out to your friends, his parents are really worried.

I would like to point out a few things with regards to the above.

To Thatch or not to Thatch

Hi all,

This is a call for help.  If you or anyone you know needs thatching done, please let me know.  Stanley is a man from Limpopo who is needing your business.  He did the thatching on my nieghbours gazebo and his craftmanship is impeccable.   Because he works for himself,  his prices border on the unrealistic. 

Job Interview

The interview that I went for today went well.  The position is a commission only position, but at 30%, it's higher than most.

Pay it Forward

I had a really uplifting experience today and could not wait to get home to share it.  One of my favourite movies is Pay it Forward.  For those of you who have not seen it, it really is worth the watch.  The basic story line is about a young boy who starts a chain of events.  His philosophy is that when someone does something good for you, rather than you owing the person a favour back, you pay the favour forward to someone else.  This movie was such an inspiration to me that ever since the day that I watched it, I have made it a personal (and unpublicised until now) mission to do at least one good deed a day. 

Let the mud slinging begin...

I have been following the comments by the general public on the elections with much amusement and head shaking.  Everyone is entitled to their opinion however, let it be with dignity and intelligence.

Voting Results Update

The voting figures continue to come in.  The tables below are a comparrative indicator of the voting results on a national basis for the the top 10 parties at the moment. 

Party Name	% Total Valid Votes
Total Valid Votes	34,299,768
AFRICAN NATIONAL CONGRESS	63.70%
DEMOCRATIC ALLIANCE/DEMOKRATIESE ALLIANSIE	21.89%
INKATHA FREEDOM PARTY	3.96%
NATIONAL FREEDOM PARTY	2.60%
CONGRESS  OF THE PEOPLE	2.34%
INDEPENDENT	0.88%
UNITED DEMOCRATIC MOVEMENT	0.68%
AFRICAN CHRISTIAN DEMOCRATIC PARTY	0.61%
VRYHEIDSFRONT PLUS	0.45%
PAN AFRICANIST CONGRESS OF AZANIA	0.43%

http://www.elections.org.za/content/LGEPublicReports/197/Detailed%20Results/National.xls

Blackberry Hoax

A hoax message circulating on BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) asks users to forward on the BBM message to their contacts in order to maintain BBM service, and claims to have been originally sent by Research In Motion (RIM). 

Online Job Scams

There are hundreds of work from home typing and data entry jobs posted on the internet however, DO NOT FALL FOR THIS SCAM because that's all it is.  I have done quite a bit of research into this and I think that it is criminal conning already unemployed people out of cash that they clearly need for better things.  This is how it works:

Frustration is... incompetence in the service industry

I was phoned and told I was due for an upgrade and went into the Pavillion branch of my service provider, only to be told that I was not legible for another 10 days but was advised by J**u (employee of the month) to do the paper work in the meantime which we did.

Frustration is... dealing with creditor phone calls

Dear Mr Creditor,

As discussed with you on numerous occasions, I am currently unemployed and although I have been for the last 10 months, I have managed to pay you for six of those.  Unfortunately, after selling all my worldly goods to do so, the money has now dried up and I am living with a friend - also discussed on numerous occasions.  I would however, like to thank you for the sms’s every second day as well as the phone calls - one received at 9.30 pm on Easter Sunday evening. 

Frustration is... when you apply for a position and you received no feedback.

I have now been unemployed for ten months and it is not from lack of trying to find a job.  I have a ritual when I wake up every morning: