Nic’s blog
I write about building businesses, failing and building a life, not a legacy.
Never Reformat Your HardDrive...Ever
I decided to reformat my Mecer DL70 yesterday. Public holiday I thought, good time to get it done I thought, Quick and easy I thought. I was wrong. So wrong.First I reformatted the HDD, that was OK, it's not a hard thing to do. Then the trouble started. The keyboard wasn't working. This meant that I couldn't enter the product key to activate and continue installing Windows. Joy, Windows.Then panic stations kicked in, big time. I freaked, found another Windows installation disk, reformatted HDD again and attempted another install. Not so much. Same issue, no keyboard action, no keys outputting anything on the screen, no nadda. Then I did what any freaked out person would do in this situation, call for help. So I did, I called the Vin (not Vin Diesel). Mr Maher has some air of solution about him. It seems to me that he can solve a problem just by hearing what it is, no action involved. At 19:30 last night the Vin answered his phone, spoke some shit to me for a bit and BAM the keyboard was fixed. Bastard, he didn't even have to tell me to do anything constructive and he had fixed the stupid keyboard.So hurdle #1 was overcome. Then hurdle #2 has stamped it's authority and prowess. I have no drivers, for anything, no modem, wireless, printer, etc etc etc. Nothing. This sucks. I was told to download them, how pray tell me? I cannot get on to the internet. I am at a loss.I am now making use of my mother's laptop to write this post and get some work done. I will then be heading off to the Mac shop in Sandton City to make my purchases I reckon. They tell me not to do it, they tell me to save my money, screw it, money is a commodity, I will have more of it by the end of the month!!
The Old South African Flag - Offensive And Upsetting
Disclaimer: I am about to rant, a lot, and my opinions might piss some people off, unfortunately when it comes to this topic, I don't care.I went to the Portuguese festival in Johannesburg this weekend, Lusito Land. At this festival there were many different types of people, Greeks, Portuguese, Italian, English amongst many others. Two of these people were wearing t-shirts that offended me to no end; the old South African Flag proudly displayed on their moronic and ignorant backs. The old South African flag does not represent the Afrikaans people who are thinking, progressive and good people. In my humblest of opinions this flag represents the dregs of society, the people who believe in oppression, ignorance and racism. I cannot believe that anyone would still have the guts to wear this outdated insult on their body that once represented so much hatred and pain.You, sirs, are fools and the only reason that I didn't say something to you is because you were about 25kg's heavier than me. Nonetheless I understand what it is that these people were trying to get across but unfortunately I think that they were doing it in the wrong way. The flag below represents all that liberal and free thinking South Africans (not to mention the world) fought against and thrive to undermine everyday here in the New South Africa.Take that flag and stick it where you think it best belongs... and I'm not talking about your wall.
Online Threats From The Website Theif
I have previously posted about my MyBlogLog woes and a certain registered users, Hecubus who stole the registration of one of my websites. I asked for some help and Paul from Chilibean pulled in and made some moves to right the situation.I thought that all was done and justice had been served, apparently not. Hecubus is back and making idle threats on this very blog. I am not impressed. What makes someone believe that they have the right to threaten other people when they themselves were the fools who were conducting irresponsible and illegal business. You, Hecubus, are out of line. Step back in to that box of yours and calm down. I was justified in the acquisition of my right to register a site that I OWN THE RIGHTS TO!!!!!!! Think before you type my friend because you might think that you know what you are doing, but I strongly disagree. Justice prevails, and it will in this situation.For your viewing pleasure:
Australia's Performance and Cricket World Cup Final Ruined By Bad Light and Umpires
I have just finished watching the final of the 2007 Cricket World Cup. What a shocker. What were the umpires thinking? The light went bad and the Sri Lankans turned it down, the light got better. It rained and everyone went off the pitch, it stopped and everyone came back on, then it rained and the game went on. The light became so bad that the commentators could not tell who the players were and the umpires couldn't see enough to be able to call a wide. Then Australia celebrated their victory and were made to play on for 3 overs only to celebrate their victory again. A bad end to a great tournament that has been shadowed by some interesting and saddening events.Adam Gilchrist was phenomenal, 149 runs in the world cup final, incredible. I have posted on SA Rocks already about putting all feelings aside and honouring the best team in the world for three years in a row. Australia is undeniably and unequivocally the best cricket team in the world, again and again and again.Final outcome Australia won by 53 runs.My congratulations go out to them and their management. The best team won and we all know it.
Fresh Faced Comic - Russell Peters
Russell Peters has been featured on nh.com before but I just can't get enough of this guy. He is hilarious and is now talking about god playing a practical joke on the Indian people!
Amatomu Releases Technorati Ranking On Homepage
It seems as though Amatomu are going straight for the jugular in the aggregation market and Technorati is on the hitlist. The creators of Amatomu are clearly not worried about competition in the form of their biggest competitor internationally and this new feature is a testament to their confidence.Vincent Maher said that this feature is not even available as a Technorati service, which I find astounding and somewhat ironic. You can now see where your blog is placed in terms of Technorati ranking in relation to other SA Blogs... on Amatomu.
I think that Vincent has done another sterling job in providing users of Amatomu with another reason to stay on the site and use the statistics that are provided. I am sticking with Amatomu until I have a reason to leave, which seems very far away for now.
Zeitgeist - Conglomerates and event planners
Unfortunately if you are an event planner for a conglomerate, today Amatomu wants to defeat you because you are bombarded:
How To Add A Discovery Credit Card As An Absa Beneficiary
This sounds easy as pie. It's not. If you have tried to do this recently you will know what I mean.Firstly, there is no "credit card" option when selecting the type of account. Secondly, there is no "Discovery" option as bank because Discovery is not actually a bank. Lastly, the number on your credit card is not the same as the number displayed on your internet banking, who knew?So here is how to go about adding your Discovery Credit Card to your beneficiaries list on your Absa internet banking:To start with:Click on "beneficiary" in the main menu.Click "add new"Then Step 1:Find the button asking you to "Link Absa listed beneficiary (bill payment)" and CHECK IT.Head over to the right text box and type in "DISC".Click on the "Next" button.
Step 1a:Find the button that says "Discovery Credit Card" and CHECK IT.Click on the "Next" button.
Step 2:Enter the relevant details regarding your Discovery credit card. Remember to use the number on your card.
Step 3:Finally, click on "Add New" to complete the process.
This might seem like a really simple and stupid post, but I promise you it took me ages to find out from somewhere what one needs to do to overcome certain hurdles like typing in "DISC" to add a Discovery card. I hope this helps someone.
Earthlike Planet Discovered
Artists impression of Gliese 581
South African Cricket World Cup is in Trouble
It is 17:30, 26.3 overs down as well as 7 wickets and 97 runs scored. We are in trouble.Trying to stay positive.
Wired Update
This post serves as an update and apology: You know it's busy when your most recent posts are from del.icio.us.So here goes:Digspot is launching soon. It is up and it is active. South Africa's soon to be student social network #1 is making its way through campuses around SA as of May 2007. I am in the process of organising a massive marketing spree nation wide. This alone is eating my time. Would love to have some feedback if anyone has time to join and try out the Digspot network!Company update: I am in the process of formalizing my new company here is JHB South Africa with Courts. This is a laborious process that is time sapping and energy destroying. Registering a CC, finding clients (I have just confirmed the first of hopefully many to come), getting advertisers on board, finishing website development on many, many sites and blogs and managing my personal blog and SA Rocks. Killer time destroyer. Also designing the site/blog for the company is time consuming as I am using it as a platform to experiment with Wordpress and its capabilities as well as how I can manage myself with regard to design.I still have a girlfriend (this is a job on its own). Having an understanding GF is a very NB NB part of being an entrepreneur. Without said supportive GF I would be in deep trouble. She is lovely and she is still around (heaven knows why).SA Rocks is cruising along swimmingly. The contributors to the site do a sterling job and the support has been incredible.My design skills and programming are coming along slowly but nicely (any assistance welcome and encouraged here).I have just started contributing to the University of Kwazulu Natal's media blog. So far (one post down) it is proving to be thought provoking and challenging.I am also trying to consolidate a plan of action in terms of what sites/blogs to drop, produce, promote, develop and design. This is a tough process with many new ideas coming up and presenting themselves in all genres.RSS feeds have become the bane of my existence, I can't keep up with all of you bloggers blogging. So much interesting stuff to get through, so little time.Finally I am still trying to remain a human being in touch with the real world and real people. This involves a bit of a social life on the weekends, catching up on my TV and some movies as well as meeting up with bloggers and media people in the real world over a real meal.Phew. That's kinda it for now I think.