Ho Ho Ho & Other Drunken Tales

So there you are at the Christmas Party when suddenly this walks in and smiles at you.

When I first saw this pic, I thought the guy on the floor was a human step, for others to reach the counter. I love how everyone else in the store simply couldn't be bothered. Must be America.

"Sexy cool crinkle cloth for those hot nights to come." Except they forgot to mention that it would take you an hour to get out of this ridonkulous outfit...an hour too long in the heat of the moment.

Her Dad took this picture. Future son-in-law material right there.

Check out the label on that bowl on the table. "Cultural Videos Donations". Really? What culture?

Theres A Family On My Stoep!

I love this pic.
It just has the most awesome family feeling about it. It reminds me of a time way back in the day when the festive season was all about getting together with friends and family and a zillion cousins just to have a great time.
A time when we could have the most amazing fun without worrying about crime or being kidnapped or mugged or raped.
It reminds me of youth and the innocence of growing up.

Mostly it reminds me that I need to learn how to scan pictures straight ;)

Disclaimer: I'm not sure who all these cute kids in the photo are, as it was sent to me by a good friend.
So if you recognize yourself here, feel free to tag yourself and holler.

The Italian Connection

Earlier today I met my clients PA.

The generalization that Italian women are hot and fiery is true.
Wow!

Anyways, that's not her in the pic and the model has absolutely nothing to do with this post.
I just put her pic up as eye-candy for my male readers, and something for my female readers to aspire to.
*waits patiently for the barrage of feminist verbal lashings*
Ok. I deserved that.
< Bad boy Kaloo, bad bad boy!>

So Paola (that's her name) was telling me an amazing story about how her car got wrecked.
It's interesting that whenever I start up a conversation with a beautiful woman, we always seem to gravitate toward the topic of wreckage. I wonder what Freud would have to say about that.... hhmmm...

So last week she was sitting in her office, with her car parked right outside her office window under a carport alongside the road. Suddenly there was a loud screeching of tyres and she looked out the window just in time to see another vehicle come flying through the air and land on her car.
Let me repeat that slowly in case you missed it the first time.
Another vehicle came flying through the air and landed on her car!
Her vehicle is parked in a slight dip, and there is a sand-heap on the roadside. It seemed the other vehicle was speeding, the driver lost control, hit the sand heap and launched into the air, landing on Paola's Toyota.
The driver of the other car, a lady on an iPhone (I'll pretend to be surprised at this point) was waving her hands in the air frantically during her flight.
Personally I think she was annoyed that her on-board peanuts hadn't arrived yet.
Or maybe she was screaming at the download speed on her iPhone.
Either way, she was unharmed.
Both cars however, were written off.

This got us onto the topic of insurance claims.
(Notice how I can keep a beautiful woman engrossed with riveting conversation!)
She tells me the story of how she had the same Toyota almost written of by her insurance company a few years back.
She came home late one night after a barbecue with friends. (Yes barbecue, not braai. She's Italian. Let's show some class here.)
Anyways, it was pouring buckets the night she drove home, and as she opened her car door to get off, she didn't notice the dog jumping in. Needless to say, she shut the door and ran inside.
The next morning at breakfast her mom asked where Fluffy was.
They searched for an hour and couldn't find poor harmless Fluffy. Then she went outside and heard barking coming from the car.
It turns out Fluffy had a vicious streak which is only activated when he's locked in a car during a thunderstorm with no food or water.
He had completely ripped the interior and the upholstery from the car, including steering wheel, gear knob, speaker box and dashboard!

That's not her car in case you were wondering.
Apparently her's looked even worse!

Beauty Is Only Mullet Deep

This post was inspired by a meeting I had with a client today. Halfway through the meeting, his driver interrupted to bring him a document which required his signature.
I was so tempted to whip out my mobile and take a picture, but I was afraid the driver would have whipped me with his ponytail/ mullet.

So without further ado, herewith the Top 10 Mullets, taken from .... wait for it... a website dedicated to the Mullet lover, called Rate My Mullet.

Bringing sexy back. Something tells me this guy has a tattoo of his mom under his navel.

If Elvis and Elizabeth Taylor had a kid, and that kid was given free access to hairspray, this is probably what the kid would look like.

Passport Photo anyone? Seriously, can you see this guy not being allowed into your country because of a dodgy passport photo Me neither.

The last member of the Harry Potter Fan Club for over 50's.

There's a funny caption just waiting to be made. I just haven't figured it out yet. Also, I haven't stopped laughing either. No coincidence.

Honestly now, which mom wouldn't be proud if her daughter came home with this strapping young man on her arm? I'll bet he even has all his teeth!

Call the FBI! We found Osama. He's hiding under a mullet. Osama Bin Mullet.

This haircut has been approved for people suffering from hearing problems.

No comment.

I'm trying to imagine Barack Obama with a mullet. Not for any other reason but to see whether it would ever catch on as a fashion statement again.

 I know there are people out there still sporting these hairstyles, and kudos to you for holding on valiantly to a dying remnant of the 80's. 

For the rest of us, some things are better left in the past.

The Chronicles Of Sabreen 2

So Sabreen asked me the other day when I was putting more pics of her on my laptop.
That's her version of asking when am I uploading pics of her onto my blog.
I promised I would do this more often, and since I'm too lazy to check which of th following I've already uploaded before, I simply decided to do my latest favourite pic list.
Note that all of these were taken with my Blackberry, which is reknowned for having crap photo-quality.

This will hold the Number 1 slot for a very long time.
I love the lighting and that look in her eyes.

This pic was taken at Sun City about a month back.
She'd just climbed out of the pool and wrapped herself up in the towel.

Sun City again, just before we hit the pools.

My funky Superga sneakers.

I took this pic over a year ago in Sandton at the Nelson Mandela Square.

Epic day of pouting. I picked her up late from school and she was not impressed. I had to buy  her a milkshake and ice-cream before her pout turned to a frown. It would be another hour or two before she smiled at me again.

This pic was taken over two years ago. I think she's aged 2 in this pic.

Sabreen, aged 2, dreaming of me of course :)

This is the face we wake up to each morning.
She has more expressions than I have shoes... and that's a lot of expressions!

Taken on the same day as the first pic; again I love that look in her eyes and the lighting.

RoadTrip Haarties

My best friend Sabeen from Dubai came to visit for a few days this week.
Don't confuse the names with my daughter Sabreen.
Common mistake. So common in fact, the missus and I sometimes make it ourselves.

I love this pic!
Sabeen, the missus and Sabreen.
That hectic wind as they stand on the bridge crossing the Haarties dam gives this pic and wildly awesome look.

Stop looking at my 6-pack!
As you can tell, Sabreen and I are huge political activists.
True story. She will tell you who Che Guevara is and even what he's famous for!
We went to a birthday braai for my aunt tonight and one of my uncle's asked why we had pics of my dad printed on our T-shirts!
Apparently my late dad looked like Che back in the day.

That right there is the happy family people :)
That's the Haarties bridge in the background.

Commonwealth Games Uproar

Ok personally I think the French and Aussies complain too much.
I mean, the athletes are there to compete in competitions in the name of their respective countries and come home with some medals dammit!
They certainly are not there to have showers or sleep or use the toilets! I mean really!
*A Parody. Not to be taken seriously* (For French & Aussie readers)
Commonwealth Games: Photos emerge of ‘filthy’ Delhi Games village

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Agence France-Presse  September 23, 2010 – 11:28 am

Reuters

A bathroom is seen in the Games Village in New Delhi, India.

NEW DELHI — The first photos emerged Thursday of the accommodation for athletes at the Commonwealth Games in India.

One shows a filthy leaking toilet, another a stained and dirty shower and a third a bed with muddy dog paw prints over it.

The pictures, leaked to the BBC by an unnamed member of a national delegation, were the first illustrations of the conditions that so shocked officials who recently arrived at the athletes’ village in Delhi.

Reuters

A bathroom is seen in the Games Village in New Delhi.

Reuters

A room is seen in the Games Village in New Delhi, India.

Angered and frustrated by the inaction of Indian organisers, the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF), the games international body, and leading countries went public with their complaints on Tuesday.

The photos show the conditions that were described by them as “filthy”, “uninhabitable” and “seriously compromised”.

Other photos, said to have been taken this week, show bathroom sinks full of dust and stained with an unidentifiable reddy-brown liquid, cracked pavements, shattered glass on a balcony, water-logging, stray wiring and rubble.

Reuters

A bathroom is seen in the Games Village in New Delhi, India.

Reuters

An external view shows the Games Village in New Delhi, India.

Reuters

An external view shows the Games Village in New Delhi, India.

A number of leading countries have postponed the departure of their athletes, but the first small contingent was scheduled to arrive Thursday at the village.

The athletes’ village, a sprawling complex near Delhi’s main river, was slammed by CGF president Michael Fennell on Tuesday, while his deputy Mike Hooper detailed a serious of complaints from participating nations.

He described rubble, shower doors put on backwards, blocked toilets and various problems with the electrics.

There was also “excrement in places it shouldn’t be”, thought to be a result of labourers relieving themselves in the homes, while Scottish officials are reported to have photographed a stray dog defecating on a bed.

Since then, some 700 cleaners have been pressed into action to scrub the residential blocks, the Times of India reported Thursday.

The newspaper said Tuesday that only 18 of 34 towers had been completed.

Posted in: Posted, World  Tags: Sports, Commonwealth Games

Oh, and that unidentifiable brown liquid is Paan-Spit.
Pfft... Europeans....I tell you! ;)

And In Today Already Walks Tomorrow

The title of this post is from a quote by Samuel Taylor Coleridge.

Sabreen and I were having a chat this afternoon about a dead bird she had found in the garden.
She seemed to understand the concept of death, but was a little confused about why death was so final. I sensed this when she asked me whether the bird would fly again tomorrow, once it had gotten over this whole death thing.
"How long will it be dead for Dad?"
hhmm... tough question.

So I decided to change the topic to something more apt to a 4 year old's reasoning, as Sabreen once set on an issue never let's it be until she fully understands it. She's like me that way. We can both be extremely tenacious, a trait which would be admirable if it weren't so intense when we're being that way toward each other!

Passion.
The one thing you enjoy doing above all else, and something you could possibly be really good at.
That's the topic we settled on.
I love the fact that she's at that age where I can capture her attention and engage her in conversation, and she's intelligent enough to contribute to the subject matter.
So I asked her what her passion was... what was the one thing she felt she did really well, and absolutely enjoyed doing.
She thought about this for a while, and replied "Listening".

That's just as well, since my passion is talking :)

Sabreen the Listener.

The 7 Day Bathroom

Ok so one of my clients required both the bathrooms in their home to be renovated within 7 days.
Now I don't usually do miracles, but on special request and at the right price, anything is possible.
Without further ado, I present to you The 7 Day Bathroom.
The project took just a week to complete, and a further 3 days for extras and finishings.

This is the entrance into the en-suite bathroom. Glassworks were outsourced and hadn't been installed by the time we had completed our aspect of the project and taken pics.

A view inside the bathroom.

The natural lighting inside this tiny area was great to work with.

I've done open-plan showers before where clients didn't want any glassworks.
Thankfully this wasn't the case here, as glass always maketh a shower.

The guest bathroom was a nice quick-and-easy.
We were in and out of this space in just a few days.

The trick to making a bath look perfect for the bathroom size is to finish it like it was custom-made for the space.

Well, there you have it.
Another happy client, another 7-day bathroom.

My dream of having my company specialise in bathroom renovations is well on its way :)

On The Seventh Day...

People are always asking me what exactly it is that my company does.
Well, as they say, a picture is worth a thousand words.
Sikama Contracting specialises in commercial property maintenance, but my hobby and the aspect of my business that gives me the most joy is building and renovating bathrooms for both the private sector and corporate clients.

The bathroom below was especially fun because it was built in a rather tiny space, and we had to incorporate it into the main bedroom so as to become an en-suite bathroom.

The Jacuzzi bath was an interesting touch, and the mosaic detail around the base was a challenge which turned out amazing on completion!

The client on this project knew exactly what she wanted, and this is another factor in a successful bathroom project. The attention to detail was expected and we delivered.

So there you have it folks.

A little peek into how I spend my free time.
I truly am blessed to be able to pursue a hobby which I have a passion for, and has the potential to turn into a lucrative business some day when I'm done with the commercial property projects.

Pending Photo Album

I've been meaning to start a photo album on my blog for some time now. I even went as far as getting an album template and uploading it onto the blog. The pictures you see (top right corner of the blog) actually come from the random files on Flickr.

My digital camera had a faulty shutter-button, and I finally tracked down the Olympus agents yesterday.
If all goes according to plan, I should have my trusty camera back next week and hopefully I can start uploading my own pics soon thereafter.

So the answer to the question i've been asked numerous times this week is: No, the current album does not belong to me, and NO I have no idea who the pretty blonde girl on the beach is!