snowgoose

So, I have this tendency to do things on the spur of the moment. Crazy things. Dare-Twitter-to-dare-you-to-wear-your-pyjamas-to-work crazy. Yes, you heard right, tomorrow morning I will be going to work in my purple and blue stripy PJs and I will be twitpiccing it for the nation to see. Gorilla slippers and all. I got a bit bored tonight and tweeted that if I got 30 people @replying me on twitter, I’d wear my pyjamas to work.

Why, you ask? Because I can. I don’t know…. I’m crazy like that. So if you want to see me in my (not so) sexy pyjamas, make sure you’re on twitter tomorrow at 09h00.

Holy hell, what have I gotten myself into?

(Oh, and in case you’re wondering… I got 88 @replies and counting)

Update:

I did it! I wore my PJs to work, look:

I have to learn this lesson at least once a year. You’d think by now I’d have gotten it. Well, you’d be wrong. I have a tendency to work very hard at something I’m passionate about, to be overly gung-ho and to bite off more than I can chew. It all goes swimmingly for a while and then things start to teeter and I get sick. Every. Single. Time.

I’m in the process of getting over flu because I decided it was a great idea to fly to Cape Town, back to JHB… Back to Cape Town and back to JHB  – all in 4 days. This after 3 very hectic weeks and 4 incredibly hectic months – Oh, and one morning spent taking photos for a client pre-sunrise in central Jozi. Temperature: Minus 3 Degrees Celcius. Smart one hey?

Eish – will The Goose ever learn?

I’ve never been very good when it comes to charity or humanitarian work. I do my bit every now and then on a personal level when I see someone in need but it is really not much. I am not apologetic for this – I recognise the need for angels in our society but I am not that good at actively being one of them. That is why the events of last week surprised and delighted me – as part of assignment for a client, I visited the Nkosi’s Haven Village in the South of Johannesburg to report on them giving 67 minutes of their time to help better humanity and I think it may have lit a spark of something in me.

“OK, so why 67 minutes?’ you ask… well, where the hell have you been this week? It was Nelson Mandela’s 91st birthday on Saturday and also the inaugural “Mandela Day” a day where ordinary citizens were asked to donate just 67 minutes of their lives – to honour the 67 years that this great man spent on humanitarian causes. So what can you do in an hour and 7 minutes? Not much – but I think the point is to use that time to start something bigger.

So, back to my story – we arrived at Nkosi’s Haven Village in a convoy of 4 cars. 5 South African women out to do a little bit for others. The task we were given was to sort out donated clothes, linen and toys into sizes, gender’s and ages. No mean feat considering the mountain of clothes, higher than our heads! Its not a glam job by any means but without it, the Village is unable to distribute the clothes to those who need them.

In our 67 minutes we managed to sort over 12 large bags of clothing out, but this hardly scratched the surface. I have not been able to get that pile of clothing off my mind and I am thinking of getting a few geeks (and non-geeks) together and going through to the Village on a Saturday morning to help finish the job.

Nkosi Johnson did so much for the plight of HIV positive people in his short life and Gail Johnson is taking  his good work to new heights with Nkosi’s Haven & Nkosi’s Haven Village, but they need our help. What are your thoughts? Will you help me? Let me know so I can start organising a volunteer group.

To read more about the village and our time there, visit the Izibongi Blog.

This weekend I was lucky enough to travel to The 2009 Durban July on behalf of a client: South African Tourism.

Recently, Metro FM ran a competition where people could win an all expenses paid 5 day trip to Durban for them and 3 friends. The trip included Shark Diving, Ziplining through the Oribi Gorge and a day at Africa’s Greatest Horse-racing event; The Durban July. We were tasked with recording their experiences and publishing them online on:

• The Celebrate South Africa Blog
• The @ShotLeft twitter stream
• The South African Tourism Flickr stream
• The South African Tourism YouTube channel

Things I learned this weekend:

Durbanites are amazing peeps

Everyone was so friendly and the city has a great, bohemian party vibe. We met some fantastic people and my opinion of the city that was formed in my childhood (Slightly dingy holiday town full of surfers) was seriously challenged. Durban also has loads of fashion designers, from the fledgling ones starting their careers to some of the most respected designers in SA.

The Durban July is not actually about horses

It’s about seeing and being seen in the latest fashions. I saw the blondest hair and the darkest tans I’ve seen in a while. Some of the people looked fantastic – but mostly they just looked plastic. The main race was at 16h30 and the majority of the 56 000 people at Greyville racecourse didn’t even bat an eyelid when the horses thundered down the straight. Some of them didn’t even leave their Marquees!

I did have a good laugh at the girls who started off the day in their insanely high stilettos looking like they just stepped off the catwalk and ended it rather drunk, their make-up smudged and their feet in excruciating pain. As much as it wasn’t exactly my normal scene, I did enjoy all the people-watching and I’m very glad I went.

Kwazulu Natal has some awesome tourist destinations!

I’ve been going to KZN on holiday at least once a year since I was a kid and not once had I ever been to the awesome Aquarium at uShaka Marine World, see the Umzimkulu River Valley on the South Coast or the breath-taking Oribi Gorge. Next time I find myself there, I’m definitely doing the Wild Swing at Oribi Gorge – it’s a King Swing down a 100m drop!! Radness!

So, even though it was a working weekend – I had a great time and learned a lot. Go have a look at our photos, videos (still busy being uploaded) & blog posts to see what we did.

I am of the firm belief that everyone should start their career off working for a big company.
The benefits are just too amazing not to. Especially if said company is a bank.

Let’s use myself and my boyfriend, Shaun Custers as examples: I work for Standard Bank, he works for a small IT company. He earns more than I do, has shorter working hours and travels less every day but I still have the better deal. In the 2 short years I have been there, I have gone on over 6 training courses on things like web development, Usability, Web Project management, Marketing and the latest one, Leadership, all free. I have also gone to numerous conferences, also free. The interest rates on my house, car etc are all discounted. On the other hand, Shaun hasn’t been on one training course that he hasn’t had to pay for in full. And his company isn’t able to offer him interest rate discounts, a retirement fund, a free counselling service, free Will drafting, a free library, a subsidised canteen, etc (I could add quite a few more things that I am lucky enough to get.)

Now you see why I say all young people should at least start their careers at a corporate. Imagine you are a 21 year old, straight out of varsity, and you are able to get this phenomenal head start. You would be way ahead of your peers in a few years and if you don’t like the enterprise culture, then you can move to a smaller company or even start your own.
People like Tyler Reed are the exception to the rule, most young people need to claw their way up the ladder and spend their first few years in the working world slogging away for peanuts. Corporates don’t pay peanuts, and the training and bursaries they offer are enough to make it well worth ‘being a number’ for as long as you need to.
Think about it.