Yasin Ansari

A week off work in Durban

// July 11th, 2009 // No Comments » // Travel

So I finally succumbed to the cold, signed in my leave form and as I blog, am sitting in good old sunny Durban (KZN) and wow it feels absolutely great. My Durban link stems from my wife being born here and me having spent 3 fantastic years of my life here working with some awesome companies doing what I love most … designing websites. Durban by far is one of the top 3 cities in South Africa, offering you everything from great weather, beach and a laid back kinda lifestyle that only a coastal town can offer you. I tell you its got something to do with the humidity. What amazes me about this place, being an aspiring gardener, is that plants do really well. Its amazing as you drive down the scenery, terrain, colors change so dramatically from one province to another. You know you are near Durban when all the colors start coming back as you leave the brown and grey of Gauteng, it starts getting warmer and then it hits you – the smell of salt in the air. BRILLIANT. Growing up in Kenya, for school holidays we drove to Mombasa (tropical paradise) for a break and the deal was the first person who saw the ocean gets to choose dinner.  The game hasnt changed much just its not my dad motivating us – its me striking a deal with my wife and still having to pay for the dinner. I miss being young. As far as plans go, this is time off – I have none. Just the beach, catching up with a few ex-colleagues and friends lastly doing that thing you are supposed to do when you take time out and thats doing NOTHING. Watch this space, will be blogging about my nothingness soon. Catch y’all later …

Getting on with it…

// July 2nd, 2009 // 2 Comments » // About Me

These last few weeks have been about the  ending procrastination and simply just getting on with it. Its amazing how when you finally get fed up with putting something off, get  stuck it in and finish t, it seems alot easier than you thought.

It started like this. Being a website designer and always willing to give a hand, I have been helping a few mates out with their word press blogs. Being a designer who absolutely loves a challenge, I embarked on demystifying word press and as much as I still have a long way to go I am getting somewhere. All this in lure of the fact that after getting a job from the freelance days (oh I got loads of stories) I killed my site. So mission was to get word press going with a theme that I can work with … Voila, its here – my blog, about me and all the things that make my world go round.

The second came as a shocker. My car been giving me hassles and considering that it hadn’t had a service in 30000kms I knew that when I finally get to a "honest workshop" it was going to be a smacker. So after some price hunting (a necessity if you want to do ANYTHING in jozi) I chose the workshop and dropped of the car. A few hours later I get a call from some dude giving me some story of how shagged my car is and how I needed to make a 4000 (zar) plan. OMW – I lost all sensation, taste and saliva from my mouth – instant numb. So i call him back (yes I dropped the phone) and asked the dude NOT to do anything. But sure enough they had "started" the service. So I asked them to finish and a grand down I picked up my baby.

Thing is this right, I worked with cars for like 2 years in my life and then there was an aircraft maintenance stint for a bit so apart from procrastination I have no valid reason why I dont do it. So this weekend, my Zimbabwean guard (ex mechanic – versatile people I tell you) are going to attempt to take off the engine, replace a clutch plate and put it all together. And to motivate him, considering I have chosen to do this on a Friday evening,  the only way he is going home is if my car is working.

And the last would be this garden furniture that I have been trying to make for a while now. I don’t understand the costs of things in Johannesburg sometimes, for sure people come here to make more money but trust me the cost of living generally takes that difference away. So enough of spending money on things that I can do myself hence the attempt to build furniture, that too is a post that will come soon.

So to independence, saving some moola, telling the world about it and beyond …

Glad to Finally be online!
Yasin Ansari