BRETT-REID.COM

There is a new series on Discovery called ‘Engineering the World Rally‘. I have wanted a Subaru WRX STi for some time now, in fact I am sure most guys (even ones who drive 6 series) still want one. Jackie hates them. I told here it’s only a matter of time before there is one parked next to her car. Barry took us for a ride in his black one and I was sold. We took a corner at 120kph (all 4 of us) and the car just stuck to the road like glue.

This program is really interesting and follows SWRT for a season. Rally drivers are on another level and Petter Solberg is incredible. He says that if the team move his seat 3mm he can feel it as that is his ‘office’ and he feels everything through his seat.

It has made me even more focussed on buying a Subaru. But when I buy one I want the latest model so I’ll have to wait a few years

This book caught my eye one afternoon while I was ’shopping’ with Jackie. CNA is always a great stop for us men, especially when compared with Foschini, Truworths, YDE, etc. An Unpopular War was sitting at number 6 in the top 10. I’ve read 2 books on the Border War and find it very interesting - like the cover says - it was a war that was swept under the carpet, most young South Africans don’t even know it happened. Yet in the 70’s and 80’s it was a reality which you faced as you finished school.

The day finally arrived, Cape Town Book Fair! Why am I so excited about a book fair? Because we built their website. Vanessa Badroodien from Cape Town Book Fair approached us late last year regarding a new website. They were linked to the Frankfurt Book Fair and wanted their own separate website and database. We pitched an idea to her and she was impressed. After a lot of hard work, we launched their new website on 22nd March 2007.

I’ve had the opportunity to share quite a few social evenings with Stonewall+ as my girlfriend Jackie Ellse is their Art Director. They really are a cool group of people and one of very few web agencies I look up to in South Africa. Many know the previous Madam Zingara burnt down but it didn’t seem to stop them as they are back, bigger than ever in a circus tent on the Foreshore. I hadn’t heard any reports about this ‘new one’ and I’m glad.

Dean, his mate and I made our way to the Dragon Power gym run by Winston and Quentin Chong (picture above) to watch the qualifier for the World Muay Thai Championships to be held in Thailand.

There was a lot on the line and Ryan vs Shafiq promised to be an awesome fight.

This year we’ve been treated to two brand new “Microsoft technologies”.

The first started life out known as Sparkle but has since been renamed ‘Microsoft Silverlight‘. It’s a media delivery platform, supposedly competition for Adobe’s Flash. New technology? Hardly, Flash has been around forever. Okay so now that Microsoft has a ‘better’ alternative to Flash, surely you’d expect them to USE this on their own website? Don’t be silly.

Next we have ‘Microsoft Surface‘. Oh look, it’s using Flash 9 to deliver it’s content. What happened to Silverlight? Earlier this year I was sent a link to TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design). The link showed a gifted student showcasing his latest project. It looked incredible and the audience were blown away. (by the way TED seems to be running on CodeIgniter)

3 months later it’s branded, boxed and being shipped as a Microsoft product.

Dodgy. *cough*