Ask Steph

Much news and info has been floating around about Rhinos lately, and anyone who has access to even a gossip news site is aware that the last 5 years have quickly decimated the wild Rhino population. If you want more detail , and all the facts and statistics you can read all about it at Breaking the Brand , where they have clearly laid out the problem , and their ingenious solution  . If you're like most people, it's pretty boring reading. That does not mean it's not important though. So for those who want the highlights , and what you can do about it , here are the big takeaway facts . FACT - Rhinos will be extinct in our lifetime  --> unless we act now. FACT -  Current conservation thinking is not working. --> we need a different angle FACT -  The current demand is driven from a growing wealthy middle class in Viet Nam. Yes - read that again. It's got nothing to do with Chinese Medicine. Here's how you can help  Step 1  Download and ...

Aussie-fication. That process whereby one becomes a naturalised citizen of the Aussie Aussie Aussie , Oi Oi Oi Universe. Not to be confused with a simple citizenship ceremony. Those are so 1990 darl. I am an Aussie (with some sad but ingrained Saffer DNA , it's a tough life mate). And I almost have the certificate to prove it. Aussie-fication begins in earnest the first time you use the word mate. Sincerely and without satire, sarcasm or feeling self-conscious.

So I noticed somewhere around March or April that I've been endorsed for some of my skills- and I'm very grateful to the new contacts and ex-colleagues and friends who have taken the time to endorse me. I've also noticed - and I shall keep names out of it - that some of my skills ( which I do have) have been endorsed by people that could not possibly have experienced or witnessed those skills. Because  I know them in a completely different sphere than the skills they have now endorsed. For example. I know some SQL . I know it because I learnt it by working on an Oracle database while being a Business Analyst at Discovery Health . Unless you have worked with me at Discovery ( and even then , I did a lot of different things at Discovery Health) you wouldn't really be able to endorse my SQL skills. I also know a fair bit about databases and database management. Not all of it by direct experience mind you, but because in working with DBA's over the years I have pi...

So Maxine and I are now firm friends , meeting up twice weekly to put me through my strength training paces. And my favourite exercise of the lot is the spider crawl. Hook yourself up to the cable weights machine with a harness right at ground level. Then get on your hands and feet, and crawl forward with opposite hands and feet until you can't go forward anymore ; and then come back in the same way. Sounds weird, and like a bit of contraption, and it is. With some weight attached though, it's damn near impossible to move without working your core ; and it's exactly the same motion you'd make if you were doing bicycle crunches .... just a whole lot more fun. I am so loving my training time with Maxine, that I forget to come home and blog about how much I hate exercise ... Although to be fair the lack of blog posts could be more indicative of my 12 hour days and 7 day work weeks .... possibly. Anyway - back to the point, which is I have lasted since March...

I was asked a while back if I thought it was worth it, immigrating to Australia. I wrote back to my friends, and published a long sad story on this blog at the time. I discussed the things I missed about South Africa, and the things I really didn't miss. I discussed the reasons why I love Australia, and that ultimately, I noted that I was still in that middle ground. Unable to go back , because I couldn't, and wouldn't want to go back. And not quite yet settled enough in my new home to say that it was worth moving. It's a really unpleasant no-mans-land . And one that you really cannot relate to, or understand in the slightest unless you have been there. I am please to say however , that a mere 10 months on , and 2 months ahead of schedule , I am quite well and truly no longer on the fence.

As a South African, it's really easy to take for granted the number of Public Holidays that the country has. Sometimes it can seem like they all blur into this mass of unproductive hours that cost the country time and money. For me, it has taken an immigration, and watching an ANZAC Day Parade to fully appreciate the meaning behind the holidays in South Africa. We don't make a big deal out of the holidays in South Africa.  Freedom Day, coming up now on Saturday the 27th April is a celebration of our first democratic and fair elections. Do we really feel that celebration ? Is it just another Braai Day , or long weekend? Why do we not make a massive deal out of our bloodless revolution? I watched the ANZAC Parade today , in my small town , about an hour's drive out of the Melbourne City Centre. It was in no way , as massive as the Melbourne City ANZAC service and Parade where thousands of people line the streets of the city to watch thousands of Veterans, the curren...

So sometimes I am just blown away by random statistics. And sometimes , I am just blown away by the seemingly random, but actually good to know little factoids that feature in my line of work. Like the fact that there are just on 23 million small businesses in America 1 -  a small business being one that employs between 0 and 20 people. I would assume 0 means it's just the owner by his lonesome doing the work, otherwise, is Casper helping out ? This number blows my mind because I currently live in a country with a total population not far off that number. In fact the statisticians officially predicted we'd be over the 23 million mark at 9:57 pm last night . or so I am told by the news media. And I come from a country ( South Africa) with a population just shy of double that amount - South Africa was at 51 million people as at the 2011 census. Where 12 million people in total live in Gauteng, which is the financial hub and powerhouse of the country. And here's Am...