Tom Clancy’s Op Center made me think

I was reading a book by Tom Clancy and I finished it last night. A great book, like all his books are. But something in the book really stuck with me. The book is basically about an goverment official from Russia, trying to take return the country to its former glory, but in the wrong way. Basically by waging war. In the end he is stopped and his plan fails. He doesn’t give blame to the Americans and Russians who worked together to stop him, but rather to one man who had shot a his plane when he realised something is wrong, making them change the plan.

None of us think of things like that though. We usually think that we as one person can’t make a change in the world, but I think we can. And no, I’m not saying you should start shooting at planes, but rather, help people where you can and help the world become a better place…

Grant Hackett

Man, now this guy can swim. If you think about distance swimming, his name should come to mind (at the very least for pool swimmers). Personally I think he is the greatest distance swimmer yet. He was undefeated for 10 years in the 1500m. And the first time he didn’t win that race was after his shoulder operation. In the 2004 Sydney Olympics, he was in the greatest form due to an illness, but he still managed to win the 1500m after most people doubted him. After the race he went to the doctor, where he found out he had a partially collapsed long resulting in a 25% loss of lung capacity. But the actual reason for writing this, is because I’m just a bit angry at himJ. He could’ve won the 1500m at the 2008 Being Olympic Games too, if only he had swum his own race. He was just a bit too focused on the wrong swimmer. But I really do hope he decides to make one last ditch effort at winning the race before he quits. My coach and I disagree on this one. I believe (and hope) that he will make an last effort and leave as the champion. While my coach thinks that he has probably been broken to bits by that last swim, because we all know he should’ve won it. Come on Grant, you can do this man.

Grant Hackett Wins a race!

Java instead of C?

At the moment I’m a first year student at the University of Stellenbosch. I didn’t really know what I wanted to study this year, so I started with a broad Bsc. Now that I have an idea of what all the subject are about, I decided I should go study Computer Science next year, seeing as I love working with computer and programming. I was so keen to start, I actually contacted the head of the department to find out of the book will stay the same next year. Then I can buy it now and start reading through it. His reply shocked me. The course was originally in C. Now it is in Java. Now, correct me if I’m wrong (I did java in school), but java isn’t nearly as powerful as C. And wouldn’t you want to learn the more powerful language in a varsity course? If anyone reads this and has any comments to make on this, please do, because this is a bit strange to me…

Pies all around

I am a big fan of meat and some veggies, but for a quick meal in the afternoon before I head off to training, nothing beats a pie. Even though I love my red meat, I don’t like steak and kidney pies at all. I find that the roast chicken is one of the best tasting pies. There is one better though… Next time you eat a pie, treat yourself to a burger pie! They are a bit more expensive, but they taste so damn good!

Put some butter on your bread!

This might be a bit of and weird post for a blog. And this is definitely not to be healthy (this is probably unhealthy). But have you ever tried to put some butter on your toast and just eat it like that. But you can’t be slow about it, as soon as the bread pops out of the toaster, you have to butter it, making the butter melt nicely into the bread. This is AWESOME!

Two Movies that I love for some reason

I was just sitting here now and saw on Dstv that Days of Thunder is coming on again soon. Now for some reason I love that movie (there are loads more that I will write about in the future). And another favourite of mine is Top Gun (my girlfriend bought me the dvd for my birthdayJ). So anyone who has watch these two movies will soon realise that that are about the same. Both of them star Tom Cruise as the main character with Kelly McGillis as his co-star in Top gun and Nicole Kidman in Days of Thunder. In both movies he has an exceptional talent for what he is doing (A race driver in the Days of Thunder and a Fighter pilot in Top Gun). Both of them has a rival with who he contends for most of the movie, but in the end they sort of join forces to be successful. And in both he goes through a low in his career, having suffered a major setback and he has to fight with himself and everyone else to get back to top form. Which of course he does. And he gets the girl… It is so predictable, I know, but I love it. I think it is just the way he comes back after everyone has written him off and takes it all and ends up being the hero. Who knows, maybe that is why I love distance swimming or endurance races. Is it not the best feeling in the world to shock everyone by accomplishing something nobody though you could? Damn right it isJ

South African Olympics a bit off

As some people may have realised, the South Africans did not feature at the 2008 Being Olympics. The athletes hardest hit by the media’s over critical comments were the swimmers. They might not have won any medals for us (which we needed badly seeing as we only won 1 silver), but it does not mean that they did not try. The biggest thing that most people do not understand, is that it is not EASY?! The media makes it out to be a walk in the park, but have they ever tried making it to the Olympics? Probably not, because if they had then they would not have been so quick to criticize our hard working athletes. This does not only apply to swimming though, but as I am in the know, I will relate most of this to swimming. My training partner and I both went to Olympic trials and though neither of us made it,(my training partner was a lot closer than I) we trained just like every other athlete who tried to make it. And if anyone can stand up and say it is easy to get to that level they must be crazy. I just feel people shuldn’t be so quick to judge our athletes if they never tried making it themselves. Remember these athletes do not get paid for competing, most still have to make their own income.

First Post – All me

This is not the first time I decided to start a blog. However, I have never been this serious before. My previous blogs were just there to try to make money, even though I did not have anything to write. This time around, I want to give back a bit. Ever since I have worked with computers, I have always had some or other problem I needed help with. The easiest solution was to come search for it on the internet, but as most of you know, it just is not always that easy to find the solution. I will regularly update my blog with all the things I have had to fix and with a bit of luck, you will run into them, making your life just a bit easier. I am currently teaching myself how to program in C (way overdue) and will put that up every now and then too. I have a passion for swimming and will upload a few stories about that too. Lastly, I am South African and I might even be able to shed some light on some of the rumours out there about usJ. Hope you will come back for some more!