PICTURES

One of the most important and time consuming things that has been going on in recent months has been the construction of our new house at Callodyne. And this has kept us away from the 'party and get-together circuit '.

Seriously, building a house in Mauritius is an experience that I will never forget.... 12 months ago I thought that concrete was concrete... and that you add it to water and you can build a house... now ask me about architects ( luckily we have a very good one), about building contractors , and workmen , and rock sand and metal bars... ( did you know that you can spend a few cool millions (MUR) just on the metal framework that goes into a construction project????

As anyone who has gone through this in Mtius can tell you - you need to be on site almost everyday ... and that has been the reason why I've not updated as much as i should... all my spare time is spent on-site.

But now I've remedied that so i hope you enjoy the picture-set HERE.

As usual just click HERE and off you go.

...Once again back is the incredible!!!!!

Those of you who know me or have read the previous posts in this blog would remember me lusting over a JVC Everio hard disc Camcorder.
At the time it was relatively new formt for camcorders , and as such it was a bit early to say what direction the major electronics companies were gonna take the format.
1 year Later has seen the format really begin to take charge.... Well this year for my birthday i decided to bite the bullet a get a camcorder... was i gonna stick with the traditional DV Tapes or was I gonna take the plunge into the newer world.... THATS WHEN I CAME ACROSS THIS BABY.. Friends, family, foes, and jealous types... Meet the Sony HDR SR11, little brother to the Sony HDR SR120. Both are full HD, AVCHD,Hard Disk camcorders.The SR11 has a built in 60 GB internal HD. No more tapes, no more 1:1 download times for transferring DV to PC then to disc....hell no more rewinding and forwarding to find the part you want to delete....
Th main specs of the model are FULL HD quality recording on the internal 60GM hard disk drive... yep I'm a getting ready for that 42 inch Bravia X series which will be gracing my living room in the near future.
Carl Zeiss Vario-Sonnar T lens, 5.1 surround sound and Face Detection.
The Independent reviewers on camcorderinfo.com as well as some independent blogs of note such as the brilliant seansense, really helped me make my choice.
There are some challenges such as the editing/rendering of AVCHD video which seem somewhat easier with a MAC (so maybe for x-mas..), and in any case require some major power.
I've beenmessing about with Sony's own Vegas Pro and am still working through the tutorials.
So in a few months, if you need a camera man, feel free to contact me for wedding's Bhamitzvas, or foam party's .

Ambre Hotel

We spent the weekend after my birthday at the Ambre Hotel in Belle Mare in the East of the island.
It was a ( I have to say) that on the whole it was a very good experience.
we had, previously stayed at the Plantation Hotel which is part of the same group about 2 years ago ; and it was such a bad experience that from then on we never stayed anywhere but Beachcomber hotels.
Here at Ambre it was a completely different experience.
Now there were some reservations... staying at Ambre one sees that the hotel is in some need of renovation... little things like a bath tub in Prestige rooms rather than Jacuzzis , cement tiled pathways rather than more modern cut stone look are clues that the hotel would benefit from re-looking . But the hotel is well maintained, and clean with no security issues.
The only complain I had was the price of the drinks... it cost me 500 Rupees Mtian for a JD and coke!!!!! which is very steep if you consider that had i known; i could have brought a bottle at the price of 2 shots!!!!
At Ambre all drinks are charged in Euros , and at hotel exchange rates.
My advice would be to pop down the closest supermarket and buy drinks there, and stick em in the mini bar.
I did complain of the drink prices and the manager promptly acted and charged at a more reasonable Rupee price.
But.... that's it.... no other negatives... AT ALL.
The service was warm, and friendly. for example Jen planned a surprise birthday cake for me and the surprise was almost spoilt by ALL the staff wishing me Happy Birthday everywhere I went ... how did they know who i was???
The rooms were cleaned and tidied promptly , which for us is one of those things that we love about hotels... that you can get dressed and and make a mess but when you come back from diner .. the bed is made, your clothes are folded and placed in the wardrobe....
We stayed 1/2 board and Ate predominantly from the main restaurant.
Breakfast and dinner were both buffet affairs will a very wide range of fare. Ranging from Indian, to Chinese, to Italian, to Brit .
I Would recommend Ambre to anyone wanting a family friendly hotel at a reasonable price.
Just buy your drinks in advance...
Click HERE for pictures from our stay.

PIC finaly for ya's

And that's when I came across this baby...this Harmon Kardon Baby is the bomb!!!

I did a bit of research on the net and the link to iLounge offers a good idea of the system.
there are other systems with more features , even much less expensive...But i think the design AND the sound quality really sets it apart.
I've currently got 'Bombay' by Timbo bussin out and the depth of Field is amazing and with out any distortion... absolutely...
anyway given that the iphone belongs to Jen, logic implies that this system does too...
anyhow i reckon it'll look great on the kitchen top in the new house.
So all this leaves me with one issue......what am i gonna buy myself for my birthday???....

NEW TOY

Do you remember Those???
In fact I'm sure I've still got some old mix tapes somewhere under the bed...
Or how about those compilation tapes that peeps used to do ? I remember doing one that took something like 8 hours , choosing each tune one by one... and in those days it wasn't just a case of 'drag and drop' nah man.... you had to play each one off of vinyl.... those were the days.
Moving on; I recently managed to pick up an iPhone from the states. And had originally brought it for Jen as her birthday pressie ( even though i use it more :-) )
BUT having brought it , and having loaded it with my pretty large collection of mp3's I needed a good set of speakers ...

Return of the Space Cowboy

Hi everyone, well finally managed to get internet connection here.
As a result of moving from Quatre Bornes (the 'real' capital of Mauritius) to the more ascetic though rural part of mauritius , we lost access to decent Internet access. But FINALLY technology has caught up with us.....and one of the local ISP Emtel has recently started to offer the WiMax service.( see god does listen to prayers.... eventually.....) Trust me; I was first at the door with cheque book in hand....
Obviously sooo much has happened since the last post about 1 year ago... Jen changed Job, she's now with the Mtian Inland Revenue- so fun eh.... (be careful what comments you may leave....:)
And while she's busy taxing you , I'm now even busier trying to get you into debt... we have finally began the construction of our 'dream house' also in the North which is A very interesting process- so much so I'm considering weather to create an additional Blog to share the process......
Nyeshka is growing up at a tremendous rate, and my friends who have young children I'm sure would vouch for me on this, that its; not the rate of their growth that is worrying rather; its the rate at which WE are getting old which is rather frightening. anyhow take this as a note that NY World is back!!!! Expect to see some exciting changes to look and content as I become IT Savvy again....

2006 A Retrospective

What a year2006 has been .
As a family a lot of the goals and personal objectives that we set out to achieve in the last year were somewhat realised.
2006, saw me get that promotion I had worked so hard for( no seriously ).
I did my first interview in 'Eco Austral' a french language Business magazine ( which is a BIG thing considering I'm not too hot in French).
Of course Jen's Graduation stands out as one of our great achievement.
Other highlights have been the number of friends and family who have gotten in touch this past year,through this weblog over the last year that has truly been a welcome surprise.
Anyhow I hope that you all had a great time over the new year , whether in Londinium, Dubai, Wolverhampton , Palmer's Green, Tottenham, Wales, Belarus, ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD!!!
I look forward to hearing about it.
In regards to he pictures Ive posted its basically everything we have gotten up to since my last set of pictures..
From the charity event planed with my Direct Sales Team for underprivileged orphans, to the Beeharry's X-mas party...
as usual click the PICLINK and off you go.

Techno Lust 2

Regular readers to this site will remember me lusting over an JVC Everio Hard Disk Video cam- about this time last year...
I still think its a beautiful little machine( it'd fit in the palm of your hand....).
Though it did come highly recommended ( apparently Tarantino always has one with him )but due to poor reviews in regards to its poor light performance etc i never brought one....
NOW THIS BABY!!!!
This babe is the way forward.... You cant really go wrong with Sony....I've has a Cannon camera which stopped working after a short while and Cannon didn't want anything to do with it , poor customer service- enough to put me off the brand.... whereas now i have a top of the line Digicam Sony Cybershot DSCT7 which I have taken underwater ,right up to the tops of hills and no problems whatsoever....
And anyway the videocam brings with it :

2.1 Mega pixel VIDEO recording - which is HIGH DEFINITION which should go nicely with the Plasma screen next year:)( haven't convinced the Mrs yet on that one yet....:)

10 x optical zoom

Dolby® Digital 5.1ch Recording- I will be the next Scorsese

And of course NO Tape whatsoever!!! This is the future of media products... [an article in yesterday's London Times stated how sales of DVDs has dropped significantly over the last year and media companies were anticipating further drops over the next year.
The market favouring downloads, and on demand media rather that removable...]
Aslo the camera was recently voted best camera in its catergory by camcorderinco.com which is a highly restpected camcoredr specialist site...
So all left to do is wait for that performance bonus in January ... and whoo hoo!!!!