Random Things
I have a new hobby: listening to clever podcasts at work. I find I can do most types of work while listening to people talk. It's quite an interesting process watching yourself do it. Everything that has to do with language - e.g. reading web pages, typing emails - completely overrides the sounds. Interestingly though, coding does not seem very much inhibited by having some extra company inside your head. I should mention that I use a pair of Sennheiser HD-201 headphones at work - excellent isolation from external noise, and surprisingly good with music!
So what have I been listening to with such intent, you might wonder? Bruce Eckel. I've been a fan of his ever since I read the excellent Thinking in Java many years ago (it is one of those books you can benefit from by reading it once every year). Bruce did a bunch of interviews with fellow software luminaries such as Guido van Rossum and Martin Fowler, and the results are, well, very thought provoking.
On another note, I discovered this really cool tool called GParted LiveCD. I knew that someone had written a GUI for parted, but this 30MB download is particularly cool. I just did a non-destructive resize on an NTFS partition with just a few mouse clicks. Those too stingy to fork for a copy of PartitionMagic - this is your answer 
Rather late than never: South Africa
Three months is a long enough time to come up with something to write in one's blog, no? Well, you would think that to be the case. It seems my mind has been far too occupied with other things for the period though. Like getting around the country. Around the end of April/early May, I clocked some 6,000km driving around South Africa - I visited a bunch of places I always meant to but never really had enough time.
Sadly, the trip didn't go as planned because my companion was stuck overseas. Hope he hasn't given up and we'll go explore together soon - I'll have a better plan for next time.
One of the notable places I visited was the Kruger National Park,
more info here and here. I will definitely be back for more! I found it to be an amazing place - it's odd because I'm not really the out-in-Africa type. Which reminds me, I still haven't sorted through all of the pictures (there's about 3,000 of them), but a selection of the best is in my Flickr album.
That's it for now. I'll try and update on a more frequent basis in future for you, dear readers 