Aquila Online

iFell

// December 12th, 2008 // 4 Comments » // HTC, Tech

Two days ago I was set on getting the HTC Touch Pro as my contract upgrade phone.

I mean, who can resist a phone that has:

• Mobile Internet features – surf and download at broadband speed with HSPA and Wi-Fi®
• 2.8-inch touch screen, with four times the resolution of most phones
• Vibrant TouchFLOâ„¢ 3D user interface
• Five-row QWERTY keyboard for quick and easy text entry
• 3.2 megapixel auto-focus camera with flash light for quality stills and video
• microSDâ„¢ slot for expandable storage
• Integrated GPS can be used with maps software for a full turn-by-turn navigation experience

Turns out all this is good and fine, but Vodacom decided to up the ante and is charging exhorbitant fees for this phone. I was told that I would have to pay in an additional R224 per month to get this phone and that’s on a Talk 500s contract. Not to be funny but who in their right mind will pay over R1,000 just on subscription fees?

At this point my little gadget crazy heart sank to an all time low. I entered into many (sometimes heated) debates discussions with colleagues and friends about the pros and cons of the Apple iPhone vs the HTC Touch Pro. In my books the HTC always trumped everything else.

I must make mention that when the iPhone came out, I too rushed to the nearest store, held it in my hand, ooohed and aaahed about the sexyness factor. It was there that I eventually decided it wasn’t for me. My biggest gripe? No keyboard/stylus input and no 3G passthrough among other things.

Back to the present though. On a whim I called up the nearest Vodacom outlet, asked if they had the iPhone 16GB in stock and much to my surprise, they did. I rushed over to have “a second look” at this phone, clearly convinced that my current HTC TyTN is “still good for another year or so” and “do I really need another brick in my pocket?”.

Strangely enough, holding that iPhone the inner gadget junkie child in me came out – clearly overjoyed at the sight of some bright, fancy gadget with the promise of hours of fun and a coolness factor of +300. I cave in and got the iPhone on a mid-range contract mind you (it’s a slowing economy and we all have to tighten our belts).

As soon as that puppy was fully charged and ready for updates, upgrades and the obligatory sync I uttered three simple words: “I’m in awe“.

I fell hard for this little piece of gadgetry. It’s still early days, but I’m stunned. I hope to write a better post on my experience with the phone in the near future, but for now all I can say is iFell!

The Top 10 everything of 2008

// December 9th, 2008 // 6 Comments » // General

I see that Time Magazine has released its Top 10 everything of 2008 list.

From movies to US election campaign gaffes to editorial cartoos to everything in-between. It got me thinking about my top 10 things of this year.

1. Getting engaged to the most beautiful woman in the world
2. Getting married to that same beautiful woman and love of my life
3. Taking this picture on honeymoon
4. Travelling to Botswana and Mozambique this year. I used to live in Botswana when I was a kid and we were on honeymoon in Mozambique.
5. Launching a new brand identity for an international firm of auditors, accountants and specialist business advisors
6. Attending a Passion conference in Johannesburg with Louie Giglio, Chris Tomlin and Fee band on stage
7. Witnessing over 70,000 christians converge at Loftus to hear God’s word
8. Did I mention my beautiful wife yet?
9. My 2nd most viewed post for 2008 – pictures of a helicopter circling over Kya Sands and our wedding photographer printing it on canvas
10. Resisting the urge to get an iPhone. Check that, I fell hard on the 10th of December and got the iPhone. (I’m still a gadget junkie by heart)

So what features on your Top 10 list for 2008?

Help end world hunger by giving free rice

// December 7th, 2008 // 5 Comments » // Food, General

Every 3.6 seconds, or the time from one breath to the next, someone in this world dies from hunger. That’s 25,000 deaths a day, or over 8 and a half million deaths a year. These deaths are mostly children.

1 in 7 people of this world live in chronic hunger, which is defined as not having a single day of one’s life receiving adequate nutrition. That’s the same number of people that live in the world’s developed nations.

The hands in the picture above hold 6 tablespoons of rice. The average person living in chronic hunger receives only this amount of food…daily.

We have a bountiful God. He has given us an earth capable of feeding every human a daily diet of 3,500 calories in grains alone, yet people still die from hunger.

The United Nations knows this. Our governments’ leaders know this. We have the distribution know-how to feed everyone. What is lacking is the moral courage of the people to say this is an injustice.

As a Christian, I must remember that I pray for our daily bread, not my daily bread. I must fight the temptation to construct a life where the poor are absent, and I must not submit to a theology that makes me comfortable in a world where the poor are invisible. When I do not recognise the faces of the hungry as my brothers and sisters, and when I do not stand up to be the voice for those whose cries go unheard, how sadly ironic it is that I follow the petition to give us this day our daily bread with a request to be forgiven of my sins.

The question becomes not if but how we are going to share the bread on our tables with these hungry brothers and sisters.

Sitting in Fourways mall, reading a kids booklet in the Spur, I was delighted to come across the website FreeRice.com. FreeRice started on 7 October 2007. To date it has donated over 53,477,769,530 grains of rice, enough to feed more than two million people.

FreeRice has two goals
1. Provide education to everyone for free.
2. Help end world hunger by providing rice to hungry people for free.

How it works
Go over to FreeRice.com and play the game. The game is made up of various subjects including vocabulary, math, science, geography, art history, other languages etc. For each answer you get right, they donate 20 grains of rice to the United Nations World Food Program. The more you play, the more rice gets donated.

I like the quote from the Kansas City Star about the game.

“Addictive, yes. But . . . each correct answer results in the donation of rice to help feed the hungry around the globe. Perhaps that qualifies the game as a good addiction . . . one with redeeming qualities, something that’s, oh, didactic and edifying.”

It shouldn’t stop there though. Why not donate more rice, blog about it or grab a banner to promote it.

What else can you do to help end hunger?
Here are three things you can do to help end hunger. All are free and easy to do.

1. To learn how to take action in your community, click here.
2. Add your name to the One Campaign, where several million people have already joined together “as One” to end hunger and extreme poverty. If enough people join, dreams for a better world can be made into reality very quickly.
3. Twenty-two countries have joined together to try to raise enough money to end world hunger completely by each contributing 0.7% (less than 1%) of national income. Some of the countries have already met this goal. Others haven’t come that far yet. You can see how the countries are doing here. You can print a letter to support your country’s participation here.

If we all get involved, we all can make a difference.

Yumm

// December 2nd, 2008 // 2 Comments » // Food

Jamie Oliver, Nigella Lawson, Ainsley Harriott, Heston Blumenthal and even Gordon Ramsay can stand back. I’m the new chef on the block. Sorry Nigella, only chefs allowed.

Ever had one of those days when you feel totally inspired to prepare a feast of a dinner? I had one of those tonight and I must say that I think I cracked it. I can still taste the flavour explosion in my mouth, just thinking about it again.

I’m not going to go into the whole method of preparation – there are far better bloggers out there for that. Indulge me for a minute though. Close your eyes and think of braised rib-eye steak with melted blue cheese on a bed of couscous. Paired with roasted asparagus, mediterranean cherry vine tomatoes, black olives, garlic and basil and you have yourself a dinner of epic proportions. Can you taste it too?

Surprisingly, I completely forgot to take a picture of this feast, so I’ll have to re-create my masterpiece quite soon it seems. Or perhaps you should try it for yourself and let me know what you think.

Can you tell I’m chuffed with myself?