Tomoka State Park

Baie Geluk Jollie!

Daar is 'n troue in Maart ini Kaap wat ek gemis het. 'n Nooi Cloete heet nou Mrs. Jolanda Scourfield. Ek is spyt ek was nie daar nie. Julle is 'n beeuutiful couple! Veels geluk!!

Bill Toppled As World's Richest Man

After 13 years on top of Forbes' World's Richest List, Microsoft tycoon Bill Gates' reign at the top has come to an end. Ironically, he has been surpassed by non other than his good friend and philantropy partner Warren Buffet of Berkeshire Hathaway fame.

Alas, despite being worth $58 billion, a mere $2 billion more than last year, that is only good enough to place Bill in third spot - globally. Also beating him to second spot is the Mexican telecom tycoon, Carlos Slim Helu, who's fortune has doubled in the past 25 months.

View the list of billionaires @:
http://www.forbes.com/2007/03/07/billionaires-worlds-richest_07billionaires_cz_lk_af_0308billie_land.html

The list certainly indicates change - two years ago 10 of the top 20 billionaires were Americans, today there is only four. However, among the total list of billionaires acrros the globe - 1125 altogether! - approximately 45% are still Americans. The country with the most top ten finishers are ....India! with four.
Russia is second behind the US with the 87 billionaires, less than 2 decades after the fall of the great USSR. Germany is third with 59 billionaires.

South Africa's top spot is held by the owner of a small family business - a mining family business! - Nicky Oppenheimer of De Beer's ($5.7 billion). Patrice Motsepe of South Africa and Nigeria's Aliko Dangote joines the exclusive club og billionaires, the first Africans to do so.
And then, the most enviable of them all: The creator of Facebook, 23-year old Mark Zuckerberg, is certainly the youngest self-made billionaire in mankind's history.

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of Crystal Skull Trailer (iHD)

The Legend is Back! Ou Indie het toeka die oer-hartsnare van enige Hoêrskoolseun getokkel met sy avonture.

Globalization and the Dissolving of Borders

The world surely is getting smaller. Growing up it was an event to meet someone who has actually travelled to another country. Today very few of my peers have not yet been exposed to at least two other cultures in foreign countries. Cultural infusion and assimilation is happening rapidly and borders are dissolving due to technological changes and faster travel. Speaking of technology - it still leaves me speechless. Just yesterday I spoke via the Internet to friends and family on the other side of the globe - through crystal clear live audio and video feed.

Sarah was relaying a humorous insident that happened in her class this past week:
She was having her Fifth Grade class tell about their country of origin and a little about their culture and customs. Her kids are from all over - France, Spain, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Venezuela, Colombia, Haiti, Germany etc. Finally they asked her where she's from, and were flabbergasted when she said she's American. "A real American?!", was their response. "But really Teacher, where are you really from?"
Even Sarah had to give in then and explain that her most recent ancestry is Irish, Scottish and Blackfoot. We're all mutts, surely!
Bloodlines are rarely pure and cultures are blended, as the global population constantly is in motion due to war, famine, and economic opportunity. Nowhere is this more apparent than in this great country we live in, the Land of the Free, the country build on the sweat and dreams of immigrants.

Given, this topic is both grandly interesting and simultaneously very controversial. Should the US allow more immigrants to enter the country? Or have they already been at fault by not closing their borders years ago?
This topic is worthy of a thesis.

Meet Jeeves

Massive Power Outage Hits South-Florida

Yesterday I felt close to my family and friends in electricity-shorted Cape Town when we experienced a massive power outage that left nearly 6 million people in South-Florida without power.
According to the Florida Department of Emergency Management power was out across the entire Miami-Dade County in less than 20 minutes after the initial failure. The outages then extended into neighboring Broward County and Palm Beach County.
A failed switch and a fire at a sub-station outside of Miami is believed to have caused the problem. The substation problem caused a sequence of events that within a few minutes knocked out numerous other power plants, including the Turkey Point nuclear power plant South of Miami.
Traffic was something to miss, since every traffic light on the 14 mile-stretch from my office to home was down, and for Miamians no red means no stop.
An additional tornado warning for neighboring Fort Lauderdale made yesterday a pretty interesting day.

About Lazy Sundays with Friends

CE Workshops

As part of the cultivation process and in our attempt to "connect" to the University's alumni, I've started hosting quarterly Continuing Educational workshops for our Doctoral and Masters-level alumni.

These seminars are high in demand, especially for licensed psychologists and mental health professionals, alumni and other, who need the credits to fullfill their annual licensure requirements. Thus, there is also a fundraising element in it for us, which makes my bosses smile, and when they're happy, I'm happy.

Friday I organized a daylong workshop with four seminars - Ethics, Neurofeedback, Domestic Violence and Sexual Violence and the Criminal Mind. The presenters were top notch! Attendance was fantastic, feedback was highly favorable and it seems to be an event we will do regularly in future.
PIC: (Top) Student workers manning the registration tables.

Biking the 'Glades

Mugabe's Zimbabwe

The situation in Zimbabwe seems to be getting even worse.

The statistics are staggering: According to the BBC the country's inflation is now 3,7000%, the highest in the world by a long shot. Basic commodities such as bread and milk are not readily available in shops. More than 3 million Zimbabweans have already fled across the border into South Africa.

Speaking of, its big brother neighbor, South Africa is persistent in its unwillingness to apply pressure on Robert Mugabe. Instead, the SA government is pursuing its "quiet diplomacy"-policy. Meanwhile, Zim's economic slide is basically complete, affecting the entire region. The country's next general elections will be held in 2010, around the same time as the Soccer World Cup in South Africa.

Ol' Bob lavishly celebrated his 84th birthday this past Saturday, while unemployment last month soared to 80%. He is preparing to launch his campaign for a sixth term in power...

Click below for the complete article:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6441529.stm

To the Zoo!

Sarah's mom and her siblings visited us for an extended weekend and we had ample time to play tourguides for the kids.

The young one's and I share a love for animals so what better place to visit on a lazy Sunday afternoon than the Miami Zoo.

We saw some pretty weird and also some very familiar animals. I'm referring to all the African species on display, especially the meerkat and the hyena, who seemed to be laughing at me. A "headless" camel had us all stoked, until we figured out where his head went!

Many of the wild animals on display, however, don't belong in Miami's, hot, humid, tropical climate - own interpretation. They looked downright unhappy, hot and bored to death.

They looked so hot and thirsty that I immediately drank a Bud in their memory when I got home.

Another Bullish Rugby Season!

My Kuduclub account is active, the snacks are stacked up and a valuable compromise has been reached in the Bouwer household that I can watch at least one of the five Super 14 rugby games that'll be played weekly, come Friday.
The game tomorrow between the Brumbies and the Crusaders kicks off the start of another mouthwatering season of premier Southern hemisphere rugby. The best 14 regional teams from Australia, New Zeeland, and South Africa compete again and honor, pride, and patriotism is on the line. Ag, actually just an excuse to get together and zone, while the wifes go shop!

Last year's Champs (who stole it from the Sharks), the Bulls, are certainly not the clear favorites. My prediction: Semi-finalists will be the Crusaders, Sharks, Warathas maybe, and definitely one other team.
Some say maybe this is finally the Stormers' year. Die hoop beskaam nie...

PS - If you register at http://www.telecomvirtualrugby.co.nz/ you can guess the outcome of every game and play against your friends, every week. Do join, it's loads of fun - though you won't beat me!

Table Mountain From Afar

The sun setting over Cape Town.
February 14th, 2008.

Best Baby Picture

Baie geluk aan my ou vrinne Christiaan en Teresa de Villiers met die geboorte van hul eersteling laasweek. Van al die baie baba-fotos wat ek die afgelope 14 mnde ontvang het (en almal is veel oulik!), het hierdie een vir ons UITgeSTAAN.

Super Tuesday - The Race for the White House

The Real Race is on.
After months of campaigning and early primaries, TODAY primaries will be held in more than 20 states accross the country. This will decide the Republican and Democratic candidates for the General Elections to be held in November.

Here in the States the big issues defining the remaining candidates are Iraq, immigration, abortion, same-sex marriages, taxes and social security. With both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama positioning themselves as far left on the political spectrum as you can get, that leaves John McCain, Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee as the conservative choices.

McCain is currently the Republican frontrunner in the polls, but appears to have very liberal views. He is advocating open borders, which implies that he does not condemn illegal immigration. Huckabee, the Christian conservative choice, is endorsing McCain, as he is to far behind in the polls, but rumor has it that he wants the Vice-Presidency. A deal seems to be on hand.
And then there is Romney, himself a solid candidate. In the deep South, however, he is struggling for Christian conservative votes due to him being a Mormon. California will probably decide his fate.

You can follow the live updates online at www.cnn.com/POLITICS/

The following website supplies indepth info on each candidate: http://www.president08.net/

Interestingly, the very early results show that Obama is getting most of the black votes, while Hillary is getting a far superior number of the female votes. If I interpret this correctly, that means that women are voting for Hillary because she's a woman and black voters are voting for Obama because he's black! This then irrespective of their political stance on issues. ?!

Mars and the ING Miami Half-Marathon

Another Lekker BBQ at the Volsteedts!

We recently had another superb South African braai (BBQ) in Fort Lauderdale, courtesy of the Volsteedts.

What a potjie!

EishKOM

What can one say about the ESKOM - situation in South Africa?

ESKOM, the country's national electricity provider is stumbling from one regional power failure to the next, costing the nation millions in lost hours. A local newspaper cartoon - Madame & Eve - is getting it spot on with their daily jokes.

Eish!

New Year's with the Ninnemans

Waking up to a glorious sunrise and a year bursting with promise - Lauderdale-by-the-Sea, Fort Lauderdale. No new year's resolutions this time around, just a few goals.

Beautiful St. Augustine

Hiking Sugarmill Forest

Just before New Year's we hiked the 200+ year-old Sugarmill Forest and plantation ruins. It is interesting how much the vegetation changes from South-Florida to Flagler, Brevard County area only 100-150 miles North-East. It is beautiful.

Some of the first slaves in the South were brought here to work on what was then the largest Sugar plantation. It was destroyed by the Seminole Indians during the Second Seminole War of the 1830's. All the tribes in Florida united against the US forces and used guerrila tactics, retreating frequently deep into the Everglades, and making it near impossible for the chasing armies to catch them in the swamps and mangroves.

Eventually though, the whole Seminole nation nearly got wiped out in the war, with thousands killed. The few hundred survivors were deported to Oklahoma reservations. It (1835-1842) turned out to be the most expensive Indian war, costing the US $30 million.

Anyway - it was a great hike and if you visit we'll take you there...

New Year's - Back in Florida

This New Year

2 0 0 8 !

Have a Smashing New Year!

May you have a smashing 2008 with many exciting opportunities for growth, may you be able to learn many new things and skills, may you be able to add value in many different ways.

We are experiencing technical difficulties and will resume blogging as soon as we have ironed out some problems. Both Sarah and I have resumed working after 2, 3 weeks out of Miami, with friends, waking up late, and just having a great time in general vacationing in North-Florida.

We will propably change the look of our Blog soon, which we are excited about. Please watch this space -will keep you posted.

All the best
Marco and Sarah Bouwer

Hotel Touring in Orlando!

We were full of energy for the sightseeing expedition ahead of us.




Unfortunately, not everybody shared our enthusiasm.

Playing Tourguides in South Beach

Old man and mannequin - Bayside Area, Downtown, Miami.

Frostie the Snowman

Saturday Night Live

Our homegroup held our Xmas party in a gorgeous hotel room with a magnificent view of Miami and South Beach last night.

This group has been meeting for the last two years and we've grown pretty close. It was pretty special to meet one last time in 2008, with lives getting busy, couple's getting pregnant, and just life in general happening to us all.

'n Taaie Tameletjie

Die einde is in sig. Dit voel soos die laaste 3 km van 'n halfmarathon wanneer elke spier in jou lyf begin saamkreun en kla dat dit tyd is om die skare te systap, erens op 'n gemaklike sofa te gaan neerplof met 'n koue bier, en bewegingloos daar te vertoef wyl jy re-runs van die afgelope S14 beskou.
Ek het 4 maande se intense, kraakvars, maagdelike M.B.A.-materiaal oor om kaf te draf voor ek kan ontspan. Dit raak nou lank.
Sedert die begin van die mnd. is dit Finansiele Bestuur en ai, dis so 'n interessante EN onontbeerlike veld. Ongelukkig het Jaap hier (die uwe) skrapse Finansiele agtergrond, en ek suffer. Klastyd is dit soos om molasses te eet - vir 4 uur lank!

Hou bene hou!

Food for Thought

Franklin Graham het gisteraand 'n skare mense in 'n buitelug-arena toegespreek by die kerk waar ons besoek.

Dit was 'n vlugtig gereelde, maar baie besonderse geleentheid. Duisende mense daag op om hulde te bring aan die Elisa van ons tyd. Ons is nuuskierig. Maar dis sy nederigheid wat my aanvanklike skeptisme teenoor hom laat waan en sy opregtheid wat my oorwen. "I cannot save you, only God can do that for you." 'n Simplistiese boodskap, hard en reguit, sonder fancy tierlantyntjies (so gewild in kerke deesdae om mense te "lok"), en honderde mense kom tot bekering. The real deal.
Hy is hoof uitvoerende beampte van Samaritan's Purse, 'n wêreld-organisasie wat grootskaalse hulpverleningswerk in noodgeteisterde werelddele doen, gemeenskapsontwikkelingsprojekte bestuur, globale mediese dienste verrig en evangelisasiewerk doen.

This is a touching picture (above) from the Samaritan's Purse website, isn't it? No successful proposal, business plan, awarded grant, fundraising event, or any other unimportant work-related accomplishment comes close to stirring the heart like this picture does.
A smile will mean a lot to these kids. Imagine how these kids will treasure a can of coke!? Here in superficial Miami our colleagues bicker because the annual staff Xmas party is too ordinary. They buy cake worth $1000 because it will impress the guests. Only a new X-Box or I-Phone will impress the kids.

This Life

Maybe twice in my life I reached what I wanted to. Once we were playing "These Foolish Things" and at the end the band stops and I play a little cadenza. That cadenza - no one can do it better. Let's say it's five bars. That's a very good thing to have done in a lifetime. An artist should be judged by his best, just as an athlete. Pick out my one or two best things and say, "That's what we did, all the rest was rehearsal."
- Artie Shaw, as told in the book The Call, by Guinness.

Such a fantastic quote, there is so much to it on so many different levels. I can read it over and over again.

Mysterious Bee Disease Threaten US Crops

A mysterious bee disease, called colony collapse disorder (CCD) is causing havoc among the busy little insect colonies in the US, since the first report in 2005. Seemingly healthy honey bees would abruptly disappear from their hives forever.

While visiting N-Carolina, Sarah and I one day happened upon an agricultural presentation being given on this new phenomenon. Not a big deal, I thought. Wrong. Apparently, it is having quite an impact.
Bees play an integral role in the world food supply, and are essential for the pollination of more than 90 million fruit and vegetable crops worldwide. In the US alone these products pollinated by bees are worth more than $14.6 billion per annum. Since 2005 CCD have caused a 50-90% loss of bees in 25% of all commercial colonies in the US.

The first reports of the disease correlates with the first time that the US started to allow the importation of beehives from Australia and China. The popular theory is that these foreign bees have brought the disease, through mites they carry. Beehives were imported because agricultural corporations could not keep up with the demand for commercial beehives for the pollination of crops such as nuts, berries and other fruits and vegetables, especially in the West and Mid-West.

Beekeepers actually rent hundreds of hives during a season. Some of these hives travel thousands of miles/annum accross multiple state lines to do their job.