Driving in Joburg

On Wedmesday (Sept 28th) After the Afrimold conference I had to give a presentation to the South African Institute of Welding (SAIW) and as such had to drive through Joburg to get there. While Traffic is bad, it is more that there is not a whole lot of order in how people drive which makes it a bit interesting to get around. This is maybe a 10-15 min drive from where I was to where I was going but it took like 40 mins.

Here I am driving on the Nelson Mandela Bridge....

It is a great structure and gives a great view of downton Joburg

With the train above it felt like being back home, or at least in a major city!


Again traffic jams just seem to come and go for no particular reason...and this was the case as I was traveling to the presentation.

More traffic :) I am so glad I only have to do this once or at least not very often :)

My usual commute to work is less than 10 minutes, it feels so nice!

Afrimold 2011

I attended Afrimold 2011 which was held at the Sandton Conference center. This is near Joburg and is a very nice area, it is right next to the Nelson Mandela Square. This is a conference that is supported by TASA (Toolmaking Association of South Africa) in which all manufacturing realted to molds (injection, die cast, etc...) are here either showcasing their production or service capabilities. There was also a technical session to this conference on various topics. The National Laser Center (where I work) sponsored the laser technology sessions.

These are the students working for my group Laser Materials Processing, I askedd them to meet with the industrial companies to see how we may either collaborate with them or provide them services. They said it was a great experience, I was very happy to hear that. They are a great bunch of kids and hard working!

This is our booth in which we highlight all the research and production capabilities we have (from laser cutting in 3-D to welding and cladding, and very soon we will do laser additive manufacturing (we will build metallic parts in 3-D)

We got a lot of visitors and if all goes well we should have several big name companies to add to our list of customers (fingers crossed). It was also a great experience to have people come up and here them speak very well about our group from past work we had done for them.


On of our very own from Laser Materials Processing presenting our latest research, these sessions were well attended and we had the honor of also hosting 4 individuals from the Fraunhoffer Institute of Laser Technology!

It's a guy thing!

Ok so I have no pots or pans (just basic utensils like a fork spoon and knife, a bowl, some plates) to cook lightly. I have no bed just an inflateable matress my colleauge loaned me (bought a cover but no sheets). No furniture in the house other than what was in it.

But I needed a TV :) Also need somewhere to sit and watch the TV so naturally I got that set up, the cable in this case Satellite (I always wanted it!!!) now I have all sports I can imagine although not much NFL looking into that. The house for a guy is good to go....now waiting for a woman's touch :)

Even Sasha enjoys the set up as he sleeps while I watch unless it is animal planet then he is hooked.

Got the Car!

I looked around for cars since I arrived and well sometimes things just work out. This car is a 2006 Peugeot 307 1.6L (~54,000 miles on it) they were asking about $9,500 for it. Early last week I took it for a test drive and felt the car was really solid and thought it was a strong candidate.

It has a metallic blue paint (bonus) and well I have always wanted to own a Peugeot but did not want to let on how excited I was to find it! For what I wanted to spend I was having a hard time finding decent cars. It would take at least another 3 months minimum to get a car loan and I did not want to have that hassle anyhow so I was going to pay cash! This also helps when negotiating!

The inside was very comfortable as well and as you can see (picture below) it has some bells and whistles. It also has lots of room too. So I told them I would pay them in cash $8,300 and they could take it or leave it! I gave them the weekend to think about it as I told them I had other cars to look at, which wsa true but my heart was set on this one! Monday came around and by 11am the young sales guy called me and said if I could come in within the hour I could have it at my asking price!!! I had already turned in my rental car (renting was a killer!! it is vcery costly) so I got a ride from a colleauge....to the dealership!

Got to the dealership and I was ready to go but it was not going to happen so fast. They asked how much of a deposit would I put down I said no I will pay all of it I just want the car now! they guy looked confused and could not believe what I was saying? I said...I told you I would pay cash. Well they were not set up to take payments so I had to go to my bank and get a certified check and then go to their bank to deposit it!!!! that took about 2 hours and then I said ok I can take it now?? They still wanted to clean it and do some paperwork so I had to come back at 4pm....ugh...

Well the nice thing was the salesperson took me back to work and picked me up later to finalize everything. I learned lot about him during these hours such that he had played professional soccer in South Africa and wanted to attend a college in the US, he seems like a good kid and well I thought I would enquire around back home, he was suprised that I would do that...Finally we got their and after 30 mins I drove off. I just had one more person to ensure the purchase was ok....No not Steph she had already given me the green light...

Yes the car was Sasha Approved, you can see below :)

He has got plenty space in back as the seats collapse and he has a whole space to roam around and the windows are tinted so when there is a lot of heat he is shielded.

Lets hope the car holds up. So far so good!

On a hike with Sasha

Just a five minute drive from the house is Glen Faire Park which has a bunch of hiking trails so I thought I would take Sasha for an adventure!

There were some steep parts but he actually did better than me!

Not sure what he was looking at?

We made it to the top!!


I did it Dad!!!

We are about a quarter of a mile up I think?


Then the journey down...

This was fun Dad, Thanks!

Argentina Wins!

So this morning I got up early as usual to take Sasha out and to clean around the house. The Pumas were set to play at 9:30 and I was psyched because I finally had a TV Stand and a comfortable sofa chair to sit in!

I had the TV on in the background so I could here the commentary and then walked up to start watching it and the TV screen was screwed up!!! I was upset becasuse this was the first sporting event I wanted to watch and the view was not good (shades of blue red and green hue making multiple images) UGH!! I just bought the TV last week!

So Argentina was loosing 12-6 and there was only 10 minutes left, I did not want to see them loose so I left to go to the store to return the TV.

As I was waiting for a replacement TV I realized that Argentina actually won! It was a great feeling. I was jumping up and down in the store....suddenly life wasn't so bad :)

To make matters better they no longer had my TV so I got a bigger one for the same price.

Saturday Night!!!

Saturday the 24th was my first night out, it was a nice time. I went to my friend Marcelo's first to have some Mate with him. We caught up with each other as his wife just left last week back to Spain and had been very busy working. Afterwards we went toanall you can eat called Bomo (forgot to take pics) it was very good! For 30 bucks we had steaks, fish, pizza and bottomless beers. Not bad!!!

After dinner we went to a club called Presley's and Monore...it was very interesting, oh and somking is still allowed, not good. It was packed (there were two separate dance floors) in one room they had techno......see below


Camera was acting up but got another action shot.

The other room was more of local music and more couples. It was wierd being back in a club after so many years, but not much has changed. Got done early as I had to head home and take Sasha out!

Bloemfontein

On Wednesday Sept 21st I had to go to Bloemfontein for the first Seminar on Titanium Processing with Direct Metal Laser Sintering (DMLS) held at the Central University of Technology where they have the Center for rapid prototyping and Manufacturing. They have been doing some great things since about 1996 and have put together this conference that went well! You can find out more about them at http://www.cut.ac.za/ Very Cool. The aim of the conference was to get all users in Titanium to takl about what they are doing, in an effort to work towards a common goal of advanced development.

Ok so I left around 4:30 am I felt really bad about leaving Sasha for the day but I did not have many options. I got back around 8pm and he was fine he just wanted to play so we did!! He is such a trooper!!!

Ok here is some very brief history on Bloemfontein. Bloem (means blossom or to flower) and Fontein (is Fountain). So flower fountain, I was told that when the settlers came they places that had "water" as it was obviously the thing to have they named them fontein, as such you will see many cities with that ending! Anyhow it is the Capitol of the Free State Provnice (I live in Pretoria which is in the Gauteng province) and also is where all the appeals courts are!

Hope you enjoy the pics!



On the way back to the airport we saw a lot of commotion and heard some very cool tribal music...Not sure what was going on but looked and sounded really cool

There were lots of police around......

This is the front of the airport not very big at all the kind you land at walk off the plane and into the terminal...Love it!

This is on the way out of airport...It also was one of the City's that hosted a Stadium for the World Cup last year!

Very simple yet pretty city...here are some street shots








You could still see some of the World Cup things around the town like here at the bus stop. Also painted murals it was nice to see...

Going home

After walking through we went back home...here is the corner of Lynnwood and Glenwood

Most homes have the address painted on the street but some get more creative...

Here is one of the many killer dogs in the hood :)

More Mall

Do not see this much these days....

Happy Shoppers!
This is my Bank and they have 2 atms here so very convenient!

This is the open are food court, there has not been one bad day yet!

Yes that is a blockbuster but my guess it is not the same :)

Are we going up dad?

Cool Fashion

This store really is crazy they have a strange mix of things for pretty cheap.


I like that shirt in the middle.

At the mall

Here is one of the supermarkets called Checkers....they are decent, I get most of my fruit from threre

These pictures are behind the mall....

This is the lady who rented the house to me, she is super nice and has been very helpfull!!