About the applications

As a techie, I tend to collect all sorts of applications. Yes, I pay for them, and even if they come for free and there is a way to donate to the creator, I do so. I was a programmer once. Anyway, before I put something on this page, I check it out for quite a bit, and only when I really like it, does it end up on my blog.
I have several interesting things here down the left and at the bottom. The first one is the clock. It is just so cool in how it "drips" into place. Very creative - why have a normal clock when you can have this? Why have a clock? Well, when people access my blog I like to give them a sense of place. To me, context is everything, and knowing that I am from Africa and a specific time zone adds to that feeling of "visiting" somewhere, don't you agree?
There are all sorts of other things here, one being the place where you can sign up as a follower of the blog. Consider it if you like the stuff here, and if you use Google's iGoogle, you can use the quick reader there to peek into the site without actually opening it - which is cool, because then you can decide if you want to actually surf over. Time is so precious.... think about it.
The Wikipedia sign is to remind you of one of the greatest things about our time - access to information. I contributed my Euros to their drive for some funds as I feel that I use the site without even thinking these days. Just to get some quick info, just to satisfy the curiosity - it does all of that and often more. Why don't you consider giving them a bit of money? Think how much you have earned using their free service....
Of course there is the Dilbert widget. Yes..... I am not a fan, and yes, I see too many things being portrayed that I see where-ever I go in organizations. It is tragic in a way, and a reminder.
One of my favourite apps is the one close to the bottom left, ClustrMaps. This nifty thing tracks access to my site and then shows a little dot to show where the visitors came from, or at least where the IP address says they came from (let's not fool ourselves). Recently I have subscribed for two years to the zoomable version and you can now click in to see a bit more detail. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do. Keep on clicking. My site is not advertised on Google and does not end up easily in the search engines. I prefer to keep it that way. However, feel free to send the link on to friends, and log in from your travel sites.
There is also a link that shows some photos uploaded to Picasa. It is a bit more about me and the family and our travels. At the bottom there are other bits and pieces. I update these every so often, and the Einstein quote is updated automatically daily. As you can see, I like good alcoholic beverages, music from the edge (mostly), and books are a passion (no - addiction). There is also that app that shows how the world is going to the dogs. Man, I keep it there to remind me to recycle, to think about the diseases we just cannot seem to conquer, and to think how we can be kinder to our planet in general. If you want to send an e-mail, use the stylish e-mail wrapper - why not....
Last, but not least: when I started looking for a name for my blog and online presence, I thought quite a bit about my life and that of my family. My father and my father-in-law came from poverty-stricken families, both were hard working and family focussed and both felt that one must always aim way above the target. My grandmother maintained that one must focus on your goals, pin back your ears like a whippet at the races, and go with all your energy towards that elusive prize if you ever are to achieve anything. Tenacity is called for, and honesty, integrity - like old Buzz Lightyear. Starting at the stones, the basic building blocks, the things in our immediate environment, we must aim for the big innovations, using what we have (even if it is only stones) to get to our bigger goals and dreams, the stars. Later, I found this quote from MC Escher: "So let us then try to climb the mountain, not by stepping on what is below us, but to pull us up at what is above us, for my part at the stars."