27dinner in the mutherciti - thank you everyone!

Another Disclaimer: Before some wet nappies start another “circle jerk” flame war, I’d like to state for the record that I DO NOT CARE what you think! I’ll jerk whatever I fancy. Call me a wanker for it and check the worry in my eye.

Me and my hun gathered all the courage we could muster and made the drive down to another awesome/fantastic 27dinner to spend a night with some of the greatest minds! It was fun, interesting and crammed with some of my all time heroes. It was held at the base of a very windy flat mountain @ the Deer Park Cafe.

I loved the awesome case study Dave presented in his welcoming speech using Bolton Deventer and his W-TEP as an analogy. As he said, thats why these real life meetings are so vital!

The Stormhoek Big-love was spreading at lightspeeds (ask Charl). Talks were short and to the point. There were nothing boring about it at all. Enjoy Phil’s talk about usability and found it quite interesting. It is something we overlook so very often, yet it is so important! I loved Randolf’s iPhone. I now want one more than ever!

I was so stoked to have met Fred from Ideate. The guy is a true legend. Clever, nice and funny oke. Next time I’d like to sit at his table and also Neil Blakey-Milner who is one of two of the greatest Python developers I’ve ever met. The other being Neville Newey who had his birthday on the 27th and although he was on the other side of the earth, he certainly was not forgotten! Happy birthday Nev!

Kerry-Anne Gilowey and Jo Duxbury from Freelance Central who play a MAJOR important role in the freelance scene in South Africa. Most of us freelancing geeks are fortunate to have long running, big contracts at the moment, but you never really know for sure how long it is going to last. Thats when they will start playing an enormous role in our lives. By the sound of it there is a couple of bright ideas in stall for the future which could prove incredibly useful for all freelancers, whether or not they are looking for work. I’d watch that spot. Oh and I really love the Cape Town Daily Photo Kerry-Anne and hubby Paul runs. Kerry-Anne suggested we start something like that for George, and we might just take you guys up on that offer.

The ever so brilliant Dave, the genius Max, the indomitable Rafiq and my new friend Elaine, I can never get tired of talking to you guys. I feel inspired, motivated and involved (Standard Bank, take notes…) after some brilliant conversations we had on the night and the day after. Special thanks to Dave and Elaine who entertained and looked after me the whole of Sunday. I appreciate it!

The great activist and most interesting fella Andre Bothma from SA Climate Crisis. Dude, we definitely need to get together rather soon! I commend the work you do and I think it is of great importance to support such an effort and try to leave our children with a legacy to be proud of.

Graham and Chris, the High Class Hoekers. It was fantastic seeing you folks once more. I loved Graham’s “Change the Power” talk and I think it is relevant to all of us. It is not easy to change the way the world thinks. I would treasure those pearls of wisdom. Oh and thank you very much for the wine! I really, REALLY appreciate it as much as every one else did! You guys are most kind.

To Jason and Gerry from Zoopy, it was great to finally meet you guys! You are already doing such a fantastic job, I cannot imagine how cool your upcoming release is going to make you! They are launching a new, phenomenal release in November, so guys, we cannot wait to see it! Thank you for doing the videos once again, chaps!

To Brandon Golding who took some classic pics all night long, thanks for stealing our souls and cement the moments in history. We often take that for granted, but not this time. This time we appreciate it for real man! You’ve done a fantastic job and you should never seize to do so.

To Jayx and Charl who also roadtripped, it was great fun having you there! We don’t get together at home but we sure as hell know how to do it 400 km away from home! It was all worth it.

It was a great pity that Uno, Stefano, Miguel and Yasser was not there. I was really looking forward partying with you guys, but maybe next time!

As the night progressed, so did the flow of the good stuff and if I left out anyone, please forgive me and feel free to remind me! I will make a point of adding you to this list. I know there were lots of cool people I talked very little to like Mike, other Phil, Glen and Bridgitte Verran and I would have loved to talk to more, but time was simply not on our side! Next time.

Update: I forgot Simon Botes from Fring! Sorry Simon! Maybe we could hook up as I see you reside in Plett? You should try and join our little geeky get togethers every now and again. We’d really love that!

I would just like to make a very special mention and a big thank you to my loving wife for making the effort to join me in my world! She started blogging and are making a concerted effort to play in our world and in return we now spend a lot more time together. I love you babe and I appreciate and love your efforts!

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Tags: 27dinner, social-networking

9 Comments to "27dinner in the mutherciti - thank you everyone!"

• Jason said: On 10/30/2007 at 10:15 am

  Stii, you jacket-stealing, George-living, developer guru you. 27Dinner this month felt special. Different. And very authentic. We loved hooking up with everyone again and meeting you and Belinda was definitely a highlight. You guys are real and share a genuine enthusiasm for the industry, technology and dealing with nosey neighbours hehehe

  Seriously though, looking forward to speaking to both of you again. Perhaps we need a GeorgeCamp to make everyone else trek out that way?

  Chat soon guys!
  Jason

• Stii said: On 10/30/2007 at 11:21 am

  Thanx Jason! The feeling is mutual, mate.

• Fred Roed said: On 10/30/2007 at 12:28 pm

  Hey Stii, it was cool to meet you brother. I’m seriously looking forward to your big entrepreneurial adventure, and also to contributing a design or two. Let me know if you get it off the ground.
  See you at the next one! Fred

• Neville Newey said: On 10/30/2007 at 12:42 pm

  Hey Stii, thanks for the Birthday wishes man! Wish I could have been there, it sounds awesome.

• Stii said: On 10/30/2007 at 8:37 pm

  Hi Luv, thank you for dragging me into your world. You guys & girls rock!!! Even though every person at the 27 dinner had their own “mission” they were all sharing one common interest. What a wonderful experience it was to meet so many people with their different views and interests. One of the best “geek” parties I’ve ever been to. Thx to the Cape Town crowd. Ta luv - see you tomorrow!!xxx

  B

• Brandon Golding said: On 10/31/2007 at 10:42 am

  I’m glad that we could all get together, exchange ideas, have a bit of fun and drink some wine.
  I’m looking forward to the next event. Hope to see you guys there.

• Simon said: On 10/31/2007 at 2:44 pm

  Hey Stii,

  Thanx for a great post.
  Was great meeting up at the 27 Dinner, Looking forwad to the next one.

  We should really do a George or Plettenberg Bay event, Cape town is way to far, but it was still worth it to go, made good new friends and contacts.

  Looking forward to meeting again, maybe even at the Office Reliance Workshop.

• Andre said: On 11/01/2007 at 6:16 am

  On losing my “27 virginity”:

  Hi Stii

  That was pretty much EXACTLY how it went down! Thanks for the mention, I look forward to seeing you and Belinda at a 27 session soon, and will be sure to give you a shout the next time we hit the Garden Route.

  I met a bunch of facinating people, and it was good to put names and ideas to the bloglog faces.

  All the best,

  Andre - the eco terrorist:)

• Jo said: On 11/16/2007 at 11:09 am

  Hey Stii -

  Better late than never, finally I’m getting round to commenting on your post above Thanks for the nice words and enthusiasm about Freelancentral - freelancers ARE slowly taking over the world

  Hope to see you at the next 27 Dinner… quite fancy the idea of a Garden Route one!

  Cheers
  Jo

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