Chris Meistre

Here’s a video by Werner Mehl that showcases a number of bullet impacts at a rate of 1 million frames per second.  It’s incredible to watch it.

Today, exactly 1 year ago, Barto, Bernadette and I started the discussions that would eventually give birth to EC Offroad Adventures.  We were all clear that we didn’t want to make money off this, but we wanted to do it to promote the 4×4 industry in the Eastern Cape.  Although we run it as a business, it really is just a formal structure to take our passion to the people.

Our main purpose is to organise 4×4 trails that people can join us on and setup various events like GPS challenges and other fun competitions.  For now we are concentrating on the Eastern Cape, but soon we will be organising trips to the rest of South Africa as well as other African countries.

The three of us have very similar and very different personalities and ideas, but it’s all those differences that has made EC Offroad Adventures work thus far.  We’ve had to go through a lot of shit from outside influences, but we have been able to overcome all those obstacles and keep steaming ahead!

May EC Offroad Adventures keep on rocking!

Last night Bernadette and I didn’t feel like going home after we visited the Algoa Toyota 4×4 Club. On the way down to Summerstrand to go stop for a few drinks at one of the cocktail bars there, I decided to drive through Parliament Street in Central. It has recently been revamped, and I was wondering what it looks like at night.

I was amazed that a place that used to be so dark and dingy when we used to go to the clubs there has been transformed into a beautiful well-lit place. (Damn, that really sounds like I’m an old man )

We drove past a bar called Zanzibar, and it looked so chilled inside that we decided to stop there and have a drink. I can just imagine that a little bar somewhere on an exotic island beach must be very similar to how this place is laid out and decorated. And the vibe there is cool, very relaxed.

Our one drink turned into a couple because at around 21:00 a live band started playing and although we couldn’t make out any of the words we enjoyed it. At one stage the lead singer got people from the bar to come and sing with the band. There were a couple of people that went and sang that looked like they were pros. It was like a rap / reggae type thing they had going on there. Was awesome. Perhaps next time we’ll also sing

It’s an awesome place with a restaurant linked to it as well.  I can really recommend going there for a few drinks to relax.

Being there got me thinking….

I’m not a racist, so please don’t take anything I type further on as being trying to be racist. I’m not blind to race and culture either. You get some people that say they don’t see color, but I do. We have black, white and coloured people. Each of us have got our own unique cultures and I think that is awesome. One of the reasons I want to travel through Africa is to learn and witness more of the different type of cultures.

The reason I’m bringing that up is because we all have preconceived ideas about each other’s cultures and sometimes that is completely wrong. We live in a rainbow nation and a lot is being done to right all the wrongs apartheid caused. I believe though that there will always be a divide between races and cultures, because that is part of human nature. You prefer to be with your own people and your own culture. That shouldn’t stop you from experiencing other cultures and mixing with other races though.

Last night we went into the bar without really thinking twice about the place and the people. Later on in the evening we realised we were the only 2 white people there. Besides for the guy behind the bar.  Some of the older generations might think “OMG, did you run?”, but we felt as comfortable there as we would in any other predominantly white bar.

I know of quite a few people that won’t dare go down to Central because of the bad elements there.  I say screw it and just go, don’t be a wussy.  There were almost more security guards walking in the streets than there were people in the streets.

Fight Club is still one of the best movies I’ve seen.  It wasn’t because of the fighting in the movie, but rather about the underlying message.  The most mentioned of the Fight Club Quotes is “It’s only after we’ve lost everything that we’re free to do anything“.

What makes that quote so remarkable is that during this time of recession, a lot of people have had to part with their worldly possession.  The same possessions that have defined who they are for such a long time.  Now that it has been taken away, who are they?

But what this quote is really about is deconstructing and analysing what is happening around you in your world.  By doing this you gain a better understanding of who or what you are. 

Read more Fight Club Quotes.

I’ve been playing around with various marketing techniques for websites over the last couple of months (actually years) with some good results, great results and some non-existent results.  On this blog though I’ve got a nice combination going to quickly get new posts indexed by Google.

Last night at 19:41 (GMT +2) I posted an article about FNB.  I normally check my web traffic statistics in the morning, and I noticed how at 20:04 (GMT +2) I got the first organic traffic to my website from Google.  Organic traffic is from someone using a search engine to search for a specific keyword phrase and then get to your website from the results they’re given.  It was someone searching for fnb online banking down.  So I did a bit more investigation and found that at 19:43 (GMT +2) Google had already indexed me.  Check out the Google Cache Page.

I think that’s quite impressive if you consider some people wait days before their sites gets noticed by Google.

If you want to know more about how we do it, why not request the Website Analysis Report from CM Computer Services.