Book: The Snowball - Warren Buffet and the business of life, Alice Schroeder

When I decided to start reading this book in February, I was honestly quite daunted by it, and for a moment considered reading something else as I did not want to mess up my 'two-books-a-month' average. What a ridiculous reason not to read a book!

It's quite a read; a highly recommendable read. I particularly resonated with how highly Warren Buffet regards and protects his reputation. I had always been aware of, and heard his name as one of the richest men in the world, but never really knew that much about him and his business dealings. Although my knowledge and understanding of how investments and the stock market work is very limited, it was fascinating to get greater insight into this world.

What I found really interesting, was when I read Donald Trump's book, the emphasis was very much on thinking big, and buying the biggest and best. Whereas in this book, it is clear the Warren Buffet had a very different view, and considered very carefully how and where to spend every dollar.  Both practices clearly worked for these two successful businessmen; I recon it is about knowing exactly what it is that you want to achieve and having a very clear uncompromising vision of how you are going to get there.

As much as Warren Buffet enjoyed making money, he also enjoyed teaching. These are the lessons I take from the book:

1. Reputations matter - one of my favourite quotes from the book: "Lose money for the firm, and I will be understanding. Lose a shred of reputation for the firm, and I will be ruthless."
2. Be uncompromising when it comes to your values;
3. Read biographies and learn lessons from people that most inspire you;
4. Have passion for what you do;
5. Give away your money to good causes. Initially Warren did not like the thought of parting with his money at all, but later in life he implemented incredible strategies to invest in philanthropic initiatives.  There is a great quote from Andrew Carnegie in the book that gets referred to, "He who dies rich, dies disgraced." and lastly,
6. Live within your means, don't get into debt. 

Recommendable: 9/10

Race: ABAX Milkwood, Soet Water 10 kms

 

Wow, can’t believe that it is a year since my first ‘official’ Hout Bay Harriers race.  I was really quite keen to compare my time this year to that of last years’.  It was again quite windy, but nothing compared to last year.

Had quite a fast start, and managed to keep up with Thérèse for a bit, but lost my rhythm when my cap blew off. Must admit that I was super happy to have run further before my first stop. The hill is relentless, and just as you think it is going to go downhill after the next corner, it rises further up! Fortunately what goes up, must come down - at some point. I walked quite a bit up the hill, but tried to increase my pace with each running section. I also tried to make up a bit of time on the downhill, and pushed myself the last km.

My time was 01:04:50, very happy with it; not the 1 hour mark, but it was 06 minutes faster than last year! Sadly not going to change my seeding for TwoOeans ½ but I am happy with how it went today.

The communication leading up to and on the morning of the race was really good in terms of e-mails and texts received.

 

I really like that the “medal” is a tree – this year we received a “Water Berry Tree”. All the racers also received a really nice black cap in their goody bag.

Restaurant: V&A Waterfront Food Market

It was surprisingly quiet for an end of month at lunch time at the V&A Waterfront. Our initial plans of going to the movies went a bit haywire when we got side tracked by the Coca-Cola Contour Art Walk (very recommendable!). I didn’t feel like Spur for lunch – just feels wrong, when it is a gorgeous day in Cape Town at the Waterfront, and there are SO many other places to choose from. We ended up at the V&A Waterfront Food Market (where the old Musica store used to be). This is not Mark’s scene at all, but he did say that it looked quite clean and contained and not too busy and was willing to try it.

FOOD: There is something for everyone. I had Thai; cashew nuts, veggies and prawn stir fry with rice. Quite a big portion, and fairly tasty (R75). Mark had the pulled pork Ciabatta and coleslaw, all covered with a spicy sauce and shoved into the same bun. He says that it was quite tasty, but not very big. (R50).

DRINKS: We didn’t get anything

SERVICE: You order your food and then you can sit inside or outside, no waiters. We sat outside because it was such a gorgeous day.

VALUE FOR MONEY: It’s fair. Mine seemed to be more value than Mark’s – I’m sure he was still hungry.

PARKING: It’s at the V&A Waterfront, so there is a lot of parking, but it can get hectic when it is tourist season.

RECOMMENDABLE: Nice if it is not too busy. Nice for something quick.

 

Restaurant: Casa Toscana, Pretoria

 

I was in Pretoria earlier this week for a super quick in and out for business meetings. With the uncertainty of loadshedding, my Mom and I headed out for supper. Neither of us was really in the mood for a mall or anywhere where it would be too busy. Our first stop was the Botanical Gardens, unfortunately they were closed.  Not wanting to go to a mall and wanting to sit outside our choices were really quite slim to zero. We decided to drive in the direction of the mall in Lynnwood and see if there wasn’t perhaps somewhere that looked welcoming and within the spec of sitting outside somewhere where it was quiet. We drove past Casa Toscana, which we initially thought was a B&B, but then stopped to find out whether they had a restaurant.  The good news was that they did! The bad news, they were fully booked. Disappointed we headed back to the car wondering where to next. Then one of the friendliest faces at the establishment chased behind us and asked whether it would be at all OK, if we sat outside? Jackpot! They had a show on, so were not able to seat us inside, but could make a plan outside under the gazebo. I must admit that I have never experienced such attentiveness and caring at a restaurant. Making guests feel special, especially when it comes to my Mom is incredibly important and counts a lot. They really went out of their way to make sure that we were well looked after. Anri was the ‘angel’ that took us under her wing and when she knocked off, we were looked after by Karabo.

It was one of those beautiful Pretoria evenings, what a pleasure to sit outside to enjoy it.

FOOD: My Mom loves fish & chips. They prepared fish and chips for us with a delicious portion of calamari wrapped in Salmon. The fish was grilled to perfection with a very tasty white sauce. It was perfectly prepared, very delicious  and a very large portion.

DRINKS: We both had a glass of red wine, quite tasty – not sure what cultivar it was.

SERVICE: INCREDIBLE! 10/10 Five stars!

VALUE FOR MONEY: It is pricey, but for the level of service that we received it  was totally worth it.

PARKING: There is parking inside.

RECOMMENDABLE: Most definitely. They have a variety of shows on each week, but this isn’t really a draw card for us – the food and service is what will get us back there.

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20 March 2015 - Our second visit was sadly not as magical as the first visit. My Mom told them that it was my birthday and they called the chef, which was lovely. I wanted to go with the lamb chops but decided to go with the chef's recommended of lamb shanks that we just HAD to try. We waited a VERY long time for our food and when I got mine it was ice cold.

The chef was very embarrassed and blamed a new guy in the kitchen, which was quite disappointing that he didn't cook our food. Anyway he tried making up for it by giving us a dessert on the house, deep fried ice cream covered with phyllo pastry and coconut. Quite tasty but just too much and we also waited very long for it.  

We will possibly go back once more, but reluctantly. Every place deserves a second chance. 

Race: Koeberg 15 kms

 

This year saw Eskom's Koeberg 15 km celebrate 21 years. It was a fairly early start as the race started at 07:00 and it is about an hours drive to Koeberg - we left at 05:15, thanks to the GPS selecting  scenic route option with interesting road choices and turnoffs, we made it on time with some to spare. Registration took place at the start - R50.00 entry fee.

It was quite a nice run, I had forgotten to buy rice cakes so I was powered by a protein bar. The route was not too bad in terms of hills - nothing compared to some of the other races this year so far. There was quite a bit of the track on dirt road. My first 5 kms I did within 29 minutes which I was quite happy about.

My total time was 01:40:24, which is OK - would have liked a better time, but it was three minute faster than the last 15kms I did (Hohenhort).