Hello guys,

Possibly the last mail u will get from me this year. I hear some of u sayin whew thank goodness, to that i say kiss my .....

Must say this has most probably been one of the better years I have had. I guess passin board in Feb set the tone for the year, there were plenty of downers this year, and plenty of ups, met some great people, challengin people etc. Vacation in London England, visit to Paris via bus through the coutryside, not having a place to stay there, who would have thought a bush boy from Umtata, cruising the streets over the sea..missioning till the early hours for a place to lay my head...All in all a great learning experience! Definately blessed.

Anyway, I resigned from PricewaterhouseCoopers on Friday, gonna take up a Investment Associate post in the Private Equity department at a relatively youg company that may not have all its ducks in a row, called the NEF corporation. Its the challenge of it all and the thinkin behind what they are trying to do that is drawing me to them. In my dept so far there is just my boss, his PA and me. So basically we are gonna start the dept from scratch. Daunting, yet exciting, hey if it falls flat, at least i tried!

PwC was great, learnt a great deal, met some good people and a chop ;-), all in all a great experience, but I cant fake it, i aint no auditor! My mail address is still the same will change mid Jan, but I will keep ya posted

Leaving for Cape Town bright and early tomorrow morning, so if any of u are down that side, I would really like to hook up 082 857 4546.

On that note I wish you all a very peaceful and relaxing holiday, lots of laughter and fun. Hope u all get back to work feelin refreshed and rearing to go and have urselves the best year ever. When shaite dont go according to plan, learn the lessons, have a coke (not a line) and a smile, and move on! Travel safely if u r going anywhere.

Garth, please pass my greetings to your wife, wishin her a happy b-day on the 12th, Renier, happy b-day on the 18th, Steph, hope the 21st is a fantastic day. Maria, happy 24th on the 23rd, we have a drink at barazza on the 26th.

On that note i sign off, stay cool.

Oh wait quotes...

The thousand mysteries around us would not trouble
but interest us, if only we had cheerful, healthy hearts
Friedrich Nietzsche

the best relationships--friendship and otherwise--tend to be those where you *can* say anything to the other person but you don't say *everything*. - Audrey Beth Stein

may have used this b4, but i like it so here we go again...

Never idealize others. They will never live up to your expectations. Don't over-analyse your relationships. Stop playing games. A growing relationship can only be nurtured by genuineness. - Leo F. Buscaglia

Respek

Y

When you're down and troubled and you need a helping hand, and nothing oh nothing is going right, close your eyes and think of me and soon i will be there to brighten even your darkest night, you just call out my name and you know wherever I am, i'll coming running, o yeah baby, winter, spring, summer or fall(thats autumn for u Phil), all u gotta do is just call, and i'll be there.....

Hope u guys know this song as well, its so deep, brings a tear to a mans eye...

Hopin u all are more refreshed than i am, ag even if i aint the bright side of life for me is i am on leave from wednesday till next year, yeah i know u hate me, its a tough life, but someones gotta live it. the only question i have now is where to next year??!!

But i guess it will take care of itself....

Well seein as yesterday was world aids day, i think it only right to impart some info on this 'disease'.

As most of us know, other than our esteemed president, a precursor to AIDS is the contraction of HIV, which by the way is a biomedical condition, ie it is affected by the environment in which it is exposed. Or something like that

Anyway there are 2 strands of this virus HIV-1 with 9 subtypes, which is foundin first world, asia latin america and most of africa, then there is HIV -2, linked to West Africa, but it looks like my brothers from the west side are dividing and conquering more of the world, cos some HIV -2 strands have been located in Mozambique. HIV - 1 is more deadly in that it has a shorter incubation period.

Anyway what the virus does, is it attaches itself to the wall of a CD4 cells, which is a white blood cell, belonging to a class of lymphocytes(colourless white cells found in the blood) called T cells(a lymphocyte developed in the thymus; it orchestrates the immune system's response to infected or malignant cells). Well anyway what the cell does is it plays space invaders with the CD4 cells and destroys the CD4 cells hence the T cells resulting in the delayed response time for the immune system to combat infections (kinda like the South African Police and Telkom..delayed response). as the immune system weakens full blown AIDS comes into existence and then its only a matter of time.

The stages of the progression from HIV to Aids is as follows:
Stage 1 Primary or acute HIV infection

Stage lasts for like 3 weeks, this is the stage where the body's immune response gets the virus under control...well so it thinks, because mutation begins..

Stage 2 Seroconversion
During this stage the body develops antibodies to ward off HIV, HIV does eventually win the battle, but the body can manage to fight the virus for a few years. This stage lasts 6 - 12 weeks. The usefullness of the antibodies, is to reduce the concentration of HIV, but it unfortunately does not eliminate the virus.

Stage 3 Asymptomatic stage
This is the stage occupies like 80% of the period between infection and death. CD4 cell count in an HIV negative person is ordinarily between 700 - 1300 per m millilitre of blood, once it drops to below 300, its game over, cos at this stage the immune system looks like a scene from Braveheart...after a battle, infections reign supreme, thrush, shingles, TB weight loss, diarrhoea, fever and fatigue are the comon symptoms of this stage

Stage 4 AIDS
At this stage the CD4 cell count is below 200, here there is no hope really, u get pneumonia that is untreatable, meningitis Karposi's sarcoma (A cancer characterized by numerous bluish-red nodules on the skin, usually on the lower extremities, that is endemic to equatorial Africa and often occurs in a particularly virulent form in people with AIDS.) Aids is not a disease, but rather a repository for many medical conditions, so people dont actually die of aids, but an aids related disease.

Ways to get contaminated are as follows:
1) Sex...this accounts for an estimated 75% of all contaminations, 75% are hetrosexual contaminations. In 3rd world countries, transmission through sex is >75%, hetro transmission is greater in Africa and the Carribean and in Latin America, its is more gay transmissions.
2) Blood to blood, unfortunately in third world countries due to the lack of technology for screening blood the infection rate from blood transfusions is quite high. The use of contaminated needles to inject drugs, doesnt help matters much.
3) Mother to child, this has gotta be the saddest of all 3 cases (well i guess so too blood transfusions), but an innocent lighty, not even askin to be born, has to come into a world with no pops, no moms, and a life of struggle and illness from day 1.

HIV, can be treated, but the key is catching it in its early stages, you may not get rid of the virus, but you could lead a drug induced normal life for somewhere up to 40 years or so.

You know i understand where Thabo Mbeki was coming from when he said HIV does not cause aids, the way he said it may have been wrong, but i understand what he meand. Basically what he was getting at is that the virus, and its spread has alot to do with the socio-economic environment in which it operates, hence it being a biomedical condition. The aleviation of poverty and education will go a long way in helping third world countries manage the epidemic. The virus is spreading at an exponential rate in third world countries, Why, cos 1) Education is alacking and 2)They dont know that the disease can be managed!

The effects of the disease on the country's economy is huge, firstly it will result in increased medical costs, ie subsidising anti-retrovirals, then there is the cost of aring for aids orphans, then all this is compounded by the depletion of the workforce. The rate of infections on the mines and amongst truck drivers are apparently astronomical, and imagine the loss of production time etc., should you lose staff, not to mention the loss of income for example what if u have a truck full of millions of rand worth of good, truck driver falls ill on the road, good bye truck driver, goodbye merchandise

The solution is simple, ROLL DOWN THE RUBBER MAN, or better yet, abstain hell roger rabit & danny dolphin(battery operated toys) and mrs palmers, apparently do the trick!!

If u have any friends that think they are cool cos they go bare, smack them upside their head and tell the mothaf**kers to smell the coffee, cos AIDS is real! Be responsible not only for your life, but for someone elses too!!

No recorded b-days for the week, but if its yours, happy happy.

Quote

You cannot escape the responsibility of tomorrow by evading it today. Abraham Lincoln

You cannot hope to build a better world without improving the individuals. To that end, each of us must work for our own improvement and, at the same time, share a general responsibility for all humanity, our particular duty being to aid those to whom we think we can be most useful. Marie Curie

Well on that long note I am out, for all the medics out there if i got some facts wrong, please do correct me.

Respek

Y