Why di Rahtid 2004 Nuh Gwaan bout it Business?

This has been rough and trying year from a global, national and personal perspective. Firstly there will be no long post this morning. Amidst all the natural disasters, wars and economic hardship the phone rang this morning before daylight. Can't be good news:-(. Wifey's brother, my brother in law, who lives in Canada suffered a massive heart attack yesterday evening. His wife luckily had the good sense to take him to the hospital as soon as he started complaining about chest pains. The doctors have completed two procedures through the night and he is schedule for triple bypass surgery as I write this. Kindly keep him and his family in prayers. Apart from the above all is relatively quiet. Right now everybody is kind of tense every time the phone rings. On a lighter note, my family and I went to the movies last night. The Short One wanted to see Sponge Bob and would not be deterred by my suggestions that she hold up the kitchen sponge and call it Bob so we went. Her brother, The Tall One, actually agreed to go with her without a fuss. Altough she is almost thirteen I still feel queezy about letting her into movies and stuff alone. Nuff sick mofo's out there. So, off we went, The children to Sponge Bob and wifey and I to see Meet the Fockers. Horrors of horrors, di cinema ram pack. I had to park in the bottom car park on Brentford Road (I think it was renamed recently to Studio One Blvd or something like that). I had to spring for box seats to Sponge Bob and wifey and I ended up watching Oceans 12. Meet the Fockers was sold out for both shows last night. Why people don't go to dem yard and lef free seats in di movies eh??? The evening was good. Oceans 12 can watch but as to whether I would recommend shelling out the cinema money that is another story. Wait on the DVD. Too many flashbacks that tended to be a bit confusing sometimes. Here what go watch it yuhself! Anyway I am not really in the frame of mind to post too much this morning so till whenever. Oh yes BTW......

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!!! And best wishes for a better 2005!!!

Quickie

Hi all, I have three words for you this morning; swamped with work. I haven't even been able to do my usual scratching around the place. I've been here from before daylight and I am sure evening will see me here as well. It's expected though. My job calls for a heavy workload at year end so I just need to survive the next 2 weeks or so then I can resume normality. We have many statistical type reports to complete and utilization reports and reports about reports and finally staff appraisals and increments so Excel and I become really good friends just about now. Anyway, just letting you know that I haven't given up the ghost or blog so to speak but just bear with me a bit. Till lata.

Christmas Past.....

I feel like I have been in my own version of "A Christmas Carol". Over the past few days I have seen Christmas' past, present and future. Let's stay with the present (now recently past). The week leading up to Christmas was hectic but I can't complain. With my job it could have been a whole lot worse so I give thanks. I went out with a few of my high school friends on Thursday night. It was good and I stuck to my drink limit of 2 Red Stripes and only followed them up with Pepsi. Besides I needed to be awake for the rest of the evening heh heh heh. Friday was OK...quiet and I got to leave work a little earlier than usual. Christmas day was good. I went to look for a friend and my God-son in the morning. The only hard part of the day was that I had to go to the airport to pick up my niece. Iyah the airport did ram pack wid people. Luckily we saw a friend who was able to accelerate the process. We had family dinner in the evening. The children put on their Christmas show which has been a family tradition since my youthful days. The evening was well spent. On Sunday I went to church. Gots to catch likkle blessing for the season nuh true. Went to dinner in the evening and spent the time chatting and joking around. Good fun. Yesterday I spent the better part of the morning working on a job I had started on Thursday evening. I had to finally put my foot down and advise the client that what she wanted done to the computer was next to impossible. Her bill was already more than what the job would have been worth normally. Never let non tech people try to dictate what they want you to do. I wasn't in any mood to argue with her before but really it was becoming a bit long in the tooth so I spelt it out in ways she could understand, it's either this way or nuff money. She finally relented. Had the stupid machine up and running in 2 hours. Had family over for the evening. More liming and joking around. Dr.D called to invite me to meet with some of the blogging crew but unfortunately I had to pass since my wife's brothers and sister and their families were still there at the time. I hope I will get an opportunity to meet them before they run back to their respective parts of the blogging globe. All in all the holiday was good. New Years is still to come so we'll see what mischief I will get up to then. Probably stay home and chill inna mi bed. It's still so hard to believe that Christmas came and went all in the space of 24 hours. I guess we'll do it all again next year. Later guys.

Happy Holidays

Hi everybody, Just a quick note to say..... A MERRY CHRISTMAS to you all!!!! May you and families enjoy the spirit and the true meaning of this very special time of year. Let there be Peace on Earth and Good will to all.

What can I tell you....

Well Christmas is right on top of us. It seemed so far just the other day an look ya now, it right pon di door step. The week has been really hectic. I was off doing exams last week and in my three day absence, very little of my desk was touched so I have literally been doing two days work in one. I didn't blog yesterday. I just couldn't bring myself to rant and rave after reading about the shooting of the young man who cleans windscreens. Crime in my homeland has certainly taken on epidemic proportions. Being Christian, it puts me into two minds simply because there is the obligation to try to spread the Word. On the other had I see the very real need for drastic action by our law enforcers. The question is, "Where do we draw the line?" Honestly I don't know anymore. It seems that every half idiot out there has an illegal firearm or can readily obtain one and the sad truth is that they are willing to go to any means to get what they want. Sometimes I don't even bother to read the newspaper anymore because the news is always depressing. This week the main topics have been accidents. Our drives have quite a few new roads, some really good cars and mad people behind quite a few of those steering wheels. Madness has escalated. I was going to say "taken over" but I recall when I was in high school some 20 odd years ago, there was an accident involving a Toyota Starlet on the way home. The jokers actually managed to fit 13 people into that car. Needless to say, crashing was inevitable. For those who are unfamiliar, a Starlet is a sub compact hatchback car a little smaller than a VW Golf or a Geo Metro for my American readers. It small!! This week there have been at least 2 or 3 headlines with accidents resulting in either death or serious injury. It is the silly season. Last night I decided to go play some badminton with my co-workers. I haven't been in a while so the fitness is non existent mi tell unno. Mek mi tell you suppen...I pain up dis morning. Pain in places I never know muscle di deh!! The workout was good though and the after chat and lime was cool. Left the training centre at about 10:00 and couldn't believe the amount of babylon (police officers) still on the roads. They were on every corner writing tickets left right and centre. Good thing I was on my best behaviour. Cannot afford the $5K that tickets run at all. This evening I am supposed to be getting together with my classmates for drinks but I am getting a bit wary of the entertainment package if you know what I mean. At any rate I will definitely try to be there although my office is trying to throw broom in mi spokes. We have external auditors buzzing around so I may need to do some late hours preparing for them. It's hard but honestly the quicker they look and leave the better it is for everybody. I'm hoping that my boss doesn't want to stay today, it being so close to the holidays and all. We'll see. Anyways I think I've more than made up for yesterday and plus if I go on much longer you naw go read it anyway. Tink mi nuh know sey a so it go? Later all.

Where are those Keys

Hi all, I'm off to a really late start this morning. I had to literally be tearing down the house trying to find the keys for the house. I live right across the road from my parents, so on Saturday we went out on the road leaving the helper to finish the washing and ironing and she said she was going to clean the house as well. She would then lock up and leave the keys at my parents. She did just that. When my son came in he picked up the keys and carried them over but since then they have disappeared. I have looked high and low for them and ...no keys. We have another set but I am uncomfortable with having a set of keys out there. Last night I changed up the padlocks but mi still want mi keys. The padlock keys are special as they belong to a special set of locks that I use for safety. They are not the best arrangement but both locks use the same key so as not to spend so much time when I come from school at nights fiddling with locks and keys. The downside is that if you lose one key and someone finds it they can open both locks. The upside is that the locks are supposed to be bulletproof so you as a regular crook would need the key to access it. Any of you seen the keys in your neck of the woods? Addendum: Wifey just called...Keys found!!! I won't even bother to tell you all where.

Honey, I'm Home!!!!!

I'm still here and very much alive. I haven't checked in at all but that's life sometimes. I can actually say I missed you all very much. This will be short since I'm trying to catch up at work. The exams are over and I won't comment until I get the results. The Econ was ruff. They presented you with a choice of questions but the questions were all from the same area so there really was no choice. If you were not up to scratch (no pun intended) with that topic your pork get cook!!! (sorry Melody). I should pass all three though. Finally got in some shopping over the weekend. Got to the mall early and left before the masses arrived. It will be a low keyed Christmas from a spending perspective but I am going to make it a great one from a family and friend point of view. I should be linking with my school crew later this week and the rapping is always good. Dr.D ribs me about my drink of choice (Pepsi) but that's life too. Maybe I'll have a Red Stripe or two, who knows? Thank you to all who remembered me while I was undergoing academic stress. I don't plan to go back to any shopping so I will try to do all my supermarket stuff etc. by tomorrow cuz traffic out a road nuh pretty iyah!! My niece arrives from New York on Christmas day so I'll be spending part of the day fighting with customs but hey.... I will be standing as god father for her daughter in early January so that's another event to look forward to. Anywayz, I gots to go, so see you all on your blogs later.

Nothing at all

Bwoy, I feel like a fishy out of water this morning. Can't think of what to say today and honestly mi unda nuff nuff pressure at work. I have a report that's due at 10:00 this morning and I haven't even started it yet. I'm going to get myself in a bit of trouble and present it half finished. I think it's time that they stop taking me and my time for granted. They knew they needed the info from their last meeting which was held last Tuesday and only chose to tell me yesterday evening near to leaving time. So apparently I have nothing to do but take home office work and use my own resources to complete it at their whim so I decided that I was going to work at it during working hours. Enough is enough!! There is a background to all of this but I'll tell you about that later. For now just trust me, it's the right thing to do. Anywayz guys, have a great day and remember that I'm off for the rest of the week so you'll see little of me till Monday.

Weekend Review

Hi all, A hectic weekend is over but I can say in all honesty that it wasn't bad at all. Got in some yard work on Saturday morning followed by some studying and ended the evening with family get together. The socializing was good. My nephew got a double CD system with a DJ mixer and was having a ball bringing sound to the gathering. Let me say that none of the DJ's who do this for a living will have anything to worry about for quite a while. He enjoyed himself though and that's what is important (I hope). I have never heard so much crap music played over and over again. The other teenagers there took turns at the set and at the microphone. Jokes galore. Yesterday was the brunch put on by my high school graduating class. The food was good and the bad mouthing was present but comradery was good. I had to leave a bit earlier than I would have liked but two exams on your doorstep tend to talk louder than socializing so it was off to study group. which was also pretty good. I am less panicky about the exam later this week. It will be Econ and I still think of it as imperialistic in nature. Anyway since I won't be in office as of Wednesday, I have much to do between now and then so take care till whenever we chat again.

Respec' to the Blogging Crew......Zeen

Hail up to all blogging massive. I'm upbeat today. Nothing much going on and that once in a lifetime, all encompassing, posts of posts continues to elude me. No brilliance to spew from deep within to wow the mass, the hoi polloi as my 4th form English teacher used to say. The ST. G.C. crew should know what it means. I see the rest of you reaching for the dictionary. Well as an update, my house has finally been sold. I won't receive the funds directly and the amount retained must be plowed back into the purchase of a new home. Well the good thing is that I can now commence the search for a new abode. I'm happy because at least the limbo existence is on its way to an end. I went over to the house to do a last look through to ensure that I wasn't leaving anything there. The wasps and lizards have certainly taken advantage of ten months of unoccupancy. Luckily the purchaser intends to do some work on it before she moves in because it is not pretty. I have been there several times to clean up but because there isn't constant traffic they just simply hide until wi gone. Today promises to be really hectic so I need to get started soon because once staff starts to get here my day done. I should be meeting up with some of my old school mates for brunch on Sunday so I'm looking forward to that. Well we already know that MB won't be there unless he plans to do a fly in today. Tomorrow we go to a bar-be-que which is a delayed celebration of birthdays for one of my nephews and niece. Family fun Saturday, school fun Sunday mixed with nuff studying should be a good weekend I hope. One of the rally cars I saw last weekend is up for sale. This would be a good way for me to break into the scene. Let's see now, between Piggy,Doggy, Bull, Sunshine, Stu, Abeni, JDid, Ciya, Seven, Natty, Desiree, CoolDestiny and the rest of the blogging crew footing half the bill and Dr.D. footing the other half and my driving expertise we should be a winning team. What yuh sey guys? :) (Yuh haffi mek Doc feel important yuh nuh so him get half to pay.) Anywayz guys enuff crap from me for one day. Off to visit sites till work time. Have a great weekend.

I'm Back

Good Morning all, Hope today finds you well and in good spirit. Well firstly let me thank you all for being there in the exam with me. It's finished and I will wait on the results to determine my status. The paper was manageable and apparently it was adjusted to deal with the Ivan situation, and as aresult we ended up having extra time. Most persons completed the 3 hour paper with at least 1/2 hour to spare. Hope we wrote what we were supposed to. Christmas is in the air. I went window shopping yesterday evening. Things look good but prices look really steep especially when yuh work with government (no bonus). My daughter wanted to feast her eyes so we went. One of my wife's students is returning home to turtle country on Friday so we were looking for a Jamaican gift to present to her from the class. We settled on a Jamaican ornamental doll dressed in the school's uniform. The young lady came to Jamaica in the wake of Ivan as her school in Cayman was badly damaged and her parents thought best to send her to school in Jamaica temporarily. We wish her all the best on her return to her homeland. Wifey must have been impressed as she made a special effort in choosing the gift. Another sign of Christmas is the escalation in robberies. From media reports the ole criminal dem keeping the babylon dem pon dem toes. I have told wifey to be extra careful when she stops at traffic lights and when she goes home before me. The car we drive is a long standing favorite for the thieves although they seemed to have turned their affections towards the Hondas these days. Traffic has also gotten ridiculous but it gives you more time to sit and watch the lights :) (Gotta think positive yuh know!!) Our power utility company is in the news again. One lady was quarreling that her billed has jumped from $2300 to $13000 in one month. She certainly must be bringing new light to the world. Her case is apparently not isolated so the investigations begin as to why how when where who. We'll see how that turns out. I'm waiting on my first bill to come. I settled all previous so I'm supposed to start fresh but we'll see how that goes. Anywayz, I think I've bored you enough for one morning. Have a great day.

See you all Thursday

As i wrote on one of the blogs, I had to sacrifice blogging in favour of books today. I've been up from 3:00 a.m. reading and if I told you I remember anything...I'd be a liar. In through eyes out through...you chose where. Tomorrow I have my 1st exam for the semester. The course has been tedious and requires reading and analysis of a 600 page text. We are not ready for this exam. Ivan took 2 weeks of our time and exams were set long before Ivan so I'm sure there will be stuff on that paper that we have not covered but ............ I got through with my exam admission and stuff with relative ease so I am hoping that favour continues to shine on I. I will be leaving office now to try and cram some more and I won't be able to interact again with you all again until Thursday so wish me all the best and try not to miss me too much. No tears now :) I will try and check in on my usual rounds but with the dial up connection at home it can be a frustrating experience especially since you have gotten accustomed to high speed. Take care all and we'll chat on Thurday.

Weekend

Hi all, Just checking in. The weekend was hectic but not too bad for the most part. Sadly a member of my graduating class of '81 (his brother is now my co-worker) lost his mother on Friday. Please keep that family in prayer. I had my final classes for this semester on Saturday. It was a really long and tedious day. We were trying to look at all aspects of the remaining syllabus in prep for exams which start for me on Wednesday. There is hope for Jamaica's service industry. I signed up for my new cable service on Friday and guess what? They came on Saturday morning bright and early and did a full install. Thumbs up guys. The office party was held on Friday night. I went for a short while since I knew I had to get to class on Saturday. It wasn't bad but nothing to write home about either. On Sunday was church. In the afternoon I went to New KIngston to see the final three stages of the car rally. About 15 out of 41 cars finished. Most of the top contenders were out by the start of these stages but the remaining drivers really put on a show. Motor racing is the one thing that I can honestly say that I wish I had the funds to participate in. We had competitors from Barbados join us for the event. Pretty good show. Anyway I will chat some more with you guys later. I am running out to school to try and collect my exam slip so gotta go.

Phew what a day...

Hi all. Not a lot to say today and even less time to say it in. Went to school this morning and got myself registered. Took ID and got that as well so I am good to gone for exams next week. I need to collect my exam slip next Tuesday so that is another war brewing. Didn't reach office until 11:00 so work a bus mi shut. I have been around on my blog circuit but have not tried to post. I'll do that over the weekend. BTW I got back my regular ISP yesterday so things looking up. At least I can surf and only have the phone bill to worry about. At the alternate ISP, I have to pay them per hour of connect time (US$2.00 = J$120.00). It really adds up. I have also made an application for cable service so I should have that by Monday evening hopefully *fingers crossed as well as toes arms legs etc*. We have a new blogger in our midst and I invite you, if you have not yet done so, to visit Melody's pages and "kiss de pig". Her URL is http://kissdepig.blogspot.com. Christmas is indeed upon us and the temperatures are showing it. I actually like the cool breeze that is blowing. Ciya and the other foreign Jamrockers can keep those deep freeze temperatures. Not me iyah. Anyways I have to finish up some stuff before leaving and my office Christmas function is tonight so I will be going to nyam some food. Ham had better be there (no not Melody). We are having it now because on our small island good venues are booked solid some from a year ago so you have to tek what yuh get. Anyways (you can tell that I can be a rambler can't you)...I man gone for now. Lataz!!!

Runnings

Well people I can safely say that a macro economist I am not!! I got back my results for the test I did on Saturday and I was in two minds. I passed so I was glad for that...no make that elated. On the other hand it was my lowest grade in my university life. I will blow my own trumpet since I can(heh heh heh). I have had a consistent "A" average since starting back at school 2 1/2 years ago. My GPA has remained a consistent 3.7 for that entire period. However in life we encounter obstacles that we know immediately are sent to trample pon black man spirit. I can personify economics as an Imperialist. It was designed to hold back a black man, mind you not in its principles or teachings but in that handcuff sort of way. Anyway I have escaped the clutches of the imperialist temporarily...that is until my final exam in about 2 weeks. Needless to say my GPA will suffer sake of this scurge but hey....life goes on and no resits. I can also report that I found a way to obtain half of my school fees (legally) and this will allow me to register, sit my finals for the semester and still have a bit of leeway in coming up with the rest of the cash by April. Yeeeaaaaahhhhhhh!!!!!!! I am blessed. I will go on campus tomorrow to sort out the paperwork and get my new ID. It will take some getting use to since I have had this ID number since my original enrolment at school in 1985. It has all my history attached to it, and although they say that all records will be transferred to the new file, experience with their systems has been an excellent teacher. It took me two years to sort out the last set of problems they had and it took that amount of time to obtain my final certificate. We'll see though. There isn't anything I can do about it so ...go with the flow. Other than that life is life I suppose. One step, one day at a time. More from me later. Right now

Hi all

Hi guys, Just saying a quick good morning. Exams are down on me and believe you me the ol' brain too tired to think about anything to post. So I'll spare you the details on my courses cause that's all you will be able to get out of me right now. I am enjoying the new browser. I haven't found any issues as yet. I downloaded it at home and it took about 10 minutes with a dial up connection speed of 44.0 kps so it really isn't bad. The interface is exactly like IE so you don't even have to get used to a new screen. The difference is how it handles the files. I LOVE IT!!!! As Desiree was saying to Dr.D. its just "download file, double click on the icon when it is finished and wahla instant speed". I saw this lite humour somewhere and thought I'd share a smile. (Plus it gives Dr.D. a chance to get back at me for giving him such a low grade for his jokes. MB turn stand up comic too but we'll see. Enjoy the day... Jim and Edna were both patients in a mental hospital. One day while they were walking past the hospital swimming pool, Jim suddenly jumped into the deep end.

He sank to the bottom of the pool and stayed there. Edna promptly jumped in to save him. She swam to the bottom and pulled Jim out.

When the medical director became aware of Edna's heroic act he immediately ordered her to be discharged from the hospital, as he now considered her to be mentally stable. When he went to tell Edna the news he said, "Edna, I have good news and bad news. The good news is you're being discharged; since you were able to rationally respond to a crisis by jumping in and saving the life of another patient, I have concluded that your act displays sound mindedness. The bad news is, Jim, the patient you saved, hung himself in the bathroom, with his bathrobe belt, right after you saved him. I am so sorry, but he's dead.

"Edna replied, "He didn't hang himself, I hung him there to dry....How soon can I go home?"

Intriguee with....

Has it ever happened to you? I was up for the past few nights watching cricket of all things. This is a sport that I really have no interest in but lack of cable does strange things to you. I find myself watching anything that comes on including soap operas...Generations....yuck!!! but i can give you the story line now. Anyway, I was watching cricket and I noticed the spectators, mostly women from India. They all had varying styles of dresses and spots and colours etc. obviously from different strata of society. I was actually intrigued by the detail and wondered what each represented. I had mentioned on MB's blog that my not too distant decendants on my mother's side actually came from India and yet I know so very little about that culture. Again, I guess because of the upbringing or mindset of those people at that time. On my father's side though I can identify the first time my family name appears in Jamaica's historical records. The first Scratchie was from a Scottish/German theatre company doing shows in Jamaica. Quite a turn around since I am not a lover of theatre. Maybe there are unseen reasons. Who knows? I have a few friends who are of Indian heritage and I will certainly try to satisfy this new found curiousity soon. Anyway has anyone had the experience that a seemingly innocent incident sparks such questions for no apparent reason?

Browsers and more

Hi all, Had some problems with my compi this morning. Couldn't get in on most sites with the exception of MB and Dr.D. Got it remedied a while ago. Downloaded a new browser called Mozilla Firefox. Believe you me guys, it mek Internet Explorer look like it naw try. The drawback was that it is a large file so downloading over dial-up was crazy. It updated itself and I never lost a link. I love it. (Haven't found any issues yet and the page loading has improved significantly. For you technocrats out there, try it and let the rest of us technologically challenged blog junkies know if you approve. Today has been really boring without my vice (blogging) so I am just getting back into things. Hope all is well with you all. BTW I passed the Finance test I did o Thursday with flying colours so now I can teach you all how to value stock and do time value of money. Yeah right!!! The one I had on Saturday was ruff but only the final results will tell how I did so nuff prayers going up for that one. Anywayz I gots to runs. TTYL.

TGIF

Nothing special is planned for the weekend. As a matter of fact I have an in course test tomorrow so books books and more books tonight. Today has been reasonably quiet. The blog community seems to be on cook mode. Dr. D. has given his ham recipe which is bang on and Stu is cooking up a storm. Food is the focus right now. As for me well I'm kinda out of it today so I humour you when I'm in this kinda mood. So enjoy the joke below and enjoy your weekend all. Something for his Cough The owner of a drug store walks in to find a guy leaning heavily against a wall. The owner asks the clerk, "What's with that guy over there by the wall?"The clerk says, "Well, he came in here this morning to get something for his cough. I couldn't find the cough syrup, so I gave him an entire bottle of laxative."The owner says, "You idiot! You can't treat a cough with laxatives!"The clerk says, "Oh yeah? Look at him, he's afraid to cough!"

Another day another.......?

Hi all, Didn't get to post yesterday due to severe work overload. I have another hectic day today so this will be short. The morning has started with its own set of amusements. Sometimes I wish I had a digital camera to take some of the crap that goes on on our roads. On the way to work this morning a Honda CRV decided that he pays more taxes than everybody so lines are not for him. He proceeds to overtake a whole line of traffic blowing his horn all the way. The upcoming traffic light holds him so everybody he just overtook is right behind and beside him. Light goes green and off he goes again bobbing and weaving from one side of the three lane road to the other. Mind you this is peak hour so nuff cyar deh bout. Another traffic light and we are all beside him again. When we reach to Three Miles intersection he chooses an outside lane and gets caught up behind a trailer so now everybody passes him. I just had to laugh because with all his antics is is actually now in a worse position than if he had just sat in the line and waited. Patience my friends patience. Second incident is on Marcus Garvey Drive heading to my workplace. Suddenly I hear no ends of blowing behind me. Looked in my mirror only to see a Toyota Hiace coming at breakneck speed in and out of traffic. The driver is hanging out the window shouting and waving and beckoning for cars to give him way. Low and behold it is a police van escorting two brand new police cars to some kind of emergency (probably late for breakfast or something like that). Apparently the siren doesn't work so shouting is his method of alerting other motorists. I just laughed. Only in Jamaica!! Well I leave office a bit earlier than usual today. My daughter (I call her The Short One) is attending her school's prize giving. She is to receive two prizes, one for her work in Art and Craft and the other for consistent good work. I will definitely go since she is motivated by that sort of thing. She does not do well at exams and is paranoid that she cannot function like other kids. We have encouraged her and she is really improving. When she did GSAT last year she was not placed at a school of her choice but I managed to get her transferred to another school but the "failure" from her point of view set her back quite a bit. We have again worked with her and here it is less than a year later that she is excelling. She has now proclaimed that she is doing as well as the girl who was at the top of the class last year. Her grades are cosistently good and I think she has now realized that she is as good as any of the girls that got into the school by exam placement. She has really come a long way in one year. Life is pretty OK at this point. No school fees yet but still hoping that something works out. I have Plan B in the wings so we'll see. Addendum: I just remembered...HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!! to all my American blog bredrins and sistrens. If you feel you have nothing to be thankful for, be thankful that you have life, and where there is life there is hope, hope for a brighter future.

Tuesday doldrum

Hi all I've been blog surfing this morning. I started with all the links on MB site and then went over to Dr.D. (Doc, quite a few of yours are dead so you'll need to do some house cleaning preferrably today...thank you:)). 'im jus have big man wastin' im time a go tru dead link after dead link cho:). I came across a piece by another Caribbean writer in which she raises questions about "barrel children". I'm not so good with this linking thing so here goes nothing http://hairoun.blogspot.com I think it's an interesting piece and because of my experiences over the past nine years or so I hold it very dear to my heart. One of my dearest friends came from such a background and it is because of her plight that we are friends today. She continues to grow both in spirit and in maturity. I don't think we as parents understand the effect that our seemingly simple actions have on our children. I will be at home and I see my son come to my bedroom door and looks in. He then turns and walks away. Quite the opposite of my daughter who feels that she needs to be around us 24-7. I call him back sometimes and after years of this I realize that he is just checking if I'm there and that everything is OK. He may not crave the attention of us all the time but he likes the security of knowing that he can come if and when he needs to. I don't think my children are in isolation when it comes to parental support. I believe that sometimes it is more important to suffer the financial hardship than to leave our children to the whims and fancy of others. Bottom line is that is dat is not fi dem pickney and dem nah look afta dem like yuh. I am not saying that there are not circumstances that may dictate other actions but I think we in the Caribbean, Jamaica in specific look to parental migration as our first choice without examining the consequences of our actions. If you must migrate include your children please. They are not afterthoughts but should remain primary in our actions. Later guys.

Who is King?

Going a little churchy this morning but that's the diversity of blogging. I was having some major differences with a very close friend of mine over what may be in retrospect really trivial but that is all a part of life and its dealings. We actually sat down and trashed it out agreeing to disagree on some issues and finding acceptable grounds on others. The fact is that we have been friends for 12 years and we have had issues before and will have them again but if the friendship is worth it then you work through the issues. I had a really hectic weekend with school all day Saturday and I went to church on Sunday. I've always been church oriented so why the difference yesterday? On my return to Kingston, I have adopted Stella Maris as my new church home. I have been going since February and the services have been good. Coming from a quasi-country church experience, the urban church scene takes some readjusting to. I grew up in Kingston but moved to St. Catherine about 10 years ago. I am now back in Kingston. I say quasi-country because although St. Catherine is considered an extension of metro living, it has only acquired this status in the last 15 years or so. In this regard status changes faster than habits an so peripherals such as church have deep foundations in rural habits. It is not uncommon to attend service and remain in the church yard conversing with someone you see once a week for a time longer than the service itself and then have umpteen church sister and brothers at your door later for chat and dinner all bearing some element of the meal. Anyway back to my topic...The theme of mass yesterday was Christ the King. I am not going to talk from a religion aspect but rather a Christian aspect. The pastor spoke on a topic that is a part of the church year every year so I have heard the readings many times in my 39 or so years of being in church. Yesterday however he equated yesterday's significance to Christmas, Easter, birthdays Thanksgiving etc. His message was that we celebrate Christmas as the birth of Christ, His life on earth, Easter for His death and resurrection and the salvation it brings but then the cycle stops. Having gone through all the other stuff we almost ignore the fact that what we celebrate each Sunday and especially at those other feast days is really that Jesus Christ is King!! He then made mention of all the other things that we put so much effort into... the birthdays, Thanksgiving (Stella has a high percentage of Americans there). He looked at our prayer habits. Is it a case of when we pray we ask God to address our circumstances as He sees fit or is it us telling Him the circumstance and what He IS to do about it. In retrospect we probably do need to re-examine our stance on our lives. As Christmas approaches let us endeavour to recognise the CHRIST in Christmas and to enjoy the season for what it is really. The celebration of the beginning of our lives. Who really is King?

Faithful or Faithfully Unfaithful? that is the question

Shakespeare would have been proud of my caption. This from someone who hated literature in school and got "Ungraded" for my GCE exam. At school last night, the boyfriend girlfriend, wife husband argument came up in idle chatter. It was however closed with the usual cliche' "Is man dem name" which was punctuated by agreement from the females in the class. In Jamaica (I can only speak for here) it is a foregone conclusion that the male must have more than one woman to be satisfied. Indeed there are guys out there who have two or three or more women or families and are quite content not to be tied to any one woman. But are all men like that? I can say with definitive certainty that I am not!! Not to say that there have not been other women who have crossed my path that I have been attracted to, but I have chosen not to act on emotion or feeling or hormones or whatever drives this sexual desire of man (and woman too I might add). My best friend is a female. We have been very good friends for close to 13 years and we have had normal desires and we have worked through those to where we are now. We have never been bed partners but rather vital support to each other in critical times. It is a decision we both made and stuck to. Using myself as example I can therefore conclude that this view of all men having affairs and woman being so chaste is flawed and I am certain that I am not alone. I am certain that there are many men who have married or committed themselves to one person and are holding to that commitment. In years long gone, after having the notion that men were the cause of marital and spousal problems, I met upon my first case of female infidelity. In the past six years I have found out that several of the women with whom I have either an acquaintance or deeper friendships with are/were having extra-spousal affairs. There is at least one case where a love child is involved (hubby hasn't figured it out yet). My years at work, school and even church have overturned the myth of female outlook on committed relationships. They are no better than the men. They do the same things. You will realize that men and women have similar habits but I conclude that women just hide it better. Human sexuality is a strange topic. It would seem that there are those who are committed and those who are not with those who are committed dwindling in numbers. It leads therefore to the question "Are men and women essentially faithful to that significant other or are we faithfully unfaithful? Are those that remain loyal to their spouse an exception to that rule that man and woman are born to love each other and all others that they can lore into there beds? Think about you and your relationships. Food for thought.

Today is Wednesday...can you imagine

Well it's that time again...school fees are due. I need J$84000.00 to pay my school fees or I won't be able to sit my exams. Haven't a clue where the 1st cent is but I have been blessed so far. Made it to third year and still going so we'll see. Anybody wants to sponsor a young, brilliant, handsome(....let's not get carried away here...OK OK I'll leave out the "young" part heh heh heh) student to the sum of US$1400.00 I'll be forever in your debt. I hope that's a good thing. I left out kinda late this morning so traffic was heavier than normal. Let me put it this way, a five minute late departure can translate into a half an hour extra travelling time. I sat down and for the first time I actually was able to look inside one of our articulated buses. We have some of our public transport service buses that are actually almost twice as long as a regular bus. They are joined in the middle by some hinge type mechanisn and the outer panel looks like an accordion (pickney paper fan). They are so designed to enable the bus to have a shorter turning circle (dem can tek corner). I wonder who sat down and devised that concept. On the Portmore route they have a couple that are joined in 2 places so the bus looks like a snake going down the roads (usually at speeds far exceeding the speed limit I might add). While looking at the marvels of modern technology I remembered when I was 1st at CAST (now the University of Technology) there was a bus on the road they used to call "The Ark". An entrepreneur, seeing the plight of students and his lack of funds, had used a tractor trailer head and had purchased an old car carrier and modified it to accomodate both seated and standing students of both CAST and UWI. It even had buzzers to signal your need to get off at the next bus stop. At the time, on our regular bus system, one would have to get out of your seat and shout at the top of your lungs "One Stop Driver!!!" which quite often went unheard and was only recognized when backed up with expletives or the whole bus joining in the chorus. Either way an uncertain way to travel. It was twice the size of any bus we had then and would rival any we have now in my estimation. It was always crowded but it worked and served its purpose well. Necessity is truly the mother of invention. How times have changed.

Weekend Runnings

Hi all, I have been absent for a while. I have been reading the various blogs but have not had the time to do any posting. It's getting close to the end of the semester so tests are killing me. Last week I had to have minor surgical procedure done. The doctors had to lance a swelling by my right ear. No pain killers no local nothing just swoops with a scapel. Damn wicked female doctors yuh si. Anyway it seems to be on the mend. I heard from the lawyer handling the sale of my house and it seems as if things are going well. It should be complete by early December. Keeping toes fingers arms legs etc crossed. I was blog surfing earlier and in reading some of the stuff people write you realize that there are some sick mofo's out there. I have seen everything from illogical reasoning to racism and it certainly is an eye opener. It spans more than the culture differences we experience from our different backgrounds and upbringings. It goes to the very state of mind of the individuals who write some of these things. It makes you very afraid to even have some of these people reading your documents for fear that some of the crap they emit somehow affects your way of thinking. My son looks at some of the really outrageous cars on the roads with the racing wings and full body kits and says that they just buy a Sport Compact Car magazine and let the credit card do the talking whether or not the parts match or look good or were even designed for the car. He advocates that people should be made to take a sanity test before they are allowed to buy some magazines. I am advocating that some people need to take a test before they are allowed to publish their thoughts let alone act on these thoughts. Some of my surfing was really distressing. Ladies and Gentlemen there are some really sick people out there. Be careful about the amount of info you present on your blogs. Be careful who you trust because sometimes it is not the people who respond that we need to worry about but rather the ones raking in the info on the side or those who visit our sites by accident and by way of others. Let us all strive to ensure a positive blog experience for each other. By this I don't mean to agree when you disagree but rather agree to disagree in the best possible manner not the four page discourses I have seen taking place on other sites. Thank God I haven't seen that in our circle and as a matter of fact I look forward to making the rounds within our readership. I lwelcome new readers and I like interacting with new people but ...it worries me sometimes. Think about what I have said. Have you ever experience racism in a real way?

Nothing to post so ....more Humour

$500.00 A woman was walking down the street when she was approached by a man. The man said, "I must have you right now! I'll drop 500 dollars on the ground at your feet and in the time it takes for you to pick it up I can have my way with you from behind!" The woman thought it over and told the man to wait a minute. She called her girlfriend on her cell phone and told her about the man's proposition. Her girlfriend said "When he drops the $500 on the ground I'm sure you can pick it up and run before he gets his pants down. Call me back and tell me what happened." An hour and a half later the lady called her girlfriend back. "What happened?" the girlfriend asked. The lady said "That M!@&!@r F!@$#r had $500 in quarters!" Have a great day.

In the News

We have been having some problems here for the last week or so in terms of petrol. About 2 weeks ago there was an explosion at our only fuel refinery and it was closed and will remain closed for the next 6 months according to the Minister. In Jamaican terms it will be closed for the better part of a year maybe more. Jamaicans were good, no rushing of gas stations etc. During last week however the untrained eye could tell that things weren't A-1. We have 2 grades of gas here and you went to one station and no 87 octane. You went to another and no 90 octane but being resourceful you buy whatever you can get. As a matter of fact, when you are running on fumes if you could poop in the tank and it work then hey....!!! Over the weekend though things got dicey in Portmore and several stations in the Corporate Area as they ran out of gas period. This created a rush on other stations and the lines got longer and longer. Well apparently the first shipment of imported gas arrived on Sunday or yesterday and another is expected today or tomorrow so I guess we will have our usual supply of go-go juice today. I passed a couple of stations and the lines were loooonnnnngggggggggg. I'm glad I didn't have to sit in that. Well, I'm on the ten toe turbo for today. My ride decided that it needed a vacation so I left it at home this morning. Hopefully I can get the mechanic to go pay her a visit and tell me how many months salary I have to give him to bring down her fever and get her running again. I have a new mechanic since my usual one migrated. He got a job with Uncle Sam fixing their vehicles. The job pays him more than I make when you convert it. This is the first I will be asking the new guy to make a house call so wish me luck. Anyway I think I've bored you enough for one morning. So...have a great day and if you can't be good be careful.

Political Debates continue

Well I finally got my phone line yesterday. One week after applying, not bad by Jamaican standards. I haven't signed up for cable as yet simply because the area is served by 2 companies, one is of no use and the other is very expensive so it'll have to wait till month end. As a result I was subject to watching TVJ and CVM and can I tell you, local TV stinks big time. Anyway I was watching a programme called impact with a host by the name of Emily Crooks. Nice looking girl yuh nuh but a TV host she is not. I've seen her on the programme before and it was the same. She antagonize the guests, she asks the stupidest of questions, doesn't allow the guest to answer by cutting them off and then accuses them of not answering. Somebody needs to ensure that she stays away from hosting. Anyway, the JLP members are still having their in fighting and it's getting to everybody. Today the party leaders were on Impact along with one leadership contender and his supporters. IMHO none of this is serving this party any good. The bottom line is that there is so much distrust in that party that you can't even trust the trustworthy. Both sides have their points and I will say I advocate solving relevant issues but this one really just look like stalling tactics to me. The person who can't win is just holding up the show. I'll deal with that in another post though. Just tek care till then. BTW someone e-mailed me about my spelling being different from theirs and some of my sentence grammatics. So just to say that I am Jamaican and from time to time I write like how we speak. So for emphasis, you will see a bit of Patois (pronounced patwah) and you will see the British spelling for certain words e.g. colour vs. color and programme vs. program. If you don't understand the vocab that I use from time to time just shout and I'll try to rephrase or explain. A big thank you to all who comment. It says that I have written something worth reading.

For the HR persons out there.

EMPLOYER'S LINGO "Competitive Salary" We remain competitive by paying less than our competitors. "Join Our Fast-Paced Team" We have no time to train you. "Casual Work Atmosphere" We don't pay enough to expect that you'll dress up. "Must be Deadline Oriented" You'll be six months behind schedule on your first day. "Some Overtime Required" Some time each night and some time each weekend. "Duties Will Vary" Anyone in the office can boss you around. "Must Have an Eye For Detail" We have no quality control. "Career-Minded"Female applicants must be childless and remain that way. "Apply in Person"If you're old, fat, or ugly, you'll be told the position has been filled. "No Phone Calls Please"We've filled the job. Our call for resumes is just a legal formality. "Seeking Candidates With a Wide Variety of Experience "You'll need it to replace the three people who just left. "Problem-Solving Skills a Must"You're walking into a company in perpetual chaos. "Requires Team Leadership Skills"You'll have the responsibilities of a manager, without the pay or respect. "Good Communication Skills"Management communicates, you listen, figure out what they want, and do it. EMPLOYEE'S LINGO "I'm extremely adept at all manner of office organization"I've used Microsoft Office. "I'm honest, hardworking and dependable"I pilfer office supplies. "My pertinent work experience includes..."I hope you don't ask me about all the McJobs I've had. "I take pride in my work"I blame others for my mistakes. "I'm personable"I give lots of unsolicited personal advice to coworkers. "I'm extremely professional"I carry a Day-Timer. "I am adaptable"I've changed jobs a lot. "I am on the go"I'm never at my desk. "I'm highly motivated to succeed"The minute I find a better job, I'm outta there.

Just a joke.....maybe???

The following is an idle man special. This is what idle people sit down and think up when they should be working. Just thought I'd try to get you all smiling. Here goes: Three blacks went to visit relatives in three different countries and on their return home had tales of discrimination and prejudice that would have awakened MLK Jr. One told of problems he had as he tried to hire a taxi, the other told of the problems he encountered at the food stores and on the bus. The third not wanting to be outdone looked at the others and said "You don't know anything. My two cousins and I were walking on the corner when a local drunk drove his car around the corner and hit my cousins over. One of my cousins was thrown into the bush, the other was picked up and slammed into the drunk's windscreen and I ran to help them both." "The police were quick on the scene but on realizing who was driving they charged one of my cousins for breaking and entering, they charged the other for leaving the scene of the crime and they charged me with aiding and abetting wanted felons. And to top it all off they advised the drunk to sue for damages to his car." Do have a great day all.

This is the day...

Good morning all. Finally made it to a computer. I moved over the weekend and it was HECTICCCCCC!!!!!! Tiredness buss mi clothes box. I am now living out of boxes, can't find anything, no cable, couldn't find the rag to bathe with....all in all madness. Moving to a new place always presents its share of adjustments so I guess I'll deal with those as they come. Well, the US votes today. I hope that the peoples' will be realized. In Jamaica our elections are always clouded by violence and suspicion of fraud. Currently there is infighting in the JLP about who should succeed the current leader when he retires at the end of the year. The very visible battle is only hurting the party even more than it has been hurt by the actions of its leader(s) in the past few years and if they continue as they are now, they stand a snowballs chance in hell of winning the next general elections. As a matter of fact the snowball has a better chance. Other than that things are quiet at home here in JA. Christmas carols are playing in increased frequency on the airwaves and the place has gotten a bit cooler so that special time of year is around the corner. Anyway more projects due so back to the old book work. Tek it easy nuh!

Light humour

Got this from a friend... not hilariously funny but TO HELL WITH SUMMER!!! DROP THE PUCK!!! > >The husband had just finished reading the book, MAN OF > >THE HOUSE. > > > >He stormed into the kitchen and walked directly up to > >his wife. Pointing a finger in her face, he said, > >"From now on, I want you to know that I am the man of > >this house, and my word is law! I want you to prepare > >me a gourmet meal tonight, and when I'm finished > >eating my meal, I expect a sumptuous dessert > >afterward. Then, after dinner, you're going to draw me > >my bath so I can relax. And when I'm finished with my > >bath, guess who's going to dress me and comb my hair?" > > > > > >His wife replied, "The fcking funeral director."

Today

Hi All, I'm really late today. I didn't get to office until about 10:30 this morning. I hate moving house. I decided that I had to take care of some of the necessities, so I applied for the electricity meter and the telephone this morning. I found it so interesting, when I applied for my 1st home phone 10 years ago it took me almost 3 years to get a line because JTC at the time had no foresight. How do you build a communty of 100,000 homes and run infrastructure for 10,000. To make it worse, the chairman of developer's company was also the chairman of the JTC (now Cable and Wireless) so you can't say they didn't know. Stupidity abounds I guess. For those three years I had to suffer with a cellular service that was less than adequate and costly. A few years ago, another company, Digicel, came along and serious cellular competition began but eventually most people have cellular service whether one or the other. (The third company is a late non-starter IMHO). This has apparently lead to a declining demand for land lines and home phones. I remarked to wifey the other day that "in all my life I have never seen ads aimed at people asking them to apply for land line service". This has been happening in recent times. This morning the lady at C&W advised that lines are available and that I should have the phone by next Wednesday or so. I heard that people are actually discontinuing their house service in favour of cell service. Quite interesting. C&W are suffering from their own short-sightedness though. They had years of head start on Digi but sat on their laurels and figured that they had it made. Digi achieved their 4 year target after being in business for only 4 months. C&W continued to behave in a monopolistic fashion and, to some extent, still does so. It needs to wake up and sniff the roses. You may have the market cornered now but that market is never guaranteed. You are (and had better be) what your customers demand. Anyway, all being well I should be up and about in blogland by early next week. I have opted not to pay for ISP services until the phone is sorted out so I will lose service in a day or two. Posts may be limited until I get back a line so bear with di I until then nuh. I can do limited stuff from work but that is dependent on workflow and the availability of service here but I will plod on just the same. (BTW MB this isn't a purchase. I can't purchase until I get my other place sold. The one I had rented is up for sale but the asking price is way too high. I am not in a position to pay high dollar simply because the house is in a nice area. I need a balance. I was also told by a birdy that the intended purchaser has pulled out of the deal siting excessive price as well. The owner needs to wheel and come again. Level vibes from I an I.

Life...

The age and life argument continues. Having been around on good old planet earth for close to 40 years it just dawned on me that life has its own way of working stuff out. I remember growing through prep school and high school my sights were set on being a pilot. I tried the subjects required in high school and well let's just say that here I am twenty odd years later working in a financial institutions HR Department and pursuing a degree in Human Resource Administration. I wasn't a chat up the girls type but today I am happily married and have been for 17+ years, I have two children who have grown up bridging my moral values and today's norms and coincidentally the majority of my friends are female. I get so keyed up about flying now that I don't know how the pilot thing would have worked out. I think life has been good just totally different from what I had planned. What were your dreams as a child and have they materialized? Sunshine has asked the married folks a question. Answer her nuh.

Nothing in Particular

Just saying Good morning and hoping you have a great day. There is no real direction to this this morning. I'm still in pain but not as bad as yesterday. I am not taking any pain killers because I have found that when I do take them and the pain is numbed I tend to do more damage because I can't feel the effects of what I am doing. I paid for my new abode last night so the move is definitely on for the weekend. It has left me totally broke though but life goes on. I am leaving the following as a bit of light humour so enjoy: Subject: What Class? Have you been guilty of looking at others your own age and thinking ...surely I cannot look that old? You may enjoy this short story.While waiting for my first appointment in the reception room of a new dentist, I noticed his certificate, which bore his full name. Suddenly, I remembered that a tall, handsome boy with the same name had been in my high school class some 30 years ago. Upon seeing him, however, I quickly discarded any such thought. This balding, gray-haired man with the deeply lined face was way too old to have been my classmate. After he had examined my teeth, I asked him if he had attended the local high school."Yes," he replied."When did you graduate?" I asked. He answered, "In 1971. Why?" "You were in my class!" I exclaimed. He looked at me closely and then the son of a b*!>* asked, "What did you teach?"

What ah gwaan...

Good morning all. How was your weekend? Mine was a mixture of events but all in all I say a good one. I decided that I couldn't bother with school on Saturday. The day has mostly lectures anyway and I can make those up at some point. I spent the day resting for a change. In the afternoon I decided to get my hair cut. Went to the barber in Manor Park and was actually finished in about 1/2 an hour. The fact that I went to the barber on a Saturday is an accomplishment in itself, since going anywhere on Saturdays over the past three years has been the end result of serious planning and deliberation because of school. The down side of Saturday is that the class that I was going to attend on Saturday evening was missed because on exiting the car I aggrevated a problem that I had been having with a herniated disc. So needless to say I am in pain...major pain. Yesterday my parents celebrated 40 years of married life. The day was celebrated firstly by a church service in the morning followed by brunch at a local hotel. The food wasn't A-1 but it was eatable (edible if you want to be Englishy about it) and the company was fantastic so we had a good time. There was a rahtid cake yuh si. I had to shave off the icing though...too sweet and that not helping the "tool shelter" in front of me at all. The whole heap of walking up and down didn't help my back so pain again. BTW, I'm moving house again (no not the blog, house house, the one you live in). If you were following you will recall I sold my house in Portmore and I'm renting in town temporarily until the sale is final. Anyway where we are currently is a fantastic location and the rent is good but it's being sold and I can't find the $15 million that the owner is asking, so another rental dropped into my lap on the weekend and I'm moving. Final arrangements will be made today. Slightly higher rent for a much bigger place but in a traffic haven. I'm hoping that I can soon get back to my own though. I don't know what that implies for phone service as yet because we here aren't as fortunate as in some countries. Phone lines in some places are scarce so it's a wait and see thing. Anyway all in all I've survived but I'm back to my exercises for this back problem. Stretches every 1/2 hour and lots of standing up during the day. Have a great day all.

Weekend

Well it's Friday again and another week is gone. Time travels fast as you get older. This week was a rough one. I had mentioned, I think, that we were doing a whole lot of useless interviewing. Let me explain...We have about 3 positions for some specialists which were advertised. We received about 150 applications. From that, we short-listed to those who fit the academic requirements. This brought us down to about 30 applicants. We sent the list to the divisional head for her to cut it down to a meaningful amount. 2 days later we are advised to interview them all. 30 applicants to interview and select for panel interview is now monkey business. It took the entire week to get them to complete forms, provide requisite documentation and to speak to each to see if dem sensible (to see if they are technically sound). I asked my department head if the division head wants us to send them all to panel as well. This is something this particular person does repeatedly. They haven't yet grasped the concept of short listing and my managers are too weak to tell them no. The most that should go to panel is six but...we'll see. I got my cheque from the insurance brokers last week. It's amazing what standing in the middle of a customer service environment and raising your voice to just below shouting level will accomplish. No swearing, no cursing, just talking loudly commenting on the quality of service you have or have not received over the period...yadda yadda yadda. The cheque that wasn't going to be ready before next Friday is magically produced in about 5 minutes. Yesterday's exam was.....shall I say interesting. The final results will tell. I just need to pass so that I don't have to resit. Anyways have a great weekend and if you can't be good be careful...really careful.

Nadda..

Hi all. Just saying Hi this morning. I have rough day ahead so I won't be doing much writing today. I have an exam later so the only thing on the brain this morning is Financial Management so I won't bore you all to death. Till later.

Happenings...

Well after an exhausting day at work (we are actually having useless interviews) I had the "pleasure" of accompanying my wife and the short one (my daughter) to the supermarket. In Jamaica, exhaustion and supermarket prices don't mix. It sent me into a state of depression for a couple of hours. I tend to shop weekly simply because I don't use a lot of non-perishables and secondly because I have a teenage son and the short one is only a couple of months away from teenage status. Need I say more about why I don't overstock the house. Let me explain for those who don't know...dem nyam dun di place!!!! (they eat and eat as long as food is there.) I find the price levels since Ivan really ridiculous. Prices aren't inching up, they're doing high jump. The sad part is that both my wife and I are employed to the public sector and there is currently a memorandum of understanding which prevents the public sector from obtaining salary increases for the next two years providing certain conditions are maintained. I'm waiting to see what happens because "dem price wah mi ah si out a road nuh pretty". (The prices that are meeting the consumer are exhorbitant.) Anyway I recovered from the sticker shock and will go through this again in about a week or so. As an aside: I heard that the agent for the house I used to rent before purchasing my own died over the weekend. He is survived by a wife and several children (at least three that I remember). They always treated us more than fairly and we used to on occassion end up sitting and chatting with them for extended periods. We were there when they were buying their own home and having their own difficulties. They are good people and he was not an old person so it came as a shock to me. If you are so inclined please keep that family in prayer as they strive to deal with the loss of a husband, father and friend. Rest in peace Edwin.

Wad up all?

Hail up all blog readers, writers and crew!! Just my morning shout out. Well I'm back from country and I had very little R&R but at least it wasn't school or work so I had a great time. We stayed at a beach house which is owned by my sister's employers. I had an exam on Saturday as well as a paper presentation. The presentation went well, earning 9 out of a maximum 10 points so I am pleased. The exam ...well let's wait and see. I drove down on Saturday evening and seemed to have avoided much of the holiday weekend traffic. Saturday evening was spent chatting with family and friends who we see quite regularly but don't really sit down with since there is always so much else to do. There were 20 of us in this house built for four. Dinner was stew peas with pig tail and some serious dumplings. Seconds were definitely in order. On Sunday morning I was awakened by the waves crashing outside the window and a gentle breeze moving the curtains in the room with the sun just peeping through. The day was spent playing games...badminton, football, rubber rafting, swimming and chatting and a few beers. Food in abundance for the crew. Drove down to the town to replenish supplies and take in the scenary. Well I had mentioned that there were no phone lines so blogging took a blow. The evening was spent watching movies and playing games on my sons PS2. Some of his games are horrible so we asked him to only leave out the ones that even the smaller kids could play. Went to bed at about 11:30 on Sunday night. Up again on Monday to more beach and games. The kids were out in the water from about 5:30 a.m. They were as red as peppered shrimps by the lunch time break. (Doc may get some business from them.) Socializing was done mostly in the kitchen and around the TV on Monday since we decided to leave out for Kingston between 1:00 and 2:00 to avoid the rush back to town and the Dover idiots. (Oh BTW, Dover is our local race track located in the northern part of the island. When they hold races, usually on holidays, the spectators suddenly become race car drivers on the way home. Be afraid!!....be very afraid, since most of them can't drive cows or chickens much less a car with high horsepower.) We actually left at about 2:30 and after a leisurely drive, arrived back in Kingston at about 5:00 with only slight traffic delays in the Bog Walk Gorge. All in all an excellent weekend with good family time.

Going to the country

Hi all. Well I'll be out of town for a while so you won't see anything from me till Monday. No internet or phone lines so.... We have a long weekend here for Heroes' Day so I am going to use it for some R&R. Enjoy your weekends all.

"...go bade..."

Boy!!! It's Thursday already and the week look like it did jus a start. Anyway today's post will have to be short since I have both a presentation and an exam on Saturday so priorities priorities. This morning on my way down to office I was at the traffic light when a car, lets call it an ultimate driving machine, drove up beside me. The young lady in the front was talking to a young man in the back seat. They looked like brother and sister, both teenagers. She was saying, quite loudly, "Yuh mus stop tek dem Irish shower in di mawnin yuh nuh! Yuh stink ah cologne" He said something to her and her response was "yuh mus go bade". They were having a good laugh though so you knew it was in jest. Needless to say occupants of cars on both sides pop up laughing (they were that vocal). My daughter eventually asked me what the girl meant by "stink of cologne". It then occured to me that she was in grade 8 and yet she had never heard the term before. I guess that as our culture changes so does our language and use of it. I explained and life went on. Anyway, I need to go work on that presentation so later... P.S. If you don't understand the quotes or spelling just holler at me and I'll translate for you.

Thoughts...

I left out early this morning trying to beat the traffic that has been meeting my better half on her way to her job (she teaches at one of the high schools here in JA). They start classes at 7:45 a.m. which is earlier than most offices. This one car thing is madness but when yuh cyaan do betta..... I was surprised to see one of my co-workers coming in at that hour as well. We were chatting about school because I know she is thinking about going to college in the fall, so I was encouraging her to ensure that she actually goes. I know full well the folly of waiting till mid-life to do studies since I'm enduring that now. In chatting with her, I marvelled at the fact that I actually graduated from high school some twenty-three years ago. Time certainly flies. Our conversation was well rounded and I felt good hoping that I had accomplished something good for the morning. She is a really cool person and I hope she does well. The main topic this morning in the news was the pressure being place on our nation by the groups who are supportive of alternate life styles (gays and lesbians). It is a touchy topic. I don't have an issue with persons who wish to pursue these lifestyles although I do not agree with it, but to each his own. What I do have an issue with is the pressure being brought to bear by developed countries who know we are relying on their almighty dollar to survive. What is happening is that our various sectors are being force to operate contrary to our existing laws. I think our laws are outdated, discriminatory and need to be changed, but that is for us to change and not for outsiders to dictate. I dare to say that we as a nation could not go to any of these countries and force them to alter operations and laws because we didn't like it. I honestly wish we could say "GO TO H_ _ L!!!" but alas we've got to suck it up again. Till later.....

Test Drive....

Today I decided to go for a test drive. I've been sitting for months trying to decide if I should give the blogging experience a try. Some weeks ago I finally got up enough courage and finally wrote over by the Tower of Babel. Today I decided to branch out on my own in my own space to my own peril. So I'm taking this new blog for a test drive. To all who visit here welcome but please bear in mind that these are my thoughts in my space and whether you like them or not....They are mine!!! If you feel strongly about any issue, get your own blog and post it there. Since this is my first post here I have disabled the comments feature (just until I'm sure everything is working correctly) but please come back and let me know what you think on future posts.