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.