The Face of a King?

This is what I spent my Sunday evening watching. The photo above is a silicone bust of what scientist/historians now believe King Tutankhamun (King Tut) looked like. They believe that this silicone based model is the most accurate representation to date. I swiped this photo off the National Geographic site.

I am not so much interested in the history of Tut who died some 3000 odd years ago. What intrigues me is the methodology used to generate the likeness. Here is the page from National Geographic. It has some other interesting stories about the boy king, his treasures nad some other stuff about how he died. It was long believed that he had been killed violently but recent scientific evidence put some twist to this theory. If you are interested you can hit the links at the bottom of the page that I already linked you to.

Let's see now, what else about the weekend. Nothing really yuh nuh. School was all day Saturday and I can tell you from now that the 3:00 to 5:00 class going to tek nuff effort to stay awake. The tutor is not the most vibrant of teachers and the class comes at the end of a long hot day so you get my drift.

Only other thing is that IT WELL HOT!!! People, I frettin bout dis yah summer because if is only May and the place feel like it cooking den mi can imagine all July when sun start bake muh likkle island. Fans are now well tuned up and when yuh see me considering a/c the rooms yuh mus know. Only problem is that when yuh put in a/c Mr. JPS will just be smiling.

Anyway I have some new summer folks here so I gots to go attend to them.

Later guys.

Friday at Last

Well this week was a short week for us on account of our Labour Day holiday on Monday gone. It really hasn't been that bad a week but I'm still looking forward to the weekend and not coming to this place called work. Yes, i know I have school all day tomorrow but it's less pressuring than the office.

Didn't feel like canteen lunch yesterday so I had lunch from Jade Gardens and I was not at all impressed. Dragon Court is better by far. The rains seemed to have calmed down a bit so it has gotten back hot with a vengence. Fans running full blast in almost every room at nights and car a/c a must. The car's a/c blew another fuse and I got it totally repaired. The compressor had done overtime. The guy had warned me from several months ago so I wasn't surprized. The repairs were less than expected and he assures me that I should have no more problems with it for a while. He's a pretty decent character so I will give him the benefit of the doubt. Any of the locals need a good a/c man I can pass on his info.

I didn't feel like doing any thinking this morning so I was gonna post a story I received in an email so I may still do that. Don't know what was up with me last night but I rarely have dreams. Last night I was in a whirl, I dreamt that I was falling off of every man made structure you could think of. The roof of the house, the World Trade Centre, A friends driveway even the car door. No, I didn't have any Stew Peas yesterday. Hey maybe that's it. Thursday's are usually stew peas day in the canteen and that's my usual choice. Since I didn't have stew peas yesterday....it could be withdrawal symptoms. Nuh true?

Anyways cut and paste time...tired of typing. See you all later. Have a great weekend.

Why men hate cats.

We've all had trouble with our animals, but I don't think anyone can top this one: Calling in sick to work makes me uncomfortable. No matter how legitimate my excuse, I always get the feeling that my boss thinks I'm lying. On one recent occasion, I had a valid reason but lied anyway, because the truth was just too darned humiliating. I simply mentioned that I had sustained a head injury, and I hoped I would feel up to coming in the next day. By then, I reasoned, I could think up a doozy to explain the bandage on the top of my head. The accident occurred mainly because I had given in to my wife's wishes to adopt a cute little kitty. Initially, the new acquisition was no problem. Then one morning, I was taking my shower after breakfast when I heard my wife, Deb, call out to me from the kitchen. "Honey! The garbage disposal is dead again. Please come reset it." "You know where the button is," I protested through the shower pitter-patter and steam "Reset it yourself!" "But I'm scared!" she persisted. "What if it starts going and sucks me in?" There was a meaningful pause and then, "C'mon, it'll only take you a second." So out I came, dripping wet and buck naked, hoping that my silent outraged nudity would make a statement about how I perceived her behavior as extremely cowardly. Sighing loudly, I squatted down and stuck my head under the sink to find the button. It is the last action I remember performing. It struck without warning, and without any respect to my circumstances. No, it wasn't the hexed disposal, drawing me into its gnashing metal teeth. It was our new kitty, who discovered the fascinating dangling objects she spied hanging between my legs. She had been poised around the corner and stalked me as I reached under the sink. And, at the precise moment when I was most vulnerable, she leapt at the toys I unwittingly offered and snagged them with her needle-like claws. I lost all rational thought to control orderly bodily movements, blindly rising at a violent rate of speed, with the full weight of a kitten hanging from my masculine region. Wild animals are sometimes faced with a "fight or flight" syndrome. Men, in this predicament, choose only the "flight" option. I know this from experience. I was fleeing straight up into the air when the sink and cabinet bluntly and forcefully impeded my ascent. The impact knocked me out cold. When I awoke, my wife and the paramedics stood over me. Now there are not many things in this life worse than finding oneself lying on the kitchen floor buck naked in front of a group of "been-there, done-that" paramedics. Even worse, having been fully briefed by my wife, the paramedics were all snorting loudly as they tried to conduct their work, all the while trying to suppress their hysterical laughter... ..and not succeeding. Somehow I lived through it all. A few days later I finally made it back in to the office, where colleagues tried to coax an explanation out of me about my head injury. I kept silent, claiming it was too painful to talk about, which it was. "What's the matter?" They all asked, "Cat got your tongue?" If they only knew!

My Report

...isn't saying much this morning. Well the business places closed early yesterday as a mark of protest towards the upsurge of violence in Jamaica. Don't think it did much good but as somebody said at least it is something. I will reserve my comments. I had my 1st class of the semester last night. The first half an hour was interesting to say the least. I had to wonder if I was in 3rd year university or in primary school. In the middle of the lecturer discussing administrative arrangements two female hoochies (I make no apology for my terminology) start a prep school fuss about who take away whose chair. I mean..... :( They were at it for quite a while with everybody in the room waiting to see if they were going to hit one another over the head with said desk. I expect that sort of behaviour from 3rd grade students not 3rd year tertiary. I have therefore come to the conclusion that if these students remain as violent as I saw last night then I will need a gun. Maybe I am expecting too much from them but then I need to remember that I'm a good 15 - 20 years older than most of these people. I can only say that it was disgraceful. Then to top it off the one who started the fuss turned out to be in the wrong class. When she is leaving turns to the other one and say that she will still deal with her when she sees her outside. A$$HOLE!! Is wah really do dem pickney bout di place iyah?? Dem nuh ave nuh sense at all. Is so man out a road get shat ova crap! School starts with a bang. Anyway I gone, we'll chat later.

No Rest for the Wicked

Hi all, I've been kinda busy so I haven't been near the blogs all weekend. Things have been just so hectic.

Well let me start back at Thursday. Devil find work for idle hands. On Thursday morning at sat in front of the mirror and just got tired of the old regular me so I grabbed a razor and did a clean shave, mustache and all. I have not been clean shaven in over twenty years. Now I know why. I have been ridiculed and laughed at by my wife daughter, son co-workers and more. It will probably be another twenty years before I get that urge again. One young lady told me that it made me look far younger and that has been my ego booster for the weekend. It's a good thing that it grows quickly so it has already started to grow back. By weekend I will be back to normal. No!! I will not post a picture!!

Saturday was spent at the airport. They are changing up out there. I will agree that it looks a lot more open. I will just have to wait and see what the end product looks like.

Sunday, wifey and I decided to treat ourselves to breakfast instead of the usual cooking. She likes some fish thing that Burger King does so Burger King it was. The Shorter One (notice I changed her name from simply Short to Shorter cuz she growing and growing fast) gives out that we should do this every week. Hello?? at age 13 she still thinks I make millions and have it stashed somewhere. Sunday afternoon was spent By wifey's brother. His daughter turned 13...in her words "finally"!

Monday I finally got around to some yard work. The recent rains have caused the garden to just go poof. grass and bush everywhere. Spent most of the morning cutting raking and planted a couple more trees. Hope they grow. Managed to cut the bushes and all the prickle trees without a scratch then after finishing that and no injuries I decided to fix the clothes line that was sagging. walked right into it and I now have a wonderful 1 1/2 inch cut on my cheek. Makes me look like one of those downtown bad boys...maybe I could go hustle some cash from some of those people...heh heh heh. Nah!!! couldn't even act the part if I wanted to.

Sent the car for service yesterday. It was doing the shut off at traffic lights thing so I figure why push it any further. Couple of filters, some spark plugs, two alternator belts and some minor adjustments and it's good to go.

School starts today for me. This is the 1st semester that actually includes a subject that relates directly to my degree. The semester is short and unlike the others I do about 6 hours during the work week and an additional 6 hours on Saturdays. So on Mondays and Wednesdays my a$$ is stuck in the classroom after having done a grueling day at work so.........

I hear that the 2 prescribed courses are rough but I'll make a judgement on that when I know what I'm getting into. I don't know what the third course is as yet but I'll find out later I suppose.

The Tall One is in the middle of his exams. He has English today and I think Maths tomorrow so this is a hard week for him too. He seems OK though.

Anyway just thought I would touch base with you guys so off to read some other peoples writings.

Later.

Hail Up All

Welll I'm Back!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It has been just about 1 week since I posted here. I've actually missed it terribly. It's easy to see how we can get hooked into a pattern. I was actually away on training. No, not away away...just out of office. The course was entitled Strategic Human Resource Management. The days were long but quite informative. The presenter, a UK national, went out of her way to ensure that we received maximum benefit from a woefully too short training experience.

The activities were well planned, informative and entertaining. We were there at the venue from 8:30 in the morning to 6:00 in the evening with an hour for lunch and 2 x 15 minute breaks. In all honesty I was very apprehensive when we were given the schedule but if energy levels had permitted we would have stayed until midnight just to see what would come next.

It was indeed a pleasure to meet other persons in my field and to interact with persons at higher and lower levels of the HR ladder.

Another key benefit is the network that will undoubtedly form as a result of this interaction.

After those long days my body is telling me that I should give it a rest but we have a holiday on Monday so I'll just need to survive today and rest up on the weekend. This is a must since my summer semester starts on Tuesday....arrrrrrgggghhhhhh!!!!!

Don't get me wrong, I'm looking forward to it but then I remember the assignments and the class schedules and.........

The Tall One is in the middle of his own exams. I have not been at him about the studying and the extra work needed. I figure he will have to find out for himself if the efoort he has made is enough. Bottom line is that I can't do the work for him. Told wifey that this morning and she was a little peeved because she is the sort of person who takes up everything on her shoulders. If they don't complete assignments in time she sits up and helps them. In other words the mother hen type thing. My view is that if they have sufficient time to do the work and they play around with the time then suffer the consequences. I think it's a lesson more of our children need to learn. Her view is that she doesn't see him working and she doesn't see the effort and he does everthing last minute and slap dash and.... I kinda just stopped her and asked her exactly what can she do about it. Are you going to learn for him, are you going to study for him? Her response is that she can't help the worrying and she can't stand by and let him..... Bottom line is that she is going to have to find a way to stop doing the over worrying and the fretting and.... It's his life and if he doesn't see the need now then maybe by experiencing the realities of the rewards he reaps will push him to do better. I will help her to deal with the method she devises but it has to be her method. I can only suggest and say what I see. The doing has to be hers.

Let's see if she tells me about my parts later on...heh heh heh.

Anyways I think I need to stop chattering and go do some work so later all.

Blog on Hold

Well today is Friday. It has been a hard week but I really haven't minded. There has been so much to do that I'm afraid I have neglected Mr. Blog here. This I'm afraid will continue into next week. I am off to some training seminar or the other as of Monday so access will be zero. I can't promise that I will post from home simply because I don't know what the situation will be. Between homework and projects from the Tall and Shorter Ones I may not be able to have any internet time so......

We have been having lots and lots of rain since Saturday. It has cooled down the place dramatically. Not to mention that the landscape looks so well fed. I had only been cutting the grass once every 6 weeks or so but I cut 2 weeks ago and need to do so again.

I'm grateful for the rain though because no amount of water from the pipe will give the kind of results that one shower of rain gives.

The Tall One had his 1st exam yesterday and he seems OK with it. He said he never finished one question but he seems happy. Results will tell.

Schools starts back for me on 24th May. Not looking forward to it at all. Not because of the work aspect of it but the summer semester has always proven to be really hectic. It is hot, the classes start earlier and they have been mostly in the week so I have to get time from office to attend. I want to go abroad as well but the semester is short so I need to plan carefully so that I don't intrude too much on my coursework and mid module tests. We'll see.

Anyway I am goin to leave you at this point. I have something that I need to complete and since I won't be in office next week I gotta get started so later all.

Humour from me....

Hey all, No topic this morning so just a quick hail up and some light humour which you may have heard already but ...... Sleeping Beauty, Tom Thumb, and Quasimodo were all sitting around having a few beer one day. Sleeping Beauty said, "I believe myself to be the most beautiful girl in the world." Tom Thumb said, "I must be the smallest person in the world." Quasimodo said, "I absolutely have to be the ugliest person in the world." They decided to go to the Guinness Book of World Records to have their claims verified. Sleeping Beauty went first and came out looking deliriously happy. "It's official; I AM the most beautiful girl in the world," Tom Thumb went next and emerged triumphant, "I am officially the smallest person in the world." Sometime later, Quasimodo came out looking confused and said, "Who the hell is Camilla Parker Bowles?" Hope no Blondes are Reading A bartender is sitting behind the bar on a typical day, when the door bursts open and in come four exuberant blondes. They come up to the bar, order five bottles of champagne and ten gla**es, take their order over and sit down at a large table. The corks are popped, the glasses are filled and they begin toasting and chanting, "51 days, 51 days, 51 days!" Soon, three more blondes arrive, take up their drinks and the chanting grows. "51 days, 51 days, 51 days!" Two more blondes show up and soon their voices are joined in raising the roof. "51 days, 51 days, 51 days!" Finally, the tenth blonde comes in with a picture under her arm. She walks over to the table, sets the picture in the middle and the table erupts even more loudly in chant. Up jump the others, they begin dancing around the table, exchanging high-fives, all the while chanting, "51 days, 51 days, 51 days!" The bartender can't contain his curiosity any longer, so he walks over to the table. There in the center is a beautifully framed child's puzzle of the Cookie Monster. When the frenzy dies down a little bit, the bartender asks one of the blondes, "What's all the chanting and celebration about?" The blonde who brought in the picture pipes in, "Everyone thinks that blondes are dumb and they make fun of us. So, we decided to set the record straight. Ten of us got together, bought that puzzle and put it together. The side of the box said 2-4 years, but we put it together in just 51days!" Later guys.

One of Those Days

Well today is just one of those days for me. Nothing going on, nothing coming to mind and just feeling downright lazy about everything. You can tell that half the schools have there fifth and sixth formers out. There is the absence of sixth form uniforms and the volume of students making their way to school is reduced. The Tall One is actually on study break himself. His 1st written exam will be on Thursday so he seems to be getting a bit anxious. At this stage though he will just have to do his best. It is a technical subject which he likes so I am hoping that he gets a good paper. I sat at office yesterday and instead of doing the corporation work, I was thinking about office romances. When I joined the organization some 22 years ago there were a few office flings and even some relationships that led to marriage. These days the incidents of marriage have become fewer and further between. I don't think the relationships have stopped, in fact, I think they have increased or at least have become more visible. The younger generation however don't seem too interested in a long term thing. It would seem that the emphasis is just simply good sex and whenever you are ready move on to somebody else quite often right in the same office. I have never been in the office romance situation. I recall one couple that it was at the time that they announced their wedding that people at work knew that they were actually dating. That is no small feat. AIDS has put a damper on the moving around thing. I remember when I first came here there was a particular young lady that was dubbed the "organization's mattress." Not a nice title to have. Yeah, they were horrible in those days too. The general idea was that if you wanted something to lay down on call her. She has certainly changed. As we get on in age I guess we have to mature at some point. Besides, life's realities don't allow you to stay the same. I recall when I first met my now wife, I had no car and it was no problem to leave her house at 10:00 or 11:00 and catch the last bus home with some good walking in between. Times have certainly changed. Between the theft and the murder rate I would not dream of doing that routine in today's Jamaica. The parties were another thing. My breddrin's father allowed us the use of a car that he had parked because of fuel constraints. It was a Toyota Cressida. In his business he worked quite a bit on the road and the car was by no means fuel efficient so he opted to purchase a diesel vehicle and had the wagon parked. We could use it as long as we put gas in it. On quite a few ocassions it was our touring car for the nightclub circuit. Mario's was our favourite back then. It was the hot spot for many teens back then. Low cover charge and no hefty drink buying requirement. It was also central so no out of the way madness. We did our share of touring to the house parties and sometimes just hung out at Road Runner or Shakey's. BTW, none of these places exist anymore. Mario's burnt down and was not rebuilt, Road Runner went bankrupt and Shakey's closed for whatever reason. I figure that in a few years from now the current generation will have the same challenges we had back then. "Where can we go and just sit and chat, no money no music no sex no smoking, just chat?" That was our concern back then. What are their challenges? Maybe something just as simple as ours. Anyways enuff rambling from me. Later all.

The Day After

Well it was my intent to do several things over this weekend but very few got done....who vex bout dat?...sue me! One of those things was to do a Mother's Day post. That didn't work out at all so I now say a Happy Belated Mothers' Day to all mothers especially those who pass through here regularly. I know Campfyah and Sunshine and Ciya and Desiree. Kami says she's still too young for this thing so we'll give her some time. I don't know about Fyr and Nena is well on her way but will have to wait till next year before she qualifies. Just to say a special thank you for the sacrifices you make on a daily basis for the well being of your children and families. These sacrifices are so often taken for granted. We do appreciate them. Well the weekend wasn't too bad. It's my first weekend without classes in quite a while so I felt a little out of sorts. Went and got my car's a/c fixed. It went bad on Thursday and with this heat it is a vital component of the car. Turns out to be a blown fuse. Cost of repairs J$20.00. Gave the guy J$100.00 to buy a beer and I was cool again (pun intended.) :) Finally got a well needed haircut. My Senior Manager looked quizzingly at my hair on Friday and laughed. She told me that locks or afro was not my thing. Went walking in the plaza for a change. Haven't been there since Christmas. I realized that several of the store owners know my mother. I had a good laugh about it. The lady at Woolworth said she hadn't seen her the week before. Mom is a shopaholic apparently. :) Yesterday all the men got together and bought Chinese for the mothers. It was a good dinner. Picking it up was a chore. We went to order and had to wait a while because of the crowd. We were told that the wait would be about an hour and a half. Decided to go and come back for it. Big mistake! When we went back could we find parking. I eventually had to kotch in a gateway while my Brother in law made about three trips to the restaurant to pick up the food. I can say many mothers were treated yesterday. Good thing we were doing take out because the seating wait was in excess of our pick up time. Everything else is OK I think. I got a little bit of rest but still need morebefore I have to tackle the next semester which starts on 24 May. Anyway I forgot my glasses this morning so I am keeping the reading to a minimum so I am gone for now. Later all.

TGIF

It's Friday again and I am really thankful for that. This was a rough week not only for me personally but for Jamaica as well.

There was an upsurge in violence that claimed the lives of 3 police officers at least one security guard and a couple of scum. Wish the number of scum eradicated would have been more but that's for a different blog. Haven't heard much from the human rights groups about the police shootings so I guess in their eyes it's just one of those things. Let me leave that alone for now as well.

Well I finished my last exam for this semester. Yeeeeaaahhhhh!!!!!! The exam was rough. I am uncertain about content but the length was awesome. It was the first time at school that I actually finished one exam booklet and started on another. Three hours of solid writing....not an easy task I can tell you. I gave up on the final question simply because I couldn't hold the pen anymore. Hopefully I will have a pass at the end of it all. My grades going in aren't too bad so all appendiges crossed and hoping for the best.

Apparently NWC (National Water Commission) is doing some maintenance work and my area is affected so for the last 2 days I have been getting out of bed and waiting on the water to come back. It kinda puts some stress on me and family to get ready and leave on time so that wifey can drop me and reach to her job on time. She teaches so she starts at 7:30. I start at 8:30 but I kinda don't mind reaching here so early. It gives me a chance to idle about and catch up if necessary. One drawback is that by 3:00 I am beat and ready to shake loose from this place. Almost called it Babylon but I was told not to bite the hand that feeds me.

Work has been kind of hectic. I have a new supervisor and they have placed her there because they can manipulate her. They pass off 40 million things to her and she almost bows and says "yes master, it will be done." Problem is that everything else is suffering. The other critical deadlines aren't going away. As a result we leave her here most evenings trying to play catch up. Unfortunately, her family suffers because I pass her husband and two daughter sitting in the car waiting on her and is not just round the corner she lives. Joke about it is that the ones giving her the assignments are also leaving her here doing it.

Life in all its splendor.

Anyways I just saying "Hi" to you all and I will chat with you over the weekend (assuming of course that I remember to pay my ISP bill so that they can reconnect my service at home...heh heh heh.)

Bye for now.

Monday Update

Well, this blog started out as a day to day rambling of all and sundry but has effectively turned into a journey with me through the halls of tertiary education. This is pretty much because this is what is central to me at this time. Besides I am kinda excited about the whole thing so you will see much ado about my courses and happens at school. To some it might be boring but with Jamaica happenings, boring is a good thing, believe me. I can now say 2 down and one to go. I had my second exam on Friday and getting to sit the exam was a real joke. Scheduled start time was 9:00a.m. S cratchie and friend arrived at 8:15 to check schedule and find venue. 8:30 found scheduled venue. 8:45 check invigilator for correctness....wrong exam but right venue...ra$$ they double booked the venue. Venue too small anyway. 8:55 tutor arrives and advises that they had told her exam would be at 1:00p.m. initially but exam is at 9:00 so she chases up to Utech (almost in underwear) nah I added that just for fun. At 9:00 the chicken without a head syndrome starts with the exam coordinators. 9:05 find an alternate venue and we are seated. 9:10 we are asked to move to a bigger venue because the seating is too close for an exam. 9:15 examiner makes big uproar about seating. (idiot doesn't even know that it is a research paper so guess what the question is generic but the work in about several different people depending on who each student has chosen so there is no way the cheating is an issue unless you are going to copy an essay word for word). 9:20 examiners realize that they don't have enough exam papers and receipts. 9:35 exam starts. One young lady asked the examiner "You people never know about this exam until this morning, nuh true?" Anyway, it was a good paper. finished an hour before time and went home to sleep. Next exam is Thursday. Anybody want a Rottweiler to buy. Me and she cannot exist together in the same yard anymore. Kept wondering why people kept coming into the yard to eat mangoes and leave the skin all over the backyard. This has been going on for about a week. Cleaned up the yard and by next day the place is a mess again. Heard a shuffling outside yesterday and low and behold I see the culprit standing in the backyard eating the mangoes. My mangoes, The ones I so dearly love and have been deprived of because of theft. Nuh di damn dog eating the mangoes!!! She waits on them to drop and then skins them and eats them....and leaves the skin same place. Here I was saying how worthless she was letting strangers into the yard when in fact the protector is the criminal. Well if she is going to be stealing my mangoes then she and I cannot co-exist,...fyah bun fi mango tief!!! Anyways enough crap from me today. Later all.