Hibernation

Well this blog officially goes into hibernation today. I have decided that I will start posting at my new abode which is linked here: http://scratchiesworld.wordpress.com Please change your links or you can simply come here and click the one above and it will take you there. I may return here in the future since I had no real problems here. But I do like some of the features of my new blog and the transfer was painless. Keep visiting.

Crocodile Hunter

This blog pays tribute to Steve Irwin who is better known to us as the Crocodile Hunter. If you ask most Jamaicans who he was they probably would not be able to tell you but mention the crocodile hunter and it would be as if an epiphany had ocurred.

Mr. Hunter was killed while filming a programming near the Barrier Reefs. He was stung by a stingray. He is survived by his wife and two young children.

I recall about two years ago when a crocodile was seen living in the drains near my home. The men went to remove it. when they had caught it the man who was interviewed by the media said that he was not afraid because he knew what to do. When asked how and if he had done this before, the man responded by saying that he had not but "mi watch Crocodile Hunter on TV so mi know what fi do"...(translation: he had watched the programme "Crocodile Hunter on television so he was quite aware of what to do).

I don't think the programme producers nor Mr. Irwin realises the number of lives he impacted even in Jamaica.

Rest in Peace Mr. Irwin and we will remember "Crocs Rule!!!" (If only in your heart since this blogger will not try to prove or disprove your theories. )

Just Another Post

Well people Monday started my final year at school. I have officially only three semesters to go before I graduate and put another chapter of life behind me. My course load this semester is pretty good. I will only have one final exam as all the other courses are graded on projects and in class presentations. It willbe an intense semester but I will manage as always. Wifey is elated as all her students that sat CXC were successful in the Language exam and only three failed at Literature. This is her 1st year teaching CXC level and it has proven to her that she is among the best out there. The return to my old desk is as frustrating as I expected but my focus is on August 2007. I have decided that on completion of my studies I am going to look outside for opportunities. Don't worry no rash moves just need a change. I think my present employer puts too uch emphasis on paper qualifications and ignores the qualities of the incumbent. That cannot be the way to go. I fact it goes against my very course of study which emphasizes the best candidate. The result of their choice of hiring has resulted in many frustrated employees who stay for relatively short stints. Well Ernesto decided to run away and hide in the US. After being on direct course for Jamaica that sent many people scrambling for emergency supplies, Ernesto turned and tackled Cuba instead. Can't say that I'm complaining too much. My fight with my ISP continues. I made some headway last week but I am still unhappy with the volume of dropped signals when I am on a DSL connection which is to be always on. As usual the C&W people obviously have not a clue about how to fix the problem. I have little or no faith in their expertise. Well excitement loomed as night before last a group of gunmen stole a motor vehicle in Mona and went on a robbery spree. They went to Harbour View and held up a fast food business. They then drove into downtown and were accoste dby police on patrol. A gun battle ensued and the gunmen were shot and killed. Frankly speaking I have no sympathy for them. As a matter of fact I wish more crimes would end this way since it is the only way we seem to be able to cure the island of this problem. I say well done without apology. Anyways, I was just doing a short post but guess my mouth has the runs. Take care all.

Morning Laugh

I was feeling kinda out of it this morning and I tell you honestly, if it wasn't for commitment and lack of leave I would have stayed home today. Well on the way to work I was listening to FAME FM and the two morning host were up to their usual very entertaining chatter and then decided to play a song. It is a spoof of James Blunt's "You're Beautiful" entitled "My Cubicle" I never stop laughing for quite a while. How many of you 9 to 5' ers can relate to this song? Go have a listen and brighten your day a little by clicking the link I made. Have great day all.

I Don't Understand Lawmakers

Strange people these lawmakers. There is an article on the front page of our local newspaper that indicates that a Jamaican-born Islamic cleric who was linked to the July 7, 2005 bombings of London's transportation system is slated to be deported to the island in a matter of weeks. Now you tell me... the man commits a crime in England where he resides. gets involved in terrorism there and you do what....send him to Jamaica where he has done nothing and is essentially a free man to do whatever he feels like. That has been the history of the stance taken on deporting persons. My take is that if the man do something in your country then deal with him there. This stupid policy in my opinion, especially when you are dealing with terrorism make absolutely no sense whatsoever. Maybe my take on the issue is simplistic. Maybe I am totally misinformed but what I see happening to deportees is based on the final statement of the media article " the security forces will determine how he will be treated", my guess is he will simply be released to do whatever he feels like doing. Read the article here. Remember you have double duty...check here and comment at Scratchie at Wordpress.

Maybe...?????

Well maybe I'll switch, maybe I won't. I have been toying with Wordpress for a few days now. I have been trading my links and stuff to see if I can get a feel for something new. One good thing so far is that I had a time out from my connection and didn't lose my post. The back button was pressed and walla there was my post. Navigating around is a little harder than blogger. It has it's features. Main drawback is that blogger allows you to play around with your templates if you are so inclined. Wordpress does not allow this. What you see is what you gotta take. Fine by me since I wasn't fassing wid that html stuff anyway. Hardest part to date was the one by one transfer of my links but some work had to go on.

Maybe what I will do is post the next few posts on both sites and ask you guys to play the site reviewers role. So go check out my maybe to be new home and tell me what you think. Scratchie at Wordpress

Happy Birthday

Well today is a Caribbean Blogger's birthday. In fine Scratchie style....I refuse to tell you who it is. So here is the game....guess whose birthday it is and go wish them Happy Birthday. Well since I know whose Birthday it is...Happy Birthday to you from Scratchie!!!! :D (Ain't I just idle)

Updating you All

Well many things have come and gone since I last posted. I decided to grace here with my presence before I get struck off some people's reading list. :D Well the Caribbean travelling blogger is back home and I gather that her trip was good. School is officially on holidays for me. I will be off for a whopping 9 days. :( Not much of a break is it? On a better note the exams came and the exams went. I think I managed to get by in both so I can rest easy until the next salvo of schoolwork hits in my direction.

During the 1st week in August my graduating class from high school had a week of activities to mark the 25th anniversary of our graduation. Damn, I'm old!!!! Grandpa is officially in the house. No none of my children have had any kids so I am only being figurative here. Although it is quite possible. The Tall One is actually 18 and is starting his college programme in the same year that I am finishing mine so we will see each other at school for this year. The reunion went well and unlike what you would expect it was about meeting old friends rather than "where we are in life". Why am I not surprized since this group of guys have always been different. We even have a mailing group so we are in touch quite a bit. The activities went well and the activities were well planned. Thought is for the next one to be in Florida. We'll see...

Well I see that one of my old blog reads is back. Welcome back Melody. Don't know if she will stick around but I do hope so. Her posts have always been exciting to read and so much of her goes into them. I guess only time will tell. In the mean time I will continue to stop by.

I haven't been doing much reading myself...not to mention posting but I have 9 days to catch up. I will most certainly do so.

Well I checked my laptop in light of Dell's recall of some 36 series of batteries. Mine is thankfully not among them. Not that I wouldn't want a new battery, but at least mine shouldn't do any crazy stuff on me. BTW have you noticed that I haven't mention anything else about my computer build? It is still in the making. I have most of the parts but just have not gotten the case as yet. I was actually awaiting a used machine to do some scavenging of keyboard, monitor and case but I am still waiting. My source is tied up and so I will wait some more especially since the quoted price is next to nothing so wait I shall.

What are my plans for my short break?....the bed sounds exciting at this point.

We'll see though. Right now though I need to go do some work so till later....

Addendum: I did some long outstanding linking of some blogs. If I've still missed out people please don't get upset, just drop a line saying..."Hey what about me?" and I'll do the necessary.

Weekend

Well the week has come to an end and I am actually looking forward to the rest that Saturday and Sunday and Monday will bring. This week is a fantastic week here in Jamaica since we celebrate Emancipation Day on the 1st of August and our Independence Day is on 6th but since it is a Sunday we get the Monday off. Thiss week has been not bad. I am actually spending some time with the guys from school for our 25th year reunion. On Tuesday I decided to take on young boy sports in old age body. Football!!!! Nearly passed out after an hour of play.

Well a little bad news. Condolences to my friend T who lost her grandmother this week. I spend a good while with her last night and she is really taking it hard so keep her in mind. She is a victim of the Caribbean phenomenon of being raised by her grandmother after her mother's death at about age 5. She has therefore lost the only mother she has known. Remember her for what she means to you T and try not to focus on the pain of her not being there. Another friend M lost her father this week as well. She is on the mend but I figure that she will have a harder time at the funeral. So I have 2 funerals scheduled for next week.

On another note, I got some grades and I am happy. I will be going into my Global Marketing exam with an excellent grade. As a matter of fact if I fail this course you have all permission to call me an idiot. I also handed in two other projects this week which I am awaiting results for. I am officially worried about only one course this semester but hey I am hoping for the best.

Got the car fixed. do it yourself work. Thought I would have to give the mechanic but it turned out to be the end result of water getting into a bearing and rusting it. New bearing and $700 or just about US$11 later I am again running smoothly.

I have again been reassigned to my old job. My acting appointment stint has officially ended so I am back to the old boring job I was doing last year at this time. I actually am missing the acting job but .......

Other than that things are reasonably good.

Bloggers Link and other stuff

Well, we had our little link up on Wednesday night and a good time was had by all I would think. We missed a few of those especially the ladies but it went well none the less. My main objective was to meet Kami with whom I have been chatting with online for quite a while. No disappointment there. She is indeed a very beautiful person. Her personality is contagious. Her aunt who accompanied her is quite interesting and I am happy to have met them in person FINALLY. Gela is certainly a fun person. Full of life and a personality that draws you to her. Francis is a character of laughter. I won't try to call all the names lest I forget someone but save to say they were a great group of Caribbean people. Talk and laughter ranged from travelling, to blogging to you name it we talked about it. The venue was nice but a little taxing on the pockets but we'll live. I can safely say that KFC it is not. Well you know how my blog goes at this time of the year....school takes over my life and until exams are over you don't see me. That cycle continues I'm sorry to say. This summer we are cramming 14 weeks worth of work into 10 weeks. And cramming in this case is an understatement. I had 2 presentations this week and after many sleepless nights (and I am being very literal here) they were both made last night. I think they went well but only the lecturers will know for certain. I can safely say "relief". I haven't done as well as I would have liked this summer. I was ill for quite a bit of the time and I know that the poor old body is saying, quite emphatically I might add, that I need to slow down a bit. I actually was on sick leave for a while so my grades suffered. I haven't failed anything but I certainly won't be the head of the class in these courses. I did receive good grades in the latter part of the courses but I don't know if it will be enough for my covetted "A's". Can't make blood out of stone can we.... I am to be reassigned next week so I am not sure where I will be or if I will have access but all in due course. Well the old car is acting up again. Nothing serious but I long for the day when i can get a new one. That seems to just get further and further away. My son starts college in August and fees have to be paid so no resources for any new car now. The plan was to get one after I finish in 2007 but that may have to wait a little longer. Oh well. Whatever will be will be. Cable and Wireless is trying my last nerve. I think I may have to finally get rid of them and resort to using only their home service (and I am considering getting rid of that too in favour of cell phones. It makes no sense having the phones and service if you can't access them. All I get when I call the office is a 15 minute hold some elevator music and promises to address the matter which usually amount to naught. Tired of the crap!! I think they may be over-extending themselves in the shadow of the fear of Flow. Whatever they are doing is only serving to term people off. Short term lock in to a contract with poor service = long term lost customers. Learn from your cellular experience C&W. Other than that I am getting ready for my semester finals which will run from next week till 14 August so if you don't see me you know why.

In closing, this blogger says thank you and pays credit to a fantastic Jamaican who lived her life for the things she thought were important to us as a people...Jamaican, Trinidadian, Bajan, Vincentian, Caribbean people all. Miss Lou, walk good and Rest in Peace. Clap har!!!!!!!!! Have a great weekend all.

Idle Chatter

I saw someone's MSN name this week and it said that in a few years Italy's win at the recently concluded World Cup will be forgotten but Zidane's head butting will be remembered forever. I won't pass any judgement on the man since I don't know what would drive his actions in this direction. I have not walked in his moccasin, as my old English teacher would have said. The NBC news this morning showed the many games and video clips that have been made surrounding this incident. It make you wonder how so many people have so much idle time on their hands. Then again I called this an idle chatter post so I guess I am a part of that group too....

Suffering in Silence

I can't help but feel distressed every morning when I pass the American Embassy here in Kingston. Jamaican's have a saying that "If yuh want good yuh nose haffi run" roughly translated that if you want something in life you must be prepared to work/undergo stress for it. The Embassy is located on a major thoroughfare and each morning those persons who have "appointments" are made to stand outside on the sidewalk until they are allowed inside. I find this a most demeaning and inhumane way of dealing with people, especially in their own country, all for the sake of an opportunity to live, visit or work somewhere else where things may seem better. I just see it as torture. I have no problem with operating a system but you would think that somewhere as advanced as the US Embassy could come up with a better way of dealing with applicants. I have not addressed the issue of the roaring business opportunities that have been created surrounding the rules that one must abide with when visiting the Embassy. There are cellphone holders and baggage handlers and.......... I know there isn't any immediate solution that can be put in place but really now.......this has been going on for decades and it really not good for us as a modern society.

A Bit of Lite Humour

My Dad Is A Father A little boy got on the bus, sat next to a man reading a book, and noticed he had his collar on backwards. The little boy asked why he wore his collar that way. The man, who was a priest, said, " I am a Father." The little boy replied, "My Daddy doesn't wear his collar like that." The priest looked up from his book and answered, "I am the Father of many." The boy said, "My Dad has 4 boys, 4 girls and two grandchildren and he doesn't wear his collar that way." The priest, getting impatient, said, "I am the Father of hundreds" and went back to reading his book. The little boy sat quietly thinking for a while, then leaned over and said, "Maybe you should wear your pants backwards instead of your collar."

The Dilemma of Nationality

Twice this week I have heard statements, though quite innocent, are loaded with racist slur or maybe I should say nationalistic slant. One was "Despite the love-hate relationship between our countries I still bringing Trinidad because they are Caribbean." This was said when discussions were going on prior to the recent Trinidadian World Cup match. Sadly Trinidad was defeated. Well done guys. I think you are winners whether you have won a trophy or not. You have again shown the world that Trinidad and the Caribbean are World Class and not Third World. The other was a discussion about two educators one obviously not liking the other. The reason...one was from Guyana and the other from Trinidad. I find it so interesting that we despise the US and UK for racism exhibited in these countries and right here in our region we have the same thing going on. Some may argue that it not as overt and that is a different thing etc. In my mind I am unable to distinguish between the two.

Why is there a love hate relationship between the Jamaicans and Trinidadians? Why do Guyanese and Trinidadians dislike each other? Yes I am generalizing a bit but I do so against the background that these discussions are on the road. Jamaicans have a saying "If a nuh so, a near so it go". Translation: What is said and heard about a situation is not usually far from the truth.

I find it interesting against the background of the Carib bloggers. Can you imagine me disliking SmallIslandGirl simply because I know she is from T&T and vice-versa. I've never met the lady. From her writings she seems to be a pretty decent and interesting person. On what basis could I dislike her? Let us move therefore to a national level...Jamaica has a population of 2.5 million. Trinidad has a population of about 1.1 million. Most Jamaicans have never been in contact with a Trinidadian and vice versa. So what propels us to this negative view of persons simply because of nationality?

I can say quite confidently that I have had a cultural enlightenment by my treks around the Carib blogs. I have read about food and drinks that are still a vague concept but one day I hope to sample simply because I have had this limited interaction with other persons from our region. Maybe we need to educate our countrymen some more...

Remember that what we see of each other does not represent the whole. We may dislike things about the persons we meet but that does not provide just cause for us to dislike their nations people.

Later all.

Just a Pop In

Just a "Howdy" to the blog world. You know my story by now so I won't bore you with the details. I'll just sum it all up in one word....SCHOOL. 14 weeks of work is done during the summer in just 10 weeks so yuh know seh crammin haffi gwaan. The assignment schedules don't change so we are still required to submit the same volume of work. Not nice. On a better note it seems as if the research proposal that we had done last semester was better than we expected and so we should have no problems in the actual research. On an even better note I am officially starting my countdown (humour me..it keeps me sane), we have only 3 semesters remaining till the end of my programme. OK...so it is a whole year but it sound shorter when we say it in semesters.

Rest assured I still read a bit but it has become very sporadic. So you'll see a comment here and there but until otherwise advised, I am very much alive.

There's nothing worse than a Doctor's Receptionist who insists you tell her what is wrong with you in a room full of other patients. I know most of us have experienced this, and I love the way this old guy handled it. An 86-year-old man walked into a crowded Doctor's Waiting Room. As he approached the desk, the Receptionist said, "Yes sir, what are you seeing the Doctor for today?" "There's something wrong with my dick," he replied. The Receptionist became irritated and said, "You shouldn't come into a crowded Doctor's Room and say things like that." "Why not? You asked me what was wrong and I told you," he said. The Receptionist replied, "You've obviously caused some embarrassment in this room full of people. You should have said there is something wrong with your ear or something and then discussed the problem further with the Doctor in private." The man replied, "You shouldn't ask people things in a room full of others, if the answer could embarrass anyone." The man walked out, waited several minutes and then re-entered. The Receptionist smiled smugly and asked, "Yes?" "There's something wrong with my ear," he stated. The Receptionist nodded approvingly and smiled, knowing he had taken her advice. "And what is wrong with your ear, Sir?" I can't piss out of it," the man replied. The Waiting Room erupted in laughter. That's it for a Friday post guys. Enjoy the weekend.

A Gay Batwoman?!!?!!!!!!?.....Alrighty Then :-S

Quite interesting. I think even our comic book super heroes or heroines or somewhere in-between have jumped on the "I am gay and loving it" bandwagon. This actually made NBC news this morning. that Batwoman is to be re-introduced into the DC comic lineup as a lesbian crime fighter. I guess they need a counterpart so I figure that catwoman will soon come out of the closet as well......

What has our world come? Really now.....leave the comics out of the sexual revolution nuh.........

Frankly, I find this ridiculous :(

(oh before I forget the photo is from the BBC web site see the story here or the other stories here or maybe here)

Monday Humour

Three bulls heard via the grapevine that the rancher was going to bring yet another bull onto the ranch, and the prospect raised a discussion among them. First Bull: "Boys, we all know I've been here 5 years. Once we settled our differences, we agreed on which 100 of the cows would be mine. Now, I don't know where this newcomer is going to get HIS cows, But I aint' givin' him any of mine." Second Bull: "That pretty much says it for me, too. I've been here 3 years and have earned my right to the 50 cows we've agreed are mine. I'll fight 'im till I run him off or kill 'im, but I'M KEEPIN' ALL MY COWS." Third Bull: "I've only been here a year, and so far you guys have only let me have 10 cows to "take care of." I may not be as big as you fellows (yet) but I am young and virile, So I simply MUST keep all MY cows." They had just finished their big talk when an eighteen-wheeler pulls up in the middle of the pasture with only ONE ANIMAL IN IT: the biggest Son- of-Another-Bull these guys had ever seen! At 4700 pounds, each step he took toward the ground strained the steel ramp to the breaking point. First Bull: "Ahem ... You know, it's actually been some time since I really felt I was doing all my cows justice, anyway. I think I can spare a few for our new friend." Second Bull: "I'll have plenty of cows to take care of if I just stay on the opposite end of the pasture from HIM. I'm certainly not looking for an argument." They look over at their young friend, the 3rd bull, and find him pawing the dirt, shaking his horns, and snorting. First Bull: "Son, let me give you some advice real quick. Let him have some of your cows and live to tell about it." Third Bull: "Sh*t, he can have ALL my cows. I'm just making sure he knows I'm A bull!!

Bikers get Targetted

No the image above was not taken by me. I borrowed it off the net so credits to the photographer (who I have no idea who it is). No I do not own one of these things, nor do I hope to. I kinda have this thing called a brain and I add two thoughts to it...All the heroes here in Jamaica have one thing in common, they all died years ago. I do not wish to join them. The other is that " there is a very thin line between bravery and foolhardiness". See me in my prime of life tearing around the place and doing 0 - 60 in 3 seconds....rooooight!!!!!!!

Seems the police here have been doing some homework. Apparently in order for you to have one of these machines with cc ratings above 600 you need special permission which is rarely granted I understand. (Don't quote me on that one.) But there are quite a few of these with 1000 and 1200 cc engines parading around the island and are the mode of transport of choice for some of the nations undesireable. We tend to find ways to beat the systems here so of course importation rules are no exception. According to last night's news report the bikes are sent in barrels in pieces and then reassembled when they get to their destination. Papers are then "worked up" for them.

Well the police have started a clamp down on the activity since the bikes are more powerful and easier to deal with traffic than anything the police can throw at them and have featured in several crimes from hold ups to murders. Last nights newscast showed a seizure of some 60 bikes. Well I will not be a naysayer. I hope the initiative works. We have reached a point here where anything to have one less crime is a good thing.

Anywayz, I was just writing a thing....we'll chat some more later.

Trip/Movies...Idle Chat

The rains finally gave a little break on Saturday. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy the rain and Lord knows we needed it, but it was getting just a little inconvenient and choked up in the house. Well I finally decided that visitors to my homeland aren't going to experience more than I have so on Saturday we decided t o take a trip out to Lime Cay. My very first time out there. It was nice. Can't say I will do this every wekk but it wasn't bad. I hate boats and there is a 10 minute boat ride to get to the cay. Out there is pretty much sea, sand and women. There were the abundance of thongs and near naked but no nudes this trip. Some members of my group took pictures but I don't know what's on the lineup so I can't promise pictures until I see what is there. I have to consider privacy issues. So I will see what if anything is blog-worthy. The scenary was good and so was the company...19 of us took the trekk. I'm sure there will be a next time...just when is the question. Two friends and I went to see the Da Vinci Code last night. Pretty good entertainment. For those who want to get deep into religion arguments it does put a spin on the organized religion. For those who are grounded it's basically just another movie. I had a great time and it was with good company. Two of the young ladies from my study/work group at school decided that it was time to socialize as a group instead of just dealing with schoolwork so we grabbed the opportunity to just hang out as friends, no study no projects, no presentations...NO SCHOOL!!!! Movie, drinks, idle chat and a ban on school talk made for a great evening.It seems such a pity that after 4 years in university we can say that we have sat down outside the school setting only once or twice. Well we vowed to change that last night. We have 1 more year together and we are going to try to mix it up a bit.

Yesterday was Labour Day here in Jam Rock and my labour was to change the brakes on the car. Easy task these days. Took me all of 1 hour and that's because I was being picky.

My compi build is again on hold. The donor machine from which I am supposed to get the case and monitor have not been delivered but hey not worrying my head about it.

Other than that nothing much going on. School started back on Monday with a bang. The teacher was a no show but she did send the notes and the course outline as well as the project so we know we are in for a hard ride if on the 1st class yuh giving out assignment already.

Otherwise life is good. I would be wicked if I complained.

Hope life is good with you all.

Utilities

Well I have very little to say this morning. I am just going to chat a bit about the topic. Some years ago the move was made by the public utility companies to reduce the number of payment facilities and outsource this function to secondary agencies namely Bills Express and Paymaster. This was to have benefits all around...more efficient service for the customers and less overheads and headaches for the company......everybody happy. Wrong!!!! well the greedy collection companies have decided that they are now going to be charging the customers a transaction fee, so with an already inflated utility bill you are now forced to fork out even more money just to pay for the utility. I can see it now......lines returning to the utility offices because I think it is highway robbery to tag a cost to each transaction just to pay for something. It's like walking into a supermarket and paying for stuff at the cashier and then have to pay the cashier for cashing your goods. WRONG WRONG WRONG!!!!!!! Well apparently is not me alone thinking this because the Office of Utiliies Regulation has taken issue with the matter following complaints from the public. I guess they will have to examine the situation and possibly force the utility companies to make the payment facility accesible to the public at convenient locations. At this point I can't tell you where a C&W office is located in downtown Kingston. I know NWC and JPS have offices at Church Street but them limited and far between............................... :(

We'll see what comes out of it.

Are they actually istening to the "will of the people"?

Anyway guys have a great weekend. We here are being swamped with some rain but it has certainly cooled down the place a whole lot. Travel time has been severely affected though. I floated through some water yesterday morning but made it to office. This morning was just light showers. My plants are certainly expressing sincere joy so I guess we have to suffer small inconveniences for the good that will come about.

Hit a Snag

OK guys I hit a snag with my compi upgrade. I got the processor but I am now awaiting the case so that I can put the old compi parts in while I upgrade the new parts. The general idea is that I will have an up to date machine for my work stuff and the old one will be given to my son who seems to have a knack for downloading viruses to my machines. So he can do his music thing and have internet but will be isolated from my machine. In other words...if him want to screw up his hard drive then is him own business. My problem is that I have 2 motherboards...both for Intel 478 processors. The one I want to use refused to boot during testing. Somehow there is no power reaching the processor. The other runs fine but is a lot smaller and less upgradeable. Do any of you guys know somewhere where I can have the board checked? What I suspect is that the 12V outlet on the power supply not putting out enough juice to start it up but I can't be sure. Failing that I will just satisfice with the smaller board. So here goes....items procured: 1 processor(Intel...yuck....much prefer AMD but hey cheap has a way of motivating decisions), 2 memory sticks (512 DDR 333 each...so yeah...1gig of RAM), 2 Hard drives (only Maxtor for me), 1 Mother board (MSI unless I can get the AsRosk checked and working MSI is a better board anyway just kinda tiny), 1 power supply unit(....500W for P4 operations), 1 heatsink and fan (keeps the processor cool) 2 case fans (was contemplating 3 but overkill), 1 DVD/CD burner combo ( not planning on burning any DVDs so couldn't bother to spend the extra money), 1 floppy drive (old stock I had fling down some where). Left to get: 1 used ATX case 1 used 17" monitor internal cables and stuff to connect all the crap together Well it appears as though I will be way ahead of my July target and I am taking pictures so You will all see what I am up to in a little while. Until then take care.

Mother's Day

Well yesterday was celebrated as Mother's Day. Let me add to the many well wishers (although I'm a little late) to say that we really do appreciate you all. I know that here in Jamaica there are many women playing the role of mother to children, some their own others not theirs...maybe a niece or sister or adopted. One way or the other if the cap fits wear it. I also know that there are fathers playing that vital dual role as well. Well I got a call from a friend on Friday to say that she was visiting from Florida for the weekend. She was attending a funeral for a family member. I was to meet with her yesterday but haven't been able to make contact. It has been years since I have seen her. She returns to the US today so I guess that meeting is shot to death. The compi is still a work in progress. I got some of the pictures but I will just do one post with the entire process. Saw an article in the papers yesterday advising that the new MOU is close to completion. I will await further news before I comment any further. Anyways I gone....later all.

Nothing at All

Well things have been really quiet since I stopped classes. I've had my fill of black mangoes since the mango season started. They were actually falling off the trees and spoiling before they could be eatten. I actually gaveaway so many large bags that if I had half a mind to sell I would have been able to live comfortably for this last month. Oh well....definitely not a business minded man.

I mentioned that I was doing some work on my computer...(the desktop). The processor and heatsink came in at the post office today and are in excellent condition. I need one more part and then I can get on with the project at hand. I'm going to take some photos of the build up so you guys especially Dr. D. can see what is involved.

Well about a month ago wifey's phone died. I was trying to get her a good one but she refused so she now is using mine while I use the one I got for her. She says it is too complicated so she prefers the Samsung. In all of this I bought a used phone in excellent condition. I found out later that it belonged to a fellow blogger. He does not know that we actually had a brief unofficial bloggers link up :) I may have over done it a bit but the price was just about market rate and it is not often that one buys what one wants. In a way I am glad wifey did not want it because I am having a ball with it. It has a camera so I get to do my digital photos and the picture quality isn't too bad.

My son, The Tall One had an interview to go to UTECH in September. He is awaiting the final results on that. He has applied to do the land surveying and economies course. Keeping my fingers crossed for his sake.

The Shorter One is still awaiting the outcome of subject choices for 4th form. She wants to do subjects that will eventually take her to interior decorating.

No doctors or lawyers from this family :D I try to encourage them to do what they like so we'll see what happens.

Other than that..things are good..........

Free at Last!!!!!

Well school is theoretically on break for the summer. Exams are finished and I should be a free man but noooooooo.............. :( We have one final semester paper due tomorrow and it still not finished so no sleep for the wicked tonight. well exams went well. I think I did enough to pass and have probably exceeded that statement but I prefer to remain conservative until I see the results. I need some leave but with the whole academia thing over my head I don't see how that will work. The political scene has been fun over the last few weeks. The Opposition was "invited" to make meaningful contribution to the country's budget. Is that an indication that the ruling party is seeking to have a collaberative leadership style...or have they just simply run out of ideas and need some help? Fun and joke aside....I personally think this is the way forward for our island and it should have been happening a long time ago. On the other hand...former PM Patterson has apparently taken up appointment with a company that has some affiliation to our divested JPS...(pwer company). The Opposition leader has called it inappropriate and frankly I can see what he is getting at. I don't think it is newsworthy enough to be front page but ....hey whatever floats their boat. Reality of it though is that as former PM he would have been involved in many transactions with many companies. if he were to refuse appointments with all of these then he would be certain to seal his own fate in bankruptcy. I hear that a new MOU is under discussion. Let me put it this way....Mi nuh waant it!!!!!! I think the previous one carried so much negative to it that the government should consider a name chage especially if they hope to garner any good from a new arrangement. The Joint Confederation of Trade Unions is having a warm time because several representative groups feel that they are assuming bargaining powers and are seeking to sign off on wage talks without consultation with their membership. The nurses have withdrawn from the group and teachers are pursuing their own path and I suspect that several other groups will follow suit. Interesting days ahead. Well on a personal note...I have again been reassigned to a new area. It is a really new ground so I'm learning again. anyways I gone again. We'll chat some more until the schoolwork takes me over again.

A Quick Hi

Just a quick hail up before I head out to my study routine. Things have been really hectic. They are going pretty good though. Classes have finished and my exams will be over on the 5th of May. Otherwise it has been busy busy busy. I have changed desks again so I am now in the learning curve. I am doing a totally new desk. Have to change my professional gears again but will get use to it. Will fill you in on that later. The home compi is messing with me so I am looking about building a new one. Money is tight so I will probably not be able to do what I want but I will play with what I can afford. I have already bought the motherboard but it is a P4 so I will need to change power supply. The current one is a Duron so didn't need the extra pins. The processor is on the way from the US but I can't buy the memory just yet. The power supply will be the last thing to come but it is probably the cheapest of the parts. I am yet to get a quote on memory so we'll see. Hard drives DVD and CD burner will be what is in the machine now and the case will be the same. Treating this as an upgrade rather than a replacement. Don't have the time to devote to this right now so I have been doing this over the last month or so. One piece at a time. Will finish by July :) Anyways I hope you are all well. See you on 6th May.

Update

Well yuh know yuh gone bad when yuh caan remember what de baxide yuh last posted on yuh own blog... :(.. Anyways this is just a hi and bye kinda post. Yeah i'm still alive but under extreme pressure from school. Things aren't going too badly but I cannot even find time to scratch muh head. Let's see now what has happened since I last wrote......Sister P is now PM and things go on as before. The trade unions are rejecting the governments wage offers left right and centre, Government must be crazy with the paultry sums they have been offering. Gov't workers were under a MOU for the past 2 years where no salary increases were granted or requested and now them coming with the same low wage offer crap ....think again. The fight is gonna be long and hard but it cannot be business as usual. I celebrated my 41st birthday on 6th of April......Happy Birthday to me...hehehehehe. I haven't been reading a lot of the blogs but you guys will have to see with me until mid May when I get back my life for 3 weeks or so. Until then...take care of you.........wooooosh!!!!!!!

Pure Idleness

Well as you can well imagine, stress relief is the order of the day so here is another idle post sent to me which I will now share with you..... Bud and Jim were a couple of drinking buddies who worked as airplane mechanics in Atlanta. One day the airport was fogged in and they had nothing to do. Bud said, "Man, I wish we had something to drink!"Jim says, "Me too. I've heard you can drink jet fuel and get a buzz. You wanna try it?"So they poured themselves a couple of glasses of high-octane hooch and got completely smashed. The next morning Bud wakes up and is surprised at how good he feels. In fact he feels great, no hangover, no bad side effects. Nothing at all. Then the phone rings...it's Jim. Jim says, "Hey, how do you feel this morning?" Bud says, "I feel great. How about you?" Jim says, "I feel great, too. You don' t even get a hangover." Bud says, "No, that jet fuel is great stuff - no hangover, nothing. We ought to do this more often."" Yeah, well there's just one thing." "What's that?" "Have you farted yet?" "No......." "Well, don't, 'cause I'm in Phoenix."

Random Post

I'm passing through again so I thought I would share this with you....... During a visit to the mental asylum, a visitor asked the director what the criterion was which defined whether or not a patient should be institutionalized. "Well," said the director, "We fill up a bathtub, then we offer a teaspoon, a teacup and a bucket to the patient and ask him or her to empty the bathtub." "Oh, I understand," said the visitor. "A normal person would use the bucket because it's bigger than the spoon or the teacup." "No" said the director, "A normal person would pull the plug ... Do you want a room with or without a view?" What would you have chosen?

Checkin' In

Hey all, Just popping in to say hi and to see how things are going. The blogs are pretty quiet...I gues some are as exhausted and caught up in other stuff as I am. Well our new PM will take over on 30 March according to the newspaper. Kinda weird to be taking over the reigns on a Thursday but hey....whatever floats their boat. It would seem that there are many critics who feel that the current PM should demit office immediately for a number of reasons. To me, it's a neither here nor there issue. Reality is that there is going to need to be a transition period. Right now we are staring the new financial year and all it brings right in the face. Wish us well. Can't say much about what has been happening because basically it is all related to campus life. Well so far the assignments and tests have gone well. I did another test on Monday and I'm confident that I have passed that one. Wasn't so sure about the one before but the tutor surprised me with a B+ so I'm not complaining. I have not gotten the grade for the group presentation but we are pretty sure we passed that as well. Three projects to go before final exams in May. Then the new semester starts at the beginning of June. Yes, I go all year with about 3 weeks or so between each semester. Other than that ...... nothing much to report. I've seen this before but in the absence of anything better to share with you I will leave this here and just wish you guys a great weekend. The Guys' Rules At last a guy has taken the time to write this all down Finally, the guys' side of the story. (I must admit, it's pretty good.) We always hear "the rules" From the female side. Now here are the rules from the male side. These are our rules! Please note.. these are all numbered "1" ON PURPOSE! ___________________________________ 1. Men ARE not mind readers. 1. Learn to work the toilet seat. You're a big girl. If it's up, put it down. We need it up, you need it down. You don't hear us complaining about you leaving it down. 1. Sunday sports. It's like the full moon or the changing of the tides. Let it be. 1. Shopping is NOT a sport. And no, we are never going to think of it that way. 1. Crying is blackmail. 1. Ask for what you want. Let us be clear on this one: Subtle hints do not work! Strong hints do not work! Obvious hints do not work! Just say it! 1. Yes and No are perfectly Acceptable answers to almost every question. 1. Come to us with a problem only If you want help solving it. That's what we do. Sympathy is what your girlfriends are for. 1. A headache that lasts for 17 months is a problem. See a doctor. 1. Anything we said 6 months ago is inadmissible in an argument. In fact, all comments become null and void after 7 Days. 1. If you won't dress like the Victoria's Secret girls, don't Expect us to act like soap opera guys. 1. If you think you're fat, you probably are. Don't ask us. 1. If something we said can be interpreted two ways and one of the ways makes you sad or angry, we meant the other one . 1. You can either ask us to do something Or tell us how you want it done. Not both. If you already know best how to do it, just do it yourself. 1. Whenever possible, Please say whatever you have to say during commercials. 1. Christopher Columbus did NOT need directions and neither do we. 1. ALL men see in only 16 colors, like Windows default settings. Peach, for example, is a fruit, not A color. Pumpkin is also a fruit. We have no idea what mauve is. 1. If it itches, it will Be scratched. We do that. 1. If we ask what is wrong and you say "nothing," We will act like nothing's wrong. We know you are lying, but it is just not worth the hassle. 1. If you ask a question you don't want an answer to, Expect an answer you don't want to hear. 1. When we have to go somewhere, absolutely anything you wear Is fine... Really. 1. Don't ask us what we're thinking about unless you are prepared to discuss such topics as baseball, the shotgun formation, or golf. 1. You have enough clothes. 1. You have too many shoes. 1. I am in shape. Round IS a shape! 1. Thank you for reading this. Yes, I know, I have to sleep on the couch tonight; but did you know men really don't mind that? It's like camping. Well I went blog visiting this morning. Stopped by all my links but didn't comment on all. Noticed that afew had disappeared...Small Island Girl and Bajan Queen were nowhere to be found :(.....so this is just a shout out to all those who I haven't gotten hold of....Take care.

Still Alive.............errrrrr Maybe

Well I'm still alive I think. School has been taxing so I've not been looking at the blogs at all. I can only say I hope you guys are all fine and as soon as I get the chance I will pay some visits. How yuh mean yuh don't miss me?........gwey...unno clear off and move.... :) Since is so unno drop it, mi nuh miss chat to yuh neither..... Is love still.

Sister P is the New PNP Leader

Well, the votes have been cast and counted. The results have been announced. The Hon. Portia Simpson-Miller was today elected as the next leader of the PNP. She is therefore put forward as the next Prime Minister of Jamaica, an office which she will assume in about 5 weeks when the current party president resigns both as leader of the party and as Prime Minister of Jamaica. I will not go into too much dissection of the results. I will state that the race was actually between Dr. Peter Phillips and Mrs. Simpson-Miller. Dr. Davies and Dr. Blythe only received 283 and 204 of the approximately 3800 respectively. Mrs. Simpson-Miller earned 1775 votes & Dr. Phillips' received 1538 votes. I will say that it is my opinion that Dr. Davies' own arrogance was his downfall as most persons expected a better showing of him. Congrats Sister P.

25 February 2006

Yes I know I'm a little early and that today is the 24th but bear with me for just a few lines. Tomorrow will be a "fun" time on the roads of Kingston. Gibson Relays will be held at the National Stadium. These relays set the tone for the remainder of the track and field season in the island. It will be followed by Boys and Girls Champs and then select athletes will travel to the Penn Relays with a few smaller meets thrown in for good measure. I do hope that they have a succesful meet.

Tomorrow will also mark a very important day in the history of Jamaica. Tomorrow PNP delegates will go to the polls to elect a new leader of the PNP. Some 4000 persons are expected to cast their votes and decide the fate of the rest of us 2-6 million people or so. The election, as small as it will be, has disrupted so many activities that it's not funny. The elections will be held on the campus of Jamaica College however each delegate has a headquarter somewhere nearby. Now anybody who is aware of our political system knows that you don't want to be in any area nearby when those party supporters are around. They are usually a law unto themselves. So whereas I would normally have gone up to campus on a Saturday...I will opt to work from home this weekend since one of the delegates has been given permission to use a part of the school for their headquarters. From past experience, I going to stay far.

Later in the evening at the announcement ceremony the roads will again be blocked in the vicinity of the Party headquarters to allow for that meeting. It's a good thing that I don't think they have a lot of traffic going that way at 4:00 on a Saturday afternoon.

Well, tomorrow at 6:00 or thereabouts the nation will know who the delegates have chosen to be the new leader of the PNP and ultimately the Prime Minister of our island. I am not sure of how the entire process works whether it has to be ratified by Parliament or approved by some other body or..... Whatever the process, we await the outcome...............

Have a great weekend all.

Leaving some lite humour with you today since I can't post. Mid-semesters have started so you all know the routine by now...... Grandma's birth control pills A doctor that had been seeing an 80-year-old woman for most of her life finally retired. At her next checkup, the new doctor told her to bring alist of all the medicines that had been prescribed for her. As the young doctor was looking through these, his eyes grew wide as he realized she had a prescription for birth control pills. "Mrs. Smith, do you realize these are BIRTH CONTROL pills?" "Yes, they help me sleep at night." "Mrs. Smith, I assure you there is absolutely NOTHING in these that could possibly help you sleep!" She reached out and patted the young Doctor's knee. "Yes, dear, I know that. But every morning, I grind one up and mix it in the glass of orange juice that my 16 year old granddaughter drinks..................................And believe me, it helps me sleep at night." and........................ A lady goes on vacation to Jamaica. Upon arriving, she meets a black man, and after a night of passionate love making she asks him, "What is your name?" "I can't tell you" the black man says. Every night they meet and every night she asks him again what his name is and he always responds the same, he can't tell her. On her last night there she asks again, "Can you please tell me your name?" I can't tell you my name because you will laugh at me." says the black man. "There is no reason for me to laugh at you," the lady says. "Fine, my name is Snow!" the black man replies. And the lady bursts into laughter. The black man gets mad and says, "I knew you would make fun of it". The lady replied, "I'm not making fun of your name. I'm thinking of my husband who won't believe me when I tell him that I had 10 inches of snow everyday in Jamaica!" Have a great week all.

Thursday Swings by Again

I can't believe that a whole week has passed and I haven't so much as uttered a word about anything. School is again taking up more and more of my time. As I mentioned beforem, this year begins my research courses so most of my internet time is spent going through articles and topic related data. Last week we were treated to a library visit to familiarize us with the research resources available to us. up to now it has been mainly a google and internet thing. Now the journals and other like material are upon us. I can say without hesitation that I am happy that I actually made the investment in the laptop. Here is what I finally settled on. I was looking for something inexpensive, reliable and I guess basic but functional so the Dell Inspiron 1300 was my final answer. I put a little more into it than just the basics and with the shipping to my end of the globe I ended up spending about US$750.00 so I can't complain too much. I read the review by this gentleman that I linked and I can really say that he has in fact given a fair assessment of the machine since these were the things that I have seen with my machine. All things considered I'm happy with it. I'm not into the computer gaming so that part of it really doesn't affect me. Some of you discouraged me from going with some of my other options and I'm glad you did and I'm happy I followed your advice. The computer has in fact helped tremendously in completing some of our assignments and it has certainly saved us a lot of time in not having to meet, write out our discussions, type it out and then email it for further corrections. We meet and have everything done right there and the only thing left to do is print and submit. Anyways, I get too carried away sometimes. This was just to be a "Hi" and "I'm still alive" kinda post. So Hi and I'm still alive. We'll chat more later. Take care until........

Thursday already

Well I can't really believe that it is already so close to the end of the week. Nothing too much going on here at home. Well not exactly true...they killed one of the area dons in Spanish Town yesterday and is pandamonium again after a relatively quiet period from the latter part of last year. Roads are blocked and the finger pointing going on as to who do it and whether or not police involved. Reality is we will probably never know. My first reaction is "who really cares anyway". These guys live by violence and will inevitably die by it. I reiterate that we need some strong action against these criminals because no matter how we nice it up and call them area dons or area leaders or community leaders the under tone is a lawless existence a.k.a. criminal. Well the PNP will have their conference at the end of this month. Venue was changed because they had tried to book the arena on the same weekend when a major sporting event was scheduled to take place. No can do!!! So they relocated and the event will go ahead so in about 2 weks or so we will know who our new Prime Minister will be. I was sitting the other day and wondering why the campaign for the party leadeship is so public. Why am I a citizen subject to the assault of adverts and meetings and general political noise when for this event I as an ordinary citizen cannot vote? Why can't I vote...well it's like this....only delegates within party circles participate in the voting for party leadership. So out of the 2.7 million or so Jamaican citizens only 4000 or there abouts will be able to participate in the voting process. Maybe I'm being a little picky but why subject me to the party hype when in actual fact it is of no real significance to me. Vote and then tell me who is the new leader when yuh finish. I will admit that I enjoy the back and forth discussion and who can't do what and who can't talk which way but after a while it gets a bit tiresome. Proposals have been made for debates and motorcades and so far I think the motorcade idea was scrapped by the party leadership (thank God) since those idiots become untouchable lawless morons when they get on the road together. They drive anyhow and anywhere they feel like and couldn't care less who gets knocked over in the process. I think some of the other candidates have been resisting the call for debates saying that it's not a national participatory event so why have a national debate. I agree with the point but I add that since it's not a national participatory event then why have national campaigns and advertising? I'm just being cynical, don't pay me too much mind. Anyway guys just my way of saying hail up and all the best until I chat again.

Cartoons

Well I was home ill for a couple of days last week. Tis the season for every virus that pass my window for me to grab it. Actually I've been not too bad this past Christmas since every December April and October I have rounds of the flu or cold or some other ache and pain. So I actually made it through December without any problems. Maybe this is just to fulfill my quota. I have been watching in interest the Muslim community's outcry to the Danish cartoonist depiction of their founder. Not saying that some things are not sacred but burning and rioting and violence is taking it just a little too far. UI can honestly say that I cannot understand how a nation built on the principles of peace can be so irritable to the ponit where many persons even here in Jamaica see Muslims as fanatics and are seen as crazy through the eyes of many. Granted that this recent behaviour isn't helping any. It is kinda only strengthening the views. I won't post any links to the cartoons for fear of drawing the wrath of many on the blog of one. Seems that cartoonist in contraversial situationwas the order of the week because another cartoon appearing in a US newspaper Washington Post drew the wrath of citizens when it showed a veteran with no arms and legs and in bandages being told that his condition would be listed as battle hardened or something along those lines. I linked it from a website here. I guess they were insinuating that the real effects of the so-called war on terrorism was being understated. Just my interpretation. Other than that nothing too much going on. I rewired my car stereo system yesterday. Took me almost the whole afternoon. An amplifier that had served me for 10 years finally burned out. I replaced it but the new one required more power and different speakers so I just decided to do a wholesale rewire and use fresh stuff. It sounds good but now my wife is cussing because my son is trying to deafen her. Suffered a few cuts and bruises in the prcess but I'l live. Gone do some reading, so till later.........

Idle Chatter

Well nothing much on the home front to chat about. Apparently the cowitch thing got a little out of hand on Monday because quite a few schools reported serious infiltration from the menance. At my wife's high school the nurse's station was beyond capacity before school started. At a co-worker's son's school they had an overwhelming number of cases and almost the "entire" school going to the nurse. The story actually made the news on Tuesday. Well for the past few weeks I have been toying with the idea of giving up the blogging. It's easy to say but I guess hard to do. Right now I am so caught up in the whole school thing that I really am finding it hard to keep up the posting and the reading. The time that I had initially ear-marked for blog activity is rapidly disappearing as assignments get more difficult and closer together. I am determined, though, to keep going as long as I can and to exhaust every other alternative before calling it quits. May even have to go to late night/early morning activities if the need arises. I have already exceeded my opening targets. When I started this blog I gave myself a year. That has gone and I'm still at it. Sometimes there isn't the vibes to post or the drive to go find something of note but some how or the other something gets said. Maybe what I need to do is to go back to what the real reasons were for this blog: 1) a bit of fun and mystique.......ok still there 2) a voice....still there 3) meeting a few good people.......still happens 4) keep in touch with the world.......still happening 5) run off my mouth......still happens 6) represent for the Caribbean.......ok sometimes 7) something to pass time.........this is the changed part...there isn't much time to pass anymore. 8) to explore other cultures especially those nearby......still awed by how similar we are and by how different we are as well. 9) fass in people business.......ok, not so, more like interest in the lives of those we meet online. All in all things really haven't changed much. Maybe I should just ask you to bear with me as I try to deal with these final 5 semesters at school with the understanding that I won't have as much free time to give to this (or anything else for that matter). I've already given up my badminton and going out and my motorsport vice has become even more limited because of school so I don't think I want to give up much more so we'll see how it goes. Anywayz, I was just writing some off the brain stuff. BTW, did you notice that I finally organized my links panel and I added some daily reads that I've kinda been meaning to add for some time. Maybe I'll play with some other stuff on the weekend. Have a great week all.

Life Lessons

I've never been a a fan of English Literature. In fact, I failed the subject miserably in high school probably (more like most certainly) from not trying. I just despised it and hated the idea of being forced to read for passing grades rather than for the love of the book. Granted there were some good books forced upon us but eventually the bad ones won out and my love for reading kinda went through the door. I remember having to examine certain phrase and find it's source in literature. I asked my grandfather and he was able to just rattle it off. That phrase was: "Neither a borrower nor lender be, for loan oft loses both itself and friend, and borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry. And this above all, to thine own self be true...." I remember him jokingly saying that most phrases given to look up come from one of two places, The Bible or Shakespeare. This one came from Shakespeare...Polonius preparing his son Laertes for foreign travel in the play "Hamlet". This phrase has been relived so many times in modern society and is as true today as it was then. Think about our own financial dealings. So many times we've tied ourselves into the credit cards and bank loans and the hire purchase that we can't even breathe at the end of the month. The pay cheque belongs to somebody else and we are forced to beg borrow or steal to survive till the next pay cheque (which incidentally isn't ours either). I've been a lender on a few ocassions and I've managed to recover a few of those loans. I keep telling myself that I won't do this again and still I keep getting myself into these kinds of dilemna. I loaned some funds to a friend who was in deep hot water at the time and I had a little bit extra from some allowance or the other so I decided to help out a situation, since this person has helped me out in the past. Now getting back the funds is the hard part. Now I'm not saying that things are not hard because I know the situation but I can't help but feel a bit slighted since I don't see the effort necessary to repay my funds. Case in point, this person came into some extra money recently and chose to repay some outstanding bills from whenever with a "plan" to repay me out of the second part of her payout. To date that promise is yet to materialize. My question is, "Is it because I am a friend why I am not a priority?" Now I've seen this person "beg" tickets to the Jazz Festival and get sponsorship for other things which to me are not of any priority and yet I am still awaiting my money. Now in very much the same way that you can acquire these expensive sponsorship to these events I think you could acquire sponsorship to help repay the debts that you have. My thought would be that if I know I owe so many people so much money then three nights of singing no matter who the artistes would not be paramount on my agenda. In fact I would certainly be keeping my little tooshy quiet. I guess some of us think differently. Who knows, maybe I wanted to go to the Jazz Festival too but couldn't spare the funds because all I had extra is tied up in a loan to somebody. I know I will be repaid, that's not the point, my only concern is when. Everytime I think about it I have a new round of depression and anger and disbelief all rolled into one. This is my friend treating me this way. And yes the person is still a friend and will remain that way because despite whatever is not so right there are more than enough good thing about them to make me overlook this shortcoming. The writing here is because I just need to vent a bit. One thing I can assure you is that it won't happen again not with this person at any rate.

Frightening

Today's children (and adults) are living in a digital age. They are exposed to so many issues. As a parent how do you protect them? It may be all well and good for you to say that it's only a computer screen and you can't shelter them but this article from Dateline NBC paints a shocking picture of what can happen.

It's quite a few pages long but when I started I went through them all and thought immediately about my own kids one of whom is an internet junkie.

From my own point-of-view, I've met a few people from the cyberspace realm and they have proven to be pretty decent people. If I were living in some other country maybe I would have been a little more apprehensive. Then again we face dangers in everyday life. Is the answer to just simply isolate yourselves away from everybody or everything? In reality, the persons we meet online could have well been met at a friends party. I guess the key to it is that if it doesn't feel right then leave it alone.

Be safe you all.

Nadda

Well the weekend went by really quickly and it almost feels as if it never started. I took some time out toady to go watch some driving at the dexerity event held near by me today. It was relaxing. The shorter one celebrated her 14th birthday on Friday. Hard to believe that she has reached that already. She had a good day and tied it up with a games evening. Heard a corny joke on Friday and decided to share it with you guy: Well Jesse and his brother Frank decided to hold up a train in one of their glory moments. The gang all got on and one gang member decided it was his turn to make the announcement but he wasn't too bright. "Ladies and Gentlemen...this is a holdup......we shall be....robbing the women and raping the men!!" Miss Prim and Proper in the front asked "What did you say?" Not too Bright says in his best holdup voice " We will be robbing the women and raping the men!" Miss Prim and Proper pipes up..."Don't you mean robbing the men and raping the women?" Not so bright stutters but before he can answer, from the back of the train a strange voice shouts out . (It's Mr. Gay Lord Frankyguy) "Hello there missy is you or is them robbing the train?....leave them alone to do what they want to do to us men!" Have a great day all.

More Political Chit Chat

Well I haven't ben able to get about the task of blogging although I have been reading. The joys of school life have returned. OK for all you non Jamaicans out there...there are 2 major political parties in Jamaica...the JLP and the currently ruling PNP. There are also quite a few others including a major party wanna be, the NDM. They are probably the closest thing to a rival that the 2 major parties will have in the foreseeable future (somehow that don't look like it spell right). Now we are in a sad state of affairs when so many people can't make up their minds about who they want as leadership simply because...THERE IS NO LEADERSHIP. I am facing this dilemna 1 year before an election because I honestly don't think the JLP has sufficiently adjusted its policies and style of leadership to take on the problems being faced by this nation. They have not settled down to the task at hand and have offered no alternatives to the current mechanisms. The PNP on the other hand look like a bunch of imcompetent idiots who can't tell their nose from their tails. Problems that have arisen are given some serious band aid treatment and that goes no further. What are my solutions? I really don't know that I have any to offer...but hey, that's why I not involved in politics. One thing for certain is that our political system and criminal elements are too closely tied together for comfort. Politicians attend funerals and parties for the area leaders (a nice way to say area dons or badman dem). Frankly, it is time that we start to weed out the problems one by one. We have put such high emphasis on traffic offences and yet the murders continue. I am not saying ease up on the traffic offenders because I believe that a traffic offence is as bad as any other crime but we ALSO need to look heavily at the other issues as well. I say bring out the army if that is what it takes, have curfews if needs be but we cannot have 4 or more murders a day and still expect that it will be business as usual. The tourist will stop coming (unless we can find a way to market Jamaica as the murder capital of the world being a good thing). I get frustrated every time I think about our political system. A party is elected and they are put into Gordon House. They dismantle everything started by the other party because it wasn't good enough. They start their thing and it goes on until they leave office. A new party is voted in and the tear down process starts again. We need to reach a stage in this country where we examine the policies and methodology put in place by our predecessors and find a reasonable starting point on which to build. Don't try to sell me the idea that every single thing the other party did was no good. We need to have a collaberative government and stop the stupidity of the faction system. Not because you are the oppposition party means that you have to oppose everything that is presented. Not because you are the ruling party means that you lay own the rules and nobody can differ in opinion. I recall the days when there was the budget debate and it really was a debate. The proposals were tabled and a final decision was made after discussion and rebutal. These last few years the Minister of Finance gets up and simply tells you what he is going to increase and it is effective whenever he says and sometimes as early as tomorrow. No discussion, no chance for review, nothing, just take it or leave it. Maybe that's why so many people are skeptical about his bid for party presidency. Our system needs revamping and from my point of view this can only be done by removing all the current players and declaring them ineligible to participate in the leadership role. Honestly as a citizen, I can't see a path for our future and I think that is sad particularly because I don't think I'm alone in this frame of mind. Anyways enough from me...later all.

Hopefuls

These are the four Prime Minister hopefuls here at home. One of these four persons; Hon. Portia Simpson -Miller, Dr. Karl Blythe, Dr. Omar Davies or Dr. Peter Phillips will be Jamaica's Prime Minister at least for a short time until the next election. I can't help but wonder what each will bring or take away from our little nation that will make such significant differences in such a short time. The two names that one has been hearing consistently are "Portia" and "Peter Phillips". Whether or not either is successful will be determined at a future date. Right now we the common people kinda just hope that they don't destroy civil Jamaica during their campaigns. Jamaicans tend to be really passionate about their politics so........take it easy people. Have a great day you all.

Equity and Equality

I'm seeing the message played out in front of my eyes. A few weeks ago our pastor at church tried to give the differences between equity and equality. His theme based on the fact that you can be equal without being equitable and vice versa. I couldn't qute figure it out then but then he gave an example but let me set a stage first.......... Our church is in one of the most affluent areas in Kingston. It is surrounded by financial wealth. All the neighbourhoods are predominantly residential and at the high end of it as well. Let me say now that I don't live in any of these areas :) (before anybody gets any ideas). I work in the downtown area. This is an area noted for poverty and some really crass residences and residents. Let's say that there are no apartments and townhouses down here. As a matter of fact you will find more squatters and tenament yards here than anywhere else. Now Port Royal Street, Harbour Street and its environs and all the way westwards to Marcus Garvey Drive were badly damaged by the onslaught of rains over the last few months. Parts of these major thoroughfares were reduced to riverbed type passageways. But as i said they are the only ways through downtown. Now Norbrook Road is a typical residential roadway and used in comparison to these others only by a handful of people. It too was damaged but I drove there shortly after the rains and it was passable not perfect but it could use with some swerving here and there. Pastor told us that by January he would safely bet that Norbrook Road would be fixed but that the others would remain until whenever. Well it is January and guess what...Norbrook Road was fixed from the week after he spoke so that puts it at mid November. Well Marcus Garvey Drive was repaired a couple of weeks ago and Port Royal Street is still to be fixed. The situation is equal......both will be fixed. Not equitable because it has come down to a case of money talking. The roads that provide service to the greater population and the greater need of our nation has again succumed to the injustice in society. Why?....because it's not in an area populated by the well to do.......... :( Sets you think............. Tomorrow maybe I'll take on politics...heheheh. Later all

Tech Stuff.....(Boring to Dr.D)

Well Dr. D will not like this but it will be short. I finally got my router last night and felt like a millionaire. I had to use my phone a friend life line but it seem that everything is up and running. The one I bought is one without an external antenna. It works well from the wired point of view but the signal got really weak really fast when the wireless side of things was used. The many corners and concrete walls between the bedroom and the living room where the router is located may have something to do with that. So I have two options 1) Hard wire the bedroom 2) move the router halfway down the passageway using patch cables 3) stay out of the bedroom when using the laptop. All in all I am pleased. Setup was fairly easy but I got a little confused with some of the settings. I called a friend and he talked me through it in few minutes. pretty straight forward. We are yet to complete the firewall settings since he was unfamiliar with how this particular router set the permissions and filters so it will have to wait until he returns from abroad. Thanks for the help Mr. C. I like option 2. Since I anticipated that there would be an issue with the walls and the signal I went looking for cabling the other day and all I kept finding was CAT-6 I am familiar with the CAT-5 and therefore need to know the difference between the two. Are they compatible and will the devices be able to work using the CAT-6 cables. The connectors look the same but hey...it's all the same to me. Anyways for the time being I can at least have access when the kids are online with the desktop. Other than that everything is fine on the home front. School has restarted and I've had one class thus far. That course seems interesting (until it starts to dig out yuh tripe with unreasonable deadlines and.....) and I'm going in open-minded. We'll see how it pans out later. Anyways, I gone do some work so till later.

Free Paper Bun!!!

Well my last day of the school holiday was spent looking about the car. I have been calling it a piece of scrap iron and I'm going to behave myself because it has served really well over the past few years. So the one time it decides to act up isn't sufficient for me to be dissing it. The pothole scene in Jamaica finally took its toll on the ride. I had to change almost the entire front end over the course of Friday and Saturday. Control arms, ball joints, bushings, tie rod ends and finally an alignment were the order of the day. Thank God for Nissans otherwise parts alone would have seen me "in debt up to my eyeballs" as one commercial put it. :) In all I spent about US$175.00. I use the US cost so most of you can relate. That's about $12000.00 Jamaican. Quite a hefty sum out here. Good thing is that the car feels great. no more squeaking and groaning and strange sounds when you drive on less than ideal roads. As my heading says...back to school today. Classes are Mondays to Thursday and most finish at about 8:00 or 9:00....arrrrgggggh!!!!!! So after a long day at office I will have to drag my sorry self up to campus and sit and endure the torture of lectures and tutorials for another 14 weeks followed by exams in weeks 16 and 17. Can you resign from school?....I don't know but I'm gonna give it a try and see if they accept the resignation. Nah....only 5 semesters to go so I may as well tough it out. Had dinner with wifey's family last night and it was a pretty enjoyable evening. Met a classmate at the supermarket who had gone to have her baby. Congrats to her and her little girl who should be about 3 months old or so. She told me of another classmate who also had a little girl recently so congrats to her too. So that makes only one young lady who I have not heard about. I neglected to get a phone number for her but I know she used read here some times. Hope all went well with her delivery too. Anyways I gone do some work since I wasn't here on Friday. Later all.

Lots about Nothing

Well I haven't had much to talk about and quite honestly I've been under some stress at office over the past few weeks so to come home and fight with the children for the machine and then force a post hasn't been the way to go just yet. Don't worry about it, I'm working on the solution. I bought my router and I see from the tracking that it has been delivered to my mailbox service in Miami so in a few days it will be in Jamaica and I can start messing with stuff that doesn't trouble me :).

Yesterday there was this big discussion at office about our justice system here at home. I won't get into the detail but to say that it has stemmed from the recent release of Mr Adams and the other police following a jury trial in December. I can only state that I think the verdict was arrived at after much thought and based on the depth that the jury went to obtain information I would hope that their verdict was fair and reasonable. I can only hope that all involved are able to live in free conscience at the end of the day.

BBC has done us badly and honestly we may have done it to ourselves. What am I speaking about?......Read more here. Them boys going on really badly and it need to stop now.

I was kinda shocked yesterday at the kind of video games available to today's teens. My son borrowed this game called Grand Theft Auto San Andreas from a friend and has been playing it for a few days now. I can safely say that i can now understand why it is under so much discussion. The game is horrific. It has all the elements of criminal written all over it. It portrays quite abit of the mentality of society today. The guns the violence the crime from prostitution to grand theft auto and murder. What struck me was when he "stole" a car and somebody ran him off the road, his reaction is to get out and "pop him with some shots". I just kinda sat there. and looked. I am insisting that he returns the game to his friend. Reality though is that in a few months he is legally an adult and I can only then insist that I don't want it done in MY house. He is a pretty decent young man though...riddled with all the teenage worries but hasn't gone too way out on the limb. Straying from the point.....If these games are market driven how then can we be any better off if we continue to fuel the essence of the problems with this kind of gaming. Some argue that "It's just a game"...it is not just a game, it models behaviour that children emulate. It may be marked mature but then what about the adult that is playing in the presence of the 5 year old who then says...."shoout him daddy" when a real incident of poor judgement in driving happens on the road. He has seen it done like that in the game so why not in life. My teen is learning to drive and I constantly remind him that it's not like GT4, the cars don't bounce off each other in real life. (Not that he drives to deserve these comments, but I am not taking any chances :) ) .

I think we have major issues to deal with in today's world. But I also see the small issues that we need to address and one can only think that if we start to manage the small issues then the larger ones may be more manageable as well. This article for instance shows something that should never happen at the international level.

My last thought goes to constitutional rights in the US. I have seen laws enacted and enforced over that last few years that essentially promotes the rights of those persons who feel that religion has no place in society. Their judicial system seems to be upholding that concept. My question is...By upholding the views of these persons are they not now trampling on the rights of those who hold the view that religion does hold a place. Can we now sue the various entities because I as a Christian have lost my constitutional right to say public prayers in school?

Do we have a case?

Anyway enough from me this morning...have a great day all.