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.