What di B..........?

Spam is a wicked thing, can I tell yuh. On Monday I cleared about 150 odd message out of my mailbox, yesterday I cleared another whole heap and this morning I had a whopping 2 hundred and plenty messages. Why do all these people all of a sudden think that I need to enlarge my penis size? Are they spying on me or something and on what basis are they benchmarking adequate size anyway? I need to go check for spy cams in the house. In all of my 18 years of marriage I haven't had any complaints and in all honesty it has been working for me so they can chat ..... The last straw was when they start to advertize things to make me better for my man. Excuse me? No iyah...dis dawg don't roll dem ways boss. No for your man ting in dis house. Only one whip mus swing in dis house. Fyah pon dem!!!! Was watching a Canadian station the other night and they were talking about car theft and the need for immobilizers and alarms. They were telling a story of a man whose expensive car was stolen although it was equipped with both alarm and immobilizer. The thieves went to the car park and wrote off the registration plates #. They went to the motor registry and did a search of the plates. They basically got the man's name address DOB and anything else about him and the car. They then applied for a driver's permit with his name but their photo. taking everything that they had gotten they walked into a dealer and ordered a duplicate key for the car. The dealer verified the info and ownerhip and provided a key, equipped with alarm switch and immobilizer chip. Next day they simply drove the car away. The thieves were eventually caught but the car was already gone. I guess you can say technology that was supposed to protect the car also helped to take it. Dem tief nuh easy....the police said that they kept files and stuff like any regular business. Scary.....

Go Slow

Hi all I know that I've been helter skelter with my posts. This is as a direct result of some pressures at work. And because I have to be leaving early on Mondays and Wednesdays to go to classes I have had to make some shifts. The time that I use for blogging is now therefore work occupied. I should be sorted out in a couple of days so bear with me.

The Face of a King?

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

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

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

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

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

Later guys.

Friday at Last

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

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

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

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

Why men hate cats.

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

My Report

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

No Rest for the Wicked

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Later.

Hail Up All

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Blog on Hold

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

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

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

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

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

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

Humour from me....

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

One of Those Days

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

The Day After

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

TGIF

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

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

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

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

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

Life in all its splendor.

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

Bye for now.

Monday Update

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

Heat Stroke

It is as hot as hell here this morning. I sat in the car this morning waiting on wifey at the gate and I could not believe that so much water could run off one person in the space of 2 minutes. I had just backed out of the driveway and that was it. You would have thought that I had run a marathon. Maybe menopause setting in still :) I actually used the a/c all the way to office this morning and this is unusual since I am always the one opting for natural breeze. The temperatures are in stark contrast to what we had last week when we got a couple days of rain but that's gone it would appear. The heat seems to be taking its toll on the drivers too because this morning was "silly morning". If I used any of the theories of deductive reasoning, I would no doubt come to the conclusion that all drivers of Toyota Corolla station wagons are idiots, mad sick head nuh good, a$$e$ on the roads. I chalked it up to heat stroke. We drive on the left in Jamaica but many of the roads in downtown Kingston are one ways so you have two lanes moving in the same direction. This morning one gentleman in said vehicle cut across three lanes of traffic in one move, swung through the layby and made a u-turn to head back down in the opposite direction. Can you imagine three lanes of traffic mashing brakes and tyre smoke all bout. Then this lady, in said type of vehicle decides that she is going to turn right from the extreme left lane this time across 4 lanes at the craft market trafic light. Anybody with sense knows that this light is not a place to play hero cuz is not a handful of accidents happen there. I've seen what could be well amounted to at least 1 per day. She picked up a hail of badwords from several of the other drivers. Just around the corner came number 3. Same type of vehicle but slightly older model. left turn from extreme right lane at an intersection that is always busy. More cussing. (I only told them off in spirit.) Maybe I would have been more vocal if I had no one in the car but yuh gots to behave when yuh have company...good broughtupsy. Can you imagine all of this in the space of half an hour. Heat stroke I tell you!!! Today is going to be busy, if for no other reason but the fact that I will not be here tomorrow. I'm looking forward to the break even if it is for exams. Had a meeting at the Tall One's school yesterday to discuss options for those kids who don't do well in their exams, or for those who don't want to pursue sixth form or for those who are unsure of what they want to do or for anybody who wants to have options besides relying on sixth form only. My son does not want t pursue sixth form simply because the options that he wants to do are not really offered. He tends to be technically minded but the grade 12/13 programmes do not really assist them here. I went to the meeting very unwillingly but am glad I made the effort. It was an eye-opener. I benefitted from the meeting and can actually see a path that he can follow whatever he decides to do. It may not be the ideal but it is certainly better than sitting at home and idling for a year while we wait on the other alternatives. We'll se though. After all of that I finally got to office at 10:10. Dem soon tthrow mi out pon mi butt. Nahhhh, I got permission. Anyways I gone for now. Take care and have a great day.

Tuesday is here

Good morning people, one and all...wazzup? Well I can now say 1 down and 2 to go. But that's for later.

The weekend was long but pretty good. Despite the solemness of Saturday with the funeral it was a pretty ok time. The funeral started at 10:00a.m with tributes. These took almost an hour and a half. The actual service was another hour and a half or so so we never left Kingston until about 1:45 in the afternoon. It was not a sad affair but rather a rejoicing in the life of.... There was laughter as well as silent tears. You could tell the calibre of the person from the attendees at the service. The drive to Yallas was under police escort and it was long but uneventful. The graveside mirrored the church and considering that there were so many people who travelled to the country spoke again of the person. I did not get back to Kingston until about 6:15.

Sunday was quiet with a bit of studying and then some socializing in the evening. Wifey's family who had come from overseas for the funeral wanted to meet and greet their family who they had not seen or had never met. This took us into late Sunday night. Quite enjoyable and besides it gave wifey an opportunity to interact with her family who are more dispersed than mine so a rare chance indeed.

Yesterday was my first final exam for the semester. It comprised of 20 multiple choice and 5 true/false questions spanning the syllabus and then 5 working out questions to choose 3 each valued at 25 marks. Well I can tell you that the working out questions were fairly straight forward(too easy in fact). I guessed every one of the multiple choice questions and fudged through a couple of the T/F ones. My thing is do what you are sure of 1st then battle with the unknown. Finished the exam an hour before time. Left feeling like I had left out something. The project that we were worried about Ihad mentioned it some time ago as shooting in the dark was a good result as well. considering that we did not get a chance to input all of the required areas and still came out getting above 80 I am more than happy with that. It tells me that we were bang on target for the sections that we had spent the time on.

Ihave one this Friday and the final one for the semester next Thursday so still some work to do. The one on Friday is a research paper so that one is a no brainer. The one next Thursday is going to take some work but....whatever.

Well the smoke seems to have been eliminated (from up by my side anyway.) I haven't been keeping up with the news but then again who cares really. Today is just work work and more work.

Anyways I'm gone. Before I go thanks to all those who left me their wishes for a good exam yesterday.

Later all.

Friday

Well today is the end of the work week for most of us. This week was more or less pretty uneventful and believe me in today's Jamaica that's a good thing. No more Popes to elect or Michael Jacksons to try. I was up till about 11:30 last night reading stuff because my first exam is on Monday morning bright and early. I was going to get up at about 4:00a.m. to do some more work but at 4:00 I saw the lights on in the living room and .....I saw the light on in the living room.......just before going back to sleep to hold another 2 hours of dreams. To hell with the books!!! Man body know when man body has had enough. It's hard to believe that another semester has ended already. I have another 2 years to go in this programme but a friend of mine says that that sounds awful and drawn out so I replied that I had 7 more semesters to go to finish and smiles all around. It's true although the number is larger, 7 as opposed to 2, the units of measurement plays havoc with the mind. in actual fact 7 semesters is 2 1/3 years. You can all tell by now that I have absolutely nothing to tell you this morning don't it? Got a credit card bill yesterday and never even realised that it had no balance on it. I had vowed some time ago to retire at least two of the little monsters. I had simply been paying the more than minimum payments each month. It has definitely paid off. So on Monday Iwill chop up that card into little pieces and do a return to sender thing. Being able to buy when you need to is one thing but paying back for stuff that you could do without in the first place is definitely not cool. Work yesterday was kinda glum. One of the people that we do business with in Trinidad (they make uniforms for our ladies) called to say that the gentleman who is assigned to our account was killed in a car accident on his way to work in Trinidad. It kinda sent us here into a tailspin because simply because the way we do business lends itself to the staff in my department becoming more than just acquaintances with this type of contractor. This gentleman was here on several ocassions and was entertained by staff here and the same happened when our people went to visit their factories to ensure we were getting what we paid for. It is therefore the loss of a friend. Rest in peace Robert and may your family and fiance be comforted in this time of sudden loss. My wife's uncle will be buried tomorrow. There will be a church service in the morning and then we will travel to St. Thomas (one of our 14 parishes) for the final burial. Tomorrow is going to be a loooooooonnnnnggggggggggg day. Anywayz I have run out of ramble this morning and I'm still a bit tired so I am going to take my leave of you. You won't see me writing on Monday so You will have to wish me all the best from now. Take care and see you Tuesday.

Hey guess What???

Hey all just a quick good morning to you all and here's wishing you a great day. Have been up since 1:00 this morning so right now the caffeine talking bigtime. Side effects are horrible though because now I'm wide awake but half sleeping if yuh get mi. Guess what...WE GOT SOME RAIN!!! Well at least the place will start to look a little greener. I have decided to leave out the news stuff for this week especially the crime situation. Some things are better left unsaid nuh true. Riverton City is creating a bit of havoc this week. Riverton City is our local landfill (dump). It is located off the Spanish Town Road here in Kingston on some 70 - 80 acres of land. Unfortunately a fire has been going on there since the weekend and the authorities are unable to do anything about it for one reason or the other. My neighbourhood is upwind from the smoke and believe me...It not pretty at all. My home is not within walking distance and is in fact not just around the corner but we are getting it good. I feel sorry for the people who live much nearer than I do. I can just imagine what they are going through. I understand some people have had to leave because of the smoke. The rains yesterday are making the smoke thicker so it is causing some discomfort in the midst of the good it is doing for the plants. Ah bwoy...yuh just can't win. Anyway, I'm gone. I will try to post again later but for now..tah tah.

Some employer comments... HR idleness at its best I suppose. Worth a smile even if you've seen them before. 1. "Since my last report, this employee has reached rock-bottom and has started to dig." 2. "I would not allow this employee to breed." 3. "This employee is really not so much of a has-been, but more of definite won't be." 4. "Works well when under constant supervision and cornered like a rat in a trap." 5. "When she opens her mouth, it seems that it is only to change feet." 6. "This young lady has delusions of adequacy." 7. "He sets low personal standards and then consistently fails to achieve them." 8. "This employee is depriving a village somewhere of an idiot." 9. "This employee should go far, and the sooner he starts, the better." 10. "Got a full 6-pack, but lacks the plastic thingy to hold it all together." 11. "A gross ignoramus -- 144 times worse than an ordinary ignoramus." 12. "He doesn't have ulcers, but he's a carrier." 13. "The wheel is turning, but the hamster is dead." 14. "He's been working with glue too much." 15. "He would argue with a signpost." 16. "He brings a lot of joy whenever he leaves the room." 17. "When his IQ reaches 50, he should sell." 18. "If you see two people talking and one looks bored, he's the other one." 19. "A photographic memory but with the lens cover glued on." 20. "A prime candidate for natural de-selection." 21. "Donated his brain to science before he was done using it." 22. "Gates are down, the lights are flashing, but the train isn't coming." 23. "He's got two brains cells, one is lost and the other is out looking for it." 24. "If he were any more stupid, he'd have to be watered twice a week." 25. "If you give him a penny for his thoughts, you'd get change." 26. "If you stand close enough to him, you can hear the ocean." 27. "It's hard to believe he beat out 1,000,000 other sperm." 28. "One neuron short of a synapse." 29. "Some drink from the fountain of knowledge; he only gargled." 30. "Takes him 2 hours to watch '60 Minutes'"

New Pope

Well the world can now have a little bit of free airwaves. Hopefully the media will give a break until the next media watch event. The Catholic Church now has a new Pope. Pope Benedict XVI was elected today by the College of Cardinals. This brings to an end much speculation as to who, the nationality of and the ethnic background of the next church leader. Cardinal Ratzinger (CNN photo borrowed) is 78 years old and is the 265th Pope. He is obviously not a black Pope as some would have wanted. I trust that the Cardinals have made the right choice and that this gentleman will endeavour to do the will of God. May the wisdom bestowed on him reflect the light that God wishes to reveal to His people.

Monday Again

Well guys it was an intersting weekend fuh real. Before I get any further, guess who was in church on Sunday... nuh the fassy I spoke about in my previous post. Guess he figured he needed some blessing after that budget unleashed from last week. Anyways I won't deny him his blessings. As father so rightly put it, "He doesn't have any friends right now". Last week I decided to go sort out my school stuff. I went and paid my fees on Monday and decided that I was going to collect my exam card on Friday. Knowing my school I decided to give myself the extra time because I know they will find some way to screw up a simple straight forward process. To cut a long story really short I got the card but guess what, It missing something. As a matter of fact all three of the processes saying something different. OK...I am registered to do three courses money paid and all legit. Pick up exam card which only has two subjects on it so somewhere along the line my culture subject is missing. No biggy, completed an add drop form to have it input. Now this form is supposed to be done in triplicate so how is this done...by writing up the form 3 times cuz they ain't got no carbon and the form not carbonized. So much for technology..heh heh heh. So i decide to check the timetable for the exam schedule which is online....ha!!! now I'm only registered for one exam...Very interesting!!! So guess what... half of Saturday morning is spent in the school office completing another uncarbonized, no carbon triplicate form. Asked about the exam schedule and was given a 41 page printout to search through. Anyway, I found my dates so I have exams next week Monday, Friday and the following Thursday. Well spaced out so I hope they don't change it. At least they will have enough time to sort out the timetables between now and the first exam which luckily is the one left on my schedule. I thought I had been rid of this assignment at work but it came back on Friday evening. One day at a time through it though. The inefficiency at school is now so common place that I simply plan for it so it loses the harsh effect it once had. I'm convinced that they can't do any better. Study has started for exams so blogging will now take a back seat until 6th May. That's not to say I will stop but I will pay less attention to how frequently I post and comment so please don't get offended if you see me missing...school. The topics that I need to cover for exams are nuff nuf but for the most part managable so that is good. Anyway leftovers tonight but day old stew peas always taste the best. I gone grab some food people see you tomorrow.

Today

Well the interviews went as predicted. That university needs some *help* seriously. The students are supposed to be leaving with Bachelor degrees in in most cases I get better responses out of high school students. It is really a waste of time to go every year and not find a single prospective candidate. They are childish unprepared in a nutshell...dem nuh ready fi di world yet. I asked one student to give me an idea of how her degree programme has helped to prepare her for the work world and the phrase "dumb blond" comes readily to mind. Only thing is that she was a brunette browning. That fassy has raised GCT. I'm talking about the Minister of Finance, Dr. Omar Davies. I try to be diplomatic on my site and present a stable picture of things but this man has broken all boundaries. Don't be surprised if yuh hear riot break out in Jamaica. The a$$hole has public sector workers locked in a Memorandum of Understanding and even his rate hike has violated the agreement. Let's hear what the unions will say about his latest piece of crap. I am all for locking down this country at this point. Something is up with IE tonight because I can't access blogger from that browser. I am able to do so in Firefox so something going down. Sent an email to support so we'll see. Anywayz I man gone.

Hail up

Good morning all. No I'm not dead, and yes I'm still alive and kicking. Answered both questions in one :). Well I kind of made myself scarce in the face of some serious school work. Major project for my elective and our dramatic presentation were both due last night. Both went reasonably well. The project, which we estimated would be about 20 pages, when complete had 66 pages of useful information. Dr.D., don't even ask useful to who cuz I know you will have something to say.

Our audience for the presentation consisted of our tutor and several passerbys who stopped to tek een the spectacle that unfolded before their very eyes. We were applauded and one young man shout out at the end "Wicked presentation people!". For a one week plan and 2 run throughs that costantly changed we did an extremely good job if I do say so myself.

Went up to school during the day to sort out my registration status. Seems I should be OK for exams. Paid the balance on my fees and I'm good to go. Will pick up my exam card on Friday.

Last night was my last in the week class for the semester. Need to get the research info for my final paper.

Well it seems as if the ridiculous assignment that I was given to do at work has come to an end. Good ridance is my only comment. That company that they employed to conduct the final steps should be black listed. They are taking money under false pretences. All the work has been done in house and all they need to do is just present what we have provided them. I don't think they will even change a sentence.

The Tall One seems to be settling. I think he is still worried about his upcoming exams but it appears from a meeting that I had at his school this week that the majority of his grade are having similar problems. He is from all indications trying to make an effort following his discussions with the counsellor. He likes talking with her so he seems to try to do whatever they agree on. I'm kinda just watching to see where it goes. At least he doesn't look like the world is on his shoulders.

Spanish Town in the news again. Whooopppeeeee!!!!! I ain't goin there this morning.

The by elections to fill the seat left by Mr. Seaga is being held today. It is expected that Mr. Golding will win by a landslide. The PNP representative has a chance that is worse than a snowball's chance in hell of winning but hey politics is a funny game.

Before I leave, funerals are the thing of this year. Can't win. Wifey's uncle died on Sunday. I think his body just said "It's time" because it started out with a heart attack and turned into liver and kidney failure so..... One of my co-worker's father also passed away on Friday. He had ost his mother recently and now his father. As a matter of fact his mother's funeral was listed in the number that I had to attend since the start of the year. Keep them in prayers please if you are so inclined.

I won't be in office tomorrow. It is that time of year again when my job takes me to the other side of the island to interview at the university in Mandeville. We go down annually to look for prospective recruits. I'm kinda skeptical this year because of what we have seen with their programme but we'll see. I'm going with an open mind. A part of the problem that we have had in the past is that the students all seem to be inculcated with the theory that they are at a disadvantage because the school is run by a certain religion. They need to realize that what puts them at a disadvantage is not their religion but the negativism that their perceived disadvantage creates. They would do much better interviews if they came in seeing themselves as equals. We tend to portray what we think of ourselves even without realizing it. Human nature.

Anyways I think I've chatted enough for the morning.

Later all. Have a great day. See you all Friday.

Friday at Last

Well I am just saying "Hi" this morning cuz I really haven't had the time to think about anything that is worth posting this morning. I have been up since the wee hours of the morning working on an assignment that is due shortly. It's group project and I have not seen any of the other parts from my group members. Anyway I gave them until lunch time today to hand it to me so I wait. I am really exhausted so You will have to forgive me if I ramble and cut this really short. Last night I caught pieces of the news and I had to laugh. I mentioned the curfew in Spanish Town in yesterday's post. Well apparently JPS decided to use the opportunity of the police protection to disconnect a lot of illegal connections to the power grid. This lady was on public media complaining that they turned off her light and she doesn't know how she is going to go about her business and how the company wicked. Now the connection was illegal to begin with so what is your beef. What made it worse was that the lady said she was not in a position to get a legal connection because the JPS will not connect power to captured land. I was like "WHAT????" Basically, my girl not paying for anything. She lives on land illegally, gets light illegally and I'm positive that she gets water illegally too because NWC has similar policies to JPS. I think the main problem with things in this country is that quite a large portion of the population seems to feel that the government and everybody else owes them a living, free of cost. I do agree that things are hard work wise and financially but regardless of that fact you are not owed anything. We need to get real. I won't get into the other issue which is that the government(s) have caused this problem by how they have run things and how they have manipulated the people for votes but that is another blog. Have a great weekend guys.

The Morning After

Hey guys, Just a quick howdy this morning. With the changing of age I was reminded yesterday that my drivers permit expired on my birthday so today I take my 3rd trip to the tax office to have it renewed. I don't figure the police will be too hard if I get stopped for anything but I don't like the idea of it not being up-to-date, especially with so mant fools on wheels out there. The insurance companies are just looking for ways to deny claims. Seems that the police have stepped up efforts in some Spanish Town communities to quell the violence going on there. Now they have instituted a lockdown of the area so as to search and restrict movement of anything or anyone. It sound a little drastic to me especially seeing the cordoning methods...razor wire. Then again drastic measures for drastic times. It could be worse. There have been outcry about excessive measures but then one could argue that there is really no other way to address the issues because the police are certainly not getting any help from within the areas affected so they do what they have to do. The main complaints are from people who claim that they cannot move about as they wish and "...don't want police in the area!" and I ask the question why? These are the same folks who complain that they are not getting any assistance from the police and can't go about their business because of violence. My view is Make up your mind people. Which is the better of two evils. Personally I would prefer the police presence and at the end of the day I can live with a bit more peace of mind when they have left the area. I have not heard of any claims of brutality so........then again you don't hear everything. It raned again yesterday...yaaaayyyyy!!!!!!!!! Labour Day is around the corner. Seems that Hurricane Ivan has opened a few eyes. The focus will be to recover faster from natural disaster. The thrust is towards keeping the environment in such a way so as not to promote the effects of a natural disaster. It is something that I have always wonered. 1stly why do people think that the gully is a appropriate garbage disposal system, 2ndly why throw the garbage in the gully and then quarrel that the government not keeping it clean and finally why wait until a hurricane is on top of us to try and clean every gully in the island at a moments notice. People are such strange creatures. It is unfortunate that the people who always get affected by the wanton acts of others are those not involved. The reality is that the garbage is going to wash somewhere down the systen until it joins up with other garbage and can't move anymore and it is the persons down stream that will be flooded out. Oh boy!!!...Life. Anyway no more chatter and garbage from me :) . Later all.

Today is......

Hey all, Let me start by first saying "Happy Birthday to me, Happy Birthday to me, Happy Birthday dear Scratchie, Happy Birthday to me." Yes folks, today I attain the wonderful age of 40. A milestone if there ever was one. A nuff years to deh bout yuh nuh. Today has been mostly uneventful so far so I'm cool with that. Got a call from my mom and a gift. My uncle from farrin (foreign) sent me a card and a juice money :-). He always seems to have a knack for remembering these things. I don't know if I had mentioned it before but I decided to take the Tall One (at his request) to a counsellor to see if it would get him to see things and life a little differently. The first session was last night. All seems to have gone pretty well since she was actually able to get him to speak for quite a long time I might add. He tends to be on the very quiet side so that in itself is an accomplishment. She has scheduled another session for next week and he seems eager to go so we'll see how that goes in time. School is school so I won't go there today. Had the chance to sit at my window at work yesterday and watch them filming segments of a music video with Capleton. What always amazes me is that these artistes who claim to be so for the African and Rastafarian culture always seem to use the young flighty flighty light skinned girls in their videos. I would have thought that they would have gone for persons closer to their "ideal". if yuh get mi drift. It would appear that even in the black culture and the culturest of culture the preference is still towards the "high" coloured girls....brownings if you rather with the token "African Princess" thrown in for good measure. Maybe I'm wrong but I can only tell you what I see and think. Anyway no long post this morning just a bit of chatter from me. Oh yeah, we finally got some well needed rain over the last 2 days. FANTASTIC!!!!!! The place is so much cooler and I actually saw blades of grass shooting up already. It facinates me that I could water the grass till hell freezes over and nothing and one shower of rain and the place turns green. Unfair!!!! We want justice!!! Roooight, better mi save the water bill and just wait on nature...nuh true? Later guys.

Monday Report

Hey all, Today was just one of those days. We were having some issues with our ISP this morning so I was not able to do any posting today. Probably a good thing because the amount of stuff I had to do today it was unbelievable. I came in and realized that I had to do a report run that should have been done on Friday but the system didn't complete the run although it was sent. My boss asked me to assist with a document she needed for today and since I need time off from time to time it was probably not in my best interest to take a hard line so I helped out. It involved more correcting than new work so it went fairly easily. Exam pressure officially has begun. Exam cards are being issued effective 11th April so exams are right around the corner. idling has got to stop. We made some headway on our final presentation so I feel pretty good about that as well. We have to do a small production but we aren't bothered by it. Everybody actually seems to be quite excited about getting it done. Hope the teacher thinks it is a good attempt. Tonight I am assisting the Short One with her project so mine is on hold. She did a lot of work on it so she asked me to help her tidy it up. I'm impressed on what she has done. The work is reflective of a level way above what a 13 year old would usually do but that's how she does her stuff. She thinks beyond the questions. We hada little rain today at work and God knows we needed it. The place is so brown and dry. Yuck!!!. I am afraid of bush fires even here at home. Water restrictions are now in place and we are without water from about 10p.m. Doesn't really bother me until I need to flush and then it is a problem. Hopefully it will soon be over. The Weather Channel predicts a harder season than last year so Sunshine I think it is time for you and the other Florida dwellers to start moving cuz I don't think you can handle a worse year than last year. One cartoon had Florida moved up into the Great Lakes. I think that might be a good idea. IO'm pretty much exhausted and I have been having a headache since this morning. I think it may have something to do with the gallon of orange juice I drank last night to starve off the heat. I'll switch to good old crystal punch tonight. anyway this is just an inbetween printing post so I'm gone again. Tomorrow will be ruff as well and I'm still not sure the ISP is back to normal so consider this a tonight and tomorrow check in and take care of you.

April 1, 2005

Not a really significant day at all. I'm just feeling kinda low today and I figure the no direction of this post will show it. Before I forget, my day is fast approaching. Can you imagine that on 6 April I will be the big 40. I don't feel any older than when I was twenty. I do feel fatter :) which is agiven. Who knows maybe over the next few days I will feel the effects of the age change. 5 days is a long time when you come to think of it. I came up in the elevator with several persons this morning. It struck me that we respond so differently to the men and women that we encounter on our trip up in the mornings. When the ladies are exiting it's alwayys something to the effecy "Bye Jane, have a nice day." with so much expression and feeling. To the men however it's something like "Easy nuh John" or "Later". What happen? Men don't need to have good days too? It's just that male thing that shows itself , call it the ego thing or the stereotype response. Carnival is supposed to be this weekend but it really seems low-keyed this year. Normally the buzz would be around the various activities and parties but not much of that at all. I guess everybody is being affected by the troubles whether financial or violence or sickness. Speaking of illness, well it would appear as if the Catholic Church is about to go through another transition. Pope John Paul II appears to be on death's door as he weakens daily. The Vatican appears to have gone into preparation mode. The usual idea is to downplay the severity of the situation so we are in a "wait and see" mode. This Pope has been one of the most widely travelled leaders in the churches history. He took an interest in what was happening to the church worldwide and had a particular interest in the youth. There was a large convention of youth in Canada a few years ago and he was there. I think however that his work is now at an end and he can rest after a job that has been well done. His job could not be easywith 63 million Catholics in the US alone. I wonder who will succeed him. Time will tell. Anyways I was just saying "Hi" and telling you all to have a great weekend.

Rest in Peace

Terri Schiavo died this morning after numerous appeals by her family and all sorts of other battles between her "husband" and her family. It grieves my heart to think that we can treat a human life in this fashion and it is sanctioned by the law. There have been many discussions about the real reason why her "husband" wanted her dead (including discussions about financial gains). Whatever the reason, it is just not right. I think we have sunken to a new low as human beings when we can televise the cruel starvation of another person over a two week period. The question I ask is, since Mr. Schiavo no longer wanted to be married to this woman why not divorce her and turn her over to her parents and family who seemed willing to care for her. I think we have treated her worse than what I've seen officials in that same country arresting people for because they have treated their dogs poorly. I have nothing more to say other than Rest in Peace. Time and God will judge in due course.

Yes!!!!!!

Nothing much to say today. I'm bigging up myself. I got back the art critique I did about a week ago and I am proud to say that my teacher has graded me a 9.5 out of 10. The grade wasn't so much what was elevating but rather her comments. She said basically for someone who keeps saying that they dislike art she was throughly impressed by my critique and that I should check inside myself again. She say "You've got it all right". We can now get going with our final two pieces which are both due week after next. I'm sure we'll do well though simply because the group is relatively focused and it's a small group so there is no room to slack off and hide behind others. Today has been pretty good so far. Blogger is messing with us again but I decided not to worry myself about it. Whatever. Have a great day or what's left of it anyway.

Holiday Recovery

Good morning guys. Contrary to Dr.D.'s last comment I am quite fine. I decided that I was going to take it easy over the weekend so very little of anything went on including blogging. I checked a few sites and dropped one or two comments but for the most part I was just chilling. Carried the Short One (soon have to stop calling her that cuz she is catching up her mother) to Good Friday Service at her request. The Tall One came along with us. It was good and the pastor made sure that it was at their level so they could understand. What our church does is have a children/teen service and an adult service. Wifey went to the later service. We spent the rest of the evening with family up in the Stony Hill back bush. The feloowship was good. Some friends dropped by up there and we were chatting and eating steamed and roast fish till hours. Saturday was a home day. just went and paid two bills and went back home. One of those was an ISP bill so I was without regular service for most of the weekend. I have an alternate provider but it too expensive for regular usage. That only use when it critical to life if yu understand mi. Nah not that bad but it's really costly so I only use when necessary. Sunday was Easter church and that was cool too. Pastor' sencouragement was for us to live our daily lives so that we can truly live our church lives. They should be one and the same. He spoke about carnival. He said there was nothing inherently wrong with carnival but rather something was wrong when if you can't do in church what you do out there on the road. Don't knock the event, knock the happenings. That kept a few people quiet. Spent the rest of the afternoon chilling out by Hellshire and sampling some serious fried fish and eye candy. My only real conclusion for the afternoon is that white girls without booty should be banned from wearing thong bikinis. Let me not expound any further. I'll leave your imagination to do the rest. The place was not crowded and it was quite relaxing with the friends milling around and the ramping and chatting going on. Yesterday was home and bed. Didn't even start the car. You will also notice that nowhere in all of this did I mention schoolwork so you know how that go. I just needed a break. Today now the hum drum of normally returns to my life so I'm off to do the corporation's work. They pay me to do that although I can more equate it to them giving me stipend at the end of each month cuz it just barely paying the bills...or is it? Anyway, I hope you are all still in the best of health and spirits (no doc and MB not that kind of spirit). So till I can find something else to chat bout later...I gone.

Holiday Eve

Hi all friends and fans and family. Today is known as Holy Thursday in church circles. It is celebrated in some churches as the Last Supper. Remember the famous painting by Mikey. Well today is the eve of the holidays for us in Jamaica. The season of bun and cheese if you will. The tradition here in Jamaica is for bun and cheese to be eating replacing many standard meals. Meat is replaced by fish on Good Friday (tomorrow). As a result, try as you might if you are able to purchase fish between today and Saturday you are one lucky smaddy (somebody/person). It is usualy scarce and expensive. Good old econ...few goods high demand = higher price. Tomorrow and Monday are Public holidays so we get a four day weekend. :) So in case I don't see you again until Tuesday...let me wish you A Holy, Peaceful and Happy Easter to you and your families. Peace to you all.

Post # 2 for Today...Humour

There is a factory in Northern Minnesota which makes the Tickle Me Elmo toys. The toy laughs when you tickle it under the arm. Well, Lena was hired at The Tickle Me Elmo factory and she reports for her first day promptly at 8:00am. The next day at 8:45 there is a knock at the Personnel Manager's door. The Foreman from the assembly line throws open the door and begins to rant about the new employee. He complains that she is incredibly slow and the whole line is backing up, putting the entire production line behind schedule. The Personnel Manager decides he should see this for himself so he 2 men march down to the factory floor. When they get there the line is so backed up that there are Tickle Me Elmo's all over the factory floor and they're really beginning to pileup. At the end of the line stands Lena surrounded by mountains of Tickle Me Elmo's. She has a roll of plush red fabric and a huge bag of small marbles. The 2 men watch in amazement as she cuts a little piece of fabric, wraps it around two marbles and begins to carefully sew the little package between Elmo's legs. The Personnel Manager bursts into laughter. After several minutes of hysterics he pulls himself together and approaches Lena. "I'm sorry," he says to her, barely able to keep a straight face, "but I think you misunderstood the instructions I gave you yesterday........ "Your job is to give Elmo two test tickles".

Showing of Age

Well my computer is finally showing its age. I made her at the end of 2000 and have had relatively trouble free service from her. The only thing I can recall having to do was to reload her OS when some sinister prankster gave her the blaster virus. Other than that I have not changed any hardware components. Well on Sunday night when I tried to save my files that I was working on to a floppy it refused to do so giving me an error message. Thought it was a bad disk and grabbed another...same issue. OK then. Tried a new drive that i had bought for someone some time ago but never used..same thing. Changed the cable.....whoa....isn't there supposed to be one empty space in the pin array....wtf am I seeing 2? Check the cable and wallah the missing pin. To cut a long story short I need a new motherboard. There begins the real issue. I can get boards to accomodate the processor but not the memory. Arrrrggghhh!!! The memory types have changed so rapidly over the past 3 years that mine was in vogue then and outdated now. So unless I can find an older type board or get somebody to do some really creative soldering, I need not only a board but memory modules and processor (although I can find a new board to take the processor since it is fairly up to date) as well. Start saving Scratchie, cuz memory not really cheap right now. Found a different solution for the time being though....enter USB...heh heh heh. Can you say external floppy. Well sometimes progress can be a good thing although not often seen right away. Over the past couple of years many of the computer suppliers have stopped selling the laptops with floppy drives and have instead outfitted them with CD burners. To starve off some of the complaints, and external floppy drive is easily available especially in markets like ours where floppy disks are still used heavily especially by students. Here lies my el cheapo way out...I just got an external floppy drive and turned off the onboard port for the one that is playing the a$$ plugged in to the USB port and I'm good to go. A little on the untidy side but hey it works. I'll just need to buy some stuff sooner than later. So my current wish list stands at: New ATX motherboard for Athlon processors (preferrably an Athlon-64) New processor (AMD all the way) New memory modules (whatever fits the board - 1Gb I guess..OK i'll stay at 512MB if I must) I'll reuse my other stuff. The only thing missing is a DVD burner and since I haven't missed having one I don't think I'll start now. Luckily I paid for multiple reinstalls of my software so that shouldn't be an issue either. What caused the pin to break though? Your guess is as good as mine. Maybe just vibration from the fans. I won't complain, 4 1/2 years trouble free service from bulk parts is good in today's tech world. Maybe I'll change boards. I've been using Biostars for a while. Maybe time for an Asus or a Soyo. I like the specs on the Soyo (all the specs except the price that is). Don't know if they make one for the new Athlons though. Whatever but I know it's gonna cost me a bit so I'm starting to save now. Besides I expect a contribution from each of you.. my account number is 0.............. the Bank of.............. Forget that I'll take cash instead. Send it cybermail. Sorry for the compi post you non tech people but sometimes I just gotta go off on a tangent. It keeps me sane. Later all.

Poking fun at the Irish

Hi y'all. Top o'di morning to y'all. Just thought I'd drop some smiles this morning. Smile even if you've heard them before. Top o' the Morning to you! Happy St. Patrick's Day! McQuillan walked into a bar and ordered martini after martini, each time removing the olives and placing them in a jar. When the jar was filled with olives and all the drinks consumed, the Irishman started to leave. "S'cuse me", said a customer, who was puzzled over what McQuillan had done, "what was that all about?" "Nothin', said the Irishman, "my wife just sent me out for a jar of olives!" "Water to Wine" An Irish priest is driving down to New York and gets stopped for speeding in Connecticut. The state trooper smells alcohol on the priest's breath and then sees an empty wine bottle on the floor of the car. He says, "Sir, have you been drinking?" "Just water," says the priest. The trooper says, "Then why do I smell wine?" The priest looks at the bottle and says, "Good Lord! He's done it again!" "The Brothel" Two Irishmen were sitting at a pub having beer and watching the brothel across the street. They saw a Baptist minister walk into the brothel, and one of them said, "Aye, 'tis a shame to see a man of the cloth goin' bad." Then they saw a rabbi enter the brothel, and the other Irishman said, "Aye, 'tis a shame to see that the Jews are fallin' victim to temptation as well." Then they see a catholic priest enter the brothel, and one of the Irishmen said, "What a terrible pity...one of the girls must be dying. Irish Cemetery Three Irishmen, Paddy, Sean and Seamus, were stumbling home from the pub late one night and found themselves on the road which led past the old graveyard.. "Come have a look over here," says Paddy, "It's Michael O'Grady's grave, God bless his soul. He lived to the ripe old age of 87." "That's nothing," says Sean, "here's one named Patrick O'Toole, it says here that he was 95 when he died."! Just then, Seamus yells out, "Good God, here's a fella that got to be 145!" "What was his name?" asks Paddy. Seamus stumbles around a bit, awkwardly lights a match to see what else is written on the stone marker, and exclaims, "Miles, from Dublin." Irish Predicament Drunk Ole Mulvihill (From the Northern Irish Clan) staggers into a Catholic Church, enters a confessional box, sits down but says nothing. The Priest coughs a few times to get his attention but the Ole just sits there. Finally, the Priest pounds three times on the wall. The drunk mumbles, "ain't no use knockin, there's no paper on this side either." That's five for the price of one. Later guys.

Monday Blues

It seems that Mondays are becoming my worst days. Maybe it's because I'm so damned tired after the ups and downs of the weekends. Well I can safely say 2 down and 3 to go after Saturday. We handed in the major project for one course and had the mid semester test for another. It made for a rather interesting morning. No rest for the wicked they say. Well Friday night was a no sleep night for me. My group left my house at about 10:30 and I continued to tidy up the project until about 1:00a.m. Saturday morning. Since we were having the test on Saturday morning as well guess who was up reading till it was time to leave for school. Trust mi...tired is not the way you want to do a test. I can't remember half of what I wrote and in all honesty, it may have been better if I had just gone to sleep because it was in through the eyes and out through some other orfice. Anyway the results will tell. We were not able to make our presentation as the tutor had to leave on an emergency. The rest of the day kinda just went. Yesterday I got up after having gotten much needed rest and went to church. The pastor was not his usual bubbly self and it showed in his sermon. He spoke about his call to the ministry and the fact that we as humans have an inherent habit of destruction. He recounts that when he announced his calling to service how the parishioners were elated at the idea. He said that these same parishioners would eventually turn around and lick him with some big stones. He said we must strive to temper our actions and try to ensure that we stay far from the gossip and malicious destruction of others by what we say and do. He spoke about the violence plaguing Jamaica and pleaded with us not to sit back and watch as it would eventually erode the very fabric of the island. He said that blocking out a community and declaring that it doesn't happen in our neck of the woods is not the answer. he told a story about a friend of his ( a person of means who said she was going home to her "ghetto". He asked her why she called it that and she told him that yes it was a gated community but in the same way we close our gates to keep other out it wsa the same way that the inner city behaved. The difference wsa that one was a gate the other used stones. The fact is that the majority of persons in garrison communities are there as victims of circumstances and were inherently good. The handful of criminals are the ones giving communities a hard time. Personally I think we have the power to change our nation. These criminals all have friends and family but until the mother and wives and girlfriends stop washing the blood soaked shirts and pants and say that it must stop we will continue to have issues. These guys are not operating in isolation. Yes there is the factor of fear but I think for the most part it goes beyond that. At what point does that cute baby that you bore stop being your cute baby. How many people does he/she have to kill before we understand that our nation becomes worse and worse as the retaliation and mayhem spreads further from our door steps. Thesecriminals are known to others and I dare to say that they are known to others who do not share their belief that human life is sold for the price of a tin of sausages. Reality is that that is exactly what some of these guys get to carry out their evil. Last week an eighteen year old girl was killed for a lousy cell phone. something that will be out of style in maybe 6 months if you are lucky. It needs to stop. I struggle regularly with my christian beliefs and my personal conviction that the scourge of vioence needs to be wiped out with immediate effect by whatever means possible. It sounds strange that one must be violent to eliminate violence but honestly I can't see ant other way. Lawlessness has taken over. It starts at home and until the mothers and fathers take responsibility for their children's upbringing there is no better to get. In my childhood, you strayed from the acceptable path and you got your ass whipped. Today our psychologist will tell you how damaging it is to the child's self esteem to be punished by belt. I treat them with the same disdain that I treat doctors who advocate these extreme diets and then a few years later tell you how damaging having too much of the same thing they advocated a few years before is. I'm getting into some real hot waters here so let me stop before I get myself into serious trouble. Later guys.

Hi all, This is a busy week for me so it's in and out for today. I have three projects due and a test on Saturday so all hell is here. It done bruk loose long time. Well I got back my grades for my short story that I posted about 2 weeks ago. I am pleased with myself. My first real effort at writing like this and I got my 9/10 (90%). yeaaaay to me. The other piece that I need to give in was due last night. I submitted a draft and was given some feedback on how to improve it. Well I have until Tuesday to give in the final paper. We'll see if I can do any better than the draft. At the same time we are working on another piece and a major project so I am swamped. The Portmore people are really getting into their thing with the causeway issue. I wish them all the best. The dog is back home after a two night stint at the vet. She is not a happy camper but she will live. This 3:00a.m. school work thing and me not working at all but it has to be done. We celebrated mom's birthday with a couple of cakes and some serious Chinese food. She loved it, plus her 2 sisters who still live in Jamaica came over so she was in seventh heaven. Students blocked the gates last friday to protest the non receipt of last semesters grades, the new computerized system and some other stuff. I'm an evening student so I wasn't their. I agree with them though. The university is too slack. I passed all my last semester courses. The one I was fretting about ended up to be my best grade. Weird. My GPA fell a little but I'm not worried. Anyway enough from me today. I'll try chat with you guys later. Enjoy the day.

Sex

Don't where this topic will go this morning but hey.... Let me start by before I get into my topic, wish Mom of Scratchie a Happy Birthday!!! She is 68 today. Hope she is around to see many more. The weekend was kinda ruff but I survived even got in a bit of web surfing on Saturday so it couldn't be that bad. The only abnormality was that I had to take one of the dogs to the vet yesterday and they have kept her to do surgery this morning. She has an ifection which has necessitated that she be sterilized. No puppies from her sorry to say. It is unfortunate because she was the one we were hoping to make some extra cash from as she is a Doberman/Rottweiler mix. Anyway is so things go sometimes. Tall One is worried about her (she is his pet). Anyway gone a bit off topic this morning. last week I was invited to a chatroom by a friend. Didn't know what it was all about so I thought I'd give it a try. Signed up and sat in the wings for a while just sitting in the corner. I said my hail ups and ting an ting and then just stopped writing. I can tell you that I'm getting old. The conversation moved from cars to house to weightwatching to wanting more butt and less breast and more breast and less butt and then somewhere in there it got really sexual almost to the point of gross. It was on the point of cyber orgy. I don't mind a flirty conversation but these guys might as well have been in the bedroom. I quietly made my exit. We have become such a sexually focused people. I guess we are all turned on or off by different things. I personally prefer to have a lady dressed in something sexy that leaves a bit to the imagination rather than standing in front of me butt naked. Maybe that's why I don't seem to gravitate towards these x-rated films. Too base. There should be some finesse to sex. Last week I heard an advert for a promotion. The promoters called it "Sinful Desires" and the prompts left very little to the imagination. The music videos that are aired need to be rated "X" in some cases. I know MB and the other have a thing for this lady. Roselyn Sanchez. I was up watching TV this morning and a rerun of Boat Trip came on. I've seen it before but I just love looking at this young lady. Can't big up her acting too much but she has this thing about her that just draws me to watch her movies. Her smile is captivating her figure well now.....she is a beauty. Strange thing is I can't remember seeing a nude shot throughout the movie and yet it was such a sexy presentation on her part. The hint of breast through sheer material and the swimsuits. In other words you really don't need to be butt naked to be sexy. Here is another for Doc. People get turned on by different things and we are sexual beings. Some persons like to see uniforms, feet, hands, swimwear etc. the list is endless. And yes some people like naked. That works sometimes but it gets tiring. I like to be teased a bit...curvy figures through material, a hint of a thong above the waist band. I guess the male in me. What floats your boat? Later guys.

Friday Again

Yowa yow!! Language and expressions are a heck of a thing aren't they. I'm certain that there are expressions that are unique to each culture and to each generation as well. When I was in high school many years ago the standard greeting was what I opened with. Shouts of yow could be heard right across the campus. When you leaving it was "mi ah go step zeen." When you heard a nother man tell ou that "Mi ah go work pon one project", though it conjures up thoughts of an diligent school worker slaving over an assignment nothing was further from that. In fact it meant that he was going to chat up some girl or the other. Women were likened to some animal namely a "chick" or a "beef". This evolved to them being inanimate object being referred to as a "ting". No not the soft drink we love so dearly in Jamaica. In my school days you knew exactly what a "batty man" was and it was not someone who looked at women's buttocks. Now a days they are referred to as chi chi man having been called "a mens" before that. See language evolving. I am still yet to figure out what is a "yush" but I'm sure at some point down the road Fyr will enlighten me :) . A girl's man has become "gallis" having been a "shotta" at one time until the term became exactly what it sounded like...someone who fired guns. My culture in my high school days was intolerant of alternate lifestyles (politically correct phrasing I think). I remember the unanswerable question "If you heard that they were beating battymen in Cross Roads what would you do?" Unanswerable because if you said you would go there, then it was assumed that you were going for your beating. If you said you would not go then you were afraid you would get your beating. See how boy pickney idle? I remember having a discussion with a young teenage girl at some meeting or the other and her response was "Bwoy, Scratchie, yuh a sample yuh nuh!" I pondered for days over what a sample meant to her. I eventually asked my son who advised that it was a good thing. It mean that I understood them, spoke their language (which I obviously didn't) and she could relate to me. Meaning I was an example. My son met his friend recently and he called out to him "Waddup dawg?" His friend responded "woof woof". I looked for a brief moment to see if Angry Dog was around but then I remembered that he goes "arf arf". Kami in her recent post spoke about the various fruits from the islands and the various names that each has in the different territories. I'm curious about the sayings in your country. Do you stay up to date with teenage talk? Anyways enough chat on senseless idle topics. Enjoy your weekends all.

Ramblings

Hi All, Just hailing you all up since I really haven't had the time to think through my posting. The week has started quietly and I'm hoping that it continues that way for the week. I missed school on Saturday. I was exhausted and then wifey announced that she had stuff to deal with so I ended up doing the domestic stuff. It was a well needed break though. Seems that all the excitement goes on when I'm not there. I told you all about the test I had done the week before, well it seems that there is a concern that the test was received by some students beforehand. I don't know what the decision will be but I hope I don't have to do that stupid thing again. One set of torture is enough. I should be at class this evening but we are supposed to visit the National Gallery on Thursday. This will take the place of our usual class. I'm kinda looking forward to it. Wifey is encouraging me to approach it with open eyes. Her grandfather was a noted artist and sculptor and has several pieces on display in the gallery. We still have one piece at home but most of the others are either in private collections or in permanent display at the Gallery. They are worth quite a bit I'm told....and therefore? This death by cancer has become really a worrying point for me. Yet another young lady who used to be my co-worker has died. I saw her photo in the papers and was told that she was a cancer victim. Sad. I have had to attend 4 funerals since the start of this year with another pending tomorrow. The young lady and I were not close so I'll b spared the agony of attending another. Wuld it be horrible for me to say that I wish not to attend any more funerals until my own? That's how I feel. A friend of mine once said that you know when you are getting old because you start attending less and less weddings and more and more funerals. Seems he had a point. More assignments are due so you will be seeing only shadows of me for a while. my addiction to you guys won't allow me to stay away but I can't kick it cold turkey so you'll see me araound from time to time for the next week or two. Anyway, gone about my employer's business. Later all.

Nothing better to do

TGIF

It's Friday folks and a day I welcome with open arms. I'm exhausted from a pretty hectic week but is so things go sometimes. I know i have a full day tomorrow but I hope to get in some rest time on Sunday. I got in a bit late today so I can't stop to chat this morning. My main purpose is to wish Sunshine a Happy Birthday! Do enjoy your special day. Rumour has it that she's still 35. I won't try to prove or dispute that. You are as young as you want to be. I'm still 25. I've gotta go do the corporation work so we'll chat more later. If I find something interesting I'll post it. Otherwise have a great weekend. Don't over do it now.

This Photo is of the Rose Hall Great House. The house is located about 6 miles from Montego Bay, Jamaica. This magnificent structure was built/rebuilt/restored somewhere in the mid 1700's to mid 1800's. It was owned by the then Custos of St. Thomas John Palmer. It is entwined in stories of witchcraft, sexual exploits and murder and is a popular destination for tourists local and foreign.

Little is known of the early days of Rose Hall Great House but it's story changes with the occupancy of the house by John and his new wife Annie whose marriage is listed in 1820. It is said that Annie was bored and "tortured" with her life in Jamaica, having been accustomed to the fast life in France. She was known as a hard slave owner and puts her at the instigator of many public beatings for slaves who disobeyed her.

It is said that she became involved in witchcraft and often sought the pleasures of young slaves on the plantation who she would toy with for a while and then disposed of them. Any slave she chose could safely assume that his days were numbered. She was said to have murdered John and her two subsequent husbands at the house along with several slaves who she desired. The lawless times prevented any action against her by the authorities.

Annie was said to have been killed by her own plantation overseer when she proportedly killed his intended son in law. He determined that the madness must stop. Her body was buried in a special grave on the plantation but folklore has it that the grave was not properly built and because of her involvement in witchcraft her ghost was able to escape the grave site. It is said that her ghost still roams the Great House.

Fact or Fiction? Your guess is as good as mine.

Have a great day all.  

Idle Time

Good morning all, I just decided to get a little idle this morning. Had to do the legal thing yesterday at the Tax man's abode. Stood 2 hours in line at the Tax Office to get the car licenced. Paid out $2000.00 of hard earned money just so that Babylon don't hold down black man. Imperialism at its best. When I reached the cashier he says, and I quote "Yuh know yuh coulda leave it till month end becuz yuh get 1 month grace". At that point mi coulda lick im dung. Apparently it expired at the end of February and not January as I had thought. Never even looked at the disc I just took wifey's word that the grace period had expired. Anyways, at least I won't have to worry about it again until August. Standing in line for 2 hours not really that nice though. My plants are doing well. I had three flowers this morning. Place looks better yuh see. Class last night was quite.....hmmmmm errrr how do we say this now?....different. We had an art exhibition. The head of the Art Centre on campus brought some art works and was educating us on how to identify media and category and provide description on paintings. She was certainly enthusiastic about her art. My awareness and appreciation is growing. Can't promise you that I'll go out and buy any anytime soon...I ain't that converted. Here is a bit of idleness for you today: A married couple was on holiday in Jamaica. They were touring around the marketplace looking at the goods and such when they passed this small sandal shop From inside they heard the shopkeeper with a Jamaican accent say, "You foreigners! Come in. Come into my humble shop!" So the couple walked in "I have some special sandals I think you would be interested in," the Jamaican said to them. "Dey make you wild at sex." Well, the wife was really interested in buying the sandals after what the man claimed, but her husband felt he really didn't need them, being the "sex god" that he was. "How could sandals make you into a sexfreak?" the husband asked the shopkeeper. "Just try dem on, Mon," the Jamaican replied. After some badgering from his wife, the man finally gave in and tried the sandals on. As soon as he slipped them onto his feet, he got this wild look in his eyes ... something his wife hadn't seen in years! In the blink of an eye, the husband grabbed the Jamaican, quickly bent him over a table, yanked down his pants, ripped down his own pants and grabbed a firm hold of the Jamaican's hips. At which point the Jamaican began screaming, "YOU GOT DEM ON DE WRONG FOOT, MON! YOU GOT DEM ON DE WRONG FOOT!"

The Donkey

Hi All, I'm not too bad today. Helped the Tall One a bit with another part of his assignment. There was a part that I couldn't figure out so we worked at it for a while and then decided that we needed additional reinforcements. He will ask about it today in class. Here is an interesting poem that I have heard many times. You may need to read it a few times to get it. THE DONKEY When fishes flew and forests walked And figs grew upon thorn, Some moment when the moon was blood Then surely I was born. With monstrous head and sickening cry And ears like errant wings, The devil's walking parody On all four-footed things. The tattered outlaw of the earth, Of ancient crooked will; Starve, scourge, deride me: I am dumb, I keep my secret still. Fools! For I also had my hour; One far fierce hour and sweet: There was a shout about my ears, And palms before my feet. Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874-1936) My paternal grandfather was a very learned but very humble person. I remembered him this morning and some of the things he used to say to us. Things we half the time thought he was just kidding around chatting nonsense. I found out, after many years of not realizing it, that he was actually a straight "A" student with the exception of one year when he was not in the top spot of his year due to him having sustained an injury that kept him out of classes for an extended period of time. I think that year he came second in his year. He continued to excel right through school even when he was forced to work and send himself to school due to lack of funds. He held his job, did his schooling and participated in cricket and football. He loved his garden and family and was always willing to help. I think I finally settled to my schooling after seeing his record. Intersting the things that drive you to do better. The item at the top was one of his favourites. I really don't know what he saw in it. Maybe it was what it said about his own life...I don't know. What I do know is that he spoke it often. Grandpa died almost 20 years ago but his memory lives on in those whose life he touched in his gentle way. I have fond memories of him and remember him through his quotes. Have a great day all.