Idling Post

Well since I had nothing better to do today I sat down and went through the list of stuff that was on Small Island Girl's blog and swiped it for posting here. I went to great pains to go through all 200 items and made them relevant to me.

The Bold ones are the ones that apply to me but I give you credit if you read them all.

01. Bought everyone in the pub a drink

02. Swam with wild dolphins

03. Climbed a mountain

04. Taken a Ferrari for a test drive does a BMW count?

05. Been inside the Great Pyramid

06. Held a tarantula.

07. Taken a candlelit bath with someone

08. Said "I love you"and meant it

09. Hugged a tree

10. Done a striptease

11. Bungee jumped

12. Visited Paris

13. Watched a lightning storm at sea

14. Stayed up all night long, and watch the sun rise

15. Seen the Northern Lights

16. Gone to a huge sports game

17. Walked the stairs to the top of the leaning Tower of Pisa

18. Grown and eaten your own vegetables

19. Touched an iceberg

20. Slept under the stars

21. Changed a babys diaper

22. Taken a trip in a hot air balloon

23. Watched a meteor shower

24. Gotten drunk on champagne for sure!

25. Given more than you can afford to charity but it always worked out

26. Looked up at the night sky through a telescope

27. Had an uncontrollable giggling fit at the worst possible moment

28. Had a food fight

29. Bet on a winning horse

30. Taken a sick day when youre not ill hell yeah

31. Asked out a stranger

32. Had a snowball fight

33. Photocopied your bottom on the office photocopier my breast hehehe

34. Screamed as loudly as you possibly can

35. Held a lamb Does a Rabbit count?

36. Enacted a favorite fantasy

37. Taken a midnight skinny dip

38. Taken an ice cold bath

39. Had a meaningful conversation with a beggar

40. Seen a total eclipse

41. Ridden a roller coaster

42. Hit a home run

43. Fit three weeks miraculously into three days

44. Danced like a fool and not cared who was looking

45. Adopted an accent for an entire day

46. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors

47. Actually felt happy about your life, even for just a moment

48. Had two hard drives for your computer (Still do and always will)

49. Visited all 50 states

50. Loved your job for all accounts

51. Taken care of someone who was shit faced

52. Had enough money to be truly satisfied

53. Had amazing friends

54. Danced with a stranger in a foreign country

55. Watched wild whales

56. Stolen a sign

57. Backpacked in Europe

58. Taken a road-trip

59. Rock climbing

60. Lied to foreign governments official in that country to avoid notice

61. Midnight walk on the beach

62. Sky diving

63. Visited Ireland

64. Been heartbroken longer than you were actually in love

65. In a restaurant, sat at a strangers table and had a meal with them

66. Visited Japan

67. Benchpressed your own weight

68. Milked a cow

69. Alphabetized your records

70. Pretended to be a superhero (the joys of childhood)

71. Sung karaoke

72. Lounged around in bed all day

73. Posed nude in front of strangers

74. Scuba diving

75. Got it on to "Lets Get It On" by Marvin Gaye

76. Kissed in the rain

77. Played in the mud

78. Played in the rain

79. Gone to a drive-in theater

80. Done something you should regret, but dont regret it

81. Visited the Great Wall of China

82. Discovered that someone whos not supposed to have known about your blog has discovered your blog

83. Dropped Windows in favor of something better

84. Started a business

85. Fallen in love and not had your heart broken

86. Toured ancient sites

87. Taken a martial arts class

88. Swordfought for the honor of a woman

89. Played D&D for more than 6 hours straight

90. Gotten married

91. Been in a movie

92. Crashed a party (which teenager hasn't?)

93. Loved someone you shouldnt have

94. Kissed someone so passionately it made them dizzy

95. Gotten divorced

96. Had sex at the office

97. Gone without food for 5 days

98. Made cookies from scratch (those things came out rock solid)

99. Won first prize in a costume contest

100. Ridden a gondola in Venice

101. Gotten a tattoo

102. Found that the texture of some materials can turn you on (Stockings babeeee!!!!)

103. Rafted the Snake River

104. Been on television news programs as an "expert"

105. Got flowers for no reason

106. Masturbated in a public place

107. Got so drunk you dont remember anything

108. Been addicted to some form of illegal drug

109. Performed on stage

110. Been to Las Vegas

111. Recorded music (part of my music ministry)

112. Eaten shark its a staple in Trinidad bake and shark

113. Removed - Im not telling that one [???]

114. Gone to Thailand

115. Seen Siouxsie live

116. Bought a house

117. Been in a combat zone Does Tivoli Gradens count?

118. Buried one/both of your parents

119. Removed - Not telling this one either [wtf??]

120. Been on a cruise ship (Just for a day)

121. Spoken more than one language fluently

122. Gotten into a fight while attempting to defend someone

123. Bounced a check

124. Performed in Rocky Horror

125. Read - and understood - your credit report

126. Raised children at the moment

127. Recently bought and played with a favorite childhood toy (ain't giving up my model cars for nothing)

128. Followed your favorite band/singer on tour

129. Created and named your own constellation of stars

130. Taken an exotic bicycle tour in a foreign country

131. Found out something significant that your ancestors did

132. Called or written your Congress person

133. Picked up and moved to another city to just start over

134. more than once? - More than thrice?

135. Walked the Golden Gate Bridge

136. Sang loudly in the car, and didnt stop when you knew someone was looking

137. Had an abortion or your female partner did

138. Had plastic surgery

139. Survived an accident that you shouldnt have survived

140. Wrote articles for a large publication

141. Lost over 100 pounds

142. Held someone while they were having a seizure

143. Piloted an airplane

144. Petted a stingray

145. Broken someones heart

146. Helped an animal give birth

147. Been fired or laid off from a job

148. Won money on a T.V. game show

149. Broken a bone

150. Killed a human being [pfft, whos gonna answer THAT?]

151. Gone on an African photo safari

152. Ridden a motorcycle

153. Driven any land vehicle at a speed of greater than 100mph

154. Had a body part of yours below the neck pierced

155. Fired a rifle, shotgun, or pistol

156. Eaten mushrooms that were gathered in the wild

157. Ridden a horse

158. Had major surgery emergency cesarian while asleep

159. Had sex on a moving train made out though

160. Had a snake as a pet

161. Hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon

162. Slept through an entire flight: takeoff, flight, and landing

163. Slept for more than 30 hours over the course of 48 hours

164. Visited more foreign countries than U.S. states (lived in the Bahamas for a while)

165. Visited all 7 continents

166. Taken a canoe trip that lasted more than 2 days

167. Eaten kangaroo meat

168. Fallen in love at an ancient Mayan burial ground

169. Been a sperm or egg donor

170. Eaten sushi

171. Had your picture in the newspaper Only my name a couple of times

172. Had 2 (or more) healthy romantic relationships for over a year in your lifetime

173. Changed someones mind about something you care deeply about

174. Gotten someone fired for their actions

175. Gone back to school

176. Parasailed

177. Changed your name

178. Petted a cockroach

179. Eaten fried green tomatoes

180. Read The Iliad

181. Selected one "important" author who you missed in school, and read

182. Dined in a restaurant and stolen silverware, plates, cups because your apartment needed them

183. ...and gotten 86'ed from the restaurant because you did it so many times, they figured out it was you

184. Taught yourself an art from scratch

185. Killed and prepared an animal for eating

186. Apologized to someone years after inflicting the hurt

187. Skipped all your school reunions

188. Communicated with someone without sharing a common spoken language

189. Been elected to public office

190. Written your own computer language

191. Thought to yourself that you're living your dream

192. Had to put someone you love into hospice care

193. Built your own PC from parts

194. Sold your own artwork to someone who didn;t know you

195. Had a booth at a street fair

196: Dyed your hair

197: Been a DJ

198: Found out someone was going to dump you via LiveJournal

199: Written your own role playing game

200: Been arrested

Today is....?

Well today is Wednesday. It also marks the last day of my vacation. So tomorrow morning bright and early I will rejoin the ranks of the working class. Can I tell you, I am not really thrilled about it at all.

My new supervisor is a "yes" person and is constantly kissing the director's ass. This puts lots of undue pressure on our unit as we are always assuming duties which should be assigned to more appropriate sections. What to do. All I do now is get a things to do pad and line them up and complete them as best I can. If they say that one is more critical than the other then I just simply shift that one around.

Well it looks like I cleared all my 3rd year courses. The one I was worried about has been passed so I am good to go.

Those of you who venture here will notice that I totally ignored the recent happenings in New Orleans as well as the demonstration last week here at home. This was not oversight. I have very strong views on demonstrations here at home. You see, in Jamaica, the hoi polloi have only been taught two things when the word demonstration is mentioned. Those are 1) get a poorly written placard and 2) block the road with burning debris. They don't know any other way. There is no such thing in their minds as a peaceful protest. As a result the outcome of that "peaceful" demonstration was mayhem disorder and violence. Don't get me wrong I don't disagree that there are issues nor am I pro-government but to set loose a set of uncontrollable mob on society is not the way to go. If that is what the JLP has in store for us as a nation then we are indeed doomed as a people. I think it is time that our political leaders desist from using the poor and outcast as pawns in their game and sit and devise policies and practices that will work to the benefit of Jamaica. I can honestly say that right now we have no leadership. What saddens me is that we also have no alternative since I see both parties doing not a damned thing to make our country any better. We are struggling for infrastructure and for the sake of political gain you set the citizens to burn tyres and destroy property productivity and the very infrastructure that we are trying so hard to maintain and may I add are already fighting a losing battle with. Is it me alone that thinks we just kinda gone mad somewhere in the middle there.

Personally I think the JLP should be held accountable for any expense that arose from the demonstration and I think the leadership should be charged with insighting riots and made to face the courts for their wanton disregard for the nations well being.

Anyways, enough from me. Take care all.

Monday

Well I'm down to the wire where leave is concerned. I go back to office on Thursday morning and believe me I am dreading it by the minute. The week end was quite uneventful. Doc celebrated his 42 birthday on Saturday and he shares birthday with my brother-in-law who also happens to be another classmate of mine from high school. We were to meet up for a round but plans never got going so....... I wasn't too unhappy as I had a bad headache on Saturday night and another function that I was to attend also got bunned. Sometimes the good Lord tells us to stay put for His reasons so I stayed home Saturday night and slept.

What the heck does all of this have to do with the photo I posted?...Not a damned thing. This young lady was on an interview this morning on one of those talk shows and I liked her so I searched for her photo and posted it. She is Eva Longoria. Some of you may have seen her from the remake of the tv series Dragnet and she is also on some daytime tv show or the other. She reminds me of Roselyn Sanchez. She did a pretty good interview. Nothing thought provoking or anything like that. Just well answered questions and well spoken. So I thought I would share her with you this morning.

The Tall One has his 1st official day of class at his new school this morning so I dropped him off at school. So far he seems to be looking forward to it. We'll see.

Anyways not much from me today. Gonna go catch a shut eye and then......... 

 

Well Here I am.....

Hi all, This is a long overdue post. I finally got hooked up to the DSL system so things are much faster and at a break even over my dial-up connection which I had discontinued a while back in anticipation of my new service. The service took over a month to get installed not for the sake of not trying but there was an issue with my phone line. Anyways , that was sorted out on Sunday.

Then this machine started to act up. I was able to get online earlier in the week and then just a series of errors and report requests. I think the kids have put too much of anything and everything on it. It has loads of space and boy are they using it. Things are now at a point where I think I may need to scrub it and create profiles for them and limit the space they have to do their stuff. The repair methods only seem to go so far and no more.

Well vacation is mostly been work. Home work but work none the less. The Tall One did 8 exams in June and passed them all. He has been enrolled at EXED Community College to further his studies. He is technically oriented and unfortunately most of the grade 12 programmes don't cater to his field of study so comm. college it is. For those who don't know community college is like a gap closer between high school and university. He wants to do construction technology which involved building, technical drawing engineering and other like areas of study. I am a little concerned about the location of the campus but sometimes we have to step out of our comfort zone I guess.

So I spent the last week getting all the stuff he needed together and getting uniforms and registering and........ In other words...no rest yet and only one week of vacation to go. Oh well.

I revamped the blog but I'm not sure I like the new colour scheme. I guess maybe I'm used to the black. We'll see. What do you guys think? Back to the black or stay with current or keep looking?

Well school restarted last week and it looks like it will be a good semester. I have actually started my specialization courses so all my courses this semester are related to my major and minor (Human Resource Management and International Business respectively). We'll see how that goes.

Anyway I gone do some blog reading. Later all.

Well I finally did it......

Sorry guys, I know I've been missing in action. I am on leave. I had to fight tooth and nail to get it but I got it. I will be out of office until the 15th of September. I am still awaiting my internet connection at home so posting and reading will be difficult. I borrowed a connection but it weeeellllllll slooooowwwwwwwwww!!!!!! It took almost 5 minute just to log in here. When I am finished I will see how long it takes to publish this.

Well school has resumed and the 1st week was pretty good. I have a new tutor for one subject and she is a looker. Really pleasant to torture yourselves by for the three hours that I will spend each week in her class. Lecturers like that makes classes worthwhile.. :) Seriously though this year begins my specialization years which means that all my courses are now specific to my final degree. So for the next 2 years I will now focus on Human Resource Management and International Business. No more Econ and Accounts...well not in any detail anyway.

Other than that nothing much to report. It is really good to be out of office though...the place starts to get to you after a while. I'll be in touch though and try not to miss me too much while I sit on the beaches of Hawaii and drink my pepsi.......roooooight there goes that imagination again. But I am at home for 2 weeks and enjoying it.

I will visit the blogs later when there are less people logged in cuz I am an impatient smaddy....this thing too slow.

Addendum: Well guys I am really sorry to have to inconvenience you all. You will notice that I have turned on Word Verification. I posted this thing 5 minutes ago and the spam started so I deleted them and added this thing but it takes a few seconds longer to comment. It was either this or sift through the tons of crap. And besides I don't think Kami, Camp, Small Island Girl, Dorna, Sunshine, Yamfoot or any of the other ladies needs advice on how to enlarge their penises so I think this makes for an easier life for all.

Busy Busy Busy.....................

The week past has been really hectic and I don't see that changing for a while. That explains my lack of posting. The other part is that I applied for High Spped internet service from Cable and Wireless and after waiting for 1 month I am still not hooked up despite the fact that they have been to the house twice. The technician says that there is only intermittent signal from the line hence the problem of installing. In anticipation of the install I had cancelled my regular dial up connection but from how things looking I may need to go pay the bill and reconnect.

I had mentioned that I would tell you all about my exam troubles well here goes..... The 1st 2 exams went extremely well and I expect good grades for them. The final exam however ended in disaster. The nigerian lecturer that I have written about decided that he was going to f@#^ us royally. He told us up to a week before the exam that the paper would take the form of objective type and multiple choice questions.....60 of them to be exact. On the afternoon of the exam, when the papers were being issued, he walks in and advises that the exam format had been changed and that we would be getting essay type questions and that it was all "our fault". The entire class, after nuff upraor, walked out of the exam room, resulting in a closure of the exam and several meetings with the Dean of the faculty. This lecturer had tried our patience long enough. His attitude throughout the semester and his teaching methodology, or lack of it thereof, had resulted in, all I can describeit as is, a nonsense course. It is a pity, since this course should be one that we can relate to on a personal basis, as we Caribbean nationals live this course daily. The lecturer is rude and, from all indications, has one purpose in mind...to mess up the students. I should truly hope that he is not an example of how "educated" Nigerians behave, or we are indeed in trouble as a people.

The exam was done at 5:00 p.m. with the understanding that the results would be void if there was hard evidence of cheating. Myself, being partially involved in the meetings, did the exams under severe duress and as such I hold little hope for good results. Honestly I was tired, upset, pissed is a better word and just plain old disoriented. Anyways I will wait and see. All I need is a pass and hopefully to put the dark side of that ass behind me.

Family is home. They arrived on Saturday and it is great to have them around again. Wifey looks rested and kids are good. Tall One got himself some pocket money and bought himself a phone so he is happy. Short One helped somebody to pack for house moving and she got some stuff and some money as well so they both were able to do a little shopping. Good for them.

We have been having some really bad lightning storms recently. On Sunday a bolt hit the utility pole in front of my sisters house in Stony Hill. It split the pole in 2 and sent splinters of wood flying some two or three houses down the road. A 6 foot piece of the pole landed between the 2 cars. Thankfully no damage to the vehicles. The pole is now significantly shorter and the surge damaged the fridge, the telephones and a battery charger. Luckily all the other stuff was plugged out at the time so no damge to the other items. Our weather patterns have really changed though. Last Wednesday I got caught in a lightning storm, no rain, just lots of lightning and thunder.

Other than that it's just lots of work and work and lots more work.

Anyway guys, we'll chat more later....take it easy.

Girl Attack

Strange title?....maybe not. In one of my lectures the other day, the whole argument of women in the workplace and dress and sexual harassment came up. Quite an interesting discussion but one part I would like to share is the view that ladies will always be "harassed" they will always be subject to the stares and the whistles and the suggestive comments simply because it is in the nature of the beast..... PHAT attack if you will.

I always thought it was a misspelling of the word fat until a few months ago I was enlightened to the fact that it is used as an acronym..... P = that catlike part of the female anatomy, H = hips, A = her most admired ass-et, and T = the milk factory. No disrespect ladies.

It was in fact the lecturer who pointed out that all ladies carried the same features and it was these features that the male of the species is attracted to. The beauty, variety...let me stop there before I get myself into more trouble. In other words the male cannot but observe the obvious beckoning that these anatomical features present to him. It is however in the will of the female as to whether or not she is willing to allow the encounter as expected by the male. It is in the maturity of the male to accept the will of the female and move on to other more willing creatures of splendor.

I went a step further to use this theory to try to explain sexual preferences but it never quite panned out. I can see the male female attraction and I can ....to a lesser extent... see the female to female attraction after all PHAT is PHAT but I for the life of me still cannot fathom the male to male one. Maybe I should leave that to when it's time for me to do my research paper. I don't think the university review board will sanction me doing my research on PHAT.

Have a great day all.

Just Passing Throoooouuuuuggghhhhh

Morning all, just a really quick "Hi". I forgot to tell you guys that this is exam week. I've had two already and one to go. The two gone have been pretty good so no complaints here. Just haven't had much sleep and am dog tired. Discovery is home. I'm sure it must have been a trying 2 weeks for the crew and their families. Apart from all of that, 2 of the 4 people in my section are on vacation so I really have had to put the internet surfing and blog stuff on hold for a while. I should be back to normal next week. Until then...take care of you.

Journalism

If I wanted I could probably make an argument that journalism and sensationalism are one and the same thing. Kami's article is a good example but it was so vivid on ABC's news feature this morning about the space shuttle. The caption was "Spacewalk to save shuttle". I was like what?...the shuttle is in some mortal danger?...something happened overnight that the machine is gonna go boom? As it turns out, the shuttle has some spacers between its tiles that have come out a bit and so the crew needs to cut them off so as to prevent what they call a blow torch effect on re-entry. According to the mission people it is precautionary. I guess they aren't taking any chances with the last event still fresh in everybody's mind. But if you read the caption and you had family up there you may have had a coronary.

Another case in point is the Halloway girl. I think CNN and Fox have milked this story to the limit. If you watched long enough you could probably figure out what her mom has for breakfast lunch and dinner and probably what time she goes to the bathroom.

It's no longer about getting the truth out to the masses, it's about getting the masses to come to you at all cost. I know it's a difficult task but could those of you in journalism try to make a difference. Stretching the truth to breaking point has become long in the tooth.

Our media here takes delight in being brutally frank, which is the other extreme. We have had horrifying pictures of murder scenes and car accidents splattered across television that would turn the hardest of stomachs. At one stage, one wondered if the practice wasn't to show the dead bodies being hauled around and then apologise for not being sensitive. That has been tempered to a great extent these days.

Which brings me to the question I posed earlier... Is journalism merely sensationalism?

Bammy

Smallislandgirl,

This is what bammy looks like. When fried it becomes soft and turns a nice rich yellow colour.

Post Emancipation Day

Well, yesterday was a holiday here in Jamdown. Emancipation Day. It was a nice break from work and might I add...most welcomed. Well Sunday marked 10 days since I have been completely familyless. I spoke with them last light and they are doing fine. Wifey is having some cooling out time and The Shorter is doing what she does best...shopping. I need to start checking my money carefully because I can't figure out how she shop so much and still manage to save money.

Well I had the last of my in course tests for the semester on Saturday. It wasn't too bad. I was gearing up for a lot worse but it was pretty much a balanced exam. The lecturer divided the questions evenly with about 50% going towards theory and 50% towards problem solving. I should pass. Exams are right around the corner though. My 1st draft of exams is 8th, 9th and 12th of August. All crammed into one week ...yuck. But at least I get them out of the way and over with.

Yesterday I decided to finally do my 1st real cooking since wifey left. I managed to work up some fried fish and bammy with vegetables. I learned a little trick with the bammy some time ago. If your bammy is always coming out kinda tough, a great way to get it soft is to actually deep fry it. Those people who don't like the fried foods or are on low cholesterol diets...stay far. If you do it just like festival it actually makes it really soft. what i do is to drain it on paper towels after to remove the oil. Another great alternative is steamed bammy.

Anyway guys...I gotta run..work start calling already.

Well

What can I say this morning really? First thing is THANK GOD IT'S FRIDAY. I is be busted...tired beat out...not functional......exhausted child(as my Bahamian friends would say). OK....I think you got the picture. This week has been hot and busy.

My group completed our group assignment this week and it looks impressive if I do say so myself. Real question is whether the tutor will be impressed by the work we put into it. It's the written part of the presentation we made last week so I don't see us doing badly. We had gotten pretty good grades for the presentation.

Tomorrow I have a course test in Management Accounting. That should be fun since I am definitely not relying on the tutor for guidance. As a matter of fact I have all but written him off as a part time comedian, cuz him joking himself. I find him to be unhelpful and unaccomodating to the students. He has a speech impairment and it makes it difficult to understand him. Not to mention that he is not open to discussion and add all these together makes for one really confusing class. It is a blessing that the lecturer of the course is quite the opposite so we better learn in the lectures and hope that we catch it all there cuz the tutorials aren't much use at all.

Anyways I was just saying a quick hail up. I gone try get in some book time before work.

Humour is the key to life

The Hen Tom did like he always does, kissing his wife, crawling into bed and falling to sleep. All of a sudden, he wakes up with an elderly man dressed in a white robe standing in front of his bed. "What the hell are you doing in my bedroom?...and who are you?" he asked. "This is not your bedroom," the man replied, "I am St. Peter, and you are in heaven." "WHAT! Are you saying I'm dead? I don't want to die! I'm too young," said Tom. "I want you to send me back immediately." "It's not that easy", said St. Peter. "You can only return as a dog or a hen. The choice is your own." Tom thought about it for a while, and figured out that being a dog is too tiring, but a hen probably has a nice and relaxed life. Running around with a rooster can't be that bad. "I want to return as a hen," Tom replied. And in the next second, he found himself in a chicken run, really nicely feathered. But now he felt like his rear end was gonna blow. Then along came the rooster. "Hey, you must be the new hen St. Peter told me about," he said. "How do you like being a hen?" "Well, OK I guess, but it feels like my azz is about to explode." "Oh that!" said the rooster. "That's only the ovulation going on. You need to lay an egg." "How do I do that?" Tom asked. "Cluck twice, and then you push all you can." Tom clucked twice and pushed more than he was good for, and then 'plop' an egg was on the ground. "Wow" Tom said. "That felt really good!" So he clucked again and squeezed. And you better believe that there was yet another egg on the ground. The third time he clucked, he heard his wife shout: "Tom, for goodness sake! Wake up! You're sh!tt!n' all over the bed!"

Today is....oh yeah..Tuesday.

Bit of old age getting the better of me there. Well I am officially bored. School drawing to a close and exams due in 2nd week of August. Other than that nothing going on. Can you imagine, not even the weather giving us something to write about.

Sunshine is back with us and seems to have enjoyed her vacation. Blogging tradition dictates that she buys a cyber round. Welcome back Sunshine.

Did lots of garden and auto cleaning work over the weekend. Still feeling the effects of it. Dogs wouldn't give me a break last night. Figure that a 2 footed mongrel may have been nearby but they stayed far.

I have some vital info for some...Ladies, mesh tops do not prevent your nipples from being exposed. They cannot pass as shirts without some sort of undertop. Seems nobody told some of the women this fine detail. Seems that I've encountered at least 3 such cases since Saturday. Where are our parents. Why aren't they teaching their girls how to dress.

Well I survived a week without family. 1 down 4 to go......will I make it...yes I will. Finally signed up for ADSL service. C&W has a new reduced rate thing so I'm gonna give it a try. cost a tuupse more but might be worth it especially for school.

Anyway I'm rambling. Take care all.

Friday...Musings

On the first day of college (no not UWI), the Dean addressed thestudents, pointing out some of the rules:"The female dormitory will be out-of-bounds for all male students,and the male dormitory to the female students. Anybody caught breakingthis rule will be fined $20 the first time. "He continued, "Anybody caught breaking this rule the second time will be fined $60. Being caught a third time will cost you a fine of $180. Are there any questions?"At this point, a male Jamaican student in the crowd inquired: "How much fi ah season pass?

What a gwaan?

Well today is Thursday and nothing much going on really.

Family are away and I'm surviving. They called last night and they are enjoying themselves. Decided to go the easy route last night...bought Chinese food at China Gardens in New Kingston. Food fill the gap yuh hear. It wasn't bad at all and the amount of food would turn you into an immediate glutton. I finished half of the food and was FULL. I couldn't eat a stitch more.

As for me well you know the usual...school work is the most critical item on my agenda for a while. Had a major presentation last night that accounts for 60% of out course work grade. It went extremely well. We made a presentation on the Implications of China as an Emerging Economic Super power to the US, EU, CARICOM and Asia. We were told that our grades should be in the 90's so that is a definite good news. We passed the essay for the Caribbean Econ course with a C+. I hear it is one of the highest grades. The maximum grade gotten by any group from that lecturer is a B- so we aren't gonna complain. A waste of time course if there ever was one.

Got The Shorter One's report card yesterday and she passed all her subjects. She starts grade 9 in September and is doing really well. She has a fear of exams that usually see her failing miserably yet she passes the course work. This year she passes them all...exams and all. Congrats to you "Little S".

Little S is our ongoing name calling. I've called her that for years and she calls me Big S. Little S was me teasing her by calling her "little stinker" and when she caught on I changed it to "little s" which could be mistaken for "littlest". She couldn't say that I called her stinker but she caught on and started calling me Big S and when I tackle her about it she says "no it's biggest". This name calling has been our amusement for years.

Anywayz I gone. Have a great day you all.

Home Report

Well contrary to the title I really don't have much to tell you all. Home is boring without the family. Oh Yamfoot asked about the Tall One...Well he left from a week and a half ago so he is enjoying life in the Big Apple (NY) with his aunt and cousin. Wifey and Shorter One have joined him there for a week before heading to Baltimore. He wants to stay in NY...I suspect because his younger cousin in Baltimore was a pain in the neck on our last trip. Besides "J" his NY cousin is nearer to his age anyway. Plus she has a readimade party companion with him around. School has really started to heat up as exams draw nearer. Well I got back the Caribbean Econ test that I was worrying about. I passed but definitely not with the usual grades. I didn't scrape either but let's just say a sigh of relief went up. This is one course I definitely have not gained anything from. The testing method encourages swatting answers to respond verbatum and I believe one should be able to understand and interpret not just regurgitate. Just can't study that way. Anywayz I just passing through. Thanks for the eating tips guys. Believe me some of them are already being used. Dr.D I will definitely link with you (hurricanes permitting).

Monday..a Brand New Day

Hi all, Well what can I say Emily came, she looked in, didn't see anything of interest and went on her merry way. I ain't complaining at all. Luckily for us it was a tight storm. Most parts of the island had a few drops of rain and nuff cloud cover. Where I live we had one or two gusts of breeze similar to what we use to fly kites in when I was a whole lot younger. South coast parishes had it a bit harder but nothing compared to what could have been. As a matter of fact our airport, which is on a spit and has suffered dearly for its location, was reopened yesterday morning by about 8:00....roads cleared and all. Well, with the reopening of the airport I am now familyless. Wifey and The Shorter One left yesterday afternoon. Big up to US Airways who did everything to accomodate them as they were due to leave on Saturday in the heights of Emily. They were bumped up to 1st class and though there were delays (weather related) I won't complain because it's all good (stole Camp's phrase..hope she doesn't mind...even if she does, I done steal it already so there...). They arrived safe and sound and the flight was good I am told. I will tell you this..I would not want to be an Air Jamaica passenger yesterday. I arrived at the airport to do my drop offs and bucked up the line to get into the airport in between the two round-abouts. The line was about a mile long..... In crawling with the line I realized eventually that the entire line with the exception of a few was for Air Jamaica. There were several hundred people outside Air J's office waiting to go in. Now folks, the airport is under contruction and is outside in sun hot these people standing.....I left most of them there with Air J making announcements of delays and cancellations and flight leaving in the afternoon etc. So officially I am alone for the next 5 weeks. Probably good anyway cuz school work killing me just about now. Final exams for the semester start early August so yuh know how the blog thing goes when school calls......... Back to the assignment I was working on..so later all.

Here We Go Again

Well folks we Jamaican folk are in for another blowjob. Hurricane Emily seems to have invited herself to our table and we can't get her to leave. We are once again under hurricane warning. Wifey and the Shorter One were supposed to depart tomorrow but that looks very unlikely at this point but we'll see. Right about now most business places are closing with the exception of supermarkets and hardware stores. Emily has be fluctuating between category 3 and category 4 but either way you take it...it's a big mofo storm. I don't particularly relish the thought of being hit with 30 miles per hour winds much less 125 miles per hour...... :( And from the looks of Africa's west coast we may have a storm every week for the next 2 weeks....not a comforting prospect at all. Well school has been on hold for this week and tomorrow is a definite no no so we are gonna be in for it because exams I am sure exams have been set. We are going to be required to do the last few chapters on our own. Guess I'll just start from now. Work is here. Let me not say anymore because I think I work with some of the most inconsiderate, self serving, s.o.b. who call themselves managers. I live nearby so I have no real issues but we have staff that need to get home and do prep work for these storms. If they leave at 4:30 there is nothing that they can do to secure their homes. The government has sent home its staff at 2:00 so why are they sticking out to 4:30? Just plain old bad mind. They will have to answer for their actions if not here certainly hereafter. Anyways to all my blog friends who are yet to feel the effects of this thing..stay safe.

EC on Warning

Well it looks like Emily intend to plaster the Eastern Caribbean with one hell of a sloppy blowjob. We in for a wicked hurricane season this year guys so we better hang on to our hats. 5 named storm systems and 2 that have done some serious damage already with Emily on the way is not a nice prospect. This season goes from June to November, so 5 by July may mean a not so nice summer for us but moreso Florida who seems to catch them at their peak. My prayers go out to all my blog friends who are now bracing for a touch of Emily, especially Kami in SVG, Dorna! and our recent addition Small Island Girl in Trinidad. Guys weather the storm well, stay safe and be as prepared as you can be. Space shuttle is scheduled for launch today. Is not my family or friends on board but I still hold my breath every time that thing takes off. I remember when the shuttle exploded on take off. Back then I was so intrigued by space travel. I was at home sick the day and was glued to the television watching the launch...then booom....:( Then to relive something like that with the most recent loss of the space craft and more importantly more lives. I keep wondering how those families deal with that kind of loss. I wonder if it's really worth the time and effort we are putting into space exploration...to boldly go where no man has gone before....these are the voyages of the.....sorry wrong sci-fi. Anyway enuff rambling for me..Dr. D should be back but I haven't been by his site yet so...... Stay safe guys.

hey.....Where are you all

Was just looking around the blogs and realized that a lot of you are in my boat. Nothing really going on and lots of blogs suffering from summer vacation syndrome. Not to worry just part of life I guess. Well I'm gearing up to ship out my family for about 5 weeks. The Tall One left for New York on Saturday and Wifey and the Shorter One leave on Saturday but their visit will span New York and Baltimore. So I get dumped into bachelor life for a while. Guess I'll live on junk food and water for the time cuz I can't bother slaving over no blasted stove. Dennis came and left but it looks like he invited Emily over so we are keeping a close eye on her. I haven't had any problems just a few leaks so I'm good. All the utilities are intact. School is good. Haven't failed any courses yet although my reading is close to zero. Have to deal with that soon. I am still maintaining a pretty decent average so I just need to stay focused. Anyway I'm gone. We'll chat some more later.

Weekend Humour...Post Dennis so to speak

A young blonde was on vacation & driving through the Everglades. She wanted to take home a pair of genuine alligator shoes, but was very reluctant to pay the high prices the local vendors were asking. Becoming frustrated with the "no haggle on prices" attitude of one of the shopkeepers, the blonde shouted, "Well then, maybe I'll just go out and catch my own alligator, so I can get a pair of shoes for free!" The shopkeeper said with a sly, knowing smile, "Little lady, just go and give it a try!" The blonde headed out toward the swamps, determined to catch an alligator. Later, as the shopkeeper is driving home, he pulls over to the side of the levee where he spots that same young woman standing waist deep in the murky bayou water, shotgun in hand. Then, she spots huge 9-foot gator swimming rapidly toward her. With lightning speed, she takes aim, kills the creature and hauls it onto the slimy bank of the swamp. Lying nearby were 7 more of the dead creatures, all lying on their backs. The shopkeeper stood on the bank, watching in silent amazement. The blonde struggled and flipped the gator onto its back. Rolling her eyes heavenward and screaming in great frustration, she shouts out, "OH CRAP! THIS ONE IS BAREFOOT TOO."

1st Post for the Week

Well I was actally ill for the 1st part of this week. It all started on Sunday night. Sunday was the Tall Ones graduation. He is no officially no longer a high school student. Where did my baby go?? :( Anyway, after graduation, which was a little bit of a let down because of how they did the ceremony, we stoppoed for food. Needless to say my stomach said "REJECT!!!" in no uncertain terms. So that took me out for Monday and Tuesday. Yesterday it took me over an hour to get to work. Needless to say I was sooooooo late but that's life. Well by now most of you would have heard that we are under hurricane warning so in a matter of hours we are supposed to be having some "fun" with Dennis. Hope the effects are minor to none. Right now it's just light rain and we had a bit of breeze earlier. Yesterday however, I had to wait until a lightning storm subsided before venturing out. Those bolts were dropping all over the place so guess who wasn't gonna be no hero and go playing with no Zeus rods. Anyways I not sticking around with you this morning. I just wanted to say hi and to tell the other Yardies to stay safe. The rest of you keep us Jamdowners and the Caymanian posse in your thoughts and prayers as we weather the storm. Peace all.

Mixed Feelings

Well today brings mixed feelings especially to wifey and her family. Today she loses the closeness of one of her family members, her oldest sister, who leaves Jamaica for the last time for many years to come. "M"'s was granted immigrant status for the US a few weeks ago. She leaves today for her new home in Maryland for a while and then possibly to New York. I say mixed emotions because wifey's family is relatively small and I know she and her sisters are close. "D" migrated many years ago and since then she has lost her mother, and earlier this year her only surviving uncle on her mothers side of the family. Her father's side of the family has been eons apart from before I met her some 22 years ago. "M" has had to struggle terribly as a single parent and as one who is not academically inclined. She has had to settle for lesser jobs because of this. So although it is sad to see her go the move actually opens many opportunities for her in terms of schooling and employment. I know wifey is a little down now but she knows it is for the best. So I will go no further but to wish "M" a safe travel and all the best in your new life. May you find what you are looking for. Remember that Jamaica is just around the corner in today's modern world of air travel and telephones and internet access.

Media

I have been watching the media coverage of the missing teenager in Aruba. Life is so interesting...I will not defile the young ladies character by getting into why she was and where she was at the time of her disappearance. Rather what I would like to focus on is how the story is painted in the US media. This young lady has gone through so many different characters is not funny. She has gone from young country girl to regular teenager to saint. What struck the cord that drove this post is how the law enforcement experts and the investigators and the critics have painted the process employed by the Aruban authorities in their investigations. First and foremost......we are talking about a Dutch island in the Caribbean. Secondly Aruba is not the US as a matter of fact they are not a US territory so their methods of doing things will be different so leave the people and stop imposing your value system on them. Thirdly, when did the United States become experts in law enforcement procedures? If you guys are so good go clean up some of the crime in your own back yard and stop fassing in other people business. I can imagine the frustration of a nation trying to accomplish a task when everybody who don't belong there in the first place looking over your shoulder and criticizing every thing you do. I have news for you.....there are experts in every known field known to man and guess what?....they don't all reside in the US nor do they all aspire to be aligned to the US and their policies. Frankly I'm just tired of the media sensationalism that is following this case and frankly last nights news item was just sickening.

Howdy

Good Morning all, I have not posted for this week as yet as I'm sure you have noticed. Well the weekend was rough and kinda spilled over into the week. I had the 1st of three mid-semester tests on Saturday. It wasn't too bad and hopefully I will get a good grade for my work. The 2nd was on Monday evening so by now you understand the no posting thing. That one was a little more challenging. It's amazing how you can see the personality of the examiner coming out in the tests. Monday's own was all focused in one area of the syllabus although we have covered 4 or 5 but that is exactly the nature of the examiner. Not in a bad way mind you.... The 2nd test was more scaterred and disorganized and that is also the nature of the examiner. She even forgot to advise us that pencils would be required as they would be using multiple choice answer sheets that require shading. She had to run all over campus getting pencils to borrow. The questions on the paper were also scattered and at points strange (for want of a better word). I won't say anything about it until the results are in. The 2 days at work have been really hectic as well. I have been working on a document for my management for the last few months and Monday was D-day. I presented the main document which was accepted with a few minor corrections here and there due mainly to inconsistency in the data provided and incomplete instructions received but I am happy with the end product. Yesterday started the compilation of extracts from that document for presentation to several persons throughout the organization. I need to get this done by Friday so work begins. In the midst of all of this the 3rd mid-semester test will be on Saturday so yuh know how the time juggling go. The text for this one is ridiculous to say the least. Must have been written by a lawyer cuz it is almost impossible to follow. Closest I can get to putting my point across is pick up a Latin text and read it and tell me what you understand by the expressions used. It's gonna be a challenge. Anyways I gone do some reading so later all.

My Rant for the Week

This cartoon was in yesterday's Daily Observer. It basically describes what is going on in Jamaica currently. I am not for a minute saying that the mayor should not resign. He has committed inexcusible acts if the allegations made by his wife are true. However where as his public life has suffered because of his private life the same does not hold true for our Government officials. The cartoon is pointing to the fact that despite the various charges against them the government is still sitting pretty yet the Mayor of Spanish Town is forced to resign because of what is essentially his personal business.

I am not advocating for a change of government since I do not necessarily see that as a solution to our current problems. I think instead we need to embark on a path of accountability. Each goverment in succession merely adpots the style of their predecessors. It's an "I am doing this and you can't do a damn thing about it" attitude. It would appear that once the votes are cast and they are appointed they automatically assume the duties of lord and master over every facet of our daily lives. Te solution to the issues in Jamaica does not rest in a PNP or JLP or any "P" government for that matter but rather in a reduction in the arrogance that greets the people on a daily basis and a level of accountability for the actions they undertake.

Later all. 

This is how I feel today. Pity I didn't call in with anal glaucoma.

Hail up

Well I am at this point in life where I have absolutely nothing to blog about this morning. Quite a few of my regular reads are having some crisis or the other and are not their usual verbose selves. That's a part of this whole life cycle thing so we bear with them, lift them in prayer if you are so inclined and just hope that the crisis they face will be for their bettermment. Well I have a meeting with my group later and hopefully we can complete the assignment that we have to do. It is due on Saturday afternoon. It is a short paper but the ground we need to cover is hugh and to condense it covering the salient points is going to be difficult. This is compounded by the fact that the lecturer is an ......I'll behave. He is just full of himself, no lecture notes no real guidance and just lots of hot air. The other classes are getting all the notes and the explanations from their tutors and we got stuck with this ........moron (with a PhD. no less). Anywayz, I gone.

Monday 20 June

Hey all...Today is my anniversary. Last year I got married, and this year I have a 17 year old son and a 13 year old daughter and I've been married for 18 years. I'm just trying to confuse you. what I meant is that it seemed like yesterday but in fact today is my 18th anniversary. Cyber toast with me to a good marriage.... Other than that what can I say...last night was miserable...the heat returned. Fathers' Day was pretty good. The families had dinner for us and my daughter and wife woke my up to a fantastic breakfast in bed. I added two shirts to my collection and all in all the day was good. The gardener was supposed to come to deal with the yard this morning but he bailed on me so I'm already showing the signs of Jungle Fever. The grass is up to my knees. Hopefully he will come by Friday or else I will find another person cuz it cannot stay so. Anyway short post this morning. Later all.

Friday again......

Well it's Friday and I am certainly looking forward to the weekend. This week has been really hectic like so many before it but life goes on and we roll with its punches. My car has been acting up for the week but that is a story to be told. Well you may have heard that we have been having lots of rain. Well on Sunday last on coming back from the supermarket I turned onto the access road towards my home and didn't realize that so much rain had fallen. The amount of water that came rushing down behind me literally pushed the car down the road. the engine underguard acted like a scoop and channeled the water into the engine compartment apparently. Well when I started the car on Monday morning, it sounded like the devil grinding his teeth. The noise has gotten progressively worse indicating that I have damaged at least one of the pulley bearings. On Wednesday the mechanic checked it out and it turns out to be the a/c compressor bearing....filled with water and street muck. Well last night I could take it no longer and I disabled the compressor by removing the drive belt so inna di cyar hot no baxide. I made an appointment with the a/c repair man for tomorrow at 9:00a.m. to have it fixed at an estimated cost of $2500.00 (or just about US$45.00). Not too bad considering. last night there was a little excitement at home. Thieves stole a ladies handbag while she was passing my gate and made their escape by jumping through my yard. It all happened so fast that the dogs barely had a chance to rush at them before they were over the back fence and onto the next road. It's a pity the rott couldn't have backed them into a corner and chewed their ass off but hey it would have been too much cleaning up for me. The Shorter One, who is a worrier by nature was a mess. She wouldn't even bathe with the door closed and then didn't want to go to sleep by herself. The police who were also passing gave chase but the guys escaped through the yard behind mine and into the ones across the other road. Time for some razor fencing around there. It's Friday and it's kinda hot. We have been having powercuts and it appears as if the office is being run on generator so the a/c is off. I wonder if God is trying to show me the things to come if I don't start behaving myself. I'm not a bad person so I need to think some more on that. Anyways I'm off to do some reading so enjoy the weekend and if you can't be good be careful.....

I swiped this from a friend so don't beat me up on it... It is suggested that the government change its current symbol to a Condom because it more accurately reflects the government's political stance. A condom allows for inflation, halts production, destroys the next generation, protects a bunch of pricks, and gives you a sense of security while you're actually being screwed. Damn, it just doesn't get more accurate than that."

Monday Hail up

Morning all...well I had a painful weekend. I have not been doing so well in the eating department in the last few weeks and I guess the old body just said "alright I gwine show yuh who name boss". I had severe gas pains all of Saturday and half of Sunday. I tell yuh some bend over and stop business. Anyways, me thinks me is back to normal. I won't get into what the cure was ;) Let's just leave that alone for now shall we.

Well it has been raining a lot since Thursday or so and the weekend was no different. Had classes as usual on Saturday. What can I say, the last class of the day is turning into a fiasco. The tutor is .....I don't know what to call him. He stutters and seems unwilling to address the needs of persons in the class. He keeps harping on buying the book when I know for a fact that some persons are really stretched to the limit and therefore survive on what they get out of the classes. It's all well and good that they prescribe texts but brother if yuh don't have the cash to buy the books yuh just don't got it. Most of the other tutors tend to recognize this and so are a bit more accomodating. I have a problem with how he explains the concept. Not saying he doesn't know his stuff but as far as I am concerned...a teacher he is not!!.

We were without light and a/c in one of the lecture theatres on Saturday and would you believe that some s.o.b. took delight in farting up the classroom. The class was disrupted by people scrambling for the doors as the smell eminated through the room. You really have some people who were dragged up in this world.

Well The Shorter one served at church for the 1st time on Sunday. She had minimal duties but did really well at what she was given to do. I'm proud of her simply because this was something she decided she wanted to do and went and did it. Her only complaint..."Daddy, the vestments hot yuh see!"

There was a mild earthquake last night at about 10:55. The magnitutude depends on your perspective. For me who was dozing off to sleep at the time it was a 9.0 on the scale. In reality it was probably a 2.0 or so...again perception is a hell of a thing. Nothing fell off the furniture so I know it was quite mild but when yuh frighten out of yuh sleep you tend to lose control of quite a few bodily functions....luckily I didn't. (Have to say that before Doc and MB comment).

Had light snacks with some friends last night in place of dinner. The company was good.

They announced birthday for a certain Dr.D yesterday in church but I happen to know that this week is not Dr.D's birthday so I figure it was an imposter Dr.D or there is a Dr.D senior that has a birthday this week sometime or could there be 2 Dr.D's in the same country....hmmmmm.

Anyways, I'm tired of chatting to unoo so until later, try walk good.

Destiny vs. Chance(Fate)

No I'm not going to get into any real debate over the two. Just that I thought I would ask how many of you are pro one or the other. Many people believe that if something is meant to be it is going to happen one way or the other. Others feel that life is purely chance and that whatever happens will not determine the sequence of events that follow but will be followed by future instances of chance. There are other thoughts in between but we'll stick to these two for now. Last night as I was trying to fall asleep I reflected on my own existence here on this cute little ball of gas, rock and water and I thought about it from two sides...looking at it from a pure chance point-of-view I met wifey because I turned left that morning instead of right and took exactly seven steps from the car to the gate, not 8 or 6. If I had done anything different throughout my life I would have missed the opportunity to be married to her today. If I look at it from the destiny point of view then no matter what I had done to that point or will do from here on in matters since all my actions and their consequence are predetermined. Somehow or the other I don't really buy that. Not that I buy the 1st option either. Who knows maybe its a combination of both. Maybe I need to stop eating stew peas on a Thursday so that I can go to sleep and stop thinking about crap :) Anyways all is well so I will stop here this morning and leave you to ponder on the key question for today "Is Scratchie really crazy?...or is he just pretending?" Later all.

Thursday already ???

Well, it is in fact Thursday and yes I'm tired but I'll live. It has been a really rainy day yesterday and it has been pouring since morning so I can deduce that today will be just as wet. No complaints from me because the rain has really cooled down the place and at least I have been able to get a good nights sleep.

Had class last night and it seems that things have settled now. I got provisional grades for 2 of my three last semester courses and I am quite happy. An A and an A- so cyber drinks to all on me. On the same school note, I have not been able to source 2 of my required texts as 1 is out of print and another was out of stock as the volume of students registering for the course far exceeded expectation. Last night I was passing the notice board and guess what? ...One of the texts I was able to get on loan from the Students' Union. They offer a text loaner scheme for certain courses and mine was one so I now have access to one of the texts at no cost. The other , I have manged to secure a copy from another student so I am good to gone.....

I got in a bit late so I will have to take on the blogs a little at a time. I have been reading but have not been able to drop my usual comments but please don't for a minute think I have given up on you all. Things are just a bit hectic right now.

Anyways, gone go get some work done so later.

New Week....

Hi all, Just a quick pass through. I gather that a few of my high school breddrin had a small lime on Friday night which I missed because of an assignment which was due on Saturday. I had to pass so will try to make the next one. Having done the schoolwork though I went to another link up with some people from the auto forum that I participate in. It was quite a nice little link up. It was the 1st time that I was actually meeting these people face to face, having only had computer contact with them over the past year or two. It is good to finally put face to screen names.

Well on Sunday my nephew made a step in church by receiving his First Communion. Congrats T.D.

Well, my son went yesterday to get his TRN and his provisional drivers' licence. He came home and I assisted in making 2 red "L"s for him so he can drive under supervision of a licenced driver. My car is therefore in serious trouble. Hope he doesn't think that the PS2 games and real driving are the same thing. He is anxious to get out on the road so I kinda need to temper that. He is already a competent driver but still rough around the edges so this now allows him to venture further on the roads as he was only able to drive on private property when the arms of the law were not around. Wish me luck. I need erase some of the bad habits he has already picked up. I can't afford an instructor for him right now so.......

Anyways I gotta run so we'll chat some more later..

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.