Saturday, February 25, 2006

Can't stay!

At the moment I cracking my skull with a take home for my Administrative Law Class.So I am going to leave ya'll with some gems!
The three great lies that men tell are still, "I love you, what a stunning outfit and I don't mind". - Oyunga Pala
The three great lies that women tell are still, "I'm easily approachable, money isn't an issue and no,size doesn't matter". - The Acolyte
Family friendly porn!No it's not that!You sick bastards.....
ps:Nick isn't the only one to find a mind reader!Try this one.Back to the
grindstone........

Friday, February 24, 2006

Now you know how we feel!

Shopping for a gift to give a woman on Valentines is a long,hard and thankless task.Unfortunately most of the time women do not have to shop for men as often but when some had to do so this is what they said.
ps:For you Chelsea fans this is for you!

Thursday, February 23, 2006

Damn Credit!

Credit sucks!You can't get much done here unless you have it.You can't get cable, utilities, cell-phone, landline, get a car from a dealership, enjoy certain offers, shop on most websites among other things. Seeing as I'm a simple African for me credit=debt. I hate being in debt!I remember how it used to feel when you've borrowed money from someone and you dont have it and are reduced to sneaking around and making pathetic excuses ie there's this deal I am waiting to come through. Add to this the fact that when you are in debt to someone you are in their power. That's why bank managers are so smug as they know how many people's souls they own!
What I dislike is that every business here in the States tries to lock you into some sort of contract or the other. Some will offer you dirt cheap gym membership, a free phone, cheap CDs/DVDs, frequent flier miles, cheap magazines etc; but the catch is that you have to sign up with them for a year or more.I have vowed that I will only have contracts for neccesary things like a lease, cell phone, medical insurance, car insurance and AA. The Acolyte likes to roam free and doesn't want to answer his phone to find out that it's Bill (pun intended) calling from the Collection Agency X as I have lagged behind on my credit card bills. I try to keep things simple, I buy what I need as opposed to what I want first and that's how I keep out of trouble.But it also helps to live in the bundus, I mean the place where I could spend the most money here is Walmart!
When I was leaving Kenya credit cards had just come into vogue and I was least concerned. A debit card worked just fine for me then as it works now. I heard that debit cards are coming back in as Kenyans have seen how destructive credit cards can be and would rather the devil that they know in the form of debit then the angel they don't.
By the way, I got a post paid phone here without a credit history at all in my second month here. Usually you have to put down a deposit because according to those kubaffs bad credit is better then no credit!So a week later T-mobile send me a letter saying that they can't hook me up as I have no credit history but I already had the handset and phone number!So two weeks down the line they realised that no-one can get in the way of the Acolyte and sent me a welcome package (O.K I got lucky I admit it!).So other then rent my cell phone is my other regular expense. That's me, I try to keep my life as simple as possible.
Anyway seems these bloodsuckers don't waste time!Less then a year here and it has come!Yes I have just received my first credit card offer in the mail.Seems these idiots don't know who they're dealing with.......

Tuesday, February 21, 2006

Anfield!

I know I'm supposed to be posting pics of part 2 of my weekend but seeing as we beat the Mancs in the FA cup this weekend I have to post some pics of Anfield!That's one place that I have to visit before the end of 2007!

The Kop!!!This is what I have on my desktop at work!


We do achieve your dreams!

The kop gets warmed up!

Giant kop flag!

Match programmes on sale!


The kop in full swing!


Gary Neville feels the love of the kop!

He may not always score but he does when we need it.The one and only Peter Crouch!


Two words can express the sentiments of that banner - Kula hiyo!!!!
Liverpool are getting back into the game in a big way!Let's see how today's match against Benfica goes!

Monday, February 20, 2006

The journey

I got quite a few pics from my trip but half of them are crap because someone messed around with the exposure of the camera that and the fact that it was a cloudy day.Anyhow here are some pics of the sights on the way to civilisation...

One of the 75 churches that litter the town I live in.Yes, 75!

One of the 3 lakes in my county

Some farm on some road

Milo's mansion!

Mutumia's digs!

He who dwells within can crush me with his vocabulary alone.He will not be named.......

The power plant

The mobile home that takes Guess all round the world!

Where do we turn?

The little house on the praire

Mobile milk and beef dispensers

At last!The interstate!
More to come manyana...........

Changing faces...

I don't know if it's just me or maybe this happens to you people.Do you have people in your life who only ever or most of the time experience just one side of you and that's all that they know you by?
For example, there is this gal whom we share a mutual e-pal with so we do e-mail once in a while.So what happens is that this gal sometimes says things which in my point of view are very short sighted,naive and simply slow.Yes the statements she makes at times can be that way, I am not speaking out of sheer cynicism.Anyhow what happens as a result is that half the time I do end up setting her straight or being sarcastic.Like there is this time when she told me that she was planning on leaving her current job but she was scared of the many spies in their office.I must add at this point in time all I knew was that she worked on Mombasa Rd, no idea of company name or her rank there.So as a good friend I gave her the usual b.s ie just lay low, don't cause uneccesary drama etc.A few days pass and then she mails me asking me to call her on her cell phone or send her a post card so that she can know who I am and not a spy.In typical Aco fashion I stripped the situation to its' bones, highlighting the fact that I knew nothing about the finer details of her life.Oh I had also sent her photos of my uni and town.I also didn't have the money to make international calls or the time to send postcards.She persisted so I gave her a link to pointofmail.This is a service that allows you to know exactly where an email was sent from, bar anonymus IP and rebounding services of course.So she got the point.This is just a more sane example, but she tells me that I tend to be impatient and snappy.Anyone who knows me personally knows that that is not the case at all!
Then there is this other gal whom I chat with once in a while.She's a nice person but she thinks that I am off my rocker due to the things I say to her on-line.I am not going to quote myself but she once asked me if I ever think before I type.But she too thinks that I am harsh and strict.But I think it is because she asks some questions that just rub me the wrong way or are about things that feel strongly about.I mean this is a gal who asks me whether she should take a communications course so I ask her whether she has looked at the course outline and you know what she tells me?"I would rather know from someone who has done the course before like you," did I mention that we are 3 states away from each other and in different universities, so I am not the best person to ask that question.Also at times she has the memory of a goldfish so I end up having to repeat whole conversations when I refer to a snippet of what we had talked about once due to the fact that she has forgotten almost all of what he had talked about 2 days earlier.Yes she drives me up the wall but I feel it is my responsibility to shepherd the lost youth of today.
Then the Prof whom I want to bitchslap thinks I am kinda smug.But we are pals, in fact we went to lunch last week.But she's still on the hit list.....
Come to think of it I doubt we have many people in our lives who have seen us in all our true colors.At least that's what I can say I don't know about you.....

Sunday, February 19, 2006

Some research is clearly needed....

I had a nice Saturday.Went to the new Atlanta Aquarium (will be covered in another post plus pics to boot!)
Anyway unlike many Kenyans out here I try to keep in touch with what is going on back home.Yes I do know some Kenyans out here who are very ignorant and out of touch with what is going on in Kenya, they often talk about it like some foreign land.For me I embarked coming to the States like going to war.Any seasoned general will tell you that you never enter a battlefield without an exit strategy.You do not intend to be in the field of battle indefinitely incurring casualty after casualty.So I do have a 7 year plan and a back up to that plan because I do intend to go back home.My stay here is just a learning experience that's all.I have met many Kenyans whose stay here is what the swahili would say "haina mbele wala mwisho".The thing with the States is that if you do not have a plan for your life is that someone else wiill, the credit card companies will enslave you for the rest of your life after you fall for their "low interest" credit cards,dieticians will all tell you what you are meant to eat,fashion designers will tell you what you are meant to wear, Oprah will tell you what to read, Siskel and Roper will tell you what to watch and the list goes on.
Anyway I didn't plan on blasting people on the ability to think for themselves and the virtues of long term planning.
What I wanted to talk about was The Nation and East African Standard Online.Standard first started the trend by ceasing to publish all the articles from their daily magazines and instead offering access to a digital edition for $216 per year (36 issues free - I'm still trying to figure out if that is access to the magazine or the whole paper ), Nation has recently jumped on the bandwagon and is offering access to op-ed content for $175 per year but at least their free content is more extensive then that of the Standard.Now compare and contrast that with my New York Times select membership for only $30 that gives me the following benefits (apart from the daily news):
Daily columns from influential Op-Ed writers
Features and analysis from award-winning Sports, Business, New York/Region and International Herald Tribune columnists
Personalized e-mail news alerts
Virtual file drawer to save articles from NYTimes.com and around the Web
Early access to Sunday Times articles
Breaking news and award-winning multimedia
Today's Headlines e-mail and breaking news e-mails
Online classifieds,Access to The Times Archive back to 1981

Unless you know how to use Google to search a specific websites you will note that the search engines of both the Nation and the Standard are not of much use.I would like to know how much Nation and Standard are making from their digital editions.They are both taking advantage of the duopoly to screw the people.First of all, the labour in Kenya is cheap; so they didnt put that much money into it and the market for Kenyan news isn't that large so it would be wiser for them to make it more affordable for those of us who want to find out what is happening in Kenya.I did send Standard an e-mail but I am well aware that most of these big companies do not read e-mails that are sent to their info or help addresses.Anyway I just find it pathetic that a half baked product can be sold for so much money, if you're going to charge us that much then throw in all the bells and whistles like the NY times folk and that's easy because both are connected to Television stations so if you join up as a premier member you should also get to watch some clips from the daily news and some in the archives.
Anyway a man can hope, let me go enjoy my NY times select membership.
ps:If any KBW member needs an article from the NY times archive send me a link to the article and I will get you the full article!