The End Of Another Week

I now have a new found respect for bloggers based in the Baltimore area, namely people like Movie Buff, Msanii, Udi and any other unmentioned individuals. I just came across a commercial for a dealership over there and my oh my (some harsh language in the ad so Not Safe For Work!). If this is what ya'll are used to dealing with could you please come over and negotiate with my local car salesman?



In other news, I sent off my passport to the LA Consulate for renewal and got it back 4 days after I had sent it, I am most impressed. I can usually tell how efficient an organisation is by the way the phone is answered. I once called the DC consulate and it took several calls till the phone was answered and I was transferred from person to person this wasn't the case with the LA Consulate where the phone is answered really fast and all your enquiries answered without playing phone tag. A big kudos to the peeps in LA, has anyone dealt with the DC consulate lately? I'd like to know if things have changed.

A friend of mine went to a hotel in Chuka for lunch as he was doing research during the peak of the Rift Valley Fever Epidemic that had struck Kenya and asked how much a grilled chicken would, he was given the princely cost of 1,250/= shillings. After getting over his astonishment he decided to have a vegetarian meal, talk about pricing yourself out of the market; the only other places in Kenya you could pay that much for a meal of grilled chicken are in 5 star restaurants.

I was chatting to some pals of mine online and it is amazing how many of them have banished the thought of marriage to the bottom of their list of priorities. I think I will chat more to them about it and get their full reason, I have mine which I think I blogged about it. But it is interesting when a whole lot of "eligible" bachelors decide not to bother with marriage and long term relationships then you have a big group of players and no good chaps left for the women to sift through. That's life I guess....Have a nice weekend people!

Random Thoughts

I read this story on the BBC website and I must applaud the residents of the town for rising up against racism, sad thing is that is just shows how alive and well racism is among us. There are some people I know out there who are saying, " I told you those Europeans were all racists!" While there is another subset that is saying, "You see not all Europeans are racists!" Oh well you live and learn I guess.

After seeing the last episode of To Catch A Predator last week on MSNBC one swift thought came to mind. My in blue hell would any dude who doesn't work in the porn industry take a picture of his dick and even worse have it floating around online or post it. From the little I do know about women, is that they are not as visually oriented as men, so a picture of Mr Johnson isnt going to do much; as for sending such a pic to minors, that is just plain sick. I mean imagine taking a pic like that in your young days and passing it around then in your middle age deciding to run for office, the pic would show up and an inquest would open. I can see the picture being examined at a Commission and the incumbent being asked, "Mr XYZ is this your..........?"
Somethings should best be left to the imagination unless it's girl on girl action (ya'll knew I had to say that!)

There was this story that was in the Sunday Nation a few weeks back about this charlatan who was masquerading as a Pastor causing chaos and swindling gullible individuals. This snippet cracked me up!

Local Chief Grace Nduta told us that the "virginity oil" was mainly being peddled to barmaids in the area. "This was a hushed-up affair. We are told that the women were promised their clients would find them more appealing, after applying the oil in their private parts," said the chief.

"Even when we called a baraza to discuss these things, none of these women came forward to say that they had bought the oil, yet it is a common secret that barmaids were buying it."
Curiously, the oil in question is named Cremonini Extra Virgin Olive Oil. Closer observation of the container holding the oil revealed that it is supposed to be for "frying, deep frying salads, baking and grilling"

When I read that I wanted to crack a joke about something being deep fried, but let me keep it to myself after all learning that Extra Virgin Olive Oil doesnt live up to it's name must be humiliation enough to those involved.

Monday Malaise

The Standard has this interesting article about how the use of Kenya as a drug traffic conduit is slowly going to change Kenya into a nation of drug users. The interesting thing with Kenya is that other than the liberal smoking of weed and chewing of miraa (khat), the use of hard drugs ie cocaine isn't very prevalant unless you come from the down and out neighbourhoods or hang out with rich recreational drug users. It isn't like here in the States where over half of the people in jail are in for drug related offences and how some inner city areas have been brought to their knees by drug users and the crime that follows them.

This is both a good and a bad thing if you ask me. It is good to know that Kenyan law enforcement is doing what it can to stop hard drugs from entering the country but on the other hand the less hard evidence Kenyans see of hard drugs and there effects, the more blissfuly ignorant we shall remain. The best close example is the slow but growing alcoholism epidemic we have in Kenya. I had a Kenyan friend who works for an insurance company here and was talking to a client about their health situation so that they would consider the person for insurance coverage. So when it came to how much alcohol the person drank, the customer said they were an alcoholic; my friend in turn asked the person how many drinks per day he took. The client said X number of drinks per week, my friend put down the number but in her head she was thinking, "me and my friends drink that amount of liqour and more every weekend and we just fine."

The sad thing is that for most Kenyans as long as you are functioning you are not an alcoholic. You become an alcoholic when you everyday life becomes a mess due to your drinking; but if you can overindulge and function, you are fine. I think that is the same situation we have as regards drugs in Kenya, if we can't see the damage; then it's all good. I do sincerely hope that the cost of the hard drugs keeps them out of the reach of most Kenyans, young and old; we have enough problems as it is without having drug dealers, crack heads and broken families in the mix.

I was reading the New York Times when I came across an article by their travel writer called "36 Hours in Nairobi, Kenya." The article covered the usual tourist sites but what caught my eye was the paragraph below.

11) A QUICK LUNCH

After a stop in Jeevanjee Gardens, Nairobi’s equivalent of Speaker’s Corner (on a recent Sunday a muscular and aggressive preacher held forth on God’s love for street children), head across Moi Avenue for lunch at Topaz, a chicken and chips joint. It’s one of the city’s favorite greasy spoons, packed even in the middle of the night, and everything here is lovingly deep fried. A meal of chicken, French fries, sausage and a Krest Bitter Lemon soda will run you around 350 shillings.

So now I can proudly say that I was a regular patron at an internationally reknowned dining establishment!