What a week, what a ‘freaking’ week.

On the last weekend I attempted to create a new service on our office system. Went to the office at 8:30pm and never left until 7:10am Monday morning. Then the darn server crashed on Thursday mid-day which forced another all-nighter to get it back up. So you know seh mi tyad yah now. Looking forward to a restful weekend.

USAIN BOLT the real big man of speed did a number on himself and his car this week. HighWay 2000 will claim many more victims this rainy season as young drivers finds out that a slightly wet road on months of oil and exhaust fuel will let your car slide.

So the BIG NATIONAL INVITATIONAL for this weekend at the stadium is loosing one big name athlete per day, Usain being the last of them is not as interesting now so I will be missing it this year, its a pity though Veronica, Legat, Asafa now BOLT too much dropouts.

Portia Simpson Miller former Prime Minister of Jamaica dropped a big joke in Parliament this week. In her response to Audley Shaw, Minister of Finance she said, I went into my constituent and a young man came up to me a said “Sister P, him dash it pon we without warning” I thought that was well said.

Jamaica under 16 netball team won the Caribbean tournament held last week at the Stadium complex. They won all their games by in excess of 20point/goals. Jamaica’s GS (goal shooter) was 6’10″ tall, can’t jump to save her life but she didn’t need to, every ball to her was a lob which she caught uncontested 100% of the time.

People make sure that whatever you do in this life you learn it then execute it.

People It has been hectic this week. I am currently enrolled at this seminar down at the Pegasus. They are attempting to teach me about leadership…no…coaching. Learning some new stuff and eating some decent lunch for a change. The trainer brought up what I believe to be a useful game. You are charge Jamaican Currency for breaking ‘on the fly rules’ i.e. invented at the time of breach eg:

• Cell Phone ring in class time – $100
• Being late in the morning or from lunch – $100
• Side talk or disturbance – $50
• Playing (any kind) with you blackberry – $100
• Not Participating – $200

etc etc etc…

So far I’ve racked up $100 for sending an email back to my office on the phone. The money collected at the end of the course will go to Mustard Seed Community Childrens home which recently burn down.

What you think about this gesture?

Oh by the way my company says they will match or increase to a substantial amout the cheque for the home with our names attached in a letter.

UTECH track and field champpionship coming this weekend. All the MVP athletes will be on show. Hope BOLT participate too. Jamaica girls (netball under 21) won their first competitive series against ENGLAND (2:1) after loosing (0:3) to Australia. Great improvement girls.

Anyway (my sistren in Canada don’t like that word) gotta run.

This time of year is suppose to be one where we reflect on why Jesus died on the cross for our sins and the reasons behind why mankind is the way we are. However, whilst juniors we knew no other life but to go to school, go to church and go back home. This has always been the case but as we grow older other things / events jump into the picture like Carnival, Beach J’ouvert, Racing Carnival at the park and of course concert in the streets. Most recently we now know of Murders, Car Accidents and in-relation killings. Other things are there for us to be concerned with but lets put our focus on the positives without neglecting the negatives so at least we can have an o.k. if not extraordinarily wonderful life.

Nocturnal Bats - Green Grotto Caves, St. Ann, Jamaica

Took the fam down to Green Grotto Caves this past weekend. Got re-introduced to stalactites and stalagmites, nocturnal bats and underground escape routes and underground rivers. The boys had a grand time even though prior to the tour they were up in arms about ‘Are we there yet?’ and ‘why do we need to go to a cave?’ Trust mi when the lights went off they had a blast trying to scare everyone in the touring party as well as each other.

Of course the beach in Ocho Rios was great too but all they remembered was the cave.

 

Carnival actually didn’t happen as I anticipated this year. I guess it had a lot to do with the banning of ROMPING SHOP on the national airwaves [lol].

 

Jamaica again dominated CARIFTA junior track and field competition held in St. Lucia. We garnered 68 medals one less that last year. However, our GOLD haul was improved to 40 which is a record. Great going, don’t you think?

Remember when you were planning for Common Entrance (now GSAT) that was the biggest thing. Thats where the rest of the Caribbean is, I believe the Jamaican team is at the point where they are planning there thesis. Thats the mindset and it seems to be working 100%.

 

Well drop your comments, let me know what you think.

Lata

Folks it has been very hard for me over the last couple of months (well actually since the start of 2009) as I dig myself deep into the tasks at hand (with the job) as well as get my little ones back inline with school. Yes the boys ‘free paypa dun’. No more time for skylarking. No more game it out or girl it out until we get these averages back to a respectable figure. They complain everyday that their percentages are far better than the class average but I think thye can do better so they really have no choice, am I right or am I right??

Wow what happen since January?

Well for starters I did get an award for going the extra mile at the office. I got a certificate and am to choose any one of the following:

• Gift voucher : Hardware and Lumber
• Gift Voucher: TGIF
• Gift Voucher: Hi Lo Food Stores
• Gift Voucher: For a body massage

Which one would you take…advise me.

Also, Kingston College won champs beating Calabar by 1.5 points. Jamaica College (Alma M) came third whilst the little man school came in fourth (Wolmers).

Incidentally JC got one of their four gold medals in the Stewards room after the winner of the Medly were disqualified and the first place awarded to the school finishing a hard second (JC). We won the Pole Vault, 800M class 2 and 1500 M class 2 (same person – Waqar DaCosta).

Kingston college also beat Calabar and others on their way to the School’s Challege Title for 2009. of Course JC won the under 16 basketball crown and were beaten finalists in the under16 boys hockey (winners: Munroe).

Jamaica cricket team won the regional 4 day competitioon by a long way. they actually won before playing their final match (yes yes they won that too).

Recession is affecting everyone. Recently learned that LOVE NOVELS are fast rising in sales around the world. I guess people would rather read about troubles in other people lives than experience it in their own life (LOL).

PROMISE PROMISE PROMISE to write more frequently.

Until then …

Only in Jamaica…. can you walk into an electronic store (in English the store’s name would be “What Is New” do the math) exactly one week before Christmas Day and see a PSP handheld game selling for $19,500.00 +tax and the very next Monday (3 days before Christmas Day) the same product has been raised to a price of $23,500.00 +tax. That is a whopping 20.5% increase.

One would think that some amount of customer appreciation runs during this time to let customers know you are thankful for their patronage throughout the year, no sah, not at this place. They would prefer milk you dry before giving anything back.

Only in Jamaica…. people have very long memory. Remember when you mess with someone and they say ‘Hey Bwoy Mi Mark Yu Face’. Generally that means I’ll never forget you. Well apparently LIME (formerly Cable and Wireless) face was marked by all Jamaicans because in walking the Plaza I saw a brand new store labeled LIME with all new phones and accessories  (watching from outside the window) and only the sales personnel and a female security guard was inside. Whilst over at their competitor’s Bigger Better store you couldn’t find place to walk or even get the attention of any of 15 sales personnel. The moral is be good to people or they may come back a bite you in the a _ _ .

Only in Jamaica…. can you drive your car listening to the greatest dancehall music like ‘Gully Creep’, ‘Nuh Linga’ and ‘She s Royal’ and every stop light you get to, someone cleans your windscreen, for a small fee of course. Yu coulda shake yu hand ’till it blue in an attempt to stop them, it nuh work they clean same way, an just before you drive off (without paying) your glass get all smeared up with some additional ‘Mark yu face’ comment

Chelsea squandered a glorious opportunity again to go atop the English Premier League. Captain John Terry was sent off early in the first half against Everton and they managed to hold on for a draw. Still a point behind Liverpool with the big bad Man U sitting pretty in fourth place  with two games in-hand…..A number of schoolboys have been included in the Jamaica’s under 21 team (one from JAMAICA COLLEGE and yeah one from both STGC and St. James) wish I could go to wherever the games are being played because de team look good.

Gayle’s 197 was enough to gain West Indies a draw with New Zealand in their 2^nd test match thus keeping them one ahead in the rankings. Well done millionaires (not boys anymore).

I’ve had so much of my sistren’s Christmas cake recently. The darn ting taste too good. Anyway I try to eat it during the day so I get to burn some off before nightfall, man it taste good. Wish you all could taste it but thank God for Cyberworld nutting but words are shared here. 

Couple of days to go now folks, Christmas is fast upon us, be smart, be careful, be loving, be giving (if that’s possible) and most of all be yourself.

Lata.

 

This is the season when according to custom brings ‘Good Cheer’ but I think what they meant is get a ‘Good CHAIR’ ’cause you’ll be sitting in your car for a long time. The traffic on the roads on Kingston especially around the ‘plazas’ are horrible to say the least. Left the work on Friday heading towards the post office in Constant Spring and man it took me around two and a half hours to drive less than 4 miles. Christmas seem like everybody get bonus ’cause I never know people had money to spend with the economy as it is. Prices are still rising so I’m scared to think where all this spending excess comes from.

When last have you drove around and see no Christmas lights (peppa lights) on houses, fences, any tree (not just the traditional Christmas Tree), well that is a reality this year as everyone struggles to make ends meet. Long gone are the days when folks brave the various decorations and lights for the holidays and hope that come January the light bill (electricity bill) wont kill their pockets. No-one is taking a chance this year after light bill went up approximately 90% since September. I have a real live tree but I shall only decorate it two days before Christmas just for the kidz (spelt intentionally).

Went to my manager’s house on the weekend for a Christmas get together. Nice, his wife treated us (the family) well. The kidz had fun playing video games. Especially WII. This game is like a gym star when your finish you need to get fluid and rest ’cause your flat out busted. Won a set against the G.P. in lawn tennis before he introduced fast serve and got rid of me in three sets. Don’t think he lost a set all night so I think I did pretty well. Have been bombarded now with request from the kidz to get a WII but they already have PS2 and PSP (to be delivered on Christmas Day) so I don’t think I will purchanse that WII thing right now, unless of course I need the exercise

Yesterday 14 people died in a horrible accident in Portland  . The market truck they were travelling in ran over a deep precipice about 40 metres deep. The gruesome pictures were also shown on the TV. One lady said she felt the truck getting out of control and she ended up in a river with loads of dashine on top of her. Would you believe the driver fled the scene without a scratch. Maybe he was driving without any permit, license or other legal obligations so he did what thousands before him did, diappeared without a trace. Indi won on thursday and are now in the playoffs (NFL). Portmore won today at Ferdie Neita park defeating Village United 2:1 and Chelsea plays tomoorow with a chance of going atop the league before Christmas. They are now two points adrift of Liverpool who drew 1:1 today with Arsenal. Of course Manning Cup season finish so no more news on JC Still cannot see why I support these teams? Hmmmm.

 This week I intend to really take it easy at work. A couple of audit reports to write a some much needed documentation of procedures developed so far. Also need to know what are the implications if I change SYS and SYSTEM passwords on my Oracle database. Some past personnel may have seen it easy to code with passwords hardcoded so I got to check that.

Anyway link you later … need some nap time.

Being at work and trying to satisfy the everyday, operational and development needs of the job and your boss is quite challenging, but when you add both internal and external audit constant requests, thats just plain ridiculous. Yes folks auditors are around and they make no bones about their demands. Gone are the days when auditors uses their own external Computer Assisted Audited Techniques (CAAT) tools to monitor and decipher what you do and make their qualifying or non-qualifying recommendations. The auditors of today really expect too much independent verification which is simply they state something and you in turn go do the research to come back and say that what you tested is as they say or no where near what was said hence they get a  verification statement.

Got a repairman today to fix my washing machine.

Yes it works well now but the reason for writing this piece is that this gentleman lives in SEAVIEW GARDENS and I was adamant that wasn’t going to turn off the main to take him home. WAS I WRONG???

Jamaica succeeded in the Digicel Cup, defeating Grenada by 2:0 (both penalties scored by Luton Shelton) so they go onto Gold Cup in the USA. John Barnes just missed being called by Burrel at 0100hrs with the axe in his hands. I wonder how much longer can Barnes live this much duress over his head. Chelsea failed again to take over the leadership of the English Premier League after drawing 1:1 with the bottom place West Ham United. Indianapolis Colts continue to defy the odds and win again in the NFL, now they are leading the race for a wild card birth into the playoffs. Anyone notice something about the teams I support… Tell me if you can.

Tried desperately to contact my sistren to wish her Happy Birthday I guest she’s locked off. Enjoy your day sistren.

Not staying long tonight cause I gotta get some sleep.

So it has been months since I noted any happenings. Man this wuk have mi working night and day so you must know or better “yu dun kno’ sey mi nuh hav nuh time fi chat” anyway have to get back to updates to regain some sanity from the pressures that life throws my way. So let me give a quick update of the last 8 months.

Got a real I.T. job at a major Remittance company in Jamaica. Have been attempting to understand the inside trends, work-arounds, people and role of the position (think I’m doing a pretty good job at all that). Have some nice co-workers and one who I think is kinda crazy (must be on some sort of medication) but I try to be professional around her…. oops I gave away the gender, ohh well yeah her. Haven’t had any vacation time yet. Man I’m coming from a job that gave me 7 weeks per year vacation back to 2 weeks a year…that sucks. Had my confirmation letter with some good notes attached by both the boss and HR Manager, so thats good and generally being a people person I get on with 99% of all co-workers.

Big boy passed his Grade Six Achievement Test (GSAT) formerly Common Entrance exam (in my time) and now attends Wolmers Boys School. Things kinda different now from when I attended JC. This boy have to wear his bag like a uniform. Them too damn tief at school. Stole his bredren bag in 3 minutes when he went to the toilet to relieve himself. When de youth came back no JANSPORT only books were left in the class on his desk. Son made his class football (soccer) team and reached the finals where he suffered his one and only loss of the season going down 3:1 the champions. Grades dropping so I have to take up the reigns on that come January.

Little man also doing well in Prep School. Champion Speller’s award and Vice Prefect for his primary division. Can’t complain about nuttin so yu kno sey his Christmas present buy long time.

JC went to the finals in the Manning Cup having won it last year. This time not so lucky as we lost to Mad Bull’s alma matar StGC (0:2). Things probably would have been different if we were allowed to start all the players who beat StGC two weeks before (3:2) at Constant Spring. The two key players were sidelined for the finals after an accumulation of yellow cards (3) throughout the season. Anyway StGC won so you have to give then their ‘big up’.

Of course everyone know that we (Jamaica) dominated the Olympics ‘To the World’ so I shall not spend no time on that.

Usain Bolt

 

was announced as Jamaica’s male athlete of the year whilst…

 Melanie Walker

 

 (400m hurdles) Olympic Champion Jamaica’s female athlete of the year. 

 

Alsafra

 

dominated horseracing in Jamaica but got her tail end kicked when she attempted to win the caribbean classic. Was forced into the lead by Andrew Ramgeet and found nothing up the lane. As to why Andrew had the leg up and not Brain Harding who rode her all year is a mystery to me.

Jamaica lost out in their World Cup Qualifying, Simoes was fired, Tappa Whitmore took over and still has a 100% win records with the team but he too was demoted to assistant coach and the new BIG MAN is now

John Barnes

(formerly of Watford, Liverpool and England’s National Team) who now guides the team in the Digicel Cup. We will be playing the finals tonight so I can let you all know the results soon.

Well thats it in summary as to what a gwaan in Jamaica…link you again soon….more time.

Oh yes it was indeed a great week last week. Memorable and rewarding. Prep School champs started out on Thursday with my sons’ school trying desperately to gain a medal having seen themselves well outdone by Hydel Prep School. As one of the meet organizers I got to see things other parents weren’t able to see from the stands.

1. One of the more fancied school had their 12 year olds drinking cyclone and ‘red bull’ and man those boys sprouted wings and flew.

2. Children placed in ICE WATER after races for quick recovery for another race.

These things made me check on my own son’s preparation which was all water and GATORADE. He ended up finishing 4th in his semi-final of the 400m Class 1 boys with the ninth fastest time hence him missing the finals by .5 of a second.

I had one high school coach from the defending BOYS CHAMPIONSHIP team approaching to offer me a chance for my son to attend their school. NO GREEN AND BLACK pleeeease.

Friday the results of the GSAT exams were announced and I got the letter from the principal. There were moments of anguish and sadness all around and I became a little timid to opening the envelop. My boy begged and I oblige. YES FOLKS he got his first choice, my boy will be off to WOLMERS come September. Needless to say I was a happy and proud Dad. “Star mi get call from every whey (foreign and local) a congratulate mi like a mi tek exam an’ pass”….

The new job also has become a little less frustrating after forcing myself to learn several things overnight. “Dats why Mi caaan write inna this blog cause mi tyad when night come”. Anyway I still have a lot to learn and give so I simply press on.

Derby day this Saturday at Caymanas Park and for the first time in many moons I don’t have a clue who is running and what are their chances. You all know what this means. “Mi caant loose cause mi nuh know nutten”.

Jamaica will be playing their first World Cup qualifying match this SUNDAY at the OFFICE against BAHAMAS. I wish them all the best as they try to reach SOUTH AFRICA ( I think thats where the finals is, I may be wrong) for the finals.

Well its after mid-night and I have to get up early so I promise to be here more often as the work pressure decreases. More time…

Yes people an offer was made today after less than two (2) weeks of interviews. Some say I must wait on other offers before I sign over my 9-5 to the first offer (which ends within 48hours if not accepted) others say take it cause jobs are hard to find. I still have 24hrs, what you think?

Tickets for the games (Jamaica International Track Meet) go on sale today. All of Ja$2000 for a grandstand ticket. Man it expensive. Then hear this now, the lone representative for the MVP track club, Melanie Walker (400H) pulled out of the games. So no MVP rep at all. The most powerful track club in the region (inclusive of Asafa Powell, Bridgette Foster and Sherone Simpson) missing from a meet that JAMAICA hopes will be included on the IAAF list of A1 Track Meets. It nuh look good star. But whey wi a worry fah!!! The big bad Veronica Campbell (2nd ever individual Olympic Medal winner female ** after Dionne Hemmings) will be in full flight. Hear that Lauren Williams working overtime to beat her.

Gas price reach a whopping J$72.00 per litre at the pumps, when will this continued stress ends. You know when gas rise, everything else rise too. I believe SHABBA RANKS did a song to the effect. Gas gone up, light gone up…etc. pity us 9-5 have nothing to raise to match these increases.

Portmore on the verge of winning the Premier League in JAMAICA. First it was the Cash Plus League then when they were gave up NCB came to their rescue. Quite ironic don’t you think? A wonder if the 40,000plus people can look to NCB for a similar hand out, Hmmmm.