On Vacation!

I know I have been MIA like Allen Stanford for the past week, but things were a bit rough over the past few days. I haven't sorted out things totally yet but still working on that... On another note, it's that time of the year again that I look forward to, no not Carnival, although I look forward to that too. It's time for some relaxation, fun, resting, going out and traveling! Yes it's vacation time!

I am going on a very good break from work, almost one entire month! How cool is that! That is what I call a break, the sort of break that allows you to forget about work for a while and try to enjoy life. I wasted no time on Tuesday and activated my out of office response on my company email and darted out of the office at exactly 5pm. The good thing about this vacation though, is that I am only using 5 days out of my allotted vacation time. You see, I have been accumulating several days in lieu, as I have been working almost all the public holidays for the past few years. However, the company (or my department) wants us to clear all our outstanding days in lieu, so that;s exactly what I am doing. This means that I still have more than half of my vacation left, which I intend to take later on in the year. Now if only I had enough money to maintain all this vacation time I have.

My vacation has been split in two, part I plan to spend in New York and the rest I plan to spend touring Jamdown, So Thursday evening I will be heading to the airport to board my flight to the Big Apple and chill out... literally! In these hard times finding a cheap ticket is something one has to make good use of considering how bleak the future looks. So the next time I drop a post I will be in New York all being well. Likkle more!

PS: I am exploring the possibility of a travel blog, you can have a sneak peak here Mek A Trod

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Stanfraud?

Sir Allen Stanford, the man who brought excitement and a lot of money to the game of Cricket, West Indies Cricket especially, has been charged with fraud. According to The Gleaner, on Tuesday February 17, 2009 the US Securities and Exchange Commission formally charged Stanford and three of his companies with "massive" fraud centred around high interest rate CDs. The Securities and Exchange Commission's complaint, filed in federal court in Dallas, alleges that Stanford International Bank sold about US$8 billion of so-called certificates of deposit to investors by promising "improbable and unsubstantiated high interest rates." Reuters has reported that the US authorities have since frozen Stanford's assets have been frozen and a federal judge has appointed a receiver "to take possession and control of defendants' assets for the protection of defendants' victims."

Standford, to the still existing cricket fans, is a well known name as he is the founder of the Standford 20/20 Cricket tournament. this competition seems to overshadow even the Cricket World Cup due to its heavy prizes running up into several million dollars. There is no doubt that the West Indies Cricket Board WCIB and West Indies Cricket have benefited from the monetary inputs of Stanford. Standford's 20/20 Tournament brought something new to West Indies cricket and was seen by many as a last ditch hope to revive the dwindling love of Cricket in the region and to pump some well needed money into the coffers of the WCIB. However, with this new development, it seems that all this heavy funding will come to a screeching halt and the rich Stanford 20/20 Cricket will fail to exist. Already the England and Wales Cricket Board and the West Indies Cricket Board have immediately suspended all their ongoing negotiations with Sir Allen Stanford and his corporate group. Which simply means no more Stanford money for West Indies Cricket. Does this mean even more bad times for Cricket in the region? However, Cricket is not the only sport that will suffer from the loss of Standford's fat money, as his sports financing transcends to football (soccer) and golf.

Putting Sport aside though, this charge has serious implications for many of his investors around the world and even closer to home, here in the Caribbean. It is also frightening, as this is yet another major multi-billion dollar fraud charge coming just on the heels of the Madoff scandal. This leads us to wonder who is next? Which financial entity will be next? How many other companies and their heads have been playing around with our hard earned saving? I see a very frightening trend, and now I'm wondering if my money is just safer under my mattress.

Source: http://go-jamaica.com/news/read_article.php?id=6523 | http://uk.reuters.com/article/ousiv/idUKN1737429520090218

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A Wok, A Zapper, Old Spice & Dinner... Not a Bad Weekend

This weekend I did a little splurging... well if you can call it that, I decided to treat myself to a something I have been wanting for a long time. No not a sensuous massage, no not my Nikon D60... soon buy that! I have been wanting to get myself a Wok for such a long time, but just couldn't find one at a decent price. So on Sunday one of my friends dropped by and suggested we go up to Azmart, to which I reluctantly agreed as I would have to drive, cho. So off I went to Azmart in search of my Wok. Now Azmart has some pretty decent stuff, but the thing is at times they are on the pricey side, but sometimes you get a decent deal. After going through a few Woks I finally found a pretty decent one for a price I was willing to pay and I quickly snapped it up!

My wok getting ready for some cooking.

But that was not the only thing that i found while there at Azmart, I also found another little item that I have been searching for a little while now. It all began earlier this year when I went to visit my friend over in Portmore. We were chilling and chatting, but i was constantly under attack from killer, suicide mosquitoes. So he handed me something, something that would change my life forever. It was one of those electrical Bug Zapper rackets, and let me tell you after that it was pure bliss as I heard and saw those evil mosquitoes fry and pop when I hit them with the zapper. It was like magic when I gracefully swung the small tennis racket looking instrument in their path and to see them die in dazzling sparks. I never knew killing mosquitoes would be so much fun! From then i vowed to get myself one, but my searches were futile, even H&L Rapid True Value where he got his was out of stock. It seems I was not the only one enchanted by this magical tool. But last night all that changed when I saw that special beam of light shining on the Zapper in Azmart. I quickly dashed towards it in slow motion with open palms. But unlike my fiends zapper which uses replaceable batteries, mine is rechargeable, endless killing power! I finally got it, now those invading, bothersome mosquitoes at my place will pay, they will feel my wrath! Mmuuuuuaaahhhhhhhaaahhhha. Unfortunately, despite my earnest search when I came home I could only find one mosquito, but the satisfaction of watching it fry and pop was just so awesome! mosquitoes be ware Stunner and his Zapper is here!

My bug zapper racket ready to kill!

But my discoveries didn't end there as when I went back downstairs I stumbled upon Old Spice High Endurance body wash that I have been looking for unsuccessfully in several supermarkets. All I could see the the smaller yet more expensive Old Spice Red Zone body wash. I was so happy to finally find my favorite body wash, but just beside it was the Red Zone, which I have always wanted to try but didn't as it was more expensive. But to my surprise Azmart had the red Zone for the same price I would pay for the High Endurance! So you know who quickly pawned up the Red Zone, and now I know where to get more when I run out. So my visit to Azmart was very fruitful and well worth the drive. So ladies if you a brotha walks by smelling damn good, it;s probably me, hehehe. Shhh, don't tell my friend as I was not to happy that I had to drive when she mentioned it.

All this happened on Saturday, but on Sunday I was so happy to have my Wok, that I decided to cook before work, and cook I did. I made baked pineapple chicken, rice and gungo peas and of course Vegetable Stir Fry. I just had to use my Wok, this is what I bought it for, stir fry! I can definitely see myself making a lot more stir fried food, which means a lot more vegetables in my diet. This might just work our goof for me as I will cut down on my starch intake which in turn will, with exercise, help me to loose some fat and look a little leaner. So look out for more Kitchen conquest, yes my friends Chef Stunner-yardie strikes again!

Sunday dinner.

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Love Reigns

There has been a lot of negative press about our popular music here in Jamaica, but not all of our Dancehall/Reggae music is less than desirable. There are still very good songs being played on our airwaves. Love Reigns by Tarrus Riley and Bugle, two of Jamaica's newer artistes and also two of the best, is one such song.

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Three Miles!!!

I did it! Yes my fellow bloggers, I finally ran 3 miles! It was hard, it was painful, it took every ounce of strength I had, physically and mentally to reach my goal of running 3 miles. I had to coach myself, push myself and breathed as best as I could and it worked. It took me a half hour to accomplish this feat though, but it still feels good. There is a certain feeling one gets when one push himself to the limit and actually reach their goal. But this is just the first big step in my training as i am hoping to do run 4 miles in less than 30 minutes, which will ensure that I am in top shape to really compete. Why am I doing this? Well if you have been reading my blog you would know that I am planning to participate in the 2009 Sigma Corporate Run. The route is 5 kilometers which works out to 3.1 miles so today's feat was indeed a big one for me. however, the training continues.

I read my company email not to long ago and saw that they have sent out the entry form for the Sigma Corporate Run. So tomorrow morning bright and early I will be filling out my form and submitting it, personally. They have also sent out the schedule for training and of course I will have to participate in that too as it will allow me to familiarize myself with the route. Training on the actual route is a lot better than running on the treadmill, as I will be simulating the actual conditions I have to face during the real thing. The route is the same as last year, so I am aware of the challenges and I will be able to formulate the best way to run the route.

So after reaching my goal today, I though there was no better way to celebrate my feat than to have a tasty, nutritious, victory meal! And the best victory meal, is the one you cook yourself. So today I made myself some Stunner's Sweet and Sour Fish, Basmati rice and some fresh lettuce and tomatoes with a little Italian dressing. I also had a half glass of orange juice to wash it down, so now I'm feeling good. just need the sleep to set in now so I can be well rested for another day tomorrow.

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No More Daggerin and No More Rampin!!!

That's exactly what the Broadcasting Commission of Jamaica has said, effectively banning all songs, on all public media, that make reference to this now popular act in the Dancehall circle. This ruling was announced by Hopeton Dunn, the commission chairman in no uncertain terms as he said,

There shall not be transmitted through radio or television, any recording, live song or music video which promotes the act of 'daggering' or which makes reference to, or is otherwise suggestive of 'daggering'.

However, the ban did not just stop at Daggerin (also spelt Daggering), but has been extended to all songs which employs any type of editing techniques to remove expletives and certain lewd content. This ruling no doubt was spurred by the latest Dancehall song to take the nation by storm, Spice and Vibez Kartel, Rampin Shop (see video here). Dunn continued,

There shall not be transmitted through radio or television or cable services, any audio recording, song or music video which employs editing techniques or bleeping of its original lyrical content,

This action by the Broadcasting Commission, is as a result of much criticism from many circles of the local hit, Rampin Shop and other Dancehall songs now hitting our radio waves. The move was also triggered by mounting pressure that they should be more vigilant at policing the nations airwaves to ensure that radio and television stations don't breach the Television and Sound Broadcasting Regulations.

The move by the Broadcasting Commission has been welcomed by many in our society, including organizations such as the Press Association of Jamaica (PAJ) and the Media Association of Jamaica. No doubt other aspects of the society including the churches, Jamaica Teachers Association and schools and any parents will welcome this move also.

I too am in full support of the Broadcasting Commission to ban the promotion of the activity called Daggerin and songs such Rampin Shop which feature an overdose of sexual references and violence. I find the act, will not call it a dance, of Daggerin to be tasteless and totally barbaric. Some may say it's a part of our culture and people should be free to express themselves, but where do we cross the line? I have watched several videos of Daggerin and after the initial amusement, reality sets in as I stare in disbelief that people really behave like this and go out on the street to behave like... basically savages. The so-called dance moves are not just lewd mimicking of extreme sexual acts, but it look outright dangerous!

Our culture is such that most of our songs make references to violence and sex, but which song out there whether Rock, R&B, Rap, Hip Hop, does not do the same? The truth is almost all songs on the radio these days make references to these two primal behaviour of human, however, while some songs merely allude to them, other songs explicitly outline these acts of violence and sexual behaviour. The latter is what I really have a problem with and songs such as Rompin Shop is one such song that explicitly describe the sexual acts between a couple. Such songs are in my view definitely not fit for public airplay. I will even go further to say that I too agree that no song that has to be edited with a "bleep" should be played on our public stations. I believe that songs should be made airworthy and if an artiste has a hit then he needs to make a radio version (clean version) and a CD version (dirty version) to suit each audience. If this was done we wouldn't still be having the embarrassing situation of radio stations having to apologise and discipline disc jockeys for the one or two indecent parts of a song that escaped the bleep.

Stations have to please their audience in order to survive, however pleasing the audience does not mean only playing what a part of the audience likes, but also minimising the content that offends a considerable portion of their general audience. Responsibility in content delivery is even more important when such a large part of the listening ear are the impressionable among us, our teens, our children and those who do not have the mental capability not to act on these corrupting messages. Artistes and radio/television stations as well as the printed media need to be responsible and mindful of their audience and their social responsibility.

However, although I agree with the Broadcasting Commission's move to ban Daggering content and songs that require editing for radio play, I wonder why it took so long? It is their job to police what is good for public broadcast as prescribed by Television and Sound Broadcasting Regulations. So why did they have to wait on public outcry and pressure for them to take a step to ban such material? What have they been doing and what are they doing, for my hard earned taxpayer dollars? The Broadcasting Commission need to pull up their socks and this incident really shows them up.

I think I have said quite a mouthful on this topic. So what are your views on this recent move by the Broadcasting Commission? Also you can vote at the bottom of this page.

Reference: http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20090207/lead/lead1.html

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