It has been quite some time since I wrote anything here. During that time Zimbabwe has seen the introduction of a new currency and the signing of a powersharing agreement supposedly leading to a Government of National Unity (GNU).
Well, they only forgot to sort out who was going to be allocated what ministries. So while they are trying to sort that one out it is "business as usual" - meaning basically no business - and the new currency is in free-fall towards any major currency. And we are limited to withdraw 1000 Z$ a day from our accounts. That does not even cover busfare for those who use minibuses. Or buy you a newspaper. Welcome to "Gonomics" (from our Reserve bank governer Dr. Gono).
Today we needed a bankcheque of 30 000 - to see the doctor. The fee for issuing one is 20 000... hurra hurra. Completely absurd. But noone accepts normal cheques any longer as these take around 4-5 days to clear, at which time inflation has rendered the money worthless.
To something more uplifting: the annual gamecount at Mana Pools National Park took place 12 - 15 September. Here a link with photos from said gamecount. Sadly I came home with a killer flu that downed me for the rest of the week but I thoroughly enjoyed the experience!
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
What happens now?
Finally we see some positive developments on the political arena in Zim. If you have missed it: yesterday the leaders of all 3 involved political parties signed a Memorandum of Understanding that is seen as the start for negotiations in earnest to solve the political crisis.
The rather short and to the point text can be found here .
People here are veeery cautiously optimistic. It would not be the first time that the "ruling party" shows one face to the world and a very different domestically. So we all wait (sort of used to that) and try to find every scrap of news on the progress we all hope for.
I just hope they really are honest about this and that something solid comes out of this. We are sick of counting gazillions in empty shops...
The rather short and to the point text can be found here .
People here are veeery cautiously optimistic. It would not be the first time that the "ruling party" shows one face to the world and a very different domestically. So we all wait (sort of used to that) and try to find every scrap of news on the progress we all hope for.
I just hope they really are honest about this and that something solid comes out of this. We are sick of counting gazillions in empty shops...
Monday, July 14, 2008
Life
If you don't understand that life in Zimbabwe is incredibly tough at the moment then I don't know what planet you live on. I am not even referring to the ongoing violence that reportedly takes place mainly in rural areas but just the everyday life.
Contrary to what one might think it is not amusing to be a trillionaire.It is rather depressing actually. We are now in a situation where neither the banks, the shops or any accounting software can manage the number of zero's involved in ordinary shopping. I also hear that neither MS Excel or Openoffice Calc can deal with quadrillions (or whatever you call if after trillions) since they have a max of 15 digits.
Let me give you an example: I paid for my internet subscription last week. That came to 2.25 trillion dollars. Now we have a problem: the card payment system kan only deal with up to 1 billion. Yohoo.... OK so I wanted to pay by cheque. It is just that there is a limit on 900 billions for a cheque. That would have meant 3 cheques to pay for 1 thing only. I ended up doing a bank transfer but those can take days now since there are so many forced to use them for all sorts of payments.
Going to do a bit of grocery shopping easily comes to a few trillions and we can basically only use a few shops where we are known and can use cheques.
The daily withdrawal limit (of cash) is 100 billion dollars. Last Friday that amounted to less than 1 USD in "street rate". For that I or Mia go to the bank every day...
On Saturday we went to Donnybrook Racecourse to watch some motocross and stock car racing. Paid entrance fee using a cheque and assumed that the bar/resto would also accept cheques. Nope. So we have cash for 2 drinks and then what happens when the kids want ice-cream or drink or something? You guess it, crying kids and an irritated father. We noticed too late that just about everyone else had brought their own coolerboxes.
As for inflation it is now so fast that quite a few businesses no longer can cope - by the time they need to re-stock the prices are higher than what they charged for the goods.
This will not stop until the politic impassé in the country is resolved. No matter who you claim won the second round of elections Zimbabwe's economy will not become "normal" until you get support from international organisations such as the World Bank, IMF etc. And that will not happen until these organisations, donors and others are satisfied that a credible and reliable government exists, one that they are willing to enter into agreements with.
So for whatever it is worth I hope the ongoing negotiations quickly come to some sort of result that we and the world can accept. Some interesting links:
http://www.zwnews.com/issuefull.cfm?ArticleID=19143
http://www.swedenabroad.com/Page____73845.aspx (download the july newsletter)
http://www.zimonline.co.za/Article.aspx?ArticleId=3421
Contrary to what one might think it is not amusing to be a trillionaire.It is rather depressing actually. We are now in a situation where neither the banks, the shops or any accounting software can manage the number of zero's involved in ordinary shopping. I also hear that neither MS Excel or Openoffice Calc can deal with quadrillions (or whatever you call if after trillions) since they have a max of 15 digits.
Let me give you an example: I paid for my internet subscription last week. That came to 2.25 trillion dollars. Now we have a problem: the card payment system kan only deal with up to 1 billion. Yohoo.... OK so I wanted to pay by cheque. It is just that there is a limit on 900 billions for a cheque. That would have meant 3 cheques to pay for 1 thing only. I ended up doing a bank transfer but those can take days now since there are so many forced to use them for all sorts of payments.
Going to do a bit of grocery shopping easily comes to a few trillions and we can basically only use a few shops where we are known and can use cheques.
The daily withdrawal limit (of cash) is 100 billion dollars. Last Friday that amounted to less than 1 USD in "street rate". For that I or Mia go to the bank every day...
On Saturday we went to Donnybrook Racecourse to watch some motocross and stock car racing. Paid entrance fee using a cheque and assumed that the bar/resto would also accept cheques. Nope. So we have cash for 2 drinks and then what happens when the kids want ice-cream or drink or something? You guess it, crying kids and an irritated father. We noticed too late that just about everyone else had brought their own coolerboxes.
As for inflation it is now so fast that quite a few businesses no longer can cope - by the time they need to re-stock the prices are higher than what they charged for the goods.
This will not stop until the politic impassé in the country is resolved. No matter who you claim won the second round of elections Zimbabwe's economy will not become "normal" until you get support from international organisations such as the World Bank, IMF etc. And that will not happen until these organisations, donors and others are satisfied that a credible and reliable government exists, one that they are willing to enter into agreements with.
So for whatever it is worth I hope the ongoing negotiations quickly come to some sort of result that we and the world can accept. Some interesting links:
http://www.zwnews.com/issuefull.cfm?ArticleID=19143
http://www.swedenabroad.com/Page____73845.aspx (download the july newsletter)
http://www.zimonline.co.za/Article.aspx?ArticleId=3421
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Techno blog
Just have to be a bit "over the top" about how well the latest version of Kubuntu is working. Now I have also added Virtualbox and can run Windows XP and Vista within my Linux environment without reboots etc., good for support to those who are using those (yes, I know they are the majority by far....)
And that means I can use one of the few apps I have really been missing, Float's Mobile Agent, to sort out phonebook and such on my SonyEricsson phone. In XP (works better than Vista) within Kubuntu. Great! And test whatever antivirus etc anyone might need, any problems arise I can take a "snapshot" first and then roll back to that later.
Yep, I am excited still after some 25 years in this business over stuff like that...
And that means I can use one of the few apps I have really been missing, Float's Mobile Agent, to sort out phonebook and such on my SonyEricsson phone. In XP (works better than Vista) within Kubuntu. Great! And test whatever antivirus etc anyone might need, any problems arise I can take a "snapshot" first and then roll back to that later.
Yep, I am excited still after some 25 years in this business over stuff like that...
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Photos from the Kenya - Zimbabwe drive
Just a few photos taken while in Kenya and on the drive back to Harare, Zimbabwe
photos
photos
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
5 days driving through East-Central Africa
Back in Harare after a drive with both ups and downs from Nairobi, Kenya to Harare via Tanzania and Zambia. Round 3700 - 4000 km in 5 days..
I think I can safely say that we experienced both the best and the worst sides of this type of long travels and the way people can act towards you.
The traffic situation in Nairobi is the worst I have ever experienced and I will be happy if I never have to experience anything worse. A kind of permanent traffic jam and it can easy take 45 minutes or more just to move from one place to another. Even though we started driving before 5 am to avoid morning traffic it was still tough to get out of town and onto the road towards the border.
Once we reached the border we got stuck for around 2.5 hours.. mainly cause the car we drove had to be "exported" out from Kenya due to it having been "temporarily imported" for such a long time. Waiting in the heat forever was irritating but one of those things you just have to endure.
After that we were making good progress towards Arusha over the Masaii-plains when after an hour or so we hear and feel that one tyre is rapidly losing air. Great, the first flat already. Get all tools out and start removing the flat etc. surrounded by a small crowd of incredibly dirty sheepherding kids.
And now is when the problems begin.. the car in question, an Isuzu KB280 D/Cab, has the sparewheel sitting under the car at the back. Using a hoisting mechanism one is supposed to lower it and then retrieve it. It is "only" that the whole thing refuse to budge more than a quarter round or so.The wheel is definitely not moving. Finally I heave with all might and - the tip of the lever breaks...
Now what to do? I manage to get the broken part out but now the lever does not fit proper and we are getting nowhere. I flag down a truck that is on its way up towards the border and explain our situation, hoping perhaps they have the same type of lever. As it happens they don't but they have plenty more tools than we do. One of manage to hammer the tip of the lever back to shape and then all 3 of us try. And we all agree that it is stuck and the only thing that will happen with more force is that we break the tip once more. Now what to do, we can't drive some 20 km to Arusha on the rim.
One of the guys come up with the idea that it might be possible to remove the whole mechanism with wheel and all from under the car. He crawls under and slowly but surely manage to undo all the bolts and Hurrah! Roughly 1 hour after we stopped the sparewheel is finally free for use. I profusly thank the 2 guys for all help and the amount of time and sweat they sacrifised for us. I hand them some money (tanzania shilling that we dont have too much of yet).
This can serve as one of many examples of the best sides of traveling through Africa and interact with Africans. People are often friendly, unhurried and willing to assist and help whenever they can.
Once we got the tyre fixed in Arusha (new tube, the old had more or less disintegrated) we continued to Moshi. The city lies at the foot of Kilimanjaro, unfortunately very cloudy weather with some rain meant we did not really see more than the lower slopes this time. We found a nice small hotel where we basically collapsed, worn down after a tough first day on the road. After a shower and a dinner (of course we got the waiter that could have been in Fawlty Towers) we crashed in bed to get well deserved sleep.
Next day was completely different. We just drive on along good roads down towards Chalinze where you then either turn down towards Dar es Salaam or up towards the mountains and the borders to Malawi or Zambia. I manage to get hold of old friend Darrin who runs a camping/lodge between Mikumi and Iringa and we made it our goal for the day even though he would not be there. A nice drive through Mikumi National Park where we saw giraffe, elephants and assorted smaller game along the way ended the day.
It is just about dusk when we turn off the road and in to Baoabab Valley. I had not been there since 2001 and I am well aware that it has had problems since but also that they started refurbishing last year. Was hoping for the best so that Mia would not be too disappointed.
Only problem is that the place seems totally empty! After some hooting 2 nice and friendly masaii guys show up, Steven and Jimmi. The situation is that the manager Eric apparently has left for Dar to seek medical treatment, the cook too but to get some leave and the "vice-manager" Oria is in the nearest village to get malaria-treatment.. OK. I explain to Steven that we know Darrin and he has promised us "the River Banda" for a friendly price (Baobab Valley Camp is right next to Ruaha River). Steven carries our suitcase down to the rather grand River Banda, it has got a huge bed and is semi-open to the river. Sadly no power as the generator stopped working and Steven doesn't know how to fix. We refresh with an icecold shower and chill a bit when suddenly the generator roars to life! Only nothing changes in our banda... I go up to the restaurant/bar area and find that Steven had got help from 3 gentlemen who stopped to camp for the night.
Too bad then that our banda is not connected - and that Mia finds a small scorpion in the handbasin. Hm. We kill it and you bet that the sheets were thoroughly shaken before going to bed.
While Mia with some assistance from Steven makes something with eggs to eat (once we fixed that the gas was finished in the kitchen) I go and check on the other visitors. It is hard to believe but on the parking stand 3 Morris Minor ranging in model from -49 to -65 (I think it was).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morris_Minor
In these cars a company of 6 are travelling and planning to drive these oldtimers from Cape Town to London! Beat that! I gave them some information on Dar where they aimed to arrive next day and generally on driving in Tanzania (good roads, plenty of police, roadblocks and villages to slow your progress). Fantastic! Eventually I managed to find some info on the net about their MAD Odyssey.
http://www.morrisminoroc.co.uk/index.php?page=406
Next morning Oria is back and we chat about old memories from Dar, how to continue to improve the Valley and such while Mia makes some breakfast. Then it is off towards our next goal, the border between Tanzania and Zambia. After much thought we decided to drive that route since we count on it taking one day less and we are a bit tired of travelling (spent nearly a week in Nairobi before starting the drive home). We get to the border as the sun starts to set and this is not only one of but THE most chaotic border I have ever experienced.
Luckily I know what to do, what documents to sort and what needs to be paid so in the end it did not take all that long actually. We drive on and are now faced with the next problem: where to stop for the night. Nightdriving in Africa is generally best avoided and on these truck- and busroutes definitely not recommended. I called a friend in Lusaka and asked for advice, he recommended the small town Mpika som 300 km from the border.
And now we sadly run into problems again. We had just passed the turnoff to some small place and were starting to worry over how far we had left, if nothing else because it was quite some time since we filled up diesel. We saw a number of buses that had stopped on the side of the road (it is by now pitch dark) and decide to stop and ask someone. Mia turns off towards the "oncoming" side of the road as the drive side is full of parked buses. She then sees a man in reflecting clothes waving frantically from the "drive side" of the road. Thinking it is police or something waving to her (you have no idea of the amount of roadblocks we had been through) she crosses the highway. From behind comes a bus that did not manage to break in time but hits us in the back. It is of course the bus the man is waving for...
Now follows the less nice side of people in Africa. Out of nowhere a sort of mob quickly gathers that are trying to get in the car, get me and Mia out and for some reason seem set to either steal or beat us up or both. It feels rather nasty and Mia is also very upset and trying to argue about who's fault is the accident. I manage to get round the car to her side and a police in civilian clothes has also appeared and is trying to calm things down. A bunch of pissed off buspassengers contribute to the commotion as does the fact that quite a few people are obviously drunk.
The police finally manage to quiet things down and we drive the car some 30 meters to a roadblock (why did we not spot that and stop there...).. After this follows hours of discussions, interrogations of the drivers and witnesses, various police get involved (the most senior notably drunk), negotiations etc before we take our car together with the bus driver and police to the nearest station, 45 km in the wrong direction. After paying fines comes the next problem: there is nowhere to make a copy of license and documents in the middle of the night. Argh.
After some discussion we agree with the busdriver to "codrive" to Mpika and meet the buscompany agent there. He can then copy the documents early next morning, give us the originals and then we continue. Fine, we get there, meet the guy, are shown to a motel where we crash into bed, completely wasted, at 2.30 am.
Following a quick breakfast some hours later we meet up with Peter at the fuel station. Now we find out there is no power in Mpika and it is said to stay that way - for 2 days until Monday... aaargh once more. Eventually we agree that Peter comes with us some 400 km to a larger city where he can copy documents and then meet his boss. We manage to copy along the way and then part with Peter. Once we hit Lusaka at the end of this day it is all about shopping a bit, eat some food and just watch TV and catch up on lost sleep. The last leg home the next day goes via the small Kariba Dam border, a very conscious choice by me as I know buses and trucks are not allowed via that border. Thankfully the drive is very non-dramatic and we arrive home in good order.
Having arrived home I noticed that 5 days in a car was an excellent way to mature a Gouda cheese we bought in Nairobi, yum. The children are still in Nairobi and will be home in a couple of days.
Zimbabwe is in a sad state and the circus surrounding the election outcome continues. While we were gone the rate for 1 USD fell from round 65 million zimdollar to around 115 million.. and a bag of peanuts cost 73 millions last I checked. A lunch sandwich with cheese and sandwich meat costs 70 million. Welcome to Ha-ha-harare, fun capital of Southern Africa.
Will scan and post some photos from the trip later!
I think I can safely say that we experienced both the best and the worst sides of this type of long travels and the way people can act towards you.
The traffic situation in Nairobi is the worst I have ever experienced and I will be happy if I never have to experience anything worse. A kind of permanent traffic jam and it can easy take 45 minutes or more just to move from one place to another. Even though we started driving before 5 am to avoid morning traffic it was still tough to get out of town and onto the road towards the border.
Once we reached the border we got stuck for around 2.5 hours.. mainly cause the car we drove had to be "exported" out from Kenya due to it having been "temporarily imported" for such a long time. Waiting in the heat forever was irritating but one of those things you just have to endure.
After that we were making good progress towards Arusha over the Masaii-plains when after an hour or so we hear and feel that one tyre is rapidly losing air. Great, the first flat already. Get all tools out and start removing the flat etc. surrounded by a small crowd of incredibly dirty sheepherding kids.
And now is when the problems begin.. the car in question, an Isuzu KB280 D/Cab, has the sparewheel sitting under the car at the back. Using a hoisting mechanism one is supposed to lower it and then retrieve it. It is "only" that the whole thing refuse to budge more than a quarter round or so.The wheel is definitely not moving. Finally I heave with all might and - the tip of the lever breaks...
Now what to do? I manage to get the broken part out but now the lever does not fit proper and we are getting nowhere. I flag down a truck that is on its way up towards the border and explain our situation, hoping perhaps they have the same type of lever. As it happens they don't but they have plenty more tools than we do. One of manage to hammer the tip of the lever back to shape and then all 3 of us try. And we all agree that it is stuck and the only thing that will happen with more force is that we break the tip once more. Now what to do, we can't drive some 20 km to Arusha on the rim.
One of the guys come up with the idea that it might be possible to remove the whole mechanism with wheel and all from under the car. He crawls under and slowly but surely manage to undo all the bolts and Hurrah! Roughly 1 hour after we stopped the sparewheel is finally free for use. I profusly thank the 2 guys for all help and the amount of time and sweat they sacrifised for us. I hand them some money (tanzania shilling that we dont have too much of yet).
This can serve as one of many examples of the best sides of traveling through Africa and interact with Africans. People are often friendly, unhurried and willing to assist and help whenever they can.
Once we got the tyre fixed in Arusha (new tube, the old had more or less disintegrated) we continued to Moshi. The city lies at the foot of Kilimanjaro, unfortunately very cloudy weather with some rain meant we did not really see more than the lower slopes this time. We found a nice small hotel where we basically collapsed, worn down after a tough first day on the road. After a shower and a dinner (of course we got the waiter that could have been in Fawlty Towers) we crashed in bed to get well deserved sleep.
Next day was completely different. We just drive on along good roads down towards Chalinze where you then either turn down towards Dar es Salaam or up towards the mountains and the borders to Malawi or Zambia. I manage to get hold of old friend Darrin who runs a camping/lodge between Mikumi and Iringa and we made it our goal for the day even though he would not be there. A nice drive through Mikumi National Park where we saw giraffe, elephants and assorted smaller game along the way ended the day.
It is just about dusk when we turn off the road and in to Baoabab Valley. I had not been there since 2001 and I am well aware that it has had problems since but also that they started refurbishing last year. Was hoping for the best so that Mia would not be too disappointed.
Only problem is that the place seems totally empty! After some hooting 2 nice and friendly masaii guys show up, Steven and Jimmi. The situation is that the manager Eric apparently has left for Dar to seek medical treatment, the cook too but to get some leave and the "vice-manager" Oria is in the nearest village to get malaria-treatment.. OK. I explain to Steven that we know Darrin and he has promised us "the River Banda" for a friendly price (Baobab Valley Camp is right next to Ruaha River). Steven carries our suitcase down to the rather grand River Banda, it has got a huge bed and is semi-open to the river. Sadly no power as the generator stopped working and Steven doesn't know how to fix. We refresh with an icecold shower and chill a bit when suddenly the generator roars to life! Only nothing changes in our banda... I go up to the restaurant/bar area and find that Steven had got help from 3 gentlemen who stopped to camp for the night.
Too bad then that our banda is not connected - and that Mia finds a small scorpion in the handbasin. Hm. We kill it and you bet that the sheets were thoroughly shaken before going to bed.
While Mia with some assistance from Steven makes something with eggs to eat (once we fixed that the gas was finished in the kitchen) I go and check on the other visitors. It is hard to believe but on the parking stand 3 Morris Minor ranging in model from -49 to -65 (I think it was).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morris_Minor
In these cars a company of 6 are travelling and planning to drive these oldtimers from Cape Town to London! Beat that! I gave them some information on Dar where they aimed to arrive next day and generally on driving in Tanzania (good roads, plenty of police, roadblocks and villages to slow your progress). Fantastic! Eventually I managed to find some info on the net about their MAD Odyssey.
http://www.morrisminoroc.co.uk/index.php?page=406
Next morning Oria is back and we chat about old memories from Dar, how to continue to improve the Valley and such while Mia makes some breakfast. Then it is off towards our next goal, the border between Tanzania and Zambia. After much thought we decided to drive that route since we count on it taking one day less and we are a bit tired of travelling (spent nearly a week in Nairobi before starting the drive home). We get to the border as the sun starts to set and this is not only one of but THE most chaotic border I have ever experienced.
Luckily I know what to do, what documents to sort and what needs to be paid so in the end it did not take all that long actually. We drive on and are now faced with the next problem: where to stop for the night. Nightdriving in Africa is generally best avoided and on these truck- and busroutes definitely not recommended. I called a friend in Lusaka and asked for advice, he recommended the small town Mpika som 300 km from the border.
And now we sadly run into problems again. We had just passed the turnoff to some small place and were starting to worry over how far we had left, if nothing else because it was quite some time since we filled up diesel. We saw a number of buses that had stopped on the side of the road (it is by now pitch dark) and decide to stop and ask someone. Mia turns off towards the "oncoming" side of the road as the drive side is full of parked buses. She then sees a man in reflecting clothes waving frantically from the "drive side" of the road. Thinking it is police or something waving to her (you have no idea of the amount of roadblocks we had been through) she crosses the highway. From behind comes a bus that did not manage to break in time but hits us in the back. It is of course the bus the man is waving for...
Now follows the less nice side of people in Africa. Out of nowhere a sort of mob quickly gathers that are trying to get in the car, get me and Mia out and for some reason seem set to either steal or beat us up or both. It feels rather nasty and Mia is also very upset and trying to argue about who's fault is the accident. I manage to get round the car to her side and a police in civilian clothes has also appeared and is trying to calm things down. A bunch of pissed off buspassengers contribute to the commotion as does the fact that quite a few people are obviously drunk.
The police finally manage to quiet things down and we drive the car some 30 meters to a roadblock (why did we not spot that and stop there...).. After this follows hours of discussions, interrogations of the drivers and witnesses, various police get involved (the most senior notably drunk), negotiations etc before we take our car together with the bus driver and police to the nearest station, 45 km in the wrong direction. After paying fines comes the next problem: there is nowhere to make a copy of license and documents in the middle of the night. Argh.
After some discussion we agree with the busdriver to "codrive" to Mpika and meet the buscompany agent there. He can then copy the documents early next morning, give us the originals and then we continue. Fine, we get there, meet the guy, are shown to a motel where we crash into bed, completely wasted, at 2.30 am.
Following a quick breakfast some hours later we meet up with Peter at the fuel station. Now we find out there is no power in Mpika and it is said to stay that way - for 2 days until Monday... aaargh once more. Eventually we agree that Peter comes with us some 400 km to a larger city where he can copy documents and then meet his boss. We manage to copy along the way and then part with Peter. Once we hit Lusaka at the end of this day it is all about shopping a bit, eat some food and just watch TV and catch up on lost sleep. The last leg home the next day goes via the small Kariba Dam border, a very conscious choice by me as I know buses and trucks are not allowed via that border. Thankfully the drive is very non-dramatic and we arrive home in good order.
Having arrived home I noticed that 5 days in a car was an excellent way to mature a Gouda cheese we bought in Nairobi, yum. The children are still in Nairobi and will be home in a couple of days.
Zimbabwe is in a sad state and the circus surrounding the election outcome continues. While we were gone the rate for 1 USD fell from round 65 million zimdollar to around 115 million.. and a bag of peanuts cost 73 millions last I checked. A lunch sandwich with cheese and sandwich meat costs 70 million. Welcome to Ha-ha-harare, fun capital of Southern Africa.
Will scan and post some photos from the trip later!
Thursday, April 03, 2008
Election fever, waiting and zimflation
If you have not noticed that Zimbabwe held elections for Parliament, Senate, Local council and President last Saturday you must either be off this planet or on a "no media for months"-diet.
So we now stand in a historical scenario where the ruling Zanu has lost the majority in Parliament, yet there is no celebration going on, no jubilations on the streets etc. Why? Because everyone knows that the real power in Zimbabwe lies not in Parliament (or Senate) but with the executive Presidency. And on the outcome of that election no official figures have been given.
So we wait and we wait. In the lack of information the air is thick with rumours from various coup scenarios to rigging to outright win for one candidate or the other. Did I mention negotiations between the 2 major parties? Just check www.zimonline.co.za or www.zwnews.com to find a few of them. The Herald on www.herald.co.zw claims it will need a second run-off election and given their state as "official media" here that is what most people think.
If that will happen or is true remains to be seen... we wait and we wait.
In the meantime we are all billionaires. I kid thee not when I tell you that onions cost 20 million. Each. Imported but even so. A cheap lunch on the town is around 200 millions. We have had more cash-crisis than I care to remember - meaning it is difficult to actually find notes/cash enough for your daily transactions. A reasonably large shopping of groceries will easily hit 3 billions. I like the guy who waved a placard around in a photo "I am a starving billionaire".
The house is full of money that has become unusable, from 10 dollar notes up to 10 000. The kids play with them, what else can they be used for?
What does over 100 000 % inflation mean? One way to illustrate: end of December we were allowed to withdraw 50 million a day from the bank, roughly enough for a few groceries. Now we are allowed 500 million a day and that will take you just as far. Or 2 lunches or 25 tomatoes. Now THAT is inflation to you - in 3 months.
So we now stand in a historical scenario where the ruling Zanu has lost the majority in Parliament, yet there is no celebration going on, no jubilations on the streets etc. Why? Because everyone knows that the real power in Zimbabwe lies not in Parliament (or Senate) but with the executive Presidency. And on the outcome of that election no official figures have been given.
So we wait and we wait. In the lack of information the air is thick with rumours from various coup scenarios to rigging to outright win for one candidate or the other. Did I mention negotiations between the 2 major parties? Just check www.zimonline.co.za or www.zwnews.com to find a few of them. The Herald on www.herald.co.zw claims it will need a second run-off election and given their state as "official media" here that is what most people think.
If that will happen or is true remains to be seen... we wait and we wait.
In the meantime we are all billionaires. I kid thee not when I tell you that onions cost 20 million. Each. Imported but even so. A cheap lunch on the town is around 200 millions. We have had more cash-crisis than I care to remember - meaning it is difficult to actually find notes/cash enough for your daily transactions. A reasonably large shopping of groceries will easily hit 3 billions. I like the guy who waved a placard around in a photo "I am a starving billionaire".
The house is full of money that has become unusable, from 10 dollar notes up to 10 000. The kids play with them, what else can they be used for?
What does over 100 000 % inflation mean? One way to illustrate: end of December we were allowed to withdraw 50 million a day from the bank, roughly enough for a few groceries. Now we are allowed 500 million a day and that will take you just as far. Or 2 lunches or 25 tomatoes. Now THAT is inflation to you - in 3 months.
Sunday, March 02, 2008
Some times the going is tough
Have been quiet for quite some time but have not felt any inspiration for one reason or the other. Survived a nice Xmas and New Year's though so am back now!
It has been a bit tough lately, is like a lot of things seem to be happening that are negative. Maybe I need to do something about my karma, if anyone remembers that old way of thinking.
My grandmother died early February, 93 years old. She was a lovely old lady that I was very fond of and I will miss her. Bless you Farmor!
Then I have been struggling with this system installation in Zambia and I can not remember a scenario where it has been so complicated or where so much has gone wrong in one and the same project.
I am now for the t
hird time since early February in Lusaka and still struggling to get this even installed. That is unique for me...at least as far as I can remember.
Reminds me of Murphy's Law alright cause the chain of things that have gone wrong here feels like "someone is out to get you" sort of.
Have a look at this "thing", it is actually the sink/basin where I am staying.
It has been a bit tough lately, is like a lot of things seem to be happening that are negative. Maybe I need to do something about my karma, if anyone remembers that old way of thinking.
My grandmother died early February, 93 years old. She was a lovely old lady that I was very fond of and I will miss her. Bless you Farmor!
Then I have been struggling with this system installation in Zambia and I can not remember a scenario where it has been so complicated or where so much has gone wrong in one and the same project.
I am now for the t
hird time since early February in Lusaka and still struggling to get this even installed. That is unique for me...at least as far as I can remember.Reminds me of Murphy's Law alright cause the chain of things that have gone wrong here feels like "someone is out to get you" sort of.
Have a look at this "thing", it is actually the sink/basin where I am staying.
Thursday, December 13, 2007
Lost during transport
I am referring to me, not luggage though I was more than a bit nervous that would happen.
Let me tell you one thing about driving in Johannesburg: do not take a wrong turn, do not get lost (that was two). At least not without a cellphone, money on your phone account and someone to call who can help you out.
I was on my way from Centurion, small place between Pretoria (Tshwane) and the airport in Johannesburg. I had more than 2 hours before departure of my flight. BUT I took a wrong turn and by the time I realised it was I not only deep in Joburg city but stranded in a massive 4-lane traffic jam!
Lucky for me I got hold of Ishmael who lives down there and got some assistance. It took me 2 visits to a filling station and 2 more traffic jams and more than 1 hour before I found myself at the airport though. Now suddenly late!
So I am stressed, sweaty and thirsty when I get to a check-in that is one big confusion. Manage to get fast-tracked, fine. BUT that does not work on security scan and Passport control that both move at snail pace.
By the time I actually get to the departure lounge the plane is boarding (and it was, believe you me). I just about made it and was more than relieved when my suitcase full of all sorts of items (cheese among them) showed up in Harare.
Lesson to be learnt: check the route and make sure you have PLENTY of extra time if you are flying from Johannesburg.
Let me tell you one thing about driving in Johannesburg: do not take a wrong turn, do not get lost (that was two). At least not without a cellphone, money on your phone account and someone to call who can help you out.
I was on my way from Centurion, small place between Pretoria (Tshwane) and the airport in Johannesburg. I had more than 2 hours before departure of my flight. BUT I took a wrong turn and by the time I realised it was I not only deep in Joburg city but stranded in a massive 4-lane traffic jam!
Lucky for me I got hold of Ishmael who lives down there and got some assistance. It took me 2 visits to a filling station and 2 more traffic jams and more than 1 hour before I found myself at the airport though. Now suddenly late!
So I am stressed, sweaty and thirsty when I get to a check-in that is one big confusion. Manage to get fast-tracked, fine. BUT that does not work on security scan and Passport control that both move at snail pace.
By the time I actually get to the departure lounge the plane is boarding (and it was, believe you me). I just about made it and was more than relieved when my suitcase full of all sorts of items (cheese among them) showed up in Harare.
Lesson to be learnt: check the route and make sure you have PLENTY of extra time if you are flying from Johannesburg.
Thursday, December 06, 2007
The year of the virus
For me the year 2007 will be the year the virus became a real problem. I am not talking of any human or animal virus (HIV or bird-flu) but computer virus.
Despite putting more efforts and money in anti-virus software, firewalls, spam tools etc to protect the users I support and work with I have never seen such a flood of malicious and difficult to eradicate virus as this year. Quite a few times I have had to use a bootable Linux CD (google on Knoppix if you are geeky enough to be interested) to save a Windows PC infected by something that is so "deep" in the PC that one can barely do anything without it taking over.
And one very strange thing: the more remote the location, the worse virus. It is like they come from the wilderness somehow! A remote district in Niassa province in Mozambique and the PC is crammed full of trojans, virus and you name it all. Where do they come from when the PC is like the only computer for miles??
Half of the times (it feels like) when my USB memory has been used somewhere and I put it in my Linux PC I see files that should not be there and that are virus. It feels sooo good to just delete them and note they can not even try to get to my system. Though I fear the day will come with the growing popularity of Linux as desktop OS.
Otherwise I have a new laptop thanks to friends in Sweden who helped out with the logistics. I now use a Dell Vostro 1400 and am most happy with it. Have blown the preinstalled Vista all the way to where I think it should be - off my harddisk!
Here is a review by a user, not exactly same config though. No webcam for me (pointless here) and just Intel graphics card.
Despite putting more efforts and money in anti-virus software, firewalls, spam tools etc to protect the users I support and work with I have never seen such a flood of malicious and difficult to eradicate virus as this year. Quite a few times I have had to use a bootable Linux CD (google on Knoppix if you are geeky enough to be interested) to save a Windows PC infected by something that is so "deep" in the PC that one can barely do anything without it taking over.
And one very strange thing: the more remote the location, the worse virus. It is like they come from the wilderness somehow! A remote district in Niassa province in Mozambique and the PC is crammed full of trojans, virus and you name it all. Where do they come from when the PC is like the only computer for miles??
Half of the times (it feels like) when my USB memory has been used somewhere and I put it in my Linux PC I see files that should not be there and that are virus. It feels sooo good to just delete them and note they can not even try to get to my system. Though I fear the day will come with the growing popularity of Linux as desktop OS.
Otherwise I have a new laptop thanks to friends in Sweden who helped out with the logistics. I now use a Dell Vostro 1400 and am most happy with it. Have blown the preinstalled Vista all the way to where I think it should be - off my harddisk!
Here is a review by a user, not exactly same config though. No webcam for me (pointless here) and just Intel graphics card.
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
The year of Linux as Windows replacement?
For those who for various reasons do not want to think "out of the box" or who sees Windows as "inevitable" or "it comes with the PC so it is free" the following could be interesting reading:
Wal-Mart in USA sells out 10 000 Linux $200 PCs in 2 weeks
Dell is now selling PCs with Ubuntu Linux preinstalled and Lenovo (old IBM) has announced they are going to sell PCs with Suse Linux.
For those who might want to see how the gOS (Google OS more or less) in the Wal-Mart PC looks here is a link.
I think it is slowly gaining momentum. Several reasons, one being that Windows Vista is a nice-looking but beastly system, another is cost-related and I think also that many are getting sick of having to fight virus and spyware and younameit with extra software on a daily basis. Not to mention hardly being allowed to reinstall your computer should you need.
Finally if you think today's computers are boring have a look at this! One just have to love the person's dedication if nothing else...
Wal-Mart in USA sells out 10 000 Linux $200 PCs in 2 weeks
Dell is now selling PCs with Ubuntu Linux preinstalled and Lenovo (old IBM) has announced they are going to sell PCs with Suse Linux.
For those who might want to see how the gOS (Google OS more or less) in the Wal-Mart PC looks here is a link.
I think it is slowly gaining momentum. Several reasons, one being that Windows Vista is a nice-looking but beastly system, another is cost-related and I think also that many are getting sick of having to fight virus and spyware and younameit with extra software on a daily basis. Not to mention hardly being allowed to reinstall your computer should you need.
Finally if you think today's computers are boring have a look at this! One just have to love the person's dedication if nothing else...
Sunday, November 04, 2007
Meltingpot in Maputo
Seems it now is more of a monthly thing to write somethng on the blog but the truth of the matter (as I see it at least) is that I work and/or travel to an extent where the remaining energy has to be spent on family life rather than more computer time.
As things go I am in Maputo, capital of Mozambique, as I blog this and for the first time in a very long time happen to have a weekend "in between", dedicated to nothing. So am sitting by the poolside at Terminus Hotel watching kids having a gas and just chilling myself. And with wi-fi hotspot and a draft Laurentina "clara" (clear, not stout) just being served life could be worse.
Well - it seems everytime I travel something happens at home. This time Eric had a bad cough and the night before I left had over 39C fever. So Mia takes him straight from airport to clinic where they are worried enough to keep him for observation due to the fever. Those are the times when you hate having to leave and drop everything in your loved one's lap. Thank Oden and Freya she is a strong woman and can cope.
So after a thoroughly stressful Friday with my recommended taxi driver Micas - who do speak about 3 words English and I speak about 3 words Portuguese but we manage. Somehow. I stop by this little "hole in the wall" restaurant opposite the hotel to have a well-deserved cool beer. It is HOT in Maputo this time of the year. So I ask if I can have a chair next to these guys who seem to have been enjoying their day since lunchtime or so.
Next thing my "neighbour" ask me where I am from. Stating Sweden he exclaims "Hej du" and tells me he is from Chile but lived in Turkku, Finland before coming to Moz some 10 years ago. His tennispartner Torsten is German and only the third guy is actually from Moz. When I tell them I am sort of "stopping over" on my way to Lichinga Torsten shouts (a bit high he was) "do you then know the King of Lichinga, Hans"? I tell him that I had dinner with Hans twice a couple of weeks ago - in Maputo.
Later that same evening I go to a Thai restarant close to the hotel. I am still a bit tired and not really up to go clubbing so I just have a nice meal and then decide to sleep my "jetlag" off. I could post a separate thing about the trip but let's just shorten it to say I spent 12 hours getting from Harare to Maputo and was dead meat by the time I arrived. As I finished my meal these two young guys are looking for a table and I hear they speak Swedish. So I tell them to take my table as I am about to leave. We chat a bit and when they hear I am going to Lichinga they ask if I heard of this boy from Sweden who study distance at the International School in Maputo. Yes... I know Anton who happens to be the son of the SCC manager Gunnel in Lichinga...
On Saturday I call my old friend from Zimbabwe, Emmerson, and we spend most of the day together at the seaside with his wife while frantically trying to call Zim (network headaches).
That is Maputo - sit down somewhere and you are likely to meet someone who knows someone and so on. Love this place and so much wish the family could have come with me!
As things go I am in Maputo, capital of Mozambique, as I blog this and for the first time in a very long time happen to have a weekend "in between", dedicated to nothing. So am sitting by the poolside at Terminus Hotel watching kids having a gas and just chilling myself. And with wi-fi hotspot and a draft Laurentina "clara" (clear, not stout) just being served life could be worse.
Well - it seems everytime I travel something happens at home. This time Eric had a bad cough and the night before I left had over 39C fever. So Mia takes him straight from airport to clinic where they are worried enough to keep him for observation due to the fever. Those are the times when you hate having to leave and drop everything in your loved one's lap. Thank Oden and Freya she is a strong woman and can cope.
So after a thoroughly stressful Friday with my recommended taxi driver Micas - who do speak about 3 words English and I speak about 3 words Portuguese but we manage. Somehow. I stop by this little "hole in the wall" restaurant opposite the hotel to have a well-deserved cool beer. It is HOT in Maputo this time of the year. So I ask if I can have a chair next to these guys who seem to have been enjoying their day since lunchtime or so.
Next thing my "neighbour" ask me where I am from. Stating Sweden he exclaims "Hej du" and tells me he is from Chile but lived in Turkku, Finland before coming to Moz some 10 years ago. His tennispartner Torsten is German and only the third guy is actually from Moz. When I tell them I am sort of "stopping over" on my way to Lichinga Torsten shouts (a bit high he was) "do you then know the King of Lichinga, Hans"? I tell him that I had dinner with Hans twice a couple of weeks ago - in Maputo.
Later that same evening I go to a Thai restarant close to the hotel. I am still a bit tired and not really up to go clubbing so I just have a nice meal and then decide to sleep my "jetlag" off. I could post a separate thing about the trip but let's just shorten it to say I spent 12 hours getting from Harare to Maputo and was dead meat by the time I arrived. As I finished my meal these two young guys are looking for a table and I hear they speak Swedish. So I tell them to take my table as I am about to leave. We chat a bit and when they hear I am going to Lichinga they ask if I heard of this boy from Sweden who study distance at the International School in Maputo. Yes... I know Anton who happens to be the son of the SCC manager Gunnel in Lichinga...
On Saturday I call my old friend from Zimbabwe, Emmerson, and we spend most of the day together at the seaside with his wife while frantically trying to call Zim (network headaches).
That is Maputo - sit down somewhere and you are likely to meet someone who knows someone and so on. Love this place and so much wish the family could have come with me!
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
Telephone & Bluetooth craze
Instead of writing about travels and logistical nightmares a few lines about our ongoing "cellphone madness" - or maybe I should say mine.
After Mia's very nice W300i arrived I inherited her "old" Z520i. Nothing wrong with it whatsoever but I guess the old "I also want" got me in it's grip. I got the chance when I heard that friend Anna T was going to Sweden for a short visit and bought a secondhand Z550i on www.blocket.se. Now all these have Bluetooth built-in but none of our 2 PCs have. So I asked friend Håkan Lutz to shop for me a usb-bluetooth "pin" and 2 bluetooth handsfree.
This he promptly did and Anna came back with a bag full of "goodies". It took me a day to get our Kubuntu Linux based laptops configured and the handsfree paired with the respective phones. And this is really neat - transfer of music for Mia is now really easy and for me files or software. All is neatly built-in to Linux and so far have not added any drivers or software. Though now I have to figure out how to synch my Kontact data with the phone calendar.
The story might continue....
After Mia's very nice W300i arrived I inherited her "old" Z520i. Nothing wrong with it whatsoever but I guess the old "I also want" got me in it's grip. I got the chance when I heard that friend Anna T was going to Sweden for a short visit and bought a secondhand Z550i on www.blocket.se. Now all these have Bluetooth built-in but none of our 2 PCs have. So I asked friend Håkan Lutz to shop for me a usb-bluetooth "pin" and 2 bluetooth handsfree.
This he promptly did and Anna came back with a bag full of "goodies". It took me a day to get our Kubuntu Linux based laptops configured and the handsfree paired with the respective phones. And this is really neat - transfer of music for Mia is now really easy and for me files or software. All is neatly built-in to Linux and so far have not added any drivers or software. Though now I have to figure out how to synch my Kontact data with the phone calendar.
The story might continue....
Friday, September 21, 2007
A wedding and other news
It has again been a long time. Seems this is becoming more of a monthly habit than anything "daily". Well the excuse is travelling and more travelling.
Because of business travel I missed the wedding of Mia's brother Anjos and his (now) wife Dadirayi that took place in Bulawayo. Here some photos.
Otherwise the "drama" was that I managed to secretly buy Mia a new phone in Sweden, a SonyEricsson W300i, and with the aid of 2 persons get it first to Zambia and then Zimbabwe. Thanks Marie and Lloyd for the help! Someone damn near collapsed when I pulled it out. Problem is I like it way too much so regret I did not buy 2.. not that I want the walkman stuff but I really like how it is put together and works. AND it is already off the market, they pump out new models so fast that by the time I decide what I want you can no longer by it... the Z530i is a good example.
Zim is weirder than ever. The shops are very near empty and everything "normal" is either queued for or bought "informal". I came home with Mazoe drink (locally made and very popular) - from Lusaka. Nowhere to be found in Zim. Also from Malawi I brought mealie-meal - zim made... the whole shop was full of Zim pastors shopping frantically! The other day I witnessed a near fight in a shop. Over youghurt. Now if that aint depressing I don't know what is.
Gotta rush, it is Friday and I want to take early day since I fly early Sunday to Lilongwe.
Because of business travel I missed the wedding of Mia's brother Anjos and his (now) wife Dadirayi that took place in Bulawayo. Here some photos.
Otherwise the "drama" was that I managed to secretly buy Mia a new phone in Sweden, a SonyEricsson W300i, and with the aid of 2 persons get it first to Zambia and then Zimbabwe. Thanks Marie and Lloyd for the help! Someone damn near collapsed when I pulled it out. Problem is I like it way too much so regret I did not buy 2.. not that I want the walkman stuff but I really like how it is put together and works. AND it is already off the market, they pump out new models so fast that by the time I decide what I want you can no longer by it... the Z530i is a good example.
Zim is weirder than ever. The shops are very near empty and everything "normal" is either queued for or bought "informal". I came home with Mazoe drink (locally made and very popular) - from Lusaka. Nowhere to be found in Zim. Also from Malawi I brought mealie-meal - zim made... the whole shop was full of Zim pastors shopping frantically! The other day I witnessed a near fight in a shop. Over youghurt. Now if that aint depressing I don't know what is.
Gotta rush, it is Friday and I want to take early day since I fly early Sunday to Lilongwe.
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
Just an update
It has been over a month since anything was written on this blog. There are reasons for that, I have been travelling extensively and spent time both in Mozambique and Zambia. We are all OK though a bad bout of flu hit me, Eric and Mia. It hit a lot of people actually. August has been unusually cold (still cold nights and mornings) and maybe that has something to do with it.
Otherwise we now live in the country of empty shops. There is nearly nothing to be found in the shops apart from cheese, some polony/ham and such products. Forget bread, milk, flour, meat, sugar, cooking oil, drinks, washing powder, most tinned products and so on. The reason for this being price controls - once more. Unrealistic allowed prices coupled with now officially over 7000% inflation have caused a situation where near everything is traded outside the normal system. Let's just say it makes life interesting but rather tiring.
On top of that we had "plumbers" at home. They did one thing right - they cleaned out our hotwater-geyser that had stopped working. Otherwise they managed to create a large hole in the ceiling and reconnect the geyser basically backwards. We have since fixed a new ceiling (about time but even so...) and had a proper plumber reconnect the geyser. To add to that one of our cars is almost constantly parked at the workshop and this makes moving around a problem. Get a lot of cycling exercise lately.
Some photos from home, nothing sensational: Homephotos
Have had my first experiences of Microsoft Windows Vista in some different scenarios and am less than impressed. I am far from the only one, the editor of PC Magazine have given up and gone back to Windows XP and is considering switching to Linux: pcmag
I am increasingly happy with my switch to Kubuntu - no viruses, no intrusions, no spyware. And increasingly tired of "normal" users tendency to hit "OK" whether they have any idea of why or not.
Finally some photos from my youngest brother David's wedding and a link to Anna Tibblin's blogg about Zimbabwe (in Swedish)
Otherwise we now live in the country of empty shops. There is nearly nothing to be found in the shops apart from cheese, some polony/ham and such products. Forget bread, milk, flour, meat, sugar, cooking oil, drinks, washing powder, most tinned products and so on. The reason for this being price controls - once more. Unrealistic allowed prices coupled with now officially over 7000% inflation have caused a situation where near everything is traded outside the normal system. Let's just say it makes life interesting but rather tiring.
On top of that we had "plumbers" at home. They did one thing right - they cleaned out our hotwater-geyser that had stopped working. Otherwise they managed to create a large hole in the ceiling and reconnect the geyser basically backwards. We have since fixed a new ceiling (about time but even so...) and had a proper plumber reconnect the geyser. To add to that one of our cars is almost constantly parked at the workshop and this makes moving around a problem. Get a lot of cycling exercise lately.
Some photos from home, nothing sensational: Homephotos
Have had my first experiences of Microsoft Windows Vista in some different scenarios and am less than impressed. I am far from the only one, the editor of PC Magazine have given up and gone back to Windows XP and is considering switching to Linux: pcmag
I am increasingly happy with my switch to Kubuntu - no viruses, no intrusions, no spyware. And increasingly tired of "normal" users tendency to hit "OK" whether they have any idea of why or not.
Finally some photos from my youngest brother David's wedding and a link to Anna Tibblin's blogg about Zimbabwe (in Swedish)
Thursday, July 19, 2007
Dar es Salaam July -07
After a couple of hectic months we had a week-long break in Dar es Salaam recently. As usual we had a good time and it was great to catch up with friends, hit the beach, eat plenty seafood and enjoy the nice temperature (Harare has been freezing cold since June).
Did not lack drama though. Second night, sleeping over at Darrin's house, Mia woke me up saying she couldn't breathe proper and we had to go to hospital. Which we did, woke up TMJ staff at 2 am. Doctor put her on oxygen and gave x injections to calm down what was some kind of allergic reaction. Home in rented flat around 4 when the mosque starts waking up the faithful.
Next day all was fine until around 4 when she felt it coming back. She took off to TMJ once more and this time they did not let her go until they had taken blood samples and given even more injections. Turns out she had malaria and an infection so no wonder she was not OK. The doctor prescribed a truckload of medicines basically.
That was the end of drama though, from there on just relaxing and running around, eating good food and enjoying ourselves. A week is on the short side but could not be away longer this time around.
You find some photos here
Did not lack drama though. Second night, sleeping over at Darrin's house, Mia woke me up saying she couldn't breathe proper and we had to go to hospital. Which we did, woke up TMJ staff at 2 am. Doctor put her on oxygen and gave x injections to calm down what was some kind of allergic reaction. Home in rented flat around 4 when the mosque starts waking up the faithful.
Next day all was fine until around 4 when she felt it coming back. She took off to TMJ once more and this time they did not let her go until they had taken blood samples and given even more injections. Turns out she had malaria and an infection so no wonder she was not OK. The doctor prescribed a truckload of medicines basically.
That was the end of drama though, from there on just relaxing and running around, eating good food and enjoying ourselves. A week is on the short side but could not be away longer this time around.
You find some photos here
Thursday, May 31, 2007
Terrible twins?
Life has been on the hectic side during the month of May. Have been to Lusaka, Nairobi and Maputo for different reasons and then of course the "normal" work and life in Zimbabwe.I won't tire you with yet another "Air Zimbabwe" disaster description but yes, there was one. >24 hours this time.
Stayed with friends Tom and Susan in Kenya. One morning Susan discovered the men had put on more or less identical outfits, completely unintentionally. So here we are in all our "white men" glory.
Was nice to see Nairobi, a really hectic place though. Trafficjams like I have seen only a few times in my life. It seems to take at least 45 minutes to get from point A to B no matter where or when you are going.
Also had time for a short trip outside town to Ngong hills and a beautiful view of the famous Rift Valley.
Monday, April 30, 2007
Just an update
Have been quiet on the blog for some time. A combination of travels and more travels, visitors and now a rather bad bout of flu that I am still struggling with.
We have had numerous long powercuts, 2 of them even up to 2 days, so the generator has been very thoroughly tested. It is such a relief to just start the thing and be able to do most things we normally want to do such as having access to water. City water is becoming increasingly rare.
Am busy upgrading orionweb.info so at the moment there is - nothing! The idea is to create a more interactive environment using the free content management system Joomla. Will also update our PCs to the latest version of Kubuntu "any day now". I am running it on a test PC and this time it looks like they really got it right.
We have had numerous long powercuts, 2 of them even up to 2 days, so the generator has been very thoroughly tested. It is such a relief to just start the thing and be able to do most things we normally want to do such as having access to water. City water is becoming increasingly rare.
Am busy upgrading orionweb.info so at the moment there is - nothing! The idea is to create a more interactive environment using the free content management system Joomla. Will also update our PCs to the latest version of Kubuntu "any day now". I am running it on a test PC and this time it looks like they really got it right.
Thursday, March 29, 2007
Using Linux to save a Windows PC
Have spent some days rescuing PCs that have not been maintained or protected against virus for months. One had over 1000 virus infected files and could barely start but I got it back to life.
Now today (Wednesday) I got a really tricky case. Whatever virus had hit this PC shut down every program you tried to start or run, including installing any antivirus software or running any software to change startup files etc. So what to do? Reinstall the whole thing and try to save documents etc?
I decided to try another tactic. I booted it using a Knoppix LiveCD, a special linux distrubition not meant to be installed but to diagnose or fix computers. After that I managed to install a linuxbased antivirus software and scan the computer and delete hundreds of infected files, still from the Knoppix LiveCD.
After that it started nicely with Windows, I could install an antivirus and get it up and running. A strange thing to use a free and open source software distro that Microsoft are doing their best to work against to save a PC using their proprietry and licensed operating system.
Now today (Wednesday) I got a really tricky case. Whatever virus had hit this PC shut down every program you tried to start or run, including installing any antivirus software or running any software to change startup files etc. So what to do? Reinstall the whole thing and try to save documents etc?
I decided to try another tactic. I booted it using a Knoppix LiveCD, a special linux distrubition not meant to be installed but to diagnose or fix computers. After that I managed to install a linuxbased antivirus software and scan the computer and delete hundreds of infected files, still from the Knoppix LiveCD.
After that it started nicely with Windows, I could install an antivirus and get it up and running. A strange thing to use a free and open source software distro that Microsoft are doing their best to work against to save a PC using their proprietry and licensed operating system.
Overdesigning a good car
Have just driven the latest Toyota Hilux pickup up through Mozambique, Malawi and then Mozambique again and am more than a little bit disappointed.
Why? Well not because of the design or the engine, both really nice (even if the design is a bit over the top) but because it feels really unstable to drive on bad roads. And somehow I thought the type of car Hilux is was supposed to be at its best on bad roads.
But no, it is excellent on a good tarred road. But put in some potholes or drive on a dirt road with or without potholes and you feel like you could lose control at any given moment. The car wants to continue straight through curves instead of turning and a bad pothole makes you feel like the whole thing is about to jump off the road.
Bad thinking Toyota, go back to the drawing board.
Why? Well not because of the design or the engine, both really nice (even if the design is a bit over the top) but because it feels really unstable to drive on bad roads. And somehow I thought the type of car Hilux is was supposed to be at its best on bad roads.
But no, it is excellent on a good tarred road. But put in some potholes or drive on a dirt road with or without potholes and you feel like you could lose control at any given moment. The car wants to continue straight through curves instead of turning and a bad pothole makes you feel like the whole thing is about to jump off the road.
Bad thinking Toyota, go back to the drawing board.
Tuesday, March 20, 2007
A tired but happy couple in Polokwane
Just thought I would put some photos of us after a looong nightdrive and a day of shopping in Polokwane. This is after shower and a bit of rest though, the "before" pictures will never be shown! Notice the somewhat tired eyes of mr. Sinclair...
Monday, March 19, 2007
Mad trip to SA and back
We took a trip to South Africa and back last weekend. The "mad" part lies in achieving the trip in one weekend! Meaning we drove down during Friday night and arrived in Polokwane/Pietersburg around 9 am Saturday morning. Took turns driving down but nevertheless not so fresh.
Spent Saturday shopping around for a good generator (the main reason for going) and other items such as clothes (yes me too...), wine, cooking oil, hardware and so on. It was HOT in Polokwane and I looked exactly the picture; a guy who had not had proper sleep and spent the better part of 24 hours wearing the same t-shirt. Nevertheless, we got the car loaded, refreshed ourselves and had a good dinner and then hit the bed early for a good but short night's sleep.
Off around 6 am Sunday morning, stopped in Musina before the border for car fill-up/check-up and last-minute shopping. Then into the border post. Let me say this immediately: both ways we traveled the staff on the Southafrican side were SLOW, UNINTERESTED and downright RUDE. Example; putting only one stamp on a form instead of the required two despite advising us on where to next take said form. "Go back for stamp". Happened several times. Computer lock-up, supervisor needed. Took near 10 minutes before we managed to persuade the half-sleeping lady at the PC to get said supervisor who looked as if he was still asleep when he eventually showed up. Note it was now after 10 am so not the nightshift or something.
When we finally leave after all is done we are told by the gate guard that we have the wrong declaration form. Same form that had been checked and read and stamped in 3-4 offices! He eventually let us through.
The Zimbabwe side was a positive surprise. Last time I passed through in a car it was full of tsotsis wanting to "help" and bribes were more or less expected and it was chaotic. Now there was only staff and travellers, a reasonably clear path of actions were required, it took about 30 minutes and we had declared, paid and were clear to leave. This despite a problem with some friends faxmachine that we had picked up in Polokwane after it was repaired there. We had all forms we could think of but still were missing one... after some discussing we were let off the hook.
The only other "glitch" on the way back was that I missed the turn-off towards Masvingo/Harare in Beitbridge and drove a few km towards Bulawayo before realising the mistake. Arrived home tired and "carlagged" (see jetlagged) around 7 pm last night.
Now all we need to do is to get the generator installed :-)
Spent Saturday shopping around for a good generator (the main reason for going) and other items such as clothes (yes me too...), wine, cooking oil, hardware and so on. It was HOT in Polokwane and I looked exactly the picture; a guy who had not had proper sleep and spent the better part of 24 hours wearing the same t-shirt. Nevertheless, we got the car loaded, refreshed ourselves and had a good dinner and then hit the bed early for a good but short night's sleep.
Off around 6 am Sunday morning, stopped in Musina before the border for car fill-up/check-up and last-minute shopping. Then into the border post. Let me say this immediately: both ways we traveled the staff on the Southafrican side were SLOW, UNINTERESTED and downright RUDE. Example; putting only one stamp on a form instead of the required two despite advising us on where to next take said form. "Go back for stamp". Happened several times. Computer lock-up, supervisor needed. Took near 10 minutes before we managed to persuade the half-sleeping lady at the PC to get said supervisor who looked as if he was still asleep when he eventually showed up. Note it was now after 10 am so not the nightshift or something.
When we finally leave after all is done we are told by the gate guard that we have the wrong declaration form. Same form that had been checked and read and stamped in 3-4 offices! He eventually let us through.
The Zimbabwe side was a positive surprise. Last time I passed through in a car it was full of tsotsis wanting to "help" and bribes were more or less expected and it was chaotic. Now there was only staff and travellers, a reasonably clear path of actions were required, it took about 30 minutes and we had declared, paid and were clear to leave. This despite a problem with some friends faxmachine that we had picked up in Polokwane after it was repaired there. We had all forms we could think of but still were missing one... after some discussing we were let off the hook.
The only other "glitch" on the way back was that I missed the turn-off towards Masvingo/Harare in Beitbridge and drove a few km towards Bulawayo before realising the mistake. Arrived home tired and "carlagged" (see jetlagged) around 7 pm last night.
Now all we need to do is to get the generator installed :-)
Thursday, February 15, 2007
A tradition gone wrong
In case someone didn't notice (living in the Gobi desert or such) yesterday was Valentine's Day. While I think it is a nice idea and tradition to express your apprecation for a loved one in some "extra" way this has clearly gone overboard of late.
Examples: a school here in Zimbabwe got the idea that the students should come dressed in red/white and carry flowers (I am not saying which school, enough to mention that is a highly respected school). This for KIDS not even in their teens or being in the lower teens. A friend's son was so stressed he stayed home instead. I fail to get the point, why should children behave like they are adults and have partners? In Sweden, a country that did not bother much about this event some 10 years ago, it has now reached the point where a school for older children closed on this day to avoid having the children stressed out by either getting or not getting flowers and gifts.
In Zim it used to be somewhat of a competition among ladies who got the biggest/best/finest flowers delivered to the office, and I guess it still is though it seems to have calmed down due to financial reasons.
What I am thinking is that everything can be overdone. Let's try and chill a bit on these things (birthdays and Xmas can be included) so they don't become a stress instead of a joy.
Examples: a school here in Zimbabwe got the idea that the students should come dressed in red/white and carry flowers (I am not saying which school, enough to mention that is a highly respected school). This for KIDS not even in their teens or being in the lower teens. A friend's son was so stressed he stayed home instead. I fail to get the point, why should children behave like they are adults and have partners? In Sweden, a country that did not bother much about this event some 10 years ago, it has now reached the point where a school for older children closed on this day to avoid having the children stressed out by either getting or not getting flowers and gifts.
In Zim it used to be somewhat of a competition among ladies who got the biggest/best/finest flowers delivered to the office, and I guess it still is though it seems to have calmed down due to financial reasons.
What I am thinking is that everything can be overdone. Let's try and chill a bit on these things (birthdays and Xmas can be included) so they don't become a stress instead of a joy.
Wednesday, January 10, 2007
First day in school
Just a photo of a very proud (and rather "stiff") Bradley in his school uniform getting ready for his first day in school!So far he is finding it very exciting (2 days...) and that is of course good.
Eric was more than jealous and insisted on wearing a hat too. Mayhem broke out when he realised he was not going! Luckily he started Montessori preschool today so now both have to get ready in the morning, take their bags etc.
Tuesday, January 02, 2007
Xmas Eve
Just thought I would put up a photo of the party that this celebrated Christmas Eve "Swedish style" at friend Göran's house. As you can see we were quite a few awaing the arrival of Santa. Straight below me and Mia sits Eric who today managed to lock himself inside the toilet at home. Took me the better part of an hour to get home, persuade him to yank the key so I could push it out and then hand it to me out the window so I could finally unlock and get him out of there.
Otherwise we just wish you all a really good 2007 from us here in Zimbabwe
Thursday, December 21, 2006
Christmas coming up
End of this year is rapidly approaching and I am signing off from work in a few hours. Then of course there is still x number of items to shop and things to do before we can actually sit back and relax and say "finally Xmas lets enjoy and take it easy".
FINALLY all business with the borehole is finalised. Water was found, pump has been installed. It was, as so often happens, a loooong story but all ended well and we now have our expensie water. Now all we need is a generator for those powercuts ;-)
Today Eric turns 3 and we are nil prepared, good thing we celebrated him together with his brother earlier this year.
Merry Xmas to all of you and enjoy!
FINALLY all business with the borehole is finalised. Water was found, pump has been installed. It was, as so often happens, a loooong story but all ended well and we now have our expensie water. Now all we need is a generator for those powercuts ;-)
Today Eric turns 3 and we are nil prepared, good thing we celebrated him together with his brother earlier this year.
Merry Xmas to all of you and enjoy!
Tuesday, November 14, 2006
Corner Bar & Water
A typical weekend scene from Corner Bar in Dar es Salaam (copyright Maria Wall). This famous waterhole (also called Royal Chole Road Country Club, Losers Corner etc) has reportedly been cleared out together with all other container shops and bars along the same stretch. It won't be the same next time we come to Dar. Other news; we finally managed to sell the Ford Taurus in which Eric was born and have used the money to drill a borehole. After a diviner pointed out 2 sites we contracted a driller and then - waited. And waited. And waited.
Endless stories of problems, repairs and promises keeping us waiting home weekend after weekend. But at last they did start last Friday and hit water eventually. Not as deep down or as much as the diviner promised but we are not willing to risk losing what we have found by going any deeper (they were hitting hard rock). It is predicted to produce around 500 litres / hour - should be enough for anything basically.
Now "all" that is left is to install pump (already bought) and other equipment needed to use the water.
Also had the first real rain and thunder today so happy we managed to get drilling done before that. A relief for the garden and newly planted veggies and maize.
Thursday, October 19, 2006
Kids Birthday party
Some friends want more photos so here is one from our recent party for the boys. As can be seen Bradley can hardly wait until Hellen has cut Spidermans face into pieces! Well he is also helping as best he can. Of Eric you see a piece of t-shirt... also in the photo is Sheilla and little Albert and leftmost is Wedlyn, Hellen's younger sister. Otherwise working late trying to fix X number of downloads, updates etc etc.
Friday, October 13, 2006
Jakaranda trees in bloom
By popular demand a photo of jakaranda trees in full bloom. Interestingly they have all the flowers first and after that the leaves come and they "turn green".Harare has hundreds of these and really look fantastic in September-October.
What else in life? Well busy arranging birthday bash for our boys tomorrow (I decided to do it same time since Eric is not really worried/aware and Xmas comes more fun for him that way. Next year that will NOT work) and waiting for borehole drillers to arrive on Sunday. Plus all the usual.
Thursday, October 05, 2006
In the very very copyright protected world
According to this article on CNET Microsoft is going to make sure that Windows Vista will run with "reduced functionality" if its license can not be validated online. As I have already had problems with this attitude of overzealous (in my opinion) license system that hampers reinstallation and moving of licenses I think MS is taking another step in the wrong direction. My move to Kubuntu Linux now feels even more correct.
Otherwise I slipped on a rug yesterday and banged my laptop computer. So the screen is now very literally unusable! Arrgh!
Otherwise I slipped on a rug yesterday and banged my laptop computer. So the screen is now very literally unusable! Arrgh!
Monday, October 02, 2006
Finally Linux
Well, after lots of talking and thinking and testing and planning I have finally switched to Linux on my main laptop Dell Inspiron 500M. Actually I have set it up to dualboot with Windows XP but have not been in XP for over a week. Not since I got dial-up working, that was a bit of a trick. So I am now running Kubuntu (www.kubuntu.org) and using Kontact (a pim), Firefox and OpenOffice. All of it perfectly free software.
A photo of Bradley and Eric at Blue Banana restaurant during the week. Went there for good food but also because they have a play-room with minder. Only that it is not staffed Mondays and Tuesdays. Of course this was a Tuesday...We have otherwise hired the services of a water diviner to see if we can sink a borehole. This man comes recommended from others who says he was spot on about the depth and amount of water to be found.
He claims we have 2 possible sites, the better one should give well over 1000 liter / hour. It will be very interesting to see if he is right! So as soon as the drillers are starting I will keep you updated.
Thursday, September 28, 2006
We are alive...
Well, it has certainly been a very long time since anyone wrote anything on this blog. No, it is not that nothing is happening or that something really bad has happened or likewise.
It is just that combinations of lots of work, travels and other commitments and incidents have led to a situation where I have not felt like spending 1 minute extra in front of the computer after everything else has been taken care of.
So this is more or less just a lifesign. Harare is beatiful, the jakaranda trees are in full bloom and it is getting warmer by the day. We are all fine and I hope to post some photos soon.
It is just that combinations of lots of work, travels and other commitments and incidents have led to a situation where I have not felt like spending 1 minute extra in front of the computer after everything else has been taken care of.
So this is more or less just a lifesign. Harare is beatiful, the jakaranda trees are in full bloom and it is getting warmer by the day. We are all fine and I hope to post some photos soon.
Sunday, August 20, 2006
Lilongwe experience
Have spent almost a week in Lilongwe, Malawi. One thing I have noticed is that Malawi is very different from other places in the region in some aspects.
For starters; driving. It is probably the most "non-aggressive" driving experience you can think of. Which actually makes me a bit stressed rather than opposite. Am not used to commuter bus drivers who behave, a general tempo in town of around 40-50 km (have they been instructed that use of gear 4 and 5 will damage the car I wonder?) and everyone being sooo nice to stop and let others pass etc.
Another thing; trust. Nowhere else has the owner of a bar (Diplomat's, nice place) who has seen me once in his life offered me run a tab if I did not have cash enough (he asked me if the ATM was helpful which it wasn't, not at all). "You can pay tomorrow or Monday or whenever". I did not have a heart rotten enough to utilise this generous offer as I am leaving tonight and could not have paid him back. Also others tell me of the same attitude in shops "no worry you can come in later or tomorrow". Very strange. But heartwarming, I hope it can stay that way.
Malawi names itself "the warm heart of Africa". It is refreshing to walk the city centre after dark without a worry of being robbed or something (I am sure it can happen but is apparently very rare). Only annoying thing is streetkids and beggars but in a very poor country that is of course to be expected.
For starters; driving. It is probably the most "non-aggressive" driving experience you can think of. Which actually makes me a bit stressed rather than opposite. Am not used to commuter bus drivers who behave, a general tempo in town of around 40-50 km (have they been instructed that use of gear 4 and 5 will damage the car I wonder?) and everyone being sooo nice to stop and let others pass etc.
Another thing; trust. Nowhere else has the owner of a bar (Diplomat's, nice place) who has seen me once in his life offered me run a tab if I did not have cash enough (he asked me if the ATM was helpful which it wasn't, not at all). "You can pay tomorrow or Monday or whenever". I did not have a heart rotten enough to utilise this generous offer as I am leaving tonight and could not have paid him back. Also others tell me of the same attitude in shops "no worry you can come in later or tomorrow". Very strange. But heartwarming, I hope it can stay that way.
Malawi names itself "the warm heart of Africa". It is refreshing to walk the city centre after dark without a worry of being robbed or something (I am sure it can happen but is apparently very rare). Only annoying thing is streetkids and beggars but in a very poor country that is of course to be expected.
Exploding notebook batteries...
Well, for those of you who follow IT news this is not really news. For others it might be very important news. Especially if you have a Dell notebook computer!
For some time now there have been reports that some Dell notebooks have very literally burst into flames, almost exploded actually. The problem was traced to a certain type of battery, manifactured by Sony for Dell.
Dell is now recalling/replacing these batteries and have set up a special website where you can check your battery: Dell Battery Return Program
Well I checked and what do you know, I have been carrying around a small bomb for some time now... I was advised to immediately remove the battery and run the PC on A/C power until they can send my replacement battery! Well, the battery was already out as serialnumber is on the side turned to the inside of the PC so no problems there. And I am sure not putting it back!
Now when I get back home I have to check my extra battery and hope that it is not one of the possible bombs too.
For some time now there have been reports that some Dell notebooks have very literally burst into flames, almost exploded actually. The problem was traced to a certain type of battery, manifactured by Sony for Dell.
Dell is now recalling/replacing these batteries and have set up a special website where you can check your battery: Dell Battery Return Program
Well I checked and what do you know, I have been carrying around a small bomb for some time now... I was advised to immediately remove the battery and run the PC on A/C power until they can send my replacement battery! Well, the battery was already out as serialnumber is on the side turned to the inside of the PC so no problems there. And I am sure not putting it back!
Now when I get back home I have to check my extra battery and hope that it is not one of the possible bombs too.
Monday, July 31, 2006
It never rains
..but pours is what they say. Power was restored Thursday evening and then disappeared again Friday morning around 9 am!! This time a tree had fallen over the wires a couple of houses from us.
The good thing was that plenty of houses were affected, the bad thing that this type of fault is dealt with by Mabvuko Depot that we know since before are sloooow in arriving.
It was Saturday afternoon when they finally showed up. Without a chainsaw. To a fallen tree!!! So back they went to get the chainsaw. By the time they got started it was getting dark so they left again. I was more than irritated when I called the fault center to hear what I suspected, they were leaving for another 12 hours or so.
It took them the better part of the Sunday to clear the wires and reconnect things etc. They then came to our house to ensure wires were not touching each other. After that we walked to the substation together only to find no power whatsoever! Another fault somewhere else was being fixed.
And how do they "replace" a blown fuse? They wire a copperwire round the blown one... I shudder to think what spikes could come from that system.
Finally power was restored around 3 pm only to disappear again after 30 minutes or so. I was ready to breathe fire over the phone when it did come back again after some 10 minutes.
And I hope that is enough for a while now, I think we have had more than our fair share of outages lately.
The good thing was that plenty of houses were affected, the bad thing that this type of fault is dealt with by Mabvuko Depot that we know since before are sloooow in arriving.
It was Saturday afternoon when they finally showed up. Without a chainsaw. To a fallen tree!!! So back they went to get the chainsaw. By the time they got started it was getting dark so they left again. I was more than irritated when I called the fault center to hear what I suspected, they were leaving for another 12 hours or so.
It took them the better part of the Sunday to clear the wires and reconnect things etc. They then came to our house to ensure wires were not touching each other. After that we walked to the substation together only to find no power whatsoever! Another fault somewhere else was being fixed.
And how do they "replace" a blown fuse? They wire a copperwire round the blown one... I shudder to think what spikes could come from that system.
Finally power was restored around 3 pm only to disappear again after 30 minutes or so. I was ready to breathe fire over the phone when it did come back again after some 10 minutes.
And I hope that is enough for a while now, I think we have had more than our fair share of outages lately.
Thursday, July 27, 2006
Powercuts here, powercuts there, powercuts everywhere...
It has been a while, have been busy with work and what-what. July has been freezing cold and that has meant that the much predicted power shortage has hit Zimbabwe. A nice schedule for load-shedding was set up and publicised. It has never been followed. As usual. As of now we are experiencing more or less daily powercuts from as early as 6 am to lunchtime and sometimes in the evening.
Just back from an unexpected trip to Dar es Salaam together with friend Andre Bongers. Apart from sitting waiting 5 hours at Harare International for fuel before we could take off it was a very nice visit to a much warmer place. BUT powershortage there too... every second day from 7 to 7 no power. At least you knew and could plan for it.
Back here it is now getting a bit warmer but powercuts are getting worse if anything. We now on top of loadshedding has a "normal" powercut and to even manage to report it is a 3 hours attempt to get thru on constantly busy lines. And then they could not come because we "reported it late". Talk about Catch 22. Now we have been without power for near 36 hours and that is not good for freezers.
Time to go and pick up kids and then home to see if power might have been restored. Keep your fingers crossed.
Just back from an unexpected trip to Dar es Salaam together with friend Andre Bongers. Apart from sitting waiting 5 hours at Harare International for fuel before we could take off it was a very nice visit to a much warmer place. BUT powershortage there too... every second day from 7 to 7 no power. At least you knew and could plan for it.
Back here it is now getting a bit warmer but powercuts are getting worse if anything. We now on top of loadshedding has a "normal" powercut and to even manage to report it is a 3 hours attempt to get thru on constantly busy lines. And then they could not come because we "reported it late". Talk about Catch 22. Now we have been without power for near 36 hours and that is not good for freezers.
Time to go and pick up kids and then home to see if power might have been restored. Keep your fingers crossed.
Saturday, July 01, 2006
How to play soccer
Completely "on spot" comment by Bradley yesterday as I was watching Germany - Argentina;
"Today I was playing soccer with Matthew (his friend at Montessori preschool) and I was falling because that's what you do when you play soccer"
He has obviously observed how the professionals behave when they play soccer...
Above a photo of Bradley and Eric taken in April
Wednesday, June 28, 2006
Raising 2 boys
It is an interesting and sometimes rather tiring experience to have 2 boys aged 5 and 2.5... Eric is now in a very strong "it is mine"-phase and that is a headache for his older brother who also wants to play with toys sometimes. Or be in the same chair/sofa/bed or something. Well, the few toys that survive more than a day or 2 that is. It is completely pointless to buy something that is not extremely sturdy (wooden building blocks or such) or very cheap. A nice expensive car will break just as fast as a cheap piece of plastic.
Did I mention that it is also expensive? 2 days ago I intended to play a CD with Mozart, one of the very first CDs I ever bought in the early 80s (when there were not many CDs around yet). Opening the CD case reveals - nothing. Very likely theory; a certain 2.5 year old boy picks it out to "play" it, discovers he can't do that and then discards of it "somewhere". Am still looking but do not have very high hopes on finding it.
Can't wait for the day when he is old enough to understand exactly how angry and disappointed I get when CDs, books, DVDs etc is scraped, torn or go missing.
Did I mention that it is also expensive? 2 days ago I intended to play a CD with Mozart, one of the very first CDs I ever bought in the early 80s (when there were not many CDs around yet). Opening the CD case reveals - nothing. Very likely theory; a certain 2.5 year old boy picks it out to "play" it, discovers he can't do that and then discards of it "somewhere". Am still looking but do not have very high hopes on finding it.
Can't wait for the day when he is old enough to understand exactly how angry and disappointed I get when CDs, books, DVDs etc is scraped, torn or go missing.
Last post on World Cup
For me a lot of the fun went out of the cup when Sweden were massacred by Germany and then Holland left after a scandalous game. Am still watching but not with the same interest. I guess we Swedes will now pin our hopes on Sven-Goran and England.
The refereeing has been completely sub-standard though of if it is their instructions. Best example was of course the Holland - Portugal game but also in several others one wonders why on Earth cards are waved for just about every little event.
Nice to see France - Spain last night was a very clear exemption and so that also became one of the most exciting games so far. Poor Ghana though - fought bravely but could not score...
The refereeing has been completely sub-standard though of if it is their instructions. Best example was of course the Holland - Portugal game but also in several others one wonders why on Earth cards are waved for just about every little event.
Nice to see France - Spain last night was a very clear exemption and so that also became one of the most exciting games so far. Poor Ghana though - fought bravely but could not score...
Wednesday, June 21, 2006
Winter and World Cup part III
Still freezing here and all my Swedish friends are on about midsummer celebrations and how warm it is in Sweden and the rest of Europe. Good thing is that midsummer there means midwinter here so it should not be much worse...
Watched Sweden - England with friend Mikael J at his house last night. Sore throats from shouting "no" and "yes" the whole game. Scary first half for Sweden, scary second half for England. Probably 2 - 2 was fair though it means Sweden will face Germany on Saturday. And that is what we will be doing for "midsummer" celebrations 2006...
Watched Sweden - England with friend Mikael J at his house last night. Sore throats from shouting "no" and "yes" the whole game. Scary first half for Sweden, scary second half for England. Probably 2 - 2 was fair though it means Sweden will face Germany on Saturday. And that is what we will be doing for "midsummer" celebrations 2006...
Monday, June 19, 2006
Winter and World Cup continues
Well Sweden's first game did not make any of us gathered to watch happy. Long periods of rather sloppy play that Trinidad/Tobago actually had little problem to cope with.
It was more fun to watch the game against Paraguay where they played much better even though it took almost 90 minutes before they finally scored. I was at home watching and likely woke up the whole neighbourhood with my scream of joy.
Tomorrow it is time for the final group stage match against England and I of course hope for the best. A draw is the minimum needed to continue to the next stage.
Otherwise winter continues and powercuts are now a very regular occurence. Still have not managed to buy a generator so we survive on candlelight and a small camping gas kitchen. Last night was again freezing and that likely will mean cuts tonight. Which reminds me I had better leave so I can buy fresh milk on the way home.
It was more fun to watch the game against Paraguay where they played much better even though it took almost 90 minutes before they finally scored. I was at home watching and likely woke up the whole neighbourhood with my scream of joy.
Tomorrow it is time for the final group stage match against England and I of course hope for the best. A draw is the minimum needed to continue to the next stage.
Otherwise winter continues and powercuts are now a very regular occurence. Still have not managed to buy a generator so we survive on candlelight and a small camping gas kitchen. Last night was again freezing and that likely will mean cuts tonight. Which reminds me I had better leave so I can buy fresh milk on the way home.
Friday, June 09, 2006
Winter & Soccer Fever
Zimbabwe has been freezing cold for a while now, it is a bad winter really. Today is like the first day this week that I don't wear a jacket or sweater while I am working. Indoors. One thing that makes winter so cold here is the absolut nonsense standard of house-building.
Otherwise (apart from >1000 % inflation) it is all about soccer here too now that the World Cup starts today. In spite of the fact that no team from Southern Africa qualified there is a massive interest. I have a feeling many here favor England but would love to see a team like Ivory Coast make a good go for it.
Being who I am I of course hope that Sweden will make it to semi-finals or better so it was disappointing news that the keeper was hit so hard by a ball that he got concussion and can't play for 5-6 days! So new a rather "newbie" guy will have to take over in our opening game, not the best situation. Though of course Sweden are massive favorites to win over Trinidad.
Tomorrow we gather at the house of a Swedish friend (who has a generator just in case) to watch the game. Keep all fingers crossed!
Otherwise (apart from >1000 % inflation) it is all about soccer here too now that the World Cup starts today. In spite of the fact that no team from Southern Africa qualified there is a massive interest. I have a feeling many here favor England but would love to see a team like Ivory Coast make a good go for it.
Being who I am I of course hope that Sweden will make it to semi-finals or better so it was disappointing news that the keeper was hit so hard by a ball that he got concussion and can't play for 5-6 days! So new a rather "newbie" guy will have to take over in our opening game, not the best situation. Though of course Sweden are massive favorites to win over Trinidad.
Tomorrow we gather at the house of a Swedish friend (who has a generator just in case) to watch the game. Keep all fingers crossed!
Monday, May 22, 2006
Dogs and the earth shakes again
Following a rather long discussion on the mailinglist Grrringo I have posted a photo of our 2 dogs Mishi (the lighter female) and Scooby. I discovered that taking photos of dogs is not easy - either they are right up your face or running away. It took like 5 attempts before I managed to get this not very good shot.
Last night the ground shook again, a light tremor or earthquake. This time we woke up! A strange experience, first it sounds like some really heavy trucks are driving somewhere but when things start vibrating you understand what is happening. Did not last very long. Must have been very small because it has not been mentioned on any news site to my knowledge.
Then woke up later by the sound of 2 gunshots somewhere in the area. Now that is a lot more scary. All in all not really a good night's sleep.
Monday, May 15, 2006
Never a dull day
You have to admit one thing with Air Zimbabwe, life is not boring when you use their services.
Flying home on Saturday I was of course extra early to check-in at the airport. Actually I was the first one to do so. I was met by the same lady who the day before was trying her best to sort out the mess and she said "if there is business class on the plane I will upgrade you" and "we are using the bigger plane so the flight home will be shorter".
At least the short flight was of course good news, it was only that I don't have phone coverage in Zambia and even if I had my battery was flat. Asked a fellow passenger if he had coverage and yes he had but no money left in airtime.
On top of that we leave early! And I had no way of telling Mia until I get to Harare.
Well, there was no business class on this flight but instead they reserved the first 2 rows for me alone and gave me "business class treatment". So I had the little hot towel, choice of newspapers, served before anyone else etc. Nice of them to at least try and I am sure the rest of the passengers were asking themselves what VIP I might be, specially given that I was now in all but fresh clothes.
Arrive home some 45 minutes early and after finding a way to call Mia I find that she is on the other side of Harare at a birthday celebration. So I was stuck at Harare Airport instead but OK, I had an interesting newspaper to read and at least I was now HOME.
Flying home on Saturday I was of course extra early to check-in at the airport. Actually I was the first one to do so. I was met by the same lady who the day before was trying her best to sort out the mess and she said "if there is business class on the plane I will upgrade you" and "we are using the bigger plane so the flight home will be shorter".
At least the short flight was of course good news, it was only that I don't have phone coverage in Zambia and even if I had my battery was flat. Asked a fellow passenger if he had coverage and yes he had but no money left in airtime.
On top of that we leave early! And I had no way of telling Mia until I get to Harare.
Well, there was no business class on this flight but instead they reserved the first 2 rows for me alone and gave me "business class treatment". So I had the little hot towel, choice of newspapers, served before anyone else etc. Nice of them to at least try and I am sure the rest of the passengers were asking themselves what VIP I might be, specially given that I was now in all but fresh clothes.
Arrive home some 45 minutes early and after finding a way to call Mia I find that she is on the other side of Harare at a birthday celebration. So I was stuck at Harare Airport instead but OK, I had an interesting newspaper to read and at least I was now HOME.
Saturday, May 13, 2006
AWA - Africa Wins Again
You did not help by crossing your fingers! In other words - I am still in Lusaka on Saturday morning writing this.
What happened? Air Zimbabwe happened. I had just paid my airport tax when all of a sudden we are told that Air Zim check-in is "closed". Note this is like 1.5 hours before takeoff... after much confusion it turns out that they had overbooked by at least 10 passengers. Great....
Amidst all this I all of a sudden see a familiar face, old friend Maren Lieberum from Zimbabwe many years ago, I think she left around 2000. Not only was it good to see her again but I could use her phone to get hold of Elias who had just dropped me and left for town (I have no roaming cover in Zambia). So he comes back and we try to sort out the situation.
After well over an hour of angry passengers, a very tired but kind lady from Air Zimbabwe, Zambian Airways trying to help, calls to Lubumbashi to find out about empty seats on an Air Zim plane there etc. I gave up and decided that another night in Lusaka seemed like the "least bad option".
Back to Chrismar Hotel that now was fully booked... Elias performed some sort of trick and a key to another suite magically appeared out of thin air.
I was by now feeling decidedly pissed off and tired so went to Spar and bought some red wine and decided to spend evening in front of TV or on famed wireless internet. Returning to hotel I find out 2 things; wireless internet still not working "technician out of town" and TV only showing 2 local channels "technician out of town".
Now more desperate than anything else decided to treat myself to nice dinner (no burger thank you) and some really strong double GinTonics (also known as GinTalkShit). About a liter or so of them.
Sitting drinking I notice 2 single ladies at a table are actually sort of trying to wave me over to their company. Feeling all but in the mood I do my best to ignore them. That turned out to be difficult as one of them came over and introduced herself as the sister to the singer in the band that was busy warming up and said "you look bored why don't you join us instead more people will join later".
I thought - what the heck. Why sit here and feel like doomsday when I can chat away in possibly good company? If I was not happy with something all I had to do was to sneak back to my room right?
All in all it turned out to be one of those very unexpected great nights out. The women were good fun (Joyce one of those people who you start thinking when does she even breath during all that talking), the band was good, the brother a really nice guy. When the friends showed up they turned out to be 3 more decidedly good-looking women. So I am now the only guy at a table with 5 good-looking women. Do you think I was the envy of about 90% of the "single men on the chase"-crowd? Yes I was. And had good fun at it since my intention was nothing else but to enjoy myself. Danced, drank and chatted the hours away until they took off to next club around 1.30 am.
Well, I am paying for it today by feeling rather "dull" but nevermind, a really boring evening turned out to be good fun instead so how can I complain?
BUT if I don't get home today I think I am ready to kill someone at Air Zim and/or borrow a car and just start driving towards Harare. One extra night is more than enough!!
Now PLEASE keep those fingers crossed, OK?
What happened? Air Zimbabwe happened. I had just paid my airport tax when all of a sudden we are told that Air Zim check-in is "closed". Note this is like 1.5 hours before takeoff... after much confusion it turns out that they had overbooked by at least 10 passengers. Great....
Amidst all this I all of a sudden see a familiar face, old friend Maren Lieberum from Zimbabwe many years ago, I think she left around 2000. Not only was it good to see her again but I could use her phone to get hold of Elias who had just dropped me and left for town (I have no roaming cover in Zambia). So he comes back and we try to sort out the situation.
After well over an hour of angry passengers, a very tired but kind lady from Air Zimbabwe, Zambian Airways trying to help, calls to Lubumbashi to find out about empty seats on an Air Zim plane there etc. I gave up and decided that another night in Lusaka seemed like the "least bad option".
Back to Chrismar Hotel that now was fully booked... Elias performed some sort of trick and a key to another suite magically appeared out of thin air.
I was by now feeling decidedly pissed off and tired so went to Spar and bought some red wine and decided to spend evening in front of TV or on famed wireless internet. Returning to hotel I find out 2 things; wireless internet still not working "technician out of town" and TV only showing 2 local channels "technician out of town".
Now more desperate than anything else decided to treat myself to nice dinner (no burger thank you) and some really strong double GinTonics (also known as GinTalkShit). About a liter or so of them.
Sitting drinking I notice 2 single ladies at a table are actually sort of trying to wave me over to their company. Feeling all but in the mood I do my best to ignore them. That turned out to be difficult as one of them came over and introduced herself as the sister to the singer in the band that was busy warming up and said "you look bored why don't you join us instead more people will join later".
I thought - what the heck. Why sit here and feel like doomsday when I can chat away in possibly good company? If I was not happy with something all I had to do was to sneak back to my room right?
All in all it turned out to be one of those very unexpected great nights out. The women were good fun (Joyce one of those people who you start thinking when does she even breath during all that talking), the band was good, the brother a really nice guy. When the friends showed up they turned out to be 3 more decidedly good-looking women. So I am now the only guy at a table with 5 good-looking women. Do you think I was the envy of about 90% of the "single men on the chase"-crowd? Yes I was. And had good fun at it since my intention was nothing else but to enjoy myself. Danced, drank and chatted the hours away until they took off to next club around 1.30 am.
Well, I am paying for it today by feeling rather "dull" but nevermind, a really boring evening turned out to be good fun instead so how can I complain?
BUT if I don't get home today I think I am ready to kill someone at Air Zim and/or borrow a car and just start driving towards Harare. One extra night is more than enough!!
Now PLEASE keep those fingers crossed, OK?
Friday, May 12, 2006
A somewhat mixed day...
Some days are just strange. Thursday 11 May started just fine, both kids off to the Montessori preschool, for Eric his first day ever and he did not cry or want to go home or anything such.
Then I am off to the airport to fly to Lusaka for a 2-day (or 1-night if you so wish) working visit there. All goes well and I arrive on time to a considerably warmer Lusaka (Harare really has winter temperatures already).
Off to the office where work goes almost too smooth. Lunchtime I check in at hotel Chrismar and notice that thanks to my complaint last time (got a mouldsmelling room with non-working aircon next to the restaurant...) I now was upgraded to a suite. And they now offer wireless internet access free! Great!
Passed the shoppingcentre as well and prices are still completely absurd though, around 2 times the prices of Zimbabwe and Zim is mad compared to other places. Well, guess I save money not "having" to buy stuff to the family.
So after a long day back to the hotel, looking forward to an early dinner followed by jacuzzi (yep part of the suite) and then internetsurfing just for fun.
Alas, that was not quite to be. I got as far as to the restaurant where after about 20 minutes I got my gigantic burger (the smallest dish on the menu..) and decided to add some chilli sauce to it. Shook the bottle first and quickly discovered the lid was loose.
Meaning I had chilli sauce all over myself. If anyone ever asks you why you bring an extra set of clothes for just 1 night away I have a very good reason. You might end up with chilli sauce all over your clothes!
After finishing my otherwise nice meal I now REALLY looked forward to that jacuzzi bath. Just thought I would get the internet wired up first so I call reception for password and settings. "Sorry Sir but the computer with all that is down and the IT technician will not be in until tomorrow. After 8 am". By which time I will either be having breakfast or on my way to work already. Well never mind not important anyhow.
So start filling up the bathtub. When it is about half-full the geyser is clearly empty as incoming water is now decidedly luke-warm. Jump in and put on the jacuzzi. The sound of a car without exhaust fills the bathroom. In other words, the motor is all but discreet.
This is somehow a picture of Chrismar as a hotel. Ambitions and ideas but somewhere along the line someone trims the budget a bit too much and the whole concept fails. Like sitting in a half empty, somewhat lukewarm jacuzzi that makes more noise than bubbles and a wireless internet that doesn't work when the guests are in their rooms.
But nevermind, I can do other things with or without computer and the room is otherwise nice. Now just cross your fingers that tomorrow don't hold any nasty surprises!
Wednesday, May 10, 2006
Month of May had a rough start
This month certainly did not start too well. Woke up around 2.30 am on 2nd May of strange, banging sounds. When I got up and switched on lights they stopped.
A check outside revealed that burglars had been busy trying to pry a window open. Using our tools. A closer check showed that they had broke into both cars by smashing windows. Tore the CD-players out (and I mean tore, no nice job at all). Then broke into our toolshed and stole most of our tools and a mountainbike.
Not fun at all and the extra costs in form of new windows for the cars and so on we certainly could have been without. Now to add salt to injury it turns out that a neighbour's gardener actually SAW the whole thing and did nothing. He saw 4 men chase the dog away and break into toolshed and cars and did - nothing. "Thought it was the owners as it was so early in the night". Now anyone pleaese tell me why I would enlist help of 3 persons to break into my own cars????
I don't know if the guy is honestly so damned stupid or if he just did not want to get involved. But it makes me even more angry to know that the whole thing was being watched and could have been stopped or at least interfered with.
A check outside revealed that burglars had been busy trying to pry a window open. Using our tools. A closer check showed that they had broke into both cars by smashing windows. Tore the CD-players out (and I mean tore, no nice job at all). Then broke into our toolshed and stole most of our tools and a mountainbike.
Not fun at all and the extra costs in form of new windows for the cars and so on we certainly could have been without. Now to add salt to injury it turns out that a neighbour's gardener actually SAW the whole thing and did nothing. He saw 4 men chase the dog away and break into toolshed and cars and did - nothing. "Thought it was the owners as it was so early in the night". Now anyone pleaese tell me why I would enlist help of 3 persons to break into my own cars????
I don't know if the guy is honestly so damned stupid or if he just did not want to get involved. But it makes me even more angry to know that the whole thing was being watched and could have been stopped or at least interfered with.
Wednesday, April 26, 2006
If anyone thought I was paranoid....
Following my earlier post on Microsoft validation, below is a long quote from CNET (click the link for the full article):
"Starting Tuesday, the software maker will push out a test tool that checks whether the copy of Windows a PC is using is properly licensed. It will be sent to millions of people in the United States, United Kingdom, Malaysia, Australia and New Zealand, Microsoft said Monday.
"Starting Tuesday, the software maker will push out a test tool that checks whether the copy of Windows a PC is using is properly licensed. It will be sent to millions of people in the United States, United Kingdom, Malaysia, Australia and New Zealand, Microsoft said Monday.
Following download and installation of the "Windows Genuine Advantage Notifications" tool, users of a pirated copy will see alerts at startup, login and during their use of the operating system. The alerts read: "This copy of Windows is not genuine; you may be a victim of software counterfeiting."
Those who use a legitimate copy of the software won't see any messages, Microsoft said.
People will be able to decline the tool download, said David Lazar, director of the Windows Genuine program at Microsoft. Once installed, the alerts can be suppressed by right-clicking on them when they appear during the running of Windows, but the tool can not be uninstalled, according to Microsoft.
In addition, Microsoft this week is kicking off Office Genuine Advantage, which checks on installations of the productivity package, which includes Excel and Access. The plan is to test out the program initially in seven languages: Brazilian Portuguese, Czech, Greek, Korean, Simplified Chinese, Russian and Spanish.
The efforts are part of Microsoft's antipiracy fight. Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA) was launched in September 2004. Since last July, Windows XP users have had to validate their operating system to be able to download additional Microsoft software, such as Windows Defender, Windows Media Player or Internet Explorer 7. Hackers, however, have repeatedly found ways around the checks.
The alerts include a link that goes to a Web site that explains what people with pirated versions of Windows need to do, Lazar said.
Earlier, Microsoft confronted people with the piracy checks when they attempted to download such add-ons. The switch to desktop alerts was introduced on PCs in Norway and Sweden in November 2005, then expanded to the Czech Republic, Denmark, Israel, Poland, and Taiwan in February. Tuesday's move is a further expansion of the trial program.
The WGA expansion is a precursor to the antipiracy features Microsoft is building into Windows Vista, the update to the operating system expected in January 2007. In Vista, certain operating system features will only work as long as it is a properly licensed copy.
Microsoft isn't pushing Windows Genuine Advantage Notifications out to all Windows users, but to a random subset, Lazar said. It is using its Windows Automatic Updates feature to deliver the tool. Automatic Updates, typically used to deliver security fixes, is enabled on the PCs of most Windows users, according to Microsoft."
IT or rather computer OS thoughts
For starters as a follow-up on the previous post we had a great meal at restaurant Armanzi, I strongly recommend a visit should you be in Harare and have the money and something to celebrate. Fabolous food with a strong asian influence, excellent surroundings, really good service!
Topic of this post is however a very different one. I have just tried out the beta version 7 of Internet Explorer and yes, it looks way better than the existing v6. HOWEVER you can not install unless you first validate that your copy of Windows XP is an original, this is done online with Microsoft.
I am not really objecting to Microsoft trying to stop the use of pirat copies of their software but I HATE the system now set up for validation and license restrictions. I, who constantly tinker with my computer, basically need to reinstall 3 or more times a year. the computers performance slowly grows - slower... due to all install/uninstall/upgrades and experiments that I do.
This is near impossible with an ordinary license as it will be seen as I am installing on several computers. Moreso, if I change the hardware too much I will have to "re-validate" online that I am not installing on a new PC, something that cost me several working days a while ago on a server installation here. Because it did not work, in short.
So I am using a so-called Corporate version instead of the one I have actually bought. It can be installed x times without any further questions than a license number but will not validate online. So I am stuck. Either I reinstall my "proper" version and go through reinstall hell every now and then or I live with the fact that I can not update to newer versions of certain software such as Internet Explorer.
From what I read I understand next version of Windows, Vista, will be even more tied up this way. I think MS is making a huge mistake here.
Why? Because I am already toying with the idea of installing a Linux desktop version without any such problems and just keep Windows XP as a small "must have for business" portion of my computer. And I believe that many users of illegal copies of Windows XP will go that way instead of buying a, in many parts of the world, expensive license for a software that have an increasing number of built-in restrictions. It could backfire badly, actually promoting the use of desktop Linux as a serious contender for Windows XP and Vista.
It is in many ways more interesting than it has been in a long time to work in the ICT sector because a near-total domination of Microsoft is starting to dissolve. I look forward to next version of Kubuntu Linux with great anticipation actually, I think that might be the one I choose to put on my Dell notebook.
For now I just note that I will stay with Firefox as browser instead of new Internet Explorer...
Topic of this post is however a very different one. I have just tried out the beta version 7 of Internet Explorer and yes, it looks way better than the existing v6. HOWEVER you can not install unless you first validate that your copy of Windows XP is an original, this is done online with Microsoft.
I am not really objecting to Microsoft trying to stop the use of pirat copies of their software but I HATE the system now set up for validation and license restrictions. I, who constantly tinker with my computer, basically need to reinstall 3 or more times a year. the computers performance slowly grows - slower... due to all install/uninstall/upgrades and experiments that I do.
This is near impossible with an ordinary license as it will be seen as I am installing on several computers. Moreso, if I change the hardware too much I will have to "re-validate" online that I am not installing on a new PC, something that cost me several working days a while ago on a server installation here. Because it did not work, in short.
So I am using a so-called Corporate version instead of the one I have actually bought. It can be installed x times without any further questions than a license number but will not validate online. So I am stuck. Either I reinstall my "proper" version and go through reinstall hell every now and then or I live with the fact that I can not update to newer versions of certain software such as Internet Explorer.
From what I read I understand next version of Windows, Vista, will be even more tied up this way. I think MS is making a huge mistake here.
Why? Because I am already toying with the idea of installing a Linux desktop version without any such problems and just keep Windows XP as a small "must have for business" portion of my computer. And I believe that many users of illegal copies of Windows XP will go that way instead of buying a, in many parts of the world, expensive license for a software that have an increasing number of built-in restrictions. It could backfire badly, actually promoting the use of desktop Linux as a serious contender for Windows XP and Vista.
It is in many ways more interesting than it has been in a long time to work in the ICT sector because a near-total domination of Microsoft is starting to dissolve. I look forward to next version of Kubuntu Linux with great anticipation actually, I think that might be the one I choose to put on my Dell notebook.
For now I just note that I will stay with Firefox as browser instead of new Internet Explorer...
Tuesday, April 25, 2006
Soccer and birthdays
It has been rather hectic lately for many reasons so no postings for a long time. And today when I sort of decided to take some time for this then internet decides to have one of those "fun" days when the international link goes down frequently. Blogger is not exactly lightning fast when you sit in Harare and connection breakdowns does not make things any better.
Why soccer? Well, I am very likely to be one of the few male persons in Harare with access to TV that will not sit glued to the Villareal - Arsenal game tonight, though quite a few uninterested will be at the HIFA opening show.
Would have loved to see it but it is Mia's birthday and I am taking her out big time, she (especially but also me) deserve an evening without kids and with some degree of luxury.
Wish her the best day today and many more to come!
Why soccer? Well, I am very likely to be one of the few male persons in Harare with access to TV that will not sit glued to the Villareal - Arsenal game tonight, though quite a few uninterested will be at the HIFA opening show.
Would have loved to see it but it is Mia's birthday and I am taking her out big time, she (especially but also me) deserve an evening without kids and with some degree of luxury.
Wish her the best day today and many more to come!
Wednesday, April 12, 2006
Where is Clint?
Old friend Clint showed up last Friday and claimed he had posted a comment on the "eRider"-post. Where is it? Can't get hold of you on the phone. This must be one weird way of communicating while living in the same city.
Otherwise life just too busy to have time for pet projects lately. Easter coming up and am looking forward to it though a "banking-mistake" means we are likely to have to stay at home and live off whatever we have in store whether we like to or not.
Otherwise life just too busy to have time for pet projects lately. Easter coming up and am looking forward to it though a "banking-mistake" means we are likely to have to stay at home and live off whatever we have in store whether we like to or not.
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