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.

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...

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...

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.

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!

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.

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.

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?

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!

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.

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.

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...

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!

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.

eRiding

It has been a busy but interesting time lately. Have been working a lot with an upgrade of an accounting system and that was a challenge, mainly because of the size of the files we had to send between Sweden and Zimbabwe. And of course a key CD delivered via UPS had faults and we had to get the files via internet instead. Well, that is now behind me unless disaster strikes!

Spent 2 days at workshop around the concept of eRiders, a very interesting idea on how to deal with the fact that IT and ICT is seen as either "something on the side" or sometimes "a necessary evil" within NGOs and other small idealistic organisations. Also getting more and more involved in FOSS (free and open source software) and find it refreshing to enter a world of enthusiastic IT users and creators once more. Am planning to swap to Linux as main OS and Windows XP more for professional support reasons.

Otherwise way too cold for this time of the year and still raining. Looks like winter will be tough.

A tough time

Eric has had a hard time lately. First he got tonsilitis once more, second time lately. So off to the clinic where he got antibiotics and then came home to a house yet again without power.

Not that I think that particular issue bothered him too much. But when I got home he once again had fever and high at it, over 39C. When it did not come down Mia took him back to the clinic and when they could not get it down he was admitted to hospital. So I packed a "nightbag" for the 2 of them and found him very much asleep on arrival.

Of course no power at home or water so a very dark and rather sleepless night (the alarm freaks out after a while) followed by a "no shower no coffee"-morning.

Next day the doctor judged it better to keep him for another night and now it was Mum who needed fresh clothes and more items plus sleeping blanket and sheets etc. I looked like some freak variety of Father Christmas when I got there.

Found a now very active and bored little boy (the boredom shared with Mum of course... we are not talking single rooms with TV here) who screamed of frustation when he could not leave with Pappa.

Next day I went there to be there when the Doctor made the round. Found a totally hyper boy and very frustraded mother. He was now all over the place and utterly tired of it. Thank God he was deemed OK to go home now.

BUT with a load of medications I have rarely seen the like of. We are now trying to make him take 3 different medications 3 times a day in rather large quantities and at least one seems to taste very foul. On first attempts all of it came up instead so we now try to dish it out in intervals which basically means he is being fed one medicine or the other almost all the time.

I really feel sorry for him and hope these 6 more days of medication will pass quickly and that it is the end of it for some time now.

Drats!

Drats - as a friend of mine often says when something is not going her way. We do have power back and all that but the chaos, frequent cuts and surges I suppose created by these over the last weeks has led to a very unpleasant surprise.

Our electric gate stopped working and when the guys had a look at it they told me that both the control-board, the intercom and the intercom cable were beyond repair.... to fix this is almost as expensive as putting a brand new gate (actually the guy is suggesting we replace the swing-open "Jurassic Park"-gate with a sliding gate) and there went all plans for various nice items or mini-holidays or whatever. Thank you ZESA!

They have by the way officially sent us notice that Zimbabwe can look forward to a cold winter. Not weather-wise but they foresee that they will not be able to supply enough power and will so introduce load-shedding during morning and evening hours. Great... we can look forward to like 3 evenings and 2 mornings a week without electricity.

Powerless and waterless

Aaargh! We are now entering the 3rd day without electricity OR water at home. Calling Zesa (power company) does not help much "we have so much to do but will send a team today/tonight/this morning" - the reply varying with the time of the day we are calling them.

Thanks to a friend nearby our meat is at least in a working freezer but we are sick of cooking on fire, reading by candlelight and "bathing" in a bucket.

There are times when living in this country can be quite stressful.

Never give Gary Glitter money

I see in the news that Gary Glitter, or Paul Gadd as his real name is, for the second time has been convicted of offence in connection with underaged children. In UK he was booked for child pornography, in Cambodia he has been declared a non-wanted person and thrown out after being accused of similar offenses (rather more serious actually) and now in Vietnam sentenced to 3 years in prison for "offensive acts" involving underage girls.

In my humble opinion there is no possible excuse for these crimes or this sort of behaviour. If you own music by Glitter, go on playing it at home if you like. BUT if you in any way have influence over any sort of public playing (radio, arena, TV or whatever) or sales of DVD/CDs by this man - just don't! Don't give him more income from royalties! Remove him from playlists and remove his works from your shop. Don't support him with more money to travel round the world looking for other poor countries where he can lure children to be involved in his sick behaviour!

Identified

Picked up my Zimbabwe ID "card" this morning. That is, I picked up a very flimsy piece of paper that serves as a "temporary" ID "card" until the proper one is produced.

Only problem is that I know people who have waited for many years for their real ID-card. These are made in metal and near indestructible but, in other words, difficult to produce.

Nevertheless, I am now 631687943R00 where the last two digits tell that I am an alien. Will be difficult to learn this number instead of the lifelong habit of the Swedish ID-number based on birthdate + 4 numbers at the end.