Music sweet music

I am seated on my airbed in my living room listening to music playing on my spanking new Philips 100W 2.1-Ch Home Theatre System. Of course the speakers came with like 2 inches of wire so I am not able to position them for optimal listening pleasure even at that Seal never sounded so good. I like my iPod and all that but nothing beats being 'enveloped' in good music. I got the car jack for the iPod but the 7 yr old speakers made listening to anything other than the radio painful yeah I fiddled with the bass and treble and when I finally get it just right for a particular song, the settings are all wrong for the next one (I have the various media I have accumulated music from over the years to thank for that). Assuming that I was willing to tweak the settings for every single song I wanted to listen to (I am not) the risk of being involved in a totally different type of 'jam session' on the 405 is very high and at this time not desirable hence I have resolved my self to futility of the whole thing and embraced the radio. Of course I have to suffer through some peoples’ spelling lessons (notice how every other song on Fergie’s ‘The Duchess’ album has her spelling?) I am rewarded with gems from Robin Thicke (Lost without you) and Musiq Soulchild (B.U.D.D.Y). Oh did I mention that the cd player in the car is on the fritz and Honda is telling me they have discontinued this particular model so the only other alternative is to send it to a repair facility and it could take anything from 1 to 4 weeks to get it back? I am sure you guys would be like what’s the big deal? The earlier you get it sent out the better. I have already established that the deck wasn't the best anyway sound production wise, off or out it wouldn't make much of a difference abi? I am afraid I would go mad with boredom. Those of you who knew me in Nija would be quick to point out that my old car didn't have a deck. I would like to point out that I didn’t need anything to distract me then, the engine in a Beemer is one to behold and listen to especially when you are in the drivers’ seat. I can't wait to own one of the 98-05 (Koja) 3 series BMW’s, now those engines (Vanos introduced in 1992), they sing a pretty tune. I have really digressed haven't I?

The iPod works when I have the head phones on, but a times I want an all over body experience, from the crown of my head to the soles of my feet I want to be bathed, enveloped, cocooned, caressed by whatever I am listening to, be it Maxwell, 2pac, Evanescence, MaryMary, BonJovi or Lagbaja. *Sigh* Seal is tickling my feet right now, I feel like I won the lottery. I think it is safe to say that I did, my home theatre cost less than $90 minus tax. A couple of months ago I had a lengthy conversation with a dear friend about buying a home theatre system. I wanted to do the proper thing and buy a component system and the more I thought about it and researched it the higher the cost of acquisition became. The past couple of weeks had been really intense at work and every night when I got home I just wanted to be embraced by some classical music. By Wednesday I was ready to just go to Wal-Mart abi Target and buy a $30 boom box when I browsed the Best Buy site and found this gem. I initially meant it for my room but now I am thinking it can hold its own in the living room and my plans for the component system might be moved to the back back burner. Let’s wait and see what tomorrow will bring; I will buy more speaker wire and experiment with speaker placement and sound levels from the little I am seeing so far, I might still be buying that boom box for my room!

It is well ... Update

Yes!!!

Today is the 4th day of the rest of my life sans lint, I am lint free, yipeeee!!!!!

My first conscious encounter with lint was like 10 yrs ago; I had a dark sweater which I couldn't wear as much as I wanted because it always seemed to be covered in fibers. No matter how much I washed it I could never get them off. I forked over the money to get it dry cleaned and although it came back sans the dreaded fibers it started picking them up again the minute I took it out of the plastic sheath. Then Princess unearthed a lint brush she bought in the 70's (I inherited my pack rat tendencies from her obviously) which made the whole situation manageable although I didn't get as much wear as I would have liked out of that particular sweater, all that brushing combined with the weekly yam pounding sessions (Princess is Ijesa) where making my biceps very prominent! From that time on, it seemed I was plagued by lint.

The predominant color in my wardrobe is blue. I would prefer it were black. I like the color black for clothing (like most women) because it makes me appear svelte. This is a key characteristic especially with all the cottage cheese I have to disguise. Also like any woman worthy of the name I take pride in being well turned out. My desire to always strive to look my best, coupled with my lint situation ensured I didn't own as many black items of clothing as I would have liked. Now the issue was not just overdeveloping my biceps, it was also time. Recall I am living in Lagos on the mainland working in Lagos Island. In order to beat traffic I need to be out of my house at the latest 5:45 am. Considering the fact that I didn't get home till like 10 pm the day before and I can't function with less than 8 hrs sleep, I really can't sacrifice the 30 mins to be de-linting my clothes.

Imagine my horror when I moved here and not only did I have a lint issue with my black items of clothing, I had a lint issue with every item of clothing I owned! The situation grew increasingly worse with each new item of clothing I purchased culminating in me going through one lint brush a week. I expressed my concerns to a friend who suggested perhaps my apartment needed airing out. I vacuumed religiously, dusted furiously, and nearly died of frostbite on evening when forgot to close my windows. As I huddled next to the oven, trying to thaw out I thought there must be an easier way. I started looking closely at peoples clothes when I went out. No one seemed to be having the issue I had. They can't all be brushing their clothes all the time I determined, there must be something they are doing that I am not. Then last week I was watching TV and caught the ad for Bounce. Fabric softener! So that’s what it is for! Could this be it, the end to my anguish? Would I be able to once again wear my black khakis, the ones that make my legs look longer and slimmer than they actually are and flatters my high bum? I almost could not wait for the weekend to arrive. I bought Bounce (fragrance free of course) on Saturday and proceeded to launder everything I owned. It was so well worth the $4 for the Bounce and the sack of quarters I could see the difference the minute I opened the dryer door. As I inspected each item I almost wept with joy. Finally! Its sooooo good to be free of lint!

It is well ...

I have been involved with a battle for about 10 years now. Those of you who know me will be really suprised to be reading this. When I was in Nigeria, the condition was managable for me and for the most part I actually forgot I had it. However since I moved to the US the condition has reared its ugly head and gotten progressively worse. I will spend this weekend undergoing prescribed treatments and I am really hoping and praying for the best.

P&G wins $19.25 million in Satanism suit

I remember hearing the whole P&G, Satanism thing in back in QC.

P&G wins $19.25 million in Satanism suit msnbc.com

My 'Singing' Purse

I love gadgets and I am one of a dying breed of people who read actually read the VCR manual and try out all the features. When my IPod was new and shacking me a lot more than it is shacking me now I must have set like 50 different clocks for different time zones (okay I set 3; Nija, Jand and Dallas) I noticed I could also set an alarm. How will I 'hear' the alarm I wondered as I set the sound to 'beep', the IPod comes with headphones and the yeye thing will not play if the headphones are not connected. I promptly forgot about the whole thing until like a month ago when out of curiosity I changed the alarm sound from beep to one of the playlists I have set up with the intention of watching the thing at the appointed time. I must have gotten caught up watching HGTV or something cos I forgot all about my experiment. The other day I was napping when I was roused by - Corrine Bailey Rae? 'I dey heaven?' I wondered as I opened my eyes. My laptop wasn't on and I do not have a cd player or anything like that. The sound seemed to be coming from my purse. My heart started beating double time as I backed away from the said purse, believing it to be possessed then my sleep addled brain finally figured it out - it was the alarm on my IPod! But how come I hadn't heard it before I wondered as I reached for my purse and retrieved the culprit. Usually about this time I am listening to my IPod at work which is why I hadn't heard it up till now and on weekends when I am not at work I am either at the gym or the headphones are not connected. I was shocked at the volume coming out of the headphones, I could hear the song clearly, lyrics, intruments and all. Not bad at all coming from such tiny headphones. Usually when I am in the gym I have the volume turned all the way up so I guess that was another reason I could hear it so clearly from so far away and immediately feared for my poor ears. Dummy thats what the 5 holes on the other side of the ear piece are for!

Where is Africa? - Update

Over the weekend I stopped by WalMart to pickup a disposable camera (I had to record the metamorphosis of my room for the sake of posterity). I try to avoid going to WalMart when I can the lines to pay are always so long a quick trip to get sugar could well last an hour minus your commute time! Anyway I had no choice really on Saturday, WalMart was really the only place to go since it was on my way and I am conserving fuel (recent increases in gas prices have bumped the cost of my bi-weekly trip to the gas station from $35-37 to $42!). Soooo … I am patiently waiting in line when the guy behind me asked where I get my printer consumables from. One of the ‘joys’ of owning a printer worldwide is buying printer consumables especially ink. I have a friend who has a somewhat radical solution to the problem – trash the printer and buy a new one. I passed on this solution. We started chatting and he asked the inevitable question ‘Where are you from?’ I took a deep breath and said Nigeria. He then asked ‘How is it over there? Is it as chaotic as the media always seems to portray it?’ That kinda stopped me in my tracks; this is not the kind of question I am used to being asked. ‘Not all the time’ I reply taking a closer look at him. ‘Didn’t think so’ he replied. ‘I go online and want to read about Africa and that doesn’t make any sense since Africa is made up of different countries’ I nearly passed out! I took another good look at him. Nothing looked amiss could this guy have read my blog and somehow found me here on the ’10 items or less’ line which was moving a lot slower than the other line where each person had atleast 2 carts brimming over with purchases? Could he have followed me with the intention of proving to me that not every American is ignorant to the fact that Africa is a continent not a zipcode? ‘That’s right’ I reply. ‘I am from Nigeria which is only of 54 countries on the African continent’. We spent the remaining time in line talking about Nigeria, Ghana, South Africa well I talked and he listened and no, he wasn’t staring at my paint speckled bosom going by his body language (head cocked to oneside) he was actually really listening to what I was saying. As I finally got the chance to pay for my purchase he bid me a good afternoon and thanked me for the enlightening discussion. ‘My pleasure’ I replied. What a coincidence, considering the fact that I only just blogged about my annoyance with the whole ‘do you take I405 North or South to Africa?’ thing. I guess the ‘Universe’ is trying to tell me something, less annoyance more patience perhaps?

Yar'Adua Blames Opposition for Death Rumour

At this time I think we should all be paying close attention to Yar'Adua's running mate the man with the two first names - Dr Jonathan Goodluck (abi na Goodluck Jonathan!?). Make we no be like the Trojans, as I dey look am so e be like say na him we go dey vote for come election day!

Yar'Adua Blames Opposition for Death Rumour allafrica.com

A little home improvement

It’s been warming up of late (or I have adjusted to the cold whichever one you like) and I had been telling myself I needed to get a proper bed, that and I don’t think my back or knee can take much more of my present sleeping arrangements. I knew I wanted a blue themed room with apple green, purple/chocolate brown accents. At this point I think I should mention I am suffering from an overdose of HGTV. All those 30 minute makeover shows where beginning to put ideas in my head and I was beginning to fancy myself as an interior decorator of sorts. It has gotten so that when I am not watching a specific program on TV I am watching channel 74 on mute.

Last week Sunday I was working on my laptop and as usual HGTV was on mute. I looked up and saw the most beautiful blue themed room on ‘Double Take’. I quickly interjected some apple green accents in my mind and was convinced I wanted this room. A quick trip to the HGTV site and I found the blow-by-blow of how the total look was achieved. In January a colleague had taken me to a reasonably priced furniture store and so on Monday I went back to look through their catalogues. I found a perfect bed at a reasonable price and asked to have it delivered at the weekend. Next I needed to change the color on my walls from ‘Hospital White’ to ‘Seaside Pleasure’. Unfortunately the paint store listed on the HGTV site is in North California, so I had to find a substitute locally. A colleague suggested I try Ralph Lauren Paints and I was like ‘shebi na light blue, how difficult can it be to choose’, boy was a wrong; I never knew there could be so many variants of ‘light blue’! After much deliberation I settled on one (I can't remember the name now) and stopped by HomeDepot to pick up my selection along with paint supplies plus I had received a discount coupon in the mail and if there is one thing I love, it’s a bargain. Paint? Check; Roller and paint brush? Check; Paint pan and painters tape? Check; Plastic sheets to protect the carpet? Check. I head of to pay and while in line had an interesting conversation with a 70-ish year old man about finding bargains in unexpected places. He also suggested I get a canvas sheet that I could reuse on future paint projects and as much as that sounded like a good idea, storage would be a problem I passed.

Saturday, I was up bright and early and spent an hour carefully taping my room. Then I whipped out my roller and started painting. I was very happy I decided to do this before my furniture arrived; with each roll of the roller a fine spray of paint was emitted and in a short time I was covered in tiny spots of paint. 3 hrs later as I tried to survey my ‘damage’ I realized that painting is not something to be done on an empty stomach I was starving. A tub of yogurt and a granola bar later I was able to see clearly, I felt like I had conquered the world. I found it was much more convenient to use a chair as opposed to a ladder to get to hard to reach places and wearing old socks meant afterwards I just took them off and tossed them. Clean up was a breeze (although I forgot to anoint myself from top to bottom with baby oil as suggested on a site I visited, its supposed to help get paint off skin easily) and since I was in the spirit proceeded to clean my apartment from top to bottom. Once my apartment was spick and span, I pulled on some sweats and went to get the furniture people. Somehow they had forgotten about my delivery as such I had to wait till like 6;30 pm for them to come. As long as they will carry the bed into my apartment, no wahala. I was beginning to feel the effect of all that activity as I left the furniture store. I went home and lay down on my airbed (for the last time) as I waited. By 7 pm I was beginning to suspect they would not be making the delivery on Saturday. I was glad, ba energy. Sunday morning and everything hurt, and in the oddest places! Who send me message o! I hobbled over to the phone and called the furniture people and with all the iciness I could muster I demanded to know why I didn’t have furniture in my room. The guy apologized profusely. Na apology I wan chop? Abegi give me a further discount! The furniture is on its way he assured me. Finally it arrived and setting up wasn’t so bad considering the fact that I almost couldn’t move. I wiped the sweat from my brow as I surveyed the result of my weekend of manual labor. Nice. Now all I need is a club chair in pinstriped fabric and a bench for the foot of my bed then on to the hard task, picking accent pieces. I can hardly wait! Before that though I needed someone to bathe me, feed me and tuck me into bed I was that worn out. I must report I slept like a rock and was surprised I heard my alarm at all this morning. Now that the aching has subsided, I am keeping an eye out for ideas for my living room and yes I will be painting!

Where is Africa?

Along with a lot of people I was shocked to see Sabrina Sloan voted out of the top 12 on Idol yesterday. Unlike a lot of people who after the fact swear at a persons brilliance (a la Jennifer Hudson), I actually devote time after every show to vote for my favorite performances of the night, not that Sabrina is my most favorite, that honor goes to Melinda who I think is very good if a little polished and as such might not win. Anyhow I didn't think Sanjaya would still be around or that Sundance would be going home this early. I did want to keep Jared around just for eye candy!

Anyhow they had been buzzing all week about a huge announcement on Idol and finally it came; 'Idol Gives Back' to whom I wonder. According to the Idol website,

‘"Idol Gives Back" is a two-night special to benefit children and young people in need in American and Africa airing Tuesday, April 24 and Wednesday, April 25 on FOX.’

The show is partnering with the Charity Projects Entertainment Fund (CPEF) for this

‘historic television event – IDOL GIVES BACK – a two-night special raising awareness and funds for organizations that provide relief programs to help children and young people in extreme poverty in America and Africa.’

Ryan announced on the show that he and Simon had already made a trip to ‘Africa’ to witness the poverty and sickness firsthand perhaps to authenticate its existence after all they are serious celebrities who can only lend the ‘weight’ of their ‘serious’ celebrity to real causes. Cowell seemed totally convinced that poverty is real in ‘Africa’ as he stiffly shook hands with children on the obligatory tape made of their fact finding mission. Ryan went further to try and experience this poverty by attempting to balance a basket of bananas on his head. Randy will be taking Paula on a tour of his beloved home state Louisiana and its surrounding region to see how people are living post-Katrina. You guys should save the money and watch Spike Lee’s documentary, he managed to capture the whole Katrina situation very well and since we all know the mess FEMA has been my guess is as good as yours that not much has changed since that documentary aired.

First it irks me when I hear ‘celebrities’ especially the black ones (who in my opinion should know better) say they went to Africa like it was a suburb of LA! Oya bring a map and show me the exact spot on which you stood and I will name one of the 54 countries that the continent is made up of. When your assistant made your travel plans, where did they tell you you will be going? Did you land at the Africa International Airport? Please do not tell me you traveled thousands of miles and don’t know exactly where on this lovely earth you where headed! South Africa is one of the 54 countries on the continent, if that is where you went, please say so. I here people say all the time they went to Europe, traveling through Spain, Germany etc. If you can do it for Europe you can do it for Africa. The inability of these celebrities to tell you exactly where they went shows me they don’t give a toss about the place, they just want to mark the attendance register of ‘African Pilgrims’, making this like some rite of passage so you can show the world you are ‘down like that’. Then again ‘Do me I do you, God no go vex’ is a popular saying. The locals are not as ‘simple’ (dim witted) and ‘happy’ as you might think. While they (celebrities, etc) are busy making the ‘in’ trip, my African brothers and sisters have wised up and will pose for the obligatory photos and participate in the requisite games just ‘drop something’ before you go.

Second, generating awareness on behalf of a cause and raising money for it is a good thing. I am pissed that today’s scam seems to be raising money for ‘Africa’ to eradicate aids, combat poverty, emancipate the girl child, etc. With the effort put into raising money for Africa by now one would have thought ‘Africa’ would be totally ‘free’ from the different elements it has had to wage a ‘war’ or ‘go into combat’ with. Alas! Enough with the videos of the snotty nosed, half naked, mud encrusted, fly/flea attracting very black children. Your persistent display of these images on your national TV is the reason why I have to put up with such comments as ‘You speak English so well’ every other place I go. Imagine my further irritation when I read about Bono and Project Red abi Champaign Red abi Red Champaign! (I dey vex no be small!) At least with most Nigerian scammers, the ammo is to hook up with the scammee’s greed; no ‘innocent, starving, disease ridden African children’ are exploited in the process. How can you spend $100M to make $18M? As my people will say ‘Oluwa ma je kin sowo short’ (God don’t let me trade at a loss). You really don’t need to wear your charity on your new boobs which you acquired on credit or receive calls on it for that matter. Shey they would have done a lot better by donating the $100M instead of ‘investing’ it with the belief that it will yield fruits/multiply (as if the weeds of their greed go gree). I know that the $100M didn’t come out of any one person’s pocket, the participating companies (GAP, Motorola, etc) spent the total from their individual marketing budgets. I say continue to sell your normal $10 t-shirts and give to charity fair and square, God knows you get the tax break. Shey if they hired marketing companies indigenous to Africa, they can at least claim the money is right now circulating through the continent, creating jobs for people who actually want to know how to fish and not wait in line bowl at the ready to be fed. And don’t get me started on the outside influences from the US, Asia and Europe that are fueling the various conflict areas on the continent, conflicts that are ensuring that we cannot heal ourselves from within.

I am not impressed; Oyinbo man if you want to help Africa, help Africa else leave my mother land out of your scam!

Bono, Who Preaches Charity, Profits From Buyouts, Tax Breaks bloomberg.com

Reunion Galore

Just heard Genesis are also reuniting and going on tour. The tour 'Turn it on Again' will kick of in Toronto and the reunited band will be without Peter Gabriel (the original lead singer who left in '75 and was replaced by Collins) who is busy on a solo project. Phil Collins will be available as will Mike Rutherford and Tony Banks.

Do You Have Two Ears and a Heart? Genesis Reunion Tour! rollingstone.com

Incredible!

Over the weekend I received a link via IM from a friend. I recognised the name as that of a guy I had gone to school with. I clicked on the link and nothing could have preped me for what I was to find there. Here was this young man from a good home professing to not only be a 419 scammer but also a gay male escort with a preference for transsexuals! I was just shocked to realize that by reading that profile I had in that instance become the acquaintance of a 419 scammer who was a gay male escort with a preference for transsexuals! I didn’t even think the 6 degrees theory would relate me to one! As if this was not bad enough there were pictures, full frontal and 'sidal' nudity erasing all doubt that I had somehow managed to read the whole thing worng! Is this some sick joke played by his friends? A scorned lover (female or male) out for revenge? A young man coming 'out of the closet'? I proceeded to read the sole post on the blog. The more I read, the closer I came to the conclusion that some one/people really had it in for this man. But how did they get such incriminating pictures? Which brings me to a question I always ask when another celebrity sex tape gets released - Why take naked pictures of yourself (copulating with another human being, doing a hand job, stepping out of the shower, striking a Superman pose, whatever?) Why make a sex tape and be so careless with it that your biggest opening at the box office would have to be financed by you? If you must take pictures of yourself in the nude goofing around ala Superman or make a video of yourself making whoopy, the next thing to do is fly to Switzerland and entrust such pictures/tapes to a Swiss banker. I am thinking our 'stud muffin' here probably posed for these pictures and his scorned lover decided to post them online. What a grudge!

Speaking of home videos/pictures that 'kobalise' I caught a report on TV this morning about two teenage boys in Fort Worth Texas who decided to teach their 2 year old and a 5 year old nephews how to smoke pot and had the genius to catch this apparent coming of age ritual on tape! The police found the tape while searing their house on a warrant for suspected robbery.

In situations such as these, two heads are better than one so I buzz another friend and after much discussion we arrived at the conclusion that the guy was the victim of '19' hunters. My friend had heard and seen things that made him believe our stud here was actually into 419, apparently after graduation from UI this guy came back like 2 months later to say hi to his peeps driving a very correct Mercedes Benz. This doesn't say much I mean it could belong to his parents, brother, sister, sister’s sugar daddy etc. The fact that this same guy was always seen in the company of known '19' boys in the Gbagada area made the source of the financing of the car and his status generally suspicious. As we talked I decided to Google the guy and the first link was to this blog! That kinda blows a hole in any attempt he tries to make to get legit work in this part of the world, a startling amount of employers actually Google prospective employees and unless this guy does facial reconstruction he really can't talk his way out of this one. (Out of curiosity I Googled myself too, was glad to find that all references to me were in ASP and ASP.NET forums asking/answering work related questions I am thinking that’s a good thing from an employers point of view) I then found links to other sites online dedicated to 'outing' '19' scammers. I found pictures of other '19' people in various compromising positions much like what I had seen on our studs blog which quickly threw my jilted/scorned lover theory out the window. Then my friend tells me that there a people who actually hunt this '19' boys down and out them. In Dateline NBC style they ask then to do specific things, e.g pose in the nude on 3rd Mainland Bridge with your erect member facing Ketu! I don't know if I was a guy I would be able to sustain an erection butt naked on 3rd Mainland bridge but hey I guess the thought of all the money that will soon be in their possession is more of a turn than I will ever know! Our stud muffin said on his blog he drove 10 hrs to and from a rendezvous with a bisexual man, his wife and their gay friend all for a fee of 7,000 Euros. Apparently the naked pix he took were for an application for an escort service and of course they needed to see what he had to offer. I am thinking the latest hot scam is to con gay men/women. One of the ‘19’ scammers outing websites featured a guy I knew very well from UI. (fashi 6 degrees!). This one was really pathetic because not only did they publish his picture, home address and international passport information page, they also dragged his wife into it pictures and all! Of course they had a sensational story as well which only helped me join the dots! Imagine there I was some 7 yrs ago thinking the guy was a hard working effico entrepreneur meanwhile he just had everyone so fooled. I guess the revelations of the weekend brought home to me a startling truth; 19 scammers are not some guys far removed from us, we know them, work with them, went to school with them and we really are sitting ducks, busy believing they are the thieves without when in reality they are the angels within.

The Wa-Zo-Bia Naira

'Wa - Zo - Bia, wa lede meta'

Those lyrics are from an Ebenezer Obey or I.K. Dairo song? Anyone?

I just saw pictures of the new Naira notes on the BBC website. The look nice and all that, but I wonder was it necessary? Really? I mean the cost of producing the notes and coins (which apparently cost more than notes) fine the notes have a host of 'relevant' security features ... After further digging I found out that the arabic writing on the notes had been removed and the new notes carry writings in Yoruba, Igbo and Hausa. I have often wondered what the Arabic writing on the notes mean't but have not been sufficiently motivated to ask. Since a lot more people speak/read either Yoruba, Igbo or Hausa as opposed to Arabic it does make more sense to have text on our national currency in those languages and assuming the 'Wa-Zo-Bia' renderings on the notes are a direct translation of the Arabic text I guess I will have my answer as soon as I can get a close up of the new notes. I must also admit its a small albeit relevant victory for Christians.

The Number 23

I just got home from seeing this movie and I will not lie it did occur to me as I got home to grab my eyeliner and begin to 'calculate' my life on my living room wall but I would like to get as much of my deposit back with minimum effort on my part when I move out :)

Initially it seemed he wouldn't pull it off; his character was narrating, and his delivery of key lines made me laugh out loud. I find Jim's comedy a bit manic and as the movie progressed I was drawn in, the laughs got fewer and far between I saw less of Jim the pet detective and more of Jim the confused father and husband who had allowed his head to be filled with nonsense now walking the thin line between fact and fiction. The last like 20 mins had me on the edge of my seat. The end ... I don't know I had so fallen 'in love' with the character I was hoping for an 'Unfaithful' type conclusion but I loved the last frame it gave me the goose bumps. In all a refreshing if not suprising performance from Mr Carey

House Cleaning

I find I am a little idle at work. Last week Wednesday I got an assignment which was supposed to take me two weeks to complete; I completed it in two days (Friday last week). I tried to look busy on Monday and I had to just give up and tell my supervisor I was done. We were supposed to have a show and tell with my other team members yesterday but a crisis on another project put that on the back burner the end result of all this is that I spent yesterday cleaning out/organising my hotmail inbox.

I started out with over 3000 emails in total in my inbox, over 700 of them unread. I managed to reduce the total number to a little over 1100 with unread mails narrowed down to 26 and I am not done cleaning. A lot of my unread emails were job search related; daily listings from Dice, Monster, and CareerBuilder. It was interesting to note that about half of the emails in my inbox were job search related; prior to my Houston job I had between 350 and 400 job search related emails, between that job and getting the offer for my current job I had another like 550 - 600 emails and after that offer till I actually started work another like 300. I wanted to try and make an estimate of how many copies of my resume I ended up sending out but Hotmail unlike Yahoo doesn't have that robust a search feature.

Of course I unearthed all sorts of gems; jokes, pictures of friends offsprings, 419 solicitations, and a sex manual sent to me by a friend who admonished me to study hard and practice only after I had a band of precious metal and couple of carats on the fourth finger (yes the thumb is a digit) of my left hand!

It was also interesting to see all (almost all) the people who have left comments on my blog (over 500 of them!) and of course the regularity of commentators (anonymous really should start his/her own blog!)

The Police Reunion Tour - Update

I was a bit dissappointed to find that when the initial tour dates were announced L.A. wasn't a stop, the closest stop was Las Vegas. I am in heaven this morning as I learn that they have added dates in Oakland and L.A! I am not sure if I will not still make the trip out to Toronto since I have never been, killing several birds with one stone. We'll see I guess it all depends on if I can get time off work.

Police add dates in Oakland, L.A. yahoo.com

The Police Reunion Tour

I must be the happiest Police fan, I can't believe they are going on tour and I will not have to read about it, I can actually attend! I am so happy I am amazed I haven't passed out from sheer joy! Or that I still need to eat, I would have thought the adrenaline coursing through my veins would sustain me till July! Alas I will have to shed my extra pounds like everybody else - watch what I eat and exercise!!!

Each day brings more good news about the tour, I just got an email from gotickets.com informing me that new dates had been announced for Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver while new dates are expected for New York. Details for the London and Europe dates will also be announced soon. The best birthday present ever would have been to watch them perform in Fenway Park (Boston) but my friend (whom I have coerced into following me) says he is not budging from Toronto so Toronto it is either on the 22nd or 23rd of July. I am sooooooooooooo excited, I can hardly wait for July to come!

Russell Simmons Presents ... Def Poetry

I stumbled upon this show quite by accident on Saturday and really enjoyed watching it. I am shocked to see that it's in its 6th season, never heard of it. For fellow JJC's out there, the show is hosted by Mos Def and as the name implies is about poetry. If you watch Russell Simmons Def Comedy Jam then you already know the format of the show. The first recital (The Industry) was from DMX who for some strange reason I happen to like. Then there was this guy who did 'Sexy'; a redefining (is that a word?) of what is perceived to be sexy; and this couple who did 'Six Million' as in 6 million ways to die they chose marriage; and a girl who did 'The Reasons I Love You' (she really cracked me up) and Jill Scott Sang her poem which I wasn't really feeling. My favorite performance of the evening was by a guy called Asia titled 'The Waiting Hour' about his bout with cancer and chemo. I really really liked it. Unfortunately HBO doesn't have clips on their site :(

If I am not mistaken ...

I just heard Jay-Z say 'Ejo' on the track 'Can't Hide From Luv' his collaboration with Mary J on her 'The Breakthrough' album. Is this something he picked up on his trip to Nija abi na me wey no dey observant as in e don dey talk am since?

Word Cloud

I saw this post on Ore's blog and quickly jumped on google and like 2 mins later found this site. I think my cloud pretty much sums up my present frame of mind although I suspect the webot that generates the cloud scans just the first page of your blog. I am presently contemplating having my cloud made up into a t-shirt.

V-day Suprise

Its 8:20 am, I am getting ready to go to work. Phone? Check, Lunch? Check. I grab my keys and open the door; Thud! What was that? There is bag on the outside of my front door. I open it and its a box of chocolates from my neigbour across the ... across from me. How sweet. I met him when I had just moved in and was moving some borrowed furniture he was recruited by my super who was helping me and I learned he had been living in the building for like 20 yrs Wow!. I have no intention of eating the chocolates, but the gesture was sweet and I plan on preserving the memory (hence the post).

Weekend Runs

Slept in on saturday as usual, woke up at like 11 am. I really had no plans for the weekend save for grocery shopping, a quick trip to Ikea to buy a TV stand I saw online and of course watching the Grammys. I had intially wanted to go see 'Notes on a Scandal' but I think that will have to wait till next weekend or perhaps Wednesday.

Grocery shopping was a breeze, I had taken some time off on Friday to organise my list according to the stores with the best deals for said items (I have learned the art of shopping with coupons and store sales papers). I then headed out to Ikea for the TV stand. Locating it on the display floor was easy enough, I jotted down its details on my shopping list and head off downstirs to pick it up. Apparently its a very popular model, that or the re-stocking people were slacking up. Anyways I had to wait almost an hr and half for them to bring out additional units from the warehouse. As I waited, I sent up a silent prayer for the good sense I had shown earlier by stopping at home and putting my perishables (fish, shrimp, chicken and veggies) in the fridge/freezer. Imagine what condition they would have been in after like 2 hrs in the suprisingly hot sun. Finally I pick up the stand, pay for it and head off to the parking lot. The thing was bigger than I had imagined it would be and just as I got to my car and was wondering how I was going to lift the thing into the car by myself (another quick prayer of thanks that I had bought a cr-v and not a civic as I had initally planned) two very helpful guys appeared and helped load it. I got my building super to help carry it upstairs to my flat. everyone I know has complained at how difficult/exasperating it can be trying to assemble Ikea furniture. In all it took like 15 mins to set the thing up; 5 mins to read the instructions, 5 mins to lay out everything, 5 mins to put it all together. Finally I can stop tripping over all the wires running every which way across the apartment. Sunday was spent cleaning my apartment from top to bottom (all 2 sqft!) oh! I bought a wok on Saturday so I 'seasoned' that. Then I made lunch for the week. I had been craving Shrimp Etouffee and decided to try and make it. Etouffee is a Cajun dish and is basically veggies and shrimp/crawfish in a flour base. It turned out pretty nicely and I was very proud of myself. I was really itching to use my wok but I had promised myself I would take it easy so I spent the rest of the afternoon sleeping. I woke up about 6 pm and watched the pre-Grammys show on E! and then the Grammys proper.

With the TV stand my living room is beginning to take shape, yesterday I found a lovely picture frame in which I put a picture of Princess. I really miss her and Bee. I think I am missing Nija as well. Everywhere I went this weekend I could have sworn everyone was speaking yoruba even the white pple! Does this mean I am going to join a Nija video club and begin to watch home videos? I don't think so! Anyways although I am itching to I will not be buying anymore furniture till it gets a little warmer then I can move out of the living room into the bedroom then each room can serve its original purpose. Target has these distressed square chests which I think will make really nice side tables as well as serve for storage. Maybe I will 'spoil' myself and buy one, maybe.

I wonder ...

Can you tell a persons birth month in the US by looking at their car tags? Anyone?

The Grammys have come and gone

The Police performed and I could hardly contain myself. Their performance was short and sweet (they did 'Roxanne'), a teaser of things to come I believed and prayed and was glad to hear yesterday that it was official; they announced they will be touring North America starting on the 18th of April. For sure this is an opportunity not to be missed, Sting is 55; Stewart is 54; and Andy is 64; there probably will not be to many tours left for this band. What am I saying The Rolling Stones (Mike Jagger, Keith Richards, Ron Wood, Charlie Watts)are well into their 60's and are still rocking on the road! Anyway tickets for the Canada shows go on sale in a week no word yet on the tickets for the American shows. I had read somewhere that the tickets will be priced between $50 and $225 so I am really encouraged. Gotickets.com already has tickets on sale for the New York shows in August at Madison Square Garden for $1800!!! All of a sudden the tour dvd is an option!

I liked the grammy version of 'Crazy' performed by Gnarls Barkley, especially the marching band drum beat. Mary rocked with 'Be Without You', and Christina Aguilera payed a fitting tribute to James Brown with 'Its a Man's Man's Man's World'. I know Beyonce performed but for the life of me I don't really remember it, bright lights behind her made her dress see-through and she kept splaying her legs it was very distracting. I enjoyed the Corinne Bailey Rae/John Legend/John Mayer (didn't know he was that tal ; 6'1) performance and as always it was a pleasure seeing a green eyed Smokey (I never knew till a couple of months ago that he had green eyes) and the seemingly ageless Lionel perfom although I felt it was odd pairing them with Chris Brown ( he had these like 6/7 yr old boys crumping it was wicked)!. I felt it ruined the flow of that particular joint performance. I think John Legend would have been a better pairing you know, keeping the singer/songwriter thing going.

Seal and Burt Bacharach presented an award together and Burt said he would be honored to work on a collaboration with Seal. That would be interesting, lets wait and see.

You know I am thinking about it now and you know the person who is truly ageless? Prince! That guy at 48 does not look a day older than he did almost 30 yrs ago when he first started performing.

Since I am counting ...

Its been a year on the 6th since I started blogging. As seems to be the case with all my anniversaries, I can't believe it! I remember my very first post like I wrote it yesterday. I am not sure if it is the act of writing the post itself or what that posts stands for that makes it memorable or the incident I wrote about. Anyways I am so so suprised a year has whizzed by already! A friend asked me a couple of weeks into my existence as a blogger if I felt I could keep this up. 'Of course I will' I replied with as much indignation as I could muster even as I could see my sisters half knitted sweater in the bottom of my closet. I must mention that I have been knitting that particular sweater for almost 10 yrs now! Over the years I have embraced many many projects with a lot of enthusiasm only to give them up before completion. Somehow blogging has managed to hold my attention for a whole year, with no signs of it getting boring. I am really very suprised, I guess this is a victory for me albeit a small one. Here is to many more anniversaries of my existence in the blogshere. And by the way I am going to knit my sister a sweater she can wear, I will buy supplies this weekend!

Its been a month ... already?!

A month ago today I started work, a month ago on the 4th I moved to California. How time flies, it seems like just yesterday that I said a teary goodbye to my peeps in Houston, hoped on a plane and became best friends with mapquest!

Introducing Robin Thicke

Courtesy of a dear friend (who is yet to make a 'bad' music recommendation) I was introduced to Robin Thicke yesterday. A very black voice lives in this young white man. My favorite song on his 'Evolution of Robin Thicke' album is 'Got 2 be down' feat Faith Evans. Somehow I see Marvin Gaye when I listen to that song. Other songs of note include 'Complicated' and 'Would that make you love me' which sounds so Maxwell.

Really weird news

This has got to be the weirdest news I have heard this year.

Anna Nicole Smith collapses, dies at 39 msnbc.com

Music Playlists

I was mucking around with my IPod and iTunes the other day and noticed that iTunes actually keeps a record of how many times you play a song either via IPod or iTunes. Why? I wonder. The only reason I can think of is perhaps this information will help 'people' at iTunes have an idea of what kind of music you like and then be able to make more appealing music selections to you. Hang on, iTunes doesn't have a music club abi? You know which music club I know which would really benefit from this kind of information? bmgmusic.com. When I joined I was required to select my favorite music category and I picked R&B so I guess its my fault when I keep getting some undesirable selections. But seriously who listens to music in one category? I think you can also select other music categories you are interested in and then you rank them but who has time to be doing all of that, the (percivied) way iTunes is going about it is so much better if a little intrusive. If bmg had taken a peek at what I have been listening to in the past month or so, they would never have offered me Beyonce's 'b'day' album. Yeye people I got the email about the featured selection and promptly declined the offer. They now had the effontry to send it out anyway! If they had mistakenly sent out some other artist perhaps I wouldn't have been so upset (I would have sent it back though). Please don't get me wrong, I think she has a good voice and by all accounts is a great on-stage performer (not actress) I am actually planning to shell out a whole 99cents for her song 'irreplaceable' (although I am beginning to get sick of it I hear that song at least twice on the radio everyday.) however will I shell out a whole $18+ for her album including the plastic case and liner notes? No! Looking at the top 10 played songs on my iTunes, God help whoever will be trying to categorize my taste in music.

• How to save a life - The Fray (I fell in love with this song the first time I heard it on Grey's Anatomy. No day seems complete if I don't listen to it)
• Bring me to life - Evanescence (I secretly have visons of 'performing' this song at a karaoke bar!)
• Makeda - Les Nubians (I heard this song for the first time while I was in uni and recently got the chance to the rip the album from a friend)
• Gonna make you sweat (everybody dance now) - C+C Music Factory (Gym staple, I like to think this song is the reason why I can last a minute on the elliptical machine :-))
• Like a star - Corinne Bailey Rae (I just like Corinne, her sound seems so unspoiled and pure)
• If you really want to know - Marc Dorsey
• Take your time (Do it right) - S.O.S Band (I have some fond memories of dancing to S.O.S Band hits in JSS1)
• Nothing at all - Sanata feat. Musiq (L-O-V-E guitars and the oh so sexy guys who play them, I am suprised this song made the top 10 and not 'Game of love')
• Wish I didn't miss you - Angie Stone (I recently had a huge longing to listen to 'Seems you're much to busy' I listened to this song furiously during that period)
• Coming out of the dark - Gloria Estefan (I like the lyrics to this song)

Red, red everywhere!

I walked into Wal-Mart yesterday to buy bread and was assaulted almost at the door by their very V-day inspired new supply of lingerie - vasts amounts of red lace. Everywhere you look evidence that V-day is rapidly approaching abounds, with tv and radio adverts reaching fever pitch. I was wondering the other day what all the effico guys in my office would be up to this V-day (I no know how dat one take concern me) now I have one less guy to wonder about courtesy of the FedEx guy who outed him when he delivered his package. This particular guy will be attending a very intimate and private Victoria Secrets fashion show!

Love is ...

apparently a pair of really good jeans. news.yahoo.com

Me and Cold Sores

I left the gym on Friday feeling very accomplished, I had a session with my trainer and as I have said before, working out in Houston and LA two different experiences. I worked my legs and core and one would have thought cos I was working mostly with the Smith Ball and floor mats that it woudn't be strenuous. Think again. I was perspiring hard by the time our 45 min session was up. The 'highlight' of my session was when I, laying on my back was supposed to hold my trainers ankles and then swing my legs towards him while he would push them back with me resisting the push. I wasn't supposed to let my legs hit the floor on the downward motion. as I grabbed a hold of his ankles I was like thank God this guy isn't wearing shorts I would have had to ask that we do something else. The thought had not finished forming in my head when he said, 'I am sure you are grateful I am not wearing shorts!' I had to pause to allow for a good laugh.

In all my sweatiness as I hop in the car grateful for the leather seats (no fear of stinking up the car) I feel the left corner of my mouth start to tingle. Oh no, not a cold sore! I go home and shack some Vit C and decided to try Abreva the next day. Now Abreva is supposed to as well as help relieve itching, help speed up the healing process. Instructions said to apply it like 5 times a day, I can do that. I wash my hands and apply it on my sore, repeating this once again before I went to bed. Imagine my shock when I woke up on Sunday to have the right corner of my mouth tingling!!! Then I remembered what Princess always said if your have something wrong with one eye or ear, apply medication to both. I guess I should include mouth to the list. Now I am at work with both corners of my mouth oozing water and I have been having cold sores long enough to know that the Abreva has had no effect (save multiply my sores!) Drat!!!

Customer is king III - Ask and you shall be given

So I am shopping for phone service and the choice is between Lingo and Vonage. I am leaning towards Vonage because if my friend refers me she gets 2 months of free service and I get the first month free but Lingo has a special on; 1st month free and $17+ for the next 6 months then regular price afterwards. Hmm ... what to do? I decide to call Vonage and see if I can get a deal similar to what Lingo is offering. 'Hi I am shopping around for a VOIP solution and I was wondering what you can offer me' Much marketing and hyping of the Vonage sevice ensued. I am calling with my precious minutes on a wednesday morning so I quickly cut to the chase, 'Lingo is offering this special; 1st month free, $17+ for the next 6 months then regular price there after, do you have a similar deal you can offer me?' 'Could you hold on for 2 minutes ma'am while I talk with my supervisor?' she asks me. 'Sure' I reply. About 3 mins later she comes back on ' Thank you ma'am for holding, at this time we can only offer you the first month free.' 'Thats a shame, I guess Lingo it is then' I reply I thank her for her time and hang up. It was worth a shot I console myself as I get back to work. A couple of hours later lo and behold I receive an email from the sales department at Vonage (I had given them my details at the start of the phone conversation) offering me 2 months free. Hows that for a 7 minute phone call?

Arsenal 3 - 1 Tottenham Hotspurs

Cardiff, here we come!

Match Report arsenal.com

Match Report soccernet.com

Police reunite at Grammys

Like I needed another excuse to watch the 49th Annual Grammy Awards, The Police (Sting, Stewart Copeland, and Andy Summers) will be reuniting and performing! The Police spawned such hits as 'Roxanne', 'Every breathe you take', 'Don't stand so close to me', 'Demolition Man, etc and disbanded in 1986. There had been rumors about a reunion of the band to mark the 30th anniversary of their formation and this announcement is such good news. I personally would like for them to go on a reunion tour just so I can get the opportunity to see them live, I love Sting!

Five-Time Grammy Award-Winning Band The Police Reunite For First Time On The Grammy Awards With Historic Kick-Off Performance Sting.com

I wonder ...

What stimulates the growth of hair in humans? Specifically is hair growth stimulated as a response to our bodies need to keep warm over a prolonged period of time? Why this odd question? Unlike Prince Phillip, I have no problems growing natural fibers i.e I am naturally a hairy so I am used to seeing hair in really odd places. This morning as I was getting dressed I noticed hair all over my chest (from my the top of my boobs up), hair that I know for sure I hadn't seen before. This wasn't the 'normal' chest hair, (wiry/curly) its the downy kind of hair, you know the kind that women/pubescent boys grow on their upper lips? There are two possible answers to the question 'Am I turning into a werewolf?'; 1. The hair had always been there, I had just grown fairer and it was now more noticable or 2. As a response to my always feeling cold, my body had received an emergency work order to produce these fibres to trap the heat my body produces naturally and keep me warm. I don't think its the former, (I am rubbing my body with Palmers Cocoa Butter not know for its skin lightening qualities) and the latter sounds really evolutionish although the human body is just awesome just like its designer/architect. Anyone with a probable answer? anyone?

Customer is King II

So I get home on Monday and all the appropriate lights on the cable modem are blinking. The technician had thoughtfully provided extra cable so I could move the modem out of my closet and into the living room. Well I was one step ahead of him I had stopped at Fry's on my way home and bought a wireless router. I quickly power up my computer and open up my browser. It never felt so good seeing the MSN homepage. Yes! I quickly go about setting up the router (easypeasy) in about 10 mins I was sitting at my borrowed kitchen table watching TV and eating a bitter tasting salad (I really need to join Sam's Club I know their Romaine lettuce tastes much better than this). Perhaps I don't need to write no complaint letter I muse as I simultaneously say a little prayer that my dinner would miraculesly dissappear from my plate I know I could just trash it but I am just funny like that.

Two days later I am stuck at home (my car battery died its a long story) and I am trying to vpn into my office network so I can get some work done na so my connection just dey break anyhow shuo? I then went to the Vonage site to test my connection. Na vex I take call TWC imagine! This people sold me the 6Mbps Upload, 786Kbps Download package. The readings I got of the Vonage site did not even come close to that. The woman I spoke with was like there must be a problem (you got that right) yada yada yada, if I don't mind holding she would connect me to the technical department. Hell no! This no be weekend, I no get 200 mins to just burn like that on my cell phone na im I drop phone. For real now I am seriously looking for an alternative service provider. Then the guy the dealer sent out to jump my car arrives and I have to go attend to that and then I took the car in to get the battery changed. I got back like an hour later and I check my mailbox, yeye TWC don send me bill and of all things to be billing me for installation!!! Installation wey una never do finish? Meanwhile when I signed up I was told installation was free. Now dem don gone and did it, I was hopping mad! I stomped up to my apartment and prepared to call TWC to give them an uncensored piece of my mind. As if on cue my phone rang it was someone from TWC requesting service assessment. I was very encouraged na im de flood gates collapse and my 'assessment' flowed eloquently out of my mouth. She asked me to rate the technician I gave him/her 0 (for messing up the instal) she asked me to rate the sales person, I gave her 0 (for messing up my order and making me wait a whole month okay 3 weeks for cable) she asked me to rate the quality of my Internet service , once again 0 it seems the company overpromised and underdelivered. We will certainly look into this case she said as she dropped the phone. Na una sabi at this rate na my brake light una go dey look. I had dropped the phone before I remembered the bill. I will wait till the weekend and call them about that right now I have research to do.

Customer is King

Of course Internet addict like me, the first thing I inquired about once I moved in to my apartment was getting Internet service. I was told that Time Warner Cable is the company that serves this area and I gave them a call. I was told the earliest time I could get a technician out would be the 26th of January two weeks from my move in date. I don’t have a choice do I so I wait. I was told that I would need to give payment to the technician who comes to set me up so on Friday I excitedly leave a check with my building super. At about 9:20 am on friday on my way to work I get a call from my building super saying the technician was here and needed to have the password to my computer. I was so excited; finally I can browse the Internet in peace. I get home and ask my building super how things went. He said he didn’t know about the cable but he knew the technician work in the Internet connection. Hmm … He also didn’t take the check I left. Now that was odd, I had been told to have payment ready. I go up to my apartment and quickly look around no cable box but I do see the cable modem yippee. I power on my computer and no Internet. I look around perhaps there are instructions nothing. I decide to call TWC. My first attempt at speaking with a tech resulted in me being on hold for 26 mins. I hung up and called again and was on hold this time for 48 mins. I then gave up and went to bed, what a buzz kill. Saturday I woke up early and called them again. I was on hold this time for about 30 mins. I hung up and then decided to call the sales number I was confident that a human being would be on hand to sell the service if one wasn't on hand to help solve problems that the poor clients who have been suckered into signing up for the yeye service being offered were having. I got to talk to a human being in like 3 mins and I complained about my Internet and also the fact that my cable wasn’t installed. The lady told me they only had an order for the Internet not the cable. What? How did that happen? Apparently my initial order was cancelled and replaced with another one for just the Internet. WTF? So what happens now I ask? Well I will have to wait till the 5th for a tech to come out and hook up the cable. WTF? Why do I have to suffer for you peoples obvious ineptitude I ask? ‘I understand that you are upset and I apologise but the earliest anyone can come out is the 5th’ she says. Argh!!! ‘I should have gone for DirecTV’ I reply. Unfazed she replies ‘Should I not bother with the cable order then?’ Imagine. I was getting a good deal on the Internet because of the cable so I really wasn’t going anywhere. I mumble something and she confirms the appointment for the 5th. Then she connects me to the technical help department to sort out my Internet issues. I was on hold to them for 2 hrs and 26 mins. Imagine!!! At the end of the day it turns out a tech has to come out and sort out the issue. Argh!!! I was really banking on Internet connection this weekend so I could research buying a car in peace. After yelling and yelling I got an appointment to get the tech out on Monday. I drop the phone and call the sales people again to see if I can move my cable hook up to Monday as well. I was told it would not be possible because it would involve cancelling both work orders and creating a new one and the closest date for the new appointment would be the 8th of February. Wetin do this people? I asked for and got the address to send my complaint to and believe me I was so angry I was actually going to write a letter. Now I am not so sure, lets see how Monday goes.

Working out Cali style

After much procrastination, I haul my butt off to the gym on Wednesday. Luckily my gym has branches in California with one not to far from my apartment. All I needed to do was come in and make an appointment for my training session. As I stepped in through the doors I thought perhaps I had entered a covered version of Oshodi market without the confusion.

An aside - By the way I am watching ABC’s Extreme Makeover Home Edition as I type up this post, and I am just tearing up. Without fail every Sunday this show makes me cry. Its good news for my tear ducts, although I do feel silly afterwards crying for 'no' reason. I think the solution will be to just stop watching the show but I am such a sucker for triumph of the human spirit stories and secretly wish I could be a crew member on one of the remodels ...

Na so so people full everywhere, every piece of equipment had somebody on it furiously working out; jogging, stepping, pulling, pushing, lifting. For sure I had never seen a gym this full before. I was a little intimidated. The guy I spoke with was friendly and he put me at ease. I made an appointment for my gym orientation for Friday. Of course I went shopping for gym clothes (yes I am vain, I know) and I was finally motivated to shave my under arm hair! Friday arrives and I meet with my trainer who has piercings everywhere I looked. I had done the orientation thing in Texas when I first joined the gym and thought I had seen it all. Half way through I began to realize that orientation in Texas and orientation in California – two different things. In Texas they are a bit laid back, my orientation consisted of a walk around the gym, doing a couple of leg exercises, weighing in and calculating my body fat percentage. On Friday I did all of that plus a long series of evaluations; the way I walk was evaluated, the way sit and stand. My body was measured from top to bottom; shoulders, arms, waist, hips, thighs, calves (turns out I am very symmetric), my upper body strength was measured (with my trainer commenting on my apparently well developed triceps argh!) as well as my lower body strength. Apparently I am also well balanced on my feet and that was a surprise for me to hear although I must admit that I had noticed that walking in high heels has been a lot easy for me to do since I started working out last year, although a friend says that can be attributed to that fact that the walkways here are all paved! Oh and we had a long talk about nutrition and how important it is as per my quest to loose weight. I must admit that I haven’t been eating well since I moved out here, but now that I have my own place and can cook I am finally eating well. Once again I was encouraged to eat 4 – 6 small meals a day to keep my metabolism up, not peaking and dipping. I felt a sense of seriousness about this trainer, a sense I just didn’t feel about my trainer in Texas. I am really not surprised though; this is California, the land of beautiful people. Once again I am given a workout journal into which had been written all my vital statistics and asked to get my resting heart rate. I am actually looking forward to my next session next Friday so much so, I remembered to take my heart rate first thing this morning.

Arrghhhhh!

See me see trouble, I have been looking for the George Michael/Mary J Blige version of 'As' since I got to work today, 3 hours into my intensive search I still have no song playing on my iPod! I could have sworn I had the song somewhere, but after spending the whole of two days looking through every cd I had I realised I would need to buy it so off to iTunes I go. Apparently the song was initially released as a single in the UK and then subsequently was released on the 'Ladies & Gentlemen...The Best of George Michael' as well as the 'Twenty Five' albums. Now for some strange reason the song was only released on the import versions of the albums so when I go to iTunes the song doesn't exist, same thing for amazon.com but when I go to amazon.co.uk - bam!- Robert is your relative! There it is listed as the second song on disc 2 ('on the Ladies & Gentlemen...The Best of George Michael' album). I am curious as to the logic behind this whole 'import' album versions and why some really good songs never seem to make it to the US versions of said cds. I am even more suprised with respect to this particular song. Its a cover of a classic from the american wonder Stevie, produced by the ageless Babyface and features a very prominent US musical presence i.e. Mary J Blige. Did some people think that all that hanky panky good ol' George has been up to in apparently all the public restrooms in LA would hurt Mary, Babyface and Stevie and as such decided to distance them from him? What do I know shey? Anyhow I finally find a US store with an album that lists the song; Walmart has the 'Twenty Five' album on pre-order and 'As' is listed as one of the songs the 3 cd set contains. Who is going to wait till the 27th of March to listen to a song? plus as much as I love music I really don't see the sense in spending $30 just to effectively buy one song! To think studio execs are wondering why illegal music downloads are so popular! If no be say I don reform my ways, for sure I would not be here wasting valuable billable hours whinging!

Eureka! A solution just came to me, all you UK pple, is there a UK version of the iTunes Store? If so how can I get my iTunes application to search that instead of searching the US store. Alternatively is there a site for a reputable store (like walmart.com) that will allow you to buy individual songs in digital form?

Note: To iTunes credit they did state that their listing of the contents of the 'Ladies & Gentlemen...The Best of George Michael' album was a partial one.

Arsenal 2-1 Manchester Utd

Yes o yes o, yes o!!!!!

Match Report soccernet.com

Match Report arsenal.com

Apartment? Check!

It’s an unusually cold evening by California standards and I am writing this post perched on my air bed in the middle my living room! Yup that’s right, sister girl finally found an apartment. Let me tell you all about it. My hotel reservation was going to expire on Tuesday and determined not to extend it again (I had succumbed last week), I attacked the Westside rentals site and craigslist sites with a vengeance. I had seen a place I liked about a week ago and submitted an application. Thinking I was in pole position to get the apartment I kinda slowed down looking alas the 419 people just collected my application plus $30 processing fee, they didn’t even have the courtesy to call and tell me I had been declined, meanshile the listing is still active on the rental board o! Yeye people. I spent Saturday and Sunday driving around the whole of the south bay LA area and although I was getting desperate I wasn’t really feeling any of the apartments I saw. I did see something on Saturday which I naija woman showed me. I took the forms and decided if all else failed I would apply to rent it. Monday morning, just as I was beginning to resign myself to the fact that I might be extending my reservation after all ( I couldn’t bring myself to manage the naija woman’s place), I saw it. The pictures of the exterior looked nice, the rent was well within my budget and included utilities, the deposit was surprisingly low. Could this be too good to be true? Reining in my enthusiasm, I called and made an appointment to see it. The outside looked nothing like the picture I had seen, aha I thought to myself and almost drove off without taking a look inside (thank God that didn’t happen!) It wasn’t like it was bad, I was just going with the ‘if it looks to good to be true it most probably is’ philosophy. Anyhow I step in and it was a totally different scenario. The foyer/lobby was really clean and welcoming and peaceful. Hmm I punch in the code for the manager and he lets me in. He looked like the kind of person who could make roses grow on concrete, and the inside of the apartment building seemed to prove me right. Flower beds were everywhere, well tended with everything in glorious bloom, and not a piece of trash in sight. I felt even more at peace could this be it? The vacant apartment was upstairs (good) spacious kitchen area with a brand new fridge and a gas stove. Plenty of cupboard space, dual sinks, not that much counter space although the counter tops were in good condition. Nice. Ceiling fan in the living room, not the largest living room I had seen since my search began but it would do. Good size bathroom, I could actually turn around in it. No stains in the tub, grout mould free, the seal around the tub was in good condition, faucets and shower head in good condition. The bedroom wasn’t too small, it would fit a queen size bed easily with space for a dresser and arm chair (I have become very good at this) sizable closet although it wasn’t a walk in (bummer). All the doors in the apartment were varnished as opposed to painted and it gave the place a certain warmth and charm. I also noticed the carpets were stain free and the walls newly painted. No strange smells. It wasn’t the largest apartment I had seen since my hunt began, but it was in good condition, in a nice neighborhood, I could really see myself living here. I decided to apply and see how that would turn out. After the tour, I expressed my desire to apply to rent and I explained my situation in as much detail as was relevant. ‘Would it be worth your while and mine if I applied?’ I asked. ‘I don’t see why not’ He replies. 10 mins later I turn in my completed application. He looks at it and says ‘If you write me a check for the deposit now, I will take down the ‘for rent’ sign and once I can confirm your employment details the apartment is yours’. I couldn’t believe it. Kia I wrote the check and to celebrate I drove to the Citadel Factory Outlets in search of a coat. I didn’t find anything I liked but I did get a pair of DKNY sunglasses from SGH and a really nice shirt from Banana Republic. I had almost bought the sunglasses in Houston from SGH, was I glad I didn’t I got them for half the price, that alone made the drive out so worth it.

Although I had noted that the carpets were clean at my soon to be apartment, I really couldn’t sleep on the floor so air bed searching I went. Of course I called my Atlanta support group for a consult. ‘Get the Aerobed brand air bed’ she advised. After an extensive search online, the earliest I would be able to get one would be 5 working days (not good). I decided to just go to Wal-Mart and buy whatever they had on sale. I was a bit apprehensive about going to Wal-Mart, first off it was in an area totally foreign to me and I would be going when it was dark. How would I be able to read my Google map and all that? Anyways I arrived there without incident (thankfully). The trip was educative; first I have never seen a Wal-Mart that was part of a mall and definitely not one that was on three floors. I wondered how I was supposed to get from floor to floor with my shopping cart then I realized that the carts had their own escalator. Cool. Air bed? Check, Bed sheets and pillow case? Check, Thermal blanket? Check, Pillow? Check. Keeping my eyes wide open and my purse in a deathlike grip, I traverse the packing lot, load up my purchases and get out of the area as fast as I could ( I don’t know why I felt so threatened). Tuesday morning I happily checked out of the hotel (bye bye to Subway Sandwiches). I got a call from the apartment manager later in the morning telling me I was all checked out and the apartment was officially mine as soon as I could come get the paperwork done. I left work at about 4 PM, spent like 20 mins filling and signing the required forms a quick 10 mins orientation of the premises followed and finally he handed over the keys. ‘Welcome to the building’ he said. I felt like I had won the lottery.

My first night was uneventful save for the cold, it was freezing! I thought I had dressed warmly enough to sleep in the bedroom since the only heater in the whole apartment was in the living room. However I awoke at about midnight to realize the error in my thinking. I relocated my bedding and myself to the living room and once I was camped as close as I possibly could to the heater I slept pretty much till my alarm went off. Of course I didn’t go to bed without reading Psalms 24 and 91 at Princess’ request. Reading them was comforting though and made me feel even more at peace as I went to bed in my ‘strange’ surroundings. I did a little grocery shopping too that night, managed to clean the fridge out before going to bed not like it was dirty or anything just for the sake of my sanity I guess. Again I visited another Wal-Mart. Although this one was not on several floors like the one I had visited earlier I found it to be pretty similar; teaming with Blacks and Hispanics, isles in disarray, and not a fresh vegetable in sight. I guess I would have to put off eating a salad till I go to Ralphs were I must add everything costs way too much. My commute to work was less than 20 mins which really isn’t bad considering; I have a colleague who has a one way commute of 90 mins! My second night was much warmer. I kept all the doors closed when I left in the morning so the living room was quite toasty when I arrived. I had planned on buying a space heater but those things I am told are such a fire hazard so I decided against it. A friend advised that I turn my oven on and leave the door ajar which I did till I went to bed. That was some good advice. I did the same thing when I woke up and by the time I was ready to leave the house I was feeling like turning on the fan! It should get warm soon sha thankfully. I plan to spend the weekend unpacking my bags (it feels so good typing that) and putting my kitchen in some kind of order. I bought a TV yesterday so I wouldn’t be bored out of my mind; the cable/Internet people will not be able to set me up till end of the month imagine! Meanwhile what is the deal with ‘Grey’s Anatomy’? It seems this season’s plot is for everyone to be romantically involved with their attendings; the latest couple - Alex and Addison. A collegue had promised to show me some furniture stores where I can get really good deals on disposable furniture, I am looking forward to that. Now my next major task is returning my rental car while I search furniture listings on craigslist and scour for garage sales. Did I mention that since Tuesday my phone has been ringing off the hook; after weeks of talking to answering machines and leaving requests for call backs, it seems everyone I have ever called as per renting an apartment picked this week to return my calls! When it rains it certainly pours.

First day at work

Couldn't sleep, wonder why. I had turned in for the night like 10:30 pm, tossed and turned till 3:30 am. Thankfully I didn't have to get to work till 9 am (I love this job) and my office is just like 10 mins away. I wore the suit and I must say I was looking very fetching ;-). I got to work without incident and was pleasantly suprised to find my work station all preped, my computer ready, email account set up, all logons created. Plus I have home access! This was very unlike the reception I received at my first job in Houston; it took a whole week to get me the appropriate logons and permissions on the network and my computer set up! I spent the first couple of hours filling in paper work and getting introduced to other members of staff. I was beginning to worry that I was the only female on staff and was pleased to learn that there are to of us; the other one was away on vacation. She is Asian and I am looking forward to meeting her. I hope she is nice, and she can cook, I really want to learn to cook authentic chinese food, I hope she will be predisposed to teaching me. Then I had a two hour briefing then we did lunch (this people like eating, end of story) then another briefing. For sure there will be no napping at this job, these people mean business. Everyone was polite, the guy who seats next to me has the most amazing eyelashes! They are very thick with a slight curve, they make his eyes look so beautiful, for real I had to caution myself to not stare too much especially since I had just read and signed the sexual descrimination clause in the employee handbook!

iPhone hits stores in June '07

Apple renames itself today (Apple Inc) as Steve Jobs introduces the iPhone. The thing fine no be small. At $499 a pop for the 4GB version and $599 for the 8GB version it will not be a cheap phone but for all the functionality it is actually promising to deliver it might well be worth it. There is a catch though, it will only be available for Cingular subscribers :-(

Apple's new calling: The iPhone time.com

I moved yet again!

To California, and maybe this time I will get to unpack my bags. I got a cheap flight out and thanks to Priceline affordable lodgings. I start work tomorrow and I am undecided if I should wear a suit or do business casual. I think I am the laziest thing on the face of the earth. Although I am happy to be starting work, I am not exactly thrilled at giving up my ‘idyllic’ life i.e sleep till noon, stay up till 5am. However as we all know, lounging around the house all day don’t pay no bills except of course if your last name is Kashoggi or Onassis (yup I am old school!) so to work I go!

Apartment hunting has been … interesting. After expunging visions of me lounging in the living room of my beachfront townhouse with hardwood floors enjoying my view of the bluer than blue water with the whiter than white sand, I head out armed with a realistic listings in the area. This realistic thing really sucks, all the places within my budget I didn’t like and by this weekend I was beginning to get a little depressed. Things began to look up when I stumbled upon a cute studio in Redondo Beach, the landlord was ‘amazed’ I could speak English so well, apparently I sound neither Nigerian nor African (he should know he worked 30 years in the airline industry). At the end of the day I had to pass on making an offer on the studio, it didn’t have a stove because it wasn’t well vented. I wonder how the guy is planning to get someone to sign a one year lease on an apartment/studio without a stove anyway this is oyinbo country and eating out is the order of the day. Me I am sick of eating out I am not joking a Subway sandwich is sprouting from the top of my head! I spoke with the friend of a friend of a friend who encouraged me to expand my search area. This seems to be working because I have seen several places which I like and which I can afford. I like one of them so much; I actually filled out the application!!! My fingers are crossed!!!

The Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls

I am watching Anderson Cooper 360 and on his show today he is talking with Oprah. In case you haven’t heard, Oprah recently opened the doors to her $40 M academy in South Africa. When I first heard about the school, I wondered what motivated her to embark on this particular project, and anticipated criticism whatever her motives might be. I have not been disappointed. She has received a lot of flack from home and abroad as per the ‘extravagance’ that is The Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls. I think the most petty/ignorant thing I have heard so far is; ‘these are African girls living in huts, they don’t need all this finery’. Really. The fact that you are from/live in a certain part of the world should dictate the kinds of opportunities you receive? Interesting. Let me not forget to point out that this is all Oprah’s money, not tax payers funds o! I got a clue to her inspiration as I watched the show; a quote from Oprah came up on screen. I don’t remember it verbatim, but its something along the lines that the South African children wanted the education more than the kids in inner-city schools who all seemed to just want IPods and fancy sneakers. As my people will say ‘Eni to lori o ni fila’ (Person wey get head no get cap). South Africans also have something to say, perhaps she didn’t need to spend $40M on a facility for 152 girls when she could have spent the same amount and wouldn’t have had a need to turn back any applicants (over 3500 girls applied for a place in the academy). Perhaps. My issue is not that the school is too grand, rather that these girls will still return to the shacks/huts from which they came, will the school be able to help them see that they can rise above their circumstances and hold their own with the crème de la crème of society like Oprah despite their humble beginnings? Will they see the school as the opportunity it is to a better life not as a life support machine? I wish Oprah and her 152 daughters all the best.

On a lighter note, I wondered why Jeff Koinange was holding on to Oprah for dear life while they walked and talked on the Academy campus. Then I saw it, Oprah’s lashes were so long there were sending strong gales in the poor guys direction every time she blinked. Okay okay the sun was casting shadows so they seemed longer than they actually were but really Oprah should consider reducing the length of her lashes just a tad bit.