This past weekend was the first that I had to relax after a long busy season so I didn’t have anything particular on my agenda other than some serious RnR. Fortunately it was a big sporting weekend with the Wimbeldon Finals and British GrandPrix happening. So Saturday afternoon found me at my favourite sportsbar watching the Womens Final at Wimbeldon then I remembered a heated debate last  year about whether it is fair for the women tennis players to win the same amount of prize money  as the men yet they played only best of 3 sets while men played 5 sets. This may look like the prize is skewed in favour of the women players and I was inclined to agree with that line of reasoning but on serious thought I now agree that it is fair that they get equal share of the purse.

My reasoning for this is due to the fact that for most sporting tournaments the majority of the revenue is from television rights and media coverage hence it is the number of spectators that a sport can attract not the physical exertion on the field or the length of the game (if that was the case cricket players would be the highest paid!) In all honesty womens tennis tends to get much more coverage in the sports pages and more so in the pictures, hence my blog title - the short skirts must have something to do with it!

To the actual game it was a great pleasure to see the Williams sisters in the finals again I am a big fan of Venus especially (and its not just about the the thighs!) she never gives up on a shot and knowing how Serena can be a big hitter it was quite a captivating match up. Sadly I missed the Mens final between Federer and Nadal it seems to me that those two have been so dominant in mens Tennis lately such that it is either one or the other winning the Grand Slams.

BLAME IT ON THE WEATHER

Again I missed the British Grandprix at Silverstone I kinda expected it to be like the French grandprix which despite my team Ferarri winning was quite a drab affair with the two Ferarris like 15 seconds ahead of all the rest but unfortunately it was not to be. I have to give it to Lewis Hamilton for showing such tenacity to win the race despite qualifying in fourth position, He almost took the lead at the first turn! Ferarri on the other had made a serious tactical error by failing to fit Raikonnens car with fresh wet tyres after which it promptly started raining. The consequences for Kimi were tragic with catastrophic grip failure now the championship is a 3 way race which should lead to very exciting races in the second half of the championship. If only Hamilton could drive a Ferarri the kid would be unbeatable!!!

Finally after contemplating a Hiatus I have retracted and now looking forward to some leave days (weeks!) so anyone with some plots to do in the cold July month please share.

This past weekend was dominated by all things beer with the Tusker Safari Sevens and Tusker Project Fame finals happening on the same weekend, I wonder how the Tusker big brass were able to divide themselves between the two events happening on opposite sides of town. Despite the obvious temptation especially on the former I ended up in a different type of Bar which was not a Bar. With a nudge from a techie guru whom I know and  also happens to work with skunks I found myself spending the better part of Saturday at Barcamp. Despite my initial misgivings about what I presumed would be a very techie affair with acronyms and abbreviations being thrown left right and centre I ended up learning alot and having a good time to boot.

Alot of posts (More than 10 at last count) have been writen up about the content of Barcamp Nairobi including pictures where I have spotted my smug mugshot in the crowd! so I won’t attempt to try and go into the content of the presentations cos they have been covered my more worthy campers. Instead I will just state what I liked about it and what little more I would like to see added.

What I liked.

• Democracy, people got to choose what topics would be included and because the sessions were going on concurently in 3 rooms you had a choice of which particular session to attend this was a true reflection of ‘people driven process
• Participation, was not only expected and encouraged it was demanded, it was not just about a speaker talking for half an hour while we were watching the clock in fact most of the times I got a feeling that the sessions were ending too fast.
• Networking, I was able to make the aquintance of several bloggers and persons in the blog and IT community who despite being ‘famous’ were all approachable and willing to engage all and sundry.
• Ubuntu, not the software (although I noted that many of the poeple attending are big fans of FOSS) but the spirit of humanity where people were genuinely willing to be helpful, this puts a human face rather than the obnoxious geek image that people have of the techies.
• Variety, It was not just about computer systems and develpment of software there was diversity in topics from setting up Ubuntu servers, rural lighting to Iphones and Blogging tips so I didn’t feel left out although quite a number of the topics were above me I could still find enoug sessions to occupy me all day.
• Unconference, this terminology intrigued me and I wanted to know what it was all about but as the day wore on it impressed me, the informal nature of going about things, the lack of moderators, the diversity, the lighning sessions (I didn’t think it would ever be possible to keep a public speaker in kenya to a presentation of only 5 minutes!) and the lack of the usual evaluation forms at the end of the seminar. there was not even a guest of honour although the PS for information turned up he particpated and contributed like any other camper.
• Mixed Grill,- not the food (there was none but I don’t think anybody missed it) All sorts of people turned up from IT specialists, Bloggers, Civil Society, Enterpreneurs, Students and even government policy makers and all mixing and participating as equals and wanting to share something.
• HotSpot, thanks to Wananchi for some of us it was our first time to experience really fast, Unrestricted internet (really had to restrain myself from abusing the connection to do hefty downloads) connections and as the presentations went on we were able to google all the interesting facts that came up and I have a nice big BarcampNariobi bookmark folder full of juicy links to nibble over slowly with time.

Oportunities for Improvement

• Space, I guess even the organizers did not bargain for such a big attendance especially on a cold July Saturday but the 3 rooms for most of the sessions were full to capacity, I can bet that next time due to the favourable reviews I have read so far they can expect even more people
• Timing, ok this is personal! I really really really missed the rugby so next time tafadhali consult the KRFU calendar.
• Publicity, the whole thing needs to be demystified so that we can have more people coming in especially as presenters cos alot of times people get intimidated by technology and think that it is only for experts.
• Beer, si it’s a Bar ama?

so to the organizers of Barcamp this is my unofficial conference evaluation form in case you forgot!

Its a great time for the consumer when all the big companies are fighting for your attention (and a little bit of your money). Just such a situation is playing itself out in the business circles in Kenya where some previously unassailable corporate giants are being challenged. Of course for us consumers we can just smile and expect more choice and hopefully better deals as the big boys go to war.

Safaricom vs Celtel

Safaricom is the undisputed big boy in Kenya’s corporate scene enjoying massive profits and totally dominating the mobile phone scene however their composure seems to have been ruffled by their smaller competitor Celtel who have shed their rather elitist image and are now engaging in an all out war for the low end of the market with their new 3 shillings off peak off. Safaricom quickly responded by lowering their rates to 10 bob and launching the ill fated free calls between 9pm and 6am promotion. Very predictably the usually congested Safaricom network went into almost immediate meltdown with congestion once the offere started forcing them to revise the timings. Overall Celtel has superior call clarity, stable data conectivity and customer service call centre that is actually reachable and I think it will benefit by clinching those customers that value quality and reliability, however I still think Safaricom will retain its share of the mass market esp  due to M-Pesa which is for sure the key products that will make people stick there, but I hope they will now learn to be more responsive to customers demands rather than using its bigger numbers to lock in the customers its so easy to acquire another line. As for myself I remain unashamedly polygamous and I use both networks depending on what I am currently doing and should the other players come in soon I will welcome them with open arms, I find it funny when people argue about which network is better I have no loyalty whatsoever, what I pray for is that CCK will effect number portability so that I can migrate to any new network and retain my number (this will sort out those friends of mine on Safcom who swear they can’t call me on Celtel since they won’t know what network I’m using since the prefix will be meaningless)

EABL vs Coca Cola

Coca Cola have enjoyed a near monopoly in the soft drinks market in Kenya having ruthlessly dispensed of any upcoming competition such as Softa and Schweppes but now they have a battle on their hands with the brewing giants very loud entry into their niche with Alvaro which seems to have even exceeded their expectations. Coke countered by entering the Energy drinks market currently dominated by the EABL distributed Red Bull by launching Burn with a lot of flare. I will be keenly following this war and seeing how it will improve the situation at my local. I only wish someone else would come and offer some compe to EABL who are virtually a monopoly in the beer market I remember with fondness the Tusker vs Castle battle in the 90’s and the fact that beer prices did not go up for 5 years. Now I hear rumours that Breweries might also venture into the bottled water market quite an irony!

DSTV vs GTV

For over a decade DSTV has been the only provider of Satellite TV in Kenya and could literally dicatate what to charge to add to the ridiculously high cost of buying the equipment it is amazing how the cost of connection to Satellite TV could have dropped from 60,000 shillings only 2 years ago to now just over 5,000 shillings. The major cause has been the entry of a new provider GTV which announced its entry into the market by clinching the rights to 80% of the English Premier League which is immensly popular in Kenya. DSTV responded by offering cheaper bouquets and lowering the cost of equipment. In total I think DSTV still holds the edge i terms of the number and quality of Channels they have to offer but I see GTV catching up very soon. The competiton has also had an unexpected boost for local soccer as the 2 companies compete for rights to cover local tournaments currently DSTV’s Supersport has rights to the Kenya Premier Leagues while GTV has rights for the regional CECAFA tournament the net acheivement is that there will be more funds available for the various clubs and national teams from the sale of the rights which if used properly will herald teh development of a proper proffesional football scene locally and will stop this nonsense of people expecting the government to bail out local soccer federations with our tax money.

So if there is more competion out there in the offing, I say “Bring Them On!”

I remember by this time last year I was salivating at the prospect of big movies that were being released  for the summer season. There was a lot of buzz around the following movies.

• Spiderman 3
• Pirates of the Caribean 3 (At Worlds End) my personal favourite
• Die Hard 4
• The Bourne Ultimatum
• The Transformers
• 300

I eagerly awaited the release of these movies and watched them at the theatre as soon as they started showing locally. This year however the movie craze has been slow to catch on and nothing yet has inspired me to get a movie ticket. However today is the Worldwide Premier of the 4th Indiana Jones Move titled “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystall Skull“. One of my favourite Movie boxsets that I own is the original Indiana Jones Boxset, despite the fact that the movies were made in the 80’s I still love them to death especially the original one “Raiders of the Lost Ark”

So far the reviews I have read are favourable and I look forward to seeing Harrison Ford reprise the role that made him a star despite the fact that it is over 20 years since the last installment. The movie is being released in Kenya tonight as part of the worldwide release! How I wish I could be in Nairobi this weekend.

Other movies I am looking forward to watching this year include the next installment of the Batman series “The Dark Knight”, Sex and the City - The movie, The next 007 movie “Quantum of Solace” and the Incredible Hulk, There was also talk of Sin City 2 but I’m yet to know when the release date will be.

Onto other matters; After SUCCESSFUL (I’m really trying to avoid gloating this time round!) completion of the the EPL and Championship league I can now switch my focus to other matters such as the upcoming Euro 2008 tournament, I’m still grappling with whether to upgrade my DSTV package for just next month, which is made all the spicier with the French Open and a couple of F1 grand prix races. Coming soon is Wimbeldon is also the Beijing Olympics in August. But my most immediate concern this weekend is the London leg of the IRB sevens series where I hope our Kenyan Boys will continue to do us proud (also so that they can take up Sir Richard Bransons offer of a holiday on his exclusive Caribbean island)

Last night I also got to watch the season finale of American Idol, this is the first time I got to follow almost the entire process and I was glad to see my favourite actually take the top prize, David Cook won me over much earlier on when he did a very memorable rock rendition of Lionel Richie’s - Hello. I can now see how some of the current stars such as Jordan Sparks and Kelly Clarkson were moulded by the Idols process I’m pretty sure we shall be hearing that name in the record stores very soon. Closer to home I’ve been comparing Tusker Project Fame and East & Southern Africa Idols and my conclusion is that TPF is just a marketing  venture by EABL rather than a genuine talent search especially since I can’t recall any trully outstanding performance on any of their weekend shows, it tends to focus more on the ’soap opera’ like goings on in the Academy rather than development of the singers. Idols on the other hand has some almost breathtaking performances every week and it is very very hard to make a choice on who is better cos they are all good. I would put my money on Idols to produce the next African pop star.

This post is not my usual cup of tea but just needed to get some divergent opinions on some issues that have been on my mind.

1. When you are going out with someone when does it become exclusive? is it an agreed moment or is it up to one of them to point out that the relationship is exclusive? Is it when the relationship gets physical? or is it just because you are identified by other people as a couple?
2. When going out you are technically both single so if you meet someone else and you decide to see him/her before breaking off the other relationship is this considered cheating?

An argument I have heard is that during the single phase you cannot be considered to be cheating because it is assumed that you are still exploring and assesing the suitability of various partners therefore the onset of exclusivity is Marriage or at the very earliest on formal engagement. Reason being before then there is no legal contract or solemn vow. This argument has mainly been advanced by guys.

The other side of the coin is that once you are seeing someone and you have declared yourself as a couple then looking sideways is cheating already. But sometimes I find you can be accused of cheating by someone who you have only shared one coffee outing or one date with if you as much as take another person on an outing.

Caution: here I am not talking about sleeping with another person, just seeing someone else.

I don’t advocate sleeping around but sometimes couples can have very discordant views of exactly what stage they are in a relationship especially in regard to the issue of seeing other people.

The Cup is ours AGAIN!

My ‘humility’prevents me from bragging and chest thumping but by now all and sundry will know what came to pass on the final day of the EPL which definately has put a smile on my face and a slight bounce to my stride which I consider to be adequate compensation for the hours on gnawing tension that have characterized the last agonizing weeks of the premiership and the Championships league. It is not easy being a Man U fan especially with fans of all other fans rooting againist you but that is the price we have to pay for the high standards we are judged againist it. Now I can hardly wait for the game on 21st at Moscow, I pray the Red Devils will put the RED into Red Square!

Ferrari yet again!

This weekend saw the KCB national rally championship come back to my current hometown of Embu after 19 years and this put the town in a festive mood unfortunately for me I couldn’t partake in the excitement as I had to head on to Nairobi for the weekend. I decided to come back early on Sunday if at least to catch the last few hours of the rally but mob delays ensured that I couldn’t make it in time for the finish but nevertheless I managed to get to Izaak Walton Hotel in time to catch the second half of the Turkish Grand Prix. Being a Ferrari fan I had high hopes of Kimi Raikonnen extending his championship lead at Istanbul but brilliant strategy by the Mclaren team saw Lewis Hamilton pip him for second place and close the gap on the championship points but nevertheless I was excited by Felipe Massa’s convincing (hat trick!) win. I think this is for the better for the championship because it ensures that there is real competition and hopefully the thrills will last till the last race just like last year.

Small Town Blues!

On getting to Embu yesterday I realised how the Nairobi crowd can totally overun a small town by the time I got there almost all the beer in town had been emptied by the very thirsty rally enthusiasts and crew which had me quite worried cos I dídn’t relish watching the tension packed EPL season finale without something to calm my nerves I just had to settle for a Whitecap Light which I discovered is not bad at all especially a cold one and after the Man U victory a beer has never tasted so sweet! From what I could gather all the hotels were full and my usual haunt Kenol was jam packed on Saturday.

Traffic Gridlock

My rant this week is the traffic on Thika Road, anyone who used it on Friday night must be seething like me I spent over 3 hours on that road cos a trailler had overturned somehere after Ruaraka at the Allsopps drift, I was literally able to read all my mail on the phone and do some browsing while waiting for the road to be cleared. The absolute worst about this stretch of road is that there is absolutely no option to divert once you are on it unless you somehow can manouvere through Garden Estate onto Kiambu Road. The planners need to know that we need those promised bypasses like by YESTERDAY!

Apologies

To akina 3TOC and Bomseh, pole for being away for so long but I have been having issues with the internet here at the office coupled with the constant tinkering by WordPress during the upgrade which has been quite offputting lakini I’m still lurking around sio hiatus.

Todays agreement on the Grand Coalition Cabinet has definitely gotten me thinking. I know I should be angry about the grand waste of public funds that will be occasioned by this massive cabinet. Instead I am mildly amused about the sitting arrangement.

If the 17 current ministers filled up the Cabinet room in Harambee house as shown in the picture below, now I wonder which sort of cabinet room can fit in 40 members of  the cabinet around one table.

Photo from Nation media

Following this wouldn’t it be better for the ‘Principles’ to hire a classroom for cabinet meeting with the chairman facing the ‘class’ especially now that they have a prefect ‘PM’. Won’t it be amusing to see who will scrample for the front seats eager to catch the teachers eye and who will be the noisemakers hiding in the back row reading comics under the desk!

Sadly however none of this is amusing at all!

Its been a while since I put up a post on the blog this has been due to a few things I needed to catch up at work and of course the distractions due to the Easter Holidays.

First off I thoroughly enjoyed the Easter Weekend, I initially didn’t have very high expectations or plans and that it fell on the wrong time of the month I still managed to enjoy myself and relax with some friends, I also ventured to a Mugithi night somewhere in Central, its been a while since I did that but it was thoroughly enjoyable, the company was also great.

Sports wise the weekend was also great with my Formula one team Ferrari back to winning ways after that fiasco in the Australian Grand Prix it was a relief for me to see Kimi Raikonnen win in Malaysia I expect a very tough season this year especially with Lewis Hamilton expected to mature a little bit more and the lack of traction control and computerized driving aids will definitely add to the excitement. Onto Football this year my cheering for Man U has been muted on this blog due to the up and down nature of the league but after the great weekend I can fully don my red jersey and make some noise. The league is not yet won but at this stage it feels good to be in pole position.

On the geek computer side I am still learning the ropes of Ubuntu on my computer, I have now installed more memory on the system which has vastly improved the perfomance of the computer and I can happily report that I don’t see myself going back to MS Windows anytime soon. To help with the transition I installed the Wine application which enables me to install and run Windows apps this is quite a help since I still need to access some office files and I don’t want to tamper with the formats. Additionally I have also installed the KDE desktop which allows me to log into a Kubuntu session so I am now currently comparing which desktop environment I would prefer to use permantently.

Otherwise for those who have been missing the posts from the mountainside now I am back.

Apparently voyeurism go hand in hand with blogging otherwise where did all this tagging business have to do with blogging. Anyway since I was tagged by Half and Half and I hate to be unsportly despite the fact that I have already obliged a number of tags in the past I will attempt to do the neadfull and get it over with quickly. (oh and thanks to Modo for reminding me that a Mountain cannot lie low otherwise I had decided to totally ignore this post)

 The Rules:

- Link to the person that tagged you.

- Post the rules on your blog.

- Share six non-important things/habits/quirks about yourself.

- Tag six random people at the end of your post by linking to their blogs.

- Let each random person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their website

1. I cannot resist Choclate Eclairs: this little tofee sweets with milk choclate centers have been the total ruin of me. I keep a stash that is not so secret in my car at most times.
2. I cannot wear a shirt untucked: Even in the house and I am alone it just feels awkward and don’t get me started on wearing pants without a belt.
3. I hate shopping for shoes: Strange as it seems I find shoe shopping an entirely complicated affair and will avoid it until my soles are falling off. (this will sound completely strange to some of the bloggers out there who know themselves)
4. I can’t shout: I find it terribly difficult to get loud even when when I am angry or scared, I just can’t
5. I am addicted to caffeine: If I don’t get my daily fix of caffeine at least  cups of coffee by 10:00 am at all cost avoid me for I will be very cranky. I keep a few cans of Red Bull in the house for emergencies.
6. I am loyal to my barber: I’d rather let my hair grow wild than experiment with just any Kinyozi I have been going to the same barber for the last 6 years .

I will tag the following just to go with the flow so sorry to:

• Frankie - for being so lost
• Tweety 
• Maua - Just curious
• MissE - Also just curious
• Gitts - You need to wake up.

Most other people are already tagged so that will be enough for now.

Onto other intersting matters, I was scrolling my blog and realised that I have been blogging for exactly one year now so yippee its MY ANNIVERSARY. I can honestly say I am surprised that I have stayed the course for so long from that Friday evening in February last year when I was in the office and just on the spur of the moment decided to start a blog and joined KBW one day later. I hadn’t read many blogs then I didn’t understand a lot of the little nuances that go along with blogging but true to my nature of relishing challenges I learnt a lot along the way, interacted with alot of interesting folks both back here at home and in the diaspora, reconnected with some long lost friends and most of all had lots of fun.

It would be extremely difficult to mention all the good people who have enriched my blogging experience all through the year and made such a big difference in my life. I promise to continue blogging for as long as the interest holds me (yeah I know I have been a little bit out of action in the last 2 months).

So to all you my dear blogthren I bid you Cheers!

After weeks of Trial and Error I have finally managed to erase Microsoft Windows from my laptop and replace it with the Linux Based Ubuntu operating system. I will be the first to admit that I am not a computer geek but several problems with viruses and missing drivers had made my laptop all but useless resulting in my decision to plunge into the world of the unknown.

Armed with only an Ubuntu Live CD and several hours of browsing the documentation on the web I decided to take the plunge and just get rid of Windows all together, I had first considered partitioning the hard disk but then on second thought realised that the hard disk was too small for that and it seemed like such a complicated procedure. The second hurdle was the lack of enough memory on my system to run live CD since I couldn’t get my hands on additonal RAM I had to consider the other option of getting the software and that was by Downloading the Alternate-CD from the Ubuntu website which is no mean task since we are talking about 700 Megabytes. Fortunately in the office there are very few internet users after work so one evening after spending 3 hours downloading the entire CD image file and a CD image file burner I was ready to go.

I had already backed up all the useful files on my office desktop so after taking a deep breath and waving Bill Gates goodbye I put in the CD and rebooted the computer after a few questions and less than an hour later I was the proud owner of an brand new Ubuntu powered machine.

No doubt I face a steep learning curve since I have never used any other OS other that MS Windows but 2 days later I think I can hack it, still getting the hang of all these APT, Terminal and SUDO stuff so you will bear with me as this migration is taking almost all my free computing minutes. Todays task was getting MP3 and DVD playback operational.

I hear there is some tagging manenos going on out there in blogosphere so I will lie low as I contemplate the implications.