Getting Back Up To Speed

I've been falling behind with posts and being unable to edit lately because of my computer having to be rebuilt essentially. But, all is moderately normal now and I'm beginning to catch up a bit.

I've had about 5 vlogs filmed, just waiting to be put together and put up on youtube.
I think I'll just do 4 of them.
So far two are done and you can see them below.





You can check out previous videos by clicking on "The Vlog" at the top of this page
or directly linking to my youtube channel here.

Oh, My African Mama

by Oliver Omondi

With a bundle of firewood on her head she moves with weak steps

Her face glows with a baby on her back

The baby is blissful but his muscles are weak

With her last weary step she comes to a stop

Putting the heavy bundle down with a bang

Oh, my African Mama

Rubbing her dirty hands on her apron

The baby clings tightly showing a face of joy

I almost cried, shedding tears of mercy for the growing seed, the baby

Oh, my African Mama

The baby caught his mum’s unkempt hair

Still with a smiling face not knowing the challenges

Her stomach is empty though she looks strong

Oh, my African Mama

Sitting downwards she’s eaten one meal today

I never know, who the first born is from behind

The last born being a boy, another big stomach

Oh, my African Mama

Food on the table, survival for the fittest

They struggle and grab and at last the weak grumble

With the little she has eaten, she plans for the next

Oh, my African Mama

Wrinkles on her face with strong lines

How is it being a woman full of hope?

Even with clothes dirty everywhere

Oh, my African Mama

They have struggled but still God sends some more visitors to her;

The babies

Once more the baby stands on his feeble legs

Though feeble, they look rough and strong,

ready for the journey through poverty.

Till when?

Oh, my African Mama

It's all about who?

This commercial bothers ME



I have nothing against higher education. I went to college, education is really important.
Seriously.. everyone should have the opportunity to go to college.
And to go to learn something that they love.
But it's the message in the commercial that gets to me.

"It's all about me!"
Guess what.. it's really not.

Life is not "all about me."
But it's a message that young people on this continent hear constantly.
And it's dangerous.

I definitely believe that people should take care of themselves. Selflessness does not equate to "letting yourself go" or seeing yourself as less than anyone else. But it's also not about seeing yourself as greater either.

The most influential (for good) people in this world would never say "It's all about me."
There's something really special and important about knowing that you aren't the center of the universe.
When we lose that thought, life can get ugly and lonely.

Jesus said that the second most important commandment is to "love others as you love yourself." [Matt 22:39]
So yes, I am important. But so are you.

It's not all about me. And, sorry to say, it's not all about you either.

This is not the first time I've written about this topic. Here is a blog I wrote on the old site in April 2007.

39 Bluescreens of Death on the Wall, 39 Bluescreens of Death...

This is where I rant about my recent computer problems... enjoy.

Even though my machine is the butt of many over used jokes such as,
-"Is that a laptop or a desktop?"
-"I could charge my car with that power cord"
-"is that one computer or two?"
and the uncreative, "why is your laptop so big?"

I'm not phased.
I know my laptop is big.. I have eyes too.
But there is good reason. Place your laptop next to mine and the first thing you'll see is the size but it's only because it's a 17" monster with 2 cooling fans, an excellent sound system with built in subwoofer, 6 USB ports, hdmi, firewire and every other port you might need when you do the kind of work that I do.
It's a powerhouse and I love it.

so... yes it's big, but it's exactly what I was looking for.

Unfortunately even the most amazing laptops are not immune to the *clears throat* garbage operating system known as windows vista.
If you are a vista runner and think it's great and have never had problems... excellent.
I hope it continues that way for you.
As for me, apart from the irritating constant requests for administration confirmation on simple tasks like moving files around and downloading things, Vista wasn't giving me too many hassles for about a year.

Until, it started sabotaging me with faulty driver updates which lead to too many hours of backtracking and then the first blue screen. The first turned into 5 and then 5 turned into 39 and #39 was the straw that broke my Toshiba's back.

I'll refrain from telling you about my experience with the geek squad. I'll just say it was like babysitting, only I was paying the kids that I was watching.

Long story short, I'm a PC and Windows 7 was my idea.
I'm now back up and running, faster and smoother than ever.
My giant laptop is doing giant tasks with ease and apart from the occasional screen flicker (from not having a display driver that is fully compatible - apparently it doesn't exist yet) I'm pleased.

I edited my first video the day after my software was loaded and I've never edited with such ease before.
It's gonna be good.. it's gonna be really good.

I can't wait to start doing larger projects because now I can just work.. and not constantly have crashing to worry about.
I can't wait to get a camera dusty and start telling the amazing stories of people in Kenya.
I'm glad that all of this vista corruption happened now.
As inconvenient as it was, the timing was actually great.