One more African country on the map..

40 something odd others to go...

They call it the "brangelina" effect - LOL these tabloid media folk...is there someone just paid to sit and think of catchy possible celibrity name combinations? This one has gone too far..

Namibia are shamelessly positioning themselves to cash in on this effect - and why not - would the world take notice any other time?

But hey whatever it takes to get the rest of the world to notice Africa.. All we need in Kenya now is for Bono to slice Tony Parker and hitch up with Eva Longoria and do the whole Malindi/Lamu thing.

I just find it fascinating how the mindless casual need to find out what a hollywood star had for breakfast can dramatically improve the quality of life for an impoversihed nation continents away. Globalization at its best?

Lessons in Entrepreneurship pt 1

I was blown away by this dude; actually more like challenged and intrigued:
1) He quit his (possibly) lucrative job in the US
2) He ventured into his passion before he left the US
3) he took a nose dive into Kenya with the same passion.
3) He zoned in and carried out market research to debunk industry assumptions. I.e. fail and try again cycle.
4) He is leveraging his contacts and resources in the states
5) He is making money, employing people, serviceing the economy, prying open a market.

I mean, it doesnt strike me as an incredibly innovative idea. I bet to the ordinary individual with potentially the SAME idea in his head, there must've been 10,000 reasons why this couldn't have worked. I'm sure we all have our own examples of life altering Ideas/inventions/services that are suppressed from ever seeing the light of day thanks to a myriad of life circumsntances.

But Muthuu Kagio is no ordinary guy. Go on, read about this incredible guy and his sms dating service.

This week my boss has been fond of rubbing this in:

"following the rules is the surest way to failure"

. It took me a while to accept this in its real form, once I restated it as -

"it pays off incredibly well to take risks."

In as much as I'm enamoured by this exploding industry (sms value added services - I'll tell you why in a seperate post soon), I'm more intrigued to find out how we can spawn and permeate more of the same fledging, risk taking culture among Kenyans in the diaspora.

New beginnings

The morning began with a pleasant surpise - the first leave/flower buds on the tree right outside my window had sprouted. New beginnings i thought...new beginnings..

What wasn't unexpected was how exhausted I was going to work. I have found myself wishing it were Friday every morning of this week - each day the wish growing in fervency, each day proportionately disappointed that the time fairies had not done me that ka one favor.

For anyone who's around me or speaks to me often, theres few and far in between might I add, will know that i whine quite a bit about my work - this is a subtle strategy to get them to believe that I am an incredibly hard worker who values career progression, pulls in crazy late hours and is riding the yuppie bandwagon till the wheels fall off.

Revelation..just between me an you - everything but the last part is true. two reasons..
1)I dont have the energy to keep up with yuppie trends (even though i recently acquired street cred for taking some friends to a really HIP breakfast joint that was absolutely fab).
2) I really really have been working hard. Pushing myself beyond the limit these past few days. Taking a LOT of shit from my superiors (as they are getting lots of shit from THEIR superiors) all in the name of time pressure and crunch. I have had to work with incompetent collegues, cover up for them (in the short term it really is the smarter thing to do), had to bear with the indecision of studio executives, and accomodate princess like tech gurus, all while letting them rub my inexperience in my face. All in a f**** days work i guess.

Ok so that was more than 2 reasons. sue me. Were certainly making A game, but it sure doesnt feel like one if you know what i mean. Politics, shareholders, Mergers and acquisitions, contractors, Licensing, patents, massive office growth,are all part of the ingredients to this game development experience. Edifying at this stage since I lack a frame of reference, but somehwat unneccesary to this newbies day to day activities.

Anyway, This cookie wont crumble. I have my performace review meeting with my manager coming up pretty soon..whoa does he not know what coming his way! anyway..If theres anything makign videogames has taught me..theres power in context. I will stage it like it was Broadway and I'm Annie. Hard knock life indeed. I get to pick the meeting day, set the environment, set the mood, basically control the flow of the meeting. I then have to hit him upside the head with all the stuff I've been handling under my sleeve, sprinkle some of the areas i think i need direction on - while smothering him with my approval of his mentorship. Thereafter just be agreeable. keep Him in a good mood. Haha all figured out..except I dont know what to say :)

I was checkaing with Angie vile were going to start a club of disgruntled entry level employees - The membership of this thing would hit the flipping roof I am sure. So many shared experiences.

On a nother note I am VERY frustrated with my side projects. Nchi Yetu Version 2 was bliss at the development stage and i was very happy when the progress i had made. But since i began deplying it on a shared server, all tech hell has broken loose. THis new language that i wrote it in (Ruby on Rails) is great for iteration, but deployment is just incredibly frustrating. I doubt theres any one of you reading who can sympathise, but cmon pretend. I'm soooo close to giving up and just paying someone to do it.

So we had take out at work today(as we do everyday with the sweatshop hours) - the chicken Korma i ordered was kadhaa. So being the Kenyan I am i packed up the remains, bebad it as I walked home. I have been noting a growing number of Homeless folk lining the montreal downtown streets at twilight, but I have never been bothered per se by my general apathy of their situation. Leo, with Chicken Korma wielded in hand, I was struck by some serious pangs of guilt as I passed this 40 yr old ish guy stuck in an 80 yr old mans body. Too proud to go back and give this guy my bakshish, I assuaged my guilt by thinking of the 10 or so others I would pass on the way home.
So I'm out of the metro station, and theres this one spot that's always has a dude there, looking dazed, yet vigilant of cops. Lo and behold he was there tonight. My chest up, oozing with righteousness, I asked if the guy was hungry. Shock on me. The guy pointed me to a bag on his side, made a quick nod, and went back to whatever he was doing. My pride was stung. This is some chicken Korma buddy. ONLY in CANADA. Homeless dude is not hungry. Ama I look that suspect. Anyway the next guy i found was GENUINELY starving and was profusely thankful, so it ended well this guilt trip of mine. Ahh the things we will do to make ourselves feel better about ourselves.
On a serious note though, I need to start giving more. I have so MUCH, relatively.. Others have so little. It doesnt matter if they are are here or in Kenya. Other peoples misfortunes are really disguised opportunities for you to do something good. The two are inextricably bound. Just like each one of those homeless guys was an opportunity for me - I challenge you guys to see the misfortune beseiging others close by you as a direct challenge of you character.

Tommorow morning the leaves will be reaching out, and it will be a brand new beginning, AND it will be Friday after all. Been a long time coming....

The X Journals: In search of a Goodman

These are Dr Xander’s journals.

Journal One
Location: A small science laboratory in the middle of the Perthazon jungle, Noongar Country. *
Time: Present

My name is Dr Xander and I am a Goodmanologist. Goodmanology* -the Kenyan chapter is my main area of expertise (at first it was the International chapter, then it became the African chapter. The African chapter was unsuccessful, so I decided to do the Kenyan chapter. It gave me a better and easier platform to work with, even though the rewards are unsatisfactory or non-existent). However, I have also studied Badmanology.*

I have been searching for a Goodman* for quite a while now. Sometime back Dr Othakenyan (my assistant) and Dr Aseean (trainee assistant) found a Goodman in the jungle. This Goodman was found among the Badmans. They brought it to the laboratory for further observation. However, I had to go for a conference. Took the first canoe ride out of the Perthazon and went for my conference. I left Dr Othakenyan with the task of doing what was necessary and success! With her success she had to resign. Now it’s just Dr Aseean and me. (sigh!)
I am currently about to close my laboratory as Goodmans are very hard to come by.
Yes, it’s been hard looking for Goodmans in the Perthazon. This is because, the Perthazon is saturated with so many Goodmanology scientists. As a result, most of the Goodmans have been ‘taken.’*

I feel sorry for my trainee assistant (She’s very ambitious. She has studied Goodmanology and wants to study Marriageology and Familyology, as soon as she gets a Goodman). What will she do without the lab? More importantly, what am I supposed to do? My time, energy and resources are going to waste. I need some assistance. I need someone to sponsor my experiments.

If any of you know where I can find a Goodman in this Godforsaken Perthazon jungle, please let me know.
You know where to find me- am at the small science laboratory…in the middle of the…yes! Perthazon jungle.

I finish this journal entry with these famous sayings:
"Why are all the Goodmans taken all the time?" Joe’s twin sister
"Don’t lose hope on all the Man Family" Nat Izzo

*Noongar Country also known as Aboriginal Country.
*Goodmanology- the study of finding a Goodman.
*Badmanology- the study of excessively flirting with the Badman species. Sometimes yields dangerous results.
*Goodman- a type of species from the Man Family. Other species from the Man Family include Badmans, etc.
*Taken-this is the process where a Goodmanology scientist finds a Goodman and experiments on it. Consequently, if the results are very successful, they have to resign from their jobs. With the Goodman, the scientists go on to study Dateology and Courtshipology (collectively known as ‘Going Out’) and maybe…just maybe study Marriageology.

Drowning in Happiness?

So last Friday I went to the salon after work to have my hair done. Ya’ll know I can’t be seen looking shabby, especially not at 23 ….you know spring chicken age and that.

Anyway it’d been raining for the past three days and like every Kenyan I was quite pleased. Mostly because the rain caught me safely tucked away in a building. This particular evening a really heavy shower is pouring and I’m thinking to myself there is no way ‘m going out in this rain. Eventually the rain lulls to a drizzle and I rush out to catch a mathree.

Yaani I hadn’t even fikad Afya centre from Standard Street and the rain had resumed with a vengeance yaani lightning, pathetic visibility the works. As fate would have it, there were no mats going my way. So here I am getting rain all over my new hair and basically hoping that a mathree shows up before I catch a cold (darn investing… I should bought that car)

Anyway, I’m pretty chatty and soon I’m in conversation with a similarly affected woman named Mercy. She’s just done her hair and need to get home in time for a date with her husband who coincidentally had asked to pick her up from town but she’d insisted on taking a taxi. Now the cab fare which is normally 500bob is hiked to 1000bob. I’m just desperate to get home so I offer to pay half.

Rain is worse now and I hurriedly buy and umbrella from the street vendor and brave the rain. When we get to the cab that had offered to take her home, the guy kataaz (refuses) to take us home. Wow. Bummer anyway we get another cabbie to say yes and start our journey. The jam is a mother and the cabbie decides to take Jogoo road. Jam is bad there too and we are in some water. It’s a fun chat and we talk about having the cab stall on Jogoo road as a result of all the water and how messed we would be. P.s the reason I took a cab was coz I was really pressed to go to the loo and couldn’t wait to get home. We laugh it off but I’m silently saying my prayers.

Since I don’t see the point of going all the way to GM just to come back down msa road to my house I ask the driver to use Bunyala road. Halfway home we are in a river. No kidding about this. The water is almost at the window and I’m thinking this car had better not stall here. Mercy is busy narrating stories about her sons and how a mathree she was in had stalled in a flooded zone and the tout had to carry them all the way to dry land though he charged them 20 bob each. We are in good spirits.

At this point I was really asking myself if Kenyans were really clever. All the time God had held back the rain, we were too busy asking for it instead of rebuilding our infrastructure to cope with the rain. I guess God must have been giving us a chance to prepare for the rain by giving us such a dry period but we were too busy thinking of what we didn’t have to appreciate what we did have.

Still in jam water up to our windows almost and guess what…..The cab stalls…. Worse still….water has sipped into the cab. I mean my feet are in the water, and I’m thinking oh heck. I came al this way to drown in a cab….no way. Some Kenyans can smell money in any situation so they show up to push the cab onto dry road all the while shouting about how it will cost us 1000bob. I’m thinking oh my God this is just unbelievable. Just when I though I could stop spending money. Oh well. While they are pushing us out, the water levels in the car have risen so high it's no longer making a difference that my feet are on the armrest, as my bum is getting wet since the seats are now soaking

Thankfully the guys accept 150Ksh thank God for Mercy coz I woulda parted with that k. I’m not street savvy like most.

I get home a few minutes later. So glad am I to be home that I had forgotten my bladder condition.

I enjoyed the experience but it really got me to thinking, what do we do between what we want and when we get it? Are we preparing ourselves to be able to accommodate it or will we be overwhelmed like Nairobi’s drainage system?

Kwanchetsi Makokha - a politicians nightmare

Commentry or not..this piece was smoldering.
Lies Too Often Told About the President (Page 1 of 2)

A tab bit too blatant if you ask me. Pesa zimemwagwa? Are we witnessing another Kwenda opnga in the making?

I think we need a new means to hold each author accountable for each article they publish..good or bad....WATCH THIS SPACE....

KENGEN for those abroad

Dear All,

I mean all out there who read VI and would like to cash in on KENGEN or just read more about what the buzz is all about.

Faida Brokers have done a website on the KENGEN IPO so you can get a lot of info on it and even buy online if you so wish.

I'll give you one positive and one negative piece of info on this share. Read the rest for yourslves, akuna spoonfeeding hapa

:) Stock is undervalued brokers tag it at 20KShs so likelihood of making returns on investment is pretty high

:( KENGEN have only one customer KPLC anything goes wrong at KPLC Kengen suffers big time so keep your eye out.

For all you MKA babies see you kesho