Is It Wrong?

Is it wrong for me to continue convincing my 8 year old daughter that Santa really exists? Some kids in school have been trying to convince her otherwise, and of course she came to me seeking the truth. I of course told her that the ones in the malls are definetly fake BUT the real Santa truly exists and only very few people have actually seen him. From what I can tell she seems to still believe, or is she just fooling me so that she can get extra gifts??
For me, I suppose I just want to "delay" her growing up as long as possible. They are so fun and loving at this age, but I know that in about four years time she is not going to want to see or hear from me unless she needs money. I don't even want to start thinking about the boys ting ! I guess, to an extent we try and re-live our childhood thru them, letting them enjoy what we remember enjoying, letting them have more of what was lacking in our childhoods, and trying to make sure they succeed in areas where we failed. Her quality of life is definetly a lot better than mine was at her age. A pastor friend of mine said he quickly told his kids that Santa did not exist because he didn't want them to one day think that he might be fooling them on the Jesus/God thing too. I am pretty sure my daughter is firmly grounded spiritually so I shoudn't have to worry about that.
Yep, I think Santa will stick around for at least Xmas 2006 or longer, if she wants him to.

De DAWG!

De Dawg! a.k.a.; Chewy

Him cyan NYAM a food yu see! I should go easy on him still, he is the only "person" in the house that has any real respect for me.

If you take a look at his right front leg you can see where the hair hasn't quite grown back from the shaving he got a few months ago when it was infected. The $183 infection (see the DAWG post from September 2005).

Jus' A Quick Lickle Ting

Really been very busy this week! Not much time to write or even read blogs.
Work is is going full throttle, running around at lunch time looking for gifts (mostly kids stuff), taking care of a massive audio duplication job that has to be done this week, helping my daughter learn her Xmas play lines, running audio for special productions during the week at church, etc.
Two plane crashes in Florida in one week, kinda scary! Oh well some people like to take shortcuts in maintenance, I am sure that will be the root cause for both. I am not discouraged, I still wanna fly.
Got the new camera today so now I have to read up on all of its bells & whistles.
Later still, got audio work crying out to me to get off by lazy ass and start copying! Hey drink and be merry for tomorrow we all die!

"Thanks for the $1.3million, now listen up......"

At the risk of getting deported (just kidding!) I thought I would let you guys read some exerpts of Harold Pinter's Nobel acceptance speech. Without tainting the waters by giving my opinion of his views, let me ask my fellow bloggers (and anyone else that would care to comment); What do you think of his views on American foreign policy, The Iraq invasion, American political rhetoric, etc?

LONDON, Dec. 7 - The playwright Harold Pinter turned his Nobel Prize acceptance speech on Wednesday into a furious howl of outrage against American foreign policy, saying that the United States had not only lied to justify waging war against Iraq but had also "supported and in many cases engendered every right-wing military dictatorship" in the last 50 years.
"The crimes of the United States have been systematic, constant, vicious, remorseless, but very few people have actually talked about them," Mr. Pinter said. "You have to hand it to America. It has exercised a quite clinical manipulation of power worldwide while masquerading as a force for universal good. It's a brilliant, even witty, highly successful act of hypnosis.".................
Mr. Pinter attacked American foreign policy since World War II, saying that while the crimes of the Soviet Union had been well documented, those of the United States had not. "I put to you that the United States is without doubt the greatest show on the road," he said. "Brutal, indifferent, scornful and ruthless it may be, but it is also very clever. As a salesman it is out on its own and its most saleable commodity is self-love."
He returned to the theme of language as an obscurer of reality, saying that American leaders use it to anesthetize the public. "It's a scintillating stratagem," Mr. Pinter said. "Language is actually employed to keep thought at bay. The words 'the American people' provide a truly voluptuous cushion of reassurance. You don't need to think. Just lie back on the cushion. The cushion may be suffocating your intelligence and your critical faculties but it's very comfortable."

Strong words,...the truth or just left-wing ramblings?

The Ugly Revisited

I knew it! Smelt it miles away! The camera site was using cheap prices to try and "bait and switch" potential customers. To cut a long story short I cancelled the digital SLR order. "Best Price Cameras", STAY AWAY FROM DEM!! DYAM TIEF!!
I called Friday for the status of my order, I was put on hold for a insulting amount of time, ended up hanging up.
Called Saturday and was told to look out for an email with an update on the transaction. Fine. Get an email Saturday nite just confirming that I had placed an order.
Called Monday morning pissed nuh r*ss! Demanded to know what was going on only to be told that the camera doesn't come with half the accessories that are supposed to be in the FACTORY-SEALED box, and then comes: "So do ya still wannit?". I ponder, it is still a decent deal, I say "Yes send it and email me the UPS tracking number."
"Hold on one minute sir,..........(3 minutes pass)...................well looks like that one is out of stock, however we have blah blah whatever ....." that is obviously a lot more inferior and WAY overpriced. I tell him to cancel immediately and stop trying to screw people up the a**s, after all it is Christmas.
Anyway, fear not, I intend to order another before the week is out. As an eBay veteran I will probably go and see what kinds of deals they have. I sold heaps of reggae records there so I am very familiar with the ins and outs, tricks and scams that tend to accompany e-auctions. Then again I will probably break down and just pay full price for the thing.
Pics soon come!

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

THE GOOD; In my previous blog I had mentioned that had hit somebody (no, another car-not a pedestrian) while driving. It was my fault, well kind of, she could have avoided me but she panicked and literally let go of the steering wheel letting her car veer straight into mine. She was a Jamaican lady with kids in the car. Yes I felt very guilty about the whole incident, especially since I got my car repaired very quickly and they gave her hell to fix hers. Anyway it happened weeks ago so I am over it. Good thing (for now) is the insurance company actually sent me a check! I was at fault and they sent me money. The car cost $1,900 to fix, I ran up a rental bill for a week which they paid for, paid my $500 deductible, and they sent me money back! Hundreds and hundreds of $$ back! They said it was the loss in value of the car since it was hit. Born 2004, she was previously a virgin.
Of course I man quickly cash it before dem change dem mind. If dem want it back now dem hafi tek it lickle lickle! Pickney shut a go fit me though when I see the new premiums next year, if they don’t just drop me all together.
THE BAD: Went to the pharmacy at my HMO today to fill a new prescription for the kid. She has really bad headaches every now and then. When I go up to the counter I think I am just going to pay the standard $15 for all medications bought through them. De woman say $155!!! Mi say "WHA!! Yu musi mad!!". She gave some story about how that drug is not covered by the HMO. $155 for twenty pills! Nat me! Nat in dis yah lifetime! Dem a try cut into mi plane money! Dr D a wha inna dem ? Gold? Anyway the doc is supposed to be looking into a cheaper alternative. Betta!
THE UGLY: Took the plunge and ordered a new digital SLR (camera) today. I used to do a lot of Wedding and Portrait photography back in the 80’s and 90’s both here and in Jamaica, and since I now have a plane to save for (unoo tink mi a joke!) I am going to get back into professional photography again. Besides I need to start putting a lot more photos on this blog. I have a really basic digital and a couple of Olympus professional 35mm SLR’s that I used to use back in the day and they still work quite well. But to be taken seriously I have to enter the market place with a good digital tool. Know anybody getting married in 2006? I can send you my portfolio via CD, fi real.
Anyway The Ugly, ordered the new camera from the web of course, hundreds of $ cheaper. The price displayed online was less the rebate that the customer had to mail in. I kind of new that, but wanted to call to confirm. Called the 800 number, the guy answers, "yea, whats da question?". I am cool, Ireally want the camera, it is a good deal, I can put up with his attitude for the camera. I ask about the rebate, he replies "Of course, what did ya think?". I bite my tongue, tell him okay, thanks I will now order online. I order online, as he described to me the webpage is supposed to add back the $100 rebate to their "false" advertising price (it was still a good deal) while you go thru the whole credit card process. It never did add on the $100. I call him back after ordering online. Ask him how come it never added back the $100 and how much would my card actually be charged for. Him get really feisty, " What is it with you? Somebody will call you okay". I ask when will they call me? " I dunno! In couple of days I guess". One thing I do know if Saturday morning comes and this is not a done deal with a UPS tracking number in my email box, I am doing a chargeback! Cancel de whole transaction! What yu hafi go tru just to save a couple hundred dollars in dis place!

I Believe I Can Fly!

Okay I know I am late with my Thanksgiving piece but I am going to spit it out anyway. I think I need about 4 more hours to my week day because once corporate America sends me home, I spend an hour in traffic, then half hour walking the dawg, then another hour or two with the kid, and a little time with de wifey , It is practically bedtime and I haven’t even gotten a chance to relax, read some blogs, write a lickle someting, etc.
Anyway I digress. I WANT TO FLY, I believe even with my lickle bit of common sense I can actually learn to fly. It doesn’t seem that complicated. If I can dip and dodge in and out of Atlanta traffic, while talking on my phone, while playing with the cd player, while admiring girls and other cars, than I can be taught how to fly. I did hit somebody a few weeks ago though. You got to understand, coming up in school (and UWI) in JA I was not what you would call the sharpest knife in the drawer. I got by, just barely, but with a lot more effort than most others had to put in.
Anyway back to the Thanksgiving piece; we drove down to Orlando, wifey, kid and dawg on the Wednesday to hang with some in-laws. Thursday we had the usual nuff food, turkey, etc. Friday me and my brother in-law went flying in his single engine turbo prop. We flew out to Cedar Key about 100 miles north of Tampa on the Gulf Of Mexico. I had flown with him last year December, but that was just a little half hour spin around and come back ting. This time it was about an hour to Cedar Key and an hour back. Somehow from last year’s experience the whole process seemed so complicated; all the buttons, instruments, and constantly talking to air traffic control, but this year it all seemed to just come together!
It now seems so logical! Of course he was constantly explaining what he was doing and why. I think I can do it! (Or die trying!).
Anyway, fun & joke aside, Cedar Key was quaint yet beautiful, peaceful yet alive with hundreds of (wealthy looking) tourists. We had some good seafood, bought some stuff for the wives (they are both too scared to fly in the small plane or with the pilot in question, probably both). In about 2 hours we flew back to Orlando like it was no big deal. Next day, Saturday, we flew down to Miami. There are a lot of Jamaican pilots down that way. Got a courtesy car, got some food at a yard shop and then went to hang out at South Beach for an hour or two. By evening we were back in Orlando. What freedom! I have to get one of those things! Let me see…..If I rob 3 banks a week for around four months I should at least be able to get a used one, or a downpayment on a new one. If I only pay the mortgage every other month then I should be able to pay for the lessons. I have been bitten by the bug. I have to fly. Well there is nothing wrong with dreaming, it might happen one day!