My Mother

Mother,

Tomorrow would be your 78th birthday, it's been 5 years since you've passed away and I wanted you to know how we all miss you. You were a powerful woman, one that doesn't come along that often, you raise 4 boys on your own, got your PhD with little assistance, made sure we had toys to play with and a roof over our heads, when I know you worried about making ends meet from month to month. I know that at least I wasn't the best of son I could be or even that I tried to be, I took a lot of what you had to offer for granted. Despite that you loved me, fed me, gave me a place to stay, and made sure I was well educated and prepared to live on my own.

You taught me fabulous lessons of life, the number one is how to see myself through another's eyes, to realize that no one on this planet really deserves any sort of prejudice, when in face we're all a bit different and bizarre in someone else's eyes. This is a lesson that I try to push into my own daughter, when she see's someone who is different, I ask her if that person thinks she looks different.

You taught me how to laugh when the pressure is on. You gave me life memories that make me laugh today. I blame you for my sense of humor, I remember you telling me I was adopted, then you'd pause and say "well not quite adopted, I found you in an alley nursing on the teet of a dog, and I felt sorry for you and took you in". I tell this to people and they see it as cruel, but today I still laugh at it, you were of course trying to teach me a lesson, you knew that some of our neighbors were adopted and you wanted me to think how it must feel like.

You taught me how to work hard, I'm still the first person in the neighborhood to clear the snow, they know I'm sick if the snow isn't cleared (and I have to be really sick for that to happen), I still water the hell out of my lawn to keep it green, for fear that you'll get angry with me, I make sure to keep my yard tidy, mowed and well groomed (it's one of the best in the neighborhood, though some of the neighbors are into competitive lawning, so it's not the best ;)).

You taught me how to love my neighbors and friends and to run to their aid when they need it, even if it means that I do without. I was telling people of how you gave our Thanksgiving dinner away one year to a friend who had cancer and was only getting dessert for Thanksgiving. I remember you and your fight with this disease and how you would proudly tell women that you had the disease and had a mastectomy, I remember asking you why and you said "I don't want others to be embarrassed by the disease, by having their breasts removed, they should wear it proudly and with honor, for it's not their fault they have the disease, they shouldn't have to live in shame for it".

I think of you fondly on several days, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and the Fourth of July, you sure loved to throw a party. On Father's day, I had always sent you flowers on that day, because you were the father I never had. I think of you with great pain on your birthday and the day you died, these days still hurt for me quite a bit, it's a pain that I believe I'll always feel.

You had great knowledge, knowledge I now know I'll never get to and I'm embarrassed by having it let get away from me. I now encourage my friends to speak with their parents and mine them for information, this verbal family history needs to be continued. Despite the fact you never became famous, never made millions of dollars, or never cured cancer, you should know that you'll always be my hero. I love you mother, I hope you're kicking ass up there in heaven, I hope you're surrounded by your family and with my daughter, Julie's sister, Melanie, please give her a big hug for me (I still love getting hugs because of you and I'll never be able to give enough).

Happy Birthday Mother!

Dead Animal Games

I was watching the news the other day and I saw a piece where people were throwing frozen turkeys across an ice rink to knock over bowling pins. I started thinking to myself, since when is it considered OK to slide a frozen animal carcass across ice in the form of a game? These animals lived and died to be a source of food, not to be used as a macabre bowling ball. I saw a similar item on mythbusters where they used a pig carcass to shoot a cannon at.

I can see using animals for work, sport, food, clothing, science, etc... but I don't think using their carcass for mass entertainment is cool, these animals should be respected, all life should be treated as valuable, we put people in prison for dog fighting, personally I think the same should be done for people who use frozen turkeys for sport or make TV shows where dead animals are used for entertainment (at least in Iron Chef the cook and eat the animals they use).

Now I'm not going to the extreme of PETA, I like a good steak you know, I'm just saying if we take a life we should honor that life with more respect than using it's dead body as a plaything.

James Bond brought to you by Ford Motor Company

I recently went to see the new James Bond movie (which I enjoyed quite a bit), but when I was watching it I noticed that all the cars were Fords (Aston Martin, Land Rover, Jaguar, and even a stray Ford thrown in for good measure), what I also noticed is that none of these cars were what you'd see James Bond driving (the Aston Martin was left-hand drive and who would have thought that James would drive a Ford Focus?), none of these cars were what you'd see on the street either, the two Fords I saw were either hybrid or hydrogen (I did see a hydrogen BMW in DC one day, but it was a demo car, well I've also seen an Aston Martin in DC, and Land Rover's and Jaguar's seem to be the yuppie's dream car).

From what I now know, it seems that both good guys and bad guys drive a Ford. It makes me happy that I don't drive a Ford, since it's sometimes hard to tell the good guys from the bad guys. I'm sure there were other product placements in the film, but I tend to notice cars more than watches, drinks, clothes, perfumes, etc... They didn't have any really cool tech gadgets, well a touch screen wall that was cool, I know Microsoft and Apple are working on computers like that.

Back home!

It's good to be back home from Zambia, it's unfortunate though that since I was there for business I never got the chance to go see anything outside the city of Lusaka. The trip home was brutal, 2 hour flight from Lusaka to Jo'burg, 2 hour delay due to weather in Jo'burg, then 8 hours from Jo'burg to Dakar Senegal, where they tear apart the plane, look under seats, confirm baggage belongs to you and that you belong on the plane, then 8 hours from Dakar to Atlanta (where I missed my flight and had to catch a plane a little later).

All was good though, on the big flight from Jo'burg to Dakar to Atlanta I made friends with the two guys next to me, who were traveling from South Africa to the USA for business, the two girls in front of him (they were from Kansas and said that South Africa was like Kansas with Elephants), and the girl in front of them (who lucked out with a row to herself, got to lie down and sleep), she was in Africa to work with Aids Patients with the Peace Corps (I was very impressed with her, it's good to see people get out and give of themselves like that). My favorite though was a couple, probably in their late 60's who were in Africa celebrating their 25th wedding anniversary, they were very lucky to have each other, I pulled the husband aside and told him so.

If you ever have to make a trip like this, try to be under 6'1" and if you're taller than that be sure to get up and walk some :).

Last Day in Zambia

Well today's my last day in Zambia. I'm looking forward to going home, but I'm also disappointed that I wasn't able to get out of the city of Lusaka. Everyone here has been very friendly, I'm amazed at the energy and warmness of everyone I've run across. It really does make you want to do more for not only this country, but for the African continent. Given the riches we have in the States, Africa seems to be very poor, but they have a rich culture and warmness that they are both proud of and is hard to find in the States. While I am looking forward to going back to Virginia, and all the day to day problems that exist there, I am also looking forward to coming back to Africa, to getting to know more of the people, to hopefully get out of the city and into the wild.

Just about time to start the day, I board my plane at 1:50pm local time (7:50 EST) and get home just after 11:30am EST. It's going to be a long day ;).

Another Day in Zambia

Impala for Dinner

One of my good friends insisted that since I was out here in Africa, that I should have something "different". I tried having Ostrich kabobs here in the hotel, but they were out of them, so instead I had steak. Yesterday, the Procurement Team went out to a hotel and took me and my brother. On them menu were several normal items, but two stood out, Kudu and Impala. Since I had never heard of Kudu, I went with Impala (I've been for a ride in one of those before). Both are beautiful animals:

Impala

Kudu

My Impala went down well, though I think being the fast animal that it is, it speed right though me ;). We had a gentleman there, it was interesting to see him eat, because he didn't enjoy spices, so anything hot wasn't good for him, shellfish, etc... was off limits to his stomach. Others stayed away from Pork (which I love). We had spoken about other cultures eating dog or cat, we all agreed that we would all stay away from either.

Twins?

Well my brother should be happy about this trip with me. It seems that everyone things we look identical. Maybe it's just us both being big white guys with beards. We look similar, but I'm not sure if we look identical, but we've had some of the staff mention that we look identical though. Our driver said that he had spoken to some of the hotel staff and that they call us "the twins" (not sure I'm happy about being said I look like my older brother).

News

It's interesting to watch the news here, it's a lot more open than what we get in the USA. By open I mean that it talks about the rest of the world and not just what happens in the USA. Everyone here is happy to see the USA having elections to replace Bush, I've seen plenty of Obama hats and stickers here, too bad these people can't vote ;).

Funny/Sad

I'm not sure if this is very funny or sad. When having dinner last night, one of our hosts mentioned that he had lived in the States for a few years. He mentioned being at a bar and a woman asking him if he was from Africa. When he replied "yes", she grabbed his arm to feel it and said "you look healthy, you don't look like you're starving". I had to laugh, but it's a sad comment that all Americans know about foreign countries is the negative about them. We are even trained to see the negative, instead of the importance. Our host said that in the States he saw a homeless fellow, he said here that if that person lived with his tribe, that the tribe would have taken care of him, found him a place to sleep and something to do. Why can't we do that in the States?

Lusaka - Zambia

Well not much going on here really. We've had meetings with the customer, good and bad, but that's to be expected with a customer, I'm the same way with vendors. I haven't had much opportunity to get out and explore, today has been my only down day, we're off until a 2:30pm meeting, unfortunately I didn't get much sleep last night (should have popped an Ambien, I'll probably do so tonight).

So far the people have been nice, though things operate at a different pace here, than in the States, this isn't necessarily a bad thing, since in the States (especially on the East Coast) we run at a torrid pace, that we hardly have time to sit down and have a spot of tea (they do have tea time). I was reminded in what was said in the movie Blood Diamond, they kept saying "TIA" or "This is Africa". If you come here expecting to have things as easy or as quick as you would elsewhere, then you best stay put ;). Personally I don't mind it that much, I realize that things will get done and for some things, I'm in no hurry.

The network coverage in my hotel is spotty. I've been able to do some skype, some IM, but not much. The quality of service I think is in the hotel's network, I'm sure if I could get a real network, then I wouldn't have problems (though it seems what I think of as real and what others do isn't the same). The client we are dealing with have 1mb down and 256kb up and they host on that line, which means that all downloads from their server is at 256kb (not acceptable). I'm thinking that if people really want to expend resources here, they need to work on infrastructure issues, good Internet connectivity will only help improve the quality of life for all.

I might be coming back, I will be in Ghana in two weeks. FYI: I'm told there isn't a McDonald's or Starbucks here, so if you need them stay away ;).