Monday, 23 September 2013

MONDAY BLUES: COMPETITION

Good Morning,

It's the second week of my Internship in a University College and all I can think about is something a close friend of mine asked me a while back, "What the hell does it mean to be a University College"? Stupid question right? Well, I thought of the same sentiments and gave him an answer that I may not feel to proud writing about here. Anyway, what are friends for? Support, companionship, laughing at you when you get into trouble but helping you out in the end, right? As they say, an acquaintance will ask if they can come over, but a close friend will pop in when you least expect it. However, I'm sure there are a lot of people, including myself, who may also want to know the answer.

Anyway, it was a slow Monday morning for me and what's worse I let my dad down. "Son, I need to leave this house early in the morning got it?", "Yeah, sure thing dad." That was yesternight at around 12.30pm. "I need you to take me to the stage so I can be in town by 8am latest." We all agreed on the time to wake up and all the details, but come Monday morning I regained consciousness at 7.30am. Dad was gone, mom was up and about to leave the house and as I greeted her good morning, she replied the same while giving me a look that confirmed my fears of the earful I will get in the evening. Well I'm prepared for it and at least I wasn't too late for work.

In the University on the other hand, the competition to prove who is the best, brightest and forward thinking intern continues. We all want to show the big fish how right they were for giving us a place in their IT department and therefore we have to keep coming up with ideas to out shine the rest. There are three interns in the IT department including myself and there is a great possibility that the best of us will get a job position here once it's all over. Therefore, I'm going to bring out my A game and see what happens. TO THE LAB!



Sunday, 22 September 2013

DREADFUL WEEKEND: WESTGATE

Hello friends,

The weekend started off pumped up as usual; with the rugby sevens games, various party and rave events and all those fun things we that we can't do on weekdays due to our busy schedules. Everyone was excited as usual, tweeting and posting about all the fun they are going to have as compared to everyone else, and how what they were going to do for the weekend was much more exciting than what everyone's was going to do. Little did we know, other people had other plans for us.

For me, it was the end of the first week of my industrial attachment in an institution away from the city of Nairobi and rather in my home town ('ocha', as we all call it) of Kerugoya. All I wanted to do for the weekend was sit back, relax and pig out on as much food as I could and watch some telly. This I did but the programming was not at all what I expected.

As we all by now, Nakumatt Westgate has been attacked by some hoodlums from God knows where asking for nothing and taking innocent lives indiscriminately. It started off like an ordinary robbery, with a group of clever "leverage-like" (the series  :)  ) crooks attacking a top-end mall. However, when they started shooting people for no reason, lobbing hand grenades and taking close to nothing from the various stalls in the mall, it became evident that this was no ordinary robbery. As I watched the afternoon reports on t.v on Saturday afternoon, I thought that it would be a matter resolved in a couple of hours maximum due to the involvement of the army. But the inglorious bastards were not about to go down easily; so it seems.

Reports of the Al shabaab taking responsibility for this attack and a similar one in Mogadishu on Al jazeera have spread across all local news stations but just as the authorities say, we really can't be sure of this and the matter will have to be thoroughly investigated once all of this is over. The Kenya Police ranks involved in the multi-departmental operation seem to be on top of their game and 28hrs into the siege, two floors of the four story building are covered with a substantial number of hostages freed. Various initiatives are also being undertaken to lessen the blow and help out our fellow Kenyans and international visitors afflicted in the ordeal. The initiatives are inclusive of monetary support through safaricom and aritel money transfers, blood donation at various locations in the nation to help in the treatment and recuperation of the critically injured and prayers from the country's citizens. The siege is still on going, and the various heads and former heads of state have already made their heart felt statements and all we can do now is wait, pray and hope that the criminals will be caught, brought to justice and their bosses and/ or associate organizations are discovered.

Truly a saddening and unexpected twist to a long awaited weekend.

GOD BLESS AND PROTECT KENYA.



Friday, 20 September 2013

HELLO THERE

Hello to all of you, students or otherwise.

We are always told to live life to the fullest and do our best so as to become successful. However, no one tells us how hard all that is, "It's easier said than done", whoever said that was a genius. My life isn't perfect and this blog will be testimony to that since it will be an update on all the ups and downs that I go through on a daily basis as an IT student as well as an individual.

Stick with me and I hope that you will enjoy your time here and get to learn as much as you can from my mistakes and successes.



"When you are offended at any man's fault, turn to yourself and study your own failings. Then you will forget your anger."

Epictetus