ECK Declares President

"Kenya's President Mwai Kibaki won Thursday's closely-fought election, the electoral commission has declared.
Mr Odinga had led since vote counting began, but saw his advantage evaporate as later votes were added." - BBC News Africa

Just hours after the ECK declared the winner of the Kenyan Presidential Election, Mwai Kibaki was sworn in as President of Kenya, his second five year term.

I've lightly blogged the process for Kenya here and here.

Considering the enormous calls for election rigging, and the ease with which violence can occur, this might not end well.

I have sent an email to a good friend living in Nairobi. I'll post his assessment when received.

Order of Canada

61 men and women were appointed to the Order of Canada; Our countries highest civilian honour; Included in that list, none other than Mr. Steve Nash.

Congrats on that one, well deserved to be sure.

/not such a good day for the Canadian World Junior team, who were felled by Sweden.
//not really a great day for those of us who were hoping the Pats *not* go 16-0 this season, as they orchestrated a come-from-behind fourth quarter victory in NY.

Orexin A

Hmm... This looks promising;

Snorting "a totally new route for increasing arousal, and the new study shows it to be relatively benign, said Jerome Siegel, a professor of psychiatry at UCLA and a co-author of the paper. "It reduces sleepiness without causing edginess." - WIRED.com

The article goes on to say that "A nasal spray containing a naturally occurring brain hormone called orexin A reversed the effects of sleep deprivation in monkeys, allowing them to perform like well-rested monkeys on cognitive tests."

My blogging would increase, that is for sure.
/Did i just imply that my blogging of late is likened to the blogging of a sleep deprived monkey? (i must be tired)

:)

ECK: ODM Ahead of PNU

Acronym central; The Presidential election being tallied right now in Kenya. - BBC News - Africa

ECK: Electoral Commission of Kenya

ODM: Orange Democratic Movement

PNU: Party of National Unity

/But still, no winner declared.

Era, Levi & the Seven Samurai

A couple era pics to hold you over to new years... or sooner.



era & Duke kickin' it by the tree.


On Christmas day, the boys out at the farm.


Little buddy Levi and era.




That last picture isn't even staged... Renee found era with the video, he had gone and picked that video case over all the others. I am assured of era's good taste now. The Seven Samurai is an absolute classic... i've seen it almost as many times as i've seen The Godfather, or The Blues Brothers.

Era & the Count

I like to count. I like the count.
era likes the count too!

Kenya's Presidential Election

Votes have been cast. Votes are being counted. The President of Kenya will be announced.

"This is the toughest political race Kenyans have ever seen.

The big question this time round is not simply who will become the president of this booming East African economy, but whether the vote will be seen by the losing side as legitimate.

The Kenyan electoral commission says it will not release results at night, for fear of violent repercussions. " - BBC News Africa

My Heart is Africa

Friends and readers will know that i have a special place in my heart for Africa. An undeniable & unexplainable interest & passion for all of Africa... for Kenya in particular.
Brent & Tawm sent a book to me for Christmas this year. The book, by Scott Griffin is the true account of a business man who served an NGO in Nairobi for two years in the 90's after flying to Africa from Toronto solo(in a Cessna 180); My Heart is Africa. I started this book before dinner tonight, and it is the sort of book one would read thru till the end (if i didn't have 3 episodes left in Season 2 of Prison Break)

Chargers Rout

I didn't see this game, as like i posted before, it's family time; The Chargers rout the Bronco's. It's always nice to see the Bolts beat up on the Bronco's... it happens a lot lately. That is a heck of a rivalry.
LT moved into first place in rushing yards, with one game to go. Here come the playoffs!

:)

24 / 25

Christmas eve... this is family time.
Tomorrow is Christmas...

enjoy!
God bless.

Rotary's Questionable Selection

You might wonder how an organization so right could go so terribly wrong.
Groucho Marx once said (and i paraphrase); "i could never belong to a club that would accept me as a member."

Rotary International
wikipedia entry for Rotary.

Sunrise Rotary accepted me as a member this summer.
Sunrise Rotary accepted me as a 2009/2010 board member this tuesday.
They still have no idea what they've done.

Bolts Secure

"It doesn't matter how you start but how you finish." - LT

"With their third division crown in four years secured, the Chargers (9-5) need simply to win out to secure the AFC's No. 3 playoff seed.

The next challenge, of course, is finding a way to win in January. The Chargers have dropped four straight postseason games dating to their embarrassing Super Bowl loss to San Francisco on Jan. 29, 1995. Since then, it's been one-and-done three times, including last year's pratfall against New England after they went an NFL-best 14-2 under Marty Schottenheimer." - ESPN

Ken Wong PR

"CT from Toronto asks: What should companies do to weather bad publicity? Are there any companies that you can think of that made a really bad move?

Ken Wong: There are so many different kinds of bad publicity that it is hard to come up with one set of recommendations. But at the most fundamental level, I always remember the Willie Nelson quote "if you are doing something you don't want other's to know about, then stop doing it." Translation—cease and desist whatever is generating the bad PR. Find the source of the action and correct it (assuming it is justified). Apologize if necessary but ALWAYS tell the truth. Second, don't forget that PR is about perception and not, necessarily, reality. Even if the allegation is not justified, legitimize the validity of the concern and then, ideally, do something that shows your commitment to that belief. In other words, do something that will enable you to say, in effect, "and here's what we do or have done to make sure nothing like that would ever happen here" (or happen again)."

In this instance the source isn't nearly as important as the sentiment. The entire interview is worth a read tho... you can find it at Report on Business

ASUS mini laptop

I know what i want for Christmas... (or maybe, as my after-Christmas-buy-it-myself)



/Thanks Instapundit for the link...

The ASUS Mini Laptop according to Engadget

//must justify this as a necessity for work... hmmm

Zippy Era Vlog

OK, i got a video loaded online... take a boo!






/never let the technology win... i'll work on loading more videos some other time. Maybe i should invest some time in editing software know-how.

Era - NES

Era bear is documented here, for the first time, taking great joy in what he will learn to lovingly refer to as the NES. The Nintendo Entertainment System... 8-bit, old skool goodness.


Another pic of era outgrowing one of the cats... i love the look Duke is giving the camera.


A year ago last week, this video of era was archived...

he's come a long way, and grown a fair bit in the last year. i'd show you more videos but i'm having difficulty loading new vids to zippy, and i haven't taken the time to find another option.

85 Grrr

When was the last time you spent $85,000 and didn't know it.

Cellphone user rings up $85,000 bill - Globe & Mail.

This happened right here in Alberta. That's a lot of downloaded material.

The Friendly Giant

Further to my blithe attempt at indoctrination, i let era watch the opening and closing of the Friendly Giant. Old skool goodness. The chicken in a sack on the wall was a nice touch too! Throw in some more sesame street and this boy is going to know all about children's TV, at least the stuff his dad watched.

Pretend to be a Time Traveler Day

It's too late now, unless time travel really is possible?
Saturday night, it's late and i just found out how important today really was; how much i could have had... oh the sadness:

"It's "Pretend to be a Time Traveler Day" on Saturday, Dec. 8. Here are some suggestions to celebrate the traditional holiday:

Remember, dystopian future travelers are very startled that they've gone back in time. Some starters:

- If you go the "prisoner who's escaped the future" try shaving your head and putting a barcode on the back of your neck. Then stagger around and stare at the sky, as if you've never seen it before.

- Walk up to random people and say "WHAT YEAR IS THIS?" and when they tell you, get quiet and then say "Then there's still time!" and run off.

- Stand in front of a statue (any statue, really), fall to your knees, and yell "NOOOOOOOOO"

- Stare at newspaper headlines and look astonished.

- Take some trinket with you (it can be anything really), hand it to some stranger, along with a phone number and say "In thirty years dial this number. You'll know what to do after that." Then slip away." - The Volokh Conspiracy

/ala 12 monkeys. i could have had a lot of fun with this today. I'll have to watch for today next year.

PUMAlijah

PUMAlijah... the era cat!
That was a fun birthday party we attended.

Grovers Hat

I've had Grover teach era in the past, now Grover has the hat for it.





/enjoy... era did!

International Volunteer Day

December 5, 2007 is International Volunteer Day, a day proclaimed by the UN General Assembly in 1985.

"Canadian Volunteers;

Canadians make an enormous contribution of time to make life better in our communities. According to the latest figures, almost 12 million Canadians volunteer with charities or organizations and contribute close to two billion volunteer hours! " - volunteer.ca

/Thanks C.W. of the local United Way of South Eastern Alberta for the reminder!