Untukmu Para Pengunjung

Alex Tew, you will remember him as the young student that made a million bucks launching the milliondollar homepage is back. His new site is called www.pixelotto.com . He has launched a 'teaser' on the milliondollar website followed by a standard email sign-up form, requesting an opt-in (legal requirement).

I have a fair idea what pixelotto will be doing, he has a good PR agent behind him and I guess, we'll all be buying pixels on his new site www.pixelotto.com soon, as he is promising to make the public rich this time. Will we fall for it? Lets wait and see.

I am instructing his PR agent, also mentioned in his blog, to take a look at my offer coming out on Sunday, free flights for every SME in the uk. See my business www.findyourfleet.com for more details.

This morning something happened which I have feared from childhood. I got attacked and bit by a dog. OK, since we moved to Harare, John and I have both become terrified of dogs. There are dogs everywhere, and I'm guessing that they're not fed too well. Everywhere we walk, there are dogs jumping at their gates and barking loudly. A couple of weeks ago our DC's dogs jumped on an officer visiting from Portugal, knocked him down and bit him. The DC wouldn't apologize because "everyone has the right to security." What the f***'s with that? (sorry - just an inside joke for those who have read the previous post about our DC!) Well, this morning I was out for my morning jog, except that I was walking at this point, and two big dogs started barking and jumping, but their gate was open. I tried to do my usual praying out loud/talking calmly trying to reason with the animal trick, but one came over, ripped open my pants and started gnawing on my leg. I screamed long and loud, but no one came out to check how I was doing. I actually felt badly for screaming because it wasn't yet 5:30am, but still - it hurt! Praise the Lord - I got my 3 rabies shots before I left. I did consult with a nurse. She said only to worry if I start foaming at the mouth. Great. From dogs to mermaids... last night we went to go see our friend Kezia perform as The Little Mermaid in her grade 4 play. It will be sad to have both the Wards and the Johnsons leave in the new year...

If you watch any television, you may have seen a commercial advertising a new video game titled "Gears of War." The story of the game is typical of many other action games; an alien race has come to earth to wipe out the human race for some unknown reason. The game itself, although very familiar, has enough new gameplay elements to make it fairly unique amongst the hordes of action-shooter games out there.

But what is it about Gears of War that has my attention? The commercial. It's absolutely beautiful.



It doesn't capture the feel of the game at all. The game is non-stop, pulse-pounding action without the dramatic spin. But I don't know...I love this commercial. And I may get a bit poetic and deep about it....

I love how the main character is forced to run for his life while he's pondering the remants of yesterday's world. Franticaly running through the ruined city, he desperately searches for a place to hide. And when he thinks he's safe, he sees the very trouble he tried to escape from, waiting for him, staring him down. Realizing escape is no optin, the main character, overwhelmed, and possibly frightened, braces himself and stands his ground. And as the lights of valour pulse the room, the trouble bears down on him, snuffing out his last ditch effort to live (I'm of the opinion that the main character dies in the end).

I think it's so beautiful that the advertisement sidesteps the hard punk rock music that is normally associated with these genres of entertainment.

Here's the actual music video if you wanted to hear the whole song...it's called "Mad World" by Gary Jules (this is a cover, by the way).

It’s been coming for a long time in Australia, since the GSM network was first released organisations have been making use of SMS capabilities to send out messages regarding products, services and competitions that they are offering to their target consumers.
Nightclubs have made very large use of this technology, and with all technologies they evolve, a couple of years we saw the 3G network within the marketplace, but lack of churn from GSM to 3G made it difficult for marketers to decide to implement 3G technology in their IMC campaigns.

Being able to justify the use of such technology as a part of advertising campaigns is difficult in such an up and down industry, maybe the Next G will change the face of mobile advertising as we know it?

On a more negative side, will the Next G be the Next Flop for Telstra and advertisers?

What advertising content does the Next G provide?

Sensis as well as a number of leading advertising agencies have recently teamed up with Bigpond to begin advertising on Telstra’s whopping 850mhz network. Currently advertisers can choose from a variety of banners, links and even video content to send out to Next G customers. These capabilities were recently trialed by advertisers to display the full potential of the Next G in creating advertising campaigns.

Ms Claire Barwell the group manager of Sensis MediaSmart further believes that more market research needs to be put into this new network, as advertising wasn’t exactly the most feasible option with the 3G network due to a lack of knowledge surrounding usage of network capabilities of users.

She then went on to state that “Sensis is looking to develop our knowledge of the consumer response to mobile advertising, specifically testing usage rates, click throughs and the suitability of advertising messages to mobile delivery”.
“We aim to understand how and when advertisements are accessed and responded to and will track which types of users and devices are the most and least active.”
“We hope to further develop the model for how new media is monetised and delivered in Australia, capitalizing on the extraordinary opportunities afforded us by our inclusion in the Telstra family,” she commented.

Is 3G an attractive advertising option?

Even now not all mobile phones that are released have 3G, mobile phone manufacturers such as Samsung and Sony Ericsson have only recently joined the 3G battle arena for the struggle between the networks involving current 3G veterans, Nokia and Motorola.
Popular models such as the D600, and the k750i did not arrive with 3G capabilities, so network users were divided between 3G and GSM. Samsung has only just released their first 3G mobile in Australia, the Z400.

Recently however Nokia has pushed 3G adoptions with the release of the 6280, the N series mobiles as well as the 6233, but now that the Next G has been released, it may be too little, too late.

Late adopters may not be ready for the Next G and are more likely to get an older model phone and not bother with 3G at all. Usually people get new mobile phones in a much cheaper fashion – the re-contract or the non 3G supported network of prepaid.

Late adoption of these technologies due to re-contract dates also makes it difficult for consumers to keep up with technological advances; Optus offer various methods of early re-contracts such as contract rollback. This allows users to keep up with the latest mobile technology available to them.

Maybe it’s time Telstra pushed more people through the geek portal to join the Next Generation of mobile technology?

Check out the Telstra Next G’s awesome website @ http://www.nextg.com.au/

Also read up on G Whiz stories @ http://www.nowwearetalking.com.au/Home/GWhiz/Browse.aspx

Sensis on Next G technology

http://www.about.sensis.com.au/news/media_releases/mediaRelease.php?id=20061011

I have been thinking hard about what I miss from England.

Aside from the usual things like family and friends, I am trying to compile a long list.

I need as many comments as possible about what you miss from 'home'. Mine are as follows:-

Popadoms
KFC (of any shape or form)
Custard creams
Cadburys Chocolate
Hot curry
Chillie crisps
Good peanuts
Haslet
A real uk spring roll not a nem chinoise!
Bitter or real ale
Newspapers
Peanut butter
Ready meal
Cider

Please add to my small list by clicking on comments below, i'll include you in my book!

Following on from my attempts to either watch or listen to the ashes, here are my details of the final two attempts of the first test..

Day 4

I spent most of the day trying to ascertain how I was going to stay up to watch the nights play.

I have failed miserably so far, first night couldn't find it online, second night fell asleep and alarm failed due to a power-cut, third night got blind drunk and passed out. The answer was staring me in the face.

Guests.

Since moving to France we have had a continuous flow of guests and this weekend wasn’t any different. Sitting in front of me was my ticket to staying up..Good conversation, good food and more importantly, best behaviour so not drunk or sleepy.

Perfect, first we had to eat the meal, to listen to as much cricket as possible (I have given up trying to watch this test) I needed to be up talking as late as possible. To ensure a long conversation, the food would need to be a never ending feast, tailing off around 1am (midnight in the UK). So, I bought and prepared the most bizarre ‘talking point’ dishes I could find.

Starting with fromage de tete (head cheese) which as the translation sounds, is pretty much anything that forms part of a pigs head, as a recipe, basically cook your pig's head and you strip off all the meat, the tongue, everything and then you pack it into a tureen with the gelatinized liquor it was cooked in..Sounds nice..This dish always takes the longest, you have to overcome various barriers to eat it!

We followed this up with various live courses and finished with the Mother of all cheese dishes, great, 12am and all conversation is dried out. Luckily for me, I have ‘access’ to UK tv via a dish and watched football on match of the day until 12.45am (France time) .

I’d cracked it, I was finally awake and sober enough to listen to the cricket. It is a huge sense of achievement when you finally make it. It almost took over my life!

I had done it, now I knew the recipe for success!

The cricket.

First hour, not edge of seat stuff, but the target was set, when declaring at 202-1, the Australians gave us the upper hand..we could do it..only 648 to win!!!

A little under one hour of batting from Enland had passed and everyone, commentators, websites and odds all seemed to be optimistic. Me? I was getting myself in a trance, watching the media player’s psychadelic background moves. It is hard to stay awake, it seems to take ages between bowls on the radio.

OUT! Strauss out for 11, Bell not long after. My fatigue started to set in, it was now 2.30 am.

I stayed with it until tea, 150-3. Only God and a bottle of Famous Grouse know how.

I’ll find out how they got on in the morning, too tired and now, a bit drunk, a kind a mixture of boredom and happiness to have made it! It was 5am.

Day 5

The noise started at 7am.

It felt like somebody was kicking me in the head.

The noise was coming from the square in front of my house. It is probably the most typically French square or ‘place’ you could imagine...until this morning. With two hours sleep under my belt and a small hangover to boot, I wasn’t in the best of moods. Opening the green shutters on my office window I saw loads of Police and an ambulance along with two huge tents, one filled with beds, one with bottles of water. The picture below is taken from my office in the house.

I guessed that I must still be either drunk or in shock, shock that I made it to listen to some of the ashes the night before. When, in the distance I could hear the faint sounds of a loadspeaker I realised what this might be.

The La Rochelle marathon was due to start at 9.30am.

Nobody told me that it would pass my front door.

After two hours sleep, a now pumping headache and after watching over 8,000 people jog past, many in silly outfits, I decided to check the result of the nights cricket.

293 - 5
Once again I missed the best bits. There is genuine belief that we could have pulled it off at some point last night and we could have got back into contention. It is all over now, I thought.

I tried to stay up and listen but to honest, I was so tired I didn’t make the re-run of Catherine Tate show at 10pm my time.

Australia won by 277 runs.

Suprised? Not really, in fact, I feel this could be a good thing.

England have shown that they have the talent and skill, they showed it in 2005, and we (you) saw glimpses of it on day four. All that is required now is to start in the right frame of mind and forget the past.

The ashes of 2005 will stay on our minds for a long time to come. If they win this series, and they can, they will go down as a truely great side and be mentioned in the same breathe as the football side of 1966.

If not, they will be likened to the England Rugby World cup winning side, a good team, once.

Technorati Profile

I've just posted some of our pictures from Rwanda in the photo gallery. There are some nice ones of mountain gorillas that you might want to check out. Consider visiting - it is an incredible country!

OK, so I realized I'm a bit "innocent" this past week because of 2 circumstances.

1. Our divisional commander is retiring (he's kind of like a Salvation Army bishop). He came to our church last Sunday to give his farewells. At one point during his sermon, he said, "these f***ing people!" If you've been reading our blog since we got here, you'll know that swearing is not a big deal here. But I giggled! A big time church leader swearing in church - not for shock value, but just because it's everyday language!

2. A co-worker and I had an interesting conversation on Friday. She was giving me the inside track on culture. "You see, for us, sex is the only thing holding our marriages together. If you don't perform well in the bedroom, your marriage is finished. So, I want you to teach me some tricks that white people use. I know if you show me some moves, my husband will stay with me." I know that I blushed! First off, I was angry at the thought of my whole relationship with my husband being based on my performance in bed. When she kept on insisting that I show her some moves, I started feeling really awkward about how I was going to represent my whole race with my "tricks!" Awkward!!!!

I've been reading a lot this week about integrated mission, human
capacity development, and seeing people in their strengths rather than
weaknesses. I love this stuff. I love the idea of mutual learning and
mutual sharing, and not creating these unbalanced relationships of
givers and recipients. But sometimes ideas are easy to agree with on
paper, and more difficult to live out in real life. We are asked for
money all the time. When walking down the street, we see mothers with
small babies sitting by the road with their longing eyes and thin
faces. In our economy of 80% unemployment, they have found a way to
survive. What's the best way to acknowledge that? When we're getting a
ride in a combi and we stop at a set of lights, we're approached by
street kids who are waiting on the corner (street KIDS, not
teenagers). Last night we were treating ourselves to a pizza and a
child came into the restaurant showing us a receipt for school fees.
Who knows whether it was legit., but could we morally keep eating our
pizza while potentially not helping to send a child to school? Is it
wrong to give if the giving is guilt-induced? Last Saturday morning
someone came to our gate at 6:00am asking for food. He came back at
6:30am wanting money for transport. He came back at 7:00am wanting
more money. We give away a lot of money, because the truth is, we have
it and they don't. But is that crippling them; forcing them to remain
dependent on hand-outs? or is it a way for fellow human beings to
share what they have? Part of me hates the fact that we are
re-enforcing unbalanced relationships. I hate the thought of being the
white saviours, giving crumbs from our table. But would we be better
people if we didn't give? If we kept those crumbs to ourselves? I have
the feeling this will be something we will continually struggle with.
Of course, we should see people in their strengths rather than
weaknesses. But what if they're begging you to look at their weakness?
What if they don't want to spend time talking about their hopes and
dreams, but just want enough money to keep their baby alive? In
Toronto, when homeless men would ask me to spare some change, I would
usually say "sorry" and give them a smile or chat for a few moments.
And most would say "thank you" - thank you for acknowledging them as
human beings. Here, people begging don't like a smile or a chat -
maybe because they don't have the option of going to a soup kitchen or
a shelter if they don't raise enough money in a day. It's survival
mode. People here are incredibly gifted at survival, and I would never
want to hamper that. So, what's the best option? Sorry for those of
you who like answers more than questions...

Something that makes me feel nervous: Mothers here all hold their
babies on their backs, wrapped in towels/blankets/zambias. It makes me
nervous when they jay-walk. Overall I feel nervous as a pedestrian in
Harare anyway, but for mothers with little babies on their backs...

Something that makes me feel sad: There are just so many funerals
here. Life expectancy is 34. This week there was a funeral for a
Salvation Army officer. On the way back from the funeral, one of the
cars of mourners overturned and 2 people died. More funerals.

Something that makes me feel a bit suspicious: I'm accompanying music
exams for people in the air force again. I enjoy it, as it's a chance
to play the piano, but it makes me feel a bit suspicious when they
come to my workplace dressed in army fatigues looking for me! You'd
think that being a good Salvation Army girl, I would be used to
uniforms, but maybe it's the camouflage motif. Yesterday I arrived at
the music college early so that I could rehearse with 2 soldiers who
were doing their exams. I ran into a guy I had met before and he said,
"I'm so glad you came. I've been praying that you would show up,
because my exam is in 10 minutes, and I really need an accompanist!"
He was doing grade 8 and both piano parts were 13 pages and very
challenging. I faked my way through, and I'm fairly confident that he
passed.

Something that makes me feel happy: Getting mail from home. Our
parents are really good at sending us care packages of vital items
like chocolate and Kraft Dinner! This week we also got a small package
of letters from people in our home church in Regent Park. What an
encouragement! We've also started getting some "missionary Christmas
cards" from various home league/women's groups in Canada. I must
admit that it's nice, but it feels a bit strange. I used to write
these cards to everyone, and now we're receiving them. One group even
sent 2 tea bags! The people who deliver our mail to us were commenting
that we have a lot of friends in Canada. They also asked if Canadians
only send Christmas cards to other Canadians, and why no one from
churches in Canada sends them Christmas cards. My first thought was,
"well, they don't know you" but then again, most of them don't really
know us either!

So, I have been watching France 3 news with interest over the past few weeks.

I have now arrived at the following conclusion. France's potential new leader was picked by Sony in order to promote their new film Casino Royale. If you say them quickly, they sound one and the same. I asked my wife a few days ago (I wasn't watching, just looking) "why do the French news channels keep going on non-stop about Casino Royale".

As a Brit, we are born with 007 in our roots, but the French??

"My darling" she said, a patronising righteous start "they are talking about Ségolène Royal, the lady that has just won the race to represent the Socialist party in the run for the presidency in 2007". "Who?" I needed to find out more about her, and why she was the first female ever chosen at this level. Am I, up until now, the only person to link Bond and French politics?

After some research, I have the following finding.

Ségolène Royal is the President of the region I live in, Poitou-Charentes. She is 53, has four children and sounds like the newley released Bond film.

Another thing, she is quite sexy. FHM in France voted her 6th out of world's top 100 sexy women.

Lets take a look at the following and who would you vote for:-

Exactly. A no-brainer.

So, in answer to my initial thoughts, I believe either of the two reasons I have presented means she is now going to win the next election and be France's new President next year..Let's face it, Monsieur Chirac is 71 now, and certainly not sexy.

What do you think?

Is Sony films playing a part in the win or something to do with being sexy?

Or maybe, just maybe, her beliefs?

A friend of mine sent me this letter, written by Moby (of "Porcelain" fame). Both men and women should read it.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
suppose you were redecorating your house. and you wanted your house to be a quintessential minimal mid-century modern
house. and you had a friend who only liked victorian houses, filled with velvet drapes and thick carpets and over-stuffed couches and lots of ornamentation. this same friend also had repeatedly said that they had no interest in ever living in a mid-century modern house. would you ask them for their opinion about decorating your mid-century house? obvious answer: no. because they don't like mid-century furniture and aesthetics and they only like victorian aesthetics. pretty simple, right? why consider the opinion of someone who has no interest in the aesthetic that you're going for? right? ok, that was the analogy.

so, i ask you, why do women listen to the aesthetic opinions of gay fashion designers don't get me wrong: i love gay fashion designers. i'm just dismayed that there are hundreds of millions of women currently starving themselves and beating themselves up because
they don't have a body that's deemed 'attractive' by men who aren't attracted to women. gay fashion designers(and editors, photographers, stylists, etc)are sexually attracted to men. which is great and should be applauded. but they're not sexually or physically attracted to women, which does kind of make their opinions about female bodies kind of moot. is it any wonder that these same designers/etc tend to like female models who have very boy-ish bodies?

to make an anthropomorphic generalization: male bodies: angular. female bodies: curvy. most female fashion models are angular, which is a quality normally associated with male bodies. women are supposed to be curvy. it's what makes a woman's body feminine.
can you imagine how absurd it would be if women designed clothes for men and expected men to have breasts and hips? wouldn't it be absurd if hundreds of millions of men were staring into mirrors and berating themselves for not looking more like women? ok, so isn't it then absurd that hundreds of millions of women are staring into mirrors and berating themselves for not looking more like young men? it's unnecessary and unhealthy.

and yes, obesity is bad. that goes without saying. but when perfectly healthy, normal women beat themselves up for being 'too fat' it's not only absurd, but emotionally and physically unhealthy. women are not supposed to look like emaciated 14 year old boys. they're just not. i'm not trying to pick a fight with the fashion industry, i'm just saying that endlessly promoting an ideal of beauty wherein women are supposed to look like emaciated 14 year old boys is absurd and destructive and creates tons of unnecessary anguish for the hundreds of millions of women who are healthy and don't look like emaciated 14 year old boys.

to use me as an example. i'm a vegan. i don't like meat. so if you were having a sausage and cheese party would you ask me for my opinion on what sort of sausage and cheese you should serve? of course not. my hope is that somehow women will allow themselves to be who they are, and stop beating themselves up for not looking like emaciated 14 year old boys. as i said, it's absurd and deeply unhealthy.
thanks,
moby
-----------------------------------------------------------------------


"You work it....GIRL???"

Last night I was one of 200 people, who were paid $50 to sit through an entertaining yet controversial Australian first hypno-marketing session at the Esplanade Hotel in Melbourne put on by clothing youth brand Golf Punk. Similar to any hypnosis show they made people do stupid things like pretend they were eating ice cream, milk a cow etc., except at the end they hypnotized the members into thinking Golf Punk was the ultimate brand.

Another sign traditional media no longer cuts through. Golf Punk used Experiential marketing as a platform to create awareness; traditionally a job for the TVC and radio spot. I discuss below (Sorry for the long post but I found this a really interesting sign of the times)
One of the latest buzz words floating around marketing blogs is transumerism. The word helps to define the new type of consumer who is no longer after tangible product but more interested in spending their money on having experiences, capturing special moments. Experiential Marketing is businesses response to this trend.

Experiential Marketing started off not as a response for transumerism but as a way for the consumer to experience the product first hand, for example free samples of food at the supermarket, a recent innovative example was letting runners in NY Central Park trial the Apple ipod plus for a week and Ikea furniture being placed at bus stops around NY.
However now experiential marketing has taken a turn toward the way B2B have been using the tool, they are now interested in giving the consumer an experience that may not be directly related to the features of the product but which help to transpire the brands identity and message. B2B have been using this by entertaining clients through corporate boxes at sporting events. An example of consumer experiential marketing event is Coke Live ’06 where they created an event which had all local cutting edge bands this helped to show the brands message off as a brand that was interested in having fun and also associating themselves with the underground music scene.

Last night I think I saw the newest form of experiential marketing; I see this as a changing of the time, traditional media is no longer towing the line. The 30sec TVC used to be seen as the best way to create awareness of a product. Experiential Marketing is usually used to help fulfil the higher order needs such as brand loyalty and trialing. Last night it was used as a tool for awareness.

Now the event is over get ready for the word of mouth campaign to start, this will only be boosted by the web2.0 climate, making communication amongst the internet generation having a larger reach and frequency.

I know in my own case I have told numerous people about the bizarre event. I posted a myspace bulletin to my friends list before the event asking if anyone want to come with me and if golf punk put a video up on youtube.com of the event there is a high chance I will show it to my friends who are interested in that stuff and lastly I have written this blog about the event. So there you go I am doing my bit for Golf Punk, or is that only because I have been hypnotized???

The only criticism would be when I tried to find the Golf Punk website, I got peanuts. This is unfortunate seeing they created such a great campaign to not have a website is a bit of an oversight, as consumers need to be able to go to the next level of the purchase decision model and by not having a frame of reference you are turning away many potential customers. If any video are released on youtube.com or on their website I will make sure to put them up here. Check out their website for more details http://www.hypnomarketing.biz

It's been well over a month since I've posted something meaningful. My one month practicum has come and gone at Brother Andre Catholic High School. So what have I learned about my future profession during my one month there?

I've learned that teaching is a job of contrasts. It will suck the life out of you, but can reinvigorate you a hundred times over. For every bad day, there are several good days. For every time a student mouths off to you, the student can surprise you in pleasant ways. The class that drove me up the wall the first couple of weeks with bad behaviour became the group that I got attached to.

Am I glad that practicum is over? Yes, I'm tired. Sleeping around 1am-ish preparing lessons, getting up at 6:30am, and expending a lot of energy keeping students in check is quite taxing. Do I look forward to doing this as a career? Absolutely.

I've been a bit delinquent at posting on Canada's Salvation Army website, but another blog has been posted today. I enjoy writing for this site, so I will endeavour to be more regular in the future (this sounds like a high-fibre cereal ad). The blog address is http://www.salvationarmy.ca/blog.

Here are my three posts so far, starting with the most recent.

Small Body, Big Heart
http://www.salvationarmy.ca/2006/11/20/small-body-big-heart/

ABCs of Survival
http://www.salvationarmy.ca/2006/10/26/abcs-of-survival/

Three Orphans and Gogo
http://www.salvationarmy.ca/2006/10/11/three-orphans-and-gogo/

The next post published will be the first of a few reflections from my recent trip of Kenya and Rwanda. I know my mom can hardly wait to read them...

So on to todays hot topic...well warm normally..

Dog poo.

Why is it that 70% of the population of France have dogs and yet only 1% carry any sort of bag to clean up the mess? As time goes by, and we are adjusting to life in France very easily, the only problem we encounter on a daily basis is dog poo...everywhere. Why do the French in general not clean up after their chien?

I am not joking, every street had piles of the stuff. I have no idea what these 'mutts' are fed but I swear some of the piles glow.

What can we do about it? Apart from writing to the Mayor and posting all manor of comments on forums, I am thinking of marketing the following:-

A nappy for dogs. Would the French be happy to dress their pets with one? I am not sure but I for one am on a crusade!

I would love to hear from some French that have dogs that regularly poo everywhere, why do you do it???

To buy one, click the link below!

http://www.petgadgets.com/contentpage.cfm?Content_ID=91&interview_id=57

I made sadza (the staple food here) for the first time this weekend! I hate to brag, but it didn't even have lumps (likely because I used every ounce of arm muscle I could muster!) We also taught some friends the fine game of Monopoly on Saturday night. It was quite fun to see them get so excited and enthusiastic about a game that they had never seen before. John was ruthless even though it was their first time playing. He has this "thing" about Monopoly. He feels that being competitive (read: ruthless) is the best way to teach the realities of monopolies in the world. He won.

As I was carrying the Monopoly game from our house to the Wards' (where we are house-sitting for a month), I noticed that everyone along my path was staring at me. This is not an unusual occurrence. It is not because I am particularly gorgeous, but because, on first glance, I don't "blend" all that well here. Our first week here we noticed that everyone was staring at our Nalgene water bottles as we were carrying them. Someone explained that people probably thought we were carrying around poison and that they were scared that we might throw it on someone. I don't know WHAT they thought I was going to do with the Monopoly game!

Not blending definitely has its advantages. For instance, I can pick John out of a crowd REALLY easily! Most times I don't mind the staring, and I am used to it, but sometimes I find it exhausting. We are always watched; to see how we will react to things; to see if we are happy; to see how different we are. Most of the time I do feel happy, and most of the time I enjoy sharing my culture or my ideas. Sometimes, however, I don't want to represent all of Canada, or all of the Western world, by my actions or my opinions. Sometimes I just want to blend. In social work school I interviewed a fellow classmate for one of my school assignments. She is an extremely articulate and compassionate Black, Jewish, Lesbian. She talked about how it can be tiring to constantly have to explain herself and be a curiosity. I have a small taste of what she meant now. Normally I don't mind explaining my "strange" habits; my way of being different. But sometimes I long for people who just know me and accept me, and don't think I'm particularly "interesting" but just "normal." Don't get me wrong - I would rather be extraordinary than ordinary. I would rather stick out than fade into the background. I would rather be interesting than normal. But sometimes, just sometimes, I don't want to be a curiosity. Sometimes I just want to blend in.

Anyone who follows the video file sharing sites will have seen the interest over the student being filmed getting innocently tasered at UCLA by police. I think this is the start of an interesting time for publicity industry. The video (I think it could be done by a student phone camera is a rough job where you really are just hearing an innocent student getting tasered repeatedly for not showing his student card. The playing field is changing fast for publicist. With the introduction of youtube, google and myspace video file sharing sites, I will show you the grave future of the industry through the recent example of the UCLA brand is currently going through.

Imagine this incident happened in 14th November 2004. Boy gets tasered in the UCLA library the following ensues.

The 100 people who were witnessed to the event would have been appalled by the actions of the UCLA police and would have told the people in their social network for the next week (max 30ppl each). It may have also been in the latest edition of the University Paper.

3,000 people would have heard about it plus another 10,000 from the local papers. 13,000 people opinion of UCLA and UCLA security have now taken a major battering this is a nightmare for the UCLA publicist.

Now fast forward to this accident happening in 14th November 2006. A student is lucky enough to have his phone camera with him and captures the events unfold. He goes home and puts it up on youtube that night and tells his 30 friends about it.

4 Days later, 1,100,000 people have viewed the footage. Unlike the people in 2003 they haven’t just heard about the incident they have viewed the footage

. If 13,000 people is a nightmare what is 1,100,000 telling 30 people for the next week what they saw on youtube?
Word of mouth network is no longer your consumer’s local 30 friends; it is all now the 400 friends on their myspace account, the 200 people who subscribe to their youtube videos and the 10,000 people who posts on the forum of their favourite sports club.

Great formula for success

Low budget film crew + Michael Schumacher + Spin on current topic of interest + Releasing virally on video file sharing site = Cost effective way of improving brand identity + one last leveraging op from relationship with Schumacher.

Today's my mom's birthday, and I wish I could take her out for a Great
Canadian Bagle or a Dairy Queen Peanut Buster Parfait, but I can't, so
I am going to write this short tribute instead.

Everyone says I look my mom; and that I act like my mom. I take it as
a compliment, because my mom is a very good person for me to try to
imitate. She's the best mom I could have ever asked God for. My mom is
an amazing communicator, an inspirational encourager, a compassionate
listener, and a hilarious story teller. She is fun, kind, talented,
hard-working, disciplined, and generous. I love my mom for who she is,
but also for who she is to me. Throughout the years, I have laughed a
lot with my mom. But I have also cried a lot with my mom. My mom has
literally held me in her arms when I thought I was going to fall
apart, and she has never judged me, even when seeing me at my worst
moments. She's one of those moms that just keeps on loving and loving
and giving and giving. My mom embodies unconditional love to me. Even
though we are continents apart, my mom is still always there for me.

Happy Birthday, Mom! I love you SO much! xo

Friday afternoon in France is not the same as it was in London. Fact!





In France, people still work on fridays. In London it is all about drinking!

Highlight of the day: Leading a Bible study for AFCO. This is a group
of Salvation Army officers from around Africa who are here in Zimbabwe
for a month. I had the privilege of addressing them today. It was odd
to be translated into 3 other languages (French, Portuguese and
KiSwahili) - mostly because the translators were in the room, so it
felt very noisy. But what an honour, eh?

Lowlight of the day: Getting very muddy on the way to this internet
cafe. The rains have come. Don't get me wrong - I'm glad the rains
have come. I've been praying for their arrival, and trust me, a
drought would not be good for Zim right now. And I actually like rain
- just not when I'm in a skirt and "Sunday" shoes and on my way to
work. My little white legs are covered in mud - not to mention the
Sunday shoes! :)

Oh, I forgot to mention - we crowned the Braeside princess on Sunday.
Braeside is the name of our neighbourhood and our corps (church).
Every year, the woman who raises the most money for Helping Hand
(self-denial) gets crowned as the princess. She got a tiara to replace
her Salvation Army hat, and all of the women were crowding around her
to hug and congratulate her. I've never seen anything like it at a
Salvation Army meeting! She even cried - just like at the Miss America
pageant! We're gaining so many more life experiences here!

I was learning about cancer today. Of course, the two main forms of treatment for cancer (besides surgery) are radiotherapy and chemotherapy. Chemotherapy is very expensive, and the great majority of Zimbabweans could never afford it. Radiotherapy is cheaper. There are two radiotherapy machines in the country, but they are both broken, and have been for a year. Even though I already knew the answer, I asked, "so if a Zimbabwean is diagnosed with cancer, what does he or she do?" "They die at home. But we (the hospice service) will try to give them some pain medication. And we just hope the cancer doesn't go to their spine, because that means they will be paralyzed before they die. You know, it's a very difficult thing to tell a family that there is treatment for their loved one's cancer, but that it is not available to them." The presenter said sometimes the family will give up everything to pay for chemotherapy, but then have to stop halfway through the treatment because of lack of funds. Because the treatment isn't carried out to its full term, it is pointless. As we were learning about this, participants in the seminar were very distressed. One person suggested that we stage a small demonstration to the Ministry of Health about the radiotherapy machines. But, of course, demonstrations are not allowed in this country.

The top headline in The Herald today is about a man raping his 10 year old daughter because she asked him for pocket change. It explained his reasoning, "I give her pocket change every month. But she started nagging me and wanting money more often - acting just like a prostitute. I did it to teach her a lesson." He also claimed he was filled with evil spirits at the time, and so cannot really be blamed. I guess the spirits will follow him to prison. Welcome to Zimbabwe.

Today I was in a seminar on HIV/AIDS. Of course, you will all know that HIV/AIDS is crippling this continent, as well as many parts of the world. I wasn't really surprised to hear that HIV/AIDS was brought to Zimbabwe from the Western world (by tourists). I mean, I learned in school that HIV/AIDS actually started in central Africa, but who would really want to take the blame for the start of a terrible pandemic? I'm left-wing - totally. My education at University of Toronto confirmed my many beliefs that the West is to blame for most of the world's problems. It's interesting to live here though - in a place where absolutely EVERYTHING is blamed on the West - from the economy to water shortages to... yeah, everything. Doesn't the current government (who has been in power for 26 years) have to take some ownership of something?

By the way - some safari pics are up, so go check them out. You're going to love them! Speaking of pictures... on Saturday John started shaving his head, and the razor blew in the middle of the cut. I WISH I had a photo of him - half shaved, and half full head of hair. It was quite the sight to behold.

The other day I bought a sugar doughnut as a treat. After I started eating it, a man came up to me and started begging. My dilemma – give him the half-eaten doughnut or just keep eating it in front of him. I ended up giving him the half-eaten doughnut, but it felt terrible and undignified to give him something half-eaten, and not even healthy.

Flour is scarce in the shops these days. John promised a friend of ours that we would give her some. So, I went into the jar, and there were ants crawling in it. My dilemma – give her flour with ants or nothing at all. I went for the ants, but again, it felt like an assault to her dignity to give her something “tainted.”

Of course, I know the easy answer to these dilemmas – go buy another doughnut; go buy some more flour. But friends, keep in mind that we make $10US/month! Speaking of being poor, this relates to John's last post about my article in Faith & Friends (a Canadian Salvation Army magazine). The article is about how Zimbabweans have really been teaching us the art of sharing. The article finishes with, “It makes me wonder, who are the poor ones: them or us?” I never wrote that! It offended me too. I live my life trying to break down barriers between “us” and “them.” I am not naïve enough to think that there are not differences between us, but people in Zimbabwe aren’t “poor people” to us – they are our friends.

I forgot to let my fans (ie Mom and Dad) know about my second blog
posted at SalvationArmy.ca/blog. Here's the link so you can check it
out: http://www.salvationarmy.ca/2006/10/26/abcs-of-survival/

Enjoy. I really like what Jeremy Watt's done with the Army's website.

I'll have a new post coming out there next week. Who knows, if I keep
working at my writing, perhaps Rochelle will let me start posting on
this blog more frequently...

By the way, Rochelle wrote a nice article for the November issue of
Faith & Friends. They even included a picture of each of us that they
took from our Flickr account. For the record, Rochelle did not write
the concluding sentence.

Greetings are very important in Zimbabwe. When you walk into a room, you usually greet everyone one by one. When you pass people on the street, you greet them. Clapping is always involved. We usually greet people in Shona, but sometimes we use English. For example, this morning when I was out for my walk, I greeted people with "Good morning!" Most people responded "I'm fine." This is one of my favourite Zimbabwe-isms. Whether or not you ask people how they are doing, they will tell you, "I'm fine." It's sort of ironic though, because actually the sense we get is that most people aren't really fine. We were away for 2 weeks, and both the real exchange rate (as opposed to the government's fixed rate) and inflation have soared. That means all prices are up. In the six months we have lived here, the pensioners' rent on our compound has gone up from $1,000/month to $25,000/month. That is quite a dramatic increase, and yet their pension is still at the $1,500/month rate.

We arrived back in Zimbabwe a bit later than we had planned. Sunday we flew to Nairobi, and still managed to miss our flight to Harare despite being 6 hours early at the airport. The rumour is that Air Zim never arrived in Nairobi, and just didn't bother to let anyone at the airport know. (By the way, they don't call it "Scare Zim" for nothing - when we got on the plane to fly to Kenya, my seatbelt was broken, as was John's seat, and let's just say it was quite a shaky flight!) Kenya Airways put us up at the Hilton Nairobi for the night (brie cheese and satellite t.v. - imagine!) and then they flew us in the morning. Unfortunately, they had to take everyone's luggage off the flight. They needed to bring extra fuel because there was none at the airport in Zimbabwe. No fuel at the airport. Sometimes it feels like a sad joke. It's good to be home though - to see friends, and to hear Shona again. We re-started classes last night. Our vacation was incredible, but it's also good to come back to some normalcy. That is, if you call this normal.... :)

I have just driven two hours in the wrong direction whilst using sat nav in France!!! At least I paid attention and the below didn't happen to me!!



I grant you this is not a normal thing to do, drive two hours in the wrong direction but hey, I am in a country that is still foreign to me!! It happened when I was told "turn left in 200 metres" I duly did this, had no map on me and trusted it. Once you get on a motorway and it says "try and do a U turn" you are in trouble. The 'arrow' on my screen stated 60km to next junction..Great!!!

I am now asking the question, could you drive to a location using Sat Nav alone or do you need to have a map next to you? Do you trust Sat Nav entirely?

By this I mean, if you drove using Sat Nav and looked at no road signs, how often would you go in the wrong direction?

I sell GPS tracking (www.findyourfleet.com) for a living and this is a great product to locate somebody or your fleet but to get from A to B, does Sat Nav work??

I would love to hear any comments on this!

Once again Nike has been caught ripping ideas off other companies. However the funny thing is they get away with it because they have a much bigger audience than the ads they have copied

Here is the latest version of what they have copied with their new golf ball and here is the original millers light beer cannon that they copied it from.


Check it out at http://www.nike.com/nikegolf/juiceball/




Here is the second example of them ripping off an idea. With Nike Skate



Original Art work
Robin Rhode
HE GOT GAME 2000



If you want to see more companies ripping off street artist check out this blog at
http://www.youthoughtwewouldntnotice.com/

La Rochelle, South-West France, the city with the Ocean.

I am about to tell you my every changing story about life moving from London, England to La Rochelle, France. Why I did it, what emotions went with it and some of the funniest events that have ever happened to me or anyone I have ever spoken to. I am going to start today with this background as to who I was back then!

Feel free to add comments or ask questions, I have written this in a book format, don't let the size put you off!!

Day One..My ordinary life

Cuba, Havana, that is where we are going this year for our holidays.

It always started like this, the new working year.

17 days paid holiday ready to be sacrificed on a gamble of relaxation and all-inclusive happiness.
Why Cuba you ask? Well, it has culture, sea and winter sun, a place where mohito's are part of life. And what has Cuba got to do with moving to France? Bear with me after this and the second chapter, it'll make sense! Finally, a mohito is a wonderful drink consisting of Cuban rum, mint, sugar, sparkling water and loads of ice. Ask my two mates called Andy and Andrew, they'll vouch for it..the hangover too I suspect.

I am going to start my journey with you here because the reality was that this was all I had to look forward to back then, two weeks in the sun followed by 48 sodding weeks cooped up in the sweatshop of my sales office.






I wasn't unhappy with life, had a beautiful wife and two adorable kids and a cat. I lived in a nice house in leafy Hertfordshire, drove a nice people carrier and had a vintage Porsche to play with. I was what can be described as being pretty normal.
In the summer, we had a barbecue every weekend with either friends or family and played in my 15 foot splasher pool, you know the one's, they cost around £100 quid to buy, take a couple of days to fill.
We always went out as a family at the weekend, I did enjoy it but to be honest, I just wanted to collapse in front of the tv, I was always tired on a Saturday back then.

We enjoyed walking and cycling, this was of course when the weather was good. When the weather is good, England is a great place to live, it was only an hour to Frinton-on-sea in Essex. This was our treat, sit on the beach once a month and take in some sun. It was always strange though, we could never buy any fresh fish..

We normally got back from the beach and ordered a nice Indian takeaway to be delivered to the door (the town centre was a good fifteen minutes walk away), warmed up the plates and watched the nights reality show. This was a regular event for us, a takeaway and tv. We ate healthily during the week, I say we, they did, I worked!

When the weather was not good, we would have two chains of thought, what can we do and lets go shopping. To go shopping, you need to drive, if you are going to drive, you may as well drive to somewhere good, our petrol bill was around £50 per week.

Our personal choice of shop was Bluewater,a huge indoor shopping centre in Kent, near the Dartford Tunnel. The type that everyone has within one hours drive of their house, the kind of shopping centre that takes you all day to walk around.

Now, let's be honest, we actually dress up in our best clothes to go there don't we. Our Sundays were like this in the winter, wake up, eat cooked breakfast, jump in people carrier and drive to Bluewater.

The first hurdle was the traffic jam that is the M25, rain or shine you knew you would be stuck at some point on it, we couldn't get there quick enough. I was earning lots of money and needed to spend some to feel better and clear away my hangovers.

The second hurdle was always the parking, there is never quite enough. After one and a half hours travel plus park time, we are in. Rushing through John Lewis or M&S to get the main malls. We were always feeling stressed but after a few purchases, it always seemed to lift a bit.

After an hour of dragging the kids around, who by now had started to fight, we felt that they deserved the scrum called the food hall. What a choice..Chinese, Indian, KFC, Burger King, they were all there. "Can I help you sir".."Yes please, two kids things and a load more grease for me than her". It was always the same, find a seat, eat it quickly because it had gone cold, leave half a litre of coke and back to the shops, burping onion for the next hour.

We lived a great life, we thought.

Driving home was always a nightmare because we'd always pop in to Ikea on the way out, have a meal and buy a cupboard! Why does everyone that goes to Ikea buy a huge piece of furniture that they don't need, struggle to get it in their car but breathe a sigh of relief because even after spending another two hundred quid they haven't got, when they eat their cheap 35p hot dog afterwards, they always say "I don't know how they do it for that price" followed by " you couldn't make them for 35p".

I had worked in my computer sales company for seven years, most of which I was the sales manager. What my job consisted of was setting targets, monitoring cold calls and telling people off (commonly known as the bollocking). A perk was getting drunk with my staff and their customers.

An easy job you say, try getting up at six thirty after two hours sleep, paraletic and getting the train to do it all again.

Every morning I was rudely awoken by Alan Brazil and Porkey on Talksport, this followed with the realisation that I am in bed and have a mouth like a flipflop, feel sick, have a huge hangover and need to take a quick uneasy shower.

I knew I was getting a bit podgy and knew I smoked too much but at least I didn't take drugs or sleep with prostitutes!! Yes, a bizarre reflection but at this stage in my life I was the normal one, in my office, I was the only person who drank just on weekdays and only smoked 50-60 cigarettes per day, most of the others had some serious vices, I felt proud of myself. I know at this stage, you may be thinking what did the rest do?

Ok, i'll give you an idea. Picture this..my boss was the owner, a very powerful man worth millions. He was and indeed still is, a man with few vices. Raised in Africa, he was brought up with slaves, his parents sent him to boarding school in England, he resembled a handsome Mr Bean in looks. He spoke with almost perfect diction and was commercially astute, never missing a deal or a way of further enhancing his fortune.

His vice?

He loved black girls and prostitutes. Not only that, his mistress (black too unlike his wife) and he would attend swinging conventions. They had 'big Nigel' in Birmingham, a guy of immense length that would be regularly shipped down to satisfy all needs, my boss wasn't gay nor did he touch 'Nigel', he loved to watch!

Other vices I had witnessed included going to a drinking den, sitting with Judges, police and gangsters. In these dens, anything goes, by that I mean anything goes in terms of drugs and occasionally women.

I have witnessed an old man of 84 sniffing cocaine and exclaiming "a gram a day and I'm still here"!!

I never took it nor ever will, I have seen many a colleague destroyed by the stuff.

Most of my staff were alcoholics and all but one denied it. Terry was the number one drinker, he was our secret weapon. Aged 47, balding with a beer belly, he was the champion of back-handers and meeting new clients by accident in pubs was a speciality, at one point, he was given special licence by the boss to spend the last thursday of each month (payday for most) in the pubs in the City..'networking'!!

If we wanted to get a heavy drinking customer to sign a deal, he'd be brought out.

Terry was a serious drinker, he knew it and we were all in awe of him. He had four pints everyday for lunch, he had been known to drink over 48 cans of beer during 'Telfest', a bi-annual drinking barbecue.

He was never ill, never late for work and when at work, he was a hard worker. He was a big gambler. He instigated the 'friday flutter'. This was an event where we all put £5 in a pot a then had a gamble. All we did on a friday afternoon was drink 'Belgian coffee' (Stella Artois in a coffee cup to hide it from the other teams) and watch the horses interactively!! "Come on my son!"" was often heard from our corner!!

I often wonder how many hours of work are lost due to online gambling in the UK.

Anyhow, booking a holiday was a traumatic event...I coughed to clear some remnants of Malboro Light from my throat "knock knock".."ahh come in dear boy" said the Boss, he always called me dear boy, he was 40 and I 30, a strange thing for me to hear but by now was used to it.

"I am taking two weeks off in Easter, I am off to Cuba" I started "I hope this is ok and you have no plans yourself at the same time"..I waited and waited.

Either he was ignoring me or he was studying something on his pc, checking the lastest business news I assumed. "Come and look at this" he said "this one lives locally"..as I wandered around his desk, I had another brief but clear glance into his world, he was looking at an online swinging exchange, he had just found a couple in Lewisham that were up for some fun. "Great news...sorry, what did you say?"

I repeated myself and knew it didn't really sink in, sod it I thought, I am going to book it anyway.

Before letting my wife pack my bags, I had one last almighty drink-up with my team, making sure they could not survive without me for two weeks. Normally, socialising in London consists of the following:-

Beer - 6 pints for aperitif
Whisky and coke - 4 or 5 for the road
Burger - in the back of a black cab on the way to a reputable lapdancing venue
Champagne - 2-3 bottles between 4 people in the first hour in the venue
Bottles of expensive lager - running out of cash due to dances and champagne
Cab home - at any price due to the fact it is now 2am and all train stations shut. Generally an unlicenced Ford Cortina driven by somebody that doesn't speak English.

That night was the same as ever, we did the above..

So, to continue the story, we went to Cuba for some sun, to see some old cars and watch virgins make cigars between their thighs, this was what I'd worked so hard for, a good rest...

More soon, let me know what you think!!!

This is our last day in Kigali. Tomorrow we will spend the day in airports and then arrive home in Harare tomorrow night. Being here has been surreal, and incredible. Rwanda is so beautiful. The hills, the green, the smiling children yelling "muzungu!", the banana trees, the gorillas, toilet paper in public washrooms ... and people are so kind. If you ask someone for directions, they will stop whatever they are doing, and take you to your destination.

A lot about Rwanda seems new. There is construction everywhere. There are lots of new houses, and new buildings, and new roads, and new signs. There is a new flag and a new national anthem. The message is that this is a new country - it is not the same land that was covered in blood in 1994. But you still see some signs - literal signs that are covered in bullet holes; mass graves and memorial sites all around the country, etc.

It's just so hard to believe. We were at the Mille Collines hotel the other day. It's hard to believe that it's not a movie set - but actually the place where "Hotel Rwanda" took place - 2 minutes away from where we're sitting right now. It's a new country, but how can you ever forget atrocities from the past? John saw a truck full of prisoners wearing the infamous pink prison clothes of the genocidaires the other day. There's no way you can forget. But I guess the question is how you make sure that "never again" really is never again.

First off; a very Happy Birthday to Dad McAlister who turns 60 today! Also a belated Happy Birthday to Sir Johnny Guida for yesterday. We wish we were there to celebrate with you two, but we are in the middle of Rwanda!

To celebrate these special birthdays; we went trekking through the rainforest to track the almost extinct mountain gorillas. It was INCREDIBLE! We got within a metre of them and they were huge and beautiful and humanlike and so majestic! It was totally worth getting completely covered in mud! This has been the vacation of a lifetime. Today we came to Butare to visit the national museum and the university. Sunday we fly home to Zim. All I can say is come to East Africa, because it is gorgeous!!! (Oh, and of course you will stop by and visit us in Zimbabwe, right?) :)

The text is translated as saying 'Your Kids will grow Fast!'






'Dont get robbed by High Bank Fees'

Carrying on from the debate I had last week about the pro’s and con’s of ambient here is the second installment of the debate;

2. You are not getting nearly enough views as traditional media

It is all about segmentation of the market. We were looking at the example below for Pantene shop door advertising; he started talking about the how you are only getting the people walking into the store.

Well yes he was correct, you are only getting the people walking in to the store but these people are at the right stage of the buying process they are going into the store to buy products, so you are hitting them with this great cut through advertising just before they are about to give some money over to the chemist.

Here is a collection of in shop ambient campaigns

The second one here is a great one for Men's Magazine Che in the USA



The Third one is for a light whipped cream company which puts a mouth at the end of the supermarket conveyer belt. This is the first time i have seen this space being used.

We're in Rwanda. This has been on the top of my "countries to visit" list for years. It feels like a miracle that we are here, and it is actually quite a surreal experience for me. This morning we went to the National Memorial Site for the genocide in 1994. It was very powerful to see the mass graves, and the thousands of pictures or people who were killed. There was this one wall just of photos of children who were slaughtered. I was humbled and I wept. We also went to the Ste. Famille church, where hundreds fled for protection and then were betrayed by their priest to the genocidaires. As we walked through the church, we heard the youth choir practising their beautiful hymns. I felt overwhelmed as I prayed on one of the benches where people had been killed; waiting for God.

I think Rwanda is the most beautiful country I have ever been in. It's the country of a thousand hills, and it's so green. There are banana trees everywhere. We just took a 2 hour drive, and I wish I could have taken a photo each minute - it's that beautiful. On the way here, we also flew into Bujumbura (Burundi) and that was the most beautiful descent in a plane I've ever been in. What a gorgeous, tragic part of this continent.