Untukmu Para Pengunjung

We just got back from an amazing holiday in Victoria Falls. I highly
recommend it. We stayed at the A'Zambezi River Lodge, and it was
lovely.

Highlights of our trip include:
- Seeing the Falls (they're incredible - even as a proud Canadian I
have to admit that they're much better than Niagara Falls)
- Going white water rafting on the Zambezi between Zimbabwe and Zambia
(it was much more intense than when we went in B.C. We fell out of the
boat so many times - but thankfully did not get any crocodile bites!)
- Riding an elephant
- Taking a day trip into Botswana for a river cruise and game drive
- Jumping off a plank into a gorge for a 70 metre freefall (it was
CRAZY! the pictures will tell all!)
- Eating game (now, normally, I'm not a big meat eater. Like, I don't
see animals and have the desire to take a bit out of them, but I
discovered that warthog is really yummy. I also like crocodile tail
and ostrich. I'm not so keen on buffalo and kudu, but eland is really
yummy too. Warthog - who knew??)
- Drumming at The Boma (it was a real cultural experience - with
eating worms and drumming and everything...)
- Watching a monkey eat my orange slices (it was so cute, trying to
stuff everything in its mouth at once and licking its juicy hands!)

Well, pictures will probably tell the story better than words, so
check out our photo gallery. WARNING: we did some fairly dangerous
activities, so some of the photos are a bit intense!

Forgive my corny title for this piece, but for those of you who have seen the latest SONY entertainment film, Casino Royale you have probably noticed the big clumps of product placement within this film. In the past Lotus and BMW have partaken in the product-placement frenzy that is the Bond film.

A bold strategy by Sony was to only include SONY digital products, a single Ford Mondeo (which is discarded rather quickly) and only retained a couple of classic Aston Martins and the classic and a rather pricey OMEGA watch.




The k800i, the k610i as well as various cybershot products made it onto the scene, for more info about these products visit http://www.sonystyle.com

This of course followed by a large exposure to class with a mix of action (and a rather painful looking torture scene).

I have been in-undated with requests about how to watch the ashes live on the PC over the past few days.

I am going to break a few hearts I think now but...I am in the UK until Friday. I have no access to the free cricket web site as it is at my house in France. I sent the links over but the email never arrived. I will try to retrieve the link from somebody that I sent it to before.

I am very sorry.

I will email personally everyone that asked me for the link, next Saturday. I know it is no good then, but I hope that it helps for the future as they'll be other cricket matches that are only shown on satellite.

Hope your Christmas went well..

This has been the strangest Christmas season of our lives. No snow, no lights, no carols, no festivities or parties. We couldn't believe that Christmas wasn't mentioned in church yesterday (on the 24th), and that, instead, there was a 45 minute financial report on all of the income and expenditures for the year. But after church we did get some of the youth to come around to the pensioners and play and sing some carols. Then in the evening we did an Ivany family tradition - Chinese food!

Today is Christmas, and it was a wonderful day. We woke up, turned on some Christmas music and opened some presents together. Then we did some laundry (everyone else had their clothes out on the line, so I didn't want to miss a Christmas tradition!) and got together some groceries and presents. We headed over to Mac & Alice's house. Alice wept when she saw all we had brought. She kept saying, "God sent you to me to be my son and daughter." All of their children have died. She danced and cried all at the same time. We also brought some money to a few friends. One gentleman got very teary-eyed - "God bless you. Now I will be able to give my children something for Christmas. Maybe they can even have a cake." We skipped the service at our church (because we were afraid they might not mention Christmas again!) and I went to another Salvation Army church. I sat with some friends from Mozambique and the Congo and sang all the carols loudly and thankfully. In church, we heard the story of a grandmother who has lost all of her children and is trying to raise 11 grand-kids - all school-going age. But she only has enough money to send one child to school, so she is praying for wisdom over this holiday to decide which one. At one point in church we were asked to think about the one thing we would like more than anything in this world for Christmas. A very ragged-looking man stood up and shared that his Christmas wish was for everyone else to have one dream come true this Christmas. It made me feel rather selfish. My first thought about a wish had been "to spend Christmas in Canada!" But then I really reflected on it, and realized that although it's been a tough and strange season, I am grateful to be here. I am grateful to be sharing life with my neighbours and friends here.

After church we feasted at the Wards'. Mrs. Ward went all out (chicken and ham - no flying ants!), and also filled us up with yummy chocolates. We even had a stocking and Christmas crackers with funny hats! We swam in their pool - outside - on Christmas! When we got back home we headed over to another family's house for dinner. Sadza and bybles (cow intestines) were on the menu, and for once I was grateful for no electricity because it was easier to eat without being able to see the food. It was a really nice family time. We've also been able to talk with our families at home in Canada. So, it's been a great day. Merry Christmas everyone!

So, finally this week rounds up with a

Merry Christmas to all!!

I am flying back to UK in an hour or two.

My blog will be written from there next week, I wonder if anything has changed about us and the UK since leaving? One thing is for sure, to all you burglars out there, my house has a house sitter (cousin over here in France had his flat burnt down two weeks ago), so don't bother breaking in!!!

You'll find out here next week what our feelings about the UK are now..

All the best!

This afternoon two girls came over for a visit. One of them is Caroline - a teenager with some social difficulties, and she brought a young friend with her. They walked in, sat down, and started speaking to each other in Shona - never looking at me or addressing me. After a few minutes, I was feeling a little left out, so decided to pick up a book. I finished the book (but it was only 89 pages). Then, as I was trying to figure out my next plan, Caroline asked me - in English - if she could play the tambourine. For the next hour, she belted out old Salvation Army songs and waved the tambourine around with flourish. Her young friend also started joining in with a shaker. John was trying to take a nap in the next room - yeah right. Finally I just couldn't handle the concert anymore and said that I needed to take care of some business with a neighbour. You can only take so much tambourine - even if it is with flourish.

The other day our house was invaded by flying ants. They're quite impressive, actually - and really do look like ants with big, white wings. They snuck in through a crack under the door, and it seemed like hundreds of them. The next morning John was asking for advice on what to do with the bugs. People thought this was quite funny - "they're not bugs - they're food! You catch them, boil them, fry them, take off the wings and eat them. They're white meat." I have been longing for turkey lately, but maybe Christmas 2006 will involve another form of white meat - I'm not sure... (By the way, I was telling my grandparents this story and they were getting quite a kick out of it - it was great to hear their laugh! Oh yeah, Skype is my new favourite thing).

Today was a very good day. It is a national holiday - Unity Day. This
is how I celebrated: I slept in (til 6:30am -ooh, aaah) and then
watched an Ivany home video of when I was in grade 1 and my baby
brother Josh was literally a baby. It was so cute, and it just made me
so grateful for my 2 brothers and my sister, who I love a lot. They
share my history. I also noticed that we sing A LOT on this video.
Then, I went and did some visiting with some neighbours. I visited
Noreen, and asked if I could accompany her to the mosque where she
attends. She said yes, so, I did, and she leant me a scarf to cover my
hair. It was a very interesting experience to walk to the mosque with
her, and a few people who know me did a double-take. Of course, the
men and women were in separate rooms. The imam was with the men, so we
just had to listen while staring at a white wall. My favourite part of
the "service" (?) was when we spent time looking at our hands -
thanking God for creating us and also asking ourselves what he made
our hands for. When we got back, I had a curry lunch at Noreen's
house, and shared jokes with her daughter. Her daughter, Melissa, has
down syndrome, and we can't really communicate verbally together, but
we always have a lot of laughs. After that, John and I met up with
some other friends and went to Jack and the Beanstalk (a pantomime).
It was fun, and we also went out for ice cream afterwards. Then we
came home, and I got to talk to my dad and best friend and my
grandparents through Skype. It feels like a technological miracle, and
I am so grateful that this has worked out for us for the moment.

Ok, so today I am asking a simple question.


What does Spears do?

Britney Spears is in every paper in the English speaking world every day. She is still in the top five searched terms on the web. Yet, every time I read about her, she just seems to be drunk or showing 'things' ladies shouldn't (unless wife or girlfriend or in Diamonds and Pearls in London!). Ask me about lapdancing, I could tell you some stories!


So, as Christmas is here and things have slowed down, I thought i'd do a little google on her myself. The number one site - of course - is hers. I got as far as the homepage and saw the following:-


Her homepage is a kind of apologetic attempt to justify showing her bits and getting drunk..Also thanking an underwear company for covering her up..so there's a couple of million in sponsorship!

If anyone is reading this from Calvin Klein, I could get my nuts out time after time for a million pound cover up?

So, apart from getting obviously paid to show herself by underwear companies, what else does Miss Spears do? Apart from some form of perfume she released?

Not a lot really. Why do I care, well I don't really, it's just that I don't really understand why Britney Spears is googled so much.

Yeah I do, I just added to the stats...maybe that's why?

High: Last night was the Community Christmas Concert. I must admit, I was very nervous at 5:45pm (start time) when only 3 people were in the audience, and only half the choir was there. So, we started a bit late, but it was a great evening. People loved it. The youth sang so well, the monologues were poignant, my talented husband gave a Christmas "thought" and did a third of it in Shona, the raps were awesome, and people came. It wasn't a full house (I have big expectations!) but I think people just weren't sure because it was a new thing (Joel thinks it's funny that I am the one to introduce Black gospel to our Zimbabwean church!) It was really cool to see the youth afterwards on the "high" that I always got during and after a UTGC concert. So many people were like, "It felt just like Christmas! We should have done this on the 25th!"

Low: Yesterday we found out that our friend Chenai's husband was killed in a car accident the night before. Chenai works in the office opposite mine. The day before we had been chatting about her upcoming 23rd birthday and sharing laughs. And then that night her husband was killed. And so now she is going to have to raise her child on her own. She's a widow at the age of 22. One moment can change everything. I felt so disturbed and saddened by this news. When people at work were talking about this, they were talking about all of the youth casualties in the country; and how youth are at risk. It's almost the same rhetoric as countries talking about "their boys" being killed in war. I guess our war is against poverty (things like making sure cars are repaired), HIV/AIDS, and hopelessness. Chenai's mother-in-law just kept saying, "This is my Christmas. This is what God gave me for Christmas." It is such a tough time of year for so many people....

So, today's blog was going to open the debate about veil wearing in the UK. I can't start it yet as I don't know for sure what the story is here, it seems that a criminal escaped from Blighty wearing a veil. Once there is more info, I will address this with a debate.

So, onto today's topic. Blogging.

I was wondering just how many people blog? I have read reports that around 50 million are doing it. If that is fact, and the biggest blogging country is France, why is it that I have not met another blogger yet?

I love them. My wife reads them, and she seeks all sorts of advice from them.

Is the blog the greatest tool that is the result of the Internet? When you think of the Internet, you think of news and shopping. Blogging brings it all to you but normally, it is matter of fact and from the heart.

Blogging in the new documentary. I wonder how long before there is a blogumentary series on TV. Maybe there already has been. Let me know.

I would like some real stats on blogging, if you have any, post them in the comments.

Ok. I have to admit, I now have the next big thing.





My people are instructed and my team is ready.





If you have a blog, you'll need to mail me quickly, the first ten get it free. I am investing a lot of money in this.





What is it? You'll find out soon.





Check out my logo:-

Send a mail to my team if you want in before I start..

info@fuelmyblog.com

I miss: skating at Nathan Phillips Square, the year's first snowfall, hugging my family

I am grateful for: a package of double chocolate cookie mix that we got in the mail from Winnipeg yesterday - mmmmm

I forgot to tell you that: we have new pets - 2 hamsters (Winston and Julia) and a gecko (Orwell)

Cute moment: Sunday we were coming home from church (a six hour long service - I took a lunch break between the fourth and fifth hour!!) and we got caught in a downpour - in our fancy uniforms, of course. So, John came home, changed and went out to dance in the rain. People
think we're crazy anyway.... :)

Sobering moment: Yesterday I was talking with a new friend. This is what he said: "It's so hard to believe Christmas is a week away. Our parents tell us stories of Christmases past when there was feasting and celebrating. I guess it won't be like that during our lifetime, but hopefully for our children. I was reading 2 Chronicles 7:14 abouthow if God's people call on his name and humble themselves and pray and seek his face, turning from their wicked ways, God will hear them from heaven and heal their land. I was just thinking - haven't we humbled ourselves enough? I guess not."

Please pray for: tomorrow night. The youth at our church are hosting a community Christmas concert. We're singing gospel music, and it's very "different" from what people are used to (we're even having some rap - it sounds awesome). Please pray for all the details (finding lights, the sound system, finding firewood to cook the tea, etc.) and especially that people from the neighbourhood would come. There is a HUGE split between "church people" and "community people" here, so this will hopefully bring the crowds together. Everyone I've invited is like, "really? we're being invited to The Salvation Army church?" If you're the praying type - please pray about this. Thanks!

That's it then. The noose is being tied up ready to drop around the necks of the English cricket team.

This morning I went to our local shop to buy: tea, coffee, sugar, milk and bread. The shop opens at 7:00am, so I got there by 7:15am. The hunt began. No coffee, so I got a instant coffee "substitute." Tea was no problem. No sugar, milk or bread in the shop (note: this is the only shop of its kind in the neighbourhood - the whole community uses it). But I met a lady I know and she heard a rumour that milk was coming, so to wait by the back door. I did so, and eventually a guy came in wheeling a cart of bags of milk. He saw me and told me I better take what I needed before the crowds saw the milk. I was thankful. Then I heard another rumour that bread was coming. So, I stationed myself near where they usually store it. There were lots of other people hovering about these shelves too. Eventually a big tray of fresh loaves came out and there was a mad scramble. It was insane. People were pushing, shoving, elbowing, grabbing at these loaves. It took about 30 seconds for the 50 loaves to be dispersed, and I was victorious - 2 for the McAlisters! I asked a few people about sugar. One guy said that he heard about one shop that has it in one of the wealthier neighbourhoods. Two guys gave me their addresses and suggested I come by their houses and check with them later on today. It's all so covert and mysterious. Grocery shopping is an interesting experience here!

Friday night we went to a Christmas concert. It was so nice! These kids from Waterfalls put on this amazing drama, and sang so exuberantly. It helped put us in the spirit a bit. Yesterday we spent most of the day at The Salvation Army's Territorial Thanksgiving Ingathering. It was less Christmasey, although we did sing "Silent Night" at about 2:00pm in the bright sunshine! Our territory raised over $53million to support its operating budget. Our territory is working hard to become self-sufficient. They also announced how many soldiers and junior soldiers had been enrolled in the last 6 months. I was amazed at one division (Harare East) - 347 senior soldiers and 101 junior soldiers. That's a lot of new Salvation Army members!

Yesterday afternoon, I had a pleasant, and somewhat inappropriate, surprise. In the mail was the latest issue of Shape magazine. If you're unfamiliar with the publication, it's your average, run-of-the-mill women's magazine. It advises women on how to lose weight, get the man of their dreams, and in the current issue, eliminate an evil presence in a woman's bed.


Shape up with gorgeous hair!

I thought "Oh, my mom subscribed." Nope, apparently I did; it was addressed to me. I have no idea how I ended up with a subscription to this magazine. I didn't sign up for anything, and so far, none of my friends have revealed themselves to be the perpetrators of a prank.

One may think I have no use for this magazine, but so far I've found several. The front cover has a beautiful picture (albeit airbrushed) picture of Katherine McPhee (American Idol runner-up to 50-year old winner Taylor Hicks). It provides me with several unique exercises to tone my lower body into those long, beautiful shapely legs all women strive for. And I now know the sex secrets men wish women knew!

And with the Christmas break now in full force, I have a lot of time to apply my new-found workout techniques. The holiday season is shape-ing up for sure!

Oh, the lurking menace in your bed is dust.

Can England still do it?

It is my second day of watching it live on the internet.

After this morning? I don't think so. I would say that Ponting is in for the duration now, no chance of getting him out.

I watched it live on my PC whilst working this morning, I really thought we had the chance.

Sadly it seems to be drifting out of our hands. The Aussies are jeering and cheering but all the time, barmy army is clapping and chanting.

Are we Brit's the greatest losing supporters in the world? I hope not, but I have seen too many a tear shed after losing something in sport, whether it be a penalty shoot-out or a missed try, we always lose when we expect or deserve to win.

I pose this question..are us Brits the best and most loyal supporters in the World?

It is official, the store guards in France are the recruited because of one thing...lack of discretion.

Think hard, think long and hard, when you have been in any superstore or cd shop like Fnac in France, what is the first thing you notice??

Is it the wonderful displays on show?

The tantalising produce?

The smells?

No, no and no..it is the undercover security guard. I say undercover, I should say plain clothes. Even today I had an experience, to be honest, I do every time.

Normally you enter a small store like Monoprix and he is there. Leaning against a display. Staring right at you.

If you notice him (and it always is a him in France) he will look away painfully, like he has been caught.

It doesn't stop there, he will follow you..like a stalker. If you dare touch a product, his face will be one inch behind you, trying to smell the fear!

They always wear the loudest outfits too. My local undercover guard in Monoprix is a very funny black guy, he talks to everyone that has been more than twice before (keep an eye out for him when you visit La Rochelle, he'll be there) but his outfits for me maketh the man. Last week he had an army type undercover jungle tracksuit on and this week, the whitest shell suit (tracksuit) you have ever seen. The guy is day glow! A bit like the bloke below, check out the discreet earpiece!

Today's experience?

My Son and I went to Carrefour to buy some 'bits and bobs'. (The main reason was due to the roughness of toilet paper here and we needed something to help us)....anyhow! My Son wanted to take his World Cup 2006 annual in with him to read (for those outside the UK, an annual is a glossy book that comes out, normally, every Christmas and is based upon comics books or BD's en France). The security guard jumped on us "What is this" (he said it in French) and I told him that it was my Son's book, in English and not for sale in his store so not to worry. He kind of smiled, more grimaced and said "ok, off you go".

They then followed us around the hypermarket and made sure we safely got his book into my car!!!

I once got arrested trying to buy razors for my Father-in-Law, again by the security guard genius...if you want to know what it is like to get arrested in France for nothing by a day-glow champion, let me know!!

Let me know your experiences, they will be in my book!

So, I work in an office and get bored too!

Every Friday afternoon, I am going to post a question, please add a comment and let me know what you think the answer is.

This week, as it is Christmas soon, I thought it would be topical!

Q. Who invented lights to go on Christmas Trees, What year and What country?

It is an easy one (because you are going to use google!!) so, please answer, subscribe to my blog by clicking the orange thing on the right, and next week i'll post a difficult one every day (as nobody is really working next week are they!!!).

It must be really hard to feel out of place in your own skin. Whenever
I see an albino, I think about this. I also thought about this a lot
after I met a woman for a counselling session and realized after a few
moments that she was a man. Transgendered people must feel really out
of place in their own bodies. Sometimes when I was growing up, I would
wonder if I was born on the wrong continent, because my thinking was
just so different from other people's. Sometimes I felt really out of
place in my own culture. I had this wild dream of coming to live in
Africa. And now we're here - me and my dream husband. God made the
biggest dream of my life come true!

This morning I was listening to a worship song that I remember singing
on Canada day last year. When I sang it on Canada day last year, I was
thanking God for being in Canada, but also for calling me to be in
Zimbabwe. And so as I listened to the song this morning, I just
thanked him that I'm here. Yes, life is tough, yes, we're far from
family and friends this Christmas, but wow - we're here! A few things
have happened, even in these last few days, that have just confirmed
that we're right in the place where we're supposed to be. That's an
amazing feeling.

This is my first attempt of taking a photo with a 2 second shutter speed. (I think there must be a term for it). I would like to know what you think of it. If you have any tips etc. I have no tripod but found a nice wooden post to put my camera on.

I have just been checking my business web site (www.findyourfleet.com) and it is official, when you google it, you can see I am giving free flights away. I want to invite people over to stay here in La Rochelle or in fact anywhere.

I really want to.

I am trying to get people to give me the chance to save them money, those people who run a business that have a fleet of vehicles..

I am not selling a scam.

Ah well, I guess it is just those that trust me that benefit..

What offers or schemes have you tried to enhance your website and grow business?

I know you read this so please comment.

Thanks!

I mentioned in a previous post that I would tell about the experience I had during the first week here in La Rochelle. Well, to continue and recap!!

Our first night in La Rochelle, a Monday, was not simple, not calm and not nice! We all slept on one double mattress (Me, the wife and kids!) we had a hard day moving, I drove for eight hours etc etc etc.

Oh and there were three cars on fire in the street...

As you can imagine, I wasn't really in the mood to stay in France but as we were so physically exhausted, and the reality was that we couldn't do anything about it, we started 'le grande' unpack. Five solid days of living in a melange of boxes and bubble wrap. It is so tedious moving but so satisfying when unpacked. It was now Friday evening and my parents were due to visit us for that weekend, to see how we'd settled in and if all the tears we had shed were worth it or not.

After a few drinks, nice meal and a few glasses from the 'digestif' cupboard, we all headed off for bed. I hadn't slept since the day we arrived in France, mainly due to fear of more random car burn-outs, the occasional creak or two within the house (far larger than any house I have ever been in) and the fact that I can never sleep until it feels like home. I took a sleeping tablet.

The next thing I knew was a kind of gentle tap or two near my front door. I was in a bizarre drunken sleepy state, wasn't sure if the taps were reality or in my screwed up knackered mind. One thing for sure, I'd had three hours sleep and the tablet was nearly working. I laid still and did that thing you do when trying to listen, held my breathe! So amongst my gasping for air and silence, I did hear the noise. It was a kind of random knock, well not a knock, a tap.

I thought I should take a look out of my office window as this faces the square and overlooked my car and front door. To my utter horror, I saw a torch light beaming randomly in the back window of my car. Those bastards are not burning my car. No way. I am not the bravest man around, far from it. I am comedy. Not this time, the sleeping pill gave me a sense of aggression and bravery that i'd never felt before. I took a deep breath and decided that I would tackle them.

I crept downstairs, in my pants, and prepared myself to open the front door. I thought that if I startled them, I would have the upper hand. I also figured that I had more chance of getting the first punch in!! I stood behind the door, took a deep breath and realised that whoever it was is sitting on my step. Shit..shit shit shit..Deep breath again. This time, I am going to put a stop to this..I opened the door as quickly as I could...

A skin head with the face of a battered rugby player jumped up...shit...he was a tramp I thought..a nutter maybe..In my best drunken, sleepy French I asked "c'est qui ca?" which means who is it, he looked at me with a kind of scared yet alarmingly cool nutter type expression. He opened his mouth and spoke "n'ais pas peur monsieur" don't be scared sir? Don't be fucking scared? I am standing in the street in my pants talking to a crazy tramp about to burn down my car, don't be scared!!

Then he said it again and again..by now, i'd realised that his voice was kind of teenagerish, he had quite a high pitched voice. Really didn't suit his hard look! "Je suis le Police" he said. Yeah right, of course you are the Police I thought. He showed his ID card..yup, he was the Police.."encore" I said, show me it again..He got out the ID card again and pulled his ragged overcoat to one side, yes, it was all there, the badge, the cuffs, the gun..GUN!!!

This was mad, now he'd shown me his gun, I felt comfortable. Standing in the street in my pants. Really bloody comfy! Anyhow, now I felt I ought to ask some questions. Why was he here, turned out he was pretending to be a tramp and wait for more arsonists. Ok ok, I said, I got that part, that made sense, but there was a torch light in the back of my window, what was that?

"Ahh..." he was now trying to speak English "Zis is mah torsshhh..zerr izz a spider on mon edd" What? I asked him to say it in French, yes, it was true, this hard nut with a gun was looking for a spider that had landed on his head. Discretely so as not to scare off the potential arsonists, he got his torch out. Terrific I thought, these guys can shoot you but shit themselves when they see a spider. I made my excuses and left him to it. I went back to bed.

I got into bed and woke my wife up...She lifted her head and said "why are you talking to people outside at four in the morning, can't you just sleep like normal people".."You'll never guess what just happened to me" I began..

So, here is the latest statistical update. I know it seems I am obsessed with this site but I want to see if anyone else is getting good responses or not? These are stats from the site:-

Total clicks: 202 (includes 119 clicks by registered Pixelotto players)
This advert received its first click on 05 December 2006.
Average clicks per day since then: 22
Clicks by day
05 Dec 06 41
06 Dec 06 45
07 Dec 06 21
08 Dec 06 20
09 Dec 06 13
10 Dec 06 7
11 Dec 06 23
12 Dec 06 21
13 Dec 06 11


The fact is that my site has had a real total of 70 according to google analytics.

What is true? I suspect that the edge has gone from Pixelotto. If you look at the site, not much is happening, very few new adverts. My theory is that for Pixelotto to succeed now, Alex Tew needs to spend some money on advertising or promotion.

Now its your turn, how many hits have you had??

Didn't realise this didn't support direct IMG links. So here are the ads!





Apologies again for not realising that this didn't support IMG links!

Digital entertainment through the likes of gaming over the past couple of years has been taken to new heights due to the increased interest globally in the world of gaming.
Like weightlifting back in the 60’s, video gaming was once considered the domain of the geeks, and was only a way of getting your behind kicked by bigger kids back in high school.

Now gaming has become the most lucrative entertainment business on the planet spawning billions of dollars for companies involved, the three main players include Microsoft, Sony and probably the owners of the most recognizable face in the industry (Mario), Nintendo.

Advertisers see this as an opportunity for product placement within many games, as with the recent Burger King game, games such as Anarchy Online, and Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Chaos theory have cashed in their user base to attract advertisements from the likes of Warner Brothers, and AXE deodorants to name a couple.

[IMG]http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o240/nmiltos/FF_136_gads1_f.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o240/nmiltos/FF_136_gads2_f.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o240/nmiltos/bu_s25_ph01.jpg[/IMG]

These are only a few of the advertisements that have been featured in videogames, other companies who have taken advantage of videogame advertising include Coke, Pepsi, McDonalds and yes even Playboy has made itself a videogame franchise with the Playboy Mansion game, you get to be Hef for $79.95AUD.

What more could one ask?

Check out this video if you do not believe subliminal marketing works.

We had our THQ work Christmas party yesterday. It was quite fun. I was on the decorations committee, although I wouldn't say decorating is my strength. I jokingly suggested that we put the tables in the shape of a Christmas tree. We did it. Someone said it looked like a spear. So, it was sort of a Christmas-tree-spear theme! John took all the family photos, and also entertained over 90 children with movies and games. We were also put in charge of the children's Christmas pageant about 5 minutes before it happened. The narrator told the Christmas story - in Shona. So, we had to wait until someone would call out to us in English "shepherds!" (and then we would tell all the kids to go out as shepherds and sheep) or "angels!" (and then we sent them all out with flapping wings!) Father Christmas was a hit. I like a Black, dancing Santa Claus! We also got Christmas gifts of curry powder and dried onions. It was a lovely meal, and nice to see everyone all dressed up and festive.

There is an interesting tradition here called "Christmas box." Basically, whenever anyone says "Christmas box" to you, you have to buy them a Christmas present. It's quite a blunt tradition! Of course, this phrase is often directed our way. Even this morning, I was out for my run, and got stopped by a stranger who said, "Christmas box!" I was telling my mom about this tradition, and she said that at least it's not called "Christmas kiss" because that could be quite awkward!

It WOULD be nice to give everyone a Christmas box - or even just some school fees. I was talking with a gentleman yesterday. He is really worried because he has 2 girls in secondary school and 1 in primary. The school fees due in January are over 3 months' salary for him. "I am trying to work out how I can pay the school fees, because I know it is important that my girls go to school. But there are certain things I can't give up. I have to keep paying for transport to get to work, and we do need to keep eating. When I think about my future it is very painful." Never mind saving for the future. Never mind Christmas gifts. He just wants to have food, school fees and transport money to get to work. That is painful.

Today is International Human Rights Day. It is celebrated each year on
December 10, to remember December 10, 1948, when the United Nations'
General Assembly passed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
I've been part of Amnesty International since high school, and at our
church in Regent Park, we used to sign petitions on behalf of
prisoners of conscience. We also sent them Christmas cards! Human
rights are very important, and - of course - include many freedoms
from, and freedoms to.

I read some interesting headlines in the paper yesterday from Zimbabwe:

- Land reform goes on international trial next week (some evicted
Dutch famers are opening a case against the government at the
International court for their forced evictions from farms, sanctioned
by the government)
- Prisoners fume over toil on government officials' farms (prisoners
in Zimbabwean jails are being used as cheap labour on government
officials' farms, which has resulted in food shortages in prisons
because the prison farms are thus neglected)
- Firms should stand up to government over arrests (two of the largest
bakers in Zimbabwe were arrested last week, and received prison
sentences of 6 months for selling bread above the controlled price -
i.e. trying to raise the price of their loaves to the equivalent of 13
cents US)

This year's theme for Human Rights day is: Fighting Poverty: A Matter
of Obligation, not Charity. Of course, poverty affects all human
rights, and so we need to continually work towards its eradication. I
have blogged about poverty many times, so I won't go into it again
today. Let's pray for human dignity and human rights to be upheld all
over the world - today and always.

Well, I have been a total stress case these past couple of weeks. I
have been working like a madwoman on this leadership school that is
supposed to start in January. I have been smacked in the face with my
North American-ness in my desire to plan ahead and organize and make
it "good," when I just keep getting told, "it will happen - relax!"
We're meant to start with 19 students the second week of January and
currently have 1 student. But January is so far away!... :) Last night
was good though. I was talking with one of my friends here about life
and death and relationships, and the importance of friendships. And
then I spent some time with Mac & Alice & Gogo. I am so blessed by
them - for their courage, and for the way they just accept me as part
of their family. They're all senior citizens, and I just love them. I
realized yesterday that I love meaningful conversation and
relationships. It's sort of like air and water. I can get discouraged
about my work here, but it doesn't really matter what your "work" or
your "job" is as long as you can have relationships and meaningful
conversations.

Thursday I was speaking at this gathering of youth leaders in The
Salvation Army here. They did this exercise where wives and husbands
had to sit together and share - with the whole group - what each
other's strengths were. I was so blessed - especially when men were
sharing about their wives, and the wives just looked so touched. One
guy said, "My wife is brilliant. I think she could be one of the best
women this country has ever seen. I believe in her." I don't know.. I
just really like hearing men honour their wives in public - maybe
because it's harder for men to share their emotions. I'm a romantic -
through and through. I almost cried just listening to these couples
bless each other in that way. I was just thinking that if I had the
opportunity to share John's strengths, it would take me a long time.
Here's one: John's just so good at everything he tries! People are
always coming up to me and saying, "John's so fluent in Shona - why
aren't you?" Or, right now he's on a 36km run - just for fun, and to
train for an 89km race next year. He dreams high and goes for it. I'm
madly in love with John, and so grateful that we are here together.

By the way... I tried dried mango for the first time this week. Yum! I
think I like it about as much as Lindor chocolates - and trust me,
that's saying a lot! Random...

Ok, this will sound really lame, but I love air and water. It's hot
here, and so I am truly appreciating an open window in my office and
in the combi. Fresh air feels so nice. And water - well, don't get me
started! I like drinking it, I like bathing in it, I like swimming in
it.... Mmmm air and water - God is good!

Ok, I admit it, I bought some advertising space on www.pixelotto.com . I did it yesterday morning.

Why did I?

I wanted to see just how many hits you can get from the site. I have just had a comment on another post from a "Alessio" saying they have had 2,000 unique visitors after buying a banner. I have also read a blog with somebody saying they had 9,000!!

Is this actually spin from somebody at pixelotto or is it true? My site so far (first full day of advertising today) has had a total 69 hits from pixelotto. 69 unique visitors. Not 2,000 or 9,000 but 69. I bought three pixels at $600. Not cheap but worth it if I could achieve click through rate of 2,000 plus per day.

So, what about my true site stat's?

I have various tracking facilities in place and Lycos states my rate as 4 clicks from pixelotto today, 45 yesterday, that is 49 in total. Google analytics gives me a rate of 15 clicks yesterday and 8 today. Not really the thousands expected or heard about in the press.

Every day I will post an update on these figures giving you a true insight as to whether pixel adverts work or not! I would like to know if you have bought some adverts and what your real click through rate is.

PS. If you are interested, my banner says "find us", about my site findyourfleet. Can you see it?

So, in a lot of ways, it's hard to believe Christmas is coming. It's extremely hot here, and I'm thinking that it's not going to snow! There are no Salvation Army kettles, nor Salvation Army bands playing carols. There are one or two stores that have Christmas decorations up, and generally you don't hear Christmas music anywhere. We know, however, that Christmas is coming, because we're missing our family and friends in Canada. Monday we got a whole bag of wrapped Christmas gifts sent from my Mom & Dad through the Wards, who just came back from holiday in Canada. I was really touched. Monday I also arrived home to a garbage bag full of food. The Salvation Army in South Africa sent these Christmas bags up to officers in Zimbabwe. People were, of course, thrilled. We took some treats out of our bag (chocolate cake mix and jello - we couldn't resist!) but we didn't really need the rest, so last night John gave some out to some of our friends. He said it was quite moving to hear one couple say, "Christmas came early to us this year! You are truly our son" when he gave them sardines and peanut butter. He said they almost cried, but were too happy. Another friend came by last night, just saying how tough life is, and hoping that he can go back to the Congo soon, "where at least you know you can have enough food to make it through the month." Yesterday a dear friend came by my office. She had baked us a whole tin of cookies, which we shared with all of the staff at our office. Her name is Mrs. Jumbe, and she is one of the most beautiful women I've ever met. I admire her courage and her generosity. Yesterday I was showing Gogo some photos from Canada. She was saying, "Rochelle, you look so happy in all of these photos. If all of these friends and family members are still in Canada, why did you come here?" Before I had the chance to answer, she said, "Wait! I know why you came. You came to us! You came so that you could be with us! Now you're our daughter too!" I think it's quite amazing that whenever we start to really miss home or our family, God reminds us of our home and family here. Christmas is coming...

We went out to lunch with some good friends of ours, Andy and Viv, yesterday.

We went to a really great restaurant, typically local menu, great value, €16.50 for three courses!

As we entered, we were asked "fumeur on non-fumeur", or in plain old English "smoking or not".

As we had our kids with us AND we don't smoke, we asked for non-smoking. We sat on the typically French plastic seats (bum sweaters) and looked at probably the best menu I have seen in a tourist area in France. We chose predominantly fish as we were facing the sea and quite frankly, fish is fresh and the local product. The smell coming from the kitchen was outstanding, it was the kind of smell that makes your mouth water and stomach rumble.

France is facing a no smoking ban next year. The problem in France is the concept of no-smoking, I think the ban may fail before it even starts..

We were sitting in the non-smoking area yesterday, my back was against a kind of painted trellis. You know the sort, a wooden screen like below:-

Now, if you had a brain just over the size of a grain of salt, do you think that the above would stop smoke hitting you? No. Of course bloody not. Well, by the time my starter of homemade fish soup arrived, a table of wrinkly rude French smokers aged around 60 years old decided to light up the fags, their table was against the other side of the trellis. Bastards. At what point did these selfish gits think that I wanted to eat with a tonne of smoke in my face? I tell you what, my son turned towards them, a seven year old, and started coughing, on purpose. What did they do, bugger all. Sod all.

I may sound a little angry but guess what, I won't go back, before the smoke squad arrived, I was going to book again, this Saturday for eleven, not now.

I am about to name and shame the restaurant, when it is searched for on Google, this review will appear, it is a shame but I think more people should name and shame horrid places to eat due to smoke. Anyhow, the place is called Terre et Mer, 12 rue de la chaine, La Rochelle. I hope they change the way they smoke out people like me, if they do change they can invite me back, i'll give it a first class review because the food was superb.

Will France be able to beat the smokers? I am just not sure they understand what no-smoking means.

I was the first blog on the internet to talk about pixelotto.com, the new site by Alex Tew.

When I first mentioned it, this blog and the site itself were the only links on google, five days later there are now over 10,900 links on google.

The guy has once again created huge amounts of web talk and now it seems revenue. One thing to remember, getting this sort of publicity needs cash. He started the milliondollar site with a press release and a great unique idea, followed up with around £50k advertising, the other 'copy cat' sites try to exist off the back of his idea, will never work or generate the same form of income.

Why?


Now he has free traffic and people want to promote it free..just makes you sick doesn't it!

Wonder if there is a target market for this sort of thing in France, the land of cheese, wine and dog poo everywhere!!

We had a fairly normal weekend. Friday night we went to a wedding. I played the piano for it, and cried at the vows. I can't help it - I love wedding vows (I asked John if we he wanted to have a ceremony to renew our vows, but he said 4 years in is too early!) I think the kids in our neighbourhood are glad we're back. They came out in full force Saturday morning to play games and have a talent show. We found out that none of them could afford to go to the corps children's Christmas party, so I think we're going to throw our own little party next weekend. One of the kids was like, "do you think we can even have chicken at our party?" and then another said, "just because they're white doesn't mean they can afford chicken." But it IS Christmas... Sunday we were at our DC's retirement. John had to be up and down taking photos, but I found a seat in the back and brought a book. Do you think that makes me a bad person? Whenever there were music items, I closed the book and participated, but I read right through the 12 speeches and the sermon. After about 2 hours the young guy next to be started to get a bit antsy. I leaned over and said to him, "the last retirement we were at lasted 6 hours." He looked dismayed - probably wishing he had thought to bring a book. By the way, the book I'm reading is extremely good. "Exclusion and Embrace" by Miroslav Volf. Highly recommended.

Random memory: on one of our family trips to Florida, my dad, brother Josh, cousin JP and I were playing frisbee on the beach by the ocean. Our frisbee got caught in the wind and went over someone's fence into their swimming pool. We called out, but no one was home, so Josh (the youngest) climbed the fence and got the frisbee. It happened again. Josh went over, but this time actually had to get in the pool to retrieve the frisbee. And he said the water was wonderful. So, we all jumped the fence and had a grand old time swimming in this swimming pool. The owners came back. We froze, and didn't say anything. They went back into their house and we quickly jumped out of the pool, over the fence and back to the beach. Random! I love my family!

The latest online viral video trend for companies is showing the extreme durability of their product. Not a new concept but the environment is just right for these ideas to really get some great coverage. Thanks to the overwhelming popularity of video file sharing sites such as youtube.


The reason why these clips work is because they help to highlight the products major strength while at the same time being quite engaging for the consumer. Great projects for brand recognition.


The first example is the Triumph boats in the US, which are as seen in the clips unbreakable boats.

They do the Bubba test where they drag a boat behind a car with no trailer!


Check out the website for further examples
http://www.toughboats.com


The second example comes from Blendtec which has a high-powered food blender product. They have decided to show how powerful the product is by blending bizarre objects. The current video shows golf balls being blended. Other examples include marbles, credit cards and ball bearings


Check out the website for further experiments
http://www.willitblend.com/


This is a great success story as Blendtec is the 59th most subscribed channel on youtube. It has also acted as a great PR tool as other media have run with it, like the example below. A radio station in the US did their own Blending experiment on air.


This is an interesting example in itself as they did a mash-up of two online meme’s when they did a blending experiment with the current Wii controller

Here is the radio mashup of the two events


And here are the two videos they stole the ideas from
Blendtec video over 100,000 views


+

Smashing Wii over 60,000 views

More like Bore-yx and Crake.
Before I get started, I'd like to mention that I flip flopped between "Bore-yx and Crake" and "Snore-yx and Crake". I also wanted to title it "Bore-yx and Crappy", but a friend pointed out that "Crake" rhymes with "cake", not "crack-e".



When I asked for a book recommendation, a friend of mine brought up "Oryx and Crake", a novel released in 2004 by renowned Canadian author Margaret Atwood. I had never read an Atwood novel (not even in high school), so I decided to take a chance. A few other people I know have mentioned how good it was, and it was short-listed for the Man Booker Prize. The book seemed to be bursting at the seams with credentials and accolades.

The premise sounded interesting enough; a drifter drifts alone in a dystopian world after his friend's attempt at molding a utopian society went to shit. What was once the world we now know has become a desolate wasteland, and the drifter, unfortunately, survived the armageddon. His name is Snowman, but he used to be called Jimmy. Ever since that fateful event, the man has dubbed himself "Snowman." Why "Snowman"? What significance does a snowman hold in this man's life that has caused him to alter his ego around it? Did he enjoy snowballing with girls in the past? We'll find out.

I'm no author, but whether you're writing a paragraph, novel, dissertation, or essay, the structure goes as follows: introduction, body, conclusion. Notice how the introduction comprises only 1/3 of the overall structure, not 9/10.

I can't even say that the plot moves at a snail's pace, it simply doesn't move. Things finally begin to pick up around the last little bit, by which time readers may have tuned out (I've stopped books before just because they were utterly bad). In the end, I finished the book, and though I can honestly say I'm glad I did, the payoff in the end wasn't worth sitting through 250 pages of introduction and set-up. The only reason I'm glad to have finished it is to say "I've read an Atwood novel." If her other books are as boring as this one, this is an accomplishment I'm boasting for the wrong reasons. I'm likening it to a medal of survival instead of a literary status symbol.

Now, some comments on small parts of the story....(minor spoilers coming up).....

What is the deal with Crake and Jimmy watching porn? Jimmy speaks fondly of when he and his childhood buddy would watch internet porn, together, in the comfort of his bedroom. Jimmy doesn't go into further detail, and he admits that the porn videos eventually got boring. Despite the increasing boredom, the two managed to make the time pass, together....there's something unsettling about two heterosexual teenaged guys enjoying their sausages together, without the buns.


A computer simulation of Jimmy and Crake's teenaged years.

Finally, I will also never come to understand Jimmy's fascination with Oryx. Yes, she is beautiful, but what a fucking tease. "Oh Jimmy, why do you keep asking me that?" "Oh Jimmy, why do you always want to know that?" Maybe if you gave him a straight answer he'd stop asking.

(end spoilers)

You do eventually find out why Jimmy renamed himself Snowman. After the world went to shit, he just picked it. Neither snowmen, nor snowballing, held any significance in life. I don't even think winter was ever a major setting in the story. He could've fashioned a name that paid homage to his forgotten lover Oryx, or his beloved pet from childhood (for whom he still weeps), but no, he goes for the most insignificant, inert nickname possible...Snowman. That climax is more non-existent than a faked orgasm.

If you're a big Atwood fan, I suppose you'd like this book. If that's the case, you've probably already read it. So for the rest of you, stay clear and read something else. There are better ways to pass the time; like watching internet porn with a close friend.

*sorry, I tried to post this on Wednesday, but obviously it didn't work!*

I have a French name, which I love, because it makes me feel very Canadian. I am an anglophone, but I did French immersion all throughout school. I don't have much occasion to use my French here, but I have been using it a lot over the past two days. I have been a French interpreter for a wonderful doctor from the Congo who came to Zim to be part of a facilitation team at Howard Hospital. It was tiring, but quite an honour to be able to interpret for him. Translating from Shona to French was slightly more tricky, but English to French was fine. Basically this team of people was gathered at the hospital for strategic planning; looking at the future, particularly in terms of the hospital's relationships with the community. As part of the work, we toured the hospital. Amazing things are happening at Howard, and we saw our friend and fellow Canadian, Dr. Paul Thistle. Again, I was crushed by the children's malnourishment ward. I talked to one mother about her tiny little baby. I asked when he had been born, assuming that it had been a couple of days ago, and that he was premature. "He just turned 6 months." I waited until I left the ward before I cried. We also went out on visits in nearby communities. The Congolese doctor and I went out with a Zimbabwean community worker and a teacher and met with a family. They have a large homestead, and a big family. We talked mainly with the head of the family. He has two wives, and his main concern is agriculture, and being able to feed his children. We asked about their hopes for the future, and they talked about having enough fertiliser to be able to grow maize so that they do not starve. We asked about what they do when they are sick, and they said they pray. "We don't believe in going to the hospital if we are sick. We don't even allow our children to be immunized. We believe if God wants us to die, we should not fight it. If it's time, it's time." A fairly fatalistic outlook on life, and yet if you know you can't afford hospital fees... I also had a really sobering conversation with one of the teachers. He said, "you know, we used to say in Zimbabwe that the worst fate was death. Now we know that the worst fate is to be alive; there's no hope because it's like you are dead, but there's no rest or peace - just hunger and suffering." Last night we came back to the city, and today, I went to go play for a music exam. I saw someone who hadn't showed up for his rehearsals. So, I was joking with him saying, "what happened to you?" "Oh, I'm so sorry, Rochelle, but it's just that I had a funeral. My youngest daughter passed away. She was 5, but anyway, that is life. I hope to do my exam next year." That's life? Your 5 year old dying should not become a part of everyday, normal life. But I guess here it is. I realized over the past 2 days why I love hearing Zimbabweans laugh. Even when I haven't got a clue about what the jokes are about, I love it. Because if you're laughing, you're finding some reason not to cry. Laughing is good for the heart. It is a challenge, but I am committed and determined to maintaining my unrelenting belief that there is always hope. Il y a toujours de l'espoir.

I have just been surfing whilst eating my sandwich as one does at work when I came across the site http://www.blogsvertise.com/ . Have you had any experience with it? It looks like a site that pays you if you review an advertisers product. I am keen to find out more.

Watch this space for an update and maybe loads of reviews!