Working and Christmassing at the mall

I'm alive! Sorry, I don't even want to bore you with my excuses...but here goes! The internet broke down, then my mobile broadband stopped working, then my laptop crashed and when I tried my hand at blogging from my mobile, I'd spend ages trying to send a message and then accidentally erase it with the slip of a finger (damn sensitive touchscreens!). So here I am, at the Vodafone cafe at Accra mall. In between work emails I thought I'd send a quick message out.

From now on I'll definitely try harder at the phone blogging, but that means no links, no photos and much, much shorter texts. Hopefully that will mean I'll blog more frequently? Let's see.

By the way, so far I think the mall is the best place to come in Accra for a bit of Christmas spirit. Being here has almost cured my I-can't-believe-I'm-spending-Christmas-in-the-tropics-again depression.

Dear Vodafone...

You're like a love interest playing hard to get. Just when I've spent the days before Christmas, praising you to the skies with Miami, you cut me off in a "treat 'em mean, keep 'em keen" kind of way. After weeks of "who needs iBurst" comments, I suddenly had to come crawling back to iBurst, resembling a girl who drunkenly calls her ex on a particularly lonely night. Then, I finally decide to confront you, "what the &%#¤ is going on?" and you softly convince me that it's nothing, just work overload, you'll be back to your best as soon as possible. The exact terms being that somebody will come by the next day to check out the connection.

Already that evening, of course, the network is back on, oh it's like being sent flowers the day before a reconciliation date and I'm happy, oh so happy again. As I start my "Dear Vodafone" love letter the next day, you predictably disappoint me, but now I'm already hooked. "Surely the connection will be back on again soon" I think, although by now I should know better, I should know that you've found someone else to woo, not caring the least about how I am going to connect with the rest of the world.

I try to get back with you for several days, but I'm left disappointed and longing for you more and more. Today I finally gave up and now I'm digging up the ex-files, reaching for the iBurst modem. But as I'm about to stick the cable into the laptop, what do I see? We're back on!

As I am writing this, I see you flickering, on and off, on and off, as if to remind me that you're not mine for keeps, just for as long as you're enjoying it. So now Vodafone, I'm practically begging you, stay with me baby, I need you, I need you there when I wake up and before I go to bed. But if this is the way you're going to continue, I'll have to break it off and find someone else. I don't want to because I really like you, your customer service and your closeness to me, but hey, I'm only human and nothing, nothing will come between me and my love and need for the internet.

Crappy new year?

Sorry, I don't mean to dampen your happy new year's spirits, I was (as always) extremely happy about entering a new year, and especially 2010, after a fantastic decade like the Noughties. However, ever since Vodafone, on the second to last day of the year, decided to cut off my broadband (and most of Accra's it seems), I kind of lost my positive attitude (I'm on iBurst now, my ever 'reliable' substitute). I wasn't able to post my roundup of 2009, which even included a challenge for Yngvild. I couldn't give you a detailed account of my very typically Ghanaian New Year's Eve (see Kajsa's blog for a hint of what it involved).

And already a week into the new year, I haven't posted my New year's resolutions yet. Hm, could that be the reason why I'm already failing? Hey, the year is young, the still lots of time for me to redeem myself! Don't worry, after a bit of rest, and assuming iBurst doesn't fail me, I shall put my resolutions in print and hopefully fulfil them.

Happy New Decade!

Little Angels

Certain people come into our lives and with the smallest of gestures on their part, make a great impact in our lives. Like the woman who like an angel has made it possible for my friend M to get the labour she wants.

In my case the "angel's" name is Pierre. Pierre is no one in particular, he may be a cruel man in his personal life and in his mind all he did was his job. However, for me, he is the man who finally sorted out my internet issues after 20 days of starvation. And the fact that he did it on a Sunday (I had given up all hope and was going to call the company again tomorrow) makes the act all the more heroic.

Gone are the headaches, tense neck and shoulders and the irritated frown I've carried for the past few days after each time I've tried to go online without success. I can now erase my letters of complaint out of my brain, no need to even keep a copy in the recycle bin! Pierre will probably go ahead and call another customer after finishing with me, not realising how much his bit of weekend overtime(?) work makes a difference to us customers out there.

To make life extra sweet, the lovely babygirl decided to take a nap from just as Pierre called, for two hours right until now, leaving me just enough time to do all the necessary and unnecessary browsing I needed to do. And the fact that all this happened after I had devoured some palmnut soup with both fufu and yam (pounaa, of course) here in Gothenburg, after months without Ghana foods, makes my Sunday just about as good as it gets.

Hope you've enjoyed your Sunday as much as I have!

Connected!

No, I have not gone underground, buried in my own envy over not being in Ghana during Obama's visit. I have been deprived of internet connection for the past seven days...and counting! The only reason I am online now is because I have travelled all the way across town to Mr. T's flat to use his broadband. It seems my internet provider can't handle a bit of rain, because since our first proper rainfall last week, they're mast collapsed and there are no set plans for when to restore it. What? Never would I accept such bad service from Broadband4u, Iburst or any other internet provider and yet here in abrokyi, I've had to put up with it because of their extremely long phone queues and the fact that they don't have a physical office. Even GT (Ghana Telecom)'s dial up service back in the day used to work during rainy season, and the rain we've had here is nothing in comparison.

Anyway, now I'm going to catch up with Obama reports, reply emails and blog comments, then, when I am in my best fighter mode, I'll deal with Tele2/Comviq. Sorry guys for not replying comments until now!

Last minuteism

Why does this always happen? Why do I always do it to myself? Drag and drag with a project until the last minute then have to rush to finish on time? In this case, two agreements that must be ready by tomorrow morning, both of which I'm 3/4 done with, which means that now, at 9p.m. I'm sitting in front of my laptop instead of at a concert at Alliance Francaise. Aaargh!

Last minute-ism is a common Ghanaian trait, unfortunately mine is combined with the (Swedish?) trait of punctuality, which means I relax aaah, then stress and stress to still ensure I hand over work on time. Not a good combination, in fact it is a wonder that I still have low blood pressure.

At least I have refreshed myself for the past half hour by playing Mapouka Magic System, Habib Koite, Salif Keita

and


Samini very loudly and dancing like a mad woman. All set for a long night of work!

Now I just hope I am able to post this since Iburst has been giving me trouble for the past two days. Anyone else experiencing the same thing? Don't worry, I'll deal with them another day. Grrr...

Age is nothing but a number?

Yesterday i briefly passed Sharpnet around midday. Opposite me was a man in his late sixties, early seventies. I was so impressed by the fact that he was at an internet café and of course started drifting of into thoughts of how you really can do anything you want no matter how old you are. I know people in their fifties/sixties who don't know how to text so they have to call the nearest person to them when the phone beeps and get that person to read the text and send a reply. These persons would hardly dare sit behind a computer.

But once in a while you see older people who stand out in the crowd, defying those who say "I'm too old to learn about all the new technology" or "in my day we got by, by sending letters, why do I need to know about email". My uncle is one of those people. He, the oldest of the clan made sure that all the oldies around him, siblings, cousins and friends could text so they could keep in touch around the world. And the latest I heard, at 77 he is about to start his own blog!

As I was thinking these thoughts, I realised some issue had arisen opposite me. The older man was unable to open his document and the Sharpnet staff member was trying to sort it out:
"Sir, are you sure you saved it?"
"Yes i'm sure"
"Where did you save it? Is it on a pendrive?"
"No, it's on the desktop." After looking through the desktop file, "sorry Sir, it's not on the desktop. Did you save it right now?"
"No, I saved it on the desktop, this morning before I left the house"
"Oh but Sir, then it's on your home computer's desktop"
"Can't I access it from this one?"

After which the staff had to go through the procedure of saving documents and the benefits of having a pendrive for easy accessible files.

Still, respect to the older man, who tried tackling something that most of his contemporaries will feel too scared to even try understanding.