Kid dies after overtaking on a corner

After thinking about the collision yesterday as reported by the Gazette (it was broadcast on the TV news as well), I realized that for all the talk, Dejon Simmons's story in the end, meant absolutely nothing to at least one young person. Pity.

Good for Oprah

I butted upon this article from the Detroit Free Press today - it regards certain male hip-hop stars whining that Oprah hasn't given much attention to rap and hip-hop. The author quickly rebuked them on the grounds that a lot of the stuff that they sing and dance about involves the degradation of women, particularly (and I swear I'm not stealing this phrase from Renee Webb), people who look like her.

Good on him for putting those jokers in their place. And good on Oprah for not paying attention to the whiners (who are just looking for the publicity anyway). Bet they're going to accuse her of not being black next.

World Cup news. Spain flops again. Glad I didn't put any money on them (I had them making semis, but from a different bracket - hint, Ukraine may turn out to be that team). Brazil beat Ghana, so once again the final eight contains no teams outside of Europe and South America. Dang. People have talked about a power shift outside of those two confederations since 1990, but as of now the best we got was Korea dubiously making the semis in '02 when they hosted.

How do people get sick in June?

Been under the weather the past couple days. Not fun when your bones are aching. And of course it's good timing as it's now crunch time with the big projects at work.

Managed to make it to my new godson's christening/baptism/dedication ceremony/whatever it's supposed to be these days. He's such a happy kid, and maybe if I'm lucky I'll get to post a photo of him sometime soon.

World Cup continues of course, my pick to win (Argentina) is still alive, but I think I can't win any of the sweepstakes pools I've entered. The action has sort of stalled in early second-round action. I'm glad I missed the snooze-fest between Switzerland and Ukraine today. 0-0 and the poor Swiss couldn't even put up a single penalty kick in the shoot-out.

Speaking of which, I wish there was a local version of Television Without Pity. Because after listening to poor Nick Jones deliver mixed metaphors like "put up or go home" or "one-one, apiece" I think I could write up a nice commentary of his analysis.

14 hours of daylight

Sunrise today at 6:12 am. Sun sets at 8:28 pm. The only bad news, I'm likely to be stuck at the office for all but like an hour at the end of the day. Viva Daylight Savings!

I made the mistake of telling an England supporter that I thought it was Argentina's year to win the World Cup. I think the impression she got was that I actually support them. In reality, I prefer quite a few teams to Argentina, including England. I was naturally a Trinidad and Tobago supporter during this tournament, but the team that I probably identify with the most is Spain.

Great qualities, but a tendency to not get it together when it needs to be done in order to advance. But maybe this year it will change. And yes, I'm kind of speaking in metaphors.

Congrats to the Carolina Hurricanes winning the NHL title and the Miami Heat on the NBA title. And the best is hopefully yet to come as the World Cup nears the knock-out phases.

Finally, paycheck's arrived

As the official start of summer begins (what's that called, the Solstice, right?), it's obvious it's going to be another scorcher here. And unfortunately I still have no a/c unit for my bedroom. I should find some time and see what's available, even if I have to buy a mini-fridge and leave it in my room with the door open all day.

Speaking of buying,... boy I need to get paid. Been struggling the past couple weeks due to bills, family emergencies and other things which have drained me. And even though I have a credit card now and am within my credit limit, I'm still very reluctant to use it. I mean, the last few months I have spent more than I have made and that's a terrible trend that I personally need to quit immediately.

That said, there are a few things that I would like to get for myself, once the check comes in and I pay off the bills. Nothing is a need, although many Bermudians would say otherwise. Of course, I'm "slumming it" by having no cable TV and no DSL Internet connection. Anyway.

I'd like to get a new bike helmet. It's old, banged-up and the interior lining is flaking off. That's high on my wish list. I managed to buy a new pair of trousers for the office the other day, but I'd like to have at least one more pair. I think I need a couple of new shirts and ties as well. Selection is fairly small in Bermuda and I may be forced to shop online for those things. One of the obstacles of course is me not liking clothes-shopping for myself. I was looking at swim-gear and didn't feel like buying anything available when I was purchasing the trousers.

But anyway I hope to be able to get back in the black, actually save more than I'm forced to spend, divert some funds to hopefully what will become an investment in a future house in Barbados and simply not feel that my savings are circling slowly down the drain.

Question: Why are Americans so insistent on calling a football drawn match a tie? I know it's technically correct but it comes across as unenlightened. Balls are passed down the flanks, not sides, and go into touch, not out of bounds. Would be nice to see the correct terminology applied, but thank goodness our local World Cup feeds are coming out of Europe and not through ESPN.

I'm not the only one

Sports Illustrated's Frank DeFord wrote a piece which echoed my sentiments regarding this part of the sports calendar. I'd wonder if he was plagarizing except that in typical Yankee fashion he alludes to baseball first and the World Cup last. Sad. I like baseball and all, but the championships for that sport aren't going to be determined for many months. However, champions are being crowned in each of the other sports mentioned. Surely those ought to take precedence as far as a general sports article is concerned.

Portugal 1, Angola 0 and fans here are delirious?

People in Bermuda are insane about the World Cup. Even more than usual. It's so bad that the Portuguese fans and the Brazilian fans are having impromptu motorcades after their respective teams won their first matches of the tournament. It's especially sad for Brazil, who by all accounts are supposed to win their first couple of games with ease. So for them to be celebrating, especially when they've only repeated what they have done since 1930 or so, seems a bit over-the-top.

I won't say the same for Trinidad and Tobago which was expected to get slammed early and often during this tournament, but played Sweden to a gritty scoreless draw in their first match. It's good to see the less fancied sides get something out of the tournament.

I'm thinking that it'd be best for Bermuda if the Czech Republic won the tournament. There aren't many Czechs on the island and maybe we wouldn't get subjected to the honking horn parade if they were victorious on July 7th. Maybe Ukraine. It'd be too much to hope for a Togo victory, though.

Don't get me wrong, I love this time of year (see earlier post of course), it's just that I'm realizing that people here are looking for any excuse to make excessive noise over a first-round match and it's only going to get worse.

Great time to be a sports fan again

The FIFA World Cup.
NBA Finals.
French Open tennis.
NHL Stanley Cup.

Some of the finest athletes in the world are going at it right now. Championships to be determined. Add to the above Test Match cricket, the major auto racing series in full season, baseball going on at this time, the U.S. Open golf championship is around the corner. We've recently seen records made in track and field. Heck, there's even horse racing for those who prefer to see the four-legged ones in action.

The only other time things are this exciting when you're a sports fan is during the Olympic Games and even then you don't always see the world's best in action.

It's going to be hard to pry me away from the television or PC for the next couple of weeks.

Do I work for a lazy-ass company?

The place where I work, which recently was a big sponsor of an event which intended to encourage locals to get more fit, proposed an inter-departmental sports track-and-field day. However due to lack of interest it was cancelled. Talk about a sad indictment. Although, I think if they promoted it with a cash prize incentive, they'd have gotten a bit more support from employees. For what it's worth, I signed up to do a couple track events. But nothing longer than 200m, that's for sure. Heh.

I've been putting off discussing the failed sexual orientation discrimination law proposal going on in Bermuda for some time due more to lack of time rather than lack of concern. It's just funny how hyprocritical people get sometimes when it comes to something considered a sin. People are extremely homophobic when in reality they ought to be more scared of heteros causing trouble. It's more sad that our elected leaders in Parliament chose not to even discuss things.

Africa is not a country, dimwits

I'm reading the Royal Gazette online this morning and I spot the following phrase in this article:
"...leave the Island and return to Africa — the country where her husband was... "

I don't know if to be sad or angry that once again the media treats the whole continent as a bunch of loose regions all under the same banner. There are more nations in Africa than any other continent in the world. While it may be true that many African nations share similarities in economic conditions, poverty and history, they're still individual nations.

I'd expect Bermudians to know better, after all we are quick to point out to unknowing visitors that Bermuda is not the Bahamas or Barbados or Jamaica. We're an individual country and often we don't want to be lumped into a group such as the Caribbean, for example.

By the way, the country in question, is Sudan, which is the largest country in Africa in area and is in the midst of all manner of internal warfare that the rest of the world appears powerless to deal with.

I'm belatedly booking the driver of HA866 for not using their turn indicators (what is it with people here that they only use the indicator as they're turning instead of before they start to turn if at all), but I'd like to point attention to this promising young site, http://bdaroadhog.blogspot.com/. It's like I've found a kindred spirit in the world of dealing with local traffic on the island. I will definitely be adding this site to my Favorites.