Archive | March, 2009

of latent hobbies and hybrid vehicles

31 Mar

Disclaimer, this is a very technical post.

I got hit by my all time favorite bug sometime last year. Gadgets and geekery. I think it was the combination of Iron Man and the new Knight Rider series that sparked off the blazing inferno, until I discovered I my knowledge of electronics has severely reduced and to make matters worse, I faced the same issue I’ve always faced, the lack of microcontrollers in Uganda.

For the less savvy, microncontrollers are little microchips that you can program to do specific tasks. Unfortunately, they are very niche electronics pieces and targeted towards a market that hasn’t yet developed in Uganda, that is robotics, automation and embedded electronics.

Well, couple of months back, I began looking into importing some microcontrollers (for personal use, of course). I found an awesome site that could ship all the way to Uganda, and the prices were decent. Also, they stocked ridiculously cheap transistors, capacitors and nice little 74XXX family chips that are very handy for BEAM Robots. So now I’m looking for the dimes. It is a fairly expensive hobby, seeing as you can very easily fry one component and have to wait weeks to get a replacement.

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relatively redundant random recaps

30 Mar

I haven’t blogged in over two weeks, and it feels like a lifetime. It is mostly because the Rogue and the King were having a little [ lighthearted ] discussion over the blog and its intended direction/audience. It would appear that it has veered miles away from the road I’d destined for it.

So I almost took it down, temporarily, of course, while I re-evaluated its direction, but after being informed by three totally random people on three completely random occasions that they found the blog extremely useful to them, I figured I’d live it online as I figured out a more focused direction for the blog.

Apropos,

Boda-Bodas and Computers
Last week, I had the most fascinating conversation with a boda-boda dude. It was about computers, building them, Pentium 4s and the new Core 2 Duo or Duo Core. In Luganda! I was mostly enlightening him, but he definitely knew what he was talking about, so he could follow along very easily. The metaphors were even more enlightening to me, he asked me if a Duo Core processor was like a car with a turbo charger/supercharger. I told him yes, but only if the turbo charger/supercharger was as powerful as the main engine itself. Long story short, he’s saving up to buy a computer, part by part, and I gave him my card and told him I’d be glad to help him buy one when he finally had all the money he needed.

School Blues
Yesterday was two of my siblings’ visiting day, and since they are both in the same school, it made life a lot easier, but the shopping was a pain. I had to keep buying everything in doubles and at one point I realised it would’ve been majorly helpful if I had someone around to help (especially a dame, since they’re both girls).

I got through the entire day in one piece, but I can now say I fully appreciate the pain parents/ guardians go through putting kids through school. After one year of taking care of my siblings fees/clothing/medical needs and lugging around kaveeras of grub for their visiting days (yesterday’s load was exceptionally heavy), I have a whole lot of respect for the stuff parents do/did for us, especially when we resented them for seemingly not caring.

In other news, I think I’ve peaked. I need either bigger challenges, a wider perspective, narrower focus or all the above. More on that later.

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Rogue FM: Nickelback – This Afternoon
[ Taken off Nickelback's Dark Horse album, an upbeat lazy-Saturday-afternoon-chill-party song that would make so much sense to Johnny. ]

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Offtopic:

Trust yourself, you know more than you think you do.
- Benjamin Spock

Part of being a Master is learning how to sing in nobody else’s voice but your own.
- Hugh Macleod

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I’m here

18 Mar

Stuck somewhere in cyberspace.

Rescuing damsels.

Fighting dragons.

Building empires.

And therein.

Lies valour.

Roguishness.

A snarl, or two.

Grit teeth.

Faltering steps.

But a steady grip.

I’m here.

Patience.

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Six (6) sites that give you solid business advice

13 Mar

Hello world.

First, I need to announce this again, Global Voices is in need of a Ugandan correspondent to provide regular wrap-ups of what’s happening in the Ugandan Blogsphere. If any of you bloggers are interested, let me know and I will provide the contacts.

Now.

I promised sometime back that I’d start sharing some of the websites in my bookmarks and RSS feeds. My bookmarks folder has literally thousands of sites, sometimes I completely forget about a website right after bookmarking it.

But there are some websites that I visit on a fairly regular basis, almost daily. They’re like tiny cyber treasures. Like the ones I mentioned that offer free ebooks for download.

So, in keeping with my promise, I figured I’d next share the websites I visit almost daily when I need tips and fresh input on business issues.

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Tech Trends – March 12th

12 Mar

I’ve been ignoring the technology section of my blog for way too long, so I’m introducing a little weekly feature called Tech Trends (corny, I know), where I’ll be featuring little nuggets of tech related information that struck/impressed/amused me over the past week. After all, my blog is about Life, Design, Business and Technology, right?

Presenting Tech Trends.

Global Voices needs a Ugandan Correspondent.
TMS Ruge [ twitter ] of Project Diaspora tells me Global Voices online is looking for a Ugandan Correspondent  to do regular wrap ups of what’s being talked about in the Ugandan blogosphere. He was covering this before, but he’s a little over committed at the moment. I’m sure some of you should be interested.

Node Six BlogSpirit v2
Node Six is reversing its BlogSpirit version 2 strategy a bit [ more information here ]. But in the process, we’ll be adding more blogs to the current version of BlogSpirit. I’m sure you’ve noticed the increase in blog. We’ve added about twenty new blogs and we’re still scouring the net for more.

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spinning randomness at 7 rpm

10 Mar

My other draft posts are taking too long to write up, so let me be a little more random.

a. The sunsets seem to be getting more beautiful by the day.

b. The difference between 7:00am and 7:30am is HUGE. Getting into office at 7:30 was relatatively easy. Getting into office at 7:00am is another story. The waking up is not the issue, it’s the tiny little things that waste time. So I’ve been getting in at wierd times like 7:06am, 7:07am, 7:02am. Very annoying.

c. My guitar teacher/practice partner fixed his guitar so we can now resume our practise.

d. I’m on a diet. Yeah. I know, don’t ask.

e. A preamble to one of my next posts: Ever noticed how much we take God for granted?

f. I realised three days ago that I’ve never used a semi colon on this blog. So ;

g. Hmmm… drawing a blank here… Oh yeah! Howdy, people.

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Rogue FM: Jars of Clay – If I Stand

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Offtopic:

Too many people spend money they haven’t earned, to buy things they don’t want, to impress people they don’t like.
- Will Smith

Everybody is ignorant, only on different subjects.
- Will Smith

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8 pounds of randomness

8 Mar

1. My siblings are aight. Went to check them out at school. It wasn’t their visiting day so there was a bit of drama at the gate. Let’s just say matrons and gate-keepers are the bane of education in Uganda. But they do a damned efficient job!

2. The Home & Auto Show wasn’t all that. I went for the rides and came back disappointed. I think they should let some baloodi showcase their rides just to draw crowds. Especially to draw people like me who are not about to take out five year loans to buy a ride that will cost twice the price of the loan repayment monthly in maintenance, insurance, service, fuel, tax, etc. Did I rant too much? My bad. I just went to ogle at cars.

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furiously melancholic

6 Mar

Something happened yesterday, something I’m not proud of one bit. I did something really stupid, in the process, messed up other people as well. It’s going to bother me for a long time.

I can’t explain it, but it’s really bugging me. I keep asking myself. Is this what you meant by no more bollocks? Coz it sure looks like a whole pile of bollocks to me…

I’m putting this post up as a reminder to myself that there are things I cannot do right now. Simply because I’ll be going a thousand steps back on a journey that has been tremendously painful.

I cannot afford to do them.

I will get lost again. I will hack away at thick bushes and vines in a jungle in which I’ll be wandering without a sense of direction. A jungle I don’t know in a land I’ve never been. Sadly, utterly miserably lost.

I simply, absolutely cannot afford to go down that road again.

So note to self:

Dude. Focus.

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Rogue FM: Corinne Bailey Rae – Call Me When You Get This ( Hi Val )

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Offtopic:

The things that matter most should never be at the mercy of the things that matter least.
- Goethe

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in which the early bird watches the early sunrise

5 Mar

And finally, my waking up earlier and earlier each day has paid off.

I had one of those moments when I was like, “WOW. Abba, you rock!”

I saw a very very very beautiful sunrise this morning.

So, again, Abba, you so totally rock, dude!

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Rogue FM: Selah – You Raise Me Up.

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Offtopic:

The early bird gets the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese.
- Jon Hammond

Start early and begin raising the bar throughout the day.
- Bruce Jenner

Early to bed, early to rise, work like hell and advertise.
- Ted Turner

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a short break from predictability

4 Mar

I’ve always wanted to ask:

1. How did you come up with your blog names / aliases?

Any special rationale behind it? A long story? A moment of madness? A lifetime of madness?

2. And the blog itself? Why do you blog? Is it, as LizVeniVidiVici says, a need for a pseudo persona?

I’ll start.

1. The Name – Rogue King:
King is my name. And I know I’m royalty, in Abba’s Kingdom at least.

And I’ve always felt known believed there’s a rebel inside me. Someone who doesn’t want to conform to standards or expectations. Plus, XMen is just too cool.

2. The Blog
I started this blog because I felt the need to share my passions. Life, Business, Design and Technology. Mostly the business stuff I’ve been through, especially for those who may not find it easy to get that kind of help.

And in a way, it’s advice to myself, for those times when I’m being plain stupid and refusing to learn from my lessons.

Your turn.

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Rogue FM: Snow Patrol – How to Be Dead ( Thanks Erique )

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Offtopic:

The Doc told me I had a dual personality. Then he lays an 82 dollar bill on me, so I give him 41 bucks and say, “Get the other 41 bucks from the other guy.”
- Jerry Lewis

I am a deeply superficial person.
- Andy Warhol

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