Visiting friends

My family and I went to visit Angie, Kapala's friend in Nairobi. As you can see in the pictures, the children had a ball. They performed, and posed for some snap shot.

My Hairstyle my Choice!

I came across people from different background, who posed unique questions concerning my hairstyle. I respect everyone's opinion, infarct, sometimes I like the attention I receive about my hairstyle. Why did you decide to twist your hair/ I love your hairstyle/How do you start/ Wow, you look cool. I get these questions often. But this specific date, a woman stopped me while I was taking the kids for a walk, and looked at my son, and looked at me and said, "Why did you chose to have this hairstyle? Why don't you just wear a normal hairstyle." I looked her straight in the eyes, and asked her, "Do you really wanna know, (with a look on my face that hint her that you should probably leave, because you might not like what I'm about to say)." She said, yes go ahead. Beside us was one of the neighbors and I could tell she was ready to hear what I was about to say. I tried hard to be calm, and respond in a calm voice. Even though I don't mind sharing the main reason, I decided not to explain myself, because she does not deserve it. I decided to go deep with it, First I looked on her hairstyle, unfortunately, she had no hair. I asked her: "Why is it that when black people put chemical in their head, or wear the fake weave, or extension braid, no one question them? Is it because that's perceived to be beautiful? Its interesting, that many young people walk around with them fake weave to make their looks like straight hairs, and thinking that by wearing that will make them beautiful. I think that mentality have to change for really. To me that's a sign that you're trying to be something that you're not. God gave me kinky/nappy hair, and I'll embrace that whenever I feel like it. Then she said, enough, enough I heard you. Then she asked again, are they heavy? the lady who was standing next to us, responded, "Look at my hairstyle (she was wearing extension braid) do you ask if their heavy or not? Its just hair." I decided to end it there. I don't have a problem with anyone's hairstyle, or asking me respectful question about my hairstyle, but I don't appreciate when someone tells me that I should wear my hair differently. My hairstyle is my choice period.

Work from home!

Many stay at home moms, would like to find ways to make extra income without leaving the comfort of their homes. After staying home with my children for some time, I can't imagine leaving my children from 8-5, M-F and pay someone to take care of them. I've been thinking about ways to make that extra income, so that I can continue staying home. With the internet today, I think this is very much possible especially if you use your creativity. I'm thinking about creating a blog dedicated to stay at home mom entrepreneurship. This blog will bring all moms around the globe together to brainstorm ideas, and provide useful ideas, and links. Just an idea not sure to use blogger or wordpress. Any Idea? All moms, aunties, dads, uncles are welcome, and business minded people are welcome to join us... soon will post the link.

Church in Kenya!

A couple months ago, my neighbor introduced us to her church in our neighborhood. The first Sunday, I dressed up in a long skirt, had my son wore a jacket; surprisingly, more than half of the congregations were dressed in jeans, and t-shirts. Just because I'm in Kenya, I assumed people wore long skirts to church etc. Well its always better to be safe than sorry. After church the children always attend a special Sunday school that lasts for about 35 minutes. The children learn stories from the bible in a fun and easy way.

My friend Aune came to visit us!

Aune is a Namibian good friend of mine who resides in Nairobi, and she's like a sister to me. She has been supportive since we moved here. When she first came to see us in our new place, she brought us this beautiful basket filled with yummy goodies. We miss you Aune and hope you return from Namibia soon.

12th International Nairobi Bookfair

Last week I went to the International Nairobi Bookfair. Held at the Sarit Centre in Westland. We live 22 minutes walk from the Sarit Centre; thus, I left the kids with the babysitter, and walked to the fair. This was a life time experience, have never seen so many people who took pride in what they're doing. More than 70 publishers, hundreds editors, and authors were seen everywhere. Children from different schools filled the place like a can of beans. It was interesting to see children as young as 8 years bargaining to get the best prices. Books, from children novels, to educational materials, religious, where displayed. It was such a good feeling to rub shoulders with editors, collect business cards, and share knowledgeable thoughts.

Laptop charge wireless, without plugging.

From Christopher Null blog: "Yesterday I had the chance to check out a new laptop from Dell. With its crisp screen, ultra-thin profile, and cutting edge specs like an SSD hard drive, it's certainly a looker, yet there's nothing immediately obvious about the machine -- part of Dell's business-class Latitude line -- that makes it unique. But there's a rare first secreted within the Latitude Z: Its battery can be charged wirelessly, without plugging it in.

The system works a lot like your electric toothbrush. A special dock (available as a $200 option) has a coil of wire inside that matches up with a coil on the bottom of the Latitude Z. When the two coils come in contact, power is transferred over that small distance through induction. Dell says it is no slower to charge this way than through plug-in power (a standard plug is also available when you're on the road and away from the dock). Getting the laptop situated just-so on the dock so that the two coils are in contact didn't seem as easy as it should be, but overall I found the innovation to be decisively cool.

The Latitude Z has other enhancements in its innards, though none as exciting as the wireless charging feature. Dell has long included smart card slots in its corporate-class machine, but an option with the Z lets users simply swipe the card across the palm rest to log in. Dell also uses a separate processor on its own motherboard to give the Z a non-Windows, instant-on mode to give quick access to a web browser, email, contacts, and calendars. Dell says use of the low-power quick-boot mode could provide battery life of half a day or more.

Then there's a wireless docking system -- separate from the wireless charging option -- that lets you connect to USB devices and an external monitor without plugging the computer in. An implementation of long-suffering UWB technology, Dell demonstrated the computer using a secondary monitor connected to the dock, the screen smoothly updating as a company rep walked around the room with the laptop in hand, unconnected to the monitor by wire. It's probably less useful than some of the machine's other innovations (the range of the wireless dock is only 12 feet), but still very cool.

The Latitude Z starts at $1,999 (on sale for $1.799 at the moment) and goes on sale today. Expensive to be sure, and possibly only in reach of the most "C" of C-level executives"