The word “Jamaipanese” is a portmanteau; a combination of Jamaica and Japan. Kirk is a Jamaica ( He’s Jamaican) and Japan ( more so Japan) enthusiast, he’s been an enthusiast of the latter for a while, but didn’t get to visit the country until recently–that’s the interesting part.

Kirk had everything he needed to go to Japan, but money. But that wasn’t going to deter him from going. Most people wouldn’t have bothered, but Kirk did and I admire him for that. His story is interesting and I think it should be highlighted.

Picture courtesy of Taylor’s Photography

On January 18, 2010 Kirk wrote a detailed blog post explaining how he’d acquire the funds to go to Japan, where he’d stay and what his expenses would be. You can read the blog post here. It’s titled “Operation Visit Japan”. What I find particularly interesting is how he managed to raise about 40% of the funds through his blog via donations (I’m pretty sure many told him not to bother because people would not donate, but he did anyway). I donated and encouraged him as I’m sure many others did. As a result he received  over $1,000 USD in donations from people all over the world. This is an example of how useful the internet can be to anyone, wherever you are, it just takes effort and dedication.

Kirk  even managed to snag sponsorship from a Japanese company for wireless internet connectivity while he was there and even stayed with a Japanese reggae singer who he met through his blog. There is still much more to be told, but I definitely can’t tell it like he can. He has  organized all his posts re: his trip to Japan he in a category that you can read here

Kirk is a good writer, consistent blogger and a great friend. I’m very happy for  him and I’m glad he finally got the opportunity to visit a place he’s so crazy about.

Ode to Jamaipanese.com, my blog of the year!

JULIET Landell knew the moment she was approached by her high school sweetheart Andrew Holness that she would end up being a politician’s wife. For that was made clear by the young, tall, dashing and confident Holness in a proposal of sorts to her while they were both students at the University of the West Indies (UWI).
“I recall he told me one day on campus ‘you are going to be my wife and I intend to serve in political life, you must choose now if you are able to take on this life because serving my country is important to me’,” the wife of Jamaica’s ninth and youngest prime minister told the Sunday Observer. “He was very clear on his professional goals from early.

”

My favorite Question:

Q: A number of women go after men in power, how do you deal with women who may try to get involved with your husband?
A: I don’t mind that women will find my husband attractive. He is a wonderful man and I am actually honoured when others find him attractive — he is very loving, very affectionate, very jovial, very good looking — and I know that some women would really love to have a partner like mine. But when all is said and done, even though persons would want to gravitate towards him, I know he understands that his commitment with me is what comes first and foremost, and I believe in a relationship with one man, one woman. And he knows that. Having one partner is important to me and it is equally important to him. And because we both believe that God has made us equal then we do share similar views where that is concerned.

★

Embattled dancehall entertainer, Vybz Kartel, and two members of his entourage, who have been jointly charged for the murder of Clive Williams, were again remanded when they appeared in the Corporate Area Resident Magistrate’s Court.

One of the men, recording artiste Shawn Storm – whose given name is Shawn Campbell – has been ordered to give his fingerprint to the police.

The three are scheduled to return to court December 2, when defence attorneys are expected to apply for bail.

A fourth man charged in the case, Kiro Jones, was not brought before the court this morning…

Go down dutty Babylon, dutty Babylon. Big up every prisoner big up every warder.

★

THREE men who stole a car and attempted to escape, were shot and killed by gunmen on Red Hills Road, St Andrew this morning.

One of the men has been identified as ‘Howie’, and another, ‘Craig’. The third man is yet to be identified.

Residents said that the incident took place about 8:30 am.

The irony.

★

An official Diplomat of Jamaica subsequently responded to this tweet disagreeing with me. You would think that an official representative of our country would know this, but alas.  I will not include the name or  twitter handle of this diplomat, if only for his sake.

If you’re not familiar with the structure of the Jamaican Government please go here, here or here.

Feel free to follow me on twitter: @gordonswaby

N.B His name is replaced with “Guy” in the discussion:

So, without further ado…the Winners are:

Sir. Michael, His Comment: “People say I’m addicted to my Blackberry but I’m not, I’m addicted to the people in connects me to and thats why I love it.”

Tonian Lindo, Her Comment: “I love my Blackberry because it keeps me connected on the go to friends and family anywhere in the world through RIM’s native BlackBerry Messenger at a set cost per month.”

Jovan, His Comment: “ I love my Blackberry because it makes me seem like the most efficient civil servant Barbados has ever seen.”

Tonaya, Her Comment: “I love my blackberry because it is cute, trendy, and up to date, yet it is functional, efficient, and easy to use I save A LOT of money buying phonecards, almost all of my friends have a blackberry so i jus PING PING PING ”

Marcus Bird, His Comment: “????????????????????(^_^)”

Kasense, Her Comment: “ Easy to use, fastest and cheapest way to communicate plus allows me to organize and store important files for school or work and that’s why i love my blackberry ”

I will be contacting all of you for some information soon.

Thanks to everyone who entered, What will I give away next? We’ll see!

How do I Enter?!

Leave a comment on this article stating why you love your Blackberry in a single sentence, that’s all there is to it! The competition closes on June 15, 2011 at 12:00 AM EST. The winners will be announced on June 16, 2011. The competition is open to everyone in and outside of Jamaica.

The only requirement is of course a GSM Blackberry.  After the winners are announced I will contact you with the coupon code you’ll use on their website when making the order.

Start commenting and Good luck!

P.S If you’re not familiar with unlocking and the benefits of it, check out this article

1. You don’t want to lose your number
2. You don’t want to change your phone (Blackberry).

Sadly, I don’t have a solution to problem #1, but I certainly have a solution to problem # 2. Most people think that unlocking their Blackberry is either too expensive, too technical or dangerous.

Well it’s definitely not expensive, not dangerous and as long as you can read and follow instructions it’s relatively easy to do (You can have an unlocked Blackberry in less than 10 minutes).

What Exactly is “Unlocking”

If you bought your phone from one of our (Jamaica) carriers (Digicel (Ugh, Digicel), LIME or Claro then it’s probably “locked” to their network. i.e if you were to put  a LIME or Claro sim card into your locked Digicel phone then it would not work. Unlocking your phone solves that problem, giving you the ability to use your phone on any network you choose.

Hopefully that was as layman as possible.

Unlocking

One caveat before you continue reading…You need a credit card, a Google Checkout account or Paypal.

I’ve been using iunlockblackberry.com/ for a while now. The charge is the same for whatever blackberry you need to unlock, $10 USD, that’s little under $900 JMD.

I can vouch for them as  I’ve used them many times.  All they need is your IMEI, Email Address ( To send the code that you’ll use to unlock your blackberry), The Network that your phone is locked to, the Country and your model Blackberry. Their turnaround time is good so you should get the code in less than 10 minutes.

Whatever questions you’ll probably have (They have great instructions on how to unlock) is answered on their website, but if not you can always leave a comment and I’ll do my best to help.

As an aside: Blackberries really suck. Do yourself a favor and get an iPhone or an Android.

Naturally i had to bring up the iPad, i asked how they were positioning themselves to take on a device that dominated the market. Their answer was as expected– the size of the device, It’s not too big, not too small; the Tab has a 7 inch screen while the iPad boasts a 9 inch screen, making the latter a hassle to carry around.

There were many questions, most standard, but, the elephant in the room was of course the price, in a market like Jamaica one would wonder how well they’re expecting the Tab to do. I didn’t get a definite answer on it, other than prices are determined by the carriers. A quick check on Digicel’s website shows the Tab going for JMD $67, 950, i’m anxious to see how well it will do. Exciting months ahead!

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Press Release:

Samsung Electronics, a company committed to harnessing
the power of the digital revolution to create ground-breaking products and services that take
consumers and businesses beyond imagination, presents the most intelligent gift giving option this
Valentine’s Day. With its new portfolio of smartphones, composed of mobile phones that integrate
the most advanced multimedia resources, the Company revolutionizes access to information and
communications and places it in the hands of consumers.

With operating systems like Android and Bada (Bada is a mobile phone operating system created
by Samsung), this powerful line of smartphones hold the promise of revolutionizing how consumers
communicate and enjoy content in the palm of their hands. Its newest portfolio includes the
groundbreaking Galaxy S, Galaxy Tab, Wave 525 and Beat Mix C3300.

“At Samsung, we focus on the needs of our consumers and are committed to introducing to the
market advanced smartphone devices that meet the demands of today’s consumer. We help our
clients stay connected to family and friends, while having access to information and content they
crave in an attractive handheld form factor,” said Ernesto Piedra, Director of Sales for Samsung
Electronics Latin America.

So yes, In early 2010 I opened my  checking account with NCB after registering my first business–a sole proprietorship. I was overly excited about this. I had my check leaves, I had a registered business name; man was I ready to take on the world! Problem was, I dived into “business” with no real strategy.  Long story short, money was rarely in the account and one of the caveats for owning a checking a/c is a minimum balance. A requirement that I had a haaaard time with, especially with minimum balance charges and ultimately an unauthorized overdraft that resulted. My only choice of course was to close the account.

Funny though, I didn’t feel like I failed at my first business. I went on to the next best thing.

Fast Forward to August 2010: I’m approached by my cousin about a venture. I’m impressed by It. I then pass the idea around to a few people who i respect (including my parents) for their opinion and they love it! Now, I don’t have a sole proprietorship, instead I have a Limited Liability Company with a board, real money in the checking account and a bunch of smart and experienced people to help me.  With the support of my parents, I’m about to secure a loan from NCB for a very substantial amount of money to help with the financing of my project. I mean, where NCB is concerned, It’s not about my age, It’s about the project and its feasibility*. It seems as if NCB is not perturbed by my previous experience with them.

I know you want to hear about my Credit Card stories right? Don’t let them know, but I’ve owned an NCB credit card as early as age 17…my experience with that horrid plastic would probably require another blog post!

I see an NCB Nation Builder Award in my future, because that’s exactly what I am. A nation builder. Thanks to NCB, my family, friends, associates and everyone else who’s helping to make my dream and the dreams of others a reality. You are certainly “Building a better Jamaica”

Thanks again NCB, Day by Day you’re helping me to uphold my personal mantra “Always an employer, never an employee.” Creating opportunities, not looking for them, because if that was the mindset of more people, we’d have a better Jamaica.

*Conditions Apply