My Life
Monday, April 14th, 2008
by George Appiah
Last year I banned myself from cooking, and here’s why: just see the photo below. For some reason, any food I try to cook gets burnt. Heck, I even burn water!
I remember very well the last time I cooked — with BB (Big Bully — my big sister). We were both in the kitchen waiting for the food to get ready, while her (then) 6-month old baby was sleeping in the next room. Somehow we drifted into a conversation, and before we knew it, the food had burnt — right under our big noses.
And how did we get to know the food had burnt? We heard this wee cry from the baby and rushed over to check why she was crying. Suddenly we stood staring at each other: the food was burning and the smoke was choking the baby!
And just for your information, I studied Catering for three good years at school, and I even made an “A” in the final exam. So much for the restructuring of our educational system 
So how do I eat? What do I eat?
Actually, most of the time, I don’t. That’s a trick I learnt when I was a kid: hunger doesn’t kill– at least not that quickly. When I do eat, it’s mostly juices (because fresh fruits and veges are difficult to come by here in Accra) and biscuits. On rare occassions I get the Esthers and Dzigbordis to make me pepper soup.
And by now you should have figured out why I’m writing all this: I’m just trying to woo Esther to come over and make me pepper soup. If you’re reading this, Esther, someone needs you. Pepperly. Souply. Dearly.
Sunday, April 13th, 2008
by George Appiah
Here’s one odd-old-new news: I was one of the lucky folks who won MarketingSherpa’s weekly book contest way back in December, 2007. The book I won: What’s Your BQ: Learn How High Brand Quotients Helped 35 Companies Succeed, written by branding expert extraordinaire, Sandra Sellani.
And here’s the interesting part: the book arrived in my Post Office letter box here in Accra, Ghana, on the 28th of December 2007 — but I only got hold of it today, 12th of April!
What happened? Confession: I hardly pay a visit to the local Post Office these days. In fact, yesterday was the first time I paid a visit to my local Post Office this year. My life is now run almost entirely online.
Thank you MarketingSherpa and Sandra Sellani for this book.
[Yes, I wear pink stuff. I adore pink.]
Saturday, April 12th, 2008
by George Appiah
Just for everyone’s information, Dinah — yes, the same Dinah who was, but is no more — was here with me early in the week, for three days. No, nothing fancy going on here: she was simply here to fulfill a long promised (and always postponed) visit.
She got here Tuesday evening. With so much water gone under the bridge already, there was really not much to talk about, except reminiscing over what could have been. So she slept like a she-bull, while I sat up most of the night, all night actually, trying to write on paper what I felt in my heart.
Wednesday — the only full day she spent here — was hectic, to say the least, at least for me. We hit the streets, mostly on foot, visiting many important places in Accra. What were the highlights of the day? Well, depends on which one of us you ask.
For me, it was great tracing back memories of my early days in Accra — through the streets of Osu, all those places I used to hang out way back then (I’m talking of traditional Osu neighbourhoods like Anumansa, Kinkawe, Ako-Adgei, etc, NOT just Oxford Street).
But perhaps the real highlight of our day out was the visit to the Accra Shopping Mall, where we did a LOT of window shopping (yes, we managed to resist the temptation to buy anything at all). Actually I simply followed along, playing the “nice boy” role, while being whirled around from shop to shop, and enduring one feminine lecture after another — on topics from bra types to panty types and everything else in-between.
Anyway, I survived the day. Heck, I actually enjoyed it, and would have enjoyed it even more if I wasn’t walking with the guilt of carrying a camera with a dead battery
Though Dinah’s visit was such a brief one, this was a real break I seriously needed. This was my first non-working day out in a very long time! Her visit also (sort of) re-set the clock for me: the void she left behind (and I’m not just talking about her visit) has got me thinking about the things that really matter to me.
Here are two more photos: the first taken way back then, when we were everything to each other; and the latter taken during our day out (that was the ONLY shot the camera could take before the battery died completely). Do these two photos (and the one above, which was also taken during her trip here) tell you anything at all?
Thursday, April 3rd, 2008
by George Appiah
If you do follow me on Twitter, you will remember about a week ago I said I was going to work on some 3,000-plus ADSL modems. Yep, no typo here: I had this unpleasant task to update the firmware and pre-configure a large consignment of ADSL modems — a little over 3,000 units — for one local ADSL service provider. This was to make these boxes work with both their ATM and IP DSLAMS.
How I got myself into this big holly mess is another story altogether — that will, hopefully, be told in the not too distant future.
But I’m glad the work is done. It took exactly 8 days — within which time I never stepped out of my bedroom-turned-workshop, and never had more then 10 hours of sleep (total). Of course I got great help from my little friends Christopher Bennett and Remy Edmundson, and I’m really grateful for their help.
Now that this torture is over, it’s about time I moved on: go out there into the streets of Accra, find a cute little girl who can think, marry, have a whole lot of kids, and live happily thereafter.
Or something like that. What ‘ya think?
Technorati Tags: ADSL modems, IP DSLAM, ATM DSLAM
Thursday, March 20th, 2008
by George Appiah
If you had been wondering the reason for my silence for nearly two weeks, here’s why: I had to travel to The Kingdom of Far Far Away to see to some really important urgent issues back home — at the village.
And while I was there, I couldn’t resist the temptation that is girls food. So I overindulged myself, and got sick — seriously sick — as a result.
Anyway, I’m back to Accra and I’m doing pretty well. Time to get started with the much talked about changes and new stuff on this website. Let’s get going.
Friday, March 7th, 2008
by George Appiah
I have observed many of my readers are not into all this blogging stuff. These people often hit the front page, read the first ten items there, and run away — thinking that’s all there is. This is a big shame on my part, as it clearly means I’m not helping my readers to find my content.
So I’ve been working on ways to make it easier for the Mr. & Mrs Non-Techie Joes to quickly find their way around this website. Here are some of the current navigational aids:
- Archives Page: The archives page lists all the past journal entries, neatly arranged in reverse chronological order. Note that this page lists only the journal entires (powered by WordPress), and doesn’t include those pages outside the WordPress system
- I’ve got some really neat hacks and guides coming soon. These will live outside the journal, but will have a clear navigation on the left like this Einstein collection and the great quotes
- Site Search: Look up, to the right. I’ve just built a search tool for this site, using Google’s Custom Search Engine solution. This should be the easiest way to quickly locate any information around here
- Pagination: I’ve also implemented a numbered pagination system at the bottom of all archive pages of the journal. See, for instance, the front page of the journal.
I’m still tinkering around over here. My goal is to make it dead simple for everyone to quickly find their way around this website. If I’ve gone through the trouble of writing something, I’ve got to do all it takes to make it easy for people to find what I write.
Thursday, March 6th, 2008
by George Appiah
The way we apply for jobs is changing. More and more savvy employers are turning to the web these days to do their recruitment. The benefits to these savvy recruiters are enormous: it’s cheaper and sometimes even free, they can have shorter recruitment cycles, and services like JobsInGhana.com give recruiters great tools as well as access to a library of resumes to just pick from, without even placing an ad.
Even though I’m not an HR guy, I’ve been involved in recruitment drives for several small technology firms in Ghana — all of them through the Internet. And I’ve seen some potentially smart Ghanaian professionals do some really dumb things in their applications. On a couple of occasions (when I’ve had too much chocolate!) I’ve had to call applicants and guide them to properly re-submit their applications.
If you’ve been sending online applications but have never gotten any invitations for interviews, perhaps it’s time to sit back and ponder over what pitfalls you’ve been falling into, and how to void them to improve your chances of getting those needed invitations for interview. Here are the ten common pitfalls I’ve seen over the years, along with suggestions on how to avoid them. Continue reading »
Thursday, March 6th, 2008
by George Appiah
Ramit Sethi, a personal finance blogger at I Will Teach You To Be Rich recently did a survey in which he asked respondents how they spent money on Valentine’s Day. 1,031 people took part in the survey, and Ramit has just published the results embedded below.
Note: Click on the left and right arrows at the bottom of the slideshow to move through the slides.
Personally I didn’t spend a pesewa extra than I normally do… but that’s not so difficult to explain: I don’t have a girlfriend, and I don’t watch TV or listen to the radio — so I hardly even noticed the day slip by.
How about you? How did you spend money during the recent Valentine’s Day celebration? Is this a special day to you at all? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below.
Friday, February 29th, 2008
by George Appiah
I had been waiting impatiently to try Jotspot, the wiki application that was bought by Google, after which new registrations were closed. Now, it looks like they’ve finished integrating Jotspot into Google’s infrastructure, and the service has re-surfaced as Google Sites — available exclusively in Google Apps.
This is not your typical wiki application with its cryptic markup though. I gave it a quick try, found it extremely easy to use. Building a site is as simple as editing a document, and you can easily bring together all kinds of media including docs, videos, photos, calendars and attachments — in a single page.
The one question on my mind now is how Google Pages fits into all of this, especially as Pages is still a Google Labs experiment. Below is a screenshot of a demo site built with the new Google Sites service.
Friday, February 22nd, 2008
by George Appiah
Photo: Neils Bohr and Albert Einstein — taken by fellow Physicist Paul Ehrenfest during their visit to Leiden in December 1925.
A friend forwarded this list of Einstein quotes to me some long time ago. Since then I’ve seen this list of quotes supposedly all from Einstein all over the Internet and being discussed on some mailing lists. While I am familiar with a few of these quotes from some of Einstein’s writings I’ve read, I’m afraid I can’t vouch for the authenticity of all of them.
I also don’t know this Kevin Harris who supposedly compiled this list. I’m sharing these Einstein quotes with you, because I think they are interesting and enlightening. Here we go…
- “Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius — and a lot of courage — to move in the opposite direction.”
- “Imagination is more important than knowledge.”
- “Gravitation is not responsible for people falling in love.”
- “I want to know God’s thoughts; the rest are details.”
- “The hardest thing in the world to understand is the income tax.”
- “Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one.”
- “The only real valuable thing is intuition.”
- “A person starts to live when he can live outside himself.”
- “I am convinced that He (God) does not play dice.”
- “God is subtle but he is not malicious.”
- “Weakness of attitude becomes weakness of character.”
- “I never think of the future. It comes soon enough.”
- “The eternal mystery of the world is its comprehensibility.”
- “Sometimes one pays most for the things one gets for nothing.”
- “Science without religion is lame. Religion without science is blind.”
- “Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new.”
- “Great spirits have often encountered violent opposition from weak minds.”
- “Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler.”
- “Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen.”
- “Science is a wonderful thing if one does not have to earn one’s living at it.”
- “The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources.”
- “The only thing that interferes with my learning is my education.”
- “God does not care about our mathematical difficulties. He integrates empirically.”
- “The whole of science is nothing more than a refinement of everyday thinking.”
- “Technological progress is like an axe in the hands of a pathological criminal.”
- “Peace cannot be kept by force. It can only be achieved by understanding.”
- “The most incomprehensible thing about the world is that it is comprehensible.”
- “We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.”
- “Education is what remains after one has forgotten everything he learned in school.”
- “The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing.”
- “Do not worry about your difficulties in Mathematics. I can assure you mine are still greater.”
- “Equations are more important to me, because politics is for the present, but an equation is something for eternity.”
- “If A is a success in life, then A equals x plus y plus z. Work is x; y is play; and z is keeping your mouth shut.”
- “Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I’m not sure about the the universe.”
- “As far as the laws of mathematics refer to reality, they are not certain, as far as they are certain, they do not refer to reality.”
- “Whoever undertakes to set himself up as a judge of Truth and Knowledge is shipwrecked by the laughter of the gods.”
- “I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones.”
- “In order to form an immaculate member of a flock of sheep one must, above all, be a sheep.”
- “The fear of death is the most unjustified of all fears, for there’s no risk of accident for someone who’s dead.”
- “Too many of us look upon Americans as dollar chasers. This is a cruel libel, even if it is reiterated thoughtlessly by the Americans themselves.”
- “Heroism on command, senseless violence, and all the loathsome nonsense that goes by the name of patriotism — how passionately I hate them!”
- “No, this trick won’t work…How on earth are you ever going to explain in terms of chemistry and physics so important a biological phenomenon as first love?”
- “My religion consists of a humble admiration of the illimitable superior spirit who reveals himself in the slight details we are able to perceive with our frail and feeble mind.”
- “Yes, we have to divide up our time like that, between our politics and our equations. But to me our equations are far more important, for politics are only a matter of present concern. A mathematical equation stands forever.”
- “The release of atom power has changed everything except our way of thinking…the solution to this problem lies in the heart of mankind. If only I had known, I should have become a watchmaker.”
- “Great spirits have always found violent opposition from mediocrities. The latter cannot understand it when a man does not thoughtlessly submit to hereditary prejudices but honestly and courageously uses his intelligence.”
- “The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and all science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead: his eyes are closed.”
- “A man’s ethical behavior should be based effectually on sympathy, education, and social ties; no religious basis is necessary. Man would indeed be in a poor way if he had to be restrained by fear of punishment and hope of reward after death.”
- “The further the spiritual evolution of mankind advances, the more certain it seems to me that the path to genuine religiosity does not lie through the fear of life, and the fear of death, and blind faith, but through striving after rational knowledge.”
- “Now he has departed from this strange world a little ahead of me. That means nothing. People like us, who believe in physics, know that the distinction between past, present, and future is only a stubbornly persistent illusion.”
- “You see, wire telegraph is a kind of a very, very long cat. You pull histail in New York and his head is meowing in Los Angeles. Do you understand this? And radio operates exactly the same way: you send signals here, they receive them there. The only difference is that there is no cat.”
- “One had to cram all this stuff into one’s mind for the examinations, whether one liked it or not. This coercion had such a deterring effect on me that, after I had passed the final examination, I found the consideration of any scientific problems distasteful to me for an entire year.”
- “…one of the strongest motives that lead men to art and science is escape from everyday life with its painful crudity and hopeless dreariness, from the fetters of one’s own ever-shifting desires. A finely tempered nature longs to escape from the personal life into the world of objective perception and thought.”
- “He who joyfully marches to music rank and file, has already earned my contempt. He has been given a large brain by mistake, since for him the spinal cord would surely suffice. This disgrace
to civilization should be done away with at once. Heroism at command, how violently I hate all this, how despicable and ignoble war is; I would rather be torn to shreds than be a part of so base an action. It is my conviction that killing under the cloak of war is nothing but an act of murder.”
- “A human being is a part of a whole, called by us _universe_, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest… a kind of optical
delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.”
- “Not everything that counts can be counted, and not everything that can be counted counts.” (Sign hanging in Einstein’s office at Princeton)
Copyright: Kevin Harris 1995 (may be freely distributed with this acknowledgement)
