The five questions every woman should ask before she gets in too deep: 2. What are your long-term goals?

While I await a response from Steve/Harper, I thought to share one more excerpt from the book... I am presently sharing five questions ladies should be asking from their 'guys', of course - with my comments in bold and italics :D Enjoy...

Trust me on this: a man who really has a vision for where he wants to see himself in ten years has looked into his future and seriously considered what it'll take for him to get there. It means he has foresight, and he's plotting out the steps to his future. If he says something silly like "I'm just trying to make it day by day," or he sings "I've got something on my mind, I want to jaye all night o" run. If his long-term plan is the same as his short-term plan, get out - immediately. Because his answer tells you that he hasn't thought his life through, or he doesn't see you in it and so he has no reason to divulge the details to you. All he's got for you is game. If he doesn't have a plan, why do you want him to stick around, anyway? Well, except you don't have a plan too!

The five questions every woman should ask before she gets in too deep: 1. What are your short-term goals?

While I await a response from Steve/Harper, I thought to share one more excerpt from the book... Over the next five days, I will share five questions ladies should be asking from their 'guys', of course - with my comments in bold and italics :D Enjoy

If you're going to get into a serious relationship with a man, you should know what his plans are and how they fit into the key elements that make a man - who he is, what he does, and how much he makes. These three things are extremely important to any mature, grown man, and  you have every right to know what he's doing right now and what he's planning over the next three to five years, to be the real, grown man he wants to be. His answer will also help you determine whether you want to be a part of that plan or not. You'll know to damn your emotions and throw up your much-needed red flag if he doesn't have a plan at all.

If he's got a plan, well great. Act like you're super interested and ask follow-up questions—be the inquisitive, enthusiastic detective that you are. Men love to talk about themselves. We do this because we know that in order to catch you, we have to impress you. So allow us to impress. The more inquisitive and interested you are, the more information he'll give you. Say things like, "Wow, how did you get into that field?" or "How interesting—what does it take to make that successful?" And listen carefully.

What Job Are You Suited For?

I managed to end up as a CEO? (Please don't ask me if I cheat on tests o!)

What job suits YOU?

Ghana President Mills dead - Presidential Statement

(Reuters) - Ghana's President John Atta Mills has died unexpectedly, a presidential statement said, and an aide said his death occurred on Tuesday after he took ill on Monday night.

The death of the president of the world's No. 2 cocoa grower comes months before Mills was due to stand for re-election at the helm of the West African country that posted double-digit growth in 2011 and has been praised for its strong democracy in a turbulent region.

"It is with a heavy heart...that we announce the sudden and untimely death of the president of the Republic of Ghana," a statement sent to Reuters by the president's office said.

It said that Mills, 68, died a few hours after being taken ill but no further details were given.

A presidential aide, who asked not to be named, said the president had complained of pains on Monday evening and died early on Tuesday afternoon when his condition worsened.

Mills, who oversaw the start of oil production in Ghana, returned from medical checks in the United States several weeks ago.

Source: Reuters
(Reporting by Kwassi Kpodo; Writing by David Lewis; Editing by Michael Roddy)

On Anxiety and Worry

This morning, I woke up to the words of an old hymn playing in my head...

"O, what peace we often forfeit;
O, what needless pain we bear;
All because we do not carry,
everything to God in prayer".

It seems human to worry. There are so many variables we encounter in the course of a day that we are often left with no option than to move out in blind faith, or obsess about the myriad of things that could go wrong.

I take that one step further, sometimes. I seem to have a problem with obsessing about the future. One would think the problems of the present are enough, but no - poor Koye must worry his head about the many variables that could potentially impact my life months down the road.

I see why God sent me a choir of angels to serenade me with that song as I awakened today. I am reminded of the words of Paul in Phil. 4.
"Do not be anxious about anything. But in everything, by prayer and supplication - with thanksgiving - make your requests known to God. And then the peace of God - which transcends all understanding - shall keep your hearts and mind through Christ Jesus".

Those words were for me this morning, and I thought to share them with you.

God is still in the business of watching out for us.

Introducing: Distorted, a Comic for (Young) Adults

Distorted tells the thrilling story of life's puzzles through a young man eyes - Jasper Alison.   Born to a Nigerian father and an American mother, he is the first child  out of three children. Jasper's life is full of contradictions; he  seeks answers to questions. His life takes a turn for the worst when  his mother dies during the birth of his younger brother. Jasper's father- Otunba Alison turns to politics to feel the vacuum created by his wife's loss. Politics becomes an obsession for him; his children discover different obsessions.

With no parental guidance, life becomes an experiment for the children. Jasper, in his inquisitive nature continually asks- what is the essence of family? Without a response, he loses all sense of belonging to the family which he searched for and found in a cult--the Brotherhood of the Black Star.

He meets George, an extremely cunning friend from a broken home, they become best of friends. The cord of friendship  becomes strained when George starts developing interest in Louise, Jasper's sister. Jasper knew how dangerous his friend was and did not want his sister anywhere near him. However, after much pressure and manipulation, Jasper bows to pressure from George. He helps him woo his sister.  
     

Ayo Makinde, the author

George gang rapes Jasper's sister and dumps her unconscious body in a lagoon on campus. Louise survives the rape episode, but her life is  shattered by deep emotional scars. Jasper avenges the dastard act. But with consequences.  The Brotherhood of the Black Star! It is a taboo in the brotherhood for a member to get even with another member. The consequence? Death.

Jasper finds himself in a battle, not just to save his own life but to save his entire family from being wiped out. A stage is set for a breathtaking battle of wits and survival. Jasper's battle for survival leads him like a endless vicious cycle, into the heart of a conspiracy too distorted to untie.  Distorted is action packed, and can be read by both young and old, as there is something for everyone in its colourful pages.

The comic is distributed across  Nigeria by Magazine Circulation Nigeria Ltd. You can also buy copies  from Terrakulture, Debonair Bookstores and the Hub Media Stores, Palms Shopping Mall, Lagos.

The eternal battle between Procter & Gamble and Unilever is intensifying in the developing world

Some interesting perspective from The Economist on the 'eternal' battle between Procter & Gamble and Unilever... A must-read if you are interested in the dynamics of FMCG business on a multi-national scale.

"The sense that Unilever is on the up, whereas P&G is in trouble, is the latest swing of a pendulum that only five years ago saw Unilever struggling as P&G soared. The slow economic recovery in America and the deteriorating economic situation in Europe have hit P&G harder, because it earns a greater share of its revenues in those developed markets and its brands tend to be more expensive than Unilever's—and thus more likely to be sacrificed by consumers who are being forced to count the pennies.


Mr McDonald's promise to make P&G's pricing more competitive, and his plan to cut costs by $10 billion, could, if delivered, help to restore P&G's fortunes in these markets at the expense of Unilever and other consumer-goods firms. But the biggest questions concern how P&G can improve its performance in the developing economies on which both it and Unilever depend for long-term growth."


Read the full article here.

#RantAlert; More Thoughts on the Dana Plane Crash

Today in church, I listened to someone who lost 2 cousins in the Dana Air Crash talk about how that loss has impacted his life.

They were age-mates, three of them sharing ambitious plans to touch and improve lives and bring change to their world - and now two of them are gone. Just like that.

They did not have a chance to document their plans for someone else to execute. They did not touch lives on as grand a scale as they would have desired. They did not build the corporations and businesses they planned to.

The acceptable time is NOW. Make impact, furiously. Soak in every moment, every experience. Have fun. Laugh. Cry. Live, love, learn!

Sent from my mobile device.

#RantAlert: Random Thoughts on the Colorado Massacre

This is eerie, very - very eerie!

Jessica Redfield, one of the 14 people who lost their lives during the Colorado Massacre yesterday, only narrowly escaped a shooting at the Eaton Center a month ago (June 5, 2012).

She wrote a blogpost about it:

"My receipt shows my purchase was made at 6:20 pm. After that purchase I said I felt funny. It wasn’t the kind of funny you feel after spending money you know you shouldn’t have spent. It was almost a panicky feeling that left my chest feeling like something was missing. A feeling that was overwhelming enough to lead me to head outside in the rain to get fresh air instead of continuing back into the food court to go shopping at SportChek. The gunshots rung out at 6:23. Had I not gone outside, I would’ve been in the midst of gunfire.

My Problem with Death; New Post by Lanre Fatokun on losing wife and both children during the DANA Air Crash

You remember the first post I put up about Lanre Fatokun (who lost his wife and both children during the Dana Air Crash)? Read it here if you don't...

This guy has to be one of the most courageous I know.

Now he has written a new post in his quest to find meaning...

"It’s been a shearing and gruelling time for me to keep on after the departure of my wife, son and daughter.
I think words from my mouth have been few on this issue.


A friend wrote me and I had this to tell her:
“I found out that my supposedly deep faith was insufficiently convinced about life after death.”


For about a week, my weeping was about what my trio might have gone through before the eventual demise..."

Strong man! Read the full article here.

Patience Jonathan Appointed Permanent Secretary in Bayelsa State

Dame Patience Jonathan, professor of Spoken English, made history yesterday by becoming the first First Lady of Nigeria to be appointed Permanent Secretary in a State civil service. 


Explaining their reason for the appointment, the senior special assistant to the governor on media affairs, Mr. Daniel Iworiso-Markson, said that the First Lady was a teacher in the state’s civil service and has been on leave of absence since 1999 to join her  husband in his political service; first as a deputy governor, governor, vice president, then president. If not for the leave of absence, according to him, Mrs Jonathan would have risen to the status of a permanent secretary by now.

All Most Nigerian Governors are clowns!!! I mean, what kind of thinking was responsible for this action?

Win A Blackberry Playbook

Reminder...

Short story writer, editor and author of  the short story collection, The Son of your Father’s concubine, ‘Seun Salami, is proud to announce his first writing competition – End the Story.

The winner of the competition wins a BlackBerry Playbook, 3 books from Bookvine, an autographed copy of The Son of your Father’s concubine, an evening with ‘Seun Salami and another Bookvine author as well as first consideration for a Bookvine publishing deal.

The competition which is proudly supported by Bookvine, publishers of ‘Seun’s book, is basically aimed at challenging the creativity of young Writers of African origin in order to improve their art.

Participants are expected to provide a conclusion (of not more than 500 words) to one of Seun’s most popular stories first published on YNaija.com, titled, The Sex life of a Lagos mad woman. It must be a creative and logical conclusion to the story.

The original story of 1,347 words is available at

1. SeunWrites.com http://seunwrites.com/2012/06/04/the-sex-life-of-a-lagos-mad-woman/ or

2. YNaija.com http://ynaija.com/short-story-the-sex-life-of-a-lagos-mad-woman/

The competition opens on July 2, 2012 and entries close on July 15. It is open to all writers of African origin regardless of age and current location.

Unemployment: The Ticking Time-Bomb

Nice article by Salisu Suleiman:


How many people have paused to reflect on the frustration of millions of Nigerians who have no idea where and when their next meals will come from? Can one truly appreciate the angst of millions of Nigerians in their 20s and 30s who have no jobs, no prospects and no hopes?

While all attention has been focused on Boko Haram, it is easy to forget the more deadly existential threat that is primed and ticking towards a massive detonation. But the coming explosion will not be restricted to the north: it will shake all of Nigeria: That is the danger of having 20 million youth with nothing to do.

Minister of Sports and Youth Development, Bolaji Abdullahi, recently admitted that 20 million Nigerian youth were unemployed. Other observers believe the figure is higher, especially in the north. In all, some estimates suggest that Nigeria has about 90 million people who are willing and able to work, but about 70 million have no productive employment. Whatever the actual figures may be, the truth is that unemployment is a major challenge to Nigeria’s growth and stability and is the reason why over 100 million Nigerians live in poverty.


Read the rest of the article here.

#RantAlert; Abbreviations and Capitalizations

When I have not written in quite a while, I find it difficult to start again. This time, I have decided to re-start with a rant... :)

Today, I want to complain about my longtime friend and loyal reader - Mr. X - who always abbreviates in emails and text messages, and spells his name with small caps.

In an online world where there is so much that screams for my attention, I hardly have the time - or patience, to decipher abbreviations. I abs h8 it whn ppl cnt write perfect Eng. in emails, on fb, & evn all d tym in txt msgs. I h8 it! It slows my reading down, greatly, and so far as I am concerned simply does not speak well!

I mean, when you're Zuckerberg or Gates - you can afford to write however you want... but so long as you're a client of mine or a friend seeking a favor - please know that I do not like poor English!

And whatever you do - do NOT spell your name in small caps if you're mailing me!!! Little red lights go off in my head when I get to the end of an email and see: mr. x. I mean!!! Whatever is worth doing at all is worth doing well... If you must write your name, write it properly!!!

Aaaaaaaaargh!

koye-ladele mogbekeloluwa :)

NUC Suspends Operational License of 7 Universities (5 Church Universities)

Something is terribly wrong with Nigerian education.

When President Goodluck promised to establish a Federal University in every state (including building specialist Almajiri schools) - I was not taken in, unlike many other Nigerians.

I have always been of the opinion that the rot in the existing Universities needs to be fixed before we even begin to think of building new ones. Our existing Universities are underfunded, understaffed, and the rot looks set to continue. In an earlier post on facebook, I talked about how I could not properly test my project (a solar powered refrigerator) because my department (Mechanical Engineering, OAU) did not have the necessary equipment (thermocouples, etc).

At least one Federal Agency seems to be taking their oversight duties seriously. This morning, I read that the NUC has suspended the operational licenses of the following private universities for violating its guidelines in physical facilities and academic programs:

• Achievers.
• Caritas.
• Joseph Ayo Babalola.
• Lead City.
• Madonna.
• Obong.
• Tansian.

It is interesting that five (5) of these seven universities are owned/run/founded by churches.

Read my earlier thoughts on church universities on the Daily Times blog.

Reps stop NYSC from posting Corpers to Volatile States

Only yesterday I wrote about a friend who will not be joining the NYSC because he was posted to Plateau.

Now, it appears there might be hope for him - and other corpers posted to the North; the House of Reps has directed the NYSC to stop posting mobilized corpers to volatile states in the North... :)

This was a direct response to the protests which held in Abuja yesterday... Read more on the Channels TV blog here.

One thing I need to understand: does the House of Reps have the authority to direct/order the NYSC?

On Stupid Blackberry Broadcasts...

I know so many posts have been written about 'not-so-wise' Blackberry broadcasts, but I will go on to add one more to the fray... :)

Yesterday, I received the following broadcast from a friend on BBM, a graduate o... I was super-shocked!

"BBM is shutting down today at 12.00pm tonight if you don't broadcast this you'll loose your contacts Sorry guys Apparently it is true, cause it happened to certain people already, so I'm not taking any chances !! Message from Jim Balsamic (CEO of RIM Blackberry) we have had an over usage of user names on Blackberry Messenger. We are requesting all users to forward this message to their entire contact list. If you do not forward this message, we will take it as your account is invalid and it will be deleted within the next 48 hours. Please DO NOT ignore this message or blackberry will no longer recognise your pin. If you wish to re-activate your account after it has been deleted, a charge of $25.00 will be added to your monthly bill. We are also aware of the issue involving the pictures updates not showing. We are working diligently at fixing this problem and it will be up and running as soon as possible. Thank you for your cooperation... by the way this will be the last Broadcast from us VSFTBC"

What kind of graduate believes these things and forwards this kind of BC?

MTN: Maximum Thievery Nationwide!

Is it too much to ask for decent network from a company that claims to be everywhere you go?

I have tried hard not to make this post, but it just sucks that I cannot make a call or send a text from my MTN phone - which by the way I have downgraded to 'second phone status'.

And I'm not taking any PR nonsense about this starting "two days ago". This has been on for five days!

Epic fail, MTN. Epic fail!

NYSC; Corpers posted to the North; Rantings

I have a friend who will not be joining the Batch B of the NYSC in camp today, because he was posted to Plateau State.

Being the last born child, his entire family was aligned that he delay his service by 4 months - till November - in the hope that he will be posted to a more peaceful state. Hence, my friend will join the rest of us - who were not mobilized by OAU because of a delay in processing our five month old results - in awaiting the Batch C postings.

All day, I have wondered why NYSC continues to post Corpers to troubled states such as Plateau, Borno, Kaduna and the likes... I have not found answers that work yet.

Does Nigeria have any regard for the life of her youth, her future?

When Goodluck is Sober

Great article by Salisu Suleiman!


In the run-up to last year’s presidential election, President Goodluck Jonathan made a campaign trip to the South-west to seek support and votes. In classic Jonathanian fashion, the moment he went off the script, he dropped a bolt from the blue by saying that the South-west was too sophisticated to be run by ‘rogues and rascals’.

In a swift response, the perceived target of the barb, former Lagos state governor, Bola Tinubu, hit back to the effect that the current tenant of Aso Villa was basically a ‘drunken fisherman’. The exchange provided comic relief to an otherwise drab and colourless campaign.

However, as soon as the PDP machinery ‘shocked and awed’ Nigerian voters into retaining the presidency, rumours of drunken revelries at the Villa began to emerge. Any thoughts that the indulgencies were merely to celebrate a hard bought victory vanished when persistent leaks about presidential inebriation continued to come out.

Continue to read the full article on his blog...

How I Fell in Love with Two Women (Final Episode)

This story is continued from part six here...

My mind went blank and time seemed to stop. I would not have been more shocked if an embalmed monkey had climbed into the bus and taken a seat next to me.

‘Sayo was equally shocked. Here she was, presumably going to obtain some exotic ingredient from a market in town – and the object of all her ‘work’ was off on a trip with some other girl?

I tried to speak, but the words would not form. There was nothing to say: no lie or excuse; no hurriedly concocted fib with the slightest chance to save my sorry ass. I was caught, not red-handed – but pants down!