The NOVICE MASTER|Welcome to Uncle Che’s NOVICE MASTER. This blog is all about Science and Technology, Business and Economy, Home and Family, Personality and Self Improvement as well as personal opinions, reviews and lifestream

Yeah, I intend pushing the publish button at exactly 11:55pm so that it gets published just a few seconds before 2009. This is actually my last post for the year.

It is always difficult to meet up to expectations, and also to be grateful for what we have. Maybe this is because we set standards that are to high for us to achieve, and secondly because we have certain things at the expense of others, so we can’t really value them. Throughout this year that will be ending in the next few minutes, I have always been unsatisfied with most of the things that concern me, always expecting more. However, when I come to see where I could have stood if I never had the little I have and I never went as far as I have gone, I get down on my knees and thank God. 2008 Has been a very great year.

This year, I never attempted 25 of the things I planned. Of the remaining 75, I failed 50 and 25 were passed with just an average. This was not only about me. I led many people down and failed quite a bunch. I am not really standing at the apex, where I thought I would, neither am I receiving all the rainfall and sunshine I desire and dreamt for.

Out of all these failures, however, one thing remains certain. I tried my best. Yeah, of course, my best wasn’t enough, but it was my best, right?

In the next few minutes, I would be starting another year and I bet you, with God’s alway available help, it would be 9,999,999,999,999 times better than last year. Playing better with the same cards is my goal

Nothing can be more soul-killing than missing one-in-a-million during a period like this. Normally, when one passes away, that is when he/she gets appreciated by others. But this case is different. When I say Favour was one in a million, I sincerely mean it.

Some people easily make friends, others don’t. Maybe it has something to do with our various temperaments, but let’s face it; it takes a lot, quite a lot to make a friend in the shortest possible time. How I knew Favour is not anything extraordinary, but how she took me and who she considered me to be, whether I could meet up or not, is something I should really admire her for.

About three years ago, when I was serving at Galax Infotech Cyber Cafe, Favour came in asking if we offered short courses for basic computer knowledge. Actually, I wasn’t doing that then but I saw in her a very special personality; that of a very promising friend. I accepted, and took her through basic computer studies, inter and web, and some Microsoft Office programs. I won’t say I was soft on her because I like her, or because she respected me very much. Nah! That would be lying. I scolded her the same way I do every student I have ever had.

Favour was so much fond of Noela and I. She used to urge us to get married and encouraged us that we could get married even if we thought we didn’t have much for ourselves.

She was always a “sickling”, but her trust in God always kept her strong and happy. .

Noela was very shocked when she heard that Favour is no more. I knew she would be, that’s why I delayed for one more day before giving her the bad news.

Was it really bad news? I don’t think so. Though we loved her, the Almighty God loved her better and called her to spend eternity with Him. We miss her very much, but God has a positive reason for anything, I believe.

R.I.P, Favour.

Uncle Che was born on a 29th, so was Lainy, and Noela. Hmm. What a coincidence.

Today (Dec 29) is Noela’s birthday. I won’t want to pretend it was ringing in my head all along. No! I almost forgot it. If not for yahoo.com password recovery wizard, Noela could have received the greatest shock of her life. Me, forgetting her birthday? Oh. She couldn’t have thought it funny.

Yesterday, I was trying hard to remmeber a certain Yahoo password but to no avail. Then I reluctantly decided to use the Yahoo Password Recovery Wizard. Usually, it asks for your Date of birth, Country and zip code. I tried the info I thought was OK, but it didn’t work. “Hey, I must have used Noela’s personal details for it”, I thought. As I was about to type Noela’s date of birth, I realised that I was just a few hours to her date of birth.

Noela was still in Bamenda. Though I knew she would be coming to meet me at Buea soon, I wasn’t really sure of the date. No need asking, because she always likes surprising me. All I wanted to do was to plead that she comes the next day, although I never revealed to her why. She accepted she will, and I was very happy. Later in the evening, I decided to call her again and say “Hi”, but to my greatest surprise, she asked me to meet her at her place in an hour’s time. Wow. I was surprised and happy, but was still in doubts as to whether she was serious or just some of her tricks. Well, I just decided to give it a try and…

Happy Birthday, Noela.

I LOVE U

Ohh! Mum again. Calls me home and says it is urgent. I have been thinking if it is some of of trick to get me up there so that I spend Christmas with the family. I asked what the problem was, over and over and she said “please just come, it is urgent and we can’t talk it over the phone”.

She claims my Aunt and Her have got important issues they want to discuss with me. She says it concerns my dad’s death celebration and other important things we have to do at the palace. That is the only lead she gave after I insisted for a very long time.

Well, mum is mum and I have to trust that she does not just want me to make an unnecessary trip to Bamenda. I therefore will be traveling to Bamenda this night. I haven’t even told my baby, but I guess she will understand and let me go.

I hate to think about this, but looking at things objectively, I must face it. My job is really taking much of my time, so much that I always borrow some few hours from leisure and sleep and add to my working hours. Most of my hobbies are turning to nightmares and I hardly find time to do some stuffs like “normal” people would.

At times, Noela scolds and throws pillows at me saying I am gradually allowing work to take over my life. I think I must listen to her. I have been preoccupied with work so much that I even tend to forget bout my most cherished hobby and possibly future profession, music.

At first, I used to dedicate many hours to music; listening, producing and performing. Now, I get such opportunities just about twice a month. The other day, I couldn’t believe I had to take hours searching my my music production software, FuityLoops and Sampliude.

I haven’t tried Samplitude for a very long time, but I guess that one is more of tweaking knobs than actual creativity where you have to pound your head against the wall to get some results, but fruity loops? Come on. I really can’t believe how long it takes me to make a single beat now.

Scary!!!

I was scared telling my baby that I will be traveling to Bamenda all of a sudden. I however, thought she would understand it is not my fault and that I have to attend to Mum’s call. I expected her to say yes and in a low sad voice, tell me she will be waiting for me but…

I can’t just be here alone. Although I planned traveling on the 23rd, spending these few days without you here will be like in hell. I am going with you.

How sweet!

Making Plans to change this theme.

Yeah, I have thought this out carefully before reaching this conclusion. I know switching themes too often is really unprofessional but I rally need to do this one more time. Just once and I promise you guys won’t fee this is totally a different blog, never, during any future visit.

I am not necessarily going for a “better theme”, if you think that is what I will say. my current theme, violator, is great but for a few things I will like different from what is actually resented and provided.

Elegance: I thought a dark background will make the blog content prominent. Yeah, this is true but how can it hold in this case where not only the background is dark? The column dividers and header background are also dark, and the dark colors almost overshadow the light ones.

Space: with three columns, one 50% and the others 15 and 35, there is almost no free or white spaces. Everything appears very choked up and the least advert will make the whole blog ads minded.

Blog Title and Slogan: Though images are good for blog headers since they can carry much information and are not limited to just a blog title and slogan, I still prefer the later because they are very light and will not waste time rendering when the page is launched. I prefer a theme with a prominent title and slogan, not image header.

Prominent Fonts: Is the text on this blog as prominent as i would want it be? Not at all. The font size of the body content is too small and makes it difficult reading posts.

I know it took me a very long time to find a theme as good as this one, because of the above reasons, I will have to make an adventure into the theme world again.

Wish me luck.

I love my PC. I love the internet. I am crazy for the WWW and though I actively participate on blogs, social networks and forums, I feel the need to make my presence felt locally. I have always dreamt of something I could put up on the web that would be of help to my counterparts. Something a particular group of people would like and would be of great help to them.

One evening, after a  very long and tiring day, I decided to have some quality time listening to my demos. Yeah, in case you never heard, Uncle Che is an unsigned rap artists. HipHop is my passion and I go crazy on the mic doing some Christian Rap, or pure hardcore, with a little bit of gangster. My demos are pretty old. I have been so caught up with work recently in a manner that I have made a very great sacrifice on the part of music. The newest demo I have now is at least two years old. Ha ha ha

When I was listening to the Demos, something stroke me on my mind. What if it was just more than me listening to this right now? How many people know what I am listening to? If these were to be promoted and I gained some fame, would I be encouraged to put more efforts and become a better rapper? If so, then could I possibly get a record deal somewhere and release a market quality product and sell nationwide?

As these questions kept ringing in my head, I thought of a web solution where unsigned artists could upload their stuff (audios and videos) for others to stream or download, form fan clubs, sell tracks or album…etc. Yeah, this is not something new, so what the heck? Hmm. You are right. There are possibly hundreds of solutions on the web that work like this. However, I am standing up and looking at you straight in the eye, shoulder high and saying “Mine is a niche”. Yes! You heard me. I won’t set up something with the intention of having all unsigned artists on the planet register to. I am out to build this just for a very small community, which can be easily managed and the members dealt with at a more interactive and personal level. This would be some sort of family of unsigned artits, all of whom are either Cameronians, or living in Cameroon.

Secondly, I am not just making Camhood a website. It is an organization. The people who register would not just be some “behind the monitor” fans, but real people whose identities can be verified and they can be called upon to hold meetings and contribute for everyone’s benefit.

Through Lainy’s help, I have bought Camhood’s domain name at NameCheap. Now, the next step is figuring out how to start it all. It ain’t gonna be easy, Yeah, dat I know…

That’s a question mum asked me and i must accept it is a very tough one.

I have been out of my hometown for a period of 8 years now, and during this long time, I have been spending less than a month per year at home. Mum considers this unfair to the family and will like to accuse me of not paying visits back home at all. When she asked me over the phone yesterday if I will be coming back home, I answered without any second thoughts.

Did I answer “Yes” just to please mum or I am really making plans to go for Christmas and spend it with the family. This is a very difficult question.

I have lots to gain, technically, if I visit home so I really don’t know why I should be in doubts. I really want to have the fun of traveling, spending time with my family, visiting friends, and going on the hills, valleys and plains for some sightseeing.

On the negative side, I will miss my friends in Buea and also break communication with those i talk to over the net. I will also miss blogging and generally, I will miss work.

Whatever decision I am about to take, I can’t forget mum wants me at home. That alone matters very much, so I have decided I will pay a visit to Home Sweet Home.

After 4 years of a very strong relationship with my lovely baby, Noela, I thought this December will host the magical moment. I thought I will take her to the alter and a priest present us before God and declare us Husband and Wife.

Now, with regrets, I think this is not going to be possible. I have fully understood that it takes just more than Love for two to unite in marriage. Besides the emotional, mental and physical maturity is the financial maturity. One has to be ready not only to love and cherish forever his wife, but also to protect and provide for till the end of time.

I have talked this out with my love. She was very very mad with the decisions but at least she understood.  She thinks that mid 2009, say June will be a good time but for certain reasons, I still prefer December.

Noela has been waiting for four years, and if I rally have to be objective, asking her to wait for another year is too much, but for my sake, she would. She believes it is better to prepare and go along well than hasten and fall in traps. I love and trust her judgment.

Thanks, baby.

Wow, 4^th December 2008. Hmmm! They say one day at a time. That’s true. And also, each day has to be different. Each day is unique. That’s why life is so interesting. If life was a routine and predictatble, it wil be dull and not so important.

At about 5:30AM today, I got a call from my mum. Hmmm. What is she up to? Mum just wanted my brothers to talk to me. They are always excited talking t me over the phone. They are the only two brothers I have, and the three of us share a very strong bond. The elder of the two has been out of school for some time now and will like to continue to form 1. The younger one is still about to complete primary school and is aleady considering various choices after his First School Leaving Certificate. They both want to attend technical colleges. For the older one, it is ok by me. He is not very god at general education, so technical education may be a better choice. But for ythe youngre one, general education is what he has been thriving in and i really wish he continues. However, at times we really need to allow the kids to make their own decissions. Well, I didn’t really give the any specific answer, but made sure I make it known to them that no one has to supress them.

What is your contribution to the world wide web?

The world wide web is a network of millions of computers, each containing information accessible through the internet. The information is vast and almost limitless because there is very little restriction to who contributes to the web. As long as one has the tiniest knowledge about writing and publishing, he/she can rightfully put up some piece of useful text, photos, music or videos.

Any piece of information you publish on the web is of great importance to at least a few thousand users, even if it is just your diary you are publishing online. People do learn from other people just by following up their daily activities or reading their biography. To publish online, however, one should be ready to put up something that is not against basic ethical principles. Why contribute to hate, racism.

Most people do not contribute to the world wide web because they either don’t have the means or they don’t know how. In developing countries, the means is always the case. There are many individuals without computers connected to the internet. In some more developed countries where almost everyone is connected to the internet, there is still a great deal of people who do not know what to publish or where to publish.

Traditionally, in the past, publishing to the internet meant having your own personal site. Not everyone would like to go through the hassle of paying for and maintaining a web space. Even if the time and money is not a problem, expertise might be. Some people would still find it difficult publishing information on a website that has been built for them. Of course, this requires knowledge in html.

Later on, article directories made things easier for all. Most people would just write what they want to publish and submit to an article directory. If the writing is in accordance with their guidelines, it is published. The main problem with article directories is that they are very selective on what is published. This is both good and bad news. “Selective” doesn’t mean what they don’t take is bad. At times, not just any god piece of writing is necessary.

The most recent method of contributing to the web, that was introduced in the late 90s is blogging. With blogging, one is free to express him/herself as much as possible. One can publish at any time and also publish almost anything as far as it sticks to modern ethical rules (no hate, porn or illegal stuff).

With blogging, you control what you publish, and format it to suit your own taste. Blogging can be fun and rewarding. You get to meet like and unlike minded individuals, make friends, exchange ideas, and in some cases, make a few dollars a month.

It is almost a year now since I started blogging. In October 2007, I was marveled that I could “own” my own personal space on the web and publish my stories to. Although I never new exactly what I was doing till early this year, I gradually developed interest in blogging and didn’t relent my efforts to learn how to blog better. I ran a couple of blogs on blogspot and at the same time, i was contributing articles to blogging communities. I later on abandoned all the stuff I was doing and started all over. During my blogging lessons, I learned a great deal of html, css, cpanel, ftp, databases, etc and could courageously start experimenting stuff on wordpress.

I had a very hard time learning how to blog because I didn’t know exactly where to turn to for knowledge. It is very certain that there are numerous blogs in the blogosphere that are dedicated to helping newbies with their blogging endeavors. AZ Blogging, owned and maintained by my humble self, is one of them.

I took my time on AZ Blogging to make sure a newbie doesn’t find blogging some sort of rocket science. What is A Blog? AZ Blogging answers that. If you have never been into blogging or want to know more about blogging, checking out the posts on the sitemap can be of great help.

Blogging is one big revolution on the web. Don’t miss it!