Strike! Update
Well, Friday's strike was quiet enough. No the country did not grind to a halt. And no, the government has refused to abandon the Levy. Instead, they propose to have a 3% levy, effective immediately, and introduce the 5% in July. And to quote the Finance Minister as he presented this proposal as part of his Budget Speech in parliment on Friday - that is that. End of story.
Ooooooo-Kay then. 5 months paying 2% less tax to the government. [pause and reflect on that]
Anyway, I haven't heard what the unions plan to do in response.
Posted by YingYang at 1:36 PM
Tempo TV finally reaches GND!
Hellooo!! Flipping channels this morning and I see that Ch29 (BET) is showing
Tempo! H-excitement! Oh lord, I am hoping that Cablevision is planning to keep the network on our cable line-up permanently.
Of course, as a 'net junkie I'm slightly annoyed that I can't seem to find a Tempo Network web site. Hey Tempo/MTV execs... what up wid that?
ps: Rupee so sexy 'ey? I never seen him sing live.
Posted by YingYang at 12:48 PM
Strike!
Thanks everyone for all the encouragement and good words re: the Exercise and Diet Plan. Things are going well. Started exercise class (aerobics & step) 3 times a week, and am plucking up the courage to wake up extra early 3 mornings a week to go walking.
As some of you may be aware, Grenada is nary 2 days shy of a full-blown general strike, being called to protest the Reconstruction Levy. The Levy (it’s a levy, not income tax. Income tax requires pesky things like proper paperwork, deductions, credits, etc) is 5% of your earnings over $1,000 per month. People making over $5,000/month already pay a form of income tax, so their Levy percentage is 2%. Well, the Trades Union Council has taken great issue with this Levy, particularly
in light of the massive increase in the cost of living since the Gas Price Increase of October ’05.
Long story short, the government refuses
to budge, the unions refuse
to budge. The Chamber of Commerce, Conference of Churches, and the Employers’ Federation are all trying to mediate the situation. Not a day goes by that there isn’t some breathless announcement on the radio that “An agreement has been reached!”, “The agreement has been refused!”, “The government insists…”, “The unions insist….” blah blah blah.
On Friday there is a national day of protest called by the unions. Of course, day of protest = STRIKE, so that will prove to be hilarious [/tongue in cheek]. The bus associations are expected to strike in support as well so…. good times!
Oh, would I be on strike too? Nope. Not unionised, so no chance of that. Besides I’m traditionally not terribly pro-union anyway. My take on the Levy is this: Sure I want to pay my share towards the rebuilding of the country. But I have serious concerns about giving any more of my hard-earned money to
this government (Yeah, I’m not an NNP/Mitchell supporter as you can guess) and I’m not alone in this concern. Read Lloyd Noel's weekly column
here as he discusses the situation.
However, to allay the fears of those out of the country, we are not on the brink of another coup. Please! Enough with that bit of rumour-mongering! My mother-in-law called from St. Lucia the other day in a fit of panic as the talk over there was ::drum roll:: another revo in Grenada. I swear Mr YY and I had a fit of laughter that lasted 3 hours or so. No fear of any armed uprising in Grenada any time soon. The old revolutionaries are all middle-aged and more worried about mortgages, nice cars and the shareholders meetings than about socialism, and the only thing the young generation would revolt for is if Cablevision stopped carrying BET. Hah!
Will post a report on Friday! You can keep up to date with The Happenings
here.
Posted by YingYang at 4:07 PM
Losing weight
I forgot to blog about the fact that I began a weight loss programme on January 3rd. I had a fat version of a "lightbulb moment" after viewing the hundreds of Christmas photos in which I looked like a land-based version of a submarine. In not one of the photos did I look "nice" and the startling appearance of a double chin (where the hell did THAT come from!) has galvanised me into action.
So, I joined
SparkPeople.com. It's a great online diet and exercise web site. I just entered my current weight, my goal weight, and my ideal per week weight loss (2lbs) and the SparkCalculator promised me that if I adhered to the daily calorie/carb/fat/protein limits, and met the required weekly exercise goals, that I would loose 50lbs by July.
If I loose said 50lbs - I will undoubtedly be Grenada's hottest, sexist, sweetest looking, finest-ass woman!So far, 1.5kgs lost (sorry, my scale is a kilogram scale much to my annoyance) which translates to 3.3lbs. God! I hope that is not just water weight. I am being a very, very good girl. I have cut out all refined sugar, bread, pasta, root veg, rice, and most dairy. I am learning to read labels and count calories. A fit of aerated-drink withdrawal has led me to discover Diet Sprite, which tastes much, much better than any other diet soda - you can't taste the sweetener at all. Yay! I am faithfully chopping salads, measuring quantities and logging everything that passes my lips. And to tell you the truth, it's actually been easier than I thought. If I feel tempted, like today when a client dropped off BARS of Swiss chocolates for us, I just remember that the Christmas picture in which I looked the best (read: least bad) was one of me with my mouth full of food. Talk about motivation.
I still have not begun my recommended exercise routine and I know that unless I do I will definitely not start seeing the type of results I want to see. So..... next week's committment is to get moving.
And guess what? I'm kinda looking forward to it! July - here I come!!!
Posted by YingYang at 2:58 PM
Fun thing
Check out this cool
Face Recognition online software.
My daughter looks like:
1. Brigitte Bardot (Huh??) 49%
2. Pamela Anderson (Double huh?) 49%
3. Lenny Kravitz (OooooooKay then) 48%
I, on the other hand, do not resemble a blonde bombshell or a sorta sexy man, because I look like:
1.
Jeanne Moreau 47% Not good, because
this is what she looks like now.
2. Josephine Baker 43% Hey, hey, hey! That's more
like it!3. Avril Lavigne 42% Oh great. Just what I always wanted. To "look like" a faux punk-rock singer.
... and the cherry on top... YingYang looks like
Lee Harvey Oswald 51%
!!!!!!Take a look -
versus
I just don't see the resemblence at all.
Posted by YingYang at 11:30 AM
Happy Belated New Year to all!
This is what I saw at midnight December 31. If you look hard you will see
Yamfoot - that's her resort! :D
And I must show off a little bit - our hapless Canon Powershot died recently (don't buy one!) and then someone gave me this little beauty.
Sweet!!! This camera, even though it is older than our expired Canon, is far superior in features, options and zoom. *happy sigh* See? When one door closes, another one opens.
Happy 2006 everyone.
Posted by YingYang at 9:52 AM
Sad News
Back at work this morning only to be met with
this headline.
Scott Deady, 46, and a French woman were sailing from Grenada to St. Petersburg, Florida, when he fell overboard in the Caribbean Sea early Saturday
What's horrifying is that I personally knew Scott and his companion Pascale; it was from St David's Harbour that they departed for their trip up the U.S. last week. The owner of the boat, Tim Owen, was still here in Grenada on his other boat when I left work for the holidays on Friday. Obviously he is not here today as he left immediately for the U.S. over the weekend, but the news has really stunned us.
Then there's
this plane crash incident.
The Grumman G-73 airplane, operated by Chalk's Ocean Airways, was headed to the island of Bimini in the Bahamas. Airline officials said the plane had been carrying 20 people: two pilots and 18 passengers, including three infants.
Turns out that one of the pilots was the daughter of a client of ours.
It's terribly disconcerting when people you know, even though on a peripheral rather than personal level, die suddenly and in the case of these two people, die very dramatically. Heartfelt condolences and best wishes go out to their family and friends.
Posted by YingYang at 11:44 AM
