Category: kikuism

the perfect N95 headset

The Nokia N95 has been on the market for quite some time now (March 2007?) and if there’s anything I always wanted to change about it, then it clearly is the inappropriate headset it came shipped with (pictured below).

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The HS-45 headset with its AD-43 remote control unit failed to work after 4-5 months in use, so I went out and bought a few ofter solutions that never really performed the way I wanted it. Also, Nokia never really delivered a better solution, but instead kept on producing other unsatifying headsets.

While reviewing the Nokia E71 business phone that came shipped with the HS-47 headset as well as the state-of-the-art BH-903 Bluetooth Stereo Headset (for review), I quickly realized that I would want to have something similar to the HS-47.

What I needed to do was to merge my Sony MDR-818 earphones with the HS-43 headset I had bought via eBay some time ago. After all, what I need in a working wired headset are the following features:

  1. shaped earphones (like on the MDR-818 or the BH-903)
  2. an angled 3,5mm plug because the audio/video jack is on the side of the N95 (contrary to many other current Nokia phones who have it on top)
  3. a microphone located at the mouth and not on the chest
  4. some sort of volume control

So there I went, cutting the 10,- EUR Sony earphones into pieces and opening up the control unit on the HS-43…

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some of the tools: a soldering iron (maybe not this Weller as it takes ages to heat up), old Sony MDR-818 earphones, Nokia HS-43 headset

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HS-43 control unit opened up

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unsolder L+ / L- and R+ / R- to remove the existing earphones + also remove the brass clip on the cable

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trim the “new” earphones to the desired length and solder them onto the PCB, refix the brass clip to provide a strain relief on the cable (important!)

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Et voilá – JKE’s own headset for the N95 that fulfills all the open issues I ever had with other headsets. Nice!

@ Nokia: PLEASE change your headset policy and – if you don’t want to equip your shipped handsets with decent headsets due to marketing reasons – at least provide us with better alternatives. Headsets are a commodity, and will as such always brake at one point.

credit card fun

I need a new credit card and my bank offers this special option for an extra annual fee of EUR 3,- where I can upload pictures which are then printed directly on the cc.

Atiriiri…I thought, what fun! Let’s see what my vanity (& a sleepless night, hence the motivation for this beautiful waste of time) comes up with:

1. Kikoi – I’ve actually thought about using this Kikoi image (see header logo on my blog) more often- even with a possible new WP-template.

Kikoi

2. Brokat – my grandmother’s ball gown (I really like the pattern!)

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3. view from the backyard @ Forodha Towers on Nairobi ;-)

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4. afternoon rain, somewhere between Limuru and Ruaka

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5. my favourite view on Garissa

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6. somewhere in Kitengela/Mbagathi. Mzeecedric knows where this is.

Mbagathi

7. Somewhere on the way to Olepolos…

Olepolos

Since I can’t decide which one to choose (1.,6. or 7.?), you are hereby cordially invited to contribute your 2c-comment! :-)

You know these (basic!) VISA cards cost around 20,- EUR / a – so I was wondering whether anyone is actually using those bonus-cards (Gold, Platinum, Amazon, etc.) where you’re given extra miles for any purchase via the card + insurance package? I know the system is totally different from the one in use in the USA, but here in Europe credit cards are not that common (= not everyone has one!) as we also have national direct debit card systems such as the Maestro system by MasterCard.

never change a running system

The missing ability to run a simple cronjob on my 1&1 hosting package actually contributed to the decision to eventually move all my domain names and sites to another server.

Kwaheri, 1&1…
I don’t know about 1&1 in the US, but here in Germany where they started many years ago (I had become their customer in 1999 when they were still called puretec.de), 1&1 = United Internet AG just suck. It’s their web hosting package that doesn’t provide enough flexibility (limited amount of MySQL dbs, no cronjobs, etc.) as well as how they treat their broadband customers. Back in 2004 when flatrates were introduced to the DSL market in Germany, the flatrate option was only made available to new customers, leaving those with an ongoing contract (min. 24 months) stuck to a volume- or 20h/month contract. And the worst, really worst, part on 1&1 is their so-called customer service. Whoever does their L1-support should be fired and kindly asked to stay away from computers.

Technically, though, 1&1 is great. During all those…9years?? with 1&1, I never experienced any server failures nor speed issues.

And it’s not that I or other customers never told them to improve. The management @ 1&1 (United Internet) obviously never studied The Cluetrain manifesto. Did I already mention how much I hate their customer service? Well….

Anyhow, the missing cronjob and limited number of available databases (5, which already was an improvement to the previous 3!), my good mood on a thursday morning and the perspective to be paying much less in future (I’ve spent like ~2.8000 € on hosting services since 1999 alone) eventually led me to switch to a cheaper and much more competent web hosting service. Not the cheapest – and maybe I could/should have switched to one in the US instead (who btw also often have some hidden extra costs), but one that just delivers. Fast. The way I like it.

As a consequence of that, I’ll be moving (done!) all of my domains and sites from the old server to the new one in the next few days. Let’s hope it all works out, especially the database backups. For those of you trying to get in touch with me via e-mail: try my gmail address or twitter account (@jke). Thx!

It also means that I’ll be implementing some changes, or rather – I’ve thought about changing a basic issue that has been bugging me for quite some time now:

change of name / blog title
My online presence under the nickname “Kikuyumoja” started off in early 1997, with my own home page residing under different URLs (AOL, geocities.com, Rhein-Main.Net, Manri.com) until I managed to register kikuyumoja.de in early 1999, quickly followed by uhuru.de and umoja.de.

While searching for an adequate blog title way back in June 2005, I chose to continue using “Kikuyumoja’s realm”. My blog was accessible either via https://kikuyumoja.com or even via http://kikuyumoja.de .

Now, imagine the situation where someone asks you what “Kikuyumoja” actually means. That is, to me it’s just a name, but to many others it’s either “Kikuyu1” or “Kik-Kuuu-ju-moh-jha”. Something that remains difficult to explain. And yet it’s just another (sort-of) brand name like WhiteAfrican, Afromusing, Mentalacrobatic, tHiNkEr’S rOoM to name just a few.

So please allow me to ask the following questions:

1. What do you – dear reader – think I should do? Change it from “Kikuyumoja’s realm” to just “Kikuyumoja”? “Kikuyumoja’s”? “JKE”? “Kikuyumoja Inc.”? “Kikuism”?

2. I didn’t use uhuru.de as the starting page of my blog, as I am currenty hosting different sites on my webspace of which some are accessible via uhuru.de/xyz.
So I was wondering: should I configure my blog to take uhuru.de as the ultimate starting page and force other sites on uhuru.de to use their own domain names? Much like it already is the case with WhiteAfrican.com? Solved!

3. How long does it take to load my blog in areas where there’s no broadband available? Should I maybe reduce the amount of posts shown on a single page? And what should I do with that blogroll? Do ppl still need it? Will I need it or may I just kick it out?

4. What about those Google Ads on my site – are they offensive in any way? I’ve noticed some advertisement for Asian dating services on my blog – which is kinda strange. I understand that GoogleAdSense isnt the only advertisement programme out there, but they at one time in the past at least helped me to *pay lunch* – so I thought about keeping their ads inside my blog.

Ah, so many open questions. Comments on these are highly appreciated!

Thank you.

[EDIT: DAMN….will still have to do something about that UTF-8 issue…argh!!! Fixed!]

[EDIT2: just registered kikuyumoja.COM after 9 years of kikuyumoja.de – and although I do not think Kikuyumoja is such a good name, it still is a brand).

interns!

Dear applicants for an internship (whereever),

pls allow me to provide the following advice on improving your applications:

When applying for an internship or a job, pls make sure to include a letter which explains why you want to work with Acme Inc. and why you think you are qualified for the position.

Pls format* your CV & letter in an eye-friendly way, e.g.:

  • one font
  • clear structure
  • no typos
  • save as PDF

I may be a bit too German aka the “grammar nazi” aka following a certain norm on this, but then: there sure is a reason why ppl sometimes are refused a position.

In other words: what’s the use of employing someone who even has a PhD in something if he/she can’t even write a proper business letter or follow simple formatting guidelines?

I have really come to appreciate formatting norms and – while you won’t have to use progs like LaTeX & Co to ueberformat your work – i’d really appreciate if ppl just stop this *copy & paste culture* and start preparing their work in an easy-to-read format.

I will also have to improve my own style, so I do not exclude myself from this mwalimu mkuu wisdom.

(* = you won’t have to be a design student or Apple user or even coder to understand this simple guideline. If in doubt, pls use a template!)

Daifuku Mochi

What you see here is my more or less successful attempt at making Daifuku-Mochi – “a Japanese confection consisting of a small round mochi (glutinous rice cake) stuffed with sweet filling, most commonly anko, sweetened red bean paste made from azuki beans.”

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You know I’d found Mochi from Taiwan on sale at an Asia Shop in Seville, Spain the other day and was wondering why it isn’t sold in Germany as well (the red bean paste is sold though).

I used to make Mochi myself as a child – don’t ask me what kind of mochi that was (Japanese name for it?), but basically I would just mix glutinous rice flour with water, literally pound it until it becomes a homogeneous mixture and then form small balls which would then be thrown into boiling water. Once they’ve changed their colour from white to semi-transparent and floating on top, they’re ready. Just leave them to cool off and then dip them into a mixture of soja bean flour & sugar.

Note to myself: this is one of those recipes where Mr and Mrs Calories will come during the night and pull out their sewing kit to work on your clothes. Bad.

Anyways, this time I tried a Daifuku recipe I’d found on the net and mixed 150ml of glutinous rice (flour) with 150ml of water, stirr it in a heated pot until it changes its colour and then let it cool down. After cooling, form little balls (~ hush puppies) and fill them with red bean paste. Didn’t work out that well. I will stick to my old method in future and mix everything once it’s still cold, then boil it et voilá. There’s nothing more sticky than glutinous rice…

(Talking about calories, the current schedule is 2x/week running and 1x/week swimming – how plausible is this disclaimer btw? :-).

Yes We Can

How do I explain this?

Those tables full of bananas should be interesting enough for a blog post (at least to me), but maybe I should start with my own little story:

Last year in March upon returning from Kenya, I realized I should cough up some mbeca and invest them into a good pair of running shoes – which I actually never had before, only “cross trainers”, which are like heavy weight shoes used for a firm stand while playing tennis (@ Impala Club when that membership fee was still affordable).
Shortly after their purchase, they quickly started to rot in the darkest corner of my closet, even though I took them with me to Frankfurt. Keeping your running shoes around is a perfect reminder that will nag on your conscience: Yeah, I should do more sports and well…oh…there’s something online I’ll still need to check out…oh…I am too tired today.

Some days ago, I reactivated my almost new running shoes and started jogging. I did this because a) it feels good, b) I am slightly overweight *cough* *cough* and c) I’d registered for the JPMorgan Chase Corporate Challenge 2008 in Frankfurt am Main, Germany – which is “an annual series of 3.5-mile (5.63 km) road footraces” taking place in 12 different cities worldwide.

Mind you, I may be good at other things, but I am bloody beginner when it comes to doing sports (ok, tennis back in the days and some beloved swimming from time to time), but it also started way back in school when I used to be the last one selected for teams. You know it yourself how mean kids may be – if you’re bad at sports, you’ll always be an outsider in some way, especially if your sports teacher is the same who teaches you mathematics. This teacher actually advised me after graduation not to study any scientific subject and, fortunately, I didnt listen to him. Obviously, there was still an open issue on this for me and I needed to prove it to myself that my teacher was wrong in 1996. A personal affair, if you will.

Now, running. Damn, it feels so good. The last time I had tried that was in Nairobi, trying to find a good route without potholes. But still, running never was THE sport for me, and this although it’s just very simple and you won’t even require proper shoes or other equipment. Just start, set yourself a target, see how it works, et voilá.

Ok, back to the JPMorgan Chase. When I came to Frankfurt in June 2007, I didn’t have time to register for the 2007 Chase and consequently had to witness it from the sidewalk. I did see a lot of other – overweight – ppl taking part, and – considering the relatively low 5,6km distance – realized that IF these ppl are taking part, I should also try it.

So here you go:

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What you receive is a bag with a T-Shirt, your starting number, some free magazines on running and some glucose. Approx. 10% of your starting fee will be donated to a charity organisation and you get the chance to actually run together with the CEO of your company (cool guy, btw, he beat me by 4 minutes) and around 73.718 other ppl from 2.589 (more or less competing) companies.

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RUN LOCAL WORK GLOBAL – our motto (sic!)….

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and too….

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…many…

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…runners.

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73.719 runners are A LOT!

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They actually had two starting points due the huge amounts of ppl. The Chase started at 7:30pm, but I only managed to cross the line at 8:20pm….

It really is a huge events, even with half-naked Brasilian ladies at the road side doing some samba for those who like it… some companies also seem to invest a lot of money into this event and equip their staff with shirts and other corporate things. Actually, it’s a win-win situation for everyone involved.

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After around 40 minutes, I eventually managed to pass the finishing line. Not bad for a beginner, if I may say so. With such a huge amount of ppl on the road, it really isnt that easy to run with no obstacles in the way, but still, great fun, some sports and:

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Lots of waste….

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Lots of empty bottles…and….

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BANANAS from here up to the end of the world.

Now you know where they are eaten.

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My plan actually included providing you with a link to the fabulous Nokia Sportstracker website and my profile there, but do to the narrow roads in downtown Frankfurt, GPS reception was a bit distorted on my N95, so Sportstracker didn’t work. If you own a modern Nokia S60 phone and enjoy running, this little utility really adds value to your phone. Used it the other day to track my speed and distance.

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After the Chase, we enjoyed some good beers and watched Turkey scoring a 2:1 against Switzerland. What you see in the pic above is the illuminated opera of Frankfurt. Liked the colours.

Ok, the JPMorgan Chase was great fun and I think I’ll be at it again next year – and in the meantime, I’ll have to train for October, because that’s when I’ll have a little 10km competition with members of my extended family. So yes, if you want it, you can do it.

n.b.: other positive side-effects of a regular running habit: you get to sweat much less and/or start sweating at a much later point while walking around under the sunshine. In other words, this whole ecosystem inside my body has improved and will certainly continue to improve. For a non-sportive person like me, this improvement is the biggest advantage.

Asiyekuwepo na lake halipo

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“This private blog is presently not open because it is closed” JKE

…for some reasons I just love this pic above [via, thx!] and maybe also because it perfectly helps to illustrate my silence aka blog-abstinence earlier this week – due to this:

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Approx. 4kgs of papers related to the beautiful subject of hydrof******mechanics – an exam I had been procrastinating since 2004 (!) and eventually maneeeeegehhhd to passssss. :-)

Can u imagine I even carried this material to EAK the other day?

Kawia ufike.