Tae Bo your way to fitness!

How do I stay fit and healthy? I do a lot of exercises. Many people who find me jogging or being faithful to my fitness routines often ask me why I do it?

A lot of people think just because you are small, you do not have a reason to exercise. Lets face the facts, living a healthy life has nothing to do with how heavy you are, or how light you are. We all need to live a healthy life.

I do Tae Bo, the Advanced routine that was developed by Billy Blanks, and I do this one-hour routine 3 days a week, giving my body a day's rest in between the routines. If you are looking for a routine to follow even in the comfort of your home, you can buy a Billy Blanks Tae Bo DVD and you will love it.

My team doing the TAE-BO routine

Juanitah and I after the workout :-)

Exercises are not only meant for losing weight, there are a lot of reasons why regular exercise is important. Steve Marshal Caldwell states some of the advantages as below;

1. Daily exercise improves the immune system of the person. The resistance power of the person who indulges in the daily exercise is being noted to be at its best. The production of the antibodies is being boosted due to the daily exercise. Whoever does daily exercise very rarely falls ill. So, if you are always falling ill or getting infected with some infections then you must surely join a gym and start daily exercise under the guidance of the health expert.

2. Cardiovascular health problems are found to be in very less percentage in the people who engage in daily exercise regime. There are special types of the exercises meant for the people who are suffering with the heart problems. These exercises are known as cardio exercises. It has been noted that the people who did the cardiovascular exercises very rarely or never face the heart problems.

3. Blood circulation is being improved due to the daily exercise. The problems that you face due to the improper blood circulation are being resolved through the daily exercise. During the daily exercise session the arteries and veins that open up and this makes the blood to flow to all body parts in a proper way. Proper blood circulation gives you good stamina and energy. It also maintains the regular heart rate and helps you to overcome the problems like shortness of breath.

4. If you are suffering with the diabetes then daily exercise session can help the person to control the sugar levels. Both type 1 and type 2 diabetes can be controlled with the help of the daily exercise. Daily exercise reduces the excessive amount of the sugars in the body and boosts the production of the insulin. The daily exercise regime helps the diabetic person to stay away from the other health hazards caused due to the diabetes. Diabetes person are advised to consult the exercise trainer in the gymnasium because there are some special exercise given for the diabetic patients.

5. Obesity can be cured with the help of the daily exercise regime. Basically the obesity is caused due to the two major reasons, excessive weight gain and lack of physical activity. Very important role daily exercise routine plays in helping the person to overcome obesity. Firstly it controls the excessive weight gain taking place in the obese person and then it starts declining the weight of the person. Whatever may be the reason for the obesity, you can certainly help the person to lose the extra pounds to get back in shape.

6. Arthritis and osteoarthritis problems can be resolved through the daily exercise. You need to do the special exercises for this. You need to consult the physiotherapist for getting the ideas about exercises used to cure arthritis and osteoarthritis. By regularly doing these exercises you will certainly get the relief from the pain due to the arthritis and osteoarthritis.

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Clash of the Titans

Today 25th of October 2010, is the day the most talked about rivals in Ugandan Politics head to be nominated for Presidency come 2011 when Uganda heads over to the polls to elect the next president to lead us through the next 5 years [Ok... So we guess].

Trust me, I hate politics, and I want to set the record clear, ELOT [Evelyn's Line of Thoughts] wants nothing to do with all the political sagas but lets face the facts, Politics hate it or like it, it is what moves a nation forward.
For a country to be successful, it has got to have good and able leaders at the top!

My Country has seen days of war, days of peace and days of tranquility, but what do we as a nation look forward to with the next government in place?
The Incumbent has been in power since 26th January 1986. The only government I have known in my entire 26 years of existence has been this government, given President Museveni got the lead when I was only 2 years of age.

Throughout his reign, we have seen good days, a new day was born in Uganda after a lot of dark days of war in our country.
All I can relate to are the stories my mother used to tell me of the wars and how hard life was before then. Frankly I have no idea, but thank goodness for History, I was brought to speed about what was going on in my Country.

24 years down the road, A man that has done a lot for the nation is seeking another term. A lot of speculations surround this move.
Many think 24 years is enough time for any able minded President to bring forth the agendas that you had for a nation and therefore move on and let others hold the candle from where you leave it!
Others think, well, if we are having the 'peace' that we fought for 24 years ago, why do we have to change governance? I have my opinion but I will decide not to go there right now.

Along the way comes a man Dr. Kizza Besigye who was Minister of State for Internal Affairs in Mr. Museveni's first government, who believed so much in the fight to freedom Uganda had achieved
but years later felt it was time for another person to lead this nation.

Dr. Kizza Besigye, is the rival that President Museveni dreads a lot today. They went on logger heads the last election five years ago, which saw President Museveni victorious.

Today they all head for nominations yet again, and Uganda will be at it one more time. This time round the stakes are higher. The Opposition is very determined to pull off a win, and with young people who also feel 24 years down the road, we need change in governance, anything can happen.

I dread the final results though, If the Incumbent wins, it may not be an easy back down from the Opposition this time round, and if the Opposition wins, the people in the incumbent may also not back down with ease.

All am praying for after all is said and done, we do not turn out like Zimbabwe and Kenya with people killing each other and innocent people suffering at the expense of a Political turmoil. But anything can happen.

I pray for my Country so much as we head into this time and honestly pray that we shall happily live with the final result.

Just my 2 cents!

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The Impact of Alcohol on your Body

A few days back, the Red Pepper, one of the tabloids in Uganda published a list of 50 people who were caught drinking and driving...

Ironic enough my name appeared on the list.... yeah I was also surprised. Thing is, I wasn't the Evelyn Namara published but I got a couple of phone calls from friends asking me if that was actually me.

So to set the ground clear, guys, I do not drink and drive. Actually I do not refer myself as a drinker, I rarely drink, and if I do, I just take half a glass of wine and am done. I do not drink spirits, beers, name it.

The effects of alcohol consumption aren’t as simple or linear as your experiences would lead you to believe. Let’s take a look at the graphic below to better understand blood alcohol content and its effects at different levels of consumption.

Please drink responsibly and don’t drive under the influence.

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Super Stars - How they are Born

Yesterday I watched as Willow Smith's first single Whip my hair went viral on the Internet, just after its official release. I mean with a father like Will Smith and a mum like Jada Pinkett Smith, who can deny that the kid is also most likely to be talented?

The Internet has been one place that has seen many Super Stars rise to fame in our faces and it is just amazing just how much so many hits on a video posted on Youtube can make some one an overnight celebrity.

Takes me back to Justin Bieber, little talented kid who just posted videos of himself singing to his relatives and before he knew it, so many people had viewed them and just like that he caught the eye of Usher Raymond and the rest is history. Do you even know how many hits - Baby [One of his first singles featuring Ludacris] has? Millions and millions of on-line hits. Today JB is one of the most talented kids on the block to ever hit the scene of music all from You tube.

What about Susan Boyle who took the United Kingdom by storm. Her audition on Britain's Got Talent went viral and she became a super star just because everyone undermined the talent she had until she proved everyone wrong.

I have been drawn to believe that everyone of us has a special talent and no matter the platform, given that one chance to take your opportunity to shine, we should never waste it. Of course for some people where we live is not such a land of opportunity and thus we have to struggle a lot to even make an impression, but for others it is just right there and all you have to do is reach out.

Been following the X- factor this season and a lady born in Zimbabwe who has stayed in the UK for over 8 years, called Gamu Nhengu was one of my favorites. I watched her do her auditions and constantly nailed them all... obviously winning the hearts of many viewers across the world.

This all changed when Cheryl Cole did not choose her to be in the top 12 to hit the live stage, and oh boy the fans went crazy. Whether or not this decision was made because she had issues with her visa and faced fears of being deported back to Zimbabwe or because Cheryl felt she wasn't as talented as her other 2 acts, didn't stop the fans to show their frustrations.

And within hours of that episode airing, over 250,000 fans had hit facebook demanding Gamu to be back on the show. She didn't unfortunately, but the fact is, whether she made it to the X - Factor stage or not, she will have a great career. She has been under media attention for so long and everybody knows her, which will make her a super star, either way.

It is fascinating how Super Stars are born, but either way, we love them and live with them, but one thing is for sure, the Internet today has played a vital role in bringing up these stars to our knowledge that we perhaps wouldn't have known.

Nearly forgot about Charice Pempengco, the Filipino singer who rose to fame through Youtube? The first time I heard that young lady sing, I was taken ablaze, she is talented, she covers songs by Mariah Carey, Whitney, Beyonce, Celine Dion with ease. Today she has become one of the cast members of Glee... that is a career that would have been far away had she remained in Philippines.. Thank God for the Internet.

Anyway we love the stars, we love to watch them grow to fame, and we love to see their careers take off...

Am watching the space to see who rises up next, who knows, it could be me! [I see you grinning... have some faith in the sister! ]

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AfNOGChix 2010, Nairobi, Kenya

AfNOG is one of the technical groups that I have found extremely helpful in my career as an IT lady. The first time I enrolled for their trainings I was totally amazed at how much they put into these workshops.

AfNOG has got the best Instructors and the tracks are carefully thought about to help today's modern day Systems and Network administrators in their day to day tasks. I have done three of their tracks and I must say they have been incredibly helpful in my day to day work.

Through AfNOG, the women were privileged to have a special track organized for them as a branch from the main AfNOG event, and it was named the AfCHIX track, or AfNOGCHIX.

AfCHIX logo for 2010, Nairobi Kenya

Reasons for this special track rage from the fact that there were few women who would turn up for the main AfNOG events. When we did a survey as to why women would not apply for the main AfNOG events, we got a lot of outcomes. Some of the reasons ranged from the fact that the women felt intimidated by the Male engineers who wanted to dominate the labs and computers, or fear to ask questions in order not to be embarrassed in case they are wrong, et el.

So it is because of this that AfNOG together with ISOC started these tracks for women System Administrators to help them gain their confidence, give them the space to do their exercises on their own, and to freely ask their questions without feeling embarrassed. and it worked.

CHIX down to business... doing some work!

Today we have done four tracks and we are still going. The first AfCHIX was held in Nairobi, Kenya 2007, I attended the very first one, and more tracks followed and the recent one that we are doing right now in Nairobi Kenya again.

We met many more women at the workshop who are so inspired to be better System Administrators and am sure they will all go back better Administrators.

Am glad to have been involved and called upon to be one of the Instructors and I had a great time learning from the Chix and sharing with them my experiences.

AfNOGChix, 2010 in pictures;

AfCHIX group picture

AfCHIX Instructor team

Listening attentively

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Happy Independence Day - Uganda

Uganda National Flag

Today, 9th October 2010, marks 48yrs of Uganda as an Independent country.

Uganda gained Independence from the British in 1962, 9th October maintaining its Commonwealth membership.

We have come along way as a country and we are looking forward to more great years to come.

Happy Independence Day - Uganda.

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Light at the end of the Tunnel?

I feel compelled to write about something inspirational just maybe someone out there reading my blog can relate to this and have some faith!

All of life is a journey that we travel, a journey that is not necessarily predefined, and we can not guarantee what fate has to bring on this journey, but we travel, anyways!

So many times we are faced with a lot of 'stuff', call them baggage, problems, anything... that put us in a situation of questioning everything around us. We start wondering if we made the right decisions, or what would have happened if we had taken a different course of direction.

One thing for sure is that, sometimes we can not change what already happened! But we can choose to learn from those experiences, bad or good.
We start blaming ourselves for things that we could have done differently, all we need to do is accept that some things happen for a reason, to teach us that we can avoid such paths when we meet them again.

Every little challenge that has come your way, is an opportunity for you to prove that you are greater than it and can sail above it like a phoenix. That is how we become better people.

Many times though we go through what seems a roller coaster of things, and we do not seem to see the end of the tunnel! We ask ourselves why we are faced with so many challenges on our plates, why things tend to fail all the time, why when we think finally we have hopes of seeing that light.... only to be sunk back into a lot more challenges!
Hey, even then I believe there is no circumstance thrown at us that we can not handle. Trust me I know how it feels when everything seems to go wrong... but there is never a situation beyond what we can not bear.

Learn to talk to your inner self. Sometimes you feel that not even your best of friends can understand the situations you face.. Sometimes it may seem like it is only you who can understand what you are going through! Learn to gather inner strength. Learn to talk to yourself, learn to encourage yourself that everything will be alright. Where friends are not a solution, you can always gather inner strength.

Most times in life, the light at the end of the tunnel, is the ultimate,but we must remember the journey traveled in the tunnel is worth an experience. It is not always the finished line that makes everything merry, it is the journey, the breakups, the tears, the circumstances that you go through in that journey that make it worthwhile.

Once you have learned a lesson on that journey, the light at the end of that tunnel will bring greater joy!

My best statement ever still remains;

"Many of life's failures are men who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up!"

Don't give up yet... You are miles away from reaching that light!

XOXO

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Technology trends! - More Androids

Across the GALAXY!

THE ANDROID-POWERED Samsung Galaxy S is probably the device with the fastest GPU in an Android phone to date. The Hummingbird A8 chip on the Galaxy S is able to process around 90 million triangles per second, and when you compare that to the Motorola Droid’s 7 million tri/sec, and the Nexus One’s 22 million tri/sec, it’s certainly something.

It includes features such as an integrated calender, where all to-do lists and events are integrated into one interface, regardless of their source.

Car mode enables the phone to operate like a GPS device, using Google Maps.

In an augmented reality feature powered by Tele Atlas, a user can take a photo and the software will bring up nearby points of interest. This phone has features HD video recording, and a four-inch super AMOLED screen. Using wireless tethering, the device can be used as a modem. Sharing between devices can also be done wirelessly via DLNA technology.

The social hub feature allows the user to keep tabs on their friends by integrating email and social networking contacts into one phonebook.

Some other features include Swype technology for writing and the ThinkFree suite for office products.

Entry-level Smart - Vodafone's low-cost smartphone, the 845



ANOTHER ANDROID-POWERED phone is the Vodafone 845.

Manufactured by Chinese company Huawei and powered by Android 2.1 Eclair, the handset measures a slim 100 x 55 x 13 mm and features a 2.8 inch TFT touchscreen display, 320 x 240 resolution (QVGA), 3.2 megapixel camera, 128 MB RAM, 512 MB ROM, Bluetooth 2.1, WiFi b/g connectivity and support for triband GSM/GPRS/EDGE at 900/1800/1900 MHz as well as dualband UMTS/HSDPA at 900/2100 MHz.

The phone will come preloaded with Vodafone 360 services and have access to the Android Market.

Vodafone is targeting a wider audience with this low cost handset as opposed to traditional smartphone buyers of higher-end phones such as the iPhone 3G and 3GS, Blackberry Bold, Nokia E71, Plam Pre and Google Nexus One.

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ICT Women's Summit

I have been involved in so many of similar summits involving women and ICTs, Women and FOSS, etc,but this just concluded ICT Women empowerment Summit held at the Gallagher Convention Centre in Midrand, Johannesburg South Africa was mostly inspiring.

Issues regarding women and ICTs have been discussed in so many forums, and some people have reached a point of concluding, or asking, Is it really an issue anymore? Being a part of this summit I got answers to this question.
And yes much as the world has fast evolved and the issues are not as pressing and bad as they used to be, there are still stereotypes surrounding women and ICTs in the Industry, challenges that are both social, economic, cultural that face women in ICTs.

I learned though from one woman, who owns her own business in Ghana, a CEO of Platinum Technologies, Mrs Sheila Bartels-Sam, that challenges will always be there. We can spend so much of our time discussing challenges but they will never go away, what we need to do is turn those challenges into business opportunities. And I totally agree with her, if we looked at all these challenges faced by Women in the Industry and turned them into business opportunities, we would go a long way.

This workshop was especially inspiring because it had a lot of the top heads in the industry. I met a lot of Women CEOs, COOs, CIOs, Women Business owners, IT Managers and it was a step in the good direction.
If we can be that empowered to have women in top positions which was not the case a few years ago, it gives me hope that we are finally headed in the right direction.

Women in ICT, at the just concluded ICT Women Summit in Johannesburg, South Africa

So issues discussed at this summit involved the journeys these top women have traveled to make it to the top, and if you thought it was not an issue any more to discuss women and ICT issues, then you had to be there to find out that we have come a long way and we still have a journey to travel.

I gave a keynote speech at the event, first day of the conference and I was inspired by how much energy all these women in ICTs have around them and how much they want to make the industry an equal player for both Men and Women.

A big thank you to CORPTRAIN for organizing this one, and am looking forward to another continuation of the same workshop / summit next year.

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