A Friend In Need.........

There is this friend of mine who I have known for a better part of my life. Through the years we have kept touch and we have become confidants as we matured. We have both seen each other during ups and downs.

Sometime in the 90’s, he hit a dark patch in his life. At that time, almost everyone ran away from him and I was one of the few people who stood by him. Even then, our friendship was tested and I let him by not giving him all the help he wanted. For years, this has always been on the back of my mind as I felt I did not help him enough. As is with life, he overcame his struggles and we have remained very good friends to the point that I was the best man at his wedding.

When I look back at our friendship, I sometimes feel that I should have done more for him when he needed my help, although he has never brought up the past against me and he has always been there for me. All these make me more indebted to him and complicates our friendship.

Every now and then, my friend as the habit of calling me to request for a few thousand dollars at a time. After which he usually gives me a blank check for any monies that he owes me when we meet in person. Normally I don’t lend out money, especially to friends because I found out the hard way that friends and family rarely pay back.

However, I have turned down his last 2 requests because I did not agree with how the money was to be used. In the first instance, it was to pay for a mutual friend’s holiday and in the second instance I was visiting Kenya and someone asked him for money to support a local charity.

In Kenya, we also have some good friends who have always been generous to us whenever we are visiting Kenya. From sending a car to picking and dropping us at the airport, to providing a vehicle for use in Kenya, to buying a lot of presents for our kids and twice they have gifted us with an all expenses paid safari when we visited Kenya.

This brings me to my point. Earlier this week I was going through my bank statement and I realized that I had some extra money. It then it crossed my mind to use it as down payment to buy my wife a new car or may be take the family on vacation. The following morning my missus calls me when I’m at work and tells me that she received a call for assistance from our later friends in Kenya. They have a sibling who they are supporting through college here and they wanted us to pay part of the tuition for this semester. I ask her if they will repay the money or what, and she replies that they only asked her if she could pay the tuition to which she agreed because she thought I would not refuse.

Like in the case of my first friend, these are the kind of requests that make me wonder what to do. I want to say no but in both cases the requests are not only from wealthy individuals but multi-millionaires several times over in US dollars. These are people who can raise a million dollars without batting an eyelid.

If I didn’t have the money, it would be easy to tell them so but in this case I would be lying. I have never asked either for a penny even when I have been in need of money and I know they can help me out. It is possible that I may be repaid the money but I certainly don’t want to ask for it because I believe there is a good reason for the request.

As for my missus getting a new car or going to the Caribbean’s for a vacation, it is not going to happen soon because I asked my wife to send the check to the student.

To Take The Flu Shot Or Not?

It's now official. Swine flu is here!

According to 60 minutes report this weekend, the number of flu infections being witnessed is not only higher than expected for the month of October but as high as it gets during the peak in February. All this while the fall temperatures are mildly warm in what is expected to be a very cold winter.

Closer home, two children at the pre-school where my son attends have contracted the Swine flu. In addition, several colleagues at work have already contracted the flu and were incapacitated longer than usual.

And to add insult to the injury, there is a shortage of the regular flu vaccine and a lot of confusion regarding the free H1N1 vaccine.

With all this going on, I'm at a loss as to whether to get vaccinated. I've never taken the flu shot and I have only once fallen sick with the virus but this time around the situation is different. Having young children means I have to do what is best for them and that means protecting them from the infection. And that may include getting vaccinated against the flu.

My missus has already taken the regular vaccine but we have no idea on how to go about getting the government provided H1NI vaccine. So far, it seems like it is being administered through public schools but I have no idea what that entails. It doesn't help that there is very little information in the local media.

That said, we have decided to cut down on public outings. This means no church, grocery shopping in the dead of the night to avoid large crowds, no eating out, cut down on social visitations and invites among a host of activities. And definitely no air travel especially for the kids.

Crazy About Football

It is that time of the year again. The football season is with us. American football and not British soccer. Though the English Premier League is also driving Kenyans crazy if the facebook status' and the twitter updates are anything to go by.

I have never been a football fanatic, save for the super bowl which has the best half-time show not to mention the accompanying ads. I'm usually a passive sports viewer who only checks the scores and watches the game highlights.

Come Sunday afternoon and Monday nights, there are some football fans who get glued to the television. Literally. Either in their homes, at a friends place or in a sports bar. And there is no better way to watch the game than with a drink in hand.

It is for this reason that some sports bars have installed televisions above the urinals so that patrons can drink freely without having to worry about missing a touchdown when they are pressed for a piss.

Now if only the Bills versus the Jets game can be done with right now so that I can watch 60 minutes, and football fans can get on with their lives.

DOW 10,000 And Beyond

The big news of the day is the Dow Jones Industrial Average closing above 10,000, up roughly 50% from the March lows. Lost in all the hullabaloo is the worsening unemployment levels, rising oil prices and a weakening US dollar.

Frankly speaking, I don't know what to make of today's close. This happens to be the third time the DJIA has crossed the psychological 10,000 points barrier. The first time was in the spring of 1999 preceding the dot-com bubble, followed by December 2001 and then finally in December 2004. In the first instance, CNBC had their anchors wear commemorative hats.

The broader market has not been left behind. In fact, the broader indexes have performed far much better with Gold hogging the spotlight and now trading at $1,000 an ounce.

All this has not gone unnoticed among the populace. At work, colleagues could be heard happily chatting about the stock market. From the look of things, if we close above 10,000 at the end of the week, a lot of retail investors will return to the market and we may see an upsurge in volume. All these makes me ever more cautious about buying more stocks and I may just have to ride the upswing with what I am holding.

I must say that it has crossed my mind to offload some of the gains but I'm already underweight with equities and holding onto cash.

While the housing market is yet to recover, I have noticed that although houses are taking long to sell in my neighborhood, most of the sales have fetched close to the asking price. We've had 2 families move in but there are also 3 other homes on sale on my street.