A cliché too many - Introduction!

August 2011 - Update

I am in the process of moving the content of my blog from http://akin.blog-city.com/ (Now defunct), which is closing in January 2012 - I have 1,500 blogs from December 2003 with over 2.5 million hits.

This is the first blog I ever posted on the 8th of December 2003.

Introduction

In deciding to join the blogging community I thought a bit of background would inform on some of the things I write and why.

First, I usually introduce myself as English, of Nigerian parents and I live in the Netherlands.

If that is not a giveaway introduction, I wonder what is; some friends would immediately recognise who I am, my mum would not be reading this for a while and my boss, well, might come across this. Hey! I seem to have an opinion about everything - I do not know why.

The Job

I have been in IT for about 15 years and sometimes describe myself as a senior computer geek with the task of making Microsoft products do what we think Microsoft say they can do, and possibly better.

In my present role, I oversee how applications get to the user from our environment in a useful and usable way, which in turn almost makes me the custodian of the client infrastructure.

I cannot afford to allow change that might affect the stability of the client platform and I end up in vigorous political and technical debates, rebuttal, and argument on what can be allowed and what is prohibited. I guard that infrastructure jealously.

The Purist

Language is a tool of total expression. I find that I am first particular about the influence of American English on the continental Europeans, what comes across on American TV imports is a form of modern expression I find alien to what I think English should be. I sometimes forget I am an Englishman abroad.

I sometimes must clarify what I mean when I write but there are two ways to it. One is the need to communicate; that is important because you have to take cognisance of your audience; the other is the need to express the richness of the language.

That art of expression is giving way to modal, pedestrian simple vocabulary sentences that suggest a person needs a lower primary school's appreciation of English. In the end, English will always be a class struggle, the language of either the plebeian or the better still the language of the patrician.

You will find me reading the Daily Telegraph (UK), The Economist or The National Geographic magazine.

The Politics

Being what one might consider a minority - minority in numbers, since my race is not indigenous to Europe. We tend to be more centre-left than right leaning.

Traditionally, minorities do cultivate and adapt to Western views whilst sometimes retaining the nostalgia of home values. We tend to more adherent than the people we left back home after a while.

I will just say, I am a libertarian; social welfare for those who need it, abortion if necessary, the death penalty is not a deterrent, criminal justice should both be forgiving and forgetting once the price is paid, taxes should not penalise the rich and governments should stop playing Big Brother.

The Seminal

I enjoy travel though I am mainly a Europhile. My music tastes vary from Classical to hip-hop. I live in conflict between my strong religious views and a strong tendency to the alternative lifestyle.