Back in the day

DJ Rico with DJ Big J doing their thing

Remember the ol days?Young and stuck on 200miles per hour. Weekends started on Wednesday, latest Thursday,Big J and Rico holding it down at FX,Suzy with a Canon,Kodaking all the moments, from the insane to the glorious..remember how dudes leaned on the wall in the middle of the club, trying to chat up skirts, Pilsner bottle in the left-hand,holding our crotch with the right? I had this grayish baggy shirt with 'hip-hop' neatly printed on it, some shiny blue jeans and bright brown caterpillar boots with an occasional red bandana to keep my outfit together. I was cute,wasn't I?Pizza at Narodni Trida 'round 3AM 'fore catching 51 home. I won't tell you about the time,high as a paper-kite, I stopped a police squad car on patrol thinking it was a cab! Before Ralphael became Ralph,he was Ralph Styles and right b4 that, he was MC and even earlier than that he was 2Ruff...how many names did this dude have? Kingpin was Fridays and MC with his sidekick DJ BlackJesus hosted. If you weren't in Kingpin, you were at the other end of the tramlines, Bila Hora;small,smoky place but packed like a motha, coz you know Henry D or as he is popularly known today, Henry BiggDawg was in the house and Steve Kimani was spinning a mixture of Reggae,Soukous and for lack of a better term, Bohemian...

DJ Iceman with Victoria during an album launch

Brian had this neat idea to booze us back into the stone age;he was generous with his booze and we tried our best to be grateful by constantly showing up at his joint thirsty. Soon enough, we found out that the colorless liquid in his glass was actually mineral water and not vodka like we thought. You gotta be really out of this world to cheat at drinking. For those who used to stay in Strahov at the time, didn't you just love it when you got your drunken ass to Malovanka and there was no taxi to take you up the hill? Or if there was, the cabby would try to milk a 100CZK out of you for the short ride to the hostel? For those who are still wondering about apples in my room,l'll let you in on the secret. I used to pluck them from this tree just off the bus stop at Malovanka. Ask Shady...
DJ Ama was the man to visit if you wanted to listen to some good old reggae jams. Vagon, was the place. DJ Ama or 12Play to his earlier fans, with his constant bottle of Juice(that particularly tickled me to no end - I took to noting down which brand he had each week), a lit cigarette dangling from his mouth did us proud. I can't remember when he used to play though, all I know is that Vagon was enticingly dimly lit and they kept changing the DJ Booth.

Hahaha...DJ 2ruff..this vest...no comment

Henry D with United Flavour

DJ KazD was the dance-hall,Rhumba, soukous specialist. The first time I remember him playing was at this club in Mustek just inside the metro station. I can't remember the name off the top of my head but it was great while it lasted. Of course soon enough, he was hosting gigs in Abaton and Tropison. He still up to date owes me Koffi Olomide's "Loi". I have been asking him for over 6 years to play for me that song and its always "next time,dude". 


Saturday was a different kettle of fish all together. You were either in Bila Hora, Kingpin, FX, Kalrovy Lazne or in all 4 places in the course of the night. If you were in K.L, you were likely to run into Ice-man with the beautiful Victoria...shh..I used to have a crash on her. Iceman was spinning and Victoria was singing. Ralph and BlackJesus rounded up the quartet with the occasional guest DJ showing up. Is KL still 4 floors? That was real nice,you chat up a girl on the ground floor (hip-hop/rap) and whisk her away to the chill-out lounge on the 4th floor to get to know each other some more. OK guys, don't kill me, the statue of limitations has passed, and I won't name names,HA! But soon enough, with more people coming in for hiphop and mimicking our business-model, our market-share on the ground floor soon dwindled and like any good thigh-monger, you learn pretty quickly to look for other life opportunities on the other floors...you know; Metalica and HardRock Music. Have you ever seen a brother trying to dance to hard rock? That's a sorry sight yo...

B-Jesus back in the day. Wasn't he innocent?

KazD

Leaving the club, you had to pass by those folks on Vaclavske Namesti selling Klobasa and hot dogs while you wait for your tram or metro. Heavens knows the many stomach pains I suffered as a result of those. All in all, it was a good time, an innocent time in our otherwise young lives, where we swore by Tupac and bumped our heads to Biggie smalls, threw our hands up in the air to Naughty by Nature and our idea of a TLC was actually listening to TLC. Those were the days,when discretion was the password and if your picture was taken, it wouldn't wind up on Facebook or Youtube - We thought we would remain young forever(sigh). Right now, whenever I find myself in the club, good music is far in between...wistful of those days..someone needs to organize a real old school hip hop night in Prague, we would be better for it...
Disclaimer: The pictures here are courtesy of Sussane Bitter.

Some Kenyans are...well...crazy (for lack of a better term)

Hello folks,

I have noticed that the minutes of the last meeting haven't been put online yet. No need to panic, I have come to the rescue. I have taken a personal...what's the right word?...privilege...yes! Allow me this privilege to give you my not so humble and unofficial minutes during our last meeting. This is not unprecedented. I mean even the President of the United States,His Highness Barack Obama from K'Ogelo has a constitutional duty under Article II, section 3 of the United States constitution  which in part reads "He shall from time to time give to the Congress information of the State of the Union  and recommend to their consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient." There is nothing necessary or expedient about any of the information am about to give, but I shall from time to time consider you the recipient of my occasional drunken soliloquies. OK now that we have dispensed with the hows and whys, lets get right down to it, shall we?

I arrived at the meeting a little bit late, as always, but you aren't going to hold that against me,right? I am Kenyan prosim te and lateness is a science we have turned into an art...plus my coffee from that morning was yet to kick in,making me very sluggish. The place was right next to George's..just a few blocks to the left,push open a squeaky door and you get yourself into a sparingly lit Mexican restaurant playing soft Mariachi. Some guest we had invited was going on about some project he has going on in Kenya. Everyone sat around a big table,caressing their drinks and pretending to pay attention. First thing I noticed was Osweto in a grayish grandfatherly sweater and a pinkish shirt, complete with his reading glasses. STOP! I am asking for forgiveness here if I got the colors wrong, color is not my forte, I constantly get it mixed up;what with new colors being invented everyday...sijui lillac,garlic and purple. Why did I notice Osweto first? Well, its not easy to miss Osweto...HA!

I maneuvered my way between Gilbert and Maurice with Isaac playing backup to our quartet. Maurice is always fun to sit next to, I mean he is always worried about or protesting against something. This day it was the Ocampo 6. He was loosing the argument on every count as the meeting progressed along,but I might come back to that later. The meeting went smoothly, save for some folks getting on Metrine's nerves by holding their own kamkunjis until she threatened to charge 50kc for noise-making. Well, that put an end to all that.

Now, anyone who has ever attended a meeting will tell you that the most fireworks are in a tiny little bullet-point at the end of the line popularly know as A.O.B. Our A.O.B coincided with food and this is where Maurice comes in. Can I just make a general statement here before I go on? I am not the kind of guy to stand tall on Charles bridge and proclaim that so and so should never do such and such a job, sawa? Lakini if you are planning a house party and there is a position for food taster, don't hire Maurice. Let me go back a little. A few weeks ago, the powers that be, I mean the officials, in their infinite wisdom, decided to telegraph their punches. They recognized that Kenya went through promulgation a few months ago which gave birth to this little inconvenience called a constitution and so in that spirit, they decided to give us good folks a chance to choose a place to dine and wine...ok, to just dine. Three choices were presented. Raise your hands if you have ever been to Mexico? I haven't been, closest being watching "The good, the bad and the Ugly.". I think that like the rest of you, I know a little bit about it to claim to know a whole lot. Now you know Kenyans with anything elective. We wait till the last minute, fail to read between the lines,,make a hurried choice and then we complain when we don't get the result we want. I think thats the wisdom behind the overwhelming choice of a Mexican restaurant and the fact that it was a buffet. We love buffet. There is just something about putting the word 'food' and 'self service' in one sentence that has us all giddy. So the bell was rang and we made a bee-line for food. The pots were opened and then there was a collective gasp from the first folks around. "Hii ni nini?",Enos asked no-one in particular, poking at the brown roundish piece before him with a fork. Maurice was the first to notify everyone that something was terribly amiss. He took one bite from whatever he had managed to gather on his plate and grimaced. "Majamaa,hii ni noma. Hii food haina hata nyama! Hold on, na hii bana...hii si chapati". There was a chorus of puzzled rumblings from my left side, I turned around to see folks staring at a pile of brown-greenish stuff sitting pretty on a plate. Someone loudly remarked about what the pile reminded him of!! For those who grew up in the village,you know the way hens normally look at something they disapprove of? They surround it and make disapproving noises. Metrine at this time was beside herself with laughter. For all the protests, folks actually ate the food and even went for a second helping. Others were contented with waiting to see if someone actually dies before trying it for themselves. So in the end it worked out fine. But you knew that that was not gonna be the end of it. Coz, we were still in the A.O.B.

Who can guess what the first order of business was during AOB? That's easy. Food. Or more precisely, what we just ate. There were complains about the choice and what not. Gilbert's suggestion was akin to a merry go round. Next meeting could be held at Hilton, where food is better, he nearly said. Some suggested we should just stick to  Budvarka in Dejvicka. "We need to have variety of choice", Enos cried."We can't always go to budvarka". I tried to bring reason into the debate, talking about the fact that you cant have it both ways. "It can't be cheap and good," but no one was really listening. Various suggestions were floated around which always almost boiled down to giving folks more choice and more time. Again, me, always the voice of moderation, tried to right the ship of reason in the right direction. Institutional memory is an invaluable commodity in any company and I tried to remind everyone of the time choice and time was given to us in a food debate and we ended up with a late afternoon picnic near Sparta. Unfortunately, none of those in attendance could relate coz they were busy loosing their milk teeth in 2002. How I missed the presence of George. If you thought this was the end of crazy stuff, you are wrong, coz Osweto was about to step up to the plate.

There is a saying in my village, "Kama ili ema iguonyo", which loosely translates into," you scratch where it itches" and Osweto was itching big time. Granted, he started well enough, thanking everyone for showing up, the guests for their attendance and pearls of wisdom. You know, the usual stuff. He also once again appealed to everyone to chip in something for his very noble project. Please have a look at http://www.afrikaafrice.cz/. Help a brother. So Osweto was letting everyone know about the project and was in the middle of explaining some intricate financial detail when Gilberts arm shot up like an eager kindergartener. He wanted to know more coz now he could, you know, just re-route all that money he normally gives to UNESCO and instead give to Osweto's project. You know I give UNESCO money every month, he announced. He wanted to be given the account number so that he could write a cheque mara that that. Cheque Pap! Ai Omera!

Somewhere between Isaac's prophecy about the ocampo 6 and their date at The Hague and Mulwa's  tooth-pulling techniques, Osweto again sort to have a starring role. Remember I said that something was itching Osweto and he wasnt about to let it go. "Who can put me in touch with Mike Sonko?", he shot up. There was a collective "Who?" from everyone around the table, followed by horror and then suddenly everyone had an opinion, led by Isaac. He wanted to know why Osweto wanted to associate with Sonko and what not. Osweto,surprised by the reception, defended himself the only way he could, ati he is my MP.  Osweto is a brilliant guy and I think he has figured out which side his bread is buttered, doesn't matter if its buttered by Sonko. All he wants to do is make sure that the poor kids can learn. I can understand. This is the thing though, I like sausages like every warm blooded man or woman out there, but that doesn't mean I wanna meet the pig. There are some places one shouldn't be itching to scratch in public. Haha.

DISCLAIMER: The views expressed in this piece are NOT my own,but are a result of whatever mix of beverage I had in my fridge at the time. I take no responsibility whatsoever and if sued, my lawyers are ready to plead temporary insanity.

Have a lovely weekend everybody. I wouldn't trade any of you for any other company, you guys are hilarious.

Fred

From Kenya with Love...

                           
Once in a while, in music just as in politics, a phenomenon comes along that makes us take notice.I am a self-confessed pedestrian observer of the music scene in my homeland Kenya and i think thats precisely why people should take notice when i say that Suzanne Owiyo is one of the best entertainers to come along in a while.I can't really put a finger on her musical genre other than to say that she is an immensely talented composer and a literary genius.Its indeed hard to compare her with any one of the contemporary musicians on the international stage; I would love to make a bold statement at this point; Suzanne Owiyo is the best thing that has happened to Kenyan folk music yet...I wish she could compose some tune with one of my favorites,Alicia Keys. I am looking forward to that tune...now for Suzanne Owino..enjoy..

Finding a Job in Prague by Oliver White Getting work in the Czech capital isn't as easy as it once was but English-speakers can still find employment if they know where to look..

Every new foreigner moving to Prague gets an unspoken, three-month period of time in which they're allowed to party heavily, and get to know the city. After that, if they're still jobless, hopeless and increasingly drunk, then they probably shouldn't have come here at all.

My wife likes to tell me that 15 years ago, even the most hideous, foul and otherwise uncool foreigner (usually a man) could drop their passport "accidentally" on the street, and they would find a minimum of seven gorgeous women racing to pick it up, bring him home, and cook svíčková and dumplings.

Times have changed -- regrettably for many long-term foreigners here. Beer doesn't cost five crowns anymore, and most of us have to work to stay here and be comfortable.

Believe it or not, you'll find that most Czech companies today aren't waiting for you at the airport, praying for an English-speaking foreigner to show up so that they can start paying them a huge salary, with a company car, and a statuesque secretary. In light of this, I suggest you "...do what your parents did -- get a job, sir!" (The Big Lebowski)


WHAT TYPE OF JOB CAN I GET?
That's entirely up to you. In Prague, everything from bank consulting, to package delivery, to a job in IT is available. For some people, working for a company in Prague that's headquartered in their native country can have benefits (i.e. more vacation time or free health care, which isn't necessarily offered at home).

The type of job most frequently needed is definitely that of English teaching. This requires, at minimum, a TEFL/TESOL certificate, or a university degree in English or linguistics. Information about teaching English in Prague will be in a subsequent article.


ONLINE JOB DATABASES
The most readily available source of information is the internet. Here you have a plethora of options.

One option is to visit job-posting websites, such as Prague TV's very own posting site: http://www.prague.tv/jobs

This shows you an array of the current job opportunities, many of them permanent positions. Going to job search databases (see below) can be helpful. Even if the site's in Czech, it's easy to switch to English with a few clicks.

Czech Websites With English-Language Sections:

Jobs.cz -- offers an English info button down at the bottom and big-name employers along the left side of the page.

Monster.cz -- part of the international Monster network

Czech-Language Websites
Nawt-mucha-Anglish found on these websites -- but this doesn't necessarily mean that they can't help you:

HotJobs.cz

JOBlist.cz

Dobrá práce.cz

Jobpilot.cz


RECRUITMENT FIRMS & EMPLOYMENT AGENCIES
The Czech Republic has a thriving market for recruitment; mainly due to the country's well-educated population and advanced industrial infrastructure. A lower cost of living, compared to neighboring countries, makes the Czech Republic a fine place for skilled workers and drinkers of cheap beer.

Apparently, there's a difference between these two types of headhunters. A recruitment firm specializes in mostly high-level, long-term management positions. An employment agency sifts through the hundreds of CVs searching for a plausible fit for their clients. Although it's "lower-level," I can only imagine that your chances are better with the latter.

Some Options

CV-Online

Grafton Recruitment

Horizons Recruitment

ICT Recruitment

Talents Technology


DO IT YOURSELF
This category includes things such as posting your own advertisements on corkboards in places commonly visited by foreigners and English speakers.

If you're not looking to be the next 60-hour-a-week accounting engineer, then this option could direct you towards a more mellow type of job offer (i.e. bartender, server, coffee-jockey, horse trainer, sausage quality inspector, etc.)

Fraktal, the Bohemia Bagel on Masná, and the Globe are good places to start.


ONLINE DISCUSSION FORUMS AND COMMUNITY DIALOGUE
I've found some of my favorite jobs by word of mouth. It also pays to spend a little time on websites that allow postings, in order to quickly check the options there.

This is useful for learning the "real deal" about potential employers. Information can be passed along easily; just beware of those that use it as a soapbox, or religious pulpit for spewing ignorance.


CONCLUSION
There are many opportunities in Prague, as well as other places in central Europe. One afternoon of searching could yield dozens of possibilities.

Multilingualism is a definite plus, and in many cases necessary. Most jobs require fluency in English, and native English speakers are encouraged to dust off their German, French or Russian dictionaries.

And even if you're completely worthless, you might still find one of those esteemed positions with titles like Drunk-Old Someone and Dirty-Ass That Guy. Just like a regular expat...

This article is cross posted at www.prague.tv

Now for something uplifting...

There are a lot of Joshuas all over the world.Is it just me or does everyone feel like Obama doesn't fully realize the fire he has stocked in the hearts of millions all over the world to be the best they can be? That the media and pundits don't get that for millions of Obama's supporters,they desperately want to him to win the Presidency because they realize that they will have a stake in his administration? And yet they recognize that it will not be a cake walk and are fairly level headed about what can be realistically achieved in the short and long of it? I call myself an internationalist,interested in a lot of issues,from business to technology to commerce and politics and yet i have never met a politician who told me something i didn't already know. But here is the crucial difference...why i am attracted to Obama. He is not about a one man's band. He is a rare leader,he inspires and provokes you to be better...he is the provocateur of good intentions..
Give Joshua a big round of applause...

This Young man knocks my socks off.
I have said it a couple of times before,that the greatest achievement that anyone or any group of individuals can make in their lifetime is to impact some much needed civic education in our political discourse;so that we actually have some informed and civil discussion about the challenges that face us as citizen of this world.The masses needed to be educated,even if it takes a lifetime doing it.
I am very much impressed by this young man,how he articulated his views and didn't loose his cool.Well done Derrick,its an honor to know you,albeit through the net.

Our Moment..

                                    OUR MOMENT IS NOW, KENYANS

[Thank you, Tana for that generous introduction. I am grateful for the work you have done and continue to do with your humanitarian organization in Kenya; intimately working in improvised communities to effect change. It’s indeed a noble, often unrecognized but highly rewarding course. Thanks once again. We love you. I would also like to thank the representatives of Amnesty International who are gathered here in this cold. It’s hard getting out and mobilizing people on such a short notice and in this chilly weather. It’s symbolic that we are gathered at the foot of the horse. King Vaclav is the indisputable architect of modern Czech Republic and I know he would be glad to see what a strong country Czech Republic has turned out to be.]

One Thursday ago, Kenyans went to the polls to elect their leaders. People woke up as early as 4 am and it must have been a sight to behold. Old men, hunched over their walking sticks, blankets wrapped over their frail frames… women with sleepy babies on their backs and young men talking excitedly about the prospect of forging their future and putting their stump into the collective aspiration of a nation. It is said that they came in great numbers and long queues stretched around churches and schools that were used as polling stations. It was a great moment for Kenya. It was a celebration of freedom, renewal as well as change, for Kenyans held in their mortal hands the power to choose their next set of leaders. It was a Kenyan moment, the kinds of moments that every generation should experience at least once in their lifetime. Victory was in the air, not a victory of any particular party or Individual, but a victory for freedom and liberty…a victory for democracy and a victory for Kenya…Then…then it happened.

We have a saying in Kenya, ‘a boat capsizes when it’s just about to reach the shore’…The counting process took a long time… a very long time and this basically stretched the patience of Kenyans to the breaking point and in doing so cast a long shadow on the electoral integrity of the whole process. Allegations of deliberate tempering with the votes and accusations and counter-accusations soon gave way to a shouting match between the Government friendly parties and the opposition. It was a circus and it was live on TV. By the time results were announced, a President hurriedly sworn in, it was clear to any keen observer that what happened in KICC would not remain in KICC. And so Kenya, one of Africa’s jewels, a political and economic power house in East Africa, began an inevitable descend into chaos. There are quick and easy answers as to how we came to this point. And like all easy answers, they are partly true but that’s not why we are here this evening.

This is NOT a demonstration AGAINST any party or group of individuals. This is a demonstration FOR democracy and liberty. It is a clarion call for Human Rights and Dignity, for we have watched with sunken hearts at the plunder of property and lose of life. The images we have seen on cable channels might create the impression that this is just another sub-Saharan African country embroiled in turmoil and ethnic rivalry. I beg to differ. This is Kenya. Kenya as a nation didn’t come easily. The struggle for democracy wasn’t a walk in the park. It had been forged in blood and sweat, water cannons and tear-gas, in hunger strikes and long stints in water-logged cells. At each juncture in our history, the genius of our fathers has always been to choose Unity over division, we have strived to be our brothers and sisters keepers and we have done relatively well. What has been remarkable to me personally has been the reaction of the international community; the disbelief and disappointment that greeted the announcement of the election results. From my experience, people only get disappointed if they held you to a higher standard in the first place. They get disappointed if they feel in their bones that you can do better. Kenyans, we can do better.

This generation…our generation…this is our moment. Kenya, our moment is NOW. We will comfort and wipe away our tears and disappointments. We will put away our sheer frustration and fear, roll our sleeves and get back to work. Brick by brick, town by town, from one village to the next, we will rebuild our democracy and our nation. It is a debt we owe to our fore bearers, ourselves and the promise we make to future generations, the essence of which is best captured in our National Anthem:

Natujenge taifa letu
Ee ndio wajibu wetu
Kenya istahili heshima
Tuungane mikono pamoja kazini
Kila siku tuwe nashukrani.

YES, we must continue to demand and vote for responsive leadership and NO we should not abdicate our civic and moral responsibility towards one another especially the less fortunate of us for our nation’s strength is not measured by the strongest of us, but by the weakest amongst us…the least of these…We should never give up our seat at the table of democracy. We must harness the unlimited potential and creative genius of the people of Kenya to better our lot and take advantage of this globalized world.

Let’s not let the Kenyan boat capsize! Kenyans, our moment is NOW. Let’s seize it. Thank You and God bless you and your families.

Fredrick Collins Odhiambo,

Kenya Yetu, Czech Chapter

Off topic
Mullah Omar is making news.Reuters News Agency is reporting that the former taliban chief says in an email response that he hasnt seen Osama Bin Laden in years...Am i the only person left on the planet who thinks that this shouldnt be news?I mean its not like he can call OBL up on his home number and schedule a saturday afternoon picnic.Maybe if he had skype,my good friend Ralph says the calls are a tad cheaper..

Part 1
As 2006 comes to a close, i have the opportunity to sit back and reflect on some of the momentous times in the course of the year,not only as pertains to my one dimensional existence but to a wider range of issues that we had to come to terms with. Of course my take in these moments are unconsciously biased for i will be the first person to admit it; i don't know everything there is to know.
David Kirkpatrick owes me an apology
Slightly over one year ago,OK, to be precise, 9 days to the exact date last year, i was going on about my business when something caught my eye.And you bet it wasn't a beautiful damsel flirtatiously looking back at me from some glossy cover.My heart nonetheless missed a crucial beat.David kirkpatrick,the respected Fortune Senior Editor donned a prophets cloak and predicted that Google would falter in 2006.Of course he confessed that his initial attention was to get our(my) attention."....but my first prediction is that a year from now we won't think that the search company is the invincible behemoth that we do now", he wrote.Whether Google is invincible or a behemoth is subject to debate,but the gist of Kirkpatrick's argument was that Google was going to find itself in very cold water by the time Santa Claus(Father Christmas,for some of us) comes knocking.Yahoo was supposed to be hot on the heels of the Internet search leader with its 'community based/powered search' and that Yahoo's acquisition of del.icio.us was a sign of greater things to come.The last time i checked,something wasn't going well for the sunnyvale based company.I watched,half asleep as Terry Semel went to great lengths,in an interview with CNBC's Maria Bartiromo that everything was well and that the press was making a big deal out of the re-organization that is currently taking place in the company.
In all fairness to Kirkpatrick, there might have been signs early in the year that showed Yahoo to be gunning for the top post,but to run away with the ball based solely on a new catch phrase was very audacious.David Kirkpatrick owes me an explanation for catching my attention in the way he did.
Am selling and i am buying
I have for the past three months,been thinking of selling off my cell phone.I was the proud owner of a Motorola MPX200 until about three months back,for my phone suddenly grew relentless and starting going off in the middle of the night without provocation.Whats worse is that when i needed it most to stay in touch,it just switched off.Look,am not very thrilled about all these especially when i have to convince the next person that i am late because the clock on my phone happens to be one hour late.That has led me to something i haven't done in a while;a new year resolution.I am not ambitious when it comes to setting goals for the new year.I take refuge in the knowledge that i am a fairly modest person.Modesty comes with a price tag and mine is roughly $ 115(2500 Czech crowns).I have decided to invest the said amount in a new mobile phone.'New' here doesn't mean a new,it just means 'something i didn't have in my possession before' meaning that i could as well buy a good second hand cell phone of any brand.
A few weeks ago,i decided to add some spice to my life and in the process upgraded my computer monitor to an LG Flatron L1718S.So far so good.Just a little problem.I find it hard to sell off my previous monitor,especially since it served me so well these past number of years.Sadly i need to sell it partly coz i need the money and also to create more space in my room.I am not a good salesman and so don't any of you get a heart attack when i quote an exuberant figure.Heck,its a samsung and samsung's are as good as they get.Its a sync master 793DF and still in very good condition,like(but not limited to) the one shown below:)Whoever said that what u see is what you get was probably thinking about this piece of technological wonder!