Journey

JMMC Sprint #4, Spot Valley

// August 30th, 2010 // No Comments » // Dmitri's racing news

Quick photo of my race shoes and armband

Yesterday marked a huge milestone in my racing career. Not only was it the first time driving in a high speed motorsport event in over 2 years, but also the first time I have ever come last. Yes, last. Why am I writing about this since I came last? Because there is an important lesson to be learned from the experience. I will not get into the details of the car trouble that I had with the car, or the fact that it was the slowest car there, or that it had on worn tyres and it was my first time driving it. What I will get into is the fact that racing is all about passion, experience and skill.

First of all I would like to thank Mark March, who shared his Spot Valley Entertainment Complex sponsored Toyota Corolla FX with me. 3 weeks ago Spot Valley invited myself and some other racers to come and checkout the changes they were making to their grounds to provide the best dirt/gravel racing experience in Jamaica. The Complex now boasts two dirt tracks, which will be joined and extended for a super time attack later in the year. After attending the preview event I knew I wanted to compete in all of Spot Valley’s 2010 events. Mark kindly invited me to share cars with him, so I could compete in this the first dirt sprint of the season.

Photo By Sean Campbell

The whole aim was to have fun, which I did. It was great racing again, especially on dirt, which is my favourite, can you say sideways? The slow car allowed me to not have to use brakes, which I totally forgot about 3/4 ways through the track in my first run, resulting in my going wide in a corner carrying too much speed, losing valuable time. In my second run I now had an idea of what the car was like and pushed it even harder, however the car engine sputtered due to an electrical short for a portion of the track, I still managed to shave 10 seconds off the initial time. By the time my third run came around, the rain was pouring, the track was now waterlogged and the half dead snow tyres on the car just couldn’t find any grip. It was interesting learning what it felt like to drive 50+mph on a wet marl track though. Most competitors didn’t dare venture on to the track after it started raining, I loved it though, very rarely do you get such an experience.

As I said, it’s the first time I have come last in an event. I am used to entering with the slowest car, but never have I come last before. Regardless, I want to race even more now. Before the recession, around 50 supporters donated money towards my building a race car (95% done) for Dover Raceway in St. Ann, Jamaica. I have not forgotten the tremendous amounts of encouragement received. As an upcoming racer, large companies don’t want to sponsor those without a proven track record (even though I have over 10 trophies), so this crowd-funding initiative was well appreciated. The recession has prevented me from competing full time however I hope to continue racing for the rest of 2010 and have a full season in 2011. The lessons learned this weekend are: do what you enjoy, get all the track time you can and someone has to come last.

I am looking forward to the next event! Will keep you updated!

P.S. Thanks to my friends and family who drove down to Montego Bay for support!

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The Jamaican Blogger Project

// August 27th, 2010 // 2 Comments » // Cool Stuff, Technology

Yesterday Morning Nicky McFarlane came up with the idea of Jamaican Bloggers using the hashtag #jamaicanblogger to make blogs easier to find. Well, this is a prime case for social media, within an hour the hashtag was being shared heavily on twitter, and within a few hours over 45 blogs were tracked. I am currently tracking the term #jamaicanblogger, #jamaicanbloggers, “jamaican blogger” online to see how much it is used. Please see the widget below:

Also you can follow these bloggers on my twitter list: http://twitter.com/utenjm/jamaican-bloggers

To get listed please tweet your url and #jamaicanblogger also please encourage friends to share so we can get a full listing of Jamaican blogs. Eventually I will aggregate the data and post it online, so we can have a central library of Jamaican blogs. Also please share in the comments below how using the hashtag has helped you get more visitors, better search engine ranking or new twitter followers! Thanks

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Jamaica: The Digital Era

// August 10th, 2010 // 3 Comments » // Life, Technology

Jamaica is being ushered into a new digital era. Never before has the country had so much opportunity for development. For years Jamaica has developed more and more business based on information and communication technologies (ICT), but this is now about to explode. Today with the launch of the first 4G data service Jamaica will soon be recognised for how ICT can turn around a Caribbean country.

When computers were first made, hardware was the limiting factor, after the cost of hardware fell and capacity increased, programming languages were the restriction. Shortly after that the limiting factor was people who could use these computers. Currently the limiting factor is access to the internet. In Jamaica many people have access to computers, broadband access however is still limited in rural areas. The more people get access to the internet is the greater the nation will be developed. Access to the internet is the opportunity for a paradigm shift for the nation.

When someone first gains access to the internet they realise what was impossible is now possible. This does not only apply to ICT based businesses, but to everything Jamaica has to offer. The music artist or filmmaker who thought he could never get a big break can self publish on Youtube. A photographer can post his photos on flickr and gain an international audience. Local professionals and businesses can leverage the internet in a multitude of ways.

For decades Jamaica has needed to increase exports and the local economy. Jamaica needs to make digital products and services the number one export. Wages in Jamaica are low compared to the UK or US, the country can provide services at a lower cost than first world counterparts with the same or better quality. Also exporting ICT products is less restricted than physical products that have expiry dates or are subject to high tariffs.

Already there are thousands of people in Jamaica who are using ICT at home and in their businesses. In the next ten years, a new generation of professionals will be ready to join the workforce to do jobs that don’t exist today. They will have grown up using the framework which will allow them to do the (currently) impossible (the Internet). Jamaicans by nature are innovative, they always know how to get things to work, to bend the system so to speak. Broadband availability in Jamaica is now very high, thanks to service providers Flow, Lime, Digicel, Claro, Dekal Wireless, equipping our current students to learn faster, gain more exposure and do things never done before.

The point is, ICT is not only a business model, but a tool and framework that we can use to develop our existing industries. The tourism and music industries have already started using the web to promote their products, how can you use it to sell yours?

Are you making the most of what is available?

Why I love Jamaica Hashtag

// August 3rd, 2010 // No Comments » // Social Media Marketing

Earlier in the year, after learning more about social media etc, I wondered, why can we not find more information about Jamaica online. I started tagging tweets with the #whyIloveJamaica hashtag so that people could easily find reasons to visit Jamaica. Currently the Jamaica Tourist Board is doing a great job with their @visitJamaicaNow and @askJamaica twitter accounts but we can do more!

Strawberry, Pineapple and Mango Mojitos from Twisted Kilt in Montego Bay, Jamaica

So when out and about in Jamaica while posting that great sunset photo, or even remembering moments just tag it! #whyIloveJamaica! I have also created a twitter account with the aim of re-tweeting those that use the hashtag, so that visitors can have a non-stop stream of reasons from real people and not just paid marketing. The internet wants real reviews, let’s give it to them!

Living the life on $500

// February 6th, 2010 // No Comments » // Life

Well last night I was out on a mission, have a blast for $500 or less. First stop was Acropolis Gaming lounge in Barbican, Acropolis has a Friday special where they sell a cue of rum for $250 and the chasers are free. This meant that me and my group of ppls could all sit and par for a while, the music was good and the overall vibe was nice. After being there for about 3 hours we left and went to a friend’s house, where we pooled our remaining resources and bought some Pepsi and snacks and continued hanging out. I got home at 2:30 AM. At no point did I feel the need to spend more money or that we were in any lack. One person who wasn’t drinking at Acropolis bought food and we all had the fries.

All in all a very nice night, I will try something else next week. Please note this didn’t include food or gas because no matter where you go you will have to buy food and gas (you have to eat dinner everyday don’t you?). This was calculated based on money spent on entertainment. Fact is, you don’t need to spend $5k at a party to have fun, you just need the right people and the right place.