Esta Es Mi Vida

Yes, another GLORIOUS MONDAY!

Why?, Because I came into work today, opened up outlook, and saw an email outlining this:

BAE Systems Agrees to Buy Detica for $1.05 Billion (Update3)

By Kari Lundgren

July 28 (Bloomberg) — BAE Systems Plc, Europe’s biggest defense company, agreed to pay 531 million pounds ($1.05 billion) for Detica Group Plc as it expands its homeland-security business.

BAE offered 440 pence in cash for each share of Detica, whose software supports U.K. Ministry of Defence counter- terrorism operations and tax-fraud detection by the U.S. Internal Revenue Service, the London-based company said in a statement today. The offer, approved by both boards, represents an 18 percent premium on Detica’s July 25 closing price.

“It’s a strategic deal at a full price,” Numis Securities Ltd. analyst Clive Forestier-Walker said in a phone interview. Detica would give BAE a “strong foothold” in the U.K., he said. Forestier-Walker advises buying BAE shares.

Defense companies have increased their focus on counter- terrorism after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on New York and Washington. BAE has already sold secure computer systems to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. BAE may make more purchases in the national security market, which may exceed 3 billion pounds by 2011, Forestier-Walker said.

Guildford, England-based Detica rose as much as 69.75 pence, or 19 percent, to 442 pence in London and traded at 437.25 pence as of 1:13 p.m. The shares jumped a record 33 percent on July 21, when the company announced it received a preliminary takeover approach from an undisclosed suitor.

BAE added 0.75 penny, or 0.2 percent, to 446 pence.

Platform for U.S.

“This acquisition will combine Detica’s well established customer relationships and technical capabilities together with our system integration capabilities,” Ian King, chief operating officer of BAE’s U.K. and international division, said in the statement. BAE’s “existing activities and structure will provide a platform for us to apply Detica’s capabilities into the U.S. homeland security market.”

In a separate statement, Detica said its sales in the three months ended June 30 advanced 14 percent, boosted by government contracts, which account for more than half its business. The company did not say how much sales were. Full-year forecasts remain unchanged, it said, without giving numbers. Detica also counts Barclays Plc and HBOS Plc among its customers.

“Strong demand in our government markets has more than offset the continuing weakness in our financial services unit,” Detica said in the statement.

Including debt, the transaction is valued at 538 million pounds, BAE Systems said.

Now most of you don’t know that I work for Detica, and have “tehcnically” been with them for 16 months now. Not happy in the least about it, because they purchased my company 16 months ago, told us nothing would change, didn’t really bring anything “new” to the table in terms of contracts or project work honestly, and laid off 20+ of my colleges and friends 60days after that statement…. that alone pretty much had a huge ripple effect for all of us that were there at the time.

Don’t get me wrong, they did bring more capabilities to the table, and shored up two very stable divisions within our organization. But overall, it’s been a wild ride. And given the fact that people from my company are readers, and others will read this i’ll keep it at that…….by saying it’s be a Wild Ride.

-B.Price

So this popped up on my screen this morning, I guess I must have clicked on it by mistake but in the spirit of the pic I’m just going to throw some random thoughts out that I’m having here today…..

• I’m in love with neo-soul, and most soulful music in general

• I’m tired of the smoke and mirrors show that’s been put on at work in hopes to stop attrition and program the new sheep inform the new employees about the great things the company is doing and what potential we having in the coming months/years

• I want will own this car, and turn it into this one by Dec ‘09

• I need to get some photography from here for my place, especially some of his stuff

• I’m terrible at remembering people’s names

• I’m better at doing what I do than I ever was at doing anything else

• Love, LOVE this song

• I’m a people person

• I’m very analytical in just about all things that I encounter or deal with

• LL Cool J will not be able to rebound his music career and be the artist he was in the 90’s

• I hate it when this happens

• I can influence most people I build/have relationships with to do things that they either normally wouldn’t do, or would hesitate on doing

• I grow tired of waiting for BLACKsummers’night to drop

/post

Ok, so it’s been a hot minute since i’ve been to the movies or even had time to sit down in front of the newly fresh 42′ Plasma (1080p - 30,000:1 contrast ratio) and dive into two or three blu rays back to back. Well over the holiday I did just that, breaking out of work after doing nothing for 3.5hrs, I just chilled on Thursday not planning a single thing for the weekend other then the goal of snapping open my netflix dvd’s, and seeing Hancock.

Well…I ended up watching the following

• Dan in Real Life
• Be Kind Rewind
• Hancock
• 27 Dresses (WITH A WOMAN)
• Jumper
• Mr. Brooks
• Get Smart
• Boondocks Season 1 (Already saw it, but a special someone hadn’t — I’m still pulling your black card for that one)

Dan In Real Life - Very cute movie, on the lines of Juno just with a little more mush to it. Nice to see Steve Carell in a role outside of his norm, the movie did seem long at times, but it keeps your attention and makes you wish you had a family like theirs.

Be Kind Rewind - Starts off really slow, i must warn you. However after about 25min it takes off and is a very creative and fun movie. Haven’t seen one like it in a long time, like in most of his moives prior to this one Mos Def shines, his acting skills are really sharp and it’s always good to see a young black entertainer diversify like he is with the movies he’s done.

Hancock - Might be the best movie i’ve seen this year, right in behind Iron Man just because of the technology that went in behind it, accuracy of not only the dramatic pieces (military, technologies, etc) but even the story line….changed slightly but right on par with the original just updated for the times. So ummm yeah, so back to Hancock. Very good movie, not at all what i thought it was going to be, with a few surprises and even though so part were predictable the movie (at least for me) left me thirsty for a sequel much like Iron Man did.

27 Dresses - Since i was forced to watch this I wont comment on it other then to say I know someone who’s just like the leading actress in the movie, it was 100% chick flick, and I wont be seeing it again….ever.

Jumper - Nothing like watching this in Blu Ray. Hence the only reason why i was anxious/happy to see it. The storyline wasn’t enough to really give much time here to, the acting wasn’t much better honestly, but the overall concept and Sam Jacksons performance alone was worth giving the 90+min of my life to.

Mr. Brooks - Best performance of Kevin Costners career…Hands down. His murder-and-mayhem-loving alter ego was writing at it’s best, a must see for anyone that can stomach random and graphic violence.

Get Smart - Again, this was not my choice of movie either. And in such it was what i thought it was, a cute little action/comedy spy movie that I expected to be a cross between Mr. Bean and Naked Gun…It ended up having a little bit of everything in it, but more so it was structured, smart, well defined, and cute. But really not my type of movie in the least.

Boondocks - What can I say about probably one of the best shows on cable tv? Nothing, other then most people who aren’t black will probably find it highly offensive, while the majority of blacks will find it to be on the razors edge of sharp when it comes to comedy and the social-political issues addressed in each episode.

The rest of the weekend was spent catching up with my boy, and my best friend (sleep). No fireworks because the weather was terrible and weren’t visible from my building with the fog. Best part was waking up on Monday morning at 0930 without havinh to worry about stepping foot into the office….Glorious feeling that was.

This is one of my favorite verses out of one of my favorite books that i’ve been thinking about a lot lately.

Much like most of the members of my gender once we hit the ripe old age of 18 think we are men, or perhaps when we get out “feet” wet (this usually happens before our 18th birthday nowdays) for the first time we feel as though we now have some entitlement. Yeah, ummm no. I don’t believe that your transition from boy-man is so much based on what you’ve accomplished in life (i.e. graduating from college, moving out of the rents house, getting your first car) but rather it’s more suited in the responsibility you assume and the ownership you take over things relative to your life.

Examples

Relationships:

a boy - Will sleep with as many girls as time and nature will allow, not to get confused with him being a man-whore. No, not like that. But if he can have sex with one person, or more then one person on the regular then he will indeed do that and find little error in it. That is his “relationship focus”, or it factors highly into that. He will never turn it down, pump the brakes and get to know whats going on above the neck line unless it all but secures his probability to get below the waistline

a man - Will honor women for being more then just a source for his pleasure and quell to his burning hormonal “needs”. His focus isn’t on getting in a a woman’s pants as it is getting in her head, learning who she is, what she’s about, is she a potential mate candidate, is she worth putting in work/an application for.

Work:

a boy - Will gain employment for the purpose of putting in 8hrs, getting a paycheck and breaking out at 1700 hrs everyday. Professional gain is a foreign concept/phrase to him and unless it involves adding a few extra pennies to his salary, he’s not interested. He wants a better job, but isn’t putting in the effort to educate himself on a) how he can do this b) what opportunities are available to self improvement. Tack on the fact that he’s not qualified for his position, knows it, and doesn’t really care because again…as long as he’s pullin a paycheck that’s what matters.

a man - He doesn’t have a job, doesn’t know even what this word is other then it being a reference to what the 19yrold behind the register at BestBuy who is harassing him about a service plan for his new blu ray player does. He has a career, he’s pursuing a lifelong ambition or calling. He has an occupation or profession, something that he’s trained to do, something that takes a combination of skill, experience and education. He’s not caught up in titles, but qualifications and his ability to not only articulate his capabilities, to be able to execute those qualifications and put them into a business process is his perpetual goal.

He knows where he is going, what he wants to achieve, and where he can see himself in 20yrs, and most importantly he makes his own decisions so far as the direction of his career.

Capitol (Money)

a boy - Spends money like there is no tomorrow with literally, no thought for the future, no thought for anything other then what’s “now”. What pop culture says he needs at this moment or whatever the new hotness is out on the market is what his focus is on. Screw the future, you only get to live once, you only get one life so live it UP! Savings, investments, retirement are all foreign concepts to him, or things he’ll work about later when he gets a better job, or when he gets his record deal, contract with the Lakers, wins the lotto, or gets his stimulus check.

Discounts, coupons, sales, and clearances are all words that his wack parents used. And again, aren’t something that he’s interested in. That ribbed t-shirt from A/X for $35.99 will do just fine, and will go well with the $200 jeans from D&G he just copped.

a man - Lives off of the principle of getting what he needs, not what he wants. He isn’t living paycheck to paycheck, he’s got six months of salary saved up just in case he decides to take a break from that career and go visit/live in an Eastern European country for a few months. He owns, or is on the path to ownership of his possession/assets. Debt is his nemesis, credit is his best friend. Words such as Marshalls, Ross, Value City, Macy’s (1 day sale), Sears, sales, coupons, deals, discounts are some of his favorites.

I could go on and on but I think you get the point that i’m trying to make here. This difference also applies to women, but i thought i’d specify it for my gender seeing how I can relate and deliver better for what separates a man from a boy then what i can for what separates a girl from a woman. If you aren’t doing all the of things i listed in the man category, fret not, we aren’t perfect and as long as you are progressing to get from boy –> man then that’s what matters.

I’d like to hear my audience’s thought on this list as well, what do you all think? Accurate? Inaccurate?