I try not to do it too often because it can be kind of expensive, but everything now and then when the mood hits me, I like to visit Starbucks. My drink of choice is usually Caramel Apple Cider, although the other day I had a Gingerbread Latte that was quite tasty as well. Well this morning, the line in Starbucks was insanely long, so I decided to go a different direction, and I visited Caribou Coffee. This would allow me to 1)Avoid the headache and aggravation of the long line and 2)Use the $1 off coupon of theirs that I had been walking around with for over 3 weeks. So I go in the store, and it was basically empty except for other woman in there. I scanned the menu looking for the Caribou Coffee equivalent of Caramel Apple Cider, and then I see it. The title of the drink? Hot Apple Blast.

Now the first thing I did is re-read it to make sure I wasn't reading it wrong, but when I re-read it, it still said Hot Apple Blast, and in my mind I was like you gotta be f*cking kidding me man. So I go up to the counter, and there sat this big black dude who looked to be about 6"4 or 6"5, 300lbs, and once he opened his mouth I also noticed he was a bit sweet(read: ghey...not that there's anything wrong with that). So I look this man in the eye, and ask him for a Hot Apple Blast, and he chuckles and then rings me up. The only other woman in line chuckled too, and at this point, I decided something needed to be said. I asked everyone behind the counter if there was another synonym they could come up with for "blast" and everyone just burst out laughing...but I got no answer. The woman whose job it is to call out the drinks to the drink makers yelled out, "One Hot Apple Blast!", and the laughter continued. And when the guy finally gave me my drink he said, "Here's Your Hot Apple Blast sir", and before I took the drink from him I asked him how often this drink is ordered, and he said, not very often. I can't begin to tell you how dirty I feel drinking this drink. But if it means I can avoid long lines and aggravation, I'll get Hot Apple Blasts every damn day.

Blue - LeAnn Rimes

So last night my lady and I attended a concert at the historical Lincoln Theatre. The concert was Anthony David, Fertile Ground and Kindred the Family Soul. I had never seen Anthony David or Kindred before, but I had seen Fertile Ground and I wasn't impressed at all, so I didn't know quite to expect.

The crowd was mostly women and couples, and from the start it felt like a date atmosphere. I also saw one of the barbers from my barbershop at the show, which was hilarious. None of the barbers really strike me as the kind of dudes who would attend this type of show, and you could tell because he said hello, and then kept it moving. But anyway, here is my review on each of the acts:

Anthony David
He has an above average voice, but his performance was lacking because he only had a guitar. No band, no backup singers, just him. He was smart enough to do several songs that required some call and response, but honestly that wasn't enough for me. The only time he got a big response is when he did the songs of others(Lovely Day by Bill Withers and Something About You by Level 42). Then he would go right back to his songs, and the crowd would die down a bit. And then to make things worse, he ended by performing a song about not being able to stop his cheating ways, and you could hear women all over the place kind of sigh in disgust. Needless to say I wasn't impressed with his performance, but he has a good voice, so maybe I'll download some of his songs to get a better impression.

Fertile Ground
I wasn't impressed with them when I saw them at a festival in Baltimore, and I wasn't impressed with them last night. They remind me of Frankie Beverly and Maze. Maze is a much better band than Frankie Beverly is a singer, and the same holds true for Fertile Ground. The band which consisted of a trumpet, a sax, a drummer, a keyboardist and a guitarist really sounded damn good, and full of energy. The singer really didn't' impress me all that much, and she spent more time doing liturgical dances all over the damn stage. And on top of that, she had something on her head that was eerily similar to the statue of liberty I kept wanting to scream out Ellis Island. But unlike Anthony David's sub par performance, I was able to pay attention to Fertile Ground because the band was stellar. Or perhaps it was two glasses of Merlot I had downed.

Kindred the Family Soul
Kindred was the headliner of the show, and you could tell as soon as they hit the stage. One, its nice to see a husband/wife combination perform on stage together. Off the top of my head, only Ashford and Simpson come to mind in terms of other husband/wife combos. I could definitely tell that they had strong feelings for one another. Not to mention, Aja(the wife) was visibly pregnant with their fourth child, yet she still had lots of energy. The band was good, they interacted with the crowd, and it didn't hurt that both of them were on their game vocally. If I had known more of the words to their songs, I would have stood up and sung and clapped, but I stayed my ass in my seat and clapped. I was happy they salvaged the show.

Overall I give the show a 5 out of 10. With no wine, my rating would have plummeted to 3. And by the way, your eyes aren't deceiving you, if you go back and click on that link of Ashford and Simpson, you'll notice that Nick Ashford is the second coming of Jesus Christ himself.

I have extremely mixed feelings about this indictment of Barry Bonds. I have always like Barry's style. He's always carried himself in a manner that says, "Eff you, I know I'm good, now watch me back it up", and he always did. Most athletes give you politically correct answers or they talk in athlete speak (I give 134%, i'm just playing my game, i want to give credit to my teammates, etc). Those kinds of athletes keep things placid, but they are frustrating to journalists and writers who crave for something controversial, and Barry was and still is that controversial man. Barry was voted as the player of the 90's back in 2000, and he was voted to the all-century team that same year, and he was voted by the media. That's where my love for Barry started. But he's messed up since then. He got greedy back in 1998 when he saw Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa, both of whom were on some performance enhancing drug, get an insane amount of love from the media. So he started taking some type of steroid himself. He could have come clean about using drugs back when he initially went in front of the grand jury, but he didnt want to snitch on himself or others, and now its come back to get him. Not only that, it has robbed me of the chance to possibly see him play one more year. We'll see how things unfold over the next few months, but it looks bleak.

This whole concept of carpooling is very fascinating to me. One person goes to a random spot, and picks up 3 or 4 people on the way to work. Then they all sit in the car in silence(for the most part), and they ride for anywhere between 20 minutes to an hour into work, and then the driver pulls up to the designated spot in the city, and the passengers get out and go on their merry way. I for one, could not have folks in the car with me and not speak or something. But 9 times out of 10, I wouldn't want to speak to strangers anyway, so they probably wouldn't even make in in my car. And what if I wanted to blast this song all the way into work? Would they ask me to turn it down? Would they give me dirty looks via the rear view mirror? I know the whole point of carpooling or picking up slugs as it is affectionately called sometimes, is to cutdown on the number of cars on the road. Plus it helps keep the environment clean, and I'm all for that. But I'd much rather drive a Prius than pollute my car with strangers in the morning and again at night.

Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic - The Police
This is the perfect song to do the Carlton dance to

A few years ago, I saw this movie with Robert Deniro, Angela Bassett, Ed Norton and Marlon Brando entitled The Score. In the movie, Ed Norton played a man who was acting mentally challenged, in order to help his friends pull off a heist in an art gallery. Not until the very end of the movie, was his cover as a faux mental patient exposed, and by the then he had already gotten away with "The Score". Why do I bring this up?

There is this guy in my office who is mentally challenged named Brad. Brad's job is to empty the trash, and then replace the bag that's in my can. He and another mentally challenged fellow who doesn't speak a lick of English, usually alternate doing this task. Brad usually does this task in about 30 seconds, and then he spends the next minute or so engaging in small talk. The typical conversation goes like this:

Brad: So what are you doing this weekend, are you going to go out or stay kind of(every sentence ends in kind of)
Me: I think i'll just stay in relax
Brad: so you're just going to relax, that's good kind of, i'm going to stay in too kind of, or maybe catch a movie, yeah, kind of
Me: That's good man
Brad: have a nice day
me: you too brad
Brad: ok you too brad

I must admit the first couple of times he talked to me, I fell out laughing. I wasn't necessarily being mean I don't think, but when you're dealing with someone mentally challenged, you never know what you're going to get, and it can be humorous. Now its to the point where I don't even think twice about dealing with him, and I am very much used to seeing him and kicking the "mathmatics" if you will. But in the back of my mind, I think about that Ed Norton character from "The Score". And although there really isn't much to steal from my where I work, what if he's faking it? What if he really just wants to slowly and methodically rob and steal from everyone on this floor? He has it so that everyone speaks to him, but they really don't pay close attention. He is in people's offices while their briefcases, bags, purses, and computers are very much in public view. In fact, I'm sure people would accuse me of stealing, before they confronted Brad. If he pulled that "Score" off, I wouldn't even be mad at him, in fact I'd come visit him in whatever jail they put him in, and I would ask him what prompted him to do it, and then I'd try to write a story and profit off his ass.

Soon I'll Be Loving You Again - Marvin Gaye
I'm well aware that I have posted this song before, but I'm posting again. Why? because the song is dirty, and from the 1:53 mark of the song until the end, Marvin chants "I'm gonna give you some head" in the background about 45 times in a row. Who doesn't love that kind of persistence?

Normally I don't like to write about current events, because by the time I get around to writing about them, the topic has already been beaten into submission by the media, co workers, and people running their mouths on the train. But two different thoughts about two different stories went across my mind today, so I could not pass up an opportunity to write about them.

The first has to do with Kanye West and his mother passing away. I really don't choose to focus on the circumstances around her death, because at this point it doesn't matter. The part of this story that I found to be most painful is that Kanye found out about his mother's death while he was in London. Now losing a parent is tough enough, especially when that parent is relatively young, and you are very much dependent on them. But to find out about something like that when you're halfway across the globe has to be extremely difficult. Can you imagine the range of emotions Kanye must have been going thru on that plane? I'd be pacing, praying, cursing, crying and who knows what else. A friend of mine got a call that her mother had been in a car accident, and she said that on the way to hospital she could barely think straight, because it wasn't clear whether her mother was dead or alive. Those are the types of situations you really never forget about, and I hope to God that doesn't happen to me, but I'm aware that it could at any time.

The second situation is not so much depressing as it is mind boggling. Isiah Thomas, head coach of the New York Knicks, was accused of sexually harassing a former employee, and after a hilarious court battle, it was decided that the Knicks(not Isiah) had to pay this woman $11 million. During the court case, we also learned that allegedly Stephon Marbury, a player for the Knicks, called this same woman a bitch. And he cheated on his wife with some NY Knicks intern in the back of his limo(surprise, surprise). It was also alleged that the owner of the Knicks, James Dolan, knew of all this, and just let it happen. Now granted all of this happened before the NBA season, and by the time the season started NO ONE GOT FIRED. Let me do something like that at my job, and I'd be fired AND in jail. But here's the kicker, and here's the reason I had to write about this. Stephon was told yesterday that his playing time would be reduced a bit, and he got mad and didn't travel with the team to Phoenix. At some point, he allegedly told reporters that Isiah had better not mess with his playing time, because "he has so much dirt" on Isiah (aka I'm sooooo snitching). As I am typing this, it feels like an episode of Jerry Springer or something, but sadly it isn't. It's part of the big bag of wrong that is the New York Knicks. Here's what should happen: 1)James Dolan the owner should fire Isiah. 2)Stephon Marbury should be traded or bought out of his contract 3)David Stern, the commissioner of the NBA should strongly urge Dolan to resign. The Knicks are on of the most stories franchises in the NBA, and those three moves would be a GREAT start in them recapturing that glory.

I'm all over the place this morning..i'm spotting dimes and eating onions.

Thinking About Your Body - Bobby McFerrin

My son's mother finally decided to stop being a tyrant, and she called me last to say my son needed basketball shoes for the upcoming season. I immediately got her off the phone, and I spoke directly to him about what he wanted/needed. I know all about this game, because I used to play it with my father. I would tell him that I needed Jordans
because they were the best shoe out there performance-wise, and he would say until you have a job, I am not buying you $150 shoes. I'd end up getting shoes half the amount, and of course once the season started I didn't even notice. It didn't hurt that I went to high school in a mostly white neighborhood, and they really weren't making fun of kids who couldn't afford Jordans, because most of them didn't even know the fashion statement that went with wearing them. My son goes to school in a predominantly black neighborhood, so I realize that he MAY face a little peer pressure about his shoes, but I am not succumbing to that..not yet anyway. If I start that trend now when he's 10, I have to keep it up for 8 more years.

Anyway, once I get young Carlton on the telephone he tells me that he wants Michael Jordans. Remembering a tactic that my father used on me, I asked him to give me three choices of shoes he wanted, and I asked him to rank them. There was a 30 second pause on the other side of the phone, and then he said his first choice were the Lebron James shoes, his second choice were the new Jordans, and his last choice were the shoes of Paul Pierce. He will be getting the least expensive of the three, until he shows he is as passionate about basketball as he is football. If he is a basketball prodigy, I'll buy him an impressive spread of baller ass basketball shoes that he has never seen before. Or I could compromise and get him the new Starbury(aka Stephon Marbury) shoes that cost a whopping $15. The possibilities are endless. But the key is to make him happy, teach him a slight lesson, and to not come off as a pushover of a long distance parent. We shall see what happens.

Miles Jaye - I've Been A Fool

There is a distinct difference between waking up at 5am before work, and waking up early on your day off. So this morning when I was awakened by rain and wind, I was able to appreciate it a little more. I appreciated so much that about 4 or 5 different spoken word performances flew in my head while listening to the rain and wind. I will share one of those unedited performances:

*the following must be read in the spoken word cadence and the Maya Angelou voice*

i sat in the bed, i heard the wind, i felt the rain as it came and it came
like i wanted to be doing at that point, but it was not yet meant to be
so i waited there patiently, feeling the breeze, and hearing the rain
this lack of release felt like slight pain or was it discomfort
if i'm not married does that make me a strumpet
i've veered away from my thesis, the rain/wind melody plays like a pianist
and yet i still lie awake alone with this sound
the point to this poem has yet to be found
whenever you call me i'll be around
let's go get some barbecue and get busy


The above exhibition is futility is why I can't stand poem and poets(sorry Nichole), but I definitely respect them. I am definitely not a creative writer. One time when my brother and I were taking in copious amounts of liquor together, he told me I unleashed a freestyle rap for the ages, but sadly the world will never see me achieve that level of greatness again. I am going to enjoy my day off now, because clearly I don't have anything of note to share on this Veterans' Day.

Lionel Richie - You Are

For about five years now, I have wanted this Ahmad Rashad jersey. As I explained in this entry last year, the first football game I ever watched, I saw Ahmad Rashad play, and the instant I saw my name in bright lights on the back of his jersey, I went crazy. I've asked past girlfriends and family members to get this jersey, but for whatever reason, I never got it, and I basically given up on it. You might ask why didn't I just buy it myself? The jersey was just too expensive, and I thought it would be better as a gift. Well my friends, today was my lucky day, because my girlfriend broke the 5 year curse, an she just presented it to me, and I cannot stop smiling. I know throwback jerseys aren't even stylish right now, but I could care less because it has my name on the back. And when I consulted the fashion handbook, I saw that under that circumstance, me wearing the jersey is 100% legal.

Good times indeed, I'll be purchasing the engagement ring tomorrow

So, in what has become the norm since this Daylight Savings Time b.s has been in effect, I woke up at 5am today, and I have not gone back to sleep. I turned on Sportscenter, watched it for a bit, and then they went to a commercial, which freed me to channel surf a bit. I stopped on the Discovery Channel, and this is when my adventures began.

Initially I stopped at that channel, because I saw a woman on her back with her breast out, and instantly I was intrigued. Then as the camera angle got wider, I was able to see what was REALLY going on, and that was a woman giving birth. The breast that I saw was actually just a wardrobe malfunction, because I never saw that breast again during the 7 minutes or so I was watching. This woman was in some kind of room giving birth. Behind her was someone holding her head and keeping her relaxed. In front of her was the doctor I assume, and there were two other individuals in the room keeping score I guess, who knows why they were there. The interesting thing about this childbirth, and the reason why I didn't change the channel initially is that this entire operation was underwater. The doctor's lower half was underwater and the pregnant woman had just a little more of her body underwater as well, and I found that to be fascinating. That fascination quickly subsided, when the cruel cameraman decided to enable the zoom function. He zoomed in close and tight enough so that I could see the baby's head coming out(crowning I believe is the official term), but still I could not turn away. I can't even begin to name all of the things that were coming out of this woman, but after many faces and much pain, the pale baby came out and everyone in the room rejoiced. I have some observations after watching that display:

1)Childbirth is NOT a beautiful thing. The foreplay leading up to making the child is wonderful. Making the child is simply beautiful. Watching a woman as her stomach gets bigger I could see as beautiful. And once the baby comes out and the woman is no longer in pain, that too is a beautiful thing. But the pain, the pushing, the blood, the faces made, the pain, the grip the pregnant woman had on her helper's hand and the pain? No beauty there my friend. None at all.

2)When I get married and my wife gives birth, I promise you that she won't be the only on drugs in that hospital room

3)I want a female doctor delivering my child. I don't care how unsexy the childbirth process is, no way in hell is a dude going to get that much of a free look at my lady's nether regions.

Baby Don't Cry - Lalah Hathaway

I can't tell you how much of a man I felt like this morning, when right before I walked into my building, Beyonce's, "Irreplaceable" came blaring through the headphones of my Ipod. That's one of those songs that when it was out, you simply could not get out of your head, but since I hadn't heard it in a few months, I thought I was in the clear. I guess not.

One of the things that bothers me about the media these days, is their kneejerk reaction to annoint something as the "best ever". A new movie comes out, it is discussed as the best ever. A new singer comes out and sells lots of records, all of a sudden they are rumored to be the best that ever did it. And if an athlete has two or three great years, then they must be the best. But yesterday, I read something, and it really made me angry..angry enough to address here this morning. According to an article, Chris Brown is supposed to be the next Michael Jackson. In that same article they say he also might be the next Usher..now that I can believe. But to compare anyone who is making music today to Michael Jackson is just blasphemy to me. Allow me to run down the reasons:

1)Michael Jackson can actually sing
2)All of Chris Brown's dance moves are Michael Jackson..it just looks differemt with a heterosexual person like Chris does them
3)Thriller and Off the Wall alone are better than ANYTHING Chris Brown will ever do
4)A Chris Brown video will never premiere on regular network television
5)Michael Jackson has been relevant musically since he was 5, which means EVERYONE knows who he is in all genres of music. Chris Brown isn't known outside or R&B
6)Most artists who are popular before the age of 18, generally fade before they hit 21, let alone 25. Michael was big from age 5, up until his last album came out in September of '01, when he was 43.

I suppose I could go on, but I do believe I've made my point. Michael Jackson wasn't just given the title as of one of best entertainers ever, he earned it. Just because someone new and fresh comes along, that doesn't mean they can wear the title. I know this comes off as me hating Chris Brown, but this is just me sharing my heterosexual love for my favorite androgynous singer.

P.Y.T.(The Demo Version) - Michael Jackson

I don't know what it is, but I frequently have problems with older white women asking me to do things for them. It is something I have to get over, and I know its based on me thinking that somewhere in their heads, lies some racial discrimination, but in reality I am the racist one. I can have a white guy ask me to lift something for him, or help him carry something, and I can let it slide. And of course, I have no problem helping out someone of my same race, or any other race for that matter. The only reason I would say no is out of sheer laziness. But there's something about an older white lady, who can barely pronounce my name, asking me to lift, carry or move something for her that really makes me angry. This happened a couple times yesterday, and the first time she did it, I started to say, "Do it your goddamned self", but that would have promptly gotten me fired I'm sure. I guess the alternative would have been for me to ask her to call a janitor or building services, but then I'm seen as hostile or confrontational I guess. The second time it happened, I just looked her dead in the face and moved something for her, and she looked away feeling uncomfortable i'm sure. This is unfair on my part I know, but its one of my flaws I continue to improve upon.

I could be extremely naive here, or maybe as a mere citizen I don't have a clear understanding of the totality of the situation, but it bothers me that we are giving billions of dollars to Musharraf and Pakistan, and at the same time we readily admit that we aren't quite sure he's using the money the right way. That is a gamble of epic proportions. That's dumber than betting that the Dolphins will beat New England next week. In this country, when the government gives or lets you borrow money, you have to do some type of justification as to how you'll spend it, and in some cases, in order to CONTINUE getting money, you have to itemize how you spent it. But in this case, we have no real clue as to what's going on, yet the money floweth. Selfishly speaking, about half of that money could be spent on rebuilding the schools in the DC area. Less money being put into school system means that the sharpest minds aren't always in the class which means that smart teacher who could reach that previously unreachable kid, is now in a more lucrative profession and the kids still suffer, and then they turn to violence. I am oversimplifying a bit here, but I'm not that far off. A solution to this problem may not be able to happen until January 20th, 2009, but it was on my mind enough to write about it.

There is something going on between my blog, and my work computer, and frankly it has me highly perturbed. For some reason, I cannot spell check, and attach links on here like I usually do, and so it forces me to just write without flair. I rely on flair to help hammer home my various points, and I rely on the music I link on the bottom of entry, to show off my little music collection and to convey how I am feeling on any given day. Without these toys, I feel like Tom Brady without Randy Moss, or Bush without Cheney and Condi Rice, or Sonny without Cher, or like Iraq without oil. I just feel plain naked, and I am going to have either a)start blogging before or after work or b)continue to write without flair or music. This is very disheartening, and I can't exactly go to the IT folks here and ask them what is it up, because they will say, "Why the hell are you blogging anyway?". Perhaps I need to get in good with one of them, and then ask them on the sly. I must ponder and pray on this.

Not to get all inside baseball this morning, but it looks as if Steve McNair(if I could use my links, I'd show you who he was) of the Baltimore Ravens is done as a quarterback, and its sad for me. I remember being a senior in high school, and watching McNair and his Alcorn State squad play the Hampton Pirates on BET. I was already headed to Hampton, so I was really watching to see my future college, but instead, I was treated to an incredible performance by Steve McNair. He could run, he could throw, he could throw on the run, and most importantly he was winning. He went on to finish in the top 5 of the Heisman trophy award that year, and then after sitting on the bench for 2 years in the NFL, once he got his shot, he was just as successful at the highest level. The highest point of his career, is when he led the Tennessee Titans to the Super Bowl, and he was one play short of winning. But all the hits and injuries he's played through have taken a toll, and he really hasn't been the same since he left Tennessee. And last night, it was sad watching him get beat up, or caught from behind my younger more spry players. I hope I'm wrong about him, but given what I've seen over the past 2 seasons, I don't think so.

welcome to the non-flair, non link version of my blog.

After spending time with my father on Saturday, I have pretty much come to the conclusion that I definitely want another child. I sat and talked to my father for over 2 hours, and during this particular conversation we started talking about various times when I messed up when I was younger. We discussed the time when I lied about getting my report card, we discussed the time when I stole a couple of Playboys from his best friend, and we briefly touched on other times when I messed up during high school. He told me that he would sometimes punish me, and then laugh behind my back(especially with that Playboy incident). He told that his philosophy was to give me as much rope as possible, which ideally would have given me many chances to come clean with the truth, but I rarely took the bait. And as I got older, he said that beating or hitting me wasn't really an option, but making me feel like I had let him down was. I would get those speeches with him saying, "You know Rashad you really let me down, or Rashad you betrayed my trust" or something to that effect. And since I looked up to my father so much, comments like that would cut much deeper than a spanking or getting hit in the chest. But now that I am 15 years removed from those lessons, it was actually kind of fun talking to the person who had administered those lessons to me. Its no different than an ex-student going to visit a college professor.

So what does that have to do with me wanting another child? Circumstances have not allowed me to have that type of relationship with my son. I never married his mother, and as a result, I don't get to see the day-to-day things that happen with him, and I really am not raising him. I give him lessons here and there, but realistically speaking, it is mother who is administering the lessons he'll retain. That situation contiunes to be beyond my control, barring some sudden change of events. So once I get married, I very much plan on having a child(hopefully a son) who both me(and my wife of course) can influence in a positive way. In some respects that can be seen as selfish, but I disagree. To me, its more a matter of continuing the lessons that my father has instilled of me. I think it would be selfish NOT to pass those on..

Like millions of other folks probably did last night, i went to see the movie American Gangster. When one goes to see a movie of that magnitude, lots of thought and love go into preparing. First, I had to make sure that I choose a theatre that is going to have minimal problems. I don't want crowd noise, I don't want people clapping at the end of movies, and I don't want kids getting in my way or any of that. Then on the day of the movie, I want to be there early enough to get a decent seat on the end, so that I don't have to contend with people trying steal my arm rest. So by the time we sat down to watch the movie, everything came into place. No real noise, great seats, popcorn, etc. Failure to pay attention to these types of details, can lead to a miserable movie experience.

The movie itself? It was just ok. I compared it to the movie, Ray. Jamie Foxx did a damn good job, but to me the movie plot wasn't enough to carry the movie. In American Gangster, Denzel, Russell Crowe, and a couple of other actors did excellent individual jobs, but overall the movie was just ok. It reminded me of a more refined New Jack City, but the plot was the same. The best of the movie to me was seeing Ruby Dee get a movie role. I worried about her after her husband died, and to be honest I really hadn't heard much about her since then. But she looked good in her role as Frank's mother.

So if I were forced to rate this movie with 10 being the highest, and 1 being the lowest, I'd give it a 6.

Jay-Z - Roc Boys

I was in line at the CVS this afternoon, when I noticed a dog behind me. At this point in my life, I am conditioned to pet and stroke a dog, if they look friendly enough, so this is what I did. As I started to pet this German shepherd I realized that this was a guide dog, not a regular dog, and you are barely supposed to look at these dogs let alone touch them. I guess the owner of the dog got a sense of what was going on, and she yelled out, "Please don't touch the dog", and I immediately backed away, and I apologized. But at this point the damage had already been done, and the dog was sniffing my hand, but putting his head near my hand trying to get some love. I thought these dogs were trained to ignore idiots like me, but clearly this dog had slipped through the cracks. I immediately felt bad, and I quickly left the CVS, but before I did, I looked back and the dog was looking at me. I wanted to wink at him or something, but I don't think dogs know what that means.

Rick James - Moon Child

Yesterday, as part of a bet she lost, my ladyfriend took me to this establishment called Exhale. The plan wasn't to eat, or even drink heavily, but to have one shot each, and then get the hell out of there. Now I have been to this establishment on other occasions, and my times in there have always been mediocre at best, but considering what the task at hand was, I thought this place would suffice. When we walked in there were numerous signs hanging, which said something to the effective of, "If you set foot in this place you must order at LEAST one drink". Never in my life have I seen that kind of b.s. posted up throughout a bar. I mean these looked like fliers a 9 or 10 year old had made, and they were everywhere. The bartender wasn't very friendly at all, and she was shaped like a medium sized humpty dumpty..if that makes sense. The drinking-a-shot-on-Wednesday Gods were trying to tell us something by giving us all of these signs to leave, but we stayed put and ordered two shots of Amaretto.

Now Amaretto isn't typically administered in shot form, but I like it because it is smooth, sweet, and it is a perfect after dinner drink. So the waitress pours us two shots, and then puts a third one down. We each drink our shots and then we split the third one. Now at 100% of the bars I have ever been to, if a bartender puts a third drink anywhere in the vicinity of my hands, that means that drink is on the house. I have been in or witnessed this scenario at least 50 times. That's just bartender etiquette..if it wasn't on the house, after you finish the first two, they'll ask if you want another, which means do you want to PAY for another. Well since I won the earlier bet, my ladyfriend paid for the shots and we walked out..About 5 minutes later, after we were a good distance away from this spot, she tells me that she had to pay for 3 shots, but she didn't want to make a big deal about it. She strategically waited until we were too far to turn back, because she knew that I would have raised hell and unleashed a verbal jihad on her uneven ass. But alas, I never got the opportunity, and the cooler, more mature head prevailed. So I guess what I'd like to know at this point is if bartenders usually charge in that instance, or do I have the right to go back up there and be a nuisance.

We Need A Resolution - Aaliyah

Here is a list of things you can do when you have an extremely high salary:

1) You can tell your boss that the team you work with sucks horribly, and you want them to either bring in some talent, or you want to be traded to another organization. When the attempts to bring in talent fail, you demand to be traded immediately (Kobe)

2) Despite your bosses repeatedly asking you to report to work, you decide that you need some extra time to decide whether you feel like working. Your job says that they will fine(not fire) you for each day you don't come to work, but because your salary is $5 million a year plus endorsements and per diem and other things, you don't really sweat the fine. Finally, after 39 days, you decide you want to work, and you casually set foot in the office. And all those fines you accrued? You got someone in your union to pay them off for you. (Michael Strahan)

3) You underestimate the losses your company is going to absorb by 4 billion dollars. That staggering loss is primarily due to your risky behavior...allegedly. You attempt a merger/takeover without getting approval from board members. And prior to all of this going down, you brag very publicly about the amount of golf you played in the months of August and September. And to top it all of, once your job decides to get rid of you, the decide to give you 161.5 million worth of accumulated stock, options and retirement benefits. (Stan O'Neal)


I was going to throw in George Bush one too, but that's just overkill

Land of Confusion - Genesis
I shall also post this wonderful video for that song

When 4:30pm hits, and my work day concludes, I have a routine I follow prior to leaving the building. I go to the restroom to make sure my clothes are nice and neat, I put my headphones so I can ignore other coworkers who may be leaving and I head out of the building. There is one coworker here who I can talk to on the way to the train, because she doesn't linger. She talks, she walks, she texts on her fancy phone, and then when its time to separate we can make a clean break. That is the exception though, as most of the other co-workers want to talk, linger, and pry into my personal business. Well yesterday, I was temporarily held up by such a person.

I had to pick up mail from my PO Box yesterday, so I took a different train route and I just happened to see the Trash Analyst. Now this woman is annoying during work hours, so there was no telling what she could do or say without the confines of bosses, close offices, work, and the other factors that keep a job from becoming complete anarchy. I saw her and I immediately wanted to run, but she saw me, said my name at a high volume, touched my shoulder(no touching), and asked what I was doing going "her" way. I explained what I was doing, and she asked me how much a PO Box cost, how I was doing in the post-fire aftermath, what was I doing when I got home, what SHE had to when she got home, and man I was slowly dying on the inside. The 5 minutes it took the train to arrive seemed like an eternity. Once the train arrived she kept right on talking until we got on, and then she went, found two empty seats, sat down, and then slapped the one empty seat for me to sit in. I acted as if I was swept up in the train crowd, and I opted to stand, and then someone came and sat in the seat she had been saving for me. Once the train started moving, I gave her the damn-I-tried-hard-get-that-seat-look, but I don't think she was buying it, which isn't surprising because I damn sure wasn't convincing. I then pulled out reading material, turned my back to her, and waited for 3 stops for my stop to come. Once it came, I attempted to turn back to wave goodbye, but at that point the train really was crowded, and I just got off. I figure I saved myself about 10 minutes of extra small talk. I wonder if she'll mention anything about it today?

Make You Feel That Way - Blackalicious

Random thoughts...

-Once the weather begins to get a little cooler, there is nothing better than walking from the bed to the bathroom with a warm floor. In my old apartment I had hard wood floors, and the ground would be ice cold, and I would be miserable for the rest of the day. Today, the ground was warm, the shower was warm, everything was gravy.

-Its a sad day to be a Washington Redskins fan. I've been quiet about my Eagles this year, because they have been mediocre, but damn, we've never been blown out like that.

-Why do people wait until Monday morning to decide they aren't coming into work? I am willing to bet money, that they made that decision early on Sunday. But to make it more believable, they call on Monday morning with a groggy voice to say they won't be coming in to the office. This is why when I take off work on Monday, i go ahead and take Tuesday off as well. It makes the whole I'm-sick-groggy-voice shtick go over a bit easier

Not a lot to say this morning.

Eminem - Mosh

I can't stand divorce and its fallout. My parents have been divorced for 13 years, and it still annoys the shit out of me. I have to decide whether to spend Thanksgiving with my father in Baltimore, or my mother in North Carolina. The guilt trip on my mother's end will be much stronger, especially since she is all alone in a city she's only been living in since August..but damn if that plane ticket down there isn't expensive. And on top of that, getting on a plane during a holiday weekend is a bitch with a g-string. My father plays the passive-aggressive role to perfection, and he acts like me visiting him is no big deal. My brother and I used to cut deals as to who would visit who, but now he's married with child, and his own family takes precedence, and justifiably so. But there is something completely unnatural about having to choose one parent, and then assuage the other. I hear folks saying to me all the time, at least you have your parents, and they are absolutely right to a certain point. I am eternally grateful that my parents are still living, but that doesn't mean that I don't get annoyed at these charades I have to go through each and every holiday season. Honestly? I hope my son's mother lightens the hell up and lets me see my son, so I can just stay home and hang with him. Realistically speaking? I'll be in North Carolina with my mother praising the Lord and eating well, like a good first son should.

The other reason I hate the fallout from divorce? I don't have a "home" where I can go see my parents. "Home" is usually split between two states. Again, I know for a fact that there are folks reading this who have lost a parent, so this rant probably falls on deaf ears(or blind eyes as it were), but still this type of thing is all relative..at least that's what my therapist used to say.

How Deep Is Your Love - Dru Hill featuring Redman