The Coffee Break

Rhetorical WD-40

2008-03-07T11:02:00.004-05:00

Gotta get ready to oil up the joints, because The Coffee Break is officially coming back! All will be explained in due time. Just update your RSS feeds and stay tuned. :-D

Okay... So... What the Hell Was I Going to Write About?

2006-11-26T21:01:00.000-05:00

I'm at a loss for words. Can you believe it? ME?! At a "loss for words?!"

Yes, folks. I have no idea what the hell to write about. Partly because I really don't know where to begin. See, it's been so long since I last posted on here, that a shitload of things have happened since my last entry. (Ironic, considering that the last entry focused in on my being, "Lost...")

Let's start things off on a simple note... Happy Turkey Day, everybody. I hope your Thanksgiving went well, and you were able to stuff yourself with good food. And, even if the food wasn't good, I hope that the very least you were able to cash in on some of these wonderful Black Friday sales. (Man, it's Christmas time already!! Where the hell did the time go?)

Since the last time I wrote on here... let's see...

1) I'm doing alright at work... not as good as I'd hoped I'd be doing, but I'm still confident that things will pan out real soon...

2) I traveled up to Syracuse... and found out that I aged 5 years in a matter of 5 months... (AKA: I now need five days of recovery time for every one day of heavy drinking)

3) I literally aged another year on the 17th... Happy Birthday to meeeee...

4) Season 3 of LOST ended after 6 episodes... Now we gotta wait 15 weeks for another episode...

5) Got the news that my ex is 9-months pregnant... and she wants me to be the Godfather...

Lemme 'splain that last one... For starters, the kid ain't mine. Let's get that one out the way riiiight now....

Apparently, my former high school sweetheart, Evelyn, got pregnant and is expecting a baby girl any day now. The father of the child has been extremely supportive, and looks like he's sticking with Evelyn for the long haul, which is great to hear, especially in this day and age. Eve broke the news to me in an IM convo about two weeks ago, saying that she was not only pregnant, but that she was nine months pregnant. The fact that she had a bun in the oven didn't surprise me, but what did surprise me was how late she was. Now don't get me wrong... I'm not saying that she gets around or anything like that for me to not be surprised by her pregnancy. It's just that I kinda foresaw it happening a while ago now. When she told me that she had to tell me something, the first thing that popped into my head was, "yeah, she's pregnant." Dunno why, but I already knew.

This "Godfather" stuff is rather interesting, though. Eve asked me to be the kid's Godfather, which, I don't mind doing, but I don't know about you, but, if you were her boyfriend, wouldn't you have a slight issue with your girlfriend's ex being directly involved in your newborn's life? I mean, does anyone see a slight conflict of interest (that's a nice way of putting it...) in this situation? Shit, I feel awkward, never mind the dude...

She's due on December 10th, which is right around the corner. I still don't know how I feel about the entire situation, but considering there's absolutely nothing I can do about it, I think I've resigned to accepting it for what it is, and will just be supportive of Eve throughout this whole thing. But shit man... what a whopper of a change! A friggin' kid! WTF?!

On a lighter note, I told Nelson about the news, and he was like, "well, that's one less girl from your past that you have a chance getting back with..."

. . . . . .

Well, I'll be updating over the next couple of days to try and catch up with shit. I have interesting little tidbits coming up... including a botched foursome that's so tragic, it's hilarious. Holla back!

Getting Lost Watching "LOST"

2006-10-26T21:58:00.000-04:00

Alright, I think the people behind LOST have officially lost their minds.

Never mind what happened during last night's episode, but did anyone see the previews for the next two episodes? Did you actually SEE what was on that video screen of the infamous hatch?!

What the fuck is THAT doing in there?

Last week, I remember telling someone that with the way LOST is this season, the survivors of of Oceanic Flight 801 might as well be on fucking Mars.. I thought I was exagerrating, though...

Little by little, it looks like LOST might be "losing" some viewers, especially with the route the show has taken thus far during this season. Then again, as I realized a couple of months ago when I saw all of Season 2 in one shot when it came out on DVD, maybe we won't really appreciate this season for what it is until we all get to see it at once, as opposed to having to wait three months to have a plot twist fully revealed.

But seriously, Season 3 is even more nuts than the first two seasons combined... and we haven't even gotten deep into it yet!

This Is My Blog On Drugs...Any Questions?

2006-10-18T22:43:00.000-04:00

I don't know if anyone caught that program, "The World's Most Dangerous Drug" that was on earlier this evening on the National Geographic Channel, but man, that shit was pretty serious. The show, which came on before LOST (seriously, is it me, or is that show getting even moreridiculous?), discussed at length the crystal meth epidemic that's taking over the country at an alarming rate. Now, over the years, I've read various articles and stories about the growing influence of meth on Americans, but this was the first time that I've ever seen the issue discussed at length on a television program. It's fucking crazy just how awful that drug is to people. It makes the crack epidemic of the 80's look like a fucking day at band camp. Let's not even get into the addictive effects of the drug, which is right up there in terms of potency with crack... have you seen what this drug can do to someone, physically, over a period of time? In a period of 9 months of heavy use, you'll see people undergo vast transformations, where they look like they just set foot into a time chamber and aged 20 years, losing their teeth in the process. It's crazy, man.

From my understanding, meth is nothing new out on the West Coast, but here on the East Coast, the drug is beginning to take hold in the impoverished areas of the east and nearby army bases. Washington D.C, for example, is seeing a major spike in use and in production, but yet at the same time, no one out here is even talking about it. Seriously, we need to get on the ball with this shit. Fuck these stupid ass commercials we all see on TV dealing with marijuana (Who could forget the anti-weed commercial that equated buying weed to supporting terrorism.. yeah, right.). Let's get kids talking about meth. Show these kids the pictures of an average meth user's teeth, and I swear, those overly self-conscious kids will never even want to THINK of using that drug ever in their fucking life.

If you have kids, or deal with kids, let 'em know just how bad this stuff is. And for my college people, I swear, if you ever hear someone say, "man, I wanna try meth," do us all a favor and smack the living crap out of them.

This is a Coffee Break PSA.

Training Complete

2006-10-16T20:55:00.000-04:00

It only took 5 days of actual pitching, but I got my closed my first account today. I popped my cherry!! :-) Now, let's if I can do it again... and again... and again... and again...

As I've gotten more familiar with the firm and the product that I'm selling, I've realized that all the doubts that I initially had about working here when I first started two weeks ago have been completely eradicated. After getting phone calls from satisfied clients and constant support and feedback from the firm's partners and my fellow co-workers, it's finally safe to say that I do not work in the "Boiler Room." Far from it, actually. I now feel a lot better about where I work, and am proud to say that I'm a contributing member of the firm.

And so, with that said, my training/trial period at the firm is now complete. I can now say with conviction that I am a "Marketing Consultant..."

I wonder how well that title's going to go with the ladies... ;-)

Super Case of the Mondays

2006-10-16T09:04:00.000-04:00

All was good. Here I was, driving around, striking up a casual conversation with the fiance of my dreams, getting ready to hit up the town for some Saturday morning shopping, cracking jokes, stealing quick thigh grabs, and just enjoying life. All was good. I had a Kool-Aid smile from ear to ear...

And then I heard my cell phone alarm. "RIIINNNNNGGGGGGGGG"

Suddenly, I realized I wasn't driving around with my "fiance," nor was it a Saturday morning. Hell, I wasn't even happy. The sad fact that it was Monday smacked me in the face. Fuck that whole "Is It Monday Yet," mantra being spewed out by those NFL Monday Night Football Fanatics. It's more like, "Is It Friday Yet?"

Yes, I have a Case of the Mondays, and man, I must say that now that I'm in the so-called "real world," it sucks ass. See, Mondays sucked before in college, but at the very least, I never felt too far removed from the craziness that was Thursday night. Now, the only thing I have to look forward to on a Thursday night is my bed, especially after working from 9AM to 8PM.

Do I miss college? Maybe, just maybe...

Hopefully I can get a paycheck large enough to get euphoric about the "real world" at some point, but until then...

"Is It Friday Yet?"

So High You Can Touch the Sky, Eh?

2006-10-15T21:24:00.000-04:00

Now this story is freaking hilarious.

Apparently, Canadian troops in Afghanistan have run into a rather interesting problem during their search for Taliban militants...

WEED.

Yes, folks, the Canadians have a marijuana problem. (So what else is new?) ("Problem? What problem, ey?") According to the folks at CNN and Yahoo News, Canadian troops have encountered vast fields of ganja in Afghanistan, with some plants being as high as 10-ft tall (no pun intended). The vast weed fields provide great cover for Taliban insurgents. The troops tried to burn the fields down, but then they decided to stop when it became apparent that the troops doing the burning enjoyed their duties a little too much, if you know what I mean...

You can check out the story for yourself right here

Sign It Already!!

2006-10-11T20:58:00.000-04:00

Yesterday, I was finally given the opportunity at work to start making major money. After a week of lead generation over the phone, the firm gave me a chance to start busting out new accounts and getting my commissions up and running. So, how did I do? Well, by the firm's standards, I did incredibly well, but by my own, I fell short. I wanted to be able to walk out the office with money in my pocket as a result of completed contracts, but instead, I was only able to get people just verbally agree to the terms I set for them; I need them to sign faxed-over contracts on their end in order to seal the deal. Today, I got some more contracts sent out to potential customers, but thus far, I haven't gotten a single one to sign. I swear, I just want to fucking slap these people with my phone and be like, "hurry up, bitch and sign this fucking contract!!! Grow some fucking balls!!!!" Man, these guys need to get with the program. I got bills to pay, homie, and I need to get the ball rolling on my whole "debt-free in a year" plan. Grrr.

With everyday that I spend in this place, I feel that I'm changing, little by little. I feel like I'm actually becoming more aggressive, more straight to the point. I remember last week, during one of my little chats with the bosses, I was told that I'd start to notice little changes here and there, like I'd start winning the remote control more and more or I'd tell more people to play "hide and go fuck themself." (hard to imagine me doing that anymore than I already have) Now, I don't know about the whole "remote control" thing, especially considering I've got my own television set to use at my own leisure, but I do notice that I've begun to regard every conversation I have with strangers in the same manner that I would treat a conversation with a potential customer over the phone: like a game. A game of words and delivery, to be exact. It's kind of hard to explain, but let's just say that I can steer conversations to just about anywhere I want them to... certainly a useful skill to have as a single, 20-something male in New York City... ;-)

. . . . .

We had an interesting scare today, though it certainly turned out to be rather tragic. We got word around 2 o'clock in the afternoon that an airplane hit a building in Manhattan... and being that my office is about two blocks away from the hole in the ground we call the World Trade Center, naturally, people assumed the worst. Thankfully, the plane crash wasn't anything even remotely close to anything that happened on 9/11, but it was certainly tragic, nonetheless. Cory Lidle, a Yankee pitcher, was flying a small plane and crashed it into a high-rise condo buidling on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, killing himself and one other person in the process. It really is a horrible tragedy, and something that, in this city obsessed with baseball stats, trades, and championships, really reminds us all about what's really important.

On a lighter note, one of my co-workers was in the middle of a pitch with a customer over the phone, and mentioned to the customer, "man, I'm sitting here, pitching you this product, scared out of my mind, because a plane just crashed into a building in New York, but yet, you know why I'm still here? Because I care about my cusotmers! So, buy our product. You won't be disappointed."

Ah yes. Just another day in the Boiler Room.

Oh, and FYI... the customer didn't buy the BS. I guess New Yorkers used up the "sympathy juice" a long time ago.

Enter, the "Specialist"

2006-10-09T22:45:00.000-04:00

"Man, it's only been a week?!"

As I made my back home from work on Friday afternoon, I could hardly believe that I had just started working in the "Boiler Room" only four days earlier. I felt (both mentally and physically) so tired, that as soon as I got home, I just collapsed onto my bed and knocked out for a little bit. (Never mind I was supposed to go back out to meet up with friends,,,) Overall, I learned a lot during my first week working on Wall Street, and I got a brief glimpse of what life is like when you work for a firm filled with hotshots dying to make money. Basically, it's a cut-throat business, amd one has to be completely aggressive and incredibly persistent in order to be able to succeed. Thankfully, my bosses have been taking the time to walk me through the entire process, trying to get me from "point A to point X" as quickly as possible. I realized that I learned more in one week than most brokers learn in their first six months. And trust me when I say that after this one week, I certainly felt like I had been doing this job for months instead of days.

I finally nailed down what my official job title is... I'm now a "marketing specialist." How oh so wonderful. I wonder just how many conversations my job title alone is going to be responsible for at family get-togethers...

So, with a full week down, I can see myself doing this for a little while. I've gotten used to the whole phone aspect of this job, and with the kind of encouragement and positive reinforcement that I'm getting from my fellow co-workers and my bosses, I really feel like I can be pretty successful doing this. Now, I don't know about the whole, "pick out your luxury car" business that was mentioned last week, but at the very least, I know I can make a major dent in the college loans would've been otherwise hovering over my head for the next decade or so. If I can make the kind of money that my bosses say I can, I can be completely debt-free in a year. A year. I don't know anyone who went to college under the same circumstances that I did and could even dream of saying that fresh out of graduation. I really hope this pans out, man. I really, really do.

. . . . .

So... this past Saturday, not only did I have the wonderful pleasure of being able to see my dear Zulay for her birthday (she came down from Syracuse for a little while, along with my partner-in-crime, Nelson), but I also had the rather horrible experience of seeing my Yankees lose yet another playoff series in the first round of the playoffs. And I officially blame Zulay for the loss. (Damn you!!!) But seriously, though... we got our asses handed to us on a silver platter. And then, on top of that, we've got these damn Mets fans running around NY acting like shit is sweet. But, whatever, I'm not going to hate on 'em. Let 'em have their day in the sun. Let's just see if the runts from Queens have the will to make it into the World Series and actually win the whole thing. But I swear, bandwagon Met fans beware; you try and rub it in my face, and you're going to get my "marketing specialist" foot up your ass, and trust me, I won't need to make a phone call to do it...

Hmm...

2006-10-04T12:52:00.000-04:00

Well, two days down, three to go during this lovely trial week in the Boiler Room. I was mildly surprised yesterday when I walked into work (this time, just 2 minutes late, as opposed to 30) and discovered that the two brothers-in-arms that I started with on Monday had been fired. The reasoning?

"They just didn't have what it takes to succeed in this business."

And here I was, thinking that THESE guys had to earn OUR trust, not the other way around.

Basically, I was told that I "passed the test" and that I was now the newest addition to the company. Gee, thanks.

So, whatever, I started doing my thing, making cold calls to businesses. Unfortunately, I was absolutely ravaged the whole day by a slight fever... and I was supposed to work from 9AM - 8PM! After awhile, I started losing confidence in doing this whole thing, and little by little, the enthusiasm in my pitches started declining. My bosses, including Mr. "Fuck 'em Good," took me aside, bought me a coffee, and gave me tips on how to overcome my issue. Next thing I knew, I was practicing my pitches to the bosses, and well, I guess I made them happy, as they were rubbing their hands in anticipation of the money I could make for the company.

"Ray, tonight, go home and build yourself a luxury car online, print it out, and then bring it to work tomorrow. That's going to be your goal; you need to be able to BUY that car, cash money, in one year."

The Wall Street people sure know how to get people off, don't they?

Fuck 'Em Good... In the Boiler Room...

2006-10-03T05:48:00.000-04:00

These companies are like one of those girls who's only been fucked by one or two guys in their lives, and when they did, it lasted a minute. So, when you come around, they'll think you're Jesus or something. So fuck 'em good!!

In my book, anyone, especially a boss, who can equate selling leads to hooking up with an undersexed girl definitely wins some "cool points."

Today, I was introduced to the post-college, "real world," where your priorities change from "what am I going to do tonight" to "I need to get some sleep." The day itself actually started off on the wrong foot, when I got to work a half hour late on my first day. (Thank you, "4" train) Before I walked into the office, I was brainstorming all these bullshit answers I would have to come up with in order to avoid getting fired from the get-go, but thankfully, I wouldn't need to use my talents. At least, not for my new boss. Instead, the only person I needed to bullshit was myself, as in, "this job could work out for me" when all I felt deep down inside was complete disgust for the job I was being asked to do.

. . . . .

Last week, I went to a career fair that was being held not too far from Madison Square Garden in downtown Manhattan at some hotel. So, here I am, all dressed up in this suit, ready to go get me a job, when I walk in, and after waiting in a line for about 30 minutes (just to get INTO the friggin' fair), I realized that I got all purty for no reason. In other words, the companies that decided to show up sucked balls, for the most part. But whatever, I figured since I made the trip all the way from the Bronx to go to his friggin' thing, it wouldn't hurt just to walk in and perfect my people skills. So, after making my rounds and seeing who was there, I hit up about three or four companies I was legitimately interested in, all while dodging the nearby Army recruiter who had an apparent hard-on to get me to sign my life away. One of the companies I hit up was for pure shits and giggles; apparently the company's representatives thought it would be a great idea to create a 3-page informational "booklet" (read: three standard 8 1/2 by 11 pages stapled together on the top left corner) that was rife with spelling and grammatical errors. So, here I show up and talk to one of the two guys that was there taking resumes, and he gives me this huge run down about how I can make tons of money, and that it's not going to cost me anything, yada, yada. The guy kept on talking for 5 minutes, and at the end of it all, I still didn't know what the hell his company sold. Regardless, however, he told me to show up to an "open house" interview later on in the week and wrote the address to the place on the back of a business card he had.

Now, normally, I wouldn't give anyone the time of day when they couldn't even come up with a relatively typo-free take-away, but in this particular case, I figured, "hey, I need money now, and it's not like I have anything else going for me, so whatever." So, I actually went to the interview a couple of days later. The office building the company was located in was just off Wall Street ("not bad", I thought to myself). But the actual office, though, was kinda... sketchy. Basically, it was a small, one-room office that had a grouping of desks thrown together in the middle, and a partition on the side for the boss. Only three desks in the joint had computers. I remember the guy I spoke to at the fair told me that they had just moved into this office, so the whole time I was waiting to talk to someone, I kept on repeating to myself, "calm down, Ray, this is a new office, this is a new office..." After a little while, I finally got to speak with the dude that I spoke to at the fair, and we sat down for my "interview..."

Yellow flag #1: The guy spent more time selling me the company that he did actually "interviewing."

So, I got the job on the spot, but honestly, I don't think either of us walked out of that room knowing each other any more than we did at the career fair. I still didn't know what the hell they sold. It was something about "mortgages" or whatever, but hey, the only thing I cared about was that I needed a job, and he gave me one. So, that was that. I just knew that I would be getting paid on commission, and that I had the potential to "make more money in (my) first year than a doctor could make right out of med school." Yada, yada.

Curious to know more about what the hell I was getting myself into, I did a Google search on the company. I came up with a rather simple, uninformative, and overall tacky company site, three entries on "Ripoff Report.com" and an annual report from the NASD that stated that my boss was suspended this year for failing to "update information."

Definitely, Yellow Flags #2, 3, and 4.

I saw where this one had the potential of going, and when I told my friend, Anna, about it, her sentiments echoed mine. "This so sounds like something out of 'Boiler Room.'" (Yes, Anna, you said it first)

. . . . .

Regardless of the yellow flags, I still reported to work on the first day, just to see how things would pan out. After being given a script, I sat down at one of the desks in the sketchy office, and started cold calling businesses to gain interest in a "product" I still had no idea about. Now, I hate cold calling. Hell, I hate being on a phone. But here I was, reading off some silly script, trying to get people to do something as simple as giving me an e-mail address and a small sample of information. I'm telling you, that shit was harder than getting blood out of a stone. Between all the animosity that people have towards telemarketers, and the fact that the business managers I was trying to get in contact with apparently don't believe in working, I was lucky to get double-digit hits in a full day of work. The other two people I started with didn't even get past the single digits. It was incredibly ironic, given the fact that here I was, telemarketing some of the very same people that then go turn around and bug the shit out of us consumers at all times of the day to make adjustments to our mortgages or consolidate our loans. At first, I was nervous, and almost felt ashamed to do it, but then, by the end of the day, I realized that I was giving these people a taste of their own medicine. (Cue evil laugh here.)

Throughout the day, my floor manager kept on coming up to us three newbies, giving us pointers and telling us how to get past the "gatekeeper" secretaries in order to talk to the executives at the various firms we were calling. In the end, it was all good information, not only for cold calling, but for corporate communication, in general. Our new co-workers were also helping us out whenever they could, spitting knowledge and encouraging us to stick with it. Interesting cast of characters, they are. We got one who was a rapper, but then started working at this place to make "real money," a former stock broker who got into this because he felt it was easier for him to sustain a "good lifestyle," and this kid from Long Island who spent the whole day talking about how much he spends at nightclubs every weekend on bottles of Grey Goose. They're all cool, and they're also very good at doing what they do. Compared to us, they're like Jedi on these phones, making people say and do whatever the hell they want to. And Mr. "Fuck 'em good?" He's like Yoda of telemarketing. His occasional pointers throughout the day really changed everything for me and made it a bit easier for me to adjust.

So, overall, my first day turned out alright, especially considering just how many doubts I had about it when I first walked in. Will I stick with it? I still don't know, and apparently, neither are the other two guys I started with. For starters, the jury's still out on whether or not the company is legit. But, we're all just giving it a chance, seeing how far we can go with this during our first week, and then we'll evaluate it all this weekend. In the meantime, we're all still looking at other jobs; if someone happens to call with just the right offer, we'd all jump ship in a heartbeat. My bosses argue, in typical Wall Street fashion, that no matter where we decide to go, we're not going to make as much money as we would working at this place in our first year, but the one thing that they fail to understand is that money isn't everything. If I want to finish writing this book I'm working on, and I want to work on movies, I'm not going to have the energy to do it all working at this place. I already see that happening.

And that, my friends, can be THE deciding factor for me after this week.

Ramblings of a Mad Blogger (or... "I'm Baaacckkk")

2006-10-02T00:05:00.000-04:00

Boy, am I glad to see you!

I don't remember the last time I saw the Blogger interface grace my computer screen, but whenever it was, it sure was a long while ago. I needed to take a break from everything, including blogging, in order to get my life straight, and well, after all this time, I think things are finally getting back to some semblance of "normal." (Ha, things are NEVER normal in my life)

As of tomorrow, I'm a working man. I'm going to start working for this company that basically sells... well, to be honest with you, I have no idea what the hell they do. All I know is that I'm going to be working on Wall Street somewhere, as a "mortgage broker." Not exactly the most exciting job (or the most well-defined), but hey, it's money, and as far as that's concerned, that's all I really need at the moment. I can't wait for the day when I finally have more than 2 bucks to my name. Still, there's something fishy about this company.. and I can't quite put my finger on it... more details when I get home tomorrow.

My new job... straight from Boiler Room?

Remember when I said I was working on a film? Well, that idea hasn't panned out yet. I've been so busy trying to get a job in the past couple of weeks, that I just haven't had enough time to dedicate to writing a proper script that coud be used for a project. But, I was able to at the very least to get the gears moving with the people I was going to work with. We've met up, discussed potential topics and ideas that we could work on, and have some kind of idea of where we want to go. Now, it's just a matter of having time to get together to actually meet up and "git 'er done!"

Since the last time I wrote, a couple of friends and fellow bloggers have decided to give up on the whole blogging thing and just move on with their lives. For awhile, it looked like I had decided to go down that road as well, but it really wasn't anything like that at all. I just needed some "me" time, and well, I think I'm done with that. So, stick around folks. Get them RSS feeds bookmarked. And welcome back to the "Coffee Break." :-)

I'm going to go to bed now. I'm too tired to think clearly.

No Money, No Cry

2006-08-16T11:50:00.000-04:00

Outside of my car problems, financial issues stemming from a lack post-college income, and the occasional booty call miscommunication (Read: I need to meet new people), generally, I've been having a good summer so far. I've been enjoying my free time about as much as possible, despite my aforementioned lack of funds. (Perhaps another "Poetic Appeal for Money" is needed?)

So, what have I been doing with my time?

Well, for one, I've been writing. A LOT. Between my two blogs, my personal journal, and a script I'm working on, I've been rather productive. I'm having quite a lot of fun putting my thoughts to paper, and it's been incredibly therapeutic. A lot of my friends keep on trying to get me to spill the beans on what my script is about, but the truth is, I'm not quite ready to let the cat out the bag just yet. Everyone keeps asking me what I'm going to do when I'm done with it, but they need to understand that until I get everything down on paper, I'm not gonna bother thinking that far ahead. The hardest part is the actual writing. Everything else is secondary. At least that's what I tell myself.

As far as work is concerned, I am applying to jobs, but I'm still not working on it 100%, because I'm trying to finish my writing before moving onto the next stage of my post-college career. Every once in awhile, I get phone calls and things like that, but either the offers have been complete garbage, or the jobs their offering are completely boring. As in, "grass never looked so entertaining," boring. At this point, I'm tempted to go back to working for the evil Green Coffee Empire again at a location that's about a 20-minute drive north of the Bronx. Why? Well, it requires little effort, will pay enough money for me to get my immediate bills in order, and will allow me to keep on writing. I wouldn't stay there longer than 2-3 months, however. Knowing me, I'll probably take my job search up about 55,000 notches the second I have to make another freaking Crappuccino, but hey, at least I'll have money. And of course, it helps that this particular location has some of the hottest female Baristas I've ever seen. I mean, hey, I DO need to meet new people, eh? ;-)

(Side note: My personal, "Don't fuck co-workers rule," only applies if I intend on being at the workplace in question for longer than 90 days. Just figured I'd explain it right here before I get e-mails, comments, IMs, and phone-calls from people about my being a hypocrite or whatever.)

If my writing wasn't enough, I'm also working on starting a weekly radio show that would eventually be available to download for free on iTunes. Initially, I'm going to set up another Blogger account that's more or less dedicated to the show itself, and would have links that would lead directly to an MP3 file of my show. I don't intend on making money off the show; it's all in good fun. The show itself is going to be a carbon-copy of the show that I used to host back up in Syracuse during my freshman year, which basically was a show where I could say and play anything I wanted. Every night, I walked into the studio with a pre-established musical theme, and rocked out with it for three hours, interjecting every once in awhile with a random 5-7 minute dialogue about whatever came to mind. I'm probably going to tone it down a couple of notches for the new show and just make it the kind of show that you'd want to listen to on your way back home from a stressful day of work. So, if you interested in listening in, be on the look out for it here on the Coffee Break. My first show should be up and running in the next few days...

So, yes, I've been quite the busy little bee with all the writing and other side projects I've been getting myself into. When I'm not doing all that stuff, I hop onto one of the many gaming systems I have and get down on some video games. Yes, not particularly exciting, but fuck it, I enjoy it, and if you don't like them and think less of me for playing them, well, then, TOO F'ING BAD.

Sorry, just had to get that out the way up there. :-) I actually find myself playing more games now that I have the other blog, Press Start to Play up and running. What's sad is that I spend more time writing about video games than actually playing them.

Ain't that a bitch?

Goooo Yankees!

2006-08-02T19:48:00.000-04:00

Mariano Rivera closes the gates on the White Sox

For the first time in a couple of years, I had the chance to go to a Yankee game a couple of weeks ago when they took on the Chicago White Sox. I went to the first game of the three-game set (which the Yankees swept through), and had a great time while I was there.

For those that have yet to travel to the Stadium, I suggest you go before they tear it down to build the new one in 2008. The new ballpark simply isn't going to have the same kind of charm that the current Yankee Stadium has.

Word of Advice: Don't Drive in NYC

2006-08-02T11:05:00.000-04:00

I hate driving in New York.

No, I really don't think you understand. I HATE driving in New York.

Between the lack of parking, the boatloads of traffic, the stupid drivers, potholes, exorbitant tolls, and arrogant "yeah, just try and hit me, bitch" pedestrians, city driving sure ain't Sunday driving. Every time you get on the road, it's like "survival mode" in a video game or something, where each time you get to your destination safe and sound and without a major dent in your car is a blessing. (If only I could get the Konami Code to work in real life...)

Now, I love driving. As many mishaps I've gotten into over the years, I still enjoy hopping into my car and driving through an empty stretch of road. (Who doesn't?) It's exhilarating and is great for the soul. But driving in New York is a different type of animal altogether. Unless it's after 10 PM, driving in the city can be a test of courage. You can't relax and drive in New York; you always have to be on the defensive. And unless you want to fall victim to an accident or a bout of road rage, you better damn well be aggressive while you're at it. It's like New York drivers smell blood, and the second they see the fear in your eyes when trying to hop onto a high-speed, high-volume, two-lane highway, they'll make sure to pull some stupid ass stunt trick just to get around you. My motto for driving in New York is, "It's all about ME," because, seriously, that's how New Yorkers drive. They drive as if they are the only f'ing car on the road, despite the fact there's about 3 million other people right next to them that feel the same way.

So, I avoid driving whenever I can. Most of the time, I just take advantage of mass transit to get from place to place. Occasionally, I'll drive during the weekends and on weeknights when there aren't that many cars on the road, but outside of that, you'll never catch me driving around during rush hour in the city. Not unless I'm particularly dying to get a headache that day. Still, even without the traffic, you still have to watch out for peanuthead drivers who seem to forget that there are other vehicles on the road.

Case in point: this past Sunday, I was driving around in the Bronx, dropping off a friend on a block not too far from my house, when, as I'm going down a street, some guy in a Hummer (an H3) decided to pull out of his parking spot without looking over his shoulder, and slammed right into me. Now, thankfully, he was going less than 10 MPH, so it wasn't a serious accident, but he caused enough damage on my left rear door to keep it from opening properly. The collision created a dent deep and wide enough to affect the locking mechanism of the door. Now, I got out the car to see the damage, and the first thing out of the dude's mouth was, "I didn't do THAT!"

I couldn't believe the audacity this dude had. He hits me with his big ass SUV, and then has the nerve to say that his collision didn't cause a dent that was in the perfect shape of the Hummer grill on my rear door. Naturally, I let him have it. After about 10 minutes of going back and forth, arguing over whether or not he was responsible (get this: he actually said that the dent was there BEFORE the collision. As in, he saw the car before he crashed into me. Which left him open to, "well, if you saw my car that well, why the fuck did you decide to crash into me!?"), people from around the neighborhood started weighing in on the event. Some people came out of nowhere to say that "he didn't do that damage to the car," while others said that they saw the whole thing. Eventually, the guy caved in after he saw that I knew my shit and was able to explain, point for point, just how his Hummer damaged my car, and admitted fault. Naturally, he didn't want to involve the cops or the insurance companies, so he offered to pay for the damage out of pocket. I have to meet him this coming weekend to get the car's dents repaired. I have all of his vital information, however, so, if he wants to play hardball, I can do that, too.

Now, this whole situation could've been averted if he had just looked over his shoulder as he was coming out of his parking spot. Instead however, he decided to play the "it's all about ME" card and well, I got hit. Of course, the mofo's Hummer didn't suffer any noticeable damage from the collision. If it had been a smaller car, my car would not have suffered the same kind of damage, especially considering it was a sub-10 MPH collision. But, naturally, there are people in this world that just gotta have the big trucks, and people like me get screwed over.

Until the dents are repaired, I don't even want to drive my car. I'll just keep it chillin' on the street in its parking spot, waiting till the weekend comes when I can get everything good as new again. But no matter what, once again, New York has claimed yet another stupid accident created by yet another of its ignorant drivers.

Grrrrrrrrr...

(By the way... the driver? A bus driver for the MTA. Wonderful thought that the lives of mass transit customers are in his hands.)

Blogger Holdin' Me Back, But I'm Back

2006-08-02T10:52:00.000-04:00

For the first time in a couple of weeks, Blogger has finally allowed me to log in and make updates to my blog! YESSSSSSSSSSSS! For those of ya'll that thought I just lost the will to blog, it was really more of a technical problem than anything else. Long story short, Blogger kept on saying that my user name wasn't recognized or something. I had to send an e-mail to Blogger customer service for them to fix the whole thing. I'm just happy to be able to post again.

So, look out for new updates starting today and going into tomorrow and until the next time Blogger decides that they want to keep me from bloggin'!

"Me and U?" No, It's Just You

2006-07-14T13:21:00.000-04:00

Today, I was parking my car from one side to the other, as I have to do almost every day in order to satisfy NYC's ridiculous parking regulations, when out of nowhere, I heard the song, "Me and U" by Cassie. Now, whatever, there's nothing out of the ordinary to hear loud music blasting in New York, but what was odd about this situation was that I had no idea where the hell it was coming from; usually, loud music would come from cars going up and down the block, but there were no cars moving about at that point in time. So, I'm looking around, like, "where the fuck is that coming from," when I identified the source: a friggin' cell phone. Apparently, there was this girl walking around with a phone held slightly away from her ear, strutting down the street with a short skirt, trying to look cute with her boombox cell phone. And it wasn't even a ring tone, but rather, it was the whole song.

First of all, the shit was so loud, I heard it from two blocks away, and the girl had the nerve to have the cell phone about 4 inches from her ear. Like, ummm.. are you deaf? Second, just because you saw some dorks running around with MP3 theme songs in a Verizon commercial, it doesn't mean that you have to go and look like a fool in real life. It didn't matter how much of her ass or breasts were showing; it really wasn't cute.

And then... here's the kicker. By the time she got close to me, the song had ended, so, she stopped, got her phone, pressed a button, and the song played again. Apparently, it was now safe for her to strut again.

I would love to tell you all that this is the first time that I've seen this, but it really isn't. In the past two weeks alone, I've seen six girls walking around in the same way, with the same exact song. ALL of them probably thought that they were unique.

So, in the 80's, we had people walking around, strutting with boomboxes on their shoulders. In the 00's, we got cell phones. It makes you wonder what other technology will come out 20 years from now that will allow peanutheads to contribute to noise pollution with played-out songs...

Do Your Own Headbutting!

2006-07-13T17:54:00.000-04:00

It doesn't take long for those wonderful folks out there in "internet land" to come up little mini-games for just about anything, and certainly, the World Cup final's infamous highlight didn't escape parody.

Thanks to the folks at Funnymovies, we now have a Zidane headbutting mini-game, where just about anyone can take out their aggressions, Zizou-style, on Materazzi.

Enjoy! (Link to game here)

So Maybe Headers Don't Win World Cups...

2006-07-12T02:07:00.000-04:00

Now that the World Cup is over, and Italy have been crowned champions of the world, I just wanted to throw it out there that despite the fact that France (the only team that made it out of my 3 favorites) lost, arguably thanks to the infamous Zidane headbutt, it's gotta be said that, well, if France was going to lose in any way, this would be it. We might never have any idea why Zidane decided to hit Materazzi with that big noggin of his, but whatever Materazzi said to him, it must've been something super serious.

Regardless of what was said, someone on Italy needed to be hit with something... I was getting annoyed with the way that team was playing throughout the entire World Cup. Only Portugal surpassed them in terms of playing to the referees, who were more than happy to reward such unsportsmanlike conduct time and time again. Every five seconds, you saw someone from these two teams rolling around in the grass, pretending to be in pain from some phantom hit to the face or something. It was disgusting.

At least Zidane gave Materazzi something to be writhing in pain for. Now that's what I'm talkin' about!

If you have no idea what the hell I'm talking about, at the very least, take a look at this video from YouTube and see what happened, along with some horrible commentary, courtesy of the clueless folks at ABC Sports.

(Here's also a New York Times article regarding Zidane's silence about the incident.) [Registration may be required]

Outside of the diving and the red cards, I thought the World Cup was pretty damn exciting. It certainly got a lot more Americans interested in the sport of soccer than I've ever seen. Everywhere I turned in New York, there was someone talking about the World Cup. For a month, soccer dominated the sports headlines over the Yankees, the Mets, the Knicks, and any other sport you could think of in this city. I doubt the euphoria over soccer will last for long, but hey, at least it happened, right?

Candy is Dandy, But Liquor is Quicker

2006-07-10T23:44:00.000-04:00

While I certainly don't even come marginally close to drinking as much as I used to drink during my middle years in college, every once in awhile, I get my binge on, knocking back an incredible amount of liquor in a short period of time. Like most people who've gone to college, I certainly have my fair share of stories involving alcohol that I'm sure will be told and retold time and time again for the rest of my life. (Sarah, ahem.)

Since I've been back home, I've avoided the whole drinking scene, partly because I'm broke, and partly because it's just not the same anymore without my college buddies.

However, last Thursday and Friday were two days where I relived my drinking heyday, chilled with old friends, and drank my ass off. Beginning with an afterwork spot in midtown Manhattan, I knocked back a countless amount of cranberry vodkas and tequila sunrises, and then, somehow, made my way to some college bar about 20 blocks north for an even greater number of 50-cent beers. I knocked back so many, that I was beginning to scare some of my old high school friends, who showed up to hang out for old times sake.

"Damn, Ray, another one?! All I remember doing in response was screaming aloud, "Man, this is how we do it up at Syracuse," as I raised my mug of beer to the sky and cheered along with God knows how many SU folk who suddenly invaded this traditional NYU/Columbia University watering hole. Everywhere I turned, someone else had 2 mugs of beer ready for me to drink, and within minutes, I downed them, just to get another two in my hands moments later.

Despite the amount of drinks that I had, within an hour, I was completely sober. And I mean sober. By 4 in the morning, I was sobering up at home, happy with the knowledge that I could still hold my liquor.

While I normally don't binge one day after another, I made an exception the next evening, when, in honor of my mother's birthday, I took one for the team and went out to some overhyped, incredibly expensive club that let us in for free on her behalf and gave us "free" drinks with mandatory tips. Sure, it was an incredibly shady situation, but hell, there's nothing better to keep from getting upset about shady happening than to consume liquor! So, off we went, my momma, her boyfriend, myself, and a few of her friends from work, drinking, drinking, drinking. Of course, because the liquor from the night before had yet to leave my system, the second I tasted liquor on Friday, I got tipsy. But, me being the, "hey, I still got it," dickhead I am, kept on drinking as if I hadn't binged the night before, and before long, I was super drunk. I was spilling drinks, telling people they couldn't dance, and generally trying incredibly hard to keep myself from falling flat on my face. Thankfully, we were ALL drunk, especially my mother, who was even sillier than I was, so with her around, I wasn't drawing attention to myself. Not that she was all over the place, but man, she can certainly talk up a storm. Like, "shaddap, I'm trying to enjoy my drunkedness here!" Somehow, we got home and I knocked out the hell out within moments.

The next morning, I definitely felt it. I was hung over. Hangovers are rare for me, but when they do happen, it's usually pretty bad. Thankfully, I wasn't too bad off, and after a couple of hours, I was able to get up and get some food in my system. By the time I finished eating, I was A-OK, again. I was afraid that I was going to be sick all weekend, but my liver certainly worked some overtime to keep that from happening. So, it all worked out in the end.

I hadn't even settled down from my meal when someone texted me asking me to go out again for more drinking. Man, no thanks. By Saturday afternoon, if I even saw a bottle of liquor, I would get drunk, let alone actually consuming more of it.

"You're getting old," my mother said.

Never mind, I wasn't the one with the birthday the next day.

And on that note, "Happy Birthday," to my mom, and to my abuelo, who I'm sure was up in the sky looking down on me running around making a fool of myself. I'm sure he'd be proud. :-)

Was That a Cow Just Swimming Next to Me?

2006-07-10T23:40:00.000-04:00

When I drove up to Syracuse two weeks ago, I had the rather unenviable experience of driving through some of the worst flooding to ever hit the Northeast. Now, I had checked the weather before I left the Bronx at 11 AM, and even though there were forecasts for rain here and there, there was nothing that suggested anything close to the kind of rainfall that would eventually fall over the region. Hell, even when the rain was coming down, I never thought that flooding would actually occur as a result of it.

I guess what wound up happening was that there was an incredible amount of rain that fell in a rather short amount of time, which caused many of the small creeks and rivers that run along upstate New York to rise rather quickly. As I kept trucking North, I noticed that some "creeks" had turn into full blown rivers, sweeping over bridges and rising onto farmland. Before long, state troopers had closed off the highway (NYS Rte. 17) I was traveling on, forcing me and several hundred other cars to try to drive through small towns.

It certainly wasn't a good driving experience. For one, half the time, I wasn't even driving. The flooding had happened so quickly, that state troopers were caught off guard, and had no idea how to get drivers off the highways, and onto their destinations. They thought it would be a good idea to stop every single car on the highway, and walk up to each car, one by one, and assist in giving directions to get to another nearby highway, which would wind up being closed, as well. For all their efforts, all this did was create even bigger traffic jams, headaches, and confusion for everyone involved. I didn't understand why, in this day and age, troopers did not have access to up-to-the-minute information about road closings and give updates over local radio stations.

After moving 20 miles over a period of 3 hours, I was finally redirected onto Rte. 17, some 20 miles south of Binghamton, NY. As I approached somewhat normal cruising speeds on my way up to Cuse, I began to think, "man, thank goodness I'm past all that." The thought hadn't even finished crossing through my mind, when I saw flashing lights in front of me, redirecting traffic off the highway again.

"NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!" I threw a temper-tantrum in my car, much to the delight of fellow motorists driving nearby. Suddenly, a simple 3 and a half hour trip to Cuse turned into a freaking safari through swampland. After about 25 minutes, I finally made it off the highway (once again, the troopers were stopping every car one by one), and back into some local town. By this time, the flooding had become so bad, that the town itself was overwhelmed by water. I couldn't believe that I was still in New York State; I felt like I was driving through a third-world country with all the flooding that occurred. After about 5 miles of driving through water, I forced to get pulled over to the side of the road by troopers till the water dried up.

Courtesy of New York Times

Unfortunately, it kept raining. And raining. And raining. After two hours had passed, with no news forthcoming from the troopers who were diligently keeping people off the roads, I ran up to them and asked them for an update.

"Well, everyone's just going to have to wait here till the roads dry up. And it looks like that's not going to happen by tonight."

What? They wanted us to stay in the middle of literally nowhere, with no food or shelter nearby, OVERNIGHT? Hell no, that was not acceptable. I asked what roads were still open, and they told me that no road in that area had escaped the flooding. My mind began racing as I tried to find some way of getting up to Cuse, or at the very least, out of the ditch I was currently sitting in.

"What about the Thruway? (I-90) Is that flooded?"

"No, it's not flooded, but, that means you'd have to go practically to New York City to take it. And if that's what you plan on doing, you better get moving now while my back is turned..."

I got the trooper's hint, ran into my car, and raced back south onto Rte. 17. There were barricades all over the place, but I kept moving. With every trooper in New York State paying attention to northbound roads, I was able to drive back some 100 miles in about 70 minutes. Finally, I made it to the I-90 junction, about 65 miles north of NYC, hopped on, and headed back up north to Syracuse.

After 11 hours from my original departure time at 11 AM, I finally made it to the Cuse, at 10 PM on the dot. Because Syracuse is a city that sits at a much higher elevation than places like Binghamton and the other towns that were affected along Rte. 17, they did not feel the effects of the heavy flooding at all. Some of my friends at the Cuse couldn't believe that there was that much flooding in towns and cities that were only about an hour south of Syracuse, but once they turned on their televisions and saw the local news, they saw that I certainly wasn't exaggerating. There were even some parts of highways that were swept away by the rising flood waters.

Definitely some crazy shit. The only good thing about the experience? I met some pretty cool local townspeople, who were all too willing to offer their homes to everyone who was stranded alongside the road. It's good to know that at the very least, if I was stuck, there were plenty of good samaritans around to lend a hand.

Happy 4th of July!

2006-07-04T17:29:00.000-04:00

Just wishing everyone a Happy 4th of July. Hope some of ya'll can get out there and eat some good bar-b-que, spend some time with the fam, and get a chance to at least watch some fireworks go off (whether you do it, or someone else does it).

Me? I'm just chillin', having a personal little "LOST" and "Band of Brothers" marathon.

Wait till I tell you guys what happened on my way to Syracuse... thankfully, I'm back in NYC...

So Happy Independence Day! And if you don't celebrate it, well, then, have a Happy Tuesday!!!

This Is Why We Have Jails...

2006-06-27T08:36:00.000-04:00

Here's a little quickie before I leave to Cuse...

Apparently, conservative radio talk show host, Rush Limbaugh, was detained at Palm Beach International Airport for carrying a bottle of Viagra without a prescription.

Eww. Screw getting arrested for the Viagra (no pun intended); he should be put away for having sex!

Eww, Eww, Eww, Ewwwwwwwwwww.

And no pun intended on the whole "little quickie" thing. Eww, Eww. Never again will I put Rush and "quickie" together in the same blog entry.

I think I'm going to throw up now. And go join the Church and pledge a life of chastity. Oh wait... never mind that.

Another Day, Another Trip to Syracuse

2006-06-27T08:16:00.000-04:00

Well, now that I got my room all sorted out, I have to make yet another 5-hour journey to the Cuse. There's some photo stuff that I left behind from the last time I was there, and I need to bring it back to NYC. I also figured to use some of the time that I was up there to head back into the darkroom and get some prints developed.

I really need to get a scanner so I can start posting some of these pictures. But, that ain't gonna happen until I gets me a J-O-B, so, heh, looks like that's going to have to wait.

Hell, I can't even find my digital camera... where the hell did it run off to?

So, for my NYC peeps, ta-ta, till Thursday, when I zoom back to the city just in time to watch the brand-new "Superman" movie on an IMAX screen. Now, THAT should be some hot stuff right there.

Can you believe the tickets were 15 dollars!!!

Sigh. That's what happens when you live in the most expensive city in America.

Trading Spaces

2006-06-27T08:02:00.000-04:00

It might have taken awhile, but I finally got my room to look like, well, a room. Since I got back from Syracuse, I've been undergoing a massive cleaning effort to rid myself of all the junk that I've collected over the years in order to make room for the new junk that I brought back from 5 years of college. Even though I started the job about three weeks ago, I couldn't come close to finishing it off because I was waiting for furniture to be delivered specifically for my room. So, I've been living in a hovel since I got back, with things tossed all over the place. If you would have seen it, you would have mistook me for my old roommate, Zulay, with her infamous capacity to cover every single open space on her bedroom floor with crap.

But over the weekend, my furniture got here, and after three days of getting it all situated, I must say that I'm pretty freaking impressed. My room actually looks like, gasp, a room!

See, I'm one of those people that can't get anything done if the space that they live in is in a complete mess. When my room was all tossed about, I felt like I was missing order and purpose. I fell behind on my bills, didn't blog as often, lost track with people, and just felt like I was in a bit of a rut. Sure, I've been bumming it since I got back from college, but at the very least, if my room had been organized, I would have had some kind of incentive to at least maintain some semblance of business as usual. Alas, I could not, especially when I was tripping over my old Ninja Turtles from third grade every five seconds.

So, my main computer is back up and running, I can see my floor now, and things are looking up... My room looks like a room now! I'm so happy!!!

:-)

Football, Futbol, and Doofballs

2006-06-14T13:10:00.000-04:00

Since I got back from college, I've been on complete bum status, taking advantage of my free time and spending it hanging around the house, seeing a few friends every once in awhile, playing some video games, and watching the World Cup. (Hey, why not? I haven't had a real break in more than three years!) "World Cup," you ask? Yes, that wonderful little tournament that only about 3 billion people watch every four years. I didn't care much for the game of soccer before I left for England two and a half years ago, but, as you can imagine, it's kinda hard to live among the English for any extended amount of time and not develop some kind of fondness for the "beautiful game." There are still some things that I haven't got the complete gist of (like how "offside" penalties work), but for the most part, I understand what's going on.

So, here I am, years later, actually paying attention to a tournament that most Americans are only too happy to ignore. ("Not enough scoring!") And, thus far, it's been pretty cool. Team USA's horrible first-game performance notwithstanding, World Cup 2006 has yet to disappoint after about a week of play. I kind of wish that I were over in England right now, watching the games in a country that's more enthusiastic about the game, but whatever, at least the World Cup is even ON over here in the US. And not just on some random cable channel, but on ABC and ESPN, of all places. So, all is not lost.

I must say, however, that the announcers that these American networks have selected to call the play-by-play for World Cup matches absolutely suck. Like, seriously. Why are you talking about the NBA Finals in the middle of a tight soccer match? And why do you keep on mentioning the fact that Team USA is going to have a hard time in its upcoming match against Italy simply based on the results of 5 soccer matches dating back to 1934? That's like saying I'm going to whup some kid's ass in the street because Ali beat Frazier. You can't go and say that one team is more likely to lose to another when there isn't a single player on both sides that played each other previously. How about direct comparisons between existing players? Who's faster? Who's stronger? But, no, I guess that's too much to ask the likes of ESPN and ABC.

Announcers, do all three American World Cup viewers a favor and simply shut the fuck up, especially if you don't know what the hell you're talking about.

Now, Univision gets it right. There's nothing like excited Latino announcers screaming "GOOOOOOOOLLLLLL!!!" That's all we need to hear. That, and actual commentary about what's happening on the field, not about what Shaq had for breakfast this morning.

While all this wonderful soccer stuff is going on, I'm sure more Americans heard about that awful motorcycle accident that Pittsburgh Steeler quarterback Ben Roethlisberger got into. Now, I'm not going to sit here and make a commentary over whether or not people should be riding motorcycles, like many sports reporters have been waxing poetic about in media. And I'm not going to suggest that some over-reactionary politician in Pennsylvania go and draft a law that makes it illegal to ride a motorcycle without a helmet. But, that doesn't mean that I'm going to go feel sorry for the guy, either. While I'm happy to hear that he's not incredibly hurt and is expected to recover real soon, at the same time, one has to question the brains on this dude. (Prior to the accident, of course) So, you wear a helmet when you play football, but you don't wear a helmet when you're riding on the "fastest production motorcycle on the planet?" Oh, AND you don't have a motorcycle license? What ever happened to being "the safest rider I can be?"

Can you say... "peanuthead?" I wonder if he can, with that jaw injury he suffered as a result of his momentary brainfart. Yes, life can be unpredictable, and many curveballs will be thrown your way over the course of one's time here on this planet, but if you can actually improve your chances for continued survival with little to no effort, why not take advantage?

Is a helmet really that bad of a thing to put on your head? Especially coming from a football player, a dude who should be used to wearing helmets already.

Uhh...You Sure You Got the Right Person?

2006-06-13T09:09:00.000-04:00

This past fall semester, I had been messing around with this girl, who, to make a long story short, just didn't wind up working out for me in the end. Shortly after the Christmas break, I ended things between us, and well, while we still maintained a friendship afterward, I never bothered to give her another go. So whatever, spring semester came and went, and we both moved on.

So, imagine my surprise when, right in the middle of my departure period from SU, I get a voicemail from this girl's "ex-man."

"Yo, my boys told me that they saw you and [the girl] together up at [local amusement park] last week. Yo, I hope that wasn't you, doggy, because, son, if it was, I'm going to kill you. I ain't playin, doggy. Straight up, I'll kill you. I know what you look like. And if I see you around my way, I'll kill you. And, I'll slap that bitch, too. And you can tell that stupid bitch that I called you, too. I don't care. So, son, I really hope it wasn't you, yo. Cuz, if it was, you'll be hearing from me real soon."

I had to listen the message again to make sure that this wasn't one of my friends playing a trick on me or something. After I listened again, and checked the caller ID on my cell phone, I saw it really was him.

And that's when I began to laugh hysterically.

Like, WOOOWW. Who does that? The dude actually called up my cell phone number (we had each other's numbers because I had to speak to him once for something completely unrelated to the girl) and threatened me over voicemail. Never mind I had never seen him (or vice versa) before. The truth was that I hadn't even seen the girl for almost a month at that point in time, and during the time period he said I was with her, I was still up in Syracuse, doing what I had to do. I have no idea who she was with, but whoever it was, they better watch out, because apparently, this girl has a case of the ex!!!

What was even funnier was that I didn't even know that this dude was once her boyfriend until much after I stopped messing with her. She told me that they were "childhood friends." (An example of what made me end things) So, for him to be calling me, he was assuming that I knew that they were together, and that she had been honest about their relationship. Sounds like he was made a fool BIG TIME, and now, here he was, sinking to embarrassing levels just to regain some lost pride. After a few moments, I actually kind of felt sorry for him.

I had two choices; either I call her up and let her know about the phone call, or I call him and confront him directly over the phone and tell him that he had the wrong person. Quickly, I decided to just give him a call back and not tell her anything. Whatever was happening between them, I wanted it to STAY between them. If I called her, I was putting myself right into it.

His voicemail picked up, so I decided to return the favor.

"Yo, what's good. I got your message, and listen, while I don't appreciate the fact that you actually threatened me over voicemail, given the circumstances, I'm willing to let it slide. With that said, I'm going to tell you straight up; I haven't seen [the girl] in almost a month, and the time that you said I was with her, I was still in Syracuse. As a matter of fact, I have yet to leave. And to be honest with you, I haven't even BEEN to [amusement park] for almost 9 years. I don't know who said that they saw me up there, but considering that you haven't even seen me before, and I've never come into contact with your peoples, I find it hard to believe that they could single me out in a crowded place like that. So, bottom line, you called the wrong person. I'm sorry to hear you're going through this situation, but yo, speaking from experience, sometimes you just gotta learn to cut your losses and move on. So, with that said, good luck, take it easy, and honestly, if you want to call me back, I'll be around, but I'll just tell you the same thing I just told you now. Later."

Three weeks later, and he never called me back. Hopefully, he took my advice and believed what I said. I don't need to have some random ex chasing me around for something I didn't do.

He doesn't have to know about last semester, though. :-)

That's What "Vibrate" is For!

2006-06-12T09:10:00.000-04:00

Before college, I had the pleasure of going to school in an era when cell phones had not yet reached the hands of every single person with a set of lips. I didn't have to deal with ringtones constantly interrupting class time, and people blocking my way between classes because they were too busy having a meaningless conversation with their buddies on another floor. I got out of elementary and high school just in the nick of time.

Now, teachers have to deal with these retarded youngins who look for every opportunity to gab on their cellies. And with all these damn ringtones floating around, more often than not, class time is interrupted by the sounds of some overplayed pop song. In retaliation, schools across the country have adopted "no cell phone" policies, where students caught with a cell phone on school grounds will have their mobiles confiscated. (ESPECIALLY in situations when students refuse to turn off their phones during classes.) Of course, leave it up to the combination of youthful rebelliousness and modern technology to serve up a counter-attack.

Enter high-frequency ringtones. These ringtones are apparently so high-pitched, that older adults cannot hear it. Leaning much on the assumption that our hearing sensitivity diminishes with age, students have been outfitting their cell phones with these ringtones in order to be able to hear their phones without teachers having a clue about it.

Ironically, these sounds were developed by shopkeepers in Britain to repel teenagers from loitering around their establishments afterschool! (Heh, heh, imagine screaming teenagers running away from a store in horror when hearing this sound)

Want to see if you can hear the sound? Click on the following link to test it out:

http://download.npr.org/anon.npr-mp3/atc/atc_teenbuzz.mp3

Man, I clicked on that link, and let me say that the sound, emanating from my tinny laptop speakers, had me coiling in horror. It is so annoying.

If I were in high school, and some kid had this sound as a ringtone, I would have to hit them in the face hard with a textbook. Seriously.

Why can't they just put the phone on vibrate, like everyone else?

Plenty of Truth in "Inconvenient Truth"

2006-06-12T08:12:00.000-04:00

This past Friday, I had the pleasure of watching the documentary, "An Inconvenient Truth," which focuses on the very real effects that global warming has had on our environment and our lives, and what will inevitably happen if nothing is done about this universal issue. After taking time off to recover from his controversial loss in the 2000 Presidential Elections, former Vice-President Al Gore began to dedicate his time to lead a campaign to reduce carbon dioxide emissions globally and get the US Government to pass legislation that will do much to reduce America's share of pollution in the world. The movie itself, directed by Davis Guggenheim, follows Al Gore as he gives lectures in cities around the world detailing the science behind global warming, showing real-life evidence of its existence and does it in such a way that practically anyone with eyeballs can understand. And trust me when I say his argument is VERY convincing (and surprisingly, it's not boring in the least bit). When I left the movie, I felt like I wanted to grab everyone by the neck and tell them personally to make efforts to reduce their wasteful consumption and to go and watch the movie to find out how. It really is a powerful work.

Al Gore, while he does take the time to bash the Bush Administration every once in awhile, doesn't stoop to the level of making the entire movie a political piece pitting Democrats vs. Republicans in his effort to get the importance of environmental awareness across. Yes, he does take the time in the movie to paint himself as the ultimate environmental crusader during his political career, but considering that much of it is true, it certainly isn't without merit. As he said in the movie, global warming isn't a political issue, but rather it's the biggest moral issue facing human civilization. And because of this, he makes it very clear that all people, no matter their political affiliation, need to take steps to reduce pollution, or else, we won't have much of a life left to live.

The biggest evidence that we are currently seeing the consequence of increased carbon dioxide emissions? Last summer's hurricane season. And Al Gore makes the bulletproof argument that its only going to get worse REAL soon if nothing is done about our emissions.

Critics have universally acclaimed this movie and have marked it as a "must-see." And, after seeing it myself, I happen to agree. Go out, see this movie, and take personal steps to foster change. Trust me, you certainly won't regret it. If anything, you'll most certainly regret it if you don't.

For more information, check out the movie's website.

More Finds From My Closet

2006-06-06T10:05:00.000-04:00

It's been about four days since I started cleaning out my closet, and well, I'm still not done. Trust me when I say I have a lot of stuff in there! Then again, I'm taking a long time, too, because I'm just going through all my things, little by little, and taking the time to rediscover everything in there. Some of the more interesting finds:

1) My old grade school signature book.

Now THIS is some funny shit. It looks like my grade school had a shitload of these things left over from the 70's, and they decided to give them to us when we graduated from 8th Grade all the way back in 1997. In the front, I filled out my name, date of graduation, teachers, names of best friends (none of whom I've kept in contact with past high school), and, heh heh, college of choice. You know what I said back then?

"M.I.T"

HA HA!!!

2) One of my daily journals from grade school

Taking up a whopping 12 pages, the biggest story I wrote about in this journal was about an encounter that I had with this girl at a local McDonald's, where, basically, I took every chance I could to stare at the "most beautiful girl I had ever seen." I stared so much, that I wound up hitting the shit out of my little Godbrother with a dine-in tray while I was throwing it away. ("I didn't know he was there! I wasn't looking!")

Man, it was so simple back then...

3) My "Pocket Simon Says"

I don't even know if they sell these things anymore, but I'm sure everyone older than the age of 16 remembers the little electronic game, "Simon Says," where you had to accurately recall what order to press four different colored buttons right after the game gave you an example of what to press. I use to be super good with that game.

4) A book from the Brooklyn Tech HS library

I've always said that when I was in HS, I never set foot in the school library. Well, apparently, that didn't stop me from stealing a book. I remember when I was given the news my senior year that I couldn't get my HS diploma unless I returned a book that I "borrowed" from the library. Man, I argued and argued that "NEVER" got books from that library. I argued the point so well, I got the school officials to strike the book off my record and they gave me my diploma. Well, here I am, five years later, digging through my closet, and I find the book that they said I never returned.

HA HA!!!

The second I can find my digital camera through all this crap, I will post pictures with me and some of the stuff that I found while I was cleaning.

Everything But Skeletons in the Closet

2006-06-03T20:33:00.000-04:00

When I was moving out of Syracuse, I had to go through 5 years worth of stuff that I had collected over the years and throw away some of the stuff that I no longer needed. Not only did I lessen the load of stuff I would be taking back home, but I also had the opportunity to take a small trip through time as I re-discovered old books, clothes, love letters, greeting cards, and pictures that I've stored since 2001. It was certainly a small trip through my college years as I was able to relive my the experience over again while packing my stuff away.

Now that I'm back home, I have to do the same thing all over again as I try to make room for all the stuff I brought back from college. Except this time, instead of going through stuff I haven't seen since the beginning of college, I'm finding stuff that I haven't seen for over a decade. Thus far, I've gone through half my closet, for example, and I've found old toys that I haven't played with since I was 12, old parents' letters from grade school, old school uniforms, ancient HW assignments, decade-old clothes, my Nerf weapon collection, award trophies, pictures and even my old "Robin" Halloween costume from when I was 6-years old. In many cases, I forgot that I even ever had any of those things, so thus far, it's been a crazy trip through time and memories for me, and I'm not even half done.

Among those things, I found an old hoodie that my ex left behind, along with a dollar and some change, during one of the times that we traveled to New York together about three years ago. I'm torn over whether or not I should throw it away. Hell, I'm torn over whether or not I should throw a lot of the stuff away that I've found. But don't think I'm a packrat or anything; I've already filled four garbage bags with old clothes and things I don't need, and I haven't even gone through half of my closet. It's just that a lot of this stuff has sentimental value!

It's definitely going to be interesting going through the rest of that closet. I wonder what else I'll find?

The Perfect Storm (Washington Heights Edition)

2006-06-03T18:21:00.000-04:00

A funny thing happened on my way back to New York yesterday.

Just as I was getting ready to pat myself on the back for making good time after about two and a half hours of driving, the skies opened up, and rain came down faster than you can say, "WTF?" It was raining so hard, that my visibility went from about two miles to 4 feet. Within mere minutes, the highway that I was traveling on got flooded, and suddenly, my wonderful late-spring, early afternoon drive back to NYC turned into a test of endurance and luck. Before I knew it, I was leaning forward in my seat, cursing out every one and their mother on the highway because between thing or another, either people were simply drifting across lanes without signaling, or refused to turn on their lights. Little did I know that my troubles would not stop there.

Once I hit New York city limits, I was forced to slow down even more when I ran into some pre-rush hour traffic that had been affected by the torrential downpour coming down over our heads. To make matters worse, I wasn't going straight home, but rather, I had to drop off my Washington Heights-bound former roommate, Pedro, who had accompanied me back to NYC for the ride from Syracuse. For those unfamiliar with New York geography, Washington Heights is a region in uptown Manhattan, that, although physically not too far away from my residence in the Bronx, has one huge downside: incredibly stupid, aggressive drivers. Stupid, as in, "I'm going to break every fucking driving law imaginable just so I can get to my destination." I'm talking double and triple parking, driving backwards, changing lanes without signaling, illegal U-Turns, tailgating, and constant horn-honking in an area where there are literally a million cars packed into into 5 sq. miles. The vast majority of the residents that live in the Heights are of Dominican descent, and most of the horrible drivers are immigrant Dominican cab drivers that act like they are still driving back home in DR. Trust me, I'm not even making this up or stereotyping; it's the utter truth. You do not want to be on a road with these kinds of drivers. They'll get you wrecked in an accident, and then have the balls to walk up to you and curse you out for making them miss a cab fare. Despite these people, here I was driving right into this bedlam someone had the nerve to dub a "neighborhood" during the middle of a freaking rainstorm. You don't "drive" when you're in the Heights. You simply survive and live to tell the tale, if you're lucky.

So, here I am, driving through, cursing cab drivers out left and right, when all of a sudden, I notice my battery light blinked on and my radio began to die. "Awwwwwww shit," I said to myself. My car's battery was getting ready to die in the middle of this utter insanity. I was praying that my car wouldn't just conk out in the middle of a busy intersection, hoping that somehow, my car could squeeze out just enough energy to drop off Pedro and get me back home to the Bronx. I was able to get Pedro, home, but then, right as I was making my way back, my car simply conked out in the worst possible place anyone could be; in the middle of the 4-way intersection on 181st and Broadway, the busiest intersection in the Heights. Without thinking twice about it, I popped the car into neutral, got out, and pushed the damn thing over to a corner to get it out of the way of traffic, almost getting killed in the process by drivers who yelled out of their windows screaming in Spanish, "push faster!" Within a minute, I got the car safely out of the way, and located a police car that was on the other side of the intersection, hoping they could give me a jumpstart so I could be on my way home. Thankfully, the police officer, who seemed to really hate being in this neighborhood, maneuvered through the traffic and got to me, giving me the jumpstart that I needed to get home...

Unfortunately, the jump didn't get me home... I conked out again about two blocks away. Once again, I jumped out, dodging cars in the process, and pushed my car up to a black cab and saw an older Dominican gentleman getting out; apparently, he had just finished parking his car, and was getting ready to get some groceries at a nearby bodega. Quickly, I called him and explained what happened to me in Spanish and asked him if he could help me with a jump. He explained to me that if the police officer's car couldn't give me enough of a charge to get me home, then there was nothing more that he could do with regards to a jump. Instead, he suggested, I should take his space when he was done shopping, and go to a nearby auto shop and get my alternator replaced. It made sense, and considering 30,000,000 drivers breathing down my neck, it was the best choice I had. So, after about five minutes, he came back, got his car out, and helped me push my car into his spot. The dude even put in a quarter for me into the nearby parking meter. In a classic moment, the driver was cursing out other Dominican cab drivers who were looking to steal the space as I was pushing my car into the spot. "No, not this one," he screamed in Spanish, as cab driver after cab driver came and went in the 30 seconds it took for me to get my car into the spot. That guy definitely saved my ass, and I made sure to thank him profusely for the help he gave.

The irony certainly wasn't lost on me that one of the very people that I have grown to hate on the roadways actually saved my ass.

Once I got the car situated, I called my mother, told her what happened, and she offered to make the trip up into the Heights, along with her boyfriend, to pick me up after she left work and see if they could help me get the car out of there. Of course, it was at this time when we both found out that it had rained so much, that the subways in New York were flooded out. Which, of course, only meant one thing: even more traffic. Since, I knew it was going to take my mother about two and a half hours to make it 7 miles uptown through the traffic, I stopped in at a nearby Chinese-Cuban restaurant, ate some food, walked over to a nearby auto store, priced an alternator, and just waited for my mother and her boyfriend to make it through. Since the traffic was too bad for me to get the car out of there at that point in time, they came prepared with a plan:

At about 10 o'clock, we were going to return, get the car out of the spot, and have the BF actually push my car into the Bronx with his car. As in, he was going to hit my car from behind with his car, through Washington Heights, across a bridge, and into the Bronx, on a Friday night in New York. Considering I had no other choice, I decided to go for it.

Man, I must say that after going through that whole thing, that had to be one of the craziest things I've ever done. Between all kinds of people coming close to hitting me, everyone and their mother honking their horns, and everyone screaming in Spanish, "turn on your lights," (No, I can't because my battery's dead!!!) my heart was beating about five times faster than normal. Despite the danger, somehow, however, I actually had fun with the whole situation. The shit was so crazy, what else could you do BUT laugh?

Thankfully, we made it into the Bronx, and got the car close to an auto repair shop that could install a new alternator the next morning. Once I locked up the car, I finally had the chance to head home and go to bed to recover from the incredibly long day. And to think, it all started off with a wonderful, late spring time drive back down from Syracuse...

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Farewells

2006-06-01T10:43:00.000-04:00

"In the past few days, there have been a number of incidents involving students who have urinated into trash receptacles, smeared fecal matter onto walls, and have left behind evidence of their sexual activities in stairwells. We will no longer tolerate such activity, and are prepared to take sweeping measures that will ensure that every student within this building will take responsibility for these actions, should they keep occurring."

There's nothing like a big fat reminder that you're living in the dorms when you receive a letter like this underneath your door. "Fecal matter on walls?" Ewww. I mean, c'mon guys, if you wanted to change the paint color of your room, there are better ways of doing it, man.

Since I've been in Cuse, I've been staying inside Edwin's dorm room (my now former roommate) while he takes summer classes to complete his degree requirements. It worked out well for me, because he was given a split double dorm room, which in effect, is two rooms in one, so, he chills on one side, while I occupy the other. The only bad thing about the arrangement is that I do not have constant internet access, so I have to steal the ethernet cable off of his computer every once in awhile to check e-mail and to post another entry into the blog. But, it's not like I can be on the internet all day, anyways. I did come to Cuse to do labwork in the darkrooms, after all, so it's not like I'm twiddling my thumbs waiting for the opportunity to hop online. It works out.

Thus far, I'm about a third of the way done with my labwork. I got a decent amount done yesterday after being in the lab for about 8 hours straight. While I don't mind working in the darkroom, the only bad thing about it is that for all those 8 hours, I'm on my feet, so by the time I walk out of there, I feel like I've been holding up the Earth for 3000 years. My feet notwithstanding, photo lab work is almost... soothing. I mean, you're busy making waves inside of a developing tray most of the time, waiting for images to pop out. It can be rather boring after awhile, but as long as you have some decent tunes in your ear, it should be fine, and the time passes relatively quickly when you're really into it.

After the lab closed at 6, I chilled with some folks to pass the time and to say my goodbyes. I had dinner with my friend, Jen, over at Uno's for a bit, as we caught up, outlined our future, and just chilled inside a local mall. I hadn't chilled with her for almost a year, so it was great actually seeing her again for more than just a minute as we passed each other on the way to class or work. She's moving onto med school in the next few days, so her academic nightmare lives on for another 3 years. I can't say I envy her. The thought of more school right now is enough to make me puke...

After I chilled with Jen, I drove on over to another mall to meet up with some of my old Starbucks peeps to watch "X-Men 3" for a second time. It wasn't bad, especially since my ticket was paid for. (Thanks, Aimee! :-) ) I sure do miss chilling with them, now that I'm not longer an employee for the Green Empire. I had some fun times working for the 'Fucks, but it was time for me to move on. Like my mother kept on saying, "You didn't go to college to make coffee." I remember when we all used to work together this time last year, and we all kept on swearing that we'd get away from Starbucks and move onto other jobs. Well, a year later, it appears that I'm the only one that actually moved on. There's a funny dynamic about working in that place, because as much as we all hate it, we keep on coming back. I guess it's because we all have love for one another, and it's our friendships that keep us there. Still, there's only but so much that friendship aspect could keep me coming back when everything else was completely horrible. Yes, I miss them all, but I definitely do not miss any of the BS I went through while working there. Regardless of all that, it was good to relive it all yesterday with them, and I'm kinda sad that I'll be leaving them all for good as I move on in life.

Hopefully, I'll keep in contact with most of the people staying behind in Cuse, but we all know how that works.

Well, I've got to get to the darkroom again, and I should be running into a few more friends as I continue my "Farewell Tour" of Syracuse. So, until next time....

Wanted: College, Just Without the "School" Part

2006-05-30T18:40:00.000-04:00

After spending a wonderful Memorial Day weekend “chillaxing” back home, catching up on movies like “X-Men 3”, “Da Vinci Code”, and “MI:3,” and spending time with some old friends, I woke up this morning ready to take care of the remaining loose ends that I had left behind some 300 miles north in Syracuse. So, I jumped into my car, and drove up for about three and a half hours to arrive once more in New York State’s icebox.

An icebox that happened to be 96 degrees Fahrenheit.

The second I jumped out my car, I felt like I had just been bitch-slapped by the Devil himself. Now, trust when I say that I can handle hot weather, but I must admit that I was rather surprised to experience that kind of weather in Syracuse, of all places. It was only two weeks ago when the mercury hit 36 degrees. I mean, sure, during the summer, Syracuse actually does get hot, but definitely not this early on in the season. But whatever, I’d rather take the hot weather than the cold, any day.

There were a number of reasons that factored into my return to Syracuse this week. For one, I needed to look over my once-beloved (as in, it used to look like a home, not a Katrina disaster site) apartment, pick up any remaining belongings, and hand in my keys. Next, I came to finish off some photography work that I did not finish during the semester. Long story short, basically, the darkrooms that I needed to do my work closed at random times during the end of the semester. Everytime I had the opportunity to do some lab work, the darkroom was closed, so, by the end of the semester, I did not finish my course work. I tried reasoning with the professor, but she said that there was nothing that she could do about it. (A HUGE lie) The teacher gave me an “F” for the course, but, according to the Dean of my college, I still have an outside chance of getting her to change the grade, provided I show up at her front door like, “here, wench!!!” There’s also a part of me that just wants to finish the work just so I can have some cool black and white images to decorate my room back in NYC. So either way, my work isn’t going to waste. :-)

The third reason I came back up was to schedule a meeting with the Dean of my home college to get her to exert pressure on another professor to change a grade I received. In this case, I e-mailed my professor my final project for the semester, and on three different occasions, over a span of five days, she said that she never received my work, even though I e-mailed her the assignment again and again. Finally, a day after grades were due, she e-mailed me back and said that she received, “all my e-mails” but that she wasn’t accepting my work. “I turned in grades already. I’m sorry.” Considering that each e-mail that I sent had a date and time stamp, she had proof right in front of her face that I e-mailed those assignments on time. However, despite the evidence, she did not budge. I sent her a long e-mail, basically pleading my case and stating the facts, but when she refused to reply, I decided to go above her and talk to her bosses. Now, it looks like I have some powerful people on my side when it comes to this issue, so hopefully, she’ll take their “recommendations” into consideration and actually evaluate my final paper.

Man, why does shit have to be so damn difficult? Can’t I just leave already!? It sure as hell seems like SU really doesn’t want me to leave. Ever.

In another day, or so, it’ll all be over, though. I can run away from Syracuse and not look back. I’ve already moved out. Now, I just have to tie these loose ends up, and I’m off running.

Will I come back to the city of Syracuse after this, for non-school related reasons? Probably. I’ve made too many friends over the years that are actually from the city of Syracuse, or at the very least, are currently living here until they can get a job, that I cannot just abandon them. It should be awesome chilling with them now that the school aspect of my life is now over. No more worrying about assignments while I’m out with friends.

It’s like college… just without the school part. :-)

FREEEEEEEDOOMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!!!!

2006-05-26T13:55:00.000-04:00

After 200+ pages of writing, hundreds of hours of video editing and photo lab work, and countless pages of reading, I can finally declare that my last official "Finals Crunch Time" as an undergrad is officially OVER. Yes. It's OVERRRR. And I'm freeeeeeeeeeee!!! I have finally completed my college career at Syracuse University. And man, I must say that it feels great to be at the finish line. Yes, I know reality is going to smack me in the face real soon, and I'm going to have to hit the pavement hard to secure myself a job, but I absolutely need to take some time off and revel in the fact that I'm now done with college.

YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS! I'm done!

Okay, I'm done now. Whew. You don't understand just how great it feels to be able to move onto something new. Yes, I enjoyed being in college, and I'm sure I'll be looking back on these times one day and miss them tremendously, but right now, this is THE life. I can finally go home and not worry that I'm wasting time doing something that I shouldn't be doing because of some stupid deadline. Shit, I can read books for leisure again! (I haven't done that since high school.) Instead of writing up some silly ass assignment, now I can blog frequently again. Instead of being forced to sit in front of my computer to do work, I can now go out, play baseball, work on some independent film projects, catch up on my personal writing, and see friends that I've lost contact with since I entered college. Hell, now that I have time, I can even go on dates now! YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!

Seriously, since I last blogged, I was sucked into a huge vacuum of work and barely had the time to catch a breath of fresh air. And, just when I thought I was done, I was sucked right back into it after certain professors decided that they wanted to be complete 'tards and give me "Ds" for no reason. As I type this, I'm still working on petitions to get professors to change their grades in light of all the work that I did for them, but, for the most part, in terms of heavy duty college work, I'm completely done. At the same time, I had to move out of my apartment in Syracuse and get 5 years worth of stuff and transport it all back to the Bronx. So far, I've made about 3 trips back and forth between the two cities, 300 miles each way, in the past week and a half. (Yeah, I had a lot of stuff) I still need to go back to the Cuse on Tuesday to finish up some odds and ends for school and start working on a job search, but, come Thursday, when I head back to NYC, I shouldn't have a reason to head back to Cuse other than to just chill with some friends. After that, my real summer begins, and I'll take the opportunity to recover from Finals for about a month. With any luck, I should start a job by late July, early August.

So, I'm back. Keep coming back here for more blog entries when I get into a few more details with everything and I catch up with all my little "Coffee Break" featurettes. Let me say it loud one more time....

I'm FREEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!

Happy 4/20 Day!!!

2006-04-20T12:36:00.000-04:00

While 3/4's of the people on campus will either be lighting up a blunt, hitting a bong, eating "brownies," playing hookie, or any combination of the aforementioned activities (and ALL denying that there was even a such thing as a "4/20 day"), I will be spending it in class, and in the darkroom, doing more work. But, don't let my misery get in the way of your politically charged fun. Have fun today. That is, if you get down with Mary Jane. :-)

Happy Easter!

2006-04-16T12:46:00.000-04:00

I just wanted to wish everyone a Happy Easter! Have fun with your families, friends, and anyone else who you might spend time with on this day, provided you celebrate the day.

While most of my friends and family are off on some random egg hunt or church ceremony/dinner, I'll be in the SU darkroom, getting pictures developed for a huge crit tomorrow. Wish me luck!

Here We Go Again...

2006-04-12T21:31:00.000-04:00

With two and a half weeks left in the semester, it's that time of the year again for me. CRUNCH time. It's this time of the year when I have more things to complete on my "to do" list than I can count on my hands and toes, and ALL are due within just a few days. It fucking sucks.

Wish me luck as I attempt to get all my work done now, before finals time gets here. Blaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhh.

Re-introducing... "Press Start to Play"

2006-04-05T01:25:00.000-04:00

Way back in August, I announced my plans to start a new blog dedicated to video gaming. Well, after 7 months, it's finally happened, and this time, it's for real. I reintroduce all of you to "Press Start to Play," the gaming blog dedicated to entertaining gaming fans all over the world with stories, reviews, features, and movies. If you are a gaming fan, this blog is for you. Check it out by clicking on the link below:

Press Start to Play

I hope ya'll like it! Make sure you RSS feed it!

Cheeky Bastard

2006-04-03T20:49:00.000-04:00

Man, what the hell happened to Lindsay Lohan? It was only two years ago when she actually looked good. Hell, she was even close to being "Crush of the Month" material. Now, she just looks really sick.

And judging from the picture below, apparently, so do her butt cheeks:

During the Nickelodeon Kids Choice Awards, Ms. Lohan had the nerve to get up on stage and reveal her freckled asscheeks to hundreds of screaming prepubescent kids present in the audience. Now normally, I never pass up the opportunity to compliment a "wardrobe malfunction" like this one, but in this case, I find myself gagging at the thought of seeing her bony cheeks in person. Like I said, a couple of years ago, show me her buttcheeks, and I'll be all over them, but now, ummm... no.

I wonder... is she even wearing underwear? That's an even more disgusting thought.

Shouts to idontlikeyouthatway.com for the images, lol

In Case You Missed It Last Night...

2006-03-30T07:40:00.000-05:00

Here's the image of that message that was on that big ass metal door in "LOST":

LOL, it looks like there's a big chicken, chillin, on the south part of that thing. Maybe it's the Burger King "Subservient Chicken!!!!"

360 Degrees of Financial Separation

2006-03-25T11:58:00.000-05:00

Since November, Microsoft has been churning out all kinds of hype for their latest video game system, the XBox 360. Being the video game enthusiast that I am, it was incredibly hard for me to avoid all the glowing reviews that the system received from early adopters and gaming magazines; everywhere I looked, there was yet another article or person hyping the XBox 360. And of course, the biggest story this Christmas (outside of the NYC Transit Strike), was the fact that NO ONE could find a 360 for their loved ones because Microsoft rushed the system to the market, and failed to churn out enough systems from their plants. (IBM, the people responsible for creating the main processor on the machine, couldn't keep up with demand... not too much different from the way they couldn't keep up with Apple's demands for the G5 processor in their Macs...)

At first, I was extremely skeptical of the 360. I saw some of the product shots that were coming out of the woodwork from the various game developers making games for the system, and I really wasn't impressed. With all the ballyhoo that MSoft was making about the system being "next-gen," the game screenshots that were coming out didn't look like that much of an improvement over existing video game systems. Combine the unimpressive looking games with the bank-busting price of the new system ($400, plus tax, not including a game or another controller), and you had a company that was smoking some serious crack. Outside of annoying Microshaft fanboys, who the hell was going to buy this system?

Months after the system's November release, Microsoft has yet to catch up with demand. Everywhere you look, systems are sold out, and people are still paying ridiculous prices on eBay just to land one. The other day, I was on eBay, and I saw people bidding well over $600 for USED 360. People are just going nuts over this damn thing.

So, here I was looking from the outside, in, on the craziness surrounding the 360, out of sheer curiosity. I saw the initial reports of people getting lemons for 360s and shook my head in disgust for the way MSoft rushed the system to market, bypassing Q.A. and failing to get production going on the system months before its street date in November. On the other side of things, I also saw the glowing reviews that people gave the system for its innovative interface, interconnectivity with other media, and for its incredible "XBox Live Marketplace", where one could, right from their television, connect to MSoft's online servers, and download classic games and playable demos for upcoming 360 games. And then finally, I saw reviews trickle in for some of the games that launched alongside the system, and noticed that some of the games actually did look much better than their current generation counterparts.

As time passed, my interest in the system grew even more. I began reading more into the system and, in a profound mental shift, I was actually weighing in on whether or not I actually WANTED one. I started looking on eBay a couple of weeks ago, hoping that I could find a system that wasn't too overpriced, but found no such luck. And every game store that I went into was completely sold out. Most of them were still fulfilling preorders that were made way back in September for the freaking thing! With the way things were going, I resigned myself to the fact that I wasn't going to be able to land a 360 till the summer, when supply finally caught up with demand. Besides, I told myself, that freaking system is expensive as all hell, and it was probably better that I just save my money and get back to concentrating on school.

Yesterday, I walked into a local Electronics Boutique, like I occasionally do, (most of the time, I never buy anything, but I just like passing the time in there, looking through the stacks of games, hoping to find some incredible bargain) and noticed that there was one 360 in stock. I did a double take. WHAT?! In stock? I've never seen that before! I paced around the store, deciding whether or not I was ready to take the $500 plunge and invest in a brand-new system. After about 5 minutes, I decided, "fuck it, let's go," and right when I got to the counter, a forty-something year old gentleman and his single-digit year old son jumped right in front of me and inquired about the lone 360. I couldn't help but just laugh over the lost opportunity. After about 15 minutes of "upsell" (y'know, that whole routine that retailers are notorious for when they want to turn a $500 purchase into a $10,000 one?), the guy and his son walked away with a brand-spanking new 360, and I was left with an "I'm sorry" from the dad.

I didn't feel too bad about it, though. I was still unsure about the purchase, so it was just as well that they got it and not me. I told him to not feel sorry for me, because I was sure that somehow, it would all work out in the end. I was actually kind of happy for the kid; he was able to go home with the pure, unadulterated satisfaction of opening up a brand-new, must-have gadget, without any of the buyer's remorse that older people feel when they shell out that much money on a luxury item. (Sigh, I miss those days)

After buying some random PSP game, (after spending all that time in the store, looking at this dude getting a 360, I suddenly felt the need to soothe myself with SOME kind of purchase), something told me to drive on over to a nearby Target. So, I walked in, headed on over to the electronics section, and chillin' right in front of me were three 360s waiting to be bought. I couldn't believe it. Without thinking twice about it, I called over a Target employee to get a 360 out of the glass case that held them, and snatched a copy of "Dead or Alive 4" and an extra controller. Three minutes later, I held a 20 pound box in my hands and was down $550.77. Before I could change my mind, I ran to my car, threw on some Tribe Called Quest, and sped my way back to the EB, returned the PSP game, and zoomed on home.

I never thought I would see this box in my home

Almost immediately, I experienced a heavy dose of buyer's remorse. I contemplated turning right back around, and returning the system to Target, but the closer I got to home, the harder it was for me to do that. Then I considered selling the system on eBay to turn in a nice profit. I called my roommate Pedro and told him what I had just done and asked him what I should do. He just told me that I was smoking some incredible crack. When I got home, I paced back and forth for about an hour, weighing in on whether or not I should open the system's box, which would make it un-returnable. Finally, after thinking about everything, I decided to go ahead with opening it up and setting up my new system.

After I got over my buyer's remorse, I made the 360 feel at home

After spending a night playing around with the system, I can honestly see for myself what all the hype was about. The 360 IS the real deal. Not soon after he called me a crackhead for buying the system, Pedro swore that he was going to buy one, too. We spent the night playing with the game I had bought, as well as spending time with the awesome "Fight Night Round 3" demo that I was able to download off the XBox Live Marketplace. And for some retro thrills, I downloaded copies of the arcade classics, "Smash TV" and "Gauntlet," which we all played well into the early morning. The wireless controllers alone are a godsend; I could turn the system on and off without even having to get up off the sofa.

Pedro and Edwin playing 360

I ran into a slight technical difficulty early on when I tried to transfer my old XBox Live profile onto the new system. I had to make a call to MSoft's customer service center, and of course, in true Microshaft tradition, I was directed to a call center in India. They weren't able to completely satisfy my issue, but I was able to get it working, regardless.

Man, I sure own a lot of games

Surely the excitement of my owning the 360 will die down by the end of today, but I couldn't be happier with my purchase. It's an awesome system, and sure, it was incredibly expensive, but it's worth it.

Now, it's time for me to get back to work... after I play a round of Geometry Wars, first. :-)

PS: I know there's a $300 dollar "Core" version of the system, but one can't really count that as a "real" XBox 360, considering that it is missing several key components that make the 360 such a joy to use, such as the wireless controller, or the hard drive. If you were to buy these components separately, one would spend well over $400 to match the contents of the more expensive "Premium" version.

Truly a "Classic"

2006-03-21T10:29:00.000-05:00

Japan 10, Cuba 6

And so, on the last day of the 1st annual World Baseball Classic, the Little Red Revolutionary Engine that Could, Cuba, lost to an incredible Japanese team that was stocked with fabulous talent.

While I may be disappointed with the loss, overall, I'm incredibly happy with the way this tournament turned out. For anyone who was paying attention the past few weeks, the WBC was an awesome tournament, and rivaled the buzz and excitement of March Madness (no easy feat, by any means, especially given the fact that most people think baseball is "boring"). Teams definitely "brought it" to this tournament. Even in the final game, despite being behind the whole game, Cuba came extremely close to staging an incredible rally to take the game from the Japanese. There was no giving up in this thing. The whole "national pride" thing...man, that's some powerful stuff, and makes for some incredible television.

At the end of it all, Cuba was still able to go back home with bragging rights; since 1951, Cuba has yet to finish below 2nd in any international baseball tournament, and even though the team had no MLB representation in a tournament that was rife with it, they were still able to make it to the championship game, proving to the world that Cuban National baseball is the real deal.

Don't cry, meng! Kick ass in 2009!

And Japan... man... what a kickass team. I don't even know how the hell they made to the final after losing to Korea twice. But, man, do they have talent. Hell, Korea had super talent, too. They won when it mattered, and that's what counts in this tournament. After watching them play, I can't complain too much that they won the WBC. They were awesome.

Ichiro called it, "the greatest moment of his career." And that's saying a lot.

At the end of the tournament, the WBC organizers announced the 2006 "All-Tournament Team," featuring the 12 best players of the event. Japan, Cuba, and Korea landed three players on this squad. Dominican Republic got one dude, and the good ol' US of A landed 2. (Ken Griffey Jr., despite being injured off and on for awhile, was awesome in this tournament. I hope he follows this with a monster MLB season in a couple of weeks. He deserves it.)

So, with all that said, congratulations, Japan, on winning the first WBC. Watch out, though. Cuba's gunning for you in 2008, when they get set to play in the Olympics as the defending gold medalists. :-)

Baseball Spoken Here

2006-03-19T13:03:00.000-05:00

Now that my joy over March Madness has subsided as a result of Cuse's early exit from the NCAA Tournament, my attention has been brought right back to the World Baseball Classic, which I have been watching with great interest since the tournament started at the start of the month. Right from the beginning, I've been cheering for the Cuban national team, and, much to the chagrin of uber-patriotic, right-wing, US baseball fans everywhere, Cuba made it to the championship game, while the US Team was unceremoniously bumped out of the tournament.

Thus far, the WBC has been an incredible event, and one that has surely taken Latino baseball fans (as well as other fans around the world) across the US and around the world by storm. Back in the Bronx, people were debating whether or not Cuba could stand up to Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic's incredible lineups, and were taking sides based on national pride. Last week, almost every single Puerto Rican and Dominican watched the PR-DR matchup, and saw PR hand the overwhelming favorite, DR, a loss. Considering how much Puerto Ricans and Dominicans hate each other, the game became THE event of the month, and was much more than just a simple baseball game. It became a cultural battleground between the hated rivals.

Then, PR faced Cuba in the second-round, and, in a game that had the same importance behind it as the DR-PR game, Cuba was able to avenge a first-round loss to Puerto Rico, and confidently went ahead to face the Dominican team, with the winner going on to the final round to face the winner of the Korea-Japan game.

Boy, was that game was crazy. Cuba was able to pull off the victory with some incredible pitching and timely hitting. At the end of it all, it was such a passionate game, that the Dominican players walked up to the Cuban players and hugged them out of sheer respect. It was bananas.

So, at the end of it all, Cuba is in the final game, and will face Japan for the WBC Championship. US sports pundits were so quick to call Cuba "overrated," and now look at them. They are in the championship against another team that was counted out of the final, Japan. And now, of course, in a rush to come up with some kind of explanation for the US' ouster from the baseball tournament, pundits are making up all kinds of excuses.

Well, a long time ago, I learned a little something about excuses...

"Excuses are tools for the incompetent, used to build monuments of nothingness,
and those who specialize in nothingness, will amount to absolutely nothing."

Maybe if American MLB players got a little more serious about the WBC, things would be different. But considering the level of talent that actually DID show up to the tournament, that's not an easy call to make. If there's one thing that US baseball must realize after this tournament, is that other nations have closed the gap between the US and everyone else in terms of baseball talent. The level of play in this tournament is absolutely serious. I've had more fun watching these games than watching a lot of MLB playoff games, and that's saying a lot. People showed up to play, plain and simple.

And at the end of the day, that's a good thing for the baseball fan. :-)

Go Cuba! :-)

Driver's Ed 802

2006-03-19T12:24:00.000-05:00

When I was 16, I took driver's ed in high school. Back then, the biggest thing I had to worry about, besides the driving instructor/football coach that I had sitting next to me, barking orders, were the crazy West-Indian and North African drivers that popped out of nowhere in downtown Brooklyn. I was taught to make 2-second stops, to look over my shoulder when turning (NYC bike messengers are notorious for hiding in your blind spot), and to not speed down Fulton St. unless I wanted to get stopped by a cop in a heartbeat. These were valuable lessons that would serve me well later on, when I started driving on my own.

But, in hindsight, there was a slight problem with driver's ed. It didn't teach me anything on how to deal with THIS:

A Driver's Worst Nightmare
Originally uploaded by djkibblesnbits.

For those not used to dealing with snow, driving in conditions like these can, in effect, be a driver's worst nightmare, especially if they happen to be driving a car that wasn't exactly meant to deal with heavy duty snow like this.

Fortunately, (or unfortunately, depending on how you look at things), I've acquired plenty of experience since my driver's ed days for driving in snow. Because driving conditions in Syracuse usually look a lot like this, I've become accustomed to driving with little to no visibility and little traction.

Still, driving for a couple of minutes at a time in Syracuse in this kind of weather pales in comparison to driving along a highway for four hours under these same conditions. Especially if this highway happens to overlook a 1000-ft. drop.

Yesterday, on my way back from NYC, I was driving back along with my roommate, Pedro, and Nelson, when, about 100 miles shy of our final destination, we ran into a horrible blizzard. Add the fact that the sun had already set, and there were few lights on the road, and you have a recipe for an automotive disaster. As I said, I've driven in blizzards before, but that doesn't mean that I've enjoyed my previous experiences. I mean, unless you have a death-wish, there's nothing "enjoyable" about driving in the midst of a blizzard. Well, unless of course you happen to be driving an incredible SUV that could handle conditions like this. Only then, it's fun. But not when you're driving a little Toyota Corolla with "all-season" tires. "All-season," my ass. I guess the only two seasons that exist are spring and summer, because my tires were barely holding up in the ever-increasing pile-up of snow.

Thankfully, with some careful maneuvering, we were able to make it back to Cuse in one piece. Judging from some of the accidents that we passed along the way, however, some people just weren't as lucky.

So, we're back. 6 more weeks of this chit, and then I'm outta here!

Heading Back Up to the Cuse...

2006-03-18T03:02:00.000-05:00

In about 12 hours, I'll be making the drive back up to Syracuse. Officially, my Spring Break is over, and well, it's been fun. I was able to see a bunch of old friends back in the city, did some work, and just rested up for the 6-week sprint to finals that I'm going start on Monday.

So, back to work! (Grrrrrr.)

Freshly Squeezed

2006-03-18T02:48:00.000-05:00

And just like that, Syracuse's aspiring NCAA hopes have been shut down in a rather ugly game against Texas A&M. G-Mac simply couldn't keep the team on his shoulders the same way that he did for us during the Big East Tournament. He reinjured a nagging groin injury at the start of the game, and after that, well, it was all downhill for us.

We can't be too disappointed though. With the kind of season that we had, it was a miracle that we even got into the freaking tournament, so, it all works out in the end. We had a good season, man, winning the Big East title n' all.

I guess the countdown officially begins to next basketball season for us.

If I move to London, I better be able to find some kind of satellite solution that'll allow me to keep up with the action from across the pond! Those 9 o'clock PM games are going to kill me, though. 2AM, London time?! What crap!

Crush of the Month (March 2006)

2006-03-15T22:32:00.000-05:00

This month, my selection for a Crush was really a no-brainer. The past few weeks, with my being sick and all, I was able to spend some quality time with the hit show, "Lost," as I caught up and watched every single episode that's been released thus far. Outside of the gripping story, if there's been one thing that's kept me coming back over and over again, it's none other than the magnificent Kate, played by the incredibly beautiful actress, Evangeline Lilly.

I would love to be trapped on an island with you

Whether she's busy running away from the law, or dodging between Jack and Sawyer on the island, Kate keeps me coming back for more with her dark back story, tough demeanor, and her dynamic eyes. (Man, those eyes...) In all honesty, this girl is giving the legendary Jessica Alba a run for her money. That's how much of a crush I have on this chick. Wow. She's amazing.

Unfortunately, Ms. Lilly is seeing that Hobbit dude from the show, Dominic Monaghan, and is gettin busy with him. The lucky bastard. Rumor has it that she's also got a bun in the oven. Awww well.

She's still my Crush of the Month, though. So congrats, Evangeline!

Decisions, Decisions.

2006-03-15T11:41:00.000-05:00

It's already the middle of March (Happy "Ides of March!" Or maybe, it isn't so "happy" today...), and I still don't know what the hell I'm going to do when I officially finish school in May. The more I talk to people my age, the more I realize that I'm not the only one going through this slight dilemma. But, unlike a lot of these people, I'm confident that I will be fine no matter where I go. But this is the question; WHERE am I going to go? Last semester, I was dead-set on moving out to San Francisco and living the West Coast pipe dream of living the glam life on the beach, chillin', and occasionally going to work. Of course, the more I thought about it, the more I realized that I really knew nothing about the place. I've never even gone to Cali before. The truth is, I've based my image of life in San Fran based on all the contrived images that one can find throughout pop culture. I have no idea what the culture of the place is like, or the what the vibe is on the street. I would've just been landing out there, and just winging it.

Would this be my life in San Fran?

On the flip side, the thought of being in a situation like that is actually an attractive thought to me. I wouldn't mind being dropped into such a new environment and learning on the fly. Still, I wouldn't move out there until I have a guaranteed job opportunity.

After I came back from Houston over the break, I really began considering moving out to H-Town for a year. With the majority of my family out there, I got the feeling that maybe it might be a good idea to chill out there for a little while, see the fam, make some money, and then get out of there before I get stuck in that place. I mean, I love my family and their dysfunctional lifestyle, but I can't stand where they live. Houston is such a boring, lifeless, racist, dirty, and unimaginative place. It represents everything that's wrong with America. I really don't know how people can live there for a long period of time. I guess, however, if it's all you've ever known, as is the case with much of my family, you really don't know that things can be much better than that.

I can't be in this dump for long

Still, family is a strong pull. Specifically, over the winter break, I realized just how important it is for me to be present in the lives of my little cousins. Right now, during their formative years, it's crucial that they live a well-rounded lifestyle so that way, when they grow up, they won't turn into spineless, dreamless grunts that expect to have everything handed to them. With the way they live now, in the big houses, and the sheltered suburban communities that they call home, I see that they are missing that critical seed they will need in the future to be strong-minded, independent adults. At 11 and 9 years old, they are overweight (much like the rest of their Houston-born brethren), and have little willingness to actively play outside. When I was out there, I was playing basketball with them, and they were completely winded after about 5 minutes of play. When I was growing up, I wasn't exactly the most athletic of kids, but I didn't have a problem running around all day. Sure, I'll admit that there were many times where I would rather stay home and play on my Sega Genesis or something, but when I did go outside, I had no problem staying outside and making friends, and playing whatever games we played when my generation was younger. No matter how much I ran, I never got winded, I never grew tired, and most importantly, I never wanted to go home. I just wanted to play, and be active.

But my cousins aren't like that. Instead, they lounge around in their central air-conditioned homes, play games, and claim that it's too hot at 70 degrees. And that's how it is with almost every kid that I met in Houston. When I was their age, I was the only asshole running around outside when it was 105 degrees out there. You would think that if you were born in a place that has a climate like Houston's, that you would be used to the heat. Instead, kids couldn't handle anything above what their average temperature was at home. I guess that's what happens when you live in a central air-conditioned society.

So, in a way, I feel that they NEED me. I don't want them to be like a lot of the ignorant slobs that live in their city. I want them to be active, to be well-rounded, to ask important questions, to read books, get them interested in politics, introduce them to new kinds of music, instill some pride in their heritage, learn some humility for those that are not as lucky as they are, and keep them from falling into the trap of ignorant bias that so many of their peers and family members have learned as a result of the polarized environment that they live in. I'm not trying to say that their own parents can't do this for them, but the thing is, my uncle and aunt are so caught up trying to live the American Dream, that they just don't have the capability to take a couple of steps back and understand just what that Dream is doing to their kids. There's nothing wrong with wanting to provide for your family and giving them the best opportunities that you can buy, but, at the same time, it must be done in moderation. I'm not saying that my cousins are spoiled, either. I'm saying that they are soft. I don't want them to become another "me too" in the crowd. But, by going down the path that they are, there's little hope that they won't become that way. And I feel that I can stop that and turn it all around for them.

Of course, I can't forget about my very own hometown, NYC, in all this. Most of my friends are here, my mother's here, and I already have a place to call "home." The problem? I feel a need to be somewhere else. I have a desire to just get away and start another life. I love NYC, but, as silly as it sounds, I've outgrown it. When you live in NYC, you live in a self-important bubble. There's an entire world out there, but most New Yorkers are so caught up in their own, self-righteous lives, that they just don't look for it. I want to get out there and see something else, learn in another environment, and chill out. Which brings me to my latest idea...

...Moving to London. For seven months, I lived in heart of the England, and I loved every minute of it. I was happy. I felt home. And because I lived there long enough to know how things work out there, I feel extremely confident that I could hit the ground running the second I get off the plane. My plan? I work this summer, save about $7,000, and just fly out there, get a flat, find a job, and just live. I'll only be going out there with a suitcase filled with clothes, my laptop, and a couple of suits, but that will be pretty much all I'll need until I get settled. I know I'll be struggling when I first get there, but hey, as many people know from my previous adventures in the UK, starving in London ain't nothing new to me. I'll make due. My plan is that I leave in August, and that I take advantage of SU's Career Services hookups in London to land something decent out there. I don't exactly know how it'll all pan out, but then again, that's the beauty of it. I'll be winging it.

And I like the sound of that. :-)

Excuse Me Sir, But Where Do I Go If I Don’t Speak English?

2006-03-15T10:23:00.000-05:00

While of my fellow SU students are off on Spring Break in some random country acting completely retarded and proving once again to the rest of the world that Americans are the most obnoxious travelers ever created, I returned back home to NYC and went to the Bronx County Civil Court House for… (drumroll please)….

JURY DUTY!

After accidently missing my first designated Jury Duty date way back in October, I was forced to show up on Monday to court to report for jury selection, despite the fact that I'm a student in college some 300 miles away from my home county. So, there I was, at 9 in the morning at the courthouse, looking for whatever chance I had to delay my designated service. I mean, I don't mind serving, but I can't risk missing classes at Syracuse over it, either. As it was, they were already attempting to take away my Spring Break away from me this week by making me serve, and there was no guarantee that my service would end before I have to report back to SU on Monday morning. After passing through the courthouse's security, I was directed into this rather cavernous room filled with potential jurors. Despite the presence of a seemingly unlimited amount of seats, they were almost all filled. Somehow, I managed to find a seat in some random spot within the torrent of bodies that packed the joint. Over the loudspeaker, a 50-something guy who sounded like he had been working at the courthouse for way too long was reading directions aloud and informed us of what was going to happen over the course of the day. In a particularly funny moment, the loudspeaker guy was announcing the groups of people who could be exempt from service, and after directing parents who could not serve as a result of a sick child or a child that could not go home by themselves from school, the guy read, "Now, for those people who can't speak English..." He hadn't even finished reading what he was going to say, when about half the room got up and started heading for the door. I could only shake my head at the nerve that these people had. There were people getting up to leave, claiming that they couldn't speak English, when just 2 minutes ago, they were talking to one another about how badly they needed a phone, in perfect English. Even the loudspeaker guy was like, "Whoa, whoa, whoa, wait a minute! I'm pretty sure that not even 10% of you can claim that you don't speak English, especially considering that all of you were able to perfectly understand what I just said! Now, I've been working here for 25 years, and I've seen my share of ridiculous things, but this takes the cake. Wow, even I'm impressed. (Sigh) Only in the Bronx, do I see this kind of Twilight Zone crap!"

Most of those people wound up coming back to the room after courthouse investigators gave each person an English proficiency exam and warned them that if they left the courthouse, that courthouse representatives would be calling their homes and places of business in order to determine whether or not they did speak English. The consequence of a lie like that? A court hearing, a $2000 fine, and a contempt of court ruling. All that, just to get out of a day of jury duty.

A few moments later, the loudspeaker guy announced that students in school were eligible for an exemption as well, so that was my cue to get up and leave. After showing my school ID, I was granted permission to leave, and given a future court date sometime in July.

How do you say, "I can now lounge around and chill during the rest of my Spring Break," in English?

"WOOOOHOOOOOO!!!!"

Coffee Break Bracketology '06

2006-03-12T23:46:00.000-05:00

It's officially March Madness, and everyone is running around, placing bets and making their opinions known about who they feel is going to make the Final Four. So, I decided, "Why not publish MY picks for the Final Four?" And so, without further ado, these are the four teams I feel will be left standing after 5 rounds of play in the NCAA Tournament:

1) Villanova
2) Illinois
3) Pittsburgh
4) Syracuse

WHAT?! No Duke?! No UConn?! Damn skippy. Of the four number 1 seeds in the tourney, the only one I think that will actually make it to the Final Four are the Villanova Wildcats. I think UConn, with all the hype they've been getting, will collapse and lose to Dee Brown and the incredible Fighting Illini in the Sweet 16. As for Duke, my man G-Mac and company will take out the Blue Devils and show the world that 'Cuse is in the house.

Yeah, I know I'm biased. So what?!

I know my pics are a bit... "unpopular." But, given the trends in college basketball, the teams that all the pundits have selected to win it all usually choke at some point. And, c'mon, I can't leave Cuse out of it. It would be a sin for me to fill out my brackets without placing Syracuse in the Final Four.

I guess we'll see next week whether or not my picks for the tournament actually vindicate me.

Gooo Cuse!

2006-03-12T23:36:00.000-05:00

As I walked into my Research Methods class to take my midterm on Wednesday, I looked up and noticed the empty chair behind mine and shook my head in silent awe.

“I guess Gerry earned the right to miss his midterm.”

Just moments earlier, 300 miles away from snowy Syracuse, Gerry McNamara and the rest of the Syracuse basketball team made history by winning a crucial Big East tournament victory against Cincinnati. G-Mac practically carried the team on his back and willed the team to a win that meant the difference between being selected to play in the NCAA Tournament or being relegated to the inconsequential NIT Tournament. With a shocking, last-second three pointer, Gerry got us into the Big Dance and secured a meeting with the number-1 team in the country, UConn, in the next round of the Big East tourney.

Considering the sorry state of affairs with the SU basketball team prior to this big win, Gerry’s last second shot completely changed how we all felt about our beloved Orange. Just three years removed from winning a national championship, we all could only shake our heads in disgust as the losses piled up this season against the likes of UConn, Villanova, and that oh-so horrible 34-point bitch slap from lowly DePaul. It got so bad, that when SU squeaked by then 13th ranked West Virginia a couple of weeks ago, SU students stormed the Carrier Dome floor to celebrate the win. For those who don’t understand the significance of that act, let me put it in perspective; for a team as storied and successful as Syracuse’s basketball team, we should only be rushing the floor if we either 1) win a major tournament game, 2) defeat the number-1 ranked team in the country, or 3) see a shitload of money on the court. So, the fact that fans stormed the court after a victory against W. Virginia, a team good enough to be the 13th best team in the country, (but definitely not THAT good), was a slap in the face to the SU’s storied basketball resume. We’re SUPPOSED to be beating West Virginia, not acting like we just won a miracle.

So, with SU losing frequently and dropping out of the national rankings, the weather in Syracuse felt just a bit colder and the days got a bit greyer. All those sports pundits on ESPN and Sports Illustrated were writing SU off and calling our star player, Gerry McNamara, “overrated.” After experiencing a horrible football season in the fall, we were just about to switch off our TV sets and ignore the March Madness craziness that usually takes our campus by storm.

But then came our game against Cincy in the first round of the Big East tournament. Suddenly, our basketball team felt relevant again. None of us knew what to expect when we knew that UConn was next, the team that all those sports pundits have selected to win the National Championship. And then, THE miracle happened. G-Mac led us to victory with yet another game winning shot against #1 UConn. (Now, THAT’s when you’re supposed to rush the court.) With UConn vanquished, we saw no reason why we shouldn’t win the whole Big East Tournament. And sure enough, two victories later, against the likes of rivals Georgetown and Pittsburgh, Syracuse won the Big East tournament, an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament, and finally, respect. G-Mac rightfully won the Big East Tourney MVP award after he carried the Orange on his back for all four games. Now, after all that, ESPN is sucking us off and calling us a “force to be reckoned with” and even saying that we might get to the Sweet 16. Blah, blah, blah.

Get us laid, Gerry!

All I know is that, if Syracuse gets far in the upcoming NCAA Tournament, we are all going nuts. I remember when we won the championship three years ago, everyone on campus went absolutely BANANAS. People were running around naked, liquor flowed, and everyone got laid. It was incredible, and easily one of the best experiences I ever had at Syracuse. With G-Mac the last remaining member of that incredible 2003 team, we can only hope that he’ll take SU on his shoulders for another 6 games, and give us another championship. And then, we can all get drunk and get laid.

Go CUSE! :-D

Aww, Man, Put It Back On...

2006-02-28T23:24:00.000-05:00

Words cannot explain just how WRONG Barry Bonds looked yesterday when he cross-dressed for American Idol. Just plain wrong. Ugh.

Sheesh. Ms. Bonnie Bonds looks like she can slug a homerun with her eyes closed.

Crush of the Month (February 2006)

2006-02-28T22:50:00.000-05:00

Let's forget for a second that I did not post a Crush of the Month (CotM) for January. Let's also fail to remember that today is the last day of February. What matters is that I have an official CotM, and for this month, it's a tad different than normal...

With me running around campus trying to accomplish God knows what, the one thing that's kept me going is my love for old-school Hip-Hop. Yes, I'm talking REAL Hip-Hop, not that stupid bullshit that's on the radio nowadays with someone yapping about how much money they got or how many hoes they've skeeted on. I'm talking Eric B. and Rakim. A Tribe Called Quest. EPMD. Early NAS. Digable Planets. Classic Wu-Tang. These folks made MUSIC. They spit hot rhymes, told us how to chill the RIGHT way, and let us know just exactly what's going down in the world. From "Follow the Leader" to "They Want EFX," I just couldn't go wrong with an excellent playlist of about 300 tracks from the Golden Era of Hip-Hop.

Whoever hates on Hip-Hop hasn't heard any of this shit. Try digging deeper than the crap they play on the radio. You might be surprised.

So, because the ol' skool has brought so much joy to me during this past month, I am very happy to announce that "Old School Hip-Hop" is my official Crush of the Month for February. Congrats, yooo!

Until next time, keep "Buggin' Out", "Don't Believe the Hype," "Don't Sweat the Technique" and remember what's the "Scenario."

No Omega

2006-02-28T18:42:00.000-05:00

"Snores. All I can hear are snores," I thought to myself.

And they weren't my own.

As I laid in bed staring at the ceiling at 4:30 AM, I wondered to myself when the hell I was going to go back to sleep. I rolled over and saw my mother on the other side, peacefully knocked out. I smacked myself on the forehead, trying to come up with SOME way of going back to sleep. I couldn't understand why I was so restless. At first I thought maybe it was the whole "I'm not home" thing, but then I thought that maybe it was just me being in Houston. Something was bothering me. I couldn't put my finger on it, but whatever it was, I was worried about something...

During my Houston trip over the Holiday Break, I kept on having this recurring dream where I was trapped inside of my aunt Ruth's ginormous house. For whatever reason, I couldn't find an exit. In the dream, my search for an exit grew more frantic as I kept on going from room to room. To make matters worse, my aunt's rather obnoxious shih-tzu kept following me, yapping about. I was going insane; I had been in that house alone for what felt like an eternity. After awhile, my frustration came to a head when I heard this annoying alarm go off.

"BEEEEEEEEEEEEPPPPPP!"

And then I would wake up. During the week or so that I stayed down in Texas, I had that same dream on four different occasions. I couldn't understand why I kept on having that vision. What I did know was that afterward, I felt restless.

One morning, I mentioned the dream that I kept having to my mother, my uncle Angel, and my aunt Vicki. Vicki's eyes lit up as she thought it was as good a time as any to bring out the fabled "suenos", or "dreams" book. Now, for those of you unfamiliar with Latino culture, basically, EVERY Latino family has a book at home that deals with dreams and the meanings behind them. For example, if someone is dreaming of fish over and over again, the book explains that the fish are symbols of new life, which in turn, means that someone close to you is about to have a child. It's all ridiculous superstition, if you ask me, but so many people place such importance on stuff like this, that I have no choice but to listen to these kinds of things all the time. Out of respect for those that buy into that stuff, I've learned to just keep quiet whenever these kinds of conversations are brought up. Last thing I need is a sandal to the face from a devout believer.

So, of course, Vicki found my particular dream within that book. I mean, the book entry didn't specifically say, "Aunt Ruth's house, annoying shih-tzu, etc" but, it did match in the general sense. My aunt read the meaning of the dream aloud:

"You're trying to get away from a problem that you've been having, but you have yet to find your way through it."

A problem that I couldn't get away from? At first, I couldn't put my finger on what problem that could possibly be. But then, my answer was revealed about a week later, when I discovered that I did not fulfill my requirements for graduation. Suddenly, it all made sense. The house I couldn't escape from symbolized school, and the alarm that went off was a symbol that my "time" had run out. I had been in school past my time, and I could not get away. The dog, was, I guess, just a stupid element my brain added into the dream just to make things interesting for itself. (God, I really hate that dog.)

So now, with this semester, I have officially hit my fifth year in college. FIFTH-YEAR. Such a dubious honor. I don't know what's worse, though: The fact that I'm a fifth-year senior, or that I've actually grown comfortable with the idea. At first, whenever it was brought up in a class setting or something, I would usually see some snot-nosed junior smirk whenever they realized how much time I spent in school, and get angry at myself. But then, after awhile, I discovered two things: A) I'm intellectually superior to about 94.5% of my peers and B) I really wasn't ready to leave college. Not to be egotistical or anything, but the first one was a given. I just needed to reassure myself of that fact by staying quiet in all my classes for a few days and listen to the myriad of ridiculously misguided comments that came out the mouths of my fellow classmates. It's amazing how class dynamics change when I'm not the one answering all the questions.

When I came to the conclusion that I wasn't ready to leave school, everything just clicked. About two weeks ago, after dodging yet another question about what I'm doing to do post-graduation, I realized that if I had left school last year, I would've been completely lost. I would not have known what direction to go. Now, a year later, I'm still in that position, but the key difference is that I'm in a much better position to take advantage of campus resources to find some kind of niche I could fill. As this semester goes on, I'm beginning to see signs all over the place that somehow, I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be. It's hard to explain, but I know that this extra year, and particularly, this semester, will absolutely shape what I do for the next few years. I don't know how it's all going to end up, but between me running around trying to become a super photographer/filmmaker, and my leading a massive research project at the University, deep down inside, I know that this is it. This is the ONE.

Now, all that's left is making a visit to the Career Services office, and soon, my future will come into full view.

And maybe, just maybe, I can get out of that dreaded house. And kick the shit out of that fucking dog while I'm at it.

So Sick of Fevers. And Love Songs.

2006-02-26T15:09:00.000-05:00

After fighting a fever from hell, I can say with confidence and dash of vertigo for good measure that I feel better. Good enough to be able to type out a blog entry without blacking out.

It sucks being sick. For one, it kills your social life. I mean, who the hell wants to be around someone who looks like they just challenged Death to a staring contest and lost?

Just to give you an idea how debilitating this particular virus was, I'm convinced that both myself and my friend Fabricio had the same exact strain. The result? He wound up in E.R. and needed I.Vs to keep him hydrated. We're definitely not talking about some two-bit cold here. I probably would've had to have gone to the hospital too if I hadn't fought myself and scrambled for some much needed supplies. Imagine seeing someone stumbling about in a supermarket, pale as shit, struggling to pick up a carton of orange juice. That was me right there. Toss in typical Syracuse weather (AKA: Blizzard) and BAM, you have an event of Olympic proportions. As a matter of fact, that should be an event at the Winter Olympics. The "Alpine Sickasshit Biathlon."

So, I've been resting up this entire weekend, lying in bed, wrapped up like a little burrito, hoping to recover just enough to get back to my work. The only good thing about being in bed the whole weekend was that I was able to have my very own "Lost" marathon. Courtesy of BitTorrent and the iTunes Music Store, I saw the entire 1st season of the hit show and parts of the 2nd season, snuggled up in bed. If you haven't gotten into this show, I highly suggest you check out the pilot episode, available on iTunes for 2 bucks, and see what all the fuss is about. "Lost" is like televised crack. You get addicted right from the get go.

This marks my first official published entry in the "Coffee Break" in more than a month. I'm sure I lost a bunch of regular readers, but whatever. It's been... "interesting" these past few months for me. Long story short, I was forced to come back to SU for yet another semester. I had to scramble to not only find funding for the additional semester, but also to pay some ridiculously high heating bills that my roommates and I accrued last semester. I also came really close to losing my "single" status, only to catch the prospect in one lie after another. These stories, as well as many others, should be published relatively soon. Everyone who's been worrying about me (or at least wondering about me) needs to understand that I have a LOT on my plate this semester, so it might take awhile for the entire image to reveal itself.

As I rub my face and grimace in pain over the fact that I haven't shaved in four days, I'm looking over some of the e-mails that I've received from you since my writing hiatus began. While the majority of people asked the simple, "where are you," others came up with questions that I couldn't help but giggle over. Some even asked real questions. You guys know what you asked, so here are my answers, in no particular order:

1) No, I'm not dead. Two days ago, though, you would've thought it.

2) Sex keeping me away from blogging? LOL.

3) No, I did not get buried underneath a snowstorm.

4) Yes, I got deported.... no, you fucking moron. :-)

5) Wifed up? Nope. Not at all.

6) No, I did not finish college yet, unfortunately. I refuse to give Van Wilder a run for his money, though.

7) I'm really ambivalent about Apple switching to the Intel processor. I mean, for years, we've equated the Wintel alliance with everything that is evil in the world. Now that Macs are switching over, I suddenly find myself in a bit of a moral dilemma. The good news, though, is that the processor switch won't affect the OS. So, the new Intel Macs are still "Macs." As far as Apple making the OS available for generic Intel boxes... that's not going to happen. You know people are going to do whatever they can to hack the OS to get it to work on a regular PC, but, in my opinion, it doesn't make sense to bother. Part of what gives the Mac platform its advantage over Windows is the fact that the hardware and the OS are made by the same company. However, there is evidence that the new Intel Macs might be able to run Windows natively...

8) Me? Still in London? What have you been reading the past two years? It certainly wasn't my blog, that's for sure.

9) Let's see... I'm not sure what I want to do anymore when I leave college...more on that in another blog entry...

10) Now this one made me have juice come out of my nose in laughter... no, I'm not pledging. A couple of people that I know and love, however, are, at this very moment. I wish them all the luck in the world, and I look forward to seeing them on the other side.

11) When am I visiting you? Try calling me first. We gotta work our way up, you know?

Wonderful, wonderful questions. Keep 'em coming. Sure, it might take me two months to respond, but the point is that I respond, right? :-)

Now, let me get back to being wrapped up like a burrito as I watch yet another episode of "Lost"... it's crack, I tell you!

Update in Progress

2006-01-19T01:50:00.000-05:00

Right now, I'm completely changing up my main site and updating it for the 21st Century. The update is taking away from critical blogging time, so I haven't been able to write like I wanted to. Everything should be up by tomorrow evening, but if you want to take a look at what I have so far, feel free to drop on by the new Shindig!

The Shindig 3.0

Yawn.

2006-01-11T09:29:00.000-05:00

I've been sooo tired lately. I don't know why. Well, I do know why. I probably has everything to do with the fact that I keep on going out and coming back at 6, 7 in the morning. What can I say? When I'm back in NYC, there's just so much to do...

And as a result of all my "pachanga", well, I've been a bad boy when it comes to updating the Coffee Break. A REAL bad boy.

But, fret not, folks. I am back. And the Coffee Break will be back! And unfortunately, I am also going back... to Syracuse, that is. I have to finish off the last 5 months of my lease on that house that used to be awesome, but now got turned into one big fucking wreck... oh yeeeahhhh... I don't think I've told ya'll that story...

I'll be heading back to Syracuse today, after having an amazing break that saw me chill with my momma and the fam, head out to Washington DC for my friend's birthday (and spend an incredible 8 and a half hours in snarling traffic), and fly out to Houston. I gotta make updates on all that stuff, as well as let you in on some good news, awful news, and show off some new pictures.

So, until tomorrow...

Ciao.

The Strike Is Over, the Strike Is Over!!

2005-12-22T23:51:00.000-05:00

After three days of annoyingly ridiculous rush-hour commutes, 'round-the-clock, over-dramatized news coverage, and relentless "OnlyinNewYork-speak", New York feels like New York again now that the infamous transit strike is over. People can now finally move around the boroughs and get across town again.

And not a moment too soon... I was beginning to develop cabin fever after being stuck in the Bronx for way too long. Give uss freeeeeeeeee!!!

I love how when people first began hearing the news that the strike was over, that they all assumed that the trains and buses would be ready to take passengers immediately, almost as if all the MTA has to do is flip some switch, and BAM, the largest transit system in North America is up and running. Like no, peanutheads, it's going to take at least 10 hours to get all the stations open, all the buses started, and the train cars placed back into their positions for regular service.

Whatever, man. I'm just happy that I can now take the train downtown and chill outside of the Bronx. Good times, indeed.

The Great Transit Strike of 2005

2005-12-20T14:27:00.000-05:00

The Daily News headline says it all. Welcome to New York City, four days before Christmas, where an estimated 7 million people have been forced to walk up and down the largest city in the US in an effort to avoid traffic being caused by an additional 2 million cars trying to squeeze into a 17-mile island. Oh, and did I mention it's about 25 degrees outside? Thanks to this wretchedly horrible labor dispute between the Transit Workers Union (TWU) and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), 12 million people have to endure hardship on their way to work over greed. (Depending on who you ask, both sides of the strike are equally hated.)

Now, while I side with the TWU on this whole thing, I'm not going to turn this blog entry into a political rant or anything. Personally, the only thing I care about is that the strike is over. I can only hope that the TWU gets the money that they are rightfully owed after holding out for so long on getting real raises after 9/11, and that they are financially appreciated and respected for keeping the world's largest transit system running 24-hours a day. However, if they don't, womp, womp. At least they tried. I mean, it's not like I'm getting any money out of it, y'know?

Whatever the case may be, we need this transit system back up and running again. They messin' with my vacation!

So, here I am, back in NYC after making a mad dash escape from Syracuse for Christmas. I escaped blizzards, single-digit Arctic temperatures, and an empty refrigerator, only to come to this!! A crippled city!!! However, as a New Yorker, we have all learned to roll with the punches and take hardship in stride. With that said, one must look at the lighter side of this transit strike. Take for instance, this t-shirt, released and ready for sale even before the blisters on everyone's feet have healed after the 10-mile walks they had to endure to get to work:

Another great place for a laugh during your lunch break is Craigslist's personals section. Always an interesting read, today's personals have that oh-so wonderful "Transit Strike" theme: (links can be rather... adult in content...)

Hot girl needs a ride to work. Will finger my kitty while you drive - 24 (Ditmars Astoria)

Any cute Black guys walking over the Brooklyn Bridge tonight? - 27 (Wall Street)

Home, horney and high: Transit strike - m4w - 31 (Jersey City/ Hoboken Area)

Stuck in the heights due to the strike?

Let's trade rides. - m4w - 33 (my car)

Ride on this for free - 25 (south queens/li border/bk) pic

Seeking a Woman for Transit $trike Head - m4w - 26 (Wall Street)

good cocksuckers make good neighbors/ TRANSIT STRIKE SEX - 35 (west 20s near penn)

Strike is on, let's make a day of it - 27 (morgan off L)

And my personal favorite:

Transit strike: Give me head.. I'll drive you where you need to go - m - 29 (Kew Garden Hills)

So, hey, just because there's a train strike, it doesn't mean that at the very least, you won't be able to find someone to catch a "ride" from?

Yes...you gotta love NYC. :-)

Big shout-out to Gawker for covering the strike in "blogging" detail today.

Let's Go and Make Snowballs!!

2005-12-16T06:50:00.000-05:00

This morning, I decided to take a break from my fourth consecutive all-nighter and look out the window for a little bit... and man, did I turn right back to work real quick. It's friggin snowing out there like a mofo, and it doesn't look like Mother Nature is going to slow down anytime soon. I decided to show ya'll some pics that I took just now so everyone in Blogger-land can see what I see almost every morning when I wake up in Syracuse.

(In the last one, you can barely see my car underneath all that snow... and as I type up this entry, the amount of snow piling up on that car is only getting higher and higher...)

Well, back to my work!

The Wonderful World of Engrish

2005-12-13T19:39:00.000-05:00

For the past couple of years, Engrish.com has made me laugh on so many different occasions with their wonderful pictures of various real-life attempts by Japanese businesses and municipalities to make signs, t-shirts, manuals, and other forms of visible communication, in English. As you can probably guess, in many cases, their attempts at working with the English language often fail horribly, and usually are only good for making visiting English-speakers laugh their asses off whenever they arrive in Japan for a visit. Take this wonderful sign, for example:

Isn't that shit classic?

Everyday, there's a new sign on the website for all of us to mock, laugh and enjoy. I suggest ya'll check it out.

By the way, if there's some people out there that are planning on getting me an X-Mas present, this hilarious t-shirt from Engrish.com would be simply AWESOME:

I just LOVE it!!! :-)

Oh, and one more for ya'll people...

YESSSSS!!!!! :-)

PS: There are a number of websites out there that do the exact opposite of what Engrish.com does. One of these website is Hanzi Smatter.com, a website dedicated to showing examples of Westerners misusing Chinese characters for their wares. I'm sure there are many examples out there where someone bought a shirt in Target or something thinking that it said, "Peace" in Japanese when it was really, "You are a stupid American" or something in that nature.

In either case, enjoy!!!!

The Only Way to Celebrate the Last Week of College...

2005-12-12T01:57:00.000-05:00

Gotta love taking a bottle of wine to the face, especially with the Hobbit! (AKA: Maria)
Originally uploaded by djkibblesnbits.

"My Condoms Just Wanted to Say Hello."

2005-12-11T21:53:00.000-05:00

"Hellooo There!!"

(Now, now, people, don't get your undies all up in a tizzy thinking that I'm going to get into some completely perverted topic. Trust me, this is a completely PG-13-rated blog entry)

This past Wednesday, I had to come up with a presentation for my Rhetoric of Text and Power class. My professor had decided to make this presentation assignment into what he called, the "Show and Tell" demonstration, where each of us would have to bring in some kind of cultural artifact that somehow demonstrated Power. (or, at least the illusion of it). We were then asked to explain this artifact's rhetorical power according to either the Traditional, Interpretive, or Postmodern Power paradigms and incorporate our answers into a 5-minute presentation that could be utilized to teach non-C.R.S. majors about Power.

Now, for me, this was a piece of cake assignment. Coming from having over four years experience making 2-hour presentations, a five-minute "show and tell" wasn't really going to test my rhetorical skill. Still, however, I felt the need to come up with an artifact that most people really wouldn't think of as a "powerful" object. Most people in the class brought in artifacts like the Bible, the New York Times, a picture of Dubya, currency, or an issue of US Weekly or some other supermarket celebrity tabloid, and proceeded to explain their artifacts in light of their respective Power paradigms.

Always the different one, I decided to stand in front of class and whip out a stack of condoms.

Now, as expected, the "power" of my objects weren't readily apparent to everyone in the class at first, but as I explained and talked about my ability to hold those condoms in front of everyone without suffering serious social consequences, it became clearer. Basically, as a male, I have the "power" to be able to stand in front of a room, or be able to accidently drop condoms, and not be judged in the same way that a female would certainly be judged. Men, overall, are not held to the same sexual standards that women are, and because of the sexual hegemony that dictates what a woman can or cannot do, women are labeled as "promiscuous" and "loose" if they are seen in public with condoms, whereas men are patted on the back and are encouraged to "get lucky" someday. Makes sense, right? I mean, it's nothing that I'm sure any of us haven't thought or heard before.

After the presentation was over, I sat down and put the stack of condoms away in my bookbag as other people stood up to present their own artifacts. After about 5 minutes, I completely forgot that I put the condoms in there in the first place...

...Fast forward to four days later. I'm sitting at a Barnes and Noble, looking through some books that I REFUSED to spend 15 bucks on, when I see a decent quote that I could use for one of my final papers. So, I dig through my napsack looking for my notebook, find it, whip it out, and much to my horror, see three condoms fly out of my bag, soar across 10 feet, and smack a mid-40's woman in the face. Before the woman could even look up from her "Chicken Soup for the Soul" book, I quickly apologized for the condom malfunction that had just occurred. She looked down at the "Trojans" that were now lying on the floor harmlessly right in front of her, and then looked right at me, her mouth agape in disbelief. To be honest with you, I don't know who was more shocked, her or me. It took her about a minute to recover from the shock of it all. At least I think that's how long it took. I had picked up those condoms and walked outta there so fast, I don't think I've walked faster all year long. I didn't even wait to see her response before I had migrated to another section some 400 feet away.

What the hell do you say to someone who's just been smacked by a rack of condoms? "Hellooo there?"

All I know is that was one of most awkward moments I've had this year. Cross THAT "to do" off my list!

Upon Closer Inspection (December 2005)

2005-12-06T12:13:00.000-05:00

Welcome, everybody, to a new feature on the Coffee Break. Introducing "Upon Closer Inspection," a brand-new monthly mini-series dedicated to getting people to look at media that we take for granted in a more critical light. For example, everyday, we hear songs on the radio, and well, sometimes, we are forced to listen to songs that we wouldn't otherwise take any kind of interest in on our own. Who knows, maybe there's nothing on the radio, or that little kid down the street keeps on singing the lyrics to some infectious pop song over and over again. Whatever the reason, we ALL find ourselves bobbing our heads to some random song that gets played over and over again, and more than half the time, we never take the time to really LISTEN to the lyrics that are being blasted through our speakers. Nine times out of 10, if anyone actually truly listened to the lyrics of these songs, you'd quickly realize that there's a lot more to this music than the infectious beat that happens to capture your attention for four minutes. And in many of these cases, you'd quickly conclude that maybe that little 5-year old girl shouldn't be screaming out the lyrics to these songs after all. ("Like a Virgin" anyone?)

So, here comes "UCI", the Coffee Break mini-series aimed at getting people to realize what the hell it is that they are really taking in on any given day. And to start it all off, we'll make a "UCI" about the popular reggae song, "Legalize It" by Sean Paul.

10 minutes cannot pass by without hearing this song at least once on the radio nowadays. "Legalize It" is everywhere, people find themselves singing along to the lyrics of this song without even knowing what the hell it is that they (or Sean Paul) are saying. Now, in some media outlets, the title "Legalize It" has been changed to "Recognize It" and its lyrics have been adjusted somewhat. But, for the most part, the main message is still there. Let's take a closer look at these lyrics, shall we?

Just gimme di trees and mek we smoke it yow
It a mek we peace so dont provoke it yow
We nuh need nuh speed so we nah nuh coke it yow
Set yuh mind at ease we gotta take is slow.

So when yuh see di S.P. floatin dont provoke him
Cau di weed weh we smokin need fi soakin
Best ting fi di meditation, and di best high grade a Jamaican
When we a bun a weed we supportin and promotin
Low di crack and di coke ting yeah we smokin
Herb a di healin of di nation
Legalize it right now we gwaan blaze one
...

Everyday, we be burnin not concernin what nobody wanna say
We be ernin dollars turning cau we mind deh pah we pay
Some got gold and oil and diamonds all we got is Mary J
Legalize it, time you recognize it

If you couldn't tell what the song was about from the title, "Legalize It," well, you better get with the program right now. Sean Paul, very proudly, celebrates the oh-so-wonderful custom of smoking marijuana daily, and calls for the immediate legalization of it. Now, if you've ever listened to any of Sean Paul's other hits, he's pretty much saying the same thing over and over again when it comes to weed. I mean, c'mon, what the hell did you think the song, "Gimme the Light" was about? It damn sure wasn't about no god damn flashlight, that's for sure. Now, for Sean Paul, he doesn't just talk about smoking Mary Jane everyday, but he even gets into the politics of it in the next verse. Check it out:

This purple haze mek me crazy
Mek me write nuff tune and dats what pays me
But its dat not di only occupation
Going to gain som I give yuh education
When a farmer grows it he knows to close it
Econimical benefit help fi those who a fi deh yah pon di hard jugglin
Cau di system only keep man struggling
Studyin people a use it dont abuse it
Cau di concentration well reputed
Dats why herb man dem a di wise one
And it found on di grave of King Solomon
And it good fi di eye sight and di chest sight
And it give yuh nuff inside just gimme di light
And, mek we blaze it we should a neva waste it

Again, we be burnin not concernin what nobody wanna say
We be ernin dollars turning cau we mind deh pah we pay
Some got gold and oil and diamonds all we got is Mary J
Legalize it, time you recognize it

Now, I have no idea what the hell he means when he says that weed is good "fi di chest sight." (I mean, I didn't know my chest could "see.") But, pretty much, he's briefly mentioning the incredible politics surrounding marijuana in Jamaica, where farmers, thanks to the IMF, have little choice BUT to sell marijuana to make a living. Then, he mentions, with the line "And it found on di grave of King Solomon," is a direct reference to the Rastafarian belief that marijuana is the sacred plant of God that was found growing right by the grave of King Solomon of the Bible (or the Torah, or the Koran, depending on your religious beliefs). So, in other words, it's a GOOD thing to smoke marijuana. But, Sean Paul warns us not to smoke it too much. ("Don't abuse it" he says) Especially people who are in school.

The rest of the lyrics in the song are basically repeats of the chorus over and over again. And with that said, that concludes this month's UCI. Now, if you have no problem with the legalization of marijuana, then, well, this song is a great anthem for you. But if not, then, well, I guess you've been bobbing your head to the wrong song on the radio.

In either case, happy listening, everybody! And remember that it pays to watch and listen closely to the messages that are being spouted by media outlets every single day, because, sometimes, well, they warrant closer inspection.

Crush of the Month (December 2005)

2005-12-06T11:26:00.000-05:00

Alrighty, guys, it's been awhile since I've named a "Crush of the Month", but fear not, because this month's winner is definitely a doozie...

For the past two months, this wonderful lady has given me the exquisite pleasure of greeting me with a smile every single morning. And everytime I went to bed, I had the incredible luck to be able to look into her eyes and whisper sweet nothings as I slipped into a deep slumber.

Who could it be other than the wonderful Vida Guerra, FHM's Cover Girl for the Month of November and my December Crush of the Month. (Oh, and that whole thing about seeing her everyday? I was talking about my desktop picture, lol)

For those of ya'll who have no idea who she is, Vida burst onto the modeling scene about 3 years ago, when her now ex-boyfriend sent in pictures of her for a monthly FHM "Show off your girlfriend" contest. As soon as her initial pics came out, people began clamoring for more, and, well, before you knew it, Vida was everywhere. Since her initial break, she's launched a very successful website, vidasworld.com appeared on a few TV shows and movies, and she's launching a highly anticipated calendar in 2006. In other words, this girl is raking in the dough. And with good reason. She has incredible "assets."

And now, her wonderful culo has been selected to grace the pages of the "Coffee Break" for years to come. Wowee.

Questions, Questions...

2005-12-06T09:37:00.000-05:00

I stole this idea from Krystyn, and her wonderful blog. (Krystyn, ever since you put up that video player thingy on your blog, I haven't been able to get into it because it crashes every browser that I use to get into it. Is there anyway you can have it encoded in another format other than Windows Media? I also have the same problem with Robert's blog, too. The only reason I can keep up with the reading is because I have an RSS feed, but I can't comment without actually getting into your site.)

Believe it or not, I've never actually done one of these "question" blog entries on here since I started this blog two years ago. I figure since I haven't been providing much content in recent weeks, I guess this is as good a way as any to let people know where I stand... :-)

1.* What do you believe is the meaning of life? At some point, we all get fucked. :-)

2* Last word you said: "Fuck" (I stepped on a puddle of water in the kitchen)

3* Last song you sang: "I Ain't Going Out" by Jon B.

4* Last person you hugged: I'm not sure... it was either Atlantis or Yosaira yesterday when I said hello to them...

5* Last thing you laughed at?: My mother's comment on my blog.

6* Last time you said "I'm in love with you?": I don't think I've ever said that. I mean, I've said, "I love you", but I don't think I've ever actually said, "I'm IN love with you..." I have said that about someone to other people, though.

7* Last time you cried: Believe it or not, I actually teared up when Peter Jennings passed away.

8* What color socks are you wearing: I'm not wearing any socks at the moment... I'm in a pair of sandals. I usually wear white socks, though.

9* What's under your bed: Let's see... a shitload of shoes, a box containing paid bills, and an emergency box of condoms. Hey, you asked.

10* What time did you wake up today: 6:11 AM

11* Current taste: It's a mix of toothpaste and coffee.

12* Current color hair and what it looks like: I have dark brown bed head at the moment. I just got a shape-up, so my hair is crispy and short.

13* Current annoyance: The fact that I can't be anywhere else in my house but my room because it's just too damn cold out there is annoying the shit out of me. I'm a prisoner in my own damn house thanks to the fucking cold.

14.* Current desktop background: A picture of Mario (y'know, like Nintendo Mario) skidding to a stop in a go-kart.

15* Current worry: Whether or not I'll have the energy to get past this week, academically.

16* Current Hate: Papers. I fucking hate PAPERS!!!! And Windows, too. I can't stand Windows.

17* Current favorite article of clothing: My Apple Campus-Rep polo shirt. I only wear it, though, during special events, so it's not something I overdo.

18* If you could play an instrument, what would it be? Well, since I already can play the viola and the violin, I would love to learn how to play the electric bass guitar. (I'm already toying around with an acoustic guitar.)

19* Favorite color: I really don't have one.

20* Do you believe in an afterlife: Kinda. I believe in a mix of the afterlife and reincarnation.

21* How tall are you: 5'8

22* Current favorite word/saying: "That's enough outta you." That'll change next semester, though. It'll prolly be "OHHH MY GAWWWWDDDDD."

23* How many kids do you want: 2 would be fine. And no, I don't have the two already, you freaking haters.

24* Favorite season: Summer, hands down.

25* One person you wish you could go back and talk t:Che Guevara

26* Where do you want to go for college? Well, I'm at Syracuse University already, but I would consider going to an Ivy for law school. Or Oxford for a Masters in something.

27* What is your career going to be like: I WANT it to be a place where I'll be allowed to travel everywhere and meet all kinds of people. I'm a people person, definitely. And, I gotta make the paper. Plain and simple. I have way too much of an expensive taste in gadgets to be broke.

28* Have you ever said "I love you" and meant it: Of course. That would be fucked up if I told my family members that I loved them, and I really didn't.

29* Dreamed something really crazy and then it happened the next day: Fuck yeah. I just can't remember what it was. :-)

30* Do you have a crush on someone: I ALWAYS have a crush on someone. It just happens to change every month. (Hence my old "Crush of the Month" entries... which reminds me...)

31. Would you rather be single forever with a great family or be with your soul mate and have no family? It's sad to say, but with the way my family is, I'd rather be alone with my soul mate then have to deal with the nonsense that happens in my family.

32* What book are you reading now?: Every fucking book in the SU Library... it's fucking Finals time.

33* Worst feeling in the world: Getting kicked in the nuts. I don't think there's anything that comes close. Heartache is pretty bad, but it's like getting a glancing blow to the nuts. But nothing can close to a full on blow. (Heh heh, I said, "Blow...")

34* How many rings before you answer: It depends on who's showing up on the caller ID. I never pick up the phone on a number I don't recognize.

35.* Would you rather be honest and poor, or a liar and rich? It's a lot easier to change your moral standing than it is to change your financial standing. I'd rather be a liar and rich than honest and poor, because I could always change and become honest AND rich. And then, after awhile, I'd be poor again, lol.

36* Do you sleep with a stuffed animal: Yup. Two. My big bear, Haiku, and my little bear, Cocoa Puff. I mean, it's not like I hug them or anything. They usually get used as pillow supplements.

37* If you could have any job you want: I'd be the CEO of Apple. Plain and simple. Steve Jobs, you're cool n all, but, I think I could trump you on leadership. And that's saying a lot about my confidence in myself, because, Steve, you and I are usually on the same page when it comes to many of the decisions made by the company. I'd work a whole lot more on cutting a lot of the internal bureaucracy within the corporation.

38* Wish you were: Debt-free and living in Europe.

39* Future College plans: Well, graduating. And then, after that, I don't know.

40* What is the longest you've gone without talking to anyone? Without talking to ANYONE? Like, complete silence? LOL. I'm not sure, but it was prolly around the time when I was pledging my freshman year. Either that, or during one of those times when I was on lockdown in high school.

41* What are you most afraid of? Two things: Getting struck by lightning and unintentionally impregnating a girl. Close calls on both ends...

42* What clothes do you sleep in? PJs and a ol' shirt from high school.

43* Who is the last person who called you? Zulay

44* Where do you want to get married: I don't know. Let me first concentrate on WHO I'm going to marry, first. I don't get that about people. Why does everyone always have their wedding days planned out, but they never consider the actual person they're going to marry? Or why doesn't anyone plan for what happens AFTER the wedding day? "Till death do us part" after all, is a pretty long fucking time.

45* If you could change anything about yourself what would that be: I'd be RIPPED with muscles. I'm gonna be working on that soon, though...

46* Who do you really hate: Hmm... I dunno. I really dislike a lot of people, though.

47* Are you timely or always late: I'm always on time... (and I know everyone is screaming, "YEAH FUCKING RIGHT!!!!") Yup, I'm always on time... MY TIME. :-)

48* Do you have a job: Damn skippy.

49* Do you like being around people? Sometimes. I like being in my own element a lot, though.

50* Best feeling in the world? Drinking a nice cold soda on a hot day when you've had nothing to drink in ages. That, and being in love. Talk about Cloud 9...

51* What was the last thing you ate: A leftover chicken parm sandwich I made.

52* Are you a health freak: Not really. I don't OD on junk food, though. I'm not a big fan of chips and candy. I do OD on soda, though. I must cut that out, ASAP.

53* Do you have a "type" of person you always go after?: Zulay and I discovered the other day that I have a tendency to attract girls with psychological deficiencies. I don't go after them on purpose, but it usually happens. They usually unload all their shit on me, and make me go through the motions to clean up their mess. I guess it has something to do with the fact that these girls are usually sexual "artistes." I can't stand prudes, stupid tarts, and closed-minded people. I guess that leaves the ones with the psychological deficiencies. Go figure.

54* you want someone/thing you don't have: Yeah. All the time. Like food in the fridge, for example. Or classes without any work.

55* Are you lonely right now?I'm physically alone, but I'm pretty happy being on my own at the moment.

56* Ever afraid you'll never get married:Not really.

57* Do you want to get married?: I'm not sure about that whole "till death do us part" thing. I don't have commitment issues, but at the same time, shit, things change over time. I guess right now, I'm in that state of mind where I'm anti-marriage because I'm seeing way too many people getting married or engaged when they're simply not ready.

*In The Last 6 Months HAVE YOU...*

58* Cried: Yupz
59* Bought Something: The real question is, "when haven't I bought something?"
60* Gotten Sick: Fuck yeah
61* Sang: Always. Even in public. "WATCH MEHHHH!!!!"
62* Said I Love You: Yupz
63* Wanted To Tell Someone You Liked them: Nah. But, I think they know, though.
64* Met Someone?: Yupz
65* Moved On: Definitely.
66* Talked To Someone: Ummm... that would be sad if I didn't.
67* Had A Serious Talk: At least three times a week.
68* Missed Someone: Of course.
69* Hugged Someone: Everyday!
70* Yelled at Someone: Also everyday.
71* Dreamed About Someone You Can't Be with: Yeah, a couple of times.
72* Made out with someone: Yupz. I usually try not to make it a habit, though, if I'm not going to get into a relationship with them.
73* Have you ever been heartbroken: Yes, I have. Sigh. But nothing OD, though. It was more of a disappointment than an actual heartbreak. Remember that we are talking about the past six months...
74* Do you like the way things are right now?: Definitely not. I need to get over finals!!!!

Now I REALLY Won't Shop At Wal-Mart

2005-12-06T08:55:00.000-05:00

Yesterday, for an extra-credit assignment for one of my classes, I had to watch the documentary, "Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price" by Robert Greenwald. Basically, the movie details many of the wonderfully corrupt things that the Wal-Mart Corporation has done in order to solidify their position as the #1 corporation in the world. As if I didn't have enough reasons to hate Wal-Mart before, this documentary pretty much confirms many of the same things that i have been telling people for years about the company. The documentary itself is available now on DVD, and I highly recommend that everyone watches this documentary to gain some insight into the company that constantly parades around these commercials about "family values" and then turns around and betrays the very customers and associates that they make their money off of.

Some of the tactics utilized by the company sound eerily familiar... I was beginning to see some of the same practices within the Upstate NY district of Starbucks... hmm...

Unfortunately, one of my uncles is a manager of a Superstore in Houston. And unfortunately, he's brainwashed at the moment. I remember beginning to get into an argument with him last year about why I would never shop or work for Wal-Mart. As expected, he felt the need to defend his job. I decided to stop the conversation before it got too heated and before I made him feel like a buffoon for working for such an unethical company. I wonder how (or rather, if) his opinion of the company has changed a year later.

My roommate, Morgan, actually had considered working for Wally World whenever he graduated out of college as a manager. He asked what I thought about it, and I let him know how I felt about the company. I pretty much equate working for Wal-Mart on the same level as working for Philip Morris. (Or Altria, as the company is called now) How could anyone go to work every morning, knowing full well that your paycheck has been funded, in large part, thanks to the amoral practices instituted by your bosses? He tried to defend the company, pretty much spitting the textbook responses he learned here at the School of Management in Syracuse. But there really isn't any kind of defense for what the company has done to the American landscape. The so-called "low prices" that you get when you shop at Wal-Mart actually are only low because your tax dollars have paid for the rest...

Watch the documentary for an introduction into the kinds of business practices this company engages in. And then do what people in New York have been doing for years: reject any kind of proposal that talks of bringing yet another fucking Wal-Mart into your area.

SHIIITT, It's COLD!!!!

2005-12-05T00:21:00.000-05:00

Only 5 days ago, everyone in Syracuse was lollygagging around outside in their t-shirts and sandals, enjoying the wonderful 80 degree weather. Some people around here were complaining that it was too hot for them, and that winter needed to "get here already," but for the most part, these people were usually picked up and thrown into trash cans while others gathered around and talked about having picnics in the park.

Now, here we are in the frozen tundra. It's as if the Snow Miser himself was outside running around screaming, "I'm HERE, bitches!!" (And the Heat Miser was sulking in the background.)

It's freaking cold. Like, 15 degrees cold. And there's so much snow on the ground. If you were to take pictures of what the weather was like this weekend, and compare them to pictures taken during our little summer holiday last week, you would think that you were looking at pictures of two completely different regions. I was just outside, coming back from a little run to the local McDonalds to pick up some munchies for an all-nighter, and I was practically frozen in the time that it took to walk the 15-feet from my car to my front door. Never mind I was wearing about 13 different layers of clothing!!! (Alright, alright, maybe not 13... more like 4.)

Usually, it takes extremely low temperatures to make me feel as cold as I did this past weekend while I was walking outside, but because of the fact that it's been rather snow-less here in Syracuse for about 7 months, I've grown rather accustomed to 40-plus degree weather. But now, if this past weekend's weather was any indication, it looks like I better get back to being used to extremely low temperatures again.

Shite. I better stock up on some longjohns or something.

Be Responsible for Your Own Pollution

2005-12-01T08:01:00.000-05:00

I read an article on the BBC News website the other day that got me thinking about alternative solutions to solving our ongoing pollution problem, and I think the proposal mapped out in this article is really a step in the right direction that could definitely see support from both sides of the political fence. Check it out:

"CO2: This time, it's Personal"

It's definitely food for thought!

Hack Hack, Cough Cough

2005-11-30T20:29:00.000-05:00

COOOOUUUGGHHHHHHHHHH!!!!

(Alrighty, so that's me coughing all over everyone reading the blog... hey, I have no friggin idea how to write out the sound of someone coughing, so this will have to do.)

I really hate being sick. Then again, I can't imagine anyone actually LIKES being sick. I mean, everyone loves to call out sick, but not to BE sick...

Okay, okay, let's get back on track... hello everyone! Long time, no write. I'm sitting here typing (and coughing) away on my wonderful new birthday present, my very own PowerMac G5. With all the power (heh, heh, the PowerMac has POOOWEERRRRR... ) this bad boy has, I can't wait to get going on all the backed up video projects that I had waiting in the pipeline, all of which were waiting for a brand new computer with some legs on it. And now, thanks to my dear ol' Momma-san, I got it! Sooooo, once again, thanks momma! :-)

So, speaking of my birthday, I guess now would be a good time as any to discuss how my birthday went... let's just say that I spent my entire weekend intoxicated out of my mind for the majority of the time. And in my book, that's a great way to celebrate ANY major occasion. Thanks to all the people who showed me love for the big 2-2. Between the blog comments, Facebook messages, phone calls, and e-mails, I was completely overwhelmed with support and shout-outs. All of you definitely know how to warm this ol' man's heart. :-D

Thankfully, Michelle didn't pull an '04 and whip out the Inflatable Wife for a present. Instead, she took me out during the Thanksgiving break and got me fucked up at this bar in downtown Manhattan called the "Big Fat Black Pussy Cat" or something of that nature. Of course, when Michelle and I hang out, nothing is EVER easy. I got denied access to the bar at first because I was wearing Timberlands. I never thought you actually had to watch your footwear like that when you went out to a bar, but clearly, some places do care about your kicks. So, instead of just heading out to another bar, I went and bought a pair of $300 shoes at some local mom and pop store for 60 bucks, put them on, and then showed up in front of the bouncer that had kept me out and pulled the ill James Brown impression.

"WATCH MEHHH!!!!"

And with that, I was in. Soon, Michelle, Giselle (my wonderful special guest co-star during my Eurotrip a year and a half ago, for you longtime readers), and I were drunk out of our minds. Hopefully, Gizzle will get on the ball and send me the pics from that day so everyone can see the antics we engaged in during our wonderful drinking festivities. (Git on it, FRENCHIEE!!)

Since I mentioned Thanksgiving, I guess it won't hurt to wish everyone a Happy Belated Thanksgiving. I hope everyone got stuffed (heh, heh, "stuffed") with food. My mother cooked up a feast on that day. You woulda thought that my mother was trying to end world hunger in one shot with all the food that she cooked. The funny part, though, was that only three people were going to eat! She definitely OD'd, but in a good way, though. Now we can have leftovers for the next three months. :-D

I was sick most of the Thanksgiving break, but I had a few wonderful highlights during the few days I was back home in NYC:

1) I got to chill with some ol' peeps and hear from others. I saw Vogue, a long-time friend from high school, for the first time in almost a year, and got to chill with her for a bit. I also chilled with some brand-new SU buddies that I've recruited in the past year and got into a lil' bit of trouble with them. I'll never forget getting lost in the Lower East Side of Manhattan looking for this chick, Maria (you friggin Hobbit!!!), who was at some random-ass party in the middle of the PJs. OooooDDDDDDDDD....

2) My ex called me on Thanksgiving. (No, not Chiyo). I haven't spoken to this chick, Evelyn, in about 5 months. She apparently dropped off the face of the planet, and sometimes, at the most random times, she IMs me using her brother's AIM account. She lost her cell phone about a year ago, and has yet to replace the damn thing. Anyways, she got me all hyped to go visit her, only to get a call from her later on in the day saying that she wasn't going to be around. Apparently, her new boyfriend, who was with her, felt uncomfortable with the possibility of me being around her, so he snatched her away. And shit, I don't blame him. As I learned the hard way, you can NEVER trust an ex. NEVVEERRRRRR... Shit, I wouldn't trust me with her... but that's another story for another time...

3) I got fired from Starbucks... on my day off... Basically, in a nutshell, I got fired because the new manager that took over the store apparently had a hard on to get rid of me, and pretty much eliminated me for petty reasons. Two weeks before the break, I saw that I was scheduled to work during Thanksgiving, which, normally, is a no-no. You NEVER schedule people who aren't from Syracuse to work during Thanksgiving weekend at the SU Starbucks, unless they say otherwise. So, I posted my hours and let them know that I wasn't going to be present for that time. As expected, of course, no one took my hours, and, well, I wasn't going to stay in Syracuse for Thanksgiving just to serve coffee, so I stayed in NYC, and because of that, I got fired. Even if I wanted to, I wasn't going to be able to work because of how sick I became over the course of the Thanksgiving weekend. Whatever. No one cares, and quite frankly, neither do I. Good riddance, I say. Sure, I'm going to miss working with everyone, but, shit, the way I see it, everyone's days are numbered anyway in that place, so I'm sure it was bound to happen sooner or later.

4) I made and drank Pina Coladas with my momma. Good times, indeed. :-) It's always cool to drink with your parents.

So yeah, it was definitely a decent break. Now, I'm back in Syracuse, so it's of course crunch time as the semester rolls to an end. I swear, time is definitely flying even faster now than it ever has before. I'm sitting here thinking that I have all this time left, when in actuality, I just have one more week of school before finals time. Sheesh. Where did all the time go?

COOOUUUGGGHHHHHHHHH!

Happy Birthday to MEEEEEE!!!

2005-11-17T10:29:00.000-05:00

I figured today was a good a day as any to update the ol' blog. I mean, HELLO!!? It's my friggin BIRTHDAY!!! :-D

Thanks to everyone who's blown up my phone and my Facebook page with birthday wishes. I'm looking forward to the celebration we're going to be having tonight, when everyone promises to have me completely trashed and screwed beyond recognition. :-)

And I figured that I'd shout out my momma, who really should be the person everyone should be hollerin' at. After all, what the hell did I do on this day, 22 years ago, except for come out of a friggin hole and cry a lot? My momma was the one that carried me for 9 months! And come on, who could ask for a better time to be conceived, too?! (I'm definitely a Valentine's Day baby!)

And it also helps that Momma-san bought me a brand-new powerhouse PowerMac G5! :-D

Macs: The quickest way to my heart during my birthday. Well, that, and Mario Kart. :-D

2005-10-27T00:33:00.000-04:00

SU's Racial Ignorance

2005-10-19T09:34:00.000-04:00

It seems like every two days, I always have to restrain myself from walking up to certain people on this campus and shattering their jaws over yet another racist comment or ideology that they dare spew from their mouths or their pens. People who say that racism does not exist apparently need to get their eyes, ears and brain checked out for an affliction of "DENIAL" and need to be medicated with a dose of fucking REALITY (and a jaw tap, for good measure).

Yesterday, SU's Daily Orange, or as some call it here, the "Daily Oppressor," released a story on this student-created show called "Over the Hill" that comes out on this local student television station called HillTV. In a nutshell, for the past year and a half, the show's creators have made a program that, in the spirit of "comedy," is filled with racist skits that constantly make fun of "smelly Indians" and "gang-banging blacks" and the occasional ode to the "good ol' days" when black people were getting lynched "for fun." Now, this show has been going on with episodes like these for over a year, but the reason why no one said anything until now was because in reality, no one around here really watches HillTV. In my opinion, HillTV's always been a waste of money (the station itself is funded with a large percentage of SU's student fee), but now, the fact that HillTV has been wasting our student money on racist shit like this has caused the entire minority community to once again drag themselves out of bed and wearily fight yet another battle in the name of equality and justice.

(You can find the DO article, which also includes clips from the show itself, right here)

Now, before people go and commend the D.O. for its story, keep in mind that this is the same paper that has historically and repeatedly called for the impeachment of every single Student Association President that's ever been a minority, despite the fact that they've all done more for the SU community than the rest. Do not forget that this is the paper that constantly ignores the major racial and gender issues that plague this campus, or downplays major events thrown by the darker skinned members of the SU community, despite their tremendous influence across all of campus.

Now, the apologists are quick to mention that they are tired of talking about racism and minority issues, and don't want to even think about them because the only thing that happens is that people get angry. These are the same people that stay completely silent in class discussions when matters of race, gender, and sexual orientation are brought up, despite the dire need to say SOMETHING about them. These people are the same ones that believe that the only reason that the "-isms" are a big deal nowadays is because "people" (AKA: minorities) keep on bringing them up and using them as a crutch to get anywhere in life.

And then, a few days later, and BAM, another blatantly "-ist" incident occurs. And then the apologists go into hiding, or come out in complete denial (like, foaming at the mouth denial) and tell everyone who's upset that they are "seeing things that aren't there."

Well, fuck you people. Let me give you a small dose of what I dealt with in the past four days alone.

A couple of days ago, in Starbucks, of course, this Caucasian girl walks up to me and says, "Umm, excuse me. Are you in Raices?" (and yes, my fellow Spanish speakers, she butchered the pronunciation, too.) Now, Raices is a Latino dance troupe here on campus that about 20 people are a part of, and they are one of the most successful organizations on campus.

"Umm, no, I'm not."

"Really?" the girl asked.

"Umm, noo... why do you ask?"

"Well, I just thought that because you're Latino, that you'd be in it."

"So, I need to be in Raices just because I'm Latino?"

"Oh, no, it's not that at all. It's just that, well, y'know..."

"What?"

"Well, it's just that, like, what else can your people DO on this campus besides dance?"

....

"Listen, I'm, umm, going to go now. Take care. Please don't be offended! Bye!!"

And she ran out, almost burning herself with her grande, nonfat, sugar-free vanilla latte. From the look that I gave her, I guess she saw that I was definitely NOT happy.

Another incident occurred, once again, at Starbucks, when these two white guys were talking to one another and said,

"Didn't Jamal go to that rally or something in DC this weekend?"

"Yeah, man. He was out there for 12 hours in the cold."

"(Laughs) Man, you can never underestimate the willpower of an angry black man."

(They laugh for 20 seconds, then look at me, on the other side of the cash register)

"Hey, man, you're not angry, right?"

"Not yet," I growled. They looked at me, startled.

"Well, let us order our drinks, and then you can be as angry as you want to be. Hell, you can even start a rally!"

Trust when I say that they got their just desserts when they received their drinks...I made sure that they received broken cups that would collapse on them and burn them as they were on their way to whatever shitty endeavor they were about to embark on. And collapse, they did... :-D

. . . .

Shit like this happens every fucking day here at SU. Whoever says that this shit doesn't happen anymore definitely needs a fucking reality check.

Be Cool, I Say!

2005-10-17T09:43:00.000-04:00

Let me put it on record now that I fucking HATE anal-retentive people. We all know those kinds of people; the ones that make a big fucking deal about the absolutely stupidest and most inconsequential of things. These are the kinds of people that walk into Starbucks and bitch and moan for about five minutes over the fact that the sugar-free vanilla syrup has run out. "OH MY GAWD! You're ACTUALLY OUT of sugar-free vanilla SYRUP!? How can that BE!? How can you do this to ME!?"

Yes, bitch. The thought of us running out of a flavor syrup is, gasp, worse than world hunger. How dare we do such a thing!

Unfortunately, these kinds of people are not just confined to your local Starbucks, either. They're fucking everywhere. At least around here in Syracuse. I think that the largest population of anal-retentive people, outside of Long Island, resides right here in Syracuse University. People like these assume that the entire world revolves around them, and that if things don't go their way, time must stop in order to remedy the situation. And we're talking about the most meaningless things. Like, let's say, someone is five minutes late to meet up someone to go hang out on a night off. The anal-retentive would spend the next 45 minutes complaining about how this one individual was five minutes late. Just about anything could've caused the five-minute delay, but they really don't care. All they worry about is the fact that for five minutes, things didn't go their way. These are the kinds of people that actually have a SCHEDULE made up for hanging out. And I mean schedule, like, "At 8:44 PM, we will walk out of Bar A and make it to Bar B at 8:47 PM." And if they make it to Bar B at 8:49 PM, all of a sudden, their life is ruined.

A few days ago, this one girl blew up on me for not calling her at 10:00 PM. I called her at 11:00 PM, instead, because I had to work a bit later than usual. She spent 15 minutes bitching and moaning at me for not calling her at 10 on the dot. I spent the entire time just standing there and letting her talk. Finally, when she realized that I wasn't responding, she finally said, "Don't you have anything to say about this!?"

"Not really. I'm just waiting for you to realize that you just spent the last 15 minutes screaming about a delayed phone call."

"Oh, and that's not a big deal?!"

"No, it isn't. Be thankful that A) I at least called you back, and B) that I didn't drop kick you 14 minutes ago for screaming at me in the same tone that my mother does."

After I said that, I guess she saw the anger that had been building up in my eyes, and she immediately calmed down. She looked down at her feet, and then looked back up at me, and then blurted out, "How do you do it? How do you go around life being as lackadaisical as you are?"

I only shook my head at her, almost in the same way that I do to someone that I feel absolutely sorry for. I think I even sighed at one point.

"See, I do get angry, but not for things like this. I get angry for things like bad politics, racial profiling, world hunger, the Hurricane Katrina debacle, people dying, and spoiled brats attempting to talk down to me. I don't waste my energy sweating the small stuff."

She looked at me like I was speaking another language. I couldn't take her stupidity anymore so I just turned around and walked away.

"Wait, where are you going?! We're not done yet!"

"Oh, we are. We definitely are. Besides, right now, you're making me late for something else."

"And what could that be!?"

I just laughed, and then framed my response in a way that she would understand.

"I scheduled some free time for myself at 11:30 PM. I'm three minutes late."

Heeelloooo There!!

2005-10-10T13:39:00.000-04:00

Man... seriosuly, I need to find some time to write... updates definitely coming soon. I promise. :-)

Let me put it on record that I:

A) Hate these spam comments I've been getting lately

B) Hate the fact that I haven't updated in so long

C) Am not really enjoying the concept that my Chatterbox is being overrun by an argument between two people that need to meet up over a cup of coffee and discuss their issues in person.

D) Just got a kitty. :-)

E) Hate the topsy-turvy weather that's going on in Syracuse.

F) Love my momma. :-D

G) Hate my roomies' lack of cleaning prowess

H) Need to get laid more frequently

I) Named my car, Jasmine

J) Love the fact that Nora is blogging on her main blog again. :-D

Tata, for now!

Damn, Can I Just ENJOY Having a Car?

2005-09-20T10:09:00.000-04:00

So, if anyone ever bothered to listen to the audio post that I made a week ago or so, you would've found out that I'm now officially the owner of a car again. It's nothing fancy; just an old '92 Toyota Corolla, but it can get me from point A to point B, and that's pretty much all I care about at the moment. Thus far, since I've had the car, things have been good. I've finally been able to do things that I've been wanting to do for so long, like going to the supermarket to get some food, or just finding some escape from the guys here in the house. (Nah, things aren't that bad...YET...but I still need to get away every once in awhile before I lose sight of what I really need to be doing here in Syracuse in the first place...) However, not everything has been peachy since I obtained the car from NYC two weeks ago. For one, gas prices are simply atrocious, and Syracuse has way too many potholes for an old car like mine to escaped relatively unscathed...

And someone already has broken into it. Ain't that a bitch? Some dick apparently thought it would be a good idea to smash a side window and break into my car. They thought they were going to score an iPod and a DV camera, but all they got was a cheap little charger and a 20 dollar bag. Nothing more. I was surprised that with a wack pull like that, that they would've also taken the change I have for tolls n such too, but alas, the thieves had a conscience. And they also broke the smallest window they possibly could, too. Ain't that so sweet of them?

Fucking assholes.

I have the slightest feeling that it was my neighbors from downstairs. We've been getting into heated rhetoric over parking spaces behind the house, and I think that they've been getting peeved because I'm taking a spot that is rightfully mine. If I find out that they are the ones responsible for breaking into my car, I'm going to fucking have a field day in their house...

They fail to realize that I have the key to their apartment...

But I'm not rushing to conclusions just yet. Key word is "Yet..."

. . . . . . .

So get this, I try to call the police to file a report, right, and I asked SU's Public Safety if they knew what the non-emergency number was for the Syracuse PD. This woman snidely told me, "9-1-1. That's what it's for." Now first of all, maybe someone else can explain this to me, but since when did 9-1-1 become the place to call for a non-emergency situation like a car break-in? But whatever, I digress. So I called up the number on my cell phone, and low and behold I got through...but to the 9-1-1 center in NYC!!! I live 300 miles north of the city...what the hell is that going to do for me!? Because of the fact that I have a NYC area code on my cell phone, my calls are automatically routed to NYC's 911 center. No matter where I'm at in the world. What if I was being attacked in Syracuse? Or being lynched in Texas? It doesn't make sense. I don't understand why my calls just don't go to the local 911 board. Now, I have to find a payphone somewhere to make a 911 phone call. I find the thought of that highly disturbing...

Nintendogs Fever!

2005-09-20T10:05:00.000-04:00

For the past few weeks, I've had the pleasure of owning three beautiful puppies. I have taught them all how to do all kinds of tricks, such as sitting down, rolling over, and shaking their booties to the latest music. I take them out all the time to the park and play frisbee with them. Hell, I've even entered them into competitions and won some money off of them, and remodeled my house to look like a traditional Japanese home!

Oh, and in case you were wondering what kind of dogs they are, I have a golden retriever named Che, a Siberian Husky named Fidel, and a Shih-Tzu named Cookie.

And they love to take a poop in my neighbor's front lawn.

Of course, I'm not talking about REAL dogs, but rather, I'm talking about virtual dogs that I'm raising on Nintendo's latest cult release, Nintendogs, for their handheld Nintendo DS system. Utilizing the system's touch screen and built-in microphone, you can pet, feed, and train your dogs using a combination of voice-commands and hand movements. While this might sound like an advanced Tamagotchi or something, the fact is that this game is a bit more than that. It's sooo...interactive. It's like owning real dogs! You have to feed them just as often as you would a real dog, and you have to take them out for walks before they poop all over your apartment. You also have to bathe them, and you can buy all kinds of accessories for them, too.

Basically, if you've ever wanted a dog, but either don't have the room for one, or can't afford one, Nintendogs is a great alternative.

And boy, am I hooked.

Sure, this game is so cute, it hurts my teeth. Seeing these little puppies yelping and tail-wagging is enough to make even the manliest of men sit down and say, "Awwwwwwwww." But god damn, it's had my attention for a good while. At times, it gets repetitive "playing" this game. (You really don't "play" Nintendogs... you take care of them...) But there's something that keeps you coming back for more...

I think it's like "virtual responsibility" or something like that. (Shrug)

Anyways, if you even have a chance, check out this game for like 5 minutes and see what I mean. Or just head to Nintendo's Nintendogs website to see mini-videos of these dogs in action.

Apple CEO Calls Music Industry "Greedy"

2005-09-20T09:27:00.000-04:00

Today, just before the Mac Expo being held in Paris, Apple CEO Steve Jobs was asked by reporters to comment on rumors regarding potential price increases on Apple's market-dominating music download service, iTunes. For months, people have been spinning the idea that Apple would eventually cave into demands from music industry executives to raise prices on music on iTunes. However, after a statement made today, Jobs has put those rumors to rest.

"If they (music industry) want to raise prices, it just means that they are getting a little greedy."

Apple has long been positioning itself to compete with the still-active illegal music downloading scene, and has marketed iTunes as the cheap, fast, legal, and easy-to-use alternative to downloading music off of Kazaa or eDonkey. If Apple ever raised prices or introduced a tier-ing structure for music sales (where the latest performers' work would be more expensive than older work), then the legal downloading scene would immediately cave-in on itself, and the music industry would be to blame, once again, for its own downfall.

Kudos to Apple for sticking to its guns and bitch-slapping the music industry into simply, "shutting the fuck up."

Here's a small article from MSN Money regarding Jobs' comments.

Happy Birthday!!!

2005-09-19T02:39:00.000-04:00

Just wanted to give a Happy Birthday shout-out to Michelle!

You old wench. :-)

Ghost Stories

2005-09-18T16:30:00.000-04:00

"AHHHHHHHHH!!!!!"

With a week left of summer vacation, Nelson, this sophomore that pledged Morgan, Pedro, and Edwin's fraternity last semester, came to my apartment and stayed over until he was able to move into his own place on campus. During that time, Nelson and I just kicked back and had fun, taking advantage of the remaining free time we had left before classes began. Now of course, considering that we are living in an old house this semester, I couldn't have gone the entire week and NOT tell Nelson a ghost story about the house. So, one morning, I told him about how one day, I was walking through the house, when I suddenly saw someone sitting down in front of a dresser and looking right at me from an empty room towards the back of the house. I told him about how I did a double take, went back into the room, and saw absolutely nothing in there. Not even the dresser. Now, the story itself is true: I actually DID see this person in this room, and I saw that individual on more than one occasion during my time in the apartment over the summer. While I know a lot of people would be completely freaked out about seeing something like that, I really don't spend much time dwelling on it, so it's not a big deal to me. Hey, if a ghost is there, I can't do anything about it, so why waste my time being afraid of it? After all, it's not doing anything to me, and I'm not doing anything to it, so why worry?

Of course, not everyone shares my lackadaisical attitude towards the ghost in my house, and I knew, somehow, that Nelson wasn't going to be too happy about the possibility of supernatural spirits being present in the house he was staying in. So, when I told him that morning, just for kicks, he reacted just as thought he would: with absolute denial...

"Nah, son. You lying son. You just trying to scare me."

I didn't have to say anything more after that. Once you have someone react with a denial as strong as that one, you got 'em, hook, line and sinker. You could tell that in the back of his mind, he was dwelling and thinking about the possibility of the ghost in the house and began "remembering" sudden door slams in the middle of the night. He could also suddenly recall also seeing the figure inside the bedroom, looking at him everytime he walked by. The story had stuck, big time.

When Edwin first moved into the apartment, Nelson made sure that he got the news of our supernatural friend. He told him the story, and then of course, Edwin replied with a "man, I don't believe in ghosts." But then, after a while, he too began asking for more information, even though it was about something that he didn't "believe in." Before long, Nelson would scare the bejesus out of him by staking a hideout spot in the room and busting out everytime Edwin walked by.

"Get out of my house!!!"

"Ohhh shit, AHHHHHHH!!!!"

Fun times here at the house. :-)

Got the Car!

2005-09-12T10:46:00.000-04:00

I went back to the city this past weekend, saw my momma, and picked up my wonderful, new (well, at least new to me, but definitely not "new") CAR! :-) No longer am I forced to depend on other people for a ride!

Man, I really need to find some time to update the blog...I've been extremely busy formatting and designing the newest issue of my campus publication, "La Voz."

Updates soon!

FEMA Can't Seem to Get Anything Right

2005-09-07T10:59:00.000-04:00

As the the flood waters from Hurricane Katrina recede, the number of voices that have criticized the FEMA for its rescue efforts in the hurricane's wake have approached untold millions. People all over the world are weighing in on the government agency's ridiculously slow response to Katrina's devastation, and the entire fiasco represents yet another blemish on the Bush Administration's less than stellar record. Between turning much-needed aid workers away from the region, to waiting days before mass evacuations began, FEMA definitely has a lot of 'splainin to do.

And the criticism and complaints continue to mount. Today, it was revealed that FEMA's emergency response websites are not Mac or Linux compatible meaning that emergency workers who are not running Windows XP and Internet Explorer 6 cannot use the aid website that FEMA has established. While this might not mean much on the surface at first, the fact is that many aid workers use either Linux distributions or donated computers that are running an OS that is older than XP. In order to gain access to the site, aid workers have to tap into already stretched funds in order to buy OS licenses from Microsoft.

Sigh. Just another crappy reminder of how bureaucratic our government really is.

Invasion of the Freshmen...

2005-09-04T03:40:00.000-04:00

V-Blogging On the Go!!

2005-09-01T20:52:00.000-04:00

Ahh, My House Is Being Overrun!!

2005-08-22T11:02:00.000-04:00

This past Friday, I received a completely unexpected call.

"Yo, Ray, this is Nelson. I'm on my way to the house and I'm staying over for a little bit."

What?!

Apparently, one of my two roommates told this kid, Nelson, who's this sophomore who pledged my roomie's fraternity last year, that he could come and stay over in the house for a couple of days until he could move into his place in the dorms. Nelson wanted to arrive in Syracuse before the dorms officially opened up to returning students, so he needed a place to stay in the meantime.

The problem was that no one told me about it. I was the only one that had the keys to the house, so if I wasn't there, how was he going to get in? Or, I could've had "guests" over that he didn't exactly need to know or see. (I try and keep my "guests" hidden because I don't need everyone knowing my business) Also, I had wanted to give the place a once over with some cleaning products to get it all nice for everyone who was coming back. I didn't want them to walk into an icky apartment. With less than an hour before Nelson was supposed to arrive, I had very little time to get everything decent.

I felt my blood pressure rise the more I thought about the situation. I was getting ready to call up either Pedro and Edwin and let 'em have it for not keeping me in the loop. And I actually did call, but lucky enough for either of them, they didn't pick up their phones, so I got busy with cleaning, picking up wrappers here, moving over some boxes there, washing a couple of dishes from that morning's breakfast, and setting up the bedrooms. I don't want people thinking that I live like a slob, so, hey, you know, I did my best in making sure everything was spotless...

No sooner had Nelson arrived when it all went to hell.

In a matter of a couple of hours, the house was overrun. All of a sudden, my living room was cluttered, and there were boxes everywhere. Then, yesterday, my roommate, Edwin arrived from NYC. Which, of course, for the second time, no one told me.

Even more clutter.

I was showing Edwin through the house and I showed him our extra bedroom, telling him my big plans to turn it into a "chill spot" during the year if no one moved into it.

"Nah, man, Morgan's moving in with us. You know that, right?"

Of course I didn't know, Ed. Just call me "Loopie", because I'm always out the loop in this house.

Sigh. My fun, quiet times in my new apartment are sadly over. Now, I'm going to have to crack the whip to make sure that no matter what, this apartment remains clean, whether I'm in the loop or not.

It's a War Zone Out There...

2005-08-20T10:44:00.000-04:00

I saw this comic the other day, and just thought it would be cool to post it here. Thanks to the "Joy of Tech" comic website for this one!

Early Birthday Request #1...

2005-08-17T17:04:00.000-04:00

I'm saying this shit now, so that way I don't have a repeat of what Michelle pulled last year with buying an inflatable wife for my birthday...(that bitch...I'm gonna get her so good in another month!!!)

This bad boy is the Hori PSP Recorder. Basically, what this is, it's a TiVo for your Sony PSP. You simply attach this bad boy to your television, set up a time, and have it record whatever TV show or DVD straight to a Sony Memory Stick Pro Duo (the memory card that goes into the Sony PSP). The recording is encoded into the Sony PSP viewing format.

Aww man. Now this shit is straight up pimp. And for $129 bucks, it's not too bad, considering what it does. Currently, it isn't available in the US, but can be imported from such fine places as Liksang.com and...well, I don't know where else yet..

So yeah. Early birthday request. Keep it in mind, folks. :-)

Hmm...Law School?

2005-08-16T19:24:00.000-04:00

Last week, a couple of my friends were telling me about their daily struggle to improve their LSAT scores for admission into law school. They were both telling me how incredibly difficult it has been for them to improve their scores and get out of the 162-166 range.

"Man, you're so lucky you don't have to go through this," they said to me.

I just nodded my head and smiled. "Yeah. After all, I hate lawyers anyway."

Despite the fact that I really had never considered heading to law school after graduation from Syracuse, I kinda viewed my friends' "you're so lucky" comment to be a bit of a challenge. So, that night, I went home and thought to myself, "Hey, just how does this exam work anyways? Is it really that difficult?"

So, I jumped online, found the LSAC.org website, the group behind the LSATs, and printed out their complete sample test, and actually took it according to their prescribed simulated test conditions. After 190 minutes (including their prescribed 15 minute break after Section III), I sat down and calculated my score.

I got a 178...

...out of 180.

I recounted just to make sure I hadn't missed anything. 178 it was. I got up, looked at myself in the mirror and shrugged my shoulders.

"Well, whadddya know?"

I called up one of my old TAs who's currently attending Syracuse's Law School and asked her what my score meant in terms of law school admissions.

"Ray, with that score, you can get into any law school you damn well want to." Her voice kept getting more excited as she kept on talking. "Seriously, Ray, you need to stop what you're doing and start thinking IVY"

Law school? Ivy League? All of a sudden, it was as if this entire new world had opened up for me that I had never even considered before. I went into Syracuse to study journalism. Newswriting was my passion, and my thirst for information was insatiable when I first started. And then, after 9/11, my entire world changed. I saw news media for what it truly was: a corporate machine whose only interest was to make money and please corporate sponsors. I saw coward newspaper journalists afraid to ask the hard questions, and an overall zero-tolerance for a difference of opinion. And I saw Newhouse professors (Syracuse's journalism school) tell Michelle that she had to be "less ethnic" in front of the camera. I couldn't take it anymore after that. I lost my heart for journalism soon after.

Still, I figured whatever I did, it would involve communications. So, I never strayed too far from it. I had no idea what I was going to do, but I figured it was all going to work out in the end. And then, Apple came knocking, opening up the field of marketing as an option. With the very real chance that I was going to get a job offer from Apple after graduation, it looked as if that was going to be my field of choice in the short-term.

But now this comes along. Me...at Harvard Law School?

The more I say it to myself, the more I like it. Especially since I'm beginning to think of all the wonderful elitist brats I could eat for breakfast...yeeeaaahhhh... :-)

I'm still not sure if this is what I want to pursue when I graduate, but it is definitely an option that I will fully explore. I've decided that after I graduate in the fall, I'll dedicate the spring semester to practicing the LSATs. And hopefully, I'll be able to score at that level consistently enough to actually get admitted to these institutions.

These are interesting times, indeed...

Bitch, I'll Smack You For That iBook!

2005-08-16T16:41:00.000-04:00

What would you do if your local school board announced that it had 1,000 2-year old laptop computers on sale for 50 bucks?

Most people wouldn't even blink twice. They'd be there in a heartbeat.

Well, this is exactly what happened in Virginia's Henrico County. The local school board, which had foolishly abandoned a contract it had with Apple to provide laptops for all grade school students in the county, announced a fire sale for the laptops that it no longer needed, charging 50 bucks per unit, each of which was worth $1200 two years ago.

The board had no idea what kind of hell they were getting ready to cause.

MOBS of people RAN to get these computers, and they were ready to fight and bite to stake their claim on one of these lovely white iBooks. It was like an episode of Jerry Springer, times 90.

Take a look at a local report of the chaos that ensued and take a look at the video accompanying it... it's some crazy shit!!!

NBC Covers the Mob in Henrico County

Reasons Like These Are Why I Need To Become President (Part I)

2005-08-16T14:16:00.000-04:00

In recent weeks, the Bush Administration has been tossing around a proposal to extend and increase fuel economy regulations across the entire automobile industry.

In their original proposal, they considered extending these fuel economy regulations to huge SUVs, like Hummers and Excursions, the huge pickup trucks, and super mini-vans (if they're so big, shouldn't we just call them, "vans" instead of "mini-vans?") which, currently, are exempt from regulations. Regulations would make the automobile manufacturers release more fuel-efficienct trucks that are a bit more friendly to the gasoline pump. Sounds good right? I mean, who wouldn't want a Hummer that gets 18-20 MPG instead of 10?

And then, came the US automobile lobbyist with deep pockets.

Now, suddenly, the Bush Administration is abandoning the proposal. Their reasoning? Developing fuel-efficient trucks cuts into American automobile profits and places the Big Three (Ford, Chrysler, and GM) at a disadvantage to the Asian giants. Let's face it, if it weren't for the SUV, the American car companies wouldn't be here anymore. Companies like Honda and Toyota, however, don't depend on SUVs for sales, so, their profits wouldn't be as affected by the new regulations.

So, Bush, backed off the proposal in order to score 1 for Team America. Woo hoo. And the stockholders rejoice and the environmentalists weep.

But, see, there's a slight problem with that change of heart...and I'm not just talking in terms of the environment.

I'm talking good ol' fashioned "economics." See, if anyone has been paying attention to recent automobile market trends, sales of SUVs have been declining, overall. Especially the big ones like Hummers and Excursions. Why, you ask? It's quite simple...OIL PRICES!!!! People across the country are trading in their big gas-guzzlers and are buying regular cars instead. While it's hard to track that trend over the short-term, in the long term, this trend will be readily apparent. SUVs, which are responsible for 40% of the nation's oil consumption, are, by and large, the only reason why people buy American cars in the first place. Everyone else who wants a regular-sized car usually goes to the Japanese car makers for their goods.

So, when SUV sales drop because gas is too expensive, and Asian car companies reap the profits, who's going to be left in the dust?

You guessed it. The Big Three.

What they need to do is stop thinking "short-term" and start investing in the future. Making fuel-efficient SUVs should be THE priority for carmakers, if they want to keep making moola. By not going forward with the original proposal, the Bush Administration is actually doing the Big Three a disservice, but unfortunately, they're too shortsighted to see it.

The Top 10 Most-Played Songs of, uh...the Past Five Months?

2005-08-16T13:50:00.000-04:00

I got an e-mail today from one of my longtime readers wondering about what the hell ever happened to my Top-10 lists for Most Played Songs. Well, I'll tell you what happened to them:

I just got lazy.

It was a pain in the ass to keep on putting up the top-10 songs every month. I always felt that since no one commented on them, either, well, they weren't appreciated. So I stopped doing them around Finals time in April.

However, I guess there are some people who were at least interested in my top-10's.

So starting next month, I'll publish my Top-10 for August.

But right now, what have I been playing since April? I'll tell you. COLDPLAY. And tons of it. Their new album, "X&Y" has completely dominated my top-10 for the past two months. As a matter of fact, I've listened to that damn album so many times, I have more individual spins on each song on that album in two months than any other song in the past 5. It's that serious. Of all of them, "Swallowed in the Sea" is my #1, followed by "Fix You" and "A Message."

I doubt Coldplay's dominance is going to end in the short-term, either.

By the way, I really liked the White Stripes album, "Get Behind Me, Satan," too. And then Coldplay came along and knocked them into oblivion. (On my Top-10, not in real life)

So, if you haven't listened to "X&Y" yet, check it out. It's funny, too, because when I first heard it, I didn't think it was all the great, especially compared to their last album, but then, it just kinda grew on me. Like, Miracle Grow. I blame it all on my top-3 songs, which sealed the deal for me.

Remember, kiddies: DON'T STEAL MUSIC...just go to Gap and try on a shitload of jeans to get some free iTunes!!! :-)

Yay, I'm out the Toilet Bowl!!

2005-08-15T10:47:00.000-04:00

On Friday night, I finally moved out of the dorms and moved back to my apartment here in Syracuse. It feels great to be home, with my own bathroom and a refrigerator I can actually fit stuff into. (I had Zulay's little mini-fridge the past six weeks...man, I couldn't fit shit in it!!!) I also have access to my wonderful new TV again, so I'm looking forward to spending the next two weeks playing Madden '06 and Halo 2 for my X-Box. Not to mention, since my apartment is about 10 degrees cooler than it was in Haven Hall (which we dub, "the Toilet Bowl", as you can see from that pic I posted), I'm not gonna be sweating like Patrick Ewing anymore.

Still, being in the dorms again did have its charms. By the time I left, I connected with some of the people in my building, and we actually hung out. Every once in awhile, I would sneak downstairs and start whupping some ass in Halo 2 around midnight, where about 6 guys were chillin around a TV set up with an X-Box and four controllers every night. When I didn't feel like getting my videogaming jones on, I would play dominoes and poker, winning TONS of money. (20 bucks is a lot this day and age...) Every time I won, I would smack the table and scream, "I'm rich, BIATCH!!!" Good times, indeed.

Everytime I tell a guy that I was back in the dorms, they would always say, "Hey, man, while you're there, are you bagging any of those SummerStart bitches?" Now, for those who don't know, "SummerStart" is this program that Syracuse runs every summer where, for six weeks, select incoming freshmen are given the opportunity to take classes in order to start their college careers on the right foot. Usually, SummerStart students are minorities, but this year, I guess that was beginning to change. Anyways, so, of course, one of the favorite summer pastimes for male upper classmen who happen to be in Syracuse during the SummerStart session is to hook up with these freshmeats, ahem, freshmen. It's like a freaking ritual. Guys all over get together with their respective cliques and discuss the overall state of affairs of these SummerStart students...

"Yo, how they look?"

"Son....DAMN!!! I would pop half these bitches in a heartbeat."

"Nah, man, they mad young. Some of them are like, 16, 17..."

"That ain't stop you before!"

"Nigga, back then, I was 17 too!"

"Fuck that, yo. If there's grass on the field, it's time to play ball!"

"Ewwwwww....nigga, yous' a fucking beast! You would fuck with a girl that had the fucking Amazon on her cooch! Ewwwwwww..."

Yup. That's how it goes down here in 'Cuse with these SummerStart girls. True story. :-)

So, now, of course, I know you're just dying to know...did I get with any of these youngins? See, when it comes to these girls, I honor a "look, but do not touch" policy. I mean, as amazing as some of these chicas might be, I just don't feel right taking complete advantage of incoming freshmen like that...

At least not in the first semester. :-)

So, I'm out the Toilet Bowl, folks! Now, I only have two weeks of chill time before school starts again. Oh, the horror!

Blink Blink.

2005-08-11T06:32:00.000-04:00

Man, I blinked twice, and the next thing I know, I'm taking finals to end my summer session. Golly. So, I"m now undergoing accelerated "Finals" mode...wish me luck!

This Guy's Had 4,000 Too Many Lattes...

2005-08-09T10:44:00.000-04:00

Today, I just found this article on ABC News that talks about a guy who is on a decade-long mission to visit every single Starbucks in the world. This guy, who calls himself, "Winter" is a Latino from Texas that apparently has tons of time to burn and plenty of money to support his never-ending quest. (I say, "never-ending" because the company opens a new Starbucks somewhere in the world once every four seconds, according to internal reports.) As of August 8th, Winter has already visited 4,775 Starbucks in North America alone over the past eight years.

Apparently, he's already visited the store here at Syracuse University, though judging by the picture he took of the place, he dropped on by a bit over 4 years ago. However, he has stopped on by Syracuse's brand new stores at Armory Square and Fayetteville, which were just opened a little over two months ago. So, it is possible that he stopped by our place and we didn't realize it. By all accounts, his mission is just a personal one; it gives him an excuse to take an incredible road trip across the country. Nothing more. He doesn't make any kind of critiques about the company or about any of the stores he's visited, and fails to engage with any of the baristas at these stores, which he should be paying attention to. After all, a Starbucks is only as good as the employees behind the bar. We are the ones that make Starbucks great, after all. The only thing corporate does is muck everything up by taking the soul out of the company in an effort to make as much money as possible.

Winter's story has attracted so much attention, that someone is actually making a movie about him. I can only hope that the movie actually addresses many of the issues that surround the company instead of just being a two-hour documentary of him just walking in and out of stores.

Want to see if he's visited your local Starbucks? Check out his site at starbuckseverywhere.net

Banana-Sized Dreams at Banana Republic

2005-08-08T11:40:00.000-04:00

I think I've just seen the girl I've been looking for.

My SBUX co-worker, Faraz, and I were doing our thing at the Carousel Center here in Syracuse, walking around, strutting our stuff as much as possible (though it was kind of hard for me to strut, considering I had my stinky work clothes...it's hard to feel clean after working a shift at Starbucks...you smell like a burned coffee bean and have mocha syrup all over the place), when I saw this girl that literally made my jaw drop. Like, literally, I stopped dead in my tracks, oriented my body in her general direction, and dropped my jaw. I think I might have pointed at her too, but that's not the point. The point is, that I was flabbergasted. I had an epiphany and a mini-orgasm all at the same time. I spotted this girl working at Banana Republic while I was walking into the store to check out what was on sale: she was about 5'5, white, blonde hair, piercing green eyes, and had curves all in the right places. Okay, her curves were more like fucking U-Turns. I was amazed. I had to stop staring, walk around for a bit, and pretend that I was interested in some wack ass pink dress shirt just so I could sneak another glimpse at this goddess, who was busily folding clothes in the women's section.

Is there a point to this entry? Not really. I didn't talk to her, and it wasn't really a life-changing event, but I just had to point out that sometimes, when life gives you lemons, you just have to go to Banana. :-)

Introducing, the "Coffee Break"

2005-08-08T11:01:00.000-04:00

Alrighty, so after a couple of days of brainstorming, I've decided to change the name of the "Daily Musings" to "The Coffee Break." Inspired by all my wonderful little 4-hour conversations with my Starbucks co-worker, Aimee, right outside our storefront, the Coffee Break is just the natural name for an online venue where I can talk about just about anything that comes to mind that has anything to do with my life. I've also decided to open up the Coffee Break to guest bloggers every once in a while. In practice, I don't know how often that's going to happen, but, we'll see down the line. Sometimes, my life gets so complicated, that not even I can keep up with it, so I've decided that sometimes, my story should be told through the POV of someone else. After all, there is always more than one-side to every story...even MY story...

I opted not to go with names involving "Manwhore" or "Cocky" because in all honesty, that's not what my life is all about. Yes, sometimes, I have the occasional hook-up, and yes, sometimes I can be very opinionated about certain topics, but, if you've been a long time reader, you'll see that I do, at times, put my feelings out there for all to see. I wanted to choose a title that wouldn't pigeonhole me into any one topic or style of writing, so, with a name like "The Coffee Break", I am free to pretty much talk about anything.

Especially my antics at Starbucks. :-)

So welcome to the Break! Sit back, relax, and take the stimulant of your choice as you plow through the story of my life!

-Ray (djkibblesnbits)

EDIT: I was going to say that we can call it, "the CB" for short, but then I realized that the "CB" can be taken as "The Cockblock", which, as some of you may remember I'm not exactly a big fan of...

The Passing of a News Legend

2005-08-08T05:38:00.000-04:00

It saddened me to hear the news that ABC News anchor, Peter Jennings, passed away last night after battling with lung cancer. In the fake world of broadcast journalism, Jennings was probably the only anchor who kept it real; he didn't just tell us what was going on in the world from what I call the "superior perch" that many TV personalities seem to speak from, but rather seemed to "experience" it all along with us. This was probably the most apparent during the marathon coverage he had during 9/11, when he stayed on air for 18 straight hours, providing millions of Americans with updated coverage on the terrorist attacks while on the verge of breaking down into tears along with all of us. I always loved the way he always let us know just how he felt about certain tidbits of news with his wit and at times, sarcastic delivery, especially during coverage of the Bush Administration. He was tireless in his never-ending mission to bring us the news and stressed the need for Americans to see what was going on in the wonderful world beyond the US, dedicating much of his time to the field during major international news events. For many people in the world of journalism, he was a true inspiration, and as someone who, for a long time, wanted to pursue a career in the journalism field, the news of his passing has hit me incredibly hard.

My prayers go out to his friends, family, and fellow colleagues. He will be missed.

Microsoft's Vista Has a Vision of a Virus...

2005-08-08T04:18:00.000-04:00

It's been awhile since I blogged about anything computer-related, especially being the Mac evangelist that I am. I just couldn't pass this opportunity up, though...

Apparently, someone has already developed a virus for Microsoft's upcoming operating system, Windows Vista (once known as "Longhorn). Vista, which has been hailed by Microsoft as a "revolutionary brand new way of computing" (Read: "We figured out a way to copy Apple again") hasn't even been released, and it ALREADY has a virus. Sheesh, and I thought that this OS was going to be the "safest ever."

Everyone, before you make yet another mistake and buy into Microsoft's phony marketing, step up to the next level of computing and buy yourself a Mac. No crippling pop-ups, no nasty viruses to worry about, and no need to have a virus program that hogs up your resources. AND, it just "makes sense." With MS, the only "Vista" you're going to have is "more of the same."

...Speaking of Macs, if you're a student or faculty member, Apple is offering a "Buy a Mac, Get a iPod" promotion, where if you buy a new Mac computer, you get a free iPod mini. Check out apple.com for more details. Check 'em out; they're incredibly affordable with education discounts!

Crush of the Month (August 2005)

2005-08-04T15:36:00.000-04:00

Well, well, well. It's that time again. So, last month, right, Anna challenged me to find a "Crush of the Month" that was an actual living person...

Now, let's ignore the fact that I've named 7 actual people to be crushes out of a possible 11...

So, this month, just for Anna, I've selected an actual living person to be this month's "Crush." So who is it?

Initiate drum roll.

....

Wait for it...wait for it...

...Well, see, this is the thing...I don't have a picture, yet, of this particular crush, but, I'll tell you about her. Basically, it's this chick that's been coming into Starbucks like the past couple of months. She's a customer, and well, she's a cutie. I really don't know her name, and because of stupid little things like, oh, I don't know, like me having to actually WORK while I'm at Starbucks, I haven't been able to talk to her.

So yes, folks. It's an actual crush. Like, a person I can actually talk to. But, no pictures yet. When I get some, I'll post them. (And no, I'm not going to take a picture of her on the low or anything like that...talk about "stalker", lol)

So, congrats to whoever you are. You'll be on my brain for an entire month! :-)

Still, I can't just post without leaving a picture, so I'll leave a little something, something for people to get fixated on...

Oh, Grace, how I love your "Half-Nekkid Thursday" shots. :-) (Click here, people)