The AngryDog's Kennel

Covington, KY and Snow Pictures

2007-03-15T03:19:00.000-04:00

So my job took me to Covington, Kentucky last week for the annual SIGCSE (Special Interest Group Computer Science Education) conference sponsored by the ACM. Overall, the conference was pretty good! Everything was well-organized, my room at the Holiday Inn was top-notch, and a good time was had overall. I traveled down to Kentucky with my co-worker and his family, and I believe that we bonded a little bit more--six hours in a car will do that to you, I guess! For me, the highlight of the entire conference was touring the little city of Covington, which is just about five minutes outside of Cincinnati, Ohio. It struck me as a once thriving town that fell into disarray and is now seeing new growth as a center for conferences and other events. And with at least one hotel on nearly every block, plus a conference center (where the conference was held), it's no wonder that this little town is a popular attraction for conference goers!

We left for the conference on Wednesday morning, but we almost didn't make it due to the massive amount of snow that was dumped upon the state. Readers, I tell you, I'm sick of this snow thing! Since I returned from Spain, I've seen snow practically every single day! Thank God I invested in snow tires, otherwise I'm sure I would've had an accident. By the way, a word of advice to all the Subaru and other 4-wheel drive vehicle owners out there: Just because your vehicle has all these wonderful features does not mean you are able to drive on snow and ice as if it where dry pavement! Lord knows how many accidents I've seen in the past few weeks, many of which were Subarus and other models of 4-wheel drive vehicles.

As I final addition to this post, I figured I'd leave you all with a few images of the horrible snow that we've been seeing the last few weeks. The first two images show the roads as I was driving to work somewhere between 7:30 and 8:00am a few weeks ago. Notice the snow on the ground. Now imagine that much of this snow sits on top of a layer of ice, resulting in vehicle skids on multiple occasions. Now imagine that on the morning that we left for the conference the snow was even worse...as a matter of fact, we got over six or more inches in one day! The final picture show some poor kid who was driving a little too fast with tires that were a little too worn for the snow and ice on the road. Fortunately, no one was hurt or killed; however, this is only one of three or four accidents I had seen that day. Until the next post, stay warm and drive safe!

Baltimore: The City of Bad Service, Poor Blacks, and the Inner Harbor

2007-03-07T08:40:00.000-05:00

Yesterday I returned from a weekend trip to Baltimore with Pebbles. She had a conference and I was freeloading in the hotel room. The amusing thing about Baltimore is that people seem to like giving me free stuff whenever I buy food. For instance, I went to Dunkin Donuts to pick up breakfast on Saturday morning and the two Indian women that run the store kept looking at me and smiling and talking back and forth in Urdu or Hindi. Eventually they process my order (6 donuts and a medium latte) and I talked with the younger of the two for a few moments about my habit of stealing pens that I'm trying to break out of. Eventually, I made my way back to the hotel to have breakfast with Pebbles and update my account spreadsheet. When I checked the sales receipt, I realized that they had only charged me for three donuts and a small latte! In fact, it wasn't even a latte....it tasted more like (somewhat more expensive) chai tea.

The second episode happened on Saturday night, when we went to a little restaurant in the downtown area called Copra. The restaurant boasts a Caribbean-influenced fine dining experience; however, it is a bit pricey, although the food is absolutely wonderful. After being subjected to bad service all weekend, it was refreshing to find a friendly waiter who actually seemed to care about serving his customers! Of course, I paid the man a compliment on his service...however, I had no idea that the guy was gay until Pebbles pointed this out to me. Homeboy's face suddenly turned beet red and he became flustered to the point where he could barely speak. The result was that neither of us were charged for drinks or coffee, and my girlfriend now firmly believes that I flirt with anyone regardless of color or gender!!! (i.e. I'm such a whore!)

The third episode of "freeness" that I'm going to mention happened on the Friday night that I actually got to the hotel. I was tired from the long day at work, and wasn't much in the mood for walking around Baltimore to find a good eating spot. We decided to have dinner at a little restaurant inside of the hotel called Shula's. Our waiter, who was black just like me, was a complete asshole. I don't know if it was because I was hanging with a white female, or if the fact that I was wearing my baggy jeans and Timberland boots that I chose to wear to dinner made it appear as if I didn't have any money, or whatever other reason, but this guy was terrible when it came to serving us. He made at least four mistakes while serving us! Firstly, he ignored the fact that we needed refills because he was too busy sucking up to the "rich" white people in expensive suits (apparently, when you're white and wear a suit, people automatically think you have money). Secondly, he completely ignored the fact that we ordered appetizers and didn't seem to be bothered about it. Thirdly, he brought a drink for Pebbles that had a straw still in the paper wrapping stuck inside the glass. Fourthly, he brought our food out late and cold. As a result of the straw incident and the poor service, we ended up getting our drinks for free; however, I should have still reported him to management.

The fact that this guy was so arrogant when it came to serving people from his own race disturbed me greatly. It shows that many African-Americans still play up to this "yes massa" stereotype and, as much as they may dislike or talk badly about white folks, they still play up to them. The worst part is that when they see someone of their own color sitting in a position that they perceive to be higher than theirs, they immediately dislike the person and treat them as second class citizens. Black people, wake up! The other minorities are in a better position today because they stick together...look at the Koreans and Chinese. That is why there is so much poverty in the city of Baltimore. You see so many homeless people, all of them black, all of them strung out on some drug or another. Crack, heroine, cocaine, it runs the city.

Let me not rant about the bad things in Baltimore right now, after all, we did go for a mini-vacation of sorts. The Inner Harbor is a beautiful place indeed. Just a few minutes walk from our hotel room, it boasts many attractions...including the best aquarium in the United States, a maritime museum, and some of the most exotic restaurants you can imagine. We toured a Navy ship that was used in the Civil War (the USS Constellation I believe it was), watched a street performer juggle various items while standing on a skateboard placed atop a bucket, and viewed the sunset on the harbor from the deck of a water taxi.

As I held Pebbles close to me (partially because I romantic like that, but also because we were both freezing) and we watched the sun go down together, I reflected on my life thus far, and all the things I have accomplished, and have yet to accomplish. My life may be summed up as a beautiful, awkward existence filled with equal measures of laughter and tears, and much potential that is gradually becoming realized. Yes, I have accomplished quite a bit for my age, and I'm still working at achieving even more success. But the important thing is that I am happy.

Let's try this again

2007-03-04T21:02:00.000-05:00

It's been a long time since I visited the blogsphere. A lot has changed since then. My boy Mad Bull has moved his blog totally over to Wordpress. My good friend Dr. D. has stopped posting on a daily basis. Lots of new folks have joined the Caribbean blogging community and a few have made their exits.

Many things have changed since I've last updated this blog. Job-wise, I still teach; however, I'm now a software engineer working on a NASA project and am currently in the process of starting a small software development firm. Yes, the money seems to be flowing a little bit more these days and success is coming at a nearly overwhelming pace; however, I'm still not where I aspire to be just yet. God willing, 2007 will be the year to make big things happen!

Relationship-wise , things are going great with Pebbles and we're stronger than ever! I even managed to make the trip to Spain to spend Christmas and New Years with her parents and sister. In fact, I had such a wonderful time with her famiy and friends that I'm planning to visit again in the summertime!

Anyhow, I just got back from a conference in Baltimore and am getting ready to go to another one in Kentucky later this week. Let me know what you have been up to!

[::Busy Like A Dog::]

2006-07-23T16:23:00.000-04:00

It's been practically months since I've written anything on this blog. The truth be told I've been quite busy with quite a few projects of late. Will resume posting sometime soon hopefully, especially since one of my little passion projects include something that I think many of my Caribbean readers will enjoy!

[::A_Long_Boring_Weekend::]

2006-05-01T00:37:00.000-04:00

The weekend came and went and I'm almost happy it's over. Not much was accomplished. Graded a few papers, spoke to Pebbles part of Saturday and most of Sunday, watched a few movies. Finally got to see White Noise with Michael (aka "The best Batman before Christian Bale") Keaton. Interesting film, though it was somewhat weird and extremely disturbing. I'll never look at the white noise on my TV without wondering if someone is trying to contact me from the other side and hoping that they never will (unless they have some secret to tell me about a large sum of $$$). Also rented A History Of Violence with Viggo Mortensen. Overall a good movie with a solid plot and just enough gratuitous violence to keep someone like me sufficiently entertained for a few hours.

I also spent a few hours in the gym on Saturday. I'm definately getting stronger, losing the weight, and feeling a whole lot better about myself physically. The chest is getting harder, the arms bigger, and the legs and shoulders feeling the strength. Now if I could just somehow manage to get my diet in the proper order then I might just be able to get rid of more belly fat! Oh well, it is a work in progress and I can't expect to undo several years of physical neglect to my body in a few weeks. Patience is a very difficult lesson to learn sometimes.

{Hacking_Code, Cheat_Meals, Hunger}

2006-04-10T18:03:00.000-04:00

So the weekend came and went and I almost didn't notice. Had to drive in to the college on Saturday morning for an honors convocation. The ceremony was quite good; though I would've much rathered not to drag myself out of bed at 8:00am to make it in time for the 10:00am ceremony, especially because it was rainy and miserable all day. On the plus side, the weather is finally warming up and I'm getting excited about seeing some life and color on these bare trees! Of course, the fact that I don't have to drive in the snow, bundle up in heavy winter jackets, and suffer from the dreaded ash monster (i.e. dry skin) for a little while also helps to lighten the mood.

The balance of the weekend was spent hacking code, labelling my millions of CDs and DVDs, and generally loafing around the house. On Saturday night, I did make it out to the club for a few hours and limed with a few of my African friends. Since I am on a diet, I limited myself to only one beer. Eventually, I got home at around 3:00 or 4:00am and went to bed shortly thereafter. The next morning I woke up with a splitting headache and a craving for Chinese food. Between hacking code, labelling CDs, and talking to Pebbles, I managed to shake my headache; unfortunately, I wasn't able to shake the Chinese food craving and finally decided to order out. Bad idea! Either something was wrong with the food or my body is no longer used to eating foods high in fat, but I knew I was f*$ked when I dozed off on the couch and woke up coughing up General Tso's chicken. For the entire night, I was hacking and coughing and my stomach felt as if someone had hit me with a cricket bat. No more alcohol or cheat meals for me from now on! I'm sticking to my diet (which has been helping me to make consistent progress with the weight loss/muscle building agenda).

This morning when I woke up, I pretty much felt like crap and was sorely tempted to call in sick. Eventually I managed to stumble out of bed to the shower and, eventually, to the car. I vaguely remember eating breakfast (no more Chinese food), but I didn't have the energy to pack my lunch. Stupid me, forgetting that I have a faculty/staff meeting to attend tonight and barely eating anything all day. God, I'm so hungry right now...even that damn Chinese food feels enticing right about now. Meeting won't get done until about 7 or 8, which means that I won't get home until around 8 or 9. So very hungry...

[Breaking_The_Silence]

2006-04-08T19:36:00.000-04:00

It's been a long time since I've graced the blogsphere with even a comment, let alone a post. Dr D.'s blog is probably the first I've commented on in many weeks! I haven't been posting much because I've been busy working on a little business venture plus spending many hours at the gym. The training is coming along nicely, the business venture is doing fairly well, and I'm more or less happy. Anyhow, no time to write too much, it's Saturday night and I'm going to see what's going on. I'll definately try to update more tomorrow!

[What_Do_29_Year Olds Do] || [I_Need_A_Hobby]

2006-03-20T23:14:00.000-05:00

Lately I've been asking myself what sort of things 29-year-olds do for fun, more specifically what do 29-year-olds living alone in a college town where the average age is 22 do for fun. I neither long for nor enjoy the club scene, nor am I a fan of the Bluegrass and Country and Western music scene that festers within the town, and I'm especially not interested in visiting the porn shops and strip clubs that are listed under the "adult entertainment" section of the local newspaper. Listening to the neighbor having sex just doesn't excite me as much anymore and there's just so much television a person can watch without getting bored!

I knew my life hit rock-bottom the other day when I found myself sitting in the local Barnes and Noble bookstore looking at books on knitting and sewing for over an hour. I guess blogging and going to the gym would be considered hobbies; however, I consider both activities to be an integral part of my life and should be separated from hobbies (at least as far as my defintion of hobby goes). Chatting online used to be an awesome hobby, until I realized that most of my friends don't want to talk to me anymore!

For a while I was totally into the model car kit scene, until I realized that I had managed to get model paint over every conceivable surface of my apartment, including the kitchen sink and I was usually way to high from the glue to put the pieces in their proper positions. Not to mention the embarassing moment where I had residual glue on my fingertips and went to use the restroom...I'll leave the rest up to your imagination, but just so you know, most of the skin and hair has already grown back. Speaking of hair, a few weeks ago I blogged about shaving all the hair from my arms, legs, and chest. Since then, I've shaved all the hair from my head as well--yes, you guessed it, body-shaving has become a new hobby of mine; however, it's not that great of an activity, since I tend to run out of hair to shave quite rapidly.

Well, suffice it to say, I've found myself a brand new hobby and I think it's gonna work really well! I've decided to take my programming skills and use it for the greater good of mankind by writing free software to benefit educators. Yes ladies and gentlemen, I've become an open-source code hacker at http://www.sourceforge.net! What does this mean? Well, for starters, it means that I'll actually have stuff to come home and do in the evenings after I get home from the gym and I'll be improving on my programming abilities (which is already pretty sharp because of the courses I teach). Hell, at some point in time, I might actually pick up another hobby, such as "pursuing a Doctorate in Computer Science". Do you have any suggestions for hobbies that I might like?

{Nuff Said}

[Death_Of_A_Beauty_Queen]

2006-03-14T16:05:00.000-05:00

Well, I'm once more back to work after having a wonderful Spring Break. After one week and two weekends of doing nothing (including not updating my blog) I'm ready to take on the rigors of academia once again. Farewell to the house-boyfriend and welcome back to the stressed out college professor living alone in Little Big City.

I just got done teaching a class and decided to read a little bit of the CNN headlines that flash on the campus website on a daily basis. I was saddened to see that the reigning Ms. Deaf Texas, Tara Rose McAvoy was tragically struck and killed by a train yesterday. Apparently, the youngster (she was only 18) was walking near railroad track when a train came up behind her and struck her, killing her instantly. Apparently the operator had been blowing the horn up until the accident; however, she was unable to hear the approaching vehicle. A sad, sad end to a young life. My condolences to her family and friends.

{Nuff Said}

[Kept]

2006-03-08T09:13:00.000-05:00

For the first time in forever I'm disappointed that today is Wednesday. Why? Because it means that I'm now at the midpoint of my Spring Break vacation and in just a few short days I'll have to once more resume my teaching responsibilities. The week has been quite interesting so far, though admittedly I've spent much of the time alone since Pebbles isn't afforded the luxury of Spring Break at her place of employment. I've been living the life of a kept man to some extent and Pebbles has benfitted a great deal from this! I cook, clean, wash, iron, cater to her every needs and I've actually been enjoying this! Aside from those things, all I do in the days is eat, exercise, and watch TV. I could seriously get used to this lifestyle! No kidding, I'm seriously contemplating becoming a house-husband! Why not? It's the 21st Century and there should be equality for all!

Anyhow, not staying too long at all, just wanted to update youn's as to what I've been up to! Have a great day!!!

{Nuff Said}

Rumble, Young Man, Rumble

2006-03-03T08:22:00.000-05:00

Another Friday has descended upon us and I'm once more looking at the prospect of the weekend. This weekend will be much more fun however, because I'm gonna be meeting up with my darling Pebbles and we'll be spending one solid week + two weekends together. God bless Spring Break! I'm still contemplating whether or not I should leave today because there is a winter storm watch in effect. I imagine what I'll do is wait until this afternoon and see how the weather here turns out (simply because I know that if it's bad here, it's going to be even worse at the mid-way point of my journey due to extremely high elevation). Anyhow, that issue will work itself out sooner or later.

Now you're probably wondering why my post is entitled Rumble, Young Man, Rumble and why I have a picture of Ali, right? I find the man to be an inspiration and for the last few days this sentence has been a sort of mantra for me. It even inspired me to throw down a few lines which, of course, I'll share with you this morning. So, I present to you my latest poem entitled "Rumble, Young Man, Rumble". Have a great weekend all!

Rumble, Young Man, Rumble

When the pressures of life get you down
And Babylon keeps trampling you into the ground

When fear and oppression is all that you see
And the Man just won't let you be

Step back, hold your head up high
And rumble, young man, rumble

When the hunger burns deep down into your soul
And you can't find shelter from the cold

When you try to walk, but keep falling down
And there never seems to be anyone around

Rise up Brotherman, rise up, be strong
And rumble, young man, rumble

When the world rejects you because of your skin,
And you sometimes feel that being Black is a sin

When you're treated like garbage in your own homeland
And not even your friends will lend a helping hand

Just remember that you are descended from African kings
And rumble, young man, rumble

[A_Healthier_Me?]

2006-02-28T11:55:00.000-05:00

So I finally got back on the wagon again. Trying to get my lard butt back in the best shape of my life. I was doing fine up until two weeks ago when I had a sudden attack of work-stressitis and some strange bug that felt like a hybrid between a cold, a flu, and an upset stomach. I was impressed with the amazing gains in strength and endurance I'd made in the space of a few weeks. Now I'm struggling just to get myself up out of bed in the morning. Nevertheless, I've been extremely successful at going to bed by 11:00pm, waking up at around 7:00am and doing a little bit of yoga before breakfast. I'm also back to doing weights again and my diet seems to be finally normalizing itself (i.e. my body is getting used to the idea of eating smaller meals throughout the day instead of skipping breakfast and lunch, then gorging myself on a huge dinner). The sad truth is that I, like most of my gym friends from back day, know exactly what to eat, when to eat, how to eat as well as the proper way to train; however, most of us have never seemed to manage to get to that point where we could bring our bodies to the ultimate level of conditioning. I suppose we just didn't care too much about it, or were too busy building other peoples bodies. Don't get me wrong, we weren't fat, out of shape, or anything like that now! It's just that most of us didn't care too much about being in the "single digit bodyfat percentage" group.

Man, last night I almost regretted going home! Remember I told you it was relatively difficult to get in to work yesterday morning because of the snow? Well, lemme tell you that getting home from work last night was definately no picnic either! Nothing is worse than snowfall, icy roads, darkness, and bad drivers. When the snow is falling, you can't use your high beams because they reflect off the snowflakes and make it difficult to see. Plus the roads are ice and treacherous and you have to go really slow and somehow manage to balance between maintaining a constant speed and not slowing down too much on a hill, lest you won't be able to get back enough traction to make it up the hill and the darkness doesn't make it any easier to see where the huge patches of ice are. Of course rear-wheel drive vehicles are a nightmare this time of year. To top it all off you have those idiot drivers who figure that because it says "4-Wheel-Drive" and "Traction Control" in the manual it means that they have an open license to overtake you in terrible road conditions. Aside from having to worry about my own vehicle skidding at these points, I'm also having to think ahead about how to handle the situation if the other car starts to spin when it crosses in front of me. I tell you, these rural Americans are amazing...

{Nuff Said}

[What_Do_You_Want_To_Be_When_You_Grow_Up]

2006-02-27T11:23:00.000-05:00

The weekend came and went and I'd be happy to be at work if it wasn't for the fact that it's snowing right now and I'm teaching a late class tonight. Oh well, I suppose that's the price we pay for being teachers. Overall, the weekend wasn't too bad at all, didn't do very much aside from laundry, a little house cleaning, working out, talking to Pebbles and just having me a good old time at home. Admittedly, I did spend a little bit of time on the street because I was just plain tired of being locked up in the apartment! When I get bored, I like to drive around aimlessly (of course, Pebbles loves driving around too; however she prefers to actually be driving to a specific destination to have fun).

Every now and then while I'm driving something may catch my fancy and I'll stop for a bit. For example, I drove past the local Barnes and Noble bookstore on Saturday afternoon and felt the sudden urge to look at a few books on bodybuilding, automobile tuning, and computers. Eventually, I got bored with looking at books and decided to go home. On the way out the door, a book title caught my attention and I had to stop and take a few moments to browse it. The book was titled From Learning To Earning: Success Strategies for New Grads. I found the book to be quite an interesting read, particularly the sections that contained little self-assessment tests to help guide you in the right career direction based on your skills and interests. I didn't end up buying the book, but I did make a mental note of it as one of the top books to recommend to my seniors.

On the way home, I began to seriously think about my career thus far. I'm really happy with the fact that I opted to enter academia and I find it sufficiently rewarding and challenging to keep me entertained for years and years to come. On the other side of the coin, I sometimes wonder about switching careers and going in to a profession completely unrelated to my field of study. When I was younger, I wanted to be a fireman so that I could ride around on the big red truck and wear the nifty hat and coat; however all this changed after I saw the Towering Inferno.

Somewhere in my teens, I decided that I wanted to be a professional martial artist, bodybuilder, and fitness guru. These plans changed when I got injured in a martial arts tournament and couldn't train for a few months. When I eventually did start training again, I realized how badly out of shape I had become in just a short space of time! Common sense dictated to me then that if you live in a world where your biggest assets are your physique and your ability to perform a wide range of difficult physical movements (i.e. lifting weights or fighting techniques) then you are pretty much screwed if something goes wrong with the body. I needed a more stable type of profession. Sometimes I regret not pursuing this dream and I often wonder how different my life would've been if I'd taken this path.

I admit that I was extremely confused teenager when it came to my future. So much so that at one point I even applied to college to do secretarial studies and got accepted to the program. Of course, my primary motivation for thinking about this career was because (no offense to the ladies and secretaries out there) I had observed that the vast majority of people who were in the OAT (Office Administration and Technology) program happened to be females. I began to think about the prospect of being surrounded by women all day long and it really did seem like a good idea at the time.

In another life I had aspirations of becoming an artist. However, these dreams were dashed away because my high school guidance counseler was not very supportive of my abilities and told me that I had no talent. I haven't drawn anything seriously since she told me this. Of late, I've been considering going back for a PhD in English and becoming a writer of novels, poems, and short stories; however, this is a side of myself that I haven't really put much effort into exploring.

Looking back now, I find a common thread between my personality and interests which have unconsciously (or consciously) lead me to my current occupation. I've always enjoyed teaching, ever since I was a youngster training in the martial arts. I first instructed a martial arts class when I was about 15 years old or 16 years old, a green belt. I was nervous at first, but I soon took to it like a fish takes to water. It came easy to me. I've always been an uber-patient person and that helped me out well as a young assistant instructor and all these traits have culminated into my teaching philosophy. I've always held a passion for computers and pursuing a degree in Computer Science just seemed like a natural fit to my interests and abilities. Even now when I look at all the majors out there, I cannot pinpoint one that would give me more satisfaction than Computer Science (or some variant of Computer Science, like Management Information Systems). Sure, I think about a doctoral degree in English, but possibly something to do with literary computing.

I suppose everyone thinks about their careers and lifestyles every now and then and, while there are many things that I'd like to change about my life at this very moment, I can honestly say that I do enjoy my profession. I enjoy waking up and walking in to a classroom in the morning. I enjoy seeing youngsters have an "a-ha" moment when they suddenly understand the things I've been telling them. I enjoy seeing students take my ideas and construct their own knowledge in ways that I haven't even thought of. But most of all, I enjoy seeing my students walking across the stage at graduation time to collect their diplomas with their heads held high and their futures, yet unwritten, stretched out before them. A future limited only by their creativity and determination.

Though this profession may not end up being my ultimate career goal, I can honestly say that it's all worth it at this point in time. God bless educators

{Nuff Said}

[Friday_Post]

2006-02-24T11:50:00.000-05:00

Friday is here and I can almost safely say thank God I made it through another week (more or less) unscathed. The temperature is a nice 40 Degrees (Fahrenheit), though the local weather authorities are calling for snowfall later tonight. Oh well, I don't care too much, by the time the snow begins to fall I'll be at home in bed curled up with a good blog. Yes, I do find blogs more entertaining than books these days and Lord knows that I've been reading enough textbooks lately to warrant a nice little break from all things academic. Spring Break is coming up next week and come Friday afternoon I will have my little bundle of clothes nicely packed away in the Accord and ready to head up to Delaware to spend 1 whole week and two weekends with the love of my life, Ms. Pebbles! As for this weekend, I have no clue what I'll do to pass the time, though I'm seriously thinking about spending a little time out and about in Little Big City, laundry is a must as well, and I have to allocate some time to design new methods of torture for my poor students! (i.e. more code, equations, and projects for all!). Anyhow, I'm a little pressed for time, so I hope everyone has a great weekend and stay safe!

{Nuff Said}

[Google_Earth] :: = [Extreme_Coolness]

2006-02-23T16:00:00.000-05:00

So I've been playing around with Google Earth since yesterday and let me tell you, the thing is just amazing! What is Google Earth, you might ask? Well, for those of you not in touch with your Geekuality, Google Earth is a piece of software which:

"combines satellite imagery, maps and the power of Google Search to put the world's geographic information at your fingertips."

According to the project page found at http://earth.google.com, you can do all sort of cool stuff like:

Fly from space to your neighborhood. Type in an address and zoom right in.
Search for schools, parks, restaurants, and hotels.
Get driving directions.
Tilt and rotate the view to see 3D terrain and buildings.

So, in other words, Google Earth represents the Geographer's Dream, The Bored Man's Salvation, and the Voyeur's Fantasy Come True. Naturally, I fall in to the category of the bored man looking for something new to optimize his time on the web! (I know what Mad Bull and Dr. D. would do with this thing, since I know that they are neither interested in Geography nor have time to be bored with their hectic lifestyles!).

Anyhow, I thought it would be cool to Google Earth a few places of interest and see what turned up. Here are the results:

The first logical spot I thought to look for was my home in Jamaica. Unfortunately, I couldn't get a good feel for where in Barbican I was, so I gave up on this image.

Next I decided to try somewhere in the US and, of course, the most logical place to check out would be my current location...the office. I couldn't really identify too many things in this image either, I guess the foliage is just too dense for this satellite imagery stuff.

Eventually, I decided to try somewhere bigger and less rural. ..Pebble's apartment complex. Lo and behold, I see buildings, cars, trees, and all manner of coolness. I can actually make out her building from here! Wow, this is totally incredible!

Now it's my turn. I point Google Earth at my address and I can see with extreme clarity the terrain of the apartment complex! I see the swimming pool, my friend's apartment, the laudromat, and my own apartment! Wow, this is amazing. I can actually trace my way from my apartment building to the downtown area and the campus of my alma mater! The thing that has me completely freaked out about this technology is that it's extremely fast, accurate, and free!

They offer several pay versions of the software available which boast even more clarity, greater accuracy, and better search features! If this is available to the public, then just imagine the power of the technology the feds have at their disposal! I'll never get naked in my apartment again! Anyhow good friends, I'm out, it's late and I plan to go home and get some well-deserved rest! Be sure to download Google Earth now and try it out for yourself, if you haven't done so already!

{Nuff Said}

Out Of The Closet

2006-02-22T11:21:00.000-05:00

So I have a confession to make this morning. I'm suffering from an extremely rare disorder known in the medical profession as Subdural Geekatomyliosis or Geekitis for short. I was first diagnosed with this disorder when I was about 11-years old, right after my uncle brought home our first computer, an IBM PS/2 Model 30 with 16MB of RAM and dual floppy disk drives.

Lord only knows how many hours I spent in front of that little machine writing programs in BASIC and playing popular text-oriented adventure games like Space Quest, Police Quest, and King's Quest. God bless Sierra Games for giving me memorable characters like Roger Wilco, Sonny Bonds, and Sir Graham to help get me through those difficult and extremely awkward teenage years!

Over the past two decades or so, I've made a huge transition from being the sheltered teen of to an older, wiser, more mature person capable of taking responsibility for himself and others; however, this does not meen that my Geekitis went into remission! In fact, it's gotten worse! You see, I've become a closet geek (shhh, don't tell anyone else out of the blogsphere just yet!) and sometimes I really do wish I was comfortable enough with my geekuality to express it to the rest of the world. But when you're a good-looking, multi-talented, ladies man like myself, it's really hard to come out of the closet you know!

How do you rationalize getting "warm sensations" about the latest iPod or that ~~you enjoy writing useless programs in the nude late at night~~ you enjoy thinking about writing useless programs while driving to work in the mornings, let alone the fact that you can summarize youe life and personality in a Geek Code Block which once served as your e-mail signature (see below foran example of Geek Code).

GED/J d-- s:++>: a-- C++(++++) ULU++ P+ L++ E---- W+(-) N+++ o+ K+++ w--- O- M+ V-- PS++>$ PE++>$ Y++ PGP++ t- 5+++ X++ R+++>$ tv+ b+ DI+++ D+++ G++++ e++ h r-- y++**

The worst part about the Geekitis is that it's contagious! Now my own students have fallen victim to the affliction and I blame myself completely. Nowadays, I have kids coming to my office hours just to tell me how funny it was for them to "use a recursive event handler for a Java button object to see whether or not they could spawn an infinite number of new windows that would all close once the parent object was destroyed". Or better yet, finding it funny when one of my female students comes in to my office and tells me that she was out at a club with her friends and some annoying older guy (of about 29 or so) kept trying to get her phone number and she finally got fed up and gave him a wrong number...in binary!

Oh well, I suppose now that I'm out of the closet, all I can do now is continue to work on loving my inner geek. After all, life is sweet and it takes all type to make the world go round. So, if you're the type of person who enjoys doing math equations just because, or if you're familiar with a dangling-else ambiguity, or if you can find humor in the most mundane of circumstances, or even if you love playing with the latest tech toys, embrace your geekuality and (imitating L'il Kim's voice) "Put your RAZRs up!!"

Dragging

2006-02-21T12:03:00.000-05:00

I didn't get much sleep last night, nor did I have too much of an appetite for breakfast this morning. At 12:48pm, I'm extremely tired and hungry as hell, with two more classes to teach before I can officially go home and mope around. I plan to go to the gym tonight, but on an empty stomach, I'm not sure how that's going to work out.

The gym is always a fun place for me. I love to see the "wanna-be" huge guys walking around with their bony-to-marginally muscled arms flared out as if they actually have lats huge enough to produce that effect...I guess it's a symptom of the "I'm really not as monstrously huge as I think I am" syndrome that has existed since the age of the dinosaurs. I also love to see the muscle-girls who spend hours and hours between the treadmill and the free-weights, and who snarl at you like rabid dogs whenever you even make like you're going to use the equipment they plan to use two or three exercises down the road. I love the overweight loudmouths who pile on hundreds of pounds on the bench press and talk for about 15 minutes between each set about how they used to be "ripped". How can I forget the huge upper-body no lower-body types who can do every single exercise for their upper bodies, but who've never visited a squat rack, let alone know the difference between a calf raise and a lunge. Of course, there's my type too. The "don't talk to anybody unless you have to, I hate being here, train hard until you throw-up" type. It's great being me!

{Nuff Said}

A Typical Monday Morning

2006-02-20T10:49:00.000-05:00

Monday already. It's incredible how difficult it is to wake up on a Monday morning knowing that you have to face five whole days of work before seeing the weekend again. "Beep Beep, Beep Beep." Why the hell did I set that damn Nokia alarm for 7:30am again? Oh yeah, I need to wake up and put all my teaching material together. Do I really need to be up at this ungodly hour? Heck no! Somehow I manage to hit the snooze button again...just another 10 minutes and I'll be good!

Ten minutes later, "Beep Beep, Beep Beep." Shit, is it 7:40am already? Dammit! Let's see, if I wake up at 8:00am, I'll still have time to do everything I need to do, get out of the house no later than 8:40am and still be in time for work! So, I fidget with the alarm and set it for 8:00am. 20 minutes roll by and I'm woken up for the third time by the annoying "Beep Beep" sound. F*ck it, snooze button...

8:10am, This is the fourth time I'm waking up and I can't stand it anymore! I know that this is absolutely the last window of opportunity I have to make it in to work on time. I fight the urge to hit the snooze button for the fifth round. For a moment I consider calling in sick, but it doesn't make sense, because it would mean I'd have to get out of bed and fumble around for the house phone to call the office (yes, I have a cellphone next to my bed, but it's after 7am and I'd be using up unnecessary minutes).

I roll out of bed and look at the time--Shit! It's already 8:15am, I wasted 5 minutes thinking about getting out of bed! Oh no stomach hurts and bladder is about to explode! Need to rush to the bathroom. Ahhh, blessed relief! I glance at my wristwatch sitting precariously on the sink, 5 more minutes have passed and I'm nowhere near ready for work! No time for a shave this morning, need to hop in the shower fast! The warm water feels so good against my back, especially because it's winter time and I'm usually cold as hell in the morning (even with the temperature up to 70 degrees). I lose track of time, letting the water gently beat down on my head and neck and wash the soap from my body. Suddenly it hits me that I'm not being paid to advertise Axe Bodywash and I really need to get out of the house!

I stumble out of the shower and reach for the towel that isn't on the towel hanger. Man, I can't believe I didn't remember to put the damn towel back last night! In a flash, I hop out of the tub, open the bathroom door, and run to the master bedroom...the cold air beats against my wet body and I let out a loud Jamaican expletive through chattering teeth.

I guess I cursed too loudly. The neighbor's dog begins to bark at me. F*ck you dog, I'm already late for work as it is! I retrieve the towel sitting on my bed head and quickly dry myself. Hopefully the long trail of wet footprints in the rug will dry out by the time I get home from work. I grab my deoderant and savagely wipe it under my arms, stopping every now and then to curse at the annoying little dog barking at me from upstairs. I look around for a pair of Khaki pants that aren't wrinkled, of course they'll all be wrinkled because I never iron them that much anyway! Nope, can't wear any of these! Aha, last week's jeans! Here we go! Quick, grab a t-shirt and sweater, it doesn't matter what sweater, they all smell the same! OK, now I need socks....a ha, white socks! I'm wearing boots to work today! (Pebbles would cringe at the site of me wearing white socks to work).

Alright, I'm almost there! I have my clothes on...I don't need to brush my hair since I cut it all off last weekend (a time-saving device, but also an extremely dumb thing to do considering that it's mid-winter and I really need as much insulation as I can get!). Rush to the kitchen and pour some cereal in a bowl with some milk. Oh crap, the milk expired last week! OK, so no breakfast this morning! A mad dash to the living room to gather up my teaching material and laptop. I look at the time display on the cable box....8:50am. OK, I can still make it to work on time....well, at least within 5 minutes of being on time...if there's no traffic and I maintain exactly 60mph from start to finish. I grab my boots and pull them on--I'll tie the laces when I get to work. What am I missing? Oh yeah, I know! My jacket, hat, car keys, and wallet. Thank God! I found a jacket on the couch which has a hat stuck in one of the pockets. Fortunately I chose that jacket, since it was covering my car keys and wallet.

Alright, I'm good to go! I head out the door and then it suddenly hits me...sonofoabitch, I forgot that it snowed last night and I need to de-ice the car before I can drive to work. Ten minutes later, I'm still scraping ice and brushing snow. Let's do the math here, it's 15 after 9, I have a class to teach at 10, and it takes about an hour (or 60 minutes) to get from home to work...an impossible feat, right? Think again! I made it to work with 5 minutes to spare! I know the trucker, the two old ladies, the three pickup truck drivers, and the tractor were not impressed with my ability to overtake on winding roads!!!

{Nuff Said}

29

2006-02-10T14:40:00.000-05:00

Tomorrow I turn 29. Somehow, I don't mind that number too much. I'm not even worried about hitting age 30. It's just surprising that the years went by so quickly. Mentally, I don't think I've changed too much since age 21...except that I'm a little bit more jaded with life and people in general AND I have more responsibilities. I don't feel that much differently physically....except that I have packed on a few pounds and it's not as easy to get out of bed anymore. There's a snow storm approaching tonight and I won't be able to go to Delaware to spend my special day with my special lady (I miss you Pebbles)...but I suppose I'll just have to make do with a little cake, some good music, and a few phone calls. Have a great weekend all and Happy Birthday to me!

'Nuff Said

A Li'l Post

2006-01-23T13:36:00.000-05:00

Is it Monday already? Say it isn't so! Oh well, I really don't have anything to complain about today. Thank God for life, love, a decent job, and food! It is a little bit rainy here, but thank the Lord it's not snowing and the temperature is high enough to prevent ice from forming on the roads.

JDid, you were right, now that the arm hairs are growing back, it itches nuh rass! I must say that I really like the new hairless look and I'm probably going to shave them again. Yes to your comment on my last post CoolDestiny.

Woke up this morning filled with the intention of doing a little bit of yoga, unfortunately those plans were set aside because I needed to finish preparing a class which I should've really prepared on the weekend but didn't feel like. Fortunately most of my class preps are done and I'm now free to kick back and relax in office until the next student crisis or class-time (whichever comes first). The yoga is a part of my great plan to recapture my beach appearance for this summer! What with all the travelling I intend to do (Florida, Jamaica, Spain) I have to be shocking out iya! I won't post about the details here, but the recipe for my "best body ever" does include pumping iron four days per week, a little yoga, some aerobics, a touch of pilates, and a healthy serving of Latin dancing. Where the hell am I going to find the time and/or energy to do all this is anybody's guess...but I'm definately gonna try, because I do wanna look sexy for Spain! Of course, I'll have to get the diet in check. Fortunately I've been trying to work on this aspect for a few weeks now, so it's almost dialled in!

Anyhow, I have to run off for a while, but I'll post more tomorrow, promise!!!

Shaved Arms, Nice Students, and Peace

2006-01-20T13:34:00.000-05:00

"Shaved Arms, Nice Students, and Peace" what a title for my second post for the year 2006! I've been meaning to write something, but I've been a little bit busy trying to take care of pre-work business. You know the usual: checking and adjusting my advisees schedules, building syllabi, making initial lecture preparations, and so on. It's been a long time since I've been so relaxed at work to the extent where I can say T-G-I-F and mean it! Here's hoping that I can stay on top of everything this semester, but if not, you will probably be hearing about it.

Christmas in Jamaica was simply wonderful! Nevermind that my family is geographically distributed and can't/won't make the effort to spend Christmas together, nor that my Dad had to change plans on me at the very last minute for Christmas dinner. My friends, particularly my best friend Diego, stepped up to ensure that I was not without food nor family for that special day! Of course, what's a holiday without some amount of trials and frustration? I picked up a flu bug in my last week and had to be confined to bed for a few days (I still have this damn cough though!) plus a few problems here and there with my visa, but nothing major.

Of course, I saw Dr. D. (Di gyal dem Cherry Tree) a few times, though we didn't have many opportunities to hang out outside of my spot, he still represented. It was also great seeing Princess P as well (though I believe that her and Diego are the reasons for my illness!).

Anyhow, after the vacation, I am at peace with myself and, God willing, this peace should last for quite some time. I reconnected with quite a few old friends, and many of them served to help me to remember the person whom I used to be and whom I once loved. It's been a long time since my confidence was this high and I'm definately falling in love with myself all over again. Thank God for good friends, excellent fatherly advice, and a really cool younger brother!

My students this semester, so far, seem to be wonderful! I'm happy because I don't have as much stress with all my classes running back to back and I have time to focus and prepare things a lot more carefully. As for the shaved arms, I've recently determined that I shouldn't be left unattended for extended periods as I'm likely to do foolish things. Last night I went to the restroom and, as I was there, I noticed that I'd left my electric shaver plugged in. I picked it up and began to play with it, when an idea suddenly popped into my head: "what happens if I run this across my forearm?" Well, it felt really good, so I decided that I should do it again and again. Eventually, I kept doing it until there was no hair on my left arm and I realized how ridiculous (not to mention how skinny) my forearms looked if I didn't shave the other one.

Of course, I wouldn't just let it go at that, no my friends, I decided that I wanted to have silky smooth arms too, not the rough texture that the shaver left me with. And so, I stepped into the shower, razor blade in one hand and shaving cream in the other and proceeded to shave the residual hairs from my forearms. The result, completely smooth forearms. God do I feel metro(sexual) today.

Have a great weekend y'all and be safe!

I Sick

2006-01-08T12:27:00.000-05:00

Hi y'all,

You know that flu that's going around in Jamaica? Well, I fell victim to it yesterday, so now I'm officially on the SICK LIST. Noooo!!!! Fortunately for me, my immune system has been working overtime and I don't feel too bad today. Still not 100% able to go out and do stuff, but nonetheless I feel much better!

I've been detained in Jamaica for another week due to some visa issues, not a problem still, just need some additional paperwork from the office and I should (hopefully) be on my way come this Friday (the 13th). Not complaining still, any opportunity to stay away from the dreaded winter cold is a wonderful thing!

Anyhow, laptop battery low, so I need to cut this short!

Lataz!

Happy New Year!

2006-01-04T15:50:00.000-05:00

Christmas seemed to have blended into New Years without too much fanfare for me this year. It was a good time still and all my friends once again demonstrated how much they truly care about me. Thank you all for being here for me! To my fellow bloggers, Happy New Year and warmest wishes for a happy, prosperous, and safe 2006!

Am I Racist?

2005-12-13T13:09:00.000-05:00

So they executed Tookie Williams in the wee hours of Tuesday morning, December 13th, as scheduled. Sad to see the brother go down like this (thanks a lot Arnold for not commuting his sentence to life in prison). Oh well brother Tookie, guilty or not guilty, your life was not in vain and you will still stand as a symbol of redemption for millions of us out there.

Today we had a gift exchange thing at the office and I'm pleased to say that my colleauge loved the tie and box of candies I bought for him. I was also well pleased with my gifts: a 50 pack of CD-Rs and an assortment of pens and pencils. A professor simply cannot go without these things (particularly a professor who believes in buying music and then copying them to CD-Rs for use in the car--why bother scratch up the originals?).

Anyhow, while on the way to work, I had to stop and pick up the other half of my colleauge's Christmas present and a nice little gift bag. The store I chose to go to was the Super Wal-Mart about 20 minutes away from my workplace. Now, the people in this little rural town where the Wal-Mart is located tend to be very country (i.e. redneck-ish) and, as such, they tend to be a little bit on the racist side as well (or so I've been told a few times). Usually, I have no problems with these people, as they either ignore me or look at me in a weird sort of "who the hell is this n*gg*r coming up in our store?" sort of way.

Now, I would (usually) consider myself to be a non-threatining type of black man. I'm not very tall, always smiling, polite, and generally laid back. The only intimidating thing about me would probably be my broad shoulders and massive chest. Today, I walked into the Wal-Mart, and was busily looking for the items I needed for my co-worker's gifts, when a very old man walked up to me and nodded. Ok, I nodded back. As I walked around the clothing rack, another middle-aged man nodded to me and said "how are you doing this morning?". At the end of my shopping excursion, a total of seven people had nodded at me or said good morning. All of them were what I'd consider to be "good old boys" (i.e. the big truck driving, John Deere hat wearing, NASCAR-watching, camoflauge as formal-wear type people who live in the mountains).

Being that I've become quite a bit jaded after understanding the true nature of contemporary racism in America, I question the motives of these people. Are they "nice" to me because they're afraid of black men? Are they simply not racist? Are they tolerant of black folks as long as they don't try to have relations with their sons and daughters? Are they trying to get over their own complexes about Blacks and being nice to me is just Step 4 of a 12-Step program?

On the other side of the coin, am I being racist toward them? Do I really need to question the motives of these people because they chose to be civil toward me? Should I be unfriendly toward them?

Last night, after talking to Pebbles, I realized that I've become a little bit intolerant. Normally, I have nothing against white folks, but lately I find myself calling them "crackers" when I believe that I'm not being treated fairly. Also, it seems as if I've developed a complex against East Indians. Nevermind that I share over 60% of my ethnic background with East Indians, nor that my dad's wife is a second or third generation East Indian, nor that some of my best friends here in the US come from said continent. I think I've gotten upset at a vast number of them as a result of my grad school experience. Many of the Indians I went to grad school with proved to be a most dishonorable set of individuals who cheated on exams and assignments with great vigor and got great jobs at the end of their time because they had access to a vast network of other Indians. For me, it sort of cheapened the whole idea of studying and working hard for what you want.

Bearing all these thoughts in mind, the big question of the day is Am I Racist?

To Kill or Not To Kill?

2005-12-12T13:14:00.000-05:00

Well, it's finals week here for my students and I'm finally able to touch my blog again. The first order of business was to update my blogroll, ensuring that I added links for De Immigrant, Revolution Island, and SmallIslandGirl. Also fixed the link description for Stunner's Afflictions (i.e. I took the apostraphe out of Afflictions). Anyhow, how unnu week start? Mine started out quite well, with Ms. Pebbles flying down to Little Big City on the weekend. House feels like a home again rasta!

Anyhow, the gentleman pictured on this morning's post is Stanley Tookie Williams. For those of you who know a little something about the history of American street gangs, particularly the Bloods and the Crips, you'll probably recognize him as a co-founder of the Crips. I believe there was even a movie portraying his life story, where his role was played Jamie Foxx.

The question of the day is whether or not they should execute him tomorrow. Note that even though he does have a violent history and was convicted of killing quite a few people, he does appear to be reformed and has even become a strong anti-gang activist, publishing several childrens books with anti-gang messages.

I contend that maybe his death sentence should be commuted to life in prison with no hope of parole, as opposed to death by lethal injection. Why? Because the man is an example of how productive black people can be behind bars and perhaps his life does still have some merit based on the type of person he is now. Oh well, let's wait and see what Governer Schwarzenegger's office has to say later today.

So, what do you all think? To Kill or Not To Kill?