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?

Rest In Peace Richard Pryor

2005-12-11T11:40:00.000-05:00

And so the curtain has been lowered on the life of yet another icon of Black culture. Rest in Peace Richard Pryor. Your irreverent comedic antics and your ability to say things that most people thought about but never had the guts to say will never be forgotten. Rest in Peace brother.

Suspended For Speaking Spanish?

2005-12-09T10:56:00.000-05:00

I was surfing the newspaper links a few minutes ago and came across a very interesting article about a teenager, Zach Rubio, who was suspended from his high school in Kansas for speaking Spanish to a fellow classmate (you can read the entire article here). Apparently, the youngster was outside of his classroom on a restroom break when a friend asked him for $1 in Spanish. Of course, the youngster, who happens to be bilingual, responds in Spanish and the two end up having a full blown conversation. Eventually a teacher overheard the two boys talking and sent them to the principal's office where they were suspended.

Honestly, I believe that these kids should be rewarded for their fluency in multiple languages instead of being made to feel ashamed of their cultural identity, especially when they were outside of the classroom and from all indications weren't being disruptive! Maybe because I speak Spanish and Patois along with the Queen's English I'm a little bit more sensitive to these issues than other people? I don't know, tell me what you think.

Have a safe and wonderful weekend all! I shall endeavour to ensure that I don't go sliding over snow and ice with all the bad weather we've been having lately!

Shooting at MIA

2005-12-08T00:46:00.000-05:00

Haven't felt like posting much in a long time. Not much has been going on really, just winding down the semester and trying to make the best of the last few days before I head home to Jamaica for vacation. We've been having a lot of snow and freezing rain lately and the climate is becoming unbearably cold with record lows in the 20s (degrees F). Cannot wait to feel the warm Jamaican sunshine beating down on my ebony skin. Tired of wearing sweaters and jackets and gloves and hats. Winter has just begun and I feel like I'm trapped in that movie, The Day After Tomorrow. I think I'll eventually have to end up burning my math and computer science books to survive this winter what with the high price of gas and all!

So, I have a moral question for you. Today some guy got shot and killed at Miami International Airport by the Sky Marshals because he claimed to have had a bomb on his person. It turns out that the man was mentally disturbed (his wife said that he was bipolar) and had not taken his medication. If you're unfamiliar with the story, read the article by clicking here and tell me what you think. I definately feel that the Sky Marshals acted appropriately in this case, though you are all free to disagree with me if you'd like. The fact is that if a man says he has a bomb on a commercial airline no less, then he deserves to have his clock cleaned. If you know the man is mentally ill and has to travel for long distances, let the man take his rass medication before he flies! Anyhow, I'm curious to hear what y'all have to say.

Look Out Yard, Here I Come!!!

2005-11-14T10:37:00.000-05:00

Yep, purchased my plane ticket this morning (God bless Air-J for giving me a ticket below $400!) and I shall be touching down on the Rock come December 19th! Yes Iya, is a long time I haven't been home (a year, in fact) and I certainly intend to live it up to the max! So all of you who want to link up and do something just holla @ me and lemme know, cause you dun know seh this dog is down for whatever!

Anyhow, I know that it's been a while since my last post, though I'm really glad that I gave y'allz some jokes. Anyhizzle, I unfortunately have no more jokes to give :(...well, except for this one that a friend sent me this morning (according to him, it's a true story):

HOW TO CALL THE POLICE
George Phillips of Meridian, Mississippi was going up to bed when his wife told him that he 'd left the light on in the garden shed, which she could see from the bedroom window. George opened the back door to go turn off the light but saw that there were people in the shed stealing things.

He phoned the police, who asked "Is someone in your house?" and he said "no". Then they said that all patrols were busy,and that he should simply lock his door and an officer would be along when available.

George said, "Okay," hung up, counted to 30, and phoned the police again. "Hello, I just called you a few seconds ago because there were people in my shed. Well, you don't have to worry about them now cause I've just shot them all." Then he hung up.

Within five minutes three police cars, an Armed Response unit, and an ambulance showed up at the Phillips residence. Of course, the police caught the burglars red-handed.

One of the Policemen said to George: "I thought you said that you'd shot them!"

George said, "I thought you said there was nobody available!"

Anyhow, that's my contribution to the blogsphere today, hopefully tomorrow I'll be inspired to come up with a decent post and, God willing that my back stops hurting, I'll be able to sit still long enough to read your blogs!

LOL--Likkle Fun and Jokes

2005-11-02T14:52:00.000-05:00

Waapen People, I like how unnu dis mi and don't even answer the post about the Rib Kage flex for Christmas! Unnu guweh! Anyhow, I have a little joke to share with y'all, something my friend sent me today...happy reading!

DIARY OF A JAMAICAN WHO JUST MOVED TO SOUTH DAKOTA, USA :

October 8th
We have arrived in America!!! Finally!!! This marks a new chapter in
our lives. It's very nice here. It's a little cool, but who needs HOT
weather?
This is perfect, not too hot,not too cold.

October 15th
It is getting a little cooler, but we are adjusting. We bought some
sweaters today and went for a short walk. Loving America!!! This is what
life's about.

October 30th
The weather is definitely cooler now. We taped all the windows shut, so
cold air cannot creep in... Outside may be cold, but it feels like Jamaica
in this house.

November 11th
The news reports say snow is on the way... we cannot wait!!! We have
never seen snow and it should be pretty exciting to see it for the first
time.

November 14th
Started snowing. The first of the season and the first real snow we
have ever seen. The wife cooked buttered buns and we sat by the window
watching soft flakes drift down, clinging to the trees and covering the
ground. Could never do anything like this in Jamaica. IT WAS A BEAUTIFUL
SIGHT!!!

November 15th
We woke to a lovely blanket of crystal white snow covering the
landscape. What a FANTASTIC sight! Every tree and shrub was covered like a
beautiful white mantle. I shoveled snow for the first time and loved it. I did
both our driveway and sidewalk. Later, the city snow plow came along and
accidentally covered up our driveway with compacted snow from the
street. The driver smiled and waved and I waved back and shoveled again.
Americans are so friendly!

November 18th

It snowed an additional twelve inches last night and the temperature
has dropped to around four degrees. The cold weather is not so bad... we
can take this, not at all as bad as we imagined. Several limbs on the trees
and shrubs have snapped due to the weight of the snow. I shoveled our
driveway again. Shortly afterwards the snow plow came by and did his trick
again. Much of the snow is now brownish gray.

November 19th

Warmed up enough during the day to create some slush, which soon became ice
again. Bought snow tires for both cars. slipped and fell on my "batty" in the
driveway, paid $130 for the chiropractor, but fortunately nothing was broken.
More snow and ice expected

November 20th
Still cold. Sold my wife's BMW and bought a 4x4 in order to get to
work.

November 21st
On my way to work, the 4x4 skidded into the guardrail and did
considerable damage to the right fender. We had another 15 inches of white
s@!! last night. The vehicle is covered in salt and crud. More shoveling in
store for me today. Di damn snowplow man do him job again. Watch me an' him!

November 22nd
Blouse and skirt... the first heating bill just come! A how the hell it
come to so much???

November 30th
A two frigging degrees out a door! And more rahtid snow deh pon di way.
Not a tree or shrub ina di yawd whe no get damage. Di power off mos ah di
night.

Wi a try fi keep from freezing to death wid candles and kerosene heater,
but the heater tip over an' nearly bun dung the rassclath house. Mi manage
fi put out di flames, but end up wid second degree burns pan mi hands,
bun off mi yeyebrow and yeyelash dem. Den di car slide on the white s@!%%
(again!) on the way to the hospital and wi haffi write i off.

December 5th
Rahtid... dis snow yah nuh out fi stop??? Di ting keep on a come dung! Mi
affi put on all a di clothes wey mi own just fi go out a di damn mailbox.
If I ever catch the bitch wey drive di rahtid snow-plow yuh see, I gwine mek
him mumma feel it. Mi really tink sey 'im hide round di corner and wait
'til me finish shovel, den come down the street fast fast and cover up wi
driveway again. Wicked nuh blow wow!!!

December 10th
Di power still off. Di toilette freeze up!, and some part a di roof
look like it out fi cave in.

December 15th
Eleven more bomboclaath inches a snow an'ice!!!!!!!!!! Jah know...dis
no right. Mi wounded di snowplow wid di pick ax,but di driva get weh.

December 16th
Mi wife tek off and left mi.

December 18th
Di rass car won't start and mi tink mi ah go snow-blind. Mi caan feel
mi toe dem and mi nuh see the booldclaath sun fi weeks!!!! An' guess wha?
The weatherman ah predict more snow!!!! Good fi rass him. Di wind chill is 30
pussyclaath degrees below zero!!

December 22nd
Mi a move go back ah Jamaica teday 'cause dis place yah a go kill mi!!!!If
mi can ketch a flight, at least mi will reach just in time fi Christmas
dung a yard. 'Merica a nuh fi everybody!!!!

Bwoy, I can certainly relate to the poor rude bwoy! I know how he feels :)

December Linkup Drinkup?

2005-10-31T13:35:00.000-05:00

For some reason, I'm in a very festive mood this morning. Yes, I know Thanksgiving and Christmas are a ways off, but I'm already getting myself into the spirit, you dun know! Anyhow, my fellow bloggers, remember a little while ago I had suggested a potential meeting of the blogging minds so to speak (aka a Linkup Drinkup)? Well, I figure that with Christmas just around the corner, said plans must be set in motion. So, how does this sound as a tentative plan?

The Plan
1. Meet up at The Rib Kage sometime in the evening on December 23, 2005 (it's a Friday, I checked!) for a few drinks and some lively banter.

2. Depending on how the vibes flowing, we opt to either:
a) Chill out at the Kage and gwaan chat.
b) Go somewhere livlier like Quad or, dare I say, Asylum?
c) Find something else to do depending on how we feel

Alright, so that is the plan so far...I am completely open to suggestions and/or thoughts, so lemme know what unnu tink!

More Bless

Mi Hot!

2005-10-29T21:47:00.000-04:00

Yes my crew, how the Saturday treating y'all? Well, I didn't go to Delaware to see Ms. Pebbles, so I'm here in Little Big City chilling and watching a little TV before retiring to bed, which not going to happen anytime soon btw. Well, the title of this post is due not to the weather, but to one Ms. Halle Berry! You see, I was watching Catwoman a while ago and after seeing said film I am in an extreme state of excitement on a physical level, if you know what I mean ;). Sexy abs, black leather, and a whip will do that to a brotha!

Anyhow, as per usual, I don't have much to say tonight a backside, so I'll stop short and go read some blogs :)

I REALLY Mean TGIF!

2005-10-28T13:19:00.000-04:00

Whappen my crew? Given my inconsistent blogging over the past few months, it's probably not a surprise to any of you that my posts are non-existent this week. Well, let me tell you what a rass week I've had iya! Yours truly nearly froze to death! Yes, you heard me, froze to death in the middle of October! How the rass did that happen? Well, I'm glad unnu (y'all) asked. As it turns out, we've been having a couple days of rain with Wilma snooping around and all. Unfortunately, rain wasn't the only thing in store for us here in little old West Virginia. A sudden cold front developed on Monday night and rushed through our state, causing extremely low temperatures. Since there was much moisture in the air, the drastic change in the climate resulted in the production of my numero uno enemigo (number 1 enemy)...SNOW!

Now, I've dealt with snow and cold weather before and I've even driven in extreme conditions a few time; however, the one thing I didn't really account for was the fact that most of the trees still had leaves on them (it's Fall, so the leaves are still changing colors) and the combined weight of the snow and the leaves resulted in branches being ripped off and actual trees toppling over! Tuesday morning I woke up to about 3 inches of snow and my neighbor pulling a huge branch from off the hood of her Jeep. Luckily for me I'd come in pretty late on Monday and wasn't parked under the said tree, which ~~happens to be~~ used to be my favorite parking spot...but it was a narrow miss still, as I was parked just one car down from where the branch fell. Anyhow, a miss is a miss, thank God for that!

Of course y'all know that when trees start toppling, the next thing to go is power lines! Sure enough, I lost power at around 7:30am on Tuesday morning. Here's a little equation for y'all:

No Power = No Electrical Appliances
Stove && Central Heat = Electrical Appliances
:: No Heat && No Cooking

Regardless of having no electric at home, I decided to make my way to work (because I'm such a brave soul); however 10 miles from home a tree had fallen across the roadway and although my little Honda, God bless her, kicks major ass, she really is not suitably equipped for such driving situations, so I had no choice but to call the office and inform them that I couldn't make it in to work.

Eventually, I made my way back home, after slip sliding around in the snow and dodging downed power cables and trees. I had hoped that power would've been restored, but no such luck! At this point, the Dog start to fret, because the apartment getting colder by the minute and food in the fridge and freezer getting ready to spoil! No flames to cook with, hence money going down the drain. Fortunately I keep a few batteries next to the radio, so I was able to tune in to some news and find out what the deal was.

The news itself wasn't too heartening, since the power company had been swamped with so much work that they didn't think they'd be able to get power back to most residences until Friday (i.e. today). Rass, how I going bathe? How I going eat? How I going keep warm? All these thoughts rushing through my head as I listen to the news and hear reports about people in higher elevations seeing up to 12 inches of snow! Anyhow, eventually I calmed down and went out with a few friends to pick up an igloo, some ice, and some flashlight batteries. I packed all the food in the igloo, though it was already too late for the frozen stuff, set up my flashlights, found as many blankets and comforters as I could, and decided to fight out the night.

Next morning I woke up, managed to take a shower with the remnants of the hot water left in the heater, and go to work. The landscape looked like a hurricane had hit it and it will take several days to recover (though I did get my power back on Wednesday evening, so life is back to normal).

Anyhow, I gotta go, have a great weekend y'all!

Monday Recap

2005-10-24T22:34:00.000-04:00

Good day all. How was the weekend? Hope you all had a great one--despite the rain for my Jamaican crew and the hurricane preparedness for my Florida massive. Monday came and went and, thank God, I am unscathed. Today sort of dragged on, and I'm really happy that it's over! Just four more days to go and the weekend will be upon us once more and I (weather permitting) will be able to make my way up to see Pebbles once again.

Other than classes and meetings, nothing really interesting to report, except that I'm happy to report that I found a "diet" and training program that might actually work for me after all! I'm motivated to the extent that I even went out and bought myself 60-lbs of weights--hopefully the results will show in December when I make my way to the rock for Christmas.

Anyhow, just a quick holla @ u all. Hope the week goes great!

Shaggy Flop :(

2005-10-19T13:18:00.000-04:00

Well, after many days of searching the local music stores for a copy of Shaggy's new CD, Clothesdrop, I can now say with 100% certainty that the CD flop! Not just a little flop IMHO, a big rass one! Of course, there are a few tracks that can listen still and my personal favorite is Wild 2 Nite with Olivia, the tune bad iya! Other than that, I can say that the other tracks are mediocre at best, with a few exceptions. Although, admittedly I am interested in the unique way in which he blended the steel drums with the song Clothes Drop and the fact that he used some old school dancehall riddims in some of the other tracks.

On another note of interest, I also bought the Batman Begins DVD, even though I saw the flick in the movie theaters already. Still an excellent movie with well-developed, complex characters. It is the best Batman movie ever IMHO and definately worth the money I spent on it!

BTW, while I'm on the movie tangent, Sylvester Stallone is getting ready to film Rocky 6! Kiss mi rass! Rocky coming out of retirement again? Hasn't he had enough? Logically speaking, Rocky started boxing in his mid-thirties, and that was back in 77...so now, in 2005, he would be in his mid-60's nearing the 70 mark and he planning to go back into the ring again??? Don't make no sense--but, undoubtedly I shall make my way to the movie theater whenever it comes out in 06 - 07.

Oh well, as you might easily be able to tell, I have nothing more interesting to write about today--except that I'll be on vacation starting tomorrow (so all you haters can guweh!) and I'll be making my way up to Delaware very soon, as soon as car get serviced. Take it easy and big up!

Weekend Recap + Toledo, OH + Sean Paul

2005-10-18T01:43:00.000-04:00

Weekend Recap
So, Friday I picked up myself and decided to go see Pebbles in Delaware...a very good move on my part, because I really missing the girl and I don't do a damn thing in Little Big City anyway (except watch TV, do grades, and listen to the damn neighbor f*ing upstairs). To get to Pebbles, I have to spend quite a bit of time on I-95, going thru Baltimore. Along the way there are several toll booths, which I almost always approach with dread! It's not necessarily the money I have to spend on the toll, it's the fact that my driver's side window needs a new regulator and I haven't the time to fix it these days, so whenever I wind the window down to pay the toll, is either hit or miss as to whether or not the window will wind back up. This day it was a miss to r@$$! In fact, it was such a big miss that I had to take it to the garage on Saturday morning to have the bitches pull my door down and charge me $55 just to tell me that the frigging regulator was bad (which I already knew) and that they didn't have it in stock! Cho r@$$!

Anyhow, aside from the window, the weekened was pretty irie still...except that Delaware is the most boring city in the world, where everything closes at 1:00am and there are no hip-hop/dancehall clubs anywhere! Well, OK, there is a sort of dancehall club inside of a likkle Jamaican restaurant, but the friggin' yardie dem who patronize the venue don't dance fi nutten! Dem jus siddung and drink Heineken and Red Stripe and chart foolishness! Glorified rum bar with good music, that's all it was!

We bounced out of there since it was only me one wid 3 women (2 Spanish girls and an Egyptian) and I never really like how some of the looks we were getting (neither did the girls for that matter), plus there is no way I could justify paying $3.75 for 1 damn Red Strip!

The night ended with us going downtown at 12:20am only to find out that the one club that was "hype" was closing @ 1:00am and they were only playing Madonna to raatid! Not even contemporary Madonna, 80's Madonna! So, we had was to take the other two young ladies alone and, after chatting for a while, bid them farewell and returned to our abode.

Toledo, OH
I was watching a protest in Toledo, OH on Saturday, where some Neo-Nazis were planning to march in a neighbourhood (on the same day as the million man & woman march redux) to protest "gang violence perpetrated by black gangs". Imagine, a gang of racist thugs protesting by having an organized march in a residential area...how weird is that? Anyhow, it was good to see black folks gathered together to protest (and more likely drop two rocks against) this foolish racism that freedom of speech allows to take place in this country. Well, when the skinheads saw so many black folks, they bounced out really fast and I was pretty happy...until... the frigging protestors began to loot and vandalize the houses in the area! Very disturbing to see our young brothers and sisters making fools of themselves on the most watched news channel (CNN) for some foolishness like this. All these actions boil down to is food for the racists and these idiots just fell right into the snare! Unnu need to stop the friggry behaviour and behave better man, cho! Just because we're black don't mean we have to act the fool and just because some ignorant black folks act the fool, it don't mean that all of us are like that!

Sean Paul
I bought Sean Paul's Trinity CD...a good mixture of dance tracks still...though We Burnin' is definately my new soundtrack! It's been on heavy rotation in the CD Changer of late. The one thing I don't understand is why the hell it's so hard to understand what the hell SP is saying? I'm Jamaican, I speak perfect(ish) patois, so why I cyaan understand what the rass the man saying? Anyhow, as I said, the CD does have some hype dance tracks still, but I think the $13 I paid for it was a tad too much for the caliber of CD.

Anyhow, that is all I have to report now, so y'all have a good one!

O&O

Friday already?

2005-10-14T13:38:00.000-04:00

Rass, I cyaan believe is Friday already iya! Seems like just yesterday it was Thursday and now, zoops, Friday has once more descended upon us! I not complaining still, I glad fi the weekend...especially since I going check Pebbles tonight (anodder 3.5 hour drive, but the girl worth it iya!). Need to finish teaching one last class then mek a stop and nyam some food and put some gas inna di Honda and away we go!

Anyhow, I going keep this post short still, since is Friday and unnu not inna no long reading. Oh yeah, before I forget, I get a joke this morning and I going buss it pon unnu:

Three businessmen sitting in a jacuzzi in a conference hotel. A Jamaican, a Chinese, and an American. Suddenly, the American hip start to vibrate, and the others asked him "is what happen to you hip?" To which he replied, "Oh, my company just had a pager implanted into my hip, that way they can be sure that it's always with me!"

After a while, the Chinese man's arm starts to vibrate, and he lifts his right arm and puts his index finger to his mouth and begins to speak in very rapid Chinese. After a few minutes, he puts his arms down and explains to the others "Oh, this latest technology in China, cellphone implant in arm!"

Eventually, the Jamaican excuses himself and heads of for a few moments. After a while he returns and as he enters the jacuzzi, the others notice a few sheets of toilet paper hanging from his ass. The Chinese man pipes up "what with paper from ass?" The Jamaican replies, "Oh, I getting a fax from the island!"

Anyhow, that is my contribution, if unnu don't like it unnu guweh! I gone! Have a criss weekend and don't do anything that I would!

Would you be my friend if...

2005-10-13T13:17:00.000-04:00

I didn't have a blog? This question has been sort of riding my mind a lot lately. See, I look at my blogroll and there are so many people whom I can look to for some daily insight, humor, and even advice on occassions. Is it odd that I feel close to some of my blogroll friends, even though I've never met most of them in real life? Is the blog really and truly my primary source for social interaction nowadays? If so, then God help me!

I am thankful for blogging still, since I've met many wonderful folks in real life, such as Dr. D, Mad Bull, Yamfoot, Scratchie, and Princess P. But the thing is that most of these "blog bredrins and sistrens" are in a different generation than me and I'm not sure our paths would've even crossed had it not been for the common interest in blog-writing. I guess tat the question that best frames what I'm thinking about is how does one go about making friends in the real-world? I seem to have lost that skill, can someone enlighten my darkness?

Random Vexations

2005-10-12T10:55:00.000-04:00

Yes nyah, I man vex this morning...not the typical "somebody do something to me, so I vex" kind of vex. I just vex for no other reason than I am vexed! Anyhow, here is a list of my vexations for your reading pleasure...if you want to read it, then read it--if not, then f* off! (just kidding still folks, no disrespect intended here).

Vexation #1: Welcome to Jamrock Music Video
Every time I see that video, I vex. Not because of Junior Gong (whom I respect to the core) nor because of the lyrics (which are damn tight!) but because the f*ing censors ruined a perfectly good song. Can anyone explain to me why it's perfectly OK to be able to say words like "bitch", "ho", and "shit" on regular TV...yet words like "glock", "pop off", and "weed" are censored? Don't make sense to me.

Vexation #2: The Ultimate Hustler
Yep, Damon Dash is on BET with his own take of The Apprentice called the Ultimate Hustler (airs on BET Tuesdays @ 9pm). The premise is similar to the Apprentice except it's targetted toward a minority audience. Very interesting show and Dash does provide some insight and humor, but I'm mostly mad because my boy Kwame from New Orleans got eliminated for trying to hustle Swizz Beats at dice and getting his ass whooped. You can check out the site at http://www.bet.com/ultimatehustler BTW, Sizzla made a cameo appearance!

Vexation #3: Gas
Need I say more?

Vexation #4: The F*ing Neighbour
Yes, she still at it again trying to break down my roof!

Anyhow, I not really that vex you hear, I just didn't have too much else to post, so sorry :(

Memories of Fridays Past

2005-10-07T09:09:00.000-04:00

Happy Friday to all my fellow bloggers! Just swinging by to hail you up before I head out to see Pebbles for the weekend and get some much needed R & R. It's quite rainy here today in West Virginia, but you dun know seh the work haffi gwaan! (*sigh* not like when I was a youngster back in Jamaica and rainy days were always a good excuse to call off school!). Anyhow, as I was driving in to work this morning, my mind began to wander a little bit...you know the usual thing with driving long distances with only the radio for companionship. Anyhow, I began to think about how the meaning of Friday has changed for me over the years and figured that it would be interesting to put things down in words, just to see how my life has changed over time:

When I was in Prep school, Fridays were both frightening and exciting at the same time. Frightening because I had to face my Phys. Ed. instructor and, being one of only two fat kids in school, it was quite a traumatic moment in my young life! See, he figured that he'd try to work off all my fat in one session, and sometimes I think he would've succeeded had it not been for me having to stop exercising to throw up more often than not. On the plus side, Friday was right before Saturday, and I knew that if I could make it to 5:00pm then I'd have the entire weekend to chill out and watch cartoons. Unfortunately, Fridays became pretty bad after a while when my Dad enrolled me for swimmng lessons at the local YMCA center. This meant that I'd not only have Phys. Ed. on a Friday, but my Saturday cartoons were ruined as well! However, life got back to normal after the YMCA burned down.

When I started High School, Fridays were much better, since Phys. Ed. classes were held during the weekdays (a Wednesday I believe) and the coach didn't care too much whether or not you showed up...just prove to him that you could run around a little bit, do a few pushups and situps, and you'd get your A, no problem! I would always look forward to Fridays because it meant that I could kick back and relax at home, probably do a few things with the family, like go to the supermarket for Grandma or occassionally hang out with my Dad and his wife.

From about 3rd form and all through Community College, I became a lot more outgoing and got involved in the martial arts. The people whom I worked out with were like a family and, since I was at an age where I was rejecting my own family, it made sense that I would spend more time with my surrogate family. Fridays were great then because you knew that you could look forward to some intense training, a lot of laughs, and an all-round good time! You'd train hard, feel good about yourself, go home to bed, wake up the next morning, go back to the gym again for some training or the occasional testing or tournament. Usually the "family" would go out on Saturdays to a movie or some other social activity, and you'd get to meet girls by the droves!

Eventually when I made the decision to study abroad my social life went from very high to zero in no time flat. I lived with my aunt for the first semester and Fridays were pretty much for staying home and watching TV or going with her to some church event or hanging out with some of her friends who were many times older than me and whom I had nothing in common with. After she left Little Big City, my social life got a bit better, as I used to hang out with my friends from school at the local student center. Later on, I discovered the joy of hanging out a bars and clubs (a.k.a. liming) smelling everything from stale alcohol to cigarette smoke and weed.

Nowadays, Fridays are divided into odds and evens--I go to see Pebbles on the odd Fridays and stay in Little Big City on the even Fridays. When I go to see Pebbles, we hang out, enjoy each others company, explore the town together, and just have a great time! When I'm in Little Big City, Fridays usually involove cleaning the house, watching TV until the wee hours of the morning, hacking code, grading and preparing for the following week's classes. I have very few friends here and the ones I do have, I rarely see, so I'm pretty much left with a lot of time to think (though all this changes when I touch down in Jamrock), but you know what, I prefer it this way...

Have a great weekend all!

A Likkle Midweek Chat

2005-10-05T09:45:00.000-04:00

Well hello there! How are you all doing? Hope everything is fine and the gas prices not killing y'all. I have to tell you though that since gas is now at $3+ / gallon (again) here in good old Little Big City, West Virginia, I feel a great sense of guilt every time I put my foot on the accelerator. Who knew that my entire life would be generalized down to a single equation:

Higher Speed = More Gas = Less Disposable Income = Broke = No Social Life

Yep, that's my life in a nutshell right there! Anyhow, I shouldn't complain still...life isn't all bad, there's food in the fridge, I can afford to go see Pebbles on the weekend and do stuff (though on a much stricter budget), I have my health, and God is good!

Anyhow, before I forget, I have to tell you all about my Tuesday adventures iya! I went to a Jamaican restaurant here in West Virginia, about half an hour or so from my workplace! Can you believe it people? There is actually a Jamaican restaurant here! Now, if you knew where I worked, you too would be shocked and amazed about this fact. I work in an area that is about 99% white and 150% country, if you catch my drift! Here you can see "good ol' boys" running rampant in their jacked up pickup trucks with the confederate flag license plates and/or mud-flaps, deer rifles in the cabs, and camoflauge in abundance! (do you know that you can get camoflauge boxer shorts?). I work in a world where students skip class to go fishin' at the crik (creek) and deer-hunting is more than a hobby, it's a sporting event.

Yes, I work in a rural area, where people get weirded out when they see a person of color walking down the street; hence, I am still trying to figure out how, in all this "redneckness", a Jamaican restaurant that is owned by a bonafied Jamaican hombre which serves (semi) authentic Jamaican food (e.g. ackee and ~~salt-fish~~ codfish) suddenly appears in the middle of this redneck paradise!!! Now, if it had happened in Little Big City, no surprise, I'd probably say that it's about time (Little Big City has a large, diverse population of foreigners, so it's normal to see many restaurants from all over the world), but the fact that it's located this far away is still something I cannot fathom.

But anyhow, I digress. I went there with a faculty member and his wife and we had a great time. I had curry goat (something I'd been missing for a looong time!) and my only complaint was that it wasn't peppery enough (watered down for American tastes) and the portions were less than adequate. Also had an opportunity to drink a couple glasses of Ting, which went really well with the curry goat (I did want a Red Stripe, but wasn't too sure on my colleauge's position on alkyhol). Anyhow, I will definately go to visit again, even if it is to eat two pate (patty) as the manager calls it!

Other than that, I went to another colleauge's house yesterday to hook up her wireless network, so I am promised some Indian food for lunch today. Bwoy, I not complaining still, I'm probably the only technician you could pay in food and he's content :).

Anyhow, I need to go finish doing some adult work and I will holla at unnu lata!

{Respec' in all Aspec'}

F'ing Neighbours!

2005-10-03T07:23:00.001-04:00

Well, as it turned out, I didn't get to drive up to see Pebbles this weekend...way too much work to do. Oh well, next weekend I'll be there baby! Anyhow, you're probably wondering from the title of my post what is the latest in the never-ending saga with me and the neighbour. Well, as it turns out, I'm in bed Saturday night/Sunday morning at around 2:00am. Now, I'm not sure if I mentioned to you that neighbour is a lesbian...if not, now you know. Anyhow, I guess she found a new girlfriend or something, but at 2:00am, I hear footsteps and laughter above my head. Ok, no problem so far. Suddenly laughter stops and no more footsteps. All is well for a few minutes and I drift back into sleep.

About 10 minutes later, I hear the bed springs creaking, a few passionate moans and groans here and there, and then the damn dog start to bark! Apparently doggie don't like what she seeing. Anyhow, neighbor stops and tells the dog to shut up a few times, then decides to ignore it completely. For two hours straight, I am subjected to bedspring creaking, neighbor moaning, and dog barking. Where this rass woman get that kind of endurance from, I don't know! All I know is that at one point I was afraid that the bed was going to break down with them and fall through the ceiling and kill me on the spot!

Eventually, they finished what they had to do, and went to bed...thank God! Anyhow, other than that Saturday night episode, the weekend was relatively pleasant and uneventful. Spent much of it just chilling at home, did a little bit of exercise, bought a new diet book (more on that later), watched TV, graded a few assignments, and prepared an exam. All in all, a very restful weekend. Now it's time to head back out to the grind! Wish me luck now.

Have a great week everyone!

T to the G to the I to the F

2005-09-30T09:11:00.000-04:00

Yes nyah! Thank God It's Friday is finally here! After a long work week I'm sure you all are looking forward to kicking back and doing something not related to your job/career. Myself, I plan to go home and do some laundry and clean up the place a bit and then it's off to Delaware to see Pebbles-san early tomorrow morning. All in all, it doesn't sound like it's shaping up to be too bad of a weekend and I'm definately going to try and have fun [the plan is to get all the work I need to get done today].

Anyhow, not too much to post this morning, except that I did have a little linkup-eatup-drinkup at the boss' house last night. Wifey throw down some serious salmon iya and my stomach is still singing praises to her remarkable culinary skills! Anyhow, y'all have a good weekend and stay safe!

Respec'

Gimme Di Light!

2005-09-26T23:26:00.000-04:00

I swear I’ve never smoked marijuana a day in my life nor have I ever abused any other drug for that matter…well, with the exception of a mild addiction to Vicks Nyquil a few years back. I have, however, had occasion to get high under the most extenuating circumstances! For example, just the other day I was teaching my students the intricacies of the while…do, do, and for loops in C++ when I was suddenly engulfed in a wave of euphoria and couldn’t help but giggle in-between sentences. My students, who are generally used to my eccentric behavior, didn’t think much of it and laughed along with me. It turns out that I was writing on a whiteboard and utilizing four different markers at the same time, since I like to be as visual as possible with my explanations. The fume from said markers caused me to get a tad bit high, hence the loopy behavior I was experiencing.

Another time I had the flu and decided to take some Nyquil and go to bed. Unfortunately, a friend called me up and invited me to go out drinking with him, right after I had taken the medication. When I refused his invitation on the basis of my illness, he brought the party to my doorstep, showing up with Chinese food and a bottle of red wine he’d brought back from his vacation in France. Of course, I couldn’t refuse the free French wine and decided to ignore the warning labels on the Nyquil box which clearly stated that one should not mix alcohol with the medicine. Aside from suffering violent headaches and amazing hallucinations, I didn’t wake up for nearly two days. On the plus side, my flu was completely dried up and I was about 6 pounds lighter!

How could I forget the time I decided to pick up smoking? I was at a point in life where everything just felt wrong (I forget what teenage crisis I was going through) and I decided that I needed to drown my sorrows with nicotine. So, I stopped at a little shop on Barbican Road and bought myself two cigarettes. Unfortunately, I didn’t have enough money for a lighter or a pack of matches, and the shopkeeper didn’t want to give me a light. Of course, at this time, the closest I’d ever come to smoking a cigarette was when I was about 8 or 9 and I stole a lit one from my mother (under the pretext that I would toss it in the toilet, since I wanted her to quit). I actually intended to smoke it myself just to see if I could make those cool circles and other objects like they did in the cartoons (damn you Bugs Bunny!). The end result was me, with lungs full of nicotine, passing out on the bathroom floor and awakening to find a cigarette burn in the bathroom rug and my mother standing over me with a stern expression on her face. Well, I decided that I’d ask someone for a light on the way home; however, the individuals on Widcombe Road in the late night hours aren’t necessarily the friendliest Jamaicans out there. So, I put my unlit cigarette in my mouth and chewed it as I walked home. Suddenly, I became very dizzy and sweaty. Apparently, I’d managed to chew too far down into the cigarette and was experiencing the full effect of raw nicotine on the nervous system. Forget about that one now, no smoking for me!

Now my first and last experience with weed came about when I went to Community College and used to hang out with a Rastafarian fellow by the name of Rock. Now Rock was what one would call a true “Herbalist” and you could smell the weed on him even if he wasn’t smoking. Unfortunately, his weed smell began to rub off on me and my family thought I had become an addict…the fact that I was studying so hard at the libraries until my eyes got red and the bedraggled manner (i.e. grunge) in which I carried myself didn’t help matters much either. One day, Rock and I decided to study together for a programming exam…I believe it was COBOL programming. Now for those of you who know programming languages, you know that COBOL is one of the worst languages to learn…period. Well, Rock was a bit frustrated with the notes and decided to burn a little herb to make things seem clearer. Well, he didn’t ask me if it bothered me, he just lit it up and continued studying. I, on the other hand, sat around enjoying the second-hand fumes and feeling really irie. Finally, exam time came, and I walked, or rather glided, into the examination room on a cloud of 1’s and 0’s. The exam was handed out and I was feeling really mellow by that time. I just wrote and wrote and wrote for the entire three-hour examination period and, at the end of it all, I had no clue about a damn thing I had written. A couple weeks passed, exam results came back, and guess who got the highest score? Me, of course! Not only was the score the highest for the class, it was the highest the teacher had ever seen for any COBOL course she’d ever taught! Hmmm, I wonder if this is why us Jamaicans oftentimes refer to weed as “High Grade”?

How Angry Dog Get Him Name

2005-09-25T20:14:00.000-04:00

Good day to all you wonderful readers out in blogland! I hope you all had a wonderful weekend filled with rest and relaxation. Now, I haven't had a chance to read many blogs this weekend, but I've been slowly catching up. I did notice however that dear friend Campfyah call out a brotha's name on one of her more recent blog entries regarding the unusual names of fellow bloggers. Well, to shed some light on the situation, how I come about the name is quite simple:

One day, several years ago, I got into a heated discussion with a friend of mine about some stupid topic that I barely even remember. Well, friend-of-mine is a very well-read and extremely verbose individual and he was whipping my ass with his words and as time went by I began to feel dumber and dumber. After a while, I was excessively pissed off and at a complete loss for words, so I did the first thing that came to mind--I began growling and barking like a dog until he shouted "Alright Angry Dawg, mek we done the argument before you bite off mi head!" From that day on, I developed this little thing that when I'm happy or upset, or just plain bored I bark! DMX makes a living barking on stage, so why shouldn't I do so as well? It pisses Pebbles off to have her boyfriend bark, but hey, it's my thing!!

Anyhow, there you have my "life story", hopefully with some convincing Campfyah will reveal her "shady" past as well!

What did you do this weekend? Well, I pretty much didn't get one damn thing done! As it turns out, my friends were moving and were shorthanded, so I got the last minute call to arms! Now, aside from being in pain, I have a bunch of work to catch up on...which means I'm leaving work late tomorrow *sigh*. Oh well, sometimes we all have to help out our friends, nuh true? Oh, get this, the new house that my friends are moving into happens to be my first student house in Little Big City! Many memories in that place, most of them bad, so it was really a weird moment going back into that place again. Oh well, good or bad, memories are all we have and, in a way, going back to that place sort of made me feel as if my life had come back around full circle. Those were the days!

Have a great week you all!

Friziday!!!

2005-09-23T14:06:00.000-04:00

Yizow people,

Wat da dizzle? I am tired out rass today, can't even type straight iya! Why am I tired? Well, I had a Thursday night link up drink up wid my boss and his wife and my colleague and his wife. Nuff nuff food....nuff Horse Douvers (H'ors D'ouvers for you edjumicated folks) and an ital (good and healthy) lobster stew prepared by my boss' wife...di girl can cook iya! So nuff nuff merriments and I never reach home till nearly midnight...saw two deer, one dead and one alive, on the way home--Doan even ask how I manage to navigate dat raatid country road wid di juice weh I was unda.

(Side note: Now you probably wondering why I'm writing in patois...well, it's a theory of mine, but since I learned to speak patois before I learned the good and proper Queen's English, whenever I get really tired, I lapse back into the patois real quick...so please bear wid me today!)

Anyhow, I get home and start to type up some code for my students for the next day and such delights, when the cellie ring and, lo and behold, it was mi bredrin/sparring partner/confidante, let's call him Izzy, on the other end. He was telling me bout this crazy raatid week he been having, so I ended up going over to his yard and chillin' some more...eventually we ended up listening to Jr. Gong new CD (his style really grows on you fast and even the songs you thought weren't so good are really good sounding now) and setting up his PC. Rass, neva reach home till close to 2:00am. Did I sleep? Hell no! All I did was work on the compi for a little while longer and hit the bed at a good 3:30am--only to be awoken at 7:00am by the alarm on the frigging Nokia! [loud and obnoxious!]. No dog last night, but thanks for unnu suggestions [btw, I definately like Aaron D's suggestion a lot and Sunshine you have some evilous thoughts u know!

Anyhow, enjoy the weekend...have a likkle fun and nuff drink up (for those who drink). Stay safe and big 'ood.

Respek, Anklespek, Toespek

F'ing Dawg

2005-09-22T09:03:00.000-04:00

Here's a little trivia for you all:

What do you do when the neighbor's dog keeps you up all night with it's incessant barking and running around?

Do you:
a) Do your best to ignore it and take some sleeping pills?
b) Wait until the neighbour is out, break into their apartment and kill the f'ing dog?
c) Complain to management, even though said neighbor does have a lease?
d) Tell the neighbor some good, down-home Jamaican bad words?
e) Call the ASPCA (American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals)?
f) Call the cops and tell them that your neighbor sells drugs out of her apartment?

F'ing little minature dog keeping a brotha up all damn night!!! AAARRRRGGGHHHH!!!!

Crazy people, bwoy I tell you...

2005-09-20T08:47:00.000-04:00

Somehow I knew this weekend was going to be interesting...I don't know whether it had to do with the fact that I was watching XXX: State of the Union last Thursday night and there was a scene with a digital clock showing 11:58am just as my VCR clock was showing the same exact time! Or maybe it had to do with the fact that I almost hit a quail on my way to work Friday, no I'm not kidding, I almost hit a frigging quail!

Anyhow, driving up to see Pebbles on Friday evening, I'm travelling at a good 80-85mph when all of a sudden, another Honda flies down in the left lane and cuts me off! This car had to be doing about 90-100mph easily! Not a big deal really...EXCEPT there was a guy lying on the roof of said vehicle. Apparently, he had climed through the moonroof and just decided to lay out on top of the car. His friend is driving like a mad man, braking and speeding up, and he's just holding on to the roof by his arms, no ropes, no cables, nothing. I said to myself, "bwoy if that youngster had fallen off the car, I would have no choice but to run him over!" Somehow I don't think I'd feel to bad about it still. The world is made up of all sorts I suppose, but when you want to go eXtreme, try not to go eXtreme stupidity!

Anyhow, the weekend was pretty uneventful otherwise, had a great time with Pebbles, who incidentally celebrated her birthday yesterday. Anyhow, I going to go educate a few young minds and make some cheddar in the process!

Respec'

PJ The Actor

2005-09-16T07:08:00.000-04:00

Alright, I never like that documentary one bit last night. What documentary am I talking about? One that came on on the Travel Channel named Jamaica: The Ultimate Tour. Pretty much our Prime Minister made his television debut and showed just how bad an actor he is in the process! "No, no Peter, we don't say 'Yeah Maan', we say 'Yeah MON'". Fi real! So of course, there is this guy and PJ touring around Jamaica, shaking hands with everyone they meet, PJ sounding like one of those uneducated folks trying to speak properly to impress the tourists, yet ending up coming off even worse....come on PJ, I know you are a much more fluid speaker than that!

Anyhow, it's Friday and I'm happy to be able to once again say TGIF! I'm off to see Pebbles this weekend, so as soon as I teach my last class, it's off to Delaware I go! Anyhow, y'all have a safe weekend and remember to fill up the comment box you hear!

Nggas and Btches, Gin and Juice

2005-09-14T14:14:00.000-04:00

Well, I did go out and by Damian's new CD after all. It was a pretty good CD, not the best CD I've ever heard by any standards, but definately worth the $9.99 I paid for it at BestBuy. In fact, I'd say it was on the same level as Half-Way-Tree, not much better, not much worse...though the collaboration song Beautiful with him and di crackhead (aka Mr. Whitney Houston aka Bobby Brown) was pretty tight still and the one he did with Eek-a-mouse and Bounty Killer, Khaki Suit was also pretty good. All in all, as I said, the album is worth the $9.99 I paid for it, not less, not more.

Anyhow, last night I was sitting around at home working on the compi, listening to Damian CD, when a thought suddenly cross my mind: "Why is it that Jamaican men (at least in my generation) don't call women bitches (unless they piss us off) and we most certainly don't walk around calling each other n*ggas. Our women certainly would have a lot to say if we were to even think about calling them a bitch or a ho! However, the younger generation (Lord, it's hard to believe that I am not the younger generation anymore!) really don't seem to have too much difficulties identifying with these terms. When I was growing up, I remember going out at age 17-18 and nobody used to ask for ID cards to buy drinks, yet you hardly saw that many drunk people stumbling around, hammered out of their minds. Now you hear more frequently about kids getting killed because of drunk driving. Lawks, bring back the simpler times yow!

Back in the day it used to be Bredrin and Sistren, Red Stripe and Food now it's Niggas and Bitches, Gin and Juice. No man, it just ain't right! Sure, you must drink a juice and feel irie every now and then, but don't do it to the point that you can't see straight, let alone drive straight...yet you still drive you cyar and go crash wid somebody and clean him or her clock! It just ain't right, iya! And you rass bredrin (or niggas) come to you funeral looking all sad and teary-eyed, why the rass dem neva tek you keys if dem was you peeps? [sorry, I not trying to preach, but I vex iya].

As for calling each other niggas and bitches, pimps and hos....stop it! Why the rass would you want to identify with a word that has such a nasty connotation (yes, there is a difference between the words n*gger and nigga) but if you call yourselves that, what other people outside your race going to think?

Imagine, I get into a fight with a Korean youth a couple years back, just because he come to me and say "Chill nigga!" "Who di rass you calling nigga?" *slap* "Yo Nigga, be cool, be cool Nigga!" *thump, kick* "C'mon nigga, don't hit me again nigga, please nigga!" Is only after I beat this bwoy down proper I realize that he had a lot of black friends and, though he never used the term with them, he figured that he could be down with me and say shit like dat. Since that day, nobody, not black, white, indian, chinese, african, european, japanese must call me nigga! Just because you use a word enough don't make the connotation of it any less...learn dat!

As for pimp? Why di rass do I want to be associated with a man that sell pum-pum for a living? I would much rather to be called an ol' gyalist!! As for bitches? I ain't gonna call my good good, pretty, nice-smelling woman a "bitch"...i.e. a female dog? I sleep wid women not dogs! And I not even going to touch "ho"...ho is something that you either use to dig up your backyard or a woman who gets paid for sexual favors--I certainly don't sleep with/date a garden tool nor do I pay for services rendered! So the hell wid dat.

No more nigga, no more pimp, no more bitch, no more ho! Breddrin, Sistren, Lion, Empress...conscious vibes we dealing wid for 2005.

Welcome to Jamrock!

2005-09-13T14:48:00.000-04:00

Yes iya, today is the day that Junior Gong's new CD supposed to drop! I man well excited about that still, especially since his Half-Way-Tree CD is in heavy rotation in the Honda. Now nuff of you don't gi di Gong credit and argue that is only because Bob Marley is his daddy why he get any airplay.

Well, you are entitled to your opinions still, and though I contend that he isn't the greatest reggae artist to step out of Jamrock (he definately didn't deserve the Grammy...should've been Beres' that took it home that year), but the yute does have some conscious lyrics some of the times. Anyhow, I will give the CD a prips and tell unnu if it worth buying after all. Incidentally, has anyone listened to the Hustle & Flow soundtrack yet?

I probably going pick it up to, just because the music in my car getting really stale (one of the dilemmas of having a CD changer). Anyhow, I really don't have too much to post today, so I gone get mi copy of the CD and I will definately provide feedback.

Oh, by the way, I planning to start a new blog in a week or two dedicated to everything from programming to system maintenance to technology...I figure it's about time I get back to being a geek [don't worry, my kennel will still be here!]

RASS GAS!

2005-09-02T14:37:00.000-04:00

Two days ago I filled up my car at the local Exxon station. It was in the morning and the price was about $2.85/Gallon and I was crying. By the evening when I was driving home, the rass gas gone up to $3.80/Gallon at the same station! Bwoy, times rough for true when you have to be deciding whether you would prefer to take your girl out for dinner or buy a tank of petrol! It pretty much costs me the same and I drive a Honda...imagine the poor folks dem who drive dem big ol' SUVs and such--sorry for my neighbour with the new-brand Hummer H2 sitting in his garage!

This morning a student of mine suggested a piss-powered engine and believe me, I'm seriously contemplating an engine swap right now! You ever have it so bad with gas where you don't even want run your A/C when the weather is 80 degrees? Or you're more than willing to drive 25mph in a 60mph zone? But when you're at a point (like me) when you're even afraid to turn on your radio or headlights lest they too begin to suck the precious gas out of your vehicle, then you know the $#!+ has definately hit the fan. Yes, the little ugly Honda and Toyota hybrid cars have definately won out this day!

To top it off, Katrina has laid to waste much of the US' oil refineries, hence there is a bum rush on the gas stations and several places have closed down, not knowing exactly when they'd see gas again. Is a serious rass time fi true!

Anyhow, I not going to rant and rave bout gas no more, is Friday, and though things rough, food still in the fridge, Pebbles flying in for the labor day weekend, and I am healthy. So, give thanks and we will link soon!

Raatid!

2005-08-30T14:02:00.000-04:00

Bwoy, Katrina giving the Gulf Coast a rass beating iya! I here in Little Big City trying to avoid the rain wet and carry on with business as usual, but the dark, overcast, rainy weather here certainly put a man in the mood to go to bed and sleep (or do other things, if you catch my drift!).

Anyhow, Raatid is the first word that came to mind when I realized how long it's been since I touch this blog iya! I suppose I've all but lost my faithful readers :'(. Sorry, but life has been increasingly hectic what with Pebbles' sister's visit, the nuff trips all over the US, Pebbles moving to the "other city" for her new job, you go little Ms. Assistant Professor of Spanish! Big up to you girlfriend!!!

So, what's new with y'all in blogland? Drop me a comment if you care to nuh? and if not, unnu can guweh !!! (just kidding!).

Pebbles Leave Me....

2005-08-19T01:34:00.000-04:00

...to go to another state for her new job. The location of her new residence will be referred to as "Casa Dos" from hereon out. Sorry I haven't posted or visited your sites much in recent weeks, we've been going through quite a bit with her sister visiting and us having to get her set up in her new place. Life is back to some semblance of normal, work has once more commenced, and there is much needed structure in my life once again! I don't savor going back to work, but at least I have something to do every morning that I wake up :). Anyhow, enough about me, how've you all been doing? Will be visiting sites sometime later on the weekend plus getting back into the groove of updating my blog frequently. See y'all soon!

The Name Game

2005-07-26T10:28:00.000-04:00

Was just over at Kami's and JDid's blogs. Seems as if they both have the name thing on their minds this morning (still laughing @ Scoobay, JDid). Since I am a Pirate of the Caribbean and I really don't have much to post this morning anyway, I decided that I'd just jump on the 'names topic' bandwagon and make my contribution.

Picture it: two girls walking in a park, Akira from Japan, and Isabel from Spain. The girls see an ugly little dog, you know the ugly little pug dog, right?

Anyhow, the girls see this little ugly dog and begin to make fun of it, laughing at it, and having a blast commenting on how damn unfortunate the poor little animal is. Eventually, the owner comes up to the dog and says, "Isabel, Isabel, come here Isabel, that's a good girl..." Shock. Silence. Suddenly, the Japanese looks at the Spaniard and says, "Hey Isabel, did she just call that dog Isabel?" To which the Spaniard replies, "Yes..."

Now, y'all may think I'm trying to give you a joke this morning, but I'm not. It really happened to my friend Isabel (name changed to protect the innocent). So the moral of the story you ask? Don't make fun of ugly little dogs, they just might share your name!

Hey, you know that they're really going ahead and making a new Superman movie? It's set for release Summer 2006. Basically, Superman returns to earth after many years absence, only to find that Lois Lane has moved on with her life, the world has learned to live without him, and I seriously doubt that Clark Kent still has a job at the Daily Planet.

It's gonna be hard for me to see anyone but Christopher Reeve in the red and blues still, so I hope Warner Brothers and Dark Horse Comics do a damn good job in making a good storyline with believable characters, sort of like they did with Batman Begins

New York Trip

2005-07-22T11:10:00.000-04:00

You know, I'm thoroughly enjoying this summer break. For the first time in my life, I have the the three most important elements that make for a fun vaction, i.e. time, money, and wonderful people! Anyhow, New York was a blast! Pebbles and her sister dragged me around the city mercilessly, seeing everything that one could possibly expect to see. My feet hurt, I was exhausted, but still we had a great time.

We arrived at our hotel in East Rutherford, NJ on Friday evening. We decided that it was a tad too late to go to Manhattan and we ended up dining at the TGIF about 1/2 mile from the hotel. Saturday morning found the three of us roaming around Manhattan staring in complete awe at the many gigantic edificies that make up the city's distinctive skyline.

We spent a little time visiting St. Patrick's cathedral. Very beautiful place indeed. Lots and lots of little stone carvings and many, many tourists.

Of course, no New York trip is complete without a shot of the Chrysler Building...

...and the Empire State Building.

We took a tour of the United Nations building. They gave us a discount because the A/C in two of the rooms for the tour were broken. In the picture above, you see the main area where all UN delegates gather. If you can make out the sign of St. Lucia, Jamaica's seat is directly left of it.

After many hours, we found ourselves aboard the Staten Island Ferry, where we got our first good look at the NYC skyline post-9/11. We did go to Ground Zero and believe me it was a heart-wrenching moment to see all the wreckage and debris left in the wake of the disaster...

Here's lady Liberty in all her magnificence. We didn't get to go to the statue herself and I was once more disappointed that I didn't have an opportunity to once more look under the great lady's dress. Though I made up for this disappointment by counting the number of nosehairs in a wax version of Nicolas Cage and staring down Beyonce's dress. Yes, we did visit Madam Tussaud's wax museum on 42nd street.

On Sunday, we went to Wall Street and I had the sudden urge to make lots and lots of money. Of course, we did have an opportunity to see the Merril-Lynch Bull and I realized that it was really an anotomically correct creation. German tourists seem to love grabbing the bull by the balls, I wonder why...

After coffee at Starbucks and a meeting with an odd, post-alcoholic Jewish man who tried to convince us to go to the Bronx and walk around (and whom also made the offhanded comment that we didn't seem to be very rich tourists...he's right, but damn!), we managed to find our way to the Brooklyn Bridge.

Originally we intended to go up the Empire State Building on Sunday but because of zero-visibility, we were unable to make it that day. However, being the persistent tourists we are, we went back on Monday morning and waited for almost half day in line for our opportunity to see the wonderful view from the great edifice. It was truly magnificent and totally worth the wait + the $14 entry fee.

We drove the six hours back on Monday evening and I was exhausted beyond belief. However, a day of rest later, we were ready to release our inner children once more and visit Kennywood Amusement Park. I would write about it now, but I'll save it for another day when I have some downtime. I must go now and prepare for a wedding!

{Ruff, Ruff}

So much news, yet nothing to post!

2005-07-14T09:02:00.000-04:00

Call it writer's block, call it laziness, call it whatever the hell you want. Today is the first day in quite a while that I've been able to sit in front of a computer and pour my thoughts out into my blog. Pebbles' sister is visiting from Spain and we've been spending most of our time outdoors showing her all the sites of Little Big City. We had intended to go to an amusement park day before yesterday, but one of our friends had an allergic reaction, and we ended up taking her to the hospital instead.

Anyhow, we're headed to New York tomorrow, so I won't have too much time to post in the next few days. See y'all on the flipside!

Farewell Luther

2005-07-02T16:24:00.000-04:00

Hi there! Sorry I haven't posted for a while, you see Pebbles and I had to make a trip up to Newark, DE to find an apartment close to her job. We spent the better part of last Wednesday calling and making appointments and left early on Thursday morning to go see places. It was fun, albeit frustrating at times, and Pebbles has found herself with a vast number of beautiful apartments to choose from. After finishing our business yesterday afternoon, we had the opportunity to head over to PA to visit Dr. D. and family. A wonderful time was had by all and we topped off the evening with dinner at Red Lobster and the good doctor was kind enough to bless us with Luciano's latest CD and a bag of genunine Jamaican coffee, many thank yous sir! We also had the great opportunity of meeting Dr. D's sister, brother-in-law, and their niece--lovely little girl! Much good times were had and the good doctor, his lovely sister and cool brother-in-law had us laughing for a long time!

So, we finally made it back home at around 1:15 am after surviving insane 4th of July drivers, an evening rainstorm, insane Amish folk, and deadly speed traps in hick country! I was most distressed to see that famous R&B icon Luthor Vandross died on Friday at the age of 54.

He will always be remembered for his deep, lush voice and seductive lyrics. Yes, we have lost another one of our greats. Rest In Peace Brother Luther.

Swimming and Gymming

2005-06-23T13:55:00.000-04:00

Just got back from the pool (shameful that I can't swim even after growing up in the island) and I have to tell you all, I feel good!!! Especially because I finally got my tired ass back into the gym after almost a year off and I'm slowly, but steadily, making progress once again. Finished teaching yesterday and got my student's grade submitted, so we're good to go.

You ever have these embarrasing moments in the gym when you're exercising your heart out and you feel that you're using the world's heaviest weight for an exercise, but some dude comes and uses the same weight (or more) for some basic exercise? Like, I figure that I'm a strong mofo, being able to squat 135lbs (which really isn't that much when you think about it, as far as legs go) but then some dude comes to you and says "can I work in with you?" and you're like, "sure, not a problem". Then he comes and takes the same weight you're using for a shoulder exercise like military presses. Makes you feel tiny, huh? But then, how big do you really feel when the guy looks at you and tells you "oh yeah, I'm the weakest one among my friends!"

No, it didn't happen to me, but I saw it happen to a guy this morning and I'm glad it did! He was strutting his stuff, throwing the weights around, yelling, being a pompous testosterone-driven bitch all for 135lbs!!! Another dude was in the gym and proceeded to lift the same weight for the military press and I was amused as hell to see the expression on this guy's face when he realized he's not as strong as he thought. Life is beautiful :D

Captions and Reading

2005-06-21T10:36:00.000-04:00

G'morning blogland!!! The other day I was sitting around watching television and I began to think to myself "Dog, you know that you really need to get more involved in reading you know!" So, I turned the captions on and began reading them. My question to you is this:

does reading movie captions count as reading a book?

Can you stop the pain?

2005-06-20T08:24:00.000-04:00

The pain I'm referring to this morning is the aching sensation in my calves. Yep, I'm back in the gym again, trying to recapture the lost muscles of my youth and let me tell you it was much easier to stay in shape when I was 17 or 18! My calves have always been a weak point with me...i.e. they burn with more intensity than any other set of muscles in my body to the extent that I can't even walk right for two days after training them. Anyhow, I suppose that by the time I shower and head out to work they'll be sufficiently loose.

So, how was your weekend? Mine was fair to fine, thank you for asking! Pebbles and I did go to see Batman Begins and we both strongly recommend it! It was much more than just an "I'm Batman, so I'm obliged to kick your ass" type of movie. The characters were complex, dark, and you found it really easy to identify with the Bruce Wayne character so brilliantly portrayed by Christian Bale (Quinn of Reign of Fire fame for those of you who know the movie). Rutger Haur, Ken Watanabe, both had decent roles and did the best they could with their characters. Morgan Freeman was heavily underutilized in the film, but he did play an integral part of the story nonetheless. Michael Caine as Alfred the Butler was simply brilliant! Katie Holmes as Rachel was tough, beautiful, and extremely believable. Liam Neeson was the perfect blend of evil genius/twisted humanitarian fighting for a morbid cause that only he and his followers understand. Definately a movie that I will purchase once it hits DVD.

Now, Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants was a different matter. I liked it more than Pebbles (which is odd) though we both agreed that the plot was really weak and read like a Sweet Valley High novel. The dialouge was really lacking and we both asked ourselves the question: "in what world would a hot-blooded Puerto Rican chica, an introverted Goth chick with blue hair, an uptight artist-type, and a tall blond-haired, blue-eyed football (soccer) bombshell be best of friends let alone fit into the same pair of jeans???" I guess the movie was targetted towards teenage girls, as opposed to an old crusty man such as myself.

Anyhow, that is my contribution for today, I am off to shower and massage the old calves so I can get the hell out of the house and end up at work! Have a great day y'all and I will be checking your blogs tonight!

TGIF

2005-06-17T11:08:00.000-04:00

Alright, I doan have to much fi seh dis mawning except TGIF to Rahtid! Gonna go home in a while, have some ribs, then go watch Batman, 'cause I hear that it wicked wicked wicked and I really don't want to watch no Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants I mean c'mon even an ol' dog like me have to have limits! Right guys? (NB: Ladies, especially Pebbles, if you're reading this, know full well that I am going to end up going to see the movie and write about it on this same blog!).

In response to the MJ post:

@Abeni, I glad you like the advice...hope he'll use it!

@Dr. D., you dun know that you are the bomb-diggidiest skin doctor in JA, but I still believe that Michael need to hol' a tan AND pump two iron.

@7, glad to know that you got a laugh out of it...btw, which part be you and Midas? was there a few weeks ago and plan to go back again soon!

@Sunshine, don't fret it, I'll mek sure he gets all the counselling he needs (for a hefty sum)...yeah, yeah, yeah, the media says he's bankrupt, but he's Michael Jackson and he definately can find at least a million or two tucked away under the mattress in Neverland.

@JDid, sometimes a man just have to do what a man have to do when the chips are down!

@Scratchie, the reason for me suggessting that he come to Jamaica is because I believe that he could be the much needed impetus our tourism industry needs!

@CoolDestiny, Twin of Twins is CD # 6 in my car's CD changer...have they come out with a new one yet?

Anyhow, as you can well and see, I have nothing of significance to post EXCEPT:
I was reading Yahoo! News earlier and came across a story about Mahatma Ghandi's family involved in some legal battle with an Australian fast-food firm called Handi Ghandi "Great Curries...No Worries..." It turns out that they (Handi Ghandi) are using Ghandi's name and likeness to sell various vegetarian and meat curries, including beef which is considered to be sacred!

I mean come on now people, the man was a symbol of peace and a vegetarian for crying out loud! Why would you want to take someone as extraordinary as Ghandi and use him to sell curry to RASS!!! Imagine what it would be like to go to somewhere like Island Grille and see them selling a Black Star Liner Burger or a Marcus Garvey Meal Deal? ~~Then again, these names don't actually sound too bad at all, hmmm...~~ So you see my point? It just isn't right to defile people who'se lives have meant so much IMHO.

It's like in that movie EuroTrip, where they made fun of the pope and the different symbols associated with his dying and even going as far as having a sex scene in the confessional...I'm not Catholic, but I still find it tasteless and insensitive. Or what about the movie Scary Movie 3? where they had a scene with Ja Rule shooting a picture of Mother Teresa (this was after she died by the way). Where is the respect?

Anyhow, my intention is really not to rant on such a lovely Friday afternoon, so mek I stop here now. Have a great weekend y'all and don't forget to feed the comment box!

Leave Dem Kids Alone!

2005-06-15T11:34:00.000-04:00

Have I been out of the media loop or what? I guess that's what happens when you spend 5 days immersing yourself in the murky waters of academia and end up being at a conference dorm with no television or radio. No, the picture on the left isn't me [I'm much better looking, thank you very much!]. It happens to be an age-progressed picture of Michael Jackson at age 45 (his current age I believe) done by some forensic artist with mucho time on his/her hands. If you're interested in seeing the original picture as well as how he would look at age 70, click here.

Speaking of Michael, here's an excerpt from a letter I wrote to him the other day while I was locked away in my little conference cell:

Dear Michael,
so you're a free man once more, huh? congratulations to you sir! I'm not completely disappointed by the results still, because the mother and son who accused you did seem to be quite shady IMHO! Anyhow, while you enjoy your newfound freedom, might I implore you to consider a few things:

1. Sell Neverland Ranch and get the hell out of California rude bwoy. It ain't good for you! I'd suggest moving to Florida or New York or even consider going to the Caribbean (possibly Jamaica?).

2. In the words of Pink Floyd: Leave Dem Kids Alone Rude Bwoy! It doesn't matter if you're trying to be benevolent or a philantrophist, you'll still get burned by some parent wanting to take advantage of your good nature, just leave dem kids alone!

3. Hook up with artistes like Elephant Man, Fras Krew, TOK, or Junior Gong and re-invent your music man!! (Gwen Stefani did and look @ her now). As a matter of fact, forget about the name Michael Jackson altogether, might I suggest something like "D.J. Mikey J aka di gyal dem Craven-A" or something more roots like "Ras Jacky".

4. Stop wearing dem rass 80's "Prince and the Revolution" gears and go buy yourself a pair of wash-out jeans and a Sean John t-shirt.

5. Get a tan, pump two weights, and start meeting girls again rude bwoy! Trust me, it will help you get you mind off the kids and even if the tools not working so well, you might try a few Jamaican recipes like "front end lifter" or "tantaria" (and even if stuff still unviagra-able rude bwoy, you still have a mouth and a perfectly good tongue!). Oh btw, if you indeed have skin problems and is not really plastic surgery mash you up, I can recommend a good dermatologist in the form of Dr. D.

6. Bogle dead so we need a new dance king and since you is the king of pop and you used to have some tight moves still viz Thriller, Bad, etc. you might be just what dancehall need!

...

Anyhow Michael, I don't know if this letter is going to reach you and I surely don't know if you'll even give a rass about all the things I've said, but I hope you will at least heed one piece of advice from this foolish old dog: Leave Dem Kids Alone!!!

Sincerely,

Angry Dog

Maryville, Tennessee [Final Day]

2005-06-12T07:33:00.000-04:00

I'm feeling really bad about myself this week...imagine, I go to a conference/workshop series to feel enlightened and inspired and I end up realizing three things about myself instead:

1. I have extremely good intrapersonal skills. Read: "I get along really well with myself and, as a result, am capable of thinking about myself thinking about some topic or the other." I guess you could say that I'm a "meta-thinker" of sorts.

2. With respect to my temperament I'm pretty even keel...i.e. not special.

3. I am a collaboration whore. I spent my entire time thinking of ways to collaborate with other CS and MIS programs in other colleges...hooray for me!

After 5 days of cafeteria food, lengthy philosophical discussions, and more cafeteria food, I'm just about ready to throw in the towel on this little escapade. I'm tired, my brain is saturated with all sorts of cool facts, I have a few ideas I want to implement in my own teaching. But above all, my stomach really really hurts! Oh well, time to say my farewells, pack up the Honda, and get the f*ck out of town!

Maryville, Tennessee [Day 1]

2005-06-08T21:21:00.000-04:00

So I'm at a conference in Maryville, Tennessee for the next few days. A bunch of educators from the Appalachian region have gathered here at historic Maryville College for the next five days to discuss the latest, greatest strategies in learner-centered education. Much fun. The introductory speaker tonight was pretty good and I'm looking forward to hearing about some of these new teaching principles and seeing if I can employ them in my own courses.

So far, folks here have been pretty nice and I expect that things will be quite interesting. The only thing that I'm not overly fond of is that the bed are about four feet off the ground and I really have to concentrate to get on or off them. In addition, I have to share the bathroom with another guy :(. I'm so glad I never lived on dorm during my undergrad days...dorm life sux!!

Anyhow, am off to bed...long day tomorrow! Sleep tight y'all

Caribbean BlogFest 2005

2005-06-07T10:36:00.000-04:00

OK, I've been blogging since 2004 and during this time I'm happy to have met quite a few people from the Caribbean and North America (a special big up to all my Canadian readers!). Anyhow, here's my idea: What if we had a so-called "BlogFest" in December? It's just an opportunity for folks to meet, greet, and network outside of the blogsphere, sort of as a way of putting faces to writing, you zimi? Probably have some music, food, and such....I'm seeing the beach.

What does the blogsphere think about such an idea? Good? Bad? Would you attend? Anyhow, not too much to post today still, but just thought I'd get some feedback.

Dogus Maximus

2005-06-06T06:24:00.000-04:00

OK, the weather here has finally warmed up, hooray!!! Unfortunately, it wasn't a gradual sort of warm up, it was more like "Boom, here's some hot weather on yo ass!" So, my body is revolting violently from the rapid 20 degree change in temperature and I feel yucky and sluggish.

I'm headed off to Tennessee on Wednesday for a 5-day conference, which promises to be a lot more interesting than it sounds. Oh well, it'll be a good opportunity to network with faculty from other colleges and spend some time seeing the sights to be seen around Knoxville. I'll try to remember to take pictures :D.

Where in the world did CoolDestiny's blog disappear to? I logged on this morning to check her out and whoops, no blog! Hey CD, if you're reading this, I hope all is well with your blog and you're not planning to retire now!!! You have a fan in me for life yow!

OK, now you might be wondering about the title of this post, right? Well, yesterday afternoon, Pebbles and I went outside to toss a frisbee around on the grass. 15 minutes later, two of our friends drove by and invited us to go for a walk at a nearby state forest. Admittedly, I'm not a nature person, but sometimes you have to take time out to enjoy the natural things in life (like two chipmunks humping on a big old rock). Anyhow, we got home and I was quite tired, plus the damn migraines were acting up again. So, I went to take a little lie down, and fell asleep.

Anyhow, I dreamt that I was a gladiator (fancy helmet, short skirt, and sword) fighting in the Roman arenas of days of old. There were lions and tigers and other gladiators too, like Mad Bull, Scratchie, and Owen. Owen, Mad Bull, and Scratchie as gladiators??? what the hell! Then to make matters worse, guess who was Ceaser nuh? Nuh the one Dr D.! So of course, we fighting the hell out of the lion with the head that look like Tupac (ewww, scary) and each other. There was music in the background too...Elephant Man was singing, along with Fras Krew and TOK. Eventually, we killed the Tupac lion and took a break for tea shortly after...don't know what was happening there, but thank God I woke up! No telling where the dream would've taken me!

Any of you dream interpreters there want to put a meaning to this one?

What if you know that...

2005-05-31T14:14:00.000-04:00

Someone is a registered sex offender? Pebbles and I had occassion to be at the police station the other day (no, we didn't do anything wrong, we just had to report something....another story for another day). Anyhow, while waiting for an officer to come in and take our statement, I was browsing through the odds and ends of pamphlets that they so conveniently placed in the waiting room--everything from joining the state police to protecting your online privacy. Anyhow, I came across one pamphlet that had the URL to the sex offender registry in our state.

Of course, knowing us, we went home and browsed the web page just because we were bored and because we knew that none of our friends or acquaintances would be on that site (though of course I had to check for my own name just to make sure that there's something I didn't know about myself!). So we're looking and looking and looking...suddenly, a familiar face popped up! The cashier at the supermarket is on the site? no way! Then another face popped up, the guy that Pebbles had a hard time with on the bus a while back is a registered sex offender too? Hell no! So of course, we're both in shock. Now the guy that was on the bus with Pebbles is a known homeless sicko who annoys folks in general, so no major surprise there, but the thought that he was on the bus alone with her sort of made us really edgy! Thank God she drives now.

Today, I walked into the supermarket where the first guy works and I decided OK he only had pics of kids, so he's not the really dangerous type. But still, I found myself unconciously avoiding him. Only when I'd gotten out of the store did I realize that he only had one customer, yet I was willing to wait behind two other people not to have to deal with him. Am I being completely irrational? or is it normal that after you learn something shocking about a person you tend to avoid them? I have no idea, but I'm just confused as to whether or not I should avoid that person from now on. Shit, I shouldn't have been looking at that site in the first place...

Congratulations Ms. Canada!

2005-05-30T23:15:00.000-04:00

Well, Ms. Universe 2005 came and went and I'm happy to congratulate Ms. Canada, Natalie Glebova, on her victory. To all my readers in Canada, I extend an extra special congratulation to you all.

It was nice to see that this years competition was dominated by Latin America, with Mexico, Puerto Rico, Venezuela, and Dominican Republic making up the remainder of the Top 5. The evening wear segment was irie, with some beautifully-crafted evening gowns on display. The swimsuit segment was not so great IMHO, with Ms. USA looking like she ate just a tad bit too much Thai food before the competition. Ms. Canada definately had the tightest body of them all, so I give her props for that segment. Overall, Pebbles and I predicted fairly well who was going to be the winner, though we had said Puerto Rico would take it home (she was second runner up).

The interview section was a complete disaster and I strongly disagree with having the contestants write questions which are then chosen at random by their competitors. To be honest, some questions just didn't make sense, and the answers were even more disappointing. since 4 out of the 5 finalists spoke Spanish as their native language, one could argue that commenting in English was a hindrance, but based on their initial interviews, none of the contestants seemed to have any problems expressing their thoughts in English. Once again, Canada seemed to perform best in this segment.

Now you tell me people, is it just me or are all these competitors getting taller and skinnier as the years go by? I mean, most of the women who made it into the Top 10 were 5'11" or taller (except Ms. USA and Ms. Philippines). I mean, these girls be getting too tall and to skinny and they really starting to look like aliens for true! No wonder the competition name Ms. Universe!!!

And on another note, who the hell tell Carson from Queer Eye For The Straight Guy that he qualified to judge a women's competition. Though as Pebbles said, he's probably the ideal judge, since he has a heightened sense of detail and style (some sort of way) and he won't be blinded by the big booty and nices tittays on many of these young ladies!

Anyhow, enough of my commentary on Ms. Universe, I gone to bed! Be sure to feed the comment box now, you hear!

Mrs. World???

2005-05-28T08:45:00.000-04:00

So, Pebbles and I were frantically searching for some form of entertainment on the telly a few nights ago. Aside from reruns of South Park, there wasn't really much available (a damn shame too after spending around $60 for cable every month!). I accidentally pressed against the remote as I got up from the couch to get something from the kitchen, causing the channel selector to spiral dangerously out of control! When I finally managed to bring the savage beast under control once again, the television was stuck on PAX. Seemed as if they were showing some beauty contest...hmmm, beauty contest??? I love beauty contests!!! So, we're watching a bunch of women from all over the world parading in evening gowns and the only thing that seemed a bit off was the fact that these women ranged in age from 25 to 40+ and they're referred to as Mrs. instead of Ms. Hit the channel selector and we realize that we're watching Mrs. World 2005 live from Amby Valley, India.

Now, I have to say that the contest was quite interesting. All of these women are married, accomplished, and beautiful! In fact, I felt guilty watching these women and commenting on their beauty (what a difference the title Mrs. makes, huh?). If you want to peep the list of contestants, you can click here.

Mrs. Israel eventually won the contest, congratulations to her. I have to say that the contest was quite interesting from the standpoint that it seemed to glorify the women more on their accomplishments and intelligence, as opposed to their looks. However, the fact that the contest had the same shape and form (yes, swimsuit round included) as Ms. Universe and Ms. World sort of defeated the idea of glorifying these women based on their achievements and intelligence and, to be completely honest, I feel a bit sacreligious (sp?) looking at these married women in their swimsuits with the same eye that I would be observing Ms. Universe or Ms. World with.

Oh well, I suppose I shouldn't complain too much, since the contest does highlight the fact that a woman can be smart, talented, married with kids, and beautiful! So respect due to the contest. Can't wait for 2006!

Some Serious Shyte!

2005-05-26T14:12:00.000-04:00

Thursday is here and I can just about get ready to breathe a little sigh of relief, one more day and the first week of summer school will officially be over! [4 more weeks to go baybee!!]. Anyhow, how is everybody out in blogland doing? I'll be making some afternoon rounds to check y'all, don't worry the little ugly dog hasn't forgotten his friends!

Now, on that note, y'all my friends, right? Sure, we do have misunderstandings and dissenting opinions sometimes, but y'all don't make a habit of driving to the houses of other bloggers you may have disagreements with and shoot them, right? Good, I didn't think so! Why the paranoia? Well, I was surfing a ~~porn~~ news site this afternoon and came across this article about some dude on a message board who got into an argument with two other dudes and ended up borrowing a shotgun, driving to their houses, and basically cleaning their clocks, if you catch my drift. You can read the entire article here if you'd like.

To be honest with you, the one thing that disturbs me about the US is the fact that firearms seem to be such an integral part of their cultural identity! I sometimes have a hard time dealing with the fact that I can walk in to any Wal-Mart and purchase a rifle for under $300. Did y'all see that Michael Moore documentary Bowling for Columbine? There was one scene where he went to a bank that was offering a free rifle with every new account opened! That's some serious shyte right there people!

Now, I not a fan of guns, don't want one, don't need one, can't use one...I also respect the right to bear arms; however I do have a serious problem where it is so easy to come by a weapon and some laws governing weapons just don't make sense. For example, I never understood why it is that you don't need a license to own a rifle, but you need a license to have a handgun (i.e. concealed weapon). If someone is going to shoot you, does it really matter whether or not you can see the weapon a priori? A bullet is a bullet is a bullet! Oh well, maybe because it's not my culture, I don't get it. What do you all think about weapons?

Summer School OFFICIALLY Begins!

2005-05-24T06:37:00.000-04:00

Good morning folks, how are things in blogland? Well, yesterday was a false alarm re: summer school beginning--can you imagine, me like an idiot sitting in lab yesterday waiting for my student to show up not realizing that summer school begins today!! So after a wasted trip to work, I got back home some time after 11am. Had a bunch of things to do, between taking Pebbles' car to the shop to get the water pump and timing belt replaced to getting my car licensed and registered in the state, I was pretty darn busy. Today I need to take my baby for an oil change and a tranny flush, plus take Pebbles car back to the shop, as I noticed some blue smoke coming out the exhaust (which means the engine is burning oil). I'm hoping it's not rings...because you dun know that means a new engine--hopefully it's just something dumb like the valve seal or something.

Anyhow, I was crusing the blogsphere last night and reading blogs and came across a post from Mr. Man over at the Tower of Babel. He posted a little game that I found to be quite interesting for true. You have 8 people zeen. A policeman, a prisoner, a man with two sons, and a woman with two daughters. The object of the game is to move all of them from one side of the river to the next using a raft; however the game is compounded by the fact that the raft can only be steered by the policeman, the man, or the woman and can only hold two people at a time. In addition, the prisoner has to be either alone or with the policeman at all times, the man cannot be left alone with the little girls (hmmm) and the woman cannot be left alone with the little boys. Click on the picture below to play the game and see how you do! I got it, but it took me a little while to figure out still! Much respect for the little brain teaser Mr. Man!

In other news, I was introduced to Twin of Twins by my cousin while in Florida the other day. They're comedians/entertainers who happen to be twin brothers (Curly Locks and Tu Locks I believe they're called). Yow, these guys have a knack for imitating the voices of local and international celebrities very well and they certainly do put their talent to good use on the CD, having interviews with the likes of Michael Jackson, R. Kelly, Beenie Man, Bounty Killer, Sean Paul, Spragga Benz, and so on. I can't wait to hear more from them, cause it just too funny yow!!!

Anyhow folksy folks folks, I gone to work, so be generous with the comment box and I'll see you all soon!

{Ruff, Ruff}

Summer School Begins!

2005-05-23T10:13:00.000-04:00

Yes, it's finally summer school time again and I'm impatiently waiting for my one dege-dege (i.e. one and only) student to show up! No sign of him yet, and it's already 10:15am (class started about 15 minutes ago), so I think I'm going to sit it out for a few, give the blog a much needed update, then go to my office for a bit. So, how's everybody been doing? Sorry I haven't had time to visit your blogs and post comments, the stress of the last 8 weeks of school nearly killed me! Plus, much had to be done in preparation for Pebbles' graduation as well as my long-awaited trip to FL to pick up my new car. People, I tell you that this little 96 Honda Accord LX that I got is badass! Not much in the way of mods yet, just have 17" alloy rims, Kumoto Z-rated radials, a tranny from a 98 Prelude, plus an after-market sway bar that I had installed before I boogied out of Fort Lauderdale. Car took me all the way home without missing a heartbeat! (pics of vehicle to come later).

Anyhow, more about the trip and the car later, I'm going to my office for a little while. How y'all like the new look to the site? It tuff or it fool? drop me a comment and give me some feedback nuh?

Live Without Mercy

2005-04-27T15:35:00.000-04:00

Say congratulations to Pebbles folks, she just defended her doctoral dissertation and is now a full-fledged Doctor of Technology Education!!! You go girl! I am so very proud of her!!! In fact, to mark this historic event, I shall no longer refer to her as just mere Pebbles. She has made the transition to Professor P.

Anyhow, in my last post I talked about one of my professors dying. Still not sure when the funeral arrangements will be announced, but I definately intend to go. At any rate, his passing has made me realize something once again: Life is too short to spend it procrastinating and analyzing what-if scenarios. Fuck it, life is meant to be lived, and lived it must be! So, I've decided that I'm going to make every effort to LIVE WITHOUTH MERCY. And what does this mean? Simple, get off my fat ass and stop procrastinating! Stop worrying about every nickle and dime or every little snide remark or dirty comment someone drops my way. Stop sitting around and crying that my PhD is too hard or I'm not smart enough to do it! Fuck it, just do it.

{GRRRRROWL}

Sad Day

2005-04-26T15:13:00.000-04:00

I'm pretty down in the dumps today; one of the greatest professors I've ever known died on Sunday. He wasn't very old (somewhere in his late 50s-early 60s), but he had been suffering from an aggressive cancer for over three years. I remember the last class I took with him around the time he began to get ill, Analysis of Algorithms. He was the only person who I knew that could make learning recurrences easy. He was the second computer science professor I had when I first started out and he made things like swapping pointers in linked lists and traversing binary search trees seem like child's play. Most of the things he taught me still stick with me today and I see much of his knowledge manifesting itself in my own flock of students. He had a great sense of humor and could turn even the dullest of lessons into a wild adventure with his deep Texan drawl and easygoing attitude. Such is life, I suppose. Those who leave their mark upon you eventually have to fade back to the earth; but he had a good life and touched the minds of many of us...a truly great professor indeed.

{Rest in Peace Dr. Henry}

Subservient Chicken

2005-04-18T20:53:00.000-04:00

OK, wanna see something reaaaally freaky? Check out the Burger King Subservient Chicken website at http://www.subservientchicken.com/ Ask the chicken to do anything and see what happens! BTW, it is a real live actor.

{Ruff,Ruff}

Life Lesson # 1825: Never pull nosehairs while driving

2005-04-16T13:39:00.000-04:00

Well, I woke up this bright and beautiful Saturday morning and headed out to my 9:40am student honors convocation ceremony. After putting on my dress, hood, and square hat, I looked every bit like how a young faculty member should look! Anyhow, the ceremony began @ 10:00 am and got done @ 11:30 am, so I was well on my way. Called up my friend Vicki and we headed out to lunch at a little Meditteranian Restaurant...had the gyro platter and the lamb was irie fi true...irie enough in fact that I bought an extra one for Pebbles' dinner tonight. Anyhow, after dropping Vicki home I decided to head home for some much needed R & R.

Well, on the way home, I began playing with my nose. After all, what else does a bored commuter do? I suddenly discovered a really long nosehair and decided to play with it for a while. So, I was stroking and stroking, when it suddenly hit me that I was doing something pretty gross and the nosehair needed to be pulled out on the spot! Now, if you've ever pulled any kind of hair out of any body part, you know that it hurts like hell...so imagine the fact that you're pulling something out of your nose which is wired to the rest of your facial nerves...of course, I wasn't thinking about that right then and there.

First pull, nothing happens, but my nose does hurt a bit. Second pull, still nothing, but I'm sniffling at this point. Third pull, still nothing, but the pain intensifies a bit. Finally, in frustration, I give a long, hard, yank and lo and behold out comes the hair. Of course, the pain receptors in my face go haywire and I can barely see to drive, now I'm thinking to myself, "what spirit of stupidity encouraged me to do that?" I have no idea, but I know that I'll never do it again...ever!

As you can see, I have nothing sensible to contribute, but is life....

Have a great day, zeen!

{Ruff, Ruff}

The Dark Meal

2005-04-15T13:29:00.000-04:00

Yes people, di dawg deh ya again (tr: Hello folks, the dog is here once again). Things are a lot less hectic now, so I'm quite content ;). Nicely relaxing while my students busily build their web pages. I'm still a little sick, but it seems as if the sore throat isn't really as bad as this morning, so here's hoping that I'm on the path to recovery.

Speaking of recovery, I was driving in to work this morning half-listening to the radio. Suddenly there was some mention of this deadly Asian flu virus that was accidentally shipped to some 18 countries, including the US. You can read the entire article here. Apparently some of that stuff got into my state as well, so I hope they destroy it as they said they did...of course, me being slightly ill, became sort of nervous and jittery for a little while until I finally convinced myself that if I really had this virus I'd be sicker than a dog (no pun intended) and probably dead already. Oh well, we'll see...

You ever driving along and see a road sign that makes you wonder what the hell people are thinking? No, not the cute signs like KFC's "Eat More Chicken" ad (see below):

But this morning as I drove past a KFC restaurant, I saw a sign that said:
9 Piece
Dark Meal
Only 9.99

First of all, what exactly is a dark meal? and why am I paying a little bit more than a dollar for each piece of said dark meal? Is a dark meal specifically meant to attract black people to the store? Or does it mean that a black person is the meal??? Hmmm, it could also be some sort of satanic thing where you eat the dark meal and drink a quart of chicken blood then mutate into some ugly, evil, twisted creature with lots of money (e.g. Donald Trump). Hmmm, I wonder, I wonder, I wonder. Maybe the dark meal is just the so-called dark meat parts of the chicken, e.g. everything else except the breast--nah, that's too easy...

OK, let's play a little game....drop me a comment telling me what you think about when you see an advertisement like that, zeen. Alright, hold tite, the dog gone! Have a blessed weekend.

{Ruff, Ruff}

Mis-translation!!

2005-04-14T18:38:00.000-04:00

Wow, it's Thursday? Kiss the Dread, it's Thursday! Thank God It's Thursday. What a week I've been having people! I don't have the time to blog (which I love), meet with students (which I enjoy), or conduct any meaningful research (which I need). I'm sorry for the lack of posts and not updating my blog as often as I'd like to...to those of you who still frequent this place, thank you all! It keeps me going knowing that I'm not just blogging for myself.

Anyhow, the week ends on Saturday for me this time around--why, you might ask? Well, I have to be around campus this weekend to participate in the honors convocation, so I get to wear my pretty little skirt, hood, and scholarly looking square cap for three whole hours on Saturday! Sadly, lack of rest has finally caught up with me and I'm no longer able to withstand the many illnesses floating around here so, alas, I have succumbed to a cold virus and am sitting here nursing a bowl of chicken soup, sigh, is life. Things aren't too bad, well except for the fact that my car needs a new oil pan, we had a $40,000 cluster server crash on us this morning because of a damn squirrel and a power transformer (another story for another day), and the fact that I'm sick, things couldn't be better! (I'm not being sarcastic btw).

Anyways, Pebbles is graduating come May, so we're real excited. However, she made a comment the other day that made me stop, drop, and LOL for a while. We were talking about her graduation and she made a comment to me about her advisor saying that he'd be proud to hood her at graduation and she'd love me to come and watch. Of course, being the atypical Jamaican male that I am, my first thought was why would I want to be present when her advisor was hooding (i.e. having sex with in Jamaican colloquial) her--of course, my academic sense eventually took over and I realized that she was referring to the piece of cloth that they put around your neck to say "you is a docta now, go forth and doctor-fy!"

Another incident I had with this same mis-translation of Jamaican terminology occured the other day when I heard to guys talking outside of a store and the other asked to "bum a fag". Of course, I stopped and looked for a moment--then I remembered that to bum a fag only meant that you wanted a cigarrette as opposed to the notion of beating the crap out of a homosexual. Hmmm, I wonder why my business student from Britain always refers to me as a "batty professor" or, more generally, a "batty man"...

The mis-translation thing works both ways by the way; for example, I was in the supermarket with Pebbles a while back and happened to be looking for some hard biscuits (commonly referred to as crackers in Jamaica)...so yours truly walks around an aisle, sees said biscuits, and shouts across "Pebbles, I find the crackers!" Suddenly, there was an ominous silence (not even babies cried!) and I realized that I was the only black person standing in a crowded aisle with a bunch of white folks and a chinese redneck (again, another story for another day)...had this been a few decades earlier and there would surely have been a rass lynching!!

Anyhow, as you can probably ascertain from said post I am on some serious medication, so before I keep rambling on with my fart, I am going to make dinner and eat another soup and go sleep.

Bless it up, zeen!

{Ruff, Ruff} <--Notice new signature ;)

The Day Before Monday

2005-04-10T22:22:00.000-04:00

Well, Sunday night is here again and I am once more faced with the prospect of going to work tomorrow morning--not that I don't like my job, I love my job in fact, it's just that I've come to really appreciate the idle life of Spring break and would definately like to spend days doing things like leisurley driving around for no reason other than curiosity, spending restful days on the couch watching television, and throwing pillows at Pebbles. Alas, life is not as easy as that, and I must actually go to work to earn a living.

Just got done watching the finale of Strange Love and all I've got to say is THANK GOD IT'S OVER!!! Don't know why I watch it...I guess for the same reason that people watch train wrecks, but Flava Flav and Brigette Nielsen are just a tad on the odd side...imagine the type of whacked up kids they'd have? On the other side of the coin, the fact that they're flaunting the reality of interracial relationships as well as the plausibility of a couple where the female is taller than the male is pretty cool IMHO. Though I don't really consider Flave and Brigette to be the "quintessential" representatives for either race, I believe that a program of this nature shows just how much we've come as a society over the past few decades. Let's hope that someday we will be able to breed out racism with understanding, but until then, let's each do our own little part to quash this great evil.

TGIF!!!

2005-04-08T08:03:00.000-04:00

It's Friday, It's Friday, It's Friday!!! Wish it were payday, Wish it were payday, Wish it were payday!!! Good morning all? How goes so far? Are you getting ready to enjoy the weekend? I hope so! Got lots to do this weekend...some of it business, but most of it pleasure! Anyhow, I don't have much to post this morning, so I figure that I'll leave y'all with a little e-mail message a friend of mine sent me the other day called "Tricks of a credit card thief". Hope you all have a great weekend and we'll catch y'all on the flip-side!

Tricks of a Credit Card Thief

CREDIT CARDS SCENE 1

A friend went to the local gym and placed his belongings in the locker. After the workout and a shower, he came out, saw the locker open, and thought to himself, "Funny, I thought I locked the locker. Hmmmmm."

He dressed and just flipped the wallet to make sure all was in order.

Everything looked okay - all cards were in place. A few weeks later his credit card bill came - a whooping bill of $14,000! He called the credit card company and started yelling at them, saying that he did not make the transactions. Customer care personnel verified that there was no mistake in the system and asked if his card had been stolen.

"No," he said, but then took out his wallet, pulled out the credit
card, and yep - you guessed it - a switch had been made. An expired similar credit card from the same bank was in the wallet. The thief broke into his locker at the gym and switched cards.

Verdict: The credit card issuer said since he did not report the card missing earlier, he would have to pay the amount owed to them. How much did he have to pay for items he did not buy? $9,000! Why were there no calls made to verify the amount swiped? Small amounts rarely trigger a "warning bell" with some credit card companies. It just so happens that all the small amounts added up to big one!

SCENE 2

A man at a local restaurant paid for his meal with his credit card.

The bill for the meal came, he signed it, and the waitress folded the receipt and passed the credit card along. Usually, he would just take it and place it in his wallet or pocket. Funny enough, though, he actually took a look at the card and, lo and behold, it was the expired card of another person.

He called the waitress and she looked perplexed. She took it back, apologized, and hurried back to the counter under the watchful eye of the man. All the waitress did while walking to the counter was wave the wrong expired card to the counter cashier, and the counter cashier immediately looked down and took out the real card. No exchange of words --- nothing! She took it and came back to the man with an apology.

Verdict: Make sure the credit cards in your wallet are yours. Check the name on the card every time you sign for something and/or the card is taken away for even a short period of time. Many people just take back the credit card without even looking at it, thinking that it has to be theirs.

FOR YOUR OWN SAKE, DEVELOP THE HABIT OF CHECKING YOUR CREDIT CARD EACH TIME IT IS RETURNED TO YOU AFTER A TRANSACTION!

SCENE 3

Yesterday I went into a pizza restaurant to pick up an order that I

had called in. I paid by using my Visa Check Card which, of course, is linked directly to my checking account. The young man behind the counter took my card, swiped it, then laid it flat on the counter as he waited for the approval, which is pretty standard procedure.

While he waited, he picked up his cell phone and started dialing. I
noticed the phone because it is the same model I have, but nothing
seemed out of the ordinary. Then I heard a click that sounded like my phone sounds when I take a picture. He then gave me back my card but kept the phone in his hand as if he was still pressing buttons.

Meanwhile, I'm thinking: I wonder what he is taking a picture of,
oblivious to what was really going on. It then dawned on me: the only thing there was my credit card, so now I'm paying close attention to what he is doing.

He set his phone on the counter, leaving it open. About five seconds later, I heard the chime that tells you that the picture has been saved. Now I'm standing there struggling with the fact that this boy just took a picture of my credit card. Yes, he played it off well, because had we not had the same kind of phone, I probably would never have known what happened.

Needless to say, I immediately canceled that card as I was walking

out of the pizza parlor. All I am saying is, be aware of your

surroundings at all times. Whenever you are using your credit cards, take caution and don't be careless. Notice who is standing near you and what they are doing when you use your card. Be aware of phones because many have a camera phone these days.

When you are in a restaurant and the waiter/waitress brings your card and receipt for you to sign, make sure you scratch the number off. Some restaurants are using only the last four digits, but a lot of them are still putting the whole thing on there. I have already been a victim of credit card fraud and, believe me, it is not fun. The truth is that they can get you even when you are careful, but don't make it easy for them.

Be Careful What You Read

2005-04-06T14:17:00.000-04:00

So, I was cruising the Internet last night and came across this article:

Of course I was shocked, surprised, and elated by the news of Tupac's "resurrection". Ater all. the article said it was from CNN, a reliable and accurate source for breaking news. Well, guess what, big surprise...it's not! Someone sat down and tweaked a copy of the CNN site, filling it up with their own story of the late rapper's mysterious appearance in Hollywood, CA. Of course it's an intentional spoof, but it does lead one to consider how much of the real news is being trickled down to us "mentally impoverished visceral souls". Obviously we're aware that all news has some sort of sensationalism and masking of facts, of course they do, isn't that what sells newspapers and magazines? But the question is how much are we not made aware of? I'm sure that we'd all be scared if we knew just how much was being covered up by the media! Protection? for some maybe, but for me, I'd like to know as much as possible about any subject of news--after all, doesn't current affairs affect us all?

The Empty Blog

2005-04-05T11:53:00.000-04:00

OK, so I haven't blogged in a long time...so long in fact that the Blogger interface feels strange and unfamiliar to me. Why am I not blogging? Simple question with complex answers:

Been too busy working on curriculum changes, research, teaching, and other stuff.

Lacking time and inspiration to write, but mostly the latter.

My life has become somewhat monotonous and I can't find cool stuff to write about

In the moments that I actually do come up with something interesting to write, Blogger eats my fucking (pardon my language) post.

So those are my reasons. Anyhow, today I do have something of marginal interest to write about and it has to do with the death of all these international celebrities and political figures of late. The pope was the last of them, damn I really do miss the pope (even though I'm not Catholic). Actually, he's the only pope I've ever known of in my 20-odd years of existence. Then there was Arafat, who somehow planted himself firmly in my juvenile mind as a political figure of the 80s and 90s. Christopher Reeves (aka Superman), the heroic figure who defined my childhood memories. Ronald Reagan, the president who made "Star Wars" seem real (even though it wasn't such a great idea. Of course, others have gone too, too numerous to mention...but so many people I grew up seeing and hearing about are no more. I suppose that even though I do not know the vast majority of these folks personally, their deaths have a profound impact on me...after all, they were the characters of my childhood and their deaths are symbolic of the end of my youthful innocence and my passage into adulthood. Am I being overly dramatic? Who were your childhood heroes?

Dope Sick Love

2005-03-23T13:16:00.000-05:00

No, it's not how I feel about me and Pebbles' relationship at this point in time...it's actually the title of a new documentary in circulation on HBO. It's a gritty, down to earth view of two crack/heroine addicted couples living on the streets of New York. Click here if you want to visit the directors' website and learn about the film. Man, all I can say is that the movie really got me thinking about the human condition...what is it about the nature of man that inspires us to become addicted to any and everything? sex, food, drugs, you name it.

The thing that disturbed me most about this film is the fact that the two couples interviewed knew that they were addicts and even knew that they would spend any money they got on drugs, yet they seemed resigned to the fact that they would keep doing it over and over again, regardless of the consequences. 'Tis indeed a screwed up affair!

The movie made me realize how much of a hold these drugs have on peoples' lives, from the mere fact that one of the addicts lost a tiny packet of dope, not even as big as one of those little bags of salt you get in restaurants, and it was as if his entire world had come to a screeching halt! He later found it, after retracing all his steps, rummaging through garbage bags, and finally finding it in a pool of grime.

I used to hear of people doing incredible, almost unbelievable, things for crack...sure, I laugh when I see Dave Chappelle making fun of crackheads as his Tyrone Biggums character. But when you see a dude really sucking d**k for crack, then you realize the graveness of the situation! I was shocked at the ingenious methods people would use to get money to buy drugs. Who would think to rummage around in the garbage for old recipts from some store, walk into the store, find the item(s) on the recipts (in said store), place them in one of the store's bags, then take it to the returns area and get the money back! I surely wouldn't think about doing something like that (in my sane mind), would you?

Anyhow, give the movie a watch if you can. I only hope to God that whenever I have kids I can raise them right and steer them away from drugs. It is a dangerous world out there!

Last Story: Justice

2005-03-17T10:01:00.000-05:00

Well, I've finally finished writing the book! Now I have to go back and edit, then try to get it published, wish me luck! Anyhow, I just though I'd like to share the last story I wrote with you called Justice Have a great day all!

JUSTICE
Justice
It is a time of great sorrow in the land of wood, water, and sunshine. Evil has corrupted her once pure heart and she reeks of the blood of the innocents which has been meaninglessly shed upon her soil. No more. I see a new age on the horizon. I see a time where peace and tranquility will once more reign upon the land and all her children will raise their voices in sweet harmony to the Father above.

It is this vision that imbues me with the steel in my gut to do these dark things which I must do, for it has been written that evil can only be defeated by greater evil and wrong can only be righted by a greater wrong. Two negatives make a positive. And so I do these things which most men fear to do, simply because they must be done. I have resigned myself to the fact that my soul has been bought and paid for by the one who shall not be named, but I accept this, for I have been ordained to fight injustice with injustice, evil with evil, and thus avenge the innocent ones who have fallen. I am their bulwark, their protector, their tortured voice crying out for justice.

In times past, I have been called black heart man, duppy, soucoyant. I have been called many names, yet I have no name. I know neither of my past nor how or why I came into being; I simply know that I exist. I exist for the sole purpose of carving out the evil buried deep inside of man with the sharp knife of justice. Those who inflict fear and suffering upon their fellow man will have it reciprocated to them a thousand fold. Murder for murder, blood for blood, a life for a life, this is my way. I see evil, I smell evil, I taste evil, for I am evil and I will never rest until my scent is banished from the land. I have much work left to do…

Hot Chick For The Angry Dog

2005-03-15T12:35:00.000-05:00

Alright, so I was sitting around reading my comments from yesterday's post (Scratchie did you try the cold water razor thing yet bredda? If so how it work for you?) when lo and behold, I read the last comment from JDid about Queer Eye For The Angry Dog as a potential reality show idea! Bwoy, I have to tell you though you know, the title is rather catchy still; however, I have an even better title stil JDid--Hot Chicks For The Angry Dog what unnu think 'bout dat?

Yes man, this show has potential...each week I would go on dates with hot celebrities (Pebbles would be my first of course, then Halle would be my second, Kim Coles would be the next, followed by Angelina Jolie, and so on). Pebbles, please don't hurt me when you read this post, you hear sweetie...I just going on all these dates to educate my fellow man and to make my own contribution to reality television! So, the premise of this show is that each week, I go out with a different lady and during the show I will impart my vast knowledge of how to make women feel special by doing and saying the right things (sort of like Hitch with Will Smith).

Of course, for all you fellows out there in blogland, I'm not leaving you out still....on ocassion, I'll have some of you appear on the show doing your thing and then me correcting you and showing you how to do things the right way [laugh, it's funny]. Ladies, I not leaving you out still...because we would have to have you nominate the fellows and then act as critics, carefully evaluating their performance after my extensive, patented "Dogstatification Treatment". Yes man, this show definately have potential iya! Lemme go call Bravo and pitch the idea...

Sigh, if dreams were horses, then beggars would ride! Have a good day y'all!

Monday Already?

2005-03-14T08:33:00.000-05:00

Geesh, the weekend is done already! Cho man, that not right...oh yeah, that's right, 5 more days then its Spring Break!! 11 days of peace and relaxation! So, I think this week should just blow by real fast. Well, I'm on my lonesome this morning since Pebbles left me...to go to a job interview! (no, she hasn't grown weary of me as yet!). Dropped her off at the airport yesterday and now she's somewhere in Pennsylvania chilling and waiting to teach her demo class! Wish her luck for me y'all!

Don't have much to report today still, the weekend was a total bust, didn't do as much as I'd hoped to. Oh well, I shouldn't complain, at least I did stuff. Have a faculty/staff meeting tonight....which means 60+ minutes of utter boredom...good weather permitting, I should make it back home sometime this evening...oh well, at least it gives me a chance to work on a revised curriculum for the CS program and look for a few sources of grant monies [yaay, academia!]

On a lighter note, I was watching Queer Eye For The Straight Girl the other night (don't ask me no questions man, cho!) and I got a shaving tip from the lesbian co-host. Wet the blade with cold water between shaves and it'll help to prevent hair from sticking and allow the blade to maintain its sharpness. Of course, when she was giving the tip, it was meant to be for female leg shaving. Anyhow, I tried it out this morning, and it work to R.A.S.S. I get a better, cleaner shave and the razor didn't jam up with as much hair. Hmmm, it'll be interesting when I tell Pebbles that a lesbian taught me how to shave, ent?

On a special note to all y'all who replied to my comment re: the new Lexus hybrid SUV, unnu is a wicked set! Bout unnu wouldn't buy it though if it was a gift unnu would accept it....well, when I become the wealthy software mogul that I was intended to be, I'll remember you all and be sure to hand out Lexuses like Nino Brown (watch New Jack City if you not familiar with the reference) handing out turkeys for Christmas. CoolDestiny I wish the public transportation system where I am in the US was as developed as the one in Jamaica. For us here too, it's a definate drive or die situation as well...in fact, there isn't even a bus line that runs the route that I take to work!

I'm Back

2005-03-11T15:37:00.000-05:00

After spending the past few days down in the dumps, feeling sorry for myself, I've finally decided to surface once more and take up my rightful place in the Caribbean blogsphere (Lion King soundtrack plays as Dr. D stands next to me and says "Everything the net touches is our kingdom"). On that anology, I have to say that I've definately been away for too long!

Anyhow, the major thing on my mind these days is the R.A.S.S. gas price increases that we've been experiencing of late! Spent $2.09 / gallon at the pump this morning and is only the low-grade (87) gas I buy! Worst yet is that we're expecting to have gas prices way over $2.20 / gallon in the summer months...which puts a serious damper on my travel plans! Let's see, do I want to sleep in a hotel tonight or buy a tank of gas? Do I want to eat a decent meal today or buy a tank of gas? On the plus-sized, SUVs are becoming much cheaper nowadays, so if you're in the market for something big now is the time (just as long as you don't mind shelling out >$100 bucks every time u need to fill the tank!).

Hey, y'all like my new wheels? [not!] It's actually the new 2006 Lexus RX 400h, one of the few hybrid SUVs on the market! Pretty sweet, ent? They say that it handles really well for a hybrid still and has a lot of power. Of course, since its part gas part electric, the mileage per gallon is extraordinary! Hmmm, speaking of which, if time permits, I must really go up to the Honda dealership near me and see if I can test drive one of the new hybrid Civics they have! After all, with >640 miles per week getting added to my odometer, it's not so easy to fill up you know!

Have a great weekend all!

The Edge of Depression

2005-03-06T18:24:00.000-05:00

Depression sucks. It leaves you moping around for days feeling horrible inside. I'm depressed these days. Why am I depressed? Lots of reasons, but chief among them is the unquellable desire to be amongst my own kind (Jamaicans and other people of Anglo-Caribbean ancestry that is). Though I suppose that I could live if I only had a group of friends to hang out with. Why don't I have many friends here? Too long and complicated to explain--but it has a lot to do with the fact that I live in a college town and people are always coming and going, thereby making it quite difficult to form lasting friendships. Add to this the age factor, i.e. at age 28 I really have very little in common with kids in their late teens-early twentys and you'll understand the complexity of my social life! Welcome to Little Big City, home of many, many, many international students, but almost none from the Caribbean.

I spend my life moving in and out between work and home. At work, I spend my time sitting in my office alone, contemplating things that are way beyond my years and level of academic expertise. Of course, the occassional student breaks the monotony of my life, but these events are few and far apart. I have no academic stimulation, since my interests are totally different from those of the other CS professor in the department; hence, I cannot relate to anyone on that level. Lawks, I wish I could say things like "Hey Professor # 2, what do you think about the idea of fast random searches over non-deterministic models?" and Professor # 2 would say something like, "Hmmm...it's a somewhat novel idea, but I think you need to confine the boundaries of what you mean by randomized and how far you're willing to go before you hit entropy." Then we'd laugh and say "Hey, let's write a paper together!"

Sadly, this isn't the reality of my academic life right now. The real deal goes something like this: "Hey Professor # 2, what do you think about the idea of fast random searches over non-deterministic models?" "Ummm, I dunno Angry, lemme just stand over in this corner and NOT try to understand what the f*ck you just said a while ago." Anyhow, going home is not bad, don't get me wrong....Pebbles is there! But Pebbles is only going to be "there" for a few more months until she graduates and finds a job somewhere far, far away come August. Then I'll certainly be left all alone. What to do? I dunno. The thought of giving all this fighting up and going back to Jamaica has crossed my mind...though I'd like to have a PhD and a great deal more money and prestige in academia before I make such a bold and daring move!

Sigh, it's funny you know, I've spent the bulk of my life seeing myself as a loner...but my friends have always been there, at least on the periphery. Now that I'm truly alone, I feel so helpless, so lonely, so depressed. God help me to keep my sanity...

TGIF and Happy Birthday Sunshine!!!

2005-03-04T14:34:00.000-05:00

Yep, thank God it's Friday to rahtid! I am quite glad that the week has come to an end, just one more class to go and I'll be on my way home! It's still a ~~bit~~ lot snowy outside and I'm not looking forward to the drive home, but we have to do what we have to do, ent? Happy Birthday to Lady Sunshine here's wishes for a million more birthdays. As is my tradition when bloggers are celebrating their birthdays, I give them gifts, especially lovely lady bloggers, so here's my gift to Sunshine:

A basket of yellow roses, since yellow symbolizes friendship (and I don't want her significant other beat me up for giving her red roses!)

A picture of LL Cool J

A nice virtual Birthday Cake (the bakers over at Photoshop Bakery were too busy to put your name on the cake...hope u like choclate!).

Of course, one cannot forget that you're the sunshine of our little blogsphere!

Happy Birthday Sunshine!!

Tuesday Night TV

2005-03-01T12:19:00.000-05:00

I didn't make it home last night. The meteorologists were calling for three to six inches plus of snow and I wasn't willing to risk life and limb to get home or, worse yet, be unable to make it out to work today. Fortunately, the provost makes provisions for things like these and, after a brief telephone call, I had a free room booked at the college's alumni center, a mere two-minute drive away from my office.

After spending a few hours working on a tutorial for one of my classes, I went to the local student hang-out spot to eat a light dinner. Got in to my room and spent a little while talking to Pebbles on the cellphone (God bless Sprint's free night and weekend plan!). After a while, we mutually decided to end the conversation and watch television. She was tired, I could tell in her voice. The poor thing, she'd been up for most of Sunday and yesterday working on her dissertation. A messy task indeed, lots and lots of horrible facts and figures that must be carefully processed by the astute statistical package known as SPSS to yield earth-shattering results such as "your students aren't dumb, they're just a lazy lot!". Oh well, such is the life of a young academic.

Spent a little while watching Fear Factor, the Reality TV Star edition, where they had a few celebrities from various reality-based programmes, such as The Apprentice, American Idol, and Survivor. A fickle lot they were and it helped to re-iterate in my mind how bad, or to borrow a phrase from Simon, "bloody awful", American television has become! After spending the better portion of an hour watching these "newbie" celebrities do things like get bitten by snakes while trying to unscrew a pair of bolts inside of a glass cage, dip their heads into a nice slimy pile of worms, then pick up said pile of worms with their mouths and unload them into a blender filled with water, for the purpose of making a smoothie out of poor creatures (mmm, yummmy, worm protein health drink!) I was forced to ask myself the amazingly profound question: "Why the f*ck am I watching this?"

So, I flip a few channels, and end up on VH1...just in time to glean the fact that Jessica Simpson is ditzier than Paris Hilton, Ellen DeGeneres is gayer than Rosie O'Donnell, Lindsay Lohan is more (contemporary) Britney Spears-er than Hillary Duff, and Angelina Jolie is weirder than Colin Farrell. Ok, so I once more question my motive: "Why the "f*ck am I watching this?"

And so it went on all throughout the night...the last thing I remember before falling into a heat-induced coma is watching segments of some "relatively" recent Van Damme movie called In Hell and musing at the fact that Jean-Claude is definately beginning to look weird...wasn't he a sex symbol once?

Paris Hilton Xposed!

2005-02-24T07:09:00.000-05:00

G'morning all, it's Thursday and I have to tell you that I am excited++! Why am I excited? simple, I don't have to go in to the office tomorrow!!! Though I do have to spend 4 hours sitting around learning about cluster computing at a symposium tomorrow...but that's ok, no long drive in to work :). In fact, the symposium is right around the corner from where I live [walking distance if I still believed in walking].

Anyhow, if some of you have been following the news lately, you'll see that Paris Hilton had her mobile phone hacked by some unknown hackers. To make matters worse, they posted a bunch of phone numbers and e-mail addresses for quite a few celebrities whom she had stored in her phone (some popular names include Eminem, Jay-Z, LL Cool J, Christina Aguillera, Ashlee Simpson, Vin Diesel, and Li'l John). In addition they found some pics of her as well, and let me tell you, the girl is a straight up freak! She had nekkid pics of herself kissing some other chick.

Anyhow, not that I really care much about Paris Hilton and her twisted self, but something about the whole lifestyle of the rich and famous bugs me. People spend their lifetime struggling to make something of themselves. Folks spend their lives working to make ends meet and still never gain the wealth and prestige that these people gain in a few months...why do entertainers make billions of dollars per year while educators, folk of great intellect, oftentimes find it difficult to make ends meet? Why do little kids get to drive Lexuses, Land Rovers, Bimmers and live in multi-million dollar mansions before they can even speak proper English while so many folk spend their lives struggling to eat some bread and will never be able to do better than an apartment and a bus ticket? What the hell is up with that?

My folks once told me that if you work hard then you'll succeed. They were right in on sense, because you never really measure success by the amount of money you have...but still, I'm human and I have needs, wants and desires...which is probably why it upsets me when I see folks who don't know what it is to struggle being revered as divas by those of us who do!

{nuff said}

Concentration Test ;)

2005-02-23T08:12:00.000-05:00

G'morning folks, hope everyone is doing well this morning :)...It's Wednesday and Friday is payday, so things are looking quite promising thank God. Anyhow, I don't have much to post this morning, I do have a lot to say, just not enough time! Anyhow, I decided to let off a little rudeness on the fellows this morning in the form of a "concentration test".

Note that this link is not worksafe friendly and it does contain a bit of nudity, so be warned! Anyhow, here's the link: http://daysite.net/silly/concentration.html Just a note that I am very good at this concentration thing btw ;).

Chao and have fun y'all!

Is it Carnival time yet?

2005-02-22T13:33:00.000-05:00

Thanks to everyone who visited my blog yesterday and wished me a speedy recovery...I think all your support helped as I'm feeling 110% better this morning! Now, many of you have been wondering why in the hell I'd order a pizza when my stomach was killing me, so I'll tell you. See, when I get sick, I have a very strong dislike for food...but once I feel better, I generally tend to have a craving for the first food that I see (anybody else out there have those urges?) whether it be on the telly or in real life; anyhow, the first thing I saw when my appetite came back was a fat Italian fellow eating pasta on some god-awful Mobster meets Yakuza henchman flick! Hence, I had a craving for Italian food, which lead to my subsequent pizza purchase...

Anyhow, is it Carnival as yet? I was driving to work this morning and pulled up by a stoplight next to this bone-white señorita in a late model Camry. She was listening to Will Smith's latest single "Switch". It's a pretty awesome jam still and the dance to it is hot! Y'all needz to check out the music video! OK, now that my gratuitous Fresh Prince plug is over...suddenly, I heard "Cent, 5 Cent, 10 Cent, Dolla!" Yes to R.A.S.S. the girl was playing Dolla Wine by the Taxi Gang I believe? Correct me if I wrong. Well, to rhatid, the Dog did start to "get on bad" inna traffic! After all, I am Jamaican you know, and it don't matter where I am or what I doing, if I hear a song from the Caribbean in this little rural state where I reside, I don't care, I going dance! A hoa!

So, after my little dance thing, I begin to realize that I reaally miss Carnival in Jamaica! Now, I'm not a hardcore type of Carnival-goer still, but I do enjoy my share of the Calypso and Soca that pervades the atmoshphere at around this time (and the fine-looking ladies are definately an added bonus). Oh well, I can't expect to get too much coverage of the events from up here, so I'll just have to rely on the Internet and the kindness of my fellow Jamaican bloggers to keep me posted as to what songs, dances, costumes, and events are the hottest these days--I think I need to find a job that allows me to take my vacation during carnival time so that I may go to yard and enjoy! Or better still, find a job in FL that will afford me the opportunity to be home every few weekends for some well-deserved partying!

Have a great day all!

I Better

2005-02-21T11:05:00.000-05:00

Well, not 100% better yet, but getting there! Spent Friday kneeling in contemplation at the porcelain alter. Saturday I felt much better, though I could barely eat a thing and my stomach hurt like crazy...it's amazing how much bad television looks great when you're at the brink of insanity. Pebbles and some of our friends went to Columbus, OH for an engagement party of a friend of ours, leaving me at home to get into all sort of trouble--like ordering a pizza and making an unholy mess of the living room! Sunday I felt much better though, the body was still tired and my mouth still felt like I had eaten a plastic shoe, but the stomach didn't hurt as badly and I didn't want to pass out every few minutes. Today, I'm back at work, busily grading papers that I was too sick to grade on the weekend and having all sorts of mad fun. So, yes, I feeling better...though not completely 100%

Hey, you know what, I'm really dumb. Can you imagine, I pass a farm every day going to and coming from work. They have two white horses, huge muscular beasts that look like they were born to pull carts and so on [I forget what you call them]. Anyhow, I could not figure out why the horses were brown in the morning and white in the evening, I just assumed that they were naturally white and had gotten muddy overnight [they really did look dirty in all fairness]. Well, being the astute moron that I am, I finally figured out that the farmer does not have two, but six horses! four brown and two white and I guess they rotate them between the different grazing areas...like duh! Just more proof that I am indeed an idiot!

Anyhow, thanks a million for the comments left on my blog re: getting well soon! Dr. D. Leave Mel alone before I have to go back and expose your little dark secret! Ok fine, you all beat it out of me! If you are really interested in finding out the Doc's dark secret, click HERE. Some of you already know of it, but for those of you that don't, be prepared!

Have a great day folks!

I Sick

2005-02-19T09:46:00.000-05:00

Yes, I sick :(. There's this weird little stomach virus going around and I fell victim to it. Yesterday was impossible, I barely made it through teaching, fortunately I have a TA now and I got him to take care of my last class for me so that I could go home to be sick. Anyhow, not much to write now, going to go back to bed...

Story Time Again!

2005-02-18T07:28:00.000-05:00

G'morning folks, hope everyone is doing well on this bright, cold, snowy Friday morning! Looking forward to the weekend still, especially because a group of us will be travelling up to Columbus, Ohio for the engagement party of one of our closest friends. The transportation has been worked out, the room has been booked, and we're almost set to go! Anyhow, I don't have much to post this morning, so I thought I'd let off another story on you all, it's entitled "The Bus" and it chronicles some of my more exciting experiences as a young Jamaica commuter! Hope you all enjoy! Have a great weekend and be safe!

The Bus

It was an age of high adventure. A time of epic struggles between good and evil where brave young boys and girls battled fierce, carbon-monoxide gasping creatures with names like Encava, TATA, and ¼ million. OK, fine, I suppose I’m trying a bit too hard to romanticize one of the more traumatic, bittersweet periods of my life…my days as a commuter on the Jamaican bus. I’m not talking about the days of the “Jolly bus” where the government ran the bus service under the name JOS (Jamaica Omnibus Service) nor am I talking about the more contemporary scenario where the government runs the buses under the banner of the Transportation Authority. No, I’m talking about the in-between years when we had neither JOS nor Transportation Authority. I’m referring to a time in the late 80’s to mid-90’s, when the government had culled the JOS from their portfolio and decided it would be in their best interest to contract the service to groups of private individuals. Let me take you back to a time long before the articulated buses from Germany, an era where there were no tokens or swipe cards or conductors sitting in little glass-encased booths collecting fares. Let me tell you of the days of high adventures as a commuter on the Jamaican bus system.

Now, before I can talk about my own adventures as a commuter back in the 80’s and 90’s, it’s important for you to note that all buses had some sort of name in those days. For example, there were buses with names like Caribbean Queen, Israel, Prince Machoperi, Exterminator, African Princess, Viceroy, Shaka Zulu, and Stone Love. Each and every one of these buses had their own unique personalities and the drivers and conductors that operated these machines were oftentimes regarded as celebrities in our eyes. One of the most popular buses that ran the Half-way-tree to Papine route was a bus named Stone Love. Stone Love gained its popularity for a number of reasons. For one, it was named after one of Jamaica’s popular sound system. Secondly, the conductors were pretty decent guys, plus the owner used to hire some of the hardest drivers on the road back in those days. But, the most important hook for Stone Love was the fact that it had one of the best sound systems back in the day and they always seemed to have the latest new dancehall tunes, which was a big plus for most young boy or girl.

Such was Stone Love’s popularity that boys from J.C. would actually walk up to Papine to get a seat on the bus and then spend the better part of their afternoon riding back and forth from Papine to Three-Miles, listening to the music and dancing. Yes, it was like a club in Stone Love back in those days! There were some buses that we would never take, no matter how late we were, or how urgently we needed to arrive at our destination. For example, there was a tiny bus on the route which didn’t really have much of a name, but we J.C. boys dubbed it the “Patty Pan”. The bus was extremely low, really slow, and had no music or entertainment whatsoever. It was so low in fact that a person of average height found it quite difficult to stand at full height in this bus. But the main reason why this bus was a nuisance was because it was all sheet metal and it tended to attract heat, coupled with the fact that the engine box was right inside of the bus, next to the driver’s seat. The seats were hard and uncomfortable, much in contrast to the plush, cushiony ones found in buses like Stone Love.

I had a friend we used to call Naggozed, for no better reason than because he used to live in Naggo’s Head, Portmore. That boy new the specifications for each and every bus that ran on the Half-way-tree to Papine route and he could tell you every detail from what each bus horn sounded like to when the buses had been modified to increase their performance. Such was our dedication to the buses back then! Now, I wouldn’t say that I was very picky when it came to which bus I took; I just wanted to hop on one and know that it’d get me from school to Half-way-tree in time for martial arts class, though I must admit that I’ve avoided the “Patty Pan” a few times.

Now, getting into a bus was a completely different story altogether. For the most part, the probability of getting a seat in a bus coming from Papine was slim to none, because people would oftentimes wait at the bus depot in Papine where the bus terminated and, as the bus was unloading, they would struggle bravely against the great surge of rushing, annoyed people trying to get off the bus. The more adventurous ones would grab on to the bus window and pull themselves into the bus. Sometimes, when you had a huge backpack, or other equipment such as a T-Square for Technical Drawing class, it was quite inconvenient to try and get into the bus, so you’d look out for a friend or classmate and pass your bag to him through a window. The only slight disadvantage with that is that there was no guarantee that you’d actually get on the bus and you’d better hope that the person you handed your stuff to was trustworthy enough! One of the most impressive things to see was when the odd occurrence of an empty bus arrived into a bus terminus. It was amazing to see men, women, and children alike chasing the moving bus, hopping on to the steps, then pulling themselves into the vehicle by using the guard rail or the door as a level of sorts. Such were the things that had to be done just to get into the bus.

The conductors themselves were interesting folks. For one, they were masters at taking a bus that could legally seat 32 individuals and have standing room for 28 other passengers hold twice that amount or more. This task was easier to accomplish than one would think. Logically, the 32 seats would become filled quite rapidly. Once the seats were filled, the conductor would force as many people as possible on both sides of the aisle, which would be 28 or more, depending on how tightly packed the individuals were against each other. Next, a second row of people would come in and stand behind the group already inside the bus. Sometimes, depending on the width of the aisles, a fifth row could be made. Of course, there was quite a bit of spaces on the steps of the bus to hold quite a few additional people. The concepts of personal space and physical comfort were quite foreign to the typical Jamaican commuter back in those days. Now, when the buses were loaded with three times more than the prescribed capacity, it meant that many conductors and drivers could easily make a profit by skimming from the total fares collected, which still wasn’t bad business for the bus owners, since they were making supernormal profits anyway.

As a young boy growing up in a homophobic nation, one of the most frightening prospects of getting crammed into a bus is that you may either find yourself pressing against another male, which we usually avoided like the plague, sometimes having to resort to astounding acts of agility and amazing feats of strength just to keep your body at least one inch from the other person. On the other hand, if you have a man standing behind you, you’d still have to attempt similar feats of flexibility, since there’s no guarantee that he would be able to avoid pressing up against you. This sometimes entailed tilting your pelvis and arching your back, much to the discomfort of the person sitting in the seat below you, who more times than not, would probably spend the better portion of the ride becoming familiar with every aspect of your groin area. On the other hand, if it was a woman standing in front or behind you, then the one-inch gap was not as important!

Now, the closeness issue on the bus was sometimes good and sometimes bad. For example, if you were lucky to be on a bus like Stone Love and there was a really nice girl standing in front of you and the music was just right, then both of you would probably enjoy a nice little bumping-and-grinding session all the way to your destination (though sometimes if her destination happened to be further than your destination, then you might actually stay a bit longer), listening to the music from the likes of Shabba Ranks, Josey Wales, Pinchers, Professor Nuts, and General Trees. Sometimes, there were a few freaks on the bus that would make the experience less than pleasant for some women. For instance, one morning I was on a bus and I saw a strange looking Rastafarian get on. It seemed somewhat unusual that the bus was quite empty, yet he chose to stand right behind an elegantly-dressed office-styled woman. The Rastafarian kept on giggling and jerking up and down, causing the people to wonder what he was up to. Suddenly, he laughed out loud and the woman screamed out in horror. All this time he had been rubbing the juice from a mango on the lady’s expensive jacket. Realizing what he had done, he forced his way through the front of the bus and ran off, with a sly, toothless grin on his face.

Another experience that I will never forget is the day that I hopped on to the step of a bus because I was running late for training and simply didn’t have sufficient time to wait for a less crowded bus. I ended up standing right behind a short, chubby woman with short thick Jeri curls. Now in the early 90’s, it was a big thing to have Jeri curls, like Michael Jackson, even though it was a goopy, greasy, nasty mess. It wasn’t unusual to see men and women walking around with paper towels folded around their shirt collars held in place by paper clips, an inelegant solution to the dilemma of “Jeri Juice” ruining the back of your work shirt or jacket. Now, the woman in question seemed unable to support her own weight, and she leaned the bulk of her bodyweight into my chest. I wasn’t too concerned, since I had a good grip on the guard rail by the step and I knew that the closed bus door was strong enough to hold our combined weight. Besides, I had been working out with weights for a couple months now, and I was pretty strong and plus, the driver was playing a few Sanchez tracks, which helped to ease the discomfort of the ride.

Most of you who’ve ever driven on Old Hope Road know that right after the Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant you come to a deep round-about and you probably know that most drivers would probably be braking up and gearing down at or around the Kentucky entrance in order to actually make it around the sharp corner. Well, not this driver, he decided that he had sufficient skill to make it around without slowing down. The surprising thing is that he did, but not without those of us on the step have a heart-wrenching moment as we saw the vehicle tilt down at such a sharp angle that you could literally count the grains of asphalt in the road. The lady in front of me lost her balance and fell back into me. At the same time, I struggled to tighten my grip on the guard rail and brace my legs against the door. Her head flew back and connected me square in the mouth, giving me an ample mouthful of the dreaded “Jeri Juice”. I hacked and I coughed and I spat, but nothing could get the god awful plastic chemical taste out of my mouth. I didn’t go to training that afternoon; instead I hopped off the bus at Liguanea and walked home spitting all the way, a huge dark splotch of “Jeri Juice” embellishing the front of my navy blue uniform shirt.

One of the worst things that one could do on a bus was forgetting his or her bus fare. Aside from getting a sound tongue-lashing from the ‘ductor and his cronies (sometimes it was impossible to determine how many conductors were on one bus) you would oftentimes find yourself unceremoniously ejected from the vehicle, which could be good or bad, depending on how dangerous the area in which you were thrown off was. Don’t get me wrong though, sometimes some conductors made folks get away with “free rides”, so they weren’t all bad. Now, back in the day, it was really cheap to take a bus and 50 cents could probably get you most places you needed to go. However, there were some people that made it a habit of trying to get out of paying for rides. For instance, there was a little guy who used to ride the bus all the time and he’d get his bus fare by picking the conductor’s pocket and then paying him back with his own money, telling him to keep the change! Another gentleman who always seemed to take the same bus I took in the morning had an even better scheme. He was always immaculately dressed in a business suit with a nice looking tie and he spoke with in almost too-perfect English with just enough of a hint of a British accent to sound like a man of great distinction. His game was simple; he’d always tender a 100 dollar bill to the conductor, who would never have that much change in the morning, especially for something as small as 50 cents! Day in, day out, I watched this man perform the same trick and get away with it. His trick lasted only for a time though, as one morning a conductor, who’d gotten wise to his plans set up for him. As he stepped into the bus, “Good morning, can you possibly break a Concord?” To which the conductor replied, “Sure man, no problem!” The look of shock on the gentleman’s faces as the conductor presented him a bag full of 1 cent coins that totaled up to exactly 99 dollars and 50 cents was perhaps the most amusing I’ve ever seen. When all the passengers began to laugh at him was the first time I’d ever seen a black man blush! He always had his 50 cents bus fare after that.

In order to be a good commuter, you had to develop a sixth-sense and an almost cat-like set of reflexes in order to warn you of dangers in the bus. For example, if you hear two people arguing loudly, then you’d better move as far away from them as possible, since you’re never quite sure when fists, guns, knives, or acid will come in to play, therefore you had to make sure that you could get away from them and off the bus as quickly as possible if need be. It was amazing to see how quickly 60 or more people crowded together in a packed bus could find so much additional empty space to get out of the way or hide when a fight broke out in a bus. One of the biggest dangers to commuters at the time was the constant threat of pickpockets and other petty thieves preying upon unsuspecting victims. There were a few ground rules that you had to follow. First, you’d never put your wallet in your back pocket or even in your backpack, unless you didn’t have anything of value in there. Next, you’d never want to wear much jewelry, particularly gold chains or expensive watches, since they were the first things to catch the eyes of the thieves. In addition, you’d want to stay as close together to your friends or classmates as possible, and always be vigilant for suspicious movements. But above all else, if someone comes to you with a knife, acid or, less commonly, a gun, give him whatever he wants.

Sometimes no matter how perceptive or vigilant you are you can still fall prey to the sleight of hand artist. For example, my friend Ronny, who was as alert as they come, was one day standing in a bus when a man came up right next to him. Ronny considered himself to be a “sweet boy” or ladies man, so he was busily whispering a long string of “lyrics” in the ears of a girl from Mona High. At that time, it was a fashion trend for boys to sometimes have afro-picks in their back pockets, particularly given the way we wore our hair in the flat-top “Kid ‘N Play” style back in those days. After all, you’d never know when your hair would get a little bit messed up and you’d have to comb it out quickly before you went to meet that special lady (or even before you had a remote chance of encountering some fine young ladies). Well, while Ronny was busily talking to the young lady, Mr. Pickpocket was busily pulling the comb from his left back pocket to use as a tool to pick his wallet from his right back pocket, all within the space of a few seconds. Poor Ronny, didn’t realize that he’d lost his wallet until the conductor came around demanding bus fare and he realized that both his wallet and his comb had been stolen. Fortunately for him, the girl liked him, and was willing to pay his fare in addition to hers.

One of the most frightening experiences for me on the bus was when I had taken a number 27 bus from EXED Community College to see my mother at work in New Kingston. Somewhere between the intersection at Stanton Terrace and Hope Road, two men got on the bus and went to sit all the way in the back. For some reason, I had decided that I didn’t want to sit in the bus that day, even though there were only 10 people or so in the bus, so I had decided to stand at the very front of the vehicle, next to the driver and the conductor. From the corner of my eye, I began to notice the men moving from seat to seat, though it seemed odd that one would always sit next to someone and the other would sit behind them. As the bus rolled along Lady Musgrave Road, I heard someone in the back scream out “Tief, Tief!” and I turned around just in time to see both men running full-tilt toward me with their knives drawn. It turns out that they had been robbing folks on the bus all along, threatening to cut them if they made any noise. As I saw the men running towards me, I panicked and hopped from the moving vehicle, just missing the edge of the first man’s knife blade by an inch or two. Suddenly, a third man emerged from the back of the bus in hot pursuit of the thieves. The man never caught up with them, and they made off with a few hundred dollars and some jewelry, but thank God no one was injured during the hold-up.

The emergence of the Mercedes buses yielded a great new set of opportunities for us boys. Buses like Stone Love and Shaka Zulu, though entertaining, could never compete with these buses when it came to size, comfort, and raw power. Some of us boys used to have an amusing time when we invited girls out and told them that we’d be traveling in a Mercedes. Of course, they were less than impressed when we walked them over to a shiny, white Mercedes bus and paid their fare as well as ours. Of course, they’d be angry, but they couldn’t call us liars either…they were riding in a Mercedes after all. One of the distinct advantages of these Mercedes buses was that they were the perfect large-capacity people movers and so impressed was the government with their design that they took it a step further and ordered several of the larger, articulated versions of those vehicles. It was amazing seeing the drivers handle these huge, twin buses with the giant accordion-looking pivot point in the center. Nothing was more amusing than standing inside the pivot point and seeing it twist and turn as the driver maneuvered through the windy streets of Kingston. In fact, the fleet of Mercedes buses was quite an upgrade from the Encava’s and TATAs that we were used to, though we still loved the vibes that could be only found on a bus like Stone Love.

Eventually, I grew up and began to rely less and less on the bus, since I had earned my drivers license by then and either drove myself or relied upon the kindness of other friends with automobiles. Later, after I migrated to the United States, I lost complete touch with the Jamaican bus system, though every year when I return home I’m more and more impressed to see how the transportation system has reformed and expanded and the buses no longer seem to be as overcrowded anymore, though I suppose the high availability of relatively cheap imported automobiles from Japan helps to alleviate some of the burden on the transportation system. The government has stepped in and taken charge of the bus system once more, which can be either good or bad depending on your perspective. Looking back at these memories of the Jamaican bus system, I have to say that they were certainly bittersweet periods of my life and I like to think that these experiences have somehow helped to make me a better person, more appreciative of the less affluent aspects of Jamaican social life. Though I’m at an age now where I’d rather not take the bus, I can look back at these memories and smile, for those were truly days of high adventure.

Is Shaka Fault!!!

2005-02-17T07:40:00.000-05:00

OK, so this is a relatively late post, but I've been grading all day and am now at the point where I wish to strangle 51% of my class, but more about that another day. OK, you know what, I was just thinking about a post that Mad Bull did about the new fighting robots that the military plan to deploy in Iraq, I think they're called SWORDS or something to that effect. Anyhow, for some reason I began to think about war in general, and somehow I came up with the idea that Africans had the right idea about early warfare until the birth and subsequent rise of Shaka, king of the Zulus.

Now, if the hit miniseries "Shaka Zulu" is anything to go on, one would note that wars were more like sports for the Africans back in the day. Each tribe would bring their families, their weapons, and so on. The battle pretty much was something to the effect of each side throwing spears which, more times than not, would miss the intended targets and even if the target was hit the probability of a fatal blow would be extremely low (though not impossible). In the meantime, tribes would punctuate the heat of the battle by taunting each other while eating food and drinking juice. At the end of the day, whatever the war was over would magically be resolved, now that's my type of war!

Now, imagine if our local gangstas (or shottas as we Jamaicans sometimes call them) had that same perspective? Imagine, a Jamaican turf war where you would bring your case of Red Stripe, pan chicken, and roast pork! Imagine seeing the local dons and their people wetting up each other with anything from super-soakers to water balloons. Or better yet, imagine police and criminals involved in harmless paintball shootouts all day long and at the end of the day both parties collectively decide whether or not the criminals should go to jail. Oh what a wonderful world that would be! Less death by violence, more festivities, and an all-round good time! No, I'm not high, I'm just sick and tired of all the war, crime, and fear that terrorizes our nation. There has to be a better way, there just has to be. I haven't lost my faith in humanity just yet.

Anyhow, have a good day folks!

A Little Tuesday Morning Poetry

2005-02-15T07:29:00.000-05:00

G'morning folks, hope all is going well with you all thus far, and I trust everyone had a really good day yesterday! Anyhow, I just felt like sharing a little poem that's been inside of me for sometime now just waiting to come out, not too sure if it works still, but let's give it a shot!

My Spirit Will Be Free

You may mock me, scorn me, or even try to break me
But as long as I'm alive, my spirit will be free

You may torment me, belittle me, or even strip away my possessions
But as long as my will is strong, my spirit will be free

You may imprision me, enslave me, or even try to steal me
But as long as my thoughts are my own, my spirit will be free

You may torture me, cut me, or even try to burn me
But as long as my heart still beats, my spirit will be free

You may shoot me, you may stab me, or even try to kill me
But as long as my bloodline endures, my spirit will be free

You may take away my family, my friends, or even my name
But as long as my good deeds live on, my spirit will be free

Know that you can never squash the fire that burns within my soul
For my flame has been burning since the beginning of time

Understand that I am a man above men, though never above God
I am African, I am Caribbean, I am American, I am European, I am Asian

I am all things to all men
And once humanity lives on, my spirit will be free

Happy Valentines Day!

2005-02-14T00:59:00.000-05:00

Happy Valentines Day to all the ladies that read this blog! [Note that I'm not saying a word to you guys out there!] Here's hoping that you all have a great day filled with much romance and pleasantries. Now, back in the day when I was at EXED Community College, Valentines Day was an opportunity for me and my crew to dress all in black and bitch about "the man" [i.e. whichever political party was in power at the time] and his injusticies. It was a day for us to all sit together in the Village listening to Black Sabbath, Nirvana, SoundGarden, and Nine-Inch Nails. Yeah, we were rebels for sure. Back in the day we used to laugh at anybody who dared to wear red and white [especially if it were a guy]. Yeah, we were rebels without a clue for sure!

Last year, I inadvertently broke the sacred code :(. I accidentally wore a red shirt to school...well, it wasn't red, well, not exactly. It was burgundy. But nonetheless, I broke the code man! And you know what, this year I'll be paying for my transgression 100-fold! Can you imagine, we have a faculty/staff meeting tonight scheduled for 6:30pm!!! That means I get done teaching at 4:00pm and have to spend an extra 2.5 hours in my office doing Lord knows what! [oh yeah, I have an exam to write for one of my classes tomorrow]. Can you believe it folks? That means I won't be home to Pebbles until close to 9:00pm! Nooooo, where is the justice? Oh well, I broke the code, so now I pay the price [though rationally speaking, things like this happen when you're all grown up with a job :)].

Here's a li'l supp'n supp'n for the ladies

Anyhow, the weekend was great, simply marvellous! I broke my diet sadly, though I guess the fact that my birthday was Friday sort of made it impossible not to! Oh well, it's back on the wagon come next week. Didn't feel too good physically on Saturday, head was hurting like crazy, dizzy, eyes burned. Figured that it was from exhaustion coupled with my new change of diet. Still managed to spend the day at the mall with Pebbles and we even managed to see Hitch with Will Smith in the evening.

It was a pretty decent movie still and we enjoyed it for the most part. But guys, I warn you from now...it's more of a chick flick than it is a comedy where the dude has the skill to get any lady he wants as the promo might suggest, ya feel me? Don't say the Dog didn't warn you now! Speaking of movies, I was surfing around the Sony website and guess what you get when you mix Samuel L. Jackson, XZIBIT, and Ice Cube? You get XXX 2 of course! Better believe it action fans, Ice Cube is the new XXX, XZIBIT is his sidekick, and Samuel L. Jackson is well, the badly maimed hardass from Part I. Guess what else? Rob Schneider is back as Deuce Bigelow...again. To think that they'd have killed the movie when they had a chance...no, of course not! They done gone made a sequel and they even brought back Eddie Griffin ^sob, sob^, but this time it's soooo different, cause they're ho'ing in Europe. Go figure.

Anyhow, that's my weekend update/movie review...I had planned to bitch about/compliment the insanity/genius of Strange Love as well, but I need to be up in the morning to get to the office, so I'll save my rant for another day! Have a great Valentines Day each and every one of you (yes, you too fellows!) and here's hoping that you take extra special care of that special someone in your life. If you're single, remember that there's a special someone in your life as well...you! Love yourselves folks and remember that you each are God's special gifts, for there is only one person exactly like you!

Big up and nuff respec'

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Let's try this again

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Dragging

A Typical Monday Morning

29

A Li'l Post

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I Sick

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Am I Racist?

To Kill or Not To Kill?

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Shooting at MIA

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Mi Hot!

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Monday Recap

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F'ing Neighbours!

T to the G to the I to the F

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F'ing Dawg

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The Name Game

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