Thursday, January 31, 2008

And What About All The Old People

As the largest generation in American history gets closer and closer to "retirement age", something needs to be done to fill their void in the workplace. For their benefit and ours. A look at the issue by Washington Post columnist provides several solutions to the problem our nation faces.

I couldnt agree more with the solutions that are pointed out and I can only hope that the generation is not neglected or "put out to pasture" prematurely. Besides, what would Walmart be without the elderly (grandparent) greeters (as long as they are paid decent wages and given great discounts on their "everyday low prices")?!

“The problem is not that economists are unreasonable people, it’s that they’re evil people,”

Let me reiterate: I love the NY Times. "Economists Dissect the ‘Yuck’", takes a look at repugnance and the human perspective related to moral issues and money.

Read and Opine

Peace

Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Aussie Open; Day 14 Recap

The Aussie Open has long since drawn to a close as I type this post, but it will remain fresh in my memory for many weeks to come as tennis goes through a bit of a lull again. The Men's Final was by far the most exciting its been at event for years. With Federer dominating the previous two years against lesser experienced opponents, the two new faces brought a new energy to the court.

From the time the players walked onto the court for pre-match warmup, you just knew that this was going to be a tense battle of two talented men, and the crowd was gonna be a factor too. The Serbs were mad for The Djoker and everyone other Aussie had fallen in love with French Ali. Much as he had done in his other matches against higher seeded players, Tsonga came in and blew The Djoker out his shoes with his speed and power. A convincing first set victory was in hand.

After that it was all downhill. Thanks to the crowd jeering his family and friends, Djokovic was notably out of it in the first set. As tournament officials stepped in mitigated the situation, Djokovic settled into his game of grinding, point controlling and shot making ability. The next two sets would breeze by in favor of the Serbian as French Ali looked sluggish and lost. His sparkle was gone, and his time had run out.

Just as you thought the fat lady was gonna sing, an incredible set was played in the fourth. Neither man was willing to relent and the set would need to be decided by a tiebreaker. Anti-clamatic and all, Djokovic won the set, the match and the Championship. He would become the first Serbian Singles Champion. My previous predictions about 2 Serbian champions was correct, but I wasnt even aware of it. Half of the victorious mixed doubles championship team hails from Serbia as well. Sounds like a pleasant story of the little war torn country that could.

Will these young stars (three of the finalist were 20) continue their dominance through the rest of the season? For more seasons to come? As much as I am annoyed by the Shrieking Princess I think this could be a very big year for her. The younger Serbian Vitch is getting her stuff together and might actually win a set in her next Grand Slam final. There is so much to look forward to this season.

I love this game!

Saturday, January 26, 2008

And The Rollercoaster Ride is Fun Again!

With CNN projecting a DOMINATING win for Barack Obama in the primary in S.C. I am once again filled with hope; hope that a black man just might become president sooner than later, in my lifetime no less. Nothing is set in stone with this "victory", but every step closer to the finishline that we take is a victory.

Now it comes down to February 5, 2008 what the sensationalist media is calling "Tsunami Tuesday". I don't know how this thing will end, but if it means that in the future more people will participate and involved in the process, then I am happy.

Friday, January 25, 2008

Aussie Open: Day 13 Recap

ugh.....i am drunk and Sharapova just won the 2008 Women's Singles Australian Open Championship in uninspiring fashion. I cant wait for tomorrow night. What a blah match. I expect more out of u Ivanovic! Two championship finals and two very dissapointing finishes. So much for two Serbian Grand Slam winners. Off to continue drinking and listen to what the Russian Psycho has to say. Peace till Sunday morning!

The Greatest Inventions of My Lifetime

1. Mp3 and respective music player (THE iPod)

2.The [Public] Internet (WWW)

3.The Laptop Computer

4.Digital Cameras/Photography

5.Cell(ular) Phones

6.Digital Video Recorder (DVR)

They are listed roughly in order of importance to me and having had the benefit of enjoying these items, it is hard to imagine life without them. Possible, I am sure, but I dont want to entertain the possibility.

The Likley Untimely Death of a Dream

As an advent supporter of public/mass transportation, I love to hear positive news concerning WMATA (Washington Metropolitan Area Tranist Authority) or Metro as it is (un)affectionately known around the National Capital Area. While the system is struggling to cope with increased ridership, higher fuel costs, and aging equipment it is still one of the best public transport systems in the nation.
As the region has continued to grow in size in volume, Metro has tried to expand as well. The system is often times attributed with feuling the burgeoning suburbs and providing [fairly] reliable transportation to and from the city for the many federal workers; the bezillion condos along I-66 and Rt. 50 in No.VA would never have been built without it. Since its ground breaking in 1976 Metro has a come a long way and hopes to continue to grow with the region.
A new hurdle looks to have been placed in-front of the agency future goals. An extension to the regions main international airport and thriving technology corridor, the Dulles project looks all but dead thanks to federal authorities no longer interested in chipping in. Due to the fact Metro has no dedicated source of funding, it is largely dependent on federal funding to keep running from year to year. With the what seems like constant squabbling over how to extend the rail to Dulles (underground or elevated track) through the Tysons Corner area, federal officials are backing down from their original funding promises.

Here's to hoping that the problems get corrected and that the system can one day be compared to the great systems of Western Europe.

Aussie Open: Day 12 Recap

THE MIGHTY FED IS DOWN AND OUT!!!!

The Djoker emerged victorious in straights sets over the Fed in the second men's semifinal and boy am I glad that I forced myself to wake up at 4am to watch this one. The tennis was beautiful. Djokovic played aggressive tennis from the baseline rarely relenting his position on the court while Federer looked mortal and flat many times.

This sets up a potentially amazing match for Sunday morning at 330am. I will wake up again. Novak Djokovic, aka The Djoker versus Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, aka - French Ali . Being the higher seed and more experienced player (he made it to the 07 US OPEN Final where he lost to Federer) Djokovic will be the favorite to win the match, but the way Tsonga has been lighting up higher ranked players this tournament, almost all bets are off. I am torn between, who I would like to see win as I like both players, they have great game and great personalities, but I hope the match play is good and one for the books. Either way we will have a first time slam winner, and the possible emergence of a new force in tennis. (as a side note, there is a possibility that we will have two Serbian Grand Slam Champions should his compatriot, Ana Ivanovic, win the women's final to be played tonight locally) This is GREAT for tennis and its fans!

NOVAK
"The Djoker"
Djokovic
VS.
Jo-Wilfried
"French Ali"
Tsonga

Sunday, January 27, 2008 @ 330AM on ESPN2

Thursday, January 24, 2008

Aussie Open: Day 11 Recap

The end is drawing nigh for this tournament but there is still quite a bit of entertaining tennis to be seen. Three semi-final matches were played last night, both women's and the first men's, but only one was worth watching. There was good, bad and ugly in these matches.

The first Men's Semifinal between the the Spanish Caveman and French Ali was a sight to behold and well worth the sleepless night it would produce. In stunning fashion, Tsonga stepped on to the grandest stage at the Australian Open and dominated the world's number two tennis player from the word 'go'. No matter what The Spanish Caveman tried to do, he couldnt put a dent into Tsonga's flashy, powerful game. In the end Tsonga emerged a straight sets winner and continued the streak of relative unkowns in the Aussie Open final. If the Djoker can pull off the upset tonight against Federer, the final on Saturday night could be spectacular, guaranteeing a first time grand slam winner! I am gittery from the mere thought of it!

I dont even feel like wasting space on the women's matches, (sadly cause most times I prefer the drama and matches on the women's side over the men's, but not this tournament) but in an effort to provide somewhat fair coverage I will briefly discuss these beat downs. The Shrieking "Princess" beat the eldest of the Serbian Vitches in the same dominant fashion as every other player who has crossed her path the tournament. The girl is determined to avenge her embarrassing smackdown in last years final. (More interesting than the match is her psycho father and his antics in the stands. I am a firm believer that this man needs help, maybe even medication.) Unlike some of her peers The Shrieking "Princess" did not crumble under the expectations now that she is the heavy favorite to win the first Grand Slam of the year and her third; should she win the final the only one missing from her collection will be The French Open, and as a self-described "cow on ice" while playing on clay there is little to no chance she will carry this one home.
Even more dissapointing than the first women's semifinal was the second. The veteran player Hantuchova continued her antics as usual and choked just as the final was within reach. Credit to the younger of the Serbian Vitches for hanging in there and forcing Hantochova to win, but this was ugly tennis and unless she steps her game up tremendously, there will be another rout in the final on Friday night; the Shrieking "Princess" would be on the opposite side though.

If you dont work, or just love coffee and tennis, be sure to wake up at 330am to catch some thrilling tennis. I know I will, which means an early bed time for me tonight. Look forward to reporting on it tomorrow.

G'Day Mate

Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Aussie Open: Day 10 Recap

Living up to its nickname as the Oz Open, the upsets kept coming on the women's side. Picked as a favorite to possibly win the whole thing, The Goddess fell in straight sets to a hard hitting and more athletic Ivanovic than she had played in their previous 4 meetings. The youngest of the Serbian Vithces, came out firing from the start and The Goddess, heavily strapped on the thigh, looking lost and confused at times couldnt get her stuff together; He serve was off, her shots werent penetrating, her volley's were a flub and she wasnt moving as well as normal.

In the other women's quarterfinal match, two little known players slugged it out and the elder stateswoman, and veteran, Daniella Hantuchova emerged the victor to make it to her first Grand Slam semifinal. Ms. Hantuchova and Ms. Ivanovic will take the court tonight and I predict (and hope) the Serbian beauty will emerge victorious again.

On the Men's side The Djoker played a Spanish scrambler and won another match in straight sets with ease. He nor The Fed would have any of the "upset bug" that was going around on the women's side of the draw. While Blake gave the Fed more of a fight than Djoker's opponent did, he still sent the Harvard Powerhouse packing like the rest of the American men (and women for that matter)


Tonight should be fun, and thanks to a little thing called the common cold, I will be all caught up on my tennis! Off I run, doubles is on Tennis Channel

Tuesday, January 22, 2008

The Boondocks - "The 'S' - Word"

I believe that The Boondocks is an excellent piece of social commentary. I dont get to read the strip often anymore, but I do occasionally catch the show. Monday night, I caught what has to be one of the best episodes ever. Enjoy and comment



::UPDATE:: If you have tried you know that the above video doesnt work....apparently Cartoon Network and Adult Swim are not down for copyright infringement. To catch the episode you gotta go here

Enjoy!

Monday, January 21, 2008

Aussie Open: Day 9 Recap

Major Upset ALERT!!!

The Diva just fell in straight sets to the eldest of the Serbian Vitches. She didnt look herself in the loss, and her usualy dependable serve deserted her. What could be the deal? More to Come....
The house of cards continue to fall The Little Bitch That could was beaten by the Shrieking Princess! The tennis gods are appeased.

Today shall be called Upset Tuesday...

The men continued the trend with Jo-Wili pulling the upset over Mikhail Youzhny. The big hitting, flashy French player KO'd the Russian in straight sets and doing so emerged from the shadows of his young fellow Frenchman Gasquet and Monfils. A self professed Mohammed Ali look alike, Tsonga now moves on to face Nadal in what is sure to be an interesting match to say the least. Breaking the trend by beating his little known opponent with ease, Nadal will enter as the heavy favorite and might do to Tsonga what the Frenchman has been doing to his opponents all week, get under his skin.

Aussie Open: Day 7 & 8 Recap

I thought the long weekend would be a good time for me to catch up on some of the tennis that I have been missing out on thanks to my social life and the time difference. I was wrong. My recap of the past two days is largely what I have read on Tennis Magazines website or the snippets that I was able to catch in the windows of free time that I had.

No more big upsets on the women's side with the number 1,3,4,5,7, and 8 seeds all in the quarterfinals which start on Monday night here in the states, but are played Tuesday in Australia. I am uber excited about the match between the Shrieking "Princess" and the Little Bitch That Could, because it means one of them will be out of the tournament as a result. As the lesser of the two evils I am hoping the Shrieking Princess can pull it out (as stated in my earlier post) but either way the tennis gods will be slightly more at peace.

The mens side has a couple of great stories and just as a good matches in store as well. Novak "Nole" Djokovic dispatched the hometown favorite, Hewitt, meaning that only the good guys are left in the tourney. Blake will face the Fed who should be newly determined to reassert himself as the firm number one. Djokovic will face the spanish grinder Ferrer, but with his sturdy play should be able to pull of a 4 sets or less win. Tsonga, the for sure break through player of the tournament will play a sometimes beautiful player in the Russian Youznhy that could be another great late night match (gonna set the DVR extra long for this one). Nadal is playing no one of consequence and should make it easily into the semis.

Only a few more days of this before my nights are empty again. Havent decided if that is a good or bad thing yet. But I will let you know in about 4 days!

Will try to recap day 9 before day 10 starts but makin no guarantees here!

Saturday, January 19, 2008

Aussie Open: Day 6 Recap

Its the weekend down under and mother nature conspired to ruin tennis, but the Aussie Open unlike the other tournies has two roofed courts to ensure play continues. What an AMAZING day of tennis it was. Play did not finish for the day until 4:30am in Melbourne!
The Tennis Reel:

Though play took place all day on Rod Laver and Vodofone Arenas the action was pretty mundane. The women's side had two "major" upsets with the Spanish Russian and Chakvedatze going down in straight sets to fledgling opponents. With The Goddess dominating the talented Indian, Mirza, the rest of the women's matches that got on court were pretty mundane.
As a side note, how exciting is it that they are providing coverage of the women's doubles match The Diva and The Goddess have been playing? Watch out field, they have two titles as a team already, looks like three is a serious possibility.


If your even the slightest bit of a tennis fan you know of the theatrics of the night on the men's side. The formerly untouchable, unless its on clay against Nadal, FedEx was pushed to a super long super thrilling 5th set. So amazing! Tipsaravic, an unsung Serbian grabbed the control from Federer and was the aggressor for the majority of the match. In the end after the longest match of Federer's career that wasn't in a final he pulled out the win. Later that night Baghdatis and Hewitt had another thriller setting two records for Grand Slam matches along the way: latest start at 11:45pm and latest finish at 4:30 am. A true test of endurance and stamina, Baghdatist gave Hewitt everything he had but in the end, the heart and hometown crown would pull their favorite son through to the next round.

Hopefully there is more good tennis in store for week two of the tournament as nothing but the best of the best are left. I cant wait for the action and drama.

Friday, January 18, 2008

Aussie Open: Day 5 Recap

I think Steve Tignor over at Tennis Magazine summed it up best, in his post Late Night Blues, when talking about the adventure Aussie Open watching can be:
"Did I say I liked watching the Aussie Open at all hours? Can I revise that statement? It’s not that I don’t like it, exactly, but it does kinda get in the way.
If you're out at dinner past 10... you’ve missed a good three hours of banter between Martina Navratilova and Bill Macatee. Or if you need to get to work at a respectable hour, forget about taping and seeing all of [the late late matches]. I’m not complaining, just scrambling to find a way to fit all this tennis—as well as a good, old-fashioned mace job in the stands—into my routine."

Truer words could not have been written. As I left for work this morning, The Roddick v. Kohlschreiber match was still on LIVE and would not finish until almost 10am EST! The dissapointing part of it is that as a unabashed Roddick (The Fratboy) hater, I would have loved to see him get demolished at the hands of the "talented" shot makig German.

Alas, on with the rest of the recap...

Another night, means another Williams sister match and tonight The Diva showed up on court and ushered the hard hitting, fleet of foot Belerusian out of the tournament. One break in each set was that was accomplished, but it was enough and Serena kept the errors down and moved well.

Mauresmo continued her abysmal free fall from the upper echelons of tennis with ouster at the hands of hometown favorite, Australian Casey Dellacqua.

The Little Bitch That could was pushed, by the fun Italian Francesca Schiavone, but pulled off another straight sets victory. I am hoping her and the Shrieking Princess cross paths in the quarters and that the Shrieking Princess emerges victorious. (Lesser of two evils) However, should TLBTC make it to the semis and the The Diva did too, I am confident the result will be different than the last three times.

Other big names made it through in pretty simple fashion as well - The Eldest Serbian Vitch, The Czech Beauty, and of couse The Shrieking Princess

The mens side provided more excitement with the aforementioned Roddick lost. Always good news for a tournament if you ask me. Mikhail Youzhny and Nikolay Davydenko both pulled off wins but American Mardy Fish will have to pack his bags for Florida now.

One of the best stories of the tournament has to be Jo-Wilfred Tsonga. He is and athletic French player whose biggest win to date was against Murray in the first round. I love to watch him play cause he enjoys it so much. Last year he was sent home by Roddick (ugh) but if things keep going well for him, he could be this year's Aussie Baghdatis or Gonzalez.

Friday night means I will have to decide between tennis and being social, but the DVR will be set to record the Mirza vs. The Goddess match (a battle of big hitters; Mirza's forehand is amazing) as well as the Baghdatis, Hewitt Grinder.

Tennis, I will be sad when you leave me again.

Wednesday, January 16, 2008

Aussie Open: Day 3 & 4 Recap

Things have been hectic this week so as a result I have been behind with my updates this entire week. As I recap day 3 at the open I am watching the day 4 matches, what am I gonna do about it, so sue me. I am working two jobs and trying to be social, its not easy!

The biggest match of the day was a night match between the Comeback Mom and The Shrieking "Princess". Unfortunately the outcome wasnt what I hoped and I will have to endure at least one more round of her ear drum ripping squeals.

Other matches included a win by Roddick, easy wins by The Diva and The Little Bitch That Could. With so many seeds holding true to form, there hasnt been alot of excitement in the first week of tennis and I refuse to bore with the meaningless details. Robredo was the only seeded male to fall, and at the hands of American Mardy Fish no less, while Swiss Patty Schnieder tumbled to a lower opponent as well.

Day 4 Matches:
The Goddess
The Spanish Russian
The Czechian Beauty (Vaidasova)
FedEx vs the Magician (could be a good one)

::Update:: I realized after putting up what I thought was 'day 4' that I had somehow jumbled things all up and skipped a day somewhere or combined two days. Anyway, corrections have been attempted, but the past is behind me and thats where its staying. Ill do better next time

Tuesday, January 15, 2008

Aussie Open: Day 2 Recap

The "Happy Slam" is two days done and going pretty much on course. I know that it would cost a few thousand bucks to get there and enjoy the event, but I would gladly trade the cold windy days here in the Cap City for the warm summer days Down Under.

A few upsets on both sides of the draw but still nothing big yet.

Women:
The Goddess pulled through with a decent win again a double fisted Chinese opponent. She is in great shape, and I hate picking against her sister The Diva, but I think she has a good shot at the title. The Younger Serbian Vic thrummed her opponent and the Spanish Russian was decisive in her victory as well.

The Diva is back tonight, along with the headline night match of The Shrieking "Princess" vs. The Comeback Mom. I might wake up early to catch this one live.

Men:
The Djoker and the Fed won easily against non-formidable opponents, no stomach problems stopping him today.

Hmm, there are no big name men playing today. Or at least none that I really care about. You want the up to the minute info check out ESPN2 or the Tennis Channel. Off to more tennis viewing.

Monday, January 14, 2008

Aussie Open: Day 1 Recap

Thanks to the current seeding system, the first week of the Grand Slams can be pretty boring. With 32 seeds, the top players dont face "real" danger until 3rd or forth round. The exception to the rule however tends to be the Australian Open; as the first big tournament of the year, players arent always in the best shape or mentally prepared for what is ahead. And on with the recap we go.

Women's recap:
Holding to form all of the big name women made it through to the next round. Decisive wins came off the rackets of both The Diva and The Little Bitch That Could.
Match of the day on the women's side has to go to surging teen Paszek of Austria and the eldest of the The Serbian Vitches. After 3 hours, 3 set, and countless breaks of serve, the Serb pulled out the win in some thrilling tennis. Her prospects dont look good for the rest of the tournament due to the back and leg injuries she will have to battle along with the person across the net.
Matches for tonight include The Goddess, and The Spanish Russian: Kutzy.

Men's Recap:
Unlike the women, the men's side had some upsets and some real challenges one day into the tournament. The Scott: Murray got ousted by French stud Tsonga and Moya got bounced by an Austrian Journeyman (hoping to catch the former on Tennis Channel today). Nadal was pushed hard while Gasquet and Nadal had relatively easy wins.
Matches tonight from The Djoker, The Aussie Asshole (Hewitt), The Fed, The Argentine Crusher (Nalbandian), and The Harvard Scholar (Blake).

With such a full night of tennis, not sure how I will get anything productive done, but life will be there after the open.

Sunday, January 13, 2008

When does sharing someone become competing for their attention?

All relationships are give and take - friendships, marriages, kinships - they have to be in order for them to work. Going into a relationship knowing balance is necessary can prevent some of the pain that is often associated with relationships. When we were kids we tended to horde our friends and hated sharing them with anyone; as we grew older most of learned that it was impossible to be the center of everyone's universe (some people still havent gotten the message however). The problem becomes however, how much sharing is too much? When it comes to relationships, serious or not, when is it ok to say I'm sharing you too much?

In my relationships, I have always been more that willing to share the people with whom I associate; i like to think I do a good job picking my friends and if they are good enough for me, other people should be able to benefit from there company as well. My problem comes when I have to share someone with material things. Hobbies are healthy, but when they become obsessions and affect our relationship is when I don't have time. I don't need to share you with with your car, your house, or your internet addiction. If you are not smart enough, mature enough, or aware enough to realize that what you are doing is wrong then we need to move on.

I am not going to compete for attention.

Saturday, January 12, 2008

MTV Why Must You Lure Me Back???

I thought I had gotten to a point where I would no longer watch your mindless programming. I thought I had matured to a point where there was nothing you could do to get me to watch what has to be programming geared towards 17 year olds. Then you do this:



and even worst you do this:



The Gauntlet and Making the Band!! You know I have no self control when it comes to these shows, one a dramatic social trainwreck the other self promotion at its best. Now I will have to watch you twice a week for an hour each ensuring my brain will start to leak out my head again. Chain me to the couch and hit me in the head with a mallet why dont you?!?!?!?

THANKS
. :-(

Aussie, Aussie, Aussie....

Oy, Oy, Oy!


As a tennis fan these are the events that you look forward to. Being there to see it in person, but the next best thing is catching it live on TV for sure. Labeled as the "most fun" Slam, the Aussie Open starts tomorrow night locally (Monday morning in Australia) and it could be one of the best slams in a long time.

As each Slam comes around I like to express my hopeful out comes; they aren't predictions cause they often err on the side of long shots, but thats the beauty of being a fan and doing this for fun.

Women:
The usual suspects of the last year are back and looking strong --- The Williamses: The Diva and The Godess ( I dont think it should be hard to discern which is which), The Serbian Vics, The Little Bitch That Could (Henin), and The Shrieking "Princess" (Sharapova).
A potential interesting matche would be the second rounder between TSP and former Australian Open winner Lindsay Davenport (The Comeback Mom). Agnes Savay has great game and could create problems with the legion of young players emerging from eastern Europe. I think Mauresmo had her moment of superiority and will fade from here, and Kutzy will just under perform as usual.

I would love to see an all Williams Final, and thanks to some decent play last year their rankings would allow for it.

Men:
A little more stable than the women's draw, serious male contenders are few and far between --
The Master/FedEx, The Spanish OCD Bull, the Djoker and maybe Roddick. However there are a few youngin hoverin right below these guys who could finaly show us what they got.

I think this is Djokic's tournament to lose but Fed is going to put a fight on his way to eternal greatness.

What will transpire? Not Sure, but believe that the next two weeks I will be GLUED to the television in my free time.

Wednesday, January 9, 2008

A Life Affirmation

Inspiration can come in different forms; tonight it comes via another blogger. Her words

Friday, January 4, 2008

A Post Like No Other?!?!

Unlikely, I am sure. Today the media and bloggers alike will be all abuzz with the news from last nights Iowa Caucuses. Coming as a shock to many, Barack Obama took Iowa by storm and blew his competition out of the water. After years of social strife and interracial unease, is the country ready for this change?

barack-obama-bw



My celebratoy dance (its the Carlton) might be a tad bit preemptive due to the forthcoming primaries in other states and how quickly things can change in politics, but I don't care. Tonight history was changed in a positive way. Everyone says we should "look pass the color of [the] skin, but instead at the content of [the] character", but this is America and I know the truth. That is why tonight I dance; a black man is one real step closer to a nomination for presidency. I am so excited I can barely contain myself.

Blog Merger Creates Synergys

To understand everything that is taking place in my head you might have to go around in circles before arriving at a final destination.

Today after much frustration I have decided to streamline the dissemination, of my thoughts, to the masses. Up till this point I was completing and monitoring two different blogs. Why do I have two blogs you ask? Well that is a long story in and of itself that made me think about something I learned in college....

I can clearly remember sitting in my Marketing 340 class being distracted by Jorge and what other "shiny objects" crossed my path, when we discussed diffusion. The topic was interesting so I decided to pay attention to what was taking place. After 10 minutes discussing the various stages, I came to a self-realization; as a consumer and in life I was a member of the 'early majority'. Nothing life-altering or earth shattering, but at least there was a name for people like me. I hated thinking of myself as a 'follower' of anyone else, but who was I kidding; I lead alot subtler than most, and was damn fine with that.

....anyway getting back on track to the story of two blogs. I started my primary blog because my best friend Monkey had one herself and suggested it as a good means to self-medicate while far away from my family; that was a little over 2 years ago. It rarely served its purpose till a few months later when life threw some curveballs at me and I needed some place to talk about it and save for future reflection. I never loved the site but it served its purpose and quite a few friends had it so it was easy to keep up with the goings on.
This blog was started for similar reasons. After graduation I moved back to DC and made some new friends that I could play tennis and hang out with on a regular basis. C.Heights, one of the newly acquired friends, had alot on his mind and was frustrated with aspects of his life so I passed my friend Monkey's advice on to him, "blog about it". He chose this site because of its affiliation with all that is Google and I created an account to keep up. While I was at it I couldn't resist the temptation to have another blog. And that is how one blog grew to two.

Thanks to my frustrations with my other blog I have decided to cut ties with it for now and attempt to merge the two. I will try to connect the two but I dont know how seamless the integration will be. The synergy created by the merger will benifit all parties involved.

Feel free to look at the posts below and see the evolution that took place. I will decide how best to integrate the odl stuff from the other blog. Let me know what you think.

Wednesday, January 2, 2008

Can you sit still for one second Dammit!?!?

I know this aint breaking news to no one unless you dont know me, but I have a hyperactivity issue. I know it aint ADD or ADHD or any other acronym-ed "disorder", I just got the "jitters". If I put serious effort into it I can be a somewhat normal (you cant erase 23 years of nature and nurture with out some serious medicine, therapy, torture or combination of the three so yall are stuck with me till then) well adjusted 23 year old, but alot of the time I can come off as a smart 16 year old on speed. I know that is a kind of blessing because it helps to off-set my ravenous appetite (Lord, please help me when my metabolism slows down. I dont want to be a 300 Lb. man like my father) and makes me alot more interesting to hang out with, but damn I know it gets annoying sometimes even to me.

How many blogs do I start with the desire to discuss one thing, only to be inspired to write something else half way through? Lets just say there is a good thing there is a private feature on xanga. This year I resolve to grow a little more and try to "slow the fuck down" as my father would say. If only I could clear the clutter in my head, I might start making sense more often.

O well its kicked in again and I am tired of this post. On to other shiny objects

Another Day in the Life....

...another year gone by. What would be a year's end without a little reflection? I wish I had the ability to reflect comparatively from year to year in my life, but large swaths of time elude me. Despite this I can say with confidence that 2007 has to have been in the Top 5 of greatest years of my life; this is largely attributed to how much growth I believe occurred during the year. I dont want this to get boring so you get '07 in a nutshell:

The year started with a job hunt and some temp work, it ended with me landing a new job and holdin down 3 gigs to get by and get the things I need/want. I ran the marathon like I said I would even if I didnt do it faster than Oprah. I moved closer towards my goal of moving to Spain in 2010 by improving my Spanish and acquiring my passport. I threw down in the kitchen too, mastered a meatloaf and a Cheescake.

I dont think I started out the year wanting to meet new people but I definitely made some life long friends and worked on relationships that I hope to have forever. It wouldnt be friendship without some trials and tribulations but the real ones are there in the end and I think I did a damn good job of picking them.

Whats in store for 2008? I am not sure, but I am hoping to maintain the balance in my life I have had over the past year. I will resolve to go out and eat more often, I am content to eat at home but there is so much I can get out hanging with friends and enjoying new culinary experiences. I am going to work on being less self-centered and openly opinionated so that I might be a better more supportive friend. Other goals include working on upping my tennis game, maybe enter a tournament by the years end.

I will continue the struggle to further separate myself from my parents financially so that I can ignore them when I want to which as it turns out is pretty often. Love em to death, but I need my space. Today my mom threatened to disown me cause she hadnt seen me. I saw her last night and everyday for 9 days before that. And they wonder why I am not well adjusted.

I dont need a road map for the year, I am just happy to be taking the trip.
 
"The Man Who Knows Something, Knows He Knows Nothing at All"