This guy, Bear Gryllis, is amazing, or crazy, not sure which one yet. He gets dropped off in some far off, uninhabited place and shows the world how he can survive anywhere. In this episode, he is in Iceland. Yes, Iceland! Jut him and a perhaps even crazier camera crew. I have already seen him find a dead sheep, cut away some meat and fat… and take one of its eyes… and cook the meat and eye in some boiling volcano water and eat it. He saved the fat to make a fire later in the show.

I think the best part is when he finds some random plant and tells us that “90% on this is extremely toxic and poisionous, but if you eat this tiny part here, its delicious,” and then he eats it! How does he know so much about nautre, and, not that I am wishing anything bad on him, but he has to know of the crocodile hunter… eventually his luck is gonna run out and he might just eat a part of the 90%.

So whats up with this camera crew? I mean, he is a survivalist, but are they. When he is all talking about how scarce food is, what are they eating? Do they have their own food to eat? A caterer following them around w/ cheeseburgers, steaks and potatoes? That has to up set him seeing his camera crew eating a nice medium well NY strip while he is eating a cold sheep eyeball. He was just trapped in a cave in total darkness, and he was still being recorded. So was there a guy in there with him lost too? Well, at least if he goes, he wont be alone. Ok, that was wrong… I apologize.

Now a show called “The Alaska Experiment” just came on. I guess it like a “Man vs. Wild” for regular people. Now they are CRAZY. ALASKA?!? Its cold, there are bears and little food. Do they not know they are living in the bear’s home? And they are BIG and FAST and STRONG. All that means you don’t stand a chance. Ah well… I will continue to enjoy life in the suburbs… lol. Maybe one day I will go camping… lol.

http://stuffeducatedblackpeoplelike.wordpress.com/

Enjoy!

www.votechooser.com/

www.selectsmart.com/president/2008.html

www.usatoday.com/news/politics/election2008/candidate-match-game.htm

www.wqad.com/Global/link.asp?L=259460

www.speakout.com/VoteMatch/

Ok, Now go VOTE!

Fidelity - 25%

Navy Federal - 20%

USAA - 25%

Wachovia - 30%

Also, if you are a State Farm customer, you can file your taxes for free. Kinda wish I had them now… ah well. Geico offers 35% for H&R Block.

Ninja Warrior. If you have never seen it, you have to check it out. It comes on G4 (a gaming network… I *heart* FiOS) and is so ridiculous its great. Its a Japanese (i think) pseudo-game show.. similar to American Gladiators. Its running, jumping, climbing, and best of all, people falling in a huge mud puddle. It is dubbed into English, and while I am not completely convinced it is the actual dialogue, it is still pretty entertaining. It makes me want to go to Japan just to compete. I could be a ninja warrior, right?

American Gladiators… its back, and almost as good as I remember. It hasn’t tarnished my memory of it, so thats good. And now that I am old enough to compete… it made me seriously think about it for a minute. But I know deep down I would be trying to substitute it for Ninja Warrior… and thats just not fair to either show. Now I said “almost” as good as I remember…  thats because Hulk Hogan’s blond weave somewhat detracts from the appeal of the show. Its kinda difficult to take him seriously now when he has fluorescent strands of nylon hanging from his bandanna. Sorry Hulk, but my memory of you has been tarnished. I am a Hulkamaniac no more.

Hmm… so if the New Hampshire really is a foreshadowing of the Presidential race, and Clinton gets the Democratic nomination, could Obama run as her running mate? It would make history. First female president… first black person in the White House. Is America ready for that yet? While I would like to think the masses are open minded enough to look past race and gender and select the best candidates for the job, I am somewhat skeptical. Time will tell. Well, I guess its time for me to really start looking at ALL of the candidates so I can make an informed decision when the time comes.

One last thing. Salad Spritzers? Really? So they want us to spray on salad dressing now? “Only one calorie per spray.” Do you know how many sprays it will take to properly coat a salad? Well, at least you will know exactly how many calories it is… “23, 24, 25, …” How about practicing some self control and using less salad dressing. Or how about trying that thing… um… exercise. Then you can spray until your hearts content… or your salad is drowning in its own dressing, whichever comes first. Geez… what’s next? diet butter?

Billy Mays. Who is this guy? He is all over the place… I believe he started with Oxy Clean and Orange Glow. Little did I know he was the spokesperson for like 50% of all the commercials in existence. He had a commercial for “Mighty Putty”. evidently this is the nest thing since sliced bread. Its some nondescript gray putty in a green tube of some sort. When you knead the gray putty and green tube together, you “activate” the putty to become the most powerful expoxy in the universe. You can make it do anything… you can fill holes and dents in a wall, sand and paint; you can fill nicks and dings in wood furniture, sand and paint; you can make shape it to create a new handle for a broken mug (sand and paint, lol); its even water tight. It will create a water tight bond instantly. I am pretty sure you could build a bomb shelter out of this stuff if you had enough. And whats even better is they will TRIPLE you order for free! You better go order some right now!

Billy also marketed the Samurai Shark, a super knife sharpener. Its the reason sliced bread was so great… until Mighty Putty. It will sharpen any knife you have to a razor sharp edge. No more dull knives in you kitchen. Steak knives, pairing knives, serrated knives, ginsu knives, even that knife you use ob bread… all amazingly sharp. Butter does not stand a chance now. It will even work for scissors. Nothing better than scissors that can cut through bone. I wonder if it will make you knives sharp enough to cut through Might Putty…

Good ole Billy… he wants to make sure you are covered. In case you get tired of losing fingers using the wonderfully sharp knives thanks to you Samurai Shark, you can get the Vidallia Slice Wizard. It will magically slice anything you need sliced. no more uneven tomato slices. You can have perfect cucumber slices for your salad. I will slice anything… apples, oranges, bananas, ice, even Mighty Putty… maybe. And if that is not enough, you can change out the attachments for more ways to slice. You can instantly turn potatoes into french fries. McDonald’s, you days are numbered. But wait, there’s more… if you order not, they will include a caddy to neatly store all you magic slicing attachments. You may just have to order two of these wonderments of technology.

Ok, enough of Billy… I found something he didn’t sell. They are Kiniko Foot Pads. You have to visit the site and view the commercial. I will wait… Ok, yes, its gross. Evidently we are all trees or something. Either that or their customers need to wash their feet better. Looking at all the toxins we have in our body, its a wonder we are able to survive. It will even remove cellulite. That amazing… especially since cellulite is not a toxin, but the way skin appears as an effect of fat related to the structure of the skin or something like that. I am not in the medical profession, so look it up. Anyway, I am pretty sure cellulite can not be removed through your feet. My guess is that the foot pads can not do anything a wash cloth and soap can’t do. These people probably feel better because they are clean. But hey, if you still feel the need to try them, they will send you foot pads for life. Can’t argue with that.

Zero Smoke. Magic magnets that you put on your ear that will help you quit smoking, I think. They say you are supposed to continue smoking as usual. You wear these magnets for 2-4 hours a day, and they release chemicals in your brain that mimic the effects of smoking. You will gradually lose the urge to stop smoking because the magnets are your nicotine. Whatever.

I don’t have the energy to discuss the other commercials I saw… commercials for exercise programs, diet suppliments, they are overwhelming. Well if you have read this far, I guess you found my rant somewhat interesting… you must have a sad, sad life… lol. Just kidding… kinda.

It hit me that if art imitates life, until we (especially Black people) stop using it in everyday life, it will continue to be used in music, movies, etc. I don’t believe the idea that if we remove the power from the word, it will be ok. Its a negative word, and nothing will ever change that. I also don’t believe that we can change the meaning of it, nor do I believe that it can be used as a term of endearment. Bad is bad is bad.

Some people believe that only Black people can use the word, and that’s just ridiculous. I understand the idea that people believe that they can fight with their family, but when others do, its a big problem. But that assumes that its ok and acceptable for them to fight with their family. Say you have a brother and sister who are fighting. We are taught that it is never OK for a male to hit a female, relation being no exception. Sure, you get more leeway with family, but wrong is wrong, as is the use of this word.

We will continue to have situations like the Imus and Dog until we stop being hypocritical and decide to stop saying it. No one has the right to claim sole use of a word based on race or any other reason. To my knowledge, they are not handing out patents on words.

Art imitates life, so make sure the one you live is worth being  imitated.

This year I decided to test drive the new Infiniti G35 sedan. In the past year I decided that a coupe was not practical, and I needed to consider a sedan. The plan was to wait until the 2009 Acura TL came out and decide which car I liked better. That would give me plenty of time to pay off my car and save up for a few months before I got a new car. Sounds like a great plan, right?

Well, like all great plans, it changed. I still test drove a 2007 G35, and it was cool. I liked the car, it drove well, and it was a definite possibility. After the drive, I started talking to my fiancee, and she brought up the possibility of getting the car. I was content walking out the door of the dealership, but now that this has been brought up, we might as well talk about it. Provided we could get a good deal, we would trade her car, pay off mine next year and both pay on the new car. This would allow us to pay off the new car sooner and speed up the time when we could get her a new car. We figure we can afford more together that we could individually.

We decided to go for it. We would go to the credit union, get out finances together, and bring back her car to see what they would give us for a trade. The credit union was easy. We went, decided how much we were willing to pay, and got a check in that amount. Then we had a brilliant idea, we would go to Carmax and see how much they would give us for her car. We knew how much NADA and Kelly Blue Book said the car was worth, but we wanted to see what we could really get for the car. Carmax was quite reasonable. It was right on par with what we found online. Great, we were good to go… as long as the dealership was a generous as Carmax.

So we got back to the dealership, and sat down to talk money. Uh oh, trouble in paradise. The first problem was with the amount of the trade-in. They offered a significant amount less that Carmax, and they were not trying to budge. They basically told us that if we did not want to accept their offer, we could go to Carmax. We should have left then. We didn’t. Instead we decided to stay and see what they had to offer for the car. They had nothing. They were not trying to budge on the price of the car either. Instead of the sales woman coming back with a counter offer, she came back and offered another car. She didn’t even make an attempt to work with us. We knew then it was all bad. Well, after we did not want the second car, the saleswoman brought back our keys (with an attitude, I might add) and basically told us that we could come back if we wanted to meet their terms. On the way out, she didn’t even shake our hand. You would think they would be trying harder to get rid of the 2007s. I would not recommend that dealership to anyone.

Well now I had the new car bug, and it isn’t being fulfilled. Enter my friend the internet. Time to search other local dealerships and see what they had to offer. As I was coming to terms with the fact that I was back to the original plan and would have my car for the next few years, I found a dealership with some good deals 2007s. I called to check the prices I saw, and they they were legit. I made plans to go by the dealership to see what they had. We (my fiancee and I) went by there and she drove the car this time. We both still liked it, so we decided to see what they were willing to offer.

To make a long story short, we had an excellent experience and drove out in a 2008 (for less than the other dealership was willing to sell us the 2007 for). The salesman was great, and he worked with us on both the trade in and the cost of the car. We got the car we wanted at a price we were comfortable with. If you are ever in the market for an Infiniti, let me know, I will direct you to that dealership.

I wanted to drive to the first dealership in the new car and rub it in the saleswoman’s face… I still might. One thing I can guarantee is that next year, my test drive will be just that… no new cars for several years.

Well, contrary to what the above may allude to, I have since gotten over that… kinda. But the truth is, he had a point… and still does. He co-authored a book that I think may be worth reading, Come On People. It reinforces his wake-up call, which I believe is quite necessary.

Ok, I know, I suck… but I have been sidetracked by the BET awards… here is what is going on in my mind:

I think I just saw Jesse Jackson on the BET Hip Hop awards… I had to be his kid… hopefully one he claims. He cant deny that one… he looked like he had on a Jesse mask.

Whats with all the swole rappers? I mean really.. what are they on? I think Balco is supplying them with the clear. Timbaland and Dr. Dre from teh MTV awards… Busta Rhymes and David Banner from the BET awards. Its like an army of Suge Knights. Even ex-rappers are getting big… Will Smith is not the same Fresh Prince. LL Cool J, the original get swole rapper, has now been downgraded to average. I guess if they can continue to get bigger as they get older, there is hope for me yet.

Ok, two of the Jena 6 are on, this should be good… I think they shoul dhave given them teleprompter lessons…. and one dude’s shirt was crazy tight. Lol. But for real, they did a good job. Expecially considering all they have been through.

Kanye is am ass… funny, but quite concieted… lol. I hope his acceptance speech is on YouTube. You need to look it up.

Uh oh… Soulja Boy is about to come on… gotta go so I can do the dance…

“Evacuation? Did we hear that correctly? Nah, couldn’t have been.” Then we heard one of the sales people talking about closing up her register. Then we saw two firemen walking up the escalator.

“The store cant be on fire,” we thought. It didn’t matter. We weren’t gonna wait around to find out. As we were heading out of the store, we were thinking about how crazy the situation. The we got outside. SMOKE! “Wow, Macy’s really is on fire.” Well, obviously that was the end of that for the day.

Fortunately, it was only a dumpster or something on fire and there was no damage (that I know of) to the store. So we decided to return the following day. While our reason for not being able to add items to our registry is not nearly as interesting, we were still unsuccessful. Guess the bridal consultant decided to take the day off, and there is no one else who knows how to sign out the scanners. Well, we will not be defeated… one day the registry will be ours!