I was in the shower this morning and had an epiphany of sorts (we all know this is where all great ideas are conceived). I was watching CBS Sunday Morning, and they had an interview with Alecia Keys. (Did you know thats not her birth name? She changed it… I never knew. anyway…) She mentioned that she refused to say the “n” word in her role in Smokin’ Aces. That was what inspired my idea.

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.

Last year I started the tradition of taking off from work on my birthday. That is something I got from my mom who has not worked on her birthday for as long as I can remember. I also started a tradition of test driving a car on my birthday. Last year I thought I would eventually get an Infiniti G35 coupe, so I test drove a pre-owned one. It was great. I had not driven a stick in a long time, and it felt great. The car was fast a fun to drive. I had no intention of getting one that day, and didn’t.

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.

Hey everybody, guess who’s back! I know, I have been slacking on my posts beyond belief… Anyway, to the point. I was watching Oprah (yes Oprah, my fiancee TiVo’s ALL of them) and “America’s Favorite Dad” was the guest today. I have to admit, he spoke at my college graduation several years ago, and I was a bit disappointed. Back then he was talking about the same stuff he is talking about now… the state of Black America. Now I agree, its an important topic, but c’mon… its supposed to be a happy day. We accomplished something. I thought the speaker was supposed to be inspirational… it wasn’t. It was just depressing. I left stressed. I felt robbed of my joy that day.

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…

Two times we have tried to register, and twice we have been unsuccessful. Last night, we went to Macy’s and met with the bridal consultant. We set up an account and were on our way to scanning china, luggage and more kitchen gadgets that you could imagine. Well, that was until we hear someone come over the store PA system calling for an evacuation.

“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!

My car has been assaulted again. Again I was sitting still and again I have been hit. I was at a light (again) and the driver behind me was paying attention to the light and not the car in front of her (me). It was a low speed impact, so there is not a lot of damage, but the the estimate tells another story. There are two notches scraped from the bumper by the license plate screws and a few other minor scratches. Looking at the price of the estimate, you would think I was getting a whole new bumper. Ah well… not to sound insensitive, but I am not paying for it. I just want my car fixed (again).

My mom said that all of these accidents are my college “mishaps” coming back on me. Whatever it is, I hope it stops by the time I get a new car. Life has about two more years to finish this payback… I don’t want this to carry over to whatever I get next. Of course, this is assuming someone does not total my car before then. Pray for me.

I didn’t grow up in the country, but I have heard that kids in the country party more than kids who grow up in the city. I figured we partied differently, but I cant say I believed it. Well, not until this past weekend. I was visiting family in “less that urban area” (I say that because its not completely country… there is a lot of building going on there, but its still far from urban) and stopped at a “Quickie-Mart” to get some juice. Well, as I was checking out, I saw a package of cups sitting on a beverage refrigerator. Normally I would not have given it a second thought except it was packaged with orange ping pong balls. At first I didn’t know why plastic cups and ping pong balls to be sold together… then it clicked… BEER PONG! It was a beer pong kit. Well that settled it. Any place that has a market for and actually sells beer pong kits has kids that partied way more that I did. I was so surprised, I had to hake a picture to document it… see for yourself.