Now if you read the last post, then I won't bore you with that. Instead, I can bore you with this. Don't say I didn't warn you. Alright, so last night my MP3 player (Rio S35s) went fool and it's been slowly acting up for a while now. Still is but I'll save that for later. When I got home, showered and all, I tried to mess with it and put some new stuff on to bring to work tonight. Well, it took a while, but I got it to where it was descent enough to safely put stuff on it. By this time, it was around 9am and I knew I had to go over to my aunt's house for February birthday's and to see my nephew Brad and his mom. I went to bed.

Around 2, my nephew called and left a message believe it or not. I did not get it until I woke up at 3. I got up and made the bed. While I made the bed, my wife(Pilani) came in to ask if I wasn't something to eat and to tell me that she checked the caller ID and saw the call from my nephew. In case you are wondering, we keep the phone off in the morning because I work at night and people, whether they know this or not, call during that time. So I tell her I knew about call because I heard the message. Anyway, I said i'll eat something because I know I won't stay over to my aun't house to long and any food would be gone by the time I get there. So I take a shower and get dressed. I went into the living room where the computer is to start putting stuff on my MP3 player. There was a salad my wife made on the table on the table for me. She said that I problably should call and tell my nephew's mom and tell her that I was on the way there and I agreed. So I called over to my aunt's and talked to my Brad's mom. I told her that I was on the way before I go to work and she told me that she would be leaving in about 30 or 40 minutes. This was around 4ish. She also told me that "I'm not not going to wait around here until 8 or 9 before you go to work". Now, I have to be to work at 6 and that's 20 minutes away from my house. My aunt's house is about 10 to 15 minutes away and it's on another way that I can get to work. So I tell her that I go in to work at 6, so I was going to be on the way soon. She says alright so long as you can get here before she leaves or something like that.

Alright, so I get off the phone and told Pilani what she said. I didn't want to because sometimes she doesn't help the situation (as you'll soon see). I was at the computer and about to put some stuff on the Rio during to conversation, but hadn't done anything. Since that was the case, I went to put the phone up and eat. While I was eating, I decided to go ahead and start pushing stuff to my player while I'm eating. I also kept looking at the time. When I finished eating, I was pretty much finished filling my Rio with stuff. So I put my bowl in the sink and my wife said she would wash it. Cool. Washed my hands and went to finish what I started, which only took another minute. I was already dressed so all I had to do was grab my jacket, but I went to brush my teeth first. Done. Grabbed my stuff and left. This was about 4:30, 4:40ish? The highway is right up the road from my house, I didn't get on because I did want to run and get the present for my nephew that I wanted to get him. As soon as I past the onramp, I noticed the traffic and the street I was on was kinda heavy. That is not a big surprise as there are a lot of shops and a mall in the area. So I decided not to go where I was going and just head straight over to my aunt's. I couldn't just turn around as it is a busy intersection. So I cut through a "shortcut" to get back to the highway. Because of trafffic, it wasn't that short but i made up for it when I got to the highway.

Got to my aunt's house at 5 on the dot. I knew I didn't have much time already, but I had to make the most of it. I grabbed the gifts I had on me that my mom bought for the birthday people and went in. As soon as I went in, I was told that I JUST missed Brad and his mom. I was upset, but I rolled with it. As I figured, the food was gone and most of the cake (they usually start around 3 and that wasn't happening for me). So I made my rounds to everyone there. Hellos, hugs, kisses, etc, all good. So I went to where I knew everyone I didn't see was. Another little cousin asked me if I had seen Brad. I said no rather straight faced, but I was bitter. He pulled out his cellphone and showed me a picture that he had taken yesterday or the day before when he saw Brad. I was really upset at that moment, but I didn't show it (I think). I didn't want to see a picture of someone that I came partly
to see in person. He's 13, so he probably wouldn't understand how I felt at that moment, so I can't hold that against him.

Wait, I have to say this. What the HELL does a 13 year old need with a cellphone! Let's add to the fact that he had one stolen from him at school a few months prior. My nephew has one and he's 10! That makes no sense to me. No child that young should have a cellphone. What the HELL is wrong with people nowadays! I know the are good to have, but damn!

Anyway, I talked to my family for a little while before I left around 5:20. Just enough time to get to work. And so I did. Cut to a couple of hours ago when my wife calls me and says the Brad mom called at 4:58 to say that she had left my aunt's. Not leaving, left (keep in mind when I got there)! Pilani tells me that she was trying get Brad's mom to turn around since she was not that far away, but she claimed that she was tired. Now, I could have gone to her mom's house to see Brad but I would have been late. When Pilani told me this, I WAS PISSED. Now comes the kicker. After she tells me how she tried to get Brad's mom to turn around, Pilani then tells me that I should not have been messing with my Rio and that I should have left after I ate. I was 2 seconds from blowing up. Now, there is a reason why I don't talk about my wife here or anywhere much for fear of people thinking she is a bad person. She's not, but she pissed me off and I had to tell it.


She continues to tell me what I did wrong, while also saying that Brad's mom was wrong. Way too long story short (Too late), I hung up on her. I was NUCLEAR at this moment, and at work. Here is something that no one knows, within the last couple of years after a build up of stress, it doesn't take much for me to get sick or worse yet, get a major headache. If upset enough, I could almost feel an aneurysm coming on - I wish I was kidding and I've never had one, thank goodness. So I had to calm down quick, needless to say. I'm alright, don't be alarmed. My wife called back a little while later and started up again. I hung up again. Not feelin' it. So here I am putting it down and surprisingly calm to a point. I hadn't called Brad's mom because I would say something really bad to her. Plus, they are leaving monday morning and i'm trying not to dwell on the whole thing. Guess what though, my wife was right in a way. If I hadn't messed with my Rio, I could have left after eating. But, if I hadn't eaten, I could have left earlier. If I had not called, I could have left earlier than that. If I hadn't taken a shower.... you get the idea. The fact that my wife focused on the mp3 player, pissed me off. And I was doing that and eating. Anyway, I think i'm done with this. Let's get back to the real deal.

Thank you again if you sat through this.

Last weekend, I got a phone (here at work no less) from my brother's ex-wife saying that she and my nephew Brad was going to be here this weekend (long weekend, holiday, blah blah blah). That was cool, because I hadn't seen them in a while. The only thing is, I was going to be working this weekend and I told both of them that.Well, I just received a phone call from my wife telling me that my nephew and his mom(do I really still call her my sister-in-law?) are at my house. Why is this a problem? Because I'M NOT THERE!! I'm at work and they knew it! to make matters worse, they brought a cousin (not on my side) with them. My ex sister-in-law claims she had Brad call earlier. He didn't leave a message on the answering machine(if that was the case) and she doesn't either when she calls, unless she's looking to get in touch with my brother, then she left 5000 messages usually back to back(whole other story, not gonna talk on it)*.

So now i'm pissed, because not only did she just BS me, but she put in on her own son. Now granted, he has presumably called and done that before. He's 10, I can kind of expect that. He's also called and left messages, so there. Not only that, but when I talked to her, she starts talking about the weather and whatnot when I nicely mention the fact that she could have called. Normally, that alone would piss me off with most people, but I have a problem with being nice with the wrong people sometimes. As they say in the geek world, it's a feature, not a flaw (or something like that). Now, why are they over there when I'm not home? For my nephew, that's easy. He, like any kid, likes video games. That's his main reason for going(and the little snot had the nerve to ask to borrow a game for the night). Realistically, I'm just a side note. I know he loves me, but people, let's be real here. Kid sees a game, kid sees a family member. Where do you think that child is going to run? You delusional people can think the latter all you want because either you are fooling yourselves or that child has problems (Ahh, I can see the emails now). Now that child could possibly be well trained and will go to the family member first, but it's just that they know they have to get through this or these person(s) to get to the game. I'm no child P-sychiatrist, nor do I have kids, but I've been one and around a bunch more. That's how we learn.

Let me reign this back in because I think I've vented enough. So while this heffer go on about whatever, she tell me that she was going to go see my mom at her part time job after she leaves my house. Problem: She had just gotten over to the house a little after 8-ish, Burlington, where my mom works, closes at 9, and my nephew and his cousin had just started playing my Playstation while we were talking. Now, where are the holes there(and I swear I am having Deja Vu right now). Plus, she tells me that she'll be going over to my Aunt's house tomorrow(more on that in a minute). I dont think had any intentions of going to see my mom, let's say, because*..... Well anyway, from where she came from (her mom's house) to my house, she'd pretty much have to pass Burlington in a way to get there. Specifically, if she called to see if my mom was home and deduced that she must be at work when she doesn't answer (that's what she told me), you would probably head out over there knowing that a store closes. I'm just sayin', though.

Plus, how do you just show up at someone's house, when they tell you they won't be home. Sure, my wife was there and sometimes she's cordial. If you're saying you are going to someone's house to see them and they aren't home, WTF. Hell, she probably went there to see my wife. Ther aer no ties between them outside of me and my brother (That's not ego, just true). She and my nephew's mom are alright with each other, partly because of common ground**, but if she's not expecting anyone and someone shows up, she, not unlike myself, kinda gets put off and one way or another I will hear about it. In fact, I expect to hear about the fact that I said it was ok for my nephew to play the playstation since i'm not there. That's why I tried to head it off after I realized it after I said it. Like I said, they will talk, I will hear of it, but the realism will not come out. By that, I mean that my nephew's mom came by 1) unnanounced (AGAIN***), and 2) under false pretenses. Do I think she did it intentionally? Yes. Does she all of a sudden have a bone to pick with me? I don't think so, and she doesn't have the guts to tell if that's the case anyway (one would make the same case for me at this point). And she didn't really even know if we were home. If I'm home, my car is out in the yard and if it's late we may leave a light on if we aren't home. I wish my wife hadn't answered the door. It would have served them right,but she's not really like that. I could be and she might if it were my mom ('nother story), but I doubt it.

Anyway, the whole situation wasn't right and if there was a call, there should have been a message on my answering machine. And to top it all off, I called my mom(about 8:45) to tell here that Brad and his mom were here, at the house, and supposedly planning to go by her job. That's when she told me what time they closed (which I knew). I was tring to get her to call over there to kind of nudge them into going to see her. She was kinda busy trying to help clean up for the store closing so that wasn't going to happen. So by request, I called back to the house and mentioned the fact that my mom had some stuff my nephew's birthday that is coming up next week (He won't be here and they don't live in this state). So my nephew's mom says that they might stick around and wait for my mom (she stays in a fair walking distance and thankfully doesn't pop in) to get home and go see her. My mom might not get home until 10 or 10:30. She mentioned that my nephew and his cousin wanted to stay up late anyway (which almost surprises me that she allowed). So I had to put in that my wife might have things to do, which is not a lie sometimes, and i think she got the hint (Doubt it). She said that she would go kick around the Walmart down the street if it gets too late. (HUH?) So anyway, I don't know yet how that turned out. My wife is a nice person sometimes, so it may not matter, but it's a case by case basis. I had to do that whole last bit just in case the situation did put her off. It's not right to put someone in a situation like that. I would hate it, but would be cordial. It's nothing against them, but really. Wow, I guess I did have a little more vent in me!

If you have stayed around this long, you've got great patience or had absolutely had nothing else to do. I thank you anyway. Normally, I wouldn't go all crazy personal (especially since I'm at work) with the blog, but I had to get that out. My apologies. All this, and I find out that my family is getting together tomorrow at my aunt's house(from earlier) for February Birthday's. No one called me, but my nephew's mom knew at least since yesterdaywhen she went to one of my cousin's house. What's up with that?

Index
(* - Separation, divorce, in-laws. you do the math)
(** - it's not the first time by a long shot)

P.S.
I told you that I was going to hear about it and I did. Turns out my wife was called before they came by and she old them to come on by. Surprised, but still upset. And my nephew's mom told her what I said about the fact that she MIGHT have had something to do, but didn't tell her that I said that she might not . See what I get for trying to be nice? It was cleared up nice though.

So here I am at work again doing over time and I don't know why. Now I won't go throught the whole sob story because I know someone will be like, "Boo Hoo. suck it up. Most of us don't have it like that." Yea, Yea, whatever. It's funny, I spend literally half a day working and the majority of the rest of it sleeping on occassion (like today because I had a long weekend). I'm just sitting here thinking about the fact that I'm working overtime instead of using the one or 3 days I have off resting. And of course, I'm thining,"Why the HELL didn't I take the blue pill."

Damn, I hope my wife doesn't eat al of the Caramel Delights...

Got Tivo? Don't you love it? Hate the fact that it has only one tuner(not DirectTV or the cable company ones)?
Well, now you may have something to smile about assuming all goes well. At CES, The Consumer Electronics Show this past January, The company Tivo showed off a new Series 3 Tivo box that they are working on to come out some time this year. It will supposedly be HD capable and possibly dual tuners. The latter meaning that you can watch one program while taping another. That is something you can't do with current Tivo boxes. This will be a personal lovefest for me when it comes up (assuming I don't pony up for Satellite soon. Actually even then). Satellite users and cable users have had these options available for a little while. It's nice to see that the company who pretty much started the whole DVR (Digital Video Recorder) Shenanigans is finally getting it. Want to check it out? Click the link below from Gearlive and check out the video interview they put out. I say a very premature, YEAAAAAA!!!

Gear Live | CES 2006 Video: TiVo Series 3 Video Interview, First Look

Oops, I just checked the Singfool website and it says it has 7000 videos. Not sure if that is including movie trailers, but that sounds like a better number that I spoke of earlier. Oops!

In the midst of finding links to terrorize a friend with, I came across the site called Singingfool.com. On the surface, it looks like a site showcasing music videos from the major genres, not unlike Yahoo Music (formerly named Launch.com). It also has movie trailers and RSS feeds (if you don't know stay tuned) for the various features. If you are familiar with the site Allmusic.com, you may have seen some their videos streamed from there. Clocking in at around 700 videos (according to Allmusic.com), it may not hold a candle to Yahoo's offering, but I had noticed that this site seems to have a interesting mixed of known, not so known, and "who the F**K are the cats" in their video selections. Well, they weren't known to me, anyway.

You may ask yourself, why is this of any interest to anyone? Well, it might not be. I, on the other hand, found a couple of ditties worth watching. The site has videos ranging from Mariah Carey to The Veronicas (I don't know) to Air America's very own Kyle Jason. If you don't know who he is (and you probably don't), check out his Show on Saturday nights from 10pm-Midnight on your local Air America station. Here is a hint, it's probably AM radio where you are. Or you can check it out online at that time from here.
That's another story. I found a video from little known group Art N Soul (Tont Toni Tone spawn) and Tupac's "Hail Mary". A video i've never seen. One or two of the videos I found wasn't on Yahoo. I'm going to keep looking, but check it out when you get a chance.

(EDIT) This site also has the ability to make playlists of videos, essentially allowing you to become your own DJ. I think Yahoo does this too, but i've never tried it if it does. I will be trying this. You may see the fruits of my awesome labor. This could be a challenge to someone's "endless music repertiore". :)

I just though of something, it's been 3 days and i've heard no mention of Black History Month, of which is is. Hell, I've heard more of Groundhog's Day than I have of Black History Month. Not bitter, mind you. A bit peeved, but not bitter. And for that matter, does matter to people? Particularly, African Americans (of which I am one, if that wasn't painfully apparent). I don't know too many that seem to give it much thought. I myself included. As far as I know, it's not (or really never has) been taught well in school. This may be taken up as the month goes by. And realistically should be taken up after the month goes by. For now, we are here. And while we're, check this out. When I thought of this, I decided to check out some resources on the net. Not the best time to do this, at work, but hey. I tried to check to and see if BlackHistory.com was active, and it is. I haven't checked it out thoroughly, but it doesn't seem too bad. Some discussion(a bit light seemingly) and some E-commerce sprinkled in. Then I tried to look up Africana.com. It comes up as an AOL site, Black Voices. It feels like an "Entertainment Tonight" with black folks. I was originally looking for the site for the old Microsoft program, Africana (around 2001). It's used to be a pretty good encyclopdeia for Black History. They put it in with Encarta last I heard, so it's probably forgotten. I will look for other computer programs similiar to this. I don't know. I'll be checking for more, but you can peruse these at your leisure.

Do you like watching the Super bowl ads, but not the actual game? (I do, I do!)
Well, now you can get them in a video podcast all bite sized and portable like. Yummy!!
Well, check out the link from the link below(it's a good post) and find out how. There will be
words like feeds and podcasts and video on Ipods (whatever those are). Check it out. I will
and I don't have an Ipod. I do have a PSP that I can use for on the go viewing. Ipods, after all,
are not the only video viewing options. We will get to all of that soon. That said, check it out.

TinyScreenfuls.com » Get Super Bowl Ads as a Video Podcast Feed

If it is not known by now, I have a great respect for the literary arts. I wouldn't say that I myself qualify as a writer (this aside), but I have in the past have indulged in a little something something (like Maxwell). I also have friends who write, a couple of which have been published in one way or another (Hi Sheria). Needless to say it is also good when I hear of one of them writing something new and sharing it with me. Some, I may have to fight to get them get them to put out something (I'm looking at YOU, Baby Jaguar, retired, my ASS). Hopefully, if not here then somewhere, I will get the chance to present them proper like for everyone. All in due time.

For now, I am happy to shout out my home girl, LaShonda (AKA L Boogie), who has recently started a blog and anyone who knows me knows this makes me happy levels on levels. So, I invite to check her out on her journey from Phat To Fabulous (Now L, you've gotta love how I did that). Now you can all see, as I have for years, how special she is. And not in that seperate class, little yellow bus kind of way. Well...... never mind. You'll love her, word is bond. By the way, L, you were right about the rambling. Damn.

P.S
You gotta love someone who like The Boondocks