First in 2011

Apparently, black folks are still making notable "firsts" in 2011.  Mr. Bill Lester is now the only black man to have won a Grand-Am Road Racing event.  His achievement is eclipsed only by Wendell Scott, the only black man to win a NASCAR Sprint Cup race.  The first thing that came to mind when I saw the article was really?  Black people are still racking up 'firsts' in 2011?  I guess the mere 148 years after the official end of slavery hasn't been enough time to change everyone's mind about the capabilities of black people.  What else haven't African Americans done yet?  I suppose we'll find out the next time a barrier is broken.  Hopefully it'll be sooner than later.

Less ain't always more

It seems like the weather and fashion trends have an inverse relationship; the hotter it gets, the less clothes people wear. Yes, 'tis the season for leaving nothing to the imagination. If you're in a Victoria Secret runway show, feel free to walk around damn near naked. But if you're like 99% of the population, less isn't necessarily more. I went to a program at my son's school and was...amazed (?) by the sheer amount of clothes missing. Booties and boobies and body parts hanging out all over the place. And some of them had on skirts that were wider than they were long. One woman's skirt was so short she would've turned a G-rated parent conference into a XXX peep show if she'd bent over. It was a complete mess. So for the sake of the innocence of my virgin eyes and everyone else who doesn't want to see what your clothes should be hiding, I'll say these three things:
1) just because they make it in your size doesn't mean you should wear it
2) refer to #1
3) less isn't necessarily more. Now go put some daggone clothes on!

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Apples and Trees

As they say, "the apple don't fall far from the tree." My friend sent me this article about children of hoarders she saw in the NY Times. As someone who didn't live in the cleanest home growing up, I could identify with some of the issues these kids have. I can only recall 2 or 3 times my friends spent the night because our house was always a mess. Even as an adult, I don't like to have people over unless the house is clean, which it never is, so I never have company. It's not very fair to my kids, who I'm sure would love to have a sleepover. That's my goal...to have a sleepover friendly house. I'm not far away, so hopefully by the end of June I can start to break the house embarrassment cycle with my kids. It's going to take some serious work, but breaking bad habits always does, right?

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/12/garden/children-of-hoarders-on-leaving-the-cluttered-nest.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

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i-n-d-e-p-e-n-d-e-n-t...

Do you know what that means?  It's not just lyrics for several songs, but a state of mind.  I was thinking about a former coworker and decided to write this post.  She was in school (she worked with me as a paid intern), had her own apartment, and a decent car.  She was also pushing 40, had her tuition paid by her brother, her rent and bills paid by her sister, and had a serious passion for shoes her paychecks helped to support.  But she would always talk about how independent she felt and how proud she was that she lived on her own with nobody taking care of her.  She completely glossed over the fact she didn't pay her own bills or even know how much tutition was, let alone write the check.  Part of me is hating - hey, who wouldn't want a benefactor to take care of everything so all I have to worry about is the occasional shopping spree - but a bigger part of me is screaming WTH?  How do you get to be 40 years old and still be "remotely dependent"?  My definition of a "remote dependent" is anyone who is over 25, lives in a residence apart from whoever is paying the bills, but still comes to mommy/daddy/rich uncle Lou and gets money for everything from rent and car payments to $20 for beer and pizza.  A remote dependent may have a job, but the majority of their income must be spent on items other than the essentials (food, shelter, transportation).  In case you're wondering, cell phones, cable, internet, eating out, etc. do not count as essentials.  And worst of all, whoever is taking care of the remote dependent can't write them off on their taxes.  Unfortunately, people fall on hard times and need assistance every now and then.  But I'm not talking about the rare hardship loan.  You know if you can be classified as "independent" or "remote dependent".  And if you don't, read this post again and tell me...are you i-n-d-e-p-e-n-d-e-n-t?

Beer Bread

A friend and I were taking earlier and I mentioned I wanted some beer bread. She'd never heard of it, so I told her I'd give her the recipe. I figured if I post it on my blog others could enjoy it, too. It's my mom's recipe, but it isn't considered "classified" so here it is.

12 oz can of beer
1/3 c sugar
4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
3 c flour

Mix all dry ingredients together. Add beer. Let the batter rise 30 minutes. Put into a bread pan and bake at 350° for 50-60 minutes or until golden brown.

Simple and tastes great!

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Do you Google Talk?

When compared to Yahoo Messenger, Google Talk is way behind. While Yahoo is based on being intuitive, you have to do a bit of digging to customize Google Talk. I've been using both for awhile now and I still don't know all the nifty tricks it can do. But, being that it's a Google product, I decided to look it up. Ironically, it was the Bing search engine that came up with the answers. So I'll pass them along to you.

Open up Google Talk and try this in a chat window:

For bold type, use asterisks * around the words you want bold. Place them directly before and after the words, no spaces

For italics, use underscore _ around the type. Again, place directly next to the words with no spaces

For a strikethrough, use hyphens - next to the words. Place the same as with bold and italics.

You can combine them, but do it in sets. For example, to bold and italic a word, you would put it like this: *_word_* or _*word*_
If you mix them together like this: *_word*_
It won't work.

To reduce or enlarge the screen: ctrl - or ctrl +

There's also an add on, which I'm not sure is still valid. I'll post the link when I confirm it.

It's important to note these tricks don't show up on the mobile version.

Happy chatting!

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Ghettonation

I read a book by Cora Daniels a few years ago that explored the concept of "ghetto" in American culture. I thought about it yesterday as I was watching a PBS special on Jewish concentration camps, the original ghettos. There was nothing fun, or cute, or good about the ghetto. They couldn't afford the exorbitant prices for food - people were essentially zombies, wandering in a half-dead stupor until they starved to death. And when they died, all the families could do was set the deceased on the street. Conditions were terrible, disease and starvation were as common as breathing, and if you didn't starve, you froze from a combination of threadbare clothes, no coat, and no heat. These were the images the word "ghetto" conjured up in the minds of our ancestors.

Fast forward to today, where "ghetto" is used to describe anything from an inappropriate outfit to loud car music. In the book, Ms. Daniels makes the point "ghetto" is a state of mind, a mental destitution we embraced and use as am excuse to not be better. In fact, the biggest difference between yesterday's Jewish ghettos and today's "ghetto" is theirs was forced upon them while ours is self inflicted. I'm not saying everyone who lives in the ghetto loves it and stays there of their own accord. My point is often we abandon the drive to do better because we are comfortable being ghetto. Think of something you would deem "ghetto." Now ask yourself if it could have been said or done better but wasn't because ghetto was good enough. That mentality is what the book is about. If you haven't read it, check out Ghettonation by Cora Daniels. Hopefully if we change the mentality, we change our outcomes.

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