Essense has an expose on 60 black bachelors who love black women..... Can you say "Ahhhhh!"

Check it out!

http://www.essence.com/essence/dorightmen/index.html

Okay, there are a couple I am really tempted to email!

You have the wrong address....

I have, for many years, suffered from the modern equilivant of the wrong number. I have repeatedly recieved emails that are meant for someone who went to my same alma mater who apparently has a very similar email address.

I have gotten emails from her relatives, her real estate agent, her old crew teammates, some drama group she is in. I think that she is from England, that she attended the school after me and that she is still living (or has returned) to the city we went to school in.

I try to politely tell these people that they have gotten the wrong person but when I mistakenly get put on email lists, that is the most frustrating.....

And this has been happening for years, ever since our school started offering lifetime email forwarding to alumni. When I got notice, I jumped up and claimed my initial as my email address. I can only guess that her initials are similar.

Maybe I will try to look her up in the alumni database.....

An unsettling week....

Well, I didnt have to take the bar exam this past week, but it ended up being an unsettling one for me nonetheless. The week started out interestingly. I was presented with an opportunity to purchase some investment property. After much consideration, I decided to take advantage of the oppurtunity. And then.... about an hour after I signed the contract with my agent, I attended a meeting at work where I was told that the new CEO, as he is evaulating the business, has told our group not to do anymore new expansion and that, since we are staffed for expansion, that some employees will likely not be needed..... Ugh!

Now, who knows what this will really mean for me but we are supposed to get more direction at the end of August. It is really unsettling though. I mean, I thought my job was something that I would not have to be worrying about right now. Things were going well, I really like the people I work with and the type of work we are doing. I have a short commute to work. Things were good. Now, I don't want to be premature.... Maybe this won't effect me, but it could. So, i am dusting off my resume and starting to look around. It is just sort of disappointing.

I am also getting this feeling that my renters are not going to renew their lease, which will be another stress to find someone to rent the apartment. They have not really stayed in the apartment in the past couple weeks but I see their cars parked in front of the apartment his mother is renting up the street. (I know, a little weird, huh?) I mean, maybe they are just hanging around there because it is the summer but I don't know. I sort of feel like that is coming too. Well, I will know this week since they have to either renew their lease or give me 30 days notice to vacate. I think I need to change the lease to give me 60 days notice!

So, what I thought would be a relatively mild fall might end up being one full of challenges. Guess I better get my mind right!

????

Why am I up so late?????

So maybe Dell is not so bad....

What is this you ask?

Well..... After my post about my dead Inspiron laptop, I got a comment from a customer advocate at Dell. Apparently, they monitor blogs for references to Dell. And John asked me to email him. When I did he told me, despite the fact that I had already bought a replacement HP laptop, he wanted to send me a new Inspiron laptop for me to try and compare.

Can you say "Wow!"

So my new Midnight Blue Inspiron 1520 arrived at my house a couple weeks ago. I have to say, it is pretty swanky.... And I have noticed commercials on the TV for this model. It actually comes in variety of colors from Flamingo Pink to Spring Green, Ruby Red to Jet Black. So, of course, I feel compelled to tell you all how impressed I am with Dell and it's proactive approach (although only a tad bit spooked out by their thoroughness at finding my post.) No doubt, that they will find this post just as easily. So, thanks Dell! Hopefully, this one will last much longer than my previous ones!

If this post is all bunched up, blame Blogger... it keeps deleting my line spacing!

Okay...

A good friend sent this to me. I have such mixed emotions.... it's funny, impressive coordination, slightly unnerving/surprising that they are so organized. But then again, what else do you have to do in prison......

Philippine Prison Reenacts Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” Video

Add to My Profile | More Videos

Mentoring.....

I meant to blog about this a while ago....

A week or so ago I was in step class at the gym and this woman who I had said hi to from time to time in class came up to me to tell me that she was going to start locking her hair. She asked me questions about how I started my locks and just some other general advice. It was sort of cool! She is currently growing out her relaxer and has put braids in to keep herself from messing with it.

I am happy for her and wish her the best of luck on her journey. And I will get to see how it is all progressing every week in step class!

A star is born!

Okay.... I need to gush a little. Remember a few months ago when I wrote about my friend who was going on tour in France signing back up for a major French artist. Well, the tour is coming to an end, she has two weeks to go in August and then she is done!


It has been 6 months of some incredible highs and some trying times as well, traveling on a tour bus all the time with some high drama divas. But I want to concentrate on the highs.


On July 14th, Bastille Day, she performed in Paris in Champs du Mars, outside under the Eiffel Tower for the likes of the French President. It was also broadcast live on French TV channel M6 and finished with a huge fireworks show.

Talk about cool! Check her out! (She is on the end on the left - Actually the one you see in the freeze frame!)



For a little background, Michel Polnareff is sort of like the Elton John/David Bowie of France, only he was forced to leave the country in 1972 because of some tax controversy (his business manager stole his money and also neglected to pay his taxes!) So he has been living in LA for the past 25 years. This is his comeback tour and the shows have consistently been sold out across the country. If you couldn't tell, his trademark is his curly blond hair and the white sunglasses.

Here are some other clips to give you an idea of the production value of this tour and the size of the crowd (and some great shots of the Eiffel Tower!)....





Oh, and you notice that the drummer has locks!

Harnessing a bad habit... a little experiment...

So, I have decided to embark on a little experiment inspired by two things -- a recent deep dive into my monthly budget and the fact that my freezer is overflowing. I am trying to go a month without making anymore major grocery store purchases. I am only allowing myself to buy, if needed, more fruit and vegetables and perishable drinks, like juice and milk.

I have a bad habit of going to the grocery store more regularly than I need to and then putting stuff in the freezer and never cooking it. So, I want to stop the cycle. It is also a waste of money. So, the buck stops here! I am also going to try to limite to amount of times I buy lunch out during the week to 1 as well as the number of times I eat dinner out.

Now, this doesnt mean that I will be stuck eating ground beef and chicken breast for a month. As I mentioned before, I am adept at grocery shopping and I love food so I will be fine. I just need to force myself to cook it and plan ahead a little. Let me give you just a little snapshot of the contents of my freezer (actually, it is more like freezers, since I inherited a spare refrigerator when I bought this house. That freezer is almost full too, although some of it is bags of ice.)

• Chicken Breast
• Catfish filets
• Pork Tenderloin
• Buffalo Burger
• Filet Mignon
• Duck
• Green Beans
• Stir fry vegetables
• Edamame
• Lean Cuisine meals
• Homemade Turkey Stock
• Fruit prepackaged for smoothies

So, honestly, I think I will be okay. But it will be a good exercise for me. The way I buy groceries you would think that I am buying for a family of three or something. Maybe this is a hold over from growing up, or I am just practicing for the future. But I really need to right-size for the present! Wish me luck!

(P.S. This post was penned while sitting on my screened porch after a nice refreshing humidity-breaking morning rain. Ahhhh!)

a depressing thought....

The other day I had a depressing thought....

I am running out of single female friends..... I mean this can be combined with the fact that I went to a wedding a week or so ago. I thought about bringing a date but agreed with the other single friend that I knew was going to not so that we could both be single together. And when I got the guilt trip from a male aquaintence who still had not seen my house and agreed in principle to have a few people over this weekend and he told me to invite my cute single friends, it really hit me. I don't really have many anymore. I think there are currently 3. The others have either moved away, gotten married, have serious boyfriends...... And then there is me.... :-(

Okay, this is not a pity party but I have noticed that some of my social habits have changed not because of my lack of interest in those activities but because of lack of people to do them with.... I love to dance, I love to go out to clubs. I used to have a great hanging buddy and friend and we used to go out every weekend, Friday and Saturday. Now, that was a little overkill but we had a blast! So, I don't have many going out friends now. Well, the ones I have are a little more low key than I like to be all the time which makes me sad from time to time...

Also, most of my best friends live in other cities. There isn't really an easy way to replenish your friends once you get past school/grad school age. You aren't really ever forced into large groups of people you have things in common with anymore. You spend most of your time either at work or at home and it's not like you get in in-depth conversations with other women at the grocery store or the gym. And the friends I have, while still great people are starting to talk about or have babies and the awful selfish thought I have is, "oh well... there goes that." And one by one, I lose the ability to relate to them for a few years. I mean, I relate as much as I can but what do I know about boppies and the best diaper pails etc.

I suppose I wouldn't worry about this so much if I were in a relationship. Although, a guy is never a substitute for a girlfriend. Sadly, guys don't always last forever. But your girls are there to lift you up and push you forward and hold you up when you can't for yourself.

Spotlight on Cathy Hughes

Watching the movie, Talk to Me, influenced me to do some more research on Cathy Hughes and her company, Radio One. Although an ancilliary story to the movie, the movie really introduces us to the beginnings of an African-American radio empire, that many may not know anything about.

Radio One is the seventh largest radio broadcasting company in the country which targets African American and urban markets and owns 70 stations in 22 cities. It was the first African-American woman-owned company to be traded on the stock exchange. It is responsible for the syndicated Russ Parr Morning Show

Additionally, in a joint venture with Comcast Corporation, the company created TVOne with lifestyle and entertainment oriented programming for African American adults.

But all these amazing accomplishments underpin an impressive personal story. Cathy Hughes was born and grew up in a housing project in Omaha, Nebraska. Extremely smart and ingenuious, she was the first African-American to attend a pretegious catholic school in the area and had a job at the age of 14 with the local African-American newspaper selling classified ads. However, when she found herself pregnant at age 16, her dreams became derailed....temporarily. Fueled by the determination to provide a good life for her son, she turned her passion for urban owned media into a media empire. For more information on her inspiring life story, read this profile on the Nebraska State Education Association website.

Go see "Talk to Me!"

I urge you all to go out THIS WEEKEND and see the movie "Talk to Me" starring Don Cheadle, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Taraji P. Henson, Cedric the Entertainer, Mike Epps, Vondi Curtis-Hall & Martin Sheen. The movie, currently in limited release with the promise of wider release with enough interest from the public, is directed by Kasi Lemmons of Eve's Bayou fame anf fellow sister in lockdom (See her below on the cover of the famous book, "Dreads" by Francesco Mastalia, Alfonse Pagano, & Alice Walker.)

The movie is about Petey Green, a controversial talk radio personality, in Washington, DC in the 60's and 70's. Petey, called the forefather of talk radio as we know it today, was the imperfect voice of a frustrated black community in turbulent and confusing racial times. He was a public figure who was not scared to say what need to be said in the most direct and irreverant way possible. But he was able to mobilize a community in a time when they felt they had no voice.

Check out trailers and more general information here.

If it is showing in your city, go see this movie and let the movie studios know that this is the type of film you want to see more of! And, give the folks in smaller markets the chance to see it themselves.

Addendum: I went to go see this movie myself last night and it is really a great movie! We all laughed out loud so hard at certain scenes (in fact the woman next to me laughed so hard she hit me a couple times --- and then apologized.) I don't remember laughing that hard at a movie in a long time! And there were really touching scenes as well that made me cry.... This is really just a great movie! My hats off to Don Cheadle, Chiwetel Ejifor and Taraji P. Henson for some really multifaceted performances. I didn't really realize that Ejifor's character was Dewey Hughes, the ex-husband of Kathy Hughes and co-owner of the radio station that would be the foundation of the black owned Radio One media empire. There is actually only one reference to Kathy Hughes in the whole movie, even though the end covers the time when she and Dewey were married, which makes me believe that the movie did not have her full support, but it was really interesting to learn about a portion of our more recent black history that I had no idea about, even though I lived in the DC area for 10 years. Also, read this story about how the movie got made, despite the odds.

Doh! Why I was late to work today....

There is one word for why I was late to work today........Tivo!

I have a DVR that I love! And last night I was watching something on TV and had to walk away so I paused it so I could resume watching it when I got back.

This morning when I got up, I went through my regular morning ritual and turned on the TV to watch Good Morning America as I always do. I rely on the little time and temperature clock in the bottom right corner to keep me on schedule as I do whatever I do in the morning (this morning that included calling a plumber... but that is another story...) At any rate, at some point I went upstairs and turned on the TV there and I couldnt figure out when they were not in sync. From time to time there is a delay of a couple seconds between recievers but this difference seemed to be dramatic.

It wasnt until I was about to walk on the door that I figured out that had happened. Because I have never forwarded to the current playing time last night and never changed the channel, my DVR was broadcasting 10 minutes behind!

Ugh!

I touched one!

So this weekend a good friend of mine came into town and she had an iPhone. Now, I have been successful so far in staving off my impulses to rush out and buy one. As I have stated in previous posts, I am a technophile and I have had to stop myself from joining the throngs of crazed masses rushing out and plunking down $500 and $600 for one of these prized devices. The logical side of me says to just wait, this is a first generation and it is going to be buggy, plus Apple is going to follow tradition and turn around and come out with something cooler and better within the next year or so.....

But, I have had my current phone, a Cingular 8125, for the past year and a half and I don't like it that much anymore. While the slide out keyboard is very very cool, there area a number of user interface issues that annoy me. And I am just bored with it.

So, as I was saying, I got to touch an iPhone this weekend and it was so cool! Apple is so good at creating user friendly interfaces and true to form the iPhone is no exception. The only thing that I am unsure of is how easy it is to use the keyboards. There is something strange about touchpad typing. With actual keys you can be more precise because you can feel the difference between the keys. With a touch screen you just touch where you see and hope that it is precise enough to display the key you intend. But is it still so cool. The swipe, squeeze and expand functionality of the screen is like a little bit of magic and the screen reorientation feature is seemless and works much better than my current phone.

So, I started getting weak........ (oh look, an iPhone commercial on the TV, right now!)

Since then, I have returned to reality a bit. While the little machine is blissful, it still has it's disadvantages. First, though it has all this integrated data functionality like Google Maps and the ability to render regular webpages, you really can't take full advantage of it on the Cingular, oops I mean the New AT&T, data network is too slow. You really need to be connected to a broadband wi-fi network to really see the full effect of these features. And then there is the battery..... So, like an iPod, the iPhone doesn't have a removable battery. Bad! Also, with such a powerful machine, the battery doesn't last that long and must be recharged often. While Apple rates the talk time at 8 hours and internet/browsing time at 6 hours per charge, actual time by testers and users is coming in at significantly less than that. So that means, more charging. And what do you have to do when the battery wears out? Well, you have to PAY to send the phone back to Apple so they can switch out your battery! This little joy of a service will cost you $79 plus $6.95 shipping and handling plus $29 for the rental of a loaner iPhone. Come on now! This is a phone, not just a luxury item. People use their phones everyday and they contain personal information, and they want us to send them back for an undetermined amount of time and pay for the pleasure??? Not good at all! I have a feeling that this will change sometime in the future when current iPhone users start to experience dead batteries.

So, I think I am safe for now. At least until the next time I get my hands on one!

New babies!

So as most of you know, I have been growing my locks for over 12 years. And, through the process, I have discovered that some parts of my hair was much straighter than I every knew, namely the hair around my hairline on both sides of my head, behind my ears, and at the back of my neck.


Interestingly, I am happy to report that this hair has finally started locking! So I have about 10 new babies!

Don't ask me why the hair started deciding to behave but it is like a little rennaisance for me. :-) Complete with all the challenges with keeping them from sticking out in funny ways....


I will admit that for some of the straighter hair in the back, I have commandered/borrowed/interpreted some sisterlock techniques to get the locks to stay. I have also discovered a product that I actually like and think is making a difference. I have actually simplified my regimen over the years and don't put anything in my hair to help with keeping my locks together. I used to use a beeswax/sheabutter/orange oil mix but stopped using it about 8 years ago because it didn't seem to make an appreciable difference.


But Brunsli gave me a bottle of Jane Carter's natural Hold Locking spray and I have to say, I really like it. I have used it on the new babies and even started using it on my entire head after I wash my hair (along with my Bumble and Bumble Tonic spray and Jojoba oil for my scalp.) I like it because it seems to provide some additional hold to keep the newly retwisted new growth neat without any build up.



So, I am making a rare product endorsement. Give it a try for yourself.

The skinny on Gwen Verdon....

So that little video influenced me to look up Gwen Verdon and find out more about her. I know I had heard her name before but didn't really know why. Gwen Verdon was Braodway, Movie and TV star who was married to legendary choreogrpher, Bob Fosse for 27 years. She won 4 Tony Awards in the 1950s for:



Best Featured Actress in a Musical

1954 Can-Can



Best Leading Actress in a Musical

1956 Damn Yankees

1958 New Girl In Town

1959 Redhead



And who knew she could also get crunk like that!

I don't know why this isn't letting me add a title.....anyway....

So a friend sent this to me so I had to share it since it had me cracking up at work! The fact that the choreography goes so well with the song amazes me. I know "Walk it Out" was inconcievable to Gwen Verdon when she came up with this choreography! And the moves are awfully contemporary! Go Gwen, you trend setter you!




Here is the original music. Not quite the same impact to us now, huh?

This Old House: I love my screened porch!

So, in my ongoing quest for home improvement, I decided to clean up and use my screened porch. I mean, I paid for it too, right! And it is a really great feature of the house that I had not been utilizing. I had even bought some furniture for it but rarely sat on it. So I decided to spruce it up! I bought some decorative pillows for the boring couch and, in homage to my trip to Jamaica, decided to buy a hammock to hang up in the other corner. Okay, can I tell you! I am in love now!

The other side is much more inviting too! Now I can comfortable see 2 or 3 people sitting out there enjoying some drinks and hanging out or me having my breakfast out there. It is a lot more like a part of the house now!

Last night I sat out in my hammock on my laptop Iming with friends.... This morning I laid out there while I was waking up this morning. :-) Ahhh!

I do have one of two more things to do. I have bought these decorative string lights from Target that are really cute and I am going to string them along the top of the walls and I am considering getting some kind of curtain for the side behind the couch since, unfortunately and sometimes fortunately, my property shares a property line with a strip mall. I guess watching all those hours of DIY and HGTV are starting to pay off!

Stay tuned! I am just getting started...... Now the really "fun" stuff begins!

Last night...

I went to a friend's birthday dinner and I decided to dress up a little bit..... Thought I would share...

Blame it on Whole Foods!

I had the yummiest dinner tonight. I blame it on Whole Foods. I stopped by there today and was reminded of a recipe I had seen on Food Network last week. Also, they were giving out samples of this cheese I had never heard of before. It was really good and the guy there told me about a really good accompaniment. So, as a result of this little trip, I had:

Olive oil poached Halibut on a bed of haricot verts (thin green beans)

accompanied by Nevat and Cotswold cheeses on water crackers and flatbread

with Portuguese Tomato jam

Nevat is a really light spanish goat cheese that tasted really delicious with the tomato jam which is made with tomatoes, sugar and cinnamon. Cotswold is a favorite of mine, an English cheddar cheese with chives in it.

I am interested in your opinion.....

Sharing knowledge....

The other day I got a call from a friend..... I had last talked to him a couple months ago when he was going through a hard time. He had been in the military for like 12 years and had gotten out and returned home and started working for his brother's contracting business and was living with his parents. The job was okay but not his ideal job but he was helping his brother out with something that he loved. Life with his parents was not so good. They have not had a good marriage for many years.

Additionally, he was getting pressure from family to apply to be a police officer. He came from a long line of cops and government employees and many family members and others around him thought that his highest aspiration should be to get a government job that he could settle into until retirement 30 years later.

So between uncertainty and frustration about his future career path and unease at counseling and helping his mother make decisions about her marriage, he was feeling rather trapped. I happened to catch him on IM one day and then on the phone and we talked.

Well, if there is one thing that my experience with business school taught me, you have to be willing to thrust yourself into change and that there is always an opportunity for a new experience even when you don't see it. Also, it doesnt help you to be the most motivated person you know. In order be the best you can be, it helps to create an envirionment where you are around other motivated people who help propel you forward. A change can help you do that.

Oh yes, and b-school was also like a job search boot camp. So I asked my friend what he wanted to do career wise and he admitted that he felt like he wasn't qualified to do any outside of the military. I reminded him that he had developed a lot of transferable skills and he just had to figure out a way to position his experience in the military to show how he would be valuable to a company. I also told him that he couldnt be the only one who had gone through this type of thing and encouraged him to look for headhunters who specialized in finding jobs for ex-military.

Sometimes, you just get caught up in the emotions of a situation and need someone to remind you of what you already know. After our conversation, he contacted a head hunter and ended up getting about 12 interviews! We talked about interviewing tips and then I didn't hear from him again for a couple months. And, then, like I said at the beginning of this post, he called me.

He was walking through Manhattan after just accepting a new job and just wanted to call and thank me. He was so happy and I was so happy for him. And I was touched that I was the first person he thought to call! He is excited about the new environment, new potential, new salary and the ability to move out and start his new life.

Not only am I happy and proud of him, I feel really good that he was able to benefit from my experience and I was able to help. It just underpins for me the importance of sharing your knowledge with others, so we can help each other collectively move forward and improve ourselves as a community. At the risk of sounding cliched (ugh, I can't believe I am going to say this.....), each one, teach one!