Its Been A Minute

Hello to the 4 people that may inadvertently come across my page.
There is a lot going on, but it really is just more of the same.

Workin on the house. One of my tenants moved out and I found
shortly after that the light no longer works in the room. I had to
go into my tool closet and find that damn electricians cap again
so that I could get in that mind frame. I have been working on it
now for a couple of days. I could have gotten power to the light
on that first day, but instead of rerouting the power source, I
opted to try and locate the fault that caused the problem in the
first place. I mean, it just seems that it could pose a possible
danger if I do not at least find and eliminate the the problem.

I am still going to reroute the power because if I found out nothing
else by all this trouble shooting, I did notice that this damn
wiring is as old as dirt. So, I decided that room by room I will
be rewiring the first floor apartment. But now, in order to rent
out this last room, I need to not only finish the electric work,
but will be then forced to put up a new ceiling and plaster any
channels I have to dig to run the cable.

It is all basically going to cost me money I sincerely do not have.
Everything was going well until this damn winter came along. I
have oil heat in my house and it is ridiculously expensive. I might
as well find a way to heat my house with diamonds with what this is
costing me.

In an attempt to relieve this insane financial burden, I
attempted to pull out some equity using the same bank that
I hold my mortgage with. But the retarded bastards fail to
see the logic in trying to help me get some financial issues in
order so that I can be sure to continue paying my mortgage on
time and keep my house. Even though, I have never been late on
my mortgage or my existing 2nd loan (which by the way the new loan
would cost me less monthly then my current 2nd loan), they
still just dont get it. I guess I have to be just one of those
people that isnt paying their mortgage that all these damn banks
seem so desperate to help these days.

What a rant. I'm tired. But, I can't sleep. Just finished the
latest episode of Braggin' Rites Radio. Peace to Torae.
B E Z my people. I have to get ready for work. Think warm
thoughts for me. It is damn cold outside.

For Those Interested

I have moved in my house as of September 2006. It was 5 months after purchasing it and I have lived here for just over a year now. WOOHOO!!

I still have a shit load (is shit load one word, two words, or hyphenated??) of things to do and moving in has put an abrupt halt to me actually working on anything. You know complacency is very hard to overcome. I have lately though again become invigorated to get things accomplished.
It could just be that the summer is winding down and I don't want to get caught doing some of the projects in the winter.

Summertime made it difficult for me to want to do anything. All I wanted to do was play handball all day every day. And when I say handball I do not mean that gay Olympic game with the same moniker. I mean this.
One of the best sports ever!! I can't believe it hasn't caught on heavier.

I forgot where I was going with this.

PLAY HANDBALL!!

The Jena Six

I had just started to hear trickles of this story yesterday on Michael Baisden's show on 98.7 here in NYC. Since I had turned the show on late, I hadn't really caught the whole story, but it did pique my interest. I then came across Cornell West and Mos Def on Bill Maher's show talking on various racial issues and
was interested enough to keep it on for the remainder of the show, and Bill Maher also brought up the case.

How Bill Maher stated the facts had me enraged. I mean, you don't have to be black or the same race as anyone suffering such vicious racism to be empathetic. According to Mr. Maher, there was a tree in a town of Louisiana called Jena that apparently was for "whites only". So when a group of white students saw a group of black students sitting under the tree, the white students attacked. In the
aftermath of the fight, the white students that had beaten up the black students were charged with battery and the black students that had beaten up the white students were charged with attempted murder. My jaw dropped with such a blatant example of how racism is not only alive and well in our current society but how it still affects policy, and in this case, overtly caused the black students to
get more serious charges for the same offense.

Now, I started to check out the story online and it seems it went a little differently from how Mr. Maher stated. It is still definitely bad at it's core but I think there are a lot more subtle issues that one has to take into consideration before passing judgment. I read a few different sources, but I found this one to be the most helpful.

As the story goes it does seem that Jena is still is a town with some heavy race issues. The tree part is apparently true. It had been accepted as a place for on white students to gather. It was not written anywhere but according to the article I cited, it was understood. Some black students, wanting to sit under the tree,
asked someone in the school for permission, and it was apparently granted. So they did so. The following day there were nooses found hanging from the tree. The white students that were found guilty of hanging the nooses were suspended for their actions. Whether or not a suspension was a sufficient enough punishment is an arguable point. A part of me feels it isn't.

Now this is where the facts get somewhat twisted for me. The noose incident, understandably, incited a lot of anger in the black community. It seems a lot of fights and so on started taking place, all with racial undertones throughout
the school. The towns district attorney was brought in to speak to the black students. Now that is another issue. Why would the DA be brought in solely to address black students? Now I did not hear what he said. I did not get a
full transcript of his speech, however, I did see a quote taken from what he said in which he told the black students he could "end their life with the stroke of the pen." You know how the media now takes things out of context in order
to prove their point. But no matter how much I think about it, under any circumstances, can I see that statement as harmless or not offensive and threatening.

Now, I don't know what led to the incident at hand, but it seems now a group of black students "jumped" a white student. Those students are now the focus of all this attention. By no means by the way is this a recent story. It seems this
whole thing started somewhere as far back as September of 2006.

The subtleties that I am talking about in reference to what happened is the whole circumstances surrounding the actual fight that led to the kids being brought up on charges. I mean, I understand how one can feel in a racist environment where you are treated as less than human, but if these black students just attacked this white
student as some sort of retaliation, is that ok?? I do not want to be unsympathetic, but there is right and wrong, and it doesn't necessarily change regardless of what is going on around you.

Maybe I am missing something. Is there a racial issue in Jena? I think that goes without saying. Do these particular students deserve the charges they got? I don't know. I need to know more.

Please anyone with any info about everything surrounding this whole Jena issue, let me know what I am missing. Maybe there are some instances of white students jumping black students there and getting charged with a lot less than the attempted murder charges the black students got.

Let me know. It is easy to jump to conclusions a lot of the times and just act purely out of passion and take the issues at hand to heart. I would love to know all the facts.

Home Improvement

Aww man. I have yet to move into my new house. I will absolutely have to move in come June 1st. As of right now, it is in no condition to bring my family into. It is a two family and fortunately at least the rental unit is cosmetically acceptable. I only had to make a couple of small upgrades which are all but done. The issue at hand now is my space.

Phew, I had no idea the extent of money that I would need to bring this place up to my standard. I definitely want my wife to be happy with the place since I know she had some reservations about it, and I am hoping that getting the kitchen as close to her dream kitchen as possible will make her feel a lot better about the whole thing. So I started there...at least in planning. I got great deals on the appliances and we picked out a cabinet set that will work for our budget. We chose the flooring, but have to settle for second best because hardwood is just way beyond our means. We are shooting for laminate flooring. We had Empire come over the house to give us an estimate. They wanted over $15,000 for the installation of hardwood and over $9k for laminate. That really made me almost pass out. I found the hardwood for a lot cheaper, but it was still beyond what we could afford. Home depot is having a sale on laminate flooring...20% off and from my understanding it is more reasonable for me to install laminate than hardwood...so it should work out ok.
But that is just a couple of problems solved.

Next issue at hand....the walls. I spent a whole day stripping down the walls of the multiple layers of paint and wallpaper only to be told by a contractor that it would be too expensive for me to afford the slim coat, i think that was the name. He said that just overlaying sheetrock would be cheaper, faster and probably a better option for the long run. What a wasted day that was. I had an electrician come in with hopes of upgrading all the wire work. Boy did that dream go up in flames. He quoted me over $14k to do what I wanted. Every option I go for seems to just throw me for a loop when it comes time to budgeting.

I only have a month left to make this place a home worth living in and I am at a complete loss. Talk about stress, I am surprised I haven't had a panic attack yet...wait....I thought one was coming but it was just gas.

Anyway, this will be a multiple part tirade...pictures will soon follow of the before....which will probably last way into the after...if in fact an after does come at all.

B E Z

EYE

Sadly, It Continues

Although the motive or suspects have not been found, sadly, again an emcee has been killed for no apparent reason. Why are the artists that represent our culture being slaughtered? Proof of the rap group D12 has been reported shot and killed. Unfortunately there is minimal information that is known. I am no news channel, so my knowledge of the event is limited, but I just feel it is a very sad state that hip hop is in.                                       Rest in peace brother.

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Homeowner

First time homeowner here. It took a while for me to find something in Brooklyn that was in my price range. I mean everyone should be aware of the recent state of real estate. It has been crazy. It is calming down now, but sadly the house prices are still pretty damn high.

My piece of property is a 2 family and it took about 4 months to go from me signing the contract to the closing. Talk about unorganized. Dealing with the seller was a nightmare.

Ok, so now I am a homeowner...what's next? I don't know to be honest with you. I am in a slightly messed up position from jump. The sellers didn't comply with one of the contract stipulations; deliver the house vacant. So, as some sort of security they put a somewhat decent sum of money in escrow and we agreed to allow the tenants until the 10 of April to move. I am trying to keep my thoughts positive, but I have a bad feeling about all of this. Pray for me peoples.

If things work out ideally, I will be making the needed adjustments to the apts prior to moving in starting on the 11th of April. There will be more to come. I will definitely fill you in step by step.

EB = Evil Bastards

For those that will not read the whole post, the moral is, don't buy anything from EB Games aka Electronic Boutique. They are a bunch of thieves with no regard for customers and take pleasure out of humiliating you. Game Stop is much better. Trust me!!

I was going to wait until the issue got resolved before I went on this tirade so that I can at least give you the ending of the story, but it is taking waaaaay too long and I am sure will never get resolved. It seems that I am the only person that can turn buying a video game into an episode of cops.

I went to buy a game for my PSP. I opted to go to EB Games figuring they'd have a good selection, being that games are their specialty. They didn't really have a great selection so I settled for a used copy of Tony Hawk UG 2 Remix. Now it was obscenely overpriced for a used game at $45.99 plus tax. I went out of my way to get a game so I decided to go ahead and do it. Turns out, my son had the game already anyway.

I return the very next day with the intention of just exchanging the game for a different one. The guy that worked there took the game from me and started to look for the replacement I asked for. After bringing down the new game, he noticed that I had ripped a seal they put on the used game box when I had purchased it. He informed me that he could not do an even exchange. I was a little heated but didn't flip out immediately. He then offered to buy the game back from me. So I figured, why not. I'll take a small loss and get a new game anyway. After typing vigorously in the computer he comes back to me and offers me $10 for the game that they just sold to me for $50!! I still maintained some cool and just adamantly let him know that I would not accept that resolution. He continued to deny me either a new game or my money back so little by little I got more and more irate. There was no manager on site and he refused to get me in touch with one. I was on the verge of flipping out but again showed little, but some restraint. I turn around only to see one of his coworkers standing behind me with a metal pole in a manner as if he was going to smash me in the back of my head. Holy shit!! What was that for? I went off the deep end. I mean, what would you do after having these guys try to steal $40 from you then on top of that threaten you with physical harm? At this point there is very little holding me back from trashing the whole store. I must admit, the little Chinese kid behind the counter was still handling the situation with some form of respect for me....but that didn't make me feel any better. I let the little faggot with the pole know that he was going to be the first one to catch a beating, and that it was going to be with the very same pole he had in his hands.

Now after arguing for a few minutes a cop walks in. He is all chummy with the Clerk and looking at me asks how everything was. I, still very irate, replied sharply that everything was good. The rookie punk then comes out of his face at me nasty talking about, “I wasn't talking to you!" Now, uniform or not, you will not disrespect me, so I told him that to learn to not look at me if he isn't talking to me. He then just stood there and started to observe. I again began to yell, a little more reserved I'll admit, at the clerk. The cop literally jumps in my face; I mean nose to nose and demands me to shut up. I refuse and it all goes downhill from there. Now I must let you know, I am no asshole with disregard for cops. My mom was a cop for 20 years. My stepfather is still a cop. I have the utmost respect for officers generally. However, just like anyone else, I demand respect as well. So I let this punk ass rookie know that I am no stupid street cat and that I know what he can and can't do and that he'd better get out of my face. AWW MAN!! I though we were about to go at it right there. The rookie was shaking so violently at my response to him that the moisture from behind his new jack ears started to drip down onto his brand new bright blue uniform. It looked like he had it for all of one day.

He steps away and I continue my barrage of words on the clerk. He again tells me to keep it down because I have no right to raise my voice. Isn't it interesting how few rights we have now-a-days? I let him know I will not continue yelling because I am an upset customer not some jackass just causing problems and he threatens me with arrest. I want to be sure of what I can and can't do so I call my mother and start discussing the situation with her. He, not knowing who I am talking to about the problem, got nervous and disappeared. He comes back shortly with two more cops. Now, I have no problem with passing it off as racism being that I am Hispanic, but this stupid bastard was black, so I don't think that will fly.

Long story short, they force me out of the store and demand that I not return. I am forced to try to handle the issue via the corporate office which denied me help and suggested the customer service line. I left two complaints over the course of 3 weeks and have yet to get the response they said I would form the district manager.

Now sadly, I really have no solution so the whole story was kind of anti-climactic, but I did have to get it off my chest. I do hope that anyone that reads this can see how Electronic Boutique aka EB Games does business and instead visit Game Stop or some other specialty shop for their gaming needs.

An Accomplishment

I usually will try to keep my personal blog and my show blogs seperate...but I am very happy to announce that I finally got my 1st podcast show up. It is called Braggin' Rites Radio, and Episode 1 is ready for your consumption. Below you will find an exact copy of the latest post from my Braggin' Rites Blog.




I am happy to say that I finally put up the first episode of Braggin' Rites Radio. You can download it here. Or use the RSS Feed. For those of you that do not have an RSS client, may I suggest Juice. I hope you enjoy the show and please feel free to leave me feedback.

Here is a breakdown of the songs in the show...

TIME

SONGS

:00 1:26 5:56 11:35 15:50 19:21 23:22 28:45 32:12 34:44 35:50 39:38 42:31 46:47 52:09 55:17 58:36 1:03:51

Intro Influence - Crackpipe Pharoahe Monch - New World Symphony Jean Grae - Style Wars Atmosphere - Scapegoat Obie Trice - Rap Name Last Emperor - Secret Wars What is Braggin' Rites?? Blowout - Turntable Anihilists Our First Caller Pep Love - After Dark Siah - Repetition Natural Elements - 2tons Company Flow - Patriotism Anti-Pop Consortium - What AM I? Blackalicious - Chemical Calisthenics Outro Secret Tasty Treat

Running Scared

Free is for me! I love free stuff. I don't care if I don't need it. Luckily the latest free thing that presented itself offered something my wife and I really needed; some time away from my kids. My cousin called me wednesday and invited me to go see the new movie Running Scared. He had free tickets for the advanced screening in Brooklyn's own Pavilion Theater. My wife and I decided to go and had to run around at the last minute trying to find someone to watch our 3 boys. Mission accomplished. Her sister played the role.

Before I get to the movie itself I want to talk about the company that put together the screening. They had some good ideas, but most didn't go over well. I enjoyed the scratch off game they handed to everyone. All you had to do was get 2 out of 3 matching symbols. I don't know anyone that didn't get a badge a bullet and a gun....but it was cool anyway. They had a couple of giveaways. I like interaction in screenings but just felt they could have organized the whole thing a little better. There were two broads at the front of the theater whispering out the names of the winners...they should have used a mic or something. Lastly, The movie was supposed to start at 7pm, but didn't get underway until about a half an hour later. They decided to put a spotlight on this spoken word artist, whose name I forgot... Max something-or-other. Anyway, although he didn't perform the piece live, they did play a very low, practically inaudible recording of one of his works. They even had the nerve to play it twice, with all the lights off making us all sit in the dark like we were supposed to envision what he was talking about. I couldn't hear the whole thing but overall I feel that the poem was ass. It might have come off better if he at least had a chance to perform it live rather than that dead sounding pre-recorded crap.

Now about the movie. It stars Paul Walker, the wierd kid from that movie Birth with Nicole Kidman and Chaz Palminteri. Now, if you are a person that needs your movie to be firmly rooted and easily acceptable and believable, this is not the one for you. If you are a person that likes good action sequences and bloody shootings...you will enjoy this flick. I enjoy a good movie, no matter what face it puts on. Overall the movie was unique, well shot with interesting camera angles and great camera movement and decent dialogue. It kept my attention throughout the whole flick despite the fact that I was getting very loud play by play commentary from these two dudes sitting right in front of me. My cousin enjoyed their banter and was cackling the whole movie at all their retarded jokes. I just wanted to enjoy the flick without hearing their thoughts, at least until the movie was over. Anyway, overall I give the flick my personalized rating of 3 rolls of duct tape. It's what I wish I had to shut those bastards in front of me up. Enjoy.