In this day and age mail has become useless. Physical mail that you can open and read; the same mail that take 3 days to get to your house and is delivered to your mailbox that we all end of shredding because it is pure junk. To me, it is pointless since we can do just about anything on our computers. I completely see why the cost of a stamp gets more expensive every year. The price of delivering mail is expensive considering that it is being used less and less.
So, now that I have made my point about how mail is useless, anyone can see why I don’t really open anything that I get that is mailed. Most of the business I do is online. Like paying bills and loans, so no, I do not need a statement mailed to me. That leaves magazines I do not read, coupons, credit card applications, election crap, and contests. Most are left on the table to be shredded at a later date.
One day this past week, the wife decides she is going to open a letter from Kia East Syracuse. It was an ad campaign to get us to come in (clearly). But they also sent us a scratch off game for us to play. The way it worked was that if you scratch off 3 of the same things…you win that thing you scratch off. Really simple.
So she plays this game and she scratches off 3 cars. Now, I am doing my Wednesday night blog and she shows me this. I look at all the paperwork and it seemed legit to me. She is the skeptical one. I know that she has read this thing backwards and forward, so if she is coming to me then she is needs confirmation that what she is reading is valid. I will say that as much it looked good, there was something that did not make sense to me. It was just too good to be true.
She ends up making an appointment for Friday (yesterday). We decide to leave work early and go pay a visit to Kia East Syracuse. On the drive there, I reminder her that this may be a fluke and that although they are giving cars away in this economy, we need to be prepared for a sales pitch. So, out goal is to leave with a free car…or leave with nothing at all.
We go in and we have an appointment with Lisa. She sits us down and the first question is, “What are you currently driving?” I just rolled my eyes and started checking email on my phone because I knew we got pulled in. My wife explains to her that we are here because of the mailer and the scratch off game. The woman looks at the card and says…” I will be right back to see what you won.” Right there, I knew where not getting any new car. If scratching off 3 cars did not warrant some time of…”Boss…we have a winner!”, then we got roped in.
Lisa comes back tells us that we won a 3 day/night vacation (valued at about $400 if you do the math). My wife just looks at her with this look that I had not seen since the days we lived in the Bronx. “So you mean to tell me…that scratching off 3 cars means…no cars?” Lisa, who was probably not trained to deal with intimidating Latinas, carefully showed us the poster that said that 3 cars or 3 palm trees meant vacation and had we scratched off 3 money bags we could have chosen the car or the money. The best way too describe our faces was… “blink…blink”
Then, this woman had the balls to ask…(because we told her what we drive) “If I could lower you payments by 3 dollars a month and you can walk out of here with a brand new car would you be interested?”
BITCH PLEASE!
Needless to say we walked out. My wife was upset, but she got over it. It just goes to show that if something is too good to be true…then that is exactly what it is…
Author: latinegro
One of the things that I have said during my Racism classes and various dialogue circles is that there is a reason why I try to be very careful when I drive around the city of Syracuse or any of its many neighboring towns. As person who is as brown as myself, I understand that I can be pulled over for any reason at all. It has been my experience that we tend to fit many different profiles and can be easily mistaken for anyone. Perhaps, I even look like the type of person who can look suspicious while I am driving.
It is not to say that racial profiling is just a problem within Central New York. I feel the same way driving everywhere I go. Truth be told, I have never been stopped when I am driving. So I can never been guilty of a DWB. However, I have been in a vehicle when a friend has been stopped. As, a matter of fact, I have several friends who have committed several DWBs.
To understand what it is like to be stopped here in CNY, you first need to understand that I live in a very lily white city when it come to the infrastructure and the law enforcement. I am generally surprised if I see a Black Police Officer. So, when someone like me gets pulled over, which is commonplace here, there is often a need for two police cars. Which, is a surprise to me. Growing up in NYC, when someone is pulled over, it is normally one car. Two cars generally mean that NYPD has been looking for you
So, getting back to being in the car when a friend commits the crime of driving while black, I am sure one can imagine how it may feel when you come home from picking up food and pulling into the driveway of the house you live…and seeing 2 police cars in the rear view mirror. While that happened more than 13 years ago, it still happened in Syracuse and still remember it vividly. Which has given me the reason to think twice before I go out and drive with my brown skin on.
I have been followed. I have been followed on campus by Public Safety. I didn’t have on my official business attire on that day. But, I was in the car with a co-worker driving to one of our student centers. When my co-worker got out of the car (I was dropping him off), the officers must have recognized who he was and then proceed to move on with their day. So, when I tell people that racism still exists, I am not making this up.
Which brings me to the point of this who post today. My good friend Eddie that I went on that shopping trip with, committed his very first DWB last night. We went to Chili’s last night and hung out for awhile. He lives in the village of Liverpool which is very upscale and white. So, on this way home he gets the CNY police treatment. He gets stopped…by 2 cars…and he gets 7 tickets. Don’t adjust your screen saver…7 tickets! One for having his high beams on (it is mad dark..but ok), One for the SU parking decal hanging from the mirror, One for having his headphones on…(he as an iPhone), One for a small crack on his windshield, and I am not sure about the other 3 but I can guess (too black, too tall, and too southern).
Personally, I think that breaks a record of how many tickets you can get in one sitting. But, since I know the Liverpool Projects are really hopping on a Thursday Night, they have to make sure they keep the Negros in check.
I guess I am not doing a good job in promoting my blog as I should be. While I am not necessarily writing for the world at large it does make me wonder who is out there. In terms of the blog world, I guess I would consider myself low maintenance. I don’t update this site much outside of blogging every day. Not sure if that is a good thing or not, but I want to focus of this site to be strictly on my words.
I consider this site much like the hair cuts I get every 2-3 weeks. I make it short. I get a touch up. Trim the sides and make sure the edges are smooth. After all that, I am good for a few weeks. I can go about my business and not really care how people view me or what I am doing. Very much like this site.
However, I have come to realize that readership is everything. While my topics seem to vary from day to day, these are still my experience that I share with the world at large. I will still say Latinos are black. I will still talk about how I see the world. The fine line I see is that this blogging shit is not a popularity contest. I think people may view it that way and the art of writing in general gets lost.
I have done several things to promote this blog (although now that I think about it, I could do better) such as, word of mouth, commenting on other blogs, facbooking (status updates and network blog sites), myspace updates, etc. So, I am not sure I am satisfied with what I have. Not that I will change the content of even the way this site looks, but I feel I need to make a change in some way.
Now, I have said before that I do indeed write for me. I truly do not write for anyone else, however, writing needs to be read. Just like musician may write music for the love of music…someone has to listen to it. So, I think I need to do a better job in promoting. I haven’t been receiving a lot of comments in general and it makes me think that I need to step it up a little.
So, with that being said. I think it might be time to join the world of Twitter.
I just realized something. Have I been that busy that I have not filled out a NCAA Bracket? That is just crazy. Just last week I was all up in March Madness and the Big East Tournament. Now, I look up and it is almost Thursday and as of the writing of this post, I have yet to fill out a Bracket!
I mean, work has been nuts lately. All the work that I have seemed to miss over the last week has caught up to me. While, I have been getting more sleep than usual, I am still really tired when I get home. Not to mention that my average time of arrival at home this week has been 9:00pm. So, to be honest, the brackets are just not on my mind. Which is crazy because I do love College Basketball.
What has really made this week crazy is that our office coordinator is not longer with us. I wont go into any detail on this, but much of her work has been passed to me. The good thing is that my work day seems to go by so much faster now! However, I cannot seem to catch up on the small things I have to catch up on…like checking my voicemail…
I have been trying to take my work home with me to sort of make up the time, but that does not work. Between being tired and trying to unwind, I can spend the first hour at home just doing nothing. Of course, I have to write everyday, because this is my release. However, I will not complain. I refuse to make this situation negative.
I have a job! With the way this economy has been, being busy because of work is the last thing that I will complain about. I am very fortunate of where I am and the students I work with. Having a job right now is the only thing that seems to matter these days. So, I will find a way to get the work done at the expense of my brackets…
PS… Now that I think about it, no one has really invited me to join any pools or websites…hmmm
I consider myself a fan of Hip Hop. I feel privileged to have grown up in this era that has seen this musical genre become a lifestyle. Since I have seen so many rappers and heard so many songs, I can be pretty critical of who I like. I can be picky with the Cd’s I buy and the music I listen to. I don’t believe every song is hot and I do not believe every rapper is a legend.
What happened to the day when Emcees could battle each other with pure lyrical skill? What happened to the days when KRS One and MC Shan used to drop songs and leave it all out on the airwaves for the benefit of the people? Well those days are gone. Hip Hop is supposed to be about ridiculous lyrics recorded over crazy beats.
Not these days. I came across an article about some beef between 50 Cent and Rick Ross. I am not sure what happen and I don’t really care. What I do know is this, I was never really a fan of 50 Cent and Rick Ross had one song I know of, so I don’t care about him either, but I really have no respect for 50 Cent when he can stoop as low as this: 50 Cent Releases Sex Tape To Humiliate Rap Rival.
I have nothing against porn or sex tapes. But, when 50 Cent is wearing a wing and narrating…that is just plain Baffoonery! Bad enough that this man loses a challenge to Kanye West (who I do like) over record sales, but now he thinks he is winning fans over releasing a sex tape of Rick Ross’s baby mama? Not to mention that chick is wack! (yeah I did see it)
This is not a surprise to me that he can sink this low. Is it that he cannot dominate with his lyrics? When Jay-Z stepped to Nas, did Nas try to take out Beyonce? Not at all. Nas handled it with the Ether. That is what true fans of Hip Hop want to see. They want to feel like they are in the club listening to two emcees battle it over a beat. We don’t see that anymore do we?
Now, I just have to wait every other year for a Common or Nas Album, or maybe something from Outkast or Kanye, or if I am lucky, The Roots will drop something soon. The golden days of Hip Hop are gone and I am not sure they are coming back…
“Hip Hop just died this morning and she’s dead…..she’s dead”
I felt it today. I am not sure if what I felt is real. I have been longing for this for such a long time. I woke up this morning thinking about it so much. I anticipated its arrival. But, I am not sure it will stay here for long. I want to hope that this feeling will last forever, but I know it wont. But, I cannot think about that. I can only think about how beautiful this feels…The Sun!
That beautiful orb in the sky that has eluded me so much over the last few months. The one thing that brightens my day and makes everything feel so great! For way too long have these skies been gray, oh how I have longed for such a beautiful day.
Today was really great. Think it might have gone as high as 55. I barely needed my coat and I am just hoping that this is start of a great spring. Tomorrow is supposed to hit 60, so clearly I am excited. Of course, I know it will get cold again so what I am really hoping for is that the frost is over. You never know in Syracuse, it did snow at my graduation in 1996 (Mother’s Day).
I am so ready to pull out the summer gear! I am tired of wearing sweaters. I am ready for the polo shirts. Trust me, I got a ton of them. This winter has been harsh. It just feels for some reason that this winter was colder and more snowier than any in recent memory.
I just have a good feeling that this summer is going to be good.
I am tired. It has been a long week, I still have not gotten nearly enough sleep and I have a very long day tomorrow. But, I can sit back and reflect on the past week and realize that I had great vacation! As many times as I have been back to NYC, this was the best time I have had in years.
I was worried about how much money I was going to spend and who I would be able to see. I just came down to see some Big East Tournament games and then chill for the rest of weekend. Well, as you can tell, the games were great, even though Syracuse lost in the end. Then I decide to go this party at a club called Katra located in Lower Manhattan. Which was good, but they packed us all in like sardines.
I had no intention on stay out late, even though I left the Bronx at midnight. I wanted to just say hi and get a little dance on and then be home in enough time to get some good sleep. Well, based on past experience, that did not happen. I ran into my good friend, Rahman (Pop) and ti was over. He let me know I was not going home anytime soon. We painted Lower Manhattan, well whatever color that he decided, and after going to a Birthday Bash at Sutra, and we ended up at a place called Son Loco.
That place was awesome! I had the chicken burrito and it was great. So, I got back at 6am…passed out at 6:30am. Then I wake up to Justin playing WWE Monday Night Raw that he has on the DVR, which was about 11:15am. My brother knocks on the door to wake me up at 11:30am because we need to do a Fantasy Baseball Draft.
Want to know my fantasy? More sleep.
I wanted to write something quick tonight. I am busy watching the Big East Championship with my brother. Hopefully SU will pull out more big win.
So yesterday and today I spend some time with my nephew and Godson, Justin. A very cute little boy that eats nothing healthy and plays video games all day long. So, I guess he is just a normal boy. He gets just about anything he wants. His grade warrant it, which is always good.
This boy is going to be 10 this year and I cannot believe how much times has past since I saw him the hospital. He will always be a reason why I come to NYC. I make sure that I see him as often as possible. Justin as finally gotten used to traveling to Syracuse every summer to visit. I laugh when he shows his amazement of all the trees and green grass.
But, boy, does Justin love video games. I think he can actually get me tired of playing video games. He does this thing where he cannot sit down while playing a game. He needs to keep moving as if he has way too much sugar in his body…which he probably does (e.g. he had waffles with ice cream when we went to eat at the Cross Bronx Diner). So when he plays games like wrestling or even madden he is kicking and running in place! Thank good that my brother puts him in sports like Football and Baseball because this little kid can run.
The only bad part of me visiting here is leaving. He gets sad when I leave. but, hey he will see me again in May.
I have not been to a Syracuse basketball game all year. I have been way too busy. I took this week off to recharge and get ready for the rest of the semester. So when the opportunity arose to go the The Big East tournament, I just hand to jump at it. I figured I would catch a few games and hopefully I would see something special.
We (my boy Chris and fellow alum David Walker) had already witnessed the Seton Hall game. So we were hoping for another win against UCONN. The one thing about Madison Square Garden that I like is that there is not a bad seat in the entire place. We sat in section 347 and it was just crawling with UCONN fans. Our tickets are good for only 2 games which was the Pitt vs W. Virginia game and the SU vs. UCONN game, so there were other fans there.
When Pitt lost, most of the those fans left. In the section we were in, there were quite a few people talking shit about how this would an easy win for the Huskies. So, let me just say that when I go the game such as this, I have my game face on. I don’t pay attention to the haters from the other team. There were two West Virginia fans who sat in front of me. They stayed for the game because West Virginia gets the winner of this game. Let me just say that I drank no beer during this game and I am glad for it.
The game starts and I feel like I am back at the Carrier Dome. The chant of “Let’s go Orange” (clap, clap,clapclapclap) is deafening. We jump out to a lead first and the Huskies fans in my section know I am here. I will point out, that I don’t berate the other teams fans. But they know I bleed Orange! However, UCONN comes roaring back into this game and this is where I began really see how UCONN fans came out in full force. Orange chants are muffled by Huskies chants. At one point one of the Huskies fans behind me comments on how he cannot stand Eric Devendorf by shouting, “Go Home and Beat up your girlfriend.” Before we knew it, the first half was over. UCONN is up by 3.
During halftime I knew we had a very good shot. The Huskies didn’t look like they were into the game. Sure they were winning but they gave me the feeling that they were waiting for SU to make a run. The second half starts and at one point it seemed like SU was stuck at 40. I thought the Huskies were going to put us away but we came back and kept pushing. We saw a fight in the stand between some fans. It took about 10 security guards to stop it.
The last 2 minutes I never sat down. It was so close that I started biting my nails. I kept looking at this one big guy in our section who was a Huskies fan. He looked like he could be on steroids. He was a cheer leader for this section. He kept saying that the boys were going to pull it out. He looked like one of types that could go into a roid rage if they lose…more on him later. I look over to David and I say, “This game is so great, I can do overtime”. Then there is this white kid who was sitting on the bottom of our section who kept looking up at me since the 3 of us were the only one cheering the Orange. He gets up and sits next to me and says, “I can’t sit next to these UCONN people anymore.”
The Orange have the last possession with like :01 left and the ball is inbounded to Eric Devondorf, I will tell you that everyone in the Garden thought that shot was good. I hugged everyone with Orange on and pointed at anyone who thought we would not win this game (except for steroid dude). But then there was this long wait. We see people on the court and we realizing they are reviewing the play. I get a text from a co-worker telling me it is no good. Then we see the ref call it off… The place explodes with UCONN UCONN UCONN.
The West Virginia fan…who was sitting in front of me just smiles. My buddy Chris is like..”You want this to go to like double overtime, don’t you?” The guy replies…”I will be happy with 6 overtimes….”
The first 4 OTS were gut wrenching. UCONN took the lead from the start in every OT. They would jump out in front and the Orange would fight right back. It was like watching a prize fight. There were people who actually left! I am guessing that they could not hang. My voice is raw and my phone was dying. I was getting texts from friends and co-workers while updating my Facebook status. When the big men from the Huskies fouled out, the atmosphere changed. UCONN fans were pissed, they knew what we all knew, this was going to be the Johnny Flynn show.
The 5th OT flew by and the announcer says that we are now apart of the longest Big East Game ever! I never thought that I was going to see history in the making. But, we knew that the momentum was still on the Orange. In the 6th OT, we jump out in front and never look back. It is 1:30! We got to the Garden at 6:30. I was starving, sleep deprived, had no beer, and I even think an old woman gave me the finger. Oh…that steroid guy, he left with about 90 seconds left. He was pissed! Cursing how the Orange beat them AGAIN….127-117.
People are dancing in the aisles. When we finally leave the Garden and it is all Orange (and it is cold folks) and people are screaming “Go Cuse”. It was insane. The whole night was insane. I am not going to tonight’s game because tickets start at $95, and I am not sure I would want to even if I had it like that. After what I just witnessed, I think I saw the greatest SU Basketball game of all time.
I consider myself to be positive person. I do anything that I can to maintain a certain level of positive. But there are times when I can’t do it. I think I have an issue with trying to make others happy or rather maybe I do not want to disappoint people. More that just people, but rather people who are important to me. Sometimes I think I do a good job, but then there are times when I feel I cannot win.
I am being very ambiguous and I know that. But, these moods are brief and it is important for me to capture these moods because I am the type of person that gets over things quickly. The point really is that I hate to let people that I care for down. On a larger scale, I don’t care what people think about me in general. But to those that a close me like friends and family, then that is a different story.
I feel that there is some expectation of me to come through in any situation and you know, now that I think about it, I am successful most of the time. So, perhaps, this expectation come from within me, which makes disappointments hard to deal with at time. I will equate it to my competitive drive to always win in any game or sport I play. I absolutely hate to lose. I have always hated it. I feel that I need to win. So perhaps the disappointments are sorta like losing.
Well, as expected, I am already over my this. But, I know it will come up again for me. It always does.
Anthony Otero 