latinegro

9/11, Big East Tournament, Blogging, New York

Phone Blog

I think I am addicted to writing. It took me a few minutes to figure out how to write a new post on my phone. So u know there love there. I am currently on my may to New York City and all I can think about is how in the world am I going to do this? I will say that as a follow up to my last post, I did not get enough sleep.

It is great to have a few days to rest and think. This will the first time I will me going to the Big East tournament and I am quite excited about it. I should be able to get there in enough time to see the Syracuse game tonight. I plan to see some friends, but I am very excited to see me nephew, Justin. I am sure he will keep me up one of these nights trying to beat me at some game on the Wii.

This is really my last breather before the semester really gets busy. April is my killer month with so many shows and concerts that a day off will be hard to come by. Not that I am complaining. I love my job and all it entails. The students keep me very young.

As I look out the window, I begin to see the NYC skyline. Every time I see this it just makes me sad. I truly believe that the skyline has been ruined forever. I still remember that day when I was on Wall Street on 9/11. It was because of that day that I made the final decisions to leave. Funny thing is, I come myself coming back more often lately to visit. Who knows, maybe I may move back.

dog, Sleep

What is it about Sleep?

I love to sleep. I could sleep all day if it was up to me. So, why is that I don’t allow myself to get enough of it? I always feel the need to stay up late. You do not have convince me for long to stay up. What makes it worse is that I act this way even when I have to be at work in the morning. There are times I have been up past 2 am. What the hell am I doing? This week I am on vacation and I find myself not getting enough sleep.

Well, it is like this. I love to sleep, but since I spent so much time and energy at work, when I get home the last thing I want to do is sleep. Although, I am a very big fan of napping. I can nap like a champ. Anywhere between 15 – 45 minutes and I am refreshed! It just cannot be too long because then I cannot sleep later. So, again when the times comes for me to sleep, I just don’t want to. The reason is that the sooner I sleep, the sooner I have to get my ass up to work.

Now, I love my job and all the random events and phone calls/emails that I may get at any given time. But as most of us know, work is work. So everyday I pull my head up from the pillow and get ready for work. I count how many hours I had sleep. Normally is it about 6 hours. On a good night I will get 7 and 1/2. On the weekends, I catch up and 8-9 hours.

However, this week, I am not getting enough sleep at all. I am up playing the Wii, watching the World Baseball Classic, reading blogs, chatting, and ripping DVDs (more on that in a later blog). So, I go to bed late, but I do not want to waste most of the day sleeping so I get up earlier than I need to. Then, last night I am thinking…you know I should just go to sleep and wake up when I wake up. Here is how it went…

– 3:46am Head on pillow
– 8:09am Text Message from Co-worker saying I did not put an away message on my email (I know…wtf)
– 8:10am tossing
– 8:25am Dog (Rocky) is Snoring
– 8:50am I hear something banging outside…is my neighbor doing construction?
– 9:10am Rocky is tossing because of the damn noise outside
– 9:50am Rocky has this faint high pitched squeal when he wants to go out…
– 10:05am I turn on the laptop…doze off
– 10:15am Squealing again…he is looking at me now…
– 10:20am I finally take him out
– 10:25am I check on the noise…that is not construction, that is the neighbor’s big ass dog pulling on the aluminum siding of his house
– 10:30am the IMs begin…

Well I have to pack today and get ready to head to NYC tomorrow. I am leaving in the morning so I really cannot mess around. Then I am thinking…well I can always sleep in the car. Hey, I ain’t driving…

masculinity, questions

20 Questions for Men who are not like Me.

A few things that I don’t do often that I am doing now. The first is I do not write blogs this early. Secondly, I tend to not write about being a man…which I guess I could try. Never thought about it. Thirdly, I try not to imitate another blogger. Although, flattery is indeed the biggest form of imitation…or was it the other way around. (see why I don’t blog in the morning).

Anyway, a friend of mine past along this blog to me this morning called 20 Questions for Women who aren’t us. So I decided that I might just give this a try and just throw out 20 questions for men who are not me.

1. Do you really think your dick is that big?

2. Is it that hard to iron your clothes in the morning? Better yet, just do a once over.

3. Do you realize a baseball cap does not go with everything you wear? I am sure when the designers of the new Yankee hats, that pop up every minute, did not have a suit and tie in mind when they put that hat together.

4. Must you tell me how many women you been with? I really do not care to know and please hold the details.

5. Are you in that much of a rush that when exit the bathroom without washing your hands? At least run water on them!

6. Why do you think you look cool with your pants hanging down past your ass? It really is stupid.

7. Do you really feel the need to look Gangsta on Facebook? I really wonder if real gangstas even have time for Facebook.

8. I understand that you are bigger than me, but why are trying to pull my arm off when you shake my hand? I have class ring on, so you do leave the SU crest on my middle finger, here let me show you…thanks.

9. I know we are in a locker room, but seriously, do you really see the need to have this conversation when your nuts are out? Get dressed.

10. Just so we are clear, why would you hit a woman? I mean, clearly your ex-girl texted you and you got caught out there. But did you really have to do all that?

11. Dude, do you really think I want here about how you shave every every hair on your body?

12. When are you going to realize that you do not wear white socks with a suit? That is just as bad as wearing the baseball cap.

13. Did you really just ask me why we do not celebrate White Heritage Month?

14. How can you be 40 years old and still listen to Jay Z?

15. Do you really think you are all that? Seriously, the world does not revolve around you.

16. So, because you have an SUV, does it mean that you have to ride my ass in a 20 mile zone? Then you get mad when you pass me as if the School we just passed isn’t open…asshole.

17. You do realize the stripper you just tipped doesn’t really like you?

18. Is the weed that good that you need to smoke it everyday?

19. Mailman, is it that hard to close the mailbox when it is raining? Then you wonder why people sick their dogs on you when the see the soggy mail you left…jerk.

20. You do know Stars Wars is not real right? Sure I love it too, but you do see me dressing up as a storm trooper on days that are not Halloween.

Latinos, National Pride, Sports, World Baseball Classic

National Pride or Cultural Pride?

This weekend I have been doing nothing but watching The World Baseball Classic. I am so glad meaningful baseball is back. There are two teams I am pulling for, except for when they play each other. I am pulling for USA and Puerto Rico. I usually do this during the Olympics too. I would also pull for Ecuador, but they don’t have a Baseball team.

All this makes me think about National Pride. There is no question that I am an American. I am all about cheering for America when I can, watching Michael Phelps this past summer proved that. However, I am not one who believes that USA is entitled to win everything. I feel that we need to prove ourselves as much as anyone else. It bothers me that some athletes can walk into a tournament like this and think it will be handed to them (like the 2006 USA team, and various USA Basketball Teams).

I find myself equally pulling for Puerto Rico. Because that is the land where my maternal grandparents are from. A beautiful island that made me feel as if I was home (until I attempt Spanish, then it is all down hill from there). I think that PR needs to have more recognition in sports and Baseball is their best shot. I remember when Team Puerto Rico thrashed the “Dream Team” in basketball in the Basketball World Championship a few years ago. I enjoyed that game very much and rooted for PR all the way.

In just about any sport, depending on the situation, I will root for the underdog. I was totally rooting for Arizona in the Superbowl and Tampa Bay in the World Series (although, I am biased, I hate the Phillies). To a certain extent, Puerto Rico is like an underdog in just about any international play, so in that way, it is very easy for me to root for them.

The interesting thing being a Latino American is how we can express our pride for being an American as well as being Latino (in my case Puerto Rico and Ecuador). I know many people who rooted for Michael Phelps just like I was; screaming at the TV like I had no sense, but yet they will root for the country of their ancestry.

Blogging

Blog Everyday

I was going to take a night off from writing, but something told me to keep going. I am on vacation this week, so I will get to sit and not only reflect on the rest of the semester but about the rest of the year. When I created this blog a few months ago, I decided to do some archiving of all the posts from my previous blogs. While, I still have some old posts that I still need to add, it has not escaped my notice that I did not write anything as at all in 2008.

While I am not one harp on the past. I am using this fact to keep writing. In my past blogs, I would write periodically. I would write for a few days and then I would skip weeks on end. See, I do not want to do that anymore. I feel that if i start taking breaks then I will let this blog eventually slip, and I will not do that. This blog feels so different then all the past ones I have written. I have never enjoyed writing more. Maybe it is the community of bloggers that I continue to run into. I cannot say for sure.

This next week will be challenging. I will be traveling to New York City for a few days and I am not sure how I will be able to blog everyday. But, that is the thrill of the challenge. So, until then, I will continue to blog everyday…

English, Latinos, NBC Nightly News, racism

I am not Racist, but…

Today I was watching NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams, sometimes I do this to keep myself in the loop with world, and I saw that they were doing a weekly expose called “We the People” which is about “the growing clout of Hispanic Americans.” They ran this for a week and I missed most of it but I did catch the viewer email portion today as seen below:

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Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

I want to focus on the first two viewer emails only. I will do NBC a favor and answer these ridiculous emails, which is really the same email considering the statements. First, I want to preface everything I say with this, when someone says something like “I have nothing against Mexicans..” and they follow it with a “but” or an “except”, then were are dealing with Racist people. Plain and simple. Please do not say you don’t have an issue with a group of people when you really do.

So with that said, I will start with Gerry. Well, Gerry, I think you do have a problem with Mexicans. You say that you do not have a problem with Mexicans in the US, so that leaves the rest of Mexico. English is not the official language of the United States, so technically none of us really need to speak it. Last time I checked, learning a language is an actually requirement in most high schools. So, my question is, if the French decided to move here, would you have an issue with your children learning French?

What ever happened to the Global community Gerry? Or are we going to perpetuate the reason why the rest of the world hates us when we start talking about how “we the people” do not need to learn any other languages? Welcome to the 21st century! Latinos/Hispanics (or plain ole Mexicans to you) are multiplying at a very fast rate and pretty soon there will be more of us than there are of you.

Let me address Linda from Florida. You believe that there is nothing wrong with Hispanics coming to this country so that means you must see something wrong with Hispanics who are already here. Lets talk about “our country”, who just so happens to have a black president. Technically Linda, we are on stolen land from the Native Americans (Indians to you, which I am sure you see nothing wrong with them living on reservations either). So, before we talk about how people need to come to this country and need to speak English, just remember who is doing all the jobs that most Americans are too proud to do.

Lets not forget that most of America used to be Mexico. So technically, English is the foreign language in this country. English is a common language but it lacks the richness and culture than many other languages have. What makes this really interesting is that many words in English are “borrowed” (or taken) from other languages. Sounds like the American way to me.

Facebook, family, Friends, social networking

Facebooking…

Social networking seems to be the way to go nowadays. There was a time when Facebook was supposed to be for college students and now it has blown up to point where parents are now hooked. There are so many sites to choose from if you want to network of just meet people. The choices almost seem endless (I am still trying to figure out what twitter is). It seems that when it comes down to it you either like Facebook or Myspace. I haven’t met someone that likes booth, although they can have accounts on both.

I started on Myspace. I thought it was a hot site that allowed me to keep in touch with people I knew. I could send messages to alumni that I knew or just meet interesting people. The Happy Birthday and Merry Christmas graphics were always something to behold. I actually started a blog there as well. But, then something started turning me off to Myspace. I am not entirely sure if it was the random spam messages from web hookers or the numerous amount friend request from web mistresses…I dunno. Either way I became bored.

At the same time I was on Facebook and this was strictly to keep in touch with students, particulary the ones I advised or employed. This was a great way to do that. What makes me laugh is how all the educators and administrative heads of higher education felt that Facebook was this big threat. You could go to any of the Higher Education conferences and you would see several presentations and panel discussions on the dangers of Facebook. I even remember attending meetings on what we going to do about this site. I would at my co-workers like, “Are you serious?”

Then the creators of Facebook became really smart and decided to open up all the networks to include people who were not in college. This is where the flood gates have opened for me. I have been in touch with so many people that is just hard to fathom. There are people I have not seen in over 20 years that I talk to as if no time has passed. Then when I thought it could not get any better, my family starts to join! What makes that crazy for me is that it is the family that I don’t see all that often. So, it has been such a joy for me.

Sometimes I do think to myself what did I do before Facbook? The answer to that is clearly not keeping in touch with people.

my life, nintendo wii, video games

Video Games…

As I write today’s post, I am watching Josie play with the Wii Fit. I find myself amazed about how far technology has advanced that allow us to stay fit as we play a video game. I would consider myself a Video Gamer to a lesser degree. I don’t play video games as much as I used to because I am just so picky with what I buy. Not to mention that I barely have time to play as it is. But, when I did have time…

My first game system was the Atari 2600. I got it for Christmas and I was the happiest kid on the block. It came with this horrible game called Combat and these stiff ass joysticks that have contributed in the carpal tunnel I have now. I also got Pac-Man (which was nothing like the arcade and therefore WACK) and a bunch of other games. Over that span of my Atari craze I ended up getting Pitfall, Berserk, and E.T. (which I think ended up being the worse video game of all time). What I remember, was the connection the back of the TV. You had to turn you knob to channel 3 and connect this huge silver box that had hooks to the screws where the antennae was attached. The you would have to flick the switch on the silver box to go from video game to TV.

Several years later, after Atari died out, Nintendo came out with the NES: Nintendo Entertainment System. This fancy little console that, again I got for Christmas, was the top of line in terms of video gaming. It came with 2 games, which never happens now, and those were Duck Hunt and Gyromite. It also came with a gun and a little robot named R.O.B. Of course, Dunk Hunt you could play for hours, however you got really bored with it after awhile. The damn little robot was for Gyromite which was ok, but they only made one more other game for that thing. So, it just collected dust. NES was great though, until it got old and you had to blow into the game in order for it to work.
Super Nintendo came out when I was in High School and once again I got it for Christmas (see a pattern?). I think this came with a game called Pilot Wings. I am not sure about that but I remember playing that game a lot. Anyway, I began to realize in High School that this was my escape from the real world. I can play these games not think about how my parents got divorced or how I felt I was the only guy in school who was a virgin (not that video games help this). I sought refuge in 40-50 dollar games that I bought myself because I had a job at Pathmark. By the way that was the last video game system I got for Christmas. By the time I got to college Sega Genesis was out and I new a lot of people that had this. I wasn’t into it at all, but I would play it at my buddy house on South Campus.

Nintendo 64 came out and this happened to be the first console I bought myself. I think this came with Super Mario 64, a game I never finished. There were several other games that I was interested in games like Mario Kart and Shadows of the Empire which took up a lot of my time. At this time I was already out of college working as a temp in Syracuse and recovering from a bad break up. Once again, I find myself taking solace in a video game system. It here that I learn that Nintendo cannot fill a void that someone may have.

The Nintendo Gamecube came out and I am in a different world. I am now dating to a video game junkie who tends to play more than I do. Which forced me to go to PlayStation 2 (which, actually I got for Christmas years before…my bad!). What I find interesting that I have gone through 3 PlayStation due to shitty parts and all my Nintendo game consoles still work (yes i still have them all). Which leads me back to the Wii.

I am still amazed how video games have been so much a part of my life. I particularly like the fact that I can still beat little kids in certain games. However, the highlight is that I can play online with my friends. The reason I play video games is still very much for the same reason. It is an escape. This time from work and all the other things that life tends to bring down on me.

Afro Latino, beauty, Latina Magazine, Sessilee Lopez

Negritas!

I am dedicating this blog to the beautiful black Latinas that most of us never see. Clearly what I am saying is all relative because yes we can see them everyday but do we “see” them in dominate positions of beauty? Probably not. I know plenty of dark skinned Latinas that are gorgeous. Their skin darker than mine and their beauty reminiscent of the great queens of Egypt; and when I say queens of Egypt I am not talking about Elizabeth Taylor’s “Cleopatra”. I am talking about Nubian Queens from la Caribe.

I had to make a short trip to the store tonight to pick up a few things when I saw the current cover of Latina Magazine. This cover made me stop in my tracks. I know that Latina Magazine has had dark Latinas on their cover before (although not as many as blanquitas), but for some reason this just stood out to me. This started making me think about what we as Americans consider images of beauty to be. So in seeing this cover I was shocked and quite happy!

Her name is Sessilee Lopez. She is Dominican and Portuguese and is a rising star in the modeling world. She has a blog too! Now, this post is not about about her, but in January I talked about naming famous Afro Latinos that were not David Ortiz or Rosario Dawson. So I am adding her to this list.

However, as much as I want to commend Latina Magazine for this wonderful cover, I am by no means saying that they are politically correct. We all know Latinas are not shaped like your average American girl. But, you would never know that from looking at the pages of this illustrious magazine. My wife has written letters to the editor about what Latina Magazine should represent. While they have never gotten back to her, they did respond to many other letters that that were similar, which pretty much stated that Latina Magazine does not represent real Latina women.

Afro Latinas, Latinegras, Dark Latinas, Morenas, or Negritas are several different ways to call these women. I have several in my family. My cousins (who I miss very much), my mother, my aunts, my wife, and 2 sister in laws. I have grown up knowing what true beauty is.

P.S. I love all Latinas of all colors… 🙂

Watchmen

Watchmen: Official Review

If superheros were ever in the real world then they would be like the Watchmen. I was very fortunate enough to score passes to the free preview on Monday night. So here is my official review so you can decide to see it or not.

I will start off by saying that this is truly an R rated film. Do not take anyone under 15 to see this movie. It has lots of sex and violence. Which, of course, I am a fan of. However, this violence is not the typical violence you see in your average Batman or Spiderman film. These heroes give out the type of ass kicking that will make you cringe and yet want more of.

Watchmen is based on a graphic novel that was published by DC comics in 1985. The story depicts alternative 1985 that has superheroes involved in the very fabric of society and history. This world is on the brink of Nuclear annihilation and we find our cast of characters trying to survive.

If you are one of the lucky ones who read the graphic novel then you will enjoy that a great deal of this film was taken straight from the book. They did a great job of maintaining the core story telling aspects that made the book so good. While the book was very believable, the film is much more realistic. Do not get me wrong, there are parts of the story that gets left out, but you will never miss it.

If you didn’t not read the book you will be amazed about how real the characters will be to you. The story will start out very fast but you will be able to catch up. When, I read the book, I remember being confused, thus having to read it over again. It will not be this way in viewing the Watchmen. The story is easy to follow and you should not get lost.

The fight scenes are just incredible. Very seamless and well done. In my honest opinion it makes the Dark Knight’s fight scenes look sloppy. I was worried about character development, but that was done very well too. I will say this is a long movie. A little over 2 1/2 hours. You should not be able to tell.

Overall, this stands to be (for me) the movie of the year. I think it stands right up there with The Dark Knight (just a little below it).Clearly this is early in the year, but I think it is well worth going to the cinema.