Yes I Stayed In Tonight To Learn This Dance

Hahahaha this was excellent. That is all.

The Danger Of A Single Story.

(Sorry, they don't let you embed the video...)

Chimamanda Adichie: The danger of a single story

I saw this earlier today on Ted.com and really felt it was something that everyone should watch. TED's motto is "Ideas worth spreading" it's a collection of talks from speakers all over the globe. They cover all sorts of topics ranging from stories, to technological breakthroughs, to lectures on music or physics and string theory. Definitely something worth checking out once or twice a week if you have some time to spare. Most talks range from 10-20 minutes.

This talk is by a Nigerian girl who was brought up in a middle class family and shows how not being fully educated about a people or a place causes us to create stereotypes and biases. Stereotypes that she created for others and ones that were created towards her. These stereotypes aren't necessarily created with bad intentions but eventually can turn into that.

Band Of The Week.

I know they're not new, but it's what I've been listening to so far this week. First time hearing this song though, and it's incredibly easy to play. Took me all of 5 minutes to learn to play. Now I just have to learn to sing or find someone to sing for me.

I Feel Computer Lazy.

I don't even wanna take the 5 minutes it takes to set up blogging from my phone. I wanted to put so much more here. Maybe I'm lazy, maybe I just have too many things to do lately. Who knows? Some day i might even start putting up some links to cool things like I originally intended.

The 1:00am IPhone Rice Experiment

Actually it's 1:30am. At about 10pm getting ready to leave my house I go to grab my IPhone from the bathroom sink and swoosh right into the toilet bowl. My Jedi like reflexes weren't quick enough to save it from going for a swim but they were quick enough to jump in right after it not even thinking whether the water was clean or not (it was, thanks God!). The screen still shining bright I shut the phone off quickly shook it and dried it as much as I could. Went out for a little (the whole time keeping my hand out the window) and it slowly started to work slightly. I even got a text in the midst of all it, but no backlight, no camera, no sound and no working functions or stability. Anyway did a little research and everyone keeps raving about putting the phone in rice, so I found the only rice that was in my house and made the phone a little rice bed to sleep in for the night under a lamp. Luckily from what I can see the two water sensors on the phone haven't changed colors (complete fail for Apple), but the camera shows plenty of dew formation and now the corners of the screen are starting too as well. Hopefully this goes away and i can bring it to the store and they'll replace it for me or at least let me upgrade to the 3GS for a cheaper than normal upgrade.

Too tired to continue typing.. I'll let whoever's listening know what happened tomorrow.

This Should Make Everyone Smile

Initially it made me a little upset becuause I found it on my favorite daily site Digg.com and it was at the top of the days list, meaning that it had become extremely popular and would become viral and tons of people would see it and so on... And as much as I don't want this to become popular it was a really cool video and did make me smile. This is something I've been doing while riding around the city for some time now. I know that I wasn't the first person to ever do this, but I know that I didn't start doing it because I saw someone else doing it. It just happened one day as I saw a guy standing on the street hailing a cab. His hand was just there in perfect position waiting for a high five, sort of like free money, it had to be done. Like most things that I really enjoy the thought of them being commercialized and becoming popular to the masses bothers me, feeling almost as if it were being taken away from me. I could best compare it to hearing one of your favorite unknown songs being played on z100 or being used as a jingle for a TV commercial. I just don't want my high fives to become the cool thing to do this year. I definitely don't want people expecting high fives, the element of surprise and the reaction are the best part of the whole thing.

Even though I said that I don't want this becoming a popular trend if you ever find yourself in the position and someones hailing a cab while your on a bike go for it.

Maybe I Do Have Superpowers?

If you don't already know I love bike riding and I love my bike. If it were more feasible I would have sold my car a long time ago and only traveled by bike. Part of my love for bike riding is city riding, right through the middle of traffic, right in the mix. Sure, sometimes you get honked at or yelled at by some schmuck who thinks he owns the road or a non experienced driver who doesn't feel comfortable enough to pass you. But for the most part if you like to ride around the city streets of Manhattan you know what you're doing and rarely get in people's way. It truly is a beautiful thing to be able to fly through the traffic of the city whether during afternoon rush hour or just on a saturday afternoon. Not to mention liberating in a way that can only be described by getting out of your car and getting on a bike.

"And that's why the bike lanes are weird: because there are people going the wrong way on them, people walking on them with their coffee and donut and then yelling at you. But it's New York City, so.... I like to ride in the middle of the street. Because you know what? I'm safe there; they can see me. The cars, they see you. If you're on the side, hiding, they're not going to see you and you're going to get hurt."

Excerpt from an interview of Jeff Underwood, owner of Continuum Cycles.

This is something I read a long time ago and loved it. And it really is something to live by if you're riding around any sort of urban area with traffic. Something I usually follow and should have followed this morning. I woke up this morning and since it officially over for me and the beach this year I decided to get on my bike and get some things done. On my way home I was coming down Northern Blvd on the right most lane going with traffic between the parked cars and the ones driving. All of a sudden it happened, riding at a pretty decent speed a car door opened, and were it not for my boy Jesus up there looking out for me I might have been in a hospital right now. It was such a close call that even after shifting to the left and yelling the door still made contact with my right handlebar and somehow I managed to control it between the door and the moving cars (a little under 3 feet of space). I usually ride with drop down handlebars holding the lowers like the lovely young lady in the picture, adding to my luck though today i happened to be holding the top part of the grips. Were my hands in the drop down position the door wouldn't have touched the right side of my handlebar it would have completely smashed my hand leading to what played off in my head as me and my bike exploding in the sky. The lesson I learned today is maybe I should start wearing a helmet and if I do find myself flying past parked cars I will be paying more attention to the whether or not the driver seat is empty. So maybe I do have superpowers, or maybe it's just someone looking out for me?

This hasn't bothered me until today.

I have just decided that I will most likely no longer be taking my lunch break on the east river. I recently began sitting on the bike path of the FDR drive during my lunch hour instead of wasting money in a restaraunt and making myself fatter. It's a really nice place, it has a great view, and somewhat quiet (quiet in the sense that not many people pass, not quiet as in the highway that sits behind you). That was until today when I brought my laptop along to do somethings. After just 10 minutes of sitting in this seat and doing my work my keyboard which at one point was all white is now spotted and greying with dust and dirt particles that are being kicked up from the cars that are zipping by just 4 feet behind my head. Just sitting here trying to finish what i want write is becoming difficult, I can feel my chest tightening knowing that all of this crap that's on my keyboard is now being lodged into my lungs. I can only now imagine the amount of dirt that is in this river. I kinda feel bad now for all the people who run and bike this trail everyday. Can't see this air being good to breathe when lungs are most expanded during exercise. This could be one of the few times that i really feel grossed out.

Bahahaha

Just as I post this I checked my email and wouldn't you guess it. Facebook solved the problem. At least something was to be learned from my experience. Lets see if i actually use facebook any less now.

Why a Blog?

Why not?

As long as i can remember teh internets have been one of my favorite hang out spots. They've served as my television set since (this time). I know them like the back of my hand and find humor in things most wouldn't even understand. Unfortunately I've fallen into the black holes of social networking AOL, Myspace, Facebook... not to mention the MMORPG (a treadmill that makes you fatter LMAO) of MMORPG's, WoW (I'll explain another day how that game stole years from my life and added pounds to my ass). Most actually have also fallen into these traps and really have no clue how much time yearly is invested in them.

Anyway, the real reason im here. Facebook. That's the reason i finally decided to start this things after many years of thinking about getting past the actual starting (which consists of nothing more than picking a name and choosing a template). Well, it was more like the lack of a Facebook. This past Friday I come home around 10 pm and try signing on, only to find that my account had been disabled. If you know me, which you probably do, would understand that this a major catastrophe and not something to be taken lightly. Sure I had the initial panics of OMG wtf am I gonna do, but then the logical side of my brain started cranking and I worked out a solution that either my account was phished or they found this video offensive. Eitherway I convinced myself to wait it out. I convinced myself that none of this would be enough to permanently delete the years of hard work invested friending, commenting and picture/article posting. Some Thing began to bother me though, I never realized that I see and hear way too much to not tell others about it. I felt silenced. I used to feel that i used facebook to keep in touch with my friends (which in reality isn't my major use). It occurred to me that i use facebook for reasons other than i originally thought, it's an outlet for me, a place where i can clear my head of the sensory overload that has become my life. I needed an outlet. A place I could come and write stupid things and post stupider things. With or without an audience it'll all be the same to me. It's a place for me to collect my random wandering thoughts and organize the wealth of mostly useless information that exists on the internet.

Many good things did come from this weekend sans facebook. I got things done. I realized that it hasn't bothered me not being able to sign in. I even read an amazing book ;). The last time i read a book facebook didn't exist!! In a way i feel liberated knowing that I don't NEED to log in. I definitely recommend everyone trying it for a weekend.

Most importantly these are the Chronicles of a Superhero.

Either all that or I'm just lazy and i really do enjoy wasting my day in front of this wonderful piece of machinery.

Why a Blog?

So I had this whole great story ready to go for my first ever blog submission. Then i looked at the time, realizing that writing isn't exactly my forte and now was not the time to start working on it. But fear not soon enough I'll get this thing rolling and there will be so much here to read that you'll have to beg me to stop writing long enough to have time to perform your daily activities like showering and the market.

In honor of my favorite at the moment video game, The Beatles Rock Band, i'll leave you with this gem. Seriously, who doesn't want to be Paul McCartney.