A Variety of Semi-Random Thoughts

I haven't taken the time to post recently. So here goes a brain dump...

* Mari gettin' me the hook up. You rock, sister!
* Marie gettin' the new ride. Envy! Ready to hit the road?
* Hoa, Tammy and Rina always coming to the rescue. So freakin' lucky to have you people.
* Movies: I've watched a lot of them recently. In the last three weeks I've watched Crash, Mean Girls, Shiloh (a dog movie - only watched 1/2 of it), Madea's Family Reunion (the play version), and a variety of Arthur cartoons (I LOVE them. I look forward to watching them on pbs in the early morning. Even when my kid is still asleep but I watch 'em anyway.) All of them are great minus Shiloh. Too sad and corny.
* Surfin the web: I've had some good finds lately. I told you all 'bout Hammer. I've browsed T.D. Jakes and Tyler Perry. I put myself on their mailing lists as well. I want to catch their shows when they come to town.

Anyway, that's all for now.

Can't Touch This!

http://mchammer.blogspot.com/

Bless the Boys in Vietnam

My co-worker and his brothers are in Vietnam taking photos to help raise money for a charity they support. Check out their pics and blog.

Georgetown legal scholar named to Harvard board

An article on when color, gender and academia intersect.

Jackie Spier for Lt. Governor

I'll have to check this out. Any opinions, anyone?

Free on itunes this week

You can download George Bush's State of the Union speech and the Democratic Party's response. If you download itunes (or already have it installed) you can find a link to it in the lower left-hand corner under "Free downloads."

Starbucks Free-Trade Challenge

I never knew I had a choice. I am going to try it.

http://www.sfbg.com/40/18/x_food_snoop.html
http://www.greenlagirl.com/category/starbucks-challenge
http://www.sfbg.com/40/18/www.bayareafairtradecoalition.blogspot.com

You know you are mom when...

...you find jelly packs from Baker's Square and 2 crayons in your purse on a Wednesday morning at work.

Yep, I just found 'em.

An Honest Man

I was at the mall on Friday evening. I was walking around, mostly window shopping, when a boy about 10 years old comes up to me and asks for a donation. He tells me his basketball team has a out-of-town game the next day. It is part of a larger competition and he needs to raise $200 before he gets on the bus.

I give money to people from time to time, but often I do not. I don't know if I have a strong criteria for who I give my spare change to....perhaps it doesn't matter.

The point of the story is that this little black boy with the face of an angel (and no parent or guardian near-by) is asking me for a donation to help him get on the bus with his team. I don't want to give him the money if he is scamming. It might lead him to believe that working is over-rated and hustling is a much more interesting endeavor. On the other hand, I don't want to punish him for being black, alone and short $73.

I looked the boy in the eye. I asked him, "Are you an honest man?" He looked me back in the eye and said, "Yes I am." That was enough for me. I gave him the $3.00 I had in my pocket and wished him luck. I hope he is, and pray that he continues to be. God knows there are not enough honest and kind people in this world.

I might have gotten scammed. I also might have given another person a bit of hope and encouragement to get through this difficult world. How do we really ever know? I wish there was a way....

A little bit of culture

I was a kid of the Reagan era. I wore fluorescent sock, rocked out to Cyndi Lauper, begged my mother for a Cabbage Patch Kid and New Kids on the Block records. I even used the words "totally" and "hella" so many times that I still find myself blurting them out in regular conversation. (embarassing!)

I guess it was back in December... UPN was playing Krush Groove on a Saturday. I sat there and soaked up the music and style of Run DMC, The Fat Boys and LL Cool J. It made me reminisce about the 80's and all of the pop culture I loved. I began a mini-mission to bring a little bit of 80's culture to my daughter before she is old enough to realize that is probably a bit wierd and dorky of me to push it on her.

With the help of Netflix we've watched Breakin', Krush Groove, and ET. My little one dug on Breakin'. She's been trying to do back and neck spins ever since. Krush Groove only held her intention when Shelia E was singing. Funny, huh? That is who she was drawn to most. E.T. scared her so we didn't get past him collecting Elliot's skittles.

This week is The Jefferson's. I know they aren't a 80's show, but back in the day the Bay Area's channels 44 and 2 played the best re-runs and The Jefferson's was one of them. George, Weezy, Florence, Bently and the Willis' are hilarious. Simply story lines with great one-liners. So funny!

I wonder if there is a 3's Company DVD. That would be great to watch as well.

That's my effort to spread a little bit of culture in this world. I shared them with my kid and now I share them with you. I feel so warm and fuzzy inside :)