Is Money Worth Dying For?

I was greatly disturbed today to read an article about an L.A. man who killed his wife and five kids, then turned the gun on himself.  He faxed a letter to a news station before the murder-suicide outlining his reasoning.  He and his wife had both lost their jobs, were behind in their mortgage and other bills, etc.  

I don't want to trivialize this economic crisis, nor the notion that people can become severely depressed behind this stuff.  However, WTF?  I mean seriously.  When I first heard this I was livid.  First of all, every time I hear about one of these murder-suicides I always wonder why the assailant didn't start with the suicide part.  I mean why take innocent people with you?  This just disgusts me to no end.  But then I started thinking about how many other cases of finance-based suicides I've read about in the past few months.  I asked myself, are our possessions more valuable than life itself?

It seems like an easy 'no' on the surface, but think about it.  A person's inability to sustain their standard of living just cost seven lives.  And there are plenty smaller stories out there that aren't sensational enough to make headlines.  It's clear that financial problems are enough to depress anyone and with a sudden onset of depression there's always potential for a worst case scenario.  So how do we prepare ourselves?

I honestly don't know for sure what I would do if one day I was in danger of losing everything I had with no other options in sight.  But in light of this recession/depression we're in, I've given it a considerable amount of thought.  I hope my SURVIVAL SKILLS would kick in and I would maintain the necessary composure to help guide my family through it.  I hope my FAITH kicks in and I'd know that what doesn't kill me only makes me stronger.  I hope LOVE kicks in and I realize that love indeed concurs all and as long as we have it, we will survive.

I believe we need to start treating the financial crisis like the category 5 hurricane that could come any day.  Think about, talk about, take precautions.  I believe mental preparedness is a valuable asset in times like these.

I think I can safely recommend the Blackberry Storm

I am a gadget nut.  Seriously.  I'm not someone who needs the latest and greatest of everything.  But every now and then, something moves me so much that I just HAVE to have it...if it's within my budget of course.  So I sold my LG Dare and purchased a Blackberry Storm - on launch day.  Yes, on a cold November morning, I sat outside of a local Circuit City waiting to be one of the first to have this little treasure in my hands.  

Unfortunately, my delight began to wither away shortly thereafter.  The touchscreen was inconsistent to say the least.  The phone lagged, lagged, lagged.  But after having the blackberry experience there was no way I could go back to a regular phone.  So I decided to wait it out.  A software update came.  It helped a lot but the hardware still seemed a little jacked.  So I got a replacement device.  This one was a tad better but new problems arose with this one.  It would reset spontaneously, freeze for no apparent reason.  Just awful.  So I called Verizon customer service once again and after pleading my case, received yet another phone.

So now I am convinced that RIM has made some adjustments to this phone that were not there in previous issues.  The touchscreen is MUCH better than either of the other phones.  The interface seems a bit peppier and with another OS upgrade due this month, I suspect it will run like a champ.  The phone I have in my hands now is the phone that should have been available on launch day.  Sometimes it simply doesn't pay to be an early adopter.

Laptop #4

Well, well, well.  I haven't posted to this blog in quite a while so let me say 'hey' to the 3 people who might read it :-).  One of the main reasons I haven't been blogging lately is because my laptop died on me.  Those who know me personally and my history with laptops were not surprised by this at all.  Why?  Well this was the 3rd laptop I've had in 5 years.  Which basically means I have never gotten two years worth of mileage out of a single laptop.  I don't think I'm especially hard on the things.  I mean I do use my laptop a lot.  I am a certified internet junky to say the least.  But it's not like I'm physically harming the machines...am I?  

Well anyway, I was able to replace the laptop with a new one and decided to go Mac this time.  The new sleek unibody macbooks just came out so it was the perfect opportunity for a cheapskate like me to get a good deal on the older model.  So I got a substantial savings on a 2.5ghz Core 2 Duo Macbook Pro.  This is my first Mac and so far I am satisfied especially with the operating system.  It is much more stable than Vista and very intuitive. 

So wish me luck...I'm gonna need it.

Speechless...but trying to put some thoughts together

All day I've just been thinking about what I just witnessed.  It's surreal to me still, a full day later. I, like so many, have never really cared this much about politics. Sure I've voted before, exercised my civic duty because it was the 'right' thing to do.  

But this was different.

I could go on and on about everything I see in Obama that appeals to me as a voter.  But right now I choose to just take it all in.  There is so much attached to this victory that it will probably take weeks to truly take it all in.  I'm just in a daze right now, seriously.  When I saw President-Elect Obama take that stage with Michelle and the girls last night, it just really put the evening in perspective.  I was glaring at the TV thinking, "this...is...HUGE!"   

I'm hardly in the mood to blog right now but I just wanted to say something. I'll have much more to say when I sober up.

And the award for biggest minstrel show since 'Flavor of Love' goes to...

D.L. Hughley.  Did anybody see this mess on CNN?  I accidentally fell upon a rebroadcast of this show last night, so I watched.  I predicted it would be bad, but I had no idea.  I mean, damn.  Less than two weeks before the nation elects its next president (potentially a black one) this show appears outta nowhere.  It's clearly CNN 's lame attempt to break into the political satire market with a black guy who can say what the white guys can't about Barack Obama.  It made me cringe.  The writing was awful, D.L.'s delivery was off and let's not even talk about content.

If Barack took us 10 steps forward in race relations, this show just took us 11 steps back.  My only hope is that nobody watched this buffoonery and in the end it won't matter.  If you didn't see it, you didn't miss anything but cooning at its finest.  

Mr. Hughley, you have reached a new low with this one.  We let your little nappy headed hoe remarks slide and gave you another chance.  Now you've blown it.  You are officially a sell-out.  You are no better for black people than some of these degenerates showing up at the McCain-Palin rallies.  

And CNN, I have watched your network for over a decade but will NOT watch again until this disgraceful show is removed from your lineup.

Rant over.

Ok, he's black...and?

I was very excited yesterday when I learned Colin Powell was endorsing Barack Obama. Now that excitement has been tainted by these nasty insinuations going around that Powell only endorsed Obama because he's black. Is it really that simple? I mean, really. Does race trump everything?

When Joe Lieberman--who only 8 years ago was on the freakin' democratic ticket in the race for the White House--endorsed McCain I didn't hear anybody cry racism. I personally didn't think twice about it. Maybe Lieberman doesn't want a black man to be president and that's why he endorsed McCain. Now how ignorant does that sound?

Yet, General Colin Powell, one of the most respected men in the world and perhaps the most distinguished black man on the planet has been reduced to just a black man sticking up for another black man. I mean WTF???

This historical election has revealed so much about this country. Although the double standards are troubling, I've come to realize how far we've come as a nation. I honestly never thought Obama would make it this far. I thought Americans were far too narrow-minded to consider a black man for the presidency. And some are. Even those who may vote for him may do it with reluctance. But they are brave enough to take a chance on a good man...and that says a lot.

I believe part of that willingness to take a chance on Obama is the direct result of General Powell's prominence in American politics. To believe this man, who served under W. of all presidents, would use race to determine his endorsement is nothing short of absurdity.

The Phone I Almost Waited For....

I really dig my LG Dare.  My only real complaint is that it's not a 'smart phone.'  I had been hearing about a touchscreen Blackberry for months.  And it's finally here.  Well not quite.  It's been announced by Verizon but not available for sale just yet.

The Blackberry Storm gives you 3G, a 3.26" 480 x 360 pixel touch screen, a 3.2 megapixel camera, tactile feedback, full QWERTY software keyboard, GPS, 3.5mm headphone jack, full HTML browser, no wifi though (argh), 1GB of onboard memory and comes with an 8gb memory card (nice).

I think I'll certainly have to tinkle with this in the store when it comes out.  I'm very curious about the accuracy of the touch screen and the overall feel of the phone.  I'm confident Blackberry got it right.  They've been on point with their phones these days.

Anybody wanna buy a 'like new' LG Dare?  lol

Get more info on the Blackberry Storm here.