His mom recently cut his hair so I’m still getting used to his new, “grown up” look. LOL

Now that music has changed (which I realize is inevitable), I find myself longing for old R&B melodies.

You know you’re getting older when all current music starts to sound the same. Now I understand how my parents felt when they criticized the music I listened to in the 90’s.

I rarely listen to the radio anymore.  My iPod stays plugged into my car as I jam to older tunes like they are brand new.

I was listening to Usher’s latest song (Oh… Oh… Oh…. Oh…. Oh….).  I realize he has to stay current, but I miss the crooning, soulful Usher we heard on My Way, and even 8701.

Overall, I think much of today’s R&B sucks.  There are a few exceptions, of course, but I sorely miss the music I grew up on.  Today’s so-called R&B songs sound more like Pop. Nothing against Pop music, I just miss real R&B.

I know change is inevitable, and I think this is what all generations go through with music to some extent.

Oh well… thank goodness for mp3 players!

I mean really… how many 88 year-old women can say they’ve appeared in a super bowl commercial and hosted SNL all in the same year?

I was out with friends Saturday night and we literally rushed home to see Betty on SNL.  Are we really that lame or is Betty just that funny?

Probably a little bit of both, but I digress.

Thanks for the laughs, Betty.

Photo courtesy of Alan Light.

Why?

• The price will eventually come down

• More features will be added with the next upgrade

• It’s the FIRST version

I rarely buy the first version of any electronic gadget.  The Kindle was the exception because I got a $50 discount. (Thanks to Oprah!)

Yes, the iPad is pretty cool, but I feel that if I bought it now, it would only be to say…

“I have an iPad.”

Other than the finger drag/drop/arrange, I wasn’t really impressed with many of the features.   It’s really just an over-sized iPhone from what I can tell.

Plus, they must come out with a version that allows you to access multiple applications at once.  For example, I would love to be able to listen to my Pandora app while playing Scrabble at the same time.

I can’t do this on my iPhone, and I wouldn’t be able to do it on the iPad either.

So, I’ll wait for now, but no doubt I’ll break down and buy in the future. 

Of course, this was my humble opinion, but you would have thought I declared war on a nation.

One person mentioned that because I gave a plug for Macs, I would lose my subscribers.  Others quickly came to the defense of Windows.  Some comments were so rude and unnecessary, I had to delete them.

It made me wonder why the Mac vs. PC topic often sparks such heated debates and defensiveness.

My Philosophy

I believe a lot of it comes from advertising and ego.  Let’s face it.  Apple does a great job of branding the Mac as the cool computer that cool people use, and they seem to imply that nerds use Windows.

The “I’m a Mac, I’m a PC” commercials illustrate this brilliantly, and I give Apple props for a great campaign.

Mac owners often go on about how cool the Mac is.  I think it leaves many Windows users left to defend themselves, and some view it as a personal attack on their character.

It’s as if someone said, “I use a Mac and I’m cooler than you because you use Windows.”  Is it really that serious?

(Mac users, you aren’t off the hook either.  I am just picking on the Windows supporters because these are the people who went on attack in this particular video.)

For many, it boils down to ego and that’s where I think it gets silly.

Even before I bought a Mac, I never got offended or took it personally if a Mac user said Macs are better than PCs.  It actually made me curious about what a Mac offered.

And now that I have both, there are actually things I like and dislike about both.

There are so many more important things in life to get upset over. Use what you love and let others have their opinions.  The one that’s “best” is the one that suites YOUR needs.

At the end of the day, it’s only a machine.

This year we decided to cruise to the Western Caribbean (stopped in Cozumel for one day).  I love cruises because there is always something to do and food is available at all times!

Here’s a video for you to enjoy…

I was excited to receive a picture of her family. That’s her 2nd to the left along with her parents and 5 siblings. The cow in the picture is the one I bought! How cool is that?

Warning: I may offend you.

Obama’s headed for the white house in January and let me just say I really do hope a change is going to come.

However, based on the reactions I’ve heard from both sides of the political and racial fence, I’d like to make a few comments to everyone, regardless of your race or political stance.

But before I begin I’d like to point out that I am an African American female who voted for Barack Obama.

With that said, let’s begin…

……………..

1. Barack is our new president, not a magician.  Black people: If you have debt, bad spending habits and are irresponsible with your funds then having a black president is not going to give you a break and instantly solve your problems.  You have to do your part and clean up your own house.

2. Obama is not The Black People’s President.  He is The President who happens to be black who wants to help and unite all races.  So for those of you who did not vote for Obama because you worry he is going to cater to black people more than other groups, or that black people are going to take over the country, then I respectfully ask you to grow up.

3.  We have a big mess to clean up.  So don’t get impatient if the country still looks like this 6 months or a year from now.  Obama said himself, it could take more than one term to get our nation back on track.

I believe it will be a long while before we see significant improvements.  We’re at war, the economy is a mess and we are trillions of dollars in debt.  Let’s remember this and remain patient.

4.  Black people:  For those of you who think electing Obama is about getting back or making some kind of statement to all white people, remember, millions and millions of white people had to vote for Barack to make him president.

Stop and think.

If every black voter in America voted twice for Obama, it STILL wouldn’t have been enough to elect him alone.  You can’t forget that a lot of white people voted for Barack and him being black was NOT a factor for them.

Do we have a long way to go with regards to race in America?  Of course we do.  I just ask that you remember how Barack became president.  We didn’t elect him by ourselves.

5.  Non Blacks:  If you didn’t vote for Barack because you didn’t want to vote for a black president, that’s your perogative. But please stop making silly excuses to cover up your real reason. You know good and well this man is not a terrorist or a Muslim, so stop.  You’re making yourself look really silly.

6. Black people:  If you chose Obama over Clinton in the primaries just because he’s black (without considering facts other than race) then that’s not much different than NON blacks only voting for McCain because Obama’s black. (I know some will argue that it’s still not the same, but that’s my view.)

7.  Black men (and women too):  All I have to say is, NO MORE EXCUSES.  We all know there is some racism in this country and it will probably never fully dissolve.  Unfortunately there is nothing you can do about ignorant people, but you can do something about how you deal with it and move forward.

I’ll be the first to say that I don’t know what it’s like to be a black man in America, but as a black woman who has lived, gone to school and worked in predominantly NON BLACK establishments for a big part of my life,  I can objectively tell you that there are quite a few white people who don’t have a problem with black people.  If you aren’t sure about that, consider that Barack just became president of the United States.

And when you encounter those ignorant people who are racist, that’s their problem and you can deal with this on a case-by-case basis.  But let’s try to limit our use of that victim card.

I’ll say it again.  YES, racism exists.  No one is denying that. But you can rise above it.

Having a black president in the U.S.A. proves what is possible (in case there were any doubts).  “The man” may keep you down temporarily, but Barack has proven there is plenty of room to get back up. Many times, the only MAN keeping you down is yourself.

Don’t let a few ignorant people become the reason you cannot achieve your dreams.

8.  Regardless of your race, political stance or background you have got to appreciate what just happened on November 4th on some level.  That doesn’t mean you have to agree with Barack’s politics or even like him as a person.  But if you can’t even acknowledge what this means for our nation’s history then I don’t really know what to say for you.

9. What’s that you say? You don’t understand how I can get emotional over this election?

OK, so I never got caned, called the N word, spat on, or experienced any severe forms of racism in my 32 years of living.  I can only listen when my parents tell me about St. Louis in the 1950’s (they were teens) and they could only go to certain establishments for blacks only.

No, I can’t relate to any of that kind of racism specifically. But this election has caused me to reflect back on those stories I was told as a child and what MLK and others fought for during the Civil Rights Movement.  A black president wasn’t possible then and I grew up thinking it was not possible in my lifetime either.

Well, it’s possible now and perhaps I should have checked my own thinking.

So THAT’s why I’m a bit emotional if you must know.  And I’m very offended when I hear other people say they don’t understand why blacks who didn’t experience racial hardships are getting emotional over this election.

It’s called pride, and since when did that become a bad thing?

10.  Black people: Stop calling the black Republicans sellouts!  They have a right to vote for who they want in this democratic society and it’s not your job to try to understand why.  Make your vote count and keep moving, son!

Trust me.  With my income, don’t think I wasn’t looking VERY closely at the fact I am going to have to pay more taxes under Obama.  I just did my research and happen to agree with what he’s trying to do.

——————-

I distinctly made an effort to call out all sides in this post in order to make the point that we all have self-work to do and need to come together as a nation.  I’m talking about blacks, whites, Asians, Native Americans, Hispanics, and every other group I left out.

If this Obama presidency continues to only be about a man who is too black for some people, not black enough for others and only black for the rest, we’re losing sight of the real focus here…. cleaning up this jacked up mess our country’s in!

Will Obama be the president to help us to whip this nation back in shape? I sure hope so.  I wouldn’t have voted for him if I didn’t have faith in that.

Now… onwards and upwards America!  We’ve got a lot of work to do!!

Yes that means ME and YOU too!

I was watching her show last week and she introduced her new favorite gadget – The Amazon Kindle – an electronic book reader.

I had read about the Kindle on Amazon before but was immediately turned off because it was in black and white and just KNEW the color version would be coming out soon. Well, two years after I discovered it, the thing is STILL in black and white.

Oh well.

Anyway, after watching Oprah’s glowing review of this gadget I was immediately sold.  I kept thinking of the many conveniences it would provide.

I fly quite a bit during the year and always find myself in the airport bookstore combing through the books and magazines.  Or sometimes I bring one or two books with me and usually regret it because they take up so much darn room in my carry-on.

I also love the fact that the books are so much cheaper than buying the hard and softback.  I haven’t paid over $8.50 for anything yet.  Not to mention it’s so cool to have your book delivered to your device literally SECONDS after purchasing it.

Turning the pages (forward and back) is as easy as clicking a button along side the gadget, and you can even look up words in an electronic dictionary as you go.

There’s also an SD memory card slot (the same card you buy for your digital camera) so if you want to add more space, you can buy a card and your Kindle will hold thousands of books.  (Even without the card you can store hundreds).

I’ve had the Kindle for less than a week and I’m already in love with it.  I just came back from Starbucks and enjoyed a relaxing afternoon sipping my Tazo chai tea while engrossed in Eckhart Tolle’s enlighting book, The Power of Now.

The battery life seems great! I haven’t used my Kindle a whole lot yet, but I would estimate I’ve probably used it for 3 hours and the battery icon is still showing a full charge.

The wireless feature (Whispernet) is always accessible so you can shop at the Kindle store for new books no matter where you are, and you don’t need to pay for any connection fees.

Any Negatives?

The positives definitely outweigh the negatives when it comes to the Kindle. Of course, a color screen would be nice (especially when you’re shopping in the Kindle store). Also, getting used to holding the device without accidentally clicking the page-turning buttons is taking some getting use to.

A backlight would also be nice. Unlike a laptop, you cannot use this in the dark or poor lighting conditions (Well, you shouldn’t really be reading under those circumstances anyway.) Nevertheless, a backlight would definitely be a nice option.

Other than that, this is an amazing device. I keep thinking of all the space I will be saving on my bookshelves at home, and I’m looking forward to my next airplane trip where I can just whip out my Kindle instead of a clunky book that’s taking up space in my bag.

Kudos to Amazon!