What is Photo Phinish?

There’s a passage in the Bible that reads “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge. There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard. Their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world. In the heavens he has pitched a tent for the sun, which is like a bridegroom coming forth from his pavilion, like a champion rejoicing to run his course. It rises at one end of the heavens and makes its circuit to the other; nothing is hidden from its heat.” Psalms 19:1-6 NIV.

I made a promise to myself earlier in the year to spend more time outdoors when the weather got better. I spend the majority of my week in front of a computer, doing a job that I truly enjoy. But there are times when I get sucked in to my work and it’s easy to get stressed out when deadlines need to be met.

I’ve also found that achieving that home-church-work-life balance thing, is not such an easy task. One can easily get caught up in the rat race and lose focus of the little things. When that happens, it’s important that you take some time to step out of the race and notice the little things around you. You can take a minute or an hour. You can be by yourself or with a group of people. All it takes is a commitment from you to do it.

For the first time that I can remember I watched the sun set. I wasn’t at a beach on vacation and to be honest, it wasn’t even a planned event. I just happened to drive around the corner on my way home from work and thought, “that would make a good picture”. I never realized how fast a sunset occurred and I plan on seeing more from now on. The world we inhabit is an amazing place and there are many lessons about life in God’s creation. So take the time to stop, look and listen sometimes. You might be glad you did.

One of my biggest issues is staying organized. With all the I have things going on, I’ve had to come up with new ways to keep my life in order. This next year, instead of using a day planner, I plan on going online. I’ve tried to keep from going there, but figured why not give it a try. My day planner will be replaced with Google Calendar and for general day-to-day tasks I’m using a website called rememberthemilk.com (RTM). Google calendar and RTM work with well with each other and both will integrate with my Windows Mobile phone.

The problem with my day planner was that I seemed to never have it when I need it. It would be in the car or at home and I was bad about checking it every night. I’m hoping the online solution will work a little better because I’m always on the computer and I always have my phone with me.

My plan is to enter events, appointments and important dates in Google Calendar. From there I will use Google Calendar Sync to copy my dates to MS Outlook on my PC. Outlook will sync the dates to my phone when I plug it in to charge. Daily tasks will be entered into RTM. I like RTM because I’m able to enter tasks using their mobile website when I’m not on my PC. They also have an application that will sync the website to your Windows Mobile phone or iPhone. Whenever a task with a specific time is due I get a reminder text message an hour before the deadline. I’m also able to enter a task using the RTM Gmail widget (I use this all the time).

While I’m sure I’ll miss my day planner, it’s going to be interesting to see how this works out. I spend a lot of time in front of a computer, so I’m sure it wont’s be too much of an additional hassle. What are you going to do to stay organized? Any tips are welcome.

Get Things Done with Google Calendar

Last year I had the opportunity to post about Worlds AIDS Day and found a lot of interesting information about how it affects us on a local and international scale. I was amazed to find out how many black people were infected with the disease. It’s not something that’s always discussed in our community and this is why I appreciate the effort of those willing to blog about this important day.

HIV/AIDS can be prevented and there’s a lot of good information out there on how you can get tested. I won’t re-type it because you can find the information in the post I did last year.

This time I wanted to highlight a new bill passed in Congress (HR 5501) that will authorize $50 billion for assistance to certain countries for combating HIV/AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis for the five-year period of 2009 through 2013. It was sponsored by Rep. Berman, Howard (D-CA) and was signed into law in July 2008. Due to the recent economic conditions, I’m curious to see if the money will be allocated. One thing that I like about the bill is it’s emphasis on educating people on ways to prevent the spread of the disease. While the message of abstinence is one to admire, you shouldn’t expect everyone to do so. For those who don’t, education is the key. You can find more information on HR 5501 at votesmart.org.

Spread the word and check out aids.gov to learn what you can do to get involved. For those who have an avatar in Second Life, there will be a new island created just for this day. Events will be happening all day and I plan to drop by to check them out. Visit this link for more information.

Thanks to Yobachi at blackperspective.net for making the effort in getting more bloggers to participate.

It’s done. Barack Obama is now the President of the United States of America. I never in my lifetime thought this would happen. This nation has gone through a lot. It’s time to rally behind the President and begin the healing process. This is America and Americans are used to surviving through tough times. Whether you supported President Obama or not, he needs your support.

I have so much more to say, but I’m truly at a loss for words. I’m still in shock and it’ll take a couple of days for it to sink in. Thanks to all who’ve supported the blog. It’s been fun. Now I need to find something to blog about.

Goodnight all.

In high school, I remember sitting in U.S. History learning only what I needed to pass the exam. I used to say that’s “his-story”, not “my-story”. But little did I realize that “my-story” and “his-story” very closely intertwine with each other.

During this election, there’s been a lot of talk about the Constitution and what the forefathers of this country meant in the writing of one of America’s most treasured documents. I’ve heard the Republicans argue their party is the “party of Lincoln” who freed the slaves and pushed for major changes in civil rights in America. I’ve heard discussions about socialism, communism, capitalism and every other type of -ism out there. There’s so much information out there and at times it can get pretty overwhelming.

My question is how many of these people really know what they’re talking about? The political pundits aren’t giving me anything and it seems like both sides are trying to scare you into voting for their party. Who do you trust? We’ve been bamboozled twice in the past eight years, so I’ve made up my mind to base my decision on the performance of the candidates during the election. All the promises we’re hearing are just that. Promises. Bush told everyone he would be the one to “cross party lines” and you see how well that’s gone.

I feel when you vote you have to go with your gut. Learn what you can about the candidates and be prepared to hold them to their word. We live in the Information Age and we have more of it than we can possibly consume. I’ve learned a lot about the need to understand the past.

Through blogging I’ve had the opportunity to learn a lot from people all over the world. So why not try it again?

If the Republican Party was the one who freed the slaves, what caused the shift moving the black vote to the Democratic Party?

Here’s an answer I’ve found

Here’s the inspiration for this post

What have you learned?

For those who didn’t get to see the entire parody on Saturday Night Live, here it is. I’ve been a fan ever since Eddie Murphy was a cast member and they’ve made many careers in the time it’s been on the air.

I thought it was really funny. You have to know Hillary is thinking the same thing. I’ve always thought choosing her as VP was McCain’s way of getting back at the Dems. I guess he felt he had nothing to lose. and it does make for an interesting election. Something to definitely tell the kids.

There’s been a lot of debate over Sarah Palin and whether she can “do it all” as a Vice Presidential mom. It’s become a hot topic over the last couple of days, but it’s nothing we haven’t heard before. My wife works and she has had this same discussion with other moms many times. Being the soft-spoken, politically-correct Democrat that I am, I tend to keep my mouth shut regarding the subject. But I do have my own opinion and after seeing Sarah’s speech I was inspired to write this little post.

Being raised in a Christian household, I was taught the Bible has the answer to any situation you can face. While it may not always give you the exact answer, through prayer and studying there’s enough to get you on the right path.

Here’s a post from gotquestions.org regarding women in the workplace. I heard a similar response in a family ministry Bible study my wife and I attended a couple of years ago:

(more…)

On the way to and from work, I listen to a lot of talk radio. I love my music stations, but sometimes I get tired of hearing the same songs over and over. In listening to talk radio hosts, some liberal and some conservative, I’ve noticed something as they talk on topics dealing with race. On the more liberal stations, you can tell they are trying to be PC, so they use the term African-American. While most of the conservative stations use a mix of black or African-American.

I’ve heard friends and family make comments about their preferred “race title”, so I wanted to ask you. Do like being called black or African-American? I ask because some people I know really have an issue with white people calling them black. Even on college and job applications, they put African-American/Black as a selection. For those reading this who aren’t black, which term do you use the most? Do you switch between the two based on who you’re talking with?

If you’re a regular reader of this blog, I try to remain politically correct while getting my point across. Sometimes this works, sometimes it doesn’t. And sometimes I just have to say what’s on my heart and forget those who might be offended. So, just so you know I prefer the term black over African-American. While my ancestors may be from Africa, I am not. I’m a black person born on the south side of America. I’m proud to be black because we are the builders of this country and our history is one of strength and overcoming obstacles. When it comes down to it, I’m just a human being who happens to be black. I love who I am and I use the history of my ancestors to inspire me to create my own page in American History.

Let’s stop getting upset up over terms and titles when it comes to race. I know a lot of people who cringe at Dave Chappelle’s comic relief, but I think it’s on the lighter side of pure genius. Sometimes we can be too uptight when it comes to discussing race in this country. Check out one of my favorite clips.

If I was forced to choose a Republican nominee, it would have been Mike Huckabee. He seemed to be a down to earth guy who made the most sense during the countless debates shown earlier in the year. Sure he was stubborn and didn’t want to concede when he knew the numbers were stacked against him, but I thought his point was made by not letting McCain win the nomination as early as he could have. Demonstrating you have common sense is important to me and at times it gets you more points in my book than having book sense.

But here is one time where Huck forfeited some of his common sense by making a tasteless joke regarding Barack Obama. His comments were out of line and touched on a topic that has the potential to breed fear and uncertainty in the minds of those who support the Obama ticket. While Huck may have meant it as a joke, there are some sick people out there who see things differently. Check out this post from the Electronic Village to learn more about them. This is the stuff you definitely won’t see on Fox News.

I’m sure I’ll catch some hell for bashing a kids song, but it’s Friday and this kinda bothered me. I was watching Spongebob Squarepants on Nickelodeon with my son and heard them advertising the song “I Don’t Want to Go to School” by the Naked Brothers Band on a commercial.

I’ve defended hip hop music and I realize not all of it is good for young ears (or even adult ears). I also realize the affect it has on the black community and society as a whole. But what gets me is why this song was chosen to be played on a kids station (teens are kids too) and why weren’t the parental censorship groups out there protesting? Sure the Naked Brothers Band is one of those teensational groups, but need to be held responsible for their lyrics. Kids look up to them.

I’m going to write a song called “You Better Get Your Butt to School, Right Now!”. Because that’s exactly what my kid will hear when I hear him utter those words. A song doesn’t have to talkabout ho’s, poppin caps or gettin dollas to be censored in my opinion. Am I making too big a deal about this? Or do you feel this was a post to get away from the discussing something of real substance? You tell me.

Here’s the Youtube video

“I Don’t Want To Go To School”

Don’t wanna go to
School [X7]
I don’t want to go to school
Yes it’s true.
I don’t want to see a teachers
Face again.
I don’t want to go to school
Every morning.
I don’t want to go to school.

School [X4]
I don’t want to go to school. [X3]
Don’t want to go to school school
And thats for sure.
Don’t take me in the morning or
I’ll cry some more.
And I’m really tired of being treated
Like a fool.
I don’t want to go to school.

You can’t deny me of my [X3]
Of my freedom.

You can’t deny me of my [X3]
Of my summer.

I don’t want to go to school.

And you give us so much work
I go crazy.
Try to rest my head and you call me lazy.
I look aroud and all I see
Is depretion.

And i’ll tell you teachers
I’ve got a confetion.
All those those kids wan’t to do
Is have some fun.
But the work
The work
The work is never done.
You always tell me to stop
To stop comin’ around
I can’t even make
Make make no sound
I can’t make no sound

I don’t want to go to school
School [X4]
I don’t want to go to school
School [X3]
I don’t want to go to school
School [X4]

I don’t want
I don’t want
I don’t want to go to school

I don’t want
I don’t want
I don’t want to go to school

I don’t want
I don’t want
I don’t want to go to school

I don’t want to go to school

No I don’t

Lyrics found at AZ Lyrics