Marvin Gaye was right on the money when he asked this question? The words to this song still sadly apply to what’s happening in today’s society. We’re in a war that we can’t get out of anytime soon, kids are being man-handled for minor offenses and racism is still being ignored as figments of our imagination.

Times have surely changed, but the issues remain the same. To get something done it’s going to take everyone getting involved in the name of change. I’ve always thought the change needs to happen first in our homes. From there we can branch out to our communities and then the world. How can we expect to change the world when our own homes aren’t in order?

I got a lot on my mind and luckily I have a podcast scheduled for this Sunday. I guess I’ll wait and vent more there.

MARVIN GAYE
What’s Going On

(Al Cleveland/Marvin Gaye/Renaldo Benson)

Mother, mother
There’s too many of you crying
Brother, brother, brother
There’s far too many of you dying
You know we’ve got to find a way
To bring some lovin’ here today - Ya

Father, father
We don’t need to escalate
You see, war is not the answer
For only love can conquer hate
You know we’ve got to find a way
To bring some lovin’ here today

Picket lines and picket signs
Don’t punish me with brutality
Talk to me, so you can see
Oh, what’s going on
What’s going on
Ya, what’s going on
Ah, what’s going on

In the mean time
Right on, baby
Right on
Right on

Father, father, everybody thinks we’re wrong
Oh, but who are they to judge us
Simply because our hair is long
Oh, you know we’ve got to find a way
To bring some understanding here today
Oh

Picket lines and picket signs
Don’t punish me with brutality
Talk to me
So you can see
What’s going on
Ya, what’s going on
Tell me what’s going on
I’ll tell you what’s going on - Uh
Right on baby
Right on baby

If you listen to the podcast, then you know that I am a tech junkie. This is what originally got me into the blogger and podcaster world and I’ve met some really good people in the process. There is a major trend on the Internet dealing with social networking and the we now have the ability to communicate with people all around the world. The technology industry has come a long way and this is only the beginning. Marketing products and services is also changing and it’s easier to get the word out to more people than ever. Which brings me to the point of this post.

Through a contact of JD’s at Black in Business, I’ve been asked to help build up the African-American community for a new social networking site called Cre8buzz.com. When you sign up, you are able to showcase yourself, showoff, post your pictures, blog your opinions, and share your videos. As people view your content, they are able to provide their own ranking which allows for even more exposure (if it’s good). It’s like myspace, meets, youtube, meets flickr. The ranking system is pretty amazing and meeting people in other communities has been cool. I’ve been there for a couple of weeks and have personally talked to the Antman (yes, he’s real) and he’s all about getting exposure for the little guy. As of now, I’m the only one in the African-American community, so I’M #1!!!

I’m not trying to lose that position, so sign up and let’s create some buzz. They are still in the beta stages so the time is good to get involved. To sign up, you need an invitation, which I can email you. Just send your request to podcast[at]theojohnson.net and I’ll get it to you. I’ve already started publicizing the blog and traffic has increased. If you have any comments or suggestions on the site, let the Antman know.

Finally, when you sign up, I’m in the cre8Buzz > People > African American community. My name is tjohnson3. See you soon

As a blogger, website owner and enthusiast, I check my statistics for the site at least once a week. You can get a ton of information about your site and the people who visit, which helps in letting me know the type of content to blog or podcast about. One of my most favorite stats is the search engine phrases. It shows what visitors typed in a search engine (google, yahoo, etc) to get to my site.

On March 27th I wrote a post about my feelings on renting rims. It was just something that had been placed on my heart and it’s pulled in a lot of traffic to the site. In looking at my stats, I noticed for the past couple of months, renting rims has been in the top ten search results for my site. If you search for “renting rims” in Google, out of 1.6 million results I’m on the first page in the top ten!

Now I have no issues with that because a brotha needs the ranking, but it did make me realize how big this renting rims thing really is. We are a society of bling (thanks CMB). If you don’t have it, there are ways to get it. It’s all about show and being the biggest baller. Is it no longer cool to save for retirement and not live in debt? Is it so important to keep up with the Jones’ and get yo shine on, that we put our fiscal priorities on the back burner?

Sure you can’t take it with you, but a lot can be done with $5000. That’s the beginning of my kid’s scholarship fund. I could invest it and have even more money in the same time it would take me to pay off leased rims. There are a lot of things I want (rims included), but I’ve also been practicing delayed gratification. Something worth having is always worth waiting for. We all want to look fly, but if the checkbook can’t handle it, I don’t need it right now. Check out the article below. I thought it was very fitting for this post. It was actually #1 on the Google search. What do you think?

cbs13.com - With Expensive Rims And Wheels Bling’s The Thing

mypaydayloan.com (They even have special loan advertisements for us)

Technorati Tags: renting rims, leased, rims, savings, finances, delayed gratification

I have been tagged by Vanessa, blogger of On the Black Hand Side and vanessabyers.net, with the Thinking Blogger Award. I appreciate it a lot and am humbly honored to receive this award. The award was started by ilker yoldas and in receiving it I am to select 5 blogs that make me think. If you check out Vanessa’s post, my list would be similar to hers, but I think I can come up with some others.

The participation rules are simple:
1. If, and only if, you get tagged, write a post with links to 5 blogs that make you think,
2. Link to this post so that people can easily find the exact origin of the meme,
3. Optional: Proudly display the ‘Thinking Blogger Award’ with a link to the post that you wrote (here is an alternative silver version if gold doesn’t fit your blog).

Here’s my list:

• Benin Mwangi - I’m really interested in learning how to do business in Africa. I think the media in the U.S. has given us a skewed view of the country and in the process, we’re missing out on the opportunities they have to offer. Benin does a good job in discussing and informing his readers about the potential for entreprenuers who seek to do business overseas.
• Black In Business - I’m a black business owner, so this one caught my eye the first time I visited the site. JD has some informative posts about being an African-American in the business world. I enjoy reading about some of his personal case studies and there’s always something good to comment on.
• Dallas South Blog -Shawn does a great job about keeping me informed about things going on in the south side of Dallas. Even if you’re not from the Dallas area, the posts he writes covers topics regarding things that every black community faces at some time or another. Definitely a quality blog.
• Who is M.L. Hodges? - I don’t consider myself to be a writer, but if I had to model myself after one, Martin would be it. I enjoy reading his posts because he writes them exactly as I hope to do someday. He’s also one of the guys that participates in my Brothas Podcast.
• Our World My Perspective - Jimmy is new to the blogging world, but I know him personally, so this will be a blog to keep an eye on. He’s definitely a thinker and I can’t wait to see what he has for us in the future.

Well, that’s my fave five. Thanks again Vanessa for the award and I hope you all enjoy the blogs I’ve mentioned. I plan on putting together another podcast this weekend, so be on the lookout for it.

I’ve really been slacking on the blogging. Having two blogs and the podcast is taking it’s toll on me. I’m going to get back soon, but to get you all through the weekend I wanted to share a post on my site at theojohnson.net. I’m testing out a theory of using child exploitation to drive more traffic to the site. If it works I might use it more when I get in these slumps. Hope you enjoy.

Cute Clip: First Laptop

Tomorrow is Juneteenth, so I wanted to post some links about it from my Google searches. While it is more of a Texas celebration, it is spreading around the world and that is definitely a good thing. It’s hard to believe it’s only been 142 years since the slaves in Galveston, Texas found out they were free.

To be honest, I’m probably about two or three generations out from slavery and on my 1976 Texas birth certificate my race is listed as Negro. In a short amount of time we’ve come a long way, but there’s still more work to be done. Our history is so important and I hope through the blog and podcast, you’ve learned a little something about it. Instead of re-posting information that’s already out there I wanted to provide some links for you to check out.

Juneteenth World Wide Celebration

Juneteenth - Texas State Library

Juneteenth: Real History

Technorati Tags: Juneteenth, black history, Texas history, slavery

This weekend I had the opportunity to feed the homeless with my church. They usually go once a month and I hadn’t been in a while. The location had changed since I was last there and the number of people increased. But there was one thing that remained the same. Most of the people out there were black males.

I used to work in Downtown Dallas and was able to meet some very interesting people while I was there. If I met someone needing something to eat, I would take them to lunch and they would tell me about their life and what the faced in the streets. I usually didn’t ask them for all this information, but for some reason they opened up to me. The stories I heard were definitely an eye-opening experience that I will never forget.
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This weekend, my wife and I got the chance to visit the Body Worlds exhibit at the Museum of Nature and Science in Dallas. For those who’ve never heard of it, Gunther von Hagens uses donated bodies to educate the public about health and anatomy. The bodies are taken and put through a process called plastination, where the decomposition of the parts is actually halted. This allows them to be preserved and placed in specific poses for all to see. They don’t give the identity of the donors or show the faces because the goal is to educate. And educate it did.
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My heart goes out to the students, faculty and families at Virginia Tech. As a parent, you want the best for your child, so you make the necessary sacrifices to get them a quality education. Only to have someone in a senseless act of violence, take their life. It’s situations like this that make you realize how important it is to make the most of every minute given to you. I don’t know what I would do if faced with the harsh reality of losing a loved one in that manner.

We all know each day is not promised. When I wake up each morning, I thank God for a new day. I wake up ready for the challenges and opportunities that life is ready to throw my way. I prepare myself to make the best of every situation. I look forward to getting the chance to make a difference in someone’s life. Each second is precious and I try not to waste the time I’m given.

Continue to pray for the state of Virginia. They’ve faced a lot over the past couple of weeks. There’s so much going on in the world. Always remember, it doesn’t take a lot to make an impact in society. Take time for others. Show someone how much you care about them. Just a small a amount of your time might change a person’s life.

As a show of support, many students have replaced their MySpace and Facebook photo icons with the ribbon above.

April 16 Memorial Website

Hokie Spirit Memorial Fund

Virginia Tech’s MySpace Message Board