I'm Back, Bitches!!!

The below is compliments of Eric B & Rakim "I Got Soul" ft/ ME on the remix...

It's been a long time, I shouldn't have left you
Without a strong blog to read through
Think of how many weak ones you slept through
Time's up, I'm sorry I kept you
Thinking of this, you keep repeating you miss
The rhymes from the bloggin' soloist
And you sit by the computer, hand on the mouse, soon
As you read it, pump up the volume
Rock wit the blogger 'till you hear him blow,
Then plug in your brain 'cause here it go
It's a 4 letter word when it's heard, it control
your body to rock (You got it) soul,
Ditects the tempo like a red alert
Reaches your reflex, so let it work
When this is playing, you can't get stuck wit
The steps, so get set and I'm a still come up wit
A gift to be swift, follow the leader, the blog will go
Def wit the records that was mixed a long time ago
It can be done but only I can do it
For those that can read and clap your hands to it
I start to think and then I sink
Into the blog like I was ink
When I'm writing, I'm trapped in my own mind,
I escape when I finish the line...
I got soul

My apologies but like Jay-Z says, "What you want me to do? Im sorry! I'm back..."

*lets the bass drop*

Without further adieu, let's get it in.


Last time I checked in was December (shouts to Little Breezy who has gotten his weight up double time!)

A lot has happened and a lot has stayed the same. I'll start with the regular. Traveling is at it's constant hectic pace. Three months into the year and I already have a month's worth of nights logged . That doesn't include my birthday vacation that was provided by the rewards points I accrued from last year's travels. The great thing is, I have once again been able to visit family & friends on someone else's dime. I also got to cross another state off of my list. I am currently a little more than half way through the 50 states. My goal is to see them all before I die.

The year started off with my third trip to San Fran. San Fran may have a bad rap depending on your perspective, but it is a great place to visit. I don't know exactly what it is, but it's laid back and everyone seems to stay in their lane. I love walking the streets on a nice weekend morning and hitting all of the spots to shop. There are obvious places like Union Sq., but there are also places like Haight St.

On the real, I had the best time in the Haight St. area. They have street wear shops and an abundance of vintage/ thrift stores. It reminds me a lot of the Wicker Park area in Chicago. Simply put, it's a cool neighborhood with cool shops and a cool vibe. I was happy to be able to experience it. I look forward to going back there in April.

From San Fran it was on to Orlando. I had a great time hanging with Team Straight Shoota. They are living life how it should be lived. Nice house in a nice area that isn't too far from an orange grove. How many people do you know that can say that?

The cool thing about hitting Orlando on that particular Sunday was that it was 80 there and snowing at home (lol). Team SS hooked it up too! Divisional Championship playoff football AND grilled food? What could have been better? If there was one thing, it was the Mojitos at the Samba Room. Cot damn those things are good! How good? Ask my man Karate- he's got an addiction (lol).

Business travel has it benefits. One of them was flying from Orlando to Orange County, CA. This provided me with the opportunity to visit Long Beach, The Elder Statesman and his lovely wife. I had visited them last July, so it was nice to be back in a beach environment. The downside is having to register myself with the Neighborhood of Independent Geneticists Group for Evidential Research task force. Ever heard of them? If not, do the math. It should be obvious.

The Elder Stateman and his wife held me down out there. It was nice to be able to get out of the work environment and hang with family- people that speak the language and know what the deal is without a whole lot of explanation and questions. It was also nice to get another couple of home cooked meals on the road. What do you know about salmon straight from the grill?

The next stop on the tour was Austin, TX. Not much to say about it. I didn't hit Sixth St. to party and that about sums it up. I did get to hit one of my favorite mexican joints- Pappasitos and their seafood counter part- Pappadeaux. Great restaurants I reccommend people hitting when they hit TX, ATL or Chicago.

Directly from Austin I headed to Columbus, OH. But before I get to that two quick things: 1) I had to pack for Austin and Columbus in the same suitcase. That should be a crime.

2) I got to the airport early in Austin, so I hit the bar. While sitting there a few other guys from around the country stopped by to have some drinks. I know, nothing particular interesting about that. One guy was a salesman headed to Vegas. He told some interesting stories about his strip club experiences. Lucky for him, he said he had to fly to Houston first, cause I saved his trip. When he finished his food and beer, he took off without his credit card. The bartender didn't notice until 5 minutes after the dude was gone. (A little background: One of the perks to flying is knowing who flies where and what city you are going to have to go through.) It took me a minute to remember, but dude's flight through Houston meant he was on Continental. The bartender took off down the terminal. He came back and said I was right. Those strippers need to thank me for allowing homeboy to "Make It Rain" that week (lol).

Another interesting dude in there was an Army MP who was headed back to Iraq for his second tour. I had to ask him about that. He said he was scared at first. The unknown just didn't sit well with him. To make matters worst dude said he and his lady had a daughter just before he went, so all his money was going to them. When he returned it was all gone. Zero. Ziltch. Nada. Apparently, while he was gone, she was living the life. I would assume that someone else was giving her the business too. I can't imagine having to deal with that. I'm actually surprised she is still living. I think I would have had to show her what life in Iraq was like firsthand.

The really interesting thing he told me was that he believes the media withhold's stories to intensify things happening over there. Kind of like how they do with missing children and shark attack stories. One makes national headlines and then you hear a new story everyday. It get's to the point where you feel every kid in the country is being kidnapped and every swimmer is being attacked by sharks. Not to downgrade any of those stories, but the frequency and intensity of the reporting is in part due to media manipulation and placement. It's too much to explain now, but hopefully you get what I'm saying.

Back to the MP: I don't remember all the details of the convo, but dude said it would be better for him going back this time. The unknown is still prominent, but he is better prepared mentally for what he is about to return to.

I bought the man a drink (double jack on the rocks) as a simple token of gratitude and appreciation. I hope everything works out for him and all of the troops over there.

Once in Columbus, you could definitely see I was no longer in Texas. Snow was on the ground and jack frost was on active duty. I can't say I saw much of the city, but Nationwide Insurance is the obvious king of the town. There are other national/ Fortune 500, 1000 companies headquartered in Columbus, but none had the presence that Nationwide did. As a matter of fact, Nationwide kept me and my co-workers out of the snow as we used their "tunnel" system to walk to the convention center.

The weirdest thing was walking to dinner and freezing my ass off, while the people that lived there were walking around like it was 80. One guy had on shorts, while most people walked with their coats open. It was like 6 degrees outside. I never want to be that comfortable in the cold!

The craziest thing about that week was that it was the week that Jet Blue stranded all those people on the plane in NY. I was scheduled to leave Columbus the Thursday morning before All-Star in Vegas, so you know the airport was packed with ballers, wannabees and women of all walks of life. The delays had everyone's schedule thrown off and people were heated about not being able to get to where they were going.

I checked in at 6am and my flight to Baltimore from Chicago was ALREADY canceled! They ended up putting me on a flight to National in DC because the other choice was to wait for a 5pm flight to Pittsburgh and then to Baltimore. It took forever to get checked in, but I was too tired to really be concerned. I just wanted to get home. The problem was, just before takeoff I realized I didn't have my keys. I already wasn't flying to my original airport, now no keys! The short story to this is: I called, they were found and would be mailed to me.

I got home around 1pm. Went to the leasing office to get the spare key to my apt. Of course, they didn't have a working key. The locks had been changed a month prior and apparently they weren't given a spare. This meant I was going to have to sit in the lobby until my roomate got home from work at 4pm. Luckily school had been closed so I headed up to the fromSC household and kicked it with the soon to be Mrs. fromSC. Did yall know Maury is killing it with the "You Are Not the Father" shows. Pure ignorance at it's best and I like to watch it when I can (lol).

Seven days later I was off to Paris for my birthday. I will save that for another time.

Two days after returning from Paris, I was off to Washington state- Spokane to be exact. It was the first time I have ever been to the Northwest and it was very enjoyable. Great restaurants and crisp, clean air. To make the trip better, I got upgraded to First class all the way back to Baltimore.

After being in Spokane for a week, I was home 4 days before heading to Miami for a little R&R. Actually, it was South Beach and colleges were on Spring Break so there was only a little relaxing. My boys and I had a good time enjoying the atmosphere. I never thought I would be too old to stay out to 5am, but after doing it twice in a weekend, I think I have maxed out on my allowances for the year.

If you have never been to South Beach, you have to go. Besides 5th Ave in NYC or Rodeo in LA, I don't think there is another strip of pavement that can show you how much money is out in this world. By the end of the weekend, seeing a Phantom was like standing on Main St., USA and ogling over a Camry. We saw more Bentley's, Rolls, Lambos, Ferraris and Aston Martins than fired US Attorneys. The sickest thing about it is, you could tell the people who were trying to be seen from those that fall into the category that Diddy once said, "to you it's a Bentley, to me it's a blue car."

One of the hilarious things was seeing the Phantoms and then seing the Chrysler 300s ride behind them and vice versa. It reminded us of Kat Williams when he said that people were buying the 300s because they looked like Phantoms- until a Phantom pulled up. It was funny when he said it and hilarious when you saw it. That is not to knock anyone pushing a 300, but it's the truth.

From Miami, I missed my flight and had to stay an extra night. DAMN! It had snowed on the previous Friday and I was stuck in MIA. Talk about bad luck. Anyway, I got back to Baltimore at around 11:00 am on Monday morning. The next day I was out on a flight to ATL.

I like visiting ATL, but I could never see myself living there. It's the same reason living in LA is not for me- too spread out. I like the condensed cities. I spent a week in ATL. Nothing eventful happened, I just wanted to get back home. So here I am.

I've got a few things I need to talk about so be on the lookout for the new entries. One of them will address the "free" time I have to write these extremely long entries.

Holla