$4.00 A GALLON!

You have got to be kidding me! I read an article today saying that by spring gas could cost $4.00 a gallon. Now lets go back only two years ago. Do you remember how much a barrel of gas cost? Well it cost $55.00 a barrel. Today it costs over a $100.00 a barrel. What is a brotha to do? Thank God I work close to home now. This may force me to stay put for a minute! I could also get a moped. Can you picture that! I would get a Harley Jacket and helmet and putt down the road. I know this will be a killer for some people. Families are strapped for money and most are on tight budgets. Something has to give. I know the CEO's of the oil companies and dancing evryday. Must be nice to be them.

Chicken noodle soup, Chicken noodle soup, Chicken noodle soup

Money Money Money!

No good news today on the economic front. Consumer confidence plunged, the wholesale inflation rate soared, the number of homes being foreclosed jumped, home prices fell sharply and a report predicts big increases in health care costs.

Inflation at the wholesale level soared in January, pushed higher by rising costs for food, energy and medicine. The monthly increase carried the annual inflation rate to its fastest jump in a quarter century.

The Labor Department said Tuesday that wholesale prices rose 1 percent last month, more than double the 0.4 percent increase that economists had been expecting.
The January surge left wholesale prices rising by 7.5 percent over the past 12 months, the fastest pace in more than 26 years, since prices had risen at a 7.5 percent pace in the 12 months ending in October 1981.

So now let’s think about this in the simplest of terms. I may be off a little on things here so forgive me but I would bet I am pretty darn close. If inflation is rising by 7% and the average annual salary increase is 3 to 4% then the average person is getting behind every year by 3 to 4%. Now this only looks at inflation. We would then take into account taxes. What I feel is the issue is that what we as families need the most will go up the most. Most of us around my age can remember that when we were thinking of buying our first home we wanted to by homes in the counties and suburbs. The reasons were simple. Less crime, better schools, and newer homes to name a few. However our jobs stayed in the city and we would deal with the commute. Now with gas prices over $3.00 people are not having the same feelings anymore. One can easily spend $200 to $400 dollars in gas a month. One can also spend up to $400 a month on a family health insurance plan. Even though it is not a necessity in the house cable TV can easily cost $60 a month. I could go on and on but I know you are feeling me.

Now I know I have only talked about families so I can only assume that the single people out here feel it just as bad. Is there any question now why crime goes up year by year? People are going to try to survive anyway they know how. Well we better learn to fall on our knees and pray to God for his help and mercy. Things are getting crazy!

A new day in Cuba

Well today Fidel Castro stepped down as the leader of Cuba for almost 50 years. His brother Raul will now take his place. Cuba is was of the few communist coutries left in the world. I can remember growing up studying about Fidel and JFK about the "Cuban Missle Crisis". Fidel has always been called stubborn and not willing to listen. Doesn't that sound like our President Bush? My hopes for this day is that the people of Cuba will have a country where they have a better economic system and better health care. Cuba is one of the coutries I would love to go visit. They have alot of vintage cars that are still on the road today. Let's not even talk about the great food and music. Well maybe my visit will happen sooner than later. I can only hope.

Snow Day

Well today was a nice surprise. We had an ice storm and they closed schools and I also did not go to work. I found myself smiling like my kids. I wanted to do the snow day dance like them. I willl take a free day off anytime. It was nice to chill out. We went to the movies and to dinner as a family. Overall a pretty good day if I must say so. Let's hope winter is not over yet!

Turning 40 (Take Two)

Ok, After a comment made on "Turning 40" it was brought to my attention that I did not mention my wife Pamela Lynne Cole Thorpe whom I married on May 25th 1996 on a sunny summer day in Baltimore Maryland. I renewed my vows on May 25th in Jamaica 10 years later also on a sunny day. Thinking of Pam also makes me feel a little old seeing that I met Pam in 1986 at the University of Pittsburgh. Thats a long time. The years we have been married have moved fast. Although when I ponder on them it does seem like forever. (Not in a bad way for those that may read to much into it) Now I know what Obama feels like! We have been through alot together. She has given me two very cute kids even though they are spoiled. They act and look like Pam. Now read into that! LOL

Anyway I will end on this pleasant note. I hope like Pam's Grandmother and Grandfather, I hope that we will celebrate our 50th Anniversery together on May 25th 2046. Also in an island!

Turning 40

I can not believe that I will be turning 40 this year. Time really does fly by. I think time goes by faster when you have kids. Maybe it is that you just pay more attention to things when you have children. It seems like at every corner there is a birthday or a holiday again. It seems like Christmas is every 6 months! I must say I am overall happy with my 40 years. I have been all over the world. That has been great. I have done so many things that most people have never thought about doing or experiencing. If life was a board game and there was a card named "DO OVER" I would not need many of those. One for sure maybe two, but I would be doing very well at the game. I also think about my family. I am the youngest of six. Wow, if I am feeling old then I can only think of how they feel. My mom is 80. I was glad to be able to go to St. Louis and celebrate that with her thanks to a friend Rose Thompson. I have done ok. I have never been in trouble, over achieved in school, athletics and the work world. Chante is a cutie. She has her own attitude that’s for sure. DJ always makes me laugh. He has a good heart. He wants everyone to be happy, even if he does not know them. I hope he keeps that quality. Starting better than his dad. If I am lucky enough to see them maybe marry that will be interesting. Almost funny. I’ve got my small group of friends. My lifelong friend Garry the person who pushes me to be better, Barry who is my sports conversation friend, and Tendai who is my friend who will start the new revolution with me. Of course they are all much deeper than that but I like to keep it simple. As far as women friends I do not have any, just kidding. They know who they are. Don’t need to shout them out because if I people read this and they are not on the list I will offend. LOL

Well my plans for 40 and beyond are to do things that will make me happy. Whatever that may be? I don’t even know.LOL I have a few more places that I want to see in the world. Seeing that I am hoping on another 40 years I should have plenty of time but I will not take that for granted.

Valentines Day

Well it is the day for love. Why isn't everyday like that? Did you know the average person spends $123.00 on this day for their special person? Anyway I guess we all need a day to tell the people we take for granted that we love them. I encourage everyone to call their family and freinds and tell them how much they mean to us. We don't know how much time we have left on this earth so we should not waste it. They may not be here tomorrow. How many times do we say that someone has been on our mind? If you don't call them then at least say a prayer for them tonight. I hope all of my family and friends are having a great day.

Top 10 Ways to Live Longer for men

Well I read this article today. Of course you never know if things like this are true but hey I can go along with most of these and you won't have to go out of your way to do them. So to my hommies give it a try.

1. Grill a steak. You may think it's bad for your heart, but you'd be wrong. Beef contains immunity-boosting selenium as well as homocysteine-lowering B vitamins. And up to 50 percent of the fat is the heart-healthy monounsaturated variety.
2. Tell your wife to butt out. People who are exposed to cigarette smoke for just 30 minutes, three times a week, have a 26 percent greater risk of developing heart disease than people who rarely encounter secondhand smoke.
3. Take aspirin. Regular aspirin consumption cuts the risk of coronary heart disease by 28 percent in people who have never had a heart attack or stroke.
4. Drink more tea. Men who drink 2 cups of tea a day are 25 percent less likely to die of heart disease than guys who rarely touch the stuff. The reason: flavonoids in the tea, which not only improve blood vessels' ability to relax, but also thin the blood, reducing clotting.
5. Touch her. Ten minutes of skin-to-skin contact (hand-holding, hugs) with your mate can help keep your blood pressure and pulse from spiking during stressful times, according to University of North Carolina researchers.
6. Go fishing for tuna. Omega-3 fats in tuna help strengthen heart muscle, lower blood pressure, and prevent clotting — as well as reduce levels of potentially deadly inflammation in the body.
7. Pair up. Married men are less likely to die of heart disease than bachelors. Scientists looked at men with mildly high blood pressure and found that after 3 years of marriage, the happily married men had healthier hearts than their unmarried brothers.
8. Adopt a dog. All that love ("You're a good boy, yes you are!") and aggravation ("Bad dog! Don't eat Daddy's crab dip!") makes your heart more adaptable and better able to deal with the stress that can lead to heart disease.
9. Rinse, brush. Rinse your mouth with mouthwash and toothpaste that has antibacterial properties. They'll reduce oral bacteria, which can decrease your risk of a heart attack by 200 to 300 percent.
10. Make friends at work. Men with the most work friends also have the lowest heart rates and healthiest blood-pressure levels, even during times of stress.

GM offers workers buyouts as posts loss

DETROIT - For all the good in GM’s 2007 results — the near-record worldwide sales, the reduction in labor costs and in retiree health obligations — there is no getting around the $38.7 billion in red ink.

The largest annual loss in the history of the auto industry signals that even with a garage full of hot vehicles and a historic new labor contract, GM has little hope of making a profit again before 2010 as the weak U.S. economy and competition eat away at its gains.

GM reported the record-setting loss on Tuesday and promptly offered a new round of buyouts to 74,000 U.S. hourly workers in hopes of replacing some of them with lower-paid employees.
GM wouldn’t say how many workers it hopes to shed or how much it expects the buyouts to cost, but under its new contract with the UAW, it will be able to replace up to 16,000 workers doing non-assembly jobs. The new employees will be paid half the old wage of $28 per hour.

Under the offer, retirement-eligible workers could get between $45,000 and $62,500 as an incentive to retire with full pension and health benefits. Other workers will have the option to retire early or take up to $140,000 to leave with no pension or health care.

I hope that the GM workers take some time and think about what they are being offered. Yea $45,000 to $140,000 sounds like a great deal. However is it enough to take care of you through the long run. Do you want to take the money and run and end having to work the rest of your life? Nobody ooffers you that kind of money because they care. Also I do not think that it fair that they have an employee that they pay $28.00 an hour now and when they leave they can rehire at $14.00. Same job, same responsiblities, they economy is not getting better, gas is not going down, so how are people going to survive making less.

Waterboarding

Wow,
The press must be getting really good or there are some serious snitches. For those of you who do not know, waterboarding involves strapping a person down and pouring water over the suspect's cloth-covered face to create the sensation of drowning. It has been traced back hundreds of years, to the Spanish Inquisition, and is condemned by nations around the world. Critics call it a form of torture. Last week, for the first time, the administration acknowledged that Mohammed was among three suspects who were waterboarded. CIA Director Michael Hayden said that waterboarding was used, in part, because of widespread belief among U.S. intelligence officials that more catastrophic attacks were imminent. Everyone does this our other forms of torture that are worse. Trust me. It's just different seeing that we have to admit that we do this.

And in the beginning...

Ok, here is my attempt to have a diary to share my thoughts. I hope for this to be my way of providing self therapy because if you know me, you know I am not going to a shrink. I have alot on my mind. Alot good, very little bad but it will sometimes get ugly. I look forward to my friends sharing their comments with me as well.