Sometime the days move like this

The iphone as a phone is pretty basic and simple. It is a small rectanglish device that makes calls, receives calls. And inside of it it has the capacity to process tons of functions. And as a phone THATS IT!! What makes this phone so life changing and phenominal are all of the 3rd party apps that people put in it. With the right apps you are able to produce all kinds of things. But is it the phone? nope.

Church buildings are the same. They are rectanglish buildings with four or more walls. It has doors that let people in and out. And inside of them they have the capacity to do various things. And as a church building, THAT’s IT!! What makes it so life changing are all of the people and ideas that people bring into it. The building allows an assembly place for people to network ideas and make a difference in the world. With the right people, who knows what will happen.

What do you have inside of you? What is your story? What makes you the most intersting person in the world to you? And you must be interesting to yourself because you put up with you more than anyone else in this world. How do we make the best You? what really is the best you? Why is this paragraph full of questions?

Normally november starts the season of pumpkin pie, turkey, egg nog, fruit cakes and endless naps on the couch. And this year is no different. There will still be pies and festivities, but in the midst of that this year I will be training for a marathon! ok, just kidding. I will be preparing for a HALF marathon. Yes mams and sirs that is right, getting ready to run 13.1 miles. And @carlumps aka Carolyn aka @couplesonabudget is also gonna run with me!

And I’m gonna partner with my @NewsongLA fam and Team World Vision to get this done. This shall be an awesome run. Not only will we be able to stay in shape during the feasts, but we will also be providing better lives to some kids in Africa.

World Vision works with communities in desperate need to help provide things like clean water, nutritious food, education, medical care, and economic opportunity. World Vision is a Christian humanitarian organization dedicated to working with children, families, and their communities to reach their full potential by tackling the causes of poverty and injustice. World Vision serves all people regardless of religion, race, ethnicity, or gender. Carolyn and I already sponsor our child Deus Joshua, and now we have a chance to help more kids besides our own.

I’ll be updating my progress more as the training begins. And i’ll also start updating my world vision site.

http://support.worldvision.org/goto/rickEy2

The first drive-thru restaurant was created in 1947 by Sheldon “Red” Chaney, operator of Red’s Giant Hamburg in Springfield, Missouri. Located on the famous Route 66, the restaurant served customers until its closure in 1984. Several other companies lay claim to having invented the first drive-thru restaurant, including the In ‘N Out burger chain, which didn’t open a drive-thru until 1948, and Jack in the Box, founded in 1951. The first drive-thru business establishment was not a restaurant, but a bank, the City Center Bank in Syracuse, New York, which opened a drive-thru in 1928 for the convenience of busy bank customers.

But now knowing the history, what is next for the drive thru. In an age of apps and internet, how can we take the drive thru to another level? The only semi cool advancements i’ve seen have to do with long lines. Fast food places now have a wireless system that they send with someone outside to the long line of customers to take orders. Cool? Yes? Revolutionary? Yes (in the context of long lines and making you feel better) No in the context of really changing the game.

What if restaurants installed something like a crazy car wash machine. You placd your order on a digital pad in the beginning, and then you put your car in neutral and then the restaurant drags you thru some kind of theme park like experience up the the window where you get your food. Maybe its an actual car wash. I don’t know, but i do think the drive thru game needs a face lift.

What are some of your ideas or thoughts?

Ok but anyways, the cool piece of gear that i like today is actually this trash/recycle can. And there are more similar but i like the look of this one the most. If you watch TV ads or go to stores, you know that we humans (especially Americans) are wasteful. We toss out soo much junk everyday that its starting (already started) to kill our planet. National Geographic is doing a couple of pieces about the Earth reaching 7 BILLION people this year. And by their calculations we have already reached it!! Anyways, one of those pieces talked about our consumption and our carbon footprints and the like. What was interesting to find was that our recycling efforts are working. We currently are pretty level on the scale of saving and wasting. So i think it’s cool that we have trash cans like these around that make us not just aware of recycling. But these cans just make recycling a normal thing. When you go to throw something away, it feels like something you just do, and not something you have to make an effort at. I do remember in the early days, it seemed like if i wanted to recycle it was like another chore or job. I mean the thought of sorting thru my stuff and figuring out which papers or plastics could stay and which could go….it was a hassle. But now, I just recycle to the right and throw away to the left. One thing that also makes this trash can pretty awesome is that it has what kinds of items to recycle and throw away right on the top. So I can be sure of what i’m doing. Thanks guys!!

This is the title to one of my favorite songs by Bjork, but this post has nothing to do with that.

Remember back in the day when there were women’s groups fighting to get women and girls into men’s and boy’s sports? and remember when they were even fighting to get girls into BOY Scouts? well, they were succesful. we realized that men suck, and are selfish, and that everything should be mixed up because its not fair to separate em.

Fast forward to now. There’s a high school that only has a women’s gymnastics team. There’s a guy who wants to compete. But wait, he can’t participate now because there is no guy’s team. Shouldn’t he be allowed to play with the women? Wouldn’t that make it fair? What’s the argument? Men are too strong, more athletic? No no no, that can’t be. because i remember you saying that women were just as athletic and strong. This case went to the courts and the ruling only dealt with technicalities on the legality but failed to address the real issue! My vote, let the man play polo with the girls!! Ok another example. There is a little boy who loves playing with barbies, wears girl’s clothes, and just likes girl things. He wants to join the girl scouts but they won’t let him. Why not? that doesn’t seem fair. Especially since we have to allow girls and women pack leaders in the boy scouts! why can’t this little boy join girl scouts? my vote, Let him join Boy Scouts! i mean come on people, its called Girl and Boy scouts!!

I’m just talking about what i’m talking about!

What if this guy would have lifted a hand to strike her? Well i was already prepared for instant strike mode. This was a big dude, so i was just gonna lunge full force into him. And my chair was just far enough to get a good push yet close enough to catch him off guard. But happens after i lunge into him and get him to the ground? I didn’t want to just go to blows and start striking him. That’s just mean, and it wouldn’t help to break stereotypes and walls within this starbucks. If i were to go beserk, people would probably in turn not trust me and never join me at a table again. So what do i do? I’ve lunged him to the ground and now i just hold him down until police come? Like i said, this was a big dude. I imagined me with my knees piercing his shoulders and arms down while my hands try to keep him in check. And then in my playing out of the scenario i see this guy getting more and more outraged and starting to push me off of him. He’s spitting in my face and first one arm gets loose, and so we’re trading sloppy blows. And now i don’t have any more element of surprise. Now i do have to go beserk, but its not just for an attack, its also for defense. And God forbid he hits me in my coffee and pastry filled stomach that was digesting at the time. Well i think i’d be alright, but to make sure this guy stays under control i’d need one other person. So now i’m looking around. Who would step in and help me if this brawl occured. Would it be that guy sitting on the comfy chair reading a newspaper. Would it be the guy that keeps looking over at my screen from his table? Or would it be the girls that he was bothering earlier? The more i look at my company I see that i might be at this battle alone. Oh but wait, we got the men on duty at Starbucks today. Two of them are definitely jumping over the counter to get my back. They might be a little late to the action but they will be there. And then the other guys behind the counter would at least call the cops. I see everyone getting up and clearing back to the bathroom and counter, while me and the crew start working on kicking this dude out the door. But this guy is crazy! He’s throwing the trashcan at us and slinging the cups that fell out at us too. Then he grabs a chair and throws it at me. I’m caught off guard so instead of stepping aside, i duck. but i don’t duck low enough. the top of my back and bottom of my neck are now in pain. But i suck it up and now see this dude swinging another chair at us. He lifts it up over his head and i want to just do a Bruce Lee kick to his chest, but then he lowers the chair very quickly. So now we’re at a crazy stand still. He’s cursing and yelling at us, we’re yelling for him to put the chair down.He’s carelessly swinging and cracks one of the glass windows. Not only does this assure us that he is crazy, but it instills a little bit more fear. So we’re yelling and dodging chair blows and all of a sudden He tosses the chair towards two of us and then grabs the third guy and puts him in a funky head lock. And to make it weirder, he starts to bite the guy’s neck like he was some sort of vampire or something. Now the whole store is screaming and wondering when will this end. I’m now hitting the dude in the head and the other starbucks employee is beating furiously on this guy’s back. Some how this guy is in total concentration on his head lock and the biting of the neck. We’re yelling and screaming and then the police burst in. They instantly hit me with one of their sticks, and as i start to pass out i hear people yelling “wrong guy wrong guy”. As i fall to the floor and look up, i see the police pry the crazy man off and start to bring his arms and hands back for arrest. I close my eyes, smile, and then go to sleep for a brief moment.

As i come to, I’m in a seat sitting across from an employee and a police officer. I go to reach for the coffee in front of me but then realize, I am in handcuffs. Alas, I threw the first blow, i was the aggressor. I ask to speak to my wife and i get denied. Then I look around and see all of the people that were there. They are quiet and not saying anything. And now i’m wondering, does anyone have my back if something goes down here?

Growing up, I’ve always had a love for words and music. This love was definitely inspired by my parents who in many ways surrounded me with words, music and the love for it. I can always seem to satiate my hunger for words with poetry and fill my thirst for music with the improvisational sounds of gospel and jazz. And then there are those times that i want it all at once and they seem to marry together nicely in the art of Spoken Word.

This week i went to a Spoken word event and one of the poets talked about the need of approval from others. He mentioned that although a performer’s art comes from within, it depends on others to become successful. And although it ultimately depends on others, it is what comes solely from one’s self that makes it the art that it is. Whilst I was at this event there were many poets that came up and shared. There words were moving, rhythmic, inspirational, thought provoking and just plain deep. But then the night took a turn. A turn that i think i was the only one to take, but it still took me on another journey. We got introduced to another poet. This poet has won some rave reviews, tons of awards, many published works and is a really accomplished poet. So the poet starts sharing, stops, and then people start applauding…Wait a second, did this poet just do a poem? I had to ask my wife if that was really a poem. Sad that i missed, or didn’t “get” the first one, i listened intently to the next poems. One after the other the poet read things that you’d might hear at a rally protesting for or against something. I was really not “getting” it, but people were so in awe. Then i started to wonder. Where others really into what was happening or were they just going along with it since that’s what you do to be “in”, “deep” or “cool” ya dig?

I guess in the end it really doesn’t matter. The art is in the eye of the beholder (creator), empathisers (those that “get it”), and the stupid (those that don’t really “get it” but do because they are supposed to.)