Three Weeks and Counting

OK. It's been three long ass weeks and I still have not had a single drop of coffee. I think the worst of it is now over. My sleep pattern is a little funny now. I fall asleep earlier and get up a lot earlier. Of coure this is really screwing with my morning routine. Now I have to wait like two hours before I can get my morning Buffy: The Vampire Slayer fix. Yeah! I be the fanboy.

Updates and Info on My Posts

It has been two weeks straight without a single drop of coffee. I can say that I feel much better now that I have gotten over that withdrawal hump. A few headaches and the change in my morning routine was the hard part but now it is over. Nearly nine years ago I went cold turkey from smoking cigarettes and that was not as bad as getting off the coffee. I guess the habit of drinking the coffee and the addiction of the magic chemical in the coffee go hand in hand.

About the post of two days ago; I wrote those words after a lot of thought. Please don't get me wrong and think that I am pro this and anti that. There are a lot of lazy ass, shiftless people in this world. Most of the ones I know are black and latino. I live in a mixed neighborhood so I see a lot of what is going on. Statistics say that caucasians, as an ethnic group, account for most of the welfare in this country. Although I think there are some who don't see it that way, that is just the way it is. The welfare system in this country has really gotten out of hand and pretty much allows people to get aid and live on that aid damn near indefinitely. I can understand needing a little help from time to time but waiting on that check every first of the month is not the way to go.

Some people spend three times as much energy hustling and doing nothing more than if they actually had a job and somewhere to go for eight hours a day. I love working and I could not see myself just hanging around aimlessly doing nothing day in day out. I know a few stay at home moms and they love what they do. They are doing their jobs by making the home a home for their families. Then again I know some women and men who get an SSI or welfare check every single month and do nothing. They don't seem to have any goals, aspirations or desires other than to just exist and try not to spend the entire check before the middle of the month and have a "I gotta get mine attitude." That is just sad to me. Maybe I am looking at this the wrong way. Anyone care to set me straight?

On Racism, Poverty and Get Over It

Earlier this year, Vicente Fox, President of Mexico made a statement that ruffled the feathers of a few people in this country. The statement was along the lines of "Mexican immigrants in America do the jobs that even blacks won't do." At first I was kind of pissed of then I did some thinking and thought to myself; "damn, he's right."

I used to work at McDonald's and various shipyard facilities in San Diego many years ago. One constant at both jobs was the number of Mexicans and Mexican Americans who worked hard to get their pay. No slacking on the job. Proud to be working and being able to send money back to their family members instilled a sense of pride in them that I have not witnessed in a long time. I was one of maybe five "Black" folk working at McD's and the shipyards had more Latinos than I could count. One thing that I also found interesting is the high number of my Latin brothers and sisters who took the long trek from Tijuana everyday in order to get to work.

Look around you and see how many of the African tribe sweeping up trash, emptying trash cans at the mall or working on what some of us may perceive as shit jobs. Not too many of them are black. So, I can see where El Presidente is coming from on that one. Maybe because of the English/Spanish language dynamic things got lost in the translation. Who knows, but the man was right.

On Sunday, Minister Louis Farrakhan of the Nation of Islam gave credibility to what Fox said.

Disagree with me if you like. But look around you and see for yourself. Ask yourself if you would do menial low paying jobs. Would you tell me the truth if I asked you?

Lifestyle Changes

Today marks the eighth consecutive day without a single, or double cup of coffee. Surprisingly, it has not been as bad as I had expected. Of course I have been sipping on cheap generic pekoe cut tea to help in my weaning. But damn; coffee if so damn good. Imagine if it tasted half as good as it smells when it's being brewed. Alas, I am an addict and I embrace my addiction. I must now take care of that and start living a more healthy lifestyle.

When I turned thirty-nine this year, it was just something I had to deal with. Then I started thinking about all of the health issues that a man of my years has to deal with. As an Afrian-American (nee black, colored, negro) cancers of the colon and the prostate are serious issues. So too are hypertension, diabetes, and a whole bunch of other nasties. Getting off the coffee was not a choice that I thought long and hard about, but I think it is the right one. Doesn't help that I can drive past 4 or 5 different Starbucks anytime I leave home.