one of my favorite photos

This is me and my big brother Niel. The photo was taken almost 40 years ago. My mom tells me that when I was this age, I followed my brother everywhere. I tried to emulate everything he did. I looked up to him and he could do no wrong in my eyes. Had my brother been a real dick, he could've done some cruel stuff to his little brother. But he never did.

I still look up to him and think he can do no wrong. He lives in California with his wife and two kids. One, Jett, is a little boy about as old as I am in the photo.

Niel is one of the coolest people you'll ever meet. He's only three years older than me, but I still want to be like him when I grow up.

It doesn't get this cold in Africa

Sometimes when it gets this cold, I get mad at white folks for the whole slavery thing. I think, 'hey, if they didn't take my people out of Africa, I'd be in some warm country right now.' Sure, I might be dodging bullets or machetes in the coup attempt of the week. But I'd be able to unclench my shoulders and neck once in a while.

So, if you're white and you drive by a group of black folks shivering in the cold waiting for a bus. And they scowl at you -- all warm and content in your sensible compact car. Chances are they're thinking the same thing I am: "Damn, it don't get this cold in Africa."

Memory Lane...

I just got a new scanner. So I've been scanning some pictures that are tucked away in photo albums on a shelf in our bedroom. My goal is to bring them back into the light of day and make them more accessible.

So far, I've gotten through pics taken about the time me and the Mrs. first met and some of our informal wedding shots.



There are so many pictures from parties. Most of the photos feature our guests mugging for the camera as they grip their drinks. It's funny to see clothes you used to wear; that ugly lamp we used to have in the living room of the old duplex we lived in over north. Some of the pictures feature couples that are no longer together. And some of the wedding photos show loved ones who are no longer with us.

You also notice how seven or eight years have changed the people around you. Back then our faces were a little thinner; us dudes had more hair.

Check out the wedding pic. It makes me think, 'dang, I looked pretty sharp. No wonder she wanted to marry me.' heh.

Somebody probably said this before me, but pictures really are bookmarks. And these are stuck in a book that's still being written.

Prepare for a 'back in my day' rant

The older I get, the more I utter a similar phrase - like "I remember when" or "back in the day." Sometimes I feel like Dana Carvey's 'Grumpy Old Man' character. "In my day, the girls didn't wear underwear made of strings. They wore big, white bloomers that covered them from head to toe. And we liked it!"

For today's installment of 'remember when' I turn to college football.

Remember when the only college football bowl games were played on New Year's Day?

Now, there are way, way too many bowl games and most of them are played anywhere between Thanksgiving and like, mid-January. It used to be just the Fiesta, Orange, Sun, Cotton, Gator, Rose and Sugar Bowls. Then the bowls started to 'run out of money' so they needed sponsors to bankroll them. So, you started getting the 'Federal Express Orange Bowl' or the 'Tostitos Fiesta Bowl' and stuff like that.

That led to shit like the 'Chick-fil-A Bowl'. Never heard of Chick-fil-A? Neither have I. I think they're a fast food chain or something. Not McDonalds, or Burger King or some other established fast food chain. WTF?
Of course, there's the Outback Bowl (named after the mediocre restaurant chain).

Here are a few others, "The Gaylord Hotels Music City Bowl" and the "Meineke Car Care Bowl." So do the winners of this one get coupons for free oil changes? There's the "San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl." I kid you not.

I count a little over 30 bowls this holiday season. So that also means just about every college team in the nation gets to play in a bowl game. It used to be just the best teams got in. Now, apparently all a team needs is to have an above .500 record.

Happy New Year, y'all