You know Southern rappers get better promotion...

That's just a joke. But considering how much I bought into the hype of this latest release by TIP "TI" Harris (why do I love saying that), I have to think that this man has gotten one of the best promotional efforts in effect since 50 Cent and "Get Rich or Die Tryin'". TI's probably gonna ship half a million the first week.

This is the beauty of good marketing. They got the four P's on-point with this album (product, price, place, and promotion). The album isn't even better than the last joint in my opinion. I'm a T.I. fan and I must say that I am little disappointed right now. Granted, this album is probably better than half the albums that will come out this year but it's just not an improvement on the last album. But it will sell because T.I. is all you have been hearing about for the last two or three weeks. From "Front Back" to "What you know" to the ATL movie trailers. And his last album was solid so people will expect this one to be better than that (unfortunately, it's not). On top of that, T.I. was smart and released two street-ish songs (the two aforementioned) that can still be played in the club. And he's still got like 3 soft-a$$ (Goodlife, Why you wanna, and Stand Up Guy) radio cuts on the album the mainstream radio listeners haven't heard yet (unless they got the album already). So I think he'll be platinum by mid-April and once he releases 2 of those 3 radio joints (which really piss me off by the way) he'll go double-platinum.

I would review the album song-by-song, but it's not really worth it. I'll just tell you what to download for free:

"Front Back"
"What You know" (this is my shyt right now)
"I'm Talking to You" (shows some nice versatility with his flow on this one)
"Live In the Sky"
"I'm Straight" (BG and Jeezy do their thing on this one)
"Goodlife" (not a good song, but Common's on it so it's worth a listen)

I suggest waiting for this joint to show up on www.yourmusic.com and paying $5.99 for it. I know that sounds harsh but $12 is hard to come off of nowadays considering that's only a quarter tank of gas for a ni99a like me. By no means is this album a BAD album. It's just not better than the last joint and after Urban Legend, T.I. needed to step his game up a little to be one of the top tier rappers in the game. I don't think he did that with this album. Maybe the next. So he might be KING right now, but if Lil Weezy gets some solid production and promotion on his next album, Tipper might be dethroned. It's good to see TI making his money and being successful though.

Come on Mike..."TOUCH IT!"

[GET LOW MIKE...]
Mike's writing lines again ya face screwed like you shyttin/
Best rhyme of '06 ain't heard ya boy in a minute/
You know when it's lyrical murda, me and them CH-boys did it/
Can't wait to make it big so the LS is chrome-kitted/[TURN IT UP!]
You know it's nice outside it's feeling like Spring/
Can't wait for summer to break, I'm doing my thing/
Sun shining off the rims, my earring might bling/
Driving I-95 city-visiting spending that green/

I'm not a rapper ya'll, I just rhyme alot. And I jacked this whole flow from Lloyd Bank's verse in the "Touch It" remix.
--------------------------------------
"Mike, the blogger??? That skinny ni99a on the Web?"

LMAO

This is pretty old but every time I see this video I laugh. If you know who Jim Everett is and who Chris Everett is, you'll definitely get a kick out of this:

Duke Lacrosse in trial of public opinion

By now you've probably heard this story already. "Duke lacrosse team members accused of rape". Here's a link to the/an article:

http://www.eviplist.com/news.php?n=1613

I have some fairly strong opinions about this topic and all of the beautiful harshness is captured below (not for virgin eyes).

1. The dancer is a black girl dancing for a bunch of white guys (and the one black player on the team). This kinda irks me b/c it shows that these guys MAY have hired the black strippers b/c they view our women as if they're loose, hoes, freaks, or whatever else you want to call it. Can you imagine them looking at BET or MTV and thinking: "We want some girls that dance like THAT!" The city of Durham is half white and half black so there are undoubtedly some strippers of non-African-American descent in the city. But of course, these Duke players probably wanted and deserved (sarcasm) "the best". I mean this is Duke after all. This creates a sad, sad, sad for our (Black) women. This makes me dislike the strippin' bidness even more. J-rock, if part of your reasoning for not wanting a bachelor party is/was because you don't want to further the stereotype of black girls being loose, lude, and promiscuous, I feel you. While everything I said may be totally incorrect, I can't help but believe the portrayal of Black women in videos and on TV leaves subliminal messages in all of our minds.

2. There was only one black player on the team and he was not required to give a DNA swab like the other players on the team (who are all non-Black). GOOD! It's not fair and he probably should have been swabbed too. But the girl said her attackers were white. Well, I don't think that's necessarily fair. If it was a team of black guys (let's say a basketball team perhaps) with one white guy on the squad and they were accused of raping a white girl...AND, the police kept the white guy from giving a DNA swab on the basis of him being white...Man, the NAACP would be all over that shyt! So while I say "good" and I think "one for the negroes", I believe that it's unfair and facilitates a dangerous double-standard.

3. Is it not a fantasy of most white men to be "with" a black woman? Maybe not...Maybe so. I don't know. That's a pretty deep issue but I'll refrain from diving into that deep pool of water in this post. What I will say is that due to the images of our women on TV and in movies (for the most part), do other races view our women as hoes? YES! Do they view we Black men as THUGS? YES! So to me, this can also serve as a sort of wake-up call (another) for the types of stereotypes about Black folks that are facilitated in the media and in entertainment. What makes it even sadder is that alot of Black people promote the stereotypes. I am not excluded from that either. We need to stay cognizant (defined as "fully informed: conscious") of the fact that alot of the images we accept because we are Black actually hinder our overall progression in a world that is ruled/run/managed by a group of people in which Blacks are a minority.

Something like this Duke situation taking place in a southern city where the racial divide is about equal...Man, this could turn into some movie shyt!

"Food for thought, you do the dishes!"

"Oooh girl, I love me some FIFTY!"

I won't give my opinion on any of these 50 Cent soundbytes from an interview Monday morning on HOT 97 since they pretty much speak for themselves. (NOTE: You may have to wait a minute for them both to download before playing them)

PART 1:

<a href="http://mike.webic.biz/50part1.mp3">Click here to listen</a>

PART 2:

<a href="http://mike.webic.biz/50part2.mp3">Click here to listen</a>

Paintball: OUCH!!!!

In review of what I like to call "here we go again", we took the paintball field again this past Saturday. And like the previous two times, I got my a$$ pelted with paintballs. This time however, there were two midget mercenaries on the loose. Two kids (I'll estimate their ages as around 9 and 11) who were added to our group of 16 players blasted me at least 3 times throughout the day. There was not one game where I wasn't ducking paintballs coming from these two little guys. I must say their father (who was playing with us also) must have military experience because those kids were trained well. Although pops said "this is their first time", these kids came out like there were Navy Seals in their former lives! From strategy to their ability to aim directly at, and nail you...These kids were good!

So needless to say, my team (I'll refrain from giving names and take all the blame myself) lost all but one game just like we usually do. Sad, sad, sad! All-in-all it was fun. We even got introduced to a couple new paintball "games". "Every man for himself" and "American Revolution". Word of advice, those two will really get you f-d up!

I've got a few pictures below. The weather held up for most of they day but I wasn't able to get any pictures until everything was done.

Laf & WG




THROW YA GUNZ IN THE AIR!!!

Movie: Inside Man..."This ain't no bank robbery!!!"

"This ain't no bank ROBBERY!" - Det. Frazier (played by Denzel Washington)



Unfortunately people, this is the only thing that I could really pull from this movie that was classic Denzel. You know, classic like "King Kong ain't got nothing on me!"

Inside Man was a pretty good movie. It kept me engaged through about 3/4 of the way. But near the end I must admit that it got a little "long-and-drawn-out". It wasn't bad, but it wasn't as good as I expected it to be either. Denzel did a good job (as always), I guess the storyline was just a little weak when it got toward the end of hte movie. Jodie Foster also did a good job in this movie playing the role of the intelligent, egotistical, power-wielding birch (if you know what I mean).

Not giving too much away...The story is about a bank robbery that takes place and there's a very powerful businessman who may have certain bad decisions he's made exposed by the bank robbery. In the end, good prevails against evil (of course). Spike Lee inserts his shots at racial stereotypes including racial slurs against blacks, arabics as well as some presumptions people make about those of different ethnic backgrounds or racial make-up.

One scene that I thought was very intereting and thought-provoking was when the bank robber approaches a hostage who is a young black kid to talk. The kid's playing a Sony PSP game that resembles alot of the first-person shooter games kids play today. And the bank robber talks to him while he's playing the game where he gets to literally blow people's brains out for points (and you also lost points for getting carjacked or getting shot). The kid proceeds to tell the bank robber "You'd get MAD points for robbing the bank" as if he thinks it's cool to rob a bank. You gotta see this sequence to really get the gist of what I am trying to convey here. In the end the child says to the bank robber..."Like my man 50 say, you gotta 'get rich or die tryin'" Very interesting sequence of the movie. It'll have the hip-hop community talking soon, I'm sure of it.

Anyway, I would give this movie a 3/5 (sorry "Alonzo" and Spike). While Denzel does his thing as usual, the movie was just good. Nothing really special about it at all. So I'd recommend this as a weekend matinee movie.

WEB NERD ALERT: Multi-Touch User Interface

A user interface that is multi-touch. Most of you have probably already heard of tablet PCs and how they work. This is an extension of that type of technology where instead of having one point of touch, there can be multiple points of touch. Before you watch the video, think of how currently you may go to an ATM machine or use a tablet PC and you can only touch one item at a time on the screen.

Well, the screen shown below allows you to touch multiple places on-screen at a time, move things around, etc.

Check it out. I think this stuff is pretty cool:

Is he rapping...In FRENCH????

You all probably know who Tony Parker is, right? I mean he's a world champion basketball player; he's French; and most of all, he's Eva Longoria's boy-toy (that's got to be a pretty good job).

Well, this guy has something else he's like to add to his resume....Rapper!

Now before you bellow in laughter like I did, you may want to take a look/listen to how he "reps for his hood!"...Then you can laugh! LMAO!



So after only being able to bear half of this actual video I realized a few things:

1) TP is rapping in French yet the expletives are plainly stated in anglais (english)

2) The hook of the song is in English which really confused me for a hot second b/c it made me wonder "Okay, the hook is in english, maybe I just can't understand his english verses" But no! He's rapping in French, I'm quite sure mes amies!

3) Eva could NOT have been at this show. Just doesn't seem like her type of "spot"

4) I heard Tim Duncan was his hypeman. How funny is THAT!?!? Tim Duncan...Hype...There's a study in mutual exclusivity...

5) I think I like hip-hop too much. I feel like athletes who make feeble attempts at rapping (see Kobe Bean Bryant, Tony Parker, Deion Sanders, even A-I) make a mockery of what some other artists have tried to establish. Or maybe it's just me being anal.

6) No matter how silly he sounds, he looks pretty good with her on his arm...

Paintball...Volume 3

This Saturday is the date of the 3rd paintball game we've had thus far. I'm looking forward to this one...The weather's going to be nice. There will be some new folks playing this time. It should be fun!

Hopefully I'll be able to get some sort of photos taken at this one. We'll see...

"Nah homie, these ain't 20's!!!"

***NEW*** Tire technology

From a friend...

No air! And much less petroleum in their manufacture. Thought you might like to see the next generation of tires. They had a pair at the Philadelphia Car show. Attached are pictures of the new Michelin tires. These tires are airless and are scheduled to be out on the market very soon. The bad news for law enforcement is that spike strips will not work on these tires. This is what great R&D will do and just think of the impact on existing technology: no more air valves no more air compressors at gas stations no more repair kits.











While I think this is definitely LONG overdue and a great invention, my concerns about these tires are as follows:

1. What happens when there's a lot of weight distributed to one side of the car? Or there's a lot of weight equally distributed throughout the car? Will the tires flatten out or will the weight be supported?

2. Can you get those joints in chrome? And you know I'm asking b/c dudes are gonna see these joints and the first dude that gets them will have the normal joints. But there will definitely be guys out there trying to get the chrome version. I think the lil center spoke section could be chromed out?

3. How long as these tires supposed to last?

4. If I hit one of those SW D.C. (or downtown Bmore) potholes, will the tire fold up like a pretzel?

I'm sure these concerns had to come up naturally during the research and development phase of these tires so hopefully they were all addressed thoroughly and taken into consideration during the design phase. Personally, I'd buy these joints. But I wouldn't be an early adopter because they'd probably cost too much and I'd want to see them on someone else's car before mine.

I NEED A REAL WOMAN!!!

Funk: "Hey ladies?!"

Ladies: "YEAH!"

Funk: "Hey Sexies?!"

Ladies: "YEAH!"

Funk: "Can we do it for the fellas?!"

Ladies: "Oh my God!"

Funk: "Can we do it for the fellas?!"

Ladies: "Oh my God!"


That's some of that old-school go-go for ya'll. Anyway, I started this post with that for the following reason...Looks can be deceiving. See for yourself (shot out to Jon for this one).

Start with Beyonce...

In case you missed it...

Jay-Z/50 Cent DID do a commercial together. Oh yeah, it was TIGHT too!



And in case you forgot...Jay-Z's pretty mean and vicious with those lyrics! Shot out to Laf!

No-No-Ni99a! You ain't slick!

Awhile ago, I had a post about Damon Wayans and his attempt to trademark the word "Nigga". I remember saying something to the effect that I thought it was pretty dumb and would probably be a disservice to black folks if he didn't flip the usage of the term into something positive. Well, it appears he's been turned down...AMEN!

I know he wanted to start a clothing line called "Nigga" but I think that would have done more harm than help to the already deragatory tie between black folks and the usage of that term.

What I found interesting in the article is that some guy from Houston did try to patent the word and kinda flip the meaning of it into something else. THAT, I can appreciate. It's still a touchy situation but at least he had seemingly good intentions. Nowadays you never really know if someone's intentions are genuinely good or if they're just out to make money.

In any event, at least Mr. Wayans won't have the opportunity to potentially ruin his family's name by doing something dumb. And even more important, he won't have the opportunity to possibly promote a racial slur across the country as if it's "trendy".

To all Baltimorians out there...Beware!!!

RED LIGHT CAMERA LOCATIONS

The Phase II cameras are digital (I'm sure that these will probably be implemented in cities across the country soon). They will send you a ticket with a picture but you will also be given an ID number where you can go online and watch yourself running the red light. They look like glass bubbles and will not flash as you go through the light. There was an article in the Sun paper.

PHASE I LOCATIONS

Northern Parkway & Falls Rd.
Northern Parkway & York Rd.
Reisterstown Road & Patterson Ave.
Eastern Avenue & Kane St.
Edmonson Avenue & Hilton St.
Edmonson Avenue & Cooks La.
Franklin Street & Pulaski St.
Orleans Street & Gay St.
President Street & Fayette St.
Russell Street NB & Hamburg St.
Russell Street SB & Hamburg St.
Light Street & Pratt Street
Pulaski Highway & Monument St.
MLK Jr. Blvd. & Washington Blvd.
Franklin Street & Franklintown Rd.
Hillen Road & Argonne Dr.
North Avenue & Howard Str.
Patapsco Avenue & 4th St.
Lombard Street & Gay St.
Reisterstown Road SB & Fallstaff Rd.
Hanover Street & Cromwell St.
Park Heights Avenue NB & Hayward Ave.
Park Heights Avenue SB & Hayward Ave.
Harford Road & North Ave.
MLK Jr. Blvd. & Pratt St.
Northern Parkway EB & Greenspring Aven.
Northern Parkway WB & Greenspring Ave.
Reisterstown Road & Menlo Dr.
Edmonson Ave. & Athol Ave./Woodridge EB Edmonson Avenue
& Athol Ave.
Frederick Avenue & Catherine St.
Park Heights Avenue & Violet Ave.
Sinclair Lane & Moravia Rd.
Russell Street & Bayard St.
Wilkens Avenue & Desoto La.
Pratt Street & Howard St.
Northern Parkway & Waverly Way
Cold Spring Lane & Hillen Rd.
Liberty Heights Avenue & Dukeland St.
Hanover Street & Reedbird Ave.
Ft. Smallwood Road & Ft. Armistead Rd.
Wabash Avenue & Garrison Blvd.
Walther Avenue & Glenmore Ave.
Franklin Street & Cathedral St.
Perring Parkway & Belvedere Ave.
Cold Spring Lane & Roland Ave.
Cold Spring Lane & Loch Raven Blvd.

PHASE II LOCATIONS

Caton Avenue NB & Benson Ave.
Caton Avenue SB & Benson Ave.
Reisterstown Road & Druid Park Dr.
Wilkens Avenue & Pine Heights Ave.East 33rd Street EB & The Alameda
The Alameda SB & East 33rd St.
York Road & Gittings Ave.
Potee Street & Talbot St.
Gwynns Falls Pkwy & Garrison Blvd.
Charles Street & Lake Ave.
Wabash Avenue & Belvedere Ave.
Harford Road & Walther Blvd.
Orleans Street & Linwood Ave.
Erdman Avenue EB & Macon St.
Erdman Avenue WB & Macon St.
Macon Street NB & Erdman Ave.


This is from the Department of Transportation
Charles L. Benton Building
417 E. Fayette Street
Baltimore, Maryland 21202

Black women, Black men...WAKE UP

If you have any feelings/opinions about the relationship between black men and black women (or relationships in general for that matter), take a listen to the poem below.

This is a poem that was sent to me as an email forward so some of you may have already heard this.

<a href="http://mike.webic.biz/poemwife.wav">Click here to listen</a>

I think she does a good job of mouthing alot of the frustrations that black women have with black men. Initially I thought this was going to be what I have termed "A SH&T on Ni99as party" but she went from venting to really just stating the REAL.

She even broke it down as to what type of men she has dealt with. And we all know that alot of what she is saying is 100% true. You can name some people you know who fit those descriptions. Ladies, I know you can probably name some dudes to fit one or more of these decriptions. And fellas, if you felt funny listening to it, you are probably one of those "ni99as".

A poem like this makes me re-visit how much pain, struggle, and frustration there is in a lot of relationships between black men and women. It's kind of sad to me because I things don't have to be this way. What she talked about happens to lots of women! So it needs to be discussed. But not discussed ONLY in circles of black women. There needs to be dialogue between black men and women for any progress to be made. I think this is where we often get things twisted. Women get upset because a brother did them wrong and they go back and huddle with their girls. That's fine initially, but once the pain is over, there needs to be some sort of dialogue between women and men who are honest and have some sort of integrity about them (I guess you would call these men "good" men). But the problem is SO bad that some women are hurt to the point that they can't see any man as a GOOD MAN! That people, is TRULY SAD and I think it's something that black men have to accept alot of the blame for and also step up to dispell the negativity surrounding relationships between black men and women.

Shot out to all those strong black couples I know...J, Laf, Jon, Rah, Kev, WG...Do your thing fellas!!!

A Year of Black History

Most of you probably are not like me...You probably did something during February that had to do with Black History month.

But I was lucky enough today to get an email from my co-worker Ashanti with the calendar below attached. I think this is a GREAT calendar! It lists an entire year of milestones and achievements for Blacks. Please download the calendar and take a look.

Sub-culture Spotlight: EMO

My co-worker sent me this. I thought it was entertaining/funny. But the more I think about it it's kind of interesting in terms of the mash-up of a subculture this appears to be...Is it preppy? Is it "brokeback"? Is it gothic? Is it hipster? Hell, I dunno...

In the words of Big G..."YOU MAKE THE CALL!!!!"

The Ron Artest Countdown...

This is NOT a countdown like other Ron Artest countdowns...No no no! This is not the countdown until he freaks out again...This is not the countdown until he decides he wants to concentrate on his rap career again...And it is not the countdown until he decides he doesn't want to play in Sac-town...

This is the countdown until [drumroll....]the next time Ron Artest makes a public appearance with a shape-up!!!!

Everytime I see this BAMA he has the complete opposite of a shape-up! I can't even think of a word to describe his hairline other than confused. I mean check it out for yourself...





Wasn't he on the The Shop on MTV recently or am I mistaken. If he was they ought to be ashamed because I JUST saw him on Sportcenter 10 minutes ago sporting a fresh...Oh, wait...Not fresh anything! It was the normal wet spaghetti noodle shape-up he normally rocks! I mean DAYUM! Even Busta Rhymes when he had dreads kept a fresh shape-up.



You can do better than this Ron...By my calculations you are more than slightly rich! You can afford a traveling stylist, let alone a d@mn shape-up.

In the words of T.I., "get ya sh^t together!"

The clock is ticking...

I got hit with a BANANA!

So my co-worker Brian and I are coming back from lunch Monday and I'm driving down Charles St. almost at Loyola when someone in a a car going in the opposite direction of us tosses a banana from the passenger side. The banana floats through the air and lands smack in the middle of my windshield.

My reaction [in my mind]:
Slam on breaks...Turn around and chase this m*th%rf#ck@r!

My reaction [in reality]:
Turn to my co-worker and say "I'm glad you're in the car with me!"

Had I been in the car with one of the boys from around the way, my reaction in my mind would have been a reality (most likely). I am glad that was not the case because only God knows what would have happened.

I found the whole situation ironic in a way. You see, at the moment that banana hit the windshield of my car, Brian and I were talking about the movie CRASH and the racial stereotypes addressed in the movie. To me, this was ironic because I am a young black man riding in the car with a young white man. But, I will bet ANY amount of money that if I were in the car with two or three of my "homeboys" (lets just say one guy with a durag on, another with corn-rows, and another with a stocking cap on his head...Which is quite realistic in my case), that banana would never have been tossed in the air.

Now I'm not saying that the reason that the banana was tossed was because it was ME in the car. What I'm saying is that if it were ME and a couple BRUHS, whoever tossed that banana may have taken a look at the passengers and thought twice. So to me that's kinda funny/ironic. Maybe I'm looking too deep into this thing but I don't think so.

In retrospect, I am glad I handled the situation the way I did and I am glad that I was not in the car with a bunch of my boys from back home because there would have been some drama.

How can "ICE CREAM" be so FIRE?!?!

This track is HOT! Especially if you liked the Wu-Tang original...

Skateboard P (AKA Pharrell AKA Fur-real) (Windows Media Audio File)

Taboo! Transcript

Last night friends were over and we all ate food off the grill (shocker) and played Taboo! Here's a pseudo transcript. This is hilarious!!! Thanks for the transcript L! I had to take a few items out though and add a couple edits

Lionel: I bonked on how to describe the Earth.
Bony (Me): It spins . . . We’re on it!

Bony: Kobe doesn’t like to . . .? [Attempting to get someone to pass.]

Prince: B came through just like Bruhhh-man with the head nod and everything. He took two plates!

Bony: We gonna get twelve this time.

Lionel: Look at you dancin’. Don’t be frontin’. That’s three out of six. Half the people in this room like Macy Gray.

Bony: Ya’ll gonna play Taboo?
Kevin: We were just about to roll.
Kelly: I was just about to ask if you wanted to play.
Lionel: Oh. I see. Speakin’ for your wife there, Kevin, like it’s 1950.

Lionel: Old school.
Bony: Walter Kronkite!

Bony: How many we gonna get this time, L?
Lionel: I don’t know, but it’s a prime number.

Lionel: Um . . . People love this performance around the holiday season. Tchaikovsky. It’s a stage performance.
Bony: ?
Mindelyn: ?
Lionel: On stage. Tchaikov –
Brandi: Time!
Osei: The Nutcracker.
Lionel: Work with me here.
Bony: You be usin’ those intellectual clues, L.
Osei: He said Tchaikovsky.

Brandi: Can you turn that down?
Bony: Girl, this is classic hip-hop!

Bony: Is that B-Hill? How long you been out there, B?

Bony: You just got some beans?
Brandi: Uh humm.
Bony: Make some room.

Bony: Crabgrass!

Bony: How many we gettin’ this time, L?
Lionel: Three-and-a-half?
Bony: How we gonna do the half, son?
Lionel: Watch.

Brandi: What’s the score?
Bony: A whole lot to a little.

Bony: But Boo, your team needs you.

Bony: How many we gettin’ this time, L?
Lionel: Pi squared.
Bony: That’s like 9.12578364.
Lionel: Word.

Bony: Oh. It’s a whole lot of strippers named this? It’s a little . . .
Brandi: You can’t say “little.”
Bony: Damn. [30 seconds later.]
Bony: I’ma go back to one I missed. A whole lot of strippers. That was Bambi. Hee heeee!
Lionel: Could you have said Thumper?

Lionel: There are a lot of good reasons not to put 6,000 miles on your car. That’s just stupid.
Osei: But you still wanna do it?
Lionel: Yeah.

Bony: That’s mad good, son. You got mad skills.

San Diego...Here I Come!

Next week I'll be attending the O'Reilly Emerging Technology Conference in San Diego. I haven't been to San Diego before but I've been kinda geeking to get out there since the Real World San Diego (I'm kind of a Real World fiend).

The conference looks like it'll be interesting and cover some good topics in IT. But once that conference is over, I'll have a chance to get to know San Diego a little. That may include Sea World, the San Diego Zoo, the Gaslamp Quarter and Old Town San Diego, and quite possibly a trip to Tijuana to get some real cheap prescription drugs and a $2 hooker. The hooker line was a joke!

Needless to say I feel fortunate to be able to make it out to the Left Coast again. Of course I'll be taking pictures and some will inevitably end up here.

$7 Colon Cleaner....

Last night a few friends and I went out to our normal Tuesday night spot for burgers...Koopers Tavern in Fells Point, Balt. Unfortunately, it was a $5 cover charge for the Mardi Gras festivities they were having. So we ended up going to another bar named Kislings a few blocks away.

Koopers is more of a pub type of spot. You go in there and you expect someone to just hand you a Guinness off the break. Well, Kislings is slightly different. It has that diner feel to it with a bar on one side of the room and diner-style seating against the wall on the other side of the room.

My buddy Ravi told us all on the way over there that Kislings has "really good wings". Now me, not being a wingman in any sense of the word kinda ignored it thinking that maybe I would end up getting something else off the menu. So we get in there and get seated and we all end up ordering wings. Some original flavor, some Jerk and papaya, and my dumb a$$ got the hot wings.

In retrospect, it was a pretty dumb decision. Consider the following: 1) I don't eat buffalo wings regularly and rarely have a taste for them, 2) I NEVER get the wings labeled "hot" anywhere, and 3) I'm around a bunch of guys who will clown me for not eating all my wings (I knew this before I ordered).

So I get the 10 hot wings in front of me and they look SCRUMPTIOUS...



But after biting into the first one I knew there was a pretty good chance I would not make it through all TEN! But I got all these guys looking at me asking me if they're hot or not...Do you think you can make it through all ten. Here I go, stupidly: "Nah, they not that bad! Hell yeah Imma eat all ten!" And a that point people, the gauntlet was laid down. Stupid, stupid, stupid!

So around wing #5 I am really starting to get concerned about the burning sensation in my lips. I had the waitress keep the Rolling Rocks coming regularly and I had to learn to ration my celery and blue cheese dip so I could hopefully make it through.

I made it to wing 10 with my lips on FIRE and of course the last wing would be drenched completely in the hot sauce. By this time everyone else was done with their wings and I was the main attraction. So I scarfed down the last wing and about 5 minutes thereafter made a quick trip to the bathroom. NO! Not to "call Earl" but to wash my hands and wipe the sweat off my brow. LOL.

So today, after having felt the *repercussions* of eating such a set of wings (let's just call the repercussions an earthquake with several aftershocks), I am convinced that those wings are the $7 version of a colonic! No doubt in my mind. They have to be what doctors recommend for people who are too cheap to pay for the full colonic.

Overall though, it was a great night and I had a good time. But I learned my lesson with those daggon wings!