Funny as @#$^!!!

I had to go back and watch my friend Vic's take on the Sprite commercials where they use rappers to sell the soda. Please watch the video when you get a chance. Cracks me up everytime. This one is officially endorsed by Popperjac and the makers of funky things to play with. As my man George Clinton would say "Free you mind and your Ass will follow!"

Do You See What I See? Yes I know Chrismahanahkwanzika is over

Last Friday night I was getting ready to go out. I showered, shaved and put on my favorite cologne. I had some extra time to kill so I started playing with my niece who I like to call my little Punkin. She got the name Punkin because she had a big head when she was little. She has since grown into her head. Anyway, back to me looking good and ready to go out. Man, I was looking good! Did I say that I smelled real good too? MMM, mmm, mmm. Ready to hit the street.
I don't know what game we were playing this time, but we played for a while and then it was time for me to leave. I bent down to give Punkin the good bye hug, this hug is always preceded by "Where are you going, are you going to work?" I answered "No, I am going out with some friends" she said "Oh" So I kept bending down to her and she looked up and pointed, "Uncle Ricky, you have a booger in your nose!" What a stud muffin I am . Punkin to the rescue again

Hulk Smash!!!!

Grrr! Grrr! Rassa Frassa stinkin' frickin double grrr!!!!!!

Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow

I asked for it and got it, only I didn't want this much on Poker night. We had to cancel our game. I don't like cancelling fun stuff. Let me cancel a meeting at work, a dentist appointment, a fiancial shaming at the hands of my financial advisor, but please don't make me cancel something fun. I look forward to these nights. I wish it would have snowed on Sunday night.

"More Cheese with your whine sir?"
So instead of a good night of taking money from grown men without a gun (this time). I settled for a movie that I would have loved in let's say, 80'/81' , but by today's standards it was crap and I knew that before going to see it. I was snowed in downtown Mpls and decided to stay down there rather than fight with people who can't remember how to drive when it starts to snow.
Assault on Precinct 13. Woooooo ! Hooooooo! The acting was ......... the story was.....
All I can say is "WOW!!!!!". Wow, what a bunch of crap that was. Stay away unless you are trapped under a huge rock, sick at home, or betting your friends on who's going to survive and you invented a drinking game for every five bullets shot during the movie.

Frommage, for the Port ( check that spelling for me would ya?) or King me
I went to the dentist this week to get my gold fronts put in. Me and Flavor Flav on the hype tip!
Gotta have my bling bling for the ladies. Actually, the dentist got his wish. He is going to put crowns on some teeth way in the back that he has been wanting to do since I was a much younger man. He had to wait for me to get my wisdom teeth out, I held him off as long as I could.
Anyway, I had the worst dry heaves since I was in college. I tried the Nitrous gas. People were doing that crap in college. I remember the little yellow and red bottle, I was too chicken to try it then, so I figured "hey what heck" It's a controlled situation and the hygenist was cute. The assistant straps the gas hose over my nose and I start making with the deep breathing. Then the other assistant puts the numbsticks in the back of my mouth and the world decided at that moment to punchme in the stomach and force nothing out of me, but really bad noises and eyes rolling in the back of my head. It sucked, I heaved for like 2-3 minutes which might as well have been a month from the way it felt. I will be forever known as the Gagger.
They do have really cool flatscreen monitors to watch TV as the dentist uses his best Jackhammer to dig through my gums for oil. Once I stopped heaving, the vist wasn't so bad and went off without a hitch. Eating the last few days has been a bit of a pain. My mouth is sore.
I watched a movie Bottlerocket, the Daily Show and some commercial for a unbreakable ladder.
Oh, by the way, I have the best dentist in the Twin Cities!! I recomend his office to all of you.

Broomball on Saturday night or else....
Last Saturday "The Man" decided it was too cold to play. You would think this was Florida or something. Minus twenty degrees is not too cold. Well, this week we are playing for sure, even if I have to shovel the ice off myself. I need the workout to get hungry for the best pizza in the Twin Cities besides Punch or Pizza Nea. The name speaks for itself: Tasty.

Hey out there and you know who you are. The only thing standing between me and what we talked about is the same thing I told you before. So why do you keep trying? If the "mouse" found the cheese and ran with it, could the beaver be far behind ? I mean honestly, who throws a shoe?


Go Team Venture!!!!

The World Was Saved Today!!!!!!!!

That's right folks. Today the world was saved from the Evil Chip Clip Monster (me), by none other than Hero Girl(my great niece). The 29 month old super cute heroine could be seen removing the clip from her great grandmother and great grandfather and then dispensing hugs to heal the chip clip wounds.
Uncle Ricky is the inventor of many games, some can be found in your favorite toy stores. I know you all remember: Blanket Monster from the Deep, Is that my Uncle or is the table talking to me? and A Wiggle bit me a Wiggle bit you. It was in that tradition the Chip Clip Monster and Hero Girl were created.
Tonight's episode started with me showing my niece how to open the clip and clipping it to my shirt. "Does it hurt?" was her question to me and I answered by going "NOOOOOOO!!!" and grabbing her shirt and clipping it to her. She giggled and then we started the game. Every good superhero needs a cape and I hooked her up. The old towel as a cape saves the day.
So, I would clip the chip clip to my mom and she would pretend to be hurt and my niece would run over and pull the clip from her shirt with a snap, she then hugs the clipped person and runs away.
Now, you must be thinking, this is a pretty docile game with hushed voices. WRONG!!!! First I need to make a lot of noise while I attack my mom or dad with the Chip Clip. Then they pretend to be hurt, complete with moans. I have to do double duty at this point, I need to scream for Hero Girl to save them and then try to grab her before she can save them. She wins everytime. She hugs them and me and gives me the Chip Clip and says do it again. She then runs back to her chair and pretends not to see the clipping take place. Sometimes she forgets the hug. Then I ask, "What did you forget?" and she and I both scream "THE HUG!!" then we all get our hugs. There was lots of giggling tonight
What a great game. Better than PS2's San Andreas .
By the way, Hero Girl is a big girl who can put all her books away in the book tub!!

Happy Birthday Martin Luther King Jr!!!!

What if you lived in a place where the laws of the land only applied to you if they were meant to keep your freedom suppressed? All the books taught you that you were the same as everyone else, yet you still could not take advantage of the very things you were promised at birth.
So in effect you lived as a second, third or even fourth class citizen in this place. You were told where you could eat, drink, live, and who you could be friends with.
All of you know that happened right here in our country and continues in many others. Please take some time today and reflect on where we have been and where we are going.
I don’t always take or get today off in honor of Martin Luther King Jr’s birthday, but I like to think about the things he stood up for and his universal message of peace.
I think back to the events that took place in the early nineteen hundreds in America with African Americans and I see that struggles that people went through. I speak to relatives and ask questions about “What was it like then?” and “Did that ever happen to you?”
The sad part is that someone could ever think another person is lesser solely based on the color of their skin
I think back to things that happened to me as a kid, how Northeast Mpls (or Nordeast) was off limits and if you went over there you were chased back. I had friends that lived over there and spent many a summer day riding top speed to their houses and back home to get over the Broadway bridge as quick as possible.
I had a chance a few years ago to visit the Lorraine Motel where Dr.king was assassinated. It was very interesting and if you are ever in Memphis please check it out. It was as uplifting as it was sad and disturbing. A very good place for reflection on historic events and being thankful for those who went before you.
The “I have a Dream” speech is still really powerful to me and makes me think on how things might have been if my predecessors had not stood up and dared to dream. .
I know sometimes I use the tagline “Keeping the Dream Alive!” when I sign-off on emails as a funny thing, but every time I do, I think about all we have gained as African Americans and as Americans in general. So it’s important to keep the dream alive and to remember who you are as a person and to treat all people with respect. The same respect you would afford a loved one or a close friend.
I feel like I am babbling so I will leave now, remember…
Keep the Dream Alive!!!

Still can't find the book by Rufus?

Try the Northwest Bible college bookstore under the category: Poets

Curse you nostalgia, you evil mutha scratcher!!

I was minding my own business, killing some time at Cheapo (Hey D, I made it out without spending a dime). When "IT" happened. No, I wasn't accused of shoplifting. "IT" happened.
The moment when a song or a scent can send you reeling back 20 years. I have an ex-gf who used to wear a scent from Bath and Body Works that would stop me in my tracks. I can never go near that store again, a woman at work was wearing some recently and let's just say I don't like the furniture nor the the Feng Shui in the Human Resource department.
I never understood "IT" so clearly before. "IT" never hit me so hard before. The creeping hand of nostalgia grabbed me by the back of my neck and "made me it's son" (a term I learned from one of the British guys here on my project a while back) Now I know what the grownups were talking about. I was caught in a moment and had no choice but to think about events from twenty years ago. I should also admit that I recently have run into two friends from back in the day and I have a reunion coming up next year, so I was ripe for nostalgia's picking. I ran screaming from Cheapo, but not before I was called sir by the new millennium Goth Chic at the front counter with the retro purple and red hair.
It was actually kind of nice, don't tell anybody, but I just had the event flash back through my mind. The feelings that race through you are weird and cool at the same time. It started in my stomach and ended up in my head. It just made me stop and think. It also made me dig out some music that I had placed in the "Dust jams" bin. I wanted to complete the feeling and enjoy it. I am glad it happened. Thinking back on my sordid past helps me to guide my future.

Patience makes perfect.

One thing I have learned in my life is to be patient. I can without any prompting, pick the wrong checkout line. It's a real talent. I get these intuitions about a certain line and skip it to go into another lane just as they are going on break, calling the manager or have decided to help the customer in front of me count out their life savings in pennies. I don't get mad or upset about it, it kind of makes me laugh, I just wait there thinking about how I could be leaving the store about now. Watching people who came into the store after me, shopped for their whole family and the neighbor down the street and they are leaving the store with two full carts while I am still in line trying to purchase a pack of gum, the sugar free kind of course. So if you go into a store with me you pick the line no matter how much I object just pick the line and put me in it.

Mall Meltdown and props to the grown-ups
During the holidays I was at one of the Malls doing some shopping. I was about to leave after picking the wrong checkout lane again, when I walked past a really small McDonalds with a pretty big line. I was thirsty so I decide to get a soda. Waiting in line was a couple and their three kids. Each kid was in various stages of the "Meltdown". I mean a full blown meltdown.
I felt bad for mom and dad who were trying to handle it the best they could. They finally got the food and sat down and then the roof came off. The kids had the wrong meals, somebody got somebody else's chocolate milk and it was on. There was nothing mom and dad could do, but try and switch the food around while the tears and screams of "that's mine give it to me!!" rang out.
I love being an uncle, those meddling kids get out of line and its back to mom and dad. So to you parents out there, much love... and much respect.

Below Zero - I ain't scared cuz I'm one bad mutha... shut yo mouth, I'm just talkin bout Shaft

That's right, I'm bad. I am too cool to be cold. We have played broomball outside in the weather for free, we don't get payed like the pros do, it's all about the love. It's supposed to be -20 this Saturday night. This is our 15th year and we have played in worse weather. I think the coldest weather we played in was about 30 - 40 below. All you have to do is bundle up, cover your skin and start running around, you'll warm up eventually. Well, "The Man" has decided to dictate when we can play. The Man has a new rule that if the temp goes below minus 25 they close the park and don't turn on the lights. I been fighting the man my whole life and now they are trying to take away my broomball.
Rise up with me against the man! Show The Man we ain't scared of no cold weather and when we are done, we're having hot cocoa with those little tiny marshmallows and some graham crackers. Who's with me?


Another selection from Rufus D. Pearson Jr's book, A Smile Cracked My Lips. Available at Borders bookstore and the Northwest Bible College bookstore.

Baby it's Cold Outside

Baby it's cold outside
I know what you saw
It wasn't me
I know what you saw
It wasn't me
You see what had happened was
It wasn't me
Aww baby it's cold outside
Can you just throw down my pants
Aww baby it's cold outside
It wasn't me

Where? Oh where has my Underdog gone? Where oh where can he be!?!

Happy New Year!!!!!
I didn't make any resolutions this year, I just decided it's time for some lifestyle changes. I am going to try and reduce the sugar in my life, watch what I eat....go into my mouth. I couldn't resist a corny joke. I will be watching what I eat, but I do not want to diet. I do better when I can eat what I want. I just want to make better choices and I have been. I will admit a lot of this has been brought on by a recent trip to the doctor. Since then I have lost 11 pounds (let the cheering begin...and there was much rejoicing ....yay!!!!) My goal is to hit 200 by the end of 2005. Twenty more pounds to go. I was at 250 about a year ago and now I look damn fine. If you know me you know I am mostly kidding. :) I am not that conceited, although I do look good ;) Damn good, no really.

Topics topics topics.....
I really have not felt like writing or reading anyone's Blogs lately, I was tired, had the flu and I felt like giving it a rest. I would much rather write when I feel good about doing it. I had to question some things that I have been thinking and even some things I believe in. Now you folks know I like to keep it light, so I am not going to go into detail right now. Don't worry I am not hiding some depressing secret or anything like that, some things are meant to be kept to myself, because like Herpes, the internet is forever. Ask a fellow blogger friend of mine. I put his name into a search engine and came up with a website he maintained in college 7 years ago. Also with the Wayback machine, if you put in an old web site, this thing can find them.
I have had a lot of stuff running through my mind lately. I have been thinking about my life, relationships (friends and women, not mutually exclusive but just two different categories), where I want to go with my career, things I want to do and my parents. I think the holidays put me in a reflective/introspective sort of mood. You know the whole "who am I?" sort of thoughts.
I want to try some different things this year. Any suggestions?

Will you still need me, will you still feed me when I'm 64 - The Beatles

I don't do the things I do for accolades or pats on the back. I just try to do what I feel is right. I have had a few incidents recently where I have been able to help folks, strangers and it felt right. The part that sucks about it was I never feel like I can just jump right out and help. I always have to weigh the situation. Is someone going to freak out because I am a brother? Is she going to freak out becuase I am a man and it's night time? It sucks that I must think about those things, but it's my reality. I DO NOT PULL THE RACE CARD. I like to think if something happens to me, it's because of the situation and not my race. The race stuff is for another day's thoughts. I want to finish my original thought first. :) I have helped these people because I see my mom and dad in each of them and I hope that if my folks needed help somebody would step up and help them. If we all help each other a little bit life can be pretty cool. The hardest thing for me to come to grips with is that you can't help everybody.