Tonight
Well, I came across my beloved guava pastries today. I was not looking for them or planning to buy anything from the bakery. I went to the grocery store to get fish and a vegetable and came back with guava pastries and milk.
Watching the BET awards show
I've decided that I do not like Daman Wayans at all. I do not find him the least bit entertaining. Unfortunately, he was the host of the show.
Kirk Franklin made a powerful statement during his acceptance speech. He said, "I thank God not only by what I say but by how I live....". I know that comment was directed to some of the artists. The rappers that won awards tonight were quick to thank God in their acceptance speech but glorified violence in the same breath. It's disgusting.
I really do not like Steve Harvey. He's so NOT funny.
I enjoyed only a few of the performances like Busta Rhymes and Mary Mary. It was nice to see Chaka get the lifetime achievement award. I do like Chaka Kahn. It was good to see Prince performing too. Prince looked great as usual. I've never been able to get into India Arie but people love her.
Overall, I will give the show a B- or C+
Another interesting article-this makes me happy
Buffett gives $37 billion to Gates and other foundationsSun Jun 25, 2006 6:25 PM ET
By Robert MacMillan
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Billionaire investor Warren Buffett is donating a total of $37 billion -- most of his personal fortune -- to a foundation started by Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates and to several family foundations, making it the largest-ever individual charitable gift in the United States.
Buffett, 75, is the chief executive of investment firm Berkshire Hathaway. He is worth an estimated $44 billion, according to Forbes magazine, making him the second-richest man behind Gates, who is worth about $50 billion.
The $37 billion comprises about 85 percent of Buffett's fortune.
In a letter to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Buffett, 75, said he will set aside 10 million shares of Berkshire class B common stock for the foundation.
Based on the stock's per-share price of $3071.01 as of Friday, the total amount for the Gates foundation comes to about $30 billion.
The amount is the largest commitment to a philanthropic cause ever made by one person in the United States, said Stacy Palmer, editor of the Chronicle of Philanthropy.
"Even if you look at what (John D.) Rockefeller and (Andrew) Carnegie gave historically -- even if you do it in today's numbers, it doesn't come close to that," she said.
In a letter to the Gateses, Buffett wrote that "You have committed yourselves to a few extraordinarily important but underfunded issues, a policy that I believe offers the highest probability of your achieving goals of great consequence."
"We are awed by our friend Warren Buffett's decision to use his fortune to address the world's most challenging inequities, and we are humbled that he has chosen to direct a large portion of it to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation," the Gateses said in a statement on the foundation's Web site.
Buffett also pledged 1 million shares to a foundation established for his late wife, Susan Thompson Buffett, and 350,000 shares each to foundations for children Howard, Susan and Peter.
He said he will award 5 percent of the shares he has set aside on a yearly basis.
The amount going to the Gates foundation in the first year alone would be worth more than $1.5 billion.
Gates is a Berkshire director, and a bridge partner of Buffett's. Buffett, meanwhile, serves on the board of the Washington Post Co. with Melinda Gates.
The announcement comes after Gates, 50, said he would move away from his day-to-day role at the Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft to focus more on charity work.
Now worth $30 billion, the Gates foundation is one of the world's richest philanthropic organizations. It has committed millions of dollars to fighting diseases such as malaria and tuberculosis in developing countries, and to education and library technology in the United States.
In letters to the recipients, he said he will award the gifts every year for the rest of his life. He is in "excellent health," he wrote to the Gates foundation, but said that he is writing a new will to ensure that the stock is distributed after his death.
The gift is contingent on one of the Gateses continuing to be involved in the foundation, Buffett said.
Berkshire Hathaway officials did not return telephone calls seeking comment.
Interesting- I wonder who made the purchase
http://edition.cnn.com/2006/US/06/23/mlk.papersMayor: MLK papers to find home at Morehouse College
June 30 auction, expected to bring up to $30M, is canceled
ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) -- The children of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. will receive an undisclosed amount of money from an anonymous group of people for about 10,000 manuscripts and books belonging to the civil rights icon, Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin's office said Friday.
A planned June 30 auction will be canceled. Sotheby's auction house had expected to command between $15 million and $30 million for the documents.
The papers include drafts of King's "I Have a Dream" speech, his 1964 Nobel Peace Prize acceptance address and a printed version of the "Letter from Birmingham Jail."
King, who won the Nobel Prize at age 35, was fatally shot April 4, 1968.
Franklin's office said only that the group purchasing the papers represent the interests of Atlanta. King was an Atlanta native and both he and his wife Coretta Scott King, who died earlier this year, are buried in the city.
The papers will be housed at Atlanta's historically black Morehouse College, King's alma mater.
"This is a wonderful outcome for this collection" said Dexter King, one of King's sons and the chief executive officer of his estate.
"I know my mother would have been happy to see the collection housed permanently in Atlanta, which always meant so much to her and to our family."
The public exhibition of the King collection will continue at Sotheby's in New York until June 29th, at the request of Dexter King, according to Sotheby's.
"Sotheby's is thrilled that the papers of Dr. King, one of the greatest world leaders, are going to the city he called home" said the auction house's vice chairman, David Redden, in a Sotheby's news release.
"This historic archive is of extraordinary significance and the King Estate and Sotheby's had hoped - and worked hard to ensure -- that its disposition would permit access to the public and to scholars. This has now been achieved."
The collection also contains more than 7,000 documents written by King, including a college examination on the Bible from 1946, his earliest surviving theological writing, and papers he was working on just before his assassination in 1968.
CNN's Deanna Proeller contributed to this report.
Iraq
The debate over the Iraq war is really troubling to me. I am so aggravated and even pissed when I hear people like John Kerry talk about pulling the troops out ASAP. He truly is someone that just rides the tides whichever way they turn without thinking rationally. I never liked John Kerry. From the moment I heard him speak it was an instant dislike-especially the way he attacked Howard Dean during the debates. I hope and pray Kerry does not run for office again. I want him to just keep quiet because he's more of a liability than anything.
I do not think an all out withdrawal in the near future is the best thing to do. I do think setting realistic goals is a good idea. Set little goals and work hard to accomplish each. What we really need to do is something that should have happened a long time ago (before the invasion). We need to build a proper coalition. It's better late than never. We need to apologize to the world, admit our mistakes and beg for international intervention for the sake of the Iraqis. I think the world will be willing to support the Iraqis (instead of feeling obligated to support the US). We of course still have an obligation. We created the mess and the least we can do is fix it. We have not been successful so, it's time to let others help us. Eliminate the no bid contracts and bring other foreign companies in. Now I realize that will defeat one of the main purposes for going into Iraq in the first place.
I actually heard a pretty interesting perspective on the reason for the war. In an interview, Greg Palast (
http://www.gregpalast.com/yes-its-about-oil#more-1430) said he believes the purpose was to stop Saddam from supplying more crude oil to the world. The US oil companies want to keep the oil supply under their control (like they are able to do with Saudi Arabia's help) in order to control prices. The lower the supply, the higher the prices. So rather than pumping the oil out of Iraq, they want to keep the oil in which of course keeps the supply limited. I was intrigued.........
Oh well, I'm so tired tonight. I worked long hours today and will need to do it again tomorrow.
Catching up
I'm feeling pretty good today. I'm loving my Coca Cola right now. It's so cold, sweet and refreshing. It really hit the spot.
John felt the need to "doctor up" my chili from last night. It was a little too salty so he added water, tomato and pinto beans to it. I guess it's a little tastier now.....
I talked to my mom for a bit today. She was in a really good mood. She had her 40 year class reunion this past weekend. She graduated from Blake Highschool. She had a great time. My brother's daughter is here visiting from North Carolina. My mom and brother are thrilled to have her here. I think she'll be here for 2 weeks. She's about 8 years old now I believe. Her mom sent her off to live in Denver, CO when she was only 3 years old. My mom and brother were devastated by that. This is only the 2nd time she's been back to visit since then. My mom said my brother took good care of her over the weekend. He made spaghetti for dinner and pancakes for breakfast. He even walked to the store for the groceries. This is a big deal because my brother would NEVER walk to the store for any reason under normal circumstances. Ordinarily, someone would have to provide him with transportation.
Work for me is fine. It's a really busy week. I left early today and I want to take off half day on Friday. That means I will need to bust my tail for the rest of the time. Sometimes, I just look at my work calendar and laugh at it like a crazy person does when he's about to snap.
I think the girls (probably Dawn, Erin, Michele, and Jennifer) want to get together Friday after work for happy hour. That should be fun.
Day Dreaming
I have about a 45 minute commute to work each morning. While listening to NPR (like I always do) I sometimes daydream about things being discussed. Today, I started fantasizing about Bill Gates running for president in 2008- on the Democratic or Independent ticket of course.
It was a pleasant fantasy because I know that Gates is committed to a proper education and adequate healthcare for every child.
Weekend
I went to the Caribbean Festival on Saturday with Naya. We had a really good time! The food was yummy and the entertainment was really good. I can't wait for next year. I had curry chicken and bread. Naya had roti with curry chicken. I brought home curry chicken with beans and rice for John. He liked it a lot but, is there really anything he does not like when it comes to food?
We really had too much food. Naya and I could have purchased one meal and split it. Instead, we were too stuffed to try anything else. It would have been nice to try the peach cobbler and/or a funnel cake.....There were supposed to be pictures (right Naya???) but, I don't know what happened.
John bought me a CD that I really wanted. I'm so happy with it. It's a reggae CD by this Jamaican artist named I-Wayne. The CD is called Lava Ground. He has the sweetest voice. I love it. His style is a cultural/roots reggae style similar to what one would describe Bob Marley's style. He sings about issues facing the community like prostitution, skin bleaching and sexually transmitted diseases.
Laughable article of the day:
Bush Sees Oil as Key to Restoring Stability in Iraq :
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/12/us/12cnd-prexy.html?ex=1307764800&en=833e1176769cc579&ei=5089&partner=rssyahoo&emc=rss
Today
John took the day off from work today to wax his car. He never takes off from work. I'm so glad he did because he really deserved a day off. He wanted to spend the day installing stereo equipment too but decided not to.
We were going to make steak and potatoes tonight. John was going to make the steak and I was going to make potatoes. I made them for the first time last night. I used red-skinned potatoes sliced in quarters. I cooked them in the microwave for 15 minutes. Afterwards, I fried them in garlic and olive oil. I added rosemary, salt, pepper and lots of butter.
My sister ended up stopping by with her husband. They stayed for about an hour. My nephew has to get surgery again.
After they left, John and I decided not to cook and went to Ale House instead. We had buffalo wings and chicken nachos.
I think I want to go to the Caribbean Carnival this weekend in St. Pete. I'm sure the place will be way too crowded.
http://www.tampacarnival.com/index.php
Hello
I'm so annoyed. I spent 15 minutes typing my first blog and didn't save it.
Oh well, I was inspired to start a blog of my own - thanks Donna :)
I find it very difficult to talk about myself so maybe it will be easier to write about myself.
