I was asked to introduce the student keynote speaker at this year’s CUNY SPS Black Student Union ceremony. This brought back memories of a similar evening many years ago when I graduated from college.
Magical Court-side seats in Orlando
This year continues to have me reconnecting with old friends and loved ones. I had a great weekend in Orlando celebrating the birthday of my boy Jeff Ice. The only downside of the trip was that my boy Des couldn’t make it. Jeff, Des, and I have been best friends since 7th grade. We all have families and jobs, so we don’t get together as much as in the past. To say that Des was missed is an understatement.
I have to thank his wife Lex for setting everything up and bringing us all together again! She flew us down, put us up at the crib, and even made sure that we had the best seats in the house during the Orlando Magic game. Which I must add was hysterical because after I stopped playing basketball I kinda lost all interest in the game. However, during this sabbatical, I have watched more basketball than I have in years. And court-side seats are making me start to rethink my position. Ice hit the jackpot when he married her! We gotta all get together again before I have to back to work!
Continue reading “Magical Court-side seats in Orlando”Mini Obie Reunion
The sabbatical year continues to bring me back into contact with many of my friends from years gone by. You see, my boy Fat invited me to come and watch his son Henry play for the Oberlin College Yeomen, and to co-sponsor a pre game reception for the team. For a variety of reasons I rarely have the desire to watch basketball anymore, but it was Fat’s kid, so I schlepped downtown support my boy. Plus I can’t remember Oberlin ever playing in NYC so I was more than a little curious to see how the team looked today. What I didn’t realize was that Fat also invited a grip of our fellow Obies to the game for a somewhat impromptu Oberlin College mini reunion.
Continue reading “Mini Obie Reunion”West Virginia Road Trip!
Last weekend the family and I took a trip to West Virginia Wesleyan for my wife’s 25th College reunion. The kids and I were a little pissed that we had to cut the annual family pilgrimage to nerd mecca (aka Comic Con) short this year. In order to make the trip to West Virginia in time for the reunion we could only attend the opening day of the Con, but since Ski’s 25th reunion only comes around once and Comic Cons are eternal, the kids I sucked it up in order to make Mommy happy.
It was also my first, and most likely last trip to West Virginia so we splurged and rented this nice little ride called the Chevy Cruze for the trip down. I haven’t driven much since I got rid of my car a few years back and I have been missing owning one. We don’t really need one in NYC so getting to drive a new car was something I was looking forward to doing. The satellite radio and the GPS made the trip pretty enjoyable.
All in all the weekend Continue reading “West Virginia Road Trip!”
Oberlin College Basketball Scrimmage
Black men can jump. Well, at least we could in the past.
I finally got off my butt and digitized some old footage of me playing basketball back in the day. The tape is from my senior year at Oberlin College. I had the tape laying around my mom’s house for ages and figured that it would probably be a good idea to convert it to digital before the tape got too old and worn out.
Hail Ceasor!!!
Now before you go telling me that I spelled the word “Caesar” incorrectly, let me explain. I woke up this morning to a ringing telephone. The wife and kids had gone to Easter service with my mom so I was actually able to sleep in late for a change. And as much as I love my mom, not even she can make me step inside of a church. But that is a story for another time. Anyway, the ringing phone woke me up. I hate waking up to the phone. Needless to say I was pissed. I was all set to flip out on whatever telemarketer had the balls to wake me up this early in the morning when all of a sudden I hear……
“Rock……what’s up my brother? It’s your boy Ceasor!” Continue reading “Hail Ceasor!!!”
I loves me some free Knicks tickets!
As I posted yesterday, my boy Jeff Ice is in town traveling with the Pistons. He and my other boy, Des “D’Increbible” (don’t ask), all hung out a bit last night and kicked it old school. I remember busting their chops about not keeping in touch and causing my kids to think that I didn’t have any close friends. I guess Jeff took it literally because he calls me up the next day and asks me if me I want two tickets to the Knicks-Pistons game. My son has been bugging the hell out of me to take him to the Garden again so of course I jump at the opportunity. Continue reading “I loves me some free Knicks tickets!”
Where my dawgs at?
Every now and then the tone of a day can just turn around and head in a totally opposite direction. This was the case today. The morning got off to a rocky start because I was still feeling like crap from the cold bug that has been floating around. I had meetings scattered all throughout the morning and afternoon and wanted nothing more than to call in sick and rest up. I was scheduled to lecture in the evening and the prospect of talking for a couple of hours with this cold was not something I was relishing. However just as I was expecting the day to be a total drag, two of my closest friends in the world called to see if I was gonna be available to hang out later that evening. It had been a couple of years since all of us were in the same place. So after my evening class I sucked it up and I went to go hang out wit’ my boys. Continue reading “Where my dawgs at?”
An Oberlin event: Out on the town with old friends
It is rare that Ski and I get a chance to go out. For better or worse, this is just something that you get used to once you have kids. However, Mike Sorrell, an old friend of mine was in town and invited us to a special dinner concert that Oberlin College was holding at The Birdland Jazz Club. The invitation only event was hosted by the new president of Oberlin, Marvin Krislov, and featured the Oberlin Jazz Septet. Since I hadn’t seen Mike since our graduation from Oberlin almost twenty years ago, I made it a point to ask my moms to watch the kids for a few hours. I wanted to catch up with an old college buddy, and being a cheapskate, I figured that it wouldn’t hurt to take my wife out at the same time. Continue reading “An Oberlin event: Out on the town with old friends”