Comments, Again

When I first launched this blog, I enabled the comments feature and opened it to all -- the registered and the anonymous. Then later, for various reasons, I restricted comments to registered users. Great news: That ends today. Comments will now be open to the registered and the anonymous. Now here's my comment policy: No abusive language; no bigotry; no hate speech. If you violate my comments policy, I will delete your comment and ban you from further commenting on this site.

Dexter Morgan Made Me Do It

On My Desk

Augusten Burrough's Running with Scissors. I'm going to crack it open tonight.

See You At The Hearing

The other day, as I was driving to my job to pick up a personal item, I got slapped with a $115 parking ticket for "obstructing traffic at the intersection." It's so unfair: The light was green when I entered the intersection on 47th street and 3rd Avenue, and then seconds later it turned red. There was sufficient unobstructed space at the opposite side but a vehicle hurriedly drove right in front of me and took it. After realizing that I was screwed, I was going to make a turn, but the officer didn't even give me a chance. She pointed at me, told me to pull over, and asked for my driver's license. I told her that I was about to make the turn, and she said, "No you weren't." Now, look, I have much respect for cops (my father is a retired NYC officer), traffic enforcement officers, etc., but I couldn't help but think that the only thing that was on her mind was: "I need to make quota." But you know what? I'm pleading not guilty and will request a hearing. I did not violate any traffic rules.

I Feel Really Sad For The Guy

Apparently, airplanes don't provide larger seats for big people. So unfair. I think the airlines should have a couple of seats available for the obese. I mean, jeebus, look at the guy. I bet he feels so uncomfortable. A lot of people have said that Big Guy should have purchased two seats. Well, with the recession and all, maybe he just didn't have the money to book two seats, or thought purchasing two seats would be absolutely mortifying. I wonder what the guy sitting beside him is thinking.

Wheee!

Today is the first day of my one-week vacation. I'm very excited. No work for me for a week! Here are a couple of things I plan to do:

1) Spend some time pondering why I find myself rooting for a serial killer who analyzes blood spatter for the Miami police.

2) Call this cabbie that smacked right into my car as I was attempting to make a right turn on 48th Street and Lexington a few weeks back. Fucking idiot made an illegal turn on the intersection (he was on a pretty big white arrow pointing straight, not right) and now I have a pretty huge gash on my bumper. He vowed that he'd fix it though. I want this work done before my vacation is over. I've checked out a few shops in the Hunts Point area. It's going to cost around two hundred dollars.

3) Shooting out to Barnes & Noble tomorrow morning. I have a pretty big stack of books just sitting here catching dust. Some I have yet to crack open, but they're books on politics and other somewhat-related stuff. And boy do I need a hiatus from politics. I'm in the mood for something funny and crazy. A friend recommended Running with Scissors by Augusten Burroughs. I'll check it out. My wife is tagging along, and she's predictable: she's currently reading Alyson Noel's Immortals series, and Cate Tiernan's Sweep series, and so I already know what she's gonna grab.

4) Play lots of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 and Fight Night 4 for Xbox 360. And I bought New Super Mario Bros. Wii for Jenise. Might play that too.

5) Because I don't have the wherewithal to do anything big, like visit for the first time the birthplace of my parents, Puerto Rico, which I had intended to visit, I'm thinking about driving either to D.C. or Atlantic City with my partner for a day. I've been to neither and would really like to go.

6) Do some Christmas and winter gear shopping. I need a coat and can use a new pair of sneakers.

7) Update my Zune player. I haven't added songs in a while, so that's something I've got to do.

8) I don't know how to swim; therefore, I'd like to take some swimming lessons. Might join the New York Sports Club, or see what's up with YMCA. Or just troop it to my alma mater. John Jay has an indoor pool and, I think, offers swimming lessons.

Comments

It's not like I get many comments, but I just noticed that the comments feature has been disabled. Dunno how that happened. Anyways, it should be up in a sec.

UPDATE: For personal reasons, I temporarily disabled the comments feature. If you'd like to respond to a post or chat with me about whatever, feel free to hit me up with an email at williamdipini-at-gmail-dot-com. Apologies to my readers, especially those who have made comments on this blog.

UPDATE II: Comments are up!

"Latino In America"

A friend of mine wants to know If I saw the CNN special. "It was a very good documentary," he said. Well, no. I didn't see the four-hour news special; and I don't want to see it. I just don't think that a news special can capture the diverse experiences of all Latinos in America -- 44.3 million. Seriously, an attempt to do so is bound to fail. The topic is nuanced and I don't have time to listen to oversimplification and reductionism.

That said, here's a question for those who saw it: Assuming that it said anything about us, how did it portray Puerto Ricans and Nuyoricans? I bet they're drug addicts and welfare queens who speak little English.

Blog Discovery Of The Day

Cop in the Hood is a blog written by John Jay College Professor Peter Moskos. He's the author of Cop in the Hood: My Year Policing Baltimore's Eastern District. Go check it out. He's right about Bill Bratton.

Quote For The Day

"It's a bleaching cream that I apply before going to bed and whitens my skin some,"-- Sammy Sosa, responding to critics and fans who say he looked lighter than usual at the Latin Grammy awards last week and wonder if he's got a problem with his race or something -- you know, if he wants to be white. A before and after photo.

Random Thoughts, Links, Etc.

• Since no one is going to give me a coupon to exempt this longtime cigarette smoker from cigarette taxes, I think I should quit smoking, or at least cut down.

• Note to Sen. Ruben Diaz Sr: I'm Puerto Rican and I think Sen. Hiram Monserrate should step down. My partner is Puerto Rican and thinks he should step down. The Puerto Ricans (and blacks) I work with think he should step down. Almost everyone I know thinks he should step down. We also think that if he doesn't step down, the Senate ought to remove him. Are we self-hating Puerto Ricans? Do you think my wifey is a sexist? Are we racially biased?

• Dexter on Showtime aside, is there anything worth watching on teevee?

• The only thing I and most of my black and Hispanic friends and co-workers know about Mr. Thompson is: "Eight is Enough." The problem with this is that it's not enough. Who the hell is Bill Thompson? What are his positions on substantive policy? I mean, seriously, Thompson has yet to convince any of us to vote for him.

• NYT: Push to Legalize Marijuana Gains Ground in California

• Gerry Vazquez said here that Bloomberg "Insults El Museo and Latinos w/terrible, terrible Spanish." But he does not substantiate the claim with any evidence. Perhaps Mr. Vazquez made a typo and instead meant to write that Bloomberg insulted him with "terrible, terrible Spanish"? Mira, Mike Bloomberg still has a lot to learn(around 1:40), but for a guy who doesn't speak the language every day, I think he speaks okay Spanish. Now, he's no Obama, but still you gotta give the man his props for trying and wanting to communicate -- in Spanish -- with the Hispanic community. The dude studies like about an hour a day and take Spanish lessons on his iPod. Here's another video of him speaking Spanish. As YouTube commenter jcblueeyes2276 says, "Very few speak multiple languages with the best of accents."

• I said here that the word "herb" wasn't listed in the Urban Dictionary. I was wrong.

Monserrate

The NYT says Sen. Hiram Monserrate should step aside immediately. I agree. I think New York City Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum said it best the other day:

"Whether an abuser is convicted of a misdemeanor or a felony, domestic violence of any sort is intolerable. State Senator Hiram Monserrate assaulted his partner, and allowing him to keep his Senate seat sends a disturbing message that he has not done anything wrong. He has, in fact, done something wrong. Something he should have resigned for immediately. Since he refuses to resign, the Senate should act swiftly to remove him from his seat."

Indeed.

"Every time I thought I was getting somewhere, they’d start speaking Spanish," Ctd

I forgot to mention that I think Charles Rangel should step down as chairman of the Ways and Means Committee until the investigation is complete.

Twitter, Facebook And Last.fm

All are being added this November to the Xbox 360 Dashboard. But these new features are available only for Xbox Live Gold members. Although I don't have a Facebook account and just recently stopped using Twitter (though my account is still active), and I haven't logged in to my Last.fm account in a while, I think adding them to the Xbox 360 is a great thing. Equally great is that Gold members will not be charged for these additions. Oh, another feature being added is the Zune Marketplace. As the proud proprietor of a Zune 120, I have to say, this is pretty cool!

Blog Title

A good friend of mine wants to know why I have my name as the title of my blog. I'm going to share with you, dear readers, what I just told him via email: Well, because I'm not creative and couldn't come up with a name that I liked. For the first few months of its existence, this blog's name was "Wil's Page." Then I named it "Will's Page" (double l) because I had learned that Will is the appropriate short name for William. Not really content with that title, I said screw that shit and used my name. Just the other day I was going to change the blog title to "World-Renowned Suckie Blogger," but I had second thoughts and just left it alone.

"It’s funny — I just got a new car and I’m already dreading getting the next sticker."

I bought my first car (used Honda Accord, for those who want to know) nearly two months ago, and when I tried to affix my vehicle registration stickers to my windshield, they didn't stick. It took a lot of pressing against the windshield to get them to adhere to it. A few days later, the corners started to peel off and I had to resort to Scotch tape. Since it's my first car, and my knowledge of cars is a bit above nil, I actually thought that the registration stickers were supposed to be that way (though stickers that don't stick didn't make much sense to me when I was thinking about it), that is until I read this story in today's New York Times. I'll drop by the DMV some day this week or next week to replace the faulty sticker. It's really no biggie though. After all, Scotch tape is doing me good.

What happens when you toss a cup of coffee at a NY cabbie

Check this video out. Apparently, the pedicab driver thought the cabbie was a herb.

Deep Thought

Obama shouldn't have chosen himself for the award.

Right-Wing Nobel Reactions Roundup

Eric Kleefeld has the goodies. Right-wingers are going nuts!

"Every time I thought I was getting somewhere, they’d start speaking Spanish."

Go read the New York Times on Charlie Rangel's "serial ethical messes." You can read what I said about Charlie Rangel's unpaid taxes and the villa he owns in DR here.