Finding Your Commitment to Excellence

What’s up people?

This week truly has been a blessing from my creator, the man from up above. My sincere and heartfelt regards and many thanks to each and everyone one of you that took the time to help make this year’s B-Day so special. So to let you all know that I still keep it “G” for my peoples regardless of how old I am getting these days here is a quick TRUE Story. Sometime mid-week on an early evening after work I pulled up into a department store parking lot, as I got out of my HOOD-RIDE one old head gentlemen looked at me with a seal of approval by nodding his head and commenting, “Suit & Tie and still bumping to that GANGSTA music”. My response to the Old G, “You never lie M…I am HIP-HOP”.

Ok people; let me get focused…

The late Oakland Raiders National Football League (NFL) owner once proudly said after a team victory to the press, “you get great coaches… great players… a great organization… you tell them one thing… JUST WIN BABY!” To me that is EXACTLY what the Olympic Games have always represented and stood for over time. One can only garner a level of admiration and respect for the men/women who for four years sacrifice and train for their one moment before millions of people on an international stage all in hopes of displaying their Commitment to Excellence.

Life in so many ways can be so much like the Olympic Games when you think about it. Personally, my favorite part of the entire Olympic festivities is the opening ceremony, commonly referred to as the parade of nations when each country is allowed to proudly display their flag along with its delegation. I mean I always spend hours upon hours watching on television the little five seconds of air time Nigeria if we are lucky will get to walk the Olympic stadium in their much overstated attire. The opening ceremonies often mirror our youth and innocence; everybody has that belief in him/herself that he or she is destined to achieve GREATNESS.

However, once the actual competition kicks-off, you start to clearly see those that have put in the long hours of gruesome training show-off their talent and the natural abilities to fight and compete for that ultimate prize in this case the GOLD Medal. But just like in life the Olympics also exposes the ugliness and a dark side of a world of cheaters who take short-cuts to achieve success. In every Olympic Games, there is always some type of scandal that will ultimately depict an athlete as a fraud or a particular delegation as CHEATERS.

Recently, I have come to learn that two very close and special people in my life have started their journey and their Commitment to Excellence by focusing their efforts and talents on starting their businesses. I am extremely proud of the two because there are all in and will not stop until they are standing on that podium receiving their GOLD; in this case I think both will settle for a fledging profitable career as successful entrepreneurs. 

So for now please take in and enjoy the parade of nations before the competition gets underway this weekend. I will be rooting on every African and Nigerian athlete representing my country and our continent in all competitions. I always get a kick out of the swimming competition because there is always the story of the one African in the pool who looks like his half swimming and half drowning all in the same stroke that will get lapped like by two pool lengths. The whole thing is so very comical.

But for real though, I am American so I do look forward to cheering on the good ol’ USA against them Jamaican sprinters in the men’s sprint competition. Now before I close out, I must give a (S/O) to my fine American women sprinters; Alison Felix, Sonya Richards-Ross and Lolo Jones. I might have now just jinxed their chances of winning any type of Olympic GOLD now.

Let the Games Begin…

My Property Value is Worth Saving

What’s up people?

Happy RAMADAN KAREEM to all my brothers and sisters this holy month in Islam. I must say I woke up today at 4:00am anxious and ready to start my month long fast with some trepidation though. I do not know if it is the heat wave outside or the longer than normal summer days that have me a little worried and concerned but I got a plan. I am going to attack this month like my track & field coach always taught me in preparation for my 400 meter sprint. Get out fast the first one hundred meters, settle-in the next 100, make my move on the turn heading into 3^rd 100 meters and finish the home stretch with a MAJOR KICK. Now that is WINNING! ALL PRAISES Be To ALLAH. Looks and sounds like a solid plan but my problem is I have not run the 400 meters in a competitive track & field invitation in over 18 years. Looool.  

Ok people; let me get focused…

This week I want to tell you all about something funny but very real that I encountered a few days back. I was all ready and good to show a condo of mine to a prospective tenant in DC when something bizarre happened. My appointment was running late but no big deal, I am use to people being late because I am always 15 minutes early to everything. So the young lady finally calls me to apologize and then says, “am so sorry but my roommate had driven by the neighborhood and was so sketched out with the people outside congregating that she drove off and unfortunately we will not be interested in the showing”. SMH! All I could do was SMILE and find the whole incident very amusing. Hey, this is the District of Columbia, formally known as CHO-CO-LATE CITY. That’s what folks typically do during the day when they have no job and no money in their pockets and every little young knuckle head is aspiring to be the biggest Dope Boy on the block.  So I am sorry if the neighborhood those not quite fit your plush, sheltered, little buppy community you grew up in while living in Massachusetts.    

Would you believe that within the next 24 hours after my little experience with the Steel Magnolia people I had another similar encounter, but this time around it possibly was worse as a young college student and her mother refused to get out of their Mercedes SUV to view my condo? Why you may ask; well once again, the little knuckle head Dope Boys were all outside once again congregating in front of their stoop. Only this time I was left with a big SMILE and a shake of my head in both disbelief and disgust at the mother/daughter. I literally could not comprehend why/how some people just give away their powers to others for no apparent reason. But I also think I was experiencing a classic case of when Black people forget and lose touch with their own kind.

So whether its white flight or gentrification these two phenomenon are present day issues all races have to work through. But the next time you find yourself in the inner city and come across a group of young black males who appear to be doing absolutely nothing constructive with their time, rather than flee, walk up to them like I do in my grown man SWAGG and engage them. Introduce yourself, make small talk with them and let them know “Yo; this is not a good look with all of you guys always outside looking very suspect”. Keep it 100 with them at all times and before you know it you will come to find out those same Dope Boys are now your unofficial police surveillance on your neighborhood block. The funny thing is they would not have it any other way and every time I come through the neighborhood to handle my affairs the Dope Boys always show me LOVE.

Have No FEAR. 

Heroes are NOT Heroes

What’s up people?

How my peoples out there doing? So I got some messages in my inbox after posting my last blog a week ago with the promise that I would SMILE for the rest of the summer. As I suspected many of you all that know me personally immediately wanted to call me out on my pledge and attempt to expose me as a FRAUD. So here is the deal, why did I get two traffic citations from two separate police officers within 20 minutes of one another last Saturday in some HILL-BILLY town (I will not mention names) and just kept it moving and SMILED. But there were a few other things that made me SMILE as well, how about out of nowhere on Sunday evening I get a call from my brother that the Nigerian National Basketball team is playing in the championship game in a tournament in Venezuela to qualify for an Olympic berth. Nigeria is hooping like that these days huh? Anyways, I turn on the T.V. and what do I see? All my Naija peoples were in the stands partying with the players after winning the tournament and shocking the basketball gods. Up Nigeria & Up Naija! But what got me really SMILING more than anything this week is the fact that my niece aka…“The First Lady” is celebrating her birthday this week. GOD is GOOD! Love Ya SoSo…

Ok people; let me get focused...

I am a sucker for a great quote every now and then. I mean I like their purpose and how they help to shape the mental make-up of a person. I also think many of them are useful but I am not one to be going around ramming off quotes to people especially when I recognize that the application of quotes are d**n near impossible for many of us. But one quote I heard several months back that still resonates with me often was when I heard a former Penn State football player during a television interview speak on the shock of what went down at his alma mater and the sadness it brought to his heart when contemplating the possible role of the once famed Joe Peterno, the man many revered and even liking to god in some circles could have played in the whole saga. His quote; “never put your trust in people, they will fail you ALL THE TIME”. When I heard that I was like WOW! But you know what, Todd Blackledge was 100% dead-on.

I have no interest in re-hashing the events that went on at Penn State this week but I do want to make one thing clear, the people we idolize, look-up to as our heroes or wish we could experience their successes are nothing more than just people like you and I. Everything we see on television is a production and far too many times, we are only privileged to see the finished product. We are so over-saturated with celebrity news and gossip 24/7 to the point that we start to actually think we know athletes, celebrities and entertainers we have grown to admire.

The harsh reality is every famous person is first human and as a human being we are all FLAWED. And unfortunately for them when s**t hits the fan in front of millions the crowd typically disappears. It is funny how today’s adults mirror the whole high school experience nowadays, It is all about being most popular, most fashionable, who comes from money, who has the fastest car and can get the most girls, etc... But the minute the band stops playing and the cheers go away, all that remains is our decisions, integrity and moral fiber.

Know Who You Are…

Keeping Things Simple

What’s up people?

And the HEAT WAVE goes on and on and on and on here on the east coast. I hope all my peoples made it UNSCAVED despite the storm, trees going down and losing power for several days. ONLY in AMERICA Huh? Actually the whole experience has been a blessing in some ways but not having service on my mobile phone was more frustrating than losing power. I even took in the opportunity to hang out with old friends, make a new one, go for a long drives and have lunch at a local area Burger King joint just to catch some of the Euro 2012 Finals featuring Italy vs. Spain. I felt like those old people who set up shop at cafes for like ten hours a day drinking coffee. LMAO!

Ok people; let me get focused…

My idea of a simple life is not your reality television series featuring Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie but more like the Will Smith movie The Pursuit of Happyness. This is a movie made several years back that captured the characteristics of the subtle things we often take for granted in our hustle and bustle times of today. So many of us have succumb to the outside pressures we encounter only to watch the decay of our human qualities.

So now that the power is back on for many of us, I urge you all to reclaim your happiness by doing those subtle little things again and leave your worries behind every once in a while. Trust me; it may go a long way to help keeping you from going crazy. In the meantime I think I am going to focus on some of these few things for the rest of the summer.

• SMILE – I am just going to practice being HAPPY for the rest of the summer.

• Ridin’ Out – I will most certainly be taking many more long drives in the coming months. Enjoying the nice breeze outdoors and scenery can do the mind wonders.

• Create a Plan – I need to set both short-term and long-term goals that I can accomplish before the end of the summer. I definitely know I want to complete my next mile run under 6 minutes.

• Downsizing – I need to get back to spending less and stop living to pay bills. There must be another way.

• Stay-cation – I must go away somewhere for a week (preferably in my house) before the end of summer. I have worked way too hard this year to not treat myself to a week of doing absolutely NUFFIN’.

These five things seem simple enough right? Now it is time for you to come up with your plan to live a simple life. My recommendations would be to come up with something basic and try doing it for a couple of weeks and build on it from there. I already know the smiling thing is not going to last for me but it’s worth a shot.

This is the LYFE…