So…I’ve had a few weeks to let it marinate (no pun intended).  We’ve elected the 1st black man to serve as the leader of the free world.  I’ve thought a lot about what this means in terms of racial and social progress in this country.  I’ve thought a lot about what this may mean for the direction of the country.

First off, I want to tell those America homers to shush.  Honestly.  Enough with the “only in America” remarks.  I will admit that America is one of the most progressive and open-minded nations, but it isn’t as though we’ve somehow treaded new ground just because we elected a black man to serve as president.  India elected a female Prime Minister (Indira Gandhi) over 40 years ago (and she served four terms).  In 2006, Evo Morales was the first person of indigenous descent in Bolivia to be elected president.  And what about Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf of Liberia?  She is the first woman to be elected head of state in Africa.  I’m sure there are many other stories of people  who’ve conquered longstanding oppression to ascent to heights once thought unreachable, but the ones I mentioned are ones that stick out in my mind.

So…my point is, while it is a magnanimous and historical feat that we achieved two weeks ago, it is by no means unprecedented.  With that being said, none of the luster or historical perspective should be diminished from what occurred a fortnight ago.  America banded together and decided that it was time to free themselves from the shackles of ignorance that our minds have so long been enslaved in.

This has be to an extremely bittersweet and emotional moment for black people all over this country.  It especially has to feel surreal to those who lived and were raised in the civil rights era; for those that were belittled and neglected solely based on the color of their skin.  There is absolutely no way that I can empathize with those that suffered through the racially motivated societal atrocities of the 50′s and 60′s.  But…I can sympathize with them.

I’m not taking anything away from the black youth, but they can’t possibly know how bad it was.  They have an idea, but they haven’t lived through it like their parents and grandparents have.  In some ways, it is a testament to our progress as a society.  Many of the black youth have grown up in a more progressive and accepting society, so they cannot completely identify with the struggles their predecessors faced. But, when I saw images of the elder members of the black community break down after the election, it touched me.  I cannot even begin to imagine the despicable hatred they faced on a daily basis.  For them, November 4th had to be an emotionally overwhelming day.  Imagine the emotional (and physical) scars they carry with them.  Many of their demons were exorcised on November 4.

Will the results of this past election accelerate understanding and eradicate ignorance in our country?  I don’t think so.  True progress takes time – and can only be achieved gradually.  Are we getting closer?  Yes.  Will we ever get there?  I don’t know…and…it may not matter.  Eradicating hatred and ignorance is a nearly impossible task, but if we can get to a point where we can minimize the amount of people who are prevented from optimizing their capabilities because of their ethnicity and/or background, then that would prove sufficient.  Are we there yet?  No.  Are we getting closer?  Definitely.

I will say with though, that even with all the racial progress we’ve made in this country, there seemed to be a slight chasm between some white folks and black folks.  Some black voters looked at this as an opportunity to “stick it to the man” – as a form of reparation for all that had been done wrong to them.  I’m sure there were more than a few white voters who viewed this election as an opportunity to vote forgiveness for their “white guilt”.  Now, don’t get me wrong, I don’t think all voters were motivated in this way, just a discernible amount.  We do not live in a perfect world where everyone does everything the right way.  Everyone has their own bias, motivations, and personal preferences – even if they aren’t always rational.

As a minority, I am proud to see another member of a minority reach the pinnacle of their career.  It has further jarred the door open for the rest of us minorities.

I don’t think anyone can really put this into perspective just yet.  In time, we will be able to better understand how far we’ve come in such a short time.

I’m chilling here in Maysville, Kentucky having just finished a reasonably satisifying bean burrito and bean soft taco from Taco Bell.  Here is one of the shittier things about life on the road:  As a vegetarian, there are very limited dining options.  Especially in indiscriminate towns like this.  So, even when I attempt to eat healthy, I can’t find anything nutritious anywhere.  I am normally forced to rotate Subway and Taco Bell throughout the duration of my trips.  I can’t believe I’m saying this…but…I’m feening for a soup and salad combo.  Mmmmm…I’m sure I can finagle myself one tomorrow from somewhere.

Manchester, Ohio is actually located on the Ohio-Kentucky border on the Ohio River.   Since there wasn’t a hotel within 15 miles of the plant, I had to stay across the river in Maysville, Kentucky.  The weather here has been a bit odd and funky.  When I left the plant this afternoon, it started snowing. After driving another 5 miles or so in light snowfall, the frozen precipitation stopped.  I then drove another few miles and it started snowing again.  Then, after leaving to grab some grub from my hotel, I noticed that everything outside had been coated with a light layer of snow.  Odd.  It snows one instant, then stops, then starts again – all in different areas.

Once again, I’ve been thrown onto a project of which I did no work on.  So, usually, the first day or day and a half, I have to familiarize myself with the project.  It probably makes me look like I have “shit for brains” in the clients’ minds, but it’s the process of spontaneous learning I’ve become accustomed to.  We have one guy in our office that almost exclusively does nothing but travel.  90% of the time, he is on the road.  Therefore, he never actually creates any of the projects that he goes on-site to start up.  He simply gets there and assists in startups.  Much of what he learns about the project is done on the fly.  And…he has been doing this for a lot of years for a lot of different companies.  How he does that is beyond me.  But, thanks for folks like him, the rest of us peasants don’t have to travel as often.

I’m hoping that things go smooth-ish this week.  I am scheduled to return back to the A on Friday, so hopefully, nothing holds me back over here.  If things go rather swimmingly, then there is an outside possibility that I’ll be able to return on Thursday – but I highly doubt that.  The minute I even entertain the idea of coming back early, something will inevitably go wrong and I’ll face the possibly prospect of returning later than planned.

The ATL airport has gotten exceptionally efficient over the past few years. I arrived at the airport at 7:20 AM for an 8:30 AM flight and got out of the security check at 7:35 AM. From entering the airport to getting my boarding pass to going through security – it took all of 15 minutes. As recently as six months ago, I’d have to wait over an hour for the entire process. They’re doing something right over here.

Off to Dayton, Ohio I go. I’ve never been to Ohio, so this’ll be another insignificant notch in my bumblefuck belt. From the Dayton airport, I have to drive 2 hours to Manchester, OH (that’s where the client site is located). This was another one of those “we ain’t got any damn body else” trips. I just found out last Thursday that they wanted me to fly out here for the week. I’m not too keen on the way they spring these last minute trips on me, but what are ya gonna do, right? Just take your check at the end of the month, grab ya ankles, and keep bendin’ over, no? I’m just being facetious – please believe, I know how good I got it. I know damn well it could be worse…so ain’t really no friction between me and The Bergemann. I can’t imagine how frustrating this must be for married couples. For me, it ain’t so bad – I ain’t go no one missing (or needing) my grill at home. Most folks in this industry have families. How these folks have managed to balance their professional and domestic lives is beyond me. A lot of folks that do this have gone through divorces. I can definitely see how this could take a toll on a family.

Anyways, enough with the sensitive and sentimental.

I’m a BIG Airtran guy. Love flying with them. They’re cheap, fly to a lot of indistinct locations, and have a pretty solid rewards program. And, they’ve yet to conform to the new fees and stipulations that most airline carriers have begun to enforce over the past year.

Anyways, they’re probably about to come by and wag their finger at me for whispering sweet nothings to my ladyfriend. Talk about hate! I’m PDA as hell with my PDA…I got no shame and very little dignity.

I’m gonna choose to ignore mentioning the fact that we could’ve possibly made somewhere between a $40-$50 profit off of our tickets if we would’ve sold them on the day of the concert.

Anyways, we went to the concert last weekend at The Variety Playhouse in Little 5.  First off, the venue itself was pretty dope.  I thought it would be an infested hole-in-the-wall joint that didn’t quite live up to its billing.  I was wrong.  The Playhouse was actually pretty decent.  Well kept up and a great place for concerts.  It wasn’t a huge venue, but it was large enough that it felt spacious, but small enough that it felt intimate.  A pretty dope venue.

Anyways, as far as the concert…it was good.  Great?  Ahhh…I don’t know.  I was expecting a little more interaction from Matisyahu and a little more excitement.  I know that his music is more chill than crunk, but I guess I expected it to be a little more hyped.  He wasn’t exactly the most personable performer either.  He came out, did his songs, and said a little bit at the end – but that was it.  He didn’t pause between songs much to interact with the crowd or explain his inspiration for certain songs or anything.  But…the guy performed for 2 hours…so he definitely gave us our dinero’s worth.  I swear to you though, I’ve never seen an artist spit so much jibberish and work so little on stage – and be able to pull it off.   This guy was sitting on speakers with his legs crossed and spitting hot fire.  I swear to you, this man would perform an entire song and only say, “obayo….wohbayo….wohbayo…”.  It was like this man was harmonically whining.  But…it was good stuff.

I’m not normally much of a concert-goer, but I think I will frequent a few more concerts than I have in the past (which is to say almost none). Especially now with my heightened (and temporary?) interest in indie rock and less mainstream music. Lord knows it’ll be a lot cheaper to watch the Cold War Kids in concert than it would be to watch Coldplay or U2.

Here are some videos I took from the concert:

Matisyahu beatboxing (I didn’t even know he could do this)

Matisyahu performing “King Without a Crown” after we called him out for an encore

I’m here with my cousin (Anjal aka Jungle) in the Cabbagetown area of Atlanta (Inman Park, Kiirkwood, Edgewood, etc.). I got my go-to “down with brown” outfit on as I sit on the grass sipping a Sweetwater Blue cheering on the I-don’t-even-know-their-name family band (not their actual name).

There was a 5k run and a chili cook-off earlier today. Sadly, we missed that (and the veggie corndogs which sold out!). I am REALLY feeling this Cabbagetown area. It has a Brooklyn feel to it. Wow…I’m sure the houses are beacoup caro…but I would LOVE to be a newlywed couple living here. You can get flipped, take your dog for a walk, head to a local bar, and walk back home. Absolutely THE glamour life.

This cook-off/Cabbagetown festival has been good times. Looks like a great place for malnutritioned artists. How can you NOT love this area. Places like this reinforce in my mind how great of a city Atlanta is.

We just got done watching a folk band that the inebriated audience (that would include me) clamored for an encore…TWICE! And they came back out…TWICE! Mad respect.

And now we sit at Krog Bar on Krog St in Cabbagetown. It is a “wine and cheese” themed joint – a bit pricy, but an excellent place to cake. I got my girl (my iPhone) and my cuz, so what else do I really need? I treat my ladyfriend to the finer things in life. Cake! Cake! Cake!

Nice little joint here though. I ordered a basil and tetilla (cheese made from cow’s milk) tramezzini (finger sandwiches). Overpriced…but delish.

They didn’t have the huevos to steal my wine and grilled cheese idea. Oh, please believe…they knew better…

Affluent Anglosaxons know how to live the good life.

Jungle just ordered a Schlitz – which the waitress described as a high-end PBR…and he still ordered one! This guy…this guy!!! Please believe, I will pilfer and plunder a sip of that.

The line at my poll location in Lawrenceville, GA

It’s 7:24 am and I’m in the line to vote in the good ol’ city of L’ville…and the line to vote has way too damn much curvature for me to feel confident in getting to work in time.

But…it’s moving at a decent speed…so, maybe only a hour wait or so? At this point, I’d be satisfied with that. Folks have definitely come out to have their voice heard (or disenfranchised – either or I suppose……I kid…I kid). And this is probably McCain country, so imagine the polls in the predominantly Obama areas. I saw on the news that some folks had started to show up at polls as early as 3am…3 am?!?! This ain’t no Black (no pun intended) Friday! Unless your ass is giving away 50″ flat screen tellies por gratis, my ass will be counting sheep and enumerating Z’s. But again, it’s good to see people showing out. I’m thinking it may be a record turnout, and for Obama’s sake, it may have to be (even though pundits have him lambasting that veteran tail). Has Bush not taught us anything? Some elections defy reason, expectations, and prognostications. Like my boy the Hamster says, “Polls don’t lie…people do.” Don’t know if I’m in total agreement with that, but I could see some truth in that. I’m an Obama guy, but think the USA will be in good hands either way.

Not too many young folks are here in line, but that probably has more to do with this area’s demographic. I’m hosting a watch party tonight that will likely be predominantly attended by pro-Obama folks…who, at least some, are an undergarment toss toward the political stump away from being groupies. Giggity, giggity!

Let me reiterate, HE AIN’T GOD! Although the t-shirt of his head perched atop Shiva’s body on sale in Union Square in The Fat Apple would beg to differ. I’m just looking for that boost to the economy he should provide if elected. Hopefully, controversy can be avoided this election. Hopefully, not too many voters will be disenfranchised.

I’m wondering how much of the black vote Obama will get. I’m predicting 95%+. It’s like you’re an Uncle Tom if you’re black and DON’T vote for Obama – like my boy The Hamster who is voting for McCain. He has endorsed McCain since the beginning of the primary season…and been roasted, flipped, grilled, turned, marinated, rotated, and lambasted enough to even make ME cringe (and I am enamored with roasting!) Yet, he has stayed true to his endorsement. No defection or okie doke…well…not yet at least. Ya never know! At least he’ll be voting for the leading vote getter and overall winner…in the state of GA.

McCain looks like he’ll win in GA, but we’ll see. Yellow dog democrats seem to be an artifact of distant memory.

Been waiting 30+ minutes and have moved about a quarter of the way. Not good…at least I got my girl to play with…

Now, if only “my girl got a girlfriend”. Now, I’m not a ménage guy, but where do I sign up for that? Maybe AppleFriendFinder.com? If only my honeybunny could cook and clean for me too!

If only…

UPDATE (9:28am): I just cast my ballot. The entire process took a little over 2 hours. About what I anticipated.

Ray LaMontagne, or Rey de La Montana (as I like to call him), is some new music I was exposed to last weekend on my visit to my cousin Sagar Desai Never Lies in Brooklyn.  My cousin is into folk rock – and he mentioned Ray LaMontagne as an artist that exemplifies the type of music he’s into.

So, I downloaded and copped a listen to his “Trouble” song…and was blown away.  He has a soulful and raspy voice – it sounds like a hybrid of soul/folk/jazz/blues.  This is the kind of music I like swivel my head to.  It’s funny how I’ve transitioned from Rap/R&B/Reggaeton to Indie Rock/Folk/Ambient.  From T.I. and UGK to Trentemoller and Ray LaMontagne.  But…that new T.I. (Paper Trail) is pretty dope.  I’d say it’s his best album since Trap Muzik – but it still can’t touch I’m Serious.

But, yet again, I digress.  Ray LaMontange is good stuff – absolutely worth a listen.  So, in lieu of my newfound appreciation for El Rey da La Montana, I figured I’d tried to give him some pub and blow him up on my site.  Below are two of his songs that I’ve been jamming to since I’ve gotten back from The Fat Apple.  Take a listen below (click on the links to listen to the songs).

Trouble

Hold You In My Arms

Costume contest…sexy sailor is on the stage right now…

Giggity giggity? Not so much…

The music here is much better…

We just took down some jäger bombs…

Jäger bombs! Jäger bombs! Jäger bombs!

This whole cowboy outfit is getting “respect”….to paraphrase Borat, “I like!”…

Disgusta for Halloween? I’d say good decision…

Although bartenders are tortoise and the hare slow here…what’s up with that? This ain’t the A!

Signing off…Vue 1:33 am…

Halloween here is POPPIN…although, 80′s night? So-so..

I saw someone dressed up as a toilet…that was the SHIT!

What did we dress up as? Cowboy (me), scream (anjal and the hamster), jose el plumber (ashish), death (celibate mike)…

More later as we bar/club/house party hop…