voices in my head

Moving Forward...

It is Thursday, finals are done and my life at community college has drawn to a close. After two solid years of edification and personal growth at Portland Community College, I am transferring, albeit not too far, to Reed College. I leave behind a legacy community service, leadership, activism and a kick-ass GPA at PCC to endeavor even more service, leadership, activism challenges while suffering the intellectual slings and arrows of Reed.

I have been fortunate enough to make the acquaintance of superb instructors, supportive staff and good friends at PCC. After all, it is neither the school itself nor its location that makes a school great rather it is the people and their commitment to excellence that does. As such, while this move is both a joyous and momentous occasion, I am melancholy about leaving the great people of a fine institution.

I look forward to my time in the halls of Reed but will do so with a mind full of wonderful memories of a place that prepared me well for life. The voices in my head remind me that if Reed is to take credit for molding me into a scholar, then PCC must take credit for cultivating my compassion and humanity.

A New Year!

It's been a long time, sorry I left you...

So I've been busy sorting out the particulars of my life and made the conscious decision to put the blog on the back burner. That said, the voices in my head are clamoring again, demanding that I give them equal time. Perhaps it�s the weather, a procrastination device or a vain attempt to indulge in self-aggrandizement. Whatever the reason, I�ll ease back in a writing habit, maybe one or twice a week as time permits. That�s all I got.

Peace,

-Duke.

Life

So, I've been away from the blog for a while...why? Well, in a nutshell life has been in the way. Been working on the house, busy with school, crying over the Blue Devil's implosion, migrating all my crap from one laptop to another and entertaining. Yeah that's right, entertaining. Look, the voices in my head have been trying to convince me that a little human contact goes a long way and I finally buckled and gave it a try. It wasn�t easy mind you, but it was fun to laugh with some good friends without the use of a computer. In any event, I�ll be posting some new photos and verbals in the next couple of days. Hope everything is well with all of y�all.

Peace!

-Duke.

Guinea-Pig-Powered Lawnmower

The good folks over at Engadget have a pretty funny article about...you guessed it a Guinea-Pig-Powered Lawnmower. It squeaks, it gnaws, it rolls itself. Its cheap power source is environment friendly and uses neither electricity nor petroleum based products for fuel. heh! The voices in my head want to know two things before they greenlight this expenditure: 1) does this lawnmower qualify for energy efficiency tax credits, and 2) will PETA come banging down my door wanting my hide so to speak.

More Photos

A-yo! Yup, got the quick turn around on getting new photos posted. Today�s offering: Sleepy Afternoons, a few dining room shots, and some miscellaneous house and kitten pix and a couple of photos from downtown.

Supporting Kerry

Well, looks like Dean finally followed suit and officially endorsed Kerry for president. Dean is the third former Democratic presidential candidate to endorse Kerry in as many months (Clark, Edwards were the other two). Also adding their support to the Kerry bandwagon is Al Sharpton who, while still technically running, has publicly endorsed Kerry. Being a New Yorker, a person of color and not African American, I�ve had very mixed emotions about Sharpton. Nonetheless, both he and Dean have contributed greatly in shaping the Democrat platform for Kerry. The voices in my head are telling me that despite these contributions Kerry can�t possibly look at them as running mates and that Edwards is the only realistic VP among the former and current candidates. But the voices also suggest that an upset is in the making and Edwards isn�t a shoe in. Hold that thought and watch this space.

Olympic Torch Returns to Athens

Sexy brunette actor as goddess figure�check. 26 other actors as high priestesses�check. Dove as peace symbol�check. Flaming torch�check. Interpol and intensely heightened security�er�uh�yeah, check. Yup, due to the post-9/11 climate the Olympic Committee is pulling out all of the stops to insure the safety of the participants. While the commitment to security is great, it seems to be the only thing that is on track right now for the OC. Despite the success of the production crew and the cast of Greek deities, the construction of the actual venues is running incredibly behind schedule. And with only a few months left before the opening ceremony, the Olympics seem to be amateurish at a time when it desperately needs to be professional.

fid-dy pence and the Grey Album

Yup you read it right, 50 pence. This guy is trying to buy an iPod and is asking for a buck a person. Normally, I won't even consider it but he's covered a couple of 50-Cent's songs with a decidedly British flava.

On another parody note, my man Marcos recently hit me with The Grey Album. DJ Danger Mouse's Grey Album is a different shade of Jay-Z�s Black Album and Beatles� White Album that is bangin�. Here's what Rolling Stone has to say about it.

New Photopgalleries

Hey there folks. Just posted some new photos of the House and the Kitchen. Hope you enjoy, more photos are on the way.

Duke in the Sweet 16

After beating Alabama State and Seton Hall by 28 and 35 points, the Blue Devils have advanced to the NCAA Tourney�s Sweet 16. This represents the seventh straight time that Duke has made it to the second weekend of play. Next up, Illinois in the Atlanta Regional semifinals at the Georgia Dome. Duke had four players in each of their two tournament games scoring in double figures. Duhon is three steals away from setting the NCAA tournament record for steals held by Grant Hill with 39. Redick has finally broken out of his nine game scoring slump, picking up 6 three pointers in two games. Likewise, Deng and Randolph are stepping up and playing consistently when Duke needs it the most.

On Demand

Boy-o-boy! As a perk of the recent features war between The Dish and Cable, we get Comcast's new On Demand programming. That means old episodes of the Soprano�s, OZ, The Wire and of course, Sex and the City. Woohoo! Oh yeah, there are movies too, that you can pause, rewind and fast forward. It�s like the poor man�s Tivo. We�ve had it for a week and I�ve already lost hours and hours and hours to it. Ever the practical, the voices in my head remind me that this could be a real threat to my academic productivity. Oh well. All things in moderation, right?

What time is it! Game Time!

The NCAA tourney is here and I've setup my annual brackets at ESPN. Yup, it's that time of year again when we pretend to know what the fuck we're doin' and pick a couple of loser teams to match up against our favorite team. It's ok, you can admit it, we all do it.

The winner of last years tourney was my man Marcos from NYC, who made off
with a whopping 15 minutes of respect from yours truly (I think I still owe
him a minute though, my bad). This year I up it to 30 minutes of respect
and one full minute of absolute adoration and veneration all payable within
the calendar year. In the event that Stanford wins, I'll even kick in a
weeks worth of chores for Sarah - yeah like that'll never happen!

So how can you get in on this action? Well, first you send me $100 USD and
I send you a password...No, not falling for that one, huh. Ok, fine.
Follow the directions below and good luck! If you have friends that want in
on it pass this email along to them (GORPies pass it on, Yo!). Make yo picks
and talk yo shit! Go Blue Devils!

1) Go to ESPNs Tournament Challenge -
http://games.espn.go.com/tcmen/frontpage

2) If you already have an account sign in, otherwise register (it's free)

3) Find Group name: "Voices In My Head"

4) Use Password: "voices"

5) Make picks

6) Watch Duke win!

See now wasn't that easy. Peeeeeeeeeeace!

Fear the Turtle!

After cruising through the early rounds of the ACC Tourney, Duke lost to the Maryland Terps made in an impressive late game comeback to take the ACC championship. This loss represents the first time in six years that the Blue Devils enter the NCAA Tournament win a loss, ending an unprecedented five consecutive titles. It also marks the first ACC title for Maryland in twenty years. More disturbing is that the fact that Chris Duhon appears to have bruised his ribs while diving for a loose ball.

There are few times when the voices in my head tell me that a Duke loss is ok�this is one of the times. Spending much of my youth in DC and knowing the UMD campus intimately, the Terps hold a special place in my Royal Blue heart. Gary Williams is a heck of a coach and this is probably his best job teaching. I hope that the Terps can keep it together and go deep into the NCAA�s.

Aren't you a little tall for a secret agent?

Here's a pretty funny article at CNN about how the James Bonds of film are too tall to be actual British secret agents. Of course, it makes sense that you'd want your agents to blend in with their environments but Bond went all over the world. I mean seriously, you think that a 5�11� white guy isn�t going to draw some attention in Nepal or Borneo? Puh-leaze! The voices in my head tell me that it might also be better to have an agent be an inch or two too tall than ridiculously handsome, overly dashing, insanely arrogant or a drunk.

But that probably would make for exciting books and movies. I can imagine the trailer tag lines now: Watch Mr. Bland sneak around successfully without being noticed, or See Mr. Bland do his job, stay sober, not get laid and get home uninjured. Plus what would happen to all of the Bond girls? Uh, uh�Give me Bond, James Bond.

No More, More, More... Please!

Sarah and I were among the 10 million sadden when Sex and the City ended it's run a few weeks back, after all we'd been living vicariously through these NYC stories from the comfort of a house in Oregon that we could never afford in Brooklyn. That having been said, I was sadder still to learn that the producers of the show were planning to take the Big Apple stories to the big screen. We liked the way the show ended! We like that Big became John, and that Carrie, Charlotte, Miranda, and Samantha all found a form of love that proved as allusive as an inexpensive pair of Manolo Blahniks. Today, I was happy to read that plans for a film were scrapped and that the further adventures Sex or Love or whatever the City are not going to be made. If I�ve learned anything from the voices in my head, it�s that you can�t go back to the way it was. Thank you Mr. King for realizing that!