Light, Camera, Action!

Since George Orwell wrote the book 1984, the term "Big Brother is watching" has been commonplace in the American lexicon. It was normally spoken as a warning of the days to come. Well people, those days are here with a vengeance. I have been all across this nation. Almost all major cities, all except for Miami. (I've only gotten as close as Ft. Lauderdale). And now in many of them they have red light cameras. In my current city of residence Phoenix, Arizona, they also have cameras to catch you speeding. All of this has made for a formidable journey on our roads. For those of you who are blessed to live in a city without any of these cameras, let me be the one to prepare you for what's probably coming to an intersection, or roadway near you.

It all began sometime back in the 90's. (Sounds like such a long time ago). I lived in Los Angeles back in 1996 and 97. At the corner of Desoto Avenue and Roscoe Boulevard there was this contraption that sat right next to the bus stop. I had absolutely no clue what the hell this thing was. I consider myself a pretty intelligent person, so I came up with what I thought to be a reasonable explanation for what I saw. "This is obviously a means by which the bus can change the light so that it can breeze through intersections". It was a plausable explanation, I had just moved back to L.A. from Chicago, and the newest rave in the suburbs of Chicago was that all emergency vehicles could change the light to green so as to minimize the possibility of a collision as they came through the intersection. Brilliant. Well in the city that invented, patented, and perfected the art of the traffic jam, I thought it was great that L.A. had found a way to at least keep public transportation moving. Plus given that back then I actually rode the bus at times, that would only mean that my time spent on the bus would be lessened.

But as I traveled throghout the city, I began to see this contraption more and more. And not always next to bus stops. And then the moment of despair, I saw a sign that indicated that the intersection was photo enforced for red light violations. And the fine was $280. Damn! They weren't playing at all. So now the cops don't have to actually be there to catch you making a quick dash through a yellow that quickly turned red on you, they have a camera that catches your moment of weakness. And the penalty was ungodly in my opinion. I had no idea that this was just a first in what the police would use in combat against those who broke even the slightest of laws.

In late 96 and early 97, I spent some time in Phoenix, Arizona. The city of Tempe, a suburb most known for being the home of Arizona State University, devised a program to combat speeders. The police department took an innocuous white minivan, and parked it on the side of the road. unbeknownst to the passing motorists, this van was equipped with a radar gun, and a camera to snap pictures of both the driver and license plate of any vehicle caught speeding. I heard about this during a local news program, and almost choked. This was patently unfair. What happened to having to look out for motorcycle cops wedged in between two parked cars? Or a squad car conveniently positioned behind a high bush? This pushed entrapment to the extreme in my opinion.

Fast forward, oh maybe 7 years. I began to come out to Phoenix on a semi-regular basis. Of course I'd continue to see the vans on the side of the road. Unfortunately, many more cities throughout the Phoenix area had caught on to this new racket. However, there was a new one. On the 101 freeway, the road was now equipped with cameras that would catch you speeding. This was crap. I mean, yeah, I know that speeding is a crime. I know its not something that we should be doing, but we all do it. And for them to post a camera on the freeway was wholly different from them posting it on the streets. I understand that on the streets we're talking about a more confined space that includes other motorists, and pedestrians. But the freeways were off limits in my opinion. If the speed limit is 65, and I don't have somebody in front of me, and I decide to go say 75, what's the big deal. If there's a highway trooper that catches me, so be it. How fair is it though that the camera catches me? How much more danger am I placing myself or other motorists in by going 75? Actually in my many miles of travel, I've actually come to the conclusion that you have greater attention and care at higher speeds than you do at lower speeds. When you're going, say 80 in a 65, you're much more likely to be checking for police, road hazards, and other drivers that may get in your way. If you're only doing 65 in that very same 65 mph zone, a lot of people put the car, and subsequently their brains, on cruise control. I would bet money that there are just as many accidents caused by people going the speed limit as there are by people speeding. I tried to do a little research, but I was unable to find any specific statistics to neither prove or disprove my theory. They must keep that information under wraps. (If John Stossel ever reads this, you are more than welcome to use this as an inspiration for your next issue of "Myths, Lies, and Downright Stupidity").

On the other hand, there are individuals who push things to the limit, and make it bad for the rest of us. I mean, I'm no stickler when it comes to speeding, but going 114 in a 65 is well over the top. That was the case on January 21, 2008 when rapper DMX was caught speeding in his 1966 Nova by the before mentioned cameras on the 101 freeway in Scottsdale, AZ. DMX, or Earl Simmons as his government name, was arrested for criminal speeding (anything 25 mph or more over the speed limit), public endangerment, reckless driving, and driving on a suspended license. I would love to defend a hip-hop titan, but in this case I can not. This latest run in with the law by DMX was definitely of his own doing. And not that I want them to throw the book at him, but I have to admit that he deserves whatever he gets.

(DMX's photo being taken on the 101 in Scottsdale, AZ).

The last thing I want to discuss in the area of "Big Brother is Watching" are what I will call community policing cameras. These cameras hit the scene in Chicago a couple of years ago. They have blue lights that flash constantly, and can be seen from a mile away. (Probably further than that). I have also seen these cameras in use in Philadelphia. As my brother discussed in an earlier blog, these cameras are used as a deterrant for illegal activity. They have a range of several blocks, but its amazing that it seems like the negative element of the neighborhood doesn't seem to be very far from the cameras. I guess that as long as you're out of the direct view of the camera, there's really no reason to actually cease your potentially illegal activity. These cameras don't trouble me as much as the others. I don't hang out on street corners, and I guess that if they're somewhat of a deterrent, then by all means use them. Those flashing lights can be annoying though. And of course there's a slippery slope effect. I mean, depending on the camera placement, can the police have access to view what may be going on inside a person's home? That I can say I will never be in support of, but for the moment I can give community policing cameras a pass.

As I said before, right now, there's really no way to know where we'll end up when it comes to Big Brother watching us. In London, England, they have 10,000 closed circuit cameras throughout the city. I can't remember the exact statistic, but your picture is taken something like 10-20 times per minute. (Forgive me if you find the exact statistic and I'm slightly off). In the case of the bombings of July 7th, 2005, the cameras helped Scotland Yard discover the identities of the bombers. So there are very good uses of cameras in our society. I just hope that we're not giving up more in privacy than we get in safety.


-DrizaDre-

If I Could Be Like Spike............

With the recent release of "Miracle at St. Anna", I want to discuss a topic that many people sleep on. Spike Lee is one of the most overrated people in Hollywood. (Yeah I said it). I too grew up looking at Spike Lee as a pioneer for black people in Hollywood. I can't take that status away from him, however, I would like to make the case that the vast majority of his success is based on movies that he produced/directed twenty years ago. And for that, I can't give him credit. To me it would be akin to saying that Ronald Isley is a great singer for the work that he did with R. Kelly. Sorry, being Mr. Big is not the reason we love the Isley Brothers!

My first introduction to Spike Lee was in 1989 when he released Do the Right Thing. I was only 11, but I thought it was an incredible movie. (Thank God for the left nipple! Lol). After seeing that movie, I remember hearing about "She's Gotta Have It", and "School Daze". To this date, I have not seen either of them in their entirety, but the parts that I have seen of them have been entertaining at least. In my life, Spike Lee became, probably, the first Hollywood person that I began to eagerly anticipate the next movies.

Do the Right Thing was followed by Mo Better Blues and Jungle Fever. I've never seen all of Mo Better Blues, but I did enjoy Jungle Fever. Spike Lee followed up Jungle Fever with what I believe to be one of his best movies. Malcolm X was released in November of 1992. The thing I remember about the most about the movie had nothing to do with what I actually saw on the screen. What I remember most was the fact that Spike had the hood blown up with X gear. (And no, not all of it was officially licensed merchandise. As a matter of fact, I'd say that the majority of it was unlicensed merchandise). X hats, X medallions, and of course the X t-shirts were very prevelant. I spent the summer of 1992 in Chicago visiting my grandparents, and hustle man made a killing that summer.

So to quickly recap, between 1986, and 1992, Spike had a string of either financially successful or critically successful hit. Well lets just say that as of 1992, he began to rest on his laurels.

His next film was Crooklyn. Crooklyn is a story told from the perspective of a little girl growing up in Brooklyn, New York. I saw this movie in my mass media class senior year in high school. I was excited to see this movie. Up until that point all that I really knew about the movie is that it had a decent soundtrack. (Headlined by the single "Crooklyn" performed by the Crooklyn Dodgers (Masta Ace, Buckshot, and Special Ed). Well I was terribly disappointed. To me, the movie was crap. I tried to see where Spike was going with this one, but I just couldn't relate. To this day, I don't quite understand what the message was. Which was a stark contrast to the fact that Spike's earlier movies dealt with larger social issues. Strike one at that point.

Stike two for Spike was an absolute abomination. Drop Squad was released in 1994. Now, the difference with this movie is that it was directed by Spike. However he did produce it. And my god was it awful. Drop Squad dealt with a successful black man who in the opinion of his family had "sold out". The Drop Squad was a group of individuals who kidnapped him, and was given the task of helping him to rediscover his black roots. The premise of the movie was half-way decent. And to a degree, Spike had gotten back to dealing with social issues. But the application went horribly wrong. This movie was painful to watch. I guess at that point, I hoped that this was the worse that Spike had to offer, as you will read later, I was sooooo wrong.

In 1995, Spike also produced New Jersey Drive and Tales from the Hood. Both movies were alright at best. Once again though, these movies spawned very good soundtracks. (Especially New Jersey Drive).
Later in 1995, Spike directed Clockers. What I recall of this movie is that it dealt with drug dealing. Once again it had a decent soundtrack, no major hits though. The most memorable aspect of this movie is that it, more or less, introduced the world to Mekhi Phifer. Other than that, the movie was very forgettable. I should have begun to see a pattern from Mr. Lee, but I continued to give him the benefit of the doubt.

1996 brought us Girl 6. A movie that really brought nothing to the table for me. Later in 1996, he directed Get On the Bus, a movie that followed a group of black men headed to the million man march in Washington D.C. I did not see this movie due to the fact that by this time I was pretty much skeptical of most everything Spike did. He directed 4 little girls in 1997. I watched this movie for some class that I was taking in college. As a documentary, the movie wasn't bad. But as I see it, I can't really give him a whole lot of credit for simply recounting the facts of history to us. (Sorry Spike).

In 1998, Spike teamed up with Denzel Washington for a third time to bring us He Got Game. This movie was crap to the second power. If it weren't for Drop Squad, I would say that this movie was his worse up until that point. Spike produced the Best Man in 1999. A decent movie. And I would love to say that he had gotten his groove back at that point. But also in 1999, he directed Summer of Sam. This movie dealt with the feelings of people throughout his beloved New York during the murder spree of the Son of Sam killer. Horrible movie. Almost worse than He Got Game. In 2000 he directed the movie The Original Kings of Comedy starring Bernie Mac, Steve Harvey, Cedric the Entertainer, and D.L. Hughley. I once again would love to give Spike the credit for this one, but the comedians did all the work. And its not like Spike discovered their talents. These were very successful and established Comedians at the time. So no props to Spike.

Then came Bamboozled later that year. If I ever post a worst ever list of movies, Bamboozled will definitely be in the top 5. (Somewhere behind The Pledge and The Bad Lieutenant). Bamboozled is about a tv show creator who creates what he believes is the worse show known to man. To his surprise, the show is a hit. Bamboozled once again deals with the issue of "selling out". I heard that this movie is a slap at BET. While I echo Spike's sentiments that BET has done more to degrade black people than to enhance us as a people, Bamboozled was crap. All that I could say about Spike at this point was that I was done. No longer would I give him a chance. I had invested too much time and money into his visions. And no longer were his visions anything that I could conceptualize in my mind and heart.

Spike has done a lot more work since then. Of course, most of it very forgettable. I saw another documentary that he did regarding Hurricane Katrina, and I have to admit that I found it to be entertaining. Unfortunately I thought that the movie was very slanted to the view that the federal government screwed up, and while they did, I as a documentarian would have also addressed how state and local officials screwed up. And to a larger degree, how the residents of New Orleans did do much to protect themselves. (But that's a topic for a later blog).

Now in this world, what speaks more than words is money. So I want to show how much Spike's movies have made at the box office. (To the right is the movie's cost to make).

Do The Right Thing $27,545,445 (6.5 million dollars)
Mo' Better Blues $16,153,593 (10 million dollars)
Jungle Fever $32,482,682 (14 million dollars)
Malcolm X $48,169,910 (34 million dollars)
Crooklyn $13,642,861 (14 million dollars)
Drop Squad $734,693 (2 million dollars)
Tales From the Hood $11,837,928 (6 million dollars)
New Jersey Drive $3,565,508 (5 million dollars)
Clockers $13,071,518 (25 million dollars)
Girl 6 $4,939,939 (12 million dollars)
Get on the Bus $5,754,249 (2.4 million dollars)
4 Little Girls $130,146
He Got Game $21,567,853 (25 million dollars)
Summer of Sam $19,288,130 (22 million dollars)
Original Kings of Comedy $28,182,790 (3 million dollars)
Bamboozled $2,274,979 (10 million dollars)

Of the sixteen movies I listed, only seven of the movies recouped the money spent to make them.

Which brings us to 2008. I first saw a preview for Miracle at St. Anna while at a car wash in Phoenix. Movie looks great. It deals with history, something I love. Seems like an adventure of sorts, I was hooked. And then I found out that it is directed by Spike Lee. Damn! As much as I want to give it a chance, I just can't find it within myself to be fooled by him again. I respect Spike's contribution to the advancement of blacks in Hollywood. He's paved the way for people like John Singleton, the Hughes Brothers, and Tyler Perry. My entire argument is that Spike is riding off the success of the past. And unfortunately in Spike's past, for every Do the right thing, there's been several Drop Squads. And for that, I refuse to be Bamboozled again!

No I in TEAM

Anyone that has at least one "so called" friend has probably at one time or another been put in this horrible situation before. I would venture to say that guys go through this more frequently than women. But this is a scenario that is played out every night of the week somewhere in the world. And unfortunately, the victim is usually unsuspecting that it is even about to occur. Well that is until he hears those five dreadful words.

Picture this scene. Two guys are out kicking it at a night club/lounge sitting at the bar. Guy #1 spots an attractive female and taps guy #2 and says "look at her she's bad I'm gonna go holla at her." Guy #2 agrees that she is fine, gives his support for his guy to go do his thing, and wishes him luck. Now guy #2 is simply finishing up his drink, scoping the scene at the club, and enjoying the music. He has no clue that he is about to be put into a situation that he was truly not prepared for. So guy #1 walks back over to the bar smiling. When his friend notices the Kool-Aid smile on his grill he says "you must have came up on her number or something." Guy #1 responds "no even better than that her and her girl wanna kick it after we leave the club." Guy #2 exclaims "For Real? What's her girl looking like?"

Okay let's press pause on this little scenario. I just want you to be prepared to hear the 5 words that I was referring to just above because they're about to come up in a second.

So, Guy #1 hesitates when his boy asks that question. He even has the nerve to pretend like he didn't hear what the question was over the loud music. So guy #2 repeats the question louder and moves closer to his friend's ear "WHAT'S HER GIRL LOOKING LIKE?" Again he hesitates. But finally he musters up the courage and says "well that's the thing man you're going to have to..." (For those of you that have been anticipating those five words here they come). "Take One For The Team."

Now coming to terms with a "Take one for the team" request will almost always follow a number of stages before final acceptance of this mission (if you so choose to accept it).

1.) First of all you're likely to yell or say "Come On Man!!", "WTF," or something similar to this as your initial reaction.

2.) Then a couple curse words will for sure follow. The taboo MF word is acceptable in this instance.

3.) Next, you will try to weasel your way out of it by saying something like "I just took one for the team last month." Or "I'm always taking one for the team when will it be your turn." However, since there are no set rules or parameters when it comes to "taking one for the team" none of this is even relevant.

4.) Here you will attempt to hype yourself up. You may think to yourself "maybe she's not that bad looking." Or "as long as she's at least a 4 I'm cool." In the case of the above example you may take a few shots of your favorite intoxicant to prepare yourself.

5.) Finally, you will just accept that this is your boy and you will go along with his hair brain scheme. However, once you say yes you will always close with "you owe me big time!!!"

So going back to our scenario, guy #2 has said yes to his friend's request and committed to entertaining the sidekick while his guy tries to make his move on the "good looking" female. However, once one is put in this position they never quite know what to expect. They can hope for the best all day, but should be prepared for the worse. So, guy #2 tries to probe his friend to tell him how the her buddy looks. Unfortunately, the only response he gets from his guy is "you gotta see it to believe it." At this point guy #2 hangs his head in disbelief thinking "what have I gotten myself into?" He swiftly orders about 3 shots of Patron from the bartender and as he takes the first shot the ladies walk up. He takes one look at his company for the remainder of the evening and downs the other 2 shots before introducing himself to the ladies. Yes that's right the buddy he's just gotten hooked up with is looking like a worse version of Wanda from In Living Color. And she's "Ready to Rock His World!!" LoL.

Now some of you that have been lucky to never be put in this position may be thinking along the lines of "it's just one night, so what's the big deal?" Or perhaps you may be thinking that it can't always be where the female turns out to be ugly right? Well because you've never been in this position is the only reason you'd ask such a question. But if you have been, then you know as well as I do that just like a D.N.A. Paternity Test it's 99.9% certain that taking one for the team = the ugly friend. Unfortunately, I have plenty of examples to pull from when it comes to "taking one for the team."

The problem with taking one for the team is that it's never something that you have the option of declining. That's the nature of the taking one for the team snakemove. It slithers up on you and the next thing you know you've been bitten with venom and have no choice but to suck the poison out. LoL. Do you still need further convincing? Okay I have another example of how you can just be thrown into taking one for the team without even expecting to.

One evening I stopped at my guy's crib and we just chilling and drinking I believe we were watching the game. So, midway through the game he takes a phone call and steps away and comes back to watch the game. I think nothing of him taking the phone call and the whole time continued to watch the game and drink my beer. Well about 45 minutes later another phone call comes in to my guy's phone. He then answers and says "I'm coming to the door now." So, me being the curious individual that I am I ask "you got your girl coming through or something man?" He responds "yeah and she got her cousin with her. I may need you to take one for the team," and laughs then walks downstairs to get the door.

Now this was/is my man 100 grand, but prior to this incident I had already been thrown into this situation with him before and the outcome was I fell into that 99.9% percent. So, I pretty much already knew what the deal was going to be here as well. Therefore, I quickly proceeded through the 5-stages that I previously mentioned. As I sat there I felt like R.Kelly on trapped in the Closet. I first looked out the window and realized I was on the 3rd floor so I couldn't jump. I tried to rack my brain for a way out of this but I was drawing a blank like a pencil with no lead. The next thing I know in walks my guy and behind him are his girl and lastly his girl's cousin. Now if she was attractive then this example would not even be valid. So let's just say my guy's girl got the better of the genes while her cousin got the hand me down genes (jeans) that were flooding with the holes and stains in them. LoL. Or as my brother mentioned (in the blog 100 Dials and Runnin') the proverbial "ugly stick" may have been used on her Rodney King style.

All I could do is laugh and say to myself "damn here we go again!!" So, I said hi to the ladies and went back to drinking my beer and watching the rest of the game. Honestly I happen to have met his girl already, but I didn't even pay attention to what the cousin's name was. When the game ended my guy was hugged up with his girl on one couch, I'm in a chair and her cousin is on the other couch. I proceed to the kitchen to get me another drink this time something stronger so I could hopefully get through the rest of this evening. But as I'm fixing my drink my guy comes up to me and once again says those words. "Man I need you to take one for the team." I quickly advised him that I was already doing that. He continues on stating "Naw I need you to take her somewhere. I immediately exclaimed "I don't care how much you pay or say I'm not taking her ass home!!" He says "No not to your crib just somewhere take her to get something to eat or something." Once again following the stages I said plenty of curse words, tried to get out of it, plotted a way out (which I found), and finally agreed to help him out. But as you'll see I had at least one last trick up my sleeve like a magician.

So, my guy tells the cousin to just follow my car and that her and I are going to kick it. Now I admit I was a little intoxicated and shouldn't have been driving. However, as I stated I had one last trick up my sleeve. So as we bent the corner and hopped on the highway, I quickly turned into Dale Earnhart Jr., Mario Andretti, Jimmie Johnson or any NASCAR driver you want to name. I never knew a 2001 Dodge Stratus couldn't travel so fast. Unfortunately for her, the 86 Buick Skylark she was driving couldn't quite keep up. LoL. Now I don't advocate driving intoxicated to anyone out there; However, under these circumstances you have to do what you have to do.

Although some may be thinking you should be ashamed of yourself leaving that poor girl like that. Well don't blame me. You can either blame the alcohol or blame my guy. LoL. Matter fact, as I stated in the blog (A Penny For My Thoughts) I'd blame the females (dimes) that only hang around with friends that look worse than them. If you would hang out with better looking friends then no would ever have to be put in a position to take one for the team just to get to you. LoL. But as for me ditching the unnamed cousin, well as they say when you're put in an adrenaline based situation your reaction is either fight or flight. And as manly as this chick looked she may have knocked my ass out Mike Tyson style. LoL. Therefore, I chose the latter of the 2 and dipped out.

The moral to that story is the same moral to the whole blog. It simply proves that at any point and time you can be put in a position to "Take One For the Team." If you want to avoid these situations I suggest that you hang around friends that are married and not single. Other than that there is always potential to be put in a "Take One For the Team" position.

Now I know I reported that 99.9% of the time taking one usually turns out bad. However, the other 0.1% of the time it is possible to have different results. The only person that I personally know that can testify to this is my brother. While in Phoenix, a friend of his casually called him and asked him to accompany him to meet a female he met off the Internet along with her friend. When he told me he was going to do this, I had to warn him that he may be in for it. Not only was this the first time his friend was meeting this girl, but he met her off the Internet. So there was already no telling if the female he was going to meet would even turn out to be the same as the one he had been seeing in the pictures online. Then, for my brother to be tagging along and taking one for the team there's really no telling what he was going to encounter as far as her buddy. However, as luck had he happen to fall into that 0.1% and that the girl he was set up with turned out to be Fine. Actually, she was better looking than the girl his friend was meeting. Who knew it was even possible? Imagine that!! But please please do not expect his outcome to be the same as your next take one for the team mission because they most likely will not be.

P.S. To the mystery unnamed cousin my apologies for leaving your Buick Skylark in the dust on the Dan Ryan Highway. However, if I was looking like the guy below you or none of you reading can lie and say you wouldn't have done the same thing if not worse. So, no hard feelings. LoL.

--C-Recks--

New World Water

So I'm sitting in my room last night, about to go to sleep when I hear an unmistakable sound. It couldn't be! Not possible! I get up, and look out the window. No F-ing way! I quickly try and throw some clothes. Get my shorts on. (No shirt still). Is it done? I look back outside, damn, its still there. Throw a shirt on, throw my shoes on. Now its been at least 45 seconds. Is it over? Gotta look one more time. Damn, its still there. I race downstairs, go to the back porch. AHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!! I make it just in time to enjoy sweet raindrops.

Now some of you may be thinking, this fool is trippin. Well, just to let those of you know, I recently moved to Phoenix, Arizona. And what I experienced was a little slice of heaven sent down from God himself. See, I've lived in Los Angeles probably half my life. I know that some of you may have heard the Tony! Toni! Tone! song "It Never Rains (in Southern California)", but that's not entirely the truth. See it rarely rains in Southern California. Well, if 3T ever decides to make a comeback, I personally give them permission to use the title "It Never Rains (in Phoenix, Arizona). (They really don't have to change any of the words, it still sounds about right).

What do we all know about Phoenix? Yes, its 100 degrees consistently out here. But one of the little discussed aspects of being in a place like this is the lack of rainfall. And I don't know if you're like me or not, but Summers include just a tad bit of precipitation. Growing up in Chicago, you'd get at minimum, during the summers, a few days in which it would rain for maybe an hour or so. Just long enough to cool things off, give you time to grab a sandwich, and make your way back outside to finish playing. Not in Phoenix! From about 7am until the sun begins to fade around 7pm, all you get is blistering heat. Soul agonizing, make you wanna personally peel your own skin off heat. Or to piggyback what my brother has previously mentioned, "make you wanna slap somebody" heat.

Inevitably, I had to do some research on Phoenix's climate, and the facts were astounding. Trust me, it doesn't make me feel good knowing that I'll be here for the foreseeable future. The all-time record high temperature in Phoenix is 122 degrees set back in 1990. (The all-time high recorded in Baghdad,Iraq is also 122 degrees). The temperature reaches or exceeds 100 degrees on average 89 days per year. That's basically 1/4 of the calendar. The average annual rainfall is a scant 8.3 inches per year.

So now that you have the background information about Phoenix's climate, let me ask you a question. How does the weather affect you where you live? Do you complain about it being too hot? Do you feel like it rains too much? Well, trust me, the grass is definitely greener where you are. (Partly because its so hot out here that grass really doesn't grow). Hopefully reading this will make appreciate where you are just a little bit more. And for that rainfall that I experienced last night, I made it to the porch just in time to sit down, and the rainfall came to an end. So 3 minutes of rain. I'm gonna guess that was maybe .1 of our yearly total. (Hell, maybe more than that. Kinda scary actually). And of course, I wake up this morning to 90 degrees and sunshine. (85% of Phoenix's days in a year are sunny). Its alright though, come December, I'll appreciate that sunshine and lack of precipitation! But if its 100 degrees on Jesus' birthday, God is just gonna have to forgive me because I will be using some obscenities to describe how I feel.

This has been your weather update, I'm Dallas Rains, or Amy Freeze (or whatever corny Weather person name) signing off!

--DrizaDre--