Miami "Cold" Snap

View outside my 3rd floor brownstone apartment in Brooklyn, New York after a snow storm in 2006. Yes, those are two cars next to him.

A friend just called me on some "Wooo Lawd" mess because it's considered "cold" in Miami. I guess, if you have nothing else to compare it to. Don't get me wrong- you need a jacket. But all this "Ooooo it's so cold" and calling on the Lord for 50 degrees and a little wind... Over the top.

Entire street outside that same window.

What do they know about cold so brutal you feel it with every fiber of your being? Wind that takes away your breath in your throat? Cold that makes your eyes water and turn your tears to ice on your cheek? Cold that freezes the tips of ears, noses, fingers and toes? Cold that cracks lips, skin and leather? Cold that makes every orifice in your upper body leak? And what of the snow? Snow that buries everything in it's wake? Including your front steps, your car, your legs up to the knee and your dog if you're silly enough to walk him? But wait. It gets worse! When you make it to a safe haven, away from the cold, wind and possible snow your body begins to thaw out, sending sharp needles of pain throughout your system as the blood begins to flow to those frozen limbs.

View outside my back window. THIS is a good gauge of how rough it was because unlike the front which must be shoveled and paved for pedestrians backyards are left to their own devices until the snow melts.

If you're not stomping snow off your Timbs upon entering a building, or rubbing your hands together while you blow on them to spark a 'lil heat, if you're not covering from toe tip to head top in boots, underarmor, tights, thermal socks, heavy jeans, a knee length or longer fleece lined coat, Isotoner gloves, a t-shirt, a sweater, a scarf long enough to wrap around your chest inside the coat, come up over the neck of the coat to wrap around your neck and come up over your lips right under your eyes which are covered with shades or glasses, replete with a hat, and ear muffs then you my friend ARE NOT COLD. Oh yeah- your little ipods/phones/pads would short out right in your ear if you try to have some tunes to keep your company on your trek ON FOOT through a North East Tundra. So run the 5 feet from your condo to your car that I'm sure has heat to go along with that AC, put on a jacket and suck it up.

Love,

A Nor' Easter.

RYNGRUPEVEF3

No Planes or Trains- Just Automobiles

As a New Yorker I must say I am disappointed in the public transportation Miami has to offer. Since trains and buses aren't really an option South Floridians take to the highways by the thousands each day to move at a snails pace and burn $3.40 per gallon for the privilege. Suffice to say, something must be done. I remember sitting in rush hour traffic for well over an hour to get from North Miami to the airport and longing for the easy, accessible, cheap, no-brainer transit system back home. No, it's not the cleanest in the world but it gets the job done. I would rather deal with an unpleasant smell every now and then, rather than sit in traffic for hours at a time with nothing but a dwindling gas tank to keep me company.

Speaking of which, why are there so many construction projects spread all over Miami? They only serve to make the traffic situation worse. Biscayne Blvd. becomes a nightmare after 96th Street. If you try cutting down any of those side streets you will run into construction site after construction site after construction site. Why would the City of Miami plan projects all around the same time in the same area, thus voiding Biscayne (AKA US-1, I-95s predecessor) as an alternative to the parking lot known as I-95? It bears mentioning that I have driven down I-95 in almost every state on the Eastern Seaboard and NO STRETCH of this interstate is as bad as it is in South Florida. Why is that?

I wonder if the meeting Miami-Dade Transit is having on Tuesday will make a difference. I can't go because I have a Hands On Miami meeting that I must attend. But I wish I could be there to voice my frustrations about the situation. If the trains ran up here in North Miami I would park and ride every day. Here's hoping something happens soon because this whole traffic thing makes me want to leave Miami on the first thing smoking. Obviously it would have to be Amtrak since who knows where the Miami trains are?

Please read the press release about the meeting below, and attend if you can. Let your voices be heard!

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On Tuesday, March 25, 2008 Miami-Dade County Transit will hold will hold a public meeting to present the current status of the Orange Line – Phase 1: Miami Intermodal Center (MIC)/Earlington Heights Connector Metrorail extension project and to discuss activities projected for the next phase.

The public meeting will be held on Tuesday, March 25, 2008 with an Open House at 6 p.m. and a Presentation at 7 p.m. at Miami-Dade Transit’s Sheila Winitzer Central Administration Building Auditorium, 3300 NW 32nd Avenue, Miami, FL 33142.

The 2.4-mile MIC/Earlington Heights Connector Metrorail extension will run from the existing Earlington Heights Metrorail station to the Miami Intermodal Center (MIC) adjacent to Miami International Airport (MIA) and includes a new Metrorail station and bus terminal plaza. Direct access between the MIC Metrorail station and the airport will be provided by an automated people mover operated by MIA.

For additional information on Metrorail’s Airport Extension, please call 786-469-5550 or email mdtoutreach@miamidade.gov.

True Grit

I know I'm super late on this topic but like my grandma always says "Better late than never". As more news floods the national airwaves I find that I can do nothing but shake my damn head at the shenanigans and goings on in New York State.

Elliot Spitzer. Where do I begin? You made your career on the backs of others failures and shortcomings- perceived or otherwise. You attacked the hip hop industry with a fervor and vengeance that gave even the brashest, loudest mouthed in the black and brown music community pause.

In a nutshell, you acted like your crap didn't stink. But something else my wise old grandma always says is that "People in glass houses shouldn't throw stones." Well you threw bricks and they turned to boomerangs and came back to shatter your house into nothingness.

How can a man call himself ethical, just, and fair when he can't even keep his commitment to those who mean the most to him in this world? And if he can so easily cast his family to the side how quickly would he have tossed the best interest of the good people of New York State to the wayside?

I hope every second of pleasure you garnered from your seedy romps were worth the money spent. Because if you add up the price tag of your rendezvous that is what your family and the people you swore and oath to were worth to you. Was it half a million? A million solid? Whatever the price I can guarantee your face and place as a lecherous, immoral, unethical two faced hypocrite is printed on page 4080 in the history books.

New York has been through enough turmoil to outlast all of our lifetimes combined. Thanks for giving outsiders yet another reason to examine us under a microscope to look for grime and grit.

From Stepford Wife to Super Woman...

As you guys may or may not know I am a Miami transplant. I’ve been here for about a year. I moved here for a new job opportunity and to get my family out of the craziness that, more often that not is New York City.

At first I moved through life here almost as if in a fog. I had on my perfect Stepford Wife smile. My clothes were flawless. The pools were aqua blue. There was no fear of being pricked by a hypodermic needle on the gorgeous Florida Beaches. Oh my gosh! My neighborhood is even more convenient than the ones in New York. You mean to tell me I have a mall complete with movie theater, tons of nail salons, every restaurant known to man, a Wal-mart AND a K-mart, my dentist/primary care/eye/gyno doctor all within a three mile radius? I was hooked. Or so I thought.

It took me a few months to realize what I was missing. Friends! Back in New York my homegirls were but a phone call, train or cab ride away. But here I had not one road dog. Not for lack of trying. I just didn’t know where to meet people. I work in a company that is 99% Hispanic/Latino. I noticed a huge difference between the Nuyoricans and Dominicans I knew from back home and the first generation, recently immigrated Columbians, Argentineans and Cubans that I work with. For starters, the Hispanics here are exclusively family oriented. Their main concern is to come in to the office, crank out the work, and see the parking lot in their rearview mirror at 5:02 p.m. because their priority is to get home to the fam.

I’m not used to that. Though I have a family at home I sometimes like to wind down before heading home. A drink after work. Perhaps a stroll down 8^th Avenue from times square. Instead of jumping on the train at 42^nd street why not walk down to 14^th street so you can have time to chat with your homeboy about the new independent flick that’s showing in the Village? Scratch that. Let’s run to Starbucks. We can get two Iced Latte’s with a shot of hazel nut flavor, cream, sugar, make it sweet. Don’t forget to add the whipped cream with a splash of caramel on top. We’ll sit by the window and ignore the people that walk by while we unload about the latest drama that’s been taking place at the office.

My co-manager told me, almost with a complacent, dead eyed look that she just grew accustomed to the fact that she will never have friends here. Her husband is all she needs. “You’ll get used to it,” she told me, and shrugged her shoulders as if to say “Accept it or go back from whence you came.”

For many months I did just that. Accepted it. My routine was:

M-F 6:00a rise from bed

M-F 7:00a leave my house to start my long, arduous commute

M-F 8:00a arrive at the office

M-F 5:00p leave the office

M-F 6:00p arrive home

M-F 6:01p get online/watch tv/talk on the phone

M-F 12:00a go to bed

Sa-Su Repeat above steps, just replace work with Clean House/Get Nails Done/Grocery Shop.

By December 2007, I had had enough. I decided to come out of the fog of discontentment an depression. I would take charge of the situation. I would get up, get out and do something. I would start volunteering. I would go online and make connections with people in the Miami area. I would strike up conversations with people out in public. Something, ANYTHING! Whatever had to be done to make the best of the situation instead of putting my tail between my legs, packing up my house and family and heading back home.

I joined Hands On Miami, (http://handsonmiami.org/) a very well organized volunteer group that mobilizes volunteers to help out in local community activities. My first volunteer function: The Grand Re-Opening of Virginia Key Beach Park. In my last post I gave you a little background information about VKBP. In my next post I’ll tell you about my day and how I FINALLY connected with a positive sista here in Miami. Stay tuned…