so i had an interesting convo with n8 wonder (iphone devotee) last night regarding the new Hot Air Steve Jobs is peddling to the masses. only problem is that with a price point of $1799, the masses can't afford it. so i'm taking a lengthy breather from the Mac aesthetic and finding joy in genius machines that are crude, bulky, dirty and ...cheap (no, i am not talking about my blackberry)! i stumbled on a blog called Afrigadget whilst n8 decried said Mac Hot Air and found a new well of inspiration to fill up at...read the stories, meet the inventors, marvel at the solutions and remember that we have more than everything we need to get anything done. and i'm perplexed (sad, really) because a young man can make a windmill that powers his family's house for $16 in Africa and in America i'm being sold Hot Air for 1000 times that. excuse me while i go pray.

Greetings all,

My birthday is this Friday and I will be turning 27. Some people aren't too happy about getting older and I understand why sometimes. It depends on where you are in life whether or not you'll be happy.

I feel like I'm in a good place for 27. I'm married, have a great career, and am living a dream. I have no complaints. But at the same time I'm still like "27", WOW! 3 years I'll be 30...crazy!

Anywhoo, not sure what I'll be doing this Friday, but know this...it will be FUN! I'm going to enjoy the snow while it lasts...

Till next time...

Lord Rico

When I read this list, I was happy to know that I do a lot of things
on there with aplomb (hehehe). I've noticed that the folks around me
who seem the happiest tend to do things on this list a lot too.

A lot of you are happy. Keep dancing.

http://www.evolvingtimes.com/2008/01/top-10-life-lessons-from-my-daughter.htm

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note to my secret santa (i still believe in you): PLEASE PRETTY PLEASE, please oh please oh please bring me a ball bearing beat sequencer! ok thanks.

http://www.princeton.edu/pr/mlk/images/mlk_mainpic2.jpg

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Celebrate!!!

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I am a true believer in the saying, "Miracles happen everyday, but we are just too blind to see them."

Giving birth, is a miracle I think we, as a society, take for granted since so many babies are born around the clock... every second.

Waking up, is a MIRACLE sometimes even I used to take for granted. I just knew I would be able to do whatever I didn't do today, tomorrow.

Making a heart beat from the stem cells of a baby rat?... Is a miracle.

I didn't think I'd find it right after CNN aired Britney Spears' never ending story, but I did. I almost turned, but it grasped my full attention. I was all in.

Researchers removed, then replaced rat heart cells, and with electrical stimulation the rebuilt heart, started beating.

We may finally be able to help those with heart disease.

This process could help humans needing heart transplants.

Both my grandmothers passed, due to congested heart failure. This actually means something to me and I am sure it means something to this entire planet.

Hopefully, everyone involved will do what's right.

It may not look like a miracle because of it's awful looking aesthetic, but I am certain what I saw, what you see, was and is, miraculous.

Jane.

www.cnn.com

Greetings all,

I know I'm late with my blog, but I'm sure most of you have read that we lost someone really important in the Wondaland family. Mr. Keith Brubaker...aka...Yahya Shabazz...aka..."My Man".

Most of you probably don't know who he is, but let me guarantee you that you know his work.

If you've ever seen a Myspace/Facebook banner, that was Keith.

If you ever received an email blast from The W.A.S., that was Keith.

If someone ever threw you out the way because you were getting too rowdy next to JM, that was Keith...lol.

If someone pulled a cigarette out of your mouth mid drag because you were smoking next to JM, that was Keith.

Aside from all that, he was my friend, always helped me on show days (the craziest day a manager can have), helped me with whatever I needed and even stuff I didn't need help with.

Bottomline...this is a major loss in my life...honestly. I think about him everyday and will continue to until I am no longer here.

I'm still waiting for him to walk through the door...

I'm still waiting for him to try and get me on a "deez nutz" prank...

I'm still waiting for him to call me and say something crazy like "you heard Derek Jeter is going to the Red Sox"...

I'm still waiting for this bad dream to come to an end...

R.I.P Homie!

Meet KeKe Brubaker's kids (they've got some serious name DNA):

Chantal: A song

Aziza: Precious, Cherished, Beloved

Halimah: Gentle, Humane, Kind

Talib: Knowledge Seeker

These are the names that KeKe gave to his children
and these are the gifts he passed on to them
and these are the aspects of his spirit that will always live in them.

And it's no surprise that the woman he chose to walk through this world with is named Chandra née eminent, illustrious, moon.


check out the etymology and meaning of the names of the folks you're thinking about at namesepedia or at these sites: www.babynameworld.com and www.thinkbabynames.com

I was very priviledged to have known you Keith.

Keith, you brought me Swedish fish every time you sensed I had a sweet
tooth. Most times, I didn't ask you to bring me anything, but you just
knew.

How?

You protected me from the smoke that blew out of so many mouths just
to help protect my gift.

You cared about My voice.

Why?

The night of my birthday performance, who snatched the bottle from
underneath my feet, that almost, just almost, could have severely
injured me?

It was you my friend. I had no idea until after I was home, safe and
sound.

When I could not answer the swarming questions on line, respond to
emails or messages asking, "Ms. Monáe when are performing next?" or
"When will my CD be here?!", you were there to answer for me... when I
just couldn't.

Why?

Now, looking back, I am honored to have gone to McDonald's and bought
you your favorite, a fish sandwich with cheese and fries, while you
and the Wolfmaster worked all night coding... On Blabstar.

Who framed my first record and poster and actually made me think for
just one moment, one little moment that I had gone platinum, selling
millions of suites?

Not the Grammy association, but Keith.

It was your belief that I needed to already imagine my records
reaching this status and beyond.

You really believed in me.

Thank you for speaking so highly of me to
your family. I finally met your sister.

We all have so many memories of you.

Keith, You never asked me for anything, except how you could help.

You never complained in my presence. NEVER.

I have realized, that this is not a time to be sad.

Yes, I will miss you walking in the door everyday.

Yes, I will miss you in our Monday W.A.S. meetings.

Yes, I will miss your emails.

I will miss seeing you to the side of the stage while I'm performing,
most.

Again, I will not be sad. I believe this is a time to get happy and
rejoice over the fact that I really knew an angel. Most people can not
say or let alone believe this, but I can.

I do believe Angels are there to protect you, help you, and smile for
you, and Keith, you did just that for me.

If I had a better word to describe you, then I would have used it long
ago.

Thank you Keith A. Brubaker for living life.

I am amazed by how you hid your wings from us. You were special.

Thank you for being a more than remarkable example to not just me, but
the rest of the W.A.S.

I thank your family for allowing us to spend time with you.

I thought I had it figured out, but just as angels do, they show you
the right way.

Thank you GOD for sending Mr. Brubaker into our lives. Thank you for
letting us borrow him.

My life will never be the same again.

You were a big fan of me, but I am a bigger fan of you.

Thank you.

Our Hearts Are In The Sky

Keith Brubaker: September 1, 1969- January 5, 2008...

Keith Alan Brubaker was the kind of gentle giant that seemed to come from nowhere, the kind of smiling man that seemed to walk out of the sun itself. Even if you’d known him for years, for even your whole life, you could catch yourself literally falling into the Grand Canyon of his smile and loving his spirit so much you’d find yourself asking: Dear God, where did you find the stars to place inside his smile? Just how precisely did you make him?

That said, at Wondaland we got used to business friends, music industry colleagues and tech industry associates glancing around in amazement before asking us the inevitable question: “Where’d you get this guy Keith? How’d you meet him? He’s incredible.”

On quiet days when we felt like telling tall tales, we would smile and tell these people that Keith a.k.a. Yaya Shabazz a.k.a Planetsram had answered an ad we placed in the Nubian International News that read:

Unstoppable superhero needed to help change the world. Period.

Then we would say that when we met Keith we partnered with him on the spot and gave him two immediate missions. The first mission was to help code a monumental website named BlabStar that would change music forever. The second mission was to usher in a new era of music by managing the immense online operations of a revolutionary music company known as the Wondaland Arts Society.

Keith approached these tasks with ease, like a 21st century Hercules. Coding came easy: he was mathematically brilliant, the kind of guy who added up the license plate digits of the car ahead of him as he drove his darling children across town or to school. And he had no idea what normal working business hours meant: he was simply always working.

Chief among his Internet responsibilities was the management of all of the online properties of the rising superstar Ms. Janelle Monáe. Somehow Keith found the time to not only administer all her web pages, but also to shadow Ms. Monáe at events and concerts, protecting her from harm, from gusts of cigarette smoke, from obnoxious fans. Although he had a gentle spirit, he used his superpowered dreadlocks, and his brawn to scare assailants—and when these didn’t work, he always had his explosive disarming smile.

Keith is still with us. He came from the earth and from the sun, from the wind and the rain, and he is there in all of these things, wrapping his dreadlocks, wrapping his peaceful smile around us all.

Wondaland would like to say thank you to Chandra and the children for allowing us into Keith’s life, and to God for giving us the chance to meet this living, neverending hero of a man.

To the universe we shout his name and sing it boldly forever in the key of love, screaming out to the stars thank you, thank you, thank you.

Labels: Our Hearts Are in the Sky

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...year to create!

there is a world within-a world of thought and feeling and power; of light and life and beauty and, although invisible, its forces are mighty.