Big Pimpin' on the 14th

To all those girls
LOL!

There’s been plenty.
But out of all of them
I can name a few that
have made a significant
impact on my life.

Kim Clark
Jackie Matheos
Tracy Rose
Reshma Persaud
Angie Godin
Judith Maltes
Nydia Senquiz
Yadira Ortiz

And last but not least
Kim Oransky.

Damn straight I’ve been a player but each one of these women have had their fair share of shaping who I am today.

From each I’ve learned a lot about passion, about love, about hate, about life.
And I love each and every one of them for their own individual spirit.

But today I would like to dedicate it to the person I’ve been living with for over 3 years. Three years in which you have been there for me every step of the way. You’ve been behind me when I’ve been nothing but an ass in return. The day may or may not come when I will be able to give you everything that you’ve always wanted. I can’t make any promises but I want you to know that I’m trying hard to change some of my stubborn attitudes.

So today, when it’s supposed to be a day in which you “show” your significant other how much money you can spend on them, err, I mean, that you care about them, I give you this:

The promise that I am doing everything possible within me for us to function as one.

Changing of the Taxi guard

Sometimes one gets caught up
in the routines of daily life and gets
blinded by the changes that are
happening right under one's nose.

For the past year I've had the same
routine coming in and out of work.
I walk from point A to point B,
between my office and the number 5
subway station on bowling green. Between those points there are
several streets. One of which is Pearl Street.

On Pearl Street, each and every day, there is a line of black Lincoln
Continentals stretched from one block to the next. They are there to
pick up passengers (probably executives) from the surrounding
buildings. Ever since I've been working in downtown Manhattan, these
limo service vehicles have been there. They are as natural to the
surrounding landscape as the bricks from the buildings and the trees.

For some odd reason, I hadn't noticed that there has been a subtle
change in these vernacular objects. The change had been so subtle
that, even though I knew it existed, I had not caught on to its
significance. Today, this change was abruptly but delightfully exposed
to me. There were no longer these black gas-guzzling machines parked
harmonically one behind the other. Not today.

Today there was a change. Such is this change that I would consider it
to be a strong declaration. Instead of the Lincoln Continentals, there
stood a fleet of 10 or so grey Toyota Prius'
(http://www.toyota.com/prius/).

I was shocked! I had seen one or two of these cars parked there before
but never in so eloquent a manner. Not in such an imposing way to have
caught my eye and actually appreciate what their stature meant. These
cars are small and ugly but oh so sweet in significance. They are
hybrid cars. Hybrid taxi cars.

I had just discovered something that had been there all along. What
does this mean? Could there actually be a change of guard? The
potential of this change could be so significant I had to smile.
Yellow taxis, which so defined what New York has been for the last
couple of decades could be facing extinction against a measly little
Jap car? If there's a God please hear my prayers!

I am no scientist but I'm willing to bet that the impact that this
conversion would have on gas consumption and air pollution alone would
be well worth the elimination of those beastly Crown Victorians and
Continentals. Not to mention that driving a compact car instead of
these monster trucks would definitely benefit traffic flow in the city.

So today, among the routine of every day life I was awakened by the
potential of change. And I would like to make a toast to the
not-so-new evolution of the "New" York hybrid taxi over the "Old" York
regular taxis.

Salud.

My Third Kid

This is my 2002 Kawasaki Ninja.

Kim's Nemesis.

The Kids

Carolina Betancourt Ortiz

Antonio Sole Betancourt

My 2 little Angels.

A New Begining

Yesterday was what I hope to be an important day of my life. I hope everything turns out alright.

O n l y t i m e w i l l t e l l .

TWO roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.