So What Happens During Commercials?

Dancing....and LOTS of it.

Sometimes the anchors have to blow off a little steam, and you know - every once in a while, those commercials have pretty good songs.

(click the picture to watch)


Yes...feel bad for us. And pray...pray hard.

Looking for a Good Movie? It Could Save Your Life!

That's right...save your life.

How crazy is this? A firefighter in Colleton County, South Carolina was walking out of a Waffle House - when he was shot by two men fighting over a gun...and didn't know it!

The reason he didn't know? He had a DVD in his pocket, and the bullet was stopped by the DVD!

That's just crazy.

Instead of getting shot, he only has a bruise. He didn't even know he had been shot, until he noticed a bullet hole in his jacket, the shattered DVD case and a piece of the bullet.

And as much as I'd love to add more irony and say the DVD was Touched By and Angel, Highway to Heaven or Saving Private Ryan....it was just a TV show about fire extinguishers.

Oh well...

Nightmare in the Lunchroom!

You know, I'm starting to feel REALLY old these days.

Why?

Because I've started using the "When I was in school, (fill in the blank)" a LOT lately. I'm starting to see what my parents were talking about, when I was in school myself.

Seems like schools are becoming more and more dangerous. If you aren't worrying about getting beat up (or shot), you have to worry about MRSA, tuberculosis and now tainted beef!

I'll be the first to admit that I always assumed cafeteria food was tainted, but that was just because of the taste.

Today, students in local schools are learning that they could have eaten tainted beef. This is all part of the 143 million pounds of beef being recalled...the largest beef recall - ever!

Charlotte Mecklenburg County Schools aren't the only ones though, 25 districts in North Carolina are affected. The local ones are Caldwell County, Cleveland County, Gaston County, Hickory Public Schools, and Rowan-Salisbury Schools.

The North Carolina Department of Agriculture released a full list.

You know, with all these problems, I can see how home schooling is becoming a more legitimate option for parents.

Dem der chillins might not get one of dem fancy edumcations, but hey, it's all good!

Horseback Riding Adventure

Following Valentine's Day every year is my wife Kara's birthday. I get a couple of days between the two very important dates but they feel very much like one big celebration to me. I'm always looking for a little something different to do and this year, I decided to take her horseback riding. Considering her love for horses from years spent growing up on a farm in Texas, the first mention of my birthday idea received rave reviews from Kara (sigh of relief for me-hah).

We went to Latta Plantation on Mountain Island Lake this past Saturday for the two hour sunset ride followed by a BBQ dinner next to a bonfire. To say the very least, it was an extremely successful day as we both had an absolute blast along with a few stories afterwards. Here are a few pictures from the adventure...

Here's Kara posing with Benny in his corral before the ride... who proved to be a huge challenge for her! Despite her years of experience with horses, Benny took a little while for Kara to adjust too... how many times did I look back only to see Benny and Kara wondering off the trail somewhere?! LOL... I tell you what, if I was on Benny he would have taken me to Salisbury. So it was definitely wise she was riding him rather than me-hah! Note his tongue sticking out, perhaps this was a clue as to what he thought about the idea:)

This was my horse, Little Charley. His funny quirk was chewing his tongue which you see on the upper left. That was pretty hilarious to watch. Little Charley was an outstanding horse to ride! Probably helped that I buttered him up with bisquit treats before our ride which you see in the upper right:)

On the left side you'll see a picture Kara took from on top of Benny showing one of the trails we were on. I'm some distance ahead of the two of them. The picture next to it on the right is Clint Eastwood... excuse me, I mean that's me on Little Charley next to the shore of Mountain Island Lake.

I just want to thank the entire staff at Latta Plantation's equestrian center for the great ride followed by the steak and chicken dinner afterwards!! That meal was simply awesome! Our only complaint after the ride, extreme soreness in the lower back and 'backseat' if you will. Wow... it was tough to sit down the next day-hah! But it was all worth it as I had a blast and Kara was very pleased with her birthday weekend:) Success...

Hope You're...

Doing well in fighting off this year's flu season! My gosh, I have never seen anything quite like it!! I had it a little more than a week ago from today but over the past several weeks I've watched a large amount of friends and colleagues around me go down with the flu!
Two weekends ago I took a trip to Buena Vista, Virginia for my little brother's high school wrestling tournament. It was just my dad, brother and me over the weekend. I came back Sunday, went to a Superbowl party and had the first symptoms by 2:30am Monday morning. My father checked in with his first symptoms Sunday evening. Somewhere along the way, we both caught it at the same time that weekend.

If you haven't caught it just yet (hopefully you do not), it resembles a bad cold. I had a fever around 100.5, hoarse vocals, occasional chills and heaviness in my chest. I never had a bad cough although there was the occasional cough and I had some sneezing but not a lot. If you catch it early enough, you can have your doctor prescribe Tamiflu but in my case, it was a little late in the game and my doctor's course of action was MusinexD with Ibprofen to control the fever. I also drank lots of fluids including green tea. My wife had a prescription of Tamiflu ready to roll in the event she displayed symptoms but thus far, she has missed this flu bug.

Keep this in mind if you or your loved ones display cold-like symptoms... it may be this flu strain. I did not have the flu shot this year but my father did which as you may have heard, does not cover this variety of flu. If you do catch it, plan on a solid 5 to 8 days of fighting it off... good luck to you!

New Indiana Jones Movie

Can I just tell you how excited I am?

The new Indiana Jone movie comes out in May, and there is a preview for the movie that is already out. I was skeptical at first...but now I may pull a Star Wars dork move and be one of the first people waiting in line!

Or not... but the preview still looks good!



What do you think?

Spelling Bee vs. College Basketball

Before I even get started, let me make it clear, I support all the good spellers of the world.

With that disclaimer out of the way...can I just say "Huh?"

I was cruising through the Charlotte Observer this morning, when I ran across Dannye Romine Powell's article "A bee with wide-eyed engagement."

In the article, Powell says "Think Sunday's Carolina-Clemson game was good? Monday's 54th Regional Spelling Bee at ImaginOn was so much better." Needless to say, I was completely floored.

Again, don't get me wrong - I know that children need to learn to spell. And I know that a Spelling Bee can be very exciting - hoping that the child does (or does not) get the correct spelling. Maybe I'm just jealous that I didn't make it as far as I hoped in my own 6th grade spelling bee - I still wake up in cold sweats.

But honestly, a double overtime basketball game with a top ranked NATIONAL basketball team...less exciting than the Spelling Bee? Pssh!

I know I'm a die-hard Clemson fan, but seriously...ANY double-overtime game is exciting. I've been to some Spelling Bees and trust me, I've even seen PARENTS fall asleep!

I'm just as happy as anyone for Molly Crawford, the 7th grader from Jay M. Robinson Middle School who won. She is an EXCELLENT speller and made it through 26 rounds of very tough words, and I would have stumbled through most of them.

But sorry Molly, until you walk up to another speller and say "BAM! I spelled that word right!" - you just can't hang with basketball.

Clemson's Collapse: The UNC Debacle

So I guess this is the portion of the program where I eat my words.

I seem to do that a lot when it comes to my Clemson Tigers, but even still - I love them dearly.

Yes, I did make a comment about the Tigers following the UNC/Duke game, but I WAS very careful and didn't say they would win. Granted, that is a technicality...but whatever.

So yes...Clemson had a 15 point lead at one point, and blew it. At least we took the Heels into Double Overtime before they won 103-93.

Not the first time Clemson blew a lead, and surely not the last.

So congrats Tar Heel fans (especially you Brandon Tomlin!) on your 53-straight home wins over Clemson. You may not be number one in the polls, but hey - at least we were able to give you a NCAA record!

The Sugary Truth (Part Five)

We've shown you how much sugar you get from a 20 ounce soda, but how much does it really add up?

Barbara does the math and finds out just how much sugar you get...from one soda a day, in "The Sugary Truth."

(click picture to watch video)

The Sugary Truth (Part Four)

We've all done it, and we know it.

A peanut butter and jelly sandwich is a common treat to send to school with the kids, but do you know how much sugar you are packing into their lunch? Check out the scary facts behind "The Sugary Truth."

(Click picture to watch video)