Women's Empowerment

I am going to put in a plug here for my work. I work at Radio One, a group of radio stations in Raleigh, NC. Each year our biggest event of the year is Women's Empowerment Expo. If you are in the NC area be sure to check it out! Tickets are available at all Ticketmaster locations. You can buy tickets online here.

April 1, 2006 will be our 12th Annual Women's Empowerment Expo. We are expecting over 10,000 people to attend this year. Our keynote speaker is Robin Roberts from "Good Morning America". You can read more about Robin Roberts here. There are over 100 vemdors and many informative seminars to attend. Doors open at 11:00 am and the program lasts until 8:00 pm. Below is a list of the performing musical artists.

• Eric Benet
• Meli'sa Morgan
• Ray J
• Ruben Studdard
• Avant
• Ann Nesby
• Donell Jones
• Rizen
• Jeff Majors
• Lashell Griffin

You can visit The Women's Empowerment Expo website for more details (by the way, I designed the website).

Eight Below

We took our grandkids to the movies yesterday and saw an awesome Walt Disney movie! "Eight Below", you can view a trailer here. I don't know why anybody would want to go to Antarctica, it's way too cold and desolate for me.

This was a great story about a team of sled dogs that was left behind in a winter storm and they had to survive on their own for over six months. You can't help but fall in love with the dogs as they struggle against the harsh elements of Antarctica.

A great family movie, based on a true story. The film is rated PG, there is one scene in the movie that will make you jump out of your seat, so be prepared!

A Picture Tells a Thousand Words

It has been said that a picture tells a thousand words. Here is a before picture of our bathroom remodel. I will post the after pictures when the project is done...if it ever gets done!

We had a disaster in our bathroom last week (let me point out that our house is small and we only have one bathroom.) Therefore, it is of the utmost importance to complete this job quickly! The pipe that feeds the water into the toilet had a slow leak that went unnoticed for a long time. Recently it became noticable when we had to continually mop up water on the floor. Finally the pipe burst and we were forced to make some repairs.

We had a plumber come out and fix the pipe and make sure the toilet was in good working order. He pointed out that the floor was rather mushy between the tub and toilet and we should have it looked at. We called a contractor to come and take a look, and sure enough the floor had been ruined from the continuous leaking. He had to tear up half of the bathroom floor and replace the sub-floor which had rotted out and become very mushy. If we had let it go on without repair we would have eventually fallen through the floor one day!

Speaking of pictures -- be sure to pay a visit to my renter this week. Bozette's blog, "Pictures From My World", is full of awesome photos! Just click on the snapshot under rent my blog in the right hand margin.

OOPS--MY BAD!

Old age does funny things to your mind...sometimes I forget things, like where I parked my car at the mall, or I will rent a video to watch only to discover half-way through I had already rented this a few weeks ago! It doesn't matter...it's all new to me anyway! I made a boo-boo in my last entry, and said that Robert Blake was Spanky in "The Little Rascals".

Well, Robert Blake was in "The Little Rascals", but his character was Mickey, not Spanky! Sorry about the slip up, blame it on old age. It's been a long time since I watched that show.

I stand corrected. Thanks to Mulligan from Can't Keep Quiet, for pointing out my boo-boo.

What a Difference a Few Years Make

Remember Spanky from "The Little Rascals"? Well maybe not...that was a long time ago. However, if you are my age you will remember watching "The Little Rascals" and enjoying the antics of one of my favorite characters, Spanky.

If you are too young to remember Spanky, how about Baretta? This show aired in the 70s, starring Robert Blake as a street-wise detective with a pet cockatoo. Notice a resemblance between the two actors? Very few people realize that they are one in the same. That's right, cute little Spanky grew up to be Baretta! The trouble that Spanky got into on "The Little Rascals" is nothing compared to the real life troubles that Robert Blake has now!

He was accused of murdering his wife, Bonnie Blakely who was shot to death in 2001. Blake was aquitted of the murder charges but now he has lost a wrongful death suit filed by Blakely's children and was ordered to pay $30 million. Robert Blake filed for bankruptcy just before the wrongful death suit and is now fighting the verdict.

What a difference a few years make.

Happy Birthday to my Wonderful Wife

March 11th is a very SPECIAL DAY! It is my wife's birthday...HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHRISTINE! Of course, I can't mention her age, but I always say, "Age is a matter of mind...if you don't mind -- it doesn't matter!"

In Christine's case it doesn't matter anyway, because she is as beautiful today ,as she was the day I met her 13-years ago!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHRISTINE

Paul McCartney and The Seals

Paul McCartney and his wife Heather show their opposition to the Canadian seal hunt as they visited a harp seal nursery off the coast of Canada.
(Photo from Sea Sheperd)

This years hunt is scheduled for the end of March and during the last three years the Canadian government has allowed more than 900,000 seals to be killed. About 97 percent of them were under three months old and many less than one month old!

To learn more about this savage hunt where baby seals are clubbed and dragged across the ice with boathooks to be skinned alive, visit www.harpseals.org . You can also download a petition here to sign and send to the Canadian government.

I understand that this hunt is a source of income in an area where jobs are scarce; however, there is no excuse for the cruel way that the baby seals are being slaughtered. Please help stop this practice now!

Age is a Matter of Mind

I only have a view minutes to come up with a post before the finale of "Dancing with the Stars" comes on. Because I am under a lot of pressure and have a case of writer's block I will re-post something from the archives. This is a true story...

It was Thursday and we had just three days left to enjoy our vacation on the Outer Banks of North Carolina. One of my favorite things to do at the beach is ride the waves on a boogie board. On this particular day, the waves were very high and the surf was rough because of an approaching storm.
The bigger the waves the better the ride, so I was having a great time getting being tossed around and fighting the sea. Before I go any further, I should explain that I am fifty five years old but in my mind I still think I am in my twenties. I always say, “Age is a matter of mind…if you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter!”

After an hour or so in the water I was beginning to get really tired but I didn’t want to quit because these were the best waves we have had all week and the next couple of days were predicted to be rainy. The waves were getting higher and the sea more violent, but I loved every minute of it! I smiled at my wife as she watched from a lawn chair on the beach and I caught an especially big wave. I just knew this was going to be a fantastic ride!

The wave carried me into shallow water and slammed me into the sand beneath with unbelievable force. As I was being crushed by the power of the sea I heard a terrible cracking sound and felt a horrific pain in my side! I knew immediately that I had broken my ribs. It was all I could do to haul myself up out of the water and drag myself onto the beach without being drowned. The waves kept smashing against me and knocking me back down again. Every step was very painful and took all of my strength. My wife was laughing and yelling to me telling me to pull my bathing suit up; the force of the wave had pulled my suit down around my knees and I didn’t even realize it. I really didn’t care because that was the least of my worries at the moment as all my efforts were concentrated on hauling myself to shore and collapsing on the beach.

My sister went to get the car and after much struggling I was able to fall into the back seat as I grimaced in pain. It must have taken at least ten-minutes just to get into the car because no matter how I moved it pulled at my ribs and sent shockwaves of pain throughout my body. Of course I could see everyone trying to hold back their laughter as I struggled to get in the car.

We made it to the hospital and x-rays later confirmed I had broken one rib and cracked another. We were in the emergency room for several hours, which seemed like days to me because every little movement caused me terrible pain. When the nurse came in to wheel me in a wheelchair from the waiting room into the examine room she accidentally crashed into the doorway and I let out a loud scream. Of course everyone else thought this was hysterically funny!

I spent the rest of the week trying to find a comfortable position to sit in and taking pain pills. The next six months I had to sleep in a recliner because I was unable to lie down. Looking back on the events of that day I can see the humor, but believe me when I tell you I was not laughing at the time! I have not been to the beach since then but even though I now have a better respect for the awesome power of the ocean I still refuse to grow old and will probably jump right back on that boogie board again!

Please leave your comments.

Don Knotts Dies at 81

"The Andy Griffith Show" is a big deal here in the Raleigh, North Carolina area. In fact, Raleigh was often mentioned on the show. Old Andy, and Barney are sort of folk-heroes in this neck of the woods.

Today I was saddened to learn that Don Knotts passed away at the age of 81. Knotts died Friday night of pulmonary and respiratory complications at a Los Angeles hospital. He was best know for his roll as the bumbling deputy, Barney Fife on "The Andy Griffith Show".

I also loved him on "Three's Company" where he played the swinging landlord, Ralph Furley. Knotts had more than 25 movies to his credit and 7 TV series. He was one of my all time favorite funny guys! He will be greatly missed, but not forgotten!

The comedian also picked up 5 Emmy Awards as he entertained us for over a half-century. Andy Griffith said, "Don was special, there's nobody like him. We had a long and wonderful life together."

Lost Repeats

Somebody please explain to me why they keep showing repeats of "Lost"? It really drives me crazy! The season only just started a little while ago...didn't they write enough episodes to fill a whole season! You don't see any repeats of "24"!

However, I must say that I never do get tired of looking at Kate!

If anyone can tell me why there are so many repeats...I sure would appreciate your comments.

The Chronicles of Narnia on DVD

I actually posted the article below a while back, but it is worthy of a re-post. The BIG NEWS is this awesome movie is going to be released on DVD April,4, 2006! If you didn't get a chance to see it at the movies, make sure you see the DVD...we will be buying it to add to our collection. Click Here to pre-order your DVD NOW! Many other Narnia items available here also such as the complete 7-volume set of books by C.S. Lewis.

Disney was taking a chance with a cast of unknowns, but they pulled it off. Having read all seven books several times, I had visions of what Narnia would look like in my head. Today when I saw the movie I was amazed to find that Narnia looked exactly like what I expected it to.

My vote for the best performances go to Georgie Henley, who did a wonderful job as sweet Lucy; and Tilda Swinton who potrayed the cold-hearted White Witch. The cinematography and visual effects were great as well. Filmed in New Zealand the countryside makes a spectacular backdrop for the movie. Director, Andrew Adamson (of Shrek and Shrek 2) did a fantastic job. Liam Neeson was the voice of Ashlan and may very well be the only name you recognize in the credits.

Speaking of the credits -- don't be in a hurry to get up and rush out of the theater as soon as the credits appear on the screen, because there is still a little more to come. One final scene kept the audience standing in the aisle and stopped the mass exodus from the full house. I can't wait for the sequels, you know it's not going to end there. If you never read the books the movie was complete in itself, but for those of you who are in the know...there is still much more to come!

I highly recommend this movie as a must see. I only hope that the Christian symbolism is not lost in all the excitement. The movie is rated PG but some of the battle scenes may be a little scary for real young children. Narnia is a combination family film and action-adventure thriller. I totally loved the move!

Watch trailer here: http://www.blogger.com/AFF&p=

If you've seen the movie, or read the books please leave a comment here. If you haven't done either -- what are you waiting for. C.S. Lewis has always been one of my favorite authors and when you combine that with the magic of Disney you've got a GREAT movie!

Zathura

This weekend the weathermen told us to expect snow and sleet, so we rented a bunch of videos and bought some popcorn to settle in for the weekend. One of the videos we selected was "Zathura". If you watched, Donald Trump's "Apprentice", you would remember that one of the tasks the contestants had was to promote this movie when it first came out. One team kept getting the name wrong during their presentation and failed miserably! I had no interest in seeing this movie since it appeared to be a rip-off of "Jumanji". However, the video store in our small town was pretty much wiped out of good movies so we ended up with "Zathura".

Unlike "Jumanji", which starred Robin Williams and Kirsten Dunst, the cast of "Zathura" was made up of unkown actors. Both movies are about kids playing an old board game that when played thrusts them into dangerous adventures. They must finish the game to stop the magical onslaught that happens with every move they make.

Although the movies were similar I found "Zathura" to be very entertaining and there was a moral to the story that made it a good family movie. The two young brothers, Walter and Danny, barely get along with each other at the beginning of the movie and their teenage sister totally ignores them. However, as they are thrust into their intergalactic adventure they learn to work as a team and grow closer together. This movie is rated PG which was refreshing, considering most of the movies today are full of sex, blood & guts and horror!

It turned out to be a good movie and I would recommend it. Yes it is a clone of "Jumanji", and even has a scene that will remind you of the "Wizard of Oz" with the house spinning through space, but "Zathura" was worth watching and kept us on the edge of our seats throughout the entire show. If I were asked to pick the best of the two, I would have to say "Jumanji" since I am a huge Robin Williams fan; but make sure you do see "Zathura", it's a good movie. Please leave your comments here.

P.S. It's Sunday morning and we haven't seen any snow or sleet yet...the weathermen got it wrong again -- but that's another story!

Something for Nothing

Who says you can't get Something for Nothing? I finally figured out how to do it and I will share a few examples here with you now. The first one, I'm sure you have all heard of already.

Everywhere you look you will see Google Ads, they are on many blogs and thousands of web sites. Somebody is making money off of those ads...why not you? I decided to try out Google Ads for myself and signed up last July 15th. I put the ads on several of my web sites and my blogs and waited patiently to see some results. I finally got a check in the mail in January and will be getting a second check this month! It cost me absolutely nothing to sign up for Google Ad Sense and each month the check is getting bigger and bigger.

Here's another example. How would you like to pick up 250 FREE BUSINESS CARDS? Just click on the link below and you will be taken to Vista Print. They offer many great products that you can design on line from their templates. Things like Business Cards, Brochures, Letter Head and much more. I use Vista Print all the time. You will have to pay a small S&H charge but the 250 Business Cards are FREE and everything you get from Vista Print is high quality. You can sign up to be an affiliate also and earn some money by offering their links on your web sites and blogs.

if you spend a little time doing some research, you will be able to find many affiliate offers that cost you nothing to join but offer a source of income for you. Leave a comment if you know of some other good ways to earn some money on the Internet.

Incredible Hulk Becomes a Deputy Sheriff

Everyone knows who the "Incredible Hulk" is; however, some of you may be too young to remember the original TV series starring Lou Ferrigno way back in the 70's. We've had an actor become President of the United States (Ronald Reagan),"The Terminator" is California's Governor (Arnold Schwarzenegger) and now "The Incredible Hulk" (Lou Ferrigno) has been sworn in as a deputy sheriff!

Ferrigno will be a reserve deputy sherrif in the Los Angeles Police Department and will help to recruit new deputies and work with the sheriff's Youth Activities League and the Special Victims Bureau.

What's next, Oprah for President?

Cheney Shoots His Hunting Buddy

OOPS, my bad! Cheney accidentally shot his hunting buddy, Harry Whittington, while quail hunting over the weekend in Texas. The 78-year-old lawyer is said to be in stable condition after being sprayed with bird-shot from the Vice President's 28-gauge shotgun. He was hit in the face, neck and chest with pellets.

Whittington had left formation and went to fetch a bird he had shot. Then he came up behind the hunting party just as Cheney turned to take a shot.

Police officials said no charges are being filed. However, there have been questions raised as to why it took nearly 24-hours before the Vice President's office reported the incident.

A spokesperson from Mr. Cheney's office said they did not release the information right away because they felt that decision was up to the ranch's owner.

OOPS, I Did It Again!

Britney Spears may have won many awards; however, I don't think she will be getting nominated for "Mother of the year"!

"I made a mistake and so it is what it is, I guess," Britney Spears said to "Access Hollywood", when asked about driving with her baby in her lap.

Here's another case of celebrities getting away with a slap on the wrist. The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department said it won't pursue any charges. I think it's a shame that no action will taken against Ms. Spears. She clearly endangered the life of her4-month-old son. The law says that infants must be in the back seat secured by a child-safety seat.

Spears is blaming the whole thing on the paparazzi. I say she should be reported to child welfare services and also given a ticket for motor-vehicle violations. What do you think?

Please leave a comment.

15 Cent Hamburgers

I made a post on my other blog, Mike's World about McDonald's new packaging with nutritional information. It got me to thinking about the good old days when you could get a hamburger, fry and a drink and change back from your dollar! That's right, in fact that was McDonald's slogan back then.

I worked at McDonald's when I was 16. Here are some of my memories. You wouldn't recognize it as the same restaurant. The buildings were red and white and very small. The menu was very limited, all we served were hamburgers, cheeseburgers, fries, drinks and shakes.

Hamburgers cost 15 cents, fries were only 07 cents. The hamburgers weren't the frozen type you get now-a-day, it was fresh ground beef. The fries were real too. We got in 100 pound sacks of potatoes, put them in a machine to peel them, then washed them and sliced them into fries. The milk shakes were great also. The kind you had to put on a spindle to stir up.

There were no drive-thru windows and not even a dining room. All we had were two sliding glass windows for walk-up traffic. There were a couple of picnic tables outside to sit at, but mostly people would eat in their car or carry the food home. The golden arches were much bigger then too.

I earned a whopping 75 cents per hour when I first started working at McDonald's. Another interesting fact is there were no women working there, only males. We wore silly looking paper hats.

The buns were put in a big toaster and tasted great! Ahhhh, the good old days. I actually ended up staying at McDonald's and becoming a manager. I worked for ten years at McDonald's as a manager and another ten at Burger King and Wendy's. I guess I've eaten my share of fast food.

Don't forget to leave a comment.

E-Stamp

Here's the latest idea to prevent spam e-mail. Yahoo and AOL are going to begin charging from one-quarter of a cent to one cent for every e-mail you send. They will still accept e-mail from non-paying customers but the ones who pay will be giving special treatment. This program should be ready to launch in a few months.

I'd like to know what everyone thinks about this idea.

• Will it help to prevent spam?
• Is it going to destroy the free-spirit of the Internet?
• Is it just a scheme for AOL & Yahoo to make millions of dollars?

Please leave a comment.

Super Bowl-Super Bucks

I don't usually watch sports on TV, I would much rather watch a good movie or a funny sit-com. However; I do watch the Super Bowl every year. Not because I pulling for my favorite team, most of the time I couldn't even tell you who is playing! The reason I watch the Super Bowl is because I love the commercials!

When the Super Bowl first premiered back in 1967, $40,000.00 would buy you a 30-second commercial. The cost today is $83,000.00 per second -- that's around $2.5 million for a 30-second spot! All that money will buy you an expected 90 million viewers during the game.

This year you can go to ifilm and watch the commercials online. You can even download them. I believe the commercials will also be available on ipods this year.

One of my favorite ads was the Bud Light commercial where the pilot jumped out of the plane to get the Bud Light. I'll post tomorrow about my favorite commercial from this year.

I like the commercials so much I even went to SpotBowl and downloaded a score sheet to rate the ads.You can vote on line for your favorite ad at the SpotBowl website.

Leave a comment here about your favorites.

Granpa Munster Dies

Many of you may not remember the TV show, "The Munsters" which was popular in the sixties; and even fewer of you will recall "Car 54, Where Are You"; so you may not recognize the name Al Lewis. He is best know for his roles as Grandpa Munster and Officer Leo Schnauser.

Lewis died after a long illness. His age has been reported as 82, 83 and even 95, so I'm not really sure how old he was. He is survived by his wife, Karen and three sons as well as four grandchildren.

The sixties was a GREAT time for TV and Al Lewis was one of the GREATS! He will be missed. (Photo from the Associated Press.)