Sunday, February 25, 2007

A good day


Lightning McQueen
Let 'er rip!



Yesterday was an exciting day for my boy. First, after an early 2nd round defeat, John and his car, Lightning McQueen, managed to come back for a stunning 2nd-place finish in the Kernersville Pack #943 Pinewood Derby. He's now eligible to compete in the finals this Tuesday night and the Salem district derby on March 10th. Wow!

Second, John received Honorable Mention in the Crisis Control Ministry's Wee Care art contest, drawing a picture of his family eating breakfast. 12 kids from his school, Sedge Garden Elementary, were finalists in the contest.

Congratulations, John! Mom & Dad are proud of you!

Tuesday, February 20, 2007

It could happen to you!

Cha-ching! So it may not be enough to quit my job, but I won $6 in the N.C. lottery last night! The odds on those scratch-offs are about 1 in 4, so I bought four tickets and what do you know-- one of them hit and I actually made two dollars on the whole deal. Yep, life is good.

Oo-ooh that smell


I don't want to get anybody's hopes up, but I swear when I went out the door at 5:00 this morning I smelled SPRING!!! You know, that fresh, not-20-degrees smell that doesn't burn your nostrils when you inhale? That's the best smell in the world.

Monday, February 19, 2007

Whizzing thru Wal-Mart

My BFFL Jodie e-mailed me the other day and yelled at me for not posting in a week. She lives outside New York City and I explained to her that not as much happens around here as in the Big Apple. But, boy, all you need to do to find some action is take a trip to Wal-Mart. Yesterday I found another curious phenomenon, these shoes called Heelies. Apparently they're all the rage with kids, but the thing that gets me is the parents who actually allow their kids to whiz around a busy big-box store on these things. I nearly got run over between the frozen foods and bread aisle when a pre-teen boy wearing Heelies rounded the corner at top speed, towing his mom's grocery cart behind. I try to always look for something positive, however, and I would like to point out that the kid did say "excuse me" when he realized he'd almost clocked me.

OK, so it's not New York!

Monday, February 12, 2007

Are you hep to the jive?

This really has nothing to do with anything, but it's guaranteed to make you smile. One of the most amazing performances you will ever see anywhere.

Sunday, February 11, 2007

Mr. Vanderbilt's summer home

Need a quick getaway to recharge your batteries? I had forgotten what a nice town Asheville is and how truly awesome a visit to Biltmore Estate can be! Less than two and a-half hours west of Winston-Salem on I-40, this cosmopolitan mountain city is experiencing a huge renaissance, with funky little boutiques and restaurants all over its once-dilapidated downtown. We decided to go since John's class is reading a book called "The Mystery of Biltmore Estate" and he kept trying to impress us with his wealth of knowledge on the subject. This 8-year-old, who thinks that just about everything his parents like to do is "lame," was captivated by George W. Vanderbilt's late 19th-century home. (The kids' treasure map we picked up at the front desk didn't hurt!) Enjoy the photos.

Thursday, February 8, 2007

The truth is out there

They're heeeerre! UFO sightings have been reported in the Kernersville area. Don't know why this isn't being more widely reported.

Tuesday, February 6, 2007

Is that a rocket in your pocket or...

Proof that real life beats fiction any day:

(AP) - A NASA astronaut accused of trying to kidnap a romantic rival for a space shuttle pilot's affections was charged with attempted first-degree murder Tuesday and will remained jailed.
"The intent was there to do serious bodily injury or death," said Orlando Police Sgt. Barb Jones, referring to a new steel mallet, knife, rubber tubing and large garbage bags that police found in Lisa Marie Nowak's possession.
Nowak, a 43-year-old Navy captain and married mother of three, had already been charged with attempted kidnapping, attempted vehicle burglary with battery, destruction of evidence and battery.

Now, here is a woman who is by no means stupid. She holds three engineering degrees. But apparently being "book smart" doesn't give you a lock on common sense. Perhaps the weirdest part of all this is that Nowak drove 900 miles from Houston to Orlando, wearing a diaper so she wouldn't have to stop to use the bathroom.

The things we do for love.

Monday, February 5, 2007

The death of common sense

The near record-breaking cold snap and bitter winds we're experiencing has caused me to pull the hood of my coat a little tighter and to look downward whenever I'm outside. This looking downward, consequently, has me paying more attention to people's feet. And you know what I'm seeing? People-- mostly women-- wearing FLIP FLOPS. I know this is North Carolina and you can get away with showing your piggies legitimately nine months out of the year. But this if February and it's freakin' cold outside! If you're making a fashion statement, the statement is, "I'm incredibly dumb, even though I think I look really cool wearing unseasonable footwear." Along with the flip-flop phenomenon is another thing I don't get: the lack of socks and other types of hosiery. Even though we're in the dead of winter, I still see women going around in dresses without any pantyhose on. What is that? No wonder our hosiery mills are all shutting down. You without those socks or hose: I hope you feel at least a twinge of guilt!

Sunday, February 4, 2007

A world gone mad

Just when I think nothing can surprise me, I run into the following two stories.

Story #1:
A Pennsylvania man is suing the University of Michigan Law School because it didn't make special accommodations for his admittedly poor typing skills.
Adrian Zachariasewycz graduated from the law school in 2004 with a "B'' average but says in his lawsuit that on certain exams he received "borderline failing grades'' because he couldn't type as much in the allotted time as other students.
Zachariasewycz, 40, told a reporter that he has moved back into his parents' home and has been unable to find a job because his 2.996 grade point average doesn't interest employers.
Law school spokesman Gerald Schorin said in a statement that students generally choose for themselves whether to write examination answers by hand or whether to type on a keyboard.
Zachariasewycz said he was never warned by U-M that he would need typing skills and it never occurred to him to learn to type before entering law school. He said he consistently scored in the top half of the class on exams that didn't require rapid typing.

What??? Who on Earth (besides this guy) has gone to college and not realized they would need typing skills? DUH!!! Jeez, I took typing in 8th grade. Get a life and stop blaming everyone else for your shortcomings.

Story #2:
WILLIAMSBURG, Va. - As a Catholic, Vince Haley often went to Mass at the College of William and Mary's historic Wren Chapel when he was an undergraduate in the 1980s. Also a Catholic, school President Gene R. Nichol often goes to the 120-seat chapel alone at night to think in the quiet.
Both agree the chapel is a sacred space meaningful to students, alumni, faculty and staff of the public school who use it for religious services and secular events.
They clash, though, over what to do with an unadorned, 18-inch brass cross that had been displayed on the altar since about 1940.
Nichol ordered the cross removed in October to make the chapel more welcoming to students of all faiths. Previously, the cross could be removed by request; now it can be returned by request.
"It's the right thing to do to make sure that this campus is open and welcoming to everyone," Nichol said. "This is a diverse institution religiously, and we want it to become even more diverse."
"Does that marvelous place belong to everyone, or is it principally for our Christian students?" Nichol said. "Do we actually value religious diversity, or have we determined, because of our history, to endorse a particular religious tradition to the exclusion of others?"
William and Mary, founded by royal charter in 1693 with a mission that included training Anglican ministers, is the nation's second-oldest university after Harvard. Alumni include President Thomas Jefferson.
College of William and Mary
Save the Wren Cross
Support Nichol

Seems everyone wants us to be tolerant of all viewpoints...but they don't have to be tolerant of ours. A 2001 poll shows 76.5% of Americans identify themselves as Christian. I would never go into a non-Christian place of worship and feel out of place simply because I didn't see any Christian symbols. Let's try to get over ourselves and just get along.