Tag Archives: award

Do You Want Your Presidential Fitness Award?

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Did you ever try to get your Presidential Physical Fitness Award when you were in school? I vaguely remember trying to do it when I was in elementary school. There was one day in the gym where we had to do sit-ups and it was actually a competition, you had to keep going and going and going. I hated sit-ups, even if I was good at them. Anyway, I zoned out in the middle of the sit-ups and when I zoned back in, I’d done over a 100 and passed that portion of the physical. I don’t think I could … Continue reading →

Frugal Backpacks

Have you found that your child’s backpack is already torn or broken? This just happened to a neighbor of ours. Their brand new Incredible backpack that they bought back in August split a seam and now they need a new one. At the moment, they are holding the backpack together with some duct tape, but it is not a great solution. Not only does it look bad, but it has to be re-taped on a daily basis. If you find yourself in this situation, or you just want to get ahead of the back pack rush for next year, I … Continue reading →

Celebrity Updates: Maria and Dave

No matter what happens with her husband’s political career don’t expect Maria Shriver to return to TV news. Mrs. Arnold Schwarzenegger says she has Anna Nicole Smith to thank for that decision. Shriver made the announcement about her career earlier this week during the annual California Governor and First Lady’s Conference on Women. You’ll recall Shriver took an extended leave from her job at NBC News when her husband ran for California governor in 2003. After he was elected, Shriver made two appearances as an anchor for “Dateline NBC.” A few months later she told her bosses that she could … Continue reading →

Bono—-One Step Closer To The Nobel Peace Prize?

It’s hard to believe that one day soon I could say that I spent time with a Nobel Peace Prize winner. It could happen if U2’s Bono gets the honor. Okay, it’s not like I spent the day on his private yacht or anything… Actually, now that I think about it we didn’t even shake hands, but we did exchange smiles, and I swear, if it weren’t for his security personnel, our hands would have touched. Heck, if it weren’t for his security personnel I would probably still have his autograph preserved on whatever article of clothing I was wearing … Continue reading →

Music Legend Gets Overdue Honor and Unlikely Rocker Gets Overdue Recognition

Legendary Motown singer-songwriter Smokey Robinson is making history again. The 67-year-old, who is credited with shaping the once fledgling Motown record label into a force to be reckoned with in the music industry (with his group the Miracles), is receiving the United Negro College Fund’s award of excellence. The group says they decided to honor Robinson this year because he has been a longtime contributor to education and as such has helped “countless students get the college education they need and deserve.” You can see Robinson receiving the award sometime in January. The presentation was recently taped at the United … Continue reading →

Meet My Soldier

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It’s been a rough week on our military and their families. We have dealt with an anti-war protest that included the police being told to stand down during an incident with spray paint and then we discovered that William Arkin considers our troops “mercenaries”. For that reason, I would like to introduce you to one of those so called mercenaries: my husband. My husband Carl grew up in a very small town in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Carl joined the Army at the age of eighteen for two reasons: First, to get some kind of training that would give … Continue reading →

Understanding Your Deployed Soldier

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While my husband was in Iraq, I discovered a brand new side to his personality. My husband is generally pretty laid back and it takes a great deal for him to really get upset in the everyday world. To say the very least, this was not the case while he was deployed. I was lucky enough that my husband had internet access in his tent so we were able to talk everyday online and without a doubt this was a blessing; it could also be a huge stress factor as well. I arranged my life around the computer as my … Continue reading →

You’ll Never Get Rich (1941)

“You’ll Never Get Rich” is a lesser known Fred Astaire movie, this time pairing him with the lovely Rita Hayworth. Fred plays Robert Curtis, choreographer and performer in a theater run by Martin Cortland, who is a womanizer to the max. When caught by his wife, Julia, Martin uses Robert as an alibi, and Robert takes the brunt of many a tall tale. When Sheila Winslow (Rita Hayworth) joins the act, Martin goes after her, as is his tradition, and she turns him down flat, but Julia doesn’t buy it. Once again Robert comes to the rescue, pretending that the … Continue reading →

Interesting Innovations

There’s the anti-spill water bowl for dogs that is designed for traveling, the e-Lation electric bike conversion kit, which turns a standard bicycle into an electric one while maintaining all the bike’s gears, and the Universal Tile Ventilator, a new type of roof tile that allows ventilation and heat to exit the roof space when there is no breeze through natural convection flow… interesting innovations are born everyday, but only a very small fraction of the creative (and sometimes crazy) creations go on to become household names. YouTube, the video-sharing website, happens to be one of them. Believe it or … Continue reading →

Tom Hanks Scores Military Honor

It didn’t have a name like Oscar, Tony, or Emmy, but for actor Tom Hanks, the recent award presented to him by the U.S. military, is just as special. Thursday night Hanks was named an honorary member of the U.S. Army’s Ranger Hall of Fame for his “accurate portrayal of a World War II Army Ranger company commander” in the movie “Saving Private Ryan” and for his “continued commitment to honoring those who served in the war.” He becomes the first actor to receive such an honor. In addition to his role in “Saving Private Ryan,” Hanks was recognized for … Continue reading →