I've been awake since 2:00 a.m.

No, really. I have. And you want to know the best part (perhaps I should say worst part...)? It was on purpose.

And not so I could witness something amazing. You know, like a meteor shower, a cool lightening storm or a blue moon (that's tonight, by the way).

I was awake before the crack of dawn so I could be at work before the crack of dawn. And no matter how you look at it, no matter how far to one side or the other you tilt your head, when the clock says 2:00 a.m. when your alarm goes off it doesn't matter how much sleep you got the night before...your body just doesn't want to wake up.

So I get to work around 3:00 a.m. so I can sit in the booth for the two-hour long morning show. Then once the shows ended (Mr. Food did not stage another take over), I trotted back upstairs to fulfill my duties as Wayne, our cantankerous assignment editor.

Things were looking pretty grim for the planner - New Year's Resolutions story (nobody wants that), Fireworks Safety story (it's been done to death) - and I didn't know what miraculous story would be chosen for the 5:00 and 6:00 leads. Fortunately, the journalism gods smiled on me today and dropped a story right into my lap, and what a story it's turning out to be.

A guy called in, quite breathless I have to say, to report that a gym in downtown Enterprise was on fire. The tip turned out to be true. Lanny's 24 Hour Fitness had caught fire and the blaze was threatening the other businesses that shared its part of the block. So I called Denise (she happens to be stationed there so it was perfect!) and got the ball rolling.

Now we have two reporters in Enterprise: one to cover the "nuts and bolts" of the fire itself and one to cover the fire's impact on other business owners. We've already got pictures and even some video up on our web channel, along with the details we currently have. You can check all that out by clicking here. And of course those of you who just so happen to be in our viewing area can get all the details by tuning in to channel 4. We'll have live updates at 12:00, 5:00 and 6:00.

What a way to end 2009, huh? The last shows of the decade are destined to be a blazing success.

This blog has absolutely no journalistic value whatsoever.

You know, other than it happens to be about a newscast. Today's Live at Lunch, to be precise. If you'd like to see the show (minus the end-of-show blunder), you can check it out on our web channel. Just make sure you click on the Live at Lunch link.

Anyway, here's what happened. It was a beautiful show... if you don't count the mics not being open for the beginning of the show (nothing like a whole bunch of random video playing and not knowing what it means) and the spectacular ending, which is what this blog is all about.

So I don't know if you know anything about Mr. Food. He's this crazy southern chef that we feature in our morning show and when we don't have two interview segments at noon we play him again. Today was one of those days... but his actual segment isn't where the problem was.

Apparently Mr. Food (he looks so innocent and friendly, doesn't he?) decided his minute and 45 seconds in the C block wasn't enough air time. No. He decided to make one last appearance.

This is how we end our show: the anchor and weather person are sitting in chairs (it looks more personable than having them at the desk). They talk about what's coming up on later shows, what's on the menu for the next day's Live at Lunch, and have a final look at weather. As the show is getting ready to end, they zoom into a computer (they remind you to look online for local headlines, etc.).

But that's not how today's show went down. When Joe, the director, hit the button for them to move into the computer who do you think shows up? A giant picture of Mr. Food. So Erica (anchor) and Martha (meteorologist) zoom out to sit in the middle of his face.

Meanwhile, the control room is going crazy. There are cries of Where the @*#$ did that come from?! and the director frantically punching buttons to get him off the screen. But we learned today that Mr. Food is a stubborn adversary. He would not disappear.

Thus, I dub today's episode of Live at Lunch Mr. Food: The Take Over.

So I got finished producing my show early, and instead of posting more stories to the web like I should be doing, I was browsing on Yahoo (as usual) and found a bunch of videos. There are random categories, like Top 5 Viral Videos of 2009 and Top 5 Epic Fail Videos of 2009.

What led me there was a link about opening a banana like a monkey. I couldn't help myself. I had to know. Especially since I can never get into my bananas. It was so simple. I can't believe I never figured it out before.

I found a very intriguing article from Esquire.

You can read it here.

Anyway. It's called "12 Things You Don't Know About Women". What it did was take 12 female celebrities and ask them for relationship and dating advice. While they were all mostly true and a lot were funny, of course I'm not going to repost the entire article (that's called copyright infringement). So I'm just going to post my top three favorites... and also the one that made me literally lol.

1. "Call us back right away. That 'three day' business does not apply. We're getting older, and we don't have time to screw around. Wait too long and we'll lose interest. Trust me on this one." - Christina Applegate

2. "When considering whether or not to ask out the girl you're afraid to talk to, keep this in mind: No matter who you are or what you look like, it's always flattering when you hit on us. Always." -Poppy Montgomery

3. "We are all about our necks. Feel free to spend as much time there as you wish." -Mariska Hargitay



lol funny: "Supersecret: Unless we're blind or have no night-light in the bathroom, the whole toilet-seat thing is exaggerated and meant to control you." -Tea Leoni

"Age cannot wither her, nor custom stale
Her infinite variety; other women cloy
The appetites they feed, but she makes hungry
Where most she satisfies;..."
--Shakespeare's Anthony and Cleopatra

Cleopatra was an infamous Egyptian ruler. Most of the myth surrounding her history is just that, myth - tales spread by her Roman enemy, Octavian, unintentionally crystalized her legend. The legend grew even more through the writings of Plutarch, Chaucer and Shakespeare, as well as through the many film versions of her story.

Cleopatra VII was actually the seventh Ptolomaic queen of the same name. She ruled Egypt from 51 to 30 B.C., first sharing a co-regency with her father Ptolomy XII. After her father died, she co-ruled with her brother, Ptolomy XIII. However, hard times throughout the country drove the siblings apart, and Ptolomy ousted Cleopatra in 48 B.C. Cleopatra tried to raise a rebellion with no success and eventually fled to her Roman protector, Pompey.

At the time, Pompey had just been defeated by Julius Caesar. In an effort to gain Caesar's favor, Ptolemy XII killed Pompey, and upon Caesar's return to Rome presented the severed consul's head. Caesar, however, was not pleased with Ptolomey's act and subsequently had him drowned in the Nile. Cleopatra was restored to the Egyptian throne, and thus her entanglement in the Roman Empire began.

It is said that Cleopatra bore Caesar a son, whom she named Ptolomy Caesarion. Caesar refused to name the boy as his heir however. Cleopatra returned to Egypt after the assasination of Caesar, where she arranged to have her brother/husband disposed of and installed Caesarion as her new co-regent.

After Caesar's death, Marc Antony and Octavian defeated the rebellion and divided the Roman Empire between them. Antony summoned Cleopatra to Tarsus and then spent the winter in Alexandria. Cleopatra bore him twins. Four years later, Antony returned to Alexandria where he renewed his relationship with Cleopatra. Alexandria became his permanent home soon after. The two were married according to Egyptian rite, and Cleopatra bore him another child.

Marc Antony divided his portion of the Roman empire between Cleopatra and their children against the wishes of the Senate. But in 33 B.C., Octavian defeated Antony in a naval battle. Cleopatra's fleet had mysteriously withdrawn. Octavian pursued Antony and Cleopatra back to Egypt, where Antony committed suicide believing Cleopatra was already dead. She followed suit a few days later. Her son, Caesarion, was declared Pharaoh, but was captured and executed by Octavian who then declared himself Pharaoh of Egypt.

Now, you're probably wondering what brought on my sudden history lesson of Cleopatra. While I was looking through Yahoo, I found this article. Egyptian archaeologists just recovered an ancient granite temple pylon from the harbour at Alexandria. It was part of Cleopatra's palace complex and stood at the entrance of a temple to Isis. The pylon will be the centerpiece of a museum that will showcase the sunken city that is believed to have toppled into the Meditterannean during an earthquake in the fourth century.

I know this is a shameless plug, but oh well. This is my blog and I'm allowed.

For those of you who don't know (which is pretty much everybody) I write. A lot. All the time. Mostly poetry. It's, I'd guess you would say, my way of dealing with the issues of my life.

With that being said, I've been badly neglecting my poetry. It's always been a big part of my life, but here lately things have just been crazy busy and I haven't felt inspired (in other words, I haven't been angry, frustrated, in love, or any other major emotion).

I'm trying to make sure I've got all my recent pieces on my writing network, but I'd really like to know what you think. They're not masterpieces by any means.

So anyway, check this out.

I like to browse the top stories on Yahoo. In other words, I like to see what stories make the cut for that unique little scrolling headlines thing in the middle of their home page. At the top of the list today (right now anyway)? An article (probably mostly pictures) of Salma Hayek's new hairstyle. While I definitely looked at it (a girl can never have too many ideas for new hair cuts), it was more like a glance.

What really caught my eye was an article from Cosmopolitan titled "Gifts That Guys Say They Love". So of course I clicked on it to see what made the list (just in case I think of a guy I need to buy a gift for).

There were 12 items on the list, most of which I would never actually buy. I mean, who really needs customizable sneakers? If I had a boyfriend, would he really want to run around with my nickname for him stamped on his shoes? Probably not.

And then, of course, there were electronics - an XBox 360, iPod Touch, iPhone and something called a Kindle Wireless Reading Device. Three of those are no brainers...and definitely out of my price range.

The list ends with my personal favorite - Aqua di Gio by Georgio Armani. That stuff is like liquid sex in a bottle. Mmm.

To see all the gifts that made the list click here.

First of all let me just say that I had absolutely no idea there were designated "colors of the year." So this intrigues me...

I ran across this article on Yahoo earlier talking about the color of 2010.

By the way, it's transporting turquoise...whatever that means.

Apparently it's going to blast the world into vacation mode all year long. Just what we need, a whole bunch of business people painting their offices, etc. transporting turquoise and taking lots of vacations. Way to encourage people to help the nation get out of the recession Pantone. Good job.

2009's color was mimosa yellow. I didn't know mimosas were yellow...

Anyway, Pantone said the purpose of that color choice was to put people in a hopeful mood.

So we're going from hopeful to fantasizing. This should work out well...

This holiday season's hottest-selling toy is the Zhu Zhu pet, a mechanical pet hamster that you don't have to worry about feeding or cleaning up after.



Anyway, these hot hamsters have been all over the news the past few days thanks to a consumer group called GoodGuide. The group tested the toys to make sure they are safe for kids and found high levels of a toxic chemical called antimony.

The federal limit of the toxin is 60 parts per million. Now the consumer group found 93 parts per million in the Zhu Zhu's fur and 103 parts per million in its nose.

The maker of these no-mess pets of course jumped to their defense, saying the toys passed rigorous tests and are safe for children. So the Consumer Product Safety Commission stepped in and reviewed the toys. They found them to be safe and non-toxic for kids, and now GoodGuide is saying their test results were flawed.

So here's my question - why would any child want a fake hamster in lieu of a real one?

Today has been totally insane. One producer called in sick. The other two (me included) are having to be really careful about our hours so we don't go into overtime (heaven forbid). So I've produced (hecticly) the 5:00 and 6:00 shows and will be running the booth for both. As a result I get to sleep an extra hour tomorrow...but I also don't have anything worthy of a blog.

So...in light of all that. It's the 68th anniversary of the day the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. You know, the day that will live in infamy? It's the anniversary of the event that propelled the U.S. into World War II. Truly a momentous day.

So if you know a World War II vet...or better yet a Pearl Harbor survivor...go shake his/her hand. We owe them a lot.

So I'm sure everyone has noticed the change to the Sun-Maid girl by now. Well...I found this really entertaining article (in my opinion at least) on Yahoo.

They compare the new Sun-Maid girl to a "Barbie Doll in Amish attire."


The original version of the girl is based off of a girl who was discovered drying her dark-colored curls at her parents' home in Fresno. Of course, the company has tweaked the design to keep up with the times but traditionally the final version of the tweak has always been based on the original girl.

The changes were actually implemented three years ago, and the company's president says they were prompted by their desire to educate consumers about healthy eating habits.

I personally don't like the new girl. She reminds me of the evil Barbie Dolls from the movie Toy Soilders...

There may be some disappointed people this Thanksgiving.

Nestle has announced that there may not be enough of its Libby's pumpkin pie products (a.k.a. pumpkin pie filling) to make it through the holidays. They say that heavy rain hurt their pumpkin harvest and that they will not package any more pumpkins this year.

Nestle is responsible for nearly all the canned pumpkin in the United States.

I really really hope my granny bought her Thanksgiving supplies early this year. I'm going to be one disappointed girl if there's no pumpkin pie on the dessert table...especially since it'll be my birthday as well.

Let's face it. We live in a world full of stereotypes - Southern people are hicks; northerners are rude; blondes are dumb; cops eat donuts. And they don't stop there.

As a redhead I've lived my life in a whirl of stereotypes - our tempers are hot; our sex drive is high; and did I mention we don't have souls? So I decided to put my journalistic skills to use and look into the myths/religious beliefs/weird customs behind the stereotypes that so desperately wish to define me.


Works of literature have done their fair share of fostering the stereotypes surrounding red hair.

Let's start with the most famous of redheaded stereotypes: the fiery nature of our temperament.

It is said of the redheaded heroine of Anne of Green Gables, Anne Shirley, that "her temper matches her hair."

Catcher in the Rye also pays homage to red hair when Holden Caulfield remarks, "People with red hair are supposed to get mad very easily..." But he goes on to disprove the stereotype by saying his late brother, Allie, had very red hair but never got angry.

Literature has also lent its helpful efforts to the belief that redheads are "highly sexed." For example, author Johnathan Swift puts a satirical spin on this particular convention in the fourth part of his book Gulliver's Travels, "A Voyage to the Country of the Houyhnhnms." He writes: "It is observed that the red-haired of both sexes are more libidinous and mischievous than the rest, whom yet they much exceed in strength and activity."

Katherine Brush's novel Red-Headed Woman embraces both of the above-mentioned stereotypes in the portrayal of its protagonist - a sexually aggressive home-wrecker who frequently throws violent temper tantrums.

And as a possible contributor to the original myths of temperament, the character of Achilles in Homer's The Illiad is described as having red hair.


Red hair has often been the subject of artists. This painting is called "Accolade". It was painted by Edmund Blair Leighton in 1901. It pictures a red-haired Lady Guiniviere knighting a young fighter, perhaps Lancelot.

This famous painting is "The Birth of Venus" by early Rennaissance painter Sandro Botticelli. It depicts the mythological goddess as a redhead.

Red hair can also be found in religious and mythological traditions. Red is the preferred dyeing color in Islam, and it is reported that the prophet Muhammad used henna to dye his hair red.

Esau, the twin brother of Jacob from 1 Samuel, is said to have been completely covered in red hair. Mary Magdalene is depicted as having flowing red hair in early artistic renderings (there is no mention of hair color in the Bible).

Thor of Norse mythology is portrayed as having red hair, and ancient Egyptians associated both red-haired people and red-colored animals with the god Set and considered them to be favored by the powerful and temperamental deity.

The popularity of red hair throughout history is touch and go. Queen Elizabeth I of England was a redhead, so during the Elizabethan Era red hair was viewed in a more favorable light.

In the Middle Ages, red hair and green eyes were thought to be the sign of a witch, werewolf or vampire. Montague Summers translated Malleus Maleficarum: "Those whose hair is red, of a peculiar shade, are unmistakably vampires."

Further translation reveals: "It is significant that in ancient Egypt, as Manetho tells us, human sacrifices were offered at the grave of Osiris, and the victims were red-haired men who were burned, their ashes being scattered far and wide by winnowing-fans. It is held by some authorities that this was done to fertilize the fields and produce a bounteous harvest, red-hair symbolizing the golden wealth of the corn. But these men were called Typhonians, and were representatives not of Osiris but of his evil rival Typhon, whose hair was red."

On a personal level I find this all fascinating, although I wish I had been able to find more information on the belief that redheads are soulless (other than references to that particular SouthPark episode). I don't much believe in stereotypes. I find them to be mostly generalizations that cannot be used to describe a particular group of people as a whole. Even if 99 of 100 people fits every known stereotype for their particular group, there is one person who proves them wrong, therefore rendering those stereotypes as just that: stereotypes.

Who in their right mind would genuinely want to, for lack of a better phrase, "hit that"? I mean, c'mon. It's David freaking Letterman.

*shudder*

But I guess when you put a $2 million price tag on the deed, he starts to look a whole lot better.

Technically the $2 million dollars wasn't for the sex. It was actually for a third party to keep quiet about ol' Dave's sexual affairs with his staffers, most of whom were interns if I'm not mistaken. But Mr. Letterman didn't exactly play by their rules.

Dave is suing CBS producer Robert "Joe" Halderman for extortion. Good for you, Dave. Admit your misdoings and stand up for your rights. Halderman, on the other hand, is backpedaling fast. Now he claims that he wasn't blackmailing the late night host but was actually proposing a screenplay. What an interesting show that would make: The Letterman Affairs.

I said good-bye to my appendix two weeks ago yesterday. It was a simple enough procedure. They inserted a camera into my belly button (interesting scar it's becoming) and then made two incisions in my lower abdomen - one on my right hip and one right above my pelvic area.

Oh, wait. I skipped a part. The most interesting part, minus the belly-button camera, of the whole operation. They deflated my kidneys and bladder and then pumped me full of air, like a balloon. That was so my appendix would float to the top of everything else.

They did the whole thing laproscopically, so instead of having one really big scar I'm developing three smaller scars. They didn't even use stitches or staples to close the incisions up. They just put these white strips that look like regular surgical tape, but must be more advanced, over them. The one on my hip came off a few days ago. I can't say as I'm excited about the unhidable scar I'm going to have there.

Anyway, my follow-up appointment is this afternoon. I'm kind of nervous. I don't like being poked on, and I foresee a lot of that happening. I'm also pretty sure the doctor is going to have something to say about my going back to work so soon, but if he does I have a response ready: I had to make the money to pay for this visit!

This is my horoscope for Monday:

I despise slow news days, and not just because I produce a two-hour show on a daily basis (excluding weekends, of course). They say "no news is good news," but in my humble opinion no news means old news which translates into boring.

And let me tell you, this morning was sloooow. As a rule, I pull all of the new news from the 10 p.m. show and anything of importance regardless of how many times it ran the day before. This morning, there was nothing new in last night's 10:00. I repeat, nothing. So I was forced to peruse the 6:00...and the 5:00, which is something we don't like to do EVER. But, lucky me, all of the important stories ran only once yesterday...a couple in the 5:00...a few more in the 6:00...and a measley one in the 10:00.

Joy of joys I needed seven more minutes worth of stories. These are the mornings my job gets...interesting. I came across a real estate scam, called a ponzi (I really should look into that name); a few trial conclusions; and nothing else worth mentioning.

I am rather intrigued by my kicker though. A Brazilian bricklayer who was thought to be dead showed up as his own funeral, much to the surprise of the family members that identified the body they were burying as him. Makes you wonder how close they were...

You know, in the face of all the horrible things happening out there, even as I'm typing this, sometimes something extraordinary happens to remind us not all things are all bad.

This past Saturday, 7-month-old Shannon Dedrick of Chipley, Florida, was reported missing from her parents' home. Following that report, a large-scale search was launched in Washington County.

I work at a television station. I actually put together the morning show (I'm the producer). Now we've been covering this story since it broke last weekend. Now I'm behind the scenes and regularly converse with three to five other production people. Now we've seen this story day in and day out, and as a producer I've seen/heard/read a lot of information that doesn't make it on air.

This was such a heart-wrenching story to follow. We were all sure the baby was dead, killed by its mother.

Well last night at about 9:30, Washington County Sheriff's Deputies found the baby...stuffed in a shoebox and shoved under a bed...but amazingly, alive. She had been put there at 8:00 yesterday morning, but she was unharmed and blessedly alive.

Life is full of little wonders.

In general, I'm not a big fan of technology. I think we've, for lack of a better explanation, made our lives overly complicated by trying to make things simpler and better.

Computers annoy me to no end - they never seem to cooperate and prove to be especially fickle in those moments when you desperately need them to work. And then there's the internet, or rather internet service providers (commonly known as ISP's). First there was dial-up and all of the problems that went along with it. Now there's DSL and wireless, which are supposed to be amazing in terms of their service. Bologna. Just last night my DSL just stopped working. For no reason. Everything was set up correctly, all the right lights were blinking, and my computer was shown to be connected, but it was all lies! There was no internet, and consequently I currently hate my ISP. With that being said, however, I obviously could not survive without my computer or the internet.

Which brings me to cellular devices. I don't consider the new cell phones to be phones at all. They've got way too much other stuff on them for them to be simply a phone. Now we've got the iPhone with its thousands of applications (all designed to make life simpler, of course) and the Blackberry with all its different versions, also with thousands of applications, and we can't forget Google's version of the smart phone. All come with text messaging capabilities, cameras to take pictures and record videos, and of course limited internet access. They're all designed to keep you in touch with everyone you could possibly know (and even some people you don't) at all times through all possible means.

But not all service providers were created equal. In the grand scheme of things, there are really two major contenders for the title of "Best Cell Phone Service Provider" - AT&T and Verizon Wireless. Both offer nationwide (their versions of it anyway) coverage as well as 3-G coverage. Personally, I prefer Verizon over AT&T, but that's mainly because my neck of the woods (a.k.a. the middle of nowhere) doesn't fall under AT&T's coverage. With that said though, I prefer AT&T's "More Bars" commercials over Verizon's "Can You Hear Me Now?" ads.

Which brings me to what started my technology-hating kick today - a commercial. More specifically, a lawsuit over a commercial. That commercial is Verizon's new "There's A Map For That" ad, which makes fun of Apple's "There's an App for That" spot. AT&T is suing Verizon...not because the commercial is poking fun at the iPhone, which they provide the service for...but because of the maps used in the commercial.

In the commercial, Verizon displays two maps: one showing its national 3-G coverage and another showing AT&T's national 3-G coverage with blank spaces to show the areas not included. The Verizon map is (obviously) more colored-in than the AT&T map...which is what all the hullaballoo is about. AT&T says the map used to show their 3-G coverage is misleading because they offer regular phone service in the blank areas. Apparently their customers are getting confused. I guess their customers aren't capable of understanding that the commercial is about 3-G coverage alone.

So does that mean Verizon is the more intelligent choice? Well, that depends on your phone preference. I, for one, don't look at 3-G coverage area to determine which service provider best fits my needs because when it comes down to it, a cell phone's most important feature is just that...the phone!

The Axe lawsuit I heard and blogged about yesterday intrigued me, much like all the other stupid lawsuits in the world intrigue me. I wanted to know the details so once I finished getting my show ready for this morning (it will air in about 30 minutes), I did a little journalistic research...and I didn't like what I found.

A 26-year-old man in New Delhi, India, reportedly was going to file a lawsuit against the Axe parent company, Unilever, for false advertisement. He claims the advertisements lied to him, making him believe if he used Axe products girls would be attracted to him. However, in the seven years he used the products he says "no girl ever came to me."

A spokesperson for Axe released a statement confirming the story is a hoax, but also said they found it "pretty funny" and "in line with our brand tone - playful, with a wink and a nudge."

Looks like my McDonald's-hot-coffee-lawsuit look-alike is dead before it even got started.

I have returned from an unwanted week-long vacation. Last week I had an emergency appendectomy, but don't worry. The pesky little booger came out just fine. I don't even have stitches. I will, however, have three small scars: one in my belly button (where they put the camera in), one on my hip and one right above my pelvis. I was in pain for awhile and it took a few days for the swelling to go down, but for the most part I'm recuperated. I still get tired really easily though, and the stairs I have to walk up at work every day/night are definitely not my friend.

I missed work while I was alternately sleeping and...well, sleeping at home last week. I'm not really sure what I missed news-wise. Two days were spent in the hospital, and during the other three I must confess the television didn't have as much allure as my bed.

This week was almost like starting over because of all the new stuff we're doing. It's Peanut Festival week so we've got promos and ticket giveaways (which are a blast, let me tell you). Plus we've added in a Rachael Ray "Tip of the Day" to every consumer segment. Today's was really lame by the way. Now we only have one "normal" day during the week, a.k.a. a show free of segments...at least until we start running different series.

The most interesting piece of news I heard yesterday (courtesy of 99.7 WOOF FM) was about a ridiculous lawsuit. Apparently a man, I don't know his name, is suing the makers of Axe deoderants and body sprays because...wait for it...in the seven years he has been using their products he hasn't gotten a girlfriend. He says that their advertisements, featuring scantily clad women throwing themselves at guys wearing Axe, are false advertising and have caused him psychological damage. The lawyers in this case are even going so far as to send his half-empty bottles of deoderants and cans of body spray off to laboratories to be chemically tested. The whole thing reminds me of the McDonald's lawsuit over hot coffee.

So I don't have anything interesting to talk about today. I've been wracking my brain trying to come up with something, but nada. My morning show has offered no inspiration. All the news is just updates from stuff that's been happening all week.

For instance, the body of the little girl who went missing from north Florida has been found. It was in a land fill in southeast Georgia.

We've been following the trial of a former Alabama judge. His fate is in the hands of the jurors now. They started deliberations yesterday after seven days of testimony. The former judge is charged with 52 felony counts from 11 people. The charges range from sex abuse to kidnapping and even extortion.

Protestors made several appearances in my show this week. Wednesday a group was outside the CDC protesting the H1N1 vaccine calling it a dangerous cocktail of antifreeze, formaldehyde and mercury. Yesterday a group was in Washington to speak out against the private insurance industry.

So nothing interesting for me to talk about since all these stories have been told to death this past week. But at least you now have some current events for small talk!

I bet you didn't know that this week is "Distraction-Free Driving Week". AAA Alabama has joined with the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, asking drivers to pay attention to the road and keep both hands on the wheel.

But that's not the end of AAA's quest to combat distracted driving. The company is launching a campaign to ban texting while driving in all 50 states. They are going to lobby to pass laws in states that lack them and to improve existing laws in those states that do have the bans. Their goal is for the nation-wide bans to be in effect by 2013.

A spokesperson for AAA Alabama says, "The new technologies that help us multi-task in our everyday lives...[are] a hard-to-resist challenge to the typically safe driver." He goes on to say that the bans would stop the dangerous practice from spreading.

Right now, 18 states and the District of Columbia have laws addressing texing while driving. Two more states prohibit teenage and other new drivers from texting while driving.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is taking steps to develop standards that will address combustible dust in the workplace. Now if you're like me, you have no idea what combustible dust is or its significance. So today I'm dedicating my blog to this mysterious dust (which you can't always see apparently) and why it's so important to the U.S. Department of Labor.

According to OSHA's website, any type of combustible material can burn rapidly when it is in a finely divided form, i.e. dust. If the material(s) is suspended in the air in the right concentration, it can become explosive.

There is a multitude of different materials that can form this combustible dust including:

• metals like aluminum and magnesium
• wood
• coal
• plastics
• biosolids
• sugar
• paper
• soap
• dried blood, and
• certain textiles

Hazards can be present in several industries, including:

• food
• grain
• tobacco
• plastics
• wood
• paper
• pulp
• rubber
• furniture
• textiles
• pesticides
• pharmaceuticals
• dyes
• coal
• metals, and
• fossil fuel power generators

More than 130 workers have died and more than 780 have been injured in combustible dust explosions since 1980. Last year there was an explosion at Imperial Sugar in Port Wentworth, Georgia, that killed 14 people. In many of these explosions, employees have said they weren't even aware there was any danger. U.S. Secretary of Labor Linda Solis says it's time for workers to stop dying in these preventable explosions.

OSHA will be publishing its proposed rules in the today's edition of the Federal Register. They want comments from the public in the form of suggestions for controlling combustible dust in the workplace. They are allowing 90 days for these comments and suggestions to be offered.

The man once credited for discovering water on the South Pole of the moon is now going down in history as a man apparently willing to sell out his country.

52-year-old former government scientist, Dr. Stewart Nozette, was arrested yesterday (Monday, Oct. 19) just outside of our nation's capitol. He is accused of trying to sell top secret national defense, satellite and military information, including the U.S.'s early warning capabilities during a large-scale attack, to who he thought was an Israeli intelligence official. The charging documents say he met with this person twice.

Federal investigators say Nozette delivered the top secret information on two instances and accepted two payments at a secret post office box. Those payments amounted to about $11,000. It turns out he was selling the information to an undercover FBI agent, and officials believe he would be willing to sell more information if presented with the opportunity.

Supposedly Nozette said he liked being a spy. He's due in federal court later today.

Seriously, how long does it take to decide how many more or less troops need to be sent overseas? It seems like I've been hearing/reading "it will be at least two more weeks before the president makes a final decision" for at least two weeks now. But I guess it must be hard to make a decision when you refuse to listen to your chief advisers' advice. Which leads to my next question: why are they in that position if you don't value their judgment? Now I hear that it's all pending on the Afghan government resolving their election crisis. I'm sure I don't know the exact timing, but isn't it true that the Afghanistan election has been in a recount for months? And what's this I've read on the Associated Press' wire about allowing the Taliban to take part in the governing of this country because we need to "focus on al-Qaida"? Since when did the Taliban become the good guys? Have I missed something?

Don't worry about a thing
'Cause every little thing gonna be alright.

Let me just say it right now. I absolutely love Bob Marley. His music is amazing. Never fails to make me feel better about anything. Especially this song - Three Little Birds. He had such an amazing philosophy about life, one that he put into his music. It transcends generations, gender, race, culture and location. Truly a remarkable feat.

So, the Dow closed out over 10,000 yesterday. That's the first time in more than a year that it's hit that mark, much less exceeded it. Some people say that's a good sign for our economy, but I think I'll stick with the economists on this one and agree that the country's financial situation is still shaky at best.

Why do we appoint people to be our advisors, put them in crucial positions and then not believe them or choose to ignore them when they advise us?

I was watching this documentary earlier on GPB by The Frontline, and it really got me to thinking. We have all these people overseas fighting the War on Terror against al Qaeda and the Taliban, but when it comes right down to it the powers that be don't seem to be listening to them at all. They ignore their suggestions, brush off their comments about what's actually happening and seem to be favoring the opinions of people who are sitting safely on the other side of the ocean.

How much sense does that make?

People who want to talk about the issues our country is facing but who don't follow those issues and therefore know nothing about them annoy me. How can they be expected to have an intelligent opinion, or even a truthful one, when they have no knowledge to base their opinion on? I mean, I know the news is boring most of the time, but tune in people! If you ever want to be taken seriously in serious discussions, you've got to really be in the know. Just because you feel some way about an issue doesn't mean a hill of beans if you have nothing to base your feeling on other than your "feeling."

Why do guys always want the girl to be loyal to them and only them, but think they can see whoever they please?

I'm sitting in my mom's gifted certification class tonight for lack of anything remotely productive or entertaining to do. My days are so filled with excitement these days. I wash dishes, do laundry, take care of the dog and cat, and apply for jobs that don't even have the courtesy to acknowledge my application.

These people in this class are an interesting bunch. They fall into two categories - the ones that think of themselves as gifted and those that just think of themselves as ordinary people. This one lady, for example, takes great joy in pointing out inaccuracies in the teacher's lecture. She is loud and very oppinionated. No one has said anything to contradict her opinions. I get the feeling that they're all afraid of her. She would probably just point out all of the inaccuracies of their opinions. I get the vibe from her that she is the type of person who feels entitled to her opinion but doesn't have time for the opinions of others, especially if they differ from hers.

I went through the gifted program during my regular schooling. It changed drastically from elementary school to middle school to high school. However, never once did I feel like I was being "trained" because I wasn't able to handle my own mind power. The teacher of this class just asserted to her room full of educators yearning for their gifted certification that gifted students need to be discovered early in life so that they can be trained. The loud, opinionated woman took it so far as to say that gifted children are being trained for "jobs that don't even exist today." I resent that. It's as if these educators are being told that they have the power and the responsibility to manipulate these gifted children to fill the roles that they think they should fill.

I know gifted children need to be taught in different ways than children with average intelligence. However, I do not believe that these children should have their lives and way of thinking molded for them by a group of "well-meaning" educators.

I came through the gifted program without any teacher trying to manipulate me into thinking a certain way. I was allowed to form my own opinions and choose my own path in life. Or at least that's how I remember it.

I suppose it's possible that my teachers did attempt to mold me into the type of person society seems to think a "gifted" person should be and I was just too strong-willed and independent to be influenced by the manipulations of someone who may or may not have been less intelligent than I was/am.

Normal teachers and normal teaching methods do not exist. No two students learn the same way. It is a teacher's duty to discover the strengths and weaknesses of her students and present knowledge to them in a way they understand and will benefit from, whether those students are gifted, average or below average in intelligence. It is not their duty to interfere in their way of thinking or to try to make them into something they may not want to be simply because they have a higher or lower IQ than the average person.

I just mailed clips to my first magazine. Snail mail, ftw!

I want a job.

I had my first real job interview last weekend. It seemed to have gone well. They were supposed to call me and let me know their decision yesterday.

I still haven't heard from them.

However, I do have another prospect in the near future. Another paper called me on Friday and asked me to come in for an interview this week, most likely on Wednesday. He's supposed to call me tomorrow to confirm the date and time.

This one is actually strictly what I want to do - design/layout. And it's smaller than the first one. Instead of a daily paper, this one publishes twice a week, and considering I've never worked with anything daily it makes more sense to start out with something of that scale than a daily publication and work my way up.

I'm tired of being used, poked and prodded, hit on and made to feel like a piece of meat.

I just want someone to like me instead of just wanting to sleep with me.

Is that really too much to ask?

Don't tell me you love me when you don't respond to phone calls, ignore text messages and don't reply to messages online.

Don't tell me I'm your best friend.

Don't tell me you've been ignoring me unintentionally.

Don't make me feel insignificant, especially when you're a huge part of my life.

I miss you.

Why do the things that make the most sense have to be the things you don't want?

And we know it's never simple, never easy.
Never a clean break, no one here to save me.
You're the only thing I know like the back of my hand.
And I can't breathe without you,
But I have to.

It's 2 a.m., feeling like I just lost a friend.
Hope you know it's not easy, easy for me.

I did something that I should probably be ashamed of recently, but I'm not, and I would do it again if presented with the same situation...and that's pretty much all I have to say about that.

I'm finally completely moved in, and even have furniture. My parents are supposed to be bringing me another mattress so I can give Laura her bed back, although I don't know if they'll ever actually come back and pick it up. It's a pretty nice bed, to be honest, even if the frame is metal and squeaks with every move you make.

The ferrets are absolutely in love with my room, especially Bella. She took a nap in my fuzzy blanket on top of my bed this afternoon. It was adorable. Anya can't do that though because of her affinity with biting. They both like my giant fuzzy rabbit and fuzzy flower pillow as well. Bella keeps moving the pillow to wherever it is she wants to take a nap.

I got my last round of proofs today. I've got to actually apply the corrections tomorrow, print out all the corrected pages, write the files to the CD and mail them back to the plant. We're still waiting on the cover design to come back. I hope it turns out the way I had imagined it. I turned in the DVD yesterday and finalized a simple design for it. I need to start working on the "policy guide" for my independent study so that it can be presented to my successors at the camp we're planning for the fall. I already know what I want to include in it. It's just a matter of actually putting it together. I'm not sure exactly how I want to go about that yet. I hope it will be useful to them. The only problem will be if they don't go with Herff Jones next year because that's what the guide will be tailored to. I hope they don't switch it up. Bess is an amazing representative and they do so much for our publication that we wouldn't get with any other company. I know I'm about to graduate, but I'm genuinely worried about the future of the Palladium. I'm afraid my successors will get overwhelmed and/or let the staff walk all over them. I'm afraid the Publications Board will succeed in their attempts to move it to another department, even with the disapproval of Dr. P standing in their way. And I'm afraid that the school will accept a bid from another publication that will end up doing the same thing Jostens did 3 years ago. A part of me wishes that they could create a permanent position where I could do what I'm doing now, only with more control of the publication...kind of like being the advisor without being a professor. That would be a pretty nifty starter job, but what with proration and the budgets being cut I know it won't happen. But it would be nice to stay in Troy for a little while longer.

Speaking of jobs, I'm getting pretty freaked out about the lack of response I've had from the dozen or so positions I've applied for. Don't get me wrong, I have faith that everything will work out the way it's supposed to and I'll end up exactly where I'm meant to be. But just because I have faith doesn't mean I can't be afraid. I just wish I had some idea of where my life will be taking me after graduation. At this point, even a rejection letter/email would give me some peace of mind.

Life is starting to work itself out. Finally!

For a while I thought that nothing was going my way, but once again the wonderful people in my life have proved me wrong. I was dreading going home for the summer, dreading being bored in a town where I no longer have a social life or any prospects of one, dreading not being able to see my friends, dreading not being able to find a job doing something I want to do...but after all the hassle I've gone through with university housing in the past week and a half, I had resigned myself to moving back home if only for the purpose of not having to deal with them anymore.

But it seems as if all my fears were, for lack of a better word, irrational. I'm not going to have to move home for the summer (until August at least), and I'm not going to have to look for a new job until I graduate in July. I'm going to continue drawing my Palladium paycheck through the summer since I'll still be working on proofs and putting together a policy manual for my successors. I also volunteered to work with Ms. Kate through the summer, which will entail some filing and errand-running but mostly I'll be helping her plan/coordinate the high school journalism workshop for the fall semester (J-Day), which will look really good on my resume.

I only have to deal with university housing until the end of this week, for which I am grateful. This has been the most stressful week and a half because they are so disorganized. Then I'll be moving in with my friend for the rest of the summer (2 months) so she doesn't get kicked out of her apartment. I'm excited about getting to stay in town for my last summer as a student. I'll get to spend time with people I actually want to see, which is something I wouldn't get to do at home (other than with my family).

So everything is looking up. I still don't have a "real" job, but I've got time to figure all that out. I have faith that I'll end up where I'm meant to be in the end.