There's A New Blog in Town

I've read the TMZ's and the Perez Hilton's (man, I hope there's only one!) out there. There is something about sites like that people like or are at least drawn to. What many forget is that the people written about are actually, get this, real people. Lindsey Lohan, Paris Hilton, and apparently even Tom Cruise are real people with real lives and real problems. Just like you and me.
OK, off the soap box...I'm launching a new blog. Whoa! It's not spam! :) Give zerogossip.com a try. Launching in just about 15 minutes with an exclusive Nikki Giavasis interview. What an amazing woman with an incredible life story.
This new blog is designed to be 100% gossip free. Sorry, no pictures of young starlets in distress or unfounded claims of debauchery (look it up ). And it's not all about celebrities. I want it to be about people. Famous, infamous, and not so famous alike. There's so much out there in the world that gets glossed over for the salicious juicy stuff.
Do you have a story to tell? A new project to talk about? Something to get off your chest? Head over to zerogossip.com and submit your contact info.
But most of all, have fun!

New Blog Site Opening!

I invite you to my new blog site zerogossip.com. It's the latest source on the web about people like you. Everything you'll see is 100% gossip free. All profiles are done by interview...no second hand sources, no digging in the mud. If you are looking for a starlet in a state of distress, head over to one of the gossip pages. It won't be there. This site is about people--famous, infamous and not so famous. Everyone has a story to share. I hope you do too. Enjoy!

Youtube Video of the Week

This one is a month overdue but worth the wait! Even I have a soft spot! :)

Rising Stars in NASCAR

When I was 11 years old, I lived across the street from Westboro Speedway in Massachusetts. It was a tiny track but the thunderous noise on Saturday nights always piqued my interest. I had no money so I walked across the street and searched for a hole in the fence. I found it and became an univited season ticket holder. Ever since, I've been hooked.
Fast forward 3 decades and now I'm in the fortunate position to be intimately involved with NASCAR. I get a lot of guff from people who don't understand the attraction of watching cars go round and round for up to 4 hours. To those people I say, go to a race. It only takes one and you'll be hooked. NASCAR is an event. Football has its tailgate parties, NASCAR fans arrive days before the race, set up in giant motor home communes. Flags from drivers past and present fly in the breeze the the smell of hot dogs, hamburgers, steaks and beer...lots of beer...fill the air. It's an event. It's like Woodstock every weekend except the music is a symphony of 43 cars and 750 horsepower. The sound will rattle you to the bone and if you've never felt that, or seen a pack of warriors speeding by you at 200 mph, you've never experience NASCAR. Trust me. It takes one race to hook you. Where else can fans essentially walk into a team's locker room and rub shoulders with the likes of Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jeff Gordon, and Tony Stewart. The garage is their locker room and they gladly invite you in.
OK, that's the big time. Today I had the chance to meet with some of the rising stars of NASCAR. And what a group they are.
First, there's Marc Davis. Marc got his driver's licence back in November but began his driving career as a very young boy. At just barely 17, he's one of the rising stars in the Busch East Series. He's about to be a senior in high school yet manages to be a normal student, a normal kid and a formidible force on the race track. He has to wait until he's 18 before he can get into a Busch car, but given that time, he will be ready. His goal is to eventually be champion. That would be groundbreaking. As a member of the Joe Gibbs Developmental Racing team, Marc is African American. He's got a great future ahead of him.
Marc's team mate is none other than Connecticut native Joey Logano. Joey is also 17 and so far has won 5 races this season. Keep in mind he's competing with drivers with far more experience and racing for longer than Joey has been alive. He too, must wait until he's 18 to jump to Busch but expect to be hearing more about this star soon. Joe Gibbs knows how to pick them!
Then there's Michelle Theriault. That's right, Michelle. Driving the Glock Chevrolet for Spraker Racing, she proves each weekend on the track that once that helmet goes on, there's no difference between man or woman. She's just as competitive. She started racing after her dad let her sit in a race car at the age of 5. I hadn't mastered a Big Wheel at that age yet she powered her way through several racing series with the help of her family taking home an impressive stash of trophies. She's smart and savvy and is biding her time before she takes the wheel for the Daytona 500. And she will.
Take my advice. Take in a race. Buy a 24 or 8 hat and sit in the stands. Don't forget to rent a scanner so you can listen in to the drivers talking to their crews DURING the race. Some language is borderline PG but to hear that kind of emotion, well it's all about racing.
See you at the track!

If Your Tummy Hurts, a Bad Summer Lies Ahead

What a strange news day it's been. We've got the pizza delivery man who may have played a part in blowing himself up (Pizza bomb); George Bush is ordering his staff not to tell on him (No talking!); the man who couldn't foresee the devastation of Katrina even with experts begging him to listen has a gut feeling the US will be attacked this summer; (Chertoff) a frozen baby mammoth (see Ice Age I or II) has been found in Siberia and scientists want to try and clone it (2 mammoths for the price of 1).
And then you have the main event. In this corner, weighing 285 pounds and looking a tad disheveled, Michael Moore. In the other corner, weighing in at 105 pounds (after a heavy duty spritzing) it's Dr. Sanjay Gupta. Your referee tonight, wandering around aimlessly is Larry King. Did any of you see that last night? I'll link you to the Wolf Blizter smack down that led up to it but man, like him or hate him, Michael Moore makes you think. I've always been a CNN person. Yeah I know, everyone has an agenda and all news outlets have their own biases but it was less apparent on CNN (to me) than say, oh…Fox which has no shame in proclaiming their "fair and balanced" format…if you happen to be a Republican that is and have an 8 x10 of George Bush hanging on your living room wall.
Michael Moore is a filmmaker whose films are meant to make you think. You may not agree with his tactics (like ambushing an obviously frail Charlton Heston in Bowling for Columbine) but he has a point and he does a very good job getting it across. "Sicko" came out this week and CNN aired a report by the good Dr. Gupta essentially saying powerful film but filled with flaws and fudged facts. Fudged facts, my candy loving friends is a nice way to say lied. So, CNN had the cajones to air that piece just before having Moore on for a live interview. Gutsy move! But he was up for it. You could actually hear Wolf Blitzer's butt cheeks slapping together when Moore demanded an apology...not for this so much but for the same type of report CNN did on "Farenheit 911". Wolf did his best to defend Dr. Gupta by saying he went in to help with surgeries on troops in Iraq. Nice, but not the point.
Enter Larry King.
King got both Moore and Gupta on his show the next night live. The battle lasted 30 minutes (because we all needed more information on the whack job married couple that began their relationship with a blinding splash of lye). Gupta looked good. Moore, well, Moore looked like Moore. But he had his stuff together. He cited facts and directed Gupta to where the facts came from. At times, Sanjay looked like he'd rather be back in the OR. People's views will differ but I give Michael the win on a TKO.
The American health care system is in crisis and has been for decades. It needs to be fixed. We have the people and the smarts to do it. But do we have the will?

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ROUND 3


ROUND 4

YOUTUBE VIDEO OF THE WEEK

If you need a laugh, and face it, who doesn't, take a look at this video and watch as the comedian loses total control. By the time it finishes, you won't be able to get this guy's laugh out of your head....trust me!

Or, how about watching someone watching this video. This might just be even funnier!

No Hand Shakes; No High Fives

Meet Deborah Hernandez. She's the principal of the Joyce Kilmer Middle School in Vienna, Virginia. It appears her goal in this southern state where warm embraces of friendship were once welcome, is to help make her students cold, uncaring and distant. Debby has decided she and her staff can no longer determine what is good touching and what is bad touching in school. So, taking the easy and cowardly way out, she has banned ALL touching. Now granted "touching" can be an uncomfortable word in these days of kindergartners being suspended for sexual harassment, however here are a couple of other terms that are less touchy but just as banned at Kilmer.

Hand shakes--Totally unacceptable.
High fives--See you in detention.
Post touchdown butt slapping--Prepare for homeschooling, cuz you're not coming back here.
Hugs--A large red H will be branded to your head.
Teachers knocking boots with the kiddies--That still may be ok.

Hernandez and others like her, and there are others, are helping destroy our kids. Too strong a statement? I don't think so. These kids will grow up wary of human touch and as cold and aloof as the Europeans already think we are. Take a trip overseas and you are greeted by friends with a kiss on each cheek and a brief hug. For generations in the US, we've been conditioned with the handshake as the closest you get. Why is it that we look on with muted interest in tragedies and wars in other countries, hell even around us? Because we've been conditioned that way. And if old Principal Hernandez gets her way, things are going to get a whole lot worse.

Take a look at some headlines from around the world.

"No-touching policy could land students in detention for high-fives" CNN

"Hug lands student in hot water" Edmonton Sun, Canada

"Head bans hugs and handshakes" Guardian Unlimited UK

"Virginia school's no contact policy has some pushing for change" Int'l Herald Tribune, France

"Virginia middle school bans touching among pupils" ShortNews.com, Germany

"Precedents: Finishing touching" Sydney Morning Herald, Australia

I don't want to give out her email address in case you wish to express your views to her. Take a look at the school's website (but don't touch it!). I think you'll figure out a way to contact her.
http://www.fcps.k12.va.us/KilmerMS/administration/index.html

Going to the 7-11 Has Never Been so Exciting

It's the 4th of July and like every other day, I was almost out of gas. So I drove to the 7-11 for what I assumed would be another mundane oil company pillaging to fill up the Jeep. After filling up, I went into the store to buy a newspaper. There was a small line. To my surprise, there wasn't the usual kindly Pakastani behind the counter, rather a tiny old woman who must have been well into her 70's. At best she was 4'10 and couldn't have been more than 80 pounds. Her face was lined with years of experience and her voice was as soft as the trickle of a brook. She looked like everyone's grandmother.

Then, the gentleman in front of me made his way to the counter. "I need a box of Trojans," he blurted proudly.

I nearly pissed myself.

"I'm sorry honey?" Grandma asked.

"Trojans, condoms, rubbers," he patiently explained to her.

I think it was at this point my lip began to bleed. I was biting it pretty hard and skin can only take so much.

Her eyes sort of drifted to the side while she tried to comprehend her customer. Then they brightened as it dawned on her what he was asking for. Without a word, she shuffled to the "condom rack" behind the counter and grabbed a box. She set it down on the counter and began to ring him up.

"I need the Magnum size," he said.

I had to leave the store.

If you own a Jeep, don't forget to wave

Two years ago, I bought a Jeep Wrangler. I guess this was part of my mid-life crisis. I always wanted a Jeep and when it came time to get a new car, I got one. Forget about the fact they get about 10 miles to the gallon or to take down the roof you need the patience of a saint and the expertise of a parachute packer. I wanted one, and I got one. What I didn't count on was the unwritten rule that when you pass a Jeep on the road, you must wave. I didn't realize I signed up for some sort of brotherhood, but that's exactly what happened. For the very sociable people out there, it's no big deal. I don't fit into that category so it's a royal pain in the ass! Instead of zoning out while driving, you must keep constant vigil in case a Jeep approaches. You have to time the wave perfectly so it's not too late and the other driver misses it and calls into the local brotherhood chapter and reports you. But most of all, you must remember and be diligent about not waving to NON Jeep Wranglers. Jeep Cherokee, doesn't cut the mustard. Don't be a fool and wave to them! Even worse, those Jeep wannabes...Suzuki and Toyota make a car that, from a distance and with the sun in your eyes, look like they could be a Wrangler. Wave to them and you might as well start looking for a new ride.

My next car will be a BMW. I hear their salute involves the middle finger. I can handle that.