Thursday, August 27, 2009

Cash for Clunkers is Back - Kind Of

No you cannot trade in your old clunker car or truck, but now the government is looking at those old appliances. You bring it in to your local appliance store of choice and receive $50 - $200 toward a replacement. Good Idea? It could be if the government worked out the bugs from the Cash for Clunkers program it used with the auto industry. Otherwise - look out appliance stores. Read more.

Say No to Lyme's

Gundersen Lutheran researchers have helped to produce a vaccine
Lyme's Disease in dogs. I do not have an animal that this will make a difference in my own life, but know enough people that this will be a great thing. I do know a few people that have been affected by the disease themselves and this stories most important line to me is "He now is working on a more accurate and user-friendly Lyme test for humans, he said."
I know there are people out there that are almost afraid to go hiking because of the fear of Lyme's. We live in a great area and it is a shame that we cannot enjoy it to the fullest because of fear of one little, very little, bug. If there would be a human form of the Lyme's vaccine I know a few people I'm calling to go hiking. Read the whole story.

After 18 Years She is Found Alive

As a parent, I cannot imagine having a child kidnapped. I really don't think any of us can unless we have been there. We have heard the horror stories of children being found dead or sometimes even worse never found. How do parents deal with this? How can you not believe when children are never found that they may be out there somewhere. The reality though is that parents never see those children again.
Jaycee Lee Dugard was kidnapped in 1991, 18 years ago and she is believed to be found! There are DNA tests being conducted to be sure. What a relief to her parents! What a relief for her! After 18 years there is a lot to catch up on though and you cannot just go back to the way things were when she was kidnapped. This will be a very exciting, emotional, trying time for everyone involved. My prayers go out to them all. The joy of finding a missing child, but the anger of having 18 years taken away. You can read more - click here.

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

It's a Bean Bag/Cornhole Tournament!!!!


There is a city-wide Bean Bag/Cornhole Tournament and you are all invited to play and help out the Children's Miracle Network at the same time. Are you a serious competitor or just someone who wants to play for fun - everyone is invited. You can also go as a spectator to enjoy the festive atmosphere with food and drinks sponsored by the North La Crosse Lions Club. There will also be other park activities for all ages.
The ACE in the HOLE Cornhole Tournament will be held
at Copeland Park on Saturday, August 29th.

All the money raised will benefit the Children's Miracle Network to help children locally in the Coulee Region.
You can find out more or register by clicking here.

Friday, August 21, 2009

Now Time for the Good Story

This is an incredible story from the Nelson, WI area. I think the story says it all, so click here to read. There are still good stories out there!

A shake your head moment

I have gone to a dolphin show at the zoo and expected that it may be wet - how about you? I think the kids purposely sit in the front so they too can get wet. Do signs need to be posted for this obvious fact? Well of course! An Illinois woman is suing the Brookfield Zoo for a fall she had last year when the floor got wet. Read the whole story. It seems people get short on money and figure they should sue someone for something, but that's just my opinion.

Friday, August 14, 2009

Brooks and Dunn call it a day

What can you say about this one, but as a duo Brooks and Dunn have decided to "call it a day." They will release a greatest hits album in September and tour in 2010 (dates and locations to be announced). Even more reason to take advantage of the Brooks and Dunn show in Sparta. See the official announcement.

Discount Wedding?


Are you thinking about getting married or planning a wedding? You may want to think about traveling to Los Angeles, CA for the big day and save a little money. There is a 99 Cents Only Store that will be offering a wedding ceremony for couples on September 9th, 2009 for only 99 cents. The bargain chain is calling this day "the luckiest day of the year" and will have an ordained minister at the store on Wilshire Boulevard in Beverly Hills to all couples looking to call September 9th their anniversary.

I did not get overboard on my wedding by any means, but I did spend more than 99 cents, so I'm telling you this is one heck of a deal. Plus you can start your honeymoon right away since you will be in LA any ways. Hmmmm - something to think about.

Celebrity Yearbook Award Winners

Pattinson and Fox are among the top in the Fandango.com "Back to School" survey. The fans elected the stars for this year's awards from celebrities that will be in movies released between September and November 2009. The awards are pretty important ones that include - Best Hair, Best Smile and Most Popular. Here is the whole story to find out if your favorites won an award - click here.

Friday, August 7, 2009

They Apologized

At 1st when I read the headline of this story I was appalled, but when you get to the end you realize you can relax. Read the story.
So here's the scoop - a mother and her infant daughter (6 month old) went to Burger King and were asked to leave the restaurant because the infant was not wearing shoes. The employees said the infant was violating a health code and would have to leave. Are you kinding me? An infants feet are probably cleaner than most people's hands. Wow - a little too far, but as I stated earlier it gets better. Burger released a statement saying the employees took the policy too far and apologized to the mother for the experience. Much better.

Say it isn't so

The autopsy report says Billy Mays used cocaine before his death. Read the story. It's never good when someone so young, yes 50 years old = young, dies because of a heart attack. But it is even worse when the autopsy comes back and this person died so young because of his own stupid choice of using illegal drugs contributed to his death. We were all in disbelief when Billy Mays passed away late June. He was a great pitchman, so we could think of only good things about him, but this? I have a new opinion about Billy Mays and it is really too bad.

Cash for Clunkers

They say it will last until Labor Day - the next $2 Billion that is. I'm not so sure about that. Just think the first billion was gone (in reality) in a day or two how do they think $2 billion is not already spent or will not be completely exhausted in 3 weeks? My advise to anyone thinking about using the program - don't think, but act now! It really is all about the math. How much money ($2B) divided by an average of $4000 received for a clunker = 500,000 vehicles. That seems like a great number, but now take that number and divide it by the number of dealerships in the whole United States lets say 15,000 (which is probably on the low side) and you come up with 33.3 cars sales per dealership. And they think it will last until Labor Day? The good news though is the program did what it said it would do - get Americans out to buy new more fuel efficient vehicles.

It is about Time

The reports are in Paula Abdul quits American Idol after 7 years. YES!!! Paula has had her day, she was a great entertainer back in the day, but she did not shine as a judge on Idol. I'm not sure if it was just Paula or the combination of Paula and Simon that annoyed me more either way it is over. We no longer have to listen to Paula's empty comments to the contestants. She did a nice job of telling everyone something good about themselves, but nothing that actually helped them. I'm not sure how many times over the few years that I watched Idol that I asked why she was even there, but the question is who will replace her?
Victoria Beckham will be a guest judge, but no one permanently at this time.

Sunday, August 2, 2009

Sand on the Riverfront


It is here again - Centurytel Sand on the Riverfront. The teams will be working hard to sculpt there sand into something great on Friday, August 14 and everyone is invited to join in on the fun! There will be attractions from the Big E, food booths, music, a car show and even a movie at 10:00pm. Join in on the fun at Riverside Park August 14-15 with this year's theme: At the Movies. Click to see the more details.