Brent's Blog

- I love the New York Post. Here’s a slideshow of some of their best headlines. My favorite? When Bush twin Jenna was charged with underage drinking, the Post went with “Jenna and Tonic.”
- Apparently, weak rivets helped doom the Titanic.

- Yes, our probation system does need a review.
- Surrounding counties are trying to keep Charlotteburg from becoming Atlanta.
- California’s “big one” seen within 30 years.
- Eight songs written about real women.

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- There’s lots of money to be made in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg School System.
- I think we all know that the Triad is not the growth hotspot that Charlotteburg and Raleighopolis are.

- Don’t cry for the ultrarich.
- This Red Sox jersey curse thing has gotten stupid.
- A Marilyn Monroe sex tape? You’ve got to be kidding me.

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- I do love a pirate story.
- I’m not sure that I have 500,000 songs. Michael Abernethy, maybe, but not me.
- Hugo Chavez has banned The Simpsons? No, you bastard, NNNOOOOOOOOOO!
- I’ve mostly been looking for madras shorts and brown loafers lately, but apparently there’s plenty of high-level federal government stuff on e-Bay.

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We mark time in different ways.
Sure, I use a calendar, but it’s the other things that really make me stand up and take notice.
A couple of years ago, I bought a package of 500 coffee filters at Sam’s Club. Standing in the checkout line, I thought about how many filters I could get for $5, why the lady in front of me would really need a gallon of mayonnaise and how much I wanted a cup of coffee.
I also thought about what life would be like the next time I bought coffee filters.
Now, 250-some days later, I’ve adopted a child and am beginning the process of adopting another one. I’m older, fatter and maybe a little wiser.

Like counting the rings of a felled tree, I mark time in coffee filters.
And in shaving cream. I only have to shave every three or four days. It takes me a year to go through a can of shaving cream. So each winter, usually in December, I have to buy a new can.
And Masters golf tournaments. Each year, my birthday lands around the weekend of the Masters. That’s how I usually celebrate, grilling out, drinking beer and watching the final round on Sunday.
I turn 35 Friday. Thirty-freaking-five!
It really does sneak up on you. I have gray hair. I can’t run two days in a row because of my knees. I have hair growing out of my ears. Hair! Out of my ears!

Edit: Madison Taylor, always one to see the bright side, has pointed out that I am now eligible to run for president. I’m going to make that happen.

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- The News & Observer has a neat slideshow with photos of the next generation of farmers.
- The next time you say our county commissioners are crazy, consider the alternative.
- More confusion on global warming.

- The News & Record has a story on high-speed chases, a topic of interest around her for awhile.
- I like this idea. Plantable greeting cards with seeds inside.
- Who’s that on the boat with Cheney?
- Here’s what the feds are doing with your money.

- The 50 greatest comedy sketches of all time.

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- There’s a fantasy fishing league? You can win $100,000 doing it? Sometimes I think I have this world figured out, and then suddenly I don’t.
- Hey, I want to fly a blimp. Why can’t I fly a blimp?

- Record companies continue coming up with new, exciting ways to sue you.
- Nasty comic book covers from the ’50s. I always loved Weird War Tales when I was a kid.
- Charlotte law firms are having to lay off lawyers. Bad time to start a law school, it seems.
- No problems along the Olympic torch route. Just ask Dear Leader.

- No, the drought is not over yet.
- I have mixed feelings about Rolling Stone, but at least they knew to give the man his credit on their list of the 500 greatest songs of all time.

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- Another airline story. The discount carriers (at least the ones that are still in business) are beating the traditional carriers on price and customer service.
- The 30 celebrities who didn’t get the part.
- The Locke Foundation puts Alamance County in the highest third when it comes to cost of government in all 100 counties.
- I’m amazed that people are still amazed that we are going to be in Iraq forever. Having a permanent base there would allow us to get out of Saudi Arabia. That was one of the reasons for invading. Of course the plan was for a South Korea-type peaceful situation. That’s not a big deal. What I fear, and I think you do too, is that we are there for decades and are still having to fight.

- Looks like Oliver Stone’s Bush biopic is going to be rough.
- This Onion story hits home for those of us who really didn’t figure out who we are until we got to college.
- They’re still identifying remains from 9/11? Wow.
- Freedom flagship The Orange County Register has an interesting story on a California program that, like many government programs, started off well. Now it lets all kinds of government officials and their families avoid traffic laws.

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- The New York Times keeps digging on the escort service that brought down Eliot Spitzer.
- Poll shows a big lead for Obama in North Carolina.
- CraigsList note from a stoner to the guy who made him the best pizza ever.

- Protesters put the Olympic torch out. I remember when I was a kid I thought some poor fool had to swim across the ocean holding that torch in the air and I thought “what a great swimmer that guy must be.” Again, let’s skip the Beijing Olympics.
- I flew four times last year, which is a lot for me, and I had no complaints. Got preferential treatment when our son flew with us and even got a free Jack Daniels on one flight. Still, complaints are up.
- Everyone’s made a big deal about Ric Flair retiring, but my favorite has always been the American Dream Dusty Rhodes, Dusty Rhodes the American Dream. Man, this one’s good too.

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- There are still questions about James Earl Ray?
- Also on the MLK front, I’ve heard my parents talk about how worried everyone was the day King was shot about what would happen in Raleigh. The News & Observer has a look back.

- This poll on public opinion about the direction the country is headed in is very troubling.
- I’m surprised it has taken this long for Apple to become the number one music retailer in America. Beyond Best Buy pushing a few new artists for $8, there’s just no other place you can get new albums for $10.
- But, but, but …
- This story says lack of insurance is killing North Carolinians.

- The Bush Administration decided to ignore the Constitution after the Sept. 11 attacks.
- New legal development in the music piracy story, if you’re interested. Seems most industry lawsuits have been for making music available, not for downloading. A judge ruled that making it available isn’t copyright infringement.
- The completely awesome 30 Rock is scheduled to return next Thursday. You can get caught up on this season online.

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- We might not just count in this year’s Democratic primary, we might be the final battleground.
- I love spy stories.
- There’s something depressing about Mariah Carey passing Elvis in No. 1 hits. Kind of sad, like Andy Griffith in color.
- I like this set of photos of NASA workers preparing the Space Shuttle for launch.

- Thank God for Arkansas.
- Ummmmmmmm …..
- More of the same in Washington.

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