30 October 2007

What a Bargain!

Shop the yard sales...the thrift stores...and always check between the cushions of your couch:

A student who just bought a pullout couch for a couple hundred bucks at a flea market found a painting worth 10 times that amount hidden inside when she unfolded the sofa at home.

It was a tiny 10- by 15-inch oil painting. However, it sold for $27,630 at an art auction last weekend!!!

The work is called, "Preparation to Escape to Egypt," and was painted by an unknown artist close to Venetian painter Carlo Saraceni between 1605 and 1620.

And stories like that are why I LOVE "Antiques Road Show!"

Oh yeah, check your pockets, too. :)
CH

29 October 2007

Corgis Rule!!!


I've always loved being a Corgi owner, because they such amazing dogs and they are such great companions. My Grandmother used to raise and show them, so anything neat about Corgis has always put a little pride in my step. Imagine my puffed out chest when I read this:

______________________________________________

And the winners are ... Poppy, Anna, Oliver and Megan.

Actress Helen Mirren has been garlanded with awards for her portrayal of Britain's Queen Elizabeth in the film "The Queen" and now her corgi co-stars have won two awards at the Fidos -- www.thefidos.com.

The world's first international awards for canine film stars were given out at a ceremony at the London Film Festival on Sunday. The four corgis were named as the Best Historical Hounds as well as picking up a Best in the World prize.

The corgi breed completed an impressive hat-trick at the Fidos when American Travis -- a Welsh cardigan corgi -- was named Best Comedy Canine for "Year of the Dog."

The Fidos are the brainchild of journalist Toby Rose, who awards the Palme Dog at the Cannes Film festival to the year's finest canine performance on screen.

(Source: Yahoo News

And the winners are ... Poppy, Anna, Oliver and Megan.

Actress Helen Mirren has been garlanded with awards for her portrayal of Britain's Queen Elizabeth in the film "The Queen" and now her corgi co-stars have won two awards at the Fidos -- www.thefidos.com.

At the world's first international awards for canine film stars, given out at a ceremony at the London Film Festival on Sunday, the four corgis were named as the Best Historical Hounds as well as picking up a Best in the World prize.

"I know one should avoid acting with animals and children, but these little chaps were a pleasure to work with and deserve all the plaudits for their fine performances," Mirren, who is currently filming in the United States, said in a statement.

The corgis are owned by retired caterer Liz Smith -- dubbed Corgi Liz on the film set of "The Queen" -- who lives near Ipswich in east England.

Their success at the Fidos takes to 59 the tally of Oscars, Baftas and other major awards received by "The Queen."

The corgi breed completed an impressive hat-trick at the Fidos when American Travis -- a Welsh cardigan corgi -- was named Best Comedy Canine for "Year of the Dog."

Here's a video link of the Winning Pembroke Welsh Corgis:

http://news.sky.com/skynews/video/videoplayer/0,,30100-1290502,.html

(Source: Yahoo News)

_________

I love my Welsh Corgi (Alex) and our Corgi Mix (Pepper)!!!
CH

26 October 2007

Grab a Tissue

If you haven't become a fan of the Boston Red Sox baseball team as they play in the World Series...then, it might becoming a fan might be inevitable after hear the story of Andrew Madden.

Andrew is 13-and a huge Red Sox fan! What's even more special about him. though, is that Andrew just came out of heart transplant surgery Sept. 30--and and he couldn't have been matched with a better surgeon!

Dr. Kristine Guleserian is a Boston native, and she is a true red sox fan too. So, in the weeks leading up to the surgery, they would talk baseball first, and then talk medicine. The story gets better.

Dr. Kristine presented Andrew with a Red Sox cap that she purchased at Fenway Park (where the Red Sox play.) Andrew wore it into surgery and then, his surgeon decided that he had been through a lot and wanted him to live another dream...again, I say, the story gets better.

She was able to arrange it for Andrew to go to Boston. Grace Airlines provided a jet, and $15,000 of fuel was paid by the Texas Rangers (another Professional Baseball Team--how's that for being kind! Maybe you can be a fan of the Rangers, if you don't want to be a Red Sox fan :) Then, to top it all off, Andrew was able to walk out on the field, and even watch a game in the suite of the President of the Red Sox!!!

This is one of those things that makes you want to cry really hard...like after an episode of Extreme Makeover Home Edition, because people just give and give and give...

I imagine Andrew got to meet a few of the players, too...but what's even more is that the players probably wanted to meet him.

Blessings,
CH

23 October 2007

R U Friendly?

My wife, Meredith, and I were traveling this weekend in the city of Winston-Salem, NC.

This is where Meredith grew up, and as we were there, we were saying how nice the place is. The people are nice, and the cityscape was wonderful! We enjoyed it very much.

So, if you live there or nearby...it's understandable.

Since I was on the subject of "Nice" Cities...I found out that Travel and Leisure Magazine did a survey or two for Amercia's Best Cities...and here are the results from the "Friendliest Cities." Notice that 4 of the top 5 are in the South :) ...and what's more...Number 3 is where some of my favorite people live. So, I have to say that I like this list :)

1 Charleston
2 New Orleans
3 Minneapolis/St. Paul
4 Nashville
5 Austin
6 Portland, Oregon
7 Honolulu
8 San Antonio
9 Santa Fe
10 Denver

More at http://www.travelandleisure.com/

Happy Traveling,
CH

17 October 2007

EXCLUSIVE PREMIERE

I feel like a Hollywood Insider or something along those lines with tomorrow night's exclusive premiere of THE TEN COMMANDMENTS.

The movie is a new animated feature film (No Charlton Heston) that features Ben Kingsley, Elliot Gould, and Christian Slater. Our friends at the Marquee Cinemas at the Fort Henry Mall in Kingsport have been so kind to reserve a theater for us.

So, tomorrow night at 7, 130 WCQR VIPs are going to get a chance to "screen" the movie the night before it is released to the public. It is sure to be an awesome time!

If you'd like to go the event, you have "win your way in." Make sure you are listening this afternoon at 5:20, tomorrow morning at 7:20, or be near Exit 7, Bristol, VA, tomorrow afternoon from3-5, for your last opportunities to win passes.

A few more details, Mike Riddles is the one who will have tickets to give away tomorrow at The Shouting Sprout (An Organic and Natural Food Store) Grand Opening, next to Outback at Exit 7, Bristol VA.

For more on the movie, make sure you visit www.wcqr.org or www.epicstoriesofthebible.com

Let My People Go (to the movie!!)
CH

10 October 2007

2007: A Grocery Odyssey

Grocery Shopping may be transforming right before your very eyes.

Not only did I hear Steve Smith (CEO of Food City) say that soon we may not have to scan every single item in our cart anymore...because of technology that may allow us to push the cart of goodies through a scanner and have it all rung up in fell swoop...But I also heard that you may soon be cruising the aisles with "intelligent" carts that warn you if you happen to be buying too much junk food!!!

The high-tech model will be fitted with a computer screen and barcode scanner so that it will read each product's individual code to give you information about calories, nutrition, sourcing and the environment.

Trials of touch-screen computers on shopping carts have been implemented in stores in the United States.

Where were these before I decided that I need to do Weight Watchers?!?!? :) I just hope they don't have really loud alarms when you do put too much junk food in the cart. That would be really embarrassing.

"It's PEANUT BUTTER, I promise!!"

CH

09 October 2007

The Infamous Infomercial

Last night, Meredith (my wife) and I were watching some TV, and all of a sudden this guy, who sounded as if he had a fake Bristish Accent, comes on to do an infomercial. It wasn't a long one, but it did take a good 2-3 minutes.

What was the guy selling? Something that I'm not sure I was sold on buying. But isn't it always like that?!?!

It was the Sonic Scrubber...or something to that effect. What was hilarious about it was that it was like taking an electric toothbrush, adding 6 different brushes to go on it, and selling it. What was even funnier was that the brushes weren't much bigger than a toothbrush head. LOL!!

And this guy was talking about tackling soap scrum, grout, and stainless steel stains with this "itsy bitsy teenie weenie" scrubbing brush. Then, he went on to say that you could clean the microwave, and (the one feasible usage) getting stains out of clothes. All for...yup...19.95!!! I love that! It makes me laugh so hard. That has to be the magic infomercial number.

I'm sure you've seen some pretty ridiculous stuff, and this by far, was NOT the most silly. However, it did get me thinking about all those items, and wh we believe the hype. After all, if we bought every product that actaully did what it said...then, we'd have a spotless and gigantic house, tons of the money in the bank, and know how to speak 25 different languages in 5 days.

Here's to the infomercial!!!
CH

08 October 2007

Walking The Talk

The man who spent months reading all 44 million words of the Encyclopedia Britannica has just finished his next project -- 381 days trying to follow the Bible's more than 600 precepts and teachings.

And now, he's written a book called The Year of Living Biblically: One Man's Humble Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally as Possible to recount his endeavour.

With the help of a spiritual advisory board of rabbis, priests and ministers, Jacobs tried to live every facet of his life based on strict interpretations of Scripture.

This led him to:

•Wear white.
•Wear a robe and sandals.
•Herd sheep.
•Eat crickets.

His biggest challenge?

"That'd be no coveting, no lying, no gossiping. They're little sins, but they're killers. My year made me realize just how many of these sins I committed every day. And refraining from them for a year was really hard but completely transforming."


CH

02 October 2007

You Can Take This Job AND...


...I'll take this one...You thought I was going to say something else, didn't you? LOL!

Working Mother magazine has released its 2007 list of the 100 best companies to work for.

Companies were selected for the list based on replies to 575 questions.
The questions covered size of workforce, compensation, child care and flexibility programs, leave policies and others. Particular weight was given to flexibility and family-friendly policies.

Some of the Top 5 (In alphabetical order) were:

* General Mills
* IBM
* The McGraw-Hill Companies
* UBS
* Wachovia

Have a gr8 day!
CH