My Favorite Blank

Awww…the land of Italy, what a beautiful country. All of the beautiful buildings in Rome and the waterways of Venice, make Italy a top travel destination for most folks. I would like to travel there someday and I really hope I get the chance. It’s a long ways away from the shores of America to the Italian shores I dream of someday. I don’t think I would find my self to hungry over there either. The food is amazing that comes from Italy and I would put on some extra pounds for sure eating pasta every night.

I think Venice, Italy would be the place I would want to visit the most. Just to see what it is like to travel the water roads there. The waterway passages go around some very old buildings and make up a rich history of the Venice area. I have seen a couple of movies that were shot on location in Venice and this is another reason I like this city in Italy so much. I am also fascinated a lot with the southern part of Italy and I would like to learn more about this area in general too. I just hope I can still travel to Italy while I am young enough to enjoy it and healthy enough to stay active all day while I am there visiting.

A DENTIST STORY FROM ROMANIA

While most of us dream of being something when we grow up one day; we often find that those dreams are just that and they never do materialize for us. Some do stick to their childhood dreams and many of those people can tell you the exact age they were when they dreamed of being whatever it is they currently do.

I don’t think it is as simple as that for one young girl living in Romania. I don’t believe she ever had a certain age as a child where she stopped and said “I’m going to be a dentist when I grow up”. However, I do think as a child she knew she was going to be a dentist someday. The field of dentistry was just around this young lady from Romania while growing up and her mother is a dentist. So for her it was just a way of life and not necessarily a dream like most of us hope to grow up and be something one day. She was simply just following in mom’s footsteps and those will be steps that I think will reward her for the rest of her life.

The young woman is indeed Ana (Minerva) that plays on the 01 Traffic Attitude team at Trafficera. She just learned on Thursday (July 10th) that her last exams for school were complete and she passed on them all! I’m sure it was a big relief for her to find out the news and she still has some more work ahead of her, before they turn her loose on the people of Bucharest, Romania; but she has came way too far to stop now and soon she will be a dentist just like her mom is now! As amazing as this story is and all the work it took to get where she is now, it doesn’t even begin to tell the story of Ana from Romania and just how great she is.

I will back up a few months now and tell you how I got to know Ana from Romania and what I have seen over the last few months. It was back during the middle of March in 2008 and I was on the hunt for some new players to add to the 01 Traffic Attitude team. I was going down the list of people that were members at Trafficera, but wasn’t on a team yet and sending them invites to join our team. I sent one to a screen name that was called “Minerva” and this person sent me a message back. They stated they were in medical school right now and not sure if they could surf enough or not. I told Minerva that we would give’em a try and just do your best and we will see if it’s enough or not. They agreed to it and soon we had a new player on the team. I wanted to know a little more information on Minerva and I sent a message back asking if they were male or female and what their name was. This is the exact message I got back on March 13, 2008:

Thursday March 13th at 9:16 AM wrote
My name is Ana.(female)
I’m considering joining Traffic Attitude but first I want to see if I can cope with Trafficera and TrafficPods (I’m also a member there) , there r not many hours in a day
Thanks for the idea.
See you at clocking

Well the clocking that Ana is referring to is what our goal is daily at Trafficera. Our team (01 Traffic Attitude) has 25 members on it and you get clocks for your surfing efforts. The clocks come randomly and each one you find goes to the team score. We compete with other teams to see who can find the most clocks and every race has a different total we are trying to reach. It’s real important that you’re one of the top 4 teams in each clock race, because a 5th place finish or lower gives you 0 credits. The top 4 teams all get credits and each person on the team gets an equal share of the credit amount.

Well Ana did just fine and she did a great job of managing her time at school, her time for studying and surfing for our team to help us be one of the top teams at Trafficera. This couldn’t have been easy either. As the team leader of 01 Traffic Attitude, I was pushing these guys pretty hard. We have some of the strictest standards at Trafficera and most people can’t meet the daily demands that are asked of them. Only about 1 out of every 10 players added to the team makes it with us for more than 1 week. So even with demands in place that takes at least 5 hours a day to accomplish, Ana was not only keeping up, but she was a top 10 member for us. Anyone that is on our team in the top 10 has really got to be putting in some serious time surfing and it made you wonder just how Ana was able to keep up. I would soon learn that the trick she had to get everything accomplished was really pretty simple. She just wasn’t sleeping!

You can imagine the time and effort needed to attend medical school and all of the hours you would need to study to get passing grades in such a demanding career choice. When you factor in the ability for her to keep up with our highly active team, it was simply amazing to watch this young lady succeed in the fashion she did. There was many times in team chat you could often see Minerva talking about the sunrise or how many sunrises she had seen in a row. Ana was not someone waking up real early and that is what allowed her to get everything accomplished. Ana was seeing these sunrises, because she was not going to sleep at night. She was staying up the whole night to catch up on her studying and surfing with the team to make sure we were catching enough clocks for each race. Even when she would turn in for a few hours of sleep, Ana always made it a point to turn on the computer when she woke up. It was very common for Ana to sip on her morning coffee and surf with us a bit, before she would leave off to her University for the day.

It wasn’t too long ago when I needed some help on team matters and I called upon Ana to help. She worked through the entire night for me and the team and did not sleep 1 second and then left off for school. I was so drained that night and when she was leaving for school, I was headed for bed thinking just how tired I was and couldn’t even imagine going out at that moment and going off to school like Ana was doing. You can look back to just last week and these all important exam scores that Ana couldn’t wait to see and many members on the 01 Traffic Attitude team too; she was delayed on getting the final results. She should have known days earlier on how she had did on the exams, but Ana was staying up the whole night and was continuing to surf for our team and when she was trying to get a couple of hours of sleep, she would end up over sleeping and would have to wait until the next day before she knew if she had passed or not. That right there shows you just how dedicated and loyal Ana has been to me and the 01 Traffic Attitude team. 

Ana didn’t only pass her dental exams on Thursday, but she has passed with flying colors of all the strict demands from our team. You would be hard-pressed to try and find anyone else like Ana of Romania as a teammate or a friend. I am happy to say that she is both to me and I will never forget the tremendous efforts she has given over these last few months. You don’t have to just take my words for it, but look at what her teammates think about her to!

Dishtv21 - Thanks Ana for all that you have done for the team. Your relentless determination in the books and surfing with our team in Tera has not only made you a professional career minded woman, but it has help to elevate our team to being one of the best at Trafficera! You are a very beautiful, charming and sweet girl that will succeed at anything that you put your mind to. I am so glad I got the chance to meet you. You have been a blessing in my life and I’m sure I haven’t been the first one. At the rate you’re going, I believe you are going to continue handing out blessings and it is just going to multiply like rabbits doing the bunny hop. All of your future patients are going to love you dearly and I don’t even think the sky is a limit for you, because I see you going higher than that! I know you love your freedom and at the tender age of 24 you have no plans of getting married right now or committed to any one individual. If the time ever does come to walk down the aisle with someone you will want to spend the rest of your life with, I will consider that man standing beside you as the luckiest person on the planet. For your life, the season of spring has only now arrived and while your bloom begins to open to show all of the beauty you have inside and out, I think the seasons to follow are only going to get better! I wish you the best and if I am ever traveling through Bucharest, I might just have to go get a dental cleaning!

HopeJordan - ana well done on your exams you must be so happy and our team are so proud of you  your parents must be so proud of you too you are a good hearted person and thankyou for helping me out and i hope everything is best for the future take care anna

LadyCroak - Ana congrats on your final study test.I am very proud to know you.I realise how hard it must have been to study plus put in all the long hours here.Once again a Huge Congratulations to you.

Donna

John20463 - Ana,

It’s been a pleasure to have made your acquaintance over the last five months or so, and it’s a honour to think of you as a friend and, perhaps, a long-distance lover, too.

Your helpfulness and knowledge shine through regularly in chat and, when I found out that you’d passed your dentistry exams, I couldn’t be more pleased. Well done!

I look forward, due to my many dietary faults such as smoking and drinking to excess, to developing chronic gum diseases over the next few years and being subjected to oral rehabilitation by someone as beautiful as you.

Best Wishes,

John. xxx.

WantKnow - Congratulation !! Hope you have all success everything after this !!

Divaneh - Dear Ana,

I would like to take this opportunity to congradulate you for passing your exams successfully! I admire all the dentists !

LeadsJam - Congratulations to Dr Ana on successful completion of study of Dentistry and wishing her a super successful career of easing the misery in the mouth of zillions of people.

Hopei91 - Hey Ana,

Here’s one case scenario:

Dr.Ana on her first dental surgery:

Nurse, Quick, get on the internet, go to Surgery.com, scroll down and click on the “I’m Totally Lost” icon ( WINK )

Serious thou Ana, I know you’ll be a great Dentist, A Heartfelt Congrats To You on All Your Hard Work and who knows, Ya May Get a Little Plaque for Your Accomplishments..LOL

Wishing You All Success!! Naomi

Cmason - Congratulations Dr. Ana! I am so proud of you and your accomplishments. I know it wasn’t easy trying to study and still be one of our best surfers here at trafficera. Somehow you managed and I am proud to be associated with you Ana.

Best of success in the future and next time I need a good dentist I’m flying over to see you.

Your teamie,
Cheryl

MissLucky - Hi Ana,

I am so very proud of you for accomplishing your goals.
I knew you would do good in your exams. You are an achiever.
I also know you will do extremely well in your chosen profession.

You are such a loving, caring and generous person that all of your patients are going to love you as much as your whole team does.

I wish you the very best of everything.

Jan

Fantasi42 - Congrats dr. Ana !
I wish you all the best for your future.
You are a very strong and nice person, and I am glad to be your frend.
Birgit

RCyoung - Ana,

Everyone needs to have a dream in life. To be able to take that dream and turn it into reality is a fantastic accomplishment.

Congratulations Ana on your fantastic accomplishment.

RC

Suzhoutch -  Congrats ana on all of your hard work over the last few years!!!
You worked very hard and now you can reap the rewards. I am very proud of you and I know you will make a GREAT dentist. I just wish you could be mine!! Love ya Girl!!

Suz

Congrats again Ana!!!

Ana’s Lifetime Stats (July 13th 2008)

Tribute Song Dedicated to Our Lovely Ana

We love you and everything about you! Please don’t ever change a thing and the only thing more we could ask from you; is that you will never forget us!

May Sunshine Follow Your Shadow

May sunshine follow your shadow,
May it wipe away the tears;
May rainbows be there for breakfast,
For many happy years;
May all the joy the world can give,
Be there and for a long time live;
For you are special to us all,
No matter when or why we call;
You always answer every note,
E’en when one sends it out by boat;
For you make life so full of joy,
Like seamen who have found a buoy;
An anchor filled with strength untold,
When ripples of your voice unfold;
So ever constant, ever true,
It’s a better place because of you.

Love Ya Always,

01 Traffic Attitude Team

I have never played paintball before, but I believe I would love it. The chance to be like Rambo going through the woods and trying to pick off your opponents, sounds like a lot of fun. I have heard those paint balls can hurt and some of the paintball guns now are very powerful. The first thing you must take care of is your safety. Make sure you have the proper clothing that will help absorb the blows from being shot and its really important to have some type of eye protection. You can do a lot of things to insure you will have a good time on the battlefield. You can also be smart and pick out clothing that will help you in combat and perhaps adding a tactical vest like the police wear would be a good strategy move. The vest should also help protect you against blows that you take to the chest and mid-section. Paintball can be a lot of fun if played properly, but that fun will soon end if someone gets hurt. So be sure you consider safety first and this goes with anything else you do in life too!

I’m sure many of you know the name of Kellogg’s Corn Flakes or Tony the Tiger on a box of Frosted Flakes. As long as I can remember back that is the way these two cereals have presented their self to me. I saw this old television commercial that shows the same cereal basically but instead of the flakes, they call them pops. Also, no Tony the Tiger for the Frosted Flakes and these are just referred to as sugar pops. I thought this was very interesting to see a cereal that is long gone now, but at one time it was probably one of the top cereals that could be found on breakfast tables in America. This commercial also features a star from the past that a lot of kids might recognize the name even today. Wild Bill Hickok is the celebrity that Kelloggs got for this television commercial. I wonder how much money he got paid for doing this advertising promotion? I would be willing to bet that any teenager working at a fast food restaurant today could make as much money in one day than what the legendary Wild Bill Hickok got paid for this tv commercial.

Sugar Corn Pops with Wild Bill Hickok

Well the big American holiday is fast approaching and will be here Friday! The 4th of July is a fun time to get together with the kin folks and grill out during the day and then watch the fireworks when the sun goes down. Our area had some rain recently, but the heat will have everything dried out by Friday and I’m sure fire concerns will be present on the 4th of July. So many states having wildfires this year, I’m sure the fire departments all over the country have their concerns for fires that could get started from all the fireworks that will be going off. If you use fireworks this Friday, make sure you know where the air born ones are going and that conditions are not favorable for a fire. It’s a good idea to stay outside and watch the area or areas where your fireworks landed at for at least 1 hour after you have finished shooting them. To make sure that you don’t cause any new wildfires to start up in your area. Maybe Mother Nature will bless us all with a 1 hour rain on Friday that will dampen everything down. Have a great 4th of July and be sure to throw an extra hotdog on the grill for me!

While the NBA playoffs might be headed back to the East, don’t look for anything to come easy for the Boston Celtics. They still have to find a way to shut down the best player in basketball for 48 minutes. I can’t see Kobe Bryant being this close to a championship and letting the Celtics have it. I would imagine Kobe will start to take over now and will pick the team up on his back and ride them to 3 straight wins in a row. This series is a long ways from being over and the Boston Celtics really don’t have that will, like a superstar basketball player does. None of the Celtics players are in the superstar status and Kevin Garnett has proven in the playoffs this year, he’s just an average tall player participating in the NBA.

Look for the Lakers to come out on a mission and prove that the Boston Celtics are not that good of a team. Go do your thing Mr. Bryant and when you win the NBA title this year, you will be known as the greatest player to ever play the game.

The time is getting close and I will be leaving in 7 days to go to the Sunshine State. I plan to take it easy when I get down to Daytona and this really will be a vacation for me. I normally go on vacation to be active and try to do as much as the city has to offer, but I have been to Daytona before and did most then. I’m sure some new stuff has been added over the last 5 years and I will check out those things, but I really do plan just to take it easy and enjoy the time on the beach. Just listening to the ocean waves from the hotel room or walking through the sand along the shoreline with the ocean breezes in your face is relaxation to me. So not going to do all the putt putt golfing or trying out the go cart tracks in Daytona. Just a simple vacation for 7 days, that I can sit back and relax. My sister’s family is going with us and my twin 3 year old nephews I’m sure will be the highlight of the week. Just making sure they have a good time and the older nephews is the main purpose of the trip. Let’s just hope that they let Uncle Chris have some relaxation time on his own. I will be sure to do one of my favorite things too and that’s watching the greyhounds run. I enjoy the greyhound races and that has become tradition for me to do, everytime I go to Florida.

I like to collect baseball cards and really all of the sports cards like basketball cards, NASCAR cards, NFL football cards and I even have a few hockey cards in my sports card collection. Several years ago I use to go get a table at different flea markets in my local area and would usually spend about 10 dollars for a table for the day. I could use make that money back with a few dollars extra and I also would do some card trading and this allowed me to grow my collection that way too. It’s not a very profitable business to set up on the weekends and sell sports cards, but you can make a few bucks at it and it’s also a good hobby to have.

I like to find things that will increase in value over the years and baseball cards certainly fit into that idea. I’m not sure how many cards I have in my current collection, but it’s pretty safe to assume that I have more baseball cards than 99 out of every 100 people that might read this blog post. If you would like to start a baseball card collection up, I would recommend going to the flea markets and searching out some of the best deals you can find there. Some people just like a specific team or players and the flea markets allow you to just go buy those specific cards for your collection. If you buy the cards by the pack or cases from sports card companies or from the places that sell baseball cards, you will be getting very few of the cards that you really want. You do get cards of people that might not have a lot of value now and in the next 10 years; you might have a card that is really worth something. Rookie cards are the best way to go and they are the most popular cards in the sports card trading industry. So try to hunt down all of the rookie cards of players that are rookies now or will be rookies in the near future. You will have to pay more if you start buying rookie baseball cards of players that are already all stars. You want to buy when the cards are cheap and sell when you think they are at the height of their value. For those of you that own Alex Rodriguez rookie cards, I would suggest waiting for him to pass Hank Aaron on the all time homerun’s list and then trying to sell them before he breaks Barry Bonds record. Your selling point then is that you can tell your customers his cards will increase in value once he breaks Bonds homerun record and they will. However, if you wait until after he has the record, they might not be as much as an upside to his value and it could be difficult getting equal value in the form of cash for his rookie cards. So remember that and keep up the hobby of baseball card collecting for the next generation of kids and young adults to have fun with this hobby as well.

Have you ever seen an ostrich? Of course you have and they are those huge birds that you couldn’t mistake for any other bird. Those large birds do have some very interesting feathers and maybe you can find something to do with them. Those of you that have a very creative mind probably could fix something up good with ostrich feathers. I think those folks that do all the arts and crafts can put anything into one of their creations. I don’t think it would be hard to add in a few feathers for a new creation. If this topic does have your attention and you would like to try and make something with ostrich feathers; then be sure to post your pictures up some where online, so I can take a look at your creations or inventions using the feathers from an ostrich. I’m sure a lot of people out there have used bird feathers to create other nice works that would be artsy. I just bet it’s rare to find those that have took ostrich feathers and created some magical piece of work. Please be sure to let me see your pictures if you do try this and leave any replies for ideas that you have for using an ostrich feather or feathers to create an art and craft’s type project.

It’s not uncommon to hear about tornados in late May in the United States. It is uncommon for the state of Colorado to be having them and the ones currently going on right now have been really destructive. I hope all the people in Colorado are doing ok and people are taking shelter for the storms that is currently going on there. It just takes a few short minutes for 1 tornado to change a community forever and it appears that several tornados are doing that in Colorado right now.

So why do we have tornados in Colorado? I’m sure there is a lot of people asking that question and I’m sure there is a lot of different answers for that question too. I believe many answers would come from global warming and all of the things that are drastically changing in our environment right now. I think the whole world is going to be affected by global warming and no one knows for sure what those changes might be exactly. Droughts and floods will be the most common 2 changes we see in our environment, but the bad hurricanes and tornados that pop up from time to time, may be more deadly than ever before. I’m sure many people still doubt the effects of global warming, but I’m sure the opinion of a lot of Colorado residents have changed over the last 2 days.

The Colorado tornados are a serious matter and hopefully everyone is taking shelter and all the medical and aid workers will be arriving in the areas that are hardest hit soon. The air is still very unstable in this region and more tornados might be spawning from these unstable conditions in Colorado.

Which way do you prefer to mow the lawns? It does seem easier to use the riding lawn mowers, but a lot of times you will find your self getting off to move things out of your way and the riding lawn mowers don’t cut close to things like a wall or the side of your house. The lawn mowers that you walk behind can get into those hard to reach places, but you have to stand up to cut the grass with them. If you had to choose only 1 lawn mower that you could get to cut your grass this summer, would you choose a walking lawn mower or one of the lawn mowers you can sit on?

I am use to the walking lawn mowers and I need all the exercise I can get, so I prefer a walking lawn mower. Today’s walking lawn mowers do offer a little help and you don’t have to use all your energy to push them. They work like a motorcycle would and when you need a little extra pull, you just give it some juice and these lawn mowers will help you go up a hill or a steep area in the yard. So that would be the perfect lawn mower for me, please be sure to let me know which one you prefer and why.

Have you got your presidential candidate figured out for the 2008 elections yet? Who would you cast your vote for today? Is there any chance you might change your pick before November? I see that our television ads are not all political now, but the media is staying glued to the presidential elections. I know when November rolls around, we will be seeing all the political campaigns and politicians trying to jockey for position in all the races.

I don’t have a front runner right now, but I have narrowed my selections down to two. I don’t think Hillary Clinton would make a good president. I think many Americans don’t want to see Bill Clinton having sex in the White House again, so Hillary really has no chance of winning the election. I’m surprised the Democratic Party has not seen this and they are just creating a division in their own party and if they want to have any chance at McCain (Republican Candidate) they would drop Hillary like yesterday’s news and hop on the Barack Obama train. So I don’t know which presidential candidate will win the White House this year, but I do know it won’t be a woman from Arkansas named Hillary Clinton.

So now that I have officially taken Hillary Clinton out of the race, which leaves us with two race horses! Who do you vote for in 2008?

1) John McCain

2) Barack Obama

3) Other

I think each candidate brings something new and exciting to the table. I really like some of the things John McCain is saying and he seems like he would be a good fit for the White House. I think Barack Obama has talked a lot about the healing process and wants to get people in D.C. back on the productive path. I really don’t think either presidential candidate can fix the mess in Washington, D.C.; not that they don’t have the desire to, but I just don’t think any president has that power. Congress, Capital Hill, Senate Debates, Senators and Congressmen are just not going to get along and it’s because some are democrats and some are republicans. It’s has simple as that and too many politicians have let their party lines drag this country down. You can’t blame the current president on all the troubles of today and a new president is going to fix all of the problems today. There is no magic cure and you’re not going to replace George Bush with Barrack Obama or John McCain and everything will be all better. It’s the overpaid politicians in Congress that has caused all the problems. My advice is to not re-elect any of your senators, congressmen or representatives that serve your state in the White House. Let’s get a whole new group on Capital Hill and then we can see things starting to change. So please don’t re-elect any politicians and you will see a change in the American Economy and other issues that are facing our country today.

Vat19 has a lot of cool gadgets and things you can find over at Vat19.com. I think there are a lot of kids that would like a forklift like this one and the video below gives you a lot of good information about the remote control forklift from Vat19.

I think that is a great way to show a product online and using the services of You Tube to detail a product like the remote control forklift, is a great idea by Vat19. I have twin 3 year old nephews and I think they would really get a kick out of this cool forklift. Just make sure you don’t try the stunt at the end with the kids and don’t let them see the end of the video to give them any ideas! I don’t think they would think about cupcakes and Twinkies the same way again.

The remote control forklift is just one of the many cool gadgets you can get. For those of you with bad eyes and need big buttons on your remote control; will want to see the large universal remote from Vat19. You shouldn’t have any problems changing channels or turning up the volume with this huge remote control. Just go check out the other items they have and Vat19 is a great place to go to for gift ideas!

It wasn’t a pretty sight on Sunday Night to see the men in green walk all over the Atlanta Hawks. The bad thing is the Hawks have a very talented staff, but due to the short term vision of coaches and owners, the Atlanta Hawks have done won their championship. The team was so set on making the playoffs this year, since they didn’t have a number 1 draft pick in this year’s NBA draft and that short term focus will cause the Hawks to fall further back from the elite teams in the NBA. The GM Billy Knight wanted to fire head coach Mike Woodson and that would have been the right move and to keep the team in Atlanta growing. The owners stopped this and thought it would be too much of a distraction. So the short term focus and the ability not to put the best 5 players on the court makes being a Hawks fan hard.

I don’t expect much difference tonight in Boston and Joe Johnson is the cancer on the team. The head coach gives him the playing time to cause this and Mike Woodson might have a championship ring, but was making regular season moves in the biggest basketball game the state of Georgia has seen in 9 years. You can’t promote Joe Johnson with words and playing time. Joe has to go out there and be good enough to prove he is a leader and a star in this league. Joe Johnson has been given the keys and hasn’t drove this team anywhere. It’s the same way the Atlanta Hawks set up a website for Al Horford and trying to promote him as the rookie of the year in the NBA. I think Al’s basketball game should do that and putting up a website for him, shows you just exactly the short term vision the coaches and owners have here in Atlanta. The Atlanta Hawks have one of the most talented bunch in the NBA, but most people will never see that due to the lack of focus on winning an NBA title. The Atlanta Hawks put all their resources into making the playoffs this year and they have won their championship, but will never bring home the real NBA title that the rest of Hawks Nation wants.

Sit Joe Johnson in game 2 more and give Josh Smith playing time. Josh Smith is the one that has carried this team to the playoffs and Joe Johnson is just a player that gets the chance to succeed every night and only comes through 1 out of every 5 basketball games. The Atlanta Hawks can beat the Boston Celtics, but not with Joe Johnson getting 40+ minutes a game. Mike Woodson’s philosphy on riding guys that have been to playoffs is weak; when you have players on the team better and would be much more productive on the floor.

Your shutdown defense starters for game 2 in Boston:

PG Josh Childress

SG Mario West

SF Josh Smith

PF Al Horford

C ZaZa Pachulia

Marvin Williams dead aim mid range stroke and the ability of Bibby, Joe Johnson and Salim Stoudamire to knock down the 3; would be an excellent group to bring off the bench and score on the 2nd string of the Celtics. Let’s put our defense in and shut those guys down!

I guess the times have changed a lot and today we see men wearing things that were once just for women. I have no jewelry I currently wear regularly now, but I have worn a necklace and watch at times every day. I think those are fine along with the wedding bands and rings that men wear. I just never thought men would find the desire to wear earrings. I think that should remain a ladies thing and if the men really want one bad enough, maybe go with some clip on earrings and not actually punch a hole through your ear lobe. I know I have a lot of old fashion beliefs and I am a sports fan and realize just how many men do wear earrings these days. I have never wanted an earring or a tattoo on me and really don’t have problems with the men that might like a tattoo. I just don’t understand the grown men out there wearing earrings and I’m sure after a few more generations pass and the kids growing up now, will never remember the days of where women were the only ones wearing earrings.

Hello cousin! Well once again it’s that time of year for us. I can remember back when this was just a contest between the two of us and we exchanged draft selections by email. We have come a long ways and now we are two people that exchange our picks by blog! This does give other Atlanta Falcon Fans a chance to chime in and pick their own picks for the 2008 NFL Draft this year. So if your a Falcons Fan and would like to get in on this too, feel free to throw out your picks as well.

The William Andrews Draft Contest is simple and will last until the Atlanta Falcons actually play their first regular season game. You heard right, this draft lasts much longer than the 2 day event the NFL holds every year and I will explain why. First off, in honor of one of the greatest Falcon players of all time, we give William Andrews the honor of sponsoring this special contest by cousins. We pay tribute to him and the number of picks each cousin (or Falcons fan) gets is 31. The 31 comes from the jersey number of William Andrews when he was giving NFL defenses nightmares.

So the first rule is that you get to pick 31 players that will be eligible for the 2008 NFL Draft. What you’re trying to do is pick out the same players the Atlanta Falcons will be drafting in this year’s April 2008 Draft. If you have a player on your list of 31 selections and the Atlanta Falcons draft that player, then you earn credit. It’s ok if some other team drafts the player and the Falcons make a draft day trade to get him; you will still get credit. That will work vice versa as well, so if the Falcons draft someone and then trade him on draft day, you still earn credit. Also, as a bonus feature you will get credit for any player the Atlanta Falcons pick up after the 2008 NFL Draft. So if anyone of your 31 picks for the Atlanta Falcons ever is on the team between day 1 of draft day or the 4th preseason game of the year, you will earn credit! It’s real simple and all you need is 31 guys on your list and your all set! Be sure that you just don’t pick the top 31 players and you do add in some lower tier players, because a 5th round pick that matches a player on your list is the same equal value if you select who the Falcons take 3rd overall.

So if the cousins are ready and all the Falcon Fans that might be reading this right now is ready, I will list my 31 picks for this year’s William Andrews Draft Contest for the Atlanta Falcons.

1. Matt Ryan - Boston College

2. Chris Long - Virginia

3. Phillip Merling - Clemson

4. Andre Woodson - Kentucky

5. Malcolm Kelly - Oklahoma

6. Jerod Mayo - Tennessee

7. Patrick Lee - Auburn

8. Dan Connor - Penn State

9. Andre Caldwell - Florida

10. Tony Hills - Texas

11. Chris Johnson - East Carolina

12. Oneil Cousins - Texas El Paso

13. D.J. Hall - Alabama

14. Jordy Nelson - Kansas State

15. Reggie Smith - Oklahoma

16. DeMarrio Pressley - North Carolina State

17. Craig Seltz - LSU

18. Jermichael Finley - Texas

19. Philip Wheeler - Georgia Tech YellowJackets

20. Jacob Tamme - Kentucky

21. Earl Bennett - Purdue

22. Adam Kraus - Michigan

23. Tyrell Johnson - Arkansas

24. Calais Campbell - Miami

25. Kelin Johnson - Georgia Bulldogs

26. Lionell Singleton - Florida International

27. Arman Shields - Richmond

28. Dennis Dixon - Oregon

29. Kendall Langford - Hampton

30. Andrew Crummey - Maryland

31. De’cody Fagg - Florida State

So there are my 31 picks for this year’s Cousins Draft Contest sponsored by William Andrews. Get your picks in now and sit back and watch Chris Berman tell us who the Falcons picked up in the 2008 NFL Draft that can be seen live on ESPN.

As the cold winter air is leaving our area, the warmer air is moving in to replace it. When this happens every year we get a lot more wind than normally. Today it is very wind in the Peach State of Georgia. Some will refer to this cold pattern in spring as blackberry winter and it’s the time of the year when the blackberries start to show their blooms. So if you have a kite and want to see it get up there really high, a day like today would be a good time to do it.

I like flying kites and its a fun thing to do every so often. We don’t get a lot of windy days here, so you have to be ready when it does happen. It seems in fall the wind is much stronger and lasts longer too. So if you did want to buy a kite in Georgia, I would recommend waiting to the fall time of the year. I know those people that live on the beach can fly a kite on any day. We are planning to go to Florida in June and I might have to get a kite when we are on the beach in Daytona and let my nephews see it. I’m sure someone down there will be flying a kite, so I might can save some money and just watch strangers flying a kite.

I now know why that commercial is so famous and why they did it. That has to be the most common thing said on cell phones these days. Everyone owns a cell phone now and it seems like we always lose a signal some where and have to ask the question “Can You Hear Me Now?”. I like having a cell phone for emergency purposes, but you might need cell phone amplifiers or something like that if you are constantly losing a signal. I don’t talk on my cell phone very much, but when I do, it seems to always do a good job. I might be close to the cell phone towers when I talk on my phone. I do have one I can see from my house and the majority of my cell phone conversations take place while I am at home. If you continue to have drop calls or lose signal a lot, you might want to seek a different company and see if they might have a better signal in your area or where you’re losing your phone conversations from.

The NCAA Basketball Tournament is going to have a great final 4 this year. All four of the number 1 seeds made it to the final four this year. This is the first time it has ever happened, that all 4 number 1 seeds make it to the final 4. This is great for college basketball and for all the schools that will participate in this historic final 4.

So who are the top 4 teams left? We have North Carolina, Kansas, Memphis and UCLA will be the final 4 teams that will be battling it out for the top team in college basketball this year. The first game on April 5th will be Memphis .vs. UCLA and this should be a good game. I am going to give Memphis the slight edge here and pick them to advance in the final 4 bracket in San Antonio. The other final 4 in San Antonio game will be North Carolina facing the team from Kansas. I think North Carolina has the best team in the final 4 in Texas and I will give North Carolina a double digit win. So my prediction for the championship game that will be played on Monday will have the North Carolina Tar Heels going up against the underdogs from Memphis. The Memphis Tigers will be one hard team for the Tar Heels to beat, but this should really be a great championship game Monday Night in San Antonio, Texas.

The 2008 NFL Draft is fast approaching and teams are still trying to move around the draft board. If all the teams stay put like it is now, I believe I see how this 2008 NFL Draft will play out. I don’t follow the same old patterns of the other mock drafts you have probably seen online. I evaluate talent and I line that talent up in order from best to worse. Mel Kipper might have the name that everyone knows, but I have the best players in the country in my first round listing of the eligible players for the 2008 NFL Draft.

1) Miami Dolphins - Matt Ryan

2) St. Louis Rams - Darren McFadden

3) Atlanta Falcons - Andre Woodson

4) Oakland Raiders - Chris Long

5) Kansas City Chiefs - Jake Long

6) New York Jets - Sedrick Ellis

7) New England Patriots - DeShaun Jackson

8 ) Baltimore Ravens - Ryan Clady

9) Cinncinati Bengals - Mike Jenkins

10) New Orleans Saints - Glenn Dorsey

11) Buffalo Bills - Brian Brohm

12) Denver Broncos - Derrick Harvey

13) Carolina Panthers - Chris Williams

14) Chicago Bears - Jeff Otah

15) Detroit Lions - Kenny Phillips

16) Arizona Cardinals - Leodis McKelvin

17) Minnesota Vikings - Keith Rivers

18) Houston Texans - Rashard Medenhall

19) Philadelphia Eagles - Dominique Cromartie

20) Tampa Bay Buccaneers - Malcolm Kelly

21) Washington Redskins - Vernon Gholston

22) Dallas Cowboys - Devin Thomas

23) Pittsburgh Steelers - Aquib Talib

24) Tennessee Titans - Felix Jones

25) Seattle Seahawks - Johnathan Stewart

26) Jacksonville Jaguars - Calais Campbell

27) San Diego Chargers - Kentwan Balmer

28) Dallas Cowboys - Gosder Cherilus

29) San Francisco 49ers - Quentin Groves

30) Green Bay Packers - James Hardy

31) New England Patriots - Michael Vick?

32) New York Giants - Branden Albert

Those are the top 31 players that the NFL GM’s should be taking in this year’s draft. I’m sure some will slip into the 2nd round of the draft and will be some nice finds for teams picking these players in the 2nd round. The 2008 NFL Draft has average talent this year and I don’t really see any can’t miss prospects. Matt Ryan should have a descent NFL career and he’s ready to step in now and take over half of the jobs in the NFL. I’m sure whoever drafts him will work him in slowly and not realize that Matt Ryan is already ahead of the QB they have in place now. Darren McFadden showed his ability to take over games and I assume he will continue this into the NFL too. The Dallas Cowboy fans will really find a couple of quality players they will be able to stick into their team for next year and Dallas isn’t too far away from another Super Bowl appearance from their legendary status as America’s Team.

Don’t expect my draft to play out like it should, because the combines have more importance than what these young men actually did in games last year. I could draft better than half of the current GM’s that hold jobs in the National Football League. It’s sad, because I give out the best free advice possible and they get paid big bucks to give out bad advice.

Don’t let the Kipper fool ya; these are the 31 best players for this year’s draft. Yes, I did include Michael Vick as the Patriots pick, because I have a solid source of information coming in, that Vick will be a Patriot soon! He is going to be the replacement of the future for the best player in the NFL in Randy Moss.

If you like seeing your face or name mentioned on television, don’t feel alone. The GM’s love to hear all the media talk they can on their teams and that is why Chris Long will be a hot commodity on draft day. I’m sure Terry, Howie and Jimmy will keep close eyes on the son of Howie Long and the team that lands him will get that extra coverage from the FOX guys on Sundays.