ACHOOOO!

The red, watery eyes. The itchy inner ears. The glorious and abundant snot rockets. It must be allergy season!

According to Columbus, Ga., allergist Robert C. Cartwright, M.D., "allergy season" is actually allergy half year in the south. For the next six months yours truly, along with millions of other sufferers, will be sneezing their way to a tighter core. That's actually the only advantage to this sloppy and uncomfortable condition.

Here's the deal: The spring brings powdery tree pollen. The summer months bring prehistoric-sized mosquitoes and grass allergens. And, just when you thought you were over the worst of it, ragweed gets ya in the fall.

Cartwright's advice: Try not to spend too much time outside when the pollen count is wicked high. For those of us who have jobs and responsibilities, get yourself on an antihistamine like over the counter Zyrtec. If you don't like polluting your body with medication read this.

Whatever path you choose, Cartwright suggests you see a specialist first. Get the tests. Figure out what you're allergic to then treat it.

One final piece of advice: Carry tissues with you at all times. Don't wipe your runny nose on your sleeve. Interestingly enough, most people don't find that sexy or hygienic at all.

xoxoL

OMG TGIF

Happy Friday!

Hope it was well deserved. Did you work hard? Did you eat right? Did you make lots of jokes at the expense of others? Good. That always makes me feel better.

Today was just crazy. Check it out. Tragic. We're not supposed to say that when writing these stories, but I can say it here. Tragic.

Last week the bodies of three babies (a three-year-old boy and one-year-old twin girls) were found in the woods of Columbus, Ga. Their father had kidnapped them two weeks prior, drove them to this area off Chatsworth Road, shot them dead and then killed himself. Check this out.

It's enough to make you give up your faith in humanity. That's not to say that I have. The love and kindness that exists in this world far outweigh the madness and horror. Do you agree? Better yet, can you share an example? I will post one or two tales of kindness Monday so check back. We can start a trend. Now think happy thoughts.

Let's end this on an good note, shall we?

This always makes me laugh so check it out. Play around on the site for a bit. Hilarious.

xoxoL

Cunning linguist

This is a post about the importance of editing, editing and re-editing your writing. The best tip I can give you is to print out each draft, go to a quiet place and read it out loud. Your mouth will catch mistakes your mind didn't and the other way around.

Yesterday, I wrote a story for the newspaper about the recent sale of a local inn. See if you can catch the mistake I made in draft one:

"The couple found it serendipitous and sweet that each harbored a deep-seeded desire to one day own an inn."

Now check this out.

If I hadn't followed my own advice I wouldn't have caught that error and it would have ended up in the newspaper and I would have looked like a giant asshole. And no, my editor did not catch it. That puppy was well on its way to the copy desk before I noticed the mistake and made the change.

Now get out there and make that change!

Gas sucker

For those of you who know me, you know I drive a Nissan Pathfinder. And while my faux-SUV is great for all those off-roading adventures I have, it gets terrible gas mileage. I'm talking about 14 mpg (city) and 18 mpg (highway). Bad.

Someone in my position has to discriminate when it comes to fillin 'er up. To help me make the important decision concerning which stations I'm going to grace with my presence every other day and which ones I'm going to flip the bird to as I glide by on fumes, I turn to this site. Just type in your zip code and you too can see who's gouging and who's playing fair.

Happy thoughts on a Monday

My father-in-law emailed this to me. It's a world map that allows you to see terrorist acts, suspicious activity and general terrorism.

The map updates every 310 seconds according to the site.

Both interesting and scary.

Have a nice day.

Dear Jesus,

Why do they call it good Friday?

Why do the good people of Evangle Temple on Veterans Parkway feel the need to re-enact the crucifixion of you on their front law for the three days leading up to good Friday?

xoxo,
Your Jewish friend

Skype...

...is my new obsession. First off, happy Friday. Second, here's a quick anecdote: I was in the shower this morning when my phone rang. Yes, I take my cell into the bathroom because I never know when my husband, Morgan, is going to call from Afghanistan. Knowing it could be him I turned the water off half-way through shaving (awkward), yanked off the shower cap I stole from a hotel bathroom and answered the phone. It was him! Fast forward ten minutes and we're talking to each other on Skype. It's a free program that allows you to make phone calls from your computer. Hook up a high resolution web cam and you're ready for a little bow chicka bow wow! Or just a nice conversation with the loved one you haven't seen since December. You can also instant message other Skypers. Now, go off and have some fun with it!
xoxoL

Breasts

The subject of this post is meant to draw people like you in. It worked and that's OK. Happily, this is really a post about breasts...and the cancer that they can get. Did you know 178,480 women in the U.S. will be diagnosed with invasive breast cancer and 40,460 women will die from the disease? That's from the Susan G. Komen Foundation. In short, breast cancer sucks.

I wrote a story for tomorrow's newspaper about the Ultimate Drive to Cure Breast Cancer event that pulled into Columbus today as part of their 10-week national tour. Here's an excerpt:

It’s a way to get guys to care about the charity.
That’s what Andy Boone said about the BMW Ultimate Drive to cure breast cancer event that took place Wednesday at BMW of Columbus on Whittlesey Boulevard.
“My wife, she donates a lot to cancer charities,” said participant Brandon Sellers. “She gets to do her charities and I get to drive a BMW.”

Hopefully no one gets offended by this. Boone was only kidding...I think.

Well, have a slap happy hump day and click here and here for a little breast-related fun.

Werd.

soccer it to me

The Columbus Adult Soccer Association began its spring 2008 season recently and I am proud to be a part of it. The team I play for is called Acousti, named after a local construction company is what I'm told. Our black, sleeveless, mesh jerseys are awesome. Not at all unflattering. Our skills are so-so.

Sunday was a perfect day to kick it and by kick it I mean get our butts kicked. Whoever said "It's not whether you win or lose, but how you play the game" is an idiot. True, I joined CASA because I wanted to get off the treadmill, meet some people and revisit my glory days riding the pine as a member of the Union College soccer team. But let's be honest. Winning is what's really important. That's why I was so pissed when the Pink Panthers (seriously) beat my bad ass Acousti Sunday, 1-0. We so had that game. More shots on goal, better ball control. We even had a super fan in tow--my friend and co-worker Sonya Sorich. Let's just say she got some pretty judgemental looks from the other four spectators when she whipped out a life-sized piece of poster board containing the words "ball" and "handler" on it.

Despite the loss, it sure feels good to lace up my pink cleats again and run around outdoors for awhile. You should try it, but make sure you get on it because we're headed for some hot and sticky weather real soon.

Roots

Happy St. Paddy's Day! Something about my pale complexion, reddish-brown hair and abundant freckles tells me I'm Irish. My parents honestly don't have a clue. That's upsetting because roots are important, aren't they? What if I come down with some initially inexplicable disease that can only be cured upon intense scrutiny of my family's history? I'm screwed I guess.

Be that as it may, scientific advances are being made in DNA genealogy that blow my mind. There are actually companies out there that can locate your ancestral origins by testing your DNA. Family Tree DNA is one of them. The company was featured on CBS's 60 Minutes. On that episode, a black woman from New York, Vy Higgensen, discovered she was genetically linked to Marion West, a white cattle rancher from Missouri. Crazy. What excites me about this is that the possibilities for connection and learning are so wide open. My fascination with connections can probably best be illustrated by my need to waste hours reading about other people's "missed connections" on craigslist. If you've never looked at this, please do. It's romance and heartache and joy and possibility all rolled into one little link.

Well, here's hoping I'm a descendant of an Irish Poet or Russian Czar. Odds are I'm not, but I'll never know unless I take that journey. Needles and blood make me sweat, however, so I think I'll begin searching for my ancestors through ancestry.com or another such site. Until then, raise a brew (preferably dyed green) and make a toast in honor of those from which you came. Salud!

I love sunshowers

This afternoon I was driving along Veterans Parkway and it started to rain. Big 'ol fat rain, as Forrest Gump would say. Anyway, this rain was special because it really wasn't that cloudy overhead. In fact, the sun was shining right through those cumuluform clouds. The way it reflected off these plump drops created mini earth bound prisms that crashed into and exploded on the cars and concrete. It was a lot to look at while driving, but I couldn't help thinking about how I wanted to savor the moment and blog about this. Sunshowers happen, for sure. Just not too often where I'm from. When experienced it can really add a refreshing twist to your afternoon. Who says rainy days have to be depressing?