I just wanted to wish an old friend a Happy Birthday.

Have you ever met someone that is just a cool guy! I first met Jason Ryan in the late 90’s, we worked together at The Palace of Auburn Hills. He’s just one of the special friends that you remember fondly. The last time I saw or talked with Jason was in 2000. We just recently reconnected on Facebook and have kept in touch with each other.

So, Jason, have a great birthday and thanks for being a friend!!

I have been thinking about how I can show my appreciation to the men and women who are stationed overseas. And of course, like it seems to happen, I get an e-mail from my friend, Melanie about a program that Xerox is doing.

This is something that I am differently going to do and share it with others. Just reading the comments from the soliders made me appreciate them even more!

The mission of Let’s Say Thanks is to provide a way for individuals across the country to recognize U.S. troops stationed overseas. By submitting a message through this site you have the opportunity to send a free personalized postcard greeting to deployed servicemen and women.

The postcards, depicting patriotic scenes and hometown images, were selected from a pool of entries from children across the country.

All you have to do is click on your favorite design and either select the message that best expresses your sentiment or draft a personal note. The postcards are then printed on the Xerox iGen3^® Digital Production Press and mailed in care packages by military support organization Give2TheTroops^®.

Xerox is committed to helping people across the nation express their gratitude to our troops overseas. The launch of this program is aimed at reminding them how much Americans appreciate their service.

Here is one of the cards that you can select to send with your message:

And here is one of the comments from someone who received a package and card from this program:

First and foremost, thank you! The gifts and warm greetings were very appreciated! I must admit, it was overwhelming to know that so many of our American brothers and sisters thought enough about us at this busy time of year to send something, to simply say thanks.  We would like to thank you, not only for your prayers and generosity, but for the support you give us and our nation day in and day out. We are proud to serve you, our nation and our family. Thank you for the motivation, your thoughts and your prayers.  Thank you for supporting us and our families.  God bless each and every one of you.  Have a Merry Christmas and wonderful holiday season!

- A Thankful American Troop Member

I was thinking of the first time I experienced Long Island Iced Tea… it was on a trip I took to Chicago, Illinois when I was a student at Mott Community College. I went with some friends for the weekend and had a great time there. We were staying at a hotel at the beginning of where all the nice and fancy hotels are in downtown Chicago. We went to the hotel bad and started drinking.

Trying to figure out what to drink, the bartender suggested a Long Island Iced Tea. I said sure, I had never had one before. Not knowing what was in it, the first one went down really easy. it tasted just like Iced Tea, how harmful could that be I asked myself.

Then I had a second one. Didn’t feel anything! I think I even asked if there was any liquor in the drinks! After the third and forth one, I tried to stand up and realized that the whole room was moving! It was at that time that the bartender and my friends started laughing at me. They were telling me what all was in a Long Island Iced Tea… glad I didn’t know what was in the drink before I started drinking them.

The rest of the night is a little fuzzy after all of these years. I do remember that at one point of the night, we were at the shore of Lake Michigan with our drinks in hand. Not sure how were crossed all the lanes of Lake Shore Drive, in one piece, but we did! That was my first experience with Long Island Iced Tea.

After Googling — Long Island Iced Tea, I found some interesting stories and recipes.

I am looking forward to the time I will have a Long Island Iced Tea and remember my trip to Chicago with my friends!

This is a classic mixed drink that should be in everyone’s drink repertoire. An easy way to remember how to make a Long Island is to think of a small shot of 5 white spirits (gin, tequila, light rum, vodka, triple sec), shot of sour mix, fill with cola. It’s really easy if you break it down, but it is also just as easy to drink too many. The 1970’s credit for this potent and alluring concoction could go to Robert Bott, a bartender from Long Island, or to Charles Bishop, a 1930’s moonshiner in (then dry) Tennessee. Or was it T.G.I. Friday’s?The LIIT has also inspired many variations which are below the recipe.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 oz triple sec
• 1/2 oz light rum
• 1/2 oz gin
• 1/2 oz vodka
• 1/2 oz tequila
• 1 oz sour mix
• cola
• lemon wedge for garnish

Preparation:

1. Pour the spirits and sour mix into a collins glass with ice.
2. Stir well or shake.
3. Top the glass off with cola.
4. Garnish with the lemon wedge.

Long Beach Iced Tea – cranberry juice
Miami Iced Tea – cranberry juice, lemon-lime soda, peach schnapps for tequila
Electric Iced Tea – blue curacao and lemon lime soda
Hawaiian Iced Tea – pineapple juice
Raspberry Long Island Iced Tea – raspberry vodka and rum (possible with any infused spirits)
Texas Tea – add bourbon
Touchdown Tea – Gatorade for sour mix

Ever once in a while I have these flashbacks of things that I remember when I was growing up. Here are a couple of them:

Freshen-Up Gum — I loved that gum. Who didn’t like this? A  chewing gum with flavored gels inside! There are several sites that still sell Freshen-Up Gum.

Check out a Freshen-Up Gum commercial from 1979.

Judy Blume Books — Sorry to say, I did not read any Judy Blume books while growing up. I remember some of the titles of her books:

• Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret (1970)
• Blubber (1974)
• Superfudge (1980)
  

Is it too late to read them now?

BIC 4-Ink Color — one of my all-time favorite pens in the world!!

At the click of a color-coded button you select the color you want – blue, black, red or green.

I remember I would take the bottom part off and squeeze all of the inks together and make circles with all four of the colors on a piece of paper.

Welch’s Jelly Jar

Like I said before, my parents were so mean to us when we were growing up!!! They didn’t buy the fun Welch’s Jelly Jar with the charachters on them! I know, I know… how could I have lived through that!!

But, I’m glad to know, if I ever want them, I can get them online!

Well, that’s all I have for now. But don’t worry, I’m sure more things from when I was growing up will pop into my head.

Well, I have been on my new job for about three weeks so far and I have been listening to my iPod during my drives to and from work (about a 40 minute drive). One of the latest playlists that I have put on my iPod is music from PBS’s Latin Music USA. I can’t believe how much I liked that show!

Here is one of the songs that was featured on the program. I love this song. I have had it on my iPod for a couple of years, but it wasn’t until I saw the show that I started listening to it.* It is “Vivir lo Nuestro” (1994) by Marc Anthony featuring La India.

I have a number of songs by Marc Anthony in my collection. But this was the first time that I heard of  La India (Linda Viera Caballero) is a noted Grammy Award and Latin Grammy Award-nominated singer of salsa also known as the Princess of Salsa. I will definitely be adding some of La India’s music to my collection.

(I will blog about all the songs I have on my iPod and haven’t listen to yet at a later date. You know that saying, she who dies with the most songs wins! That’s me!)

Veterans Day is November 11, 2009 and I wanted to express my appreciation to all the men and women served us and our country — THANK YOU!

Take A Moment To Thank A Veteran

When you see someone in a uniform
Someone who serves us all,
Doing military duty,
Answering their country’s call,
Take a moment to thank them
For protecting what you hold dear;
Tell them you are proud of them;
Make it very clear.Just tap them on the shoulder,
Give a smile, and say,
“Thanks for what you’re doing;
To keep us safe in the USA!”

By Joanna Fuchs

Military & Veterans Websites — to remember Veterans throughout the year

• U.S. Air Force: www.af.mil
• U.S. Army: www.army.mil
• U.S. Navy: www.navy.mil
• U.S. Marine Corps: www.usmc.mil
• U.S. Coast Guard: www.uscg.mil
• U.S. Department of Defense: www.defenselink.mil
• Military Woman: www.militarywoman.org (not a DOD or armed forces site)
• Selective Service System: www.sss.gov
• Department of Veterans Affairs (VA): www.va.gov
• BosniaLINK: www.dtic.mil/bosnia/index.html
• Gulf War Veterans: www.gulfwarvets.com
• Vietnam Veterans of America: www.vva.org
• WWII U.S. Veterans: ww2.vet.org
• Korean War Veterans Association: www.kwva.org
• American Legion: www.legion.org
• Air America: www.air-america.org/
• North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO): www.nato.int

I think this is the first time that I am going to blog about DWTS without seeing the show. (I started a new work schedule and I forgot to record the show).

So this week, I am going with the information that was on Dancing with the Stars (U.S. season 9) on Wikipedia.

Who should stay (score from both dances):

Donny Osmond and Kym Johnson (50)
Kelly Osbourne and Louis van Amstel (51)
Mýa and Dmitry Chaplin (59)
Joanna Krupa and Derek Hough (52)

Here is why I think these team will make it to the next round:

• I think Donny and Kym, Kelly and Louis are fan favorites and they will make it to the next round.

• Mýa and Dmitry will make it to the next round because they are the team to beat.

• Joanna and Derek have a higher score than Aaron and Karina, so they will make it to the next round.

Who should be voted off:

Aaron Carter and Karina Smirnoff (50)

Favorite song of the night:

“You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)“—Dead or Alive

Side notes:

The first time that Len Goodman gives Mýa & Dmitry a perfect “10″ — I miss it!

All right!! I will be home to see Michael Bublé sing on the results show!

Just saw that one of my favorite groups The Bee Gees will be on the Novomber 17, 2009 show!

Sesame Street turned 40 on November 10 .

Sesame Street is an educational television program designed for preschoolers, and is recognized as a pioneer of the contemporary standard which combines education and entertainment in children’s television shows. Sesame Street also provided the first daily, national television showcase for Jim Henson’s Muppets. The series, which has produced over 4,200 episodes, celebrates its 40th anniversary this season, making it one of the longest-running shows in television history.

I was trying to remember the times that I watched the show when I was a kid. I was trying to remember the cast of the show and my favorite characters.

I can only really remember bits and pieces of watching the show. I remember some of the cast members and most of the main characters of the show. I remember some of the songs from the show.

Who could ever forget Bob McGrath who plays Bob, Will Lee to play Mr. Hooper, and Matt Robinson to play Gordon. Then there were Sonia Manzano (Maria), Northern Calloway (David), Emilio Delgado (Luis), Linda Bove (Linda), and Buffy Saint-Marie (Buffy).

Then there are the Sesame Street Characters:

• Big Bird
• Grover
• Cookie Monster
• Oscar the Grouch
• Bert and Ernie
• Elmo
• Oscar the Grouch
• Mr. Snuffleupagus
• The Count

And many more Sesame Street Characters.

(Thanks to Muppet Wiki is a collaborative encyclopedia for everything related to Jim Henson, The Muppet Show and Sesame Street for helping me remember things from the show that I have forgotten!)

So thanks to Jim Henson and the  Children’s Television Workshop (CTW) — founded by Joan Ganz Cooney and Ralph Rogers and everyone involved with creating a show that has been around for 40 years! And hopefully it will be around for many, many more years!

Sesame Street: Season 40 Highlights

Side Note:

Pretty cool how Google Celebrates Sesame Street’s 40th Anniversary.

Sunny Day
Sweepin’ the clouds away
On my way to where the air is sweet

Can you tell me how to get,
How to get to Sesame Street

Come and play
Everything’s A-OK
Friendly neighbors there
That’s where we meet

Can you tell me how to get
How to get to Sesame Street

It’s a magic carpet ride
Every door will open wide
To Happy people like you–
Happy people like
What a beautiful

Sunny Day
Sweepin’ the clouds away
On my way to where the air is sweet

Can you tell me how to get,
How to get to Sesame street…
How to get to Sesame Street
How to get to…

One of the websites that I like to visit is Listverse.com (@listverse). They have all types of lists on this site.

• Top 10 Worst Halloween Treats Ever
• 10 More Stunning Images Of Space
• 10 Forgotten Facts About Historical Events
• 10 More Amazing Facts About Dreams

Here is one about Another 15 Facts You Probably Don’t Know (here are some of the 15 facts)

It is not often that we follow a list so closely with a similar one, but when I recently came across a variety of new facts that were completely new to me, I decided that I must share them as soon as possible. It is my hope that the majority of these facts will be unknown to the majority of our readers. You may know one or two but hopefully you will finish this list at least 10 facts smarter than when you started.

2×4 (4×2 to the British) is not. 2×4 is the name used to refer to a common size of timber, but what most people don’t realize is that it is actually 1.5×3.5. The reason for this is that the named measurement refers to the size of the rough lumber before drying and planing.

Hippopotamuses – incredibly dangerous creatures – have a very unique ability: instead of sweating, they exude a pink liquid which is a natural sun block. This, and their ability to spend an indefinite amount of time in the water helps to keep them safe from the blistering sun.

Kangaroos can’t fart. They convert the small quantity of methane they produce into an energy source which their body reuses. Scientists hope that they will be able to transfer the bacteria that causes this in kangaroos to cows, to reduce methane emissions to save the world from the latest fashionable catastrophe: global warming.

Have you ever noticed that when you have a bowl of nuts, the bigger ones make their way to the top? This event actually has a scientific name: the Brazil Nut Effect. The term refers to the phenomenon in which the largest particles end up on the surface when a granular material containing a mixture of objects of different sizes is shaken.

Rhode Island is the smallest state with the longest name. The official name, used on all state documents, is “Rhode Island and Providence Plantations.”

Man, I was so lost not knowing that Kangaroos can’t fart! And I knew that there was a scientific name of why the smaller nuts are always on the bottom of the bowl — the Brazil Nut Effect! I feel so much smarter after reading this list.

For all the Dancing with the Stars fans out there… Did you know that you can follow some your favorite past and presents stars and dancers from DWTS on Twitter?

Here are some of the ones that I have been following:

@juliannehough

@OfficialMBallas

@dmitry_ch

@TonyDovolani

@donnyosmond

@Kym_Johnson

@yamaguchikristi

@MaksimC

It’s something fun to do when I have some time to surf the net.