In Memory of Lori Zoll Pharr

I recently blogged about an old high school friend, Lori Zoll Pharr and her battle with cancer. Well this evening I received this e-mail from my friend, Deb Upton Meyer, that she got from Lori’s father.

To all of Lori’s classmates. Lori’s earthly journey is over. God took one of his great servants home this afternoon. It is with a very heavy heart that this message goes to you all. Even though one of your classmates is gone from us heaven is so much richer. Lori is the kind of a girl that makes a guy very proud to say he is a father Only God and the love of our friends will ever fill the hole that is in Lori’s mothers and my heart. Please feel free to keep in contact with us. It will really help Josie and I. With our deepest gratitude, Blair

My deepest sympathy to the Pharr and Zoll family of the loss of their beloved Lori. My thoughts and prayers are with the family. The memory of Lori will always be in our hearts.
Sylvia

Do you remember…

… New Zoo Revue?

I have been trying to remember thing from when I was growing up and I remembered the TV show New Zoo Revue. And the more I thought about it, I started to get freaked out a little. The show originally aired in syndication from 1972 until 1977, so I was 6–10 years old when it came on. I really don’t remember the story of the show, but I remember that houses and lots of singing and dancing. I also remember some of the characters in the show.

• Henrietta Hippo was a tutu-wearing, genteel Southern Belle type, who was a bit shy.
• Charlie was a serious, know-it-all scientist/inventor owl who lived in a tall tree equipped with an elevator.
• Freddie the Frog was always ready for a good time but was a bit naive. While the same size as the other adult-sized characters, Freddie was characterized (at least in some episodes) as a school-aged child.
• Mr. Dingle was the friendly elderly postman.
• Mrs. Goodbody, the nosy neighbor, occasionally dropped by.

A talking hippp, owl and frog… no wonder it seems a little strange to me know. But being a kid, I suppose it really didn’t bother me at the time. But now…

And don’t even get me started on The Banana Split, H.R. Pufnstuf, Lidsville and Sigmund and the Sea Monsters!

Dancing with the Stars — Week 2

In Week 2 of Dancing with the Stars, all 14 teams competed on Monday night.

Tom DeLay and Cheryl Burke and Kathy Ireland and Tony Dovolani had the lowest score of the evening at 18 points. The highest score of 27 points went to Aaron Carter and Karina Smirnoff and Mýa and Dmitry Chaplin.

My pick to win at the beginning of the season Donny Osmond and Kym Johnson are in third place with 25 points.

This season, I thought all of the celebrities were good. They seemed like they were enjoying being on the show. But then I read something that Aaron Carter said and now him and Karina are on my list of teams I don’t want to see make the finals.

Aaron Carter Predicts ‘I’m Going to Win’ DWTS

Aaron Carter is quite confident about his chances of winning Dancing with the Stars.

“There are no if’s, and’s or but’s or possibilities or chances,” he said during an interview Monday on 104.3 MY FM’s Valentine in the Morning. “I’m going to win Dancing with the Stars.”

With only the first week of competition down, the pop singer predicts he’ll be in the finale with Donny Osmond and Joanna Krupa, who both also performed well last week.

OK, he may think he’s going to win, but I hope the other teams do better than him. I know it’s childish… but it’s my blog and I can say whatever I want to!! 🙂

Here are my weekly picks:

Who did the best: Mýa and Dmitry Chaplin did the best dance (Jive), but I didn’t care for the little show in the beginning of their dance (OMG — that sounds like something Len Goodman would say!)

WOW, maybe they can dance: Michael Irvin and Anna Demidova. As much as Michael Irvin gets on my nerves, he did pretty good dancing the Quickstep.

Who should leave: Tom DeLay and Cheryl Burke. Tom DeLay was entertaining, but since he has a bum foot, he needs to leave the show. BONUS — that means Cheryl will leave too!

Side Notes:

• When Samantha Harris talks, it’s like fingernails on a chalkboard!
• ANIMAL! ANIMAL! I love The Muppets!
• What was that thing on Joanna Krupa’s head? It was kind of scary looking.
• And is it just me or does Mark Ballas need to be on some kind of medication? He needs to calm down a little. He looks like a Spaz on the dance floor.
• Dmitry Chaplin should not be allowed to dress in short, high-water pants like he did on Monday’s show!
• I still think Debi Mazar is going to knock out Maksim Chmerkovskiy by the end of the season.
• I would have never thought that “Seven Nation Army” by The White Stripes would ever be used for a ballroom dancing song — but Chuck Liddell and Anna Trebunskaya did!
• And please Donny, stop talking about how old you are. Have you forgotten about Cloris Leachman from Season 7?

I’m looking forward to the results show on Tuesday night.

The Detroit Lions finally win a game!!

Well, guess the Tampa Bay Buccaneers‘ record for NFL futility will not be challenged in 2009 — and that’s just fine with the Detroit Lions. In1976, the Buccaneers’ team 0-26. The Lions had a 0-16 regular season in 2008 — so they were on their way to get that record.

And with the Detroit Lions’ win ended its 19-game losing streak Sunday by beating the suddenly reeling Washington Redskins 19-14 at Ford Field.

I’m glad that the crowd of 40,896 (that was the smallest at Ford Field and the fewest to watch a Lions home game in 20 years) were there to see the win. Hopefully the Lions will not let this be their only win this season. But you never know, we are talking about the Lions here!

Side Note:

What was Tom Cruise doing at the game?

Check this site out…

I this e-mail today from Cool Site of the Day, if you are a music fan, you need to check this site out.

Music Web Navigator!

Music Web Navigator is a simple but useful web service where you can enter artist name and get links to 50+ popular sites with complete information about this artist. This service offer a single access point to all most important music-related places on Web.

Of course, I use my go-to artist to find out information on — Adam Ant. Here is what it came up with.

Adam Ant

Official Site MySpace Wikipedia MusicBrainz Discogs All Music Guide

Adam Ant (born Stuart Leslie Goddard, 3 November 1954, Marylebone, London) is an English musician, who gained popularity as the lead singer of New Wave/post-punk group Adam and the Ants and later as a solo artist, scoring ten UK top ten hits between 1979 and 1983, including three No.1s. Goddard was also a star in America where he not only scored a string of hit singles and albums, but was once voted sexiest man in America by the viewers of MTV. He is also an actor, having appeared in two dozen films or television episodes between 1985 and 1999.

Videos

• YouTube
• Dailymotion
• MySpaceTV

Lyrics

• LyricWiki
• LyricsFreak
• LyricsTime

Covers

• AllCDCovers
• FreeCovers
• CDcovers.to

This is a perfect site to get information on sites of artist instead of doing lots of searches. I now that I will be using this site whenever I want to learn more about ab artist.

What I’ve been listend to on my iPod…

I have been in a “Disco” phase these past couple of weeks. Generation X missed going to the discotheques, so I missed that experience (except for those who sneaked in). I am convinced that is the reason why I have never learned “the hustle“! In my hometown, Flint, Michigan, there were two that I remember “The Light” in the Small Mall on Dort Highway and “The Mikatam.”

When I think of disco music, I think of Donna Summer, The Bee Gees, The Jacksons, KC and the Sunshine Band and Chic.

I was trying to think which song from the disco era was my favorite. There were so many: “I’m Your Boogie Man“, “You Should Be Dancing“, “You’re the First, the Last, My Everything“, “Everybody Dance” and “Last Dance” to name a few.

I would have to day “I Will Survive” by Gloria Gaynor might be on my top 10 of favorite disco songs.

Did I crumble
Did I lay down and die
Oh no, not I! I will survive!

Say a Little Prayer for my friend Lori Zoll Pharr

Lori and her granddaughter Caroline

A couple of months ago, I blogged about an old school friend, Lori Zoll Pharr and her battle with cancer. On June 29th 2009, she was diagnosed with colon cancer that has spread to her liver. Then on August 4 2009, she was diagnosed with a worse more aggressive cancer called neuroendocrine carcinoma.

She has been so brave in her battle and her daughter(s) have been keeping family and friends posted on her blog: Help Lori Fight. Here is one on the latest posts from Lori’s blog:

Thursday, September 17, 2009

Update

This evening, Dr. Sasser came and visited with Mama to update her on some of the blood work she had done last week. Her levels have lowered significantly, but she is firm against doing any more chemo. Dr. Sasser believes (with support from research that has been done) that patients who receive long-term palliative care can generally live longer than if they did more treatment. With more treatment, Mama could only expect another 3-6 months, and she doesn’t want to be suffering from the side effects of chemo during that time. She does not want to disturb the peace that God has given her, so no more chemo.

So I want her to know that I am thinking of her and her family. And I only hope that if I was ever in a situation like Lori’s that I would be as brave as her.

In the current Guidepost magazine that I got, there was a story “Urgent Prayer” —  Whatever it was — and the doctors didn’t know—it was killing my daughter… By Wilma Cook, Arnett, West Virginia. It’s about her daughter and prayers and the support they received from around the world. Arnett says, “We’re connected, not just by technology, but by God’s love, the most powerful network of all”.

And I read this from Lori’s blog… “She says that she feels the prayers all the time, so keep them coming!” So I was thinking if you are reading this, if you could pass along a prayer, good vibes or a “Hello” to Lori.

Mine are on my way, Lori!

Leave your comment at Help Lori Fight.

DWTS — Double-Elimination

Well, the last night of the three-night premiere ended with the double-elimination of Ashley Hamilton and Edyta Śliwińska and Macy Gray and Jonathan Roberts.

I think the right teams were picked to be the first to leave. The only sad thing is that both Edyta and Jonathan seem to be paired with celebrities that get voted off first. Like I mentioned before, Jonathan really needs to be paired with someone good next season.

Side Notes:

The Lion King number was really good. And of course, here in San Antonio, right after that aired, they showed a commercial about The Lion King playing in town.

The Patrick Swayze tribute was really good too. And Tony Dovolani dancing at the end… I like him! 🙂

After the first week,  I’m about 75% sure of my pre-season pick of Donny Osmond and Kym Johnson winning. But after seeing Joanna Krupa and Derek Hough, Mýa and Dmitry Chaplin and Kelly Osbourne and Louis van Amstel dance, it could be another win for the women this season!

200,000+ Hits!

WOW — I am proud to announce that my blog has received over 200,000 views — as of today (around 5:30 pm CST) 203,531. What surprises me is that I went over 200,000 views last night. I went from 1,957 hits one day to over 8,100 hits the next day (must of been all the blogging about Dancing with the Stars!)

Thanks to anyone who has read my blog and for helping me achieve this. I’m humbled by people actually reading what I post up here. Thanks to everyone who has sent a comment on what I have blogged about.

When I started this two years ago, I never thought there would be people out there interested in what popped into my mind. So getting 200,000 hits is a big deal for me!

Thanks, Sylvia

DWTS (Season 9) — Week 1 — The Women

Tonight’s show was all about the women. It seemed like the women had a harder time than the men did last night. Grant it, the men have a different role in the dances, they just seemed a little better (some of them).

Here are my picks on who did the best, who needs to go and who surprised me.

Did the best: Kelly Osbourne and Louis van Amstel. Plus Ozzy Osbourne was there — the “Prince of Darkness” was crying!! (I will not pick Joanna Krupa (see below), no matter how much they go ga-ga over her!)

Kelly Osbourne & Louis Van Amstel

Opps… someone has to be first: Macy Gray and Jonathan Roberts — Jonathan deserves to have better partners than he has had!

Holy Cow, didn’t know she could dance (almost): Macy Gray and Jonathan Roberts (from going to not being able to pronounce that Viennese Waltz to almost looking like she knew what she was doing. Good thing that they don’t score on being a lady.)

This is going to be a long season with the judges (MEOW!) I think this will be the season that we see Len Goodman and  Bruno Tonioli get into a fight! And listening to Samantha Harris and her attempts of being fun and entertaining when she talks the teams after they dance.

After two nights, here are somethings already on my nerves (besides Samantha): Joanna Krupa, didn’t like her on television show Superstars and I’m not liking her so far. Then there is her partner, Derek Hough, that guy talks way too much! And then there is Tom DeLay needs to stop being so “cheeky”… wait can I use Tom Delay and “cheeky” in the same thought?

Side notes:

• What were Jermanine and LaToya Jackson doing in the crowd?
• Dmitry Chaplin (Catcall whistle)