A couple of news and floats in the parade.

A couple of sure signs of spring.  My sump pump is running and the return of the potholes.  Some of the potholes are growing larger by the day.  If nothing else, they keep you on your toes while you are driving as you swerve to miss them. 

1.  It's good to be a grape nut:  A new study says that women who drink wine daily lose weight.  I'll drink to that.

2.  March Madness continues:  This week it is the ND Class A Boys and Girls Basketball Tournament.  Follow all of the action here. 

3.  Go directly to Jail:  A man tries to buy drugs using Monopoly money.  You can't make this stuff up. 

Posted by: Parade Watcher on 3/11/2010 at 7:34 AM | Comments (0) | Permalink

Tags: march madness, monopoly, pot holes, spring, sump pump, weight loss, wine

Early week floats in the Parade

Entering the week with a couple of floats in the parade that might make you think. 

1.  Babies in bars?  Would you believe this is actually being discussed?  A CNN story is getting lots of comment.

2.  A Golf Opener:  What if we had a golf opener like a fishing opener.  The golf courses would only open on a certain day, all on the same day in town.  Would it create as much excitement as the fishing opener?  Could you see the cars lined up with their golf carts like the boats at the ramps?  Just throwing it out there for discussion.

3.  No Cuss Week:  Thank you McKay Hatch, a teenager from South Pasadena CA.  He founded a No Cussing Club in his Junior High.  Now he is working on getting the first week in March as No Cuss Week.  Keep up the good work McKay. 

4.  Facebook No-no's:  When you are going to be named the chief of Britain's Secret Intelligence Service but your wife posts your home address and who your friends are on Facebook.  Oops!  So much for a secret! 

Posted by: Parade Watcher on 3/09/2010 at 5:05 AM | Comments (0) | Permalink

Tags: babies, bars, cnn, facebook, golf, mckay hatch, no cuss week

The Sunday floats

A couple of Sunday floats to float by you. 

1.  A great Sunday sermon:  Pastor Ken Klaus had a great sermon this morning on the Lutheran Hour.  Read it here if you missed it.  People getting hit by lightening, escaping from car explosions, a great read. 

2.  The Oscars:  Looks like my streak will continue, once again I will miss the Oscars.  Or not. 

3.  Think Spring:  Many people have different ways to put ourselves into the spring mode.  A couple of my favorites include, getting the 2010 Burpee Seed Catalog,  seeing your first robin, and my favorite, a think-spring meal, usually some brats or burgers on the grill, and a macaroni or potato salad.  Today just might be that think-spring meal.  BTW - spring arrives on Saturday, March 20 @ 12:32pm (CDT)  Yes, next Sunday (March 14) is Daylight Savings Time. 

Posted by: Parade Watcher on 3/07/2010 at 8:02 AM | Comments (0) | Permalink

Tags: burpee seeds, daylight savings, first day of spring, oscars, sermon, spring, sunday

Some weekend floats

Starting the day with freezing rain.  Doesn't bode well for my Saturday morning grocery store ritual.

1.  Flood forecast:  So far Mother Nature has followed the recipe with a nice slow melt and no additional precipitation.  We did get news that we broke the record for the most moisture between the months of December to February.  As if we didn't know that already by looking at the snow piled up in my yard.  4.28 inches of rain and melted snow means we broke the old record by almost a half an inch.  I'm all for breaking another record, the most snow and moisture and no major flooding in the Red River Valley. 

2.  Smokers vs. Non-smokers:  Some of my best friends smoke so this is not a cheap shot at them, but this study might have some merit.  Sheba Medical Center in Israel has found that the lower a person's IQ, the more likely they are to smoke.  A pack a day smokers had an IQ of 7.5 points lower than non-smokers. 

3.  March Madness:  Undefeated Beach takes on the Squirrels of Central Cass for the Class B girls championship tonight in Minot.  EDC boys and girls championships tonight in Grand Forks, WDA championship games in Bismarck, Summit League tournament in Sioux Falls.  If you are a basketball fan then this is a great time of the year. 

4.  Under the heading of "you can't make this stuff up":  LONDON, March 5 (UPI) -- Officials in London said they paid $756 compensation to a jogger who was locked in a public toilet for 17 hours on Christmas Day.

London's Southwark Council said the man, whose name was not released, was accidentally locked in the Dulwich Park men's room by an attendant who did not check to see if the building was empty before locking the doors Christmas Eve, The Daily Telegraph reported Friday.

CCTV footage of the man depicts him wearing a garbage bag and sitting under hand dryers to stay warm. He was freed when the doors were unlocked the following afternoon.

Officials indicated the attendant, a worker on a temporary contract, is no longer employed by the council.

Posted by: Parade Watcher on 3/06/2010 at 9:00 AM | Comments (0) | Permalink

Tags: flood, march madness, non-smokers, smokers

Thursday's floats

Here's a couple of floats going by the Parade Watcher on a Thursday.

1.  North Dakota Drivers:  seems that we are the least miserable drivers in the country and ranked third in the Total Driver Misery Index.  Poll must not have been taken during one of those white knuckle - white-out drives between Fargo and Grand Forks. 

2.  Downtown Fargo Blog:  A couple of local college students are doing a great job of writing about businesses and events in downtown Fargo/Moorhead.  They include many photos in their blog.  Give it a read, I think you will enjoy it. 

3.  Results of the Chilean earthquake:  Would you believe that our days will be shorter?  Yep, the world is actually going to spin faster.  We'll have more active volcanoes.  and, the cost of paper could rise 5% as Chili is one of the world's largest wood pulp producers. 

4.  Topeka Kansas is now Google Kansas?  By proclamation of the mayor of Topeka.  It's not going to stick, but I do predict, somewhere in the world in the next few years, someone is going to name their child Google. 

5.  The news is the news:  This week the Fargo Forum introduced a new streamlined paper as newspapers around the country struggle to keep their dominance in the news world.  (click here to see which ones haven't made it and which ones are on life support)  Now the news turns to the decline of Network News.  Turns out that most of them are not doing well.  Last week ABC cut 400 jobs from their news division.  Now there is talk that Katie Couric could be replaced by Anderson Cooper.  Where do you get your news these days?  (sure hope it is not the Parade Watcher!)

6.  Tournament time:  As an avid local sports fan, is there a better time of the year than March for local sports?  It's tournament time, with high boys and girls basketball games every where.  Get out and support your favorite team. 

Posted by: Parade Watcher on 3/04/2010 at 5:23 AM | Comments (0) | Permalink

Tags: anderson cooper, chili, drivers, earthquake, google, high school basketball, katie couric, network news, north dakota, topeka, tournament