What! January 26, 2017
By Lisa Baker • 01-26-17
We have a new President who continues to Tweet. Or is that Twit. The new First Lady looked stunning in a pale blue dress and jacket by Ralph Lauren with shoes and gloves to match. Let’s pray that good things happen to and for our country.
Several times a week, a woman and her two sons cross the border from Juarez into El Paso to purchase Krispy Kreme donuts. They buy around 40 boxes of assorted donuts at $5 each, then takes them back to Mexico where they sell them for a profit at $8 dozen. Have you ever had Kristy Kreme donuts? If you have NOT, then you would never, ever understand.
HAPPY BIRTHDAYS: Actor James Earl Jones is 86. Singer-songwriter Neil Diamond is 76. Comedian Yakov Smirnoff is 66. Actress Nastassja Kinski is 58. Olympic gold-medal gymnast Mary Lou Retton is 49. Talk-show host Maury Povich is 78. Actor-comedian Steve Harvey is 60. Actor Jim Carrey is 55. Rapper Kid Rock is 46. Pro Football Hall of Famer Randy White is 64. Actor Chad Lowe is 49. Rapper Pitbull is 36. Singer-songwriter Bobby Goldsboro is 76. Remember the song “Honey.” That was in 1968. He played guitar with Roy Orbison before he was a star in his own right. Actor-director Kevin Costner is 62. Author Mary Higgins Clark is 89. I loved her books. Designer Kate Spade is 54.
Singer-songwriter Ray Stevens is 78. Remember Everything Is Beautiful, Misty, Gitarzan and The Streak. Actor Jason Segel is 37. He co-wrote and starred in The Muppet Movie. Actor John Hurt is 77. Actress Linda Blair is 58. Yikes. I’m scared just thinking about her head spinning around in The Exorcist. Celebrity chef Guy Fieri is 49. Actress Chita Rivera is 84. Princess Caroline of Monaco is 60.
President Obama commuted the prison sentence of Chelsea Manning (he was Bradley Manning before gender-reassignment while in prison,) allowing the Army intelligence officer who leaked more than 700,000 classified government and military documents to WikiLeaks along with battlefield video, to go free nearly three decades early . The actions are permanent and cannot be undone by President Trump.
Joke…a girl sends a text… “What does IDK stand for? Reply: “I don’t know.” Response: “OMG, nobody knows.” I’m still laughing.
Colo, the world’s first gorilla born in a zoo, died in her sleep less than a month after her 60th birthday at Cleveland Metroparks Zoo. Colo was the oldest known living gorilla in the U.S. The median life expectancy for female gorillas in human care is 37.5 years.
A New York man who was charged with driving while intoxicated allegedly bought nearly 1,000 copies of his local newspaper in an attempt to keep people he knew from finding out.
Monopoly is letting you vote for new board game tokens. Classics like the hat, shoe or Scottie dog could be traded in for a cell phone, hashtag or emoji. Hurry. www.VoteMonopoly.com. Voting ends in just a few days.
105-year-old Robert Marchand of France cycled 14 miles in one hour, setting a world record for his age group. Did you catch that…he’s 105.
Crews have begun to pump sand that was dredged from the Galveston Ship Channel into the beach in front of the seawall in Galveston. It will take approximately four-months to finish the project.
The doctor says to the patient…”What fits your busy schedule better, exercising one hour a day or being dead 24 hours a day?” Hmmm. I should go for a walk now.
Some thoughts from 2016: Hamilton…Pokémon Go…Scary Clowns…Olympics…David Bowie… Leonard Cohen…George Michael…Debbie Reynolds…Carrie Fisher…Super Bowl… Muhammad Ali…mass shootings… Patty Duke… Prince… zika virus… Chris Christie… Kardashians… Russian Interference… Angelina and Brad…El Chapo…Flint Water…Chipotle…North Korea… big hands… Oregon Standoff…Antonin Scalia…Deflated Balls…Ben Carson…bomb threats… which bathroom…Queen’s birthday…gorilla Harambe…Kentucky Derby…skydiver Luke Aikins… Ryan Lochte… National Anthem…Galaxy Note 7’s Batteries…Samsung washers…new iPhone 7… Game of Thrones…Michael Phelps…Katie Ledecky…Simone Biles…Star Wars…Finding Dory…“Can’t Stop the Feeling”…Billy Bush…WikiLeaks…Anthony Weiner…Affordable Care Act… Bob Dylan…Nobel Prize…Chicago Cubs…Trump twitters…Fidel Castro…Alec Baldwin…Black Lives Matter…Electoral College…Glenn Frey…penis transplant…Harper Lee…George Kennedy… Presidential Election…Merle Haggard…Guy Clark…Gene Wilder…Arnold Palmer…Leon Russell… Florence Henderson…John Glenn…Alan Thicke…Zsa Zsa Gabor…Bretix.
Chevrolet unveiled its LEGO Batmobile recently at the Detroit/North American International Auto Show. It was inspired by Batman’s vehicle in the soon-to-hit-theatres The LEGO Batman Movie. It is 17-ft long, almost 1,700-pounds, took 344,187 LEGO bricks and 1,833 hours to build.
Several months ago, my daughter announced that Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson was coming to Houston. He is an Astrophysicist that happens to be a rock star in the world of science. Well, when your kids ask for candy, electronics or new clothes, you have to stop and ask some questions…but when they ask you to take them to go see someone talk about science, you just have to jump right in and get the tickets. We saw Dr. Tyson at SPA last week and he spoke for two solid hours on the subject of outer space. It was definitely the most interesting two hours “ever.”
“I dream of a world where the truth is what shapes people’s politics, rather than politics shaping what people think is true.” Neil deGrasse Tyson
An avalanche that appears to have been triggered by a series of earthquakes in central Italy, buried a ski town hotel.
Will and Grace are coming back to NBC. Will and Grace are best friends. Will is a gay lawyer and Grace is a straight interior designer and they live in New York, together. The first episode aired in 1998. Last show was about ten years ago.
Because of The Super Bowl, people are renting out their entire houses, condos or apartments in Houston. Well, guess what? State hotel occupancy taxes are due when you rent sleeping accommodations for $15 or more per day. The state hotel occupancy tax rate is 6%. Some people that they interviewed on TV were asking $5000 a week for their homes. Hmmm. At 6% that’s a bunch of money.
More snow storms in the north and California, tons of rain in the west and California, tornadoes sweep the south …at Disneyland, heavy rains poured and a flash flood warning was issued as the very few guests hid under the monorail…strange weather.
Lake Jackson/Freeport native, Kristi Hoss Schiller of K9s4COPs, has donated a 3-year-old Labrador retriever named Bucee (after Buc-ee’s) to the Brazoria County Sheriff’s Office. Thank you, Kristi.
Almost three years after Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 disappeared with 239 people onboard, officials say that they have called off the underwater search for the plane.
February 4th is World Cancer Day. I take this opportunity to say “Kick Butt” to all my friends that are fighting cancer right now.
Groundhog Day is coming up on February 2. What does that mean this year? He must be so confused.
I saw a report on TV about cardboard tents for camping festivals. Their selling point was having a tent available when you are flying to a location and can’t haul all your camping gear with you…they will mail the tent to your camping location. The cardboard tent promises to withstand the roughest weather, even three days of rain and can then be recycled. They will even print text or photos on the side of the tent to make it more personal. I liked the fact that it stays dark inside long after sunrise.
You’ve heard of the English that mount their horses, blow the horn, release the fox, and follow with their dogs in hot pursuit. (I don’t think that they really do that anymore but it’s the only example I could think of.) Well, now during drone hunting, everyone hops on their dirt bike, they release the drone and the party begins. So, what happens if you bag the drone…taxidermy or crockpot? I couldn’t find a good recipe.
According to news reports this morning, it looks like the Norovirus is making its way to our area. It’s nasty, very contagious, acts quickly and is difficult to prevent. Schools are being forced to close. Vomiting and diarrhea can come as quickly as 12-48 hours after exposure. It is carried in the air and is hard to wash away…a quick application of hand sanitizer won’t get rid of it. You must vigorously wash your hands and nails with soap and hot water for at least 30 seconds. There was more information but it’s too gross to repeat. Just take my word for it. Wash your hands.
When police in Western Australia stopped a speeding pickup truck, the driver claimed to be exceeding the legal limit because “the wind was pushing me.” Was he just blowing in the wind?
Two employees were spending the night at a Houston gun shop because of so many previous break-ins. Shortly after midnight, one employee saw two cars pull up in the front parking lot. The employees grabbed weapons, headed for the parking lot, and returned fire, but were only able to detain two of the individuals while they called to report a burglary in progress. Shortly, two people dropped off a man at a Houston Medical Center with non-life-threatening gunshot wounds and then drove away. Now, it sounds like the potential robbers initiated the gunfire yet two of the three that were interviewed have been released because no robbery had occurred. Sigh.
David Sanborn played a great concert at The Clarion. He’s the American saxophonist that blends jazz with pop and R&B. He contracted polio at the age of three and was introduced to the saxophone as part of his therapy. By the age of 14, he was playing with legends. After studying music, he played woodstock with the Butterfield Blue Band.
Celebrate everything until further notice. Lisa Baker
