Random Scatterings

If you’re from the Baltimore area you’re familiar with the name Ben Carson. Of course you’d see Doctor in front of it.

Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story is the biography of Dr. Ben Carson, Director of Pediatric Neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins. While the book is small and doesn’t look like it would contain much, don’t be fooled. When I first picked the book up I was a little surprised at how thin it was but once I started reading I couldn’t believe how much information was packed into it. The book starts with his early years and with his mother leaving his father. He would later find out that his father actually had another family and once his mother found out, she left him. Over the years his mother instilled in him that you can do whatever you put your mind to. Even though she barely had any education, she made sure her sons did. They were only allowed to watch an hour or so of TV and had to read a new book every week. She explained that in the homes of the people she cleaned for, their children weren’t plopped in front of the TV. They were reading and learning. Education wasn’t something just for the rich and well off.

The book then nicely works it’s way into his school days and into his college career. Dr. Carson opens up about his anger management issues including the time he almost stabbed a friend. If it wasn’t for the fact the knife hit the friends belt buckle, who knows where Carson or his friend would be today. He also goes into how religion and prayer help him with his job and life. He mentions a few times that while in the middle of a surgery he’d ask God for help and guidance. Of course he talks about how he met the love of his life, his wife, Candy and the 22 hour surgery he took part in to seperate the seven month old Rausch twins who were joined at the back of the head.

If you’re looking for a book that will inspire you you’ve found it. It’s really an amazing story about how a young boy from the inner city of Detriot was able to overcome many odds and become the world renown surgeon that he is today.

On February 7th 2009, Lifetime aired “Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story” which starred Cuba Gooding Jr as Dr. Ben Carson.

The 2009 CMA Fest has been announced! Tickets are on sale now including 4 day passes. Of course you want to know who’s planning to be there. As of right now you can expect to see Dierks Bentley, Reba, Brooks & Dunn, John Rich (of Big & Rich) Trace Adkins, Miranda Lambert and plenty more! This years festival is from June 11th-14th.

Believe it or not many of the tickets are sold out including the Gold Circle and Floor Level tickets. It’s amazing how fast tickets sell out these days. Of course it’s easier now with the internet, you don’t have to wait inline anymore or try to find a TM outlet. I actually miss those days!

Their website has all the information you need including General FAQ, planning information and much more. It’s your one stop shop for everything CMA Music Festival related.

When you live in the Baltimore area you have a wide selection for a day or weekend trip. In this day and age with the economy the way it is and people losing their jobs, it’s hard to find the money to take a “real” vacation. That doesn’t mean you can’t get away for a day or two though. Here a few places and ideas that I’ve come up with.

National Aquarium in Baltimore
The Aquarium downtown is a great idea for a day trip. If you have kids, it’s even better. It’s a place where you can learn and have fun! I know, it’s a crazy idea but it’s true. The Aqarium offers three different ticket prices. The “Total Experience Package” is $29.95 for adults and $19.95 for children and includes admission, the dolphin show and the 4-D theatre. The second package is $27.95/$17.95 and features admisison and the dolphin show. The cheapest ticket is $25.95/$14.95 and is for admission to the Aquarium only. As you can see, they have a price range that’s good for just about anyone. The best part is you can buy tickets online but there is a service charge.

The Maryland Zoo in Baltimore
The zoo has been having a hard time lately just like the rest of us. If you’re looking for something to do outside why not check them out? Tickets range from $10-$15 depending on the day you visit and if you purchase tickets online or at the gate. The zoo is open everyday from 10am to 4pm and is now open for the season! They even have various events throughout the year like Bunny BonanZOO for Easter and ZooBOOO for Halloween.

The National Zoo in DC
You can’t beat free and that’s exactly what it costs to visit the National Zoo in DC. They’re open from 10am to 6pm everyday from April to October and from 10am to 5pm from November to March. The only day you can’t visit is Christmas. The cool thing is you can even take the Metro to miss out on the fun of DC traffic and driving. You can find more information on that here. The National Zoo offers daily programs like eagle feeding, elephant baths and meet a Kiwi!

Amusement Parks
Living in the Baltimore area you have access to a number of amusement parks. You have Hershey Park, Six Flags America, Kings Dominion and Busch Gardens. That’s a ton of fun all within a drive of the Baltimore/DC area. The prices range from $39.99 up to $59.95. The good news it that in most cases you find discount coupons at various grocery stores and fast food chains and in some cases you can get a discount by purchasing your tickets online. I know I plan in hitting up a few of these parks during the summer.

As you can see, living in this area is a treat when it comes to day trips! What I have here is just the tip of the iceburg when you consider that Ocean City just a few hours away and you can always find a bus trip to NYC or Atlantic City. What are you waiting for? Get out there and have some fun!

Macy’s is giving you the chance to win a makeover from Clinton Kelly of TLC’s “What Not To Wear!” How exciting and awesome is that? I’d looooove to win or just be on the show. If you’d like to enter just visit Macysmakeover.com. You’ll need to supply two pictures along with your entry. I guess they need to see just how bad your style is!

They’ll be visiting various cities looking for people. Some of these cities include Portland, Austin, Scottsdale, Chicago and more! Each city has a different closing date though. Be sure to check those out before you enter to make sure you didn’t miss the deadline. I’ll admit I’m a little annoyed they aren’t coming to Baltimore or Maryland. What about DC? I’d drive down to DC for something like this! Wouldn’t you?

To learn more, including all the fine print and rules, be sure to visit Macysmakeover.com and you can see Clinton every Friday night’s on TLC’s “What Not To Wear.”

Many of us played sports growing up. Perhaps you played for your school or maybe you just played in a local rec. league. Either way, just because you “grow up” doesn’t mean you have to give up the sports you enjoyed as kid and it doesn’t mean you can’t find a new one. In this post I’ll provide you a few ways to find a local league in your area.

Craigslist:
Craigslist isn’t just a place where you can find an apartment or unload some unwanted crap. You can find plenty of things on Craigslist and this includes sports leagues. The best place to look is under “Activities” which is in the “Community” section. Here you’ll find people looking for leagues and teams looking for players. I’ve found soccer, softball, dodgeball, basketball and football leagues on Craigslist. Some postings even include a league website where you can find all the information you need like fees, rules and locations.

Local Papers:
In my area we have a handfull of small local newspapers. Many of these papers have a section just for the various rec leagues in the area. Sure, most are for children but if you keep an eye on it you’ll see a few ads from time to time for adult leagues. I’ve seen mainly soccer and softball advertised in the local papers in my area but I’m sure it’s different in each area. Most of the ads are up front about days and cost and include contact information.

Ask Around:
You can’t beat word of mouth. That’s actually how I found the softball team that I play for. I worked at a dealership at the time and we had a regular mail carrier. One day I noticed his leg was messed up and I asked what happened. That’s when he explained he played on a softball team in the area. I joined the following season and the rest is history. Don’t be afraid to ask coworkers, friends or extended family if they know about any fun sports leagues in the area. I have coworkers who play everything from dodgeball to rugby! It never hurts to ask.

Internet Search:
Obviously another way is to just do a simple online search. In many cases if you just plug in the name of your city or area you’ll be able to find something. In some cases it might be a link to a Craigslist ad or it might be a complete website for a league in the area. This will help you save some time if you don’t know where to look or where to start.

I hope the tips and ideas I provided help you find a sports league in your area! Joining a team is a great way to make friends, get out more and of course get in shape.

I’m trying to clean out my book collection some and came across some Patricia Cornwell books that I don’t want or need. I’m selling a lot of 7 Cornwell books on Ebay. The starting number is very low at $3.99 and I think I put shipping around $3 or $4. I can’t remember off the top of my head. The books are used though and some have writing on them and some bent corners and what not. Basically some normal book wear and tear that happens over the years.

I did a little checking on Ebay before I made the listing and notice a few other Cornwell lots as well. Hopefully I’ll have some good luck and be able to sell these. If not, I’ll just donate them to Goodwill or something like that. I have so many books that right now I keep them in a drawer because I ran out of room on my shelves! I don’t normally part with books but sometimes you have to in order to make room for new ones.

If you have any questions about the books just ask! The listing has a list of the books that are included in the lot.

In between posting and working (shhhh) I’ve been visting as many Today.com blogs as I can and there are some awesome blogs out there! It’s interesting to see all the different topics in one place. I can find travel advice, money tips, SEO information or just read a personal blog of a person from a far away place. I must say, I love some of the paranormal blogs that are out there. I’m into that stuff and nice to be able to easily find blogs on the topic.

I am wondering if someone could help me with something though. I’ve been playing around with the “custom colors” and what not and I can’t seem to figure out how to get links inside of my post to be a color. Obviously I want them to stand out to make it easier for the reader to locate them. Am I missing something? Is it right in front of my face? I tried changing the “Link” color option but all that seemed to do was change every link BUT the links in my posts. Any help will be appreciated! I’m pretty sure once I hear how to change it I’ll be smacking myself on the back of my head going “Duh!”

Now I’m off to do some more surfing!

I have no desire to ever own an iPhone but I know many of you out there do. I found this article online and thought I’d share. I do think it’s pretty dumb though that the phones will still be “locked.”

AT&T has confirmed a report that it will offer iPhones without a two-year contract starting next week.

The Associated Press quoted an AT&T representative Thursday confirming plans to sell no-contract iPhones for $599 or $699 starting next Thursday, as first reported Wednesday by the Boy Genius Report. There’s a catch, however; those phones will still be locked to AT&T’s network.

A regular AT&T iPhone account will be required to operate the phone, although theoretically you could activate the phone one day, cancel your account the next, and only be out activation fees and a month’s worth of service, rather than two years worth of service. But then you’d be reduced to using your expensive iPhone over just Wi-Fi networks unless you’re willing to unlock it for other networks.

An Apple representative did not immediately return a call seeking comment on whether a similar offer would be in place at Apple’s retail stores, which the AP was also unable to confirm.

Source: Cnet.com

I don’t know about you but I love the Showtime series, Dexter. I’ve been a fan since day one and I haven’t been disappointed yet.

According to Amazon, Dexter Season 3, is now available for pre-order at the lovely price of $27.99 and $41.99 for Blu-Ray. There doesn’t seem to be a release date but I’m guessing August since that’s when the other season were available. If you need to catch up on past seasons you can find Season 1 for $20.99 and Season 2 for $19.99. If you’d like those seasons in Blu-Ray they’re $37.95 and $41.95. I’d be sure to keep an eye on the prices though since they seem to change on an almost regular basis. I’ve had Season 2 in my cart for awhile now and one day it was $19.99 and the next $29.99. If you see a decent price be sure to pick it up ASAP, don’t wait!

Another thing I want to throw out is make sure you order from a legit website. We all get blinded by a good deal from time to time but remember, you get what you pay for!

As you can see, I changed the title of the blog. I swear, it’s hard as hell to come up with a title. I can’t change the URL which is no big deal but I can change the name. It’s now “Random Scatterings” which makes complete sense since most of the posts here are going to be all over the place but I did get the name from a certain movie.

Silence of the Lambs.

It came from a note that Dr. Lector left in the casefile of Buffalo Bill for Clarice.

“Clarice, doesn’t this random scattering of sites seem desperately random - like the elaborations of a bad liar? Ta, Hannibal Lecter.”

I thought about using the “desperately random” line but it didn’t really fit since it’s not desperate but when I saw the “random scattering” part I had a light bulb moment. It doesn’t hurt any that Silence of the Lambs is my favorite movie of all time and that Dr. Lector is my favorite character of all time.

I’m sure I’ll be playing around with the header image some more but as far as the name, I think I’m good.