I found a video on youtube of an emergency landing that took placein December at the Sanford-Lee County Airport when pilot Clint Bryan’s landing gear decided it didn’t want to come down.
I drove out that day and watched him land while our former photographer Brooke Wolfe took photos. It was a heck of a sight, but the pictures in the paper (as good a photographer as Brooke is) didn’t have the same impact as seeing the plane land.
Now, you can share my experience. Check it, bleed:
Fish Head Stew
A friend of mine recently told me about how, when she was a child, her step-father would tell her, every time they were going out to dinner, that they were going to a restaurant called Hobbo’s. Hobbo’s only served fish heads, he told her.
The threat of Hobbo’s would make her cry each and every time. I can’t really say I would have reacted any different, although I plan to use this tactic if I ever have children. It’s probably pretty mean, but it’s also one of the funniest things I’ve heard in a while. Just the name “Hobbo’s” cracks me up. I wonder if that guy (my friend’s stepfather) came up with that himself.
Which brings me to something else: a Google search shows me that there is an Australian seafood restaurant chain called Hobbo’s Hut. Gross! No word on whether they serve fish heads. Who can say?
Anyway, as I’m sure you’ve noticed, I have severely neglected this blog for the past, oh, half of a year. Shame on me. I plan to get back into the swing of things starting, well, now. The Hobbo’s story was the first thing to really get my brain working creatively. Which is pretty sad. Check back for more observations, news updates, incoherent ramblings, and other nonsense.
Someone made this music video for a song by my friend (and fellow journalist) Ben’s band. It looks great. I wish someone would make a Dr. Powerful video.
Anyway, check out the Plaintiffs:
I have no hair. I raised a good bit of money though. Thank you from the bottom of my heart to everyone who helped out. You guys are the best.
Before:
After:
I’m going bald tomorrow! I sincerely thank everyone who has donated to the cause so far (I’ve raised $285 out of a $500 goal) and implore anyone else who has a buck or two to donate to a very worthy cause, the St. Baldrick’s Foundation. You can read about them here.
I’d also like to thank everyone who has donated to me. They are:
My aunt, Kim Raphael. Endlessly generous.
Joe Jon Bryant and his wife Stacie. Sanford resident and blog-pal. His donation was in honor of his late friend Jonathan.
Ross Tipton and Lindsay Soebbing. Good friends of mine.
Matthew and Kari Cottle. Friends from the wayback!
Steven Cottle. Twin brother of Matthew Cottle. Also a friend from the wayback!
Adam Thompson. Buddy from Wilmington, NC, honoring his late brother Kevin.
Byron Raphael. My cousin, also undergoing the shears with me.
John C. Holly and wife. Captain of the Lee County Sheriff’s Department drug enforcement team.
Jamie Stamm. My co-worker and friend.
Brooke Wolfe. Ditto what I said about Jamie. Her donation was in honor of her late uncle Lawrence.
Emily Page. Blog-pal and Sanford resident. Her donation was in honor of her friend, the late Olga Horton.
Ty Stumpf. Brain-washing, mind-shaping liberal communist activist.
Kim Pritt. Another blog-pal and Sanford resident.
I think that covers everyone.
Like I said before, no amount is too small. I don’t normally like to ask people for money, unless you’re a former roommate who owes me money, but this is an important cause for me. St. Baldrick’s raises money for childhood cancer research, so there’s no arguing that this is a good thing. It’s fun too!
You can donate on me by clicking here.
The shaving itself happens at Local Joe’s Tap and Grill, 135 S. Steele St. in Sanford between 6 and 11 p.m. on Saturday, July 12. I’d love to have $300 in pledges by the time I walk into Joe’s tomorrow, so if 15 of you who have said you could pledge some cash would just kick in $1 apiece, I can make up the other $200 through hustling the people at Joe’s tomorrow.
Also, it’s not too late to sign up as a shavee! You can do so here. It’s just hair, and you can raise some money for a good cause. Have fun. Live a little.
Since announcing last week that I’m shaving my head to raise money for child cancer research with a goal of $500 total, I’ve received $145 in pledges. 29 percent of the way to my goal in just four days. That’s awesome.
Let’s see if we can’t keep this going! Anything helps. $5, $1, 50 cents, whatever you can spare helps. Donate here if you feel so inclined.
Click here to read more about what I’m doing.
And a huge, huge thanks to everyone who has donated so far.
On July 12, I’m going bald.
I’m participating in the Sanford St. Baldrick’s event which will be held all day at Local Joe’s Tap and Grill.
For those of you who don’t know what St. Baldrick’s is, check out the link I provided. In a nutshell, you sign up to get your head shaved as a show of solidarity with kids suffering from cancer. In the process, you raise pledge money, which is turned over to the St. Baldrick’s Foundation. The foundation provides money for child cancer research, and is a good thing all around.
My goal this year is to raise $500, and I’m hitting up all my blog buddies and anyone else who might be reading this thing. Can you pledge $5? $1? 50 cents? Please do. The money will all go to the St. Baldrick’s Foundation and forward the cause of ending cancer among children (and everyone else).
I don’t talk about it a lot, but this issue is pretty important to me, as I lost my mother to cancer in 1994. She wasn’t a child, but the sentiment is good enough for me.
I’d also encourage anyone who doesn’t mind losing their hair to sign up as a shavee. Tony Chilton, one of the event’s organizers, said his goal is to have 100 shavees. So far, there are 33, including at least four women with guts enough to drop their hair for a great, great cause.
If you don’t want to shave your head, it’s not a problem, but I’d encourage anyone who cares about this sort of event to come and enjoy some food and drinks and the sight of me losing my mop (again the event is Saturday, July 12 from 3 p.m. to 11 p.m.). And if you’re so inclined, donate a few clams to the cause. You can do so by clicking here.
You can find more information about the event (and sign up to be involved!) here.
I’ve been a terrible blogger. 20 days without an entry, meaning I never wrote anything about my recent Dr. Powerful trip to Philadelphia, like I promised I would.
My bad.
Anyway, today I made my first foray into broadcasting, appearing with my editor Billy Liggett and colleague Jon Owens on Billy’s new radio show The Rant, which you can now listen to weekly at 8 a.m. Wednesday on 90.5 F.M. WDCC in Sanford.
I’m listening to a podcast of it now, and while I’m not very pleased with my performance (the recorded sound of my own voice makes me cringe), I’m going to do it again as often as possible and think I’m capable of getting a lot better at it. It was a great time.
So, my bad on the lax blogging. Check back tomorrow for an entry about something real important that I’m going to be involved with next month.
My band, Dr. Powerful, plays the City of Brotherly Love (that’s Philadelphia, in case you somehow never heard that term) tomorrow night and Durham on Saturday. Another mini-tour!
Our Philly show should be exciting, it’s at a venue called the North Star, which I’ve heard described as “the Cat’s Cradle of Philadelphia.” A Friday night show in a venue like that with three local bands means we’ll probably have a chance to play for lots of folks. Plus, I’ve never been to Philadelphia, so it’s exciting whether we’re playing or not.
Saturday we’re playing a garden party at our drummer’s sister-in-law’s house. Durham folks have always been awesome to us. Since there aren’t many options for us in Sanford, shows in the Triangle are about as close as we can get to hometown performances.
After promising a tour diary the last time around and discovering how hard it is to blog from the road, I’ll just say that I’ll tell the story when I get. If I have time, though, I’ll try to update this site (for anyone who cares) while I’m away.
Sunday I’m going to start looking at buying a new car. Not looking forward to getting badgered.
I’m a little late in announcing this, but as you can imagine, it’s been a little stressful: My Ford Ranger of 8 years died a grisly death Sunday afternoon on the side of U.S. 1 in Raleigh. Not grisly in the sense of a wreck or anything like that, but grisly in the sense that the poor girl’s insides just boiled away, leaving her incapable of running any further.
I got the then brand-new pickup in May of 2000, during my second year of college. Despite some recent worry about gas inefficiency in these crazy times, I think the truck served me well. I drove it twice all the way to Canada and back (with stops in Indianapolis both times), as well as trips to Richmond, Washington, D.C., and even New Jersey. And there were countless jaunts to Wilmington, Greenville, and other closer locations. 130,000 miles in all. The truck holds a lot of memories for me.
So while part of me is excited to be getting something new that will get me around for less money, it’s always hard to part with something that you’ve owned for that long. Thanks for the memories!
 | Chelsea on Fish Heads |
 | kiminsanford on Fish Heads |
 | Jamie on Fish Heads |
 | gordonanderson on Fish Heads |
 | lindsayrose on Fish Heads |
