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Columns

  • What to expect from the upcoming short session in Raleigh

    I doubt any of you have noticed or paid particular attention to this detail, but whenever I write about the North Carolina General Assembly’s short session, I use quotation marks when using “non-controversial” as the powers-that-be like to describe it.

    Non-controversial? What does that even mean?

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  • Spinner pedaling into home stretch with fab anti-flab fad

    Prior to my enrolling in the BFIT program—Better get Fit Instead of watching Television, doofus—I was just a ticking couch potato with a questionable ticker and sedentary lifestyle.

    Sure, I relished my days in front of the Today Show, Dr. Oz, the 6 and 11 o’clock news, and tapping away at the computer in between, but that was January.

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  • U.S. Army National Guard: Protecting us here at home and abroad in combat

    Do y’all have any idea how fortunate we are to have such a capable National Guard to protect us?

    While they’re often overlooked in terms of the different branches of the military service, the National Guard, under the umbrella of the U.S. Army, plays a critical role in protecting the homeland—both here at home and overseas in combat.

    Natural disaster? They’re here. Combat overseas? They’re there, too.

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  • The mullet law: Are you abiding?

    Is every one in the state of North Carolina going to cut their hair into the same style?

    If so I vote for the mullet. It’s a hairstyle both men and women wear.  It appears pretty easy to maintain—no fuss and no frills. It’s short on top and the sides but long in the back. Business in the front, party in the back, people say.

    The haircut could become like the state bird only it would be the state hairdo: the mullet. We can all look like Joe Dirt.

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  • Reality show freaks make the rest of us feel like neat freaks

    When it comes to spring cleaning and scrubbing and organizing my domain, I’d rather be chilling out watching “Hoarders.”

    It’s another one of those ingenious reality shows, airing several times on Monday nights on A&E TV, that can make us feel really special and good about ourselves.

    I mean, how can my cluttered little corner of the world compare to Barbara, who “trolls for stuff in alleyways and dumpsters,” to add to the hoarding pile in her million-dollar home where “neighbors look on in disgust”?

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  • This laundry tip is for the birds

    In my last column, I mentioned my laundry was piling up; so was my housework because it is the time of year when I can’t think of spending a waking moment anywhere else other than the beach.

    The powers that be must have seen my mounting pile of laundry and decided to give me a rainy Saturday where I didn’t feel the pull to be outside.

    When I awoke I knew immediately from the pitter-patter sounds on my windowsill that I would not be spending a lazy day on the beach soaking in the sun, searching for sea treasures and walking the shoreline.

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  • It’s POTUS v. SCOTUS on Marbury v. Madison and judicial review

    Oh-Bama, what a thing to say!

    Turns out our president—you know the Harvard Law-educated, self-proclaimed constitutional scholar—has some, er, misgivings about the Supreme Court and its role in shaping law.

    I guess Barack Obama missed the day Harvard law professors went over Marbury v. Madison, which was mostly likely the first year, if not the first week of law school.

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  • One-cup coffeemaker a hot commodity—for manufacturer

    When I heard about a new kind of coffeemaker that brews java one cup at a time, I thought it was a step backward in the wrong direction.

    I mean, it took American pioneers (and me) centuries just to advance to a Mr. Coffee 12-cup drip-maker.

    But as most morning caffeinated drinkers probably know by now, one-cup brewers are hot stuff these days. Just select your favorite flavor, conveniently packaged in miniature “K Cup” pods that are also trendy—and pricey, ranking right up there with a stop at Starbucks.

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  • Friends don’t let friends fight cancer alone: Local deputy battles cancer out West

    If you’ve never had a family member, friend or loved one who has been diagnosed with cancer, you’re either very, very lucky or you’re a liar.

    I remember back when I was in high school, cancer was something that your friend’s neighbor’s uncle had. It seemed so foreign.

    Then, when I got to college, it was something that happened to my friends’ mothers. It began to get more real.

    Year after year, it kept hitting closer to home until, last year, bam, like a smack upside the head, it did hit home.

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  • Real estate agents grateful for workers who gave a hoot

    Local real estate agent Pam Allen was frantic—could or would anyone help her with her latest mission to rescue a baby owl that had fallen from its nest?
    Allen’s clients first noticed the little owl, covered in fine white down, resting on the ground under a tall pine tree last week near property she had been showing them on Waterway Drive in Sunset Beach. The baby apparently had fallen out of its nest in the tree about 30 feet overhead.

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