New and Improved Top Ten American Cities We'd Like to Visit: From Miami to Vancouver

Since we returned back from Costa Rica on Black Friday, we've been thinking about where else would like to travel during our time here on earth, and if we die a premature death like Austrian pop star Falco, we hope we can come back to life as the Buddhistst suggest, so we can visit Detroit (actually a city which just missed making this life).

For this list, we are focusing on North American cities, and our sister blog "Politics, Culture and Other Wastes of Time" http://www.politicscultureandotherwastesoft.blogspot.com we look at cities we would like to visit in Europe.

It should be pointed that cities we adore, like Denver, New York and Baltimore are not on this list because we wanted to focus on cities we've never visited.

And, without any further interruptions, here is the list:

1) Miami, Florida ("Miami Vice" is pictured top)

2) Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada (The logo for the Vancouver Canucks is pictured center)

2) Seattle, Washington (pictured bottom)

4) San Francisco, California

5) Portland, Oregon (but, we have been to Portland, Maine, this Portland is the one where "Portlandia" takes place)

6) Guadalajara, Mexico

7) Los Angeles, California

8) Minneapolis, Minnesota

9) Dallas, Texas

10, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

http://www.miamiandbeaches.com/

http://www.tourismvancouver.com/

http://www.visitseattle.org/Home.aspx

College Volleyball Notebook: It Was a Good Home Weekend for UNC and Virginia Tech

It was a busy weekend for the ACC in women's college volleyball play this weekend. Three teams from the conference, Duke, UNC and Florida State are nationally ranked while Virginia Tech has been a team on the rise.

UNC won two home games over Clemson and then Georgia Tech over the weekend. In Friday's win over Clemson, UNC had two outstanding performances from the Tarheels' two international players as Ece Taner, from Izmir, Turkey, had a career high 28 digs while her teammate Jovana Bjelica from Belgrade, Serbia, had 14 kills and 14 digs in the team's four-set win over the Tigers.

On Sunday, Paige Neuenfeldt (pictured top) posted 11 kills and four blocks in the three-set sweep over the Yellow Jackets.

This Saturday, UNC hosts Virginia Tech (pictured bottom), a team which also had a superb weekend which included a major upset over nationally-ranked Florida State.

On Friday, Lindsey Owens knocked down 15 kills in a four-set win over Miami (Fla). Then, on Saturday night, Victoria Hamsher and Samantha Gosling combined for 35 kills in the four-set win over the Seminoles. For her efforts, which included 13 kills versus the Hurricanes, Hamsher was also named ACC Player of the Week.

Here are weekend scores from the ACC:

Friday:

Duke 3 Maryland 0

Virginia Tech 3 Miami (Fla) 1

UNC 3 Clemson 1

Florida State 3 UVA 1

Pitt 3 Wake Forest 2

Saturday:

Virginia Tech 3 Florida State 1

Notre Dame 3 Boston College 2

UVA 3 Miami (Fla) 1

NC State 3 Georgia Tech 2

Sunday:

Maryland 3 Wake Forest 0

UNC 3 Georgia Tech 0

Syracuse 3 Boston College 2

Duke 3 Pitt 1

Kudos to the Miami (Fla.) Hurricanes

Kudos to the Miami (Fla) Hurricanes for coming into the Greensboro Coliseum in Greensboro, NC, and winning the ACC Men's Basketball Tournament last week.

The 'Canes defeated the UNC Tarheels 89-79 in the ACC final on Sunday. They also beat another North Carolina school the North Carolina State Wolfpack 81-71. In the first round, the 'Canes won over Boston College 81-71.

ESPN analyst say that the 'Canes have weak offensive rebounding which could make them vulnerable to an early upset in the NCAA tournament.

The 'Canes will first face Pacific University, the Big West Tournament champs from Stockton, Calif., in the first round of the NCAAs.The team's mascot is the beloved Sebastian the Ibis (pictured above).

But, it was not a bad week for all North Carolina schools. The North Carolina A & T Aggies won the MEAC Conference with a win over Morgan State, a Maryland school, in Norfolk, Va., on Saturday.

Yesterday, the Aggies defeated Liberty University, the Big South champions from Lynchburg, Va., in the preliminary play-in game 73-72 in Dayton, Ohio. They fill now face the Louisville Cardinals, the overall number one seed in the NCAA tournament.


http://www.twitter.com/CanesHoops


http://www.greensborocoliseum.com


http://www.ncat.edu

Sports Desk- ACC Volleyball, Miami (Fl) Is on a Role

We had difficulties finding a good image of Emani Sims, a sophomore for Miami (Fl.), was named ACC Player of the Week and National Player of Week as she scored a collective total of 27 kills and 23.0 blocks in the two road wins over the weekend for the Hurricanes, according to theacc.com, so we are going with an image of the school's mascot Sebastian the Ibis.

The toughest challenge for the Hurricanes came on Friday when they went to a full five sets against Clemson winning 3-2 (25-13, 21-25, 25-20, 23-25, 15-11); the 'Canes then won over Georgia Tech in Atlanta on Sunday by a score of 3-0 (25-22, 28-26, 25-15).

Another major story in ACC volleyball is one that is happening off the court as Wake Forest women's volleyball coach Heather Kahl Holmes is battling breast cancer; she was diagnosed in May. She was honored by the Virginia Tech team before a road game in Blacksburg, Va. The Demon Deacons next face a talented North Carolina State Wolfpack team at home in Winston-Salem, NC, on Friday, as part of the school's Dig for the Cure campaign.


Here is a look at Saturday and Sunday results; the scores for games on Friday night, which involved all 12 teams, will be on our other blog as well as a profile of Paige Nueuenfeldt for the University of North Carolina Tarheels who was named ACC Freshman of the Week: http://www.politicscultureandotherwastesoft.blogspot.com

Saturday, Oct. 20th games:

*_denotes home team

#-denotes game that was broadcast on regional tv

*UNC 3 Boston College 0

*North Carolina St. 3 Maryland O

* Virginia Tech 3 Duke O (this game marked only the third the Hokies prevailed over the Blue Devils in women's volleyball in 27 tries).

*UVA 3 Wake Forest 1 (the win was the first conference victory for the Cavs this season)

Sunday, Oct. 21th

Florida State 3 *Clemson 0

#Miami (Fla)  3 *Georgia Tech 0

Dexter Trivia (4 of 4)_ How Far Is Omaha from Miami?

For the first time in a long while, we are posting an entry at a peak time (between 9:30 a.m.-10:00 a.m.), but we are going with trending topics, such as Katie Holmes and Big Bird, though we hope arbitrarily mentioning both of them inflates our numbers. Of course, we are amazed how Mitt Romney who acted as obnoxious as Bill O'Reilly is the perceived winner of last night's debate in Denver.

Alas, we were unable to find a cool Dexter lunchbox image, but this one will do just as well, we hope.

In episode 67 from the 6th season, Dexter embarks on a road trip to Nebraska. So, we are asking how far is Omaha, Neb., from Miami, where the show is set. Obviously Miami, Okl., a small town near Kansas, would be a quicker driver than one to Miami, Fla., from the Cornhusker State.

So, is the answer?:

A) 1,641 miles

B) 1,651 miles

C) 1,661 miles

D) 1, 671 miles

Being Deliberately Trendy

Since Trending Topics are the new trend in cyberspace these days, we thought we'd use some Trending Topics from yahoo.com to arbitrarily inflate our daily hits (Mondays are surprsingly good days for hits; I assume this is because of all the Dilberts stuck in their office jobs from hell).

So, here we go.....

It was reported by some tabloid gossip fodder that Nicole Kidman and Teri Hatcher met for a frappucino at an unidentified Starbucks in High Point, NC. The dynamic duo then made their way over to a nearby shopping mall where they looked at minature Jesus statues at some kitsch shop. As they were looking for some high heel shoes at the same fictional shopping mall, the two movie stars gabbed about Kim Zolchiak and Scarlett Johanssen, who turned 26 today. During this exchange, Teri shocked Nicole by revealing that she has a crush on Cleveland Browns quarterback Colt McCoy. Nicole confided that she takes a liking to Blink 182 music. While shopping at the imaginary mall in High Point, Nicole and Teri ran into Tiger Woods who was at a sporting goods store and checking out some clubs. One of the two starletts told Tiger that he 'should burn in hell,' but no one could confirm who uttered those words.

Of course, I made all of this up to merely get hits!

I am a bit surprised that terms like 'body scanners,' 'TSA' and 'pat-downs' are NOT among the trending topics of the day.

One of the early victims of the new security measures was none other than newspaper humorist Dave Barry who was told by TSA officials in Miami that he had a 'blurry groin,' a story that he shared with NPR.

I went through a full body scan at Heyder Aliyev International Airport in Baku, Azerbaijan, back in the summer of 2008, and I had a gut feeling we would soon be seeing them here in les etats unis.

Some may assume that it is only airports in major cities where air travelers have to undergo such discomforts, but the list of airports where the new measures are in place includes Omaha (Neb.), Fort Wayne (Ind.), Albany (NY), Grand Rapids (Mich.), and Albequerque (N. Mex).

There are at least four aiports in Virginia and North Carolina using the full body scanners, including Richmond, Dulles (Wash. DC), Raleigh-Durham and Charlotte.

More ACC Mascots

Well, we didn't want to snub anybody even though both Boston College and Wake Forest (pictured here) are already out of the ACC Tournament in Greensboro, NC.

With the exception of Duke, this has actually been a down year for North Carolina's men college basketball teams. Western Carolina, North Carolina A & T and High Point University got to the semi-finals of their respective conferences, but alas all three teams fell short.

Appalachian State in Boone, NC, made it to the Southern Conference finals but they lost to Wooford University, which is located in Spartanburg, SC, at the conference tourney in Charlotte.

My friend Olaf Jacobsson (psedonymn) from Wilmington, NC, is an uber-Tarheel fan, but even he thinks that the very best they can do is beat Georgia Tech tonight (tipoff at 7:00 pm).