Today, We Celebrate Five Years of Blogging!

It was on Sept. 18, 2005, when we started with the original version of "Politics, Culture and Other Wastes of Time," a blog which is still active (hmm....free time is beginning to become much like Kuwaiti oil, a thing which once seemed plentiful, but now much less so!).

Today, I run both the new version of that blog and this crazy thing called "The Daily Vampire," which is actually an in-joke about my twisted sleep cycle, but perhaps because of the "Twiligt" film and book series as well as "True Blood," this blog gets about 12 times as many hits per day as "Politics...," yet we seldom post anything about vampires here!

I want to take a moment to recognize my alma mater Glenvar High School's remarkable 3-0 start to their high school football season. Last night, the Highlanders won a home game over the Grayson County Blue Devils by a 27-7 score.

My other favorite high school in Virginia, Floyd County High School, which ironically hosts Glenvar on Nov. 9, won a road game against George Wythe High School by a 17-7 score.

And, of course, I'm equally proud of both the American and Turkish men's basketball teams. The U.S. Team, which featured NBA phenom Kevin Durant and was coached by Coach K from Duke University, won the final game over a very impressive Turkish team which was lead by standout Hedo Turkoglu, who will now play for the Phoenix Suns, in Istanbul last week.

My late father Mehmet Gokbudak hailed from Turkey, and if he were alive today (he would actually be 89 years old!), I'm sure he'd still be telling me to do my math homework even though it's been 22 since I graduated from high school!

PS- I also want to extend my kudos to the NC St. football team. Though I sort of made fun of them earlier in the week, they did win their home game over the Cincy Bearcats on Thursday night by a 30-19 score.

Merry Christmas from Gizmo the Family Cat!

The photo here is actually of Bob, a tuxedo cat in South Carolina, but Gizmo looks almost exactly like him! Apparently, Bob is a cat who needs a home, so......

We are using our entries today to focus people's attention on animal adoption. We found Gizmo at a gas station in Ironto, Va., as we were coming back from Virginia Tech in October of 2004. But, many cats and dogs aren't so lucky (Uh oh! I am getting on a soap box!).

We named Gizmo after the title character in "Gremlins," which surprisingly has a very long wait on NetFlix!

We have company from Johnson City, Tenn., so I need to get off the computer and be polite. It's not something I'm always good at unless I'm at Chamber of Commerce mixers.

But, before I do that, I want to mention that the city I live in, Reidsville, NC, near Greensboro, has one of the highest kill rates for its local animal shelter so if you live in the area and you need a pet please don't go to the pet store at Friendly Center in Greensboro (unless you want hamsters! They do have a great selection of hamsters,actually! But, Gizmo would probably eat them).

In all seriousness, the animal shelter in Reidsville can be reached at (336) 342-4022. My friends at the Backstreet Buzz Coffee House in Reidsville have also been helping to get the word out about the animal shelter, and I really appreciate that. I just wish my apartments allowed pets!

Similarly, the animal shelter in my hometown of Salem, Va., (www.salempets.org) can be reached at (540) 375-3038. I also really wish we could get another cat for Gizmo who lives with mom in Roanoke, Va., but she hates taking out the cat litter as it is and I'm not to sure Gizmo, who is perhaps the wildest domestic cat in town, would care for another Garfield!