Very Expensive Things to Buy for the Holidays

Well, we didn't get around to posting an entry time for Cyber Monday, which is our annual tradition (uhmmm......we better get Javier the Intern to verify that).

But, here are some expensive as heck things you can get a friend or family member should you be as loaded as Mitt Romney or Bill Gates, and, of course, you should expect nothing in return:)

1) Outer Banks vacation home in Nags Head, NC, (yeah, thats the reason for the loggerhead turtle image): $600,000.........hey, it's cheaper than a private island in Brazil

2) 2012 Rolls-Royce Phantom: It retails from between $380,000-$450,000_ be sure to kick the tires, at least twice.

3) A round-trip Quatar Airways flight from Washington, DC to Singapore: $2,599.

4) A Rolling Stones signed tongue logo poster with Mick, Keith, et al: $995

5) Jimmy Choo gold leather sandals (pictured top): $600

6) Tony Lama antique men's alligator boots (pictured bottom) $504.99

SIDEBAR: We want to wish the University of North Carolina Tarheels' women's volleyball team well as they face Cal-Berkeley in the first round; that tournament game wlll be played at Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa, on Thursday at 6:00 p.m., Chapel Hill time.

We also want to wish the 'other UNC,' the University of Northern Colorado Bears from Greeley, Colo. well as they face Oregon on the Ducks' home court, Friday at 11;00 eastern time, which is the same as 9:00 p.m. Colorado time.

Another North Carolina college team, the North Carolina State Wolfpack face Texas A & M on Turs. at 5:00 p.m. Raleigh time in Austin, Tex.

Lastly, one can expect a competitive women's NCAA volleybal game when Brigham Young hosts New Mexico State in Provo, Utah, at 9:00 p.m., eastern time, which is the same as 7:00 p.m. Utah time.

http://www.us.jimmychoo.com

http://www.tonylama.com

http://www.outerbankshome.com

http://www.quatarairways.com

http://www.goheels.com

http://www.uncbars.com

Quote of the Day/Week-Mia Hamm

Today, we continue to quote American athlete who won either team or individual medals at the Olympic games with a quip from Mia Hamm, the decorated soccer player who helped her team to gold in women's soccer at the 2004 Athens Olympics in Greece.

Hamm, who turned 40 on St. Patrick's Day, is originally from Selma, Ala., and as a college student athlete she helped lead the North Carolina Tarheels to four NCAA titles.

Here is her quote:

"True champions aren't always the ones that win, but those with the most guts."

Things We Learned on Twitter Tonight- Occupy Chapel Hill Ends Badly

It was not the Varsity Theatre (pictured here) where they are showing "Contagion" and "Crazy, Stupid Love" (it's a second-house venue now) that was occupied as part of the Occupy Chapel Hill movement, but rather a vacant car lot, also on Franklin Street where the cinema is.

According to a tweet from "The Daily Tarheel," the student-run newspaper of the University of North Carolina, the movement was broken by police.

We later learned from various sources that eight people were arrested as a SWAT team and 25 police officers broke up the gathering around 4:30 p.m. today. Some 70 people were in the building.

The matter will likely be a controversial one for Mayor Mark Kleinschmidt, who was just re-elected on Tuesday. Occupy Chapel Hill is one of many movements inspired by Occupy Wall Street.

Chapel Hill is considered to be the most progressive zip code in North Carolina, and it is home to The Internationalist Bookstore, which is a gathering place for liberal activists in the collegetown community.

Bonus Road Trip- Manteo to Murphy (To Flee Irene)

In North Carolina, the term "Murphy to Manteo" is used constantly for entities which serve the entire Tarheel State whether it be "Our State" magazine or North Carolina Public Television.

But, with Hurricane Irene now hitting the shores of the Outer Banks around Kill Devil Hills, it seems that right now travelers are more likely to head west, which would be from Manteo to Murphy. The route goes through Chapel Hill where the University of North Carolina Tarheels play. Given that Hurricane Irene is expected to be a devastating storm, one has to wonder if the Carolina Hurricanes hockey game perhaps should have chosen a different nickname.

For those who did not major in North Carolina geography in college or live in Wyoming or Uzbekistan, let me explain that Manteo is a town in the Outer Banks whereas Murphy is in 'Deliverance country' near the borders of Georgia and Tennesse in the far west, mountainous part of the state.

We imagine that it has been a slow Friday night for such Outer Banks establishments as Front Porch Cafe, Stripes Bar and Grille, and Chilli Peppers Coastal Grille, assuming they were even open at all.

So, for this Bonus Road Trip, we examined the distance between the town hall of Manteo and Daily Grind and Wine, a cafe in Murphy which has the motto: 'Life is too short for bad coffee and cheap wine."

Thus, we ask you the blog-reader how far apart these two towns are.

Is the answer:

A) 8 hours, 30 minutes

B) 8 hours, 50 minutes

C) 9 hours, 10 minutes

D) 9 hours, 25 minutes

We will give the answer over the weekend.

SIDEBAR: "The News-Observer," the newspaper for Raleigh tweeted tonight that downtown Wilmington was a mess even though it is a few hours south of the eye of the storm. But, there are lots of sporting events in North Carolina which are still on, as of press time.

The Winston-Salem Open, a tennis tournament in (where else) Winston-Salem will have a final featuring American star John Isner and French tennis player Julien Benneteau tomorrow afternoon at 12:30 local time. The game, if it is played, will be broadcast nationally on CBS.

And, tonight, the University of North Carolina-Greensboro (they are the Spartans, not the Tarheels) opened their season at home against Duke University, which was ranked 12th in the country. The Spartans were able to pull a 3-2 upset thanks to two goals from Turkish-German player Hakan Ilhan.

The Great Virginia Earthquake of 2011

"Yes, we felt it here in North Carolina," I told a friend of mine who lives near my hometown of Roanoke, Va., via Facebook. "In fact, it knocked over a framed photograph of Dean Martin on my mantle."

I'm not sure admitting that I have a framed photograph, which is actually a still from a western film, from Dean Martin (he was a lounge crooner superstar in the '50s and '60s for those of you born when George H.W. Bush was president) is a good idea. But, the 10-12 second tremor I felt at a public library near Greensboro, NC, yesterday, was quite surprising.

I have friends and family members who were at the scene during the great Los Angeles earthquake and the horrific 1999 earthquake which devastated Istanbul, Turkey, and nearby areas, so this was nothing of that magnitude (pardon the pun). No books were flying off the library shelves nor did anyone panic. We just all starred at each other as if we were in costume at a medevial fair.

Of course, since this is the first earthquake I've experienced, and it was a surprinsgly strong 5.9, making it the strongest earthquake in Virginia since 1875, the image of the reportedly over-the-top '70s natural disaster movie "Earthquake" with Charlton Heston and Ava Gardner seems appropriate.

"The Daily Tarheel" ironically reported (it is the student-run newspaper for The University of North Carolina" that University of Virginia Kyle Guest was taking a catnap at 1:52 p.m. earthquake when a strong tremor was felt on the UVA campus. Guest said that he felt like a spaceship had landed in his house. There was reportedly far less drama on the campus of UNC in Chapel Hill, though the quake was felt there. In fact, they even felt in Bath, Maine!

The earthquake happened relatively close to Charlottesville, Va., where UVA is, in the town of Mineral in Louisa County, Va., where it completely toppled groceries at Miller's Mart.

"The Collegiate Times," the student-run newspaper for Virginia Tech, reported that Newman Library on the Virginia Tech campus was evacuated when someone pulled the fire alarm in response to the tremor. Julia Delgaudio, a Hokie student, told the CT that she thought someone was shaking her chair, but there was no one there!

Quote of the Week: Edward Albee

We normally don't like to promote things we are hoping to see ourselves, but Playmakers Rep Theatre in Chapel Hill, NC, will be presenting the legendary Edward Albee play "Who's Afraid of Virginia" from Nov. 30-Dec. 18, 2011.

Since it is a long time from now, there is always hope that you the blog-reader will long forget about this between now and then, so I can get a good parking space which is always a bit hard to find in Chapel Hill.

Here is Albee's quote (for those at UNC or Duke for that matter, Albee's views do not reflect the staff and management here- which is actually just me), and we are featuring quips from famous playwrights this month:

"American cities are like American universities. They both have dull and half-dead faculties."

Special Quote of the Week- Michael Jordan

Today's quote comes from His Airness Michael Jordan who won six NBA titles for the Chicago Bulls (1991, 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997 and 1998). Curiously, much like Bjorn Borg got burned out with tennis, Jordan shocked the world by retiring at a young age to try baseball. So, he played mostly minor league baseball with teams like the Birmingham Barons where he hit three homeruns.

But, he came back in a veyr big way perhaps to the nausea of other NBA stars like Karl Malone of the Utah Jazz who went to Jordan in the 1998 NBA Finals.

Jordan is the pride and joy of my state of residence, which is North Carolina (I'm from Roanoke, Va.), and he has arguably replaced NASCAR legend Richard Petty (who hails from Randleman, NC) as the Tarheel State's favorite son.

His Airness went to Emsley A. Laney High School in Wilmington, NC, and he later played and won a NCAA title with the University of North Carolina Tarheels, a team that then coached by Dean Smith.

Here is Jordan's quote:

"Even when I'm old and grey, I won't be able to play it, but I'll still love the game."

Incidentally, the Birmingham Barons lost to the Huntsville Stars 6-2 in Huntsville, Alabama, last night. The two plays play each other again this evening.

Special Silly Image to Fill Space- Horror Film Poster

Since we feel like screaming at the very top of our lungs today, and such behavior is not allowed publicly (well, we haven't checked the Virginia state laws to be sure about that, but since we named the state attorney general as our worst person we are not going to ask him and we also can't spell his last name- it's either Cucinelli or or Cuccinelli---but, in all honesty, we really don't care!), we are going to post an entry about screaming.

We are very close to the state line with North Carolina, and Roy Cooper, that state's attorney general, is probably too tied up to help us know if screaming is allowed in the Tarheel State, outside Chapel Hill and Durham during UNC-Duke basketball games.

So, anyway, here we go:

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!........"

Yes, that feels much, much better.

The movie in the image we are using is "Death Screams" (1982) directed by David Nelson, who was the son of Ozzie and Harriet. He died earlier this year at age 74. The horror film also featured lots of B-list actors and actresses, including Jennifer Chase. "Death Scream" was also filmed in Lake Lure, NC, where "Dirty Dancing" and "Firestarter" were both partially filmed.

Of course, in the early 1980s the main scream queen of the day was Jamie Lee Curtis who starred in the original "Halloween" (1978) as well as horror or thriller films like "The Fog," "Prom Night" (the original) and "Terror Train."

Interestingly enough, Curtis's mom Janet Leigh made the famous shower scene scream in "Psycho" (1960).

There is an urban legend that Curtis was born a Hermaphrodite, which is a person with gender traits of both males and females, but according to the urban legend web site snopes. com it has never been proven true.

But, we did learn from the same web site that one of the (James) Bond girls in "For Your Eyes Only" (1981), one of the Roger Moore films, was once a man!

Silly Photo to Fill Space- The Hokie Bird

Initially, we were hoping to post a photograph of former Virginia Tech cheerleader Nichole Howarth from Chesterfield, Va. (near Richmond), who was named "Sports Illustrated" Cheerleader of the Week in October of last year.

Howarth posed for a series of photographs, which were made more interesting by the fact that she actually posed for them while barefoot which would make more sense if she was from a rural area like Boones Mill (we love tormenting folks from that Franklin County hamlet, some 15 miles south of Roanoke).

Though Howarth will not be with the Hokies, the team heads from Blacksburg to Chapel Hill, NC, (where Chapel Hill Comics happens to be hosting a free rap concert tomorrow night!) to face the UNC Tarheels in football tomorrow. The game will be broadcast by ABC and ESPN, and kickoff is set for 3:30 p.m.

I suppose this will mean bragging rights for either Gov. Beverly Perdue (D-NC) who reportedly has a 25 percent approval rating according to "Yes Weekly" in Greensboro or Gov. Bob McDonnell (R-Va) a right-wing Christian conservative extremist who is undoubtedly polling well in places like Boones Mill. But, assuredly those of us who are Democrats realize that Howard Dean had a point when he said we need to recruit more barefoot rebel flag-waving hillbillies (not his exact words) and perhaps by doing that we can somehow get some Congressional seats back!

As for the game, I expect Virginia Tech will win 24-17.

SIDEBAR: Our beloved Floyd County (HS) Buffaloes lost to Fort Chiswell by a 28-13 margin according to Channel 7 (WDBJ) in Roanoke. But, the Franklin County Eagles (their alumnus assuredly hate me for my swipes at Boones Mill) beat Woodbridge HS 17-14 tonight. In other Virginia scores, Stonewall Jackson High School from Quicksburg (Mount Jackson) beat fellow Shenandoah Valley school Page County 41-18.

Kudos to Christine Nguyen of UNC

One of our favorite sports to blog about both here and on "Politics, Culture and Other Wastes of Times" is women's collegiate gymnastics. And, since we are based in the Tarheel State, we frequently cover both the gymnastic squdas for the University of North Carolina Tarheels' team as well as the North Carolina State Wolfpacks.

The two teams are part of the EAGL Gymnastics Conference which is mostly made up of Big East and ACC schools (the Univeristy of Maryland is the only other ACC school with a women's gymnastics team). Other schools in the EAGL Conference include West Virginia University, the University of Pittsburgh and Rutgers University.

This year the University of New Hampshire, also an EAGL member, hosted the conference meet in Durham, NH, which is a bit ironic since Durham, NC, the town where Duke University is located, is the place where most Tarheels sports teams play out their most-aniticipated matchups of the year. But, since Duke has not had a women's gymnastics team in several decades, the 'Heels simply have to look forward to their meets with NC State.

The Tarheels (ranked 36th nationally) not only won this year's EAGL meet, but at a banquet held prior to the gymnastics event, UNC's senior gymnast Christine Nguyen of Plano, Tex., was named EAGL Gymnast of the Year for a third consecutive year.

Her fellow senior teammate Kara Wright was also honored as EAGL SCholar-Athlete of the Year. To top it off, Wright won the all-around competition at the conference championships as well.

Senior Tina Jacobs was named team MVP for the Tarheels.

Nguyen's 9.767 average on the balance beam was the highest in the EAGL this year. She also averaged a 39.028 in all-arounds throughout the season. Nguyen was the only gymnast in the EAGL to perform such a feat. The Tarheel gymnast also earned all-EAGL honors for her performances on the uneven bars, the balance beam and the floor exercise.

Wright was first-team EAGL on vault with a 9.803 average throught the year.

Coach Derek Galvin said he was extremely happy for both Nguyen and Wright, according to the team's official web site.

The Tarheels travel to The University of Missouri this weekend for a regional meet, which surprised Galvin since that is quite a distance from Chapel Hill, NC.

According to the University of Missouri's gymnastics web site, the 15th ranked Tigers will also host five-time defending champion Georgia (currently ranked fifth), Oregon State (ranked eighth), Minnesota (ranked 25th) and Iowa (ranked 30th).