Silly Picture to Fill Space- Breakfast

Well, we are pressed for time and it has been a very long and agonizing day, so we will keep this very short today. Initially, we were going to post a breakfast image for Easter Sunday, since traditionally here in the United States, Sunday brunch is a major tradition of the holiday. And, perhaps, if Bing is right, Miss Shirley's Cafe is the best place for breakfast in Baltimore, Maryland, where we hope we are very popular.

Also, we would like to thank visitors from Ecuador_ of all places, and Brazil for checking out our blog today. I am aware that the capital of those two countries are Quito and Brasilia, respectively, but of course, if asked on "Jeopardy!" some wise guy from Passaic, New Jersey, would beat me to the punch.

Quote of the Day/Week_ Nadia Comaneci

Today we start quoting international athletes who have gold or silver medals at the Olympics with a quote from the legendary Romanian gymnast Nadia Comaneci, 50, who is now married to American gold medal-winning gymnast Bart Conner. The gymnastics power couple reside in Oklahoma. There is also a gymnastics academy named after Comaneci in Izmir, Turkey.

Last week, we quoted American gold medal gymnast Dominque Dawes.

Here is Nadia's quote:

"As an Olympic champion gymnast, I have always stayed involved in my sport."

Quote of the Week/Month- Barack Obama

First of all, I have noticed that someone has used the posting section of this blog, which does not advertise any product or company, to promote a product or company. Since I don't have time and energy to delete all their posts, I will just say if we did advertise or promote any product or company, we would start with Blue Bird Taxi in Greensboro, NC, because one never knows when they will need a cab!

This month, since we are having presidential elections in the United States (I suppose even village dwellers in the central African country of Burundi are aware of that), I am quoting the last eight presidents on our two blogs.

Next month, we will quote the first eight presidents, which of course, would begin with George Washington.

Though more people know I'm a Democrat than people who realize that the great Hungarian actor Bela Lugosi, who played Dracula, is long dead, this entry is not meant to be partisan in nature. Of course, having said that, we certainly aren't endorsing Newt Gingrich for president though we are curious about what his proposed moon colony project would look like?!

Here is our quote from the 43rd and current president of the United States:

"Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we've been waiting for. We are the changes that we seek."

Quote of the Day/Week-Nazim Hikmet

It turns out that we have had visitors today from Afghanistan?! Of course, we have no idea if those blog hits are from American troops or village dwellers in Kandahar province, but either way_ thanks for visiting.

Today, in honor of both National Poetry Month and the up-coming Nazim Hikmet Poetry Festival in Cary (Raleigh), NC, on April 15th, we quote the great Turkish poet Nazim Hikmet (1901-1963).

The great irony of Hikmet's life is that he lived in exile in her later years in Russia because he was a communist. He ended up dying in Moscow, but today he is the national poet of Turkey and his once-revoked Turkish citizenship was given back to him posthumously.

This year's Nazim Hikmet festival honors the Chilean poet Pablo Neruda.

Here is the quote from Hikmet, who is also my personal favorite poet, with Charles Bukowski being a close second:

"However and wherever we are, we must live as if we will never die."

Sports Desk- Kentucky Wins NCAA Men's Basketball, etc.

The big sports news here in the United States this week is that the Kentucky Wildcats beat the Kansas Jayhawks 67-59 for the NCAA men's basketball championship. The Wildcats were the overall number one seed and the team favored to win it all.

In Monday's title game, Doron Lamb guided the Wildcats to victory with 22 points. Anthony Davis, the 'Cats' top player, scored only six points in New Orleans, but he grabbed 16 rebounds, had six blocked shots, five assists and three steals.

The NCAA title is the first for Kentucky coach John Calipari, who has been the head coach of the 'Cats for three years.

SOCCER (MLS)_ While soccer season is winding down in Europe, it is full swing in the United States and Canada. Here are select scores from this weekend's play; the major headline appears to be that the New England Revolution won over the Los Angeles Galaxy, the defending MLS champion:

DC United 4 FC Dallas 1

New England 3 LA Galaxy 1

Colorado Rapids 2 Chicago Fire 0

New York Red Bulls 5 Montreal Impact 2

Real Salt Lake 3 Portland Timbers 2

SOCCER (Turkey): It was a good weekend for traditional Istanbul soccer power Galatasaray; the same can not be said for Fenerbahce and Besiktash, the team's main two cross-town rivals. Here is a partial list of the league games over the weekend:

Galatasaray 2 Orduspor 0

Bursaspor 3 Antalyaspor 1

Samsunspor 1 Besiktash 0

Istanbul BB 1 Sivasspor 0

Trabzonspor 1 Fenerbahce 1, tie

College Gymnastics:

This Saturday, 36 different schools will be in action as the six regional meets will determine the 12 teams that go to the national championships in women's gymnastics in Gwinnett, Georgia, an Atlanta suburb, from April 20-22.

The Florida Gators, winner of the Southeastern Conference, are the overall number one team in the country. The Gators, a team that has come close but never won a title in women's gymnastics, is the top seed in the Raleigh, NC, regional meet.

The regional meets in Champaign, Ill., figure to be exciting as well as the Oklahoma Sooners will face the Stanford Cardinal and a highly competitive Denver Pioneers squad. And, in Salt Lake City, Utah, the Nebraska Cornhuskers, the Big Ten champs, will try to win regionals over the home team Utah Utes, while the Minnnesota Golden Gophers attempt to be upset spoilers.

Here is a list of the teams in these three regional meets; the others will be posted on our sister blog "Politics, Culture and Other Wastes of Time:"


Champaign Regional

1. Oklahoma
2. Stanford
3. Denver
4. Illinois
5. Kentucky
6. Ill-Chicago

Raleigh Regional

1. Florida
2. Ohio State
3. Penn State
4. North Carolina State
5. Kent State
6. UNC Tarheels

SLC Regional

1. Nebraska
2. Utah
3. Minnesota
4. Iowa State
5. Arizona State
6. San Jose State

No Turkish Bride_It Was an April Fool's Joke

It is time to come clean and admit that I am NOT marrying a woman I met on the Internet named Sibel Turkan Atasoy who lives in Afyon, Turkey. She is a fictional name, and if any woman, living in Afyon, Turkey, or elsewhere actually has that name we will be floored.

I took the middle name from the great Turkish actress Turkan Soray.

I must also profess that I was April Fooled myself as University of Utah Utes gymnastics coach proclaimed that his team had landed the top gymnast in the world on collegegymnasts.com.

Interestingly enough, we asked Bing who was the top-ranke gymnast in the world and they said Sharaya Musser. She happens to be a highly-accomplished gymnast at Penn State, but we are 99-percent sure that she is not actually the 'best in the world.'

I guess this means so much for the power of search engines!

Major Personal Annoucement

Even though all of the local libraries are closed here in Fort Mill, South Carolina*, I wanted to announce that I am engaged to the very lovely Sibel Turkan Aksoy of Afyon, Turkey (this is not an image of her).

We met through a mutual friend in Istanbul, and we hooked up via Skype. I know most people will think that arbitrarily talking to someone through the web is not a real good way to meet your soul mate.

But, Sibel and I have talked face to face. I amm very much looking forward to meeting her this summer.

We have yet to set a date, but right now we are thinking about June of 2013. I imagine I will be getting lots and lots of towels soon!

*-Fort Mill, SC, is not where I am blogging from.