The 2008 Summer Olympics in China are awesome so far, right? Records are being broken, political leaders are gathering, and 41 year old Dana Torres will be the oldest female swimmer in the history of the Olympic games. Yet, I am disappointed to find that all of this good news is overshadowed by some disturbing bad events.
To begin with, there was the stabbing of 2 US tourists which lead to the death of Todd Bachman, father of 2004 volleyball Olympian Elisabeth Bachman. His wife, Barbara, was also seriously injured during the attack at a popular Beijing tourist site.
The latest news out of Beijing is that some of China’s female gymnasts may be underage! Bela Karolyi, coach of the US female Olympic gymnastics team, has made it clear that he believes the Chinese competitors are under the age of 16 when Olympic rules state that athletes must be at least 16 during the calendar year in which the Olympics take place. They sure do look young, don’t they?
Dark Knight is an awesome movie. Go see it!
Angelina Jolie gave birth to twins on Saturday. Brad Pitt was at the hospital in Nice, France during the Cesarean operation to give birth to a boy, Knox Leon, and a girl, Vivienne Marcheline.
Mother and babies are said to be doing well.
What are your plans for the 4th of July holiday weekend? Beaches, picnics, BBQ parties, pools, family, friends… you name it and no doubt it’s a summertime tradition. Yet with today’s economy, you can’t help but reconsider travel plans due to soaring gas prices. Food costs have risen, entertainment expenses cost more, and travelling (whether to a distant relatives or to a special vacation destination) is through the roof.
The issue is at such a disappointing state that CNN Money is reporting that travel for the 4th of July weekend is expected to decrease 1.3% since last year. AAA estimates that 40.45 million drivers will travel during the holiday weekend, which is down from the 41 million who traveled last year.
Another interesting gas fact: Missouri has the lowest gas prices at $3.850 per gallon and Alaska has the highest gas prices at $4.611 per gallon.
Who likes to shop? I do, I do!!! Yet sometimes I get frustrated when I have 10 browsers open and I’m flipping between different sites looking for the best deal. Earlier this week I stumbled upon a new site called Red Plum, which just might be a solution to every girl’s shopping dilemmas.
Redplum.com is a single destination with special offers, deals, product information, and coupons for products and services that are local and relevant to you. Red Plum has already done the dirty work to find the best offers, deals, and products to feature in one place, so that you can easily enjoy the savings, splurge on the fun things, and spend more time doing the things that matter.
You can quickly search through a wide variety of categories to find valued offers, expert advice, fun tips and recommendations that are relevant to you. As you find great offers, you can easily print them out, save them for later or even share them with family and friends!
Happy shopping!
Per Fox News, the sad news out of New York on Saturday reports that a Vogue cover model, Ruslana Korshunova, 20 has passed away from an apparent suicide. The model, from the former Soviet republic of Kazakhstan, fell from her apartment building in the Financial District in New York City.
A week ago my wonderful boyfriend brought me to dinner at a favorite restaurant of ours - McLoone’s Rum Runner in Sea Bright, NJ. Always a beautiful setting with tables set along the Shrewsbury River, our latest outing brought about an added thrill - dolphins! I was so excited that I happily took video on my Sony Cybershot, but now CNN has covered the ‘dolphins in NJ’ story thanks to New 12 NJ.
While adorable and exciting as the dolphins may be, the story is actually a bit sad. It appears as thought the dolphins are trapped in the Shrewsbury River because they hear noise from nearby bridges and construction which confuses them. Experts plan to help guide the dolphins to their natural environment, so hurry to McLoone’s (or a nearby establishment) to see the cute dolphins in the Shrewsbury River soon!
Gas prices are high, MPG ratings are low, and if you’re like me you still have to travel a decent distance for your daily commute to work. So what can you do to try to stretch a few extra miles out of that last gallon of gas? Yahoo! has provided you with 10 easy ways to save over a grand on gas.
Be forewarned that while a lot of these are great tips, a few are a little unrealistic. Prime example, tip #8 says that if you lose 100 lbs you can save 13.1 gallons of gas with a monetary savings of $104 per year. I might need to hit the gym a little more often, but 100 lbs? C’mon!
Here are all 10 tips:
Get that “check engine” light checked out
Check your tire pressure
Change your air filter
Drive 60 on the highway, not 75
Turn off the a/c
Get your engine tuned
Drive calmly in the city
Lose weight
Lose the roof rack
Change your oil on time
To see the estimated savings for each of these tips, check out the article on Yahoo!
Summertime is officially here, and with it comes a whole new set of extravagant toys.
For those of you who are avid water lovers, I highly suggest you check out the Seabob. The Seabob brings water sports to a new level. Relaxed gliding, sporty driving or diving safely under water. It’s all possible! Yes, that’s right, the Seabob actually makes it possible to move through the water like a fish. Either on the surface or at depth.
With different models ranging from 3HP to 7HP, when it’s in its element the Seabob looks like an easy-to-use fun-sport machine… and it is also completely environmentally friendly.
I don’t know if this is a sign of how scary technology can be, or how frightening stupid today’s youth is.
In Spain, a teenager posted an open invite to her 16th birthday bash on the popular social networking site Facebook. Over 400 people saw the invitation, and crashed the bash at the $8.6 million dollar mansion where they stole thousands of dollars worth of jewelry and designer clothes in addition to throwing a tv in the estate’s swimming pool.
As Fox News reported, “The place looked like a war zone,” one partygoer said. “All the banisters have been broken. The walls are ruined, the carpets are destroyed, furniture is broken and it is going to take months to sort out.”
While the estate’s owners have incredible damages to repair over the summer, they are also going to miss out on the $8,000 a month that they usually receive for renting the mansion out over the summer. Can you say “grounded”?