Hero of the Week - Blake Anderson Graham

Last night, the world welcomed my cousin Rysha's first baby to the world, a 7 pound boy named Blake Anderson Graham. Congrats to my cousin and my family. Oh, and how awesome of a name is "Blake Anderson"? How is he not the future President?

Pictures to come soon.

Hero of the Week - Lisa Harrell

I think Lisa qualifies as a hero. Unfortunately, the mother is close to a creep nomination.

Hero of the Week - Melissa

This week's hero is brought to you in Haiku form:

Great friend. Great mother.
Sassy. Classy. Wonderful.
Thanks for the gossip.

Hero of the Week - The Marquette and St. Mary's high school hockey teams

It's good to see that in today's society we can still understand the balance between competitiveness and sportsmanship. It's also inspiring to read about those with that "it" in their hearts that enable them to battle for eight overtimes.

Good job guys.

Read about their story here.

Hero of the Week - Erma Smith

The best of birthday wishes go out to my Grandma Erma who turns 90 years young on March 13th. This past Saturday, we celebrated by giving her a touching, funny and inspirational banquet at the Proud Bird restaurant near LAX.

Highlights of the day included:

• Her daughters Dolores and Vanessa, along with other friends, getting their boogie on.
• Photos and good times with the family
  
  Grandma Erma and my Dad

• A joke from "Aunt Flossie" that I didn't get on video. (Aunt Flossie happens to be a male family friend who dresses in drag... a guy who just happens to run the local funeral parlor... yeah, it's just best not to even ask.)

  A woman walks into church with her 8 daughters. Once the doors open for church, anyone who wants can go to the front, and give themselves to the Lord. When the pastor asked who would like to come to the front and give themselves to the Lord, all eight girls went up there.
  
  The girls lined up in a row, and the pastor asked the first one, "What's your name little girl?" She responded, "Shaquita!". The pastor asked the second girl, "And what's your name?" The second girl replied "Shaquita!". The pastor said, "Your name is Shaquita too?" The girl said, "Yup!" So the pastor kept going down the line asking the girls their name. And all the girls replied with "Shaquita!"
  
  So the pastor called out to the back, "Could the mother of these children please come forward?" The woman comes before the pastor. The pastor asks, "These are your children?" "Yes pastor." she replied. "And they're all named Shaquita?" "Yes pastor." Bemused, the pastor asks, "Well what do you do if you need to get just one of the child's individual attention?"
  
  Without hesitation the mother replied, "I just call them by their last name."

All in all, it wasn't as dry of an event as I expected. Lots of laughs, and I got to see many family members who I never get to see. Too many times, we come together as family only at funerals (this is why I recognized Aunt Flossie.) It's good to let people know how you feel about them while they're still with you. As they say, a party costs less than a grave. Love you Grandma, Erma... Happy Birthday!

Hero of the Week - Voters of Brattleboro, Vermont

Last Thursday I started a gimmicky blog feature called "Creep of the Week" that basically calls out people in the news for their behavior. Now while I admit, it's fun talking about people, I've noticed that in my search for creeps, there were five times as many heroes. So as to not wallow in negativity, every Tuesday I'll offer my Hero of the Week, spotlighting people who go above and beyond to help out, have a cool idea, or just normally do good by others. You know, the stuff we're supposed to do.

This week's hero(es) are the good folks of Brattleboro, Vermont. They've basically drafted a symbolic measure to have President Bush or Vice-President Cheney arrested if they ever visit their town. Of course it's a bit extreme and will never be taken seriously... but let's face it... the idea is AWESOME! Good job guys.