Academy Awards

The Academy Awards brought some surprises.

Meryl Streep won for Best Actress, which is one of my predictions from my contest with Roger W. Thomas, pastor of First Baptist Church of Albemarle. In fact, that was the only category I actually beat him in. We tied in five, there were four that neither of us picked a winner. He had 14 correct and I had one.

So I guess the biggest surprise is that I didn't win the competition? No. I knew I didn't have a chance, mainly since I had only seen one of the movies nominated.

But life is more than about winning and losing, it's how you play the game, right?

I had fun talking with Roger and we are looking at adding a new feature to the Stanly News & Press. He will soon be writing movie reviews for us.

If you haven't read the story about his love of films, pick up a copy of last Sunday's SNAP or see it at thesnaponline.com.

Alcoa Questions?

Probably everyone has had a question at some point in time about the situation between Alcoa and the county commissioners.

We are working on a story that will hopefully summarize what has happened with this ongoing debate and answer some of our unanswered questions as well.

If you have a question that has not been answered, we will work to solve it. Send it to tiffany@stanlynewspress.com by Jan. 17.

New Year, New Ideas

Since we're just a few days into the new year, we still have time to make resolutions. But I'll leave that up to others.

What I want to ask is for some feedback. I don't really know how many people read this blog, so I'm going to just throw this out there and see what happens.

It's a new year, so it's time for new ideas. 

What would you like to see in your SNAP? Has there been a regular feature or series that was in the SNAP many years ago that you think should be brought back? Any particular type of stories you would like to see? 

I can't guarantee that everything will be printed, but I will take all suggestions into consideration.

As always, thanks for reading.

Happy Thanksgiving

Just wanted to wish anyone who may take a second to check out this blog a Happy Thanksgiving. And if you can, help out someone who is less fortunate this year.

That's all. See you next time.

Halloween

Halloween is just days away and I have yet to figure out if I'm dressing up or not.

Many people would say that I'm scary looking enough as it is without a costume. So is it worthy it?

I have an idea, but it may be a last-minute throw-together thing. I'll post a photo later if it pans out.

I would like some suggestions. Does anyone have a low-budget costume idea? It doesn't necessarily have to be for me. It could be something that anyone could use at the last minute.

Let us know. Thanks.

Shake or Not?

I've had the sinus blues that seem to be going around at the moment.

One question: When someone comes up to you and goes to shake your hand and you're sick, do you shake?

I had two instances today where I didn't and explained the situation. I remember watching this on "Seinfeld."

I think I made the right decision. I guess you could salute or tip a hat if you're wearing one.

What do you think?

How I Spent My Summer Vacation

I know I'm a little late at posting the "How I Spent My Summer Vacation" story, but here is a little highlights of my recent trip to Wilmington.

I've always talked about visiting our neighbors down east, but we've never gotten around to it.

My dad was part of the hundreds of thousands of school children throughout the state that

donated their change to bring the USS Battleship home to Wilmington.

The Battleship is big. It was amazing to see how the sailors lived at sea, with the various departments and amenities on board.

Here's a nice photo of me aboard the Battleship (below).

And one last photo of the Battleship itself (below).

I may add more from the trip and the many experiences in the coming days, so stay tuned.

But as they say, there's no place like home.