Holli's gets a new sign from faithful customer

    Holli's Sweet Tooth candy store and ice cream parlor in Oxford had it's sign stolen about six weeks ago. It was an unusual sign, and just the kind of thing that a few college students are wont to steal.
    Earlier today I walked by the store and saw an older man putting up the Holli's sign. "Did you recover the sign or is that a new one?" I asked.
    That's when I learned that the store hadn't purchased a new sign, nor had they recovered the old one. Instead, one of their young customers had asked her grandfather to make the store a new sign because she missed the old one. Based on the wording of the sign, I assume this young girl's name is Piper Clark, and her grandfather's name is "Pappy."
    But what a wonderful story about a little girl caring about others, a grandfather caring for his granddaughter, and Holli's now having their sign back. There is good news in this world if you look for it!

Voting in Pencil?

I went to vote in the Oxford school bond election this morning. I voted "yes," and am fairly certain the bond will pass. The vote was taken on paper ballots. I couldn't help but notice that most of the ballot booths were only equipped with No. 2 pencils. Mississippi law requires that ballots be marked only with pen or indelible pencil. Numerous court cases have thrown out ballots cast with pencil.

Oh well, perhaps I'm the only one who noticed!

I just installed Google Picasa

I just installed Google Picasa 3 on my computer. I couldn't decide between Flickr and Picasa and decided to go with Picasa.

For starters I had to download a web album program to my computer. I've tried to use these before and have not been impressed. The Picasa program located every photo on my computer in just a few minutes, and displayed large thumbnails that I could actually see. When I clicked on them, they opened in a flash, and I could do a quick-and-dirty photo edit if I wanted. I was able to throw away a lot of out-of-focus and junk photos with ease with this program.

I paid $5 to get 20 GB of storage on Google. If I need to I'll pay $15 more to get 80 GB. My goal is to make sure all the photos and videos we've taken over the years get onto the ether, so that if my computer crases we'll have a backup. I already have everything on a removable disk, but you never know.

When I get everything uploaded I'll post a link and the world can snoop through my snapshots.

I have more respect for bloggers

I must say I have more respect for people who manage to post interesting blog posts on a regular basis. I'm going to have to work on getting in the habit. I'm now living in Oxford, Miss., so there is plenty to write about. It's just a matter of writing it!

I wrote earlier about all the hotel deals that are being offered. I got one Hilton certificate that is good at virtually any Hilton in the world for staying four nights. I also got a free Hyatt night plus 9,000 AA miles for staying three nights at Hyatt Place hotels. The 9,000 AA miles will convert into 18,000 Hilton points, which is one-half of one night at a top European hotel. Some of these hotels cost $800 a night or more, so a free night is nothing to sneeze at. At the Paris Hilton a few years ago on a Diamond stay, the entire family ate the $50 breakfast each morning for free. My wife and I enjoyed a free glass of $25 champagne each night. It's a pretty nice bonus on top of the room.

Currently my wife is earning Delta miles with Marriott, with 5,000 Skymiles per stay, up to a maximum of 60,000 miles. It looks like she's only going to make it to 45,000 miles, at which time she'll probably return to the Hilton-Hampton family for most places she visits (not all, though!) I keep telling her she's got to check into a different hotel every night that she's on the road, but she won't do that. As a result she has three-night stays for which she only gets one credit. What a waste!

Stay tuned for the next big thing!

Mississippi here I come

You might presume from the name of this blog that I live in Mississippi. Not true. But soon I will be moving back, to Oxford. I'm from Holly Springs, so Oxford is close enough. Looking forward to the City Grocery and walks through town. Not looking forward to the process of moving.

I guess some of those horror stories about drugs were true

A northern California man drank some mushroom tea with his friend. He then discovered that his friend had turned into the devil and ripped out his heart while IT WAS STILL BEATING. This is about as gross at it gets.

Mixed martial arts fighter Wyatt faces murder charge in Northern California
Court testimony outlines events leading to slaying

Where were these girls when I was in school