Ed Icionsub

We decided to visit the Redbox at McDonald’s and I was happy to find “The Green Zone” was available. It stars Matt Damon and is about the corruption and subterfuge going on with the war in Iraq. It had more than one set of bad guys, which made it a little confusing in the beginning. But after a slow start, I began to figure it out. I even pegged the ending, which I won’t spoil for you here.

We liked the movie overall. I wonder how much truth is behind the story line in this war and the Afghanistan war? Time will tell.

Today I found a list of charitable organizations working to help the innocent victims of the recent floods in Pakistan. They are all asking for cash contributions to perform their work saving lives. Each organization has a web site and method for sending contributions directly to the Pakistan relief efforts.

American Red Cross

Provides emergency humanitarian aid.

Church World Service

Distributes food packages and shelter material for families affected by the floods in Pakistan’s provinces of Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

International Rescue Committee

Brings help to victims of monsoon floods.

Islamic Relief

Carries out an emergency campaign to aid the victims of the Pakistan floods.

Oxfam

Conducts emergency aid effort for victims of the flood.

Save the Children

Provides humanitarian relief as emergency health care and providing non-food items and shelter.

UNICEF

Provides assistance with clean water, sanitation, health, and nutrition.

World Food Programme

Mobilizes their resources to make sure relief measures in Pakistan are met quickly.

There has not been much local news coverage about the recent flooding in Pakistan, but I do see articles on the bigger national news web sites. Evidently, more than 15 million people have been affected by the floods, with over 1,600 fatalities reported so far. This is reportedly their worst flooding in 80 years.

The number of victims is greater than the combined total of the last three natural disasters:

• the 2005 South Asia tsunami (5 million),
• the 2005 South Asia earthquake (3 million), and
• the 2010 Haiti earthquake (3 million).

They estimate over 290,000 homes have been destroyed or seriously damaged in Pakistan, which is almost the same as the number of homes destroyed in Haiti earlier this year.

On the off season, the cast and crew of SOA went overseas to support the troops. I think that was awesome. The show is a big hit among anyone who has ridden a motorcycle. I’m sure they have a lot of fans over there serving our country. I’m glad they all went over there together.

Everyone is so worried about the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico spoiling the beautiful beaches of Mississippi, Alabama and the Florida Panhandle, that most people in Middle Tennessee have canceled their vacation plans for the Gulf and are looking for someplace else to go this summer. My answer to that is: http://www.myrtlebeachseasideresorts.com/!

For years we have been going to Myrtle Beach for a week’s worth of family fun. The very first time  went was in 1991, when the Nashville Ski Club had their spring convention there. We went for the convention and took advantage of the golf packages while we were there to play 18 holes every day at a different top notch golf course.

The wife loves the family atmosphere of Myrtle Beach, unlike some of the other beach communities that attract rowdy college kids and drunken brawls. We’ve always felt perfectly comfortable going to the beach and the many attractions with the kids – no matter what age they were at the time.

We’ll be going back to the beach before school starts in early August. I used www.myrtlebeachseasideresorts.com/ to find the right hotel and golf course package for my budget. We can’t wait to head East for golf and surf in a few weeks.

Reading Micah’s profile on Facebook, I see that he has moved with his family to North Carolina. He’s a lucky man to have IT skills in demand wherever he chooses to live. So if North Carolina has all the quality of life offerings that he’s looking for, then finding a job there should be a piece of cake for him.

I’m always keeping Wilmington NC real estate on my bookmarks and I check it every once in a while. I want to get a feel for any real estate trends in that area, as it seems like the perfect spot for me and the wife.

I have friends all over the state of North Carolina. Two good friends live in the Charlotte area, a former boss and colleague from the old computer manufacturing company in Virginia recently retired to the Asheville area. It appears that Micah has moved to Greenville.

I have been all over North Carolina and I consistently feel good about the Wilmington area. The local Century 21 real estate office has a solid inventory of available properties. I search Wilmington NC real estate for new listings about once a month. When I find the perfect house, I’ll pack for a nice long weekend and head east with the wife to take a look.

Thanks to my parents, I was brought up a backstage brat and have always loved live shows. We used to go to concerts, plays, circuses, pro sports, and all kinds of live events as a family outing. I still do that now.

Often I will see an announcement for an event and know that i want to go. But I always check around for discounts and special deals. The less I pay for tickets mean the more shows that I can go see or hear.

The Cheap Tickets website is a good resource for PNC BANK CENTER TICKETS. I have their schedule bookmarked and there are some great shows coming up perfect for a fall getaway with me and the wife.

Usually when we go to New York together, I’ll get tickets to a play or concert to make her happy, then I get New Meadowlands Stadium Tickets to make me happy. It works out great.

Another favorite big city is Chicago. It’s faster to get in and out of the Windy City than New York, so if I can find cheap Chicago Theatre Tickets for her, then I might get a baseball game in the same weekend for me.

The news has been covering the World Cup underway in South Africa. There have been some unusual stories this year, increased violence and bad sportsmanship on the field and problems with some fans. The biggest issues so far has been the noise from people in the stand who brought a particular kind of horn to make noise during the game. It is causing problems for fans, players and officials. I look for the international council to pass some new rules about crowd noise after all of this is over.

The finals will end the uproar and I predict a lot of craziness and partying in the major cities of whichever country ends up winning tonight.

I guess I will find out shortly if the wife reads my blog. If you see a nuclear cloud erupt over Nashville tonight, that might be my house following the discussion.

I’m seriously thinking about buying this HD 2009 Softail. A sweet ride and I’m perfectly willing and eager to take the wife on rides with me. Honey. Sweetie.

The May issue of Golf Digest listed 7 Myrtle Beach area golf courses in their “America’s 100 Greatest Public Golf Courses” list for 2009-2010.

Myrtle Beach placed more public golf courses on the new Golf Digest’s list than any other golf destination in the country, followed by the Pinehurst and Pebble Beach areas.

I’m happy to say that I have played in all three areas and Myrtle Beach is still my favorite area for both quality and variety, hands down.