I am a big supporter of the anti-RX movement.  It seems like everyone is popping a pill (legally and illegally) for some sort of pseudo mental malady these days.  At what cost?  How many people do you know carry a safety bottle of Wellbutrin/Ritalin/Zoloft to make sure their days are just a OK?

I remember growing up a sane child, although we would definitely horse-play with the siblings and generally run amok. I think life would have sucked had we been numbed with some pharma-cocktail to make us more “manageable”. Welcome to the future.

Popularity: 14% [?]

Just so we all can remember what is was like to be mischievous children.  Fill in the blanks and paste the entire story in the commentary:

(Person’s Name) was (verb) (adverb) on the downtown mall yesterday.  I noticed (he/she) was (verb) a pair of (noun) in (his/her) (noun).  When I asked where (he/she) was going, (he/she) said,

“I have a (noun) with (Person’s Name), owner of (name of establishment) on the Corner.

I responded, “Don’t you mean that crazy person (Person’s Name)?”

“No, you must be thinking of (Person’s Name)”

“Is it really true that (Person’s Name) (verb) (his/her) (farm animal name)?”

“That is completely and utterly (adjective), to think that means that you are ( adjective)and need to be given some type of (noun)”

This conversation got a little too (adjective), so I continued (verb) (direction) on Main Street.  I ran into (Person’s Name) sitting on the floor (verb) (noun) for a group of (noun).  I thought, “how weird that cville has its own (noun)”.

I heard a (adjective) noise and turned around to see our own city’s (noun) (verb) (adverb) with a (adjective) looking (noun).

I had never seen such a (adjective) (noun) in my whole entire life.  It was even (adjective) than that time at the (local band name-look up on muse) concert in (venue) when I caught the lead singer backstage (verb) a (noun) with a (noun).

I was so (adjective) that I (verb) like a (noun).  The day was becoming (adjective) and (adjective), I just had to have a (alcoholic beverage).  What better place to go for happy hour than (noun) in (cville neighborhood name)?

I quickly found myself at (bar/restaurant/lounge) telling the (adjective) (noun) that I would be joined by three (noun) for (noun).  Being that ( bar/restaurant/lounge) is known for its (adjective) customer service/friendliness, it only took us a whopping(number) minutes to get a table.

As our (waiter/waitress) approached our table, we were completely (verb) by the sheer (noun) of (his/her) (noun).  My trusted (noun) was quick to (verb), “I haven’t seen (noun) that (adjective) since (month) (year) in Vegas where we accidentally entered into  (adjective)-looking (noun).  We took one look at (noun)’s (noun) and ran for our lives.”

[pic from Looking Glass on Flickr]

Popularity: 9% [?]

I am a villain.  You are a villain.  That villain there, he is a villain too.  And now old people are villains as well.  NBC29 reports Charlottesville’s Senior Center won the NuStep Pinnacle Award.  This award is for adult wellness programs that “programs, environments and services that address the six dimensions of wellness:

• physical
• social
• emotional
• spiritual
•  intellectual
• vocational

The Senior Center won the following as a result of its bad ass efforts:

• NuStep Recumbent Cross Trainer
• NuStep Pinnacle Award Trophy presented on-site by a NuStep Vice President
• Flight and 2 night hotel stay at the 2008 AAHSA Conference October 13-15 in Philadelphia, PA
• Recognition at the AAHSA Conference
• Exposure in industry publications

Seems like a job well done to me!  Congrats to the old people joining the cool club in town!  This is just another check box on our list of why cville is the best place on Earth.  Richmond eat your heart out.  Old people rock.

[pic from laruth on Flickr]

Popularity: 11% [?]

I bored you with the obesity topic before as a case study on the potential impact of fat-tax in Virginia (I think we were a mixed bunch on the issue…can of worms opened).  The WCAV reports that:

At an obesity forum in Charlottesville last week, Governor Tim Kaine said that two out of three Virginians are either overweight or obese. While the reasons why may vary, experts say one good solution is to fit fitness into your lifestyle.

The rest of the article seems like advertorial for a new 24-7 fitness gym in town, but the facts remain compelling…2/3 of us are fat. If it is based on body weight I agree, I mean take myself, Thor and cocoNUT for example. I have an inclination towards vegetarian fare, so I am obviously a beat nick local that weighs in under the government defined limit. Thor on the other hand is a freaking Norse God. He is like 10 ft tall and has more muscles than the number of issues coming out in this election. Due to all that Norsey goodness, the Virginia government has classified him as extremely fat, when in reality he is perfectly healthy.  Then we come to our fan (un) favorite, cocoNUT.  The NUT eats all the time at what seems to be great restaurants in cville and abroad.  Most likely 5′ 4″ weighing in at around 350 lbs, +/- 3lbs lost just by moving around everyday, NUT is definitely fat and fits our societal norm for obesity.  So there you have it, 2/3 works for me, and the Governor.  How fat is your threesome?

[pic from didbygraham on Flickr]

Popularity: 12% [?]

Porn is everywhere these days.  I have seen a more and more news articles on porn found in school/classroom settings.  It seems the internet is really surprised that teachers watch porn and that kids sometimes bring porn to school.

That got me to thinking about my first and only porn experience in the classroom at the tender age of 7.  The second grade class was all together to watch a movie because we all behaved very well.  Everything was perfect; a cozy floor, all your friends and the elusive mystery movie!  As soon as the screen turned on we were greeted by a scene on a beach.  As the camera moved around it came upon hundreds (I swear) of naked women lying on rocks.  The strangest thing is that I remember some of them were swinging their boobs around in circles.  This had to be the 90’s version of a porn epic like “300″, except all the soldiers were women and they did not wear togas.  I think our teacher had her back turned to the TV because as soon as she saw she ran over and turned it off.  All of the boys in the room wished she never paid attention.   What followed must have been the most awkward moment in her life….”Well I don’t know how that got in there, please don’t tell your parents about it”.   I never did.  I think one of my friends told his parents and they just laughed.

To this day, I don’t know that anyone else told their parents about it.  I guess we were all either too shocked, or didn’t want to get in trouble with the parentals for watching porn in school.  Fast forward to the present, if that happened in any school today, the media would be (refer to the first link above) all over it, the teacher would be called a paedophile and fired and generally all hell would break loose.  Between that and the random friend who somehow always managed to sneak a Playboy into school, we never raised an eyebrow at the good fortune of coming across these things in a school environment.  What the hell happened in the past 20 years?  Has anyone ever had one of these surprise porn experiences in school?  DO TELL.  I always thought I was alone but the internet has told me “fraid not”

[pic from Tom Adams on Flickr]

Popularity: 17% [?]

Our friends at Autoblog found this video of former Italian F1 driver Riccardo Patrese driving a Honda Civic Type R on the track with this wife.  Lets just say she wasn’t too happy with his high speed antics.

Popularity: 17% [?]

So its that time of year again when we look back and really ask ourselves, did it really happen?  Unfortunately it did and changed our lives forever.  Where were you when the Towers were hit and what were your initial reactions?  At the time I thought my friends were playing a prank on me.  Not.
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Popularity: 19% [?]

Seriously.  And no, we are not talking about the wannabe gangsters who were recently served a 4 yr jail sentence.  WCAV reports a couple UVa students were arrested for allegedly kidnapping and robbing a fellow UVa student last April.

• Gabriel Rust-Tierney
• Chase Wager Whitlow

• Joseph Uzcategui
• Jordan Vinsant Davis

I just don’t get it.  Has teenage life become so dull that one has to turn to kidnapping?  In my day an evening with Blockbuster and a couple beers was considered a cheap thrill.

[chase whitlow pic from facebook]

[pic from sindesign on Flickr]

Popularity: 20% [?]

From our friends at the City of Charlottesville:

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN STERLING VIRGINIA HAS EXPANDED THE

* FLASH FLOOD WATCH TO INCLUDE PORTIONS OF NORTH CENTRAL MARYLAND…VIRGINIA AND NORTHEAST WEST VIRGINIA…INCLUDING THE FOLLOWING AREAS…IN NORTH CENTRAL MARYLAND…WASHINGTON. IN VIRGINIA…ALBEMARLE…AUGUSTA…CLARKE…FREDERICK VA… GREENE…MADISON…NELSON…PAGE…RAPPAHANNOCK…ROCKINGHAM… SHENANDOAH AND WARREN. IN NORTHEAST WEST VIRGINIA…BERKELEY AND JEFFERSON.

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Popularity: 19% [?]

I think we have bitched repeatedly on this site about the lack of pedestrian consideration in this town.  There are a couple cross-walks of death in cville:

• between the Lewis and Clarke building andthe downtown mall.  And no, that crosswalk button won’t save you
• crossing Monticello Rd at the Carlton Rd intersection.  Cars come blind uphill
• crossing Levy Ave at Avon St
• crossing McIntire Rd to get to the C’ville Coffee shopping plaza

This town is not short on areas that can cause serious injury, fortunately the local gov intends to fix this with $700k.  How?

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Popularity: 15% [?]