Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette Blogs

Firefighters and Democrats

Posted by dlauderdale at 11:00 am, Thursday, July 19th, 2007
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[img_assist|nid=22692|title=Fire memorial|desc=People have left memorials at the site of the fire that killed nine Charleston firefighters.|link=node|align=left|width=150|height=113]

  • Never again: More than 6,000 firefighting professionals from across the state are meeting this week in Myrtle Beach.

    Rudy Giuliani will speak to them.

    • Snapshots of an Act of God

    Posted by dlauderdale at 10:05 am, Wednesday, July 18th, 2007
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  • Summer storm: It wasn't a tsunami, but this storm came up very quickly last Wednesday while we were on our excellent vacation up the South Carolina coast.

    I kept expecting to see a water spout.

    And I kept thinking, "I'm one of those idiots you see on TV who have live pictures of their own stupid demise."

    Did anybody around here get a picture of a water spout last week?

    • Surf and Safari

    Posted by dlauderdale at 11:01 am, Tuesday, July 17th, 2007
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  • She can do it. He can help: The Atlanta Journal Constitution's Peach Buzz column gets the skinny on part-time Hilton Head Islander Arthur Blank's idea of a special birthday gift for his wife, Stephanie Blank. The Blanks own a mansion on the ocean in Sea Pines.

    Peach Buzz says:

    • Lowcountry on \'Sicko\'

    Posted by dlauderdale at 12:35 pm, Monday, July 16th, 2007
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  • Sicko: Holly Auer of the Post and Courier tells us how "Lowcountry health experts diagnose Michael Moore's new documentary, 'Sicko' "

    • If only Britney Spears knew to stop at holding pumpkins to her chest

    Posted by elizfarrell at 11:51 am, Friday, July 13th, 2007
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    Thanks to New Jersey -- a state of high class and sophistication (yeah, I said it) -- we've been reintroduced to a word that had all but disappeared from dictionaries across the nation ... "ladylike."

    Ah, what does this olden days word mean, you ask? Well, people used to use it to describe women like Jacqueline Onassis, Grace Kelly and anyone who thought crossing her legs at the knees was a gateway to teenage pregnancy. Now it's the name of a magazine for trannies and crossdressers.

    If the tide don\'t rise

    Posted by dlauderdale at 6:59 pm, Wednesday, July 11th, 2007
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    Sticking with the church theme ...

    Where in the Lowcountry am I?

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    • 702 reads

    A glorious world where Jennifer Aniston weighs 300 pounds and Pamela Anderson teaches fourth grade ...

    Posted by elizfarrell at 11:42 am, Monday, July 9th, 2007
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    Finally! Someone has found a way to use Photoshop for good and not evil. After years of being conditioned to accept as reality the perfect, but majorly touched-up, photos we see of celebrities and models in magazines, we can now catch a glimpse of what they'd look like with weight problems, bad hair, bad outfits and jobs at Wal-Mart (Ashlee Simpson is a store manager, by the way ... it's brilliant).

    To see more works of genius by PlanetHiltron.com, click on the Jennifer Aniston photo on the right (yes, that's Jennifer Aniston) ... TMZ.com posted a gallery that includes Johnny Depp as a hairdresser from Guadalajara, Hugh Hefner on a Disney cruise for his 40th wedding anniversary and Ann Coulter as a lady of the night in Amsterdam. Again, not reality, but this fake world makes me feel a lot better about myself. Can't you just hear people telling Fat Jennifer Aniston, "But you have such a pretty face ...," which makes her so steaming mad she goes home to stuff herself with a gallon of Edy's and a box of Girl Scout cookies ... but only after eating most of a family-sized lasagna from Stouffer's. Then, right after watching "American Idol" and checking her e-mail to see if her Internet boyfriend from Canada responded (she told him she looks a lot like Rachel from "Friends"), Fat Jennifer Aniston makes a vow to join Weight Watchers (she'll have to put the cost on a credit card, but it's worth it). The next morning, she wakes up sad and achy but still determined to go to Weight Watchers because there's a McDonald's on the way there and it's before 10 a.m., which means bacon, egg and cheese biscuits, baby! ... [not that I've ever done any of this, mind you ...].

    Say a prayer

    Posted by dlauderdale at 5:43 am, Sunday, July 8th, 2007
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    I'm on vacation this week.

    But I haven't left the Lowcountry.

    If time permits on a hectic schedule with a frantic family, I'll try to post a picture each day with this question for you about each setting:

    Where in the Lowcountry am I?

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    • 1005 reads

    Don\'t worry

    Posted by dlauderdale at 8:39 am, Saturday, July 7th, 2007
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    Some things you don't have to worry about. Unless, of course, you want to.

  • Flood insurance: How often do you get to say South Carolina did something smarter than North Carolina?

    The Wilmington, N.C., Star News reports that North Carolina coastal flood insurance rates may surge because N.C. has declinded to adopt international window codes.

    But the story says:

    • Call me old-fashioned, but I'd rather there be abstinence in the city

    Posted by elizfarrell at 11:47 am, Friday, July 6th, 2007
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    "Sex and the City" fans the world over are clicking their stiletto heels in glee because the day has finally come for a reunion of Carrie Bradshaw and Co. After years of just talk and drama, it's now been confirmed the show will return in the form of a movie. A movie!

    I, myself, have just gotten over the extreme separation anxiety I felt when the show ended in 2004, so you'd think I'd be toasting this revival with whatever cocktail is fashionable these days (is it cosmos still, really?). But I'm not lifting a single martini glass in celebration. I feel like Miranda did in the episode when she found out she was having a boy but couldn't bring herself to be as excited about the prospect as everyone else around her seemed to be. A boy. A boy! A boy. A movie.