The Iraqi War

The war in Iraq affects the families of soldiers in many different ways. I have a cousin Joe in the National Guard. This is his second tour of duty in Iraq. Joe is a crew chief of a Black Hawk helicopter. He was in Mosul on his first tour of duty. Joe found out early on in his second tour of duty that his wife was pregnant with their first child. Joe was permitted to come home for the birth of the child. I was amazed that Joe was allowed the opportunity to come home. Joe had not seen his wife at all during her pregnancy. Ten days later Joe went back to Iraq. We found out today that Joe is out of Iraq and will be returning home this month. We all love Joe and are grateful for his service as well as all other U.S. military.

More Final Four

Last Friday I wrote of the Final Four and my thoughts about UNC. So far, it looks like I am correct. UNC defeated Villanova in the semifinal game and will play Michigan State for the NCAA national championship tonight. The Final Four is being played in Detroit this year.

Since the Final Four is in Detroit, it is played in Ford Field. There were 72,ooo people attending the semifinal games on Saturday. This is the largest attendance for a college basketball game.

Michigan State is obviously the fan favorite in Detroit. It appears difficult for the opposing teams hearing all the noise from the crowd. I hope that the noise isn't a problem for UNC in tonight's game. I still believe that UNC will be able to defeat Michigan State for the championship tonight.

Final Four

I am a huge Tarheel fan. I hope they win the title, but it will be tough.

I think that the Tarheels will be able to beat Villanova Saturday. Villanova beat Duke pretty bad last week but Duke is overrated. I also believe that Connecticut will beat Michigan State.



When a team plays Connecticut, they have to play against a 7'3 player. North Carolina doesn't have anyone close to that size. The tallest player UNC has is 6'11 but only weighs about 200 lbs. The best chance against the player is to use your quickness and get the player in foul trouble. The player also insulted Tyler Hansborough at the beginning of the season. Tyler Hansborough is last year's AP National Player of the Year. At the start of the season, Hasheem Thabeet said that Hansborough wasn't really all that good. It will be fun to see that match up if it happens in the championship game Monday night.

Horsepower

Last summer I went to learn and work with horses for two weeks in Horsepower.

Horsepower is a camp that teaches about horses. It teaches about food they eat, the stalls they have and how to clean the horses. This helps with memory and other things for people with communication disorders due to traumatic brain injuries.

The people that helped with Horsepower were some professors from UNC-Greensboro and some graduate students.

It was fun to learn of foods that horses can eat and some that they cannot. I learned that horses cannot eat cherries. Horses also have small stomachs and cannot eat a large amount at one time. Horses drink between 5 and 15 gallons of water per day.

When we learned about horse racing, we learned that horses typically only race at the age of 3. The jockeys are an average of 5'3 and weigh no more than 126lbs. with equipment on. In 131 years of having the races that make up the triple crown, only 11 horses have won the triple crown.

To learn more about the horsepower camp go to www.horsepower.org.

ITS BEAUTIFUL FLYING WITH THE BIRDS

Parasailing is a fun activity. You can parasail at any beach. Parasailing isn't physically difficult. All that is needed is to sit in the harness on a boat and be pulled up into the air. The last time I went, I went up 9 floors high. Even though I'm scared of heights, I have gone twice. Parasailing is one of the most peaceful experiences I've had. Being able to look down and see dolphins below you and buildings beneath you is amazing. Floating above all you can see is a beautiful thing. The only thing to worry about in the air are the birds flying toward you.

Some of the parasail workers like to parasail themselves. They said they sometimes go up about 50ft and let go of the handles to fall into the sea. I would worry to much about landing next to sharks to try that. I enjoy parasailing for the peacefulness of it but some people are much more adventureous than me. I will just stick to the regular way to parasail.

Walk to support those with TBI

A Way to Help Some Soldiers

Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) is the most common injury to soldiers returning from the war. TBI is also common in sports such as football. These injuries are not always taken seriously because the injury is not always visible. The Brain Injury Association of North Carolina is having a "Walk and Roll-a-Thon and Joggin 4 Your Noggin" to raise money and awareness for people suffering from these injuries and their families.

There are a lot of symptoms associated with TBI. These families need help to support them. Some of the victims have vision problems and memory loss. Awareness is needed for people to understand these injuries to people across the state.

The "Walk And Roll-A-Thon" is sponsored by the Brain Injury Association of North Carolina (www.bianc.net) . It is $10 to participate in the event. This includes a t-shirt and lunch. The "Walk And Roll-A-Thon" will be at High Point Lake Park in Jamestown, NC. This event will be April 4th from 10am-1pm. For more information, call 1-800-377-1464 or go to www.bianc.net.

It's not always serious

As a police officer, you don't always expect funny cases. While I was in training I pulled a car over for having an expired license plate. I informed the driver that I was going to write them a ticket and I would be back with them soon. I went back to my police car and began writing the ticket. The police officer in the car training me asked if I was going to give the driver a ticket. When I replied yes I was, he said I needed to catch them. I looked up and saw the driver getting her three children out of the car and begin walking away. I approached and asked why they were leaving and she said that in the country she was from, a ticket meant that the car would be taken too.