When Jessica and I were in Panama (about 90 each day, with beautiful blue skies) my parents got about 20 inches of snow.

They sent these pictures.

No, I don’t miss it.  Not even a little bit.

I just answered a few more questions from my Formspring ‘ask me anything’ page.  Here are a few of ‘em:

Q: Do they serve beer at Disney?
A: They sure do!

Q: What’s your secret to putting on the “happy face” (in your case voice) when you aren’t so happy? I suck at doing this and am told I need to learn, although I don’t always agree with the stigma of “wearing your heart/emotions on your sleeve”
A: I don’t have one. I can’t fake it. It sucks.

Q: Can you please tell me the name of he phone psychic you spoke with last year and how to get in touch with her?
A: Natalie Tomlinson:  http://www.natalietomlinson.com/

Q: What’s the purpose of your life?
A: I don’t know yet.

Q: Whatever happened to Denzil and Suzie?
A: Denzil was working at Dave-FM, and Suzi was in L.A. doing radio. Not sure where either is now.

Q: How do you find the time to do all that you do and still get enough sleep?
A: I don’t know. I’m always behind, and I don’t get enough sleep!

Q: I think I came up with a great idea for a reality show. Who do I talk to? And how do I protect it?
A: You’ll never be able to protect it 100%. And the rest is luck.

Q: Can you please identify “the” question you want to be asked within the answer, when someone finally asks it?
A: Sure. IF it gets asked.

Q: What are some of your favorite t.v. shows?
A: The Office. Soprano’s. West Wing.

Q: What song is stuck in your head right now?
A: Lady Antebellum, Need You Now

In 2004, Tom Cruise was promoting Collateral, and I asked him about a classic movie scene.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Watch this entire video.  Share it with your loved ones.  An extraordinarily powerful message about the dangers of drinking and driving.

Please don’t drive under the influence.

CARE Deploys Supplies, More Emergency Team Members to Haiti
Humanitarian Group Says Need for Funds Remains Great

SANTO DOMINGO (Jan. 14, 2010) – CARE has launched a global appeal for $10 million to help the survivors of Tuesday’s devastating earthquake in Haiti. The exact death toll is unknown, but aid groups are estimating that three million people – that’s one-third of Haiti’s population – are affected and in need of assistance.

CARE has shipped water purification sachets from nearby Panama to Port-au-Prince and today deployed additional emergency relief staff to the capital, including personnel who were part of the response to the devastating Hurricane Hanna in 2008. CARE plans an initial 10-ton distribution of high-protein biscuits from warehouses in Haiti, enough for 60,000 emergency meals. And CARE is working together with the World Food Program, which is airlifting 86 metric tons of additional biscuits – enough for half a million emergency meals – from its satellite logistics hub in El Salvador.

CARE hasn’t yet determined if all its 133 staff are safe and we are getting reports that many of our staff’s family members perished in the quake, particularly children. Children were still in school when the earthquake hit, and many are feared trapped or killed beneath the rubble.

“This is Haiti’s darkest day,” said Joseph Francoeur Jean, CARE’s project manager in the nearby Haitian city of Gonaives. “This was a hard blow for Haiti and our colleagues, some of whom lost children. In addition to the emergency, we also need to think about giving people psychosocial help, and assist them to rebuild their homes and their lives.” Jean, speaking via Skype, said the immediate needs are first-aid supplies, water
purification solution, body bags, and emergency food rations.

Flights into the Port-au-Prince airport have been all but cancelled, and many aid agencies are flying into neighboring Dominican Republic before making their way into Port-au-Prince by land. Hauke Hoops, CARE’s Regional Emergency Coordinator, arrived in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic just after midnight today, and spoke before boarding a plane to Port-au-Prince.

“The airport is full of aid workers, rescue teams. It is turning into the humanitarian hub,” said Hoops, who met with other agencies to determine how to get supplies to disaster-affected communities in Haiti. “Reports are that there is no water or food in Port-au-Prince. That will be CARE’s first priority for the emergency response, and I am working with other agencies to find options to procure food and water for the people affected.”

Sophie Perez, CARE’s Country Director in Haiti, was in the CARE office in Port-au-Prince when the earthquake hit. CARE’s staff of roughly 30 people in the Port-au-Prince office escaped the office safely, but we are still trying to determine if all other staff in the
area are safe.

“Children were still in school when the earthquake hit, so there are many children trapped. It’s horrifying,” Perez said. “The slums on the hills have also completely collapsed. We’ve heard of landslides, with entire communities being wiped out.” Fear of more building collapses during aftershocks has forced many in the capital to stay outside, including CARE staff. “I spent the night outside by the gate with my children,” Perez said. “There were eight aftershocks during the night, and we woke up every time. My children are terrified. Everyone is terrified.”

CARE began working in Haiti in 1954 to provide relief assistance after Hurricane Hazel. Today CARE’s work in Haiti includes projects in HIV/AIDS, reproductive health, maternal and child health, education, food security, and water and sanitation.

CARE recognizes the following partners for their generous donations and in-kind support of our emergency relief efforts: Cargill, Delta Air Lines, Hanesbrands Inc., JPMorgan Chase and UPS.

To Donate: Go to www.care.org or call 1 800 521 CARE.

About CARE: Founded in 1945, CARE is one of the world’s largest humanitarian aid agencies. Working side by side with poor people in 72 countries, CARE helps empower communities to address the greatest threats to their survival. Women are at the heart of CARE’s efforts to improve health, education and economic development because experience shows that a woman’s achievements yield dramatic benefits for her entire family. CARE is also committed to providing lifesaving assistance during times of crisis and helping rebuild safer, stronger communities afterward.

Don’t go to Lamebook.com, because you will get sucked in for hours.  I’m not kidding …

Like tragedy:  Join the “Pray Robert survives his suicide attempt” Facebook group.

or pregnancy: Erica is late…cross your fingers I’m not preggers.

or how drunk you are:  Alissa is cracking up that she blacked out at her company holiday party.

Any others?  That’s what the comments are for … get creative …

(Thanks to Guyism.com for the starters above.)

A study tested random samples of reusable grocery bags and found that 64% were contaminated with “some level of bacteria,” 30% had “elevated bacterial counts” higher than what is considered safe for drinking water, 40% had yeast or mold, and some had “an unacceptable presence of coliforms.”

(Coliforms are a broad class of bacteria found in our environment, including the feces of man and other warm-blooded animals.  Yum.)

More from the Times Colonist, a Canadian newspaper.