Aside from London, one of my favorite vacation spots is New Orleans. It holds a special place not only in my heart, but for my wife as well. Just weeks after Katrina hit in 2005, she spent some time in the Musicians Village helping to rebuild several houses in that neighborhood. Each year we go back, hoping to see more progress in the rebuilding of the city we love. And each year, we see just a little progress.

The most amazing thing about New Orleans, is the resolve of it’s residents. Each year as we travel through the Upper Ninth Ward in the Bywater neighborhood we stop to talk with some of the residents and the stories we hear are amazing. Some of these people who went without a place to call home for months, even years. Losing everything, only to come back to the place where everything was lost.

If you ever make it to New Orleans, let me know. I’ll be glad to point out some of the must visit places!

It’s been about two weeks since we planted the garden, and I’m ccalling it a success based on the fact that we’ve been able to keep everything alive! There were a few near misses during the really hot days where stuff looked a bit wilty, but Amber rushed some emergency water out there and saved the day.

It looks like before too long we’ll have some tomatoes!

For our Memorial Day cookout, I tried a new kind of hotdog. The “Bo-Dog”. Bruce from Rivera’s in Greer gave me an idea last year that I have been dying to try! He didn’t have a name for it, so we dubbed it the “Bo-Dog”. Many listeners have called in since I mentioned it on the air Tuesday and wanted to know more about how to “make” the Bo-Dog. So, here you go!

- Package of hotdogs (preferably higher quality like Nathan’s or Sabrett’s)

- 1 lb of 80/20 ground beef

- 3 tablespoons of worcestershire sauce

- 1 cup of mayo *Hellman’s works best

- 1 tablespoon of cajun seasoning

- 2 teaspoons freshly minced garlic

- 1 cup of bread crumbs

- 1 package of thick cut bacon

Mix the ground beef with the breakcrumbs, worcestershire sauce, minced garlic and cajun seasoning. Slather tMake several patties and roll the hotdog inside of the patty. Wrap 2 slices of thick cut bacon around the hotdog and beef. To hold this lovely creation together, you might want to use a couple toothpicks. Grill, and serve!

If you try this, be sure to let me know how it goes!

After weeks of saying we were going to do it, we finally took some time yesterday afternoon to plant the garden! With some hard work (and a little luck) we’ll have tomatoes, cucumbers, pumpkins, watermelons and fresh mint! Here’s a before and after shot of the new garden. If it works out this year, we’ll make it a bit bigger next year!

It’s been a busy week around Magic 98.9! Lauren and I spent much of the last few days at the Thornblade Country Club broadcasting the morning show and celebrity stalking. The schedule at Thornblade today featured hockey legend Wayne Gretzky and Joe Don Rooney from Rascal Flats, among many others. Tune back in Monday morning for some more great stories from the rest of the weekend at Thornblade!

In honour of having met Wayne Gretzky today, I’ll leave you with one of my favorite quotes from the hockey great: “Procrastination is one of the most common and deadliest of dieseases and its toll on success and happiness is heavy.”

It’s really time that I start blogging again! Sometimes life gets so busy, that you start skipping over the important things. Not that blogging is “important”, but it’s what one of the many things I’ve neglected over the past few months since my schedule has been so busy.

It’s about time that I take a look at my priorioties and find a little more balance in my life. I’ve been eating crappy, I haven’t been spending enough time with friends and family… the list goes on. Have you ever found yourself in a similar situation? How have you found balance in your life?

It’s been about a month since Amber and I moved into our new house in downtown Greenville, and there’s still so much to do! Our contractor, David Kramer, finished our deck just in time for our big July 4th party but there’s still a bunch on our long to-do list. That includes getting some fun stuff for the inside. Joel at Capel Rugs suggested I drop by and check out some of the unique rugs they had to spruce up our dining room. I’m heading over to Capel today to see what Joel can do. I’ll be sure to post pictures of my “field trip” around Capel, and what fun stuff I pick out for the house.

It’s true. Kate Gosselin has yet another reality tv show on the way, and this one involved Sarah Palin. Kate’s packing up her brood of children and heading to Alaska for a camping trip where Sarah Palin will guide them through the snowy wilderness. How much is TOO much Kate Gosselin? She’s worn out her welcome on my television.

Lauren and I were discussing the results of the “Great Male Survey” about men and dating, and we learned the obvious. Most of us guys are shallow. Over 100,000 guys were surveyed across the US, UK, Canada and Australia. We didn’t have time to give you all of the results on the air, so here’s the complete list of findings from the survey:

 1.)  31% of men said the most important trait when it comes to deciding whether a woman is relationship material is a sense of loyalty.  25% said a sense of humor, 24% said a sense of caring or nurturing, and only 20% said intelligence.

2.)  Is it important for a girlfriend to have wife potential? 48% said somewhat but they wouldn’t break up with her if they realized she didn’t have wife potential.  30% of guys said he wouldn’t pursue a woman who WASN’T a potential wife, and 22% said not at all.

3.)  67% of men believe in the institution of marriage, and they’re all about it.  But 18% said that while they believed in it, it wasn’t for them.  And 15% said they DIDN’T believe in it.

4.)  When asked how likely they’d be to cheat if there was NO chance of their girlfriend or wife finding out: 38% said “not at all,” and that while they might be TEMPTED, it violates their morals.  Another 38% said “not very likely,” because they respected their partner.

–Another 17% said “somewhat likely,” but that they’d feel guilty.  5% said “very likely,” because, quote, “she can’t be hurt if she doesn’t know about it.”  And 2% said they ALREADY cheat on their partner. 

5.)  And when asked if they’d dump a girlfriend if she became, quote, “fat” . . . 46% said yes.  But 54% said NO