Thanksgiving weekend

Here's Fred carving up the pig.

Wow! I must have gained 10 pounds this weekend. I swear all I did was eat.

My brother got in around 2:30 a.m. Thanksgiving Day after being in South Florida for a former colleague's funeral Tuesday and Wednesday.

He slept a few hours and then put the pig on to roast. Oh, yeah. He bought a 70-plus pound pig to roast. Has he ever done that before? Nope. But now he knows how to do it.

Besides all the pork, we had two fried turkeys and a smoked turkey. We had a ham and a pork roast. I lost count of all the sides and desserts we had.

There was a lot of food, but there were at least 40 of us.

There was one injury. Little Emily Wilder, one of Cheryl's great-nieces, fell in the living room and hit her head Wednesday night. Thursday, she woke up vomiting. Of course, the first thought is a concussion, so her parents, John and Heather, took her to the emergency room. They got back to Fred and Cheryl's house late in the afternoon. Emily had a little butterfly bandage on her head and was subdued. It turned out she had a stomach virus, which explained the vomiting.

Friday morning, very early Friday morning, some of us headed out to the the Black Friday sales. My mother asked if I was going. I told her I had to work. And I did. I interviewed a bunch of people who were out shopping.

For dinner Friday night, Dorothy and I went back out to Fred and Cheryl's, while my mother decided to stay home.

We ate even more.

We repeated that Saturday night. I noticed that there was definitely a dent in the amount of meat that was left over.

This morning, as Dorothy was getting ready to go home to Charleston, we got a call from Fred. It turned out that he, Cheryl and Jessica all caught whatever Emily had. You know, that stomach bug. He wanted Dorothy to get some Pepto-Bismol and Immodium.

Dorothy, our mother and I had limited interaction with Emily, so we're fine.

Jess had to work today in Gainesville, where she's at the University of Florida, at 1 p.m., but had to call in sick. She felt well enough to let Scott drive her to Valdosta, where he's stationed. He has to be at work at midnight. (Fred picked him up on his way home from Hollywood.)

I'm not sure if she's spending the night with him or if she drove the 90 minutes or so back home.

I guess when you've got that many people, someone is going to get hurt and someone is going to get sick. It turned out that one little girl got hurt and sick!

We really did have a great time.

CSU Alumni Open House

One day, I'd like Ray Lakes to call me just to say hello. When he calls, he needs publicity for one thing or another.

Now, I love talking to him, but come on, Ray!

I've known Ray longer than I'd like to admit. I was a freshman at Columbus College and he was an older student. That's right, I always joke that he's way older than me. In actuality, he's probably only a year or so older. But I call him the old guy.

He's now the director of alumni affairs at Columbus State University. My have we grown up.

This time when he called, Ray wanted me to do something about the CSU Alumni Open House.

I know that there are thousands of CSU graduates in this area.

So some of you should come to the open house at 5-8 p.m. Tuesday in the Coca-Cola Space Science Center, 701 Front Ave.

You'll get to see some people you know and you'll get to meet the new president, Tim Mescon. I think you'll like him.

And of course, you'll see Ray. You may even see me wandering around.

Tickets are $10, and you'll need to make a reservation.

Call 706-565-4100.

OK, Ray. I've done what you asked. You owe me lunch.

Life is short

My brother headed for South Florida today. When he lived in Cooper City, he was a sergeant in the Hollywood Police Department.

One of the officers under him was killed in a car accident over the weekend while he was on duty.

He was just 31.

Fred must have liked him because he wouldn't just drop everything to go back to Hollywood. The visitation was tonight and the funeral is in the morning. He'll come back right after the service.

Hollywood is about the same size, population wise, as Columbus. Geographically, it's much smaller. But being so close to Miami and the drug trade, I think it's a lot more dangerous for police officers. He worked in vice and that worried my father, especially when Scott was born. But Fred loved his work. When he retired two years ago when he was 48, I wasn't sure if he'd adjust to retirement. But he loves being retired now.

He does work for my friend Bill Rich, building things. He's been working at the new National Infantry Museum.

I went online to read the stories and when I found a video, I watched it. To my surprise, there's a new police chief. When Fred was promoted to sergeant five years ago, Chadwick Wagner was promoted to assistant chief at the same ceremony.

When I called Fred's cell, my niece answered it. He had stopped in Gainesville to have lunch with her before continuing south.

On his way home, he's picking up Scott in Valdosta, where he's stationed at Moody Air Base.

Now as Thanksgiving draws near, I'm really thankful that Fred was unscathed in his years as an officer in a highly dangerous job. And I'm thankful that Scott hasn't been deployed. He's been in Iceland, England and Valdosta so far.

Dancing with the Stars Finale

The judges scores:
Warren Sapp, 80; Lance Bass, 81; Brooke Burke, 88.

Tonight, the very talented Alicia Keys sang before the final dances by the three couples. After the dances, the not-so-talented but inexplicably popular Miley Cyrus performed.

I really miss Kenny Mayne, who was the very first person booted off the very first show. He's been kind of a sarcastic correspondent in subsequent seasons. I agree with him when he said he was robbed.

OK, so Burke won. I think there should be a recount.

When the season began, I really thought it was a ho-hum season. And I thought Toni Braxton would win.

What do I know?

Dancing with the Stars finals

OK, it's coming to an end. As expected, Brooke Burke, a favorite of the judges, rated well tonight. I just don't get it.

Lance Bass is doing very, very well. He started slowly, but the last few weeks, he's been really, really good.

But my favorite is still Warren Sapp. I just love to watch him dance.

Of course, I voted for him. I'm hoping everyone else did, too.

I had to work yesterday, so I missed the final show of "A Love Supreme." I'm hoping Troy videotaped it so I can see it.

"A Love Supreme"

When we were at "Why, Baby, Why," V.J. said we needed to see "A Love Supreme."

I agree.

This is that new drama by young playwright Desirée Samone. It's the last weekend of this show at the Liberty Theatre. It can be seen at 8 p.m. Saturday and 3 p.m. Sunday.

I'll be at the theater on Sunday.

See you there.

Why, Baby, Why

As I've said before, I'm no fan of country music.

I am a fan of Steve Valentini and Debbie Anderson.

V.J. Roberts called me late this afternoon asking if I'd go see "Why, Baby, Why" with her.

I was struggling with my work laptop, trying to get my work for next week's To Do finished. I mean I was struggling. It seemed every other minute, I was asking my editor for help. I'm certain that she's going to slap me silly by the end of the month.

At least I'm not the only one asking her for help.

When Dawn wasn't available, I was asking Jerry or Elizabeth for help.

It seems there's something wrong, but no one knows exactly what to do.

So I muddled through.

In the meantime, V.J. called asking when I could get free. I told her I had one more page.

Then I finally finished and I met her on the street and we walked to the Springer Opera House's Foley Hall.

Debbie and Steve just may be two of the most talented people in town. They can really, really sing.

You don't have to be a country music fan to appreciate the music of George Jones and Tammy Wynette. And the dialogue written by Paul Pierce is snappy and poignant and funny.

After the show, Steve told me that this was the best time he had doing a show in a long time. I believe it.

Paul said to me about Debbie, "Scratch the surface of this opera singer and you'll find a country music star." He got that right. But then Debbie told me years ago that when she was a kid, she traveled around the Southeast singing gospel and country songs with her family's band.

You have one more chance to see this show. It can be seen at 7:30 p.m. Saturday.

If you love country music, this is the show to see. If you're like me and don't like country music. Go. You might change your mind.

I'm glad V.J. was persistent enough to make me leave my desk.

By the way, happy birthday, Allison! I'm sure you had a great party. I'm sorry I missed it.

But I bet I had a better 40th birthday party.

It was at the Loft and there was a lot of cheesecake instead of birthday cake.

The Springer Opera House was in rehearsal for "A Chorus Line," and during their break, the entire cast came over and sang "One" to me!

It was the best! People still talk about it.