Hamster Roll 500

This is going to be fun!

Petland, 5592-A Whitesville Road, is going to hold the Hamster Roll 500 (500 centimeters or roughly three feet) at 2 p.m. Aug. 16. Registration begins at noon.

Other Petland stores have been doing this for some time, but it will be the first in Columbus.

Growing up, we had hamsters and parakeets. And a couple of dogs, of course. For some reason, we never had any cats. I don't know why. My sister-in-law, Cheryl, loves cats. Right now, she has one, Harry. Her beloved Rosie died a few months ago of old age. She was a sweetie. She was a kitten when our Pomeranian, Cherry, was a puppy. They were buddies. It was so cute watching those two play. They'd pretend not to like each other. We'd leave the house and when we got back, they'd be sleeping together! We lost Cherry first, about four years ago.

Anyway, getting back to the hamster race.

Anyone with a hamster can register their pet. It's free.

The course is straight and about three-feet long. The "world" record is 38 seconds.

Depending on the number of hamsters, there will be different heats for them to compete in.

The Ice Cream Girl, a new ice cream shop in the Landings, will be selling ice cream. Ten percent of the sales will go to the Muscogee County Humane Society. Petland will match whatever the Ice Cream Girl donates.

It'll be lots of fun!

For more information, call Don Popham at 706-321-9921.

The Buzz

Just in time for the new school year, The Buzz is finally unveiled. And it looks good.

Editor Carmen Williams has done a splendid job gathering reporters together and posting their stories online.

You can read what the teenagers are thinking about at www.l-emedia.com/buzz There are movie and book reviews, fashion stories, comics and, of course, news stories.

Right now, The Buzz will be updated once a month. But once school starts, I'm guessing it will be updated more frequently.

If you want to comment on any of the stories or offer suggestions for future stories, write to Carmen at Cawbuzz@yahoo.com

We're waiting to hear from you!

The Phantom of the RiverCenter

I just got home from this evening's "Phantom of the RiverCenter."

The Phantom never showed up, but a chandelier did fall on stage as Kevin Newton and Andy Luker showed how special effects are done.

More than 150 people showed up for the wine tasting and tour. And a good time was had by all.

I don't know how many people signed up to become members of the RiverCenter Ambassadors Network, but this was a great event to show what this group can do: raise money and have fun doing it.

Just because you don't drink doesn't mean you can't come. I really don't drink. What I did was get one wine at each station and sipped a little. Then I'd toss it at the next station. Get a little of one wine. Sip it. Go to the next station, toss it. At the last station, I got a really good merlot. Still, I just took a couple of sips and tossed it.

I saw a friend of mine, Jimmy Motos, who was just there to socialize. He doesn't even pretend to drink like I did.

Besides the wine tasting, the tour was lots of fun. It's been a while since I've been under the stage. And I'd bet 99 percent of the people at the event had never been there.

Someone said there were people there who had never even been in the RiverCenter at all.

I thought everyone in town had been to the RiverCenter. I guess I was wrong.

The Ambassadors have at least two more events planned this year. Neither have dates set. The first is Octoberfest in October featuring different beers and perhaps German food. The second is in November and will feature a tequila tasting.

Someone joked that for the tequila tasting, cabs should be parked in front of the RiverCenter for those who need a ride home.

Actually, that's a great idea.

Congratulations to the RiverCenter staff and the Ambassadors for a fabulous evening.

Project Runway

As usual, I'm watching the midnight replay of one of my favorite reality shows.

The challenge this week is timely. They were supposed to design an outfit for the American women athletes for the opening ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Olympics. (Of course, this was make believe because I believe it's Ralph Lauren who designed the opening ceremony outfits.)

The funniest thing was when Tim Gunn told Blayne that his outfit looked too "Sergeant Pepper." Blayne had no idea what he was talking about! Damned kids.

Some of the designers didn't have a clue about what the Olympics are about.

Terri, Jennifer, Joe, Daniel, Korto and Jerell were the ones left on the runway.

The judges, Heidi Klum, Michael Kors, Nina Garcia and guest judge Apolo Anton Ohno, liked the designs of Terri, Joe and Korto. They disliked the designs of Jennifer, Daniel and Jerell.

Korto won the challenge.

The final two left were Jennifer and Daniel. Heidi said Daniel's outfit was a "sad, purple cocktail dress." Jennifer's outfit "was stuck in the past."

Jennifer was booted off the show.

Now it's time for bed.

The Phantom of the RiverCenter

Don't forget. Tomorrow night (Thursday) at 7 p.m., it's the RiverCenter Ambassadors Network's first event. The Ambassadors' Phantom of the RiverCenter is a wine tasting and tour of the RiverCenter for the Performing Arts.

It's just $25 and you can buy tickets at the door.

Let suggest one thing if you're going: Eat dinner before you go.

There will be some hors d'oeuvres, but it won't be enough food if you're drinking.

And even though it's a "tasting," it's still tasting nine different wines. At 2 ounces each, that's a lot of wine.

OK, it might not be a lot of wine for you, but it's a lot of wine for me.

So I'm having dinner with my friends Patty Taylor and Geri Davis before we go.

It's going to be a lot of fun. You'll be able to see parts of the RiverCenter that you'll never see.

I'll see you there.

Design Star

OK. I forgot to watch "Design Star" when it was on its "real" time. I was watching "Gene Simmons Family Ties" or whatever it's called.

So I watched it, starting at 1 a.m. 

Like I said earlier, it really doesn't matter which one (Matt or Jennifer) won because either one would be good.

I saw that each of them won a cruise.

Jennifer won.

So this means in three seasons, two female designers have won. Last year, it was Kim Myles.

My favorite was the first season's winner, David Bromstad. Probably because he was shirtless most of the time!

I'd like to see how her show is going to be.

And I forgot to watch Aaron's new show on the Food Channel Sunday morning. I'll catch it later this week.

Now it's time to sleep.

Baby William

When I was watching "The X-Files: I Want to Believe" last Sunday, there was something that puzzled me.

In one very brief exchange, Scully and Mulder spoke about their baby.

Huh?

I had to e-mail my "X-Files" expert, Tom Ford. He sent me a couple of links that I read.

The couple had the baby in Season 8. She ultimately gave him up for adoption.

I really, truly do no remember any of this. Maybe I just wasn't paying attention to the series by that time? 

Who knows?

But at least that mystery was cleared up.

Thanks, Tom! I know I can count on you.