Archive for the 'SASTP Nation!' Category
January 11th, 2010 by Mike Redding
Okay, I’m winding down my second “What did I eat at the Chinese restaurant?” food poisoning vomitpalooza in six months. Can feel my strength coming back. Haven’t “tossed” since Sunday. Was able to keep down a peanut butter sandwich. All positive signs. I should be an absolute delight at work today.
On the fun news front: The winner of the “Reader #140,000″ contest is a man who came to my house every Thursday for five years. He was my milkman when I lived in Baxter Village in Fort Mill, South Carolina.
“Don the Milkman” is what I called him. It’s how I stored his phone number in my cell. But he became a friend over the years. I met him on a story shoot for Carolina Traveler. Did a story about him… a throwback to the 1940s delivering milk to people’s front porches. On the shoot I tried the bottled milk Don was delivering and quickly ordered to have it delivered to my front stoop.
Ironically, they got their milk back then from a farm here in Virginia, where I now live. And I have a new milkman who delivers “Homestead Creamery” milk to my front porch right here in Roanoke! Small world. He’s no Don, but the milk is outrageous! I digress.
Anyway, Don’s story will arrive shortly. Hopefully after Nic’s. Nic is “Reader 130,000.” For the record, I called Nic Sunday evening. No answer. I e-mailed. No reply. I’ll track him down this week.
Have some great “people” stories coming up just for SASTP Nation this week. 4000 of our bravest are coming home! We’ve been praying for them. We’ve done two “Wave of Gratitudes” for them… and they are (knock on wood) close to home! Freakin’ exciting is all I can say.
Enjoy your Monday, folks. Try to put a smile on someone’s face… MR
December 27th, 2009 by Mike Redding
I’m a smidge late. That’s a lie. I’m so late I should be pregnant. I’m so late I’ve mourned the loss of my time and have reached the “acceptance” stage of grief.
I didn’t finish all my Christmas cards. Half my family didn’t get one. And I’m not even sure where I left off alphabetically. I’ll have to call them all to figure it out. It also means half my friends didn’t get a card. I was writing cards, and then a snowstorm hit and, well, we work a lot in big news events. That one ended and some guy takes four guns into a Post Office and starts shooting. Three hostages later it’s Christmas eve and I haven’t purchased all my gifts.
I haven’t even called the winner of the “Reader 130,000″ contest yet. Sorry, Nic. I’ll get there.
Me and my boys, Crowley and Trevor, Christmas 2009.
On the up side, I’m sitting on the couch watching football with my #1 Son, Trevor. And the cards and calls will have to wait until he leaves in a few days.
Trevor hasn’t seen Crowley (my #2 son) since his little brother was 3 weeks old! Now Crowley is almost 10 months. When Trevor last saw Crowley, Crowley had three basic tricks: he ate, he slept, he pooped. That’s it. Now he crawls, jabbers on an on in a magical language, hugs, giggles, plays peek-a-boo, shuffles along behind his push car (picture an old person with a walker), loves to eat meatballs and gives high-fives. Coincidentally, those are all things I like to do.
I’ll catch up around President’s Day. Maybe.
Peace… MR
December 24th, 2009 by Anna Redding
Welcome to a long overdue installment of Anna’s “Baby Diaries.” Here’s how these work: Anna writes them and I get to add my 2-cents wherever I like. My thoughts will be in [brackets and bold]. Enjoy…
Baby Diaries: Preggo decorates for the holidays!
You don’t often realize you are a lunatic in the moment, especially when you are six months pregnant. Just ask my friend Liz. Last year she was pregnant too. Not only did she address all of 2008’s Christmas cards, but she also addressed 2009’s! (Because, duh! Obviously she would be too busy with a baby and everything that had to be done before the baby was born!) [Welcome to my world.] As for me, this time last year, I could only think about one thing and one thing only! It wasn’t Christmas cards. [Again? Sweetie, a man my age has to pace himself. This is how we got pregnant in the first place!]
But, the thought antagonized me every time I went up and down the stairs… [She just can't resist me.] It’s the banister. It’s so bare. [Oh.] It needs a garland. [Crap. This is not going to be the night I was hoping for.] Not just any garland, but a magnolia garland. And not just any magnolia garland but a home made magnolia garland.
Only problem? We don’t have any magnolia trees in our yard.
I use the word ‘problem’ loosely because for Preggos, there are no problems…. I mean seriously, these are just things to add to Mike’s ‘To Do’ list! [Wait. Here’s where I say, “Welcome to my world.”]
“Hon?” Surely he knows what’s coming. This is how all of my requests begin with one word ‘Hon.’ [Requests? The question mark at the end of her sentences is merely formality.]
“Yes?” he replies. I don’t even know why he answers. He should really just run for his life! [Thanks for the tip.]
“Um… well… I want to make a magnolia garland for the staircase banister.”
“That sounds beautiful.” He wouldn’t say that if he knew where this was headed. [I knew. I was lying.]… Continue reading ‘Baby Diaries: Preggo decorates for the holidays!’
December 12th, 2009 by Mike Redding
And the winner is?
Wait.
And the winners are? (Drumroll) Nic and Donna! (You clapping.) They tied at 10:58 this morning. I’ve e-mailed them and will soon be chatting with each by phone, provided my coverage map allows that.
I’ve actually met one of the winners several years ago in Shelby, NC. So it’ll be fun to finally tell her story.
Okay, I’m all over my Saturday “to do” list. I have three leaky faucets. Christmas gifts to buy and send to my family. A company Christmas party and contest winners to call!
Anna is working on a new installment of “The baby Diaries.” At least she tells me she is. If you make some comments imploring her to write more she;ll buckle under the guilt.
Sometimes guilt is a good thing… MR
December 11th, 2009 by Mike Redding
I somehow missed the hits counter nearing 120k. So I woke up one morning and we had a winner to a contest I never announced! Oops! A couple readers gave me a heads up as we started approaching 130k. So big hugs to them.
For any newbies reading along… we are entering the “Reader Contest” zone. Each time we click over a ten thousandth mark I write a story in this column about the winner. Here’s how it works: The first person to make a comment after the hits counter reaches 130,000 will get a phone call from me and a subsequent article. Cool beans?
So you know, the comments are all time stamped with the exact minute they reach the website. Some comments are held for approval but that doesn’t change the time stamp. That makes it easy to see who the winner is.
Everyone good? Good.
Let the games begin… MR
November 28th, 2009 by Mike Redding
Anna and I are taking a few days off. Friends from Charlotte were up for Thanksgiving and some of my Ohio family will be in town over the weekend. Plus I need to take a few days to prep for my new gig with WDBJ-7. Perhaps I’ll actually iron a shirt or two (insert your punch line here).
By the way, we’ve been living in Roanoke, Virginia, now for just 10 days and we’re exhausted but having fun. Do me a favor… remind me next time I plan a “Gratitude Wave” to NOT do that in the middle of a major move.
Anyway, before we enjoy some downtime we wanted to express our thanks to the faithful readers of this website. I have a lot to be thankful for… I always have. But this year I also have you. This website is young… just 6-months-old. Actually, Thanksgiving Day was exactly six months! But if you asked me six months ago if this SASTP would still be around by Thanksgiving I would have laughed my way through the answer, “No ha ha ha ha way! Six months from now? Ha ha ah you kill me.”
So six months from now might as well be another lifetime. Thus in my never ending quest to live in this moment and no other, I wanted to say thanks to you all for these six months. It’s been a completely unexpected thrill ride. I still shake my head when people ask me what I think of SASTP. I have no idea what to think. I just know I’m grateful for what what I… we have.
On the 187th day of this website this is entry #240. I hope on each of those 187 days the words of this site have given you some relief from the cynical world all around.
I leave you with my biggest reason to give thanks… some photos of me and my little boy Crowley playing with a candy bucket leftover from Halloween. Living in this moment… MR
-
-
Bucketheads Pt. 1
-
-
Bucketheads Pt.2
-
-
Bucketheads Pt. 3
November 24th, 2009 by Mike Redding
Anti or Pro war doesn't matter today. What matters is our brothers, sisters, mothers, fathers, sons and daughters are standing in the line of fire. Send them your gratitude.
UPDATE #2, 11-24-09 4:50PM: Wow! More later.
UPDATE #1, 11-24-09 11:40AM: The Wave of Gratitude is about to start on Facebook & Twitter. As you can see by the outpouring of comments here at SASTP.com people are hungry to express their deep appreciation for our men and women in uniform, and for their families.
If you need a pick me up or a nice healing hug, start reading through the comments made here. I’m sitting here with tears in my eyes trying to get through them all… MR
If you don’t have Facebook or Twitter you can leave your message to the troops right here. Just click “comments” below this entry and scroll to the very bottom and type away. The floor is yours.
On The Radio Today:
•At 6:40 this morning you can catch me talking about the “Wave of Gratitude” on 102.9 FM’s “AM Carolina” with Jim & Jen.
•At 8:30 this morning I’ll be on “The Big Show” with John Boy and Billy.
If you want to read the story that started the Wave of Gratitude click here.
Let “The Wave” begin… MR
November 19th, 2009 by Mike Redding
Before I get to today’s disjointed, meandering post I want to send out a big ole reminder: We’re only a few days from the next Gratitude Wave for the troops! For first-time readers, a “Gratitude Wave” is a social media hug from all of us to our military troops and families all over the world.
We pick a time and day and everyone tweets or changes their FaceBook status to say a brief thank you to the troops. The next wave is this coming Tuesday, November 24, 12 Noon EST (7 Pm in Iraq and 8 PM in Afghanistan).
If you want to participate start sending this info to your friends on FB or Twitter and get as many people to join us at Noon EST on Tuesday!
For my Charlotte, NC, peeps I’ll be on Charlotte’s Morning News with Al Gardner and Stacey Simms Monday or Tuesday talking about the Gratitude Wave. Tune in and spread the word! The wave is building…
Now for the meandering, disjointed part… Continue reading ‘What in the heck is going on here?’
November 5th, 2009 by Mike Redding
We have great news! Stop and Smell the People has a sponsor! It’s a company that believes we all can use a little relief from a cynical world! And the owner is willing to put his money behind that belief!
Andy Bovender, our very first sponsor!
Let me introduce you to Andy Bovender of The Bovender Real Estate Team.
For those of you who have been reading SASTP since May… you know how the story started… with a layoff. Mine.
My wife Anna had two reactions:
1) Start your own website ASAP. “You don’t want to leave your job and your viewers. They are a part of our life!”
2) Call Andy and put the house up for sale. We both knew it was likely a move was in our future. But to tell you the truth, she was kind of unemotional about the house I poured myself into for seven years. When the you-know-what hits the fan, she’s like a drill sergeant… in a good way… mostly.
And so, in the worst real estate market in our lifetime, Andy Bovender came over, sat on our couch and listened to us for 20 minutes. When we were done he said a number. The number was what he thought the house would sell for. We were encouraged because the number he came up with was $15,000 more than it appraised for just eight months earlier. And in a couple months Andy sold our house for that number exactly. True Story.
The man is an expert on the Charlotte area housing market and has an undeniable instinct for it.
What we didn’t know was that Andy Bovender was already part of the SASTP Nation. He was following along. Over the
SOLD!
course of selling our house we talked with him about the future of this website, where we wanted to see it go and how to get there. Andy’s response? “I’m in! I’ll be a sponsor.”
We had dinner the other night and I asked him why he wanted to do this… Andy’s answer was simple and humbling, “At the end of the day you have to spend your money on something you believe in.”
He’s not just saying that. Andy knows a thing or two about believing in something. In fact, it was his dream to play in the big leagues – baseball’s big leagues. He played professional… Continue reading ‘Our First Sponsor: The Bovender Team’
November 3rd, 2009 by Mike Redding
6-year-old Samuel has AIDS.
It’s the sweet eyes that get you. Windows to the soul. Souls almost lost.
Once you look into those eyes it’s hard to turn away. It’s hard to stop seeing their souls even after you’ve looked elsewhere.
And their kind faces belie the story behind those smiles.
They are children with AIDS.
It’s not their fault. They’ve done nothing wrong. They didn’t choose their parents or where they would be born. They didn’t deal the cards. They just have to play them.
I know we’re going through tough times here in the good ole U.S of A. but no matter what our problems, they probably look mighty puny to a five-year-old with HIV/AIDS.
When Tanya Weaver looked in their eyes she knew what she had to do… help them. Why a person gives up the pursuit of the “American Dream” and spends all her time trying to change the world for the most innocent is a question to which I may never understand the answer.
I have a nice house and nice clothes Continue reading ‘The Hands of God’
