Winner of the Week

Winner of the Week: Brenden Foster

This is an incredible story from ABC News.

Just imagine what you might do if a doctor said you have only two weeks left to live.

For 11-year-old Brenden Foster of Bothell, Wash., who was given that prognosis earlier this year after learning he was suffering from leukemia last December, the answer was probably not what you'd expect.

"I was coming back from one of my clinic appointments and I saw this big thing of homeless people and then I thought I should just get them something," Foster said.

Instead of asking for an expensive toy or a fancy vacation, he decided to focus all his remaining energy on feeding the homeless.

"They're probably starving, so give them a chance," he said.

He was too weak to do it himself, but his determination caught on near his home in Seattle, where neighbors and residents launched a food drive.

"We're going to get together tonight with about 15 people and make 200 sandwiches and then bring them downtown tomorrow," said Jennifer Morrison, one of the volunteers.

It was just the beginning. His story touched people so deeply that it spread, inspiring food drives from Los Angeles to Pensacola, Fla., to a school in Ohio -- all in this past week alone.

"I've never seen the courage that this little boy just displayed," one homeless man said as he waited for a meal at the Union Rescue Mission in Los Angeles. "I've never seen anything like it in my life. It left me speechless."

"As soon as I saw it, I'm a crybaby and I just got tears in my eyes," one woman said. "I'm trying to get my life straight and everything and that's something that's going to let me look at the better in life."

Foster, who devoted his final days to lifting others up, became bedridden; the kid who could once outrun any of his friends could no longer walk. Last week, Foster could hardly keep his eyes open, but he didn't waiver from his wish.

"'Tis the season to give," he said.

How do they know?

Every Memorial Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's weekends, the AAA puts out a story about the number of people driving or travelling over the holiday weekend. This weekend, the AAA says the number of people going somewhere for Thanksgiving is down 1.5 percent. How do they know? How do they gather this information?

I have yet to read a newspaper article about how they actually get this number.

Boredom at the airport

During my seven hour layover in San Francisco, I had plenty of time to do a lot of things. I read, studied, worked on a syllabus, ate dinner, and I drew a picture. I love to draw when I have lots of spare time, like sitting in an airport. I bought a book at a used book store in Cleveland that had very old landscape prints. I drew this in about three hours.

Early runaway for Loser of the Week

Loser of the Week: Michael Vick
New details have come out about Michael Vick's torturing of dogs. In yesterday's USA Today, it was reported that Vick "put family pets in rings with pit bulls and thought it was funny watching the trained killers injure or kill the helpless dogs, a witness told federal investigators during the dogfighting investigation that sent Vick to prison."

Vick is scheduled for release on July 20th.

Pictured above is my dog, Bonnie. How anybody could do something so cruel to sweet animals like Bonnie is so wrong.

The Latest

I'm sorry for not posting Winners and Losers this past week. I got home from a quick trip to San Diego for the National Communication Association yearly conference. It's a fun time because I get to see people present their research on various topics. It's a great conference to go to.

Last year, the conference was in Chicago. Next year, it goes back to Chicago. Check out the next few years for NCA.
2010 San Francisco
2011 New Orleans
2012 Orlando
2013 Washington, D.C.
2014 Chicago

I can't wait to Chicago again. I went last year and loved it. I want to go to San Francisco and see Alcatraz. I have seen it on tv and in the movies so many times.

Right now, I am feeling very tired from the five hour cross country flight and then a very long layover in Detroit...just to fly 20 minutes to get to Toledo.

Colin Hay groupie

Since I grew up in the 80s, I love the music from that era. Men at Work is my favorite band from that period. The original group put out two albums. "Business as Usual" which gave us the hits Who Can It Be Now? and Down Under. "Cargo" came next and had the songs Overkill and It's a Mistake. Since Men at Work broke-up many years ago, the lead singer with that great voice, Colin Hay, has continued to make great music. While he's not commerically successful, he has a good fanbase. He has appeared on Scrubs several times and had a hit song on the soundtrack to the film Garden State.

Now, there's news that Colin is back in the studio recording another solo cd; due for release in 2009. I am excited.

If you ever get the chance to see Colin perform, check him out. You won't regret it. He puts on a great show and as Randy Jackson on American Idol would say, he can blow. Colin's amazing voice is so powerful.

Winners and Losers of LAST Week

It's not like me to be tardy but I needed to hold off on posting for a couple of days.
My Winners of the Week: Darius Weems and the Darius Goes West crew.



In the photo up top, I am pictured with Darius Weems. Darius has Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy. It's fatal. Darius' older brother died from the same illness when he was 19. Darius graduated from high school this past school year.

Darius is the star of a documentary called "Darius Goes West" in which 11 friends try to get Darius' wheelchair on MTV's "Pimp My Ride." Hollywood can't script something this good. It's an amazing story. The guys are even better. The dedication they have for making Darius' life as good as it can be is honorable.

In the photo below, I am pictured with Darius Weems, the crew and some ladies from Chi Delta Pi, one of the sponsors of the screening we did at the University of Toledo.

Visit the website dariusgoeswest.org for more information about this documentary. It was shown in Cleveland in 2007 and has won more than 25 film festival awards. It was the most honored film of 2007.

Losers of the Week: Normally, this spot would be reserved for governors/v-p candidates but I want the spot light to be on Darius.