News - Friday, May 22, 2015

Late Friday, I returned from a week in Washington, D.C., where Realtors from Greater Chattanooga joined nearly 8,500 other real estate professionals from across the country to participate in the 2015 Realtor Legislative Meetings & Trade Expo. These annual national meetings give us the opportunity to meet face-to-face with decision makers and be heard on the issues that affect the industry and the ability of consumers to buy, sell and invest in real estate.

Local Keller Williams agents and staff did hard labor at Chambliss Center for Children last week during the company’s annual day of service, called Red Day.

Each year, Keller Williams sets aside one weekday to encourage its agents to do volunteer work in their communities.

This week, Mayor Andy Berke released his Fiscal Year 2016 budget to the Chattanooga City Council and the public. The budget continues to focus on the priority areas identified by Mayor Berke in his first two budgets: safer streets, growing the local economy, making students smarter and families stronger, building stronger neighborhoods, and ensuring a high performing government.

On May 20, three Mellow Mushroom Chattanooga pizza bakers traveled to Italy as part of the U.S. Pizza Team to compete for Best in the World. The team consists of 19 pizzaiolos that will take part in a range of events that include classic pizza, pizza-in-the-pan, pizza-on-the-peel, Neapolitan, gluten-free, pizza-for-two (made by two people), individual freestyle acrobatics, largest dough stretch, and fastest pie maker.

The East Ridge Police Department and the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office will be conducting a sobriety checkpoint and patrol saturation on Friday, May 22 on various streets, roads, and highways in Hamilton County and the City of East Ridge.

Currently, the U.S. dollar is pumped-up and powerful. But what does a strong dollar mean to you, as an investor?

To begin with, it’s important to understand just what is meant by a “strong” dollar. The U.S. dollar does not exist in a vacuum — its value, from a global perspective, is determined by its changing strength relative to that of other currencies. Let’s look at an example: Suppose that, in 2011, you traveled to Europe and wanted to trade in one dollar for its equivalent value in euros. At that time, your dollar would have converted to about .75 of a euro. Fast forward to early 2015; if you returned to Europe now, your dollar would fetch you almost one full euro. In other words, you can buy more euros because the dollar is “stronger.”

The prehistoric-looking Lake Sturgeon is a pretty amazing fish. They can become river giants, growing to lengths of more than nine feet and weighing up to 275 pounds. Lake Sturgeon are also long-lived, with some known to reach over 100 years of age.

Last week, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation issued a warning about a potentially dangerous drug found in pills that otherwise appear to be oxycodone.

Recently, a Tennessee law enforcement agency recovered what appeared to be several 30 mg. pills of oxycodone during a traffic stop. Each was the same size and featured the signature A/215 stamp characteristic of oxycodone. However, laboratory analysis performed by TBI Forensic Scientists indicated the pills were counterfeit and did not contain oxycodone. Instead, they contained fentanyl, a pain killer 50 times as potent as heroin that can be deadly in high doses.

How did this movie get made?

Don’t get me wrong; I’m glad it did. But as the credits rolled, and as the cinematic shock treatment I’d just experienced receded to a residual tingling in my brain, all I could think was, “How did this movie get made?”

I received a magazine offer from Nutrition Action. Being a food editor, I’m always receiving mail from various food magazines, and emails about new restaurants, cookware, food, etc. All of which ask me to write about their openings, or the editors of the books and articles, or the chefs. I, however, want to retire. Wishful thinking, I’m afraid!

As we closed two weeks ago, I was still on hold for Al at Comcast. During those four days while I waited for him to return, I had plenty of time to reflect on the impact cable had had on my life.

It began back in 1977, when my parents chucked their rabbit ears and converted to the church of Ted Turner. I even still remember the first movie I watched on HBO, “Car Wash,” starring Richard Pryor as Daddy Rich, the money-loving preacher. I watched it like seven times. 

My great-great-great-great grandfather Elijah Fleming had eight kids and no middle name. According to an essay by a distant cousin of mine, five of the eight left their South Carolina homes “the night the stars fell.” On Nov. 12, 1833, what later would be dubbed the “Leonid Meteor Shower” sent a quarter million “stars” falling in a nine-hour stretch – this phenomenon’s most intense production in history, it is said. These Flemings relocated to Madison County, Miss.

As a farm writer, I often receive communications from readers who have opinions about my subjects, and sometimes, their opinions don’t agree with mine. When you write an opinion column, you expect differences of thought among the masses, and you soon take criticism for what it’s worth and move on. But when someone questions my support of an activity that began three years ago for a very good reason, and uses scripture as the basis for why I should not support the activity, I feel compelled to explain.

Painting kitchen cabinets is no small undertaking; however, in a time when people are venturing out to accomplish their own renovation projects there are many ways to keep things running smoothly. This particular kitchen DIY is a project that you can do without the professionalss, but it does require patience, and you will have to be prepared to deal with a bit of chaos and disorder.

Whenever I get stumped on what to make this puzzle about, I know I can always rely on unusual and strange words. The world is full of them, and they’re always quiet interesting. Have fun!

1. If I’m studying for finals, you might can find me at the local library, or in the: logorrhea; phrontistery; nepheliad; garconniere.