Bad Hat

This video reminds me of the scary faces I used to make through the see-through bookcases that scared my sis, even though she knew it was me.

Yellow Azalea Closeup

Lower Alabama is home to some lovely native azaleas that even volunteer to grow wild. Some spectacular ones have been planted in a large flowerbed right in front of Weeks Bay Interpretive Center east of Fairhope on Highway 98. The yellow variety is named Admiral Semmes. Both these and the orange variety at Weeks Bay were developed by Dodd & Dodd Nursery in Semmes, Alabama.

See more on flickr:
Alabama Native Azaleas

Ravenites waitperson

We discovered Ravenite's during today's Fairhope Arts & Crafts Festival. Our server told us the restaurant's been as busy today as it was during both Mardi Gras and Christmas.

Truth is stranger than fiction

I've been trying to catch up on reading all of John Grisham’s books. The difference between The Innocent Man and the others I have read is this is a true story.

John Grisham decided to write this book after he read a rather long obituary in the New York Times. He realized there was a story to tell and decided to tell it. It was probably a bigger undertaking than he had realized, but he persisted. It seems like it took him 18 months, whereas he writes most of his yearly books in about 10 months.

Grisham discusses this book on The Innocence Blog 5/21/2008, including a video.

The book told the stories of Ron Williamson and Dennis Fritz, who were both convicted of murder in 1988, then exonerated and released in 1999. Many people were involved in having their convictions reversed, including The Innocence Project, a national litigation and public policy organization dedicated to exonerating wrongfully convicted people through DNA testing and reforming the criminal justice system to prevent future injustice. The Innocence Project gives outlines of all those who have been exonerated after their convictions and imprisonment. This list goes back to 1989. As of this date, 234 wrongfully convicted people have been exonerated.

One of the key characters in this true story was Pontotoc County District Attorney Bill Patterson. Even though DNA testing freed Williamson and Fritz and pointed to the real murderer, Patterson continued to believe Fritz and Williamson were involved in the crime even though the mother of the victim totally accepted the facts as they were revealed by the DNA.

I recommend Grisham's book, but be prepared that it may have an unexpected affect on you as you realize what you are reading is not fiction.

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• Details that have unfolded since the exoneration and release of these two victims of injustice: Junk Justice and Okie Science
• Dennis Fritz wrote a book also: Dennis Fritz video

TV commercials

I probably like some of the commercials on TV more than the shows I’m watching. Do you think I’m moving into my second childhood?

• Recently saw this on TV: Car Wash – State Farm
• I have Verizon cell phone service, and lots of their commercials are good: 3G Dead Zones
• Southwest Airlines has a lot of those “Wanna Get Away” commercials I like, plus I like their inexpensive fares. Sometimes you have to drive over a hundred miles to some place to get ‘em, but what the heck? Must be football season
• I don't drink Bud, but I still think they have some of the most clever commercials ever: Budweiser Alien Wassup

Of course I get really tired of any commercial, no matter how funny it is on the first viewing, after having seen it for the 200th time. Smitty is always in there saying, “Don’t encourage ‘em!"

Thanks, I needed that

Later on today, I'll listen to the entire sound track of The Fantasticks. I'd sort of forgotten about it but had a reminder from Carla in her recent blog post: follow-follow-follow-follow by CarlaCarlaCarlaCarla

You need to come up for air once in awhile

Years ago when we purchased our first home computer, I thought Smitty was spending too much time on it and would say something like, "You need to come up for air once in awhile." Now it's payback time. I can't tell you how many times since then that he has said pretty much the same thing to me.

Today was the last straw –
Fresh Air Notice

Do you ever get warnings like the ones above? If not, the chances are pretty good that you are not an internet addict like I am. I recently discussed this in another blog post: Why I spend so much time on the computer

So I decided to do an internet search for Internet Addiction to see what references I could find. That was really scary.