Organized Chaos

There are tough times. But that doesn’t mean we still can’t have wishes and dreams.

The holidays will be over soon (I’m on vacation and I hope all is well with you and yours). So, I’ve brought back the Wish List. This is a collection of true and fictional wishes. It’s a way to brighten our spirits.

And maybe it will make you laugh a bit.

I’ll keep the list up through next year. Feel free to add your wishes here and I’ll transfer them, or you can e-mail me at mailchaos@yahoo.com.

You can view the Wish List here.

I love me some Dr. Pepper. Now, thanks to Guns N’ Roses, we’ll all receive a free 20-ounce Dr. Pepper.

How you ask?

Well, Axl Rose and the boys have been trying to put out its latest album, “Chinese Democracy” since 1994. Myriad delays made it look like it never would be released.

Dr. Pepper said it would give everyone a free soda if the album came out in 2008. Well, it’s scheduled for a weekend release, so we can rejoice.

Beginning Sunday at 12:01 a.m. you can log onto Dr. Pepper’s Web site for your free soda coupon. The giveaway only last 24 hours so make sure to get yours. It’s good until February of next year.

If your savvy enough, you could probably get several with different e-mail addresses. But, one is just fine by me.

I was kidding around in my earlier blog post. This has truly been an historic night.

Barack Obama was elected president in a landslide over John McCain. He spoke to a throng of more than 100,000 people, with most in tears of joy. His speech was moving and he has proved he’s different than the status quo.

But he’s unproved as a major leader. There are tough times still ahead, and he understands this.

But it’s not soothing to know that the change he promises won’t come soon enough for most of us to avoid stress over the mounting bills, rising costs of food, power, water, education and health care and subside the fear that we may not be able to make it to tomorrow. Or for that matter that we won’t be able to retire comfortably and will have to work until we’re 70 or older.

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These are rough times for a lot of us. As true as that may be, that doesn’t discount the fact that it feels good to give to a charity to help those that are even less fortunate than ourselves.

Giving money is easy, but sometimes it’s not feasible. Well, there’s a place where you can give to a charity by simply using a search engine or playing Online games. And best of all, it’s all free.

Searchandgive.com allows people to select a charity to donate to. All you need is an MSN account, such as a hotmail e-mail account. Once you sign up you choose your charity.

One cent is donated for every search you do using the searchandgive engine. You also can play online word and puzzle games and donate your earned points to your chosen charity.

I chose the Anchorage Children’s Home, which helps area youths who have bad living situations or are just looking for a helping hand in a cruel world. It’s listed under Anchorage Children’s Home of Bay County, Inc., if you’d like to give.

There are tons more charities and you can even give to a school, though I didn’t check that list to see if you could donate to local schools or just to colleges.

I’m not ashamed to admit I’ve been watching the Olympics. A quick poll of the newsroom shows that most others are watching as well (though it was highly unscientific and included those within 50 feet of my desk). Are you watching?

Having the Olympics in China, which is 13 hours ahead of us in the Central Time Zone, takes getting used to. The important thing to remember is if you’re watching the Games at 3 or 4 a.m., there’s a good chance it’s live.

You can catch the Games on NBC, USA, CNBC, Telemundo and Universal HD, which shows the most competition throughout the day. Boxing was on tap all day on Sunday, while Team USA’s softball opener against Venezuela will be shown live Tuesday morning and again in prime time on Universal HD. By the way, former GC player Yusmary Perez plays for Venezuela so keep your eye out for her.

The best part of this year’s Games is it’s the first time I’ve been able to see it in HD. In fact it’s probably the first for many people, as the HD TV craze has only hit in recent years. And I’ve said this before, but I’ll say it again, I don’t know what I did all those years without HD. Man is standard def cruddy.

HD beach volleyball is especially nice, but that’s another topic.

Anyhow, are you watching? And what are you watching? Don’t be afraid to admit it, even if it’s badminton.

Update, Aug. 12, 9:15 a.m.: Early word is that ratings are good, and much of that can be attributed to strong USA performances, such as Michael Phelps’ chase for eight golds and the men’s gymnastics team that placed third. Oh, and if you’re looking for your “stories” Days of our Lives was pushed to 4 a.m. while the Olympics are on.