Next week will be my last week at The Daily News. I just wanted to thank everyone who came to my blog now and then, and those who read Max Entertainment Magazine every Thursday. I have worked very hard on Max in the past eight months or so (with the help of others at the paper), and have thoroughly enjoyed it. I loved knowing about all the fun events and concerts going on all the time.

I have also enjoyed putting together the Neighbors section each week. The celebrations page was always fun for me because I’m a girl and I’m into all that pretty, wedding, engagement and anniversary stuff.   

Besides my coworkers, I will miss a few things about the area.

I will definitely miss doing interviews with musical artists, especially country music singers. I did my last interview for this past week’s Max. It was awesome, aside from the fact that I coughed incessantly during the interview from a bad cold. I told Rich and Andy I would sit at the other end of the table and not to shake my hand, but they insisted. What gentlemen. The interview was with The Karg Bros. who perform around our area frequently. They were fantastic people to interview and I was glad I ended my last writing experience here on such a good note. I have had the opportunity to interview some great people: Elliott Yamin, Chely Wright, Charlie Daniels, Caroline Rhea, Aaron Tippin, Jeff Bates, Josh Turner, and the list goes on and on. Hopefully, I can find a place in Raleigh that will let me write some. I didn’t major in writing in college, but I have always had an interest in it. I have learned a lot from working at The Daily News in the past 13 years in both graphic design and writing. Hopefully, I can continue both in Raleigh on a freelance basis.  

in addition to the writing, another thing about Jacksonville that I will miss is also something that I will always take with me. I am thankful for the opportunity to live among such wonderful, brave men and women in the Marines and Navy. Other people in other places don’t look at the military quite the same as one does who lives, or lived, here. They just don’t quite understand it all. But I have seen the families anxiously waiting for their loved ones to come home, I have seen the wounded coming back from Iraq and I have seen how hard the Marines and Navy corpsmen work. I will always remember that and take that with me. And, I will always stick up for the Marines whenever I hear any negative words about them - not just because my brother is one, but because Marines don’t deserve anything but our support and our gratitude for doing what they do. In a strange way, I will miss the huge military presence. It gave me a sense of comfort and gave me and my little girl a huge sense of pride in our country.    

Thanks again for reading my stories, catching my blogs and enjoying my page layouts for the past 13 years.  

Below are some things you can look out for in Max Entertainment Magazine tomorrow (6-19-08 to 6-25-08 issue):

1. I wrote a big honker of a story on The Karg Bros., a duo that performs regularly around our area who are from Nashville. It was my last story from an interview with musical artists, so I didn’t hold back with the information. I actually had more stuff that I had to take out because it was already too long. These two guys came into the office last week and were extremely kind and gave me tons of really great quotes to work with. They truly enjoy music and bringing their blend of gorgeous harmonies to others. I was going to write more about their album, but just didn’t have the room after the huge, informative article. Their album, “What We Do To Ourselves,” is a really great album. I listened to it in the car while on my way to Raleigh and was truly impressed with the whole package. For an independent album, the sound was awesome. The recordings were vibrant and of really wonderful quality. What is so great about The Karg Bros. music is the beautiful harmony that the two brothers create with each other. “Can’t Make My Heart Behave” is my favorite song on the CD. It is a rollicking, harmonious song about totally falling in love and not being able to control it. A really great song. Check out my story for more on The Karg Bros. Even though it was extremely long, the story came together really well. Rich and Andy are both extremely talented. They are two men who are really delightful to talk to, especially for someone like me who is totally fascinated with Nashville and the whole music business.  

2. Aniesa did a quick rundown listing the five finalists for the Battle of the Bands finale at Hooligans in Jacksonville Friday night (6-20-08).

3. Take Five talked about “Brokeback Mountain” becoming an opera on Broadway, Boy George giving a free concert to thank the New York City sanitation workers for being so kind to him while he performed his community service with them, and Ed McMahon is in hot water financially and may be forced to foreclose on his multi-million dollar home.

4. Rachel was the only one able to go see “The Incredible Hulk” this past weekend, so check her review out. Next week is “Get Smart” which looks so incredibly, brilliantly funny to me. I hope I get a chance to see it.

5. Check out Max Pix (page 14) for a summary on a few of the major events going on this weekend, such as country star Aaron Tippin coming to Morehead City. And as always, check out the entire calendar listings at www.maxmag.com. There are some great events coming up in the area and nearby.

Here’s what to look for in Max Entertainment Magazine tomorrow for the issue of 6-12 to 6-18:

1. Aniesa did a story about Arise Awake, a trio band from Richlands.

2. Rachel and I did reviews on the animated flick “Kung Fu Panda” starring Jack Black as Po, the clumsy Panda who loves kung fu.

3. Take 5 talked about the new game show “Million Dollar Password,” a tribe in Brazil that has had no contact with the outside world, and Robert Downey Jr. rumored to play Hugh Hefner in a film on his incredible life.

4. Of course, check out the full calendar listings at www.maxmag.com. And go to www.maxmag.com to vote on which actor you think would be best suited to play Hugh Hefner. I wonder what kind of research the actor will have to do for that role.  

Here’s what you can find in Max Entertainment Magazine tomorrow (6-5-08 to 6-11-08):

1. Aniesa did a story on the various goings on during the fifth annual Marine Corps Celebrity Classic golf tournament which begins Thursday (6-5) and ends Sunday (6-8). Celebrities in the world of sports and entertainment will take part in the event. There will be sports clinics taught by a few of the sports stars, a family night event Saturday night, tournament play, and more. Read Aniesa’s story in Max tomorrow for more information on the Classic.

2. Aniesa was a writing fool this week for Max. She also did an awesome, very informative story on fencing for Max this week. The Cape Fear Fencing Association is offering fencing lessons in Jacksonville beginning on Friday. Check her story out for more information.

3. Take Five talked about the toilet breaking down at the International Space Station. We also talked about a guy in Denver who released a video clip of what he says is an alien peering through his window at his home. Honestly folks, this is all real news. I can’t make this stuff up. Finally, the group talked about an ad being pulled featuring Rachael Ray because people complained that her scarf represented terrorism. Sounds to me like those people need to get a life. A scarf! Please! 

4. Rachael and Melissa reviewed the No. 1 movie this weekend, “Sex and the City.” Personally, I was never really into the whole “Sex and the City” fever thing when it was on TV. Rachael and Melissa had very different opinions on the movie though, so check them out in Max this week.    

5. As always, don’t forget to visit www.maxmag.com and browse through the calendar listings in their entirety.

I promise you the Max Web site is updated for this week. I am so sorry that it wasn’t updated the whole two weeks that I was gone. All I can ask is that you be patient. Since I am leaving June 27, other people have to be taught how to update the site and such. I apologize for the inconvenience the last couple of weeks with the Max site not being updated. I know there was really no excuse for it.

Moving onward … in this week’s Max (May 29 to June 4) you can find:

1. Take Five talked about the trial with singer R. Kelly. For those who don’t know, he is accused of making a sex tape with a minor (at the time). Recently, the judge showed the 25-minute sex tape in question in the open courtroom. Interesting. Not sure if I’d want to see that or not. By the way, R. Kelly claims it is not him on the tape. I am not sure how much clearer the case became to the jurors after seeing the sex tape. I am thinking all of them had their eyes wide open and their faces were as red as tomatoes. Also, the gang talked about actress Denise Richards adding herself to the list of celebrities that have their own reality shows. And, Shania Twain has called it splitsville with her husband/producer Mutt Lange.  

2. Melissa and Rachel went with the rest of America to see the new “Indiana Jones” flick. Check out their reviews at www.maxmag.com.

3. Aniesa did a story on the first “Oh Baby! Family Expo” taking place Saturday at the American Legion Building in Jacksonville. There are a lot of fun things planned for children and parents, so we hope you come out and spend some quality time with the family. Kidsville’s Truman will be there, as well as PBS character Arthur. Read more about the expo at www.maxmag.com.

4. As always, make sure you go to www.maxmag.com and check out the complete calendar listings. As the weather gets warmer, there are more and more fun events coming up in the area. It is impossible to fit them all in our Max print edition, so make sure you take a look online.

I tuned in to “Larry King Live” tonight just to see what the old man was up to and I was quite frightened. Not by the rather scary appearance of King himself, but by the topic that they were covering tonight. The show was about whether or not cell phones can cause cancer and brain tumors.

News like this freaks me out. It’s just better if I don’t listen, but if it turns out that cell phones do indeed cause cancer or brain tumors, that really pisses me off. I’m not safe in this high-tech world that we live in anymore. Who knows what staring at this computer screen for several hours every day has done to me too. This stuff would never happen to Laura Ingalls Wilder in her day. Getting shot by Jesse James or some bandit, or being so deathly ill you have to be stripped of your clothing and have ice thrown on top of you in a bathtub to cool you down (remember, that happened to Almanzo) … maybe. But, nothing like getting cancer or a brain tumor because of a cell phone. Mainly because THEY DIDN’T HAVE CELL PHONES! They didn’t have as much stress worrying about paying taxes and health insurance and car tax and whatever else we have to worry about today.

Why can’t we just go back to living like Laura Ingalls Wilder did? After watching Larry King tonight, the next time my cell phone rings, I will stare at it like it is my worst enemy. I will hesitantly pick it up and pray to God that I don’t get cancer or a brain tumor.

The medical field is strange though. They can operate on people’s brains, transplant hearts and kidneys and such. But, they have no idea why ovarian cysts like the one I had recently, which was 13 cm x 9 cm, form. They have no clue what causes them.  

I really hope in the future they find out that there is no link between cancer or brain tumors and cell phone use. They don’t need to be scaring the public, and especially a worrisome woman such as me, like that. I feel like every time I pass someone talking on his or her cell phone, I should do a good deed and grab the cell phone from them, throw it into the street and let a semi run over it.   

So it seems just to be safe, we are supposed to hold the cell phone an few inches away from our ears or use a headset or speaker phone. And, you should use a holster to carry your phone around in. Do not put it directly on your side. You can thank Larry King later on when you are still cancer and brain tumor free years from now. Course by then, we will find out that pumping your own gas or eating your mother’s chili causes cancer too.   

It’s all too much for me. I do hope they find a cure for cancer soon because it is just a terrible thing. With all the technology we have, people shouldn’t have to go through the horrors of chemo and such. We can make it to the moon for goodness sake! Someone please figure the whole cancer thing out.

I still think my idol, Laura Ingalls Wilder had the right idea. Keep things simple and life is much sweeter. Boy, have we got the wrong idea!   

I called to see what I needed to register Kayla for school when we move to Raleigh soon. I was thinking that I had until August to figure things out, however, I found out that the school she is going to is a year-round school. I had always heard the fuss about year-round schools and am kind of interested in how it all works.  

Apparently, at this school, there are four “tracks.” Three of the tracks are in school at any one time. Each track has nine weeks in school and three weeks out of school, from what I understand. This makes it possible to fit more students in the school.

It doesn’t really bother me that the kids don’t get a full-blown extra five or six weeks in the summer. I think it might be good for them. If I have to be working every day of my life, they need to be in school a good portion of their childhood too.

One thing that I love about her new school is that it doesn’t begin until 9:15 a.m. and ends at 3:45 p.m. This seems like a more reasonable time period for children. I never quite understood the logic behind having a kid get up at 5 a.m. in order to catch a bus. I didn’t even do that in college. Course, I perfected the art of rolling out of bed at 7:15 a.m. and making my 8 a.m. class. Little kids just don’t need to be getting up so early to get ready for school. And getting out at 3:45 p.m. seems like a better scenario for working parents.

I am anxious to see how another school system works. I don’t think Kayla will care that it’s a year-round school. As it is right now, she LOVES going to school. As soon as I grab hold of her little legs and drag her sleepy, little body out of her bed in the mornings, she is all into school. I just hope things stay that way, but I’m not counting on it.      

So, Kayla has to start school July 7. Needless to say, I had to move my last day at The Daily News to quite a bit earlier than orginally planned. My last day will be June 27, but I will try to make a couple more blog entries before I leave. I have enjoyed working on Max Entertainment Magazine so much. I really hope I have shown people that there are some entertaining things to do in Jacksonville and its surroundings areas. The Tarheel Opry House, Hooligans and The Dive continue to bring awesome names in the music industry. There are many events that families can take part in together and kids can unwind and have some fun. I really don’t agree with people who say Jacksonville is boring and there is nothing to do here. I hope through my years at The Daily News that I have proved that is not the case. Besides, there is always the beautiful beach and it’s my guess that the area will only continue to grow and offer community members more from here on in.    

David Cook and Kristi Yamaguchi.

If you watch reality TV, you know what I mean by saying these two names. And if they don’t win their respective TV reality competition shows, well then, they should have.

This is when I usually tell you what to look for in Max tomorrow, however, I have been home all week (and hopefully all next week too) recovering and healing from surgery on Friday. So, I can’t really tell you about Max. You will have to find out what’s in it when I do. I am sure they have been working hard on it though.

Since I can’t talk about Max, I can talk about other stuff. I was sent to Pitt Memorial Hospital in Greenville for my surgery because I had a rather large softball-size cystic mass on my right ovary. Apparently, it is safest to let a doctor more knowledgeable about cancer to do the surgery just in case. You never know for sure if it’s cancerous or not until the surgery happens. Fortunately, it was definitely NOT cancerous. So, that was some good news.

I must say that my experience at Pitt Memorial was wonderful. Well, as wonderful as it can be being in a hospital. For those who haven’t seen it, the hospital is huge and so clean and beautiful. The nurses were all great. The doctors were plentiful and incredibly smart. There were a lot of medical students around too, since ECU is a big medical university. That was cool. They are learning from the best.

And when I went into surgery, I was totally impressed with how the whole system just flowed like a well-oiled machine. They were organized and kept my parents informed at all times of where I was, or at what point I was at, during and after surgery in recovery. They gave them a beeper and my doctor called upon them when the surgery was done to tell them how it went. They also checked in with them while they were in the lounge waiting, and asked if they wanted the nurse to find out how I was doing. It’s a wonderful hospital. If you ever have to go there, I would not worry at all. You are in awesome hands.

My all-liquid diet kind of sucked Friday after my surgery, but that’s the way it goes. They wouldn’t give me anything but soda, which I thought was cool. After surgery around your stomach is probably the only time they won’t give you water and will only give you soda. Apparently, somehow water may make you nauseous. The food wasn’t very good but let’s face it, nothing is perfect. At least I got some chocolate ice cream.    

They had me walking by Saturday (which hurt like @*@@!, but it was good for me) and out by Sunday.

So, I am one ovary and a softball-size cystic mass short. Maybe I lost that extra pound I wanted to lose. Now, I have to deal with my dangerously-high blood pressure, which is probably why I am not at The Daily News right now.  

Here’s a heads up on what to look for in Max today (5-8):

1. Aniesa did a story on the USO dinner cabaret show to be held May 16-17. The event will consist of a four-course dinner and a show filled with classic Broadway tunes.

2. Take 5 talked about Las Vegas and Donny and Marie, J-Lo having her own reality show and John Mayer dating Jennifer Aniston.  

Incidentally, I was ecstatic to see a whopping 23 people had voted for our last Max online poll question. Hey, that’s pretty good for us. I would love for more people to vote. Please go to www.maxmag.com and vote. Our questions are usually pretty fun. They are usually based on a topic we covered in Take Five that week. Last week’s asked which of the women on our list was the sexiest. The votes were pretty spread out, but two Jessicas (Biel and Alba) both received six votes. I would love to print the results from each poll weekly in Max, but I need to have more people take part in the online poll question.    

3. Rachel and Melissa went with the rest of America this weekend and to see the blockbuster hit “Iron Man.” Like everyone else, they both found the flick to be pretty sweet. Check their reviews out in the print edition or at www.maxmag.com.

4. Our next contest is “Fight a Rock Star.” The winner will receive two tickets to the Five Finger Death Punch concert at Hooligans on June 1 AND two passes to private game time with one of the band members playing Nintendo Wii boxing. It’s a pretty cool prize. How often can you get a chance to knock a rock star out? Just make sure it’s all virtual and in the name of fun. Go to www.maxmag.com and click on the contest icon to enter.  

5. In our print edition, we dedicate a full page to movie listings at Carmike Cinema in Jacksonville. The chart contains a little information about what all the movies are about, the main actors and showtimes. It’s a pretty handy thing to check out every week.