The Richest Americans

The Top 10:

1. William Henry Gates III
2. Warren Edward Buffett
3. Sheldon Adelson
4. Lawrence Joseph Ellison
5. Paul Gardner Allen
6. Jim C. Walton
7. Christy Walton & Family
8. S. Robson Walton
9. Michael Dell
10. Alice L. Walton

*Compliments of msn.com and Forbes magazine.

Just wanted to share, because I was personally fascinated that the Walton family took four of the top ten spots. FOUR!

Another fascinating point, most of the top ten were either computer/technological gurus, Wal-Mart associated, or casino/gambling top-dawgs.

Now, I think there are probably a few missing from this list...but that's a whole different subject.

Oh, and one other point, everyone on the Forbes 400 list this year, for the first time, had $1 billion or more. You aren't the richest of the rich anymore with $999,999,999.99. You've got to have $1,000,000,000.00

What are your thoughts?

The face I would have made...

(For Table)...we knew we needed pictures on here...so, we took this one. This is the face I would have made if I had had a camera with me when I tasted that hot sauce.

"Every man dies, not every man really lives"

I ended up today at Firehouse Subs for lunch. Normally wouldn't be there, because there isn't one really close to where I work, but I was on my way to take a test, so, I stopped in. They have really good sandwiches - my favorite is a medium Hook & Ladder with mayo and lettuce. Delicious!

Well, the reason it's called Firehouse Subs is because they have a ton of hot sauces to choose from. They are all on the counter, waiting to be tried. Now, until today, I have never tried one. But, someone I know was there with a friend, and he encouraged me to get a toothpick and try the one he had. I refused at first, but decided after a moment to "live life and be bold", so I stuck my toothpick in (while they chuckle, mind you) and placed it on my tongue.

ONE DROP. Barely even that.

At first, I was like, "Oh, that's not so bad." But then I swallowed. I'm sure my face turned beat red, not to mention my eyes getting watery and my sinuses clearing up immediately. It was insane, crazy, explosive, mind-blowingly HOT HOT HOT!!! I didn't really lose composure, but they did ask if I was alright. (As did one of the employees.) My mouth didn't cool down for at least 30-45 minutes.

I later looked at the bottle, and basically, this is what it said:

357 MAD DOG Hot SauceTM This killer sauce is packing 357,000 scoville units of heat. One hit will blow you away! We blend Chile extract, fresh Habanero peppers, 160,000 scoville super Cayenne peppers, garlic and onion to makes a sauce that can truly take your breath away. Mad Dog 357 is the hottest hot sauce ever made......any hotter and it can't be called a sauce!

Even one of the employees said, "Yeah, it's the hottest sauce."

I love trying things and doing something crazy every once in a while. Goodness, I just love life.

5 Years Ago

I still haven't forgotten.

I remember what I was wearing - a purple shirt and khaki pants. I remember what I was doing, where I was going, and how I first found out - I was on my way to school, slightly later in the morning, because I wasn't doing much of anything first block, sitting at the red light at Walston Bridge Road and 78 Hwy, listening to the radio. When they first said that an airplane had hit the World Trade Center, I thought, "That's terrible. What a horrible accident." Then, I went to the Counseling Center where I was an aide, and watched on the tv as a second plane hit the second tower, and I knew that something wasn't right. Two accidents within the hour?

The news just kept coming. A third plane headed for D.C. Then, the Pentagon. And, it wasn't just seeing the Pentagon. It was listening to a correspondent inside the Pentagon the moment the plane hit and hearing the sound.

And I'll never, never forget sitting there, watching on live t.v., as the two towers fell.

Watching the ads for the movies has given me chills and put tears in my eyes, thinking back on that day. It was real. Completely and utterly real. And, yet, America watched together. We stood together. We cried together. We gave blood, we cncouraged, and we hoped. My generation got a glimpse of America's backbone, if even for just a moment. And, with God's grace, it is strong.

We have been abundantly blessed as a nation. Let us not forget where these blessings come from. Let us not forget who we should look to for guidance.

And, today, as we remember, let us pray for the survivors, pray for the soldiers, pray for our leaders, pray for this nation. Let us pray.

September

I realize that written posts are not near as cool as seeing a picture and so I promise you that at some point Owl and I will post some pictures. We do in fact have color in our lives but no pictures today. I have not recently been able to take as many pictures as I would like. My own negligence really. My memory card in my camera is pretty much full and I have alot of pictures that I actually want to print out which is rare so they have to stay there until I find the time.

So life. Life is good. Just finished my second week of pharmacy school and with every day it is getting easier to get up and go. Last night I actually felt like I had gotten a full night of sleep. We are all getting to know each other better and have started hanging out some at night so that's good. My teachers are awesome..well for the most part. One of my teachers closes his eyes for very long periods of time while he teaches. Let me tell ya, makes you sleepy watchin him. Other than that I have taken a new interest in my chosen profession. To be honest, I wasn't sure (can you believe it) that pharmacy was for me. But we have started talking about the ingredients of drugs and their purpose and different dosage forms and how IV's work so i'm likin it.

Samford is cool. Let me tell you why I've now decided it's cool. Samford is a Baptist university so my teachers openly talk about God and encourage us to go to church on Sunday and to pray in class. We actually have a chaplain in our class to lead us in prayer before the week starts and before tests. Now I don't know how many of you go to a state university but that just doesn't happen there. So I like that, it's cool.

Now to conclude I must agree with Lady Godiva and say that Birmingham is NOW! By that I mean it's happenin, it's down, we got it goin on, etc. We have been having a blast hanging out at each other's apartments for lunch or for a movie. Not only that but we have been carpooling with each other back to Jasper for church or to other church meetings. So that is at least 2 hours for good laughs and chats about life.

So that's it, sorry if it's long. I'm gonna go bowling now.

My Favorite Office Items

#1. PAPERCLIP. Random Notes of Interest: The first paperclip was probably produced by the Gem-Manufacturing Company in Britain, thus where we derive the term "gem-clip". Most recently, the paperclip was made famous when a Canadian traded a red paperclip for a house (more or less).

I like the paperclip because it is so functional, and makes me so very organized at work. I can paperclip papers that need to go together, and then all those papers that are seperated can be collectively paperclipped. It's just a fascinating device. I've probably went through two or three boxes at work already.

#2. HIGHLIGHTER. I LOVE highlighters. If you look at any of my notes from school, this one thing you can tell. Everything deserves a color. For example, in history: dates could be green, people or important things could be yellow, and info in general could be purple. It had to be very unimportant in my mind to not get a color. Most recently I let someone borrow my condensed Series 7 notes. The whole "condensed" book was practically pink and yellow. Seem strange? I guess all I can say is that I remember better in color.

3. CALCULATOR. Our professor joked that we would be carrying these things around in our pockets. I thought, "Yeah, sure, okay." And, yet, I have been carrying a calculator in my purse for the last couple of months. Mostly for study purposes, but it is also good for the monthly balancing of the checkbook, etc. (And, I can whip it out and tell people "0.1134", a.k.a. "hello"). I also like to do random calculations. Yes, I'm a math nerd.

4. STICKY NOTE. These are so useful. Grocery lists. Reminders. Lots of reminders. I have reminders all over the bottom of my computer. Wee notes - the kind that don't need a whole sheet of overwhelming paper, but just need a small space to occupy. I use one almost every day to jot down the year-to-date returns for the S&P 500, the DJIA, and the NASDAQ. Random note: I used to have an obsession with the spiral, multi-colored kind.

AND,

5. BALL-POINT PEN. It speaks for itself. The number of things I use it for are endless. Oh, I love thee ball-point pen. Keep the ink flowing.

Whew!

It's over. Weird!!! Until today pharmacy school has always been something i was going to do or about to do or going into or in the future.....I think you get the point. No longer. Today was my first day of orientation with 123 new faces that I am going to spend the next four years of my life with. Honestly the entire day even as I'm writing this is incredibly surreal. (I like that word by the way) I mean I sat 4 hours in the same room in the same seat listening to the same woman and yet I still can't believe that it's happened. Please pray for me though. It's always hard to start somewhere new and have to start all over making friends but really exciting too because I'm really anxious to find my niche if you will. But anyways, I'm blurbing (word?) so till later