It was 1996 when the National League All Stars in baseball last won. Since the winner of the mid-summer classic now gets home field advantage in the World Series, it’s become a very important all star game to win. The American League has been the winner every year, since the new stakes were put into place. Things have changed now, with a catcher from Atlanta as the hero. Brian McCann of the Atlanta Braves hit a double down the line in Anaheim on Tuesday to clear the bases and give the National League Team a 2 run lead. It would be all the runs the National League would need, as the American League Team only got 1 run.

The big controversy for the American League is why Alex Rodriguez’s own manager Joe Girardi would not give him an at-bat in the All Star Game on Tuesday. Leaving Ortiz in to run at first base, came back to haunt the AL manager of the N.Y. Yankees; thanks to a brilliant play by Marlon Byrd in right field. He was able to get an out, by throwing the slow-footed David Ortiz out at 2nd base. It was a pop-fly that Ortiz thought Byrd would catch.

Brian McCann was awarded the MVP for the game. You could make a case for Marlon Byrd too. His great play in the 9th inning, plus a long at-bat with Valverde; which most players were having a hard time with. He also was down in the count 0-2 and was able to draw a walk; which loaded the bases and gave the Braves catcher a chance to hit the 3 run double.

It’s great to see the National League finally win a all star game in the 21st century. Maybe these guys can carry this momentum in to next year’s all star game and get on a winning streak, like the American League has done for the last 7 seasons.

Making my home feel safer as a single woman is a kin to teaching the proverbial old dog new tricks. Where would I start? By getting rid of all the knives in the kitchen, bolting the door and wiring all the windows shut? All these sound like good ideas but then again I would have to keep repeating the procedure day after day.

This would be a tad exhausting so I opted to sleep with a night light. This was one terrible idea indeed. After watching true crime reruns two consecutive nights, the eerie shapes it created on the walls were a bit too much for me to handle.

After several sleepless nights imagining the worst I decided to install a adt security cameras. The peace of mind has been amazing. I have been sleeping like a baby but that might have something to do with staying awake for almost three nights “just in case”.

For a woman living alone this was the right decision for this season of my life and even though it may not keep nosy colleagues and family members out, it makes me feel safe.  Ladies, this should not even be a question because security issues are things we grapple with over and over again. If you are interested in feeling secure within your home minus all the lock checking routines, it is high time you invested in one of these.

Do you like to read? What was the last good book you read? I couldn’t even say what the last book was for me. I know there are a lot of new books I would like to read and I have also not read some of the popular classic book titles that everyone knows by name. I want to read some of the famous classics, so I can see what the storyline was and try to figure out what made it a classic to start with. I truly enjoy reading a good book and it offers so much more than the movie can. I believe it’s because we can see what the characters are thinking about in the book and we don’t get this on the big screen. I will have to make some time soon, so I can catch up on a few of these book titles I have been wanting to read for a long time now.

Being addicted to drugs is a tough thing to overcome. Many don’t have the will power it takes to overcome these cravings. Taking advantage of a Drug Detox program is the best way to get help and it will be the best chance a drug addict has for a recovery. This program allows a person to get clean; while under the close supervision of a doctor, to insure it’s done in a safe and effective manner. This is only the first step and staying clean takes a lot of hard work and effort from the patient. They must be willing to stop using drugs, for this program or any other program to work over a long stretch of time. The long term recovery process is just as important as the detox step and patients can use a Residential Drug Rehab location; after their bodies have been rided of these drugs they were taking at one time.

The information on drug abuse and drug recovery programs is much more abundant now than it once was. The biggest changes have come on the Internet and now people can go online to seek help in Tennessee or any other U.S. state for a drug or alcohol problem. People that do make these first initial steps to get help, will need a strong cast of supporters, to help them recover in the short term and long term processes. A family member or friend that doesn’t use drugs or alcohol is going to be just as important to the recovery process as these Alcohol Rehab facilities are. Perhaps you can be that supporting cast for a person you know that is struggling with an addiction to alcohol or drugs.

You know that the Hawks would like to get Cleveland’s number, especially with the playoffs coming soon. For Atlanta to advance to the NBA Championship Series, they will likely have to go through Cleveland to get there. It was these same Cavaliers that ended the Hawks NBA championship dreams last year, by knocking Atlanta out of the playoffs in 4 games. You have to figure out how to beat a team one time, before you can even think about winning a 7 game series with them.

The Atlanta Hawks have much more talent than the Cavaliers do. They haven’t managed yet on how to streamline all of that talent, so you have the 5 most productive guys on the court and all of them working for the same goal. The one on one play that Atlanta does each night is the part about their style that forces them to lose against competition that is near their level. The same offense takes place in Cleveland too and often LeBron is just a one man show not getting his other teammates on the floor involved. The Hawks need to learn how to work together as a team and they can beat this Cavs team easily.

Don’t Take the Charge!

You can’t hold your ground when LeBron James decides to drive to the rim. The NBA referees have already proven they are not going to call James on a charge. In the past, the Hawks defense has done a great job beating Lebron to a certain spot on the floor. Time after time we only see this good defense result in a block call and you must get away from this mindset when you play against the Cleveland Cavaliers. If LeBron wants to come inside and drive the ball to the hoop, just foul him and foul him hard. He’s not that great of a free throw shooter and he can’t beat NBA teams from the foul stripe. This will aslo frustrate him and the man can only take so many hard fouls. He will learn his lesson if you will keep the hard fouls up; when he penetrates into the lane. He’s going to get tired of getting punished on his drives and he will become a permiter player. His jump shot isn’t consistent enough to beat you that way either and this is the road map for success when the Hawks or any other NBA team plays against King James and the Cleveland Cavs.

Is the Atlanta Braves desperate to find outfielders, for them to give the opening day job, out in right field, to a twenty year old kid? Or is Jason Heyward the 6′ 4″ baseball player that is weighing in around 240 to 250 pounds just that good? It does appear that the Atlanta Braves have several options in right field and they could have went with a Matt Diaz from last year’s team or assigned the newly acquired Melky Cabrera to that position. It wasn’t a matter of not having anyone to play the RF position for the Braves. It was a matter of choosing the best right fielder and his name is Jason Heyward from Henry County High School in McDonough, Georgia.

I guess Braves fans are happy to see Bobby Cox pass this first big test with Heyward. Many had their doubts that Cox would even let him begin the year with the big club in the ATL. Now that Bobby Cox has “inked” him in at right field and said he would play every day, regardless if a righty or a lefty is on the mound for the opposing team. Where might we see the big slugger from McDonough batting in the hitting order? This will probably be the sign that Cox is still in charge of the Bravos and especially if we see Jason Heyward hitting sixth or lower in the line up. You can already see in the Spring games that Chipper Jones doesn’t plan to hit or hustle this year either. I believe Chipper clogging up the three hole (if he’s struggling) is what will hurt the Braves the most.

It’s not hard to manage in Major League Baseball and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. Before you get into steals and calling squeeze plays and trying to determine which pitcher and for how long; you can go to the most elementary part of baseball and see how MLB managers can’t get that right. How hard could it possibly be to come up with a batting order? You first determine which guys  play which positions the best, so you eventually come up with 8 people to put in a batting order and that’s with the pitcher hitting ninth or last in the line-up. I believe the majority of baseball managers should hit them by their season averages. Most would think it’s bad baseball if you took an Albert Pujols and put him first in your batting order. Actually if you break down the numbers and chances for success, the only bad baseball that gets played, is when you take a Pujols, Alex Rodriguez, or Barry Bonds and stick them in the 3rd spot in the batting order. In most cases these guys would be a lead off hitter, but would ultimately come down to who else was on their team.

These old guys in baseball that are coaching and jotting down these line ups nightly are just copying the old coaches before them. It would take some broad shoulders for a MLB coach to set his line up and bat his guys in the best way possible. Isn’t that funny? To actually do something the best and most productive way would take courage. Maybe one late summer when a team is really out of the post season chase, we will get one of those managers to bat his guys in order, based on the highest batting average first and so on.

However, getting back to the final coaching season for Bobby Cox and the Atlanta Braves. You would have to figure that Cox will eventually be known as one of the worst hires in Major League Baseball. Too many around the city of Atlanta are too quick to pat him on the back and think he’s done a great job here in the Peach State. That couldn’t be further from the truth. A manager leads his ball club into 14 consecutive post seasons and only manage to win one World Series Title and that series with the Cleveland Indians went to game 6 and was won by a lone run that right fielder Dave Justice provided.

Too many sports fans in the state of Georgia have been disappointed over the years and years of watching our professional and college teams come up short. It’s only natural for them to consider a playoff appearance as a championship in their book. Cox had a wealth of talent and still has more than you know about and this is because he and other pro teams, must play the athletes that signed the biggest contracts in the off season. We as sports fans often miss out on the best players for that specific game in the middle of the season not getting a chance to play, cause some high dollar contract player must get his chance to prove he’s worth the big bucks.

Mr. Heyward for the Braves won’t turn 21 years old; until early August gets here; which will be like one month after the All Star Game in July. I’m really hoping that Jason Heyward at 20 years of age, will get a chance to be the youngest homerun derby winner ever. I will feel sorry for the person that has to pitch to Heyward in the home run derby. If you’re going to give this home-grown Georgia kid 10 outs in the 2010 Homerun Derby; you better have a lot of baseballs and energy. I will go on record right now and say Jason Heyward hits 40+ homers on his first 2010 at-bat appearance in the 2010 Baseball HR Derby.

If gold is going to keep going up, your next best move would be to invest in gold bullion. This way requires less energy than gold prospecting, but will require a little up front cash. Even if gold doesn’t go higher this year, you have to figure over the next decade, we will see many huge jumps in gold prices. The bullion is something that is real and you can hold in your hands. This is much different than a piece of paper stating you own so many shares in a specific company. If worse comes to worse, that paper is only paper and that’s why I would prefer to buy bullion over other investment choices.

I don’t think anyone could argue that gold is one of the safest investments you can make. It has a long history of holding it’s value. It actually increases in value; when other things lose their value. Since I live in an area in North Georgia where gold is found naturally, I do plan to go prospecting this summer. It would be nice to find 10 ounces of gold this summer; while panning the creeks and rivers in this area. If I do strike out and can’t get gold the free and natural way. I will be looking to buy gold bullion or gold coins. I may invest a little money, into a few gold mining companies, but only to diversify my portfolio. I think buying gold coins directly is the best overall way to take advantage of these soaring gold prices.

I figured I could check around online and see what the newest and latest fads were in workouts. I haven’t been watching too many of those late night infomercials on TV and they usually keep you in the loop, for the more popular workout programs. One of the first ones I seen online was for the Insanity Workout. Just reading about this one made me tired. I believe this workout program is for more advanced people and not for lazy people like me. I need a simple workout program, so I will stick to it. My results don’t have to be fast and I believe this workout program would bring fast results. It goes for about 60 days and states that people trying this workout program, could be burning 1000 calories in 1 hour. That sounds like a lot and I will pass on this one.

The next workout program I found online was called the Power 90 - In Home Boot Camp. The language in this workout program was a little frightening too. After reading up on this one and seeing all the cool videos and exercise equipment they would send to help you workout, I was having 2nd thoughts about a workout program. Maybe I’m not in a hurry for spring to get here and perhaps a few more months of these lazy winter days would do me good. As you can see, I’m not in a hurry to start a workout program, but do need to do it. If I can begin early enough now, I will be thankful when the long, dog days of summer get here. No one wants to be outdoors when it’s 100 degrees outside and I would like to do a little running or jogging in my 2010 workout program.

I believe I will change my previous thoughts and go in a new direction. I need a program that is fast and will get results quick, so I don’t have to keep working out all year long. I will naturally be active when the weather warms up, since I like to go fishing and plan to do a lot of gold panning this year too. So with that in mind, I kept searching online for some of these new workout programs. Have you ever heard of one that is called Slim in 6? The six stands for 6 weeks and this program claims to get good results in that amount of time. I believe I would like to find out more about this one. If you have ever tried or heard of others trying a workout program called Slim in 6; then be sure to reply and let me know what you think. I believe I am leaning on this one for right now; unless I see something better come up. Just let me know any information you may have on the Slim in 6 workout program. This is a program men or women can do.

Students these days are carrying some pretty valuable things to school and it’s a must for them to use their regular lockers or the Gym Lockers. The high tech items like cell phones, laptop computers, blackberries, or a digital calculator is something a student would want to put in a secured location. Most of the time this would be their metal or Wood Lockers that are assigned to them each year at school. Normally these lockers don’t have any security protection. If a student wants a secured locker, it’s up to them to buy a lock with a key or the more common combination locks. It’s hard to keep up with a key and the combination locks can be tricky to open at times. There was always one student around that was good at opening the combination locks and they would have to teach others how to turn the dial on these locks. I don’t miss these days of trying to keep my things locked up at school, but you were just asking for it if you didn’t lock up your stuff.

They are some kids and mostly at the middle and high school levels that are looking to steal another student’s things. It’s an early lesson for the younger generation at how they have to protect what they own. I would like to see the locker companies come up with a better security system, for their premade lockers they send out to the schools. I think schools would buy a more modern design in lockers with security being the focus. A lot of schools would have Lockers for sale, if a more secured locker was invented, because they would want to replace their existing lockers with the more secured ones. A locker that had a digital keypad on it and students could use a 4 digit code to access their lockers, would be much better than the locker systems that are in place now. It might be a bit more expensive for the schools to upgrade their lockers, but it doesn’t take too many cell phones and laptops to get stolen, to make up for the higher costs.

Free Online Tutoring is available for students K-12th grade and even the more advanced students attending a college at some major university or working on a college degree online. Professional tutors are online ready to help individuals one on one to get the best education possible. TutorNext is one of the great online companies that help students of all ages in math or any of their other subjects they may be having difficulties in. Their tutoring rates are affordable too. If you’re currently a student or a parent of a student and could use a little Math help; then it’s only logical that you would seek a Math Tutor for that help. It can make a big difference and everyone is going to need good math skills, regardless of what their dreams or future plans have in store for them. Math Tutors Online are going to play a big part in the education levels we reach in the future for our great country. It will be these online tutors that are teaching math and other subjects online, that will keep our nation strong from an educational standpoint.

QUESTION: I’m having trouble in a subject at school; where do I start or go for help?

ANSWER: You will want to seek help from a trusted source online, that has well-trained tutors ready to help you one on one with your specific struggles. TutorNext can provide that for you and all students in grades K – 12. Students seeking help at higher educational levels (college) can also benefit from the online services that TutorNext is offering and they have the cheapest rates too!

A good Math Problem Solver isn’t something that occurs by accident or overnight. It takes a lot of hard work to learn the higher forms of math that come into play after the basics are taught. Not everyone is going to learn what it is they need to know from a classroom setting. A class that has lots of students and one teacher doesn’t work for everybody. Some students need that one on one attention to learn what it is they need to know. An Online Math Tutor is the answer for these students that can’t fully understand their math classes and this works the same way for all of your other subjects too. Just don’t give up if you have problems learning a specific subject. Find help with one of the many great online tutors that are there ready to help you.