This is one of the biggest celebrity homes that I have seen! The home is huge and includes a tennis court and basketball court outdoors, plus and indoor basketball court. The home is located in Illinois. If Michael were ever to move, he would probably have to pay a fortunate for moving services to get all the stuff out of that large of a home.

You might not have realized it, but Mount Everest is not called Mount Everest anymore! The Mountain was named Everest by the British in 1865 to honor Sir George Everest who was the Surveyor-General in the Survey of India. Everest had mapped and measured the peak in 1852.

However, China claims that the peak was first mapped by Tibetan officials in 1717. The mountain was called Qomolangma (pron. Chomolungma), its Tibetan name.

I wonder, does anyone offer travel insurance if you want to climb Mount Everest, I mean Mount Qomolangma?

I had completely forgotten about the television series “Buck Rogers in the 25th Century.” It was a hit from 1979-1981. Gil Gerard played the lead character Buck Rogers. Gerard was born January 23, 1943 in Arkansas. He never completed college, but landed a job as an industrial chemist. The company actually wanted to make him a Vice President on condition that he complete his Master’s Degree. He quit the job rather than tell them that he didn’t even have a Bachelor’s degree!

He decided to head to New York where he studied acting and drove a cab at night. He appeared as an extra in the movie Love Story in 1970. Over the years he did numerous television commercials and finally landed the role as Buck. After Buck Rogers ended he appeared in a few more series.

Gerard recently appeared on the show “Action Hero Makeover” on the Discovery Channel. His weight was at 350 pounds before he decided to undergo gastric bypass surgery. After a year, he had lost about 145 pounds. He loves to golf and supports the Special Olympics.

Gerard was married to Connie Sellecca (of Greatest American Hero fame) from 1979-1987 and they have one son. Gerard also has a daughter by another marriage.

Gerard does attend shows and signs autographs for fans.

Gerard is an avid golfer, and has played in several celebrity golf tournaments. He is an active supporter of the Special Olympics, and takes part in other children’s causes. He continues to produce, acting only occasionally.

The Ford Mustang was consider the “cool” car when I was growing up. The car was introduced the first time on April 17, 1964 at the World’s Fair in New York. The first Mustangs came in a coupe of a convertible style. The first Mustang was sold to Captain Stanley Tucker an airline pilot. The car was not supposed to be sold and Ford wanted the car back. Tucker drove the car for two years and put 10,000 miles on it. Ford made a deal with Tucker. They would trade him the 1 millionth Mustang in exchange for the first one. Tucker accepted, but instead of the 1 millionth Mustang he asked for a 1966 Silver Frost model with a black convertible top. The #1 Ford Mustang was given to the Ford Museum and was restored again in 2003.

A lot of people make a habit out of restoring old Mustang cars. It is hard to find older Mustang parts, but if you want to get your 1987 or newer Mustang in good working order you can pick up new Mustang exhaust and other Mustang parts and get free shipping as well.

More than fifty years ago, the Desert Trek shoes from Clarks shoes were all the rage. These shoes were introduced in 1950 and based on boots that Nathan Clark’s army friends had purchased in Cairo. Later Clark would introduce the Wallabee, the classic shoe of the 70s (I had a pair)!

If you have been watching the Olympics, you know that Michael Phelps won eight gold medals beating Mark Spitz’s record of seven gold medals in one Olympics. However, if you are a youngster, you might not even know who Mark Spitz is.

Mark Spitz was born on February 10, 1950 in Modesto, California. By age nine he was training at Arden Hills Swim Club . At the age of 10 he held 17 national age-group records and held a world record. His parents moved to Santa Clara, California when Mark was 14 so that he could train with George F. Haines at the Santa Clara Swim Club. During his four years at Santa Clara High School he held national records in every stroke and every distance.

His first Olympics was in Mexico in 1968 where he won two gold medals for team events. He won a silver medal in the 100m Butterfly. After the Olympics he entered Indiana University and won 8 NCAA titles.

The 1972 Olympics were held in Munich, Germany. Here he would win seven gold medals and set a world record in each. After the 1972 Olympics, Spitz retired. He did try and qualify for the 1992 Olympic team at age 41, but was too slow by two seconds.

After the promotional appearances faded, Spitz started a real estate company and is now a motivational speaker.

Here is a cool video that I found on YouTube. It is in the old Hewlett Packard commercial style. They use picture frames to highlight the face and then manipulate these in the video. I love the disappearing act at the end.

When I was growing up, this is the outdoor furniture that we had . Times have certainly changed! There is a big market for all kinds of outdoor furniture and outdoor furniture covers. If you have the money, you can buy this fancy set. The price is $1,849 for the chair and the table, while the chaise is $3,099. Pennies!

Now that the Olympics are in full swing, I am reminded of the Atlanta Olympics in 1996. Remember the Olympic Park Bombings? The FBI originally thought that Richard Jewell, a private security guard working in Centennial Olympic Park, was the bomber. On July 27 at about 1:00am, Jewell noticed a suspicious package and beginning moving away from it. The package turned out to be a bomb which injured 100 people and killed one.

Jewell’s name was dragged though the mud for 12 weeks when he was eventually cleared of all charges. The FBI’s theory was that he moved people away from the bomb and then set it off to cast himself as a hero. They were wrong. Reporters camped outside Jewell’s apartment and recorded his every move. Jewell later sued the FBI and several medial organizations. CNN and NBC did settle with Jewell.

It turned out that the real bomber was Eric Robert Rudolph who pleaded guilty to the bombing in April 2005.

Richard Jewell died on August 29, 2007 due to natural causes (he had had kidney failure and diabetes). He was 44 years old.

When my sister and I were much younger, we watched the movie “Breaking Away.” One of the characters, Moocher, played by Jackie Earle Haley, had a bad case of acne and was not very attractive. My sister and I continued seeing him in various other movies and we even cut out magazine pictures and sent them to each other. We signed the pictures “Scuz.”

Jackie Earle Haley has actually made quite a career for himself and is an excellent actor. Jackie, we are sorry that we called you Scuz!