Is Schwarzenegger Finally Back?

I’d like you all to meet Heather Green who is offering up a neat post today for The Life & Times of Gen X. She found a great connection that bridges the 1980s to today.

Heather Green

Born and raised in North Carolina, Heather has worked as a fashion and beauty consultant as well as freelancing for various wedding, fashion, and health publications. She currently acts as the resident blogger for Online Nursing Degrees where she’s been researching nurse practitioner programs as well as clinical nursing specialist programs.

In addition to a sweet Gen X post you will enjoy the video Heather found, a walk down memory lane of some of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s best moments.

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It’s official: the Governator is getting back into movies.

“Currently, I’m reading three scripts,” he told krone.at. The film is likely With Wings as Eagles, written in 2001 by Randall Wallace (Braveheart).

“Currently I’m reading three scripts. One topic/script, which I considered a long time ago before governor, is delighting me particularly. In it I would play an older soldier, who gets the order at the ending of the war to kill a bunch of kids. But he doesn’t do it and get them to safety at the risk of his life and it has all kind of adventure. This script is based on a true story!”

Arnie adds that he’s embracing his age a la Clint Eastwood and taking his own physical abilities into consideration when choosing his projects. The bang-bang, boom-boom, get-to-ze-choppa days of the ‘80s and ‘90s are over, it seems.

Clearwater vaClaytion ~ Final Day

Oh no! Every vacation must come to an end, and this one is just about wrapped up.

Thanks for checking out the vids and making this vaClaytion more fun on my end.

The contest will wrap up with any final entries coming in the comment section of this post. I have a fun little package thrown together including the sweet message in a bottle I showed in the video from the other day.

It’s been a great week but now I have to get back to the grindstone. See you back in the Burgh!

How should I spend my 3 hour layover in Atlanta?

PTP 10 ~ On LoClaytion

What an unbelievable day! Can’t wait to bring the footage next week. For now, here’s your PTP-beach edition.

I gotta say this week I definitely have a pick that everyone should see. Look what happened to poor Leanne of Stuff Kids Write in what has to be one of the greatest examples of irony in the history of western civilization.

FFF: Video Beach Edition!

This jacuzzi is hot and steamy and effective at pinpointing exactly where you’ve been sunburned.

Oh the fab day at the aquarium was sweet. They were filming promotional materials and asked me to handle a sea urchin for some pics. Also had some fun with nurse sharks, sea turtles, otters, and the famous Dolphins including Winter the star of an upcoming Warner Bros movie starring Morgan Freeman and Harry Connick Jr. Plenty of video from today’s trip coming later on since we also grabbed footage for the Florida scavenger hunt.

Much more to come as tomorrow we venture off to Orlando for GatorLand. Unfortunately the zip lines won’t be open until next month, but I’m sure that place will have some good action or at least more reptiles than Washington D.C.

Clearwater vaClaytion ~ Day 2

High up on a LeduClaytion for this one.

I couldn’t get the camera out quick enough to record the old lady who for some reason decided clown paint would be a good preventative measure against the sun. Oh yeah, and only if she covered her lips and nothing else with it. Makes sense.

Also you won’t get to see the little girl who was chased by about 20 seagulls. She ran screaming into the ocean, but it was really funny and she laughed heartily afterward.

They really shouldn’t have so much great food around here what with all the half naked people everywhere. Any workout is pretty much destroyed by lunchtime.

So who’s going to win the secret message in a bottle from Clearwater? I’ll give you an entry for each day you comment. My team on the ground here in Florida and I are selecting a few other treats to drop in the mix, but you know you want to see what’s in the bottle.

Remember to let me know if you find any great web content to consider for this week’s PTP.

Click here for Day 3!

What’s the most exciting thing that’s happened to you this week?

On LoClaytion Clearwater ~ Day 1

So I started my day off by drinking coffee while watching dolphins. Don’t hate me for that.

We’ve begun shooting some footage here and there for a couple projects to be completed after the trip including a Florida scavenger hunt. Thanks to Ironic Mom for that idea. I know I’ll find an overweight old man in a speedo in no time.

If you want to hear about the latest happenings of my journey just search Twitter for #vaClaytion. Use that same hashtag to appear in the discussion.

CLEARWATER CONTEST

Comment below to be entered to win some schwag from right here in sunny Clearwater. And I’m not talking about fish guts from the pier either. Anyone who comments this week is eligible! Maybe I’ll capture a shark and mail some of its teeth to you.

Talk to you again tomorrow!

5 Reasons Kristen Lamb Rocks

“Don’t eat the butt.” ~ Kristen Lamb, master of the metaphor

If you haven’t yet met Kristen Lamb then I’m about to go out and do you a freakin service. Why am I dedicating an entire post to sing the praises of this gifted Texan? Because she’s that good and like C & C Music Factory I’ve got the power.

Ode to K-Lamb.

Kristen is one of the many great people I’ve met since getting Twitterfied. She’s been a great encouragement and is a remarkably gifted teacher. One of the biggest changes I made was to change my Twitter handle from educlaytion to ClayMorganPA. It’s all about branding. She had me put that cute little handle on it’s knees and pull the trigger. (Don’t worry, he still lives on here :-))

Oh yeah, she can also write her tail off. What’s that you say? She doesn’t have a tail? Looks like I just made my point.

How fabulous is Kristen? Well, one time she taught about risk taking by using mushroom eating, Indiana Jones, and puffer fish. The internet was abuzz that day with cheers to go after goals followed by warnings of “don’t eat the butt.” Sound crazy? Check out the story for yourself.

I was going to find her best posts for you but she’s so consistently awesome at teaching about writing, networking, and publishing that when I tried to find her best work my brain overheated at how good all her stuff is. Not that I’m jealous.

*bangs face off desk*

Well, she’s earned being that good, and from where I’m sitting (a chair with a grandma butt pillow) she’s also earned this list of 5 ways she rocks.

Gen X Life: Nick Kids & Slime

Image via Wikipedia

In addition to being runner up in this year’s March Movie Madness tourney, Jessica Buttram is one of the funniest gals in all of webdom. Her comments, tweets, and emails crack me up! She’s also a sweet wife and mom who blogs over at Meet The Buttrams. Today she hops into our look at the Life & Times of Gen X with memories of a channel that forever changed how childhood would look.

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My mom always made sure our house was spotless before guests came over. Clay, you may want to pick that dirty robe up off the floor. Thanks.

Anyway, when Clay* asked** me*** to add my wit and wisdom for his homage to Gen X, I jumped at the chance, because I was totally a NICK kid.

Before Disney tried to monopolize children’s entertainment and after my mom put the squash on my MTV watching, there was Nickelodeon. (Sing it with me, Ni-ni-ni-ni-ni-ni-ni-ni, Nick-a-lo-deon!)

There were many a Nickelodeon show on my after-school/Saturday-night repertoire, including, but not limited to, You Can’t Do That On Television, Double Dare, Salute Your Shorts, Are You Afraid of the Dark?, and my personal bread and butter, Clarissa Explains It All. And I know you are dying to revisit them all. Strap on your safety gear, because we are about to jump in faster than The Blue Team can fit ten pies in their pants.

You Can’t Do That On Television: If you’re scratching your head, wondering, “What kind of show is that? I don’t know!” then I will have to slime you with green slime. It was one of the first sketch comedies for kids (if not the first), originally a Canadian broadcast that Nickelodeon bought and syndicated beginning in 1981. A short-haired, unknown Alanis Morrisette was a cast member. They slimed anyone who said, “I don’t know.” They washed them off if they said, “water.” One-liners, awesome haircuts, the long “oo” sound…comedic gold.

My favorite segment was when a handful of cast members would hide in lockers and do basically a knock-knock routine. One kid would stick his head out of his locker, “Hey, Christine!” Then Christine would pop out of her locker and say, “Yeah, Alasdair?” “Did you know a lot of big rockstars can’t read music?” “That doesn’t surprise me. Most rockstars can’t read at all!” Cue canned laughter. I wanted to get slimed so, so badly.

PTP 9 ~ Mother’s Day & A Field

Word to your moms.

Your requests to see me in drag have been noted. Stay tuned for that revelation later this month. Onto some of the best web discoveries this week.

Renee at Lessons from Teachers & Twits has a nice write up about the way kids view moms and how that changes over time. Funny and true.

Speaking of moms, how about Amanda Hoving and her take on how we hate when good things end even if we can’t wait to get there.

Here’s a new name for many of you. It’s Aanna from The Gig talking about how we tend to get a little quirky at our craft sometimes. What are your quirks?

Do you want to understand students and teenagers better? Read this short and info packed piece by Tim Elmore called Screenagers. Some of the thoughts in there are real eye openers.

And thanks to my beloved Twisted Sister who sent this little chestnut my way, a video of a woman afflicted with the weirdest disease I’ve ever heard of.

Can’t wait to see you next week as we work it on the beach in Clearwater, Florida. Let the adventure planning begin. What would you like to see me do while I’m there?

How are you spending Mother’s Day?

Leave a link to something spectacular from the web in the comments below for a future PTP.

Posts That Pop (PTP) appears on weekends and features some of the best web content I’ve discovered recently.

When A Diamond Was A Guy’s Best Friend

Image via Wikipedia

I used to live for baseball. Hard to believe now, but when I was a kid my life revolved around the game.

I could play with my friends in the backyard all day every day of the summer. As soon as I was old enough I joined a local team and played for years. Shoot, I’d even go inside early some nights (before the street lights even came on!) just so I could watch the Pittsburgh Pirates on TV while I dutifully kept stats in my score book.

I dreamed of being a big leaguer some day and making a living on that field they called the diamond. Just about anybody who met me after the age of 13 would probably be surprised to learn of this childhood passion of mine.

The game we once called America’s past time is more past its prime than anything these days, but few things can pour nostalgia over me like baseball. When I put on a glove and catch that first long throw in many months, the muscles in my hands and arms remember. And when I hear that thump in the glove or crack of the bat, my mind recalls a thousand days beneath a ball cap cursing the sun for blinding me in the face of a high fly ball but then begging that same sun not to go so I could have just one more turn at the plate.

Baseball is as close to poetry as I’ve ever come.

5 Must See Sites In Pittsburgh

Hey my friends, it’s time to put on your tour guide hat! Wait, do tour guides wear hats? Well, put on your tour guide pants because you’re about to take us sightseeing. (Admit it, you’re totally thinking about the last tour guide you had and focusing on his pants. I don’t really think that’s appropriate).

I received a pleasant email from Zechariah Brewer a little while back telling me that he would be in Pittsburgh on business (he’s a hitman) in a few days and could I recommend any attractions. Fearing this might be bait and the contract might actually be on my head I immediately left town.

I laid low for a few days, about 16 inches off the ground to be exact, and waited for the coast to be clear. Eventually I realized we don’t have any coasts in Pittsburgh which should’ve occurred to me earlier because I know so much about this city. It’s the town that I love.

Your humble tour guide

So here are a few things you just must check out when you come to visit me. Bring money. Or at least food.

Bin Laden, Terrorists, & the Mendenhall Controversy

Image by Hawk Eyes via Flickr

As the history-political science-professor-writer guy, people tend to ask me questions when big events happen around the world. As quiet as I’ve been about the recent death of Osama bin Laden, I still hear from plenty of folks wondering what I think.

Combine that historic occasion with today’s controversy over comments made on Twitter by Pittsburgh Steelers running back Rashard Mendenhall and these questions aren’t going away.

So let me offer a short perspective before asking you a question of my own.

First, what did I think/how did I feel upon hearing the news Sunday evening that bin Laden had been killed. A comment response I left at Lessons from Teachers and Twits on Renee’s thoughtful post should suffice. Quoting myself:

“I felt pretty unmoved when I first heard the news. Bin Laden was dead. Brought to justice is a fitting description of that. I thought of the forces on the ground and was happy they did not suffer a loss.

I turned on the news and saw the celebrants. I had an unpleasant feeling too. I thought of the Scriptures and wondered how I should react. Just me. What was the right thing for me to feel and do. The love your enemies part still makes my head twist.

Then I went back to work because my life is no different today than it was before Sunday.”

Secondly, when I awoke today the Rashard Mendenhall story was already raging. If you are unfamiliar, Mendenhall is the Steelers running back (yes, my hometown team) who led the team in rushing on the way to and fumbled during Super Bowl 45.

The Little White Label

Image by Drew Olanoff via Flickr

Remember when this website didn’t focus on the Life & Times of Gen X every Monday? I do.

As soon as I created this segment I knew one person who just had to make an appearance. His name is Mark Kaplowitz and he gets down with the craft over at his site called Schlabadoo. If you ever come looking for me here but I’m not around there’s a good chance I’m hanging over at his place with the latest installment. He’s got the gift of being able to make writing appear effortless. I recommend subscribing to his site. You can also find him on Twitter.

Mark and I have bonded over our fondness for those halcyon days when Choose Your Own Adventure books ruled the day and Roger Rabbit and his bride ruled the night. So let’s get to making more memories by remembering the way we were before Kurt Cobain dropped an A-bomb of grunge on our culture.  

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I knew that Z. Cavaricci’s were special pants the moment I first laid eyes on them. The wearer was a friend of mine, and the pants made him glide more than walk through the middle school cafeteria, holding a plate of fries and his head high.

The pleats were so wide I could reach out and touch them from where I sat. The legs tapered down to thick athletic socks. A constellation of belt loops rose above the waist, and front and center–running down the exterior of the fly–was the crown jewel: a little white label with “Z. Cavaricci” in vertical block lettering.

Experience told me that anyone who went to school wearing pants with a little white label running down the front of his pants would get taunted until the end of time, particularly if those pants buckled at the torso and flared out like a tarp over a family reunion. But experience was wrong. The Z. Cavaricci’s raised my friend’s standing among the other sixth graders, surpassing even the wearers of Reebok Pumps and authentic Bart Simpson t-shirts.

The allure of Z. Cavaricci’s rested, in large part, on the rumored $80 price tag. I tried to imagine what kind of store sold $80 pants. I pictured my friend being welcomed by a tuxedoed salesman who, at the snap of his fingers, would summon a footman bearing the pants on a silk pillow. “This is our latest pair, sir. Would you care for a soft drink or a box drink?”

PTP 8 ~ Fast 5

Vroom, vroom. This week’s video comes complete with a high school surprise.

Scott Moore made me laugh with his lessons on CPR. Fun guy. Check him out.

Mark always makes me laugh, but I especially enjoyed these memories of board games. I know I keep talking about Mark, but I’ll stop promoting him when he stops being so good at writing.

Jon Malstrom is bringing back the 80s. Good stuff.

Here are some great pics to check out from a suggestion that came my way via Leonore. I’m sure you’ve always wondered what someone could do with 100k toothpicks and three and a half decades.

Also be sure to check out another great offering from Ellie over at the gig.

Finally this week, don’t miss this piece by Liz. In the video I called her McLellan for some reason, and that reason is that I am actually Russian. English is a second language. Her real name is McLennan, and she’s from Canada which is where I’m really from too*.

*No I’m not.

What’s the best thing you saw on the web this week?

Posts That Pop (PTP) appears on weekends and features some of the best web content I’ve discovered recently.

Connect with me on Twitter @ClayMorganPA.

Steve Carell is Going Out on Top. And That’s What She Said.

Image via Wikipedia

Like you really need me to introduce today’s FFF guest poster Chase McFadden. In addition to being a semi-professional Jedi, he’s the funniest father I know and consistently brings the goods (and I mean brings it people) over at Some Species Eat Their Young. Chase is also a bigtime recording artist and one of the hardest “gets” in the blogosphere. I had to leverage all my vast connections to make this happen. Are you welcome? Yes. Is Chase on Twitter? Bingo.

So with this last sentence of further adieu, I give you the man, the myth, the McFadden.

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The “World’s Best Boss” left Scranton, Pennsylvania last night, following his heart and his soulmate to Colorado.

I wish him well.

And I say, “Thank you.”

For seven seasons, Steve Carell’s brilliant portrayal of Michael Scott–the bumbling, inappropriate, yet genuinely caring and passionate branch manager of the Dunder Mifflin paper supply company–was the unifying comedic force for NBC’s Emmy Award-winning series The Office.

With Carell’s departure, the future of the show is up in the air, but what is certain is that the catchphrase his character famously coined will remain:

“That’s what she said.”