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I’ve been looking for a good local co-op to join so I can be a part of a group that grows organic produce. I’m a huge advocate of organic foods. Not only am I allergic to many of the pesticides, I also participated in a breast milk study back when I was nursing Gigi that showed just how many toxins can build up in our systems. It was shocking.

There is a co-op down in St. Petersburg I am actually planning on calling tomorrow. I did not know they existed and just now saw them on the news. I am sure that with the media exposure, they will be inundated with calls, but I can at least try.

You can even go a step further and find other organic products. Dax Stores carries lines of organic furniture, organic bedding, and organic towels. Organic furniture might seem strange to you, but back when I did the breast milk study, I found out that the fire retardants in furniture are full of toxins that build up in your body and then secrete in breast milk. Think of how terrible I felt thinking about what is going into my baby. Whenever you have the opportunity to buy and use natural products, you should do so.

You know what? I could care less right now how Jewish and Muslim groups feel about Sen. John McCain’s opinion about wanting a Christian president. He quite clearly stated the fact that this nation was founded by Christian men and on Christian principals. Those are cold, hard facts. If anyone wants to express their desire to see a Christian as president, they have every right to do so. And, I happen to agree with McCain.

That’s my opinion. And, I’m sure there are those of you out there who feel I don’t have the right to my own opinion. But then, that would just be your opinion wouldn’t it?

Large advocacy groups are out to smear McCain now. There are claims that McCain is not supporting the freedom of religion. That, though, is just asinine. McCain never said only a Christian could be president. He simply said he would prefer to see one in office.

People need to stop letting their feelings get hurt so easy.

In time long past, it seemed to me that nearly every company had a toll-free phone line that was open 24-hours a day. Even up through when I was in college, I could contact the phone company or my credit card company or my bank at any time of day or not for issues even outside of emergencies. At some point, that stopped. If I want to talk to anyone at my credit union, I have to do it during office hours. If I want to speak to a customer service representative about an odd charge on y cell phone bill, I better not call on Saturday.

Right now I can makes calls during typical office hours, but what in the world am I going to do once I am in a classroom all day? I cannot exactly take time to call about a bill or an account question.

That’s why I think a company having a 24/7 customer service line in this day and age is a big deal – a very big deal indeed. The travel company CheapoAir has 24/7 customer support and has recently increased their support staff. That’s huge. Having more people on staff to help with calls means a bigger overhead budget, but it also shows that a company understands what consumers really want.

You can still book fares online at CheapoAir.com, but now you can also do it over the phone with CheapoAir Customer Support 24 hours a day 7 days a week by calling 212-478-0335.

One thing I like about CheapoAir is that their listings are unbiased. They are not affiliated with a single airline or consortium.

Sponsored by CheapoAir

The Food and Drug Administration issued a recall of Sabanero Inc. frying and grating cheese loaves. Why? Possible bacterial contamination by Staphylococcus aureus. Staph! In the cheese!

Things are getting bad. Staph is normally found in the noses of humans or in warm area on human skin (scalp, armpits and groin). That is the main way it is carried.

Let’s all check out labels and start buying more products made in the United Sttes, shall we? Our factories are not perfect, but this is yet another product made outside the U.S. The product was made by Cooperativa Colanta in Colombia. So, who at Cooperativa Colanta hasn’t been washing their hands before they handle the product? It seems suspicious to me.

Sabanero is recalling 5.5-pound loaves stamped lot No. 177 and with the expiration date Oct. 22. Anyone with the recalled product should dispose of it and contact Sabanero at 1 (305) 588-0277 or by fax at 1 (305) 482-8218.

I love Macs. I also like my Dell. I am bilingual, so to speak, and have both systems in my home. Almost all files are moving toward being portable, so that I can receive a Mac Freehand file from a client and open it on my Mac using Freehand for PC. Fonts, though, are not interchangeable. That can be a pain. Plus, in order to have the same software of both systems, I actually have to purchase both versions. That goes for games as well.

You can get all of the same games for the Mac that you can for the PC, you just have to know where to go to download mac games. After that little obstacle, it’s just fun and coasting, baby.

As easy as it might be to obtain the software, games and fonts for both systems, I still live in anticipation of a world where all fonts play nice together and I don’t have to pony up double the cost every time I upgrade my design software.

My daughter is 4 and a half and Disney’s “The Game Plan was absolutely perfect for her. We saw the first show of the day Saturday. The film had all of the elements that charm a little girl: princesses, pretty dresses, ballet, lot of Bedazzling, sparkles, a cute dog, bubbles, great music, charming adult characters, dolls, good moral lessons, and a happy ending to beat all happy endings.

There was even a scene that semi-mirrored our own trip to the Emergency Room last night and added even more meaning to the story.

The movie stars Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson as a football player with lavish bachelor ways. He suddenly finds out he has an 8-year-old daughter and his life changes in heartwarming and hilarious ways. The movie opened this weekend in the number one box-office spot. I can absolutely see why.

Little Madison Pettis plays Peyton Kelly. She is an appealing actress and my daughter related to her on a level that surprised me. She has already had small roles on several Disney Channel shows and done some voice work for one of the popular Boz Christina cartoons. I look to see a lot more of her in the future.

Yay for the Game Plan. My daughter asked me on the way out of the theater to take her again next weekend.

This morning I woke up to typical Florida weather in October. It was a breezy 72 and clear skies were my friends as I drove my daughter to school. It was the kind of Florida morning that makes you look back and remember why you live here.

Summers in Florida can be hot, hot like Arizona real estate. Hot like the High School Musical Soundtrack playing in a middle school. Hot, baby. You begin to grow weary of the heat around here. People forget why we live in Florida and you hear more people complaining, contemplating moves. It gets downright difficult.

And then October happens.

Even here in the noon hours it’s breezy and warm. The temperature did go up a bit, but humidity is no longer a bedfellow and it’s nothing but blissful. October is when our northern Snowbirds begin to climb into their sedans and drive back down to spend the winters in their condos. October is when it is finally the perfect weather to let your kids spend more time riding their bikes and running in the year. Picnics are more pleasant and cookouts are all the rage.

October, my friends, marks the beginning of why people live in Florida. These days of paradise will roll right along through at least April or May. Last summer we had nice weather through June.

I was looking at multi-vitamins at the grocery store last week and they happened to be right next to the diet supplements, water pills and other products for weight loss. I was astounded at how many different products there were just in the supermarket. I imagine if I were to have walked into t a store like GNC, there would have been even more. I know the internet market for things like the hoodia patch and fat blockers is through the proverbial roof.

If you listen to the news reports, you would be led to believe this heavier American population is due almost entirely to our eating habits. While there is a lot more fast food in our diets as a while, I still look back to the menus my grandparents and before ate on a daily basis. Most lived on farms or in small, southern towns. They ate a lot of breads, gravies, meat and noodles. There were beans and vegetables when they were season. People drank whole milk and unfiltered water. Overall, it was a hearty diet, rich is fat and carbohydrates.

What I feel was different was the level of activity In the past, there were more reason to get up and move around. Laundry was a real chore, farming and gardening was a daily task. Televisions were not in most households and children simply ran and played outside until supper.

For those of use who do not like the concept of going to the gym or doing monotonous exercise, a lifestyle that naturally incorporates more movement and hard, physical work just might be a key element to health.

In the last hour, my blog has suddenly been inundated with hits from people using search terms like “john graziano died” and “john graziano dead”. It makes me wonder if there is an update to be had about Graziano, who was the passenger critically injured when Hulk Hogan’s son Nick Bollea had that crash here in Clearwater August 26.

If anyone has an update, please leave a comment. The last I heard, Graziano was still in critical condition as Bayfront.

Here is the first new show of the TV season that will not make round two cuts on my DVR schedule. The main character of this new show said “it sucks” when asked what it was like to be a vampire. He very well may have been commenting on the show “Moonlight” as well. It sucks. Most certainly.

Just as much as a show like “Heroes” looks and feels like something you would see on the big screen. “Moonlight” is like that B-movie that goes straight to DVD and then gets thrown right into the cheapie bin at WalMart. It explored the vampire legend from such a contrived POV that I had a hard time not chortling. Who am I kidding? I chortled.

It really is a shame to waste the acting talent of Alex O’Loughlin. He plays the main character, a private investigator who also happens to be a 90-year-old vampire named Mick St. John. Taking a look at his roles to date, it looks like “Moonlight” is the first major part for this Aussie. He can rock a U.S. accent, too.

Sophia Myles (who plays Beth Nelson) on the other hand, does a terrible American accent. I knew right away this chick was British. She sounds stilted and over-practiced. I won’t miss her or her character when this series suffers its inevitable cancellation.

I barely recognized Shannyn Sossamon, who plays Coraline. I loved her in “A Knight’s Tale” and I imagine if she is given more screen time in this show, it might improve the series.

I might be convinced to give the second episode a go, but more than likely I have a spot open on my DVR on Friday nights now.