In addition, ladies are you really having fun when your feet hurt due to high heels? Share your high heel horror story on my blog.

Trails are terrific and there's a nice beach as well.

What's next? Open water training in Lake Rawlings. I have to complete four open water dives.

Another interesting thing to do from the deck is to watch the work being done on Town Point Park. I drive by the park each day on my way to work, but I can not get a good sense of how the massive renovation project is coming along.

It's worth checking out on a luch hour.

Fast Forward 15 years or so to college, and junk food was still a regular for me. I went to college in snowy Syracuse, NY. Most days the four block walk to the dining hall, just seemed unbearable for this New Orleans native plopped down in the frozen tundra of Central New York State. I did however have a fast food center right across the street from my dorm.

Then, I joined the TV news world. I would hit the streets in news vans, never sitting for more then 10 minutes. There's always another story, another deadline, and quickly running in the drive-thru certainly winds up being the meal of choice.

A couple of weeks ago, I got a wakeup call, a huge one! You may have been watching 13 News Weekend, when Dr. Brant Thomas of Coastal CIMT visited the WVEC studio and chatted with Julie and I.

He was unveiling a new piece of technology here in Hampton Roads. It's called CIMT, CIMT stands for Carotid Intima-Media Thickness. Basically, its a new noninvasive ultrasound test that is being recommended by the American Heart Association and the American College of Cardiology to screen for heart disease. It uses ultrasound, and technology developed by NASA. The tester puts some jelly on your neck, and a small device is placed there to take a snap shot of your artery.

Here's mine.

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As you might guess, after my years of fast food, mixed in with a history of heart disease in my family, and my news wasn't good. After my measurements were taken, the results were compared to a computerized data base. A report is generated which tells us your vascular age. I learned my arteries are similar to that of a 45 year old man. I am only 31 years old.

I'm not having any signs of heart disease now, and my regularly physicals never showed any sign of alarm. But Doctors say this new technology helps predict what could happen in the future. Some say the machine is the drug companies way of pushing cholesterol reducing drugs on people who don't need them. Other say the tests have saved their lives. I say, Thank you. It's a look at my health now and a wakeup call that all those drive-thru trips I've been making are catching up with me.

I'm eating healthier, and looking for ways to exercise more. Shannon Gormley, Corporate Dietitian at Farm Fresh supermarkets also visited 13 News and showed me so many ways I can eat healthier while on the go. It's a choice I have had to make, and while I admit to still grabbing my favorite burger, I actually attempt to eat healthier now, I think twice before putting bacon on that burger, and those veggie wraps really aren't that bad after all.

And if you see me in the Drive thru -- don't be afraid to shake your finger and remind me, I need to break those bad habits!

And by the way, Mom is living with my family now, and I'm teaching her to not only eat well, but how to bake a decent chicken.

Today, it seems the good news people really want to hear is good news about the economy. A single shread of good news would help.

As I read the newspaper each day, I've decided the really good news about the economy is in the sports pages.

The sports section is where you find good news of people getting great jobs, and really big salary increases. There's rarely any news in the sports pages about NBA players being laid off because of the economy.

Just today I read where Arizona Cardinals quarterback, Kurt Warner, cut his team a break and agreed to sign with the team for two-years for a reduced price of 23-million dollars. Warner is 37-years old--fairly old for an NFL quarterback.

And after weeks of so-called "drama," Manny Ramirez has agreed to a deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers that will pay him 45-million dollars over two-years. By all accounts, Ramirez has one of the worst attitudes and work ethics in all of sports.

It's good money if you can get it while so many people struggle.
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These days everyone I know is trying their best to hold onto every last cent they have. There's so much uncertainty out there about the economy.

Today as I watched the cable news outlets report on the passage of the economic stimulus package in the senate, I could not help but wonder if anything in the bill really will make people feel good about spending money again anytime soon.

What will it take for people to step out and buy a house, or a new car?

Will tax cuts really do it?

Think of your situation. What would a few extra dollars in your pocket each month mean to your family?

So many people are pulling back these days. Brown bag lunches. More miles in
between oil changes. Stretching the food budget.

My guess is most people are nervous about keeping their jobs and keeping a roof over their heads.

An economic stimulus bill may be the start of something big. But a good dose of confidence to go along with a few extra dollars, may be what the doctor needs to order.

If you haven't noticed, the new president has been photographed in recent days behind his
desk without his suit jacket on, in shirt sleeves and with his tie loosened.

Andrew Card points out Ronald Reagan, and both President Bushes, required a coat and tie in the Oval Office at all times. It was their way, Card says, of treating the Office of the Presidency with tremendous respect.

Here's my problem with all of this.

I really don't care what President Obama wears to work in the Oval Office. I never cared what Ronald Reagan wore to work. And when I was a struggling college student waiting in gas lines, and President Jimmy Carter addressed the nation from the Oval Office about the energy crisis in a cardigan sweater, I didn't mind that either.

Here's what I care about. As I surf the cable news shows, there is nothing but bad news and growing uncertainty about the economy.

Each day there are more reports of job losses and warnings there will be more bad economic news tomorrow.

The markets continue to struggle and consumer confidence is in the toilet. Some in the U.S. Senate is bitterly at odds with the president over the 900-billion dollar economic stimulus package to try and pull us out of this mess.

In millions of homes across this great land tonight, families are living with heavy burdens. How will we pay the mortgage? Will dad keep his job? What if we get a huge medical bill? Can we put a good face on all of this for the kids?

For me the bottom line is clear. There's work to do in this country, serious work. it's time to roll up our sleeves and do it.

The GOP favors tax cuts while democrats lean toward spending. That's long been the
classic debate!

Tonight on World News with Charles Gibson, reporter Betsy Stark put the issue in fairly simple terms. A little Stimulus Package 101, if you will.

President Obama's argument is every dollar in 'spending' creates $1.50 worth of stimulus while every dollar of 'tax cuts' creates just .75 cents of stimulus. That's what many economist also think.

Mr. Obama wants to stimulate 'employment' in key sectors; energy, infrastructure and health care. The thought is jobs produce income and more spending. The other question is what would people do with a tax cut? Spend it? Save it? Try and breath new life into their 401k?

The stimulus package heads to the U.S. House tomorrow where debate will begin. It will no doubt be spirited and a real test of whether the tone in Washington has really changed. A lot of people across the country who are really hurting will be watching.

Shortly after Barack Obama was sworn in as president last week, he grabbed a pen in his
"LEFT" hand and signed an executive order to close Guantanamo Bay. You also may have watched Senator Obama scribble notes with his left hand during the presidential dabates.

President Obama isn't our only left-handed president. A check of wikipedia shows we have had a number of lefties in the Oval Office, including Bill Clinton and George H.W. Bush, more recently, and Gerald Ford, James Garfield and Harry Truman in years
past. Even John McCain, who ran for president, was left handed.

Other famous southpaws include Mark Twain, Babe Ruth, Tom Cruise, Charlie Chaplin, Marliyn Monroe, Ben Franklin and Paul McCartney. Even Larry Fine, of the Three Stooges, was said to be a lefty. My daughter tells me the cartoon character Sponge Bob Square Pants is left handed.

Estimates are around 10-percent of the population is left handed and it's a more common tendency for men than women.

Research by of Alan Searlelman St Lawrence University says there's a higher percentage of left-handed people with IQ's of more than 140 than right handed people.

And did you know left handed people are said to be better typists because the most used letters on the keyboard; A, E, R, S and T are on the left hand side of the keyboard.

That one I find hard to believe. I too am left handed and have never quite felt I 'hunt and
peck' any better with my left hand than right.

I read an interesting article this morning in the New York Times.

It turns out one of my favorite musical moments from the inauguration of President Barack Obama was more of a Milli Vanilli moment. Not lip-syncing, but close enough.

Yep, the Times reports that beautiful performance of "Air and Simple Gifts" by cellist,
Yo-Yo Ma, violinist, Itzhak Perlman, along with piano and clarinet, had been recorded days prior. What millions on the National Mall and watching at home on tv heard, was the quartet matching note for note what was being played on loud speakers.

As I watched, I thought all of the performers played with such passion it could only be real, meaning live. But apparently it was just too cold to take the chance of a broken piano string, or a cracked violin, or cello. And the performance would undoubtedly have ended on a 'sour note' if the cold would have lead to some wacky out-of-key moments.

So, when you consider all of the weather factors, it all seems to make sense.

Maybe they should have taped the oath of office as well.

Simple Gifts is a simple yet powerful Shaker hymn, or work song. The version of the popular song played at the inauguration was arranged by John Williamson.

Coach Yow, is one of the winningest coaches ever in women's basketball. She coached the U.S. Olympic team to gold in 1988. And she has roamed the sidelines at NC State for 34-years, nurturing and inspiring many young athletes.

Over the years, many nice things have been said about Coach Yow. I'd like to add a few of my own.

Back in the early 1990's while I was working at a tv station in Raleigh, I had the priviledge to play in a charity golf tournament with Kay Yow. We were not off the first tee box before I realized why so many considered her such a champion.

Coach Yow was a chatter box constantly encouraging the team. She was a cheerleader. There were never any bad shots.(actually, there were) Each shot, no matter how ordinary, represented an extraordinary opportunity for the team. She was always a "coach." She believed at all times, our names were on the winner's trohpy sitting in the pro shop.

This past weekend I saw a feature on Coach Yow on ESPN that talked about her amazing career and what she has meant to generations of young woman who played for her down on tobacco row. Geno Auriemma, coach of UConn women's team, said no one has ever had anything bad to say about Kay Yow. I agree!

What an impact she had on her sport. What an impact she had had on people. And now she continues to need our thoughts and prayers and encouragement. She's a fighter and to know her is to want to fight this cancer battle with her.

By the way, we never won that charity golf tournament but we were in it until the final shot. Coach Yow would have it no other way.