Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

Happy Halloween!!!

Prince William County in Top 10

Prince William County, Virginia ranks among the top ten of the wealthiest counties in America according to the latest U.S. census figures released September 22, 2011.

With a median household income of $92,655 Prince William is ranked ninth in the nation. Prince William was also recently named CNN/Money's No. 13 among all jurisdictions in the nation in job growth. This is up from the previous year when the County was ranked 17th nationally.

“This ranking reflects the pro-business reforms that the County has implemented,” Prince William Board of County Supervisors Chairman Corey A. Stewart said in a press release on Thursday. “We have made a concerted effort to attract high quality jobs to Prince William County and the results speak for themselves.”

Prince William also just earned its third AAA Bond rating status even as Standard and Poor’s downgraded the Federal Government.

July 2011 Was Hottest Month Ever

July 2011 was the hottest month in recorded history in Washington D.C. July 2010 had set a new record also, but this year the temperatures soared just over another degree on average to achieve an incredibly toasty 84.5F at Washington Reagan National Airport. That is 4.7 degrees hotter than the new 1981-2010 normal or 5.3 degrees hotter than the old 1971-2000 climatological baseline. Also, it is slightly hotter than a normal July for Houston, TX and slightly cooler than a normal July for Dallas, TX. It’s like we were living in a whole different part of the country. As you might expect for a month like this, precipitation ran below normal, but only .7" below the 1981-2010 normal of 3.70" at National Airport. This puts our running deficit over 4" since January 1st. While Washington actually saw the same number of 100-degree days this July compared to last, and both were extraordinarily hot, this one took the cake on pretty much every high-temperature metric. Of those three 100-degree days, one was a record for the date 104F on the 29th. That was the hottest we’ve seen in D.C. since August 17, 1997 when it was 105, and it tied for the 5th hottest all-time. Previously, the second of back-to-back 102s on July 23 also set a new record for the date. Other notable D.C. area 100-degree plus stats for the month include the all-time record high of 105F at Dulles Airport on July 22. Although the records there only go back to 1963, no other day had topped 104 with the last occurrence in 1988. On the same day, BWI hit 106F. That was the highest on record at the current location, and one shy of the all-time Baltimore record of 107. A fourteen day streak of 90-degrees or higher, which now carries on into August.

Cost of Gas

"ExxonMobil’s earnings reflect continued leadership in operational performance during a period of strong commodity prices. Earnings were $10.7 billion, up 69% from the first quarter of 2010, reflecting higher crude oil and natural gas realizations, increased refining margins and record Chemical performance." Meanwhile, I am paying $4.00/gal. for gas which is almost 69% higher than what I paid for gas last year. Does not seem fair.

It's Spring

It's Spring, sunny and warm and I have not had time to post anything since Winter. Got to do a better job job in the future. Anyway, belated Happy Easter and Wecome Spring!!!

Favorite Books of 2010

Favorite Books of 2010

1) The Autobiography of Mark Twain - Mark Twain

2) Washington: A Life - Ron Chernow

3) Fall of Giants - Ken Follett

4) The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest - Stieg Larsson

5) The Secret Life of Emily Dickinson - Jerame Charyn

6) Clara and Mr. Tiffany - Susan Vreeland

7) America's Prophet: Moses and the American Story - Bruce Feiler

8) Aftershock: The Next Economy and America's Future

9) The Rembrandt Affair - Daniel Silva

10) Life - Keith Richards

Top 10 Albums of 2010

1) Arcade Fire - The Suburbs

2) Josh Ritter - So Runs The World Away

3) Bruno Mars - Doo-Waps & Hooligans

4) The National - High Violet

5) Beach House - Teen Dream

6) Lissie - Catching A Tiger

7) Interpol - Interpol

8) Gorillaz - Plastic Beach

9) Grace Potter - Grace Potter & The Nocturnals

10) Warpaint - The Fool

11) Taylor Swift - Speak Now

12) Lost In The Trees - All Alone In An Empty House

Virginia Colleges Best Values

Congratulations to the Virginia colleges making Kiplinger’s Personal Finance list of the 100 best values in public high education, based on in-state tuition.

The University of Virginia was ranked third, with the College of William & Mary right behind at fourth. These two schools have been in Kiplinger’s top five since 1998, and were praised for drawing high-scoring freshmen and having the best graduation rates. James Madison’s value was ranked 19th; Virginia Tech, 24th; University of Mary Washington, 26th; George Mason University, 61st.

Virginia truly does have some of the best colleges in the nation, at the best prices.

Maryland Wins Bowl Looses Coach

Maryland football coah Ralph Friedgen choked back tears as his players embraced him on the last night of his Maryland career, as the Terps beat East Carolina University 51-20 in the Military Bowl at RFK Stadium in Washington, D.C. And at the exact same time the 63-year-old was coaching his final game at his alma mater, Mike Leach, the former Texas Tech coach was being courted around campus as possibly the new football coach at Maryland. The Maryland team playing their last game for Friedgen played with high emotion and intensity. The defense forced four turnovers, made two fourth-down stops and contained an explosive spread offense. On offense, Senior running back Da'Rel Scott scored on two touchdown runs of more than 60 yards and rushed for a career-high 200 yards. D.J. Adams became the first Maryland player in eight years to score four rushing touchdowns in a game. In all, Maryland rushed for a season-high 297 yards. "I have three daughters and 120 sons," Friedgen said amid the postgame celebration as his 120-player extended family encircled the patriarch of Maryland football for one more night. "I am going to miss these kids." "My legacy is what it is," Friedgen said. "It is 75-50"(in ten seasons as head coach). Mike Wise of the Washington Post summed up my feelings all to well. "The body wasn't even cold. You couldn't have at least waited until he cleaned out his office at Gossett Team House on Thursday? It was just too much to let the ACC coach of the year have one more day before the mail-order bride from Texas arrived? But when the athletic director guarantees your job security for 2011, then rescinds that pledge a month later;...when his hoped-for replacement(Leach) is in College Park the very day he is taking the Terrapins to their seventh bowl game in his 10 years and their fifth postseason victory, well, that's just about as classless as it comes. They can't debate this: Forty years after his old man swore he would change the locks if his disenchanted kid left College Park - because, as his father said, "quitters don't live in my house" - Ralph Friedgen never quit on Maryland. It's a damn shame that on the night of his last triumph, in the cold at RFK where they chanted his name and he sang the alma mater as the band played, the university he continues to love can't say the same".

Happy New Year 2011!!!