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!!!

Merry Christmas!!!

Top 25 Highest Income Counties

Top 25 highest-income counties by median household income (2006-2008) This data is average 2006-2008 from the American Community Survey of the United States Bureau of the Census. Of the top 25 counties, 11 are part of the Washington Metropolitan Area, 6 counties are part of the New York Metropolitan Area, and 2 counties are part of the San Francisco Bay Area. Rank County,Median Household Income, Population, Educational Attainment* 1 Loudoun County, Virginia $110,643 277,433 58% 2 Fairfax County, Virginia $106,785 1,005,980 60% 3 Howard County, Maryland $101,710 272,412 60% 4 Somerset County, New Jersey $103,227 321,589 53% 5 Hunterdon County, New Jersey $100,947 129,000 52% 6 City of Fairfax, Virginia $98,133 23,281 52% 7 Morris County, New Jersey $97,565 486,459 52% 8 Douglas County, Colorado $97,480 270,286 54% 9 Arlington County, Virginia $96,390 204,889 71% 10 Montgomery County, Maryland $93,999 942,747 59% 11 Nassau County, New York $93,579 1,352,817 45% 12 Stafford County, Virginia $89,536 120,219 36% 13 Calvert County, Maryland $89,049 88,126 30% 14 Prince William County, Virginia $88,675 358,719 38% 15 Putnam County, New York $88,580 99,195 40% *Based on bachelor's degree attainment (and above) for people 25 and older in the county