The Merrill Dubrow Blog

What Is Your Favorite TV Animal?

January 11th, 2012

A few weeks ago I read that Cheetah the chimp from the Tarzan movies passed away. Cheetah was living in Florida at an animal sanctuary and died of kidney failure at 80 years old.

When I was reading the article a friend of mine called and the two of us discussed Cheetah and other animals on TV, which of course now has led to a blog.

My discussion with R.Z. was fun and we named a number of our favorite animals that we watched on TV. He went first and tossed out Lassie which might be the most famous and popular animal. I tossed out a few others, like Mr. Ed and Flipper, which were fun and popular animals but probably fell short of Lassie’s popularity

Let’s try and build a list of our top 10 favorite TV animals of all time. Assuming Lassie, Mr. Ed and Flipper are already on the list, what other animals should be considered?

I look forward to reading your comments.

Posted in Entertainment, Uncategorized | Post Comments
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I Hope I Can Do ________ When I Am 90!

January 9th, 2012

Over the weekend the read an article about Bernice Bates who is a yoga instructor from Florida. Like most yoga instructors she teaches from the front of the room while laying on her mat and doing all of the poses. She leads the class step-by-step while having her students follow her every move.

This sounds like most yoga classes and Bernice is just another yoga instructor. Well, neither one is the case. You see, this instructor started teaching over 50 years ago – yes, 50 years ago. Some of us (me included) didn’t even realize that yoga was around 50 years ago. Well, it was and Bernice was involved. The amazing thing is, this lady is 91 years old and teaches a class every week. Her students absolutely love her energy and passion!

Wow – Bernice to be able to do something you love for that many years is magical and a dream come true. At 91 there are so many things I would still like to do – that list includes: playing softball, running around with my grandkids, or actually maybe great-grandkids. My long list of what I hope to still be doing at 91 brings three things to mind:

Play tennis – I would love to be able to play tennis (not in a wheel chair) with my friends S.S and K.W. This would be important to me to still be able to walk and run and be physical later in life.

Play cards, specifically gin. The reason I love gin is because it has so much strategy and in a lot of ways takes the luck aspect out. To be able to play that with A.S, S.S., G.S and A.B would be amazing and means that I still have all or at least most of my faculties.

Be a guest lecturer at a college. To be able to continue to teach, mentor and help people becomes even more meaningful later in life.

So, Bernice and I ask you, what would you like to still be doing at 90?

I look forward to reading your comments.

Posted in Life | Post Comments
8 Reader Comments »

I Love My DVR – How About A DVR In My… ?

January 6th, 2012

Over this past weekend I was watching some football games with my son. A few times he stepped out to get something to eat, drink or run around the house. I number of times he said, “What did I miss? How did the Patriots get to the 20 yard line?” Every time I would take my handy dandy clicker (love the clicker, not sure I ever could express how much) and hit the rewind button and low and behold he saw what he missed. I love the DVR function with DirecTV.

Please put that story to the side and think about this. You are in your car driving down the highway and your favorite song comes on. You are alone and singing very loud, or in my case loud and POOR. What if (love what if’s) I told you, you hit a center button on your console and somehow someway you now have that song in your car library! You can replay it whenever you wanted and again sing very loud!

I have asked a few people if they have ever heard of this technology and everyone responds with, “No, but great idea.”

What do you think?

Is this a good idea?

Would you use this if it was a feature in your car?

Is there something out there like it?

Would you pay 25¢ per song?

Am I crazy?

I really look forward to reading your comments.

Posted in Technology | Post Comments
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Get Your Picks Ready For The 6th Annual Merrill Dubrow Blog Stock Contest. Yes, There Is Money Involved And It Costs Nothing To Join!

January 4th, 2012

This contest is now closed. Click here to follow the stock contest leader board. Good luck to all participants!

First of all, congratulations to Brian Nixon whose stock pick, Genetic Technologies (GENE) went from 1.06 to 3.03 – an increase of 185% For winning the contest Brian will receive $300.00.

2011 was a challenging year for stocks. The average stock went down 21.43% while 30 stocks went up and 76 went down.

To participate in the 2012 contest, here is what you need to do:

Respond to the blog with your stock name and symbol.

State the reason why you picked the stock you did. It’s as simple as that. We’ll do the rest.

A few things to remember:

You need to respond by 7:00 PM CST January 23, 2012.

You can only have one entry.

The stock price needs to be at least $1.00 – anything less will not be accepted into the contest.

Only one person can have a particular stock, so the person who responds first gets the pick and we will notify anyone who has a duplicate stock (we had at least 10 duplicates last year and I am sure there will be more this year).

If a stock splits, we will make the necessary calculation and adjustment.

If the company you pick gets acquired during the year and their company doesn’t have their own stock price, you won’t be counted in the contest.

We will use the stock prices as they were at the time the market closed the last trading day of 2010.

Like last year we will post a leader board.

First prize will be $300.00 for the person whose stock goes up the highest percentage in 2012.

I will get the ball rolling with my choice for the 2012 contest: Starbucks (SBUX). Everyone seems to love Starbucks and they continue to be creative with their business.

Take the stock challenge of 2012! Get your entries in today!

Again, the deadline is 7:00 PM CST, January 23th.

Posted in Contests | Post Comments
113 Reader Comments »

If I Agree To Tweet I Get Better Seats? Really?

December 30th, 2011

If you look around everyone is on their blackberry or smartphone. It seems like everyone is making a call, responding to an email, sending a text message or tweeting. However, there are a few places that frowned upon using your smartphone. Announcements are made at Broadway shows, movie theatres and the ballet requesting that you turn off your electronic device and don’t send any communication while you are in the performance.

Well, that may change in the future and in fact in a few spots is has already changed! Connecticut’s Norma Terris Theater, Raleigh’s Carolina Ballet, the Indianapolis Symphony, the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and the Dayton Opera have all set aside seats for those who wish to live-tweet performances.

I understand technology of today and the need for speed but tweeting during a symphony? Seriously! These theatres might be ok with it now ASSUMING all of the tweets are positive! What if the people send negative tweets? Are the ushers going to go down and take them out of these “special” seats? Are these “special” seats the best seats in the house? If they are isn’t that creating bias with the people tweeting?

To me cell phones, texting, etc. takes away from a performance and doesn’t add any value at all!

I think this is a horrible idea and one that I hope doesn’t work! Can you imagine the announcement that is made prior to the curtain coming up? ‘Everyone please turn off their electronics device except the special 6 people in the second row who are allowed to tweet during the performance!’

What do you think?

Would you like someone sitting in special seats and tweeting at a performance that you attend?

Would you buy seats so you can tweet?

Would you not attend a performance if people were allowed to tweet?

I look forward to reading your comments.

Posted in Life, Social Networking | Post Comments
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Are You Ready For Some Football? Join The Week 17 Merrill Dubrow Blog Football Pool

December 28th, 2011

Yes I predicted the Colts would win their second game of the year and yes the Dallas Cowboys and The NY Jets aren’t very good teams and both might be playing golf next week instead of football.

Congratulations to Jon Last who won this week in a tie breaker and joins Josh Epstein, Scott Wallace, Jacob Adler, Matt Hancock, Sharon Gautschy, Andy Davis, Marshall Toplansky, Amber Leila Esco, Kelly Christine Delaney, Rick Hurwitz, Clay Dethloff, J.R. Venza, Sam Picchiotti, Bob Tekampe & couldbStu in the championship week!

To see the current standings, click here.

Congratulations go out to Andrew Dixon who was the cumulative champion this year and Amber Leila Esco who qualified for the championship week again with her tie breaker win over Willie Martin and now has two spots in the championship week.

The results page shows this week’s current standings as well as the cumulative rankings.

REMEMBER THE DEADLINE FOR THIS WEEK’S PICKS IS FRIDAY AT 5:00 CST.

None of the picks will be posted until that time. We will highlight all of the people who qualify for the championship week and there will be a second tie breaker game just in case we need it to determine a winner.

Click here to participate in this week’s pool.

Good luck to all.

Posted in Contests, Sports | Post Comments
148 Reader Comments »

When Did I Become A SIR?

December 21st, 2011

This morning it is 25° in Dallas, which is clearly not the norm. When I got to work the card reader on the side door wasn’t working (perhaps frozen) so I needed to enter through the front door. As I was walking through the lobby I said “Good Morning” to the security guard who said, “Sir, have a good morning.” In the last week I can recall at least 5 people calling me “Sir.” At least 5 people! My new chiropractor said, “Sir, how can we help you?” A stranger at the airport said, “Sir, let me get this door for you.”

When did I become a sir?

Why did I become a sir?

Is it my age?

My gray hair?

My limp?

My suit?

Help please……..

When did I become a ‘sir’?

When do you start calling someone a “Sir”?

I look forward to reading your comments.

Posted in Life | Post Comments
12 Reader Comments »

Are You Ready For Some Football? Join The Week 16 Merrill Dubrow Blog Football Pool

December 19th, 2011

Yes I predicted the Colts would win their first game of the year and yes I knew that the Philadelphia Eagles would pound the NY Jets – frankly I peaked with those two picks. The rest of my week wasn’t that good.

A ton of upsets – the Packers lost for the first time, the Detroit Lions came back from a 13 point deficit (sound familiar Cowboys fans) to win in the last seconds. San Diego sent the Ravens home with a loss and the Texans, yes the Texans got upset!

As far as the pool goes Tyson Chandler (code name for Josh Epstein) has a one game lead over Genevieve and Sonja Streich. If the Steelers win, Tyson (I mean Josh) wins. If the 49ers win, then it will come down to a tie-breaker…

Congratulations to last week’s winner Scott Wallace. He joins Jacob Adler, Matt Hancock, Sharon Gautschy, Andy Davis, Marshall Toplansky, Amber Leila Esco, Kelly Christine Delaney, Rick Hurwitz, Clay Dethloff, J.R. Venza, Sam Picchiotti, Bob Tekampe & couldbStu in the championship week!

To see the current standings, click here. Andrew Dixon has a four game lead over Erin Jewell and Amber in the cumulative rankings. The results page shows this week’s current standings as well as the cumulative rankings.

Remember, the weekly winners will receive $50 and be given a spot in the grand prize pool during week 17 for an opportunity to win $400 and of course bragging rights for the next 6 months. In addition, the two people who have the highest cumulative score (these standing will be updated weekly) will be given a spot in the grand prize pool along with the weekly winners.

REMEMBER THERE IS A GAME ON THURSDAY NIGHT SO THE CONTEST CLOSES AT 5PM ON THURSDAY!

Click here to participate in this week’s pool.

THIS IS YOUR LAST CHANCE TO WIN AND BE PART OF CHAMPIONSHIP WEEK!

Good luck to all.

Posted in Contests, Sports | Post Comments
183 Reader Comments »

Attention Football Fans! Time To Take A Quick Quiz!

December 16th, 2011

As the football season is winding down I thought it would be fun to take a quick 2 minute quiz.

Click here to share your football thoughts.

Enjoy!

Posted in Friday Fun | Post Comments
62 Reader Comments »

Am I Lucky Or Unlucky? You Tell Me!

December 14th, 2011

For years I have been flying a lot. In fact, during my lifetime I have flown almost 1.7 million miles on American Airlines alone. When you fly that often, lots of things can happen. From mechanical delays to people watching, it really is like a reality show every day of the week.

In the past 18 months I have had a few things happen that were a little different:

On takeoff from O’Hare, we hit a flock of birds and lost our left engine. We needed to make an emergency landing. We were greeted with 5 fire engines and other emergency vehicles back at O’Hare 5 minutes later.
Our flight in Ft. Lauderdale was forced to abort landing (we were about 500 feet from landing). The pilot made an announcement after we went vertical and said it was weather related.
I had another aborted landing in Atlanta a few weeks ago. This time we were less than 400 feet from the ground (as I am leaving the flight I always ask the pilot how close we were) and again went vertical this time even more quickly.

These situations happened very quickly and there is little time to freak out. Because I was traveling with my son during the Ft Lauderdale flight, I had a little more reason to pause and think about what happened.

The question is, am I lucky or unlucky?

I am really curious how people view this. I can argue both sides of the coin. Wow this happened 3 times clearly you are unlucky with the other side of the coin is yes it happened but I landed safely and not one person got hurt so that makes me lucky.

From my standpoint I would say I am lucky. In fact, very lucky!

Typically I am pretty positive about things and wonder if there is a direct correlation between people who would view my experiences as unlucky to being pessimistic in nature and people who would view them as lucky being optimistic most of the time?