Eurovision 2006: And the winner is...

Sakiiiiiiisssssssssssss! Oh my God!!!

Δύναμη ψυχής!

Απόδειξη ότι η δύναμη της θέλησης μπορεί να ξεπεράσει όλα τα εμπόδια αποτελεί η επιτυχία του νεοζηλανδού ορειβάτη Μάρκ Ινγκλις να κατακτήσει την κορυφή του Εβερεστ. Ο 47χρονος άνδρας κατάφερε να ανέβει στην κορυφή του κόσμου παρά το γεγονός ότι πριν από πολλά χρόνια οι γιατροί χρειάστηκε να του ακρωτηριάσουν και τα δύο πόδια.

Ο Ίνγκλις, ο πρώτος άνθρωπος που κατακτά το Έβερεστ χωρίς να έχει πόδια, τηλεφώνησε στη γυναίκα του Αν το βράδυ της Δευτέρας για να της δηλώσει ότι βρίσκεται σε υψόμετρο 8.850 μέτρων, δηλαδή στην υψηλότερη κορυφή του κόσμου. Όπως ανέφεραν τα τοπικά μέσα ενημέρωσης, το ένα από τα τεχνητά μέλη του Ίνγκλις έσπασε ενώ βρισκόταν στα 6.400 μέτρα και ο ορειβάτης αναγκάστηκε να το επιδιορθώσει πρόχειρα για να συνεχίσει την προσπάθειά του.

Το 1982 ο Ίνγκλις έχασε και τα δύο πόδια του από το γόνατο και κάτω αφού υπέστη σοβαρά κρυοπαγήματα όταν, στη διάρκεια μιας χιονοθύελλας, παγιδεύτηκε σε ένα σπήλαιο του όρους Κουκ της Νέας Ζηλανδίας για 14 ημέρες.

Πηγή: flash.gr

A yellow shirt's story!

Διαβάστε αυτήν την συγκινητική ιστορία μέχρι τέλους, αξίζει την προσοχή σας! Αφιερωμένο σε όλες τις μανούλες που έχουν σχέση αγάπης με τις κόρες τους!Μ.

The Yellow shirt


The baggy yellow shirt had long sleeves, four extra-large pockets trimmed in black thread and snaps up the front. It was faded from years of wear, but still in decent shape. I found it in 1963 when I was home from college on Christmas break, rummaging through bags of clothes Mom intended to give away. "You're not taking that old thing, are you?" Mom said when she saw me packing the yellow shirt. "I wore that when I was pregnant with your brother in 1954!"


"It's just the thing to wear over my clothes during art class,

Mom. Thanks!" I slipped it into my suitcase before she could object. The yellow shirt be came a part of my college wardrobe. I loved it. After graduation, I wore the shirt the day I moved into my new apartment and on Saturday mornings when I cleaned.


The next year, I married. When I became pregnant, I wore the yellow shirt during big-belly days. I missed Mom and the rest of my family, since we were in Colorado and they were in Illinois. But that shirt helped. I smiled, remembering that Mother had worn it when she was pregnant, 15 years earlier.

That Christmas, mindful of the warm feelings the shirt had given me, I patched one elbow, wrapped it in holiday paper and sent it to Mom. When Mom wrote to thank me for her "real" gifts, she said the yellow shirt was lovely. She never mentioned it again.


The next year, my husband, daughter and I stopped at Mom and Dad's to pick up some furniture. Days later, when we uncrated the kitchen table, I noticed something yellow taped to its bottom. The shirt!


And so the pattern was set.


On our next visit home, I secretly placed the shirt under Mom and Dad's mattress. I don't know how long it took for her to find it, but almost two years passed before I discovered it under the base of our living-room floor lamp. The yellow shirt was just what I needed now while refinishing furniture. The walnut stains added character.


In 1975 my husband and I divorced. With my three children, I prepared to move back to Illinois. As I packed, a deep depression overtook me. I wondered if I could make it on my own. I wondered if I would find a job. I paged through the Bible, looking for comfort. In Ephesians, I read, "So use every piece of God's armor to resist the enemy whenever he attacks, and when it is all over, you will be standing up."


I tried to picture myself wearing God's armor, but all I saw was the stained yellow shirt. Slowly, it dawned on me. Wasn't my mother's love a piece of God's armor? My courage was renewed.


Unpacking in our new home, I knew I had to get the shirt back to Mother. The next time I visited her, I tucked it in her bottom dresser drawer.


Meanwhile, I found a good job at a radio station. A year later I discovered the yellow shirt hidden in a rag bag in my cleaning closet. Something new had been added. Embroidered in bright green across the breast pocket were the words "I BELONG TO PAT."


Not to be outdone, I got out my own embroidery materials and added an apostrophe and seven more letters. Now the shirt proudly proclaimed, "I BELONG TO PAT'S MOTHER." But I didn't stop there. I zig-zagged all the frayed seams, then had a friend mail the shirt in a fancy box to Mom from Arlington, VA. We enclosed an official looking letter from "The Institute for the Destitute," announcing that she was the recipient of an award for good deeds. I would have given anything to see Mom's face when she opened the box. But, of course, she never mentioned it.


Two years later, in 1978, I remarried. The day of our wedding, Harold and I put our car in a friend's garage to avoid practical jokers. After the wedding, while my husband drove us to our honeymoon suite, I reached for a pillow in the car to rest my head. It felt lumpy. I unzipped the case and found, wrapped in wedding paper, the yellow shirt. Inside a pocket was a note: "Read John 14:27-29. I love you both, Mother."


That night I paged through the Bible in a hotel room and found the verses: "I am leaving you with a gift: peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give isn't fragile like the peace the world gives. So don't be troubled or afraid. Remember what I told you: I am going away, but I will come back to you again. If you really love me, you will be very happy for me, for now I can go to the Father, who is greater than I am. I have told you these things before they happen so that when they do, you will believe in me."


The shirt was Mother's final gift. She had known for three months that she had terminal Lou Gehrig's disease. Mother died the following year at age 57.


I was tempted to send the yellow shirt with her to her grave. But I'm glad I didn't, because it is a vivid reminder of the love-filled game she and I played for 16 years. Besides, my older daughter is in college now, majoring in art. And every art student needs a baggy yellow shirt with big pockets.

Super hero cat calls 911 for help!

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10663270/?GT1=7538

Well, after hearing such incredible news, should I reconsider training my doggy in doing my errands at work? ;-)

We Are The Champions!

Greece has done it again my friends! In 2004 except for hosting the Olympic Games in Athens, we became European Football Champions in Portugal, in May we won the European song contest Eurovision 2005 with Helena Paparizou performing "My Number One" mesmerising the audiences and on September the 25th, the National Basketball Team became Number One in Euro 2005 Basketball Championship in Belgrade, Serbia after 18 years of its previous victory in the same championship!

Outwinning Germany by 17 points in the finals and winning a breath-taking game against France in the semifinals, Greece has shown that it is a team with talent, tactics and a drive to excel in the game internationally. Note that the present coach Panaghiotis Giannakis, is the first and only person that has won two championships, the one in 1987 as a player of the Greek basketball team and now as the coach of the same team! The anthem of the Team is "The Final Countdown" sang by the rock band of Europe, that was a top hit back in 1986!

Afterall, Greece may be a small country in Europe, but has proven that it is lionhearted once more in terms of athletic achievements!

Greece's My Number One is the winner of the European Song Contest of 2005!

The Eurovision Song Contest has just ended broadcasting live from Kiev the capital of Ucraine! The winner is Helena Paparizou singing the song "My number one" representing Greece, winning with an unmatched victory of 230 points and 48 points difference from the second country! Wow, you can't imagine our pride and joy for our country's victory for the first time ever in the Eurovision contest throughout the 31 yrs of Greece's participation!

Thanks the Greeks all over the globe who voted for Helena, thank you all the people who liked the song and casted their vote to GREECE, thanx for the unique moments we are now living!!!

See you all in one year's time from now in the capital of Greece, Athens and until then don't forget who's Number One in Europe for 2005's Eurovision Song Contest! Well done Helena!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elena_Paparizou (the winner's bio and more)
http://eurosongonline.com/esc-info/ (information about the Eurovision song contest)

Για τον Πύρρο Δήμα που τίμησε την Ελληνική Ψυχή!

Πύρρο, ύστερα απ' τον σημερινό συγκλονιστικό αγώνα στους Ολυμπιακούς της Αθήνας, νιώθω την ανάγκη να σ'ευχαριστήσω για τα 12 χρόνια που σηκώνεις ψηλά την Ελληνική Σημαία και μαζί της το ανάστημα μας. Δεν θα ξεχάσω τα ρίγη υπερηφάνιας που με κατέκλυσαν το 1992 όταν στη Βαρκελώνη στέφθηκες Ολυμπιονίκης, αλλά και κάθε φορά που εκπροσωπούσες τη χώρα μας επάξια και μας έκανες να νιώθουμε σαν απόγονοι του Ηρακλή με τα κατορθώματα σου. Σήμερα, απέδειξες ότι η ψυχή σου μπορεί να κινήσει και βουνά με το μεγαλείο που διαθέτεις! Σ' ευχαριστώ που για μια ακόμη φορά τα δάκρυα που κύλησαν στα μάτια μας ήταν η σπονδή σ'έναν Έλληνα που αγωνίζεται για τα ιδανικά της πατρίδας. Είσαι ισάξιος του Σπύρου Λούη στο μέγεθος των επιτευγμάτων σου. Η γενιά μας είναι περήφανη για το λεοντόκαρδο αγόρι απ' τη Χειμάρρα. Εύχομαι η πορεία σου ν' αποτελέσει παράδειγμα για τους επόμενους Έλληνες Ολυμπιονίκες.