F**king HOT !!!!!!

Apolo Anton Ohno got an extra special 25th birthday gift Tuesday: The two-time Olympic medalist became the latest Dancing with the Stars champ.

"I feel amazing," the speed skater said after learning he'd won the competition, beating out singer Joey Fatone and boxer Laila Ali. "From day 1 I feel like everyone here has been champions."

On Tuesday's finale Ohno and his partner Julianne Hough danced the paso doble before winning the mirror-ball trophy. On Tuesday's finale Ohno and his partner Julianne Hough danced the paso doble before winning the mirror-ball trophy.

"I'm so excited to see Apolo win," judge Carrie Ann Inaba told PEOPLE after the finale. "He took it so seriously. He truly mastered the dances. He was the best technical dancer. Apolo and Julianne brought a whole new energy to the dance floor. You never quite knew what they were going to do."

The couple's surprising moves were shown off Monday during their hip-hop inspired freestyle dance, which included break-dancing. All three judges praised the playful routine by Ohno and Hough, who scored a perfect 30 for the number.

Runner-up Fatone kept up his signature good spirits saying, "I feel like a winner." He called the show "one of the best things I've ever done in my life." Earlier in the evening, Fatone and his partner Kym Johnson scored a perfect 30 for their performance of their Star Wars-inspired tango.

The night before, the pair got panned by the judges for their overly theatrical version of the cha-cha, but they dazzled the audience with their disco freestyle.

Laila Ali and Maksim Chmerkovskiy, who started the evening in third place, ended up in the same position after performing the mambo. When asked about balancing boxing and dancing, Ali said, "I think you can be strong and sexy and beautiful."

But she wasn't so light-hearted after being named second runner-up mid-way through the show. "I'm pissed," she said with a laugh. "Everyone here is a good dancer, it doesn't matter who wins especially because I didn't."

She added,"I had so much fun. I'm happy for whoever wins."

The finale also featured performances from each of the contestants who'd been booted earlier during the season, including Paulina Porizkova, Shandi Finnessey, Leeza Gibbons, Clyde Drexler, Heather Mills, John Ratzenberger, Billy Ray Cyrus and Ian Ziering.

I ended up working until 3:30pm and it took longer to get home than normal. The weather was great, no rain or wind, not too hot. Just right.

Aunt Linda ended up not going. I went over to Mom's house expecting her to be ready and she's laying on the couch watching TV! She took me and watched the start and me end but she didn't walk. She said I didn't call her. Hmm. I guess but I did say that I was going to be in the race. I'm in it every year. Oh well.

So I haven't ran since last August. Not at all. Jade and I go to the park and walk around maybe once, twice if we're lucky. We might jog over the bridge (so the troll who lives under there doesn't get us) but that's about it.

For not practicing I did really well. I was able to run the first mile without stopping!! (That's a big deal for me) Not a fast run but not a walk either. I had the most horrendous side ache but I kept going. (Usually I'm a wimpy baby and stop)

Course after the first mile, I started walking and then wasn't able to run any more. Need to work on that. But this is just the first race of the season and now I should be motivated enough to train. (I hope)

The t-shirts this year are not cute like they usually are. They're black and fug, but I can add it to my quilt. The normal food sponsor wasn't there this year, it was Subway. No vegetarian so I gave it to Mom.

There were a ton! of people. The little kids were cute. No criers this year. And there was Boy's Quest for the 1st time too.

I should have been a walker, in my age group there was just one woman. I could have won a trophy for 2nd place!

I finished with a time of 48:02:03. Not too bad for 8 months of nothing. And should be fairly easy to improve.

36 minutes has been my goal for years. I wonder if I'll ever reach it?

Off and running Area girls in Girl Quest eye goal of finishing 5K event

Alyssa Rottler has learned pushing herself to be physically fit helps her study better.

"It helps me to push myself to concentrate on school," said Alyssa, 11, a sixth-grader at Napoleon Middle School.

Alyssa is among 15 girls at the school who have been participating in Girl Quest this semester.

The after-school program seeks to build the esteem of preteen girls by emphasizing the importance of physical, mental and spiritual health, and character education.

About 350 girls from 17 elementary and middle schools in Jackson and Hillsdale counties are participating in the 10-week program this semester. It is funded by various grants.

Girls in grades three through seven train to run in 5-kilometer events. The last race of the school year starts at 7 p.m. Friday at Advance Packaging, 2400 E. High St.

"The goal is finishing the 5K, and I don't care how long it takes them to do it," said Debbie Lazaroff, who coordinates the program for the Jackson County Intermediate School District.
"My mantra is to get kids running."

Colleen Hopson, 12, is one of the Napoleon girls who made new friends through the simple act of running. "It's made it a way that you can exercise and still have fun," she said.

Some of the exercises and activities are designed to help the girls learn how to adapt to their ever-changing bodies, said Jen Latocki, a Napoleon middle school teacher who coaches the program.

"I got to learn how to use my speed more wisely," said Erica Shepard, 12, of Napoleon.

Five area elementary schools are piloting a program for boys to see if it has the same results that Girl Quest has seen in recent years, Lazaroff said.

Latocki said the program has matured her team of girls.

"The bad behavior has definitely gone down," said Latocki, a seventh-grade teacher. "Self-esteem has gone up in all of them."

Latocki is assisted this semester by Jackson Community College student Jessica Page, 19, who volunteered to help.

Each girl gets a T-shirt and a new pair of running shoes.

Lazaroff said the program is in search of business sponsorships. She can be reached at 768-5238

The Advance Packaging 5000 is the 1st race of the season for me this year. It's also one of my favorite ones. I especially like it because it's at 7pm.

I tried to get the day off but instead I'm getting out 2 hours early. It won't make much difference this year. I'm working 7-3:30 so even if I hadn't arranged to get out early I would have plenty of time to get there. Also I haven't ran a step since the last race which was last AUGUST!!

Needless to say, even though I am usually last to finish, for sure this year I will not be in contention. Hee.

Another reason I like this race is because of the Girl Quest girls participating. There a ton of them. Some of them are so little!! They run in little bunches. Some take off and run really fast, then slow down, others start off slow and speed up later and others take it nice and easy the whole way.

The mentors run with them and yell out encouragement and come back to the ones who are having a hard time. The Lumen Christi (my high school) cheerleaders and running team help out and make up posters and stick them in the ground with cheesy slogans. Some of the mentors are hot guys!!

At the finish line there is a radio station and food and it's a bunch of fun. It's so much fun.

Even if I'm not a real runner it's fun and I love it. And I'll get another T-shirt for my quilt!

Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute Gala May 07, 2007 in New York City

I LOVE Renee. She ALWAYS looks beautiful to me. LOVE her short hair.

Ivanka is so beautiful. Too bad her dad is such a jerk.

Rhianna is gorgeous. Except for her HUGE 5head.

Kiki is so fun, that dude is beyond fug though.

Cam is a tranny. I hate that Indian jewlry. Tacky.

Mischa. Fug dress. Makes her too flat on top. Why is she still around?

Josh. Is he the daddy?

Chris. Is he the daddy?

Experts skeptical of 'Master Cleanse' detox diet

NEW YORK (AP) -- At 6-foot-4 and a rangy 212 pounds, Scott Campbell doesn't need to lose weight. But there he was, squeezing lemon juice and mixing it with maple syrup, bottled water and cayenne pepper.

It is part of an extreme "detoxifying" diet called the Master Cleanse, whose adherents swallow nothing but the lemon concoction, saltwater and laxative tea.

Also known as the lemonade diet, the Master Cleanse has gained in popularity recently, thanks to celebrities like Beyonce Knowles who swear by the regimen, as bad as it may taste.

"I'm never hungry," said Campbell, a 35-year-old freelance TV producer from New York City who was cleansing not to lose weight, but because he usually eats "a lot of bad stuff" like burgers, fries and Philly cheesesteaks.

Devotees of the diet eat no solid food but drink up to 10 daily glasses of the lemon juice cocktail and round it off with saltwater in the morning and laxative tea at night. They are supposed to stay on the cleanse for at least 10 days, then ease back into normal eating with orange juice and vegetable soup.

The main drawback: You never want to be too far from a toilet. The cleanse produces very liquid and copious bowel movements. As for other side effects, some say they are always hungry.
Medical authorities say they have yet to see any evidence of harm from the Master Cleanse, though experts generally caution against extended fasting and other extreme diets.

They say those who try the Master Cleanse to lose weight will just gain it back. And they dispute the claim that the Master Cleanse or any other diet can "detoxify" the body from the effects of red meat, sugar, fried foods or alcohol -- or that the body needs to be detoxified at all.

"We have organ systems such as the liver, spleen, lungs, skin and digestive system that we have all been given that do that," said David Grotto, a dietitian in Chicago and a spokesman for the American Dietetic Association.

Dr. Ed Zimney, the medical director of HealthTalk, a Seattle, Washington-based Web site where a lively debate about the cleanse has flourished, said: "Your gastrointestinal tract does not need to be cleaned out because it is constantly in motion. This whole idea of cleaning out toxins from the colon is a complete myth and unnecessary."

The Master Cleanse was invented 60 years ago by nutrition guru Stanley Burroughs, who wrote the book "The Master Cleanser" in 1976. The formula is purified water, organic lemon juice, cayenne pepper and organic grade B maple syrup, which is less refined than the more commonly used grade A.

It is impossible to know how many people have tried the cleanse. There are enough devotees in the upscale neighborhood of Brooklyn Heights, New York, that Perelandra, a health food store, sells more copies of "The Master Cleanser" than any other book and does a brisk business in lemons, maple syrup and cayenne pepper, general manager Allison Nichols said.

According to one Web site that promotes the cleanse, the purpose is "to dissolve and eliminate toxins and congestion; to cleanse the kidneys and digestive system; to purify glands; to eliminate waste and hardened materials in the joints and muscles; to build a healthy bloodstream; to maintain optimal blood pressure; and to what you all are waiting to hear ... to lose weight."

Weight loss was Beyonce's motivation; she told Oprah Winfrey that she dropped 20 pounds on the cleanse to prepare for "Dreamgirls."

Howard Stern's sidekick Robin Quivers told People magazine that she went from 218 to 145 pounds on the cleanse. She said the diet also helped ease joint pain and fatigue.

The diet has fans beyond celebrities and the hip neighborhoods of New York City.

Zoe Cochran, a 52-year-old in Navasota, Texas, is a hard-core master cleanser. She does an annual 30-day cleanse plus periodic shorter ones.
(click for entire article)

A girl at work gave me the book about this a few years ago. I tried it and thought the drink was the most horrendous thing I had ever tried. When she asked me how I liked it I told her how gross it was. Well evidently I wasn't using enough maple syrup. I made another batch and it was really good. I would even go so far as saying that I would be able to drink it as a regular beverage.

I was on the fast about a week and lost 8 pounds. I was pretty happy with that result. I pretty much hate eating so this was convenient. I wasn't hungry on it. That may be because a normal day for me is usually coffee, a Cherry Coke and No-Doz.

I should probably try this again after I get rid of the stuff I bought at my last grocery shopping trip.