*Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep*

This has been a test of the Emergency Sametime Status Alert System. If this had been an actual Sametime Status, this message would have been Informative, Helpful, or Funny. This was only a test. This concludes this test of the Sametime Status Alert System.


Well...I'm glad that's over. Now we can return to your regularly scheduled Statuses.


Indeed.


So what's new in the world?


Well...glad you asked.


It's pretty much what I do.


So, unless you've been hiding under a rock for the last few months, you're aware that NFL Quarterback Michael Vick has been sentenced to prison for nearly 2 years for his role in running a dogfighting business. Naturally, as the evidence grew, and everybody knew Vick would be going to jail, Michael somehow very quickly (some might say suspiciously quickly) became contrite, aware of how bad dogfighting is, and a financial contributor to the ASPCA. Also, no high-profile celebrity confession is quite complete without the accused finding God and/or Jesus. Needless to say, that happened here as well.

But God and Jesus aren't the only household names Michael came to know in his remarkably short time between denying owning a dogfighting operation and pleading guilty to owning a dogfighting operation. No, there are a couple interesting names that show up in court documents released this week. Former "Home Run King" Hank Aaron personally signed a letter of recommendation to Judge Henry Hudson (No relation), who handled Vick's sentencing. One other letter proved to be quite interesting.

Former Heavyweight boxing champ, turned HBO color commentator and shameless corporate sponsorship magnet George Foreman also sent the Honorable Judge Hudson a letter recommending a lenient sentence for Vick. His letter begins (and I am not making this up. See Page 7.):

• "I'm a fulltime minister at the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ in Houston, Texas, former two-time Heavyweight Champion of the world, and known all over the world as the king of the grills because of the George Foreman Lean Mean Fat Reducing Grilling Machine."

Yes...George Foreman even manages, in a letter of recommendation for an admitted felon, to insert a shameless plug for his grill.


Did he tell the judge where to get a good price on a new muffler, too?


Not that I saw. I had to stop reading after the first sentence or else my head may have exploded.