I learned something very important yesterday while covering a change of command ceremony: Don't stand where Marines are marching, they're not going around you.

There I was, all sweaty and gross, in the middle of an airfield getting footage. Suddenly, out of nowhere, Marines, who had been marching as part of the ceremony were directly behind me. I had always been under the impression that marching was a noisy exercise, so I was started when I suddenly heard, "Excuse me, ma'am!" from behind me.

It was a short first day at the state track meet, but with South Carolina's best high school athletes gathering in one place, there's no shortage of blogging material.
Travailing the Spring Valley High School campus was an adventure in itself. From its pristine baseball field to the rock climbing wall to a football stadium that is probably just as big as the one at Duke University (seriously) to the various academic buildings (and that's not to mention whatever will be added once the school's renovation is complete), I'm sure it was a no-brainer in deciding where to hold the state meet.

Before I get to my main point, I need to clarify one thing: I don't have kids. Having said that, it's not that I have anything against them, they're just not for me.

In fact, it's because I kind of like kids that I'm going to say this: Parents, please, don't take young children to places where it's kind of inappropriate to have young children.

No major thoughts today. A few quick hits:

Just a reminder, you can now listen to or download a NEW episode of the PopCast As always, you can either find it here or to the side of the PopPulse main.

My mom doesn't like flowers. Well, she likes them, but she doesn't want anyone to buy them for her. My dad says he got her roses once and she told him never to do it again because he could use the money for something better.

A while back, I read a great article on Slate about internet commentary. Michael Agger, the author, looked at the types of comments left on a laughing baby video. You'd think that there wouldn't be a lot of variety since the video is, literally, of a baby laughing. But it turns out that, given anonymity, people can be jerks about anything.

Not that I've noticed it on this site, but I have seen some pretty lame comments in my surfing of the web. My question is, why be a jerk?

We just started our new, weekly podcast this week and for the first time, I think it turned out well. Each week, Lance Hanlin, Buddy Hughes, Brandon Parker and myself (Dan Worthington) will review and preview the week in Beaufort County sports. The first episode touches on Mona Lise Dickson stepping down at Beaufort High, the soccer playoffs, the state track meet and the recent Beaufort Academy resignations. You can listen as often as you want or download The Sports Guys to your computer. Soon, you should be able to subscribe to The Sports Guys through iTunes.

The week is almost over, and we didn’t get chance to talk about “Iron Man,” but we saw it Saturday and loved it. (Although, one small caveat, we saw it at the drive-in — which we love, by the way. The drive in, that is. However, we didn’t realize how much dialogue was in Iron Man. And with all the explosions and action coming through our tinny little Jeep speakers, we spent most of the movie straining to hear what was being said. So, we’d like to see it again, soon, in beautiful Dolby surround sound.)

Patrick Donohue wrote about a string of copper thefts on Lady's Island. Everywhere I've worked this has been a problem. Between rising copper prices and a tough economy, grabbing some copper tubing for 100% profit seems to be the way a lot of crooks are going.

How do you crack down on people selling stolen scrap metal? The only plausible plan I've ever heard is to have scrap metal dealers operate like pawn shops – keep records of all their customers. Would this solve the problem?

I know why I have an affinity for the Red Sox – eight years living in Massachusetts, four of them in Boston – but why do you?

I've spotted a lot of Red Sox hats, t-shirts and jerseys in Beaufort. Especially at A Taste of Beaufort. Not that I'm complaining, but why the Sox? Is Beaufort full of ex-Bostonians like me or just a bunch of masochists?