I was in a car accident this past Thursday.

If you've ever been in a car accident you know it's a nerve rattling experience.  I have had a few minor accidents in my life but this was the worst one.  It caused the most damage to car I've owned and I got a head wound (although not a major one).

I was waiting at a red light at 1st Ave. and Prince Rd. and got rear ended.  It destroyed the back end of my beloved Mazda RX-8 sports car.  I never go anywhere without a camera so I took photos.  You can see them below.

To add insult to injury, the gentleman's insurance company is providing me a rental car to drive but when I went to Enterprise to pick it up on Friday they gave me a cute little Nissan Sentra... with a missing hubcap.  It looks terrible.  Mega's Promotions Coordinator Jessica nicknamed it "The ghettomobile"!

Driving in Tucson can be dangerous!

I did a live broadcast at Tucson Oktoberfest 2008 today.  It was at Hi Corbett Field at Reid Park.  I brought along the Ken Carr "Kenparazzi" camera to share the fun with you.

I went to the Al Green concert September 14 at Desert Diamond Casino on I-19 and Pima Mine Road.

I shot some video!

I caught an article in today's Arizona Daily Star about the TUSD (Tucson Unified School District) Clothing Bank.

If you're a regular listener of Mega 106.3 & 104.9 you know that every summer we try and help the TUSD Clothing Bank (along with the clothing banks for Amphi and Sunnyside school districts) with new shoe donations through Shoes for School.

This year they're seeing a huge increase in kids needing clothes.  The TUSD Clothing Bank sees about 170 kids before the school year starts and this year it was 350.

The kids that are served by the Clothing Bank are from families who sometimes won't send their kids to school.  They don't have shoes or clothes appropriate enough to wear to  school.  It's a tragic situation that needs some attention.

If you've got children and they've outgrown clothes you might consider donating them to the TUSD Clothing Bank.  It's been around since 1957 and helps insure some kids go to school to get the education they need to have their best shot in life.

Donations can be made at 606 S. Plumer Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. - 3 p.m.  The bank asks that you call ahead if you're going to make a donation at 403-9686.

You can read the Arizona Daily Star article by clicking here.

I hosted Cosmic Bingo yesterday at Casino Del Sol.

If you haven't been to Cosmic Bingo yet, you are missing out on total fun.  They turn down the regular lights and turn on disco lights, add old school music, and Tucson's Queen of Comedy Lucinda Holliday.  Rosemary, Colin Christian and I take turns broadcasting live from there every Saturday from 11 p.m. until 1 a.m.  Plus, winning at bingo means winning money.  Now that's sexy!

The August 21, 2008 Arizona Daily Star featured an article about Cosmic Bingo.  To read it, click here.

I brought along my camera to shoot some pictures.

Here's the bingo calling area with the fun lights:

A wide shot of the room:

Eager Cosmic Bingo players waiting to get their card to play.

I caught Lucinda Holliday at the Snack Bar getting some popcorn.

Cosmic Bingo players love getting t-shirts!

Rolling big dice to win prizes.

A player in the money machine to grab some cash.

Mega's promotion team (Matt & Taryn) having some silly fun.

I was one of the emcees for the MDA Labor Day Telethon on KGUN 9.

I was on the 7:00 a.m. - 10:10 a.m. segment on Monday September 1, 2008.  It was one of the few excuses I have to wear a suit!  And, it's not often that radio dj's get to be seen on TV.  Getting up much earlier than I normally do (I was up at 4:15 a.m. to get ready and drive to the Hilton East Hotel) wasn't easy but it was worth it for Jerry's kids.

Here's a few Kenparazzi (what I've nicknamed Ken Carr picture taking) pictures I took:

This is the set at 6 a.m. before it was lit and we were on:

Here's KGUN 9 and 94.9 Mix-FM's Big Al eating a Carl's Jr. breakfast burrito.  He tried giving those things away and had little success so he ended up eating them himself.

A picture of the awesome people working the phone bank.

The Chick-Fil-A cow visited the telethon!

The Chick-Fil-A cow and Ken Carr.  Two mooooovers and shakers!

University of Arizona men's basketball coach Lute Olson has decided to sell his house.

The nearly 8,000 square foot house on East Finisterra Drive in the foothills is described in the listing by the Tucson Association of Realtors as a "stunning Mediterranean masterpiece".

Owning a piece of what is probably now Tucson history (he is one of our most famous residents you know) would be the coolest thing ever!

It'll only cost you $4.1 million bucks.

No word on whether it comes with a basketball court.

If you're looking for fireworks displays in Tucson you won't have to travel far.  There are displays in all areas of our city:

Thursday July 3:

Casino Del Sol and Casino of the Sun a.k.a. The Sol Casinos are having a fireworks show at Casino Del Sol (on Valencia 5 miles west of I-19).  The show begins just after 8 p.m.  Free admission.

Friday July 4:

JW Marriott Starr Pass Resort will have a fireworks show at the resort (3800 W. Starr Pass Rd.) at 9 p.m.  $30 for adults, $15 for kids ages 6-12, kids under 6 are free.  Ticket price includes a barbecue.  www.jwmarriottstarrpass.com for ticket info.

The "A" Mountain fireworks show will start at about 9 p.m.  There is a Kids Stars & Stripes Fiesta at the Tucson Convention Center before the fireworks with a barbecue and ice cream for sale.  The fireworks show is free but if you decide to park at the TCC it'll cost you $4.

The "Star Spangled Spectacular" at Tucson Electric Park follows the Tucson Sidewinders baseball game.  This is the last year the Sidewinders will be playing in Tucson so it might be fun to go to this one just for nostalgia's sake.  Fireworks follow the game which starts at 6 p.m.

The Westin La Paloma has activities all day (which are for resort guests only) and a fireworks show which starts around 9 p.m.  Maybe you can find a parking spot in a neighborhood nearby.

Marana is having it's fireworks show this year at Ora Mae Harn Park, 13250 N. Lon Adams Road.  Lots fill up by 8:30 p.m.and parking is $5 but the fireworks show is free at 9 p.m.  Activities at the park start at 6 p.m. including arts and crafts, live music, a watermelon eating contest and balloon sculpting.  Food will be for sale or you can bring blankets and your own grub and make your own picnic.

Hilton El Conquistador in Oro Valley has fireworks this year.  There's a rock concert and activities before the concert at El Conquistador.  You must buy tickets to the rock concert to be on hotel property.  If you want to do it on the cheap and just see the fireworks you can bring a blanket to Canada Del Oro Riverfront Park at 551 W. Lambert Lane.  Admission is free but a non perishable food donation is encouraged for the food bank and they'll also have music synchronized to the fireworks display which will start at about 9 p.m.

Happy Birthday America!

It was a tough weekend for law enforcement in Tucson.

Pursuit of a gunman resulted in several officers being shot.  Two of the officers are with the Pima County Sheriff's Department and received minor injuries.  Officer Erik Hite of the Tucson Police Department was shot in the head and passed away today at 12:53 p.m. approximately 24 hours after the shooting.

Details of the incident can be found on the Arizona Daily Star website and you can read it by clicking here.

People who work in law enforcement, as firefighters and paramedics, those who serve our country in the armed forces, and everyone who works in public service are extraordinary human beings.  They make a choice to help the rest of us and many put their lives at risk every day.

Thank you to Officer Erik Hite for making the ultimate sacrifice to keep the rest of us safe.  Your family, friends, co-workers and all of us in Tucson are grieving your loss.  But we're grateful.  Thank you.

I was in our Marketing Director's office today when she got a package.  It was a couple of new video cameras to record our station events with.

The cameras were really cool except for one thing:  The packages they came in.

She used scissors, fingers, pulled, squeezed, pried, and what seemed like ten minutes later finally got into it to get the camera out.  It was one of those relatively new plastic shell like packages that a lot of things are coming in now.

I had the same problem opening a package of batteries a few weeks ago.  I wasn't near a pair of scissors and I used ripping, pulling, teeth, fingers, banging, I even farted on it and it still took about five minutes to get into it and nearly an act of God.

I remember when I was a kid how shocked my mom was when they introduced child proof caps on pills.  She was so upset because she didn't think she could open the bottle when she needed an aspirin.  At first she asked me to open the bottle every time she wanted one and eventually she got the hang of the push down and turn motion the bottle required for opening.  And I was the kid that the package was designed to keep out!

Now packaging is getting ridiculous.

I can only imagine what the suits at various product manufacturing companies must be thinking when they sit in a conference room and decide that packaging has been way too easy to open for it's customers.  "Gee, we should heat seal these hard plastic packages so that it's impossible for the average person to open.  Wouldn't that drive our sales way up?"

Plus, in this age of "going green", wouldn't it make more sense to use LESS packaging?  Plastic is made from petroleum products.  OIL!  Maybe that's the secret behind the record breaking crude oil prices.  It's all the extra plastic that stuff we buy now is encased in that the Incredible Hulk would find impossible to rip open.  Maybe the police should stop using kevlar vests and use packaging plastic instead.  It's so thick now it must be bullet proof.

Maybe if we get a little extra money in our budget around the radio station we'll purchase a chain saw.  We'll need it to open packages.  But I can only imagine what kind of package the chain saw would come in.  Probably something that would require us to drop it off of the roof of the radio station to open.