HEADING TO CONNECTICUT TOMORROW MORNING

I'm heading off to Connecticut to visit my family tomorrow. My Nephew is back from Mohave Viper Training, and I look forward to seeing him. It will be nice to get out of this soggy state for a few days. I'm looking forward to seeing my brother, sissy n law and my Nephew. My other brother Ed Anderson is making the road trip down from Boston, so it will be great to see him as well. Good times!

CLOSE CALL - STORM UPDATE 8/30/12

It was a pretty scary night. There are several trees down in the area, one of them in my yard. Thankfully this tree fell the other way and not on top of my house. Today's threat will be spin off tornadoes from the outter feeder bands. The storm is slowly creeping to the North West into central Louisiana. One person was killed in Picayune, MS when a tree fell onto his vehicle. Hopefully as the day progresses, the winds will subside. I had two brief power losses this morning, but as of right now power is on.

STORM UPDATE

At 9:30 PM Central time the wind has picked up significantly. Heavy rain bands are sweeping through my area with 50 to 60 MPH gusts. Power is out in West Jackson, and reports of trees down on houses with injuries in Brookhaven. I still have power, but not sure for how much longer. This storm means business!

Just within the past hour or so the weather has taken a turn. It started raining in my area about an hour ago, and right now if I had to guess, there's about a 30 MPH sustained wind. Tonight will be a long one. So far I still have power here. The first big feeder bands have arrived.

ISAAC UPDATE - MY DAY TO DAY HAPPENINGS

Today we put together first aid kits and started getting prepared for the impact of Issac. Gas stations in my area are already running out of gas, and the grocery stores shelves are getting bare. Today's weather was hot and clear, but I'm already seeing the first clouds approaching from the South. By tomorrow the weather in my area will start to go down hill. Tomorrow, the fun starts.

MISSISSIPPI BRACES FOR ISAAC

As someone who lived through Hurricane Katrina, I can safely tell you that these land falling storms are no joke. Those of you who are on the coast, Biloxi, Gulport, Bay St Louis, etc... Ya'll need to pay VERY close attention to the weather. The latest computer models show that the Mississippi Gulf Coast is in the line of fire.

Central Mississippi, where I live is more than likely going to deal with Tropical Storm force winds, and extemely heavy rainfall. The other problem with land falling storms is the potential for spin off tornadoes. If you live on the coast and evacuation orders go into place, LISTEN to them and get the heck out of there. Katrina killed over 200 Mississippians. Most died from the storm surge, and most of those who died refused to evacutate.

We still have a few days to prepare. Gas up your vehicles, get batteries, water, dry foods, bread, flash lights, be prepared. Bring in anything in the front and back yards that can be picked up by the wind. Stay tuned to the weather! Computer models can shift, east or west in a jiffy. Stay safe!

RIP AMERICAN ICON NEIL ARMSTRONG

I was 4 years old, and I can remember going with my parents to buy a new television for the moon landing. Neil Armstrong, the first human being to step foot on another world has died. America lost a true iconic legend. RIP Neil.

MEETING NEW ORLEANS SAINTS WR JOE HORN

I got a phone call from a buddy of mine who is a manager at a local Wal-Mart in the Jackson, MS area. He said, "Hey Brad we got Saints WR Joe Horn in the house today. He's promoting his new BBQ Sauce. Come on by and meet him." So, with that I turned my SUV around, and headed to Pearl, MS. Joe Horn is one of the nicest guys that I ever met. What a gentelman, and class act. Hey, check out his BBQ Sauce HERE

MY UPDATE WITH BOB ARUM

Just spoke with Bob Arum (Top Rank head) and got a nice update on Manny Pacquiao. Check out my quick hit Q&A with Arum HERE

ME AND MY GIRLS ENJOYING A SUNDAY EVENING

THOUGHTS OF THE DAY

It's been a great week. We'll be going to the NEW 8CountNews.com in a few short weeks, and when we do, we will be taking the fight game by storm. Also, as some of my follwers know, I have been branching out and interviewing people outside of the fight game as well. The new site will be covering news from around the world, and I'll be speaking to actors, musicians, NASA scientists (MARS ROVER), Politicians, and whoever else wants to step into the 8CN Podcast. Over the past few weeks, I have interviewed names such as Oscar nominee Mickey Rourke, US Olympic cold medallist Claressa Shields, Top Rank boss man Bob Arum, former New Orleans Saints OL Kyle Turley, and more. It's been a mixed bag. Look for more of this to continue.

In a few short weeks, I'll be flying up to Connecticut to visit my family. My Nephew Brendan (US MARINE) will be there as well and we will be seeing him off. He deploys to Afghanistan in late September. Please keep him in your prayers as he defends our nation.

Personally things couldn't be better for me. I thank God for my family, my two awesome God Daughters, all of my friends, and all of my boxing/MMA followers/readers around the world. Have a great week!

MY CONVERSATION WITH HOLLYWOOD LEGEND MICKEY ROURKE

Hollywood big screen legend and Academy Award nominated Mickey Rourke sat down with me and talked about his brilliant acting career and more. Rourke talked about his next big project which will be a movie about the life of retired Welch Rugby player Gareth Thomas. For those who do not follow Rugby, Thomas announced to the world that he is gay, which sent some shockwaves across the UK. Rourke tells 8CN that he will be flying to Wales and will actually be doing some work with former world champion Joe Calzaghe in preparation for the movie. Check out the entire Podcast interview HERE

MY CONVERSATION WITH US OLYMPIC GOLD MEDALLIST CLARESSA SHIELDS

Earlier today I sat down with US Olympian Claressa Shields. She became the first woman boxer in American history to win a gold medal in the Olympics. She is the only US fighter to win Gold in the 2012 Olympics in London. She's an amazing young lady, and I was honored to speak with her. Check out the Podcast interview with her HERE

COMING SOON AN INTERVIEW WITH US GOLD MEDAL WINNER BRITTNEY REESE

I will be speaking with US Olympic Gold Medal winner Brittney Reese. Brittney is from Gulfport, MS and made us all proud by securing Olympic gold in the long jump. Stay tuned!

MY CONVERSATION WITH IBF JR WELTERWEIGHT WORLD CHAMPION LAMONT PETERSON

I spoke with the current IBF Jr welterweight world champion Lamont Peterson. As most boxing fans know, he was accused of cheating when he tested positive for testosterone. The IBF investigated, got the facts, and rightfully decided to let Peterson keep the title. We talk about that, and much more. Check the interview out HERE

MY CONVERSATION WITH BOB ARUM - MAYWEATER VS PACQUIAO LOOKS GOOD FOR APRIL

I spoke with Top Rank boss Bob Arum this evening. He gave me a great update on his trip to The Philippines and the talks with Manny. Arum told me that he will have an opponent for Pacquiao by the end of this week. Arum also spoke about Floyd Mayweather Vs. Pacquiao. He said that now that Mayweather and 50 Cent created TMT Promotions the big fight is more likely. He predicts an April clash between the two top pound for pound fighters in the world. Check out the Podcast HERE

THE ROMAN EMPIRE FELL.... SO TOO CAN WALMART

Nobody ever thought that the Roman Empire would fall, but it did. Wal-Mart, the world's largest retailer is beginning to show some warning signs. It may not be as invincible as people once thought. In Mississippi for example, several of the Wal-Mart stores that conducted their annual audits in 2012 have had nightmarish results. Stores that typically shrink .50 percent or .60 percent have blown up to over 1.1 percent. This translates to over one million dollars in shrink in a years time.
Some of the decisions put forth by the powers that be in Bentonville, Arkansas have had dismal results mainly at the store levels. The mindset of those in Bentonville, the corporate level Wal-Mart associate is to make the shopping experience for the customer as convenient as possible. This is where the hypocrisy begins.
The folks in Bentonville decided that customers who had to wait for a department manager to arrive on scene with keys to unlock the cologne and perfume cases were being inconvenienced. So their idea was to remove the perfume and cologne's from the cases. Here's the problem with that little idea. What they don't realize is that by unlocking expensive cologne and perfume, they create wonderful opportunities for shoplifters to steal it. Trust me, TONS of perfume and cologne is stolen from Wal-Mart's across the nation. For some reason, they feel as if the trade off is fair.
Refund fraud at Wal-Mart stores is simply off of the scale. Merchandise gets walked right out of the front doors because the company did away with it's express refund program. Again, the company thought it was AN inconvenience to it's customers when they had to wait at the front door for the people greeter to scan the returned items. So what do they do? The typical knee jerk reaction, they do away with express refund. Now it's pretty much open season for the dishonest.
Speaking of people greeters, this is another reason the company is losing its tail. No knock at Wal-Mart's greeters because many of them are sweet old folks, but shoplifters run circles around these poor people. Computer push out's, TV push out's, boosters, you name it. They all take advantage of the usual senior citizen people greeter. Wal-Mart has a terrible first line of defense.
One of the biggest idiotic decisions made by the suits in Bentonville was to basically rape and pillage the store's payroll hours. This was just the most ridiculous idea ever. Why? Well by doing this, the company ties the store manager's hands. The company reduces payroll, which means less people and more work. What does less people more work mean? Simple, it means that the poor associate that is at work that day (basically by themselves) in a department, is running from one end to the other trying to get the work done. Customer's are waiting for service, but don't get that service because there's not enough people in the department to help them. Wait a second. Didn't I say before that Wal-Mart corporate wanted to make the customer's less inconvenienced? Hence, hypcoricity.
Wal-Mart has associates called APM'S (Assset Protection Managers). The idea behind the creation of this position was a good one, but the company did a great job destroying the results. APM's had the store safety program dumped on them, the store compliance dumped on them, internal theft investigation, external theft investigations, and several other responsibilities dumped on them. How they are supposed to impact theft/shrink with all of that on them is beyond comprehension.
Assistant managers are basically overpaid stockers. They have pressure put on them from above to get results with skeleton crews. They end up stocking shelves themselves just to get the work done. The store has scorecards that are applied to departments. The associates must make certain marks on these scorecards. The problem again, payroll hours reduced, meaning less workers, meaning.... To hell with scorecards, and to hell with good moral. Assistant managers get so much pressure put on them to get paperwork done that they end up pencil pushing a lot of it. It's a vicious cycle. Wal-Mart's reputation is rapidly getting worse. Customer's walk in and see 26 front end registers with only 1 or 2 of them opened up for checkout. The cashiers are usually mentally beat up, tired, and cranky. Customer service is terrible. No big surprise.
The company has risen insurance rates, taken away the dollar extra an hour on Sunday's, taken away profit sharing, and capped salaries for hourly workers. The signs are all there. The Roman Empire fell, so too can Wal-Mart.

COMING SOON MY CONVERSATION WITH DIRECTOR/FILMMAKER MEOSHA BEAN

I recently spoke with Filmmaker Meosha Bean about her bright movie making career. She's been busy doing voice-over work, and creating some really intense short films. Meosha is rapidly getting the attention of the powers that be in the movie making business. Her work immediately grabs your attention. Check out the interview tomorrow HERE

MY CONVERSATION WITH NASA AVIONICS SYSTEMS ENGINEER JONATHAN GRINBLAT

I spoke with the guy that literally built the Mars rover "Curiosity" on board computer. Jonathan Grinblat of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, spoke to me about the Mars rover "Curiosity" and it's incredible landing on the surface of Mars. Jonathan helped build the computer that is currently sitting on the surface of Mars. He talked to me about the mission, the science, the photographs, the whole nine yards. Check out the interview HERE

MY CONVERSATION WITH UNDEFEATED HEAVYWEIGHT CONTENDER DEONTAY WILDER

He's 24 and 0 with 24 knockouts. Deontay Wilder, the last American fighter to medal in the Olympics sent a message this past Saturday night. Wilder on national television made quick work out of Kertson Manswell, knocking him out in the very first round. Wilder is climbing the heavyweight rankings and is getting the attention of the big names in the sport.
I spoke with Deontay this evening and got his thoughts on the big win. He also shares some advice for our new Olympians. Check out the Podcast HERE

CURIOSITY HAS LANDED

I was glued to NASA.GOV last night, and into the early morning hours. NASA's rover, "Curiosity" stuck the landing like an Olympic gold medallist. Traveling at nearly 10 thousand miles per hour, the Volkswagen sized rover entered the Mars atmosphere, and came to a rest on the surface 7 minutes later.
Curiosity will now begin it's 2 year mission with the hopes of finding out if Mars was ever, or is still capable of harboring life. The camera system on board the craft is much more high tech than previous missions, so the photos of the surface will be much better. We'll also be able to get video from the surface as well. The rover will also try to solve the methane mystery. Why does Mars have methane in it's atmosphere? Here on earth, methane signifies life.
I'll be all over this mission, and I am chasing some interviews with NASA personnel and will bring them to you once I nail them down. Welcome to MARS!

MY CONVERSATION WITH WOMEN'S IBF FLYWEIGHT CHAMP AVA KNIGHT

I've always been a big supporter of women's boxing. This evening, current IBF Flyweight champion Ava Knight stopped into the 8CN Podcast show. We talk her career, the future of women's boxing, and women's boxing in the Olympics. Check out the interview HERE

MY CONVERSATION WITH NEW ORLEANS SAINTS BAD BOY KYLE TURLEY

I recently sat down with former New Orleans Saints Offensive Lineman, Kyle Turley. His new band "The Kyle Turley Band" is about to launch their tour, which starts tomorrow. Kyle talked to me about his NFL career, and his music career. Check out the interview HERE