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One year ago today (actually, it was November 17 — but it was a Saturday) Oprah Winfrey taped her show in Macon and I was there.  

I had learned a few weeks before that she was filming a show here and that only her biggest fans were going to be selected.  I could care less about her and her propaganda, but Kimberlie watches her every chance she gets.  Of course I wrote in to try to convince them to let me surprise her with tickets.  Some how, we got picked.  

Long story short, it ended up being her Oprah’s Favorite Things episode.  She chose her Macon viewers to shower with gifts because more TV sets are tuned to her show in Macon than in any other place.  Sad statistic for Macon — good for us.  We each left with about $10,000 worth of stuff each.

One year later, I have sold most of the duplicate items on eBay, Amazon, etc. and used the cash to buy and pay down the CR-V.  Yes, the same CR-V that got “boomed up” (but I have it back now).  The Target gift cards and overpriced (but really good) cupcakes are long gone.  The KitchenAid Mixers are in my closet, because we don’t have enough counter space in our kitchen.  We love our refrigerator and High Definition Camcorder.  We have watched some of the DVDs and occasionally Kimberlie will wear the fancy boots.

A lot of people say that something big like that will change your life.  It gave us some things that we wouldn’t normally have bought, but other than that and maybe a little bit of attention, it really didn’t impact us that much.  Don’t get me wrong.  I am extremely thankful.  I don’t even bash Oprah anymore, but maybe I’ll win the lottery one day.

I snapped this photo through a rainy windshield while driving down Mercer University Drive in Macon:

You can’t help but wonder if the dent in the right side of his tailgate was caused by someone following too closely.  Probably a cop following too closely.  What idiot leaves all of those chocolate donuts out in the rain anyway?