gold tooth saves guy from bullet

my evil trainer, raymond desade desmarais, emailed this to me today:  http://www.examiner.com/strange-news-in-national/new-orleans-man-s-gold-tooth-deflects-bullet

if you don't want to read the article,  a mr. davis (he's underage so we don't know his name) from new orleans, sporting an extensive grill, was out in his car smoking his brother, waltdell's, pot.  waltdell got mad at the kid for stealing his stash and after some words, pulled a gun.  while the brothers were wrestling over waltdell's gun, it went off and shot the kid in the mouth.    the gold grill deflected the bullet and the guy was utterly unharmed other than a cut on his lip and gum.  hah!  oh, and when filing charges, the kid had to make sure the police didn't confuse waltdell with their other brother waldell.  so, naturally i figure the kid's name must be walmdell.

not walmdell's mouth, but i thought this was pretty spectacular.  those are peridot gems in that grill!

and this brings me right back to the fact that i'm still waiting to do a nice, conservative diamond inlay in someone's upper canine.  i'm talking to YOU raymond!!  it could save your life someday you know....

entrepreneurs

long time no blog. holidays, travel, etc etc etc. at some point i'll get to my thanksgiving trip to brussels that included an overnight stay in amsterdam, including the photo of my pregnant friend hilde reading a map in front of a brightly lit sex shop, but that's for another day.

i'm not sure if it's a response to the several years of sad economic times or what, but all of a sudden, people i know are coming up with the most spectacular ideas and starting their own businesses.

we have a neighborhood book club and at one of our meetings about a year ago, we all commented on gigi's incredible handbag. gigi, an electrical engineer and all-around genius, got the bag in her home country of egypt and said that she hasn't seen one like it before or since but got so many complements that she was thinking about designing something similar. fast-forward six months and she's designed a prototype, been to new york to buy high-end leathers and fixtures and BAM, she's selling them. she's already got a second bag designed and they're flying off the shelves. her site is http://www.uvodesigns.com/

the uvo bag

gigi with her loci bag

then yesterday, i was talking to a woman who confessed to being a shoe junkie. she has over 200 pairs of shoes. she and her husband came up with an idea for designing beautiful heels for women with their favorite college team logos. he quit his job so he could work on the concept full-time and now they have a business called fanfeet.  http://fanfeet.com/ despite how it sounds, the shoes are gorgeous! i particularly like the clemson shoe...orange w/ a purple sole. fabulous!