neat things happening on one night...

I mentioned many entries ago I am a fan of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition this episode was particularly moving.

This time the show went to Raleigh, my hometown! And it was really neat to see it in places I recognized- although the city sign that is seen greeting the bus as it pulled into town is a prop:-)

There were a lot of things that made this very emotional for me - the family really deserved the house, and what the mother did for her community is really wonderful.

Seeing the work done by locals also made feel really proud - I'm happy to be in a city that for the most part is friendly. I have been in Raleigh for almost 20 years, and I felt really proud seeing people help out and return to a family who has given a lot to the community.

The biggest surprise, though, was what the boy in the family wanted - he wanted ''those plastic blocks'' and sports in his room...and it was LEGO! Apparently for legal reasons, LEGO could not be mentioned. But what was neat was that they contacted a LEGO builder - a Certified Professional by the name of Nathan Sawaya.

He's not a local, contrary to what the show said. But he's one of a few people in the continent that are recognized by the LEGO Group for their skills and are in a sense, business partners. He's one of  four people - the others are Dan Parker, Sean Kenney, and Robin Sather. All have done sculptures for large scale displays in the US and Canada.

Nathan built some sculptures with a sports bent, including  a basketball mosaic, basketball player sculpture, and football field mosaics. So he was in my hometown - how cool is that!

And where was I while this show was being filmed? I was in Germany. Argh! I would have given anything to help out...

but it was a good show nonetheless.