Exurban Adventures

AJC: Lilburn swimmer with cancer cleared for Olympics

“It’s just a big weight off my shoulders, more than anything else,” Shanteau told The Associated Press in a telephone interview Wednesday. “I’m walking a little lighter right now, which is great.”

Since being diagnosed last month, he’s been closely monitored to make sure there’s no sign the cancer is spreading. This week, after getting the results of a final round of blood tests before the team breaks camp in Palo Alto, Calif., the 24-year-old swimmer was given the go-ahead to make the trip overseas.

The Americans leave Friday for a final round of training in Singapore, then travel to Beijing on Aug. 4. The swimming competition begins five days later.

Shanteau’s doctors told him he shouldn’t be at risk competing at his first Olympics, though he will head back to the U.S. before the closing ceremonies. He plans to undergo surgery at Emory University hospital in his native Atlanta shortly after he returns.

“I’ll be able to take a couple of days after the swimming to relax, enjoy the Games and the city, get out and see some things,” he said. “Then I’ve got to get back and take care of this.”

Shanteau, who attended Parkview High School, received the stunning cancer diagnosis just a week before he traveled to Omaha, Neb., for the U.S. Olympic trials. He then claimed a spot on the team with a second-place finish in the 200-meter breaststroke, ahead of former world record holder Brendan Hansen.

Recently Exurban Adventures interviewed talk show host and best selling author Dave Ramsey. Among the things we talked about was his Total Money Makeover LIVE! event which will be at the Gwinnett Arena in Duluth on Saturday September 13th from 1:00 - 6:00 PM.

Mr. Ramsey has graciously given Exurban Adventures ten pairs of tickets to the event for us to give away. Therefore, we’ll have a drawing to give away these tickets on Saturday August 30th and notify the winners via email. If you’d like to enter the drawing, please fill out the form below (one entry per email address please).

To learn more about Dave Ramsey’s Total Money Makeover LIVE! click here.

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Please note these tickets are for the Total Money Makeover LIVE! event ONLY. The EntreLeadership One Day event to be held on Friday September 12th is not included.

Grammy nominated recording artist (and Georgia native) Shawn Mullins will perform at the Historic Courthouse in downtown Lawrenceville. The concert will start at 8:00 PM on Friday July 25th.

The AJC won’t release their “official” rankings until August 18 but hey there’s no need to wait until then to talk about who’s #1. Todd Holcomb at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution has given his pre-season rankings for Georgia’s five High School football classifications. Not surprisingly, several Gwinnett schools are in the mix.

In Class AAAAA Holcomb ranks North Gwinnett at #4, Grayson at #7 and Norcoss at #8. In Class AA, Buford is #1 and in Class A, Wesleyan is #10.

We see how this differs from the other polls that will come rolling out over the next few weeks.

Gwinnett makes moves in preparation for next season.

MLN Newswire - www.mlntherawfeed.com - Duluth, Ga - The Gwinnett Gladiators announced today that they have signed defenseman Ryan Mahrle for the 2008-09 season and in a separate transactions have dealt defenseman Joe Grimaldi to the 2008 Kelly Cup Champion Cincinnati Cyclones for undisclosed consideration.

Mahrle returns to the Gladiators after appearing in all 72 games last year with Gwinnett during his first full professional season. He posted 4 goals and 14 assists for 18 points during the regular season while recording a goal and an assist for Gwinnett in 8 Kelly Cup Playoff games.

Sorry to break the news to the kids out there but school starts in less than a month. No need to worry as there’s plenty of fun stuff still to do - below are a just a few of them.

Remember we want your submissions. Use this form to tell us about the movie, concert or event you went to.

The Atlanta Silverbacks host the Portland Timbers at Silverback Park on Friday the 18th at 7:55 PM. Meanwhile the Gwinnett Braves inked a deal to broadcast 144 games on WDUN.

“WDUN 550 will be a great partner for us and we look forward to having them start the team’s new chapter in Gwinnett,” said Bruce Baldwin, Gwinnett Braves General Manager.

Current and longtime WSB radio sports director, Tony Schiavone, will be heard on all WDUN games as the play-by-play announcer. He will be joined in the booth with Judd Hickinbotham for all home games.

“Our affiliation with The Atlanta Braves goes back to 1966 and now to launch a new affiliation with The Gwinnett Braves to serve the growing Gwinnett - Northeast Georgia community is even more exciting,” said Jay Jacobs, President of Jacobs Media and WDUN Newstalk 550.

The Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) Regional will be at Road Atlanta this weekend. A schedule of events can be found here.

The Simon dTour comes to Discover Mills and the Mall of Georgia. On Saturday July 19, Kate Voegele will perform at Discover Mills from 3:00 - 9:00 PM. Then on Sunday July 20, The All-American Rejects will be at the Mall of Georgia from 12:00 - 6:00 PM.

The City of Duluth continues their Supergigs concert series with the New Rascals on Friday the 19th at 8:30 PM. Saturday the 20th Duluth’s Flicks on the Bricks series features the Princess Bride.

“Beauty And The Beast” is the latest production of the New London Theatre beginning Friday and running through August 3rd. Click here for more information on the New London Theatre.

Last week I interviewed talk show host and author Dave Ramsey about his Total Money Makeover LIVE event coming to the Gwinnett Arena on September 13th. Next week I’ll announce details of a ticket giveaway for this event and how you can enter.

You can follow Exurban Adventures on Twitter and become a fan on Facebook.

A Reader Submission from the New London Theatre. Submit your article to Exurban Adventures by clicking here.

NEW LONDON THEATRE Presents Disney’s “THE BEAUTY AND THE BEAST”

July 18 – August 3

CONTACT: Director: Kirk Buis, kirkbuis@yahoo.com Producer: Wendy Mardis, wlmardis@comcast.net

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Disney’s Beauty and the Beast
Music by: Alan Menken
Lyrics by: Howard Ashman and Tim Rice
Book by: Linda Woolverton

Directed on Broadway by Robert Jess Roth

A beautiful, but self-absorbed prince gets the chance to help an old raggedy lady, but he treats her badly. She turns out to be a beautiful woman with magical skills and she throws the prince into a spell of ugliness and loneliness. His staff is transformed into… well objects to do with their profession. He gets a magical mirror to watch the world through in his isolation. He needs to learn to love a person for who they are, and get them to love him before a magical rose he also is given loses its petals.

In the village a beautiful young girl feels lonely and misunderstood. She daydreams about getting out, getting a better life, meeting a prince. Her father is a “nutty professor”. He goes off to compete at an inventors’ fair but gets lost in the woods and ends up a prisoner at the beast’s castle. Belle, the girl, goes looking for him, finds him there and pleads to let her father go, in return for her staying there with the beast. It’s a done deal and Belle is now trapped in the castle with the beast and his magically transformed staff. She reads books, enjoys musical numbers such as “Beauty and the beast” and “Be our guest”, and manages to fall in love with the beast. In the village the ignorant and manly Gaston is upset that Belle isn’t interested in him. When her father claims she trapped with a beast, Gaston sees the opportunity to have him committed to a mental hospital, thereby forcing Belle to marry him. This almost works, but the beast lets Belle out and she is just i! n time to save her father and prove there is a Beast. She shows them the magical mirror and Gaston takes a posse to go and kill the beast. And the ending begins….

In 2002, Beauty and the Beast was added to the United States National Film Registry as being deemed “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.” The musical ran on Broadway for 5,464 performances between 1994 and 2007, becoming Broadway’s sixth-longest running production. According to disneyonbroadway.com, the Broadway Musical Production has performed around the world in a total of 13 countries in 115 cities including, Argentina (1998), Australia (1995), Austria (1995), Brazil (2001), Canada (1995), China (1999), Germany (1997), Ireland (2002 as part of the UK National Tour), Japan, (1995), Mexico (1997), South Korea (2004), Spain (1999) and the United Kingdom (1997).

The public is cordially invited to attend. Tickets are $12.00 in prepaid (on our website) or $15.00 at the door (if available). If you’d like to learn more about The New London Theatre, need more information, Tickets, auditions, etc. contact us at:

www.newlondontheatre.org - NLTSnellville@yahoo.com – or - call us at (770) 979-3691

Shanteau still plans to compete in the Beijing Olympics.

A week before the U.S. Olympic swimming trials, Eric Shanteau learned devastating news — he has testicular cancer.

The 24-year-old swimmer told The Associated Press that doctors cleared him to compete in the meet, where he finished second — ahead of former world-record holder Brendan Hansen — in the 200m breaststroke to secure his spot on the U.S. Olympic squad.

Shanteau said doctors advised him to have surgery now, but the swimmer is opting to put off the procedure and instead pursue his lifelong goal of competing in the Olympics. However, the Georgia native said he will be monitored closely over the next month and will drop out of the Olympic competition if there are any signs that the cancer is spreading.

Win tickets to see Dave live. Click here to enter the drawing.

Dave Ramsey, host of the “Dave Ramsey Show,” and author of several best selling books including “The Total Money Makeover” will bring his “Total Money Makeover LIVE” event to the Gwinnett Arena on Saturday September 13. Additionally, on Friday September 12 Ramsey will host “EntreLeadership One Day” - a seminar for small business owners.

Tickets for both events are on sale now at Ramsey’s website.

I was blessed to speak with Dave by phone this morning. You can listen to the interview by clicking here. We talked about his events in Gwinnett, the economy, and the state of the entrepreneurial spirit in America.

The radio version of the “Dave Ramsey Show” can be heard on WGST in Atlanta and the TV version is on the Fox Business Network weeknights at 8 PM EST.

The Gwinnett County Public Library system is hosting “An Evening with Charles Frazier” this Saturday night, 6:30 PM at the Gwinnett Center. Charles Frazier is the author of ‘Cold Mountain‘ and his most recent novel is ‘Thirteen Moons: A Novel.’

Tickets are on sale at your local library or you can call 770-978-5154. Click here for more about the Gwinnett Reads program.