Happy Anniversary, Mom and Dad

TWIT would like to wish a very happy 51st anniversary to my 'Rents. Yep, today marks 51 years since the day they said "I do."

This morning as I was getting ready to go to work, I asked both of them something that I've never asked them before -- "How'd you do it?" They looked at each other for a quick second and didn't hesitate to answer me. Dad simply said "We love the Lord, and we love each other and you unconditionally." And Mom said "We made a pact that we would never go to bed when we were mad at each other. And we never have. And we never have had a sleepless night, either."

There's not much more I can say about that except I'm proud and honored to have you as parents. Thank you for defying the odds 51 years ago when people told you it would never last. You sure proved them wrong.

File Under: WTF?

I don't mean any disrespect to the dead, but it was a bit overkill (no pun intended) today during "All My Children" when ABC decided to air eight (yes, count 'em, eight) Oxy Clean commercials starring the recently departed Billy Mays. I could see one or maybe two, but did they have to run eight of his commercials during a one hour show? I'm very sorry he died at such a young age, and my thoughts and prayers are with his family, but what is ABC thinking?

Link Of The Week

I still love getting email and text messages, even though they are common now days. But I still like them. The anticipation of what the message says is exciting to me. I also love to send emails and text messages, and hope the recipient enjoys them as much as I do. This week I found a cool site where you can send a singing text message to someone. You can pick either a man or a woman's voice and you can have them sing anything you want to type in. Check it out at http://www.kakomessenger.com . You don't have to sign up or anything - just type in your message and who you want to send it to, and the site will send you an email with a verification link in it. Just click on the link and your singing text message will be sent.

Insight Update

I am ecstatic to report that it's been almost 48 hours since we've had any interruption in phone, internet or cable TV service. I hesitate to type this, but I do believe the problem has finally been resolved. All I know is it's been hot as hell this week and I'm thankful that the internet and phone were the only things not working and not the a/c or else I would have packed up and taken us all to a hotel.

Flashback Friday

I'm a proud owner of yet another piece of technological genious - I now own a GPS. I bought just this evening, and after playing with it for only fifteen minutes, I'm in love with it. I can't wait to go somewhere tomorrow with the family so we can officially try it out and see if it works. I know, I know; I'm sure it will work, but I just want to prove to myself that it works. As I was driving home from the store tonight, I started thinking about what we did for directions before the GPS and Mapquest -- we used old school folding maps.

I was born in a family of travellers, and at an early age, my father taught me how to read a map. It's not always that easy when you're in a car moving at a pretty fast pace, but I was able to read it fairly accurately and relay the information to the driver, usually him. But more importantly, I was also able to fold the map back to its original form. That skill was harder to master than reading the map itself. Mom is a great map reader and map folder, too. She's actually had more experience at it than I have.

Up until just a few years ago, we always had a fold-out map of Louisville and one of Kentucky in the house. Until Mapquest came along, I remember getting the Louisville map and spreading it out on the kitchen table and figuring out a route I wanted to take to get to where I was going. Many a time I relied on the fold-out maps to get me around Cincinnati or Nashville on weekend trips. Now, people have printed directions from Mapquest to use because they don't want to take the time to read a real map. How sad for them.

Cable Issues, Day Five

As I type this I am at my wit's end. When I got back from lunch today, I tried (key word: tried) to call home, only to discover that the phone was yet again out of order. I immediately called Insight, and after about ten minutes of being on hold, I finally was connected to a maintenance supervisor and I'm not ashamed to say that I ripped him a new one. He did everything but swear on his not-dead mother's grave that the problem would be fixed tonight. As of now, all Insight cables are in working condition. I'll keep you posted.

Cable Issues, Day Four

This morning before I left for work, I thought our cable issues were over - the phone worked and I had internet connection. That was long-lived, when I tried to call home and the phone was out. Luckily for us, a technician was on the way. I got a call from her at about 2:30, saying she was in the driveway of The Compound. I left work and zoomed home so I could supervise. After just a few minutes, she was able to accurately diagnose the problem - she said that we were getting too strong of a signal, and that was causing the problem. She also was hacked off because the other two technicians had slacked off and didn't do the proper tests. She called her supervisor and reported all of this, and then called their maintenance department and put in a work order for them to come out and make some type of adjustment on the cables or receivers or whatever the hell it is out on the utility pole.

I went back to work, and within a few minutes of being back at my desk, Mom called to say that we had connection once again, and that the maintenance guy just left from making his adjustments. As soon as I got home I called today's technician's supervisor and told him what an awesome and thorough job she did, and just to bring him up to snuff on this whole situation, I told him all of the calls, problems, and visits from their technicians that we've had for almost a week now. He assured me that it was taken care of, and gave me his cell number with instructions to call if it goes out again. For his sake, he better hope it doesn't.

Cable Issues, Day Three

Actually this is the third day we've had cable issues at The Compound. The major problems started Sunday, so this would technically be the third day. As of now, the signal from the cable lines are intermittent. It depends on which way the wind is blowing as to whether or not the phone will work or if I can get internet connection.

A repairman came out today and said that the box on the side of the house was old and "outdated" and needed to be replaced. He also reported that the cables and lines inside the box were loose. Wow. That explains a lot. He tightened them up and said he put in an order for a new box, and that a repairman would be out tomorrow to install it.

All I know is that it sucks not being able to use the phone or internet when you pay out the ass for their service. I'm more riled up over it working intermittently than if it were just totally out.
But hopefully tomorrow it will all be better and I can go back to being a calm person.

I do have one humorous event to report from all of the cable issues. This morning, Dad called me at work from the phone that was at that moment in time working. He said that Insight just called the house phone (the one that was reported as not working) and asked if the phone was working. There's not much I can say about that.

Cable Issues, Day One

It's been twenty-four hours since we've been without phone and internet here at The Compound. Thank goodness I still have a landline phone that we can use, plus we have our cell phones. And don't even get me started about having to use dial-up. But we might as well be living in a tent, as primative as it feels not having any accessible technology. It's been quiet on my side of things, and I've been able to get quite a bit of school work done tonight. And I'm surprised that the Craptop is holding out long enough for me to post this journal entry. Needless to say I'm going through withdrawals over not being able to get to Farmtown. But the fine folks at Insight said that they will be sending someone out tomorrow to hopefully fix whatever the problem is. All I can say is thank goodness the a/c is still working and I know the 'Rents are thankul that the cable TV is still working as well. I'll keep you posted.

Happy Father's Day

We interrupt today's Link of the Week to wish all of the fathers a Happy Father's Day. I'd especially like to send a big shout out to my father, the Bud Man. I'd also like to say Happy Father's Day to some other fathers who are very special to me: PS, TS, TG, PW, JD, and JW. You guys rock as fathers, and I'm proud to call you friends.

Flashback Friday A Day Late

I apologize for being a day late on Flashback Friday. I was working on a project for school last night and lost all track of time.

As I was riding the bike last night in the 92 degree heat and high humidity, I thought back to the ways that we tried to beat the heat when I as a kid. Of course, this was in the pre-a/c days. Our house has an attic fan, and I remember Grandma and Mom always reminding me to keep the bedroom and bathroom doors shut during the day so the fan would bring the air in through the windows in the family room and kitchen. In the afternoons, I would lay down in the hallway underneath the attic fan where it would be nice and cool and take a nap. Sometimes I would go down to the basement and take a nap on my inflatible raft that I would use at the pool. Yes, even as a young kid I loved to take naps. But I digress. When the heat would be unbearable, I would go back to Grandma and Grandpa's bedroom to take a nap or play because they had a window a/c unit in their room. They were older, and had some minor heart issues so they had an a/c in their room. Now before you jump to any conclusions, I didn't live in their room 24/7 during the summer as you might think, given my fondness for air conditioning. I would go in there for an hour or two during the afternoon to read or watch TV with them if they were in there. But from what I remember, they spent most of the day out on the back porch. Guess they were tougher than me.

Interesting Things Seen On Or Beside The Bicycle Path Tonight

1. a wild goose

2. one black sock

3. a turtle, about one foot in diameter

4. a plastic harmonica

5. a pair of flip flops (matching)

6. an unopened box of Jeno's pizza rolls

7. an unopened two-liter of Diet Mountain Dew

8. strips of aluminum siding

9. a wreath made of artificial flowers

10. 14 beer bottles (yeah, I counted)

Take Deep Breaths, Take Deep Breaths

I was on the verge of having an anxiety attack earlier this evening. Why, you ask? Because it took me an hour to get the cable modem to work so could get an internet connection, that's why.

I had gotten back from my nightly bicycle ride, and came back to the computer room to get online while I was cooling off, only to discover that not being able to get an internet connection was making me hotter. After an hour of unplugging and plugging and shutting down and rebooting, I finally was able to get online. I'm thinking that with all of the storms we've had lately, maybe the modem got zapped and is shorting out. Who knows. With a big project to work on for school right now, I don't have the time or energy to deal with Insight Communications. I'll go into Scarlet O'Hara mode, and worry about it tomorrow. Yeah, I'll worry about it tomorrow when I can't get an internet connection. After all, tomorrow is another day.

Customer Service Hell Update

After reading my dear friend Big Mama's comment yesterday, I did some research. In case you don't remember, Big Mama commented about how if you're talking with a customer service representative and you have the same trouble as I did understanding their dialect and accent, if you ask to speak to an American customer service representative, they have to transfer you to one. I went to a couple of urban legend sites this evening, and each one of them said the same thing - it's not necessarily true. It makes sense, though - if you call a company who is based here in the U.S., and if your CSR is speaking with an Indian or Russian accent, chances are they are an American citizen, so if you asked to speak to an "American", you might get them anyway, considering the fact that they are American.

My advice would be to politely tell the CSR that you're having the communication breakdown with that you'd like to speak to their supervisor or manager, and then maybe, just maybe their supervisor will speak better English then they did and you'll be able to understand each other better.

Customer Service Hell

I found myself in a never-ending customer service hell loop this morning. I spent all morning trying (emphasis on the word "trying") to get all of my financial aid crap taken care of, and I'm pretty sure I was talking to a woman who was in New Delhi, India. If she had even half as hard of a time understanding me as I was understanding her, then it's no wonder we couldn't communicate. I won't bore you with the details but at one point, people down the hall from my cube at work could hear me yelling "You don't understand what I'm trying to say." After hanging up and calling back three more times, I finally got someone who I could understand and got the answers and information I needed. But for the one hour and six minutes I was on the phone with the Indian woman, well, let me say I'm surprised that I didn't gnaw off all of my fingernails.

After making another call back this afternoon, everything is all in order, and my tuition will be paid. In the end, I guess that's all that really matters.

Link Of The Week

If you're anything like me, chances are you've lost your cell phone in the house. There - I admit it - it's happened to me a few times. The most recent and most frantic time was this past Thanksgiving day. It had fallen off of my bed and was wrapped up inside of the bedspread. Yes I realize I would have found the phone had I taken time to make the bed, but I digress. After an hour of searching I finally found it.

I came across a site this week I wish I'd known about when I lost the phone, because I'm pretty sure I would have found it a hell of a lot quicker. If you ever lose your cell phone, just visit http://www.wheresmycellphone.com/ and enter your cell phone number and the cite will call you, and hopefully if you have your ringer turned on you'll be able to hear your cell phone ringing and will be able to find it a lot quiker than I did last November.

Mullet Watch

It's been a busy few days for the mullets, faithful readers. Even though we've had tons of rain storms here in the 'Ville, it hasn't seemed to stop the mullets from being out and about. Today, I bring you reports of three mullet sightings.

The first report is from Diva Stacy, who spotted a Hispanic mullet, that was long and black, but the waterfall was fanned out. I do believe that is a first for our mullet watch. The second was spotted also by Diva Stacy. It was a femmullet, and was peroxide blonde and very long. The third was spotted by yours truly. It was hidden underneath a Coors Light ball cap, but you could tell there was a dark gray mullet lurking underneath the ball cap.

Mullet count: 14

Flashback Friday

As I drove home today, I was ecstatic that there were no school buses to deal with out on the roads - this week was the first full week of the school kids' summer vacation. As I was driving home, I started thinking back to all of the summer vacations I had when I was a kid, and wondered "What are the kids going to do?" Then I thought of all of the fun stuff I did during summer vacation - Vacation Bible School was always a favorite, followed by going down to Grayson County every other week to spend the weekend with Dad's uncle Paul and aunt Sybil. I'm sorry to disappoint my parents, but when I think of summer vacation, I think of VBS and going down to uncle Paul's for the weekend. Sure, our two trips across country and our trip to Canada are some of my fondest memories as a kid, but I still think of VBS and going down to uncle Paul's when I think of summer.

This week's Flashback Friday is going to involve you, my faithful readers. What are some your favorite flashback summer vacation memories?

I Don't Even Want To Know

The sign to the left was posted on the wall above the copying machine by our cubicle at work. I can only imagine what prompted someone to scan the wrapper from the ream of paper and add the warning "only use as copy paper." I don't even want to know, because I'm pretty sure it would just wear me out.

Update From The Compound

I'm very happy to report that Miss Rosemary will be coming home from the hospital tomorrow, and one of her daughters will be taking her back down to her home in Somerset, KY for a couple of weeks. We all just about did cart wheels out in the yard when we heard she was doing better and would be discharged.

Other than that, there's not much else to update you on at The Compound. The 'Rents' garden is doing great - Mom has already picked some green onions, and tomorrow she should be picking some jalapeno peppers, banana peppers and some summer squash. Fortunately for the garden, the 'Rents won't be going to Canada this summer, so that means that I won't be left in charge of the garden. I know the garden thanks them for that.

A Day Of Feeling Blah

I woke up this morning great - my sinus pain that had plagued me yesterday was gone, thank goodness, and ol' Arthur Itis had left me alone, too. On the way to work, I kept telling myself that that it was going to be a good day. That slowly changed as news started to trickle in from The Compound and elsewhere.

The first blah news had to do with a dear friend. I respect their privacy on this matter, and will not even use their initials nor go into detail about their blah news. But suffice to say it made me feel very blah out of solidarity for them. I know that's a tad bit unfair to mention it so vaguely like that, but this is my blog and I can be as vague or as open as I want. Moving on.

The second and most blah news came a few hours later when I found out that our beloved Miss Rosemary (who lives in the middle house of The Compound, between us and Rocky the dog) was taken to the hospital. She's 94 years old and had the same symptoms that my Grandma had when we took her to the hospital before she eventually had to go to the nursing home. The name for the medical condition is a mile long but it basically is a condition they find in most elderly people where their bodies get old and worn out and they don't produce as much blood as needed. We're waiting for updates right now from Miss Rosemary's kids, but if you ask me, I have a feeling that she won't be back home.

I'm a firm believer that there is no such thing as coincidence, but it was 20 years today that Mom took Grandma to the doctor and then on to the hospital and then eventually on to the nursing home, and the news of Miss Rosemary has brought back some feelings that Mom, Dad and I thought that we'd been able to move past. We were all three unusually quiet at supper, and as soon as we were finished eating, the three of us went out separate ways here at The Compound. I went to the computer room, Dad went out to the garden, and Mom went for a walk, each of us dealing with those feelings in our own way. I heard Mom and Dad come back in the house together, and I walked out to the family room where we had a silent group hug.

School Update

Well, faithful readers, it's been one week since I've officially been back at school. So far, so good. As you well know, I'm a Planner and Organizer, and it took me a couple of days to get my routine all laid out, and I'm back in the groove. On major change I made was my bike riding. I now hurry home from work and do my riding before supper, so I will have the evening free to read, do homework and watch All My Children. My assignments and homework are due on Sundays, and my plan is to have everything completed no later than Friday night or Saturday morning so I can have most of my weekend free. As stated earlier, so far, so good. That might change, though, with a 20 page paper due the week before the class ends. But I'm planning on starting on that as soon as I finish with this week's homework.

Thanks again to those of you that have emailed me, giving me encouragement on going back. Your support means the world to me. Thanks again, and I'll keep you posted.

Link Of The Week

Disclaimer: This week's Link of the Week is directed at my faithful readers that live in the 'Ville.
Please remember that among all of the hustle and bustle fo everyday life, we still have an awesome free public library system here in Louisville. You can get books, CD's and DVD's and it the only thing it will cost you is the gasoline to get you there in your car. I've just renewed my interest in the library and I have to say it rocks. I checked out a book a few weeks ago, and just today I got an email saying that the book was due back in a few days, but if I wanted to check it out again all I had to do was visit the library's website. How cool is that?

If you're in the 'Ville, I urge you to please visit your Louisville free public library, and check out their website at http://www/lfpl.org.

Good News For A Change

As you know from many previous posts, I've had more than my share of vehicle issues, most of them costly. For the past two months, the BMW has been sitting under the carport, dead as a doornail due to some battery and alternator issues. I kept procrastinating and putting off taking it up to my cousin The Mechanic so he could test it to see what the problem was. This week I got fed up with not being able to drive my Beemer so Thursday night I hooked up the battery charger and lo and behold after a few hours she started right up. I drove it to work Friday so I could stop by my cousin's after work, and on the way to work and over to his house I drove with no radio, no a/c, and basically nothing on but the engine, but we made it.

He tested the alternator and said it was fine. What? Did my cousin just say that the $$$$ alternator was fine? I almost did a cart wheel. He then tested the battery and said it was ok, too, but it was a little low. The only thing he told me to do was to put the charger back on it when I got home and let it charge up over night. So for once, I was able to get good news back from a BMW diagnosis. She got washed and waxed today, too. I'm sure being all shined up makes her happy. I know her starting without the use of jumper cables makes me happy.

Flashback Friday

Even with a good memory like I have, I'm embarrassed to admit that I do not remember how we played "Hands Down." I remember playing it, and I still have the game down in the archives in the basement, but I don't remember anything about the game. Maybe some of you, faithful readers, can help me out. Please let me know if you played "Hands Down", and more importantly, how you played it

I've Got This One

Police Say There is No Credible Threat to Louisville
Connection investigated to possible terror suspect

Thursday, June 4, 2009
LOUISVILLE, Ky.--Louisville was apparently on the radar of a possible terror suspect, but Metro Police are saying there is no credible threat to the city. 23-year old Abdulhakim Muhammad is charged with killing a soldier at a Little Rock recruiting office this week. He had apparently Googled several sites, including Louisville. Authorities are investigating if the sites might have been possible targets.

Authorities are not releasing the particular site in Louisville, but say there is no reason to fear for anyone's safety. They believe Muhammad was working alone.

Muhammad apparently also searched sites in Memphis, Atlanta, Little Rock, New York, and Philadelphia. Locations include military recruiting centers, Jewish organizations, a Baptist church, and a child-care center.

Muhammad apparently said he was angry at the treatment of Muslims.

I know I've only had one class so far in Security Magement, but I think I've learned enough to make sure the 'Ville is secure. I say bring it on, big boy.

It Was The Third Of June . . .

Today is one of my favorite days of the year. No, it's not my birthday - in fact, I don't know anyone that has a birthday day. But I digress. Today is one of my favorite days of the year thanks to old school country singer and songwriter Bobbi Gentry for writing "Ode To Billy Joe."

It was the third of June, another sleepy, dusty Delta day
I was out choppin' cotton and my brother was balin' hay
And at dinner time we stopped and walked back to the house to eat
And Mama hollered out the back door "y'all remember to wipe your feet"
And then she said "I got some news this mornin' from Choctaw Ridge"
"Today Billy Joe MacAllister jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge"

And Papa said to Mama as he passed around the blackeyed peas
"Well, Billy Joe never had a lick of sense, pass the biscuits, please"
"There's five more acres in the lower forty I've got to plow"
And Mama said it was shame about Billy Joe, anyhow
Seems like nothin' ever comes to no good up on Choctaw Ridge
And now Billy Joe MacAllister's jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge

And Brother said he recollected when he and Tom and Billy Joe
Put a frog down my back at the Carroll County picture show
And wasn't I talkin' to him after church last Sunday night?
"I'll have another piece of apple pie, you know it don't seem right"
"I saw him at the sawmill yesterday on Choctaw Ridge"
"And now you tell me Billy Joe's jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge"

And Mama said to me "Child, what's happened to your appetite?"
"I've been cookin' all morning and you haven't touched a single bite"
"That nice young preacher, Brother Taylor, dropped by today"
"Said he'd be pleased to have dinner on Sunday, oh, by the way"
"He said he saw a girl that looked a lot like you up on Choctaw Ridge"
"And she and Billy Joe was throwing somethin' off the Tallahatchie Bridge"

A year has come 'n' gone since we heard the news 'bout Billy Joe
And Brother married Becky Thompson, they bought a store in Tupelo
There was a virus going 'round, Papa caught it and he died last Spring
And now Mama doesn't seem to wanna do much of anything
And me, I spend a lot of time pickin' flowers up on Choctaw Ridge
And drop them into the muddy water off the Tallahatchie Bridge

Mullet Watch

Once again, my dear friend and #1 mullet spotter JMc has spotted yet another mullet. Here's his report:

…and I saw a red stringy, wavy mullet yesterday at, you guessed it Casa De Wal-Mart. It kind of looked like a red wavy mop.

Mullet count: 11

New Developments Update

When we last spoke about my New Development of going back to school for a second Master's Degree, I had made the decision not to go back, mainly for financial reasons. I made peace with the decision, but something inside of me was still all stirred up and I really still wanted to go back. So I thought long and hard about it, and prayed earnestly about it and basically just asked God to give me a tangible, visible sign if going back to school was what I was supposed to do right now at this point in my life. And I took it one step further - I prayed that if this was in deed what I was supposed to do, that God would help make a way for me to do it financially.

This morning, I called the school with the intent of telling them that I was officially withdrawing (note: I refuse to use the phrase "drop out.") The lady pulled up my records and then said "You might want to reconsider withdrawing." And then she hit me with the news that I had received a $5,000 grant from the government, and that I was eligible for a scholarship from the university for returning students, that would give me half-price tuition. Well, faithful readers, I believe that was the sign that I'd been looking for.

I got some more information, and then immediately logged in to the online classroom, printed out my syllabus and first week's assignments and tonight I officially started working on my Master's of Arts in Business and Organizational Security Management. Please pray for me and wish me luck during the next two and a half years. I'll keep you posted.