What Game???

I'm going out on a limb and will guess that my family will be among the minority this evening because we most likely will not be watching the UK vs U of L basketball game.  For those of you who have not been near a TV, newspaper, the internet or any other form of media for the past week, UK and U of L will play against each other tonight in the NCAA basketball tournament, and the winner will go on to play Monday night in the championship game.

I just don't like March Madness and all of the trash-talking that goes along with it.  This year, however, I did wear college team t-shirts during this madness.  I had a UK t-shirt that was 4 or 5 years old, as Dad has an old one as well, and he and I started wearing them to church on Wednesday nights out of solidarity for one of the deacons who is a huge UK fan; needless to say Walnut Street Baptist Church is predominantly U of L. One Wednesday night a few weeks ago, one of the little ladies who is a diehard U of L fan was joking me about my UK shirt and asked how come I wasn't wearing a U of L shirt.  I told her that if I had one, I would wear it, as I don't really like or dislike either team; I'm proud of my city and my state equally.  Wouldn't you know that the next Wednesday she gave me a very nice bright red U of L t-shirt. They made me put it on over my Wildcat blue t-shirt I was wearing.  So just to follow the crowds, whenever the two teams were playing during March Madness, I would wear the appropriate t-shirt that day; never mind that I didn't watch the games.  There were quite a few laughs, especially at work;  a few of the women from the Accounting department who are big U of L fans came down to my office and hugged me when they heard I had on a U of L shirt, and they both said they never gave up hope for me. 

The games come to an end on Monday.  But I'll still wear my t-shirts.

Flashback Friday, Sorta

I did something very stupid a few days ago, and today, I wish I could go back to the carefree days when I was a kid and have someone else fix it for me, but unfortunately I can't.  So instead of flashing back and thinking about when Mom and Dad would always take care of things, I'm taking care of things tonight as I wait for the battery charger to get the battery on the Blazer charged up enough so it will start.  I was a goofball on Tuesday evening and left the tailgate window slightly open, just enough for the dome light to stay on and drain the almost-new battery. 

Thursday, Thursday

We interrupt the regularly scheduled TWIT post to bring you news that I am a bit under the weather tonight.  I had some, uh, issues throughout the morning and early afternoon, and it's worn me out. For a couple of hours at work I was just freezing cold, sitting in my office in between trips to the bathroom wearing a hoodie and a demin jacket.   I'm just tired now, but so far haven't had any, uh, issues, in a couple of hours.  Hopefully I'll be back in action tomorrow.  In the meanwhile, I'm going to lay on the couch and take it easy tonight.

Quote Of The Week

Seen on the back door of a big rig trailer on my way home today:

"It started as a dream, and now it's a damned nightmare."

Tuesday Updates

I am very proud of myself for speaking up at work today about our lack of communication in the company. I don't know if it will change things, but at least I cowboy'd up and spoke my mind. And lo and behold, others spoke up and supported me.

On an unrelated note, I ate some bad sour cream at supper tonight, and hope I don't end up at the emergency room later to have my stomach pumped.  I know that this is miniscule compared to what my pal Rachel is going through right now, but it's a concern.  As always, I'll keep you posted.

Rant and Rave Monday

Even though this is my blog and I can talk about whatever I want to any day of the week, you know after the past eight (yes, almost eight) years of blogging that I seldom rant and rave and complain in TWIT.  And you also know that I don't make too many comments in TWIT about my company or my job.  Well, today, that changes.  

It was well into the afternoon today - after 2:00 - when I found out that a coworker upstairs in Customer Support was having brain surgery today.  In fact, she was actually in the operating room undergoing the surgery when we found out.  It wasn't just me - I don't think anyone else knew that this woman was having brain surgery to remove a tumor.  Yet if there had been some scandalous or even near-scandalous gossip about her, we sure would have heard it within minutes of when it was spoken.  When something that we need to know so those of us that pray can pray about, we never find out.  I know that's not something that you publish on the front page of the newspaper, but her coworkers or HR should have let people know so they could have been praying or for those that don't pray, they could have been sending well wishes.  And if that wasn't bad enough, honestly minutes before we found out our coworker was having brain surgery, we found out that her boss was off for a few weeks because she had gall bladder surgery.  Once again, if there'd been some gossip about her, we would have heard it instantaneously. 

It just riles me up. I'll say this publicly: communication has always been a major fault at my company. When we need to know something, we never find out.  Yet when there's leftovers in the lunchroom after a lunch meeting we all know about it as soon as the food is laid down on a lunchroom table, or when someone is selling NASCAR or ballgame tickets, our inboxes are bombarded with emails.  What's wrong with this picture?

Link Of The Week

I've mentioned [quite] a few times in TWIT that I love Little Debbie snack cakes, mainly the Zebra Cakes and the holiday-themed cakes that are similar to Zebra Cakes.  I love a good Nutty Bar, too, but the cream-filled Zebra Cakes in any form are my favorite. Just this week, Diva Stacy reported to me that she saw Little Debbie Tulip cakes while shopping.  I knew I had to have them.  While doing some research about them at the Little Debbie website, I stumbled upon a page where you can find your favorite Little Debbie product in your area.  Visit http://littledebbie.com/product_locator/ and just select the Little Debbie product you want and enter your zip code and then head out the door to the store. 

File Under: WTF?

Dear Post (the cereal manufacturer):

I have one question for you:  why do you bombard our television programs with commercials for your new Honey Bunches of Oats Fruit Blend cereals when they are not in the stores?  Case in point:  I visited a total of seven, yes seven, grocery stores today in Louisville and none of them carried your new cereal. And for the record, I had planned on buying four boxes to give to friends who also want to try it out.  But not today.

Your commercials for Honey Bunches of Oats play incessantly on prime time TV, and we all are well aware of your product.  But please have your product in the stores if you want us to try them out. 

Your disgruntled customer,
Puddin

New Product Review

Since I already had a Flashback earlier in the week when I reminisced about Who Shot JR, today I am bringing you, faithful readers, a New Product Review.  It is brought to us by my good friend, coworker and faithful reader SH.  Believe me when I tell you I will be going out tomorrow morning to a local joint to try this.

Last night, my husband and I ran into Dairy Queen to grab a quick bite for dinner. While my husband got a milkshake for his drink, I ordered a medium soft drink. The cashier handed me the empty cup and I went in search of the soft drink dispenser. I looked around the corner from the counter and all I could see (at first glance) was the coffee and tea machines and what looked like a Coke vending machine from the side. I started looking around the rest of the store to find the soft drink dispenser when my husband finally noticed my wandering around and pointed to what I thought was a vending machine and said, "That's the Coke dispenser you need to get your soda from." Then I walked up to the machine and realized it wasn't a vending machine, but a very different kind of soft drink dispenser. It had no written instructions on it whatsoever--just a screen with little icons of just about every Coke product you can imagine. Now I will be the first to admit that I am not technologically savvy. In fact, I hardly have made it past the 1980's as far as technology goes, so I was confused as to what I was supposed to do at this point. It did have a marked ice dispenser on it that I used to get my ice, but then I motioned for my husband to come over and "help" me. He came over and told me to touch the icon of the drink I wanted. I chose Sprite Zero. After touching it, another screen pops up with a large Sprite Zero logo and about 8-10 smaller icons with different flavors of Sprite Zero (peach, vanilla, strawberry, etc). I was supposed to touch the screen again to choose from all these different Sprite Zero flavors, but I was so stunned because I wasn't aware that Sprite Zero even came in all these flavors that I waited too long to make a selection and the machine reset to the main screen once again. I told my husband, "I just want regular Sprite Zero--no special flavors." He ended up walking me through the process and I finally got my Sprite Zero. It turns out that this is a new machine called Coca-Cola Freestyle and can be found in many fast food restaurants at this time. I suggest they put something on the machine telling people like me that it is a touch screen and that's how you use it. Like I said, I'm the first to admit that I'm technologically challenged, but I felt pretty stupid about not being able to operate a soft drink dispenser.

As a special Link Of The Week, here is a link to the Coca Cola site that tells all about the Coca Cola Freestyle.  http://www.coca-colafreestyle.com/index.jsp.

The Coca Cola Freestyle most definitely gets the TWIT Seal of Approval. And I wish I had one of these here at The Compound.

Good Luck, Knights

TWIT would like to wish our very own Bellarmine Knights good luck tonight as they play Montevallo in the NCAA Division II Final Four.  It pisses me off to no end that nobody else in this town or state seems to care that Bellarmine has made it to the prestigious Final Four, when all eyes are on UofL and UK playing tonight and tomorrow night respective in the Sweet Sixteen.  I don't wish those two teams any bad luck, but at the same time, the media and Louisvillians need to show some pride and support Bellarmine.  As I type this I am proudly wearing my Bellarmine Knights t-shirt.

Go Knights!!

Who Shot J.R.?

It's hard to believe, but on this day 32 years ago, J.R. Ewing was shot on the most awesome series "Dallas."  Yep, 32 years ago.  It set off a frenzy that has yet to be equalled.  T-shirts were everywhere that said "Who shot J.R.?" or even "I shot J.R.".  I even remember my great uncle Paul telling about how a woman stood up during a church service and asked for prayer for J.R. because someone shot him.  Hand to heaven that happened.

Us Dallas fans all know that J.R.'s sister-in-law Kristen shot him.  I guess that's what he got for sleeping with his wife's baby sister.

Happy First Day Of Spring

This is the first official day of spring, and the high today was 84 degrees.  It's insane.  All I know is tonight I finally wore down the 'Rents and they let me go flip the switch.  It's very comfortable here in the house right now with the a/c running.  And I hope it stays that way. 

Winter Update

This is officially the last day of winter, and me, Mom and Dad are all three wearing shorts and short-sleeved t-shirts tonight.  I'm sorry to say that the switch has not been flipped, but in the Heat Miser's defense, it's not all that uncomfortable in the house right now.

We can only imagine how "spring" and then "summer" will be. I don't even want to think about how hot it will be.

Link Of The Week

Not having any kids that I conceived and delivered, I've always had plenty of friends' kids around me that I could "adopt" and help out through school projects, fundraisers, and just through hanging out together.  The schools these days need all the help they can get. And it's not secret that that teachers end up spending a lot of their own money for classroom supplies.

This week I found a link that will let us help out the schools that are in need.  Visit http://www.donorschoose.org/ and start helping.  You can narrow it down to needy schools in your state, city, zip code or neighborhood, and through your donation that will go straight to them and their needs, you can help out the students who will benefit from your generosity. I challenge you.  Take a couple of minutes and spend $20 to help a classroom in  your area. You will be glad you did.

Overheard At The Store

Overheard at the soft drink aisle at Krogers this morning from a mother and her young teenage daughter.

Daughter: What does ginger ale taste like?
Mother: Ginger ale

Flashback Friday

With March Madness in full swing, you'll be hard pressed to find someone who isn't talking about the basketball games going on right now.  As a few minutes ago, my beloved North Carolina Tar Heels won and advanced to the next round of the NCAA tournament. You probably don't know this but ever since I was old enough to go to college, I wanted to be a Tar Heel.

I loved the Tar Heels, mainly their awesome walk-on-water coach Dean Smith.  It was my big dream to be able to go to college at UNC Chapel Hill so I could proudly say I was a Tar Heel.  But life and my parents' checking account kinda got in the way.  There was no way in the world that Mom and Dad could afford for me to go to UNC for college, and even though I had gotten a partial scholarship, they still wouldn't have been able to make it happen.  So I went to college here in Louisville instead.  I don't regret any of it. My parents were far from rich, and were able to send me to a good local college with their factory-worker's salary, and for that I am eternally grateful, and am proud to say that made me the person I am today. At the time and still today, the only regret that I have is for friends whose parents could have afforded for them to go to any college in the country and they passed up the chance.  It's just like my Grandpa Cliff said, and I quote: "The only things in life you should regret are the things you didn't do."

Let The Madness Begin

The NCAA March Madness hoopla started today, and I'm pretty sure not much work was done in businesses in Louisville and Lexington today.  That having been said, one of the first rounds of the tournament is being held here in Louisville today and tomorrow at the Yum! Center downtown.  Our own U of L Cardinals started their game this afternoon, just as storms were developing throughout the area. 

I said a silent prayer for those that could be affected by the storms, because I knew that nothing short of WWIII breaking out would interrupt the broadcast of the U of L game today.  Let the March Madness begin.

More "Winter" Weather Updates

We set a record today with a high of 82 reported here in Louisville.  The previous record of 80 degrees was set back in 1990.  Just about everybody I talked to today was commenting on what spring and summer will be like.  The general consensus is warmer than usual.  Great.

"Winter" Weather Update

We're still officially in winter, and TWIT would like to report that it got up to 76 today, and the temperature is expected to rise to a high of 80 tomorrow. 

As soon as I got home from work this evening, I made a comment about how warm it was today.  The Old Man aka Heat Miser quickly replied "Don't even start."

Happy National Napping Day

TWIT would like to wish everyone a very happy National Napping Day.  I know it's suppertime, but it's never to late to get in a small nap later on while you're watching TV. I know I might.

Link Of The Week

Today is Selection Sunday - the day when all of the teams are chosen and in place in the brackets for this year's NCAA basketball tournament.  Personally, I can't stand March Madness, but for my faithful readers that enjoy it, here is a link to a printable bracket so you can get to work picking your teams.  Visit http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/tournament/bracket. Good luck.

Something You Don't See Everyday

Yep, you sure don't see a possum riding a snowboard everyday.  In fact, I don't think I've ever seen a possum riding a snowboard. 

Happy Birthday, Grandma

I apologize for being a day late, but yesterday was my Grandma's birthday.  I honestly say that I loved her more than I have ever loved anyone in my whole life.  She raised me; my parents worked second shift until I was in the second grade, and during that time Grandma and Grandpa were there to get me off to school and were there when I got home. 

Not a day goes by that I don't miss Grandma.  How could I not?  She practically raised me, and lived with me until the time she had to go to the nursing home in 1990.  But I'm thankful for all that she taught me.  And I look forward to the day up in heaven when we can once again be together.

Something You Don't Hear Everyday

Tonight I was visiting and catching up with an old friend, I was told "you've always been my hero."  

That's definitely something you don't hear everyday.  I walked out of the restaurant feeling ten feet tall and bullet proof. 

These New Fangled Things

The following is the transcript from a conversation between two friends - Suzie Q, a coworker (My Mom), and her daughter K (Me). I promise that this is a direct quote:

My Mom: Ugh, I think my phone is broken!
Me: Why?
My Mom: Because it is dinging every 5 minutes or so.
Me: Let me look at it.
My Mom: OK, I guess I'm going to have to get a new one.
Me: OMG! Momma!
My Mom: what?
Me: Well maybe it's dinging because you have 46 unread emails & 9 text messages!
My Mom: What? I do?
Me: Yeahhh that's why the phone mysteriously dings to tell you, that you have a message!
My Mom: Oh! Ha! I guess I have missed a lot of stuff!
Me: ya think?

Happy Frozen Food Day

TWIT would like to wish everyone a Happy Frozen Food Day.  To celebrate, please grab some frozen food out of your freezer and take it to work with you for lunch today. I know I will!  I'm bringing a frozen Boca burger and also a frozen bun to go with it.

And while you're at it, stop by the grocery on the the way home from work today and pick up a big frozen lasagna for supper, and have some ice cream for dessert!

Weather Update

On Friday, the high reached 72 in this area.  We also had killer tornados come through north and south of us.  This morning, this area woke to 4-5 inches of snow.  Personally, I think God is just letting us all know that He is still in control.

Link Of The Week

Everyone I've talked to since Friday has said the same thing - we're in shock and are just heart sick over the devastation and destruction from the Friday tornados in southern Indiana.  But there is something we can do besides pray for the families affected - we can donate money.  And the easiest way to help out the area is to go through the Red Cross.  You can visit  and donate online or if you want an even easier way, text to 90999 and in the message type REDCROSS, and $10 will be donated to the Red Cross for the relief efforts in the tornado-stricken areas.  The $10 will show up on your next montly cell phone bill. http://www.redcross.org
I've already texted a $10 donation, and I challenge each of you faithful readers to do the same. 

Flashback Saturday

One of the biggest tornardo outbreaks happened back on April 3, 1974 in the Louisville area. I was 11 when that happened, but without today's technology and instant pictures and information, we didn't really know what was going on around us.  Yesterday was a different story.  With Dopplar and Super Dopplar and all of our local TV channels broadcasting continuous coverage, we knew exactly where the tornados were. 

Like I said, I was a kid when the April 3rd tornados hit, and then, my most vivid memory was the day after on April 4.  Dad was out helping with search and rescue, and me, Mom and Grandpa went up to the drugstore to pick up a prescription and go to the grocery store adjacent to the drugstore.  As we were walking into the drugstore, I looked up at the sky and saw the bluest, clearest sky that I had ever seen in my short 11 years.  I'd never seen such a sky until this morning; the day after the devastating tornados hit southern Indiana.  I walked outside this morning to get something from the garage, and looked up at the sky and remembered that it looked just like it did on April 4, 1974.  Yeah, it was eerie.

Storm Update

We interrupt the regularly scheduled Flashback Friday to give an update on the tornados in the area today.  For the past two days, the weatherazzi has had us all in a frenzy over the probability of tornados today.  Yesterday evening, our governor even issued a statement, telling the state to be prepared and plan for such an emergency.

First of all, let me give a big thank you Lord because Louisville was spared from today's tornados and storms.  Unfortunately southern Indiana was not as lucky.  Tornados that were over a half mile wide ripped through that area.  One entire town was demolished. As of now, there have been five confirmed deaths from this afternoon's storms. 

At The Compound, I'm ashamed to say that the ground barely was covered in sprinkles, and the only thing we got was some wind.  Like I said, thank you Lord for once again watching over us and keeping us safe.  Where we are along the Ohio River is a small little pocket - and that has protected us from many a tornado and damaging storm.

Our prayers go out to those affected by today's storms and tornados.

Happy Birthday, Grandpa

I know I haven't mentioned him much, but today was my Grandpa's birthday.  He was born wayyyy back in 1901.  He died in 1977, way too young, but he was an awesome man. 

Grandpa was probably one of the strongest men I've ever met - his arms were so muscled, that he reminded me of Popeye. He was a carpenter by trade, but could do just about anything.

Grandpa had a reputation that definitely preceded him - he was a big practical joker and prankster.  I've heard many stories about the pranks that he and his brother Paul would pull, and based on what I've heard, it's a miracle they both lived to tell about them.

Just a few weeks ago, Mom told me a story about a prank that Grandpa pulled.  I was just a toddler when it happened, and much to my dismay, I wasn't there to see it happen.  But I got the story firsthand.  Mom and Grandpa had gone to the grocery store on a Friday night as was the ritual, and while they were shopping, Grandpa decided to prank some poor unsuspecting shopper.  He grabbed an arm full of cake mixes and put them in a woman's shopping cart when she wasn't looking.  And then they followed her through the store, and wound up behind her in the checkout line.  The woman started checking out, and imagine the look on her face when the cashier started ringing up a dozen boxes of cake mix that she didn't put in her shopping cart.  Mom said that Grandpa was bent over in laughter as it happened.  I don't doubt that for a minute.

Happy birthday, Grandpa.  I still miss you.  And I thank you so much for passing on the gift of laughter to me, and I thank you for teaching your son (my Father) the importance of family.