Happy International Bacon Day

We interrupt the regularly scheduled Flashback Friday to wish everyone a very Happy International Bacon Day, which will be happening tomorrow.  As I type this, I'm sure it's Saturday somewhere in the world, and since this is an international celebration, it's not to early. 

If you haven't done your weekly grocery shopping yet, you have time to run to the grocery tonight and pick up some bacon so you can fry it up for breakfast tomorrow morning. 

Try, Try Again

I had a hankering for bag of plain potato chips to go with my lunch today, so I visited the upstairs lunchroom to get a bag from their vending machine. There was a big yellow post-it note on the machine, saying that the owed a person 80 cents because the bag of sour cream and chive chips they'd wanted were stuck and wouldn't fall out.  I was getting ready to buy my plain chips when I was paged over the intercom.  Not remembering there was a phone in the lunchroom, I walked over to a cubicle and used a phone.  When I got back to the lunchroom and was getting ready to get my chips, I'd noticed that there was now a second name on the post-it note, saying that this person, too, was owed 80 cents because their sour cream and chive potato chips were stuck and didn't fall out.  Yep, now there were two bags stuck.  My guess is the second person thought that if they bought a bag, it would cause the stuck bag to fall out, so they would be able to double-dip.  But karma had another idea. 

Happy Birthday, Besse Cooper

TWIT would like to wish a very happy birthday to Besse Cooper.  On Sunday, Besse turned 116 years old.  Yes, you heard me - 116 years old.   The Guinness Book of World Records has declared Besse the world's oldest living person.  Besse lives in Monroe, Georgia, where they even named a bridge after her.  Besse has 4 children, and over a dozen grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

At her birthday party, people asked Besse what her secret was to longevity.  Besse told them (and I quote) "I mind my own business, and I don't eat junk food."

Even if we don't make it to 116 years old like Besse, we'd all be way better off if we followed her advice.

Thank You, Lord

Two weeks ago, Mom had her annual mammogram, and we've been nerved up ever since she got a ltter saying that she needed to have a second mammogram done.  Needless to say, based on her account of the first mammogram, the technician botched it up, but still, we've been nerved up and uneasy over not knowing.  I've prayed multiple times every day, asking that everything be all right.  Friends have tried to reassure me with their own tales of how they had to have two and even three mammograms done at times, only to find everything was okay.  I appreciate their well wishes but when you're worrying about your own mother, you can't help but be uneasy.  Twice in her life Mom has had to have a biopsy done, and thank the Lord each time came back okay, so it was only natural that I was nerved up over this episode.

Mom went today for her second mammogram, and thanks to the Lord, everything is ok.  It was in deed the result of a botched up first mammogram.  Mom's doctor even apologized for the issues.  But regardless, I thank the Lord everything is okay.

Re-Entry

One of my work peeps said something to me this afternoon that really struck a chord with me. Earlier today, she and I had been joking about me being on vacation last week, and at the end of the day today she said something very profound and blog-worthy:  she said "Re-Entry is hell."  Amen. 

"Re-Entry" is the best way I can think of to refer to the first day back at work after a week of vacation. You've had a week of sleeping late, taking naps, and doing whatever you wanted to do (except work) and then you're thrust back into the reality of work.  It makes perfect sense to me.

That having been said, re-entry wasn't too bad today.  I'm very very lucky because with the nature of our work in the production scheduling department, scheduling and inventory have to be done daily and with a deadline, so when a person is out, the other three pick up their slack and do their work.  So the beauty of it is when you come back from vacation or even a day off, there's no big pile of work that you need to do to catch up.  So my re-entry wasn't bad at all.

Vacation Day 9 Decision Of The Day

My awesome vacation has come to an end, and it's back to work tomorrow where I am paid to make decisions. Unfortunately I'm not able to ask for your help in making those decisions; I'm on my own. But I digress. Since this is the last day before I go back to work, there's still one big decision to make:  do I give in and take a nap this afternoon, or do I stay awake and keep my momentum going like the Energizer bunny?

Vacation Day 8 Decision Of The Day

I've been to the fair twice already, but some friends asked me if I'd like to go back with them to walk around and eat our way through the fair.  Do I go back to the fair with them, or do I stay home and enjoy the last bit of my vacation?

After thinking about it, I ended up going back to the fair yesterday afternoon and had a blast. The last few hours were spent in a gigantic tent listening to the karaoke semi-finals. Last night was one of the first nights in ages that was out till almost midnight. Yeah, I'm almost fifty but I can still hang in there like the teenagers.

Vacation Day 7 Decision Of The Day

On the weeks that I'm on vacation, there's not a lot of cooking at The Compound.  We have canned soups, sandwiches, and easy-to-fix things, in addition to gettying carryout.  Being the sweetest, most kind mother in the world, Mom said that she would make a pot of "something" for the weekend, and since I was still on vacation I would get to choose among my favorites. Unfortunately, dumplins were not one of the choices. But I digress. Do I choose bean soup or chili?

Well, it seems like Mom couldn't decide, either, because she ended up making a pot of bean soup and a pot of chili.  She gave half of each pot to the very sick elderly couple next door and froze most of our halves.  But I can't wait to get home from church tomorrow to get a bowl of chili!

Vacation Day 6 Decision Of The Day

After an action-packed vacation week so far, tomorrow has been designated as my Day Of Rest; that is non-decision.  If any one of the vehicles here at The Compound are out on the road tomorrow, I will not be in it, because I am staying home all day long and doing nothing.  The decision: do I sleep late, or do I get up early (well, not too early) so I can have more time to do nothing?

This was as close to a non-decision as I could get.  I got to bed at about 12:30, and got up at 9:55 this morning.  It sure was nice knowing I didn't have to get up at any certain time.

Vacation Day 5 Decision Of The Day

Today's Decision Of The Day involves the potential of me spending money to make money.  I've got a 15 year old mountain bike in the garage, and the seat is missing.  When I decided to ride the bike, I bought a bigger padded seat for the bike.  When I got my antique Schwinn bike a few years ago, we took the padded seat off of the mountain bike and put it on the Schwinn. Do I try to sell the bike as is or do I go to the store and buy the cheapest seat I can find to put on the bike before I stick it in the front yard with a "for sale" sign on it?

After weighing the options on this, I decided to just sell the bike as is.  Any sane person that buys the bike will surely want a comfortable seat on it and not the usual little small wedge that they put on the bikes and loosely call it a seat.

Vacation Day 4 Decision Of The Day

I have a new Pentax digital camera that I have never used.  It's still in the box. I bought it because I can use all of the lens that I have for my old school Pentax K1000 35mm camera.  So the decision of the day: where should I go for my first photo shoot with the new camera?

After thinking about logistics and locations, I decided that the first shoot with my new camera and equipment will be here at The Compound. 

Vacation Day 3 Decision Of The Day

The fair is here, and no trip to the Kentucky State Fair is complete without some of Hodson's fudge - the fudge like Grandma "tried" to make. This family has made fudge at our fair for as long as I can remember.  In fact, it's the Official State Fair Fudge here at The Compound.  The decision of the day: what flavor fudge do I buy -- peanut butter or chocolate?

Decision:  after carefully weighing the options, I decided that I will buy both flavors of fudge -- peanut butter and chocolate. 

Vacation Day 2 Decision Of The Day

Vacation Day 2 Decision Of The Day:

The 'Rents decided they wanted tacos for supper tonight, so I'm only happy to oblige. On Sundays, there usually is no cooking at The Compound, so my decision: do we get our tacos from Taco Bell or Taco Tico?

Decision:  I decided to give our hometown conglomerate Yum! our business, and went to Taco Bell. 

Vacation Day 1 Decision Of The Day

I'm on vacation next week, and back by surprisingly popular demand is another round of Decision Of The Day.


Vacation Day 1 Decision Of The Day:

The old BMW resides underneath the carport, and while the carport roof and the wall of the garage protect it from the rain and snow, the car attracts dust from the garden like you wouldn't believe; especially this summer with the drought. I'm pretty sure that the car is maroon, but I won't be able to tell for sure until I wash it. So the Decision of the Day: do I wash it myself or let someone else wash it for me?

Decision:  I drove the car up to the neighborhood high school and let the school kids wash as at their fundraiser.  It's win-win for all.

Happy, Happy Friday

We interrupt today's regularly scheduled Flashback Friday to report that today was one of the best days I've had in a while.  It's not that all the others were that bad; it's just that today was exceptionally good.  Here's some reasons why:

1.  It's pay day
2.  It's Friday
3.  I'm on vacation next week
4.  A coworker brought in Krispy Kreme donuts for us today
5.  I wore a new pair of pants today
6.  My entire department (self included) got new chairs today

I could list more reasons why today was such a good day, but then I'd only be bragging.

Elvis Has Left The Building

On this day 35 years ago, the King truly left the building for the final time.  It's hard to believe that Elvis Presley died 35 years ago today.  But on the day that thousands gather at Graceland to remember The King, I'm going to focus on another part of his life: his concerts.

Elvis was in Louisville for a concert on June 26,  1974.  And the mother of my friend Tall Tracy was at that concert, and among the 20,000 people there, she was one of the lucky ones to get one of the scarfs that Elvis wore and then gave to someone in the crowd.

I am very proud to say that I held this scarf, and even draped it around my neck like he did on that night back in June of 1974. 

I took about a dozen pictures of the scarf, and there are a couple of questionable spots -- we like to believe that they are sweat drops from Elvis. 

At any rate, the King has truly left the building.  Long live The King.  Thank ya, thank ya very much.

Alarm Clock Oddity Returns

The past two mornings, I've woken up two minutes before the radio alarm came on.  I've been keeping track and this only happens on week nights; it's never happened on Sunday mornings when I have my alarm set, nor on a Saturday morning when my alarm is set.  I just can't figure this out, but it sure intrigues me.

BOLO: Brown Shoes Update

I am extremely happy to report that the elusive Brown Shoes have been found. They were in a place that, I swear in court, I looked at over a dozen times in the past six months, but for unknown reasons I just didn't see them.  I'm going to spare myself the embarassing details and leave it at that.  Suffice to say the $$ Brown Shoes have been found and I wore them today.

Quote Of The Week

"Courage is not the absence of fear but rather the judgment that something else is more important than one's fear. "


Ambrose Redmon

Link Of The Week

When I first started getting things in order for my consulting business and its website, I would hit a dead end because of a darned PDF file and not be able to convert it to a format that I could edit and use.  But someone at work gave me a link to a free site that will convert PDF files to Word docs and it's great. Not only is it great because it's free, it's great because it works great.  Try it out at http://www.pdfonline.com/pdf-to-word-converter/.  You can buy a version and have it on your desktop but unless you have money to waste, the free version works fine.

Farmtown Update

Hopefully, the next time I see this jar of perfect canned green beans, there will be a blue ribbon attached to it. Wish us luck on this year's entry in the Kentucky State Fair.

Even though this year's garden was (and I quote) "the worst garden I've ever had" as Dad tells it, they were able to get three big pickings from the green beans.  And on after the third picking, Mom and Dad hand sorted the beans and got the prettiest ones and using a ruler, uniformly cut the beans.  For the past month, I've had this jar in bubble wrap sittng back in a corner of a shelf in the hall closet where nobody could accidentally break it. This morning I got the jar out, tied my entry tag on it, and took it over to the fairgrounds.  Now all we have to do is wait for the judging.  As always, I'll keep you posted.

Flashback Friday

Back in the 80's (1983 to 1989 to be exact) when I was working at my gig at NPC, the biggest task was to keep ourselves entertained while we did the mundane and repetitious work. One of our favorite discussions was trivia.  We would talk about anything, and we loved to compile lists; so much, in fact, that I got a notebook and started The Book of Lists.  If my memory is right, the first list we had was of all of the Batman villains and villainesses that we could think of.  Keep in mind that this was way before the days of the internet, so we couldn't conveniently Google something; we had to rely on our brains.

I reminisced about the Book of Lists last night while I was watching an old episode of Batman. Julie Newmar was on as Catwoman (and for the record, Eartha Kitt was my favorite Catwoman) and it made me think about our old Book of Lists.  I'm going to get down to the basement this weekend and dig into the archives and bring out the Book of Lists and take a walk down memory lane.  As always, I'll keep you posted.

What's Wrong With This Picture?

Something You Don't See Everyday

Now, this is definitely something that you don't see everyday -- surfing goats.  Nuff said. 

Alarm Clock Oddity Again, Again, Again

This morning, I woke up two minutes before the alarm was set to go off.  I'm not sure what to make of this, but I think it's pretty interesting even if nobody else does.  What in a person's body/mind would cause them to wake up a minute or two before their alarm went off?  If one had an old school clock that you had to wind every day, maybe you could say that it was that hesitation and ticking sound that a clock like that makes 5 minutes before the hour (just like the clock on our fireplace mantle) but with a digital device, there's no explanation for any pre-alarm noises.  I'll go back and explain - we have an old antique wind-up clock on our fireplace mantle, and five minutes before the hour, the clock will make a distinct sound.  It's not very loud, but when you hear it day after day, you grow accustomed to the sound.  It's just a loud tick.  But as for me waking up a minute or two before my alarm goes off, I guess it's just my mind and body being in tune.  Who knows. 

So Much For The Lo Mein

The 'Rents were extra busy today, so I offered to bring home supper tonight so Mom wouldn't have to cook.  I had to run a couple of errands after work, and would be by a Chinese joint that I've been wanting to try so it would be Chinese for supper.  Dad wanted his usual sweet and sour pork, and Mom wanted her usual Chinese vegetables with chicken.  As for me, I wanted to be adventurous and try something new: chicken Lo Mein.  I wish I'd stuck with my tried and true War Sue Gai.

First of all, it was carb overload, as they gave me fried rice along with the Lo Mein noodles. Second, the chicken was pretty scarce.  And what chicken that was among the noodles was finely sliced and chopped, that it was damned near the size of the Lo Mein noodles. 

So to sum it all up, I really didn't enjoy my supper, but Mom and Dad loved theirs so it's all good. At least I'm full.

Link Of The Week

We're in the middle of the Summer Olympics and the 'Rents have been all into it.  They watch the coverage during the day and in the evening, and just from watching the NBC coverage they can tell you info about the atheletes, the events, London, etc.  Yep, they're into it. 

We've got over a week left so there's still time for you to get into it if you haven't already.  And I've got a website to help you.  Visit http://www.nbcolympics.com/ for the schedule of events, the televised schedules, info about the atheletes and the events, and much more.  Go USA!

Rain, Rain Stay Away

With the temperatures being in the upper 90's and even low 100's for all of July, I missed some of the Bats games because I didn't want to sit out in what would have felt like an oven for a few hours.  So I've really been looking forward to tonight's game. Now we have severe storms and (and I quote) "torrential" rains in the forecast for this evening and tonight.  Just another example of the luck that I have.

I'm going anyway with my rain poncho and umbrella and will hope for the best.

Alarm Clock Oddity, Again

We interrupt the regularly scheduled Flashback Friday to report that I experienced another Alarm Clock Oddity this morning.  I woke up not one but two minutes before the alarm clock was set to go off. This is even more bizarre than last week's Alarm Clock Oddity.

I don't have an answer for this.  I'll keep track and let you know if this happens again.

Hat's Off Thursday

You know I normally don't single out a faithful reader in TWIT, because I love all of my faithful readers equally.  But today I have to give a shout out to my friend and faithful reader MP.  He got me an autograph of none other than KISS front man Gene Simmons today.  Details are sketchy as to why, but Gene Simmons paid a visit to the Humana building today, and MP was in the right place at the right time, and knowing I have a collection of celebrity autographs, he got Gene Simmons to sign an index card for my collection. 

I'm not one to keep tabs or keep track of favors, but I believe this makes us even, MP.  Background: just months before The First Lady of Country Music, Miss Tammy Wynette died, I gave my backstage pass to MP so he could meet Miss Tammy Wynette. Yeah, I'm just that giving type of person. Anyhoo, I think we're even now. 

The Black Cloud

I'm not sure what to say right now.  When we got home from church tonight, I found out through Facebook that the parents of a dear friend from high school were the couple in a murder-suicide here in Louisville two days ago.  There's no way I can begin to imagine what my friend PCK is feeling right now.

During a chapel service in school one day, I remember getting down on my knees and praying with PCK.  That was the first time I'd gotten down on my knees to pray.  When I got home tonight and found out, the 'Rents and I all three got down on our old knees and prayed for PCK and her family.

This couple is the 7th and 8th deaths that were relatives or friends or relatives of friends in the past three months.  The Black Cloud is over us again and it needs to move on.