Link Of The Week

My dear friend and faithful reader Big Mama sends me some of the coolest foreign commercials her emails.  I know she's an extremely cool person, so it's not surprising that she sends such cool commercials, butI've often wondered where on earth you could find them.  I know that being a cool person, she probably has alot of cool friends, who maybe forward them to her.  But then again, she might just find them online.  I found a site online that is the place to go to see foreign commercials.  I haven't checked with Big Mama to see if she goes to this site, but here it is nonetheless - to see cool and funny commercials from our friends across the pond in the United Kingdom, just visit http://www.visit4info.com.  The sites the commercials in three categories: funny, cool and sexy.  You can also do a search for the commercial by the product or brand name.  I've watched a few and I have to say I just love the British sense of humor.  So check the site out, and if you find some very cool commercials that you think I'd like, shoot me an email with the link. 

A Sad Day in L-ville When Puddin Struck Out

The weekend sure hasn't started out very good, faithful readers.  I was dog tired yesterday, and when I got home from work all I wanted to do was take a nap. I was gone every night for the past week and a half and it was catching up with me.  But there was no time for napping - I had our tickets from work for the Bats ballgame and didn't have time to rest.  I did manage to sit down on the couch for 20 minutes to catch my breath before heading downtown.  I drove around Slugger Field instead of going to the season ticket holder parking lot, and hit the jackpot when I found a parking spot on the street.  I was already $4 to the good. 

My good fortune was short-lived, though.  We walked around the inside of the stadium before going to our seats and along the way bought a fried bologna sandwich, my favorite food at Slugger Field.  I opened up the wrapper and couldn't believe my eyes.  They toasted/fried the bread along with the bologna.  It was sacreligious.   Everyone knows that fried Fischer bologna is supposed to be served on fresh white bread, preferably the thin sandwich loaf bread. We ate them any way, but made a note never to visit that concession stand again.  Strike one.  A couple of innings into the game, I got my second favorite food at the ball park, nachos with peppers.  After eating 4 bites of them, the tray slipped from my lap and before I knew it there was a pile of cheese, tortilla chips and jalapeno peppers by my feet on the ground.  Strike two.  The Bats were getting beat again, so we left a bit early to head home.  As we got to the car and I was taking off my jacket before driving off, I noticed that my new favorite sunglasses (my infamous Bono glasses) weren't in my jacket pocket where I put them earlier in the evening.  It's not like they are the real type of glasses that Bono wears that will set you back a C-note or more; I bought these for $10 at one of the shops at the Glory Of Rome back in the spring.  But they had sentimental value and they were cool, and I was pissed off because I lost them.  Strike three.  Puddin struck out. 

It's Only A Dime, But It's The Principle

I was at McD's the other morning, and after I placed my order at the drive-thru, the cars ahead of me still hadn't moved so I had to stay were I was - in front of the big menu board.  I was reading about their new Asian salad, and the menu said you could add a bottle of Dasani water for "only $1.40."  I glanced down at the bottom of the menu where the beverages are listed, and imagine my surprise when I saw Dasani bottled water for $1.30.  Yep.  That's right.  McD's is charging two different prices for the same item. 

With all of the bad press today about the high-calorie and fat-filled items on fast food menus, McD's has a good idea to offer salads and water as an alternative to a 1500-calorie burger.  But do they need to charge a dime more for the bottle of water?  If you look at it this way, someone, most often a PAT, has to go to the refrigerator case and get a bottle of water if it's ordered - it doesn't matter if you order it with a Big Mac or with one of their new Asian salads.  It doesn't take an extra 10 cents worth of labor to get that bottle from the refrigerator to the customer.  If anything, you'd think McD's would charge you maybe 10 cents less for the water if you buy it with their salad.   I know. It's only a dime, but it's the principle.  You save fifteen or twenty cents if you get one of the extra value meals, but yet they will charge you a dime more if you order the bottled water with their new salad.  The only thing I can say is WTF?

New Product Review

I love trying new beverages, especially when they're made by my favorite beverage manufacturers.  In this case, we're talking about another product brought to us by my favorite soft drink people, the good folks at Coca Cola.  Their newest product is Coca Cola Blak.

I'd read about Blak a few months ago, but haven't seen any in the stores yet.  Coca Cola Blak is a blend of the carbonation of Coca Cola with real coffee. I think this is Coca Cola's attempt to capture more of the energy drink market, since this drink has a good amount of caffeine.  My co-worker and faithful reader GS mentioned Coca Cola Blak yesterday, saying he saw them in a local convenience store. After I mentioned I'd been wanting to try one, he offered to pick some up.  When he brought in the four-pack this morning and I saw little bottles shaped just like the old school Cokes.  When he handed me the bottle, I expected it to be plastic, but imagine my surprise when I felt the bottle and discovered it was in deed glass - the same shape and size of the old bottles.  The Blak bottles are made from clear glass; no greenish tint like the old ones, and they're covered in a dark plastic wrap.  But they do look pretty cool. 

Enough about the cool packaging.  On to the actual product.  Coca Cola stresses that Blak isn't just another flavor extension of Coca Cola.  I agree.  It honestly didn't taste like coffe-flavored Coke.  But you could definitely smell and taste the coffee.  You could even see it, too - I poured mine over ice in a glass, and instead of regular cola foam, Blak had a coffee-like froth.  The first taste surprised me.  I was expecting it to taste like coffee-flavored Coke, but it really didn't.  It wasn't as sweet as regular Coke, thanks for the aspartame (which makes an 8-ounce serving of Blak only 45 calories, as opposed to about 100 caloires for Coca Cola).  It wasn't bitter, either.  You could definitely taste the coffee, and you could also taste the cola. 

Two co-workers waited until their bottles were good and cold before they performed their taste test, so we could see if there any differences in the Blak being chilled or over ice.  One of them gave me a sip, and to me, the carbonation seemed a bit stronger than when I had mine over ice. We all three agreed that we liked the coffee aroma that you got when you first opened the bottle. After much discussion, we all agreed that we did like Coca Cola Blak, and that we would drink them again.  Coca Cola Blak receives the TWIT seal of approval.

 

Tribute To Roy Orbison

My dear friend and faithful reader Big Mama was in Nashville last week for a gathering of Roy Orbison fans and to celebrate his birthday. When she told me some stories and how much fun she had, I asked her to give me a report for the journal.  She files this report with TWIT:

Here's a report of our days in Nashville celebrating Roy's birthday.   We had a blast!  (Roy Orbison would have been 70 years old April 23rd.)

First, I'll tell you what we did in our "spare" time! We visited the Country Music Hall of Fame and saw a great exhibit on Ray Charles, and yes, there was a large photo of Roy recording in Studio B along with Fred Foster, Anita Kerr and others.

Now on to the parties...When was the last time Joe Melson and Bill Dees were in the same room talking about working together???!!!!! This past weekend!!! That was incredible, Joe Melson signed lots of our things – my friend had him sign an old piece of sheet music - Only the Lonely by Roy Orbison and Joe Melson. He was asked him what his favorite song was. Guess which one? We asked him if maybe it was Running Scared - nope, he flat out said it was Only the Lonely.

Bill Dees was his normal wonderful friendly and effervescent self.  Bill has a real gift of friendliness and such an upbeat attitude. It takes a while to get used to him - he really is unique! But he is truly talented and blessed with many gifts. Wesley Orbison was there on Sat. night and gifted us with a few songs. Bill was really encouraging him, telling him that he is loaded with talent. Wesley lamented and felt bad that he had not developed his talent - he is still young!!! Welsey brought his daughter, Emily, Roys' granddaughter, who is such a sweet young girl of about 14. You can really see the Orbison in her!!

There were maybe 40 or so of us there. In addition, Larry Henley, (correct me if I have the spelling wrong) was there, who was a member of the New Beats, who did Run Baby Run and he wrote a few songs that Roy recorded. I have not checked the details on all this yet.

We also had a visit from Mary Beth Hurst of the Orbison building and our forum. It was nice to meet her and we hope to continue to build a solid relationship between the fans and the Orbison Group.  (www.orbison.com)

I hope this is just a start to the many memories and continuing relationships that we all have.

Happy Birthday to Roy!

 

There is a exhibit at the Rock and Roll Hall of fame, and goes on until December this year…..they opened it with Barbara Orbison earlier this month…..

http://www.rockhall.com/exhibitions/featured.asp?id=2502

 

Now You Can Have A Beer Belly

I heard about a very interesting product this morning on "The Bob And Tom Show."  It's called "The Beer Belly."  It's a pouch that men (and, I guess, women) can strap around their stomachs.  It's a neoprene sling and a polyurethane bladder that can hold 80 ounces of your favorite beverage, hot or cold. The bladder is held in an insulated pouch and is worn under your clothes for concealment.  It gives the appearance of one having a beer belly.  From the pictures I saw online, when it's filled with a beverage, it looks straight up just like a real beer belly.  They also sell what they call a "Pleasure Extender" - a gel pack that you can freeze and insert into the sling to keep the contents of the pouch good and cold for a few hours.

For those of you going to the Oaks or the Derby, or up to the Indy 500 next month, this would be the perfect accessory for you if you want to smuggle in your own drinks.  I think you'd have a better chance of pulling off the Beer Belly than you would by trying to smuggle vodka in Ziploc bags stuck inside a ridiculously-sized gallon of mayonaise. 

The Beer Belly also comes with a long drinking tube.  I'm thinking this might raise a few eyebrows if people see you sucking out of a tube that's coming from underneath your clothes.  But I guess the beverage inside has to come out somehow, right? 

Thunder Observations

This year's Thunder Over Louisville could not have been better.  The weather was gorgeous - low 70's and sunny, with a slight breeze all day long.  Traffic going home was way better than the last time I went - it took one-third the time to get home this year than in 2004; I got home just over an hour.  I'm sure that's a Derby Festival record.  There was no drama all day long - just fun and merriment and fireworks. 

As always, I was on the lookout for anything out of the ordinary to report to you, my faithful readers.  Unfortunately, I did not see any mullets.  Believe me - I was looking for them.  I saw some amusing sights during my 12 hours at Thunder Over Louisville, but the funniest thing I saw was on the way home.  As I was inching my way down Main Street, a group of young guys were crossing the street in front of me.  They were like the rest of the 800,000 people down there - carrying coolers, bags, plastic tarps and folding chairs.  One guy bringing up the rear of that group was their designated chair carrier.  When I say he was carrying folding chairs, I don't mean the kind that fold up and go in a nylon back with a shoulder strap; I mean the guy was carrying folding chairs - the metal kind like we have in the fellowship hall at church and at the VFW bingo hall.  The poor guy wasn't only carrying his own chair - he was toting three other ones, too.

As someone who's been in the Baptist church all their life, I've carried more than my fair share of these metal folding chairs.  But my carrying of the metal chairs has been from the chair rack to tables and back; I've never had to carry the chairs for blocks and blocks after partying out in the sun all day.  Nor have I carried four chairs at a time, either.  My hands are small and I can only safely hold one in each hand without dropping them.  I cannot imagine carrying two in each hand for goodness knows how many blocks.  I don't think I would have even carried one metal folding chair down there.  If that was my only alternative, I think I'd just sit on the ground.

Link Of The Week

We've all been suckered into fads over the years.  Whether we like to admit it, I'm pretty sure we all have.  Us ladies, and maybe a few of you men, fell victim to the mood rings of the early 70's.  I still have mine, too.  But then again, I never throw anything away that I think might be worth something later.  For a trip back memory lane to see some of the great fads from back in the day, just visit the Bad Fads Museum, at http://www.badfads.com. 

I was disappointed that I didn't find parachute pants on there, even though I never had any, but they might be too painful for people to actually write about in public.  I did, however, find the mother of all fads, the pet rock.  I'm proud to say that was one fad that I never got cought up in.  I did, however have a Cabbage Patch baby and a Rubiks Cube. 

Happy Thunder Day

In case you didn't know, today is an official Puddin holiday - it's Thunder Over Louisville, and since it's an official Puddin holiday, I"m taking the day off.  To some, this will seem sacreligious, but I look forward to Thunder Over Louisville more than I do the actual Kentucky Derby itself.  Yep, it's just that much fun. If you remember back to my post about last year's Thunder, it was a cold day with sleet and some snow, and I ended up staying home because the weather is crappy.  Not this year.  As I type this, the skies are blue and the birds are chirping (but in a good way) and forecast for today is sunny and 70 - perfect Thunder weather, with no actual thunder in the forecast.

My friends from school and I have been planning this event for weeks, and I'm bound and determined to make it downtown for Thunder this year.  We're still a bit unsure where we'll park, but we're planning on getting downtown at around 9:30 to get a good parking spot close to Slugger Field so we can set up headquarters and tailgate before and after the Bats game this afternoon.  I'll have my trusty notebook and pen with me, and I plan on taking extensive notes about any mullet sightings and about any intersting lists for TWIT and I will report back to you when I return from the big event. 

Wouldn't Happen To Me

I read an interesting article today that almost made me fell out of my chair.  Midas, the muffler people, held a nationwide contest looking for person with the longest commute to work.  The winner was a guy in California that drives 370 miles to work and back every day.  The guy said he considers his seven-hour commute the best answer to balancing his work with his personal life.  Ohhhhhkay.

The guy said it's the way to keep the home and job he loves - an electrical engineer.  "I have the balance right now," the winner said. "I could do similar jobs closer, but not with the work reward and job satisfaction I have. And I could live closer, but I wouldn't have the lifestyle that I desire. To me, this is not that long a commute -  it's just something I do to go to work."  The guy added that he spends almost $200 a week in gas.  I don't doubt that one bit. 

I cannot imagine driving a total of 7 hours to and from work every day.  It wouldn't happen here. On most days, I'm not real thrilled with my 8 mile commute that takes me only 15 minutes; 20 tops if the traffic is bad.  If I were that guy that travels 370 miles roundtrip to and from work, I think I'd rent one of those apartments for the week and come home on the weekends.  Because I can't imagine that he has that much of a life during the week.   Let's break this down:  he probably gets up at 4:00, leaves for the daily trip at 5:00, gets to work at 8:30, gets off from work at 5:00 and starts the trip home, and arrives home at 8:30.  He barely has time to eat something, check his mail and email, and get a bath before he has to go to bed and start it all over.  He must be knocking back some major bucks at his gig, that's all I can say.

Another Spring Day In The Ohio Valley

I sure hope that my good mood from last night will carryover today.  I think I slept a total of 27 minutes last night.  Once again, it was a bit warm so I had my bedroom windows open.  A big mistake.  Every mockingbird in Jefferson county had congregated outside my windows and must have had a chirping contest.  I finally gave up at 3:00 and got up and closed the windows, and was able to get a little peace and quiet.  But I have to warn everyone that I'm sure to be a bit cranky today.  Even though I'm still feeling great after my visit to the nursing home, I have a feeling that my loss of sleep will have some affect on me today. 

After reading the welcome page on AOL this morning, I'm having second thoughts about putting the all of the blame on the birds chirping for my lack of sleep.  The headlines on the page said something about this being the worst allergy season in years, especially mid-April to the end of May.  Lovely.  Not only will I not be able to sleep because the birds are keeping me awake, my head and nose will be all stopped up.  At this point, I'm hoping for hotter weather so the house will become so unbearable that the 'rents will be forced to Flip The Switch - that way I can get some sleep. 

What A Great Day This Turned Out To Be

I'm not proud of this but I'll be honest and admit that I've had a pity party for myself for the past day and a half.  Something happened at work yesterday morning and I was royally dissed and got my feelings hurt. Last night I was in a terrible mood, and the mood carried over to today.  We had hellacious thunderstorms last night that lasted for a couple of hours so on top of feeling sorry for myself I was cranky this morning after not being able to sleep during the storm.  At least I had a project to do at work, besides my normal daily work, so keeping busy today helped a bit.  But something happened tonight that took away every bit of pity and crankiness that I had inside. You see, tonight I went with my Ladies Auxiliary sisters (yes, that's what we call each other) to a local nursing home.  I honestly can't tell you when I've felt this good. 

Mom said she wanted to go with us, too, so we met at the VFW and headed over to the nursing home about five minutes away.  As soon as we went inside, we noticed the place was immaculate.  You could see your reflection on the spotless floors.  And unlike some nursing homes, this one did not have that terrible nursing home smell.  They started bringing the residents into the huge dining room and got them all situated at the tables.  In typical VFW fashion, we handed out gigantic bingo cards and chips and started an hour of bingo games.  The residents loved it.  There were enough of us there to station one person at each of the tables to help the residents cover their cards.  And we were playing for big money, too - a dollar a game.  I have to say the residents were much nicer and were a heck of a lot more appreciative than my Thursday night bingo crowd. 

When I heard that the Ladies Auxiliary went to the nursing home every month, I knew I had to go with them.  I remember how much Grandma enjoyed the groups and clubs that would come to visit her when she was in the nursing home, and I wanted to return the favor. I saw Grandma in quite a few of the residents there tonight - not so much that some of the residents looked like her, but it was the little things they did that reminded me of her.  Little things like how they all had folded Kleenax in their pockets, and some had theirpockets crammed full of Kleenax and other things.  I went there tonight feeling sorry for myself, and left there feeling better than I've felt in a long time.  I can't wait to go back next month.

Wannabe Trucker

The 'rents and I spent the evening over at the Glory Of Rome - we had a nice dinner, shared some great laughs, and even came back with a few dollars in our pockets.  But on the way over there, a few times it seemed like we weren't going to make it.  We counted 3 different incidents when someone pulled out in front of someone and almost got creamed.  Luckily we were far enough away from those goofballs.  As we headed on down Cane Run Road toward the expressway, we noticed a guy on a bike riding on the side of the road. It was no ordinary bike.  This bike was kinda like the bike that Pee Wee Herman had stolen from him in "Pee Wee's Big Adventure."  There was a slight difference,though - instead of a having a basket on the front like Pee Wee did, this guy had a square plastic milk crate on the back of his bike.  And on each side of the milk crate he had a silouhette of the naked lady that you see on the mudflaps on the big rig semi-trucks.  There was also some big antenna on the bike, too.  We had a good laugh about that for a few miles, and we reasoned that the guy must be a wannabe trucker, and maybe the antenna was for his CB radio.  I wish I hadn't been driving so I could have whipped out my new Motorolz RazR cell phone with the camera and taken a picture of it. 

I Wonder If My Father Has Read This

Wife, shall I compare thee to a donkey?
And should the donkey object? Text says animals make better companions

The Associated Press

NEW DELHI - A textbook used in western India compares housewives to donkeys — and concludes that the pack animals make more loyal companions, a newspaper reported Tuesday.

"A donkey is like a housewife," declares the Hindi language primer approved by the state of Rajasthan, according to The Times of India newspaper. "It has to toil all day, and, like her, may even have to give up food and water."

"In fact, the donkey is a shade better," continues the text meant for 14-year-olds, "for while the housewife may sometimes complain and walk off to her parents' home, you'll never catch the donkey being disloyal to his master."

The book, reportedly used in Rajasthani schools, has sparked protests from the women's wing of the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, which controls the state government and approved the text, the Times reported.

Rajasthan is known to be one of India's most traditional states, where conservative attitudes toward women predominate, and state education officials said the comparison was meant to be funny, nothing more.

"The comparison was made in good humor," state education official A.R. Khan was quoted as saying.

He added, however, that "protests have been taken note of, and the board is in the process of removing" the reference.

I just don't know what to say about this.  I believe that our donkeys are somewhat loyal; in that they're loyal to whoever has control of their cookie jar.  You'll just have to ask my father about this one. 

Link Of The Week

It's been a wild week as far as news stories go.  One of the biggest stories this week was about the couple in Missouri that faked the wife's pregnancy with sextuplets and they duped their town out of money and baby clothes and even a new mini-van and a new house.  I mentioned this to a co-worker, and he hadn't heard the story yet.  So I did a quick search through Google and sent him a link to the story.  A couple days later, I came across a great site that will help me out in situations just like that.  Go to http://www.blinkxtv.com and enter in a story or topic you're looking for and the search engine will bring up links to video footage about the topic.  For instance, I did a simple search for "sextuplet hoax" and it brought up tons of sites where you could watch video footage about the couple I mentioned earlier.  Give it a try the next time you want to find out more about something you hear on the news.  You'll be the trivia king/queen at work.

The Battle Lines Have Been Drawn

For those of you here in the 'Ville and the surrounding areas, I don't need to tell you that it's been hot this week.  Not warm, but downright hot.  We went right from winter to summer this week.  The past few days, it's been in the mid- to upper-80's.  If you know anything about me at all, then you know this has set the stage for the 2006 A/C Wars.

The previous few nights, both of the 'rents had made comments like "it sure was humid today" so I'd hoped that Wednesday would be The Day - they were going to do their Easter baking and I just knew they would turn on the a/c to keep the kitchen cool while they were baking their cakes.  Nope.  'Rents: 1, Puddin: 0.

It's been miserable sleeping the past few nights; not because it's been hot in the house (yes, it hurt me to admit that) but because of all of the noise that I hear by having my bedroom windows open.  Dogs barking, birds chirping at all hours, and let's forget the traffic.  Lots of traffic.  Yesterday morning when I got up, I felt like I hadn't even been to sleep.  I'd already decided that before I left for work, I would subtly tell the 'rents that "I closed my bedroom windows in case it rains today."  That way they would know that the windows are closed just in case they decided to flip the switch and turn on the a/c today.  My plan was foiled.  Before I even had the chance to mention it, Dad said "You better make sure your bedroom windows are closed.  It's supposed to storm this afternoon." Darnit.  'Rents: 2, Puddin: 0.

The 'rents went to church yesterday for our Good Friday service and lunch afterward, so I just knew that yesterday afternoon when they got home, they would be hot and would surely turn it on while they rested.  Imagine my surprise when I pulled in the driveway and looked up to see the French doors wide open.  I believe that makes us 'Rents: 3, Puddin: 0.  I should have stayed at the VFW longer last night and helped dye the eggs just because it was in air-conditioned comfort. 

After Dad complaining last night about being hot, I was sure that today they would flip the switch.  Mom had some more Easter baking to do, and I was just sure that they would turn the a/c on to keep the house cool while the oven was on.  I made a comment to Dad about how miserable he was last night and then he spoke the clincher "Well, as soon as it gets hot and stays hot, we'll turn the air on.  It's suppoed to be in the 60's this week."  Final score -- 'Rents: 4, Puddin:0.  I admit defeat. 

Could This Have Been Any Harder?

After a long hard day at work, I braved Louisville's first big heat wave and went over to the VFW to help get things ready for the Ladies Auxiliary Easter egg hunt and party tomorrow.  A few other ladies and I put together 108 Easter baskets for the kids.  No, that is not a typo; we made 108 Easter baskets, and we made them in record time, I might add.  (I'm beginning to think that the Ladies Auxiliary let me join just for my organizational skills.)  After the baskets were finished, we started on the second phase of the project: dying 15 dozen eggs.  Nope, not a typo, either.  We had 180 eggs to not only dye, but we had to boil them first. 

Let me preface by saying the ladies there tonight are sweet, kind, and caring women.  But they must have left their common sense at home. After what seemed like an eternity for the eggs to boil, the woman in charge of the egg dying went out to the canteen area and got one of the big strapping young men to come back to the kitchen and lift the huge kettle off of the stove and pour the water out in the sink.  Not an easy task, even for the big strapping guy.  But nobody got scalded, so so far, so good.  Then things fell apart.  The lady in charge got 3 smaller pots, filled them with water and put them on the stove to boil more water to use for the egg dying.  Keep in mind that not two minutes earlier, they poured out gallons of boiling water that could have been used to make the egg dye.  Now they would have to wait for more water to boil.   

At this point, two other Auxiliary members and I looked at each other and we just left.  There were already 7 people huddled around the stove and counter top, so we figured there was enough help already.  We tried to tell them earlier to just use the hot water from where they boiled the eggs, but nobody listened to our suggestions.  The Commander's wife (who will be running for Ladies Auxiliary President in a few weeks) called me a few minutes ago, and said that it had been 2 hours since we left there, and they were still dying the eggs in the smaller pots.  Good luck.  I hope they have them done by the time the Easter egg hunt starts tomorrow. 

Farewell, June Pointer

I'm sad to report another celebrity death this week.  June Pointer died on Tuesday.  She was only 52, and was the youngest of the singing group The Pointer Sisters.  Official reports say June died of cancer, but she had been hospitalized since February since she suffered a heart attack and a stroke.  Her family said she died in the arms of her sisters and singing partners, Ruth and Anita. 

During their career, The Pointer Sisters brought us dance club staples like "I'm So Excited" and "Jump." The Pointer Sisters began as a quartet in the early 1970s with sisters Ruth, Anita, Bonnie and June. The group became a trio when Bonnie embarked on a solo career. The group's hits also included "He's So Shy," "Automatic" and "Neutron Dance." June sang the lead vocals on "He's So Shy" and "Jump."  The sisters, along with their two older brothers, grew up singing in the choir of an Oakland church where their parents were ministers.

As we find with a lot of celebrities, June Pointer had some drug problems in the past and fought substance abuse.  In an interview in People Magazine in August 2000, June said drugs had been a part of her life every day since she was 13. She said she started with pot, and then moved on to cocaine, and confessed to being hooked on crack.  The People article was about her newfound sobriety, but yet a couple of years later she would be kicked out of The Pointer Sisters for falling off the wagon again and missing performances.  In 2004, she was arrested and charged with possession fo cocaine and drug paraphernalia outside her sister Bonnie's Hollywood apartment.  Later that year, she was arrested again and charged with battery for attacking her boyfriend after a binge of crack. 

I don't know if she fell off the wagon again at the time of the heart attack and stroke, but I'm guessing that after all those years the damage had already been done.  It's just sad to see a woman in her early fifties, a woman with so much talent, squander her life away with drugs.  But it appears she had demons and the thought the drugs and alcohol would help get rid of them.  Rest in peace, June Pointer.  You will be missed. 

Happy Birthday, Hugh Hefner

TWIT would like to wish Hugh Hefner happy birthday.  Actually, our birthday greetings are a few days late - his birthday was Sunday.  Nonetheless, happy birthday, Hugh.

The self-proclaimed luckiest man on the planet  celebrated his 80th birthday this past Sunday at the Playboy Mansion. The party theme?  What else?  A pajama party.  I'm sure things were hopping (pun intended) at his big Playboy mansion.

It's kinda morbid to talk about dying at your birthday party, but Hugh Hefner proudly told party guests ab out how he recently made his funeral arrangements.  It seems that Hugh bought a mausoleum vault right next to Marilyn Monroe's crypt.  He said it was only fitting.  Marilyn Monroe was the cover girl on the first issue of Playboy magazine.  Hugh was 27 years old when he assembled the first issue of the magazine on his kitchen table back in 1953.  Hugh gambled his life savings of $500 to get an unknown Hollywood wannabe named Marilyn Monroe to pose nude for his new magazine.

Hugh celebrated his birthday on Sunday with his three girlfriends, ages 20, 25, and 31, and withe a host of Playboy bunnies and pajama-clad party goers.  I am sure a good time was had by all.  Something tells me that Hugh didn't have to blow out any candles on his birthday cake, because I think his wishes have already come true.  He's got not one but three hottie girlfriends, whose combined age still makes them three years his junior.  You go, Hugh.  And happy birthday.

Mullet Watch

Spring is here and the storms are over, for this week at least, and the mullets are out and about. I spotted two of them yesterday.  One was at the neighborhood drugstore.  I was in the back of the store looking for dental floss and spotted the mullet at the prescription counter.  Instead of the usual acid-washed jeans or jeans with the snaps around the ankle like I normally see, this mullet was wearing a pair of Zuba pants.  In case you don't have a clue what I'm talking about, Zubas are knit pants that weightlifters wear.  They come in far out prints and patterns.  The mullet was wearing a very cool pair of white, black and gray snakeskin print Zubas.  The only thing cooler would have been if he were wearing fakeskin boots.  Getting back to the mullet.  It was very long and gray, and in desperate need of a trim to even it up. 

My second mullet sighting of the day was about ten minutes later at Krogers.  Actually I should have mentioned this mullet when we first started Mullet Watch.  I've seen it just about every week for the past 20 years.  The mullet wearer works at Krogers, and has been at the store since it opened up over 20 years ago. But wouldn't you know it - the mullet looks just like it did the first time I saw the guy - long and wavy and dark brown.  I don't see much gray on the guy, but he could use Grecian to cover it up. 

The third sighting this week is brought to us by my fellow Diva and best friend Stacy.  Here's her report:

I was at the barber shop getting my son’s Spring Break trim when a fellow walked in to have his mullet shaped up.

It was relatively short as mullets go, not far past the collar, but a mullet nonetheless.  It was about half gray and badly in need of some “leave in” conditioner.  The wearer looked to have been on a week long binge that ended up  lasting a few years.  He was very happy with the “shape up” and even gave the barber a small tip.

Very exciting to see a mullet at the barber shop!

Mullet count: 22

Mullet Watch

Our latest mullet sighting is brought to us by one of our regular mullet spotters, JMc. Here's what he had to say about our latest mullet:

It’s been a while since I have seen one, but while my family was having a buffet lunch at the local Mr. Gatti’s in Brandenburg after soccer a little mullet came strolling through the aisle way.  I will now quote from the movie Parenthood, “You need a license to drive a car but any idiot can have a kid.”

Mullet count: 19

Now That's What I Call A Come Back

As it is every Sunday, we had our usual share of drama at Fourth Avenue Baptist yesterday morning.  I won't go into the major part of the drama because it will get me all riled up and I won't be able to sleep tonight because I'll be all riled up.  But I do have a very amusing anecdote to tell you.   This exchange of banter took place between our off-duty cop that we hire to watch our parking lot and a punk/street person who wanted to come into church, probably looking for a handout. 

Background first: our off-duty officer is a Jefferson County deputy sheriff, and his uniform is brown.  The punk was getting ready to go into the front of the church and looked like he was up to no good.  Our deputy walked up to watch over things, and noticed that the punk was still wearing a white plastic ID bracelet that they strap on you when you are in the jail, and deducted that the punk must have just got out jail. He continued to watch in case the punk came in and started to disrupt the service.  The punk noticed he was being watched and got a little mouthy.  Here's how the conversation went down:

Deputy:  Can I help you?
Punk: I need to talk to the preacher.
Deputy: The service is going on.  You'll have to wait until church is over.
Punk: I need to talk to the preacher now.
Deputy: What to you need to talk to the preacher about?
Punk: It's none of your ____ing business.
Deputy: (pointing to his brown uniform) This isn't a UPS uniform that I have on.  I can make it my business when I haul you back down to Sixth and Jefferson (the location of the jail).

 

Link Of The Week

I enjoy reading other people's blogs - mostly to see how mine compares to theirs.  Not meaning to be a copycat, but they give me ideas about what to put in TWIT.  For instance, I've found that lists are very popular in the blogging community. As you know, I put them in TWIT occasionally. 

I found a very interesting blog that I check out on a weekly basis - the blogger has some very different lists. They're not your usual "top ten" or not even your "top three".  This blogger spends quite a bit of time putting his lists together.  The blogger is from England, so his writing style and sense of humor and sarcasim are a bit different from ours, but the blog is still interesting.  When you have a few minutes check out http://vitaminq.blogspot.com and see for yourself.  From reading this blog, it didn't take long to realize that the blogger has way too much time on his hands.  For instance one recent blog list was 20 different surnames for his cat, and another was 30 things he was so hungry he could eat.  I think you get the picture.  In my opinion as an award winning blogger, his site is not worthy enough to be mentioned in the "other blogs" section of TWIT, but it is worthy enough to garner a link of the week.

Another Fallen Star

I read today that former teen idol Leif Garrett is back in jail.  The 70's heart throb is doing 45 days after he tested positive for drug use.  Garrett was arrested in January when he tried to ride the Los Angeles subway without paying for a ticket.  When he was arrested, the police found he was in possession of heroin.  The judge allowed him to enter a court-supervised out-patient drug treatment program in lieu of doing time in jail.  Garrett vowed to stay clean in order to avoid going to jail.  He said he was embarrassed by his rough appearance in a widely published booking photo.  He said he never wanted to look like he did in his mug shot.  Apparently that doesn't bother him now.

Last month, the judge ordered Garrett to stay in the rehab program another 30 days.  The former teen idol could have been home a couple of days ago if he'd stayed clean and hadn't failed his drug test.  He could have been released from the program on April 6 if he hadn't screwed up.  So now he's doing 45 days in jail, and wearing that orange jumpsuit that he vowed he would never wear again. 

Unfortunately, Garrett has a history of drug problems.  He pleased guilty in March 2005 to attempted possession of cocaine.  His judge must have been a big fan of his in the 70's, because she placed him on probation for that little infraction. In 1999, Los Angeles police arrested the bandanna-wearing musician in the MacArthur Park area after he allegedly tried to buy narcotics from undercover officers.  And,in 1979, Garrett was behind the wheel of a Porsche and allegedly under the influence of beer and drugs when he rear-ended a car, leaving his passenger disabled.  He's already gotten more chances than the average person would have in that situation, but he just doesn't seem to learn.

I never was a Leif Garrett fan in the 70's.  I was all into Shaun Cassidy instead. But I remember getting hacked off because he was in Tiger Beat and all of the other teen magazines all the time.  The girl next door was a big Leif Garrett fan and I would trade her Leif Garrett pictures and articles for Shaun Cassidy and Andy Gibb things.  Even as a young girl, looking at the pictures of Garrett in the magazines, I remember thinking that he looked like he was high all the time.  After reading about his drug problems, it looks like he might have been.

One Wild Night

It's been one wild evening, faithful readers.  I'm a little too nerved up to write very much this evening.  No, I'm not talking about the two Divas spending a night out on the town; I'm talking about an actual wild night here in PRP.  Actually, the wildness started this past Sunday evening when we had the mother of all storms come through.  The three of us here at The Compound all agreed that we had never seen the storms and wind as bad as it was here Sunday night.  We were very lucky - we only lost the unattached carport (it ended up back in the field) but the gentleman two houses up from us got the roof torn off of his garage.  Yep, we were lucky.

The storms continued again this afternoon.  We'd been watching Dopplar radar all day long at work in preparation for the storms.  They hit just across the river in southern Indiana at about 3:00 this afternoon with reports of tennis ball sized hail.  Now that's what I call a hail storm.  We had a lull in the weather for a couple of hours then it hit again.  Boy did it hit.  Dad and I ran out for a few minutes and got home about 3 minutes before the storms hit us.  Yes, we timed it a bit too close on that one, but at least we did get home before the storm him.  Boy did it hit.  Not even 5 minutes after we got home the civil defense sirens started blaring and I glanced at the TV and saw the weatherazzi showing our street and mentioning a tornado on the ground.  Yep, a bit too close for comfort, faithful readers.  Mom had already ran next door to help Miss Rosemary get down to her basement, and I headed downstairs with the battery-powered TV and the Maglite.  Dad kept a watch over The Compound and monitored the weatherazzi. After about 10 minutes I came back upstairs when the storm died down.  The phone started ringing with friends calling to check on us; the weatherazzi on other TV channels had reported a tornado on the ground less than a mile from The Compound and our concerned friends were checking on us.  God bless 'em. 

The storm had moved on through our area, but the civil defense sirens still blared for about a half hour more.  Yeah, it was on my nerves, but I was glad to know that they do in deed work.  I don't normally get nerved up enough to go down to the basement when they say there's a tornado warning for our area, but tonight when they showed our street, it was literally a bit too close for comfort.  Thank the Lord we made it through this one unscathed, and from the initial reports, there wasn't much damage in our area from these storms.  I hope we're this lucky the next time.

Another Interesting Night At The VFW

It was another interesting night at the VFW bingo.  We knew things would be crazy this week because it was the first Thursday of the month.  And we all know what that means: their checks game a few days ago, so they have more money and can go to bingo.  Tonight's interesting event was totally first-of-the-month related, and truthfully it shouldn't really fall into the "interesting" category, but it made for some interesting talk among us workers tonight. A few weeks ago we had to deal with the old man that was faking the hiccups; tonight we had to deal with The Cougher. 

The Cougher must be stll in the deep throes of a wicked upper respiratory infection because he's been hacking his head off for over a month now.  We're not talking a dry, tickle-in-your-throat cough; we're talking a deep, hack-up-a-piece-of-your-lung cough.  The Cougher must have anticipated that he was going to be coughing all night because he just sat at the table and watched while his wife and friends played.  We noticed that he's done this for three weeks now.  And for three weeks, he's been hacking his head off.  He was way more annoying than the man with the fake hiccups - I guess because his bodily noise was borderline gross.  I'm very surprised that people didn't go off on him like they did the hiccup man.  I know I wanted to. 

There is an interesting side note about The Cougher - he's probably in his 60's and he still has Jheri Curls.  That's kinda cool.

I'd Give It A Try

How about a Krispy Kreme hamburger?
Minor-league club offers 1,000-calorie sandwich with cheese, bacon, donuts

NBCSports.com news services

Updated: 4:02 p.m. ET March 10, 2006

The minor-league team Gateway Grizzlies of the Frontier League will begin selling a concessions item that is not for the calorie-conscious, ESPN reported.

"Baseball's Best Burger," as the Grizzlies call it, will consist of a hamburger topped with cheddar cheese and two slices of bacon — all between a "bun" made of a sliced Krispy Kreme Original Glazed donut.

The burger is not for the faint of heart — literally — and will contain roughly 1,000 calories and 45 grams of fat.

"We have had the opportunity to bring in a new concession item for the past two seasons and each of them have been very successful," Grizzlies general manager Tony Funderburg told ESPN.

Funderburg, who said he has eaten at least 10 of the creations, claims he got the idea after reading about a restaurant in Atlanta with a similar sandwich, ESPN reported.

Funderberg said the team hopes to sell 100 to 200 of them a night at $4.50 each. The burger will only be available inside the stadium gates, according to ESPN.

Two years ago, the Grizzlies created what they called "Baseball's Best Hotdog" — a frank with two strips of bacon, onions, sauerkraut and cheese sauce. Then, last year they debuted the "Swiss Brat" — a bratwurst sausage with a slice of Swiss cheese in the middle of it, topped with sauerkraut.

"Baseball's Best Burger" follows in the tradition of other great sports-related sandwiches, including the Roethlisburger. Created in 2004 in honor of the Pittsburgh Steelers young quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, it's sold at a place called Peppi's and includes beef, sausage, scrambled eggs, onions and American cheese, according to ESPN.

The independent club, located outside St. Louis in Sauget, Ill., is in its sixth year of operation.

Now that's what I call a burger.  It's got all of the main food groups: beef, cheese, pork and Krispy Kremes.  I'd sure try one of these if they had them at Slugger Field for the Bats games.  I'm really surprised someone here in the 'Ville hasn't come up with a sandwich like this, since we have Krispy Kremes here.  Maybe I'll suggest that next week when I go to the Bats season opener. 

We discussed the Grizzly Burger in the lunchroom today, and we decided that we're going to make our own version of it, using our cool egg muffin maker.  We're going to make a breakfast version of it, using an egg, a sausage patty, cheese and a Krispy Kreme glazed donut.  When we have our taste test, I'll be sure to give you a full report.

Breaking News

As of 5:48 est today, I've received the following email a total of 12 times in the past few days.  In case you're one of the few that haven't received it, here it is:

On Wednesday, at two minutes and three seconds after 1:00
in the morning, the time and date will be 01:02:03 04/05/06.

That won't happen again in our lifetime.

You may now return to your (normal ?) life.

I've Heard It All

Thanks to all of the spam filters that AOL uses, I don't get much spam any more.  I still get the occasional letter from an attorney in Africa telling I'm some dead diplomat's only next-of-kin and how he wants to give me my dead kinfolk's millions.  But I got the most interesting piece spam the other day.  It was an ad for identity theft insurance. 

I mentioned this at work and a couple of people had heard of it.  My parents knew all about it, too.  But it was news to me.  It makes sense, though.  We can buy insurance for almost anything.  I even read an article about a company that offers wedding insurance - buy the insurance and if you are left standing at the alter, you'll get a nice chunk of change for your pain and suffering.(Note: the article didn't mention if wedding gifts are covered.  So you might have to give those back.)

The email I received said that 1 out of 12 people will be the victim of identity theft.  That's a very high statistic.  The ad went on to say how victims of identity theft typically spend almost 200 hours restoring their good name, talking to police and dealing with creditors and financial institutions.  They mentioned how the emotional strain could result in lost hours from work.  The insurance compensates the victim for lost wages up to a year after the identity theft occurred.  Something tells me this part of the insurance benefits would be easily exploited.  Sure, I realize it would take hours and hours to get everything taken care of, but I see people milking this feature. 

The ad said that the insurance company will privide expert assistance and financial relief up to $25,000 for identity restoration costs, legal defense expenses and lost wages - with no deductible, either.  It sounds like a pretty good deal to me - the annual premiums were only $72 for an individual or $140 a family.  I think this is something I just might look into.  I'll have to check and see if I can get TWIT covered under this policy, too. 

Mullet Watch

Friend and faithful reader SDF was busy this weekend.  She spotted a mullet at Krogers.  She said this one was long and wavy and had the remnants of a curly perm.  I didn't ask her, but I'm willing to bet the perm was just on the long part of the mullet and not on the top nor sides.  I'm sure everyone remembers that trend from the 80's - we called it a half-perm.  This sounds like it was truly a classic mullet. 

Mullet count: 18

You Go, Vera

My friend and faithful reader SDF brought this obituary to my attention.  Please don't think I'm being disrespectful to the dead, but this has to be the funniest obituary I've read.  Please note that I copied and pasted this directly from the newspaper's website - I did not make this up, even though I'd love to take credit for it.

NUCKOLS, VERA, repeating age 29 many times over, died Friday, March 31, 2006. She raised her sons, Mike, Pat, Scott, and John, and she now wants to be buried upside down so every man can kiss her.... Her memorial service will be at 2 p.m. Sunday April 2nd at The Funeral Chapel at Cave Hill Cemetery. Those wishing to attend should meet at 1:45 p.m. at the Grinstead Drive entrance.  In lieu of flowers, please make contributions to benefit the living.

Link Of The Week

It's pretty common knowledge that I love my techno gadgets.  It's also no secret that I love a good deal.  As I always say, life is too short to pay retail.  So I rarely do.  I usually get most of my electronic gadgets on eBay or other places online.  If you're in the market for anything in the electronics area - memory cards for your digital camera, iPods, thumb drives, a wireless router for your home network, or just about anything else you can think of, I've got the perfect site for you.  Go to http://www.pricespider.com and start your search. PriceSpider is a search engine that will do all of the shopping and searching work for you.  Just enter what you're looking for and PriceSpider will bring up a list of all of the places online where you can buy whatever it is you're looking for.  They list the etailer (I love using that word) and the current price, and include a link to the etailer's site so you can buy it right then if you want.  

A Sucky Saturday

It's not often that I get like this, thank goodness, but it's been a sucky Saturday.  Even though it's sunny and in the low 70's, it's been a sucky Saturday for me.  I started feeling a mood coming on yesterday and by this morning, the mood was full blown.  I stayed back in my bedroom all day long.  I'll get over it in a few days, so there's no need to worry, but in the meanwhile I'll be a bear to live with. 

My annual fall depression didn't happen this past fall, so I think it's happening now.  It's not really a depression, but just a time to feel bummed.  I've spent most of the day today analyzing and thinking about things, and I'm still bummed out.  Friends and family usually freak out when I'm in one of my bummed moods, since I'm usually in a happy mood most of the time. So they really don't know how to deal with me when I'm bummed.  I tell them they're better off just leaving me alone. 

To be brutally honest with you, my faithful readers, I'm bummed because I'm comparing myself to friends and family and where they are in their lives. I know I shouldn't do that, but I am.  A friend emailed this morning and told me that he and his significant other would be out of town next week on a spur-of-the-moment trip down to Pensacola.  Like I really wanted to hear that.  Then I heard from another friend who showed me pictures of the new 2007 Mustang convertible that he just bought.  I'm not envious nor jealous of him buying that, and if I traded in my Blazer and BMW I, too, could have a new convertible Mustang, but it just bummed me out. I hope this didn't make you all as bummed out as I am right now, faithful readers.  As I said earlier, I'll snap out of it in a few days and I'll be back to my normal happy self.  In the meanwhile, you'll just have to deal with me.