Happy Heart Walk Day

What a great day this has been. First of all, it's the start of a wonderful four-day weekend - I'm off on Monday and Tuesday for some well needed rest and relaxation.  Needless to say, I'm very excited about that.  My four-day weekend is all planned out, though. Tomorrow will be the normal Sunday activities: church, lunch, and then spend the afternoon at Diva Stacy's.  Monday,  Diva Stacy and I have planned to spend the whole day eating, drinking, and being merry.  Actually, we plan on eating and watching a few DVDs and hanging out on her overstuffed couch.  Lucky her - she's off for two entire weeks on vacation.  Even though I'm envious, I'm very happy for her to be off for two entire weeks from work.  She deserves it.  Then Tuesday, the 'Rents and I plan on hanging out together and going to out to dinner.

The second greatest thing about this day is  I made it through the march through downtown Louisville and across the Second Street bridge.  It wasn't really a march - it was the American Heart Association Heart Walk.  We started at Slugger Field and walked about a mile down Main Street to the Second Street bridge and then we walked across the bridge to the Indiana side and then back again.  We had a picture perfect morning for the walk - last night's rain had moved out, and the sky was blue and sunny.  Other than being a little bit windy, the weather was perfect.  Mom decided she wanted to participate, so she walked with our team from work.  All in all, we had a total of fourteen made up of co-workers and a few of our family members.  I'm not sure of the exact amount, but I think our team raised about $2,000.

Last but not least, the third greatest thing about today is that I filled up the BMW at a local BP station for $40.  Actually it was $40.24 to be exact.  It's been over two years since I was able to fill up the BMW for two Hamiltons.  Yep, what a great day this has been.

Reruns Already?

There seems to be a disturbing trend on network TV these days - the networks will air a rerun of a top-rated TV show a day or two after the show airs for the first time.  I noticed this about a year ago when ABC started rerunning "Grey's Anatomy" a few days after the original episode.  I thought this was an isolated incident, but the other networks did the same thing with their top-rated shows.  And sure enough, they're doing it again this season.  Last week, "Grey's Anatomy" premiered during it's new time slot on Thursday night.  The next night, they showed the episode again.  This week, they did it again.  Back in the day, they would call this an "encore presentation" instead of using the word "rerun."  I remember on the old "Saturday Night Live" episodes, instead of saying it was a rerun, the announcer Don Pardo would call it an encore presentation.  Whatever.

Maybe this is ABC's new ratings strategy to help "Grey's Anatomy" compete against "CSI" - people that didn't watch "Grey's Anatomy" on Thursday night can watch it again Friday night.  Or if they really enjoyed the episode, they can watch it again.  If you ask me, this is a ratings booster for CBS - people can watch "CSI" on Thursdays and can catch "Grey's Anatomy" the next night.  Regardless of how you look at it, it's just odd.  I guess the networks can't find enough good shows to put on the air, so they have to rerun their top-rated shows during the same week.  That's pretty lame.

File Under: WTF?

As if the Glade advertising blitz and the farting teddy bear wasn't bad enough in the coupon section of the sale papers, I saw something else in this Sunday's coupon section that took the prize.  On the second page of the coupon section was a half-page ad and a one dollar coupon for Play "intimacy care" products.  Yes faithful readers, a coupon for a new line of products brought to us by the good folks that make Durex condoms.  Here's what the ad said, and I quote:  "Introducing Play intimacy care products. Lubricants and more, all designed with romance in  mind by Durex, the world's #1 condom brand.  Now available everywhere." The ad even had a website you could visit for "playtime inspiration."  Sorry, faithful readers - that is one website what will not be in TWIT's Link of the Week.

I don't know what I can say about this - it sure took me by surprise.  I had no idea that a company would advertise products like this in the Sunday sale papers, much less give a dollar coupon.  I guess I'm not as worldly as I thought I was - I thought most of this stuff was found in gas station or bar bathrooms along with the bathroom Polo.  Boy was I wrong.  I'm not that naive - there is evidently a market for this product, or else they wouldn't be selling it.  But I would have never thought they would advertise it in the Sunday sale papers.

There's Still Good Samaritans

Veteran soap star Susan Lucci and her husband, Helmut Huber, found themselves stranded along New York Route 104 when their Mercedes stalled in flood waters during a storm in the Hamptons Thursday night.

Several drivers sped past the couple's car, swamped in three feet of water, but not Uncle Jack's Steakhouse owner William Jack Degel.. "I drove up to the car really, really slowly and I pulled up next to the gentleman and they both looked frightened," he told the New York Daily News. "Their electrical system didn't work. I said, 'Let me get your wife out first,' and I jumped into the water. I went around and she climbed out the window and I threw her over my shoulder."

"She was a sweetheart and he was a gentleman," Degel added. "He said to me, 'Not too many people can say they picked up Susan Lucci.'"

Ouch

Javelin judge Lia Marie Lourenco clutches her leg and screams in agony after being speared through the foot.

Medics desperately tried to calm the judge, who was hit by the javelin during the warm-up for the national championships in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

Lourenco was taken to the hospital and underwent surgery to remove the javelin tip.

Damn.  All I can say about this is "ouch."

File Under: WTF?

I don't think I've mentioned this before in TWIT, but I love the Sunday sale papers.  I especially love the coupon sections in the sale papers.  Every Sunday afternoon, I get my scissors and my coupon holder and go through the sale paper coupons.  Coupons for soup, salad dressing and cleaning products are in there usually every week.  There's quite a variety in the coupons.  In last week's sale papers, I saw something that was a bit out of the ordinary by coupon standards.  One half of an entire section of coupons was all Glade air freshener products.  I kid you not - there was a coupon or two for every Glade product that S C Johnson makes.  Page after page, there were coupons for aerosol sprays, candles, oil and gel plug-ins, carpet freshener, a time-release freshener, and even car air fresheners.   I could see having coupons for one or two different Glade products, but was it really necessary for S C Johnson to put a coupon in the sale papers for every single Glade product?  Are they trying to tell us something?  Are they trying to say that our homes and our cars stink?  It sure looks like that way to me. 

On a related note, I saw something interesting in yesterday's sale papers.  There in one of the coupon sections was an ad for a farting teddy bear.  Yes, you heard me right - a farting teddy bear.  Maybe they should have had that in last week's sale papers with the Glade air freshener coupons. 

Link Of The Week

Everyone likes to take vacations, and thanks to the internet and great companies like AAA, our vacation planning can be done almost effortlessly.  We use Mapquest to get to our destination if we're driving, or we use Expedia or Travelocity if we want to fly or if we need to get a plane ticket or a hotel room. 

A lot of people are hesitant to go on a vacation because they don't want to leave their dogs at home.  It's often traumatic for the dogs when they're pawned off at a kennel for a week while their owners are out laying out the beach or sight-seeing. I came across a website this week that will help dog owners plan their vacations.  The biggest obstacle facing dog owners on vacation is finding a hotel that accepts pets.  Dog owners can check out http://www.bringfido.com and will be able to find hotels that accept dogs.  You don't have search through hotel websites and look for the fine print that says "pets accepted" - Bring Fido will do the work for you.  Just enter a cizy, zip code, or airport code like most hotel reservation websites, and then choose the number of nights you're staying and the number of adults and dogs, and Bring Fido will search and show you hotels that will let your bring the family dog. It's that easy.  Now if I can find a site that will show me hotels that accept the family donkey.

Saturday Storm Report

As I type this, it's 1:00 in the afternoon, and looks like it's about 9:00 at night.  Yep, another storm is about to begin. It looks like the weatherazzi was right after all, faithful readers. 

It stormed almost all night long.  The biggest storm hi at about 11:30, just after I went to bed and was almost in the REM stages of sleep.  The power at The Compound was out from before midnight until 3:00 in the morning.   When the worst of the storm was going on, I got the flashlight and went to the back bedroom to get the battery-powered TV to see what the weatherazzi was saying.  Much to my surprise, all I found was Letterman and Leno - no weatherazzi.  Never mind they were on the air non-stop all evening long as we were trying to watch "Grey's Anatomy" and "Celebrity Duets" but when the most severe storm was raging over Louisville, the weatherazzi was nowhere to be found.  It makes no sense. 

They're still calling for 2-4 inches of rain this afternoon, and another 2 inches overnight. There's flooding in areas all across the city - parts of I-64 near downtown and the Expressway are even closed.  The news people have told of countless water rescues this morning, and there has even been one death due to the storm.  For once, the weatherazzi has been right.  People have been listening, too - I ran to the grocery store this morning to pick up some things for Mom's birthday dinner tonight, and the store was packed.  It was reminiscent of when people flock to the store for bread and milk when snow is predicted. 

The ground is so saturated already, and I'm afraid there will be even more flooding as the day goes on.  All I will say is thank the Lord and MSD that we're hooked up to the sewers. 

Can We Believe The Weatherazzi?

It's shaping up to be a busy weekend for the weatherazzi, but I just don't know whether I can believe them.  Earlier this week, the weather man on "Good Morning, America" was talking about a humongous storm that was building and would be "one for the record books."  I didn't think too much about it, since they really dissed me on Monday on GMA. 

Monday morning as I was getting ready for work, I was listening to "Good Morning, America" like I do every morning.  Diane Sawyer was talking with an alleged stock market expert who said that on Monday, the Dow would increase more than it had in years.  When trading ended Monday afternoon, the Dow was down sixteen points.  Yeah, that's a record-breaking increase all right.  So then this morning, their weather guy was talking about this huge storm that was also going to be a record-breaker.  Automatically, I shut down and wasn't going to believe him.  Fool me once, shame on you.  Fool me twice, shame on me.  From the looks of the weather maps tonight and from the sounds of the weatherazzi breaking into the TV shows with weather watches and warnings, it looks like they might be right after all. 

We were talking about this at work this morning, and throughout the day, we would check the satellite radar for the United States.  I swear in court it looked like the weather map they showed in the movie "The Day After."  There was a huge swirl that covered about two-thirds of the country.  One co-worker said that during lunch, he heard a radio newsperson say that if this storm was out over the ocean instead of over America, it would be a Category 2 hurricane.  I believe him.  You can still see the big swirl, and even see the eye.  It's kinda freaky.  So I think maybe I believe the news people on this one.

Batten down the hatches, mates - it looks like it's going to be a bumpy ride this weekend.  Be safe and stay dry.

File Under: Isn't That Ironic?

I'm happy to present to you a guest writer today in TWIT.  I've told Diva Stacy that she has so many good stories and should start her own blog.  But with having to deal with homework for two kids each night, in addition to cooking, cleaning and eveyrthing else, she said she just didn't have the time to do it justice.  So I extended a hearty invitation to her, and told her she could be a guest writer and post in TWIT any time she'd like.  This is the first official installment in what will be a recurring feature in TWIT entitled Isn't It Ironic?"

 A strange story has unfolded at my workplace and I'm just baffled by it. Perhaps TWITs faithful readers can shed some light on this.

A coworker and her husband were out in their backyard recently and found a baby squirrel that had fallen out of it's nest.  Their dog ran to it and grabbed it and they made him spit it out.  Injured, traumatized and abandoned, the baby squirrel was surly sentenced to die.  My coworker then began a diligent rescue mission.  She telephoned a vet, the zoo and several wildlife organizations to find out how to care for the little fellow.  She was told to buy a kitten kit and she fed him formula with a dropper.  She
spent time online reading about caring for him.  The squirrel started to grow.  Of course she gave him a name and nursed the infant with tireless attention, love, and affection. 

A few weeks have passed now and the squirrel is getting feisty and is about ready to be weaned.  The coworker has made arrangements to haul the squirrel out to a neighboring county where she has a friend that has a horse farm.  She reckons he'll be safe there. No dogs or cats to chase him down and eat him.  So what's the irony in this story?  The coworker and her husband are avid hunters.  They regularly go on hunting trips where they will come back with deer, rabbit, and (you guessed it) squirrels.  Sometimes a whole cooler full of squirrels.  I just can't help but wonder, is all this effort just so they can cook him up and fry him in a pan one day?

I'm Diva Stacy and That's What I'm Thinking...

News From The Compound

It's been a week and a half, and I'm ashamed to admit that I forgot to report about drama at The Compound.  It occurred last Sunday evening.  We had a very wicked lightning storn and got about 3 inches of rain in about two hour's time.  At the beginning of the storm, I was in the back bedroom on the computer signing off and getting ready to shut it down before it got fried by lightning.  I face a window, and heard a clap of thunder and saw a bright orange flash of lightning.  I got up and looked out the window and saw the miniature horses next door running around in the field, like they were in a miniature Kentucky Derby.  I yelled at Dad to look at the horses trippin' out, and he yelled back "I'm going to look outside - that lightning hit sounded close."  About fifteen seconds later he was yelling for me to come outside and look. Imagine my surprise when I looked out into the back yard and saw flames coming from a gigantic pin oak tree.  For the first time in the history of The Compound, lightning had hit something.

Any other people would have ran back in the house to call 911 for the fire department; not me and the Old Man. We were too busy looking up at the tree and laughing.  We were laughing because the lightning had not hit the actual tree after all - it had hit a big squrrel's nest in the tree.  Flames were about three-feet high coming from the nest at one point.  It just hit us as being funny.  Squirrels hadn't lived in that nest since the early spring, so I'm pretty sure there were no casualties as their residence sustained severed damage in the fire.  We called some neighbors to come down and look at it, and by the time they ran down, it had started to rain and fortunately the raindrops put out the fire.

We checked the next day after the rains had quit, and it was kinda wild to see where the lightning ran down the tree and under the gazebo.  I'm guessing that if someone had been under the gazebo to get out of the storm, they probably would have been dried.  Yikes. I'm glad I was safe in the house on a computer with miles of wires and cables all around me.

 

Talk Like A Pirate Day

In case you didn't know, today is International Talk Like A Pirate Day.  I urge everyone to talk like a pirate today.  When you answer your phones at work or at home, instead of saying "hello", give the caller a hearty "Ahoy, matey." 

To help you out today, here's a list of vocabulary words and their meanings.  Please use them as much as you can today.  With your help, we can all Talk Like A Pirate Today. 

• Ahoy: Hey!
• Avast: Stop!
• Aye: Yes
• Black spot: to be 'placin' the black spot' be markin' someone for death.
• Booty: treasure
• Buccanneer: a pirate who be answerin' to no man or blasted government.
• By the Powers!: an exclamation, uttered by Long John Silver in Treasure Island!
• Cat o' nine tails: whip for floggin' mutineers
• Corsair: a pirate who be makin' his berth in the Med-...Medi-...that sea 'tween Spain and Africa, aye!
• Davy Jones' Locker: the bottom o' the sea, where the souls of dead men lie
• Doubloons: pieces of gold...
• Fiddlers Green: the private heaven where pirates be goin' when they die.
• Furner: a ship which be yer own, not one ye steal an' plunder.
• Gentlemen o' fortune: a slightly more positive term fer pirates!
• Go on the account: to embark on a piratical cruise
• Grog: A pirate's favorite drink.
• Jack: a flag or a sailor
• Jolly Roger: the skull and crossbones, the pirate flag!
• Keelhaul: a truly vicious punishment where a scurvy dog be tied to a rope and dragged along the barnacle-encrusted bottom of a ship. They not be survivin' this.
• Landlubber: "Land-lover," someone not used to life onboard a ship.
• Lass: A woman.
• Lily-livered: faint o' heart
• Loaded to the Gunwales (pron. gunnels): drunk
• Matey: A shipmate or a friend.
• Me hearty: a friend or shipmate.
• Me: My.
• Pieces o' eight: pieces o' silver which can be cut into eights to be givin' small change.
• Privateer: a pirate officially sanctioned by a national power
• Scallywag: A bad person. A scoundrel.
• Scurvy dog!: a fine insult!
• Shiver me timbers!: an exclamation ofsurprise, to be shouted most loud.
• Son of a Biscuit Eater: a derogatory term indicating a bastard son of a sailor
• Sprogs: raw, untrained recruits
• Squadron: a group of ten or less warships
• Squiffy: a buffoon
• Swaggy: a scurvy cur's ship what ye be intendin' to loot!
• Swashbucklin': fightin' and carousin' on the high seas!
• Sweet trade: the career of piracy
• Thar: The opposite of "here."
• Walk the plank: this one be bloody obvious.
• Wench: a lady, although ye gents not be wantin' to use this around a lady who be stronger than ye.
• Wi' a wannion: wi' a curse, or wi' a vengeance. Boldly, loudly!
• Yo-ho-ho: Pirate laughter

Hats Off To You, Rick

I normally don't mention names of friends in TWIT, mainly because I respect everyone's privacy, and because I don't want any of you, my faithful readers, to feel like I'm singling anyone out.  I don't want anyone to thin I slighted them because I mentioned someone else. So other than mentioning Diva Stacy because she's my best friend and I like to write about our adventures, I don't single anyone out unless I'm giving well deserved props to someone.  Today, I'm singling out for a very good reason. I'd like to give major props to a good friend and faithful reader, Rick.

Rick is a also a deacon at our church, and for the past few years, he's been accumulating McDonald's Happy Meal toys as a project.  His intentions were to sell them and give the money towards missions. He had trouble selling them, and a few weeks ago, decided to give them away to help those less fortunate.  He brought a bunch of the toys to church where we put them in our "Operation: Christmas" shoeboxes filled with toys and other items that we will send to kids in third world countries.  Rick said he wanted to get rid of all of the toys, and asked if we would like them for the VFW for Christmas baskets, kids' parties, etc.  I told him sure.  Rick called me Saturday evening and asked us to make sure we drove the Odyessy to church Sunday morning to get the toys.  I told him I would drive by after I dropped off Mom and Dad at church. 

Imagine my surprise when I pulled up in front of Rick's apartment building, and saw him wheeling out a grocery cart full of bags of the toys.  I put them in the back of the van, and then Rick told me that he had about 6 times that many left to bring out.  By the time we loaded up the van (which, by the way, had all of the seats folded down except the driver's seat) the only space not filled with a box or bag full of the toys was the driver's seat.  Please know that I'm not exagerating when I tell you the van was filled to capacity; I have witnesses that can back me up on this one.

On my way back to church, I made a detour and stopped at Wayside Christian Mission, where I dropped off some of the toys.  More toys were also given to the Jefferson Street Mission in downtown.  Toys were given to Kenwood Elementary School and the Kenwood Montessori School, andlast but not least to the VFW.  One man's mission project has helped out a half dozen places, and will make hundreds and hundreds of kids happy.  Thanks for the toys, Rick.  You rock.

Link Of The Week

I love to fly.  I would rather fly than drive on a trip.  In fact, Diva Stacy and I have declared that three hours is our limit for driving; if our destination is over three hours from Louisville, we'll fly there.  No, we're not being hoity-toity nor frontin' - we would rather save precious time by flying instead of driving.  Yes, with airport security being what it is today, it takes longer to fly now than it did a few years ago, but I would still rather fly than drive.  Since I love to fly, I take advantage of my frequent flyer miles.  I try to fly Northwest Airlines when I can, and am a member of their frequent flyer club.  Once again, I'm not putting on airs or anything - I just try to fly Northwest so I can keep my frequent flyer miles with one airline. 

If any of you, my faithful readers, are also in the Northwest Airlines frequent flyer club, I've got some very cool info for you.  I found a site where you can eat at your favorite restaurants here in Louisville and other cities, and get frequent flyer miles for it.  Just go to http://nwa.rewardsnetwork.com/ and sign up.  At the site, you can enter a city and find out the restaurants that are part of the Northwest Airlines Rewards Network.  The only stipulation is that when you sign up for it, you have to give them the credit card number that you used when you signed up for Northwest Airline's frequent flyer club.  When you dine at the restaurants listed on the site and use that credit card, you'll get 3 miles for every dollar spent.  Once you visit the restaurants 12 times, you'll be bumped up to their "Tier 1" level and will get 10 miles for every dollar spent.  How cool is that?

Ten Things I Wish I Could Do

1.   Drive a stick-shift car
2.   Juggle
3.   Like broccoli, cauliflower and asparagus
4.   Play the accordian
5.   Crochet or knit
6.   Draw
7.   Own a dog
8.   Weld
9.   Speak another language fluently
10. Meet Susan Lucci

That's One Big Baby

Baby biggest ever born at Conn. hospital

Thu Sep 14, 6:33 PM ET

Oh baby! Marie Michel's fifth child was one for the record books. Michel gave birth to a 14-pound, 13-ounce boy Tuesday at William W. Backus Hospital.

Backus officials said the newborn — Stephon Hendrix Louis-Jean — broke the 18-year record for the biggest baby ever born at the hospital by 1 pound, 13 ounces. He was nearly 23 inches long.

"He's built like a linebacker," said Dr. David Kalla, who delivered the baby by Caesarean section.

After nine months of carrying Stephon, 36-year-old Michel said she was more tired and happy to have given birth than all the attention her baby was receiving.

"I was miserable," Michel said. "I couldn't sleep at night. My 13-year-old son had to help me get in and out bed."

The baby's size came as no surprise to his mom. Michel's oldest son weighed 9 pounds at birth, her 8-year-old twin sons each weighed 8 1/2 pounds and her youngest son, age 3, was nearly 12 pounds.

Michel's husband, Vijens Louis-Jean, a truck driver, was coming from Florida to see his son.

Less than 24 hours old, the baby was fitting into clothes for a 6-month-old and was too big for newborn diapers.

"I have baby clothes but I don't think they will be able to fit," Michel said. "I think I will have to return them."

All I can say about this is wow. And the mother is sitting there smiling, too.  I bet she's smiling because the baby was born by C-section and not natural. 

I was born a month early, and weighed 4 pounds when I was born.  This newborn would have made almost four of me.

Super-Sized Pens

I've mentioned a few times in TWIT how much I love pens and notepads.  It's not quite at the fetish stage, but I have a weakness for pens and such.  Maybe it's boderline OCD, but just about every time I go to a store, I go to the school and office supplies aisle and look.  Before you go any further, let me say for the record I don't buy a new pen or a cool mechanical pencil each time I go to the store.  But I do buy alot. 

When I went back to college, I got a very cool Dr. Grip pen and mechanical pencil to use.  With all of the note taking and writing that is a part of college, I figured my hand would need all the help it could get.  The bigger barrel of the Dr. Grip and the rubber grip made it very comfortable to hold and my hand never got tired of writing with those.  I used them most of the time, but in keeping up with my habit, I continued to buy other pens.  Most of them were bigger than a regular ink pen, but not quite as big as the Dr. Grip. 

I'm out of college now, but do a lot of writing at work, so my pen habit is still pretty strong.  The other day, I decided I was tired of using the pen I'd been using so I got in my desk drawer to pull out another one.  I found a very nice Cross pen (with blue ink, of course).  I started using it and it felt so awkward. It was as if I'd never held an ink pen in my hand before.  It's a traditional Cross ink pen - thin, and made of metal.  I guess I've gotten to used to the bigger pens that my hand finds it hard to use a thinner one. After using it for one day, I put it back in the desk drawer and got out a bigger pen that felt better.  It just hit me as strange. I would have never imagined that a hand would get used to holding a certain sized pen. 

You're probably thinking "Why on earth would Puddin write about something like this?" But why do I write about anything here?  Because I think it's interesting. 

Let's Help Krispy Kreme

Yet again, I'm sad to report more bad news from our friends at Krispy Kreme.  Report from their corporate headquarters in Winston Salem, NC aren't very good.  The company announced Monday that it expects to report a loss for the second quarter and predicted a $30 million decline in revenue for that period, from $140 million to $110 million.  The company also reported a 15% decline in sales.  The company said the decline in revenue is due to a decrease in company-owned stores. 

In spite of the gloomy financial reports, CEO Daryl Brewster said Krispy Kreme was making progress.  In the U.S., the company stores are showing signs of stability, and the company has stepped up their international expansion plans by adding more franchises in six new markets. 

When we first heard of Krispy Kreme's woes last year, I urged you, my faithful readers, to help the company by eating more Krispy Kreme donuts.  This time, I'm asking for your help once again.  To help out Krispy Kreme, I ask you to not only buy more Krispy Kreme donuts, but to buy a Krispy Kreme franchise.  But not just any franchise, mind you.  I checked with Krispy Kreme headquarters, and currently, the only available markets for new franchises are in Asia.  So if you really want to help Krispy Kreme and keep their accountants from using red ink when they compile their quarterly financial reports, you'll need to open a Krispy Kreme store in Asia.  From what I've heard, they can't open the Krispy Kreme stores fast enough.  I did some further checking, and it will only cost you about $2 million for each franchise you'd like to open.  Oh, and you have to open at least fifteen stores, too, so you'll need to cough up $30 million. 

Happy Birthday, E-Mail

TWIT would like to wish e-mail a happy birthday.  In case you didn't know, e-mail is 35 years old this fall.
Sometime during the fall of 1971, Ray Tomlinson modified a computer file transfer protocol to work with a simple mailbox program and sent the first e-mail message from one computer lab to another.  In case you're wondering, the message was "QWERTYUIOP".  Unfortunately, it caused the two-computer network to crash.  But from that message sprung a new form of communication that turned an obscure symbol into a cultural icon:  @.

Tomlinson said that the @ sign seemed to make sense.  He said he used the @ sign to indicate that the user was 'at' some other computer rather than being local.  It makes perfect sense to me.  At first, Tomlinson's e-mail messaging system wasn't thought to be a big deal.  When he showed it to a golleague, he said "Don't tell anyone! This isn't what we're supposed to be working on."  Ironically, we do the same thing today when we're at work e-mailing friends and family - "This isn't what I'm supposed to be working on."

I'm sure that Tomlinson never dreamed that in three short decades, e-mail would go from being the preferred mode of communication of a few scientists around the U.S.A. to playing a key role in the daily lives of millions of people around the world.  Today, businesspeople, journalists, students and millions of others beging and end their days with e-mail.  Now we can even send e-mails wirelessly from cell phones, pagers and PDAs.   But at no time since it's conception was e-mail's important role as apparent as it was after 9/11's attacks. 

E-mail servers around the world were swamped, processing a flood of messages as jammed phone lines forced pepole to turn to the internet and e-mail as they attempted to verify whether family, friends and colleagues were safe.  Yesterday in TWIT, you learned about one such incident at David Barkway contacted his office via his Blackberry to ask for help after the first Tower had been hit. There were thousands of reports of e-mails received from people in both Towers sending e-mails before the Towers collapsed.

So, happy 35th birthday, e-mail.  What a way to celebrate.

 

A Tribute To David Barkway

TWIT was invited to participate in a tribute to the 2,996 people that died during the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Today all across America, 2,996 bloggers will each post a tribute to one of those victims in their blog.  I'm very honored to write about David Barkway.

David Michael Barkway had turned 34 just three days before 9/11.  One article I read about him said he was "tragically in an incredibly unfortunate place at  an incredibly inopportune time." Yes, that's true, but he was at Tower One of the World Trade Center that morning doing his job; doing his life's work and supporting his family; doing what he needed to do.  Barkway was a managing director of BMO Nesbitt Burns, the Bank of Montreal's investment firm.  He was on the 105th floor at Cantor Fitzgerald, a Wall Street bond dealer when the first plane struck the tower. 

At 9:00 the morning of 9/11, ten minutes after the first plane hit the building, David sent a message to his office on his Blackberry telling them he was fine.  Fifteen minutes later, he sent another note, asking for help.  That was the last that anyone heard from David. His office sent a reply but it was kicked back as undeliverable. 

David's wife Cindy had accompanied him on this business trip to New York City.  When the first plane hit Tower One, Cindy was in a cab on her way to SoHo to do some shopping.  She heard about the attack, and went back to the hotel to see if David had come back or had left message.  She left a note for him at the hotel, and went back out, hoping to find him.  David and Cindy had been married just four years, and had a two year old son, Jamie.  At the time of the 9/11 attacks, Cindy was five-months pregnant, and gave birth to David Michael in January.  Friends and relatives said that they'd never seen David happier than when when he was with their son Jamie.  They said he loved being a father, and was ecstatic over having a second child. 

If we'd had the chance to meet, I think I would have liked to hang out with David and his family.  I read that David's focus was on his family first, and then his career.  He enjoyed an occasional fine cigar, and would have a pint of Guinness every now and then.  Family and friends say that David was a practical joker.  In the office, he would often play pranks.  His colleagues said that when they would come back from lunch,  they would often find a flashing message on their computer that was impossible to delete.

Today and in the past few days, a lot has been said in the media about the heroes from 9/11. I believe that every one of the 2,996 people that lost their lives that day were heroes, including David Barkway. True, they might not have been one of the firefighters or police or rescue workers that died in the line of duty that day, but they are heroes nonetheless.  They were people going about their daily lives, taking care of their families or themselves.  The the majority of the victims were people that had gone to work that morning - doing what they were supposed to do.  They, like David Barkway, were just taking care of business like they alway did.  Those that were on the four planes were either going somewhere for business or pleasure or were going home.  They, too, were taking care of business. All of the victims were taking care of business the way they had been trained and taught.  Five years later after the attacks, we still take care of business, but we will never forget that day.

Link Of The Week

I took the time to watch a two-hour special on ABC the other week about what things and events would most likely cause the end of the world.  It was no surprise that nuclear weapons, a virus pandemic, and global warming were the top three.  The show was interesting - it wasn't all doom and gloom; it also talked about what we as citizens of this earth can do to prevent those things from happening.

I found an interesting site this week that deals with the same thing, only this is with a funny and sarcastic theme (my favorite themes).  It's called 10,000 Reasons Civilization Is Doomed.  It's no surprise that the number one reason is Paris Hilton.  You can visit the site yourself at http://www.10000reasons.org and read the reasons.  As of this evening, they were up to 3,989 (yours truly posted a reason and it should show up soon, so be sure and scroll to the end of the list if you get tired of reading the other reasons and read mine.)  You can even post your own on there. 

Way To Go, FBI

The FBI has sure been busy the past couple of weeks.  They've been catching people on their Most Wanted list left and right.  On August 29, Warren Jeffs was captured during a routine traffic stop just outside of Las Vegas.  Jeffs was wanted for a multitude of rape charges, all connected with his cult and their polygamy beliefs. Lady luck sure wasn't on his side.  A Nevada state trooper stopped a new Escalade for having only the paper license tag from the dealer.  Inside the luxury SUV, the trooper found Jeffs sitting in the back seat eating a salad from a fast food joint.  Also inside the SUV were over a dozen cell phones, wigs, glasses, and thousands of dollars - everything the pig would need to keep on the run for quite a long time.  He'll first be tried in Utah, where his charges could get him a few life sentences. 

Two days ago, Phoenix police made an arrest in the Baseline Killer murder case.  Mark Goudeau was captured after being linked by DNA to several sexual assault cases.  They're still waiting on forensic tests to link him to the eight murders and 23 other crimes tied to the Baseline Killer.

And just yesterday, police captured Ralph "Bucky" Phillips. The cop killer and escapee was caught yesterday in Pennsylvania after a five-month manhunt.  Phillips shot and killed one state trooper and seriously injured two other troopers. Phillips proclaimed that he was going to "splatter pig meat all over the county." Phillips has spent 20 of the last 23 years in prison.  He escaped from a New York prison in April, and has been on a shooting spree since then. But the Buck was definitely stopped.

On a related note, "America's Most Wanted" featured two fugitives from Kentucky tonight and one from Indiana.  Let's get those thugs off the streets.

I'm Right Here

A week doesn't go by that I don't get at least one or two emails from one of the many high school or reunion websites, each of them saying "Puddin, 2 people were searching for YOU."  These sites are just scams, faithful readers; don't fall for them.  I've been right here all along, and there's no reason that an old school mate couldn't find me.  Anybody searching for me could have found me easily without the help of a high school reunion website.

I didn't know I was that popular to have all of these people looking for me.  I sure wasn't that popular in high school.  Granted,  I was voted "most likely to succeed in business" (note to co-workers: please don't laugh too hard at that one, ok?) but I wasn't one of the popular kids. I had lots of friends, and I tried to be friends with all of the different groups at school - the popular kids, the not-so-popular kids, the athletes, the cheerleaders, the real smart kids, the not-so-smart kids - I tried to be a friend with everybody.  So you couldn't really corral me into one of those groups - I was friends among all of the demographics. I guess I was more popular than I thought since all of these people are trying to find me.

Update Thursday

There's a lot going on right now with Fourth Ave., the VFW and work, so I'd like to share some info with you, my faithful readers.

TWIT would like to wish a very speedy recovery to my dear friend Dr. J.  He had a stroke last weekend, and in doing tests at the hospital, they found out he was diabetic.  From the reports I've heard, there doesn't seem to be any damage from the stroke, thank the Lord.  At least they found out now he's diabetic so he can get regulated on insulin and other meds and hopefully get it under control.  I love ya, Dr. J, and know you'll be back on your feet again soon.  You just couldn't stand for Polly to get all of the attention this past winter and spring when she had her heart surgery so you just had to pull a stunt like this, didn't you?  I know Polly and PJ and everyone else is taking good care of you. 

TWIT would also like to say get well soon to L, Diva Stacy's daughter and a Diva-in-training in her own right.  She's had a rough week fighting a bug, and found out tonight that she has strep.  Ouch.  Get well soon, L.  Your birthday is coming up and you need to be 100% to celebrate.

I'd like to give you, my faithful readers, an update on the situation at Fourth Avenue Baptist.  I haven't mentioned this before but here goes: due to a declining congregation, our church has voted to merge with Walnut Street Baptist, just a few blocks away from Fourth Ave. down in the hood.  And Louisville Church of Christ has expressed their interest in buying the church building.  We should be hearing from them any day now with their offer.  This hasn't been an easy thing to digest - closing a church, no matter what the circumstances, is a very difficult thing to do.  But things have all fallen into place, and we're going on faith that everything will work out for us and for Louisville Church of Christ.  I'll keep you posted.

The Thursday night bingos are back in full swing at the VFW.  And even though this was Full Moon Thursday, there wasn't too much drama tonight, thank goodness. I'd like to give a special shout out to my good friend L and C, who have been running the kitchen during bingo and other VFW events.  Let me say for the record, they can cook up a mean batch of fried pickles. 

Am I A Hypocrite?

I'm worried, faithful readers.  I type this tonight with a heavy heart and a worried mind.  I'm afraid I'm being a hypocrite.  For you see, tonight I went shopping for a pair of shoes like the teenagers are wearing.  And I just finished downloading the extremely cool new song "Ain't No Other Man" by Christina Aguilara to my iPod.  Am I guilty of the same thing I so adamently preached about the other day when I was dissing the older women for wearing young teenage girl clothes?  If I get these shoes, is someone out there in blogdom going to be writing in their journal about seeing me out somewhere wearing teenager shoes?

I've wanted this pair of shoes for a few months, ever since I first saw them in a magazine ad.  They're very cool, and they look comfortable. I've been looking for them in stores around town that carry Skechers but can never seem to find my size and width.  I found them at Zappos.com, one of the best places to buy shoes (who happens to have their warehouse and corporate headquarters just minutes from Louisville). I want to order them, but I'm leery of getting them because I don't want it to seem like I'm wearing teenager shoes. 

I'd like your opinion, faithful readers.  Are these shoes too young-looking for a 43-year old woman to wear, or are they badass?  Let me know.  The fate rests in your hands.

Good Luck, Katie and Rosie

TWIT would like to wish Katie Couric and Rosie O'Donnell good luck as they start their new jobs this week. Katie Couric will take over as the anchor of "CBS Nightly News" this week, and Rosie O'Donnell will be one of the hostesses on "The View." 

These two ladies have tough shoes to fill, and they're taking these positions amid alot of controversy and criticism.  Katie Couric took over the anchor position held by Dan Rather.  She is part of history as the first woman to hold a network news anchor spot. Rosie O'Donnell comes to "The View" filling the spot left vacant by Star Jones.  But they are both professionals, and very intelligent and witty women, and I know they'll both do great.  I wish them the best of luck at their new gigs.  I know I'll be watching both of them whenever I get the chance.

Farewell, Steve Irwin

TWIT is very sad to report the sudden death of Steve Irwin, the Crocodile Hunter.  Irwin died yesterday after being stung in the chest by a stingray as he was snorkeling in the Great Barrier Reef.  He was only 44 years old.  Irwin is survived by his wife Terri, and their two children Bob and Bindi Sue.  Irwin was snorkeling in just three feet of water, and was swimming above the stingray.  A cameraman was videotaping, and experts believe that the stingray felt threatened and stung Irwin with it's tail.  The barb went into Irwin's heart and killed him almost instantly.  The cameraman had video footage of Irwin pulling the barb out of his chest and then dying.  Yes, it was a very sudden and gruesome death, but Irwin died doing something that he loved - something that was his life's work.

We'll never forget seeing Irwin as The Crocodile Hunter on cable - we saw him on the Travel Channel and the Discovery Channel for the past few years.  We were in amazement when he would jump on the back of huge crocodiles or pick up gigantic boa constrictors.  He just didn't seem afraid.  He knew what he was doing, and had the utmost respect for the animals.  He even had his own zoo in Queensland, where he could be found when he wasn't being filmed for one of his TV shows. 

I'm sure alot of people called Steve Irwin crazy for his interaction with the crocodiles and other dangerous animals.  He especially drew criticism two years ago when he was filmed feeding a huge crocodile with his then month-old son Bob in one hand and a huge slab of raw meat in the other hand.  According to the film footage I watched, the baby was far from danger, and I know that Irwin wouldn't have done that if he'd thought the baby would have been the slightest bit in danger.

Crikey, you'll be missed, you big bloke.

My Favorite Thing I Did This Summer

I know that we still have a couple weeks left of summer, but today is Labor Day and that is the unofficial end of summer.  It's the day that the swimming pools close, and it also marks the end of wearing white shoes for the year. It used to be the day that people would have their final cookout of the year, but with gas grills, people cookout all year round so we can't really count that in our end of summer countdown. 

I'd originally thought of a "top ten things from summer 2006" list for TWIT, but I really can't think of ten things I did this summer that would count.  It was an extremely long and hot summer, but the a/c at home and in the vehicles made it bearable. I went to alot of Bats baseball games, and loved every one of them.  The Divas went out to eat a couple of times this summer, and continued our tradition of getting together every Sunday afternoon. I had some great times at the VFW, and I attended some great concerts this summer.  But still, nothing would do justice for a Top Ten.  So this will just be My Favorite Thing I Did This Summer.

It's pretty self-explanatory - getting to meet Reba McEntire is without a doubt my favorite thing I did this summer.  In case you didn't know,  I took a much-needed vacation in July and went to the west coast, and at the end of the trip, I stopped in Las Vegas to attend Reba's concert at the Las Vegas Hilton.  I forked over extra $$ and got the VIP package, which included front row seats and the opportunity to meet her after the concert.  When I got to the theater, I almost had a heart attack when I found out that my seat was front row all right -- it was front row on the stage.  Yep, the VIP seats were a few rows of seats on the side of the stage. When Reba would walk or dance over to the side of the stage where we were, she was about two feet from me.  You could almost feel her breath when she sang or talked.  After the concert, we were given backstage passes to wear and then we waited in line to meet Reba.  I was very impressed by Reba's people - we weren't herded through like cattle.  She took the time to talk to each person for a minute or two. While we couldn't use our own cameras for the pictures, they had a professional photographer take them.  Of course they gouged us by selling them back to us, but hey - it's Vegas;it's par for the course.  Getting to meet one of my almost-lifelong idols was truly a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and truly the highlight of my summer.

Link Of The Week

They're often the subject of bad jokes, but like them or not, a lawyer is someone we need to have at our disposal.  We need to have their phone number programmed into our cell phone or have it written in our phone book at home.  They're like an umbrella - when you need on, you need one.  Fortunately for me and my family, we've always known two or three lawyers through the years.  (This isn't an advertisement, but if you'd like their names, email and I'd be happy to give you the info.  They're very good at what they do.)  Some of you might not know any lawyers, and chances are if you haven't had to contact one already, you probably will in the future - if for nothing else than to get your will written.  I found a site that could help you out if you're looking for a lawyer.  It's simply called Law Help.  Just got to http://www.lawhelp.org and click on the state where you need/want a lawyer and it will give you the info on how and where to find a lawyer.  For example, I clicked on Kentucky, and it brought up the Kentucky Legal Aid Society, a non-profit, very partial group that will help low and middle income people find legal service.  I came across this site about six months ago, when a friend asked for my help in getting her daughter out of a big mess in Florida.  The Legal Aid Society was able to get the girl in contact with a lawyer who took her case pro bono and helped get the girl out of the mess. 

Another Email Survey

1. What was the worst nickname you had as a child?   You can use your imagination and come up with what rhymes with "Puckett"
2. What is the most embarrassing thing that happened to you at school?  Nothing really embarrassing happened to me, although I did witness the most embarrassing thing I've ever seen.  A girl in my 3rd grade class had leukemia, and was able to attend class while she was in remission.  She'd lost her hair from the treatments and wore a wig, and one day during class her wig fell off. 
3. What was your most memorable haircut? The very popular pixie haircut.  I was in first grade and had extremely long hair, and one evening when Mom was washing my hair, it got caught in the drain.  She said "Until you can take care of your hair yourself, it's going to be short." The next day I got a pixie cut.
4. Which fashion trend makes you cringe when you look at old pictures?  A shirt that I refer to as the now-horrid "Little House On The Prairie" shirts.  I bought a special one to wear to the Olivia Newton-John concert at Rupp Arena in the fall of 1981.
5. Who was your first celebrity crush?  David Cassidy
6. What was the first concert you attended?  John Denver and the Starland Vocal Band
7. Were you ever in a school play or recital? What was your role? I was in plays and musicals all during school and at church.  My favorite role was Babe the blue ox in my class's presentation of "The Life of Paul Bunyan."
8. What was your favorite Halloween costume?  An old bald man with Groucho Marx glasses and mustache.
9. What did you want to be when you grew up?  An entertainer or a businesswoman.  Imagine that?
10. What was your favorite cartoon?  Deputy Dawg

Yet Another Dichotomy In Life

I asked a co-worker about his son's martial arts class today. The boy is in the first grade, and has been taking this martial arts class for about two months.  He said that last night, his son tested and passed and now is the proud wearer of a half-white half-yellow belt.  Very impressive for such a little guy in such a short time.  My friend went on to share an interesting observation - one he said would be appropriate for TWIT.  After hearing his story, I couldn't agree more.

The story involves the building where his son takes his martial arts classes.  The martial arts instructor sub-leases the big room with a cheerleading class.  Picture if you will a huge room with mirrors on each end - half of the room is occupied by little girls doing flips, splits and trying to form human pyramids; the other half is occupied by a group of boys and girls of all ages, wearing white uniforms and doing kicks and karate chops.  My friend went on to say that last night, he took a few moments to observe everything going on in the room.  The cheerleading side was the loudest - the cheerleading instructor was yelling at the girls.  The martial arts side of the room was the most quiet - the only sounds were the "hiiii-yaaah's" that the students would say.  This isn't what you would expect, is it?  We would expect the cheerleading side to be all cutesy and calm as the teachers taught the girls to do the cheers and routines - you wouldn't expect them to be cussing and yelling at the little girls.  Nor would you expect the martial arts side of the room to be as calm as it was - you would expect them to be saying things like we heard in "The Karate Kid" - show no mercy to your enemy.  It's just not something you'd expect to see, is it?  Life is full of dichotomies, isn't it?