Link Of The Week

If you're anything like me, then you shop at Amazon.com on a regular basis. And the cool thing with Amazon is that you can get free shipping when your total is over $25. And if you're anything like me, many a time you've ordered something for $20.99 and were just a few bucks away from getting the free shipping. Never fear. This week I found a site that will help you get to the sacred $25 mark. You just enter the amount that you need to qualify for the free shipping and they will bring up a ton of items that you can buy for that amount. Just visit http://www.fillteritem.com and check it out. I've gotten quite a few cool inexpensive gadgets by using this site. It definitely gets the TWIT Seal of Approval.

Seminar Review

It's been a very long day but it's been an awesome day. The morning started out with me waking up to two inches of snow out covering the roads and the BMW. I was glad that I had my heavy duty ice scraper brush in the car or else I guess I would have cleared the snow off of the windows with my debit card. Anyhoo, they must treat the roads differently here in Cincinnati because on my way to the church this morning there was no snjo whatsoever on the roads. But I digress. The seminar today was awesome. I got so much material to take back to the security team at church and learned a ton of valuable information on planning and preparing for emergencies and security at church.

It was a long day at the seminar; we only got one half-hour break for lunch. Thanks to my cold that I just now caught, I didn't sleep worth a darned last night, so when the seminar was over I felt like I'd worked all day long. I stopped at Moe's and got a chicken burrito and tok it back to my little hotel room and ate it while watching TV. Now I'm ready to take a nice long bath and then just watch TV and do nothing. I've taken my cold meds, have some Breathe Right strips so my nasal passages will hopefully be clear when I sleep, so I'm hoping for a better night's sleep than last night.

Flashback Friday

When I was little and would be getting ready for a trip, especially a week-long vacation, I would start writing my "things to pack" list weeks before the trip. Then the day or two before, I'd get the list out and start my packing. Mom would even let me pack my own clothes, but never fear; there would be a suitcase inspection prior to leaving the house, just to make sure I packed an ample supply of underwear, shirts and shorts and not just all entertainment items. To me, part of the fun of a trip was making that list; I guess because it gave me something to look forward to.

I'm not ashamed to say that today I still write a "things to pack" list for a trip, even an overnight trip. I'm a planner and, well, that's what planners do, right? Anyhoo. After I have my bag packed, I will stick the list in a pocket in my suitcase for another reason. When I leave the hotel or wherever I was, I will go over the list and make sure I haven't forgotten something. And that's just what I did this morning when I zipped up my bag in preparation for my trip to Cincinnati. On a unrelated note, I'll report in tomorrow evening and let everyone know how my church security seminar was. Until then, happy packing and list planning if you're going somewhere.

File Under: WTF?

Kansas man sues Royals over Sluggerrr's hot-dog toss

Everybody who takes in a Royals baseball game at the K knows that a foul ball could be headed toward their noggin at any moment. (Home runs? Not so much.)

But who would think to dodge an errant hot dog thrown by Sluggerrr, the team’s mascot?
A Kansas man sued the team this month, alleging that just such a flying sausage struck his left eye, detaching his retina and causing cataracts. A Royals spokesman at spring training in Arizona declined to comment.

According to the lawsuit, filed in Jackson County Circuit Court, John Coomer was attending a night game Sept. 8 at Kauffman Stadium and was sitting about six rows up from the third-base dugout.

During a break in the action, Sluggerrr mounted the dugout and began blasting ’dogs into the stands with that awesome air gun.

He finished with the air gun and then began throwing food into the stands with his paws.
“While doing so, (Sluggerrr) attempted to throw a hotdog into the stands with a throw behind his back,” the lawsuit alleged. “Instead of throwing the hotdog at an arch high into the stands, (Sluggerrr) lost control of his throw, or was reckless with his throw, and threw the hotdog directly into plaintiff, who was sitting a few feet away.”

Court records said Coomer has since undergone two surgeries and has suffered permanent vision impairment in his left eye. The lawsuit does not ask for a specific dollar amount but noted that Coomer’s damages exceed $25,000.

A lawyer representing Coomer said Tuesday that neither he nor his client would comment on the lawsuit.

The Royals have not formally responded to the lawsuit in court, but the case is set for mediation on June 1, according to the case docket.

I'm sorry about the man's detached retina, and I know from hearing firsthand accounts how painful that can be. But on the back of every baseball game ticket there is a reminder for the spectators to be alert for any objects that could come zooming toward them. Out of courtesy, I think the Royals should pay for the guys medical bills and maybe give him a set of free season tickets, but I say the guy should have been paying attention. What if that had been a baseball coming toward him at over 100 miles an hour or half of a bat that had broken in two?

I'm Not Going To Allow It

Last night while I was reading, I started getting a tickling in my throat which caused me to cough quite a bit. I didn't think anything else about until today at work when I started coughing again. I knew by the sound and feel of the cough that yesterday's prelude was not just an isolated incident. Yep, you guessed it - I think I'm getting a cold. But with my weekend trip to Cincinnati just two days away, I'm not going to allow a cold to get me down. I stopped on the way home and got some homeopathic cough syrup (I took it last fall when I had the flu and I think it was the only thing that cured my cough.) and took a dose of it after supper tonight. I've still coughed a little, and took a half hour nap before supper so I could rest up but I refuse to get a cold this week. Maybe if I hadn't been in a hurry this morning and remembered to wear my cool new winter hat to work I wouldn't started coughing this afternoon. Rest assured I'll be wearing my new hat tomorrow. In the meanwhile I'm going to rest as much as I can tonight and tomorrow night and take my cough syrup in hopes of knocking this out before it gets full blown. I'll keep you posted.

My Latest Purchase

For the past week and a couple of days, we've been glued to the TV watching the winter Olympics. The 'Rents especially enjoy it. They watch the daytime events that are televised on MSNBC and in the evenings we all watch the coverage on NBC. As I watched the opening ceremonies, I was jonesing for the cool fur hats that a lot of the athletes were wearing. As soon as the opening ceremonies went off that night, I got on the computer and found a cool hat similar to the ones they were wearing.

Needless to say, the day that the day after my hat arrived, the temperature was 62. But never fear - winter has returned and with it brought an opportune time for me to wear my cool new winter hat. I will be wearing it to work tomorrow.

Why Am I Here?

A couple of weeks ago, I was asked by a dear friend if I would write something for her blog. She asked me to answer the question "What is my purpose in life?" Before you think I'm getting the big head, my answer is not the end-all, be-all answer; she asked a few other women the same question, too. But I digress. I didn't hesitate or get stuck writing out my answer - the words came out easier than anything I've ever written. I'd like to share my answer with you, and I challenge you to answer the question for yourself.

If you’d asked me six months ago why I thought I was put on this earth, I would be giving you a whole different answer than I am today. Through an unplanned chain of events, I’ve discovered a new reason why I believe I was put on this earth.

Let me give a little background first. When I was a little girl, I wanted to be a police officer or detective when I grew up. But the Lord and life took me down a different path to the business world. I worked and went to college and earned a Bachelor’s and Master’s Degree and was fairly content. Last spring, something started stirring inside of me, and I decided to go back and earn a second Master’s. I chose an area totally unrelated to anything I’ve ever done before: Security Management. I applied for tuition reimbursement through my company and was denied because they’d already “paid” for one Master’s Degree for me and wouldn’t reimburse for a second one. I knew I couldn’t afford the tuition on my own, so I prayed about it and asked the Lord for a clear sign; if it was meant for me to earn this degree and learn about this area, all I asked for was for Him to help me make it happen. I’d almost given up and called the university’s registrar and told them to cancel my paperwork because I wouldn’t be able to attend. The registrar put me on hold, and when she got back on the phone she told me that I’d was eligible for a grant, a scholarship and the rest would be funded by a government loan with an extremely low interest rate. There was my answer. But the story doesn’t end there.

It didn’t take me very long to realize that “Security Management” degree program actually meant security management. I thought it would be about keeping companies safe internally – like from corporate takeovers, embezzlement, shady accounting or IT practices – things like that. But it meant actual security. It also didn’t take me long to fall in love with it. I couldn’t wait to get home from work in the evenings and study. I even loved the homework, especially a big project where we had to do an in-depth analysis of an organization’s security program. Something started stirring inside of me again, and I chose the area of church security for my analysis. I analyzed the security programs of two churches in Louisville – one was my church, and the other happened to be the largest church in the United States. Not only did I get a 100% on this project, I also got the realization that this was maybe what I was supposed to do in life. A month later, I received a call from church, and was asked to be a member on the church’s security task force. After attending a couple of meetings and offering some suggestions, I was pleasantly surprised to discover that they were actually putting my suggestions into use. And just a few weeks ago, they asked me to be the lead security monitor during our early church service. They’re also sending me to a church security and emergency planning seminar up in Cincinnati next week, too. Last year when I decided to go back and get this degree, I jokingly said that this was my mid-life crisis. Little did I know that this would turn into my mid-life changing event. None of it is coincidence; anyone that knows me knows that I’m a firm believer that there is no such thing as coincidence. The Lord took forty-six and a half years to get me molded and prepared for what He wanted me to do.

As a kid, I wanted to be an officer and “serve and protect” and now through this unplanned chain of events, I’m finally getting the opportunity.

Link Of The Week

I don't think I've mentioned this before but everyone here at The Compound are big Olympics fans. Why, it was the day before the last summer Olympics when we got out big flat screen TV and were just enamored with the color and clarity while we watched. We've been glued to the TV for over a week now, watching our beloved Apolo Ono and Lindsay Vonn win their medals.

If you haven't quite kept up with the Olympics like we have, never fear. Just visit http://www.olympic.org and you can find out anything you want to know about this year's winter Olympics in Vancouver and any of the previous Olympics.

Thank You For Reminding Me, Doctor Parker

After supper last night, I sat down to read the newspaper and go through the daily snail mail. Among a magazine subscription renewal notice and junk mail was a "Patient Reminder" letter from my awesome eye doctor, Dr. Parker. It was a friendly reminder that it was time for me to schedule my annual appointment. Now, I don't know if this was meant to be cute or sarcastic, but the reminder was typed out in size 72 font - "Our records indicate it is time for you to schedule an appointment" in letters so bold I think I could have read them with my eyes closed.
Very funny Dr. P, very funny.

Flashback Friday

As I've been watching the Olympics the past week with the 'Rents, I couldn't help but flashback to the 1976 Winter Olympics held in Innsbruck, Austria. The star of that Olympiad was figure skating great Dorothy Hamill, who brought home the gold medal for the U.S. in the women's figure skating.

Not only did she give us her signature move, the Hamill Camel, she also gave us the awesome hairstyle "The Wedge." I had long hair during that era, and wasn't about to get it cut into a short wedge, no matter how much I worshipped Dorothy Hamill.

Though her skating style would be very outdated today, she was still a class act back in the day. I wish the Olympics had more Dorothy Hamills.

We Saw Our Shadows!

After weeks and weeks of cloudy days, we finally saw the sun today. We were like little moles coming out of our holes when we left work today. We were all squinting from the sun and the glare of the snow, and I couldn't get to the car fast enough to put on my sunglasses. But it was sure nice to drive home in the sunshine.



I talked to four different people today who all said they were about to go crazy from cabin fever. Even though the 'Rents didn't actually say it, I know they have cabin fever. They've been looking through their seed catalogs in preparation for spring planting and reading the almanacs to find out when we're going to get some good weather. As for me, I can't say that I've had cabin fever. Even though we had (well, still have) over twelve inches of snow on the ground, I've gone pretty much anywhere I wanted to go. And I've love the snow and cold so I've been even happier the past few weeks. But I digress.



Today's sunshine will be shortlived; it's supposed to be cloudy tomorrow with some rain Saturday, Sunday and into Monday. But at least the temperatures are expected to be in the low 40's so at least everything and everybody will be thawing out.

Just Once?

I decided to get a little bit more high tech than I already am, and I got a cool new TV this weekend for my bedroom. Out with the big TV that was as wide and thick as it was tall, and in with a thin flat-screen HD TV. Before you get all excited, it's only a 22 inch model; unfortunately the 26 inch version was about a half inch too wide to fit in the TV spot in my entertainment center. But my old TV was only a 19 inch one so I've got three more inches of screen.

After supper I lugged the old set out to the living room where it will sit until DAV comes later this month and set up the cool new TV. But unfortunately I need the cord with the red, white and yellow connectors so I can hook up my VCR. I went to a huge box that we keep in the living/music room with about 87 different cords and cables in it, hoping to find the cord I needed, but no. Just once I hoped that fate would be on my side when hooking up electronic equipment. Anyhoo the picture is awesome and I just unhooked the VCR until tomorrow when I feel like going to the store to get the cable. But like I said, just once it would have been nice to have everything work out. Oh well. There's always the next time.

Snowmageddon Proof

We have photographic proof of Snowmageddon at The Compound. With yesterday's snow fall, we estimate a total of 12 inches of snow on the ground at The Compound tonight. The estimate is brought to us courtesy of Mom, who went out into the backyard with a ruler and measured it.

For the record let me say that I love the cold and I love the snow. And I hope that my cool new winter fur hat gets here before the next predicted snow this weekend.

Snomageddon, Week 2

We woke up this morning to yet another big snow. The weatherazzi was pretty much on target with this one. It was just about the same as last week's snow - we got about 6 inches here at The Compound. Schools were closed today and are closed again tomorrow, but today the roads seemed clearer than they did last week. But we were ready for it, though. I made one last trip to Wal-Mart last night for provisions (frozen pizzas and lettuce) and Dad had the snow blower parked in the front of the garage for easy access.

Once again when I got home the driveway was cleared thanks to Dad's efforts. I grabbed the snow shovel and went out to the end of the driveway and shoveled a patch that was wet and heavy for the blower to get and then just stood back and admired our nice clear driveway.

Snow is in the forecast for just about every day for the next week. Bring it on. We've got plenty of firewood hauled up by the house, have plenty of gas in the cans for the snow blower and have a fully stocked refrigerator, freezer and pantry. And on top of that, my new winter hat should be arriving any day now. So yep, bring it on.

Link Of The Week

If you've had the chance to go with me to one of my beloved Bats baseball games, then chances are you saw me eating a hot dog. And it was most likely plain, or with mustard and chopped onion. Lots of chopped onion. That is my preferred hot dog accessories. And if you've the pleasure of travelling with me by car, chances are you saw me eating a good old convenience store hot dog during gas or rest room stop. They just taste better than when you make them at home. But I digress. My cousin sent me this week's Link of the Week because it features a diner that he frequents on a regular basis. The site is called ChoppedOnion. Yep, ChoppedOnion. You can read reviews about hot dogs, fries, shakes and lots of other great food found at cool diners, restaurants, drive-ins and coffee shops located primarily in the south (because that's where the reviewer lives.) Their site encourages you to email them with any cool place you'd like them to visit and review. Visit them at http://www.choppedonion.com/ and read a few reviews. It won't be too long before you make a trip to the kitchen to fix a hot dog. Remember - I'll have mustard and onion on mine.

Let The Shopping Begin?

I just purchased a new late birthday present for myself - a Browning handgun. I've researched extensively, and talked with people that have Brownings and they all said it was a very high quality firearm and was made by a great, reputable company. I purchased it from a dealer online, and had it transfered to a pawn shop here in Louisville who would fill out the paperwork and handle the transfer. The pawn shop called me yesterday morning to let me know that it had arrived and said I could come pick it up anytime. Before hanging up the woman from the pawn shop said "Let me warn you - we're going to be extremely busy on Friday and Saturday with Valentine's Day." Believe me when I tell you I had to keep a strong grip on the phone to keep from dropping it because that made me laugh very hard.

Some of you might not understand my sense of humor or why I find certain things fascinating, but her statement both made me laugh and fascinated me. It's not my intention to diss pawn shops nor people who buy presents there or have received presents from a pawn shop; I've bought new items there for presents and I've received a few presents that were purchased from the pawn shop. But when she told me that, it just struck me as funny; I guess because she said ti so as-a-matter-of-factly. Her statement could mean only two things: #1 It was going to be very busy with people buying Valentine presents from the pawn shop, or #2 It was going to be very busy with people pawning things for cash so they can buy presents for Valentines.

I went the pawn shop this morning and there were maybe 8 or 9 clerks there, and I'd say about 2/3 of them were waiting on customers, so it was fairly busy. The woman that took care of the transfer was the same woman that called me yesterday, so I just had to ask her about my two assumptions. She said that they've seen it about 50/50 - half of the people buying things for Valentines Day and the other half pawning things to get cash.

Flashback Friday

I was getting ready to submit this week's assignment for school earlier when I took a moment to re-read over the assignment. Only then did I realize that I stupidly glossed over it and didn't pay any attention to the last half of the assignment instructions. Had I not paid attention, I'm pretty sure major points would have been taken off. I did some research and typed up the rest of the assignment and submitted it, and as I was thinking about my near-mistake, I thought about how it was back in the day when we had to type research papers, or any type of assignment. If you leave something out today, it's not big deal - you just open up the Word document and then insert your information. But back in the day, it was a whole different story. You had to start over from scratch.

There was no such thing as having the information saved. You just started over and used your typed pages as a guide and just typed it all in again, inserting the new paragraphs or pages where they belonged. And you used an actual typewriter, not a computer. And it was a pain in the ass.

When I had to do research papers, I became OCD and made damned sure that my handwritten pages were exactly like I wanted them before I started typing them on the trusty Smith Corona typewriter. When you made a mistake, there was no white-out to use, either; you had one of those typewriter erasers with the rubber eraser on one end and a little stiff brush on the other. That was then I learned to be as accurate as possible when typing. Now, it's no big deal - we just backspace and delete what we've typed and type over.

And now, from what I've heard from reliable sources, actully researching, writing and typing in a paper is uncommon; there's countless websites where students can go and buy a paper on pretty much any topic. But they'll never be able to experience the angst of typing a research paper, and having to use the aforementioned typewriter eraser on a mistake, only to get a bit too anxious and end up erasing a hole in the paper and having to type it over.

File Under: WTF?

Franklin Park Man Charged After Using Snow Blower

A Franklin Park Borough man is facing an assault charge after using his snow blower.

Steve Negri says that a plow driver accused him of throwing snow into the street while he used the device in his driveway. He says tempers flared as he explained that the snow blower can throw snow 20 feet or so across the street. By then, Negri says they both threatened to call the police. He says the driver got back in his truck, but instead of leaving, he gave him one more warning.

"When he got out of the vehicle is when I was pulling the trigger for the snow blower and it shot him with snow and shot the cab with snow," Negri explained. "He started wiping himself off and he started screaming, 'You're going to get it now!'"

Eventually, two Franklin Park Borough police officers showed up to investigate. On Tuesday, Negri says an officer told him he would be charged with assault for allegedly throwing snow on a borough employee. "When I asked, 'Well did you ask the neighbor across the street who actually started this?' He says, 'I don't need to.'"I said, 'What do you mean you don't need to? It's part of the investigation.'"He said, 'Look I've known him for 17 years - I know who he is I don't know you so we'll just let a judge sort this out,'" Negri said.

KDKA-TV's Bob Allen tried to contact Franklin Borough Police for an explanation of the charge, which is a summary offense.Negri says he looks forward to settling the matter in court.

We had a similar situation happen on Tuesday here at The Compound. Dad was clearing off our driveway with our snow blower, and was at the the end of the driveway right by the road when one of the city plow trucks came by. The truck threw a big blog of snow and ice, hitting Dad in the back and catching him off guard. He was twisting and turning as he tried to keep his balance and not fall down, and in doing so threw out his hip again.

When I got home and heard about the incident, the first thing I asked was "Did you flip the guy off?" He said no. If he had of, chances are you would have been reading an article about him and city snow plow driver instead of the article about Mr. Negri. Just saying.

Snowmageddon Update Update

Faithful readers, I believe this was the longest period when one of the vehicles at The Compound did not leave The Compound after a big snow. I was chauffeured to work the past two days, and when I got home tonight, I was itching to get out myself. So I did what any true American would do: I helped stimulate the economy by going out to my beloved Wal-Mart and buying a pair of jeans and a rotisserie chicken. I was very impressed that just about every business establishment of any kind that we passed by during the previous two days had their parking lots cleared so others could visit them and help stimulate the economy, too. Now that's what I call service.

Snowmageddon, Part 2

We got a small taste of Snowmageddon today here in the 'Ville. When I left for work this a.m. we had about 3+ inches and it was still coming down pretty heavy. When it ended this afternoon, we had a total of 6.5 inches here at The Compound. Dad made two rounds with the awesome snow blower and when I pulled into the driveway this evening, you saw nothing but driveway. As I type this, the winds have picked up and are gusting to 30 mph and blowing snow so it truly looks like a blizzard out the window right now. I'm thankful I made to and from work safely, and I'm glad that Dad had a safe morning with the snow blower, and I'm thrilled to be inside where it's warm and dry.

Favorite Super Bowl Commercials

TWIT would like to congratulate the New Orleans Saints on their Super Bowl victory. It's no big secret that I don't like the Indianapolis Colts, nor any football-playing member of the Manning family, so needless to say I was rooting for the Saints. But I digress. It's time once again for Puddin's Favorite Super Bowl Commercials.

Doritos -"#1 Don't touch my mama, and #2, don't touch my Doritos." I'm surprised the little kid didn't kick the guy in his privates.

Monster.Com - the beaver/ground hog (couldn't determine which varmint it was) playing the fiddle. You can usually count on any depiction of an animal doing something that normally only humans can do to be funny. This was no exception. And the varmint was playing one of the best old-time fiddle tunes, "Soldier's Joy", too.

Cherry Dr. Pepper - a little KISS. A miniature version of KISS is playing along side the real KISS was priceless. I think the little KISS is the band that perfoms in Vegas with Little Britney Spears and Little Cher.

Tru TV - Punxatawney Polamalu. Pittsburgh Steelers star Troy Polamalu sees his shadow which means six more weeks of football. Maybe the tiny Troy Polamalu can go join the Vegas show with Little Kiss and Little Britney.

Flo TV - My Generation. Will I. Am from the Black Eyed Peas made an appearance in this commercial, and that's all that it took to get a spot in my Favorite Super Bowl Commercials.

KIA - Toy Fantasy. Some life-sized toys are shown doing cool things like bowling and on a road trip to Vegas. The life-size Sock Monkey was without a doubt the coolest and best part of the entire Super Bowl this year.

The Most Annoying Super Bowl Commercial was without a doubt Denny's Free Grand Slam on Tuesday. The screaming, squawking chickens made me want to throw something at the Vizio.

Link Of The Week

I've mentioned repeatedly about being the daughter of a sailor, and how proud my Dad was to serve in the Navy. Over the years, I've bought him a couple of Navy ball caps, and last year for Father's Day I got him a very cool tie with the Navy emblem on it. Chances are you have relative or friend who was in or maybe still are in the Navy, and you can visit a cool site and buy them (or yourself) practically anything you can think of related to the Navy. It's simply Navy Stuff. Check it out at http://www.navystuff.com and buy something for your favorite sailor. I bought Dad's tie from here and got great service from them. Go Navy!!

Snowmageddon Update

When I went to bed last night, the weatherazzi was calling for (and I quote) "1-6 inches" of snow here in the 'Ville. Now, I'm not a meteorologist, but somehow predicting 1-6 inches of snow isn't much of a guess. You'd think with Doplar radar and everything else they would be a bit more precise on their prediction. Anyhoo, here at The Compound we got maybe an inch. It was just enough to mess up the steps and ramp going into the house.

But never fear. The weatherazzi are already talking about another snow expected Tuesday. This time they are in deed a bit more precise - 3-5 inches. I'm not getting my hopes up this time.

Snowmageddon

We interrupt this week's regularly scheduled "Flashback Friday" to bring you the latest news from the weatherazzi. I thought that only Louisville had the over-zealous weatherazzi but boy was I wrong. As soon as I signed on to AOL tonight, I saw a headline that said "Snowmageddon pounds the mid-atlantic." Wow - snowmageddon. And here I thought "snowgasm" was pretty wild last weekend, but it's nothing compared to a snowmageddon.

In case you haven't kept up with the news, Washington DC, Virginia, West Virginia and other states on the east coast were going to get pummelled with up to two feet of snow today. Yes, two feet. I got an email from a classmate today that works at the Pentagon and she said that once the snow started they were calling for about 2-3 inches per hour, and were expecting two feet of snow. I told her that if we got 24 inches of snow in Louisville, the city would be shut down till July and they would probably have to postpone the Derby until June.

Here in the 'Ville, they don't really know how much snow we'll get. The latest reports from the weatherazzi think we'll get 3-6 inches by tomorrow. Now, if you ask me, that's a pretty big variance. But anyhoo, it's been pouring rain all day and as I was driving home from work it was starting to change over to snow. I don't have anywhere I need to go until Sunday so I'm perfectly content with staying here at The Compound until then. As always, I'll keep you posted.

The Best Steak Of My Life

Let me preface by saying that I was too engrossed an enthralled (yes, I used the word "enthralled") in my supper tonight to take the time to take a photograph to post. That having been said, let me just say that tonight at supper, I had the best steak of my life. It wasn't at a fancy, high-priced restaurant; it was at the kitchen table here at The Compound.

It was truly a joint effort - Dad bought the steaks from our 'hood WalMart using a gift card that I gave him for his birthday, and Mom fixed them on the back porch on the George Foreman gas grill. And it was in deed the best steak of my life. They were a slightly thicker cut, and were a bit different cut from a normal ribeye; they were labeled "Del Monico" steaks. But I will say that it was the best steak I've ever had. It was cooked to perfection; not an easy feat when it comes to me. Sometimes I order mine medium rare, and sometimes I order them medium. But regardless of how I order it, i usually end up sending it back because it was either still mooing on my plate or it was burned beyond recognition. Not this steak. It was a perfect cookbook example of medium rare. And it was so tender, I could have cut it with my regular knife and not a steak knife. It melted in my mouth. I'm not sure how many other descriptive phrases I can use to describe this steak, so I'll just say it was perfect. I've had steaks at Ruth's Chris, Jeff Ruby's, Pat's Steakhouse, Morton's and many other restaurants here in Louisville and in other cities and none of them could even come close to the steak I had tonight. Yes, it was that good.

I already told Dad I would be giving him some cash and sending him back to Walmart tomorrow to pick up some more. He declined, and said instead, he would take me with him and show me how to pick out awesome steaks. If I didn't have school work to do tonight, he and I would be in the car right now heading to the store.

Ground Hog Day Report From The Compound

In case you were under a rock and didn't hear any of the newscasts, yesterday was Ground Hog Day. And here at The Compound, we did have a ground hog sighting. Mom reported that the ground hog did in deed see his (or her) shadow in the back field yesterday. Unfortunately that means six more weeks of bad winter weather.

On a totally unrelated note, it was also reported that Dad was cleaning off his shotgun. Just saying.

Parking Lot Watch 2010 Update

Faithful readers, we have a winner in our company's Parking Lot Watch for 2010. My dear friend ZC from upstairs in the Technical Department is the 2010 winner. Just days ago he purchased a 2003 Chevy Silverado. I saw it this afternoon as I was leaving and it was a very pretty truck, if trucks can be pretty.

I thank everyone that participated in this year's Parking Lot Watch. And in honor of ZC's new parking lot ride, tomorrow I am going to drive the leak-less BMW to work. In case you don't know, Parking Lot Watch was started seven years ago when I bought my BMW shortly after receiving our annual bonus. I'm expecting nothing less than a spotless parking lot spot tomorrow afternoon when I leave work. As always, I'll keep you posted.

Grammy Awards Reflections

Ever since I was a kid, I've always loved the award shows, especially the Big Three - The Emmys, Oscars and Grammys. Sure, I want my favorites to win, but I'll admit the main reason I watch is for the entertainment. You can always count on at least one performance being just over the top and blowing me away. My over the top performances from last night's Grammys were all in the first hour.

The opening perfomance was by Lady Gaga. It was truly over the top with pyrotechnics and whole legion of dancers with an awesome version of "Poker Face" that morphed into a very stirring duet with Sir Elton John. Once everybody had settled down from that, Pink did a very impressive performance of "Glitter In The Air"as she twirled and swung on some kind of combination trapeze/silk thingy. Singing is hard enough to do, but singing and not missing a note or a beat while doing a high trapeze act and spinning around and around is damn impressive in my book. She deserved a Grammy award just for that performance alone. As if that wasn't enough, I got to see my beloved Black Eyed Peas roll it out. They, too, had lots of costumed dancers, and did an awesome [censored] version of "Imma Be" that also morphed into another mega hit, "Tonight's Gonna Be A Good Night." I could have turned it off and been happy, but no. I had to watch the second hour, only to be just horrified by Taylor Swift's duets with rock goddess Steve Nicks. Everyone that I discussed the Grammys with today all agreed it was wretched.

As I was driving home from work today, I started thinking back to over the top performances from the Grammys in year's past. Two will forever stand out in my mind. The first was at the 1976 Grammys when Linda Ronstadt sang "You're No Good." Her most awesome album, "Heart Like A Wheel" was nominated for Album of the Year, but lost to Paul Simon. When she finished the song, she received a standing ovation - something that was unheard of back in the day. The second stand out performance was twenty years later at the 1996 Grammys when Alanis Morissette performed "You Oughta Know" with an orchestra instead of a usual rock band. It was the best version of "You Oughta Know" that I've ever heard her perform. She went on to win 4 Grammys that year. I wonder if someone twenty years from now will be saying how awesome Pink's performance was at the 2010 Grammys? I'm thinking there's a pretty good chance they won't forget that one.