Wednesday, March 31, 2010

File Under: WOW




I read an interesting article in the WSJ today. It was about a restaurant in Springfield, Illinois that serves a whopper of a sandwich called a horseshoe sandwich. It's aptly named because the sandwich it about as big in diameter and circumference as a horseshoe for a Clydesdale horse. The horseshoe sandwich is served mainly in the Springfield area, where it originated. It's basically a huge open-faced sandwich with french fries on top and then the whole thing is covered in a cheese sauce. You can see a picture of an "ordinary" horseshoe sandwich in the picture on the left. But the restaurant in the article takes the artery-clogging one step further. Instead of using bread on the sandwich, they put the meat (hamburger patties) and french fries on top of a huge tortilla, roll it up, deep fry it and then smother it in cheese sauce. They call it a"Shoe Burrito" and it's estimated to be about 2800 calories - the equivalent of five Big Macs.
All I can say about it is wow.
We've talked about this all day long in the cubicle at work. At the end of the day, a general consensus was 75% said they would try it, while 25% timid souls said they would not. As for me, I'm in the "don't try" side. As you already know, I don't like my foods like this all mixed together. But with all the hype about the horseshoe sandwich, I could probably be coerced into trying it.

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Awww Hell No!!

Woman denied $42,000,000 in slot machine ‘malfunction’

Monday, 29 Mar 2010, 2:38 PM EDTPublished : Monday, 29 Mar 2010, 7:24 AM EDT

Lady Luck playing a cruel trick on a gambler in Colorado.

Bells and whistles on a penny slot machine had Louise Chavez thinking she'd hit a $42 million jackpot.

"People were coming up to me and saying I won $42 million" Chavez told KDRV FOX31 . "Lights were flashing, it sounded like a fire truck, the screen said 'see attendant.'"

But the staff at the Fortune Valley Casino says the machine malfunctioned and Chavez wasn't a winner at all.

Chavez did get a complimentary room, free breakfast and the $23 that she originally gambled. She says she will continue to push for that big jackpot.

According to reports, the Division of Gaming will look for forensic information in the machine's software and there is a possibility that Chavez could still win some money.

$42 million and they gave me a lousy $23? WTF? Awww hell no. I don't know about you, but if this had happened to me, the sign on the front of the casino would have been changed to "Puddin's Fortune Valley Casino". Nuff said.

Monday, March 29, 2010

Sunday, March 28, 2010

Link Of The Week

It's been a while since the devastating earthquake in Haiti, and relief efforts are still going on, and will be going for years to come. If you donated money to the Haiti earthquake relief effort, chances are you'd like to know where your money is going. I found a site this week from the fine folks at CNN that explains it. Visit http://edition.cnn.com/2010/LIVING/01/13/haiti.earthquake.how.to.help/index.html?hpt=T2 and see how your donations are helping out.

Saturday, March 27, 2010

DC ... RG

Today marked a first for me, faithful readers: I took my Mom with tonight to the Derby City Roller Girls roller derby match. And she loved it. I took Dad out the other night, so I thought it would only be fair to take Mom out tonight, and let Dad have some Me Time at home.

Back in the day, Mom went to the roller derby with Dad and Grandma and Grandpa. Some might think that odd, but I think it's pretty damned cool; I don't know too many people that can say that their parents and grandparents went to the roller derby. I guess it's only natural that I enjoy the roller derby, too. But I digress. Mom loved the bout, but I will say that she told me she was disappointed - she thought it was going to be the old school roller derby with the banked track where the girls get into it and toss one another over the railing. She was a bit bummed to see that it was flat track roller derby. But once it started she really got into it. Like me, she agreed that it takes quite a bit of athleticism to skate like that.

She even wore her cool DCRG t-shirt tonight at the bout, and a few times I saw her put her bottle of water down and clap for our team, who won 114 to 79.

Friday, March 26, 2010

Way To Go, Alyson

Hero nanny badly burned while saving boy, 5

She ran barefoot to the rescue through 400-degree flames

The young woman sat in a wheelchair, her feet swaddled in special bandages for burns, her right arm and hand also heavily bandaged. Snuggling under her left arm was a 5-year-old boy who looked up at her frequently and from time to time caressed her fingers.

This was Friday morning, three days since the boy, Aden Hawes, had last seen his nanny, Alyson Myatt. Which was just after she had run barefoot through a wall of flames to save his life.

“I love her so much,” Aden told TODAY’s Ann Curry Friday from Kentucky’s University of Louisville Hospital, where the heroic nanny is recovering from burns she received during the courageous rescue. “I miss her when she’s gone.”

Life saverThe words made the 22-year-old Myatt smile and choke back a tear or two. That was something she found herself doing frequently as she recounted how she awoke Tuesday morning to find the house on fire and Aden trapped in his room with flames running through the carpeted hallway outside his door.

Fire officials said there’s no question that Myatt’s fearless actions saved Aden’s life and allowed him to come through the experience unscathed.

J.B. Hawes, a single parent who hired Myatt two months ago to be a live-in nanny, joined her and Aden at the hospital and choked back some tears of his own. He had been in Minnesota on business when the fire broke out and rushed home Tuesday.

“I came straight to the hospital and saw her on the bed,” Hawes said. “To realize what she did, saved my son’s life, you can’t thank someone for that. There’s nothing you can do to repay them for taking that kind of a risk.”

Hall of flamesAround 3 a.m. Tuesday, a broken ventilation fan in an upstairs bathroom had overheated and caught fire. Myatt, whose room was in the basement of the house, doused the small fire with water and called Hawes to report the problem. Both agreed that as the fire was out, there wasn’t any cause for concern.

But at 6 a.m. Myatt awoke to a crashing boom and wailing smoke alarms. The booming sound was that of the fan falling out of the ceiling and hitting the floor after catching fire again.
Myatt jumped out of bed and rushed upstairs in her bare feet.

“I just saw flames all down the hallway and the bathroom door was on fire, because I hadn’t shut the bathroom door before this big fire, so there was no way to avoid the flames,” Myatt told Curry. “But before I had even looked at the fire or anything, I was yelling for Aden. He said he was in his room underneath the covers.”

To get to him, Myatt had to run through the burning carpeting with nothing on her feet.
“I didn’t even think about me getting hurt or getting burned,” Myatt said. “I really didn’t even think that I was barefoot. I was just yelling for Aden and I ran and got him. All of it happened really quick.”

“To physically run through flames is heroics to the nth degree,” Shelbyville Fire Chief Willard Tucker told The Courier-Journal newspaper. “To make a choice to charge right through flames is kind of above what are normal heroics.”

When she got to carpet that wasn’t burning, Myatt realized that her feet were in pain she described as excruciating.

“It was like I was walking on goo ’cause all the skin. My feet were just burned off,” she told NBC affiliate WAVE 3 in Louisville.

Myatt didn’t have time to think about it, though. The flames were advancing and she still had to get out of the house and call the fire department.

“We just went down the steps. I just grabbed my purse. I was thinking, ‘Oh, man, I dropped my cell phone. Now I can’t call anybody,’ ” Myatt said. “I jumped in the minivan, got Aden in and whatnot, and went to Lucy’s house, a neighbor down the street.”

She worked the pedals with her toes, which weren’t as badly burned as the soles of her feet. On the way to the neighbor’s, Myatt explained to Aden that he would have to get out of the van, run to the door and keep ringing the doorbell until somebody came to the door.

“That’s what he did, and he was very brave,” Myatt said. “He got out of the van as soon as I opened the automatic door and ran up there and rang the doorbell until Lucy came.”
No time to spare. If Myatt had called the fire department and waited for them to rescue Aden, the boy would be dead, Chief Tucker said.

Aden’s father told Curry that officials told him that Myatt’s rescue came literally in the nick of time. “There was only one minute left,” Hawes said, before the flames would have ended Aden’s life.

Pictures of the house show a forest of charred studs where the upstairs hallway and Aden’s room used to be. The entire upstairs was consumed, and the house looks like a total loss.

“There’s no words to put how grateful I am to have my son with me, how grateful I am to have Alyson in our world, and it’s just one of those things you can’t put any value on,” Hawes said. “There’s no price to be paid. It’s a debt that will never be able to be repaid.”

Hawes said he had interviewed five other candidates for the nanny’s job before Myatt.
“Her and Aden just clicked right away and got along. I just followed my instincts,” he told Curry. “She had impeccable references. She moved in and just started taking over to help me out with him. God brought her into our world, that’s for sure.”

Aden said he is looking forward to doing puzzles with Myatt again and reading books with her.
Myatt, who does not have health insurance and doesn’t know how she will pay for medical treatment that may include skin grafts on her feet, said doctors have told her she could be well enough to leave the hospital by next Tuesday.

Meanwhile, Hawes has to find somewhere to live. It needs to be big enough for three.
“Alyson is part of the family,” he said. “I know that she’s got her family to go to, but I’ve got to find another place so that she can come home.”

There's nothing else I can say about this except Alyson, you are definitely a hero. I boo-hoo'd this morning when I watched this news article. You are definitely the strongest woman that I've ever heard about. I'm hoping that people with some extra cash will come to your aid and pay your medical bills.

Thursday, March 25, 2010

Go Big Blue

As I type this, I'm almost hesitant to admit that I'm probably one of the few people in the state of Kentucky that will be watching the Wildcats play against Cornell tonight in the NCAA tourny. But nonetheless, I do want to wish the Wildcats good luck, and I hope they win and advance to the semi-finals.

I know dozens of people that are taking a nap right now, and will get up at about 10:00 and watch the late NCAA tourny game. I'm not one of them. Yes, I like the Wildcats and I hope they win and go all the way in the tourny, but I just don't care about the NCAA tourny; least of all, care about enough to lose sleep over it. But nonetheless, TWIT wishes the UK Wildcats a successful game tonight. Go Cats.

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

I Know A Winner

Dad had a very frustrating day today. He and Mom spent all day out in the yard and garden, enjoying the almost-warm spring weather and getting the last remnants of winter cleared away. While he was mowing the back forty, his Cub Cadet small tractor quit. I know how I would handled something like this, and being my father's daughter, I have a pretty good idea how he handled it. So to cheer him up a bit and get his mind off of worrying about getting the tractor fixed, I took him out for the evening for some father and daughter bonding time. (Note: Mom enjoyed an evening of Me Time by herself.)

While Dad and I were out and about we ran into a friend of ours, April. Mom and Dad ran in to her about a year ago, but I hadn't seen her in a couple of years. After exchanging updates, she told me something extremely cool: she won a car. I was so surprised and so excited for her that I totally forgot to ask what kind of car she won; all she said was that she won it in a giveaway at the local casino boad a few months ago. Dad and I were so happy for her, and both of us agreed that April is the first person we know that has won a car. I think that's pretty cool.

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Another Customer Service Horror Story?

The following is a transcript from a phone call to Wal-Mart's Electronics department at lunchtime.

Me: Did you all get in any copies of 'Blindeside' this afternoon?

WM employee: Yes ma'am. In fact, we received a double shipment last night. No need to rush -
just come by when you can and get your copy.

Me: Oh really? I stopped by at 7:00 this morning and the people in the electronics department
said they didn't get any copies of it.

WM employee: Hmmmm I guess they were too lazy to stock the shelves last night.

Monday, March 22, 2010

Ol' Cockadoodle


I've had a couple of requests for more information on the infamous rooster tablecloth, so here it is. As I mentioned on Saturday, you can see the different phrases written in Italian.

On a related note, tonight I ordered matching placemats. I hope they have Italian phrases on them, too.

Sunday, March 21, 2010

Link Of The Week

These days, it's hard to find someone who is not on Facebook. While some say that Facebook is all about the (and I quote) "older people" I disagree. I'm 47 years old and I do not consider myself old. But I digress. If you're on Facebook and would like to learn more about the in's and out's of Facebook, I've got a good site for you to check out this week. Just visit http://www.allfacebook.com and see what they have. They said it best: "The purpose of the blog is to cover all issues pertaining to Facebook including new applications, general news, and analysis about the future of Facebook. It is an exciting time in the world of social media and social networking and it is our job to cover all of it in relation to Facebook." Nuff said. Please check them out this week if you have a Facebook account. If you're not on Facebook, then you're two-thousand and late.

Saturday, March 20, 2010

Del Ilymo Orizzonte?

The other night, the 'Rents and I went out on a shopping spree, and during out economic stimulus, Mom bought a new table cloth for our kitchen table. It had pictures of roosters and phrases in Italian on it. We didn't pay much attention to it until this morning at breakfast, when Dad and I started reading the phrases and wondering what they meant. I wrote down a few of them and got online and found an Italian-to-English translation site and attempted to decipher the phrases on the table cloth.

Needless to say, we didn't get very far. The phrases on the table cloth are written in Italian - with actual Italian handwriting. But we were able to figure out a few words like horizon, wind, and ending. This is far from over, and I'm willing to bet that in a few weeks time we'll have more phrases figured out. As always, I'll keep you posted.

Friday, March 19, 2010

Flashback Friday


As I type this, the 'Rents are in the family room watching their number one favorite western, "Gunsmoke." They could not care less about the NCAA tournament, and have watched everything else except the basketball games today. Most of the time, they've been watching the old school western channels.
I've always been a "Big Valley" fan, but the 'Rents have always been "Gunsmoke" fans. I have to say that it comes in at a close second for me. It's awesome. Festus and his mule Ruth are my favorite characters, while most people would argue with me saying that Marshall Dillon and Miss Kitty are their favorite characters. To each his own.
I would have like to lived in Dodge City back in the day. I would visited the Longbranch Saloon, and let Sam the bartender serve me a beer or a shot of whiskey. And I would have eaten my meals at DelMonico's Restaurant, where they served the meals on very cool blue and white china. If I had any health issues, I would have let Doc Adams treat me. I would have felt safe and secure living in Dodge City with Marshall Dillon and his Deputy watching over me.

Thursday, March 18, 2010

Just My Luck, Part Three

I'm hesitant in typing this, but as I write this journal entry, both of my vehicles are repaired and in working order. Of course, with my typical luck that could change at any time, but as of now, there is nothing majorly wrong with the Blazer or the BMW.

The body shop across from work installed the correct fog light on the BMW today without incident. And the turn signals, heater, a/c etc. are in full working order on both vehicles so for now, all is well.

So I really don't know what to say other than stay tuned, because as you know how my luck is, that could all change with a turn of the ignition key. But I'm going to think positive. Neither vehicle has any major fluid leaks, and both engines in the vehicles are running great. So I'm going to go out on a limb now and speculate a happy drama-free spring for Puddin's Fleet at The Compound. But as I always say, stay tuned; I'll keep you posted.

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Just My Luck, Part Two

When we last spoke, I was giving the sordid details of the BMW's fog light issues. I totally skipped over the turn signal issues on the Blazer.

I noticed Saturday night that my turn signals didn't work on the Blazer. The hazard lights worked, but not the turn signals. On Monday, I drove it to work and dropped it off at the very reputable body shop across from work, and asked them to check it out. They called me late in the day to tell me that they would have to take out the steering column and pull the dashboard to get to it. So much for it being an easy fix. So I drove it in today and left it at the 'hood auto repair shop, in prayer for an easy cheap fix. They called me late in the afternoon today saying it was ready and the fix was only $92. I didn't tell them that that was well below my cap of $4oo for any car repair.

A few minutes after they called telling me the Blazer was ready, the body shop across from work called and said that their vendor shipped the correct fog light by next day air. So I told them I'd drive the BMW tomorrow and drop it off. I drove the Blazer home, fully able to use my turn signals, and am anxiously awaiting tomorrow afternoon when I can drive the BMW home with the fog lights on.

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Just My Luck

Over a month ago, I discovered that the driver's side fog light on the BMW was out. I discovered this because there's an annoying alarm that sounds incessantly whenever I start the engine or turn off the engine. Nuff said. The day after I found this out, I drove the car to work and stopped at the very reputable body shop that's across the street from our office and had them check it out. They said they'd order the fog light and call me when it came in. Flash forward to Monday. They called and said the fog light was in so I drove the BMW to work today and dropped it off at the body shop before work.

Imagine my surprise when I called at 4:20 to see if the car was ready. They said that they received the wrong fog light [from Germany] and would have to reorder the right one. All I could do was shake my head and think that it was my typical bad luck.

Monday, March 15, 2010

The Third Year Of Trying New Things

I am very excited to report that 2010 marks the Third Year of Trying New Things. Tonight for supper, I tried something I vowed I would never try: brussel sprouts. While I can't say that I would order them while dining in a restaurant, I'll admit they weren't half bad. Actually at supper, I ate some out of necessity; they were the only vegetable that Mom fixed tonight, and I knew I had to have something green with my mashed potatoes and pork chop.

I don't like cabbage, and since brussel sprouts are in the cabbage family, I had it in my head that I wouldn't like them either so I just never tried them until tonight. No, I didn't just eat one or two; I had a healthy serving of them. And let me tell you that the 'Rents were shocked. But hey - I was hungry and new I needed to get in a green veggie today so I ate some. And who knows? Maybe I'll eat them again.

Sunday, March 14, 2010

Link Of The Week

It's no big secret that tomorrow will be the most unproductive work day of the entire year -- everybody will be online getting all of the info and filling out their NCAA basketball tourney brackets to turn in for the company pools. If you want the latest up-to-datest info on the NCAA tourney just visit the official NCAA Tourney site of TWIT, http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketball/mayhem/brackets/viewable_men. You can get the brackets in printable form and get some inside info.

Saturday, March 13, 2010

Happy National Peanut Month

TWIT is happy to report that March is National Peanut Month. And peanuts happen to be one of the favorite snacks here at The Compound. There are usually at least two bags of salted in-shell peanuts in the pantry at all times, in addition to a couple of cans of salted already-shelled peanuts for when we're feeling lazy.

Peanuts are my favorite snack to eat at the ballgames (even more so than hot dogs or nachos) and I know I'm getting fleeced when I pay their $$$ price for a paper bag of hot roasted peanuts but they are worth every penny.


So the next time you're at the grocery store, please pick up a bag of can of peanuts and celebrate. And if you have some peanuts that are a bit stale, don't throw them away; instead toss them outside for the squirrels to eat. They want to celebrate National Peanut Month, too.

Friday, March 12, 2010

Flashback Friday

Top Ten TV Shows Thirty Years Ago In 1980

1. Dallas
2. 60 Minutes
3. The Dukes of Hazzard
4. The Love Boat
5. Private Benjamin
6. M*A*S*H
7. House Calls
8. The Jeffersons
9. The Two of Us
10.Little House on the PrairieAlice

Thursday, March 11, 2010

Vizio Update

I am happy to report that the Vizio will be repaired and returned to The Compound tomorrow. The repair shop called me this afternoon and gave me the quote on the repair, and I told them to go ahead and fix it and get it back to The Compound as soon as they could. They assured me it would be back tomorrow. And they said they would even hook up the DVD player and VCR, that have both been sitting underneath the TV gathering dust for the past 18 months because I didn't know how to hook them up. So this time tomorrow evening we will be back in business.

While I'm happy about getting the Vizio back, I'm still a bit reluctant, thinking that I could have used the money I'm spending on the repair toward the price of a new TV. But we'll just hope for the best. As always, I'll keep you posted.

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Spring Is Almost Here

We had the warmest day of the year so far - it got up to 71 degrees this afternoon. We've got a couple of weeks left before it's officially spring, but you couldn't tell that to the city of Louisville today. I saw quite a few pairs of shorts being worn this morning when I passed by PATs waiting for the school buses. It was in the mid-50's for the morning commute and seemed a bit too cool for shorts but who says that PATs are the smartest creatures out there.

I experienced another sign of spring while I was riding the bike tonight. I passed by a neighbor's house where they were grilling out and hosting a pretty big cookout. If I hadn't eaten supper I might have stopped by and bummed a hot dog.

I saw probably one of the biggest signs of spring when I pulled into the driveway this afternoon: the 'Rents were out working in the yard. When you see them outside raking and trimming and such you surely know that spring can't be too far away.

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

I Know How Elvis Felt

As a big Elvis fan, I've read and heard stories about how Elvis would get mad at the TV and reach for his gun and shoot the TV. We never knew if he shot the TV because there was a program on he didn't want to watch, or if there was a problem with the TV itself; all I knew is that I heard stories about Elvis shooting out the TV. At 6:50 this morning, I knew how he felt. I had just gotten up and walked into the family room to find Dad standing there with the TV and cable remotes trying to get the eighteen month-old Vizio to come on. "Trying" is the key word. I got my cup of coffee and quickly got dressed for work and came back to the family room and attempted to get the Vizio to come on. "Attempted" is the key word. I got nothing. The only thing that came on was the "Vizio" logo on the front of the set. It was at that point I wanted to go get one of the guns and shoot the TV.

As soon as I got to work and told my coworkers about the problem, it didn't take us long to disover dozens of websites that listed tons of complaints about the Vizio TV's; more specifically, the same problem that we were having. After a lengthy call to Vizio and a call to a friend who is the manager of a local appliance store, I got the name of a reputable local TV repair shop and gave them a call. They were able to come out today and after diagnosing the problem they hauled the Vizio back to their shop for the repair. The cost of the repair is well over one-third of the amount that we paid for the TV, and I'm sure I'll probably regret not just using that money to go towards the purchase of another TV. But I just wanted it fixed so the 'Rents could watch TV. But I digress. Let me say for the record that I will never buy another Vizio TV again. Never. Ever.

As I said, the repair shop hauled the Vizio to their shop and said they should have it back within a week. You can rest assured I'll keep you posted on this, because I'm pretty it's not over yet.

Monday, March 8, 2010

What's This Got To Do With Remodeling?

My friend and faithful reader SH attended the Home Remodeling Show at the Fairgrounds this weekend. During lunch today, she was telling me about some interesting observations she made at the show; specifically, things that she saw at the show that had nothing to do with home remodeling. Here's her list of Booths Selling Things At The Home Remodeling Show That Have Nothing To Do With Remodeling:

1. Quilted purses

2. Puffed corn

3. Fudge

4. Quilts

5. County Clerk's Office

6. Modeling Agency (note: modeling - not remodeling)

7. Cheap paintings (like they sell at the "art shows" at hotels)

8. Frozen alcoholic drink mixes

9. Branson vacations

Sunday, March 7, 2010

Link Of The Week

I'm pretty sure I've never mentioned this to anyone else, but here's something you didn't know about yours truly and the 'Rents -- in addition to being big fans of the Olympics (both summer and winter) we're also big fans of the Iditarod dogsled race. For us, we love to keep up with the race because of the dogs. They're such loyal, hard-working animals, and regardless of what the animal rights activists say they are treated like kings and queens. Plus they were born to run, and they get so excited at the start of the race.

The Iditarod race started today (actually about an hour ago) and we'll be following it closely at the official Iditarod website. You can follow it, too, at http://www.iditarod.com/race.

Saturday, March 6, 2010

An Awesome Saturday

What an awesome Saturday this has been! And the day isn't even over yet. There's still plenty of time for more awesomeness.

The day started out with a feeling of freedom - I turned in my final exam yesterday and have two weeks off from school before the next class starts. But don't think that I'm just going to sit around and do nothing. During the next two weeks I plan to develop a Powepoint presentation of some church security plans and will be presenting them to our security committee at church in a few weeks.

The morning progressed with me meeting a good friend for breakfast across town. And while we were waiting outside in the sunshine for our name to be called to get our table, a coworker walked over and gave me a hug and started chatting. To make the long story short, I talked more to this woman today than I have in the entire year or two she's been at our company. She's as sweet as she could be, and it was very cool to see the non-work side of her.

After breakfast, I came home and Dad and I bonded for a bit while Mom was out shopping with a neighbor. We had a great time, and at one point I just stopped what we were doing and said a quick prayer of thanks for having such a great, wise father.

I'm not sure what the evening holds in store but I can pretty safely say that the highlight of my day today was getting the old Schwinn bike out and riding out on the bike path today. It was the first time I'd had the bike out since last fall and it felt awesome. It kicked my ass, but I can't wait to get home from church tomorrow so I can get back out and do it again.

Yep, it sure has been an awesome Saturday.

Friday, March 5, 2010

Flashback Friday

This week on Flashback Friday, I'm not going to talk about a person, place, thing or concept from back in the day; instead I'm flashing back to just one week ago. This time last week, the high temperature was about 25, it was very windy and snow was in the forecast. Today it was sunny, the high was in the mid 40's and everybody in Louisville was celebrating because they think that winter is over.

This time last Friday I was in Cincinnati. The was about 8 or 9 inches of snow still on the ground. There was 2-3 inches of snow in the forecast, it was very cold and cloudy, and I was frantically visiting store after store in the vicinity of my hotel to find an ice scraper. I found one, which I used on Saturday morning. Flash forward to today, when even though it was still a bit cool, the sun was shining and we all felt that spring was just around the corner. On my way home from getting our Friday night fish, every car wash that I passed by was packed. I'm sure there was no waiting if you'd went to one last Friday.

There's rain in the forecast next week, but they're calling for temperatures in the upper 50's all week long. What a big difference a week makes.






Thursday, March 4, 2010

Shortage, Smortage


Isn't it ironic that the day after TWIT reports about the tomato shortage we receive our 2010 Burpee seed catalog in the mail, and much to our surprise a tomato is on the cover. But not just any tomato - it's a picture of the "Tye-Dye Tomato." You've heard me say this repeatedly and I'll say it again: there's no such thing as coincidence, faithful readers. Mom and Dad both have been pouring over the catalog today, and this weekend I will be going online to place our order.
Once the seeds arrive and the weather warms up, we'll be planting the seeds and hopefully grow some strong healthy plants to set out in the garden so we can do our part to help contend with the great tomato shortage of 2010. As always, I'll keep you posted.

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Why Couldn't It Be Broccoli?

I read a scary article in today's Wall Street Journal. Thanks to all of the snow, ice and below-freezing temperatures this winter we're in the beginning stages of a tomato shortage. It's already prompted fast food restaurants like Wendy's, Arby's and Burger King to leave off the tomatoes on their sandwiches unless they're specifically asked for. Subway is continuing to use tomatoes on its sandwiches but they are using different varities, such as plum tomatoes. Here's the really scary part - the cold temperatures that destroyed a lot of the citrus crop in Florida also destroyed about 70% of the tomato crop. And this happened just when I started eating a lot of tomatoes. Why couldn't this have happened to broccoli?

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

That's Some Bad Workmanship

I spent almost a half an hour tonight back in the "Site-To-Store" area of my local WalMart, in an attempt to pick up a DVD recorder/VCR that I ordered. For the record, let me interject that my recorder was not sent to the store that I had indicated on my order; instead it was sent to a store across town. After much, ahem, discussion, they assured me that the item would be at my local Walmart tomorrow morning, and if I wanted to pick it up on my way to work, it would be there. But I digress.

While I was waiting thirty minutes for someone to come back to the Site-To-Store area to wait on me, I had plent of time to read all of the recal notices that were posted on a wall. There weren't just a few; I counted and there were 38 recall notices. Yep, 38. They ranged from everything to mini-blinds to a log splitter to a plastic cake for a doll house. As I stood there, I couldn't help but wonder if this was only 38 items at this point in time, how many other items would be posted on that wall in the next day or two?

I work for a manufacturer, and I know firsthand how we're at the mercy of our vendors -- our products are only as good as the parts we receive and the people that we hire to build the items. I thought for a second how embarassed I would be if I were reading a recall notice about one of our products. And then I wondered if the people that made those products would feel bad if they read one of the recall notices, or heard about the recall on the nightly news.

I know for a fact that the people out in our factory that make our products would feel horrible if they were staring at a recall notice. I've talked to them and stood by them while they work and I know without a doubt that they care about the products that they make and they take it very seriously. If only everyone working in a factory - from the line workers on up to the testers and auditors on to the vendors and suppliers of the parts - felt the same; maybe Toyota wouldn't be in this bind right now.

Monday, March 1, 2010

Special Request Monday

As I mentioned a couple of posts ago, I'm in the midst of a dreaded cold. I'm sure my nose blowing and coughing was annoying to the people that sat by me at Saturday's seminar. But I digress. I've spent a good part of the past two and a half days blowing my nose to get rid of the head and nasal congestion. At work today, someone heard me blowing my nose and said that they heard that you're not supposed to blow your nose because it actually makes the mucus stay in your passages. I mentioned this to some other coworkers and they'd never heard of it either, but one of them urged me to research it and post the findings in TWIT.

It didn't take long to find information on this and it turns out that my coworker was right. Sorta. An article in the New York Times a couple of months ago reported that Coughing and sneezing generated little if any pressure in the nasal cavities. But nose blowing generated enormous pressure that was equivalent to a person's diastolic blood pressure reading, and shot mucus into the sinuses every time. The doctor that did the research and testing said it was unclear whether this was harmful, but said that during sickness it could shoot viruses or bacteria into the sinuses, and possibly cause further infection. The doctor did say that it was okay to blow your nose one nostril at a time.

Another coworker and I were discussing this and decided to conduct our own tests. We both grabbed Kleenax and attempted to blow our noses using both nostrils. We had to agree with the doctor on this one. When we tried it, almost nothing came out of our noses, leading us to believe that the doctor was right in saying the mucus shot back up in your passages. Yet when we blew our noses one nostril at a time (which, I add, is the way that most people blow their noses) out came the mucus.

So there you have it. The next time you blow your nose, make sure you blow it one nostril at a time. I know I will.