Flashback Friday, Part Two

The 'Rents and I just had a good laugh as we reminisced about last Derby Eve. After supper last Derby Eve, Mom made a comment about how good a warm Krispy Kreme glazed donut would taste. Let me interject that she's diabetic, and she watches her sugar and carb intake strictly. So if she wanted a donut, then by hell she would have a donut. Only it took two hours to get it. What normally would have been about a 25 minute round-trip ended up being a two-hour trip with me stuck in Derby Eve traffic around the Krispy Kreme. But I made it home, and we all enjoyed a couple of Krispy Kreme glazed donuts with glasses of ice cold milk.

Flashback Friday

It's Derby Eve, and back in the day, we would be getting ready to go to the Derby Eve Jam - a concert by one of the bigtime groups or artists. But now, I'm just getting ready for my grass cutter to come and mow my grass tonight.

Around the city there's a fair share of people getting all fixed up right not to go out to the bizillion Derby Eve parties going on, but here at The Compound, we're pretty low key. We're just waiting for our grass cutter to come and after we pay him, it's probably a safe bet the we'll be snoozing after he leaves.

Back in the day, you could always count on a good concert for the Derby Eve Jam. I went to my fair share of the concerts, but now, they just don't care and don't have the official Derby Eve Jam. Back in the day, the circle of friends that I travelled in would meet up and go to the Derby Eve Jam concert and then go home. We weren't wild like the people that swarmed down on Central Avenue until they shut it down. Even back in the day they would have said we were fuddy duddies. But we didn't care. We just enjoyed the concert and didn't really care about the rest of the stuff going on. We weren't big drinkers and partiers - we just liked to go to concerts.

Flash forward to Derby Eve 2010. Everybody is looking at the weather forecasts, and getting ready for the deluge of rain expected tomorrow and Sunday. That's far cry from back in the day.

New Product Review

Even though I lost my dining canopy yesterday at the Great Steamboat Race cookout, the day was not a total loss; on the contrary. I discovered an awesome new product: Lays Cajun Herb & Spice potato chips.

I'm not going to lie - the main reason I bought them was because they were on sale for $2 off the regular price. But I digress. I opened the bag yesterday morning and after one bite I was hooked. The spices and herbs are just awesome. In fact, they're so awesome that on the back of the bag, Lays printed the recipe for a similar Cajun herb and spice rub. If the rub is anything like the chips, I believe I'd eat a piece of plywood if it had those spices on it.

For those of you faithful readers here in the 'Ville, let me say that these potato chips tasted just like the old school Ollie's Trolly french fries. Dad and a few friends yesterday even agreed with me on that.

I'm not sure if they are for a limited time only or if they will be around permantly, but just in case I urge you to go out and buy a bag or three. Yes, they are that good. They're so good, that tonight at supper while we were having the awesome Sandra Lee's Enchillada Casserole, Mom wanted the Cajun Herb & Spice chips instead of tortilla chips and salsa.

Lays Cajun Herb & Spice potato chips definitely receive the TWIT Seal Of Approval.

Great Steamboat Race Cookout Review

A phrase I use frequently in asking how a person's day was is "Other than THAT, Mrs. Lincoln, how'd you like the play?" It was apropos today down at Cox's Park for my annual Great Steamboat Race cookout. We all got there at 10:00, and surprisingly we set up the canopy in record time this year. The morning was great - I got some homework done, had a great hot dog, and best of all, there was no drama. That is, until the remnants of Hurricane Katrina swept through. The wind was unbelievable. On the tables, we had everything anchored down with cornhole bags and other heavy objects so it all wouldn't blow away. Unfortunately we can't say the same for my dining canopy. A huge gust of wind came and blew the canopy over. And over. And over. And over. By the time we were able to chase it down, it was mangled. There's no use sweating over it - it was about 8 or 9 years old, and I got my money's worth out of it. So we took off the actual canopy and saved it, and then dragged the mangled metal frame over by the garbage cans.

But we weren't the only ones to experience this unfortunate incident. By the time we packed up and came home, there were two other canopy frames, also mangled, with ours by the garbage cans.

Great Steamboat Race Eve

It's that time again, faithful readers - it's the evening before the Great Steamboat Race and that can only mean one thing: I'm nerved up over my annual Great Steamboat Race Cookout/Party. If you remember, some school friends (SFs) and I have this every year down on the riverbank at Cox's Park here on the outskirts of the 'Ville. And every year, I get nerved up on the evening before. It's always senseless - everything comes together, but I still get nerved up. This year, I'm happy to report that I'm not quite as nerved up as in years past. I've bought everything I was supposed to buy, I have the Blazer loaded with the dining canopy and cornhole boards, and I'm good to go. And I'm even planning on getting some school work done tomorrow during the morning and afternoon while we wait for the race to begin. So it's all good.

She's Got The Right Idea

It's been a dreary couple of days here in the 'Ville with rain and cloudy skies. And it's been pretty cool, too. Even with this being Derby week, people's spirits aren't very high with the dismal weather.

Mom said it best today. I asked her how her day was and she replied "I just didn't want to do anything. So I didn't."

Yet another reason why Mom is my hero. I couldn't have said it better.

Link Of The Week

Unless you have some type of amnesia that causes you to not remember anything, pretty much everybody in the state of Kentucky knows that we're at the start of Derby week. Actually, the Kentucky Derby Festival kicked off last Saturday with the world's largest fireworks display, Thunder Over Louisville.

If you are a faithful reader who happens to not be from Louisville, or if you're a Louisvillian who just wants to see what's going on this week, you can visit the official Kentucky Derby Festival site at http://www.kdf.org and get info on every official Kentucky Derby Festival event going on this week. And if you'd like to shop, you can also order official Kentucky Derby Festival merchandise from the site as well. As we say in the 'Ville right now, Happy Derby.

Thank You, Mother Nature

We're in the midst of a decent thunderstorm here in the vicinity of The Compound, and all I can say is I'm glad -- I sat in the parking lot of the post office for about fifteen minutes while the rain cleaned the Blazer.

As I type this, the Blazer is safely in the garage but it's pouring bigtime. I'm just glad that I got the Blazer cleaned thanks to Mother Nature.

File Under: WOW

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (April 23) -- A Missouri man who won a $258 million Powerball jackpot and plans to use some of the money to pay bills, replace his two missing front teeth and take his children to Disney World said he hasn't decided whether he'll quit his job at the convenience store where he bought the winning ticket.

I'm sorry - I just couldn't help it. I had to post this picture. I'll probably get bad karma for it but I'll take my chances.

Happy Earth Day

TWIT would like to wish everyone a Happy Earth Day. TWIT would also like to urge you to do something to help out the earth today.

• If you have a green thumb, plant something.
• If you are feeling energetic, spruce up your yard.
• If you want to buy something, go out and buy a Nalgene or stainless steel water bottle to use instead of buying all of the costly packs of bottled water.

Knock Back

This morning before I went to work, I discovered a new way that that the Good Lord deals with us - the "knock back", if you will. It's knock back, as in, He hits us with something that literally knocks us back. I have a feeling that "Knock Back" might become a recurring post here in TWIT. But I digress.

I was getting ready for work this morning, and took a minute to read the local Southwest Jefferson County section of the morning newspaper. The theme today was saluting a various and diverse selection of volunteers; one of whom I knew. The paper did a very lengthy article on Jim - a gentleman who is in his early 50's and has been blind since birth. But the article didn't dwell on the hardships that this man has faced dealing with this handicap; the article was about all of the volunteering that Jim did. I have to tell you that I was blown away.

I had the pleasure and honor of knowing Jim and his parents, Mary and Doc. They went to church with us back in the day. They were very sweet and awesome people, and they deserve major props for raising two equally awesome sons, Jim and Rocky. One of the most vivid memories of Jim's Dad Doc was the day after my Grandpa died. It was mid-morning, and the doorbell rang, and it was Doc - he was standing there with a bag full of groceries - eggs, milk, bread, bacon, etc - the essentials. He thought enough of our family to bring that over to our house. I guess that's where Jim got his sense of compassion and kindness.

Today's newspaper article told of all of the volunteering that Jim does today; he's already retired from his paying job. Yet the article talked about all of the volunteering that he is doing now that he's retired. And if most people had read about Jim, they would have felt sorry for him and totally forgot that the emphasis is on what this guy - a blind man - is doing in his town. That's what made me do an about-face. Most people would be focussing on this guy who is blind yet the article in the newspaper focussed on all that this guy does in his volunteering. Needless to say, I was knocked back a few steps.

That Really Gets My Goat

I heard a story on the radio this morning on my way to work, and it struck me as funny - so funny that at one point, I thought I was going to have to pull off of the road I was laughing so hard.

The DJ's on the radio show were talking about how their dogs like to ride in the car with them. One of the DJ's went on to say how he had a Dachsund, and the dog liked to sit on the console between the front seats in his SUV. He even told a story about how when they were getting close to an overpass, the Dachsund would turn around and put his head down. I guess the little dog thought they were going to run into the overpass. A minute or so later the dog would sense that they were OK, and would turn back around and resume his position on the console. But wait - that's not the part of the story that I thought was so funny. A few minutes later, a listener called into the radio station and told them that he had a pet goat that liked to ride in the front seat of the car. The goat enjoyed riding so much that he would reach over this his nose and change the radio stations. Now THAT'S what made me laugh - a pet goat that changes the car radio stations.

It got me thinking about how cool it would be to have a pet goat riding in the BMW with me. But then I thought it couldn't stay in the BMW all of the time - it would have to be out in the yard. But Mom would never let that happen. I don't even want to think of what would happen if the goat at some of Mom's prized violets.

I Don't Care About BOGO

I recently shopped at a local women's clothing store, trying to find a new cool spring ensamble. I wanted something different this spring - something with some color. I looked and looked and finally came across a very cool purple denim textured jacket. I fell in love with it and knew I had to have it. Never mind I had a $10 off coupon; I liked the jacket enough that I would have paid full price for it. But I digress. I took my jacket to the counter to check out and the clerk informed me that the jacket was BOGO and told me to go back and pick out something to get BOGO free. Let me tell you this pressure put me into a tailspin.

I looked and looked and after 30 minutes I could not find anything else in that store of equal-or-less-value that I wanted to get for free. I went back to the clerk and said that I couldn't find anything, and I just wanted my jacket. But she was just not having any part of it. She insisted that I go find something in the store to get for free. Frustrated, I went back and started another search through the store. After about 15 minutes I found a cool tye-dyed top that would go with my purple demin jacket and proudly brought it up to the counter for the clerk to see. She was almost as thrilled as I was. She checked me out and wished me a very good evening. I wanted so bad to tell her that she almost gave me an anxiety attack.

Special Bulletin

We interrupt today's regularly scheduled Link Of The Week to bring you a special news bulletin: as much as I despise reality shows, it almost pains me to report that the 'Rents have been watching an "Ax Man" marathon since 12:00 noon this morning. And they're actually interrested in it.

I know I shouldn't bag on what people watch on TV; it's none of my business and it does not affect me, and I'm not bagging on my own parents. But it's just, well, different. I don't like any reality shows other than "Dancing With The Stars" (which the 'Rents also love), while the 'Rents enjoy quite a few. They like the shows about the swamp loggers, the ice road truckers, and a fwe others. Like I said - I'm not bagging on them; I'm just not used to seeing them watch a marathon of shows like for hours on end. But if it makes them happy, then I'm happy, too.

What Was I Thinking?

I found a gift card that someone gave me for my birthday, and decided to go use it this morning. Boy was I wrong. The card was from Meijers - ordinarily a store where I could go and drop a C-note without even blinking an eye. But today when I wanted to spend money, I couldn't find anything I wanted.

I shopped in the women's clothing section, and it didn't take long before I discovered that all of the clothes there looked like something the Kardashian sisters would wear. Not that I was looking for something pre-Victorian or anything, but none of the clothes looked like "me." I tried on a couple of tops, but most of the shirts they had made me look like I was six months pregnant; not really the look I was going for.

I was pretty disgusted, and at one point I thought I would just spend the whole card on six-packs of V8 juice, but I didn't. I just bought Mom's yogurt that she wanted and a jar of Smuckers strawberry jam and came on home. Maybe they'll have something there I want before the gift card expires. If not, then I'll stock up on my V8.

Flashback Friday

It's hard to believe that twenty years ago this week, the awesome show "In Living Color" debuted. From the first episode that I watched, I was hooked. In case you didn't know, the show was the brain child from the Wayan's brothers and sisters, who all starred in the show.

And in case you're just totally out of touch, "In Living Color" launched the career of not only the Wayans' family, but the careers of Jamie Fox, Jim Carrey, David Allen Grier, and others. J' Lo and Carrie Ann Inaba were part of the "Fly Girls."

"In Living Color" also brought us a few cool catch phrases that we used back in the 90's. One of my favorites was "Homey don't play that", brought to us courtesy of Homey the Clown.

Happy Income Tax Return Deadline Day

As we are all well aware, today is the deadline for us to file our income tax returns. As I was thinking about this earlier, something occurred to me; an epiphany, if you will. Have you noticed that "The I.R.S." spells "theirs"? Just something to think about if you're scrambling to get your income taxes done and in the mail by midnight.

Play Ball

TWIT would like to wish the Louisville Bats another successful season. Tonight was their season opener at home. Unfortunately, they lost 3-1. But it was a great night for a ballgame - the weather was perfect, and thanks to our new upgrade, our seats were very close to the action.

As we headed to our new section tonight, I couldn't help but wonder who our neighbors would be for the season. It was that same anticipation that I get when I fly somewhere by myself - wondering who will be in the seats next to me. We all hope that our neighbors tonight were a one-time thing and that they won't be back for many more games. The family behind us (father, mother, a baby just weeks old and a 4 or 5 yr old, plus a male relative) all talked non-stop the entire time they were there. And in front of us was a young father with 3 stair-step kids. If they made one trip up to the concession stands they made twenty. Like I said, we're hoping tonight's neighbors won't make it to very many games this season. But I digress. I hope the Bats will have a great season like last year, and wish them a successful and safe season.

National Record Store Day

TWIT would like to recognize National Record Store Day. Granted, the majority of the population does not know what a record is, but I digress. Back in the day, I practically lived at our local record store, Phoenix Records. But enough of that now - we'll delve into this in a Flashback Friday.

If you read this early enough this evening, please take some time and go visit a local CD/record/DVD store. If you're fortunate enough like me here in the 'Ville, there are still a few around. Visit them and buy something from them, even if you don't want a CD or DVD or not. Just support your local music/movie stores.

New Product Review

Today was the day that KFC introduced their new "Double Down" - two of their fairly new boneless chicken filets with two slices of pepper jack cheese, a few pieces of bacon and the Colonel's special sauce. My coworkers and I have been talking about the Double Down since KFC gave us the big news on April 1.

I just hung up the phone from getting our first review of the Double Down. "OMG" was all they could say. They said at first they thought the cheese was more of a sauce then actual cheese slices, because it had melted from the heat of the chicken filets. And they reported that it seemed to be actual bacon - not synthetic wannabe bacon. We don't even want to mention the calorie nor sodium content, because the reviewer did say that it was a bit salty. We're guessing the salt was mainly from the fried chicken filets. But since you can get the chicken filets grilled, I bet they would let you substitute grilled filets for the fried in the Double Down.

While I haven't tasted a Double Down yet, I do respect the opinion of my reviewer and since we've had so much hype about this, I'm going to go ahead and give the Double Down the TWIT Seal Of Approval.

Link Of The Week

I've become very frustrated with the current class I'm taking in school. Pretty much most of the class feels like he is putting too much emphasis on the format for our homework assignments and not enough emphasis on the actual material. On Friday evening, I spent an hour on my homework (a 3 page paper) making sure that the references and citation links were, well, linkable. Meaning, if you clicked on the website that I listed, did the link actually work and take you to the website. I don't know if there was some kind of hiccup in Microsoft Word but it took me almost an hour of copying and pasting and recopying and repasting to get it right. A time or two, I started to think that the sites were down. If only I had found this week's Link Of The Week on Friday. Like me, I'm sure you've typed in what you know is the right URL, only to get the dreaded error that the site either doesn't exist or it's down for maintenance. Worry no more. I found a site that will tell you if a site is down or if it's just you. Visit http://www.downforeveryoneorjustme.com and give it a try. I know I will.

Special Request Saturday

Normally, I wouldn't think that anyone would be interested in what type of placemats that we use here at The Compound, but today, I'm making an exception. If you remember, we've gone rooster here at The Compound, and I ordered some rooster placemats for our dining room table. I picked them up this morning, and Mom thought they were just the coolest placemats, and made a comment about me taking a picture of them and posting it in the journal. How could I refuse?

Flashback Friday

This was spring break for all of the Jefferson County school children. The best thing about it was no school busses and less traffic to deal with on the way to work this week. But I have to make a major confession to you, my faithful readers. With as good as my memory is, I honestly have no memories of spring break week when I was in school - elementary, middle, nor high.

I'm sure I did fun stuff during that week off from school, but I'm almost ashamed to admit that I don't have any vivid memories of spring break week. And it's not because I did drugs or drank like a fish and can't remember any of it. I didn't go on any spring break trips during my high school days. And hate to bore you, but even during my college time, I didn't go anywhere during spring break week, either. And while in graduate school there were no wild spring break trips, either. I just stayed at home. I guess I was boring. But right now in my life, I would enjoy and covet "boring" for one week if I could get it.

Barbs, Beware

This might be one for Puddin's Book of World Records: three different Barbaras that I know were all victims of identity theft this week. Yep, three. Everyone of the Barbaras found transactions in their checking accounts that they did not make, prompting each to call the bank to see what the hell was going on. And unfortunately in each of the three cases, the Barbaras had their debit card number stolen. But each of them caught it in time and as of this afternoon, two-thirds of the Barbaras were able to get the transactions reversed the money put back into their checking accounts; as I type this, the third Barbara is waiting to hear from her bank, but was told that they would be able to reverse the charges as well.

I really don't know what to make of this. I know I always say there's no such thing as coincidence, but in this case, I think it truly is a major coincidence. What are the chances that you have three friends who had their checking account hacked into? And what are the extreme chances that all three of those friends have the same name?

I'm so sorry that each of the Barbaras had to go through all of this drama this week. Two-thirds of the Barbaras still work, and one is retired. So the two working Barbaras had to make calls and take care of it all while working during what is both's busiest times of the year at their jobs. The retired Barbara had time to make the necessary calls during the day, but it was still a pain in the ass to deal with nonetheless.

Oh, What A Day

All I can say about today is that thanks to the Lord and the work of the Holy Spirit, after all that has happened today I've not become addicted to cocaine or crack or meth or any other drug. I'll admit that today has been the busiest, worst day in probably over a year at my job. But at least it's over until tomorrow at 8:00. That's about all I can say for now.

I Love A Bargain

I don't need to remind you how I love a good bargain. I'm all about a good deal. In fact, one of my mantra's is "Life is too short to pay retail." But I digress. Yesterday during lunch, a coworker went down the street to one of the chain drugstores and loaded up on awesome Easter candy at half off. He came back with a bag full of my favorite Reese Eggs and a few bags of Dove chocolate bunnies. Then he told of how there were racks and racks just overflowing with Russell Stover chocolate covered eggs. I knew I had to stop. Not for myself, mind you, but for Dad. He loves the Ruessell Stover dark chocolate covered strawberry or raspberry cream eggs. With Eater being over, I knew I had to stop in to stock up on the eggs for him. It would be a while before he could get some of the eggs again.

Being the good unselfish daughter that I am, I stopped at the big chain drugstore on the way home from work and got him a dozen assorted Russell Stover eggs, two bags of sugar-free jelly beans for Mom and a six-pack of Reese Eggs for me. After all, I deserved a treat, too. And best of all, I got them all at 75% off. When my coworker went a few hours earlier during lunch, they were only 50% off. Oh how I love a bargain.

Fact Or Fiction?

A couple of weeks ago, a coworker from the factory stopped by our department to drop off some reports, and while he was there, he told us a little story. Actually, it was a pretty big story; a big tale, if you will. The wife of another coworker in the factory said that this "event" happened to one of her coworker's 20 year-old mentally challenged son. Apparently, the son is able to stay at home, and his mother calls home every couple of hours to check on him. One day, just a couple of weeks ago, the doorbell rang and the son answered it. It was a Census Bureau worker who happened to be a midget. The son became fascinated by the midget, picked him up and locked him in the closet. When his mother called to check on him, he kept telling her over and over "I found it. It's mine. You can't have it. It's mine."

While my coworker was still telling this story to us, I was already on the internet checking it out, and boy was I [not] surprised to find about 187 different versions of this urban legend/hoax floating around. Some versions tell about a social worker stopping by the house to check on the boy and finding the boy telling about "a troll in the closet". And just today, I heard a version about a midget Jehovah's Witness coming to the house and ending up in said closet. Anyhoo, this big urban legend/tall tale reminded me of another hoax story that circulated a few years ago about a woman who had been to the grocery store and was on her way home when a can of biscuits exploded and hit her in the head. She reached back to feel the biscuit on her head and thought she'd been shot in the head and was feeling her brains. People believe both of these stories because the people that orginated them made them personal - they added people's names to the stories that the listener vaguely knew, so of course it had to be true.

Link Of The Week

Unless it's something I believe that is just incredibly funny, you know that I seldom post a video from You Tube on Link Of The Week. Today on Easter, I'm breaking tradition and posting a link to one of the most awesome videos on You Tube. It's a performance of "He Is Alive" by Dolly Parton. I've watched this video honestly dozens of time, and each time I get goosebumps and get very weepy. I couldn't think of a more fitting way to wish my faithful readers a Happy Easter. Please take a few minutes and watch it here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UbRPWUHM80M

Saturday Observations

The Rents and I made an interesting and disturbing observation last night as we were driving home from the Good Friday service at church. We like to mix up the routes we take to and from church, and last night's route home took us past about half a dozen strip clubs. We were shocked to find all of the strip club parking lots packed. I didn't even try to think of some bizarre, twisted corrolation with Good Friday and attending a strip club; it was a bit more than I wanted to think about.

Like last night's post, I don't think I can even say anything about this. I'm guessing that it was Friday, and the people just got paid and wanted to waste their hard-earned money on over-priced drinks and tips for a stripper giving a lap dance.

Flashback Friday

This Sunday is Easter, and I can't help but remember back to Easter Sunday when I was a kid. Actually, the preparations for Easter started weeks earlier, when Mom and Grandma would take me shopping for a new Easter outfit. I wasn't the only one that got new clothes to wear to church on Easter - Mom, Dad, Grandma and Grandpa would always get something new, too, even if it was new socks, stockings or underwear. I loved getting an Easter basket but hated the shopping part. But with as much fussing as there was, I'm betting that Mom hated the shopping part even more than I did. But I digress. So a couple of weeks before Easter, Mom and Grandma would take me out and get me a new dress and a new pair of Sunday shoes.

Flash forward to today. I did a quick informal poll among friends and coworkers, and surprisingly they all agreed with me: we don't really care if we have something new to wear to church on Easter Sunday; we're more concerned with our current clothes fitting properly or being clean. One friend that participated in my poll told a family story. It seems that when she was a kid, her family - faithful Methodist church goers - didn't go to church on Easter Sunday because her mother felt like it was just a springtime fashion show, with people attending who never set foot in the church the other 51 Sundays of the year. She said they celebrated Easter and the Resurrection, but just not at church. They would have an informal Easter Sunday worship service at their home. You'll be surprised but for once, I really don't have an opinion on that either way. I just thought it was an interesting story about new Easter clothes.

Thursday Updates

I did some research and found an update about the woman who won $42.9 million on the slot machine and the casino said it was a malfunction. The Colorado Gaming Commission said that the chances of the woman getting the $42.9 million is very slim. That particular slot machine was designed to pay a maximum of $250,000. They can chalk this up to a programming error.

In all likelihood, whether it's right or wrong, Ms. Chavez will most likely receive whatever the proper payout should be based on what came up on the wheels, not the sum of money that flashed on the screen. She and her attorney may have a bone to pick with the slot-machine manufacturer, however. If they can prove fraud, she'll have a chance at the $42.9 million. But still - a quarter of a million bucks is nothing to sneeze at.