Rest And Relaxation

I took a vacation day today and it was awesome. I did a little shopping, the 'Rents and I spent some time together, I slept in and even took a nap, and we ate at an awesome new restaurant in our 'hood. It was a near-perfect day. The only thing that could have made the day any better would be if I were off again tomorrow. But I have the Labor Day holiday to look forward to, plus I'm taking off again Tuesday so I will have a four-day mini vacation this weekend.

Monday, Monday

It's going to be one long day. That's about all I can say.

Link Of The Week

I've mentioned before how much I love a good deal. Lately, before I make a trip to a store, I check my shopping list and visit the products' website to see if there are any coupons. Nine times out of ten I get lucky.

Earlier today I saw a commercial for one of my favorite bagged lettuce products from the fine folks at Fresh Express. Their bagged lettuce actually tastes like lettuce instead of the plastic bag it came in. If you'd like to try it, visit their website at http://www.freshexpress.com and print out a dollar coupon. You can't beat that.

Just Spell It

There is no reason in the world that this should bother me, but unfortunately, it does: I get irritated when I read something written by a grown woman and it sounds more like a text from a pre-adolescent young girl. For instance, when women use "U" instead of "You" or "UR" instead of "Your", and probably the one that irritates me the most, "Bestie" instead of "best friend." To me, that sounds like you're talking about a breed of dog instead of your best friend.

Now, I'm the first to admit I use abbreviations when I text and email, but they are abbreviations used by me and the person I'm texting; not shortcuts for words. But I will not use "U" or "UR." Could you imagine if everyone wrote that way? Imagine a letter from Insight Communications - "Dear Ms. Puddin: UR cable bill is overdue. If U don't pay us 2day, we will cut off UR service." Now you get my point.

Flashback Friday

New Product Review

Earlier this week I started getting a head cold, accompanied by the usual cough and nasal congestion. Usually I wait too late and the cold is full blown before I start taking any meds. But this time on the first day of the symptoms I started taking a homeopathic cough and cold medicine named Umcka. I took it back in February when I had a bad cold and it worked fast. Well this time it worked even faster. I started taking it on Monday and by yesterday I'd say I was up to about 85% cured. There's no alcohol in it, so it won't make you sleepy or wire you up, and it has a very pleasant cherry taste.

I can testify that Umcka really works and does in deed shorten the duration of a cold. It most definitely gets the thumbs up from me and receives the TWIT Seal Of Approval.

Retraction

I need to officially make a retraction, faithful readers. After yesterday's post, one of my faithful readers, Mystical, offered to give me a ticket to the fair plus a coveted parking pass, just so I could go and keep my record in tact. She was very insistant on me keeping up with my streak of going to the fair every year. How could I refuse such an offer? So, tomorrow after work, I will be making a trip to the Kentucky State Fair to make trip # 47 in my life. As always, I will give a report of anything note worthy.

Records Are Made To Be Broken

At first, I thought it would really bother me writing this journal entry, but as I type it in, I'm perfectly fine. This week, a 46 year old record is going to be broken. This will be the first year in my entire life that I did not go to the Kentucky State Fair.

My parents tell the story of how I was just seven months old when Mom and Grandma took me to my first Kentucky State Fair. Granted, I don't remember much from that trip, and I'm pretty sure they didn't buy me a corn dog, but I will take them at their word that I attended. And from that first year on, I went to the fair every year; a lot of times, I went two, or three times. As a kid, Mom and Dad would take me on the first Saturday of the fair and we'd spend all day going around the fair and in the evening we would always go to the rodeo. Later on in the week I would usually go again with the next door neighbors. As I got older, I started going to the fair concerts in addition to our usual family Saturday trip. And about fifteen years ago, for 4 years in a row I went to the fair every day. Sure, I would take a week's vacation while the fair was going on andI had a very good paying job at the fair, but I was still there. But this year, I just don't have any desire to go.

Like I said earlier, I'm big on tradition, and I thought it would bother me not going. But it doesn't. For one, I'm very busy with a ton of school work right now, and two, I'm coming down with another summer cold and just don't feel like I could deal with the fair right now. Who knows. I could possibly get a wild hair later on in the week and go out there but I seriously doubt it.

And I Thought Louisville Traffic Was Bad

Worst traffic jam ever? Gridlock spans 60 miles
Motorists in China play card games and chess to pass the time

A traffic jam stretching more than 60 miles in China has entered its ninth day with no end in sight, state media reported.

Cars and trucks have been piling up since August 14 on the National Expressway 100, which is also known as the G110, the major route from Beijing to Zhangjiakou, Xinhua News reported.
Officials expect the congestion to continue until workers complete construction projects on September 13, the report said.

State media reported that Chinese drivers have become accustomed to the severe delays, noting a similar jam in July that slowed traffic for close to a month.

Britain's Sky News reported that the snarls have been commonplace since May as a result of a spike in the number of trucks using the roads, with the daily peak reaching about 17,000.
"Insufficient traffic capacity on the National Expressway 110 caused by maintenance construction since August 19 is the major cause of the congestion," a Beijing Traffic Management Bureau spokesman told the Global Times. Chinese national radio reported Sunday that minor traffic accidents and broken-down vehicles have complicated the traffic mess, Xinhua reported.
Approximately 400 police officers are patrolling the road 24 hours a day in an effort to keep the situation calm, Sky News said.

Motorists have taken to card games or chess to pass the time, Sky News reported. Others joked that "concerts should be held at each congested area every weekend, to alleviate drivers' homesickness," the report said. Residents from communities alongside the expressway have seen opportunity in the traffic slowdown, setting up food and drink kiosks for the drivers.
Some drivers have complained of price gouging. One truck driver, identified by his last name Huang, told the Global Times that "instant noodles are sold at four times the original price while I wait in the congestion. ot only the congestion annoys me, but also those vendors," he added.

Something tells me that Mr. Huang the truck driver wouldn't be so annoyed if he was the one selling the Ramen noodles for four times their original price.

Link Of The Week

A coworker and I had a good laugh the other afternoon at work. He and I get a kick out of sharing funny and bizarre spam emails that we get. That afternoon he got not one but two emails promising him millions of dollars in one of the old Nigerian scams. One email said could get $8 million in British pounds. I quickly went to my Favorites and brought up a currency converter and found out that translated to $12.4 million in U.S. dollars.

I've used this currency converter before and it's easy to use and has just about every currency in the world on there. Just visit http://www.xe.com and start converting.

This Is How Rumors Get Started

I just checked the latest updates on Facebook and was extremely shocked to read where someone (who is just 22 years old) put on her status (and I quote) "RIP David Cassidy. Your family is in our prayers." A couple of updates later she went on to say "I think someone said he fell down some stairs and hit his head or something." Well as soon as I read her first status update I immediately did some checking online and as of about ten minutes ago David Cassidy was alive and well.

This raises some observations. First of all, the girl that reported this false news probably does not even know who David Cassidy is, nor has she probably ever watched an episode of "The Partridge Family." Second, this girl is an aspring country singer, and I'm pretty sure she wouldn't like it if her family and friends were to hear false reports of her having an accident like that. For goodness sake, people -- if you're going to post something like that, please take one minute to check online at the major news websites to see if it's true or just a rumor.

OAK Day

We interrupt our regularly scheduled Flashback Friday to say that today is TWIT's Official OAK day -- Ovarian Cancer Awareness In Kentuckiana Day. As soon as I post this entry, I will be getting cleaned and all gussied up to attend the OAK "Hats Off To Our Survivors" silent auction and dinner tonight. I am attending in honor of my boss, who is an ovarian cancer survivor. There's rumors running rampant that yours truly will be wearing a fancy hat at the big event tonight. All I can say is just stay tuned. And in the meanwhile, please support any cancer awareness events that you can.

Fair Days

Our Kentucky State Fair started today for its ten day run, and for the past two days, the talk around town has been the new cheeseburger that will be sold at the fair. It's not just any cheeseburger - it's a cheeseburger with two Krispy Kreme doughnuts as a bun.

We've discussed this burger at work for the past few weeks, and we discussed it tonight at the supper table at The Compound. I'm almost ashamed to admit that Dad, Mom (who is diabetic) and me all agreed that we would try it. In an effort to keep Mom from going into sugar overload and Dad and I from having cardiac arrest, we said that if we were to go and try one, we would just order one and split it three ways. Mom went on to say that she would gladly count her sugar intake meticulously for a few days just to be able to try a bite or two of the Krispy Kreme cheeseburger. I ask you - if that isn't Krispy Kreme love, I don't know what is.

I know that the thought of a Krispy Kreme cheeseburger with bacon is making the health-conscious people have a fit, but I'm just being honest and admitting that my family and I would honestly try it. We would probably feel guilty afterward but we definitely would try it.

Welcome Home, Brooklynn

TWIT would like to welcome home little Brooklynn. She finally arrived home yesterday after seven and a half weeks in the hospital.

Brooklynn and her family would like to thank all of you for your prayers for the past almost-two months. She's doing pretty good for a preemie. In fact, she's probably one of the toughest little gals that I've had the pleasure of knowing. She came home yesterday, and visited the pediatrician today who said she was doing great. There was some concern that she might have to go back to the hospital for surgery for a hernia, but the pediatrician today said he thought it would correct itself, and in fact, it was already looking better. So everyone keep up the prayers for Brooklynn and her family, and as always, I'll keep you posted.

You Gado Believe

TWIT would like to congratulate NFL running back Samkon Gado on becoming a Tennessee Titan. Just this morning before practic, the Titans signed Samkon. Sure, he'll be playing in the shadows of probably the best running back to come along in years, Chris Johnson, but that's beside the point. The point is one of the nicest young men in the NFL was just signed to my favorite NFL team.

I had the pleasure of meeting Samkon a few years ago when he spoke at my church, and I've been a huge fan ever since. Take a few minutes and do a quick search and read his story. After you do, I'm pretty sure you'll become a fan, too.

Back To School

There's a lot of unhappy kids tonight; the public schools here in the 'Ville go back tomorrow. But I was one of the unhappy kids earlier, because my school started back today. That's not really true. While my school did start back today, I wasn't unhappy. It was on contrary. I enjoyed my two weeks off from school but I was glad to get back into my routine today. I even read the first two chapters of my school book last week when the book came in the mail.

It's hard to believe that I'm in the home stretch for this Master's program. After the class that started today ("Criminal Behavioral Issues") I only have two more classes, and should finish up the end of May. It will be here before you know it. It's been an awesome program so far, and it seems like I just started yesterday instead of over a year ago. I've learned a lot already, and have been able to put some of the knowledge to work.

I guess I'm one of the odd ones (no comment needed) because I'm one of the few people that liked (and still like) school. I love learning, and like the structure that comes with taking classes. And it's no secret I'm already thinking ahead about what I want to do when I finish this Master's program next May.

While kids all over the city and county are getting their baths right now and getting ready for bed, I salute them, and wish them all the best on their first day back tomorrow. As for me, I'm off to happily read and outline another chapter.

Link Of The Week

You know by now how much I love music - all types of music. And I am constantly on the prowl for any cool new CD's that I need to add to my collection. Well, this week, I was sent a link to a CD that I am proud to endorse. Please check out my friends Rosemary and Newel Alexander at http://www.amazon.com/dp/B003YOWM4Q/ref=cm_sw_r_fa_dp_mp3a
and please spend some money to buy their digital CD. I did, and it's awesome. You know I wouldn't lead my faithful readers astray. They have a recording of one of my all time favorite gospel hymns, "Waiting On The Far Side Banks Of Jordan" on there. Their version is without a doubt my favorite version of the song. Please check this out and buy it. You won't be sorry.

Hotter Than A Pepper

For some reason, I am just fascinated to no end by Mom's two strands of hot peppers that she strung up this morning. I don't know why - I just think they look cool. Yes, I realize it's an oxymoron to say peppers are cool, but they are.

And in case you're wondering, those are real jinble bells hanging in the background. Sorry to disappoint, but they came from someone that used them on a horse-drawn sleigh, not from someone with eight reindeer.

Quote Of The Week

Background: I had dinner tonight with a very cool little old lady friend of the family, and we were talking about how the price of everything has just skyrocketed. Our conversation focussed on mainly restaurants and airplace tickets, and our friend said something that should be tattoo'd on our foreheads: (and I quote)

"You pay it, or you stay at home."

Thursday Updates

I apologize for not having a regularly scheduled TWIT post tonight but I have to give another update tonight. I have to give a major shout out to my dear friend and coworker BC for providing the family with lots of venison roasts and steaks. Just tonight, Mom grilled the last of the steaks that BC gave us from last season. They rocked, and believe me when I tell you I almost would have fought my own parents over the last piece of steak on the platter.

BC's venison is the cleanest and leanest venison that my family has ever gotten, and we love him for his marksmanship in getting multiple deer every season. BC is truly a hunter among hunters, and the 'Rents and I think he hung the moon when it comes to hunting. In addition to keeping us stocked with venison, he also has my back at work, which is mega important to me.

Keep up the good work, BC - both out on your deer stands and in the office. You rock.

Wednesday Updates

I'm excited to report that little Brooklynn is doing much, much better. All of the tubes and monitors are unconnected, and she's been moved to the regular nursery. And from what I hear, she's the queen of the nursery - the nurses have been clammoring to get to hold her. From the reports that I've gotten, she's only a little bit spoiled; it takes two people to change her clothes -- one to actually change her clothes and another to hold the pacifier in. They said she's very active, and flails her arms around a lot. She's up to four and a half pounds as of yesterday, and she'll hopefully be able to go home within the next two weeks. Her family would like to thank everyone for their prayers, and they asked everyone to keep the prayers going.

Farm Living Is The Life For Me

I am very happy to report that earlier this evening I reached a milestone on Farmtown -- I reached the one million experience points (XPs) level. I didn't get any special prize or recognition for this accomplishment; I just say that it took me over a year and a half to get here. Other friends on Farmtown got there way quicker than I did, but I'd suffice to say they weren't going to school while tending to their Farmtown obligations. It's not like I live on here; I usually spend no more than an hour total a day working on my farms in Farmtown. I still have work, school, family things, and a social life. So it's not like I'm a total Facebook fiend.

For those of you who do not get into Farmtown, this is probably all worthless. But for those of you who do play Farmtown, you know what a milestone this is for me.

New Product Review

This really isn't a new product, but for all intents and purposes, it is in TWIT, just because I think it's awesome and want to share it with you, faithful readers.

Mom has canned I don't know how many quarts of tomatoes this summer, and the tomatoes are still coming in hot and heavy. She's also canned a dozen jars of salsa and a dozen jars of pasta sauce. For the salsa and pasta sauce, Mom has used the awesome Mrs. Wages mix. Last summer in TWIT I sang the praises of Mrs. Wages salsa mix, and this summer it's Mrs. Wage's pasta sauce's turn.

It is without a doubt my family's favorite pasta sauce - whether it's from a jar that your buy at the store or from a restaurant. In fact, it's going to be hard to eat sauce from the store after having this stuff. The seasonings are just right. And when Mom makes the sauce she leaves the tomatoes in chunks. That makes for some awesome sauce. We had spaghetti with a jar of the homemade sauce tonight for supper, and the sauce was so good with the chunks of tomatoes, you really didn't need any meat sauce.

If you're like us and have more tomatoes than you know what do with right now, go out to the store and buy some Mrs. Wages pasta sauce mix. You'll be glad you did. Mrs. Wages Pasta Sauce Mix receives a thumb's up and the TWIT Seal Of Approval.

Link Of The Week

You know by now that I love a bargain, and that my mantra is "life is too short to pay retail". So, that having been said, let me introduce you to a site that I visit daily. It's called Coupon Surfer. Each week, they bring you awesome coupons that you can print out and use. I can testify to this because I used a coupon from Coupon Surfer just an hour ago when I was grocery shopping at Krogers. Visit them at http://www.couponsurfer.com and start saving. Just fill in a few pieces of information and you'll be on your way to getting some awesome coupons every week. This site definitely gets the TWIT Seal Of Approval.

The Naked Ladies Finally Appeared

I was beginning to think that we weren't going to see any of our beloved Naked Ladies this summer, but low and behold, they popped out Thursday and bloomed today. Even though only two of them popped up this year, the blooms seem bigger and more colorful - I think our prettiest ones yet.

It Happened Again, Again

It happened again, faithful readers - this morning I woke up exactly one minute before the alarm clock went off. I haven't researched this yet but I intend to. In the meanwhile I'll keep you posted and let you know when it happens again, again.

Flashback Friday A Day Early

A friend/coworker/faithful reader just texted me and gave me the details of a trip to the dentist with her four year old daughter. She has to have some type of spacer, and the dentist had to take it out a few weeks ago, but unfortunately had to put it back in today. My friend said it took the dentist, two dental hygenists, and her and her husband to hold the kid down. I couldn't help but think about my trips to visit my childhood dentist, Dr. Lester.

Oh how I hated to go. He never hurt me, and according to mom and dad, he always numbed me up real good so I never felt any pain while he was fixing a cavity or doing whatever he had to do. And the 'Rents said that they never had to get a headlock on me to hold me down. But I still hated going, so I can sure empathize with my friend's daughter.

Dr. Lester was one of the best children's dentists in the city, and he was about a half hour's ride from home out in the east end. We had to travel on the Watterson Expressway to get there, and I've mentioned previously when we got near the big pink and white Kaden Tower, I would always have a meltdown because I knew that Dr. Lester was just two exits away. To this day, I purposely avoid going to Ruth's Chris Steak House because it's in the Kaden Tower. But I digress.

All of the fear and dread about going to the dentist when I was a kid spilled over to my adulthood and made me very fearful of going. I'm no ashamed to admit that I went through a period of X amount of years without going to the dentist, just out of fear. But back in 2001 the pain got to be too much on a bad tooth that I forced myself to go. And after having four sets of hands in my mouth at one time attempting to chip out an impacted wisdom tooth piece by piece, nothing much phases me anymore at the dentist. I've even endured a very lengthy root canal without any post-traumatic stress syndrome or meltdowns.

I'm sure my friend's daughter will grow out of this eventually, but until then I know it will be hell for her.

Who Doesn't Want A Blizzard?

Tomorrow will be a day of hope. Tomorrow will be a day of help. Tomorrow will be a day of happiness. Because tomorrow is Miracle Treat Day at Dairy Queen and with your help miracles will happen for sick and injured children. $1 or more from each Blizzard® treat sale at your local Dairy Queen location and every participating DQ location across the country will be contributed to Children's Miracle Network Hospitals. Just think, if every Blizzard Fan Club member bought a Blizzard treat tomorrow, we would raise over $2 million. Let's join together and make tomorrow the day miracles really do happen for kids in need.

If you're on Facebook, please visit the Dairy Queen page and join as a fan and help out the Children's Miracle Network. And more importantly, visit your local DQ tomorrow and order a Blizzard so we can get some big bucks donated to this awesome and very worthy cause. Please feel free to copy and paste this to your blog, Facebook, MySpace, or whatever page you may have. And don't forget to forward it to your coworkers tomorrow. Let's do all we can for these kids.

. . . And That One Time At Summer Camp

I read an interesting article in the Wall Street Journal today. It was about a new trend in summer camps for kids. The camps aren't anything like church camps or band camps - these camps teach CSI, culinary and survival skills. Summer camps are now catering to reality show watchers. Forensic science camps teach kids how to investigate a crime scene. Camps molded after the popular "Mythbusters" show teach kids how to use science to prove myths and facts. There's survivor camps, where kids learn to make fires, build huts and homemade rafts. Unlike the TV show, the campers are not voted off the island. There's even cooking camps for kids who want to be the next Emeril Lagasse or Paula Deen.

All of these camps would have kept me entertained during the summer, but there was another camp mentioned in the article htat I would have begged my parents to let me attend: The Money Academy Camp. It's loosely bassed on Donald Trump's "The Apprentice." A one week session costs $300, and the camp session begins with the campers each getting a $100 loan from the camp director. The campers use the money to create a product and actually sell it. If sales are brisk, they are able to pay back the loan and can keep the profit. Each day, a different camper is chosen to be CEO. They oversee production, marketing and sales. Like business people we read about today, I would have used some of my profits to bribe the other campers into letting me be CEO every day.

Monday, Monday

It was a rough Monday, faithful readers. It was back to work after a week off. But I was almost ready to get back - the 'Rents and I did so much running around last week that I needed to get back to work so I could get some rest. But don't tell my boss I said that.

The main reason it was rough was thinking about my friend and coworker Dave who was killed Friday night. When I had to make a trip out to the plant today, I purposely took the long way around to where I needed to go so I wouldn't have to pass by the area back in the corner where Dave worked. Every person I passed in the hallways in the office and out in the plant stopped and we shared our disbelief and our grief. You might think you've seen it all, but there's nothing that stabs you right in the gut like having a big ol' burly factory worker stop yout and give you a hug and you notice tears running down his cheeks.

Link Of The Week

Like a lot of you, I've been following the Gulf Coast oil spill pretty close since the explosion happened back in April. I've read and researched, and consider myelf fairly knowledgable on the subject. But I still get hacked off when people make "statements" about the oil spill and they have no idea what words are coming out of their mouths. But I digress. I found a site this week that might help answer some questions you may have about the spill. Visit http://www.aolnews.com/gulf-oil-spill/article/gulf-oil-spill-cleanup-bp-consultants-discuss-what-they-see-as-misconceptions/19572133 and you will find the top ten myths about the oil spill, with explanations give by real experts.