Farewell, 2011

It's time to say goodbye to you, 2011. As always, I need to thank you for some things before you go.

First of all, thank you for giving me an action-packed first year as as a department manager.  You gave me many different kinds of situations and issues to deal with at work, all of which I learned from.  And you also gave me three great guys to work with as part of my work family.  We had our moments, as all families do, but all in all, it was a great first year in this new chapter of my life. 

Thank you for your timing.  The first four months of 2011 were almost problem-free for me at work, church, and at home, giving me the time I needed to devote to my Master's thesis project.

Thank you for leaving your mark on my second Master's Degree dimploma.  It will always be a reminder of you whenever I look up at it hanging on the wall and see the "2011" date on there.

Thank you bigtime for doing what I asked last year on New Year's Eve -- taking it easy on my parents.  They had a great, happy, healthy year. Although you were a bit hard on them this summer during our record-breaking heat wave, but they're pretty tough. And you were a bit hard on all of us in Louisville thie year with all of the rain, just saying.

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to be more involved in activities and things at church. You taught me patience and diligence, and I was very excited, honored and humbled when I was appointed as head of security at church. 

Thank you for giving me the guts to do something that most people just dream about:  starting their own business.  The saying goes that "timing is everything" and this year you sure showed me that was true.  Early this year when I made the decision to start my own church security consulting business, the whole process came together almost effortlessly. Well, not really effortlessly; there was work involved, and a time or two things were moving almost too fast.  But everything fell into place, and I could not have asked for an easier pathway to entrepreneurship.

Last but not least, thank you for allowing me to be part of a Christmas miracle.  You gave me the chance to literally become God's hands and God's feet, making Chrismas 2011 THE best Christmas that my family and I have ever experienced.

Thanks again for everything you taught me this year, and for making it a very happy year for me.  I pray that 2012 will give me much of the same -- twelve months of happiness, health, and opportunity.

Flashback Friday

I had to work today (yes, on a company holiday) for year-end inventory, and on my way to work very early this a.m. I wanted to stop and mail my Netflix DVDs back so I could get more coming from my queue.  That having been said, we don't really trust leaving mail in our mailbox out on the street across from the house because thugs come and steal the mail, so I either take our mail to work or stop at the post office up the street and mail it.  Well, this morning I was running a few minutes late for my early a.m. arrival at work, and as I was driving it dawned on me that there are no longer any mailboxes on the street corners like there used to be. It only makes sense; they want to get rid of the Saturday mail delivery, so they want to get rid of the corner mailbox, too.

Back in the day, you couldn't walk down a street without passing by an official USPS blue metal mailbox.  Now you can hardly find them in the entire city.  I thought and thought and the only blue metal mailboxes I could recall were ones at the post offices.   

If any of you, faithful readers, know of an old school blue metal mailbox in your area, please let me know. 

Happy New Year's Resolution

New Year's Eve is just a couple of days away, and for a week now we've all been hearing about New Year's resolutions.  I did some quick research and found some awesome synonyms for "resolution" -- dedication, purposefulness, perseverance, and my favorite, immovability.

I've never been one to make official resolutions at the beginning of the New Year; I kinda make them all year long in the form of goals.  But this year, I am going to make an actual New Year's resolution: in the new year, I am going to be dedicated in calling and visiting old friends that I haven't seen in a long time.  I already started, by persevering and visiting a dear old friend from work tonight.  It felt great, and tomorrow I'm going to call another old friend and set up a time to get together.  So, Essie, if by chance you're reading TWIT, I'll be calling you in a day or two. 

New Product Review

First of all, I apologize for being a slacker and not taking a picture of this burger.  That having been said, tonight was our weekly Wendy's night; I stop and normally pick up three Baja salads on my way home from work.  Only tonight, Mom wanted to try the new Cheesy Cheddar Burger.  I was only happy to oblige.

To cut to the chase, Mom said it was very good and she would definitely order one again next week on my weekly visit to Wendy's.  

It's a small burger, on their "Value Menu" and is plain (which I would love).  It's just a bun, a burger patty,  a slice of cheddar cheese and a plop of the squirty cheese like they put on their broccoli and cheddar baked potato.  Mom said it had a lot of flavor, and that you could really taste the beefy burger. 

Based on my Mother's expert opinion, TWIT is happy to give Wendy's Cheesy Cheddar Burger a thumb's and the Official TWIT Seal Of Approval. 

Snow Alert: Not

As always in typical fashion, the weatherazzi had us all worked up today over a forecasted 1" of snow here in the Ohio Valley.  At work today I believe I saw it snow for all of two minutes.  So much for that.

My Top Ten Food Memories From Christmas Past

It seemed that every person I talked with over the past two days all mentioned at least a couple of different foods they were going to have for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.  Now, before you start to chastise me, I'm the first to say that food is a major huge part of the Christmas celebration for us all -- cookies, jam cakes, the ham, egg nog, and everyone's favorite, Chex Mix.  I did some thinking last night and here are my Top Ten Food Memories From Christmas Past (in no particular order):

1. Christmas Eve 1999 -- my aunt and uncle were still here in KY, and each of us had our favorite fast food for Christmas Eve supper (Taco Bell, Arby's, and McD's)


2. Christmas Eve 1995 -- Dad and I made egg nog, and had enough for most of Jefferson County to have at least one cup

3. Christmas Day 2010 -- we deviated at The Compound and instead of the traditional Christmas dinner of ham or turkey or whatever is considered traditional, we had ribs cooked outside on the grill and awesome hot potato salad

4. Every Christmas Day that I can remember -- we always had homemade fruit salad.

5. Every Christmas Eve or Christmas Eve Eve since 2000 -- we've always had White Castles for lunch

6. Every Christmas season that I can remember -- we always have homemade oatmeal raisin cookies

7. Every Christmas that Grandma was living with us -- she always made fudge, bourbon balls and potato candy

8. Santa always leaves a Lifesavers candy book in my stocking

9. Every Christmas Eve since 1995 -- we've always had peel-and-eat shrimp for our Christmas Eve supper

10. Every Christmas Eve until 1972 -- we would always leave a Benedictine sandwich for Santa Clause. In 1972, I started to develop my reasoning and deductive skills, and realized that my Grandpa (who lived with us) was the only person I knew that liked Benedictine, well, except Santa.

Merry Christmas!!

I would like to wish all of you, faithful readers, a very Merry Christmas. May your day be filled with love and laughter.  In between the eating and drinking and presents, please take a moment to reflect on the true meaning of Christmas -- the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. 

Happy Christmas Eve

It's Christmas Eve. I'm sure kids everywhere are so excited they will soon be getting on their parents' nerves, if they haven't already. As a kid, it seemed like Christmas Eve was the longest day of the year, as my parents probably did, too.  But I digress.  Not only is this Christmas Eve, it's also a day of rest for me. I've vowed to not leave the house today until we go to church later on this evening.  And it is a vow I'm going to keep.

For the past two weeks I've been running and running and had a couple hours worth of errands and things to do just about every night of the week.  I glanced back over the past two weeks in my planner book, and realized that I've only had supper with my family two or three times in that two-week period.  Yesterday after more and more running, I was stopped in traffic and realized how tired I was of all of the running.  I'm not complaining about the running; the majority of it was to help out a very needy and special family at church.  But I'm just stating the facts that I'm tired.  So today I'm staying inside and not getting in a vehicle until it's time to go to church.  And I hope to repeat that pattern again tomorrow. 

I'd love to write more but I'm going to go to the couch and watch the Food Network for a couple of hours.

Flashback Friday

So Happy It's Thursday

Some of our dear friends I and L stopped by The Compound this evening, and the 'Rents and I had the best time visiting and laughing with them.  While we were sitting around the dining room table laughing, it hit me how important that laughter is.  I and L are dear friends from church, and they are some of the coolest people you would ever hope to meet.  Being with them tonight just reminded me the importance of laughter in our lives.

That having been said, I urge each of you, faithful readers, to laugh a lot tonight or tomorrow or whenever you read this post.  As my awesome Grandpa said, "Life's too short to be unhappy.  If you're not happy, it's your own damned fault."

Finally

After two and a half years of studying, research, projects and tests, and another six months of waiting until their next official graduation date, I am very proud to say that I received my diploma yesterday from Webster University.  Mom and I were a bit weepy when we read the big bold print that said "Master of Arts, Business and Organizational Security Management."  Dad was equally proud, but he didn't get weepy like we did.

It seems like it was only yesterday when I made the big decision to go back for a second Master's Degree. At the time, there was something stirring inside of me and urging me so hard to do it, that I just could not ignore it.  And I'm so thankful I listened to that little voice inside me and went for it.

Something You Don't Hear Everyday

Overheard while shopping in WalMart by a man who appeared to be in his early 30's.  He was talking to his wife:

"Spending money makes me nervous."

Monday, Monday

I know I've had a few Monday, Monday posts during my years of blogging, and today is no exception.  It was non-stop chaos from 7:55 until 4:30 this afternoon.  In the midst of work drama and year-end inventory problems, I had extra work drama, and also had some church drama and a slight bit of Compound drama.  But it all worked out, sorta. 

After three hours of running errands after work, I made it home a bit after 7:30.  The first thing I did was kick off my shoes and plop down in the Lazy Boy recliner. After regrouping, I recounted the previous three hours worth of errands and even though it wore me out, it was a good feeling.  I spent the majority of that time running around and getting clothes and other items for a very needy family at church.  And I can hardly wait till Wednesday night when I get the opportunity to be Santa Puddin and deliver the stuff to the family.  I'm not posting this with the intentions of bragging; I'm just saying that helping this family that has touched my heart has helped me have my best Christmas ever. 

Link Of The Week

Anyone that knows me, knows I love trivia.  Friends and family grew to avoid me because they knew I would want to break out the Trivial Pursuit game.  But that's neither here nor there.  Here's a link to a fun Christmas trivia site. http://www.christmastrivia.net/.  Check it out and forward it to your friends, family and coworkers.  Good luck.

The 2011 CPI

The price of partridges, pear trees and turtle doves has spiked, pushing the cost of every item mentioned in the carol "The Twelve Days of Christmas" above $100,000 for the first time.


Holding mostly steady this year: maids-a-milking, ladies dancing, lords-a-leaping and gold rings.

The 364 items repeated across all the song's verses would cost $101,119, an increase of 4.4 percent over last year, according to the annual Christmas Price Index compiled by PNC Wealth Management. The broader government Consumer Price Index increased by 3.9 percent over the same period.

Those with the money to spend would end up with 12 drummers drumming, 22 pipers piping, 30 lords-a-leaping, 36 ladies dancing, 40 maids-a-milking, 42 swans-a-swimming, 42 geese-a-laying, 40 gold rings, 36 calling birds, 30 French hens, 22 turtle doves, and 12 partridges in pear trees. (The price does not include bird maintenance.)

But buying just one set of each verse in the song will cost $24,263 this year -- a moderate 3.5 percent rise.

Eleven pipers piping will set you back $2,427, but that's a relative bargain compared to seven swans-a-swimming, which cost $6,300. That's a 12.5 percent rise over last year.

Jim Dunigan, managing executive of investment for PNC Wealth Management, said the core rate of increase is less than half the 9.2 percent jump last year.

"The story in general is wages are still a very sluggish part of this economy," said Dunigan, who noted that the price of eight maids-a-milking at minimum wage was $58 -- the same as in 2009.

Five gold rings even declined a bit, Dunigan said, to $645, from $650 last year.

But last-minute shoppers who turn to the Internet may be in for some surprises. The core list that costs about $24,000 in stores will come to $39,860 online -- a whopping 16.1 percent increase over Internet prices last year. Dunigan said the high cost of shipping live birds explains some of the difference.

Six items didn't go up in cost this year: French hens, calling birds, gold rings, maids-a-milking, ladies dancing and lords-a-leaping. Pipers piping and drummers drumming rose 3 percent. The partridge is still the cheapest item, at $15, and swans the most expensive.

PNC Financial Services Group Inc. checks jewelry stores, dance companies, pet stores and other sources to compile the list. Some of its sources this year include the National Aviary in Pittsburgh and the Philadelphia-based Pennsylvania Ballet Company.

Flashback Friday

Nothing says Christmas like a candy cane pen, I always say.  And just about every year of elementary school, I got one in the plastic Christmas stocking that the PTA room mothers would hand out to us at our class Christmas party. You could always count on either a candy cane pen or a candy cane pencil in the stocking along with the awesome ribbon candy and the ever popular jelly-filled hard candies.

The pens would seldom write, but they were cool anyway.

Joke Of The Month

Two old guys, one 80 and one 87, were sitting on their usual park bench one morning.

The 87 year old had just finished his morning jog and wasn't even short of breath.


The 80 year old was amazed at his friend's stamina and asked him what he did to have so much energy.


The 87 year old said, 'Well, I eat rye bread every day. It keeps your energy level high and you'll have great stamina with the ladies.'


So, on the way home, the 80 year old stops at the bakery. As he was looking around, the lady asked if he needed any help. He said, 'Do you have any rye bread?'


She said, 'Yes, there's a whole shelf of it. Would you like some?'


He said, 'I want 5 loaves.'


She said, 'My goodness, 5 loaves... by the time you get to the 5th loaf, it'll be hard.'


He replied, 'I can't believe it! Everybody in the world knows about this shit but me.'

Winter Weather Update

It's a week and a half before Christmas, and the high today was close to 70 degrees.  And it's supposed to be in the mid 60's tomorrow.  It's just not supposed to be like spring when it's a week and a half before Christmas.  What happened to the cold and snow?  I'm really full of the Christmas spirit this year, but I would be even more spirited if it were cold. 

Something You Don't Hear Everyday

Overheard in line at Taco Bell on Sunday afternoon, by a chubby, balding guy who I ascertained was 30 years old as he was talking to a younger guy:

"She wasn't anything like she was in high school." 

Oxymoron Of The Month (Maybe Year)

"Up In Smoke" smoke shop is next door to "Louisville Oxygen".  Need I say more?

Link Of The Week

Anyone that knows me well knows I love my electronic gadgets, pens, notepads, glasses and cups.  Our kitchen cabinets are full of various glasses, cups and water bottles.  You can't have too many, I always say. But I digress.  This week I found a site where we can all help those less fortunate and get a very cool water bottle in the process.  Visit http://water.org/gift/.  For the low price of $35 you can get a cool stainless steel water bottle, or for only $25 you can get a almost-indestructible Nalgene bottle.  Proceeds from the water bottle sales will go to Water.Org and your purchase of a bottle will help get clean water to those that need it. And funds raised will be used in the U.S. as well as other countries. 

Words Of Advice

Here is a lesson that I learned the hard way:

Don't play "Words With Friends" with someone who majored in English.

Flashback Friday

For weeks, I've been looking for something I remembered as a little kid: brick ice cream. You could only find it at Christmas. It was simple - a slice of ice cream wrapped in wax paper. You could get two kinds -- green and red, or white and red. And you could only get it at Haywood's Dairy. We had it every Christmas until my early twenties, when our neighborhood Haywood's closed. It was one of my favorite Christmas foods.

As I said, for weeks I've been looking online and in stores, hoping to find my brick ice cream. But I didn't have any luck. Until today. A friend from church, VD, emailed me this morning and she had found that we still have one Haywood's Dairy here in Louisville. And it was only 5 minutes from my office! I called them as soon as I read her email, and imagine my surprise and excitement when they said they still had the brick ice cream.

I couldn't wait till my lunchtime to head over and get it. I got four boxes, just so I'll have enough for the next couple of weeks. But if I run out, I can always get more.

I had a slice for supper tonight, and it tasted as creamy as I remembered. And as soon as I post this, I'm going to have one more slice before I go to bed.

Maxey, I Salute You

I cannot believe that I was a goofball yesterday and totally forgot to mention another Pearl Harbor survivor that I had the honor of knowing.  We'll call him Maxey - that's what most people called him.  Maxey was a dear friend of our family for probably fifty years. He served in the Army and was on duty at Pearl Harbor during the horrific attack on Decembeer 7, 1941.  I remember him telling the stories of how in the days and weeks, and months after the attack, he and other troops had set up camp inside an old inactive volcano there in Honolulu. 

After he was discharged from the Army, Maxey joined the Teamsters and was a truck driver until he retired in the mid-80's.  Even though I enjoyed all of his truck-driving stories and his tall tales about school-bus sized catfish in the Ohio River, I enjoyed hearing his stories about Pearl Harbor most of all.

A Day We'll Never Forget

FDR said it best, when he said that December 7, 1941 would be a "date that will live in infamy." Americans will never forget the day that Pearl Harbor was bombed, and I was proud today to see patriotism and honor on display today as flags were flown at half mast. 

Mom and I had the priviledge of going to Honolulu back in 1984, and our visit to the USS Arizona Memorial was definitely the highlight of our trip.
This picture of the Arizona is eery, but yet it's one of my favorite pictures of Pearl Harbor.

I've talked to the 'Rents before about their memories of December 7, 1941.  They were both 7 years old. Dad said that he remembers someone coming into church and interrupting the service with the news. His memories of that day are as clear as my memories of 9/11.

I had the honor of meeting a Pearl Harbor survivor tonight at church. His name is Lee Ebner. He was at the signalman station high above the deck of the USS West Virginia 70 years ago today, and he said he still vividly remembers that morning - from seeing the face of one of the Japanese pilots as he flew by, to hearing and feeling the explosions. In fact, he said just about every time he looks out his windows at home, he expects to see the Japanese planes flying by. 

TWIT honors those 2402 military personnel that were killed during the attack on Pearl Harbor, and we salute those that survived.

It's What It Is

I've mentioned previously how much I truly enjoy the lunchroom conversations from my 11:30 lunchtime gang of coworkers.  The topics vary bigtime - on any given day, you could hear us talking about hunting, Facebook, church, Dancing With the Stars, the Scouts, recipes, old TV shows, music, etc etc.  Toward the end of our lunchtime today, the conversation took a more scholarly theme:  it's vs. its.

My coworker, childhood friend and faithful reader SH was leaving the lunchroom before her lunch time was over, saying she had to go do some research on something for her son's homework.  They were discussing when you use "it's" and when you use "its."  She asked me about it, and with about 99% confidence, I told her that you use "it's" as a contraction for "it is" and you use "its" as a pronoun when you're talking about possession. We discussed it for a few more minutes, and then I said this reminded me of a joke:  How many Master's Degree'd people does it take to figure out it's vs. its?  In this case, it took two.

I'll Drink To That

Let me preface by saying TWIT does not condone drinking and driving.  That having been said, TWIT would like to say that today is Repeal Day.  On this day back in 1933, Prohibition was repealed.  It's a rainy, messy night here in Louisville tonight, so to all of my local faithful readers, please stay in for the night and fix a cocktail in honor of this occasion.  There's no need to travel out in this rainy weather to go to your favorite bar or speak-easy --- just stay at home.

Link Of The Week

As I mentioned the other day, we're in full-blown Christmas mode here at The Compound.  This week at work, our department started listening to a local FM radio channel that plays nothing but Christmas music starting the day after Thanksgiving and going until midnight on Christmas Day.  Sure, we hear the same song probably a dozen times during the 8-hour day sung by a dozen different artists, but we don't mind at all.

If you love Christmas music as much as my coworkers and I, here's a site for you.  Visit http://www.christmas-carols.net/ and you can get the lyrics to a ton of Christmas songs.  And they even play the music, so you can sing along. "Here we come a-Wassailing . . ."

Taking A Second Look

Since Thanksgiving, I've gotten into Christmas mode.  Today, it's almost full-tilt. The Compound is decorated, the office is decorated, we've watched a few Christmas show, and we've been listening to Christmas music all week long at work. I guess I've got Christmas on my brain, because for the past week, everytime I've read a news headline that mentions Newt Gingrich, I've had to do a double-take because at first glance, I thought it said "The Grinch."  Take a headline on the AOL news page earlier this week -  "Will Gingrich Usher In A New Compassionate Conservative Era?"  I had to look twice because I thought it said "Will The Grinch Usher In A New Compassionate Conservative Era?"  And today on AOL, another headline said "Gingrich Clarifies Position on Personhood."  I thought for sure it said "Grinch Clarifies Position on Personhood."

Before you start bashing me, this post is strictly bi-partisan.  I'm not making a comparison between Newt Gingrich and the Grinch Who Stole Christmas.  I'm merely saying that their two names have made me do a double-take, that's all.

Flashback Friday

It's only December 2, and we have Christmas in just about 99% full tilt here at The Compound.  The only thing left we have to do is put up my tree in the living room.  But I digress.  We usually don't have Christmas decorations out early, but we do have our favorite Arby's Currier and Ives glasses out a few days before Thanksgiving, just so we can get a lot of use. 

Ever since I can remember, I've always liked glasses and coffee cups.  And nothing makes me happier thank drinking my egg nog or any other beverage out of our Currier and Ives glasses during the holidays.  We've had these glasses for at least 25 or more years.  That in itself is newsworthy - given the fact that we've kept them around that long without breaking them.

I remember when we got the above glasses.  Dad, Grandma and I were out shopping one night and stopped at Arby's for some carryout (that was when carryout wasn't cool) and I remember bugging the crap out of them until they bought a set of the glasses.  Just one glass was not going to suffice; we had to have a full set.  And of course, they bought them for me.

I picked up Arby's carryout for supper tonight, and in honor of all things old school, Mom got out the glasses for us to use.  Sure, they're small and only hold 6 or 8 ounces, but we still used them. 

Tomorrow morning,  I will make sure that we use our Arby's Currier and Ives coffee mugs!

Happy December 1

It's been a weird day today, faithful readers.  Work was weird. Home is weird. And everything in between was weird.  I'll just leave it at that and say welcome to December.  It's one of my favorite months of the year, mainly because it's finally getting colder, and I love the cold months.

I hope all of you had an uneventful December 1. And hope that you have a great Friday and an even greater weekend.  Get all of those Christmas decorations up while you have the chance.

And in case you're wondering, I was able to get our friend's computer back up and running last night.  Even I was impressed with my mad computer skilz.