Thursday Reflections

I was dissed today, and I'm still not sure how I want to deal with the person that dissed me.  They are someone I considered a friend-  someone who selflessly offered to help me through a messy situation 7 or 8 years ago.
I was naive and I let my guard down and didn't read between the lines. And it will not happen again.

If It Sounds Too Good To Be True . . .

Well, you know the rest of the phrase.  I should have known better.  I ran up to the corner on Monday afternoon and had the clerk scan my dozen or so "winning" tickets that I thought hadn't been redeemed.  Wrong.  They had all been scanned and paid out.  But I did learn a few things.  The first being the title of this post - if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.  Then the clerk explained the inner workings of the Kentucky Lottery scratch-off tickets.  He said that when the bar code is scanned (what the clerk does when you give them a winning ticket) it is activated and can't be scanned a second time, preventing garbage pickers (and people like me) from getting the tickets out of the garbage can and trying to double dip.  He also said that before they went to this method, the clerk was supposed to tear the ticket across the bar code after they scanned it in, also preventing double-dipping.

At any rate, I did earn quite a few points from the legitimate losing tickets and will keep on getting them from the store and entering them online.  I want that set of Pyrex dishes, damnit. 

I'm A Winner!!

I've played the Kentucky Lottery's Pick Four game for about two years now, faithfully.  I play in both the midday and evening drawings, and I play the same set of numbers all the time -- 3209.  I've been lucky enough to win "big" a couple of times - once, I won $600 and another time won $100.  Two or three of my numbers have been coming up a lot lately so I feel a win coming soon.  But I digress.  The Kentucky Lottery folks started a "Fun Club" - when you have a losing scratch off ticket,  you can go online and enter in a 18-digit number that is on the ticket and you get points for each losing ticket.  You can cash in points for gift cards and cool prizes.  I don't normally buy scratch off tickets unless I have a coupon from the KY Lottery folks so I wouldn't accumulate many points.  But I had an idea this weekend and when I was at the grocery store Saturday night, I asked the clerk if I could have the losing tickets that were in the garbage can beside the lottery ticket vending machine.  She told me sure.  So yesterday afternoon, I got out the bag of tickets and started entering the numbers.  I was on my third ticket when I kept getting an error saying that the number was invalid and to try again.  I tried a few more times to enter it and kept getting the same error, and it locked me out for 12 hours and said to try again.  Well, this morning I tried once and got the same error.  I just put the card aside and moved on.  The next ticket I tried to enter was the same way.  I looked at this ticket, a lowly $1 scratch off, and noticed that it was a winning ticket, not a losing one.  THAT'S why it wouldn't accept it.  I went back and looked at the other ticket and sure enough, it was a winner - a free ticket.  And it was a $20 ticket!! Woohoo.  I entered more tickets, and after awhile, I had accumulated $31 in winning tickets. 

Before you think "Puddin, they cashed those tickets in already so you can't double-dip."  Au contraire.  These tickets weren't cashed in - when they cash in winning tickets, the clerk tears them in half and throws them away.  These are winning tickets that the people just didn't pay attention to.  Lucky for me. 

I'll keep you updated from time to time with how more $$$ I've been able to "win" from these alleged "losing" tickets, and I'll let you know what cool prizes I get with my points.

Link Of The Week

If I sent this link previously, I apologize, because it's worth a repeat.  It's a video on YouTube of a four year old boy playing the drums along with Joan Jett's "I Hate Myself For Loving You." The kid doesn't miss a beat, not even when the music skips a couple of beats.  Please watch close for the facial expressions.  Check him out at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aJG9Tol1a0U.  This falls in the "Charlie bit me" category of videos - you never get tired of it.

Three Ways to Be More Safe and Secure In Any Situation


Whether you’re concerned about potential violence in a workplace, school or church, or harmful situations of any kind, anywhere, there are three bits of advice that can help you detect potential harm and react to it more effectively:

1.) Live defensively

2.) Observe with purpose.

3.) Treat everything that looks or sounds threatening or harmful, as real.

1. Live defensively. You are able to drive defensively without feeling terrified and without making your passengers feel afraid because of your excessiveness. However, if you stop thinking about dangers and hazards and drive heedlessly, you are more likely to cause accidents or be part of a crash. The same concept can apply to the way you live and the way you encourage your children to live. It’s not about unnecessary fright and dread, it’s about realistic planning, necessary awareness and reasonable precautions.

Make it a personal habit to think: Assessment, Prevention, Detection, Protection, Response.

2. Observe with purpose. Yogi Berra was right when he said, “You can observe a lot by watching.” Observation with purpose focuses on who or what is around you, who or what is approaching you, who or what may have an effect on you, and who or what might unexpectedly appear, including hazards of all kinds. Be aware of unsafe conditions, even if you are the only one who seems to be noticing. Don’t assume that someone else would have surely done something by now if there was danger.  When you’re looking at people, do a total look for appearance, unusual movement or unusually standing still, a look at the face to detect attention or emotion and a look at the hands to see contact with clothing, items being held or readiness to use the hands.

3. Treat everything that looks or sounds threatening or harmful as real. If an activity or situation seems to be dangerous or potentially harmful, stop it if you can and ask for an immediate investigation or inspection. Appropriately warn others who may not be aware of the danger. When you sense a harmful situation, trust your instincts and protect yourself and those in your care.  If someone does or says anything that indicates a reasonable potential for harm, assume there will be harm and take appropriate action immediately–usually calling 911 or yelling for help, followed by flight, fight or taking cover, according to the circumstances or threat.  If you were correct, help is on the way no matter what else happens. If you were incorrect, you may stop a repeat of the falsely threatening situation or an actual future incident. At least you will show that you were observing with purpose and ready to take action.

There are many other things that can add to your safety and security and the safety of those for whom you are responsible. These three can provide a good foundation for everything else you do.

Flashback Friday

"Grandmother", SH, JB, and AK -- this is for you.

Winter Weather Update

For a week now, the weatherazzi has been telling of sleet and freezing rain overnight.  Yesterday they issued a winter weather advisory for our area, only to cancel it earlier today.  But as I've read about the storm that is producing this precipitation, I'm not so sure.  The news I've read said this storm has strengthened.  But who knows.  Currently, the weatherazzi says that we'll get some freezing rain or sleet but that the temps will rise overnight and melt whatever is out there.  All I can say is we'll see what it's like in the morning.  Personally, I'm over all of the weatherazzi guessing.  Whatever happened to the pinpoint forecast?

Wednesday Updates

I'm happy to report I feel a lot better than I have the previous two evenings.  I don't know if it was a bug or what, but I'm glad that it's gone. 

Tuesday, Tuesday

I felt pretty good today, but now I'm feeling now as bad as I did yesterday afternoon.  Tomorrow I will start weaning things out and try to determine if something I'm eating is causing this or what.  If I don't see a difference by Thursday, I'll head to the doctor.  And those that know me well know that I am usually half-dead before I will go to the doctor.  I'm still having some nasal congestion and drainage, so I'm thinking the drainage could be causing the stomach issues.  Anyhoo, as always, I'll keep you posted.

Monday, Monday

It's been a rough day, faithful readers.  First of all, I had a massive allergy attack last night, and I was about one step away from going to the ER.  Thanks to the Albuterol and Benedryl I got it under control.  So this morning was a total washout. 

I made it to lunchtime, only to get sick after lunch.

I'm not sure if this is the stomach bug that's going around or a part of the flu/cold crap I've had, or a reaction to something I've eaten.  Anyhoo, I don't like it.

Link Of The Week

You already know I love a good bargain as much as anyone else, and you know that I love using coupons.  I'm not militant or radical about it, and I'm way far from being an extreme couponer, but I love using a coupon for a product that I buy regularly. 

I found a good site this week for coupons for products that I in deed buy regularly.  Visit http://www.rightathome.com and start saving on Ziploc bags, Pledge, and other things that I'm sure you use daily.  You can thank me later.

Security Tip Saturday

Chances are you're already gotten at least one forwarded email about this, but I'd like to share it with you, faithful readers, too.  Keep your car keys next to your bed on the night stand, dresser, or lamp table when you go to bed at night.  If you think that someone is trying to get into your house or residence, or if you hear a noise outside, just press the “panic” alarm on your car key chain.  Test it if you want to during the day so you won't wake up the neighbors.  It will go off from most everywhere in your home and will keep honking until your car battery runs down, or until you reset the alarm. It works if you park in your driveway or garage. If your car alarm goes off when someone is trying to break in, odds are that lowlife thug won’t stick around. After a few seconds, all of your neighbors will be looking out of their windows to see who’s out there - another thing the criminal doesn’t want. Try your panic alarm to make sure it works before you start to rely on it. Just remember that you must press the alarm button again to turn it “off”. Always carry your keys while walking to your car in a parking lot too, in case you’re approached by strangers.  And often times, turning the lights on in a house has driven off would-be burglars who ran off as soon as the lights came on. 

Flashback Friday

The new building construction at work is a couple of months away from completion, and we're used to seeing the construction workers during the day.  A couple of days ago during lunch, a few of the workers were in the big new lunchroom and one of them reached down and pulled out a folding ruler to measure something.  I almost ran back to my desk to get my phone so I could take a picture of the ruler in action. 

It's been years since I've seen one of the folding rulers.  But being the daughter and granddaughter of carpenters, it was commonplace at The Compound. 

I remember one of the old folding rulers that Grandpa used had a special slide-out metal ruler built in to the first section of the ruler.  And I also remember everyone in the family warning me to be careful not to pinch a finger when folding up the ruler after I finished playing with it.  Maybe I should have warned the construction worker at our office about that.

Happy Valentine's Day

TWIT would like to wish all faithful readers a very Happy Valentine's Day. I'd like to share a copy of a Valentine that an actual kid made for his mother. It pretty much sums up what love is all about. 

"That's alot of love".   It sure is, little friend.

Quote Of The Week

I think I'm starting to morph into a boss that I had.  She was infamous for her catch phrases.  Yesterday, I was talking to one of the Marketing guys at work about a problem and I said something that sounded just like something she said. 

"I can't fix what I don't know."

Happy Pancake Tuesday

Or Happy Fat Tuesday.  Either way, I hope it was a happy day. 

We celebrated Fat Tuesday/Pancake Tuesday this morning at The Compound in typical style.  My dear friend/coworker/faithful reader SH stopped by this morning for pancakes and celebrated at our annual Mardi Gras Fat Tuesday party.  A good time was had by all.  SH, the 'Rents and I had our fill of awesome thin pancakes and piggy sausages and awesome primo Sumatra coffee.  SH and I wished we could have just stayed there at the dining room table all morning, sipping coffee and laughing and having a good time.  But alas we had to go to work.

I realize that we're in the definite minority among people that celebrate Fat Tuesday/Pancake Tuesday, but we don't care.  Hell - any excuse for a party, we always say.

Call Me Dr. Frankenstein

I've created a monster.  And right now, it's pretty much out of control.  It's in the form of my father with his new iPad.

He's been fascinated for months, so for his birthday last month I got him an iPad.  I got a hell of a deal through Craigslist (about 1/3 of the price of a new one) and it still has 11 months on the warranty and also came with a $100 Bluetooth keyboard case.  But I digress.  I've created a monster. 

At first he was happy when he learned to check email.  Then he graduated to the YouVersion Bible app.  Then he became obsessed with Google maps.  And now his latest obsession is Bingo Blitz. In order to get him on this bingo game so he could play along with me, I had to sign him up in Facebook.  Yes, my 79 year old father is on Facebook.  It's a scary thought, given the fact that he just points and taps on anything that looks ineresting on the iPad. It's not that I have anything to hide nor anything I'm ashamed of on my Facebook wall, but it's still unsettling that he doesn't know what he's doing.  So there's no telling what he will tap onto, and no telling who he will inadvertantly ask to be his "friend."  I just have a feeling this is not going to work out well.  He's already obsessed with the bingo game.  Mom just now went off on him because he has the volume turned up as loud as it will go on his iPad and she can't hear her favorite show "Big Bang Theory." Yep, this is not ging to turn out well.  As always, I'll keep you posted.

Link Of The Week

While I was laying in bed recuperating from the cold/cough/crap, I watched a very interesting program on PBS - it was a documentary about an old-timer that made mountain dulcimers.  Having 3 dulcimers in the house (one is a gorgeous hammer dulcimer and the other two are mountain dulcimers) I had to watch.  They showed the old-timer making one from start to finish.  I was impressed.  After watching the show, it reminded me a link someone sent me this week about a couple of guys that make musical instruments from ordinary things you'd find in the garbage.  After watching the video, it reminded me of when I was little and would tried to make guitars out of cigar boxes.  Check them out at https://www.facebook.com/landfillharmonicmovie.  You'll be impressed.

Let The Good Times Roll

Or as the French would say, Laissez les bons temps rouler!  It's hard to believe it's Mardi Gras again.  It's a bit earlier this year, which means Easter will be earlier, as well. But I digress.  I've caught the cold/cough mess again that I had in Novembmer, so I'm not sure how many good times I'll have this weekend to roll. Thank goodness I don't feel as bad as I did when I had it in the fall, and I hope I caught it early enough so the Mucinex will work its magic. So I'm going to stay in this weekend and get as much rest as I can stand, and while I'm resting I'm going to watch some of the online web cams of the Mardi Gras parades in New Orleans. 

Let the good times roll!

Flashback Friday

Today, with the snowstorm of the century moving through the northeast,  I think back to this time period in 1978, when the Storm of 78 storm had moved through the country. 

I don't remember a whole lot about that storm, other than we didn't go to school for about three weeks straight.  But one thing I do remember is that life went on.  My parents didn't miss any days of work during that mega snow storm.  They just left for work earlier than normal and made their way downtown to the factory in their 1972 Impala.  We didn't lack for much at home in terms of groceries.  I'm pretty sure Mom didn't go to the store a few days before the storm was forecasted to hit and load up on bread and milk.  I don't remember us having to eat dry toast and water during the storm; in fact, I remember my birthday that year being the time that I got the best homemade chocolate cake ever to be baked.  And I don't remember us huddled around a candle or generator, because we never lost power.  It was pretty much business as usual, except for the fact that schools were closed.

During those weeks when schools were closed, us kids in the neighborhood played outside in the snow during the day.  We didn't have the video games or computers that the kids are glued to on snow days today (or any other day for that matter).  There was no Call of Duty Special Ops that kept us on our asses in front of the TV.  We played hard outside.  We had snowball fights, and we even built igloos and snow forts.  And when we had a brave adult to go with us, we went back to the swamp that was frozen over and we skated around on the ice. 

It's a different world today when there's a snow day. 

Winter Weather Update

It was 60 and sunny today in the 'Ville.  Which means that most of the city was going to and fro without wearing a coat.  And it also means that the few people that haven't been sick over the past couple of months with the cough/cold/flu will probably get it now.

I'm not happy to report that I've gotten the crap for a second time now.  I'm hoping to ward it off in its early stages.  I'm taking more Emergen-C immune system boosters, and am taking Mucinex. And all I want right now is a good night's sleep tonight.  I didn't sleep well last night due to coughing and congestion and I feel like a zombie right now.

So THAT'S How They Do It

For the past year or so that McDonalds has had two drive-thru lanes, I've been curious and wanted to know how in the hell they could have two drive-thru lanes and still get all (well, most) of the orders to the right cars.  Well, tonight, I found out the answer.

We stopped at McD's on the way home from church tonight for their awesome Filet-O-Fish sandwiches, and used the drive-thru.  Both of the drive-thru lanes were full, but they were moving through pretty quickly.  But I digress.  We placed our order and drove on through, merging into the one lane to pay, and this prompted yet another conversation about how they keep the orders straight with two drive-thru lanes.  Our question was answered when we got to the window to pay.  I looked through the window and saw two large computer monitor screens.  One screen was where they pressed the buttons for your actual order, and the other screen was divided into four sections, and each section had a picture of a car in the drive-thru with their order printed on the left of the screen.  So when the car came up to the window to pay, the money-taker looks at the car and then matches it with the picture of said car on the screen and there you have it.  So now, we know how they do it.

Happy National Pancake Day

TWIT would like to wish everyone a very happy National Pancake Day.  I'm sorry to report that I did not have any pancakes today to celebrate, but I did celebrate a few days earlier with some of my Mom's world famous thin pancakes Saturday morning.  They sure did rock.

We'll be gearing up for the annual Fat Tuesday pancake breakfast here at The Compound in two weeks.  Decorations will be brought up from the basement within the next week, and invitations will be going out soon.  Stay tuned for photos of the event.

In the meanwhile, please fix some pancakes tonight to celebrate.

Thanksgiving In February

We had chicken and dumplins, dressing, home grown green beans and cranberry sauce at The Compound tonight for dinner, in celebration of Thanksgiving in February.  Mom decided that we would have it, and before we started eating tonight, the three of us took a few minutes to tell what we were thankful for right now.

If you ask me, I think we should celebrate Thanksgiving at leaste once a month, if not everyday.

Link Of The Week

Unless you've been living under a rock the past week or so, everyone knows today is Super Bowl Sunday, or Super Sunday as they now call it. My favorite team, the Titans, aren't it, and neither is my second favorite team, the Patriots.  So I could not care less about the Big Game today.  But I will still watch it just for the commercials, mainly because everyone will be talking about them at work tomorrow so I want to be able to put in my two cents worth. 

If you don't want to watch the game, or if you want to review afterward, here's a site where you can watch all of the Super Bowl commercials.  Visit http://www.techhive.com/article/2026821/watch-the-super-bowl-commercials-online-right-here.html.

Happy Ground Hog Day

I'm not sure what to report for Ground Hog Day at The Compound.  The morning started out cloudy, but there was about a two hour window in the late morning when the sun was shining.  So it's a toss up.

I will say that Mom did her daily walking this morning in the snow and cloudy conditions, and she said she did not see the official ground hog at The Compound.  And after discussing it with Dad, he said that the ground hog probably wouldn't come out with snow on the ground.

That having been said, we will say that the ground hog did not see his shadow today at The Compound, and hopefully spring and warmer, better weather will be here soon.

Winter Weather Update, Again

We woke up this morning to another almost inch of snow in the 'Ville.  From the way everyone was carrying on, it might as well have been a foot.  Roads were slick this morning, and I'm glad  I didn't have to drive anywhere early.

After breakfast and the morning ritual of checking email and Facebook, I felt adventurous and went out and scraped/shoveled off our entire long driveway.  It was probably the most exercise I've had in months, and it felt great as I was shoveling. 

Of course, it was a bit disheartening to see that this afternoon, the warmer temps and sun had melted the snow off of most people's driveways, but I digress.  At least my driveway is clear for us.

They're calling for another inch or so of snow tonight, and a couple of inches on Monday.  As always, I'll keep you posted.  Because here in the Ohio Valley, you don't know what to expect.

Flashback Friday

We got about an inch of snow in the ‘Ville last night. While it was snowing, it was like a blizzard – it was very windy, and the temperatures were dropping, and we even had a “flash freeze” as the weatherazzi called it. Some areas even had thunder and lightning while it was snowing. But I digress. We got about an inch of snow. And as we all thought they would do, they cancelled school today. Faithful reader and coworker SH and I discussed this during lunch today, and she made the point that when we were in school they would have never thought to cancel school for an inch of snow. I told her that they also would not have let school out early because of what the weatherazzi predicted the forecast could be.


Back in the day when they would let school out early because of snow, it was because it had started snowing after we got to school and 2 or 3 inches had accumulated during the day. For them to cancel school for the entire day, at least 2 or 3 inches had to have fallen during the night. And back then, you heard about it on the radio first and TV second. I remember a time or two where Grandma would get me up for school and fix me breakfast only to hear the announcement on the radio after I was dressed. Needless to say I got undressed and went back to bed. But that’s beside the point. Today with social media, if school is cancelled and you don’t hear about it, then you must be deaf and blind.

Speaking of social media, there’s a large number of parents out there that think that kids shouldn’t go to school when it rains or when there are a few flakes of snow on the roads. Facebook is full of pissed off parents ranting and raving about “I cannot believe that JCPS did NOT cancel schools today!!! WTF???”
These are the same parents who will be pissed off that their child has to make up any school days." On a related note, JCPS (after years of hearing complaints about it) finally changed the calendar to build make up days in the middle of the year. This year, they designation the week of Feb. 25-March 1 as make up week. So now because of today's school cancellation, JCPS has already notified everyone on Facebook that today's makeup day will be Feb. 25 (as is clearly stated it would be on the official calendar). I don't need to tell you that there are parents who have posted on Facebook that they won't send their children to school on Feb 25 because to paraphrase most of them: "It's stupid for them to only have to go one day in a whole week."  If it was up to these people, kids would never go to school.