Flashback Friday

TWIT would like to wish everyone a very Happy and safe Halloween tonight. 

In honor of Halloween, here is a picture of yours truly and my friend/coworker/faithful reader SH, taken on Halloween 2001.  I dare to say we were the coolest Legos around.

Happy Country Ham Month

I am so sorry in waiting until the last day of October to wish you, faithful readers, a happy Country Ham Month.  I just found out today that October was the official Country Ham Month.  

Never fear - you have a day left to get some country ham.  I stopped on the way home today and bought a package of small country ham pieces to put on our biscuits Saturday morning.  So technically we will still be celebrating Country Ham Month. 

I know that the majority of folks out there don't like country ham.  Give it a try.  If you buy a slice, let it soak for a few hours in either Coke (or any cola) or milk.  Then just fry it up in the pan and you won't be disappointed. 

Who Cares?

The title for this post can be both a question, and a statement, sorta, but it fits.  

When I got home tonight, I checked the family room coffee table for any mail that might have come for me today.  The 'Rents put my mail in a certain spot on the coffee table by Dad's recliner.  But I digress.  In the stack was the almost-daily letter from AT&T begging me to get U-Verse, a couple brochure from Rite-Aid, and a greeting card from one of the sweetest little old ladies at church.  After quickly opening the U-Verse letter and putting it along with the envelope inside the postage-paid envelope so I cam mail it back to AT&T (which I have been doing for quite some time now out of frustration with them hounding me to get U-Verse), I quickly opened the greeting card from Sweet Margaret.  The front said simply "Thinking of you today".  It made me smile.  I opened it up, and the card wished me a happy birthday.  I smiled even bigger.  Who cares that today is not my birthday?  Sweet Margaret thought enough about me to send me a card, and she is most definitely one who cares.  

I'm keeping this card forever. I wish everybody had someone who cares like Sweet Margaret. 

Tuesday Updates

As I type this, some friends are going through some pretty bad shit right now.  That's the best way I can describe it.  One friend is having surgery on Friday on her ear and the area around her hear, to correct a problem she's had since she was born.  And another friend is having surgery tomorrow to remove a third of one of her kidneys in hopes of removing all of the cancer that was recently found.  Both of these friends are exceptionally strong women; they wear many different hats, and work multiple jobs - for pay and for charitable work.  They both have a very strong support system, and I am for sure that they will both come out on top. 

It's times like these that make my current issues seem so insignificant, and yet make me so thankful.

I am sending out love and prayers to TW and DG, and I know you both will kick ass and be back in action before too long. 

Special Guest Writer Monday

I proudly welcome my Friend Of A Lifetime (FOAL), Diva Stacy, as she brings us today's very interesting post.  I've laughed about this for two days, I might add. 

Businesses love loyal customers. Usually they are willing to acknowledge and thank you for your business. For instance, my friend Puddin gets perks and comps when she goes to the casino boat. When she uses her loyalty card, they recognize her as a high roller (even though she is far from it) but they still treat her like a queen.

My boss is the same way with Kohl's. It's no accident every single coupon she receives in the mail is a 30% off. They know she will be using it and will spend a lot of money. I think her Kohl's credit card is made of platinum. Seriously, real platinum.

Me? I might get a 15% or 20% off coupon from Kohl's. I get nothing at the casino boat. But there is one place where I seem to be appreciated. That place? Kroger. Whenever Puddin comes to my house she is amazed at the really cool glossy magazine type brochures and coupon books I received from them. Lovely works of art, filled with lots of coupons. Puddin always says "We don't get these!" Yesterday I told her "You get your perks at the casino, I get mine at Kroger! You start spending $1000 a month there, they will send you the glossy brochure too!" I guess there could be more glamorous places to be recognized, but we are a busy household and use a lot of groceries. So....anybody want a coupon for a free dozen eggs?

Sunday Reflections

I'm tired today - as I have been for the past few weeks, and actually months - after all of the extra meetings and team projects I've been doing at work, in addition to working on a project for a church for Good Shepherd Security Consulting, and in addition to keeping everyone safe at WSBC on Sundays and Wednesdays.  Add all of that together and you've got one tired Puddin. 

Things have eased up at work a bit last week, and that gave me time to breathe and not feel like I was going to hyperventilate, but I am still busy with the previously mentioned projects. 

I've really enjoyed this weekend to just stay at home and not work on any project or problem.  

I know that this opportunity won't come around again for a long time, but for this weekend, it's been awesome. 

Security Tip Saturday

They're at it again, faithful readers - those unscrupulous, shyster home improvement con artists that prey on the elderly.  Earlier this week, a couple of them were in our neighborhood.  Thanks to our neighbor that called LMPD about them; once the guys heard she called the cops, they left the area. 

Winter will soon be here and these shysters are out to take advantage of the unsuspecting folks, offering to repave their driveways or fix their roofs (that don't need fixing) or a number of things.  As always, be watchful.  If you see something, say something.  Don't let these low-lifes rip off you or your loved ones.  If you see people like this in your neighborhood, write down a description of them and their vehicle and call the non-emergency police department number and report them.  And if you're able, get a picture - that would even be better so you can spread the word about them through Facebook.

As always, stay safe.

Flashback Friday

Since the beginning of June, one of the guys that work for me and I have been coming in at 6:00 on Friday mornings to meet with the night shift supervisors. It's been very beneficial, and I wish we would have been doing this all along; the communication between us has helped us all.  But I digress.  While it's been beneficial, it's also been very tiresome.  On Thursday nights, I go to bed before 10:00 and on Friday mornings at about 9:00, I start to crash.  I wish we had a rest period like we did back in kindegarten and elementary school. 

Once Again, Just My Luck

A partial solar eclipse of the sun is occurring right now, and just my luck, in the last half hour it's gone from sunny to mostly cloudy, so unless it clears up within the next few minutes, there's no chance of seeing the eclipse tonight.  Yep, just my luck. 

WTG KMart

I was thrilled yesterday when I discovered that KMart was once again selling my favorite brand and style of bra.  For the male Faithful Readers, you don't have a clue what I mean.  For the female Faithful Readers, you know exactly what I mean.  I was so thrilled that I bought five of these bras, for fear that in the future they would stop selling them again.  

I will repeat, I was so happy that KMart was selling these again, that I was happy almost all of today, until the last hour when my happy House of Cards colllapsed and I had a huge fiasco to deal with.  

But never fear - when I got home tonight, there on the kitchen table was my box from KMart.  Next day shipping - and I didn't pay extra for it! This made up for the crappy last hour of the work day that I had.

Good Luck, Trisha Yearwood

TWIT would like to wish Trisha Yearwood good luck tonight as she sings the National Anthem at the start of the first game of the World Series.

Anyone that knows me knows that I think Trisha Yearwood has one of the best voices in all of recorded music.  She could open up the Louisville Yellow Pages and start singing the listings and make us all just melt. 

I know without a doubt she will do an awesome job tonight, and I'm praying she will stick to her musical roots and sing the song like she learned it in elementary school. 

File Under: WTF?

I'm very riled up tonight, over a Facebook post that coworker made.  He is travelling to Florida, and his post said "So I'm sitting here at the airport wearing my "I heart Liberia" T-shirt, my Dallas Cowboys hat and my Cavs jacket.... The people here are RUDE! No one will sit next to me at ALL!!!!" 

Maybe I'm being overly sensitive, but I don't think Ebola is anything to be joking about.  I'm not in a panic, thinking I'm going to catch it or anything like that, but it's still not something to joke about. 

I called the coworker out first on his Facebook comments, but it didn't seem to phase him, and then privately in a message.  And what bothered me even more was mutual Facebook friends "liking" his post. 

I'm just sitting here shaking my head. 

Another First

I just got home from a two and a half hour quarterly business meeting at church, and I survived.  It was a first for me - I went up on the podium and stood in front of the microphone and gave a report and made some recommendations from the Security and Safety Committee.  It was the first time I'd spoken like this in church before.  Sure, I've spoken in Sunday School, and in the women's group, and in our committee meetings, but it was the first time I'd spoken in front of the majority of the regular church members.  And it was a piece of cake.  I wasn't nervous at all, and even gave a big smile when I was finished with my report.  

After the meeting, a dozen or so people came up to me and congratulated me.  At first,  I said "For what?"  and the woman replied "For standing up in front of almost 200 people and talking." Others said that they were glad I gave them the information.  As I was walking back to my seat, a church member who is a doctor and also part of our medical team, spoke up and said that she wanted to publicly recognize me for what I've done as head of security and safety at church.  She said some very kind words that made me feel great.  But after the meeting, I went up to her and gave her a hug and thanked her for her kind words, and I told her that the recognition wasn't necessary; I do this because I feel this is what I'm supposed to be doing in this part of my life.  She said "Yes, I know that, but people need to know what you do so they can appreciate you like we do."  So with that, I accepted the recognition and told her thanks.  It's not that I've never been told "Way to go, Puddin"; it's just that I've never been told that at my current church before. And it felt great.  But on my way to the door, I was stopped by a few other members who had some security concerns, so my glory was short-lived.  Back to keeping my church and the members safe.

Happy Birthday Belle of Louisville

 TWIT would like to wish a very happy birthday to the pride of our city, the Belle of Louisville. The Belle celebrates its 100^th birthday on Saturday.  It was formerly called the Idlewild, and was launched on October 18, 1814 at Pittsburgh.  It started out as a ferry between Memphis, TN and West Memphis, AR., and then moved on to the waterways from Canada to Mexico.  The Idlewild came to Louisville in 1934 and stayed through WWII. In the 40’s, the boat made cruises and was occasionally a USO nightspot on the Mississippi River.  In 1948, the Idlewild was renamed the Avalon, and moved on to Cincinnati where she became the most widely-traveled river steamboat in American history.  In 1962, the Avalon was put up for sale, and purchased by Jefferson County Judge Executive Marlow Cook for the low price of $34,000 and was renamed the Belle of Louisville.  Since then, she has graced the Ohio River in Louisville and remains the nation’s oldest and most authentic river steamboat.

Flashback Friday

Today's post is part Flashback Friday and part update.  We saw the sun today - in fact we saw the sun rise this morning and as I type this, there is still some daylight left.  We saw the sun all day long.  It was in deed a sunshine day.  The Flashback Friday part is from "The Brady Bunch" show when the Brady kids sang on a song called "Sunshine Day" on a talent show in hopes of winning the prize so they could get a silver platter for their parents' anniversary.  But I digress.  The entire day today was a beautiful sunshine day. 

There's clouds in the forecast for tomorrow and the rest of the week, and for some cooler temps, but there's no big chance of rain, thank goodness.  We've had more than enough in the past two weeks to do us the rest of the fall.

Rain, Rain Go Away Some More

Today is the 13th day out of the last 15 days that we've had rain here in the 'Ville.  I'm officially over it.  I am hoping for no rain tomorrow.  As always, I'll keep you posted.

Rain, Rain Go Away

The Weatherazzi said that we've had rain for 12 out of the last 14 days.  It's starting to look and feel like we're in Seattle.  And there's rain in the forecast again for tomorrow.  But I'm not complaining, even though it sounds like it.  After all I do work for a sump pump company. 

Electronics Update

I am very happy to report that I got an email this morning saying that my  new 32gb iPhone 5S has shipped today!!  I think my insessant calling might have done some good.  Hopefully I will have it in a few days.  And then I can start more incessant calling to make sure that they credit me for the time that I was without a phone.  As always, I'll keep you posted.

Fall Storm Update

As I type this, we're under a tornado watch until tomorrow morning and a severe storm warning until tomorrow morning as well.  They're calling for 2-4 inches of rain here in the 'Ville until tomorrow night.  Let me be the first to tell you we we are not looking forward to that.

We're as prepared as we can be at The Compound tonight, and we pray that the leak in the basement will hold out.

As always, I'll keep you posted.

Link Of The Week

On Thursday, the world lost one of the best comedy and improv actresses, Jan Hooks.  She ranks up at the top of my list of SNL faves along side Gilda Radner.  Like Gilda, she left us much too soon.  But she lft a legacy of characters and scenes on Saturday Night Light that will live in our memories forever.  My number one Jan Hooks sketch was when she was Tammy Faye Bakker on Church Chat.  You can watch the sketch in its entirity here at https://screen.yahoo.com/church-chat-jim-tammy-faye-000000956.html.

RIP Jan Hooks.

Electronics Update

It's time for yet another Electronics Update.  I decided that I really wanted to have all of my iTunes music library on my iPhone, so I went about calling and checking into returning it for a bigger model.  No problem, I was assured; I was within the 14-day return period.  But the problem was that no AT&T store within 50 miles of Louisville had the 32gb phone I wanted, so I would have to return the 16gb phone, and order the 32gb phone online.  So after supper Wednesday night, I connected the 16gb phone to my iTunes account, did a backup, and before I went to the AT&T store to return it, I got brave and backed up my photos and contacts to The Cloud.  I've been nervous and leery about The Cloud, but I figured it was as safe and secure as Facebook, so I nervously moved The Cloud setting to "on" and in a few seconds, my photos, videos, contacts and notes were stored in The Cloud, just waiting for me to retrieve them and put them on my new iPhone.  

I went up to the AT&T store and easily returned the phone and got everything squared away.  I zoomed homed and immediately got online and ordered the phone I wanted.  As soon as the order was processed, I received a confirmation email from the order, along with a note saying that the phone would be shipping sometime between 10/17 and 10/28.  WTF?  I grabbed the trusty land-line phone and called AT&T and told them the situation and asked if there was anything they could do to expedite the order.  The woman said "sorry".  I thought "I'm sure you are."  So then it was time for my next question for AT&T.  I asked if my bill would be adjusted for all of this time that I don't have a phone.  She was quiet for a few seconds and then asked if she could put me on hold.  She was gone for about two minutes and then when she came back on the line, she said that yes, I should (key word) be credited for this time that I don't have a phone.  We'll see about that on the next bill. 

Sure, it's frustrating not having my iPhone, but it's not the end of the world.  It's the phone that I use for my consulting business, and I don't have text messaging on there, so I'm not missing texts; I just call the number a couple of times a day to check and see if there's any voicemail messages.  So it's more of an inconvenience. 

As always, I'll keep you posted. 

Flashback Friday

I was totally remiss in wishing you, faithful readers, a Happy Walk To School Day on Wednesday.  It totally got past me.  But it brought back memories from my elementary school days.

I was a Bus Rider, but I wished I was a Walker.  The Walkers got to get out of school 15 minutes before us Bus Riders, which was a plus.  Plus they just looked so cool, walking home from school while we had to take the bus home.

A few times a year during my elementary school days I was able to be a Walker.  My Mom's best friend lived about two blocks from my elementary school, and on skating party days, I would walk home with her daughter Sherry, and then her mom would take us to the skating rink.  It was a grand day to be able to be a Walker.  On a couple of occasions, the night before the skating party day, Mom or Dad would load up my bike and take it to their house, and sometime the next morning, my Mom's friend would take my bike and her daughter's bike to school and drop them off with the other bikes and we'd pedal back to their house before going to the skating party.  Even back in the day, my family and I were pretty darned good with logistics. 

Blood Moon Happenings

Night before last we had a "Blood Moon" as part of an eclipse.  I apologize - I'm not sure if said eclipse was lunar or solar. All I know is that the moon was reddish.  But I digress.  As part of this Blood Moon phenomenon, things were extra bizarre here at The Compound.  And it's carried over into today.  We've had some freakish things happen here today and we are blaming them on the Blood Moon. The biggest freakish thing is the 'Rents losing their Kroger reward card.  It was on a key chain that they have other rewards cards on, and they keep it in a drawer in the Odyessy.  They went to Kroger's yesterday for some bread and used their rewards card.  Today when they went to Krogers to do their big monthly grocery shopping, the rewards card was missing from the key chain.  I'm not even sure where to start to try to explain it.

After we're well into the next lunar phase, we'll see if the freakish things are still happening.

As always, I'll keep you posted.

Calgon Wednesday

Unfortunately, Calgon Tuesday has morphed into Calgon Wednesday for me.  I'm worn out, and once again as I soon as I post this, I'm going to take my bath and put on my pajamas and hopefully relax.

It was another long and hard day at ZCO.  That's about all I have to say.

Calgon Tuesday

In my almost 25 years at my company, I have never been as busy as I am right now.  All I can say is that even after working over an hour today, I'm glad that I have some time to myself before I have to be back in the office.  It's only 6:45 as I type this, but as soon as I post this, I'm going to take my bath, get on my comfy pajamas, and fix me a good stiff drink and settle down to watch some of the baseball playoffs.  I have some work I should be doing for church, Good Shepherd Security Consulting, and for Zoeller, but I need a break and am doing no work tonight unless opening a bottle or filling a glass is required.

I'm Just That Good

When I woke up this morning, I thought it would be just a normal getting-ready-for work morning.  Nope.  I turned on the Bunn coffee maker and checked email while the coffee was brewing.  As I walked from the back bedroom to the kitchen, I stopped in the family room and picked up the remote to open the garage door.  Just as I picked it up, the electricity went off.  I looked around to see if it was just us, but it was dark up and down the street. 

The first thing I did was make my way carefully to the bookcase where I keep my trusty head light.  I slipped it on my head and with a press of a button we had light.  I got one of the battery lanterns and turned it on and set it on the kitchen table, and then got my coffee and headed back to get dressed for work.  I sat another lantern on the bed and had more than enough light to find a matching pair of brown socks. 

The next obstacle was bit more difficult: getting the garage door open.  But thanks to my Sweet Mother who cleared out some stuff over the weekend, I was able to open the side door fairly easily and squeeze through and open the door with the emergency lever. 

I came back in and woke the 'Rents (and I was sorry to disturb their slumber) and told them what was going on, and left one of the lanterns with them in case they needed it.  I'm pretty sure that they were back to sleep before I had a chance to walk out of the back door and lock it.

I kept my head light on until I got in the Blazer, and then attempted to brush my hair out via the rearview mirror.  I didn't look too bad.  

The stop lights were out up at the big four-way intersection, so I made a U-turn and took a back road to get out on the Greenbelt at a stop light, and then made it to work a few minutes quicker than it would normally take me.  And I was none the worse for wear.  And my socks matched.  You can't ask for much more than that on a Monday.   

Parka Sighting

On the way to church this morning, the 'Rents and I spotted the first parka of the season.  It was spotted sitting on a bench, waiting for the bust. 

Let me be the first to say I'm not dissing this guy for wearing a parka this morning.  At the time we saw him, the temperature was 44 degrees.  That's worthy of any type of winter coat.  But you know I have a fascination with parkas and just wanted to say we saw the first parka of the season.

Electronics Update

I've been trying (key word) to get my music synced over from my iTunes library to the new iPhone and it just wouldn't work.  After messing with it last night and this morning, I had an "a ha" moment and realized it wouldn't sync over because there wasn't enough space on the phone.  It's a 16gb phone, just like my old iPhone, but the new operating system and the phone guts (for lack of a better technical term) takes up a lot more space than the older phones.  So now I can either go through my entire iTunes library of over 1000 songs from CD's I've downloaded and pick and choose what I want on my new phone, or I can say to heck with it and go back up to the AT&T store within the next 10 days and return this one and get a 32gb phone.  I'm not sure what I'll do.  I know, I know - some of you are thinking "Do you really need over 1000 songs on your new iPhone, Puddin?"  But it's my phone and if want to have over 1000 songs on there, I can.  But I do know one thing.  Right now, I need to take a break from looking at iTunes. 

Flashback Friday

I know I've said this a few times previously on Flashback Fridays, but I will say it again.  I would love to be back in a simpler place and time without all of the electronic crap that I have.  This is day three of not being able to get my music synced from iTunes to my new iPhone 5S.  It beats the hell out of me. 

Back in the day, all I would have to worry about would be if I had fresh batteries for my cassette recorder/radio.  For the past three days I've been racking my brain over how to get my music library transferred over from iTunes to my new iPhone.  It sure ain't easy. 

Getting My Just Rewards

It's been a good week for getting free stuff at the stores that I frequent.  Thanks to customer reward cards, surveys on the back of fast-food receipts, and store coupons, I've gotten some great freebies this week. 

1.  Three Musketeers Mini's

2.  Egg McMuffin

3.  A bottle of Snapple

4.  Marie Callender's Chicken Pot Pie

5.  A big bag of Doritos

6.  A dozen Grade A large eggs

7.  $5 BP gift card

Technology Updates

We've had some technology issues here at The Compound for a few days.  Last Friday, I discovered that my desktop computer crapped out.  I tried (key word) to install a wireless keyboard and mouse, and in doing so, rendered all of the mouses (sorry - I know that's bad grammar) inoperable.  I took the computer back to the shop on Saturday, and picked it back up last night.  I love this place - when they made the computer for me, it me, it came with a lifetime warranty; all I pay for is labor.  So it only cost me $20 to get it back up and running.  And in the meanwhile, I traded in my iPhone 4S for an awesome5S.  It was a deal too good to be true.  The phone was $99, and they gave me a $200 credit for trading in my 4S.  They took the $99 cost of the phone off of the card, so it really didn't cost me anything.

Tonight, I'm back in my zone.  I'm getting ready to sync the new iPhone with my iTunes library so I can be back in business.