Two In A Row

I am very happy to report that this is the second day in a row that I walked a mile.  There were a dozen excuses and reasons I could have made not to walk this evening, but I didn't.  I just got out and did my walk.

Tomorrow, I hope to post "Three In A Row."

I'll keep you posted.

Happy Sunday

I don't really have a lot to report today, other than I walked about a mile this evening.  That's something new to report.  And I'm already feeling tired from it, but at least I did it.  That was one mile more than I walked yesterday.

My plan is to walk again after work tomorrow in the air conditioned comfort of my big office building.  And my plan is to walk every day after work. 

I'll keep you posted. 

Public Service Announcement

To my faithful readers that are on Facebook:

1. James Earl Jones did not die this week.  
2. Willie Nelson is not dead, either.
3. On Thursday, Mars was not visibly as big as earth, nor will it ever be. 
4. Oakley and Ray-Ban will never sell you their expensive glasses for $29.99 or less. 
5. Krogers is not giving away $200 gift cards.  Well, they'll give you one if you give them $200, but you get  
    my point. 
6. A little boy (or girl) in a hospital bed with tubes and IVs connected is not going to get a free heart  
    transplant if the Facebook post gets 100 "likes". 

The moral of this post is to please, please, please check before you share a post on FB.

Happy Birthday, Shania Twain

TWIT would like to wish Shania Twain a very happy birthday.  The awesome singer is 50 years young today. 

I will go on record as saying I do not know anyone that looked this good when they turned 50.  Just saying. 

Keep up the great work, Shania! 

So Happy It's Thursday

(You put together the capital letters). 

Today was the worst day I've had at work in all of my 26+ years there.  If I didn't have a student loan, I  probably would have quit today.  

I'm thankful for my strong Daddy who talked me down from the ledge this morning. 

I'm praying for strength for tomorrow and next week.  I pray that I will keep my  mouth shut and not say what I truly feel. 

Happy National Dog Day

On National Dog Day, TWIT would like to recognize the best dog that I ever had the pleasure of knowing, Rocky. 

He left us a couple of years ago, but there is not a day that goes by that me, the Rents, and others here in the area of The Compound don't think of him.  I still think you should be standing at the back porch door with your tail wagging, waiting for one of us to open the door to the house and let you in.

Rocky wasn't officially our dog, but he almost never left my Sweet Mother's side.  When she was outside while he was outside, he was right by her side every step she took.  And when he would come to the house to visit, he was still always by her side. 

We still miss you, Rocky.  You were definitely one of a kind, and can never be replaced.  Thank you for your faithful and loyal service to all of us that loved you.  

Something You Don't See Every Day

I just got back from my almost-daily trip to Krogers, and tonight while checking out, I noticed something that I hadn't seen before.  It was a machine the size of an ATM that gave you cash for your old cell phone.  I didn't look at the fine print, so I don't know if they only give you cash for iPhones or new phones or what, but I was definitely intrigued.  I wonder how much they'd give me for my ancient Nokia flip phone?

Monday, Monday

It was a long Monday.  I was at work at 6:30 to get the work done that I was not able to get done over the weekend.   And when the IT kids got in at 8:00, one of them was downstairs in a flash and fixed my laptop in about 30 seconds.  She also gave me her cell number and told me to call her if had any trouble connecting to the network at night or on weekends. 

But everything was keyed in as it should have been, and all was right in the Production Scheduling Department.  

We'll see how things are tomorrow.

I Need A Nap And A Monster

It was a great weekend until about an hour ago.  

I stopped by the office yesterday to pick up some inventory counts to key in this afternoon at home on my work laptop.  After we ate a late lunch and a short nap, I was rested and ready to get all of the work done.  Wrong.  I wasn't able to connect to the company network.  Everything was fine two weeks ago when I brought it home to do the same inventory work on a Saturday evening, but since then something had changed.  I tried everything I could think of and it still wouldn't connect.  So this means I'll have to go in early early tomorrow to get all of the inventory adjustments keyed in before my department gets there on OT at 7:00 to key in production and other things from where the factory worked mandatory OT on Saturday.  Believe me when I tell you I am already dreading having to get to work at 6:00.  I'm going to run to the store right now and get a can of Monster in preparation for feeling sleepy tomorrow.

Foggy Morning Update

Early in the week, we had a fog move in, and yesterday morning just as the sun was coming up, a major fog moved in.  This brings us up to 6 foggy mornings.  

Stay tuned.  We'll keep you posted. 

The Streak Starts Over

I can't remember the exact reason, but last year was the first year in my life that I did not go to the state fair. I've thought about it over the past few days and couldn't come up with a real reason why I didn't go, other than I just didn't want to.  But the streak starts over with 2015 and my trip to the fair yesterday.   It's on.

Way To Go, Diva Stacy!

TWIT would like to congratulate Diva Stacy on winning a blue ribbon for her pear preserves entry in the Kentucky State Fair!  This is her first try at entering anything in the fair.  

I can testify that her pear preserves rock.  The 'Rents and I are fortunate to be on her list of regulars for the preserves.  

I'm happy that I was with her today at the fair when we saw that she won First Place!
 

Another [Not Really] Non-Word Overheard

Background:

It's a running joke at work about our coworker Grandmother always burning her microwave popcorn.  In fact a couple of years ago, she burnt the bag so bad that it set off the fire alarms and the local fire department showed up.  Hand to heaven, the fire department showed up.

Today, someone else burned their microwave popcorn, and Grandmother emailed All Employees to tell us all that she was not the guilty party. 

We all had a good laugh about this, and we were reminiscing about when the firemen showed up a couple of years ago, one even carrying a big ax.  Someone was fast-thinking and was able to get some pictures of Grandmother with the ax-wielding fireman.  HH, another coworker, spoke up today and said (and I quote) "She probably looked up and thought 'This must be an Instagram."

In case you haven't figured it all out by now, HH meant to say "Stripper-gram".  

Faithful readers, I don't make this stuff up.

Another [Not Really] Non-Word Overheard

I'm telling on myself today, faithful readers.  I hope you laugh about this as much as we did around the lunch table at work today.  

Another [not really] non-word overheard and spoken by me:

"I can't believe Good Housekeeping wants $65 for a year's prescription."  

Yep, I said it.  And we all had a good laugh about it. 

Monday, Monday

I will be first to admit that when I got to work this morning, I was in a foul mood.  And it made it even worse due to the fact that nothing really happened to put me in a foul mood.  I was in an unnecessary foul mood.

But I give majah props to my friend/coworker/faithful reader SDF for making me laugh, and that laughter pulled me out of my mood.  Actually, I need to thank SDF and Diana Ross.  Nuff said.
 

Hogzilla Update

We received some very interesting news this weekend here at The Compound.  To recap the Hogzilla hunt of 2015, Dad shot one ground hog about a month ago.  We didn't think it was Hogzilla, but it was a pesky ground hog, nonetheless.  Two weeks ago when Mom was doing her daily walk around The Compound perimeter, she saw a ground hog in full rigor mortise. We all assumed that Good Old Butch from three houses up had shot it.  We were wrong.  We discovered this weekend that Nicky Boy next door is to be commended for ridding The Compound of a total of five ground hogs in the past two weeks.  The latest one met his demise yesterday, and according to Dad, it could be Hogzilla.  They didn't measure it but Dad said it was huge.  

Keep up the good work, Nicky Boy.   Thanks to your efforts, Dad might be able to set out sweet potatoes without having to worry about the ground hogs eating the plants like last year.

Something You Don't Hear Every Day

This was posted on the PRP (my hood) FB page, and I quote:

"Anybody know where I can get my GED at?"

P.S.  Anyone that even remotely knows me will know how much that post went right through me. 

Here Come The Naked Ladies

File Under: WTF?

Late Tuesday/early Wednesday, our local Thornton's gas stations released reports that due to a problem at one of their refineries, there would be an increase in gas prices.  They sure weren't lying.  Wednesday on my way to work, Thornton's gas was $2.39 a gallon.  Yesterday when I went home from work, it was $2.99.  This morning on my way to work it was still $2.99.  This afternoon on my way home from work it was down to $2.49.

I don't even know where to start to ask the questions I have about this.  All I'll say is WTF?

How Low Can You Go?

TWIT would like to publicly shame anyone at Zoeller Company, my place of employment, that came into the first floor lunchroom today and took a World's Finest chocolate bar and didn't pay for it.  How low can you go? Stealing a dollar candy bar from a sweet little girl that is selling them to raise money for her softball team??  

Whoever took it, I hope that you get 87 kinds of bad karma from this.  

Foggy Mornings Confirmed

I did some checking and it is confirmed that we've had 4 foggy mornings so far in the vicinity of The Compound.  So as of today, the Farmer's Almanac says we'll have at least 4 snows this winter.  We're only on August 11, so we've got 20 days to go, and I'm sure we'll have some more foggy mornings.  And for the record, we're in the beginning of Blackberry Winter.  Only this year, it won't be nearly as cool as Blackberry Winters in the past.  They're only calling for lows this week in the low- to mid-60's, but for the record, it counts as Blackberry Winter.

Stay tuned.  You know I'll keep you posted.

Another Foggy Morning, Sorta

According to the old school Farmer's Almanac, for every foggy morning in August there will be a snow in the winter.  

As of today, August 10, there have been 4 foggy mornings here at The Compound.  We're keeping track, and will post updates in August, and in the winter to see if the counts are correct.

As always, stay tuned. 

Just What I Needed

On my way to Diva Stacy's today, I stopped at my local Circle K to pick up some Bud Lights to take over.  There was only one clerk working, and a pretty long line.  In front of me was a 6 or 7 year old little girl, along with what I thought were her two younger brothers.  They had asked the clerk about the 30 cent Lays bags of chips, only to find that the clerk said they didn't have them.  They each had a Polar Pop, and the girl had a few other things.  Just as the clerk was getting ready to wait on the little girl, another clerk came back from her break and opened the other check-out lane.  I stayed put.  

The clerk checked out the little girl, and said she was 29 cents short.  The little girl was upset.  I told the clerk I would pay for it.  The little girl said "thank you" four times.  I paid for my Bud Light and gave an additional 29 cents, and then came out to get in my Blazer, only to find the little girl and the two little boys waiting outside of the store.  They thanked me again, and each of them gave me a hug. 

I got in the Blazer, and had to wait a few minutes before I left so I could get myself together and stop crying. This is what it's about, people.  

New Product Review

TWIT conducted a taste test today on Lay's new New York Reuben flavored potato chips. Ten coworkers and I taste-tested these today, and the general consensus is that we were all not impressed.

Personally, the only outstanding flavor I could taste was the Thousand Island dressing flavor.  The majority of my coworkers that tasted the chips said that they could taste the rye-bread flavor.  One co-worker said they tasted like Arby's.

All in all, I will have to give this an official Thumb's Down from TWIT.  I am very sure that I won't buy these again. 

What Did We Do Before Facebook?

Today in TWIT, we start a recurring post titled "What Did We Do Before Facebook?"  I'm pretty sure you will find it self-explanatory. 

What did we do before Facebook . . . when we ate a meal out at a restaurant?

Back in the day, we just ate the meal. Period.  Today, people have to take at least three pictures of the meal and post them all on Facebook so everyone can see what they ate.  People also have to "check in" from the restaurant, so they can tell all of their FB friends where they ate.  It really makes no sense. 

Public Service Announcement

Public service announcement to faithful readers:

Let the buyer beware.  Last night, I bought a box of these - Moon Pie ice cream treats.  The box said marshmallow ice cream filling, but it was not.  These tasted like you'd taken a regular banana flavored Moon Pie and stuck it in the freezer.  

The box wasn't cheap - $4.99 for six.  But I love banana Moon Pies, so I got suckered in. 

It was ok - but like I said, it tasted just like a regular Moon Pie that had been stuck in the freezer.  I won't buy them again.  The next time, I will buy a cheaper box of regular Moon Pies and put them in the freezer.  I'm pretty sure they will taste the same. 

Thank You, Verizon

TWIT and I would like to publicly thank Verizon Wireless today for their awesome service and coverage.  When most of the state of Kentucky had lost their AT&T service, Verizon was still going strong.   Keep up the good work and I will quit bitching about you not lowering my rates.

Link of the Week

For the past week or so, the 'Rents and I have gotten a kick out of seeing the International Space Station (ISS) as it flies over The Compound.  The awesome folks at NASA have provided a site where you can enter your location and get two weeks worth of viewing opportunities for your area.  Visit http://spotthestation.nasa.gov/sightings/ and start looking.

Something You Don't Hear Every Day

I stopped at the Krogers on my way home from my weekly visit at Diva Stacy's to pick up a few things.  As I was walking through the store, a woman was in front of me talking on a cell phone.  From what I heard, she was talking about someone in jail, because she asked the following, and I quote:

" Did you tell me his right inmate number?"

Farewell, Lynn Anderson

I was saddened last night when I heard that country singer Lynn Anderson had died.  She was only 67 years old.  She was famous for having one of the biggest hits of the early 70's, "Rose Garden."

I am proud to say that Lynn Anderson was the first celebrity that I got an autograph from.  She is on page one in my old school autograph book, which I keep in one of our fire-proof boxes.  I remember meeting her just as it if was yesterday.  She was singing at the rodeo at the Kentucky State Fair in the summer of 1971.  She was on a horse, getting ready to ride around the arena before singing, and I walked right up to her, held up my little autograph book and a pen and asked if I could have her autograph. I told her that she was one of my favorite country singers and that I played her "Rose Garden" album all the time.  She got down off of the horse, signed my book, and gave me a hug.  

Rest in peace, Lynn Anderson.