The Naked Ladies Finally Appeared

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

It Happened Again, Again

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

Flashback Friday A Day Early

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

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

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

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

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

Who Doesn't Want A Blizzard?

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

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

. . . And That One Time At Summer Camp

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

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

Monday, Monday

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

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

Link Of The Week

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