That's my jacket!

George and I went to the ballet last night and saw the Magic Flute. I wore my new black slacks and my favorite jacket. Its aqua with shiny metal buttons and little pockets on the placket. I wear it a lot. We got there in enough time to go to the restrooms before the curtain went up. There is nothing to hurry you out of the ladies room like the smell of windsong and old lady farts.

We had really good seats in row G so we were pretty close to the stage. As we got settled in, I noticed the man sitting right in front of me had obviously had major ear surgery. I don't know what kind requires you to wear a soup bowl padded with cotton strapped to your head, but that's what he had on. It reminded of Princess Leia's hair.

I sat next to a man who fell asleep right off. He kept snorting, and wheezing a little so I thought of him as a wookie. He woke up when the fireworks went off.

I really enjoyed the show, it was a real bargain, three performances for one ticket. The ballet, the orchestra and the chorale from U of L. They were all really good. I just love Mozart even if according to Emperor Joseph II his music does have too many notes.

The costumes were gorgeous. I really liked the contrast between the sirens and the navigators. The blend of punk and baroque was great. I loved the velvet robe on Sarastro. I would love to wear stuff like that.

About a third of the way through the first act, as I was looking around Princess Leia, the character of Papageno made his entrance. The dancer was excellent and his costume was gorgeous. He wore red and orange pants and a really cool aqua colored jacket. I liked his jacket right off. It had shiny metal buttons and cute little pockets. He had the sleeves rolled up too. Then it hit me. That's my jacket! Papageno shops at Coldwater Creek!

Who is answering these polls?

From the recent South Carolina beauty pageant: "Recent polls have shown that 1/5th of Americans can't locate the US on a world map..." Who are they asking? Beauty pageant entrants? Pre-schoolers?

Matthew could identify the US in kindergarten, they even had to draw what the US looked like. So if they asked a pre-schooler I can see a negative response. But come on, who else are they asking?

I imagine the pollers are out at the mall stopping people with seeing eye dogs. "Excuse me sir, can you look at this map and tell me where the US is?" "What map? I can't see it, I'm blind."
"OK, that's a negative then."

Or they ask a bunch of drunks at a bar "How long ago was 9/11?" They expect a good answer from a bunch of drunks? Nobody could remember how long ago it was, but they all knew what Brad and Angelina named their kids.

Gary Roedemeier calls all the time and asks me to respond to polls. I always give him my opinion. He thinks my opinion is important. (this just fries George, I think its because someone else likes my opinions.) I try to give thoughtful and informed responses. Polls are important.

As for the rest of you, what is wrong with you people?

What did you really intend?

I process rent checks for my Mom's property management firm. This means when someone is late paying, I get to call and remind them they are late. It's pretty simple, all of our leases are the same. Rent is due on the first of each and every month. We say that a lot when the renter comes in to sign their new lease. If we don't get the rent by the 5th, we charge a late fee. I send out late letters on the 6th to remind everyone that hasn't paid yet.

The letter is pretty basic, pretty much what you would expect if you are a little late paying something. Around the 10th of the month, I start calling everyone who still hasn't paid. This is where things get interesting.

This month I called and left a message for a new renter, they just moved in during August. So September was their first month to send in rent. Not good to be late on the first months rent.

She called back and said she didn't appreciate getting a late letter. I explained about rent is due on the first of each and every month. She said: "I intended to be late this month, but if your going to send letters and call me, I'll just go ahead and pay now." Wow, how nice of you to pay your rent! I guess that whole talk we had about rent being due on the first kinda slipped by her.

I wish I had said "We didn't intend to rent to a delinquent" but I am trying to not be quite so sarcastic. I hear its better for my health.

What is wrong with you people?

Burger CSI

This story made me think of 2 things. This first was when I had to scrape all the lemon pepper off Matthew's fish the other night. He couldn't eat it with all the spices. He's 6, so I scraped, the 15 year old, had to eat the spices anyway.

The second thing is do you really think the guys at the crime lab are really testing that burger? Don't they have some murder to solve or something? That's a real good use of taxpayer money.


UNION CITY, Ga. - A McDonald's employee spent a night in jail and is facing criminal charges because a police officer's burger was too salty, so salty that he says it made him sick.

Kendra Bull was arrested Friday, charged with misdemeanor reckless conduct and freed on $1,000 bail.Bull, 20, said she accidentally spilled salt on hamburger meat and told her supervisor and a co-worker, who "tried to thump the salt off." On her break, she ate a burger made with the salty meat. "It didn't make me sick," Bull told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

But then Police Officer Wendell Adams got a burger made with the oversalted meat, and he returned a short time later and told the manager it made him sick.

Bull admitted spilling salt on the meat, and Adams took her outside and questioned her, she said."If it was too salty, why did (Adams) not take one bite and throw it away?" said Bull, who has worked at the restaurant for five months. She said she didn't know a police officer got one of the salty burgers because she couldn't see the drive-through window from her work area.

Police said samples of the burger were sent to the state crime lab for tests.City public information officer George Louth said Bull was charged because she served the burger "without regards to the well-being of anyone who might consume it."



Thanks to Sue Bione-Grevious for the article.

Car rider line nazi

I just took my 6 year old, Matthew, to school. He goes to a traditional program school, they stress discipline, academics and patriotism. They stress following the rules. We like that, so that's why we sent our sons there.

In the car rider drop off line, things are supposed to be simple, you enter the lot, turn left, choose a line (there are only 2 ), and wait your turn. The security guard signals you when to let your kid out, and when to move to the exit line. You stay in your car, your kid gets out and goes to school. Its simple, safe and effective. It should only take 5 minutes tops. If everyone follows the rules.

This morning things were worse than usual. We have always had a few people who didn't follow the rules. Parked in the middle, walked their kids across the flow of traffic, that sort of thing. Not too bad usually. Not today. Today it was chaos. Parents were trying to back out of the car rider line, driving against the flow of traffic, letting kids out in the middle of the lot. It felt like chaos to me. I hate that.

The principal came out as I was leaving to try and restore order. I didn't envy her job right then.

What is wrong with you people? Just follow the rules, sheesh, its not hard!

I am trying to not hate panhandlers

I was at the grocery store yesterday, back by the Popsicles, when a large older man asked me for money. He said: "Do you have any spare cash I can have?" I said: "No, I don't, sorry." I hate when people ask me for money.

I finished my shopping and went to the check out lines, the man was at the customer service counter trying to get cash back from a gift card. I watched him as he approached about six people in the self scan line. You could see his progress of disruption as people moved around him to either avoid him or get out of his way.

He came over to the line I was in and began to question the fellow bagging groceries, he then moved up the aisle to the lady in front of me unloading her cart. He wanted her to use his gift card and give him her cash. She refused.

He pushed past her and took a hold of my cart, he asked me the same, would I use his gift card and give him the cash. I said: "No, sorry, I can't help you right now."
By now I was more than a little irritated, he was disrupting a crowded, slow grocery check out. All I wanted to do was pay for my stuff and go home. I am sure most of the people checking out heard me say : " Can't the office help you with that?"

One of the managers heard me and came over to shoo the guy out of the store. As soon as he left, I began to regret not helping him out. What if he needed the money for his electric bill? Or to catch up his rent or something.

At home, I told my husband how awful I was feeling. I hate that feeling you get after something happens, that you could have made a difference if you had acted differently. I thought I had missed my chance to do a good deed.

My hubby said that the guy probably wanted the money for liquor or drugs, churches and other organizations give out gift cards to people who come in asking for food. But you can't use them for liquor or cigarettes. He didn't seem to mind that I didn't enable this man.
That's why I love him. My husband that is, not the panhandler.