Window Shopper

Where we live, a trip to Walmart could actually be the high point of the week although, frankly, I hope not. And as the old joke goes, if we find ourselves at Wally it must be Monday. Actually, as you know, it’s Wednesday, meaning we took an extra trip this week.

You know, I would love to take the time to go to a nice jewelry shop and at least look at some real luxury watches because I really believe that they would look terrific on my wrist. However, at Wally, we picked up a band so that it will fit my wrist better and got a battery for the one I own now. Of course, it was a gift from my Mom so there is no way I would give that up. But I can look, can’t I?

Okay, this story is from so many years ago, many of you were not even born when this happened. ROFL! I was at a carnival in Michigan at a time when the weather was really getting bad. I was working there selling tickets for a double ferris wheel, two in fact. What that looks like is a ferris wheel on each end of a long pole, smaller wheels that turned and the whole thing turned as well. They were side by side and very impressive.

The rides were going very well during the day but in the evening the rain, which had held off all day, suddenly started to get very serious. Usually, when that happens, the owners shut down the rides until the bad weather is over, sometimes closing the midway altogether. However, this time, they did not have the time to do so. All of a sudden, I heard a cracking right overhead. Then, a rain of glass on top of my ticket booth. It was getting pretty bad. I wanted to run to get away but the glass was too intense.

Then, I heard the brakes on the ride start to seize up on both ferris wheels. The brakes were wet and when that happens, the brakes sometimes stop and sometimes do not. In this case the brakes were on both sides of the ride, one was working and one wasn’t. The ride tilted sideways, then the other one did the same. The glass was coming from the florescent bulbs that were numerous on the sides of the rides. About that time, some cables began to give away. I was so scared that the people on the rides wouldn’t be able to get down in time.

The ride jock was working as hard as he could to get the people out, many of them children. Slowly but surely, the rides were becoming empty. They had another threat that no one wanted to think about but was extremely possible. The storm was bringing in lightning and the rides are so tall that they would make excellent lightning rods. We were blessed and so were all the people. A couple of them had some glass on them but everyone got off the ride without injury thanks to the ride jocks who knew their jobs.

I was watching Good Morning America the other day when they had this sort of challenge among the anchors on who had the best Mac and Cheese. As I watched it, I found it to be funny as all get out. They asked a couple of people from the audience to go up and taste test the four possibilities, one from Chris Cuomo, one from Diane Sawyer, a dish from Robin Roberts and a dish from their weather guy, Sam Champion. All looked like they had really good mac and cheese dishes but the truth would come out at the taste test.

The people they brought up were a mom and young girl, age 5. They actually all thought that their dishes would be good. When the girl tasted Chris’s dish, she gave a really bad face. LOL! The other three were apparently good but the best turned out to be Robin’s dish which was the healthiest of the bunch anyway due to her recent bouts with health problems. But the topper that was so funny was when visiting star, John Schneider tasted the dish Chris had made himself, he said that it tasted like mac, cheese and old socks!!! LOL!! That did it.

Personally, I happen to like the mac and cheese I make as well as the dish my sister has made in the past. Both of ours are well liked by all who taste them and that’s as good as it gets!!!

My dispatcher told me that I had a load that went to Nevada. Then, I had only been in Nevada a couple of times. Apparently, the company I worked for trusted me to go there (They did not always trust drivers going into Nevada so those people did not get a money draw when headed in that direction). But this load was going to Vegas, baby!

I really do like Vegas. After a while, I do get bored though. At first, I loved every blinking light I saw, every casino, every wedding chapel around. Before that, I had only seen the Strip on television and in movies. It was amazing. The Vegas hotels were all over the place, up and down the street. If you did not know where you were going, you would get lost in the lights and signs. Of course, I stayed in a hotel with a casino. It had parking for trucks. Very smart of the owners. The hotel was really cheap because they wanted you to gamble and see the shows. I did. It was awesome. And when I left, I still had my money in my pocket because I decided before I got there just how much I wanted to spend. That was all. I was happy. I had fun.

We are living in an area that is very peaceful, nice, has loads of trees. The neighbors on one side are sort of noisy but not all the time. It’s a rental property. People come and go, sometimes in the middle of the night. We don’t even hear them moving in or out. No, we are not deaf. They are simply quiet…well, until they get moved in. Then they like to bang, bang, bang the doors on their cars, the house…whatever. We have had shots fired next door a couple of times. Those times, the police came and hauled someone away. That was a few months ago. After that, the people moved out and someone else moved in. Sigh.

On the other side, those folks haven’t been home for at least a couple of years. I hear that they moved about 150 miles away. The house stands empty, no one there at all. The people across the street are relatively new. They have only been there about a year and a half. There have been shots fired over there too. The junior high aged kid shot fireworks at our house, hit our door and walls a few times.

We don’t talk to our neighbors anymore. When we first moved in, we did talk to them but no longer. In fact, the ones next door and across the street are complete strangers to us. We like to keep it that way. However, I do find it to be a problem if we actually needed someone or some help of any kind. I am doubtful that they would be pleased to help us. You know what? If it gets any worse, I think we should call a real estate agent and find a way to change our location, sort of like in the witness protection thing only we won’t be protected, just moved. Yes, I like that idea. Wonder what it will be like in the new neighborhood.

I found this brand new tee shop on the net! I wanted to mention it to you since I love t-shirts, especially one with a good message. My preference is for Christian and faith based tees so these are going to be some of my favs, I already know it! They have awesome messages. Lots of tees to choose from.

So, time to check out that brand new shop online, it’s Followmetees.com to get those really great tees. Hey, if you can’t find your size other places, this place has it. They go from adult small to 3X in a variety of colors. I love it!!! So will you.

Yesterday, the fight for the Super Bowl prize went a step toward the winner. The Patriots won against the Chargers and the Giants were the winners against the Packers. I wanted to see the Packers against the Patriots. That would have been an awesome game. However, the game that will be fought on Feb. 3rd is going to be as good, I am certain.

We will be gearing up to watch the show ourselves. It promises to be a great match. But we have to get the right supplies for the game. Watching this on television has it’s major advantages to being at the game, you know. There you are at the game. If you have nosebleed section tickets, you can hardly see anything. But if you happen to be at home, watching on your big screen TV, seeing those guys thrashing it out on the field just like they have been taking testosterone boosters, tackling the guy with the ball. Yes, I admit it. I am a female who loves football but doesn’t do that great a job recapping the game. Sigh. So, I’m just going to go get the Cheetos and Pringles to squirrel away for the big date.

Today, we found out that there might be some rain and freezing rain in our forecast for tonight. I absolutely hate that possibility. In the past, I have had some pretty hair raising events associated with ice on the roads. And a few years ago, we had the ice storm from hell. It took out our electricity overnight and kept us from staying warm. Now, I know that many would say Waaa since they have had power out for longer but regardless of how much time it’s off, it’s distressing.

Possible ice storms and freezing rain make me think of a couple of times that I was wishing I had paid more attention to the term life insurance quotes I got from my insurance agent. Why? Because one of those times, I ended up on an icy patch of road after taking my husband to work. The car started to spin out of control. When you are on ice, you don’t have a whole lot of ways to change it. I tried but nothing worked. I ended up down in a ditch behind a barbwire fence. No idea how I got that way since there did not appear to be any place I could slip under the fence.

Some very kind people came along. One offered their cel phone. One offered to help me get out of the ditch even before calling a tow truck. It worked. They drove the car out of the ditch with little problem. See, by the time these wonderful people came along, the slippery spot melted. It really did not take long. The temp went up significantly right after my spin out.

It was really scary but I have to say that it was with God’s help that I was not hurt nor was the car damaged in any way. I thank God for it all!!!

This Friday and Saturday, ABC family channel has some pretty nice movies that they are offering. And for once, they aren’t so bad that we decided to watch them. On Friday, they had two cheerleading movies called “Bring It On”, “Bring It On Again” on Friday night. Tonight they showed “Bring It On: All Or Nothing”. Each of these movies represents an amazing amount of time and effort by girls and guys who are the unsung heroes of their schools.

These people are athletes just as much as the football players and the basketball players. They work incredibly hard to do what they do. And if the squad is good enough, they go to the national finals in Cheerleading. Tomorrow night, they will be airing a new cheerleading movie called “Bring It On: In It To Win It”.

Most of the time, it’s very difficult to have a secure network all the time, especially if they happen to be in remote locations, right? And when you have that secure network, is it consistently connected? Usually, the network does not stay secure nor does it work consistently because what you need is scarce. The solution to your problem is security management and it comes from a company called Uplogix.

This company has the product that will allow you to monitor connectivity through virtual administration, the ability to remotely fix problems and give you the secure management tool that you need. Even if the primary network connection is gone, you can bring it back online with the tools available through Uplogix.