Just when you think you need to invest in Handbaskets...

....here is a very short story that might change your mind.

Brendan and I ventured to the Brighthouse cable offices on Saturday to exchange our regular cable dvr box from the bedroom for an HD version. I won't relate how much we pay for our monthly cable bill, but we feel like it's worth it to us, because we enjoy television, work in television, and really appreciate the pretty pictures that are HD. But we were joking about how our already-high cable bill was about to go up a few more dollars due to getting a 2nd HD box.

So we do the exchange, and all of a sudden the lovely lady behind the counter informs us that they are running some kind of promotion that we qualify for (undoubtedly the "Let's Give a Few Dollars Off to the Suckers Who Actually Are Signing Up for All These Cruddy Stations We Keep Throwing Up There" promotion), and so, as a result, our cable bill would actually be DROPPING by about $20!

Now, not being born yesterday (pausing here for Eric to insert his requisite joke about my age), I immediately asked "how long does this promotion last?" Figuring it'll be 3 months, tops.

And the Lovely Lady Behind the Counter replied that it was for a full year. Which - HUZZAH! I'll take it!!

She then asked if we had the proper HDMI cables for the new box. Both Brendan and I started hemming and hawing, sensing this was the part where she tried to sell us the special "Brighthouse Recommended" HDMI cables for probably the cost of what we'd be saving on the special promotion we'd just gotten in on. But then Lovely Lady Behind the Counter interrupted and said "rather than have you buy something, we can just give you these."

And voila! We walked out of there with our shiny new HD box, a savings of about $240 for the year, and free HDMI cables.

I really wish stuff like THAT would happen a lot more often in Life.

Why didn't I go into the Handbasket busines?

More and more, each and every day, I see how the world is going to hell in that scarce commodity. I coulda been rich.
Since I previously had the good fortune of having a secretary handle my menial tasks, I never really learned to do some of them myself... Like faxing... So when I retired, I didn't have a fax machine, so I got  a good scanner and some computer software and it handled all of my faxing quite nicely. Now, however, I purchased an all in one printer. My first attempt at faxing had me scouring the manual looking in vain for an instruction as to how to insert the paper to be faxed... face up or face down. Nowhere... I repeat... NOWHERE in that manual of 14 or so different languages did the engineers down at Hewlett Packard think to insert that simple phrase of "Insert paper face up" (or "face down") as the case may be. Instead they just draw these cutesy little designs on the device itself and assume that everyone can interpret what it denotes. Well, I could not. I doubt that they did this with the thought of saving ink or paper space in the manual of 18 different languages.... I mean, I know all about my printer, copier, faxer scanner in English, German, Mandarin, Sanskrit, Sumerian and 23 other languages.... some probably so ancient as  to more properly described as runes. Well, I know most all about my printer, copier, faxer scanner, but not how to properly insert the paper. So not being an engineer, I  printed a cover sheet on the reverse side of my printing and just faxed both sides. Take that, Hewlett Packard.

Doctors, Diagnoses, and Dope

Thank the maker for all of the above, and Mom and Dad. I started feeling under the weather about a week ago, and attributed it to my vigorous work out at Jump Rope For Heart. Well, two days later, my muscles were back to feeling better, but a cold seemed to emerge...darn kids! Anyhow, three nights ago I was up a few times with tickling cough and sinus...despite being under the control of good old Nyquil. The morning junk turned into evening junk, and by Thursday evening, I couldn't go 10-15minutes without waking myself up with coughing. Despite my mothers lack of confidence in my knowledge of what to do, I tried everything from a steamy shower room, to various sleeping positions. Needless to say, by Friday morning, if God said, "Let's go", I would have said, "OK, you win!" However, then there is my wonderful wife with her push to get me to call the doctor. Well, after my morning routine with the boys, and shopping trips to Meijer and Sams, I tried to sleep when Jimmy slept...after I put stuff away, of course. "MAN, am I stubborn, eh?" The nap time went as the night time did, and after almost two hours of attempted sleep, I felt even worse when Jim came into my room. I relented, and called the doctor. They had one opening, and because of my WONDERFUL parents, I was able to take the appointment, and get this thing resolved.
I told the doctor that, despite having gotten a flu shot, if I had a fever, I'd swear I had the flu. She said, "well, you do have a fever." She proceeded to write me three scripts to treat two different infections and my cough. THANK THE MAKER!!! By nightfall I was able to have taken a nap and felt 80% better. This morning, "I feel like a June bride"...and I guess I'm the only one who knows how she feels....he he he!!!
Moral of the story: When wife tells you to do something. Listen to her and be grateful. Thanks again mom and dad:)

Ashes to ashes....

....Dust to dust.... Really ground in dirt to really ground in dirt...

It is Lent and for the next 40 days or so, I have the opportunity to do an easy diet. It just comes naturally with the season, so I will see if I  can take that final 10 pounds off.

It's spelled "Chile," you Doofus!

This is unbelievable! People are getting dumber. The general manager of the Chilean Mint got let go when it was discovered that he allowed a 50 Peso coin be minted with the country spelled "C-H-I-I-E" . ...and aren't there other employees at the mint that look at what is coming off the line? He needs to get a spelling checker.

One Leg At A Time

Just rooting around through pictures and videos and came across this one from March of 09. It just makes me laugh and laugh. One has to wonder what might have happened if Katie had not helped him out...

Grease and Grime

I cannot beliecve the yellow stains than cover the trays inside of our toaster oven... The inside of the oven does not have them... only the removable trays.... and even with a  great effort, they still resist  coming off... but eventually they do. There must be some typoe of cleaner to use on this (comet or 409 don't do anything) like the patina remover for silver. I finally got one tray clean and got tired, so I am now soaking the other in hot water and soap, but it does not seem to be doing anything. Anybody have any ideas... Meems says it is just smoke and grease, but I think it is something else reacting with this metal... Maybe a blowtorch...

Time marches on...

So much for Groundhogs and New Years and Christmas and Thanksgiving and .... well you all get the idea. And next comes Ash Wednesday and Lent and to  be perfectly honest about it, I am looking forward to any excuse to get back on some sort of diet and right eating. Thankfully, I am not that far off my ideal mark, nevertheless.... and if we do it  right, we can all enjoy Easter without fear.
Chatting with Kirsten, I recalled for some reason the old children's game of chanting the progress of the black plague...

"Ring around the Rosie...

A pocket full of posies...

Ashes, ashes, we all fall down."

Kids!

St. Anthony comes through again!

He never fails me, and I continue to be astounded and amazed at his consistency. I have been looking for items and torn my house apart, to no avail, then stopped and remembered to pray to St. Anthony and, literally, within MINUTES, I will find the lost item in question.

Today was a BIGGIE. I asked my coordinator, Melissa, where the footage was from a shoot we did last week with Butch Harmon, who is Phil Mickelson's (among others) coach. She didn't have it. I didn't have it. And if one of US doesn't have it...that ain't good. So she started calling the crew and everyone claimed they gave it to her and that she gave it to me. I absolutely didn't remember being handed a tape and, if I had been, would have put it into my purse or my coat pocket, as I always do. It definitely wasn't in my purse and I knew I had cleaned out my coat pockets after another shoot we had afterwards, so I was panicking. This would be very UNgood if it was lost.

Melissa and I both went out and scoured our cars, just in case. (On a side note, I found, under my car seat, the Treasury of Golden Classics CD that I had been missing for YEARS and had been trying to replace...Lord knows how long it had been out there but I guess I need to clean my car out more often).

I then grabbed my purse and jumped in my car to drive home and search the coat pockets again, even tho I was sure I had emptied them all. I drove home with a sinking feeling, wondering what I was going to tell the client. But before I let myself get too worried about that, I started sending up the ole St. Anthony prayer. And, literally, within minutes of my leaving work, not even halfway home (and I live 6 mins from work), I get a call from Melissa that the tape had been found! Apparently, the Assistant Cameraman had not "handed" her the tape as he claimed, he had tucked it into her computer bag.

I happily turned around and headed back to work, and kissed the tape when I got there. It is now safely off to be transferred to hard drive, and I am left again in awe of the power that is St. Anthony. I also like to think of Uncle Tony being in on that, since his name was Anthony, so it always gives me a smile when I find the item.

Thanks, St. Anthony....Thanks, Uncle Tony. And you can BET I will be 100% sure on each and every shoot that the tapes/disks find their way into MY hands before I walk off the set!!!

Happy Candlemas Day

Tis the midpoint of Winter... halfway between the shortest day of the year and the vernal (spring) equinox. It is also the day before electricity when the people used to bring their candles into church for blessing. And I guess, if you must, it is also Groundhog day. There was time when there was no February... nor January, for that matter. Numa Pompilous added those two months to the Roman Calendar in abouit 700 BCE and changed the calendar from 10  months to 12. Well, if this is the midpoint of winter, I guess it is all downhill now.