May 4, 2008
posted by Shelley
Speaking with professionals of various types of organizations throughout each day, I’ve noticed a trend. You know how sick and tired you get of hearing people tell you to ‘have a nice day?’ I’ve noticed a progressive move to do away with that phrase. Yay! Oh, but wait! I’ve also noticed that at least 60% of those I speak with on the phone end our conversations with, “MAKE it a GREAT day!”
I’m all about the fact that your day is what you make of it, but I’m a realist — I also believe there are those that can royally help f*#k it up too. I don’t need anyone telling me what to make; I’m doing the best I can already. I believe in the power of positive thinking too. I positively think that some throw around so much happy shit that it turns others off (me!!) and voids everything of importance that they might’ve said.
May 4, 2008
Posted by Perry
It was exciting, thrilling, special, and heartbreaking all together. What should have been a celebration over a historical win in the Kentucky Derby turned into a nightmare – a horse was put down after the race.
Eight Belles ran the race of her life, coming in second in her first try against the boys. She showed she belonged in the race, much to her critics chagrin, and earned a special place in the hearts of racing fans. She just didn’t have enough for the winner, Big Brown.
Now for the record – I had picked Pyro. I thought, “He didn’t like the synthetic track”, and that was the reason for his ten lengths defeat in his prior race – I was so wrong. Big Brown made a move that was so spectacular for its finality. When he charged to the lead in the final turn you knew instantly that this race was over.
Big Brown became only the second horse to win the Derby having only three prior races (the first was Regret in 1915). He was the favorite and started from the far outside, again only the second horse to win from there since the gelding Clyde Van Dusen in 1929. He showed with no doubt that he is the best horse in the field. The other contenders had nothing for the big guy – and he knew it.
So its on to the Preakness in two weeks, a win there sets up Big Brown for a chance to be the first Triple Crown winner in thirty years, the last being the great Affirmed in 1978. We’ve had some close calls since then, but something tells me that this horse will get it done. He has it all – tactical speed, power, stamina, and a presence that nullifies his lack of experience. He’s just that much BETTER than the others. His win seemed almost effortless and when he decided to go – he was gone.
What can Brown do for me? Win it all.
May 3, 2008
posted by Shelley
Have you ever noticed how so many people leave things until the last minute? It’s not something that just started yesterday — it’s been driving me crazy for years. Growing up in the grocery store my parents owned, my brother and I spend many hours stocking shelves and checking out valuable customers. Closing time was 9:00 pm. And get this — that’s when our family had dinner…after the grocery store closed. We would watch the clock without a soul in sight from 8:00 pm until about 8:55 pm. Just like clockwork, 1/2 of the burg’s residents would show up for a gallon of milk or a pack of smokes.
I can remember my Dad always greeting everyone with a smile and telling them it was just peachy they waited till the last minute. It made me grumpy. Did those people care that we had lives too? Did they care that we wanted to have dinner (something they most likely had already enjoyed) or that we were tired? Of course not! The only thing on their mind was THEIR needs.
It still makes me grumpy when others wait until the last minute. When I get work sent to me by a client on a Friday afternoon at 5:00 pm, only because they wanted it off of THEIR desk before the weekend, I tell them that it’s all good (after all, I am my father’s daughter.) Inside, my stomach tightens up and my blood pressure makes my heart beat in my throat. Grrrrrrrr….
May 1, 2008
Posted by Perry
I don’t know about most of you, but I love history. I could spend hours watching documentaries on it – everything from World War II to the American Revolution and anything in between. I found this page about what happened in history on this date and thought it would be fun to post it here for other ‘history buffs’ like me. So without further delay, here’s what happened on May 1st in history.
On this date in:
1707 The Kingdom of Great Britain was created as a treaty merging England and Scotland took effect.
1786 Mozart’s opera “The Marriage of Figaro” premiered in Vienna.
1863 The Battle of Chancellorsville begins in Virginia.
1931 The 102-story Empire State Building in New York City was dedicated.
1941 The Orson Welles film “Citizen Kane” premiered in New York.
1948 The People’s Democratic Republic of Korea (North Korea) was proclaimed.
1967 Anastasio Somoza Debayle became president of Nicaragua.
1967 Singer Elvis Presley married Priscilla Beaulieu in Las Vegas.
1971 Amtrak went into service, combining and streamlining the operations of 18 intercity passenger railroads.
1992 On the third day of the Los Angeles riots, Rodney King appeared in public to appeal for calm, asking “Can we all get along?”
1998 Eldridge Cleaver, the Black Panther leader who later renounced his past and became a Republican, died at age 62.
1999 The Mercury space capsule Liberty Bell 7 that Gus Grissom flew in 1961 was found in the Atlantic Ocean 300 miles southeast of Cape Canaveral, Fla.
2001 Thomas E. Blanton Jr. became the second ex-Ku Klux Klansman to be convicted in the 1963 bombing of a church in Birmingham, Ala., that claimed the lives of four black girls. (He was later sentenced to life in prison.)
2003 President George W. Bush landed in a jet on the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln off the California coast and, in a speech to the nation, declared major combat in Iraq over.
2007 In only his second veto, President George W. Bush rejected legislation to pull U.S. troops out of Iraq in a showdown with Congress over whether the war should end or escalate.
May 1, 2008
posted by Shelley
Not too far down the road — about 1/2 way between me and a very busy ballpark frequented by our youth — a house burnt in the burg. Rumors abound… like a meth lab caused the fire; and the vehicles sitting in the yard are on blocks because they were stripped of the catalectic converters to be sold to purchase who knows what. I don’t claim to know what caused the house to catch fire, but I do know it is now nothing more than another standing eyesore that will most likely be unchanged two or more years from now.
