Memphis BBQ--Part 1

At last, my long-awaited review of the two barbecue dinners I enjoyed while in Memphis this past week. And I want to start by saying that today it appears that blogger has fixed the problem that wasn't allowing me to imbed links or video. I'm very excited, because now you won't have to cut n' paste the url to go to the websites.

On that Sunday evening, after asking 5 or 6 people for recommendations, I made my way down Poplar Avenue in Germantown (a suburb of Memphis where I was both staying and working), to a place called Corky's. It was well after dark when I set out, but I was able to find it rather easily. Finding a parking place, however, proved a challenge. I negotiated a series of completely illegal U-turns up and down the wide, non-median'd street while I waited for a spot to open up. After a few minutes I was able to pull in and park, only to enter the small establishment to see a large group of people standing and sitting, waiting to be seated.

Not really in the mood to wait 45 minutes for dinner, I decided to try their drive through, which was poorly lit, but efficiently run, with an affable young man helming the window. Shame on me for forgetting to snap a picture of their menu board! I paused at the board, looking for a 'most popular' or 'tourist's best choice' type of listing when I saw "BBQ Sausage and Cheese Plate, A Memphis Tradition". Well, I sure as heck was going to get that! A Memphis tradition? Of course I had to try it. So I placed my order for that as well as the pork plate. Too much food for one person, but what the heck...the hotel room had a refrigerator for storing leftovers.

The sausage part of the 'Memphis Tradition' was wonderfully tasty--tender with that wonderful bbq sweet/spicy/smoky flavor. The rest of the plate, however, was less than stellar, prompting a quick once over to sample the simple cheeses and pickle spears (which I normally adore), with a subsequent banishment to the trash can. I should have known better than to get such a plate at a bbq joint.

On to the pork plate! The pork meat was delectably tender and moist, smoked to perfection, and topped with Corky's own bbq sauce with cole slaw, bbq baked beans and a wonderfully fresh sourdough roll. The dishes make for a very earth-toney meal, but then again, aren't all the best foods brown?

The slice of pecan pie came with the pork plate. And let's just set the record straight by clarifying the pronunciation of pecan. It is puh-CONN, with the emphasis on the second syllable, not PEE-can or PEE-conn. If you're not pronouncing it puh-CONN then you're just flat out wrong. This slice of pie was a little slice of heaven, but heaven only knows what a maraschino cherry was doing defiling the perfection of it. I quickly exiled it from my sight. My mother makes a killer pecan pie, but this one took the cake, or the pie, rather. The crust was simple yet up to the task of holding the dense pie load of goodness. The pie was neither too sweet nor too sticky. It was, in a word, yumiliciousness personified. Wait, does that count as two words?

So, if you're heading to Memphis and want to make your taste buds dance a little jig, check out Corky's at one of their three locations around town. I'm told it's a 'touristy' kind of place, but that the locals also frequent there. It's worth it, just for the pie.

Next time, on Jenny's blog...our favorite girl-about-town visits the Germantown Commissary for some ribs! Stay tuned.

bbq update coming later, promise

But now I must away to the grocery store.

And it snowed here yesterday....nothing stuck, but it did snow....in Dallas......on Thanksgiving.....and it sleeted a bit and rained. Wintry mix.

and the bbq update will contain pictures, so be ready!

Happy Thanksgiving

Enjoy the day, my friends. I'll be posting a review of the delicious Memphis barbecue I had while there this week.

I have to go and quickly get ready and drive to Ft. Worth.

Bye, have a great day!

Walkin' in Memphis

I'm heading out for Memphis as soon as I shower and pack and load my car. I am going to train a new GM.

See ya on or after Thanksgiving. Have a Happy one!

Finally! Vacation Part II

Blogger finally let me upload my photos.
Sunset on the last day at Indian Rocks Beach.
Our 3-foot high sand pyramid complete with etched bricks and shortened versions of our names.
One of the nearby public access points to the beach.
The house we rented. Look at that fiery sunset ablazing in the window reflection.
Amy stands outside my car as traffic is stopped for half an hour on I-10 due to an SUV running off the road and emergency equipment needing access to the area.

Sans Tuna, Dinner is Oatmeal

I can pretty much guarantee you that no one has ever had THAT as their blog post title.

I was looking forward to a quick and easy dinner of Tuna Helper (yes, I like that stuff). I had already put the water+milk+butter in a pot and had it boiling on the stove when I went to grab that can of tuna that I had placed on that shelf right th......

Yep, that happened. The can of tuna I thought I had was not actually present. Hmmm, quickly switch to backup plan. Actually, quickly create backup plan before roiling boiling milk concoction overflows the pot. I grabbed the quick cooking oats (for which Charles will surely shun me), and dumped in a bunch. Several minutes later...voila'. Not a very exciting dinner, but I wasn't all that hungry, anyway.
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Tomorrow I'm running a job fair at another store. I really don't like job fairs, quite honestly. Some of the people who show up for these things are such an inappropriate fit for the position to such an extreme that it's almost sad. On the up side, I do get a lot of good 'material' for the next time my peers and I are sitting around and shooting the breeze. Unfortunately, I cannot share any details here, but you'll have to trust me that I've had some entertainingly awful interviews at these things.

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This Saturday I leave for Memphis, to train a new GM Sunday-Wednesday of next week. It's not good for me to be out of my store the week of Thanksgiving, but this person is brand new, and their DM has asked me to go, so I'm happy to oblige. You know I don't like to fly, so fortunately it is not a very long drive. And I'll get to have some real Memphis bbq again! WooHoo!

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That's all for now.

More Vacation Pics

drat, blogger won't upload them
I'll try again tomorrow

Little Sis's Job Woes

I must start off by saying that I do not have the highest regard for my sister's career choices in the past. Instead of buckling down and finding a job that paid enough to live on and repay student loans, for many years she piddled around, getting deeper in debt, and blaming everyone and everything but herself.

My sister, Jamie, turned 30 last month, and she's had what I would consider her first 'real' job since last February. Before that she worked in a bar, worked IT for some guy who paid her a pittance but did pay for her truck and second college computer degree; she also worked sound design, scene design, lighting design, and other theatre and live show work.

Her first college degree was in theatre arts, and she wanted to do all the 'design' stuff I listed above. I'd say she had decent talent, but that business is difficult to earn a living in, jumping from job to job, show to show, theatre to theatre. I'm all for people following their dreams, but I think a good dose of financial-responsibility-sense should always be part of the mix.

Currently she is working in IT for some insurance company and really cannot stand it any more. Today she shared with my family some of the reasons why, and I have to say I almost laughed in her face. The things she sees as injustices against her are normal business practices and not underhanded in any way. She keeps saying she isn't getting paid enough, but I wonder how much she thinks she should be getting paid for just having earned her IT-related degree a year ago and not having reputable experience before then.

Her comments and behaviors remind me of when I interview recent college graduates. Many of them believe that they should be making $60k, $80k, $100k, right out of the gate just because they have a diploma, or because that's the amount they've decided they want to earn. Hey, knock yourself out, go for those high paying jobs when you're 22. Why not? And if you get one at that age, more power to you.

They also don't understand exactly how important 'experience' is. Taking a class on management, computer programming, acccounting, etc. may provide you with the basics, but what have you done with it? Tell me about your customers. What specificially did you do with your team to drive these results? Talk to me about issues you've had with coworkers and supervisors. How did you handle the issue? Give me examples.

So today when Jamie was talking about a few points she had issue with, my older sister, Dad, and I weighed in on our opinions and experiences. After a few minutes, Dad and older sis got up and left the table, and I was left to listen and try to explain to Jamie how, while she may disagree with the handling of the events, it sounded to me like her company was handling them correctly and fairly.

Of course she didn't want to hear any of it, but that doesn't stop it from being true.

I think she's finally getting her introduction into the world of business, where things such as pro-rated merit increases, additional responsibilities for salaried employees, and re-alignments/restructuring of personnel occur frequently.

Unfortunately, I don't know if she'll ever see it that way. She's never been very constant in her practices, and I think she's going to be a person who job hops for her entire adult life, always looking for the next best thing, just as she tries to do in her personal life. On the up side, she'll have a lot of new experiences. On the down side, she'll never give herself the chance to be at peace and really enjoy whatever it is she is currently doing, because she'll only focus on the parts she dislikes about it, rather than focusing on the larger parts that she does like.

To each her own, but I think that's a rather tiring and defeating way to go about one's life.

Any thoughts?

Lance Bass at my store

It's true. Lance Bass, formerly of NSYNC, did a booksigning at my store this evening. All the teenage girls screamed for him. Hell, all the adults screamed for him. It was very cute.

There were people who had driven from Kansas, Oklahoma, and there was a mother and her 5 teenage daughters who drove up from Houston. There was one adult woman who had Lance sign her back in black sharpie, because she was going straight to a tattoo parlor to have them tattoo over the signature. I saw her back as she was leaving the store, and she had the names of the New Kids on the Block boys, Backsteet Boys, and NSYNC boys tattooed on it. Good grief.

I only had 2 serious complaints from people. One was complete balderdash, but the other one really sounded like one of my peeps messed up. It happens. But the other several hundred people had a grand time.

I'll post some pics of the event as soon as people send me some. I wasn't near the signing table, and I left my camera attached to this computer, so I didn't take any pics.

Also, Lance Bass sat in my office chair during the signing. I was pretending to hyperventilage when I found this out. I'm thinking of typing up a "Lance Bass Sat Here" sign and taping it to the back of the chair. That would give my staff a chuckle during those times when I'm working at my computer and they come into my office.

I have to go back and open in the morning, so that's all for now.

Indian Rocks Beach, Part I

Blogger is being cooperative today and let me upload the above photo.

As I did on my trip to Glacier last year, I took along a tiny composition notebook and kept a short journal of my travels. I tend to be more of a fact-writer, and not so glorious at conveying the joy and beauty of things, so you'll have to use your imagination as well as click on the blog title to go to the flickr page with some trip photos.

Wednesday, October 17, 2007 8:54pm CDT

We are in Florida! It was a long, hard day of driving in nasty weather...over 700 miles of rain, some of it so severe I could hardly navigate by the center stripes' reflecting my headlights. I got up at 5:15am and made my way to N's house by 6:40 where I picked up N, AD, and M. It took us over an hour (and one stop at Chick-Fil-A) to get out of Dallas.

We headed east on I-20 toward Shreveport. From Shreveport we turned south towards Alexandria and Lafayette then turned east to Baton Rouge and on through Gulfport, MS, Mobile, AL, and finally stopping at about 8pm just shy of Pensacola, FL. We entertained ourselves today by working crossword puzzles in the car, snacking on the good foods N brought, and buying a lottery ticket somewhere in LA. N and AD sat in the back seat and slept or rested quite a bit, and M acted as my navigator.

M unconciously made remark after remark about all the bridges we were crossing, "Look, we're going off into space!," and "Boy, I sure hope this bridge holds up. Wouldn't it be terrible if it collapsed?!" AD is claustrophobic and has difficulty with bridges, so the entire time I was counteracting M's remarks with, "The bridge looks extremely well made," and "I think the water here is only 3 or 4 feet deep." N and I are sharing a hotel room tonight and are still laughing about it right now.

More tomorrow, after we arrive at the beach!
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Thursday 5:12pm

I'm at the beach! I already went down to the water with N, M, and AD. The sand felt so amazingly wonderful on the soles of my feet! AD and I found the pool, too. I'm off to take a shower, then we're going to dinner and grocery shopping!

12:40am on Friday the 19th

I'm about ready to go to bed. We all just finished playing a game of SuperScrabble, where N got a 2nd wind and took the lead to win it in the last 3 rounds. I had a strong second showing followed by AD then M.

We went to a place called Guppy's for dinner tonight. I had the Caribbean jerk swordfish. It was so very tasty. They had a 100+ gallon marine aquarium at the restaurant. There were fish, tiny hermit crabs, starfish, and some sort of eel or seasnake, live coral, and other creatures. It was fascinating to look at.

Then we drove to the grocery store to buy all the food and wine we would be drinking...will be drinking. I'm exhausted and now going to sleep. AD and I have made sand castle building plans for the morning, or some time tomorrow. I did get some pictures of the sunset tonight. I hope they turn out well.

Note: Though I didn't write it in the journal, we also suffered very terrible weather in the last stretch of the drive from Pensacola to Indian Rocks beach on that Thursday. Later that evening our party received 2 concerned calls from family members inquiring about our safety, as they knew we had stayed in Pensacola the night before. It turns out a tornado had hit the city, and we were unawares other than the fact that it was another terrible day for driving.
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That's all I can type for now.

I'm back!

Too tired to post anything lengthy or interesting right now, so I'll just put up a few pictures instead.

Cancel that. Blogger isn't letting me upload pics.

I'll try it again tomorrow on my ancient VAIO.

Right now I'm going to finish laundry and go to bed.

Onward to the Beach!

I leave early tomorrow morning for Indian Rocks Beach, Florida. The time has Finally come!

I'll be back late on the 27th, and must work on the 28th because Lance Bass, formerly of NSYNC, is doing a booksigning at my store that Sunday evening.

I'm almost all packed and prepared...just a couple of final things to pick up from the store and to top off the gas tank.

I'll do my best to find seashells for everyone, but so many people have asked me that I wonder if I'll be able to gather enough.

I plan on taking lots of pictures and will most likely post them again and again and again upon my return.

Wish me a safe and fun journey!

Music Machine

Click on the blog title to be taken to a website.

My sister and I would listen to the album "Music Machine" for hours when we were little. We didn't realize at the time that it was a Christian kids album; we just liked the music.

I had to do a fair bit of googling to find more info on it.

Did you ever listen to this as a kid?

Birthdays and Cookouts

My little sister's birthday was the 5th. She turned 30. Such an important day! I, being the bad person I am, forgot it was the 5th until I was spending an evening with friends. I realized around 10:30pm that I hadn't called her, and when I went to do so, I realized that I don't have her current phone number. I also don't know her email address; and I have no idea where she lives. By then it was too late to call my parents or other sister to get J's phone number, so I'll just have to apologize today when I see her and get her current number.

My Dad's 65th birthday is in 2 days. We've always celebrated the two birthdays together, but I had forgotten about Dad's birthday as well. Forunately I remembered them both in time last night to get two lovely birthday cards from work. Over the years I've gotten Dad some boring presents and some great presents, the boring usually being nice clothes of some kind; the great being the time I got him the Red Ryder bb-gun with genuine leather strap and a whole box of bb pellets---just like the gun little Ralphie desperately wants in the film "A Christmas Story". Dad had wanted one of those bb-guns for ever and ever, and about 10 years ago I got one for him.

This year since I was negligent in my birthday shopping duties, I decided to donate some animals in his name through heifer.org. The link is on the right side of this blog. I got Chicks, a share of a water buffalo, a share of a rabbit trio, a share of a llama, and a share of a sheep. Then I wrote a nice note in the card saying as much. We are not a family of sentiment of any kind, but I think he'll really see the humor in the thought that a share of an animal was contrubuted in his honor.

We are going to grill kabobs with all kinds of meat and veggies on them at noon. I'm bringing a salad, the recipe for which is below. We'll have cake and perhaps ice cream. I'm looking forward to it and need to get ready to leave here shortly.

But first, the recipe. This comes to me by way of my friend Nancy, by way of her Aunt Truda, by way of her friend Margaret Jansen.

Oriental Salad

1 Napa cabbage (about 1 pound)
3/4 bunch of green onions
(Slice both fine and place in large plastic bag)

Combine 1 package Ramen Noodles (break into small pieces, discard seasoning packet), 1/2 cup sliced almonds, 1 Tbsp sesame seeds. In a small frying pan, melt 3 Tbsp butter, add mixture, stir and toast until lightly browned. Cool and store in ziplock small bag.

Dressing
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup rice vinegar
3/4 cup canola oil
1 Tbsp soy sauce (low salt)
Combine in sauce pan and boil 1 minute. Cool and store in refridgerator--makes enough dressing for 2 salads. Keeps well.

Prepare all and store separately a day ahead in refridgerator. Mix just before serving.

Wacky, Part 2

"This book cover reminds me of the cover photo of my project when I was at Columbia. I missed P.E. because I was on a farm in Pennsylvania with my back to the camera. And my hair was braided and long. My P.E. coach wanted to fail me for missing class, but he couldn't. He just couldn't. He passed me with flying colors. You know, I had a 4.0 at Columbia."

"Do you have any New York Times authors? Nononononononononono, not New York Times bestsellers. New York Times authors, like Thomas Friedman. Where's his new book?"

"I want some books on marathons. I'm training for a marathon. Oh no, not these. I really want something on breathing...breathing and stretching. Stretching. No, I saw those. Those are like yoga. I really want a book on breathing while running. Breathing."

"And I don't want any rewards. This is like getting a bad manicure over and over again."---

As spoken to me by a colorful character tonight at work. She complained about our service, asked for authors who don't exist, then had my staff running around to find things for her until I told them to stop because she wasn't going to buy them anyway. I was right. She only bought a magazine...the only item she actually picked up by herself. And she attempted insults the entire time.

I had to make a decision between keeping her calm and getting her out of the store as fast as possible, or insisting she leave immediately and risking her blowing up and creating a huge scene. I opted for the former, and I think it was the right choice. I think she was wanting me to push her buttons. I didn't give her the satisfaction.

I thoroughly laughed when she had gone.

He Said What?

I had a great day. You won't believe it after you read all the crazy and crappy things that occurred, but it's true; I had a great day.

I had a dentist appointment this morning. It rained thoroughly last night and on into today, so it took me much longer than the time I alloted to make the drive from Dallas to Ft. Worth. Traffic around downtown D was bad bad bad, but I was only a few minutes late, and it all worked out because they weren't quite ready for me. I was complimented on the care I give my teeth, and we talked about options for whitening them (how many caffeinated drinks to I consume each day? 89? 154? Not really that many, but I would like a bit brighter smile. I certainly don't want them to glow. I think there is a good balance to be found. I'll do that procedure in the near future.

I made it back to Dallas after the appointment, and the rain had stopped. I still had a couple of hours before I needed to head to work, so I put "The Others" in the DVD player. I had seen it in the theatres when it first came out, but couldn't remember much of it, and it spooked me so badly when I tried to watch it last night, that I had to turn it off and sleep with the light on. I'm such a scaredy cat sometimes. I finished the film and headed to work.

I was walking from the parking garage, along the side of the store to the front, when some man yelled "Fat Bitch", and a bunch of other unintelligible things, from a car that was going down the street. I didn't turn to look, and there is a slight possibility he wasn't yelling at me. But I didn't see anyone else near me at that time. What possesses people to yell things out their car windows?

I was feeling really good about the work day, getting a lot accomplished and really trying to give positive feedback and reinforcement and public recognition to people. I had asked for some feedback from folks earlier this week, and several people said they felt they weren't receiving enough positive feedback. And people are doing great things all the time, so this is something I'm working on.

Then a little before 9pm, I had a guy who made the guy who yelled 'FUCK' at the top of his lungs, the guy who dropped his crack pipe on the floor, and the guy who threw ice water all over a table of books, look sane by comparison.

This guy did something, then apologized for it, then wanted to shake my hand, then folded his middle finger down to 'flip me off' during the handshake. Remember doing this in the 4nd grade as a joke with your friends? Then when I called him on it, he began yelling at me, telling me he was disabled, and tried to convince me that his pinky finger on his right hand is folded over and that's what I felt. I couldn't get the guy to leave, and he made a big ruckus at the front doors until a friend? of his came through the front doors and dragged him out by the arm. The whole time this guy was yelling "I'm disabled. I'm disabled. She won't apologize!". Um, yeah. There's more to it than this, but suffice it to say that I certainly didn't want my customers or my staff to have to see that crap going on, and his behavior was absolutely unacceptable. One of the customers said, "Freak show!"

Good grief. He must have been drunk or high or 'distressed' as he put it.

I also skinned a big chuck off the knuckle of my right thumb while helping my cafe seller unscrew the top of one of our whipped cream devices, which happened while I was helping mop up a huge cold brewed coffee leak in the cafe kitchen. So I was mopping and bleeding, mopping and bleeding.

It was still a great day. I am loathe to go to bed because then the day will be over. But it is almost 2am, and I must away to dreamland soon.

My City Is So Damn Corrupt

Click the blog title for a quick article on the indictment of multiple Dallas City Council members and other civic 'leaders'.

And don't even get me started on the DISD (Dallas Independent School District) issues.

Good gawd.

Days Gone By

Hmmm, blogger wont let me upload images today. Perhaps it is taking a day of photo-rest.

Yesterday at work I ran into a guy who was in marching band with me during college. His name is Greg, and I cannot remember his last name, though I'm sure it will come to me. We spoke for a little while. He's doing well, just got engaged last month, and was shopping with his delightful mother whom I also met.

Greg mentioned that there is going to be a marching band reunion during homecoming weekend in October. It turns out that I will be on the road back from Florida during all the festivities. But man, oh man, would I like to have attended! Perhaps next year.
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And here is where I was going to post the article naming my store as the best bookstore in Dallas. Yes, that's right, my store was named the BEST bookstore in Dallas. Go me and my team.
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And here is where I was going to post a picture of an albino squirrel that is living on the campus of my old alma mater. Imagine a white squirrel with pink eyes, and you pretty much have it.

I guess that is all. The no-photos stole my thunder.

A Do-Nothing Day

I occasionally need these 'do-nothing days'. They are days that I don't step one pinky toe outside my apartment. I sleep until I can't sleep any more, read a lot, maybe watch some DVDs, make myself a nice dinner, and putt around on the computer a bit throughout the day.

Since I work retail, I don't have Saturday/Sunday off like the rest of the world. My days off are usually Sunday/Thursday, but that can change depending on a number of factors. I worked too long on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday this week, and got precious little rest, so I slept until almost 1pm today.

But I feel I've been productive with doing laundry, cleaning, ironing, and all that mind-numbing stuff.

I'm making my way through the Little House books again, as I do every couple of years. I'm almost at the end of The Long Winter right now. I also need to read a couple of books for an informal online book club hosted by Joe Mallozzi at www.josephmallozzi.blogspot.com.

Tomorrow night I'll have dinner with friends. It's a standing engagement we have each week. And on Saturday evening I'll be going to another friend's birthday party.

On October 21st (I think) my parents will be celebrating their 40th wedding anniversary. My older sister made reservations at the Reata in downtown Ft. Worth for us to take them to dinner to celebrate. I don't think it's been a very happy 40 years for them, but that is their fault, and they own it. The dinner wil be at an earlier date because I will be in Florida during that part of October.

What? Did someone say Florida? Why yes, exactly four weeks from today I will be enjoying that beach house my friends and I rented in Indian Rocks Beach, FL. Ohhhhhhh, I cannot wait.

On the work front, one of my managers got promoted to a bigger volume store, which means I got to promote a Supervisor to fill his Manager position, and I'm going to promote one of my other employees to the Supervisor position. It makes me very happy to be able to promote people. Some people have had questions in the past when I say 'my Manager'. The store structure from top down goes: General Manager, Manager, Supervisor, multiple floor staff positions. So when I say 'my Manager', I mean one of the Managers who report to me. I hope that clears up any questions.

Todays' picture is of a hot, stinking sulphur spring in Yellowstone National Park. It has beautiful color to it.

Check This Out

Click on the Blog Entry Title to go to play.blogger.com where a non-stop streaming slideshow of 'images just uploaded to blogger' will appear.

If you watch for a few minutes, it's like looking at 'A Day in the Life of the Human Race". It is beautiful in its own way.

Check it out.

Punk Bastard Kid

My Mother is a Secretary at a high school in Ft. Worth. Today I learned that some kid had brought a bomb to school. I called and spoke with my mother this evening, and she said the entire school was evacuated down the block to the football field, and then they were all released to go home. No one was injured, thankfully. The kid needs to go to jail.

Click on the title of this post to be taken to the short article.

I Have to Know

Who is it in Irving that reads my blog every day? Do I know you? C'mon, fess up!

Cats

This is my sweet Gracie's paw prints as done after her death by the place that cremated her.

This is Casper, who belongs to my friend Nancy.

This is Gizmo, who also belongs to Nancy.

And this is Casper again, a very big boy, after sticking his paw in my cup o' tea.

Camp Fire Girl

I was in Camp Fire from Kindergarten through Middle School.

The entire time I was driven, absolutely driven, to acquire as many beads and patches as I possibly could. I sold candy, went to Day Camp, was First Aid certified, learned Indian symbols, and climbed Mt. Everest, all before the age of 12. Above is the front and back of my vest when I was at the "Adventure" level in Camp Fire. At that time the levels were Bluebirds, Adventure, Discovery, and Horizon. My mom still has my adorable bluebird red and blue outfit. I have the sash (with patches, of course) somewhere around here in a box or tub.

Being the best, earning the patches, making it big...these were passions of mine from a very young age. They still are, all except the need to earn patches.

The vest is so tiny...was I ever really that small?

Why do I have that drive, that passion? Why is it not enough just to be ok, average, good? And why do people think there is something wrong with those of us who strive to be more than mediocre? After all, how can a person grow if they never try to do something they currently cannot?

Too many questions...no answers to be found.

New iPod Touch

Me want

Too Much

There's too much going on right now to just fine one or two items and write about them.

Just know that I am well and things are going swimmingly.

Until later...

Some Writer

I fancied myself a writer in my younger years. Even then I knew that one day I would want to look back at the class assignments and personal creative writing projects I had composed...no doubt to praise myself for how genius I was at the tender age of 13. Below are pictures from an 8th grade English class assignment dated December 3, 1986 called "A Collection of Poems". We each had to write and illustrate a particular number of poems in particular styles. I remember my English teacher that year...Ms. Sewell...and how she encouraged me and humored me. Well, Ms. Sewell, I did not become a writer, I haven't the patience for it, but I did become successful in my own way.

Below each picture are descriptions.

I apparently was very into Nature when I was writing the Haikus.


Meh, boring.


Huh?


Late last night I was cocky.
Late last night I was vain.
Late last night...


Cool


I LOVE to parody poems and stories and plays and...


What is it with teenagers and death/destruction/terror?

They're not completely horrid, but they are good for a laugh and fond memories of sitting at the typewriter, painstakingly hitting each key to get a clean, error-free page.

SPF 70

It's less than 2 months until I head off to Florida and my rental house on Indian Rocks Beach. I wanted to pick up a few things now so that I'm not having to hustle at the last minute to acquire necessary items.

Last week I went to one of those 'dollar stores' and found several cheapo floatie rafts on sale. You remember the neon orange and pink and green ones from 20 years ago? They're still around and are perfect for straddling and bobbing up and down in the ocean.

Today I went to Walgreen's and found some plastic beach toys. I'm going to try my hand at building a sandBorders. We'll see how it goes. I also picked up some sun block...Neutrogena SPF 70. I mean, really....70? Is that possible? When I was younger I used to get so tan in the summer I looked like I were a member of a different race. These days I'm rather fair and don't want to get a nasty burn by being outside for 14 hours a day for 5 days.

...that is all

4:30am -- 3 Minutes 10 Seconds

4:30am

We had our physical inventory this past Sunday night. It happens once a year and involves an outside inventory service scanning every piece of merchandise in the entire store. The process is annoying and leaves the store extremely messy (imagine some strangers coming into your home and touching and moving every single thing), but is usually completed by about 2am. This time the crew was very sllllooow in their pace, so we didn't get out of there until 4:30am. Holy crackers. I got my 2 hours of sleep and then went back to work to open Monday morning. Then I put myself to bed at 8:30pm last night.
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3 Minutes 10 Seconds

That was my commute this morning.

Nothing else really exciting.

My Nephew Evan

Evan and his parents took a road trip to and through New Mexico. I'll see them tomorrow (Sunday) for the first time since their return. Here is a picture of Evan wearing a Coyote hat somewhere near Santa Fe. Isn't he the cutest 6-year old kid?

Florida Rental House

This is the rental house I booked for my trip to the Florida Gulf Coast in October:

http://www.vrbo.com/94202

There are now just 4 of us going, but we're all of us girls, so we can still have lots of fun without worrying about what girls worry about when boys are present in the same house. The people I'm vacationing with are all GMs for my company at different stores, and they are the best group of people. I really enjoy their company. We are just completely excited to be going.

And then, when that part of the trip is over, we hop over the bay and get to stay in a bayfront hotel in Tampa for another couple of nights during the conference/meeting.

When I was younger, we didn't have much money for traveling, so I only dreamed about getting to go places and see things that some of the other kids did. We certainly weren't deprived, and we did take some close-to-home vacations, but my parents didn't see the wisdom in getting into credit card debt just to finance a trip to Disney World, NYC, or DC. I have very smart parents.

I love to go on road trips around the country. I have been to Florida two times before, but I've never rented a house ON THE BEACH, with it's own hot tub, pool, deck, grill, and did I say it's ON THE BEACH! Yes, indeed, it's ON THE BEACH! I want to see dolphins, collect shells, go bobbing up and down on a cheap raft in the Gulf, make sandcastles on the sugar white sand, grill steaks, drink margaritas, talk with my friends, watch the sunsets, take pretty pictures, and just thoroughly enjoy myself.

Life is indeed good.

3 Minutes, 50 Seconds

With a stop at the dumpster to put my trash inside.

Martha, if I moved across town, it would take me 60-90 minutes to get to work, which is why I have such a difficult time deciding whether or not to buy a house. One of the reasons, anyway.

4 minutes, 28 seconds

This pertains to something that occurred today. Can you guess what it is?

The Four-Hour Work Week

from a book called The Four-Hour Work Week by Timothy Ferriss:

"Facing certain burnout, I decided to see how Pareto's 19th-century concept applied to my company by pinpointing the sources of most of my sales - and my problems - so I could spend my time more efficiently. I quickly realized that of more than 120 wholesale customers, a mere five were bringing in 95 percent of the revenue.

In the next 24 hours, I made several simple but emotionally difficult decisions that changed my life forever. First, I decided to stop pursuing most of my customers so I could profile and duplicate the most profitable ones. I was spending most of my time working on small accounts, when the big five already ordered regularly, without any follow-up.

I put the customers in the unproductive majority on passive mode. All my complaints came from them. If they ordered, great -- let them fax in the order. If not, I would do absolutely no chasing: no phone calls, no e-mail, nothing.

Jenny's words:

When Mr. Ferriss writes that all his complaints came from the lesser 5% of his customers, I must completely agree with him. In my business I spend more time handling complaints from non-customers (people who don't buy anything but want to complain about it anyway), performance managing the 5% of non-performers, and removing the less than 5% smelly dirty people from my store. That takes time away from my being able to focus on my high performers...those who can be GMs one day in the near future. And it takes time away from my loyal customers.

Now on more personal terms...

Think of all the friends and relatives you have....that huge vast number. Now think of the one or two (or three or four) people who emotionally drain you, take up your time and energy, and leave you depleted when you go to spend time with your uplifting and enjoyable friends. Do you have people in your life like that? If you do, what are you doing about it? I have no friends like that, because I shed them long ago. I have a few relatives that try to pull that with me, but I tell them I'm having none of it, and they need to change their behavior because they are not going to act that way to me.

All my years of managing people has made those very direct conversations much easier. When casual talking about the 'issue' won't work, a directive now does. But I do recognize I have it 'easy'. I don't have a husband or in-laws or a kid to take into consideration. So at home the 5% of people who drain me is actually closer to 1% or 0%. I get to base all my decisions on what I want, and not worry about taking into account the wishes of others.

Anyway, I really like what Timothy Ferriss said in this article (it was somewhere online at AOL, I think), so I believe I'll be checking out the book very soon. He also had some ideas on efficiency and personal productivity that I liked.

And that is your first installment of "Arm Chair Psych Girl". Have a pleasant evening.

This Week

I guess I was sick earlier this week, though I didn't realize it until I was mostly better. Funny how that works. I remember feeling sore and beat up on Sunday, having a bit of a queasy stomach, but with no real problems on Monday, and being incredibly hot Monday-Wednesday. I chalked this up to the warmer weather we're having (the daily rainstorms having subdued for the time being). Then I noticed on Thursday that I felt pretty good, which is what prompted me to remember that I hadn't been feeling well.

Funny how that works. Clueless person am I. However, I am a person who doesn't believe herself sick unless actively puking, which is probably why I didn't really notice.
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I was off yesterday and today. Yesterday I lounged around and read "Twilight" by Stephanie Meyer. It is the first of 3 books (so far) in a Young Adult series that has become quickly popular. It was a good read, though mostly geared to the girls. I also looked online at more vacation rental properties in Florida, and received some emails back from a couple stating they can definitely do nightly rates. Yessss. This trip is 2 1/2 months away, and I'm already at excitement level 8 out of 10. I think I need to tone it down.
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Today I worked up the non-laziness-factor-ish-ness to do laundry (which I actually don't mind doing), clean the kitchen, sweep and mop floors, and clean the bathrooms. Yes, Emma, I have TWO bathrooms. I actually don't need the second one now that Graice is gone...it was her bathroom...so that I wouldn't have litter and peepee all over mine. I'm also gathering garbage and will make a big trash run later when I leave to meet a couple of friends for dinner.
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I also started reading Scott Lynch's "The Lies of Locke Lamora", because Joe Mallozzi www.josephmallozzi.blogspot.com recommended it. I'm not very far into it, but it is not holding my interest, so if it doesn't hurry and pick up the pace, I'm going to stop reading it. Joe says he gives books about 100 pages to catch him. I am less forgiving. If I'm not entralled by page 40 or 50, I'm out...and that's about where I am now. We'll see.
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Tomorrow (Saturday) I had scheduled myself to close, like I normally do. One of the gentlemen who works for me was given a concert ticket for tonight (his friend's band is opening for Berlin at House of Blues), so I swapped shifts with him so he could attend the concert and not worry about being at work at 7am the following morning. I almost always close on Saturday, so I won't know what to do with myself when I get off work at 4pm. Maybe more house hunting?
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That's enough for now. I need to call my friends to see what time we're meeting. Enjoy your weekend.

OMG, Schell, I Have HIS Phone Number

...you know who I mean.

Note: This post also relates to the 'name-dropping' post.

Discuss

I Need Your Googling Abilities

Howdy, all of my blog readers!

I have a work conference coming up in late October in Tampa, Florida. I am going to turn the trip into a vacation following the meeting. I need your help in tracking down a suitable abode while there. Here are the parameters:

Needs to sleep 6-8 people
Needs to be a house, not a condo or apartment or a hotel
Needs to be within an hour's drive of Tampa
Needs to be on the GULF side, not on the bay side or river or 'waterfront'
Needs to be on the beach, or within a few hundred feet of it
Needs to accept a nightly rate, as we won't be there for a full week and will be overlapping the normal Sat-Sat week (will most likely be a Thurs-Monday stay)
The entire stay needs to be under $2,000.

I've done some searching and think the Clearwater to Gulfport peninsula looks good.

I'd appreciate any links you can send.

Superthanks!

Name Dropping, Part II

Wentworth Miller was in my store again this evening. I suppose all the people associated with Prison Break have been back from hiatus for a few weeks now. He came in while I was getting ready to take my dinner break. I procured a savory herb and cream cheese pretzel and a bottled orange soda from my cafe for dinner and took it up to my office, where WM was walking about the second floor. So, I thought you'd want to know that I had dinner with Wentworth Miller. If you don't think this is funny, then read the post a couple of posts down.

Yes, I Was Brilliant

Did you expect anything less? My staff and my store were also brilliant.

The visit schedule changed multiple times due to bad weather and flight delays, but hey, we're adaptable. We get big head cheese visits at least once a year, and the regional/zone office is less than a mile from my store, so I have people popping in all the time. Still, it's nice to make a good impression with big head cheeses that are new to the company and don't yet know the brand that is Jenny.

Big Executive Visit in about 11 hours

...wish me luck

I've been looking over my numbers and have most everything memorized, but I've created a one-sheet just in case. Wanna know my Travel % to sales, big guy? No problem. Wanna know my G&S comp? Got it right here.

And I want to make my boss and her boss look good, too, so the store is ready.

Go team.

Name Dropping

This blog post was inspired by Charles, a person whom I adore while having never met. I guess I should also say that he inspired it with something he mentioned in his most recent blog post (see the link to the right to check it out), but I in no way am attempting to ridicule or poke fun at him. Stop laughing.
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I know a man. This man is about 10 years older than I am and has had a lot of intense and spectacular life experiences. He also is a first class name-dropper. And no, I'm not going to mention his name.

This man was in a position where he met authors, celebrities, sports stars, and political figures on a regular basis...and he told us this constantly. Conversation with this person was always peppered with Deepak Chopra this, and Price Albert that. The funny part is that this man actually had met or was firm acquaintances with all the people he mentioned. One could even say he was a friend of a couple of them.

But none of this diluted the effect his name-dropping had on me and my peers. One day Mr. X told me he had eaten dinner with Dr. Phil. Big whoop. I've hosted Dr. Phil at 2 different book signings in two different stores. But I learned later that he had eaten dinner in the same restaurant at the same time as Dr. Phil, and thusly a running joke was born.

Then the unfortunate behind-the-back comments began. When Prince Rainier of Monaco passed away, we began to joke amongst ourselves that Mr. X could possibly be called upon to be a pallbearer. After all, Mr. X had Prince Albert's cell phone number programmed into his own cell...he showed me!

I could go on and on and on...and on. But the interesting thing is I really like Mr. X. He's smart and funny, and I also like his fiance. I'm always very happy to see them both. If name-dropping is the worst thing to be said about a person, I suppose he's doing well in the grand karmic scheme. And he did get me a free signed and personalized Peter Max print a few years ago.

Still...I think it's really really funny.

Some day I'll post my name-drop list.
Who is on your list?

Goldfish-a-rama

I've posted this pic before. Here you can see Salieri fishy and Rimsky-Korsakov fishy swimming in front of a Worf action figure. I don't remember how I got ahold of Worf, but I enjoy the unique contribution he makes to the tank at work.

Today I picked up the remains of my Gracie kitty. I thought I was done with crying over her, but I guess not. Her ashes are enclosed in a plastic bag which is placed inside a small cedar box. Her name is engraved on a nameplate on the lid. I also was given a round clay pawprint of her feetsies, which I am baking in the oven right now to harden it.

I should have cleaned house today, but I'm afraid my slothishness won over cleanliness.

That is all.

Smatterings

I like this picture of an elk in Rocky Mountain National Park. Apparently when I fiddle with photos on my computer, they are saved in a different folder called 'modified', and I didn't notice until recently that this was happening. Anyway, the sepia tone works nicely with the scene.

I finished HP7 last night. I've been discussing it at work with a couple of people on my staff who have also finished it. I like being able to do that. I'm still extremely exhausted from the weekend, but will be able to sleep in Wednesday. Excellent.

After work today (and today was my 7th anniversary with Borders) I went to the local big petstore to pet the kitties up for adoption. There was a beautiful DMH tabby kitty with green eyes and a bright pink tongue. Her name card said Cissy, but she looked like a Chloe to me. And then there was a ginger tabby kitty named Lonnie, but he looked more like an Oliver. He really wanted some lovin', so I scritched him for a long time. I'm not ready to get a kitty again, but it was nice to visit some.

The 10th season of Stargate SG-1 came out today, so I bought my copy and have watched a few episodes. I'll go back and watch the eps with commentary next, as that is always a hoot.

I am very tired, so off to bed go I.

More Harry Potter Pictures

Well, I got a full 90 minutes of sleep early Saturday morning before returning to work. We continued to sell books so quickly that we had to hustle to fill up the table. The energy was great, and people were very excited to get their copy. I've been trying to read my copy, but am making slow headway, as I am physically exhausted, though I actually feel great, all things considered.

I'm still so wired over all the excitement and jazzed at how well the entire weekend has progressed. My staff was fabulous, and I count myself lucky to work with each of them.

Above are pictures of various costumed customers, some of my cafe staff, and others.

Harry Potter Grand Hallows Ball

It is 3am Saturday morning, and I've just returned home from my store to catch a nap before going back to work in a couple of hours. The Harry Potter 7 book release was a GINORMOUS success, with 1,000+ happy people, and only one inappropriately behaving, disgruntled person. I figure a 99.9% happy rate is pretty darn tootin' good.

Two trolleys were running as the Hogwarts Express, and we had an absolutely huge assortment of activities, games, etc., occurring all evening.

I am so proud of my staff that I cannot adequately express it in written words. I've posted a few pics, as you can see. The first one being part of my staff that was still in the store at 2am.

I received so many compliments from customers about how we ran the entire evening. The customers were ready and willing to help make the event a success, and so I give them a big shout out!

We have plenty of books left, so I am looking forward to making even more people happy tomorrow and throughout the weekend.

I'm a bit exhausted, as I went to work at 8am Friday morning, and I will probably be at work until mid-afternoon Saturday, but it's all worth it. I was a part of making history tonight. It's not every day that a person can say that.

Go books!

Goodnight, Gracie, and Goodbye

My precious Gracie kitty passed away this morning. She died in my arms. I loved Gracie dearly...I still do and will forever.

It had been a terrible past 10 days for her. She had a host of compounding health issues during this time with a very grim prognosis and a painful future. So, while I am grieved beyond anything I can truly relate, I also am choosing to actively remember all the gifts she gave me in the 7 years I called her mine.

Gracie taught me love and patience.
Gracie listened to me when I talked, and talked to me in return.
Gracie reminded me that keeping the apartment clean is important (especially the litter box).
Gracie showed me the excitement of a great catnip toy, the pleasure of a good belly rub, and the bliss of a kitty brushing.
Gracie knew that a comfy place to nap is a top priority, and that ice cream is a delicious treat.
Gracie was a sweet, pretty, good girl, and I will miss her.

I love you, Gracie.

Gracie Very Ill--No Posts for a While

Glacier National Park---One Year Gone

It has been one year since I visited Yellowstone and Glacier National Parks. The beauty I saw was overwhelming, and I remember it to this day.

I've posted the first picture above many times. It is still my favorite of any photo I've taken. The second picture is evidence of what the power of a mac can produce in conjunction with the iPhoto program. I've placed a piece of white paper to cover the my name and my friend's name, though you know 2/3 of my name already. And the 3rd pic displays the high quality of the photo reproduction. In essence, it is a photograph of a book of photographs. Enjoy. And if you don't have a mac, you're missing out on great things.

If All of the Raindrops Were Lemondrops and Gumdrops

Imagine a young woman...yes, 34 is still young!...who knows full well it has been raining and flooding every day for the past 6 weeks...and this young woman leaves the house (ok, nice 3rd floor apartment on the edge of ghetto-ville because she refuses to pay $1,800 for a one bedroom across the highway) without her simple little black umbrella.

Imagine this young lady running errands on the first dreary Monday of her vacation week. Imagine her listening to Wicked in her Honda Element's CD player as the rain falls in a torrential dance from the sky and washes up over the street curbs because the storm drains are not able to sweep it away quickly enough. Imagine her delight at knowing her seats and floors are waterproof and her 4 wheel drive will keep her safe.

Now...imagine this young woman needing to run one more errand...to the grocery store...and deciding that she is young enough and quick enough to dodge the raindrops. Now imagine the looks she received from the people huddled near the grocery store entrance when she approached them with a sopping wet head, shirt, and jeans.

And lastly...imagine her not really caring, because after all, it is her vacation, and what those huddlers haven't yet learned is that young women glow when touched by raindrops.

Red Clawed Crab Is Alive

I was adding more water to my 29-gallon aquarium a while ago when I spotted my red clawed crab perched on a bit of fake rock that juts up out of the water. This is only the second time I've seen him since I added him to the aquarium about 3 months ago.

He must spend most of his time holed up inside this particular ornament. I have a clown loach (orange and black wide stripes) who also hides in the ornament most of the time. I originally got him to help eradicate the tiny snail problem last year. He made quick work of that and now spends his days hiding or running from me.

A couple of weeks ago I lost my most favorite balloon bellied molly.

The current inhabitants of the tank include: 1 red clawed crab, 2 plecos, 1 clown loach, 2 neon tetras, 4 black skirt tetras, 2 lemon fin tetras, 2 gold micky mouse platys, and 2 balloon bellied mollies.

Aquariums reduce World Suck.

I Think I Almost Killed My Kitty

I must be the worst kitty mommy in history. Gracie has been drinking too much water lately, and using her litter box too much, which means that she needs a little bit extra insulin to help her balance things out and get her blood sugar back on track.

So last night I gave her a little bit extra. This morning I woke up around 10am (I'm on vacation), and she was acting oddly. I put down her breakfast which she ate a bit of, then I picked her up and took her into this room where I noticed she had been ill. I cleaned up that (hooray for the SpotBot), and I put her in front of the computer keyboard. She was almost totally limp, but purring and breathing fine.

Then her poor little kitty head started to move almost like she was going to have a seizure due to extreme low blood sugar. I ran to get her treats and anything I thought would have sugar in it. Within a few minutes, she was fine, and she drank some milk (has sugar) and ate more treats. I must have given her too much insulin last night, as she is a bit tired now, but otherwise behaving mostly normally. I haven't given her insulin yet today and will give her a smaller dose tonight.

My poor poor kitty.

Rain, Rain, Go Away

We've had an overabundance of rain here since the beginning of May. It has rained something like 20 out of the 31 days in May, and this is the rainiest June on record. It is supposed to rain for at least the next 7 days as well.

I fully support rain and all of it's political, emotional, and spiritual ideologies. I do not, however, support flooding, transportation debacles, and personal safety concerns arising from too much rain, something I shall now dub Over-Rain.

Yesterday afternoon, we had severe severe rain. It usually doesn't just lightly fall here in Texas. We get flash floods (gulley washers), severe thunderstorms, and all manner of nasty weather along with Over-Rain.

I had a heckuva time driving home the past several days from the Hotel where the training was taking place. I live next to downtown Dallas, so driving around this area is a congested maneuver at any time, but there were any manner of washed out vehicles and accidents alongn the route.

My biggest concern is for the 6 people from my training class who have been stranded in Dallas because their flights were cancelled. Fortunately, during the pre-training phone calls I had with people a couple of weeks ago, I gave people my cell phone number. I'm glad they had it handy. I first received a call last night from a person whose flight to Oklahoma City was cancelled, and we were able to work out his renting a car and driving home. Thank goodness he has a company purchasing card!

The second set of people to call are from the San Antonio area. Their flight had been cancelled, and they were standing in an extremely long line of people at the airport to see what their options were. While they were in line, I called my contact in Atlanta who booked all the travel arrangements for us for the training session, and talked through some options with her. She tried calling the hotel that we had used for the training session, and wasn't able to get through. I had an inkling that the hotel had lost power. A couple of hours later, the group of people called me back to say they were all 3 booked on a 7:05am flight out of Love Field...a totally different airport from DFW, and not at all close to each other. We talked through their options, and they decided to rent a car at DFW, drive to find a hotel near Love Field, and get a couple of rooms so they could get some rest before getting up god-awful early for their flight. I asked them to call me back when they landed in S.A., but I haven't heard from them yet. I'll try calling them in a little bit. I've been hearing planes flying overhead all morning, so flights are obviously leaving Love Field...I just don't know if S.A. is able to receive flights because the entirety of Texas is underwater. At least one of these 3 has a company purchasing card, so they won't have to pay out of pocket for the car rental or hotel. Whew!

And this morning I got a phone call from one of my fellow facilitators. He was back at the original hotel along with a participant whose flight we knew was cancelled yesterday afternoon. Being the problem solver that he is, he had worked with our contact to see about renting a car. But when he learned from both his wife and AAA that his drive back to Tampa, Florida would take him 20 hours because of flooding along the most direct route, he decided to stay another day in town and take another flight in the next couple of days. He also told me that the hotel's power was indeed out for several hours.

It must be so frustrating to be stranded in an unfamiliar city, and without your luggage no less, because they had all checked their luggage, and it is now 'somewhere', but not with them.

So, here in a bit I need to make some follow up phone calls with people to see how they are faring.

...and it just stopped raining here...for now...

I Was Brilliant

I truly was brilliant. I could feign modesty, but I try not to be a liar. So, I was awesome.

And I'm also excruciatingly tired.

So, goodnight.

Super Quick Post

I'm training a class of 24 General Managers and Store Managers for the next couple of days, and I've been working a lot leading up to this. This is why I haven't posted recently.

I've decided to go with these words for the exercise on Wednesday: conservative, marching band member, anti-war.

I'm already exhausted, but found a new and better way to organize my notes for my sessions, so my facilitation should go much smoother. Rockin'!

I have to be up in 6 hours, so g'night, all!

I Need Your Input

I have a training session coming up next week, and one of the sessions (yes, I refer to the whole session as a session, and each topic as a session in itself) I am facilitating is Diversity Awareness. One of the key learning points is on exploring stereotypes. I need to come up with three words or very short phrases that can have some strong stereotypes attached to them.

During this particular exercise, I will show the group of Managers one word at a time. After each word they are to immediately write down the first thought that comes to mind with regard to that word...no self-censoring allowed. Then I have the other facilitators collect those results and quickly flipchart them so everyone can see. The room is a 'safe room', and I really push the Managers to explore what they really think and feel about certain things, so I want brutally honest answers.

For example, with a room full of Managers, when the word "Tattoo" is revealed, the responses have included: freak, nutjob, cool, painful, inky, biker dude, expensive, stupid, artist, beautiful, and others.

So, I'm going to try out 3 words/phrases here, and I am asking you to let me know what the FIRST IMMEDIATE thought is that comes to mind. Don't self-censor, and please don't worry what I or anyone else might think of what you've said. I want gut-wrenchingly honest first thoughts here. You can even post as anonymous if you'd rather I not know who you are.

Ok, I'm going to put a few inches of space between each word so that you have to scroll down to see them one at a time. Got your pen/pencil ready?
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Nature lover

Thanks!

Quick Father's Day Book Recommendation

The Dangerous Book for Boys by Conn & Hal Iggulden

It's a bright red cloth covered book with an old-fashioned cover design.

Proceed immediately to your local bookstore and take a look at it.

Then buy it for the man in your life, or for yourself.

Go...now....do it....you know you have errands to run, anyway.

Super Sales Driving Shoes

Yes, they are definitely working...

And tomorrow I am wearing the blue, yellow, orange pair with some wild cotton argyle socks I bought this evening at Target.

Cats & Kangaroos

The top picture is of my Gracie kitty. She is deathly afraid of the camera--a true Scaredy Cat--so I have to sneak up on her while she is sleeping to snap a pic. She woke up during this one. She is lying on her 'bed' which consists of a catnip filled cat pad on top of an old folded up comforter.

The second picture is of a fluffy white kitty named Casper whose Mom is my very good friend. Casper has just dipped his paw into the remains of my spiced tea. Mmmmm, tasty.
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On to the Kangaroos part of things...

I should actually say KangaROOS, as I am speaking of the shoes here. I told my staff yesterday that I would wear fun power socks and wicked cool shoes to work for the rest of this week. I will post pics of my awesome shoes tomorrow.

My staff was very excited to see my bright orange socks and orange/lime green/yellow KangaROOS shoes today. I usually just wear sturdy work-appropriate black shoes to look professional. My shoes are super sales driving shoes, and so far they are earning their moniker. So I say pshaw to black shoes this week...my feet are going to see more green, pink, red, orange, blue, yellow, and lavendar than they ever have before!

Tomorrow I plan on wearing my pink and green argyle cotton socks with my HOT pink ROOS. Damn, that'll be some good sales driving power right there, yes ma'am it will.

And I also train 3 new GMs starting tomorrow. Oh how quickly they will learn of my ROOS obsession, my Stargate interest, and my adoration of my fishies in their aquarium.

FYI, KangaROOS can be found at zappos.com. I probably have 8 pairs or so, but I bought them 2 summers ago when they were just $29.95 per pair, no tax, no shipping. Now the prices are in the $50-70 range. Crazy!

You are the Lift Beneath My Feet

Above is a picture of a super monster lift as it was sitting in front of my store a couple of weeks ago. Mine is a two-floor building, with a massive staircase in the middle of both floors. The ceiling at its highest is 32 feet from the floor, and there are 18 powerful flood lights way up there. 18 powerful flood lights burn out sometimes, and the only way to change the bulbs is to get this super monster lift, with its 64 different maneuvering capabilities, into the store.

Three Fridays ago, the hourly workers of the subcontractor of the contractor of the etc., arrived at 8am, the lift was dropped off by a rental company they had contacted, and a team of people took 45 minutes to get it through the front doors. My staff had to offload all the books on all the front of store tables, move all the tables, and move all the other movable fixtures so that the super monster lift could move around to all the various positions in order to get at all the high ceiling lights.

After almost 4 hours (two hours of which we were actually open for business) the workers were changing some of the lower ceiling bulbs when I noticed the high ceiling lights were already blowing out. Ah, yes, something was quite familiar about this scene. I have, indeed, lived through this before. These are the same yahoos who replaced the burnt out bulbs with the wrong new bulbs twice before. Silly me, I thought that communicating everything about the right bulbs versus the wrong bulbs to the proper people in the proper channels would have ensured that this oh-so-repetitive wrong-bulb process would, I don't know, maybe NOT be repeated?

Long story short--Too Late--All the bulbs that were previously burned out now have NEW burned out bulbs. Voila! And it only took 4 hours and a completely disrupted store for this to happen.

I was able to help direct the super monster lift back out through the front doors in a mere 5 minutes. I kid you not when I say there was barely a centimeter of clearance on either side between the wheels and my doorframe. The lift is just that huge.

The guys parked the lift on the cement area in front of the store and promised me it would be picked up that day by the rental company. It sat there for 6 days, with the keys in it. Anyone wanna go for a ride? I don't even want to know what the bill for that rental was. 6 days of renting that thing. I'm glad I wasn't paying for it. I had to call my home office so they could call the contractor so they could call the rental company to come pick it up. Crazy round about way.

So, the store was disrupted, and a huge amount of extra work was undertaken by us, and it was all for naught. But wait, the best part is coming...

When the lighting guys were reparking the lift outside, they squashed a bicycle belonging to one of my employees. No one realized it until she was ready to leave at the end of her shift. I had this young lady take her bike to the bicycle repair shop just down the street where she received a repair estimate that was more than the modest amount she originally paid for the bike at Target. So, I did what any decent person would do...I drove her to the closest Target and bought her a new bike...on my company credit card, of course.

Since all that happened, the lighting contractor has sent me a check for the amount of the bike, my contacts at the home office assure me that all the bulbs and any damaged ballasts will be replaced soon, and my employee now parks her bike behind the store in the parking garage.

There is no moral here, there is no lesson. It's just something that happened, and all I could do was laugh about it. That beats getting angry about it, I suppose.

Day Trip to Lake Whitney State Park

I took a day trip to Lake Whitney State Park today. I picked up a friend this morning, and we drove the 90-ish miles to this place just West of Hillsboro, TX. I had been wanting to take a day trip for a while, as I can get antsy if I am in town for too long. Out amongst Nature, I can't hear the cars, the sirens, the noise of the city. It was a lovely trip.

We've had so much rain in the past 5 weeks that the wildflowers are still bountiful and vibrant, as evidenced by the above pictures. Never before having been to Lake Whitney, I packed some wading shoes and a change of clothes (because I always fall down at least once whilst wading), and I do so love to play in water. But the storm surges had their own agenda. The boat ramp to the lake was blocked off, as was one of the lower-lying campgrounds, and the 'beach' was under several feet of water. The tops of some picnic tables and charcoal grill stanchions were barely visible. Such things quickly persuaded us not to venture into the water.

Today is a very windy day, and there were actually breaking waves at the shoreline. Large birds of prey appeared to soar effortlessly on the strong winds while several deer crossed the road and studied me while I tried to snap their picture. I walked amongst those bright yellow flowers, and their pollen covered my pants legs. For a few moments I felt like a giant insect, helping to pollinate the vast fields of flowers.

I've decided to go camping at Lake Whitney some time this fall, when the weather is cooler and the lake level is a bit lower. I thoroughly enjoyed myself today, and I wouldn't mind repeating it.

Book Recommendation

Summer at Tiffany by Marjorie Hart

I am handselling this one to dozens of people each month.

It is a true story of two college roommates from Iowa who spend the Summer of 1945 in Manhattan. They get jobs at Tiffany & Co. as the first female pages on the salesfloor where they see such stars of the era as Judy Garland, Vicente Minelli, and Marlene Dietrich. Through some familiy connections, a well-established couple take the two girls to some of the posh nightclubs of the time. The gentleman of the couple turns out to be the founder of the March of Dimes.

The two girls date a couple of Navy seamen during that Summer, and they are actually in Times Square when, on the huge marquee, it is shown that Truman announces Japan's surrender in WWII.

The author is a professional cellist who is now in her 80s. This is her first book, and it is absolutely delightful. It is a cute little hardcover for about $17.

Please check it out next time you're in your bookstore.