Thursday, March 12, 2009

My favorite Craig's List posting EVER:

Originally Posted: Mon, 19 May 15:13 PDT

found cat--black with white stripes
Date: 2008-05-19, 3:13PM PDT

Hi, I found a cat today near the arboretum. She's black with white stripes down her back. She seems a little standoffish. Does not get along well with children. She doesn't have a collar, but seems to be an indoor cat and went without hesitation for a can of cat food I opened for her. I think she's been away from home a while. She's quite smelly. May need a bath. Please e-mail me to claim. Small rehoming fee (to cover the cost of the litterbox and cat food).

Sunday, March 8, 2009

"Do you know about our electronic bill pay services?"

Dammit. I use the drive up window at my bank so I DON'T have to listen to their sales spiels and so that I can do my banking in a quick, efficient manner.

Well my bank, which shall remain nameless (Wells-Fargo) is now regularly invading the privacy of my car with their unending ideas for how to get rid of what little money I have even FASTER. They have pushed electronic bill-pay, credit cards, loans and more - each time I drive up.

The only time I haven't been subjected to these sales tactics is when I am on my cell phone. They leave me alone.

So, I put 1 and 1 together and found my solution to peaceful, uninterrupted drive-up banking. Be on the phone or fake a call. Case closed.

Saturday, February 21, 2009

Thursday, February 19, 2009

Silver Dollar Giver

One of my best friends in the world sent me a little story in an email the other day. It was the nicest emails I've ever gotten in my life. Certainly the nicest one of 2009 so far.

The story was of 2 young boys, one a little older than the other. They were walking along a dirt road in the early 1900s. They came upon an old coat and a pair of very worn shoes. They saw a man working by himself in a distant field. The younger boy thought it would be funny to hide the man's items and watch from a hidden location while he searched for them.

The older boy thought better of this and suggested they each place a silver dollar in the man's shoes and watch from a hidden location for his reaction when he found them. They boys went with this plan.

The man finished his work and returned to change from his work boots into his shoes and coat. When he put his foot in the first shoe he found the dollar and was amazed. He looked around but saw no one. He put his foot in the other shoe and found the second dollar. He held the dollars in his hands and thanked God above for these blessings. The man said that his wife was ill and he hadn't enough money to feed his children, so these dollars were a true gift. The boys watched and listened to exactly what their good deeds had meant.

My friend sent this as a video clip and a note was included in the message. It said, "I perceive you to be a silver dollar giver."

I send and receive a lot of funny emails, but every so often one comes across your desk that is serious, striking, and lasting. This was definitely one of those. Thanks unnamed friend!

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

The coolest thing I saw in 2008

I was driving from Miami on US-1 to Key West. There are several spans of smaller bridges that run parallel to US-1. One of those bridges has the most amazing TREE growing right on it.

There in the middle of all that asphalt and concrete is a beautiful tree -- just growing out over all that water. I've never seen anything like it before. It was so alone and out of place, yet so healthy and present.

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Honey

In the wake of the terror surrounding peanut butter, I've started eating a little honey now & then ... and guess what? I LOVE IT! I used to eat it as a kid at my Grandma's house, but my taste for honey has tapered off over the years.

I'm happy to report that I've gotten myself some fresh honey in one of those cute little honey bear squeezie containers so I'm good to go.

At the risk of sounding like the shrimp guy in Forrest Gump, but you can do a lot with honey. You can:

Have it in tea
Put it on chicken nuggets
Mix it with BBQ sauce
Drizzle it on ice cream
Put it on toast
Put it on bagels
Eat it on a spoon
Eat it with your finger
Mix it with mustard
Make glaze out of it
Mix it with salad dressing

... You get the idea. Mmmmm honey.

Monday, February 16, 2009

Great Words

There are some really cool words out there that you just don't hear everyday. I've started a list in hopes of keeping them around a little longer:

1. poppycock
2. mollycoddled
3. mish-mash
4. kitty wompass
5. persnickety
6. caterwaul
7. rigamarole
8. tomfoolery
9. cahoots
10. hankering
11. bamboozled
12. rabblerouser
13. gumption
14. twitterpated
15. boondogle
16. skedaddle
17. nincompoop
18. shenanigans
19. clammoring
20. namby pampy
21. what not
22. malarky
23. smarmy
24. jocularity
25. hootenanny
26. hullabaloo
27. conundrum
28. cantankerous
29. reckon
30. smorgasboard
31. brouhaha
32. wonky
33. lackadaisical

Friday, February 13, 2009

I'm now a professional Voice Over Artist

This weekend was another life list item crossed off for me! I went to a place in Vermont called Such A Voice and completed an intensive training course and cut a demo to become a voice over artist. I've done some work in this area informally, but this was about me learning how to be REALLY GOOD at it and eventually using my newly developed talents as a means to generate income.

The course was GREAT and the other people in the class were really cool. I highly recommend this experience to anyone looking to break into the biz.

What's a voice over artist, you ask? Well this should explain it: