Music Monday-Gretchen Wilson & Merle Haggard "Politically Uncorrect"

I decided to do something a little different for Music Monday. I am going to see how long a chain I can create by having each Music Monday selection being somewhat related to the previous week. Last week, I featured Big & Rich. Also featured in that video was Gretchen Wilson. This week, I have chosen "Politically Uncorrect" with Gretchen and the legendary Merle Haggard. I want to see how long a chain I can create, or how long I can go before I get bored with it.

Come join Music Monday and share your songs with us. Rules are simple. Leave ONLY the ACTUAL LINK POST here and grab the code below and place it at your blog entry. You can grab this code at LadyJava's Lounge Please note these links are STRICTLY for Music Monday participants only. All others will be deleted without prejudice.   PS: Because of spamming purposes, the linky will be closed on Thursday of each week at midnight, Malaysian Time. Thank you!

Spring Benefit

card game Blackjack (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Last night, my wife and I attended the annual Spring Benefit for the foundation that sponsors the school that our son attends.  In addition to the school for children with developmental disabilities, the foundation supports a number of group homes.  Their latest project is to build two group retirement homes for those that have been a part of the school and open community group homes.  The groundbreaking for those homes was yesterday.

My nephew on my wife's side of the family also attended the school and graduated a couple of years ago.  My in-laws have been a major contributor to the school and foundation.  Now that our son is also a student at the school, my in-laws continue to be active with the foundation.  In fact, my father-in-law is on the board of directors for the foundation.

Every year, the foundation holds a big spring benefit as one of its major forms of fundraising.  It is not an event that my wife and I would normally be able to afford to attend, but my in-laws always sponsor a full table and we are able to attend.  They also usually invite the teacher and aide that work directly with their grandchildren, first our nephew and now our son.

In the past, the dinners have always been a formal affair.  They are usually a sit down dinner with assigned seating, and are usually black tie optional.  You see a lot of tuxedos and evening gowns.  I go for the nicest suit in my closet.  This year, however, the room that the foundation reserved was not quite as large as in the past, so they opted for a less formal affair; a casino night.

As part of the casino night, they set up a "Wall of Wine."  There were over 100 bottles of wine donated for this part of the event, including two bottles that we donated.  For $10 per chance, you could pick out a mystery bottle of wine.  I bought two chances, and somehow managed to get two bottles of Kendall Jackson Chardonnay.  The person running that event gave me a third bottle from the grab bag as a consolation prize.

I have to say that the casino night was a blast.  When you signed in at the table to get your name badge, you were given a certificate for $2500 in casino money.  You could gamble all night with your money.  If you ran out, you could purchase more casino money.  At the end of the evening, you could cash in your chips for the opportunity to win one of the cash door prizes and/or purchase items for the new home.

My wife is not a gambler, so she gave me most of her chips.  She gave some to our nephew.  I started the evening with $4500 in casino money.  I pretty much just played blackjack for the night.  They also had roulette, craps, slot machines, Texas Hold 'em poker, and video horse racing.  I ended the night with $8000 in casino money.

With my $8000 in casino money, I was able to purchase five chances (the most they would let you have) towards the door prizes.  With the remaining $3000 in casino money, I was able to pick out a little more than $100 worth of decorations and items for the group home.  Unbeknownst to me, you could have also traded  in casino money for cash.

My wife and I do not often have the opportunity to donate much to charity, though we would like to do more.  We usually end up donating our time more than anything else.  This year, the foundation had asked my mother-in-law to consider being the regional co-chair for the foundation.  She suggested my wife as a potential co-chair since our son is a student at the school.  She spent a lot of time and did a lot of work for the foundation leading up to the event.

As I said, we do not have the opportunity to give much in terms of financial support to charity.  Prior to the event, I decided that if I was to win one of the door prizes that I wanted to donate half of the money back to the foundation because of the great work they do.  We discussed that possibility prior to the event and my wife and I agreed that if we won anything, we would donate half to the foundation.

As luck would have it, my name was the first name to be drawn.  I walked up to the stage and collected $500 in hard, cold cash.  I turned the chairman of the board and told him that I wanted to donate half of my prize to the foundation.  That set the precedent, because all but one of the other five door prize winners ended up donating half of their winnings to the foundation.

We ended up staying at the hotel last night.  After we had breakfast and checked out of the hotel, we headed to the school for a visit with our son.  We continue to be amazed at the improvement he is showing, especially in his diet.  He has gone from eating only chicken and bacon to now eating peas & carrots, roast beef, mashed potatoes, grilled cheese, and hashed browns.

My wife has decided that she wants to devote more time to doing things for the foundation.  We have been participants in the Baysox Boosters, but she has decided that she wants to cut back drastically on that.  Her focus now wants to be on doing work for the foundation.  We have three more years of our son being a student there, and I can't think of a better way for her to spend her time.

Big Lots

Big Lots store, Murrieta CA. Was a former Pic 'n' Save store. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

They opened a new Big Lots store in my hometown last week.  I had never been in a Big Lots store, but had heard about them.  They are a retailer that specializes in buying close out merchandise from other retailers and wholesalers.  This past weekend, I had to check them out.  My initial experience was a mixed bag, but I will definitely go back there again.

First, our Big Lots store here in Bowie, MD took over the space that was occupied by the now defunct Borders Books.  My wife had been in the store earlier in the week and told me she was not impressed.  Her feeling was that the aisles were too narrow and hard to move around.  I have to agree with her assessment.  I walked through with a small hand cart and it was difficult to get through.  It would be really hard to maneuver a full sized shopping cart (which they have) around.

The big reason to go to Big Lots is the pricing of their merchandise.  They buy close out merchandise from a variety of sources and they sell the product dirt cheap.  Their pricing may be cheap, but the merchandise isn't.  They have a lot of brand name products at great prices, however, they assortment is constantly changing.  A lot of products are definitely "while supplies last."

I was in kind of a hurry during my initial trip into Big Lots, so I didn't check out everything.  I bought a few snack items.  I picked up a couple cans of Pringles for $1.10 per can, which normally sells for around $2 at my grocery store.  I also got a can of Kraft Easy Cheese for $1.99 which most grocers are selling for over $4 per can.  I definitely need to get back in there because I saw on their website that they may have gotten in some K-cups.  I can't wait to see what they sell those for.

They have a lot of different types of products there besides food and beverages.  I saw a few gas grills along the back aisle of the store, but didn't check them out.  They had a good selection of Cuisinart products at great prices along with other housewares.  One thing I definitely need to go back for before we visit our son at school next Sunday is a portable Sylvania DVD player for $57.  He either lost or broke the one he had and we had hesitated to get him a new one, but $57 is a whole lot better than $90-$100 which is what I usually see them priced at.

The other bad thing about the place, besides the cramped aisles, is the parking lot.  There isn't much parking, and the parking spaces are extremely narrow.  It is difficult to park within the lines and not be close to the adjacent cars.  I deliberately parked fairly far away from the store in order to have enough space to park.  Unfortunately, when I came back to my car, someone else was not so considerate.  There was a car parked less than 6" from the driver side of my car.  I had to enter my car from the passenger side and climb over the center console.

I'll be honest, I considered taking some less than honorable actions.  A friend told me one time that if I wanted to really get somebody I should put a BB under the valve stem cover.  It would create a slow leak and let the air out of the tires.  I was looking around in the rain for pebbles that would do the trick.  I didn't find any.  I ended up leaving a note on the windshield informing the person that he or she was a "fucking asshole."  Damn, I wish I could have found those pebbles.

All in all thought, I will definitely be making regular visits to Big Lots.  They had a lot of worthwhile products at great prices. Hopefully I will be able to get in there tomorrow and find some K-cups.  If I could score some of those at close to half price, I will definitely be stocking up.

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Music Monday-Big & Rich "Fake I.D."

I went to YouTube to search for a song to post for Music Monday. I already had something in mind, but this is not it. When I got to the YouTube website, I saw a recommendation for a Big & Rich song that I had not heard yet. It is from the soundtrack of the remake of the movie "Footloose."

Come join Music Monday and share your songs with us. Rules are simple. Leave ONLY the ACTUAL LINK POST here and grab the code below and place it at your blog entry. You can grab this code at LadyJava's Lounge Please note these links are STRICTLY for Music Monday participants only. All others will be deleted without prejudice.   PS: Because of spamming purposes, the linky will be closed on Thursday of each week at midnight, Malaysian Time. Thank you!

Happy Earth Day

Earth (Photo credit: stef thomas)

Today is Earth Day.  I will be honest.  I usually harbor negative thoughts towards Earth Day.  The idea behind Earth Day itself is noble.  I think we should do what we can to keep the planet clean.  It is a good thing to recycle and to try to preserve our natural resources.   The main reason that I tend to have negative thoughts about Earth Day is what the environmental movement has become.  Rather than focus on conservation, it has become more of an attack or capitalism and the American way of life.

When I was a young and wide eyed innocent, I was very conscientious about the environment.  In junior high school, I was a member of the ecology club.  One of the things that we did as members of that club was to travel to local tributaries and collect water samples.  We would then test those samples for various chemical levels.  One of my favorite awards from those school days was a certificate from President Gerald Ford for our work in the environment.  We also took a field trip to the Eastern Shore where we paddled canoes through some waterways enjoying nature.  That was simple awesome.

My interest in things environmental waned considerably over the years.  It is not that I was going around doing things intentionally to harm the environment but rather I just lost interest in conscientiously paying much attention to it.  When the news media started their hyping of man made global warming, I paid some cursory attention to the stories.  As more and more coverage of intense storms received coverage, I started to wonder if there was something to it.  However, a few years ago, I read a story that indicated that several other planets were also showing signs of warming.  Since there were no humans on those planets, I started to believe that any warming was primarily caused by natural forces.

Crystal earth recycle icon (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

These days, I am trying to do what I can to conserve resources.  I prefer to think of myself as a conservationist rather than an enviromentalist.  I am trying to recycle a lot more items these days.  In the past, I would only recycle cans and bottles, but now I am also adding more boxes and other items to my recycling bin.  I have gotten better about taking my reusable tote bags with me to the grocery store, partly because I have too many plastic bags around the house and my grocer gives a nickel back for every reusable bag I use.  Today, I went to Target and they gave me a small reusable tote in honor of Earth Day.  I discovered that they also give a nickel discount for using reusable bags.

The company that I work for is very big into trying to implement sustainable policies.  I do get a sense of pride in working for a company that also wants to be a responsible citizen.  They have switched a lot of our lighting to more energy efficient LED lighting.  They have also installed energy efficient hand dryers in the restrooms.  Since Earth Day was today, my company decided to celebrate on Friday.  They gave each of us a new, reusable bag.  They also decided that they were going to turn out the lights in the common areas of the office for one hour.

Personally, I am not a fan of turning out the lights for an hour.  Usually, we all end up having to turn the lights on that we have in our cubicles in order to see, which kind of defeats the purpose of turning out the lights.  I think a more meaningful gesture would be to switch from our traditional 5-day, 8-hour work week to a 4-day, 10 hour work weeks or to allow more telecommuting.  Both would take a lot of cars off of the road and reduce the amount of energy used in the building.  Still, the company has their heart in the right place.

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Dick Clark 1929-2012

Dick Clark (Photo credit: Alan Light)

An American icon passed away today.  Dick Clark suffered a massive heart attack this morning and died at the age of 82.  Clark was best know for being the host of American Bandstand and Dick Clark's Rocking New Year's Eve show every New Year's Eve.  He also was host of the game show The $10,000 Pyramid.

When I first old enough to stay up until midnight to bring in the New Year, it was Dick Clark's Rocking New Year's Eve that I would watch.  Watching the pop and rock performers on New Year's Eve beat the heck out of Guy Lombardo or Lawrence Welk.  It was the only New Year's Eve countdown show that I would ever watch until I no longer cared about seeing the New Year arrive.

Before there was the New Year's Eve show, I would watch Dick Clark hosting American Bandstand on Saturday afternoons. There I could see the latest Top 40 acts performing their latest hits.  It was a great way to keep up with the latest music.  Barry Manilow even had a hit song paying tribute to the show and its legendary host.  In honor of the life and legacy of Dick Clark it is posted below.  RIP Dick.

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Spice Up Your Life

My wife and I share in the cooking duties in our house.  OK, she handles the lion's share of the cooking, but we both get in the kitchen and do more than press buttons on the microwave.  Every now and then, my wife likes to try new recipes.  I used to like to be a little more creative in the kitchen, but with everything that I have going on, I just don't experiment as much as I used to.

While my wife and I both like the same types of foods, we each tend to cook differently.  We each use different recipes, seasonings, and spices.  I tend to use a lot more spices than she does.  I like things like different pepper blends, garlic powder, chili powder, and other things to give it a little kick.  She usually uses a lot of different herbs.

The one thing that we could really use in our kitchen is a nice spice rack.  Currently, we have a small kitchen cupboard above our stove where we keep all of our different spices. There are so many times that a certain spice gets hidden behind another item, and I end up buying one that I don't really need.  I can't tell you how many bottles of chili powder we have.

There are a wide variety of kitchen spice racks that are available for your kitchen.  You can find spice racks that sit on your counter top or fit in a kitchen drawer.  There are a lot of different styles to choose from as well from simple plastic, wood, or fancy stylish racks.  For us, I think a nice wall spice rack that would be mounted on the wall above the stove would be perfect.  That way, everything will be right there when we need it.