Tennis Anyone?

Oh my! Who is this you might ask? It's Frank Dancevic, a Canadian tennis player.

I am not a tennis junkie. I don't play it. I don't follow it. I know very little about it. But the other night, we were at a local spot having dinner, and this picture flashed across the big screen. It caught my attention (just can't understand why).

However, let's just say that I might be paying a bit more attention to tennis from now on.

Enjoy!


Photo courtesy of cyberpresse.ca

As Fate Would Have It

In 2005, our personal year from hell, we decided, for various reasons, to move our boat to another marina. After spending a season there, we dealt with a few challenges, and so, at the end of that summer, we decided to move back to our favoured marina, only to find that there were slim pickings for slips. We wanted to go back to the same dock, which, at the time, had only one slip available....a channel slip. This meant that we would be open to the water traffic within the marina. Having little choice, we took that slip, and were there for two seasons.

Having a channel slip can be both a blessing and a curse. It is more open, and you can see more. There is constant boat traffic, but there is less foot traffic at end of a dock. As a negative, you are the recipient of exhaust and gas fumes, and you are open to potentially unfavourable winds.

In previous years, we had always been on an inside slip (which means additional tie-off options, a little more privacy, and a space for a dock box), so we had put our name onto a waiting list for an opening.

With our luck, that opening came this year, and we moved the boat three weeks ago.

This turned out to be a stroke of luck for us.

This past weekend saw high winds with higher gusts. Our trip back to the marina was challenging, but the most challenging was docking in high winds. We had assistance waiting for us at the dock and were able to arrive safely, but once we were tucked in, our friend and former "channel-side" neighbour told us his story.

He was packing up his boat from his weekend out, and saw this huge Sea Ray power boat coming down the channel having great control problems. It turns out that one of the Sea Ray's engines had failed, and this resulted in the boat losing control and hitting our friend's Prowler, leaving deep gouges in his hull, BUT if we had still been parked in the channel slip, we would have been taken out. The Sea Ray sideswiped our friend's boat then proceeded to crash into the empty dock......that we used to occupy until three weeks ago....HARD!!! Nearby boaters heard a tremendous crash as the Sea Ray hit the dock and were surprised that the dock wasn't demolished by the impact! Our boat, heavy construction though it is, would likely have been heavily damaged had it still been in the channel slip.

Sometimes fate works in mysterious ways. In this case, it was certainly in our favour.

There Are A Million Stories In This Naked City

....well perhaps one naked story.

We were driving home last night. It was late. It was dark. It was chilly. Standing by the side of the road, we spotted a naked man. Stark naked! His face was covered with a mask similar to what the Rock Band members from KISS used to wear.

.....and he wore absolutely nothing else....not even shoes or socks!

At first we were stunned, because, after all, how many naked people do YOU see running around your streets late at night? At first we thought that he might be an escapee from the Senior home, but we weren't sure. In any case, we stopped the car and called the Police. I think we were the first caller, because dispatch kept asking us what seemed to be the same questions over and over. They wanted details....none of which we could provide except for a white naked butt and that Kiss face. That made it a bit difficult. While we were relaying whatever details we could, dispatch said 'it's okay....other calls are coming in now'. Then they hung up on us.

Now, while we were talking to the Police, a small group of teens were standing on top of a grassy hill which borders a park. They were all watching our car, and they just knew that they had been ratted on. From the corner or our eye, Mr. Naked Guy darted in front of us, crossed the street and ran up to that group of friends.....all of whom immediately dispersed into the park area. (good luck running Mr. Naked Guy).

A Police cruiser arrived and he was going to talk to a few people who just happened to be in the park at that time. We left.

This was undoubtedly a dare from a youth or two....a dare which some kid was daring enough to do (had the b*lls to do), though he was not brave enough to uncover said b*lls.....

Oh to be young and stupid (and perhaps drunk) again.

An old CSNY song comes to mind....'Teach your children well....'

....hhhhhhh

The Big Five Oh!!!!

Today is a milestone birthday for My Sweetie. It's the Big 50 for him. Yessir. Half a century years old. He is now a candidate for one of the big store's Mature Outlook program (hehe). But as for any other benefits, I'm afraid there are none. Sorry Sweetie.

We celebrated his birthday quietly. On the boat at a nearby bay. The weather was gloriously hot and the water was perfect for swimming. There were loons singing last night and this morning.

So here's to My Sweetie. I hope that he enjoyed his birthday today, and I hope he's not too unhappy about being 50.

See...I told you it wasn't so bad.

Luv you....M

Before and After

With a lack of anything worthwhile to post, yet with a yearning to update, I have this pittance of a post.

The local newspaper is delivered twice a week. Sometimes it has something of interest, like when our nephew's picture was posted with his band, but most times there is nothing much to read. Nevertheless, we always look forward to opening the paper when it arrives.

That is, if we CAN open it. Reference the BEFORE picture below.


We used to be able to open the paper quite easily. Lately though, we can barely get the elastic off, because it is wrapped around the paper so tightly. Add a bit of rain to the mix, and you end up ripping the paper off along with the elastic. We've even taken to cutting the elastic off (because the elastics are so dirty anyway). In any case the condition of the newspaper is a mess. Reference the AFTER Picture below.



We know what happens, because we have watched the kids doing their rounds. They strive to fit all of their papers into this tiny shopping cart, and in order to do this, they need to have teeny tiny bundles. Also, they need to be able to fling the papers from the road to the front door. You know the kind of fling I'm referring to. It's the wrist-snap fling. Those teeny tiny tight bundles are easier to do the wrist-snap fling.

But man don't get in the way of one of those flying newspapers. They'll knock you right out flat!

Entitled

We live in a world of entitled people, or, at the very least, people who feel they are entitled. Specific case in point. My Sweetie's new car, barely 6 months old, has damage on it. Damage which happened when he was not in the car at the time.

Someone felt that it was 'ok' to rub his black vehicle across the front bumper. There are a few scratches that are present.

Someone else also felt that it was 'ok' to fling their car door open. That left a nice little visible dent in the side door.

This kind of thing sickens me, especially since I have a new vehicle as well...barely a month old....

I guess I can expect a dent somewhere down the line. But when that happens, it will hurt.

George Carlin 1937-2008

George Carlin. There's a name that everybody recognizes. Who doesn't have something that flashes across their mind when they hear his name? He was just one of those comedians who was 'out there', I mean really out there. He laid it all out on a platter for all to see, and then made you think...and react. Now, you either loved what he did or you didn't, sort of like Lenny Bruce, but whatever your reaction was, it was sure to be a hard hitter.

My late Dad's birthday was today, and he loved Carlin, so it was only fitting that I created this post. Dad was a big Carlin fan. He enjoyed him so much, that he went out and bought 'Occupation: Foole' on LP (I still have that LP packed away in our basement). Everytime Carlin would do the 7 dirty words you can't say on TV or the bubbles in the bathtub skit, he'd roll with laughter.

Almost everybody did. He was that kind of funny guy. If you were fortunate enough to get to see his facial expressions, well that made it even more hilarious.

Mr. Carlin, thanks for your peculiar brand of laughter...and for being real...and genuine.

You will be missed.


Here are some of his most famous quotes...enjoy.
Always do whatever's next.

At a formal dinner party, the person nearest death should always be seated closest to the bathroom.

Atheism is a non-prophet organization.

By and large, language is a tool for concealing the truth.

Death is caused by swallowing small amounts of saliva over a long period of time.

Don't sweat the petty things and don't pet the sweaty things.

Dusting is a good example of the futility of trying to put things right. As soon as you dust, the fact of your next dusting has already been established.

Electricity is really just organized lightning.

Fighting for peace is like screwing for virginity.

Frisbeetarianism is the belief that when you die, your soul goes up on the roof and gets stuck.

Have you ever noticed that anybody driving slower than you is an idiot, and anyone going faster than you is a maniac?

"I am" is reportedly the shortest sentence in the English language. Could it be that "I do" is the longest sentence?

I have as much authority as the Pope, I just don't have as many people who believe it.

I recently went to a new doctor and noticed he was located in something called the Professional Building. I felt better right away.

I think it would be interesting if old people got anti-Alzheimer's disease where they slowly began to recover other people's lost memories.

I think people should be allowed to do anything they want. We haven't tried that for a while. Maybe this time it'll work.

I was thinking about how people seem to read the Bible a whole lot more as they get older; then it dawned on me - they're cramming for their final exam.

I went to a bookstore and asked the saleswoman, "Where's the self-help section?" She said if she told me, it would defeat the purpose.

I would never want to be a member of a group whose symbol was a guy nailed to two pieces of wood.

I'm always relieved when someone is delivering a eulogy and I realize I'm listening to it.

I'm completely in favor of the separation of Church and State. My idea is that these two institutions screw us up enough on their own, so both of them together is certain death.

I'm not concerned about all hell breaking loose, but that a PART of hell will break loose... it'll be much harder to detect.

If God had intended us not to masturbate he would've made our arms shorter.

If it's true that our species is alone in the universe, then I'd have to say the universe aimed rather low and settled for very little.

If we could just find out who's in charge, we could kill him.

If you can't beat them, arrange to have them beaten.

In comic strips, the person on the right always speaks first.

Inside every cynical person, there is a disappointed idealist.

Just cause you got the monkey off your back doesn't mean the circus has left town.

May the forces of evil become confused on the way to your house.

Most people work just hard enough not to get fired and get paid just enough money not to quit.

Not only do I not know what's going on, I wouldn't know what to do about it if I did.

One can never know for sure what a deserted area looks like.

One tequila, two tequila, three tequila, floor.

People who say they don't care what people think are usually desperate to have people think they don't care what people think.

Religion is just mind control.

Some people see things that are and ask, Why? Some people dream of things that never were and ask, Why not? Some people have to go to work and don't have time for all that.

Standing ovations have become far too commonplace. What we need are ovations where the audience members all punch and kick one another.

The main reason Santa is so jolly is because he knows where all the bad girls live.

The other night I ate at a real nice family restaurant. Every table had an argument going.

The reason I talk to myself is that I'm the only one whose answers I accept.

The status quo sucks.

The very existence of flame-throwers proves that some time, somewhere, someone said to themselves, You know, I want to set those people over there on fire, but I'm just not close enough to get the job done.

There are nights when the wolves are silent and only the moon howls.

There's no present. There's only the immediate future and the recent past.

Think off-center.

Weather forecast for tonight: dark.

Well, if crime fighters fight crime and fire fighters fight fire, what do freedom fighters fight? They never mention that part to us, do they?

What does it mean to pre-board? Do you get on before you get on?

When someone is impatient and says, "I haven't got all day," I always wonder, How can that be? How can you not have all day?

When Thomas Edison worked late into the night on the electric light, he had to do it by gas lamp or candle. I'm sure it made the work seem that much more urgent.

When you step on the brakes your life is in your foot's hands.

You know an odd feeling? Sitting on the toilet eating a chocolate candy bar.

Friday's Feast One Hundred & Ninety Four

Welcome to Feast
One Hundred & Ninety Four
for
Friday, June 20th, 2008

Thank you for visiting my Friday's Feast. Each week, there are 5 questions featured, created lovingly by the chef. Enjoy!

Appetizer
If you could live on another continent for 1 year, which one would you choose?

Europe

Soup
Which browser do you use to surf the Internet?

IE7

Salad
On a scale of 1-10 (with 10 being highest), how much do you know about the history of your country?

Probably 50%...or less even.

Main Course
Finish this sentence: Love is…

Soooo nice. The best thing in the world.

Dessert
Have you ever been in or near a tornado?

no no no

One Year Ago

Remember me?....we do my sweet little CoCo...we do....

Blogging for 2 Years Now

IT'S MY 2 YEAR BLOGGOVERSARY!!

It really is! 2 Years! You can check out my first post from then The First Time.

My blog was to be an outlet for me. Like a diary but not quite (have to keep some things private doncha know). I always wanted to write about something that was important to me, but I also wanted to try to capture the attention of the reader....and hold that attention. I hope I did that.

As I reflect on some of the things that I wrote about, I have to quietly chuckle. There was the post about the Creepy Guy and Flying Ants and the NosePicker (all of these posts I cannot locate at the moment).

I've blogged about My Sweetie who is my love and soulmate, and who always manages to provide suitable content to write about, even though our styles of writing are very different.

I've blogged about my kitty, BJ....and of course our other kitty, Coco, who left us on what, sadly, will be one year on Sunday.

I've blogged about my beloved parents, who I loved and I know loved me dearly. I believe they are always looking down on me and providing an invisible helping hand when I most need it.

I've blogged about our boat and some of our sailing adventures. If summer ever gets off the ground, we'll have even more adventures to blog about.

I've blogged about mylove of reality TV...Survivor, Canadian Idol, American Idol, SYTYWD (go Twitch, go Joshua, go Comfort), ANTM, etc etc etc....


They say that time flies, and it certainly does. For those of you who visit, THANK YOU. I hope you stick around my blog for another year.

Friday's Feast One Hundred & Ninety Three

Welcome to Feast
One Hundred & Ninety Three
for
Friday, June 13th, 2008

Thank you for visiting my Friday's Feast. Each week, there are 5 questions featured, created lovingly by the chef. Enjoy!

Appetizer
Do you consider yourself to be an optimist or a pessimist?

An Optimist....at least I try....

Soup
What is your favorite color of ink to write with?

First of all, I like to write with nibbed pens instead of ballpoint, and when I use that kind of pen I like the aqua blue India ink.

Salad
How often do you get a manicure or pedicure? Do you do them yourself or go to a salon and pay for them?

I don't get either of these. In the past, I have had one or two manicures, but this is very rare. Pedicures are non-existent for me. Too much money.

Main Course
Have you ever won anything online? If so, what was it?

Not to sound like a pessimist, but no....nothing, never, nada.

Dessert
In which room in your house do you keep your home computer?

All of the computers (because there is more than one) are kept in 2 bedrooms, rooms which also server as our work offices.

Poor Tomatoes

I saw this brief heading on the Internet today:
Ont. scientist working on inoculation for tomatoes
.......I sure hope those poor tomatoes get better soon :-)

Casual-ly

Casual. That's a word that can be really confusing when it comes to clothing. Partner the word 'casual' with 'business' as in 'Business Casual' and I can really get myself in a tizzy.

I grew up in the type of world where uniforms (of a sort) were in style. There were school uniforms for grade school and for high school. In the business world, it was suits....jacket, skirt, nylons, the whole bit. It may have felt like a bit of a pain sometimes, but you always felt and looked professional.

Switch up to a time where Business Casual became toe new way of dressing in business. I remember when it was first introduced. The masses asked what constituted Business Casual. Well, as you would expect, the response was golf shirt and pants...but no jeans. The ladies in the audience sat with our mouths agape. Golf shirt? How are we gonna pull that one off? It took me a long time to ever feel comfortable at work in anything that didn't involve a jacket. Eventually I adjusted.

The word 'casual' entered my world again recently. We were invited to a wedding reception, where the dress was casual (in fact, jeans were acceptable as well). I freaked. My closet still sported winter clothing, complete with black and navy, but nothing of a summery nature, and certainly not casual. I fretted and fretted, especially since our temperature has now hit the 90's and it's sweltering hot outside. Now I had to think about casual PLUS cool.

I visited the local store many time in search of something that would fit the occasion, and finally found something that I am comfortable in and that I think is casual yet dressy.

Lesson for me - SHOP MORE AND SHOP OFTEN!

...and always be prepared.

That Invisible Kind Of Feeling

Sometimes I feel like I am invisible. I'm not, but I am made to feel as though I am. It has happened before, and can happen anywhere, and this time it happened at a restaurant.

My Sweetie was seated first, while I went to powder my nose (ahem). I wasn't told where we were being seated, so when I arrived at the reception area, rhe hostess and I took a walkabout the restaurant to find wher My Sweetie was sitting.

I should have known then that things were not off to a great start.

The waitress (I'll call her Chippie from herein) came to take our order. Chippie was a perky, smiley young thing (aren't they all?), and she outdid herself in paying an abundance of attention to the male half at our table. She would angle herself in his direction when taking his order, and didn't even bother to change her stance when it came to taking my order.

Anyway, this continued and at one point, My Sweetie asked if I noticed that the service was slanted toward him. OF COURSE I NOTICED!!! He even said that before I was seated at the table, he was the recipient of the smilies and extra attention. Chippie and her smilies.

When our meals came, Chippie made sure to get My Sweetie's approval for his dinner. Was everything to his satisfaction blah-blah-blah. I barely was acknowledged.

Until it came time to pay. Chippie brought the bill, and I placed my credit card on the tray. She noticed. How could I tell? Because all of a sudden I was getting the biggest smile that you ever saw in your life. Grinning from ear to ear she was. I guess she was expecting the male diner to pay for dinner, but the female diner pulled a fast one and yanked out her credit card. Darn! "I've been smiling at the wrong person, I have!...Time to switch gears and I hope it's not too late!"

Now, I have experienced this before, and we can't really do anything about it, short of stiffing the servers on the tip (which I still did not do), but you think they'd know better.

Oh, and you know how they always come by after the payment and re-thank you for visiting?

That didn't happen either.

Forked Again

MY VERSION:
Last night I almost ended up eating rubber. Not what you'd expect from a simple BBQ right? Right.

The culprit was a BBQ fork. This fork is supposed to tell you if your food is cooked the way you want it to be cooked. The fork was black. Hubby went to start up the BBQ and get the steaks going. Then he began deciphering the instructions on the package. Pretty simple instructions. Nothing unusual to note.

Part way through the BBQ process, hubby stuck the fork in my steak, and walked back in the house, noting that one of the prong tips was black but the other was silver. You see there were little black rubber point protectors (which the packaging did not say anything about), and now one of them was missing.

It either fell on the floor, or the ground outside.........or was in my steak!

Yes, one of the little rubber tips lodged itself in my steak and had to be dug out.

Now imagine this happening to someone with poor eyesight, or someone who doesn't pay attention to such things.

They would have had an extra bit of chewiness with their meat.

HIS VERSION:
It all started out when a close relative decided she didn’t need a “heat-sensing” BBQ fork, because she had moved into a condo and couldn’t use a grill on the balcony – so she gave it to us.

This dandy little device tells you the temperature of the meat you’re cooking (rare, medium, well-done) just by sticking it the meat and pressing a button on the handle. The read-out tells you how your cooking is progressing. Since I usually overcook on the BBQ, this item seemed like a no-brainer. I took it out of its original wrapper and proceeded to use it last night on the steaks. The sensors in the prongs were self-evident – somewhat overlarge black parts at the ends of the fork.

I threw the steaks on, confident that THIS time there would be no overcooking. Stuck the fork in as the cooking progressed – watched as the readout finally registered that they were cooked exactly the way we both like them – hers done to medium, mine to medium rare! It was about then that I noticed the fork looked different – one prong was suddenly chrome metal! I turned over her steak and there it was – the rubber tip sticking in her steak. As Homer would say “DOH!”. The rubber tips were actually protective covers for each fork tip. Chagrined, I quickly removed the steaks from the grill. The rubber tips had insulated the fork’s temperature sensors. Her steak ended up REALLY well done (ugh!), mine just ordinary well done. I checked the packaging that the fork came in – no mention of removing the protective rubber covers anywhere. Plus she almost got to eat one.

So much for modern technology – garbage in, overcooked steaks out. Hummph.

The Mouse Repair

The mouse that I use for work was on the blink. It developed a clack-clack-clack on the left button, and this sound (and feel) was most disturbing. At first I thought that it was time to go mouse shopping, but I really like this particular mouse.

Today, the mouse was behaving in the same manner. So I poked and prodded, cleaned it, tried everything.

Still the same clack-clack-clack noise.

I resorted to the final straw. I disconnected the mouse and whacked it on my carpeted floor a few times.

Mouse is now fixed.

Not the most technical way of handling things, but it seems to have worked.

Where'd You Come From Anyway?

Yesterday, I was driving to the gym, in a slow, casual drive.

Thank goodness for my driving slowly.

There was a teen walking home on the side of the street that has no sidewalk. I had him in my view, and I could tell that he was not paying attention to his surroundings. Maybe he had earbuds, but I can't recall. Anyway, just as I was approaching him, he did what I thought he was going to do.

He started to step in front of my vehicle. Of course, I had to brake, and stop while he made up his mind whether to proceed to cross the street. He decided to stay put and waved me on.

Now imagine if I had been one of the yahooooos who drives like a banshee. That kid might be in the hospital today.

Moral of the story? Pay bloody attention!

First Hand Road Rage

They were approaching quickly. Two vehicles of a late model vintage. The first vehicle was a wagon of sorts. The second vehicle was a 2-door sub-compact.

Their drivers were behaving as drivers do, except that, the first car came to an abrupt stop, and the second vehicle bumped into it. The first driver got out of his car and proceeded to whack the windshield of the second car. There was no damage, no carnage, and I couldn't tell if this was an accident or whether it was done on purpose.

Well, it was done on purpose and this was the most blatant case of road rage I have ever seen.

Two little 2 year olds in their toy cars......experiencing road rage at this very young age.

Cheers!

Archuleta! Archuleta!

American Idol....ahhhh!

I am a huge (huge I say!) American Idol (and Canadian Idol) fan. My most favourite seasons were the Fantasia season and the one and only Taylor Hicks season.

This season, it has been a cliff hanger, with every week watching another talented person going home.

Tonight it is down to the two Davids. David Cook and David Archuleta.

David Cook (I'll call him big David) is a high style rocker. I enjoyed his song selections and enjoyed his performance. At one point I even thought that he would indeed win the whole thing. But there was always a little tug that said 'Hey...wait a minute! There's Little David too!'.

Little David Archuleta (and I say little because he is a small guy and young...only 17 years old!). Little David has a voice which is as smooth as silk, and he sings with so much emotion, that he can literally reduce one to tears (as he has done with me).

So....who has my vote tonight (but I can't vote because I'm in Canada)???....
Little David

This is Just Plain Creepy

I read this online yesterday. Then re-read it. Then re-read it again. It was incredulous to me. It reminded me of tales from another world...spooky stories told at Halloween. In fact, I wanted to post this yesterday, but I still hadn't come to grips with it. Not to say that I have come to grips with it any better today.
So here it is...

"Girl with stomach pains carrying embryonic twin.

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — A 9-year-old girl taken to a hospital with stomach pains was found to be carrying her embryonic twin, doctors in central Greece said Thursday.

Doctors examined the girl and surgically removed a 2-inch-long growth they later discovered was an embryo.

“They could see on the right side that her belly was swollen, but they didn’t suspect that this tumor would hide an embryo,” said Iakovos Brouskelis, director of Larissa General Hospital.

The girl has made a full recovery, he said.

The embryo was a formed fetus with a head, hair and eyes but no brain or umbilical cord, said Dr. Andreas Markou, head of the pediatric department.

He said cases in which one twin absorbs the other in the womb occurs in one in every 500,000 live births."

....from CNN News