Happy.....

13.... ah ah ah

Ding Dong

So when is it safe to answer the door? One day someone will be in real stress and they won't be able to get help. Usually if someone comes to the door, and I'm not expecting anyone, or there isn't a delivery van outside, I ignore the doorbell. Salespeople and census is usually all I'm missing. But twice in 2 weeks, I got sucked into answering the door. Maddie comes home at 3:30 ish, and always rings the bell, cause her key is at the bottom of her purse. So I look at the clock and if it's in the time zone I don't think. Last week a guy said that he was selling home alarms. He's sold to many of my neighbors already he claims.... I hmphed him and said, "we have an alarm". This week a new ploy. A man with a muddy dog says "Is this your dog, do you know who's dog it is"? From a crack in the door I say "no". Now, were these real situations? Were these ploys to get the door open? I always lecture Maddie on the tricks "bad people" use to lure kids into trouble, and then I go and open my house to a stranger!! That's it! I refuse to answer the door anymore. If anyone is coming over... you will have to call from your cell and say " Ding Dong, answer your door, it's me"

What would the hail do?

So I casually asked Dean the other day what Hail would do to our skylight? He said not to worry.... well today it hailed.... and he was right. No worries.




it sure looked like snow out there today!






The neighbors had a pile of hail under their water spout!

The Birth of Lake Evanston

When we found our house in Evanston, we never knew it would be near lakefront property. Over the last several months, they have been building up here at a feverish pace. One day I looked over in the new area pictured below a few blocks from the house. There was a pretty nice sized piece of greenspace that seemed to have suddenly sprang up out of nowhere. Over the last couple of weeks it has just as suddenly went from greenspace to Lake Evanston. It really does look like a lake, doesn't it? Or maybe it is supposed to be a lake? Hmmmmmm.....

Quick call Noah

Does anyone know how to get ahold of Noah?
When will this rain stop??

Great Moments In Business Decision Making.

There are lots of mistakes business owners can make. It is tough out there in the market and a bad decision can harm your profits and embolden your competition.

However, there are many pitfalls you can very easily avoid. When I heard the following two stories, I wondered how dumb decisions like these ones actually see the light of day.

660 News Story #1 :

Restaurant sorry, but waitress who shaved head for charity not going back to job

June 9, 2008 - 4:59 pm By: THE CANADIAN PRESS

OWEN SOUND, Ont. - A waitress sent home for the summer after she shaved her head for a cancer fundraiser said Monday she has no interest in returning to her job despite an apology from the owner of the upscale eatery.
Stacey Fearnall said she is tired and just wants the whole issue to go away. "I'm not interested in going back," Fearnall said.
"I'm glad they made a statement but I'm just ready for it to be over."
Nathaniel's restaurant in this scenic city on Georgian Bay made national headlines last week when owner Don Hilliard told Fearnall to take a leave of absence from her job.
Fearnall, 36, had refused to wear a wig after shaving off her red locks to raise $2,700 for cancer research.
In a written statement, Hilliard offered a qualified apology to Fearnall, the Canadian Cancer Society and the public, which reacted furiously to the decision to send the civic-minded waitress home.

Dude, what were you thinking? There has to be another angle we are not seeing in this story. I say Hilliard didn't like this employee and was just waiting for a reason to fire her. And this was his strategy? I will wait until she shaves her head for charity and can her because she will be in violatation my dress code! It's perfect! I will be rid of her forever!

660 News Story #2:

CTV buys Hockey Night in Canada theme

June 09, 2008 - 3:48 pm Cindy White

CBC's loss is CTV's gain.
CTV has announced it has acquired all rights to what used to be the theme song for CBC's Hockey Night in Canada.
You will be hearing the popular music come next hockey season.
It will be used on NHL games broadcast on TSN, and during CTV's hockey coverage at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.
Word that CBC was considering dropping the song because it didn't want to keep paying the composer upset many Canadians.
CTV says it has acquired what many consider Canada's second national anthem, in perpetuity.

Where to begin. Don Cherry's lip has to be bleeding on this one. This will go down as one of the biggest business blunders in all world history. CBC actually lost the rights to the most recognizable theme song in Canada. If it was April 1st today, I would say this is an April fools joke. Can you just picture how the negotiation went?

Hockey Night in Canada Theme owner: Ok, your contract is up. Industry standard is a 15% raise on the contract. Sound good?

Very smart CBC guy: No. What are you going to do? Sell it to another network? Don't make me laugh!

Hockey Night in Canada Theme owner: (click)

Very smart CBC guy: Hello? Hello?

Very Smart CBC guy's assistant: Boss, Stephan Dion is on line 2. He is going to run with your Carbon Tax idea.

Very Smart CBC guy: Ahhh, very good! Watch out Harper, the end is near!


I guess the only television network that could possibly mess up their most successful franchise is the taxpayer subsidized CBC. Maybe Prime Minister Harper can use this as an excuse to fire the management. Or even better, he should throw CBC in for free along with the theme and let CTV deal with these boneheads.

Shotgun. Meet foot.

New Attraction to Replace Kong

Unlike the movie the ride won't be remade :-(

Universal Studios Hollywood officials said the “King Kong” attraction, a key element of the movie and television theme park’s back lot tram tour destroyed by Sunday’s fire, won’t be rebuilt and will be replaced with an all-new, yet-to-be-determined attraction.
The studio tour resumed abbreviated operations on Monday, with tram-bound visitors whisked up to the cusp of the burn area and encouraged to snap photographs of the devastated New York back lot streets, which Universal officials said would be rebuilt.

Built in 1986, the $6.5-million “King Kong” attraction included a 30-foot-tall, 7-ton animatronic gorilla inside a 26,000-square-foot soundstage built to look like a city block.

Bye Bye tree

For some reason unknown to us our tree died last summer. :-{ It was green one day and then starting losing it's needles until there weren't any left, then it sat..... waiting for Papa John to come dig it out. It was a tougher job than first thought, but that was mainly due to our lack of tools! He had to hack away at the roots with a spade, and then saw off branches with a little jigsaw. Trying to get it out without an axe was another chore!! But, Papa won, the tree was out with a triumphant yank and a smile, now that he was done!

Next Stop: November 4, 2008

Senator Obama has now moved his way past the once thought unsinkable Hillary Clinton to clinch the Democratic party nomination. This is going to be a great race.

Senator John McCain has already sent a letter to Obama's headquarter in Chicago challenging him to 10 townhall-style debates before the Democratic Convention in August. Where does John McCain want to have the first one? Federal Hall in New York City. Coincidently, Selena and I actually walked past Federal Hall during while walking down the famous Wall Street. Federal Hall is where the George Washington was sworn in as the first President of the United States. The building also hosted the first congress, supreme court and executive branch offices. Wall Street is interesting because it is actually a very short, narrow street. It almost looks like an alley and believe it or not, you could very easily miss it if you were not paying attention. From all the hype Wall Street gets, I was quite surprised at how soft spoken this street actually is.

If Obama accepts McCain's challenge, this is where they will square off:

And right across from Federal Hall is the crown jewel of Wall Street. The New York Stock Exchange:

This would be a great setting for the first debate of the race.

Fluff Piece 101: "Happy faces"

How to make a cat face .......





Haha I'll never type a happy face again without thinking of this pic!!!Meow!! :-}