********* Plenty Of What? ***********

So after a long break from the dating world I decided to give it a whirl a few months back. It has been an interesting adventure to say the least. The dating game has changed over the years that I took myself out of it. Did you know that “hooking up” is now terminology for get together to have sex? Funny when I say it I mean lets do lunch or dinner or a movie. People also now have a more open concept to when sex should be started in a relationship. I for one don’t think it should be on the first date. So I decided to check out some of the websites out there for singles. The three I chose to check out where “ZOOKS” on face book, www.LatinoPeopleMeet.com and www.plentyoffish.com which is a free website. The “ZOOKS” website and “Latino People” both charge you a monthly service fee to utilize their websites. I doubt I will be a member for more than one month on either of the chargeable sites. I haven’t found them to be much different than the one that is free so why bother. I tried “ZOOKS” simply because it was connected to face book. On it I have only found one guy that I would consider relationship interest to me, but did find one that is a friend interest so I guess it has been worth it on that. On Latino People I have found several prospects but so far nothing that has come to have anything come of it. I joined that site because Latin mean get my blood to pumping. Unfortunately a lot of the guys on there don’t get that a woman might be on that website because she’s looking for Latin men, but then I guess the men could say the same about the women. I’m not Latin. When I first signed up, the first website I signed up for was Plenty of Fish. What an awful name first of all. Shouldn’t we women be offended? I guess I’m over it though because I have had seven dates in the last two weeks off that site. When I first signed up for the site though I sort of felt like fresh bait in a piranha tank. I couldn’t believe how quickly and how many emails I got. I started out trying to be friendly for niceness sake with anyone who emailed me. Trust me when I say I’ve gotten over that rather quickly as I was asked a bunch of things I really don’t find polite conversation. It’s amazing though how asked by one can offend you and by another not so much. I guess human nature that if someone attractive asks it doesn’t sound as bad? That is bad isn’t it? What kills me though is one guy I had great emails going on with I gave my cell number and the first thing he did was send me a picture of himself in a Speedo. Let me tell you this guy should NEVER be seen in a Speedo and I guess his sending me that picture should have been a clue to run right then and there. Since he and I had such good emailing conversations before that though I tried to look past the ugly picture that was now embedded in my mind. I mean after all personality can make people who may not be that attractive, attractive to me. So what happens. This guy not only tells me he wears a size sixteen shoe and he hopes “size” isn’t a problem for me, but then he tells me he has a “lip” fetish and likes them big (no he wasn’t talking about the ones on my face, I know sick right?). Oh and get this… the final icing on this guys cake was that he told me he had to sleep with me to find out if there was a possibility of a second date. Say what? What a conceited, selfish, idiot this guy was. He’s a fireman in Elkhart too. Feel sorry for them. At least he really was good at putting out fires cause I wanted him before he revealed himself to be the big jerk that he was. Fire successfully put out. Good job Mr. Fireman. Then there was a twenty-one year old guy who wanted to VTEXT me naked pictures of himself so I could see if I wanted to screw him or not because he definitely wanted to hook up with me. First of all he’s young enough to be my son, secondly I’m not sure that is a good foundation for a relationship, of course I really don’t think he was looking for a relationship. Then there is this one that seems really sweet and all, but I’m thinking he has a wife or a girlfriend. He’s never on in the evenings or weekends… .only seems to be on from work. I’m thinking what is wrong with that picture? My over all opinion though.. I think it is possible that on one of these sites one could find a good relationship. I had a very enjoyable dinner on Thursday night with a man and laughed and laughed. On Friday night I enjoyed the company of a very nice man as well. So I guess they do exists. I also met someone not on the website… Not sure any of them are the one but I guess time will tell. I don’t really see a reason to pay a website with a free one out there though. I also think there are some old fashioned ways that are still good to find a date. At least on Plenty of Fish you know right up front whether the person has kids and whether they want more or not. For me that is a big issue right there. I mean if I never have children I am fine with it, but if I get with a guy that wants kids then he needs to know one or two at the most at my age. There are lots more guys I could tell you about on these dating sites and I am sure they have their own war stories, but for now I am going to give it a little more time and see what happens. I will update you as I go along. As they say for now I guess I will keep fishing and see if anything nips at the bait. Again, plenty of what?

The Right’s and Wrong’s of Idiocy

“id·i·o·cy
n. pl. id·i·o·cies
1. Extreme folly or stupidity.
2. A foolish or stupid utterance or deed.
3. Psychologically: Idiocy is the state or condition of being an idiot; profound mental retardation.”

Yes, you do have the right to be wrong. I will never argue that point with anyone for any reason. You have the right to be a lot of things, which perhaps you really don’t want to be. So what has me on this topic? Service and work in America. When did it become baby-sitting and non-caring and cold? I have tons of examples of what I am talking about so sit back because we could be here all day. Now granted I am not the calmest of people. I can be excitable so my first tale of woe is not out of character for me, but I was sleep deprived or I probably would not have been quiet so mean. At a local restaurant on Sunday night I met some friends. I really wanted to see them, but knew I was exhausted so I probably should have passed. I ordered two stuffed peppers (they are small), a side of lettuce, side of tomatoes and a side of fries. (No I shouldn’t have had fries). Now I understand the peppers are normally an appetizer, but everyone else was ordering food. I waited tables for 18 years part time and I can tell you I would have asked me if I wanted them brought out right away or with everyone’s dinner. Now I could have forgave the bringing it all out to me as an appetizer, but the guy shows up with two peppers. No lettuce, no tomatoes, no fries. Ignorance is a sore spot with me. Mistakes I can handle but ignorance, not so much. To me, and I know this is only my opinion and I do have the right to be wrong lets not forget, it’s common sense that I at least didn’t order a side of tomatoes and lettuce to go with my French fries. I am just saying. OK, so we are not training kids to think these days either. We are raising a bunch of lazy and ignorant kids. (NO NOT ALL OF THEM) I happen to know a few young people that are very smart and work, but it’s few. A lady at the gym yesterday asked me if I had noticed the under thirty crowd didn’t seem to want to work in the work place I was like – uh, yeah. Again I am not talking about all of them. True story: A couple of years ago I went through Rally’s drive thru. My bill was $4.85. I gave the kid a $5 bill. His computer went down. He hands me 42 cents back. I then explained to him the error of his way and he had me wait while he went and got his supervisor, who then stood there and used a calculator to figure out the difference in $5 and $4.85. No apologies for my wait, although I’m sure the look on my face was priceless. We can’t tell our children in school that they are doing wrong or that they are incorrect. What kind of horse manure is that? Our kids shouldn’t be treated shabby, but they need to learn the reality of the real world. Telling them they are doing well at something but perhaps they should try it this way when they totally mucked it up is stupid. Whoever decided that needs my booted foot to meet their… Anyhow, I suppose I should get off what’s wrong with American dance, this is about idiots and their rights. I really don’t want to stray that far off topic. I remember when working in the work place was good. Yes I am old enough to remember that. I remember wanting to do a great job and wanting to make sure my supervisor succeeded just as much as the company and I did. I worked hard and it felt good. In those days companies gave you an assignment and then let you run with getting the task accomplished. I’m here to tell you that anyone out there working today knows this isn’t true. First of all most supervisors have forgotten that their success comes from making sure you succeed and that having smart people below you and listening to them makes you succeed all the more. Ask Donald Trump and he will probably tell you that he got to where he is today because he had great people behind him. The person who forgets or tries to walk on those below them often fails. If I were to guess I would also guess that Donald Trump doesn’t micro manage the hell out of everything. A good manager or supervisor will hire people they can depend on and then turn them loose to run with it and only come to me if you have to type basis. Most supervisors today loose so much precious time and energy because they have to know every little thing going on below their supervisors. They have to put in their style and taste and heaven forbid the supervisors under them do anything they don’t like. Most I managers I have seen are unapproachable (We do have a really good director where I work who is very approachable, we are lucky in that respect) and even if they say they have an open door policy they make you feel subservient and unwelcome. Not to mention that whatever you throw out there you can almost feel their inability to really hear it because it isn’t the way they feel things should be. A lot of your management these days has the book smarts; they just don’t have the people skills or common sense to go with it. I’m talking all companies that I have observed too. I watch these places like fast food restaurants and department stores and it’s easy to see even if you don’t work there. That is what sucks for them even more is that the eye that isn’t there every day, the customer can see it. I went to McDonald’s a few weeks ago to meet my dad and brother for breakfast. The store manager was running the register because they were short staffed. Now, I as well as anyone can understand being short staffed, but she looked up at me and said nothing then turned and walked away. I stood at the register a good five minutes before she ever returned and then I spoke to her. She goes uh sorry we are really busy so many people called off. One) I don’t care. I feel for you but as the customer I don’t need to know your people called off and I’m not stupid if you were staffed as a manager you would not be taking orders. Two) Acknowledge me with a good morning I’ll be with you in a moment and it might save pissing off a customer and I might be a little more understanding of your situation. I am just saying…. Another thing I HATE and don’t necessarily agree with when a supervisor says it: “Well we can’t make everyone happy.” I might agree that everyone is not going to be happy all the time, but I’m guessing most people will settle for content and it really shouldn’t be that happy to at least aim for pleasing the majority of your staff so that they feel like working for you. OOOOOHHHH and here’s one for you that is just too funny… “You do such a good job at it and I know you won’t complain even though you don’t like doing it.” OK, so I hate it and I have never complained about having to do it periodically because I am a team player so you put me there on that task for three weeks. Gees maybe I should start complaining and not work so hard at it? No that isn’t me I will still work hard at it, but it won’t get me a warm and fuzzy feeling towards management. It’s kind of like the dog going outside to pee instead of on your rug and you beat it anyway, after a while the dog will pee on the rug. LOVE LOVE LOVE THIS ONE – “I really know personally I don’t do well at that job”… so lets stick me in that job, because after all you have the right to be wrong and you really didn’t want it done well anyway did you? You want me to act like an adult and do my job? OK, how many times have we heard supervisors in all walks of life say that? Then why do they treat you like children at recess? People will act the way you treat them. If you tell a child over and over again that they have problems or are a bad child, guess what, it’s not rocket science that they will start to believe it and act that way. Same thing goes with good employees. If they get lumped into the evil employee category sooner or later they will be bad employees. It is going to happen. I have another lovely example of ignorance in the working world for you. Come on, you knew I did. When working second I got to I would go to Meijer when I needed something instead of Wal-Mart. Now usually I could find it cheaper and get it for less at Wal-Mart so it doesn’t make sense to pay more when one can get it for less in only a shorter distance does it? Let me explain why I did then. Wal-Mart employees will not help you at night if you need something that is down an isle they have closed off for sweeping. You can’t maneuver around the store because they have crap out everywhere and again they won’t help you. They have one lane open with what is usually the world’s slowest check out person who ever existed. I responded with some thoughts on this to them on a survey and their local supervisor of the West Jefferson Wal-Mart’s called me and talked to me. No apologies for my troubles, no thanks for the feedback, but what he did say: Well late night is the best time to do that stuff that puts our customers out and they only have so much time to get it done so they don’t have time to get stuff for customers and it has to be done at some time. Now how does Meijer approach it? They are actually smiling at one in the morning. The employees who are stocking ask you if they can help you and if an isle is closed own they go under the tape and go get whatever it is you need. If you forget something and are at the register they will send someone back for it. The isles are not as cluttered, and they seem to get it stocked in the allotted time. They apologize for being in your way. It’s a different experience and one to me that is with the small financial difference. I go where I get treated well. Simply put the management probably doesn’t beat their employees down and they realize the customer has needs that need to be met. It really isn’t rocket science. There are rights and wrongs of idiocy and most often companies big and small just have them wrong. Of course that is their right.

My Update...

Progression is the key we all look for when we are doing anything. I have been avoiding the scale as per my doctors directive as I have been working on the toning of my body to where I have it at this time. I have started back on the heavy cardiovascular and weight loss as of this past week though and I am loving every minute of it. A great portion of that is walking outside and as mother nature shines down on me there is nothing to clear the old cob webs out of ones mind like a nice brisk walk. I love it and I highly recommend it to everyone. I feel great for the most part, bar having done way too much exercise recently and my muscles revolting with soreness, but I still forge on. People ask me constantly how I do it. I mean how do I do the weight loss and how do I push myself to continue on this path. It's simple to me. I have a vision and a goal. Just like anything you want in life if you want it badly enough you'll push yourself and work for it. Also, if there is anything I've learned over the past couple of years journey is that I am capable of doing about whatever I set my mind to. A little pain isn't going to stop me from getting what I want. After all life isn't suppose to be easy and pain free. It's always a little amusing to me when people ask me how I'm doing the weight loss and toning and I say diet and hard exercise. I know they want me to say some magical surgery or some diet pill, but that just isn't so. I put in at least 5 days a week and anywhere from 2 to 4 hours at a time at the health club. I also take several walks, right now as of this past week about 20 miles a week and working up to more. To be quiet honest I don't think I would appreciate it as well as I have if it had been some magical concoction rather than my own hard work and determination. It's not easy... I mean when you've got an option of sleeping your full eight hours or waking up after five or six so you can get to the gym and work out before work it's awfully tempting to give into sleep and I'd be lying if I said on occasions I didn't do just that. I also carry a picture that I laminated with me at all times to remind me of where I have been and never want to go back to. It's just one of my little ways of keeping on track. I have found that on days I don't get to the health club to do workouts I don't feel quiet as good as I do on the days where I do make it. This is another incentive to me to get up and go. I know once I've been there I'm going to be rewarded with a calm and feeling of good health. One thing that never ceases to amaze me at the gym is how many people are not truly there to work out. I mean you have the seniors club that is there to socialize and get out of the house and God bless them for moving and keeping fit in the process. Then you have the ones who go to the health club and hope that somehow by looking at or sitting on the equipment they will automatically reap the benefits of hard exercise and get in shape. Following these are the ones who use the health club as a dating tool. I have never been hit on or asked out so much in my entire life and I'm not really that great of a catch in looks, at least I don't think. One definitely finds a wide array of characters lurking about while there. Me? I don't mind talking to people or even having a friendly conversation, but I am there to work out and get healthy. I make sure I hit my machines and I stay active while I am there. If you want to talk to me you'll more than likely have to follow me from machine to machine and station to station. Then heaven help me, but guys I am going to let you in on a secret... I don't know if what I am about to say is true for all women, I somehow so think it is, but if I'm exercising it is not a good pick up line to come over and act all macho and try to show me how to do what I am doing, especially when I am doing it the way my trainer has told me to. It's also not wise to call me little lady or sweet heart and pretend like you have more right to be there than I do. I just don't get that one at all. I can see my friends right now that know me so well rolling on the floor laughing at the image of what was said to and how it was received of the guys who've tried this crap with me. Go ahead, laugh, take a minute and compose. So if you're done laughing? I'm hoping this summer will find me hitting my goal weight and getting in the best physical condition I can possibly get in. I know what I want. I have a goal and my eye is on the prize. Anyone care to join me?

Humor Among Holiday Shoppers... at least for me

This past Friday as I was in the back magazine isle of Target and trying to stay out of the multiple, mostly grumpy shoppers, I found myself ease dropping for fun. Two women started down the isle I was in. Right behind me and the magazines is the "young adult" books. Things like "Harry Potter" or "The Vampire Diaries" can be found there. These two women were most likely sisters from the looks of them and one was petite but tall, while the other was short and frumpy (my code for she could push a meal or two back every now and then). I was listening to these two talk of the Christmas lists they had from their loved ones of their wants or needs. The shorter lady said her daughter had written down that she wanted the "True Blood" series of books but she must have misprinted it because surely she meant these. I looked around to see what she was looking at. The woman goes these say "Blue Blood". I'm sure these are them. I said excuse me ladies but there is a book series called "True Blood", by Charlaine Harris, but you won't find them in the young adult book section as they are probably not appropriate for young minds. The shorter lady looks at me and goes, "why is that?" I said because they are fairly explicit and filled with sex. The lady looked like I had mooned her. She goes "Oh, my. Maybe I shouldn't buy that for my daughter." Now these two women looked like they were somewhere in their fifties, but perhaps they didn't age well. Who knows. So I asked the lady, well how old is your daughter? She looked at me and said "She's twenty-one." I, being that I am bad, said "well I'm sure she knows all about sex by now then." But wait... without skipping a beat the lady that was with her goes: "Hell the way she looks I'm sure she's done it lots and could give lessons." The shorter lady was mortified to say the least and I had to choke back a laugh. Some how this did help my Friday Christmas spirit find it's place though. I hope it helped yours... gotta love a true story.

A Squirrel & A Nut at Meijers

What is it that makes people think they can just start up a conversation about whatever it may be that you are looking at in the store? Tonight I went to Meijers and I have more than one story so we'll ration it out. I was standing looking at the squirrel feeders and the squirrel food. I love watching the little squirrel that I feed. She is so fun and friendly. So this old man (Why is it always an old man with me?) that was standing there. He pointed to a Red Barn birdhouse. "I got one of them things and it fell to the ground. Damn squirrel ate the top of it right off." I just looked at him half acknowledging what he said and went back to reading the package I had picked up. This little old man was determined he would get my attention or shock me. "I heard them squirrels taste like chicken." I looked him squarely in the eye and said "Not really. I have eaten grey squirrels, but never red. They aren't bad." He got an unequivocal look in his eyes and said: "I wouldn't eat them things they would be like eating a... " Rodent I replied. Yeah he acknowledged. I went on and told him I loved squirrels and I feed them. I think they are fun to watch and I have one that will take nuts from me. "You gotta watch them things, they'll turn mean on you just all of a sudden like." I looked at him half amused and said: "All animals can turn on you, but none quicker than the two legged kind." With that he told me "Uh, yeah.. you have a good night young lady." I said you too and turned and walked away. I guess one might say that I ran into a little old man feeling squirrely and one heck of a nut right there in the Meijers.

A Bill Cosby Style Breakfast.

One of my favorite comedic bits is one of comedian Bill Cosby's. In it he tries to explain to his wife why their four year old daughter is eating chocolate cake for breakfast. He goes into how it has eggs and milk. He says the eggs and the milk are in the chocolate cake. Saturday as I watched my niece and nephew and the yard sale my nephew around nine-thirty in the morning finally proclaimed he was hungry. I asked him what he wanted and he said he didn't know and went in and opened the freezer. I asked if he wanted eggs or bacon or cereal. Nope he wanted corn dogs. Really? Corn dogs for breakfast? Well that is what he wanted and my niece quickly agreed. So I fixed them. Ketchup and mustard and they were all ready. I suppose it wasn't the "motherly" type thing to do, but since I am the aunt and it's my duty to spoil and do things out of the ordinary I believe I fulfilled my auntly duties. Either way it's a new one on me. I mean really corn dogs for breakfast? Bill Cosby would be proud after all this was a Bill Cosby style breakfast.

Holding a Grudge Must be Lonely or Pathetic

I know I know.. I'm an awful person who should burn in hell. At least in some people's opinion. But if there is one thing I just find funny and amusing is when someone holds a grudge against me so tightly that it stays on their mind enough to keep trying to get under my skin. Especially when they caused their own grief in the first place. Amusing thing is I could care less. It does make for good comedy though! It also helped pick up my mood. I know I know... Pure evil.