Here We Go Again!

People, don't we have something better to do with our time? In Colorado Springs the posters advertising the Broadway production of Avenue Q have been removed due to "puppet cleavage." Seriously? IT'S A PUPPET!

I say we take away health benefits of everyone in Congress. Then let's see how long it takes them to pass a health care bill.

Also, can we please stop shooting children?

Ok, I'm done.

I need a Doctor

It's official, Pretty Teacher is going to be Pretty Doctor! I'm so excited!

I'm a felon!

Pretty Girl and I went the the Theater last night. We weren't sure we could catch the show but, as it turned out, we scored tickets. Tickets to Mary Poppins. Apparently, the draw to this Broadway Series show is every one's fond memories of the Disney movie. I've seen it many, many times. I even had the piano book of the songs and played all of them. I was best at Feed the Birds.

We had pretty inexpensive tickets and I feared we would be in the upper balcony. My fears were correct. We went up a ramp, up that staircase, walked over to the other staircase, walked up, saw another stair case, walked up that, which led us to another staircase and we walked up that one. Just when we thought we were there, there were more stairs. No problem, I've been working out. I wasn't even winded. What did knock the breath out of me was when we went to the forth row to find our seats. I could not look at the stage. I felt like I was going to fall all the way to the stage. I actually wondered if I could survive if that happened. I sat down as soon as I could and felt as if I needed a seat belt. I figured that would help me stay in my seat and not fall to my death.

Then I took this picture, merely to show you all just how far up we were.


















I was immediately confronted by an usher telling me that I MAY NOT TAKE ANY PHOTOGRAPHS, THAT IT'S AGAINST THE LAW AND COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT! Geez, lighten up. I explained that I was only trying to show how far up we were. Ok, I lied. I really did want the picture of the curtain with the title as well. He was not amused. Are you surprised that my sarcastic side kicked in? I asked him if we wanted me to delete the picture (like I would!). He let me off easy and told me that we wasn't going to insist on it. Whatever dude. This guy is just some student working his way through the largest University in the world, who raised the tuition practically every semester, by ushering people, with no money, up to the nose bleed seats.

Anyway, the show was excellent (even though it was 3 hours long!) and I'm really glad we went, despite the fact that I still feel like I'm falling.

Happy Valentine's Day

Do you like Valentine's Day? I hate it. Don't get me wrong, I love flowers and those who know me know I love those stupid little conversation hearts, the original ones, not the shiny ones. I actually read them before I eat them. What I hate about Valentine's Day is all of a sudden flowers are 2 to 3 times more expensive, restaurants charge twice for food and a lot of pressure is put on people to get just the right gift or be judged a loser. That's not right. No one should be forced into giving gifts for any reason.

I remember as a kid in school we would take little white lunch bags and decorate them with doilies, red hearts and markers and then put cartoon themed Valentine cards into the bags of the kids we liked and some that we secretly liked but didn't sign our names. Then, one year it was decided that every student had to give everyone a Valentine card. A list of kids in the class was sent home so parents could supervise their kid and make sure there were enough cards to go around. It became so impersonal. That's when my hatred of Valentine's Day started. Why did I have to give the class bully a Valentine card? Or the mean girl who called me names at the bus stop?

This year I'm glad Valentine's Day in not on a week day. I won't be getting any gifts, flowers or cards which won't be reciprocated and I won't have to be judged because of it. I'm not heartless, I just like to give gifts on my own terms, not on Hallmark's.

Don't Shoot the Messenger!

I am thankful that the people I work with don't carry weapons. I fear that if they did I would have been shot by at least 3 people today. Ironically, I was only delivering a message. Scary!

Which brings me to this: there are 8 gun bills in our legislation right now awaiting passage. I can't tell you what each one is but one is to not make it necessary to have a permit to carry a concealed weapon. Oh, that's a great idea (insert sarcastic tone here)! Another one is if you own an establishment and you don't want guns inside you have to have the exact verbiage or display the sign in just the right place or it's invalid.

I'm sorry, I thought we had more important things to worry about. Like the State Budget or Education. I guess I was wrong.

But people, there is good news. One of our people in the State Capital wants to make it legal to buy alcohol at 8 a.m. on Sundays. That's the best news I've heard all day!

I Gave, Did You?

The American Red Cross, www.redcross.org

CARE, www.care.org

Operation USA, www.opusa.org

UNICEF, www.unicef.org

The Salvation Army, www.salvationarmyusa.org/usn/www_usn_2.nsf

World Vision, http://www.worldvision.org/worldvision/eappeal.nsf/egift-haiti-earthquake-relief?Open&campaign=113655125&cmp=KNC-113655125

Oh, The Tangled Webs They Weave

Yeah, that's right, I didn't weave this web:

A week or so ago, I saw a mysterious charge to my checking account. I found it strange because the charge was to a restaurant in New Mexico. I new exactly where this restaurant was but I had never eaten there. I came to the conclusion that it was just a coincidence that the charge was in a town I had visited.

I contacted my bank to have my card canceled. I was told I could come into the branch to get a temporary debit card until the new card arrived. I was also told I could open a separate checking account, with a very low balance, to use for online purchases to sites I wasn't familiar with. I thought this was a great idea. Then, if my account was compromised, the thief would only get a small amount of money. The bank would reimburse me but they said at least I wouldn't be wiped out, having to wait several days to have the money returned.

So, I left the bank feeling better and would wait for my two new debit cards to arrive. Then I get this email from the bank saying my debit cards had shipped, all three of them! THREE???? Wait, I only need two. So now I have to go back to the bank to find out what happened. My secure feeling has left, as it did when I saw the unauthorized charge. This should be interesting. I'll keep you posted (get it...post-ed?).