Cellphones Saving Lives

So picture this (all you Healthcare or former Healthcare workers and all you patients or prospective patients-ha ha) you're lying there on the operating table and the power goes out in the facility. Generator power doesn't kick in and your are half-way through an emergency surgery. Well, it happened, to a poor patient undergoing an emergency appendectomy. Full Story Here What do the smart people do? Gather up a bunch of cell phones and use it for light. The doctors were then able to continue on and finish the surgery.

This is just another example of cell phones saving lives and why I don't go anywhere - and I mean anywhere - without mine. Think about it, your're walking through a bad section of town, gunfire breaks out but your cell phone (which you are talking on) blocks the bullet from hitting your head. Another life saved by a cell phone. (Especially if you have one of those huge brick blackberries, there is no way a bullet could penetrate that thing)

Another example, you're in the Grand Canyon and a Mountain Lion comes out of the woods and is about to pounce on you. You reach for your phone.....blast....no signal. Mountain Lion pounces, you die a slow, painful death. That's just one more reason that cell phones should have service in the Grand Canyon.

Fish......

To me there is a clear difference between saying "I love fish" and "I love seafood". I love seafood....don't get me wrong, I do like fish too. For instance: I like Trout, Halibut, Tuna and almost anything if it's raw. Raw Salmon, Ahi Tuna, Yellowtail, mmmm. For the most part if it comes out of the ocean I'll eat it.

Normally when you tell people that "you like fish" they either respond that (1) I hate fish (2) I love fish (3) I like fish as long as it's not fishy. Number 3 is the most common response.

What makes a fish fishy?

If your fish smells fishy, it's not fresh. Don't eat it.

See these two ice chests? They were on the plane, smelled way too fishy. Chances are if your fish is being transported around in ice chests, it's fishy.

My advice, only order fish or seafood at nice restaurants. Any place else and your taking a gamble.

What fish do I hate? Catfish, Carp and lets not forget that old Sucker Fish. I went fishing once and caught a Sucker Fish, it was big, made my mom cook it, it was terrible, I wouldn't try it.

Who Is This Man?

Surely, you all recognize him. My husband and family are shocked that I know who he is. Here's the story:

Scene: While we were in Yellowstone, we were in this one particular area (Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone) for a long period of time and David and I were walking around the visitor center. David spies this man and the following ensues:

David: "Look over there, I think that guy used to be a Senator"
Kim: "Oh yeah, that's Alan Simpson".
David looks at Kim shocked: "How do you know that?"
Kim: "Doesn't everybody know him?"
David continues to look shocked
Kim: "He was a Republican Senator from Wyoming"

Later, we meet up with my parents and I have them do 20 questions to figure out who we saw. I was sure Dad would get it right away, but nobody got it, even after I revealed his name they didn't know who he was.

Anyway, since then I have endured endless jokes about how I don't know basic things in life but guess what, I know who Alan Simpson is.

Who Wants To Be A Superhero

As promised on the Skinner Family News Blog I watched Who Wants To Be A SuperHero this weekend.

First, While bizarre, I did enjoy it and will continue to watch the season.

Second, I was expecting him to kick off Ms Limelight instead of Braid.

Third, I think I like Basura and Defuser the most. Parthenon looks the most like a Super Hero

Fourth, I have a question. What should my costume look it?

Mr. President

I don't care whether the President is Republican or Democrat. Whether we share the same views or hold opposite opinions. Whether they sleep with an intern or their wife. The President of the United States should be referred to as The President.

During the last election it irritated me to no end how news anchors and opponents would call President Bush, Mister Bush. You don't call the President, Mister Bush, you call the President either "The President" or "Mr. President". It is simply a recognition of the President of the United States. I don't mind if they just refer to the President by their last name but adding the "Mister" is offensive...at least to me. Same goes for the Vice President.

The NY Times today talks about Vice President Cheney receiving a new cardioverter defibrillator. The title refers to him simply as "Cheney". The first sentence of the article refers to "Vice President Cheney" but later in the article he is only referred to as "Mr. Cheney".

"Bush", that's fine.
"President Bush", that's better.
"Mr. Bush", not so much.

To The Work Spouses.....

How great is it that my two work spouses share the same birthday? July 28th is truly a great day and without it my life at work would be significantly duller. These two are responsible for:

Making me laugh, often
Telling me secrets and allowing me to share secrets
Picking up my mood
Holding me accountable
Saving my butt (when need be)
Bringing me back to reality
Loving me in spite of my "issues"
Doing Whatever I Need
Supporting Me
and above all...
Being Great Friends.

Jeff and Larry, you are simply the best! I hope you both have fantastic birthdays! You certainly deserve to kick your feet up and have a great relaxing day! Thanks for everything.

Mystery Contents.....

Last week Jennann blogged about the mystery contents of the ice chest. See the blog and photo of the item here. Random Photo

Now, I have one. Where is the box below and what is in it? One of these days, I will reveal the contents....... not as soon as Jennann did in her blog yesterday "Random Photo Conclusion"

To: REM, MJM and LRM

REM: Congratulations!!!! You Rock!
MJM: Good Luck!!!! You are awesome, I will be thinking of you all day tomorrow!
LRM: DT took this photo of a Condor in the Grand Canyon! ILY!

Get Back To Work!!!

The attached article says the average US worker wastes 1.7 of 8.5 work hours per day. Are you one of them? Wasting Time At Work

The Last Argument

Rikki sent this to me in email and I laughed so hard I just had to share it:

Entitled, The Last Argument, the caption for this photo reads:
"OK Honey, we're here! You can come out now"

Life Before TV Remotes....

David and I checked into the Hampton Inn in Sedona. The following ensued:

KT plugs her laptop in to check out the blogs
DT turns on the TV
DT looks for the remote
DT panics when he can't find it
KT says "Go down to the front desk and they'll give you one"
DT leaves
KT laughs as she makes the blog rounds
DT comes back with a remote
DT changes the channel
DT tries to change the channel again and the remote isn't working. Looks at KT, "What am I going to do, it's out of batteries"
KT "do you want me to go down and get batteries"
DT "Yes"
KT takes the remote to get batteries and front desk clerk just exchanges remote
KT thinks on the way up the elevator how inconvenient life without a remote was

Remember what it was like? First off, You had to really hate what was on to bother with changing the channel. Channel surfing did not exist. In old TV watching there was no channel guide, you had to buy that little magazine "TV Guide" Do they still sell that? Let's also not forget there were only about 7 channels. Now we get to watch Big Brother After Dark for 3 hours every night......on my 300th something channel.

BTW: DT just handed me the remote. The batteries in the second one are dead. I guess I am going to have to go down to the front desk again.

My Sisters Made Me.........

Oh wait, they didn't because I was the oldest. I on the other hand:

Made one of my sisters stand there crying while my cousin and I filled her diapers up with kumquats. I think this happened over and over...

When we were disciplined and forced to sit silently in the red/tan chairs for a specific amount of time I would purposefully wait until we had one minute left and start talking. This would reset the time back to what we started with. Becca would silently plead over and over with me to shut up....

Made them sit on the floor of the car when mom left me in charge while she ran into the grocery store.

Good Times!

Cellular Coverage & The Grand Canyon

On Thursday, the gentleman next to me on the plane (Not David) told me that he couldn’t wait until he retired so he could throw away his cell phone. True Freedom, is how he described the act of turning off his cell phone. I know of others that feel this way but needless to say I am not one of them. In this technology addicted body, there is no freedom in a lack of cell phone coverage, rather no cell coverage is the equivalent of being imprisoned. There are specific people that if need be I just need to be able to get ahold of, one is my mom, the others, well, you know who you are.

The Grand Canyon is visited by over 5 million people every year. I find it hard to believe that the majority prefer not to have wireless coverage. Please note that once you enter the park, your wireless coverage is gone, that is unless you are a lucky Alltel subscriber. I almost expected to see a sign that stated “Alltel the official wireless provider of the Grand Canyon”. It is 2007 there is no reason there shouldn't be adequete wireless coverage at the Grand Canyon!

Three Declarations:

(1) Any location that attracts more than 500,000 annual visitors should have proper cell phone coverage.
(2) If you are one of those who thinks there is freedom in no cell coverage, just turn your phone off.
(3) I hereby refuse to travel to any location where cell phone coverage is unavailable for significant periods of time.

Good Blogs of People We Know

This post is a spotlight on some of my favorite blogs and some new blogs that have recently surfaced. Last week I met fellow blogger Jennann and enjoyed a nice lunch with her and Rachel. So here it is, the great blog list:

In production since last Monday, we have "Bumble Bee's" Blog
The Happy Bunny totally rocks
James blog, don't hold your breath waiting for updates
Mobile Observations, a photo blog
The Mr and Mrs Smith blog and the happenings of John and Jane
The Life of the Skinners at Skinner Family News
The one, the only Queen B
The Evans Stalker blog (aka Jennann's Rachel made me do this!! )
Travel adventures at My Life with Two Carry On's
REM327's interesting thoughts and stories
Random Thoughts by Ann
From Coloma Michigan: My Thoughts by Teri
Life lessons at Lospace

Is James Learning Sign Language?

James is either practicing sign language or covering up his red white and blue braces.

Big Brother Update #2

Jen's HOH room was unbelievable. I thought I was going to die when she was carrying on about how disappointed she was in Big Brother because her pictures we rent that great. This picture is two years old.....whahhhhhh

Can Jen stop saying "Do you know what I mean?"

Jen's unitard. Jen, are you kidding? "Please nobody take it away from me" WOW. Joe's comment after seeing her in it "It's thing too" RO!

Will Amber ever stop crying? I have never seen anyone cry like this girl.

If I hear Amber say one more time "Kale's a mom just like me" I think I will die! WHO CARES!

At Least I'm Not This Guy

For all of those twho talk about my constant picture taking you can be glad that I am not this guy. Last night while Chris and I were having dinner this father spent their entire meal videotaping the scene in the restaurant. WOW.

Cingular Wireless Finally Gone

We have had a few posts in the past about Cingular taking over AT&T and then AT&T taking over Cingular. Well, it must be officially done because my Blackberry text messages changed this weekend from sending "Sent Via Blackberry by Cingular" to "Sent Via Blackberry by AT&T".

The Universe Says: Ketchup Rocks!

I read RuthAnne's comment about chasing after the man wearing the ketchup shirt. Here is her quote: "I chased a man with my camera phone for 20 minutes trying to get a good picture of his shirt, "I put ketchup on my ketchup." At one point, I think he was trying to get security. It just reminded me of all your weird ketchup coments." Absolutely hilarious, I laughed out loud.

In San Francisco, about three hours later, after dinner with my cousin, I spot a shirt that required an immediate purchase.

Four Unique Blogs Worth Sharing

Bent Objects. Terry, from Indianapolis has a sense of humor like no other. He makes "art" out of bent wire and it couldn't be funnier! Go visit him but first here is a sample of what you will encounter:


This only thing missing from this piece entitled "rejection" is a bottle of ketchup....Don't miss the Pear when you go over for your visit.




Another great find is "The lowercase l": In The lowercase l, William brings to us signs where all letters are uppercase except the l. Absolutely Hilarious.

We also have "Apostrophe Abuse" brought to us by Chris. While this is really funny, I will be staying away from it because I < class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">butcher apostrophes, especially, when I am on my blackberry. It seems that the comma always wants to be an apostrophe or vise versa.

To Queen B: The note you left on that car would not be considered passive aggressive but Jane the note you saw at the car rental on your last trip to Albuquerque might fit in. Check out the Passive Aggressive Notes blog.

Last note: all three of these last blogs have a bunch of links on them that are good: Including the office sign project, and the "blog" of unnecessary quotations. I always use unnecessary quotations.....next I'll find one that says unnecessary periods....you know I am an offender of that! Bunch of grammar "Nazi's". (yes, that is inappropriate use) I hate them....but they do make some entertaining blogs.

Blogger Names

I noticed today that out of the routine bloggers here I am the only one that uses their first and last name. Does that make me a freak? Don't answer that.....

Queen B
Jane
RuthAnne
Jinjer
Squidward
Andria
MTC
teri
cap'n Jeff
jon e
jennann
anonymous
DP
Ann
Bumble Bee
John
Tina Marie
Dora
Kays
Brittney
REM
Rachel
Becca

oh and Kim Thomas (dork)

P.S. How happy am I that Jinjer has added her photo?

Good News For Canadian Travelers

At the airport they can now make jokes about bombs and guns and not go to jail! Welcome back to the good ole days! Article

What is the point of this? As far as I'm concerned throwing these people in jail is fine. It's almost a built in stupid monitor. If they would start throwing the people with more than 3oz of liquids in their bag or the people that don't realize they have to take their shoes off in jail we'd be getting somewhere.

I suppose I will be accused of being crabby again.......

Emploree Preachale Day!

Thank you all for everything you do! This was the cake in Dominican.

How Many Pairs Of Shoes...

do you need to try on in order to select the right pair? On this shopping trip there was no shortage of shoe test driving. In total and in a span of approximately 30 minutes there were over 20 pairs tried on in 15 different styles. After much thought and careful consideration, 2 pairs of shoes were purchased. How great is that?

Reflection Today

This is not a normal Kim blog but in a meeting today I heard the reflection below and thought I would share it:

There are two days in every week about which we should not worry, two days which should be kept free from fear and also apprehension.

One of these days is Yesterday with all its mistakes and cares, its faults and blunders, its aches and pains.Yesterday has passed forever beyond our control. All the money in the world cannot bring back Yesterday. We cannot undo a single act we performed; we cannot erase a single word we said. Yesterday is gone forever.

The other day we should not worry about is Tomorrow with all its possible adversities, its burdens, its large promise and its poor performance; Tomorrow is also beyond our immediate control. Tomorrow's sun will rise, either in splendor or behind a mask of clouds, but it will rise .Until it does, we have no stake in Tomorrow, for it is yet to be born.

This leaves only one day, Today. Any person can fight the battle of just one day. It is when you and I add the burdens of those two awful eternities Yesterday and Tomorrow that we break down. It is not the experience of Today that drives a person mad, it is the remorse or bitterness of something which happened Yesterday and the dread of what Tomorrow may bring.

Take life one day at a time......

SWA's "Want My Advice?"

Southwest now has a section in their Spirit Magazine called "Want my advice". People who read the magazine are encouraged to submit their best advice tips. The July magazine is filled with the stupidest most common sense items ever! If I was going to write in you better believe it is going to be the best tip ever not something that is stupid or basic common sense. Hopefully, I won't get busted for quoting a couple of these:

From Bonnie in Richmond Virginia: "Write down where you park in the airport garage. This saves you from wandering around searching for your car at midnight. Try to park in the same location at the airport parking garage every time. It makes it easier to remember where your car is" My Response: Really? Is this true? This is the best tip this woman could come up with to share with the world? Why bother?

From Nancy in Independence, Missouri: One of the first things I do after checking in at a motel is to look for coupons in the back of the telephone book in the room. The lobby is another good place to look. My Response: Thanks.......Do you think after reading this I checked into the Hilton West in Sacramento and went on my coupon hunt? Not so much.

From Alicia in Sterling Heights Michigan: When you travel by air and check luggage, put some bubble wrap around your favorite perfume to keep it from breaking. Then you can take your perfume without fear. My Response: Conquer your fear, Alicia. Just throw it in between a bunch of socks and underwear!

Overall, I am amazed that people wrote in with these recommendations. What is the thought process? I bet I could help the world by sharing this golden piece of information with them "Remember where you park your car"? LOL

22 Thoughts About The Spa

Always an avid learner, here are some things I have learned and some general observations on going to the spa:

1. You do not want the masseuse who will be standing over you for the next hour to say "Don't mind the sniffling, I have a runny nose today"
2. You do not want to jump into the jacuzzi when the water is cold
3. You may assume that a person seated next to you with a hairy foot is a bad thing, it's not always.
4. The sauna may be hotter than Phoenix
5. People in the steam room may or may not like you
6. It is unkind for the masseuse to tell you when the massage will be over before it begins
7. If any part of the facilities don't work the way they are intended all spa rules are null and void
8. Don't drink too much water before going in for your treatment
9. Cameras should not be used in spas (that doesn't mean that can't be used)
10. Silence is appreciated
11. The shower on the mono setting is not great even if you are used to being number one.
12. Ensure tips are the proper amount
13. If asked how your trip was, make a complaint and you might earn a free visit.
14. On occasion, loud people can be quiet
15. Mondays are good quiet days for the spa
16. The misting room is not worth the effort
17. Personal hygiene products can spark conversations (so can bathrooms)
18. Look behind all screens, sometimes you can find a hidden jacuzzi
19. The wet rooms in Pasadena are smaller than the wet rooms in Florida
20. At Burke Williams there is one handicapped treatment room, I got it, go figure.
21. Cell phones should be set to silent (Never know when you might miss 16 calls from the same number)
22. The sauna is the best place in the spa to tell a joke

Big Brother Update #1

OK, at special request of Jinjer and Jen here is a quick update. I went to bed tonight before watching BB and then decided to get up and watch tonight's episode. How happy am I that I did? I died laughing over Jen crying over her picture. On Jen: This girl has serious issues. A couple of quotes:

• I've never taken a worse picture, it's horrible, it's so bad.
• Everybody elses picture looks really good and mine looks horrible.
• There is a Weird shadow on my face
• It's the picture everyone is seeing right now-whah whah

She was a disaster over this photo. When she was covering her photo up with her hand I thought I was going to die. In the next scene she is telling Dick "Don't touch me" LOL. This girl is the most shallow person of all times. Her introduction of what she did in episode one was hilarious too. "I do so much" LMAO.

Jessica: This girl is as dumb as a rock. When she was talking about the $5.00 I really couldn't believe what I was listening to. She had no big ticket item on why these two hated each other. I bet I owe $5.00 to almost everyone that reads this blog. This fight occured in 8th grade! I really wonder how Carol and Jessica were selected, their story sucks.

People from the past: I think it is unfair that only 6 of the houseguests share people from the past. I think it should be an all or nothing thing.

Nominations: I hope that Carol goes. I feel bad for the Amber girl. Speaking of cocktail waitresses if Janelle had been America's player could she have done any better? The only other thing we could have done to help her was to clue her in earlier on James and Will....she was the best. I miss her.

P.S. Big Brother after dark. Why oh why did they do this? Of course I get Showtime 2. It is now on the Season Pass but I don't see anyway that I can keep up with this.....3 hours everynight? Oh My.

Lucky Day! Take Two!

Just had a thought: I have worked in hospitals a long time and typically all hospital activity is done on military time. In honor of our Country (It's still the week of July 4th) and sick people (in hospitals) we really should be on military time. So there is one more great moment left today. 10:22 PM which translates in military time to 22:22. I can't think of any better timing in all the universe!!!!!

Lucky Day!

The best chance I had for good luck (probably in my whole life) is passing this very second. It's 7/7/7 and it's 2:22pm. I suppose 2:22am was lucky too but I was sleeping. I should have been doing something else at 2:22am....dangit...what a great story that would have been.

Vacation Photos

David took some great photos on our vacation. Here are a couple of the best ones and then you can click on the link to see some of the others. (Note: While I am normally a quality is always better than quantity type of gal, the quality has been dumbed down in the interest of quantity aka storage space) Retraction: There will be no link, the quality sucks and so I must go back to my early statement, quality is always better than quantity. Don't ever think otherwise.



















P.S. You can click on the photos to make them bigger but I must warn you, after all that I wrote above I just looked at the finished product and Blogger dumbed the quality down....aghhhhh. Another P.S. Check out my Uncle Will's shots from Yellowstone. They are fantastic! Will's Photos

How Hot Is It In Phoenix?

Courtesy of Dora (Another point for the Phoenix FSO Team)
First it was 122 degrees
Then a few minutes later it was 125 degrees.

Big Brother 8 Starts July 5th!

I am very unhappy that my all time favorite reality show star is going to be absent from this years Big Brother. No, Jinjer, it's not "Chill Town". Yes, Glenn, it is our girl Jedi Janey! Last year, Glenn and I headed out of dinner early in Vegas just so we could watch Janelle take the house down in Big Brother All Stars. It is truly terrible that she did not win a Big Brother season. Some great Janelle moments can be found here:

Janelle wins all competitions (This is a video of sorts but great Janelle times)
Bye Bye
Janelle Gets Her First HOH
Janelle is abducted by aliens

And the best....videos of when Janelle won the America's Choice and "The Friendship" can't understand why America would vote for Janelle: 1st-Janelle wins the America's choice phone call (Best part of that is April and Yvette are crying and blaming "America")Second America's Choice "The Friendship Rants" (Contain Cussing): Rant Part1 Rant Part2 Rant Part3 Rant Part4

And just for the heck of it, even though I hate Mike Boogie.....Here is a great "Chill Town" Clip

P.S. Doesn't the Buxom Blond or Jedi Janey look a little bit like Tina Marie? Tina why don't you change your picture to Janelle. Everyone is a little weirded out by the current pic.....the word I heard today was creepy. It seems that almost everyone is offended.....

Happy 4th of July! AGAIN!

Happy 4th of July!

When I was looking for a good piece of clipart to Celebrate July 4th and our Country's Independence I ran across this one to the left. Really....Really......how could someone screw this up?????? July 14th? Come on people. I decided to keep on searching...... (July 4th 3:30PM Update-I crossed out the photo of the French Flag)




Soon I found this one to the right: What does this woman with the baby have to do with the Independence of the United States of America?





OK and now I am really sorry but why would someone carve a pumpkin that says July 4th? This image is linked to a site that teaches you how to carve July 4th Pumpkins.....WHAT?!?!??!!?





What was going to be a serious blog about the 4th of July and what it means to this Republican has been reduced to these pictures. Hmm....I wonder what pictures I can find if I search Google Images for Labor Day?

Happy Birthday DP!!!!

Today we celebrate Diane's birthday!!!! Diane, today is your day! You do so much for all of us and we love you tons! Today, I want you to kick your feet up, relax and have a fabulous birthday!



DP serving the world........ (Nice ROD)









Here's to relaxing in the hammock! Have a great day!

Newlyweds: Jessica and Nick

OK, so they aren't newlyweds anymore and they aren't even married anymore but their reality show was hilarious. My favorite episode was the one where Jessica and her BFF got Lasik eye surgery. David and I watched it over and over as they stumbled out of the office with the eye shields on their face.

Here is the MTV description:

Returning home, Casey and Jess have an impending engagement: eye surgery. Wearing glasses for the last time, the two express their worry to Nick while waiting for their limo to take them to their appointment. Nick assures them that the doctor won't severely cut their eyes, but "gently laser them." Not assured at all, the fearful pair take "one last look" at him before getting into their limo and driving off. While en route, Casey is reading the Lasik pamphlet while Jessica is on the phone with her mom, telling her she may never see her again. Prepping for surgery, Jess and Casey first take a little eye exam, then are given Valium to calm down, but that's about the last thing it does. A super jittery Jessica takes a deep breath and goes for it anyway. The doctor gives her a stuffed pig named Squealer to hold on to during the surgery. As soon as the surgery is done, she sits up looks at the eye chart and gets "weirded out" that she can actually read it. Next it's Casey's turn. Jess, wearing eye shields that make her look like a bug, holds Casey's hand through it. Before long, both are leading each other blindly through a parking lot wearing eye shields while on their way to get burgers. They can't see anything, especially if there is light involved. They don't even know what their waitress looks like because they can't see her. Therefore they both agree that "it would suck to be blind." Nothing but a few words of wisdom from our favorite intellectuals to end another episode of Newlyweds.

Official Site Too bad, right now they aren't showing reruns.

The Slow Queen Burns Down

Back in February, I wrote about my trip to the "Slow Queen" in East Mesa, Arizona. Recently I found out that the Slow Queen caught on fire and the inside was completely gutted. This happened at the end of April (over 2 months ago) and as of now there have been no attempts to repair or reopen the building.

A couple of thoughts: (1) This location cannot be profitable because their service was so slow, It is no surprise it hasn't reopened (2) I wonder how long it took the slow queen workers to realize that the place was on fire. If they were as slow to react to the fire as they were to our order they probably didn't make it out in time. (3) This small chain link fence protects the building. Normally, after a fire they board up the windows and doors etc but in this case you can actually see jagged glass on all the doors and frames. Looked super dangerous to me.

The entire story of this Dairy (Slow) Queen is just plain terrible.