What a catch

Read a story in Reuters.com the other day from one of the nations
I have written about on several occasions, The Netherlands, but
this one was actually NOT risque or morally questionable....for a
change! A 13 year old boy was fishing just off the coast of the
Dutch town of Zierikzee when he felt a heavy tug on his line. Alas,
it wasn't a big fish, but a scuba diver who had been swimming
close to shore. The unlucky diver got hooked in his lower lip; a
doctor was able to remove the hook safely. I found this story rather
amusing as I had run across a similar story while living overseas
several years ago. A scuba diver in the Mediterranean Sea suffered
a similar fate, becoming the catch of the day for an erstwhile fisher-
man. The story became the butt of several jokes, but I bet that
scuba diver wasn't laughing!

Work and play

Well, this week I returned to the restaurant, after having 9 days off.
Let me tell you, that first day back was rough, more so because I
had to open, and that 5:00am alarm was a terrible thing! But I am
fully back in the swing of things. Strangely enough, nothing really
major happened, no new staff, no one got fired or quit, actually a
quiet week, so I didn't miss anything. During my time off I was
able to see some of my closer friends, such as the dear Thompsons,
Michelle, and Sandra. Of course, nowadays I am not sure if folks
are coming to see my husband and I, or to visit with Lady! So far,
there has not been a person she hasn't befriended, or a dog she
hasn't tried to play with. Yeah, and my husband dreamed of a
having a possible guard dog....NOT! Just an example of how
Lady is anything BUT....yesterday one of the local churches was
having their big annual yard sale. Hubby and I decided to go,
and we took Lady along. Part of the sale was actually inside the
church, so we were about to leave when one of the ladies of the
church volunteered to hold Lady while we browsed, which we did
for about 10 minutes (and found a couple of things to buy). Well,
in those 10 minutes, Lady befriended not only the entire church
yard sale staff, but all browsers and buyers. As my husband and
I were leaving, close to a dozen folks not only said goodbye to
Lady (by name no less!), but invited her back to next year's sale,
when she will no doubt be larger! hhhhmmm, wonder if they
will still volunteer to hold her then?!?!?!

oh no, not again

I was making a quick check of the news today around
the various websites I frequent, and came across an
eyebrow raiser at Reuters.com. Last week I reported
on an article I read about the blind guy in Estonia
getting pulled over by police who thought his erratic
driving was due to being drunk. Well, he was at it again
this past weekend, and this time, he was indeed drunk,
a winning combo with his blindness when it comes to
driving! This time he had 3 people in the car with him
who were giving him instructions; no word if they were
drunk as well, but you have to wonder who would get
into a car driven by a drunk, blind man! Estonian police
this time are not in a forgiving mood. They are asking
the court to jail the man for 30 days and to confiscate
his car. Y'all can be sure that I will be checking Reuters
to see if there will be a 3rd story on this character!

Introducing Lady!

Hard to believe my vacation time is winding down, these days
have simply flown by. The old adage 'time flies when you are
having fun' is oh so true. Of course, the best part about this
time off is being able to spend more time with my husband.
But we have also spent times with friends, and with our new
member of the family. Yes, the time has come for me to
introduce y'all to Lady! Lady is our puppy, approximately
3 months old. See, we don't know her age for sure. Hubby
found an online ad from a woman about 20 miles from our
fair city giving away a litter of puppies, Siberian Husky and
Labrador mix. We decided to go see them, and 3 of the
original 10 puppies were left, including the so-called 'runt'
of the litter. Well, of the 3 puppies, the runt was the only
one to actually pay attention to us, sniffing around and then
demanding a belly rub! Basically, she made us pick her!
Since that fateful day about 6 weeks ago, Lady the 'runt' has
doubled in size, gotten almost all of her shots, become
prettier and more adorable, and has even learned several
commands. She is super friendly; so far, she hasn't met a
person she hasn't won over with her exuberant charm!
(there goes hubbys' dream of making her a guard dog!) We
have even enrolled her in basic obeidience classes; the first
one went swimmingly! Once I can get pics from my digital
camera onto my computer and uploaded into this site, y'all
who haven't met her yet will get to see Lady in all her glory!

Under the radar

Takeovers and mergers are always newsworthy for
various reasons. I have written about the the possible
XM/Sirius satellite radio merger and the attempted
acquisition of Wild Oats by Whole Foods (both are
still not done deals yet). But one union did occur
recently that managed to avoid the big headlines.
Thule, the Swedish company that produces car
rooftop storage boxes, ski and bicycle racks, and
more, recently acquired the American firm Case Logic,
which supplies storage bags and cases for computers,
CD's, DVD's, and other types of media. While still
subject to clearance of European anti-trust laws, it
appears that this combination will be a winning one.
According to Anders Pettersson, president and CEO
of Thule, “The Case Logic acquisition adds a highly
complementary line of products to our core line of
smart transportation solutions based on functional
design. Thule and Case Logic are serving the same
end consumer groups, active people that need an
accessory to bring their equipment with them safely,
easily and in style. A large percentage of Case Logic’s
products are offered around or inside the car, where
Thule has its strong base.” Basically, it is a merger
of techies and athletes who are on the move, like
the headphone adorned neighborhood bicycling geek!

At the movies

Yay! Finally got to see the new Jason Bourne movie,
and yes, hubby and I loved it! It started off a tad
slow, but picked up speed quick and never really
stopped. And the ending was such that the door
was left open for a 4th rendition. Naturally, if there
is a 4th, we'll be there. During the previews of up-
coming movies before it started, there were some
clips of an upcoming action thriller starring my
fave actress, Jodie Foster. The role looks a tad out-
side of her norm, but Foster can pull off just about
anything. But today, Matt Damon was the star!

Let's go for a drive!

Just checking the news real quick today, and came across
this headline in the Reuters website - 'Blind man arrested
for driving car'. I naturally thought of that Al Pacino movie,
'Scent of a Woman', where Pacino plays a blind retired
miitary man who at one point decides to take a Ferrari for
a spin. Anyway, this actual event occured in Estonia. Police
pulled over a car that was driving erratically, assuming that
the driver was drunk. They realized, however, that he was
blind when he kept missing the tube to blow into for the
breathalyzer test! The blind man's passenger, a teenager,
was playing the role of instructor; he obviously fared
poorly in his capacity!

time off....for a movie

My gal pal Michelle visited me at the restaurant last night
and proceeded to make me extremely jealous - she had
just gotten out of the newest Jason Bourne spy flick
starring Matt Damon. She loved it, and get this, she didn't
even see the first 2 Bourne movies. I mean, what on earth!?!
It has been a while since I have been to the movies; sadly,
there just haven't been any coming out that have really
piqued my interest. But you can bet that I will be dragging
hubby to the Bourne movie this week! This week will be
divine, as I have it off; after tonight, I won't be back to the
restaurant until the second Wednesday from now - 9 days
off in a row! It is actually a good time to get a break. The
last few weeks have been rather hectic and frustrating at the
restaurant, with staff turnover and shortages, equipment
woes, and the ridiculous heat and humidity. Plus, the fine
local university will be back in session in about 3 weeks....
that means more folks in town, more busy weekends, foot-
ball games, concerts....you get the picture! So it will be a
good time to recharge the battery, do stuff around the
house, take a few day trips, maybe a bit of shopping, eat
out occasionally...and yes, hit the Jason Bourne spy thriller!

Bottled water

I knew it....i knew it. I drink bottled water daily, usually
about 2 small or one large bottle. A few years ago, I
meticulously bought a bottle of each and every brand on
the market, to find the best tasting ones. I endured a
mild amount of ridicule from folks telling me that it's just
water, it's all the same, what difference does it make. Well,
I could taste a difference. Some had a more metallic taste,
even a bit of an aftertaste in some cases. So it came as no
surprise to me to learn this week that Aquafina (from Pepsi),
and Dasani (a Coke product) bottled waters were not from
fresh springs, but simply treated tap water. I had tried both
during my taste test period, and they were equally bad, very
metallic. And now we all know why. Another brand that
admitted to being tap water was one I somehow missed,
Nestle Pure Life. Yeah....real pure! Oh, and the brands that
did do well in my personal taste test are as follows:

1) Evian
2) Spring (by Dannon)
3) Crystal Springs
4) Deer Park

As Evian is a tad on the expensive side, I usually buy
Spring or Crystal (whichever is on sale!). My wild card
choice if none of those are available is Deer Park. Call
me picky, but in this case, I was right!