..and the children shall lead

...........................Graham Russell doing what he does so well......................

Well, 3 different times today I had Hispanic families come through my line and the parents did NOT speak English, so the children were translating for them. Nothing wrong with that, but what IS wrong is that all 3 groups were using food stamp cards to pay for their stuff. I'm a strong believer that anyone who is receiving government benefits in this country should have a working knowledge of the English language. It gripes me to no end that we are paying for these benefits with our hard earned tax money, and Oregon doesn't have a problem with giving these perks to folks who are not US citizens. (I certainly have a problem with that)

More bank confusion

Good stuff first. Picture is of the giant Japanese crabs that we have at the aquarium here. You can see by the hand in the pic just how big these guys are. (I'd hate to run across one in a dark alley....)

Song of the day: "When You Tell Me That You Love Me" (American Idol folks from a couple years back)

Cute moment of the day: A little kid ask me how come I had spots on my arms. (Freckles) LOL....

Strange world of airline ticketing: Now and then I check to see what tickets are for visiting Europe. I hadn't done it for awhile and was astounded to find that the fare from Seattle to London was $268!!! WOW!!!! Then I read the fine print. (always something bursting my bubble) I continued on to have all the taxes and fees added in. New grand total....$748!!! That is why I'm not visiting old castles at this moment.

Now...I was about ready to make plans for Vegas in the spring when I realized that with my bank having "issues", that could be a problem with reservations/tickets/etc. If the new owners keep our bank name and all that; no problem. If they were to change our cards and stuff, that might result in new numbers which would be frowned upon by people who want me to present the card I used to make the reservation or buy the concert tix. Sheesh. Guess I'd better sit tight until things settle. (The LV Hilton was especially vigilant in checking my ID and card for a concert ticket that had been purchased a couple months before)

Barry's still got it!

Since I didn't get to take pics at Barry's show, I swiped this one.

Bit of old music

Jonni Lightfoot and the "animals"

Beautiful day on the Oregon coast. Sun is shining...birds are singing...banks are failing...

Yea, my bank says nothing to worry about with the "takeover". My concern is that they will close the branch here in this little bitty town. You'd think the little ones will be the first to go with their "streamlining". Sheesh.

So...listening to a little Partridge Family music as I write. (yea, that dates me, huh?!) Heck, I'd go see David Cassidy again if he comes back to the casino in Lincoln City. I enjoyed the one I went to a while back. (except for the part when he put his sweaty forehead on mine...bleech. That's what I get for sitting in the front, huh.)(funny thing though...if it had been Russell sweating on me, that would've been OK. LOL.......)

By the way...when I was sick someone gave me the electronic version of "Smarter Than A 5th Grader" and it's very cool. I'd highly recommend it! Also I ran across Air Supply's old song "Empty Pages". It's a rather obscure song, but I really like it a lot. If I ever get a high speed internet connection, I'm going to put some of these oldies on my pages so everyone can listen with me. heeeheee....

Drummer spotlight

CJ making the audience go wild

Concert moments

Russell apparently strangling Janet; she survived to rock on.

Listen up, shoppers!

OK...just to be clear about this; there are days when I really do like my job. Then there are other days....Next time ya'll (practicing my Texas speak)go shopping please keep in mind a few simple rules.
1. If you're buying 12 jugs of water/drain cleaner/fruit punch, it's only necessary to put 1 of them on the conveyer belt at the register.
2. Above rule also kind of applies if you have 48 cans of doggy/kitty/hampster food. However, you must let us know how many of each flavor you are purchasing. Yes, I know that each can is the same price, but the computer does the ordering so if I ring up 48 cans of the same flavor, the next time you are shopping with us Fido/Snookims/Mr. Squeeky will only have the "beefy bone surprise" flavor on shelf and will no doubt be disappointed at the lack of variety.
3. Please don't act surprised that you actually have to pay when we tell you the total and request money from you. (well...due to the crummy economy, you CAN act surprised at the amount,I guess) Oh...and lets dig those coupons out of the bottomless purse BEFORE I finish ringing up your order.
4. Guess what? When you come up to me, look at my name badge and say..."do you work here"? You will be labeled an idiot, and we will talk about you after you leave.
5. Above rule also applies if you are next in line watching me ring up another customer, and when I finish with them you ask..."are you still open?"
I'm not kidding here. Numbers 4 and 5 happen several times a week.
Thanks for listening.

Quickie vacation summary

Upgraded to first class on the plane, saw Barry Manilow, Air Supply, lions (MGM), white tiger cubs and dolphins (Mirage), a hooker by McDonalds, Red Rock Canyon (including 2 little rodent things, a lizard, and some dragon flies, but NO BURROS!), the backside (don't ask)of Hoover Dam, DID NOT get lost in Caesars Palace, DID get lost in NY/NY, huge Donny & Marie sign, and the usual pyramid, castle, gondolas, Eiffel Tower, big gold lions, big shiny buildings skyline changed once again with the addition of the new "City Center Project" and a circular rainbow with the shadow of our plane in it just before decending into the clouds to land in Portland!

Vegas germs

Well, didn't exactly make it back to this site the "next day" as I had intended. Too much to think about with the vacation and stuff, then when I got home from said vacation, I was quite sick which took all the fun out of reporting what I'd seen and done. I brought the germ back to Oregon with me and promptly gave it to everyone at work. (sheesh)

I'll go into detail later, but for now the Air Supply concerts were great as always. The first night was a bit uncomfortable for all...Graham even commented on how they weren't quite "with it" yet that night. I think everyone was just holding their breath to see how the new band members would be received. By the 4th show, everyone was loving them! It was strange not to see Mike at drums, but CJ Burton is wonderful! He has quite a stage presence and he is a truly nice guy "off stage" as well. It took me a bit more time to adjust with the addition of a guitar...namely Janet Robin. I felt a couple of the songs were just "too much" with the extra guitar in there, but over all she is very good. Several of the other songs were much richer in sound having her there. She also is very nice, even when I admitted to her that at first I was a bit skeptical about her being there. (I told them both that they had won me over in the end, though.)