I Got My Refund From My Wedding Pictures Thanks To Facebook!!!

Posted by Kathy Curry | News of the Day | Friday 23 October 2009 2:50 pm

I got it, I got it, I got it! I finally got my refund from my wedding photographer for pictures I had taken at my July 14, 2007 wedding! How you may ask! Facebook!!! I tried everything from repeatedly calling and using different area codes to filing a claim with Better Business Bureau to calling a lawyer. Nothing worked until I got on FB and began corresponding with the right people. I won’t say anymore because it would just be negative and shine a bad light on a now resolved situation.

My purpose for telling you this is to say, once again, I love Facebook!

Holla back!

Maria Shriver Took One For The Team!

Posted by Kathy Curry | News of the Day | Friday 16 October 2009 7:51 am

The Governor’s wife, the beloved Maria Shriver was stopped by police for talking on her cell phone. This is just my opinion, but I think it is funny and OMG, so human! These are the kinds of things that brings everyone down to the same level and let’s us know we are all human. But here’s the thing, NOBODY in this world is more important to me than my daughter, my son and my grandson. Others and the media and the paparazzi may try to encourage me to think otherwise, but they can’t. However, if my daughter or son or grandson were stopped for talking on a cell phone, without a hands free device, in a state that forbids it, it wouldn’t make headlines!

Although, as I said, this makes Maria human, gosh is it really newsworthy and do we have to be inundated with every little detail of it? TMZ shined one of the brightest spotlights on Maria and her law breaking ways by putting up two pictures of her holding her cell phone while driving; one from July of this year and the recent incident.

Maria isn’t alone. The California Highway Patrol has issued more than 150,000 citations since the law went into effect July 2008. In Los Angeles County, where Brentwood is located, the Superior Court has set the cost at about $93 for the first ticket and $201 for the next one, meaning Shriver would owe at least $300 in fines and court fees had she been caught by police both times. Do you think Maria paid her fine?

Daddy Schwarzenegger – who voted the California law prohibiting use of cells phone while driving without a hands free device into effect – called out his wife and vowed to take “swift actions” on Maria. lol. I read one article that says the remedy would be to get her a driver! Absolutely! Let’s make the rich and famous look even more rich and famous! Get them a driver! Let’s not make her get a hands free device (that I’m sure cell companies are lining up to give her for free!) like the rest of Californians, uh uh. The most sensible way to resolve this monumentally issue is to get her a driver so she doesn’t have to bother with the hassle of that pesky hands free device! Now you know I am being facetious right?

Let the record show, I like Maria Shiver and Governor Schwarzenegger. I think Maria is the epitome of classiness x 2! Being one of Oprah’s best friends she has been on her show several times. Hearing her talk about their family values and standards and how they are raising their children is amazing! They employ a very normal and down to earth parenting style. Their kids do chores and work for what they get! They do not believe in kids getting any and everything they want just because they can afford to give it to them. They worked for what they have and their kids will work for what they get. I like that. With that being said, I am not at all surprised she was caught with an antiquated cell phone and I think it is classy that she chose to donate her archaic phone to help domestic violence shelters.

I’m just not sure that we had to know all of this. I guess if nothing else, it reiterates to Californians and all other states with this law in effect; you cannot drive and talk on your cell without using a hands free device! Gotta love a Governor’s wife who will take one for the team!

Holla back!

P.S. – I’m told (well I read)… Schwarzenegger has previously warned his then-16-year-old daughter that if she ever violated the law, “she’ll be taking the bus.” Whatever!!!

Five Random Questions on Thoughtful Thursday!

Posted by Kathy Curry | Thoughtful Thursday | Thursday 8 October 2009 8:59 am

Good Morning! It’s a good day for me! Today is my Friday as the military gives us the option to take the day before a holiday off as a “training holiday”. Of course I took it and don’t have return to work until Tuesday!

On this Thoughtful Thursday I don’t have anything heavy to talk about, just a few random hypothetical questions.

1#. Don’t you hate to see (typically) a woman walking outside around the track talking on her cell phone! I am a woman but that drives me nuts! Are they really there for the workout or is it just a show to say they were at the track?

2#. This is a two part question. Part #1. Should one person correct another person if they are mispronouncing a word? Which is more humiliating, having one person tell you subtly that you are pronouncing a word wrong or finding out you having been pronouncing it wrong and nobody told you thus lots and lots of people heard you and possibly made fun of you? Part #2. Why do people say conversate!!! Seriously, it might have been Ebonically cute at one point but how much harder is it to say converse? Converse actually has one less syllable than conversate and conversate is sooooooo not a word! And… (heavy sigh) (this ones goes to deep places in me I can’t even described) why do people say scary instead of scared!!! Awwwww….! Let me give you an example. “I don’t like haunted houses, I’m too scary.” OMG! Or “she won’t go with us, she is too scary.” Lord have mercy! The correct word is scared! Here is my question on both these words; do people think it is cute to say these mispronunciations? I will give you this; those words are at home and familiar with certain groups of people and I am going to leave that there but still… how intelligent is it to be in a suit and tie talking to educated people saying conversate? Is that cool or is that plain ignorant? And trust and believe, people hear you and take mental note of the fact that you can’t speak appropriately! They may never ever say anything, but they hear it! I heard, in passing, a hip hop song recently and it had the word conversate in it. Dragging your nails across a chalkboard would have had the same affect on me!

3#. Ok, this may be a whole other post but let me ask anyway. Why do (typically) men, when given the choice to turn the corner into the lane they will need to be in to turn within a block or so, choose to turn in the opposite lane and then have to strategically cross oncoming traffic to get into the necessary lane to turn? And this occurs over and over and over! Same actions, same outcome! And even more simply, while on the highway, why not move into the lane of your upcoming exit now, a mile ahead of time when there is no traffic, versus waiting until you are 500 feet from the exit with endless traffic and no way to get over, thus causing a bottleneck and potentially dangerous maneuvering event!

#4. Why do individuals at a place of business call another place of business, knowing it is a place of business and say, “someone just called me from this number and I am calling back to see who it was.” Seriously? And let me add one more thing to that, when you tell them many people use this “business” line and I can’t pinpoint who it was that called you they say, “ok. I will check my messages. I haven’t checked my messages yet.” I just sit there in awe of that whole experience and want to explain to them how this stupid it was!

Me personally, I CANNOT stand it when someone calls me and says, “someone just called me from this number.” I just want to sit there quietly on the phone and see what they will say next or how they will squirm out of what is really an awkward situation but to be honest, I don’t think it is awkward for them. Check this out, I know people who will pick a day, any day and go through their call ID and call every number that they don’t recognize! And there are repeat offenders! (and I’ll be honest, it is usually family, lol) When I get these calls, when responding I have to steady my voice and take out the aggravation I feel and cheerfully say for the 19th time, this is Kathy, what can I do for you! :o )

I try never to call back numbers I don’t recognize. If I do, there has to be a good reason! My theory is, if it was that important, they will leave a message and ask me to call them back.

#5. Why do people like me feel uncomfortable with only four questions and have to come up with one more question to even it out? I function best in groupings, even if only in my mind. So question #5 is, is do I have a form of OCD?

These are just some of the things that have been on my mind lately. Things that make me go hmmmm….. Maybe you can help me and give me some answers to my random questions on this Thoughtful Thursday! We’ll talk soon! Holla back!