A Little South of Sanity

So BP finally got some sort of wits about them and got rid of Hayward (who now incidentally has his life back) and even though he’s gone, he’s walked away from BP even richer than he was. I have to wonder what the people who have lost their livlihood due to this oil disaster must think, knowing that they are still waiting on funds to help them pay their bills.

I’m glad that the oil is no longer gushing into the Gulf, but I actually wonder if BP thinks that getting rid of Hayward is going to alleviate all their problems? I do hope that as they got rid of him that they start thinking a little more responsibly- more about the people and environment than themselves and the allmighty dollar (or pound).

These kind of things should never happen in the first place. It doesn’t mean accidents can’t happen, but there should be ‘clear’ safety measures ready to go in case it does.

I know that until today I hadn’t been here in a while, but trust me, in spite of my temporary vacation away from this little home, your spam comments are still not welcome AND they still won’t make it through.

I don’t care that you think I should try your penis enhancers, nor do I care that you think I should travel where you want me to travel (unless you are going to PAY me to travel to your tropical destinations and foot the bill for the stay), nor take the pills that you want me to take. I know you’re just tryin to earn a penny or two, but that isn’t going to happen here. I can assure you.

Now, to quote Glenda the Good Witch- “Be Gone- Before Somebody Drops a House On YOU!”

I’ve seen a lot of jealousy lately with various people in regards to friendships. What I will never understand is how anyone could be jealous of the friendships others may have. Rather than spending that time and energy focusing on what others have and feeling sorry for yourself because you don’t have the same thing; why not look in the mirror and ask yourself what kind of friend you are to others? Would you want to be friends with yourself?

Everyone is not the same- and I’m thankful of that. Some people connect more than others, but that’s just the ebb and flow of life. But the bottom line is that if you aren’t happy with the way your life is- only YOU can change it, and trust me, whining and jealousy doesn’t help anyone.

*This is not directed towards anyone, but based on various things I’ve seen and crossed my mind.*

I’m sure I’m not the only person cheering at the fact that Joran van der Sloot has finally been caught and is locked up behind bars (where he belongs) in Peru. He should have been locked up 5 years ago when he murdered Natalie Holloway, and yet his smug face has been all over the world living the high life since. I believe that he’s a sociopath who has felt all along that he was above the law and that he had the ‘catch me if you can’ attitude. I also believe he never thought he’d get caught. I’m just sad that another girl had to die in order for that to happen.

His reason for murdering his most recent victim was that she found something on his laptop that linked him to the Holloway murder. I find that hard to believe, but then again, I don’t know why anything that is associated with him would surprise me. One thing I do pray, is that he doesn’t see the light of day again- ever. Harsh? Maybe so, but at least then maybe there will be some semblance of justice served for all of those who have fallen prey to him.

When I think about the fact that there is STILL oil pumping into the Gulf of Mexico and that BP STILL hasn’t done anything to correct this problem, I find my blood boiling. I know I’m not the only one who feels this way, but yet I wonder why BP is being allowed to drop the ball, or at least move forward at a snails pace with correcting this disaster. Every day the situation becomes more and more dire as dolphins wash on shore along with other wild life. Something has got to be done.

The thing that annoys me almost as much as the oil is the lawyers who have jumped on the bandwagon in hopes of gaining a few bucks here and there. One of which that even tried to pay me to write about it on my blog. Sorry folks, that isn’t happening. I’m more than happy to write about things I’m passionate about, or even things that I have an interest in, but I’m not about to help someone line their pockets at the expense of the people and the ecosystem.

As you all know, today is Mother’s Day and last week I decided I wanted to send my mom some flowers. I rarely order her flowers, so I thought it would be something special for her to receive on the day dedicated to wonder mother’s like herself. I decided to go to FTD.com (I’m not linking them) and I actually found a beautiful basket with tulips. My plan was to order them, because mom loves tulips as much as I do. When I went back to the site to actually place my order, they were unavailable. There were plenty of cut tulips, but I knew I didn’t want those, because unless you are putting them in a vase straight from the field, they aren’t going to last long.

To make a very long story short- two hours later, I’d finally chosen the flowers that I wanted for mom. At FTD you have the option of ‘upgrades’ which means you can get the same arrangment but with more flowers for a higher price. I ordered the ‘best’ of the particular arrangement I chose and asked for them to be delivered on Thursday.

First, I’ll say this- the flowers were delivered on Thursday as promised, but when I saw the picture of what mom had been given, I felt like someone punched me in the stomach. Mom said they were pretty, and I know she loved them, but when I asked her why it looked like some of them were old, she said they did appear to be that way, but maybe it was the type of roses they used.

I was NOT happy. First, I am not with my mom on Mother’s Day, which is emotional anyway, but to deliver what I considered to be flowers that weren’t fresh was not acceptable. I called FTD.com, and spoke to a very nice Asian person (FTD apparently outsources their calls to another country so they can pay their employees lower wages) who was more than willing to go out of their way to help me. They called the florist and then asked me to call the florist. I did. By the time I called the florist (whose name I won’t mention, because before this incident I’m assured have had a stellar reputation) they had already spoken to mom and assured her that the flowers were fresh (they’d gotten them in yesterday) and the roses that I thought were old were described to me as antique roses and tend to have that appearance of being brown on the edges. She did offer to replace them, and in the end, I told her that if she assured me they were fresh that it wouldn’t be necessary. She thanked me, and hung up the phone.

By yesterday morning (Saturday) those ‘antique’ roses were obviously just that, because they were dead. The larger roses seemed somewhat ok, but even they had seen better days. Now, I don’t know about you, but if a flower is fresh and is in water and not standing in direct sunlight, plus in a cool environment- there’s no reason under the sun that they should be dead in two days. I asked mom to take another photo and send it to me, and she did.

Again, I called FTD.com and told them that while I didn’t allow the flowers to be replaced because I was assured they were fresh, now after two days they were dead, which told me that they obviously were NOT fresh. The representative offered to replace the flowers and I told them NO. I said that the website guaranted that the flowers would last at least 7 days and since they didn’t even last two, I had no use for them and I wanted a refund. They gladly obliged me and I was promised to have the refund within 5 days. This morning, I noticed my account had already been credited.

I’m not sure what will happen with this situation, but one thing is for sure- that even though they handled it professionally, I’ll never order from them again. There was a HUGE difference in the flowers I ordered and the flowers I received, and I don’t mean freshness wise either. I even suggested to mom that the delivery guy created the arrangement- they were that unprofessional looking.

I applaud your customer service FTD, but your flowers leave something to be desired.

Have you ever noticed that anytime there is a crisis- there are always some lawyers lurking in the shadows just waiting to make a quick buck off someone elses misfortune? In the midst of the Oil Crisis on the Gulf Coast, where help with the clean-up is needed, there are those lawyers who are rolling up their shirt sleeves not to help with the clean up, but instead to come up with a plan of action to see who can be the most creative in coming up with a way to line their pockets.

Of course, they do it under the guise of helping those who are the victims of this tragedy, but yet if that were really the case, do you think they’d be asking for at least 1/3 of any payments that a person may ultimately receive? This all reminds me of good ole’ boy D. Scruggs and his plethora of ‘class action’ lawsuits. Last I heard he was in prison, but who knows, maybe he’s out now and is the ring leader in this mess.

Regardless of who’s the ring leader in this class action circus- you should be ashamed of yourselves by preying on those who are already struggling enough, and hiding behind the guise of saying you just want to ‘help’.

For those who are really interested in helping with the clean up, check here for more information.

You know, I like to think that with as crazy as the world has become that nothing can really surprise me anymore, but this past weekend when I saw that a Dutch child serial killer and rapist was being allowed to watch porno from the comfort of his jail cell, I was appauled and shocked.

Many of you may have heard of the Dutch Crime reporter Pieter R. de Vries during the Natalie Holloway murder case and his attempt to prove that Joran van der Sloot was the guy behind it all. Pieter is know for his great no holds barred investigative reporting in the Netherlands and he is in the process of trying to prove that this Koos H. has been responsible for more deaths. The Dutch government has decided not to allow de Vries to televise the last two episodes of the undercover report that he made, which will include a private recording made by an old friend of Koos who traveled from his home in Thailand to a Dutch prison to visit and try to get him to admit to more crimes. Koos has spent almost 30 years in a Dutch prison where he asked his friend to send him porn videos and magazines to his prison cell, because they ‘allowed’ him to watch them there. He also asked if his friend could try to get his hands on porn with younger girls, the younger the better.

Am I the only person who thinks this is INSANE??? I’m happy to see that de Vries is on the case, but disgusted that the Dutch government is trying to keep it from being aired on the Television becasue it paints a ‘bad picture’. Well, the picture is painted whether they allow it to be aired or not, but it sounds to me like they just want to sweep it under the rug.

Thankfully, there was something good to come out of this, and they have stopped allowing porn for Koos and anyone else who was allowed it in the first place. Questions are also being raised as to WHY this was ever allowed, and that’s something I’d like to know the answer to.

Not much surprises me, but I have to say- this does. As for you Pieter R. de Vries- Keep up the Great work!!!

I mentioned a while back that I had a little rant to do, and since I’ve been really busy, I haven’t really had the time. Right now, I’m going to take a few moments while Marcel eats lunch and before we have to get busy with other things to put my thoughts on ‘paper’ or at least the electronic version of paper.

I’ve had time to cool down about the situation and while I’m not as angry as I was then, I’m still surprised at the insanity of it all. Two weeks ago right after dinner, Marcel and I heard sirens. Within moments he said that they were on our street and that one of our neighbors must be ill. They were. I stood outside for a moment only to find myself extremely upset at the sound of the sirens from the ambulances, because all I could think of was Carol dying a couple of weeks before.

I was expecting Desere for coffee and JJ needed to go for a walk, so I headed out the door with him and she arrived at about the same time. We walked together and I noticed that almost EVERY single one of my neighbors were outside gathered around in little groups talking about what could have happened. As I walked around to another side of the area, I could see the neighbor sitting outside of her home alone, while the paramedics rushed in and out of her home. By this time there were two ambulances on the scene and a doctor, and I knew it didn’t look good.

All I could think of was Carol, and I became enraged that no one attempted to go sit with the woman. I don’t know her very well, but had Desere not been with me, I would have been by her side. Instead, people were more interested in gathering like babbling hens talking about how ‘weird’ these people are. Why? Because they both have medical issues that keep them from maybe being the same as you or I. They are different, so they are automatically ‘weird’. I was FURIOUS and felt that everyone around me was more concerned with gossiping than being human and showing a little compassion towards this woman who was alone and her life was spining out of control at that moment.

Several hours later, Marcel came inside from smoking and said to me that the hearst had left and that he was sorry but the man didn’t make it. I was so hurt for the lady. When Desere left, I walked to the woman’s house and even though I don’t know her very well, I wanted to offer my condolences. It isn’t very traditional in these parts, but I couldn’t help but grab her and give her a big hug the second I saw her. I walked with her to walk her dog in the rain and offered to help her if she needed anything. The following day I put a card with our number in her mailbox.

She’s a human being and should be treated as such. I was disgusted with the people who are my ‘so called’ neighbors who were more interested in the next piece of juicy ‘gossip’ that they forgot what it was like to be compassionate. I wonder how they would feel if the shoe was on the other foot?

This is a little note for you guys out there. When your wives, partners, girlfriends put things in a certain place- leave it there. Trust me when I say we put things where we do for a reason and when you move it, that means when we go back to find whatever it is, it’s gone. Marcel is the worlds worst about doing things like that, and then forgetting that he did it. Today I couldn’t find my Battery charger and when I asked him if he’d seen it, he said he hadn’t. I searched and searched the entire house over, and then he tells me to look in a specific drawer where I would have never put it, but guess what? That’s where it was. Who do you think put it there? Marcel. He blamed the morphine for forgetting that he’d done it. I have to wonder what he blames it on when he doesn’t have the shingles, because he’s even tossed family recipes in the garbage that I’d taken out to use for a recipe.

Don’t do it guys, don’t do it! Just a word of warning.