Margaritas with a Twist of Attitude

Open post to OLS babycat1216

2011-03-16T00:40:00.002-05:00

Cindy,
I noticed the vote request hiatus over the past year, and have also noticed you've been busy with other endeavors (good for you, BTW....you look "mahvelous"!)
While I have very few followers of my postings, word of your previous voting ethics (and those of previously named other OLS members) has reached many members of the OLS voting community.
With your outward transformation, I can only hope that perhaps there has been some re-evaluation of your voting contests ethics, as well.
Not every contest will be yours to win.
In fact, it would be nice to perhaps occasionally take a "back seat" and instead of pushing full steam in to any given one, perhaps sit back and show support for a fellow contester. Stay up all night and drum up votes from legitimate sources for them. Perhaps place a link in your siggy on OLS for them(and whatever other forums you frequent) and post on your facebook wall daily for them. You know, give somebody else a chance to reap the benefits that you have reaped from vote supporters.
There are many of us that support vote requesters, but we do so in a more "silent" fashion. We are not that large of a group, but we do know how to help each other out when needed. And we do so without taking unethical/cheating measures.
Again, not every contest will be yours to win. No one "deserves" to win any contest, unless it is being judged by a 3rd party, and even then, the "deserving" aspect can be questionable.

For your future contests, will the playing field be even and will you be playing in a fair/ethical manner?
Will your "co-horts/partners" be playing fair?

These are questions that many of voting community would like to be addressed.

If you choose to address these questions, rest assured that word of your responses will travel via word of mouth, just as my previous postings have. Hopefully, the outcome will produce a more positive outlook for you and any future contests you may enter.

stay tuned..more vote contest cheating to be reported

2010-07-25T23:30:00.002-05:00

Word is getting around about this subject. If anyone has information they would like to share, please feel free to pass it on to me for posting. You may do so anonymously via this blog or confidentially via private email: margaritaswithatwist AT gmail DOT com. I would prefer to not rely on hearsay/gossip and if possible would at least like to know that you have your own tangible proof. Whether you share that proof with me or not is entirely up to you, but if you choose not to, please understand that if not, then I will be rather limited in what I can post here.
Thanks for helping get the word out about this issue.

mastectomy swimsuits....Land's End

2010-03-08T19:58:00.002-06:00

Kudos going out to Land's End for an improved selection of their swimwear with mastectomy options.
A few years ago, I searched high and low, looking for a mastectomy swimsuit that didn't come off as something that my grandma (or even my own (step)mom) would wear.
Tried online, tried local brick and mortar...nothing. Tried a local "specialty" shop. Nada.
I had received a catalog from Land's End and noticed a couple of choices that "might" appeal to my age/mindset.
I was able to use something called My Virtual Model that allowed me to use online tools to create the most perfect "fit" for my body shape.
I found a two piece tankini set that had prosthesis pockets and I just have to say that I was very pleased with my suit and the way it fit. I purchased two different "bottoms" to go with the top for a bit more flexibility.
At that time a few years back, I sent Land's End feedback and made a request/suggestion for them to consider having more of their swimsuits available with the prosthesis pocket option.
Fast forward to last week. I got a new Land's End catalog and was very pleased to see that they now offer a greater variety of their swimsuits with this option.
WOOHOO!!!
This is the top I picked out: Adjustable Tunic Swim Top
And this is the bottom I picked out: Swim Mini
The bottom looks kinda "boxy" from the image on the website. I don't think it will be, as it is very similar to one of the bottoms I ordered previously.
So, for all you gals out there that have chosen to not have reconstruction surgery after a mastectomy, check out Land's End for some good swimsuit choices.

Billy Joel/Elton John concert

2010-02-26T23:48:00.002-06:00

Courtesy of a local city events organization, Jim and I each won a pair of tickets to see Billy Joel/Elton John week before last. Unfortunately, Jim is not a big fan of either (he was trying to help me win so I could go).
So, he stayed home with Conner and Caitlen, Colton and Colby joined me for an evening of flashbacks.
I would never have pictured these two singing each others songs, but I was amazed at how well they accompanied each other. They harmonized beautifully and the duets performed on their pianos were quite pleasing to the ear.
Many songs were introduced by noting which "album" they were originally recorded on and after paying attention to these tidbits of information, I realised why my kids seemed to be bored out of their minds....LOL! (Not that I didn't try to tell them beforehand that they probably wouldn't know any of the songs...I did.)
My kids and I share a love of quite a bit of the same music that is from my generation, but next time, I'll be dragging Jim with me and leaving the kids at home.
The concert was awesome, in my book and I'm glad I got the opportunity to see these two music icons together on the same stage.

more OLS chit/drama...couple things

2010-02-21T23:35:00.004-06:00

The OLS vote request forums are unusually well mannered and quiet lately.
Why? do you ask?
dakins64 and ubuying have both been MIA since Jan. 7, 2010.
Coincidence? Are they related?
It is well-known that dakins64, by her own admissions in the forums, uses several (at least 4) different computers to enter sweepstakes with and place votes from.
It just seems too coincidental that both of these habitual "vote thread bumpers" (see previous blog posting here)decided to take an OLS break on the exact same day.
You know I always found it a bit odd that they are such voting fanatics, but yet never asked for a vote in return for any contest. While I realise that the amount of time to devote to internet activities varies from person to person, it was a given that if one had posted in a vote thread on any given day, the other would be posting in those same threads later on those same days.
Just one of those things that make ya go hmmmm.
Anyway, babycat1216's recent vote threads are not getting anywhere near the amount of exposure with these two thread bumpers MIA for whatever reason. Wonder if she is freaking out just a bit?
Yes, I realize that my posts on this subject, and those involved, have a tendency to be on the fanatically negative side, but I will do my darndest to expose babycat's unethical, cheating methods, along with those people who have partnered with her in her efforts to win, no matter the cost, no matter the ethics involved, and no matter whose feelings/opinions get trampled over, in order to achieve that win.
It's actually quite nice to be able to go to the OLS vote threads and be able to navigate them fairly easily, without weeding through all the BS.
I can only hope that this will last a while longer.

Secondly....BlondieChick22 has been quite active in the forums lately. I do believe that she will hold the record for most "locked" or deleted threads in OLS history for a very long time. At least her threads are mostly locked now, not deleted. So anyone who wants to check out her amazing escapades can easily find her postings by clicking on her profile link here.
The mods wonder why everybody doesn't put her on "ignore" status. Well, she posts her BS to "entertain" herself. Everybody else posts replies to "entertain" themselves. Why not? If she is allowed to post such outright (I'll just go ahead and say it) BULLSHIT for her own pure enjoyment/entertainment, then we should be allowed our postings for our own enjoyment/entertainment.
I really wish her the best, but at 21 yrs. of age, I just have to shake my head at her immaturity.
As I posted in a couple of her threads now....the "cry wolf" syndrome has set in. I can only hope that she has someone in real life that will be there to help her in the event she finds herself in a situation where she really needs it. Don't think OLS will be there for her.

Job change for Jim...hope this is a good thing

2010-02-21T22:29:00.004-06:00

It's been awhile since I've posted. No real reason just perhaps that my life is so mundane most of the time that I really don't have a lot to write about.
Jim works for a fuel transportation company and has worked for this company for 11 years now. Like many other industries, the transportation industry is taking hits due to the general economic conditions.
There is another company that "contracts" some of their business to the company Jim works for and Jim has been their primary freight driver for the past 10 years. He knows their customers' "quirks", inside and out. He knows what it takes to keep them happy and has learned how to do this without too much compromise on his part.
For anyone that is not aware, most, if not all, fuel transport drivers are paid based on the freight they move. If they aren't physically and literally moving freight, they are not getting paid. This means that if it takes 3 hours at the loading rack to load their trucks, if they get stuck in traffic on the way due to an accident, if it takes 3 hours to then unload their trucks at the customers' facility, or any other "idle" time when the truck/freight is not physically moving; they are not being paid for that "idle" time. A load/delivery that only is an hour away, can typically take 3-4 hours to complete, yet the freight is "rated" on distance and weight, not time involved to turn the load.
It sucks big time.
Anyway, this customer that Jim has been committed to for the past several years mentioned that they were wanting to purchase their own truck and hire a driver to drive it. Basically eliminating the "middle man", Jim's employer. They have now decided to go forward with this venture and offered Jim the position.
They crunched #s (via a computer ): )and came up with a certain dollar figure that they were willing to pay.
It was basically the same amount Jim is making now.
So, now, Jim was being put in a not-so-good position. Either take the offer, or risk losing his job altogether, as his "main" customer would be hiring someone to drive their truck and handle their freight, whether that someone was Jim or someone else.
I suggested that Jim sit down and make a graph of sorts, to take back to them, showing just exactly what all is involved in the delivery of freight, and ask them to give consideration to his time involved and not just what their computer generated figures were indicating.
So, a couple days later, with his graphs and other pertinent info in hand, Jim met with the customer/potential employer again.
They literally had no clue what all was involved when catering to their own customers.
They said they would review everything that Jim provided via paperwork and verbally and get back to him.
A couple days later they offered a SALARY, which is virtually unheard of in this line of work, comparible benefits package, including bonuses, insurance, 401K (which he already has, so he can just roll that over), plus PAID vacations (starting this year at 2 weeks)with 3 weeks after 3 years, and sick leave, although Jim is very seldom sick (perhaps that was because as it is right now, if he does not work, he does not get paid). These other "perks" are also virtually unheard of as well for a driver in this industry.
I am so proud for Jim in stepping up and showing them how much his work ethic is really worth!
So, we are sure hoping this is a good career move.
They have since bought a new semi, with a sleeper, and are actively looking for a fuel trailer to purchase. Jim has already completed his employment paperwork with the new company. We are just waiting for the trailer to be purchased and he is looking to make the move March 1.
Wish us luck on this move, especially in this economy.

OMG funny video (adult alert)

2010-02-05T19:01:00.003-06:00

Check out this performance on Sweden's Got Talent. This will wipe that frown right off your face. Turn sound up and ENJOY!

Sweden got talent - Naked guys dancing!- Watch more Videos at Vodpod.

Help me! I'm sinking! ...

2010-01-20T13:21:00.003-06:00

into the realm of facebook that is.
I've been getting a few friend requests to sign up for facebook. I knew that many members of my rather large step-family were in to it. I knew that more and more sweepstakes were being administered through facebook.
Yet, I was doing a fairly good job of holding out.
Not anymore!
I got an email last week from a former high school classmate, inviting me to take a look at his photos he had posted. But, of course, I would have to join facebook to actually SEE the photos.
So, I took the plunge!
I have hooked up with many classmates/family members via a personal account, and so as not to subject them to all the "advertising" that sweeping brings, I created a separate one for sweeping purposes.
So far, I seem to be keeping my facebook time under control, but gosh, keeping up with everyone will prove to be a task.
I will not let my personal facebook interfere with my sweeping time. I keep telling myself this.
So, I now justify myself by logging in to my sweeping account and enjoying my sweeper pals, while actually getting in sweep entries,as well.
Problem solved...
I hope.

my heart broke just a bit last night....kid related

2010-01-13T11:10:00.003-06:00

So, I posted yesterday about my oldest son, Colton, stating that he really is a good kid. He really is, but he broke a bit of my heart last night, as well as his little brother's.
I know he is a typical teenager and most times they don't think before they say something (or do something), and I know that alot of that will get better as they mature, but what he did/said last night just tore at my heartstrings severely.
Colby is a pre-teen, 11 yrs. old and will be 12 in two months. A very sensitive and awkward age, IMO. He started middle school this year, so he's really exploring lots of new things/interests. Girls, class subjects, etc.
Colton (the oldest) has been in the school band program for 4 years now and is active in the drumline. He has been self-taught various percussion instruments, as well as the guitar.
Colby decided to join the middleschool band program and was quite pleased that he was accepted in to the percussion group, following his older brother's footsteps.
Last night, Colton informed me that he would be having drumline practice two nights per week, as the drumline decided, as a group, that they wanted to participate in a few of the regional competitions later this spring. OK. Fine, that is great.
He then calls me in to his room, wanting to show me something. He gave no clue as to what he wanted me to see, but Colby was sitting next to me and jumped up to go with me.
Colton rudely told him that he had not been invited to see what he wanted to show me and closed his bedroom door in Colby's face.
Colton proceeds to pull up a YouTube video on the wii wi-fi connection and tells me that this is the music that the drumline is going to perform at their upcoming competitions.
I asked Colton why could he not have let Colby come into see it with me and he just very nonchalantly stated that if he had wanted Colby in there to see, he would have invited him to see it.
Colton is, and always has been, the type of kid to not let things bother him, verbally or otherwise. He just sloughs it off and goes on about his business. I've seen it a few times with his friends. He quickly lets things go. He has ALWAYS been a compassionate child, much to my amazement at times. He's very laid back and makes friends very easily. He doesn't have any one girlfriend, but has literally dozens of girl friends, in real life and online.
So, I was quite surprised by his response when I asked him why he was being so rude to his younger brother.
His response?
"Mom, I don't let things get to me or bother me, so Colby shouldn't either."
My jaw dropped. I could not believe these words and actions coming from Colton. I was dumbstruck. I was numb.
I tried to explain to him that he was not the only person whose feelings should be considered, but he looked at me like I was a martian, totally not getting it.
I informed him that he was not the only person in this house whose feelings needed to be considered, and he actually argued back and stated that he knows that, but still felt the same way.
I could see that he was not going to get it anytime during this conversation, so I told him to just stay in his room the rest of the evening, took the wii out, and told him to do his homework.
Left the room to find Colby, whose feeling had indeed been hurt tremendously. Colby looks up to Colton...this was devastating to him.
I mean, what do I say? I honestly had no words to repair the damage that had been done.
All I could do was hold him and tell him that we all say/do things that we don't always take in to consideration of others' feelings and that Colton was just being a butt. He was soooo hurt.
I was hurt. I was hurt because I am trying to get my kids raised with respecting others, and I felt that at 15, Colton should be more wary of what he is saying to his siblings.
I was hurting for Colby. My heart is heavy today for this child who only shows admiration for his older brother and is trying to "find" himself at this awkward age, but yet does not know any other way to do just that, except perhaps emulate his older brother.
I know that this is probably just one of the many conflicts that they will have, but it sure makes for a sucky feeling, and I am just feeling out of sorts over it.

mustard

2010-01-12T12:01:00.004-06:00

If I had not gone through chemo-induced menopause almost 7 years ago, I would think that I must be PMSing, cause I sure seem to be on a rant today.
We had take-out hamburgers last night from a locally owned dairy store. They raise their own cows for milk and also for the beef, so it is almost always good quality. Had one hamburger out of the "bag-o-burgers" deal leftover, so I just warmed it up for my lunch.
I got our mustard out of the fridge (French's) and noticed a new label on it. Looked closer, thinking it might have been a newer formula or something, but instead it says "40% More than our 14 oz ".
The bottle size is 20 oz, so I don't have a problem with that, but its just the idea that they are portraying the 40% more to be a special deal. I can see the required weight just fine at the bottom of the label, why do they feel the need to add a special "splash" label telling me the exact same thing?
Not sure why this bothers me, but today it does.

Vote whores (sweepstakes related)

2010-01-12T11:35:00.003-06:00

So, my favorite sweepstakes website decided to become a part of the facebook/twitter community. Very good, I say. Great place for all of us sweepers to hang out and socialize.
The thing is, though, nobody seems to be getting much socializing done due to the vote whores spamming with daily (and sometimes hourly) vote requests.
Vote whores...you know what I mean. Those who CONTINUOUSLY barrage us with "vote for me, I deserve this" posts. OMFG! Get a life already. The group of people co-horting each other really should consider forming THEIR OWN GROUP and keep their vote-whoring in it. That way, they can scratch each other's backs (or a better terminology would be stab each other's backs, as many of us have come to know that the majority of them do not have the entrant's best interest at heart), and not subject EVERY OLS member to their mind games/unethical voting systems.
Glad I stick to the regular old sweeps....I wouldn't be able to live with myself using their methods on a daily basis.

The bathroom is done!

2010-01-12T10:43:00.007-06:00

Finally! Finally!

Here are a couple of pics of the boys' new bathroom decor. The colors seem to appear "bluish", when in reality, they are "aqua" ("greenish") and various shades of brown. Not feminine, but goes well with the rest of our house decor. We still are searching for that final touch for the wall above the towels, across from the mirror.

(Below) I found a "before" picture of Colton capturing his mug in the mirror (for his MySpace, I think) LOL! (He really is a GOOD kid. Don't let the gangsta garb/pose fool ya.)
Anyway, in the picture, you can kind of get an idea of what the decor was before. Too girly-girly for an all-boys bathroom and the wallpaper was definately not something that would even be a consideration for us.

Happy New Year! Neither rain, nor sleet nor snow....

2010-01-05T13:36:00.003-06:00

Whatever happened to that, anyway?
We got hit with 14 '' of snow on Christmas Eve. There are still 10 foot drifts in some places (one drift of about 4 feet still on my husband's side of the driveway...LOL!), but I guess (actually I KNOW) our mailman doesn't adhere to the motto too much anymore. No mail from Dec. 24th through Dec. 30th. WTH is that about? This was not just me, this was at least everybody on our street.
This really put a kink in my end-of-the-year snailmail entries. I finally resorted to hauling my butt, as well as the kids', out in below average frigid temps to get my entries to the post office.
Ordered some new towels for my bathroom remodel (see previous post) on Dec. 26th. They shipped on Dec. 27th and UPS still has them sitting in my local UPS station. They have been there since Dec. 30th.
I guess they got their fill trying to deliver last minute packages through the blizzard of 2009 on Christmas Eve., and needed a few days to just take it easy.
The kids went back to school today. Yeah! Although I really don't mind so much them being home with me. Santa brought a Wii and they went shopping for games with their GameStop gift cards, so they were pretty much occupied all through their break. They took a few time outs to play in the snow, but since we don't get this unusually cold (single digit and below zero wind chills), they didn't stay out for more than 30 minutes at a time.
Of course, this meant a lot of extra work for me. Wet shoes, wet socks (not really a NEED for snow boots here, we usually only get one good snow each winter, the rest comes in the form of ICE), wet clothes, wet gloves. I'd just get them all dried and they were ready to go back out in it.
Oh well, such is the life!
Colton decided yesterday morning (after being out of school for nearly 2 weeks) that he was ready to paint his room. Go figure. He got 2 walls done, his bed is the middle of the room, his drum set is in Colby and Conner's room (where there really is no EXTRA room). I gotta admit, though, the color he is painting (light grey) looks AWESOME with all of his bedroom accessories he got for Christmas. Will have to make a note to myself to post pics of it, along with the re-modeled bathroom, when they get finished.
The bathroom will be finished by this weekend, as I imagine Colton's room will be, as well.
Ran in to some snags in the bathroom (long story, but just suffice it to say that DH's advice on something DID NOT turn out very well), but I think the problem has been overcome and now just need to do the final painting.
I hope everyone has a blessed New Year!

New Year's Eve

2009-12-31T01:37:00.004-06:00

Cheers to you,
Cheers to me.

Have a Happy New Year's Eve!

bathroom remodel (wallpaper nightmare)

2009-12-31T00:08:00.003-06:00

We bought this house last summer (2008). The price was right, it is in a neighborhood that we have always wanted to live in. We are about 2 blocks from the high school and middle school and about 5 blocks (3 blocks through the neighborhood shortcuts) from the elementary school. My kids have all gone to school here, even before we moved (I just drove them, as even though we were living in the district, I wanted them to go to this elementary school and not the one that was a block away from our previous residence.)
Who ever lived here before must have had a wallpaper fetish. Wallpaper everywhere, in every room. Some of it not so bad, others REALLY bad!
The living room and dining room came with a border of roosters and red barns. EWWWW! So not us! The kitchen was bordered with a different scenario of - get this....chickens and barns...LOL!
One bedroom, (the boys', cause it was the larger of the bedrooms outside of the master) had a border of flowers. Our master bathroom and vanity are covered
with a not too bad flowery border, with the entire vanity in the same design, as well as a border of the same throughout the master bedroom.
The other full bath (the one the boys use) is covered in girly-girl flowers.
First things first! Chickens and barns? In the living room? WTH?!
Took that border down EVERYWHERE and fortunately found that the previous owner left us paint to cover up that matched.
Next, took out the border in the boys' bedroom and found paint to cover that up. Looks good, and although I've never done this type of stuff before, I decide that it isn't such bad work. (Yeah really. Read on...)
Decided to tackle the boys' bathroom over Christmas break, so Colton will be here to help out. I knew there was 2 layers of wallpaper in there (they were starting to peel in little places)and I was really dreading doing this project.
What I did not know was that there was also a layer of PAINT in between the two layers of wallpaper.
Now, I'm all for TRYING to cut corners to save time and expense, but you would think that after PAINTING on top of the existing wallpaper in a small spot and actually SEEING that that was not gonna work, they would have stopped. But nooooooo! They painted over the wallpaper in the entire bathroom before they realized this! Deciding that one coat of paint was enough work to try to cover up the existing wallpaper, they elected to just cover up the entire mess with yet another wallpaper. (banging my head against that wallpaper now)
The first layer of paper we get off fairly easily.
It was then we discovered the layer of paint. It doesn't matter how well you "score" that layer, nor how much of that DIF wallpaper remover goop you use, it is not gonna penetrate a layer of paint, not to even mention the wallpaper underneath. (still banging my head against that wall)
We finally resorted to taking a razor blade and scoring 1 foot sections through all layers (without damaging the sheetrock/drywall) and then using the razor edge to carefully lift each layer off each 1 foot section.
After four days of this, we have all layers removed with the exception of a 5-6 foot section's last layer.
OMG! What were the previous owner's thinking?!
We will finish that up later today, hopefully, and then we will have to "patch" the various nicks and notches created to get all this stuff off the walls.
I have already ordered and received new bathroom accessories (shower curtain (although the tub/shower has sliding doors), soap dispenser, toothbrush holders, kleenex box cover, etc.) I have also ordered new towels, actually bath sheets, for the boys and a bathrug, courtesy of my Amazon sweepstakes win a couple months ago.
Will be re-painting the walls (no more wallpaper!!!), perhaps a nice sand color.
I'm not sure if I have a "before" pic (Colton might, though, as he is always taking pictures of himself in the mirror for his myspace page..LOL) but I'll post "after" pics when it all gets finished.

White Christmas 2009 and other irrelevant stuff

2009-12-30T23:01:00.003-06:00

Dec. 24, 2009 - 14.1 " of snow in 8 hours. Glad all my shopping was done, as by 3 p.m., the malls were being shut down and within an hour or so later, ALL interstates running through our city were CLOSED, as well, due to driving 50 mph winds causing blizzard-like conditions.
Not to mention that BEFORE the snow started, we had freezing drizzle and sleet to the tune of 1/4 to 1/2 inch.
Now I know it is fairly common for people to be stranded at an airport due to weather. We had that here, as well, but...have you ever heard of people being stranded at the mall?
Yep, that happened here. Many people spent Christmas Eve night sleeping in the mall lobbies or in their cars in the mall parking lots!
We have over 13,000 miles of city roads and our city maintenance crews could not keep up with the snow. We are very much used to ice storms here and on occasion, we do get some good snowfalls, but this was incredible.
With such strong winds, there were drifts as high as rooftops, thus the reason for the virtual city shut-down. The roads were impassable. People abandoned their cars on the interstates and city roads. There was a 50 car pile-up on one interstate running through our city, just outside of OKC city limits, in Midwest City.
I live across from a huge empty field, just at one of the two entrances in to our neighborhood. Beginning that afternoon, and continuing even today, the 30th, there have been roughly 30 cars that have found themselves "stuck" either coming in or going out of the addition. Jim helped a few, but gave up when he noticed that even though there were 2-3 cars stuck at any given time, there were those cars whose owners thought "nah...no problem! My SUV (or 4 wheel drive) can make it through that 5 foot drift with no problem!"....
Yeah right!
So, we just enjoyed watching them over our fence through our patio door, from the comfort of our fireplaced warmthed home. LOL!
You may be suprised at just how many ventured out in this stuff, but brought NOTHING with them to get themselves unstuck. What's that boy scout saying? Be prepared?
The boys enjoyed their Wii from Santa Christmas day. Jim and I enjoyed making fun of the morons battling the snow and ice for hours trying to get their cars through a roughly 100 yard stretch of road covered with 4 feet of snow on top of 1/2 inch of ice.
Oh, I know. This isn't really "nice". But come on....who leaves their house with 14 inches of snow on the ground, dressed to the nines on Christmas day, with no preparation for the inevitable? All local stations began full-time broadcasting of road conditions around noon Christmas Eve, so unless one was off in la-la land, there really was nothing but a lack of preparation.
Pics can be seen here.

The rapper wasn't the only cheater in this vote contest. DID YOU KNOW?

2009-12-16T23:48:00.019-06:00

OLSer babycat1216's SnagAJob Vote request - January 2009

Pre-face:
babycat1216 has a tendency to have her threads deleted if she's been called out for her unethical voting methods, so if the above link leads you to nowheresville, leave me a comment as I have the most pertinent posts of that thread archived on my computer. I'll gladly post them here, if necessary. It is just quite lengthy, as you can imagine, if you do see the thread linked.

Originally posted by myself on my OLS blog in Feb. 2009. Re-posting here and adding a few details:

I recently witnessed the use of an auto-voter in a contest. Fortunately, I was not involved, personally, so really no skin
off my teeth.
However, there was, of course, an innocent victim.
While
that, in itself, is disturbing to me, what is most disheartening for me is that
fellow OLS members created such
a program and contributed to the breech of integrity of this contest. I don't do
voting contests...too many "games" being played and more work involved in them
than I wish to devote.
Call me dumb, or blind, or just plain naive, but I had no clue of this sort
of "games" were being played. This has left me with a heavy heart and great
sadness, not to mention my loss of respect for ALL of the players involved.
Sad, sad times when one must stoop down to this level to "win". Just needed to
get this off my chest and hopefully once again remind those that are venturing
into this sort of contest to keep in mind that not all "voters" have YOUR (the
entrant's) best interest in mind, and those that you think you can trust....you
really cannot. And also a reminder to "check out" who you are devoting your
"voting time" to. Google and other search engines are wonderful tools and you
can find out alot of things about the entrant (and those who are supposedly
voting/supporting you) by using these search engines. If someone is wanting
you to "invest" your time to keep their vote scores "up" , don't you want to
"invest" your time for someone that deserves it? And if you notice someone is
consistently in these kinds of contests, trust me, they have learned how to
manipulate the system. It is scary, as I saw this auto-voter, live, as it was
taking place. I have the proof saved on my computer, as does another member who
witnessed it....so it makes me very afraid to know that most likely this tactic
will be used in the future. Just because a person puts up a vote request on any
of my favorite forums, does not entitle them to my "vote time", and I hope that
all who read this feel the same. Also keep in mind that those who are so openly
(and privately via PM) stating their support for you, as an entrant, may not be
as supportive as they appear.

DID YOU KNOW???....
That OLS member resident computer guru fastfreddie1959 solicited the help of OLS member VALENTINE to create and implement an auto-voter program to help babycat1216 win the above linked contest?
A few of us have noticed some patterns develop while watching some of the vote contests over the years. Trust me when I say that we have seen quite ALOT of funny business in those contests that we monitored. But we have noticed far more in babycat1216's vote request contests than all the others combined. Things such as advising people to create multiple accounts and to use multiple emails in order to gain extra votes in contests where only 1 vote per person is allowed. Things such as giving advice on how to clear your computer of "cookies" in order to get in another vote. This was the first I had seen an autovoter in use, LIVE. as it was happening. I saw it LIVE, as the autovoter was being tested about 1:00 am the day (or perhaps two days) before the contest was set to end (approximately around the time VALENTINE posted in the OLS thread.)
I saw it actually IMPLEMENTED in the wee hours of the morning the contest was set to end.
The rapper video, I do not think was using an auto-voter, initially. He had a very nice following of people on YouTube and was promoting his video in other areas of media. I think he began using an auto-voter when he found that babycat was promoting her video on a sweepstakes website that has over 150,000 potential voters.
This, in itself, poses "ethical/unethical" voting considerations, IMO.
The third contestant appeared to be just an average person who unwittingly found herself in a cut-throat competition who had no clue about the "dark side" of these sorts of contests.
Go to OLS and look for a member named upsfedex-stop-here.
This person originally joined under the user name IWANTITALL, but when someone else caught on to the "alias" and started thread stalking her, she requested a name change. Take a look at her posts. The ONLY time this member has posted is when babycat1216 has been in a vote contest. This is the ONLY time that username makes an appearance on OLS, and I'd say 99% of her posts are in babycat's threads. The other 1% are in other vote request threads to make it appear that this is a legit person. Now upsfedex-stop-here did do a vote request quite some time ago on brickfish (this is a picture/photo voting website). The picture that upsfedex-stop-here posted to be voted on was a picture of an American flag, taken in Las Vegas at, coincidentally, the same time that babycat1216 and her hubby, Tommy, were vacationing there (which, ironically, was an unethical vote contest win, as well).
babycat's husband, Tommy, is also a "casual" member of OLS, only making posts in her threads when she needs to bump it up.
dakins64 and ubuying are major partners in babycat1216's thread-bumping at OLS. If you watch the forums for a while, you'll see it every day. Whether intentional or not, you'll find that their thread-bumping is timed where one takes the early morning shift of thread-bumping, then the other does it again in the afternoon/late evening. They spend an awful lot of time voting and posting their votes, but yet, have never asked for votes themselves? It is also a possiblity that at least one of these is a former babycat "unethical supporter" that was banned and came back under a different user name or one of her aliases. I arive at this possiblity, as this one person was not only banned around the same time that one of the user names above became a member, but was also immediatly "seen" in the vote request forums.
I'm all about helping fellow OLS members, but just find this really odd, especially on a daily basis, almost like clockwork.
As I stated up above, there were a few of us watching this contest. ff1959 indicated by private PM to one of us that he did not have the know-how of how to "make" an auto-voter bot program, but he did know of another OLSer who did.
The next day, in the above mentioned vote request thread, a person who has NEVER posted in a vote request thread posted in babycat's thread. VALENTINE. And this was during the time span that the vote percentages were increasing on a very rapid basis (like the equivalent of 100 votes per minute) in babycat's favor.
Well, it did not take much to put two and two together...the info my friend received from ff1959, as well as seeing the unusual "vote supporter" who is rarely seen in the vote request forum (but who often posts computer related stuff in the computer forum) in babycat's thread.
Just to try and verify our instincts, I sent a PM to VALENTINE right after the auto-voter had finished running:

VALENTINE
vbmenu_register("postmenu_",
true);

Master Sweeper

Joined: Nov
2002
Posts: 3,044
Location: Visit my OLS album for some free background
tiles.

Re:
Good job "voting"
Quote:
Originally Posted by margarita_mama
"I hope the dramatically rapid percentage change doesn't end up
getting
babycat1216 DQ'd."
Yea me too, you have to spread it around between all the videos
for it to work. I notice the amount has jumped considerably since 2am, so
someone else is slamming just "just" her video, it's best to do her, marriage,
rap, then her 2x, then rap....like that, then they can't really say one Ip
slammed it.A stealth Ip works great too but that is a bit too techy for most
voters to do.I did not notice an end date though, could it run forever?Last good
thing I see is that they way they have it set to swing to 100 percent, they
don't have to bother with counting votes or looking at Ip votes either. It makes
for a lazy voting process on snapjobs end.I did notice the rapper votes being
increased dramatically the other night too, so babycat isn't the only one
getting mass votes but the rap votes seemed to show up in big spurt counts in a
few hours. If you see an end date to the contest, pm me ok?Thanks VaL
I felt so bad for the janitor video, poor man kids can be so gross
especially when they throw up at school.....uck! LOL!
Now, I understand that it may be hard to get the total picture just seeing my one little bitty PM from VALENTINE. And that's OK. However, this is not the only incidence.
Again, I stress that if you are considering venturing in to vote contests, please check out all of the entrants, if possible. Keep an eye on OLS for the vote request threads that may give an indicator of who you are up against. If you find yourself up against this person, or any of the other "vote queens", do not lose hope.
Just leave me a comment here and I'll see what can be done, ETHICALLY, to help you out.

I slept with Tiger too!

2009-12-16T08:18:00.003-06:00

um.....
Not really.
I just don't understand why all these women (term used loosely here) are coming out in public with this statement.
Well, I kinda do, but still.
Nevermind for now, Tiger's responsibility in all this mess. He won't be getting a "free pass"from me, but these "other" women need to share their culpability, as well. But I gotta wonder why do so in a public setting?
I guess most are wanting their piece of the pie (financial pie, that is.)
But, why on earth would you seem to be PROUD to proclaim publicly that you have been having an affair, or even just plain sex, with a married man?
Seems like there would be a more discreet way of going about it for financial gain, although I would surmise that if it was too discreet, it would be considered blackmail or extortion or some other legal rigamarow.
Do these women really want to be taken seriously in their endeavors for successful careers? Sorry, but I'm getting the opposite desired effect, I think.
The price they are willing TO PAY in order to gain their celebrity and financial status appears, to me, to be a very high one. I'd like to think that each of them really took a really long, hard look before coming public. Why do I get the feeling that some did not?
What motives do they have to publicize their very private "affairs"?
Why did they keep hush-hush prior to now? Were they paid for their silence?
Or perhaps, they WEREN'T paid, and this is their opportunity for 15 minute sof fame and getting their name tossed in to all the "right" circles.
I don't know.
I think I would think long and hard before taking actions such as they have done.
And perhaps they have/did do such soul-searching. I don't claim to know or understand their reasons. I hear them on the TV in the background, but I am not really paying attention to what they are promoting and their reasons for doing so.
Money can be a big motivator, especially for those who "need" that certain status or are trying to make a break in the celebrity clique.
Do these women feel as if they have been "duped"? Were they led to believe that by "keeping his company", that would set them up to be Mrs. Tiger Woods #2? I guess some women really feel this way.
Pre-marital or extra-marital sex is one hot and highly debated subject. One that I'm not going to go in to at this point. But geez, women, surely there is more to YOU than what is between your legs! What's between your ears is worth so much more. Wake-up and realize this. Use your brains to your advantage.
Or maybe that is just what these women did.

Random funnies of the day

2009-12-13T21:55:00.000-06:00

Who does he think he is?

My son playing in the kitchen.

Random thought...and a bit of attitude for good measure (warning..long read ahead)

2009-12-13T19:39:00.000-06:00

Do you ever feel like you just "dont belong"? Being an adoptee, I have had a tendency to feeling this way many times around the holidays.Don't get me wrong, I have a wonderful immediate family.

I have known of my adoption from as far back as I can remember. This was openly discussed with me many times through the years, and for that I am grateful. I was encouraged to seek out my birthmom, but never felt the need to. I was even given my adoption papers to help, should I ever felt the urge to do a search.

I was adopted at 6 weeks old by my dad and his wife. His wife, Florence, died when I was 18 months old and I have no recollection of her, but I do have pictures.

My adopted dad remarried, but that marriage did not work out and they were divorced by the time I was 12. My dad then remarried the woman who lived across the street from us. She had four kids all older than me and my older adopted brother, but because we had known them all our lives, the transition was fairly easy.

My dad and I were very close, and I could not have "asked" for a better parent if given the chance.

Sadly, my dad passed away in 2003. It is then that I began to feel this sense of not belonging. It's hard to explain. I mean, here I was surrounded by my step-mom, my adopted brother and four step-siblings. I have 19 nieces and nephews and a half a dozen great-neices and great-nephews. Plus my own brood.

Shortly after my dad died, I had a medical need for finding out my birthfamily's health history. I'll save that story for another post.

I did find many family members on my birthmother's side. They welcomed me with open arms. My birthmom, on the other hand, did not want to even acknowledge my existance, let alone attempt a reunion with me...at first. (birthmom has since died...I'll save that story for a later post as well.)

This was OK with me, really. I had all these NEW family members, actual blood relatives with which to become acquainted with. All is good in that area, but I have not had any contact with any of them in over a year. This is partly my fault, as we did move last year, but my email and my cell phone # have stayed the same and we had a home phone forwarding message at our old home #, so I do hold some blame on their end, as well.Anyway, sometimes I just don't feel like I "belong" anywhere. This thought does not consume me, it just comes out a bit stronger during the holidays. I hate feeling like this.

Now for some ATTITUDE....

School parking lot wars!!!! OMG! Why oh why do some people (parents of kids attending my kids' schools) think they are superior and the parking lot rules/procedures don't pertain to them?

I gotta pre-face this with the fact that I have been dropping off/picking up my kids at this same school for over 13 years now. I have the system DOWN PAT.The school gives out a layout of the school parking lot and the SPECIFIC PROCEDURES when we re-enroll/register at the beginning of the school year. The same flyer is passed out yet again during the first week of school to ALL students in their weekly folders, which must be signed by the parents and returned each week. Another flyer is sent home during the second week, as the secretary, the principal, or teacher is STIll having to stand in the parking lot and knock on car windows to the IDIOTS who pretend they have no clue, asking them to move their cars, so that the daycare busses can get to their pick-up spot and the general traffic flow is not obstructed. And yes, I do mean, there are IDIOTS who have no problem parking their car in the few of yards of space designated for the drive-through only lane. WTH is up with these people? OK...so perhaps they missed the 3 notes that have been sent home to EVERYONE, but do they not realize (or care) how much of an IDIOT they appear to be, when the principal or somebody else has to come to their car and ask them to move so that cars leaving can get out? (There is a one way direction in the parking lot with one entrance and one exit. Can't back up and go out the other way).

It's the SAME PEOPLE EVERY FRIGGIN DAY! GEEZ!....

On the bright side, fortunately we live within walking distance and I only have to deal with these people for a few months when the weather is too chilly to walk. Yep. I'm a wuss when there the weather is concerned.

Whew! I feel better getting that out!

Road Trip! Mount Scott, Medicine Park, OK November 2009

2009-12-13T15:48:00.003-06:00

Playing catch-up here...bear with me....
few weeks ago, we decided to take another road trip.
Our destination...Mt. Scott. Here in Oklahoma, we do have a couple of mountainous areas, not anything like the Rockies though, mind you.
We are a family that likes to be outdoors, especially in the spring and the fall before the weather gets way too hot or way too cold.
Mt Scott is located just to the northwest of Lawton, OK. Elevation is 2,454 feet above sea level. Its location puts it in the middle of the Wichita Mountains National Wildlife Refuge.
There is a winding 3 mile paved road leading to the top, with several scenic turnouts along the way. There are many areas to enjoy rock climbing and hiking.
The Blue Canyon Wind Farm is located nearby and the wind turbines can be seen to the north.
We had BEAUTIFUL weather (low-mid 60's), although it was very sunny and very windy, especially at the top of Mount Scott. We hiked and climbed through rock forests for a couple of hours and found several nooks and caves for resting. While resting, I found myself dreaming of a previous era when cowboys, outlaws and indians roamed the area, and imagined them seeking shelter in the very places we were sitting.
Famished, we made out way back to our car to search out the REAL reason people come to this area...MEERS STORE and RESTAURANT.
We planned POORLY!
We drove approx. 11 miles on a 2 lane road past fields and farms to what appeared to be the end of nowhere really. And then finally, there it was. At the end of the road...LITERALLY!
The picture in the above link really does no justice. This place looks as ramshackled as all get out, but having 50-75 vehicles and 100 or more motorcycles parked haphazardly everywhere, something is telling me that this place must be as good as what we have heard.
The line of people waiting for a table is several hundred feet long outside the building.
It was roughly 4:oo pm on a Sunday afternoon and this place was ready to explode, it was so full.
With all the climbing and hiking we did, we determined that we were just too hungry to wait it out. BIG MAJOR BUMMER!!!!
We drove on in to Anardarko, OK and found a shall mom-n-pop hamburger joint to grab a burger instead. The name excapes me, and I may have been just extremely hungry, but the burgers there were sooooo delicious.
After eating, we drove to the cemetery there, where Jim's mom is burried. She passed away when he was in high school and I don't think he had ever been to her graveside since then. It was a touching visit, and while we allowed Jim some time with his mom, the boys and I checked out other graves. Many, many Native Americans buried there, as well as many military personel, from as far back as the 19th century.
On our return home, we took a road that took us through Native American territories aand came upon a monument (that I embarrassingly cannot recall for what). We pulled to the side of the road and lokked across the field and snapped a couple pictures of what appeared to be the profile of Native American Indian in the rock formation. I have tried to research this online, but cannot seem to find out the name of this monument, nor the name of the rock formation.
Perhaps if you have a chance to have a lookk-see at our pictures from this roadtrip, you'll see the profile in the rock.
All in all, this was a very nice afternoon spent and we will definately be going back to EAT and take our oldest son with us, who missed this one.
Pictures can be seen here (right click to open in new window).

Road Trip! USS Batfish (submarine) Muskogee, OK Aug. 2009

2009-12-10T17:20:00.000-06:00

Growing up, my dad always took us kids on vacation. He loved to travel/sight-see.
A few months ago, DH and I traded in our 15 year old minivan for a much newer and reliable model.
Jim is a truck driver, so he gets to see lots of things, but doesn't get the opportunity to stop and have a REAL look at them.
The weekend after we got our new mini-van, he announced that we were taking a road trip. "To where?" I asked. "To see a submarine.", he said.
We live in Oklahoma! I'm thinking I misunderstood his reply. I thought he must have been hallucinating that he actually saw a REAL LIVE submarine off in a distant field as he was out on one of his treks across out state.
But noooo, he insisted there really was a real submarine in our land locked state.
We head to Muskogee, OK to the USS Batfish War Memorial Park and Military Museum.
As we approached the outskirt of the park, which literally sits amidst an industrial park, I saw the sign giving directions, but I sure did not see anything resembling a submarine, much less a life-size one. But, as we drove a couple blocks further, there it was! Sure enough, a real life size submarine. In the middle of a field!
The USS Batfish earned nine battle stars for her World War II service in the Pacific. She sank 14 ships and damaged three others during her seven war patrols. Over a period of four days in February 1945, she sank three Japanese submarines. For this feat, the "sub killer" was awarded the Presidential Unit Citation. Her other WW II exploits included blasting a grounded destroyer, bombarding a Japanese village, and rescuing downed aviators.

The USS Batfish has been named The Champion Submarine-Killing Submarine of World War Two.

The museum was filled with all sorts of neato war and military memorabilia and displays, which is right up Jim's alley. Colby and Conner, at age 11 and 9, even found it quite interesting. Everything from photographs to food rations to uniforms and weapons. submarine log books and duty schedules. So very well laid out.
Once through our self-guided tour of the museum, we stepped out the back door to the memorial park.
52 submarines were lost during WWII, but they still live on in a thought-provoking memorial at the War Memorial Park. A series of bronze stands name each ship and its crew. 3505 brave sailors in all!! Sailors - Rest Your Oars.

The memorial park was a reverent, but awe-inspiring place. There are memorials to all of the 52 submarines lost during that war, with plaques listing submarine information, as well as the names of those sailors who lost their lives.

On further past the memorial park is the USS Batfish. We were able to take a self-guided tour of the inside. Most of the areas inside have been left intact, including the mess hall, the officers' quarters, the crew quarters and the "head"/shower areas. Above many of the bunks in the crew quarters were personal photographs and momentos given to those who were serving on the submarine.
We were able to tour almost the whole length of the submarine and tour some areas of the lower and upper decks. You can take a virtual tour here, which will give a much better view than any of my personal photos.
Here is a link to my personal photos, taken of the outside of the USS Batfish.
The submarine is undergoing a massive renovation effort, which is being funded through the Batfish Memorial Foundation via private donations.
Truly a great road-trip and we will definately be going back to check out the progress of renovations.

Another First Things First! post

2009-12-09T00:01:00.000-06:00

A big thank you goes to Ellie at "A Little of This and a Little of That" for helping me get this blog thing going. Check out her blog for some really neat stuff!

First Things First!!!! Margaritas! Easy Recipe

2009-12-08T22:27:00.000-06:00

I'll admit that I am not a tequila expert (or a margarita one for that matter), so I'm sure there are far better recipes out there available.
About 20 years ago, I had next-door neighbors who were the type to have evening cocktails. Gordon always had a scotch or a whiskey/coke and Gloria always had a pitcher of margaritas in the freezer at her beck and call.
So, my ex (who was quite the guzzler) and I spent many a evening relaxing on the patio or by fireside with them.
I give credit to my neighbor Glo for this recipe that she scribbled on a sticky note for me to replicate when we moved away from that neighborhood.
It may not be the best out there, but it is super easy and tastes great!

Glo's Margaritas
1 container frozen limeade (any size)
1 container tequila
1 container triple sec
2½ - 3 containers water
1 lime (optional)
Margarita salt (optional)

Mix all liquids in a pitcher and chill, if desired.
Prepare margarita glass by rubbing a section of the cut lime around the rim to moisten. Turn glass upside down in margarita salt container, letting the salt adhere to rim. Fill glass.
Add a lime slice garnish and enjoy "on the rocks".

If you desire a "frozen" margarita, simply pour all liquid ingredients into your blender and add ice to desired consistency. I drink mine "on the rocks", so you may need to reduce the water just a bit to compensate for the ice.

*The great thing about this recipe is no matter what size "container" frozen limeade you start with, the recipe "self adjusts" to that size. No need for additional measuring....easy!