Gerald Ford Dies At 93

Photo Sharing - Upload Video - Video Sharing - Share Photos On a really cold snow flurry day in Reno, the flags fly at half mast in honor of Gerald Ford. Mr. Ford seemed to me to be a really decent man. A man that you don't often remember that way. I think ex-President Ford was a true American. I believe, somewhat like George W. Bush, he took over that office at a time when shit was hitting the fan, and he had the backbone and stamina to make it better. I was only 14 years old in 1976, and politics or the state of the union was the last thing on my mind. I had forgotten he pardoned President Nixon. I didn't realize that it was one of Charles Manson's followers that tried to assassinate him. I had forgotten that he only became Vice President after the fall of Spiro Agnew. Today, looking back at the history I do remember, I think even more of Gerald Ford. I was a bit taken back remembering, or just finding out the whole story of his pardon of Nixon that probably cost him the election following...but when I heard his quote...it brought it more into perspective. "If you cannot forgive someone, you might as well let that person live in your head forever rent free." That was paraphrased a bit from what I heard on the news this morning, but the gist is there. What an amazing insight. I would have hung Nixon for embarrassing the office and the GOP. May you rest in peace Mr. Ford, and may we all learn a bit from your common man approach and belief in the right thing to do and when to do it. You served our country well, and more than that...you served your family well for many years. That is truly the measure of a real man. I wonder if Jesus just can't help himself...and the welcoming party is just a little fancier and a little larger than life when someone like Gerald Ford shows up at the pearly gates? Click HERE to read about all the wonderful and famous people that left this world in 2006. There's quite an honorable list of rookies in heaven this year :)

A Blustery Day In Pooh Land

Photo Sharing - Upload Video - Video Sharing - Share Photos It was a blustery day in Pooh Land here in Reno today. Hard to see the snow flurries in the photo, but this was the view from the office. This is only our third little snow flurry day this season, thank goodness we are not holed up like the folks in Denver.

Aerosmith Rocks Reno!

Photo Sharing - Upload Video - Video Sharing - Share Photos Oh my Gosh! Steven Tyler is still a babe, and Aerosmith still ROCKS! I had GREAT seats for the sold out show here in Reno Friday night, and it was one of the best shows I've ever seen. Guess I'm not too old to still party like a rock star! Too Much Fun...

I Am Time Magazine's Person Of The Year!

Photo Sharing - Upload Video - Video Sharing - Share Photos How Exciting! I am Time Magazine’s Person of the Year for 2006, and SO ARE YOU! I would like to thank all the little people that made this possible, and I am so proud to share this honor with my other millions of friends that are so deserving of this award. What a wonderful and bi-partisan surprise to find that all of us collectively made such a difference in the world this year that we won such a prestigious award. We The People, By The People, and For The People, what a concept! By golly, I think Time Magazine is onto something!

My Mystery Angel

Photo Sharing - Upload Video - Video Sharing - Share Photos Help me identify my mystery angel. When I opened my new shop in May, I inherited some "stuff" left behind by the previous owner. I found this angel in a cabinet, and decided to bring her out to bless our little office tree. I call her my Christmachanakwansa angel, because I cannot identify her origin. I've never seen a dark haired angel before, and with the black hair and the beads, I thought maybe she was of Mexican descent. Some of my Hispanic clients and vendors didn't recognize her either. Perhaps Indian, I don't know. If you've ever seen an angel like her, let me know where you think she comes from. At any rate, she's beautiful, and makes a nice holiday conversation piece around our office :)

ATTR Rocks In The Christmas Season!

For our FOURTH year in a row, we had a stellar Christmas Party. Our three companies (American Truck & Trailer Repair, Inc., Dynamic Diesel, Inc., and All Trailer Supply, Inc.) combine all of our favorite people together in an annual Company / Client / Vendor Appreciation Christmas Party. I estimate approximately 150 people made it to this one, and we rocked in the Christmas season. Held at our favorite local watering hole Mud-Bugs Bar / Carolina Kitchen BB-Q Restaurant, we had a wonderful buffet of pot roast with potatoes & gravy, green beans, and Texas toast, enchiladas, Mexican rice & beans, lasagna, green salad and garlic bread, green salad, potato salad, broccoli rice & cheese casserole, pecan pie, chocolate pie, and banana pudding. YUM YUM. After dinner, and following some short announcements, we let the partying begin. The liquor flows, the dancing starts, and Kevin & I have the pleasure of watching our hard working employees, loyal clients, and dedicated vendors whoop it up and twist off a bit (sometimes a lot). It is a joy to see the smiles on so many faces, enjoy the conversations, and hear the laughter and music around the room. The incredible local band Fast Forward provided our entertainment, and did a wonderful job. Enjoy some of our photos below. Wish you could have all been there! Photo Sharing - Upload Video - Video Sharing - Share Photos Photo Sharing - Upload Video - Video Sharing - Share Photos Photo Sharing - Upload Video - Video Sharing - Share Photos Photo Sharing - Upload Video - Video Sharing - Share Photos Photo Sharing - Upload Video - Video Sharing - Share Photos Photo Sharing - Upload Video - Video Sharing - Share Photos Photo Sharing - Upload Video - Video Sharing - Share Photos Photo Sharing - Upload Video - Video Sharing - Share Photos Photo Sharing - Upload Video - Video Sharing - Share Photos Photo Sharing - Upload Video - Video Sharing - Share Photos Photo Sharing - Upload Video - Video Sharing - Share Photos Photo Sharing - Upload Video - Video Sharing - Share Photos

My Son Gave Christmas Back To Me

Photo Sharing - Upload Video - Video Sharing - Share Photos Photo Sharing - Upload Video - Video Sharing - Share Photos My Son Clayton Gave Me Back My Christmas… For a few years now, I’ve really been a scrooge. We’ve traveled the last few Christmases, and my family is so far away in Texas. My children (now at 23 & 17) are so old, that the tree really didn’t matter, just the food and the presents (not to them, but how maybe I perceived it). We have been so busy trying to build a new company (first one, then two, and now three), that I’ve lost sight of what it is all about. This year, I was feeling even more impeded by the pressures of “getting it all done”. My husband is a typical macho type busy guy, and cannot be bothered with some details. He will tell me what he wants to give others, what he’d like to have for dinner, he’s generous, but he DOESN’T PARTICIPATE IN HANDLING ANY DETAIL…just sits back and watches it all come together…and then tells me how wonderful it was. Granted, that’s nice, but I have become to be bitter about that aspect, when maybe I should worry about the real meaning, and let the other fall where it might fall. I sometimes forget after eight years how wonderful my husband is. I forget that through all of our problems, he's done so much for me and our family. I am too quick sometimes to nag, and too slow to praise and appreciate. Before it even really started this year, the Christmas season was bearing down on me. I recognized that as a problem that was not indicative of “how I was raised”, and began to think of how that could change. I don’t want to lose my sight of Christmas. I don’t want to stray away from the way I was raised where the birth of Christ, Family, Love, and Giving is the true focus of Christmas. My oldest son is dating a wonderful woman who has a nine year old daughter. She is a really good kid, and has big brown eyes, long eyelashes, and a giggle that would drop any mother to her knees. I thought that maybe it was a child that was missing from my Christmas. I called my son and asked if the little girl would like to help me decorate my Christmas tree. He said she would love it, and we made a date. I thought the kids would drop her off and we would play. As it turned out, he called the day of the date, and they were all coming over, and my youngest son would be home too. WONDERFUL! But…now I wanted to have dinner for everyone after work, and accomplish the tree too. I left work, and went to the store, and came home just barely before everyone arrived. While I was cooking dinner, the kids and the new “granddaughter” began to rifle through my ornament collection. I’ve been buying gold plated ornaments from Danbury Mint since 2000 at the millennium. Since I haven’t put up a tree in several years, there were many boxes that were unopened. I let J. open them, and watched her giggle as each new box gave way to a different gold filigree miracle of art. Then, I began to watch into the living room as I was in the kitchen cooking, and I saw my 23 and 17 year old sons, along with the new “daughter-in-law” laugh and enjoy the ornaments, along with J. Photo Sharing - Upload Video - Video Sharing - Share Photos The pets got involved, and we found fun stuff to put on them and take photos. The kitty Poof found a stocking that he claimed as his own. Our dog Reno donned her “Reindeer Hat”. Photo Sharing - Upload Video - Video Sharing - Share Photos Photo Sharing - Upload Video - Video Sharing - Share Photos The wonderful ornaments with incredible detail portrayed images of Christ and the REAL meaning of Christmas, and we all commented on those things. It just became a real evening of joy and family togetherness. I don’t think I’ve had such a wonderful evening in some time. We had a wonderful dinner of two flavors of pork loin, cheesy mashed potatoes, broccoli & cheese, and buttery corn. Photo Sharing - Upload Video - Video Sharing - Share Photos I realized that in my photos, it shows that I’m a bit of a clutter monster, and I don’t have a home that looks like a magazine house, but I couldn’t be more pleased with what I have. I do have a home, and my children and my love for all my family, immediate or acquired…blood or by marriage, whether here, or abroad, or whether together or away from each other, these are the reasons we have Christmas. We celebrate the birth of Jesus, and remember Joseph and Mary as one of the original families, and love and give. I remember that even outside Christmas I still see the North Star, and I remember the Wise Men and the adoration they gave the baby Jesus. I remember that Saint Nicholas was a patron saint that gave gifts to the poor and began the tradition of Santa Claus. I remember the wonderful menorahs and the beautiful people that celebrate Kwanza. During my “perfect Mommy night”, others sat sometimes, some didn’t do a whole lot; I got so busy with dinner and making that all come together, it REALLY BECAME CLAYTON that kept the whole tree decorating project on course. He really came through for me, and through some frustration and us all getting tired and being up late, and him away from his home, he made my night so special. I even have to admit that I might have been able to pull dinner together sooner than I did, but I was so filled with a joy that I’ve missed for a while watching all of them that I just embraced the moment and watched. It was too beautiful and watching my grown men sons loving the moment made that slack more than I could resist. I’ve already purchased Miss J’s present, and I wanted to have it wrapped and ready for her to find. The night prior, another friend called needing to talk, and we went out, and had fun, and again…I misplaced my duty to be on a schedule for this night. My newest girlfriend in my intimate family life came over with my son and her daughter and went into another room and just jumped right in. She shared with me that she LOVES wrapping gifts, and that is one of her favorite things of Christmas. I couldn’t have been more blessed, as that allowed me to give the child a wrapped present, and explain to her (as I think a Grandmother would) that the “most special person” gets to have the first present under the finished Christmas tree. Once again, I got to see those little brown eyes sparkle, and hear her giggle. She was happy, and as my late Mama Ann always said…, “Today I am blessed, for today I got to hear a child laugh”. Photo Sharing - Upload Video - Video Sharing - Share Photos I remembered my saved keepsake...the Santa Claus MY MOTHER gave me when I was TWO. This is a 42 year old Santa doll. However, all the Christmases I had, this doll sat under our tree. Photo Sharing - Upload Video - Video Sharing - Share Photos I remembered that one year of 20 I was a casino dealer...one September, I purchased a magical Santa, or Saint of Italy during the Italian Festival. I brought him out and once again hung him up. More memories, more joy. Photo Sharing - Upload Video - Video Sharing - Share Photos I wasn’t using my normal camera, as with many of my failings, I left MY camera at the office. I had my husband’s camera, (which I've used maybe twice, he and my youngest make it work like a charm :) and the settings weren’t quite right, as the photos in this post weren’t all as good as I would like, but they were MY photos. These are very personal photos that shed light on my personal life and home (which I don’t share too much of on this blog), but this night was too wonderful not to share. I love my family, and loved this night more than some over a few years. Clayton Robbie, thank you for giving me my Christmas back. To my father, brother, and sisters...to my natural mother, my incredible step-mother, and half sisters and half brother I've never met...to my wonderful in-laws that live closer, but still not around the block...I love you all. Day to day life takes us away from those thoughts, and I'm thankful that I am trying to bring those thoughts more prevalent each day than those "normal" thoughts and pressures I have begun to call "important". PS: If this night wasn’t enough, while driving to work the next day…I was enjoying my drive and thinking it all over again, and my cell phone rang. Out of the clear blue, a friend of more than 10 years, (one I hired and had to fire at my company almost a year ago…) called to say…”I know K is out of town, and you have a big company party in two days…can I help…my day is free today”…I couldn’t believe it. It was like Christ Himself was trying to thump me on my head and bring back to me what I know to be true. My son gave me Christmas back, but my friends continue to help, and my Lord finds a way even in today’s 2006 attitude to show me that Christmas is a SPIRIT. Hope, Faith, & Love…and the greatest of these is love. CR…I LOVE YOU! Thank you for giving Mom her Christmas back! Photo Sharing - Upload Video - Video Sharing - Share Photos

Chris Angel Magic With Food

Photo Sharing - Upload Video - Video Sharing - Share Photos HOW DID HE DO THAT? I believe this is Chris Angel. This three minute video will stun you. Magic with food in a grocery store. Hmmnnn…We all know that there is an explanation to “magic tricks”, but some of these guys really amaze me. Enjoy.

Carson City Child Abusers GET MAXIMUM SENTENCE

Photo Sharing - Upload Video - Video Sharing - Share Photos Justice was finally served in Carson City. Back in January I posted the horrific story of two children who were found and rescued from an apartment home in which they were held captive and locked in a bathroom and starved for almost five years! The oldest, a 16 year old girl managed to escape, and was reported to authorities when she was spotted walking down the street scantily clad and pushing a shopping cart full of blankets and frozen food, and appeared to be only 8 years old. These disgusting bad excuses for parents said they locked them up in fear they would steal food. When rescued, the 16 year old girl weighed about 40 pounds, and her 11 year old brother weighed only 30 pounds. The children are now doing well, and on a road to recovery and love. Photo Sharing - Upload Video - Video Sharing - Share Photos I think the death penalty would have been more appropriate, but at least each of the egregious offenders received the maximum penalty under the law. The mother Regina Rios was sentenced to 22-55 years in prison. The grandmother Esther Rios was sentenced to 28-70 years in prison. The step-father Tomas Granados received 14-35 years in prison. Abuser cries in photo below after listening to victim testimony of all the horrid abuse bestowed upon them over the five year period. I say the time for ‘cryin is long over. May you all rot in jail, and if you ever get out, may you rot in hell for eternity. Photo Sharing - Upload Video - Video Sharing - Share Photos

Can't Blog WHERE AND WHEN I NEED TO!

Photo Sharing - Upload Video - Video Sharing - Share Photos Sorry for no posts. I must have the Blogger.com flu. Ever since "Blogger Beta" came out, I cannot log on from my office. Well, that's where I have more time for quality data than I have time for at home after I finally get home and get business over with, not to mention trying to have a family and a life...HELLOOO that's what it really all about. I have some freaky glitch on my office PC (HP), and my home laptop is a Toshiba, and home PC is a Dell... I cannot log in at work during business hours. Everytime I put in my username and password, I get nothing. It all just clicks to blankness. I have deleted cookies, and re-enabled them. I have ordered Norton to allow Blogger as a safe site. I have done everything I think any paid IT guy would have done. I cannot figure it out. Just try...just try to e-mail Blogger Customer Service for help, that's like trying to lick your own balls. Everytime, you just get a "form" e-mail to try all the lame stuff you've already tried. I go to Blogger group sites and find that I'm not alone. LOTS OF PEOPLE have this same dilemma. Any suggestions? How the heck can you log in on two computers, but not on one other one, and all of your computers are set up the same damn way. I don't get it. BUT...WHEN I DO GET IT...many more posts will come. I have a lot to say, and no way to say it some days. Love ya all, wish I could comment on your great blogs, but the evil Blogger Genie has me on the "fuck you" list right now... :)