RB Blog Blog Blog!: January 2009

Thursday, January 29, 2009

Raleys commercial....Excellent Words!

Raleys is having a contest where "regular" folks or employees can create a 30 second commercial, highlighting Raley's Fine Food products or other private label items. Of course I had to enter, and here is the link to it on You Tube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYb6rf5PvAo (make sure you watch it in High Quality, or it will be blurry)

If you are interested in seeing other folks entries, then do a search for Raleys commercials on You Tube. Also, the top 3 selected by the contest committee will be posted on the Raleys website, and will be voted on by the public. Of course if mine is one of the 3, I know I can count on your vote, right? Thanks.

By the way, the Cheerleaders in the commercial are from Oakmont High School, Varsity girls. They will be going to the Nationals in Cheer competition soon. Way to go ladies! You did a great job in the video, thanks for the time and effort! (I work with one of the girls on the squad, Clarissa)

I was recently thinking about all the words that have the same meaning: Excellent or above average. Here is the list I came up with, in no particular order:

Excellent
Outstanding
Exceptional
Great
Awesome
Superb
Fantastic
Incredible
Tremendous
Terrific
Wonderful
Stupendous
Marvelous
Superior
Extraordinary
Splendid
Remarkable
Amazing
Outstanding
Fantastic
Magnificent
Sensational
Super
Fantabulous
Spectacular
Stunning
Astonishing
Dazzling
Glorious
Grand
Fabulous
Impressive
Brilliant
Breathtaking
Astonishing
Dandy

That is a lot of synonym's! Shouldn't there be a ranking system for them? How do we know which is better, Fantastic or Fabulous? Are you Sensational or Spectacular? Magnificent or Marvelous?

I know, you are thinking to yourself, "who cares", right? Well I care, obviously, or I would not be mentioning it here. I just think its weird we need so many words that mean the same thing.

Yes, I know Fantabulous is not in the Dictionary, but Van Morrison used it in his hit song, Moondance. That was an Awesome album. Or was it Astonishing? One can never be sure. At any rate, have a Dazzling Day, or an Extraordinary Evening. Or, be like the Farmer, Outstanding in his field......Never mind.

Saturday, January 24, 2009

Saturday, January 17, 2009

Worth Sharing...

Saturday, January 10, 2009

New Year News, Short Story.....

Greetings everyone,
Here's hoping that the New year finds you safe, sane and silly.
We had a great holiday season, and in spite of the tough economy, were truly blessed. Time spent with family and friends, a few cool gifts, and an abundance of food made for another year of things to be grateful for, not to mention a few extra pounds.
A few personal highlights: Kathie found a new (great) job. Ryan made it through the holidays, and loves the store he is at. One small depressing note, 9 people were laid off due to slow sales, so a few prayers for them would be appreciated. The girls had a nice break from school, but are now back at it. They continue to get good grades and stay out of trouble, making their Dad wonder where they came from. We are truly proud, and extremely blessed to have such awesome kids. And they even still rub their Dad's feet. Thanks ladies! We have a new family member again, her name is Mika. A female cat who is a sweetheart. I tried to say no, but was worn down by the rest of the family until I caved in. The sad thing is that one of our other cats, Frankie, is very sick and frail, and will likely not be around much longer. It is going to be very difficult when that day comes.
We lost our sweet cat named Stinky, last year, and I decided to write a shorty story about her. I hope you enjoy it.

A cat named Stinky

I want to tell you about a cat. Her name was Stinky. Last year, Stinky went to the big litter box in the sky. We miss her a lot, and I thought I would give her a memorial through this story. So here it is
.
Stinky was born in the winter of 1992. Her Mom was a feral cat that lived behind the grocery store in Roseville where I worked. They survived on eating scraps of food and the grease from the fried chicken. There were a few times where I would have to take the trash out the back door, and when I would open it, Mom and kittens would scamper underneath the trash bin, or in the bushes.

Now to be honest, I do love animals, but realize that I cannot rescue or feed all of them. So while I felt bad for these little ones, I did not dwell on their existence.
The previous summer, I lost my male cat named “Boy” in a terrible accident. That’s another story for another time, but I loved him very much, and he felt the same. In fact, he worshipped me, and would come running when I called him. When I lost him, I cried for a week, and felt a huge sense of loss. I did not rush out to get a replacement, because, in my mind, no other cat could.

One night a co-worker at my store called me to the back room area. “Look in there”, he said, pointing to a box. I opened the top and peered in. What I saw was the most pathetic looking kitten I have ever seen. She was soaked from the rain, and also has blotches of grease in her hair. She was probably 7 or 8 weeks, but skinny and small. She looked up at me and let out a faint hiss. I closed the top of the box. “Where did you find it?” I asked him. “Just laying in the rain, right outside of the door”. “What should we do with it,” He asked. Without even thinking about it, I said, “I’ll take it”.

I left work about an hour later with my special box. When I got home, I told my wife Kathie I had a surprise. When she peered into the box, she said “Oh my goodness, how pathetic”, more out of a sense of pity rather than disgust. She then quickly went and got some milk. The kitten barely had enough strength to drink it, and curled up to sleep, happy to be in a warm, dry place.

The next day we gave it some kitten food, and she gobbled it up. She was still very afraid of me, and hissed and spat when I looked in on her. When Kathie got home from work, we decided that she needed to be cleaned up. When we opened the bathroom door, the most horrible stench I have ever smelled filled the room. Both of us gagged, and we sprayed air freshener to try get rid of it. Then I spotted her poop in the makeshift cat litter box we had made for her. It was a glob, of greasy gooey waste that was the source of the smell. Kathie grabbed it and took it out as she knew I would vomit if I got anywhere near it. Then I put on some gardening gloves, and stinky had her first, and only, human bath. She was all claws and teeth as we shampooed the grease out of her fur, and then fluffed her dry with a towel.
She was beautiful! Black and white, with pretty yellow eyes. But she still thought it was her job to hiss and yowl at us. When we discussed names, I said “Stinky seems to be appropriate.” Kathie agreed.

Stinky soon figured out that we were the source of food. She seemed to hiss less a little more each day, and soon, we let her out of the bathroom to explore. She ended up under our bed, as I am sure it was a flashback to the dumpster. But when we rattled the food box, it was irresistible, and she would come out. She knew that right off that the cat box was where she should poop, and she never did have an accident. We would feed her in the kitchen and she would come running when we shook the box. After a few weeks, she started sleeping on the couch, and would not run when we sat down. While she was asleep one day, I gently started rubbing her head. She opened one eye, and looked up at me, and then abruptly broke out in a loud purr. She had discovered that not only were we the source of food, but when we rubbed her, it felt really good!

She continued to grow, both physically, and figuratively. She would hop up on the couch and look at us like, “Ok, I am ready for some lovin”. She would venture out in our back yard, snooping around and laying in the sun. She had the softest fur, and a really high pitched meow, that really sounded more like “mew”. She did not like strangers in our house, and would disappear when someone came over. Also, our twins, Sarah and Sommer were babies. She would look at them with a quizzical look, and try to ignore them. Then they started crawling. Stinky did not like these mini humans trying to grab her, but she was still faster than them. Then they learned to walk, then run. During this period, she would only come out for her loving sessions only when the girls were asleep.

When Stinky was about 7, we decided to move from California to Oregon. We had trouble finding a place that would fit our family, now 5 with the addition of our youngest daughter Alicia, and that would take pets. We finally found a great place, but the owners were adamant about no pets. It was a very hard decision to make, but our friend Jennifer agreed to take her. We could still visit her, and maybe someday get her back. During the two years we were gone, Stinky reverted back to a semi-wild state, staying outside most of the time, and not letting Jennifer or her young daughter Laura, get near her. But when we came back, we went over right away, and Kathie cornered her, and brought to our new place. When we let her out of the carrier, she bolted upstairs and hid under our bed. We put a litter box out, and some food, and she would sneak out to do her business. After a week or so, I looked under the bed where she was sleeping. I crawled over, and gently began to rub her. I felt her tense up, then slowly relax. After a min or so, she stretched out, to take in all the massage. And soon, that rattle trap purr began to motor.
A few days later she began to venture out, then down the stairs, to explore, and seek love. By now, the girls were 7 and 5. They were old enough that they could approach her, and love her up as well. Soon Stinky was a mush pile of purrs and stretches, eagerly anticipating one of the family members to rub her. She was happy to be home, this time to stay. We were happy to have her.

We moved to a bigger place a few years later and stinky adapted very well. She would explore our back yard, and then come in for rub time. After a few years there, she was very upset when we brought home a new “friend”, Skittles, our new Pug puppy. She hid and sulked for three days, and would hiss at Skittles if she got near. But soon after, she got used to her, and “rejoined” the family pod. She was getting older now, and started losing some weight. Her kidney functions were starting to fail, but she was still pretty happy, in an old lady kind of way.

We moved again the next year, and you could tell, she did not like it. She still liked rubs, but not as often. She slept more, and became very skinny. Then the family talked me into another little guy, Frankie, who was rescued from a fire as a kitten and had one scarred eye. He was a feisty orange tabby who desperately wanted to play, but Stinky just wanted to be left alone. Her time with us was growing short, and a few months later, her eye that had been slightly damaged years earlier, came apart. It was a very emotional time when Kathie took her in, and said goodbye. We both shed tears, mine were in private.

Stinky taught me a few things: That no matter how rough our beginnings are, things always get better. Also, that love overcomes fear, when we drop our guard enough to let those we trust, give us that love. That you can come home a second time, if need be. That all of our days are numbered, and we get old and die. And that memories are truly treasured, even if its from a Cat named Stinky.

Thanks for stopping by,

Faith, Hope & Love
RB~