Atwater Vitki

Take a trip to Raley's™, Save Mart© or Food 4 Less™ (Central California), and while it's not 100% the norm, it's a good 98%....the "class" of shoppers.... Raley's™ is your "upper crust" high priced, extreme customer service related store with the aisles filled with "specialty products", imported foods and even small gardening and aroma centers for all the fancy centerpieces and candles for dining tables. I have yet to see someone on a cell phone inside the store. Save Mart© is the "middle class" to the above extreme with a partial aisle of things for a dinner table. If they are on a cell, it's usually pretty quiet and short. Food4Less™ is your discount, day old bread store with a household goods isles for items geared towards eating wherever you happen to be sitting. *See below* Now sit back and watch the shoppers that come in. Two of these stores, gee I'll let you guess, have mellow music, you can hear above the quiet talk of customers while the other has some sort of static ladened blur of heavy metal noise that is filtered through screaming kids, shouting parents and *people yelling into their cell phones* above all the other noise. I absolutely hate going to Food 4 Less™, but I can't argue with the dry and canned goods prices that balance our meager food budget. It seems every month when I go there, usually around the 7th or 8th to avoid EBT Card day, some kid will either ram a cart into me, parents are having a full on screaming match with each other and/or the kids or "junior" and "l'il missy" are playing bowling with the melons and canned goods. Finger punched holes in nearly every loaf of bread, crushed and broken boxes of pasta, frozen goods misplaced onto dry goods shelves (and frequently put back in freezer by clerks) or opened and empty cans of soda or juice boxes hidden in every aisle. If everywhere we went was like Food 4 Less™, we would indeed buy 100% off the Schwann's truck and simply suffer the other 10-15 days of the month we had nothing. Even the doctor's office I went to last week, which I will not be returning to, the doctor took a pharmaceutical sales call during my appointment and took at least an extra 10 minutes getting in to me because her daughter was in "crisis" over an after school snack and called Mom about it. The receptionists were short worded and on the verge of rude, talked loudly over each other screening phone calls and refused to help a nearly blind older lady fill out some paperwork (Yes indeed I helped her) with a "so, if it takes you longer than your appointment time, I guess you'll just have to wait until we can fit you in!" Say what??? And these are the same type of little 20-something twits that demand respect when talking to them!?!? There's nothing wrong with society.... except for the lack of basic manners and etiquette. It's very sad when a person's few days out per month is filled with prime examples for retroactive birth control, but hey, this is what a classless society brings on itself. It doesn't have to be the nose in the air, hoity-toity upper class, but it doesn't have to be trash mouth and bad behavior either. I long for the days of the average, run of the mill, middle of the road society where there was a modicum of decency and respect for everybody. Blessings of Peace,

It's a tough call, but for me personally I take it on a case by case basis. If I am going to charge, it's a nominal fee, usually just to cover actual expenses. But the ceremony itself is a gift to the bride and groom. Last year I had one couple use my time for over two months and the amount of work I did was many, many hours of computer time and personal resources. The night before the ceremony, I got a rather nasty text message telling me my services were not required. Just a few weeks ago I found out the couple had arranged for another minister all along and the work I did was to negotiate the fee to him way down. But such is life and brings into question why some require a deposit. Blessings,

Well, this might be a repeat to some, but I don't necessarily believe we need Ozzie and Harriet as our role models, but the free swinging lifestyle of Ozzy and Sharon is a bit extreme as well, even though some might agree that Sharon is a pretty classy "ohd skoo" gal! There is absolutely no reason why anyone should not be able to get their ideas, ideals, values, comments and thoughts across in any public setting without saying disparaging things towards the person that holds any such opposing views. It is one thing to adamantly disagree or debate an issue, while a completely different and separate issue to disparage, slur or belittle the person holding such views that we may disagree with. After all, there are very few issues that have a patented "right" or "wrong" theoretical advantage. As far as the importance to our children, it should be the ultimate and primary goal of every parent to pass along moralistic and ethically acceptable standards to their offspring. Frankly, IMO, there are many pro-creators that have no business being "parents", but I'll leave that for another topic on another day. Blessings of Peace,

I ditto post #3...thanks Carl, that saved both fingers a lot of typing!! Blessings,

These "inventory tracking" and consumer buying habits were tested in the military when I was in '73-77. I ran the gee-dunk store for two years while striking for corpsman that had the first bar code reader attached to it. "For better inventory control" I was told. Several of the other Shipservicemen and I got talking along the lines of "what's next" for this and sure enough a couple years later when I worked a temp job at Western Digital these were the very things the marketing and product development clowns were thinking up back in the late 70's. It's so implemented into our system of buying retail now that people are absolutely blank brained about it. Targette, Wally World, etc etc...all major retailers control inventory direct to purchaser along every step of the way from manufacturing to consumer now. All thanks to the "convenience" of on-line banking and ATM cards. Kay and I frequently get "Value Pack" coupons in the mail that I'd say 80% of the coupons are for something we've purchased in the past few months. At places like our grocers, look on the back of your receipt...Save Mart for example prints out "related item" coupons on every one...buy cat food, get a coupon for cat sand, buy hamburger buns, get a "double Tuesday" coupon for ground beef and so forth. In many ways I wish I would have stayed in wholesale/retail after the Navy, it is indeed an interesting and quickly changing field. But then, the journey from Navy to machine shop to electronics R&D to civil service to my own studios was a journey of a lifetime and wouldn't change it for the world. Blessings of Peace,

What worried me the most about this video is how close to the Raid™ spray the guy's mouth and nose was when spraying...not the brightest bulb in the package! Meh, these little critters are nothin'....When I was in the Phillipines, I found out that the cockroaches are organized into gangs, wear 42 long leather jackets, comb their antennae into Pompadours and carry chains! I got mugged by one of their street gangs and yeah, I agree, the feeling of those pointy, barbed legs in my face still bothers me to this day! They beat the tar outta me 'cause I only had $3 US and a couple thousand Thailaneze bhat on me...about .60¢ They didn't find the $100 in 20's I had in my sneaker! I spent that on therapy. Blessings of Peace, PS: If ya think that's a big roach, the rats wear 54 long leather jackets, comb their head fur into Pompadours and carry clubs! One of our shipmates was last seen being followed by one of those gangs. Rest in peace, SK3 Milano, you are missed!

Welcome to California! I asked what day because the trip, you and pets were heavy on my mind and was just wondering. Guess I didn't pay good attn to the boards if you posted your arrival! Blessings Be,

The first thing I saw was the eyes...."You betcha I'm adorable 'cause the TROUBLE I cause would have lesser dogs strangled!" Blessings be to you "Tundra" on your ethereal journey! Peace, BTW grateful, how goes the travels? All going well I hope! PPS: Last night, 02-15-2012, at around 7:30pm...you weren't possibly on 99 or I5 north were ya?

The last time I went camping...what I found from the moose certainly wasn't chocolate though the little meatballs looked ever so appetizing!

hehehe...cute...wish my cats would do that at flea dippin' time!

Go back, way back...remember Eve took the first bite of the "Fruit of Knowledge" so she had first insight....Adam had to be cajoled into it! Why do you think the OT is so full of the "men's power and authority"? Them wimens said "Go ahead, write wut yous wants cuz we's knows the real story!! We knows who's really in charge!" Sadly enough, it's been that way ever since. Blessings of Peace,