Amazing Women

In honor of the beginning of Mothers' Day weekend today's post will be about some amazing women that I had the unique pleasure of spending Wednesday afternoon with.

Some churches have preachers. They preach on Sunday with a lot of fervor and then after the sermon disappear into their own little world not ministering to their flock the rest of the week. Other churches have ministers that enjoy the time going out into the world helping their flock but may not do all that well with preaching from the pulpit. Our church is really lucky to have one that embraces both. She gives great sermons and she relishes the aspect of going out in to the world to minister to her flock. She knows that my Mom has a really hard time getting around and ready for the church so she on occasion visits my Mom. Can't be easy for Janine to get around. See she is blind. She called me last week and asked if I would get her and take her to see Mom. When she called I made the blunder of the year by saying "my Mom warned me you were going to call." Oops. I immediately apologized for my poor choice of words. I think she accepted it but it was hard to tell among the laughter. Wednesday afternoon was the day we determined was the best day for both of us. One in the afternoon. I read somewhere that when a person loses one sense all their other five senses become extraordinary. To prepare for the afternoon to combat that I took two showers instead of one and was easy on the cologne. Didn't think it would be a good start the afternoon by killing our minister with body odor or the overwhelming smell of cologne. I picked her up. I really didn't know how to help, so I asked her. She told me to walk in front of her and she would hold on to me. That's what we did. I was amazed how extremely easy she got in and out of the car. We got to Mom's about a quarter after one.

There is another amazing woman. My mom. How many women in their nineties still play a mean game of Scrabble, reads for to five books a week, and still cooks with the best of them? That's mom. Another thing I admire about her is how people react to her, she must give out the air of openness because whenever we are out people flock to her. She really is kind of a babe magnet. I cannot tell you how many times we are out somewhere when someone comes up to Mom and tells her how beautiful she is. Then they are stunned when Mom tells them her age. Mom usually tells them it is because she has a damn good son. Of course I readily agree with that statement.

It was such a pleasure to watch Mom and the Minister interact. They talked about everything but very little about religion. Family, politics, love, hate, books, movies, were all in there somewhere. That's why I love the minister, not only is she an amazing woman, she didn't give a rip about religion that afternoon she just very simply wanted to get to know Mom. After the almost three hour social event of my week I took the minister back to the parsonage. I know my life had been enriched that afternoon by two amazing women.

One of the things that came out of the discussion was the mention of the book Three Cups Of Tea. That is now one of the Mothers' Day gifts that I bought for Mom. You can read about the book here:

http://www.threecupsoftea.com/about-the-book/

A couple of questions today. Any amazing women in your life? Personally, I think all the women that post and read my blog are amazing but would love to know about the women in your social circles or the women that impacted your life. In addition I would like to know if you sometimes change your behavior (like taking two showers before meeting the blind) when you are around those that have physical disabilities.

Speaking of Amazing Women here is one featured in today's Who Am I? Remember now to email your answers to williamjdahn@aol.com instead of posting them on the blog. If you are new to the blog please trust that your email address will be kept in the strictest of confidences and be used only for the purpose of the Who Am I's.

I was born in New York in 1843 and died in 1864. I was the first of nine children. My dad was town constable and I worked on his dairy farm to help support the family and help my dad who was deeply in debt. Before I was 18 I discovered that I could earn more money if I disguised myself as man. I left home to work as a coal handler on a canal boat dressed like a guy and sent most my earnings back home. I enlisted in a famous war in 1862 under a man's name and by hiding my female attributes. I served in a New York regiment. I had learned from some soldiers that I could get a $152 signing bonus and thirteen bucks a month if I enlisted in the army. Recruiters assumed I was a dude and asked me to join. I lied not only about my gender but also about my age so I could join. The description on my enlistment papers said that I was five feet tall, fair-skinned, with blue eyes. Our regiment was sent to Washington DC where we remained for nine months, defending the nation's capital against rebel advances. I wrote home saying, "I can drill as good as any man in my regiment." I wrote home to mend family fences. In thoser letters I expressed strong religious faith, the pride I felt at being a good soldier, and my strong desire to be financially independent. I was outspoken, independent, and hoped to buy a farm after the war. Our unit was later sent to Louisiana to take part in General Nathaniel Banks' Red River Campaign. I experienced battle up close for the first time. After one famous battle I wrote of the deceased soldiers "sometimes in heaps and in rows… with distorted features, among mangled and dead horses, trampled in mud, and thrown in all conceivable sorts of places. You can distinctly hear, over the whole field, the hum and hissing of decomposition." Near the end of the Red River Campaign, drinking water became scarce, and I and my fellow soldiers drank from streams that were poisoned by the rotting flesh of dead animals. The connection between contamination and infection wasn't understood at the time. The Union soldiers were stricken by chronic diarrhea and died by the thousands. I fell sick and was admitted to the regimental hospital at Alexandria, Louisiana. When my condition worsened I was transferred again to a Federal hospital in New Orleans. By the time I reached my destination I was in the acute phase of dysentery. I died shortly after arriving. If the nurses or doctors discovered my true gender, they didn’t report it. I was buried as a soldier at the Chalmette National Cemetery in New Orleans as a male soldier. Years later my letters were discovered by a relative in the attic of the farmhouse where I grew up. They were published in 1994. It wasn't until then that the military discovered I was a woman. Who Am I?

Women & Money

Before today's post group we need positive thoughts, healing vibes, and prayers for our friend Maryanne and her husband, TJ. Maryanne got in between one of her dogs fighting with her son's dog. Maryanne's left hand is pretty much ripped apart. To make matters worse she has a history of a certain type of bacterial infection. The hand specialist told the doctors not to do any stitching until they could be sure there's no danger of infection from the dog bites. They have no medical insurance. Please include in your prayers a request they can get the financial assistance they need. In addition to the prayers and good thoughts does anyone have any knowledge of Medicaid or anything that can help them that we can pass on to TJ? Since they are in Colorado if there is anyone out there with the knowledge of Colorado programs it would be appreciated to pass that knowledge on to us. I know all my thoughts and prayers are with Maryanne and TJ for recovered health, financial aid, and for the loss they are going to suffer because they have to put their dog down.

On another blog family note. I checked Mary Z's blog because I was worried about the floods in Tennessee. Her and her husband are fine and getting ready to go on a trip.

The answer to yesterday's Who Am I was Mother Jones. No who I am today, just a test to see how much you know about women and money. Answer either true or false to the following four statements. You can also put your answers in the comment section of the blog.

Women focus on non-financial household roles while men deal with the finances.

Women are emotional about money.

Women are impulsive shoppers and equally impulsive with financial decisions.

Women don't have the math skills necessary to make successful financial decisions.

You can find all the answers in the following article:

http://www.aolnews.com/money/article/fed-governor-duke-debunks-4-money-myths-that-sell-women-short/19462417?icid=main|htmlws-main-n|dl7|link5|http%3A%2F%2Fwww.aolnews.com%2Fmoney%2Farticle%2Ffed-governor-duke-debunks-4-money-myths-that-sell-women-short%2F19462417

Are surprised by the results?

A Give Away

Did you know that May 15 is give your stuff away day? You put what you don't want at your curb and someone will take it. It is amazing the things you can learn by reading The Final Word by Craig Wilson in the USA Today:

http://www.usatoday.com/life/columnist/finalword/2010-05-05-final05_ST_N.htm

According to the column you can also go to:

http://giveyourstuffaway.com/

What are you giving away? I've got an extra vaccum cleaner, an extra microwave, some clothes that I haven't worn since George Washington was president, and numerous toys and games. What do you have?

Today's Who Am I.

Yesterday's answer was the amazing women behind President Warren G. Harding's success, Florence Kling Harding.

I was born in Ireland in 1830 or 1837 and died in Maryland in 1930. During my early childhood it was common in Ireland to see British soldiers marching through the streets with the heads of Irish freedom fighters stuck on their bayonets. My paternal grandfather was hanged by the British for being a freedom fighter. My father, also a freedom fighter, after gramps was hanged he was forced to flee Ireland with our family. I attended public schools in Canada and graduated normal school at 17. The next year I began working as a private tutor in Maine. I received a teaching certificate in Michigan at 20. I only taught for about eight months, moving to Chicago to work as a dressmaker. From there I moved to Tennessee to teach school again. In 1861 I met and married a staunch and prominent member of the Iron Molders' Union. I traveled with my hubby in his union organizing. Through him I learned about unions and the psychology of working men. I would advise women that the wife must care for what the husband cares for if he is to remain resolute. We had four children in quick succession. In 1867 my husband and all four children died of yellow fever within a week of each other. I stayed in Memphis nursing other victims until the fever epidemic waned. I moved back to Chicago, working as a dressmaker again. Tragedy soon followed when I lost everything I owned in my home and seamstress shop in the great Chicago fire. It was then that I embarked upon the path that made my name synonymous with social justice. Probably the seeds were sown earlier, while sewing in the homes of wealthy Chicago families. I was quoted as saying: "Often while sewing for lords and barons who lived in magnificent houses on the Lake Shore Drive, I would look out of the plate glass windows and see the poor, shivering wretches, jobless and hungry, walking alongside the frozen lake front.... The contrast of their condition with that of the tropical comfort of the people for whom I sewed was painful to me. My employers seemed neither to notice nor to care."

I began to attend meetings of the newly formed Knights of Labor. I continued to work in Chicago as a seamstress even though I had no fixed home. I began volunteering with the Knights of Labor as an organizer traveling back and forth across the country. I lived with the workers in tent colonies and shantytowns near the mills. In essence I adopted the hard workers of America and they called me 'Mother.' When they asked where I lived I told them that my address was like my shoes it travels with me and that I abide where there is a fight against wrong. I would travel to wherever there was a strike organizing and helping the workers. I would hold educational meetingst. Often I was at odds with union leaders. Because at one of the strikes I attended in Chicago policed fired into the crowd of peaceful strikers I am said to have changed my birth date to 1830 in honor of the strike for an eight-hour work day when the shootings took place. At only five feet tall and dressed in black with just a touch of lace at her throat and wrists I was the perfect picture of a grandmother. Yet when I spoke I was dynamic, energetic and enthusiastic often bringing my audiences to tears, applause and laughter. I was a gifted storyteller with a brilliant sense of humor. Two of my most famous quotes were: "I'm not a humanitarian. I'm a hell-raiser!" and "Pray for the dead and fight like hell for the living." I joined the coal miners' fight becoming an organizer for the United Mine Workers of America. I knew the gruesome conditions and hazards of their work, and even went into the mines during strikes to convince scabs to quit and support their fellow workers. In 1902 at a rally in West Virginia I was arrested. When I was told my jail would be a hotel I demanded to be put in jail with the other miners. During my career I was arrested or escorted out of town many times only to return again and again. I started to fight for children, saying the following: "Little girls and boys, barefooted, walked up and down between the endless rows of spindles, reaching their little hands into the machinery to repair snapped threads. They crawled under machinery to oil it. They replaced spindles all day long, all day long; all night through. Tiny babies six years old with faces of sixty did an eight hour shift for ten cents a day." In 1903 to dramatize the need to abolish child labor I led a caravan of striking children from the textile mills in Pennsylvania to President Roosevelt's home in New York. We carried banners saying "We want time to play!" and "We want to go to school!" The president refused to meet with us but the "Children's Crusade" caught the public's attention. I helped found the Social Democratic Party. Later I was convicted by a military court of conspiring to commit murder and was sentenced to 20 years in prison. It created such a fervor that the U.S. Senate ordered a committee to investigate conditions in the coalfields. Before the investigations began he governor set me free. In 1924 I was sued for libel, slander and sedition. The publisher of the Chicago Times won a shocking $350,000 judgment against me. Earlier that year I was attacked by a couple of thugs while staying at a friend's house. I fought them off, causing one to flee and seriously injuring the other. My last public appearance was at my 100th birthday party. I was honored throughout the 1930s by labor activists and a Gene Autry recording. The popular children's song "She'll Be Coming 'Round the Mountain" is believed to have been inspired by me. Who Am I?

May 4, 1970

It was the day the United States expanded the war in Vietnam by invading Cambodia.

In a picture that is embedded in the minds of many of those that were alive at the time 14 year-old runaway Mary Ann Vecchio is crying as she kneels over the body of a fatally wounded student.

On that site now is a granite memorial. When it was dedicated in 1990 a daffodil was planted for every soldier killed in Vietnam. A May 4 archive includes a student shirt with a bullet hole through it and a spent MI shell casings.

The Governor at the time called the protesters "the worst type of people that we harbor in America. We are going to eradicate the problem. We are not going to treat the symptoms."

In 12.53 seconds, 28 Guardsman fired 61 shots. The young runaway in the picture has spent her life trying to out run that picture.

The incident is said to be one of the reasons that there is no longer a draft. Forty years later it still gets front page treatment in the USA Today. For those that were alive at the time the following article will bring back memories. For those that weren't alive then the article tells of an important event in history. Today is the fortieth anniversary of the event. Here is the article:

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2010-05-03-kent-state_N.htm

Do you remember the day? Are protestors the worst type of people we harbor? Like the girl in the picture has there been an event in your life that you are still trying to run from?



Today's Who Am I

Born in Ohio in 1860 and died, also in Ohio in 1924

I was the eldest child of three children. Dad owned a hardware store, which led to his owning other businesses and banks, making him the wealthiest man in the city of my birth. Father was extremely tyrannical and my mother was depressed and submissive. At the age of 19 I became pregnant by my boyfriend. I did it to escape my father. We eloped in 1880 and moved to another city. I gave birth to a son. My new husband turned out to be a spendthrift and a heavy drinker and left me in 1882. I refused to ask father for help. I rented a room and began giving piano lessons. After two years of this dad finally asked me to move back them suggesting that my son and I take his name. I refused. In 1884 I filed for separation. Dad then proposed another offer. He would not support me raising my son but he would take his grandson as his own, easing her financial hardship. I agreed. I was divorced in 1886. From the ordeal I developed a lifelong empathy for people struggling against society's expectations and refused to judge the choices people made. The seeds of feminism were also planted; developing strong beliefs about the rights and abilities of women to determine their own futures without male interference. "No man, father, brother, lover or husband can ruin my life," I was quoted as saying. "I claim the right to live the life the good Lord gave me, myself." Before eloping I worked in my father's hardware store from the time I could walk. I was a skilled horsewoman, was physically strong, and skilled in the arts of needlepoint and housekeeping. After graduating from high school in 1876, and having great musical talent I attended the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music. Dad ordered me back home within the first year. In the 1880's I met a man five years my junior. I relentlessly pursued him even though he had a girlfriend. Dad did not want me with him and circulated rumors that his family was of mixed blood. In spite of my father's acrimony I married him in 1891. We did not have any children. Unlike other women of the time my own career helped establish my husband's success. I became the driving force behind the growth and establishment of his newspaper. I stopped teaching piano after and began going to work with my husband, looking at the accounting, whereupon he put me in charge of circulation. I organized local boys as news carriers, even spanking them when necessary, and devised the city's first home delivery service. I was the confidante big sister and boss to the boys, even sending them baskets and a top doctor when they were ill. I boosted their self-esteem, and organized a social club and a value system with awards for achievements and demerits for bad work. I increased the paper's revenue immediately and consistently. In 1894 my husband checked into a Sanitarium for the second time. While he was gone our business manager quit. I took over and never left. I went down there intending to help out for a few days, and stayed fourteen years. When hubby returned to the paper fulltime he was amazed at my success. At home I nursed him, trying to prevent another relapse. Hubby named me "The Duchess." When he ran for head honcho I enthusiastically backed him. Secretly I was concerned that his extramarital affairs would be exposed. He had had many affairs, including a 15-year relationship with one of my childhood friends. She became the only known mistress in U.S. history to blackmail the head guy. During hubby's run for the races I was concerned about my age and health. I had had a kidney removed in 1905 and was prone to debilitating infections. I put all my concerns aside and campaigned vigorously, even fostering the first use of Hollywood movie stars in a presidential race. The people, weary from The Great War, responded to my hubby's campaign slogan, "Back to Normalcy," and elected him in a landslide victory. I became the first wife of a head honcho to vote for my husband. The previous honcho had closed the big house. I delighted in opening the house to the public again. I held garden parties for veterans and group tours. I also visited injured veterans in the hospital. I always maintained my independence proving to be one of the great feminists of the day. I was my husband's key advisor, was involved in many charities, and crusaded for women's rights. I was the first wife of the main man to fly in an airplane. I made sure the pilot was a woman. At The House I invited other active women scholars, minds and athletes. In one letter to a women's group I commented about the partnership between a husband and a wife and their careers:

"If the career is the husband's, the wife can merge her own with it. If it is to be the wife's, as it undoubtedly will be in an increasing proportion of cases, then the husband may with no sacrifice of self-respect or of recognition, ... permit himself to be the less prominent and distinguished member of the combination."

During my husband's reign there were many scandals including one titled after a whistling kettle and about a lease to a private oil companies in Wyoming. On a tour to fight the scandals my husband became ill and died in San Francisco in 1923. Some rumors said I poisoned him. Others said he died of a heart attack or a stroke or anxiety about all the scandals. The official listing is a stroke. I returned to Washington by train with my husband's body. The public, still unaware of the expanse of the impending scandals greeted the funeral procession in droves. After my husband's death I tried to preserve reputations by burning every personal paper I could find. I returned to Ohio, where I died of kidney disease fifteen months after hubby's death. Who Am I?

Surviving The Recession

What are you doing to survive the recession? What creative things are you doing to cust costs until the economy comes back? This is what one woman did:

http://www.stylelist.com/2010/04/29/how-to-wear-the-same-dress-for-an-entire-year/?icid=main|htmlws-main-n|dl4|link3|http%3A%2F%2Fwww.stylelist.com%2F2010%2F04%2F29%2Fhow-to-wear-the-same-dress-for-an-entire-year%2F

I really admire the woman. I couldn't tell from the pictures that she was wearing the same dress!

The main thing I am doing to cut costs until the economy turns around is clipping coupons. Watching for sales and using coupons combined with double off coupons I've been able to reduce my grocery bill by about thirty per-cent. I've also did more free types of entertainment. Walking, museums, etc. The entertainment that I do that costs I've been fortunate enough to have been given gift cards for.

I do think the economy is turning around. I have two small tests that I do. Traffic and want ads. More traffic and more want ads means we are starting the economic turn around. There is definitely more traffic, a lot more. In this week's Sunday's paper there were thee pages of want ads. Three weeks ago their were only three columns of want ads.

The questions for the day are what creative ways are you surviving the recession? Do you think the economic turn around has started?

Today's Who Am I?

I was born in Missouri in 1826 and died in Washington D.C. in 1902. I was the fifth of eight children of a plantation owner. I was raised as a Methodist. My mother was raied in a cultured, educated manner so she made sure all eight of us kids were educated as well. In 1848 I married a man that one day would be president whom I met at West Point when I visited my brother. The first four years of our marriage were spent in Detroit and New York. The marriage was rough. I was separated from my husband when he was sent out West to command an infantry division. He was forced to resign for insubordination. He returned home in 1854 and failed at everything he tried. Everything changed when a war started. Experienced officers were in short supply so he was sent to make a disciplined fighting unit out of a rebellious volunteer regiment in Illinois. He went on to trap the enemy army in Richmond and became the most revered man in the army. During the war I tended wounded soldiers and sewed uniforms. I also joined my husband as often as was safe and took enormous pride in his accomplishments. Unlike many officers my husband insisted that I be with him. My steady nature, cheerfulness, and common sense helped him stay focused. He often would succumb to doubts, depression and alcoholism (which became a problem when he was out West) and I helped buoy his spirits. After the honest man appointed my husband commander during the battle of the river the President would send me to my husband knowing I was a good influence. I also became the center of attention and grew to love being the focus. When my husband was elected head honcho I transferred the famous shabby House into one of elegance and warmth, welcoming visitors with grace and compassion. I was described by many as unpretentious and friendly. The media wrote of my "propriety and dignity." I opened The House on Tuesday afternoons with receptions for "any and all" -- even saying, "Admit all," when asked about colored visitors. However, my staff denied entrance to such visitors without me knowing it. Knowing how much I loved the house my husband kept secret that he wasn't going to run for another term. When my husband was diagnosed with incurable throat cancer he wanted to leave me financially supported. Racing against time, bundled in blankets and wracked with pain, he wrote his memoirs, hoping its sale would support me. He finished it just days before his death with me remaining by his side throughout. I was so overcome I couldn't attend his funeral. I was lost, frightened and severely depressed for quite some time. My husband memoirs -- prompted and arranged by the most famous Mark of the time -- were a huge success, enabling me to move back to Washington, D.C. Living in comfort as a sort of "Grand Dame." I supported Susan B. Anthony and the suffragists. Over time my mental state improved enough to write my memoirs. I was the first woman that held a position to write memoirs. In 1902 I died at the age of 76. I was laid alongside her husband in a national monument. Who Am I?

I'm Catherine The Great

Hope this will be a leisurely and great day for all of you. The biggest news for me of the last week is that I had my annual physical on Wednesday. I still haven't received the results of the blood tests. It is a good sign though that the doctor hasn't billed me yet. He must think I am going to live for a while.

Next week the only thing on the agenda is to pickup our minister and take her to Mom's for a visit. Remember our minister is a blind woman that obviously doesn't drive. She really is an amazing woman. I enjoy spending time with her so for a couple of hours Wednesday afternoon I will be in the company of two amazing women, the minister and my Mom.

On to the entertainment update. Saw a couple of movies. The Bounty Hunter, ugh, terrible movie. Backup Plan, not awful. The Amazing Race didn't eliminate anyone last week. I'm still rooting for the Cowboys. They just seem nice and they are having fun. The also seem to fight through obstacles in good spirits. On The Celebrity Apprentice they didn't eliminate anyone either. The two teams did so well with their challenge that the Trumpster kept them all for another week. On Dancing With The Stars sadly they eliminated the bachelor. It should have been Niecy.

OK, before asking about your lives I thought this might be a fun thing to do. Find out what historical figure you are:

http://www.quizgalaxy.com/quizzes/what-historical-figure-are-you/

Here is my answer:

You are Catherine the Great! You are very intelligent and a socialist. It is very important to you that all people be treated equally in a society. You are able to fully comprehend social problems and you are outspoken when it comes to dealing with them.

Now it is your turn. Let me know what went on in your life last week. How everyone in your circle is doing. Friends, relatives, and strangers. Let me know what is on the agenda for next week. I always love to hear what you are up to. If you are new to blog I would absolutely love it if you would introduce yourself. And don't forget to tell me what historical figure you are!

Saving Seattle

A relaxing Saturday deserves a fun, good, and touching story. A huge shout out to the City of Seattle. The world is a safer place because of Super Hero, Electron Boy:

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2011740342_electronboy30m.html

Have you ever wanted to be a super hero? What special power would you possess if you had the choice? I would love to be a super hero, just don't know which one. The power that would like to have is X-Ray vision.

Off to mow the lawn. May this be a great day for you and may you use your super powers to help others and make this world a better place!

PS

The answer to yesterday's Who Am I was Isadora Duncan. The next Who Am I will be Monday.

Casual Friday

Do you think dress has become to casual today? Has casual Friday expanded to every day of the week? Does it annoy when you go into a doctor or lawyer's office and the office staff is in jeans or mini-skirts? Do you appreciate it when someone wears a tie to church?

At the job recently completed everyone dressed pretty well. Friday was casual Friday so the jeans and tennis shoes came on and the dress shoes and nice clothes were replaced. No ties on any day though. What does it say about me that I wore basically the same style of dress everyday? Casual dress up. Nice shirt and pressed slacks. When I first went into the working world at my first job out of college suits were required. White shirts only. Yup, no colored shirts, just white shirts. Winged tipped shoes. If you spent a day working at a client you weren't allowed to brown bag it, you had to eat out. It was considered unprofessional to pack your own lunch. You had to portray an image of success and that included looking rich enough to afford lunch out.

This is my take on it. They went to far at my first job. Now they have gone way to far the other way. I am OK with no ties but when I go to a professional's office I'd like to see a more dressed up look then they have now. Here is Craig Wilson's take on it:

http://www.usatoday.com/life/columnist/finalword/2010-04-28-final28_ST_N.htm

Do you agree with my favorite columnist? What is your take on how people dress today? To casual? Not Casual enough? Just right?

The answer to yesterday's Who Am I was Cassie Chadwick. Can you get today's?

I was born in 1878 in San Francisco and died in 1927 in France. I died when my scarf accidentally became tangled in the wheels of a Bugatti sports car, resulting in a broken neck.

I was the second daughter and the youngest of four children. My father was a poet and my mother was a pianist and music teacher. When my parents married, my father was divorced with four children and 30 years older than Mom. He supported our family through running a lottery, publishing three newspapers, owning a private art gallery, directing an auction business and owning a bank. When the bank fell into financial ruin our family moved to Los Angeles where he divorced and remarried. I did not believe in marriage but did have love affairs with a stage designer and a French millionaire and had a child by each. My children were tragically and accidentally drowned in 1913.

Later in her life I married a Russian poet but separated shortly after. As a child, I learned unconventionally to "listen to the music with your soul." My mother instilled in me a love for dance, theater, Shakespeare and reading. At the young age of 6 years old I danced for money and taught other children to dance. Dancing lessons took precedence over formal education; however, I read and was inspired by the works of Walt Whitman and Nietzsche. I am known as the mother of "modern dance," founding the "New System" of interpretive dance, blending together poetry, music and the rhythms of nature. I did not believe in the formality of conventional ballet and gave birth to a more free form of dance, dancing barefoot and in simple Greek apparel. My fans recognized me for my passionate dancing and I ultimately proved to be the most famous dancer of my time. I moved East and was funded by wealthy New Yorkers to give private appearances. In 1898 I expanded my dancing career by traveling to London on a cattle boat with my mother, my sister and brother. My first professional European performance was at the Lyceum theater in London in 1900. I turned down substantial dancing offers to join Loie Fuller's touring company and toured Budapest, Vienna, Munich and Berlin. I studied for one year in Greece where I purchased a site to construct an elaborate dancing stage. My performances were based on interpretations of classical music including Strauss' Blue Danube, Chopin's Funeral March, Tchaikovsky's Symphonie Pathetique and Wagnerian works. Later I opened a dancing school in Moscow where the Russian government promised to provide me with room and board and a schoolroom. However, after the school was built the government did not support me. To support myself I returned to the stage unsuccessfully in America and then toured Europe once more. Who Am I?

Love vs. Trust

Before today's subject a little bit of a vent. Know how I recently said that this Thursday, Friday, and Saturday I had no plans? Well, that is out the window. Sis and her husband got called to Utah to help my niece out. They are leaving tomorrow. So I am the lead caregiver this weekend. Today is fixing lunch for Mom and going out for dinner with the group. I can hear Frank Sinatra singing That's Life in the background.

In Wednesday's USA Today Sports column "Keeping Score" poet George Mac Donald was quoted as saying "to be trusted is a greater compliment than being loved."

Do you agree? Because of being in a business for over thirty years that required clients trusting me with their financial and sometimes personal lives I have been trusted by many. I was touched by each one of my clients that believed in me. That believed whatever they told me stayed with me. It was an extraordinary compliment to be trusted.

Loved? Maybe once or twice in my life I have been loved. Now? I know my Mom and sister love me unconditionally but it would be nice to be loved by a woman that didn't have to.

What feels better to you being trusted or being loved? What is more important to you? Don't they both go hand in hand? How can you love someone you don't trust? Me? I wouldn't even mind being loved by a woman like the one in today's Who Am I:

I was born in Canada in 1859 and died in prison in Ohio in 1907. My first arrest was in 1881 but I was released due to insanity. I married in 1882 but my husband left me eleven days later when he found out I wasn't pure. After that I changed my name and became a fortune teller. Because the name I chose didn't fit the occupation I became Madam Lydia. In 1889 I was sentenced to nine and a half years in prison. I served four years before being paroled by then Governor William McKinley. I changed my name again and then opened a brothel. I had one son while working the house. I married a well respected physician in either 1886 or 1897. We met at the brothel but he wasn't aware of my shady criminal past. I assured him that I she was merely an etiquette instructor for the girls. I changed my name again. I moved into my husband's house on "Millionaire's Row" and tried in vain to become part of the inner socialite circle. In 1897 I set up a scam after meeting my husband banker friend, Dillon. I told Dillon that I was the illegitimate daughter of the wealthiest bachelor in America. The bachelor who had a hall named after him and the hall is still famous today as it sits in the City of New York. To prove it my claim, Dillon and I took a carriage ride to the bachelor's Fifth Avenue mansion. While Dillon waited I went to the door and was admitted in, where I stayed for about 30 minutes. Upon returning to the carriage, I waved to a well-dressed man in the front window, then tripped while entering the carriage, surreptitiously dropping a piece of paper. Dillon retrieved the paper and noticed it was a promissory note for $2 million signed the bachelor, I said was the man waving from the window. Dillon wanted details. I supplied them after swearing Dillon to secrecy. I said that the bachelor, out of shame for her illegitimacy, had given me promissory notes, worth $7 million, but with my own shame I had not drawn on them. I also told Dillon I would inherit $400 million when the bachelor died. Shame on me I lied. In truth, the man in the window was the butler, whom I had occupied by purporting to need credentials on a maid I intended to hire. Dillon set up a safe-deposit box for my promissory notes and then shared my ‘secret’ with almost every lender in the state. Eager bankers began offering me loans of up to $1 million, with interest rates of 25 percent, believing millions were available to be gleaned. Instead of demanding repayment, they let the loans compound annually, figuring the bachelor would vouch for any debts and they would get their financial rewards after probate. I became known as the “Queen of Ohio.” I bought diamond necklaces, clothes to fill 30 closets, and a gold organ for my living room. I entertained lavishly – even frittering $100,000 on a dinner party. For several years I lived the high life, amassing loan debts totaling $2-20 million. An Ashtabula newspaper account of my death stated: "The extent of these transactions will never be fully known, but they ran up into the millions. They involved men of high standing in the financial world and caused heavy losses to many bankers." Banks were not the only ones to loan me money; millionaires did, too. And damn one of them was my downfall. He loaned me $190,800 and had the gall to request repayment. I was indignant. I explained that all of my securities (worth $10 million) were in a bank. He went to the police and brought suit against me on November 2, 1904. Upon inspection, my promissory notes were found to be obvious forgeries. I was arrested on December 7, 1904 lying in bed with my money belt containing $100,000. I stood trial in Cleveland and even the bachelor attended. On March 10, 1905, I was convicted on seven counts of conspiracy against the government and conspiracy to wreck a bank. I was sentenced to 10 to 14 years and fined $70,000. I brought trunks of finery to prison; animal skin rugs and clothes, which the warden let me keep. On January 1 or 12, 1906, I began my prison term and died two years later on my birthday. I wrote several letters to my son Emil, one of which asked him to get money from my hiding place to buy a tombstone for the family plot in Ontario. Who Am I?

YAWN!

I had my annual physical this morning. Yesterday when I couldn't find a diet to lose ten pounds in 24 hours I almost canceled the appointment but didn't. The main take away from the appointment this morning is that I have to lose ten pounds. The good thing is I have more than twenty-four hours to do it. After having that dreaded awful bend over test it was determined my prostrate was in good health. The results of the other tests won't be in for about a week. Please keep me in your positive thoughts and prayers.

YAWN! Was that your reaction to what I just typed? Do you think people yawn because they are bored? You could be wrong. OK, one, two, three, everyone yawn now. Did you know that:

That fetuses as young as eleven weeks old yawn.

By one to two years old yawning becomes contagious.

That in one sturdy that twenty-one of twenty-nine dogs that saw their owner yawn, yawned themselves.

If one person yawns within five minutes more than half the people in a group will yawn.

Six seconds is the average length of a yawn.

Yawns most often recur one minute apart.

Psychotics rarely yawn.

Read this fascinating article by Jessica Yadegaran here:

http://findarticles.com/p/news-articles/virginian-pilot-ledger-star-norfolk/mi_8014/is_20100425/bored-just-blazing-brain/ai_n53292270/?tag=content;col1

Do you yawn? Because you are tired? Bored? Just to relax?

It's The Law

Just to keep you all informed about Blog stuff, there won't be a daily Who Am I but there will be one two to five times a week depending on what I find out there and how much time I have on a daily basis. The answer to yesterday's trivia was the founder of the League Of Women Voters, Carrie Chapman Catt.

Today let us salute an everyday hero. Read about an amazing woman that embraces her disability through art:

http://www.oregonlive.com/art/index.ssf/2010/04/legally_blind_catherine_miller.html

With the rest of the post we are going to honor Pat. She didn't use any excuses to avoid jury duty. Did all the things required of her. Then she didn't get picked. In The Edge Column in today's Oregonian they talked laws. You can read the Oregonian daily at http://www.oregonlive.com/,
Would you like to be on the jury if anyone broke any of the following laws:

If you are in Wilbur, Washington you can't ride an ugly horse, it's the law.

On a hot day in Lexington, Kentucky please don't carry that ice cream cone in your pocket, it could get you arrested.

In Carmel, New York if you go out in a jacket and pants that don't match you may have to take a side trip to jail because it is against the law not to be matched up.

In Zion, Illinois don't give your lighted cigars to dogs, cats, or other domesticated animals because it's against the law.

In Detroit, Michigan if you and you lover get steamy together remember it's against the law to make love in a car unless it is parked on your property.

In Tulsa, Oklahoma if you want to open a soda bottle you can only do it under the supervision of a licensed engineer.

Guys that are living in Idaho that want to give their love a box of candy? Remember it is against State law unless the box of candy weighs fifty pounds or more.

When visiting Wichita,Kansas before proceeding through the intersection of Douglas and Broadway don't proceed through the intersection until you get out of your car and fire three shots into the air. Coming soon at that intersection is my own sidewalk business, a gun rental and hot dog cart.

Any weird laws in your neck of the words? Which of the above mentioned laws do you like the best? And which law do you think will help save society?

Hoarding

I am not really a hoarder. I just think that some day I might need my third grade report card or my sports letters. And the electric football, baseball, basketball games are collectors' items just like my Lionel Electric Train. Certainly I need all those greeting cards I've received over the years. It will remind who to remember when I win the lottery. My Dodger coffee mugs from every year they won the championship? They have to be worth as much as the year books from those years which I also have.

My take on it is that I am not a hoarder because I don't collect things. I'm just a loyal dude that doesn't like to throw things out. How about you? Do you hoard? Do you or your spouse keep things long past their useful life? Do you classify yourself as a hoarder? According to the following article if you hoard it could be dangerous or harmful. Do you agree?

http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/20100426/us_time/08599198444400

Today's Who Am I features another woman in history. Email answers to either billdahn@aol.con or williamjdahn@aol.com

I was born in Wisconsin in 1859 and died in New York in 1947, I was the second of three children born to Lucius and Maria. I attended elementary education in a one-room schoolhouse. In 1877, I graduated from high school. My father refused to provide the money for more education so I taught school for a year, earning enough income to enter a State Agricultural College. I supported myself working in the state library and the college kitchen. I graduated in 1880 – the only woman among 18 graduates. I aspired to become a lawyer so I began reading law in an attorney’s office. The next year, I began teaching high school with the intent of earning enough money to study law at the university. However, I found I enjoyed teaching so much that I gave up the idea of becoming a lawyer. Less than two years later, I was appointed principal and superintendent of schools.

When I was 13 years old, I asked why my mother was not getting dressed up to go to town to vote like my father. My sincere question was met with laughter and the reason that voting was too important a civic duty to leave to women. On February 12 1885, I married Leo, an editor of the local newspaper and resigned from teaching (as married women were not allowed to teach). I became his business partner, writing a “Woman’s World” column but not about food or fashion, rather about women’s political and labor issues, and reminding women that if they wanted the vote, they needed to organize. Leo harshly criticized a local Republican candidate in the paper and was sued for libel forcing him to sell the newspaper. He went to San Francisco to find work where he caught typhoid fever. I received a telegram about him and left immediately by train, but he died before I arrived. I was a 27 year-old widow left with no house or financial resources. I decided to stay in San Francisco, finding work as a freelance journalist. I was barely making ends meet when one evening a male associate grabbed me and began kissing me. I managed to break away, but the assault left me feeling frightened and outraged and determined to do something about the vulnerability of working women. I become a public lecturer. After hiring an agent in 1887, I returned to the Midwest and began my work for suffrage. I joined the state branch of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union, becoming head of its suffrage section. As that local group began breaking apart, I began organizing women and creating suffrage clubs. In 1889, I was elected secretary of the state Woman Suffrage Association and the next year a delegate and minor speaker at the convention of the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) in Washington, D.C. On June 10, 1890 I remarried in Seattle, Washington. I replaced Susan B. Anthony as a president of a suffrage organization in 1900. I am known for the famous quote: “The world taught women nothing skillful and then said her work was valueless. It permitted her no opinions and said she did not know how to think. It forbade her to speak in public and said the sex had no orators. It denied her the schools, and said the sex had no genius. It robbed her of every vestige of responsibility, and then called her weak. It taught her that every pleasure must come as a favor from men and when, to gain it, she decked herself in paint and fine feathers, as she had been taught to do, it called her vain.” In 1918 I established a famous league that still is a force in U.S. politics. In 1933 I helped establish the Protest Committee of Non-Jewish Women Against the Persecution of Jews in Germany. We obtained thousands of signatures to a letter protesting the crimes against the Jews. I lobbied Congress to amend the U.S. immigration laws to help Jews and other refugees escape. That same year, honoring my work, I received the American Hebrew Medal – the first woman to do so. Who Am I?

Sunday

First, I am going to start out the day with the gift of music. This is an incredible video of a young singer. To find out how young you will have to click on the following link:

http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=RhemaMarvanne&annotation_id=annotation_364521&feature=iv#p/u/6/PIQl6ygRqhw

Next up is the answer to yesterday's Who Am I. An amazing women that our history books forgot to teach us about, Ursula Bower. Read her story here:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1268202/The-Deb-guerrilla--The-Rodean-educated-beauty-saved-Empire-Japanese.html

Now on to my update. You pretty much have been kept on my life last week by my daily blog entries. Coming up next week. Monday a tour of the Y. If I like it I'll join it for a test month. If it works out then I will buy a year membership. Tuesday I take the reading mama to the library and then to lunch with her. Wednesday my annual physical, prayers and good vibes please. Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nothing planned. Let me repeat that. Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nothing planned.

Entertainment update. Off of Dancing With The Stars, thank goodness, Kate. Off of Celebrity Apprentice Goldberg who had the best line of the year when the men were negotiating with the women on which country singer they wanted to mold, "I don't like negotiating with anyone that I can't beat up." No Amazing Race last week due to the Country Music Awards. The Race returns tonight. Remember the last segment was filmed in Singapore where blog family member Snug resides. She sent me some pictures when she visited the park where the Race was filmed. I love to see pictures of blog members!

http://snugpug.blogspot.com/2009/05/pink-party.html

This week on Top Chef Masters the chefs cook for the cast of Modern Family.

Now it is your turn. The blog is yours to write about anything you damn well please. Update me on your life! Tell me what happened, is happening, and going to happen in your life! If you are new too the blog, then step up to the plate and introduce yourself! This is a good place to meet high quality friends!

Up, Up, Up, & Away

The rumor has that one new reader of the blog isn't sure how to get to the stories mentioned on the blog. A link takes you directly to the article. Links show up in a different color than the rest of the blog entry. Just click on a link with your mouse, that will take you to the sotry.

The good story of the week:

http://www.pawnation.com/2010/04/23/hero-german-shepherd-leads-help-to-a-fire/?icid=main|htmlws-main-n|dl3|link5|http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pawnation.com%2F2010%2F04%2F23%2Fhero-german-shepherd-leads-help-to-a-fire%2F

On to another subject. Imagine being stuck in traffic plodding along when you put your car in gear and it rises above the traffic and flies over it. Unrealistic? Not according to the following article:

http://www.hispanicbusiness.com/news/2010/4/22/the_flying_car_could_arrive_by.htm

We could be in flying cars by 2015. Do you agree with the article? Would you buy one? I am going to be first in line to buy one.

Today's Who Am I is courtesy of Connie.

When I was thirty years old I was living among the Naga Tribes for nearly five years when World War II reached my corner of the world in 1942. Until then I had been studying the native people as an anthropologist. Malaya, Singapore and Burma had fallen to the Japanese army in the worst defeat in the history of the British Empire. British and Indian troops had been forced into a horrific retreat across the Burmese border, through the Naga Hills into Eastern India. Rumours were rife that the Japanese would push across the border and break through the gateway of India. If India fell, the British war in the East - and the Empire itself - would be finished. Where along the long border would the Japanese come through? It was imperative that the British receive the earliest possible intelligence of such an offensive. Accordingly, a special guerilla troop called V Force was set up to patrol the Naga Hills both sides of the border. Native tribesmen, led by British officers, were recruited to patrol the impenetrable jungle and provide early warning of a Japanese invasion. I was an early, if unlikely, recruit to this cause. I had first visited India in 1937 with a school friend, on a trip where my mother had hoped she would meet a nice husband. Instead, she fell in love with the Naga Hills and their tribes. The Nagas were fiercely independent - they occasionally rebelled against British rule - and merciless to their enemies. Those who had claimed an enemy head in battle wore their victim's hair in tufts on their shields and earrings. They were also deeply moral and loyal. As well as studying the tribe, I dispensed medicines to them, and they took me into their hearts. They asked me to name their babies, and some even worshipped me as a goddess, believing me to be the reincarnation of a rebel priestess imprisoned by the British. When famine struck the villagers in the years before the war, I procured them government aid, saving many lives. Because of the loyalty I commanded among the Nagas, in August 1942 the head of V Force asked me to form the local Nagas into a band of scouts to comb the jungle for the Japanese. I became the only female guerilla commander in the history of the British Army, leading 150 Nagas armed only with ancient muzzle-loading guns across some 800 square miles of mountainous jungle. My story is one of the most extraordinary of World War II, however, like that of so many of the brave veterans of the war in the East, my heroism has faded from the pages of history. A new book tells my incredible tale and tells of the campaign in which she paid a crucial role: the Japanese offensive into India, and the savage battle of Kohima on which the fate of two empires turned. Who Am I?

In Hiding

Tomorrow there will be a Who Am I courtesy of Connie. Remember on the Who Am I to email me the answers rather than posting them on the blog. We don't want the late comers to the blog to cheat and steal your answers. Make them do their own darn homework.

As for today? Have you ever been in that state where you wanted to shut off your computer, turn off your phones, rollup in a ball and shutoff any contact with the outside world because you just didn't want to face the world and have anymore news? I'm there today.

L is my favorite cousin. We are connected at the hip because in a long line of relatives we were the only two with red hair. She is an absolutely beautiful woman. She lives now in Laguna Niguel, South of Los Angeles. A good Catholic girl she taught me how to use pogo sticks and how to play poker.

During my just ended busy season I wasn't really answering emails or returning phone calls. Didn't think I had the time. Last week a couple of days before April 15 she called my Mom worried about me because it wasn't like me to be non-responsive. I felt pretty bad so I got a little card with a picture of a baby's behind on it and wrote on the card that I was sorry for being a butt. I also sent a nice box of Moonstruck Chocolate to her with the card. This is the email that she sent yesterday:

Hi,

Well, aren't you a sweetheart--got the candy and your note today and you didn't have to do that--I will cut you some slack anytime and you have been so, so busy. Three jobs during tax season is terrible. Slow down luv! How are you feeling? Know you have had some heart problems so take care of yourself.

This next info is just for you and not your mom. At her age, there is no reason for her to know this and worry her dear, sweet head, ok? I didn't say anything to her when I called her as just felt she didn't need to hear it. I now have been diagnosed with myeloma (bone marrow cancer). It is at a stage called "smoldering" because they can't find where it is for now. When the doctor called me smoldering I thought why you little devil you as he is quite young and I was beginning to feel like a "cougar"--then he added myeloma and burst my bubble. Ha--gotta keep things light ya know. Actually, the day after I got news of the diagnosis, I got an ad in the mail from a mortuary and laughed and told Clark, isn't this a bit premature. The bone marrow biopsy showed it but the pet scan can't pick it up yet. So I am on hold for now and having blood work and being watched. When it gets detectable, there will be chemo and a wicked kind--they have prepared me to be very ill. But ya know what--I will fight this stuff and keep on keeping on. I go to UCLA now but the doctors there plan to send me to Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale, AZ at some point as they are #1 in research and treatment of myeloma. It's a real bummer, isn't it? Excuse my language but I seem to be a "shit magnet" for cancer all of a sudden.

Tomorrow I have my endoscopy to check the lymphoma situation and it better be negative. Love ya much--off to eat chocolates--you have no idea how those came at just the right time.

L

There is no woman on this earth that deserves the trauma she is dealing with less than her. If there is anyone on earth that can beat it though, it is her.

On top of the news of my good friend Dick's passing, I don't want to hear anymore bad news. I am off to hide. Prayers, positive vibes, good thoughts sent my cousin's way would be very much appreciated.

What I Didn't Know & Who Are We?

Dick Wright, a client and a friend, died Tuesday at age 89. He has known my parents for well over sixty years. When we lived in Pocatello, Idaho my parents were part of a group with five or six married couples. The women would get together to play bridge, the men would get together and play poker. The couples would go out together to celebrate whatever holiday or event that was going on at the time. Costume parties at Halloween, for example. Dick was brilliant. For a long time he was the public address announcer for The Spokane Indians, then a farm club of the Dodgers. He later was a public relations director for a local television station. Then he served as point man for the Rose festival. I knew all that. However, whenever a close friend dies it always amazes me what I didn't know about them. Over the years I must have had a thousand conversations with Dick and his wife, Bernice. They were like family. They attended our family events and we spent many evenings out as a group at restaurants. You would think at least once I would have asked Dick had he ever served in the military. I never did. He was a marine stationed in The South Pacific during World War II. What I could have learned had I just asked that simple question. I really need to get out of myself a bit more and into others lives to really get to know them. How about you? Are you surprised sometimes about what you didn't know about a close friend or relative? Dick may you rest in peace, you will be missed.

Today's Who Are We?

A move by congress in 1941 forced the Army to form our group. Still the War Department made an effort to eliminate our unit before it began by setting up a system with a higher education requirement than they expected to be filled. Their efforts failed when the War Department received an abundance of applicants that exceed those education requirements. We were commanded by Commander Davis one of the few black graduates of West Point. Because of segregation in the army the formation of our group lead to black surgeons being employed by our group.
Seventeen flight surgeons served us from 1941 through 1949. At that time, the typical tour of duty for a U.S. Army flight surgeon was four years. Six of these physicians lived under field conditions during operations in North Africa, Sicily, and Italy for almost eight years. Considered ready for combat duty, the 99th was transported to Casablanca, Morocco, on the USS Mariposa and participated in the North African campaign. From Morocco they traveled by train to Oujda then to Tunis, the location from which they operated against the Luftwaffe. Flyers and ground crew alike largely were isolated by the racial segregation practices of their initial command, the white 33rd Fighter Group and its commander Colonel William W. Momyer. The flight crews were handicapped by being left with little guidance from battle-experienced pilots except for a week spent with Colonel Phillip Cochran. The 99th's first combat mission was to attack the small, but strategic, volcanic island of Pantelleria in the Mediterranean Sea, in preparation for the Allied invasion of Sicily in July 1943. The 99th moved to Sicily where it received a Distinguished Unit Citation for its performance in combat. Colonel Momyer told media sources that the we were a failure , cowardly, incompetent, or worse, resulting in a critical article in TIME. In response, the House Armed Services Committee convened a hearing to determine whether the our group should be dissolved. To bolster the recommendation to scrap our group, a member of the committee commissioned and then submitted into evidence, a "scientific" report by the University of Texas that purported to prove that African Americans were of low intelligence and incapable of handling complex situations. Colonel Davis denied the claims by committee members, but only the intervention of Colonel Emmett "Rosie" O'Donnell prevented a recommendation for disbandment of our group being sent to President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
On January 27 and 28, 1944, Luftwaffe Fw 190 fighter-bombers raided Anzio, where the Allies had conducted amphibious landings on January 22. Attached to the 79th Fighter Group, eleven of us shot down thirteen enemy fighters. We won our second Distinguished Unit Citation on May 12–14, 1944, while attacking German positions on Monastery Hill (Monte Cassino), attacking infantry massing on the hill for a counterattack, and bombing a nearby strong point to force the surrender of the German garrison to Moroccan Goumiers. We accompanied another combat group on heavy bombing raids into Czechoslovakia, Austria, Hungary, Poland, and Germany. By the end of the war, we were credited with 112 Luftwaffe aircraft shot down. As a group we were awarded several Silver Stars, 150 Distinguished Flying Crosses, 8 Purple Hearts, 14 Bronze Stars, and 744 Air Medals. Who Are We?

No Fancy Dresses

The answer to yesterday's Who Am I?

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2010-04-20-height-obit_N.htm?loc=interstitialskip

Now on to a theme park that I think made a Mickey Mouse decision:

http://news.travel.aol.com/2010/04/20/mother-dressed-as-princess-banned-from-disneyland-paris/?ncid=AOLCOMMtravdynlprim0934&icid=main|htmlws-sb-n|dl4|link4|http%3A%2F%2Fnews.travel.aol.com%2F2010%2F04%2F20%2Fmother-dressed-as-princess-banned-from-disneyland-paris%2F%3Fncid%3DAOLCOMMtravdynlprim0934

Frankly, I think no fancy dresses is the dumbest of dumb policies for them to have. What is a fancy dress? I could understand them banning dressing like the characters but fancy dresses? And what about name tags? Don't all their employees where name tags? So couldn't most of us be smart enough to know that if someone wasn't wearing a name tag their wouldn't employees?

Do you agree with their policy? Or are you with me? And no I don't plan on wearing a fancy dress to the theme park anytime soon.

Who Am I?

As a teen I marched in New York's Time Square shouting, "Stop the lynching." In the late 1950s and early 1960s I helped Martin Luther King, JR orchestrate the civil rights movement. I was on the platform just inches from king when he gave his "I Have A Dream" speach. I was referred to by activist C. Delores Tucker as the queen of the civil rights movement.

When I was named president of a Women's Organization in 1957 I was quoted as follows:

"I hope not to work this hard all the rest of my life, but whether it is the council, whether it is somewhere else, for the rest of my life, I will be working for equality, for justice, to eliminate racism, to build a better life for our families and our children."

I received the Presidential Medial for freedom. For my 90th birthday my friends rasied five million dollars to payoff the mortgage on the building of the organization that I was president of. The donors included Oprah.

I was born in Richmond, Va., and t moved to the Pittsburgh area when I was four. I earned bachelor's and master's degrees from New York University and did postgraduate work at Columbia University and the New York School of Social Work. (She had been turned away by Barnard College because it already had its quota of two black women.)

I am noted for the saying, "If the time is not ripe, we have to ripen the time."

Who Am I?

Cooking Up Typos And Affairs.

I know all about typos because I make so many of them. Probably the worst one I have ever made is on a resume that I sent out to about fifty prospective employers listing my title as Certified Pubic Accountant. While I felt sorry for the folks that made the following typo in their cook book I did have to laugh.

http://www.aolnews.com/weird-news/article/cookbook-reprinted-over-ground-black-people-typo/19444224?icid=main|htmlws-sb-n|dl1|link6|http%3A%2F%2Fwww.aolnews.com%2Fweird-news%2Farticle%2Fcookbook-reprinted-over-ground-black-people-typo%2F19444224

So what is the worst typo that you have made?

Now on to affairs. I always thought there was only one kind of an affair. One that shows either the lack of character of the person having the affair or that something is missing in the main relationship. The following article distinguishes between emotional and physical affairs. It indicates that one type of affair may be worse than the other.

http://www.aolhealth.com/2010/04/13/the-worst-kind-of-infidelity/?icid=main|htmlws-sb-n|dl5|link6|http%3A%2F%2Fwww.aolhealth.com%2F2010%2F04%2F13%2Fthe-worst-kind-of-infidelity%2F

Do you agree with the article?

The Race To Singapore

The Amazing Race in this week's segment raced to Singapore. Of course I immediately thought of our friend and poster here, Adi. Adi posts under the name of Snugpug and of course hails from Singapore. She emailed me and wondered if I watched this week's segment of the race and of course I did. I responded and asked her if she had been to some of the places that were on the show and here was her response:

"Well, the funny thing is that when you actually live in a place, you never really get round to doing the touristy things till friends visit and you do it with them. So I'm ashamed to say that I've never been up the Singapore Flyer (that giant ferris wheel thing), the closest I got to it was to eat at a restaurant under it -- what they didn't show was that it sits on top of a low-rise building with several shops and restaurants. I didn't do the zip line at Sentosa either, which is a little offshore island connected by a causeway, though I've been to Sentosa quite a bit, my friends and I used to take our dogs swimming at one of the beaches. That field with a stage where the contestants had to do the drumming, that's within walking distance of where another friend lives and I've walked his dogs there, and they have marked the grass there. :) Back in junior college (which is your senior high, I think? we were 18 years old then), the school had a lion dance troupe where the members (mostly boys) learned that sort of drumming but I was never interested in it."

There is the inside scoop on the segment of The Amazing Race that ended with the lesbian couple being eliminated. Thank goodness.

On Dancing With The Stars soap star Aiden Turner got the axe. I was sort of hoping it was going to be Kate the B. Maybe this week.

On Celebrity Apprentice the men finally won one. That lead to the gorgeous Victoria Secret Agent, Seleta being axed. I was hoping for Maria or Cindy Laupner.

Now my brief update. Last night was the end of the tax season party for the CPA firm that I just completed the assignment for had their end of tax season party. We had the party at a combination restaurant, bowling alley, sports bar, arcade in Lake Oswego called Players. Here is their web page:

http://www.eatdrinkbowlplay.com/home.htm

Everyone was given bowling t-shirts with the firm name on the front and your chosen nickname on the back. I had the receptionist pick my nickname. Whad did she choos my nickname to be? The Taxinator. Loved it.

On the agenda for next week: Take Mom to lunch tomorrow, we are going into the firm to lunch. Everyone wants to meet her and I want to show her off. Then there is picking up dry cleaning, housekeeping, laundry, joining the Y, writing two chapters, grocery shopping, a little relaxing, schedule my education, work on the July cousin reunion, and some things I probably forgot.

OK, your turn. Need your update. Tell me what your past week was like and what is on your agenda for next week. Also tell me if your were going to choose a nickname

Redemption

Sometimes redemption comes immediately, sometimes you have to wait thirty years for it.

I was getting ready to go to the bank to cash a hundred dollar check but before leaving I checked my mail. In the mail was a very nice card from my two bosses at the firm I just completed tax season for. The note had a hundred dollar bill in it and they wrote the following:

"Another successful tax season, Bill. Thank you for your wiliness to come back and help us. I used your workpapers as an example to F. for "how to do them." We would love to have you come back next year - keep in touch"

I absolutely loved the thoughtfulness of the message. I treasured the money because it was totally unexpected. But what I appreciated the most was the line "I used your workpapers as an example to F. as how to do them." Why?

I originally went to a four year college but after the accident I had to choose a college with good handicap facilities and the only one that fit the bill was a technical school. I received my A.A. Degree from the technical school in accounting technology. Then I received a scholarship to go back to the four year college. I took all my accounting classes at the technical school, all I took at the four year college was the electives required to get a B.S. Degree. The problem with doing the technical school first is that technical schools teach you practical things, they teach how to complete the task but not why you are doing it. I could do one hundred and twenty five strokes a minute on the adding machine, I just couldn't tell you why I was doing it. It really made for a very difficult transition from college to the working world.

After graduating from college I moved to Los Angeles. I wanted to become a CPA. To become a CPA you have to pass a two and one half day exam and work two years for a CPA firm. I didn't have a job when I first moved to LA. One day I decided to just hang out in downtown Long Beach. I put my suit on and headed out. When I got to downtown Long Beach, I spotted The Edison Building. I thought to myself there had to be a CPA firm in there. I walked in the lobby and sure enough there it was on the address board, "Arthur Young & Company." It was one of the largest eight accounting firms in the world at the time. I went upstairs and asked if they were hiring. They were. They had never heard of either of the small colleges in Southern Oregon that I attended so they asked if I would take a test. The test would take four hours. I was really coming down with a virus and was really sick to my stomach but I took the test anyway. I read the first thirty questions and only knew about ten of the answers. I was in a hurry to get out of there and get home to get some 7-up and rest. I kind of noticed in my ten answers a pattern. I didn't read any more questions, I just started marking the answers, following the pattern that I thought I had discovered. I would say to myself, no D's for a while so I better mark a D. Where are the C's. Got one now. I finished the test in a little over an hour. On they way home the partner at Arthur Young called me and asked if I would like to start work the next Monday. I had tripled the previous highest score on the test. Yup, little ole me had tripled the score of Harvard, Yale, Stanford, USC, UCLA grads. Had I read the darn questions no doubt I would have failed it.

Getting that high of a score on the test was the worst thing I could have done. It created expectations so high that I was never going to reach them. Combine that with my lack of knowledge of accounting theory and my first accounting job after college was doomed to failure. Instead of sending me out on my first audit assignment with their best senior accountant, they sent me out on my first audit assignment with their weakest senior accountant. Since the test score indicated star status they thought I could help him. The first audit assignment was to audit a hospital. Yup, after eight years in and out of hospitals the luck of the draw of audit assignments sent me to Woodruff Gables in Lakewood. They set up a trailer for T, the senior accountant, and I out behind the hospital. We would go into the hospital to get paper work and then go back out to the trailer to do our work. T was going through a divorce, he had one more chance to take the CPA exam and pass it or he was going to lose the two parts he had already passed. T was stress multiplied. My senior accountant on my first audit job out of college had a nervous breakdown and he had it on the job. I came to work one morning and there was T sitting pow wow style in the middle of the parking lot. He had this amazingly long extension cord, had the adding machine between his legs and set there adding up documents as cars whizzed by him and around him. I called the home office and reported the incident. I didn't think you could make it in five minutes from downtown Long Beach to Lakewood but the partner did. So there I was alone with no supervision doing workpapers that nobody taught me how to do.

Ten months into the job I got a call from home office to come in from the field. They fired me. The only job that I have ever been let go from. They said I didn't really understand the theory of accounting. They also said my workpapers were terrible and they doubted that I would learn how to do them.

Redemption is so sweet. Do you have any redemption stories you would like to share?

No Thinking Zone

I am taking a couple of days off from thinking. Part of the process of recharging my batteries, both mental and physical. My cousin Sharon from Virginia and New York sends out emails every Friday titled "Happy Friday", the emails are often very funny. Today's email form her releived me of the responsibility of thinking as I am using that email as today's blog post:

Puns

1. The roundest knight at King Arthur's round table was Sir
Cumference. He acquired his size from too much pi.

2. I thought I saw an eye doctor on an Alaskan island, but it turned
out to be an optical Aleutian .

3. She was only a whiskey maker, but he loved her still.

4. A rubber band pistol was confiscated from algebra class, because
it was a weapon of math disruption.

5. No matter how much you push the envelope, it'll still be stationery.

6. A dog gave birth to puppies near the road and was cited for littering.

7. A grenade thrown into a kitchen in France would result in Linoleum Blownapart.

8. Two silk worms had a race. They ended up in a tie.

9. A hole has been found in the nudist camp wall. The police are looking into it.

10. Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana.

11. Atheism is a non-prophet organization.

12. Two hats were hanging on a hat rack in the hallway. One hat said to the other “You stay here. I'll go on a head.”

13.. I wondered why the baseball kept getting bigger. Then it hit me.

14. A sign on the lawn at a drug rehab center said, “Keep off the Grass.”

15. The short fortune-teller who escaped from prison was a small medium at large.

16. The man who survived mustard gas and pepper spray is now seasoned veteran.

17. A backward poet writes inverse.

18. In a democracy it's your vote that counts but in feudalism your count votes.

19. When cannibals ate a missionary, they got a taste of religion.

20. If you jumped off the bridge in Paris , you'd be in Seine.

I hope today's post wasn't to Punishing. Comments are appreciated.

April 15

A day that strikes fear into the hearts of many. For me, however, it is date I treasure. For me it is the end of seventy hour work weeks and daily stress. It is start of a new life. Every year, last year being the exception, I've been done with all my work on April 14 and just used the 15th for extensions and phone calls. I finished all my work by one o'clock yesterday. Today is catch up day. Laundry. Grover shopping. House cleaning. Then tonight to celebrate the end of tax season I am taking my Mom, my sister, and my brother-in-law all out to Claim Jumpers. What are you doing today?

Are you going to partake in any of the free stuff being handed out by companies today?

http://www.walletpop.com/blog/2010/04/15/income-tax-day-freebies-to-ease-the-april-15-pain/?icid=main|htmlws-main-n|dl6|link3|http%3A%2F%2Fwww.walletpop.com%2Fblog%2F2010%2F04%2F15%2Fincome-tax-day-freebies-to-ease-the-april-15-pain%2F

In the honor of celebrating creative tax returns are you going to do anything creative like the following young woman did?

http://www.stylelist.com/2010/04/13/gum-wrappers-prom-dress/?icid=main|htmlws-main-n|dl3|link5|http%3A%2F%2Fwww.stylelist.com%2F2010%2F04%2F13%2Fgum-wrappers-prom-dress%2F

Are are you going to be working frantically to get your tax return done and then stand in long lines are the post office? To help you out you might want to consider an extension. Here is the form you can print, fill out, and then send to the IRS. Just remember if you owe tax this is an extensiion of time to file not an extension of time to pay. Estimate the amount you will owe and send a payment with the form. Remember the worst thing you can do is nothing. If you owe taxes and can't afford to pay the tax file anyway. File without payment. Then you won't be charged with a non-filing penalty that can be up to fifty percent of the tax you owe. That is not a misprint. It can be fifty percent of the tax you. Doing something is alway better than doing nothing. Here is the printable extension form:

http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f4868.pdf

Hope your day isn't to taxing.

The Good Stories Of The Week

My little hero:

http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2010/04/portland_11-year-old_with_canc.html

The bus from nowhere to somewhere:

http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2010/04/for_homeless_kids_portland_sch.html

As always your comments are appreciated. Also if you would like tell me the good stories in your area.

The Civic Minded

Over half the incoming college freshman failed this test. Yale and Harvard students barely got sixty percent. I got seventy-six percent.

http://www.americancivicliteracy.org/

Click on the "Take the quiz" link. Then be honest, tell me your score.

Hope this day isn't to much of a test for you all!

Parenting

Funny things kids say:

http://www.parentdish.com/2010/04/07/my-daddy-had-a-hysterectomy-and-other-things-kids-said/?icid=main|htmlws-main-n|dl4|link3|http%3A%2F%2Fwww.parentdish.com%2F2010%2F04%2F07%2Fmy-daddy-had-a-hysterectomy-and-other-things-kids-said%2F

A couple from my childhood. Barry was my friend that I grew up with in Pocatello, Idaho. We always played together. He was a cute kid. One time we came home in a break from our playing for some snacks. My mom cut a banana in half and gave us each a half of banana. Barry looked puzzled and said to my mom "Even monkeys get whole bananas."

Then there is my brother. At dinner time we always got "clean your plate there are kids in China starving." My brother once said "Name one."

Any funny stories about you or your kids that you would like to share?

Now on to another mother. I'm not sure if I agree with what the mother did but I certainly don't think it rose to the level that charges should have been filed. Read the story here:

http://www.aolnews.com/nation/article/facebook-hacking-mom-faces-harassment-charge/19432640?icid=main|htmlws-main-n|dl1|link5|http%3A%2F%2Fwww.aolnews.com%2Fnation%2Farticle%2Ffacebook-hacking-mom-faces-harassment-charge%2F19432640

What do you think of the story? Mother right or wrong? Charges or no charges?

The Final Countdown

To say I am exhausted would be an understatement. I'm to old for this grind. I just want to stay in bed and sleep all day. Or get back to my routine. Also start on a new life I have planned. Join the Y. Start writing more. Get more technology efficient with new electronic gadgets. Maybe even learn how to podcast. How would you like the Dahn Report as a podcast? No promises because when I try to learn how I may be more capable at getting in touch with my inner doofus than I will at learning. I don't even know how expensive the new equipment and that could be a real hinderance to lofty goals. Five days and counting. Maybe earlier if I run out of work. I did have a nice compliment yesterday. A client called and told me he bought a piece of rental property and wanted to know how it would effect his estimates. I went into the male partner and said "G is going to call you after 4-15 to discuss his estimates." "You mean you aren't going to be here after 4-15." "I don't think you want me after after 4-15." "I would, if we had enough work, I would." Made my day.

OK, Blog family get your healing powers to the forefront. DR is having a lot of hip/shoulder problems and is having a blood test tomorrow. Send prayers, vibes, good thoughts, positive powers here direction so that she can have some paid free days!

Yesterday, Mary Z posted a link in the comment section that will help you solve the blind sport problem you have when you are driving. Check out this link:

http://www.cartalk.com/content/features/mirrors/step1.htm

Entertainment Update:

Off Dancing With The Stars, thank God, Buzz Aldrin. Next off I hope is Kate the B. (who reports have her engaged to Lindsay Lohan's dad.)

Celebrity Apprentice gone is Governor Rod. Man got sent home because he couldn't lead. Anyone see the irony in that? Women are kicking butt on the Celebrity Apprenctice.

The Amazing Race sent the father-son team home. I really want the lesbian couple gone. They just annoy the heck out of me and they are often mean to each other. My favorites, the cowboys, not only were the first team in the history of the race to go from last to first in a week they did it despite having to do an extra task. The Western duo are fun. I always go with fun over mean.

A new show I have been watching, Undercover Boss, has its season finale tonight. If you haven't watched it before give it try. CEO's from big companies go undercover and pose as entry level workers to see what is really going on in their company. Seven-Eleven, Roto-Rooter, Churchill Downs are some of the companies that had the CEO's try entry level jobs. Not only a fun show but often a very touching show. It comes on after The Amazing Race on CBS.

Now it is your turn. You know the drill. You get to tell me what is going on in your lives. If you are new to the blog go ahead and introduce yourself.

The Blind Spot

When you are on a two lane road if the car in the next lane drives next to you in a certain way you can't see them even if you use your mirrors. Called the blind spot. You avoid it by quickly turning around and looking in the next lane before pulling over. Some of the new cars that on the road, like 2010 Taurus, has a little detector that alerts their drivers when someone is riding in their blind spot. It could decrease the amount of accidents on the road.

Now there may be a new type of driver on the road. Read the amazing invention here:

http://autos.aol.com/article/students-design-car-for-blind/?icid=main|htmlws-sb-n|dl4|link6|http%3A%2F%2Fautos.aol.com%2Farticle%2Fstudents-design-car-for-blind%2F

I am not sure how I feel about this. On one hand I think anything that helps any person disabled or not to live independently is a great idea. On the other hand I wonder if I am going to be at more danger on the road.

Where do you stand? The blind be able to drive, a good idea or a bad idea?

A Father's Love

Been a really busy today with the tax deadline only a week away. You know from my previous postings that I had a great dad that always put his children first and would do anything for us. As you also know from my previous postings I loved my dad and miss him every day. I found the following story really touching:

http://www.bvblackspin.com/2010/04/05/reginald-thomas-overcome-stroke-for-son/?icid=main|htmlws-main-n|dl5|link3|http%3A%2F%2Fwww.bvblackspin.com%2F2010%2F04%2F05%2Freginald-thomas-overcome-stroke-for-son%2F

As always your comments are appreciated.

Celebrating

The living:

http://www.bvblackspin.com/2010/04/05/99-year-old-graduates-college/?icid=main|htmlws-sb-n|dl5|link6|http%3A%2F%2Fwww.bvblackspin.com%2F2010%2F04%2F05%2F99-year-old-graduates-college%2F

It's never to late to reach your goals.

The dead:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100406/ap_on_re_us/us_obit_mankiller

This would have been a great Who Am I. An amazing woman.

Comment?

Women Drivers!

Before we talk about driving with the stronger sex here is a link that Mary Z provided yesterday. Go ahead, enter and try your luck!

http://www.chattanoogafun.com/4bridges/

Next up let's talk about the following article:

http://autos.aol.com/article/men-women-safer-drivers/

I'm not sure I'm ready to agree with the article. Are you? Among your friends and relatives who are the better drivers? I'm a better driver than most of my nieces. Slower maybe but better. But I am also a better driver than my nephew. Mom was a good driver when she drove, dad too but as he got older he got worse and you were safer with Mom. Without mentioning names there is a person that reads the blog that does well known u-turns at the drop of a hat. But rumor has it that she is still a darn good driver. I think I am going with the opening of the article, it depends on the person.

Who would you rather ride with, a man or a woman? Or do you care?

Luck

There is good luck:

http://www.gnn.com/article/wrong-number-saves-the-life-of-stroke/966095

How would you have reacted? I'm not sure what I would have done but I suspect I would have thought it was a ruse or a scam and done nothing. I'm glad the person didn't get me on the phone.

There is bad luck:

http://www.oregonlive.com/news/index.ssf/2010/04/series_of_errors_by_others_lan.html

Trying to help someone and you land in jail. I would have been so ticked! How about you?

What has you luck been like lately? Good or bad? Mostly mine has been good but there still is that Powerball jackpot that keeps avoiding me.

Music & Art

Today subjects are:

Music:

http://www.oregonlive.com/performance/index.ssf/2010/04/hailey_rowden_14_a_young_piani.html

For those of you that have never heard of or heard the music of Michael Alan Harrison you are missing the music of one of the best jazz musicians around. You listen to one of his CDS at a library or you can buy one of his CDS anywhere that sells them.

The fact that he saw something in the young girl in the story just tells you how good she is.

Art:

http://www.oregonlive.com/art/index.ssf/2010/04/art_show_offers_a_glimpse_into.html

Art is therapy and it doesn't even have to be good art. This story touched me to the core.

As always your thoughts and comments are appreciated!

Easter Update

Hello everyone, I wish those that celebrate Easter a very special day. Here is a little Easter history:

http://www.slashfood.com/2010/04/01/history-of-easter-food/?icid=main|htmlws-sb-n|dl5|link6|http%3A%2F%2Fwww.slashfood.com%2F2010%2F04%2F01%2Fhistory-of-easter-food%2F

I also hope those that observe Passover are enjoying the festival. For those that, like me, wanted to know more about Passover here is some information:

http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Judaism/holidaya.html

I wanted to bring to your attention that Mary Z sold a piece of artwork she created. Congratulations, Mary Z! You can go to her blog here view the piece. Look at the blog entry for March 31:

http://zelleworld.blogspot.com/

Now on to my update. Had a great time yesterday with my friends from Seattle, Mark and Sandra. They, Mom, and I went to Claim Jumpers for dinner. We had a great waitress and the food was outstanding. So was the conversation. Mom's loves them as do I. Great evening. They left Mom's house then went back to their hotel to get some rest for an early start to there trip back to Seattle this morning. Mom and I celebrated Easter this morning by going out for breakfast. After this post I am heading in to work.

I had a realization at work this week. I am the point man on hard returns. About a week ago the boss told me that F was out of work and could I give her a list of returns that I hadn't started. I did. Friday F came back and said "those were hard returns. I enjoyed doing them." I was thinking to myself, all my returns are either that hard or harder. It was a confidence booster.

Entertainment Update: Cowboys (my favorite) finished last on The Amazing Race but didn't get eliminated as it was a non-elimination week. Shannon Doherty got eliminated on Dancing With The Stars when it should have been Buzz or Kate. Celebrity Apprentice Daryl Strawberry was fired, well really he quit, took a bullet for the team.

Now it is your turn. Update me on you life! Tell me everything!

A New Debate, The Itsy Bitsy Newspaper

The great debate for years was whether that charming children's spider song was sang as "the itsy-bitsy spider went up the water spout" or as "the eency-weency spider went up the water spout." All the folks that aren't misguided have solved that debate a long time ago. We all know that the song goes as follows:

The itsy bitsy spider went up the water spout.
Down came the rain, and washed the spider out.
Out came the sun, and dried up all the rain
And the itsy bitsy spider went up the spout again.

Now that the great debate is solved once and for all, it is time for a new debate. What is the proper way to read a newspaper? Yes there are options. You get to choose one of the following two options:

When you read the newspaper do you read everything on the page you are reading and then turn the page. Let's say there was a story about a golfer being outed as a scumbag. Only half the story is on the front page, at the bottom of the story is "continued on page 4." Do you immediately turn to page four and finish that story? Or do you read all the stories on the front page and then turn to the next page?

I read all the stories on the front page first and then go to page two read all the stories on page two and then move on to page three. I finish the articles as I come to them. Makes reading the paper a lot faster.

How do you read the paper?

I Spy, I lose

Am I being naive when the following article shocks the heck out of me?

http://www.switched.com/2010/03/29/one-third-of-relationships-have-a-digi-snoop-and-ladies-are-the/?icid=main|htmlws-sb-n|dl5|link6|http%3A%2F%2Fwww.switched.com%2F2010%2F03%2F29%2Fone-third-of-relationships-have-a-digi-snoop-and-ladies-are-the%2F

Aren't relationships supposed to be based on trust? If you don't trust the person that you are with, then just why are you with them? I also find it interest that women spy more often then men but that could just be a byproduct of more men cheat then women.

The next article troubles me even more. Oh how generous of the casino they gave her a free breakfast and refunded her twenty bucks. Personally, I think the woman should sue the casino and make them prove from computer tapes that it was in fact an error. In my mind this gives the casino way to much leeway. The casino can avoid any jackpot by just stating it was a mistake.

http://www.aolnews.com/money/article/42-million-jackpot-was-a-mistake-casino-says/19421798?icid=main|htmlws-sb-n|dl1|link4|http%3A%2F%2Fwww.aolnews.com%2Fmoney%2Farticle%2F42-million-jackpot-was-a-mistake-casino-says%2F19421798

What do you think the casino should do? What would you do if you won a jackpot one minute and the next minute it was gone?

What do you think of spying on your spouse or siginificant other? Good idea, bad idea?

My answers. The casino should have paid the jackpot. That would have turned bad press into good press. I imagine that a lot of people will stay away from the casino now. As to spying, almost always a bad idea.