Splat

splat...right on the floor. Yup that is what I did.

I was working and had to leave the lab and my foot got hooked on the mat we have and sure enough I felt myself go flying through the air. I hit that floor mighty hard with a lot of weight behind it, to impact the fall even more.

I really hurt my knee...it has a good size egg on it, and my lower back hurts too. My ankle, right shoulder, hip, stomach and both boobs took a beating. My neck seems to have a bit of whiplash to it.

I told Steve to try to get me some copies of the fall. I'm sure it is hysterical, to see me flying through the air.

He said that the managers didn't even tell him I fell. They should have told him I fell. so he could investigate my fall.
I told him to just look for me being my old graceful self.
He said my fall couldn't be better then the women who got hit by a car Christmas Eve. He'll let me know who's fall was better after he checks the video out...and I'll let you know.

The D.A's Come And Me Wanna Go Home

Well, as I have said before my job is filled with D.A's and today was no exception.

It started off in the break room, one of the ladies was sitting there hacking up a lung. She was sitting several tables away from me, and when I looked up to see who was hacking as though they had whooping cough, I saw she was not covering her mouth. Germs just pouring out onto that table so whoever sat there next is surely to catch her cough.
I looked up several times and not once did she cover her mouth. I really wanted to say something to her...but held it in.

After my break, I headed off to the restroom, to wash my hands, before heading back to the lab. I'm a bit of a germ a phobic, so I am always washing my hands. Its a good thing we have a sink in my lab area. Anyhow, the first several sinks looked pretty dirty. then I looked on the floor as I passed each stall. What I saw in there was pretty disgusting. I'd rather eat off the floor in a pigs stall then to wash my hands in there.
All I can say is ladies think twice before using your friends bathrooms because if their bathroom is left anything like they leave it at my store...all I can say is I heard there are some pretty good antibiotics one can take.
There was crap on the floor and toilets.
I really feel bad for the guys cleaning in there 4 times a shift.

We had a customer fall on the floor today just outside the photo lab. Landed on his knee and broke it. Several of us had to stand around him to keep the people from walking by.
The rescue came, and took him to the hospital. The floor where he fell is kind of slippery from sand, and there are seams that are kind of bumpy, I didn't see him fall, but he was laying on the seams so my guess is a combination of the two made him trip.

Then we had a women make a calendar, right on the calendar she was setting up to print said 2006...and she said to me...I know the calendar says 2006 on it, however when it prints out will it say 2007.

Then we had another one using the kiosk and instead of stinging her card into the correct slot marked pro duo, she sticks it into a slot for compact flash, then says to us, the kiosk swallowed my card and I dot see it. So Ken and I had to take apart one of these kiosks...to get her card out.

Tomorrow will be a fun day...A Sunday and I'm on alone until 1: pm that is if Odie can find a ride into work at that time.
If he cant find a ride it will be 5: pm before Anne shows up.
Cute...Eh?

A Good Eye

Kind of an interesting day at work today. There has been this guy stealing cameras for like 3 months ... the other day they showed us a bad picture of the guy...today he came in an I spotted him, no one else did. I knew it was him right away. so we paged the lost prevention guy but he was at lunch so Tom followed him around the store, then the lost prevention guy came in and chased him but the guy dropped all the cameras and things from his coat...so he couldn't arrest him...only good thing was we got a much clearer picture of the guy on his way out the door and his license plate number.
All that was said to me was good eye...in very other store I worked they would give you a gift card for $100. I saved them close to $1000, today in loses. Yeah good eye...makes me want to write to Benttonville and say something.
if they said thank you that would be one thing, but good eye ... just kills me

Gaelic Lesson

one = a haon {ah hane}
two = a do' {a dow}
three = a tri {ah tree}
four = a ceathair {ah ka-hir}
five =a cu'ig {ah coo-ig}

this is enough gaelic for one day

Anne Murray

D.A's

I say stop worrying about all the illegal people in the USA and start worrying about all the D.A's we are raising here.

It had to be the fullest full moon ever because I had nothing but whacko's come into my lab. I think every D.A. in the world came in.

We had a customer come in who was picking up some send out orders from disposable camera's.
She asked to pay up front with her other purchases so we said OK, about 20 minutes later she comes back with some pictures and says, why are my three packages different dollar amounts. I explain to her that each order had a different amount of printable pictures and that she was charged according to the number of prints she received in each package. Then she insisted that she should be charged the same for each one because the camera's she bought were 27 exposures each. No matter what I did to explain it to her. She didn't get it. Then she says that 13 of her pictures in one package don't belong to her...she says these are all of a river boat ride in Cincinnati. i look at them and notice that her kid is in all the pictures and the rest of her family in some of the others, but dont say this too her yet. instead i say if you dont want them i can send them back and you only have to pay for the ones you keep. she said i want my pictures, i have 13 missing ones and these belong to someone else. So being the smart ass that I am...I say may I see your negatives. I said wait right here I will print these off for you here, and you can see if you recognize the people in them. So now the husband is like well I dont what good it will do, we said we've never been to Cincinnati. So i cant hold back any longer and say well how do you know this is Cincinnati if you have never been there before, and why are you, your wife and kids in all the pictures. the wife goes that's not us we've never been there. so i take the picture of the printer and said wow this is really weird cuz this family standing here under this welcome to Cincinnati sign sure looks like you guys...just think you have twins in Cincinnati, that is so awesome. they do say we all have a twin somewhere in the world, and we found yours. So now they are like you must have gone to Cincinnati and took pictures and just put our faces on these pictures. OK so then you are saying that the people in those pictures were you after all. We explained or tried to explain it is impossible for us to alter negatives. So I go to take back the pictures I printed off, for them to see and then she was like well I want that one in front of the hotel doors, we needed another copy of that one. Talk about a D.A she is the queen of them.

Then there was a guy who insisted I was the phone centre and not the photo centre. He wanted me to sell him a cell phone. he kept insisting my sign said phone and not photo.

We also had another lady trying to buy vel-crow. But wouldn't take what we had in the fabric department because she said everything to do with fabric means you have to sew it, tried to explain the package said it was sticky back...but she said it wasn't. Every package in front of us said sticky back, finally told her to go wait by the paint counter and I'd have one of the guys in hardware look in back for her and meet her. So just I handed one of the guys the Velcro from fabric department and told him to tell her it came from the hardware back room.

Also had a guy get mad cuz I told him we couldn't ring out all his food items. We're a photo lab we dont have a scale to weight stuff. And by ringing out your orders in photo we're doing them a favor because were in the back of the store and dont have to ring out anything but photo and electronic stuff.

Shane Makem

Shane Makem, oldest of the three Makem brothers, said they've traveled by ship through some distinctly un-Irish destinations as the Caribbean and, now, on this interisland cruise in the Pacific."These things usually last a week and they make for nice working vacations," he said by phone from his home in Dover, N.H., earlier this week. "But it gives us and other Irish musicians and fans a chance to intermingle. We're pretty excited to make our first visit to Hawaii."Before this, the farthest west the band had traveled was Butte, Mont., where they received a surprising reception. Music fans there "were so excited and enjoying what we were doing," he said.Makem is joined in the band by siblings Conor and Rory, and another pair of brothers, Mickey and Liam Spain. They offer a rich, sonorous blend of three-part harmony vocals and many a stringed and Irish instrument for accompaniment. Since the band's inception in 2003, the brothers have built on the rich tradition left by the Makems' grandmother Sarah and father, Tommy, who helped popularize traditional Irish folk music in the United States in the 1960s, performing with another group of brothers, Pat, Tom and Liam Clancy."I've met plenty of people in the biz who said if it wasn't for the band the Clancy Brothers and my dad had, they wouldn't have been into Irish music. And my grandmother, she was what you call a source singer, someone who knew a lot of songs, and when folk music researchers were collecting songs in the '50s and '60s, they went to her as source."Makem said his grandmother worked in a mill, where the songs helped pass the time. "Later, my dad and the Clancys developed the songs as a stage show. We come from that tradition."Their first album was titled, not surprisingly, "Like Others Did Before Us," and their latest album is a live recording."Some fans would like us to do more of the older songs my dad did and we grew up with," Makem said, "but we knew we couldn't build a career strictly from those songs. So that's why we've been getting into some Scottish and Australian music, plus writing our own songs."The Makem brothers had a long career going before joining forces with the Spains. "The Spain brothers used to have a regular gig at a club here in Dover. They learned their music from their father. After making a point to see them, our personalities clicked, we got together one weekend, and it evolved from there."

Crazy Weather

This poor highland cow...buried in snow. They get snow but nothing like this in Scotland. This storm happened yesterday over there...
this weather is getting stranger all the time.
The UK & Europe having high winds and high seas, looked pretty scary, drought stricken states having tropical rains, Texas having snow, the East coast basking in mild weather, Californians face a bush-fire one week & an ice storm the next.
But my heart goes out to this poor little cow and his friends. Because the one thing I have noticed over in Scotland is that the horses and cows have no shelter, no barns or covers to get under. You see them out in all types of bad weather over there and you dont see any protection for them. You see lots of open rocky hilly land.
They said that people are trapped in their houses and cant get out from the storm...at least they are in the house and can move around, these cows and horses can't move, and probably will die.

Tommy

It didn’t take Tommy Makem long to learn that he had made his mark as a folk artist singing songs steeped in the tradition of Ireland. Upon leaving The Clancy Brothers band in 1969 to start a solo career, Makem had no trouble selling out Madison Square Garden’s Felt Forum and mounting three consecutive worldwide tours on his own. It took him many more years to learn that he was a success as a parent, too. Here’s how the bard himself explained the revelation: “The party after the Bob Dylan tribute concert at Madison Square Garden (in 1992) was at Tommy Makem’s Irish Pavilion. Clapton was there, George Harrison was there. What’s his name from the Rolling Stones? Ronnie Wood was there. Dylan was there. It was a big night for my boys. They went and met all these big names. And they met a lot of them backstage at Madison Square Garden. They came down from Manchester (N.H.) and the next day took the train back and stopped in Poughkeepsie. They got out of the train to get a car they left there, and who was standing on the platform but Pete Seeger? The boys went over and introduced themselves, and he knew them, and they had a nice conversation with Pete. When they got home they raced into the house and said, ‘Ma! You’ll never guess who we met. Pete Seeger!’ When they said Pete Seeger, I thought all was not lost. I knew they were all right.” Makem to this day is likely to downplay his own accomplishments (did he mention that he, too, played alongside Clapton, Harrison, Wood and all the others celebrating Dylan’s 30th anniversary in the music business?) and sing the praises of his sons’ Makem Brothers Band, a next generation folk act that dad obviously takes great pride in watching grow and develop. Of course, it should come as no surprise to Makem how a parent can influence a child’s musical direction. Makem credits his own mother for teaching him the great old traditional songs of Ireland that he used to launch a folk-music career in this country shortly after arriving in New York City in the mid-’50s to pursue an acting career. While a few good acting jobs came his way, Makem found his real success teaming with his friend and fellow singer Paddy Clancy plus two of his brothers to take part in a blossoming folk-music scene in New York.“I learned songs by osmosis. I had hundreds of songs in my head,” Makem said. “I came here to be an actor in New York City, but at that time The Weavers, Harry Belafonte and The Kingston Trio were so popular. Here I was with the three Clancy brothers, and we knew we had good folk songs that the people in the United States wouldn’t know.” The Clancy Brothers and Makem first released “Irish Songs of Rebellion” in 1956, and the pub Makem and Paddy Clancy ran in Greenwich Village drew many folkie aspirants, a young Dylan being one of them. The Clancys and Makem made a splash at The Newport Folk Festival and later appeared on Ed Sullivan’s TV show, which like the Beatles a few years later, did wonders for their careers. Makem also wrote songs that became signatures of the ’60s folk boom, including “Four Green Fields,” “The Rambles of Spring,” “The Winds Are Singing Freedom” and “Farewell to Carlingford.” Though he resides in New Hampshire, Makem spends a great deal of time traveling to folk and Celtic music festivals. He makes sure to return to his native Ireland three times a year, sometimes to lead tours of the country, sometimes to perform concerts, and sometimes just to engage in a little “craic,” native tongue for friendly chatting. Though he left his homeland some 50 years ago, Makem said he is always welcomed back, and his music is equally well-received. “People are so delighted to hear their own music,” Makem said. “Over there, they are surrounded by bad rock ’n’ roll and even worse country music. They come to see me to hear some of their own stuff.” Makem keeps his performances rooted in the style he first developed, but is willing to extend the folk definition to any sort of music “that says something with some significance to it.” To make his point that folk is a music that comes from many places, Makem quoted the definition of a folk song he learned from Leadbelly: “I never heard a horse singing one.”

The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem

Found this one some where...so thought i would post it on here.
The Clancy Brothers were an Irish folk music singing group, most popular in the 1960s, who are often credited with popularizing Irish traditional music in the United States. The brothers were Pat, Tom, and Liam. Though born in Carrick-on-Suir, County Tipperary, Ireland, they did not begin playing together until they emigrated to the United States where, in 1955, they met Tommy Makem in New York City. For years the quartet performed as The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem.
The four were primarily vocalists, though Makem was an accomplished banjo and tin whistle player, and Liam played guitar. Pat would sometimes play harmonica. Nevertheless they often were accomplanied by other musicians, notably Pete Seeger on several occasions. They began playing at small clubs in Greenwich Village, but as their popularity grew so did their venues. By 1962 they played Carnegie Hall.
Their popularity is the result of several factors. There was already an American folk revival beginning in the United States, and men such as Ewan MacColl popularizing old songs on the other side of the Atlantic. But it was the Clancy’s boisterous performances that set them apart, taking placid classics such as “Brennan on the Moor” and giving them a boost of energy and spirit (not that they took this approach with all their songs, they would still sing the true mournful ballads with due reverence).
In 1961 they appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show, playing a double set after the last minute cancelation of another act. They were a resounding success. Two years later they performed for John F. Kennedy at the White House.
The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem recorded more than 50 albums together, starting with The Rising of the Moon (also known as Irish Songs of Rebellion) in 1956. In 1975 the band split up. Liam and Tommy Makem reformed as a duo and released several albums, while the remaining brothers were joined by their other brother Bobby, and their nephew, the accomplished musician Robbie O’Connell. However, the original lineup did reform for special concerts, notably in 1984. The original three brothers have also recorded with other artists, notably Lou Killen.
After Tom died in 1990 he was replaced by Bobby, and the Clancy Brothers and Robbie O’Connell continued to tour the world. In 1998 Pat died. Since then Liam and O’Connell have toured as Clancy, O’Connell, & Clancy, with Donal Clancy, from the next generation of the Clancys.
The group’s trademark were their cream Irish wool Aran sweaters, originally knitted by their mother, which they wore on nearly all their album covers, but not necessarily their live performances.

Partial discography
With Tommy Makem:
The Rising of the Moon (or Irish Songs of Rebellion)
Come Fill Your Glass With Us (or Irish Drinking Songs)
The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem
Hearty and Hellish
The Boys Won’t Leave the Girls Alone
Sing of the Sea
In Person at Carnegie Hall
The First Hurrah!
Live in Ireland
Isn’t it Grand, Boys
Freedom’s Sons
The Bold Fenian Men
Home, Boys, Home
In Concert
Reunion
With Lou Killen:
Show Me the Way
The Best of the Clancy Brothers
Liam Clancy and Tommy Makem:
The Makem and Clancy Connection
Two for the Early Dew
Tommy Makem & Liam Clancy
When The Clancy Brothers’ albums were being released on CD, several of the above albums were never transferred to that format. Multiple “greatest hits” and other such collections currently make up the majority of their CD catalog, often with high redundancy.

Boy, I haven't been on here in a long time. Lots of catching up to do.

Work still sucks...and Rick is still there trying to make copies of pictures for himself from other peoples prints. He's still getting everyone mad at him. No one wants to work with him, mainly because he doesn't work, all he wants to do is walk around, talk to customers and try to sell them stuff they dont want or need and butts in when you are helping a customer and acts as though he knows what he is talking about. He just does stuff and doesn't think about the outcome. The other day he opened an SD card and put in one of the camera's on the camera bar. Tom thought the card was stolen. Seeing how Rick did it on my shift, I made sure Tom knew all about it.
Rick, did say the other day to someone he was going to be leaving at the end of the month. We'll see if he does. I'm giving Wal*Mart until the end of the month to get rid of him. If he isnt gone on his own or fired by then, I will forward an email off to the corporate office in AR, seeing how he said they offered him a managers position in the stationary department...is this how they reward a shoplifter in my store?

In all fairness work isnt all that bad. They did my review the other day and kept thanking me for working there ... saying I was the only one who knew what I was talking about when it came to camera's and they like the way I can run all the machines and fix things, and that I handle the customers really well. They said they notice how all the other's in the lab turn to me for advice and help. They said I should consider putting in for manager. I do love working with photo's, but I also enjoy not having the pressure of running the lab anymore. It's just that I dont care for all their so called politics they play. Stealing pictures getting caught, calling DCYF on customers, and all the other things Rick does, doesn't seem to bother them. We all know he has made pictures for himself and doesn't pay for them. if he's working, not one of us will use the cash register, because we know he pockets money. Let me or anyone else who is working in the lab do the littlest thing wrong and we're out the door.
Of course the good thing about a managers position would be I could work Monday thru Friday 7 to 4 with weekends off.

Show Stealer

Show stealer: This one was an easy call as Irish balladeer Tommy Makem played to a packed Executive Council chamber at the close of a frantic day.It was a great unwinding scene for Lynch’s staff and those who labored for his inaugural, such as Willie Craig, son of former House Democratic Leader Jim Craig.Makem played some of his old favorites, but brought the house down with a patriotic set that included covers for Pete Seger’s “This Land is Your Land’’ and the Shaw Brothers’ “O New Hampshire.’’

I Had A Stalker Too

Yesterday after I finished my shift at work, I decided to do a little bit of shopping, for both food and a chair. The good thing about working at a Walmart Super Center is I can do my shopping right there.

There I was heading over to the food section when I hear a voice say Hello Rhonda, it was a voice I recognized without having to turn my head. What an awful feeling came over me. I pulled myself together and said hello as I tried to keep going but couldn't because we were so busy and the store was over crowed one could hardly move in there.

There as plain as day was my nightmare Lynn sitting there in one of those scooters. Asking how I have been. Seeing how I had no place to go I told her I was fine and asked her how she was. I was trapped what could I do but to be nice and make some small talk back to her. it didn't hit me until I got out to the car, that she knew I was working there and was working in the photo lab.
She asked me a little bit about how Anne was doing and thought maybe she was ill seeing how she wasn't touring at this time and taking some time off.

I saw an opening and took it, told her I was in a hurry and I needed to get home right away. All while I continued my shopping I kept looking over my shoulder for her. I just pray she didn't see me getting into my car.

All night long I kept wondering if Cody was barking because she was out there hiding some where.

1996, I went to see Anne Murray at the Warwick Musical Theater, there was this women who came down the isle and took a few pictures of Anne.
A few days later I was at work and this same lady came into the store. I waited on her and she started some small talk so I said to her, I recognized you from Anne's concert, how did your pictures turn out. She said they came out great, and asked if I had taken some. I said I had, but had not developed them yet. She then said to me, that she had her albums out in her car, and if I wanted to see them she'd bring them in so I could take a look at them. I told her I was going on break shortly and would be sitting out by the bench. In front of the store, if she felt like showing them to me.
anyway she had a few really nice ones that I liked and offered to run next door and make a copy of them for me. I told her thank you for the offer but no thanks. I didn't tell her I didn't have that kind of extra money at that time to spend on pictures no matter how bad I wanted them. I thanked her for showing them to me and told her I needed to get back inside. She asked how late I worked, I told her at the time I dont remember how late it was. When my shift ended there she was back inside the store. Said she forgot something. I went to my car and drove home.
The next few days she would come into the store. We'd talk a little bit, as I waited on her.
This went on for about a month, she would be outside waiting for me to take my breaks so I started to take them inside in the break room.

I had a few days off and was sitting in the yard this day when the phone rang. I answered it and it was Lynn, i asked how she got my phone number and she said from the phone book...she asked what i was doing. i told her nothing, when she said i bet your sitting by your pool. i said good guess, she then went on to describe my back yard which was surrounded by woods on two side, and blocked by high bushes on the neighbors side. From the front yard you cant see the pool or the back yard. She also told me what my swim suit looked like.

Now this was getting spooky and I was looking all around but could not see her, so I went into the house. I didn't say anything to anyone because i didn't want to alarm them that there was some women out in the woods spying on me.

When I went to work I started to get rides so she would not see my car in the parking lot, I was getting dropped off and picked up. Hoping she would not know if I was at home or work.
She started to call me at work, she would be in the store hiding on an isle. I made sure to take my breaks when the guys took theirs and made sure when she came to the counter the guys would say I was needed in the back room so I wouldn't have to wait on her. They would walk me to the restroom and the break room.
It had gotten so bad I had to tell the guys I was working with what was going on. They were really great making sure she didn't come near me. This one day we were all in the break room, and she showed up in the break room. But the guys quickly told her to get lost or they would toss her down the stairs.

I had become a prisoner at both work and home at this point.
Calling the cops didn't do much good all they did was make a note that I filed another complaint against her and told me as long as she is not trespassing or damaging my property there was nothing I could do about her. As for the store it was a public place and they could not stop her from shopping there.

I was finally able to persuade a judge to place a restraining order on her. He did it for one month, but I was able to get it placed back on her for 6 months and then after 6 months I got another 6 months on her.

I hadn't seen her or heard from her for a few years, until Anne was at PPAC, and who is sitting in back of me...I about crapped. She said hello and I said hello back. I was not going to crate a scene at Anne's concert.
She said she would leave if I wanted her to leave. I wanted her to leave but I knew she liked Anne and so I said no you can stay just dont talk to me.
After Anne's intermission, I noticed she didn't come back in for the second half.

I had not seen her since that night in 2001... until yesterday. Hopefully she stays away and I dont have to live through that nightmare a second time.

I can understand how some of the stars feel when they are stalked by crazed fans. I'm not a performer but I have been stalked...for liking Anne Murray.

Anne knows all to well what it is like to be stalked she had been stalked for many years.

This is Cody, he'll be 9 years old this February. As you can see by the picture above he's not spoiled. He loves to cover himself up, and covers himself up by himself.
He's is the best friend anyone could have. I'd really be lost without him. I teat him just as if he was a little boy.

A Pretty Cool Honor For Tommy

Just the other day, Tommy Makem Sang for the NH Governor's inauguration. A pretty cool honor for him. I wish he had posted it on his web site a little sooner so we could have made plans to attend. Even though he only sang 3 songs for the event, the 2 hour drive would have been worth it. The man could read the phone book and I'd make the trip to hear him read it.

The flowing was posted in the newspaper
Hundreds of people took the governor up on his invitation to visit the Statehouse after his 12 p.m. swearing-in and inauguration. It was a two-hour affair anchored by exquisite food samplings and three songs by "The Godfather" of Irish music.Utilizing a well-used banjo from the 1960s, Makem opened up with one of his own, "The Rambles of spring," and followed up with "New Hampshire Naturally," an honorary state song written by the Shaw Brothers. He closed with Woody Guthrie's famous song about the "endless skyway" and "golden valley" that "was made for you and me." Makem said he had fun. "This was better than most. People stayed and paid attention and sang along," he said. "Usually you go to a political thing and a lot of politicians are there stating their cases and they don't want anybody horning in on their thoughts."Standing in a corner of the nearly century-old chamber, a mahogany-filled room usually reserved for the sometimes arcane world of passing resolutions, Makem said "The Rambles of Spring" was an obvious choice considering the above-seasonal temperature outside. "The weather's behaving like it's spring — like I said, trying to fool us all. And spring means sort of the beginning and the sap's beginning to rise and the light is growing every day," he said. Makem, who was recently honored by the Irish government with a commemorative stamp, said his choice of songs had less to do with the historic changes brought on by the Democratic majorities in the House and Senate. But he added, "Well that's part of it, yeah, it's all part of the same page, I suppose."

To bad they didn't post a picture or two from the event.
Oh well I will have to fix that with one of my own pictures of Tommy.

National Language...What Is It?

This guy Odie who works with me is from the Dominican Republic, he's been living here for over 20 years now. Speaks good English, and understands it very well. but when he gets over excited or too nervous, Upset at customers he will use I'm sorry I dont understand and walks away. Comes over to get me to help him. There are days I wish I could do the same. I wonder if I could use some Gaelic on them? I'd say Póg mo thóin!
Maria, use to work with us, then took a very long leave of absent, to go back to her home in Mexico, seems her husband and kids were all illegal and were deported. They've been all living here for years, and own a lot of land, a few apartments and a small business. Anyway we were sort of shocked to see her come wondering in to work the other day...she wasn't even on the schedules anymore.
Now if we can just keep her and Odie apart...They get together and start talking Spanish. Now I have nothing against talking Spanish, I can speak it a little and I can understand most of what they say. I think yesterday I kind of shocked them when I told them, when I replied to something they were saying in Spanish. I told them I understand Spanish a lot better then I can speak it. My Rocky was from Lima, Peru.
Nothing bugs me more then when people come to this country to live and dont want to use our customs or our language. They come here to better themselves because they are unhappy with their home lands and when they get here they continue to follow their country's old ways, and expect this country to cater to them.
When my son was 10 I took him to Disney World in Florida. On the shuttle back to the airport, he said to me Mom, what country is Florida in? I said David you know what country Florida is in. He said I thought it was in the United States but did you notice not one person there spoke English? That was 18 years ago...and you know what...he was right back then and it still holds true today.

Copywrites and the Law vs Wal-mart

During Christmas week, I uploaded a few cute pictures of some animals to Walmart.com. So when I arrived to work they would be ready. This guy Odie, I work with in the lab, said I didn't know those were your pictures they are really good...so I showed them to him, so he could have a better look at them. When you are working you really dont spend too much time looking at all the pictures all that closely.
The next day I realized I needed to make a few more pictures. So I went into the computer to print more copies of the ones from the day before.
But on this day Rick was working he said wow those are great pictures, I'd really like to have a copy of them. I said no, because he is trying to start his own photography business and I didn't want him taking credit for my pictures.
He kept asking me for copies and I kept saying no.

On the 27th I had the day off, Odie and Rick were working and Odie noticed Rick was messing around looking at pictures and stuff on the computer and printing out pictures. When Odie asked him who's pictures they were or where they were he said they were his.
Odie didn't say anything to Rick, but Odie, knew those were my pictures and not Rick's.
The next day I came into work, and Odie says to me is, do you know those pictures you showed me, well can I see them again, I believe Rick made his own copies of your pictures. For himself.
So I showed them to Odie and he pointed out the pictures Rick took for himself. Turns out Rick also priced up his own pictures and gave himself a double discount.

Needless to say I was pissed...cant blame me for being pissed though. It was bad enough he took my wildlife shots as his own, we have know idea how many of my Anne Murray pictures he took.

I reported him to the managers of the store...they were like we have to look into it. OK how long does that take this was last week on the 27th. Rick should be fired by now for going into my pictures and for making copies for his own use. Odie even wrote a letter to Walmart telling what he saw. I dont know what else they need.

I told them they need to fire him or remove him from the photo lab. While they are looking into this matter. Because who knows if this guy has gone into anyone else's orders and made copies of photos for himself...there could be little kids pictures he took for his own use.

Yesterday I reminded them again that no one has spoken to me to let me know what is going on about my pictures being copied by Rick for his own use. The just kind of laughed and said that I needed to let the AP guys look into it. I told them I would give them a few more days if nothing is done I am going to report them and Rick to the home office and sue both Rick and Walmart for not protecting my pictures.

Well, today, I went on break, and Tom was working but he had stepped out of the lab for a minute, Rick was over at the printer, as I was coming back from break, he was on the computer looking at pictures as I came into the lab he didn't see me at first and when he did he switched the screen back over to the SP screen. So I said what's up did you get an order? Before he could answer me I switched the screen back over to the PIC screen, and said as I was doing it, oh it said needs different paper. So then I said oh who's order is this ... he was like, I was just seeing why this order hasn't been printed yet. I said oh it was printed 2 days ago. Then he said it wont let me out of the screen it is in. I said oh look someone highlighted this picture to print one, it was a women in a string bathing suit, almost looking nude. So I managed to get him to go do something and found Tom and told him what just happened. That Rick was trying to print pictures for himself.
Tom, called a higher manager over him, and told him what's been going on.

Did they do anything about it...of course not? He was still there when I went home.

A little while ago Anne just called me and wanted to know what she should do. She said Rick went through this order that came through with over 300 pictures as Anne was packaging them up. He started off saying the house was dirty and the kids look dirty and then he called DCYF on the lady who's pictures they were saying that the kids were not cared for. For one thing he had no right to go through the lady's pictures because Anne was doing the order not him.
He never should have taken it upon himself to call DCYF on this lady because they might not of been her kids. If he felt there was a problem he should have gone to the store manager and said I think there is an issue here with these kids in the pictures. Then let the manager decide how to handle it, if they thought their was a problem there.
According to Anne, who is a mother of 3 kids. She said that the kids didn't look to be in any danger, or that dirty.
I told her to report Rick, to the store manager right away. She said she called her husband and he told her the same thing. So she was reporting Rick to the store manager. So we'll see what happens when I go back to work on Thursday. If he's not fired I am going to the corporate office at Walmart and my lawyer.

See if they like me using their logo...lol I'll remove it when they look into it.

I actually have a case here ...did you know the copywrite law states there is a $10,000 fine against the store and the employee for printing my pictures without my permission.


Think twice before downloading your pictures on line to any store...their computers save your photo's on them for all to view at any given time...most store them for 2 months before deleting them.

It's Raining, It's Pouring

What a rotten day off today has been. The rain has been coming down so heavy it looks like Niagara Falls out there.

I just hope it lets up soon I hate to walk my dog Cody in the rain or after its rained out. If there is the smallest drop of water on the ground Cody will find it, he loves to run and splash in puddles.

To Blog or Not to Blog

OK, so here it is 10: AM New Year's Day and I've been talked into starting my own blog.
Not and easy task seeing how I'm such a procrastinator.

Coming up with a title to call my blog was not easy seeing how I had to come up with a title in order to get this thing started so here's how I came up with the title. Those that know me know I cant go a whole day without talking about Tommy Makem, or Anne Murray. So somehow the two of them had to be in the title, my heart belongs to both Ireland and Nova Scotia, however, I'm stuck here in the USA, and we all know life can suck at times. So until I can think of a better title to name my blog the title stays. Of course I could just call it long winded.

I'm not sure what I will post here, but I'm sure it will be interesting to some. I do plan on posting lots of pictures...you'll just have to pop in from time to time to see them.