Don't Drink The Koolaid-Part II

And then there is the rest of the story.....

I was invited over to a "friend's" house to hear about a business opportunity.  Supposed to be low key, talk about it, sit back, enjoy a dinner and some wine.

First thing was "lets get the presentation out of the way".  Okee Dokee.  Got to hear this amazing story about financial freedom, and what great things I can have, just by "drinking the Koolaid, signing a contract, and writing a check for $2200.  I can then invite friends over, for a dinner , some wine, and tell them about this great business opportunity that will only cost me $2200.  Best part about it was that I would be getting all these commission dollars from getting others to "drink the Koolaid"!  Hummmm.  Sure sounded like a pyramid scheme to me.

The part that got me was when "Joe" said , "and the best part about this program is you don't have to sell anything"!  I looked at Steve and replied, "but Joe, you are selling something, you are selling yourself".  The business opportunity presentation is a "sales job"!

At the end of the night, we parted ways.  When I got home, I did my research on this business opportunity called "Team National".  They have a Dunn & Bradstreet number and an A+ Better Business Bureau rating.  The only complaints I could find was from people attempting to get a refund after the three day "free look".  I found a friend that had joined, but not done anything with it, and confirmed all the facts.  I then proceeded to write my blog posting, with no mention of my "friends" or the time we spent together.

A couple of nights later, around midnight, my phone begins to ring, but I do not answer any call that late.  Caller left two UGLY voice mails, then sent two followup text messages about what a scumbag I was.  Then my wife got the same calls and voice mail messages and text messages on her phone.  I still have the voice mails and text messages saved.

I have filed complaints with both the Better Business Bureau and Team National.  Interesting thing happens.  I get a reply from the department head of the complaint department at Team National.  They have a whole department to handle complaints??????

I have been "de-friended on Facebook and was told I would never be welcomed into their house again, not even for reunions for co-workers from an dead company that we had all  worked it.  I think back, and just realized that the only way they would have gotten our cell numbers was from the contact list everybody signed at the last reunion party.  Looks like they have a great source for contacts from hosting the reunion!

I will not be sharing this blog post to the public.  If you are reading it, you found it on your own.  If you are curious as to who these people are, I will be more than happy to share that information with you.  I might even let you see the texts and listen to the voice mails.

As mentions in the initial blog post:  Don't sign anything or pay out any money on the first date.  You will eventually find that the Koolaid is far too sweet, far sweeter than you ever imagined!

I

Football Saturday Starkville

Nothing like waking up to the sound of pouring rain that had started hours before.  This is normally music to one's ears during a dry spell, but this is Football Saturday, and one has to prep, pack, and hit the road for a "gimme win" in Starkville against Troy State, TROY STATE!

Game plan on what to take got altered.  Nix on hauling one of my fancy ice chest cooler boxes.  Add rolling cooler, wet boots and rain gear, expecting the worst and hoping for the best.

Ride up highway 25 was a continuation of the rainy wake up call from hours earlier.  But, as we got closer to our destination,  the weather began to let up.   The "always wrong" weather guy said no rain by 2:00.  Fingers crossed.

With two car loads of gear, our game plan Starkville was to meet up with our "mini me" and his girly friend and hit the unloading zone, one-two.  Girly friend came up with her own "plan B" and nixed Football Saturday for a visit with her sista. (No Bill Weems cookies for you!)

We arrived at the scene of tent city disaster.   Mangled tents were everywhere, results of too much rain water, and a few wind gusts through the night.   Tailgaters were slowly arriving, only to be greeted by these scenes of "rut row"!
 

Never fear!  Super Dads to the rescue everywhere.  Out came the tent repair kits:  rope, string, steel strapping, tent stakes, and of course, duct tape!  Suddenly this disasters became tent city once again, to be replaced with something new before the next home game.

Once the tents were back up, the logistics engineers began setting up camp.  A sea of maroon and white tents everywhere, with our $49 clearance red tents in the middle.  (Hey, I love a bargain, and they would be easy to spot in this sea of maroon and white.)  Once the tables were decorated and the satellite TVs were hooked up, the late comers never suspected that a disaster was here hours earlier.

Two older guys were next to us, with a tailgating setup that would rival anything a southern belle could put together.  Flowers, banners, ceramic dawgs, table cloth layering, and even a glass drink dispenser. Generator was humming, satellite dish was synced up, and crockpots were simmering all of grandma's favorite tailgating dishes.

Setup complete, time for tailgating.   Kids were throwing and kicking footballs and having a ball.  Several balls came awful close, and after a few threats of sticking a knife into the ball and forcing them to kiss their sister, they decided to just pass the ball, me grinning from ear to ear,  idle threat from this crusty crudmudgeon was a success!

Since the whole setup was for the MSU ultimate Frisbee team, the premise was for those boys to bring some items for the party.  Son soon learned that all they would bring would be a couple of packs of buns and big appetites. Son begins to understand the 20/80 rule.

Now past 2:00 and what do ya know.  The clouds begin to break up and disappear,  just like how the "always wrong" weather guy had said the night before.  A hand full of boys show up and they set up the latest game for Frisbee geeks, game called can-kan. Two pieces of plastic with a slit in the middle.  You make a garbage can out of the plastic.   Object is to: hit the can, get it in the can, and extra points for going thru the slit.



 

This new game was quite the attraction.  Had 20 guys and two girls.  One girl was a "retired" MSU cheerleader from Brookhaven.  I commented to her that I could not believe she would let a Frisbee game out attract her.  She said she was "needing a break"!  My kinda girl!

Boys found the food:
 

 















Notice the bark.  Used Gurlen #32 rub on the pork shoulders, delish!

I looked down for a second, and saw a photo opt that I could not resist taking.  Yep, it was a flip flop kinda day!
 

For power, I tried using some lawn tractor batteries.  Looked good, but no cigar.  Moving up to a full grown one for the next outing.






The playmate cooler was perfect for carrying, but Ever-ready bunnies they were not.

Ah..... The smell of charcoal, the sound of generators, the short maroon skirts and cowboy boots, and the clanging of cowbells. This is Starkville.  Every campus and their traditions are unique.  For MSU, its the Junction and the "Dawg Walk".   Before too long the buses arrived, and the football players unloaded for them  to do begin their walk.  Its a strut through the "Junction" on their way to the stadium.  The walk began, the cowbells were a clanging, and the fans are yelling "go dawgs"! Glad there are no fire hydrants on the route, just saying....it ain't Oxford. #hail State!

Soon, our campsite was abandoned, since the students have to go get in line for their first come, first served seating in their section.  My ole high school friend Buck the "Grin" came by for his adult  beverage.  Earlier, we visited with Mayor Dave from Monticello.  We closed down shop and headed to the stadium.

Lots of good things happening on Football Saturday at MSU.  End zone is being closed in.  New bathrooms and no more peeing into the trough on the floor.  New concession areas, level walkways and overall, a great game day appearance.

 

Defense scored first, then once the offense got clicking in the second quarter, the Dogs would win in a run away.  These games make everybody in maroon look like geniuses.  We will see next game.  Stay tuned..... 

Time to pack up and head to the house. Traffic cleared out early and one kid stayed to help, and yes,  he was rewarded with a take home feast the rest would envy.  This bag of bones has gotten too old to "do it all".  Time for the next generation to step up their game.  

Overall, a great game day experience, even for my Rebel Bride. Already planning the next menu!

 

Don't Drink the Koolaid

Everybody had heard of pyramid schemes that a friend has gotten into.  They try to sell you on just about everything under the sun:  Amway, vitamins, health food, and others.  You end up buying excess inventory to meet a quota and it stock piles in a spare room or garage.  Then, what do you do....

There is a new kid on the block, called Team National.  No products to sell.  You pay a membership fee to gain access to online shopping discounts, and with the lifetime plan, you get a commission on the items you buy through your own personal web site..  That is the premise.....

The attraction is the money they pay you for building a network of partners.  Each partner buys a lifetime membership and you are rewarded with a referral fee.  Guess where the money comes from, yep, the money paid in by your partners.

Each time your network adds another level of partners you again get paid.  They limit the number of levels on which you get paid, but you  can start up additional networks to continue the referral income money.

I checked several sites, but found very little negative information. It looks like you have to pay an annual fee of $75 for access to your website. There are discounts, but you can often beat the prices with a little Google searching.  And why pay a fee to get discounts.

Sales presentations are pretty slick, and they feed on your desire for easy money, just like all the pyramid networks.  Listen, take notes, but do not sign anything.  They give you a three day window for a refund, which passes quickly.  Ask to see the actual discounts from the stores with examples. 

Please do not "drink the Koolaid" on the first date.

Here She Is, Miss America!

Just finished watching the 2013 Miss America Pageant.  Back to back winners from the State of New York.  I can remember back to the Bert Parks days when it was truly a beauty pageant, full of swim suits, pageant dresses and lots of singing and piano players.

This year they had your normal talent performers: singers, violin players, and dancers.  But there were Bollywood performers, the tattoo lady archer now opera singer, river dance clogger and baton twirler.  Give me a break!

Natural beauty on these girls is never without enhancements.  Teeth are fixed, tans are sprayed, boobs are fluffed, stuffed, and puffed with assistance from surgery, padding, and even duct tape.  Dresses cost thousands of dollars, and of course they have to bring 3-6 outfits for each day, along with the makeup and hair care products.

Not sure about other State pageants, but in Mississippi, the winner has to pay her dues before earning her crown.  The dues includes a minimum of 3-4 years of being a contestant, and thousands of dollars spent on advertising in the pageant programs, hiring a convertible for the parade, and buying countless numbers of tickets for family members who want to attend one of the nights of the pageant.

I say its time to revamp the whole pageant process into a competition where the winner takes all.  Swimsuit competition would be replaced by a wet t-shirt contest, no points for second place.  Talent would be replaced by a mud wrestling contest.  Instead of a question and answer session, replace that with a watermelon seed spitting contest and a beer bong guzzling contest, with bonus points for the loudest burp!  The final round would be a series of field sobriety contests.  Money would be saved on dresses, who needs a tan when you have mud, and a beer company could sponsor the whole thing!

The current panel of judges also need to be replaced.  How can a basketball player, a gay boy band member, and a shark tank member be qualified to pick a beauty queen.  I say bring in the Olympic Ice skating panel.  We all know they are biased, but they know grace when they see it.

We have a Facebook Group that lives for the two pageants.  Participants can't wait for the next pageant season to roll around so they can read all of the commentary.  Of course, a true pageant addict has the "honey boo boo" contests and the regional contests to occupy them.

But, there is always Football Saturday, and all the bird watching!

You never know about a Guy named Joe

I went to Stewpot Food Pantry yesterday to do my due with buddies from St. Marks UMC, Denise Parker and Lisa Peacock.  Our church sends a work team there several times a year and we spend the week working in the food pantry.  Church members leave food donations at the church, so when I arrived at Stewpot, I was met by the humblest of people that come to the car to help carry in the items for the pantry.

Most of the time is spend bagging groceries for the folks in need.  Free time is spent doubling plastic bags that are then piled up for future use in the distribution of the food.  We also "re-bag" bulk items like flour, corn meal, sugar and rice.  Shelves are restocked from an old grocery cart that gets filled up from the big storage room that has more cans of green beans and corn than you could ever imagine.

Upon my arrival today, I discover that the chest freezer that had been on its last leg for the last several years had been replaced with a brand new one, courtesy of another church group.  I lifted the lid to see what was inside for today's distribution.  You literally never know what you will find in that freezer.  Today's find was Pizza Hut pizza, frozen loaf bread, and bags upon bags of shredded dark chicken meat. (I will never forget the hog head from a previous visit!)

I began noticing that the pantry was much neater than it had ever been.  All the can goods were neatly organized and stacked.  All the cereal boxes were lined up in orderly fashion.  I then begin to notice that one of the local helpers was busier than usual stacking additional items on the shelf.  While I was bagging flour and rice, he noticed that sugar and corn meal were low as well.  He offered to fetch additional bags of these items from the big storage room.

The man asked me how often I came, who I was with, etc...  I began to think, you know, this guy sure is asking a lot of questions.  We both compared notes.  Told him that I had been "retired" from a job I loved, much too soon.  He said, the same for him.  His name was Joe, and he was recently told he could no longer do the job he had performed for over 25 years.  He had been a truck driver.  The doctors told him he could no longer do the only job he had ever known.  His high blood pressure and diabetes had finally caught up with him.  He said that he is on dialysis three days a week and has been coming to Stewpot Tuesdays and Thursdays the last month to help out.  He is just too far spent on those days on dialysis.

Joe said, he knew that he should have been taking better care of himself over the years, but being a long haul truck driver, there was never time to eat right, sleep right, and see your doctor on a regular basis.  Well, he is doing it now.

I thoroughly enjoyed my time visiting with Joe today, and I hope that I will be seeing him on future work visits to Stewpot.  If  Joe was writing this he would probably end it by saying "eat right, sleep right, and see your doctor on a regular basis"!  Thank you Joe!

Aunts, Uncles, and Cousins, Not Your Average Kinfolk.

Growing up in the Mississippi Delta, it is hard to get away with much without a family member finding out about it, because in small towns you are surrounded by family, especially cousins.

These aren't your normal relatives.  These cousins are like an extension of your brothers and sisters.  You grow up playing with them, then you begin partying with them as young adults,  then you are there with them when an aunt or uncle has passed.

 

Probably my most memorable cousin moment was one Christmas.  Ole Aunt Evelyn had it in her head that we needed to read the Christmas story each family Christmas gathering.  Well, we had a new crop of cousins, and I don't think she trusted my brother and me with that Bible of hers.  Musta thought it would have burned up in our hands.  She may have been right!  Little cousin Brooke got the nod to be the first reader from the new testament.  She got through the Jesus story just fine, but she forgot to stop there.  She got to reading about Jesus getting circumcised. and that is where Ole Aunt Evelyn jumped back in and "cut her off"!  That was the end of the annual Christmas reading!

 

Had an uncle that treated me as if I was one of his. He took me along with his kids on fishing trips, and watched over us during early dove hunts.  He was the first adult to counsel me on the evils of drinking beer, "its like drinking your own piss" he used to say.  I never did have the courage to ask him how he knew that!

 

Later in life, my dear Aunt Beebsie developed breast cancer.  She had a mastectomy and was given a prosthesis.  Ole Aunt  Beebsie was blessed with more than her fair share of boob.  She had to put a sack of silver dollars to weight the prosthesis down to line up with the real one!  Vampires didn't dare come anywhere near her!

 

This lady was some kind of special to me.  I needed money and she paid me to paint some of the rooms in her house.  Being the mother of five kids, she also had need for a maid and cook.  My favorite was Pie.  One day at the dinner table, Aunt Beebsie began to recite some of the Hebrew that she had learned as a child.  Pie yelled out " Mrs. Beebsie, I didn't know you knew Chinaman"!

 

After Aunt Beebsie left us, my Uncle begun to get lonely.  He checked out all the availables and went to courting.  He met up with a woman, who had a daughter that my brother had tried to date several times.  I learned later that she objected to the dating because we came from Jewish heritage.  Well, my Uncle fancied her, and they got married.  That Easter we were having lunch at Barbie's house,  Since I was sitting at the same table with my "new" aunt, I just could not resist.  I said, "this ham is delicious, Miss Rae Kelly, don't you agree?"  She nodded approval.  I finished by saying "I believe its the best kosher ham I've ever eaten"!

 

My cousin Barbie at one time was a teacher in Pascagoula.   Her brother and I would load up and head down there for a weekend of fun.  Met the Stringfellow girls down there, along with some others.  What a fun group we were.  Of course, we ended up in New Orleans, and I the designated drunk driver, driving up and down Canal Street for an hour, looking for the interstate on ramp.  Barbie took over till we got out of the city, then this ole country boy took the wheel. We'd wake up not knowing how we made it back in one piece!

We have our share of fast cars, mine was a yellow firebird.  Got more tickets in that thing than during any other time of my life.  I blame a few of those tickets on the color of the car.  MHP could see me for miles before I fell under their radar!  There are several trees that wonder how we survived to an older age.  We may not have invented the expression "tree hugging drunk", but we sure put it to practice.

 

All that hard playing led to some hard living.  Eventually it catches up with you.  We all have high blood pressure, some have diabetes,  some have hepatitis,  and some have had bypass surgery.  All our joints ache when we get up in the morning, and we are all swallowing a hand full of pills each day.

 There are a lot more stories out there, but its not about the them, its all about the living and becoming them.  (Also been threatened if I tell too much!)  Yes, we survived.  Sewed our wild oats, so to speak.  We all met our future spouses, got married, and had our children.  From all the stories she had heard, the spousal unit was scared that one of the Stringfellow girls was gonna show up at our wedding!

 We don't get together as much as we should, but when we do the stories begin to pour out.  Our children haven't been privy to many of the stories.  They don't have a clue on how we parents know so much.  Well duh, we lived it.  Hopefully they will continue the tradition and make their own.

 Live is good, all the time.  Start living it!

Ain't no Spouse Like the one I Got!

Just thought I would take a minute to share some pictures of my best friend.  A man couldn't ask for a better spousal unit, they don't come no better than this:


When a line dance starts she will be in the middle of it!

Here she has her "cougar cub" by the necktie!



The "money dance" with the cougar cub on his wedding day!



Recouping from hip surgery pool side with fellow recoveree "Della"-knee surgery



My Rebelette cheerleader warming up for Football Saturdays!



Partying with "Faux-Lisa"!



With soriety sista's for life


a
With two young bucks from Notre Dame that showed up looking for some tickets and a meal.



Her good deeds started early in life!

This woman is the love of my life, to cherish from this day forward, til death do us part!