Casey and Leslie are friends who live in Nashville. They are both songwriters and singers. Casey has played with and written songs for over 100 artists.
Casey’s Number One songs include:
I love being spontaneous. I do try and plan things out but sometimes things just happen and I have learned to roll with them as best as possible. I don’t mind getting a last minute call from someone and running out the door in order to get somewhere in the shortest time possible. I did grow up here so I know all of the roads like the back of my hand and I’m sure that I know each and every shortcut that is possible around my hometown and the cities that surround it as well, so I can get places pretty darn quick if needed.
I love going to sporting events, even though I’m not really active in very many. I do however enjoy playing a game of golf every now and then. My folks brought us up playing golf and I’m grateful for that. It is a nice easy going game that just about anyone can play and they have golf courses and tee times just about everywhere.
My folks just got back from their annual Myrtle Beach vacation last week. They wanted me to come but I couldn’t really take the time off of work and I all ready have a long weekend planned for the last part of September. My mom was telling me last night that they had a good time, the weather was a bit wacky but all in all it was a success. My dad found a website at www.48hourteetimes.com that they had to utilized during their stay in Myrtle Beach. They are a full service hospitality group that helps people with their accommodations and their 48 hour tee times. Since so many people are flocking to Myrtle Beach S.C. this year due to BP ruining so many of the other beaches on the east coast a lot of the hotels and golf courses have been slammed with customers that need some help finding their way around and finding what is available and for who.
I’m glad that my folks are computer literate. Many people their age are a bit timid when it comes to maneuvering around on the Internet, but they have mastered it quite well and use it to their best advantage when possible. And I’m glad that they are spontaneous, that must be where I got it from, a double dose of it, to be sure.
Today was A’s last day at work at our store. He’s a nice young man that was a shift supervisor. He’s going back to college, and he’s taking a week’s vacation before starting school. Today was “truck day” so we could not take the time to do a proper good-bye celebratory lunch or dinner. When I arrived at work this afternoon I asked the store manager if we were going to have any kind of luncheon for A and he said no, we were too busy with the truck and we’d just have to say a quick good-bye.
Well, I’m the last one to take a lunch/dinner break, so during my break I went to Domino’s Pizza across the street and bought four pizzas and brought them back to the store. I offered pizza to everyone there, declaring it was my treat in honor of A’s last day. I just couldn’t see letting him go off to college feeling unappreciated by the crew at the store! One of the young ladies that works there DID bring in a couple of cakes, and we all signed a good-bye card. I also gave him a duct tape wallet that I made as a good-bye gift. He’s a sweetie-pie and I’m going to miss his smiling face at work! I wish him the best of luck and hope he stays in touch.
Guest post written by Tammy Smith
To say that my aunt likes the movie “Wizard of Oz” would be a gross understatement. She’s actually obsessed and will do anything to buy items in any way related to the movie.
That makes it the easiest, yet the hardest task to buy presents for her birthday, which just happens to be soon. She has almost every kind of memorabilia that exists and that’s what people know to buy her for gifts. Some of her collections include all kinds of figurines, snow globes, afghans and T-shirts. Most of it is in the living room and it’s crazy to see how she’s positioned all of it in there perfectly. It almost makes you afraid to sit down or touch anything.
So after I got my new satellite internet packages I decided to just do my entire gift hunt online instead of going to the mall like I have in the past. I found a set of coasters and I knew she didn’t have movie-themed coasters so I bought them on wildblue internet and had them shipped to my house.
My cousin Lynne sent me an email that her son Jarod is moving across the country and she has been helping him to pack his belongings to get ready. She was helping him to comparison shop moving companies and found a website called EZ removals that provides up to six different quotes from different companies that specialize in helping people to relocate their households.
I can remember how stressful it was four years ago when we moved down here, trying to find the most economical services. The Internet sure is a great source to help people to compare prices and services on just about everything anyone needs in this day and age! And I really like the fact that it can take you beyond your local neighborhood when need be. I think that being able to comparison shop on a wider scope helps keep your neighborhood businesses competitively priced.
One of the things that is difficult for me to work in the pharmacy is the fact that only the pharmacist is allowed to bring a coat or lunch box or purse into the pharmacy. And we are not given lockers for our personal belongings. So I’ve turned to wearing men’s pants to work a lot of the time. The reason for that is I want to put my wallet and keys and cell phone in my pockets. And for the most part, women’s clothes just don’t have pockets large enough to accommodate all of that.
So when I go shopping, I often go to the Menswear department to see what kind of nice looking clothes I can find there that I can wear to work. I don’t want to look too masculine, so it is a narrow line that I have to walk. But one of the interesting things is that my son and I wear the same size, so we often go shopping together. I depend on his fashion sense to keep me up to date on what the latest in men’s fashions so I don’t look too ridiculous!
I can remember back in the 1980′s when disco was all the rage. Many of the nightclubs that used to have live bands converted to using disc jockeys. That was a very sad time for my family, because most of the men in my family had music jobs as a second income. From what I understand, our family has been in the music industry since the 1800′s! So I was pleased when my kids expressed an interest in taking band in school. I did find it discouraging, however, at how expensive it was (and still is) to buy musical instruments for the students to use. We spent a lot of money on instruments that are no longer being used, and have very little re-sale value. Most disturbing.
I recently located a cousin of mine that lives only a couple of hours away from where we live. He used to play in my father’s band back in the ’70s and 80′s. I found out that he is stll playing in a band, and his sons play too. I was glad to know that the music is still alive in our family, and if I ever need to find musicians for a party, I know who to call! It’s in the blood, and we are keeping the music alive!
Thanks for the guest post by Jo Levy
I love the Geico website because it allows me to do everything I need to do online. There are times when I need to pay my bill a day or two late and all I have to do is use my wireless internet bundle to get online and push back my automatic payment. I don’t think I’ve ever called the customer service number because the website is set up so well.
I am able to change my policy and what state I am in instantly. I review my new policy online and have paper billing so all I have to do is print what I need and save paper where necessary. One of the best parts of having my insurance with Geico is being able to choose which payment plan and insurance needs I have at any time.
Last month, I switched my payments to quarterly instead of monthly because it was a more convenient way for my family to pay. I actually saved money because I was making a bigger lump sum payment. Usually they charge a small fee if monthly payments are made, so I was able to eliminate this amount.
My bills are almost all online, which makes it easy to get everything paid on time and when ever I am able to. I usually pay them after all of my kids go to bed and it is quiet. I wouldn’t have this luxury if I had to make phone calls or mail payments.
There is one young lady that I work with that has a lot of learning to do about life. I find myself biting my tongue around her a lot. She is a very opinionated young lady, who seems to think that she is smarter than anyone else in the world. And she has absolutely no sympathy or empathy for anyone who has become addicted to any kind of substance. She aspires to become a pharmacist, but I really don’t think that she will make a very good one, because she is so judgemental.
I guess maybe I’m a little bit more sensitive to the dilemmas of substance abuse because I have had several close friends and family members who have had to go through some kind of alcohol rehab in their lives. One very discouraging fact is that for most people, they have to go to an alcohol treatment center more than once to get their addiction under control. I think that there is a need for more alcohol treatment options for low-income people. Addiction strikes people regardless of income levels!
A couple of nights ago I decided that I’d be nice and pick up a couple of Pizza Hut pizzas on my way home from work for my family to eat. I knew that everyone had a busy day and figured that no one would have the energy to cook, so I called Pizza Hut about thirty minutes before I had to come home and ordered two pizzas. Their $10 special that I was hoping to use had expired, so I ended up buying differently than I had planned on. One of the pizzas that I ordered was a thin crust pizza. I ordered that for my sister. Well, I tried a pice of that myself, and I have to say it was really nasty! Give me my pan pizza any day of the week!
I’m so proud of my mother, since my father passed she seems to be holding up so very well, she is, and always has been my hero. Not too many daughters can say that about their mother. I do worry about her each and every day. I’m sure that she will be with us for a long time, but she certainly isn’t a “spring chicken” if you know what I mean. I try and get over to her place as often as I can and help her out around the place. It is a lot for her to keep up with all by herself and all and my other sisters do what they can as well.
We are currently trying to encourage her to purchase a new address plaque for the front porch. The one that is there now is so old and faded that we are concerned that if she needed any type of emergency assistance that they wouldn’t be able to read it and it could delay any type of help that they could offer her. We have all heard how important it is to have your address plaques and numbers in good order for just this type of reason. And I’m sure that the pizza delivery people would like to be able to read the address sign as well it is hard to read, especially at night and lord knows that my mother likes her pizza nice and hot upon delivery, me too. Putting it into the microwave to re heat it is just nasty.
I think that I will go online and start looking at home address plaques and see if I can come up with some suggestions to show her and possibly get the ball rolling that way. I love my mother and want to keep her around for as long as possible and I hope she knows that.
Lately I’ve noticed that some of the customers at our store have started to just drop by to visit! That always surprises me, I see them at the counter and smile, and ask them if they are picking up a prescription, and they say no, they were just dropping in to see who was working and to say hello! Sometimes they bring a friend or family member with me, saying that they wanted them to meet me! I guess that is pretty good evidence that I’m winning the hearts of the customers! Sure makes me feel good!
I can remember when we first moved here from New England, that my hubby asked me to run the Wal-Mart to buy a couple of tarps for him to use. The ones we had brought with us from New England were finally starting to wear out and he wanted to put a fresh tarp over his newly acquired jet ski. Off I trotted, (or should I say drove) to the nearest Wal-Mart to buy him one. I was so shocked when I got there because I could not find one anywhere in the store!
Finally I asked one of the Wal-Mart employees where I could find some, and they suggested that I try the Tractor Supply Store. I had never been to one of them before; we didn’t have any in New England. But it was there that I found a nice selection of blue tarps to buy. Since that time, I’ve found other places to buy them, but I have to admit that my faith in the giant retailer to have everything we needed has been badly shaken! Now Wal-Mart is not the first place I turn to when I need to buy something!
One of the things that is starting to annoy me is the tendency of the pharmacist to tell me stop what I’m doing and let him tell me what he wants me to do. Then he proceeds to tell me to do the thing that I was doing before he stopped me! For example, I’ll be working on the computer cleaning up the aged will call prescriptions. He doesn’t bother to ask me what I’m doing, he just tells me to stop what I’m doing because he wants me to do something else. So I stop what I’m doing and ask him what is it he wants help with. He says he wants me to work on the aged will call list!
So I tell him that’s what I was working on, and I go back to the computer and finish it up. A few minutes later, I’ve finished the job and moved onto scanning the DPC papers. He’ll say to me (with a nasty tone of voice) “I told you to do the aged will call.” Then I say “I finished it already and am moving on to another task.” It is very difficult to not sound defensive in a case like that. I don’t like the fact that he is assuming that I am not (or did not) do what he asked me to do. I’d like to get a little bit of credit for knowing what to do, and doing it without being micromanaged!
Every few days, when I’m backing the car up in the driveway from its parking space, preparing to turn it around so I can drive down the long driveway without having to drive in reverse the whole time, my eyes catch a glimpse of the newest collection of planters that seem to be appearing from nowhere in front of the house.
I would have to say that my hubby has been very busy lately, quietly setting up some decorative planters alongside the corner of the house. Today I noticed a new outdoor planter hanging from a shepard’s hook that he had filled with hens and chicks. I’ve always liked hens and chicks but I never had good luck with them. My hubby, on the other hand, has a magic touch with them. I don’t know if I pay too much attention to them, or not enough. I suspect that I over water them.
I have to give my hubby a lot of credit for trying to make the place look nice.
Post written by my friend Stanley Harrell
One of my favorite commercials is where the E-Trade baby talks about the ease of trading stocks online, and then throws up all over himself when he‘s done. This really caught me by surprise, even more so than the baby talking like an adult. I laughed for quite some time after watching the baby vomit on himself, it was just a great shock thriller.
I remember watching the commercial quite well actually. I was enjoying a night in and was watching my Direct.TV satellite TV with my girlfriend when the commercial came on. We were first blown away when the baby opened his little mouth and had sounded like an adult. This was really great entertainment. We really began to lose it when he started talking about trading stocks online. And when the baby clicked the computer mouse and said he just traded stocks, we both calmly laughed a little bit. We both loved the baby so much. And then the unthinkable happened, the baby puked. I thought this was really funny, but my girlfriend was kind of grossed out. I don’t think she laughed too much after that, and I don’t really think she likes the commercial anymore. The puke scene really made the commercial entertaining and enjoyable. I look forward to the next E-trade commercial. I can’t wait!
For several years now I’ve been thinking about buying a Custom Computer to use. I’m tired of having a lot of pre-loaded software that I’m never going to use filling up my hard drive. And this business about buying a package deal where you get a free printer thrown in is just filling my basement with a lot of brand-new never used printers that I may NEVER use. My brother is a self employed IT specialist and he is always buying brand new Custom Computers and Custom Laptops for his clients. And it seems to me that every six months he is buying a new computer for himself! I don’t know what he does with his old computers, but lately if and when I have a problem with my computer(s) at home he tells me that anything older than two years old just isn’t even worth his time to look at it!
He’s been encouraging me to buy a new Custom Laptop lately. He knows I’ve been talking about how sometimes it gets really slow at work and there is nothing to do and I wish I had a laptop with me to check my emails and work on my blogs and work on my continuing education credits. The issue I’m having with that, though, is that I can’t get free wi-fi at work and it would cost me $60 a month to get Internet on my phone OR my laptop. I don’t really want to spend $60 a month on that!
Guest post by Linda Bradshaw
When my hubby was injured in my car accident in 2007, I tried to get my mortage company for our house in New England that we were trying to sell to grant me a hardship forebearance. Since he wasn’t able to work due to my injuries, I was hopeful to get some empathy from the company. Boy, was I wrong!
Long story short, the mortgage company has dropped the ball and tossed me around from department to department, where I have been met with gross incompetence at every turn.
After over two years, even though we FINALLY did a deed-in-lieu with the company last November, and the deed to the house was transferred into their name in December the company is continuing to send me notices that I owe them the money and the company is still sending notices to the credit agencies that the mortgage is overdue. This is resulting in a bad credit score on my credit report. As a result, many of my credit card companies are closing my credit cards or lowering my credit limits.
Every time I call Bank of America I am shuttled around from department to department, and told the matter will be escalated and someone will call me back within the next week. That never happens. I have called them about once every two weeks, and nothing is resolved. I have sent them letters, and I get replies that someone will contact me within 20 days, and that never happens either! I got collection calls several times a day for years on end until I finally blocked their telephone number!
As of today, I have been on the phone with Bank of America for the past four hours, being shuttled around from department to department, trying to find some help. I’m on hold at the moment, waiting for a supervisor to talk to me. The lady I just spoke with said that my account was in the process of being assigned to someone in the home retention department!
I have contacted my state senator Mark Warner’s office, asking for help a couple of weeks ago. I just heard from them that they will look into it! I hope that helps!
The CEO of my company recently purchased direct tv for business and it has been a huge hit in the office. One of my friend’s and I favorite shows to watch is The Daily Show. The Daily Show with Jon Stewart has been a much loved comedy show loosely based on current events and news stories. As I was watching The Daily Show during my lunch break, I wondered how many people actually watch this show as their main source of news. While the show claims to be ‘fake news’ it actually has some real substance to it. Many of the clips played are from actual news organizations, often taken out of contest, and commented on by Jon Stewart. I frequently have discussions with my fellow employees about the show and the discussions we have are very interesting. The use of props and other footage also plays a role in this programs appeal.
While this show often takes a democratic view on political news, it points to no side in particular. The main objective of the show is to point and laugh at the world we live in. The Daily Show has grown a large following over the years and has even spawned a spin-off show. The Colbert Report was a segment on The Daily Show for a while and has now become its own independent show.
Many comedy news programs are now cropping up. While The Daily Show is still at the front line of TV ratings we have to wonder where our news is actually coming form. For many Americans these types of shows provide an outlet for the need to have some kind of news without the foreboding feeling that comes with watching the news on a full time news network station. Who wouldn’t prefer to watch a comedy show and laugh while learning about current events then watch a real news program and be filled with dread? I suppose that is why these TV shows are so popular.
Guest posted by Riley King
I don’t know why I’m always surprised when I hear someone tell me that they are going on vacation in Myrtle beach to play golf. I guess it’s because when I was younger, I always just associated beaches with boardwalks and sand and water. I’m embarrassed to admit that I was in my late forties before I even found out that there were specialized resorts for golf in Myrtle Beach.
I can remember the conversation – it was with Russ, a former co-worker. He told me that he and his wife always booked golf packages in Myrtle Beach for the entire month of February! Now that is some serious golfing! I thought that there was only one or two courses there, and I thought that he was just a little bit crazy to be planning to spend the month there! It wasn’t until several years later that I found out that there are so many golf courses in Myrtle Beach that you could play a different course every day for months!
I haven’t seen Russ in several years now – he retired and faded into the night. But I found myself thinking of him and his wife when I was looking at the http://www.ttimesonly.com/ website, and wondering which resorts he and his wife liked the best.
