What are those flashing lights behind me??

Can someone help me find my heart? I leaped right out of my chest when I saw this in my rear view mirror! I'm pretty sure its still in my car somewhere...

Yep, you guessed it. I got pulled over this morning on my way to work. :( Now most of you know that I only live about 4 minutes from where I work and I drive the same roads almost every day, in both directions. Now there is one road which is actually right behind my house that there is NO POSTED SPEED LIMIT, at least that I know of, in the stretch where I drive on it. I've lived here for what, something like 8 years now, and I always thought the speed limit was 35 on that stretch. Guess what? It's not. It's 25. And me being the lead foot that I am (always in a hurry) I was doing 38. Of course, I explained to the officer that I really wasn't watching my speed as I was on my cell phone explaining to my boss that I was 2 hours late to work because I had just finished working 18 hours the day (and night) before!! Now, when you work 18 hours in a single day, don't you think it would be ok to be a few hours late to work the next day??? Anyway, after having this great discussion with the officer about how I was on the phone with the boss and that I've lived here for 8 years and always thought it was 35 - even though I was doing 38 - he just smiled at me and said, "Sir, I hope your day gets better, don't let me catch you at 5 o'clock tonight doing 35 down that street." I just smiled back and said, "Thank you Sir...I won't" As he walked away, my first thought was, you won't catch me because I'm going a different way home! lol Just kidding. I am seriously going to look tonight to see if there are posted signs, I really don't think there are any! Besides that, I NEVER get out of work at 5 o'clock anyhow!

Anyway, praise God for Mercy and Grace! No ticket, boss felt sorry for me, I'm having left over steak for lunch, and there was fresh coffee when I got to work... The day is good.

Meet the Minister Who Says He Is Jesus Christ

I don't usually read garbage stuff like this, but I just couldn't resist this.

Click here to read this great story published in Newsweek Beliefs on MSNBC.com

You have GOT to read this... I am just dumbfounded. The story gets more and more weird the further along!

Someone else posted a comment on the MSNBC site and I copied it but then changed the translation because I like the NLT (thanks Billy!):

Matthew 24:3
3 Later, Jesus sat on the slopes of the Mount of Olives. His disciples came to him privately and asked, "When will all this take place? And will there be any sign ahead of time to signal your return and the end of the world?"
4 Jesus told them, "Don't let anyone mislead you.
5 For many will come in my name, saying, `I am the Messiah.' They will lead many astray.
23 "Then if anyone tells you, `Look, here is the Messiah,' or `There he is,' don't pay any attention.
24 For false messiahs and false prophets will rise up and perform great miraculous signs and wonders so as to deceive, if possible, even God's chosen ones.
25 See, I have warned you.
26 "So if someone tells you, `Look, the Messiah is out in the desert,' don't bother to go and look. Or, `Look, he is hiding here,' don't believe it!
27 For as the lightning lights up the entire sky, so it will be when the Son of Man comes.
28 Just as the gathering of vultures shows there is a carcass nearby, so these signs indicate that the end is near."

WHAT A WEDNESDAY!!!!!!!

Ok...it can only get better right? I worked last night until 1:15AM (let see...that's 17 hours!) so of course I got up late for work this morning. (got up at 7:40 - supposed to be there at 8) Then my car is froze over so thick (wonderful Ohio - why do I live here again???) that I can't even scrape the windows without an ice pick. So I carefully pull it into the driveway with the door swung open and my head sticking out, trying not to hit anything. I quickly jump out and run inside to the warmth. After....oh....about 15 minutes the windsheild starts to see signs of defrosting so I decide I could go out and start breaking the ice off and maybe make it to work before 9:00. Hmmm....where is that ice scraper at??? Oh yeah...in the back seat on the floor... Wait a minute...my door is froze shut... ummm....no...the door is locked...(run around to the other side)...this one too...(Pondering on the situation - And remembering that I had very little gas left in the car) Then I remember the spare key! Oh...its on my keyring with all the other keys - locked in the car. Go back in the house...refill the coffee and thaw out hands (Guess where my gloves are??? - Yep...in the car) Run into the garage - get a BIG screwdriver and a stick of wood (Why? I don't know...it was there...) Stop and look at the hammer...think NOT and go back to the car... Pry the window open with the screwdriver, shove the wood in and press the power lock button! Nothing happens. Press it again! Nothing happens. Then I remember that when I turn on the rear defroster, my power locks don't work anymore. (Hey - It's a '92 Grand Am - I'm lucky it has power anything)! Pry my fingers off the cold glass and run back in the house to fill up and thaw out again. One last try... Run out...pry the window...shove in the wood...(pray)...catch the manual lock on the first shot...open the door. (sigh) (Thank God) (Repent for anything I said) Go back into the house. Tell everyone I got it! Say goodbyes - get gloves - scrape widows - head to work. Coasted into the gas station on fumes... Did you know power steering and brakes don't work when the engine stops running? I should have remembered that, but when you are heading at a gas pump at 10mph and can't stop or turn, you forget things... Anyway managed to miss the pump. Got gased up and actually made it to work by 9:15! And what does the boss say when I walk in???


"Rough morning?"

If he only knew....

SNOW!

Sorry for posting four letter words, but the SNOW has finally appeared! Well...OK...it's pretty much ice at this point, but it did snow for a little while last night and it was enough that I had to brush off my car this morning...

Blah Friday....

It's Friday and I'm still stuck in Knoxville TN on business... Although the country down here is just beautiful, the weather is great (65 degrees - clear skies - no wind), it's kind of a blah day. I miss my family terribly and cannot wait to get home. At this point it looks like I won't be leaving here until Sat morning and then I have an 8 hour drive ahead of me. At least the drive isn't too bad and there are some great Christian Music stations down here. This trip has been pretty productive and I think we did some things to really help out the plant and provide our customers with some much needed information.

On a more personal note - I want to warn those of you who read this about a company out there called AFNI Collections. Yesterday, my friend that I am staying with - we'll call him Kidd Rock because he looks just like him - received a collections letter from these people. They stated that he had been sent to collections for a phone bill for over $3000 from another state where he used to live. What really started us thinking was that the phone number didn't look familiar, he had never had a phone in his name when he lived there, and supposedly the phone was disconnected for non-payment in 1998!! They are trying to collect this from him for a 9 year old bill!!!! He called the phone number and got an 87 year old lady who says she has had this phone forever and doesn't know anything about the bill or collection issue. When he called AFNI, they were very rude, wouldn't give him any information other than the fact that they had ALL of his personal information on file!! They had his parents name and address, they had his birthdate, his SS#, everything! The rep from AFNI got very snotty with Kidd and even tried to settle the debt over the phone for $1600. Kidd finally hung up on him. Afterwords we got on the internet and looked this place up. There are thousands of complaints posted all over the internet about these guys. They are sending out bogus collection letters and trying collect. The funny thing about all this was that every letter was almost exactly the same. Around $3000 - collection for a phone bill from the same telephone company - same letter - same situation. There were hundreds of posts from the area where I live, so for what ever reason these guys are targeting our area! Please be aware!!

If you receive one of these letters, here is what you should do:
(in my humble opinion - I'm not a lawyer)

1. DO NOT CALL AFNI - they were very sly on the phone and pulled some personal information from Kidd that they wouldn't have had. They also tried very subtle ways to get him to say that this WAS his debt because they were recording the call. Besides that, you should never talk to these kinds of people on the phone. You need documentation, documentation and more documentation. Everything should be in writing and send via registered mail so you have a signature.

2. Write two letters and send them to AFNI. The first letter is called a Letter of Validation. This basically is saying, I don't beleive this debt is mine and before you can proceed with any type of collection, you must send me proof that it is. Also in this letter, kindly ask them to also send proof that they are a ligitimate collection agency (including license number) and all information pertaining to your account. The second letter is a Cease Letter. This letter is basically to tell them that you have sent a Letter of Validation and that they are forbidden to call you or harrass you in any way until they provide ALL of the information that you have requested. Also clearly state that all phone calls from them will be recorded and that if they do try to contact you in any way prior to sending the information, that they are violating several laws and that you will prosecute. End this paragraph with "My legal representative has been notified of this matter." Typically you will never hear from them again.

3. Contact a lawyer and let them know what is happening - preferably in writting. You do not need a consultation (no fees), just simply tell them that if AFNI continues that you would be interested in pursuing this further. All you are doing here is basically getting your foot in the door with the lawyer and keeping yourself honest - you did tell them that you notified your legal rep, right?

4. Sit back and KEEP AN EYE ON YOUR CREDIT REPORT. The wonderful people at AFNI have been known to slap negative information on your credit report after you have done steps 1,2 & 3 above. They won't contact you, they won't let you know, they will just give you negative information on your report. THIS IS ILLEGAL!!!!! They cannot do that without letting you know that they are going to do this! And the nice thing is that they cannot let you know that they are going to do that without sending you the informtion you asked for - why you ask? Because in your Cease letter you told them that they are not allowed to contact you in any way without first providing the informtion you asked for! At this point you need to go back to your lawyer. Many many people have settled with these guys for thousands of dollars without ever going to court. Once your lawyer contacts them, they will back off - since they broke the law - and they will be happy to settle by paying your lawyer fees and giving you a little bit of cash to keep from going to court.

Isn't it amazing that this could even happen!?!?!??!

I've rambled enough... Have a great day!!!!!!

Welcome to my spot!

Hello and welcome to my spot! Just a quick warning...as a perfectionist, I will probably be changing the looks of the site often so don't be alarmed when it doesn't look like it did yesterday! One of these days I'll get delivered from having to mess with things and finally leave it alone, but until then you will just have to put up with me! :)

I'm not real sure what I am going to blog about, so bear with me as I tend to write the same way that I think...might be a bit scattered!!! :)