THIS WEBSITE IS TOOOOO FUN

http://www.jigzone.com/

NOT ON OUR BUCKET LIST

Well, having our bank fail certainly wasn't on our "list of things to do before we die". Being 1400 miles away from our safety deposit box , checking and MMA account, and having our daughter call and ask "don't you bank with Barnes Bank" was a little disconcerting. If she hadn't called I have no idea how long it would have taken us to become aware that we only had 30 days to find a new bank and get our act together.

I have touted Barnes Bank for the last 25 years. I changed my business account to the small Davis County bank after a larger nationwide bank had really p---ed me off. They were wonderful and have continued to be so in the many years since. 3 weeks after I had opened this new account (25 years ago) I had my checkbook stolen and didn't discover the theft until a day later--Saturday around 3 P.M. The bank closed at 2 P.M on Saturday. I frantically called anyway and lo and behold- 1 hour after the bank had closed the branch manager himself answered the phone and immediately put a flag on my account and told me they would watch it carefully, put a stop on all the remaining check numbers and said there would be "no charge". They earned my un-dying love from that point on. They were a small local bank until the housing/development bubble began to expand. They expanded quickly and I was pleased when I could cash a check at a branch in my mothers town when I went to visit her. They ended up with 11 branches statewide. Makes me wonder if they would still be in business if they had remained small and select. Is particularly interesting because the book tape we selected for the drive to California was "Snowball"- Warren Buffett's biography. This man's motto was "If it sounds too good to be true, run like hell." Damn the housing developers and Bush.

Advice-- have one of your children's name on your safety deposit box so you can call and have them postpone their Saturday skiing to run up and clean out your box. Thanks kids for helping us. The highpoint of this day might be the handful of Christmas M & M's I just found in the bottom of my purse.

ONCE AGAIN

Once again we managed to pull off California. It's always fun the first time we check out the beach because it's different every year. Some years the sand is high and smooth -other times it's low and one year it was covered with reeds and debris and stayed that way most of the time we were here. But this year we have beautiful rocks, rocks and more rocks. As we walked the beach I thought "I won't pick up any today because I'll have plenty of time before we leave" but before we got back I had both hands full of rocks that were irresistible

I always look forward to the first trip to the library because the shelves are always full of a great selection of the most current non-fiction books. I was horrified to discover a total of 27 books where in the past the shelves had been full. I quizzed the librarian who ask her supervisor and they both told me "they must be checked out". How dumb do I look. I said "No, you have had a huge budget cut". Finally someone admitted "Yes, we've had a budget cut". Thanks Arnold.


Did find a better selection at Carlsbad Library but still had to come home and order 2 books from Amazon.

Finished out our two day re-entry by driving to Del Mar to see "Crazy Heart" as we start our quest to see all the Academy Award Nominated Movies. Yes, I do know that the nominations aren't out yet but I don't have a problem with that.


Jeff Bridges is incredible.

This evening read an incredibly well written article in the San Diego Reader which is a free news/local magazine that I picked up at the Library. The article starts " I never thought I'd become a Welfare Queen. Poverty does not become me. I'm sure it doesn't become anyone, but it really doesn't become me. I was supposed to be somebody by now, and by that, I mean somebody other than this woman who holds up grocery-store lines with her WIC checks". Written by Elizabeth Salaam it's mesmerizing. http://www.sandiegoreader.com/news/2010/jan/06/cover-i-never-thought-id-become-welfare-queen/