Am I a poparotsy?

Judy and I were back at the coast last week. As we drove through Depot Bay, we encountered quite a traffic jam. It seems they are filming for a movie produced and starred by Charlez Theron called "The Burning Plain".

We parked our car and walked back along the street taking pictures of the action on and around the set. We took a few pictures from right across the street and then noticed a few locals milling around the set so we walked across the road and mingled with them.

A man of authority walked up to me and informed me that they had purchased this entire area for their shoot and that no pictures were allowed. He said that it was OK to shoot from across the street but not on their set.

We stood and watched as they set up for their next shot. The same man came back to me minutes later and told me that I would last longer on the set if I put my camera in my pocket. He said that I was the talk of their radio. I thanked him and complied.

An actor came on the set and we watched as they did his final make up. I must admit that I did not recognize him at first but when he spoke, I realized who he was. I could not place his name so I asked one of the crew and they told me John Corbett.

We watched as John did a dress rehearsal of a scene where he is a chef and is having a smoke break with one of the waitresses.

Having seen enough, Judy and I retreated back to our car but as we walked, I called my daughter, Carrie, and told her what we had seen. "John Corbett!", She excitedly explained, "Dad, he was the guy in "A Big Fat Greek Wedding". You just have to get his picture for me.".

I thought about how the guy said that we could take pictures from across the road and Judy had her new camera with the mega zoom on it so I slipped back across the road as Judy went back to the car to stay warm.

I waited by some people that I had met earlier and we talked as they prepared for the take on John's scene. As John came out and took his position, I too took my position and lined up my zoom on him. With a shot of him taken, I lined up on the actress with him but noticed someone waving in my lens finder. I was being waved off. That same nice man earlier told me that they will wave you off if you are in the line of sight of the actor so I felt that was what was happening and moved over a little and prepared again to take the other shot.

A deputy sheriff then came running across the road. He ran over to me and angrily stated that I had been warned about my camera. I told him what I had been told of it being OK to shoot across the road and he said that they wanted me to stop shooting immediately. Now, I already had my shot and didn't want to make a scene or anything so I complied and walked back to the car.

As we drove back across the set, we noticed that they had lined up their vans on the side of the road blocking anyone else from taking one of those "across the street" shots. I called Carrie and told her that I had gotten in trouble with the Sheriff for taking her picture. "You see what I do for the women in my life?", I told her. Judy giggled as I retold the story and then made her own statement....."I am married to a Poparotsy!"

So, here is the picture for all of you John Corbett fans. By the way, Kim Bassinger is in the movie also.

Fun Times and Frozen Pipes

I came home yesterday evening to take a small break before the Monday night Holdem for Habitat. I had been thinking of it from time to time during the day. Tonight was going to be my night....my opportunity to qualify for this years big tourney in the fall.

As I walked into the door, I heard a hissing coming from the area of one of the heating vents. Pulling off the vent, I checked to see if something was blocking the air but all seemed well. Judy was messing around with her new camera and taking pictures of me doing my work. I stood up as she started up the fireplace. She had felt the heating unit pulling cold air from the fireplace so she wanted stop the draft. We talked in front of the fireplace as she showed me her pictures.

I noticed a weird oder and looked down to see the flames pushing out into the room right under me. The draft was pushing against the heat of the fire. The heat won and the flames retreated back up the chimney but my left eye began to burn. I figured that it must have been from the gas emissions that had just flamed out at me but figured that it would just go away.

It didn't. It only got worse as I started up the game for the evening. I tried to ignore the eye but it gave me nothing but grief. Fortunately though, the cards did not. I was having one good hand after another and quickly was building up quite a stack of chips. My table quickly diminished and I split it up and combined the tables.

My luck then changed and my chip stack dwindled but allowed me to the final table. Three of us ended up in a lengthy battle. I was second in chips and had a Ace Ten suited in my pocket. The third stack guy could barely make the blinds so I pushed all in hoping that Big Bob (winner of the last two weeks) would wait while I took the other guy out. Bob did not. He followed me and I saw with glee that they both had only Jacks. Bob had a Jack Nine. So what comes up on the flop but two more Nines.

Crushed, Bob helped me clean up and I headed home. My eye was still really bothering me. As I came into the house, I heard the same hissing. It was then that it hit me. It was not heat but water that was making the sound. I rushed to the crawl space and threw it open to find water everywhere. I realized that the area was where the landscaper had set up my sprinkler system. I ran outside and took a closer look. I noticed that the pipes were plastic and had little insulation on them. I could hear the break just inside the foundation.

I ran out to the water main and tried to turn off the water but couldn't make it budge. I knew I needed something else. Some big Tool. Before I attempted it, however, I filled up one of the bath tubs for backup water. I found a large crescent wrench and a heavy duty set of pliers.

I went out while the bathtub filled and with a little ingenuity thought that I had turned off the water. I came inside only to hear the hiss still going strong. Going back to the meter, I made another startling discovery. I had just turned off the neighbors water! Fortunately for me, he never noticed as I, after some struggle got it back on.

I then called a plumber friend, Jake Firkus, and got him out of bed to make sure that I was doing the right thing. He told me that all I needed was a quarter turn to get the water off and that he would have someone out first thing in the morning. I managed to get my water off and came back inside and to bed.

But my eye would not let me rest. All night long it throbbed and watered. I did manage a little sleep in the early hours. True to his word, Jason (Jake's cousin) arrived at my house. He tried the crawl space but the area of the break was under water so we attempted to reach and fix it from the heat vent area to no avail. We could only come within inches of it. Jason crawled back under the house and found the pipe closer that headed towards the trouble area. He cut and capped it with the promise to come back in the spring to fix the shoddy work that had caused the break.

After he left, it seemed to all hit me and I told Judy I was going to stay home for a while and rest. A short nap was interrupted by a phone call. Checking the number, I realized who it was....the landscaper. Man, how news travels. I didn't feel up to the answer to I just put the phone on silence. I guess the man at the restaurant was right back last summer when we talked about my landscaping. "You will be sorry", He said, "You should at least pick someone who has his name on the side of his truck."

He is right. I should have. And, by the way, my eye still hurts.

MOW update

It is increadible when you realize that we are twenty days into the month and our Clothing, Blanket, and Food drive is still going strong.

As a matter of fact, on Friday when I took my last load over to Salvation Army, I was asked how long I intended on keeping up the drive. I told them all winter long. "Well, do you think you can back off just a little?" was what I was asked.

It seems that they are overwhelmed with inner clothes such as sweaters and sweats. They have more than they can deal with. They asked me if I could maybe get it trimmed down to just outer wear, blankets, sleeping bags, and food. Another thing that I found out is that they cannot distribute any food that is out of date.

I posted signs in the collection area and by mid day Saturday, we already had another van full. Although there are a few inner-clothes most seem to be what they are looking for.

Thanks again, Z21 for giving us the rocket that took this years drive off of the pad with a bang and for the various radio stations, the Bulletin, and Mike Schmidt from the Chamber for their continuous reminders that have help keep it going strong. And especially to the people who have come out of their way to bring items in (one guys drove all the way from Terrebonne). May God bless you all.

MOW and the power of the media

A few years ago, I saw a need. I watched as people went above and beyond to help the less fortunate at Christmas time and then seemingly forget about them in the months afterwards. It was an easy enough thing to do. It is the middle of winter, money is tight, you spend more time at home by the fire.....whatever the reason, we just don't seem to think of their plight.

I came up with an idea and shared it with a friend at a local helping agency and thus MOW was born. MOW stands for Middle Of the Winter. I had all sorts of catchy phrases go around in my head like, "Let's MOW down hunger and MOW down the cold". Anyway, I purchased three containers and began collecting warm clothes, blankets, sleeping bags, and food. The agreement with the local agency was that they would distribute all that I collected directly to the ones in need and that the items would not end up on their store shelves.

Originally, I had hoped that other restaurants would pick up on the idea and that it would be something that we could all do to better help the need. I even called a couple of other restaurants up and challanged them but no one took it up, so from year to year, I just continued doing what I could. The best that I recall was a couple of loads in one week (I had a small Chevy Blazer). I remember doing a little better when KBND ran a piece on it one year.

So, this year, I sat up the container yet again. I had already gotten some articles from people who remembered and ask if they could drop off early. I sent out the normal Public Service Announcement and waited. My friend Mike Schmidt from the chamber placed it in his weekly email which I was very grateful for. Then, around 10 AM, Z21 called and asked if they could run a piece on it. They sent a camera man right down and that evening (last Thursday), it was featured in the news and also Friday morning.

By noon on Friday, I had a van load and took it down to the Salvation Army. I was overwhelmed by the response. By 5PM, I had yet another van load. Since Salvation Army was closed for the weekend, we placed it in one of our storage sheds. Around noon on Saturday, I had yet another van load and when I left last night, I noticed that the front entry way at Jake's was loaded up again. I am sure that by Monday morning, we will have enough that Captain John from the Salvation Army will have to bring down his big truck and we will probably fill it.

It shows me two things. People watch the local news and they do care. Some have even gone out and purchased new items and brought them in. With that and an assurance that Salvation Army will distribute these to the ones who truely need it, I know that this winter, we will all be making a difference.

Thank you, Bend, for your response!

Shopping for Christmas Online

I am not one who shops alot online but this year, I decided that it might be the best place to find a good deal. Boy was I wrong!

I started off by purchasing a laptop for my youngest daughter. I found a good reconditioned "like new" laptop from a group calling themselves "Laptop Group" on ebay. They had pretty good feedback for the most part and seemed to know their stuff. I gave myself plenty of time to get it in time for Christmas. In two weeks, when he had not arrived, I called the company. I was told that they were out of that particular type but they could upgrade me to a machine twice as nice for another $150. I was now over $400 but from their sales pitch, it sounded pretty good. A couple of weeks later, I received a beat up old HP laptop with a broken switch and dead batteries that would not charge. I called and they said that I could send it back if I wanted less any charges that the business had entailed such as shipping and handling or let them hand pick me out an even better Dell laptop and send it to me. I had to pay all shipping charges for sending mine back however. To get it back in time, I sent mine two day for over $50. I was now pushing $500. In the mean time, I found a Gateway with twice the stuff in it at Walmart for $400. The Dell that I recieved just before Christmas was a 6 yr old model but it does work. I then discovered that I could have purchased a brand new one from Dell for a little over $400.

I then went to purchase my other daughter a camera. I went to a site called ShopUSA which claimed to screen website companies for the best buys. I found a very nice buy of the one that she wanted from Budgetphoto. ShopUSA gave them a five star rating with over 5000 glowing reviews. I purchased the camera and was sent a email asking me to call the company to verify. I was first left on hold for around 15 minutes. While on hold, the voice told me that they strove to have the best customer service around. They said if you have any problems, please let them know as customer satisfaction was their job one. The voice at the other end of the line said, "Yea, can I help you?". I explained about my purchase and my email. He then said "hold on". This happened twice more until he said that he was having problems with his computer. He had no personality that I could tell. He then asked me for my order number. I gave it to him and he said that I needed to verify what was in the order. I went over the package item by item and when I got to the last (mp4 player), I asked him what an mp4 player was. Only then did I realize that no one was on the other line. A phone started to ring. It rang for around 3 minutes. I was then put on hold again for about 10 minutes. Since I had placed the order, I did not want to mess it up, so I patiently waited. A voice came on saying "how can I help you?". I told him I was not sure how he could and explained in detail how my phone call had been going. uncaring, he said "I'm sorry, can I verify your order. I said, certainly and gave him my number.

He went over the order with me and then said, "Would you like to order batteries?". Shocked, I said, "you mean it doesnt come with batteries? It comes with a case, two lenses, two tripods, a cleaning kit, and lens protectors but no batteries?". "You bought the cheap set." he explained, "What do you expect?". "Batteries.", I returned. "Well, the cheap set does not come with them." I asked how much and he said $160 each (I later discovered that they could be bought from the manufacture for $40. He then asked me if I wanted a charger for another $160. I now had had enough. I told him how I felt his company had baited me. He merely said, "If you don't like to deal, cancel it." I promptly did. He said, "Fine, your cancel order number is the same as your order." He then hung up.

I was fit to be tied. I went on the ShopUSA site to put in my own review. I signed up to give reviews and had to go through a few of those pages where they try to sell you stuff until I was finally allowed to give my review. After I had finished and posted, I went back to the site only to find that my review had been ignored. They had the same 5008 glowing reviews. I then relized that the sites were in business with each other.

The moral of the story. Don't shop online unless you know for a fact that the company is a reputable one and know exactly what you are ordering.

Traveling Billboard

If you own a business, you know that the cost of advertising can be pretty substantial. When I first purchased the Jake's van, it was for that purpose but in a different way than it turned out. In my first winter at the new site, I worried about my sales, especially since the signage did not seem to be adequate (some people drove back and forth and still did not see it.). So, I came up with the idea of buying a van with large windows, placing the Jake's on both sides and the "We're still open" on the back. I would park it out on the road pointing inward towards the diner as kind of an arrow of sorts.

I searched the different styles and found that the window design on the Dodge/Chrysler suited me the best so I began looking for one (It had to be white). This became harder than I expected especially since I had a budget and a price in mind (no more than $15000). I looked and looked and tried making a deal with the Dodge lot but nothing seemed to fit. Every day, I drove by this one lot and saw the perfect one but the sign said $19,990 and I kept on going. One day, I drove into that lot and inquired on it. I was making a trip to Portland the next day. I had a price in mind and stuck to my guns on it. As the salesman went back and forth, I did not budge. I told him that my trip to Portland would probably find what I wanted. Then an idea came to me. "Would you take trade?", I asked. "What do you have in mind?", he came back. I explained to him that I owned Jake's and he said that he would check with the boss. He came back a few minutes later with a few more questions and before I knew it, I had my van....with a surprise on the side, a new account also. There lot had a sales meeting every month and they had not been happy with their existing restaurant (Slow food and uncaring attitude). I assured them that would not happen with us and talked them into calling in the order an hour ahead and I would have the food on the table when they walked in the door. I had a new van, they had a new meeting place just blocks from there lot, and the best thing was, their meetings would be paying for part of the monthly payment.

I had the signage placed on it and it turned out much better than I ever expected but I sooned realized that parking it out on the street was not going to work. I never realized just how much driving I do in one day. Back and forth to school for my grandson, going out for supplies or repairs, meetings with the accountant or insurance agent, or just getting away. Then I began to notice people were noticing me and I realized the greatest part of the whole thing, I had a traveling billboard. I even had people follow me back to the diner. One group jumped out of their rigs as I parked and shouted gleefully, "We found you! We have been looking all over!".

But there was a downside also. I tend to not have the best focus when I am driving. I am often off in thought of what I need to do or how I can better the business and people will tell me that they wave, honk, and try and get my attention and I just keep on driving. Now, the ones that know me, know that I don't mean to ignore them but I am sure that their are others who might not and I hope that they don't see me as ignoring them. And then their is the problem of when you don't focus well and make a mistake like pulling out in front of someone. That can be very detrimental when you are trying to increase your customers. I imagine them looking at the van that just cut them off and saying to themselves, "I will never eat there!".

I recalled a few years back when my kids were in Cascade Junior High. These were the days before round abouts and as I pulled out on to the road to Bachelor, I looked in my rear view mirror just as the car behind me that I had cut off, slammed on its brakes and narrowly missed hitting me. The car pulled into the Cascade lot behind me and a very large man stepped out and walked up the side of my car. His bulk filled my mirror and my mind raced. I imagined myself being pummeled by this big man right in front of my kids peers. I rolled down my window and with a gulp, said Hi. "I am sorry that I almost hit you.", he explained. "I wasn't keeping an eye on the road well, and you just ended up right in front of me.". I told him that it was me who had cut him off and that I was sorry. "Heck, no problem", the big man said, "I have done it myself before."

Just last week, another big man came across the diner floor and stopped me. "I owe you an apology.", he said. "Why?", I asked. "I cut you off the other day with my car. I really didn't mean to.". And I quickly realized that the driving thing can go both ways. With little deja vue in my head, I shook his hand and said, "Heck, no problem. I have done it myself before."

Lars Larson

My daughter talked me into going out with her the other night to the Village Grill. KBND was having a party there in honor of Lars Larson doing his show there for the day.

We arrived right at 6PM and found the place totally packed. Looking around, we noticed an old friend, Dave Butler standing off to the side so we stood with him and waited. Some people invited us over to sit with them so we were able to get off of our feet and watched the football game while we waited for the festivities to begin.

I heard Carrie say "There he is." and I looked up to see Lars coming straight for us. He walked over and stuck out his hand and said, "Thanks for coming!". Now I measure a man very much by his handshake and his was very firm and assuring. Kind of one that says, "I mean what I say". We talked for a couple of minutes and Dave gave him something that his wife, BJ had put together for him. Dave had met Lars a few years ago at a celebrity baseball game. I stated that I wished that I had brought my camera so I could take a picture and put it up on the wall of the diner. Lars said, " I'll give you a picture" and turned to his assistant who gave him one. He signed it and told me that when he and his wife, Tina came to town again that he will try and get by to see me. We shook hands again and the shake said to me that he meant it.

I have met quite a few celebrities in my time but few as nice and down to earth as him. His picture now graces my celebrity wall.