Why You’re Here!. 

We all know what state the economy is in.  Everyday in the news there is another company closing its’ doors and tens of thousands of people losing their jobs and subsequently their life savings and ultimately their homes.  Each day, if we’re one of the lucky ones to still be working and keeping our heads above water, we face new challenges as we tread.  If you’re paying attention, I mean really paying attention, you find that seemingly inconsequential events are occurring at every turn.  We do however, tend to overlook these events, depending on our current state of mind, until the frequency increases.  With these increases our stamina for tolerance begins to wane.  More and more peoples moods are changing and there is an underlying tension.  Big companies unethical practices are making small changes that effect us in a huge way.  It’s time to make them accountable for their actions. Although we complain no one is listening.

I started this blog so that we can point fingers, name names and share our stories.  The more we are aware of the “small changes” the more chance WE have of making a change.  Then instead of wondering, “Will Anyone Pay Attention To Us? WAPATU,  we can say somebody finally listened!!!

The first time I had ever gone to a casino was in Las Vegas with my ex. The only thing I remember about that experience was that I played the “one arm bandits” and every time I won a little, he would take my winnings and go lose it somewhere. Not a good experience for me.

The second time I was with Mike and we went down to the Seminole Hard Rock Casino in Hollywood, FL. By the time we parked the car, we were both aggravated. The casino was packed and I basically watched Mike play the slots for a little while and we left. No great thrills there.

For my new adventure I was slightly hesitant to go by myself so I try to enlist my parents and my sister-in-law. Neither of them were available. Determined to get the ball rolling, I decided to go it alone. The Seminole Casino Coconut Creek is approximately fifteen minutes from my house, so I planned to head over there bright and early Monday morning. Well, early turned out to be around 10:00 and as I approached the casino there were buses pulling in and out. I noticed the names on the buses were from a variety of senior citizen communities. I quickly made the assumption that my timing was off, but I continued on my adventure.

As I walked in the door the lights and sounds were blaring. The sounds of the machines added to my anticipation as I wandered around. Although I’m not overly superstitious I thought I would find a slot machine with a name that had some meaning to me. Now my quest was to find “that” machine which was also a penny slot. On my first round I spotted one called “Night Sky” and no one was playing it. Reminiscent of the skies at our place up north, I thought that would be the one I would play. Yet, I was still a bit apprehensive and I was aware of the fact that I had no idea how the slots worked, I decided to make the rounds. I walked throughout the casino in circles three times, never seeing another “Night Sky,” but observing (not grasping) the way the slots worked.

Finally, I ventured back to my machine and there was a woman playing although she was actually sitting half hanging off the chair as if she was going to jump off her seat any minute. I watched her as she eyed a slot machine across the way. Apparently people have their favorites and she was waiting for “hers” to be free. In a matter of minutes, it was. This was my chance. I hesitantly sat down, made myself comfortable and looked at the “Night Sky” machine in front of me hoping that all of the symbols and numbers would make some sort of sense. They didn’t. I’m big on reading instructions, yet found none. It was time to put my money in and take my chances.

I had decided before I entered the casino that I would take a $20 bill, put it into one slot machine and play until it was gone. Of course, my full thought was that I would put the twenty in and when I won I would pocket everything above $20 and keep playing the same $20.

Finally, I put my twenty in the slot and determined to get the most out of my money I continued to push the button that said “1 line,” which I did figure out, only deducted 1 cent from my money on every turn. I found that if I continued to do this I would win a few pennies. My tactics were to play one line for one penny until the dollar amount was, for instance, $19.80. At that point I would get brazen and play the “10 line” button for .10 cents. I even played the 20, 30 and 40 line buttons, a few times. Playing this way and winning and losing I hovered around $16.00 for about 45 minutes.

All the while, there was a woman sitting next to me that I made small talk with. I told her it was my first time to which she replied that she’s seen a lot of people with beginners luck. (A renewal of my faith that I would win.” During the time I was playing the women took the time to explain all the buttons to me and continually tried to stress the fact to me that I should be playing 40 lines and playing more than a penny. I probably should have listened. Although, watching her clad in diamonds and feeding her slot machine with $20’s on a regular basis, I wasn’t too anxious to follow her technique.

By the time my $20 had deteriorated to $4, I decided it was time to really gamble. I played the 10, 20, 30, 40 line buttons consecutively until my money was gone. I’d said all in all the $4 was gone in less than a minute. I was done. I guess “Night Sky” wasn’t my slot machine after all.

I turned to the women thanked her for her assistance, wished her luck and gathered my things. I took note of her expression as I said goodbye. It was as if she couldn’t believe I put in a $20 bill, lost it and didn’t feed the slot machine another one. I have a fair amount of will-power, I kept walking.

As I left the casino I made the decision to go back again, Thursday, tomorrow. I do believe I’ll play a different slot machine or maybe not. I may follow my dads advice and play more lines to begin with. Whatever the case may be, I’m hoping I’ll be carrying just a little luck on my shoulder.

The synopsis:  My internet was down on Thursday night.  Now, this is not an odd thing when it comes to the service from AT &T and since it was late my assumption was that it would be back up Friday morning.  I’m still not sure why I even make assumptions when it comes to their service, but I was wrong.
Upon further investigation I realized that my modem power light was solid red rather than green.  Being down this road before I went through the usual steps, unplugging, resetting and powering back up.  Still red so I called AT &T.   In order to avoid the whole process again, I informed the internet service tech that I had already gone through all the steps to see if I could get my modem up and running.  He told me that he would run a series of tests from his end to see if it was a problem with the modem.
To give you some background information; the modem is just over a year old and just out of warranty.  The tech came back on the line and told me that he ran his tests and that there was a problem with the modem and that it needed to be replaced.  He said that he would arrange to have one sent out at which time I told him that I work online and couldn’t afford to be down.  He gave me the nearest AT&T store to pick one up and informed me that it would cost $60.  I responded that I spend way too much money with AT&T and that if they are going to charge me for the modem I am going elsewhere with my business.  He wouldn’t budge so I asked for a manager.
When the manager came on the line she told me that she understood the situation and that since they didn’t want to lose me as a customer, she would send out a modem free of charge.  When I again explained that I could not be without the internet and that I would prefer to pick it up she explained that the only thing she could do in that case was to issue me a credit after I purchased it at a store.  Since my trust in AT&T is so unwavering,  I chose not to believe that I would be issued a credit and she told me that it would be shipped overnight to me at no cost.
That was Friday morning, now Monday afternoon, still waiting.
Now the question I pose.  As I previously stated, my modem is just out of warranty.  Also, I’ve explained that the AT&T service tech was running tests to see whether or not my modem was bad.  I ask you, if they have the capabilities to run tests on my modem from who knows where, wouldn’t they also have the capability to screw up my modem so that it isn’t working correctly and of course requiring me to buy a new modem at my cost?
It’s difficult not to wonder how all that works.  Anybody have any answers?

About six hours later, the husband goes to his wife and says, “Honey, you know I now have only 18 hours to live.  Could we please do it one more time?”  Of course, the wife agrees, and they do it again.

Later, as the man gets into bed, he looks at his watch and realizes that now he has only 8 hours left.  He touches his wife’s shoulder, and asks, ” Honey, please…just one more time before I die.”  She says, “Of course, Dear,” and they make love for the third time.

After this session, the wife rolls over and falls asleep.  The man, however,  worried about his impending death, tosses and turns, until he’s down to 4 more hours.  He taps his wife, who rouses.  “Honey, I have only 4 more hours.  Do you think we could…”

At this point the wife sits up and says, “Listen, I have to get up in the morning. You don’t!”