Our Universe - What a wonder it is

I'm speechless. There are simply no words to describe the feeling that came over me when I first watched this video. When I could see where Earth is in relation to our Milky Way, a feeling of complete and utter awe came over me. Life is an incredible and enigmatic thing to behold.

2010 New Year's Resolution

I have only one resolution for the coming year -- to keep on swimming! This one resolution provides many benefits, such as:

• Weight control
• Fitness maintenance
• Social activity
• Enjoying life

So, instead of making a bunch of resolutions that I'll either forget about, or fail to complete, continuing to swim is one I know I'll keep, 'cause it is so fun to do!!

Happy New Year, everyone!! Here's to a fabulous 2010!!

Tom Celica!!

My daughter found a car this weekend. It's a really cute 2000 Toyota Celica that we named "Tom Celica". Since she is starting school in a couple of weeks, she has been really ansty to find something. We got lucky today while searching the Internet and she is now the happy owner of a nice little car.

Pool LOLs

During my daily perusing of the Interwebs, I recently came across three swimming-related LOL pictures. The first one was probably a prank, but it really made me laugh. The pool where I do my swim workouts is only 4 feet 4 inches at its deepest and has the same warning posted.

This next image is one of those WTF! kind of images. I'm not sure how this picture was put together, but it really does look like the kitten is trying to swim in the air!

Last, but not least, is a post from itmademyday.com. Too funny!

The Squeaky Wheel Does Get the Grease!!!

Have you ever had this happen? I am sure I'm not the only one who has forgotten whether or not an online payment was scheduled. In my case, it was my home mortgage. I ususally schedule a payment well in advance of the due date and record it in my checking spreadsheet. It turns out that I found two entries for my car payment, that were entered 6 days apart, and in horror, realized I probably had not scheduled my mortgage payment, and instead mistakenly paid my car payment twice!! Yeegads, that's a first.
Well, I tried in vain to ascertain whether or not I had indeed scheduled a payment by first calling Wells Fargo customer service. It turns out that they cannot see whether or not an online payment is pending. Nor could I verify this online through my Wells Fargo Internet account. Boy, talk about frustration.
I ended up emailing Wells Fargo and let them know the problem I was having. Well to my surprise, I received a response within 24 hours, telling me that I had not scheduled a payment. So, there really is a way to tell whether an online payment has been scheduled, it just isn't a feature that is available through normal channels.
Okay, I was glad to know this and was able to schedule a payment in time to meet my mortage deadline; however, I responded to Wells Fargo with the following email:

Thank you for your reply. I appreciate you being able to confirm whether or not I had scheduled a payment.

I would ask that Wells Fargo consider adding this feature to their online service suite of tools.

Ultimately, I realize that I am responsible for knowing whether I have scheduled a payment, but since I am human, there is always the chance that I, as well as others, may make the same mistake another time.

Best regards,

Debra Duane

Here is how Wells Fargo responded:

Dear Debra Duane:

We apologize for our delay in responding to your inquiry.

Re: Loan xxxxxxxxx

Thank you for your reply. You make a valid point regarding the lack of notification for the pending payment transactions. Please be advised however, that Wells Fargo is in the process of adding the notification feature to our online services. Unfortunately we don't have an estimated time when the feature will be made available.

Thank you again for contacting Wells Fargo Home Mortgage. If you have further questions, please reply to this message or contact a loan-servicing representative by calling (866) 234-8271 Monday through Friday between 6 AM and 10 PM CT and on Saturdays between 8 AM and 2 PM CT.

Sincerely,

Kevin Roderick

Mortgage Online Customer Servicer>

So, for all those naysayers who say you can't get anything done by complaining -- yes, you can -- if you go about it the right way. I was taught early on in my adult life that if you are going to complain about something you need to offer a solution along with the complaint. I offered one to Wells Fargo, and they committed to doing it! Way to go Wells Fargo!! Sometimes the squeaky really does get the grease.

Breaststroke anyone?

The first stroke I learned as a young child was the breaststroke. I remember my Red Cross Instructor not wanting us to "dog paddle" and instead, taught us how to breaststroke to gain confidence in the water. Once we had that one down, she moved on to the backstroke and the "australian crawl" as it was called then.
Now, all this took place when I was about 8 or 9 years old -- I didn't swim again seriously until I was 15 in high school, and as I've mentioned previously, I experienced another lapse in swimming between 1976 and October of this year.
Now that I am swimming again, I am seriously asking myself "WHY!!!!?" Why did I stop swimming when I love it so much? Yeah, I've been in the water many, many times over the past 33 years, but never did more than 10 laps in a 25-yard pool -- usually after a power walk workout as a cool-down.
But, thanks to Masters Swimming, in only two weeks of coaching, I swam 1400 meters today in one hour. And, my coach told me she wished she could have me on her high school team as a breaststroker. She said I have really good form. Wow, I haven't had a compliment like that in years!
So, big thanks go to the anonymous Red Cross Instructor, who all those years ago, taught a little girl to swim the breaststroke. I'm not sure whether I will pursue competing, but I must say I'm thinking about it a bit more seriously now.

You're Gonna Love My Nuts!!

I tell you, that Vince guy who hawks the "Sham-Wow" and the "Slap Chop" really creeps me out. I've been meaning to post this picture of my daughter doing her best "Creepy Vince" look while holding the Slap Chop for quite some time. Not long ago, both of my daughters played me the funniest song on YouTube that someone made by taking Vince's Slap Chop commerical and doing the most awesome editing job I've heard in a long time.