Fraudulent Charges... Again

A couple months ago while doing my routine Saturday morning bill paying, I stumbled upon a charge to my debit card I didn't recognize. A couple hundred bucks charged at a motorcycle and moped store in Belgium. Figured pretty quick it wasn't me.

I called it in to my bank (SunTrust), and the automated voice instructed me to send a letter to them outlining the details and they would look into it. Within a few weeks the charge was reversed.

This morning it happened again. Same place, this time for $305.55, on a different SunTrust account (my business credit card). This time when I called and was instructed to write a letter, I pressed zero and spoke to a live person.

"No. I will not write a letter. I didn't do anything here- you were the ones that either let my data get hijacked, or processed a fraudulent charge for some other reason. YOU write ME a letter and fix it."

They said ok- they would send me a letter that I could sign and return and would take the charge off. Stupid bank.

Eighth Annual Leipers Fork Chili Cook-Off

A couple Saturday's ago I was mowing the yard in the early afternoon and I smelled what I thought was the annual Leiper's Fork Chili Cook-Off wafting through the air from nearby "downtown." I was mistaken. It was just the wild onions in my yard.

I thought for sure I missed it this year, just like last. Although, truth is, we didn’t really miss it last year. We showed up late, all six of us, and most of the chili was gone. And even if it wasn’t, we had forgot to bring cash to the cash-only event.

My disappointment was fueled further when a friend mentioned a couple days later that the cook-off had happened already. Turned out it didn't. While we did miss the Heritage Day event on Oct. 3rd, the Cook-Off wasn’t until Oct. 17th. And that day is today.


It was a perfect day for a chili cook off- 45 degrees, cloudy, with a stiff wind blowing and rain barely held back. The place was packed, with far more people then I recall seeing the last few years.

I paid my $5.00 (I was all by myself- Michelle was taking L, A and R to make-up piano lessons, and K had no desire to go), grabbed my spoon and voting ticket (to be dropped off in a numbered bin representing my vote for "people's choice" award), and hit the circuit.

Here's my booth-by-booth rundown of the contest:


Booth #1: One of my favorite Puckett's staff members and his wife-to-be were sitting under a canopy of white with wedding bell decorations. They're getting married NEXT weekend and were competing for the $1,000 grand prize to help with expenses. Their chili was very traditional, very meaty, with a moderate amount of spice.

Booth #2: These guys win the award for best staging. They were decked out in cowboy attire, and even had a "set" framing their spicy offering. The best part of the chili was the huge pieces of jalapeño peppers. Other than that bit of solid food, the rest was too soupy for me, and even reminded me and my tasting neighbor of minestrone.

Gotta love it when someone uses a 2" by 4" to stir the chili.

Booth #3: Wow. If Booth #2 got the prize for staging, booth #3 wins my vote for performance. A trio of folks decked out in wacky clothes and spooning out "Pork in the Fork" chili. It was solid, chunky, but not spicy enough for me.

Booth #4: Definitely unique- a traditional chili base, loaded with organic ground beef and full of tomato tastiness and a secret ingredient- locally roasted ground coffee beans. They offered it in mild and spicy, and I tried both. Hands-down my favorite chili of the day easily winning my vote for "People's Choice."

Booth #5: With a banner proclaiming "Cajun Salsa Chili" I was prepared for a spicy feast. I was half right. Incredibly spicy and demanding some quick hydration (made possible by the bottles of water they were selling), it almost had my vote. The down side for me was too much salsa-taste, and too little meat.

Booth #6: Owls Hill Nature Center offered a surprisingly (and sort of disturbingly) sweet chili. The best way I could describe it would be "desert chili," if of course such a thing existed.

Booth #7: These super nice and enthusiastic people ladled up some very veggie chili. There might have been meat in there somewhere, but I either didn’t luck into some in my tiny cup, or it was ground into minute pieces.

Booth #8: Two very nice ladies were offering very traditional tasting chili with a bit of various peppers thrown in. Good, solid, everyday chili... but it didn’t light me up.

Booth #9: Well... this one threw me for a loop. I got my little cup of "chili" and downed it in one gulp. And I almost spewed it out all over the people standing around me, many looking like they were about to do the same thing. Turned out it wasn’t chili at all. It was salsa. The sign that said "salsa" and "chips," should have clued me in.

Booth #10: No show.

Booth #11: Soups on! Great people that seemed to really be having fun talking it up with everyone, but the chili was a bit too much like beef and vegetable soup for me.

Booth #12: Touting themselves as "Cheeseheads" from Wisconsin, I got my little cup with what I thought were stringy pieces of cheese (wouldn’t you with the banner they had?). Turned out to be spaghetti. I'm a big fan of Chili ON spaghetti, not spaghetti IN my chili.

Booth #13: Another salsa booth. I learned my lesson from booth #9 and didn’t chug it or use my spoon. Took a few chips, dipped away, and LOVED IT. Darkish salsa, moderately spicy with a roasted tomato flavor. Well done.

You can spot the music-themed booth. The lady on the left spotted my old Gotee Records sweatshirt and asked if I knew Todd Collins (former A&R gent from the label). Yes I do.

And finally, Booth #14: These were great folks taking the time to pose for a photo. Their sign said it all- stove top chili. And it tasted just like mom used to make. Mmmm.

Here's a few more random photographs from today's festivities:

And my favorite picture of the day... the classic "Cowboy on a Cell Phone" shot.

That's it. Hope you enjoyed the run-down. Until next year!

Bug Zapper

I finally did it… I bought one of those campy creepy bug zappers for the back porch.

I’ve always wanted one- just something about that crackle and pop indicating a pesky gnat, moth or some other flying thingy just got juiced. I had no intention of buying one when I went to Lowe’s yesterday, but it was on special, on the power isle, and I just couldn’t resist.

The thing that pushed me over the edge to lay down the $45 for the “Stinger Outdoor Ultra Insect Killer” was the packaging. More specifically, the call-out box that informed me:

“How it works: A 40 watt ultraviolet black light excites insects and lures them into the electric grid, where they are electrocuted and fall harmlessly to the ground.”



Something about the brutality and compassion all rolled into one just moved my heart.

I Want Obama To Fail

You cannot go head to head with Obama until you take him down. Take him down, make him pay, and then we can have a conversation.

We will take to the streets right now, we will delegitimize Obama, discredit him, and do whatever it takes, but never accept him!

We certainly don’t want him to succeed too much.

I certainly hope Obama doesn’t succeed.

Republicans aren’t particularly thrilled that the recession appears to be one the wane. One top Republican advisor said privately, ‘No questions, it’d be easier for us if things were bad. That’s the dilemma of being in the opposition. You have to hope for the worst.’”

I don’t care for the way the Obama administration conduct themselves. I think as Republicans, we don’t want to see anything nice to happen to the Democrats, and you don’t want them to have progress.

I think Obama is a loser.

You know, God bless him, bless his heart, Obama is a total failure, losing all credibility with the American people on the economy, on the war, on energy, you name the subject.

And on the war on terror, these last words…

Even if the military escalation in Iraq showed signs of progress, efforts by Obama to stabilize the country have been a complete failure.

Let me be clear- There is NO military solution in Iraq, and there never was.

My guess is that a few things are running through your head if you’re still reading this post all the way to this point. First, that I really hate Obama, and second, that I am not able to string together sentences and paragraphs into a coherent post. You'd be wrong on both accounts.

Before you get too angry at me, or leave nasty comments on how I should, as an American citizen, accept Mr. Obama as my president, that he’s the leader of all of us now, that I should accept the will of the majority that elected him, that my spouting off about Obama is un-American and counterproductive, even treasonous, know this…

The words above are not mine. Including the post title. They were spoken by others about George W. Bush. To read them correctly, wherever you read OBAMA, replace it with BUSH. And wherever you read REPUBLICAN, replace it with DEMOCRAT, and vice versa.

Now, read the post again from the top, and be aware of who spoke these words (in order of appearance above):

Nancy Pelosi
Jesse Jackson
Bill Press (Democrat pundit on CNN)
James Carville
The Philadelphia Inquirer
John Stewart
Nancy Soderberg (Former Bill Clinton aide)
Harry Reid
Nancy Pelosi
Barrack Obama
Barrack Obama

Enjoy reading the post again, and challenging your perspective of those who want Obama's agenda (not the person, or the office, or the country) to fail.

Counter Culture

I think I am. I think I’m rock solid counter-culture.

The evidence?

1. I not only didn’t vote for Mr. Obama, I’ve actually not listened to a complete sentence he’s uttered since taking office. While not voting for him isn’t counter-culture (you may recall 60 million people voted against Obama), I think not listening to him read his teleprompter counts for something.

2. I’ve never watched a single episode of any reality TV show. No survivor, no Great Race, Biggest Loser, or anything else. Ever.

3. I cant stomach pop culture heroes or celebrities. On my short list of things I would get rid of if I ruled the world, celebrity shows and rags would be pretty high on the list.

4. I’ve never watched a full episode of American Idol. I’ve seen bits and pieces, and its just too painful to watch.

5. I believe in and support a few no-brainers: a secure border and immigration law, low taxes, a reduced federal government (by 50% or more) and reduced state government (by 30% or more), an end to most entitlement programs, the privatization of social security, and much more. Don’t tread on me baby.

6. I put God, family and country ahead of everything else.

7. I believe the United States of America is this worlds last great hope for personal liberty, peace and security…. And its about 60% gone as we’ve come to know and love it.