What a hoot my little guy of a nephew is!
Wednesday, July 09, 2008
Tuesday, July 08, 2008
A big day in the Kling household
Last week, all four of us piled into the car and headed east to Canandaigua. We had lots of little things to do like haircuts and picking up a birthday present, but the main goal of our trip was for Kirsten to take her written learner's permit test. She passed and we now have a new driver in the Kling household! (...Damn - that reminds me I need to call the insurance company.) I was a total geek Mom and made her stand for a photo with her permit. It's one for the baby book. I got home and immediately emailed photos to Mimi & Papa. I sent photos to Aunt Kate & Aunt Jo too. Then I got sad. It was a huge day in my life - one of those big right-of-passage moments in your kids' lives.
It would've been big for Jim too. I can still see the little blond pipsqueek riding off with Uncle Jim & Aunt Kate in the back of Aunt Kate's jeep, hair flying in the wind with a big smile on her face, and now she's in the driver's seat. I wanted to call him and share. I wanted him to get on the phone and tease her like he did so well. I cried pretty good that night - for all the moments, big and small, my kids and his, won't be able to share with him.
Monday, July 07, 2008
Camping World is NO Williams and Sonoma
When Jim first got sick, Kate had a post about what a great company Williams and Sonoma was. I'm devoting this particular blog post to what an absolute crap company Camping World is.
We attended the Camping World Indy Car Grand Prix at Watkins Glen this past weekend. Prior to going, we needed an additional propane hose similar to one I had just purchased at Walmart fo $18.99. It was $32.99 at Camping World. A quick look at the shelves showed a similar markup for other items I'd ordered through Amazon.com or bought at Walmart. So, back to Walmart we went.
We arrive at the Glen on Thursday to find that our site is across a one lane road from the Camping World "guest/employee" reserved camping area. Not a problem at this point, but I do notice that they are all "living in" stock units for the weekend. So the trailer with the big sign marked "One Owner - Nice & Clean" didn't anywhere also say "Let a bunch of drunken race fans live in it for the weekend." I'm pretty sure that won't be on the disclosure sheet for the sale. At first I thought only used units were being lived in, but it appeared they had no problem bringing the new units down. So YUCK>>>>>! That is definitely against my rules.
There's also a very nice rule at the Glen that quiet hours are from 11pm to 6am - this includes the use of generators. Obviously the Camping World folks didn't believe the rules applied to them -- "THE SPONSORS" of the race. Right across from our spot, they backed in a fairly old (thus LOUD) refrigerated diesel truck and let it run 24/7. At 11pm the first night, Mark nicely asked them to turn it off. They chose to ignore him. At midnight, I was in their face screaming, as only a mother with children who can't get to sleep can do, to TURN OFF THE GOD-DAMN TRUCK! The Camping World employee, though drunk, was trying to humor me, until Mark arrived and boy did it get ugly. Guy told Mark he was "the f*&kin' sponsor of the race." I thought for sure he was going to take a swing at Mark. They ended up moving the truck about 50 yards farther away, but still ran it all night. The next day we went to Glen Security who assured us they'd take care of it, they had a spot for Camping World that had a guard on it all night where they were supposed to leave their stuff. At 11:30pm the next night I hear one Camping World person say to another "We have to turn that truck off or move it." The other responded "Let's wait to see if security comes by again." Nice...glad to hear the rules apply to everyone BUT Camping World.
Needless to say, Camping World is on my big SHIT list. They won't be coming off...EVER.
We attended the Camping World Indy Car Grand Prix at Watkins Glen this past weekend. Prior to going, we needed an additional propane hose similar to one I had just purchased at Walmart fo $18.99. It was $32.99 at Camping World. A quick look at the shelves showed a similar markup for other items I'd ordered through Amazon.com or bought at Walmart. So, back to Walmart we went.
We arrive at the Glen on Thursday to find that our site is across a one lane road from the Camping World "guest/employee" reserved camping area. Not a problem at this point, but I do notice that they are all "living in" stock units for the weekend. So the trailer with the big sign marked "One Owner - Nice & Clean" didn't anywhere also say "Let a bunch of drunken race fans live in it for the weekend." I'm pretty sure that won't be on the disclosure sheet for the sale. At first I thought only used units were being lived in, but it appeared they had no problem bringing the new units down. So YUCK>>>>>! That is definitely against my rules.
There's also a very nice rule at the Glen that quiet hours are from 11pm to 6am - this includes the use of generators. Obviously the Camping World folks didn't believe the rules applied to them -- "THE SPONSORS" of the race. Right across from our spot, they backed in a fairly old (thus LOUD) refrigerated diesel truck and let it run 24/7. At 11pm the first night, Mark nicely asked them to turn it off. They chose to ignore him. At midnight, I was in their face screaming, as only a mother with children who can't get to sleep can do, to TURN OFF THE GOD-DAMN TRUCK! The Camping World employee, though drunk, was trying to humor me, until Mark arrived and boy did it get ugly. Guy told Mark he was "the f*&kin' sponsor of the race." I thought for sure he was going to take a swing at Mark. They ended up moving the truck about 50 yards farther away, but still ran it all night. The next day we went to Glen Security who assured us they'd take care of it, they had a spot for Camping World that had a guard on it all night where they were supposed to leave their stuff. At 11:30pm the next night I hear one Camping World person say to another "We have to turn that truck off or move it." The other responded "Let's wait to see if security comes by again." Nice...glad to hear the rules apply to everyone BUT Camping World.
Needless to say, Camping World is on my big SHIT list. They won't be coming off...EVER.
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