Kidnapper Sues Victims for $235K

You gotta love the legal system in this country!!  Here you can sue for anything and everything as proven by Jesse Dimmick. 

The Colorado man who is serving a nearly 11 year sentence for kidnapping a newlywed Kansas couple, stealing a vehicle and fleeing from police in 2009 is now suing his former hostages for breach of contract, according to Huffington Post. 

While fleeing police, Dimmick crashed a stolen vehicle in their yard before breaking into Jared and Lindsay Rowley's home, where he held them at knife point. He states they agreed to hide him from the police for an unspecified amount of money, thus entering into a "legally binding oral agreement".  The Rowleys were later able to escape unharmed when he fell asleep, and Dimmick was woke by the police. While ordered to lay face down, the police officer's rifle accidentally discharged and shot him in the back. 

According to the lawsuit, the Rowleys' breach of contract, caused Dimmick to be found by the police and subsequently shot in the back.  He is seeking $160K for his medical bills and $75K for pain and suffering. The lawsuit is filed in response to a suit filed by the Rowleys seeking $75K for home intrusion and causing emotional distress.  

Even though he should have quite the network of attorneys already being convicted of kidnapping, and now charged with murder, he luckily has been unable to find an attorney to represent him....

Live Today, You Never Know What Tomorrow Will Bring

Although I might be a very loud (and yes, some times obnoxious) soccer mom, I am not a big soccer fan.  The only player over the age of 12 that I know the name of, is David Beckham, and no, it was not his soccer skills that drew my attention.  Nonetheless, this article about Wales Manager Gary Speed drew my attention.

According to Fox News, Gary Speed was found dead in his home yesterday morning, at the age of 42. As I am sitting there smoking a cigarette, still feeling a bit stuffed from overeating the entire weekend, I am reading about the former Leeds and Newcastle United player, who by the looks of his pictures, looked to be in great shape, but still died suddenly at the age of 42.

So I promptly put out my cigarette.  Took a couple of deep breaths to make sure oxygen was flowing properly and the heart was beating normally....it was, but reading stories like this makes me wonder if I truly am just mid-life.  One would think well trained men like Mr. Speed would live a long, health and happy life, yet his ended abruptly at such a young age, as have so many others.

I finished reading the article, and besides his career accomplishments, what struck me was the descriptions of Mr. Speed's character. He is described as a great team mate and friend, a star in the true sense and a well balanced, lovely and genuine person.  It shines through that those who knew him, truly loved him.  So after finishing the article, I thought "he did it right".  He was a good, genuine person. He accomplished a lot career wise, but will probably be remembered more for who he was and how he lived his life. 

Photo by Markuso/FreeDigitialPhotos.net

Isn't that really all we can expect?  We don't know what tomorrow will bring, or if we even get a tomorrow. So should we not make sure that every day counts? Would it not be worthwhile to spread some joy, while living life to the fullest and truly enjoying what we have, not just materialistically, but more importantly our friends and family?  I guess the big question is, how do you want to be remembered?  Figure that out and live your life accordingly.

Have a blessed week!

Blah Day

Thanksgiving weekend, and I should probably be grateful for so many things. Instead I'm having quite the blah day. The "I don't care" attitude has taken over.  Not quite true.  I do care.  I'm just tired of trying to figure it all out, and never quite getting the results I want.  So with a good portion of self pity, I'm allowing myself a blah day!

I'm purposely ignoring all feelings - good and bad. For once I will not analyze my life, decisions I've made (among them quite the portion of mistakes), love affairs gone bad, career status and so on.  Leaving it all perfectly tucked deep in my blah box.  I can feel another day.

On with my "I don't care day" I go....(emotional and somewhat hyper as I am, this should last at least another 20 minutes...)

Happy Thanksgiving!

May your stuffing be tasty
May your turkey plump,
May your potatoes and gravy
Have nary a lump.
May your yams be delicious
And your pies take the prize,
And may your Thanksgiving dinner
Stay off your thighs!

The Green Thing

 I recycle and reuse, and teach my children as best I can about not being wasteful, and taking care of the environment. But maybe they did better before there was a name for it...

 

Photo by Digitalart/FreeDigitalPhotos.net

At the check out in the store, the cashier told an older woman that she should bring her own grocery bags because plastic bags weren't good for the environment.

The woman apologized to him and explained, "We didn't have the green thing back in my day."

The clerk responded, "That's our problem today. Your generation did not care enough to save our environment."

He was right -- our generation didn't have the green thing in its day.

Back then, we returned milk bottles, soda bottles and beer bottles to the store. The store sent them back to the plant to be washed and sterilized and refilled, so it could use the same bottles over and over. So they really were recycled. But we didn't have the green thing back in our day.

We walked up stairs, because we didn't have an escalator in every store and office building. We walked to the grocery store and didn't climb into a 300-horsepower machine every time we had to go two blocks. But she was right. We didn't have the green thing in our day. 

Photo by Africa/FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Back then, we washed the baby's diapers because we didn't have the throw-away kind. We dried clothes on a line, not in an energy gobbling machine burning up 220 volts -- wind and solar power really did dry the clothes. Kids got hand-me-down clothes from their brothers or sisters, not always brand-new clothing. But that old lady is right; we didn't have the green thing back in our day.

Back then, we had one TV, or radio, in the house -- not a TV in every room. And the TV had a small screen the size of a handkerchief (remember them?), not a screen the size of the state of Montana . In the kitchen, we blended and stirred by hand because we didn't have electric machines to do everything for us. When we packaged a fragile item to send in the mail, we used a wadded up old newspaper to cushion it, not Styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap. Back then, we didn't fire up an engine and burn gasoline just to cut the lawn. We used a push mower that ran on human power. We exercised by working so we didn't need to go to a health club to run on treadmills that operate on electricity. But she's right; we didn't have the green thing back then. 

We drank from a fountain when we were thirsty instead of using a cup or a plastic bottle every time we had a drink of water. We refilled writing pens with ink instead of buying a new pen, and we replaced the razor blades in a razor instead of throwing away the whole razor just because the blade got dull. But we didn't have the green thing back then.

Photo by Digitalart/FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Back then, people took the streetcar or a bus, and kids rode their bikes to school or walked instead of turning their moms into a 24-hour taxi service. We had one electrical outlet in a room, not an entire bank of sockets to power a dozen appliances. And we didn't need a computerized gadget to receive a signal beamed from satellites 2,000 miles out in space in order to find the nearest pizza joint.

But isn't it sad the current generation laments how wasteful we old folks were just because we didn't have the green thing back then?