Lessons Learned

We All Know About the Hazards of Smoking

A 45 year old man from Trinity, TX didn't get the memo about how dangerous smoking can be.  Oh, maybe he wasn't overly concerned about long term damage to his lungs but he should of considered the hazards in smoking while pumping gas.

James Lee Taylor had a bad start to his Tuesday, when he stopped to fill up at a Valero gas station in Trinity.  After running into station to buy a pack of cigarettes, James began to attempt to put $5.00 worth of gas into his Mustang.  Things quickly took a bad turn when he lit up a cigarette.

The gasoline fumes ignited quickly burning off his facial hair including his eyebrows, melted his cigarette lighter, caught the gas pump on fire, ignited  his flip-flops, and charred the side of his car.

A fast thinking Valero employee came out with a fire extinguisher while another turned off the gas supply to the pump.  After police arrived, thanks to someone calling 911, it was discovered the James had outstanding

warrants for his arrest.  On top of all of that...as if his day wasn't already in flames, it was discovered that he wasn't carrying any car insurance.

Prior to his incarceration, he told Officer Randy Wheeler that he had always smoked while pumping gas and this was the first time anything like that had happened.  He went on to say he wouldn't smoke while getting gas in the future. 

  Who would of thought that smoking next to a gas pump could possibly lead to trouble? Evidently not James Lee.  


What Better Example?

Jessylyn Domingo probably didn't plan on being  part of the training for a California college that was conducting classes in emergency preparedness.  According to administrators for West Hills College Lemoor in Fresno, CA that is most certainly what she did, though.

While the students were preparing for the next drill, they heard that someone was outside the building  having

Seems we've arrived early

a baby.  Don Warkentin, President of WHCL  told the press that the other students thought it was  part of the training.

It soon became apparent to staff and students alike that Jessylyn was actually having a baby on a bench on the college grounds. 

Domingo said she was assisted by a man on his way to the training. The man was Charles Freeman, a registered nurse and district director of health care. He had been  alerted to the situation by Leo Orange, a learning skills program assistant. The men helped Domingo deliver her baby and wait for an ambulance.

"I was really impressed with the mother," said Freeman. "She was really calm and had a sense of humor."

Baby Landen Alexander weighed 7 pounds, 14 ounces and was 21 inches long at birth.

What are the odds of having your baby while an emergency preparedness class is going on? She really knows how to bring "show and tell" to a class.


Thou Shall Not Steal

Stealing from the office fridge has always been met with disdain but rarely are the police called. A Pennsylvania man  didn't get the memo, evidently that office refrigerator theft doesn't warrant a 911 situation.

An unidentified man called the police in Upper Macungie, PA  on October 10th,  to report that his Strawberry-flavored Jell-O snack was stolen from the break room refrigerator at his workplace.

The gelatin heist occurred at the Wakefern Food Corporation warehouse in Beinigsville, according to the Upper Macungie Township Police Department.

The 39-year-old victim told cops that theft from the shared refrigerator was an ongoing problem, though it is unclear whether comestibles other than Jell-O have previously been boosted.

The Jell-O theft, which was discovered around 11:30 PM by the victim, is an “open investigation,” a police spokesperson told TSG. While cops do not rule out the possibility of a future arrest, it seems unlikely.

I wish they would of released the 911 tape on this.  Which is the bigger tool...the guy that had the police come out for a snack sized jello theft or the guy taking food out of the fridge? 

 She Is Someone's Favorite Teacher

University of Iowa officials are investigating a teaching assistant who inadvertently emailed nude pictures to students instead of homework answers.

Tom Moore, a spokesman for the school, said the math department TA attached the nude pictures to an email sent to 28 pre-calculus students instead of the solutions to some math problems, the Iowa City Press-
Citizen reported Thursday.

Moore said he could not speculate on any consequences that could result from the investigation.

"Ultimately, as a student, any discipline [if it occurs] would be non-public under [the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act]," he said.

Some students sympathized with the TA, whose name has not been released.

Now there is a TA that really knows how to rock the T&A. She probably taught the whole class a valuable lesson.  Look at your message before hitting the SEND button.

Learning from Our Mistakes

Before, I get started today...a little blog glitch has come to light here at The Art of Being Conflicted.  For those of you that subscribe to my blog via email, there seems to be a problem with new posts being sent out. I have been working all week to try to figure out the problem but as of yet..it's still a problem.
I appreciate all my readers and hope until this is corrected soon In the meantime, I hope that you will bookmark me or put me on your favorites to manually check for new posts. I have reset the gadget to launch emails. You might try re-entering your email address, just to see if that helps. OR... Maybe the blog fairy will come and fix it in the middle of the night like she sometimes does. 

Anyway...on to today's topic.

"Experience is the name every one gives to their mistakes."   Oscar Wilde


"A man's errors are his portals of discovery."    James Joyce

 Driven to Distraction

You might remember last month the video that was on all the news programs, showing Shena Hardin, driving on the sidewalk to avoid a stopped school bus.  She had been doing this every morning, much to the annoyance of the driver and students. The driver of the bus called the cops to have them waiting and watching in the event she continued to do her little off-street maneuver.  The following morning the bus driver and students were sitting, filming and waiting for the "gotcha" moment.







On Monday of this week, a Cleveland Municipal Judge handed down the consequences of her actions with sentencing her to holding a sign on two consecutive mornings for one hour each day, at an intersection near where she took her "self-directed" detour.

The sign read: Only an idiot drives on a sidewalk to avoid a school bus"

In addition, Hardin's license was suspended for 30 days and she was ordered to pay $250.00 in court costs.


Is is just me, or do you think she got off easy?  I don't know what the appropriate punishment should be but I am still thinking about it.  I am not thinking that the 2 hours of sign holding is opening her discovery portal quite enough to suit me.


Doing a Public Service

Earlier this week, an Indiana man, Edward Kirk III,  was stopped by officials as he ran down the street screaming that he was being chased by dinosaurs. Upon further investigation, the 19 year old told the Greenfield Police that after taking some hits of LSD that the aliens at his apartment along with the dinosaurs were perusing him.  He took the officers back to his apartment to show them the aliens.

Edward was very cooperative as drug dealers go, showing the police his stash of drugs which included over 1000 hits of LSD and  his makeshift lab.

During the time the police spent with Edward, he filled them in on how he makes his money.  He explained that by making LSD he is really "doing the people's work" and that the whole world should trip as it is really great.

Edward was charged with several felonies and misdemeanor drug charges.

I found it interesting that several of the news write ups included the added information that neither aliens nor dinosaurs were found in the apartment.  Good to know!



 Lessons Learned From the Recent Election

Relax...I am not talking about left or right, this party or that...I am talking about the two winners that had the unique qualification of being dead.  Yes,  there were two candidates that have the distinction of having won their races and being deceased.  Florida Democrat Earl K. Wood and Alabama Republican Charles Beasley both won their races by comfortable margins.

Wood died at 96 during his campaign for a 12th term as Orange County Tax Collector in Orlando, FL.
He died of natural causes.

Beasley, 77 died on October 12th, possibly due to an aneurysm, while trying to win a seat on the Bibb County Commission in central Alabama. He won with 52 percent of the vote. His opponent, Walter Sansing, is said to be taking the loss hard.  Mr. Sansing said "It's a touchy situation.  When you are running against a dead man, you are somewhat limited about what you can say."


Ask me! Ask Me! I know what he could of said.  "Don't Vote For the DEAD guy!" While the reason this happened is that people voted straight tickets and didn't pay attention about not voting for the deceased perhaps this might of helped: