Pat Gaudette

‘Random Thoughts’

The woman caller wanted to speak to the owner of the business or his wife. When I asked what she was calling about, she said it was a personal matter and asked if I was the owner’s wife. I asked again what the call was about and she said she needed to talk to the owner. I hung up on her. The call came from phone number 904-725-6043, with a caller ID of ”Security Center.”

Two hours later, the same woman called again. This time she spoke in a particularly perky voice and asked to speak to “Donny.” When I said no Donny worked here, she laughed and said “of course not, I forgot the owner’s name – giggle – can I speak to him?” I asked what the call was about — although now I’d done research online and found the number reported as a spammer for a plumbing company — and she disconnected the call. She was a little slow on the disconnect and I heard her mutter “bitch” just before the line went dead.

No doubt she will be taking the challenge to get through the “gatekeeper” to the real owner and I will continue to log her calls as they occur.

I told myself I wouldn’t do this but it’s hard not to give an opinion about Tiger Woods’ “apology” and his many mistresses who feel it just wasn’t good enough.

Maybe I’m old-fashioned about marital fidelity but apologizing to a wife who has been betrayed is, in my opinion, more important than having any empathy whatsoever over the “suffering” of the other woman — or in Tiger’s case, the other women — who choose to have sex with a married man.

I could rant on but let’s just leave it at that.

Oh, what the heck! I hope Elin Woods makes the decision that’s best for herself, either stay or go. If she stays, she certainly knows just what type of man she’s married to. As far as the mistresses — well, gee, who cares?

The announcement by Toyota that they would stop selling and building eight of their models because of accelerator pedal problems is not something that Toyota owners should ignore. The recall affects 2.3 million vehicles that have been sold but it is too late for the 18 people who have died and 275 crashes because of “sudden, uncontrollable acceleration in Toyotas since 1999″ which have been identifed by a private firm. The latest notice comes after their November 25, 2009 advisory regarding floor mat problems on certain Toyota and Lexus models.

Here’s the notice from Toyota’s website: Latest News About Toyota’s Safety Recall Campaign. Models include Avalon, Camry, Corolla, Highlander, Matrix, RAV4, Sequoia, and Tundra. According to this notice on Toyota’s website, “No Lexus Division or Scion vehicles are affected by these actions. Also not affected are Toyota P5rius, Tacoma, Sienna, Venza, Solara, Yaris, 4Runner, FJ Cruiser, Land Cruiser, Highlander hybrids and Camry hybrids, which will remain for sale.” Read more »

The December issue of O Magazine contained a full page ad for Dysport, a prescription only “injection to temporarily improve the look of moderate to severe frown lines between the eyebrows (glabellar lines) in adults less than 65 years of age.” One half of the entire page shows the almost life-size, flawlessly unlined, face of a young blonde model (whose photo may or may not have been enhanced by photo editing — a common practice in the advertising world). 

The ad also has two 1-1/4 inch x 3/4 inch before and after photos of a “Maximum Frown” — not of the same model since the eyes and brows are different. The “after” photo shows the subject’s attempt to frown on “Day 14″ after “50 units” have been injected into the frown area (I would be curious how she looks on days 1-13 and as the injection begins losing effect). It appears the woman couldn’t have frowned if her life depended on it, and from the wording in the four pages of fine print that accompany the ad, in some cases, it could. Read more »