Icewind's Ramblings

At the end of the Survivor Samoa Reunion show there was a brief clip of the upcoming season for its twentieth run of Survivor.  They called it “Heroes vs. Villains” which gave us a glimpse of who may be playing.  It started many blogs debating who should be on and possibly which side based on past appearances. Jeff Probst revealed the cast of 'Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains' during the People's Choice Awards on Wednesday night.  The cast features twenty former players that fans either love or love to hate  . . . and after seeing the roster, I can't wait until it premiers on February 11, 2010. With the production crew in the Samoa ’s filming started just after season 19 wrapped making a quick turn around for season 20.  You may also remember there was a major earthquake in the area during that time period but it is not known if that will play into the show as when it happened the only thing released was no one was hurt during the event.  Production may...

Now to report on a ‘sticky’ situation a few days ago in California . . . Over the holidays an incident happened in Bakersfield when one of the many people traveling went through the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) security checkpoint and was detained when two agents ‘found’ what they suspected to be a suspicious liquid. The passenger was said to be fully cooperating with TSA which leaves one to wonder just how incompetent some of these people are.  A hazardous material crew and bomb squad were called to Meadows Field Airport when sharp eyed TSA spotted several jars in a passenger's luggage. The airport was put under a security lockdown for hours while the investigation was ongoing.  The liquid substance that had everyone so worried?  Honey . . . the stuff Winnie the Pooh likes to eat.  It’s not just the human component of Homeland Security that failed, though. An expensive machine designed to detect the chemical signature of explosives c...

I’ve spent the last two days in an orientation class for job I recently started.  I was supposed to go to one in mid December but with the holidays it was cancelled until after the first of the year. I was able to start work for several weeks and as Monday approached I was starting to dread having to stop for two days to attend a class.  It had elements about the company and our mission.  There were lectures about the systems and the different divisions within our organization.  There were also several lectures (stories) about cultural differences within our staff and also our clients (patients/shareholders).  They were enlightening at times and showcased what makes this group of people somewhat unique in our fields of expertise. The class was filled with people from the four different divisions, some health care personnel with one doctor and six to eight nurses.  There were admin type people who worked in various clerical or billing type positions....