Rude Donuts!!!

For the last couple of weeks my mother and I have been making plans to meet our friends from church to watch the Altus Christmas Parade. The plan WAS for all of us to meet at Happy Donuts (which I still call Duncan Donuts since I use to work there) and hang out until the parade started then we’d all go outside and watch it together. But our plans for a happy gathering were soon crushed when the owner of Happy Donuts told us that he had people coming and that we could only stay for “20 minutes”! How rude!!!

I tried to explain to him that we had made plans to meet about 12-15 people there, depending on how many from the group actually showed up, but he didn’t care. He kept asking me, “Well what time are they going to get here?” as if I knew their schedules for the day. But we WERE going to order donuts and drinks, we WERE going to be paying customers but apparently this man cares more about the POTENTIAL of these so-called people showing up than he did about us, the customers who were already there and ready to pay!

And while this man may have owned Happy Donuts for several years now (I remember when Ralph sold it to him) he has obviously never grasped the concept of word-of-mouth. I am not now, nor have I ever been a business owner but if I did own a business I would NEVER treat paying customers in the way that this man treated us.

The old saying is “the customer is always right” and while some may finish that statement with “in theory only” they still put their customers first and treat them with the respect and dignity that they deserve. When a person decides to step into a place of business they deserve the salesman’s respect because they have chosen to spend their hard earned money to purchase the product that business is selling, it shouldn’t matter if that product is a restaurant or a retail store the same goes for all. And to be perfectly frank I don’t understand how Happy Donuts has remained open for all these years. Their service is not that good, except for the pleasant young man who works there, they’ve cut down the donut sections by at least half (from what I can remember) and I have personally, on two separate occasions, witnessed a pot of coffee sit on the burner for at least FIVE (5) HOURS that was still being served to customers because the owners are too cheap to brew a fresh pot of coffee for them! That should tell you what little regard they have for their customers!

Thankfully the day ended well with my friend and her son and me sitting in front of another business here in town and enjoying the parade together, mamma was of course in the truck not freezing with the rest of us. LOL

All in all, if you want to hang out with your friends for a few hours and have fun DO NOT go to Happy Donuts because they are not worth your time!

Very Unhappy with Happy Donuts!!!

Benefit Dinner To Be Held Before ‘Phantom’ Production

Benefit Dinner To Be Held Before ‘Phantom’ Production

Altus Times

Teri Bibb played the role of Christine Daaé in “the Phantom of the Operat” more than 1,000 times on Broadway and with the national tour, singing a command performance at the White House for both former Presidents Clinton and Bush and earning a Helen Hayes Award nomination and a Carbonell Award along the way. 

On Monday, Nov. 21, Bibb will perform show tunes at the Altus High School cafeteria for the Lasagna Dinner before the Altus High School’s All School Production of “Phantom of the Operat” at 7 pm. The dinner will begin seating at 5 p.m., with Bibb performing at 6:15 p,m. Proceeds from the dinner will benefit the AHS Choir program.

Bibb’s father was a flight engineer at Altus Air Force Base when the family moved here. She attended Roosevelt Elementary School and Southeast Junior High. While at Altus High School, she made All State Band and All State Choir two years and was an alternate to the McDonald’s All American High School Band her senior year.  Teri played Carrie Pipperidge in “Carousel” her junior year and was Dolly in “Hello Dolly” as a senior. 

She not only excelled musically, but she was also the Co-Valedictorian for the Class of 1978. She graduated from Oklahoma City University where she majored in music and was classically trained as a soprano. While attending college, Bibb won the title of Miss OCU and finished in the top 10 for the 1982 Miss Oklahoma Pageant. [Nancy Chapman, also from Altus won the title that year.]

A veteran of over 50 musicals, her professional credits playing the title role in “Fanny” the late José Ferrer and starring in the world premieres of two new musicals:  “Songs from the Tall Grass” at the Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C. and “Children of the Night” with the Katselas Theatre Company in Beverly Hills, for which she received a 2009-2010 Ovation Award nomination for Best Lead Actress in a Musical.

Bibb has been a featured soloist in gala tributes honoring Lord Andrew Lloyd Webber, Stephen Sondheim, and Harold Prince, including "The Broadway Prince" at Carnegie Hall and seven annual "The Night of 1,000 Voices" concerts at London's Royal Albert Hall. She sang duets with tenor José Carreras at Radio City Music Hall, and starred in "One Enchanted Evening" in Belfast, Northern Ireland. She has sung with orchestras across the US, including the Santa Fe, St. Louis, Cape and Pacific Symphonies, the California Philharmonic and the New York Pops; and can be heard on the recordings "Unsung Irving Berlin" and "A Gala Concert for Hal Prince.”

In Los Angeles, where she lives with her husband, fellow performer Andy Umberger, played Clara in the LA concert premiere of Sondheim's “Passion” and was featured in “Rodgers & Hammerstein” for the Reprise Theatre Company. She has sung on several film scores including “Ice Age” and “Polar Express.  She has been a supporting player on film, guest starred on television, and been a featured soloist on ABC’s “Dancing with the Stars.”  She currently performs in concerts across the country with The Phantom’s Leading Ladies,a trio of Christines from Broadway’s “The Phantom of the Opera”.

“What makes all of these accomplishments even more meaningful is that Altus is where she got her start,” observed Maurice King, retired drama teacher at AHS who directed her in “Carousel” and Hello Dolly.”

In the days before opening night, Bibb will perform and speak to the cast of “The Phantom of the Opera” about her experiences in pursuing a performing arts career. Her talk will focus on encouraging them to be self-confident and to continue to their skills and talents and to increase their respect and appreciation of and for the performing arts.

Patti Ray, AHS Choir Director, will be the accompanist and King will introduce Bibb at the Lasagna Dinner Benefit. Tickets for the dinner maybe purchased in the lobby of the Eula B. Peterson Auditorium from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., Nov. 14 through Nov. 21. Tickets are $15 each with discounts for multiple ticket purchases. Separate tickets for “The Phantom of the Opera” may be purchased during the times mentioned also.

Special thanks to the Shortgrass Arts and Humanities Council, Ken Ferguson of NBC Bank and the Hampton Inn.

When I Meet The Great Pumpkin

By: Peggy Sue Clay Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Of course everyone knows the story of The Great Pumpkin and how Linus waits for him every year in the pumpkin patch only to be disappointed when he finds out that it was only Snoopy, but you haven’t heard my story, yet.

It was October 1974; I was a five-year-old kindergartener at Robert E. Lee Kindergarten here in my hometown of Altus, Oklahoma.

On this particular day we had all been in the cafeteria to exercise or watch a little movie, I can’t really remember but when we got back to our classroom our teacher, Miss Bookout, had been rearranging the Halloween decorations on the wall. Needless to say that we were all very creeped out and just a little scared when we saw that the skeleton had moved from one wall to another!

The day went on and soon it was time for our Halloween party! I was only five and had never been to a Halloween party so this was a real treat for me, I was so excited! My class was having a real Halloween party and we were all wearing real Halloween costumes. (I feel the need to say that we were having a real Halloween party and wearing real Halloween costumes since today’s school children do not have real Halloween parties any more, they have “Harvest or Fall Celebrations.”)

We had our party in our classroom then we all went around Trick or Treating to the different classrooms and trailer type classes on our little campus.

Teachers and students alike were excited to see us, just as we were to see them when they came to our classroom, but soon it was time for us to line up and go to the next room. On this particular trip I was lucky enough to be first in line and when Miss Bookout told me I could open the door and start on our way I opened the door and there stood The Great Pumpkin!!!

Since we were in a trailer type room I opened the door not to a hallway but to the outside and there he stood larger than life! I gasped as I saw him standing there and I’m sure I was frozen then I said, “IT’S THE GREAT PUMPKIN!”

Everyone around me tried to crowd in to see him. From this point on I can’t remember what happened but I’m sure that he gave us a little greeting and he was off in a flash. Of course now that I’m an adult I realize that it was just someone in a costume but the site of seeing him standing there so big and round and orange with that happy smile just did something to me and I have loved Halloween ever since.

Thank you Great Pumpkin for making my childhood so special; I shall never forget you!

Show Me Your Glory

This is a song we sing during praise and worship at my church. I’ve had it on my mind for the last couple of weeks so I wanted to blog the lyrics.  

                      Show Me Your Glory – Jesus Culture

I see the cloud, I step in

I want to see Your glory as Moses did

Flashes of light and rolls of thunder,

I'm not afraid

I'm not afraid

Show me Your glory, show me your glory, my God

Show me Your glory, show me Your glory

I'm marked by Your beauty, lost in Your eyes

I want to walk in Your presence like Jesus did

Your glory surrounds and I am overwhelmed

I'm not afraid

I'm not afraid

Show me Your glory, show me your glory, my God

Show me Your glory, show me Your glory

I long to look on the face of the One that I love

Long to stay in your presence, it's where I belong

Oh how we love you, Oh how we love you

Oh how we love you Jesus

Send Your Warning to the Sponsors of The Playboy Club!

Daimler/Chrysler and Unilever Sponsor Season Premiere of The Playboy Club

The Playboy Club debuted last night to dismal ratings – meaning the American people, by and large, agree that the Playboy brand does not belong in prime time, but some companies clearly still have not gotten the message. 

Chrysler/Dodge and Unilever (which owns such brands as Hellmann’s Mayonnaise and P.F. Chang’s Home Menu) sponsored last night’s premiere episode. 

Help us hold these companies accountable for their role in pushing the Playboy brand into every living room in America by taking action now. 

And please, if this issue is important to you, forward this e-mail to your friends and associates who share your values and urge them to take action.

After months of denials from NBC that their new fall show “The Playboy Club” was in any way connected to or helping to promote the Playboy brand, the truth is out. 

The latest issue of “Playboy” magazine to hit the stands features one of the show’s lead actresses on the cover and sells for a mere 60¢ - the price in 1960s when the series is set. The October issue also takes a retrospective looks at the Playboy clubs in the ‘60s and features a spread on the NBC series.  Thanks in no small part to the publicity the brand will enjoy through the program, Playboy has announced plans to reopen its Chicago club next spring.  Oh, and Hugh Heffner also provides voice-over narration for the first episode. 

And today the show plugged “Tuesday Tweeting with Hef,” on its Twitter page, promising fans “Hef’s take on the premiere and life at the club in the ‘60s,” while urging fans to send questions to Heffner using the identifying hash tag “AskHef.”

…But as NBC has stated, the show and the Playboy brand are not at all connected.

Every single company that sponsored the premiere episode of The Playboy Club is complicit in the act of mainstreaming pornography. With Playboy spelled out blatantly in the show title, no advertiser can claim to be surprised.

And let us not lose sight of what the Playboy brand represents: It’s about promoting a narrow, and for most women, unattainable ideal of feminine beauty; it’s about reducing a woman to a set of measurements to the exclusion of everything else.  It’s a brand that owns the Spice Digital Networks, purveyors of hardcore pornography.  It’s a brand that seeks to lure young girls through pink, sparkly, bunny logo merchandise that is often shelved alongside Hello Kitty products.

PTC is contacting each advertiser to ask them to state for the record whether they plan to continue to underwrite this content with their advertising dollars. Unilever and Chrysler/Dodge dealerships need to hear directly from PTC members and other concerned citizens. There is no reason for any advertiser to associate its brand with a program that exploits and degrades women. 

Each advertiser is helping to make adults-only material available in virtually every living room in the country. Even worse, this show is putting a sickening, glamorous sheen on an adult entertainment industry that destroys countless marriages and families. All brands appearing on future episodes of the show, regardless of how cheap the ad spots get, can rest assured they will hear from PTC about their decision to sponsor the program. 

You can help us hold NBC and the program’s sponsors accountable by taking action now. 

New Blog Site

For a while now someone I know has been telling me that I should start a personal blog but I’ve resisted the idea of it because I just figured that I didn’t have anything important enough to say about anything but lately I’ve been thinking about things and I’ve decided to go ahead and start a personal blog.

So this is me, this is a totally separate blog space than my Classic Nickelodeon Fan Blog. This is the place where I can rant about politics, both local and national, talk about my family or memories from when I was growing up; rant about the idiots I encounter. I can talk about TV shows both good and bad ones, music, Halloween or anything else I feel like talking about. This is just a place for me to be me and to blow off some steam about whatever is going on in my life and a place to share fun things like crafts or whatever.

I am a Christian and a Conservative Republican so at times this blog will be political and they will be my opinions. This also seems like a good time to say that I WILL NOT put up with harassing comments on my posts. Years ago I had a personal blog on Yahoo 360 and I got harassed and bombarded with comments about my blogs all the time and I WILL NOT put up with that here.

I WILL stand up and say how I feel about things and as so many people have told me, if you don’t like what I have to say about things then don’t read it. This is still the United States of America and we still have freedom of speech here and I will use it. Seems harsh to say those things I know but I will not be harassed or bullied again, I just won’t!

So if you’re still with me after all than then welcome to my new blog.