SARATOGA SPRINGS — Area officials caught a glimpse of Las Vegas-style gambling Thursday, when the owners of Saratoga Casino and Raceway announced plans for a $40 million expansion that would bring dice rolling and poker back to this old gaming city.

Saratoga Harness Racing Inc. wants to add 15,000-square-feet to the casino/harness track for table games like blackjack, roulette and craps. The $40 million project also calls for a 130-room hotel, an event center, additional dining options and, possibly, a parking garage.

Read more: http://www.timesunion.com/local/article/Racino-betting-big-on-Saratoga-casino-2490225.php#ixzz1jOSolNJu

Trust me …you need one!  I got mine for $9.99 at The Christmas Tree Shop.

For the second time in the past year, maybe year and a half, my identity was stolen!  Not my whole identity, just partial identity theft.  To whomever it is that stealing my bank information could please assume all of my finances?  Don’t stop with the bankroll, take the mortgage, the taxes, the car payment, the utility bills too!  Please, by all means …be me 100%!

A warning to you all, here’s what the do.  They hack into accounts and take your card information.  Next they make a small transaction to see if the card works.  Once that transaction goes through they reverse it.  You will see money in and money out of your account.  If you’re lucky your bank will catch on to this activity.  The transaction is usually from an odd location/site.  If you’re lucky, which I was, your bank will put a temporary hold on your account.  So the next time you go to use your card it will be declined.  You will feel like an ass because people automatically assume that you don’t have the funds to pay for your purchase.  Anytime your card declines for no reason you should contact your bank immediately.  They will most likely put you in touch with their fraud department and they will ask you if you made the purchases in question.  The first time this happened to me it was just the in and out transaction.  This time it was the debit, the credit and then a failed attempt at a much larger purchase.

Thank you Trustco bank for putting a hold on my account before the larger transaction went through!

I’m still working on my resolution list.  Buying time since the holiday falls on a Sunday …technically we should all begin our resolutions on Tuesday.

Resolution #1 – Stop procrastinating …wait that can’t be resolution #1.  I already listed resolution #1 as blogging more.

Resolution #1 – Blog more

Resolution #2 – Stop procrastinating

1.  I absolutely NEEDED the time off from work.  Sometimes you need to just step back and decompress.

2.   Cleaning one room shouldn’t take all day.  Ok, I didn’t start at 8:00 but I did end around 4:00, with some breaks here and there.  And in my defense I went through all the cabinets and cleaned, it’s not like I was just surface cleaning.

3.   Naps are wonderful.  I already knew this but it’s worth noting

4.   A lot of people take this week off from work.  I took the kids ice skating yesterday and the place was packed.

5.   Ice skating at 40 isn’t so bad after all.  I might have felt differently had I fallen but it turns out that ice skating is just like riding a bike, you don’t forget.

6.   At 40 one does tend to forget where they park.  Actually, this has been going on for years but now the panic sets in when I can’t find the car.

7.   By day 4, which is today, laziness sets in.  Aside from some grocery shopping, I haven’t moved from my seat or my laptop since I got up this morning.

8.   I could never work from home all day, every day.  Not only would I go crazy, I would weigh 500lbs.

9.   I’m starting Weight Watchers for the New Year!  I’ve been home for the past 6 days!  Ok, it started long before that but this is what I’m using as my excuse.

10.  Come Tuesday, I’ll be ready to go back to work.

I read my last post and here’s an update …I didn’t win the lottery!  No worries, there’s always next year (or the year after that).  No World Peace BUT Ron Artest officially changed his name to Metta World Peace, that has to count for something.  People are still hungry, people are still homeless and people are still missing.  So I was right in that I was setting myself up for disappointment.  I do get the feeling that people are more aware so that in itself is a step in the right direction.

What do I want to see happen in 2012 …dare I even say?  I think I’ll hold on to the same hopes and I’m sure a little more progress will be made in the New Year.

I haven’t officially drafted  up my  list of resolutions but I have changed the background of my blog for a fresh start to the New Year.   In the coming year I will blog more!  Let’s call that resolution #1.

Now that I got that out of the way, did you notice the date?  1-1-11  Not as epic as 11-11-11 will be, but worth noting

I have high hopes for this year, which I hesitate to even say because a. it leaves a lot of room for disappointment and b. I’m probably jinxing myself.  But alas …I’ll say it anyway!  One thing that I would like to see happen this year is hitting the lottery, big …semi-big …I’ll take anything.  Luck seemed to be on my side last week when I won on PowerBall, 3 numbers and the powerball!  Personally, I think I should have won more just because I got 3 out of 5 and the powerball but I don’t control the payouts.  Not so much luck with last nights MegaMillions but I consider it a win as nobody won the grand prize   I at first you don’t succeed …I think I need a trip to the Racino.

Other things I hope to see happen in 2011 …World Peace, end world hunger, end homelessness, no more missing person cases …see just setting myself up for disappointment.

I do wish for health and happiness in 2011 to those I hold near and dear, my family and friends, and to those who take the time to read here.

Last week I went to CA for work and it was a great trip!  I work with a lot of people on the west coast that I have never met in person.  It was so nice to finally put faces to the voices on the phone.  Oh and the work part of the trip was good too.  We are beginning a project that will take 36 months to complete (in theory) and have a better idea of what is in store in the years to come.  The weather in Southern California was FABULOUS! Can I say it again?  F-A-B-U-L-O-U-S! Sunny and warm with palm trees and mountains in the distance, a beautiful sight to see after a long winter in the great Northeast.  I’m ready to go back anytime!

What’s a girl to do now that’s she’s back  to reality (ie: overcast and cold) …get a new tattoo of course!  I spent a good portion of Sunday sitting in a chair with my arms folded in front of me on a table getting an Egyptian flower of life inked up on my back.  It hurt a little, ok a lot at times, but it looks AWESOME!  I’m in pain but it won’t last nearly as long at the tattoo will.  That’s my reasoning anyway.

I went to the Sleep-A-Thon this evening for a few hours and it brings things into perspective rather quickly.  There was a large crowd of people with signs and donation cans, carefully placed by the traffic lights.  Horns were honking and people were opening up their hearts and their wallets.  I’m a people watcher, it’s what I like to do, so this was interesting for me to observe.  Some people would sit in their car, look over, look away, look back and finally decide to give what they could.  Others would not even make eye contact.  I didn’t have a donation can but I had a sign.  It took me a while but I eventually saw that it had something written on both sides, the side that was facing me said “Honk for the Homeless”.  So I decided to try something out.  I noticed someone looking at my sign but it was clear that they were not going to donate.  I made sure to get their attention and I turned my sign around.  Most times the person cracked a smile and honked.  Hey, it was better than nothing.  It’s the little things in life!  It was also interesting to listen to people.  They were all there for the same cause, the homeless, which maybe made it more amusing to hear “I’m cold”.  And yes,  it’s cold tonight and windy!  I had gloves on but my fingers were getting numb after 2 hours, surprisingly my feet stayed warm but if I was out there much longer I’m sure that would have changed.  It was easy for any of us to go inside to get warm, there was a command center of sorts set up in a near by building.  But just think about those who are out there, day in and day out, who cannot easily go inside to warm up, not for any length of time anyway.  We would all return to our homes after a few hours or a night for the truly dedicated, not everyone has that.  And while it’s easy to pass judgement, it’s important to realize that anyone can come across hard times and you never know what might happen if you are placed in that situation.

Let me say from the start, I don’t think this is my first time here (on Earth) and I don’t think it will be my last.  I feel that with each life we’re working on improving ourself until we finally reach that ultimate life where our purpose is served.  Not to say that we don’t have a purpose in each lifetime, I believe we do.  Baby steps I suppose.  Now don’t ask me what I was in a previous life because I haven’t figured that out.  I can only concentrate on one life at a time and right now I’m working on the present one.  Maybe, once I have it figured out I’ll go back and try to piece it together.  For now I want to know what my purpose is in the here and now.

Here’s what I have figured out so far, and it’s not much.  A few years ago I was watching the news and saw a story about a boy who was missing not too far from where I live.  His name was Jaliek Rainwalker and while I never met him he is a big piece of what I think my purpose is, at least in part, in this life.  I began to blog about Jaliek’s disappearance, to spread awareness, and through those posts I met his grandmother Barbara Reeley.  Through Barbara I met more people who were searching for Jaliek, I became involved in fund-raisers, I was able to go on a search and continued to spread awareness through my blog posts.  My plan is to continue my efforts to help with missing person cases where I can and now I have plans to join a Search and Rescue group.  This will enable me to assist in more searches, meet more people with a common goal and make more connections to get faces and names of the missing out into the public eye.

This is a work in progress … I am a work in progress … any insight is always welcomed.