www.Myyellowshovel.com

This website does not do this place justice. I stumbled upon this beachside store on Anna Maria Island today. It was the most incredible store I have ever been in. One-of-a-kind jewelry, candle holders, incredible unique clothing, frames, everything for your home, baby stuff, unique shoes...everything at an incredible price. I LOVE this store. Ask Nick, I spent over an hour in there. He even liked it. As I said, the site does not do them justice. Apparently they just got it up and running so hopefully they will take some more pictures.


www.myyellowshovel.com

Read the post below this one first...then view!

Another Article

And another...

Yet another... Sandy in this story worked across the hall from me. The execs would always go in her office, slam the door shut and screaming/crying would ensue...

I Can't Believe This!!!!!

I had dinner with my friend Camille, from my old job at Dynamic Leisure Corp tonight. We had great conversations, including those concerning our former place of employment. I knew it was shady, but I had no idea how shady and neither did she. Check this out, Jenn in the video and article worked there at the same time as me and left at the exact same time when a bunch of us were let go. It was a small company and we all heard rumblings of unhappy customers, but nothing like this. I knew Dan Brandano seemed like a jackass...but this is off the radar.

I couldn't get the interview to embed, CLICK HERE TO SEE THE VIDEO

Ex-employee reveals secrets of troubled website
Posted by Melanie Brooks

Lakeland, Florida - Jenn Cooldige says it was like a nightmare every day, knowing that customers who booked travel with the online website, Dynamic Leisure, would never reach their final destinations.

“There are dreams and hearts being broken here,” Jenn told us, sitting in the kitchen of her Lakeland home.

The longtime paralegal decided to take on the title of whistleblower after working for the company for six months, from July 2007 to January 2008. She answered an ad on Craig's List and thought it would be exciting to work for a travel company.

She says she was dead wrong.

She claims her boss, CEO Dan Brandano, was taking customers' money, but rarely booking their travel, often leaving people stranded at the airport with no reservations at all.

"They [Dan] were going into pay pal and taking money off of people's credit cards that hadn't been released by the credit card companies yet, and putting into one of 3 bank accounts, then other bank accounts and other bank accounts," Jenn says.

Dream trips turned into nightmares. Vendors became angry when they saw that their accounts went unpaid from Dynamic Leisure, according to records. Cooldige says one hotel in the Caribbean showed an outstanding balance of more than $600,000 that Dynamic Leisure had yet to pay.

Countless couples have emailed Tampa Bay's 10 News, telling horror stories of preparing for a honeymoon, only to find out, it was never booked even after a credit card was charged.

In another case, a group of 24 passengers in Washington D.C. was out $37,000 after arriving at Ronald Reagan National Airport and discovering their reservations didn't exist.

"How can you get up and look at yourself in the morning, knowing that you have people going on their honeymoons on their wedding knowing not only do they have no air. They have no wedding," Jenn told us.

Jenn showed us document after document where Brandano owed thousands of dollars, but she says would never pay.

After six months, she resigned and says she began filing complaints with the Florida Attorney General's Office and The Securities and Exchange Commission, since Dynamic Leisure is a publicly traded company. She also filed paperwork, she says, with the FBI.

Jenn admits, "I don't think that Mr. Brandano anticipated his employees coming together the way that they have to stand up to him."

The Attorney General's Office in Connecticut has launched an investigation into Brandano and his business practices, but Florida is slow to follow, despite the fact that 10 News faxed multiple emails to the Attorney General's office in Tallahassee, showing customer complaints and concerns.

Florida has yet to open it's own case against the CEO.

But Jenn refuses to give up, "I've done everything I can do to try and make my voice heard to make people aware that if they have booked travel with Dynamic Leisure to please check with the resort to confirm your reservation."

We've spoken with Mr. Brandano in the past about these allegations. We talked with him once again Wednesday night about these latest accusations.

Brandano gave this response, "We are handling this and issuing refunds. Our refunds are coming. We are working with the Department of Consumer Services."

However, Tampa Bay's 10 News continues to receive emails on a daily basis about this story, and we have yet to hear of any customer receiving a refund.

Mr. Brandano has since retained counsel.

Consumer Reports Continued

"Philosophy and Values – Since 1970, Tuffy has been committed to:

* Treating our customers and employees with honesty, respect, and professionalism
Providing quality parts and service at an exceptional value
Recognizing that satisfied customers are the foundation of our business

At Tuffy, we realize that our future success is determined by how well we exceed our customer’s expectations today."-www.tuffy.com homepage

HA. Right. My car has been in the shop for 4 days at Tuffy. 4 days. First, it was a compressor issue, then we had to spend an additional $300 for electrical. Then, we picked it up on Saturday only to have it making a loud noise like you were driving over a grate-and the air conditioning still not working. We took it straight back. Sat there in the Tuffy waiting room for 2 hours as they told us "oh, we overcharged the compressor, it should be fixed any minute." At closing time on Saturday the head Tuffy service guy finally came to talk to us. He basically said "It's a Volkswagen, they do things differently. I'm taking it into the VW dealership first thing Monday morning myself."

After calling Tuffy at noon today (I have an appt I need to get to at 3) they said "A master mechanic is looking at it, we're going to get another part."

The Riverview location Tuffy service manager admitted to me on Saturday they don't know what the hell they are doing. Take it some professionals. Furthermore, if you don't know how to work on a Volkswagen don't start to work on it in the first place.

We have given the Tuffy on Big Bend Road, Riverview FL tons of business over the last year, apparently we were stupid to trust them. This Tuffy location is a prime example of why people are skeptical about getting cars repaired.

I cannot begin to express my disbelief in the lack of professionalism. The Tuffy service manager looked both of us in the eye on Saturday, giving us his word he would take care of the problem and now we find out we were completely mislead in what they were to do next. If satisfied customers are the foundation of the Tuffy business, there shouldn't be one.

Oh, and I have to miss my appointment I scheduled a week ago because I still don't have a car.

Ahh wedding Videos...

This is a video of G.W. before he was governor at a wedding. The guy interviewing him is a member of the bridal party just asking questions on video.

My *hit List

I have found a fabulous site called "www.ripoffreport.com". I have been using it quite frequently in the last week, especially after I made the mistake of filing out a couple of online quote requests for moving companies. If you are moving, do NOT MAKE THE MISTAKE OF DOING THIS! I have had tens of phone calls every single day from totally random companies. I'm not joking. Phone calls, emails, bordering on harassment as far as I am concerned. And when I actually pick up one of these phone calls, the annoyances are far worse.

Moving Company Never to Contact #1:


Authorized Movers
www.authorizedmovers.com
1-888-511-0018

I received an email from them asking for an inventory list (keep in mind they are one of the companies I had NOT contacted, they got my name from somewhere else). I simply replied with an email saying:

"Please take me off your contact list. Thank you, ELS"

I received this back from "Angelita" (angelita@authorizedmovers.com)

******************************************************
Hi Elizabeth:

I was only doing my job by sending you an estimate.

Angelita
******************************************************

Are you kidding me??? Get a life people. And I was just asking you to DO your job by taking me off your contact list. When I said no contact, that means no contact. I believe that is why you are supposed to have a "remove from contact list" link at the bottom of emails. I called the company livid. It took me 10 minutes of shouting to get a manager on the phone. Stay far away. I hope this will make the search engines and desuade people from contacting them.


Moving Company Never to Contact #2:
This one is truly the worst.

A+ Van Lines
www.aplusvanlines.com
(877) 210-1122

They claim they will move you anywhere for under $999. That was the first red flag, and I still gave them my information. Damn. They have called me 10 times a day. NO JOKE. I finally picked up. Some bimbo was on the other end. I told her I figured out who I was using for a "U-Pack" move (you pack it, they drive it-cheaper)

"What, why would you do that?" (In a completely snotty, ditzy way) "I mean why would you do that..I mean we like pack everything"

ME: "Well maybe because half my stuff is already packed, it doesn't really make sense"

"I mean whatever if that's what you want to do..I mean THAT doesn't really make sense"

I asked if A Plus Vanlines had offices in Tampa because they are out of Miami and I could tell she was shady. "Uh yeah" was the response I got. Not so. With a simple google search you can find out this company "will tell you anything to keep you on the phone" and will load your things for an extremely low quoted price and not let your things off the truck until you pay more.

I am still receiving 10 phone calls a day. I just wrote them a note on their website to stop all contact.


Moral of the Story: Florida is a scary, scary, scamming place. These people have no shame. I think I will be smart and take my things back to the motherland myself.

More Yearbookyourself.com

Nick in '54, '88 and '70!!

You HAVE to try This!

This web site is so so funny! It is set up to be a marketing tool for Taubman Companies, a company which owns many shopping malls. Go to www.yearbookyourself.com, or click HERE.

You simply upload a picture, and it loads your face into different 'looks' throughout the years (similar to what would be found in a yearbook). You have got to try it. Each of the 'pages' in the yearbook are a bit different so you do have to adjust your face a bit. Here is one of my faces, I believe from 1968? Also Jenelle from 1980!

How About "Thank You"

Governor: Gunmen fired at MPs protecting supplies in Louisiana
Gov. Bobby Jindal says members of the National Guard came under fire this morning in Ville Platte, La.

"Sometime after midnight, somewhere between two and three criminals, we believe they were attempting to loot those supplies, actually opened fire," he says. "They fired about five or six shots at the National Guardsmen. The MPs, the military police, that were there took shelter behind their military vehicle. They returned fire with their M-16 rifles. The criminals fled."

No one was injured in the exchange of gunfire, he says.

The gunmen are at large. "I would just ask our people to continue to be vigilant about their safety," he says.

Update at 11:24 a.m. ET: Rick Breitenfeldt, a National Guard spokesman, tells USA TODAY that the soldiers were protecting three 18-wheelers carrying hurricane-related supplies in Evangeline Parish.

I can't help but be reminded of Rush Limbaugh's comments just a few months ago regarding the flooding in Iowa:

LIMBAUGH: I want to know. I look at Iowa, I look at Illinois—I want to see the murders. I want to see the looting. I want to see all the stuff that happened in New Orleans. I see devastation in Iowa and Illinois that dwarfs what happened in New Orleans. I see people working together. I see people trying to save their property…I don’t see a bunch of people running around waving guns at helicopters, I don’t see a bunch of people running shooting cops. I don’t see a bunch of people raping people on the street. I don’t see a bunch of people doing everything they can…whining and moaning—where’s FEMA, where’s BUSH. I see the heartland of America. When I look at Iowa and when I look at Illinois, I see the backbone of America.

The "Hottest Governor in America"

Sarah Palin in Vogue Magazine, December 2007. Now that's classy.

It's on Like Donkey Kong.

I honestly didn't have an opinion about Sarah Palin but now feel the undeniable need to defend her. And I am going to assume that many women-and anyone who has ever swayed to the right feels much the same need. This woman is getting criticized--wait for it----for having a down syndrome baby. Check out this post, later removed from Alan Colmes' blog, Liberland. Click to enlarge.




And yes Dems, lets go ahead and release her SSN. Stay Classy.