LITTLETON, Colo. — This time last year, Monique White was living in a tiny motel room and looking for work, pining for the Thanksgivings of her childhood when dozens gathered for the holiday feast.

On Thursday, White will fulfill her holiday wish. She has a home and a job, and thanks to an impromptu Craigslist posting, more than 30 strangers are gathering at her house to share a banquet of nine turkeys, four hams, 16 boxes of stuffing and a dozen or so pies.

White, 36, posted a two-sentence invitation on the Internet classifieds site last week. The receptionist at a dentist’s office was feeling a little lonely, her two sons spending the holiday with their dad. So she figured maybe four or five strangers would reply to her ad and join her and longtime partner Doug White at their suburban Denver home for Thanksgiving dinner.

Instead, dozens replied. People laid off work. People with no family. People ashamed to bring their children to a charity Thanksgiving dinner at a soup kitchen.

“I thought there was no way I could judge who is worthy of sitting at my table. I have to invite them all,” White said, sitting at her dining room table as she went over some of the e-mails.

So all 32 people who responded are coming over for Thanksgiving dinner. White’s boss heard what she was doing and said he’d pay for the food. A local hotel is bringing over tables and chairs. A professional magician in the area replied and offered to come perform for the kids. National media outlets have shuffled through the Whites’ modest town house writing about the unusual offer.

It’s a far cry from last year, when the Whites were living in a motel room. They had a long-haul trucking business that had gone out of business. Doug White was working construction; Monique White was still looking. Their holiday got worse when the window in their motel room caved in after a heavy snow, leaving them with little to give thanks for but a soggy mess.

“Last year it was just us two. It was horrible,” she said.

Things have turned around. Both are now working, and they’ve bought the town house. With the economy as it is, the Whites say they’re barely making ends meet. But they feel compelled to share what they do have with others.

“That’s what Thanksgiving is about: Helping other people out however you can,” Doug White said.

He’s had little time to contemplate the meaning of Monique’s Craigslist gesture. He was busy making the first turkeys, putting one in the oven as soon as another came out. But there’s truly plenty to give thanks for over the past year.

“Looking back then to now, it’s night and day,” Doug White said.

“People need to stop being so worried about me, me, me, my bills, my life. You stop worrying, and look what happens?”

Sharky VS Wal-Mart….ROUND 2

If you didn’t read my letter to Wal-Mart, you should check it out…it’s a good read. Now it’s round two and honestly, the fights over…I throw in the towel.

The store manager of the Lawrenceburg Wal-Mart, Kim, called me and told me to come in to discuss the situation with her. I headed over, with all of my paperwork in hand, ready to go toe to toe with the enemy. My hands were taped and the gloves were on…let’s get ready to rumbbbbbbbbbbbbbllllllllllllllleeeeeeeeeee.

Kim came to the service desk and I showed her the paperwork and explained how much I felt like I was out due to the situation; she looked everything over and said- “well, let me make some copies and get you some money!”.

KNOCK OUT.

I was amazed that a Wal-Mart employee was actually helping me and doing the right thing.

My total loss came to $102 to fix everything that the folks in TLE had either broken or just didn’t do and Kim saw it may way. There are still some difference in what I believe and what is said…for example…one of the main TLE managers stated that the only way to tell if the belt in the tire is broken is to actually cut the tire open and look. Goodyear and Harrodsburg Wal-Mart says completely different, but those are differences that have nothing to do with this at the moment.

Kim gave me the money I was asking for plus extra to cover my gas and time (which I didn’t ask for).

The total I gave her did not include time, leaving work early, gas or labor to actually get my car fixed but I believe it was a fair estimate for the situation and she agreed.

She introduced me to her assistant store manager and they were both extremely nice and friendly. I truly believe the folks at Wal-Mart did the right thing and did what it took to satisfy the customer and it honestly blew me away. I was ready to write a letter to Judge Mathis or Judge Judy just based on the principal.

My wife and I are daily Wal-Mart shoppers, hell, we open our back door and there it is; it’s hard not to just run there for every little small thing we realize we need. We had considered heading to either Harrodsburg or Frankfort in order to get our must haves (cookies, cupcakes, candy bars, etc!!) but since Kim handled the situation so amazingly…we will continue to shop at our local Lawrenceburg Wal-Mart Supercenter (however, TLE can still kiss my ass!).

I have always looked at Wal-Mart as an enemy to the normal American but I now realize that within this enemy are friendly folks that actually believe in making things right.

Our conversation was ended by Kim telling me to ask for her if I ever had any problems and she would handle it….I got the money that I deserved (plus some) and Evan even got a balloon….

Wal-Mart really is the thing dreams are made of and now I have my happily ever after…

~~~~ShArky~~~~

PS- In all seriousness, Kim handled this situation like a professional and truly changed how I feel about our local Wal-Mart. She was extremely friendly, helpful and I truly feel she was sincere about wanting to make it right; not just to shut me up but to make the customer happy.

Wow…What A Concept???

Hopefully, we all start seeing these new ads all over the place…”be good for goodness sake”; that is a crazy concept; what a way of thinking outside the box.

Being good without an ultimate reward in the end….WOW…are you fucking kidding me…seriously?

Why would someone want to be good without that heaven reward just sitting there waiting on them?

This is the concept I have always found amazing as an Athiest…why can’t people just do what we know is right without getting religion into it? It always amazes people that I’m an Athiest who donates to charities, tries to help people when I can and has it in my head that I can change the life of others; they find it amazing that I don’t kill people, sacrifice sheep to the might Satan and trip old people while they are shopping for Ensure at their local Kroger.

I honestly think Christians find it, almost stupid, to do good without being rewarded in the end…it’s not possible…it’s pointless and it goes against everything they believe in. I often have Christians ask me “if there isn’t a god or heaven, what doesn’t every just go wild!!”; well, because that would be stupid.

Just because there isn’t a reward (or punishment) in the end of this journey, why should we act a fool while we are here? Why should we make this world worse for others than it already is?

“Be good for goodness sake…” it will never work……nor will it ever catch on….Organized Religion (aka God’s Mafia) will never allow it, they would go bankrupt!!!

I saw an article on FoxNews.com today entitled “Catholic Bishops Vow To Confront Obama Administration Over Abortion” and it amazed me that the “church” and Ol’ Sharky actually have something in common…after all these years of trying to destroy each other.

The article (Google it) talks about how the Roman Catholic bishops are going to confront President-Elect Barack “Mutt (his words)” Obama over his support for aborting rights. As I read the article, I realized just how much I loath (yes, loath) organized religion.

While I am 100% against abortion for any reason and I do believe it should be illegal , however, not for the same reason giving by the Roman Catholics.

You see, these “religious folks”, believe that by keeping abortion legal, you are attacking their church and religious freedoms….wtf?

Seriously, how is letting someone have an abortion attacking YOUR religious freedom?

The Catholics went on to stated that they would “accept no compromise on abortion policy”; is that a threat by the Catholics; what are they going to do; blow up more abortion clinics, kill more doctors?

The main argument is that if abortion is legal, Catholic hospitals will be forced to perform abortions or lose federal funding…hmmm, didn’t we take care of this with that whole “separation of church and state?” Why is this even an issue?

I hate organized religion because of the double standard that they demand. If you run a hospital on federal funds, it shouldn’t be associated with a religion to begin with. If you want to run a religion based hospital….pay for it with all the “tithes” that you collect every Sunday Morning Service, Sunday Evening Service, Monday Bible Meeting, Tuesday Worship, Wednesday Teen Night, Thursday Fish Fry, Saturday Bowl-A-Roma For Christ or whatever else you can think of to ask for money.

Religion and Government are suppose to be separated and that is the way it should be; get over it.

It’s a shame that the “church” has taken this opportunity to finally work with me to make this a better world and still turned it into something that we have disagree on.

I am anti-abortion until I die because I was there…yes, I myself was once a fetus and I’m glad that I wasn’t killed before I had the chance to come out and speak my mind and I truly believe that every child deserves that same chance.

While I don’t believe the as soon as the sperm and egg combine, it should be considered a baby, I do believe in what the future will bring.

My wife and I went through a miscarriage and it was extremely painful, not because we lost a baby but because of would was to be; it’s really hard to explain.

There is no reason to have an abortion in my eyes and I believe that Fathers should have more say in the situation, regardless of who’s body it is…but that is a different situation for a different day.

I will close with this…abortion should not be legal; a woman should not have the power to kill at will just because that life is within hers.

November 7, 2008
Wal-Mart Store Manager
1000 Bypass N
Lawrenceburg, Kentucky 40342

“Wal-Mart is committed to providing you superior customer service and a pleasant shopping experience”; someone should tell the Lawrenceburg, Kentucky “TLE” department about this, I don’t think they received the memo.

I took my car in on November 3rd, 2008 to get my tires balanced due to a vibration in my steering wheel. The employees were semi-friendly but nothing that I was impressed with; they balanced my tires and I was all set.

As I drove out of the parking lot, I noticed that the vibration in my steering wheel was actually worse, so I thought I needed an alignment. Due to work and my personal life, I could not get my car in for an alignment until November 6th, 2008. I decided to drop my car off at Goodyear in Frankfort, Kentucky on my way to work and pick it up on my way home.

Goodyear called me and told me that my car didn’t need an alignment; they explained to me that I had two bad tires (belt separation). I explained to him that I had just had my tires balanced and they didn’t mention anything about it; he told me that whoever balanced my tires should have picked up on it immediately. The problem was not something that just happened immediately but had happened over time and one tire was extremely bad.

I called the Wal-Mart in Lawrenceburg and explained the situation and they said they couldn’t do anything to help me until they saw the tires. I left work early in order to drive my car from Frankfort to Lawrenceburg safely (hitting the roads before the afternoon traffic); the guy at Goodyear told me that the one tire was extremely bad and could blow out at anytime.

I made it to Lawrenceburg Wal-Mart safely and explained the entire situation to the “manager” of TLE (Daniel). He went out and had the guys take my tires off and check them. I watched and realized that the way they checked to see if the belt was messed up was to put it on the balance machine; the same machine they used just a few days early. The guy doing it this time automatically picked up on the issue and quickly tested all 4 tires. Daniel came in and told me that all four tires were bad but two of them were still covered under Manufacture Warranty because I had bought them there and there was a known problem with this line of tire; so two of my tires were completely, 100% free and then I would have to buy two and my car would be fixed.

The guy on the phone from earlier had told me that they had 2 of the tire I needed in stock and to go ahead and bring the car in; Daniel tells me that the computer says they have two but they actually only have one. They call a few other Wal-Marts and find three of the same tire in Harrodsburg, Kentucky. The tell me to drive my car to Harrodsburg to get the other three tires and they will go ahead and sell me the one tire they have; Daniel told me that Harrodsburg would have to honor the Manufacture Warranty and if they had a problem with that, give him a call. He told me that since I had to have four new tires (two of which I had to pay full price), I should just buy the tire there and then buy one tire in Harrodsburg and get the other two for free.

Instead of putting my good tire that I just bought on, they put it in my passenger seat. After they put my tires back on my car, they came in to tell me that they broke one of my wheels (the center piece that covers the lugnuts) and that if I order and pay for one, they may reimburse me. They also explain to me that Goodyear “cross threaded” one of my lugnuts but they got it back on but they can’t ensure me that it will go on again. (How do I know they didn’t cross thread it on November 3rd or just then since the waited to tell me until they put it back on?)

The employees were very rude and actually acted like the situation was my fault; the guy pulled my car out and I told him “thanks” and he just looked at me and walked off. The only bright spot was the one female employee there at the time. She was nice and tried to do what she could to help me.

I headed to Harrodsburg to get the three remaining tires; when I got there, I asked to talk to the highest manager in the store at the time. I explained the situation to him and he gave me over to the TLE guy and told me he would “take care of the situation”. I will admit that the employees in Harrodsburg were extremely friendly, they listened to me, they explained stuff to me, they talked to me, they quickly went to work on my car and it was a totally different experience. (I will be taking my car to Harrodsburg Wal-Mart the next time it needs work, it’s well worth the drive!)

The only problem that I have with the Harrodsburg store is the way they “took care of the situation”; they fixed the situation by selling me another tire. Since the tire was covered under the Manufacture Warranty, they did take a few dollars off based on the amount of tread used. I told them to call Daniel, which they did, but that didn’t help anything.

In the end, I had two bad tires that should have been replaced based on the Manufacture’s Warranty because the tire was faulty (nothing that I did) and instead, I had to buy a new tire at full price and another tire at a small discounted rate. I don’t believe this situation has been taken care of and since the highest “in store” manager couldn’t get the job done, I have decided to write to you. I will also be sending this to our local newspaper, featuring it on www.sharkysworld.com and telling everyone that I can about the lack of customer service; I wouldn’t take my car back to Lawrenceburg TLE for anything, not even new windshield wiper blades.

I believe the best way to take care of this situation would be to issue me a gift card (I would rather have all the money I am out back but I doubt that will happen) and a letter of apology. The way I see it, I am out a lot more money than I should be; here is a break down –

$20.00 – Balance from November 3rd which obviously never actually happened because if it had, he would have noticed that two of my tires wouldn’t even turn straight on the machine, which means they wouldn’t have balanced correctly.

$20.00 – I have no idea how much it will cost to get my wheel fixed because of the cross threaded lugnut that I’m 99% sure was caused by a Wal-Mart employee.

$20.00 – my wheel center piece, I’m sure it will be much more than this because I have to order it from a Nissan dealer because it’s the actual wheels and not just hub caps. (there are two of my centerpieces that are now broke that weren’t before my trip to Lawrenceburg TLE but they didn’t admit to the other one so I don’t feel I can ask for that).

$20.00 – the discount for the new tire I bought in Lawrenceburg because it was covered under the Manufacture’s Warranty. Daniel explained to me that I had to buy two new tires because all four were bad, however, the guy in Harrodsburg told me I only had two bad tires which means I should have gotten two new tires at a discounted rated.

This doesn’t include almost an entire day wasted running around Kentucky, the gas wasted or the fact that your employees put me in danger; not once, but twice, by putting a tire with a broken belt back on my car and telling me it was safe to drive. Instead of putting the tire I bought in Lawrenceburg on my car to replace the bad tire, they put it in my passenger seat and told me that the guys in Harrodsburg would fix it.

If this situation is not taken care of; my next step will be filing a consumer complaint with the Kentucky Office of The Attorney General and the Central Kentucky Better Business Bureau (BBB).

If this is what you consider “committed to providing you superior customer service and a pleasant shopping experience”; then they failed…miserably.

Thank you for your time.

So what exactly does that mean Sharky? Good question, thanks to the lady in the back for asking.

It seems like I always heard my classmates talk about how they wanted to change the world and I remember always thinking how idiotic that sounded…it’s not possible for one person to change the world.

I still believe that today, one person’s opinions and thoughts really doesn’t matter because we live in a democracy, so the majority is what matters. You, as one person, can speak your mind, work as hard as you can to make the world better but in the end, nothing will have changed; you will still open up the newspaper to ready about all the horror around us.

“Changing the world through the eyes of others” popped into my head on Halloween night, 2008. We were taking our son trick or treating for the first time and we decided to hit up a few local “community” spots. We first headed to the Anderson County Court House where the local Sheriff Department/Fire Department had some tables set up and they were handing out candy, crayons, coloring books, light sticks and there was a ton of interaction with the kids. The event was extremely small and “low budget” but it changed my mind a bit about our local law enforcement.

Next we headed to one of our parks where the community had come together to offer free food (chili, pizza, drinks, chips, cookies, candy, brownies, nachos, hot dogs..and so on)..all for free. They also offered a few small rides, horse rides and games. It was promoted by a local church so you had signs all over the place quoting the Bible. (we’ll get to that later)

Our last stop was the biggest church in Lawrenceburg for their “trunk or treat”. This place was packed!!! They also offered free dinner (chili and desserts) and free candy. They basically filled the parking lot with trucks and mini vans and created a huge candy line and you walked around with your kid from trunk to trunk and got candy. The people were extremely nice, friendly and giving.

Most of you know that I’m an Athiest so I did feel uncomfortable going to these places for candy while I’m against everything they stand for; I think most of them are brain washed and live their life based on a lie. Now, the trunk or treat didn’t change my view or thoughts on religion, however, it did change my mind about a lot of “Christians”.

I grew up in church, I started going on my own, I rode the church bus and I went for probably a good 10 years…never being forced but going on my own free will. As I got older, I watched the so called “Christians” around me and quickly realized that they were worse than the non-Christians we were all trying to save. I started reading the Bible instead of just listening to the guy screaming up on stage and realized that it was a book of fairy tales; fairy tales used for profit.

The things I saw on that night lead me to realize that even though you can’t really change “the world”; you can change the way some see “the world”. I also realized that is what I want to do with Sharkfin, Inc. I want to change the world through the eyes of others.

We already donate money to Prevent Child Abuse in Kentucky (PCAKY.ORG) which goes directly to Anderson County to help stop child abuse, but I think we could do a lot more.

I want to pick out another charity ( a national one ) to start donating money to, then I’m going to start on 1/1/2009 trying to raise money to donate once a month. If you have a favorite charity, let me know and I’ll check them out and see what we can do. I also want to raise enough money to help give out candy next Halloween, give out food next Thanksgiving, purchase presents for a few “angels” from the angel tree for Christmas. Of course, I will be asking all of you for help with this and you will give it to me or I will kill you.

I created Sharkfin, Inc. over 10 years ago as a way to promote myself but it’s becoming something that helps others more than just promoting me and I like that.

www.fatspace.net offers free weight loss and healthy living advice and support
www.sharkettes.net helps to show women that you don’t have to be a perfect Barbie in order to be viewed as attractive and beautiful
www.myspace.com/super_dads helps fathers realize that they are more than just sperm donations.

I’m happy with the road we are on and hopefully, we can change the world through the eyes of others.

~~~~ShArky~~~~
SharkysWorld.com
Sharkettes.net
Fatspace.net