Today would have been Mister Rogers 80th birthday. Mister Rogers was the host of the daytime kids show “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood” that I watched as a child in the 80s. They still show it on PBS to this day. It’s funny that I never realized how much I loved that show until I grew up. I connected with it because of the use of make believe and his message that I’m special. Even though I knew he was telling everybody that I still felt that he really meant it, he meant it for all of us.

If I happen to catch the show these days I’ll still watch it, but now I’ll tear up a little. There is a ton of a programming on TV these days for kids but none of them seem to be as sincere as Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood. Forget about that annoying purple dinosaur with those freakishly happy kids. I don’t buy that for a minute. The messages in those shows aren’t going to stick with you for a lifetime.

And so today is “Won’t You Wear a Sweater” Day:

To celebrate what would have been the 80th birthday of Fred Rogers, better known as TV’s “Mister Rogers,” friends of Mr. Rogers, including David Newell (a.k.a. Mr. McFeely), have declared this Thursday “Sweater Day.” Applebee’s is joining in by asking all its guests and associates to wear a cardigan sweater Thursday to work, school or play.

One of my favorite songs from the show called “It’s You I Like” by Fred M. Rogers:

It’s you I like,
It’s not the things you wear,
It’s not the way you do your hair–
But it’s you I like
The way you are right now,
The way down deep inside you–
Not the things that hide you,
Not your toys–
They’re just beside you.

But it’s you I like–
Every part of you,
Your skin, your eyes, your feelings
Whether old or new.
I hope that you’ll remember
Even when you’re feeling blue
That it’s you I like,
It’s you yourself,
It’s you, it’s you I like.

You have to, just have to, buy Shelby Lynne’s latest CD “Just a Little Lovin’” It’s a bunch of Dusty Springfield covers and it is pure awesomeness. I love her voice in general, I have all of her CDs to prove this, but it really shines on this disc. As those doinks on American Idol would say “She’s got great control” of her voice. I especially love her rendition of “Anyone Who Had a Heart,” it’s perfect and if you’ve ever been hurt by someone you liked you’ll melt when you hear it just like I did. All of the songs seem really stripped down, it’s just basic good, strong singing.

It’s really sad that Shelby doesn’t get as much attention as her talent deserves, but then again maybe that’s a good thing. She can be spared from all the insane celebrity coverage that’s been going on these days.

On Saturday I’m volunteering at our local Spelling Bee. I signed up not knowing how much work I was actually going to have to do. It’s not hard work mind you, but there’s a lot of stuff you have to be aware of, some serious rules. The thing I’m not looking forward to is eliminating the kids from the competition. I guess I’ll see how it all plays out, it should be interesting. The last National Spelling Bee winner was from this area, so who knows maybe we can go for two in a row.

There are some things going down at work that I do not like. I can’t go into detail because it’ll just serve to irritate me further. I will say this though; I continue to be amazed at all the wackadoodle crap that goes on around that place. It’s just crazy.

While the work stuff bothers me it does serve a purpose as a great motivator to take my blog to another level. I’m not totally clear on how I’m going to get to that next level but I know it’ll happen. Now that I’ve written that out I really need to think about that more. Just what exactly is it that I want to do next, like what’s the next step? Hmm… food for thought.

While I don’t have a perfectly clear idea of the big picture, I do know that I made up a list of the races I want to go to for the rest of the year. The next one would be the race at Charlotte in May. I’m going to get a t-shirt and hoodie made from Neighborhoodies that’ll say “The Fast And The Fabulous Dot Com.” They’re gonna be soooo cool.

The Rio All-Suite Hotel in Las Vegas has a rating of four stars. I am officially taking away one of those stars.

Why am I taking away the star you ask? Well, let’s see.  When I arrived and checked-in to my room I noticed on the hotel map, and the services/attractions binder in my room, that there was a Coffee Bean and Teaf Leaf shop on the premises. I was excited and happy. I haven’t had a White Chocolate Dream Latte since I left my job at Military.com back in October. So the next morning I decided to bypass the TWO Starbucks that were on my way to the parking garage in favor of the Coffee Bean.

Much to my dismay and superior irritation the location that used to house the Coffee Bean was now just a shell. An empty storefront, are you serious?? So I had to walk all the way across the casino again, with my laptop bag and purse over my shoulder, to the Starbucks.

They couldn’t take the damn name off their maps?? Or at least add a note inside that says “Oh by the way, we don’t actually have a Coffee Bean anymore.” Ya know when you go to a Broadway show and they put a little note in the playbill when the understudy is performing? Yea, they need to uh, implement that practice here.

Okay, here’s another reason why I’m snatching that fourth star out of the Rio’s grip. My room is nice in general terms. It’s a lot better than something you’d get at a Comfort Inn. There’s a living room area, a big bathroom area with two sinks, mirrors on the closet doors so you can get a full-length view of yourself. The problem I have is that there are tiles missing from the baseboards under the sink. And no shower cap!

The four pillows on my bed are miniature pillows. Miniature, if you laid them out side by side they wouldn’t reach both ends of the bed.

The Lights. Ya know how when you walk into a room you expect there to be a switch that you can flip to illuminate the entire room? Yea, they don’t have one of those. Oh they have them for the bathroom area, but not for the main living/sleeping area. So I walked into a dark room, and then had to go around and turn on four lamps.

Now, I am willing to admit there are some good things about this place. Like I said before there are two Starbucks. The one I’m in right now is like the granddaddy of all Starbucks. It’s big and has like 6 big comfy chairs, a couch, tons of regular tables and two of those big study tables with the lamps on ‘em. The other great thing is that it’s totally empty. It must fill up after the Penn & Teller show next door, at least that’s the only reason why I can imagine they put it all the way over here in such an out of the way location.

The other good thing is that the room service charges aren’t that steep. They don’t add in an automatic gratuity like some hotels do these days, and the price of the food alone isn’t insane. I had a BBQ Bacon Cheeseburger last night (French fries were included) for 12 bucks.

So with all of this my criteria for hotels has just be upped a notch. I shall not stay at a hotel that was built before 2000. The Rio was built in 1990. I found that out after I booked the room, and it gave me pause, but there was nothing I could do at that point. I rationalized the whole thing by saying that I just needed a place to sleep. I’d be spending all day at the race track so it’s not like it had to be amazing. But I know now that it MUST be amazing.