Step One Fundraising Car Wash On Saturday

Things may be a bit stressful over at Step One since Pepper Von was injured earlier this month. It's put unaccustomed pressure on the rest of the teaching staff, because Pepper teaches so many classes. Time is marching on too, and the dance competition season is underway. So, several fund raisers are being contemplated, including one to help with medical expenses.

This weekend, there will be a car wash at Step One, at 19th and T Streets, to help send the kids from the hip-hop classes to the dance competition in Los Angeles. Krystle is donating the proceeds from her hip-hop workshop to the same end.

Next month, starting May 11th, Krystle will shift her monthly hip-hop workshop date from Sunday to Saturday (which means I can attend without playing hooky elsewhere).

Whiny-Ass Texans Can't Run A Fertilizer Plant Safely

And so what do the Texans do? Go around pestering everyone for help rather than take responsibility and stand on their own two feet:

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) says that he is prepared to make “all available resources” available from the federal government to assist in the recovery after an explosion at a fertilizer plant in Texas — but the senator voted against aid for victims of Hurricane Sandy earlier because he said it was “pork.”

...But following the super storm that devastated much of the East Coast last year, Cruz was not as willing to part with taxpayer money.

According to The New York Times, the junior Texas senator voted against Sandy aid three times.

“Hurricane Sandy inflicted devastating damage on the East Coast, and Congress appropriately responded with hurricane relief,” Cruz said in a statement earlier this year. “Unfortunately, cynical politicians in Washington could not resist loading up this relief bill with billions in new spending utterly unrelated to Sandy.”

“This bill is symptomatic of a larger problem in Washington – an addiction to spending money we do not have. The United States Senate should not be in the business of exploiting victims of natural disasters to fund pork projects that further expand our debt.”

Not Enough Free-Spending Daddies Out There

Last week, I was out there in the world trying to find some cowboy boots. So, when E. heard I was shopping for cowboy boots, she asked if I'd keep an eye out for some new boots for her too. She showed me her old and battered dancing boots from Macy's.

Normally, I would have just forgotten about the request, but her formal 65th birthday is coming up, so why not be generous?

So, I ended up in two different Woodland Western Wear shops. I scoped out men's boots in the first shop. In the second shop I asked to look at the women's boots.

The clerk asked: "Are you shopping for someone?" I nodded yes, but didn't want to go into any details concerning my weird association with E. Struggling to understand my silence, the clerk interpolated: "Are you shopping for your daughter?" That's an interesting leap, I thought, so I nodded yes. She opened up:

"That is SO nice of you! You are the best! My dad, he never buys me anything!"

I bought the boots I was looking at, but characteristically, I had to return them (too big, too heavy, heel not tall enough, etc.) Upon my return, and using the Macy's boot as a model, I found the only suitable equivalent in the store, which fortunately were on sale, but thought they looked pretty hideous. Nevertheless, E. loves them!

"Oklahoma!" - DMTC - Tuesday Night Rehearsal

"The Fastest Gun Alive" Dance, With Russ Tamblyn

"The Fastest Gun Alive", starring Glenn Ford, was on TCM the other night, and which features this amazing dance by Russ Tamblyn. If only those of us in the "Oklahoma!" cast could the same!

"Oklahoma!" - DMTC - Monday Night Rehearsal