Toilets & Timeshares

Just Sunday clicking through Twitter posts under "Branson" and noted a fun sequence of stories.  The first was a link from a Michigan lady who for reasons unknown wanted the world to know that the Shoji Theater has won the Bathroom of the Year Award.  Shoji's bathrooms are apparently over-the-top lavish, and were so recognized by a Bathroom Supply Company who gives an annual award.  The next "Branson Post", one minute later was some poor "timeshare owner" pleading for help selling a Branson Timeshare.  The Timeshare "key word" had plastered the ladies post page with a dozen Marketing Links, all presenting evidence that the lady was a scam victim and should bale at any cost.  One link even relinked to a u-tube video where a prominent financial advisor described timeshares  as the worst investment in America.  The fun is the thought that as Branson, the 20th century resort boom town sinks under the weight of "timeshare disaster", the ominousness of "going down the toilet" will be cushioned by knowing that right over there off Gretna Road, Branson, has the world's best toilets!

Calling CarFAX

Ozark First's Rewards Page confirmed that the Branson Auto Museum will be opening "on the strip" this May.  I was teased with the prospect that in only 25 days, 7 hours and 14 minutes, I would be able to buy, through Ozark's First, an admission ticket for one, at $25 off the published $50 admission price.  Where is "CarFax" when the "keep 'em honest" used car reporting service is so badly needed.  Let me get this straight... there is a business enterprise that plans to market 148 used cars at their showroom in Branson, Missouri and for the "privilege" of viewing these cars, the dealer/broker would like for me to pay him $50.  During this worst of all years for the car industry, when Gm/Ford/Chrysler/Japan/Germany are all willing to give me $100 just to look at their cars hoping that I will allow them to kinda sell me one for almost free, there is someone out there expecting that I will buy into a "Car Museum Ploy'.  With this kind of entrepreneurial optimism sprouting this spring, maybe the supply side pundits are right in speculating that the "good old days are here again".   

A Pretty Taxed Army

Those of us that routinely bypass downtown Branson, by cutting off of East 76 at Wendys,  know that The Church Army (CA) has a marginal thrift shop a block or two along the route leading to the Bridge.  Not being a long term resident, I didn't know the scope of The Church Army.  I now know that it is much more than a mere thrift shop. Apparently last evening this Branson based Non-Profit Organization had a gathering at the Hilton attended by a reported crowd of 500+, a mixture of staff, clients and benefactors, I was told.  Further, to my surprise, I was told that CA's client/residents in Branson number somewhere over 200.  A quick check at their website clarified that the client/residents are those disenfranchised by drugs, alcohol, incarceration, etc. Where do all of these "clients" live, I wondered.  Today, I still don't know the full answer but I did learn from a young man working in the Old Branson neighborhood that he lived at a small, poorly maintained, old bungalow just down the street from the CA thrift shop, along with 9 other CA clients.  I verified it to be accurate that each of the 10 clients pays CA seventy five dollars weekly for this shared residence reported to offer 2 baths one refrigerator and wall to wall beds.   It is Saturday and hardly a day to quiz the CA staff, but it seems like a "rack rate" slightly above the Hilton.  I need to have this explained more fully! 

Hey Sisters, Show Some Mercy!

I wonder how many small Ozark Businesses in this "near depression era" cry "NO MERCY" when they read their Accounts Receivable Reports showing absurd delinquencies from the Number One Rated Health System in  the World, our very own St. John's Health System.  I ask this question, not because I lifted from St. Johns Accounting a copy of what I suspect is a very long Accounts Payable Report, but merely because I have heard years of complaining from a few friends and acquaintances that are so hard up for clients that they are willing to wait as much as a year to get paid on routine invoices.  Further, I deduce, St. Johns is most likely not so Accounts Payable savvy that they selectively abuse just certain suppliers.  My guess is that every one doing business with the "Health Care Giant" is forced to wait and wait along with the indigent ER patients.  If others who are economically unable to stand up to The Giant have had the same experience, then a little "Twitter World" publicity might work wonders.  Maybe we can straighten out the "Twisted Sister" 

"CRUNCHY"

Gregory, as in House, the CBS drama, tonight responded to a particularly egregious patient symptom by offering up "Crunch", a self mocking tribute to his perverted delight in a really really extraordinary disease.  Not that I am claiming House socio pathetic tendencies but........every morning I wake up, look at the evolving Branson, and say to myself something kinda like, "Crunchy".  Perhaps most who read this will see neither the point nor the humor, but then, only 17% of Branson's Internet Connected  speak "tweeter".  The point is that it is entirely believable, this Spring, that Branson is as far from homeostasis as House's patient. The best response may well be the "rush of the puzzle" and not the "head in the sand" strategy  where everyone runs around sounding of platitudes like "whatever goes down must then go up".  In summary, we here in the spring of 09', live in a real "rubric cube" town.  Best we roll-up our sleeves, muse "Crunchy", and start doing some real 21st century civic work.