Month: April 2011

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Blame the Armadillos

Read an interesting report on the Yahoo Science page this morning. Scientists have traced the DNA of many recent leprosy cases and have proven that the disease was transmitted from armadillos. A relatively rare condition in today’s world, leprosy is very contagious and difficult to treat.

Armadillos are very common throughout Texas, Louisiana and Arkansas, but have been seen in neighboring states, such as Oklahoma, Mississippi and even Tennessee. Officials are warning people to not handle armadillos, even if dead, to avoid the risk of contracting leprosy.

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Making My Money Work For Me

My dad used to say that there are three kinds of people:

  1. those who don’t work,
  2. those who work for their money, and
  3. those who make their money work for them.

 

I have always kept that in mind and over the years I have had to work for my money. I plan on working for at least another 10 r even 20 years yet. But I know at some point I will want to retire, and that is when I need the money in my IRA Accounts to start working for me.

When I was a kid, my dad had a list of professionals that he could call on to help him. He had a lawyer, he had an accountant, he had a banker and a stock broker. But now we can do Online Trading and don’t really need a stock broker to handle our investments.

For the times that we do want to talk to someone or get a professional opinion, we can still get online and talk with an Online Broker. With so much information available online, no one has the excuse of not knowing what they are doing when it comes to the stock market. All you have to do is read and ask questions, and then get serious about taking responsibility for managing your money.

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Pop Tarts

Pop tarts have been around for as long as I can remember. I know my mom used to buy them and keep them in the pantry so us kids could fix ourselves something to eat in the mornings. She and my dad liked to sleep in on the weekends and the kids were expected to fend for themselves for breakfast. And we were totally OK with Pop tarts and a big glass of cold milk.

Now I buy a box of Pop tarts once in a while because they are fast and cheap. They aren’t very portable though. I have tried to take them camping and fishing with me, but they always get busted up and I end up with a silver foil pouch full of crumbs. If there was a better way to package them and keep them whole, I would buy more of them and take them on the road with me. As it is, I grab one in the morning on my way out when I’m in a hurry.

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Moving to a new place

Guest post written by my buddy, Aldo Mays

My family just moved to a new area and we haven’t yet found a church. We had a great church family at our old place but since Easter’s coming up really soon we decided we needed to get on the search and the only thing we could think to do is look online. We had found a good deal on Internet through one of the wireless internet providers in the area and we’ve actually found some great sites where residents can review churches, hymns, after school programs and all kinds of things we’re looking for. We’re going to try out the place up the street from our house this Sunday and if we like it, that’s where we’ll be having our Easter service! I can’t believe we’re settling in so well here and that we’ve yet to find a church home but I’m really crossing our fingers that this new place is going to feel as much like home as the old church. Moving is hard, but this has been harder!

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Crazy Heart

While visiting on Easter, I found a copy of the book, Crazy Heart, on the bookshelf in my brother’s room. I asked if I could borrow it and he said to take it and pass it on.

I watched the movie with the same title when it came out last year. I thought the movie was outstanding and Jeff Bridges made the main character totally believable.I know a little about the music business, as my dad was a musician and we always had a house full of band members, singers and other entertainers.

It will be hard to read the book without picturing Jeff Bridges as the main character. But maybe that’s a good thing. I think it helps to vividly picture the characters while you read.

So far the book seems to be following the movie pretty closely. I just got into it last night for a couple of chapters. I plan to read the book and then re-watch the movie to compare the two.

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Family Time

Easter dinner was delicious, of course, and it was especially nice because we were able to spend time with my cousin and her family from Southern Maryland. This is a long way for them to drive and we weren’t sure they would come this far for dinner, so I was glad to see them walk in the door around 1:00 pm.

While the women fussed in the kitchen, some of us guys got around to talking about computers and the internet. I was talking to my cousin’s husband about creating a family blog so we could all keep better informed. He was very interested in learning about getting a family domain name and signing up for website hosting to get the blog started.

A good source of information for beginners is on a site that reviews, compares and rates hosting companies. I looked at their Top 10 list and was surprised to find that I am familiar with each of the names listed. I even have my blog hosted on one of the companies they reviewed, and I will agree with everything they said on their site.

I like to read blog articles on sites that I visit if they have a blog. Sometimes you get more personal information and opinions that way. They recently added an article about blog templates that even I did not already know the information in the article, and I’ve been working on my blog for over 3 years now. Just goes to show that you can teach an old dog new tricks.

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Easter Ham

My family has always enjoyed a nice ham dinner for Easter. As long as I can remember, we have made as much fuss over Easter Sunday Dinner as we do over Thanksgiving Dinner.

My mother used to prepare all kinds of great side dishes to serve with the ham. I personally liked her scalloped potatoes best, but my dad used to ave about the sweet potato casserole.

Dessert for Easter Dinner is always cake. Sometimes it is carrot cake, but most times it is a layered yellow butter cake with white frosting sprinkled with grated coconut. One year my mother made the cake cut out in pieces and put together to look like an Easter rabbit. Us kids thought that was the greatest cake, ever!

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Boardwalk Shows

When I was a kid, my father used to load the whole family up in the car on the weekend and drive us to the DC convention Center or to the DC Armory and take us through trade shows. I used to like the shows because the vendors were always giving away free samples of food and drinks, and there were demonstration of new and exciting things. That was probably the first time I was exposed to pop up displays and I remember some great displays, like the life size cut out of a NASCAR driver.

Nowadays, I see pop up trade show displays in a lot more places. We have a lot of trade shows and conventions here at the beach, with many of them out in public or free to the public. I’ve seen displays on the Boardwalk during shows and festivals. I see them in convenience stores (still a lot of life size NASCAR drivers – some things never change!) to promote the sales of beer, sodas or candy. I see them in the grocery store for seasonal items, like candy for Easter this weekend.

Since I’ve just raised your awareness of pop up booths and displays, keep your eye open and write me comment of where you see them in your neighborhood or daily life. I’d like to know. I bet they are all around you and you’ve never really paid attention to them.

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Extra Time for Procrastinators

Today would have been the deadline for filing taxes, but the Government has given everyone an extra 3 days this year. All the procrastinators who wait until the last day taxes are due can now enjoy the weekend and put off doing taxes until Monday, the 18th.

This is a nice way to spend the weekend – unfiled taxes hanging over your head – NOT.

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Loose Change

With the weather finally warming up, I guess I need to spend a day cleaning cars. The cars need more than just a wash – they need a detailing.

I’m embarrassed to admit that before I can even think about cleaning the cars I have to empty them out of all the trash from the back seat and floorboards, and pick up all the loose change that is rattling around in the door wells, cup holders and the consoles.

I bet I find over ten bucks worth of change today. That’s enough for two washes at the automatic car wash down the street.