Pit Boss

Has anyone else watched the new TV show on The Animal Planet Channel called Pit Boss. I haven’t been able to watch a full episode of it yet, but have seen bits and pieces of a few of them in the last couple of weeks. So far I like what I see, it is an interesting concept that I’m thinking will go far. It’s good for little people and good for pit bulls, a two for one so to speak!

Rubbing elbows

This past weekend I felt like I was completely out of my element. I was invited to a party by my brother-in-law. The party was being held by some friends of his, and he thought that it would be a good opportunity for me to network and expand my business contacts. The music was good, the food was good, and the drinks weren’t bad either. But I have to admit that I found it a little bit difficult to engage in conversation with most of the people there. Seems as if everyone there was a major computer geek.

I’m not all up to date with all of the aspects and terminology of computer and the Internet. Sure, I have a computer, and I blog, but when it comes to carrying on a conversation with a group of folks about topics such as a web hosting hub review I have to admit that I’m rather lost. I’m assuming that they were talking about a website that reviews and rates web hosting services, but I was afraid to open my mouth and stick my foot in it! A wise man once said “‘Tis better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt!”

Someplace exotic

One of the best deals in vacation travelling can be found in holiday packages that offer trips to more than one location.  I’ve personally never taken advantage of any holiday packages in the past because I’ve had a tendency to be late for everything!  I’d hate to book some holiday packages with non-refundable deposits and then end up missing the cruise boat or the airplane!

So I usually try to drive myself where I want to go.  The timetable of driving tends to be a lot more flexible, especially when I can guarantee my destination room with my credit card for a late arrival!  And if I arrive a few hours late, well then that’s no big deal, I still have the room waiting for me and the holiday plans can continue.

My wife, however, is always talking about going on a vacation someplace exotic, like Australia or the South Pacific.  I think if we were to plan something like that we’d have to plan to leave our place a whole day earlier than most normal folks would!  Get to the port (or airport) and book a room right there to spend the night so we don’t miss the ship!

Tornado season

I have to say that summer is a mixed blessing. Yes, we have nice warm sunny days that we don’t have to worry about snow and ice and heat bills. The flowers bloom, and the smell of freshly mowed lawns is like a preview of heaven. The flip side of the coin, however, is that we get a lot of severe electrical storms, and lots and lots of tornado watches.

I’m glad that I’ve never actually seen a tornado come towards me; I think that would terrify me to no end and give me nightmares for years! I don’t know if there is any place on earth where one can live without fear of some natural disaster or another, but if there was, I’d try my best to live there!

Cable and Internet Systems in the South

Guest post written by my friend Will Blackson

I moved to a southern state to avoid the horribly cold winters I have endured for 30 years of my life. I figured this was going to be great since I would be outdoors most of the year, I really wouldn’t have much need for Internet and cable services like I needed when I lived up north.

Boy was I wrong. Okay so here’s the deal, some of the year, yes it is just gorgeous, and sunny. Then it doesn’t get frigid cold, it goes the opposite way and gets boiling hot. So hot indeed, you cannot enjoy the outdoors at all. Inside I go again, now with central airbecause this is a must have. Now that I am stuck inside again, well its time for cable.

You really cannot rely on rabbit ears in this rural community, you can’t get a signal. You have to have cable to be able to watch a show. I called the cable company and guess what? They are actually pretty fast at getting out right away, thank goodness. I informed them that I have a computer and they asked me if I wanted a Clear TV Bundle. They explained how it is always cheaper to do cable and internet bundles together the first time, although the cable company can add a service into a bundle at any time. The cable company provided all the tools I needed to get hooked up. And having one bill to pay is just awesome. The more you can bundle the more you save in the end. I love this service and it is very convenient for me. They were fast, on-time, and courteous to do this all on the same day. Thank goodness for bundles, you need them no matter where you live.

The oil spill

I really had not had the opportunity to learn a lot about the the offshore oil platform’s explosion. All I really knew was the it had exploded and some people died and that there are millions of gallons of oil being dumped into the Gulf of Mexico. And that all attempts to stop the gushing oil have failed so far. Well, tonight I had the chance to watch one of my favorite television news shows – 60 minutes. And I learned a lot about the who, what, where, why and how of the whole thing and it makes me furious that the employees of BP were so interested in speed that they endangered the safety of their employees, and the environment.

I don’t normally buy BP gasoline anyway, because the BP prices are usually more expensive in my town, but if I WAS a regular customer, I’m not sure how that would affect my loyalty to the brand. All I know is that there was a lot of greed and stupidity involved here, and I hope that someone takes responsibility and makes restitution and cleans up the mess. Finger pointing is just a waste of time.

Supernatural is a Super Show!

This is a guest post by Jones Baker

Several months ago, I was channel surfing on the satellite TV at my office we got from directv for corporations looking for something good to watch. A channel that I scanned quickly past caught my eye and I had to turn it back. At the time I skipped over it, what appeared to be a man in a graveyard was apparently fighting a zombie or something with a shiny chrome knife. As anyone who knows me will tell you, I’m a big fan of zombie movies. With this vision passing quickly by my eyes, you can easily understand why my interest was peaked.

Well, when I landed back on the channel, it was exactly what it appeared to be and I thought to myself that I finally found something really good on. The surprise to me was that it was on a regular channel and not on a premium channel. The name of the show is “Supernatural” and it is by far the best science fiction TV series on the air today.

The show follows two brothers named Dean and Sam that are demon hunters. They travel all across the United States looking for demons to fight and send back to the dark realm. All the while, demons and a few angels are chasing after Dean and Sam trying to stop them. Dean and Sam are on a mission to stop the war between Heaven and Hell by all means necessary and the angels and demons don’t want them to stop it. The angels believe that this war must take place in order to finally put Lucifer to rest. The demons simply desire to take over the world. Lucifer has even made a few special appearances. The great thing about this show is that it is so well wrote and directed, it doesn’t look like the normal ugly, brutal demons you would expect and the angels don’t even have wings. Very good show and I highly recommend watching at least one episode to give it a try.

My family and I now have a normal Thursday night ritual. Pop a bag of popcorn and settle in to watch Supernatural.

April 15th

Tomorrow is the big day for most of us that have to file with the I.R.S. every year. I’m sure that a few of the post offices will be staying open a bit later tomorrow evening and that there will be long lines up until closing. Even with so many of us doing our taxes online the Post Office still makes a killing each year come April.

Himalayan Salt Lamps for Example

We all have things that we are interested in and find ourselves collecting pieces now and then, here and there. The flea market is a great place to find all types of treasures, from all over. The one flea market that is open only on Sunday has such a diverse flavor to it. People from all over the world go there and it is best described as being “Spicy” which is cool by me.  

It’s a good place to find unique treasures that you wouldn’t necessarily find at most market places. Of course you can always go online and find most of the items but what fun is there in that. On a nice day it does a body good to get outside and spend the day walking and talking with people from a variety of places. I’m sure I could find some Himalayan Salt Lamps or a Native American War Bonnet online somewhere, it might take a little digging, but finding one at the market just gets the endorphins going and makes for a pleasant day all the way around.

The Elks

I have a few friends that are long time members of the local Elk’s Lodge #1870 which is in town, not too far from home.  They have been on a recruiting mission these past few years trying to bring their membership up and to get some new blood in the organization as well. I have a lot of respect for civic organizations, I just never got caught up in all what goes along with becoming a member. But maybe the time has come for me to step up to the plate and get a bit more involved with our community. Me, the wife and the kids plan on living here for quite some time to come and I would enjoy the benefits that would come our way due to my involvement.

I’ll keep you posted.

Gratification

Most of us are doing a good amount of our shopping online these days. There are good deals to be found for people that take just a bit of there time and do a bit of “Googling” and follow through with some good old fashioned research. With as many search engines and searching sites available to us with just a few short key strokes it feeds us the information that we are looking for. We truly are a society looking for instant gratification and we usually get just that with all of today’s technology that is bringing us more goodies to make things easier, more compact and faster every time we turn around.

I am need of a new pair of eyeglasses and have heard of Zenni Optical before, so I checked them out online last night for a few minutes. They have complete eyeglasses that start at only $8 a pair and they have a great variety of eye wear to choose from on their website. It didn’t take me long to place my order. I’ll pay $4.95 for shipping and will receive a hard case, a cleaning cloth and they will be UV protected with an anti-scratch coating on them as well. It sounds good to me and if I like what I get I’ll be ordering more and passing the good word around.

Too Funny!

This email was sent to me by a good friend last night. I thought it was too hilarous to keep to myself.

This man, 73, is wearing a protective flap over his ear while Joe Biden, Barack Obama and Nancy Pelosi addressed the Veterans of Foreign Wars.

I wish I could shake this man’s hand.. I just want to know where he got it…..?

Graduation

I think that Seiko Automatic Watches would make great college graduation gifts!  I can remember how grown up I felt when I got my very first watch.  I was quite young, but my father gave it to me along with a speech about how time flies and how time is more valuable than money.  I never really understood that until I got a lot older.  But now that I AM older I think that giving a really nice watch as a graduation gift really would be fitting – a reminder of how valuable time really is, and how little of it we have to enjoy the gifts of life, love, and laughter.

I think it is more widespread than previously imagined

A few years ago a good friend of mine died of some form of cancer. At the time no one told me exactly what the cancer was, but I’m beginning to think it was Malignant Mesothelioma because he ran a cement company. I’m thinking that because I just found out that there is asbestos in insulation, roof shingles, cement, brake linings, flooring products, and textiles. The “textiles” part really worries me – because “textiles” generally refers to fabrics. Does that mean carpets and fabrics?

I really didn’t realize that asbestos was in so many products that we come into contact with on a daily basis! And I just found out that the symptoms often don’t surface until as many as 30 to 50 years after the exposure to the asbestos! With that in mind, I think that there is going to be a growing need for many blue collar workers to hire a Mesothelioma Lawyer in the not too distant future!

With the baby boomers were born, there was a massive housing explosion that created a lot of these products to be put into the general population. I think that the repercussions are yet to be fully seen. Yup, I think that I’m going to be knowing a lot of people who are going to be needing a find and hire a Mesothelioma Attorney in the next decade or so!

Eggs

When I was a kid, I really didn’t like hard boiled eggs.  At all.  I did not even like fried eggs where the yolk was hard.  (Still don’t!)  Yet I love devilled eggs!  And egg salad sandwiches!  Seems to me that if I liked devilled eggs and egg salad sandwiches, that I’d like hard boiled eggs as well!  I was thinking about that this morning as my wife was boiling some eggs (to make devilled eggs) and I was trying to figure out why that was so.

After all, the major difference is that a little bit of mayo or salad dressing is mixed in.  Maybe a touch of mustard.  Then it came to me – I don’t like plain hard boiled eggs because they are so dry!  I need that little bit of extra moisture!  Whew – another one of the nagging mysteries solved!

Real Estate Tax Benefit Extended

Last night while watching television before retiring for the night a commercial came on informing us that the real estate tax benefit has been extended, once again. That is good news for a lot of people that are looking and are now in the position to purchase a home. There are great deals on houses right now and sales are picking up more and more. I have a close friend who is a real estate agent who has been struggling due to the economy, like so many of us are. But she tells me that sales are picking up and that there seems to be a light at the end of the tunnel, which is awesome news, all the way around.

I’m told that qualified home buyers are being urged to act as soon as possible and to have a written binding contract by this April 30th and to be able to close by June 30th of this year of 2010. I found this video and thought I’d post it here for grins and giggles. And for more information I urge you to visit http://bit.ly/5D6mKg  for all of the pertinent information concerning this extension. There are strict guidelines involved and this site gives a pretty good over view of all that you need to know.

Uncle Sam

I have everything ready to take to the local H & R Block office sometime this week. What a pain in the rear. So many pieces of paper to keep track of in order to get the best bang for my buck. I’m sure that it will all be worth the time and trouble and hopefully I’ll be getting a good sized check in the mail in a few months.

Show Me The Money In Any Language

I find it interesting to see websites from other countries and I thank the Internet for providing us an insight to what is going on all across the globe. You never know where you are going to land when you start clicking online. Translating can be issue at times, but looking at sites from the U.K. and Australia are the best.

People in the U.K get hurt just as much as we do here in the states and they companies to assist them with their Compensation claims in order to get their just dues. If you get hurt, due to no fault of your own some one has to pay the bills no matter where you live, right?

Rod Stewart

It’s cool to see that Rod Stewart is still going strong. Remember Maggie May?

And then of course there is Forever Young. I couldn’t find the video for this song but I did come up with this one that shows the lyrics.

Last but not least I Don’t Want To Talk About It

A little bit of remodeling

When we first bought this house, we knew that we were going to want to do a little bit of remodeling down the road.  Well, we’ve done a little bit here and there, and now we are taking a look at what we can do with the kitchen without spending too much money.  Kitchen remodeling is a high-budget project!  But fortunately I think I can do quite a bit of the work myself.  Instead of replacing the cabinets, I’m going to take off the doors and repaint them and replace the knobs.

I’d like to buy two undermount kitchen sinks to increase the efficiency of the kitchen.  My wife is always telling me that we should have extra sinks in the kitchen, to accommodate several people cooking.  Since we both like to cook, I think that is a great idea!  They don’t have to both be full sized, but an extra sink would be fantastic!