NIU

Getting Insurance Quotes

Posted by Stacy on Thursday, June 26, 2008 5:33 PM

Whether your searching for Auto, Health, Home or Life Insurance quotes you want to make sure you get quality coverage and a good company to match. With over 1900 companies to choose from buying any kind of insurance quotes can definitely be a confusing and frustrating experience. In today's information age the question is how do you best put this information to work for you. The internet has opened up so many different avenues in all aspects relating to the insurance quotes industry. In the time it takes to heat a sandwich you can be viewing the rates from some of the top companies in the entire county and it didn't used to be that way. In the days of old you used to be on the phone half the day only to get subpar quotes and many agents not returning phone calls. With insurance quotes on the internet you take out the middle man and guesswork and put the power in your hands literally searching all available options in the entire country within a few minutes. There are several things to look for however when searching for insurance quotes on the web. You always want to make sure the company that you select is a reputable company that is rated at least A- or better by the standards as established by the AM Best company. They are a company that rates insurance quotes companies based on financial & operating performance. There are many companies on the market today that do business but just aren't that reputable and that may not give you the service or pay claims as they should. If you stick to an insurance quotes company that has a positive rating from am best you should be just fine.

The question many have asked....is the internet really a better place to find affordable insurance quotes. The answer is without a doubt yes. With more information comes responsibility on your end....be sure to investigate the company thoroughly and completely and remember that no place on the internet can give you a lower price quote just because of the company. Insurance quotes prices are regulated by the government so web sites cannot 'negotiate' a cheaper price for you....that's up to the insurance company. I hope this information has been helpful in you finding the insurance quotes your looking for.

promotional pens

Posted by Stacy on Tuesday, June 24, 2008 7:18 PM

I recently started a promotional company and when I tell most people that they seem to think that I am like an entertainment promoter or something of that kind. I assure them that my job is an interesting one as I sell items that people can put their logos on and give away to help promote their business. Now by this point most people will just sit there looking at me, so I usually say you know like promotional pens and promotional umbrellas, and then they say oh yeah.

Well, this business is a very competitive one. It is tough to get the people in, but once I do I have no problem keeping my business. You see I know how to run a business and not just from all the business classes that I have taken, although some of that information I do use, but for the most part, I was born to be a business man, and there is something innately inside me that drives me and tells me what to do. No I don't hear voices or anything of that nature, but I do seem to know my way in the customer service world. I know that many of our customers return just because my people go the extra mile for them. They are willing to do what it takes to make sure that the customers go away happy. I have even begun putting little extras in their packages, so that they get my promotional items when they purchase ones of their own. For instance, I have made up some promotional umbrellas, travel mugs, regular coffee mugs, bags and sports bottles with my logo on them and I try to include a little something with each order. This gives our customers a little thank you every time they shop with us. And every time they use that item it gives my business a little more exposure. See promotional items are great because they benefit everyone. They give a person a thank you and a free gift and every time they use that gift your name goes a little further down the road.

Selling promotional items to the masses is a great way to promote small business owners and help keep free enterprise going, plus I love using my creativity to help design some new and exciting products for us to carry in our line. It all works out in the end!

car insurance

Posted by Stacy on Tuesday, June 24, 2008 10:54 AM

Getting a good rate on car insurance is very important, however, making sure that you will not fall victim to cheap car insurance is by far another story. Take Hank. Hank began driving a truck last August and he had purchased a commercial auto insurance policy from a friend of a friend who had just begun working for a local insurance agent. This guy quoted him a rate that was so much lower than everyone else's and Hank thought that this guy was just doing him a favor. Well, truly this was no favor. One night while Hank was doing one of his long distance runs across 3 states, he parked his truck and went in for a bite to eat. While at this particular truck stop, he decided to shower and try to wake up a little bit before hitting the road again. While showering he heard a loud crash and he looked in the direction that he heard the loud crash in and there he saw his truck stuck into the side of the building. Well, needless to say a lot of chaos followed and everyone was evacuated from the truck stop to another across the way, while fire fighters and EMT's took care of the injuries and potential gas explosion. While across the street he could see what had happened, another truck ran into his and dragged it into the side of the building. He was upset and called the company he was driving for about the fact that he would be delayed and that they may need to send another rig to come pick up their merchandise. He wasn't sure yet what type of damage had been done to his vehicle. Well, to make a long story short, the other guy was injured and sued him for the fact of where his truck was parked and sued the truck stop for unclear labeling of the parking area. When he contacted his insurance company about the issue, he was told they would take care of it, but they never did. He had to hire an attorney to represent him against the driver of the other truck and against the insurance company, but it cost him an arm and a leg, and he had to sell his house during that time. After that, he did win and recouped his money and then some, but this is an ordeal that Hank won't soon forget. And if you ask Hank if he will ever shop for cheap insurance again, his answer is no way, you get what you pay for!

lordex

Posted by Stacy on Sunday, June 22, 2008 6:32 PM

I read an article in the newspaper that said that many people are heading to chiropractors more often than medical doctors and quite honestly I am not surprised. These days' medical doctors are with holding antibiotics and sending many people home with a bill and being told to take some over the counter medications and rest, instead of being prescribed something to help them. This new trend seems to have more people holding off on going to the medical doctor for every ache and pain. News flash people, even without a medical intervention, most things will clear up on their own. Your body is an autonomous system that is constantly working to heal and rejuvenate itself. Healing is an internal process and not an external one. My Bethesda chiropractor taught me all about the natural ability of the body to heal most things itself. I learned that a fever is one way the body works to cure you of ailments. Another way the body heals is by sending swelling and heat to an area of injury. This is your body's way of saying; don't worry about this I've got it taken care of.

Once people learn the true power of their body, of course they are going to steer clear of medics offering to reduce their symptoms. Symptoms are not bad, they are the body working hard to heal itself. There are many different techniques and chiropractors out there in the world, and I assure you if you take a look you will find one that serves you. The best thing about seeking out a chiropractor over a medical doctor is the fact that your chiropractor is not going to cut you open or pull out pieces of you, or give you things that will mask your symptoms. A chiropractor works with your body's natural healing ability to help the body heal itself. There is no harm in seeking out chiropractic care, as a matter of fact, the chiropractor should be your first stop to health, not your last.

Chiropractic is also great for back problems. There are many new and innovative chiropractic techniques that can provide non surgical solutions to back pain and traumas. Such techniques like the Lordex technique provide non invasive help to people who have been diagnosed with disc problems in the low back. Medicine only gives these patients one alternative and that is surgery. Chiropractic, the gentle adjustment of vertebrae in the spine, helps gently relieve pain and pressure on the discs. Some techniques even allow the discs to regenerate and heal themselves.

Follow the new trend and visit your chiropractor, whether your goal is to maintain health or relieve pain, you will not be disappointed.

water restoration

Posted by Stacy on Sunday, June 22, 2008 6:01 PM

When our house flooded a few years ago we had to have a water restoration service come in and take care of our entire basement. It was ridiculous the amount of damage that was done to the carpets and woodwork. The water restoration company came with these huge vacuum machines and had to suck out the water from the basement. After all of the water was gone (like 3 hours later), we had to have the carpet company people come and tear out our brand new carpet, and then the water restoration company had to come back and clean and sanitize everything the water had touched or covered, this process took about another 2 hours or so. They used another machine that looked like a tiny robot that scanned the floor and basically mopped it. Then people came in and cleaned around the walls and the surfaces the water had gotten too. We thought this process would take a few hours only so we planned on still having people over the next day, but we found out that it would have to sit for 12 hours and that the company would come back the next day to finish the work. So as we called our friends and family (we were having a get together since we had just gotten our basement redone) our basement was airing itself out. The next day two people came back to finish up. They cleaned with this suction-like tool around all of the furniture and used an odor removing cleaner so that the furniture and everything around it wouldn't smell and then finally they put this sealant stuff on so that it would prevent it from molding in the future.

Then we had to have someone come in to look at the foundation because it turns out that when they put the carpet in in the first place, they didn't check the way they were supposed to to take sure the foundation was sturdy. So after the foundation was fixed and got the okay, the carpet people came back and put the carpet in again.

The whole process took about a week and a half. The worst part was that we had just moved in a few months earlier and had gotten the basement finished and put a lot of time and money into it. On the bright side I learned a really good lesson for when I move into my own house when I'm older. Always make sure to check and recheck before doing a big project, like putting new carpet in.

smartlipo

Posted by Stacy on Thursday, June 19, 2008 3:35 PM

Quick! When you hear the word "liposuction", what do you think? Usually, people think of an elaborate hospital scene with doctors and nurses in scrubs and an incredibly obese patient with tubes sticking in their belly sucking huge nasty globs of fat by the quarter pound. But liposuction doesn't have to be that way.

There is a new revolutionary procedure that was approved by the FDA in November 2006. Called SmartLipo, this treatment uses a laser to liquefy fat and make it easier to suction out. SmartLipo is the smart lipo because it is safer and quicker than traditional liposuction methods. People say the SmartLipo cost is much less than that of traditional liposuction, equaling an almost 30% price difference! What makes the smart lipo cost effective is that it gives you a chance to get a safer treatment with less recovery time.

You may be wondering what makes smart lipo so safe. In order to understand why it's the best method to use, you need to understand the procedure. A small hollow tube, called a cannula, is inserted into a small incision which is usually made in a fold of skin so it's not obvious. The cannula has a laser that is used to liquefy the fat. The presence of the laser makes it easier to target specific areas of fat. As the laser liquefies the fat it also coagulates the blood vessels which reduces the loss of blood and minimizes swelling. Another cannula is used to suck the fat out of the body to quicken the recovery process. Because of the procedure, there is less of a risk of bruising.

It may be difficult to surmise at first the rationale behind getting liposuction at all, and even more difficult to believe this bit of revolutionary technology could actually work. The success rate of this procedure is high; however, like many procedures, success is not completely guaranteed. It is also important to remember that this is a budding technology and still may need to be improved on, though this is definitely a huge improvement on the dry liposuction techniques of yesteryear.

For those who have resilient bulges of fat that seem to hold on fast despite good dietary habits and exercise, SmartLipo may be the way to go. It doesn't promote weight loss but it will shave a few inches off the waistline and makes your clothes fit better than ever before. The end result is a person with a figure that more closely matches their nutritional habits and a new outlook on life.

forex discussion

Posted by Stacy on Wednesday, June 18, 2008 10:11 AM

I have never claimed to know much about the stock market, as a matter of fact, I don't even understand the concept of the whole thing. Well, I was at a family get together on Sunday, and having a good time visiting with everyone, when all of a sudden the conversation turned to stocks. It seemed as if my mother was asking my brother and my grandfather for advice about her stocks and for free forex tips. Needless to say I did not really understand what they were talking about, but I never forego a good education about anything, so I just sat there quietly trying to absorb what was being said back and forth. I really got lost with the whole forex discussion and when they started to talk about the foreign exchange market, I really started to just zone out. I thought about it and decided I was just as smart as anyone else in that room and I should be able to carry on a discussion on this level, so I went home and decided to get my own forex education.

Well, I found a lot of information online about forex and here are some of the answers I unearthed in my research.

What is Forex?

"Forex" stands for foreign exchange; it's also known as FX. In a forex trade, you buy one currency while simultaneously selling another - that is, you're exchanging the sold currency for the one you're buying. The foreign exchange market is an over-the-counter market.

Currencies trade in pairs, like the Euro-US Dollar (EUR/USD) or US Dollar / Japanese Yen (USD/JPY). Unlike stocks or futures, there's no centralized exchange for forex. All transactions happen via phone or electronic network.

Who trades currencies, and why?

Daily turnover in the world's currencies comes from two sources:

" Foreign trade (5%). Companies buy and sell products in foreign countries, plus convert profits from foreign sales into domestic currency.

" Speculation for profit (95%).

Most traders focus on the biggest, most liquid currency pairs. "The Majors" include US Dollar, Japanese Yen, Euro, British Pound, Swiss Franc, Canadian Dollar and Australian Dollar. In fact, more than 85% of daily forex trading happens in the major currency pairs.

The world's most traded market, trading 24 hours a day

With average daily turnover of US$3.2 trillion, forex is the most traded market in the world.

A true 24-hour market from Sunday 5 PM ET to Friday 5 PM ET, forex trading begins in Sydney, and moves around the globe as the business day begins, first to Tokyo, London, and New York.

Unlike other financial markets, investors can respond immediately to currency fluctuations, whenever they occur - day or night.

security scanner

Posted by Stacy on Tuesday, June 17, 2008 9:46 AM

This week has been getting sort of crazy. That old saying, "wehn it rains it pours," is what I wopuld call my biography I think. I mean I can't go through one difficult time in my life without having to deal with at least two more at the same time. This week's cocktail is a new job, moving across town to a new apartment, and my website got hacked. All in the span of one day I have ahd to deal with all three.

My new job at the arts lab on campus started yesterday. I am assisting with the professor in charge of glass blowing and it should be a relatively easy job. The first day was a bit difficult though because I don't know the first thing about blowing glass. I was totally unprepared for the level of noise, the safety requirements, and the heat coupled with the blazing summer temperatures we've been having lately.

My second task yesterday was to begin the bulk of the moving from my old apartment to the new one across town. I had all of my stuff ready to be shipped but I just had to get the truck in the morning. I loaded up and shipped as much as I could before work and then finished after work. When I had time to relax I had to meet my next challenge at home.

When I checked my email at home I got a message that I hoped never to get. It was abasically the moderator the campus internet system telling me that someone had hacked my student information with an sql injection. They told me the extent of the damage to my security and the recoding that the hacker had done while inside the system. They recomended that I get a security scanner software, which I have yet to get out of sheer difficulty in my schedule today.

If anyone else notices that their worlds all seem to fall apart at once I would like to trey and form a club or something. Maybe then when someone's life falls apart there will be a bunch of people around who can help.

gift baskets

Posted by Stacy on Tuesday, June 17, 2008 9:26 AM

This summer I got landed in the coolest job ever. I didn't have to look to hard to find something I was interested in this year since the last two years have shown me what kinds of jobs to look past for something better. I had bypassed all of the usual routes of finding a summer job and just went for something totally new. I found an ad online for this job which was for a delivery driver. I knew that I would much rather be inside an air conditioned van all summer than out in the blazing sun doing some manual labor all day. So I jumped in without actually knowing what I would be delivering.

It only took me one day of working at this job to know that I had found something I would enjoy all summer long. The job is delivery driver position for a national online gift delivery service. This big company serves both individuals and corporate offices through delivery of things like corporate gift baskets and individual gift baskets for various holidays and personal experiences. After my first day of driving about ten deliveries around I knew it was going to be fun the whole time.

Since my first day I think I have gotten the full feel for the type of clientele and services our company provides. Each delivery can go one of two ways. Either I am delivering a corporate gift basket to some big board room full of suits or I am giving someone something special right at their front door. For the first set I usually have a great conversation with someone within the office because I just can't resist talking to people I meet. Most of the time, either because of expectation or my conversation, I end up leaving with a sizable tip. When I am delivering to someone's home it is typically a surprise for them. Their faces light up and they are really happy to chat and discuss what is actually inside the basket.

I am a people person. I have found that in every experience I have in life, I am much happier to share it with others. This job allows me to be a part of some pretty bright moments in peoples' lives and I am excited to keep doing it for another couple of months.

sugar Daddie

Posted by Stacy on Saturday, June 14, 2008 9:39 PM

I read a review a few weeks back and it directed me to a web site called sugardaddyforme.com review a web site that could help me attract a sugar daddy, which quite honestly is my thing. I know that many people look down on this type of dating and think that there is something wrong with it, however, I personally love it. In my view of things there is nothing wrong with me wanting to find an older man with money to take care of me, while I in turn take care of him. I really think it is quite glamorous to walking into a club with a hot looking older guy and have him buy me the world. Also, dating an older guy means that he just adores me and feels lucky to be with me, therefore he worships the ground I walk on. He nearly falls all over himself trying to keep me happy and this is a big turn on. Not to mention the money which, I am sorry to tell you this people, a major aphrodisiac. I mean there is not a worry in the world when you have all that you could ever want. Every day and every night is a party. Good times are plentiful when you are shopping, dining out, dancing, and traveling all the time. Not a care in the world and still having someone to share it all with is the best part of all.

I know that this method of finding someone may be a bit unconventional, however, it is our choice as consenting adults to choose the qualities in a mate that we think are most important, and finally there is a web site that supports my type of love connection, and I couldn't be happier. I have already met several eligible guys and no they don't have one foot in the grave, like some people would think. I am truly looking for a companion, someone who is established and financially secure and yet is still good looking, fun to be with, a good conversationalist, and so forth. There really is nothing wrong with wanting someone who is established in life, I don't want to have kids, I just want to live out my life with that someone special and have all the means to do the things I want to do, to get the most out of life. Is this really a bad thing?

credit report

Posted by Stacy on Thursday, June 12, 2008 12:48 PM

Do you know your credit score? I bet if we went to a busy street and polled everyone walking by that more than half wouldn't know their own credit score. Or what the range is (I think its between 300 and 850) It seems like even though these resources, like free credit reports are available to people, they don't take full advantage of them, which is a shame because they are only hurting them selves. Is it that they choose not to take the time to look at their credit report? Or is it that they aren't aware of what is available to them?

Although I have had several classes on economics in both high school and college over the years, when I see commercials on t.v. or hear about credit reports I don't think that I fully grasp the concept either.

So I looked up credit reports to see what they entail completely. I found out that your credit report is basically a history of your credit (which is what we learned in all of those classes). It records everything from borrowing and repaying to whether or not you have filed for bankruptcy. Your credit report is used to decide whether or not you are "worthy" of receiving more, or another line of credit. So if you failed to repay credit cards in the past on time, or at all for some, you would not receive credit in the future.

Something interesting that I found out that shocked me was that in Canada (and some other countries) if you applied for credit of some sort before you had a social insurance number, and then afterwards, you could have two completely different credit reports. I'm not sure if this is bad or good. I guess it would depend on the person. If they had good credit, obviously that would want that to reflect all the time on them, but if they had bad credit before and had a chance to completely start over then I guess that could be a good mistake. What I found interesting was that a lot of these people have two separate reports but do not even know about it.

Its scary knowing that identity theft is growing and isn't that hard to get away with. So by keeping an eye on your credit report and your bills, you can prevent this from happening to you or at the very least, catch it before you are beyond all credit repair.

debt

Posted by Stacy on Thursday, June 12, 2008 11:57 AM

The rising costs of food. The rising costs of gasoline. Rising interest rates and late fees on all of that credit card debt you have gnawing at you. What is left for you to do other than move back in with Mom and Dad? Maybe you have already done that and now none of you are thrilled with the decision.

May I make a suggestion? Do a little research on debt elimination. Credit counseling is a big business these days because there is a big need for it. Hold your head up and get ready to get yourself out of that debt step by step.

First step is to find a reputable credit counseling service. Debt consolidation is a much better option for you than filing bankruptcy. It will look a lot better for you in the financial long run, too. And it may not be as scary as you think. For sure, you will have to divulge all of your financial information to a complete stranger, but that stranger is there to help you out of the mess you are in. That is what they do. They have the professional training to point you in a direction that is best for your particular situation.

In addition to eliminating those harassing telephone calls from collectors (who are paid to brow beat you into promising to pay something even when you know it is not feasible), a good credit counselor can help you set up a budget to live on that will work for you. They will be able to suggest ways to cut expenses that you may not have thought of and they will give you back your self-esteem in just knowing that there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Debt consolidation may wind up being your best friend.

Wouldn't it be great if you had a plan that you could stick to that wouldn't include dodging your bill collectors? Well, you have to trust someone and if you check out the credit counseling service that you decide to use, I bet they will have many, many satisfied clients. You probably even know someone personally who has been able to dig themselves out of the throes of rapidly mounting debt with a good debt consolidation plan. If they haven't shared it with you, then shame on them. But once you get a good plan in place, don't be afraid to tell others about it. There is no disgrace in working your plan to get out of debt. There is however, a serious problem with ignoring it. Anyone who thinks the word ignore and the word ignorance don't start at the same place is just not thinking clearly.

Make the call today. Talk to a professional today. Take the step today that will lead you towards a better future tomorrow.

promotional items

Posted by Stacy on Tuesday, June 10, 2008 9:24 PM

There are certain things I hate in life. These include dandelions and certain birds. Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against nature or plants or animals. In fact, I love to see nature and hope to live in a wooded area or next to the sea one day in the future. But dandelions and birds are different, since they leave remnants of themselves everywhere. Whenever my friends and I have a barbeque in the park, I find a ton of dandelion floaters on my socks that found their way onto my body while I was traversing through the grass. Also, birds love to shed their feathers all over the street and over my car and sometimes even in my hair. I think that if nature wants to be nature, it should stick to holding its nature-like qualities to itself, rather than giving out sub-standard samples to other things around them.

This is exactly why I hate promotional gifts. Whenever my friends would get back from a career fair, they would bring back bags of pure junk. Of course, this junk was emblazoned with a ton of gaudy company logos, but it was junk nonetheless. I never saw what was so wonderful about having purple or pink colored promotional pens lying all around the house. I understand that promotional items are a form of advertising, but I see them more like mass junk mail rather than a valid form of advertising that gives useful products to potential customers.

But back to promotional pens - I really don't like them. Usually, the companies make them too large for them to be practical. Also, they love to use flashy, ugly colors in which to encase the pen (which, by the way, runs out of ink in like two days.) If companies use promotional items, they should make them at least somewhat useful for those who will receive them. I think there would be some payoff if companies expended a little more effort into developing useful promotional products. Perhaps then potential customers would use the item more and associate it with the company, thereby spurring sales.

Also, promotional gifts should be just that: gifts. Nobody wants to receive an oversize pen for a gift, especially if it's a weird color. But if the promotional pen were more useful, it could be quite useful for advertising. If I had a really good promotional pen, I might even consider buying from or working for the company in the future!

bluetooth headset

Posted by Stacy on Sunday, June 08, 2008 6:43 PM

We all know technology moves at a very fast pace. There might be some people who remember the time when cameras were a new invention. Of course, those people would have to be quite old indeed to remember those times. I remember being a kid and the big thing was having either a disposable camera or a camera with film that you had to put in it. The problem with those types of cameras was that you had to constantly buy new film. It was almost like having a very expensive disposable camera.

Nut now, we have reached an evolution of cameras. I think the invention of the digital camera was the single best invention since cell phones. In fact, the invention of the digital camera is comparable to the cell phone. Think about it. Just like the invention of the cell phone, the invention of the digital camera has taken all of the specialness and beauty out of something that was once treasured and instead has made it a nuisance. Before cell phones, you could only get in touch with somebody by their home phone. There weren't obnoxious people having rude and loud conversations on the phone on trains and walking down the street and in movie theaters and in shopping malls. And before the invention of the bluetooth headset, the only people who walked around looking like they were talking to themselves actually had some type of mental disorder.

Now, cameras have evolved into the mystery world of the memory stick and SDHC (which is comparable to HDTV), and what once used to be just isn't the same anymore. There was once a time when only the most priceless memories were captured on film because it was so expensive to make random, meaningless photos. Now, since digital cameras were invented, there is no more discrimination between "good photo moments" and "maybe I shouldn't take a picture of this because it isn't important". People take pictures of anything and everything they can now that digital cameras have been invented.

As if it weren't enough that the importance of the pictures being taken slowly diminished over time, now we contend with the fact that you can view all of the pictures before deciding to save your moments of fame or delete those snapshots of shame. So now it even takes longer to take pictures because every photo must now be viewed with the ever so skillful eye of the person who might be embarrassed by what the camera had to show.

But despite these shortcomings, digital cameras are still a great invention because they are so convenient, just as the cell phone is a great invention because it makes things more convenient. And though they present a small nuisance in the form of overzealous photographer wannabes, they still have proven to be a nice addition to everyday life. Technology sure is amazing, isn't it?

pet supplies

Posted by Stacy on Friday, June 06, 2008 7:42 PM

I am home for the summer now and I learned today that my parents have changed the way the run the family business. We run a little pet store in our hometown and we have always done our business totally locally. Ever since my dad started the shop about fifteen years ago we have not given in to any of the changes that we've seen in the business world. That has all changed this year though since business has not been doing as well usual. The problem is all a part of the much bigger economic things going on in the country. We have typically done things in a way where we find local farmers and producers to help us make pet supplies and to help breed the pets that are sold at the store. Unfortunately this has become much too difficult and almost impossible to profit from.

What my parents have done now is to gradually, over the course of the last semester, transition over to buying and selling pet supplies over the internet. They still maintain the shop but they no longer sell only local products. When I walked in all of the shelves were stocked up with high gloss labels and intricate packaging. They hadn't told me because they knew I would be a little bit disappointed. I am going to college now for sustainable community development and these are the kinds of situations that I want to design for. I have a vision of the world as a place where we can all function in this larger community as a vast web of small, sustainable, communities. When I saw the new packaging in the shop I was a little bit stunned. I didn't ever gte to a point of anger though because I know where they are coming from. I don't think that anyone is really to blame for the loss of community business but I think that not enough people try to combat it. I am happy that they have transformed the business in a way that will allow it to survive but I guess a local pet supplies business needs to be global to make a profit.

debt consolidation

Posted by Stacy on Friday, June 06, 2008 7:07 PM

The strange situation of a graduate student is something that I feel needs a little bit of attention. I have a great friend right now who is a grad student here and he is also a father. He met a his partner as an undergraduate and they got married as seniors. Now they have a little girl and they live in the on campus housing. He is spending most of his time out of the house with both school and work. When he is at home he is trying his best to be a good dad and work on the research for a book he is trying to write on American history. His partner is doing the stay at home mom gig right now and so he also has to program in time for her to have for herself sometimes. So he is definitely the busiest person I have ever met in my whole life. I know him because he was a professor of mine at one time and now I baby sit for him sometimes when he and his partner go out on dates and to school events. What blows me away is just how he seems like everyone else in his daily outlook. The other day I was talking to him about how he manages to both go to school and have kid without being massively in debt. He told me that he is a self proclaimed master of debt consolidation. His father was a financial consultant and has personally helped him along with his trying to eliminate debt. Though he lives well beyond his means and doesn't take handouts from his parents, he has found ways of keeping payments and bills low low while also keeping his salary as high as possible. We usually like to sit and talk about school topics like what he has been researching and what I have been studying lately. This week though I have been really trying to pick his brains about this whole consolidate debts thing because I think I may want to go to graduate school and I think if he can do it with kids and a family house then I can do it as an independent person with ease. I just need to figure out all of his little tricks and then I will be set.

Online dating

Posted by Stacy on Thursday, June 05, 2008 3:46 PM

The dating scene is so treacherous. I was watching Dr. Phil yesterday, and he was talking about online dating. I have never really thought about using a dating service, but other people have done it with great results. It seems a little impersonal to me, and I guess I am a little afraid that all I will meet is wacko's. I have met some people and began dating them, only to find out that they have weird obsessions and hang ups, so I guess the online scene can't be much worse.

I am not really sure how to go about finding Mr. Right. I mean which are the most reliable dating sites and which produce the best results? I was speaking to a woman I work with, and she said that about a year ago she tried online dating and found it to be an interesting experience. She told me that she met some really nice people, but none that she really felt were her soul mate. She told about meeting many eligible men and most of them were normal, or so she claims. She said that overall it was a very good experience and she would recommend that I give it a try. After all, she pointed out I really had nothing to lose.

After thinking about it a good while, I decided to give it a try and I randomly picked a site online, and filled out all the pages and pages of personal information. This was one of those sites that try to match you to another person, so that you have things in common. I think that this will be very interesting; they promise that you will get your first few connections during the first couple days on this site, and I have already gotten contacted by 3 guys. All 3 seem to be right up my alley. They are good looking, have good jobs, and have recently become single. One of particular interest to me loves the beach and surfing and these are my passions as well. His name is Greg and in his picture he is sitting in his Hummer. Well, good looks, money, things in common, I think I am off to a really good start. I sent him a message, but I haven't heard back from him yet…but who knows maybe he is my soul mate.

California flowers

Posted by Stacy on Thursday, June 05, 2008 3:07 PM

I love the summer time out here on the coast. When school gets out I just can't help spending all of my time at home. I couldn't imagine staying on campus for the summer and missing out on the beach and the forests out here. My parents have lived out here since I was only five and so I consider California my home now, warts and all. I know there are plenty of problems with the area we live in but I just can't knock it when it's always been good to me. There are very few things I like better than going out in to the hills around here and smelling the sweet California flowers blooming and the sea air just blowing them in towards the east. It's like the flowers here on the coast just want to meet those on the west. They are little Americans through and through; never satisfied with where they are and ready to expand across the nation till the hit the sea and turn back again as homesick as ever. Whenever I am here I help my mother with her business selling gift baskets on the internet. She puts me to work loading and wrapping up the baskets for a couple of hours a day before she loads the car and takes them to the post office for shipping. She's been selling these little baskets for mothers for a long time. They are cool little packages that have a bunch of local foods that are great for women's health in particular. I realize this summer that she is extremely active for a woman of her vintage and that I wouldn't give a thing for her to be like the women her age who she is friends with. They are all bed ridden or trapped in some home somewhere. This weekend we are going to go for a bike ride up the road and then I am taking her up to my favorite clearing where you can look out at the sea while sitting in those sweet California flowers. I wish I had the power to bring this little place to everyone and not lose it for myself.