Jeremy Herndon

When I was a kid, just getting out of high school and looking to go to college, I had to apply for college scholarships to help me pay for my college education.  I was also lucky enough to get some grants and student loans to help me with tuition costs.  It took a long time to pay off the student loans, so I recommend to any and everyone that they should try to get as many free college scholarships and grants that they can scrape up to help them with their college expenses.

Many scholarships are based on prior academic achievement, but some can be won by entering competitions, or signing up for free scholarships offers that involve earning points and redeeming them.  However you can get a scholarship, today’s student really should check out all of the different options.

One of my nephews was really fortunate to be given full scholarship to the college of his choice, but he earned that through a lot of hard work in high school.  He never got a grade lower than an “A” his entire scholastic life!   And he took as many advanced placement classes as he possibly could take, and participated in community service organizations and played on several sports teams.  His scholarships have been hard won, but his work paid off – he is getting his college education for free!  Scholarships are a great thing!

Today I got what I call a “phishing phone call” from someone that I think was trying to scam me out of giving out credit card information to them. They claimed to be from Citibank, but the caller ID simply said that it was “Out of area.” They were calling with the pretense of lowering my credit card interest rates, but in order to take advantage of the offer they wanted my credit card numbers. My wife told me not to give them any information at all.

I thought it was a legit call, but my wife was really skeptical, so I pressed them further for information. They said that they could lower my interest rates if my credit card debt was at least $3,000 and my interest rate was at least 12%. Well, I told them that my highest rate was 7.99% so they said they couldn’t help me and hung up. I wonder if it was legit or a scam? I guess I’ll never know for sure.

Easy money is always a temptation.  It’s going to be even more of a temptation in this economy.  As long as I can remember, there have been scams to make people believe that it is easy to Make Money at Home by signing up to a specific program, and sending in some kind of fee or payment to get started. 

Those type of programs make me really nervous.  I’d like to Make Money Online.  Who wouldn’t?  I’d love to just stay in my pajamas most of the day, work at my own pace at my own convenience and Make Money from home,  And I know that those types of opportunities DO exist.  But I’ve also seen a lot of television news articles about how a lot of those advertised opportunities are scams, so I am really cautious about signing up with any kind of program that sounds “too good to be true.”  I’d really like to hear from someone that I know personally and trust that they have done it themselves and then they prove to me that it works for them.

Well, the winter weather we have been having recently certainly makes for dangerous driving conditions!  This area does not get this kind of weather frequently enough for the government(s) to invest a lot of money in snow plows and sanding machines, and the employment of the driver/operators needed to run them.

What’s sad is that so many businesses still expect their employees to come to work, even in extreme weather!  I don’t think that speaks well of those businesses.  I think that if the local schools are closed, it is because their experts have determinedthat it is not safe driving for the school buses to get the children safely to school.  And I feel that if the roads are not safe enough for the school buses to be out there, then all businesses (except the essential hospitals and emergency services) should be closed, too.  Simply out of concern for the safety of the workers.

This past weekend I went to a home show and walked around the different exhibits.  I enjoy doing things like that; I like to see what new innovative things are on the market.  I was most impressed with an exhibit that was extolling the virtues of a walkin tub.  With the baby boomer generation aging, I think it is a good idea to put walk in tubs in every new bathroom, or remodeled bathroom.  These great tubs can come equipped with jets for a great massage, or just be soaker tubs.  I know that I’d sure like to have one in my bathroom!