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!

I was driving home from work and saw a very unusual sight for our small town.  I saw a homeless man, wheeling his two wheeled bike, heavily laden with full plastic shopping bags and signs begging for food.  This is the very first time I’ve seen this type of sight in our town.  I’ve seen it in larger towns and cities, but not in our very own town.  The man was walking in the direction of the homeless shelter that our town has; I hope he went there and got the help he needs.

My cousin Ted sent me an email that he is planning to take a vacation holiday to Brittany.  He has a lady friend who is from the Finistere region of Brittany and she has talked him into going with her to meet the family and experience some of the great festivals that they have there.  She told him it is in the northwest corner of France, and has beautiful seashores and picturesque villages.  She says that Finistere Holidays are the most enjoyable when you have a native there to show you around the place, and to get a real feel of the local culture.

He spent some time researching the area on the Internet, and said that it sounds like a great place for a vacation, so they are going to take a couple of weeks and take a holiday villa in Brittany and spend some time with her friends and family, soaking up the sun, and taking in some festivals.  Sounds like a great time!

I find it very amusing that the style for men’s clothing has changed from the baggy-fall-off-your-behind look to the so-tight-you-can’t-breathe look. I understand that now guys are expected to wear pants that are so tight that if you have a pimple on your butt it will show! Come on guys, can’t we have a “happy medium” here? I think this is a ruse by the fashion industry to get us to spend more money on clothes at a time when money is really tight!

I never liked (or wore) the “plumber butt” pants, and I certainly won’t wear the “anorexic look.” I’m not sure which is more absurd! I do find it interesting, however, that when the baggy look was “in” for men, the women were wearing tight fitting clothes, and now that the “skinny” look is “in” the women are wearing looser fitting clothes. It’s as if there is some kind of fashion rule that when a guy and a gal are standing together, they have to form the number 10 – one skinny, one round! Crazy!

I have always had a love/hate relationship with air travel.  On the one hand, I like to be in control, and being a passenger on an airplane I just don’t have that kind of control that I like to have!  So I rather feel helpless, and that is a feeling I really don’t like very much!

On the other hand, sometimes being able to get fast direct flights to my destination is very important when time is of the essence.  And with the price of gasoline and tolls constantly increasing, sometimes getting cheap flights (when possible) actually saves me time AND money, too!

With so many airlines out “there” competing for our business, sometimes it is possible to get good international flights from a variety of airlines, such as qantas, jetstar, singapore airlines and united airlines. It’s really important to shop around for the best international airfares.  For our friends in Australia, the travel.com.au website is a great place to go for that comparison shopping!

I was reading on the Discovery Channel’s website that a new car will be hitting the market later this year.  It is a flying car!  Basically it is a plane that has wings that can fold up so that you can drive it home and park it in your garage.  It will fly for 500 miles on one tank of regular unleaded gas!  Now I think this is a really awesome creation, and I’d love to have one!  (I’d also like to get one of those car-boat things that were sold back in the 60s! – oh, and a hovercraft!)

Anyway, it will retail for (are you sitting down?) $194,000!  I think I’ll have to wait a few decades for the price to come down!  But it sure would be really awesome to own one of them!

I’ve always had a soft spot for our feathered friends.  I keep a pair of binoculars and a bird identification book close at hand so if I spot a bird I haven’t seen before I can get a closer look and try to figure out what it is.  From time to time I’m thrilled and blessed to spot a few American Bald Eagles near our house!  But sightings like that are few and far between.  I mostly see hawks, blue jays, robin red breasts, grosbeaks, woodpeckers, doves, nuthatches, finches and cardinals.  Once in a great while I see a Northern Bluebird – what a thrill that is to see that!  I see way too many turkey vultures and buzzards for my liking, though, if you know what I mean.  I understand that they are a protected species and I know that they have a job to do, but they give me the creeps! 

I’d like to put a few Quality birdhouses and birdfeeders in our yard to help care for the birds in our neighborhood.  I suspect that if I did that I’d see a lot more of them in the yard a lot more often.  I’m just not really sure what is the best kind of birdhouse.  I love the colorful and whimsical ones, but I’ve read that the plain ones are more attractive to the birds.  What do you think?

Where were you when Barack Obama was sworn in?  I was at work, taking my lunch break.  We all went into the lounge and turned on the television to watch the ceremony and then went back to work.  I had the VCR set up at home to tape it so I could watch it again later at home.  To be honest, I thought his speech was good, but the John Williams piece and the poem did not impress me very much.  I would have much preferred the theme to Superman or Star Trek to what was played!  But no one asked me, so there you go!  And no offense to the poet who wrote the poem, it just was not the kind of poetry that I like.  But I guess I’m just a little bit “low brow” to appreciate that kind of sophistication!  But after all is said and done, the President was sworn in and now he has a lot of work to get done!  Good luck Mr. President!

In our near future I think that more people are going to be competing for lower paying jobs; more people will enter the ranks of the underemployed and the unemployed.  For those of us who find ourselves struggling with our debt load, we are finding our credit rating sinking because we are struggling to pay our bills.  Especially when we are losing our jobs, and sometimes even having to file for bankruptcy.  So what’s a poor fella to do when his car dies and he has poor credit?  There comes a point when it costs more to repair a car than the car is worth and you rather are forced to buy a replacement.  The replacement doesn’t necessarily have to be a NEW car, but you need a “New to you” car. 

That is where you need to check out the options for poor credit car loans, available for people with poor credit and for people who have filed for bankruptcy.  The website at nowgetloan.com is a great place to start looking for the way to get the money you need for that new car.  If you apply for a loan through that website, you may be able to get up to $35,000 for a car loan the same day you apply!  They have flexible payment options and don’t do a credit check.  Sounds like an easy way to get the money you need.

I’ve always been a little bit nervous about flying, this recent incident of the US Airways flight that landed in the Hudson River has added to my apprehension!  Although I have to say that it is very impressive that the pilot managed a successful landing and that everyone survived, I understand that this is the first time that has ever occurred – a successful water landing of a jet.  Yes, this is a miracle indeed, and kudos to all of those who were involved!  But I think I’ll stick to driving!

Do you remember me telling you I went to Lowe’s to buy a shelf to display a motorcycle on?  Well I did manage to buy the shelf, and I just finished putting it up.  My wife went with me to help me find it (I think I forgot to mention that in my previous post) and she was the one who found the shelves.  I had never noticed them before on my many trips to Lowe’s, but she remembered seeing them.  We asked a couple of store associates to show us where they were but they were no help at all.  Anyway, we found them, bought the one I liked the most and brought it home.  Today I put it up and put the bike on it.  This is how it looks!  Pretty sharp, right?

I was reading that there is a company that has created a 3D TV that you can watch without having to wear those crazy 3D glasses!  The article that I read had a link to the company that makes the televisions, and so I went to check it out.  I found the site, and was interested to see where they have showrooms so I could see the television for myself.  I was hoping that there would be one within a reasonable driving distance so I could go over there one day.  Alas, the closest showroom is a six hour drive away!  I guess I won’t be able to check that out for a while!  I hope one day they open one closer to where I live!

There is absolutely nothing more annoying to me than to come home and find that all of the lights in the house are on, but no one is in most of the rooms!  I can’t seem to educate certain folks that we need to save money by turning off lights when we leave the room.  Well, I just found out that Black & Decker is releasing for sale motion detector light switches that will turn the lights off automatically after a few minutes of detecting no motion.  The price sounds reasonable, about $30 per switch.  They are supposedly going on sale in April.  I’ve signed up to receive an email notice from them when they come out!  I am DEFINITELY going to buy several!

I went shopping today at Lowe’s with the intention of buying a decorative shelf to put some statue type home accessories on (OK, it’s a small motorcycle model that looks like the perfect size for a cat to ride.)  Anyway, I was walking down the lighting aisle, trying to find the shelves and walked past a really cool table lamp that is a theme lamp of Harley Davidson motorcycles!  At the base of it is a soft tailed Bike, the lamp shade has HD logos on it, the headlight on the bike lights up and the lamp makes a vroom vroom noise! 

The thing stopped me in my tracks!  I reached out for the price tag, afraid of what the price might be.  It was only $14.98!  Well, of course I immediately started looking for the boxed up lamps that haven’t been opened yet and snagged one right away!  I was especially excited when I went on the Internet to see what it is priced at other places and saw it for sale on some websites for almost $80!  What a bargain I got!  Now I have to find the perfect spot in my house for it.  It’s going to look so cool!

In my campaign to save money I’ve been thinking about replacing our exterior back door’s deadbolt lock with a remote control keyless deadbolt.  There are many times when one of the family members goes out at night and leaves lights on out by the door simply because it makes it easier for them to see the lock to insert their key to get into the house.  There are plenty of other lights around that area to help them see their way to the door.  (Those are motion sensor lights.) 

I’m thinking that it would be really nice to have the remote because there are a lot of times folks have their arms full and can’t easily unlock the door with their keys.  Pushing the remote button on their keychain would let them enter the house more easily.  It would also let them into the house quicker if they felt threatened in some way.  I’ve been looking around on the Internet for price ranges and styles and it seems that they will cost about $100.  I was glad to see that some of the systems have additional remotes available so that all of our family members can have one.  Naturally these locks will also work with a key if necessary.

My wife and I decided to stay in this year and celebrate the year changing by ourselves.  We prepared a very nice steak dinner, with a salad and croissant rolls, and had a really nice bottle of wine with supper.  My wife put our best linens on the table, and set it with our best china, silver, and crystal ware.  A couple of white taper candles, and a bouquet of fresh flowers bought at the store yesterday made the dining room look very romantic.  We dressed up in our best “party clothes” and pretended we were at a fancy restaurant.  After supper we cleaned up the dishes together and then put on some of our favorite music and danced our favorite slow dances in the kitchen.

Then we watched the new Indiana Jones movie that I bought recently, and then turned the television onto Dick Clark’s New Year’s Eve show to watch the ball drop.  We were really glad we decided to stay in; it was bitterly cold out and the wind was very strong.  All in all it was a very nice way to end the old year, and start the new year.  We might do that again next year too!