Jeremy Herndon

Over the course of my life, I have had to take several student loans to get through college. I was not a good enough student in high school to get many scholarships or grants, and my folks were not in an economical position to pay for my schooling. If I wanted to go to college, then I needed to get as many college loans as I could get. Unfortunately, the college expenses exceeded the amount of money that I could borrow through the subsidized programs and I even had to get a couple of private student loans to finish up.

I’m really glad that I was able to get these loans to get my college degree, but I have to admit that I am finding it difficult to make the payments on the loans.  I’m worried that with this economy going the way it seems to be going (prices keep going up) that I’m going to be having to ask for a hardship deferral on the loans, which is something that I really don’t want to have to do.  I want to get them paid off!

My cat thinks that the world revolves around him. He thinks strange people are out to kill him and he has to hide. He thinks that the vacuum cleaner is the work of the devil. He thinks a closed door is a bad door, and needs to be open at all times. He thinks that there is no such thing as too much food in his feed dish. He thinks that houseplants are appetizers and mice are dessert. He thinks that I should not wear jewelry, or belts. He thinks that being brushed is a preview of being in heaven.

One of the things I like the most about the Internet is how it has opened up the world of shopping. It seems that it is so much easier to find products to buy that just a short time ago I did not even know existed! I think it is great that there are so many shopping engines available to use to find the product that you want.

One of my favorite shopping engines is called exspecto.com. I like it a lot because it has features on it that I have not seen on other shopping engines before. It has Set PriceAlert, advanced sorting, view price history, strong locale searches and more. I also like the feature that you can use called Rate product so you can advise others what you like or don’t like about the product once you buy it.

I really like shiny things. I like a lot of chrome on my truck, and I like stainless steel appliances in the kitchen. My wife tells me that she’d prefer different colors in the kitchen, but since I let her pick out the bells and whistles on the appliances to make her happy, she let me pick out the colors to make ME happy. Seemed like a good compromise to me!

Now I’m trying to sneak in some stainless steel accents in other places around the house, like the bathrooms and the living room. I’ve found a good website that specialized in stainless steel accessories. Not surprisingly it is called The Stainless Steel Store!

I’ve found a great Blomus Stainless Steel tape measure that I’m going to put on my “gift wish list.” Also a great Blomus Stainless Steel Magnetic Bulletin Board that I want to put in the kitchen beside the door.   I could spend a lot of time and money at that website!

I’ve been hearing a lot of talk about how the paper version of newspapers are obsolete, and that the newspapers are going to go out of business; being replaced by online news. I’d hate to think that were true; I like getting the paper newspaper. I like to take it with me to work, to read on my breaks. I like to take it in the car with me and read when I’m waiting for someone to meet me.

I use the newspaper a lot after the reading is over. I use it to wash my mirrors and windows. I use it to line the carpet to protect it from kitty litter when I’m cleaning the litter box. And, when I have puppies, I use it as an aide to house break them. If I had birds (I used to, but don’t now!) I’d use the newspapers to line their cages.

Veterinarians and animal rescue leagues need used newspapers to line their cages. Schools need newspapers to teach social studies and current events.

I hope that the paper version of the newspaper sticks around for a very long time to come!

This morning I was unhappy to discover that my car had a flat tire.  I guess it was a good time to have a flat tire, since I was home at the time.  Not that it is EVER a good time to have a flat tire; they are a pain in the butt!  But if I HAVE to have a flat tire, I’d much rather be at home discovering it than out on the road; especially on an Interstate Highway in rush hour!  But face it, a flat tire is an aggravation, no matter what!

Thank goodness my spare is good, but it IS a donut tire so I need to go to the tire store as soon as possible to either get this flat tire repaired (I hope it is repairable!) or replaced.  I didn’t have road hazard insurance on the tire that is flat, if I have to buy a new one I will be SURE to get road hazard insurance this time!  Tires are not cheap!