Danger is Part of the Excitment

There are a lot of great programs out there now to make Internet usage both more enjoyable and safe now. A popup blocker can make it more enjoyable by keeping annoying ads from interupting your cruising. A good virus program can keep you from getting infected. I don't think anyone now can even consider a life without computers and internet connections where 30 years ago it was inconceivable that the world could be such an open place. With the openness there will always be dangers lurking, but technology is really getting a handle on it. I can't wait to see what awaits us in just 10 years and beyond. It makes me think of the times when as a child I'd read sci-fi books and dream of the possibilities they presented and now realize how much of them are realities. Sci-fi movies of today may be the realities of ten years from now... that's exciting, and probably a little dangerous too, but that's part of the excitment.

Does Your Style Rock You?

I both love and loathe winter. I hate cold, I hate doing outdoor chores in the cold (and on a farm there are a LOT of outdoor chores all year round) and most of all, I hate frozen water (goes with the outdoor chores thing, but it's a special hate all it's own). What I LOVE about winter is the baggy, big, layers of clothes you can get away with. Those clothes and coats hide a multitude of sins--or pounds whichever you wish to call it. It's kind of hard to be fashionable though. It doesn't matter if you're wearing volcom clothing or something from the bargain bins. Now in the summer, it matters. Every stitch is visible (along with all those pesky pounds). You can really rock your style in the summer. In the winter, your style tends to rock you. It's all about what will keep you warm. At least if you live in the frozen northern half of the country, and have to work outside a good part of the day.

The Biggest Pain Of All

I have hurt so many body parts in just a few months without really knowing why I'm beginning to think I need one of those medical id tags just to say 'careful, fragile body'. I feel helpless like something must be wrong with me, but I don't know what. I'm not a person prone to injury, or illness. I haven't been sick in years. Then just two months ago I somehow pulled a muscle in my butt, yeah I know, not glamourous, but what can I say, it was horrendous though and still bothers me some, but it's been replaced by a new, and bigger pain. The rear pain I attributed to extreme exercise with my new diet, but since that I wasn't able to exercise much at all so this new one is beyond me. I woke up with it. I either twisted in my sleep, or something, but it's been almost two weeks. I think it's a pinched nerve in my shoudler, but the pain is excrutiating. Maybe I should just wear a sign on my chest that says 'fragile'... maybe that will do it. I'm not used to being fragile though, and that is an even bigger pain. In fact, it's the biggest pain of all.

Not Just The Same old Same old.

Just like various parts of the country all seem similar so do most hotels. I've spent a lot of time in various hotels and it really doesn't matter where in the country you are they're pretty much the same. The big differences would be in 'class', or cost. But a 5-star hotel is going to look a lot like any other 5-star, and a roadside motel is going to look like pretty much every other roadside motel. I don't mind so much when I'm traveling for showing or business, but when I vacation I want a hotel that doesn't feel like every other hotel I've ever been in. There's only one place in the country like that in my opinion, and that's at a lasvegas hotel. Those hotels are like little continents all their own. You feel like you've been somewhere out of this world at a Vegas hotel. That's my idea of a vacation. I suppose for those that don't travel several weekends a month all year round and stay in motel and hotel after motel and hotel any hotel will feel like a 'vacation' but for those like me, we need something different to feel like it's not just the same old same old... and Vegas does that with unprecidented style.

Uniquely The Same

I hear a lot about the beautiful scenery in one place or another, depending on who is talking. The funny thing to me is having traveled rather extensively to animal shows all over the country, it seems to me that 1) there's beautiful scenery everywhere, and 2) by and large, one town looks a lot like another. Now it's true some areas have a distinct feel to them, like say Boston and it's early British Americana, or the kind of fresh rolling hills feel of Wilmington NC real estate. Lots of the midwest looks like all the rest of the midwest. An Ohio highway resembles an Indiana, and Illinois one, and yet you can find areas that are uniquely breathtaking on their own and to themselves. Oklahoma is a big flat dusty plain, and still there are areas that can take your breath away. So when I hear someone talk about the stupendous scenery in such and such a place, I just smile and nod, and think, just like anywhere else in the USA. As big as the country is, it is amazingly unique, and the same all at once.

Correcting Chronic Pain

My husband has been suffering from a chronic pain in his shoulder for months now. Since he does so much heavy lifting at work he thought that was a major reason for the pain, but it turns out a lot of the problem was from pressure when he slept. He always sleeps on his side. He hates sleeping on his stomach, and can't seem to stay on his back so he ends up on his side and that puts a lot of pressure on his shoulder joints. One recommendation was to get a foam mattress that would be more apt to mold to his body rather than increase the pressure by resistance like a spring mattress would. We are checking into that option as well as a few others. He was relieved to learn that it was something like that rather than the strain of lifting and pulling that he does daily in his job as a paramedic, but it's really important to correct the reason no matter what because it definately effects the way he is able to do his job.

Real Estate Licensing

I have a close friend who recently went to school for her real estate agent license in her new home state of Ohio. Wow, what a difference it was compared to when I got my Illinois license in real estate back in 95. I'm not sure if it is just the number of years and the way things developed in the real estate licensing area, or if it is the difference between states, but my friend said that she'd been told it was too bad she didn't get her license in Illinois before she moved. Apparently there is a wide difference between states in the regulations and such. She'd been told that simply transfering the license was not only possible but much easier. She had to go through almost ten times as many hours of class time and the test was even harder there than it is here in Illinois. That's saying a lot because although I passed my test the first time back when I took it, that was unsual. MANY people even then had to take the test several times before they passed and that was always a big fear going in because you couldn't take the test in immediate succession. They only offered it at certain intervals and you had to wait (I think) two months, maybe three it's been a long time but it was about that as I recall to take it again. Ohio is apparently even stricter.