January 31, 2007

Jewish Singles

I’ve done a lot of joking about online dating sites lately (y’all knew I was kidding, right?) but the fact is that they serve a good purpose. I know a number of couples involved in long-term relationships who first met as online matches. I even know a few who have made successful marriages after meeting on a dating site. Not everyone has the good fortune to just happen upon the right person in the course of their daily lives. This can be even more problematic for those who have very specific criteria in mind. What I’m thinking of in particular is ethnic and religious considerations. People can live a life completely free of bias and still feel that their best match for romance is with someone who shares historical, religious or cultural ties. If being Jewish is more than just a label to you, you might want to see what this Jewish Dating Site has to offer. Membership is free, so it won’t cost you a thing to wander around the site and see if it’s a comfortable fit for you. In addition to possible matches for your love life, you’ll also see some well-written articles that you may find relevant to your situation. Jsingles.com sponsored this post so you would know.

The other shoe dropped

I survived.

A while back I spent a little too much money on my home remodel project and found myself unable to meet my tax obligation at the end of the year. I tried very hard to get caught up, but the real estate market took a dive, which means I was getting much less business than in the past. Last week I got a letter from Uncle Sam saying time was running out and they wanted to take my house. As you know from a previous post, I succeeded in finding a lender who agreed to help me refinance my home. Uncle Sam will be paid off tomorrow.

Big siiiiiiiiiiigh of relief here! Mahalo for all of your kind thoughts when you knew I was facing a problem.

Vacation getaways

A lot of the properties that I inspect are condominiums that are used as vacation rentals. Many people are choosing condominiums these days for Vacation Rentals instead of having to put up with the hustle and bustle of a hotel. Condominiums offer more privacy and full kitchens, and many of them are more spacious than a typical hotel room. If you’re planning a vacation, look into an experienced management team that can help you find just the right accommodations for your needs. Whether you’re taking the entire family to a theme park or want a romantic getaway on the ocean, a qualified affiliation of condominium owners will only offer properties that they have screened and that they know will give you a wonderful vacation experience. Encyclocentral.com sponsored this post so you could know there’s an alternative to high-priced, plain vanilla hotels for your next vacation.

Thirty-six years

I remember being terrified. Not of the pain so much, though that certainly frightened me. The terror, though, came from my feelings of total inadequacy. I wasn’t old enough to do this. I wasn’t mature enough to know where to start. What if I didn’t love it enough? What if I didn’t know how to meet its needs? What if I dropped it? I was so unprepared. We didn’t have parenting classes in those days. I knew how to change diapers and prepare bottles. I had done enough babysitting to know I could handle bathing and dressing and cuddling, but this? This was so much more. This responsibility was so awesomely huge, so much bigger than my clumsy skills could handle.

Sonograms and scans were not the norm at that time. I didn’t know the gender of the child I carried. Everyone in the family had an opinion. I wanted a girl. I didn’t want a little image of me. I wasn’t looking for a pretty little doll to dress up in frilly clothes, or a daughter with whom I could one day share makeup and wardrobe. I wasn’t biased towards girls or against boys. My feelings rested on something much more fundamental. A girl would be easier to raise without a father to help. What did I know of little boys? I didn’t know how they felt or what they wanted or needed or thought. Yes, a girl would definitely be better. I had some experience with being a girl.

Then I met you. What I had thougth I wanted was forgotten. I knew that this was perfection. This was what was supposed to be. This was as right as anything has ever been from the beginning of time. This was the part of me that I had never known was missing. My beautiful and amazing son.

There are gaps in my memories of my own life. Time periods that I just don’t recall in any detail. But I remember your teachers and your friends, and what places they filled in your life. I remember which ones you genuinely cared for and which ones you merely tolerated. I remember the few years of Cub Scouts and the many of Little League. Zoom and Speed Racer and The Fonz. The years that rushed by too quickly and that one that was so terribly slow. The coaches and friends and Brother Rowden and Alan who stepped in for those things that a boy needs a man to share. Woven through it all, the love of sports. The endless statistics, the rosters, the jersey numbers, the trading cards. Of course it was a sports biography that finally convinced you that reading was something more than an assignment to be completed by Monday. My favorite portrait is still the one above. You sit relaxed, confident, groomed and neatly dressed, LSU laces clearly visible in your shoes. The epitome of you-ness.

The miles between us now seem so vast and cause an ache in my heart. But the ache is a small thing because I know that gap is easily bridged. It is heavily outweighed by my pride in the man you have become and the joy I have in knowing that you’ve built a happy life for yourself. I love the boldness you’ve shown in making your own way and choosing your own path. I’ve forgiven the girl who broke your heart and I hope that you have, too. Grudges are too heavy and ugly a burden. I love the “best friend” woman who now shares so much of your life. I’m touched that you worry about me being way over here alone. Those are choices we’ve both made, so don’t allow yourself to regret them. I love the card, inscribed in your hand, reminding me that I will always be your first Valentine. You are mine, my son, because I never really knew what love was until the day that I met you. The day I knew I would never drop you. I think we’ve managed it all pretty well.

Happy Birthday, my son. I wish you love and happiness and fullness of life.

January 30, 2007

Consolidate your student loans

I have a friend who graduated a couple of years ago with a very prestigious degree. She’s carrying three student loans and living like a pauper, having to sqeeze her budget for the basic neccessities of life. I know that a quality education costs, but it bothers me greatly that it costs so much that folks who get one can’t make enough money to pay their debt and live decently. One solution that can help lower the debt is Student Loan Consolidation, which will shrink her three mothly payments into one lower payment. I’ll be passing this info on to her because I think it’s possible that Student Loan Debt Consolidation can make her life a lot easier. She’s young and independent. This is the time for her to be enjoying her life and the rewards that she’s worked so hard for. I’d like to help her do that by pointing her in the right direction. A big thank you to SecureLoanConsolidation.com for sponsoring this post.

Breaking news!

I have my own domain! It will take me a while to get things up and running, but look for an announcement soon with my new address. It probably won’t be pretty at first, but then, this one was never very special to look at either. I do have plans for a custom template a little ways down the road, but I need to learn a little more before I tackle that. Bogging, to me, has always been more about content than look anyway. With the new domain I’ll be able to add some more blogs focused on specific subjects, like the book blog I’ve been dreaming of for months now. Sassymonkey will be so pleased when I’m finally able to do the book meme she tagged me for sometime around Thanksgiving, lol! EDIT! I just checked and it’a a poetry meme! Ai, ai, ai!

I’m not sure how this will work, but I’m pretty sure that I’ll be able to leave something here so you can find me when I move. That’s for another day, though. Baby steps! Which reminds me: I’ve been studying an html primer for kids. Just my speed!

I did it!

I’m refinancing my home! I’ve blogged a little about it in the past and now I’m in the process. It wasn’t nearly as scary as I thought it would be and that’s probably because I’ve been doing my Home Mortgage Refinancing homework. I started studying Mortgage Refinancing and was surprised to find out that I knew more than I thought I did. When it was time to apply, I went in as an educated homeowner looking for the best Home Mortgage Refinance rates and terms and I got them! If you’re paying too much for your old mortgage or you need to free up some cash, you should consider Mortgage Refinance as a way to get your finances in order. I did it and I’m saving big bucks! Mahalo nui loa (thank you very much!) to the Home Mortgage Refinancing folks for teaching me how to secure a home equity loan, and for sponsoring this post!

Average American?

It’s late. I’m fatigued but not sleepy. That silliness that comes at such times is overtaking me.

You Are 80% “Average American”

You are average because you support affirmative action.You are not average since you live more than three miles away from McDonalds.

How “Average American” Are You?

How perfect is it that the shoes are slippers (local name for rubber sandals, flip flops - whatever you call them where you are,) but that they are also all American. But seriously, the fact that I’m about five miles from McDonald’s makes me below average? I don’t do fast food. That’s what removes me from the norm. :0D

January 29, 2007

Compare savings accounts

Wouldn’t you just love it if you could go to one place to comparison shop for rates before you open up your next savings account? I just found a site where you can do exactly that. Instead of going to the yellow pages or tramping around town, now one easy click will take you to Savings-Accounts.com a guide to finding your new high yield savings account without all the hassles! We’re not talking little no-name banks, either. Bank of America, Chase, Capital One and ING Direct are just a few of the financial institutions you can select from. You won’t have to click on each one and try to remember what you saw on the last page either, because they’re all right there on one list so you can do a true comparison. Savings-Accounts.com
sponsored this post and just made it easier for you to find the savings plan that’s right for you!

Hokulea

I would not have thought it possible to post anything on this site that combines the beauty and wonders of Hawaii with matters relelvant to my working life. Well, except silly anecdotes like my gecko-in-the-bra story. Today I feel privileged to share with you some news about a man-made wonder and how my industry came to her aid.

Hokulea has been called the pride of Hawaii. She is a double-hulled Polynesian voyaging canoe, built and navigated in the ancient ways. Her path is calculated by the stars; no modern navigational aids are used. Her accomodations are rudimentary; there are no luxurious cabins, no breakfast buffets and no bathroom facilities to speak of. Hokulea has traveled throughout the Pacific since 1974. Her story provides proof to the old oral traditions, handed down through many generations, of Hawaii being settled by Polynesians traveling in great canoes. Thor Heyerdahl proved in 1947 that such journeys were possible when he sailed Kon Tiki from Peru to Raroia atoll. Holulea continues to fill in the blanks in Polynesian history. She is currently out to sea. You can stay abreast of her progress via the Polynesian Voyaging Society weblog. Do go to there and look around. You can spend hours viewing photos, reading the crew’s logs and tracking Hokulea’s progress. Her journey is being used as an educational experience for school kids throughtout Hawaii, but in truth, almost every man, woman and child in the state is following along in facination. She is at the top of our headline news almost daily. I guess the broadcasters are wise enough to know that all of our hearts are with her.

So what does this have to do with my work? Well, way back in the ’80s I took my first pest control licensing exam, and I have had the privilege of renewing about every four years since then. When I’ve transferred, first from Louisiana to California and later to Hawaii, I had to take the exams in my new home state. I’ve always worried to the point of making myself physically ill in the days leading up to exams. In California and Hawaii the test is mostly fill-in-the-blank and multiple choice, with a lot of math to keep me on my toes. In Louisiana, where I was first licensed, a good portion of the test was in the form of questions to be answered with essays. Having worked myself up into a frenzy in the days preceding that first exam, I was relieved to find that most of the answers rolled smoothly off of my pen. Then I got to the last question and drew a total blank. You see, while it is necessary for me to understand all of the available remedies for a given pest control problem, I have never carried the separate license required for fumigation. I know the basics, but the question posed a problem I’d never even heard of, much less performed corrections for. After excusing myself to upchuck my breakfast into a toilet, I returned to my seat and felt my doom descend upon me. The essay required that I describe every aspect of how one would fumigate a boat in water. Treatment materials to be used, procedures to be followed, safety equipment needed, precautions to be exercised … everything. After much time spent in fruitless thought, an answer came to me. “To fumigate a boat in water, I would call the Department of Agriculture (licensing agency) and request that they provide advice and direct supervision.” This was not, of course, the answer that was sought. It was, however, deemed appropriate in the end, with a few points subtracted for lack of detail. I should have rememberd that fumigant gasses, being lighter than air, will not penetrate water. No contamination can occur. The proper procedure requires that tarps be affixed to the structure (a ship or boat) to contain the gas, and that they extended into the water. Well, duh! Of course it does.

I got my most recent online edition of Pest Control Magazine today. Memories of that horrible first exam came flooding back when I saw that it featured an article entitled Historic Hawaiian Ship Rescued By Fumigation With Vikane. I was disappointed that I somehow had not known that Hokulea had had a drywood termite infestation (for what other ship could it be?) I would have known how to handle the problem, having had about twenty-five years to correct my past ignorance. Irrelevant, of course, since I still choose not to be involved in fumigations, but, by golly, why had no one shared this worthy news with me? Anyway, while the article makes me proud of my industry, it didn’t actually relate all that well to my exam dilemma. Those wimps waited until she was in drydock to fumigate Hokulea. HA! If they’d only called me first …

Still, it gave me a springboard to tell you a story that combines two of my passions, so I guess it’s all good.