Saving $50......

Like everything else is doing, my auto insurance just went up. (Not because of any accidents or claims!) Not very much, as the increase was somewhat ameliorated by the decrease caused by my change to "work from home" status and my renewal discount for my second year with them. I called the insurance company to ask if there was anything else I could do to lower my bill - just for the sake of seeing what they would say.

Turns out, there is! For $16 I took an online Driver Safety Course from AARP. (It's $20 if you are not an AARP member). They say it's an 8 hour course (and available in classroom format as well). I did it in 7 hours. In a few days I should receive a certificate in the mail. Then I can tell the insurance company about it, and mail them a copy for my file. That'll save me $50 on my insurance for each of the next three years. Nice!

A total side bonus was how much I learned from the course! Seriously. And, you can stop it and come back to it whenever you want which made it very easy to do. If you're age 50 or more, just get over it and join AARP, if you haven't. (Yeah, I threw out those mailers for three years until I gave up and joined and saved $600 in insurance!!!) Besides, it's good to be supportive of your fellow Baby Boomers. WE RULE!

Live long, and drive safely.

Tis a Portentious Day!

This morning I went out for a bike ride. I know that doesn't sound like much; certainly doesn't seem on the surface to make for a "portentious day" - so let me explain. My last bike ride was June 15 at 5 am. See, in Vegas, the sun is up by 5 am in June, and baby, when that sun gets up, the heat turns on. So while the low temp. just before sunrise may be 85º, by 5:30 it's 90º, by 7 am it's easily 100º. Now, I can ride in 85º with 5% humidity no problem. But getting up at 4:30 am to ride my bike is just not something I want to do. So, I resort to indoor workouts at 78º (keeping the AC bill down!). I MUCH prefer 15 miles on a bike outside than 3 miles on a treadmill inside.

But - TODAY - the gorgeous sunrise was at 6:05 am, with a lovely temp of 80º and 4% humidity and no wind. By 7:30 am when I returned home it was only 84º. Now that's nice! Not that 5:30 am is a great time to rise, but worth it to get back in the groove of early morning, quiet, peaceful bike rides. And as the days continue to get shorter, I can get up later. Makes me happy, and that's a good thing.

The portentious part? It's the sign that summer, and it's gawdawful heat is almost over. I'm ready for the change of season and the spectacular fall weather of Vegas. You snowbirds can think of it this way - July/August in Vegas compares to the cabin-fever months of January/February in the north.

I like today's quote!

Make it a good one today, ya'll!

Carnac the Magnificent - Now HE was good!

Watching the ever-changing forecasts for Fay, and emailing with a friend about predicting business levels, created a thread that begin to interweave in my mind until it became one idea - and voila - Carnac the Magnificent popped into my head. Now, he was good.

You young things out there born before the great years of Johnny Carson need to read this on Carnac. You will be cheating yourself if you don't read the whole thing, as you will miss the best laugh of your day. And if you are old enough to remember Johnny, read it anyway to see the great examples of Carnac lines.

Now then, Fay is doing what she pleases, and besides attempting to drown Florida, those nasty tornadoes are doing some serious damage on the northeast side of the storm. Can a weather event thumb it's nose at weather forecasters? Appears so.

As to predicting business levels - hell - your guess is as good as anybody else's, including mine. I'm a middle-class, mortgage-paying, average-joe consumer. I predict we are in serious trouble for a while - a long while. So does my IRA investment balance. :(

Stay tuned.

Five minutes, that's all I ask!

A couple of things....

First....I want five minutes alone with a spammer. It probably won't do much for spamming, but it will sure make me feel better. I will NOT be gentle.

Second.....let's keep fingers, eyes, legs, etc. crossed that Fay does NOT become a hurricane and instead just attempts to drown Florida.

Third....If you haven't looked at the Quote of the Day to the right, you should. If you know me, and you know what issue is currently a big part of my life right now, then you'll agree it's a damn fine quote, and appropro. If you don't know me, well, just take my word for it.

Live long, and pro$per!

No, Sir, I don't like it! Not one bit....

As I watch the Weather Channel, and follow a link for the National Hurricane Center my brother has sent me, I am anxious about Fay heading towards Florida. I can't imagine what it is like to see this freight train heading your way - watching it for DAYS - and there's not a thing you can do about it but batten down the hatches and cross your fingers. And worse yet, the thousands, literally thousands, of dollars in premiums that individual homeowners have dutifully paid annually to insurance companies for potential "wind" damage - with benefits that will be a long time in coming, if, and only if, every "i" was dotted and every "t" crossed so you're not tripped up and turn out not to be covered. The stories I've heard!

With six siblings living all over Florida there's a good shot that somebody is going to be in the path of a hurricane at some point.

We have alot of fishing left to do - so ya'll be careful out there, ya here?