Nice to Find That This Place
I recently had a terrific stay at the Comfort Inn Medical Park in Durham, NC. And I was sitting around eating lunch with co-workers after I got back talking about my recent trip, when we all began to share horror stories of our stays in other hotels.
For instance, why do certain hotels in certain areas of the country seem to be so cavalier when you find bugs in the room? Case in point: my sons and I were staying at a motel in New Mexico, and there was a giant moth in our room. It was the size of a bat-no kidding! I called down to ask for a swatter or bug spray or some kind of help, but they pretty much just said, “Oh, they’re normal around here. We don’t have anything to get rid of it.”
My other bug horror story was in Chandler, Arizona. I was sitting up in bed watching tv when a large roach crawled over from behind my pillow and down over my shoulder. I called down to the front desk, and again they said, “It’s the season for those bugs. We can’t help that they get into the rooms sometimes.” And finally, I heard of a place in Texas where the guest killed a four inch long beetle or roach by stepping on it accidentally when he went to the bathroom at night. He called down to let the desk know they had those in the rooms and whether they were concerned, but they said no!
So as you can see, I REALLY enjoyed my stay at the Comfort Inn. No bugs in the room!
I Can’t Work When I’m Tired!
Until I was in about my mid-20s, I used to stay up late all the time and then go into work the next day without having had much sleep. Sure, I was tired all the time, but it seemed so much more doable back then. I was young and living it up.
Over the last few years, though, I’ve found that I can’t function as well as I’d like on less than seven or eight hours’ sleep. I have to get more or I’m pretty much a zombie. And since I am now self-employed and dependent on my brain power to earn a living, I really do need to make sure I get enough sleep.
I’ve sometimes wondered if there is a physiological reason why I seem to need so much more sleep than other people. I tend to do best with nine or ten hours of sleep a night, although lately I’ve been getting only about eight a night. I don’t suffer from insomnia — quite the contrary, I’m practically asleep by the time my head hits the pillow — but I wonder if there is something else keeping me from getting quality sleep.
Since I heard about sleep apnea, I’ve wondered if that is the cause, but my husband swears that I don’t stop breathing in my sleep. It’s too bad, because at least it would be an easy fix — I’d just have to wear a CPAP mask at night to sleep, hooked up to a CPAP machine to keep my airways open.
Of course, since I am a type 1 diabetic, I’ve also wondered if I’m suffering from nocturnal hypoglycemia, a condition where your blood sugar drops too low at night, usually when the person is not aware of it.
Whatever the cause, it is clear that I need plenty of sleep in order to be able to do my work and do it well!
Justifying The Expense
I take a lot of motorcycle road trips. I have been from San Diego to Daytona Beach. I’ve made it as for north as Seattle. I’ve been caught in some scary weather out there. I’ve encountered both really cold temps and silly hot temps like in Phoenix. I’m always overly prepared on these journeys too. And I wear a very high quality helmet and upper body armor.
The one thing I don’t have that I really want though is a GPS system. And with motorcycles you need one that is waterproof too. These things don’t come cheap though. I have been having trouble justifying the expense, and that’s why I had not already gotten one.
But I think I found a way to justify the expense. I’m not a pack rat, but when it comes to old or broken jewelry I never throw the stuff away. Well I rounded it all up and decided to sell the scrap gold to come up with the cash to buy a GPS. I went to an online pawn shop, filled out a form, and now I am just waiting for the kit that they are sending me so I can send them the jewelry. Then I’ll run off and buy that GPS I’ve been wanting.
Starting Your Own Dog Blog
Many bloggers are finding that successful blogs can be major sources of side income. Among the most popular types of blogs are pet blogs.
Not long ago, I was talking to a friend about the possibility of her creating a dog blog. She is knowledgeable on subjects such as dog training, and she used to work in a doggie daycare. I think with her writing skills and interests in both writing and dogs, she would make a really good dog blogger.
For instance, she could write about things such as how to properly train a big dog such as a Great Dane, or how to take the proper care of the luxurious coat of a Cavalier King Charles spaniel. It’s too bad she no longer works at the doggie daycare, because I think a daily blog about the happenings there would have made for perfect subject matter.
When you’re just starting out with a blog, you really can’t expect much revenue to come from it. It takes a couple of years to get enough readership to generate significant amounts of advertising revenue. So you have to be willing to blog relentlessly for a while before you start to see any results.
Also, you have to be knowledgeable about the type of writing works best for blogging. General rules of thumb are to use keywords, write in short paragraphs, write bulleted lists where applicable, and include pictures whenever possible.
If you have the knowledge and the expertise to write a blog, and you have a subject in which you are sure you can pick up readers, you may have the potential for a little fun side income!
Neighbors Can Really Use the Shuffleboard
I don’t know if any of you out there know what to look for in a shuffleboard table. I’d kind of like to buy one. I first “discovered” this game while travelling on a cruise, though of course, I’d heard of it before. Kind of thought it was just for old people. But it’s not-it’s kind of fun!
Anyway, the people across the street from me where I live here in Larkspur (which is kind of remote) have BOTH mothers-in-laws living with them in their basement. It’s like apartment space down there. Anyway, they’ve begun to have a few people over that are their age, and they can’t play cards all the time. Sometimes, they need to get up and get moving. I told Rita that I’d look into shuffleboard tables. It’s fun enough that other people might want to join in, and there is a little movement involved. Motivated movement is so much better than just repetitions.
We don’t have any kind of senior center around here, so the fact that some folks come over and spend time during the day in this area is really quite neat. I may just donate our old portable pool table to the cause over there!
While I was in Mexico
Mexico is one of those places that is full of wonder and I have known many people that have taken a vacation down there. You hear nothing but good things from anyone that has vacationed down there and truth be told I am not going to be the exception.
You see, I recently won a vacation down to Mexico and I jumped at the opportunity to take it. I suppose most people would (since it was a free vacation after all), but for me it was going to be something special as I have not had the money to take a vacation for a number of years now.
One of the best parts of the prize was the opportunity to swim with dolphins in Mexico which was an experience that my sister had just last year, and she told me that no matter what, I had to do it.
When I did get there, I was amazed at how beautiful Mexico was and how friendly the people were. But when it came to swim with the dolphins, I was afraid. In some respects, the thought kind of grossed me out, but I would say that the fear was there just because I had never done it before.
But thankfully, with a bit of encouragement from the others in our group, I was able to muster the courage and I swam with the dolphins. It is now one of the highlights of my life, and had I never gone, I would be less of a person than I am today. It was definitely one of the most memorable experiences of my life.
Hearing my Baby Cry for the First Time
One of the things that has been very precious to me throughout my life is hearing. Having lost the vast majority of it as a child, I found myself always craving to hear sounds – any sounds that would be sharper than the muffled world around me.
We never really had much money either, so my parents couldn’t do much about my condition. It wasn’t until my uncle passed away and willed me some money to buy hearing aids that I was finally able to regain most of the hearing that I had lost.
Though the first hearing aid that we bought wasn’t the greatest, it was the first step on my journey to recover my ability to hear the world around me. With each step towards my goal, the world became a little louder and the smile on my face became a little bigger.
If it wasn’t for Uncle Dan, I would have never had the opportunity that I had last night – hearing my newborn baby cry for the first time. I couldn’t stop the tears, but it was the happiest moment of my life. Even when Jules is sleeping here on my chest right now, I can’t imagine my life without him. I am just so happy that I could hear his first moments of life in our world – I’ll cherish those sounds forever.
Should I Travel for Job Training?
The work that I do takes place entirely on the web. I engage in blogging, web writing and online social promotion. I can do that from anywhere that I can get connected to the Internet. However, I’ve recently been asked to do job training on-site for a position that I’d like to have. The problem is that the training is in Tampa and I’m not. Should I travel there just to get trained for an online job?
The company is obviously based in Tampa. The reason that they want me to do training there is that they use a content management system in Tampa that they say is kind of complicated. They don’t want to train me over the phone or via email. They’d rather show me the whole system in person.
Once I know the system, I’ll be able to access it from anywhere. This means that I’ll still be able to work remotely away from the Tampa office. The job is going to be a full-time long-term position which is something that I’ve been looking to get for awhile. So it might be worth it to travel to Tampa to do this training. On the other hand, the travel isn’t paid for so I’d be investing my own money to get trained. What do you think - should I do it?
I Buy Too Much When I Travel
I love to travel. I am generally good about finding affordable trips so that I can travel often. However, I have one weakness. I buy too many things when I’m on a trip.
As you might suspect, most of the things are things that I don’t end up needing. Like last year when I bought a really beautiful maternity top from a local artisan in Mexico City. It was gorgeous but unnecessary since I’m not pregnant nor do I think I might be soon.
For awhile, I was trying to stop making purchases on my trips. I failed miserably at this. It just filled me with longing to see all of these things that are so neat but not to buy them. I also felt bad looking through markets and local stores and not contributing to their sales.
I think I’ve found a solution. From now on I’m going to use my travel time to purchase gifts for the people that I love. I will give these gifts to them for holidays and special occasions. I’ll be able to eliminate my other holiday shopping by replacing those gifts with the gifts from my travels. The gifts will be more special and I’ll still be able to shop during vacations!
Keep Your Employees with Good Benefits
Times are getting harder, and your employees know it. While this means that most of them are grateful for a job, it also means that many of them will be sensitive to what they feel they aren’t getting from their job.
An important thing to maintain during times like these is good benefits for your employees. A lot of Americans are hurting for health care right now, and people are scared about what that means. It’s difficult sometimes to find affordable health insurance in Florida on your own, particularly if you’re trying to buy an individual policy on your own, without a job’s benefits. So if you take care of your employees during these tough times by being sure to always provide good Florida health insurance, your employees are more likely to value their jobs and stay with the company when times change.
Many employers assume that with the job market the way it is, they can easily replace employees that leave. However, don’t forget that new employee training costs a lot of money — and training new employees regularly costs at least as much as providing a good benefits package for your existing (read: experienced) employees!
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