I admit it, I am a shopaholic.  I’ll use any excuse to take a trip to the mall.  Usually, it’s a weekend thing, especially when I should be at home doing something useful life cleaning up, washing — you know, that kind of thing.  But, I figure you go for the gusto while you are able.  On the shopping trip I’ going on this Saturday.  I have a specific thing in mind.  I really must find something that will help my neighbor cope with her twin babies.  I think she needs some baby organizers. The twins are the cutest little darlings, but they sure are a handful.  They get into everything imaginable.  I can understand why her house never stays in any kind of good order.  Those two-year olds are a handful.  I love to shop for them.  They grow so fast it’s never a problem to pick up and outfit or two for them.  It’s become a habit, whenever I go into a store, I have to look at what they have for two year olds.  It’s like having the fun without have to deal with the things that are not fun.  I can always get up and go home when the crying starts.

I cannot wait to have freedom from glasses.  I have worn glasses or contacts since I was in the first grade, and I think it is about time to change that.  Both of my parents have had Lasik eye surgery, and always promised that once I was old enough they would pay for me to have the surgery done too.  I hate having to always worry about falling asleep with my contacts in, or with my glasses on.  My glasses are so bent out of shape all of the time, they almost never sit right on my face.  Plus they are always smudged and dirty, which makes it hard to see out of them.  Also, when I come in from the cold they always fog up, which makes it difficult to see, and I look funny with foggy glasses.  I have had to think about my glasses and contacts for so long, that I cannot even imagine not having them as part of my life.  It would seem weird to break such a normal morning routine of getting up and putting my contacts in, but I think that it would be a welcome change.  That is like two whole extra minutes that I will be able to spend in bed in the morning.      

When I was in law school, the last thing I wanted to do was spend my time studying about corporate law. I was far more interested in criminal law. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to be a prosecutor or a defense attorney. I was also very interested in learning more about what it takes to become an injury attorney. I didn’t want to become one of those ambulance chasers, who just sat around waiting for some kind of tragedy to strike another person so I could scramble up to them and try to talk them into hiring me. I just think that’s a disgusting way to make your living, and I would just feel dirty after doing anything like that. I wanted to be the kind of attorney who helped people who would otherwise not get justice for something they were forced to go through. I also wanted to look into practicing the kind of law where I defended people who may be getting dragged through the judicial system because of some frivolous lawsuit. I know it’s very idealistic of me and it won’t be as easy to pursue this as I hope it will, but I’m going to go for it anyways.

When it was time to get a new home security last year, it came down to two different companies.  The decision came down to either GE Home Security or ADT Home Security.  My dad weighed the pros and cons of each, and ended up choosing GE.  He decided that he would get the most bang for his buck with them, and that they offered the best all around package.  He does that with every major money spending decision that he has to make.  It took him over a year to decide which HD television that he wanted to purchase.  Thankfully he made that decision in time for the Super Bowl.  The big game really seemed that much more impressive on our new 61 inch Samsung DLP television.  It is funny to say now, but I cannot even imagine not watching sports in HD anymore.  My dad also took especially long to make a decision when it came time to buy himself a new car.  He could not decide what size he wanted, what company he was going to go with, which color.  It was amazing how indecisive he was.  He ended up getting a Honda Pilot, and from what I can tell he really likes it.      

As a Type two diabetic you must be sure to monitor your blood sugar levels on a regular basis. It must be done multiple times a day and after various activities which will alter your free blood glucose. The monitors that test for your blood glucose are small, fast, and powerful. They are much more accurate than the older units used years ago. You can even get the units for free, although you must purchase the testing strips, which hold your blood, on a constant basis. The easiest way for you to get a free diabetes test kitis to speak with your physician. They will be happy to give you one, which they received free from the pharmaceutical sales representatives. Your physician will even ask them for one for you. Because, your doctor knows how important it is to keep constantly updated information with your glucose levels. They know the benefits you will get if you follow through with their advice. You should ask for the One Touch Glucose Meter, or the True Track Test Strips. These manufacturers know the benefits you will receive, and they are willing to give you a free monitor in exchange for simply purchasing the test strips from them. This is an excellent deal. Every little bit of help is great as this little free monitor can be the difference, which Medicare or Medicaid may not pay. It is things like asking for something for free which shows that you care about taking control over your disease.

When Wayne looked in the mirror, he was appalled.  He was losing his hair!  What a tragedy.  Christ, I’m not even 40 yet, he thought, tears streaking down his freckled face.  What am I going to do?  What will Cassandra think?  (Cassandra was his wife of 15 years.)  What will the KIDS think?  Will they start calling me Old Baldy—or worse names?  Oh, man.  This is really horrible.  Later, at work, Wayne was having lunch in the cafeteria with Derek.  “Man, I don’t know what I’m going to do about this.  Everyone can see I’m going bald.  It’s so embarrassing…” Derek laughed.  “Oh, come on, dude.  No one even notices things like that around here.  You know all they care about is money, money, money.”  “I know, but Cassie will probably give me a divorce.  She LOVES my hair!  Or at least what’s left of it!”  “Stop beating yourself up.  I don’t know your woman, but I’m sure she’ll understand—IF she really loves you.”  “That’s just it!  This could be the supreme test of our love!”  Derek reminded him that they had two very young children and she’d have to be desperate to break up this marriage under those circumstances.  “It’s been done before—oh, screw it,” Wayne sighed.  “Why don’t you consider getting hair loss treatment?”  Derek suggested.  “There’s that little place on—Adams, I think it is?  What is the name of that salon again…”  One of Wayne’s associates stopped by the table and called out, “Hey, Bald Guy.”  He chuckled to his friend and walked on.  “All right.  That clinches it,”  Wayne said determinedly.  “I’m going there tomorrow.”

One of the biggest problems our economy has at this point in time is the extensive use, by seemingly almost every individual – and even government – of some form of credit, or fictitious money system.

The problem with the credit, or fictitious money system, is that every year more and more people rack up insurmountable debt. Often they struggle for a few years trying to pay the money back, but more often than not they will slip further into debt. Part of the problem is the individual who feels they need to have more than they do at any particular time. They feel it necessary to live outside of their means – to some extent this isn’t their fault. As TV and movies depict more lavish lifestyles people yearn for those things, and so they find any way they can to have them. They have several credit cards, maxing out all of them and then have no way to pay them back (in 2004 the national credit card debt was one point seven trillion dollars). Some try to get second jobs just to pay off credit cards – I personally have worked with two such individuals. The problem for the economy comes around when people have to file bankruptcy, which is when a legally declared inability or impairment of ability of an individual or organizations to pay their creditors. The idea of bankruptcy is great for the individual, they get to have a relatively clean slate, a fresh start if you will – although if they do try to use some form of credit in the first seven years after filing for bankruptcy they are generally penalized heavily with high interest rates. For businesses it’s no so great, often they receive little to no compensation for whatever debts were outstanding – they’ve sold there product or service and have got nothing in return, which might not be a big problem on a small scale but when, on average, one point three million people (or about one in every thousand) do it every year, it starts to be a really large problem for the business owner and the economy. If the business owner is not making enough money, or worse yet loosing money, then they will not purchase anything to continue their business, when people stop buying things taxes don’t get paid, the government doesn’t function, et cetera.

A larger portion of the problem is the fictitious money system known as the Federal Reserve. The Fed (as it is often referred to) manipulates the economy in several ways. First by changing, lowering or raising that is, interest rates to get a desired effect, say in an attempt to avoid a recession. The other way it manipulates is by streaming money into circulation that has no value – it used to be that every dollar in available had its weight in something else (gold, silver, et cetera) that was held by the government. This is no longer true, however. We have an almost four trillion dollar debt from a perpetuating war let alone all of our other projects. The government has borrowed enough money from foreign countries even to start to cause a problem.

As our economy weakens, the value of our dollars becomes less and less. Other countries will stop the use of our currency as payment and request other things, such as the euro (many of our business partners already have) – we wont be able to import nearly as many goods, which is a problem since we import significantly more than we export. In an attempt to stop what is going on with the economy, individuals should stop living beyond there means through the extensive use of credit cards; the government, in an attempt to salvage and rejuvenate the economy should abolish some of its current policies and rid itself and its citizens of the Fed.