Jasper Jones

Checking out at Wal-Mart, I was among dozens of other shoppers with carts loaded up and anxious to pay for their purchases so they could get home or on their way. I used my charge card to pay for the basket full of odds and ends, and I realized that I probably spent a little more freely knowing that I would be paying with my charge card. If I had needed to use cash, I doubt I would have bought as many things. I tend to be more frugal with my cash, I don’t carry much and don’t like to spend it unless I have to. In fact, if the store doesn’t accept credit cards, I probably won’t even shop there unless they are the sole provider of that product or service and I have no choice in the matter.

Stopped by Wal-Mart on the way home from Kelly’s and picked up a few things. I really needed some time to just walk around and think about things and be alone for a bit. Although I suppose it sounds strange to say that being in Wal-Mart constitutes being alone. I’m alone with hundreds of other shoppers. But none of them are talking to me or expecting anything from me except to not run up on the back of their feet with my cart.

There were a bunch of new movies out, with a special display of horror movies because of Halloween being just a few weeks away. I have a nice collection of DVDs at home but I only brought a handful with me to the dorm because sometimes things have a way of walking themselves out the door, if you know what I mean.

I was going to rent the new but since it was on sale at Wal-Mart I decided to just go ahead and buy it. I don’t have time tonight to watch it because I have to go in for a shift at the hospital, but I might have some time tomorrow afternoon. The movie is “Leatherheads,” starring George Clooney and Rene Zellweger, about the early days of pro football. The helmets they were back then were made of leather - it’s all they had to protect their melons.

Kelly was telling me more about her dad and how he has been building this personal portfolio of investment real estate. He started out with a lump sum when she just was a little girl and her grandfather passed away. Her dad inherited enough money to pay off his own house and have some left to invest into a vacation condo down in Florida.

They got in touch with a real estate broker at Bardell Real Estate who helped them buy a condo near Disney World in Orlando, and every summer her dad would take the family to Orlando for a 2 week vacation. They stayed in their own condo, basically for free, and the rest of the year he rented out the condo to other people who were coming to Orlando to visit Disney World or Universal Studios. Because of Florida’s nice weather, the Orlando area has lots of tourists, pretty much year round. The Bardell Real Estate brokers specialize in helping investors buy villas and other properties in the Orlando area.

After a few years her dad decided to get something bigger and they bought a nice villa in Orlando. He decided that buying property in Florida was lucrative, so then they bought another villa. Now he owns 4 rentals in Orlando and also the condo in Chattanooga. The money he gets from renting them out more than pays for the mortgages.

I really like that idea of buying real estate as you can afford it and building a portfolio. It sounds like the perfect way to build a solid future and also have someplace to go and stay for free when you want to take the family on vacation.

Not sure if having a garden district is just a southern thing or if the northern cities have them, too. I know the garden district in New Orleans if really beautiful , with dozens of very upscale homes and old mansions. There are a lot of celebrities and local VIPs with homes there, and it is the subject of bus tours for tourists.

Chattanooga’s garden district is much smaller than the New Orleans one, but is similar in that the homes are large Victorian style houses and other upscale buildings, with large lots and beautiful landscaping. Ours has a nice collection of bed and breakfasts, little cafes, and boutiques. But just a few. Although small in scale, it is a nice feature of our city and one of the prettiest areas along the river.

I’ve lived on campus in the dorms the entire time I’ve been going to school. It is convenient to the classes and a cheap way to have some place to sleep. Sure, it gets a little noisy and there’s not much privacy, but the noise doesn’t both me unless I’m trying to study and I don’t really study that much here in my room.

Today we went over to Kelly’s place for lunch and to work on our group presentation for Economics. Kelly and I have already done the grunt work and just need to get the presentation organized. Pretty sure we’ll be ready in plenty of time.

Kelly has a nice condo over in the Garden District that her dad bought as an investment and he lets her live there for school. After she graduates he’ll probably rent it out to more students. It’s really nice - large rooms, quiet neighborhood, plenty of parking.

She has a nice living room with a sleeper sofa and a really nice entertainment center along one wall. It’s real furniture - nice wood and lots of shelves and cabinet doors. Beats the heck out of my little TV Stand in my dorm room!

She wasn’t shy about showing me around. I even got a peek into her bedroom, which was fixed up really nice with a four poster bed and a large dresser-like piece that had a spot for a small TV in the bedroom. I don’t know much about armoires so I asked her what to call that, because it really is nice. She didn’t even make me feel stupid for asking.

Well, our softball game has been called off due to rain. I don’t mind getting wet, but the idea of standing out in the middle of a field while there’s lightning is just not a good idea.

There are people killed by lightning all the time. It’s a real threat that people must take seriously. Even if a storm has passed, there is a chance of lightning strikes for up to 20 minutes after it stopped raining.

My Auntie Ann lost her husband to a lighting strike about 5 years ago. He was just standing outside on the deck to have a smoke during halftime of a football game. It wasn’t even raining but a bolt came out of nowhere and struck him dead instantly and caught the deck on fire. It was a terrible thing to happen and my aunt has never totally gotten over it - she never goes out on her deck anymore, not even for a minute.

So if we have to postpone our ballgame it is OK with me. I can catch up on some homework and do a little surfing on the internet before I have to go into work.

Another important computer related item is the Free Antivirus Software you can get from Cyberdefender.

This company is right up there in the big leagues of antivirus protection but they let you download it for free. This company has taken computer security to the next level, with real time security updates and there’s no conflict with other previously installed antivirus or security programs. If you are online a lot and get involved with a lot of high risk surfing, you should probably have more than one antivirus program anyway - just to be safe.

If you need extra features, the same company has more products available for purchase. It is worth checking out - because safe surfing is a must these days. This is true for large companies, small businesses and home computer users.

Hackers have gotten much smarter and more devious in how they design and spread the new viruses. I think most people are already aware that they shouldn’t open attachments to emails that they weren’t expecting or don’t know the sender. But now you can have a problem with just clicking on the wrong web page or link. Its scarey to think that you could lose everything on your computer to a virus, so everyone should take steps to protect themselves.

Every once in a while I check the WordPress sites. I use WordPress for my blog and haven’t seen anything better than that in all this time. They come out with updates once in a while and they are always worth spending the few minutes to do the upgrade and get the new features.

They also changed the way they handle the free themes that change the look of your blog. It used to be that people could upload anything that they designed and if you liked the looks of it you could download it for free. But there were a lot of problems with the free themes. Some of them contained malicious code that allowed hackers to back door your server. Others had a lot of links that you had to leave in but did you harm with the Google page rank bots. Others failed to load or were missing critical functions.

So WordPress revamped the whole thing and deleted all the themes. Now they have a review process and they are slowly uploading the new approved themes that are proven compatible with the latest version of WordPress. This is a great advancement and I can’t tell you how much we appreciate all the work done by the volunteers.

Last night I aksed one of the ambulance drivers where he bought his tactical pants that he wears on duty. I like the way they are heavy duty construction, meant to last a very long time under extreme conditions in the field. They have lots of pockets, with a specific purposed in mind when they were added, like the loop for a police issue flashlight and the cell phone pocket. These pants were designed for guys who work in rescue and military operations and that’s what I want.

So he told me about a web site called “LA Police Gear” and that’s where he gets most of his gear. They have all the sizes and styles, different colors and shorts as well as long pants, with the best brands, like 5.11 Tactical. So that’s where I’m doing my shopping tonight after the softball game.

Read about Fibromyalgia last night when we got slow at the hospital. It’s a disease that leaves its victims exhausted all the time, and they suffer from a lot of aches and pains.

There is a new web site for people dealing with Fibromyalgia called FibroCenter.com I’m pretty sure it is sponsored or underwritten by the Pfizer company.

The site has useful facts and practical tips for managing this disease. They also have an action plan you can download. Their support group lets you read other peoples stories about how they cope and you can participate in that by writing your own story to share with others.

I’m still learning about how the pharmaceutical companies participate in the non profits and support groups for different diseases and conditions. I’m not sure it is always a good thing, but as long as they have a disclosure on their sites and their advertising or marketing efforts, I guess it is good to have some help - from whatever the source.