Ed Icionsub

My brother and his wife are wonderful hosts. My sister-in-law is a domestic goddess – I’m not kidding. She loves to shop for furniture and decorating items, like drapes, lighting, wall decor. She is a great cook, manages the house and does a lot of volunteer work for children’s charities. So now that their kids are grown and the last one is headed to college next fall, they are thinking about making a lot of big changes in their lives. She wants to establish and run a bed and breakfast, and I think she would be great at that.

Their home can be easily converted to accept paying guests, so they just have a few business details to implement and advertising to get the bed and breakfast started. I asked what they planned to do about credit card processing and they admitted they hadn’t thought about that yet. So I tried to explain a few things about that.

First, they have to arrange for their merchant accounts with a financial institution. It is similar to applying for a credit card itself, as your credit history is considered during the application process. That won’t be a problem for them, but they need to read up on the whole situation to avoid any unpleasant surprises, so I shared a link with them to a web site called Card Service Sales.com. This is where they can read about credit card processing, telecheck processing, and merchant accounts.

It was so nice to have the day off from work and be able to just kick back on a Thursday. The football game at noon was a bonus. The Titans don’t usually play football on Thanksgiving, but today they played and tromped the Lions. The game was on at noon, so it didn’t interfere with everyone’s dinner plans.

Went over to my brother’s house for dinner with the family. He has a nice big house and likes to entertain.The dinner was a traditional Thanksgiving feast – roast turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, green beans, cranberry relish, homemade yeast rolls and pecan pie with vanilla ice cream.

We’ve been keeping manual time sheets for years and when the bookkeeper is out on sick leave or vacation, I’ve had to help cover her duties. I can tell you with complete confidence that manually keeping time sheets and then having to input them into the computer’s payroll system is incredibly tedious. Not only do you have to duplicate the work involved to input the dates and times, but you also have the risk of making errors from typos or misreading the numbers. You would not believe how many “4s” are printed to look like “7s” and sometimes it is hard to tell between a “5″ and a “6.”

We are seriously considering changing over at the first of the year to an online time sheet system like the one at Atlantic Global. They have a simple and efficient time sheet and expense report system that is on the internet, for easy access by anyone in the company, whether inputting the information at their desk, from home or even from a hotel room if they are traveling on business.

I was mostly interested in automated time sheets, but since they have an expense report system, too, it is doubly attractive to my company.

There must be a huge pile of escaped pens somewhere in this universe and I think a good chunk of those pens used to belong to me. I am always buying pens and yet I never seem to have one. I try to keep 3-4 pens in each car and on my desk, several in the kitchen and even a couple down in the laundry room. Yet when I’m on the phone and need to write down a phone number or some critical information, I can never seem to find a pen. I swear that when I leave the room or turn my back, the pens escape down some mysterious escape tunnel.

Today I was at the drug store and walked down the clearance aisle on my way to the check out counter. They had a big plastic barrel full of cheap pens and I noticed that the clearance price made them just 20 cents each. I couldn’t pass up that bargain and bought the whole barrel. Now I defy those pens to make a mass escape attempt tonight!

Today was a gorgeous weather day and with everyone getting ready to drive to their relatives homes for Thanksgiving gatherings, the car washes were packed with guys cleaning up their rides.

I had the brilliant idea that I should get my car washed and shined up, too. So I went ahead and got in line at the local self service car wash. I spent almost 2 hours between the wait time and the actual cleaning time, but it was worth it. The car looks as good as when I first bought it 3 years ago.

The only thing lacking is working on the tires and the rims. I can do that at home after I get the right detailing products. The best selection of professional quality tire dressings is on the Black Magic Shine web site.

The parents of a child diagnosed with Autism several years ago started the Autism Foundation of Tennessee to help other parents of children who have Autism. The late night local news has been running a short series on Autism this week and tonight they showed some short segments on the Foundation and how they help with specific therapies and counseling for the parents.

Current statistics show that in America, 1 out of every 150 children born are diagnosed with Autism. Sadly, in Tennessee there are more than 30,000 families statewide affected by the disease.

When it comes to quality watches, everyone is familiar with the name Seiko. Everyone in my family has worn quality watches for as long as I can remember. My dad especially felt strongly about wearing the best timepieces, and to him that meant Seiko Watches.

When someone in my family turns 18, that is the special occasion for receiving a Seiko watch from my dad as a birthday present. He always said that turning 18 was one of life biggest milestones, and that he wanted to send us out as adults into the world with a quality timepiece on our wrist. Being punctual has always been a value instilled in us, and to this day I make every effort to arrive where I need to be earlier than expected.

As the years went by, we were able to repay my Dad for his gift of a Seiko watch to each of us. When he turned 60 years old, the three of us pitched in and bought him a new Seiko kinetic watch. He was thrilled to have a kinetic watch – he thought that was one of the coolest inventions and for him to own one at that stage of his life was especially touching. He entered retirement in style and wore that watch every day until he passed away a few years ago. I have that watch tucked away for special occasions. I wear it on my birthday, on my dad’s birthday, on Father’s Day and on Veteran’s Day. That is how I pay tribute to the memory of my Dad.

Next year my brother turns 50 and I plan to buy him a Seiko watch – I don’t want to wait until he turns 60. I thought of him today when I came across the BlueDial.com web site and saw the selection of Seiko watches that they carry. The site offers a deep discount on the price of the watches and they offer free shipping, so it is the smart way to buy a watch for someone who you love.

The Nashville Predators faced the Columbus Blue Jackets tonight. A lot of people were disappointed that Paul Kariya is hurt and could not play tonight. Kariya used to play for Nashville and went to Columber 2 years ago. He still has a lot of fans here and he is the player the rest of us love to hate.

But the real player to watch was our former goalie, Chris Mason. Mason stopped every single shot tonight and his replacement, Dan Ellis, let 2 shots in overtime score. So we lost in a hard fought game and I believe it was a showdown of the two goalies that added to the excitement of tonight’s game. And I believe that it proved our team was wrong in letting Mason go – we should have kept him here.

If I could live anywhere in the world for the next 10 years, there are two places at the top of my list. My second choice would be Charleston and my first pick would be Austin.

As much as I love the Atlantic Ocean and the South Carolina coast, I have to admit that I’m a little tired of being around southerners. I think a move to Austin would be a refreshing change. To find a Home in Austin Texas I would find a real estate broker from a listing on the internet and have them pre-screen about 5 or 6 houses for me to tour when I come out there next month. I don’t know very much about Austin Real Estate, so I will count on the professional help from a broker to help me find the right neighborhood and the right new house.

Today I had to run several errands and wanted to watch the football game, so I had to get an early start. I decided to go to the stores where I could get in, find what I need, pay for it without long lines and get home quickly. So I went to Food Lion for the couple of groceries that I wanted, and then I drove over to the K Mart to pick up the rest.

Here it is still 4 days from Thanksgiving and all the stores are loaded up with Christmas stuff. The K Mart had Christmas trees, decorations, candies and an expanded toy section all ready to sell to Christmas shoppers. Christmas sale prices are posted on items throughout the store.

But are people really shopping for Christmas already? I don’t think so. Almost everyone I know says the same as I feel. That Christmas shopping before Thanksgiving is just inappropriate. And I have to say that the piped in Christmas music at the K Mart made me want to get out of that store even faster so I wouldn’t have to hear that crap.