Ed Icionsub

We have been working on a lot of little remodeling and repair projects in the house since Christmas. We pulled up all the carpet and put down new wood laminate flooring. The fireplace mantle and hearth were re-done. Sheetrock in the living room had to come down and be replaced. And then we painted.

The house looks a lot nicer but there is one more important thing that will really perk up the house: new lighting.

The first thing I want to replace is the chandelier in the dining room. I want a modern design and something that reflects my colors and style. I’ve been looking at hundreds of different chandeliers and found 3 that I really like on the Littman Bros web site.

I’ll make up mind mind which of the chandeliers to buy when I make up my mind about the new kitchen lighting. The kitchen opens into the dining room, so I need those fixtures to either match or complement each other. I also want to add some under cabinet lighting to make it easier to see the cookbooks and box instructions while cooking.

The last room that needs new lighting is the bathroom. It still has the same old fixtures that came with the house almost 40 years ago. I want to find some new bathroom lighting that will perk up the bathroom and bring it out of the 1970’s and into the new millenium.

Have been seeing a funny commercial for Arby’s where a guy walks up to the counter to place an order but he is talking on his cell phone to his wife/girlfriend/life partner. The person on the call is evidently asking about the special sale pricing on a variety of menu items. The man asks the counter clerk, who recites a long list of tongue twister menu items. The man repeats them back on the phone and then place the order by repeating what was said on the phone. The funny part is that he finished placing the order by saying, “I love you.” This is obviously what the person on the other end of the call said to him at the end of the call, and by repeating everything verbatim he mistakenly repeats “I love you” to the order clerk. The clerk looks abashed, then says back to the customer, tentatively, “I love you, too.”

This afternoon I came across an ad for a huge surprise product to me. Instant coffee. The surprise was not that coffee can be made dropping little freeze dried granules into a cup of hot water. The surprise was that this instant coffee is made by . . .

Yes. Starbucks. Can you believe that? After years of of $4 a cup special roasted, fresh ground, special brewed and made to order in three different size designations that no one has ever heard of before, we are being treated to instant coffee from the World’s Coffee Giant.

Evidently, other civilized people all around the world don’t look down on instant coffee like we Americans do. And, in the global economy, instant coffee makes up 40 percent of the world’s coffee market. So maybe going after the international instant coffee market is the survival strategy that Starbucks needs to survive the American recession.

On Sunday I will be spending some time at the nursing home in Donelson. The Recreation Director asked me if I would come and help a few of the seniors with their computers and then visit a few shut ins. So I thought it would be a good idea to study up on a few jokes to maybe break the ice.

I like meeting new people and have always found that a couple of funny jokes can make people relax and maybe even brighten up their day.

There are some great sites on the internet for all kinds of jokes. There are even several with a variety of dirty jokes for those times in the locker room when you need to lighten things up a little.

Since I’ll be gardening a little more seriously this year, I decided to buy some tomato plants and pepper plants from Lowes to give my garden a jump start.

I stopped by Home Depot first, but their selection of tomato plants as lame. The varieties are not what I wanted to get and they were thin, short and scrawny.

So I drove across the street – yes they built a Home Depot directly across the street from the Lowes about 15 years ago. I thought it was a stupid move to locate right there – they would have served the local contractors and home owners better if they had located about 5 miles further east, in Mr. Juliet. That’s where all the building and growth has been this decade.

Anyways, I drove across the street and found some young but strong plants at Lowes. Plus, Lowes has a healthy plant guarantee. So I had a higher confidence level in the performance of these plants.

I bought two peat pots of Big Boys and a flat of younger Better Boys. I’m looking forward to some great tomatoes around the first of July.

Everything has burst into bud and bloom, with pretty white or pink blossoms, red or green buds and a new batch of insects and pests to go along with them.

The house at the corner has two trees with pink blossoms that are a fresh and welcoming site as we enter the neighborhood. I am sorry to admit that I do not know what type of trees they are. I suspect they are crabapples, but they could be cherry trees.

I will have to make a bigger effort this year to learn the types of trees and shrubs in our yards and wooded areas. I used to know a lot about science and biology but got away from it over the years. This might well be the year to gain it back.

One of the best things that college did for me and my personal growth was to put a strong emphasis on writing skills. Nothing I ever did in high school prepared me for the extensive writing that I would need to do in college to satisfy the course requirements in just about every subject.

I was expected to read extensively and then summarize my thoughts, projections and proposals each year by writing dozens of

• dissertations
• field studies
• research projects
• reports
• reviews
• theses
• term papers

The first year was the most difficult for me as I adjusted my writing from high school level to the higher college level skills.

Luckily, I had a lot of help from a variety of sources. I had a good roommate who was a good writer and excellent student. I dated a girl who was a great study date. I had professors who spent a little extra time with me on request to critique my drafts and help me stay on topic.

When I was in a real pinch, I even had help from a writing service that I found through an advertisement that provides a custom essay for a reasonable fee. I felt like I was taking a chance, but I was crushed with homework and needed help. It worked out great, and although I did not write that paper I did read it and absorb the knowledge from that subject.

If the difference between passing a course and failing a course depends on whether you buy essay or write your own, it makes sense to me to use all your available resources to accomplish your primary objective, which is to get a passing grade, graduate and get on with your adult life.

Dissertation Help is available now on the internet from a variety of companies and web sites. I particularly like the www.fastessays.co.uk web site. This service can help in a variety of ways beyond writing the dissertation. They can also proofread and edit the work that you’ve done. So you have every good chance to meet the course requirements and get through your college years successfully.

Today starts the final competitions for men’s college basketball.

I have my brackets filled out and turn in at the office. We have about 60 people in the office pool, so it will be very interesting to see who is the smartest Carnack the Magnificent and who can pick the most, if not all, winners.

I’m sure that if you did not attend any of these top final schools that it is hard to cheer for a team, but I like to pick at least one team based on the talent and dedication, good sportsmanship and earnest effort to cheer for throughout the March Madness tournaments.

Rumor has it that the local daily newspaper is about to fold.They have been in the death throes for a couple of months and it is only getting worse.

When I first moved here in the early 1990’s, we had two daily newspapers, The Tennessean came out each morning and The Banner came out each afternoon. After a few years here, The Banner shut down and about half the people who worked there were absorbed by The Tennessean.

Now it looks like The Tennessean is about to go bankrupt, along with a handful of other daily newspapers that are cash poor and badly managed.

That’s a shame, but I believe that badly managed businesses deserve to fail and it just pisses me off that Wall Street, the automotive companies and especially AIG are getting all this free taxpayer money to fritter away on too high salaries and executive perks.

Today is the second Friday the 13th for this year and we are only into our third month of the year. So that’s a little disconcerting, isn’t it?

We had such high hopes for a great 2009, what with the groundhog’s promise of an early spring and our new President sworn into office back in January. But so far, everything has been about the same or worse for the economy as well as weather.

I’m not superstitious, but I do believe in luck, and from all my experience in life, I have found that if you can just find a way to hang in there a little longer, that your bad luck will eventually change.

So maybe after today gets out of the way, we will all see a little good luck coming into our lives. I hope so.