Ed Icionsub

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.