Ed Icionsub

This past week the most unusual roadkill has appeared on the interstate. I’ve seen two different dead armadillos on the side of the road.

As much traveling as I’ve done these past 15 years, I’ve seen armadillos as far north as Oklahoma City, and until this year, as far east as Mississippi. But now they have a found a way to get into Tennessee.

They are very distinctive and there is no mistaking a dead armadillo for any other roadkill. I saw the first one on Monday at the Cool Springs exit. Then again on Saturday I saw one at the Harding Road exit. This must be the first wave of the armadillo invasion into Tennessee.

There used to be offers in the mail for me to take new credit cards and car loans, but lately I’ve not seen any of those mailers. I wonder if the credit industry really has tightened up or have they just cut back on their direct mail advertising now that postage has gone up twice in the past 6 months?

Last summer I opened a providian credit card offer that came in the mail and read the terms and conditions. It seemed very fair and a good opportunity, so I filled out the application and sent it in. About a month later I received a phone call from a person who said they represented the credit card company, but I’m suspicious about identity theft scams and I told the caller that I would prefer to not discuss anything with her on the phone.

I don’t know if she really was from the credit card company trying to verify something on my application or if she was a scammer. All I know is that I did not get that providian card until I called them a couple weeks later and asked about it. But at least it was me initiated the call and I knew who I was calling.

Although I went to the grocery store last week for my usual weekly shopping trip, for some unknown reason I neglected to check my stock of condiments before shopping. Therefore, I did not buy any ketchup nor ranch dressing.

To my dismay, I needed both ketchup and ranch dressing. Over the weekend I cooked out on the grill and had to resort to a couple of leftover little foil ketchup packs from a fast food place to go with the burgers and hot dogs. How sad!

My neighbor confided in me the other day that his work contract is ending and that he will soon be joining the swelling ranks of unemployed. But since he was working as a contractor, he is not eligible to draw unemployment. So he needs to find a new job pretty quickly.

Just about every large company is now requiring background checks on the job candidates they are serious about hiring. I can’t blame them, with all the laws about discrimination and what you can and cannot ask during a job interview, a criminal history check is the right of any employer and well worth the money spent to make sure you don’t make a serious hiring mistake.

My neighbor told me that he was in a job interview the other day and that after he filled out all the paperwork, they had him sign another paper giving them permission to run a background check and drug test. Of course he signed it, and then they offered him the job without any further mention of the drug test. I guess they figure that some people will bail when presented with the drug test form and they use that to filter out some of the undesirables. That didn’t deter my neighbor, but after checking more closely into that company, he decided to not accept their job offer and to keep looking.

It’s a shame we have to go to such extremes for employee screening, but hiring someone with a drug abuse problem or history of criminal activity is just asking for trouble for the company and possibly endangers the rest of the employees.

Today’s Chicago Tribune had a review of sorts by Michael Phillips about the new Pixar movie, Up. The critic saw the screening of the movie in Cannes recently and reveals that the opening montage was so touching that he actually cried.

Then, Phillips asked readers to send in their thoughts of which movies have made them cry. That made me stop and think. It is really hard to make me cry at a movie, but I seem to remember getting choked up at a few. Anybody remember “Old Yeller”?

To all our men and women in uniform, a heartfelt thanks to you for verything you do for us, your fellow Americans.

I know that your families, friends and co-workers all share in your sacrifice of time with loved ones. And unfortunately some of you sacrifice the ultimate. Thank you for that.

Instinctively I knew that if I wanted to be taken seriously in Nashville that I would need a Music Row address. I was able to rent a small space in an old building right in the heart of Music Row. But only two years later, we all had to move out and the building was torn down. After they razed my office, a brand news luxury building was built on that site and Ms. Reba McEntire moved into her fancy new studio and gallery, Starstruck Studios.

I have absolutely no ill will toward Reba. She is a wonderful singer and actress and a good hearted person. She had every right to buy some very valuable real estate and build whatever her heart’s desire wanted for her own offices. Her Starstruck Studios building is magnificent. You see take a virtual tour of the building and her recording studios at her web site.

But I must admit that I am a little wistful when I ocassionally drive down past 40 Music Square West and know that I used to have a business reason for being there.

When we first moved to Nashville we drove down Music Row and took in all the city sights like the rest of the tourists. One of the things I noticed about Music Row was that all these recording studios were in little old houses and not in big fancy high rise buildings. In fact, there is only one so-called high rise on music row, the former United Artists Tower, which is 9 stories high and the only building allowed that high since the zoning was changed to restrict building height.

Another building that caught my attention was a place to produce cassette tapes, CDs and DVDs. But it turns out that they closed down and Nashville does not actually produce a lot of the media. It is often less expensive to find a CD Replication Service someplace out of town.

Friends of mine recommend a Chicago Video Production Company, called RBR Productions. They offer comprehensive audio and video production services, including DVD Duplication in Chicago.

Luckily I know the guys at the local Gamestop store and I took the broken Wii to their store and asked them for help. My friend, Jeff, is the store manager and he showed me right there at the counter that when the Wii plugged in using their power supply cord it turned right on. What a relief!

Turns out that the power supply I bought with the system had malfunctioned and I just needed to replace it. Jeff had a power supply for only $20 and I it was easy enough to buy that instead of a whole new Wii system for $400.

Since the bad weather cancelled or postponed all the outdoor weekend plans for the area, I decided to spend an hour or so playing a new game on the Wii. I bought it for my grandson and he loves the game console. I’m having trouble finding a game for the Wii that I like. They are all too boring for my taste in gaming.

So I push the power button to turn on the Wii and nothing happens. The dang thing is less than 90 days old and already broken.