Ed Icionsub

My sister is still trying to get her life together after the sudden and unexpected death of her husband last year. I know it must be incredibly hard to lose your spouse after 30 years of marriage, and he was only 52 when he passed away. Now she is trying to not only grieve but create a new life and identity for herself and her daughters.

She has been looking into working for an online nursing degree by taking classes at night after work. She can still work full time at her secretarial job and then at night while her daughters do their homework she can get online to take her classes.

Her best friend, Hattie, has been working toward her online phd as a career backup plan. She feels that years of experience do count toward something positive but the credentials of college degrees and certification courses are even better to ensure a successful career.

They both are good candidates for a distance learning degree, as they have serious career goals and are willing to put in the time at night to further their educations. Surely this recession will start turning around soon and people who want to advance their careers or perhaps change jobs will have a much better chance at finding their dream jobs, especially if they have taken the time to prepare with additional diplomas or new skills.

Just heard that tomorrow night the Dateline show on NBC will be a special feature about the murder of Steve McNair.

The death of Steve McNair and his girlfriend on July 4 was a shock to this whole city. There are so many unanswered questions and things about the circumstances of their deaths that just do not make any sense.

The Redskins game was closer than I thought it would be. The Redskins scored first, then kept it tied until close to the end. The Patriots did win, though. And even though it was “just preeason,” a loss is a loss in the minds of the players and the fans.

The same holds true for the Titans. Although the Titans scored first, they allowed the Browns to come back. And, to add insult to injury, the Browns scored off an interception thrown by Vince Young. The Titans lost by one touchdown.

If VY had not been in the game, I have no doubt that Collins would have led the team to victory. I don’t know why Jeff Fisher is even playing VY. The boy is not good enough to quarterback this team.

Sometimes an easy way to get more money is to make the money you have work harder for you. I’ve been reading up on ways to be smarter about my money. There are lots of ways to make the most of what you earn, and most of the suggestions are actually just smart money management. For example, avoid late payment fees. Do not write checks on accounts that don’t have that much money already deposited and cleared by your bank. Pay off the accounts that charge the highest interest rates. Keep track of all your debits and cash card transactions so that you do not accidentally overdraw your account.

These sound simple but you would be surprised how many people ignore them or get careless and end up paying out a lot of money in unnecessary fees.

Another good idea is payoff your mortgage as quickly as possible. If your home mortgage allows you to make extra payments, you can pay your mortgage payments twice a month instead of just once a month and save a lot of money over the term of your mortgage. Making payments twice a month pays down the principal amount faster than once a month, and faster means that you save money. Check with your mortgage company and ask about early mortgage payoff methods that meet the terms of your mortgage agreement.

The schoolkids have been sent out into the neighborhoods to sell cookie dough as a fund raiser. Evidently the school needs to buy more projectors so that each classroom will have their own projector. I don’t know if the teachers really have the need for that many projectors, but that’s not up to me to decide.

The cookie dough flavors include white chocolate macadamia nut, snickerdoodles, sugar cookies, chocolate chip, and oatmeal raisin. I’m thinking we’ll one of each and then bake up a bunch and take them into the office on Fridays as a treat for everyone. I shouldn’t be eating all those sweets and packing on more pounds, so I’ll buy the cookie dough and share the calories.

For some reason the TV guys have decided to start showing NFL preseason games on Friday nights. This competes with the high school games, which is totally unfair to the kids who are out there playing their hearts out for parents and school friends.

Tonight we are torn between going to a high school game with a high chance of getting rained on, or staying home and certainly dry to watch the Redskins play the Patriots.

I’m a Redskins fan from many years back and hate the chance to watch my team play. Then again, I don’t think they have much chance to beat the Patriots. So I guess we’ll make up our minds a little closer to game time, depending on the weather forecast and frame of mind.

Setting up house was the best part of graduating from college and heading out into the world. This was my big chance to buy the furniture that I wanted in the styles and colors that I liked. I wasn’t restricted to the style of the furniture in my parent’s house and I wasn’t held back from any of my choices by my mother’s criticism or my father’s complaints about how expensive the piece was.

The first room I wanted to furnish was my bedroom. I figured that the bedroom should be the most important room in my house. I planned on using it for both healthy rest and, when I got lucky, for some entertaining, too.

The selection of styles and types of beds was something that I took very seriously. I wanted a bed that would be attractive, functional, and last a long time. So I chose a traditional headboard and footboard style, like the Tuscany bed featured on Time4sleep.co.uk. I liked the dark leather, the masculine lines, and the classic style of that bed.

There are other styles to consider, but since it was my first bedroom and I was a young bachelor, I wanted something to reflect my personal style and I’ve never regretted my choice of furniture, even after all these years.

Happened across a music track by a guy named Raul Malo, “For the Good Times,” which was originally a big hit in the 1970’s for Ray Price. If you think you never heard of Raul, you might be right. But if you’ve heard any songs by the Mavericks from about 10 years ago, then you have heard Raul. The Mavericks had several top hits from top rated big selling albums before they broke up in 2001.

Raul struck out on his own and has been working on a variety of projects. He has released several albums on his own since the Mavericks broke up, and I’ve been trying to gather them up. I like his distinctive voice but even more I like his vocal style. It’s a little retro and not so formula based as the pop hits that are being playing on the radio. He goes deeper, like a true musician.

One of the fun aspects of living in Nashville is that we really are “Music City.” The entire area for 100 miles in each direction is home to people involved in the music industry. We live among songwriters, musicians, singers, managers and booking agents. There are dozens of related supporting professions, as well. Such as lighting technicians, guitar repair shops, hair stylists, tour bus drivers and deejays.

Of course, one of the most important things that the musicians need are the actual musical instruments. The professionals know where to shop for the best equipment and the best deals. The handful of very successful musicians can afford to buy things custom made. But for the rest of us who are struggling and waiting for our big break, we have to be smart with our money and shop for the best deals.

My first place to look is always the internet. The internet is fast, convenient and it lets me be very specific in my search. Saving money is easy if you check with PricePickle.com and look for the musiciansfriend.com promotion and coupon deals on their site.

Last year I bought an electronic keyboard with tons of features for under $100 so that I can pound out some of the tunes that pop into my head in the middle of night. When I’m not using it, I can pack it up and stick it in the closet, out of the way but ready for my next inspiration.

Watching some old episodes of NCIS, I’ve noticed that Duckie has muttered several “facts” that I did not know until hearing them just now. Let’s assume for the sake of argument that these are “facts.”

• One of the founders of the Society of Medical Examiners was Leonardo DaVinci.
• All all gun related homocides, 30% of those deaths were caused by the victim’s own gun.