Eric’s folks live in the San Diego area and do not get online very much. We used to be neighbors and are still friends, although it has been a long time since we visited each other. They are older, retired, and very active outdoors with all that the San Diego area has to offer. They save money and use dial up for their internet access. It is all they need, as they do not use the internet for gaming or for streaming videos. In fact, Eric’s parents are so frugal that they still have a VCR and watch old VHS tapes at home rather than going to the movie theater and paying up to $30 for a night at the movies.

Even though most of us have used dial-up internet at some point in our lives, many have upgraded and only want the fastest, the newest, the biggest, the fanciest, etc. But for many people, dial up is all they really need and they see no sense in paying anywhere from $20 to $50 per month for cable internet when the cost for dial up is only about $10 a month. That is a huge savings – especially for retired people living on a fixed income.

She is not used to living in a college town and gets very frustrated having to accommodate everything that goes one there with Duke University. she is amazed that the local TV stations will pre-empt prime time TV shows in favor of televising Duke basketball games.

Good thing she can watch her favorite TV shows on the internet. A lot of the hit major network shows are available online, either the same time they are broadcast on regular TV or within 24 hours of the original broadcast time.

Movies are available online too. So if her husband wants to watch the Duke basketball game on the TV, she can sign up for a service like Netflix and watch a movie on her laptop and they both get to watch what they prefer.

Moving wasn’t something we really did because we wanted to, we had to for my husband’s new job. I really miss my family but I went to http://www.wildbluedeals.com/satellite-internet/oklahoma/m/muldrow/ after we got settled to ensure I’d at least be able to email them and keep tabs with my sister’s blog (she’s got a new baby so she posts pictures all the time.) I actually like this new town although it’s smaller than I’m used to and I’m going to start looking for part time work once the boys start school. I don’t think I’ll have trouble making friends through church and all that but I think the biggest challenge is going to be finding a way to fill the void that I feel now that my family is so far away. I love them so much and they were such a big part of my daily life it’s really going to be an adjustment getting used to them not being around as often as they were when we lived just down the street, you know?

Still, the idea of living someplace where you walk out of your front door and gaze across a sand beach to a sunrise over sparkling blue waters does make me wish I could move to Mexico or a Caribbean Island. I even starting investigating the possibility of buying a nice condo near a Mexican resort to have for most of the year, with plans to travel back to the U.S. to see family and celebrate holidays.

With the idea of moving to Mexico I searched online for International Movers to investigate the cost of moving out of the country and to read up on any tips or special considerations we would have to make to move.

Obviously, International Moving is not going to be the same as moving locally. For one thing, you have to deal with Customs agents and restrictions against certain items being allowed across the border. For example, you cannot take plants across the border. But there are a lot of other restrictions that I had not considered and was surprised to learn. For example, you cannot take a Persian rug into Mexico.

To move to the Caribbean Islands is different from Mexico. You have a lot of International Shipping restrictions. No wine or alcohol, no drugs – but I mean personal medical prescriptions, not the illegal stuff – and no guns or ammunition – not even for personal protection. That concerns me – with all the stories of cartels and violence, especially in Mexico, I would not want to be a new, American resident with no means to protect myself and my family.

Its not like we have a shortage of HISTORY.

But this show about swamp people is just chasing a couple of Cajun rednecks around the swam watching them kill things. This is not entertainment, people. This is disgusting butchering of alligators, snapping turtles, catfish and gar fish. It’s not hunting. It’s not sport. It is butchering animals in front of a camera crew. Big deal!

I watched this awful show just once to give it a chance. It is horrible and I doubt that I would ever watch it again unless tied to a chair in a torture chamber and my eyes held open with toothpicks. It won’t get another 1 minute of my time if I can help it and it actually bothers me thatanyone does watch it.

But honestly, unless that small business happens to be in the advertising industry, why does an owner have to know everything that the professionals in an advertising agency know from years of training and experience? How can a small business owner be expected to have all the business contacts and networking sources to launch an effective advertising campaign? How does a small business owner know how to measure the effectiveness of that campaign? How much money does the small business owner actually end up saving – or losing – by making the wrong advertising decisions?

When you have a very small business that is well established and earning a lot of personal referrals, maybe you do not need an actual advertising agency. But if you are more than just a few employees or you are a new company trying to get as many new customers as possible, using an agency makes a lot more sense. The people at the advertising agency are professionals at their craft – just as you are expected to be the professional or the expert in your own line of work. Smart business owners take advantage of the skills and talent that can be hired for specific projects and don’t try to do everything by themselves.

So here is what I plan to do. I will make positive comments about the candidates and offer my own opinions on the issues. Readers are welcome and sometimes expected to disagree with me. That is OK, as long as you are polite and respectful in your comments.

My brother-in-law just bought a new house. This will be his second house and it is a definite upgrade from the first. I say that because typically, when you are looking for a second house you are much pickier than you were when you bought the first. This one comes with more perks than I could ever imagine. The lot is completely fenced in, which is perfect for his three kids. There is a wonderful play set in the backyard. The bedrooms are huge and each one has its own walk-in closet. And to top it off, there is a state of the art security system installed by home security system. I have to say I am very impressed by the entire house. I am so happy for him and his newly found home. It is always so stressful finding a new place to live. It seems there is always something wrong with a house or it falls through. He has been looking for a long time to find the perfect house. I am very hopeful he will love this house and enjoy many years in it.

This week is going to be great! The “Discovery” PBS channel is doing “Shark Week.” All the shows are documentaries about sharks all over the world. It’s totally fascinating! I want to see it all!

The worst part of basic cable is the lack of good channels on my TV. I can never find anything worth watching, so it almost defeats the purpose of turning on the TV! I knew I needed to bite the bullet and sign up for something better, so I checked out www.ClearTVBundle.com and found a package that suited my needs. The best part was, I’ve totally got all the best movie channels like HBO and Showtime now! Everyone knows that’s where the best shows are! I actually enjoy the onDemand feature the best, going back and watching old episodes of classics like The Sopranos and Six Feet Under. I like HBO’s new offerings, but the old shows really can’t be beaten. I now know the meaning of “appointment TV,” although it’s nice being able to watch shows on my own time, too. I never knew how much I was missing until after I set up my premium channel connection, and now I’ll never be hurting for a good channel to watch. No more surfing for me!

The Predators get a few days to rest and recover, and then they play again on Thursday. Their opponents in the Western Conference will be decided and announced within the next day or two. I have a feeling it will be against Vancouver . . .

Happy Easter to all!