Heres Janie Parrish

An old friend of mine (a bartender by trade) from Texas emailed me earlier today, his news is always so sunny and cheerful (living in sunny north Texas, easy to see why) but this time he seems to be feeling very, very low and had no good or positive news to share with me this time around.

I’ve known this man for over 30 years and have seen both his ups and downs and he is feeling pretty blue right now. The economy is effecting everyone and bartenders, that survive on tips, are feeling the impact desperately so. He is considering going back to driving a cab, part-time, if they are hiring, if not he has driven the city bus before and left on good terms, years ago, but he put in his time, all the same.

He isn’t a young puppy any more and really isn’t too keen on working two jobs again, he thought those days were over and done with and was doing pretty well until about 2 years ago. Credit Cards have been his biggest issue, he is a compulsive buyer and just stretched his credit to the limit and now things have gone all crazy on him.

My buddy is considering filing for bankruptcy, I think this just might be his smartest move that he has done in a long time. It won’t be easy, but nothing worthwhile is easy. There are plenty of good bankruptcy attorney in north Dallas, it should only take a few minutes to search online to find the right one that will do the job for him. I wish him all the luck in the world.

A cousin of mine Wendy, wanted to go on a early summers trip and invited me to tag along and enjoy a relaxing but fun time together. Not only have I  been looking forward to spending some quality time with her but I have been in need of a vacation for a few years now, so needless to say I immediately replied back telling her that we really need to search around for a location, a hotel we can stay at, and a nice rental car, all of which must be affordable.

We have asked around friends and family for ideas and options and didn’t come by anything that was affordable or anything we would want to do. My cousin, had a brilliant idea to sit down one evening after work and search around on the net for anything that stuck out to us and yelled “Fun!” We clicked on a link that took us to a site that looked like it offered amazing hotel and thrifty rental car deals. We were quit surprised at how much we would be saving compared to the handful of sites we already checked out and weren’t so impressed like we are with these deals.

Wendy and I were so very close as kids, so it will be cool to reconnect with her, catch up with what is going on on that side of family and let her in on what’s been going with my clan. Of course I will be taking my laptop and will be posting (when I have the time) and sharing photos here as we go along!

Every year I get the Major League Baseball schedule and find out when St. Louis will be playing the Chicago Cubs at home. Those dates get circled on the calendar and my trip to Chicago and the Wrigleyville rental for the ball game starts getting planned. The great thing about going to Chicago is that Chicago is a fantastic town. You can go for the weekend or you can go for the day. Either way, it’s going to be great food and good times.

We used to drive to Chicago several times each year. It’s just over a half days’ drive to get there from Nashville. But then we found that buying an airline ticket in advance can get us to Chicago and back for under $100 and in just a little over an hour in the air. So now we fly to Chicago for the games and it works out great. After you land at either Chicago airport you can catch their subway and go right to the ball field. You don’t have to rent a car and deal with traffic or parking. Last year we discovered that you can rent seats at the Wrigley Field Rooftop Club and clearly see the game from across the street from the ball field, yet have the comforts of bathrooms, food and beverages right at hand. We will get our seats from their web site: www.wrigleyfieldrooftopclub.com and meet up with our friends at the next Cards vs. Cubs game this summer.

Although we almost never see anyone on the street wearing a military uniform, there is an Army base just 40 minutes north of the city. Sometimes they send guys down to our airport to catch a commercial flight from our airport. I saw a couple of officers today eating lunch at Shoney’s before heading out, so I said “Hey” when they got in line at the buffet next to me. I have friends in the military, so I know a little about how tough it is to be an enlisted man and try to start a family. Just when you get things going you end up with orders that send you overseas for months at a time. So the new wife and the kids stay behind and make do. That’s why I can appreciate a business like Luther Sales who make a big effort with their special Military Programs to help the enlisted men and women by approving them for LutherCharge.

This is an Easy Credit Program so the military families can buy some of the furniture, computers and other nice things instead of having to rent them. This store lets military families buy Computers on Credit so the family can stay in touch with their loved one overseas with emails, VOIP calls, and blogs. They make Purchasing Furniture on Credit easy, as all Federal Government & Military are approved. It’s as simple as arranging for allotments, payroll deductions direct deposit – they are all accepted at Luther Sales.

As much as I love shopping the local old brick and mortar stores, there are so many advantages to shopping online that I am doing more and more of my shopping on the Internet. The town that I live in isn’t small, but it sure isn’t what I would consider large, so we are limited to whatever store are here unless you want to drive at least 45 minutes to get to a different variety of stores and that is pretty limited as well.  With the price of gas you end up having to put way too much money into your gas tank when you go out shopping around.

I am looking forward to getting my taxes done as soon as I get my W-2 form in the mail. I have a good idea of how much I will be getting back and have already made a list of things that I want and need to spend it on. After paying off the balance on two of my credit cards I intend to start seriously looking at various home stores that have websites that I can take my time, do some hard core comparison shopping and find the best merchandise that will look good in my home and be user friendly on my checkbook.