Dr Copa

I’ve been thinking about taking three or four days and heading out on the Harley for a short run. If I go in early October, the trees will be turning to their peak colors throughout New England, and I would like to take some backroads through some areas of the country that I’ve never seen.

My first thought is to head up to Gettysburgh Pennsylvania and then head west, to Ohio, and then wind my way back through West Virginia. Anyone have any thoughts on how far it would be worth going through Ohio before I turn back for West Virginia? I can’t decide if I want to try for Cleveland or just head for Columbus. If you have any thoughts, please share comments here for me.

My cousin is driving me crazy. She is always complaining on Facebook about how hard life is for her young family. She is young, has two babies by two different fathers, and her current boyfriend isn’t working. She has never worked a serious job, either. No wonder she is miserable! I have told her time and again to get online and find out what kind of Federal Student Aid she might be qualified for so she can go back to school and finish her education. I even gave her this link: http://studentaid2.ed.gov/gotocollege/collegefinder/advanced_find.asp and told her I would help her fill out the forms.

Last time we talked about her job potential, she mentioned that she had worked a couple of months in a law firm and really liked it. So I suggested she take online degree programs in paralegal and get certified as a paralegal. But she hasn’t pursued that – she’s been applying at the local mall for a retail clerk position instead.

I really don’t see what her problem is. With all the Online Schools and financial aid available, she should be getting a degree and making plans for a future for herself and her family. These part time retail jobs are just another dead end. Why can’t she see that?

Something is just magical about midnight – except when you are exhausted and can’t sleep. I don’t usually have a problem with insomnia. For some reason I just can’t shut off the brain tonight – worried about some family issues, some appointments at work, and the car started making a funny squealing noise on the way home.

If it was midnight just a few years ago I would think, wow – only a couple more hours to have fun and then I need to head home and get some sleep. But my life today is more like, wow – I should have fallen asleep over an hour ago. What am I doing still awake?

While pumping gas this morning, one of my neighbors pulled up near me and said hello. He asked if I had heard about the break-in just down the street from us, and I had to admit that I had not heard. He says that someone broke into our neighbor’s home in broad daylight and stole quite a bit of electronics. I am starting to think we all need to investigate the new home security enterprise and start using an alarm system whenever we leave the house. Although we are rarely all absent from the house at the same time and we do have three dogs, I would be extremely upset to return home from a few errands and find all my TVs, computers,  etc. gone like what just happened to my neighbor.

From what I understand, the cable and satellite companies are adding home security services to their subscriber options. I think that is a good idea. After all, the wiring and connections are already in place, so why not make the most of them? If you have  Direct TV and any experience with their customer service, I would appreciate a comment to share your personal experiences with it. Do you know if they offer the home security service yet? I know they have some great Sports packages and I am very much looking forward to the start of football season. That alone might be all it takes to get me switch.

First thing this morning I checked my own home and property for any damages from Hurricane Irene. There are a few tree branches and large limbs blown down, but they fell on the ground, not my car or truck, thank goodness. We lost our electricity for about 7 hours overnight, but it just came back on a couple hours ago. So we are doing OK.

I called my mother-in-law to make sure they are OK, too. They closer to where the main path of the storm was traveling up the Atlantic coastline. She assured me that they are about the same as here – some branches and not damage to anything structural or important.

We are so lucky to have dodged the bullet with Hurricane Irene. I am seeing video coverage of areas in North Carolina and New Jersey that are having horrific flooding and wind damage. All my family and friends in the path of this hurricane are in my thoughts and prayers today.