In some states, there was a law enacted in 1978 in California called the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act that is designed to protect the consumers against abusive and unfair debt collection practices. Since then, lawyers have become specialists in how to stop collection harassment California and in some cases the debt collectors have had to pay penalties and fines for their unfair debt collection practices. Sometimes the government actually does help the little guy!

Everyone has left the house in a hurry in the morning on the way to work. You are running to catch the train or jump in the car to sit in traffic and you are in such a hurry that you forget to turn something off at home. You have to turn around and go all the way back just to have the peace of mind that you did in fact turn off the coffee pot this morning on the rush out the door. If you are anything like me when you get back to the house the thing you were worried about was already turned off. One thing that you don’t have to worry about turning off or on when you leave the house is your wireless home security system. You can run out the door without setting it and then set it from your phone once you are in the car or train or bus or whatever your mode of transportation. This is quite possibly the coolest part of having ADT is being able to control it from my smart phone.

This is a very sad state of affairs. Most all of the other modern countries have a health insurance plan that ensures that everyone that lives in the country will get life-saving medical care. A lot of people here in the United States feel that if the United States adopts a socialized health plan that the entire foundation of the American way of life will be broken. I think that a lot of people are confusing themselves, not realizing that a democracy is different than a republic (and the USA is a republic) and the difference between capitalism and socialism. There is an old saying that too much of any good thing can kill you. I think in this case too much capitalism is killing Americans. What do you think?

I’m sure that I don’t have to tell you that the world’s economy is changing in leaps and bounds, and the Internet has a lot to do with those changes. No longer is the consumer stuck with only the merchandise in his corner Mom & Pop variety store or ordering from the now extinct Sears & Roebuck mail order catalog. (Did you realize that the Sears & Roebuck mail order catalog used to sell complete house kits?)

Using the Internet to bargain shop is becoming more commonplace than going downtown on a Saturday afternoon to shop. Is that a good thing, or a bad thing? Well I think that question is moot because good or bad, it is in all likelihood here to stay. Many of today’s consumers don’t have the time on their hands to go into town to shop, and don’t want to have to find a baby sitter to watch their children when they go out to shop. And most parents don’t want to take their kids shopping with them because the children become bored and cranky pretty easily.

Not long ago townsfolk were alarmed at the thought that Wal-Mart, the Super Giant Retailer was going to destroy the commercial centers of their towns. In many cases, that is exactly what happened. Now it is the Internet’s turn to destroy Wal-Mart. More consumers would rather just sit down at their computer and order something to be delivered to their homes (in many cases delivery is free) than drag their families down to the crowded Wal-Mart on a weekend. I know that is what I would rather do! Because the Internet commerce is growing and giving Wal-Mart (and Target, and all of the other big discount stores) a run for their money, the commercial center of town just might enjoy a revival of small, locally owned service-based stores. After all, once the customer buys the product at a bargain rate, there will often be a need to service, clean, or repair the item. Yes, there will be the opportunity to ship the item needing repair to someplace “out there” but for the most I think that people would prefer to get their items repaired locally. What do you think? Is Internet bargain shopping better for the economy, or worse?

So I had to have my son teach me how to use it, and he laughed at me because he thought that I should already know how to use it! It was easier than I thought it would be, and I have used it a couple of times. I wonder how much I’ll use it in the future. I can’t imagine doing it while driving. That would be dangerous and dumb.

Being a small business owner is a lot of work but I really found out the true meaning of that when I got mono last year. I was more or less a one man shop and being so sick for so long nearly put me out of business. I learned the importance of having good people behind you when you need them most and also not to solely rely on yourself since it’s hard to really know when you’re going to be out of commission. Thankfully before I even opened the doors of my shop I did a lot of research on things like online billing and small business xo and really had the whole place ready to go for someone to take over so when my best friend Jim stepped in to help out while I was sick it wasn’t too much of a learning curve. He really saved me those couple of weeks and after a few months things were back to normal. I don’t know what I would have done without all his help!

I was just reading an article on the Time.com website about “what makes you eat more food” and was surprised to read that one of the things that makes you eat more food in restaurants is that most restaurants turn their thermometers to cooler temperatures. When the body is cold, a natural reaction to warm up is to eat more food. So the restaurants are trying to get you to eat more food by making their customers cold!

I was really glad when the white lab coat that I ordered from the http://www.blueskyscrubs.com/ arrived yesterday. I had ordered for my son to  wear as part of a Pokemon costume at the Pokemon tournaments that he has planned for the kids where he works.

He works at a residential school for “at risk children” ranging in age from six to fourteen, and he has a small group of kids assigned to him. They have a variety of issues (which is why they are there) but he has had really good luck getting the kids to settle down and learn to cooperate and follow rules by teaching them how to play Pokemon and holding tournaments once a week.

Every kid that plays wins cards, but the ones who win the games get extra cards. The kids love it. I’m really glad that he has found a way to incorporate his love of games into his work and that it is helping the kids to learn life skills.

And a few years after that I read in the local newspaper that a Wal-Mart was going to build in a nearby town and the Motley Fool column in the newspaper suggested that Wal-Mart stock would be a good investment.  So I bought some Wal-Mart stock.  Not a lot, but I still bought some.

For the most part, the stocks that I have purchased have done relatively well, but a couple of months ago I met a financial advisor that suggested that I take some of my 401K money that was largely in the stock market and roll it over into an IRA that is full of annuities.  I really did not even understand how annuities work, but he sat down with me for about an hour and explained them, showed me some great Annuity Rates and convinced me that moving some of my money into annuities would be a smart thing to do at this point in time. I sure hope he’s right!