One of the things that I find very interesting about living in a rural area is how much time is spent with neighbors discussing things like cell phone coverage and television providers. I can remember when there was no such thing as pay television (except in motels!) Everyone simply had bunny ear antennas or rooftop antennas for the free local channels. And there were only a few local channels – the big networks and a public television!
Guest post by Sandra Ouellette
I think that it is absolutely amazing how much technology has changed just in my own lifetime! When I was in high school, personal computers were a thing of the future, and the Internet was probably still a gleam in some genius’s eye. When I was looking at going to college, my parents refused to let me go to the college of my choice – they wanted me to live at home. The college I wanted to go to was a five hour commute, one way! Back then a girl needed her parent’s consent to go to college! Needless to say, I didn’t get to go to the college I wanted to go to, and could not get the degree I wanted.
Oh, how things have changed since then! Anyone can get access to many different University Degrees Online without any fear of commuting, or whether they have to live at home or on campus! My fifty-year-old brother-in-law just got his Master of Public Health degree last spring, getting the degree from WaldenU.edu, I’m proud of him for continuing his education on into his middle aged years!
Thanks to Maureen Smythers for the guest post
I’ve never been one to want to be home alone. I guess when I was a young child some traumatic event happened that ingrained abandonment fears or some kind of phobia about home invasions, I don’t know. But whatever it is, I do not enjoy being home alone. I get very anxious, to put it mildly. So when Thomas was told by his company that he was going to have to travel one week a month, and that was non-negotiable I was one very unhappy camper!
Fortunately the company is giving Thomas a travel allowance generous enough that we could install a home security bear system. I still don’t like being home alone, but when I have to be alone, I feel less vulnerable and try to distract myself by watching special “chick flick” shows on our Direct TV that I would not normally be able to watch if Thomas was home, eating Edy’s vanilla caramel ice cream, and pamper myself by doing special beauty things like manicures, pedicures, dye my hair, avocado masks. And sometimes I invite Laura over for a “ladies night” and sleep-over.
All of those things help to keep me distracted from the anxiety that I feel when I’m home alone. Hopefully as the months go on the anxiety will slowly disappear.
Authored by Rickey Combs
My kids absolutely love everything on VH1. I know when I was growing up VH1 was kind of a fuddy duddy channel but they’ve really done a lot to rehab their image over the last few years. My son James likes all those Decade shows where they count down the best stuff from each year and my daughter likes some of the original programming. Ever since we got satellite from http://www.direct.tv last year that’s all they’ve wanted to watch…I was a little confused since they’re teenagers and I thought I was going to have to fight with them over watching MTV! At least they’re not watching anything too bad that I feel is giving them messages they shouldn’t be learning! I wish they’d get outside and do something physical a little more but at least when they’re in the house I know where they are and I don’t have to worry about who they’re hanging out with or what they’re doing. It’s better to have them here and inactive than out and about!
This guest post from Edgardo Rosa
My wife and I love hiking, even though some people don’t really consider it a sport. It’s been a really great way to keep in shape these last few years and we usually get to travel to find a great hike which is an added bonus! Recently I subscribed us to Wireless internet which means we have mobile connections wherever we go. After a few weeks of spontaneously emailing friends from the car on the way to a hike to ask them to join we had a revelation: let’s start a hiking club! We know plenty of people who like it as much as we do and there’s no reason we can’t plan the! hikes since we’re doing so already, so we figured it’d be a great way to see our friends and get some exercise. My wife’s been joking around about designing team t-shirts and even having a listserv so everyone can communicate. I think it sounds like a lot of fun and I’m excited to get a group together to start hiking every weekend!