Asha Anujeeva

According to my cell phone company, my two year contract with them has expired and the company is offering me a “free upgrade.” What I think that actually means, is that they will give me a free phone if I sign a new two year contract with them. I’d love to have a new phone that has access to the Internet all of the time, but I think that it increases my monthly bill by about $30 a month, and I don’t think that is worth it. Sure, it would be “neat” to have one, but I don’t really “need” it. I find myself wondering if I really even need a new telephone at all – I haven’t had any trouble with the one I have. I wonder if replacing it now is a good idea. Is the life expectancy of the battery only two years? I guess that is the big question – if I keep the phone I have, will I regret it a couple of months from now!?

I find it disturbing that Mesothelioma seems to be the big buzzword for lawyer’s commercials. The reason why it is so disturbing is that it brings to my attention the fact that if there are so many commercials about it, then Mesothelioma Cancer must be affecting millions of people around the world.

I have to wonder how many people have been exposed and don’t realize it yet! How many families will go through the heartache of dealing with this insidious disease? I’ve heard that asbestos is still being mined in some countries! Why in the world would it still be mined if we now know that it causes cancer? How can it still be legal to do that? There have got to be acceptable substitutes for the product! Why aren’t these mines being shut down?

Guest post written by Belinda Thomas

About 3 months ago my husband and I finally made the big move to our first home. Well, our first purchased home. Until then we had been living in rental homes since we were married 4 years ago. We finally found the perfect house at a great price and they accepted our offer, so we canceled the cable providers, phone providers and electricity- and here we are at our new place. Truthfully we’re still getting everything set up even after 3 months but there has been a lot to do! And believe me, there are plenty of things that have been forgotten along the way.

For example, when it was time to hook up all the utilities I totally overlooked the cable providers. I had the power hooked up about 3 days before we actually moved in and I decided to go with unlimited cell phone use and a magic jack for the phone service (my husband doesn’t really care since he rarely uses the phone anyway). But I totally overlooked his favorite part which is Direct TV Service. He refuses to use dish because he says it won’t offer good enough reception during storms (whatever!).

Anyway I checked out the local cable providers and it was easy enough to get it all set up. In fact, I was able to do it right over the phone. I guess the hardest part was deciding on a package to pay for- there is quite a bit of television to choose from compared to when I was a kid. So even though we went the first week without cable and my husband spent most of that time pretty grumpy, it looks like we are on track now.

I can remember my best friend’s grandmother used to tell me “Mind your pennies, and the dollars will take care of themselves.”  Well, as a child, I had no real concept of what in the world she was talking about!  Now that I’m grown, however, I’ve learned that if I’m really careful with my pennies that I have more dollars to spend.  Some “old adages” really have some good advice to them, don’t they!

In this economy, it’s always a good idea to constantly check on ways to save money.  One popular way to save money is to look for cheaper ways to insure homes and vehicles.  It can be a real time consuming challenge to get a lot of different quotes from different companies.  That’s why I really like websites that act as comparison sites so you can compare the prices of different companies.  One such website is the cheap-autoinsurance.com site. 

What I like about the site is that the consumer can look, for example, for the cheapest insurance in Alabama simply by typing in the local zip code in Alabama and click on the “get quotes” button.  The next screen takes the consumer to a page that shows different insurance companies that offer insurance in Alabama.  From there it is easy to get quotes from the different companies that are presented.

I’m always surprised by people who tell me that they live so far out in the boonies that they can’t get fast Internet. With satellite sevices such as the wildblue Internet, I don’t think that their excuse is a valid one at all. There are dozens of satellite Internet companies that provide service out to the furthest reaches of the globe!

I cannot even imagine life without the Internet anymore. I use my Internet connection for several hours every day. At first I thought it was a luxury to have, but now I find that I use it more than just about anything else in the house! I use it to watch entertaining clips on you tube, and to keep up on the latest breaking news. I use email to communicate with people at my own convenience and I use Skype to be able to talk one-on-one with loved ones.

I also use the Internet for a lot of my shopping needs. I love finding great deals on Ebay! And the Internet has helped me with research for college papers on several occassions. I find great recipes, and how-to articles. Seems to me anytime someone has a question about something, we always find the answer on the Internet!