Let me be the first to stand up and admit, I am a cruiser.  I love to take cruises!  I thnk they are the best value for your vacation money, especially in the current economy.  I first went on a cruise in the late 90s and have been cruising every since.  My husband and I went on a cruise for our honeymoon.  I have to say, my husband was not initially sold on cruising.  He thought he’d get bored after a couple of days being on the ship.  But, let me tell you.  After our honeymoon, he is a convert!  I think he loves to cruise more than me.  I say all this to discuss the value of cruising in our downtrodden economy, as well as the safety of cruising.  I have never thought going on a cruise would be unsafe.  It never crossed my mind that I wouldn’t make it back home.  In fact, I’m going to make a huge assumption that other cruisers feel the same way as I do.  But, in the last couple of weeks, there have been two reported incidents on ships that may make me re-think my position on the safety of cruising.

A couple of weeks ago, it was reported that a woman went missing while cruising.  It was later discovered, via video tape, that she fell overboard.  The ship and the Coast Guard loooked for her body for a few days, to no avail.  It is believed that she committed suicide.  Today, I read that a cruise employee fell overboard yesterday, off the coast of Florida.  This incident is believed to be an accident.  Once again, the Coast Guard and the ship searched for the fallen victim, to no avail.  I’m not even going to mention the present-day pirates trying to hijack cruise ships overseas – oh wait, I did mention it.  I say to you, what is going on with cruising?!!!!

In my travels on a cruise ship, I remember two different incidents of people falling overboard — in the middle of the night — and their bodies never being found.  It happened in the late 90s when I went on a cruise with my cousin.  The guy’s body was never found.  Then it happened again when my husband and I went on our honeymoon.  Again, the body was never found.  In defense of the cruise ships, there are all sorts of security measures in place, especially surrounding the rails when you’re out on deck.  In my opinion, really, the only way a person can end up in the ocean while cruising is:  a) someone throws you off; b) you jump; or c) you climb up on the rail trying to re-enact Leonardo DiCaprio’s scene in the Titanic, screaming, “I am on top of the world!”  My suggestion to you is, don’t do it!

With everyone trying to get every penny squeezed from a dollar in today’s society, I truly believe cruising is the best value.  Think about it, in addition to your room, all of your food is included.  Beverages are included, but that’s limited to coffee, tea and lemonade.  All of your entertainment is free (i.e. Vegas- type shows, ice skating rink, wall climbing, putt-putt golf, etc.)  Now that I’ve given my two cents on cruising and its safety, I would like to know what you think about crusing.  Do you think it’s the best value for a vacation – especially in today’s society?  Do you think it’s safe?  If you cruised before, I would love to hear your adventures in cruising.

OK. We all know that our economy is in the dumps and we need to reverse this thing somehow. I have an idea: why don’t we band together and do away with small, meaningless, things that cost money?

Sometimes I notice some things that are meaningless, but I know somebody had to spend some money on it. Maybe Big Brother, I mean the government, should step in and give those businesses/individuals some kind of “you just spent some money on something that doesn’t matter tax.”

Look at this picture:

See that little star-looking thing on the top/left of Kevin Garnett’s uniform (he is the player in the green jersey)?  That is where the NBA logo normally goes and on Christmas they had a snowflake on their uniforms and the logo was on the snowflake.  Now, I know they had to spend money to get the snowflake logo and I would bet some money they didn’t put them on used uniforms.  These jerseys were produced for 8 teams – on a side note, Cleveland and Washington didn’t wear the special jerseys because the Cavaliers wore uniforms that matched LeBron James’ new shoes…really.

What if the money used for this was put in a fund to help people who are struggling in today’s economy?  Would those of us who watch basketball feel like something was missing from the Christmas games?  I think not.

What other ways could money be saved by avoiding meaningless things?

You found $97,000, in crisp $1,000 bills, in a restaurant bathroom stall?  This is supposedly what happened to a 75-year-old woman in Tennessee.  Here’s the actual article:

“A Murfreesboro, TN, woman says she returned $97,000 she claims to have found in a Cracker Barrel restroom, but police said Tuesday they have no report of the find. Billie Watts, 75, told The Daily News Journal that she discovered the money inside a tapestry bag hanging from a hook on a stall door last Thursday. But five days later, the money and its anonymous owner remain something of a mystery in the community, where police said that they have no report of the find. While digging through the bag to figure out its owner, Watts says she found a bundle of neatly stacked $1,000 bills. Watts said she and her husband took the money home, but later called the restaurant back and asked if there was a lost-and-found department. She was told yes, and left her number. A woman called about 15 minutes later and verified she was the owner by identifying pictures left in the bag. Watts returned the bag to the owner, whom she described as an elderly woman, but said she does not have the woman’s last name or phone number. Watts said the woman told her that the money came from selling her home and her belongings and that she was going to start a new life in Florida with her son. Watts says the woman offered to pay her $1,000, but Watts refused it. A manager of the Cracker Barrel restaurant, Bill Shupp, said no employees actually saw the money or the elderly owner.”

If this happened to you, what WOULD you do?  Would you give it back?  I mean, no one would know but you (and God).  Oh, the dilemma this would cause, especially in the economy we are now experiencing.

The economy is bad and unemployment is up. Everyday, we’re hearing about companies downsizing and laying off tons of people. People who haven’t been in the market for a new job in years now find themselves updating their resumes. Now we all know that your resume is the first impression that employers get about you. I mean, from your resume, employers will determine if you’re capable of doing the job you’re applying for based on your previous job experience.

As more and more people are faced with updating their resume, you can only guess on the advice and tips they are receiving on how to make their resume as appealing as possible. Well, below I’ve listed five horrible job tips that I’ve received before. Please feel free to add any tips you’ve gotten. Hopefully, someone will benefit from this information.

1. DON’T BRING UP MONEY
Do bring up money (BusinessWeek.com, 8/7/08) by the second interview, and let the employers know what your salary requirements are before they start getting ideas that perhaps you’re a trust-fund baby and could bring your formidable skills over to XYZ Corp. for a cool $45,000. Set them straight, at the first opportunity.

2. ONLY SEND YOUR RESUME VIA AN ONLINE JOB AD OR THE COMPANY WEB SITE
Successful job-seekers use friends, and anybody else in their network to locate and reach out to contacts inside a target employer. Playing by the rules often gets your résumé pitched into the abyss at the far end of the e-mail address talent@xyzcorp.com. If you’ve got a way into the decision-maker’s office, use it. Ignore advice that instructs you to send one résumé via the company Web site and wait (and wait, and wait) to hear from them.

3. WAIT FOR THEM TO CALL YOU
You can’t wait for companies to call you back. You’ve got to call and follow up on the résumés you’ve sent. If an ad says “no calls,” use your connections to put you in touch with someone who can put in a word with the hiring manager. Don’t sit and wait for the call to come. Your résumé is in a stack with 150 others, and if you don’t push it up the pipeline, no one will.

4. POST YOUR RESUME ON EVERY JOB BOARD
This is the best way in the world to get overexposed and undervalued in the job market. (Exception: If you’re looking for contract or journeyman IT work, it’s a great idea to post your credentials all over.) Your résumé posted on a job board is a spam-and-scam magnet and a mark that your network isn’t as robust as it might be. These aren’t the signs you want to put out there. Use your network (vs. the world at large) to help you spread the job-search word.

5. LIST EVERYTHING YOU’VE EVER DONE ON YOUR RESUME
Another piece of horrendous job search advice tells job-seekers to share as much information as possible. A post-millennium résumé uses up two pages, maximum, when it’s printed. (Academic CVs are another story.) Editing is a business skill, after all—just tell us what’s most noteworthy in your long list of impressive feats.

Do you like paying for gas?  If you are like most people, everyone on the planet I hope, the answer to that question is “NO!”  Wouldn’t we all love to purchase a car, drive wherever we wanted to go and not worry about paying for gas?  Sure, gas has went way down lately, but don’t think for one minute it is a reason to relax and think we will not see $4 gas again.  When we can comfortably pay for it, or less uncomfortably pay for it, gas prices will go back up.

They Are Playing Us

First of all who, is the “they” I’m talking about?  I’m talking about the government, car companies and the oil companies.

• It is 2008.  Weren’t we supposed to be riding in flying vehicles by now?    We aren’t even close to doing anything like that.  Instead, American car companies have recently just started putting high-tech, high-feature motors into cars.  Do a quick Google search or look at cars with and without direct (fuel) injection.  Sure, it isn’t going to get you 5 more miles per gallon, but it will help.  Instead, we have automatic transmissions – another fuel hog – and interior gadgets we can see, touch and play with.  I’m all for gadgets, but I would like some technology in my engine too, thank you.
• I’m a firm believer that the technology is available to make cars run off of water – a slight exaggeration, but you should get my point.  Why are we still waiting for mass-produced electric vehicles?  Again, my opinion, but people value their lives.  Do you really think that 1) there are congressmen who want the oil companies to quit “donating” money to their campaigns and 2) if congress pushed technology that reduced oil reliance, do you really think they would live to see it happen?  Legalizing marijuana would probably be a safer bet.

They Are Playing Us

Have you seen the commercials from Exxon (or one of the big oil companies) where they are talking about their efforts to advance battery technology for electric and/or hybrid vehicles?  Oh, they really think we are stupid!  Let me get this straight.  A company that is seeing record profits is going to spend some of those profits to research technology that will reduce those profits?  Get out of here!

When I say they are playing us – something you probably already know or have thought about this – I mean things don’t have to be as bad as they are.  Let’s recap:

1. The car companies, American car companies specifically, could put more efficient gas engines in cars and could be doing more to move towards mass-produced electric vehicles.
2. The government could do things to impact this situation, but their wealth and health could suffer.
3. Oil companies are making record profits and have the nerve to make (some of us) believe they want to help by developing battery technology.

If you don’t believe what I’m saying look at the current gas prices as an example.  The current economic situation has caused the gas prices to go down.  If our economy rebounds the gas prices will go back up.  Along with gas prices, any goods delivered via a vehicle that uses gas – almost everything – will go up too.  It is sort of like, you have more money, you will pay more money.  You have less money, you will pay less money.  All the while, those in power will still see their profits increase year after year.

It doesn’t take an economic degree or any complex research to realize…

They Are Playing Us

So what can we do about this?

All I keep hearing about is the need for the House and Senate to pass a $700 million bailout package in order to prevent our economy from going into a recession.  Okay, whatever. What I want to know is how does this current economy affect my money!  And, how will a bailout help me?  So, to help me find some understandable answers, I went to my trusted friend — Google.  As usual, my friend did not let me down.  Google brought up an article that the New York Times recently printed that addressed my concerns.  So, I thought I’d pass on to you my findings as I’m sure you’re concerned about your money too.

Q. Is any investment truly safe right now?

A. As long as you trust the United States government, sure. Plenty of banks, like HSBC Direct and Capital One are offering online savings accounts paying more than 3 percent. These accounts have all the normal Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation protections of at least $100,000. Also, the Treasury Department is currently insuring investors who had holdings in money market mutual funds as of Sept. 19, as long as the fund company pays to participate.

Q. My retirement portfolio has been wrecked by this. How should I respond?

A. Continue to save. Big losses mean you’ll need that much more time, or good news, to bring your balances back to where they need to be for you to retire comfortably. If your employer matches your contributions, this is a great time to take advantage of the largess.

As for whether you should pile into beaten down stocks, no one knows how much further the markets will fall or how long they’ll take to bounce back. But people who move their savings to ultrasafe investments and then leave them there usually miss out on the gains when the markets come back. If you need to do that to sleep at night or avoid stomach ulcers, then do what you have to do. But it may cost you in quality of life come retirement time.

Q. But what if I am about to retire? Then what?

A. Leaving the work force at a time like this creates big problems. Not only is your portfolio down, but you need to start withdrawing from it. So you are essentially locking in your losses.

If your portfolio has taken a big hit, it may be time to seriously consider delaying retirement. Working just a few years more can make a big difference. Or, a part-time job may keep you from having to dip into your portfolio before it recovers. To get a better idea of how much you can afford to withdraw, you can test different amounts with a retirement income calculator on the Web, like T. Rowe Price’s.

Q. Is it time to buy stocks?

A. Like gambling? This is a great time to make bets on the wide price swings that we’re seeing in some stocks and entire sectors of the market. Just be prepared to lose big, as plenty of professionals have done of late.

Q. What’s the next shoe to drop?

A. It seems certain that it will be harder for consumers to borrow money in the next year or two than it was earlier this decade. How much harder isn’t clear yet. It will be more difficult for people who need jumbo mortgages than for those whose lenders can simply sell off their loans to Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac. Home-equity lenders are already cutting plenty of people off, while credit card companies are lowering credit limits on others.

Q. What about more bank failures?

A. They will happen. In recent days, we’ve seen the F.D.I.C. getting out in front of troubles at big banks like Wachovia and Washington Mutual, by arranging for other banks to take over their consumer accounts. What’s less clear, however, is how many healthy institutions are left to take in other big banks that may run into trouble.

As always, stay within F.D.I.C. deposit limits, which is currently $100,000.  Then, the worst-case scenario is that it will take a couple of days to extract your funds from a failed bank.  (NOTE:  The powers-to-be in Washington and the FDIC are in talks to raise the deposit limit to $250,000).

This morning, as I surfed the net, getting caught up on the goings on in the U.S of A, I came across an article asking 10 Random Questions about the current top news stories.  The article was thought-provoking so I decided to re-print five of the questions and see what your responses/opinions are to the questions.  Here goes:

1.  Can someone explain to me why women (especially Black women) think that supporting Palin will in any way further the cause of women?

Commentary:  “This woman is Ultra-Conservative (including being anti-Roe v. Wade) and if she had her druthers, would roll back the accomplishments of women in this nation over the past century. She can see Russia from her front yard and I can see the devil when she speaks.”

2.  Why is the media constantly comparing Hurricane Ike to Katrina to downplay the death and destruction?

3.  Are we supposed to be dancing in the streets now that gas prices have begun to come down?

4.  Why does anyone care about that fool OJ Simpson?

Commentary:  “This loony senior citizen was foolish enough to think he could posse up and gangster somebody—hell he deserves to go to jail. I’m just tired of seeing his ignorant ass anyway. He still doesn’t understand that he’s on trial for chasing white girls. The court of public opinion has found him guilty and would love to see him jail.”

5.  Why the hell are we propping up Welfare Queens?

Commentary:  “Ha! I’m sure you thought I meant women on Welfare, when I was actually talking about Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. While both institutions were initially launched by the US Government, both eventually became privatized. Now that they are failing, the government is bailing them out. Of course, we can all come up with reasons why they absolutely must be salvaged, but the reality is that goofy people talk poorly about average citizens who need help, yet have no problem with abuse of government funding directed towards military spending or corporate bailouts.  The housing industry, regulators and the media saw the subprime lending scam bring on the housing disaster, but no one did anything to stop it.”

So, tell me, what are your thoughts/responses?  I am especially curious to hear what you have to say about Question 1 as it relates to Governor Palin.

“Stocks stayed flat Friday as the price of oil extended its decline, falling below $112 a barrel and helping to offset a disappointing report on consumer sentiment.

Oil fell on a growing sense that economies around the world are joining the U.S. in a slowdown. The rising dollar, which is gaining strength on economic concerns, contributed to the sell-off in crude and other commodities.”

The above is from the article “Oil skids below $112 as commodities sell off; stocks flat.”

Whatever we have been doing, we need to keep doing!  The economy has caused oil prices to go down.  In my mind, this is notable for two reasons:

1. We need to watch the oil prices because if the price of oil goes down and the gas prices don’t follow, we have been duped.  Why on earth would the price of gas follow the price of oil when oil is on the rise, but not follow when oil prices are on the decline?  Read number 2.
2. If a slow global economy means the price of oil will go down, why was it ever so high to begin with?  Yes oil is important, but is it so important that oil drives everything else?

According to a story by Elizabeth Douglass and Richard Simon in the Los Angeles Times, Exxon Mobil Corporation posted a profit of $11.68 billion for the second quarter of 2008 — the highest three-month profit in the history of the US.

It is basic economics.  Let’s say I make $10 profit on an item.  If production costs go up $2.50 and I raise the price by $5.00 I now make a profit of $12.50.  Pretty simple huh?  That is what happens every time you go to the pump ladies and gentlemen.  How does that make you feel?  It kind of upsets me.

At a time when we have to pay more across the board for products, I just don’t think it is fair for some people to be making record profits.  It just isn’t right!  Our salaries stay the same, prices go up and we essentially become poorer.  Meanwhile, some businesses are doing better than ever.  Our taxes are on a roller coaster cycle and oh, by the way, government officials keep getting those raises like clockwork.

I love this country, but “the land of the free…?”  I’m not so sure anymore.

These are tough times for our society, huh?  Everywhere you look or every time you turn on or listen to the news, the state of the economy is top news.  So, based on what we already know, there’s no need for me to regurgitate the woes of the economy, right?  Well, at least not today.:–)  So, let’s be entertained today.  I found the following incidents on the internet and they had me, um, scratching my head in disbelief.  I’d like to know what you think, so here goes:

1)  Man Calls 911 After Subway Left Sauce Off Sandwich: In Jacksonville, FL, a man called the 911 to complain that Subway left sauce off of his spicy Italian sandwich.  He then called back to complain that the officers weren’t responding quick enough.  He was arrested for making false 911 calls.

2)  Man Calls 911 To Report Slot Machine Stole His Money: In Tampa, FL, a man called 911 twice to report a slot machine, at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, stole his money.  He was arrested for making false 911 calls.

3)  Alleged Car Thief is Car Jacked: In Salinas, CA, a man who previously had stolen a pick up truck was car jacked for the same pick up truck he had stolen.  It seems that the man was sitting in the stolen pick up truck at a 7-11 when he was carjacked.  The carjacker told the thief to start driving.  Soon after, the truck ran out of gas and the carjacker told the thief to get out and push.  But, the thief ran away and called the police.

4)  Bandit Bungles Cafe Holdup, Leaves A Tip: In Metairie, LA, a man, dressed as a woman walked into a cafe at 12:45 a.m. and ordered 2 doughnuts.  He opened up the purse he was carrying and handed the employee a $5 bill.  When the employee opened the register, the man pulled out a gun.  The employee screamed and dropped to the floor.  The man then ran out of the cafe, leaving behind his doughnuts and $5.

I could go on and on about unbelievable incidents that have recently happened, but I think I’ll give you a chance to digest the ones I’ve listed.  Also, I’m sure you’ve heard of some crazy stuff happening in our society.  I’d be interested in hearing them as I could use a good laugh.