My daycare is going to France

My mother Carole has been invaluable. Unlike other single parents who pay day care facilities hundreds of dollars a week, My 74-year-old mother watches my daughter Alex almost every week day.  When my ex wife Snow is off from work she takes her.

We have a very amicable fifty-fifty arrangement on custody.  We split the nights four to three, then alternate every week.  but when i need to work, mom is there for me. when my ex works and i am also working, mom is there for her.

Thank you mom, i love you and you are so good with your granddaughter.

I mention this now, because next Wednesday September 19th, Mom is taking a holiday. Certainly a well deserved one and i am very excited for and a lil jealous of her, she is going to France!  renting a house with my sister Cheryl, my aunt Kathleen, and my cousin Amelia.  the four of them will tour around Europe on rail passes from a central France house rental home base.

So, I have got this. 11 days with my daughter. Oh, sure, Snow will be off work for some of those 11, perhaps as many as 6 or 7, and can take her. I am sure it will be more like 4 or 5.  I can go on appts or to the office from 9 am to 1 pm, on days I have Alex all day. Otherwise working will be all done at home where i am simultaneously watchiug over Alex.

Here's hoping it goes smoothly and some work at least gets done.

I enjoy spending time with Alex, i love her and would never complain, I am gonna be flexible about work and get as much done as i can.  This will be fun too, i will find it an adventure.

need to pick up the pace my man.

I do not blog enough. It's like I don't journal. I am afraid I will look back and think, what have I got to show for my life? My writing could have been something to be a window on my life, my life's experiences.

Now I think I need to get in the habit of writing. maybe a paragraph here, a paragraph there.

Or maybe i should just write on the day whatever is on my mind.

Feelings of jealousy and envy wash over me when i see more prolific bloggers who put out, in their own spare time, not for money or career their thoughts and opinions.

I pledge to do better.  I need to spend more time on it.

Lets make myself proud! You rock, Scott!!

Mubarak Falls in Egypt

Egypt! Such a joyous celebration. This is a good thing. The people of Egypt rose up and without violence said they had enough. Mubarak had ruled for thirty years. As "President" he held elections where the results were obviously bogus.  The people had suffered with few jobs, little opportunity, and skyrocketing food costs, while Mubarak and the government did little to help them.
This was an organic simultaneous uprising of the citizenry. This is historic and unprecedented. Its the beginning of a democracy in the Middle East. The people seem to want more freedom, as we have in the U.S.
Mubarak was an iron-fisted dictator. We supported him for thirty years, and funded his military as well as any in the world. He was an ally in a region for we never seem to have enough friends. Our intelligence community failed us. They couldnt imagine such a scenario actually happening. Our foreign policy in the Middle East is behind the current status. We are acting like its 1970 or 1980 not 2011. We need to be more modern in our approach.
Egypt can now have political parties, something Mubarak had banned since 1980, under "emergency powers" in a crisis, the Sadat assassination, 30 years ago.  Egypt won't become another Iran. They can remain secular, more democratic, and an ally and friend of America.
There's good reason to be happy for the people, and look at this as a positive development in world history.

re-examing our life insurance

I am re-examing the life insurance of several dozen clients.  Each has a policy with me since 1995. Some of them are universal life, with flexible premiums. Some are with life insurance companies that have changed over the years to new owners. Most notably some are with Reassure America Life Insurance Co.

What I do for them as their agent is review how the policy is performing. If it has been ten or fifteen years, it is a good idea to get what is called a "current inforce illustration." This will tell us how the current policy will run from now to the age of 100 at current premiums, interest rates, and face amount.

Some universal life policies written in the mid to late 1990s assumed higher interest rates that havent held up. todays rates are much lower than then.  This affects how cash values, the accumlated equity value in your life insurance, has grown over time and will grow from now until you turn 100 years old, should you live that long.

Every American doesnt live to 100, but in insurance, we always look at 100 as an age of maturity. so we analyze how a life insurance policy performs up to the age of 100. 

If you have a policy with Reassure America, Valley Forge Insurance, Southwestern Life, Security Life, or Integon Life, you should call me to schedule a review of your current life insurance policy. If you have an insurance company that you dont recognize or remember having, you should call me.

Theres now lots of  different insurers we can switch to, that will improve our existing coverage, and especially improve how it will perform from now till when we would be 100 years old.

the Bachelor After the Rose Aftermath tie it all up

i wrote about this on facebook, but i didnt blog it.

Jake and Vienna.thats how it ends.level of surprise? zero.  i could see this trainwreck coming from a mile uptrack. Once Ali left for her job, who was left? was he going to pick Gia? no, she was never going to be his pick.
Tenley? more wishful thinking than his true love. in the end i think we can all agree Ali was  the true second choice, but he  seems to be really angry she left the show. He felt abandoned. i think he wanted to punish her for it.
Now, i think hes being unkind and unfair, because she was only trying to save her job.
Now this is all fake and manufactured, so the drama may have just been created for the audience.
Jake fell for Vienna since the bridge bunjee jump date and no one had a chance but her since then.
choosing her made me like him less and less. i think he has terrible taste. she has to be the most unlikeable woman to be the final choice in the Bachelor ever. 
Vienna may or may not be the monster nightmare in the weekly tabloids like US weekly and OK! magazines, but I think theres more truth than exaggeration there
she seems self promoting, wannabe starlet who wants to love Jake and be famous and beautiful.
Patti Stanger of the Millionaire Matchmaker has the axiom on her show, the penis does the picking.
Hello!! jake pavelka! thats exactly how he did his picking. like most my friends i think it lasts a month to three. But i hope he stays with her. Now i feel, they deserve each other.

The Tell All featured a nasty blonde model named Rozlyn, Sexy beautiful but with no character or redeeming value, who went on tv and destroyed her tv career. being America's sweetheart has helped Julia Roberts and Sandra Bullock to great longlasting well paid careers.Being Americas most hated tv personality is not a good career choice Good Night and Good Bye Rozlyn, she has the nerve to be on a reality show and treat it just as an acting gig, not real life, and sleep with a producer, only to be shocked when she got called out on it, and dumped for her actresss acting out behavior.

Ashleigh, Cristina, and Gia came off well. Ali got the Bachelorette next season.  i like Ali, and hope does well on her show.

Bachelor the Final Three in St Lucia

Bachelor Jake Pavelka takes his final three women to St Lucia. The three are Tenley, Vienna, and Gia.

Ali has Jakes headshots on her "i am in bed in the morning" shoot for the cameras. She decides while living a loveless life, that she will fight for Jake again!

Gia and Jake encounter the street people of St Lucia, they sell coconuts and play music and hang around them. Gia seems comfortable.. Oooohhhh he takes a " leap of faith " while they show them jumping off the dock into the water, Lots of making out. that they never had any problem with. they always make out a lot.

Beach dinner, and hes all into "taking care of Gia"  Jake has such a physical attraction to her, but feels frustrated that she does not open up more to him. She cant open up to men easily. The thing he talks about most on the date is how beautiful she is.  She talks about how much she wants to tell him, like how she is falling in love with him, but yet she cannot find the right time to tell him, like any time would do! maybe she doesnt tell him cuz she doesnt feel it.

its all about how pretty she is and how much he is attracted to her. But i don't think theres much conversation about anything else in life. i wonder how boring the date was to producers and editors to choose from. theres lastly the fantasy suite with rose petals and bubble baths.

He loves kissing her, but nothing about the date makes me feel he wants to marry her and stay with her forever. Its more about a hot girl he loves to look at and kiss.

Tenley gets a jungle rainforest picnic after a helicopter ride.  she talks about needing to trust him with her heart, I wonder why she has a lil girl voice.  she sounds like a young kid, like a teen. they share a love of travel and dancing. she likes his character, she sells him on her loyalty and values. that she would stay with him always. the ground they sit on during the picnic where they kiss does not look very comfortable. 

he says they are getting close, but says they are "starting to get close" just starting, now? they go kissing and swimming at a private beach. at dinner, she assures him she is completely over her first marriage and the pain of being cheated on & left by her ex.  he shows her his love by dancing with her. so they dance and they kiss.

Vienna the evil one is the third date. he wants her to be "fun & light" with him. she can open up and tell him that she loves him? Ha! She was in love with him on the opening cocktail party night. they sail on a pirate ship and make out on the bow.  They seem most like a couple. he says how he sees himself in Vienna. He says how at dinner he has to make sure theres substance not just attraction.

He sees her as his wife, and asks her about what kind of ring she likes. Its interesting dinner converastion, but then he is trying to figure out how serious they are.  she makes sure he knows that she cannot see her life without him in it. that she loves him.  He has dated so many fake women who lied to him, he loves her "brutal honesty" and he "always knows where he stands with her"
She is so fake. i cannot stand her, but i think he is most taken with her, and she seems most likely to be the one Jake chooses. you are so lucky jake! Yech.

i think Vienna will be easily the least popular girl that ever got chosen on The Bachelor the final rose.

Show drama causes him to have a phon call with Ali. she says how she wants to come back, how she realized she is falling in love with him, but Jake doesnt want her to come back, just says things have progressed with the other three girls. Mostly Vienna. he didnt want to dump Tenley AND Gia for her. Just felt it wasnt fair to the girls who didnt leave. He wont give Ali a 2nd chance for leaving him, he really is sensitive to being left.

By the way, Ali is the new Bachelorette!! coming in the Fall on ABC!
Jake tells us how hard it is to hear Ali's voice, but its NOT that hard. it doesnt look hard at all.

oh well the girl i liked the most, Ali, is gone for good, Till next fall withe the debut of The Bachelorette! Casting is done for the woman!

when the show started i liked Jake. Not so much anymore. he has terrible taste in women and the girl he loves the most, Vienna, is the worst for him. Its easy to look into the future and see him alone again, after they dont work. Perhaps Vienna will prove me wrong. But i cannot see her and Jake having a long happy marriage.

the rose ceremony? all about who is the sacrificial lamb to Vienna in the finale. its Tenley.
i dont see any drama in the final show though.

When you bring the bachelor home to Mama... looking at the final four

Final four women left on the Bachelor.
Jake goes on home town dates with each.
I do not see a romantic connection between Gia and Jake, as much as he has with Tenley Vienna and Ali.  I think he is attracted to her physically, but i dont think she is fourth in affections amongs the four girls with him.
Gia's mom was a bit goofy! in the credits she pulls out the tarot cards, oh no! she foretells his fortune and he doesnt agree with her presumptions about his past.
Gia does so-so, but clearly she is going home at the show's end

Ali brings him to Massachussetts. He meets her mom. When they enter the house, a man is seen in the background walking up the stairs, so maybe Ali's dad, or another male family member does not want to be on TV.  Ali and Jake have a good date, and Ali's mom likes Jake, and can see them getting married. Ali is very comfortable, at ease with him. I like her more each week. If i had to pick one girl on the show for Jake, i would pick Ali.

Tenley is a sweetheart. Nothing changes for her. she dances for him and its hard to believe her ex husband didnt like her dancing and didnt care to watch her dance. Tenley and Jake make a sweet couple, i dont know if theres the intensity but its clear Jake likes her. right now i would put her third out of four, maybe second.  Her family gets along with him. Tenleys family takes time to tell jake how much Tenley was hurt by her ex-husband. 

Vienna takes Jake home to florida. I dont like her, i cannot root for her at all. But I recognize Jake likes her a lot. I am starting to question his taste. If he picks Vienna, it wont last. She is immature, but a princess. According to Us Weekly, she was married already to a marine. He was in Iraq and she emptied $5,000 out of his bank account and got herself some bigger breasts. then left him after having an affair while he was overseas. when she left him, he took his stuff and put it in storage.

Just dont like Vienna. do not think i will ever like her. Shes a daddys girl and daddy is very protective.  When making out on a bed in a bedroom, daddy comes in mid kiss to check up on her. he gives jake the speech better take care of my lil girl and treat her like a princess.  She is a leader for Jake with Ali.

Ali drops the bombshell. she must leave the show now or Facebook, her employer, will fire her.  Shes been gone for weeks but if she stays she will not have a job to back to. She has an emotional talk with Jake, who reassures her that he doesnt want her to go, that he would be devastated. He cannot guarantee she will be the final one he chooses. He seems that he feels guilty that he may not pick her at the end but she would still lose her job.  He wants her to stay, but needs her to make the decision on her own

In the end Ali leaves, in order to keep her job. I am disappointed, as i was rooting for her and Jake in the end. It also makes Vienna the strong favorite to take Jake home.
theres some hint that Ali may return next week. I hope so. But i am starting to feel Jake will pick Vienna, and thats too bad.

Knock Knock Jokes

Alex is three, and lately she has become a big fan of Knock, Knock jokes. She tells her own original ones.
"Knock, knock, Daddy," she'll say.
"Who's there?" I answer.
"Orange," she responds smiling and giggling.
"Orange who?" I dutifully reply.
"Orange, banana, mirror, tree, everything!!"
Laughter ensues.

This goes on and on. She never gets tired. she just thinks up words to use for the last line of the joke, she smiles, she giggles she laughs
i laugh contagiously from her laughter.
she makes me smile. If you see her soon, you may get the treat of an original Alex knock-knock joke.
Will have to get online soon and look some up.

the mind of a three year old girl folks!!

LOST returns

wow, love Lost, still trying to figure this out!!
the bomb blast that ended last season leaves them on the island but they do move in time from 1977 to 2007!
but they are simultaneously back on the Oceanic 815 and it doesnt crash!!
so they land in LA and now there are parallel lives for all the castaways. Kate with the Marshall trying to escape, Jack havin to bury his dad, and if you hate airline baggage handlers as it is, how about if they lose your Father in his coffin! Stay tuned for Airport Drama!  John meets Jack in lost baggage. Charlie now alive fails to kill himself, but gets arrested. Sawyer meets Hurley and senses a mark for a future con!  Why would Jack see Desmond, Desmond was never on that flight!
so we have to figure out this parallel universe thing.

man in black, Jacobs rival and nemesis is the smoke monster, has taken the appearance of John Locke. These two have supernatural powers as some divine beings.

These people in the Temple are Others, and linked to Richard and Ben.  Where have they been all this time?   Clearly they are supporters and loyal to Jacob. Smoke Monster is coming for them next. 

The narrative needs to marry the two parallel story lines. which castaway line will last at the end. Jack in LA years ago? or Jack on the island now?