Tony Brewer View

In today’s American economy, the consumer is struggling to make ends meet.  Because of the tough economic times, the high cost of living and increasing unemployment, a downward spiraling cycle is being put into place where people have reached their maximum comfort level of debt and have started to cut back on their spending and try to find a plan to Reduce Debt.  Debt consolidation is often the best solution for many consumers.  My sister recently decided to consolidate her debt into a Home Equity Loan because the monthly payments were low, the interest rate was low, and the interest is tax deductible.  For her, that debt consolidation plan works out perfect.

The reducedebt.net website has quite a few interesting and informative articles about debt consolidation and other methods of handling debt.  I was reading their article about 4 tips to help you reduce debt and thought that they were giving good advice in the article.  They have six other articles regarding debt reduction that are all equally interesting and informative as well.  The company offers debt counseling to consumers; many of the services are provided for free, even if the consumer does not become a customer of the company.

Well, today is Halloween, and everywhere I look, I see people dressed in costumes; I see some driving their cars to and from work (what fun places they must work at – to wear costumes to work on Halloween!)  Others I see standing beside the road, with their children waiting for the school bus.  Lots and lots of elementary school children wore costumes to school today, but I didn’t notice the same of the middle schoolers or high schoolers. 

We have a large bowl of candy already beside the front door, waiting for trick or treaters to come by.  We’ll turn on the front porch light until around 8:30, then we’ll turn it off, letting the kids know we’re welcoming them until then.  I was listening to the radio on the way to work and the radio announcer was talking about the police department cautioning people to throw away any treats that are home made.  What a sad statement to have to make – there are a lot of crazy people out there that would do something nasty to our kids and this is the perfect opportunity.  I hope everyone has a safe and happy day and night tonight!

I come from a long line of deer hunters.  Hunting is a family tradition; on weekends the men would get up early and head out to the local church that would hold a hunter’s breakfast fundraiser, fill up their stomachs with all kinds of protein and coffee and then they would head to the woods for the day.  Fathers would bring their sons along to teach them the fine art of hunting.  I can remember going hunting with my father and uncles many times over the course of my youth.

Well, I don’t hunt much anymore; I never did care for the taste of deer meat, and I don’t have freezer space anyway.  But sometimes I tag along just for the company and the experience of being outdoors with the men for the day.   I like to bring along my camera and document the family hunt; I’m sure at some point one of the women in the family will want to have some photos to put in their scrapbooks about the men in the family going hunting together. 

This year I’m going to buy one of the Nikon Monarch and Trailblazer Binoculars off of the Internet from the nikonhunting.com website.  I like the Trailblazer 8×42 because it is lightweight, so I won’t get tired of lugging it around with me all day long.  They are holding a special right now that involves me getting a $25 gift card towards another purchase from the website, which I’m going to give to one of my uncles as a Christmas gift.  I’m sure he’ll be happy to get that!

I was reading an article on the CNN.com website that two men have been arrested for making (and hanging) an effigy of Barack Obama on the campus of the University of Kentucky in Lexington.   The arrests were made very quickly after the incident, and I’m glad that the arrests have been made.  We don’t need anything going on to increase the racial tension in this country.  I’m quite disappointed in how much racial hatred there still is going on in the USA.  I think we need to “grow up” and “get over it.”

I really like shutters on a house – I think that a house without shutters just looks sad and naked.  Shutters give it a really nice finishing touch.  The  Larson Shutter company has a really nice website with not only shutters, but also shutter hardware that I’ve had a hard time finding in local stores.