Tony Brewer

I recently bought a new tripod for my video camera.  My old tripod worked fine, but it was big and bulky and hard to tote around from place to place.  So the other day I found a “travel tripod” at the store that folds up very small.  It cost less than $20, so I thought it would be well worth it, and I bought it.

Upon opening the package (one of those impossible plastic things) I opened up the tripod.  It was difficult to get the expandable/collapsable legs to open up and stay open.  Yes, the legs lock into place with a button similar to what you find on an umbrella, but it was difficult to open the legs far enough to get the button to the hole it needed to pop up into. 

Once the tripod was opened, and the camera attached, the tripod kept trying to tip over, even when the legs were spread as far as possible.  It is a very flimsy, sensitive thing that falls over easily.  When it came time to collapse the tripod, it was difficult to collapse.  Pushing the buttons to close the legs was hard to do; the buttons are tiny and hurt my thumb to push in.  Even after the button was pushed, I had to exert a lot of pressure to get the legs to fold up.  All in all, I’m disappointed in the tripod!

Several years ago I was taking a business class in college and was surprised when the professor announced that less than 5% of the American people are “wealthy” enough to own any stock! ANY stock! The reason that I was so surprised is that I keep hearing and reading that the primary responsibility of any corporation is to make money for their stockholders. Well, that just adds to my perception that wealth goes to wealth. And as much as it bothers me that wealth goes to wealth, and that there should be serious changes in the way the corporate world does business, I also believe that the best way to change things is from within the system, not from without.

So I urge the general populace to take advantage of any opportunity you may find to get involved in stock trading. There are many ways you can accomplish this. Online trading through an online broker is a good option. Also trying to find companies that let you direct buy and direct reinvest might be a good option. But if you can afford to buy even one share of stock, it is an important beginning.

This afternoon I was looking out my front window and happened to see my next door neighbor kicking leaves and trash from his front lawn onto my front lawn! I couldn’t believe my eyes! I called Teri over to see for herself what was happening! She couldn’t believe it either! This neighbor has his house up for sale; if it wasn’t up for sale, I think I’d confront him on this. He has no right to kick leaves and trash from his yard into ours!