Tony Brewer

As I was driving to work today, I was noticing how many different payday loans office fronts that I was driving past. It really did seem that there was one every few blocks. I think that is a sad sign of the times, so many of these types of businesses are springing up! There are a lot of commercials on television lately about how easy it is to get a payday loan. These ads scare me!

One of the reasons that these ads scare me is that the commercials give the viewer the impression that getting a payday loan is a fantastic idea to buy something that frivoulous, such as taking a girlfriend out for a big fancy dinner, or buying some really expensive trinket. This kind of marketing to folks who have little or no impulse control just seems to be on the unscrupulous side.

Don’t get me wrong – payday loans have a real place and purpose to serve the consumer. I think these types of loans should be used as a “last resort” to cover some last-minute unexpected expense, such as needing a furnace repaired. And they should be approached with great caution – making absolutely sure that the loan can be paid off at the next payday. I’ve seen several news stories on television about how so many people have taken out these kinds of loans and been unable to repay them on time and ended up owing and paying back really exorbitant amounts of money!

To me it is sad to hear that a man was so terribly desperate with his tax problems that he felt that he had to burn his house down and then crash into the local IRS building. Taxes have always been a big issue in people’s lives, something that I guess we will always need to deal with. These are scary times, what with the economy in such a mess and now that it is tax time I’m afraid we will be hearing more stories like this one.

I’ve heard that 49 of the 50 states have received snow this year. Isn’t that something. We are being told to watch out for Monday’s rain, that will cause some major flooding issues with so many people. Not only the roads are going to be a mess, but there is going to be a lot of basements filling up with all the water that will happen to find it’s way in there. This has been one wild and crazy winter season and I’m more than ready for spring!

Well, I heard that the groundhog saw his shadow and ran back into his little den.  The theory is that if he sees his shadow and is frightened by it and goes back into his den then we will have six more weeks of winter.  I don’t really think it is his shadow that scares the little guy!  Good grief, all of the press and officials and party-goers there gathered around to see him is enough to scare any little critter!  I think we should leave the little guy alone for crying out loud!  We ought to be smart enough to know that if it is a sunny day then anyone would see their shadow and just call it good!  No point in the harassing a poor little groundhog over it!

It seems that January 28th is National Kazoo Day. I never heard of National Kaz0o Day, but then what do I know. So I decided to google “national days” and found a complete list that was most useful and interesting. I cut and pasted January’s national days to post here, maybe you will learn something as well.

JANUARY

January 1 is …First Foot Day and Z Day

January 2 is …Run Up the Flagpole and See if Anybody Salutes It Day

January 3 is …Festival of Sleep Day

January 4 is …Trivia Day and Humiliation Day

January 5 is …Bird Day

January 6 is …Bean Day

January 7 is …Old Rock Day

January 8 is …National JoyGerm Day and Man Watcher’s Day

January 9 is … Play God Day

January 10 is … Peculiar People Day

January 11 is … National Step in a Puddle and Splash Your Friend Day

January 12 is … Feast of Fabulous Wild Men Day

January 13 is … Make Your Dream Come True Day and Blame Someone Else Day

January 14 is … National Dress Up Your Pet Day

January 15 is … Hat Day

January 16 is … Hot and Spicy Food International Day and National Nothing Day

January 17 is … Blessing of the Animals at the Cathedral Day

January 18 is … Winnie the Pooh Day

January 19 is … National Popcorn Day

January 20 is … National Buttercrunch Day

January 21 is … National Hugging Day

January 22 is … National Answer Your Cat’s Question Day and National Blonde Brownie Day

January 23 is … National Handwriting Day, National Pie Day, and Measure Your Feet Day

January 24 is … Eskimo Pie Patent Day

January 25 is … Opposite Day

January 26 is … Australia Day

January 27 is … Punch the Clock Day and Thomas Crapper Day More Info on Thomas Crapper Day

January 28 is … National Kazoo Day, Clash Day, Rattle Snake Round-Up Day

January 29 is … National Cornchip Day

January 30 is … Escape Day

January 31 is … National Popcorn Day and Child Labor Day