People Staring at Car Accidents

On my way home from Turning Stone last Sunday, there was a car that was smashed against a tree. The traffic buildup wasn't terrible at that point. However, it was slowing down. It was obvious that people were staring at the scene. It reminded me of another time I was stuck in traffic. A summer or two ago, a visited a friend. She lives an hour and 50 minutes south. It took me over three hours to get there. Why? There was an accident on the opposite side of the road! The accident happened heading north on the thruway while I was going south. I obviously didn't know this until I passed the crash. There was a bus pulled over on the side of the road. People were staring at it. Once we passed that mess, we were fine! Are you kidding me? If you stare at an accident, you could cause another one yourself. I live in New York state. People are always in a hurry here. Therefore they shouldn't have time to stop to look at accidents. I can't believe I was delayed an hour one day because people stopped to stare at an accident on the other side of the road. Unreal. People need to pay attention to the road and not stare at other accidents so that they do not cause any themselves!

Numbers in my Head

It's amazing how many numbers I have memorized in my life. Sometimes I can look at a long number one time and memorize it. I try not to, but that's the way my mind works unfortunately. I have memorized my social security number. That number is... just kidding. Did you really think I was going to tell you that? I also memorized my two bank account numbers (I don't plan on telling you those numbers either). I know many of the produce codes at my grocery store for the fruits and veggies. I have even memorized many 10 digit bar codes at the store because some products never scan. When I was talking to the insurance companies the other day, I was able to spit off my 9 digit NYS license number without looking. I never tried to memorize that one. Again, it just happened. I wish I could put my memorization of numbers to good use. The only good use it plays is that customers come through my line very quickly because I type all of the codes in the blink of an eye. Maybe one day something good will come from this odd ability I have.

Talking on the Phone

This past Monday, my birthday, I think I talked on the phone more than I did in the past year combined. No, it wasn't me talking to people that were wishing me a happy birthday. I called several different insurance companies to look for a better deal on my car insurance. I probably made about 20 calls because I had to call companies back multiple times to ask various questions. Naturally they didn't answer every time. I think I'm getting better at talking on the phone. I know no one besides secretaries actually talk on the phone anymore. Leaving messages is always fun too. Some insurance agents asked me why I was shopping for insurance on my birthday. I told them that I was business during the day and had my fun at night. I know, I'm strange. How many times in my 400 plus blog posts have I said that? I ended up leaving Nationwide Insurance even though they are on my side. I got exactly the same plan with Progressive for $300 a year less. I got to talk to Flo herself. She hooked me up with a good deal. Okay, maybe it wasn't Flo. Sometimes it takes a lot of talking on the phone to get what you want. I guarantee you texting wouldn't get me a huge savings in car insurance, especially if I was caught texting while driving!

Nintendo 64

I went over to my friends house today to hang out. We busted out the Nintendo 64! For those of you that are not 20 or older, let me explain the awesomeness that is the n64. I got my first n64 when I was in 6th grade. That's right, it was in 1999. The games are not discs. You have to blow on them to make them work! It brought back some good memories. We played two of my favorite games: Cruisin World and NFL Blitz. I still have an n64 but I don't have the cables to make it work. I know, I'm sad too. I can't tell you the last time I played video games. I wish I still had all of the pieces to my n64 because then I'd play it all of the time and use it as another tool to distract me from working on my next book.

Birthday Giveaways

It's amazing what restaurants give to people on their birthday. In my area, there are at least a dozen places that I can think of that give away free drinks on your birthday. They aren't small drinks either. I went to two places on my birthday. One place gave me a 64 ounce beer and my age in wings. The wings weren't small either. This place now charges for the beer, but it's still a good price for the amount they give you. I got a 64 ounce beer and 26 wings for $6.75. I can handle that. Then I went to another place that gave me a 60 ounce beer for free. There's a place that has a large boot shaped glass filled with beer for free. One place gives you a gargantuan tea cup filled with a mixed drink for free. Another place gives you a huge margarita for free. I'm sure the reason these places do this is because they know you will be bringing your friends and your friends will be spending plenty of money there. It's also great advertisement for their bar or restaurant. It's impossible to go to every place in the area for free drinks because there are so many of them. I only took advantage of two this year. Maybe next year I will go to more.

Radio Contest

A local radio station is doing a huge giveaway. They take caller 25 three times every week day to guess a number between 0000 and 9999. If you guess the correct number, it opens a vault. When you make a guess, a machine tells you if the guess was too high or too low or correct. You have to keep track of each guess so that you at least guess between the range. Once the vault is opened, you get to choose an envelope number 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5. Each one has a $4,000 gift card to a certain place. The five prizes are: $4,000 to a pool and spa place, $4,000 to a sports store, $4,000 to a furniture store, $4,000 to a grocery store (in that grocery store, they sell many gift cards to dozens of other stores), and $4,000 to a mall. I have been trying to call for about a week now. Every time the line is busy. I have gotten through I think once and I was only caller 11 or something close to that. Today at 5PM, after dialing the number for the 7th time, it was ringing. I expected one of 2 things: 1. It would keep ringing and no one would pick up or 2. he would pick up and say I was caller 20 or anything lower than 25. I was wrong on both accounts. He picked up and said, "Hi, who is this?" At that point I knew I was caller 25! The numbers were narrowed down to the low being 8254 and the high being 8288. I decided to guess 8267 and unfortunately I was too low. At least I guessed within the correct range. Listeners understandably get extremely annoyed when a caller doesn't guess within the range. Just for calling I won 2 free lawn seats to the Bon Jovi concert! However, I already bought tickets! Luckily, I have a friend who wants the tickets. I can't imagine how excited I would have been if I unlocked the vault! I would have been happy with any of those prizes besides the Spa because I don't need a pool or spa. So close, yet so far! I'm thrilled with my consolation prize though!

Quarter of a Century Plus 1

Today I enter the 26th year of my life. What did I accomplish at 25? I wrote and self-published 2 books, I started newspaper club at my school. I applied to many teaching jobs (more aggressive with my searching), I went on a cruise, I went to Atlantic City and did very well, I booked another cruise that I take next month, I joined a different gym and went fairly consistently, and that's really all of the major life events I can think of. As always, I have one goal that I need to obtain this year at 26. I need to get a teaching job. I continue to fight every day to reach my goal. I also hope to write and publish my 3rd book in "The Teacher That..." series. What will the next year of my life bring? I can answer that in two very simple words: who knows?