Joe The Biden?

You know, sometimes when you are listening to political candidates talk to you, it's like they're right there in the living room with you. Maybe it's the years of smooth delivery, or maybe just a natural gift of making you feel "that person is just like me, with the same dreams and values". And then there's listening to John McCain. Whether you love him or hate him, the man is not a public speaker. I always get the feeling he's trying really hard to recite a script that would sound cheesy in a B-movie, and over the last couple of days he's made the same error twice. Apparently he's become so enamored with saying the words Joe The Plumber, he's referred to Obama's running mate as Joe The Biden. Maybe he's getting Medieval on us, like calling someone William The Conqueror, or Robert The Bruce (never quite got that one). But "Biden" is neither a noun nor any other type of word, other than Senator Joe's last name. Try to work on that before Tuesday.

Are you scheduled for an upcoming cruise, but live too far away to drive to the port? In other words, are you gonna fly? With Winter soon approaching, it's not a bad idea to consider flying in a day or 2 early, particularly from cold-weather areas that could face inclement weather. Before you try to piece that together on your own, I can often put together a "donut" for you that will save you money. Sounds delicious, doesn't it? Actually a "donut package" is where you have something on one end (such as a flight and 1 or 2 nights at a hotel), plus something on the other end (like a return flight home), leaving a hole in the middle. Oh, you smart cookie - you just figured out why I call it a donut! Many times if you try to be a do-it-yourselfer, you'll pay the rack rate on the flight, and rack rate on the hotel as well. Why not potentially save on one or both? If you've never checked it out, it's certainly worth giving me a call to price something for you.

Martha McCabe Jarrett recently made headlines in Tulsa, OK. Not that she lives there. No, she lives in Venice, Florida but she used to live in Tulsa back in 1947. She was recently cleaning out a back room in her second home in Rome, Ohio when she made a long-lost find. By the way, that strikes me as incredibly odd, that someone could say "I have 2 houses, one in Rome and one in Venice", and not be talking about Italy. Back to the story -- while cleaning her Rome house, she stumbled across a book she had checked out from a high school in Tulsa in 1947. At that time, it was known as the Holland Hall School For Girls, while nowadays it's just the Holland Hall School. Librarian Betty Niver said she was stunned to open up a package, which contained a book that had been checked out 61 years ago, plus a check for $250.00 to cover any late fees. Back then, they had no late fees established, so they're not sure what to do with the $250.00, but are leaning towards putting it towards student scholarships. You're probably asking yourself the same thing I was, "What kind of book would be so important you'd stow it away for safekeeping, only to forget it for 6 decades". Honest to Pete, here's the title:

New Word Analysis: Or School Etymology of English Derivative Words

Hmmmmm. Number one, why in the world would anyone check out a book with such a horrid title in the first place? Number two, why would they want to keep it? Number three: Dear Martha McCabe Jarrett, maybe it's time you got a hobby or something. Your choice of elective reading materials pretty much rules you out of the Popular Club.

Our Frugal Times: 40-year old Dan Linscomb from Texas was visiting Atlanta last week with his girlfriend, and they stopped in to enjoy the Iron Skillet "All-you-can-eat" buffet, which comes with a price tag of $7.00. Not bad. Even if the food is so-so, that's a workable amount to deal with in this economy. Unfortunately for Mr. Linscomb, it was discovered by the restaurant's Manager that he had paid only $7.00 for the two of them, and was allowing his girlfriend to eat off his plate, refilling it numerous times. The Manager confronted him, and eventually called police who charged Mr. Linscomb with theft-of-service. Fulton County Sheriff's Sgt. Nikita Hightower said the pair was released after spending 2 nights in jail, pleading guilty to the lesser charge of disorderly conduct. Now Mr. Linscomb, I've been called a miser and a few other things in my time for being cheap, but going to jail for 2 nights to save $7.00? The two of you could have grabbed something off the Wendy's Value Menu and gotten change back from your $7.00 for heaven's sake. Wait a minute. It just hit me. 2 nights in jail, with taxpayers footing the tab. DUDE - this was all about saving money on your hotel, wasn't it? And just when I was starting to think you were an absolute moron.....