One Life Stand

It’s that time of year again when the men-folk will be glued to the TV on Sundays, Mondays and sometimes Thursdays.  I was just talking to one of my friends telling her that now that football season has started, if we don’t go to the 10am service at church, then we won’t go because hubby refuses to miss any of his games.  We have the NFL Sunday ticket and he’s glued to the TV from 12:30pm until midnight every Sunday.

She was amazed that I let hubby watch all day like that and said she makes her hubby use TiVo.  WTF?!  I told her she better not ever complain about her hubby because I don’t know any other man on the planet who would agree to watch games after the fact.  That man deserves a medal.  LOL.

She’s also not quite pleased at having to spend a weekend being a cheesehead.  That’s right, they’re going to the frozen tundra to see the Packers play.  His dream, her nightmare.  I can’t wait to see the pictures.

So folks, does football reign supreme at your house?  If so, how do you handle if one person DOESN’T love the sport?

Kiplinger personal finance magazine is offering free retirement advice on August 17th and August 30th.  They are "joining with the National Association of Personal Financial Advisors (NAPFA) in sponsoring Kiplinger’s Jump-Start Your Retirement Plan Days. From 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. eastern time on Friday, August 17, and Thursday, August 30, NAPFA members across the U.S. will be standing by to answer your questions."

"Normally, these fee-only planners, who are well versed in investments, taxes, insurance, estate planning and saving for college and retirement, charge clients $100 to $250 an hour. But on Jump-Start Days, you don’t pay a cent — not even for the phone call. Just dial 888-919-2345 and a NAPFA adviser will respond to your question. Or, if you prefer, you can e-mail your question in advance starting August 1 to jumpstart@kiplinger.com and a NAPFA adviser will reply on one of the Jump-Start dates."

Check out this link for more info.

The Discovery Channel and the History Channel are two of my favorites.  Lately I’ve been watching two shows that really illuminate just how easy most of us have it.  The first show is called Ice Road Truckers.  These guys drive big rigs across FROZEN LAKES to get supplies to far off mines near the Artic Circle.  Why?  So you and I can wear pretty baubles.  That’s right, they’re risking their lives to deliver loads to the DeBeers mine.  Because the mine is so far out, there is no other way to get supplies there.  The "ice road" is only open two months out of the year so if they don’t get supplies then, they don’t get it at all and the mine would shut down.  With every run, the guys are risking it all.  The ice could crack at any time and I’ve seen rigs fall through the ice.  With the air tempature at NEGATIVE thirty below, the water is frigid and the chance of survival is pretty low if you go into the lake.  Now, don’t get me wrong, these guys get paid A LOT ($30K+ for two months of work) but you couldn’t pay me enough to be an ice road trucker.

The other show I’ve been watching is Deadliest Catch.  I love crab cakes and hubby loves crab in general.  Ever think about how those tasty king crabs wound up on your plate?  Men are putting in 20 hour days for weeks straight!  Once again, they’re near the Artic Circle.  It’s a grueling, thankless job and the risks are high.  These guys are working out in the elements, getting soaked by the waves, hauling 800 lb crab pots around.  If you fall into the water (as I saw on one episode), if you’re in for more than 2-3 minutes, you will most likely die.  Your body will go into shock almost immediately and you will get hypothermia.  The closest medical care (via Coast Guard chopper) is hours away.  The guy I saw fall in was pulled from the water just in the nick of time (to avoid drowning) but his recovery from the hypothermia was iffy.  They literally didn’t know if he would live or die.  The camera crew stopped filming out of respect for the situation and the young man (a lot of these guys are kids - 18, 19 years old) asked that they continue to film so that he could record some last words for his family.  It’s that serious!  So the next time you’re cracking some crab legs, just think about what someone went through to get it to you.