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do your research where health insurance is concerned

Colleen — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 22:58:52 +0000

Driving the streets of Tampa, you’ll notice three kinds of signs parked on street corners:

Some advertise homes for rent, or sweet deals on pre-foreclosure properties.
Other signs advertise jobs where you can make $1000 a week with no experience required. (Yeah right!)
The third kind of sign offers cheap health insurance, presumably to people who don’t have any.

I’ve always wondered about the health insurance signs. It seems to me that most legit companies would allow you to scope our health insurance online…they wouldn’t put up signs on a street corner. It screams “scam” to me, and I always wonder if anyone actually calls these companies. If you’re looking for health insurance quotes, don’t call a cardboard sign on a telephone poll. Do your research online and off, review your options, ask which doctors are covered in the network, and the like. A professional company will give you all of the information you need on the health insurance plans offered upfront, allowing you to make an educated choice for family health insurance.

dick fletcher, wtsp weatherman, dead at 65

Colleen — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 22:05:30 +0000

If you grew up in the Tampa Bay area, there are names form local news that will stick with you forever. Gail Sierens, Bob Hite, and Dick Fletcher, to name a few. I’m sad to report that Dick Fletcher, the long time weatherman for WTSP, died yesterday (2/26/08) at the age of 65 from a stroke he had on February 18th, 2008.. Dick had worked for the CBS station as their chief meteorologist for 30 years, which means he was the only weatherman I ever knew for the affiliate.

He was a legend in the Tampa Bay area, and he had a huge local following. He’ll be missed.

brad richards traded to dallas stars

Colleen — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 17:08:15 +0000

My husband just told me that Brad Richards, Tampa Bay Lighting center, was traded to the Dallas Stars this morning. Brad was a great supporter of people in the Tampa Bay area, and an all around nice guy. How do I know? Well, we met him in 2005, and he was genuinely interested in speaking to my son about hockey, and I appreciate that. In an era when we consistently hear about baseball players abusing drugs, and football players raising dogs for fights, or beating their wives, it’s nice to have nice guys involved in sports, and guys who play hockey are as nice as they come. (Ignore the fighting on the ice - I’m talking about when they’re off the ice!)

bride dies one hour after wedding

Colleen — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 15:06:03 +0000

The news of Kim Sjostrom & her new husband, Teddy Efkarpides, made it to our paper this week. The Davie, FL couple had been married only an hour when Kim passed out and died at the wedding. Kim was diabetic, so when she passed out during the first dance with her husband, her family went to get sugar for her…turns out it was heart disease that killed the 36 year old elementary school teacher.

Kim wanted her own version of “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” (I watched that last night!) and even played the movie while she was getting ready for her big day. What a tragedy!

come back to tampa, coach dungy!

Colleen — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 14:55:25 +0000

Could it be true? Could Sunday’s game have been the last for Tony Dungy as the coach of the Indianapolis Colts? I can’t think of another coach who has been as loved in Tampa Bay as Tony Dungy was, and still is. When it was announced that Dungy had enrolled his children in Hillsborough County schools this week, it seemed like a decision had been made, despite Dungy’s contract for the Colts extending into 2009.

Come on back Tony, Tampa loves you! (Can we trade Dungy for Gruden?)

tampa neighborhood feud

Colleen — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 21:33:40 +0000

You’ve gotta love it when a neighborhood feud ends up being blogged. These signs were taken this week in a Tampa neighborhood. It seems that neighbor #1 decided to make it known that neighbor #2 was a former convict. Neighbor #2 responded with a sign that read, “This is true. I was a drug addict, but have been saved by Jesus Christ, my Savior”.

After a few days, that sign was replaced by one that reads, “Our neighbor is impotent and can’t have children”.

I love how they tossed aside Christian morals to insult the neighbor. Turn the other cheek, much?

tampa voyeurs

Colleen — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 15:39:33 +0000

Ladies, let me ask you a question. When you take a shower, do you then proceed to walk around your house naked? Do you undress and position yourself in front of windows? Or do you make sure that you’re protected from the view of folks outside your home?

A Tampa man was arrested early Tuesday morning for peeping in a window of an apartment. He was looking at a woman who had just finished shower. Now don’t get me wrong - we should be able to parade around naked in our own homes without attracting the attention of a voyeur, but is that a reason to leave the drapes open, especially when it’s dark, and ANYONE can see inside your home?

Buy a clue, and secure your home and curtains to stay safe.

table games are coming to tampa

Colleen — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 21:28:34 +0000

I read on a friend’s poker blog this morning that the Seminole Indians have made an agreement with the state of Florida that will allow blackjack & baccarat to be played in Florida. Currently, the Seminole Indians operate two such casinos, in Broward and Tampa, and both are booming with business. Craps and roulette won’t be allowed just yet, and that’s got me bummed. I’ve watched Jim play roulette for years and finally bet on my own this weekend in Las Vegas. I played electronic roulette on Friday night and walked away $40 richer, and then lost $80 at a roulette table on Saturday night.

what’s the deal with the veteran’s expressway?

Colleen — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 15:09:01 +0000

In the past month, anytime I’ve had to take the Veteran’s Expressway into Tampa, towards the airport, I’ve had to divert off course. Typically, the expressway begins to back up just before the Waters Avenue exit, and that makes sense, because 2 lanes branch out to 5 or 6 lanes to go through the toll booths, and then some lanes exit, and the rest of us merge into 2 lanes again. It’s a stupid design, but we’re all used to it by now.

Lately though, traffic has been backing up a lot sooner. I’ve been stopped way back at the Van Dyke exit, or Hutchinson road, and the cars just creep along for miles. That forces me to get off at Gunn Highway, and go through the city streets in order to make up some time.

Am I the only one who has noticed this mess? It’s enough to make a girl want to tele-commute every single day!

grandfather clocks

Colleen — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 17:24:31 +0000

A few years back, we had the chance to take a lovely grandfather clock from my husband’s grandmother’s home when she passed away. I had always wanted one, so when we were asked what we’d like to remember Nanny, we were in agreement that the clock would be it. Had I gone shopping for grandfather clocks on my own, I probably wouldn’t have picked the clock we ended up with from Nanny. It’s a lighter toned wood than I prefer, and the mechanism is out dated, but since it’s from family, I can overlook those things. Something like the Ridgeway Victoria II at 1-800-4clocks.com is more my style - actually, it reminds me a bit of the clock from Beauty and the Beast. The curve of the top of the clock and the rich, dark wood on the body of the clock appeal to me.

For now, we’ll keep the clock we have though. Someday, we’ll hand it down to one of our children. I need to get better about maintaining it for sure, especially if I want it to last that long. The site’s grandfather clock blog has some great tips on how to maintain your clock. I didn’t realize oiling was recommended every 2-4 years. We definitely haven’t been keeping up with that! I think I need someone out to take a look at the whole chime mechanism and make sure it’s working correctly, and then we’ll be in the know about caring for the clock going forward.