Now, personally I am not a motorcycle rider.  You see, years ago, I made the promise to my wife that I would never ride a motorcycle and I am staying true to that promise.  She is worried that I will crash and die should I ride one, so I have made sure to say away from them.

But that doesn’t mean that I am not interested in them.  In some respects it is like I am a little child that is looking at a toy that he can’t have - I can look, but I can’t use it.  So, I make the point of checking out any motorcycle shows that are in town to see what new bikes are on the market.

I will be going this weekend to the used motorcycles show that will be in town.  It is the opportunity for anyone to get rid of their used bike and a great place to get a good deal.  I know that I went last year, and I had a blast - in fact, I needed to go back the second day to see everything.  So it looks like this weekend is shaping up to be interesting.

Every year, when the exhibition comes to town, my husband and I take the kids.  Last year we decided that we were going to have to start doing something else with them in the summer, as it was just getting too expensive for all of us to go.

I remember, that five years ago it only cost a dollar or two to ride each ride.  It is so much more than that now.  We used to buy packs of exhibition tickets that would allow for unlimited ride access, and these packs would cost us about $23 for each person, including admission.

This year, we looked and the prices have gone up to $48 per person, so we decided that this was something we could just not afford for our family to do together.  For that amount of money and the amount we would spend during the day while we were there, we could take a vacation.  I think this is just what we will do.

Yes, I can admit that some things in life scare me.  Some of the more popular ones such as death, singing, and fear of heights all apply to me.  In that respect, I am very normal.  But otherwise, I have one other, stranger fear - the fear of leaving the country.

Yes, I am scared to leave the country - you read it right.

You would think that leaving the country would be an easy task, but it is something that I have never done.  I think that it is definitely more about the fear of the unknown, and not really anything to do with the traveling part.

Even though I am scared, I have been looking at some different worldwide trips and tours in an attempt to get out of my shell.  I know that I am a long ways off from actually taking a trip, but I thing that I am making steps in the right direction.

With the increase in business that our online division has been experiencing, it is time that we upgrade our shopping cart software to something a little more robust and that can handle the traffic.

Our old ecommerce software solution that we had been using is old and it wasn’t the easiest to work with.  I am not sad to see it go, but at least it has given us an idea of what we are looking for in an ecommerce shopping cart.

So with our requirements in hand, we went to take a look online to see if we could find a solution to our problem.  As it turns out, Aspdotnet had the exact type of software that we were looking for.

I decided to read some reviews of their product and everyone I read said that they were very happy with their software solution.

So, we are going to give it a try, but from what I read, I think that we will be very happy with the software.

I remember back in the day when I was first caught smoking cigarettes with my friends, during which time we were skipping a class and missing on the important GCSE coursework that was apparently going to get us into college.  It was a great day.

The lecture was a lot of fun.  First from the principal, who told us that if we didn’t clean up our act and do a better job in our A level coursework, that we would never get into a good college and basically we would end up my street bums, begging for a living.

The next lecture, from my parents, was even better.  They brought the whole issue of coursework into the conversation as well, but to hear from them being a street bum and begging for a living would be such a step up from where I was going to end up.

Wow!  All this, from smoking a cigarette.

When I was growing up, my mother had put us in a home schooling program for a couple of years.  I can remember getting all of the coursework done before lunch, and then we could have the whole afternoon to play.

I wanted to keep that same sort of freedom when I grew up, but sadly that wasn’t an option.  It wasn’t until I registered for college degrees online.  It was there that I could let my hair do whatever it wants without fear of any problems.

I decided that even though I didn’t know if I was going to get accepted or not, I looked through the calendar to see the course listings.  I learned that the school offered online associate degrees as well as online bachelors degrees in many different subjects.

I think I will attend the online college as that will mean that I will be able to hang out at home with my siblings who are all home schooled.  I miss them so much.

I was writing an essay for a Spanish class that I was having trouble with. I knew that my essay really sucked, so I decided that I would just write it in English and then get free website translation to translate it into Spanish for me. It looked good to me so I handed it in.

That was a really big mistake. Apparently, the essay that I handed in made no sense whatsoever. It had looked good to me, but I guess that is because I really suck at the language. My teacher said that she could not even tell what the essay was about.

The next time I have an essay to write, I think I will just buck up and do the work myself. I will talk myself out of taking any shortcuts. Better yet, I think I will talk myself out of learning another language ever again.

From time to time, I make the point of buying my wife a gift.  Most of the time, it is nothing terribly expensive, but instead I try to make her realize how much I love her.  I have given her things like chocolates and flowers in the past, but I wanted to do something different for her.

That is when I came up with the idea to buy her some bras.  She is always complaining how hers are all worn out and she needs some new ones.  So, I went to the store last night to get her some, but I really didn’t know what she liked.  I mean, I know what I like for sure, but I would guess that our likes may not mesh well.

So, I ended up buying three different styles of bras for her - hopefully she will like one of them.  The store owner also offered a free pair of stockings with my purchase.

I hope she appreciates all the work I did to pick out her gift - I will be giving it to her tonight.

I would like to think that my college experience was a series of papers.  The writing began with my application essay and culminated with the eventual writing of a thesis for my graduate degree.

About halfway through my college career, I’d written a large number of research papers on paper.  Now this might seem a little strange to now, but that was the norm back then.  If you can believe it, we even had to submit our completed assignments into drop boxes.

It wasn’t until my third year in college that they introduced an online essay submission process in an attempt to speed up marking as well as reduce the amount of paper the college consumed each year.

By the end of my college degree I had written nearly 90 research papers and close to one million words of text.  Though that may seem like a lot, I only really scratched the surface.

There are two things that my little girl loves more than anything else. They are, in no particular order, watching the Jetsons and dressing up. She would watch the Jetsons reruns all day long if I would let her and she is always dressed up in different outfits. One thing is for sure and that is that she has a great imagination.

For her birthday this year, I found her a Judy Jetson costume. I knew that she was going to be thrilled with it and I was right. She has worn it every day since. It is a good thing that it washes well because I have to put it into the laundry at least once a week.

The greatest thing about it was that she had no idea they even existed so it was a complete surprise to her. Now, if she is not watching the Jetsons, she is playing the Jetsons. That’s my little girl in a nutshell.