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Hillary Clinton is a bitter old crone

I was reading this article earlier this evening in which the author reported that prominent Democrats weren't yet endorsing Hillary Clinton.

Is there anyone out there who really wonders why people aren't lining up to support Clinton? The answer is pretty simple -- the woman is a bitter, old crone with about as much personality as a table. Think of it -- the woman has no emotional warmth, she cackles rather than laughs and one really doesn't have to use too much imagination to imagine her trying to coax children into her gingerbread house so she can toss them in an oven.

Clinton had better hope people stop their analysis of her right about the time they decide she is an old crone because a further examination of her is even less flattering. What has she achieved, really, other than endure her husband and his philandering ways instead of shooting him? Not much. She failed as a secretary of state, her attempts to reform healthcare in the 1990s failed and were treated more like the busy work her husband gave her to shut her up for a year or so and her time as a New York senator didn't generate anything of note.

So, she's having trouble getting prominent Democrats excited. That's no shock. She'll probably have trouble getting voters excited, and I can't help but think she's about to find a way to win the Democratic presidential nomination only to get whipped like a rented mule by Donald Trump and whomever he picks as a running mate.

I have just one request of the old crone -- never step foot in my beloved Arkansas again. She cultivated a reputation for hating all of us unworthy rubes in the Natural State when she was forced to live here, so sticking to more "enlightened" areas should be a breeze for her.

Why I'm voting for Trump and you should consider it, too

Yeah, I know. Donald Trump is as blunt as a crowbar and, by this point, may have said something to offend a majority of people in the United States.

But, so what?

Here's the thing about Trump -- love him or hate him, he could lay the template for politicians to follow in the future. That is, ultimately, a good thing.

Why? Think about how the political process works right now. Special interests buy and sell elected officials who are supposed to be representing us voters and the result has been the wreck of a government that we have right now. Banks darn near bankrupted the country through irresponsible lending a few years ago and they had enough pull to convince the government to bail them out. That's right -- they ran through our money and got more from the government thanks to their influence. That's just great.

Want another example? How about bankruptcy reform? Citibank managed to buy some legislation that Bill Clinton had the good sense to veto twice, only to have George W. Bush rubber stamp that horrible reform legislation as soon as it hit his desk. The result? It's a lot harder to file for a Chapter 7 bankruptcy than it was before 2005, meaning consumers get dumped into Chapter 13 cases and wind up paying back a lot of their debt.

That sounds like a good thing until you realize that credit card companies such as Citibank lost a lot of unsecured debt in Chapter 7. That was the reason, the credit card industry told us, that interest rates were so high. Advancing credit to everyone with a pulse, seemingly, was risky. You'll notice that the reform that the credit card industry bought shoved more money in their pockets but interest rates haven't dropped. And, of course, their reckless lending practices continue unabated. In other words, they are as irresponsible as they were before bankruptcy reform, but they're making more money and are hitting consumers as hard as ever.

You can thank lobbying for that sad state of affairs and a whole lot more. Heck, we can't even address terrorism in rational ways anymore because groups like the Council on American-Islamic Relations will get bent out of shape and there's a group that has been amassing power like crazy as of late.

But, what does all of this have to do with Donald Trump? He is the one candidate out there who has a shot of winning and isn't in the pockets of a bunch of special interests who think the government exists to get stuff for them. I'd rather have a loudmouth who shoots from the hip like Trump than a puppet like Jeb Bush or Hillary Clinton any day of the week.

And the fact that the establishment Republicans hate Trump so much makes me like the man even more. Want to know why GOP leadership dislikes Trump so much? Because he can't be bought and that terrifies them. If you want to see the lengths they'll go to to deny him the Republican nomination, just read this Washington Examiner article and pay particular attention to how little special interests care about what's good for the country or for us poor slobs who happen to live here.

And, then, ask yourself one question -- what's more offensive? A loudmouth who says what he thinks or a politician who panders to you for your vote but will jump whichever way his donors pull his strings? Love Trump or hate him, wouldn't it be great if he kicked off a trend in which what we voters want actually mattered to people who beg us for our votes?

I'll pay Trump $50 to punch Bush in the mouth

I don't know about anyone else, but I've grown tired of Jeb Bush.

Ole Jeb has decided he wants to be the president. He calls himself a Republican even though he's not a whole lot different than Hillary Clinton (well, he's more effeminate than Hillary, but that's another story). Ole Jeb has also decided to ridicule Donald Trump (the guy whipping Jeb like a rented mule in the polls right now, remember?)

I've got a proposal that we can all get behind. It doesn't matter if you are a Democrat, Republican, socialist, Nazi or bomb-toting ISIS member -- I'm willing to bet you'd support an effort to put Donald Trump in a position to punch Jeb Bush right in the mouth.

To that end, I will offer a whopping $50 to Donald Trump if he will punch Jeb right in the mouth. And I mean, I want to see a busted lip, a fair amount of blood, and Bush crying like a miserable sissy.

So, how about it Donald? You know you want to punch Jeb Bush, so why not act on that urge and get $50 in the process? That's a heck of a deal!

Trump for president? Why not?

Ever since Donald Trump announced that he was running for president, he's faced ridicule, predictions that the country will fall to pieces if he gets in office and all sorts of nonsense.

Here's the thing -- at this point, I figure about the only thing we can expect from the government is sheer entertainment. And, Trump is nothing if not entertaining.

Am I voting for the man? You'd better believe it. Has The Hawg lost his mind? I don't think so, but I'll let the two or three people who will actually read this nonsense decide for themselves.

The first thing you have to realize is that we voters have almost no power left thanks to lobbyists and a Supreme Court that seems content to let people buy influence at every level of government. Face it, junior. Your government doesn't give a damn about you, me or the guy next door. Our elected officials are more interested in what people will pay them to vote for instead of what is actually good for the nation.

In this environment, anyone who is interested in the government doing anything worthwhile is in for bitter disappointment. That being the case, why not go for someone who is simply entertaining? If the government will continue to take our money and not listen to us, at least we can have someone in the White House who will say outrageous things and keep things interesting. Honestly, entertainment is about all that we can expect anymore.

And, perhaps an entertaining government rather than an efficient, helpful one is about all we deserve. Think about it -- the past two presidents have gotten put in office because voters are more interested in spite than effective leadership. That's right. Bush voters wanted to irritate Democrats and angry Democrats responded by putting Obama in office. And those two, awful presidents were each granted two terms The only way to explain why such horrid leaders lasted so long is that their supporters were more interested in the "spite factor" than actual ideas or leadership qualities.

Why not, then, vote for someone who will be more entertaining than goofy and spiteful? Trump, then, might be a step up.

So, come on, folks. Join me in my decision to vote for Trump. You know you want to.

Special K Garbage Bars -- yet another reason to stay thin

I was a skinny kid back in my youth. I graduated high school at about 125 pounds and had managed to beef up to about 135 by the time I received my law degree a mere seven years later.

I hovered around 135 pounds until I hit my mid-30s and started to put on weight. Now, at my mid-40s, I find myself needing to lose about 40 pounds to avoid being labelled a "fat ass." They never warn you about that -- once you hit your mid-40s, you can pack on pounds just by looking at the stuff you used to eat in abundance as a youth.

And, here's another thing -- kicking a 30-year-old smokeless tobacco habit leads to weight gain, too.

I do wish people had warned me about sudden weight gain in time for me to avoid it. But, alas, it's too late and I wind up having to eat junk I hate on a regular basis.

My wife tells me that small snacks are important to appetite control, so I wound up with some junk called Special K Chewy Snack Bars. I wound up with the "salted pretzel chocolate" variety and they are so wretched that I have to wonder what's next. Perhaps the "gum wrapper and potato peels" flavor? How about the classic mix of egg shells and cobwebs?

Heck, Special K should have named this awful things "Garbage Bars" as there is a certain amount of honor attached to advertising things truthfully. These taste like they were made with stuff straight out of the trash and, honestly, probably belong in the trash rather than destroying your taste buds and stomach. In fact, you might be better off just throwing all the Garbage Bars in the trash and eating the box. What is in a Garbage Bar? You get oats, something sticky, trash, 100 gut-wrenching calories and a slightly nauseous feeling that curbs your desire to eat for at least an hour. Perhaps that's the point.

I've also learned that eating these things usually makes me good and angry. In fact, I noticed I could head directly to the Kellogg's Internet site and leave comments about the Garbage Bars. I resisted the temptation to head to the aforementioned site and post "Your product sucks and I hate you."

The lesson here is simple -- be careful about your diet and get plenty of exercise while you are young or you might wind up eating junk like these abominations foisted on the public by those Special K jackals.

Humble suggestions for new mascots for Benton

Earlier this month, Benton Mayor David Mattingly unveiled a new mascot for our fair city of Benton, Ark.

The mascot, which cost $2,500 to produce, is simply named “Ben.” He is supposed to be a businessman who will be trotted out at various events and economic development opportunities (no, I’m not real sure what that means and I’m not sure that anyone else does, either).

I’ll avoid the argument that suggests folks in this town already identify with the Panther – the Benton High School mascot – well enough to render poor old Ben redundant at best. Instead, I’d like to suggest a few ideas for mascots that are about as inappropriate and creepy as a balding businessman with arms growing out of the sides of his head. Here goes:

* Ben Ton – he’s a big, fat guy that weighs 2,000 pounds. A ton. Ben. Ton. Get it? Heh, heh!

* Genghis Fonz – sure, he’s a bloodthirsty killer but he’s also also as cool as they come. He can thrill audiences by showing off his finely honed combat skills as well as jumping over parked cars at the Sonic on his horse on Friday nights.

* Black Hitler – the names says it all.

There you go, and I’m willing to license any of those mascots to the city for a mere $100.

Don’t feel bad, Broncos fans – the 2014 Super Bowl appearance was par for the course

I’ve been a Denver Broncos fan since way on back in 1977. Why? I always watched football with my dad and I wanted a team of my own to root for while doing it.

I suspect that a lot of people became Broncos fans in 1977 because that was the famed Cinderella year in which the Broncos beat all expectations and made it to the Super Bowl. You had a team with no significant NFL playoff history that got great all of the sudden. You had Craig Morton – the former Cowboys quarterback who was cast off in favor of Roger Staubach – was one of those guys you just had to pull for. He was nearing the end of his career and everyone likes to see the underdog defy expectations, right? You also had the Orange Crush defense that was getting games won for the team.

Yes, 1977 was a great season for the Broncos. Well, it turned sour during the 1978 Super Bowl when the Dallas Cowboys easily handled Denver and won 27-10.

That first Super Bowl appearance set Broncos fans up for more disappointment. There was the 39-20 Super Bowl loss against the Giants in 1987. That was followed by the 42-10 drubbing Denver took from Washington in the 1988 Super Bowl. And, who could forget about the embarrassing 55-10 loss to the 49ers in 1990?

Denver redeemed itself somewhat in 1998 when Denver finally won a Super Bowl by beating the Packers 31-24. Denver followed that victory by crushing the Falcons 34-19 in the 1999 Super Bowl.

Since then, well Denver’s had some great seasons but it wasn’t until the 2014 Super Bowl when the Broncos played yet again for a national championship. The result? A 43-8 loss against the Seahawks in a game where nothing went right for Denver (the Broncos fumbled the first snap of the game, resulting in a safety).

So, the Broncos have a dismal Super Bowl record of 2-5. No, this year’s Super Bowl loss was nothing new for the Broncos, was it?

Because putting photos on canvas is cool

One of the best family photos we took was one that was put on canvas so it has that “fine art” vibe to it. The thing looks great and has been a decent conversation piece over the years.

Here’s the problem with that photo, however – it cost and arm and a leg. We went to a professional photographer and had to pay for the photo session. After that cost, we had to spend additional money to get a big old frame photo that we could stick on our wall.

But, what if you have a good photograph around already that you’d like printed on canvas? Can you get that done without paying a lot of cash? Yes you can thanks to the friendly folks at Photo 4 Canvas (click the link for more information or play the above video for even more information).

Just click the link and you’ll find a site that can help you get the canvas treatment you want at a cost you can afford. In short, you submit your photo and they’ll handle the rest.

Ah, but the company is more helpful than that. If you have a low resolution photo that won’t look good when printed, you’ll know before you choose to buy a print. Oh, and the company will even email you a print before going to press so you’ll know exactly how it will look. That service is free of charge, too.

Looking for more bargains online? Well, there are a couple of other sites to check out. The first is Snap Car Rentals which offers more cars than you can shake a stick at for prices you won’t mind paying. That company is based in New Zealand.

Another New Zealand based company worth having a look at is Viventium Home Loans. What’s that? A company that can save you thousands on a home loan. Mortgages are expensive anyway, so why not do what you can to save some major money on one? Click on the link to check out the site and see how that company can help you.

Remember all that chatter in the 1990s about an “Internet revolution?” A lot of that was advanced by companies that sold dog food and such on the Internet. Thank goodness, in the 21st century, online retailers have learned what items people want when they shop on the Internet and how to make things convenient for their markets.

Yeah, my netbook is still useful

Back in 2009, my wife picked up a Compaq Mini 110c for me. While that 10.1” netbook with its low-power and underpowered Intel Atom CPU is about as trendy as a pet rock these days, I still use the thing like crazy.

Why? It’s a lot easier to lug around than my 17” laptop and is pretty darned convenient. I don’t always need the power of my big ol’ laptop with its four-core CPU and 8 gigabytes of RAM, so the Compaq is great for traveling, surfing on the Internet and a heck of a lot of other things.

Anyone looking for a cheap, portable computer could do a lot worse than a Mini 110c (or just about any netbook, for that matter). Those are so out of favor that it’s not hard to pick one up on eBay for about $100, but you’ll need to do a little work to make it the truly useful machine it can be.

Here we go:

* Dump Windows. Most netbooks came with Windows XP or Windows 7 Starter. They both suck for netbooks because those underpowered netbooks simply struggle with Windows when it comes to handling complex tasks.

A lightweight Linux distro is a much better choice for a netbook. I’m a fan of Linux Mint with the Xfce desktop, but your mileage may vary. A couple of the many great things about Linux is that the distros are free, so you can try out as many as you like until you find one that suits you.

* Max out that RAM. My Compaq came standard with 1 gigabyte of ram, but will support up to 2 gigabytes. I spent about $40 on that upgrade and the speed boost was well worth it.

* Get a six-cell battery. My Compaq came with a three-cell battery that was quite small and only lasted about three hours with regular use. Doubling up to a six-cell battery cost about $20. That’s another worthwhile investment.

So, you can spend around $100 for a netbook, drop another $60 or so for some upgrades, spend some time learning Linux and you’ll have yourself a great, general purpose computer.

Having said all of that, let me put in a plug or two for the Compaq/HP Mini 110 series. The track pads are weird (buttons on the sides of the track pad rather than on the bottom as God intended), but the keyboards are great. Also, I’ve worked on a few netbooks over the years for friends and have learned one thing – the Mini 110 is easier than most to actually open and work on when things go wrong. That’s worth a lot for those of us who value a cheap computer that is easy to fix with cheap parts.

Oh, one more thing – forget about the models with a 16 gigabyte solid state drive. Go for the 160 gigabyte standard hard drive. You’ll be glad you did.

Business is changing, so you should, too

I well remember something changing in Arkansas a few years ago – a businessman wanting to stay competitive needed to learn how to reach out to the increasing Latino market.

That was a dramatic shift in this state, but a larger one is shaping up now. Economies are now more global, so reaching out to markets in expanding areas such as India is as critical now as reaching the Latino family down the road was a couple of decades ago.

So, what can a businessman do? He could could hire a bunch of interpreters and translators to deal with all of the customers and all of their languages in big old India, or he could outsource that job to a company that is based in that continent, responds quickly to requests and charges reasonable fees?

Which one sounds more efficient to you?

That’s right – hiring interpreters and translators in India is the more cost effective way to go, isn’t it? Click one of the aforementioned links to get going.

QuickPic and a bunch of shoes

See that shoe over there to the right? Like it? I had about 19,000 copies of that hogging up 12GB of space on my HTC One. Considering the phone only has 32GB on board, that was a problem.

A couple of months ago my wife was out shopping for shoes, see, when she found a pair that I might like. So, she snapped a picture of the dandy shoe to the right and texted it to me. She also sent along a photo of another shoe that I liked better so I asked her to get me a pair of those.

Apparently, my phone really liked the gray shoe as it saved 19,000 copies of it somewhere on my phone. The stock, Android Gallery app was no help in tracking down the rogue photo, but the free QuickPic app was able to find it (and all the copies of it) in a hidden folder called “Encore” for some reason. It took about 10 minutes to delete the “shoe copy” photos, but it was easy enough to do that with QuickPic and I freed up a ton of space, to boot (pun intended).

The point? Get QuickPic as such apps are sadly necessary when it comes to dealing with the quirks of Android. I’m glad the app is free as I’d hate to have to buy something to correct a problem that should never have happened in the first place.

Damned if I don’t miss my iPhone.

I absolutely hate Windows 8

There’s no getting around it – Microsoft’s decision to make a uniform operating system for phones, tablets and computers stinks. While Windows 8 may work fine for a tablet or a phone, it’s a counter-intuitive piece of crap on a computer.

The bad thing about Windows 8 is that it has become standard equipment on new computers. Well, you could grab an Apple Macintosh or try a Linux distro (Linux Mint is a particularly good one, by the way), but there are a lot of us who have been using Windows for years and have grown accustomed to it. Honestly, one of the best operating systems I’ve used is Windows XP and Windows 7 was on its way to being a great OS until Microsoft decided it needed a modern user interface.

Apparently, “modern” is code for “a confusing bunch of icons thrown all over the screen like a monkey flings poop at a wall.” The “monkey poop throw” description may be accurate, but it’s hard to work that description into a marketing campaign, isn’t it?

Over the past year, I’ve bought two computers loaded with Windows 8 – one for my office and a laptop for use at home. Rather than dealing with Windows 8 and its moronic interface, I took a simpler route – I grabbed a copy of Classic Shell and like the heck out of it.

Why? Classic Shell is a free download that takes but a few minutes to install and doesn’t throw a bunch of spam and other garbage all over my computer. What you see is what you get – an interface that can be configured to look like Windows 7, XP or even 98 (assuming you didn’t learn to hate Windows 98 after dealing with that buggy piece of trash). Instead of a screen full of goofy, flashing icons, you get a start button and a traditional desk top. It’s just the thing for those of us who are more interested in getting some work done than trying to figure out a new, weird operating system that makes no sense in a “keyboard and mouse” environment.

Give Classic Shell a shot if you hate Microsoft’s latest foray into strangeness. While you’re at it, make sure to configure “Default Programs” from your control panel so that “old” Windows apps are used to open media instead of those new, bad Windows 8 apps.

So, what’s the best way to deal with Windows 8? Find ways to get rid of the new interface and go for something that is actually intuitive and easy to use.

Can you lower your utility bills and be more comfortable?

Here in scenic Arkansas, utility bills can cost a heck of a lot of money during the hot, humid days that seem to start around April and end sometime in late September. Why? This are of the world is tolerable with good air conditioning and hard to take without it. People run their air conditioners hard in the summer because, frankly, one can suffer in a hurry without them.

There are similar problems in some parts of the world, of course, with frigid winters. Regardless of where you happen to live, the chances are good your utility bills are high for several months a year as you struggle to keep your home comfortable.

Wouldn’t it be great, though, if you could stay comfortable and still save money on utility bills? That’s all very possible through a home energy audit – a process through which a professional analyzes your home and suggest way to make it more energy efficient.

In addition to the money savings, an audit can help you on resale value of your home through the wonder of home improvement marketing. Real estate markets are still very competitive, so everyone’s looking for something that’ll make their homes more attractive to buyers than other similar ones in the area. Offering a potential buyer some energy savings can be quite attractive.

Ready to start saving money? Click one of the aforementioned links and find out how that is possible.

Need help with Oracle?

Here’s a bit of trivia – what’s the second largest software company in the world? That would be Oracle Corporation, which is second only to Microsoft.

Oracle has been around since the mid-1970s and is perhaps best known for its extremely reliable and flexible database management systems. Oracle makes great stuff that has met the information storage and management needs of corporations for years, but it can be difficult to set up and use.

In fact, a good number of businesses finding it necessary to implement Oracle software and/or hardware also find they need a little help through Oracle consulting services. Having Oracle dba support services on hand can, indeed, make the transition to dealing with Oracle’s complex and powerful products a little less daunting.

Ready to jump into the wide, wonderful world of Oracle but need a little help? Click one of the aforementioned links and help will be on its way.

Come on, eBay

Over the past decade or so, I’ve had a lot of dealings with eBay. I’ve bought a lot of items and have sold a lot on the Internet’s largest auction site and have managed to compile a 100 percent user rating after 289 completed transactions.

My experience with eBay has largely been pleasant. I’ve bought a lot of items that just aren’t much sold around here (mainly vintage video games) and have sold quite a few items I had lying around that turned out to be worth a buck or two. In short, I’ve been a fan of eBay for years and love the notion that the site caters to those of us who might collect things that are out of the ordinary and hard to find locally.

Over the past couple of months, however, my eBay experiences have been less than pleasant. Perhaps I’m snakebit and unlucky at times, but things seem to be going wrong over there.

Let me explain. Back at the first of December, my son kept hinting that he’d love to have the Xbox 360 that’s been in our living room since 2009 back in his room. I figured that request was reasonable, so I decided to pick up an Xbox 360 Elite for the living room and give him the faithful, old 360 that’s entertained us for a few years. So, I used the “buy it now” feature on eBay and picked up one for a good price.

The seller said he didn’t have it anymore, cancelled the transaction and refunded my money. Fine. I bought another 360 Elite and the same thing happened – the seller didn’t have the item anymore so he cancelled the transaction and refunded my money. The third time proved to be a charm and I was able to finally get someone to take my cash and send me a 360 Elite.

Two weeks ago, I bought a Sega Genesis game for a few dollars and that transaction was cancelled, too. Why? Of course, the seller no longer had the item. Around the same time, I sold the Samsung Galaxy S4 on eBay for $420 and the buyer didn’t pay me. I contacted the buyer and agreed to give him another week to pay. I opened a “non-paying buyer” ticket on eBay last night since I’ve not gotten my money.

Here’s the main problem I’ve had with all of these cancelled transactions – they were all with people who had high user ratings on eBay. It would seem the site’s attempts to self-police its users has fallen short. It’s irritating to buy items and find out later they are no longer available and it’s infuriating to see an auction go a week, end and then have to deal with a buyer that doesn’t have the cash to complete the deal.

One of the things that has made eBay so effective over the years is that transactions tend to go smoothly. Buyers and sellers close transactions with little trouble. Should the day arrive when that is no longer the case, then what use is eBay?

My situation may be unusual, but I hope the folks at eBay are doing what they can to make sure that buyers and sellers both will hold up their ends of transactions.

Looking to boost your Web presence?

Ah, the Internet can be a rough and tumble place, can’t it? You can have the snazziest site in the world, but that won’t matter one whit if no one bothers to visit.

How can you attract those visitors? By ranking highly in search engines, of course. How can you rank higher than your competitors and sites that are similar in scope to yours? By a little discipline called “search engine optimized” – making sure that relevant terms are on your site that attract the visitors you want.

You can work on improving your SEO yourself, of course, but wouldn’t it be more efficient to hire someone who knows what they are doing to accomplish that goal for you? To that end, you need a good SEO reseller. Click on the aforementioned link to find one of the better SEO reseller programs out there – HubShout.

That bunch has been around for awhile and was founded by people who have experience with such heavy hitters as AT&T, Ford, Coca-Cola and Verizon (perhaps you’ve heard of those little companies). Click the link and put HubShout to work for you.

Looking for Calgary real estate?

If you’ve every been a home buyer or seller looking for some good real estate information on the Internet, you’ve undoubtedly run across a disturbing fact – a lot of real estate sites are downright terrible.

Sloppy design. Confusing search engines. Awful and out-of-date advice. All of that is out there as there are more than a few real estate companies that view Internet sites as minor parts of an overall marketing strategy.

If you’re looking for Calgary real estate, you’re in luck – click the aforementioned link and you’ll find a site put up by a company that understands a lot of people search the Internet for real estate information and treat those potential customers seriously. Instead of a simple list of Calgary real estate agents and the typical “call us today!” junk, you’ll get some tools that are actually useful.

Give it a shot. You can thank me later.

A good personal injury lawyer is worth his weight in gold

I’ve admitted it once and I’ll admit it again. I, The Hawg, was once an attorney. I gave that up years ago but still remember how valuable personal injury cases were to my small office.

I also remember how valuable those auto accident cases were to other firms in town and how poorly some clients were represented. Here was the deal on each and every one of those cases – if they could be settled easily and for a good amount, then just about any attorney could represent the client well.

If, however, things got tough and an attorney found himself up against a stubborn insurance company then someone who was the victim of an auto accident really needed an attorney who had the ability and the will negotiate well and be more than ready to go to court to get a client what was due. Here’s the thing – some insurance companies are easy to deal with while some are not. When a personal injury case gets tough, a lawyer must be tough enough to make sure the client gets what is owed.

If you are in the Dallas area and need a personal injury lawyer with a good track record and the willingness to tough it out through a hard case if necessary, click one of the links near the top of this post. That’s a good place to start, kids.

Summer and swimming pools – great, but protect your skin

I grew up in the South and I learned something at a very early age – it’s hot down here, folks. It’s far too hot far too often, in fact. Yes, we typically have about six months of summer in these parts and a half year of “not summer” every year, so one learns to keep cool when the temperature gauge starts creeping up over 85 degrees or so (when the heat hits triple digits, keeping cool becomes more of an obsession than a hobby).

A fast and affordable way to stay cool is to get a swimming pool above ground. Few things are more refreshing than hopping in a soothing pool on a hot day and it’s no surprise that those things are popular in these parts.

Ah, but there a danger involved – skin cancer. Lying around in the sun – whether you happen to be in or near a pool or not – can result in skin cancer and the results of that could be tragic. By the way, if you’ve worried that you might have skin cancer you might do well to click the aforementioned link to see a handy molemap that sheds some light on whether you’ve formed a mole that is indicative of melanoma.

Here’s something else to keep in mind. Let’s say you’ve contracted skin cancer through no fault of your own – someone or something else was responsible. Rather dealing with the financial hardships involved with treating your condition, you might find some help by getting in touch with Pukekohe Family Lawyers. If you’re owed compensation, that bunch may be able to help you secure it.

So, there are a few things to keep in mind this summer. Stay cool, stay safe and enjoy yourself. That’s what summer is for, isn’t it?