Savvy-Boomers

1. The first thing I want to suggest is that you begin looking a little closer to home this year. It’s a lot of fun to take the family out to the coast or up to the mountains for a few days to a place that is entirely new to everyone but if you stop to think about it there could be such a place right in your own neighborhood. Many organizations sponsor camp outs for kids and families. I will never forget the camping trips I went on with the YMCA when I was a teenager. After I got a couple of years experience camping I was able to go to camps as an aid and I then camped for free as long as I was willing to be a counselor for younger campers.
2. If you are looking for a low cost family vacation then camping has to be one of the first things you consider. Whether you go camping in a pop up trailer or use a tent you’ll save a bunch of money on your sleeping arrangements every night. Each year you can add a few pieces of new equipment to your gear or you can shop the local yard sales and save a little extra on you purchases that way. The Goodwill store can be a great source of used equipment that can be in excellent  condition.
3. There are always lots of things to see and do in your own area. For great discoount family vacation ideas, start at the local office of tourism. They will have suggestions for many great places to visit and lots of places to go camping with your family. You will find that your local Chamber of Commerce will also be a very good source of information about places of interest and places to stay. 
4. Talk to family members and see if anyone has a time share that isn’t being used this year. It may be possible to vacation with another part of your family or you might be able to make use of an unused timeshare that might otherwise go to waste. However it won’t be a low cost family vacation if you decide to attend a presentation and end up buying your own timeshare plan. (Just say NO!)
5. Here is an idea that has become very popular recently and can save you a bundle.You can make arrangements to trade houses with someone who would  like to spend their vacation in your area. There are several large home exchange clubs that can easily be found on the web. There are rarely any problems with these arrangements and they can certainly lead to some interesting new acquaintances.

Spring Training in Surprise Arizona

Spring training gets into full swing at the end of February in Surprise Arizona. The teams have finally arrived in the area, workouts are underway at the training fields and many games have been scheduled over the next month. Follow this link for this season’s schedule.

Be sure to plan on attending the first game on the 4^th of March. Its the 8^th annual Sundancers Charity Game and the action starts at 1:05 pm at the stadium in Surprise Arizona with the Texas Rangers facing the Kansas City Royals.

This is going to be a great way for you to start Spring Training in Surprise because you’ll have a chance to visit with the players and pick up a few autographs while you’re there.

Every morning around 10:00am the practice fields will be open for the public to watch the Texas Rangers or the Kansas City Royals work out.  The teams are usually there until around noon.  There is plenty of parking and some bleacher seating is provided around the outside of the fields.
After the game if you want to head out to a local restaurant there isn’t much within walking distance but there are a large number of eating places within a couple of miles of the Surprise Recreation Complex.

If you need help with transportation from your hotel to the Surprise Arizona Stadium your best bet is to call a local town car service.  They are quick and reliable and provide dependable service.  Contact Copper Trails Towncar Service at 480-650-6147 for service valley wide.

How are the changes going to affect you?  What changes do you need to make to prepare for the new life style? Learn about the new direction your retirement is heading at http://bit.ly/bWroec

The search engine Bing has certainly got some interesting new tools available for the traveler.  They can help you decide when is the best time to purchase air line tickets for you future travel.  Take a look  at this article http://bit.ly/aXs6be for some great information.

So far there are at least 15 states that have banned the use of Radar Cameras on the public highways.  Do you think Arizona should become a part of that group?  The cameras are controversial to say the least and they can really be a nuisance.  Have you ever been driving in a group along the freeway and found everyone putting on the brakes as they approach the cameras?  Then a little past the cameras all the cars start to accelerate again back up to the speed they were originally traveling.  If some one unlucky soul just happened to be exceeding the limit the camera goes off with a bright flash of light that I find to be very distracting.

 Those citations issued from the offices where the pictures are reviewed are getting to be more difficult to enforce and more and more people are choosing to not plead guilty and  pony up the money for a fine.  It seems the previous administration was sold on the idea that the cameras would be a great way to generate revenue to help balance a run away budget.  The big problem is that Red Flex (the company that put them up) has a contract for the maintenance of the cameras and participates in the revenue generated by them.  Just to make sure the numbers remain high enough, Red Flex actually provides training for courtroom employees on procedures to handle the processing of the cases.  It sure makes me think about the speed traps set out side those little bergs across the country where they caught tourists who didn’t slow down quickly enough as they came into town.

 For some reason I never have cared for the idea of BIG BROTHER taking my picture all day long and then sending me a citation in the mail because I may have accidently broken a law somewhere along the way.  Before long we’ll be getting a bill from the Government for a tax on the number of miles we have driven on the highways that our BIG BROTHER has to maintain.

I think this year it would be a good time for us all to keep an eye open for a voter referendum that would tell the state of Arizona that we don’t like ‘em and we want them taken off the highways.  Have your say and leave your comments here. Let’s be heard!

We had the pleasure of attending the opening night performance of “All My Sons” at the Peoria Center for the Performing Arts on Friday the 22^nd of January.  The Arthur Miller play which has received several awards is a drama which draws your attention to the problems faced by two families as they come to grips with their wartime decision that appears to have affected the lives of some of our nations heroes.  The actors did a wonderful job and kept our interest centered on the stage as the events unfolded and exposed a story of deception and intrigue that ultimately effected the lives of everyone in both families.

 Not only did we enjoy the terrific acting and solid story line of the impressive Arthur Miller play but because this was the opening night we had the pleasure of joining with family members and the cast and crew of the performance for wine tasting and Prime Rib sandwiches provided by Flemings Prime Steakhouse and Wind Bar.

 It was considered a wonderful Friday evening in Peoria, Arizona and we are looking forward with great expectations to future opening night performances of plays scheduled by the Theater Works throughout the rest of the spring season.

The recent earthquake that devastated the Island nation of Haiti brought death and destruction to what is said to be one of the poorest nations in the world.  Highways buckled, hospitals collapsed, many buildings were reduced to piles of rubble only three or four feet high.  Unbelievably the runways at the airport were not badly damaged but the control tower sustained severe damage and communications were none existent.  As planes started bringing in supplies to the beleaguered nation it was soon realized that there were no people to take charge of relief operations at the airport and there were no reserves of jet fuel available for the planes that did arrive.

 Haitian and US officials entered into an agreement of understanding that allowed communications to be reestablished and the administration of the airport facility was taken over by the US officials. Relief efforts can now be coordinated with military support beginning at the airport where a huge bottleneck had been developing.  Planes were arriving from around the world and were forced to circle for hours as there was no place to file flight plans and therefore no arrival schedules.

 The US Air Force has now begun to schedule landings and departures for relief flights and many planes are being diverted to airports on other Caribbean islands and into Florida.  Haitian airspace is now off limits to planes arriving with little or no advance notification because of the overcrowding of the limited airspace. Nearly 200 flights arrived at the Haitian airport bringing in both military personnel and all types of food and emergency aid.

 Armed forces commanders have stated that it is their job to oversee the orderly distribution of food and emergency supplies and no one has said any thing about the US making plans to take over the administration of the nation of Haiti.

This morning Northwest Airlines had to cancel flight #2309 from Detroit to Phoenix.  They announced that they were not able to get a crew together to man the flight.  All passengers were to be given overnight accomodations near the airport and the flight #2309 was rescheduled for tomorrow morning.  The flight for tomorrow is now reported to be #2203 from Detroit to Phoenix and should arrive in Phoenix at 9:50am.  We will report any further changes if we are notified.

 Once you have brought the pictures and music into the collections area  you are going to drag the clips you want to use to the story line by placing the  mouse over the clip and left clicking the mouse and dragging the clip to the story line.  You will be able to place the music that you want to use at the very beginning of the story line or you can plug in a microphone into the computer and record a narrative as the pictures are being cycled through.  The narative will be recorded along with the pictures and become a part of the slideshow you are making.  There is a volume control for you to use at the front of the storyline and you want to be sure the volume is high enough so that you will be able to hear it without straining.  Music for your slideshow can come from the WMM program of you can find your own music to use.  For my video on this page I use three clips of music I picked up for use in making videos.  Click on the link at the end of this articleand you’ll see what one of my first slideshows came out like.

 Thanks for viewing my first video from Windows Movie Maker

The cabin crew employees of British Airways have announced plans to strike the airlines over the Christmas Holidays this year. There is a dispute over the possible elimination of positions for the longer transatlantic flights and a disagreement over wages. The union for cabin employees has set December 22 thru January 2 as the dates of the planned strike. If it takes place it would certainly affect the plans of thousands of holiday travelers. British Air shuttles about 10,000 passengers per day on 40 flights between the US and Britain.

In the past six months BA has lost about 346 million dollars as the numbers of first class travelers and leisure travelers has dwindled because of the recession. People are not spending as freely this year as they have in the past and revenues are slipping behind predictions. As a result the union members are becoming very anxious about plans to eliminate jobs.

If you have plans to travel with British Airways in the next few days be sure to have an alternate plan in place just in case you should need to make changes. Be sure to contact BA and inquire about changes to flight schedules.