The Blonde Diaries

Every little bit counts

Being in a car accident is never fun, in fact, it is usually one of the most frustrating things to be a part of especially when it is not your fault. Trying to negotiate with insurance claims adjusters is not fun and these agents usually try give you much less than your car is worth and the cost to repair your car. Well, there is another option out there if you have been in an accident and the accident was not your fault. Advocate Auto Claims will pay you the difference between what the car was worth before the accident and the car’s diminished value after the accident (the difference). You can go online to their site and get a free estimate on your car’s diminished value instantly by filling in a few pieces of key information on your car and the accident. After you are done you can contact Advocate Auto Claims and have them help you receive the diminished value from the insurance company of the person who was at fault in your accident. It is a very quick and easy process and the website is set up to lead you through the process one step at a time. If you have been in an accident within the last 4 years and it was not your fault, give Advocate Auto Claims a visit today and see if they can help you recover the money you deserve.

You’re prettier than a new set of mud tires

Now that I have your attention, can you believe that that line was used on a college friend of mine at a bar?  This poor chap probably would not make it very far in the Ultimate Flirting Championship game sponsored in part by Extreme Style by VO5.  My poor friend didn’t know what to do or how to respond except to say thank you and politely excuse herself after a few more minutes.  How she kept a straight face I will never know but she gets major props for that!

Speaking of contests, have you participated in the Ultimate Flirting Championship yet? If not you need to head on over and start so that you can measure your flirting abilities and see if you fall under the category of best or worse flirter. It might save you from being blogged about in the future as that guy/gal with the worst pick up line! The quickest way to get over there is through the link below. After you take the challenge and see where you fall, post the link on your blog and encourage your friends and readers to do the same. We can stop bad pick up lines one line at a time through this challenge!

Bloggers: How to get the Email link box

Happy Saturday morning bloggers! I have been noticing on a few blogs I frequent a little graphic box that has the site’s email address on the side bar. I have been wondering how to find one of these and if I should open up a website email address. After little thinking, I figured why not and set off to open my email account with Gmail. I was happy to find that my desired email address was not already taken and quickly snapped it up. Next I set off to figure out where to get my email graphic link and couldn’t figure it out. I thought for sure there was something in my gmail account but no such luck so I turned to Hedy at Penny for My Thoughts who pointed me in the right direction. Thanks Hedy! I was able to figure out the graphic, post it in my text widget and remember the coding to link to email programs.

So if you would like to add an email graphic visit the Email Icon Generator and enter your email address. If you are on WordPress all you need to do is copy the code generated and post to a text widget box. If you would like to create the email link feature add this code around the link image you copied and pasted:

Here is my code for example with slight coding modification:
<a href = “mailto:theblondediaries@gmail.com”> < img src =”http://services.nexodyne.com/email/icon/w7WD9%2BGwqPLZCAjQrVU2iQ%3D%3D/DtZFias%3D/R01haWw%3D/0/image.png”></img>< /a>

You are all set! Happy blogging.

Cleanup after the storm

There is nothing worse than a huge thunderstorm or hurricane coming through your area and finding water in your house. In fact, it is quite devastating as it means you will have to throw out everything that was submerged in water, strip out the carpet, and rip the wall out/down to the sheet rock and basically start over. Even a pipe leak in your home can cause some pretty bad damage to the rooms affected. It is always best to be prepared before the event happens by finding people who will perform disaster cleanup quickly. Water Restoration 911 is a company that promises to be available within 30 minutes of your call to act quickly and resolve your water problems. They are on call 24 hours a day 7 days a week to help make your life easier. I think it would be a great idea to keep their number in your listing of important numbers in the event that water/flooding strikes your home.

Is the right to bear arms going a little too far here?

I am all for the right to bear arms to defend yourself as granted to us in the United States Constitution’s 2nd Amendment and respect that some boundaries need to be set such as banning certain models/types of fire arms from private citizens like you or I. But today I read an article on the Houston Chronicle’s website where a school district northwest of Dallas is granting teachers permission to carry fire arms at school this year. I will post the full article at the end of this post.

My immediate thoughts upon reading this was why does it have to be in Texas. It seems every time something crazy and relating to guns is in the news it is about something going on in Texas. We are not all gun toting maniacs down here. But my next thought was why on earth do you want to arm teachers? Is your school that dangerous? Is there a huge need for guns? I would think that if students were that dangerous or threatening they wouldn’t be allowed to be in school but also, they could probably overpower a teacher fairly quickly and take the gun away and have their own shooting spree.

Per the article the main concern is safety from the local freeway. Apparently the schools/town is located right next to a popular highway and leads to vulnerability for attack. With the sheriff’s office 30 minutes away, the best solution was to arm teachers after they underwent a vigorous training and background check on how to use fire arms. I’m still not completely sold that this is the best solution, that the school will be under an attack from random drive-bys on the highway, or that the guns will be properly monitored. I still feel schools should be gun free.

What do you think about this? Do you agree? Are you a parent and if so how do you feel about guns in school?

from the Houston Chronicle, August 15, 2008:
HARROLD, Texas — A tiny Texas school district may be the first in the nation to allow teachers and staff to pack guns for protection when classes begin later this month, a newspaper reported.

Trustees at the Harrold Independent School District approved a district policy change last October so employees can carry concealed firearms to deter and protect against school shootings, provided the gun-toting teachers follow certain requirements.

In order for teachers and staff to carry a pistol, they must have a Texas license to carry a concealed handgun; must be authorized to carry by the district; must receive training in crisis management and hostile situations and have to use ammunition that is designed to minimize the risk of ricochet in school halls.

Superintendent David Thweatt said the small community is a 30-minute drive from the sheriff’s office, leaving students and teachers without protection. He said the district’s lone campus sits 500 feet from heavily trafficked U.S. 287, which could make it a target.

“When the federal government started making schools gun-free zones, that’s when all of these shootings started. Why would you put it out there that a group of people can’t defend themselves? That’s like saying ’sic ‘em’ to a dog,” Thweatt said in Friday’s online edition of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

Thweatt said officials researched the policy and considered other options for about a year before approving the policy change. He said the district also has various other security measures in place to prevent a school shooting.

“The naysayers think (a shooting) won’t happen here. If something were to happen here, I’d much rather be calling a parent to tell them that their child is OK because we were able to protect them,” Thweatt said.

Texas law outlaws firearms on school campuses “unless pursuant to the written regulations or written authorization of the institution.”

It was unclear how many of the 50 or so teachers and staff members will be armed this fall because Thweatt did not disclose that information, to keep it from students or potential attackers. Wilbarger County Sheriff Larry Lee was out of the office Thursday and did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment, the newspaper said.

Barbara Williams, a spokeswoman for the Texas Association of School Boards, said her organization did not know of another district with such a policy. Ken Trump, a Cleveland-based school security expert who advises districts nationwide, including in Texas, said Harrold is the first district with such a policy.

The 110-student district is 150 miles northwest of Fort Worth on the eastern end of Wilbarger County, near the Oklahoma border.