Travel Insurance

Posted on July 5th, 2007 by gail helen.
Categories: Personal, Omnia Vanitas, Current Events, Travel, Sponsored Posts, Money, Random.

Although my trip this week was canceled and I was able to recoup my expenditures on tickets and lodging arrangements, it reminded me that Travel Insurance is always a good idea. Especially now that I’m all flu-icky and wouldn’t get on a plane for $200 (although I’d probably do it for $300, depending on the eventual destination). I recently discovered TravelSafe, a family-owned and operated business that has been working hard to protect the traveler since 1971, through a recent press release. Apparently, TravelSafe offers an industry-first — a “Cancel For Any Reason” option — plus coverage for hurricane warnings and other inclement weather, worldwide medical protection and emergency medical evacuation, coverage for pre-existing medical conditions, trip cancellation/interruption, even the ever-present threat of terrorism. Before this weekend’s attack in Glasgow, on the very airport I’ve flown into dozens of times, I never considered visiting my family to be a risky prospect, even though I was in the air on 9/11. Travel seems to be an increasingly complicated undertaking — from fear to “mechanical difficulties” to acts of god — and so I think I will definitely be engaging the services of a travel insurance provider the next time I venture far from home.

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Speaking of a Bronte . . .

Posted on July 5th, 2007 by gail helen.
Categories: Education, Personal, Literary, Omnia Vanitas, Random.

Although I’ve done very little official study of the sisters Bronte, I do have a list of critical resources for them.  Probably my favorite is this one for Emily Bronte & Wuthering Heights.  Lots of good insights and a variety of critical approaches on what is probably my favorite ‘gothic’ novel.  I would love to teach this sometime, but I’m not sure if they still do it in high school.  I think there was one English class that covered it when I was student, and I took it off my boyfriend at the time and read it through in the course of a school day.  It’s one of those books that can change your soul if you pick it up at the right moment . . .

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Flu-Bar

Posted on July 5th, 2007 by gail helen.
Categories: Personal, Literary, Omnia Vanitas, Random.

Ugh.  I’ve been feeling iffy for days, and I’m supposed to drive to Milwaukee for class today, so I went to bed last night at a reasonable hour for me — 3 AMish — only to wake up at 7:30 with a gnawing feeling
in my guts and a lovely clammy sweat clinging to my skin.  Yep, I’m pretty sure it’s the flu.  I wish I knew who to thank — besides myself for living an oh-so-healthy and regimented life — but instead I’m just going to whimper quietly on my blog.  I made the mistake of looking in the mirror when I got up to rinse the tangy taste of death out of mouth, and I can’t help but wonder why I can’t look like some Bronte heroine when I’m ill.  Instead of a lovely pallor with two spots of painted high color, I look like a corpse with a case of hives.  Woe is me . . . and so it’s shortly off to bed again.

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Lawyer Up

Posted on July 4th, 2007 by gail helen.
Categories: Work, Personal, Omnia Vanitas, Sponsored Posts, Money, Random.

I’ve written about Simmons Jannace & Stagg in the past.  From everything I’ve read, they’re a great law firm for both large and small firms.  But in a recent press release, I learned that in addition to litigation, Simmons Jannace & Stagg also handles financing transactions such as structuring a variety of loans (including real estate, construction, and asset-based loans), asset securitizations, stock purchase sale and leaseback transactions. But what really caught my eye was that their firm provides guidance in choosing a business form, such as organizing corporations, partnerships, limited liability companies, and other legal entities throughout the U.S.  I’ve never really examined whether my business is set up in a way that’s most advantageous to me — as a sole proprietor who doesn’t lay claim to the content she creates, I’ve never had to worry about the legalities of working with companies.  As long as I’m registered and pay my taxes, I figured that was good enough.  But their are a host of advantages to doing things th right way (versus the quick and easy way I chose), so it may be time to re-investigate the structure of my business.  Simmons Jannace & Stagg doesn’t have offices in Chicago, though, so I guess it’s the yellow pages for me . . . ;)

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Bad Poetry

Posted on July 4th, 2007 by gail helen.
Categories: Education, Personal, Literary, Omnia Vanitas, Meta-Fors, Poetry, Random.

In my Young Adult Literature class, we’ve been talking about the particularly kind of poetry that adolescents write. My last post reminded me of a poem I wrote about headaches years ago, and I thought I’d share it with you for a laugh. The formatting was better, and I’m couldn’t remember all the words . . . Wish I could crack open my old WordPerfect files, but alas, you’ll just have to make do. :)

Pain

On nights like these I swallow
flakes of bleached bone snow.
A familiar knot of cold forms
until the moon is not
so big
and the stars are not
so bright
and I can see the strings
anyway . . .

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