Nov
19
Vacation rental homes in Florida (and other places too!): Easy money
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I have written before about my parents’ having a vacation home in North Carolina. They’re at a point in their lives where they are trying to decide if they are going to keep it or sell it due to retirement and health problems - they just can’t get away as much as they hoped.
I say, why not do both? Keep it AND sell it - or, rent it for a bit, that is. Did you know that you can list your vacation rental and reach 25 million travelers? They bought their North Carolina mountain vacation home many years ago and are fortunate enough to have a mortgage payment of $400, give or take. Do you realize what 2 bedroom mountain vacation rental cabins go for?
About $2,400 per month.
They’re leaving a lot of money on the table, aren’t they? When you advertise your vacation home rental, you get access to a worldwide market, the same way a hotel would. You can list on 4 vacation rental websites for one price and centrally manage your inquiries and listing,
ensuring you reach the maximum audience with your vacation home.
The Florida vacation rental market is especially attractive thanks to the abundance of attractions in this state. Disney World, Sea World, Universal Studios, and the rest that Orlando has to offer create built-in demand for Orlando and Disney vacation rentals. While the rent you charge as a homeowner will easily cover your mortgage AND provide a generous profit, in most cases it will be cheaper than hotels for tourists. And with 0% commissions on vacation rentals bookings, you really can’t go wrong.
Maybe you have a beachfront vacation rental property in Destin or Panama City? Perhaps you’re a snowbird with a vacation rental in St. Petersburg or Ft. Lauderdale? You should give it some thought, and if you decide the extra money will come in handy, join the world’s largest vacation rental network with over 100,000 vacation rentals.
Nov
7
I wrote a guest post on my wife’s blog: When the cat is away, the mice will guest post
She’s having a minor medical procedure Wednesday morning and is a bit miserable due to a combination of not getting pain medications and ingesting high-powered laxatives.
Of course, I tried to show my soft, sensitive side in the guest post. No really, when your normal conversations go something like “stop it!” and “don’t touch that!” or “get a REAL job!”, I suppose I did ok.
Nov
1
I’ve written on other blogs about my personal interest in Alzheimer’s. I’ll spare you the long saga because I’ll have Alzheimer’s by the time you finish reading it, but in a nutshell, my grandmother spent the last 15 years of her life with this dread disease, and my aunt spent the best years of her life as a caregiver.
We watch Alzheimer’s news closely in our family, and I wanted to share with you that November 13 is National Memory Screening Day. The Alzheimer’s Foundation of America started National Memory Screening Day in 2003 to encourage people to get checked because early detection is a key to preventing the onset of Alzheimer’s for as long as possible. Advancements in treatments have made it possible to delay, but not cure, Alzheimer’s so it is important to get checked.
Of course, what would the Florida Sun Dog blog be without providing the information to help Floridians find a place to get screened? Just follow the link to Florida memory screenings. While most places are doing the screenings on November 13, there are dozens of Kmart pharmacies that are doing them on November 16, so you have a couple chances to get checked in a convenient location.
If you want to everything you can to keep your brain healthy, check out the Aging Tips, and get screened.
Oct
3
Secure health insurance quotes
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My father gave us a health scare this past summer. Or, to be more accurate, his doctors and hospital staff screwed up and gave us a scare. He wound up spending the better part of 6 weeks in the hospital. I blogged a bit about my frustrations with the situation back, in June, when I was commuting to Brooksville every weekend.
He retired last year, and took his COBRA benefits which were still in effect this summer. However, they expired last month, and he’s sitting here with a pre-existing condition and ineligible for Medicare until next March. He’s had a horrible time finding health insurance, and even the lousy policy he did find isn’t going to pay for the surgery he should be having in the next few months. Now, he has to wait until Medicare kicks in to do the follow-up surgery.
He’s hunted high and low with agents and over the internet. I’m sending him this health insurance site, so he can continue looking for a better, more affordable policy.
Aug
23
Heard at work
Filed Under Humor | 2 Comments
I’ve never seen cheese do THAT!
You better be careful, she still has that restraining order against you.
My dad went up for my grandmother’s hip replacement surgery and is bringing her hip back to hang on the wall of his shed.
Aug
12
Car donations
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Several weeks ago, I wrote about my experience donating a car to charity, in relation to a post about donating a boat to charity. tonight, I want to highlight an organization that donates vehicles.
You could do what I did and scour the web and the yellow pages for an organization that is willing, worthy and qualified from a tax deductible standpoint to accept your donation of a car. Or, you could go through an organization like Car Angel ministries to Donate Your Car In Los Angeles.
When donating a car, you’ll need to check Publication 78 to find charities that qualify to be used to take advantage of the car to donate for tax rebates. You’ll also need to know how the charity intends to use the vehicle in order to know what you can deduct. For instance, if the charity sells the vehicle, your deduction is limited to the price for which the charity is able to sell the vehicle. But, you can deduct the fair market value if the charity uses the vehicle for a program or donates the vehicle to a needy person in order to help that person.
Substantial documentation is also required by the IRS. Therefore, it helps to work with an organization like Car Angel ministries, which takes the donation and disposes of it swiftly, then posts the sales results online where the donor can print a 1098 compatible donation receipt at tax time.
While this post is targeted for Los Angeles Car Donations, you should know that nationwide pick-up of your car donation is available. You can also choose from an extensive list of charities to fund with your donation: from across America. You decide the project you wish to fund with your donation: Health, Education, Welfare, Religious Studies, Homeless, or Prison Reform. Among the projects funded by Car Angel Ministries is Free DVDs for Kids, which produces a five-episode series of animated videos that are being distributed to preschools, Sunday schools, and libraries free of charge.
So, here’s a chance to do something good, and an organization that will make it easy for you. Check it out.
Jul
22
It’s tough being loved and in demand
Filed Under Great Blogs, Orlando | 2 Comments
I had an opportunity to spend my Saturday terrorizing drivers on I-95 and I-4 as I drove from Jax to Orlando and back.
An hour and forty-five minutes. A new record, thankyouverymuch…
I was part of a focus group for PayPerPost. They paid me and in exchange I agreed not to talk about the new gay porn production facilities they’re creating. Ooops!
I also got to meet Mr. Fabulous, Cheryl, Kat, and Colleen, all Florida bloggers that sometimes blog about Florida and most times not. I have so many updates to make to my blogrolls. A couple are already over there.
PPP is where an advertiser can go to get some buzz going on the intartubes about a new product or service or whatever. Can’t discuss what I saw on penalty of losing my first-born, but trust me, you want to be there and be a part of it.
If you’re a blogger… ignore the previous paragraph. Too. Much. Competition.
By the way, hasn’t Writing. Like. This. jumped the shark?
On the agenda today is a trip to Gainesville to visit the parental units, who are driving back from their mountain-top bunker in NC and stopping off at l’il bro’s house for a Sunday afternoon pizza or some such thing. I’ve seen them recently due to health issues with my father, but the kids haven’t seen them in almost three months so this will be nice for everyone.
No speed records will be attempted while driving with kids.
May
24
Restaurant Review; Jade’s Garden & Peterbrooke Chocolates
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The kids are in a vacation bible camp this week that meets from 6:30 pm to 8:30 pm. Can you say dinner and adult conversation?
We can. My wife wanted steak, but I had a taste for Chinese food and wanted to try a new place in Mandarin (Jacksonville). Let’s start with the atmosphere:
Think Asian Fusion. Nice, modern. The tables were spaced far enough apart to allow for private conversations. Mostly adults, even as early as 6:30, which was nice on our child-free evening.
On to the food: I had the General Tso’s Chicken. I figured that, since it’s what I always get, it would be a good way to compare their food to the less expensive storefront takeout joints.
It was pretty good. The chicken was lightly breaded, unlike the frozen-then-deep-fried version you usually get. Nice and meaty. The sauce was adequately spicy, but you can never have too much spice for me. The rice was a choice between white or brown. I chose brown for health reasons, but I really wanted pork fried. It was acceptable. Sorry, I’m just not a fan unless it’s fried in pork grease. 
We also had the spring rolls for an appetizer. Kind of pricey at $4 for two spring rolls, but again, they were handmade and very tasty. You gotta pay for quality.
My wife had the Mongolian Beef. Her assessment: Nice presentation, good: gingery taste, I usually like lots of green onions and it had a lot, looked appealing. On the bad side: No spice to it, very mild seasoning, green onions were undercooked to my taste.
So, a mixed review this time, but I think my wife’s issues can be solved next time by just asking for more spice and a little extra cooking time for those onions. So, I’d go back. Not often, because it’s about twice the cost of takeout, but I liked it.
Afterwards, we walked over to Peterbrooke Chocolates. Mmmmmm…. Always pricey, but she had a chocolate-covered strawberry, her usual, and it was good, as usual. I went with chocolate-dipped oreos. The dessert of champions, dontcha know?
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Apr
17
Going in for surgery
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If you’ve read my diet blog or poker blog, you know I’ve had some health issues lately. My doc called this morning to confirm that the HIDA scan said my gallbladder was not functioning and surgery was necessary. Going for a surgical consult later this week, with an eye to removing it at Baptist-South in Jacksonville in a week or so. Sucks on a lot of levels, not least of which is I’m in a new job – I’m ok on insurance, but not ok on personal time-off hours and I don’t qualify for short-term disability. So, let’s hope for a laproscopic procedure instead of an open procedure - the difference in recovery time is 1 week vs. 4-6 weeks.
