Remember the Good Old Days... Ah, To Be A Student Again

When I was growing up, my parents and teachers used to tell me that my days as a student were the best years of my life. I didn't believe them at the time, and all these years later, I'd have to say that the past fifteen years of investment banking and seven years of parenting have been and continue to be the best years of my life. Given the stream of emails that Rex and I have received from our alma maters letting us know about the increasing number of college students who need financial aid, I'm concerned that there's never been a tougher time to be a student.



One savings opportunity for students today is the International Student Identity Card (ISIC) -- an internationally recognized and accepted student ID card that comes with thousands of discounts at top retail stores and websites. The $22 card gets students discounts like cheap flights at STA Travel and 11% off JetBlue (or take the train and save 15% off Amtrak), 50% off at Park 'n Fly, an eleven (11) percent discount at Macy's or 10% off at Target.com, and access to a special $13 menu at Hard Rock Cafe. Students can use the ISIC at home or abroad, online or in brick and mortar stores. Unfortunately, I don't qualify for any of the three versions of the discount card -- the ISIC for currently enrolled students, the IYTC for any youth 26 years old and younger, or the ITIC for any current teacher or professor. However, my daughters London and Maddie are both students, so maybe they'll let their mom tag along with them for a change... unfortunately, just today I made the mistake of teaching them how to call me "abuelita" -- old lady in Spanish!

Music Monday: Come Monday by Jimmy Buffett

Got the cold winter blues? Nothing like a dose of Jimmy Buffett to get you smiling... go ahead and sing along with Jimmy on this week's Music Monday pick for the Bay Head Blog: "Come Monday."



Headin' up to San Francisco
For the Labor Day week-end show
I've got my hush-puppies on
I guess I never was meant for glitter rock and roll
And honey I didn't know
That I'd be missin' you so

Chorus:
Come Monday, it'll be all right
Come Monday, I'll be holdin' you tight
I spent four lonely days in a brown L.A. haze
And I just want you back by my side

Yes, it's been quite a summer
Rent-a-cars and west-bound trains
And now you're off on vacation
Somethin' you tried to explain
And darlin', since I love you so
That's the reason I just let you go

Chorus:
Come Monday, it'll be all right
Come Monday, I'll be holdin' you tight
I spent four lonely days in a brown L.A. haze
And I just want you back by my side

I can't help it honey
You're that much a part of me now
Remember that night in Montana
When we said there'd be no room for doubt

I hope you're enjoyin' the scenery
I know that it's pretty up there
We can go hikin' on Tuesday
With you I'd walk anywhere
California has worn me quite thin
I just can't wait to see you again

Chorus:
Come Monday, it'll be all right
Come Monday, I'll be holdin' you tight
I spent four lonely days in a brown L.A. haze
And I just want you back by my side

Come join Music Monday and share your songs with us. One simple rule, leave ONLY the actual post link here. You can grab this code at LJL Please note these links are STRICTLY for Music Monday participants only. All others will be deleted without prejudice.

Music Monday: Heat Wave

For those of you who haven't been hit by the past week's incredible cold of winter, please count yourself lucky, send us some sunshine and just enjoy the music. For anyone who's seen their local temperature go below zero degrees Fahrenheit, maybe this Heat Wave video will warm us all up.... an oldie but goodie from Martha Reeves and the Vandellas.



Whenever I'm with him
Something inside
Starts to burning
And I'm filled with desire,
Could it be the devil in me?
Or is this the way love's
supposed to be?

(Chorus)

It's like a heat wave
It's burning in my heart
I can't keep from burning
It's tearing me apart

Whenever he calls my name
So softly and plain
Right then, right there, I feel that burning flame
Has high blood pressure
got a hold on me?
Is this the way love's supposed to be?

(Chorus)

Sax Solo.................

Sometimes I stare in space
Tears all over my face,
I can't explain it, don't understand it,
I ain't never felt like this before
Now this funny feeling has me amazed
Don't know what to do, my head's in a haze,
It's like a heat wave.

Yeah yeah
Yeah yeah
Ha ohhh yeah

Yeah yeah
Yeah yeah
ohhh yeah

I feel it, burning, right here in my heart,
Don't you know it's like a heat wave

Yeah yeah
Yeah yeah
ohhh

Don't you know it's like a heat wave?
Burning right here in my heart.

Come join Music Monday and share your songs with us. One simple rule, leave ONLY the actual post link here. You can grab this code at LJL Please note these links are STRICTLY for Music Monday participants only. All others will be deleted.

Maddie Misses Her Beach House

Tonight I caught up on the phone with one of our beach house neighbors down in Bay Head, New Jersey. Right now, it's hard to think about sun, surf and sand, cruising along Ocean Avenue in a souped up honda shadow 750. The people over at Weather dot com say the wind chill here in the Roxiticus Valley makes it feel like 3 below zero Fahrenheit... brrr! Anyway, despite the snow, ice and wintry weather, our beach house seems fine.

Not much is going on at the beach in January. Sadly, Artisan's Galleria on Mount Street closed at the end of the year. Rumor has it the owner is thinking about converting the retail space to an apartment to be rented this summer instead of trying to find someone who wants to open a new store in the current economy.

Particularly if we get away someplace warm during the winter months, my daughter Maddie starts to miss her beach house and asks when we'll be going to Bay Head. Even though we close our beach house for the season after the annual Halloween parade, we may make a trip down to Bay Head this winter. Rex's son, Trader, just moved into a new place in Connecticut. He has a huge open wall in the living room and is hoping I could take a photo of the Bay Head surf and have one of those places blow it up life size so even in the dead of winter in the Northeast it would always feel like Surfs Up!

Music Monday: Collide by Howie Day

Up north and west in the Roxiticus Valley, we're snowed in and lovin' it. Getting out in the Winter Wonderland to do some sledding and trying to build a snowman, playing Scrabble in front of a roaring fire, and catching up on some work while rating the "Unrated" list from my iPod classic. We're down to 5,209 unrated songs, having just given "Collide" by Howie Day five stars and deciding it would be the Bay Head Blog pick for today's Music Monday. Apparently, the song was featured in the movie of The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks, which I've been meaning to rent or buy. I loved the book... just another one of Roxy's shameful page turners!




The dawn is breaking
A light shining through
You're barely waking
And I'm tangled up in you
Yeah

I'm open, you're closed
Where I follow, you'll go
I worry I won't see your face
Light up again

Even the best fall down sometimes
Even the wrong words seem to rhyme
Out of the doubt that fills my mind
I somehow find
You and I collide

I'm quiet you know
You make a first impression
I've found I'm scared to know I'm always on your mind

Even the best fall down sometimes
Even the stars refuse to shine
Out of the back you fall in time
I somehow find
You and I collide

Even the best fall down sometimes
Even the wrong words seem to ryhme
Out of the doubt that fills your mind
You finally find
You and I collide

You finally find
You and I collide
You finally find
You and I collide

Come join Music Monday and share your songs with us. One simple rule, leave ONLY the actual post link here. You can grab this code at LJL Please note these links are STRICTLY for Music Monday participants only. All others will be deleted.

Music Monday: Drift Away

I was thinking about the old Dobie Gray song, "Drift Away" for Music Monday, but when I searched YouTube for a video I happened to discover this cover by Uncle Kracker. Gimme the beat, boys...



Day after day I'm more confused
Yet I look for the light
Through the pourin' rain
You know that's a game that I hate to lose
And I'm feeling the strain
Ain't it a shame

Oh, give me the beat, boys, and free my soul
I want to get lost in your rock and roll
And drift away
[repeat]

Beginning to think that I'm wasting time
I don't understand the things I do
The world outside looks so unkind
Now I'm counting on you
To carry me through

Oh, give me the beat, boys, and free my soul
I want to get lost in your rock and roll
And drift away
[repeat]

And when my mind is free
You know a melody can move me
And when I'm feeling blue
The guitar's coming through to soothe me

Thanks for the joy that you're given me
I want you to know I believe in your song
Your rythm and rhyme and harmony
You've helped me along
Makin' me strong

Oh, give me the beat, boys, and free my soul
I want to get lost in your rock and roll
And drift away
[repeat]
Na, na, now won't ya
Won't ya take, oh ha ..take me

Come join Music Monday and share your songs with us. One simple rule, leave ONLY the actual post link here. You can grab this code at LJL Please note these links are STRICTLY for Music Monday participants only. All others will be deleted.