In my school, when you took Algebra 2, you also took Trigonometry at the same time. After that you took Functions. I got an A in Algebra 2 and Trigonometry, and went on to the Functions class. The teacher there was a hateful man who stated at the beginning of the class that he had never given a girl anything but an F and he never would give a girl anything but an F. He said he would not grade their papers, or tests, and told us all to drop the class immediately. He said that the girls were occupying seats that boys should have. He also said he would not even answer questions that any girls asked.

The next day of class, I was the only girl remaining. At the time my brother also was taking the exact same class, and we did our homework together. We got the same answers, and my papers all got Fs, and his got As. And true to his word, the teacher refused to answer any of my questions, and gave me Fs on all of my tests.

When I complained to the school’s administration, they went to the teacher, who claimed that I needed to be sent back to the Algebra 2/Trig class because I was weak in Algebra and needed Algebra 2 help. So the school sent me back to Algebra 2/Trig for the remainder of the year, where I got straight A’s AGAIN.

In college, I took every math class the college offered, and got straight A’s. I’d like to find that old high school teacher and rub his nose in my college diploma!

A teacher would never get away with that in these modern times!

Since then I’ve seen other textbooks that students use to learn Statistics, and I’m very grateful that I had the professor that I had!  Most of the students that I talk to now say that they struggle with the subject and feel that they need to find a Statistics tutor to help them pass the class!  Lucky for them, the Internet has made it possible for students to get online Statistics help for free at the tutorvista.com website.  When I was taking statistics in college, this type of assistance was just a pipe dream.  Now it’s a reality!  Today’s students are so lucky to have so much help at their fingertips!

Well, I resisted for a long time, but I finally ordered the Quicken and installed it. I find the program to be very difficult to use. I don’t think it is user friendly at all. It lacks many of the features that I loved about the MSMoney program. It does not let me “direct debit” payments. It only lets me forecast up to 30 days in the future. It doesn’t seem to let me schedule automatic payments that should just be entered into the checkbook every month.

I haven’t even tried to figure out what kind of reports I might be able to get from it. Right now I’m frustrated and disappointed. I miss my MSMoney program!

This kind of credit counseling process certainly makes it harder for the consumer to get out of debt!  So I would like to urge everyone to take some time and either research the facts over the Internet or talk to a professional financial adviser.  There are a lot of things to consider when it comes to protecting your credit, and getting out of debt!  And in this economic turmoil we are still in, protecting your credit rating is more important than ever!

In later years I was really proud of my kids that they ended up making a little bit of money by tutoring other kids after school!  It wasn’t a lot of money, but I was really proud of them just the same!  Just knowing that the teachers thought well enough of them to recommend them as tutors was a big compliment!  Now, just a very few years later, I learned of a Free Online Tutoring service that kids can turn to if they have trouble with math.  I sure wish we had that service back when I was in school!  I just might have done better in geometry!

There sure was a lot of money to be made back then!  The current financial situation reminds me of way back then.  So many advertisements are on television lately about place that you can to buy gold bullion for investment purposes.  I feel rather sad that people feel that investing in gold bullion is a safer way to invest than to buy stocks.  Although I agree that it is a good idea to buy bullion as part of an investment plan, I thnk that diversification is the right plan of action.  Never put all your eggs in one basket!

The National Institute of Small Business Grants and SCORE are two of the few non-profit organizations that are set up to assist the new entrepreneur with the tools that they need to get their business up and running.  They can help with good advice about setting up and running a business, how to find and apply for business grants, and even how to write a business plan.  The great thing about grants is that they don’t have to be repaid!  I’d much rather have a grant than a loan, wouldn’t you?

I’m glad that there are organizations available to help the small businessman out there.  The marketplace is a very challenging one, and the entrepreneur needs all the help he/she can get!

For example, if you lived in Houston and needed an oil change or tune up for your Acura Integra, you could go to this great website that I found called repairpal.com and type in the words “Houston auto repair” in their search box and you will be shown a list of reputable service stations. You can also get an estimate of what it should cost you. I like that feature the best because if you know in advance about how much it should cost, then you are armed and ready to deal with the vermin that might try to take advantage of you!  I like that kind of power, don’t you?