The Special Benefits of Giving Blood

Given the tragic circumstances surrounding Haiti, and the devastation in that area, there has understandably been a huge outpouring of support for those poor people.  Unfortunately, one of my co-workers grew up in Haiti, and he still has family over there.  The support he has received at my work has been uplifting to him and his family.  At a time like this, it is not unusual to think seriously about how you can help out your fellow man.  Giving blood is a way you can do just that…

For the first 50 years of my life I had never given blood.  When my eldest daughter turned 17, she was eligible in our state, to give blood.  Without hesitation, she decided to donate.  I was intrigued by the fact that she decided to do this, given that neither I, nor my wife, had given blood in the past.  She simply wanted to help out her fellow man and this was a substantive way for her to do so.  She didn’t have any money, but she did have something she could give that was more valuable.

Seeing how generous she had been, I decided, at the ripe age of 50, to give my first donation.  The fact that I waited this long to donate, was not for any particular reason.  I am not afraid of needles, and I don’t have any pre-existing conditions that would prevent me from donating.  I can’t really explain why I waited so long.  All I can say is that my eldest daughter inspired me to go make that first blood donation.  So, what are the benefits, you may ask?

You may help as many as three people with one donation.

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A Practical Home Solution for an Ugly Roof.

This blog is geared toward practical solutions, and I certainly have one for you with this post. We had a new roof done on our house approximately ten years ago and, for a long time, it looked great. As the years went by, it started developing black streaks and mold on the roof shingles on the shady side of the house.  Understandably, I was concerned that we’d have to have our roof replaced.  And the most unnerving thing was that we were told that it should last at least 20 years.  So, I made it a point to start looking at other houses in my town and I saw these black streaks on the roofs of many homes.  I remember distinctly, as we backed out of our driveway one day, my eldest daughter exclaimed, “Our roof looks horrible!”  And I agreed, wholeheartedly. Read More>>

5 Parental Tips for Dealing with College Separation Anxiety.

So you’ve just dropped off your child at college for the first time and are feeling the pain.  That final hug was a lot more difficult than you had originally expected.  Your first-born is now among people you do not know, in a completely foreign environment, and you feel helpless as a parent.  My eldest daughter left for college for the first time last August.  The trauma of her exodus was detailed in this post.   Ironically, today we just returned from bringing her back to college after her 5-week holiday break at home.  Let’s just say that it was a whole lot easier dropping her off this time.  For those of you who have already gone through this college separation anxiety, congratulations on dealing with it and moving onto another phase of your lives.  After having gone through this heart-wrenching experience, I think I can help out my fellow brethren deal with being separated from their child for possibly the first time.  There are certainly things that you can do, as parents, to make this transition easier, for both you, and your child.

1. Communicate, but give them space.

As a parent, it is important to reach a happy medium with your child, in terms of communication, after they are at their college home. Read More>>

7 Ways To Warm Up To Better Coffee.

This is a guest post by Mike Crimmins. If you want to guest post on this blog, click here to get more information.

For some people coffee is nothing more than brown water and a source of caffeine. For other people it’s an experience like tasting wine, exploring new regions of the world as well as different parts of your tongue.

Once you’ve tasted good coffee, you’ll never want to go back to that stale ground coffee that comes in huge plastic bins. The good news is that you don’t have to spend a fortune to get great tasting coffee every morning.

Step 1

Buy a coffee grinder and whole beans. You can purchase a decent grinder for twenty bucks. The reason that you need a grinder is that ground coffee goes stale in fifteen minutes. Want to guess how long it was sitting on the grocery store shelf before you picked it up?

Step 2

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Do you have to work full-time?

This is a guest post by Jen Smith. If you want to guest post on this blog, click here to get more information.

I have gotten a lot better at managing my money in the last few years. Now I have to be honest and attribute a lot of the credit for this to my husband . He is good at managing money in a very positive way and luckily our values and goals in life are very similar. However, obviously I am a willing learner and partner in this process for it to work. I haven’t always been this way and I wanted to share what I have been learning about money and how the way I now manage my money has enabled me to work less.

I have worked full-time in my main job (37 hrs) until July 2009, when I started working 30 hrs. Read More>>

Interview with FrugalTheme creator, Eric Hamm.

In my relatively short tenure in the blogging world, I’ve been fortunate to come across some really good people.  One of them I actually met after purchasing his WordPress theme, FrugalTheme.  His name is Eric Hamm, and his story is an interesting one if you are a blogger or not.  If you’ve ever considered making a living online this interview is definitely for you.  Eric was nice enough to thoroughly answer a number of questions I posed to him.  So let’s get right to the interview.

When did you first get involved in the blogging world and why?

July 21st, 2008, I wrote my first post on my personal blog Motivate Thyself.  It was just a week or so before the publishing of that post that I started thinking about starting a blog and maybe even an online business. Read More>>

5 Important Benefits of Time Management for Students.

This is a guest post by Adrienne Carlson. If you want to guest post on this blog, click here to get more information.

From the time we begin school till the time we graduate from college, we lead the charmed life of a student. We are free from the regular responsibilities of adult life with nothing to worry about except how to get good grades and enjoy life without getting into serious trouble. But in spite of this relatively carefree life, there are certain responsibilities that we have, mainly to ourselves and our personal development. Each year that passes by, we must grow in maturity and wisdom, and one aspect of maturing as a student is to learn how to manage time. Time management is important for students because it:

1. Develops Responsibility. Read More>>

How do you plan on increasing blog traffic in 2010?

It’s the New Year and, as always, the word “resolution” gets bandied about in many conversations at this time of year.  Here, at TotallyUniqueLife, I’m interested in what your resolutions are for the coming year when it comes to blogging.  I know that all of my readers are not bloggers, but I would imagine that a large majority are blogging regularly.  If you currently have a blog, I’d really like to hear about how you plan on increasing your blog traffic in 2010. For what it is worth, my priorities are to do more guest posting and to refine my blog design.  If you’re interested in reading any of my guest posts of 2009, please see the right sidebar under “Guest Posts”.

Now let’s hear from you… Please take my poll!

I’d love to hear your comments about your plans for this year and, if you chose “Other”, I’d like to know what you plan on doing to increase traffic to your blog.

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The Drawbacks of Taking an Online Degree.

As I stated in my previous post, this Spring I will be completing my third degree but this one will be completely online.  In that post I discussed the benefits of taking an online degree.  In this post I will focus on the drawbacks of taking an online degree and an analysis of the two at the end.

Now let’s get to the drawbacks …

Removed from the College Scene.

My eldest daughter is currently a freshman in college and she lives there full-time. Even though she has been there for only a little over three months she now calls it “home”. The camaraderie that she feels with her fellow classmates is strong. Read More>>

The Benefits of Taking an Online Degree.

This Spring I will be completing my third degree but this one was a little bit different than the other two. This degree will be completed totally online. Online education has been a whole new ballgame for me as far as schooling is concerned. Since I work full-time (and not on this blog), taking an online degree was an attractive option for me.

When it comes to education I tend to live my life by the quote:

“The truly educated never graduate”.

I’m sure that there are many of you out there who either have taken online courses or are considering it. Some colleges out there offer complete degrees online and in this post I will detail what I consider the benefits. In my next post I will focus in on some of the drawbacks of online education. Read More>>

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