My East Ky

So I went to the Floyd County Times website today and noticed a new “peel away” advertisement in the top right hand corner for Inter Mountain Cable. Being as I always like to stretch my dollar I figured I would browse there site to see what they have to offer. I was shocked at their prices for DSL service as well as prices for their cable and VOIP services. The cheapest available DSL service they offer is 256k/256k with a price of $24.95 a month, that’s hardly considered broadband in my book. Their top of the line DSL package is 6mb/1mb for a low $229.95 a month! That is unreal; do they actually have people subscribing to this package? If so they are complete suckers.

The TV packages they offer are just ridiculous add $10 a month if you want TV in more than 1 room with digital service and oh you want DVR service to? Add another $9.95. Plus lets say you want to use that new High definition LCD you just got add another $8.95 for 18 High Def channels. Ha what a joke. I’m not even going to go into their VOIP services. But I will dive into their “Triple Play Bundles”. The lowest package they have costs $99.93 a month and will get you High Speed Internet access and the blazing connection speed of 256k/256k (lol) with 75 minutes of nationwide calling and basic analog cable.  The top of line mack daddy “triple play service ” offered will set you back a mere $151.93 and for that you will get Unlimited calling, calling features? I guess caller ID and call waiting, Internet access with a connection speed of 3MB/256k, and Digital Tv with over 150 channels ( no High def or DVR service included).

They are several other packages available via their website and all are just as ridiculous as these. Does Inter Mountain Cable have a monopoly in the areas they service? I really can’t see anyone paying these prices. It sure makes me feel a lot better about paying AT&T $47.95 a month for a 6MB/512k naked DSL Connection.

Last year my poor Pomeranian (Max) was terribly infested with fleas by the end of August. A daily bath was necessary to try and relieve him of the agony. You could see the despair in is face as he constantly dug away at the fleas biting him. I went so far as to shave him to the skin. We were completely infested within a week or so. By that time you could not lay in the floor without getting bite by a flea. To try and get rid of them I tried just about every Harts product available @ Wal-mart, flea dips, flea shampoo, flea and tick collars. I also set off multiple bombs to try and relieve the infestation in the house.  I have always heard people have got good results from Frontline Plus and by this point Max and I was going to try anything, So I stopped by Rudolph’s Office and picked up a month supply and rushed home to apply to Max.

After another quick bath and a drying I applied it via the instructions and hoped it worked. Unfortunately it did not even make a dent. Poor Max seemed never to get any relief. We eventually got rid of the infestation by doing a daily bath, multiple “bombs”, and hand grooming the dog. But I believe the cold weather that came in helped a lot eventually killing the remaining fleas and eggs. I was completely disappointed by Frontline Plus. It seemed to not even make a dent with the fleas.

Fast forward to this spring I have already begun thinking about the upcoming season and how Max and I were not going to repeat last year. This time I gave Advantix a try, applying it monthly starting in May. All I can say is wow what a difference not a single flea or tick was found my dog Max. It was so great to go the entire summer without having those issues. I will probably keep applying Advantix up until December then start reapplying about the same time I did this year May. I do think getting head starts on the problem definitely help keep the issue at bay. If you do any research on Frontline or Advantix you will see that the reviews of each product vary, some report Frontline Plus does an excellent job as others report Advantix gets the jobs done. I believe you just have to do a trial and error thing to see what fits your pet best. Also be careful with these products as you can overdose you dog or cat if you’re not careful.

With my little girl now 4 years old and soon to be 5. Me and her mother decided it was a great idea to get her into preschool, plus our daughter was more than ready to go. She is/was totally excited. Almost every day we play/pretend that she has homework to do, has multiple book bags varying from Dora the explorer to Winnie the Pooh. So around 2 or 3 months ago we went to sign her up, and were told we would receive a letter either accepting or denying her. At the time the only possible reason I could think of denying her a head start is that the classes was filled to capacity, first come first serve kind of thing.

Fast forward to this week (one week before school starts) and we still have not heard anything from the Floyd County Board of Education. We even decided to attend the open house at one of the Floyd County Schools. At the open house we did learn that 1 preschool class had 16 out of 20 slots filled. So we were optimistic that she would be attending school this year. But we left not knowing if she was going to be able to attend.

So today a couple of calls were made and to our surprise we were told that she was not eligible because of our income. Apparently we make too much money. Yes that’s right, we have a very eager young lady wanting to attend school and 2 parents that want the best for their child but was denied because we make too much money? I thought something was strange when check stubs were required when she was signed up. I just assumed they use it for statistics or something? Not to look at the amount of money parents make and say you make too much so you must wait. What kind of system is this? What really gets me irritated is that there is room for her. Why is this decision based on income?

Don’t get me wrong I completely understand children with disabilities, should have first serve to help them improve. But as I stated they said they have room! On the Kentucky Department Of Education it states

Kentucky’s preschool education programs are available for all four-year-old children whose family income is no more than 150% of poverty; all three and four-year-old children with developmental delays and disabilities, regardless of income; and other four-year- old children as placements are available based on district decision.  The preschool program is designed to be developmentally appropriate for young children.  “Developmentally appropriate” is defined in law to mean that the program focuses on the child’s physical, intellectual, social and emotional development, including interpersonal, intrapersonal, and socialization skills.

OK first there is room in the class, second: how can they tell what is “Developmentally appropriate” by income. Funny thing is that half the people we talk to tells us that there are always students that stop going and she will more than likely be able to attend around Christmas.

Fun Fact: The USA Poverty level for 2008 with a household of 3 is $17,600.00

Well after reading an article on the Floyd County Times website, it’s interesting to see that “Munroe” is going to run for city council with 3 other wannabe council members Bucky Collins, Harry Adams, and Tony Conn. Looks like it’s going to be an interesting race. From the article it seems that none of the candidates have an exact plan on what they would do other then fixing some signs, or some general issues, with not getting specific on how they would obtain their goals. It’s easy to say you want to boost the local economy but what good is it to elect you if you have no idea on where to begin? I’m sure every council member right now would love to boost Prestonsburg’s economy and bring in new business but that is definitely easier said than done.

There was also a note about the Prestonsburg’s wireless access and how it was opposed by some. Is it even still operational? Not heard anything about it since its launch. Like I said before unfortunately IMO this was a waste of time and money. Wireless access is not a deciding factor in recruiting new businesses. It’s a nice perk I guess I would say but that’s about it. Here is a article from Virginiabuisness. In the article you will see that Bristol decided to with fiber optics to lure in new business’s, and guess what? A business in the neighboring state moved its 30 employee business there. Fiber optics is the future.

I always thought Dawahares was a little pricey but I never imagined that they were in financial trouble. So I was surprised when I read that they were closing the doors in Pikeville & Paintsville. Where am I going to buy some good UK gear now? I guess the economy is really starting to affect the retailers in our area harder now. Who knows how many, or which ones are next? September 30th is reportedly the closing date, so maybe we will be able to get some good deals on some clothing items?

I remember going school shopping with my mom for many years and Dawahares was always one of the shopping stops that we made, and that’s been about 20 years ago more or less. I for one will miss shopping there, but maybe this will open up an opportunity for somebody else.