Last year Oprah and her friend Gayle decided to see the USA in a Chevrolet. They took turns driving as they toured the country. During this trip we learned that Oprah doesn’t like to merge, drive across bridges and over-passes or changing lanes. Gayle on the other hand could handle the driving; she just had to keep singing to the radio.

I, just like Oprah, do not have a passion for driving. I am spoiled with life in Donaldsonville. I am completely content to struggle to pull out on Marchand Drive at 5:00PM on Friday. That is the most “jammed-up” in traffic I can contend with.

I don’t like to merge or pass a car on two-lane highways. And I don’t like changing lanes. I get really nervous riding on interstates with more than 3 lanes going in one direction. It feels like the bumper cars with cars coming at you in all directions.

I have made it this long without driving in New Orleans. I will drive in Baton Rouge if I have to. I much rather be in the passenger seat.

Night driving is another story. I always had a tendency to see cows on the side of the road at night. One night a girlfriend from New Roads and I went out to Tony’s Lounge. Returning home we both saw cows in my Grandmother’s yard on the River Road. I said, “Look Colleen, cows,” as I turned into Landry-Lasseigne Street. She said, “That’s right D’ville, that’s cows.” I then explained to her they were not supposed to be there. And we did both see them. It wasn’t just my imagination.

I knew these cows were lost and had gotten out of the pasture behind Nez’s house. I called Puddy Gautreau’s house at l:00 in the morning and asked if Puddy was there. His wife Pam was surprised by the question, but was polite enough to put him on the phone. I told him, “Puddy your cows are loose!” He did thank me later and said what a sight it was to see him in his boxers with cowboy boots and a bucket of feed leading the cows back home.

I really have a lot of trouble seeing at night. A lot of people have that trouble. I do have glasses to wear for my night vision. They do help, however everyone is safer it I’m not at the wheel, especially in new territory.

I did have to drive back from Gulf Shores one time. Peter swears he had a bad cheese stick at the Flora Bama and wasn’t feeling very well. He had gotten me through the tunnel in Mobile so I stayed on I-10 and hit I-55, skipping New Orleans completely.

Oprah did express her regrets in taking on such a trip in a Chevrolet Impala. She is used to riding in much higher standards...private jets and limos. That mode of transportation would work for me also.

Smart Financial Moves Can Pay Off After Layoff

If you get laid off, it’s unquestionably a tough break. However, if you make the right investment-related moves, you don’t have to “downsize” your important financial goals.

Above all else, don’t panic when you learn of an impending termination. Don’t rush to collect the money from your 401(k) or other retirement plan. Of course, if your retirement account is your main source of savings, you may have no choice. But you can get much more flexibility, and continue to enjoy the benefit of tax deferral, by rolling over your retirement assets into an IRA.

You might also want to adjust your investment portfolio to accommodate your risk tolerance, ability to invest and need for growth and income.

With careful planning, you can survive a layoff - and stay on track toward the future you’ve envisioned.

The dog days of summer are here, with that comes 90 plus temps, longer days and very little sports of interest to watch on TV. Major League baseball is in full swing with a few surprises so far. The Yankees are ten games back, the Brewers are in first and the steroid investigation of Barry Bonds continues. Bonds is twelve homers away from Hank Aaron’s record; it may happen before the all-star break in July, stay tuned.

Our high school teams are in their off season program of weights, conditioning and summer league play. Good luck to our young athletes as they prepare for the 2007-08 school year of athletics.

LSU football has some very high expectations for the 2007 season. Early predictions have the Tigers as high as #2 behind the USC Trojans. How about a Superdome match up between those two in the national championship game in January 2008? The national championship game will be in the Dome as the rotation has come around once again. Remember the last time the championship was played in the dome… Tigers 21 Sooners 14, déjà vu 4 years later? The SEC will be as tough as ever with 4-5 teams in the top 20 and the return of Nick Saban to Bama; stay tuned.

The NBA finals are getting underway as of press time with the Spurs and Cavs hooking it up. It’s time Duncan leads a veteran Spurs team going for its 4th title in 9 years. The Cavs took care of the Pistons in 6 and are led by Lebron James, whom some are comparing to Michael Jordan, not so fast please. James is truly a talent and the face of the NBA at 23 years old, but let’s not get carried away and compare him to Jordan, not yet at least.

I will preview high school football in the next couple of issues, as well as predictions on the Saints, Jags and LSU. I would love to hear from our readers on how you think those teams will do. Please email me at troyleboeuf@hotmail.com. In the July issue, I should be able to let you know about a new addition to my team…stay tuned. Local sports can be heard on KKAY 1590AM.
I can be reached at troyleboeuf@hotmail.com for stories on news.
led by Champlain Babin and Roy Sam. Troy LeBoeuf can be reached at troyleboeuf@hotmail.com for comments or stories of interest.

What is spam?

Used by some senders despite laws to limit its use, spam floods the internet with a particular message copied many times in an attempt to force that message on people who would not otherwise choose to receive it. Most spam is commercial advertising.

There are two main types of spam. Cancellable Usenet spam is a single message sent to 20 or more Usenet newsgroups. As a result, Usenet users have learned that any message posted to such a broad range of newsgroups is usually not relevant to most or all of them.

Email spam targets individual users with direct mail messages. Email spam lists are often created by scanning Usenet postings, stealing Internet mailing lists, or searching the Web for addresses. In addition to time, email spams typically cost users money out-of-pocket to receive.

How it works

Spammers use various ruses to trick users into opening their emails, such as placing “Dear friend” or “Remember me” in the subject line. More generic subjects like, “Your money has been refunded” or “About your Web site” attempt to peak users interest.

Because email is a relatively cheap form of advertising, spammers can afford to send copies of their junk email to tens of thousands of email addresses. They know that only a small percentage of the recipients will be duped into responding, even less (in the case of advertising spam) into buying their product.

What to do if you think you have been a victim of spam

• Do not respond to a spam email to complain.
  
• Ignore spam.
  
• Delete junk email messages without opening them.
  
• Update your email junk mail program and email filters
  
• Don’t give personal information in an email or instant message.
  
• Don’t forward chain email messages.

Spam is definitely one of the most troublesome and sometimes dangerous aspects of email and using the internet. There are many things you can do to reduce the impact of spam and yet it will always be with us. The most important thing you can do about spam is not make your email address available to spammers and when you do receive spam, delete it.

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