In my younger days I would have been coming in from a night out at three o’clock in the morning. Middle age and hormones have me going to bed early on a Saturday and waking at three in the morning wide awake.

Faced with the dilemma with what to do to pass the time before the Sunday newspaper arrived, I decided to channel surf. I discovered this is the time of the day to learn how to become a millionaire, get in shape, or find the miracle mop.

That’s right, for a mere $39.95 plus shipping and handling you can purchase just about anything. Channel surfing used to find television commercials with Ron Popile selling his pocket fisherman or his hair paint. Infomercials have consumed thirty minutes of air-time on channel after channel. These infomercials are hosted by real celebrities who have real problems like acne or cellulite. They convince us that they are taking time out of their busy work schedules to share these amazing products in the privacy of our own home.

The variety of products offered at this special time is overwhelming. There are shoe inserts that can improve your golf game, a perfect push-up machine that can get you ripped in no time, miracle mops, blenders, and vacuum cleaners. The total gym fitness machine is endorsed by both an ex-supermodel and an out-of-work action hero. This machine will change your body fat content in less that one hour a week. That’s a total of ONE HOUR a week. An ex-super model and an out-of-work action hero wouldn’t lie to us.

Susanne Somers began with the thigh master. It worked for her. She has diversified to two hours segments on HSN selling everything from jewelry, to clothes, to food and the kitchen appliances used to prepare it. She has made more money merchandising that she did as an actress. I guess she’s a better salesman than actress.

We vacation with a friend that has purchased the Time Life Collection of music. Depending on how long our stay, we get to hear the tunes of the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s. After listening to thirty years of music we are ready to come home.

Finding a way to eliminate sagging skin and wrinkles is tempting. Especially knowing the dark circles I will have since I am awake way before the crack of dawn. While I’m at it I can change the channel and get me some of those anti-aging vitamins.

Now if I should decide I want to become a millionaire and work strictly from my home, all I have to do is send three payments of $39.95 (plus shipping and handling) and I will learn how to buy bank repossessions. If that doesn’t work I can call the toll free number for the debt consolidation I will need from all of these three easy payments and the house full of miracle products that will flood my doorway. Lucky for me “The Advocate” arrived and I could get back to reality.

Avoid These Frightening Investment Moves

You’re probably not too frightened about what you’ll see on Halloween this week. But you can find some things in life that are truly scary - such as making bad investment moves. Here are a few to avoid:

Mistake No. 1: Investing too little in your 401(k) and IRA - Contribute as much as you can afford to your 401(k) and try to fully fund your IRA each year.

Mistake No. 2: Investing too conservatively - To achieve the growth you’ll need to pay for retirement, you can’t afford to invest only in certificates of deposit and Treasury bills - you’ll also want to consider some stocks.

Mistake No. 3: Timing the market - It’s impossible to know when your investments are priced low enough to buy or high enough to sell. Buy quality investments and hold them for the long term.

Don’t make these scary investment moves - and have a Happy Halloween.

Since my last article, the college football world has been turned upside down with so many upsets with big names like Texas, Oklahoma, Michigan, Wisconsin, West Virginia and I almost forgot...the USC Trojans. The Trojans lost to 40 point underdog Stanford at home 24-23, that coming 15 minutes before the conclusion of the #1 LSU Tigers and the Florida Gators in Death Valley. LSU was able to come from behind to beat Florida 28-24 and more importantly run its record to 6-0. Back to the Trojans, this team as most of us knows, is quarterbacked by John David Booty of Evangel (Shreveport) and has a player by the name of Joe Mcknight (John Curtis) on its roster. That’s the same Joe that spurned the Tigers at the last hour for the Trojans. I just think that the Trojans had it coming to them, playing sub par in wins over Washington and Idaho; they flirted with defeat. I’m surely not going to count out the Trojans with 6 games to go and they don’t have to play in a conference championship game (i.e. The SEC and others do), which means they could possibly end up 11-1 and still play for the BCS title...stay tuned.

The Tigers are 6-0 after the Florida win, with crucial games at Kentucky, home vs. Auburn, at Alabama and home versus Arkansas to come. Les Miles has rolled the dice several times this year with 4th down conversions, fake punts, fake field goals and playing 2 QB’s. So far so good for Coach Miles, but still a ways to go to the ultimate goal of playing for a BCS crown in New Orleans.

Just finished watching our beloved Saints go to 0-4. This is the same team that was one win away from the Super Bowl. So many problems: offensive line, injuries, poor kicker, average D and just some bad luck. This team was picked to represent the NFC in this year’s big game. No chance of that coming to fruition. I picked the Saints to go 10-6, if they reverse that to 6-10, that might be asking a lot from this team. Keep the faith (haven’t we done that for 40 years). The Saints may end up with 2-4 wins and get a great pick in the draft. Note to Coach Payton, please don’t pick a wide receiver from Tennessee in next year’s draft. First round pick Robert Meachem has yet to smell the field through 4 games.

The DHS Tigers are off to a 5-1 start and everything points to a week 10 match-up with the St. John Eagles for the District Championship. Coach Gary Adkins’ group has put up gaudy numbers on offense and played very stingy on defense. The question to answer is not if the Tigers will be in the playoffs, but how high of a seed can they garner. I am hoping they can finish 9-1 and end up around #5 or so. Staying away from the John Curtis Patriots will be key, along with a handful of other tough teams in 2A. Two-A is loaded with great teams with the DHS Tigers being one of them. If you hadn’t seen the Tigers play, you are missing out.

The ACHS Bulldogs, under Coach Rick Bolotte are 3-3 on the season as of press time. The Dogs continue to play hard and have been in every game excluding Livonia in week 5. A tough road game at North Iberville looms large in week 7 followed by the Homecoming game on October 19 with Delcambre could put the Dogs at 5-3 heading into the final 2 weeks of the season. Week 9 and 10 include White Castle and West St John, both good teams with more talent than ACHS. One thing is for sure, if you want to beat the Dogs, do it now. They return 18 plus starters next season and have some good young talent. Come out and see the Dogs play, you will not be disappointed.

The ACHS Volleyball team is in line for another district championship and a nice playoff run. Coach Chandra Ewen’s group is led by Seniors Cassie Blanchard and Joyy Joseph. Juniors Ashlyn Grisaffe, Ali Bouchereau, Alison Falcon and Katherine Capone continue to improve and provide the Lady Dogs with excitement along the way. Stay tuned for the November issue for results of the State Volleyball Tournament in Kenner.

Basketball season is right around the corner; more updates in the November issue. Tune in to KKAY 1590am for High School football. Stories and news can be sent to me at troyleboeuf@hotmail.com

Add an R-S-S to your S-I-T-E and get more T-R-A-F-F-I-C

Want an easy way to distribute your news/events? Want more web traffic? Then you need an RSS news feed. RSS stands for Real Simple Syndication.

The RSS format allows syndication of your site, and makes news headlines, upcoming events, and other important topical information available to your interested customers. Each listing has a hyperlink directly to your website, generating more traffic for your site.

RSS works by offering an interested customer who is visiting your website an RSS link which adds your “feed” to their software, keeping them continuously in touch with your website and any announcements you want released. If they are a first time RSS user, the link will allow them to download and use RSS software. Now a popular site tool in web design, many simple and free programs are already available that file your subscribed link for customers with other links they have selected, organizing them much like an email inbox.

Why should I make a feed available? RSS news feed will increase the number of viewers to your site, and develop regular viewers by maintaining contact with them and targeting their specific interests. Your viewers will thank you because it allows them to see your site without going out of their way to visit.

Imagine your company regularly announces a new product or feature every month or two. Without a feed, your viewers have to remember to come to your site to see what is new— if they have time, if they remember. By providing RSS feed for them, viewers can direct their software to display a link to your site and a description of new developments almost as soon as they happen.

Choosing Content for Your Feeds. Any information on your site that viewers might be interested in tracking or re-using is a good candidate for a feed. This can encompass news headlines and press releases, job listings, conference calendars and rankings, or upcoming events. RSS feed is particularly effective in distributing topical and time sensitive information.

Finally, remember that feeds are just as — if not more — useful on an Intranet than they are on the Internet. Syndication can be a powerful tool for sharing and integrating information inside a company.

Telling People About Your Feed. An important step after publishing a feed is letting your viewers know that it exists. There are a lot of feeds available on the web now, but it’s hard to find them, making it difficult for viewers to utilize them. Placing RSS links on the web page that is most similar to the feed content enables people to easily find them as they browse.

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