Your Moment is Now

Hugh Laurie has become very well known in the United States for the character of Dr. Gregory House he plays on the TV show “House”. His quick witted humor is tinged with a bit of sarcasm and sometimes, he’s just downright rude. His character is a temperamental genius, an artist in the world of medicine with his life saving realizations seeming to come out of nowhere. And he almost always solves the medical mystery. But where did this actor come from? Unless some people watch the video of him on You Tube they may not realize that his American accent, is not his real accent, as he was born and raised in Oxford, England. And while watching him on You Tube, you might want to check out the corporate youtube channel of financial organizations to help you with your own Oxford, or other university degree.

Hugh Laurie received his degree in Anthropology from Cambridge University. He was a rower, and…the president of the theatre group called the Footlights Revue. His first co-stars are none other than the respected actors, Emma Thompson and Stephen Fry. All three appeared at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe held in Scotland, in 1981 in a show that he himself produced called “The Cellar Tapes”. At that festival, the show won the coveted Perrier Award, and suddenly the three of them were embarking on many groundbreaking shows for television. Some of which included the hilarious “Jeeves and Wooster” and “Black Adder”.

His movie credits are extensive. In the States he has shared the screen with actors such as Catherine Keener, James Broadbent, Reese Witherspoon, Jessica Lange, Kenneth Branagh and Forest Whitaker. He is equally versed in comedy as well as gritty drama, and has even provided the voice for animated feature films. As well as voice-overs for the wildly popular TV shows “The Simpsons” and “Family Guy”.

Not only that…he sings and dances as well. Many episodes of his hit show “House” have him seated at the piano or playing the harmonica. And in the episodes where he was in the insane asylum, there were song and dance numbers. His scripts for “A Bit of Fry and Laurie” have been published, as well as has his first novel. The novel is titled “The Gun Seller, has been published here in the States as well as in his home country of the United Kingdom. Recently it was adapted into a screenplay.

Some celebrities become spokespeople for various companies, such as moneymutualreviews.com , and Laurie is no different. He is the spokesman for L’Oreal Paris Men. But he’s more than a spokesperson. He has garnered many awards for his performances over the years, including six Outstanding Lead Actor nominations for the Emmy Awards, 2 Golden Globe Awards, and best performance awards from the Screen Actors Guild . With all that behind him, one can only imagine what this next season of “House” will bring, and what these coming years of the incredible Hugh Laurie will bring…on the small screen, as well as the big screen. Whatever that may be, it will be exciting and new…maybe funny, and always raw and true.

There is an aspect for vacation planning that is typical for most people, and it does not relate to the trip itself. Well, that is, other than the fact the during the trip the vacationers themselves will be away from home. And unfortunately, many criminals prey on people specifically during their vacation time. There are some standard tip-offs to these thieves, and some of the obvious ones include a buildup of newspapers in the lawn, no lights on during the evening, mailboxes that are over filled and no standard activity in and out of the house. How do they know what is standard activity? Thieves can start to target homes early in the vacation season, meaning late spring and early summer. They will observe houses in a neighborhood and become familiar with certain routines. The initial indicators, newspapers and houselights, are the more obvious with routine comings and goings being a more determined house or neighborhood casing.

It has become standard practice for most homeowners to have their newspaper service temporarily held or picked up by a neighbor. The same neighbor or friend can also bring in the mail and move the car periodically. Homeowners can also have lights timed to turn on in the evenings. It’s also becoming more common to have a house sitter while you’re away. This is a great option, especially if you have pets . Meanwhile, protecting your valuables, whether it’s jewelry, cash, documents or other items, is an essential part of safety planning. Many people have safe-deposit banks, while others have secret hiding places in their homes. If you store valuables in your home, purchasing one of the numerous models of home safes is your best option. Enjoy your vacation, and part of that is ensuring that your home is safe while you are away.

For many bringing a child into your home is a wonderful thing. It often requires a lot of preparation; making sure they have room, clothes, food. It is also important to make sure they are safe. When new parents bring their babies home for the first time they have often gone to great lengths to ensure that all the cabinets and doors have safety latches and all the fragile items are safely stored. One area that is not often thought of is the window treatments. There are several things that you can do to keep your children safe from dangerous blinds, as well as preserving your blinds from rambunctious kids.

The concern that comes first and foremost is your child’s safety. Blinds that have very long chords can present a choking hazard if your child were to get caught them. The safest option is to install cordless blinds from Next Day Blinds or adjust them so they will be well out of the way of curious little fingers. Another concern with mini-blinds in particular is lead poisoning. Some brands of vinyl mini-blinds have been shown to contain lead. Poisoning can occur very easily by either chewing on the blinds or touching the blinds containing lead dust and then touching their mouth. It is important to find out if your mini-blinds contain lead by reading the box or contacting the manufacturer and replacing them if they do.

Once your children are safe it is time to move on the windows. Some of the easiest blinds to damage are mini-blinds. Because they are thin and made from either vinyl or aluminum, they bend very easily. Most of them also require a well-practiced technique to move them up and down; which is difficult for a child to master and will probably result in more damage to the blinds. Consider some sturdy wooden blinds or shutters from Next Day Blinds. They are made of much thicker and stronger wood so they won’t break easily, as well as an easy to use opening device.

The next time you do a safety check after your home, don’t forget to check the windows.

I was working at a bookstore in Saint Paul when I first heard of David Sedaris.  I was surrounded by a number of young people who read extremely esoteric works of fiction and non-fiction, and were some of the most intelligent, and poorest, people I knew.  Bookstores are always like that, because they attract those rare intellects that see reading as necessary as food, and will sometimes give the bulk of their paychecks to their library rather than their refrigerators.  Like some of my co-workers, I would make angry and embarrassed noises when I was close to the humor section, because it was one of those necessary evils of a bookstore.  Occasionally, writers of merit could work their way out of the category humor and into literary non-fiction.

One of the workers, however, had other ideas.  He saw this as a chance to get some connections in the publishing field, and would spend his paychecks on New York business hotels, where he would rub elbows with the literati during conventions.  We tolerated him the way experimental theatre artists tolerate movie stars.  It’s related, but it’s a degradation of the lofty occupation we all had.  It took a few months before I started to realize that his tastes were actually pretty extraordinary, and I started to think that maybe I should even have a look at this David Sedaris fellow.

He came to the store once to sign copies of his new book, and to give a reading.  I still didn’t know who he was, and hadn’t bothered to skim even the back cover of his books.  We had to give out tickets to the signing, which was unusual for our populist bookstore.  They were expecting a huge crowd.  The tickets were gone in twenty minutes, no mean feat in a city that’s often less than 0 degrees for most of the year.  After the event, which was a smashing success, Sedaris sent us a postcard from Amsterdam.  He wrote something like, Thank you for letting me smoke in your store.  He was a big cigarette smoker at the time, and Minnesota is one of those places where the smoking ban came long after we’d all decided to do the right thing and smoke outside on our own.  So this, more than anything, convinced me that he was worth reading.  If he can charm a crowd here, and blow smoke in our faces, then he’s got something pretty extraordinary.