I still miss my ex-wife, but my aim is improving.

JUST KIDDING. Although when I saw that guy in Iraq throw a shoe at Bush, I felt I understood the sentiment. She took the house.  She took the fun car.  She even has a half share on the house up in Wisconsin, and forever forward I have to clear with her when I get to use it.

This whole divorce mess really set me back. And I’ve had problems covering my emergency expenses, including buying a new TV for my new bachelor pad. But in some ways, it’s good I kept the older, PAID FOR car. Because it’s eligible for a car title loan, which I needed badly and found on the internet at Villa Park Title Loans.  They are very responsive and make it an easy process. And you don’t feel like throwing a shoe at anyone.

By the way Villa Park  is near Addison, Elmhurst, Glendale Heights, Lombard, and Oakbrook Terrace.

I think 42.7 percent of all statistics are made up on the spot.

See, I just did it.  And so too, I think, did my husband’s friend, who talked him into a dumb investment.  Two years ago, Lenny, the friend, had this idea of building little puppet trucks – I’m not making this up – that are little puppet theaters in a box, attached to the back of bicycles.  The puppeteers ride these bikes to any location where there is pedestrian traffic, do little shows (ha – they play music and the puppets basically dance to it, there’s no story line or talking or anything) and then people put money in the little jar that one of the puppets holds out. Lenny said he saw this in Europe and decided to franchise the idea. It was going to be the next McDonald’s, he said. He worked out some numbers that said we’d be millionaires in about six months.

They spent about $4000 on the bikes, the puppet boxes, puppets, music systems, and then ran ads on Craigslist trying to find employees.  No one applied.  OK, one strange little man did, but he was worried he might not be able to handle the bike.  He asked if we could do that for him.  Lenny thought maybe I, ME, would try it for a weekend.  At Oak Brook Center.  I’m so sure. The whole thing never took off.

Well, with the economic problems and a car repair, I wanted the $2000 back.  Too late — already spent.  So I went to Oak Brook Title Loans, a fast way to get cash when you need it.  A car title loans store works off the value of your car – not your puppet bikes – which can come in real handy. A car title loan is a sure thing, unlike other certain entrepreneurial concepts …

Anyone wanna buy a fleet of puppet theaters attached to bikes?

Oak Brook is also near, Hinsdale, Westmont, Downers Grove, Villa Park, and Elmhurst.

If you had to specify, in one word, why the human race has not, and will never achieve its full potential, that word would be meetings.

Yes, I work in corporate America. I catch the Metra to go downtown every day, work my tail off, then train it home at night. And it used to be the meetings were just in the office. But now we have these extended IMs on our blackberries that make that work day last even longer. Once I was so caught up in a text exchange I missed my stop and rode halfway out to Elburn.

None of that, all those meetings, all that hard work, mattered recently when I had to come up with extra cash to cover one of my kids’ tuition when her student loan program was suspended. It was either pay the tuition in cash, or she’d miss the semester entirely. I needed $5000 and, to my surprise, I found it in a car title loan.

Car title loans are a good source for emergency cash. I was able to work with Lombard Title Loans to get money fast, in time to get my daughter registered the next day. Their forms were simple, all online, easy to use — the process took less time than the typical meeting.

By the way Lombard is near Glen Ellyn, Elmhurst, Villa Park, Gledale Heights, and Carol Stream.

I had a good job with good authority.  But then I learned what they say, if you think you’re a person of some influence, try ordering somebody else’s dog around.

Which has kinda been my situation since losing my job last year.  My wife works still, thankfully, and when the kids are off at school it’s just me and the neighbor’s dog and the fish.  The fish pretty much keeps to himself (herself?), but that dog  has a mind of his own.

I also found that my finances were more in control of me than me of them. We could keep the regular expenses covered with my wife’s income and what severance and unemployment I was drawing, but then we got hit with one thing after another.  The cards were maxed out and I didn’t have the money needed to fix my car — what I needed to go on job interviews.  That’s when I did something people don’t talk about much in DuPage County.  I searched on the internet for a car title loan.

I’m here to say it’s a smart strategy under certain circumstances.  I’m using my car to fix my car.  And it was a relatively pain free process: I went to Glen Ellyn Title Loans online, a car title loans company that gets you your cash in under 24 hours, electronically transferred into your checking account.  I’d recommend it to anyone — even my dog.

By the way Glen Ellyn is near Lombard, Wheaton, Carol Stream, Addison, and Villa Park.

Answer me this: If nothing ever sticks to Teflon, how do they make Teflon stick to the pan? Why is it considered necessary to nail down the lid of a coffin? Why is the time of day with the slowest traffic called rush hour?

Now tell me why old cars can be more valuable than new cars. Stumped? It can be old cars because they tend to be paid for while for most people new cars are likely under a payment plan or leased.

And here’s where that can be a benefit: when you need cash, a paid-for car is eligible for a car title loan. I hadn’t really thought about when I’d need such a thing until recently, when a medical bill socked me with $2500 in uncovered charges. That’s not the kind of money I have sitting around waiting for hospital charges, so where would I get it? I went on the Internet and found the answer: car title loans can be found right here, at Elmhurst Title Loans.

Because you transact the whole thing on the Internet, it’s also fast and easy. No going into some crappy neighborhood in Chicago, you just fill out the online forms and you learn in a half hour if you’re approved. Then they wire the money to your checking account by the next day (i.e., no waiting for a check to clear).

Yeah, it’s a mystery to me why more people don’t know about this. It’s a great back up to unforeseen situations. And it generally works better for people with older cars.

By the way Elmhurst is near Northlake, Melrose Park, Villa Park, Broadview, and Oak Brook.

My wife says that if it weren’t for marriage, men would go through life thinking they had no faults at all.

I’m your best example of that. I got a degree in accounting. I keep my car properly serviced and in good condition. I go to the gym and don’t eat hamburgers for lunch.

But apparently I don’t know how to save money. My wife, she’s always looking at ways to save money. Like the jacuzzi we installed off our back patio. We’ve used it twice since putting it in last fall. The first day and the second day it was there. We got it at 50% off. And if you go into the stores these days, it seems like everything’s 50% off. How about that?

Except, even 50% adds up in the debt column. So when we both lost our jobs (funny, but even with extra time on our hands, we’d rather my brother’s kids play sports at Addison Trail High School than soak ourselves outdoors where the neighbors might see us), when we both lost our jobs we had a hard time paying the bills.

That’s when I looked at some assets, our cars, both paid for, as a way to get some emergency cash. I went to Addison Title Loans for a cash advance on both vehicles. It was easy, the online application has changed the car title loan world, and we got money in a day.

So my wife actually acknowledged this solution was a winner. Whew, I’m so relieved to hear that.

By the way Addison is near Villa Park, Lombard, Elmhurst, Wood Dale, and Bensenville.