Mr. Bellito to Read & Sign "First Time Around"

Join Michael Bellito (Mr. Bellito to all JHHS alumni) on Thursday, May 5th at 7pm for a reading and book signing of First Time Around at the Prospect Heights Public Library. I'll be there and I hope you will be too.

From my January 11th blog post:

Do you remember your first crush or first love? If you're like most of us, it took place sometime during junior high or high school.

Maybe it was the boy who walked you home throughout junior high and carried your books... Maybe it was the Greek God who turned your world upside down because he was just always there... Maybe it was tennis player who wrote with the red pencil in summer school, making it difficult to read his name on his paper, but ultimately had you with that first kiss... Maybe it was the Band Geek who drove you home everyday... Maybe it was someone else.

Whomever it was, I'm sure you fell hard. And if you stop to think about it now, you can probably instantly go right back to that moment and how you felt. If you're like most of us, it didn't last. Only very few of us actually get it right the first time around.

In his second novel book, First Time Around, Michael Bellito takes us back to that time. That time of innocence, when the world was easy, yet our love seemed all-consuming and the heartbreak heart breaking.

For John Hersey High School alums, Mr. Bellito was one of our favorite English teachers and/or speech coaches. More than anything, he introduced me to my lifelong love: the love of words and how to weave them together to tell a story.

Finnerty Family Fundraiser

If you're from Arlington Heights, no doubt you've heard about this tragic story this week. Heck, if you're from the Chicago Area and you turned on the news or opened any newspaper, you probably saw it.

In an effort to help the two surviving young children of the fatal fire that killed both parents and one child on Tuesday, several downtown Arlington Heights businesses are sponsoring a fundraiser to benefit the trust fund established for them on Friday (tomorrow). If you need anything that these stores sell now or will need their products in the near future, I encourage you to do your shopping on Friday.

Participating merchants are:

• Bentley's Corner Barkery
• Campbell Street Bicycle Shop
• Ciao Bella - A Shoe Boutique
• Flaherty Jewelers
• Runners High 'n Tri
• Tuscan Market, Wine Shop & Wine Bar
  

Can't shop? That's okay. A trust fund for the children has also been set up.

Donations can be sent to:

Village Bank & Trust
311 S. Arlington Heights Rd.
Arlington Heights, IL 60005

Please make checks payable to "Jennifer Murphy, Guardian of the Finnerty Children."

Do You Shred?

Do you shred identifying documents? If not, you should.

My identity was stolen last fall, even though you might say I'm a bit OCD about shredding. In the end, the problems I had as a result of my identity being stolen were negligible, but had I not been so proactive, on top of my bank accounts, and shred as much as I do, it could have been a lot worse.

One of the most important ways to prevent identity theft is to shred all identifying documents. Let's be clear, there are certain documents you must keep, like your mortgage papers, the title to your home and car, insurance papers, tax returns, wills, birth certificates, college financial aid papers, original Social Security cards, etc. Those you should keep in a very safe place.

I'm talking about all the other stuff. According to the AARP Bulletin from October 2008, you should shred:

• pre-approved credit card, insurance, and other offers;
  
• junk mail with your name on it;
• old papers with your Social Security number on it (but NOT your original Social Security card);
• deposit slips, ATM receipts, and credit card receipts after your monthly statements arrive;
• used airline tickets;
• unneeded medical bills;
• past bank statements and canceled checks (unless you need them for tax purposes);
  
• expired IDs;
• paycheck stubs after the income is noted on your tax documents;
• monthly retirement & investment statements after the annual statement arrives (keep the annual statements forever); and
  
• utility bills unless you want to hold onto them for one year to compare to prior year's usage and costs.

If you're not currently shredding, you should start now. Shredders are fairly inexpensive and can be purchased at Target, Walmart, and many other stores. The best shredders cross-shred, which means that rather than just shredding in long strips, they shred vertically and horizontally.

You can also collect all your stuff to be shredded and head over to Village Bank & Trust at 150 E. Rand Rd. in Arlington Heights on Saturday, April 18th from 9am - 1pm with up to 3 boxes of personal documents and they'll shred it for FREE! Make sure you take this shredding coupon with you.