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Thursday, 22 October 2009

  • Finishing my sentences

    I have a friend who finishes my sentences—you know how that is right, but the funny thing is, she finishes my sentences on chat!  I’ll start a sentence and before I finish it, it has appeared right before me, in written print, or type. 

    So we’ve come up with our own little acronym, abbreviation, internet slang, if you will.  You know how lol is laugh out loud, brb is be right back, fyi is for your information, btw is by the way, afk is away from keyboard, tnx is thanks and rolf is rolling on the floor laughing.  Well our new one is twga, which stands for there we go again.  No need to finish the sentence, just write twga to say, friend, you just finished that sentence for me.

Friday, 28 November 2008

  • Products that cause injuries are recalled. But cigarettes are never recalled. Why is that?

    I noticed the sponsor - Truth - the folks that have been all over the TV as of late.  (Truth - not really.  Truth is only that which is empirically true - that which is measurable, quantifiable, and replicable. Since smoking deals with human behavior, the only universal truth about human behavior is there is no definite truth.)  The query posed about cigarettes is logically valid.  However, the following contradictions exist:
     First, millions of people are killed and injured every year in car accidents. Since car makers don't intend for the people who drive their products to get into accidents and get hurt/killed, does that mean that GM, Ford, Honda, Toyota, Nissan, et al, have to stop making cars, since people die from using them?  (Granted, Ford, GM, and Chrysler may be going under anyway, so if that IS the Truth people's wish, as well as the enviro-wackbags wish, they may get it.)  The biggest killer of teenagers is automobiles, far and away.  Phillip Morris couldn't get those kind of numbers if they tried. 
    It's like using alcohol; just because a booze besotten drunk driver runs into a utility pole or a college kid dies of alsohol poisoning doesn't mean that those of us who use it responsibly should have it taken away from us.  Hey:  They tried, and the biggest beneficiary was Al Capone.  The fact of the matter is that smoking is a drug.  Just like drinking alcohol, or marijuana, anything like that.  Human beings like doing it, and will continue to do so regardless.  Prohibitions NEVER tally in the positive in the end.  Look at the war on drugs, or as some call it, the war on the constitution, and it has continuously lost money, and consistently failed to reduce drug use in the US.
     Smoking is a choice, and not really an incredibly smart one at that. From what I've heard, teen smoking has decreased since these guys have started their ad campaigns, and that is commendable. Teenagers need all the help they can get, and if at legal age they decide to indulge, that is their legal right.  Those under the age shouldn't; but those of age have the legal right to choose for themselves.   I heartily applaud the truth organization, if indeed it was their influence that helped in whole or in part. 
       

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Monday, 24 November 2008

  • What is your favorite childhood toy? What makes it special to you?


    My favorite childhood toy - Wow.  I haven't really thought about it for years.  When I was a kid, I was all about two different toys:  Lego's, and Transformers.  Transformers and Lego's were my favorite because they were mentally stimulating.  I mean, if you get a GI Joe you get everything once its out of the package.  It won't ever do anything different.  I think Legos really take the cake for me.  I would build what they showed you first, and then I'd branch out and make whatever I wanted afterwards.  Get creative!  Lego's really were my favorite, and hardly anything else provided the same amount of stimulation and interest.
       

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Thursday, 20 November 2008

  • What's on your Christmas list?


    What's on my Christmas list?  Well, not a whole lot at this point.  I kind of wait until the moment strikes me and then I go.  I tend to get people gifts that are cool things that they can use, but I also try to get them gifts every now and again that are sort of symbolic, if that makes any sense.  Let's see...my girlfriend needs a coffeemaker, and I know of one that will really work for her.  The kind that has two on the go cups built into it, that sort of thing.  I'd really love to get her some jewelry, but she doesn't wear much, and kind I REALLY want to get her is a bit out of my budget right now.  (It has a diamond or two and fits on a finger, if you know what I mean.)  Not too much else, but I want to get some good stuff for two friends of mine, and my dad, mom and sister.  Anybody have any suggestions?

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  • Credit cards are the devil's workshop

     One of the uglier sides to personal finance is learning things the hard way.  I made some pretty big mistakes along the way, and I'm paying for them now.  There is some light at the end of the tunnel, but I had to resort to no credit payday loans to get through a small rough patch.
     When I was at university, there was all kinds of fliers and offers for credit cards.  (That's were I got my first application; through my mail box in my dorm sophomore year.)  I was obviously not thinking clearly and tired of living like a monk 9 months out of the year when I worked in the summer and could actually buy things.  I gave in to temptation and got a credit card. 
     I could say things like, Oh gosh, why didn't my parents warn me about this stuff, but that's really just a cop out.  I'm definitely going to be lecturing my children about it when they get old enough, for sure.  Oh yeah, and I actually have to have some children first, but I'm digressing!  I went on a spree, and at the time, I thought I was flying high.  I can';t say I regret all of it completely, because I did have a lot of fun, and a working stiff like me does not get to enjoy himself that often.  However, I regret it now because of all the damage it has done to me. 
     Eventually, I graduated, got a decent job and got the collectors somewhat off my back by getting on a payment plan.  However, because my credit is so far in the tank, I can't use a credit card at all, which means building up an awesome apartment for me and my girlfriend to live in has been slow going.  I got a decent place, but the thing is that when her mother's incontinent dog uses our living room carpet as a toilet, there is a big problem.  My FICA score is so low that it technically resides in a mine shaft, and payments would have been almost impossible for me to make, on top of paying my share of rent, utilities, cable, internet, AND my student loans AND my credit card payments to boot.  I ended up getting a no credit payday loan to pay for the carpet cleaners, because a steam vac just wasn't going to suffice, and if I didn't have it done by a professional then I would lose my deposit.  The no credit payday loan saved my living room, and the company I used was great about getting me on a payment plan, and I had it all paid for in about a month.  The company I went through even direct deposited the funds into my bank account for me.  I just still find myself wishing I never got that damn card in the first place.
     How do the rest of you deal with emergency expenses when you're in the midst of credit repair?

rocknrollklown

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    • Name: Eric
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    • Member Since: 9/29/2008

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