I wonder how long it will be before the peso overtakes the dollar and we have Mexican tourists coming to the USA tipping American workers in pesos and we're grateful for those tips?
Don't laugh, and never say never.
i just had to order a very expensive camera from circuit city for my husband's business and they asked that i call a 1 800 number to confirm the order.. i spent 30 minutes on the phone with a girl i could hardly hear....2 other orders seemed to be happening over the same line.
out of frustration i asked, "is this india?
" she said no, manilla!!!!!.
I wonder how long it will be before the peso overtakes the dollar and we have Mexican tourists coming to the USA tipping American workers in pesos and we're grateful for those tips?
Don't laugh, and never say never.
several months ago, i had a couple customized t-shirts made up for personal use.
a few friends of mine asked me where i got them and i said that i made them up myself and that they could order them off of cafepress.com.
i never checked back in on the site until today when i had another idea for a shirt.
Several months ago, I had a couple customized t-shirts made up for personal use. A few friends of mine asked me where I got them and I said that I made them up myself and that they could order them off of CafePress.com. I never checked back in on the site until today when I had another idea for a shirt. Well imagine my surprise to see that I had "Available Cafe Cash" in my account. I didn't know what that was until I remembered that you can actually mark the items up however much you want(I only padded the cost by $2). And then guess what? You can look at who bought what items. Imagine my surprise, yet again, to see that Gwyneth(from here on the board) had ordered a shirt from one of my "stores." I'm guessing she bought it for her daughter who plays volleyball. Too cool.
Yes, I know, I'm easily excited over something as silly as this. But when you have multiple people buying stuff based on your ideas, that's pretty neato!
Thanks again Gwyneth! I'll let you know when I'm done with my new shirt design. This one beats the others hands down!
over the past weekend i replaced the rear brake pads on my 03 mini cooper, changed out the cabin air filter, and steam cleaned the engine.
my friend came over with his 04 ford tarus he wanted me to look at some brake noise in the rear passenger side, turns out it only needed to be cleaned and adjusted.
i also fixed a dash light that was out on my 03 focus, then i noticed that my electric trunk latch is going out, guess i'm off to pick a part this weekend!
Oh hell yes. I do everything I can possibly get away with. In fact, I just had to replace the alternator on my Accord last week. I completely do all the maintenance on my motorcycle as well. I'm down to about 20 minutes for taking out the carb, adjusting it, and putting it back in. I also do all of my own home repairs and whatever else needs to be done - plumbing, electrical, etc(Home Depot loves me). Back in late Spring, I even built a new deck on the back of our house in one weekend...whew, that was a back-breaker!
ive been reading some terrible reports about the american mortgage market, and the subprime mortgages aimed at people with poor credit ratings and poor ability to pay.
(and of course poor ability to understand complicated and deliberately obscure contracts).. frankly the whole thing is exploitation in the extreme, imo.
there was one report on the bbc about how poor black areas were targetted, and people were given an introductory offer of 1% and not told that this offer lasted only one month before ballooning to 17 or 18%.
Let's not forget the other group -- the people who thought they lived in a virtually indestructible market(i.e. SoCal, Las Vegas, Miami, etc) where home prices were steadily rising 20-30% year over year. Many of these people bought into ARM's or interest only loans thinking they could get a bigass house and then "flipping it" in a few years making a huge profit. These are the ones I have no pity for. They thought they could get rich quick, but in the end it ruined them financially for at least 10 years.
When you're buying a home and basing a large percentage of your decision on how much money you can make off of it in a few years, you really need to step back and reconsider your priorities. Live within your means, not the means you wish you had.
hellllllllllo all :)
so anyone from any denver congregations?
i was in the bear valley cong.
Yep, that's them. Shawn always came across as a grumpy fart, but once you knew him well he was a pretty funny guy. They have two boys now.
hellllllllllo all :)
so anyone from any denver congregations?
i was in the bear valley cong.
Our best friends went there for a few years. $hawn and T0nya $zentmiklosy. They moved down from Silverthorne, CO to that hall, but now live in rural MA. They always said that the Bear Valley hall was a particularly elderly one.
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20071101/d8skq1po0.html.
looks like we here in the good ole us of a may be paying $3.50/ gallon when spring hits next year, if this trend continues.
china's predominantly state-owned oil company surpassed exxon today in market value, and they are currently drilling not far off the coast of florida(by way of cuba).
High oil prices? Easy - increased demand primarily from China and the threat of war with Iran - are probably the two top reasons for >$100 oil. If we were to untangle ourselves from the middle east, get completey OUT of there, let Iran develop nuclear energy for themselves, there wouldn't be any pressing reasons for oil to sustain its price at such high levels. Otherwise, just keeping the threat of war on the table causes an artificially high price on the cost of oil. Trading on "Oil Futures." This is one of the most ludicrous terms of our generation. It simply puts more money in the pockets of Big Oil and the oil producing countries themselves. If you're still one of those who feels that the oil companies need to maintain their high profit margins due to "exploration" and other "research and development" programs, you need to rethink that line of reasoning. Would the cost of oil stay high if there was true peace in the world and the demand flattened? As someone else mentioned, how much was the cost of gas pre-Bush and why has it tripled since? Honestly answer that question and then let's see where this discussion leads.
And Simon was partially correct on the dollar declining too. What happened when Iraq dropped the dollar in favor of the Euro? We invaded and restored the oil trade there back to the dollar. What is happening right now seeing that Iran is now gradually phasing out the dollar in favor of the Euro and the Yen? The threat of war once again. It's going to happen either by "western friendly(dollar favored is more like it)" regime change or all out invasion and takeover.
as a functioning cult, would jehovah's witnesses kill someone, if ordered?
i believe that many would.. while some might think this is farfetched, i can cite some examples that manifest a lack of concern.
for the lives of others, that could easily be extended into murder or manslaughter.. 1) forcing older brothers into jobs at bethel that were far too strenuous for them - as a means of.
Dying for the blood issue is extraordinary
Dying in the Malawi persecution was extraordinary
Betraying other brothers instead of playing ignorant ( or making stuff up as prisoners do) is extraordinary
The main difference between these scenarios and a jw actually taking another life by violence is just that. The individual jw is using his wt-trained conscience to passively allow the above scenarios to happen. To physically and violently KILL another human such as an apostate or some other type of unbeliever is a whole other matter. 99.9% of the jw community probably would not carry out such an order. Letting themselves or their children die due to the blood doctrine or any other doctrine is based on martyrdom. Contrast this with a parent killing their child because the child became apostate and da'd themselves. This is plain ol' murder. The WTS could never allow this to happen or even condone such an act. There are too many whistleblowers in the org(just look at the faders on this site). Such acts would tarnish their most holy name and reputation. And we all know how much they value their reputation above all else...
i don't think so.. to me, the vast majority of jws become witnesses because they desire everlasting life.
they want to live in paradise.
they love feeling special.
This was something that I noticed immediately after I was df'd. Once I was officially gone, my entire attitude towards people started to change. It really bothered me for the longest time. Even today, I still have to fight my natural tendency to not care. When I say natural tendency, what I mean is, I was born into this blackhole religion and stayed in until I was 32. I'm 34 now. What others said about caring only for your own self as a jw is very true. What's in it for ME? When you're raised with that mindset it's hard to shake later on. I honestly feel that this is one of my worst traits. It takes a little while for me to become comfortable around people I don't know.
I am trying more and more these days to consciously become more aware and in tune with the people I know so as to look out for their welfare. It's a slow process but I think I'm gaining some ground - ground that I never had growing up.
thanks min for making me feel like crap for the night.
just as the watchtower has allowed russia out of .
its speculative cross-hairs the vast majority of .
people in the usa pay little attention to russia and putin.
In our existing geo-political arena, there are only a handful of countries that benefit greatly from having these heightened tensions. Can you guess which two countries benefit the most from these tensions? Russia and Iran. Both are huge exporters of oil and at least one of them is unfriendly to the US - the other is somewhat neutral at this point. Putin's power, control, and popularity has been directly related to the price of oil. In your mind, would it continue to benefit Russia(Putin) if the price of oil dropped? Of course not! Which is why I believe we will continue to see rhetoric from Iran and Russia over Iran's "alleged" nuclear weapon's program. The US is simply helping these countries by inflating oil futures by saying there is a possibility of military strikes on Iran. I'm not sure if this is just dumb, stubborn Bush trying to keep to his word about regime change in Iran, or if there is another angle involved. If it is dumb Bush, I wonder if he realizes that he is directly responsible for these countries becoming wealthier than ever before. It is also in Iran's best interest to keep the rhetoric up on their end as well. The US started it, they are merely helping it along. All it is is words. Words that make the price of oil skyrocket. Imagine if we could get a fatter paycheck if we just said, "I want a bigger paycheck, I want a bigger paycheck." This is exactly what is happening in Iran right now. Only the words are: Israel. Nuclear rights. Great Satan. Little Satan. and on and on and on. Anytime the threat of WW3 is mentioned or anytime a major news article says that Iran is only months away from developing a nuclear bomb, the price of oil inches up. How messed up is that?
If the US were to declare permanent peace with Iran and open their arms to trading with them, the price of oil would plummet. As would the profits that goes into their pockets as well. Who knows what the real reasons are for the US's continued presence and nation building in the middle east is for.
The worst scenario I see in the US is this: The US or Israel attacks Iran pre Jan. '09. Iran does their thing and essentially hoses up the world's supply of oil. Gas stations in the US either jack the cost up way too high, or they run out. This causes mass panic and chaos. Bush declares martial law under the Insurrection Act or Exectutive Directive 51 and maintains power indefinitely. This allows him and his chums to do whatever they please, however they please. I wouldn't be surprised to find myself and other likeminded individuals being confined to the new Halliburton built "camps" across the US. That's what happens when our "elected" representatives give the president carte blanche to do whatever he pleases in the form of support for these bills.