Posts by maxwell

17

Have any of you been a victim of a Break in?

by Uzzah in

jw
friends

i guess i must have led a charmed life until now, but over the weekend someone broke into my home.

it isn't so much that they took stuff (slr camera, cell phone that belonged to a volunteer disaster services team, and cash) but that someone was in my private space without my knowledge.

it is amazing the head games such an event plays on you.

maxwell

Never had my apartment broken into, but had my car broken into twice when I lived near Memphis. Once they broke a window and took my radio, when I had it parked at this fast food restaurant in the small town I lived in. That pissed me off a lot, because in such a small town, I'm sure I knew the people who did it, and I was pretty sure some people saw what happened, and I had a suspicion they were covering up for some other boys they liked. I lost respect for some people that day. Next time, I more blame myself. I was at my grandmother's house. She lives in a rough area of Memphis. I left a backpack visible in the car containing expensive engineering textbooks and an midrange graphing calculator, when I should have brought them into the house. It was late at night. I suppose they proved to be too much of a temptation to some scumbag, and they broke the window and took them. I wonder if they knew what to do with that stuff. Last year I had a bicycle stolen at work in Arlington, VA.

I don't own a car now, but my wife's car was stolen this past weekend. It appears to have been some joy riders. Maybe some kids out of school with nothing to do. It was found parked outside of town. We went to look at it today and the ignition and steering column were ripped apart and there was some other damage. So we're dealing with that. Fortunately, she has full coverage on it.

Only one theft against me has ever been solved. When I was in highschool, some kid took my saxophone from the bandroom, but obviously wasn't too smart about what to do with it since he walked around school with it talking about it being his. The band wasn't very big and there were only a few saxophones around and the school had only about 1200 students so it wasn't very hard to track down. The principal returned it too me the next day. For a couple of the thefts (the bike theft and the car break-in in Memphis), the police didn't even come out to make the report (I had to do it over the phone), so I take that as some indication of case priority and chance of recovery for those thefts. And I can understand that. Violent crimes do deserve more attention.

I try to view it as a good day if no one takes anything from me. Nothing in this world is perfectly secure. Kind of sounds like JW talk, but its true. If someone wants it bad enough, they can figure out a way to take it from you. I think I'm fortunate to never have been the victim of a robbery, where someone has actually taken something off my person or while I was there. It makes me angry when someone steals something from me. I can only imagine the feelings of anger AND fear and who knows what, I'd get if someone forcibly took something from me.

33

Vinyl records or CD's?

by JH in

jw
friends

i grew up with vinyl records and i found the sound great except for the scratches and dust on the records.

today, i think that no one plays vinyl records anymore or just threw them all away.. if you take away the dust and scratches of the vinyl disc, did you prefer the sound of the vinyl records compared to the sound of the digital cd's we have today?.

here is an article on the subject.. http://www.howstuffworks.com/question487.htm

maxwell

yall are on crack......... everyone knows that 8tracks rule

LOL, I actually have some recollection of 8-tracks. Although they were just about gone when I came along, the first stereo I can remember in our house when I was a child had a radio, a record player and an 8-track player. We had an 8-track adapter that we'd stick the newer "modern" cassettes into so that we could play them on that stereo. I remember seeing a few old 8-tracks but I don't know what happened to them. My parents got rid of that stereo player when I was 8 or 9. I've got a lot of cassettes I used to record music from the radio when I was a kid too poor to buy the music. When I actually started buying music, CD's were quickly taking hold, so I don't have a lot of purchased music on cassettes.

8

Is My JW Husband/Wife/Boyfriend/Girlfriend/Partner Posting Here?...

by SpannerintheWorks in

jw
friends

...and do they know that you are posting here?

what would be your, or your partner's reaction, if you or they found out?

spanner

maxwell

Wife does not post here. She knows I post here. She will not look at this site. I'd be very surprised if I found out she was posting here.

33

Vinyl records or CD's?

by JH in

jw
friends

i grew up with vinyl records and i found the sound great except for the scratches and dust on the records.

today, i think that no one plays vinyl records anymore or just threw them all away.. if you take away the dust and scratches of the vinyl disc, did you prefer the sound of the vinyl records compared to the sound of the digital cd's we have today?.

here is an article on the subject.. http://www.howstuffworks.com/question487.htm

maxwell

I own one 33 with some old jazz. It's at my parents house. I don't think their record player works now and I don't have one. But I'm sure my dad still has his substantial collection of 33's, 45's and even a few 78's and I listened to them plenty while growing up. He had a lot of R&B and soul from the 60's and some from the 70's. A few classical records. I suppose I haven't heard very many new pieces of vinyl. CD's have always sound more clear to many, probably because of the dust, scratches and degradation of the record. But that popping clicking sound of some old records is kind of nostalgic. I have some jazz CD's created from old records that couldn't be fully restored. The sound quality kind of contributes to the affect of taking you back.

18

Are you patriotic?

by kitties_and_horses_oh_my! in

tonight my husband and i watched the fireworks for the 4th of july.

i've never done this before, save for occasionally peering out of my window as a child hoping to see a few.

tonight was wonderful - beautiful, fun, and there were tons of people there who were behaving themselves at least as well as people behave at assembly.

maxwell

I've been out a little more than a year, and I do feel somewhat patriotic. The US is a great country and it has accomplished many good things. I started working for the federal government before I left, but now I'd like to think that I'm doing a little bit to help my country in my job.

However, I do think that patriotism is taken overboard often. And I'll allow that some of my JW thinking may be still influencing me but I think not. Many people do take it to a worshipful or fanatic level. And sometimes people try to invoke patriotism for actions that have nothing to do with patriotism. For example, you'll spend your money on these items, or you're not patriotic. You will agree with the president or you're not patriotic. You will recite these word or you're not patriotic. I think patriotism requires that you have some pride in your country and a willingness to help it become better in someway. It doesn't require everyone to feel the same way about everything. Further, in this country, at least for those born here, citizenship doesn't even require patriotism.

But I do feel a proud feeling when I hear our National Anthem or other national patriotic songs. Actually I did before I left. I always suppressed the feeling. But now I don't have too. I like seeing demonstrations or protests. I may or may not agree with them, but I'm proud to live in a country where one is free to express themselves. I feel proud when I see the monuments to the people who had a part in making this country what it is today. I am not an all or nothing person and I do not agree with the sentiment "my country, right or wrong". But I do think I can say, Yes, I am proud of my country.

27

Post your pointless "talents" here

by berylblue in

jw
friends

mine is......(and this from a woman who will probably not notice the big a when it happens) .

i can find four leaf clovers anywhere, anytime...i never even really look.

just walking down the street, i'll look at the lawn and see one.

maxwell

I can wiggle one of my ears and I have double-jointed thumbs. Sometimes the thumbs are fun for making little kids think my thumbs are broken.

17

How do you leave the JW's ??? Let's help those trying to !!!!!!!

by run dont walk in

jw
friends

what is the best way to leave the jw religion ?????.

give your experience or maybe some ideas you came up with after you left, on the best ways of getting out.. how to cope with family pressure ???

(by far the hardest issue when leaving).

maxwell

I don't know what the best way to leave is. I do know there are lots of ways to leave. I do NOT recommend that you leave the way I did, but I'll tell how I left anyway.

I got married at 23. I love my wife, but obviously wasn't as committed as I should have been. Without going into much detail I committed adultery, which I think most people would consider bad whether you're JW or not. In the meantime, before and after that happened, my mind had been slowly questioning certain things. Philosophy classes I had taken a couple of years before my indiscretion had been pestering my mind. I seriously revisited the question of whether there was a God and came to the conclusion that all my life I had only listened to pro-God arguments given by the JW religion. And even based on their evidence alone, I had no conclusive proof that there is a God. I understand some people believe in faith and don't need conclusive proof. The evidence for God is enough for them even in the face of the evidence against God. But for me there was no conclusive proof either way. Since I couldn't believe in God, based on my thoughts and observations, I couldn't believe in the religion. After I opened up my mind to that, blinders started to come off regarding other things like the so-called God given authority of the faithful and discreet slave and the generation teaching. The floodgates were open. I came to the conclusion that I didn't care to stay in the religion.

I have family who I care for and I knew I'd regret losing contact with them. I did have some friendships in the congregation but none too strong. I decided that I'd didn't care to do the fade or put up some sort of facade in order to maintain these contacts. There's 6 billion people in the world. I can make some new contacts. I confessed my adultery and said I was unrepentant just to get out. I know a selfish reason to confess. I did tell my wife first. It took about a month after I confessed for them to finally DF me, but that was it. They tried to get me to come to two or three different judicial committee meetings. I caved and came to their last one which was sort of a formality. They didn't even open their Bibles. They asked me maybe 2 or 3 questions, none specific about the act, because I'd already made it clear over the phone that I wouldn't be answering any questions about that. They sent me into this other room for 2 minutes while they made their obvious decision.

Haven't been bothered by them since. During the course of this happening, I talked with my parents a few times. My dad had a few conversations with me. But after I was disfellowshipped, they don't try to talk to me about the Bible. JW rules say they aren't supposed to. I've been fortunate to have parents with a little heart. They break their JW rules and talk to me some but not about religion. Contact has been broken with my three JW sisters. I have a younger brother who has told me he plans to get baptized, but he still talks to me. Actually we've talked more now than when we were growing up. And strangest of all, he just married a non-JW girl who stayed with him a few weeks before they were married. So doesn't look like he's toeing the JW line if he plans to get baptized. Maybe there's hope for him. I don't try to steer him the right way. He'd never listen to me anyway.

So to summarize, I guess a person has to know their family and friends to determine what the impact will be on those relationships. Everybody has to leave their own way, but I am glad I was able to leave quickly. My wife and I are together and working on things. If I had not made that mistake, I think I would have disassociated myself. Slow fade isn't my style. If you want to do it quick, you just have to be firm with them. Write you disassociation and refuse to communicate with them. Don't answer any questions. Don't allow them to come into your house for an attempt to "readjust you", unless you think it would be fun to debate them (I've seen some people who had interesting stories about that). Of course, I've heard of some who employ similar techniques with the fade. I think its about realizing whose in control of your life. It was a very exhilirating feeling when I finally realized, that I don't have to recognize the authority of elders or any part of the JW organization.

47

seat belt laws !!!!!!! argh!!!!

by heathen in

just wondering how many people here feel that the seat belt law is mandatory for safe motoring.

i can't stand this law myself as if you only forget to put one on the police are happy to pull you over and detain you and write you a ticket.

this is one of those things that i think if there were a public vote over, it would not exist .

maxwell

And besides that, I'm not too crazy about the idea that driving should be a "privilege." It's OK to tax me to death to pay for the roads and their attendant expenses, but then it's a "privilege" that I should be allowed to drive on the same roads I'm paying for? I think the only reason that government has classed driving as a "privilege" rather than a "right" is that, if it were a right, they would have to go through due process to take away or restrict anyone's right to drive. As it is, government can (and sometimes does) act in a completely arbitrary manner in administratively restricting someone's "privilege" to drive. Bottom line: more power for the government, less freedom for us!

I ride a bicycle or walk many places in the city, and I have interest in privileges and rights of use of the roadway. Since streets and roads are generally thought of as public rights of way, it should be everyone's right to use them, but certain methods of use may have to be restricted. Before there were cars or bicycles, everyone had the right to use to the roads to move about. When cars came along, it quickly became obvious that they are much more dangerous given their speed and weight. Horses and carriages were dangerous as well given their weight, but they never had as much speed. Since cars are so dangerous, the privilege to operate such a machine should be restricted to those who can do so responsibly. Sometimes that isn't the case. It's not very hard to get a license. Also while people had the right to use the roads to travel using means other than cars in the past, those rights have been restricted or removed to facilitate the privilege of using an automobile. Sidewalks, if they exist, are usually narrow little slivers of concrete and are often not maintained. Right of way in practice is often deferred to the largest and fastest road users. In the city I live in, every day I see people running across crosswalks when they have the walk signal, because they feel they need to hurry and let the all important car make their right turn. The fact that some car drivers are aggressive or nasty contributes to this feeling. Same thing happens at crosswalks that aren't at lights where the laws in every state say you must yield to or stop for pedestrians.

Our ironically named freeways, require an entry fee of at least the cost of a car, since they are restricted to motor vehicles. Interstate highway use should be restricted to cars. That's their purpose. They were built specifically for cars. But still its a kind of doublethought to think of them as freeways when you consider the requirements (financial and skillwise) to use them. So I suppose, I'd have to agree that there is less freedom, but not just for people who wish to drive automobiles. Sometimes the freedom of non car-driving public road users is restricted to facilitate the privilege of driving a car. And I think it should remain a privilege because of the inherent danger in that mode of transportation and so that freedoms of other road users can be maintained.

17

FLUFF - Where would you like to live?

by jgnat in

jw
friends

doodling around on the internet the other day, i took a little survey at.

to see where my ideal place to live would be.

the top three spots were:.

maxwell

I like where I live now, but off the top of my head, I think I'd like living in NYC or Chicago even more. Maybe Seattle too.

The quiz #1 answer was Baltimore which is close ot where I live now. #2 was Portland which I suppose is kind of close to Seattle. Just noticed that Long Island, NY came up as #11 and NYC was #13.

34

What Are Your Plans for the 4th Of July???

by minimus in

jw
friends

as americans, we have a day to celebrate our country's independence.

what will you do on the 4th??

?

maxwell

I'll probably try to take a nice long bicycle ride. This year I will avoid the trails along the Potomac River on the Northern Virginia side as much as possible as those get congested with people camping out early in the day to wait for the fireworks. I learned that last year. But I might ride/cruise around the National Mall in the evening time to get a look at the fireworks. I'll probably go up to Ben's Chili Bowl and get a chili dog at some point too. I hope they are open. Chili dogs are American, aren't they? I caught part a documentary on one of the PBS stations here last night about hot dogs. It was like the third time I've seen it being shown, but in one segment they show this hot dog eating contest they have at Coney Island, I think, every 4th of July. Don't care for the eating contests, but I did get the urge to have a chili dog.