Posts by rwagoner

21

Surprise day/family day

by brutusmaximus in

jw
friends

did you have the above instead of xmas?.

we did as a family with about 16 going to it and giving gifts normally feb time.

now though we have been banned from going as we had xmas this year and you can't have both it would seem.

rwagoner

We would have "Package Hunts" a couple of times a year....

Basically a scavenger hunt around the house for gifts wrapped in newspaper...always thought it was a sneaky way to cover xmas and easter (gifts and the "hunt"). The whole family would gather and take turns hiding gifts for everyone and then the house was destroyed as everyone searched for the ones with their name of them and shredded the newpaper wrapping to open them.

It was fun but it still wasn't the "pagentry" of Christmas with the lights and wonderful music.

Now we have all the holidays with my two young children....we're like that movie "Christmas Vacation" with Chevy Chase....50,000 twinkling lights...11 foot tree....credit card bills to the toy stores that last until the 4th of July.

Speaking of the 4th of July...someone mentioned that they would go to the fireworks....I was publicly reproved for watching the local fireworks celebration from my car..wasn't even at the event itself..."elder" family drove by and saw me parked beside the road enjoying the sights and that was all it took.

65

I Q

by stillajwexelder in

jw
friends

already got a thread on intelligence but any of you care to state what your measured iq is/was last time you checked 9had it checked)

rwagoner

.............146

81

How many of us show real pictures of ourself in the forum?

by PinTail in

jw
friends

.

me not afraid at all of the big bad wolf:

shane

rwagoner

this is me with GWB.....

12

Idea for a practical Knock Knock joke - feedback please

by SixofNine in

jw
friends

i ran across the following and it spawned the previous.

i'm sure houston isn't the only town with this service?.

http://www.houstonbusiness.com/advertising/outdoors.htm.... .

rwagoner

I would love to see either of these on a billboard !!!

16

So where are all of you going to convention?

by ValiantBoy in

jw
friends

.

for the first time since 1983 no one in my family is going at all, but i was wondering where everybody is having theirs?

rwagoner

Foxwoods Casino in March -- Vegas in April -- NC for a conference in May.....I love my job ! LOL

40

Would You Run For President/Prime Minister/Etc. If You Could???

by minimus in

jw
friends

and not just everyone "could" run for office.

you need money, exposure, the media, influence, etc.

but if you could, if it was even a longshot possibility, would you ever consider running for office?

rwagoner

YES,YES,YES.....

I have held local and state offices and am active on the national level....love being involved and making a difference. Lots of work and you can never make everyone happy but it is worth it.

RGW

108

my transformation, I am showing off here...

by jwbot in

jw
friends

hey all, i just took some "after" pictures today and need to share with my friends.

as some of you know, i lost a bit of weight recently.

(by eating less, eating better and exersizing - it actually works sometimes!)..

rwagoner

to quote my 6 year olds favorite saying....HUBBA, HUBBA

GREAT WORK

26

Would you buy this XJW coffee mug?

by coult9056 in

jw
friends

because i have a sense of humor about the many failed prophecies of the jw's, i've always wanted some ex-jw merchandise with some class and humor to go with it.

i've considered marketing a few of my ideas.....coffee mugs, shirts, etc.

there are so many areas to go (no blood, no military service, college = devil's propaganda, etc.

rwagoner

LOL

Great Minds Think Alike ! I have a cafe press page with XJW stuff on it too !

I agree that it would be nice to lower the prices but the convenience of Cafe Press is why I use them. No inventory...Limited overhead....Decent Products....

I know I love using my coffee cup and wearing my golf shirt to the store and seeing their faces !

RGW

74

my take...

by teejay in

jw
friends

... on the watchtower society.

i am not one who will ever bother to waste my time heaping praise on the jw religion as though it were some kind of improvement on society.

i have no qualms in saying that it was, is, and always will be a dangerous religion ?

rwagoner

I have to agree with many of the others....

Confidence, public speaking skills, values, sales ability...all great things I took with me from the Dubs. In my case I got something else as well. I have a physical disability and the Dubs actually gave me a supportive, accepting environment to grow up in. Unlike society in general there was no ridicule or preset notions of limitations. I was accepted and encouraged to excel even if now looking back I see it was probably just to get me to sell more magazines. Whatever their motivation was I left the org with a sense that I could do anything I set my mind to and because of that I now have a wonderful wife, two kids, own my own business, sucessfully ran for public office twice, met four US Presidents and am pretty happy in general.

I don't like that I was misled and hate that I am shunned by my parents simply because I was honest and admitted that I no longer believed. I also don't discount the horror that many others lived through because of abuse or other issues. There is no justifiction for actions such as that. I am merely acknowledging my experience and what it has brought to my life now, outside the org.

RGW

99

Letter From President George W. Bush

by prophecor in

ok so maybe i'm being played but believe it or not, i just got a letter from the president, that's right, the president of the united states of america!!!

he was thanking many of his constituents for supporting him in his campaign.

and get this, unlike the the problems that are resulting from donald rumsfeld's not taking the time to sign the letters, notifying their loved ones of the soldiers deaths, this appears to be written out in his own personal handwriting.

rwagoner

If people choose to believe that they recieved a "personal" letter from the president then I am happy for you and hope that you did in fact have that honor. The truth of the matter however is that anyone who volunteeres or contributes to the campaign gets a letter....maybe they were not all worded exactly the same (all of the ones that I have seen have been however) or maybe they had several versions based on your contribution level...whatever. The likelyhood of the president actually sitting down and personally writting thousands of letters to individuals is a bit unrealistic. Yes he does write personal letters to specific people for specific reasons but not on such a mass mailing level as this.

Related to xmas cards - the same rule applies -- they send out litterally millions of generic cards, signed by auto pen and then for friends, dignitaries and other very limited situations they take the time to sign them personally.

The auto pen is actually pretty ingenious. It actually writes (using a device similar to a plotter) an exact duplicate of the persons letter or signature. So it is not some white house aid using a computer to type a letter on someone's behalf, it is actually the president or other official who writes/signs the letter and then has it duplicated using the auto pen.

It is not my intent to act like I know everything as some have suggested, I can only speak from my personal experience. I am fairly active politically both in my home state and at the national level and have had the privilege of receiving both the auto pen and personal versions of letters and cards from several presidents and other politicos.

RGW