"a bunch of people claiming to be "green" chatting away on their computers made of plastics. no, it was the person who complained about the SUV's in the bank drive through while he/she was waiting in the drive through line. Or is it the people who don't realize that trees can be grown as a crop, much like corn, only it takes longer." Funny. Apparently to some people, environmentalism is an all-or-nothing situation. Apparently you either live naked in the woods and eat twigs and berries, or you support wasting as much of everything as possible. FYI, it's not the plastic that goes into computers that's the problem -- it's the power that they consume. And tree farms are major hogs of land and are nearly as poor at supporting diverse ecosystems as conventional farms are. Anyway, as for my worst recent example? I recently received two ram chips and 6 SATA cables (each flexible and perhaps double the size of a piece of linguini along each axis) in a 1'x1.5'x2' box.

With the "privacy laws" lots has changed! And, lets not forget the ungrateful idiots that have wiped out their parents savings with POA's. That is what has caused so many changes. I am getting through all this and am very lucky my dad can still sign. Most of the money is in his name so I can get it out to pay mom's nursing home bills, but it has been a challenge! I now have it all worked out so should not have too many more hassles. Our investment guy told me today that I am not the only one complaining about the mountain of paperwork that needs to be done to take care of parents! LOL! Some thing our attorney adviced me to do also was to change the primary benificiary on my dad's IRA's. That way if, heaven forbid, some thing happens to him the remainder of the money will not go to the nursing home for my mom's care. Makes sense and that way I will have a few pennies to take care of my brother and his special wants. Oh, that is some thing else, we also have it set up in the will that when my parents are gone my brothers share will go in to a trust for him, therefore keeping it out of the hands of the nursing home.

We actually got one in walking distance from my house. They opened up in February and I thought, boy, was that bad timing! Why couldn't they open before Christmas. After a day or so of opening and being empty, we were about to get hit with our 3rd snow storm within a one week period (and we usually have only 3 or 4 all winter long with any measurable snow). So anyway, most everyone's shovels had broken because of the extended use, shovels were a hot commodity. There were actually rumors and postings in our county forums of where you could buy shovels. Regular $15.00 shovels were selling for upwards of $30.00 bucks, and if stores got a shipment in, the lines looked like black Friday. CTS got a huge shipment, priced them at $12.99, and they've had good crowds ever since!

Dirtex???? Sheesh...I've even seen at some grocery stores 'round here! Yeah...we DO tend to throw around some acronyms! Signs I've been here too long... * When one of our decorator's is visiting with a customer, I find myself thinking, "What would Funcolors do here..."? * ...if I stare at a good-lookin' Lady (SLYLY of course!), and then suddenly duck, 'cuz I think Moonshadow will throw a frypan at me... * Wondering why I felt like I had to "check-in" with my GW-friends...EVEN WHEN I WAS AT THE Maui Four-Seasons!!!! * Wonderin if I've started anyone saying "UFFDA" yet... ;-) Faron