Quote from rydergal : Congrats! I saw your post, it's been 5 minutes or so, and no one has ripped you to shreds yet! Kinda makes me wanna post mine...hmmm...will have to ponder how strong I am BTW, I didn't get the Complete q you mentioned, so your scenario is useless to me, and not a MM after tax...can you please rework? THANKS

Peckerhead!!

Quote from wormbutt : Peckerhead!!

I've been very busy the last few days, so I've been out of the loop. Glad I missed all the sniping! Must be the heat!

Quote from lupus : Heaok, don't worry about the GPA. I don't know about your discipline, but in mine having a 4.0 would hurt you more than help (the thinking being that to get a 4.0 you take classes that don't challenge you, and they want people that will take risks and challenge themselves). For other reasons I no longer want to be part of my department. They have become everything I hated about other departments and gotten rid of anything that was of value and set them apart. Instead of trying to rise from mediocrity they have decided to wallow in it and the new evil department head has decided to make it a department full of people that couldn't even get into med school.

Lupus, sorry your department has you desiring a jaunt to the hills (metaphorically, of course, not to the MTV "reality" show). I don't think the business field really cares about GPA, but I do.

Quote from pwcpal : Thanks, Heaok. I don't really get scared during tornados, but was stunned at my stupidity when it was all over. My male Corgi is my favorite, and there was just no way I would go to the basement and leave him up here alone. As far as your GPA, that sucks! I got an Associate EE when I graduated HS. Got a great job, then went back to school at age 30 to finish up a BS degree. Since the EE was from a trade school, and Purdue would not accept the credits here in town, I decided to go Trine (Tri-State). They've since changed the rules, and all accredited schools have to take each others credits in IN. Anyway, I made it clear to the last semester for my business degree, and a butthead English Comp. 2 teacher blew my 4.0. I missed a class due to a family emergency, and he had a rule that if you did not turn in a paper the night it was due, he docked you a full letter grade. I ended up with a B+ in that class, and graduated with a 3.98. That's a real bummer when you work so hard to accomplish that goal, then one uncooperative instructor blows it for you. I feel for ya...that's a hard one to take.

I would have done the same thing re: the dogs to the extend that, when we've had sirens go off we have stayed put in out second floor condo since our neighbors are needlessly afraid of our big dog and complain whenever they encoutner her. We'd rather die in a windy vortex than risk having to deal with our board because someone said the dog looked at them and they got scared.

That sucks about your GPA. I graduated college with a 3.93 thanks to my one and only C in college alegbra, a B in history (the prof was actually getting events wrong and "correcting" my papers that way), and an A- in speech methods (which was also not my fault, they couldn't find me a teaching site in time for me to do all 3 lessons so I only got to do 2 and got graded down because of it). When I earn something other than an A (which hasn't happened since high school), I'll gladly take it. But this simulation is so flawed in nature, and one group is following a website that outlines how to beat it (which I consider to basically be cheating) so while we're doing well, we've only got a score of 70, which then becomes 20% of my grade (which is now a 91.3% thanks to the performance on the strategic plan for the last 3 years). I'm doing everything I can but I can't compete with a guide to winning.

Quote from wormbutt : It had it's ups and downs. I broke my ankle and possibly my wrist on Friday morning. The wrist was too swollen so they will re xray on Tuesday to confirm or deny. The ankle is a definite - broke the tibia.

Hope you heal quickly and painlessly.

Quote from akageorge : Dinner report! Made roulades de boeuf ... AKA bracioli ... AKA involtini ... (or you could just call them cow rolls ... )

You may have just provided me with the next main dish recipe for our HK cookoffs!

Quote from MsGal : Okay, here's the recipe I use:

And you may have just supplied me with the next dessert recipe!

Quote from akageorge : It's been so long, I'm not sure I remember how to work it any more.

That's what she said!


Hi everyone. I was on vacation last week, needed to take some benefit time off work or I lost it as of the 1st so we went to madison for a few days. Had a really nice time minus a small allergic reaction to my chapstick compounded by some chlorine sensitivity...and the constant knawing feeling that I should be doing something for class. I'm really looking forward to being able to take a vacation without thinking about what homework I should be doing or books I should order for next semester, etc. 45 more days til that actually happens!

Hope everyone had a nice 4th and has a nice weekend this weekend.

Oh shoot, heaok, you reminded me - I never gave an update:

After the swelling went down they re=xrayed. The wrist is fractured also. I'm in a pretty, green, hard cast on the left wrist and a walking boot/cast on the left ankle. Ortho said since the ankle was fractured under the weight bearing area on the tibia, I only have to wear the boot for 3 weeks, but will have to wear a smaller stabilization brace that will restrict side to side movement for 4 weeks after. I got outta that one easy!

The left wrist is more confusing. It was the scaphoid. Bones need blood to heal. The scaphoid has the least amount of blood flow of any bone in the body (and also the hardest to get a good xray on - sometimes they can only find the fracture with an MRI). I may be in the cast 6 weeks or 6 months depending on how fast it heals. If it doesn't heal, it will require surgery and a pin.

I broke the same bone in my right wrist in 2001 (someone pulled out in front of our ambulance while we were running hot). I was casted for 3 months and it did heal. This will be the same waiting game.

Hot hot hot ... whew! Even the brief rain didn't cool it off much tonight. I can understand the grumpies -- I'm one of them!

Sorry for those of you encountering the negatives. Hooray for those of you getting to do the fun stuff! And tn wormbutt, hope that wrist heals as well at least as well as the other one.

Saturday is my "necessary" pillaging day -- must get papers and milk, and have $20 Kohl's Cash to use by Sunday. I'm supposed to stop in at a graduation party and want to pack up a "goodie bag" as a gift, but after 2 hours running between my swag room (second floor, no A/C, about 85 degrees) and the cellar (where I was packing away my meds and other things that need to stay cool), gleaning items for 3 other people, I was so kerfuffled (and sweaty) I couldn't face any more sorting.

I made sandwiches for dinner (man, I wish I'd bought a few more of those Sandwich Thins before the Qs expired!) then went outside until after dark. Got something accomplished, although not what I set out to do. Finished it all off by watering the gardens, came inside, and heard ... rain!

I thought we were going to get a nice breeze, but that has disappeared now, so the fans are going full force. I fell asleep on the couch watching "Medium" and had to get up to put things away, throw a load of laundry in the dryer (towels, or I'd hang them out), shut down the computer and go to bed. So good night ...

Quote from lupus : My brother and I would have killed for that sort of arrangement. The problem is not them not having the money (the expected family contribution was rather high, and they could have paid for it), just them having their priorities all jacked up. Poor I understand very well. Giving thousands to what I consider a bogus charity and then claiming there is nothing left to help their kids better themselves rubs salt in the wounds. Gas money implies there is some sort of car. I didn't get my license until grad school because they bought a brand new minivan when I turned 16, traded in the car they said they'd keep for me, then refused to shop around for insurance and I couldn't afford the $3k a year when they said I could only drive to work and the grocery store and I'd have to pay for gas to go get groceries! Not having a car sucks. It made me pass up the grad school program I should have gone to, and it made getting jobs during college really difficult (my parents made too much for me to qualify for the on campus jobs). I want to help my brother avoid that. He has learned from his experiences and also wants to go to grad school so he'll never have to be this piss poor again.

I'm sure that there are many on this site who can tell you tales much worse than mine, and even worse than yours. Try not to be bitter. Life is short.

No car for me either when I went to college. I went to a college about 3 hours from my home. My Mom dropped me off in August and picked me up twice a year. Christmas and the end of the year. Had to walk, bum a ride, or if I had the money, take the bus everywhere I went. I once bummed a ride home for a few days to surprise my family. My ride dropped me off about 10 miles from my home. I called my house, my neighbors, my grandparents, everyone I could think of. No one answered. Ended up walking the entire 10 miles home carrying my suitcase. The surprise was on me. My family had gone camping for the weekend. I had to stay with a neighbor who kindly drove me the 10 miles back on Sunday to meet my ride.

I ate every meal for 4 years on campus in the dining hall since it was part of my tuition. I could call home collect once a month (these were the days before cell phones and free long distance). Otherwise I had to plunk quarters into a pay phone to call home.


My kids did have cars (if you can call them that). Pretty much junkers - but they served their purpose. They were responsible for their own insurance from the get go. Liability only was around 1200.00 a year for them until they turned 21 - then their rates dropped. If they couldn't earn a hundred bucks a month - then they didn't drive. The cars weren't worth having to carry collision insurance on.

I didn't have a car at school either and school was 2 1/2 hours from home. I worked in the cafeteria and in the placement office as part of my work/study program (paid for my books and my dorm room and cafeteria meals) and then worked at Walmart when I wasn't in school between quarters (no tomatoes please). My Mom and Dad would bring me to school at the first of the year and then pick me up when the 3rd quarter was over. Other than that, they never came to see me. I bummed a ride home when I needed to go home, as a guy in the county drove home to see his Honey every weekend. If I needed to go to the store, I walked. Big Star (closest grocery) was about 2 miles away.

Quote from kblickster : I'm sure that there are many on this site who can tell you tales much worse than mine, and even worse than yours. Try not to be bitter. Life is short. No car for me either when I went to college. I went to a college about 3 hours from my home. My Mom dropped me off in August and picked me up twice a year. Christmas and the end of the year. Had to walk, bum a ride, or if I had the money, take the bus everywhere I went. I once bummed a ride home for a few days to surprise my family. My ride dropped me off about 10 miles from my home. I called my house, my neighbors, my grandparents, everyone I could think of. No one answered. Ended up walking the entire 10 miles home carrying my suitcase. The surprise was on me. My family had gone camping for the weekend. I had to stay with a neighbor who kindly drove me the 10 miles back on Sunday to meet my ride. I ate every meal for 4 years on campus in the dining hall since it was part of my tuition. I could call home collect once a month (these were the days before cell phones and free long distance). Otherwise I had to plunk quarters into a pay phone to call home. My kids did have cars (if you can call them that). Pretty much junkers - but they served their purpose. They were responsible for their own insurance from the get go. Liability only was around 1200.00 a year for them until they turned 21 - then their rates dropped. If they couldn't earn a hundred bucks a month - then they didn't drive. The cars weren't worth having to carry collision insurance on.

I'm not bitter, I'm actually happy I learned to never trust my parents and got their names off my bank accounts with a quickness. Small price to pay to avoid a much larger problem later. I just hate seeing my brother having to put up with the same shit. Screwing up raising your first child is one thing, but you'd hope they'd learn a little something and treat my brother better.

May I whine for a moment?

Two weeks ago we found a hole in the house trim outside of the laundry room. We called the contractor that's supposed to come paint the house next week and asked if he could fix it. Turns out, the hole goes into the attic and is MUCH bigger than we knew. No water damage ... yet ... but must be torn out and replaced ASAP. I'm thinking, buy a canoe and wait?

A lawn expert finally showed up to diagnose my dying lawn yesterday. It's not moles, it's some kind of disease. They are taking grass and soil samples today and we'll know in a week what we are up against. Lawn guy said to be ready to pay out "big bucks". I'm thinking it might be cheaper to just bring in tons of gravel and never have to mow again.

The dishwasher died last night and flooded my kitchen. Appliance guy wants $70 an hour to fix it. IF it can even be fixed. This one is 10 years old, new one is at least $500. I'm thinking it would be cheaper to just up my teenage boy's allowances and teach them some life skills.

A/C kicked on during the night and started giving off a "funny" (bad) smell. A/C guy came this morning and said the lines were clogged. He cleared them and cleaned them out with bleach. A/C works great now but a tablespoon of bleach just cost me $163.

And last but not least ... my car, (my NEW car), is leaking oil. Leaked all over the garage last night.


If you ask me, this whole week is Friday the 13th!

Quote from MsGal : May I whine for a moment? If you ask me, this whole week is Friday the 13th!

Good grief! Yes - whine all you want! Sorry for your troubles. I like your thought process though - gravel lawn and teenage dishwashers! Hoot! Hope your day/week gets better.

Quote from tn_native : I didn't have a car at school either and school was 2 1/2 hours from home. I worked in the cafeteria and in the placement office as part of my work/study program (paid for my books and my dorm room and cafeteria meals) and then worked at Walmart when I wasn't in school between quarters (no tomatoes please). My Mom and Dad would bring me to school at the first of the year and then pick me up when the 3rd quarter was over. Other than that, they never came to see me. I bummed a ride home when I needed to go home, as a guy in the county drove home to see his Honey every weekend. If I needed to go to the store, I walked. Big Star (closest grocery) was about 2 miles away.

tn_native - I can't imagine kids this day and time walking 2 miles anywhere.

As I was writing my reply - I couldn't help but think that I would never walk by myself 10 miles anymore. It probably wasn't the safest thing to do back then either, but you gotta do what you gotta do.

Quote from MsGal : May I whine for a moment? Two weeks ago we found a hole in the house trim outside of the laundry room. We called the contractor that's supposed to come paint the house next week and asked if he could fix it. Turns out, the hole goes into the attic and is MUCH bigger than we knew. No water damage ... yet ... but must be torn out and replaced ASAP. I'm thinking, buy a canoe and wait? A lawn expert finally showed up to diagnose my dying lawn yesterday. It's not moles, it's some kind of disease. They are taking grass and soil samples today and we'll know in a week what we are up against. Lawn guy said to be ready to pay out "big bucks". I'm thinking it might be cheaper to just bring in tons of gravel and never have to mow again. The dishwasher died last night and flooded my kitchen. Appliance guy wants $70 an hour to fix it. IF it can even be fixed. This one is 10 years old, new one is at least $500. I'm thinking it would be cheaper to just up my teenage boy's allowances and teach them some life skills. A/C kicked on during the night and started giving off a "funny" (bad) smell. A/C guy came this morning and said the lines were clogged. He cleared them and cleaned them out with bleach. A/C works great now but a tablespoon of bleach just cost me $163. And last but not least ... my car, (my NEW car), is leaking oil. Leaked all over the garage last night. If you ask me, this whole week is Friday the 13th!

Dear Lord have Mercy who'd you piss off that put a hex on ya!? jk jk I feel for ya. I honestly thogught my week was hectic and going to drive me insane, however you win the crappy week award! I hope that everything works out and quick with the least money OOP