I remember the first time I ever had a crush on a girl. I was in the fourth grade and we were in Mrs. Thompson homeroom together. The girls name was Lavanda (I think that was how her name was spelled but I could be wrong).
One day after school I asked if I could carry her books for her. She said yes and off we went. She lived on the other side of the canal from me. The town we lived in has a canal that runs through almost the middle. I rarely went on that side of the canal but with her I didn't care. We got to her house and talked outside a while before I headed home.
Over time I walked her home more and more. Finally I was invited over by her and her mom. We went into her bedroom to play and she shut the door. Her mom came and opened it right away. At the time I didn't understand what the big deal was but I understand clearly now - LOL.
One day shortly after that I went to visit her on a weekend and no one was home. The lady living across the street said they had moved. I was heart broken. Lavanda was my first crush and my first heart break. I have thought of her often since that day and still from time to time find myself wondering where and what she is doing. Many years later I was visiting Mrs. Thompson at school and even told her this story. She too remembered Lavanda.
Tuesday, December 20, 2011
Saturday, December 17, 2011
Adoption: Sharing Your Love Aboundantly
When I was a year and half old I was adopted by a family that provided me with a wonderfully loving home. I have a education and worked hard for most of my adult life. I'm proud of the fact I was adopted. I always knew I was adopted and often times wondered what my biological mom and dad looked like.
On my eighteenth birthday I was awaken to my mom asking me to come to the kitchen because she had something to show me. In our local paper was a one inch by one inch square box that said, "Happy Birthday Danny. Please Call Mom". It also include a phone number. Mom informed me that it was my biological mother trying to find me. I read the ad again, turned to mom and said, "OK" and went back to bed.
It wasn't until a Friday before I gave it any further thought (the ad was in the Wednesday paper) while at school. When I got home I asked mom what she thought about all of this and if I should call my biological mom. Mom told me it was up to me with only two bits of advice. First - never forget who raised you. Second - it was up to me if I allowed them to know where I lived. I called my biological mom that evening and met her and her family at the mall the following day. Since then I have met more family members then I ever thought I had. I have also realized I am a very confused person because I am - an Only Child (my biological mom and dad only had me between them and I was both their first), the Youngest Child (my adopted parents had two older kids already out of the house) and the Middle Child (my biological mom and dad were divorced and remarried and had other children). For those that know me can now understand a little bit of why I'm so screwed up. LOL
Adoption is one of the best gifts you can give a young person of any age. It doesn't matter if you are advanced in age and have children full grown or if you are looking to expand your family or if your desire to adopt comes from the lack of ability to have children of your own.
If you are going to adopt don't go over over seas to do so. According to a 2009/2010 statical report there are over 114,000 persons in the United States waiting for Adoption. Many of those young persons spend years in adoption waiting for someone to take them home.
I started this post with the intention of ranting about Celebrities who go overseas to adopt but don't even adopt one young person from right here in the U.S. but I decided against it. I just wanted to share my story and offer encouragement in hopes that other young people can experience the love and compassion from someone who loves them enough to give them a home and a FAMILY.
On my eighteenth birthday I was awaken to my mom asking me to come to the kitchen because she had something to show me. In our local paper was a one inch by one inch square box that said, "Happy Birthday Danny. Please Call Mom". It also include a phone number. Mom informed me that it was my biological mother trying to find me. I read the ad again, turned to mom and said, "OK" and went back to bed.
It wasn't until a Friday before I gave it any further thought (the ad was in the Wednesday paper) while at school. When I got home I asked mom what she thought about all of this and if I should call my biological mom. Mom told me it was up to me with only two bits of advice. First - never forget who raised you. Second - it was up to me if I allowed them to know where I lived. I called my biological mom that evening and met her and her family at the mall the following day. Since then I have met more family members then I ever thought I had. I have also realized I am a very confused person because I am - an Only Child (my biological mom and dad only had me between them and I was both their first), the Youngest Child (my adopted parents had two older kids already out of the house) and the Middle Child (my biological mom and dad were divorced and remarried and had other children). For those that know me can now understand a little bit of why I'm so screwed up. LOL
Adoption is one of the best gifts you can give a young person of any age. It doesn't matter if you are advanced in age and have children full grown or if you are looking to expand your family or if your desire to adopt comes from the lack of ability to have children of your own.
If you are going to adopt don't go over over seas to do so. According to a 2009/2010 statical report there are over 114,000 persons in the United States waiting for Adoption. Many of those young persons spend years in adoption waiting for someone to take them home.
I started this post with the intention of ranting about Celebrities who go overseas to adopt but don't even adopt one young person from right here in the U.S. but I decided against it. I just wanted to share my story and offer encouragement in hopes that other young people can experience the love and compassion from someone who loves them enough to give them a home and a FAMILY.
Friday, December 9, 2011
Judge and Others Have It Wrong!!
According to so called professional journalist reporters and their so called professional news reporting agencies unemployment is down and will continue to go down. They want use to believe that people are going back to work.
According to the same so called journalist and our so call government 120,000 jobs were created and unemployment is down. They continue to white wash us with BS about how the economy is improving.
A number of years ago a newspaper announced that a United States President was defeated in the election and yet they were so badly off it has been an embarrassing reminder for them.
Recently a judge ruled that a blogger wasn't a journalist.
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When I want to know what is going on in the United States and even the world I don't depend on the professional journalist. I don't turn on the World Leader in News. I don't rely on hearsay or gossip. I go straight to the bottom of online news stories and read the comments. I visit FaceBook and other places where acquaintances and friends are talking about real dealings with events.
These are the people that matter. These are those people who I trust to tell me the truth not our government and not some newspaper, or news website. Our government, newspapers, TV news are controlled by politics. They will only tell us what they want us to hear, see or know but they won't tell us the real truths.
Right now a lot of this news about lower unemployment and jobs being created is to make Obama look good and help him get re-elected. It has nothing to do with what is really going on in the United States. 120,000 jobs is nothing more then seasonal workers. Once the holidays are over most of those jobs will be gone.
Bloggers may not be REAL JOURNALIST but when it comes to getting the truth or shred of honesty they are the source to rely on the most.
According to the same so called journalist and our so call government 120,000 jobs were created and unemployment is down. They continue to white wash us with BS about how the economy is improving.
A number of years ago a newspaper announced that a United States President was defeated in the election and yet they were so badly off it has been an embarrassing reminder for them.
Recently a judge ruled that a blogger wasn't a journalist.
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When I want to know what is going on in the United States and even the world I don't depend on the professional journalist. I don't turn on the World Leader in News. I don't rely on hearsay or gossip. I go straight to the bottom of online news stories and read the comments. I visit FaceBook and other places where acquaintances and friends are talking about real dealings with events.
These are the people that matter. These are those people who I trust to tell me the truth not our government and not some newspaper, or news website. Our government, newspapers, TV news are controlled by politics. They will only tell us what they want us to hear, see or know but they won't tell us the real truths.
Right now a lot of this news about lower unemployment and jobs being created is to make Obama look good and help him get re-elected. It has nothing to do with what is really going on in the United States. 120,000 jobs is nothing more then seasonal workers. Once the holidays are over most of those jobs will be gone.
Bloggers may not be REAL JOURNALIST but when it comes to getting the truth or shred of honesty they are the source to rely on the most.
Monday, December 5, 2011
FaceBook WTP Poker
I admit I am not the best poker player. I never claimed to be even a good poker player. I am however willing to risk everything for what I believe is a winning hand. I don't play for real money any more even though I have played a few cash games in the past. Never online however. My one attempted to play for money online was shot down thanks to our greedy Government getting their hands into things.
Facebook has a number of Online Poker games from various poker companies or sites. For this post I'm staying only with WTP on FaceBook.
WTP Poker on FaceBook is likely one of the over all worse of all the poker games they offer. There are at least main complaints about WTP that many players have expressed over time, myself included.
The first complaint are the 75 play money gifts that your friends can send you. If you are lucky you might be able to collect one maybe two of them. The rest seem to never appear in your WTP inbox yet they do appear on your list under Game Request.
When I first started playing WTP on Facebook we used to be able to collect all the 75 play money gift your friend gave you. Also you could find hidden chips worth 5000 play money on tables in the lower right hand corner. That help those of us that have gone broke to possibly keep playing. Now we can only depend on the daily lottery spin.
This brings us to the second complaint which are the lottery spins. If ever there was a joke WTP has one of the biggest going. Most everyone I have spoken too rarely ever get more then 1000 per day. Even at the maximum multiplier of 5 that is only 5000. Many, if not most of the other poker games on FaceBook give you a whole lot more then 5000 daily. Earlier today one person I know got over 60 million play money lottery on a different poker game but his last 15 spins on WTP was no more then 1000 (plus the multiplier when applicable).
Finally the last complaint about WTP and we'll add just about all other games, including Facebook itself. Customer support is a waste of time. Chances are they will make excuses but won't address the problem directly. A large number of people have complained about the lack of response from Support and when there is a response it mostly comes across as a smoke screen.
Sadly, in America today customer support and personal service is taking a back seat in many businesses. This is a tread that has very easily been adapted to many areas of internet websites. Some could say that the lack of concern about the customer is larger a classic example of how big business chooses to operate (They need our business so we are going to ignore them mentality).
Facebook has a number of Online Poker games from various poker companies or sites. For this post I'm staying only with WTP on FaceBook.
WTP Poker on FaceBook is likely one of the over all worse of all the poker games they offer. There are at least main complaints about WTP that many players have expressed over time, myself included.
The first complaint are the 75 play money gifts that your friends can send you. If you are lucky you might be able to collect one maybe two of them. The rest seem to never appear in your WTP inbox yet they do appear on your list under Game Request.
When I first started playing WTP on Facebook we used to be able to collect all the 75 play money gift your friend gave you. Also you could find hidden chips worth 5000 play money on tables in the lower right hand corner. That help those of us that have gone broke to possibly keep playing. Now we can only depend on the daily lottery spin.
This brings us to the second complaint which are the lottery spins. If ever there was a joke WTP has one of the biggest going. Most everyone I have spoken too rarely ever get more then 1000 per day. Even at the maximum multiplier of 5 that is only 5000. Many, if not most of the other poker games on FaceBook give you a whole lot more then 5000 daily. Earlier today one person I know got over 60 million play money lottery on a different poker game but his last 15 spins on WTP was no more then 1000 (plus the multiplier when applicable).
Finally the last complaint about WTP and we'll add just about all other games, including Facebook itself. Customer support is a waste of time. Chances are they will make excuses but won't address the problem directly. A large number of people have complained about the lack of response from Support and when there is a response it mostly comes across as a smoke screen.
Sadly, in America today customer support and personal service is taking a back seat in many businesses. This is a tread that has very easily been adapted to many areas of internet websites. Some could say that the lack of concern about the customer is larger a classic example of how big business chooses to operate (They need our business so we are going to ignore them mentality).
Thursday, December 1, 2011
Social Security and Me
According to the November 2011 report at SSA.gov the total number of people receiving Social Security is 60,542. Of that number 52,426 receive only social security, 5,352 receive only SSI and 2,764 receive both. You can review the rest of the list by clicking on the link.
I am one of those that get both. I never made a lot of money in my working life. My average yearly income never amounted to more then around $9,000. If you do the math on that it comes to $750 a month (or $187.5 weekly before taxes). The best yearly income I ever saw was just over $13,000 and that was working two jobs for a period of time.
I have been on medical disability retirement since 2008 and average $694 monthly. $52 monthly I never see because Child Support is taking it for back support (my daughter has been over 18 yrs old since 2006). Like many others I pay rent, utilities, phone, cable/internet, gas for my car and a city water/sewage bill. That all average out to around $670+/- monthly. Thankfully my girlfriend and I share a house together and split the bills. Neither of us could afford to live alone.
According to Health and Human Services website (2011) poverty level for one person is $10,890 (two persons is $14,710). Doing the math on this it is easy to see that my yearly income on disability is $8,328 by which I am currently $2,562 below poverty level based on the HHS guidelines. If we use the Census Bureau poverty thresholds figures (poverty level for one person is $11,139) I am $2,811 below poverty (a $249 difference).
I survive. Mostly I have learned to live on what I have and only splurge on one main thing which is having cable/internet service. The phone (in case anyone things that is splurging too) is a medical necessity for my girlfriend.
For years I have heard people talking about how they can't survive on their income. I listened to people whine about how they can't afford to buy a new car or take a longer vacation yet almost everyone who says this lives on more then I have ever seen in my life time. Almost all of them make two or three times weekly more then I ever did.
I am sorry if I don't show sympathy for those of you who can't afford to survive on your $40, $50, $100 thousand a year income. Sorry if I don't understand why you think you deserve a raise on top of your already nice incomes. My apologies if I offend you for thinking you don't need a new car every year or a vacation in some far off country once or twice a year.
I have enough problems of my own surviving. I can't afford a vacation or a new car. I will likely never know how it feels to own a home or remodel an older one. I love to travel but I can only afford to go 20 miles a week if I plan to have gas to last me a month so going across country is out of the question. I would go to work if I could. Even part time to supplement my current income but the government seems to think any extra income is making too much (even if it doesn't bring me over the poverty level) so they will cut my current income if I do that.
I am one of those that get both. I never made a lot of money in my working life. My average yearly income never amounted to more then around $9,000. If you do the math on that it comes to $750 a month (or $187.5 weekly before taxes). The best yearly income I ever saw was just over $13,000 and that was working two jobs for a period of time.
I have been on medical disability retirement since 2008 and average $694 monthly. $52 monthly I never see because Child Support is taking it for back support (my daughter has been over 18 yrs old since 2006). Like many others I pay rent, utilities, phone, cable/internet, gas for my car and a city water/sewage bill. That all average out to around $670+/- monthly. Thankfully my girlfriend and I share a house together and split the bills. Neither of us could afford to live alone.
According to Health and Human Services website (2011) poverty level for one person is $10,890 (two persons is $14,710). Doing the math on this it is easy to see that my yearly income on disability is $8,328 by which I am currently $2,562 below poverty level based on the HHS guidelines. If we use the Census Bureau poverty thresholds figures (poverty level for one person is $11,139) I am $2,811 below poverty (a $249 difference).
I survive. Mostly I have learned to live on what I have and only splurge on one main thing which is having cable/internet service. The phone (in case anyone things that is splurging too) is a medical necessity for my girlfriend.
For years I have heard people talking about how they can't survive on their income. I listened to people whine about how they can't afford to buy a new car or take a longer vacation yet almost everyone who says this lives on more then I have ever seen in my life time. Almost all of them make two or three times weekly more then I ever did.
I am sorry if I don't show sympathy for those of you who can't afford to survive on your $40, $50, $100 thousand a year income. Sorry if I don't understand why you think you deserve a raise on top of your already nice incomes. My apologies if I offend you for thinking you don't need a new car every year or a vacation in some far off country once or twice a year.
I have enough problems of my own surviving. I can't afford a vacation or a new car. I will likely never know how it feels to own a home or remodel an older one. I love to travel but I can only afford to go 20 miles a week if I plan to have gas to last me a month so going across country is out of the question. I would go to work if I could. Even part time to supplement my current income but the government seems to think any extra income is making too much (even if it doesn't bring me over the poverty level) so they will cut my current income if I do that.
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