Hey this is cool...joyful......I just read this but am happy to share that I actually quit smoking....I think it was on the 28th of Dec....2 months under my belt now........

Hi calpat, I was crying about getting 40 or so spam a day - until I talked to my neighbour getting over a hundred ... A DAY! She let that box drop and is opening another. I've told some people unwilling to do legitimate surveys to get a different e-mail box - just for them. So if they get connected with a spammer, they just let the box go. Hardly any making these wonderful offers ever have a real address that they send from. By the way - had any offers of a potion to enhance the size of some of your female/male parts? Some of the over a hundred or so that I've got offer guaranteed overnight results. I've replied saying that I'd be afraid that would be painful. If I were a working person - I'd want to take it on the weekend - so I could stay up all night to watch the growth. If I subscribed to all of the hundred or so offers - how would I deal with the monster - backpack? Not big enough, wrong location. Kid's stroller? Can't put it on escalator in stores. Sling? Would be too heavy for my shoulders. Shopping cart? Too deep. Wheelbarrow? Now - that might just be what the doctor ordered! Need a *full-siized* van, of course, for longer trips. But - where could I find a partner who could accomodate my needs? Probably need to seek a mare, elephant, etc. Would need a pad to keep track of when they came in heat - they wouldn't want to talk to me at other times. Do the guys selling potions - also sell stepladders? I sometimes reply trying to sell them my newsletter about money management, as I've become concerned over the years in the personal financial planning business that so few know much about money management, that I'm keeping the letter going after retirement. Single copy free to anyone with e-mail address, they can subscribe if they wish. Should save them hundreds, more likely thousands, in their lifetime - unless they have one foot in the grave, now. Often people who get something at no cost give it little respect, this letter distills many years of experience, expensive training, etc. so it would be a mistake to give it away free, though I could afford to. I don't like to be arbitrary - so price of the newsletter is negotiable. Having been a number of years a clergyperson, I've tried not to be greedy, either - so will likely ask them to contribute most of the fee to charity, especially worldwide ones, as there are huge needs in many countries, these days. They can negotiate to send my newsletter to their friends, relatives, colleagues in community, sport, church, at work, etc. Will build their group of friends, make them famous - and help them raise some money, as they keep some of the (negotiated) fee, send most to charity - and send some to me, of course. This story is real, as a matter of fact - and it's all true. As for all of these guys who have these great money-making ideas ... what kind of business is such that the fellow working there, who wants to encourage you to do the same, is so proud of it that he tells you almost nothing about it in the original message - apart from how much one may possibly make? A company that keeps their door locked, and has an unlisted phone. Most of them don't give me an address to which I can send a message, go to ask a question, etc. - their front door is locked. Few give a phone number to call - and most who do have it lead to an agency. The email address that they use when sending the message is false - unlisted phone. Not only is the phone unlisted - the guy who sent the message is a liar. The only way that I can contact them - is to fill in a form, telling quite a bit about myself ... ... to leave your resume in the mail box, please ... Which quite a few may use to assemble a database - that they then sell - to other spammers. What chance does such a recruiter think that he may have - of getting me interested in his offer? About one chance in 19,999. Have a happy spring/summer weekend, all. joyful guy/Ed

My view is that it would be like an extension of living in one's own home - if one had a serious stroke, or developed Alzheimer's, it would not have been possible for that person to continue to have lived alone in his/her (former) home. Similarly, it would be part of the agreement that people could continue to live there as long as they could pretty well maintain themselves. I can see the other members of the household doing all the chores and carrying food to a member who was ill - for a temporary period, if there were substantial hope of the person being able to recover and able to resume their share of the duties related to maintaining the home in the foreseeable future. Actually, it might well be possible for one to live longer in such a home than alone in their own home, for the chores would be shared, so less onerous on each resident. And if there were concern for the person suffering some trauma with no help immediately available, that situation would be of deeper concern for someone living alone that if there were three or four others in the residential unit. It would be similar to the situation in a residential home - when the inhabitant isn't able to maintain themselves any longer, but need more than a minimal amount of attendant care, they would be required to move to a nursing home. If you aren't able to pay your way in the average residential home for seniors - you aren't going to continue to be there very long. Lacking some kind of governmental support. Actually - it would be much cheaper for the government to pay such a group home for the needy person to continue to live there, rather than moving to a residential home, as it would be much less constly than care in a residential home (but dealing with the red tape would be a major issue, no doubt, for this situation would not be part of the regular system). As for free-loading guests - I can eat with my friend in her residential home - but someone must pay for it. Of course, if that person comes to my place to eat, the nursing home does not pay me. There might be a fee for overnight, at the group's discretion, and a fee for outsiders to have meals there. Which the inhabitants might well ignore, if the guest's visit were a rare event. In many cases, if there were a guest for one meal, the other residents might consider the occasion sort of a bright spot in the day, and might choose to forego payment on the part of the resident whose friend the guest was. Otherwise, when settlement time came at month end, the number of guest meals would be part of the bill. Having a congenial person as sort of "house mother" would help in such situations - an outsider to blame for the rather unattractive, if necessary, action. Good wishes to you all - for continued health of body, mind and spirit ... and for making new friends (to replace the ones that we lose, unfortunately), joyful guy

Hi again pcock, Well - it's almost 4 months since your earlier message. I hope that you've been successful in your choice of quitting. Nothing was said about your age, but ... ... if at age 15 you invest a single dollar, and get 5% rate of return throughout, after 50 years, when you get to be 65 and would like to retire, that Dollar will have sprouted another 10 like itself: your value would be $11.00+. Should you be able to have that Dollar grow at 10%, value at age 65 woulod be $117.00+. (If your personal financial advisor could help you get 15%, value 50 years later would be about $1,080.00+). No allowance in either case for the ravages that income tax does to your annual income, or that inflation does to your accumulated assets. Better invest at least some of your savings, for you'll likely live longer. And have the improved health that will permit you to do a lot more things - some of them expensive - after retirement. Or - you might even choose to retire early. Good wishes for success in your Quit. ole joyful