It's the GOVERNMENT, people-- the government BUREAUCRACY. You're not really supposed to be able to decipher it! Just think about when you filed your tax forms this year--how long did it take you to understand some of the new rules? (And I'm not talking to the people who took it to H&R Block). Really, some of you are acting ridiculous. What do you think "verify" means? Have you never had to verify your name and address when contacting a utility company or your credit card company? You've all been reading too many scare stories about identity theft. Nobody is going to steal your identity and open up 100 credit-card accounts on the basic info that the census people are supposed to ask you. And if you should happen to get that caller who is really a scam artist and asks you for your bank account number, then you hang up. But just do your civic duty--help the census work! Help tell the government where they need to put funding for your state! I don't get some of you: You filled out a form and perhaps talked to someone at the front door, but you won't take 10 minutes to complete the process? And, from Lowspark's example, these are the questions that make you think it's some con man, or that this is so intrusive and a waste of your valuable 10 or 20 minutes? Really, I think the Oprah show and even this chat board can wait a few minutes. This sort of questioning is suspicious? Did you fill out the form correctly? What is your name? Did you fill out the form? What is your address? My god! I can go to the reverse-directory at my library and get this info in 10 seconds! And anybody wanting to plan to burglarize your home and wondering if you live alone can just sit on your block for a couple of hours and figure that out. Are you also peeking out your curtains to make sure this isn't happening? There are some bad apples in every bunch, but pls, use your intellect. (And when you take a trip on a plane, when the check-in clerk asks you if you packed your bag yourself, does that make you feel as if they've intruded on your privacy?) The gov't has already spent a ton of money on this. It's not going to spend more to send some other kind of form to guide you through this last step. There is a lot of official census bureau info you could check, if you can spare that 10 minutes to do the research. You've crossed the line from cautious to paranoid. Not everybody is out to get you. This posting makes me livid.

Yall really like it when we talk about our meetings and all the fun topics we hit on..we make it a habit not to talk much about the KT or the KTers Okay Glenda your turn to pop in and us line up a day...I am thinking Thursday...I think I am going to fix Chicken Pasta Salad as a main course...do you want warm, room temp or cold??? It tastes good any way...Maybe serve it on Romaine lettuce leaves, some watermelon, and roasted fresh asparagus. Did I fix the peanut butter pie last time???May fix that, it is Tony's favorite...or get Molly to cook chocolate chip cookies or maybe fruit muffins...Hurry & reply before I go through everything I know how to cook...LOL

I still do phone calls occasionally with my siblings (I used to talk about nothing for HOURS on the phone with my now deceased Mom.) But with the grandkids & adult kids, no one wants the hassle of writing or checking e-mail, so we text. A LOT. And I get kept in the loop with them all via tiny snippets of their lives. Like my DD texting me that they were at a carnival & DSIL won a giant stuffed animal they were going to give to one of the dogs to "play" with (he destroys EVERYTHING.) She woudln't have called to tell me that. Or composed an e-mail. Or when DDIL texted me when I was in the mall about the flight schedule they could book & would that be ok for me to come stay with the grandkids. Texting is so much more right now (for those of us without I-phones) than e-mail. And the BONUS (over phone calls) is that you get a permanent record (like the flight days, times) which sometimes the phone call memory doesn't come through with.

It's a feature you enable in your settings named "wi-fi calling." Your phone functions just like normally, making or receiving calls. But Instead of the calls occurring using the wireless signal of your cell phone carrier, they occur over your Internet connection. You need the right phone and you need to enable the feature in your settings. Other than that, you wouldn't know the difference since it's business as usual and there are no extra things to do when placing or receiving calls. When I am at home, my phone automatically picks up my router and all calls occur over the Internet. This is nice if you are limited to a certain number of minutes a month on your wireless plan, since calls over the Internet don't count against your plan. Not all phones can do this. For example, you need the newest iPhone (6 or 6s), or a pretty new Android model. And a few carriers do not yet make this available to their customers regardless of what phone they have. What phone do you have and who is your carrier?