Did you see the squib in the newspaper about the similarity in scanned brain activity of those who are engrossed in the web, and those who are addicted to more usual culprits such as drugs? That, I can believe because it's a basic human drive to input data or stimulii into the brain. For millenia we had to rely on personal experience, then we relied on books, then we tapped electronic media like radio and television. For all purposes logging on is connecting to a universal consciousness and might explain the transition of the mobile phone to web-enabled portable computer. The implications to this are mind-boggling. I'd put the evolution of the internet right up there with the discovery of fire and the industrial revolution as far as how humankind could be impacted for bad or good. It's certainly a double edged sword, and begs for discernment as to how one choses to use it. You can get anything you want at Alice's Restaurant.

I agree on having our kids appreciate what they have. They really don't know how good we've had it! We have 1 incredibly small bathroom we are sharing (that right there has been a growing experience for me - not loving that nor the lack of water pressure - ack). It's an old home - as in no outlets or switches in one of the bedrooms upstairs. They were sharing a room but they've already rearranged. The room without any outlets also doesn't have a heat vent so I don't see my oldest staying in there come winter - but it is also the largest of the 2 rooms. :) We also have no dishwasher and no a/c. Those are basically the comforts that we had that we are now getting used to being without. I keep reminding myself that there is no perfect home and surely there will be things after living with it that we might think are too large, too small or a little off one way or another. Our pantry is pretty sizable - fits our chest freezer which I'm excited about but the doorway is off the kitchen, not IN the kitchen proper. That bugged me for a while but I think it's going to be okay. I was off a bit on my $250k number - dh informed me that it's more like $280k. :( Besides the roofing the other number that came in considerably higher than we thought was lumber. It recently took a jump so that was a bit disappointing. We are hoping to get all of our quotes by the end of the month so we can lock in our I/R before it also takes another jump. We will be doing all priming, painting, laying wood floor, tile, setting cabinets, some trim work, putting stone on fireplace (we have done that before and it's actually a very rewarding project but took way longer than we thought), hardware on doors and cabinets, lighting, ceiling fans. We too will be doing some of those very things you mentioned after the fact. Definitely closets and even the small office we have will be done after we are in. With work schedules and keeping timing on track it may come down to having to hire things out that we originally planned on DIY. We are not moving communities or school districts and are paying rent so time is money to a certain degree. For now though that is what we hope to do in sweat equity. I think you are wise to start working through house plans now. There are certainly many details to ponder. We were hoping to be about 2000 sq feet total for the main and upstairs but ended up at 2400. We don't feel the rooms are excessively large or that we have rarely used rooms so we went ahead with it. I had a few things that I really wanted configured a certain way and made sure they were laid out accordingly. After those boxes were checked I really didn't feel so picky about the rest. Hopefully they will live how I feel they will in my mind! :)

I use different names and passwords. I have never used my name, sorry I am not really Shannon I just liked the name. I may reveal a lot of personal stuff but don't think anyone would find me any sooner than if they hired a private eye. I feel really bad for my dd. When you google her name a really, really hot 20ish girl from Vegas pops up. It worries me that some freak out there might think that is really my dd. No matter how much I have tried to tell her and her friends about personal info online I am always amazed at how much they put out there. Which is why we are trying so hard to make sure she knows about creepy stuff in case she tries to have a myspace or whatnot without our knowledge. GD- is that you in your other career? Unfortunately my dh has a common name. A local child support agency decided to search every guy with that name in CA and start garnishing taxes, wages etc. They served 5 different guys, non of which had same soc sec as offending dad. When we asked why they did not bother to at least check the soc sec number to see if they had the right guy they said "they just don't have the manpower". After speaking with the Attorney General's office we got the county to send us a letter admitting what they did and that they were wrong and would take responsibility for any harm it might cause. Dh's info got mixed up in the credit bureaus with the offending dad. It has taken years of checking every few months to make sure my dh's info stays unmixed up with the bad dad.

I'm not sure it was the Dateline you saw, but I attended a presentation by a cop who assisted in at least one Dateline episode. He now goes around the country making presentations because he feels he can reach more people. As part of his demonstration, he logged on to a chatroom and pretended to be a 13 or 14 year old girl. Within a few minutes, a pedophile type approached him. Very creepy. The cop said that guys with these urges have always been out there. It is just that with the internet and its chatrooms and instant messaging and so on that they can live out their fantasies. Young kids feel safe in their homes and may unintentionally reveal more than they recognize to their new found friends -- who may pose as someone much younger. They do not realize that by mentioning their town and that they scored the winning point at a recent sports competition that another person could track down their identity. The cop said a screen name that shows gender and age will be much more likely to attract predators, e.g. "Lisa91", than a neutral screen name. He also recommending keeping the computer in a public place and not in the kid's bedroom and to monitor your kid such as seeing what he or she has posted on MySpace. He also mentioned installing tracking software on the computer to see what sites your kid has visited. While internet predators are real, I happen to believe that greater dangers are posed by people kids know: the *funny* uncle, mom's boyfriend, the step-dad, the teacher, the clergyperson, etc. Same with kidnapping; most are the other parent, not a stranger. True, a big part of parenting is protecting your kid. But it is also learning to give them independence. The big trick is when and how much and to know they will make mistakes. You don't want a kid going off to college incapable of doing anything and making independent judgments! JMHO