Sorry I see things different than you but then I was only going by several post you wrote. I don't doubt you run in to racism, in fact I see racism happening too damn often. I just found it sad that you seem to blame any negitive (or what you perceive as negitive)action toward you on someone being racist. The Apt living forum is full of posts complaining about rude and nasty neighbors. When you live in Apts you have a good chance of sharing your living space with creeps,idiots or some form of low lifes.These type of people bother everyone around them. You seem to think you are picked out because of your race first and always. I am not saying it hasn't happened, I am sure it has. After reading so many of your posts screaming racism I started seeing a pattern. Then when you wrote in asking if you had made a big mistake bringing up that your husband traveled to Cuba often. You made it sound as if saying such a thing was a big NO NO, living here? As if the average person in the US would have a problem with that? I can tell you that the average American could care less where you or your family travels.You seem to be first to seperate yourself as being different with anyone you come in contact with and if things don't go smoothly your first reaction is to blame "race" Your race, their race. People have run in's with weirdo's everyday as they go through life and race has nothing to do with it. Believe me you don't have to be of another race to be treated wrong by others. I apologize if you felt I was being insenitve or doubting your negitive experiences with racism. I didn't mean to do that. I was trying to show you that you come off as a person who blames every situation that doesn't go your way on racism. To me you seem a bit racist yourself. Could that be true? Assumming your new landlord was going to treat you poorly because your husband travels to Cuba was a racist thing for you to think. You were the one being racist in this situation. Maybe not knowingly but you were. I am assume this woman was not the same race as you, right? Now would you have made such an accusation about her if she was the same race as you? I bet even if she was born and raised here in the US but your same race, you would have never worried about such a thing.Everybody has it in them to be racist and I believe everyone has been and everyone will be again sometime down the line. This why WE ALL need to work how we see the world and how we treat others. The only person we have control over is ourself.We all have the choice to reject or allow others hate to become instilled in our own hearts. I am sure it is much more easy for me to remember this than others because I am sure I don't have to deal with racism as much as many people. No matter how Easy or difficult one has , it is equally as important for all to remember. Peace

It's a good idea and it would probably scare off an intruder, I think. I would test it though, to make sure it'll work from your bedroom to the garage. I keep my keys in the car, which is probably not smart, but it's locked into the garage which is right under our house so if the garage door goes up we know it instantly. The four dogs (big, mean and scary sounding) would let us know if anything was happening that we weren't aware of. Do you ever watch "It Takes a Thief"? It's about home protection and one of the biggest things the thieves worry about is barking dogs. They target homes that don't have any of them. So obviously, noise is a huge factor.

My '88 Mazda (replacement single key about two bucks) was bought over three years ago - from an auto insurance appraiser, who had some plastic stickers that looked like bullet holes on one back corner, and offered to take them off, but I said to leave them there, that they weren't hurting anything. About 6 months later, I was in a smash that twisted one rear wheel a bit, and it took more than I'd paid to repair it, but my friend the body shop guy said that, at about 125,000 mi., it had some good mileage in it, so I fixed it - my contribution to energy waste and global pollution and warming, I guess, as repairs take a small amount of material and a lot of work. It's a standard transmission, so when a signal light goes yellow in the city, if traffic is normal, I push the clutch and turn off the key. The bigger cars go past at speed ... then a couple of hundred feet from the intersection, on come the red lights at the back! Can't people with automatics drive far enough ahead ... and think what they're doing enough to take their foot off of the throttle when the signal lights turn yellow?? My friend the body shop guy, though a few years younger than I, has been over afew hills and around a few corners in his lifetime and I doubt whether he can be taken for a ride easily when it comes to business ... as his business looks prosperous(and he has a vacation location at Lake Havasu). Some stuff in Canada is dearer than in the U.S. ole joyful

Saying that the last time you saw them the atmosphere was chaotic is not a good thing, one time I threw out an important receipt during a time of great distraction, and after searching high and low I steeled myself to go through my garbage bag, there it was, eww. Are you able to relax and think back to remember what had occurred the last time you had those keys. Distinctly remember placing them on that mat, or maybe at the last minute decided to put somewhere else over the holidays? My keys, my purse, and my watch have distinct 'holding' spots, and occasionally I take off my watch in the bedroom and leave it on the dresser, but the next day when I need it and go over to the usual spot in the kitchen for it, it won't be there and in my panic I'll momentarily forget the other spot. So I try to stick to the same ONE spot for special things. I've also been known (only to me) to hide special things in the house (like the kids S.I.N. #, special money etc) then not be able to recall where I've hidden it. Then we moved and I rediscovered it, not a help in your situation. And as life will have it, you will have bought the new ones and then you'll come across the originals - hope not! Good Luck and success.