Saucy, I agree you should go to the PC information gathering. I am not aware of how the PC operates very well since 1966! But I would like to add that there was great caution about health with removal of all molars whether they needed removal or not, experimental inoculations with explanations only afterwards, etc. I somewhat understand this, and expect you do too from your navy experiences, BUT...!!!!Also they were big on psychological evaluations and causing grief by trying to remove quite competent people from the program. (DH was one of those!) Also there was much treating us like children, surprise checkups, holiday and travel restrictions, etc. Personally I would rather do the work I dream of independently of an organization. I'd prefer to teach abroad, or work on bridge development, or whatever without the mothering. Certainly there are advantages too: quick evacuation, housing, sometimes doctors and vehicles. Money is NOT one of the advantages, though at the time (age 23) there was little to spend on. As an older person with children (they don't accept these kind of folks I believe unless the children are beyond school age) I'd be more concerned about income and so on. Just some of my morning thoughts. Photos: Saucy, this should remind you of photos you posted earlier. These are decorative tombstones in the Efik area of Eastern Nigeria. The faces and hands are painted pink or white oddly enough. Here are photos of the children of DH's school principal, Mr Nsofor. This is sports Day, 1965. DH played guitar with the Tex Dandies in town on a number of occasions. The child, Okereke, skillfully danced along in front. The tall man to the left was a PC man as well, and he was well loved by PC volunteers as well as locals. And here is yours truly with (now) DH November 7th, 1966 at our send-off party. (We were married in '68)The man to the right is DH's friend from Cornell University who taught at the same school. The Nigerian lady is Cecelia Ahaonu, also a teacher at the school. Ndeewo (Greetings/Thank you/Goodbye in Igbo)

Last night, late, when I was typing this up, I just knew I was way too wordy, included too much blah blah blah, and left nothing for anyone else to add. Reading this today told me how very wrong I was! (Well, I may still have been wordy and blahed out everybody but at least there were a bunch of things still to be covered.) I'm going to disagree with the comment about 'flakes'. Any kind of commentary in an ad that attributes bad motives, bad attitude, or total lack of trust in one's fellow man, no matter how well-deserved, turns me off. I like dealing with nice people and until I prove not to be so nice myself, I have to hope that others will think the best of me. Some people do very well with email addresses only. And if you are one of them, then, so be it. You can certainly put a deal together via email, we do it on Ebay all the time. Even arrangements to meet can be done that way, although speaking on the phone once you are at that stage, can help to alleviate stress and work out the kinks. I do hate all the phone calls attached to people who don't show up. But its kind of a necessary part of doing things this way. Here's how I handle it when there are multiple persons interested in same item. In December I put a set of drapes on CL with several pictures and my price. I got multiple emails and responded to each one with verification that I still had the drapes and included my phone number and told them to call if they wanted to view. Then, the calls started. People wanted them. One lady wanted to do a Paypal payment right then, so she would be sure of getting them. Now, Paypal would work for me. I use it for Ebay all the time and it means you got paid. But for someone local, I still don't really like the idea of someone paying before they see the item in person. Anyway, I arranged with her for her husband to come the next morning, but told her he needed to call first in case they were sold. I had Lady #2 call and tell me she absolutely wanted them, was 45 minutes away, and would I hold them for her? If she had said she was on her way, I would have done it. Once someone has arranged to come right away, I will at least give them the benefit of the doubt. But she wanted to come the next night. Again, I said, that's fine, but before you come you need to call to make sure they aren't sold. Then, Lady #3 called me 4 times in 15 minutes to arrange to drive the 7 or 8 minutes it would take for her to get to my house. Her children were yelling in the background and she had to keep hanging up to deal with it. She finally called back a little bit later and said it was just too hard and she might come the next day. So, now I have 3 definites, but no one is actually en route. I get more emails and I reply that drapes are still available, answer the questions, and tell them to call if they want to come. Next morning, I get one phone call from the lady who wanted to Paypal. Her husband is on his way down the hill and will be at my house in 30 minutes if they are still there. I tell her I will wait for him. He comes, he sees, he pays, we're good. Lady #3 never calls back. Lady #2 who begged me to save them, never calls back. I put Sold in the ad. I continue getting phone calls for 2 days and emails for about 2 weeks. I could have probably sold this set of drapes 3 times over. And I don't know why. I think it was timing. I had Craigslisted them 6 weeks earlier and got absolutely no interest. And so many people were very disappointed to have missed them. But again, unless someone tells me they are leaving right away to head for my house, I am not promising to save them for anyone. Red

Uptown Gal, I clearly stated that ALL levels of education are important. And I admire people who have the determination to go through the rigor of getting a degree. The whole of my immediate family,save my mother and myself,have bachelors degrees and some have masters. Their work is important. So is mine. I was responding to a post on which not having a degree or making a ton of money was being equated to not having basic job skills or any pride in one's work. Perhaps you missed that one. And I was giving examples of personal experience in which people surely thought themselves better than I or others simply because they have a higher education. I say this because THEY SAID THIS. The girl that is in my department says ALL THE TIME that she is overqualified because of her degree. She also says that if our department were ever eliminated (where THAT came from I dont know) she thinks the company would find her another position within the company, because she has a a degree, but she doesn't know what the rest if us will do. Even the man who needed HELP was spouting about the "slow idiots who don't know how to make a tire." I wonder if he does.... The "no common sense " comment was referring to the man who could not or would not make the connection between an infestion of a rodent and removing it's natural predator. Not you or anyone else except the person I was talking about. I do not know you and so was not talking about you and I am not sure why you think I was. I gave 3 examples of 3 specific people. And I never claimed to be more intelligent than anyone. Not sure I am the one with an anger problem. Schoolhouse, it really doesn't matter if you believe me. That doesn't change the fact that i have to deal with this headache in a mail jeep. I wish it did. If you think I am a troll then refrain from engaging with me.

Most people are well aware of the fact that a pedestrian has the right of way, but if parking lots were reconfigured to more effectively separate them, it would be less of an issue. You have to remember, also, that many drivers are looking at that traffic and pedestrians can get overlooked. It is also true that pedestrians have a responsibility to watch and acknowledge that the driver of the car knows that they are there. In a busy parking lot like the one at my local Costco it is like a game of chance for both pedestrian and driver to dodge one another, like some sort of perverse video game. I just cannot, for the life of me, understand why this is not a very prominent and important public safety issue or that a company with the deep pockets of Costco would allow this liability. I never approach the store through one of those avenues. There are other ways into the parking lot at the back where there is not a concentrated number of people pushing small mountains of groceries. It happened to me just the other day that I was at a stop sign leaving a parking lot. I was at a four way stop and looking for my turn to pull away when my husband warned me to stop. There was a small man in a little low motor chair who was about to cross in front of my car. He was small, low profiled and dressed all in dark colors and I really just did not see him at all. He blended in to the rest of the landscape like a tree trunk amongst the rest of the leafless tree trunks. Shudder!!! People do pull around in a parking lot at unsafe speeds, often. I go very slowly in a parking lot and also when backing out. Even with a back up camera you never know when a small child might run across or someone is speeding around the corner. People will criticize for this and say that I drive like an old person. Maybe that is true because life has taught me a few lessons in hubris and caution. Accidents happen and sometimes they are simply the chaos of the universe at work. To the poster talking about people parking their shopping carts in the middle of the aisle. Once, again, I am without fault in this. Now, don't laugh. (Well, Ok, maybe laugh a little bit. ). Seriously, if you find others at fault for this, try not to commit the same error. I really do try to be considerate and NOT do this. Some people seem to not give any thought to it at all. Still, even though I am clearly a superior person who does not speed in parking lots or block the store aisle there are times when things happen, as I almost overlooked that small man in the motor chair. And, of course, I am NOT a superior person and not without fault. Just kidding.