Yes, it's true.

Could you put that in writing, sign it, and have it notarized for me, please? My kids will never believe that someone thinks I'm right part of the time, let alone ALL the time...LOL

This reminds me of something Mark Twain said. It was something like "When I was 16, my father was the stupidest man in the world. When I was 21, it amazed me how much he'd learned in just a few years." There is hope with kids.

BJ -- They put me on Plavix and I was already taking a baby aspirin a day for my heart. Well, I now bleed like a stuck pig. The other day I blew my nose and had a nosebleed that dripped all over my shirt and it took me 30 minutes to get it to stop. So I think I'm going to quit taking the aspirin.

I had a TIA about 14 or 15 years ago - in my early 40's. They put me on Plavix, too and I also bled liberally anytime I so much as got a scratch. I got so scared (what if I was in a car wreck?) that I told my doctor I wasn't taking it any more. That was about 8 years ago. I don't recommend that everyone just ditch their meds, but when you pee and there's blood dripping into the toilet and you're not having your period, it's not a good sign. I stepped on a tiny piece of glass and my God....within 60 seconds, it looked like someone had been butchered in my kitchen. You'd think there was some middle ground, wouldn't you?

You'd think there was some middle ground, wouldn't you?

My mom has a long history of DVT and has been on coumadin for something like 12 years. Either her blod is clotting, or it's so thin that a papercut will bleed for hours, literally. If she bumps against something, she could end up with a bruise the size of a football, over something we'd never think twice about. She has been told that is she's ever in an accident, all she can really do is wait for the vitakin K injection (apparently that's how they treat it - I would have thought something more "medical") and hope it kicks in in time, and that she then isn't riddled with cloths from the healing process. Nice outlook, huh?

I guess things are great with us here and just maybe not everywhere. Jobs are great and pay better than they ever have. Gas is sooooo affordable, when we were in Europe it made me appreciate our gas prices. You can go out and eat a good steak supper for less than 40.00 for 2 people. We have insurance, most have a nice home, food on the table, money in the bank, stock prices couldn't be better, nice cars to drive, and since we've stood up for ourselves and the terror level being used wisely, I feel very safe. Like I said before, I'm not trying to make any upset, it's just my humble opinion. Everyone has one, everyone can use theirs and everyone usually thinks they're right. Hey, I do have an opinion I'll think you guys will agree with me on. When you get a lapband installed and you get the perfect fill, (which I've finally got), these things are fabulous. I just can't get over how much better they do after an unfill, without too much fill they're fabulous. Off beat but just wanted you all to know I can agree with some things. Have a Merry Christmas everyone.

BJ -- They put me on Plavix and I was already taking a baby aspirin a day for my heart. Well, I now bleed like a stuck pig. The other day I blew my nose and had a nosebleed that dripped all over my shirt and it took me 30 minutes to get it to stop. So I think I'm going to quit taking the aspirin. If your MIL is 81 and has just had some TIAs, I think she's doing really well. They can signal a stroke, but also can just be passing problems. The docs will put her on some blood thinner and she'll be okay unless she has some other problem. Who cares what she thinks of you or your meds? Besides, I just read today that fatter people have a type of bacteria in our intestines that is super efficient at breaking down food and storing it as fat. This is interesting, but I want a big dose of the other kind of bacteria that isn't so efficient. However, it's nice to know that something about me is efficient.

Wow! You are reminding me of those times when my Dad was alive and that was some time ago. Of course these are both sweet and sad thoughts, as you all can imagine.... Anyhow, the dude was on blood thinners and had just given a vial of his blood. He was monitored frequently. The tech dropped this, it smashed on the floor, and my dad was fascinated to see how easily it ran all over the place,...just like water. My old man was on blood thinners because he would have died without them.

My mom has a long history of DVT and has been on coumadin for something like 12 years. Either her blod is clotting, or it's so thin that a papercut will bleed for hours, literally. If she bumps against something, she could end up with a bruise the size of a football, over something we'd never think twice about. She has been told that is she's ever in an accident, all she can really do is wait for the vitakin K injection (apparently that's how they treat it - I would have thought something more "medical") and hope it kicks in in time, and that she then isn't riddled with cloths from the healing process. Nice outlook, huh?

And then my mum was on coumadin for some years before she died. But it is a rat poison, or so I've heard, and we used to like to tease my mum that she was on a diet of rat poison, but my mum finally ended up with blood that was just too, too, too thin. The family doesn't know how that happened but it did contribute to her sudden death, I suspect. Sometimes the steps leading up to the death of a loved one are simply too frightful to take in. The person whom you love is there and then he or she is suddenly swept up in an event with the result that this individual has disappeared from your view on a permanent basis.

My mother was on Coumadin and by the time that she died she was more or less purple from the result of all the needles that she received. This is, the way, how an anti-clotting agent works on intravenous stuff. As for my mum, none of us have any idea how she managed to get her paws on so much anti-coagualant dope at one time.

I guess things are great with us here and just maybe not everywhere. Jobs are great and pay better than they ever have. Gas is sooooo affordable, when we were in Europe it made me appreciate our gas prices. You can go out and eat a good steak supper for less than 40.00 for 2 people. We have insurance, most have a nice home, food on the table, money in the bank, stock prices couldn't be better, nice cars to drive, and since we've stood up for ourselves and the terror level being used wisely, I feel very safe. Like I said before, I'm not trying to make any upset, it's just my humble opinion. Everyone has one, everyone can use theirs and everyone usually thinks they're right.....

sherrijo,

We all have different ideas of what is "good" and what is "not so good" and all that. I don't know what your basis for comparison is...but, have you ever been to a site like www.epodunk.com ?

You visit and enter the name of your town and see how it "measures up." When I put my town in--because there is a very high income area and a very low income area...it kind of lands on the national average on incomes. I noticed that Paducah's average income is below that average. I like that almost 40% of the population in my town over the age of 25 has a 4-year college degree. I can compare crime rates where I live with the rest of the country.

I am REALLY not suggesting that there is anything wrong with Paducah...my husband comes from upriver and I know the area and it's lovely...and our daughter was born across the state, but also in KY. I AM suggesting that from YOUR viewpoint things may appear better (or worse?) than they really are. Maybe you have neighbors across town who aren't doing so well. Maybe more people could be in college...maybe more people than you think are not earning as much as it might appear that they are.

And, when the rest of the folks in town aren't doing as well as they might, we all aren't doing as well as we might.

Again, I'm not bashing your part of the world. I don't know what the stats were ten years ago. Maybe things are the same; maybe they are now phenominally better; maybe the data on epodunk is old.

BTW, I get what you're saying about gas prices in Europe. We lived there thirty years ago and I swear we paid more for gas then than most of the US does now. But is DOES make me wonder how that can be that Europeans pay so much more than we do and still make ends meet. Is our desire to get that cheap gas costing us American lives in the Middle East? I think it is and would rather pay double for gas and have those kids back. Maybe others think we somehow deserve cheaper gas and that the deaths in Iraq had nothing to do with oil.

We are like blind men describing the elephant from what we can feel in front of us...we all look at the same data and see totally different things. Very likely, none of us is 100% right.

I guess things are great with us here and just maybe not everywhere. Jobs are great and pay better than they ever have. Gas is sooooo affordable, when we were in Europe it made me appreciate our gas prices. You can go out and eat a good steak supper for less than 40.00 for 2 people. We have insurance, most have a nice home, food on the table, money in the bank, stock prices couldn't be better, nice cars to drive, and since we've stood up for ourselves and the terror level being used wisely, I feel very safe. Like I said before, I'm not trying to make any upset, it's just my humble opinion. Everyone has one, everyone can use theirs and everyone usually thinks they're right. Hey, I do have an opinion I'll think you guys will agree with me on. When you get a lapband installed and you get the perfect fill, (which I've finally got), these things are fabulous. I just can't get over how much better they do after an unfill, without too much fill they're fabulous. Off beat but just wanted you all to know I can agree with some things. Have a Merry Christmas everyone.

I have lived on both sides of the Atlantic and I must say that I completely disagree with the above quoted post. It is true that energy prices are cheaper in North America. It is also true that personal living space is cheaper for most of us who live on this side of the Atlantic Ocean.

On the other hand we are on the losing end when it comes to travel and culture. All the interesting countries are over there in Europe. When I lived in France all the interesting places to go to were a long weekend away.

As for cheap gas, when you are living on that side of the Atlantic, who fucken cares? Intra and inter city travel belongs to the realm of mass transit. It's fast, cheap, and efficient. The traveller has an number of options: bus, train, or plane. And if folks want to go by car and they are willing to share the costs, well, there are on-line services where the traveller can connect with other folks who are going in the same direction.

When I lived in France I travelled to north Africa, Italy, Corsica, Spain, England, and Scotland. This was really easy for me to do. I was living in the hood and I had developped connections.

I wasn't too happy about having to return home, you know. I didn't know how I was going to live over here on this side of the Atlantic.

I do continue to live a very nice life. I live in a large North American house and I continue to travel. I have visited a lot of interesting parts of the world.

I also have a friend who ended up working and living in Germany when she was in her 40s. She is still there. There are times when I suspect that she is living my life. She is engaged in doing what I did while I lived in Europe and what I still try to do now that I am living over here. She does a lot of travelling. I try to travel too, but it ain't as easy when you are on this side of the ocean.

This has certainly turned out to be a long post but I guess that the point that I want to make is that life is so very, very interesting and it should not and must not be reduced to this biz of gas prices, ya know. That is just dumb.

On the other hand we are on the losing end when it comes to travel and culture.

Not to mention education, healthcare, environmental awareness, and on... and on...

When I lived in Europe, I didn't mind paying the gas prices because I was getting SOOOO much for my money.

The vast majority of what you're talking about is money. Steak dinners. Stock prices. Insurance. Above average housing. There's so much more to life.

We have insurance, most have a nice home, food on the table, money in the bank, stock prices couldn't be better, nice cars to drive, and since we've stood up for ourselves and the terror level being used wisely, I feel very safe.

I don't see any correlation between "standing up for ourselves" and the war in Iraq, since the Iraqis committed no acts of aggression whatsoever against the United States - ever. Not a single one. Not on 9/11 or at any other time. That seems to be the single most important piece of information missing from your I'm-so-safe-now litany. You were never in danger from Saddam Hussein and the citizens of Iraq. Now Osama bin Laden is another matter altogether. Osama bin Laden is still alive, still training his band of terrorists, and still wants to see you dead. So you aren't really safe. Not from Osama bin Laden, and not from George Bush. Because he's screwing around in Iraq instead of hunting bin Laden down like the dog he is and killing his sorry ass. Merry Christmas to you, too.

You know what, you just can't reason with an unreasonable person. I will not be back on this thread. Some people just don't get it. You guys can have this thread. Party on.

You know what, you just can't reason with an unreasonable person. I will not be back on this thread. Some people just don't get it. You guys can have this thread. Party on.

What has been posted that is unreasonable? I honestly didn't see anything.

You know what, you just can't reason with an unreasonable person.

Yep, that would be you. To me, an unreasonable person is one who, when confronted with truth and facts, continues to deny something. It's like the people who continue to protest that there are WMDs in Iraq, when we know (even the President knows and has said this) that there are none there.

Your circumstances do not determine whether our economy is good or bad or whether or not GWB has done a worthy job. You have to look at the overall picture. And the overall picture is that we are and have been screwed royally.

What has been posted that is unreasonable? I honestly didn't see anything.

I could be wrong, of course, but I think she was referring to my post - the one just before her "goodbye" message. Sherri obviously wanted to change the tone of the thread - get us off the subject of George Bush (even though that IS the whole point of the thread). She wanted to change the subject - to the band and how well it works with good restriction. I suspect that my response was "unreasonable" in her estimation. And I'm sorry she feels that way - if she feels that way - but I stand by my post. And more importantly, I stand by the appropriateness of my post. It is NOT unreasonable to post an anti-Bush message in the Rants and Raves Forum, especially when the thread is about Bush and specifically, what a rotten job he has done as president. I think Sherri should start a "George Bush is a brilliant leader and the best president in history" thread if that's her opinion. I think it will be a short thread, not to mention a misguided notion, but I absolutely will defend her right to post it.

Since she's not coming back to this thread, she won't be able to follow this link and see that the US, for the first time since 1933, has maintained a "negative savings rate" (that is, people spend more than they make and there IS nothing to save) of 0.7%.

I wonder why, if the economy is doing so well, people aren't putting money in the bank...and what they'll do if their "savings" that they think they have in their property or investments takes a dump.

http://money.cnn.com/2006/12/21/news/economy/savings_rate/?postversion=2006122114