RE: first time for me
See, this is what the flamingos are for. Plant 'em, put on your shades, grab a cool drink, and kick back in your lawn chair. Anybody asks, you're just relaxing, waiting for your dear old mother to finish shopping for a new home entertainment theatre system inside. The manager won't hassle you a bit.
Where's Wacky? He's got a million of 'em...
RE: Never deal with THOR credit
Good grief! I thought I'd been accidentally subscribed to the Class A forum again. If I believed all humans were so self-righteous and judgmental, I swear I'd crawl in the tub and slit my wrists just to get out of the 'club'.
OP - collection practices are governed by the FTC and the Fair Credit Reporting Act. Most people don't know anything about their rights until they have a problem and have already been abused. Google it, learn it, find out what you can do. There's a limit on the behavior of a creditor toward a customer - such as the number of times they can call in a day. And if they have violated it, they have a problem - and it can be a very expensive one, for them.
I think posting the problem here was a good start. If it's a regular practice on their part, this would be a good place to find out.
I also suggest the BBB where the creditor does business and ripoffreport.com. Doesn't take long to find out which businesses are abusive toward their customers. They will have an opportunity to respond there as well. Once in a while, an unintended problem or misunderstanding turns up and gets corrected that way. What astounds me is the number of times the company in question will just continue to rank on its customers and excuse its own bad behavior. There's a reason why sites like this exist, and it's not because consumers are universally irresponsible. There's also a reason why the same company names come up again and again. And it's not just because 'business deserves to make a profit'. Businesses have character (or not) just like individuals.
I wish you well, OP. I hope the tough times ease up for you soon.
RE: Made it thru IKE
Glad you did well. I am still unable to reach anyone there. Got people strung from Houston to Alvin down through Corpus and on to Galveston, most within a few blocks of the water. Land lines ring but go dead. Cells don't connect or go to voice mail if they do. I know they went inland, but they wouldn't stay longer than necessary. So I have to assume they're back home now but aren't getting cell reception or power yet.
I'm sure that creates trouble with checking out the refineries as well, since those guys stay in touch by phone and live in the affected areas, too. But I know they'll be all over it the instant they can do so. They always have.
RE: Concerned about fuel
I am reasonably certain that my earlier posts were not off topic and certainly not as over the top as some of the editing going on around here right now (ahem!). I AM in FL. No shortages. Those caught gouging are being handled by the state.
RE: Lonely and down
Awwww, that's so nice to hear! I'm glad things are getting better for you both.
It's not unusual for first time users to be afraid of it. There's always this fear that something from a science fiction novel will happen. Maybe if you sit with her and do a joint post the first time? (I have married friends who use each other's accounts so much, you hardly even know which one you're talking to.)
RE: Dont touch that cat!!!!!!!!
Serena, I never thought about that but you make a good point. People will buy cigarettes and booze before they buy their medication. The booze and the lack of prescribed meds is a bad combination.
Never thought of it myself, until I had occasion to run into people who had been in and out of the local spin bin like it had a revolving door on it. Was told later they either try to escape unwanted side effects or convince themselves they're ok. Then don't want to go on the meds again until it's that or jail. I guess we could file that under 'involuntarily wasted' or something.
But yeah - I get your point. When people can't (or won't) operate reasonably good judgment, some bad stuff is more than likely to happen. Sooner or later. And hopefully while I'm elsewhere. But I thank you guys for being willing to deal with it.
RE: Dont touch that cat!!!!!!!!
And I've come to the conclusion that 92.49% of all statistics are made up.
Having said that, as a former cop, I estimate that people at at least 2/3 of all the calls I responded to had been drinking or were on some other sort of chemical that altered their judgement. Other LEOs and former LEOs will probably bear that out.
I'm a Paramedic.
Speaking as an EMS "representative", I agree with your findings.
About 50% of our calls, and over that for TRAUMA calls, involve alcohol or drugs.
And how many of the rest involved mentally ill people who were off the drugs they should have been on? (That's a real question - not being a wiseacre. I know it happens quite a lot and chaos usually ensue.)
RE: living in rv in winter - buffalo
Heard too many horror stories, nearly became a statistic myself last winter. And was nowhere near that far north. First the ice burst a pipe. By the time that was done being repaired, it was too late in the day to unhook and go for propane. Decided I would go first thing in the morning. It was close to empty - but not that close...except for the tank leak I didn't know I had. By the time I woke up, it was so cold and I was so far gone I didn't have enough brains left to start the engine and use the heater. (Hypothermia drives the blood to your core - brains aren't very necessary to keeping your heart beating. I remembered this from lifeguard and survival training later - but at the time? Couldn't have told you my own name.) Fortunately, it was only a couple hours before sunrise by then so I bundled up and waited it out. It was not nice. I could not tell you to this day if I was falling asleep or passing out off and on.
So I got out of it ok and the tank replacement was done - with a mod so I can use small tanks without all the hassle. I went south immediately, and won't EVER be caught in that kind of weather again. Point is, you can easily get caught in a situation like that, no matter how smart you think you are, and no matter how prepared you think you are. You have to sleep sometime, and whatever goes wrong then, you can do nothing about. A dog might've kept me warmer or warned me, but it would not have changed the fact that it was a bad situation in the middle of the night. This was a climate where those kinds of conditions aren't that common on long lasting. You wouldn't have that 'luxury' in NY. And you probably don't need to know anything more about my opinion on the subject.
I wish you well. Please consider what others are telling you here.
RE: Hurricane Ike
You can check at nbc6.net (Miami's NBC affiliate). Relief efforts are already under way for the people in Haiti, Cuba, and Turks and Caicos who were already hit so hard. Owing to the US government's embargo status with Cuba, relief efforts there are being handled to a large degree by the Catholic Archdiocese here.
I doubt things will get under way in TX until after the storm has passed - in a couple more days.
RE: roof putty tape
These aren't like car windows or house windows. You're moving around, vibrating everything, subjecting it all to constant heating and cooling and shifting loads and torque. Eternabond isn't a pretty solution, but it sure puts and end to the roof hassles and worries. Dicor's not bad at all, but it will fail. With skylights or those raised type of joint seams, they leave that lip exposed around the edge so the joint is vulnerable to high pressure, like strong winds driving rain. Eternabond gets rid of that lip or ridge. So for probably less than $100 and maybe a half hour or hour of your time, you can make the whole issue just...go away. (FWIW, I think it's a ridiculous design flaw, too. But manufacturers don't care what I think. So.)
If previously owned, there's always the possibility that silicone was used when it shouldn't have been. It doesn't bond with the original sealants and substrates properly and will peel away. (Should have been marketed as stuff that doesn't stick to other stuff very well, I don't care what that guy at Home Depot told you.) Even Eternabond doesn't stick to silicone.
Windows, too. Think about it. Ever moved and parked then found a window harder to open or close? The frames get shifted slightly. They're tough, but the seams carry the burden of all that shifting. You can lubricate the tracks, but that doesn't take care of the joint where the frame shifted. (Not the Eternabond, just the caulk for those.)Get on your windows, doors, and slide seals every 6 months or so, and you ought to be ok.
RE: Bad Walmart Campers II
HOA's have been mentioned several times and many have a bad taste in their mouth for them. I did not see where the Supreme Court Ruling did anything to prevent HOA's from enforcing a ban on RV's or did I misread it?
It reversed the lower courts' finding against the defendants on the grounds that the rule itself was unreasonable, unconstitutional, and therefore unenforceable. How far did it really need to go to get the point across?
RE: Bad Walmart Campers II
Looks like that sums it up quite neatly. The Court has already found such ordinances to be:
unreasonable
Constitutionally inadequate
a violation of the Equal Protection clause
unevenly enforced
not substantial
And the weak arguments used to support that loser of a defense don't even begin to apply to Walmart or any other retail establishment, so I don't think the "I just don't like it" or Gladys Kravitz arguments are likely to fly any too well.
RE: Bad Walmart Campers II
I love it! Stuff I have learned - Waldocking is:
A threat to everyone else who wants to Waldock, due to some violating the policies WM does not profess to have.
A threat to CGs, which may not be there if we don't patronize them more, although CGs are "flourishing" and booked well into next year. (Don't ask me how that works. I am clueless as charged.)
WM is guilty of failing to pay for a permit for a business it does not operate - but they should have paid it anyway, because people who do operate that business have to pay it and it's just not fair to charge some people for stuff that they do do while not charging others for stuff that they don't do, because if you do that, then it means that some people are paying to do stuff they want to do but don't want to pay for while other people are doing other stuff they want to do but don't want to pay for, either, because everybody should pay the same amount for doing different stuff that they do, because...whaaaaa-huh? (Sorry. My brain hurts.)
WM has failed to collect taxes on a service for which it charges $0. (Which is sort of like failing to pay the sales tax on that Lexus you didn't buy. Except that you should have paid it, because if you don't, the guy that actually buys the Lexus will have to pay it himself and that's not fair. And no, I don't care that you don't actually have or want a Lexus. That's not the point. You still should've paid, because fair's fair, right? Right?)
Walmart pays less for its insurance and buys less coverage than CG owners do. I haven't seen any proof of that myself, and I assume Walmart will be very unhappy to find they haven't covered themselves properly. But I know it's true. I saw it on the internet.
The definition of 'overnight' is now specifically 'over a single night', as opposed to the less specific 'hours between sunset and sunrise'.
It takes longer to say you don't care if anyone Waldocks and don't have the time or inclination to argue about it and think it's dumb for anyone else to. I don't know why. It just does.
I hope I've got it all down now. Whew! martyrdom is tough work!
RE: WalMart Picture Posting Thread
Almost always privileges that are lost are taken away because of those privileges being abused. Overnighting at Wal Mart is a privilege and a really nice one. Lets not loose it because of violations.
Ok. Please post a link to Walmrt's rules so we'll all be able to follow them.
RE: WalMart Picture Posting Thread
Oh, I see now.
The GIF of my State flag has been noticed.
Don't worry, it flies PROUDLY all over this State.
In fact, we voted a couple years ago to make sure it STAYS flying.
it's not blocked. Your sig line and GIF will always show on your first post on a page. After that it does not show for that page. Saves bandwidth.
Although, you can endlessly quote long posts with multiple large pics in them, and these will be repeated until you go blind or your mouse wheel gives out...:B
I dunno - I kinda like those SoCal HOAs. Makes me hungry. Yo quiero Taco Bell. Part I can't figure out is, if you wanted somebody else to decide what you can do with your own stuff, why didn't you just stay in an apartment in the first place? That way, you don't even have to show up for the meetings.
Ohhhh...SNAP! You can go to WM. Other people will be happy to decide what you can do with your own stuff - for FREE! God bless America...and no place else. :p
RE: Full Timing with small children.....FAIR?
IMHO that's a primary problem with homeschooling in general. Kids don't learn how to properly deal with situations such as crowded spaces, handling a bully, life experiences.
Taking them on the road would be the next step as they wouldn't have any long term friends.
On the flip side, the kids won't learn bad habits from other kids who aren't properly raised.
Plus it will help prevent them from becoming materialistic. "No Johnny, we don't have room in the RV for a new scooter."
Meh. I used the largest examples of a kid's wants I could think of. Consider the little stuff as well. Where will you build that little science fair project? How will you explain to Little Johnny that no, he can't build model planes, even if they don't cost much. They take up room and are too fragile for life on the road. Figured out where to stash a doll house? Know how much closet space a tutu eats up? Found a rack for 5 bikes yet? Puffy jackets for winter, sports equipment, smaller musical instruments...shall they all play mandatory piccolo or jaw harp to save space? Or, I guess you could tell them that they are only allowed one (compact) interest at a time. They can...become well-rounded people in a compartmentalized, virtual sorta way.
Those are needs and wants of not even particularly materialistic kids who just want to learn stuff and try new things. And it adds up. Groceries, linens, and kitchen-ware for five on a full-time basis? Bunk the boys in with the girls until you marry them all off? Have them detained on a desert isle somewhere until puberty passes? Have them chemically altered so you don't have more than one undergoing hormonal insanity at a time in a space smaller than most people's garages? Planning on sleeping well when anyone has the flu or a cold or just a snoring problem? (We won't even talk about the miracle that is Bean-o.) Let's just assume Dad has retired at an extremely young age or figured out how to drag himself off to work every day regardless and doesn't care about any quality alone time with Mom ever again.
Easy for a long weekend, fun adapting for a summer vacay - maybe not so much as a daily proposition. But heyyy - talk is cheap. Go try it for a full summer. Better yet, a nice cold blustery winter. No prob - after all, the whole snowy, muddy, frostbitten world is their back yard now...
DISCLAIMER: Devil's advocate. No dog in this fight, short of a mild affinity for reality.
RE: Man this really rips it...!!!
And people complain RVers don't wave back....:C
Yeah! Even if we wave 45 times!:B
I perfur to wave 357 times. :B
Don
I prefer to just wave once.
If they don't wave back with both hands, I'll just say Hey 8 times real fast so they know I noticed. But I can't be bothered with chit chat. They can explain their bad manners to Preacher's boss later. I got parking ordinances to violate!
