A commercial Daniel might enjoy.

I've never been any good at physical labor requiring any sort of manual dexterity. But I've always admired people who are.

I have a "Doctor of Bullshit" from the "East Dakota Institute of Technocracy" which I made myself using a computer program and fancy paper from a stationery store.

Honey is my first choice for a sore throat. And it may relieve a cough if the cough is specifically a response to a sore throat. But it is not a cough suppressant, and for a racking uncontrollable rib-cracking cough, I find drugs necessary. DM is the only one of those available without a prescription, so I was stuck with it. It is effective, though it leaves me with that nasty, dizzy, groggy hangover all the next day. I seem to be back on the uphill side towards normal now.

 

Being the anti establishment type, I skipped graduation. They mailed some funny looking piece of paper with latin words to my parent's address. Mom called me across the country to tell me NOW she believed I did something those years between high school and moving to CA. She was all set to mail the funny looking paper to me but I told her she and dad bought that funny piece of paper for big money and she could keep it. I've never seen it, never needed it, and any job I've had NEVER came through a resume or exhibiting some weird dead language writing. I live in an area where there are more people with 'paper' than without, many of those people posess multiple papers, often bestowing the term Dr. upon them. You'd never know it as no one here actually uses the term they earned. It took me 11 years to find out my good friend was actually bestowed such a title. Who cares? Peter will always be Peter to me, never (latin)Peter. I yam who I yam with or without 'proof' there's latin in my past.

 

Here is some additional info for your research:

[ame]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Purple_Drank[/ame]

 

Jeez. My secret shame is that I'm HORRIBLE at home repair type stuff, and even I'VE done the above procedure.

 

I had a friend who had a teaching degree. Probably an MS. After a career in teaching, she retired, and some time later decided she didn't like the whole academic establishment. She was really a general all-around curmudgeon and neo-Luddite.

So she began a campaign, which was still on-going the last time I saw her, before she finally stopped talking to me. She was demanding that the university withdraw her degree. They were refusing, mainly because they had no procedure for doing such a thing, and they thought she was a crackpot (which she is). She wrote to the university, and to the state, and to the governor, and to anyone she could think of.

I think her reasoning was that the academic system is basically illegitimate, and therefore her degree is invalid.

I knew a guy who bragged that he could drink some surprising amount of cough syrup. But it was the codeine variety, as in your link, not the DM, which is available today. Codeine cough syrup is no longer available over the counter.

 

Apparently due to those who are fans of the Purple Drank.

 

I sort of wanted to attend, but had a deployment to deal with. Overall, no big loss. At the base, everybody treated me to a rip-roaring "grad" party.

I agree the piece of paper with odd Latin scribbling will only help land your first job. Everything since has been strictly my reputation, primarily word of mouth.

 

Possible mental health issues aside, I need to meet a gal like that. Sounds like fun

 

Priceless

Oh, feeling better yet?

 

Actually, she was rather annoying. She was also 20 years older than me. We were friends through a mutual friend. When she suddenly refused to communicate with me I was not disappointed. Only, I was sorry that she never told me why she was cutting me off. I could think of 4 or 5 really good reasons, but I'd have liked to know which it was. For several years I wondered if she had died. But then I ran into her son, who told me she was alive and well, and that she frequently cut people off without explanation.

I'm definitely on the mend. Not well yet, but much better than yesterday and the day before.

 

well as far as debit card liability, apparently WA state does not distinguish. the last time i ordered checks was April 2003. got a book of 200 and have about 40 checks left. so i use credit cards nearly all the time and all my cards have some sort of cash back option (dont do points, they are worthless to me).

now, i have had my debit and credit card compromised. neither time did it cost me a penny. somewhat inconvenient, but having multiple cards only meant i used the other one until the bad card was replaced. now, the debit card from my bank took over a month to replace, the credit card took less than a week.

as far as the do-it-yourself thing. i agree that a lot of that is enjoyable and i also hung the sheetrock in my house (most of it on my own... in a stairwell, THAT was a challenge!!) but would never, mostly because i couldnt, do it for a living. and i also did it to be cheap...now, not saying i am good at it by any means. the rough in work which takes a contractor a few days to do took me months. just the drilling for wiring and plumbing, i spent a better part of 2 weeks (did have a job, mind you so i am not THAT bad!!)

wiring was a challenge, but more physically than anything. feeding wires thru the holes is a lot tougher when you dont have someone pushing while you are pulling, etc... but like i said, it was fun in a masochistic kind of way

 

I don't use checks much any more either, but there are a few occasions when I still do. Taxes. The occasional bill from a one-time place, where I'm not expecting to buy from them again so it's not worth while entering their information into my on-line bill-pay. Merchants have to pay a fee to the credit/debit card company, and once in a while I don't want to saddle them with that, and a few places just don't take cards for that reason.

But a pack of checks lasts me nearly forever.

BTW, even with the cash-back on cards, we still pay more: The merchant pays a few percent to the card company, and that's now built into all prices. The card company gives us 1% back, but we're still behind. I still prefer to pay cash for small purchases. I only ever use the debit card for ATM withdrawals. I use the credit card if I'm making a purchase, because that has more protections than the debit card does, but I pay in full (on line) before the due date so I never pay interest.

 

ok, you accept the higher cost due to cash back cards, i can see that...like we have a choice... not doing anything to get some of that markup back is what i fail to understand

 

I'm willing to bet that UNLIKE the relatives I mentioned, you're *not* a prick about it

 

Oh. Forget about it then. I only like curmudgeons and neo-Luddites if they're fun to be with. That's probably an oxymoron, so will never happen

Hint: a curmudgeon is a person who is "never" fun to be with

That wouldn't bother me. Sounds like you came out ahead

Good to hear

 

Of course. Only the credit card company comes out ahead.

Puzzle me this: if I were to go into a back alley and offer to loan out cash at 20% interest, I'd soon be busted as a loan shark. Even if I didn't bust any kneecaps

But if I hand out little pieces of plastic, along with advertising that implies a certain suave level of sophistication associated with using the little pieces of plastic, I'm a well respected large financial voodoo corporation

 

They rob us, and we cooperate, because they give us a little bit back, and because if we don't cooperate they still rob us but don't give us anything back. Yes, I take the cash back. But for small purchases, it's not worth the bother.

It's a case where collectively we accept what individually we never would. And once we've accepted it collectively, we only lose by rejecting it individually. They've got us going and coming. We're slaves of the system.

 

True that

 

my problem is i hate change. back in the "cash and carry" days, i had countless pockets that developed holes because of pennies i am sure. havent developed a hole in years since i went plastic

so, i avoid cash as much as possible. what change i do get, i save for parking meters, (not a very common thing) and when it becomes a few handfuls i go to a few select cash only stores to spend it.

also, there is an inherent risk to cash. it can be lost if not taken. i have never been robbed, but i have lost money before (now you know i quit drinking...when you get to the point where you cant remember if you spent it, lost it or had it taken, its time to stop)

also, it helps me track expenses without carrying receipts. (i usually save something that might need to be returned, but with credit card receipts i found that is not necessary, so i jus log other purchases into my phone) so i use to basic cards and use it for 98% of all my purchases. (lottery tickets and other items cannot be charged...which is a good thing for some i guess)