Thanks Booka. The housing market here isn't tanking like yours is. In fact, the RE guy actually bumped my asking price up $10K since I first spoke to him as the market in my area is having a little mini-boom right now. I'm still very nervous, however. I've never sold a house before (unless you count when I sold it to myself). It's giving me all sorts of mixed feelings.

If I may inquire so bold, where do you live?

I'm in Canada. We didn't have the sub-prime mortgage crisis. We are, unfortunately, having a financial crisis spun off by yours, but it's not expected to be as serious. Of course, we are also heading into an election and the result of that could change everything.

Yes, I recall now. Never been, but been close. Yes, the bad thing about a global economy is that when one bin country tanks, everybody tanks. I could go on in a fairly educated fashion on this subject for hours, but this is not the forum for such discussion and if you would like to take it up, then email is a viable option.

You can tell me what your weather is like this time of year. I am familiar with the weather in the lower peninsula of Michigan, so if you're much north of there it will be a bit out of my experience range. I tend to think that October in the metro St. Louis area is one of the finest weather months of the year. I have yet to run the heat but did have the AC on two days while it rained. This morning it was 46 at dawn and should be mid to upper 70's today, which is only possible in dry air. We should approach the 80's this weekend with lows in the upper 50's to lower 60's. There is no rain in the forecast until Monday and we have sunshine and high pressure. I finally put a blanket on the bed last week and was first glad for it this morning with all of the windows open last night. I'm loving it!

well... it's Thursday and all my efforts to find a date didn't work this time so it's gonna be a "me" weekend.

Gonna watch the Rays game at a sports bar and see what happens on Friday night... on Saturday I will probably drive my motorcycle to Tampa and hook up with some friends.

GF is feeling really bad, as soon as insurance ok's it, she will have an MRI done to see just how bad the problem is.

She is actually considering requesting surgery to just nip it in the bud.

So, my weekend will be taking care of GF, which I don't mind doing.

My wife was NEVER there for me when I was injured or ill.

I'm guessing that I'm going to have a laid back kind of weekend. A week and a half ago, while playing a MEAN game of racquetball, I slammed my 46 year old, not quite so tiny body HARD against the wall running in for a kill shot. Well, it took a week, but woke up Monday barely able to stand up. Couldn't stand it, so went to the doctor this morning. Got some muscle relaxers and anti-inflammatory pills, and was ordered to chill out.

So, while I must tend to my lawn, pretty much the rest of the weekend will be lying prone......good thing I got me some new 1,000 thread count sheets!

Oh, Sunday evening, heading downtown to see Kathy Griffin (stand up comedianne)......with my 3 gay friends.......I'm the only hetro in this particular group.....

Have a great weekend everyone!
Laura

Booka - your life is so busy with social things. I am amazed. My daughter tells me I need to get a life. :RollieEyes:

I guess that's because I have been raising children on my own for the past 13 years. (well, their dad does see them as per the decree and it's a generous schedule compared to what it could have been but he isn't there every day like I am)

I did go out to dinner with a friend a few weeks ago. Yeah, I wa the straight one. Great....my one time out with a friend in ages and it was a gay friend. She has a fairly expansive social life though.

So, I've done all sorts of things in those years....but gather a social life is not one of them.

I'll assume that you made the killer shot, else why would all of the suffering be worth it? Plus you must have been running on adrenaline for a week form making the shot before the pain kicked in. (a couple of big winks)

I was invited to join a softball team this fall via a Meetup group. I thought, casual softball, maybe, everything still works and I can still hit dingers right and left. I make some inquiries and it's a team in a league with a mix of 20 and 30-somethings. This is where you put aside the pride and whatever joy might be achieved by meeting 20 and 30-something women and say to yourself, I've never played competitively, I'm 48 (for the next few days), everything does work, I look at least 10-years younger and feel that way too, but do I want to take a chance and destroy the competitive nature of the game (even in a recreational league) for those 20 and 30-somethings and in the process destroy some of my joints to assuage my pride? The answer was both short and sweet: no.

My bat and glove will have to wait until I can find some senior league and really kick some you know what!

Now I am a social person, have a generous and killer personality, can coax a social clam out of their shell, am an engaging conversationalist and listener, have never met a stranger, and have an aura with at least a 50-foot radius that is absolutely killer with babies, children, men, kind of lukewarm with women who I feel are always wary of any glib-speaking man. I wasn't always like this and had to work on it to develop whatever latent talent I have for it. I guess I have the perfect politician's manner (the positive aspects, please!)

I have the prefect hangout that I can go to anytime to be surrounded by friends and what I'll term my surrogate family. I have cultivated every neighbor that I have and count many as very strong friends. I typically introduce myself to anyone I meet and if in the company of others will introduce them as well (a lost art it appears). I strive to make as many connections as I can. Everything is connected. I've had a couple of referrals for dates that I currently working on. I think a referral is a high compliment. I charm the married ladies in particular knowing that they will have single friends. While I may have started with some self-serving goals, it turns out that all of my networking has a certain synergy to it and adds tremendous value to my life. I started to get invited to things, local things in particular. When you get invited to someone's birthday party in a very specific fashion and you've really only known them a year, you must be doing something right.

Trace physically your travels for an entire week. Draw it on a map. What do you have? Tiny circles. Expand those circles. Do something that you always have wanted to to. Heck, 6-months of attending Board of Alderman meetings as a curious citizen got me elected to office, something I have always dreamed of. Please vote for me when I run for President!

So, here are my rules, and I'll try to add to them as we go on:

1. Meet as many people as you can.
2. Never refuse an invitation.
3. Get out of your comfort-zone regularly.
4. Do something for yourself that you've always wanted to do.
5. Learn to be a good listener. within 5-questions I can typically have someone spilling their life story to me.
6. Learn to work a room.
7. Find groups that have similar interests.
8. Consider religion as a means to join another community.
9. Give back to the community in which you live.

I'm sure others will have other recommendations.

Oh, and my final suggestion, spend a weekend in my company. I guarantee a great time!

Dutch

Yup - got the shot an instant before I slammed into the wall! Funny how that works - I FINALLY find an aerobic sport that I LOVE to play (the treadmill, stair machine, etc. bores me to TEARS) and I start to get really good at it - even took lessons, and then WHAM! down for the count! I will not give up!

Yes Booka - you do have a full life - and I'm envious. I'm in Chicago - not too far - I think you should consider the drive and entertain me for a weekend!

Laura

Son's high school homecoming parade and bonfire was tonight...homecoming football game tomorrow night....homecoming dance saturday. I'm working all through the weekend.

Son has been out of football for two weeks so far. Has a possible non-displaced tibial plateau fracture.....basically a possible fracture on the knee. Ortho Doc took X-rays a week ago today...sent for MRI last Friday...Monday Ortho Doc said he needed to give it another week for the swelling to go down and re-X-ray this coming Monday to check for fracture again. UGH!

This is his senior year and it's killing him to not be playing football!! Freshman year he broke his wrist while playing and was out for the season, Sophomore year he broke his elbow while playing and was out for the season, Junior year he broke his nose but stayed playing and now his Senior year and a possible fractured knee while playing!!! Poor Kid!!

Not to mention he has also broken a toe in 8th grade gym class. I couldn't even begin to tell you how many stitches this kid has had. Bitten in the face by a Rottweiler, poked in the face with a stick by his cousin, cracked his head open while running in the halls in junior high school.

He's always been my high strung dare devil kid! His sister is the complete opposite. She's afraid of everything.

AGG, I've only had to have my children sewn or taped up once in each child's life. When he was 3, son climbed on my back while I was on all fours, fell off, and got his upper eyelid cut by the hinge on his glasses. When she was about 8, daughter had to have her upper lip stitched when my son hit her in the mouth with a metal Star Wars star destroyer toy.

He's never had any x-rays for injuries but he has had bilateral black eyes twice. She's had a broken toe, a badly sprained ankle, a sprained knee, an iliotibial band sprain, and a pinched nerve in her neck. As for me, I'm the injured one. I've played hard. :RollieEyes:

Tell your son there is no game of football worth not healing well. A poorly healed injury will bother him for the rest of his life. That's why my chiropractor is making a fortune off me.

that's pretty much what I've told him. I'd hate for him to suffer when he's old like me! LOL

I've played hard. That's probably why I have back problems and got a steroid injection in my knee today and my low back last week.

eewwwww those injections in the knees HURT!

Yup! More than the epidural steroid injection in my SI area....not as much as the one for plantar fasciitis.

I went for a back XRay yesterday, and the poor tech was hobbling around - she looked miserable. She said she just had shots in her feet for plantar faciitis - said it was awful!

I love Chicago, the pizza, the Italian beef sandwiches, Wrigley, etc. It's a tempting offer

Did it once, while I was training for the half-marathon. To give you an idea.....the doctor's office had me come in and get a topical anesthetic patch to put on my foot several hours before the injection. I've NEVER had to do that before and I've had trigger point injections in lots of places. I'm a walking trigger point - comes with having herniated or bulging or extruding discs.