HAPe4me

I did a quick search about the SS formula just now. The first step in the calculation is to average your HIGHEST 35 YEARS (adjusted for inflation). Years when no earnings were reported, whether you had opted out, or did not file taxes, or did not work, have zero entered into them. So, if a person doesn't have 35 years of reported income, their average, (AIME in SS terms) is lower because of the zero amount entered for those years. It seems then, under current law, that those "opt out" years would have a serious effect, unless a person has 35 years of reported income during other years. All the reason more, to get off TWI staff and start working a real job, making real money, NOW! (Unless one can sock some money into 401Ks with religious regularity- yeah, like that is gonna happen on staff teehee) ~HAP

Rhino- when did you last work! the Self-employment tax is 15.3% (of which 2.9% is medicare). Its been over 15% for quite some time. I wonder, if a person opted out for say 10 years, and then starts paying SS taxes, (and does so for the 10 years required to collect SS), would their retirement benefit be the same as for those of us who paid in all these years? I don't know how that formula works. ~HAP

Of course I don't have a designer dog, I have a smart one instead.

My vet (a state vet supervisor) recommended Iams. Trey has been on it since he was a pup, has never had more than a cold or two in his 7 years. It comes in many varieties for the size, activity and condition of the dog. No complaints here, and it is about 75 cents a 40 lb bag more at the grocery than at the pet stores for me, so I figure its not worth an extra trip.

heee David, with Livechat, it is so easy to change the font size I don't need my glasses, and you don't have to be bold! ~HAP

a proposal was made to rename Flash to Fleshchat and reserve its use for cyber sex only. Someone ( won't divulge who) tried it out by herself tonight. mm, will that make her palms hairy too, or will she go blind? ~HAP

Ah Garth, you have taken lessons from the current presidential administration, deceptively stating as fact things that simply are not true, hoping the unlearned masses will believe them anyway. Live chat can have a bigger screen (more displayed chat lines) than flash, if you make it float (the box at the bottom with four arrows). The nice thing about this is the room can be accessed from your taskbar, thus freeing up the main browser window for other pages for us multitaskers. I would think you would like that, so your mentor can watch his Haliburton stock, count the mangoes in India, watch for WMDS in Iraq, all while chatting! teehee Live chat takes 24 seconds longer to load than Flash for me, and once in there, I don't have to wait for a pause in the animated avatars to get my chat text to appear. More importantly, it is more intuitive, faster, and easier. If you want colors go ahead and change them (in either room), but if you want a teal screen with white text, don't complain that you can't see my text, and don't expect most of us to see your white text on our white or beige screens. Isn't Red White and Blue the French colors? uhhuh, thought so! ~HAP

Ok,I'll fessup it was the 22nd. I turned double nickles. Thanks everyone for the birthday greetings. Aww Sudo I don't know you enough to like you, but the important thing is I also don't know you enough to DISlike you. :-) Its kinda hate the sin but not the sinner, teehee. ~HAP

90s were wonderful for me, my business prospered, my kids blossomed into real humans with opinions and powerful ideas which came to life, I reported my income only to the IRS, I bought cars on time, houses mortgaged, all the things that are part of life. Of course, I had left TWI long before THAT! ~HAP

Rhino- we still got little Bradley U. from Peoria for at least one more game! Go Braves ~HAP

When you get that script error, does it ask if you want to abort the script? I get the same message all night, every night. I answer NO to it. then it loads fine. The first thing I do on entering then is type /clear this clears the screen and starts new. It then works until there are about 2 or 3 pages of chat, then I /clear again, which also gets rid of my lag. It works for some, and not for others from what I am told. It keeps me in there, but it is a pain, and is the major reason I look forward to a true test of Livechat before Tech and paw make a decision on which. ~HAP

comments are good, so are answers when they become available. I'd like to see how Livechat works when there is a crowd. Flashchat does slow down for me proportionate to the number of users, and especially with lots of animated avatars going on in there. By the way, CW, there are other rooms also in Livechat, as well as Flashchat, but nobody uses the other rooms so far in either do they? You can customize the background colors in both, but they do not stay that way next time you come into the room, in Livechat. they do in Flashchat, a nice feature The avatars (such as they are) do stay by your name in both rooms. HAP

can you make it so that Livechat doesn't close the Forums Window when you click the link to chat? Is there much difference in cost? Live chat seems faster now to get into than it was before for me I like the screen in Flashchat because it displays more lines, (less scrolling back). Livechat has a small screen. Can it be made larger? Flashchat for many people really lags, and can lock up more it seems. In Livechat, you can quickly change fonts and font sizes, and there are sounds. Flash has more/better avatars and smilies I dunno, either is ok, but I think we need to try live chat with its new configuration again before a decision is made. ~HAP

My instructions are, if you leave the state, call me and let me know. I'd also appreciate a call when you are starting back. Other than that, stay in touch occasionally, text me, e-mail me, call me, lets be friends. Let me know what's going on in your life. I will do the same. Heee, my younger (21yo) called Friday about 10pm and said "yo pops, we are taking off to Memphis for a concert now, back Sunday, can I leave my dog with you?" I figured that was a lot better than coming home and finding a dog but no kid! On his way back home, he text messaged me, "Dad, will pick up dog wenevr, somewhere in Tx, but can't see the road for the smoke and flames around us." (end of message, and cell tuirned off to conserve battery- aaaarghh) I don't know your kid's age, but isn't he away at school? When mine were that age, I found a quick e-mail to them asking what's up, or better yet, telling them what was up with their mom and I, got pretty good communication back from them. If I started a conversation, they responded with information, if I just said hello, they replied with one word, "hellotoo" At least they don't ask for money. "No" is not always a bad word coming from a young adult or older teen. It means you raised them to have confidence in who they are, and their relationship with you. From a youngun, it may have a different meaning. I agree with Shellon, we need more info. ~HAP

Ahhh, gotta love snopes. If I had known it was an email source, I would have done that myself, but I went to the link you posted with the scienctific stuff about termites, and saw nothing there about Home Depot etc. Thanks for passing on the correction. I am glad termites are not munching much mulch. :-D -HAP

they weren't termini(a)ted? I don't see the specific item about Home Depot and Lowes on that page. did I miss it?

50 isn't bad, as I have said several times in chat, it is just 39 with 11 years experience. Now, when you are old enough, like me, to remember when rainbows were black and white, THAT is old!

Sweet Adeline is difficult to find for some reason. here is a link to the words AND sheet music; http://www.consonare.info/CPDL/pdf/sweet.pdf My Wild Irish Rose Lyrics If you listen, I'll sing you a sweet little song Of a flower that's now drooped and dead, Yet dearer to me, yes, than all of its mates Tho' each holds aloft its proud head. T'was given to me by a girl that I know, Since we've met, faith, I've known no repose, She is dearer by far than the world's brightest star, And I call her my wild Irish Rose. Refrain: My wild Irish Rose, The sweetest flow'r that grows, You may search ev'rywhere But none can compare With my wild Irish Rose. My wild Irish Rose, The dearest flow'r that grows And some day for my sake, she may let me take The bloom from my wild Irish Rose. They may sing of their roses which, by other names, Would smell just as sweetly, they say, But I know that my Rose would never consent To have that sweet name taken away. Her glances are shy whene'er I pass by The bower, where my true love grows; And my one wish has been that some day I may win The heart of my wild Irish Rose

Generally I can find lyrics to most songs (even old military and my dad's fraternity songs) by Googling. Try to check your spelling however when you search, it is Adeline not AdOline Put the title or at least a phrase from the song, in quotes. I usually add the search terms- lyrics free -. One of the resulting pages usually has several of the songs I am looking for, and then I can grab several at the same time. ~HAP

Hey wait a sec, don't be sending them here to Colorado now. If Camp G were ever offered for sale, I expect it would not go to a religious or a cult group. The folks in Gunnison have learned their lesson. ~HAP (whose wife was born and raised in Gunnison, BEFORE TWI ever saw the place)

On the other hand, maybe the plane was a Con air

That shoud be properly written: Con V(ic)T air.

I'll pass thanks, is there any chance that Texas will declare independance from the other 49 states soon? :-D ~HAP

Cowboys who don't take their hat off inside are just following the rules. The rules for cowboys are just different than for cityfolk. Cowboys take their hat off for prayer, the national anthem, and when laying in a casket. They don't take their boots off even in the casket. ~HAP

When I cook, I am not a fast chef, nor am I a slow chef, I am a half-fast chef. ~HAP