TheBachelor

I made it there with a combination of things. First of all, I went into consulting when I was out of college for just one year. I immediately doubled my pay. I doubled it a couple more times over the years. I've been fully employed as a consultant for 20 years now. How do I stay employed? Work hard, try not to piss people off (since they could be hiring next week), and don't screw up. I did also start investing in the stock market when I had my debts (school loans, etc.) paid off. Other than my house, I never financed any purchase, and with my house, I paid it off as soon as I could. Some people would say invest that money somewhere else, but I always felt more comfortable with owing nothing to anyone. The stock market investments have done fairly well, although I did take a loss of about $400K when the market was doing poorly. I didn't panic, and kept investing, and I've more than made that money back. I haven't been too aggressive in investing. Buy companies that you know. For me it was things like Oracle, Cisco, IBM, and Amgen. I've probably been too conservative at times where I've had a lot of cash (600K+) just because I didn't see anything I wanted to invest in. All of this reminds me of some characteristics of millionaires as described in the book "The Millionaire Next door". The are: They live well below their means They allocate their time and money efficiently, in ways conducive to building wealth. They believe that financial independence is more important than displaying high social status. Their parents did not provide economic outpatient care. Their adult children are economically self-sufficient. They are proficient in targeting market opportunities. They chose the right occupation. I work with a lot of people who make $200-$300K per year, and have nothing saved. They do have new cars all of the time, and they have a lot of toys. Cars and toys aren't good investments. I just bought a new car this year, but prior to that, I was driving a 1997 Honda Accord with 146,000 miles on it. There are battered women? I've been eating 'em plain all of these years...

Here's one section of mine: An Inner Dream number of 6 means: You dream of guiding and fostering the perfect family in the perfect home. You crave the devotion from offspring and a loving spouse. You picture yourself in the center of a successful domestic unit. I would say this is exactly opposite of who I am. So much for accuracy. There are battered women? I've been eating 'em plain all of these years...

I had one last night on a flight from Denver to LAX. They had closed the doors, and the flight attendant told the woman to shut off her cell phone. The cell phone user said something like "give me two more minutes", and continued to talk for a couple more minutes, quite loudly I might add. I wanted to turn to her and say shut the f*ck up... There are battered women? I've been eating 'em plain all of these years...

"Big Jim and the twins." There are battered women? I've been eating 'em plain all of these years...

Does anyone know of an organization that puts together care packages for soldiers? In the past, I saw some that accepted donations of magazines, etc. to send, but I can't find the organizations now. I have several years of Maxim Magazine that I'm sure would be appreciated. There are battered women? I've been eating 'em plain all of these years...

This is an old "Urban Legend." See http://www.snopes.com/politics/military/gipay.asp There are battered women? I've been eating 'em plain all of these years...

Yep, graduated with a degree in Computer Information Systems, and I'm a Database Administrator (Consultant) now. On the other hand, I don't think I currently use anything I learned in college. There are battered women? I've been eating 'em plain all of these years...

I was a fan of Norton, but all of a sudden it wouldn't work. I spent a number of days on the phone with their support to no avail. I'm no idiot -- I work with computers for a living,but still no workie. I came across "AVG" from Grisoft. They have a free anti-virus, and I ultimately bought the full suite of Anti-virus, firewall, etc. Their license fee is $70 for 2 years. I've been using it for several months now, and I really like it. It's not a resource hog like others, but protects well. There are battered women? I've been eating 'em plain all of these years...

I've seen Phantom of the Opera 8 or 9 times. My only other viewing of a musical was a Les Miserable evening. There are battered women? I've been eating 'em plain all of these years...

It's called "pump and dump". These guys buy a bunch of shares of some cheap, thinly-traded company (not many shares traded per day.) Then they send out these emails, and apparently, some people belive them and buy the stock. The volume pushes the price up a significant percentage (these stocks sell between 1/2 a cent and a few bucks per share). Once the price rises, the originators of the spam sell their shares. I was curious about these, so I watched a few of them for a few days each. The volume does increase greatly, but they don't always go up. The do seem to always go down. There are battered women? I've been eating 'em plain all of these years...

Big Japanese company here. NOBODY has an office. If you're really important, you get a bigger cube than the rest. There are battered women? I've been eating 'em plain all of these years...

My wife and I agree that the best pizza we ever had was at the train station in Venice, Italy. It was only by chance that we ate there. We couldn't get on the train we wanted, and had to wait for a couple of hours. That turned out to be good for us. On the other hand, we thought that pizza in Naples was pretty bad. There are battered women? I've been eating 'em plain all of these years...

Thanks for posting that. I have a friend who had surgery for his cancer, and during that surgery they found that it had spread quite a bit. He's got a long schedule of chemo coming up, and I'm sure he's feeling pretty down so he'll appreciate this message. There are battered women? I've been eating 'em plain all of these years...

My brother went through that, too. He'd said all his life that he didn't want children, didn't ever plan on having kids, and wasn't ever going to want to. He went to the family Dr. and told him that, and told him that he wanted a vasectomy. My family Dr. told him to wait, to see if that really was his choice. The produndity of Dr.s comment was simply this: someday, you might meet a woman who wants children. And you want to give them to her. When that time comes, you will regret that you had a vasectomy. So wait for a while until you see how your life plays out. Use a condom instead, and have her use birth control. But wait. That statement, told to my brother when he was about your age and knowing the idential things you know, prevented my brother from having a vasectomy. I have two neices and a nephew now, thanks to my family Dr,s wisdom and foresight. I'd suggest you wait a while. You might indeed find the woman of your dreams. You might indeed want to create life with her. And if that's so, what a horrible thing to realize you can't - because of a decision made when you were single, young, and disillusioned. What you do with your body isn't my concern. But, as I see it, you've got some living to do before you really realize what you want, and what your life will be. 'Til then, don't do something which is nearly impossible to reverse *(and I say nearly because it can be done on occasion...not something to count on). So wait...it can't hurt. Ciels- Michele I've never wanted kids either, and that hasn't changed in 25+ years. Now I'm 42. I don't agree with the comment "So wait...it can't hurt." What if you use condoms or some other sort of birth control, and that method fails (nothing is 100% except abstinence). For the next 18-21 years you will be at least financially responsible for something you knew you never wanted in the first place. I don't necessarily agree with the statement that some day you'll meet a woman, and you'll want to "give them to her." Women I've dated have always known from early on that I never wanted kids. Even though I would have married one or more if that wasn't an issue, I wasn't going to change my core feelings for someone else. On the same note, I never expected someone to change their feelings about wanting kids just because I didn't want them. If they have always wanted them, they should have them. Just not with me. [/rant] So the bottom line of this long-winded reply is to get the vasectomy if you want it. Explain to your doctor what your reasons are, and if he won't do it, you'll have to find someone else who will. There are battered women? I've been eating 'em plain all of these years...

I agree with "Just a little bit more." I got out of college 20 years ago, and each time I increased my income over those years, I thought "$30K is good, $50K would be great." A year later "$50K is good, $100K would be great." $100K came and went, as did $200K and $300K. I didn't change my spending much, so that isn't it. I just think it's human nature for most people to always want "just a little more." There are battered women? I've been eating 'em plain all of these years...

Once case I remember about not employing smokers was due to higher health-care costs. The bottom line was the employer could do whatever he wanted. I don't see a difference when it comes to alcohol. I'm not sure if state or federal law is involved, so it may depend on which state you live in. There are battered women? I've been eating 'em plain all of these years...

Been donating whole blood on and off for years. Eaerlier this year, a relative of a friend needed platelets, so I've been doing that lately. It takes more time, but City of Hope where I donated at was great. There are battered women? I've been eating 'em plain all of these years...

I got my 10-year award about a year ago. Surprised me in that I didn't remember it was my 10-year anniversary, and I didn't know that there was an award for it. There are battered women? I've been eating 'em plain all of these years...

I had so many problems with Norton that I finally uninstalled it. I went to the paid version of AVG Antivirus/firewall. As stated in an earlier post, they also have a free version. You can go to their site to see what extras you get in the paid version. I will say that with the full paid version, I've had no problems, and I'm now a big fan. There are battered women? I've been eating 'em plain all of these years...

Since it got the most hype of all the new shows, I decided to watch it. At the end, I just though to myself "well, I'll give it another try next week." I'm thinking that Matthew Perry's character (along with his partner's) didn't get introduced until late in the show, and they're a couple of the "main" characters, so with them "available" for all of next week's show, it may be different. If it's the same as Monday night's, then I'm done. There are battered women? I've been eating 'em plain all of these years...

This brings up a gripe of mine. When the green light comes on, and I'm checking the spot, everyone at the front of the plane is yelling "go" or "green light". God forbid if I delay my climb-out because of the spot. The bottome line: If you're in the plane (not in the door), and you don't know for sure that the spot is good, quit your yelling. [/rant] There are battered women? I've been eating 'em plain all of these years...

Spending the last of my 10 days in Maui. There are battered women? I've been eating 'em plain all of these years...

I love it. I didn't start watching it until the people I work with said that House and I had the exact same personality. I watched it, and yep, that's me. There are battered women? I've been eating 'em plain all of these years...

As stated earlier, a rigger would be risking his ticket if he repacked a reserve on a rig with an AAD out of date. I personally know 2 jumpers who would be dead if they did not have an AAD - there is no question in either case. I don't personally know of anyone who has been injured/killed due to an AAD malfunction. There are battered women? I've been eating 'em plain all of these years...

I've been to Maui a couple of times, and to Oahu and the big island once each. Oahu feels like Los Angeles to me. There are skyscrapers, traffic, etc. The big island (Hawaii) is very different on its two sides. Kona is more dry, while Hilo is more tropical. Maui is very laid back. There isn't much traffic, and other than restaurants, there isn't much open late. I'm headed back to Maui at the end of August. All islands have good snorkeling and scuba. If you want to be touristy, you can go to a luau (never done it myself). All islands offer great scenery, and quite a few places for walking/hiking or bike riding. Decide on an island, and then do some internet searches -- you'll find tons of things to do. There are battered women? I've been eating 'em plain all of these years...