The ***OFFICIAL*** Weekend Singles' Thread -- (June 23rd to 25th)

FreeRepublic | June 23, 2006 | Victoria Delsoul & Alberta's Child

[pcottraux]

The transmission on a van is usually about as reliable as a pile of dog doo.

[pcottraux]

Hello!

[darkangel82]

LOL, at least dog doo doesn't cost hundreds of $ to clean up.

[rzeznikj at stout]

Especially Chrysler minivans--and most often, right after they hit 100k...

[rzeznikj at stout]

This is true...

[Alberta's Child]

What happened this morning -- did you have a post-birthday hangover? LOL.

[pcottraux]

We had a Dodge Caravan once. I can honestly say from years of experience that there's something wrong with vans...they break and tear-up constantly, and it's almost always the transmission.

[pcottraux]

No, I just didn't wake up until about 11 or so (church had long since started). I actually felt great when I woke up...though a little guilty about missing it.

[Alberta's Child]

How did Jimy Buffett fans get to be called "Parrotheads?"

That's a very good question -- I have no idea. Any Buffett fans out there who can answer this?

[rzeznikj at stout]

Personally, I'd rather be driving a Porsche, BMW, or an Aston Martin...

This one was my dad's...

...OTOH, it's better than the cruddy, rusty, and ugly Ford Taurus/Mercury Sable I had 8^)

[darkangel82]

I drive an almost 9 year old Buick, doesn't give me much trouble (and it better not, with how much I spend on it.)

[pcottraux]

Give me a good ol' Chevy any day.

I love Buicks, too, though.

[rzeznikj at stout]

Never was big on GM...8^)

[darkangel82]

I get what I can afford, which right now isn't much.

[Nowhere Man]

I guess I am just an old softie.........I am good at repaying someones bad deeds toward me..with kindness and compassion.

And I COULD have made fun of her situation-- and I have EVERY RIGHT to do so!! I could had said something like"" well-- look who is having problems with money", or "the little princess has lost her kingdom", or even-"see, if you hadn't wasted all of that money, all of those years--you would have some today"!!

But I just don't do things that way.

I guess I am from the "kill them with kindness" school.and feel that it is NOT the right thing to "kick her when she is down".........All that would probably do is cause her to have a nervous breakdown, and I do NOT want to see that!!

I know what you mean, I'm much the same way. I just cannot kick someone when he or she is down unless that person was truly evil like say a Saddam Hussein or an Adolph Hitler type. It's not my way either. I remember when I was a kid, Mom, who had been divorced for a few years so money was tough to come by had to lend her sister, my aunt, some money. My uncle and aunt, who usually did quite well, well at the time, my uncle lost his job so they came to us for money. Usually we are seen as the "poorer relations" in the family. Well we lent them oney them and they paid us back.

Another story, Mom and I lent money to my cousin in 1989, he recently gotten married, I was 23 at the time, he was 20, his wife, 17 or 18 and they had a baby. Well, soon after, days in fact, we found out he was playing around and was getting divorced, in fact, we had to take him to Georgetown where the courthouse in Williamson county (where Round Rock, Texas is) to meet up with his attorney. He was skipping out on child support and his attorney was giving him "the business" by reading him the riot act and rightly so. Well later on, he moved up here, basically abandoning his daughter (she's old as my cat, Corky, that how I remember, she's 17 now). He moved up here, got involved with another girl, had a son and then he abandoned her although I hear he sees his son from time to time. He's now 300 lbs or more, on welfare and/or SSI and living with a lady on welfare who can't have kids, Thank God. He really screwed up his life as his brother did as well, deep down I feel sorry for them an even more so for the kids, but in their case, they made a lot of bad decisions.

I know in my case, I made wrong decisions from time to time but at least I'm employed at a decent job making money. It's still tough, I'm trying to dig myself out plus with my car needing a lot of repairs, Greystone getting sick and dying, Boo getting sick but now well, I'm got a ways to dig out of the hole here but at least I'm with a good company hopefully with room to go somewhere.

Out of the males in my family my cousin from my aunt, the one we lent money to, well, he's the most successful moneywise, he's worth millions, I would be in second place though, a very distant second but I can't complain, I'm not homeless or starving so that is a great plus. B-) My other two cousins are basically losers.

She has been treating me better, lately anyway.. well before I promised to lend her the money....

Well, hopefully she will keep on treating you better, still I'd monitor the situation but yeah, I know what it is like to be in your shoes with family, although the situations are different, in many ways, they are similar too.

[rzeznikj at stout]

The only reason why I have a 1999 minivan is because I'm paying a loan to my folks for it...8^)

[darkangel82]

I got mine in 1999 too, I was 17 then. The car was only 2 years old when I got it.

[Nowhere Man]

We had a Dodge Caravan once. I can honestly say from years of experience that there's something wrong with vans...they break and tear-up constantly, and it's almost always the transmission.

Hmmm, my friend's mother had a Dodge Intrepid with the 3.3 litre engine and her transmisison was forever giving her trouble until it conked out entirely. At first until it warmed up, it would stay in first gear and sometimes reverse didn't work.

[rzeznikj at stout]

Er, not exactly.

Mine's a 1999 model year...8^)

[JamesP81]

I'm more of a Nissan and Toyota fan myself. I hate all minivans. Like you, I've never seen one that either wasn't scrapped out or well on its way.