TZUTC: -0500   
   MSGID: 610.hobbynt-hnetsyso@954:895/7 28f16e86   
   REPLY: 954:895/45 ca540342   
   PID: Synchronet 3.20a-Win32 master/777fb6d8b Jun 13 2023 MSC 1929   
   TID: SBBSecho 3.20-Win32 master/777fb6d8b Jun 13 2023 MSC 1929   
   BBSID: TBOLT   
   CHRS: ASCII 1   
    Tim,   
       
    Si> Thumbs Up (+1)   
       
      Depends on where the thumbs are going.    
      
    Si> I've said the same (similar) things for years. THEY need term limits -   
    Si> that would make them actually DO something. Why are their student loans   
    Si> paid off when they are elected, and why do they get to keep a salary   
    Si> when they leave (if even after 1 term)? Unless that has all changed,   
    Si> and I have been living under a large rock these past few years.   
       
      I paid my way through college 45 years ago. I was taking 18 credit hours,   
    plus working 40 hours a week at an area Burger King, and living at what was   
    my parents home (it's mine now, as they're dead and gone), because the   
    college was a commuter campus (no dorms). The only "residences" were for   
    selected sorority and fraternity houses. Back then, I attended in just the    
    fall and spring semesters (I didn't go during the summer)...and my fees were    
    $400 for tuition, $100 for books, and $10 for a parking permit.    
       
      The campus now has a "welcome back picnic/cookout" in September, shortly   
    after the Labor Day Holiday, where they cater in food, and have music, etc.   
    I was talking to these young female students (I could've easily been their    
    grandfather), and when I told them what I paid, they lamented that "I wish   
    that was what I was paying". When I asked what they were paying, it was in    
    the tens of thousands of dollars a year. I felt like Fred Sanford (either    
    "I'm Coming Home", or "It's The Big One"). I asked why it was so expensive,   
    and they said one word: "Dorms".   
       
      The only times that I go back on the campus now is for 2 reasons:   
         
    1) To attend that fall picnic.   
       
    2) To conduct amateur radio related license exam sessions (which I do 4   
    times a year).   
        
      However, with giving up driving a year ago, due to dry corneas (causing   
    blurred vision without warning), and suspect glaucoma (although the eye   
    pressures were 10 and 11, with visual acuities of 20/15 and 20/20    
    respectively), I have to call Lyft for transportation to these functions.    
    I used to use Uber, but in spring, 2022, they frauded my debit card, and I    
    nearly could not get home from the emergency room (when I was diagnosed   
    with congestive heart failure).    
       
      Lyft is less expensive, plus with being a member of their Lyft Pink   
    program, I get a 5% discount on rides, priority pickup, and if I have to    
    cancel a ride due to "high vehicular ground clearance" (a pickup truck or    
    SUV, where the step is as high as my groin), they pay the $5 cancellation    
    fee (up to 3 times a month), and if I book a new ride within 10 minutes,    
    I get $5 off of that. Plus, with the Grubhub app, I get free delivery on   
    food orders.    
       
      I did find out that my health plan offers transportation to and from    
    many medical appointments (they don't consider the barbershop as such,   
    and I look like Santa Claus right now, with the gray hair, beard,   
    moustache, and sideburns), and that saves quite a bit. Plus, my plan    
    means no co-pay for visits to my PCP, or for prescription drugs, and    
    only a $15 co-pay for specialists.    
      
    Si> I am retired military with disability, and we've gone through this   
    Si> years ago when another Dem was in office. I didn't get a check once   
    Si> (well, I did, but it was weeks late - and thankfully the mortgage   
    Si> company was understanding).    
       
      At least my home is paid for (when my family moved up here from the    
    Miami, Florida area 46 years ago, my parents paid it off in full when    
    they bought it), but I still have to pay property taxes. Even though I    
    sold my car a year ago, it was after May 31, so I still have to pay the    
    tax on it for another year.    
       
    Si> I know they (DEM and REP) would never vote for a term limit, but the   
    Si> people need to start waking up and not just vote for their Pres, but   
    Si> actually choose/not-choose their representatives as well - that may   
    Si> wake them up, but prolly not.   
        
      They cry "throw the bums out", but they still vote them in. As my late    
    barber noted "that makes as much sense as tits on a boar hog".     
       
    Si> Keep up the good work!   
       
      I apparently am making a of folks mad in various network echoes...not    
    to mention I've been dealing with vision issues (which caused me to quit    
    driving a year ago), and they also make it hard to be at the computer for    
    long periods of time. Today was the first time I've checked the QWK Mail    
    in nearly 3 weeks, and I have a huge packet as a result...but, there's no    
    way I'm going to read all the messages.   
        
      I've been lucky to just update the ham radio and weather data on the    
    BBS, and I haven't used any of the doorgames since late May.    
       
    Daryl    
       
   ... Too old to cut the mustard; but can still stir the mayonnaise.   
   === MultiMail/Win v0.52   
   --- SBBSecho 3.20-Win32   
    * Origin: The Thunderbolt BBS - Little Rock, Arkansas (954:895/7)   
   SEEN-BY: 229/110 426 470 700 291/111 5075/35   
   PATH: 229/470 426