trinacriabob

And it is sad. I was in the Veneto for 3 days and met some wonderful people running the hotel or at eating places. And, so it became learned that I am a Sicilian-American. Better, I guess, than just being a Sicilian.They got pretty honest with me in our discussions about Italy and Italians. I asked them if a Sicilian were to move up into the area, was well-bred, spoke "neutrally accented" Italian, was a professional and did not look like he floated over from Morocco (as a small percentage does), would he or she be accepted. The answer was "well, in the North, it could take a while." It pissed me off internally because, if we had not come back to the states, that could have been MY story. I know that in the states, people with a heavy Bible Belt twang, are initially put under the "what's up with this" microscope by those of us in no-accent zones or the north. However, I think that when people figure out that (1) they are generally nice people, and (2) they are on the ball in terms of abilities or education, the "what's up with this" is dropped INSTANTLY.

Reg, you are funny.I don't know about the first sentence...I think they are hetero but just had too many brothers that preceded them in the birth order. Every chick I know born after 3 or 4 boys knows how to handle the boys. Usually, there is no L factor here because the mother has a sigh of relief that she finally got a GIRL and their bond is healthy and the dad often feels the same way. Depression ... hmmm ... the question is how much? I am somewhat prone. However, it's what they call exogenous which means it is brought on by external stresses. Endogenous depression means it's there in perpetuity...ouch. I am almost sympathetic. Yes, the princesses and the daddy's girls. That's an interesting phenomenon...the entitlement concept. What's amazing is that even those that have needed instructions still feel entitled. Sorry, you can't expect pedestal treatment when you need to be given instructions....now do this, yes, that's right, yes, a little more, ok, good....you get the idea. The combustion has to be spontaneous, not orchestrated.

TMITMI ...Madonna...

ATLANTAMarta is their train system

Oh, good, another cheap person. Let's keep that moolah in our wallets. I find that every never-married woman over 35 has one of the following: (1) not that attractive (2) earlier sexual trauma (3) a little too "punch in the arm, let's go get a beer" -- tomboyish, though thoroughly straight (4) combination of the above As my friend Vince says, "Well, if they were decently packaged, they'd be scooped up by now, now wouldn't they"

Not so fast. Ouch. Italian and Spanish, IMHO, are extremely close. Portuguese is a stretch, not because of the words nor the grammatical structure. It is the pronounciation which is maddening. Everything with an S is pronounced SH if in the middle or at the end of a word. How that ever surfaced is beyond me. For example, Lisboa is Leeshboa, the town of Cascais is Kash-kaish, and "as praias" (the beaches) is osh praiash. If that were removed and an S was pronounced like an S is in the other related languages, Portuguese would be a snap...or at least easier. Every Portuguese person tells me it is easier for them to learn Spanish than for a Spaniard to learn Portuguese.

Dude, it was also a French/Norman possession for at least 200 years...that's probably why people in France immediately speak French to me (since I guess I look like them) but a Spaniard will hold off. Case in point: armoire in English - armadio in Italian - "a muarra" in Sicilian Ventana in Sicilian? Seriously? It must a regional finessing of the dialect. On the eastern side of the island, we pronounced it "a fineshia."

You have to stop relating them. It's a handicap. I did the same thing. This is corny but think of yourself in another body, walking around a street in Spain or in Latin America. Don't you have a large Hispanic representation on LI? About 1/3 of my friends in LA were from Spanish speaking families, so that helped. I had NO problem with the Spanish accent...none. Reason: I learned it "clean," in college and from good profs. As for Italian, one of the biggest disadvantages is having had to learn Sicilian prior to Italian. It has made me extremely self conscious (since I am in Northern Italy right now) in that I try not to let out a "meridionale" cadence. (Don't get me started) In fact, people here ask me where I'm from. Instead, in Spain, they told me my Spanish was excellent. In fact, one person said "Usted habla un Espanol correcto...no es el Castellano." It appears that the non-lisped clean Latin American Spanish, as might be spoken in Colombia or Venezuela, is more of the standard than is the Castilian.

Disagree. Only Pontiac could pull off full size looks with rallye wheels and it would look good. It would not have worked for the equivalent years of Olds and Buick.

I dunno. It might look like $h!. Just kidding.

I remember when you posted this. Hopefully, you peeled back on your hours somewhat.

Oops, Carbiz, I hope I didn't come across as a jerk. It's very UN-Catholic of me, but I think the Dual Income No Kids route is the way to go. I've had too painful and prolonged of a climb.

C'mon, B, you mean when your wife says "Jump", you don't respond with "How High?" and THEN use that as an opportunity to take off/get into your pants.

She seems (seemed) like a good hearted Southern lady, much like Dolly Parton.I don't know much about her, but am sad about this. The gaudiness, make up and her get-ups make her unforgettable.

Listen to your gut instinct. You shouldn't go to one because you feel you have to....you should go to one because you want to.

Be careful of what you ask for because you just might find it! You list a couple of attributes and demographic conditions and they just might be met. Nothing went wrong per se, it's just that I don't want children and this became an issue. I was honest within a matter of months. I think she was very hurt. I know that she threw herself into her work (has an Ivy League MBA and made more money than me at ANY point in time) is apparently still single. Once I got into my early 30s, I no longer wanted kids. And if I don't want my very own, I certainly don't want anyone else's.

stuffy

Wow, wow, wow. OK. I differ with you on this. I am a control freak and thus am not crazy about operating out of a briefcase and being perched in someone else's office. My first foray into the business world was during college where I worked for the controller of a hospital at 2 different hospitals (this person changed jobs halfway through college). I liked going to the same place every day. Then came the big surprise...working for an auditing firm for a couple of years and then onto a smaller firm for a couple more before making a big career switch. I hated the auditing firm because I didn't like the time budgets within which to accomplish the work. I am a perfectionist and wound up EATING TIME (working and not billing it) so I would both keep my job (LOL) and look good. I liked the smaller accounting firm because I rarely traveled, knew all the clients and, basically, it was just more down to earth. Consulting is certainly a big challenge but it always seems to land people great opportunities at other junctures. Do you have an MBA as some of those names appear to be snooty (I know of 3 of 4) though you do have technical expertise? Do you plan to leverage that as your foot in the door and then ask to move out of engineering?

I have been meaning to call him. I will do so when I come back across the pond.

Rolls Royce Car or airplane engine, it's all good... Hey, dudes, we need to keep this thread alive...we owe it to our precocious friend Chargerino who, at 12 or 13, was bold enough to start to most popular thread ever on this site.

Razor is cool and a lot less intense in person. I had dinner with him while transiting from Montreal down into NY state to visit relatives. I told him to intercept me somewhere along I-87 and I would buy dinner. He brought his new Pontiac G6 coupe.

If you don't like that, something is wrong with you! (Not you, 98). However, they didn't check the box for color-keyed belts...what an eyesore without them. Edit - other fixes: coupe format nicer color combo whitewalls Rallye II wheels Hood ornament

Oh, brother, you can be such an ass...

dough

uppity