jkerouac

I confess, I chuckled at the squirrel part.

Some members of the board have been saying all along that the way to control prices is to refuse to pay when the price seems too high. It sounds as if Andrew and Joshua are simply doing what other board members have already done. It will be interesting to see whether the factory reacts to this line drawn in the sand -- or will members (along with consumers who are not members of these boards) undercut Andrew and Joshua's action by shopping elsewhere and paying the higher price.

The issue is being able to browse without worrying either at the workplace or when the wife/girlfriend or kids are present. Sure, you can turn avatars off, but you might end up having to switch them on and off several times a day if you only need to be concerned about inappropriate content during a portion of your surfing day.

In addition to the victims and heros of 9/11, let's also remember the victims of terrorism in Madrid, London, Bali, Iraq, and wherever fanatics believe that their extremist views trump peoples' rights to live their lives in peace. Also, let's acknowledge the men and women in all walks of life and from all beliefs who are doing what they can to stop the insane destruction and violence. If there is a God, and whatever he (or she or it) looks like, has to be horrified at the absolute madness of much of mankind.

I feel you pain, because I have been there as well. Some jewelry that I have purchased for my wife is cherished and worn often. But too many other pieces just languish in her jewelry box. The best solution, I have found, is to shop for her jewelry together. That isn't my ideal of pure surprise and "I picked it out just for you," but the hassle and hurt feelings of making the wrong choices are usually not worth it. And remember this-- it isn't the dollar value that is important to your wife (at least I assume it isn't) but the thought that counts. Case in point: For Christimas I gave my wife a $1,000 necklace that hit with a thud and ended up being returned. More recently I bought her an art glass heart that cost all of $27 that had her practically swooning off her feet because it reminded her of a similar glass heart that I gave her for our first anniversary Valentines Day. Go figure.

There you go, Mate. Also, don't forget that your girlfriend doesn't (presumably) wear the same earrings or necklace every day, so what's the big deal with you having a few nice watches?

Sure it's an issue, and I am 51 and make a decent living with a lovely house and bills all paid, etc. My response to questions is that I love watches, both the aesthetic design and mechanical sophistication of these time pieces. My wife has known for years that I also make a beeline to the jewelers windows downtown, at the mall, or when we are travelling. And I prefer reps because I would not want to spend the amount that would be needed to acquire a comparable collection of gens. I also point out (or could point out) people who collect match boxes, or baseball caps, quilts, porcelain, or any of a number of things, or who invest tremendous amounts of time and money fixing up old cars. In my opinion, collecting reps is neither as expensive as many other hobbies, nor is it as "off beat" as some other collectibles. Addendum: I just noticed your poll question. My wife supports my hobby, although I don't think she realizes quite what my annual watch budget is -- but then I don't question her clothes shopping either. Some friends think it's a bit weird to collect reps, but still find room to admire the quality or style of individual reps.

Is no one else having difficulty getting this to work? I've been spending quite a bit of time the last few days trying to get this new feature to work the way I believe it is supposed to... showing both my own and other members' markers consistently and in a single work space. At best I can save and view my own marker but not other markers, or I can see other members' markers and not my own, either immediately after saving it or during a subsequent browsing session. And most of the time I can't even coax the map to load properly. I get download errors every time I click the link in the first message or refresh the map page. Here is what the error message says: Line: 62 Char: 7 Error: Object doesn't support this property or method Code: 0 URL:http://www.rwg.cc/members/inde.php?autocom=gmap This occurs with IE 7 on multiple computers I just tried adding RWG.cc as well as google.com to my allow popup exceptions list, and even temporarily lowered my security settings, and then restarted IE. Still no love.

It's a two-tone Date Just, I believe.

UPO black bezel with orange numbers (yeah, I figure I'm probably the last guy on the board to buy a UPO) Royal Oak Jumbo At some point I also might want to replace my first gen TT Santos 100

My father found a Rolex laying on a sandy beach just outside of San Diego. He reported it and placed an ad in the local paper, but it was never claimed. He had it serviced and has been wearing it for the last 20 years.

I sleep with my wife. There's nothing like reaching over in the morning to give her a good morning kiss and having the feel of a stainless steel watch bracelet ragainst her back---Not! When that happens, I feel like a true watch geek, and not because she has ever even commented on it. And even for myself, I don't want the extra weight of a watch on my wrist, as long as I know where it is so I can check the time whenever I want to.

The sculpted lines of this Caddy remind me of the IWC Ingeneur in that both have kind of a cold high tech feel to them. Another option is the Rolex Turnograph. The Bentley is more flamboyant and more of a nod to the British luxury car aesthetic. I haven't driven this Caddy but I wouldn't be too quick to condemn it as more Detroit trash. I've heard good things about this car.

In the scale of things I don't think profs -- at least the majority -- are overpaid. Sure, there are star academics who rake in big bucks, particularly if they do consulting or have written a bestseller or two. But for most it is a comfortable, though not spectacular, living. And as Chris mentioned, the academic look is definitely closer to casual than "materialistic." So it wouldn't surprise me if a prof sported a rep, at least on those who are smart enough to have a sense of design and style, as well as value.

Everything you ever wanted to know on this subject.... and more, courtesy of Herr Pugwash: How to Post Pictures of Your Watches

Maciek, When you "warn" people here that one of your posts includes lots of pictures, you are dangling bait in front of an avid horde of viewers. I will add my thanks to those of the many other fans of your photography skills.

I know that your comment is tongue in cheek, but I hope you include many, if not most, Americans as insiders to the joke. Only a small minority would buy into the slanted perspective you describe. Cheers.

Perhaps an admin should disable the hot link and suggest that people copy & past the link into a new window on their browser.

Just to be sure, are we talking physical age? Emotional maturity? Self-image? Physical condition (as in "He had the body of an [xx]-year-old.")? I ask because I just saw an article in Newsweek complaining that many adults just aren't acting like adults these days (in the opinion of the author). Her examples: oldsters dressing like teens or twentysomethings and starting garage bands.

My best wishes and prayers go out to you and your family at this sad time. Your entire tribute is very touching and moving. Your father would have been very proud, as I am sure he was, to have such a fine tribute from a loving and deep son. In particular, I want to highlight this line: "Suddenly I realized that this was a launch pad, that my father was about to exit this world." Three years ago my mother passed away after having been crippled for 10 years by a stroke. Like you and others, I watched a once powerful person dragged down by the deterioration of the physical body. But the spirit and love were always there. In the end I strongly believe that my mother's death allowed her to transcend the limits of her physical beyond and to be able to begin her new journey, whatever that journey may be. Mixed with my sorrow I also felt some relief and even joy that she could be free to move forward. And so I hope it is with your father as well.

For the most part I agree with Virginia -- which is why politics, or at least political power, should not be left soleley in the hands of the politicians. The choice often involves what is ideal (but not winnable), what is unacceptable, and what is doable. To me this is the main reason why politics is discouraging. The process in and of itself requires us to accept "compromise" candidates who are less than the best leaders available, and solutions that may start out sound but then are stretched up and down and left and right until the original concept is barely recognizable. But as hard as these compromises might be to accept, people at least need to use their votes to move the candidates and solutions a tiny fraction in the right direction -- or give up altogether the right to [censored] about the outcome.

I hope she doesn't mind, but I suspect that a number of members already dream of having a date with Miss Barrett. Not me, mind you. I'm married, although that doesn't keep me from other fantasies not related to RWG.

On the other hand, some people's profiles also might really surprise us.

Economic Left/Right: -4.75 Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -5.13 Even though we disagree (vehmently) on may issues, especially when political discussions come up, I suspect that RWG would tend to draw people with certain common shared values, especially regarding personal choice and values, and economic freedom. At the same time, I wonder if this is saying that none of us, especially at the negative/negative end of the scale, are suited to be political leaders, particularly of a country. So much for the notion that [censored] Cheney or Hugo Chavez might be lurking in our midsts.