Sy,

"Do the same today with modern costs and credit checks."

I have a screen shot I took a years ago of my credit score.

It said 850.

Now it's dropped about 30 points without an income.

I declared bankruptcy back in my 30's.

Yes...I worked diligently.

I always delivered what I promised I could do.

In today's financial climate, I'm sure it's a lot more difficult.

Clown,

Here's my favorite story.

Starting back in my late 20's, for about 20 more years, my wife, kids, and I attended a large church regularly. On Wednesday nights they held dinners that were extremely well attended. You paid, went through the buffet line, then sat at long tables in a room about the size of a basketball court.

The place was always packed and LOUD. Really, probably over the fire code. There were only two ways in or out. One on each side of the room.

People arrived gradually, but leaving was an entirely different thing.

When dinner ended, everybody tried to leave at once. Both exits looked like sand funneling through an hourglass shaped like a V aiming for the door. People packed together shoulder to shoulder trying to get out. And it was loud.

Now here's the part I like. I'm very tall. In that room there may have been only one person taller than me. When I stood up, I could see over almost everyone's heads and they could usually see me.

Years earlier I had worked for a very busy family owned florist shop.

With all the noise from people talking and pushed together, I faintly heard, "Computer Man... Computer Man..."

I figured that might mean me, so I turned around.

Pretty far back behind me I saw am arm waving. It was one of the women who helped manage the florist shop trying to get my attention through that crowd.

So I waited for her, we talked for a bit, and made plans for me to come by.

I've always liked that story.

Clown,

A lot of people are a lot more accomplished.

But considering where I started nearly homeless after getting the boot from the Navy, I did alright.

Clown,

"Based on the volume of time he spends on the DR these days, it's fair to assume he's a divorced shut in."

I'm retired after busting my tail off since the mid-80s working jobs where I often had no clear job description, just objectives I had to figure out how to accomplish.

Dealing with people was honestly my least favorite part of the work.

I started out working for privately owned microcomputer stores doing repairs and Novell network installations. I already had my BS in Accounting. One client eventually hired me away to help finish migrating their accounting systems from manual to computerized systems. That opened the door to combining accounting and computer systems as a career.

After that, I was getting contacted to solve problems. Sometimes accounting related, sometimes computer related, sometimes both. One job might last a month. Another might last three years.

One time I went to see a doctor and he pulled my business card out of his desk because a friend had given it to him.

By the time I retired, I was MCSE and A+ certified and handling accounting oversight, cash management, financials, and custom reporting for a medium-sized distributor/manufacturer.

Now I'm not working.

Good thing.