Kitt

That is so not a fair question to ask. I can honestly say I have never read a story here I did not enjoy! I have read hundreds, edited dozens, and there is absolutely no way I could choose one as the favorite. I have an entire list of favorites!

Interesting thought B1ue. That could tip the balance of power slightly back toward her side.

This may be the first Wade has heard of the extent of his mothers manipulations in this, he had turned it over to Elizabeth with no restrictions other than "nothing fatal". Remember, this is the woman who drugged and institutionalized her own mother in order to gain access to money that one day would have been hers and she was just too damned impatient to wait.

Don't we all?

Brad and Marc have just met. They have had so far one date that is yet to end since Will convinced Brad to take the guy with him to Australia. Shouldn't we wait till at least the second date before we label Marc a gold-digger?

LOL no admonishments for having kept it quiet - I did the same thing! Hope your day was fantastic and that every day going forward is too!

I've seen underage kids with no licences do better than that!

This is an idea I like. I am shooting for a gathering of friends etc on the weekend between the two holidays. I may not have enough family around to cook big for any more, but that doesn't mean I shouldn't build a new one!

As far as seeing the ex at the play - I would like to remind people BRAD made the arrangements, Marc didn't know till everything was set.

Killing two birds with one stone again Mann? Your prompts have an interesting habit of turning up in your stories!

Well said gentlemen! Both of you! I would like to add thanks to the other administrators for putting up with all the BS that can go on around here and keeping the site running smoothly!

I think the whole thing becomes a matter of perspective. As an outsider looking in, investing in oil and the like, with the intent of making a profit, is simply business. Granted the more anti-war factions would call it immoral, but for most it is just the way things work. JP has a strong conviction on such matters. To him things look differently than they would to me when it comes time to sit down with my financial adviser and go over how my investments are doing. To JP,having already been involved in Triton, maintaining that company and in the end making a profit due to the upcoming military actions is one thing. For his family members to disregard his opinions completely and invest as heavily as it appears Brad and Stef have must come across to JP as a failure on his part. He raised Brad, and met Stef when he was a 16 yr old rent boy. He had a hand in forming Stef's adult psyche as well. For them to be making decisions that are a polar opposite to what he purported as they were growing up has to feel like he failed as a parent. Please note, I have tried not to insert my personal views on the impending war, or pass any moral judgement on either side of this. I am simply stating I can see how the younger men would consider this a business opportunity they could not pass up, and how JP would see it as a betrayal and feel he had failed in raising them.

I love rule number two Mark! Well said!

Guess maybe I am more old fashioned than I care to admit. I have no problem with hand holding or KOTC with any couple, gay or straight, but I feel more intimate PDA's are not acceptable. Save the making out for the back seat, regardless of the pairings.

When you have grown up with the sort of friends my father kept that isn't so hard Adi. If you want a true story to work from drop me a pm.

The bad and the ugly need to be handled politely however. Even if you want to condemn someones work as garbage, keep it confined to the work, and don't condemn the person!

I know it sounds weird - but you should be proud of what you did. I have been the first on scene at many accidents, and several of the victims didn't make it home again, so I know what you were faced with that night. You did the best you could at the time and the boy did not die alone. Because of you, he had support and love at the end. No one can ask for more.

What Val said! I couldn't imagine doing something like that when I was a teen and if I ever heard my daughter did it...

Thats the thing David, the manufacturer was NOT paying the shipping costs. They wanted ME to!

I thoroughly enjoyed the meal we shared with Mann and Neversurrender when we were in Michigan last spring Carlos. You would be more than welcome at my table as well! Just don't ask me to share in those cigars!

And I'm not available this weekend to pick the busted one up. It is destined to become my new, improved, larger smoking box. You are always welcome for dinner however Mann!

The freezer was (I can't say is since it no longer freezes anything) an Igloo and it is made by a company named Curtis International. Here I have always been happy with Igloo products, included a cooler/warmer unit that plugs into a cigarette lighter I have had for years. Nice warm lunches at the barn with that little toy. I guess I should count my lucky stars it never needed servicing!

My refrigerator has a reasonably small freezer drawer. I am a fairly old fashioned cook who likes to purchase and preserve foods in season so I went out back in 1982 and bought a chest freezer that served me well for 30 years. When it finally passed on it didn't owe me a penny and I replaced it with a new model. That new freezer worked well until about a week after the warranty ran out. That is when the fun began. I understand that the warranty having run out means I need to pay for all repairs. Not a problem really. The problem lies in that not a single refrigeration repair service in my area will work on this brand, including one that proudly advertises that they service all makes and models regardless of where it was purchased. It seems that the service people cannot get parts for this brand of freezer, the manufacturer wants to handle all repairs and replacements. That lead to a call to the store I purchased the freezer at to get a number for the manufacturer. Several phone calls and internet searches later I finally get a lady on the phone who seems willing to schedule repairs for me. The catch? She wants me to pay a $145 diagnostic fee, and SHIP THE FREEZER TO MICHIGAN! Yes, you read that correctly - they did not have anyone in the area (I live in NJ) who could work on the thing. If i wanted it repaired I need to crate the silly thing up and ship it to Michigan, where they will either repair the unit, or if it is beyond repair they will replace it with another refurbished unit. Shipping costs were my responsibility - IN BOTH DIRECTIONS. The silly freezer only costs $300 brand new right now in the local home center! By the time I pay to have the thing crated up, shipped to Michigan, pay the $145 repair fee, and have it shipped back I could buy 3 or more of the damn things brand new! I shall not repeat exactly what I said to the woman. Let's just say I was less than polite in informing them they were out if their minds and I would never purchase another one of their products again. Tonight we are going freezer shopping again. This one will make a very nice home made smoker!

Perhaps my situation gives me a different perspective. I am seeing the possibility of a method of change as just a tool for people to become who/what they want to be. Unfortunately, like any tool there is a potential for miss-use and abuse. One does not ban the sale of hammers because some psychotic fool used a hammer as a murder weapon, because the good that can be done with it far outweighs the bad. I must agree here, except that there are times when lousy cards give us a hand that is never going to win. That is why you draw from the deck, trying to improve your hand. I see an option to change if you wish to as one more card in the deck. Play it or not - it is your decision. I am acquainted with a person who was born female, and through a long period of hormone treatment and several surgeries is now male. Was it easy for him? Hell no! Nor was it easy for those of us who met him half way through the process. I spent the first year I knew him trying to figure out if he was male or female, and being extremely careful not to use pronouns that would assign a sex to him until i knew what was the correct form. I happen to be overweight ( not from lack of dieting btw - i try like hell but losing is slow) and have been called lard-ass and much worse, sometimes by people who really should know better. I also have qualified temporarily for handicap parking during a period when a back issue at the same time as chemo therapy severely limited my mobility, and yes I have gotten the "crips" lines too. No form of biggotry is acceptable. I was able to "fix" the handicap issues through a combination of sheer determination and good doctors. Fat I am still working on, but again, determination and doctors. I can walk, ride, and go about my business with no cane any more, but I am still ME. I weigh considerably less than I did a year ago, but I am still ME. My transgender friend didn't look at it as changing himself, he saw it as his body finally matching what he considered himself to be all along. Food for thought: If such a treatment became available, would anyone have the right to deny it to someone wishing to utilize it because it they thought it meant gay is wrong? If I as a straight woman have no right to tell someone they should not be gay, what right does anyone else have to say "You should not be straight - even if that is what you really want."

You mean books DON'T have genders and therefore can't be either hetero or gay??? What a concept!