Oklahoma Nesties
fuzzylogic
member
Dear Community,
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
UO Thursday!
What's your unpopular opinion, ladies?
I know today when I go to work, the students are going to complain about it being cold and damp. This weather makes me happy.
Warning
No formatter is installed for the format bbhtml
Re: UO Thursday!
You stole mine! I love cool, rainy weather.
The only thing better than cool and rainy is COLD and SNOWY!
a) You get to wear cute boots, sweaters and coats; b) Cuddling up on the couch with a warm beverage and blanket is encouraged; c) Every day, there's a slight chance that work will be called off. When else can you hope for that, as an adult?
I'm loving this weather [just wish we'd actually get more rain, since we need it - haven't seen much rain in Stillwater]. I got to wear my favorite turtleneck today, which makes me super happy.
I don't understand this whole "Occupy Wall Street/Your City" thing. I mean, I kinda do since I've been keeping up with it in the news, but...I guess I just don't see the point...? Maybe I don't know as much about it as I should.
Kaylee & Cole 06.14.08
8/6/11 First 5k! OG&E Expo Run 34:47
9/3/11 Brookhaven Run 5k 34:18
9/17/11 Healthy Sooners Fun Run 5k 33:38
10/15/11 Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure 33:31
10/29/11 Monster Dash 5k 32:06 PR!
11/11/11 Veteran's Day Run 11k in Dallas 1:13:15 Instant PR!
1/28/12 Texas Half Marathon 2:38:03 Instant PR!
3/25/12 Earlywine Dash
I'm with you on this one, I just don't get it really.
Occupy Wall Street... Ok I get the government isnt perfect but I can't for the life of me figure out why people are mad at the people who make up the 1 %. Maybe if you didnt spend all day protesting and found a job (which I get is hard these days but not impossible) you could make a bunch of money too. Most of the 1% started with nothing and worked up to what they have now (the American dream). I cant figure out why people think they are entilted to things and that the government should bail them out, I think the government needs to back off and everyone take responsibility for themselves. Our "poverty" in this country is like riches in others. I am by no means rich here but someday I hope to be and it will be the choices my family and I make that get us to that point not stealing from the rich to give to the poor or by expecting the government to help me out. We are responsible for our own lives so grow up and take control of your life.
For the record I do feel for people who are really having a hard time and trying to get back on their feet. Hope I didnt offend anyone.
Occupy Wall Street... Ok I get the government isnt perfect but I can't for the life of me figure out why people are mad at the people who make up the 1 %. Maybe if you didnt spend all day protesting and found a job (which I get is hard these days but not impossible) you could make a bunch of money too.
Most of the 1% started with nothing and worked up to what they have now (the American dream). This is very much not true.
I cant figure out why people think they are entilted to things and that the government should bail them out, I think the government needs to back off and everyone take responsibility for themselves. Corporations were bailed out by the government and didn't take responsibility for themselves. Why is that okay?
Our "poverty" in this country is like riches in others. I am by no means rich here but someday I hope to be and it will be the choices my family and I make that get us to that point not stealing from the rich to give to the poor or by expecting the government to help me out. We are responsible for our own lives so grow up and take control of your life. I would imagine that you have already been given priveledges that many in our country have not that make it possible for you to achieve your dream. It's not a matter of taking from the rich to give to the poor. It's about allowing the poor more opportunities to better themselves. It is often not as simple as "take control of your own life" when you have grown up in a culture of poverty.
For the record I do feel for people who are really having a hard time and trying to get back on their feet. Hope I didnt offend anyone.
I would love to see some statistics on the top 1% with respect to how many of them were born to parents that did not complete high school, we're addicted to drugs, and/or lived in such poverty that the now 1%er had to work full time in a minimum wage (or worse since they seen legally old enough to work) by the time they were a teenager to help support the family. I wonder how many of them were passed around from foster home to foster home or were homeless with no consistency in their lives and nobody who believed in them. I'd bet anything it's not most.
I'd consider myself the model of coming far while starting with little (most of those conditions applied to me as a kid), but I'm not a 1%er and never will be. I also recognize that, as much as I'd like to believe I did, I didn't do it ALL BY MYSELF. There were people along the way that helped me, people who believed in me, and people who helped me realize I could break that cycle. Without those people, I probably wouldn't have been able to do so well. I went to college on full scholarships, but I probably couldn't have done well enough to earn those in high school if my home life hadn't stabilized enough so that I didn't have to work full time and I wasn't dealing with my drug addict mom every day who made me miss school all the time for various reasons.
Not only that, but not EVERYONE can get a full ride scholarship. There's only so much scholarship money out there. If every kid worked hard and got straight As and did well on standardized tests, then that money would just be spread out so that none of them got a full ride (or the competition even stiffer, which still doesn't result in equal opportunities for all to get an education).
I dont think that its ok for the government to bail our corporations either.
It is true that most of the people that up our rich started with nothing. I dont mean that they all started poor but that they have built themselves from the ground up. Most of them dont just wake up one day loaded they worked hard to get where they are.
Not that I need to explain my life but my parents dont have money and from the time I moved out I have been on my own and have done whatever I needed to do to keep a roof over my head and food on the table, including working 3 jobs and going to school at one point. So yeah I think people make choices and control their own life. I get there are exceptions that but they are the exception not the majority.
Maybe Mr. McDonald, who inherited a large amount of money from his father who inherited a large amount of money from his father is a 1%er. But the facts are: SOMEONE worked hard for that money and NO ONE would be expected to spread it amongst another group of people. Further, clearly Mr. McDonald and his father continued to work hard and grow their empire or else they wouldn't still be a 1%er. I don't think anyone can say a 1%er hasn't worked hard or hasn't worked for what they have but when someone makes a comment about how a 1%er is usually someone that inherited that money, I would like to see a stat on that - how many 1%ers are living off of capital gains and how many are actually "working."
I think it would be a good idea to research who specifically is included in the 1% ... you might be surprised....
I also find it hard to believe that the money isn't there for someone with less to go to school. I wish I could get the stats from OU, but it would make you sick if you knew the amount of unallocated scholarship "need based" dollars because no one bothers to apply for them.
Flat out, our economy cannot support EVERYONE going to college and EVERYONE becoming doctors. We need people to work at Wendy's and as a garbage man, etc etc. Do I want to work in either of those fields? Nope. That is why I waited tables in high school - so I could go to college and better myself - something none of my friends from podunk Kansas did, FYI.
Maybe Mr. McDonald, who inherited a large amount of money from his father who inherited a large amount of money from his father is a 1%er. But the facts are: SOMEONE worked hard for that money and NO ONE would be expected to spread it amongst another group of people. Further, clearly Mr. McDonald and his father continued to work hard and grow their empire or else they wouldn't still be a 1%er. I don't think anyone can say a 1%er hasn't worked hard or hasn't worked for what they have but when someone makes a comment about how a 1%er is usually someone that inherited that money, I would like to see a stat on that - how many 1%ers are living off of capital gains and how many are actually "working." I don't know if this was aimed at me, but I never said they didn't work hard or inherited all their money. I'm simply stating that I doubt that "most" or "all" or whoever came from nothing. I'm pretty sure they had a support system that helped them achieve their goals, be it family or other advantages such as race, sex, location, etc.
I think it would be a good idea to research who specifically is included in the 1% ... you might be surprised....
I also find it hard to believe that the money isn't there for someone with less to go to school. I wish I could get the stats from OU, but it would make you sick if you knew the amount of unallocated scholarship "need based" dollars because no one bothers to apply for them.
Flat out, our economy cannot support EVERYONE going to college and EVERYONE becoming doctors. We need people to work at Wendy's and as a garbage man, etc etc. Do I want to work in either of those fields? Nope. That is why I waited tables in high school - so I could go to college and better myself - something none of my friends from podunk Kansas did, FYI. I agree. But since we DO need people to work at Wendy's and take out the garbage and clean the offices, etc. we need to make sure they can afford healthcare, food, etc for their families.
I would love to see one piece of data that says most of the richest people in this country started with nothing. I disagree wholeheartedly.
I agree people make choices and affect their own life, but that doesn't mean we all have the same opportunities, because we don't. You worked 3 jobs while in school and that's admirable, but not really a fair standard for everyone.
I didn't mean to get everyone riled up. It was just my UO.
Ray Kroc actually was quite the self made entrepreneur. Good for him. I will second that nobody said none of the top 1% of earners in this country worked hard. In fact, I was mostly speaking against the sweeping generation that they all/most had since I've never seen anything that remotely backs that up.
I think we have very different understandings of what the goals of this movement are. I get the impression you see the 99% as a bunch of lazy whiners who have never worked for a living and want to get everything for nothing. Does the group contain a few of those? Of course, because it includes NINETY NINE PERCENT OF AMERICANS. It also includes 99% of us. Maybe not you (you've established yourself to be in the top 5%, but not clearly the top 1% here), but definitely me. I think this movement is about trying to make sure even the lowest earners, which we all recognize fill a needed role in our society, can live safe and healthy lives. Nobody is suggesting they have the same standard of living as a doctor or lawyer here.
Not sure who that is for but for the record I'm no where near the top 5%. I also dont think 99% of the country are lazy whinners. Ok I'm done.
Serious question---when did "share the wealth" become such a bad thing?
http://visualizingeconomics.com/2011/04/14/top-marginal-tax-rates-1916-2010/Yes, I have established that I am in the top 5%. Do I think the 99% are a bunch of lazy whiners? Nope. I do think those that are camped out downtown are a bunch of lazy whiners and I think I have made that very clear (in fact, a lot of us have). I think the entire thing is ironic - they are in support of the lowest earners who have "less" while at the same time harrassing people like Snowful who is out for lunch who is working her @ss off to become something more. Do I think those that have "less" are lazy? Definitely not all of them. But those camping out downtown sure are making those people look like a bunch of lazy no gooders, if you ask me. I just don't see how camping out downtown mocking those that are WORKING is doing any good whatsoever. I do think they need to STFU and go to work. And I do think that 99% of THOSE people have no idea what they are taking a stand for (or against).
*I* am a 99%er that is taking a stand against the current capital gains rates. *I* am a person in the top 5% that has a higher effective tax rate than Warren Buffet. *I* would like to see people who are working to be taxed fairly. As a 99%er this is what *I* stand for but the bills don't pay themselves so I am going to continue on with my Q filing (and nesting!).
I think you just stated my opinion on the matter very well.
my bookshelf!
Bloggy
I don't understand why people are allergic to working full-time during college? I did it, carried a full work load, and did very well in school. DH worked through law school as well. Was I able to go booze it up every weekend? Nope. For one thing, I didn't have time and for another, I didn't have any money to booze it up. I am almost positive you worked full-time during college as well, Wendy...clearly, it isn't an ideal situation but..you gotta do what you gotta do...
I did work full time (well, multiple part time jobs), but not every full time job is flexible enough to allow for going to school and not every kid can make enough money, even working a full time job, to get by and go to school (which is kind of the point here). I'm just saying that it's not so simple as deciding they want to go to college and applying for a scholarship = done.
A lot of kids can't qualify for those need based scholarships and yet they still have no resources with which to make college an option.
Honestly? Because most just can't. It's the rare student who is good enough at both work and school to pull off both full time with any measure of success.
Most can't or most won't?
I don't know. I don't think I am super smart or anything and I worked through college, did well at my job(s) and got good grades. I think kids now (and adults for that matter) feel entitled and don't want to work hard to get what they want. People seem to have a "I want it now" attitude and don't see that the most people who are successful have worked really hard to get where they are.
I did come from a fairly well off family, but H came from nothing and worked his way through school. He had a $250 scholarship for the first 4 semesters and for the rest of it he just worked hard and paid for it (he did take out loans for the first semester and then we started Dave Ramsey's plan and paid those off and didn't take out anymore). He was successful at work and school.
Maybe those who work through college are rare exceptions, but I don't think so. I think we just wanted something and were willing to put forth the effort to get it.
I think that is just it though. You did do a not so great job for a short time so you could get a better job. I think people don't realize that people who have good jobs generally didn't just fall into them. They worked hard doing crap jobs for a short time so they could have a good job for a long time. I think too often people think they are too good to do the crap jobs and just won't so they do nothing instead (and wait for a good job to fall in their laps).
In my experience, can't---for multiple reasons.
College students today are just qualitatively different than college students 10 years ago. Most need around a year of remedial work at the university to even be ready for college-level work. As a wider swath of the population goes to college (a good thing!) we have to remember that they're going to have a wider variability of ability levels. Basic math, reading, and writing are a real struggle for many students. A high percentage of Oklahoma college students (especially at non R1 schools) have parental responsibilities as well. Our Nesties are generally not representative of the average student in terms of academic ability, so we can't really say, "Well I could do that, so anyone could do that!"
Others can't work full time because it's literally not allowed by their programs. This was the case for me in grad school. I would have lost my fellowship had I had any employment at all my first year. After that first year, my advisor would have killed me had I worked more than 25 hours/week. She was pissed that I was working that much.
Finally, some students are in very intense programs. If you're trying to get in to a very competitive grad. program, focusing on working full time may be a good short term strategy, but I'd hate for it to affect students' coursework so much that it damages their prospects long-term.