My New Relationship

Now that I’m in a new relationship, I guess I’m excited enough about it that I wanted to share. She’s very beautiful, if I do say so myself. We hit it off right away. I don’t think anyone could resist being attracted to her gorgeous, petite body, with the smooth lines and sensuous curves in all the right places. As my buddy Derek said, “She’s a knock-out!”

I was attracted even from a distance at first, but not being as shallow as Derek, I was looking for more than just good looks in a new relationship. I began to ask around to see if anyone knew about her. For some reason, nobody did. It’s not that she was just dropped on this planet from another world, although some might say she has that look about her. I think it was more that she is in a whole different class that I am not accustomed to. She is more “uptown,” but not so uptown that she’s in high society. Just sort of a better class than what I’ve been with before.

As I got closer and began to check out her features in more detail, I have to admit to being quite impressed. She seemed to have it all in one tiny package. I was defenseless against her charms, which surprised the heck out of me because she was German. I previously never realized Germans had any charm. I’m not prejudiced at all, I just never pictured myself being with one.

We met at a public, social setting so there would be no pressure. I positioned myself as close as possible and began to imagine if we would be a good fit together. I don’t know why my thinking was so bold; it wasn’t as if I had much to offer. I began to doubt myself, thinking there was no way she would be interested in me. I guess this reasoning came because I was so fresh off my previous break up. I really haven’t given it the proper time before moving on to a new relationship. But she was so hard to resist, especially when I found out we loved the same music and we loved to listen to it nice and loud. Of course a similar love of music is not the only attribute I look for, but it is surely an important one since I am always listening to music.

After talking and getting to know her a little, I got up the nerve to ask her out. I thought the perfect first date would be to take her to my favorite ice cream place and see how she did with that dripping all over her. The thing I had forgotten about was that I had promised my mother I would take her to an appointment that same day, so to make it even more “memorable” my mother actually came along for part of our first date. Talk about a disaster! It was very embarrassing, but I reasoned it would be another good test to see how she would do with my family and in stressful situations. She did fabulous. I was so pleased. Both my parents loved her and they all got along right from the start. Well, my mother did show some concern about how young and small she was, but I assured her she was definitely legal.

After passing the parental test, I suppose it was all over for me. When she passed the “big” test of sleeping over for the first time, I was sold. With all the required relationship tests passed, it looks like we are a good fit. I guess this means I have started a new, what I hope will be long relationship together. I hope it’s not too soon after the last one, but they are so completely different, I think it should be ok.

I’ll still miss my truck, but in these difficult economic times, it seems wiser to be more conservative so I had to go with a nice economical car. Below is a photo of my new baby at my favorite ice cream place on our first date.

New relationship first date at Kimballs

 

**************************************************************************************************************************

If you enjoy my writing, please let me know by leaving a comment below – or sign up for the email subscription above.

You may also enjoy my photography, which you can see on my website at www.tyrandall.com.

 

Hot Dog News

You know how when you turn on your computer to check the news of the day, sometimes a story comes screaming out in front of you? Well, that just happened to me.

I just read that according to the Hot Dog and Sausage Council, Americans consume 818 hot dogs per second between Memorial Day and Labor Day. All I can think of that statistic is, holy crap, is there really such a thing as a Hot Dog and Sausage council?

That’s right, I don’t care that Americans consume 7 billion hot dogs in the summer. Frankly (no pun intended of course), I don’t believe that statistic. I think this hot dog and sausage council is merely counting hot dog sales (not consumption) because I can’t imagine how they could possibly track how many hot dogs fall in the grill, fall to the ground and get eaten by the quick-moving dog, or get thrown out because they’ve gone bad or some 5-year-old took one bite and doesn’t want the rest.

No, to me the more important question is – who is on this hot dog and sausage council and what exactly do they do? Is their sole task in life to count how many hot dogs and sausages American’s consume? Is somebody watching me that I don’t realize? My God, it brings up countless questions to wonder and worry about. Do you have to be a scientist to be on this hot dog and sausage council? Where are they exactly? Do any of them eat hot dogs themselves? Do they eat any meat? Do they eat only processed meat?

If I was cooking both hot dogs and sausages on my grill, how would they know which one I ate? Come on now; be a little realistic with your claims – I beg of you. If you are going to make such bold claims about the society in which I inhabit, I am going to need some proof. I cannot simply accept the fact that all my fellow Americans are scarfing down hot dogs quicker than bakeries can bake bread to put them on. And what about that – how many hot dog rolls are consumed in the summer?  I am going to have to look that little statistic up to see if it lands anywhere close to the claim of this hot dog and sausage council.  Or is it like the bun vs. the hot dog dilemma with extra buns always left over?  I wonder, is there a hot dog bun council? Maybe perhaps a hot dog and hamburger bun council? As far as I know, there is no such thing as a sausage bun. At least I have never seen any bread type food item packaged as such. I know I have personally put a sausage on a hot dog bun, but I’m not sure if I was breaking any council’s rules or code of ethics. I think this might merit some further investigation.

All I can say for certain is I am happy to not be one of the statistics this time. I can’t remember the last time I consumed a hot dog or a sausage. I don’t think it was when I learned what might (or might not be) one of the ingredients in the hot dog or sausage skin. Just the mere fact that they couldn’t quite tell you exactly what is contained in said skin should provide caution enough, but I don’t think that did the trick for me. I am much too macho with a slightly metallic stomach for such trivial matters. I think maybe what might have convinced me to stop eating hot dogs and sausages were the fat and sodium content. Ever since my “vacation” in the hospital when they put me on a low sodium diet, I’ve been a lot more conscious of my sodium intake and have tried to reduce it whenever possible. Consuming hot dogs is not a way to reduce your sodium intake, so I don’t really enjoy them anymore. But enough about me, what I’m wondering now is how and if I could possibly get on that hot dog council. I wonder where their headquarters are. I wonder who pays to support to support them, if anyone. I wonder if they have any openings for someone else to help them count how many hot dogs people eat. But most of all, I wonder if any of them ever get sick from their job.

Okay, so now I’ve checked it out. Now I know that it is not only a bona-fide and legitimate council, it is a National Hot Dog and Sausage Council. I also know that they have their own website and more excitedly, their own Flickr photo group where you can join and add your own hot dog photos or see other people’s hot dog photos from all around the world. So far they are up to 18 world-wide members! As with most organizations that have a presence on the web, they also have their own Facebook page, which has far more fans than their Flickr page (1,846 to be exact at the time of this writing). Unlike some organizations on the web, they also have a presence on YouTube so you can see hot dog videos and the ifood .tv, where you can see videos, get information, and get recipes by cuisine, dish, or ingredient. All of the above have more information if you would like to investigate that yourself. As for me, as soon as I’m done with this cheeseburger, I plan to contact them to get some questions answered.

If you enjoy my writing, please let me know by leaving a comment below – or sign up for the email subscription above.  You may also enjoy my photography, which you can see on my website at www.tyrandall.com.

Today’s Free Offering

I’m in this local freecycle group where people post various items they hope somebody will take off their hands so they won’t have to pay to recycle them.  I live in an area where you have to pay to recycle anything except glass, plastic, and cardboard, so there are usually a lot of things like old televisions, stereos, and air conditioners listed.  There are other things listed to give away for free also because believe it or not, there are still a lot of people who would rather give something to someone who would want it than add to the landfill.  One of today’s free offerings really caught me by surprise and made me laugh, so I thought I would share. 

One of the items offered today was “3 pink 2 man tents.”

What?  I had to do a double take on that one.  “Pink 2 man tents?”  Don’t you mean “3 pink 2 woman tents?”  Or perhaps it should be ”3 pink 2 little girl tents.”

I had to wonder what kind of man would be caught dead in a pink tent.  Then I got to thinking about my next overnight hiking trip with my buddy Rex, sometime referred to as rugged Rex.  Rex is the biggest, toughest, strongest, manliest guy I know; he eats mud and insects for a snack; his biceps are bigger than (whatever that muscle is in) my legs; he could throw me further than I could spit.  I’m not sure if it was accidental or not, but while fishing, Rex has been known to bite the head off the fish before it was even dead.  He claims it was the only way to retrieve his hook, but that was never really proven.  I’m not even sure why Rex hangs around with a wimp like me.  I can only imagine it’s for the entertainment value, like some comic relief.  Either that or it’s because he uses me as a supply mule/camp slave on our hiking and camping trips. 

In thinking about our next camping trip, I thought it might be a hoot to tell Rex I got a new tent for us to stay in so he needn’t worry about bringing his.  I know he wouldn’t think to question it; he would probably ask what took so long – and then tell me to carry his sleeping bag to go with it.

It’s funny enough to just picture the look on his face when we set camp and I pull out this puny little pink pup tent for both of us to sleep in, but to actually do it will be a riot.  I have to call that lady and claim those pretty pink tents right away.  I’ll only need one of them, but if she insists, I’ll take all three.  Maybe I can invite my niece and a few of her girlfriends to go with us; I’m sure rugged Rex will get a real charge out of that.

If you enjoy my writing, please let me know by leaving a comment below – or sign up for the email subscription above.  You may also enjoy my photography, which you can see on my website at www.tyrandall.com.

Advantage of Travel

The advantage of having travelled to many places is that I know what is is like there.  I have been to Richmond, New Orleans, Atlanta, Miami, San Diego, Mexico, Puerto Rico, and Cuba in the summertime.  I have lived in Maryland, Virginia, Florida, and Nashville.  I know what heat plus a crap load of humidity feels like. 

Today we are in our second day of a 3 day “heat wave” where I live in New England.  It kills me that people up here are dying in the heat.  They think it is so hot; too hot to do anything except eat ice cream and jump in the pool.  I say they don’t know what hot is; they don’t have the advantage of travel that I have had.  This supposed “heat wave” is nothing compared to what I have experienced in the south.

Frankly, I’m enjoying this heat wave.  I went out for a 6-mile run this morning.  I plan to go mountain biking later on today after a little dip in the pool.  Tomorrow I’m thinking of hiking Mount Monadnock.  Sure, I might sweat a little; that’s why I have a sweat rag.  Sure, I might get a little dehydrated; that’s why I carry water.  The thing I want to do most is whine less and enjoy more the day God has given me – and a little ice cream now and then.

A Shady Lot

Whatever happened to shade?  I was in no less than six parking lots today and I couldn’t find a speckle of shade in either one.  I found plenty of sun spitting its death rays down on my sweaty head.  I found tar hot enough to melt the rubber on my sneakers as I skimmed along from one side to the other.  But I could not find two inches of shade to park my car under on either parking lot.

It was as if they were all built at the same time because every one of them had the same size trees.  I think they are called parking lot trees.  They are the kind they plant for decoration that don’t grow taller than 15 or 20 feet high or wider than 3 feet.  Therefore they only offer enough shade to cover the dirt they were planted in, but not enough to spill over to the pavement so you could park your car in comfort. 

I don’t know anything about parking lot design, but would it be too much trouble to throw in a normal tree along the edges or over in the corner so nature could help shield you from that damn scorching sun once in a while?  I hear it’s not very safe for the elderly to be out in such heat, especially when their shoes are melting as they walk.  At the speed they move, they may not make it to their destination by the time the sun bakes them down to their bare feet.

I got to wondering about this so much, I actually placed a call to Arthur Arborless of the parking lot design firm, Tar Baby Designs, whose motto by the way is “Helping to flatten the world.”  My new friend Arthur told me that he usually goes over several plans with the companies who hire him which include different tree options, but most of them chose to install the smaller decorative trees because of the cost.  Of course that should be no surprise that yet another thing of discomfort and inconvenience comes down to money.  Mr. Arborless told me that most of the time there will be large shade trees on the side of the parking lot is because they are actually on the adjacent property and he is not allowed to cut them down.  He added that he could however; trim any part of them that comes over into his parking lot – at any height.

So yes, it was hot today and I’m not even in the south.  If it hit 90 in New England where I am, it must have been very toasty down there where a lot of my friends are.  There are probably rubber soled shoes melted to parking lots all over the place.  Not that I’m complaining or anything, since summer hasn’t even officially started yet.  I’m just saying…I’ll be floating in the pool sipping a cool beverage if you need me. 

A parking lot with trees that do not provide shade

Sometimes It’s Hard To Let Go

Today I lost a dear friend whom I have been very close to for a long time.  I saved her from an abusive relationship over 8 years ago and she saved me in my time of need.  We have done many things together.  We have been many places together – and I have the pictures to prove it.  We have travelled the miles and seen a lot of great sites.  I have sung with her, I have talked to her, I have slept with her, and on occasion I have even cursed at her.  I played with her, I worked with her, I took her camping, and she even helped me start and run a business.  At times she cost me time, money, and aggravation and at other times she has saved me all those things.  I did my best to protect her and give her what I could.  I admit to not always taking care of her as she deserved.  I may not have always been a great friend when needed, but I tried.  We hit it off right from the beginning and we got along well most of the time.  She teased me and even got me in trouble a few times. 

Recently I found out she may have a disease.  It was common in her family.  I put off getting her tested for a while because of my own personal circumstances and the fear of what I might find out.  When I did finally agree to bring her in to have her checked, it was too late.  By then the disease was terminal and it had spread all throughout her body.  It took hold at one end and worked its way all around.  They told me it was too late for her.  She was too old to withstand an operation.  There was nothing they could do.  They would have to take her from me and put her down. 

Seeing how sad I was at the news, they apologized for it, but reiterated there was nothing they could do.  She was too far gone.  Her good times where behind her now.  Of course they said it was entirely up to me.  I could try keeping her alive for a little longer, but they recommended against it.  It could cause more harm than good for both of us.  In the end, sometimes it’s just better to let go when the time is right.  It’s not easy, but it’s the circle of life. 

I sure will miss my truck.  RIP Baby.

Recalled 2000 Toyota Tacoma Posing in New Hampshire

Give And You Will Get More Returned

Image by West Point Public Affairs via Flickr

Today I witnessed a touching act of kindness that I wanted to share.  It has rained most of the day with temperatures in the low 50’s, not really ideal conditions for outside activities.  There is a little strip center with only two stores in this tiny rural town I visited today.  One store is a pizza and sub shop, the other is a hardware store.  Positioned between the two stores was a folding table with a big umbrella that covered some of the table.  On the table were a few baked goods – cookies, cupcakes, brownies.  Behind the table were 4 teenage girls waiting to sell baked goods to anyone interested.  They were trying to raise money for Relay for Life, the American Cancer Society event battling cancer.  There was nobody standing out in the rain to see what they were doing.

All the girls were young, skinny, and smiling.  Despite the miserable weather and lack of donators, it seemed as if they were still in good spirits and enjoying themselves.  I went into the pizza shop and sat for a slice and a soda while I looked over some notes I had taken for a project.  The seating area was a long rectangular shaped area with four tables on each side.  In the middle of the floor at the end of the seating area, there was an old man sitting all by himself in a wheel chair.  The wheel chair looked like one of those automatic, luxury types, which I assumed the guy spends most of his time in. 

I was going over some notes from an assignment I had so I was there for a little longer than it takes to eat one slice.  After a while I heard sniffling, coughing, snorting, and a little snoring from the old man in the wheel chair.  I didn’t ask, but after a while I assumed the man in the wheel chair was some sort of relative or responsibility of the owner of the shop.  I figured the owner has him to watch over, but also has a business to run and can’t afford paying for a nurse to sit around babysitting the old man, so he brings him to the pizza shop and props him up at the end of the room, where he sits by himself all day.  Just as I began thinking about what that quality of life must be like, the teenage girls who were selling baked goods came walking into the pizza shop.

They were still smiling and giggling slightly, but now seemed a little tentative.  One of them got pushed a little ahead of the others.  She was carrying a plate with 4 cupcakes.  The girl walked right past my table and up to the old man in the wheel chair, which must have made the owner of the pizza shop a little nervous because I could see him begin to move in their direction to see what was going on.  He came around the corner just in time to witness what the girls did.

When the girl who got pushed toward the front got up next to the old man in the wheel chair, she asked if he would like a cupcake.  I think she might have woken him up, because he suddenly looked a little startled, almost embarrassed.  “What?” he snorted, as he picked up his head and opened his eyes.

The fragile girl, still smiling and showing her superior courageousness to her friends repeated, “Would you like a cupcake, Sir?”

“What?” the man barked.  Then as if he was just now beginning to understand added, “Cupcake?  No, no cupcake.”

The pizza shop owner, seeing that they were not there to harass the old man, paused at the end of the counter and just watched from a distance as the second girl was nudged closer to the old man by her friends.  “How about a cookie?  Would you like a cookie?”

Between the ways the old man responded and the way the pizza shop owner came out to watch, I wondered if harassment and ridicule was usually a problem there.  The old man seemed to either love cookies or was just realizing the girls were only there to be kind and not do him any harm.  The old man’s face lit up at the offer of a cookie.  “Cookies?  Ok, I’ll have a cookie.”

The girl gave him a choice of chocolate chip, oatmeal, or peanut butter.  They were all huge and individually wrapped in plastic.  “I’ll take the chocolate chip,” he cheerfully smiled.

“There you go.  Have a nice day,” she said after handing it to him.

All the girls seemed genuine and sincere when they said good-bye and told him to have a nice day.  After living in a more aggressive, urban place, I was somewhat surprised to see that the girls simply came in to offer some kindness to an old, lonely man.  They didn’t ask for money, they didn’t try to sell anything to anyone, they didn’t push.  The pizza shop owner was equally touched as he said to the girls, “Aw, that was so sweet.  You didn’t have to do that.”

The girls just smiled at him and said goodbye, then went back to their table.  A minute later I saw the pizza shop owner open the register, pull out a 20 and go out to the girls table.  He returned with a cupcake, but I’m willing to bet he left the entire $20 for it because I didn’t see him put any change back into the register. 

Maybe I’m just a sappy guy sometime, but I was kind of touched with not only the random act of kindness that I witnessed, but what happened because of it.  Kindness was given, and kindness was received back.  It reminded me of the other things that could work the same way. 

Give a smile and you will get a smile back.  Give love and you will receive love in return.  Give your talent away and you will be rewarded for it.  Give some money and you will receive back more than you gave.  Or as it says in verse 38 of the 6th chapter of Luke, when you give it’s like mixing stuff in a big blender of life.  It goes out into the world and gets shaken all up to make room for more and spills all over the place when it comes back.  The more you give, the more you get in return. 

For a second, my cynical inner self thought it just might be a genius marketing plan by the young girls, but on further reflection I decided that since tomorrow is Easter, it was probably just a random kind act thrown out into the universe to do some good.  I’m glad I was there to witness it so I could tell you about it.  Now go out and try it yourself sometime and see what happens. Give happily and freely and you will be rewarded.

*******************************************************************************************

If you enjoy my writing, please let me know by leaving a comment below – or sign up for the email subscription above.

You may also enjoy my photography, which you can see on my website at www.tyrandall.com.

Communicating With Children

I had the joy of being with a friend recently when Jeremy, her little boy came home from school. Since I don’t have my own children, I usually don’t know what to say to them or how to relate, but I still try.

For some reason, I usually end up trying to put myself on their intellectual level by dumbing up a little. It probably is damaging in the long run, especially if others try the same thing. No wonder kids grow up thinking all adults are stupid. Well, at least it takes until their teen years for this revelation and Jeremy is only in the first grade.

I watched as Jeremy skillfully and simultaneously shed both his shoes and coat exactly one foot inside the front door and exactly right in the center of the hallway. “Hey, Jeremy…where were you?” I asked in my pretend dufus tone.

“At school,” he said, with what I could have sworn sounded like condescension.

I followed him into the living room where he sat on the couch facing the television.

“Oh, at school? That must have been fun.”

Jeremy just shrugged his shoulders and looked blankly at the TV that was not on. He looked either unhappy to be under my interrogation or confused why the TV was not on. I figured I had less than a minute before his mother came in the room with his after school snack.  I wanted to impress her by showing that we were having a perfectly normal adult-child conversation. Naturally, I thought the best way to start was to ask a question. “What did you learn about in school today?”

Jeremy sat up with eyes wide and lips reaching back to his ears, looking suddenly excited like he was about to tell me in great detail all about the best day of his first grade life. “We learned about Dinosaurs!”

That was all he said. I gave him a moment of silence figuring he must be internally censoring himself and carefully trying to decide exactly how much information he should reveal to this adult who just might go spill the beans to his mother. Or maybe he had so much fun and the day was so overwhelming he couldn’t immediately decide what to tell me about first. I watched and I waited to give him time to decide what to tell me. After a long moment it looked like his mind had already changed subjects and forgotten all about the dinosaurs and was now contemplating some imaginary butterfly floating around the room. Maybe he had decided to reveal nothing, but he failed to clue me in to his decision. Not being a parent, it’s difficult for me to figure out what might be going on in a child’s mind. I knew I had to interject to refocus him. “Wow,” I started. “Dinosaurs! That’s so COOL. What did you learn about Dinosaurs?”

His mother walked in the room just in time to see Jeremy apathetically shrug his shoulders and reply, “I don’t know.”

You don’t know? How can you not know? Were you there or weren’t you? Why were you all excited about Dinosaurs only a moment ago and now suddenly acting like all you learned was how to say Dinosaur? Is there more to this Dinosaur story you are not telling me? Can I use legally accepted torture methods to interrogate the witness? Was it something I said?

Jeremy’s mother, knowing me as she does and knowing her son better, just laughed at my feeble attempt to communicate with the young. “Nice try,” she said. “Maybe someday.”

I’m not sure when that someday might come that I will understand the mind of a five year old enough to have an adult conversation. I guess I can wait because I think it will be a long time coming.



************************************************************************************

If you enjoy my writing, please let me know by leaving a comment below – or sign up for the email subscription above. 

You may also enjoy my photography, which you can see on my website at www.tyrandall.com.

Headlines Point The Way

Sometimes the headline is better than the story.  Today’s headline I got a kick out of was “One-legged man trips robber.”

It caught my attention enough to see what the story was about, but it turned out to be anti-climatic.  It reminded of the headline I liked slightly better that said, “One-armed man charged with armed robbery.” 

I don’t know if it was the poor writing by the journalist or if the headline was just written by a better editor.  Every now and then a story just doesn’t compare with what I had imagined in my head after reading the headline.  I assume that’s part of why I write now.  Sometimes just receiving the inspiration sets off ideas in my imagination and it’s more fun to make up the story than read about reality.  So I’ll just get back to work now on my story, “Man without limbs points the way for others so he can stand for something.”

How To Opt-Out Of Junk Mail

 If you are like me and you hate getting those constant solicitations from credit or insurance companies, all you have to do is “opt-out.”

These type of solicitations are known as firm offers or “prescreened” offers.  You usually get them from banks or insurance companies when you have a good credit history.  Financial institutions check your credit report (hence the term “prescreening”) to see if you qualify.  They have a set criteria that they are looking for and if you fall under that criteria, they send you a notice that you are eligible for their wonderful offer based on your outstanding credit.

The solicitation usually makes it seem like you are already qualified and all you have to do is sign on the dotted line and return the agreement, or maybe call a toll free number or go to their website.  If you actually read how the solicitation is carefully worded, it is usually just an offer to request a loan, insurance, or service just like anyone else who applies.  The only difference is they found your name and sent you the invitation instead of vice-versa.  They have highly paid marketing experts who word the solicitation to make it sound like you are special.

To opt-out of these offers so you quit receiving them, all you have to do is notify the consumer reporting agencies to let them know to quit sending out your information.  You can do that either by phone, snail mail, or via the Internet.  The simplest way is to do all of them at once as I will explain below.

To notify the consumer reporting agencies that you do not want to receive prescreened offers by phone, call 1-888-5-OPT-OUT (which is:  1-888-567-8688).

If you have website access, to do it nice and conveniently (and securely), go to the website http://www.optoutprescreen.com/.  This one website conveniently sends the request to all 3 consumer reporting agencies at once so you don’t need to notify them individually.  It is the only official website authorized by all three agencies.

If you would prefer to notify each agency individually via snail mail, here are the addresses –

Experian Target Marketing, PO Box 919, 701 Experian Parkway B2, Allen, TX  75013
Equifax Options, PO Box 740123, Atlanta, GA  30374-0123
Trans Union Opt Out Request, PO Box 505, Woodlyn, PA  19094-0505

If you opt-out online via the website, you can only choose to stop the solicitations for 5 years, so you would have to repeat the process every 5 years.  They do that because (they claim) some people actually want to receive these offers.  Supposedly you hear about special offers that other people with bad credit might not hear about, so I guess they figure you might change your mind and decide to start getting those offers again after 5 years.  To make it stop permanently, you need to notify the agencies in writing via snail mail.  You can get a form to do that from the website.  After you submit your information to opt-out online, you print the confirmation form and then mail it to each individual agency.

Don’t expect the offers to stop your junk mail by next week though.  It’s kind of like trying to stop a fast moving train, it takes a while.  Although the request to stop your firm offers should go through within 5 to 7 business days, it can take several MONTHS to completely stop all the offers because your information may have already gone out to some companies that have not yet mailed their offer to you.  It might be a good idea to put it on your calendar when you submitted it and keep documentation in case needed later.  Another disclaimer is that you may also still receive offers from sources that do not use Consumer Credit Reporting Companies to compile their lists.  It should at least reduce the number of offers you receive. 

There is lots more info I’m not telling you here, so be sure to read the Opt-Out website for more details.  To stop unwanted tephone marketing solicitations is a whole different story.  You will need to go to the Federal Communications Commission website for that information. 

**************************************************************************************

If you enjoy my writing, please let me know by leaving a comment below.  You may also enjoy my photography, which you can see on my website at http://www.tyrandall.com/.

Related Articles

• Can I get junk mail and still be green? (guardian.co.uk)
• Notify Credit Bureaus of Death (bargaineering.com)