You can still get free email accounts at YAHOO, too.

Public libraries are a godsend.

If your city/county/state has one, a Workforce-type office can be of great help in locating employment that will put your skills to use. You may find them being used in unusual ways, but you will find them being used.

May the Force be with you, all, always and all ways.

We can admit that we’re killers … but we’re not going to kill today. That’s all it takes! Knowing that we’re not going to kill today! ~ Captain James T. Kirk, Stardate 3193.0
1 John 4:18

Yahoo is not considered a "valid email address", gmail, for reasons which are unclear, is.

Some professional societies allow you to register email with them. Also it is possible to get firstname [at] lastname [dot] info a registration that you can take anywhere and has a permanent sound to it.

If you are a member of a church you can volunteer to do office work during the day. This gets you indoors and gives you access to a computer. Other volunteer organizations might offer the same arrangement.

Yes, the very post where the entire "creative" [cough] "class" rose as one to say "You suck, lambert!" I welcome their hatred... And here we are.

I've already done the library thing -- heck, I've uploaded to a server from a floppy with Putty on it from the library -- back after the dot com bubble burst.

I just didn't think I'd have to be doing it all over again, in less than eight years.

[ ] Very tepidly voting for Obama [ ] ?????. [ ] Any mullah-sucking billionaire-teabagging torture-loving pus-encrusted spawn of Cthulhu, bless his (R) heart.

right now. We're going to have to tighten our belts (which "we", kimosabe?). Can no longer affored Iraq War. Must elect Barack Obama.

That's as far as she got in explaing how and where the belts will be tightened. And how to deal with it.

Was kind of weird to just finish reading the 5 Pieces of Advice for New Paupers, be sitting at the PC thinking "holy shit," and then, Pelosi's comment.

I think she has not read the 5 pieces of advice...nor will she personally ever need to.

I hate to say lower class, it sounds as if I'm not literate. Economically disadvantaged sounds so stereotyped.

I think it is interesting that gmail is considered more valid than Yahoo. I suppose I will have to start using my gmail address instead of the yahoo one. But it really MAKES NO SENSE TO ME. heh.

I think that with the SSN we should have one mobile telephone number, an email address, and a domain name that stays with us for life and we cannot sell it, it's ours.

I also think that the US should get in step with public transportation as well as built in ways for americans to get excercise. Every strip mall that comes in should be required to put in a walking trail around it as well as a bike trail. Bike storage should be mandatory at all malls and larger meeting places.

As far as desperate goes. I am not sure why not looking desperate is a great selling point for businesses. Someone who doesn't look desperate could be brain dead, that's why they are not concerned about being unemployed for 2 years and counting.
Perhaps this is why America is failing we have read too many books on what we should look, act, gesture like and not enough books on how to get things accomplished, how to hire employees who know how to DO, how to eliminate glass ceilings by hiring the competent women (not just the ones who look like they could be on TV).

http://www.correntewire.com/ye_olde_writ... fiction link

Google succeeded in branding gmail as cool. That is the only difference.

I am not sure how to go about getting email like
dc [at] blogger [dot] info
I only know that it can be done. It makes you look more solid.

If you can afford it, you can get one of those pay-in-advance mobile phones, that way even if you are on the street, you have a phone number.

for the not-quite homeless:

--go food shopping at 99cent/dollar stores--they have a surprising variety of stuff that's always changing (the one near me actually had frozen tilapia filets the other day--for 99 cents! and they're great for canned stuff and pasta.)

--cook more often, and bring lunch to work instead of buying it.

--prioritize your bills--you don't have to pay them all every month if you can't afford it...miss a month on internet or cable tv or whatever--starting with the least vital to your daily functioning/wellbeing. Service won't get cut off until you've missed a bunch of them in a row--and alternating which ones you miss on any given month keeps it from being a pattern that would accelerate cutoff of service.

--febreze and air out stuff instead of dry cleaning so often.

--if you're not driving, start your nights out by having drinks at your house or a friend's before you go out at night.

--use torrents and download music and movies instead of buying them or going to the movies.

...

based on the behavior of users in commercials I've seen (that sniffing-the-curtains semaphore got old, yo).

You can get a similar deodorizing effect from "sunning" items -- that is, hang them up outdoors on a sunny day (or if they're huge like comforters or quilts, lay them out flat on e.g. a card table or boards between sawhorses) for three or four hours, but DO NOT wet/dampen them beforehand.

There are kits (Dryel is one brand) that let you sub your dryer at home for a trip to the cleaners, but you'll still need to press the garment to remove wrinkles.

NOTE: I hate ironing with a passion born in a USAF barracks making 100% cotton fatigues' creases durable enough to survive a whole day's wear. Hence the following tips/tricks:

PRESS instead of Ironing. Set up your board, lay out the garment carefully, with no wrinkles. Turn your iron (which can double as a hot plate, so it's a good investment) to the middle of the range of settings appropriate for the fabric. Set the iron down in one spot, leave alone 3-5 seconds, lift and repeat in the next adjacent section of the garment. You can do a whole shirt in about six minutes this way, and you are far less likely to accidentally iron in a wrinkle or need to re-iron a section.

SPRINKLE clothes with clean water a few minutes before pressing (if they're not dry-clean-only) to relax the fibers. This trick is old and predates steam irons, but it still works. Clean water (as in filtered or steam distilled) is essential, though. Don't overdo -- clothes left damp too long can develop everything from a funky aroma to full-fledged mildew.

EXAMINE garments as you go -- emptying pockets before laundry should be SOP, but also look for frays, loose or missing buttons, etc. Anything that needs repair should be repaired as quickly as possible.

Good instructions for repairing clothing can be had by checking out sewing or tailoring books at the public library (bonus: you're indoors, and the lights / heat / air conditioning / internet are already paid for by your tax dollars. Why not take advantage? Plus, you can either take notes -- most libraries provide scratch paper and golf pencils -- or make copies -- most also have a self-service, pay-per-sheet copier.

We can admit that we’re killers … but we’re not going to kill today. That’s all it takes! Knowing that we’re not going to kill today! ~ Captain James T. Kirk, Stardate 3193.0
1 John 4:18

Filling up on veggies and liquid used to be a 'diet' strategy.
In the Depression, though, soups were a staple.

Some great recipes today along with hints on make-ahead batches and freezer techniques.

We can admit that we’re killers … but we’re not going to kill today. ~ Captain James T. Kirk, Stardate 3193.0

1 John 4:18