JS Informational Newsletter

August 2003

August

It's August, can you believe it? The dog days of summer are here. School will be starting at the end of the month. School bells ring. Can you hear them? 

Some August dates worth noting:

Time is certainly going fast, that is an understatement, indeed. I've been enjoying my time off; however, since school was out, I've been suffering a depression. Nothing serious enough for a doctor's consultation, but a depression nevertheless. I think the combination of my weight loss, the end of school, and issues that I haven't dealt with, all contributed to this depression. I will discuss depression in general and how I dealt with mine in the Health and Fitness section of this newsletter. 

The weather has been great here. In June we experienced a little more rain than typical, but now the weather has been dry. That tropical wave approaching the Caribbean, (as of July 22, 2003), is expected to change our weather forecast. I suspect we will be getting a lot of precipitation. Hot, humid, real scorches describe our days and nights, but that's fine. If it wasn't that way in the summer in South Florida, I would be suspicious. It would be queer. We are suppose to have scorchers in the summer. Anyway, the sea breeze is delightful. My patio faces east, it is simply refreshing to sit on the patio and enjoy the sea breeze. I can remember living out west, there were no sea breezes and it rained much more. And why not? The area used to be a swamp, part of the everglades. I don't understand why people are so ignorant of such details. Especially when they complain about our beautiful tropical weather. The weather is the reason, the only reason that I am living in South Florida. 

The tropical front described above, came and gone, not much rain. We are still waiting for those torrential downpours. (I better not say too much about the rain, the hurricane season is active until November 30.) However, we need rain. The lake in the middle of my development is down about 3 feet. I sit on my patio, look at the lake and see a beach around the perimeter. The water usually goes to the grass level. I don't here much on the news about the water level. I guess we aren't in a drought, but it seems like it to me. If we were experiencing a drought, you can be sure that the media would have a heyday with it. I think the general area is getting enough rain. It's my particular area along the southeastern coast of Florida that needs the rain. It seems to rain a lot out west and near our water supply, Lake Okeechobee in Central Florida. It's just that the rain doesn't always make it to the coast. As I said, no complaining, the hurricane season is still with us.

Many of you got the answer to July's family question correct. The question, "Where did we, the Stabile family, go every summer for a day of fun filled rides? What day of the week did we usually go and why?" The answer, of course, Conneaut Lake Park. We usually went on Wednesday afternoons and evenings. The reason, it was half price day - the rides we only $.05 instead of the usual $.10. If I remember correctly, as I got older, Monday became ride-a-rama day. I believe there was one price for all day riding. We preferred to go to the reduced ride price day. I remember Dad would get off work early, any time between 2:00 and 5:00 in the afternoon and we would go to Conneaut Lake. One time it rained during the entire trip to the park. When we got there, the sun came out and it was beautiful. The park was less crowded, you had to wipe of the seats, but it turned out to be a wonderful day. Another time, this was probably in the early, real early 60's, we saw Aunt Margie and Uncle Bob at Conneaut. Susie and Carol were off riding rides, Bobby was with his Mom and Dad eating peanuts. How vivid is that memory. 

I would be willing to wager that if each of us was asked to give a description of our time at Conneaut Lake, each of us would give a different account. I think that's the beauty of having a big family and sharing with each other. These days, it's nice to be from a big family, not necessarily having a big family, if you know what I mean...financially.

By the way, Richard, Sandy and Judy guessed the correct answer to July's question. Thanks for your participation. 

Since it's summer, a little discussion about one of the most popular and successful pitchers of America's favorite past time, Yogi Bera is appropriate. I was watching CNN or MSNBC a few nights ago and caught a story about Yogi. Actually the story was about the "Yogi Bera Quotes". I never really realized what a treasure Yogi Bera has become to America. Yogi had a way with the English language. He would say things, in a strange way, but everyone knew what he meant. Over the years, he has become famous for his sayings.

A few of them are:
"It ain't over 'til it's over.";
"I want to thank you for making this day necessary.";
"If you don't know where you are going, you will wind up somewhere else."
"You better cut the pizza in four pieces because I'm not hungry enough to eat six.";
"Baseball is 90% mental -- the other half is physical.";
"Nobody goes there anymore; it's too crowded."

Read other Yogi sayings at:
http://www.wordspring.com/yogiberaquotes.html 

or read about Yogi at:

http://www.yogi-berra.com/yogiisms.html

On the show, they were skeptical as to the validity of these quotes. In any case, what an American, baseball treasure. A great man. They don't make very many of those kind of role models anymore. 

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Summer is movie time for me. In June the only movie I saw was Hollywood Homicide. In July I saw 28 Days Later,  The Italian Job and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.

28 Days Later. It is a zombie like British film. A virus that elicits "rage" in it's victims is rampant in England. The virus spreads by exchange of bodily fluids. It puts it's victims in a violent rage, with one goal, to infect and cause bodily harm to everyone. Most of Britain is wiped out or infected except for a few people. Not an Oscar contender, but most of the films that I find entertaining are usually not Oscar material. It was very entertaining. Scary, a bit. One of those kind of movies that I have to be constantly on the alert for a scary, boo, got ya kind of scene. I don't like to yell out at the movies. Especially when there were only 2 other people in the audience that day, and they were both females. So, I monitor myself by looking away from the screen or covering my eyes by rubbing them if I anticipated a scene that might make me scream out loud. What I do to maintain a degree of anonymity. I just read in the paper that on Friday, July 25, the ending of the movie was going to change. The original ending was pleasant. Boy and girl survived and it was implied that they lived happily ever after. However, the end starting on Friday will be the same, but then there will be, I believe, a 4 minute new ending. It may not be so pleasant. I plan to see it again to see the new ending.  See the movie.

The Italian Job is a remake of a old movie involving tampering with traffic flow in order to make a heist. The original movie took place in Italy, hence "The Italian Job". The setting for the remake is LA. Mark Wahlberg refers to the original "The Italian Job", in passing when he comes up with the alternate master plan for the job. I enjoyed it. The acting was good. It's always good to see "Marky Mark" dressed in something other than Calvin Klein underwear that he so "abundantly filled out" in his modeling days. I feel he is developing into a very good actor. I give him credit for choosing movie roles that are "different" from his rapper, modeling days. Except for Boogie Nights, one of his first movies.  I don't know if you saw Planet of the Apes, the version staring Mark Wahlberg, but he was the one who demanded the modest custom for his role. He didn't want to appear in the skimpy attire that Charlton Heston wore in the original "Ape" movie. Rich should be familiar with the original "Ape" movies. Not because he likes to watch the costumes of the male or female actors, but because if I remember correctly, he was a big fan of the original movies. Other people in the movie: Charlize Theron, Edward Norton and briefly, Donald Sutherland. Check the link above for the names of the other people in the film.

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen is pure entertainment. An escape to the world of the absurd. The movie is based on a comic book miniseries. Super hero-like characters agree to join forces to combat the villain and save the world from a world war that undoubtedly would lead to the complete destruction of the world. Sean Connery was the main character. It was classic Sean Connery, all the way. The movie lasted 1 hour and 50 minutes, but seemed like 20 minutes. I left the room to go to the rest room only one time during the movie. Usually I go to the rest room 2 or 3 times during a movie. Another first, it was the first time that I was the only person in the room. They showed the movie for me only. With all the movies playing right now, trying to compete for the teeny bobber clientele this League movie had no chance. How do you compete with Bad Boys 2, Charlie's Angels, Lara Croft Tomb Raider, Legally Blonde 2, Spy Kids 3-D, etc. It's summer time the school kids are at the movies. That's ok with me. During the summer, I'm there for the matinees, too. While at the summer matinees, I've seen several previews of movies coming out in the fall. Many of these movies are ones that I would like to see. The movie venue is so different during the regular school year. 

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Bob Hope  May 29, 1903 - July 27, 2003...Thanks for the Memories...

Read about Bob Hope: CNN; ABC Channel 10, Miami; Earthlink Entertainment News.

Health & Fitness  

Over the last few weeks I've been hearing a lot of discussion via TV/news of the reusing of plastic bottles. The kind of plastic bottles used to contain bottled water. I imagine any plastic bottles, pop, juice, or whatever would be suspect. Anyway the news said that reusing plastic bottles, especially using dishwashing soap to wash them tends to deteriorate the integrity of the containers. The plastic starts to decompose and may be detrimental to the health of the user. Bottom line, for safety, use the bottle once and then throw it away or recycle. Also, the sanitation criteria is much higher for regular tap water as opposed to bottled water. I think I recall that 25% of bottled water is actually bottled tap water. Huh... 

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Whenever I visit Sharon again, I'm going to challenge Debbie to a walking race. I hear that she walks at a brisk pace. I usually walk 4 to 5 miles, 4 or 5 days a week. It usually takes me 1 hour, sometimes a few minutes longer. I think it averages out to be about 13 minutes for a mile. I walk on the boardwalk at the Hollywood Beach. It's a road surface, about maybe 5 miles or so in length. It's pleasant. Shops, restaurants and tourist kind of things align the boardwalk on the west side and the ocean on the east. Debbie the challenge is on. 

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As I stated earlier in the August section, I'm getting over a depression. I think each person needs to deal uniquely with his or her own depression. All depressions are not created equal. For me, and I emphasize, this applies for me, situations are different for different people, the depression was easily managed. It is almost like a waiting game. The vigilant person wins.

Not dealing with issues in one's life is definitely a formula for danger. For me, I realized that I had put off or put away some troubling issues in my life. I thought I was dealing with my unique issues, but I was not. I was telling myself that I was, but I was not being honest with myself. That works for a time. It seems to work when you are busy. But once you have time to think and reflect, you have no choice, you find yourself face-to-face with all those issues that you were conveniently forgetting.

When I woke up on that first Monday of summer break, I didn't know what to do. What was once the "best part of the year" for me, suddenly became a lonely, hopeless, despaired filled time. I tried to do the things that I usually did in the summer. I felt like I was going through the motions, but my heart wasn't in it. I had trouble making decisions, even more than usual. I didn't feel like doing anything. I felt that nothing was wrong, but at the same time, everything was wrong.

As far as going to Sharon, I couldn't bare to face packing my suitcase or dealing with airport security, etc. The thought of all those lines and formalities literally made me sick. The thought of standing in the line to get my car and the motel drill were too much to comprehend.

The little things in life bothered me, too. My bridge needing replaced as well as those little things that come up day to day, became paramount in my life. So what did I do?

I didn't talk to my doctor about it. I tried to implement what I had learned about such things.  First, I knew that this was temporary, it wasn't going to last forever. I could remember and even visualize how I use to enjoy this time of year. I concentrated on those thoughts.

My problems come from the irrational things or perspectives that I tell myself in order to cope with daily life. And letting these little things take over my life. To overcome this situation, we must stop and get perspective. Certainly we must make sure our physical needs are being met. Getting enough sleep, eating right, etc.  Then we have to make the time to deal with "us", our thoughts, our perspective. In the words of Albert Ellis, who is one of my favorite Rational Emotive psychotherapist, it's the irrational things that we tell ourselves, and that we believe, that prevent us from leading productive lives. I paraphrased Dr. Ellis' theory, I can't remember it exactly. I studied his "brand of" psychotherapy in 1976. Through my professional life, I've used Rational Emotive Therapy primarily as well as parts of Glasser's  Reality Therapy and to set the conditions for therapy, Roger's Client Centered Therapy. I'm a little eclectic. But I digress. 

I needed to take control of my life again. That included revamping the things I was telling myself. And deciding what is important to me. Keeping those things that are positive and discarding the negatives. Time, honesty and self realization are integral parts in this process. 

I thought I was dealing with "things" when I started losing the weight that I wanted to lose. I remember telling Patti a few months ago that over the past few years I felt like I had lost control over my struggle with food, which is psychological, emotional for me. Maybe I erroneously thought that the weight loss would solve everything for me. Not true, I know.

Well I lost my weight, so why did I feel so bad?  Maybe I thought that everything would be hunky dory if I lost weight. I guess I forgot the fact that one's weight or appearance are not predictors of happiness. The way you see yourself, the way you deal with your problems and the degree of self acceptance you have all determine ones happiness. 

I don't want to get in to the particulars, the reasons for my depression. Suffice it to say that each of use must be honest, caring and forgiving with others and more importantly with ourselves in dealing with life's problems.

So, now I'm feeling much better. I feel like a cloud has been lifted. Nothing has changed, but everything has changed. I'm back in control. I am the director of my symphony. Oh, I still fight those feelings, but hopefully as with my weight problems, I realize and will never forget that I am the center of my universe. As the center of my universe I have certain responsibilities. First and foremost, I must clearly and honestly view myself. I must be extremely conscious of the real me, the entire me. I must accept me, with all my uncertainty. Then, I must put the rest of the world in perspective. 

The rest of the world is secondary. The rest of the world is important to me to the extent that we must all live together in God's world. The words of  Desiderata, says it all. Take a minute and read Desiderata, again. Click on Desiderata.

What does all this mean to you, the person reading this newsletter? Maybe not much, but it's important to me. Each person must search for their unique place in the world. I can't tell you how to do it. You must discover it for yourself. Even if I knew the "secret" and I told it to you, it wouldn't help. You must find it in your own life. All I can tell you, I'll let the last words of Desiderata say it for me: "With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world. Be cheerful. Strive to be happy."

I do want to say, that in cases of depression as well as many other mental or emotional disorders, I support counseling. I support going to your family doctor for help in these matters. If the situation warrants it, the family doctor should refer the person to a psychiatrist or to another appropriate professional. If needed, medication should be prescribed. Although, medication should be administered in two specific cases. First, in an acute crises situation. To give the person the perspective to get "control" of his or her life in order to "deal" with the problem. Once the person has "control" and starts to deal with his or her situation, the person should be weaned from the medication. The second reason for medication, if the situation is a direct result of physiological, chemical or hormonal dysfunction. Physiological, chemical or hormonal situations usually require medication on a continued basis. However, medication can become a crutch. In any case, decisions concerning medication must be made by the person involved with the guidance of a qualified professional. 

I feel we all have the ability, if we have the insight, to help ourselves live physically as well as mentally healthy lives. This ability comes from the self-knowledge we must discover and utilize. We must never be afraid of seeking professional help from a true professional.

 Sometimes we need to just "let it rain."

I do thank Dad for calling me the day I was suppose to be in Sharon. He asked me if there was anything that he could do. Of course he didn't know any of this at that time. But the call meant a lot to me.

I once saw an episode of Larry King Live that dealt with depression. Several "famous" people have dealt with the disease. Some made it, some did not. Among them are Delta Burke (Suzanne Sugarbaker of Designing Women, she discussed her situation in detail on the Designing Women  special on Lifetime); Mike Wallace (CBS 60 Minutes); Mariette Hartley (actress, she appeared on the camera TV commercials, years ago, with the man who played the old Maverick, James Gardner, I believe); Rosalynn Carter (former first lady) and many more. Ernest Hemmingway (novelist) and Joan River's husband are two fatalities of depression. They both committed suicide.

To give credence to my point, money, fame, appearance, etc. do not guarantee a happy life.

What a summer. Must be a "slow news day" for the media to be making so much out of the State of the Union fiasco. I think I will leave the President as well as the Republicans alone for this issue. They have enough on their plate right now, as if my comments are worth a hill of beans.

I must make one comment, remember in the 1990's, in the last century, how the Republican Party challenged every move of the then President Clinton and his administration? Remember all the money that was wasted on all of those inquiries? Remember how nothing came from all of the right wing investigations? All I have to say, Republicans, when the shoe is on the other foot, it's a different story, isn't it.

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What about the congress trying to reclassified and limit overtime paid to most workers. Why can't the Bush administration and the Republican Party accept the fact that lower and middle income Americans are people, too. Why are they so obsessed with keeping these people from bettering themselves. Many people employed in low income jobs depend on that overtime. Sure people who make less than $22,000 a year (is that the figure?) are exempt and may get paid for overtime. For a family, $22,000 a year is near the poverty level. How can anyone legitimately say that the Bush administration cares about average Americans? It is obvious that the wealthiest of Americans are valued and held in esteem by the Bush administration. Sounds a little like Animal Farm. Some people are more equal than others. 

I thought that I wasn't going to comment on the Bush Administration and the Republicans in this issue. 

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What about that new book out, The Kennedy Curse? Read about it at:
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/07/01/national/main561180.shtml
I think it's an attempt for some schmuck to make some money. Whether it is true or not, so what? Let JFK Jr. rest in peace. It's none of our business. What goes on in a marriage or in a person's private life is personal. It shouldn't be written about in a book. Especially when the people involved are DEAD. They can not defend themselves. In any case, the national aspect of the Kennedy family is still deeply admired by many Americans. I still deeply admire and respect the Kennedy's.

I still remember those early days of the Kennedy Administration. America had just elected John F. Kennedy as president. The youngest man ever "elected" president. (Teddy Roosevelt was the youngest president. The then Vice President Roosevelt assumed the office of President when President McKinley was assassinated.) President Kennedy was the first Irish American Catholic ever to be elected to the office of President of the United States of America. America had been reborn. There was a sense of vitality and enthusiasm in the nation. JFK captured the hearts of many Americans. The young couple, the small children, the ideal family was in the White House. Of course, years later we discovered that they were not the ideal family. Camelot was a fantasy. However, it was nice thinking about it. Again, the private life, even of the President, should remain private. No security risks existed because of the President's personal behavior. 

The same with President Clinton. President Clinton may have lied to the American people about his personal, sexual misconduct, but it was none of our business in the first place. It was sex, not a security risk and not the business of the American Congress.

The success of the American way of life was not at risk by either of the presidents' behaviors. What may have been at risk was health related, STD's (sexually transmitted disease). Again, that's between each of  them and their God.

Yes, the days of Camelot. I remember meeting the President and Mrs. Kennedy at one of his Inaugural Balls. It was a night that I will always remember. 

Click image or this link  for a bigger picture

With all kidding aside, kidding related to the picture above and the implications, I still have a picture of the President, not the one above, an official picture of JFK, hanging on the wall in my computer room.  President Kennedy was my hero. And he always will be.

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Did you happen to catch CNN's Crossfire recently? Senator Hillary Clinton sold her 1 millionth copy of her book, Living History. Crossfire's conservative host, Tucker Carlson made a statement when the book first came out that he would eat his shoe if the book sold a million copies. It did and he did. Not really. Unbeknownst to Tucker, Hillary appeared on the show with a cake in the shape of a wing tipped shoe, a "right" wing tipped shoe and presented it to Tucker. It was a pleasant and a very cordial visit. Go Hillary. I am a Clinton Democrat. 

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Politics is a strange creature. Government should not be confused with politics. To me, politics is the vehicle for people to be able to assume the duties of government. Politics sometime is "slimy". Government must never be anything but respectable. Unfortunately, in contemporary times, the nasty nature of politics is making it's way into the day to day operations of government. And that is appalling. That is an affront to our founding fathers. We need to redirect the function of our government. We need to return to "government of the people, by the people and for the people."

Religion & Spiritualism

I just read an article, "21st Century Spirituality" by Rev. Debbi Brown that correlates with some of my views concerning religion and spiritualism. Read the short article: at
http://www.peacehouseaz.org/aztogether/21cent.htm

I didn't know that there was a formal movement that embodied many of my thoughts. Now I don't feel so off centered. However, still to the left. I guess people from all walks of life and/or from all backgrounds are capable of coming to some similar conclusions in pondering basic human beliefs.

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We are not alone...that's the best way to describe the phenomena that I have been experiencing over the last few months. For a while now I've had the feeling that other people or spirits or whatever were around me. I couldn't see or hear them, but they were there. I could only sense their presence. I would wake up in the middle of the night and I sensed that there were other beings in the room. I would be watching TV and I would sense their presence. The experience has been ordinary and pleasant. Not special, not scary, not earth shaking. It just is. 

One Friday evening a few weeks ago I was getting ready to go out, showering and grooming myself. I hurriedly stepped out of the bathroom (in my bedroom), turned into the bedroom swiftly and almost said out loud, "Oh, excuse me". I suddenly stopped myself and thought to myself, I almost said excuse me to that spirit. I had the strange sensation that in my haste I inadvertently bumped into someone standing by my bed. The spirit was male, I sensed that. I didn't visibly see anything. I sensed that male spirit standing at the foot of my bed going about his business. The funny thing, it did not bother me. It seemed natural and appropriate.

I told Patti and Dad about that incident a few weeks ago. They probably think I'm crazy. But who cares. I know what I sensed.

I do believe that we have the ability to communicate with the dead. Think about it. If we believe in an afterlife, shouldn't there be a way that we will be able to communicate with each other in that afterlife?  When we pass from this existence into the next, our spirit must be the part of us that passes. Isn't our spirit with us now. Are we not made in the image of God? That image is our spirit. The same spirit that exists in us at the present time. After we pass, our spirit must have the ability to communicate with other spirits. That ability must be in our spirit now. What we have to do is to develop that ability now before we pass. Why not?

Psychics have develop that ability to communicate with "dead people", spirits that have passed into the next level of existence. Don't get me wrong, there are many so called psychics that are frauds. They misrepresent the notion of communication with spirits. They are out to make money. They communicate with no one who has passed. I'm not talking about such medians.

I'm referring to the legitimate, reputable mediums. People who genuinely have the ability to communicate with spirits. They have developed their ability to communicate with those who have passed into the next existence. Call it a gift, I view it as a learned behavior.

A few years ago I was watching Larry King Live on CNN. Larry's guest was John Edward, the man who "talks to dead people", not the aspiring Democratic Presidential Nominee. Actually Mr. Edward would be the first to say that he does not talk to dead people. Nor does he see dead people. He senses the presence of dead people. It's an energy. Supposedly he has no control over the circumstances of the connection. In other words, he can not choose the particular spirit or the time that the connection will be made. The connection is at the discretion of the spirit.

That night on The Larry King Live viewers called in and asked John Edward about their deceased loved ones. Some of these spirits communicated, some did not. One situation caught my interest and added to my inclination to believe in such occurrences. A lady viewer call in and wanted to know about her deceased husband. Mr. Edward tried to achieve the "right" environment for the spirit to show his presence. Mr. Edward supposedly connected with the spirit of the dead husband. The medium proceeded to relay the current conditions of the spirit. I don't remember that part of the account. The next part sparked my interest.

Remember Napster? I read in The (Ft. Lauderdale) Sun-Sentinel a few weeks ago that the powers that be are going to prosecute not only sites such as Napster, but the people who share files over the Internet. The people who download those shared files. There are many sites on the Internet doing the same sharing of mp3 files, etc. as Napster was doing. These other sites are a little more devious than Napster.

I thought that sharing files, downloading music, was over, but I guess it continues. I do believe that it is wrong to share such files. I think the artists, designers and anyone involved with the file should be be awarded the credit, in this case financial, that they deserve. We need laws to protect the artistic rights of people. You want to own a particular song, buy it. Pay the person who created it. That's as basic as any of our American values. Maybe the prices could be lowered, but life is expensive. Why should music be any different. 

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One afternoon last week, the week of July 7, I went in my computer room to check my email. My computer runs all the time, I have the monitor configured to shut down after a predetermined period of time elapses. I touched the mouse to "wake" it. The hard drive was functioning, but the monitor screen stayed black. The monitor didn't come on. I thought great, the monitor must be dead. I wanted to check all the options. I uninstalled the monitor in question and switched it with another monitor that was working properly. The monitor worked fine. The one I was questioning worked, too when installed on another computer. I connected the monitors to their original computers. The monitor on my main computer did not work. Then I thought, I cleaned this room today, maybe I inadvertently disturbed something. Then it dawned on me. I forgot all about the power cord. I had accidentally disconnected the cord from the monitor and that's why the monitor didn't work. I had to laugh. I spent about 15 minutes switching monitors and as it turns out the only problem, the power cord was unplugged. Sounds familiar? Even before computers we had to check the plug on electrical appliances.

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I just received an email with the subject: "Do you want a bigger penis?" My answer is no. My penis is just fine thank you very much. I am so tired of this spam. I'm getting a lot of pornographic spam. Viagra, is a popular topic, so is penile dysfunction.  Also, email saying that fathers are doing "it" with their teenage daughters, mothers with sons, etc., etc., etc. Too much. 

I reconnected the spam blocker from Earthlink. I had disconnected it because I was apprehensive about missing a legitimate email. Even the best spam blockers make mistakes. Depending how the original email was configured among other things, determines if the email is blocked. Nothing is 100% effective. If you are spammed, just deleting the unwanted email is probably the best solution. It's too much of a bother to opt out, if that option is given. If you click the opt out link and return the email to it's creator or originator, you are just confirming that your email is a working address. 

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In the last issue of the Stabile Family News, I mention the option to block unsolicited phone calls. There is an 800 number and a site on the web where you can choose not to receive such annoying calls. Jamie sent us, at least I received it, an email with the same information. I opted out immediately. It takes affect in October, 2003. Don't let the requirement to enter your email address online bother you. Once you enter your phone number and email address, they send you a confirmation with a link that activates the process. You must respond to the email using that link to activate the option.

I think it's a good idea to have several alias email addresses. I have an alias email address that I use for offers, orders, etc. I usually get the spam on that alias and my business addresses. 

We are not in Kansas anymore Toto. 

 Inspirational Quote

"Far better is it to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure...than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in a gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat."

--Theodore Roosevelt,
26th president of the United States of America