Comments for Margin Notes

Comment on What a waste by Amardeep

Amardeep — Mon, 27 Sep 2010 13:04:37 +0000

We have something similar in my neighborhood — a bulk trash day, which virtually no on actually uses. How do other people on my street get rid of their bulk trash? I have always felt shy about asking.

Comment on And newspapers wonder why they are dying by henry rodriguez

henry rodriguez — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 09:56:27 +0000

Like other sources of modern civilization, a newspaper may have already served it usefulness, consequently its on the way out. But no society can survive without the transfer of knowledge. On the other, hand traditional newpapers have a history of being bias. In California many newspapers of the past have been racial bias against Mexican-Americans. Also the educational institutions are failing to stress reading and writing in school for young children, especially in neighbors where the population of students is black, hispanic, or other non-white backround. Don’t need to write about it, because just open the eyes located on the head you can see it. Gracias

Comment on Banks vs. credit unions by Sutton

Sutton — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 17:56:22 +0000

Good points, I shouldn’t be too quick to make the association between “small town” and old-fashioned banks. I think we might do something with a non-local bank, as you suggest. It’s hard to go with USAA after they made a horrendous mistake during our mortgage application, i.e., somehow doubling the amount of income I reported and so preapproving us for a loan there was no way we could ever get. They don’t provide you with documentation of what you reported to them, so you have no way to know if they made mistakes or not. (I complained so vocally, up and down their chain of command, that perhaps they’ll change this practice.) I’ve never been madder at a bank than I was with them when we figured this out (and only by accident), two months into our house hunt and a month or so into having a contract on a place; it would be difficult to trust them for anything important.

Comment on Banks vs. credit unions by Sassenach

Sassenach — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 16:40:38 +0000

Small town doesn’t (or shouldn’t) have anything to do with ridiculous fees or antiquated practices. Small *size* is more likely the culprit. I live in a rural area and our local banks do plenty for us, but the online services are limited. I don’t have to present a savings book — they know me personally and will look up my account for me. The customer base doesn’t really expect a lot of online services because the customer base tends to be local and going to the bank is still something of a social occasion. Those of us who have moved often, or travel frequently away from our home, have different expectations.

I’ve banked with USAA since I was 17 (that was a looong time ago). We often opened local accounts at new duty stations just to have a place to deposit those little slips of paper, but our business has always primarily been with them. I invite you to give USAA a try; membership has been opened to all veterans. Their money management features are fantastic and the services — online and by phone — are exceptional. Their rates, with only two exceptions in 29 years, have always outmatched the local bank, mortgage broker, and car dealer.

Good luck with the move. I’m thinking that I’d rather burn the house down and start fresh than ever go through a pack and load again.

Comment on It’s only terrorism if it terrifies you by Sutton

Sutton — Sun, 30 May 2010 19:00:48 +0000

Probably!

On the other hand, people have been visiting New York City for approximately 300 years. So far, out of the approximately 100,000 available days, there have been terrorist attacks on the city about—what? Two or three times? Let’s make it a nice round five, which gives you about .005 percent chance of being there on a day it happens, not to mention how astronomically unlikely you are to be among the people hurt or killed. (I’ll concede that my math probably does not represent the best way of analyzing this, but I defy anyone to come up with an analysis that really suggests that avoiding New York City because of terrorism makes much sense.)

Meanwhile, 37,000 people die in car accidents every year across all fifty states. If you really want to do something to keep you and your baby safe, it would make more sense to actually move to New York City, where you wouldn’t ever need to drive.

But thanks for reading and commenting!

Comment on It’s only terrorism if it terrifies you by Crysta Salinas

Crysta Salinas — Sun, 30 May 2010 16:44:58 +0000

It’s not about ” looking for a bed to hide under”, it’s about avoiding putting yourself in certain high risk situations. Times Square is just a target for terroristic activities, and visiting means that you assume a certain risk associated with being there. Being pregnant, and actually being in the area at the time that this bomb could have blown up, made me realize that it’s not a risk that I am willing to take. There’s probably more concerns in the world to cover than whether or not a person makes a personal choice not to put themselves in that kind of a situation.

Comment on My series of essays about moving to a small town by Why live in a city? How about for the hospitals. « West of the Loop

Why live in a city? How about for the hospitals. « West of the Loop — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 01:27:53 +0000

[...] mine, Sutton Stokes, who writes a column in the Washington Times entitled Went West, recently wrote a series of columns about his and his wife’s decision to leave Missoula, Montana to move to the small town of Elkins, [...]

Comment on My series of essays about moving to a small town by Sutton

Sutton — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 20:50:16 +0000

Feel free! I’ll be interested to read your thoughts.

Comment on My series of essays about moving to a small town by Emily

Emily — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 19:26:16 +0000

Sutton, these columns have inspired me to reflect on what I like and don’t like about living in my area. I was thinking about blogging about it on my site. Would it be okay with you if I linked to your columns and explained how your reflections about moving to a small town caused me to reflect more on living in a large metropolitan area?

Comment on Why Are They Called “Paultards” Again? by EES

EES — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 17:51:51 +0000

How about just building a fence?