Here are some pictures of the Ninja suit by themself!

Those are some pics of the Ninja Suit! I hope you likes them and yes they are real. They cant be accessed by themself now but i have my ways of getting them. Comment what you think. I will try to reply to any questions too. Thanks

-Sweetkid123

    Here is how it works. You are looking for a home to rent, and you come across one that looks great, and the price is even better. It can be listed by a real estate agent, or the owner themselves. When you contact them, they tell you the owner has to leave the country unexpectedly, or got a sudden job transfer. They are willing to rent it for less than market rent just to get it over with. They will send you multiple interior photos, but make some excuses why they can’t show it to you in person. When you express interest in renting the property, they will send you an application and an official-looking rental agreement. Once you give them your deposit and first month’s rent, they will send you a house key.

    Here is the problem: They may not even own the property, so when you show up, your key doesn’t work. The real owner may meet you at the door and ask what you are doing on his front porch. When you try to reach the “owner” or “agent” you dealt with, they are long gone and so is your money.

    These scam artists are “scraping” info and pictures of legitimate homes for rent from the Internet, then substituting their contact info to pretend to be either the owner or the owner’s agent. Some of them even target vacant bank-owned homes. They have the locks changed to make the scam look even more real by opening the home up for you in person.

    You’ll want to verify three things – 1. Is the property real? Be sure to drive by. 2. Is the owner real? Check the public records for who really owns the property. 3. Is the agent real? Go to www.dre.ca.gov to verify their license. But even these 3 items won’t 100% protect you if the scammer is sophisticated enough.

~Realty Times

There is a California law called the Home Equity Sales Contract law that adds some additional requirements when a home is sold and certain conditions apply. The conditions are: 1. The home is owner-occupied. 2. There is a Notice of Default recorded against the home. 3. The buyer is an investor. {Before you think that this is a rare situation, think about this - the number of homes with a notice of default is staggering nowadays, and the number of investors looking to buy is also rising quickly.] If these three conditions apply, then a certain contract must be used, the seller must be given a chance to rescind the contract, and the buyer's agent must obtain a surety bond.

    The intent of this law is to give some extra protection and time to homeowners who are in a distressed situation to prevent someone from taking unfair advantage of them. But there is a big problem with this law. The required surety bond isn't available for purchase. This means that agents CAN'T represent their investor clients to buy these homes. Many investors are loyal to their agents and rely on their advice and assistance so they would have to avoid homes like this and focus only on bank-owned homes. So while this law had good intentions, the unintended result is that fewer buyers are looking to buy these types of homes, which can lower the sales price and/or reduces the chance of the home selling  prior to a foreclosure action.

    But I do have good news! This law was recently challenged and the bond requirement was found to be invalid since it was impossible to obtain. That means that agents can now represent investors in this situation. The special contract for this situation is now being revised and should be out at the end of April.

~Realty Times

While this is no doubt true (addicts and alcoholics of every stripe being less than fond of criticism), it is certainly within the purview of their sponsors -- although it should be handled diplomatically and with consideration for the individual's issues, length of sobriety and other factors. The rest of us would probably serve them best by keeping our less-informed opinions to ourselves, since speaking from ignorance can lead to grievous error. That is why we share OUR experience, strength and hope, with no cross-talk.

We need also to avoid gossip, one of the favorite pastimes of people with poor recovery skills.

However, this does not imply that we should not take inventories at all. In early recovery, especially, we are advised to "stick with the winners," and it is pretty difficult to decide who the winners are without taking a pretty close look at their programs.

By "close look," I mean more than just superficial appearances. When we are choosing the people who are going to be our close supports, it behooves us to look at the things that matter: length of sobriety, seriousness about the program, whether or not they "walk the walk" instead of just talking about it, and so forth. It's a good idea to take a look at who they associate with, as well. Do they hang with people we'd call winners? Do they go to gender-specific meetings, tradition meetings and the like, as opposed only to open speaker meetings where it is easy to get lost in plain sight. Do they simply repeat phrases from recovery texts, or are they able to talk about their programs in their own words? Do they seem mostly happy? Are they living a life outside the program, or hiding from life by going to meetings? Do they seem to be hanging around to score with the opposite gender?

These are the things we need to know in order to identify those winners we're supposed to hang with, but we need to keep our conclusions to ourselves. We don't need to trash people's self-esteem, we just need to be careful to make the best possible choices for our own recovery.

Cash-to-cash: It’s all about tradeoffs

Cash-to-cash was one of the metrics recommended for use in the rankings, possibly replacing the inventory turns we currently use. Cash-to-cash provides a good view into supply chain throughput, or how quickly raw materials can get through supply chain operations and be converted into cash. We investigated the possibility of using it and found a few issues, the primary one being that the retailers have a huge advantage on this metric because they have almost no receivables, which is one of the components of cash-to-cash.

While we can’t use cash-to-cash for the overall ranking, it’s still a useful lens with which to examine performance, keeping in mind that supply chain performance is multi-faceted. Table 1 provides a look at the cash-to-cash performance of the Top 25 companies. It’s tempting to think of cash-to-cash as binary in its meaning, with high being bad and low being good. The reality is more nuanced. The bottom line: it’s all about tradeoffs and balance.

Finding the right balance

Cash-to-cash is made up of the component metrics of accounts receivable (how long it takes customers to pay) plus inventory minus accounts payable (how long it takes to pay suppliers). A low overall number can be achieved in various ways, some desirable and others not so desirable. It’s a little like good and bad cholesterol, lower is not always better.

For example, inventory that’s too low may hurt a company’s perfect order to its customers. Or a company may be paying a hidden price for long supplier payment terms by receiving less-than-stellar supplier on-time and quality performance. And customer payment terms that are too short might harm sales. What’s most important is balance: too low or too high on any one metric and you’re drifting into potential problem territory.

Contrasting case studies

Take the case of Apple, No. 1 on the Top 25. At minus 45 days, Apple’s cash-to-cash cycle time is the envy of many CFOs. Its low inventory is one contributor to the low overall number and as long as it’s not leaving revenue on the table, that’s a good thing. But another contributor is its 114-day accounts payable time, almost double its accounts receivable and close to double the median of the group. Is that desirable, or is it a case of “too much of a good thing” that is being paid for elsewhere?

Contrast that with IBM (No. 5): very low inventories compared to others in the group, but its accounts receivable is double its accounts payable: it’s paying its suppliers much faster than its customers are paying it.

Finding the right size

Many considerations and tradeoffs, of course, go into the decisions made behind these numbers; for example, what constitutes an optimal level of inventory is dependent on each company’s specific business strategy and the industry(ies) it operates in. But overall, the healthiest cash-to-cash performance is the one that’s as balanced as possible: right-sized inventories (not bloated but also not so lean that customers suffer), and a reasonable level of accounts payable that is well balanced with accounts receivable.

Figure 1 uses the data from Table 1 and plots the Top 25 companies based on these dimensions: inventory levels relative to the median for this group on the y axis, and relative balance between AP and AR on the x axis. In the middle of the graph we see four companies: HP, Johnson Controls, Nokia, and Samsung. They all have inventory levels that are close to median, and they have relative balance between accounts payable and accounts receivable, resulting in total cash-to-cash cycle times that are close to the median of the group. SonyEricsson and Walt Disney are in even more enviable positions: each has low inventories and strong balance between AP and AR, resulting in great overall cash-to-cash cycles, as low as 4.7 days in Disney’s case.  

It’s all about balance. What do you think? We welcome your comments.

of Me!

There are inappropriate steps sellers can take when it comes time to put their house on the market.
    For instance, the seller in Virginia, who thought the half bath the builder had located at the front of the house would really be better situated toward the back of the main level (though all the other similar models had the powder room in the same place for the previous 20 years). He got hung up on this detail so much, that he just had to move it -- and did -- for thousands of dollars, just so he could get it on the market the "right way." His hang-up may have settled some deep-seated emotional need for him, but it didn't draw any more buyers, and it drained his bottom line. You might say, that was a costly mistake.                
    Real estate broker and author Sid Davis has identified in his book, "A Survival Guide to Selling a Home," seven costly mistakes that many sellers make when it comes time to put their home on the market. In my business, I've seen each one of these mistakes played out and it just makes me shake my head as to why sellers forge ahead with unwise strategies, instead of listening to the voice of an experienced professional.
    Mistake 1: Putting the home on the market before it's ready. Most times this happens because the seller gets impatient or is a procrastinator and has pushed himself up against a moving deadline without getting the pre-sale work done. So it comes on the market with the horrible carpet (that gets replaced during the marketing of the home); or they are painting it while it goes on the market. Presentation is everything -- so get the work done before marketing the property.       
    Mistake 2: Over improving the home for the neighborhood. This happens with additions, and upgrades that make the home stick out from among its competitors so much that it's an anomaly, instead of a nice addition to the community.      
    Mistake 3: Pricing the home based on what the seller wants to net. This pricing strategy always ends in failure. Sellers can control the "asking" price, but they don't control the "sales" price. The market does. It doesn't matter what the seller wants, the price is determined by the black-and-white, matter-of-fact reality of the market.
    Mistake 4: Hiring an agent based on non-business factors. It might be nice to hand over your largest asset to your nephew who just got his license -- but make sure you understand the consequences if your deal starts going south.               
    Mistake 5: Getting emotionally involved in the sale of the home. This is one of the biggest challenges home sellers face when putting their house on the market. Once you decide to sell your house, it's no longer a home, but a commodity. It needs to be prepared as a commodity, marketed as a commodity, and priced as a commodity. It doesn't matter what you "want," only what the market can bear on pricing. People are going to come in to kick the tires, so to speak, and you can't get emotional about how they may or may not appreciate the nuances of your home of seven years.      
    Mistake 6: Trying to cover up problems, or not disclosing them. Most states have a property disclosure/disclaimer form -- use it wisely. Just because you disclaim doesn't mean you cannot be sued later for the leaky basement, or dilapidated heating/air system that's discovered 30 days after the close.
    Mistake 7: Not getting your ducks lined up before trying to sell. This would involve financing, reading the fine print on your current mortgage to ensure no pre-payment penalties, not listening to the particulars of your local market, etc. If your local market is dictating lower home prices, then lower it early, not later -- it will cost you more. If the local market dictates selling your home first, then buying second, do it in that order.   
  Avoiding these mistakes is not that difficult. Your REALTOR® is there to help you step over the pitfalls.

~Realty Times

If you have just had a 'Connection Lost' sign on Club Penguin just now, that is totally find because Club Penguin is starting to put up the new features! I won't be there for the grand finarlly but anyway-most of my friends won't either! Below is what is currently being made:

• Penguin Mail
• New server login
• Inventory set out
• Igloo backgrounds

It will be ready soon and once it is done... tell me all about it!

Important news

This site has had nearly 1,000 views and Cosy7682 will be holding a party in celebration. It will be be:

Where: Sherbert (my usual server) in the Coffee Shop

Time: 4:30 ENGLISH TIME

Date: Unknown right now, I will tell you when we reach 1,000 views.

Every viewer is invited and I will meet on the couch on the Coffee Shop by the wall. I look forward to seeing you there.

From,

- Cosy7682

Keep on waddling!

Cosy

As with many, though not all, asset management software, SAManage works using an "agent" installed on each PC it manages that reports to the server and tells the server about itself.  It can tell the server things like what OS it is running, what BIOS it is using, what hardware it's running on, and a listing of all currently installed hardware (among other things like disk usage).  However, instead of reporting this all to a server located at your facility, in this case you set it up to report to the server at SAManage.  You can then log into their site and view/manage all of your assets.

This solution struck me as even more interesting when I downloaded their "agent" to give it a try and see how well it worked.  I noticed, when getting ready to install the agent, I had seen this agent before.  They are using, at least on the agent side, some open source asset management software called OCS Inventory NG.  This struck me as interesting since OCS Inventory NG was the other solution we were looking at besides KBOX.  Ultimately, the patch management offered by KBOX is why we decided to go that route (though right now it doesn't seem to be working that well).

In any case, I found the idea of Asset Management via a SaaS model rather intriguing.  It looks like they provide all the basic functionality of being able to see all your installed software and associate that software with licenses.  It appears they do some degree of patch management as they state they can alert you when a computer is missing a security patch.  However, I do also see a few key things missing on their user interface.  Mainly, the ability to manually enter assets.  There are many assets we may like to track (like monitors) that would not be able to report themselves.  If this tool can't support manually adding those items, no you have to track these items some other way and using two different systems for the same purpose is almost never the correct answer.  They also appear to have disabled the deployment option of OCS Inventory NG.  In other words, in OCS Inventory NG, you can set up a "package" to run on given computers that will run a script or an executable.  Commonly, this would be used to install software and is a very useful feature of this sort of software.  This may not be a big deal for people that are already using something like SMS for this, but it's a good feature does exist in almost every on-site Asset Management software and there is no reason it couldn't work in a SaaS model either.

So, is SaaS a good model for Asset Management?  Well, I think SAManage looks very promising, though I think it has a little ways to come before it's really offering it's full potential of value.  Two of the main things I think SAManage could do to REALLY increase the value of their offering (beside re-enabling the deployment mechanism) would be to provide update notifications and security alert services.  One reason we choose KBOX over OCS Inventory was because of the "patch management" so we would know when new versions of software are out.  They provide this service for the standard Microsoft software, but also several other packages as well (though the list still needs a decent amount of expanding done).  It wouldn't be too difficult for a SaaS provider like SAManage to start going through the list of software all their clients use and do checks for the most recent version of that software and provide this information to their clients.  It could be automated by scripting in a majority of cases.  But having a list of the software I have installed and which packages have updates available would be very useful.

As for security alerts, the SaaS provider could probably do something similar to the update checks with security alerts.  So instead of checking for updates they would check for known security issues with software using something like Secunia.  So now, not only could you see if the software you have installed on your network has new versions, but also if there are known security vulnerabilities for the version of the software you have installed.  If a SaaS provider such as SAManage could provide that data I think they would start seeing a large growth in interest to their services.

If you're not ready to pay for services like this or an appliance based solution like KBOX but want to track your assets and don't care as much about the patch management, I would definitely recommend taking a look at OCS Inventory NG as it is a very good tool.  It was a very tough decision to choose between it and KBOX and I honestly sometimes still wonder if we made the right decision.

The big issue is the intangible value the "Good Will". This is where the multiplier effect applies,  the big hit, where the value is and it is typically focused on the profitability of the business entity.

A buyer is buying an opportunity to make money. The money that the business has been producing is evaluated as: the amount devoted to operating the business, the amount the owner withdraws and the amount of profit the business actually books. Depending upon the industry and other factors when evaluating the selling price, the amount of profit is subject to a multiplier anywheres from 2 to 10 and that's the price a buyer will typically be willing to pay for the goodwill of the business.

The next areas of focus are the value of the receivables and the inventory and then other capital assets, machinery, vehicles, computers, etc. These all have values and are typically sold for fair market value at the time.

The focus however is always on the good will as whatever the profit may be the multiplier effect is where the real cash will be.

This begs the question as to how this is evaluated if there is no profit. Simple, when there is no profit there is no good will and all you are selling are assets.

Many business owners find this hard to believe or understand but think about it, the major reason someone buys a business is to make a profit. If there is no profit then there is only the assets to buy as the business is not functioning as a money maker and thus there is no intrinsic value to the business itself.

Maybe there is an opportunity to make money if a large investment is made into advertising, or inventory, or capital equipment, but that will be up to the new investor to do and thus he does not pay for the opportunity only for the past performance.

Thus simply stated if you are not showing a profit or are showing very little profit then you will not get the multiplier you hoped for good will and will only be selling the assets.

If you have a profit then you begin to look at the percent of profitability to extract the multiplier effect and value. The question you ask is as follows: what would an investor be willing to spend to earn what the profit may be. Thus if the profit is $100,000. per year would an investor be willing to spend $500,000 to earn $100,000 per year? Possibly.

The multiplier depends upon many aspects some intangible some real, such as the latent opportunity to expand the profit if the investor adds capacity or does something to the equation.  Perhaps the real estate is valuable and will eventually be sold off, perhaps there is a few long term contracts from large stable customers that add security and remove risk.

Perhaps there are patents or exclusives and perhaps there is a strong likelihood for being bought out by a larger company once the sales are improved. All these tangibles and intangibles add value to the potential and thus increase the multiplier of the good will.

The other lesson here is if you are removing cash to decrease the taxes paid, the value of the goodwill also diminishes. Thus one must ask is the tax reduction worth the value of the goodwill deduction? The answer is always a resounding NO, yet business owners frequently do this to their own dismay when they eventually decide to sell the business and get less then they had hoped. Please also keep in mind this is illegal, not reporting cash sales,  and should not be considered for this reason alone.

You cannot successfully convince a buyer that the revenue is really more but you take cash...The revenue is what the tax return says it is...period.

Sometimes buying out a competitor can come with a premium as the combined businesses are then worth more then the individual value of the two separate businesses, and the selling business can get a premium.

Sometimes there is a clear hidden unexploited advantage or opportunity that will dramatically increase profits or gross revenues and one may be able to increase the multiplier because of this.

Sometimes the buyer has an ulteria motive, a hidden agenda, inside information, that adds value and thus he may be willing to pay more because of this, lucky seller.

Sometimes a non compete agreement can add value preventing the old owner from re-entering the business and competing with the new owner.

In the end its arithmetic, the value of the assets, inventory and receivables and the good will if there is profit. The multiplier is where the negotiation focuses.

Prepare your sales presentation around these factors and you will have a clearer value of what your business is worth.

Of course there are always market conditions to consider, and industry standards for your specific industry. All these factors and more influence the selling price of your business but in the end ask yourself what would an investor be willing to pay to earn this amount of annualized return and then you will be closer to knowing your true value.

9. A major rain storm while camping in a tent makes for some interesting moments! Especially when your rain fly blows off and you left your suitcase and sleeping bag wide open!

8. One of your kids puking all over the tent, bedding, sibling, etc while camping in a tent also makes for some interesting moments!! I have an amazing hubby who spent his birthday morning cleaning up the huge mess!

7. Summer is so much fun with kids! Hearing them playing in the backyard on a sunny day is one of the best mommy moments ever! Especially when the youngest is now old enough to venture out with them. Too cute!

6. Getting to go to a job that is more fun than should be legal is amazing!

5. I was unplugged from texting and twittering for almost 5 days and survived (barely!). I heard my husband say that was one of his favorite things about our trip J

4. I’m climbing Mt. St. Helens with Dan on July 28^th. Please pray for me, I can’t believe I agreed to it!

3. I watched my 8 year old say goodbye to her best friend from school Thursday, she’s moving to Texas. As soon as we drove away she started sobbing. Heartbreaking!

2. God cares for even the smallest desires of your heart! I love sharing that with my kids. I love telling them about the little simple prayers I pray (like seeing a Grizzly in Glacier) and then having them see it answered! We saw a mama with THREE tiny cubs. One of the most amazing sights ever!

1. I am so excited for church on Sunday! Being away from the church family is SO hard! Even for just one weekend!

"I'll know it when I see it. I'll feel it!"

Finally, you've found the one.  The house that has everything, i.e., the 3 bedrooms, 2 1/2 baths, family room and fenced in yard.  Oh don't forget, the 2 car garage that you didn't want to live without.  Everyone in the family knows this this the home for you.  Even the Realtor sees the different glaze in your eyes.  You have found the house for you.

As you return to your car, trying to hide your excitement from the Listing Agent, you utter those simple words

"How long do I wait before I make an offer?"

Hundreds questions and thoughts are swirling in your mind

"Should make my offer now?"

"Will look desperate if I make my offer now and will the sellers hold out for more money if I do make an offer immediately?"

"Should I mke my offer tomorrow . . . or two days from now?

In my 20 years of selling homes, I have encounted all these questions and have experienced just about ever senario in the offer process.

• First of all, you should be working with a qualified Buyer's Agent who represents YOU and not the seller.

• If you haven't already seen the home again, immediately schedule a second viewing of the home.

• Your Buyer's Agent should be preparing a CMA (Comparative Market Analysis) for you.  The Listing Agent has already prepared one for the Seller.  This is how they determined their selling price.  A smart Listing Agent wil be preparing another CMA for their Seller at this point.

• Your financing should already be in place.  Pre-approved is much better than pre-qualified.  You will need a letter of pre-approval/pre-qualification to accompany your offer.  This letter shows that you are serious.  Many Listing Agents have advised their Sellers not to take offers that are not accompanied by a pre-approval/pre-qualification letter.

The Advice

While well-meaning relatives and friends may inundate you with advice about your home buying experience, it's most important, especially at this time, to seek the advice of your experienced Buyer's agent.

When my buyers ask me when to place the offer.  I tell them not to wait.  Trying to guess what the Seller is going to do, or trying to make the seller think you are really not as interested as you really, never works.  Point is, you are making an offer . . . you are interested.

Make sure your Buyer's agent immediately does the CMA which you will need to make your educated offer.  As soon as you have a price in mind, put it in writing and have your agent present it.  Many a deal has been lost trying to second guess the sellers. 

Remember, there is nothing worse than saying

"let's wait a couple of days to make the offer"

then driving mom and dad by the house of your dreams and suddenly seeing a PENDING sign atop the Realtor's sign.

Tammy Pelletier can be reached at (401) 263-6913 Prudential Gammons Realty is an independently owned and operated member of Prudential Real Estate Affiliates, Inc., a Prudential Financial company. Equal Housing Opportunity.

Honda uses turn-and-earn allocation - if a dealer sells a vehicle, they earn the right to another one. Seems fair but more importantly, it makes sure that dealers don't charge too much or else risk slowing their sales, thereby jeopardizing future allocations (our conjecture, not in the article).  In other words, its a legal way to discpline dealership pricing and sales effort.

But Honda still wants more of those Fits and Civics, so it is making plans to move truck capacity around and free up capacity for its smaller vehicles. Toyota and the other makes are doing the same thing.  The winner from all of this will be the firm that has the most flexible production - who can turn a truck assembly line into a small vehicle assembly line the quickest and at the lowest cost?  Flexibility is like insurance - its seems a waste when you don't need it and critical when you do!

Automotive News, June 17, 2008, Honda dealers scramble amid stampede to small cars

As I mentioned before, there's a new ARMLS MLS system coming on-line this month. Here's a cool inventory graph that I created with the new statistical capabilities of this system. Click on the thumbnail view for a full size. This graph includes all Maricopa County single-family homes from January 2006 to June 2008.

One bit of striking information you get from this graph is the steep drop in months of inventory since January '08. Inventory dropped over 50% from a high of about 19 months to June's 8.7, and is back to 2006 levels.

Part of this may be explained by more bank-owned listings coming on the market, and their high turn-over rate. Another thought is that sellers are now pricing more realistically, also driving more sales. In any case, its a positive direction, at least for sellers. Buyers may want to consider getting off the fence soon.

Copyright © 2008 Rod Rebello
www.TempeAgentNews.com

This is what will be launched:

• Updated Server Design: To make it easier to find your buddies
• Igloo Backgrounds: To add a background to your igloo, I wonder if it will be non-members too
• Penguin Mail: New ways to send, receive, ignore, save, and delete your postcards
• Player Card Inventory Layout: A new layout for your penguin's inventory by category

Yay! I'm so excited, the new features are going to be great!

Don't forget to click "home" on the top of the page to see more recent posts.

Your Penguin,

MrsHollywood

Like this stuff from my Grandmother on my Mom's side

Unless you are moving, how many of us really take inventory of our lives on a regular basis?  Annual Basis? Every Decade?  Only on the Tuesday eve of the blue moon in November, after the first snow has fallen, during a leap year, if your sister/daughter in law is precisely 6 months pregnant and you have won the lottery?  

I guess that means that no most of us don't have any idea the accumulation of "stuff" we have in our lives until it comes time to move.... downsizing, upsizing, regardless- everything needs to be looked at and the decision made -Do I keep you eighth grade yearbook, holiday present from a co-worker that was shoved into the closet in the same gift bag it was given to you in, favorite stuffed toy from childhood, hefty bag full of favorite stuffed toys from childhood, cool chunk of marble gravestone from unidentifiable grave from one mischievous night during college?    

So, yes, I am in the process of taking inventory and sorting all my possessions into one of five categories.  

1- Keep and pack.  I won't part with it no matter what it is, useful or not, even if it just continues to sit in a box in the closet until the day I die, and then some poor schmuck cleaning up after me has to make a decision and sort it into a pile of their own. 

2- Throw away.... this is the obvious garbage, stuff that does not meet the criteria of one person's junk is another person's treasure.  This category includes the recycling bin.... abundance of plastic hangers- recycle (I swear they multiply like bunnies in every single closet), chipped kitchen glasses - recycle, stained old tupperware - recycle......   Does anyone know if cast iron pans can be recycled?

3- Put aside and decide with significant other whether we keep mine or his or both.  Combining two complete adult households you end up with two of most things, so which coffee pot do you keep, which iron, toaster, etc....   Some of this stuff is obvious and some of it is a territory thing.  This process can truly test your ability to compromise with your partner.  Word of advice, if "it" does not matter to you put it in the "Donate-give away" pile and if "it" is that important to you put it in the keep no matter what pile and pull it out later on down the road.  If either of you are no good at making a decision, or afraid of hurting feelings just flip a coin or pull from a hat.  Or you can do it the old fashion american way and "donate" them both and go buy a brand new shiny state of the art new "it" that make you both happy.        

4 - Put aside to sell.  Stuff worth enough to put time into e-bay, craig's list, resale/antique shop, etc.... Mostly antiques from family or collected over the years to which I have not emotional attachment to.  I would rather not give this stuff away, but in this economy who knows if it will sell at a price that would make me happy.  It is quite possible that this stuff may end up in a box to be stored and sold at a later date or for when that same poor schmuck......  

5- Put aside to donate, give to friends, yard sale, etc.   Stuff that someone else might like, will use, and won't go to waste, like that gift from a coworker that was shoved into the closet in the same gift bag it was "graciously" received in.  

Thanks to a friend and former boss I have a very healthy attitude when I am cleaning house.  This former boss of mine had a friend who was trained in the art of feing shui.  She had her friend over the house to check things out, make suggestions, help clear her home of negative energies.  This friend asked about a particular piece of furniture in the living room, a coffee table.  It was sending off really bad vibes, not because of where it was placed in the room, but just because of it being physically in the house.  Ends up the "coffee table" was a bone of contention with her ex-husband.  It was his favorite, she hated it, but out of spite when they split she fought over it until she won it and proudly displayed it in home.  It brought so much bad energy into the home, every time she stubbed her toe on it she would swear at her ex, she was intentionally holding onto bad memories and her past life by keeping the "damn table".  It was then that they walked around the house and purged it of all "former life" stuff, until it was pointed out to her she had no idea how much stuff was sucking her home dry of all good energy.  They had a grand old time throwing all the past life out into the yard, and planning together what needed to be replaced and what didn't.  Once they did the energy in the house shifted to being more positive, nurturing and healing.  Life was finally able, after years, to begin anew because there was nothing dragging her back in time.  

I am fortunate that I do not have any desire nor tendency to keep stuff that has bad past life attachments.  I have been very very good over the past few years of clearing out the old to make room for the new (that is except for shoes and purses, but alas even they will have their own judgement day sometime very soon). As a matter of fact many friends at work have asked me to come clean out their closets because they are impressed with my ability to purge the unnecessary from my space.  Now that is not to say that I live minimally, frankly I do not, but I no longer have "collections" nor do I hold onto stuff that I might need some rainy day.   That is except for that hefty bag full of old stuffed toys, it's a girl thing, right ladies? 

So that is it, I am really busy cleaning out.  I will keep you posted, but if you don't hear from me in a bit it is because I have my hands full sorting out my life.

"Well, first of all, the fact that a bardiche takes as much space as a ring is completely absurd, it just doesn't make sense at all"

Diablo has never been a realistic game. Come on, hordes of undead zombies, giant worm/slug with pincers hiding in a underground tomb, poison-spitting demon queen and a head mounted on crab legs. Not to mention the so-called "tetris" system. I remember stuffing plate mails, chain mails and halberds, swords, potions, staves and rings in my backpack. Carrying a bag weighing half a ton? No problem. As long as items don't take up the same amount of space, it's totally realistic.

I have always felt that the tetris system was awful. Don't get me wrong here, I like the system in the sense that it is what made Diablo 2 the game we know today. Despite that, I am the type of person who collects everything and then sells them unless I can replace my current items. I also like to play with my friends and it's no fun to be constantly delayed because everyone has to go to town in order to sell their items. There is also the "I don't think I have enough space for the loot this boss drops" scenario. People have said that "Room is not the issue, you can have more pages." Of course, all your items spread over many different pages of inventory is better than to have them stacked in one slot. Because who wants a hack'n'slash game when you can have a game for inventory micromanagement.

So how about you move along? Being a Diablo fan doesn't mean being ultraconservative who claims every change to be blasphemy. People are waiting for Diablo 3, not Diablo 2 with updated graphics.