The Wheel Of Fortune

Flight from Newark to Vegas was uneventful and would you believe that they didnt even serve a snack,dinner,nada on a 5 hour flight.Oh well thats America West. We arrived at around midnight and took the bell van to the Orleans. Trip was comfortable and checkin was quick.The Orleans has wonderful comfotable rooms and a friendly staff and my o my those hot looking waitresses. After checking in we went down to the 24 hr cafe and had the steak and egg special for just 2.99,ah only in Vegas.We spent the rest of the night gambling and broke about even.

Next afternoon we eat at the Mexican restaurant which was very good and hung out at the pool since it was over 100.At dinner we took the shuttle over to center strip and had Dinner at Bellagio Buffet(wagerworks).The casino is beautiful and the light show was fantastic,however unless you like exotic foods like rattlesnake with cream sause id skip it if it wasnt free.The desserts were great. We then headed over to Osheas and Casino Royale where we got to place a bet on an online sportsbook site near the entrance.Between my wife and I we won 300 dollars.

Tuesday we ate at Emerils, very expensive but worth the money. I have never had a porkchop as good as this one was. Most of the rest was spent looking at the other fancy casinos. Paris beautiful but as stuffy as the French,Venition ditto but beautiful pictures.MGM too big feel like an ant.

Wednesday we ate at the Mirage buffet(wagerworks) it was excellent food with the best desserts.We also took in the Dolphin tour it was wonderful and even convinced us to stay at the Mirage the next trip.The pool grounds are beautiful.Later that day we took in the Monte Carlo pub which had terrible burgers,terrible country music,but a pretty good and very large nacho salad. Thursday we went to Little Anthony and Platters show at the Stardust.If you ever get a chance to see these 2 groups perform dont miss it,it was great.We then headed downtown and the Freemont st show was great.Downtown slots seemed much looser and were fun.

Really took a bath on let it ride, did ok on blackjack, but the only slots we had luck on were the Chinese Takeout and Wheel Of Fortune. Also saw a young man win 22 thousand on a dollar 10 times machine. May it happen to all of you my friends. internet poker

The Smell Of Coffee In The Morning

Tuesday morning I wake to the smell of coffee. Mr B makes the best! We sit at the giant window and watch the morning in the most FUN city I know. Check out is at 11:00, so we pack and Mr B takes the goods to the car...the wallet is lighter so the load was not as bad as coming in.

I visit the Slot Club host area and spoke with our host by phone to get names of people who helped with our security breech. I did not ask for online gambling comps, as we did not play much at NYNY and had an enormous suite for $50 a night. I figured I would catch them on the next trip.

I then went to check out and had a rude awakening and a rude clerk. I asked for the receipt to be printed before she charged it out for my audit. She charged it out and gave it to me. There was water charged that we did not use and she charged us $115 for the suite. I explained the situation that I had not asked for it, but she didn't seem to care. I said, "Look, let's just call your manager". She said don't get upset, I'll give you credit. What a way to burst my bubble when the others had been so great. No worries.

We headed for Bellagio for lunch. This place is lovely, but smelled like cigar smoke, even Mr B smelled it. Strike this place for us...no offense, but my allergy meds would not be able to keep up with the heavy smell. The Slot Club desk was efficient and I had a very nice conversation with the supervisor (who was the only one that could give us our WW Buffet that day). We talked about the Oceans 11 filming. She said it was finally over and none too soon after 6 weeks. She said one of her friends at work signed up and had a ball, but would probably not do it again as it was grueling work that last long hours.

The slots at the Bell were just as hungry as everywhere else, so we fed them and headed over to the buffet to feed TheBiscuits. The food was good and variety very good. I made a huge salad with the different salad greens and fixings plus cheeses. Hit the bread basket for a nice selection. I then had fresh veggies, al dente (not for most southerners taste, but I like it). Would have cost a fortune in a nice restaurant. Bread pudding was A+.

We head for downtown and our check-in at Main Street Station for 3 nights.

I had spoken to the the executive assistant to the General Manager of MSS after writing a letter a couple of months ago to get casino rates. We struck up a conversation when she confirmed my reservations and we agreed that I would give her a call when we arrived. She was just leaving for the day, but stopped by the lobby to wish us well and was so hospitable. The hotel is small and it made us feel at home to "know" someone there. Folks, this place is a treasure. We paid $35 per night. I will write a full report in the Travel, Gamble and Sleep section, but I must tell you to please check this place out if you appreciate fine old decor. The rooms are large, bathrooms small, but clean and certainly ample. As the clothes were already ironed from NYNY, we moved them on hangars and hung them and ran (OK all you "Throw the bags in the room" folks...we did it...white knuckles for me, but we did it). Room 1619 facing the Space Needle and the Plaza.

We had decided that since we had made a point to stay Downtown and had so many buffet tickets + planned a nice meal at Bootlegger Bistro, we would forgo the TOTW at the Strat, so we headed for Fremont Street through the California, but got stopped by Mr B's favorite car... some kind of cadillac. This spot turned out to be his home away from home many time through out the last 3 1/2 days. I finally pulled him away and we hit mucho many casinos downtown. The weather was great and we had a blast. Finally rested for dinner at the Golden Nugget ??? Cafe for Nachos and Bread Pudding. Pretty good nachos, but bread pudding an A+....yes, there is a trend here. We love Nachos and we love bread pudding, but not usually together. Check the recap for report. We drank and played and played and drank and were up and down and down and down and up a little, but had a great time. Marguritas became our mistress/gigalo. WOF, 777, Double Diamonds were our friends and foes that evening. In fact, I think this trip, they all became Audry II and we became Seymour!

Back to the room to find a message from Slickmoves, wishing us well. So sorry we missed them.

We opened the drapes in our room to the light of the Strat Tower and the Plaza. We fell asleep hoping to hear the trains. As I've mentioned before, I grew up near a switching yard, so the sound of trains is very comforting to me.

It's getting on midnight, so I will save the 18th until tomorrow...what's a Vegas trip without a HO visit! gambling online

Staying At The Marquis

Our Marquis minisuite would be about an hour and a half wait, no problem. But it took the checkin person almost 50 minutes to get my friends 2 rooms set and somewhat close to me>something that supposedly was preset! The checkin person was nice enough, but just didnt seem ontop of her game and kept disappearing and reappearing with no notice. At least while waiting we discovered that my host had given us complimentary entry into the blackjack tournament that weekend. And I made her aware of the prior problem which she verified she had NOT spoken to anyone about and pledged it would be looked into. Feeling a little better we had dinner at America while waiting (love that Four cheese pizza with pepperoni) and settled into the room. I can't say enough how much I love the Marquis Jacuzzi, with its extra size, corner jacuzzi, and excellent view of the strip. Ask for it, they're topnotch!

Thursday night and Friday morning we played lots of blackjack, and didnt have a winning session?! I even went to sleep at normal hours and didnt play overnight like I usually do. None of us could win. Even the ladies were getting killed on slots! Friday we bopped over to MANDALAY BAY and found a terrific property again. Mark and I explored the Shark Reef, worth a visit!! The tables were more generous as we both won and were rated quite well, and we received a comp to their Buffet. I couldn't believe it, I love their Buffet! Such variety. Fresh foods. Smiling service. I know the ladies were having fun on their own, but they missed a great experience. I was so impressed I found out from a host that if I played there later I'd get a comp room and made mental notes as we headed back to NYNY for our pretournament party.

Maybe it just wasn't meant to be for us at NYNY this trip. the party was in the upstairs lounge, had loud music, Smirnoff girls, and frankly just wasnt what we hoped for. After thanking Vickie (host) for everything, and learning she would handle the problem (asking if we needed anything else), we left and played more bj. What a slaughter! We may as well have just dumped our wallets on the Online Poker tables! As Mark said,"sometimes the bear gets us!" After seeing how the ladies were doing (having fun seeing other properties/sunning/eating) we went back to Mandalay. Although table luck dried up there too, I got the comp room and checked in.
You must stay at Mandalay Bay! The room I had was on 20th floor with an amazing Strip view. The room was well sized, and the bathroom area quite pleasing: sunken tub, separate shower, separate stall area. Even Mark was impressed, I believe. After we parted for the night, I ordered room service and had another nice surprise. Fast, hot, tasty food and milkshake heaven I played about two more hours downstairs before turning in. Next morning, brought the Mrs. over so she could see the room and place we're likely to stay next trip. She was definitely into it!
The bj tournament at NYNY will be discussed in a separate post, but suffice to say followed the pattern of weirdness. I should've advanced, but didn't...and didn't care?! They gave us nice shirts and held another party that evening, but I just wasn't into it. I appreciate my host's gift, though and had a shot at moving on>wasn't meant to be this trip.

Since we were leaving Saturday night, I took Mark but to MB and we explored. The beach is outstanding (you need a key to get into it!) and something I really look forward to using on future trips. Wherever we played, we were still getting beat, but oddly had come to "accept" it. Our moods were good after almost a week, and we all met up again for a final dinner at NYNY. After that, I had fun relaxing, playing, jacuzzing until checking out around 10:30, where Barb discovered host had given her Friday/Saturday comped...another nice touch to offset the problems! We bid adieu to Barb at airport and took America West redeye back to Bwi. Got in early, waited for luggage for 45 minutes! Back home on Sunday, Alisa and I couldn't believe the adventure, though more costly bj/slot wise than normal, was over and so much fun overall. Can hardly wait for next trip already! poker website

The Noisy Neighbors

I really feel for all of you out there who have a problem with noisy neighbors. I myself have the same problem. I live in a 2 story apt. bldg on the bottom floor. Above me lives a couple living together along with a dog and a cat. Ever since they moved in, there is no such thing as "quietness" Peace & Harmony are a very important thing to me in my home. To me a home is a sacred place (a refuge) It is a place I want to be able to come home to and just relax, read, do my meditation, take a nice bubblebath etc. These two above me were brought up in a barn somewhere. It is just like having tow big elephants up there. When they walk my ceiling seems as if it is going to cave in. They are constantly pacing back and forth and always banging walls, and dropping things on the floor above me. When they come in and out of their amsterdam apartments they slam their door so hard my walls shake. They also both have very loud voices, so I hear everything. Another thing they do that I think is quite tasteless is their barbeques. As they have no balcony, they set their hibachi barbeque on the walkway next to my dining room window and have at it. The smoke and carbon minoxide comes straight through my window into my apartment. It also makes matters worse as I am a vegetarian and dont enjoy the smell of raw meat cooking coming into my apartment. Oh, yes, and they also exercise their dog upstairs every night. I hear them going back and forth up and down the hallway. It sounds just like a herd of animals. I have talked to these people at least 3 or 4 times about their noise. The girlfriend apologizes and says she will ask her boyfriend to try to quiet down too. The noise calms down a little for maybe one or two days, and then it's back to the way it was. I discussed the barbeque issue with the boyfriend. He promised he would move the barbeque over a little so as the smoke would not come in my window. He still puts the barbeque in same place, and I also get to hear their loud voices shouting through the window also. I am at the point to where I am considering looking for a new place. I have been in this apartment for 3 years, they moved in about 8 months ago. I really do not think it is fair I should have to move, but I am tired of feeling angry, and not even being able to enjoy my little "oassis" in the big city. If this is my kharmic debt I hope it is over soon!! Thanks for letting me get that off my chest. I am glad I am not the only one who is being mentally abused by neighbors. condos

Why Choose Our Hosting Company?

Why choose our hosting company out of the 2500+ other shared hosting web hosts? This is a question that any responsible website owner should ask before selecting a host. We hope that anyone considering our services will ask this question and many more in order to make an informed and confident decision. So what do we offer?

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Competent Technical Support -- All of our technical support and network engineering team members have years of experience and are carefully chosen for their dedication and talents.

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Web Hosting Business

Managers of web site hosting concerns should always be on the lookout for unnecessary expenses caused by poor infrastructure or business processes. Because margins are becoming smaller and smaller in certain segments of the industry, such as shared hosting for example, vendors should take proactive steps to ensure that any financial "leakage" resultant from poor practices are eliminated.

Best practices that should be enacted include billing for existing services offered, measuring and billing for services that have not traditionally exacted a charge, and diversifying product offerings.

The first major way that smaller hosting firms lose money is by not billing their existing client base. As their customer base grows, errors in bookkeeping often occur, leading to lack of accounting for some clients. Companies should carefully scrutinize their financial records to ensure that information is up-to-date, and that customers are being billed for the correct amount and on schedule. While implementing correct billing processes might seem to be an obvious consideration, it easily is one of the most overlooked. One acquaintance of mine regularly mentions how their Web hosting company fails to bill them regularly or even on time. Being an honest consumer, he informed his hosting firm that they had neglected to bill him for three months of service.

While my associate adheres to "honesty as a best policy," we can rest assured that a wide majority of hosting consumers does not assume such an enlightened stance. With massive competition and churn in the marketplace, consumers are always searching for the best deal; and no price beats "free." With massive churn rates of 25 to 30 per cent still plaguing the industry, it is important that hosting companies squeeze every last drop of revenue out of a customer. Therefore, a customer must be billed on time, and billed regularly.

The second consideration for a hosting operation is measurement. Many firms do not realize how much income they are losing for services that they do not bill for. For example, most hosting firms do not invoice for ancillary bandwidth usage. While most firms are constantly concerned about the Web site bandwidth consumption of their customers, many do not consider the cost incurred by secondary bandwidth usage by applications such as mail and FTP servers. web hosting reviews

A Study On Eating A Healthy Diet

In a recent study involving over 40,000 women in the April, 2000 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, women who take diet pills and eat a diet containing more healthy foods were more likely to live longer than those who don’t. In this study, the women were given a questionnaire that identified how frequently they consumed various healthy foods -- such as fruits, vegetables, whole grains, lean meats and meat alternatives, and low-fat dairy -- all of which are recommended in current dietary guidelines.

Those women who scored the highest in the healthy eating department had a 30 percent lower rate of dying from any cause -- including heart disease, cancer and stroke -- as compared to those who scored the lowest in the study. The researchers were the first to point out, however, that these women who aced the questionnaire may also have a healthier overall lifestyle, as well as other characteristics: being more educated, more physically active, more likely to drink alcohol and use supplements regularly, and less likely to smoke, which could have also played a role.

This is not the first time that a healthy diet, rather than specific nutrients, has been shown to play a role in improving a person’s health. The DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) Diet study showed that an eating pattern comprised of fruits, vegetables, low-fat dairy, whole grains and lean protein can lower blood pressure.

This comprehensive women’s study comes at a perfect time, since the latest Dietary Guidelines For Americans has just been released. These guidelines give us the best recommendations for a healthy diet, along with advice for lifestyle habits that can help reduce a person’s risk for a variety of chronic diseases, including heart disease, certain types of cancer, diabetes, stroke and osteoporosis.

Here’s an overview of the 2000 Dietary Guidelines For Americans:
1) Aim for a healthy weight.
2) Be physically active each day.
3) Let the pyramid guide your food choices.
4) Choose a variety of grains daily, especially whole grains.
5) Choose a variety of fruits and vegetables daily.
6) Keep food safe to eat.
7) Choose a diet that is low in saturated fat and cholesterol, and moderate in total fat.
8) Choose beverages and foods to moderate your intake of sugars.
9) Choose and prepare foods with less salt.
10) If you drink alcoholic beverages, do so in moderation.

Adventure in Vegas

I wake up at 6:30, but manage to stay in bed and try to sleep a little more. At 7:30 I can't stand it anymore I have to get up and go play. I'm like that little kid in the Disney commercial that says "we're too excited to sleep". We'll at least I get up, Cliff won't get up for hours. I take a shower and head down to the casino.

I decide breakfast can wait and head to a poker game table. I stay long enough for the dice to make it around the table one time with no luck, so I cash out down $125. I walk around for a minute and decide to try the $5 slots. I slide a $20 in a Double Diamond machine, hit the play max credit button twice and that's all folks for that $20. I try the machine next to this one with the exact same results. Well, I knew I didn't like slots anyway. I walk outside to feel the crisp morning air and take a walk North on the strip, maybe I'll go to Stardust.

As I walk and observe the scenery, I realize just how beautiful the desert can be. I notice as I'm walking that there is something going on over at the Desert Inn to the entrance - hmm. I don't make it as far as Stardust because I decided to look in the door at Frontier and found myself buying in at a blackjack table. The dealer is Muhamed and seemed very nice although I only understood about 1/3 of all he said. The table is a little up and down, but I was up about $300 when Larry tapped out Muhamed. I swear Larry was sent to the table to talk my head off so I couldn't concentrate on the cards. He told me so many gambling tall tales that I was left with the impression that he either was stupid, a liar, or a stupid liar. Most of his stories went something like - "I bought into a roulette game for $3 had it up to $2100, but lost it". After a while, I decide to take what I had left and move to another table. I sit down at a table with an older dealer named Donny and immediately get on a very good run. I didn't keep track, but I know I went through one full double deck shoe head to head without losing a hand. Another player joins us and my luck slows, but is still quite good. After a half hour or so Donny gets tapped out by Tom. As Donny leaves the table he say "you'll like him, he's a real George" I'm not quite sure what was meant here, but all I can figure is that a George must be a good tipper, because I tipped him pretty heavy on my upward roll. I couldn't get anything going with Tom and cashed out up $1000 and asked for a comp to their steak house for 6. I knew asking for a comp for 6 was a long shot, but it doesn't hurt to ask. They said I hadn't played long enough and all they could do was 2, I said thanks anyway and walked back to TI, once again amazed at the beauty of the mountains in the distance.

It was about 11:30 so I went to the room to see if Cliff was up yet. He had just finished getting ready and had already eaten room service. Spencer and Brent had gone to the CES and Mike wasn't quite ready so Cliff and I go back down to the casino. Cliff goes to get a table for us in the high roller room (I still don't consider a $25 table a high roller, but they do apparently) and I go to the counter in the Terrace Cafe to get some breakfast/lunch. After I ate, I went and joined the blackjack game with Cliff. Mike comes down and joins us and we play ‘till around 1:45. We were on a good table, but I had a Vegas.com meet planned at Monte Carlo for 2:00 so we needed to leave. I cash out up $700. We catch a cab to Monte Carlo(I'm glad to say the cab did not smell like ass), they let me out and they go to NYNY to play there and catch up with Mark who stayed there for Thursday and Friday nights. Cliff got him a comp room there since he was coming in early.

Atkins Diet Revolution

You've probably heard of these diets like the meridia pill and the doctors behind them, but do you know which ones can provide the most healthful means for weight loss? My assessment may surprise you!

DR. ATKINS NEW DIET REVOLUTION

Overall Philosophy
Dr. Atkins maintains that excess intake of dietary carbohydrate results in the overproduction of insulin, a hormone secreted by the pancreas that promotes fat storage and increases appetite. Supposedly, eating according to this high-protein, very low-carbohydrate regimen can lead to the following:

• rapid weight loss
• suppressed hunger
• reduced fatigue
• lowered risk for chronic illnesses, like heart disease, high blood pressure, and diabetes

Overall Nutrition:
Unlimited amounts of protein-rich foods (including meat, cheese and eggs) are allowed while carbohydrate choices—bread, pasta, starches, fruits and vegetables—are severely restricted.

For example, during the first 14 days of the diet, Atkins restricts:

• fruit
• bread and other grains
• starchy vegetables (peas, potatoes, corn)
• all forms of alcohol
• dairy—excluding cheese, cream and butter.

As a result of these limitations, the plan is packed with fat (specifically saturated fats) and cholesterol, and it is deficient in many nutrients, including: fiber, calcium, magnesium, potassium, vitamin C and folate. Since protein by-products must be excreted in the urine, this high-protein eating program promotes dehydration and a condition known as ketosis. Ketosis occurs when your body turns primarily to fat for energy, which usually happens when you eat very few carbohydrates in the form of grains, fruits, vegetables and dairy foods. Rapid fat burning produces ketones which accumulate in the blood stream, causing ketosis.

Ketosis does keep away hunger pains, but it also makes for bad breath, fatigue and nausea. Carbohydrates are a necessary part of any diet because they provide the body with fuel in the form of glucose. On the Atkins diet, glucose levels in the body can become very low. It should be noted that excessive levels of ketones in the blood stream can cause unconsciousness and, in severe cases, lead to a coma

Duration:
Indefinite. Atkins considers it a diet for life, but I would not encourage staying on this diet for long periods of time.

Expense:
Affordable, but on an ounce-per-ounce basis, the high-protein foods on this diet plan are more expensive than the plant and grain foods you would eat on a balanced low-fat diet plan.

Family Friendly:
This is for adults only. The poor nutritional content of this diet would not provide adequate nutrition for any children under the age of 18.

Menu Choices:
Meal plans are easy to figure out. Eating out is doable on this plan, as long as you can forego bread, potatoes; pasta, rice and other grains; dessert, and alcohol.

Food Choices:
This plan is low in choices from the bread, milk and fruit groups. Unless you really love meat and cheese, it's easy to become bored with the limited food choices of this plan.

Prepackaged Foods:
No prepackaged foods are required.

Exercise:
It's encouraged as a way to build muscle and reduce blood insulin levels. However, given the extremely low carbohydrate intake, sustaining aerobic exercise for 20 minutes or more would be questionable while on this plan.

Supplementation:
Large doses of Atkin's own brand of vitamin and mineral supplements are recommended, which is not necessarily a bad thing. At the very least, you'll need a daily multivitamin and about 1,000 milligrams of calcium to make up for what the diet lacks.

Success/Failure Rate:
There is no documented evidence in peer-reviewed journals of the success rate of this diet.

Overall Rating: 1 Fork.
Good way to jump-start weight loss, but it's not a long-term eating plan. I would recommend staying on this eating plan for no more than one to two weeks. diet pills

So You've Been Sedentary

If you've been sedentary, be sure to start your activity slowly—with as little as 5 or 10 minutes a day—and gradually work your way up to moving for at least 30 minutes. If you decide to take Modafinil, and you're over age 40 or have a chronic illness, discuss this with a health care provider first. If you choose to exercise at a moderate level, however, it's typically not necessary to get a physician's approval.

It's critical to hang in there, since greater antidepressant effects are seen when training continues beyond 15 weeks. For mental health, the main work is commitment, not exertion. Make the time, find the time and the benefits will follow.

This information is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice. You should not use this information to diagnose or treat a health problem or disease without consulting with a qualified healthcare provider. Please consult your healthcare provider with any questions or concerns you may have regarding your condition. buy provigil

Why You Should Start Banking Online

Our accountant claims that electronic banking saved his marriage. At the end of each month he and his wife used to fight about who would do the bills, which in their family meant writing some 50 checks and reconciling 50 from the month before.

Then the couple signed up for electronic banking, and poof! Better than marriage counseling.

Electronic banking may not enable you to fire your therapist, but it can make your life much easier. Used in conjunction with a personal finance software program like Quicken or Microsoft Money, electronic banking can automate simple things like a cash advance loan in a few minutes of your time.

These days most banks are equipped to link to personal finance software; check with your bank before you purchase a program. Once you've installed the software your bank prefers, just follow directions -- the program will walk you through the steps necessary to set up a link to the bank. The bank will assign you an ID number and password, and that's it.

Set up automatic reminders of when the American Express payment is due. Choose bills whose payments never vary, such as the cable bill, and tell the program to transfer funds to the cable company automatically on the same date each month. The software will reconcile your online checkbook for you, monitoring the funds the bank subtracts from your account. Every time you log on, whether it's every morning or once a month, the bank downloads information on your account's activity, updating your database.

Thinking about getting an instant payday loan

Instant payday loan businesses are flourishing because there's money to be made in serving the downscale market. Associates Corporation of North America, a Ford subsidiary that specializes in downscale lending, has posted record profits each year for the past two decades - including $972 million before taxes in 1994. In fact, consumer-finance companies routinely earn double or triple the return on assets that banks do. Mercury Finance, the used-car financier, rang up a return on assets in 1994 of 9.4 percent - six times as much, Forbes admiringly noted, as what the best-run banks earn. From 1989 to 1995, Mercury's stock value soared eightfold.

Storefront merchants that prey on the poor have always been around. But big companies are fueling the "corporatization" and expansion of the poverty industry by pouring in growth capital and providing the sheen of brand-name respectability to transactions that Wall Street once viewed with distaste. They're using sophisticated marketing to lure in consumers who are tired of being snubbed by mainstream merchants - and thus are susceptible to businesses that offer well-scrubbed images and friendly faces behind the counter. "Rent-A-Center is a very good friend of mine," a smiling customer in one TV commercial says. "No matter what I do," another Rent-A-Center customer says, "they still take me back." At the same time, these companies play on desperation - people who need cash fast to stave off the landlord, the power company, the tax man.

Frequently they ensnare folks who aren't initiated into the world of banking and credit. Along with sky-high prices, many consumers are victimized by slick sales pitches, hidden charges, forged loan documents, strong-arm collection tactics. A 1992 Louis Harris poll found that while 31 percent of Americans say they have been"cheated out of money" sometime in their lives, 53 percent of people who have been turned down for credit say they have been cheated at one time or another.

A home-repair company persuaded 72-year-old Mattie Foster to sign a contract for a new roof and new carpet for her home in Jacksonville, Florida. According to a later lawsuit, the roof work was poor - rain eventually began leaking in-and she never got the carpet. What she did get was a loan with First Family Financial Services, a growing lender that was soon to be purchased by Ford Motor Company.

The contractor arranged for an instant payday loan for her through the lender. Foster paid a $1,700 brokers fee to get $4,380 to cover the work. The lender also paid off her original mortgage, bringing her total debt to First Family to $18,000. Then First Family persuaded her to refinance four times-each time giving her a bit of new money but charging her much more in closing costs. On one loan, she received $ 25.66in new money but paid more than twenty times that in closing costs-$524.47. She ended up with a $22,000 mortgage on her home at 18 percent interest, and soon found herself struggling to keep up the monthly payments of $385 a month, more than half her Social Security income.

Mattie Foster is now in the early stages of Alzheimer's. The only reason First Family didn't get her to sign a sixth loan was that her daughter stepped in. After a local legal-aid clinic sued, the lender agreed - without admitting guilt-to pay Foster a settlement that wiped out her mortgage so she could own her home free and clear.

As more stories like Mattie Fosters have emerged around the country, some people have begun to fight back@ consumer attorneys, neighborhood activists and, increasingly, consumers who are tired of being ripped off.

Fleet Financial Group, New Englands largest bank, was chased out of the high-interest mortgage business after allegations of abuse emerged in the early 1990s - charges that it was cheating tens of thousands of low-income minority homeowners on mortgages that were fraudulently obtained and carried interest rates as high as 20 percent. Fleet stood its ground at first. But community groups and crusading attorneys targeted the bank for class-action lawsuits, protest marches and old-fashioned door-to-door organizing. The campaign sparked a 60 Minutes expose and Congressional hearings. Fleet blinked. It dropped out of the high-cost mortgage market and eventually agreed to come up with nearly $300 million in refunds and special loan programs to settle its legal problems.

My beautiful day with Anna

I was glad I had saved up my vacation days because Anna was coming back to Hawaii for a visit, and I was very eager to see her again. We are old friends and sometime lovers, and she is one hot woman who loves sex. What man alive wouldn’t be excited about a visit that was sure to include a few passionate embraces?

We met on a Sunday evening at her hotel, and my cock was stirring right away. Anna was dressed in a long, floral-print wraparound skirt and a tight black top that nicely showed off her braless breasts. She gave me a warm embrace hello, and it was all I could do not to strip her naked right then and there. I wanted to go up to her room right away, but I knew we would never make it to dinner if we did, so I restrained myself. After drinks and lobster at a nice beachfront restaurant, I was glad it was finally time.

Once we were in her hotel room, our bodies came together and our mouths found one another in a heated kiss. We moved to the balcony and avidly explored each other in the cool evening breeze that blew through the palm trees. Before long we were both naked, and Anna sat on the deck chair stroking and licking my cock. She loves to suck cock and her enthusiasm for the act showed. I moaned with pleasure as her hand cupped my balls and her mouth bobbed up and down on my shaft. As I stood there reveling in the attention she paid to my dick, I gently caressed her breasts, teasing her nipples to hardness. Almost reluctantly I pulled away from her talented mouth and knelt in front of her chair. She leaned forward and we kissed deeply before I began moving down her body. My tongue trailed slowly down her neck and across her beautifully tanned shoulders. I kissed around each breast, feeling her softness and hearing her breathing quicken as I touched all her sensitive spots. Her whole body moved and she moaned softly as I sucked on each breast. I moved farther south, kissing quickly across her tanned abdomen and arriving between her thighs.

Looking at her pussy in the dim evening light, I could see how wet she was already. I kissed her inner thighs, sliding my tongue across the sensitive spot between her pussy and asshole. One of my greatest pleasures is that first taste of a woman, so I dipped my tongue into the little pool that had formed at her hole and sipped at her nectar. Then I moved around her pussy with my mouth, thrusting my tongue in deeply, kissing her lips, licking her cunt inside and out while she moaned her enjoyment.

After a while I switched my attention to her clitoris while sliding two fingers into her wet hole. Her gasps of excitement became louder as I slowly pumped my fingers in and out, bringing her to orgasm. Anna is wonderfully multiorgasmic, and as my tongue, lips and fingers pleasured her she came several times, crying out, “Oh, baby, yes! You’re making me come so hard!” With encouragement like that I just kept right on going as she writhed in her chair.

My cock was now ready for some action, so I raised myself away from her pussy and kissed her beautiful mouth. We shared the taste of her cunt as we kissed, and I quickly slipped on a condom. Sliding into her pussy, I began thrusting as she cried out softly. I grabbed Anna’s beautifully shaped ass and pulled her to the edge of the chair so I could grind my pelvis against hers and more easily move my cock around in her pussy. She came again and again, panting and telling me how incredibly great it felt.

Anna’s pussy was still hot and wet, and I got even more excited from seeing and feeling her pleasure. We paused then for a moment while I pulled out amateur porn style and Anna stood up. She grabbed the balcony railing and bent over, offering me her pussy. I stood behind her, slipping my cock back into her pulsating wetness as she pressed back to meet me. I held her hips and admired her gorgeous ass as my dick sank into her sex and my hips rubbed against those beautiful round globes. Gasping for air, I told her that I was going to come. “Oh, yes, baby! Come in me!” she cried, and I came with a growl, my cock spasming in her hot cunt. After shooting Anna full of my semen, I slipped out of her and turned her around to embrace me.

We fucked again that night after a brief rest and then again in the morning. I can still picture her hot little body bouncing on top of me while she rode my dick. I carried her across the room while buried deep inside her and lay her on the table so I could stand and fuck her while looking at free porn videos on TV. Sex with Anna is the greatest, and she always has me ready.