When your wallet is stolen, you have two major issues to deal with. They are (to paraphrase the old Jack Benny joke) your money and your life. A thief with your driver’s license and credit cards can use the contents of your wallet to obtain a new set of identification documents in your name—making your funds and your credit line completely accessible. Following the steps in this checklist will help ensure that your identity as well as your money and credit are protected.

1. Report the crime to the police right away and get a copy of the police report. You may be asked for it later by your credit card companies, your insurance company, your bank, or other agencies to verify the crime.

2. Call each credit card company to report the theft right away. If you’re away from home, ask a family member, neighbor, or house sitter to pull your master list of credit card numbers and other relevant information from your files to make sure you cancel every card. (See chapter 2, “Records and Documents You Need at Home.”)
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Next to common sense, your best personal safety tool just might be your “uncommon sense,” your intuition. Take yourself seriously if you sense danger or have a bad feeling about a person or situation. Do not be embarrassed or afraid to offend: Get away immediately. The National Crime Prevention Council suggests these ways to keep yourself safe wherever you are.

AT HOME

1. Don’t hide house keys in planters, mailboxes, under doormats, or in other common (and obvious) places.
2. Don’t put your name or address on your keys. Losing them irretrievably is much better than giving a criminal the key to your house and car.
3. Don’t open the front door without finding out who it is. Verify the identification of service personnel, even if you are expecting them.
4. Don’t rely on door chains. They can easily be kicked in or otherwise broken.
5. Never give personal information to unknown or “wrong number” callers. This includes your phone number, social security number, credit card number, and address.
6. Don’t reply to harassing phone calls. Hang up immediately.

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Now that I’ve told you about the superstitions good luck, let’s see where the bad luck came from;

Why is Friday the thirteenth considered to be bad luck?
The number thirteen represents Judas, the thirteenth to arrive at the Last Supper. Friday by itself is unlucky because it was the day of Christ’s Crucifixion. Years ago, the British set out to disprove these superstitions. They named a new vessel HMS Friday, laid her keel on a Friday, and then sent her to sea on a Friday that fell on the thirteenth. The plan backfired: neither ship nor crew was ever heard from again. Then, of course, there’s Apollo 13.
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There’s somebody who said to me, “If you believe in a superstition, it will always follow you“. Gee, is that right?

Let’s see. According to wikipedia, Superstition is a belief or notion, not based on reason or knowledge, in or of the ominous significance of a particular thing, circumstance, occurrence, proceeding, or the like. It’s the irrational belief that future events are influenced by specific behaviors, without having a causal relationship.

Well, let’s just take a look where it came from;

Why is a horseshoe thought to be good luck?
A horseshoe’s charm comes from the legend of Saint Dunstan, who, because of his talent as a blacksmith, was asked by the Devil to shoe his cloven hoof. Saint Dunstan agreed, but in carrying out the task, he caused the Devil such pain that he was able to make him promise never to enter a house that has a horseshoe hanging above the doorway. Thus, from the Middle Ages on, the horseshoe has been considered good luck.
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Many people loves dog and quite optimist that it got to be fun to have one. But owning a dog is not like buying a hot dog. If you fail to consider the following issues, you might as well ruin your fun. So, before you get a dog or any other pet, please consider these points:

1. Have you got room for your dog?

Whatever kind of dog you might be thinking about getting, it will need space around your home that you are probably using for other purposes right now.

Even the smallest and laziest dog will need running room, a place to sleep and somewhere to relieve itself. You’ll also have to prepare in advance how you can prevent it from getting into areas where you don’t want it (good luck! )

2. Have you got time for your dog?

With the demands of jobs and our social lives putting pressure on all of us, finding time to spend with your new puppy to teach it some rules and just have fun might be quite difficult to arrange. Then, there’s the extra time you’ll need to keep your dog and your home clean.

But a dog is not a toy or an entertainment device that you can just switch off when you’re too busy. Its needs companionship, care, and training will be constant and probably the greatest in the first couple of months after you bring it into your home.

If you don’t have the time, but get a dog anyway, then you will both suffer

3. Have you got enough money to keep a dog?

You will have extra expenses when you get your dog. You won’t be able to maintain your dog’s health and temperament just by feeding it your table scraps.

But, it’s not just the cost of dog food.

You will be facing a list of recurring expenses; visits to the veterinarian and clothing (leads, collars, coats) as well as bedding and toys, (even big dogs love toys, because it means their owner will spend time with them.)

4. Have you got the strength you’ll need for your dog?

Dogs come in such a variety of sizes and temperaments that I’m sure you can find your perfect match. But, you’ll need to be fairly fit, both mentally and physically, to get the best out of your person/dog relationship. Walking your dog will, of course, have health benefits for you both but you’ll need to be able to keep up with your pal and stop it from going anywhere that you don’t want it to until you’ve got it trained so it knows the rules of the sidewalk.

You’ll probably have to lift your dog on to the examination table at the vet and lift it off your furniture on some occasions too. You’ll also need a reserve of emotional strength. There’ll be times when it will be very hard not to lose your temper or even hit your dog over some mistake. But, many of those errors, in my experience, happened because I thought that my dog thinks the way that I, a human, does.

In other words, we need to be able to step back, mentally and physically, and take a deep breath, then not do anything that, in a moment, could sour forever the strong bond we’ve built with our dog. We also need plenty of strength for those times when things don’t go right; your dog is sick or must be put to sleep.

You know who the whiners and blamers are around you. If you have any sense of personal protection, you probably try to steer well clear of them or limit your time with them. When you’re stuck in blaming mode, positive people begin to avoid your company and you end up building friendships with those who reinforce your blame approach so that you can double up on your whingeing and whining.

The blame mind-set is not a helpful place to be if you want to get on and succeed in this world. Blame limits your choices and your results. You find fault in others rather than taking responsibility for the results you get. You wait around for others to do things before you act.
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Who was the first person to look at a cow and say, “I think I’ll squeeze these dangly things here, and drink whatever comes out?”

Who was the first person to say “See that chicken there….I’m gonna eat the next thing that comes outta it’s butt.”

Why do toasters always have a setting that burns the toast to a horrible crisp, which no decent human being would eat?

Why is there a light in the fridge and not in the freezer?

If Jimmy cracks corn and no one cares, why is there a song about him?
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You may not be fully aware of what gets in your way, but the clues are in what you say and how you describe your experience. Ever heard yourself utter things like ‘It’s impossible for me to leave my job’, or ‘I’m always going to have problems because I never went to the right school’, or ‘They’ll never choose me for promotion because everyone knows they want someone who is younger/ slimmer/ an accountant/ a creative type/ female/ male/ white/ black’ and so on.

The following are some beliefs that usually holds you back:

• The unknown isn’t safe.
• I’m too old to make a major life change.
• I am not skilled enough.
• My family and friends will think I’m crazy.
• I’m not sure that I can trust my decisions or choices.

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You may still be curious as to what kind of confident person you can be at your best. This is a question that even the most experienced, capable chief executives and media personalities ask themselves regularly. Successful people stretch themselves. You have enormous potential limited only by yourself. And it’s up to you to realise it.

Very few people are wholly confident in every area of their life. Those who appear to be so are probably good at acting – with themselves as the audience.

Be your own sponsor as well as critic. You may be good at giving yourself a hard time by comparing yourself unfavourably with others: ‘I’ll never be as good as. . .’ Comparisons with others are valuable in that they can help you to excel and raise your game as a budding Tiger Woods on the golf circuit, for example. But don’t waste energy beating yourself up by not being as good as the expert who dedicates every day of their life to practice.
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As I mature …

I’ve learned that you cannot make someone love you. All you can do is stalk them and hope they panic and give in

I’ve learned that no matter how much I care, some people are just assholes.

I’ve learned that it takes years to build up trust, and only takes suspicion, not proof, to destroy it.

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