That doesn't really surprise me. People who are college graduates are generally smarter and can think about things critically. People who are older are generally more mature and have more experiences to base decisions on. This all points to people who will not marry someone on a whim, but someone who they really are comparable with and love.

However, the world in not perfect. Things happen, there are always outliers from the group, and sometimes she just has a really nice ass. So the percentage will never be 0.

Woot woot!

Me and the wife are hittin the bars tonight for the first time in a year. I anticipate being passed out by like 10ish

Plus, you're still going to have some serial remarriers in that group that further skew the statistic. 19% is shockingly low.

Blarg is 100% correct. You were seriously close to being in trouble. Anyone who goes up to a complete stranger and starts asking questions like this is not doing so to be friendly. You were completely correct to try and keep this weirdo from knowing where you live.

You should have ended this conversation much earlier with whatever excuse you could have politely used and gone on your way. Best case scenario, a weirdo wants to talk to you. Worst case something sets him off and he gets violent with you. People like this are generally harmless BUT, it would sound like he was not 100% right in the head and you never ever know what will set someone like this off. Could be some word or phrase you unintentionally use, the way you stand or seriously could be just about anything.

After taking a security training class this week I very seriously suggest people take a self defense class, ESPECIALLY the womens out there. This is a perfect example of something as simple as a walk with the dog turning into something very very bad.

At the very least I suggest carrying Pepper spray and I would add a Kubotan to your keychain.

Seriously, I will be getting these things for the girl and Fishette.

Kubotan Use
More Kubotan Use

What about a Taser, Fishie? I really want a Taser since I have been inspired by Lisbeth Salander from the The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.

Kubotan's are a proprietary variation on the Japanese yawara stick. Very effective because they are completely natural to use, probably more natural than any other weapon. And they concentrate force powerfully into a very small point. You can either hit with a flat bottomed one or use the edge of the flat bottom for an even smaller focus point, and can use it for leverage against fingers, to dig in under the collar bone or behind the corner of the jaw, etc. I would guess that they're legal in most states, too, which is no small thing.

My original jiu-jitsu teacher taught me a version of the yawara stick that used a stick with a length of barbed wire wrapped near each end, for even more pain compliance (or simply flesh-ripping) options. That's echoed a bit in the version above with the two long central points.

Our instructor did not go into a lot of detail about tasers but honestly I wouldn't have a problem with anything that will help keep someone safe. Seriously, I recommend looking for a good self defense class for women. Especially for someone like you. You have had a strange experience not that long ago which turned out OK but lets face it, it could have been a WHOLE lot worse. At the very least if you have plan B, C, D and E in place from a self defense class you can at least try to no just be a victim.

I am not trying to sound paranoid or make anyone else paranoid. But, being prepared is not a bad thing. And seriously, lets face it, women are at a disadvantage to a man who is bigger and stronger unless they at least know some basic ways to defend themselves.

I'm having some trouble finding a place to live in my new job location. There are zero open apartments (from what I can tell, zero apartments at all). There are some houses for sale, but not rent. This issue includes surrounding cities within 10 minutes, too.

I could live in my hometown, but then I'd be looking at a 45 minute drive.

I have two weeks before school starts.
I have my old place (~40 minutes) for one more month still.

This is getting a bit worrisome.

Zero apartments? That's crazy. How big is this town?

Fishette is now trying to kick the smoking habit along with me. This will either make it easier on both if us or we will end up killing each other.

Solo - I bet if you contacted some of the home owners who are trying to sell their houses they might be willing to rent to you for 6 months. Find out which houses have been on the market for awhile. Lots of sellers are getting desperate. Have you tried looking for an apartment in one of the neighboring towns?

Sometimes it seems that way in huge places like Los Angeles, too, which actually have tons of openings that are unadvertised.

Did you ask anyone at the new job for hints or connections re finding a good place?

Did you pick an area you would be satisfied with and then spend an hour or two driving up and down streets looking for apartment for rent signs? (Sometimes the signs aren't even out where you can see them, but some numbskull puts them on the lobby door or where they are obscured by bushes.) I find that often at least as useful as checking newspapers and craigslist. Plus if you find something that way, boom you're there instead of having to make appointments and plan schedules out.

P.S.: It's almost August, and kids will be coming back for schooling soon if you have any colleges in the area. That's when the crush really begins so hopefully you're acting quickly, before you get SOL or find yourself locked into a long-term lease for $150/mo. more than you should be paying.

Solo, I'll rent you a room for cheap, but your commute will be about 19 hours each way.

Solo, where are you looking for these apartments/rentals? Have you tried craig's list?

Probably not, Wookie. The 50% divorce rate has been simply accepted without being questioned much, so we believe it. It's always been much lower than that. One way of determing the rate had been to compare the number of divorces per year to the number of marriages. Pretty good way of achieving a meaningless statistic.

That's what is fun about statistics and math. Even if you and I are working from the core data set, we can both produce statistics that convey different messages without lying.

Anyone here Mystery Science 3000 fans? I'm working on getting at least one volume as a gift for someone, but... I don't know which episodes be the best!

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss...1.92_126&fsc=2
I don't really know where to start? Should it just be with volume 1?

I like the one where they watched that bad movie and talked over it.

that one was good.

Vol.7 is good: a bit too heavy on the Hercules maybe but both The Killer Shrews and Prince of Space are excellent. Vol.18 (Lost Continent / Crash of the Moons / The Beast of Yucca Flats / Jack Frost) also looks pretty good. Also "The Essentials" (Manos + Santa Claus Conquers the Martians). In general, anything Japanese or involving Santa is probably a safe bet imo.

Edit: Vol.5 (Time Chasers + Touch of Satan + Other stuff) is also pretty alluring.

The town itself is about 2000 population. There are two nearby towns within ten minutes that are probably <500 population each. I spent about 30 minutes driving through the town, which was enough to cover just about the entire town. I saw some old people homes, a few mobile homes for sale, and some houses for sale.

I haven't seen a single thing that was listed for rent, either in the yard or on websites. Of course, I can try contacting the realtor and see if there's any chance that they're willing to rent, like katy said.

I have a meeting on Tuesday with coworkers, and I think I'm going to ask them if they have any connections.

It's just a weird place. There's old folks living areas, but no apartments. There's homes for sale, but not rent.

Anything beyond the ten mile radius I talked about is like 25 miles or so. At 35 miles you hit the edge of my large hometown and the edge of a decent sized town my friend lives in.

I'll keep trying. I'm not going to panic yet, but it's not looking like it'll be easy.

kioshk, pass...but thanks!

I didn't think to because of its size, but I looked just now. All I found were 4x4 trucks and grain trucks for sale. lol

Thanks for this. I went with "The Essentials" I figure that would be a good starting place. I hope he likes it!

Lol. That does suck. Contacting realtors is probably your best bet, not just for switching places for sale over to for rent, but also because they may have stuff that's not listed. Moving sucks a big fat phooey.

Also, I like Locke in your avatar (?)

My avatar used to just be Locke's profile. This avatar was made for me after I requested a different version of it. I love it.

And yeah, I'll have to contact realtors. The idea of buying a house or mobile home for like 40-60k is kind of scary since I'm worried it'll lock me into this town for the next 4-5 years.