I don't know how you can take off for weeks at a time with all your close relatives and go to Aruba

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and say when I visited, "She's from Massatoothetts where they thay 'Pahk the cah in Havaad Yaad.' "   (Note: My relatives have no teeth, hence the lisp.)

Cue the banjo's.

they used to live in Miami, but lost everything to Hurricaine Andrew.   Now that they're in Port St. Lucie they have learned from the "Andrew" mistakes and for Wilma made sure they had plenty of food, water and gas for the generator that they bought.  They knew they should have gone to a shelter but during Andrew the official shelter they were in had its roof blown off and they sat there wet and cold for hours until the storm blew over and decided to not do that route again.  They knew with Wilma that they risked having their home destroyed while in it but made that choice. 

 They did sustain damage to the house with Wilma but aren't waiting and insisting that the government bail them out.  They had already talked to a contractor before the storm and had him lined up and ready to come out after the storm was over so they didn't have to wait on long waiting lists.  These aren't rich people - my aunt is a retired school teacher and my uncle has been disabled for many years.   They're just smart enough to realize that if you live in an area that is prone to severe storms that you have to be prepared or not whine and expect the government to bail you out. 

The people in Louisiana knew days ahead of time that they should get out of town and they didn't.  It didn't help that the Mayor there basically blew the situation off until after the fact and  then decided the federal goverment should have done what he should have done in the beginning - made arrangements for people to get the heck away from there if they didn't have travel means. Instead he transported people to shelters that were right in the midst of the storm and then cried to the world that the government purposefully caused people to die.  Gimme a break.  IF anyone is guilty of that it's him because he didn't take the appropriate actions which were even outlined in the  New Orleans  City official disaster plan. 

Living in Georgia  and in a "tornado alley" part of the state I know my odds are that my house could get demolished by a twister.  When a severe storm arises I high-tail it to the basement.  Since we also get remnants of hurricaines at times, ice storms, etc. I always have enough food and water to last for several days in the basement, along with plenty of candles and batteries.  I also have lots of  logs for the fire place to cover winter storms. 

You don't have to be rich to prepare for a disaster.... just smart about it and plan ahead of time.  If you live in a  coastal state then buy that hurricaine insurance and don't whimper that we need to buy you a new house if you don't have insurance and your home gets destroyed.  I have homeowner's insurance but if my house were to burn down and I didn't have insurance would it be the government's responsibility to build me a new one?  No.

An air card pulls the signal from the air similar to a cell signal.  It is a type of internet the same as cable or DSL.  What you are needing is WiFi capability, to connect to an existing network.   If they don't already had a network setup maybe they have high-speed internet and you can just hook your computer to the modem, at least long enough to download. 

If relatives only have one computer they wouldn't need a router unless their computer was a laptop and they wanted to work in other rooms of the house. 

new. I betcha.

Little by little they are losing ground.  Commentator was saying that even if the last person to see her alive was Joran, the 17-year-old still in jail, they can't prove anything.  Maybe they fell asleep on the beach and when he woke she was gone.  Commentator said that if after all this time they could not break a 17-year-old and get a confession, with his two friends and father in jail, there is a possibility that he did not do it. 

PS:  I think her mother should go home instead of second-guessing the government over there.  She is convinced the three are guilty with the father as an accomplice.  How do you come to that conclusion with sureness?  That's kind of like some foreigner over here coming over and if something were to happen to them and they disappeared after a night of drinking and last being seen with a stranger, his parents come over and criticize our legal system because we can't PROVE foul-play.  Just a bit over-the-top for a mother who should be grieving the loss of her daughter instead of criticizing the authorities.  Hey and another thing, how about criticizing the chaperones who lost contact with the daughter and did not discover she was missing till she failed to show up at the airport!!

Aruba is just like any other tourist destination where as long as you stay in the tourist areas, do not wonder off into the downtown areas at night and practice basic street-smarts, then there is no need for alarm and it is just as safe as any other place. I went to Aruba last month and we had a nice stay but I also went there years ago when I was about 16 w/my friend and her family. Of course we drank our little hearts out but we stayed in the hotel area and never wandered off. I will admit that we were harrassed by locals a bit (and I think it was because we were so young) but we ignored them and ALWAYS stayed together- we used our street smarts!!

It sounds as tho this young girl did not have as much street smarts as you or I.  I would never  leave with guys I just met by myself even if I were at a bar in my hometown area, nevermind in another country! It is common sense but unfortunately this young girl didn't know any better, or for whatever reason maybe she thought that she was safe with these boys and she probably thought they were just regular kids just like her & her friends. It is very sad that she possibly had to pay the ultimate price for what she thought was just an innocent mistake.

We as parents try to protect our children from so much, but at the same time, I think sometimes we are so focused on keeping the evil of the world out, that we possibly make our children more vulnerable.

as the U.S. is...so therefore, if they are in over their heads, THEY should ask for the U.S. to help, period! That is a resort country, equipped basically to show tourists a good time, and not to handle a missing American case! See my point?

Nobody knows the terrain of the island better than the native Arubans.  Together with advice from the FBI, the search team from Texas and the hundreds of Arubans who do know the island they are doing what they can do.  They do not need the hysterical rants and accusations from Mrs. Twitty

 reports they listen to quite frankly.

Every card you have is more potential debt. This may not matter to you now, but when you try to get a car loan, or a mortgage, or even a regular bank loan, it will matter then. There's absolutely no reason to keep multiple card accounts open, especially if you have absolutely no intention of using them. Keep 1 or 2 open, use them regularly, and pay them off promptly. That is the best way to use them to your advantage.