Chedda1741's Xanga

Teal Run Apartments

Mon, 08 Dec 2008 01:59:20 GMT

When you go apartment hunting what do you expect to find and gain from your experience when shopping around for a new place to call your home? Do you look for newly updated apartments, with decent insulation, a well grounded and courteous maintenance staff? Some place you know will be reliable and sympathetic to your needs and sometimes your wants? I can tell you that I have heard only great things from some occupants from some apartments, and others not so well. But I can tell you from first hand experience that the apartments that you should think twice about living there is Teal Run. Sure it looks nice on the outside, and the staff and person trying to get you to sign a lease courteous. It is when you sign that lease and decide to move in. Once you have moved in, they're attitude changes and they become uncaring and sloppy at calling themselves courteous staff. Moving into Teal Run in the fall and winter months you begin to feel the cold air rush in through the windows, giving you a high rate of a gas bill from the furnace. So you turn your heat up, only to slide to the temperature you want as it is an outdated mercury thermometer rather than the new digital ones that are at least ten times more accurate. Not only are they not digital, the furnaces are at a mere 70% efficiency, giving you more time to ask for overtime at work as the gas bills keep rising higher and higher each year.

The person I'm writing this for, lives in a three bedroom apartment, and the apartments only allow you to have one car being able to park. The others have to park in other designated areas as if you were having company over. If you do indeed have company or happen to leave your extra car in front of your apartment, don't worry about it. The staff is courteous enough to call a towing company to come pick it up and impound it in their lot for you. At least that's the only courteousness the staff will tend to, as when you call maintenance to come and fix something they will whine and wince at every little thing that is requested from them.

I don't know about you, but these days with times being hard and more and more people looking towards apartments, the complexes are going towards peoples wants and needs to help bring them business and opportunity. Teal Run is the only apartment complex that will literally try to drive your current residents away. I've always gone with the saying it's easier to make ten new clients than to keep an old one, and the saying is generally true, but why not want to keep your current customers and clients. Word of mouth spreads from current residents and past residents.

In my experiences I have heard nothing but praise from Glenn Valley Apartments, and I, myself can vouch for The Landings at the Preserve. The Landings have more than courteous staff and willing to fix whatever is broken. If something does indeed break without sighing or dragging their feet. I, myself am proud to be one who resides at The Landings and haven't had no problems at all. The people living here are nice, quiet, courteous, and well grounded with slim to no trouble at all.

Cell Phone Service and Providers Reviews by iChad

Wed, 30 Jul 2008 19:41:18 GMT

For those of you in the fast paced world who need to be connected at every turn, who is needs to have communication throughout the entire day for work, family, and friends...we turn to Cell Phone Services to help keep us up to date.

For those of you looking for cellular service, and those of you wanting cellular service...before you make a decision with a carrier (Provider) you usually do some research...

Past Experiences:

Centenial Wireless: They offer pretty decent plans, and now-a-days are trying to keep up to all the competing competition. Even though they have been with the industry for decades there is one thing they have always been notorious for. What is that you ask? Even though there are loyal customers out there, sometimes in certain situations people will make a late payment even if by accident of forgeting. Even if it is the mail postal service who delivers your payment and makes it one day late, just one day late they will report you to the credit bureau even if you've been a loyal customer for over a decade. Not only has it been experienced from people in my family, but dozens of others who have been past customers who have left becuase of this.

Nextel: The first to come out with the annoying two-way push talk walkie talkie version on phones...yes the commericals that show you in a corporate meeting beeping each other instead of talking...Nextel has been the ones who have come out with some pretty decent phones, but charge an arm and a leg for them even though there are newer and better phones out there which they still try to sell as top of the line technology. Not only do they try to sell you phones at outrageous amounts but their plans are also high priced and will nickle and dime you for any and everything they can.

Verizon Wireless: Ah yes, my current phone service provider...for the time being...The first to come out with something similiar to the apple ipods, which millions rushed to get the verizon chocolate. I have been a loyal customer with them for over 3 years and just this past 6 months I changed my plan from a single line to a family share plan. Originally I had 700 minutes which we shared and I usually only use 100 minutes a month and are there just there for emergencies. But once I switched the plan over to become a shared plan, my other phone made on avg. 500 minutes, but overcharged us for minutes saying that each phone uses 350 minutes which is not the definition of "shared minutes" One month I admit the new line went over 600 minutes which blasted my bill up to almost a grand, and after that I upgraded my plan to 1400 share minutes. After mulitple calls about the defintion of shared minutes, and dozens of company people and a few managers they cut the bill down to where it was supposed to be. The very next month, which is this month (July 2008) they had my bill back up to $800 for unknown reasons and unexplanable, but tried hard to explain why it was that high. So after a few hours of arguing back and forth and also talking to about 5 people we got it down to where it was supposed to be. For those of you looking for a carrier, I STRONGLY ADVICE YOU AGAINST VERIZON WIRELESS.

Verizon Wireless PC: For those of you who are always on the go and need to be connected not only for phone service, but also need a way to the internet...there is always Verizon PC. Their plans start out at $30, but the most common is the $50 plan which both have a limited amount of bandwith available for you to use each month. If you go over that bandwith you are drastically charged as well.

Cingular/AT&T: Being Cingular was one of the fastest growing cell phone service providers in the United States and growing strong...and Also with AT&T being well established for decades with landlines and cell service, it was a good choice for AT&T to partner up with Cingular. And being how fast Cingular was growing and AT&T already being in place as well, you can know that you are going to probably get the best reception throughout the United States. Pros: The first to strike a deal with Apple to release the iPhone for their carrier only, smart move for AT&T. The Con: When the first generation of iPhone was released they did not let their already loyal and faithful customers as well as new customers know that they needed to change their plan and add additional features to their plan so they wouldn't get charged ridiculous amounts. AT&T made a killing off the first few months of the release of the iPhone and the sneaky billing practices for it, causing a lot of people to have phone bills all the way up to $5,000.00, and a box full of paper telling every single detail of what they were being charged for...most likely using a whole oak tree to print out the bills...after that most people went with paperless billing lol.

T-Mobile: A growing company that has some pretty decent deals and always having new cell phone stations pop up for better reception and connections. Not having any personal experience with T-Mobile but having family who is subscribed to their service only give them praise and glory. They have never had any billing mixups, mishaps, or overcharged on things that are clearly in their contract or is anything mis-read or there for us to mis-interpret.

So if I were to go to another cellular phone provider (which is very soon!), I am either going to enlist my services to T-Mobile or AT&T depending on my current and future needs of services.

Also be on the lookout, ever since the iPhone was released almost every service provider out there is trying to have a phone developed that will work almost as close as the iPhone. As phones will look like the iPhone but differ a little bit in the visual aspect, realize that it will not have the full capabilities as the iPhone. Touch screen yes, but other features it holds, no. For those of you wanting an iPhone and don't have a current provider I suggest you stick with the real thing...Although as of now being they are the hottest thing to be going on the market and with the lack of iPhones for the second generation out there, you may have to wait a while.

Wanted - The Movie Review by iChad

Sat, 28 Jun 2008 00:43:56 GMT

From Hackers to the Bone Collector, Girl Interupted, Gone in 60 Seconds, Lara Croft, and even Mr. & Mrs. Smith; Jolie lights this movie up in probably the most spectacular move in her career. Anyone who is not a fan of Jolie would become instantly dumbfounded that they could have even thought to neglect seeing any movies with her in it. If I had three thumbs, I'd give it three thumbs and even cut off someone elses thumb to give four thumbs up! Kudos and also co-starring Morgan Freeman, James McAvoy and also making another appearance right after the Smash Hollywood Hit Movie, "Street Kings"; Common. This is a movie filled with comedy, drama, thrill, adventure, and something that will definetly make you go out and buy it when it gets released on DVD. This is not something to decide on whether or not to go see, this is a MUST-GO-SEE-MOVIE everyone will be talking about come Monday Morning whether you are a factory worker, a tradesman, a Salesman, an accountant, or even a CEO. You miss this, you miss out on being involved with the new "in-crowd"
-iChad

TalkShoe Call Series Badge

Mon, 07 Apr 2008 11:02:44 GMT

The Smith Sisters Urban Legend

Sat, 08 Mar 2008 15:42:34 GMT

The Smith Sisters: (Below is the explanations why this is not true and only another created urban legend.)

crazy1 86:”hey baby!!!”
h0tNsPiCy91:”who’s this???”
crazy1 86:”ur secret admirer!!!!!
h0tNsPiCy91:”o really….?quit lyin..who is this?”
crazy1 86:”i loved u the first time a stared in your eyes…”
crazy1 86:”i think about u everyday… you are my dream come true.”
crazy1 86:”we met once! I don’t think u remember tho.”
crazy1 86:”I cut myself because the pain takes away my feelings of u.”
crazy1 86:”tonight u will see me some time tonight….”
h0tNsPiCy91:”..WHO IS THIS!?!?!?”
crazy1 86:”dont worry…. ill take very good care of you…”
crazy1 86 had signed off

The girl was so scared she locked all her doors and windows. she made sure her room was secured. she was so scared if it was a joke or for real. she didnt know when he was going to come. the girl was frighten so she decided to sleep with her little sister.

The girl dozed off quickly. then she heard a knock on the window, the girl slowly walked to the window. it started knocking louder.The girl looked through the windows and saw nothing. just some of the tree branches.The girl went back to bed with her sister.

The bed was wet and a pretty smells horrid. maybe her sister wet the bed… the girl checked and found blood everywhere. the girl panicked. she didn’t know what to do. she ran and hide in the closet incase the guy was still there for her. while looking through the cracks of the closet the girl saw a shadow.

It was dark so she couldn’t figure out who it was. she started to get more frighten. the man crept closer to the closet. the girl closed her eyes as if it was a dream. then suddenly, he opened the closet door and pulled her out. her parents found her dead. she was skinned all the way and was hung in her sister’s closet..

PART 2…
=======
2 years after the the sisters deaths, her parents got pregnant with a baby boy the girls room became a guest bedroom and the little sisters room where the murder took place became the baby’s room.The baby grew up to be a sucessful kid. one night he was on the computer and got a instant message.

h0tNsPiCy91:”hey lil bro!!!”
2seXay4u: “who is this?”
h0tNsPiCy91:”its your big sis.”
2seXay4u:”I never had a sister. I’m an only child.
2seXay4u:”this is some kinda joke huh?”
h0tNsPiCy91:”mom and dad never told you?”
h0tNsPiCy91:”I died 15 years ago with your other older sister.”
h0tNsPiCy91:” we were murdered in your room which was once my little sisters room . she was
killed in bed when i was sleeping and I was killed in the closet and skinned to
death.”
2seXay4u:”quit lying. I never had a sister and if I did my parents would tell me.”
h0tNsPiCy91:”you don’t believe me? well if you wanna look in your closet floor.”
hOtNsPiCy91:”I carved my name,time and date I was murdered along with my sister’s name.”
hOtNsPiCy91:”If you don’t beleive me little brother check the internet type in ‘’smith sisters
murdered anonymously”.”
h0tNsPiCy91:”I g2g little brother. I love you and mom and dad so much. I cant believe they
kept us a secret from you.They should burn in hell.”

Later the boy checked the closet and saw the carvings.Was it true?He surfed the internet and everything was there about the anonymous murder in.The next morning the boy went downstairs, it was very quiet. Maybe mom and dad were still asleep he thought.

Hours later….the boy found his parents in their closets skinned and hung. Then he found more carvings which says:

” I TOLD YOU I WASNT LYING. LITLE BROTHER, I LOVED MOM AND DAD…. BUT THEY KEPT ME A SECRET. I CANT BELIEVE IT. WELL I’M FREE FROM THIS COLD WORLD. I WONT HURT YOU LIKE HOW THEY DIED I LOVE YOU ……LISA SMITH”

Scary eh? I tried looking for “smith sisters murdered anonymously” too…..and it really came up…i had to ask the person who mailed it to me whether was it true or not..

______________________________________________________________________________________________
http://www.snopes.com/horrors/ghosts/skinned.asp

Origins: We began encountering this tale in our inbox in late June 2005.
Almost two months later, near the end of August 2005, versions mailed to us began including this coda:

ps guys..i looked it up on google and it really happened. creepy eh? i dont normally do these..but this one kind of bothered me a little bit. heres the article.

“Smith sisters murdered anonymously

In 1993, two sisters were brutally murdered in the small-town community of Plainfield, wisconsin. Lisa Smith, 19; and her sister, Sarah Smith, 15; were attacked in their parent’s home on the night of November 17th, around 1:30AM. Sarah was found stabbed and strangled in the bed where she had been sleeping. Her sister Lisa was found hanging in her sister’s closet, skinned alive. Police conducted an extensive investigation, but to no avail. The motives for the attack were never discovered, nor was the attacker ever found. The only lead athorities had was a log found in Lisa’s computer, showing a series of threatening messages sent through an Internet Relay Chat service. The case was closed in October of 2000.”
Plainfield, Wisconsin, is a community of less than a thousand people located in central Wisconsin. As its one claim to fame, it was the birthplace of Ed Gein, a farmer who was convicted of murdering one woman in 1957 and confessed to having killed another in 1954. His notoriety came, however, from his use of dead bodies: he mutilated the corpses of women, cutting off a variety of their body parts and fashioning these into macabre items.

As one might suspect, murder in Plainfield is relatively rare. As one might further suspect, no two teen girls named Lisa and Sarah Smith were murdered in that town in 1993, nor their parents a number of years later. The story is fiction, plain and simple, just another example of the ‘bad things will happen to you if you don’t forward this chain letter’ genre. (The concept is stated explicitly in its text: “this is a death chain. if you dont send this in the next hour the parents will kill you at night.”) We discuss another example of this type of chain letter — one that uses a photo to tell its chilling tale — in our “Bed Reckoning”
article.

Numerous inconsistencies in the Internet-circulated story provide enough clues to its being fiction that even those lacking access to online news archives should be able to dismiss it as an attempt to yank their chains:
The younger sister is murdered while the older girl is either sleeping beside or going to the window to check on an odd sound, yet the older sibling hears nothing happening in the room and is alerted to something’s being amiss only because the bed is wet and ill-smelling upon her return to it.

Rather than scream for help or run from the room, the older girl hides in the closet.

The older sister is pulled from the closet by her murderer and her body is returned there to be hung for her parents to discover, yet while she’s in this closed space before her killer takes her from it, she carves hers and her sister’s names and the time and date. If she had something with which to gouge messages into the floorboards or onto the walls, why didn’t she use it to stab at her attacker and escape his clutches? Also, wasn’t it thoughtful of her murderer to afford her time to finish her woodworking escapades before coming for her?

The parents (who we presume are sleeping in the same house, since the story doesn’t mention their being absent that night) hear nothing of their two daughters being murdered.

The son (who we work out from the story is 12 years old: “15 years ago” less “2 years after the the sisters deaths” less a nine-month gestation period) lives those twelve years in the murder room yet never once notices the message carved in the closet.

The girls were murdered “In 1993″ yet the IM’ing ghost of one of them informs her brother she died “15 years ago.” Our calendar says it’s 2005, not 2008.
quote from urban legends!!!

Instant message capability didn’t become an online reality until 1997 when AOL introduced its Instant Messenger service. Yahoo Messenger (which the narrative tells us was used by the murderer to contact one of the sisters prior to his killing her) began in 1999. However, while IM didn’t exist in 1993, chat rooms did — IRC (Internet Relay Chat) was most certainly part of the cyber world at least as far back as 1993, else I retain rather vivid yet baseless false memories of what I was doing with a great many of my nights back then.

3 WAYS TO RECOGNIZING A STROKE!!!

Mon, 18 Feb 2008 04:03:59 GMT

A neurologist says that if he can get to a stroke victim
within 3 hours he can totally reverse the effects of a
stroke...totally. He said the trick was getting a stroke
recognized, diagnosed, and then getting the patient
medically cared for within 3 hours, which is tough.

RECOGNIZING A STROKE
Thank God for the sense to remember the
"3" steps, STR . Read and Learn!

Sometimes symptoms of a stroke are difficult to identify.
Unfortunately, the lack of awareness spells disaster. The
stroke victim may suffer severe brain damage when
people nearby fail to recognize the symptoms of a stroke.

Now doctors say a bystander can recognize a stroke
by asking three simple questions:

S* Ask the individual to SMILE.
T* Ask the person to TALK and SPEAK A SIMPLE SENTENCE (Coherently) i.e. It is sunny out today)
R* Ask him or her to RAISE BOTH ARMS.

If he or she has trouble with ANY ONE of these tasks,
call 999/911 immediately and describe the
symptoms to the dispatcher.

New Sign of a Stroke -------Stick out Your Tongue

NOTE: Another 'sign' of a stroke is this: Ask the person
to 'stick' out his tongue.. If the tongue is 'crooked',
if it goes to one side or the other, that is also an
indication of a stroke.

A cardiologist says if everyone who gets this
e-mail sends it to 10 people; you can bet that
at least one life will be saved.

What would you do if someone broke into your home while you were sleeping?

Mon, 24 Dec 2007 19:37:50 GMT

If someone broke into my house while I was sleeping, I believe there'd be a call to the police dispatcher asking for a unit and an ambulance. With so much crime and violence these days you have to be protected...I'm also a light sleeper so I wake up with little things, and I keep my .40 right by my side at all times.

I just answered this Featured Question, you can answer it too!

This is what they fight for?

Mon, 03 Dec 2007 04:01:07 GMT

This is a radio broadcast in the United States, and I thought I would share a piece she said recently over the radio that got my attention and I give her majour kudos....Remember United we Stand, divided we fall...And that is for any Country in any situation...Remember our Troops do not decide who or when they fight, they are given orders by our government to provide peace and freedom or the United States and neighboring countries. You may not support our governments decisions, but support our troops who give their lives to keep us free!

Dr. Laura Wrote...
I got an e-mail recently which just about made me throw up. I don’t throw up easily. I like to keep what’s inside of me there, unless it’s supposed to leave, but this pretty much almost put me over the edge, because my baby’s over there.This is from Kathleen. She says:I hope you inform your listeners about the anti-war protestors in Portland who burned in effigy a United States soldier. I can’t even find the words that would be printable to describe how I feel. Well, I have the words, but let me finish her letter:

A car was allowed to pass through a checkpoint in Iraq, because the car had two children in the back seat. The adults got by the checkpoint, left the car, and blew it up, with the children in it.

Now, I realize in my position, I need to behave appropriately as a role model, but I am so enraged that most of America is so damned “wussy-weak” that you people actually allowed protestors in Portland to burn in effigy a US soldier, with not a greater counter-demonstration. How could you do that??

Let me just explain what kind of bugs, what kind of animals, what kind of creeps would burn in effigy a US soldier? Why aren’t they burning in effigy a Muslim terrorist? How about burning in effigy a Muslim terrorist who hides behind civilians, so that when American or international forces have to deal with them, they allow civilians to be killed, and then say, “See? America’s bad!” How about burning in effigy a Muslim terrorist who uses children to get through a checkpoint, because they know Americans won’t stop or fire on a car with kids, and then they blow the children up as part of a car bomb?

Instead, we have bugs in this country like Jane Fonda, Rosie O’Donnell, Martin Sheen, Bill Maher, Sean Penn, Susan Sarandon….the list goes on and on and on in Congress and all over the United States. You’ve got people blowing up their own people praying, shopping, going to school? These Muslim terrorists are murdering people by the scores every day, and we have people in the United States burning in effigy a US soldier? What in the hell has happened to this country, that we quietly stand by and just go “eh.”

And another thing….I’m a little tired of CAIR - the Council on American-Islamic Relations. They spend their time, it would appear to me, trying to silence radio, television and print who make any comments about Islam, Muslims, Mohammed - anything - so that everybody will be intimidated into silence. Why? Well I don’t think they understand that in this country, we’re entitled to opinions. I know in totalitarian theocracies, they’re not entitled to opinions except those approved by the state - they’re beheaded. I would like to see CAIR mobilize every Muslim in the world to close in on the Middle East and squash the bugs who blow up innocent people praying, shopping, going to school, sleeping in their beds. That’s what I want CAIR to spend its time and money on. I hear rumors that CAIR’s money goes to terrorism things - I don’t have any facts on that - I just hear the rumors. But still, the best way to have good relationships with America is to have all the Muslims in the world stop the terrorists. I am told that the terrorism faction of Islam is very small, so I think that this would be an easy thing for them to do. 98% are pro-peace, pro-love, pro-freedom - go for it! Stop the bugs, so that we don’t have to. Stop the people who blow up children for power. Stop the people who blow up the police, the people who clean in the street, and mothers holding their babies. That’s what I want to see CAIR do, instead of intimidating talk show hosts all over America. I’m bored with that. I don’t know if anybody else is, but I’m bored with that. Scaring people out of speech?

So, it’s not that I think the protestors in Portland who burned in effigy a US soldier shouldn’t have speech rights, but this is so ignorant, so stupid, so off the mark that it should be intolerable to some extent. I know we allow Nazis to parade in the streets, because we’re supposed to have free speech - I understand that. But what I don’t get is that there wasn’t an equal and opposite protest. It’s the bad guys who have the giblets, the energy and the will, and if the good guys don’t get into gear and stop the bad guys - if the good Muslims don’t stop the bad Muslims, if the good Americans don’t stop the bad Americans - we’re going to lose the world and lose our country, and lose freedom in the world, because we’re pretty much the center of it.

Burning in effigy a US soldier. Mind you, our young men and women volunteer to live under disgusting conditions, and be paid almost nothing - they have to buy their own freaking uniforms to go into training and into battle — they come back maimed or dead, changed forever, to free people to create a democracy. And there are people in this country who dare to sneer at that? I’m a proud mother of an American soldier. My boy Is over there risking his life with a bunch of other people’s boys and daughters to stop people from blowing up children, blowing up worshippers in a mosque, blowing up people in their villages and in their markets - that’s what our children are doing. And for all you morons and creeps and bugs who burned in effigy a US soldier - what are your children doing that’s of any value whatsoever?

So I’m making a challenge. I want all you decent people who have a grip on reality to get out of your comfortable homes and stand up against this. Come out with your banners, come out with your music, come out with your flags. I want to see Patriot Guard, Hell’s Angels, everybody out there on their bikes…whoever. I mean, Rosie O’Donnell on “The View” makes a comment that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, who said he was responsible for beheading Mr. Pearl, who was responsible for 9/11 and all this stuff, she had the nerve to go on her show, using her vast understanding of counterterrorism operations and in-depth knowledge, to cast doubts on his confession, when there is information confirming everything he said from a number of sources. Why is her knee-jerk thing that we’re hurting somebody? Does she realize that this guy killed thousands and she’s protecting him? Does she not realize that, as a lesbian, she’d be one of the first ones eliminated by these people? They’re not very pro-gay rights! Even that doesn’t stop her! And I understand somebody else is giving her yet another TV show. Soon, there’s going to be nothing on television, in the newspapers, because what is it? What is the percentage of people in this country who can’t and don’t read?

I’m done. I’m done. I don’t really care to take time on my radio show to talk “politics.” I don’t see this as politics. I call this “survival of America.” This is way past politics. I don’t really give a damn if it’s a Democrat or a Republican who gets into office as long as they will protect the United States….with force, if necessary. Gosh darn, we had these kind of morons out there, even in World War II, but they crossed the line, and you have to let them know they crossed the line. Bringing death to our American soldiers who volunteer to protect this country and everybody in it for the right to even be a moron - there has to be a line. I am the proud mother of a deployed American paratrooper. Hoo-ah! And I spit on people who use kids as shields, and I spit on people who burn US soldiers in effigy. I spit on you both.

Michigan's TRASH!!!

Fri, 26 Oct 2007 11:59:16 GMT

Work-at-home jobs exist but finding them's not easy - Don't Fall Victim to SCAMS!!!

Fri, 26 Oct 2007 11:30:08 GMT

You would like to work from home but you’ve heard only horror stories about work-at-home scams? That's good. They're all true. Many people who have the desire to work from home have had their dreams shattered by crooks and con men.

Take for example, Robert, of Durham, North Carolina, who wrote: “[The] company guaranteed employment and technical training materials. Took our money, provided nothing, then offered refund checks which bounced.”

Randy, of Springfield, Oregon, found his work-at-home directions very unappealing: “They needed $32.95 to send the materials I would need. What I got was a letter telling me to basically do the same thing to other people.”

From envelope stuffing to assembly work, consumers have been ripped off to the tune of millions of dollars. In fact, it’s been estimated that for every one legitimate home-based business opportunity, there are over 40 scams waiting to take your money.

Not very good odds, you say?

True, but the way to turn the odds in your favor is to forget about the advertisements on the Web or in the back of magazines and newspapers, and turn your attention to companies that normally have no need to advertise or create your own opportunities in your community.

First, let’s be honest. Whether as an employee or an independent contractor, not everyone is suited for the work-at-home environment. Many people who dream of working from home, end up back in an office building because their personality is simply not suited to the at-home environment.

For instance, are you lazy or immature? To be motivated, do you need a boss looking over your shoulder? Do you need the camaraderie of other workers?

A “yes” answer to any of those questions means that working from home might not be right for you.

Hate to say it, but you should also consider whether you are even remotely qualified for a work-at-home job. Generally speaking, you will have to perform as well -- or even better -- when working at home as you would if you were working in an office.

If you can't type, spell, write and speak grammatically, if you can't do simple math and have no patience with difficult customers and co-workers, an orange apron or a McDonald's cap may be in your future.

If you have a strong regional or ethnic dialect, you may not be suited to deal with the public on the telephone. Sorry, it may not be fair but that's the way it is.

I know, by this time you're saying, “Shut up, David, and tell me where I can get a real job!” OK, here are some legitimate ideas and companies that can help your work-at-home dreams become reality.

Virtual assistants

If you enjoy administrative work and are good at it, you may be a good candidate for a virtual assistant (VA) job.

“The best VA’s come from administrative backgrounds, but anyone who is detail-oriented, loves to work in a support role, and has a well-rounded work history would possibly do well in a career as a VA,” said Stacy Brice, one of the founders of the VA industry.

Brice, who provides help and training through AssistU.com, said the pay could be rewarding, based on how well you do your job.

“Because VAs are business owners, they set their own fees, based on the value they can create for their clients. You'll see fees all over the place, but AssistU-trained VAs generally have fees that are $30.00 + per hour,” Brice said.

Why would someone hire a virtual assistant?

Many small business owners, sole-practice professionals and entrepreneurs hire VAs so they can concentrate on what they do best, rather than getting bogged down in administrative details.

Oh, and also so they can work at home. You'll find graphic artists, Web designers, technical consultants and all kinds of independent professionals working at home and using virtual assistants these days.

“I use a virtual assistant so that I don’t have the responsibility of overhead, payroll, etc.,” said Jonathan Pool, a Michigan-based mechanical consulting engineer. “In a way, it’s like having a consultant of my own, someone with their own expertise.”

In addition to AssistU, you can find valuable information at the International Virtual Assistants Association and at Staffcentrix.

Call centers

Or you could become a call-center professional, without moving to India.

There are legitimate companies that hire at-home customer service workers. Most positions are as an independent contractor, however, there is some companies that hire home-based employees, JetBlue being perhaps the best known.

Another is Alpine Access. Founded in 1998, it provides call-center solutions to various well-known companies, as well as to some of the largest financial institutions in the country. Agents who work for Alpine Access receive health benefits and a matching 401k plan, and are paid for the time they spend in training.

While being a call-center worker can mean juggling calls for many different companies, Alpine Access says that is not the case with them.

“Alpine Access employees only work on one account, so if you train to take calls for J. Crew, you only take calls for them. In many other companies, you take calls for a variety of clients, which can be confusing,” said spokeswoman Stefanie Jones.

In addition to Alpine Access, the following companies hire remote agents.

• Arise Arise hires remote agents to support almost 40 companies, including 14 Fortune 500 companies.

• National Telecommuting Institute, Inc. An organization that helps to assist Americans with disabilities. NTI prepares qualified individuals with disabilities primarily for work as customer service representatives, but also as technical support agents and in the medical transcription field.

• Working Solutions Established in 1997, Working Solutions has a network of over 20,000 remote agents who serve corporate and Fortune 500 clients.

Questions to ask

Before jumping on the home-based bandwagon, you must ask many questions or you might find yourself right back where you started.

• Are there startup or membership fees? It’s usually a sure sign of a fraud if you must pay to work. However, we know of one legitimate company (LiveOps) that will ask you to pay for the cost of the background check.

• What equipment will you need and who pays for it? You’ll typically need a landline phone, high-speed Internet access, and possibly a wireless headset. Also, ask about any special computer programs you might need.

• How often are you paid and who pays you? If you're working as an independent contractor, it's standard practice to be paid only once per month. An employee might be paid more often.

• Will you be taking incoming calls or making outgoing sales calls? If you don’t like the idea of making cold calls to people you don’t know, a telemarketing position might not be your thing.

• Are you paid per minute? This is important. Many legitimate companies will pay you based on how long you are actually on the phone. For instance, if you are sitting at your desk for an hour but are on the phone for 20 minutes of that hour, you’ll be paid for only 20 minutes.

Brain surgery

It goes without saying that there are some jobs you just have to show up for. You can't be a work-at-home bus driver. But, if you already have specific work skills or professional qualifications, the field is wide open.

The Internet, while it may be the new Scam Central, also makes it possible for many professional and technical types to work from home for the first time. If you are an accountant, lawyer, software engineer, journalist or architect, there are ample opportunities to work from home, or wherever else you happen to be.

You can find out about these from your professional or trade association.

Other prospects

The best job of all, of course, is the one you create yourself. If you're qualified to be a virtual assistant, your city or town may be the best place to get your start. You could try contacting the business owners and professionals you already know, offering to take over some or all of their back-office functions.

If you're computer-literate, able to set aside time to handle telephone chores and can be trusted with such essential tasks as billing and collections, chances are there are plenty of prospective clients close to home.

Most of your potential clients would rather deal with someone they can deal with personally when the need arises. Is that you? Well, I can't tell from here. Only you know the answer.