Just got back from Thanksgiving Break in Indiana. Had a great time there visiting with my family from all around. The whole family got to come and it was also my cousin's wife's first time to have Thanksgiving with this family. And as weird as it may seem my family celebrates Christmas on the day after Thanksgiving (since chances are we wont be able to see each other during the real Christmas break). So after loading up on food on Thursday we spent the night on Friday exchanging gifts. Also in the town in Indiana where my grandparents live there are many amish. So we spent some time and went to the amish stores and even an auction. The auction was located in a tent and the auctioneer (old amish chap) was using a microphone to relay the everchanging prices to those looking on (about 90% amish). They were selling anything from bird feeders, homemade furniture, lawn mower engines, and even land. When we came out of the store we saw them all gathered around a whiteboard and the auctioneer was chattering away (nothing like you've seen on t.v., about 10x faster). Turned out that they were bidding on piece of land about 5 acres large. They had the price up to $60,000 when the auctioneer slowed down and started talking to the bidders. He explained to them that buying real estate is the best investment you will ever make, and even though it will take ten years or so to pay off it will be well worth it. Ten years to pay off $60,000+ ? Yeah right, these people are loaded. Did I mention that the average family has about 5-8 kids? Did I mention that each of these kids drops out of school after the 8th grade and begins a job? Did I mention that the parents get 90% of the kids "income" while they are still living with them? Not only that, but these people dont have to buy gas, pay cell phone bills, get tv's or have them repaired. These people truly are rich but they wont ever spend it on anything. Good and bad.