New Year, New Beginnings

It has been quite a journey since my last post in 2015. My then-business partner (also my then-spouse) was not the right match for the businesses or myself. In a bid to maintain steady income for the household, I gave up the businesses for a steady paycheck but still struggled financially. I suffered through a toxic employer with lots of company drama, got fired while going through a divorce, found a company I believed in but the boss is a Boss & not a Leader and created a toxic environment, found love again but it was VERY long distance... Today, I am happy to share that I am re-launching the first of my businesses and my love is no longer long distance. It is time for a fresh start and I am EXCITED about it.

Adventurous Explorer

Recently, I took one of those quizzes on Facebook.   Something about "What career should you be in?"  Unsurprisingly, my result was Adventurous Explorer: Athlete, Journalist, Detective.

It made me think about all that has led me to this point and where I'm headed.  I was an athlete (a LONG time ago), I love investigating things and reaching conclusions and telling the truth.  I love exploring, learning and experiencing new things.  I want to travel and live in different places.  I am not one for ruts!  So how am I in a job crunching numbers and do I want to stay there?

Despite the high stress and some nepotism, I actually like the job and where I am.  I think it is the first job I have had my entire working life that I finally feel like I belong in it.  The first year required a lot of additional forensic work to unravel my 2 predecessors' messes, and I still do a lot of investigating in my daily work.  It pays better than similar positions in the general market.  The down side is that the stress carries over into my personal life.  I am totally drained at the end of each workday and more so by the time Friday night rolls around.  I am hesitant to take a day off because it will take me working extra hard the next 4 days to catch up.  I think I have made myself irreplaceable.  (I know, it is weird that I am sad about that! )

So the question is how do I retain my sense of life, of adventure?   Normally, I would withdraw by going camping somewhere where human sounds do not reach, but I was unable to take 3 weeks off from work to do so.  (We are saving the vacation time and money to do a major trip later in the year.)  While I do not necessarily recommend doing what I have done, I think it has been necessary for me, particularly quite an introvert like me.  I withdrew from life, from people I would normally interact with outside of work and home, even from church.  It has been a little painful, and I suspect more so for my friends than me.  Yet it is has still has taken a couple of months to get to a place where I can consider reintegrating with SOME friends.  Maybe 1 family at this time....

Part of me is ready.  A good part of me is not.  I sense that God is.pushing me out of my cave, whether I am ready or not.  Do I fear another burnout?  Of course I do.  With so much riding on my shoulders, I absolutely cannot go down.  Yet, it might be time to at least open a window and look at the outside.

Here goes nothing.  The first step towards regain life and my love of adventure.

Happy New Year!

A new year for many people means a new beginning,  a new start.  It is  chance to start anew and make changes in your life.  (Now,  whether these changes stay permanent or not is a whole other matter...)
Towards the end of last year,  I decided to cut down the amount of flour and sugar I consume,  just simply for health reasons.  One would think that the new year would make that change permanent.  So what is my first meal of the new year?   Made-from-scratch pancakes...
Happy New Year folks!

Adventures of the Past Week

So it's been a while and the adventures have not ceased.  This weekend, while everyone was freaking out about Hurricane Irene and looting I mean buying out the grocery stores of bottled water, milk, eggs and bread, I just went on with life as usual... or almost usual.  Since all I expected was local flooding and a power outage (I figured the maximum would be 3-4 days at worst), all I did for preparations was the following:

• fill my 5-gallon camping jug with filtered water
• fill a couple of buckets with tap water (you know, for washing dishes, bathing and flushing the toilet)
• get some non-perishable food like instant noodles (I have a gas stove plus my camping gas stove to cook with even if power went out)
• froze a couple of containers of water for refrigeration
• and last but not least, did laundry before the power went out!

In the end, I ended up spending Saturday night at church since hubby had to be there to switch on the generators when the power went out.  Did not even make it home till almost 6.30pm on Sunday... and I had power at home!

Leading up to the weekend was a long and hard week at work, working 70+ hours, 14 of which involved an event in VA on Monday, and also training a new employee.  Did I mention a pretty nasty sprained ankle which happened on Tuesday?  

Okay, so the picture is not pretty and I am no foot model...

There is a slight chance that I might have broken my ankle, but only God knows and God is healing me because I do not have time to go see a doctor!  The swelling has gone down (but not completely gone) and the pain is somewhat negligible (but that could be due to drugs...).  I gave the borrowed crutches a shot but gave up after 2 nights (can't use them during the day at work) because my triceps were (and still are) screaming at me.

Before the ankle adventure was a last-minute decision to go to Chima in Philly on Sunday night.  That was fun and yummy.  I found some of the meats to be somewhat too salty and too much black pepper, but otherwise the experience and the rest of the food was great, especially since it was a very rare date night with my spouse.  It is a nice place to take someone out for a date.

I think of these adventures in the past week and I am nowhere near ready for another work week but I take comfort in knowing that the ultimate adventure is really journeying with Jesus and He is with me as I go through each day, no matter what comes.  Even in the midst of a hurricane, He is there.  Thank God for God.

The Function of Wise Men

I have been meaning to post this for a while... This is taken from "Six Days of the Week" by Henry van Dyke. He phrases it so well that I can only copy it and quote him.

"Wisdom is the principal thing -- Proverbs 4:7"

     "The men of thought, of cultivation, of reason in the community ought to be an antidote to dangerous influences.
      Having been instructed in the lessons of history and science and philosophy, they are bound to contribute their knowledge to the service of society.
     As a rule, they are willing enough to do this for pay, in the professions of law and medicine and teaching and divinity.
     What I plead for is the wider, nobler, unpaid service which an educated man renders to society simply by being thoughtful and by helping other men to think.
     The college men of a country ought to be its most conservative men; that is to say, the men who do most to conserve it.
     They ought to be men whom demagogues cannot inflame nor political bosses pervert.
     They ought to bring wild theories to the test of reason, and withstand rash experiments with obstinate prudence.
     When it is proposed, for example, to enrich the nation by debasing its currency, they should be the men who demand time to think whether real wealth can be created by artificial legislation.
     And if they succeed in winning time to think, the danger will pass -- or rather it will be transformed into some other danger requiring a new application of the salt of intelligence.
     For the fermenting activity of ignorance is incessant, and perpetual thoughtfulness is the price of social safety."

This was copyrighted almost 90 years ago, and like all principles, it withstands the passing of time.

Faith For A Journey/Adventure

Right in the beginning of this week, I had a tremendous argument with my spouse.  The atmosphere at home has since been very chilly.  Interactions have been very limited and extremely strained.  It was two days before we even spoke, and that was out of necessity -- we were forced to interact in public.  Frankly, I was furious for the first 3 days after the argument, and then simmered down to just being very angry.  

There are many issues related to, and stemming from, the argument.  Yet again I questioned if marriage was not the biggest mistake I ever made and considered, almost determined to, emotionally "checking out" of the marriage.  (Divorce is not an option.)  It has been a tremendous struggle this week. I frequented the dark place of my deep anger, and stayed a while.  Many parts of me kept saying, "I am done!!"

A few minutes ago, I finally settled down to today's devotion, which talked about adventurers and their faith.

"The power which has moved adventurers is faith."

Hebrews 11:1 (ESV) states "Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen." Past adventurers like Abraham, Columbus, Balboa, and so forth, never saw their destinations before setting out.  They just went on the adventure, absolutely and positively convinced of what they would find.  They took the journey, the good and the (mostly) bad, all out of faith, out of a belief in the Divine Being they would bring glory to.

I cannot help but think of this one line stuck in my head for some odd reason that "marriage is an adventure", the journey which two people embark on together.  I know what a good marriage looks like, and we are definitely not there (yet).  There will be good out of this journey, despite all the bad in it.  I believe that simply because I believe God.  And when the good comes, it is solely because of Him.

The Wisconsin Labour Bill

Many are keeping their eyes on what is happening in the land of cheese and Harley Davidson -- the labour bill.  Basically, it would decimate the power of unions, whose memberships have been on the decline anyway.  There was a time and place for unions in the history of this country, however they have evolved into a destructive land mine in the land of opportunity, eroding people's motivation to be better in their work and take pride in their jobs, installing a sense of entitlement instead.  Afterall, what incentive does a young worker have for improving himself/herself over the years of his/her working life when he/she makes the same money and enjoys the same benefits as someone else 40 years down the same path?  But I digress...

To quote the article:

Walker's legislation would end collective bargaining rights--the process by which employees band together to negotiate with employers--for almost all of Wisconsin's state, county and local workers (police, firefighters and the state patrol would be excepted). This would mean, among other things, that unions wouldn't be able to seek pay increases above inflation, unless voters approve those hikes in a special referendum. Unions also would not be able to require members to pay dues, and would have to hold yearly votes to stay organized.

State, County and Local (government) workers are public sector employees, whose salaries are paid for by taxes; why should they not be subject to pay raise approvals by the very people who pay them?  Companies which pay salaries determine what, if any, pay raise employees get -- so what is the difference here?

Additionally, I think it makes perfect sense for unions to hold yearly votes to stay organised.  You do not want the same people in power all the time unless they are effective and qualified to hold the position.

As for whether unions should be allowed to require members to pay dues, I need further thought upon it, but I am leaning towards "why not?".  Just about every trade association out there requires its members to pay membership dues, though I'd be interested to see where union dues go...  I think my final answer would depend on where the money goes and what it is used for.

Inspiring

This is a very inspiring talk.

Balance

Well said, Nigel!

Convictions

From the news today came an article about the first girl to win a wrestling championship in Iowa.   She won by forfeit and this is what the boy who forfeited said,

"I have a tremendous amount of respect for Cassy and Megan [Black] and their accomplishments...  However, wrestling is a combat sport and it can get violent at times.  As a matter of conscience and faith, I do not believe that it is appropriate for a boy to engage a girl in this manner. It is unfortunate that I have been placed in a situation not seen in most other high school sports in Iowa."

I have to say, I am very impressed by this young man. Not only did he (and his family) have strong convictions, they were honourable and they were lived out, even at the expense of something important to him.

To paraphrase Stephen Covey,

Honesty is when your words match reality.

Integrity is when reality matches your words.

Dangerous But Good

This morning, as I read Matthew 12-13, it dawned on me that Jesus spoke about the Day of Judgment several times in His parables.  In contemporary Christianity, the Day of Judgment is not often spoken of.  Afterall, it is not a popular topic nor one that will draw people to Christ.  We live in an age whereby we think we need to present Christianity as a happy-feeling, life-is-a-bed-of-roses, lottery ticket.  Yet we must be conscious of it for what need do we have for a Saviour if there is nothing from which we need saving?

As I read Jesus' words about the Day of Judgment, I could not help but think of C.S. Lewis' Aslan (from "Chronicles of Narnia"), and Mr. Beaver's famous description of Aslan, 

"Course he isn't safe.  But he is good."

Coming to know Jesus is dangerous for life as we knew it.  In fact, it is the end of life as we knew it.  Yet in coming to know Jesus, we come to know what is good, actually great.  Are we willing to give up what is safe and good for what is GREAT?

I like to liken it to riding a motorcycle -- it is dangerous, but oh so good!

God Knows

Over the weekend, I roasted a chicken.  After prying all possible meat from the carcass, I decided I might as well use this and the other 2-3 carcasses in the freezer (from previous roasts) to make chicken soup.

On Monday night, I started to feel like I was battling a bug.  It got progressively worse on Tuesday and I started drinking more of my chicken soup.  By the time Wednesday morning came, I officially lost the battle.  I woke up with such pain in my face that I caved and took pseudoephedrine AND naproxen sodium.  For the rest of the day, I ate very little and chugged several bowls of my chicken soup.

In case you are wondering, I am on the mend.  I would be exhibiting greater improvement too if I didn't do 3 loads of laundry, wash a sink full of dishes and purged (and I mean really purged) the office area of trash (let's just say there are 2 bags of papers to be recycled and 2 bags of heavy trash...) yesterday... 

(For those of you who know me: Really, when am I not doing something or being a glutton for punishment?  I did save publishing this post till today...)

Anyway, here is my point for today:  God knows what we need before we even need them.

I could have just stuck the latest chicken carcass into the freezer and waited till another time to make chicken soup, but something just spurred me on to do the opposite.  I will go as far as to say the Holy Spirit nudged me to make the chicken soup because I do not believe in coincidences.  And thank the good Lord I did because I needed it.  (The nutritional aspect of homemade chicken soup is another post, of course...)

God does amazing and amazingly simple things that matter all the time.  It is just a matter of whether we pay careful enough attention.  This is the omniscient God who knows everything, who created everything, and is beyond time, and yet He cares so much about each one of us.  He knows what we need and when we need it, even though we do not.  He knows what matters to us, and He does care enough to show it, though often not in ways we expect.

To say that I am blessed or thankful or grateful or in awe, just does not seem to truly express my feelings towards such a personal God.  I am glad that I do not have to be a chicken around Him.

What Do We Want?

Several years ago, I read a book by either Philip Yancey or John Eldridge (I think!  And sorry, I do not have a great memory for what I deem as unimportant details...).  In it, the author wrote about the passage of John 5:1-7, in which a disabled man encounters Jesus at the Pool of Bethesda.  The pool was known for healing and the man had been lying there for 38 years.  That is thirty-eight loooooong years, day after day, hour after hour.  The passage of John states in several Bible translations/versions that Jesus asked the man, "Do you want to get well [or be healed]?"  And Yancey or Eldridge posed an interesting question:(and I paraphrase):  the disabled man had been lying by the pool known for healing for 38 years, hoping and wishing and wanting to be healed; why would Jesus ask something akin to "What do you want?"

That, my friends, is the question of the day: What do we want?

In many decades and in beauty pageants, the common answer was World Peace.  In the early 2000s, more people began to be environmentally-conscious.  Now firmly in the 21st Century, it is the iPad, iPhone, lower gas prices, job security, health insurance, 50" plasma TV, Wii, Kinect, etc.

Whatever temporary satisfaction things bring us, they can never answer the question of "What do we really want?".  I know that deep, deep, deep down, there is something within us that we just cannot seem to get at.  Nothing seems to touch that void, that emptiness.  Nothing we do, buy, say, or experience even comes close to reaching that point.  Heck, we probably do not even know what it is and what we are missing.

What do we want?

There is only one thing I have found to reach that level, and in fact, it happens to be a person, Jesus.  I know that if I let Him fill my heart, mind, and soul, I will experience contentment and joy and satisfaction and peace like nothing words can describe.  I am the first to admit that I am guilty of not letting Him saturate my life.  And I ought ask myself the question of "What do I want?" more often and deliberate on it.  I might actually live the life I want if I did, and get more out of it too!

A couple of verses further in the passage, Jesus Himself heals the disabled man.  Jesus is the source of healing, the source of having a life, the source of every desire we have deep in our souls and the source of fulfilling them.  He knows what we want, and yet He poses the question to us so that we question what we want.

 

 At the end of the day, it is an intimate relationship with Jesus that I want.  What do you want?

HAPPY NEW YEAR

I hope that everyone had a wonderful Christmas season and had some fun last night celebrating the arrival of another new year.  Personally, I didn't make it past 11.30pm...  But HAPPY NEW YEAR!!  :)

Years ago, I bought a curious little book by Henry van Dyke from a used book store (I think).  "Six Days of the Week" was originally published in 1924 and this book has apparently had several owners.  I see an inscription "To Frank from Aunt Hattie" and I see the name of another owner proudly written on the first page with the year 1976.  I used this book as a devotional some years ago, and decided to do it again for this year.

At risk of copyright infringement, I just want to share today's reading and my resulting thoughts. 

NEW YEAR'S DAY
The days of our years. -- Psalm 90:10

There it is -- all our years are made up of days; and all our days are but little parts of years.

Time may be only "a mental form," as the philosopher Kant said long ago (and as our ingenious Mr. Einstein has just told us, with the complacency of a commercial traveller inventing a new slogan).

But this mental form has a curious continuity.

It flows like a river.

It runs on like a road on which w are all journeying, and beside which we set up our milestones to mark the distance already traversed.

For each man it is his own birthday that tells him how many years of days he has had.

For mankind it is New Year's day, which Charles Lamb called "the nativity of our common Adam."

For each of us, how many failures, disappointments, losses!

Yet God has pulled us through, and we still have a chance to do better.

For mankind how many false starts, delays, disasters!

Yet the race goes on, indomitably hopeful.

It is a day for repentance, and patience, and courage.

And good resolutions?

Yes, please God!

For unless we men resolve to be good, the world will never be better.

For unless we men resolve to BE GOOD, the world will never be better.  This one sentence struck me more than any other.  Unless we resolve to BE GOOD...  no matter how hard we try, we know that we will never always BE good on our own.  We can never be good apart from God, but  I stand a much better chance of being good if I abide IN Jesus.  So therefore instead of resolving to be good, I resolve to be in Jesus.

So Mr. van Dyke, with all due respect, I think the last line ought to be amended to,

For unless we resolve to abide in Jesus, we men cannot resolve to be good, and the world will never be better.

The Urkel Effect

No, this post has nothing to do with politics.  Instead, it has to do a little with fashion.

"Urkel, as in Steve Urkel?  Fashion??  In the same sentence??"

I hear you.  Seriously, I actually saw a little video about it.

Okay, we have all seen the baggy pants worn by youngsters in the last decade, who seem to think that their boxers are so fashionably interesting that all must be exposed to it.  

When I was working as a camp counselor, I saw my fair share of it and threatened the boys that if their boxers were even peeking out, it was fair game for anyone to pull down their pants.  (Not that we actually carried out the threat, but it worked well enough.)

So here comes this school principal who told his students that if they chose to come to school with baggy pants exposing their underwear, they could either 1) take suspension or 2) wear Steve Urkel pants.

This ingenuous man uses zip ties (see below) to cinch up the belt loops, thus pulling up the pants!

Of course, he does actually have a wall of shame where a picture of the offending student in Urkel pants is posted.  That, of course, is the greater deterent.

So Who Really Owns Your Mortgage

We are all aware of the mortgage fiasco involving robo-signers, predatory lending, and so on and so forth.  Let us also not forget about personal irresponsibility -- just because the lender said you could afford the mortgage did not actually mean that you can really afford the mortgage.  Still, if you think the bank to which you are making a payment every month owns your mortgage, the chart below proves you wrong.  You can get a more detailed look in the original article.

(For the record, I did try to understand the flow chart.  I got through about half of it in 5 minutes and decided my time was better spent elsewhere.  And the "Black Hole" notation on the right hand side of the chart made me chuckle too.)

That Thing About Body Scanners

Back in March, I posted my two cents about the body scanning technology in airports.  With the recent experience of John Tyner and the growing controversy backlash, I decided to add another two cents.

1)  If you don't already think that this is a serious invasion of privacy, read this quote from Andy Greenberg's article on the same technology available (and by the way, is currently used) in moving vans:

"The Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) is currently suing the DHS to stop airport deployments of the backscatter scanners, which can reveal detailed images of human bodies. (Just how much detail became clear last May, when TSA employee Rolando Negrin was charged with assaulting a coworker who made jokes about the size of Negrin’s genitalia after Negrin received a full-body scan.)"

 2)  All that scanning is a safety issue, and not for transportation security but a health risk for passengers, and more so for the TSA agents and airport employees.  The exposure to all that radiation has long-term consequences, which no one in TSA seems to have addressed.  The current technology used in airports deals with radiation.  It is not in as high doses as the Hiroshima bomb (duh!), but seriously, do you want to be exposed to radiation that is scattered?  When you get an X-ray, why do you think the technicians ask if you are pregnant (if you are female), or why they stand behind a lead wall ,or why they put a lead "armor" on you, depending on what you are getting X-rayed?  It's RADIATION, folks!  Doesn't matter whether it is millimeter wave or backscatter technology -- they are both radiation.  Persons most at risk (listed in order of amount of exposure): TSA agents, airport employees, vendors in the terminal, pilots (note that pilots' unions have urged a boycott of body scanners), flight attendants, frequent fliers, children and pregnant women.

3)  Apparently the TSA policy of alternative options to body scanning (supposedly optional) is not available in all locations -- the ability to opt out apparently depends on the TSA agent you get.  There are a number of reports of people threatened with legal consequences, as well as being dished emotional trauma and mistreatment, and at least one report of a pregnant woman who was coerced into going through the body scanner.  Among the arguments used was "You get ultrasounds, don't you?"  Ignoramus maximus!  First of all, ultrasound is not radiation.  Totally different!  Even if it were the same, radiation is not a good thing for anybody!  Secondly, doctors limit ultrasounds to a minimum for the sake of the baby because it's not good for the babies either!

4)  By the way, TSA has acknowledged this in the most limited sense: those body scanning images can  be (and sometimes are) stored.  Surprised?

 5)  As I have said before, there are alternative technologies out there.  (Funny how the media doesn't really report on them...  but that's another post)  One such technology is thermal imaging.  In a nutshell, you take a thermal read of the person.  Our body temperature is afterall hotter than room temperature.  Anything that blocks that heat from radiating from the body to the scanner shows up on the image.  Left your iPhone or extra small notebook in your pocket?  No problem, they'll see the heat signature blocked and have you empty your pocket...  without seeing all of you.

There are many articles out there decrying the use of the current body scanners in airports, venting public frustrations with TSA, and so on and so forth.  Here are just a handful for your reading pleasure.

Consumer Traveler: So what's really up with those full body scanners?

Consumer Traveler:Is TSA getting the message?  Air travelers don't want to be stripped naked and felt up

 Rick Seaney: Are Airport Full-Body Scanners Dangerous?  (By the way, notice that Nico Melendez evades the question on whether such technology could have caught the Christmas Day underwear bomber?)

BlackBook: TSA Full-Body Scanner May Cause Cancer

WorldNetDaily: Life With Big Brother

Gizmodo: TSA Full-Body Scanners: Protecting Passengers or Padding Pockets?

My personal take: I do not approve of having my privacy violated beyond what my primary doctor can see/do and I most certainly do not agree with a government-sanctioned molestation in the form of over-zealous pat-downs.  With that being said, I am probably not flying for a long time.  

Quoting part of the Declaration of Independence (bold mine):

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness...But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security...He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance...He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power."

I am not advocating any sort of physical revolt or anything violent or what not, but Big Brother, I highly recommend you look at the alternative technologies and use smart screening or you could have a revolt on your hands for being an oppressive government.

"They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety".

~Benjamin Franklin

Buy Chinese - Buy GM

...and everything in WalMart.  But that's another conversation...

So among the banks helping out the initial public stock offering of General Motors next week are two Chinese banks, both are linked to the Chinese government.  I think that "Government Motors" should be renamed "GM-C"... for Government Motors-China.  What do you think?

QE2

No, I am neither talking about an European monarch nor a cruise ship.  I am talking about Quantitative Easing. In very simplistic terms, that means "printing money".  The Feds are buying $600 billion (yes, that is "billion" with a "B") in bonds.  When the government spends money, the Treasury prints the money they spend.  The video in the link is calling this a "Global Ponzi Scheme".

Um, last I checked, a Ponzi scheme is illegal.  So if the Feds are heading up a Ponzi scheme, shouldn't they be prosecuted for it like any Ponzi perpetrator?

Additional note:

Remember I said some time ago that there are only 2 ways the government can pay for all the programmes they have -- raise taxes or print more money?  Hmmm....  I know the election is over, yet I will state a common sense principle again: 

Don't spend money you don't have in your hand.

Cut the programmes.

Searching For A New Rental? Beware of scams!

So recently, I have been doing a little scouting around Craigslist to see how other rental properties around the area compare to our humble abode.  I have been coming across a number of scams.  Here are some tips to weed them out:

• The rent is really low for the area.  (Seriously, a "3BR huge home in KOP" for $631/month??)
• The contact number is out of town.
• When you contact them, they ask for your email address to "send you information".
• If you leave a message and no one calls you back within a couple of hours. (Real owners or real estate agents or rental managers always get back to you ASAP.)

Never ever give out any personal information without seeing the property in person first.  Not your last name, email address, home phone number (cell phone is okay because they do need one way of contacting you and cell phone numbers are not easily traced by the general public), definitely not any financial information and never your Social Security number.  If they pressure you to give information because "we have many people calling us about this property.  Are you going to rent it or not?", they are probably not legitimate.  (I responded to one such instance with, "Well, I need to know if you are legit or not." and was promptly hung up on.)
 
One more thing: If you see a listing that just has a website link (such as ez.com) -- DO NOT CLICK ON IT!  ez.com is a known tracking website and others may contain worse (such as keystroke programmes and other viruses).  Use common sense when clicking on any links.