In reply to: Hey WinterCeltic - how was the trip to Miami? posted by akaRonMexico
Here's the thing.
Not only did my wife give you money, but so did my brother-in-law -- mostly because he's a big softy who recently had a dog pass.
I do not give a shit about the money, because it was not a lot, and because I frankly do not blame you for fundraising and for still going down to the game. Shit, I piss and moan about money bullshit too, and I went (sans tickets, but it was not a cheap weekend.) For my part I don't care. I'm not sure what I'm going to tell my brother-in-law, but hey, that's probably my wife's problem, not mine.
What I think you should be taking from all this is a serious thought. To wit: you wouldn't have this problem if your initial post had mentioned your trip.
Everyone here probably thinks it's a good thing if you don't have to choose between your dog and taking your son to the game. That includes me -- I'd have approved the same gift from my wife in a heartbeat. (Not that it matters -- she didn't wait for my approval.) Which means you'd probably have gotten about the same amount of money if you'd disclosed.
And you'd probably be getting a lot more sympathy now if your initial reaction had been "Oh, fuck, I didn't realize how this would come across. I did want to do both. I should have disclosed that I was making the trip. I'll refund any gifts you guys made if you want me to."
But you didn't. So think about that too.
Soliciting funds for a homemade internet charity is like _______________.
1: Ripping into a man's chest and pulling out his still beating heart.
2: The plot of a Michael Bay Movie.
3: Picking up girls at abortion clinics.
4: Not reciprocating oral sex.
5: Firing a rifle into the air while balls deep in a squealing hog.
My sister is a nurse in a pediatric hospital. They had a nine-year-old kid come into the clinic on Christmas Eve with complications of type I diabetes. They discovered cigarette burns all over his torso and had to get the police and child services involved.
It's a really good hospital and they have a lot of wealthy benefactors so they can do a lot for kids like this. She asked him what he would want from Santa through their Santa program. "Don't worry about me," he said. "Give it to a kid who needs it."
I'm glad your son got to go to the game. I don't begrudge him that. But the ability of legit charities to reliably raise funds depends on good will and trust. Every time someone like you does something like this, that gets harder.
Maybe next time give it to someone who needs it.
My first reaction was "tough luck, put the dog down." I am not the animal lover in the family.
But whatever. That isn't the issue. The issue is disclosure and judgment. And apologies.
Obviously he doesn't think his dog's health is worth the cost either. Otherwise he wouldn't have trolled the Internet to raise money to save him instead of arranging his own finances to accommodate the expense of having a sick dog.
But this is also why I don't have pets. I'd rather spend the money on my selfish travel pursuits.
I agree. And Mea Culpa on that. I've already explained that I'm now well aware of how it looks here.
And I would absolutely refund anyone from NDN who donated who now feels otherwise. The money is being held in a Paypal account anyway.
...kind, generous, and good-hearted people gave you money for your poor crippled dog that they could have used for their kids' birthdays, and you chose to spend your money on your kid's rather expensive birthday.
Everybody's got important things to save money for and spend money on. I'm sure every poster here with a family wants to feed their family. I think every poster here would be pretty sad if another posters family starved. But people don't post sob stories about their hungry kids to solicit donations to feed their kids and then turn around and spend the money they saved on their food bills to take a family vacation.
Were you driving back and forth to Orlando each day (3 hours in each direction)?
And I'm sitting in my house.
We were driving down to the Pep Rally on Saturday night as well, but it became apparent we wouldn't make it. Plus I was already exhausted.
Let me get this striaght... You drove to your moms on Friday, then stated you spent Saturday with her and traveled on Sunday to Miami. Now when a picture is raised showing you on your way (blasting Rudy Music) to Miami on the 5th, your story changes to .. we were driving to the pep rally from Orlando, made it all the way to Greenacres florida, then you turned around and drove all the way back to Orlando?
Seriously dude, time to come clean. My 3rd grader is better at this than you are...
I honestly don't recall taking any pictures while driving. And where he hell is Green Acres??
We spent most of the day Saturday in Orlando and then went and had dinner with family friends near West Palm (this is now getting way too personal) and I was going to head to the pep rally since it was only another hour or so away, but plans got scuttled.
me.
greenacres is way closer to Miami than Orlando.. Heading south getting gas...
I'm not one to judge, but I feel as though the BCS game shouldn't have even been an option. It shouldn't have even crossed your mind. If you are in a situation where you are asking people, albeit family, friends, or internet randoms to assist you with a responsibility that should be yours solely, how can spending money at your leisure to go to a football game even cross your mind?
Do I think the dog is fake? No
Do I think you took money from people and paid for your trip? No
Do I think you selfishly pawned your obligation to pay for your pet's surgery on others, even though you probably could have swung it yourself? Yes.
And I bet he laughed all the way to Miami... back to Orlando.. and back again to Miami. I cannot imagine one would not laugh all the way to the lower bowl with a pooch involving con like that one.
$200-300 for the entire trip. Hehe.
My family is forever indebted to NDN, make no mistake about that. My brother was in grad school when he was diagnosed with cancer. Paying for treatments, travel to get to some of these rare clinical trials, etc. was nigh impossible on his stipend and student insurance. My parents' retirement was severely delayed throughout this process in transporting him, arranging for help for him, etc. They are not in the upper echelon of earners, but they worked very hard over their lifetimes to get what they had, and I, the baby in the family, had just gotten through high school when this burden was laid upon them.
There was no telling how or when the whole ordeal would end, except that it wouldn't be cheap. I have long since lost track of the people that helped us, or did us favors throughout that time period. You guys know who you are, and know that we are eternally grateful for that.
After my brother passed away, there was an overwhelming outpouring of support once again from this community. People wanted to send checks to help out with the funeral, to start a tree on campus in my brother's name, help out with scholarships, etc. Hell, people offered to pay for the funeral services outright. We turned down much of this, especially the ultra generous stuff. Not because we felt we were too good for the help, weren't grateful, etc, but to avoid a situation like this down the road. I also want to note that not once did we solicit this help in any form, but merely provided where to send aid at people back here's stubborn insistence.
A few things that helped my parents reach actual retirement:
1. When my brother passed away, many of his extremely high medical bills died with him. Most of this was ridiculous trumped up medical bills, such as clinical trial care triple billing us unnecessarily (clinical trial was supposed to be covered, but they billed my brother's insurance, AND him directly for the same thing, etc). My sister-in-law and brother were married through the Church, but not legally, so thankfully she was not saddled with this burden either.
2. My parents sold our largest parcel of land, something they had been working to pay off since early marriage. It was farm ground, not really worth a whole lot but for its size. This freed them up to get their condo in South Bend.
Not once did my family ask for anything but prayers and advice from this community, even in our darkest hours. This community provided all that and more. That you would ask for such things for yourself is mind-blowing... not to mention the fact we're talking about my brother, a human being, compared to a dog. My brother's dog is more precious to me and mine than any other pet ever has been, but outside of that "surgery" for a dog would have been a .22 shell, especially if it was an expense that couldn't be afforded. Maybe that sounds harsh, but growing up on a farm teaches you some harsh lessons.
NDN adopted your family because of the type of people you are. All of you conduct yourselves with dignity and class. I was very pleased to meet your dad in Miami.
I guess I just wanted to illustrate what a sleaze WC was being... and I suppose curtail anyone trying level pitchforks in other directions.
That was an awesome trip down to Miami. The team's performance tarnished it slightly, but I suppose they really were playing with house money.
Great to see all you guys as well.
Your brother and your whole family are part of this community. Many people here loved your brother, and wanted to do whatever possible to ease yours and his pain. For some, offering monetary relief was all that was an option.
And I totally agree on the dog... when I saw the original post of his I thought "hmmm, that dog would be getting the doggie shot of death."
God bless JM and your family. He was one of the good ones - and your folks are some of the nicest people I've been lucky to meet through here.
You Mays are good people who do things the right way.
I won't endorse it, and I don't begrudge others for thinking the way they do, but it was a once-in-a-generation game. Also, I don't particularly like dogs. So, a solid "live and learn" from me.
So you drove from Orlando to Miami on Sunday and then back to Miami on Monday?
Tickets cost $325 face (at least) = $650
Stadium Tours cost an estimated $50 each = $100
Gas to/from ATL - Miami = $275
Hotel = $400 (you stayed on South Beach, you did not drive back to Orlando on Sunday and then back to Miami on Monday
Fan Zone was about $35 each = $70
Food and souvenirs = $150
That's at least $1600. And I doubt you got your tickets at face value. So I am guessing you paid about $2000 for the tickets. That brings the total to about $3000.
On your facebook page there is a public photograph of you wearing two game tickets around your neck. Not security passes, game tickets. And security people for the game get passes, not game tickets. So we're to believe that your buddy who just happened to run the game's security company (does he also know your girlfriend from Canada?) just happened to get $3000 or $4000 worth of game tickets for free, and then gave them to you for free? Precisely while others were giving you $4000 of dog surgery for free?
And yes, you did seek to get money from people on these boards before. There are plenty of people who were on the boards then and who are still here, who recall your posts about your dire straits and how badly you needed money. They were memorable because they were explicit in that regard. Don't run these cheap cons on Domers. We might be easy marks the first or second time, but we remember things.
Unless, of course, you can't explain.
But I'm not about to also post names, addresses, phone numbers, etc on a public board. Obviously you understand that.
Anybody can make up a sob story and have it work the first time somebody hears it. That's how every homeless guy on the street gets his wine. But as soon as someone turns a critical eye to it, it comes apart. Especially if they can see your facebook page. And then -- as sure as the day is long -- the lie will get more and more elaborate; and you'll come up with reasons why you just can't tell the truth; and you'll get defensive. And tellingly, you've given no response to my suggestion that you just pay back the money.
So now the truth is out -- whether you like it or not.
1) What elaborate lie? People asked questions on here and no fully knowing how it looks, I answered and explained.
2) If anyone on NDN who donated wants their money refunded I will do so, absolutely. I will contact them myself now as it was about 3-4 people.
You didn't get a security guy to give you "access," as you first claimed, and you sure as heck didn't get thousands of dollars of game tickets, South Beach lodging, fanzone tickets, and all the rest for $200-$300 dollars total. That laughable "explanation" is precisely what I'm talking about. And you know it. So does everyone else reading this thread. You're bad at this.
Second, since you were mooching off of people while spending thousands of dollars on your own recreation, and pretending to be broke, don't ask them if they want their money back. Tell them the truth and apologize, and send them the money back whether they ask for it or not. Not just NDN people, either -- everyone you conned. And when you do it, ask each of them to come here and tell everybody that you paid them back. You've pissed all over trust, so now it's down to verify.
it at work this afternoon!
Too soon?
... who is jumping to a few conclusions in order to pass some of these judgments.
Again, I acknowledge how this looks to some of you. But I didn't "con" people out of thousands of dollars and then turn around and spend it on a trip. That simply did not happen. But you've obviously made up your mind to the contrary and nothing I say or provide will change it. So we're done.
Like I say, you suck at this.
You could have changed the way this all "looks to some people" by providing a plausible explanation for why you visibly spent thousands of dollars on the game while begging for money from others. You didn't provide that explanation, because you don't have it. You don't have it because it doesn't exist.
And I just told you what you could "provide" now. You could "provide" all the dog money back to the people who gave it to you, and "provide" proof from them that you've done so. But you're not going to do that either, because that would require you to admit the truth and give back the money.
You're going to explain those discrepancies, and you're going to explain them now.
He had to have made up his mind about the trip, or even paid for most of these expenses for the whole thing before soliciting funds for the dog. Now he's trying to make it seem like this was a snap judgement and he decided to go after the dog bit was done.
His Twitter shows pictures from the Sun Life Stadium Tour on 1/6. So much for staying at Mom's house.
We spent the day Saturday with my mother in Orlando. Then we drove to West Palm to have dinner with her friends, because I was intending to drive the kid down to the pep rally that night.
Because hey -- all you paid for all weekend was gas and a program!
Did he drive 3.5 hours each way every single one of those days? Or just take a vacation in FL for the weekend?
We drove down to Orlando Friday, spent the day with Mom Saturday and made the trip down to Miami (2.5 hrs each way) Sunday and Monday (yes, I drove straight back after the game... though admittedly left after the 3rd).
Carl Cunningham @carlcunningham
Screw it, I'm staying til the bitter end. #irishpride
I think we missed 2 scores (one by each team). But at that point it was better to beat the crowd and get on the road.
No way I'd have left if the game was in doubt, though.
Posted at 8:09 PM though, so perhaps that was a thought after Bama's first touchdown?
He's hinting around about VIP tickets for the spring game.
that is closer to Miami.. And the 5th was Saturday
Upon being offered the tickets:
"There are truly some amazing people in this world, despite the negativity that gets most of the attention. Wow."
"And thanks to the generosity of a couple of amazing people my son Donovan and I are going to the #DiscoverBCS National Championship game!! "
You still had to have incurred more expenses than the $2-300 you claim with all that supposed driving back and forth from Orlando to Orlando. Gas alone! Not to mention parking on South Beach (at the Pep Rally, not free) road tolls, your son's souvenir, food/drink. I'm sure there was more than that. Need I go on?
You begged others for money while spending at least several hundred on your own recreation and entertainment. It doesn't matter if you funded a lavish trip or only spent a few hundred. Asking for donations was a shady move, though I'm not surprised it's lost on you.
I'm not checking your tweets and I don't have Facebook, but there's a hoard of internet tough-guy Magnum PIs.
If that second tweet is real, it goes a long way in your favor.
Or he's a sociopath who knew people might look into his story.
If I was going to con people out of money in order to attend the game I would have done the same thing.
But now the internet Sherlock Holmes's are pulling things out their asses, instead of Winter Celtic.
The information they would need to verify his story. There are people here friends with him on facebook. A phone call to the security company and a quick ten second conversation with the guy who gave him the tickets would clear a lot of this up.
Of course I'd still be pissed if I gave him money for the dog. That $200-300 he spent on the trip could've easily gone to the dog's fund, and there's no excuse for not being upfront with people in the first place.
Once again, Mea Culpa on bringing the Rocky thing to NDN at all. I posted it here once and that was that, but I now fully acknowledge that was once too many.
I didn't bring up the Florida trip because I viewed it as a separate issue. I already put aside over 2k of my own cash for Rocky, and that went untouched... as did every other penny donated (all of which is being held by Paypal anyway).
But, yes, I understand the moral conflict many see here. And I'm sorry.
You say you didn't spend any of the money donated to your dog's surgery because you put all of the expenses of the trip on plastic. Obviously money is scarce for you - so what money are you going to use to pay the credit card bills?
And easily findable from his Dog Sob story fundraiser page.
the tickets around his neck in the one picture appear to be regular tickets and not event staff passes like he claims?
Because wasn't the original story that he got into the game via the security team?
I'm not even sure if they had "event passes" for this game. But, yes, he had 2 regular tickets. Nothing special. They looked just like all the others.
and people working the game received these credentials to get in. I know people who were there the whole week preparing for and working the game and even they had to scrape and beg just to get these passes.
you move the football on what to be outraged about. And, by you, I mean everyone.
@carlcunningham: @orangebowl I'm attending BCS National Championship Game Sun Life Stadium Tour #OrangeBowl #DiscoverBCS #BCShchamps @FightingIrish
@carlcunningham: @FightingIrish I'll be going to the #orangebowl for the #DiscoverBCS Bring back the crystal football! #GoIrish http://t.co/15ORdRwL
12/23/12, 1:26 AM
went down regardless of having tickets or not. And I was one of them.
Were you down in Miami from Orlando for the first, second or third time at the point of this tweet?
"And thanks to the generosity of a couple of amazing people my son Donovan and I are going to the #DiscoverBCS National Championship game!!"
2:12 PM - 5 Jan 13
I specifically remember, because I had just gotten the phone call while in Orlando.
You knew you were going to the game before being there the day of the game, which conflicts with your previous claim that you and your son had simply planned to be there for game day to just enjoy the atmosphere (like a lot of other fans).
"Hey son! Wanna hang out in a parking lot for your birthday?!"
And I would have happily been among them.
That removed where you said the plan was for you and your son to go down sans tickets.
Now it's "you would happily would have". Had you not scored them ahead of time.
I'd quit now. You are digging yourself deeper and deeper...better to admit you fucked up, be contrite, and move on. You aren't doing yourself any favors right now. My 2 cents..FWIW.
And their twitter and Facebook accounts said as much. Yet somehow you never mentioned a single time that you were heading down hoping to score tickets. For free no less.
That he knew he had them already by 12/16 when he posted this:
@carlcunningham: @B_Jax2 @sapphire2momma Awesome! My son's bday is also on 1/7. He'll be 10 and we'll be at the game in Miami to celebrate! GO IRISH!
I'm sure that by "at the game" he meant "in Miami unless some generous soul gives us free tickets!"
We all know 10 year olds enjoy parking lot hangouts for their birthday gifts just as much as the games themselves!
I told my friends my brothers were "at the game" on Monday and they did not originally have tickets to the game. They ended up scalping two tickets and attending that day, but I would definitely differentiate between someone saying they were "at the game" and someone saying they "attended the game".
oh-so-believable.
And while I think WC is guilty of something, I don't know if he's guilty of conning people out of their money so be could attend the game on Monday. I think his reluctance to divulge personal details about his weekend is interesting given his public Facebook and twitter accounts, both of which contain his full name.
I do love playing Internet detective though.
I think he's in a precarious financial situation but wanted to go to the game. Instead of making the hard choice between his dog's surgery and the travel expenses he solicited money on the Internet for the dog and is now here pretending he was the recipient of a ridiculous amount of charity instead of just admitting he spent what money he had on the game and got a bunch of other people to pay for the dog.
Are you trying to defend WinterCeltic?
I'm trying to point out that seventy-zillion posts parsing something he wrote on the internet, while getting attacked from dozens of people, are too many. These posts would be the ones about where he was (4 miles south of WPB), or how he manages his finances, or what the term "access" means.
If my responses cause a poster to think twice before attacking or maybe consider that WC is not a con man, then I guess I am defending him. But, it's against he posts 11-200 in this thread, not posts 1-10.
That's why I advised him to cut bait and stop defending himself. It was just getting uglier.
I don't think that's necessary.
It's not something I'm passionate about, though.
That's five days.
Why drive to Miami twice if you just used the access/tickets you obtained through the generosity of ELITE security to go to the game and did nothing else?
Be precise.
I paid nothing for tickets (not to the tour or fanzone or the game) and I didn't stay in a hotel. Not even a single night. The entirety of my "souvenir" purchases was a 20 dollar game program for the kid. What else do you want to know?
judgement and rectified the situation by returning the money without it being requested.
$200-$300 is ridiculous; that barely pays for the gas. Game tickets, food, parking, souvenirs, where you stayed Monday night.
I didn't buy tickets or stay in a hotel. I stayed in Orlando Fri, Sat, Sun, AND Monday. Gas was probably $200-300, you're right. Oh, and I did buy a game program for the kid, 20 bucks there.
Anyway, I'm done. The day has been ruined by this tedious witch hunt enough. I was wrong for bringing the dog story to NDN at all. And I apologize. And if anyone wants any more detail on any this they are welcome to email me. Otherwise, I'm done.
You were 'done' before this thread even made it the BR.
I can't remember. Getting old sucks.
Who posted semi naked pics of his wife?
but after all that and he hit the troublesome time he's mentioned hen he talked about finances being low, didn't he later post about the new gaming system/games he had purchased?
Something like that is stuck in my mind, but I'm not the best about keeping track of all this.
Unfortunately, the Star Wars handle "IrishJedi" was me, though. But I'm not the game system guy, no.
I do not want to name anyone else publicly.
Your original claim was that you got the tickets for free through the security company. When a few people pointed out that that's impossible, you suddenly invoked some kind of confidentiality concern.
Return the damn money, apologize back here, and make yourself scarce.
Because I did in fact get into the stadium and get game tickets from someone I know with ELITE Security (through my dealings with them at San Diego Comic-Con in he past). That's it.
...those tickets are highly regulated by those who receive them.
Unless you donated a kidney to save this guy's life, the possibility he was able to get two tickets out of their alleged allotment and then give them to you for free strains credulity, as does your claim you drove over 500 miles round trip every day for four days.
I'm honestly unsure if there's an allotment given to the security firm. He had 2 tickets that he was going to give to some family who didn't make the trip.
As for the drive, it was more like 400 miles RT and we only went down there 2 days.
He has tickets worth about $1k each, and first he's going to give them to "some family", and then he's going to give them to you, a random person he's seen at Comi-Con.
You must be the luckiest person in the universe to know these people.
First, this guy wouldn't be selling the tickets. He was going to give them to somebody. And it's not a random encounter. I know the guy (yes, through Comic-Con but not simply through bumping into him or anything) and contacted him ahead of time just in case the opportunity arose. And yes we were very lucky that it did.
Seriously, though, he is a nice guy. And he's offered to accommodate me (if he can) whenever ELITE is running security at events.
Transfer it to checking and pay back each and every person in full that donated a penny. Have them come back on here and verify that you repaid the money.
Edit: removed my theory.
A pair of tickets to some of those events would probably cover all of the dog's medical bills in a charity auction.
Wouldn't you want your tickets going to someone who could sell them to save a poor dog's life?
His sister lives in Los Angeles so it doesn't cost him anything to stay there and drive back and forth to San Diego every day.
convention?
Now it's that you "got into the stadium" and "got tickets."
If some friend of yours gave you tickets why even invoke the security firm? Unless of course you also told someone else some sob story which would be even more phenomenally classless.
... you spontaneously started talking about how lucky you were to get "access" to the stadium tour? And not about how lucky you were to get thousands of dollars of game tickets for free?
Like I say, even with all the practice you've had, you're still bad at this.
And Bonger, you're on something of a fool's errand. You'll never catch a liar in his lies by asking him for more explanations, because he can always make up some more. Instead, you compare his story to what you know, both specifically about him and generally about how the world works. Specifically, for instance, this guy first said he got "access" from a buddy in game security. When advised that we can all see him wearing actual game tickets around his neck, the story is that the buddy gave him thousands of dollars of tickets for free. Now, when it's pointed out that didn't say he got free tickets, he said he got "access," he says that when he said "access" he meant the dinky little stadium tour and just forgot to mention the thousands of dollars worth of free tickets. And others note that his facebook page showed him doing other costly things -- which he now simply denies, claiming he drove back to his Mom's house in Orlando every night.
More generally, he visibly was begging for money at the same time he was going to the BCS championship game in Miami. So flag pops up there. Then he says a buddy he met at Comic-con and who was a manager of the game security force not only snuck him into the stadium tour (what?), but gave him the thousands of dollars worth of free tickets. As grown people we know that's just not plausible, and adding that to what we know specifically gets us further down the road.
And once you've confronted a liar, you're not going to get far by asking more questions and listening to what he actually says in any detail. Instead you ask more questions and watch him, and listen to how the story changes rather than the details of what's in it. Does the story simultaneously get more elaborate and less plausible? Check. Does he get defensive ("You're a very judgmental person")? Check. Does he throw up roadblocks to dangerous questions ("What, now you want my buddy's name and address and hat size?"). Check. That behavior, combined with what we know about his story, gets to the conclusion.
He was caught in a lie from the start. When confronted, he gave an explanation that didn't come close to explaining the truth and that was itself implausible. Everything he's said since then has been just what you would expect a cornered liar to say. There's a very simple way for him to square it -- give the money back and have the donors tell us he's done so -- but he's not interested. So. He's lying, and he's a con man. He's not going to change just because the thread gets longer.
Suddenly things are becoming a little more clear.
You were pictured with two tickets to the game.
How did you get those tickets?
FORRRREVVVVVVVVERRR
I guess that makes sense, assuming you didn't eat on the trip or buy any ND, game stuff, etc. $200 - $300 might cover gas and parking for a 1400 mile RT to Miami.
... sacrificing for the dog may have been a leg up on lifetime experience as well.
...the kind people of NDN for money.
Sorry. I think you're full of shit.
... most of the money for Rocky to date has been raised from personal friends and family. There were some generous donations from a few NDN folks, yes, but it's been people I know that have continued to help out. In fact, I started the FundRazr acct on the advice of a couple of friends. I've had in on my personal Facebook, Twitter, etc.
Doesn't make it better than taking from "anonymous internet friends".
In any case, the point is clearly that while you were asking for help to take care of the dog in one hand, you were using the other hand to buy something that is clearly a "want" item.
Others sacrificed to help you out while you didn't in this case.
That was $200-$300 that if you had it for this event, then you didn't need to get it from someone else.
I wonder if he just made up the story to get money from people on this board.
As I said before, we started the surgery fund a few weeks ago and most of the money to date has been donated via friends and family who know the situation personally.
But mea culpa on bringing it to NDN at all. And I now fully understand how it looks to those unaware. I'm sorry. I'd go back and delete the original post about Rocky if I could. For now, I'm resigned to explaining it.
If this was a teaching situation with my son and I, I would say this.
"If it were me, I would be apologizing for to my friends and family in this case. I would say to them, 'I understand that you were helping me when I thought I wasn't in a position to help myself. I sincerely appreciate that and I messed up. I found that when given another opportunity that I was able to come up with an approach to pay for a trip to Miami for my son and I. I could have used that money towards the dog. You sacrificed for me and I find that I didn't myself in this case. I'm going to do what I can to pay you back. I am sorry.'
"Now, you have to learn to make your own decisions and live with the consequences of those decisions. You can do what you want, but please remember that your decisions impact others as well."
Of course, my B9 is incredibly rational and makes cost benefit / opportunity cost decisions all the time, so this probably would not take place.
If NDN people only gave you a small fraction of the $4K for the dog, then you should be able to identify them and make them whole. Promptly.
That includes a very bad spell about 6 or so years ago.
I'm sorry you don't believe me. But know what kind of accusation you're making.
It's time to take your entire act elsewhere.
assholes that begs for money so he doesn't have to use his savings. The regrettable use of the credit card is a giveaway.