Through enough heart-to-heart talks and badgering, I came to see credit as an option only to be used for large, important purchases like homes or cars.

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"When I was a boy it used to be like this but two weeks ago the groynes were totally covered, " he said.

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"I used to watch, obviously, like be a friend or whatever, " he says.

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"When we were doing RoboCup (an international robotics competition) it did not enter my mind that the learnings I would take from my students I had trained could be used to build a company like Kiva Systems, " he says.

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"I used to be offended when people said 'Oh, it looks like a war zone, '" Mr. Kelley said.

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It will never be just another day, but now I don't dread it like I used to.

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"I hope we will be able to create an inexpensive technology that can be used here and in countries like Bangladesh to save people's lives, " Nikolaidis said.

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