FolkRockFan

Ahh, yeah - I had knockoff Walkmans because my parents wouldn't spend extra money on the real deal. Fine by me, because I owned some decent portable tape players - just can't remember any of the brands. I had one water-resistant model that was bright yellow and managed to hold up despite being dropped several times...not bad for ten bucks, right?Of course, the headphones were always complete garbage. When I was in my early teens, Mom got me some over-the-ear, stereo headphones for my birthday. Koss, I think they were. They weren't too terribly expensive, but they had pretty-good sound quality and were way more durable than the default headphones with the small ear pieces and the thin, metal bands that went over your head.Not that I would happily go back to a Walkman, or one of the many knockoffs, mind you. Man, I wouldn't even go back to a portable CD player. Bulky, a very-limited amount of storage space compared to my Zune (first-gen model), and terrible on battery life.

Hi, everyone!My name is Sarah and I'm from Texas. I'm trying to get some affordable Web hosting so that I can put up a site for pet adoption. Long story short, people like to dump unwanted animals at the end of my private road because it's a secluded, lonely place - virtually no chance of being caught, as nobody who lives on my road can see what's going on. Sigh.So, I'd like to put up a Web site to host some pictures of the cats and dogs we're trying to home. None of the local shelters are no kill, and they're all full anyway, so that's not a very-good option. I also hate standing in parking lots, trying to give away animals, because a) it's illegal in some parts of my community, and I'd prefer that people have to make a small effort to adopt an animal because this tells me that they've put a bit of thought into it. (Well, this is what I'm hoping, anyway.)So, howdy. I'll try to be a good contributor.

I had my braces when I was in the fifth grade. Like I wasn't a big enough dork before the mouth full of metal, right? *sighs* But at least they were just on my upper teeth.I didn't eat at all the first day because it hurt so much. Soon, though, I was eating soup and letting things melt in my mouth. Plain M&Ms are really good even if you CAN'T chew them. Oh, and milkshakes. They rock too.Just make sure that you do a dry brush after lunch. Otherwise, the food that stays stuck in there will drive you out of your skull for the rest of the day.

I was homeschooled, for the most part. That worked out well for me because I did not like schoolwork, I wasn't particularly thrilled with most of my peers, and I was able to graduate when I was 15 (versus age 18). But I LOVE to learn. Especially when it's something that's already interesting to me. I've had quite a few teachers since I started college. Many taught core classes, so they had the challenge of dealing with students who were only there because they had to take those classes. The best of those teachers were the ones who were passionate about what they were teaching. You could tell that they cared because they were upbeat...they were involved...they answered questions...and they sometimes found creative ways to get the point across to us. I had, for example, an Intro to Communications professor who played music every class day because, hey, that's a form of communication. And she also used examples of things that we had with us...like the laptop computer, or the cell phone with texting keyboard...to illustrate various types of communication.

I think that most of us have had rotten days at school. I know that things aren't as bad as they look when I'm in the middle of the bad mood, but still. It stinks sometimes. *grins*A good vent every now and then can make things a little better. But I would suggest reigning in the "I hate my teacher" sort of thing. That's harsh, in my opinion. "Hate" really is a strong word.

You have to hydrate before and after athletic activity. Before the game, spend an hour or so sipping water. Don't chug a gallon in 10 minutes or anything like that, but get a couple of quarts into your system. Do the same thing after you finish.Gatorade is good during the game because it replaces not just the water you lose by sweating, but also the salts and other stuff that you lose. Also: do you drink water or other healthy drinks the rest of the time? If you chug nothing but soda until Ultimate Frisbee day, then you've already dehydrated yourself to a certain extent. Soda's fine in moderation, though. Just balance it with water, juice and other fluids that actually hydrate the body.If the dehydration problem continues...or the feeling of thirst doesn't go away...I'd go to the doctor. There could be a medical problem.Oh, and while I'm thinking about it: it IS possible to drink too much water. Water poisoning can actually kill people. Weird but true.

I was in the military. You know how that goes: no weights or other stuff involved, at least in Basic. Push-ups, sit-ups, pull-ups, running, et cetera will all help you maintain whatever muscle mass you've already built up.And they also help you to build muscle mass. I gained more than twenty pounds when I was in the military...and only a small part of that was fat. Most of it was muscle thanks to all the exercise.You can buy a pull-up bar for thirty or forty bucks - one that mounts in your doorway. Or you can use the nearest tree branch, like my brothers did until they got the bar in place.

That's so stupid.It's not like Apple's refunding money on defective or dangerous products. It's not like they were found guilty of price-gouging or anything like that, either.Rather, a bunch of consumers started whining because they found out that they bought their iPhones too soon. They HAD to be the first in their neighborhoods to have one, so they coughed up the original selling price. And now they're whining because, gee, they could have waited just a few short months and saved a couple of hundred bucks.

I have a Zune. It's well worth 200 bucks (I paid 230 for mine, though - on sale at a local shop a few weeks before Microsoft announced this new price drop thing). The player has an FM tuner, 30 gigs of storage space, that sharing thing, et cetera. Personally, though, I don't care about the fact that the Zune handles photos and videos. I like that to the extent that I can put whatever wallpaper I want on the device, but beyond that? No big deal. I bought the Zune because I really wanted to put my ENTIRE music collection on it. I drive an hour one way to school, two days a week, so it's nice to always have "fresh" tunes.Yes, it's bigger than an iPod. But I don't mind the extra bulk because I'm less likely to forget that it's in my pocket and, you know, accidentally wash it (crazier things have happened with me and electronics).

NewEgg is a cool site. If you're trying to get older computer parts...stuff that's NOT brand-new and cutting-edge...check out pacificgeek.com - they have fantastic specials, discounts, et cetera. I also like Frye's. Their regular retail prices aren't very special, or worth the drive (it's about an hour away from my house and two minutes from my school). But when they put something on sale...boy, do they ever put it on sale. One of my brothers grabbed a 2GB Sony flash drive for 20 bucks once.

I really hate assembling furniture. That's usually a sign that the stuff is cheap, and won't last too terribly long.IKEA is particularly bad. The stuff might last for a decent amount of time but, like you said, putting it together just sucks.I've found that, if I shop around, I can buy REAL furniture for less than what I'd pay at IKEA or Wal-Mart for cheap garbage. My kick-butt desk...solid hardwood with veneer...thirty-five dollars. The only problem? It was used. But you couldn't really tell because everything was still in very good condition.

I'm extremely lazy when it comes to hooking up old hard drives. I bought a nifty cable online. It plugs into one of the USB ports on my computer and hooks up to the hard drive's connector. It also plugs in, so the hard drive gets power. So the old, internal hard drive is now an external storage device. A really cheap flash drive...with a TON of space...basically. :PThe cable cost me, like, 35 dollars, which is a lot cheaper than the price difference between an internal hard drive and an external one of the same size. You can also buy enclosures and such to keep dust and crud out of the hard drive. Or just disconnect it and stick it in a drawer when you aren't using it.

One of the dogs climbs stepladders if you put one of her toys up top. Oh, and she can get down with some semblance of grace, too, which in my mind is even more impressive than climbing up there in the first place.That's the same dog who will carry around a toy - usually a ball of some sort - forever and a day. She'll drop it at your feet when she wants you to throw it. If you don't throw it, she basically whacks your knee with her paw.But she REALLY likes to play baseball. You get her ball and go to the baseball field (in our side yard). She goes out to center field and waits for you to hit her a grounder so that she can snatch it up. Then she brings it to home plate so you can hit it again.

I don't think that the Loch Ness monster is a dinosaur, no.But it could be a submarine. Or a bunch of well-staged trick photographs. Or it could be an actual, living thing.

I'm a senior in college. I took the THEA (Texas Higher Education Assessment) during the college-application process. I never took SATs or ACTs. So...not having one or both of those tests under your belt is hardly the end of the universe as far as higher education is concerned. You don't have to kick the snot out of the SATs to get into college. An accredited, respectable college, even. :PSome scholarships, however, require SAT or ACT scores. That being the case, I would recommend doing the best you can on whichever test you choose to take. Studying beforehand and trying your best can only help you. But don't, you know, give up on college if you DON'T do well.

I lived in a dorm for one year...then an on-campus apartment for one year. I commute now 'cause it's cheaper to live at home *grins*Make sure that you get yourself a nice, sturdy backpack: preferably one that's also comfortable on your shoulders. You could have to haul that thing - fully loaded, of course - a pretty good distance every day. Across the campus...or even just across the parking lot...can be a long walk.You can never have enough light in your dorm room. Get a lamp for your bedside. Get a lamp for your desk. Get a flashlight in case the power goes out (it's happened before). Just don't bring candles. They're banned in most campus housing complexes because so many fires have started as a result of them.Even if you have wonderful roomies, you're never going to agree on every little thing. Make sure that you have a fleece throw, for example. That nifty lil' blanket is going to be very handy if one of your roommates likes to keep the common area colder than you'd prefer. Oh, and stock up on toilet paper. You'd be amazed at how quickly two or three people can go through a four-pack.

If China continues intentionally poisoning pet food, toothpaste, et cetera...sending us exploding car tires...blah, blah, blah....AND trying to hack into our military's network? Well...it'll take a heck of a lot more than a standing army of 300 million to keep us out of their butt cracks.

Yeah - learning even a little bit about how to take care of your stuff can really make things easier (and cheaper). The other advantage to learning how to do it yourself is, well, the learning. It's nice to have that feeling of accomplishment when you learn how to reinstall WinXP without calling tech support or sending out the computer. Every time I learn something new about my computer, I feel a little more confident and a little better about life in general. It's really worth the reading, the experimenting, et cetera...whatever it takes to figure out how to do whatever needs to be done.By the way: I have a Compaq laptop. I've had it for two years now, in fact. I haven't had any real problems. I just had to reinstall WinXP, but that's a routine thing with Windows *grins*

Blaming violent video games for a person's violent choices is just another pathetic excuse - a means of shirking personal responsibility. "The video game made me do it!" is just a lame excuse. We have free will. We choose what to do, or not do. It's not like the video game emerged from the TV screen, put a knife to the player's throat and forced him/her to go do something evil or violent.And why is it that, when people do rotten things, society is quick to blame an external force...but when that person does something really good and wonderful, he or she gets the credit? You can't really have it both ways. You either have free will or you don't.

The U.S. military discontinues projects for all sorts of reasons. I can't really say why this particular project was dropped, though. There could have been too many problems with the setup. It could be impractical in some way that's not obvious to you and me. (I've never been in combat, so what appears to be a great, fantastic weapon to me might actually be a nightmare for a soldier or a Marine to handle in the field. I don't know.)But rest assured that the U.S. military is still developing, researching, testing and conceiving all sorts of kick-butt technology. They recently did some really sweet things with camouflage, and they're still testing and developing really nice weapons.

Grounding the electrical outlets gives the electricity a safe place to go when something goes wrong. If your stuff isn't grounded, then you run the risk of frying your equipment. And if things go TERRIBLY wrong, you can fry your house too. Grounding an ungrounded outlet is fairly straightforward and easy to do. An electrician can get the job done in just a few minutes. I can't tell you how much it'll cost, because I don't live where you live. Not even in the same state. Whatever you pay the electrician is worth the investment because you'll be able to relax knowing that a power surge or other mishap won't destroy your computer, your house, et cetera.

I was homeschooled, so there wasn't really any opportunity to skip *grins*But in college...well...I don't often skip classes. If I miss, it's because there's a good reason for it. I'm supposed to be in classes right now, for example, but I'm sick. I feel like dog poop AND I'm contagious, so it's just best to stay at home. I can still keep up with the classwork, so it's not the end of the world. I learn more, though, when I'm actually in class. When the profs are discussing the literature that we all read at home, I get a better idea of what's going on. And if I'm actually present in my math class, I can ask questions and actually see the prof work out the problem on the board or projector or whatever. There's something to be said for showing up, even when the prof IS really boring

Sparknotes are good for summaries. You can read basic summaries for free online, or buy PDF files for a few bucks per piece of literature. I caution everybody, however, to actually read the work for themselves. You cannot be 100 percent certain that the person who writes the summary gets everything right.Besides: you get more out of it if you actually read and analyze the literature for yourself. Oh, I'm not saying that I've NEVER used Sparknotes or Cliff's Notes before. I have. Sometimes a book is just so boring, so lame, that I can't quite make myself read the entire thing on my own in time for the deadline.But at least try to do it yourself first. You just might find that what appeared to be a cruddy book is actually a pretty good read.

Did you sign for your computer when you got it back? If you had to sign for your computer, did you inspect it before you gave 'em your signature?Also: somebody had to ship your computer to the repair center, right? How was it packaged, or do you know? It could have been damaged in transit, which is the shipper's fault (whomever that might be).

If he doesn't like paying property taxes, then he can rent. The landlord pays the taxes...though said landlord usually does build that cost into the monthly rent. But still.I hate when adults throw tantrums over adult responsibilities in ways that inconvenience others. I feel for the people who had to handle, count and mark receipts for all those bills and coins. And I definitely feel for the person who had to haul all that money to the bank. Big, fat waste of time.