Hawks

I think you could easily add a sub forum to OT for Real Life (I had a good idea for a name earlier but now it's gone). Put all the 'Post pics of your life/you/pets/computer' threads and the relationship thread as stickies in the new sub forum and have a new sticky detailing blogging rules. I always see these sorts of suggestions shot down because of the 'if we see a want, we'll add it' view. Most times people don't read Forum updates & suggestions and they don't know anything about what's going on. I remember this happened a while back with a suggestion for a mobile forum skin. I think a lot of people would use it if it were implemented, just not enough people know it was suggested. I know many frequent OT so maybe this suggestion will be the one that makes it.

I made my blog legit... Added some random featurey things that I think are cool. Off to render a mega-huge Diet Mtn Dew can after GIMP finally starts. It appears that while ff and gimp work better together because they hog less resources at the same time, when one's trying to hog all the resources it still fails.

Probably throwing rocks at my brother for a really weak reason. I think I was grounded for about a month after that. Otherwise general arguments which escalate and generally result in removal of computer privileges.

The stars are very addicting, and easy to make. Fun too. What do you mean by Sculpture stuff? like Figures like a crane or a frog? You could definitely try a crane, they're kind of hard to make perfectly (I've only managed one ever...) but I was thinking more along the lines of a dragon... These instructions (http://dev.origami.com/images_pdf/dragon.pdf). It would be cool to see what you make of them.

I used to be a fan of PETA on Facebook, then I took them off due to the inane amount of updates I got (and finding out about 'Sea Kittens')... I honestly don't think that Facebook stats have any correlation to the number of people who care about what PETA 'stands for'. You've got a bunch of uninformed people who go, "PETA? They want to save the animals! I'll be a fan!" and then they send requests to their friends and you get a huge mess. This 'additional social networking' stuff doesn't sound good though.

Loving the chainsaw sword thing and the gun that looks like a Sawz-All. The red is a little bright for me, but the paint job is great. Detail on the tunics is really nice.

Updated with today's events. I would have added more, but I'm stuck on my DS right now and it has a character limit on posts. It's also pouring. Hopefully tomorrow I won't have to go on the book bus, I've got lots of semi-important things to do.

I love making those little star things. The icosahedrons are sweet, you should try other sculpture type stuff, I bet you could do it... (a particular dragon I saw on DA a while ago comes to mind)

So the insanity begins. Upon reading Th3_Crusader's original topic (in Forum Updates/Suggestions), I have decided I won't get yelled at if I put a blog here. Hopefully enough people just decide randomly to make blogs that they get their own sub forum. So to begin. I made a blog once in BlogScape and got (kind of) yelled at. Rather, it was frowned upon. So I stopped, but now I'll update this at least frequently. I'm amazed that people actually read these things, but then I read some, and they're more interesting than you think. Enough of this drivel. About me. I'm 15 and live in Michigan (btw I am in fact a girl). I've got a younger brother who has yet to join Tif, though I've tried to convince him many a time. I'll be a sophomore at my high school in the fall... Where I am hopefully not going to be taking double math. My hobbies include generally being a geek. I've spent over $200 on D&D books and supplies. I use the GIMP and make a large variety of digital and traditional art. I write some as well, though I mostly read. I play the baritone and alto saxophones... I am jobless, though I really need to get one. I recently bought a DSi and I also own a Wii. I generally don't have a life; I spend most of my time on the computer or reading/drawing. This blog will mostly detail art and stuff like that, though it'll include my mundane life. I'll continue the intro stuff later when I come up with more. For now, I'll get to the actual blog entry. [hide=TODAY'S ENTRY - 7/26/09]Leaving for camp in a few hours. Nothing much to report, though I've updated the links/song of the week.[/hide] Continuous Features Song of the Week - "Generation Rock" - Revolverheld Links of the Week Make a Sock Monkey - Self-explanatory. Inspiration Pad Online - The Dungeon Master's greatest resource. Has generators for any sort of thing you could possibly need and a downloadable program to help you make more. [hide=Song of the Week - Archives]Previous Songs of the Week: 7/19-7/25 - "Time is Running Out" - Muse 7/26-8/1 - "Generation Rock" - Revolverheld _[/hide][hide=Links of the Week - Archives]7/19-7/25: XKCD - Who doesn't like a webcomic that carries a warning proclaiming, "Warning: this comic occasionally contains strong language (which may be unsuitable for children), unusual humor (which may be unsuitable for adults), and advanced mathematics (which may be unsuitable for liberal-arts majors)." Generally full of win. Grappa - Interesting wire frame/fractal generator that follows your mouse. 7/26-8/1: Make a Sock Monkey - Self-explanatory. Inspiration Pad Online - The Dungeon Master's greatest resource. Has generators for any sort of thing you could possibly need and a downloadable program to help you make more. _[/hide][hide=Art Gallery]I wish you could hide within hide tags in phBB3... | | _[/hide][hide=Hawk's Desk!] _[/hide][hide=Hawk's Desktop! (1152x864)] _[/hide][hide=Current Wish List]I'm keeping a list of the things I'm planning on buying. Why I'm putting it here I don't know. The Resistance - Muse (comes out Sept 15) Pre-order on Amazon $14.99 Showbiz - Muse $12.99 on Amazon Sandisk 8GB SDHC Memory Card $12.92 plus $5.95 S&H on Amazon The Bag of Holding Messenger Bag - $49.99 on ThinkGeek _[/hide] Blog Entries [hide=Entry 1 - 7/20/09]Today I went over to my grandma's house. We replaced her 12 year old Win98 laptop with a slightly used XP, brand new keyboard and monitor. It went off without a hitch, except that the modem wasn't plug and play, so we couldn't get it hooked up to the internet. (the laptop didn't recognize my flash drive, and the XP doesn't have a floppy drive, and the laptop can't burn CDs). I got home and put it on a CD, we'll go there tomorrow and fiddle with Norton, I don't know what we're going to do about it because she still has a subscription until November on the laptop... We're going to see if it can transfer, but I don't think it will. On the way there, we picked up the alto saxophones from the music store, it was a general cleaning since we've got service contracts we take them in there after school gets out (my brother and I each have one). I also got a nice bari sax ligature finally. We dropped off my lovely sharps container at the health department too. (I've got type 1 diabetes) I was going to go swimming, but we spent most of our time setting up the computer. My brother got a birthday present (lego set involving Count Dooku) and put it together with our cousins 'helping'... They're 6 and 8 and aren't really much help. Then we got 5lbs of blueberries on the way home, it was awesome. She was very happy for obvious reasons... Plus she can play Freecell and Hoyle Card Games again. The laptop is a piece of crap... but I kind of want it to play with. Gonna see if I can ask for it tomorrow, I don't know what else she's going to do with it. It's a really old Micron laptop, I'm not sure what model. I want to put Linux on it and play with it; I also found the Win98 boot disk, it was a 3.5" disk and I laughed muchly. I highly recommend the Mario Clock for anyone with a DSi. It's the best $2 that wasn't mine (1000 free DSi points from Nintendo until Oct 5) I've ever spent. I also went to Culver's where they had a lame indoor waterfall.[/hide][hide=#2 - 7/21/09]Helped out on the Book Bus this morning. My mom's stalker was at the last stop... She's kind of our neighbor and since my mom works at school and she's there a lot she gets into weird conversations ("I saw you going into town and I followed you," that sort of creepiness). I made a fairly long lanyard and my brother invented a new bracelet/keychain thing, out of which I made a pretty awesome bracelet. I was going to take a picture of it but I forgot to. I will tomorrow probably. Went back to my grandma's house and spent a half an hour trying to connect to the internet only to realize I had the wrong modem selected. After that, I screwed up while setting up Outlook for her and had to reset it... Then we found out that since it's Outlook, it won't transfer emails. I installed Adobe Reader, but Java wanted to download crap and it would have taken years (the connection was 24.6 Kbps)... then we did need an antivirus, so I was going to download AVG because I forgot which was better (AVG or Avira)... It took at least a half an hour to just get to 15%. So we quit that and I think my mom is going to ask about getting a free one on a CD and installing it over there. Had tacos for dinner and took a pic of my bracelet which promptly fell off and now I can't fix it.[/hide][hide=Random Pic! - 7/21/09] Mah epic bracelet.[/hide][hide=#3 - 7/22/09]Today happens to be my brother's birthday (his 13th). He's helping on the Book Bus right now (I got out of it today but I have to go tomorrow...) I made him an origami cube (instructions found in viewtopic.php?f=16&t=803227) because I never colored my drawing, it might end up being a Christmas present for him. That's all for now, I'm planning on rendering a Diet Mtn Dew can and possibly my shoe. My jaw has started cracking again and I've got a huge map to digitize. I've now rendered the Mtn Dew and made a new sig with it... My mom let him open one of his four presents, so he picked the smallest one. It turned out to be a really crappy digital camera my dad bought at the company surplus store yesterday for $2. (That's why he bought it. Because it was $2)... So he installed the software and it's just a crappy digital camera. I laughed because he picked the lamest one to open. The rest of his presents: Ashoka's Starfighter LEGO set, an axe sheath, and some bits and pieces from BrickForge. Also I discovered Muse's new song "United States of Eurasia" thanks to rangeor (YT: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6S83tuz8000), it's pretty awesome sounding so far, but it's running really slowly. They are very much channeling Queen in this song.[/hide][hide=#4 - 7/23/09 LEGO TOY STORY!]I got out of Book Bus today. Planning on working on my D&D world some. This guy from the power company is coming this afternoon to look at the trees because a bunch are under the power lines, and they think they need to be cut down. They're all apple trees, they don't get that high. So he's coming out to see which ones really need to be cut down. My dad'll probably end up trimming a lot of them. LEGO TOY STORY. Coming January 2010. (proof: http://www.getthebigpicture.net/blog/20 ... -lego.html ) It's going to be epic. They had sets out at ComicCon (there are pics somewhere). Little green alien minifigs. R/C in LEGO. Buzz Lightyear. I WANT A PIZZA PLANET TRUCK! YES THAT WOULD BE AMAZING! I just spent about 2 hours sorting some of my lego collection in hopes of finding my black skeleton armor. I didn't find it, once again I've misplaced a large number of my minifig accessories because I found i was missing other stuff. I'm finishing up my BrickForge list and will probably order some for Christmas.[/hide][hide=Custom Lego Minifig Headgear - 7/24/09] _[/hide][hide=#5 - 7/25/09]I saw Harry Potter today. It should have been PG-13 and there should have been more violence, is all I can say. Went to my grandma's house, my aunt gave my brother a birthday present (another LEGO set) and my grandma was like, I have one of those. She got it out and gave it to my cousins, and my brother and I got another set (apparently she bought them at Christmas when they were on sale) I'm leaving tomorrow and I still need to pack, so don't expect an update tomorrow.[/hide][hide=#6 - 7/26/09]Leaving for camp in a few hours. Nothing much to report, though I've updated the links/song of the week. _[/hide] Other Features [hide=FAV|MUSIC - Some of my favorite bands]My favorite band of all time is definitely Queen. Something about Freddie Mercury's voice talents and the huge variety of their songs just makes them amazing. My personal favorite song is tied between 'Bohemian Rhapsody' and 'Seven Seas of Rhye'. A few of their lesser known songs: 'I'm in Love with my Car', ''39', and 'The Prophet's Song'. Muse is my current favorite band. I own Absolution and Black Holes and Revelations. I would recommend Absolution unless you already own it. They're currently on tour in Europe and I would really like to go to one of their concerts when they come to the States later this year. (I still haven't been to a 'proper' concert.) I'm also looking forward to their new album, The Resistance, it's due out in September I believe. Favorite songs: 'Time is Running Out', 'Thoughts of a Dying Atheist', 'Starlight', 'The Small Print', and 'Knights of Cydonia'. 'Knights of Cydonia' is on Guitar Hero 3, 'Assassin' is on World Tour, and 'Supermassive Black Hole' was featured in the movie 'Twilight' (the song was probably the highlight of the movie). Also one of their songs was featured in the trailers for 'Watchmen', I think it was 'Take a Bow'. Other bands/artists I enjoy include: Journey, Joe Satriani, Genesis, Led Zeppelin, AC/DC, Cheap Trick, Styx, and Santana. I mostly listen to classic rock and alternative, with some metal/hard rock mixed in. There are a few pop/rap (whatever you call the music that's popular with teenagers...) songs I like (notably a lot of Katie Perry's stuff, 'No Handlebars', and that song with the chorus involving Helen Keller, it's just so catchy! :lol: ).[/hide][hide=REVIEW]GIMP 2.6.6 Website: http://www.gimp.org Rating: 9/10 - Upgraded from GIMP 2.4.6 The current stable release of GIMP, it updates a lot of things that are invisible to the casual user. They've gotten rid of the toolbar in the toolbox (something that'll take me some getting used to). The free select tool now acts more like the pen tool, which could be useful for those who render with it. I haven't done much with the text tool, but the new text wrap feature has been needed for a while. There's not really a learning curve if you switch from 2.4 to 2.6. Preferences are now under Edit, which is annoying, but otherwise everything just works a little better. It takes much longer to start up, but that's probably due to me running FF at the same time. It opens a new window when you start (which houses the toolbox menubar), and now only takes one space in your taskbar. All in all still a very good and useful program, if you've never used it, I would download it and play around. You can find tons of tutorials on the web and find some made by Tifers in The Gallery (the Resource Sticky is here.)[/hide][hide=REVIEW]This is a list of epic books. Read them all, you must. The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams The Lord of The Rings Trilogy + The Hobbit - J.R.R. Tolkien Protector of the Small Quartet - Tamora Pierce Lioness Quartet - Tamora Pierce Trickster's Choice & Trickster's Queen - Tamora Pierce Artemis Fowl series - Eoin Colfer The Wish List - Eoin Colfer The Supernaturalists - Eoin Colfer Harry Potter series - J.K. Rowling Tales of Beedle the Bard - J.K. Rowling Tales of Drizzt Do'Urden - R.A. Salvatore City of Ashes - Cassandra Clare Graceling - Kristin Cashore Ranger's Apprentice series - John Flanagan Last Apprentice series - Joseph Delaney Bartimaeus Trilogy - Jonathan Stroud The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing - M.T. Anderson _[/hide][hide=LIT]Ang was born in AlKon, a drow city, in the land of Alanmark. The drow of Alanmark have an island nation, the capital of which is DrikTo. As a male of an unsuccessful family (and a third child), he was cast out after his third birthday, into the caverns, to die or make his life as he would. Ang befriended the driders and they taught him much. He learned which fungi provided light and which were not edible. As he grew he traveled from place to place, finding every now and then a village in which he would stop and stay a while. He began to learn the differences between city life and those of the villages he grew to love. He knew their songs and stories, and it was these that helped him make his meager living as a traveler. He learned of the ocean, and of DrikTo, where it was said he could live as a king. Ang planned to make his future there, in the OverLight, where no one cared who you were or where you came from. It seemed a paradise to Ang, the outcast in a world of darkness. He made his way toward the city, stopping at villages along the way, singing for his supper and whatever the people had to give him in the way of money. He saved up enough at last to hire a wizard to complete the one thing he couldnt; he needed to see in the OverLight. In DrikTo he found an old drow, one who was willing to try for the meager sum Ang offered. The wizard knew his cobbled-together spell could fail, and he told Ang as much. Ang believed that the wizard had succeeded. Ang gathered supplies and when he felt he could make it, ventured up into the light. DrikTo was an odd city, being equally large above and below ground. He was blinded at first, then became at home in the light. Far away, he caught his first glimpse of the ocean. In the city he spent most of his time at inns and taverns, singing for his lodging and earning a few coins each night. At one in particular, the name of which hell never forget, he met Tyson. Tyson was an elf that had seen much in his few years, and also a traveling bard. He saw talent in Ang and agreed to apprentice him. They were an odd pair, an elf and a younger drow, but they made it work. The music didnt care and neither did they. Tyson liked to move, as audiences only have so much money and they get tired of the same songs each day. After a month in which they covered every inn, bar, and tavern in Upper DrikTo, they took a ship to ZelKon, and then traveled from the other drow island to the Northern Isles. Not many travelers came through and the locals were grateful for them. They were wary of Ang at first, but when they heard his voice they threw caution to the wind. He knew Elven, after all, and lent his accent to interesting renditions of their songs. Tyson taught Ang to play the flute and the mandola. He knew that Ang would be able to play anything, and told him so. The pair knew Ang would have to go his own way soon. The city where they lived in the Northern Isles, Ze, wasnt that amazing once you lived there for a few months. It was a haven for elves, although a large number of gnomes and dwarves made it their home. When it was time for Ang to go, Tyson would come with him to Mo, the port city, but go on to a different island. On this final day, Tyson gave Ang the traditional gift to the wanderer: a hat. Angs hat was bright green, and had orange trim and bobbles. Over the year or so that they had traveled, Ang had collected a motley assortment of weapons; he owned a secondhand longbow, a short sword commissioned for him, and a well-used walking staff that was more than just a staff. He purchased a gnome-made cloak with a peculiar black-and-white pattern for himself. They traveled together to Mo. There, Tyson left for Nomar, while Ang traveled to the Kingdom of Hrothgar by a course that left him on Notmuch for a few days while waiting for the next ship, which would take him to Port Nandar. He performed for the townspeople, who were wary of him, but offered much. He acquired both a flute and a mandola in the days leading up to when they left DrikTo, and they served him well now. He made plenty of money while waiting. When his ship came, he was happy to leave. He played some on the voyage, but his fellow passengers were not friendly to him, and he was the only drow on onboard. When the boat finally reached Port Nandar, Ang was happy to be rid of the passengers. He found an inn and stayed for a few days, gathering that the capital of the elven land was Hrothgar (They arent very imaginative, he thought) and it was a few days travel to the south. He figured that there was ample opportunity for profit on the way, because the port city was large, and the capital had to be bigger. At the first village he stopped at, a half a days travel from Nandar, he performed for the young children. He noticed one of them had an odd coloring to his skin. You there, young child. Whats your name? Im Kalan, sir. May I inquire as to your parents, Kalan? My mama lives in that house sir, you could ask her, shall I take you to her? Please do, Kalan led the way into the small wooden house. There wasnt much to it, Ang noticed, but it was certainly comfortable, if he ever chose a place to live, this would be it. Kalan, whos this? This is a juggler, mama. Hes visiting and wanted to ask you something. Well, run along and play then, Kalan. Ill be fine. Juggler, is there a name I can call you? I am Angrin Haeluneyas, traveling minstrel, at your service maam. But just call me Ang. Kalan said you had something to ask me? Yes, I was wondering as to who his parents were Because of his skin? Yes If you dont want to answer thats perfectly fine, Im sorry to have bothered you but it intrigued me. No, I will, I brought it on myself I suppose. His father was indeed a drow, although he was one of the better ones. He was killed a few months ago when one of our less tolerant neighbors got into a drunken rage. Kalan hasnt been the same since. Thats what happens when you lose your father. Hes the man of the house now. Im sorry to hear of your loss. I hope Kalan can learn from others misgivings and have an as close to normal childhood as possible. Thank you. I wonder a bit about you though, where are you from? I was born in AlKon, one of the cities in DrokThar. My family wasnt well off, and since I was male, and third born, I was cast out on my third birthday. I lived in the caves and learned to survive. I finally made my way to DrikTo, where I met Tyson, who was my master for about a year. I learned much and I miss him now. We split up, I went to Nandar, and he to Nomar. Thats all. Tyson has been here before, I remember. The last time was shortly before Kalan was born. Juggler! Juggler, sir! I found this! Kalan burst into the house, waving a small orange ball. Oh, has it fallen off already? Ang took off his hat, and upon examining it noticed that the third bobble had fallen off. Keep it, Kalan, to remember that theres hope in this world. I heard about your father and Im very sorry. I might come back someday when youre older and need a profession. I think youd make a great juggler. Oh thank you sir! Ill remember and Ill keep it forever! Kalan hurried to his bed, and placed the bobble on a small shelf above it, which held many small artifacts. Ill be making my way to the inn now, if you would like to come you are obviously welcome. I want to go, can I mama? I can watch after him, and Ill send him home before it gets dark. Ang added. Then you may go. Be sure to listen to Mr. Ang and dont talk to strangers. Ang, with Kalan in tow, headed to the inn. He took a seat before the fireplace and sat Kalan down next to him. Kalan, would you like something to eat? Yes, sir, but I can pay for it, I have a little money, Ill pay. Just go up to the bar and ask for what you want and Angs usual. Have them put it on my tab. Ang didnt technically have a tab, his room being payment, but the inn keep knew wanderers were good for business and had money to spare. Kalan came back shortly after with a steaming plate of roast beef, potatoes, and cheese, and a small bowl of a hearty stew. He gave the plate to Ang, and sat down to sip his stew. Ang took a few bites of his meal then went to the bar. I believe I forgot to request a drink? A mug of cider, if you please, and one for the child. Youll pay for him, right? Of course. How much do I owe you? Just a few silver. Its good for business, you see, I have to charge everyone, unless theyre doing me a service. I understand, Ang replied while fishing some coins from his belt purse, I believe that should do it, Thanks, and get to singin, juggler, or well have a nasty fight on our hands. Ang heard the reply and hurried to his seat on the fireplace. He handed Kalan a mug of cider. Now, dont drink it all at once. Youll get sick. He tuned his mandola, and began to strum a country song, The Dark Flies Away. It was well known in these parts, though not so much where Ang was born. He was good at it, and the words came easily, because they matched his mood. The crowd joined in and though he was very happy, he made sure to keep an eye on Kalan and the sun. He reckoned it was about four oclock; the patrons had come early because Ang wanted an early night since he was leaving the next day. After a rousing rendition of Allon, The Soothsayer and The Tale of Jozan, the sun began to set. Ang sent Kalan home with a gold piece and instructions to give it to his mother. He reassured Kalan that he would visit tomorrow before he left. Ang sang more, and when his voice began to tire, he got out his flute and played the same songs, without words. This gave the crowd, most of which who were now fairly drunk, a chance to sing their local parodies. Ang always got a laugh out of it, and they enjoyed it. It was arranged that when the clock struck eleven, Ang would take his leave. He did so, finishing his performance with a composition written with Tyson, which they simply called, Song. In the morning, he had his usual coffee and toast before thanking the inn keep for his help with spreading the word that he was leaving. As before, the inn keep shook it off, saying it was good for business. Ang visited Kalan and his mother, giving a hug to the child and reminding him that there is always good, you just have to look in the right place. _[/hide] Upcoming: Firefox 3.5 review My thoughts on the Nintendo DSi [hide=Guide to Entries]## - Date; Actual blog entry REVIEW; Review of software/something INFO; Informational piece which may or may not be biased FAV; A favorite topic/something of mine ART; Featured piece of mine LIT; Story/piece I've written MUSIC; Featured song I had to add, generally a review of the band as well Continuous Features: Song of the Week; YouTube video of a song I feel merits listening to. Changes every week (probably on Sundays), I'll archive old ones though. Art Gallery; Some of my favorite art for your enjoyment. Link(s) of the Week; One or two fun sites I've come across in my travels. Changes every week, old ones will be archived. _[/hide] I hope you find this entertaining.

If you're smart you can make less than 30K a year and not be in debt and be able to afford health care (see Dave Ramsey). While there are lots of people who are complete arses and make lots of money, there are tons of people who AREN'T. Bill Gates, the guys who started Amway, tons of other (filthy rich) people give millions to charities every year, and set up new ones to help people. I'll use my family as an example. My dad is a software developer. I'm not sure how much he makes, but I'm pretty sure it's less than 100k. My mom is a teacher's aide, she makes about 10k in a school year. My dad's employer offers great health care as a benefits package (part of his pay is used to pay for our insurance, it's like 12k a year I think...). I have type 1 diabetes, and am on an insulin pump along with a prescription for 5 blood glucose tests a day (a vial of test strips is $50 for 25 of them. the insulin pump is $4k-5k, and insulin is $250 per 100mL vial, of which I use about 4 a month. that doesn't include the infusion sets, pump cartridges, and various other things)... If we didn't have good insurance (aka was on Medicaid/Children's Special Health), I would have worse control (would still be on shots, but still with the $250 vials of insulin) and would be more at risk in the future for complications. I am an active Girl Scout and I volunteer after school in a kindergarten classroom. I do a lot of volunteering through the Girl Scouts with their different opportunities. My brother's in Boy Scouts and does a fair bit of volunteering as well. We raise money every year for JDRF (the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation) and last year we raised about 2k (plus we donated at least $500). We donate our time to help with after school programs for at-risk kids, and provide childcare for parent workshops in our school district. My GS troop has a park we pick up. Anyway, I guess what I mean to say is, not everyone fits into a stereotype... And that companies need to lower their costs... Though the reason prescriptions are so high are so the companies make profit to do more research, but the billing system the insurance/drug companies run is seriously screwed up. There's a base price that I would pay if I didn't have any health insurance (we'll go with the test strips. $50 a vial). With my insurance, I pay a copay ($15) which goes to the pharmacy. Then the bill is sent to the insurance company, and the price is lowered on that bill from the MSRP (to like $30 a vial). Then they don't pay what we paid in the copay... I honestly don't know. It's just a mess, and I probably explained this wrong here. If you know how it works in the US I'd be interested to find out. Though it probably varies by insurer.

I went over to my grandma's house and set up her new computer for her. only problem was her modem wasn't plug and play (it's like 12 years old). so I tried to get the driver off the laptop. I had a flash drive, but the laptop's so old it doesn't understand them, and there was a driver on the flash drive but I deleted it. So I tried to put it on a floppy, except the new computer doesn't have a floppy drive. I couldn't burn it on a CD because the laptop can't do that, plus I had no blank CDs. So I went home and got the driver off the internet, along with the java and adobe reader installers. then I just copied the app files for Adobe Flash/Shockwave and Macromedia Flash cause it wouldn't download right. Going back tomorrow to finish the internet set up... She's got Norton and we're going to see what about that because the subscription doesn't run out until Nov, but we need to get a new copy of it for the new computer. She still has dial-up, and we're trying to convince her to get a cellular modem, which is why we didn't just go out and buy a new modem. And I showed my mom more fun dorky things to do on my DS. I find myself playing with the $2 apps more than the $20 game (LEGO Star Wars The Complete Saga)... I got the Mario Clock and Animal Crossing Calculators as well as PiCTOBiTS, which is epic. She's decided she wants one for Christmas, though she thinks a DS Lite would be better because she doesn't need/want the Internet/apps/cameras. I also went to a Culver's with an indoor waterfall for the first time. It was kind of disappointing.

So I guess if I get some motivation, I shall make a blog. This is pretty interesting, I'll keep reading. :thumbsup:

Most of the time it's due to not taking care of yourself. In many people's cases (mine and my cousin's) it's not. Type 1 diabetes is due to genetic predisposition and is not preventable. But I do definitely agree with the rest of what you said... Plus some of the money that's being saved/spent on healthcare could go to research by way of healthcare (experimental trials, new treatments, etc)

I haven't played, but I know the basics because I was obsessed with Hikaru no Go for some time... Still haven't bought the last 6 volumes though. If you want to read manga about Go and learn some at the same time, it's pretty awesome and strangely addicting.

I don't know if you have these in there already, it looked like you didn't have most of them: Journey The Eagles The Cars The Moody Blues Cheap Trick ZZ Top Bob Seger Billy Joel Billy Idol Creedence Clearwater Revival (CCR) Revolverheld Night Ranger Survivor Joe Satriani Trans-Siberian Orchestra Tom Petty The Traveling Wilburys 38 Special Boston Bowling For Soup Aretha Franklin Devo Kansas Katrina and the Waves Joe Walsh Men without Hats The Who Sammy Hagar Rush Styx Yes Was Not Was Stevie Wonder REO Speedwagon Pat Benatar

I have a legit issue with the 'free for all' care. It's equally crappy care for all. I have nice insurance because my dad's worked hard and gotten a nice job. I have type 1 diabetes. With it, you can have shots, use insulin pens, or use an insulin pump. I have an insulin pump, and it's amazing and has made my life a ton better. They cost about $4000 apiece (most insurances only cover one every four years, most pumps have a 4 year warranty). If I lived in the UK or Canada, I would have much worse care, and would still be on shots because of the huge waiting lists they have for government-provided medical devices. I was actually on the government-run child health care insurance thing for a month because of a gap in our insurance coverage when my dad switched jobs. It ended up being a fiasco, because while we still paid some for it (it was like $100 a month or something) they ended up giving us a year's coverage when I only needed it for 1 month. The state ended up paying for our normal copay on a ton of my pump supplies. If they ran it better it would work better. Basically what I'm saying is that the US has a better health care system because the government doesn't run it. When the government gets mixed up in stuff, it dies. We still have insurance for older people, kids, and people with disabilities/etc. It generally covers the stuff that needs to be covered. We don't need a new government run health care system. It'll fail and ruin many people's lives (-in my case, my dad's employer could choose to stop providing insurance, I would get stuck on state/fed health care, probably wouldn't be able to see my endo, not be able to afford a new insulin pump, and might not be able to afford the insulin (though I assume they would pay for that...))

I thought the articles were decent as usual, though the first seemed obvious like a couple of other people have said. I thought that the little description on the front page was weak... It was odd and I think that it should probably go back to just 'A new issue.' The MechScape one would have been informative had I not known a lot about MS already.

[img=http://fc03.deviantart.com/fs49/f/2009/200/1/b/Sig_for_AGreatMonk_2_by_hawkxs.jpg]

[hide=An Excessive Amount of Muse][yt]5cU5_xnYE0A[/yt][yt]uYTxyogjLoo[/yt] [yt]Hxye7OiL6Gs[/yt][yt]Xsp3_a-PMTw[/yt] [yt]Pgum6OT_VH8[/yt][/hide]

[img=http://i28.tinypic.com/jpv86c.jpg]

without glow: [img=http://i28.tinypic.com/2llhidy.jpg] with glow: [img=http://fc04.deviantart.com/fs49/f/2009/199/3/c/Sig_for_Demoliboy_by_hawkxs.jpg] Credit would be appreciated. :D I can change anything or add text also if you want.

I have two full sets of state quarters and some random other currency (bicentennial quarters, $2 bills, half-dollars etc). I have 12ish dragon figures, a bunch of metal rpg minis, a bunch of M&M mini characters (the holiday ones that have M&Ms in them), a growing collection of hockey stuff (goalie stick signed by Marty Turco, puck signed by Travis Richards, Darren McCarty figure, 2001 Red Wings Stanley Cup bobblehead), a large number of Yu-Gi-Oh! cards, a ton of Shonen Jumps, and a bunch of medieval themed homemade weapons (four PVC swords, a wooden shield, a couple of cardboard ones, duct-tape-and-popsicle-stick samurai armor, a PVC bow, daggers of various sorts, crappy nunchucks, a couple of helms, bracers, gloves, probably a bunch more), about 30 CareBears, an excessive amount of LEGOs (recently went to LEGOLAND too), and I've started collecting bread tags, I've got 8 or 9 right now.

Here's the sketch, I know it's not exactly what you wanted, but I think it'll make a sweet sig. [hide=Sorry for the inane size...][/hide]

I set up a gmail account and a blag, got home from camp, learned my cousin is bringing her exboyfriend to my hose tomorrow and he's not trustworthy (so why the heck is she bringing him)... now I have to hide all my stuff somewhere. fail. also enjoying pandora greatly.

My brother's currently whatever rank is above first class (life? idk), and our dad is the troop committee chair. I would ask your dad to get involved if he can (or is willing to, i honestly wouldn't). There's a huge amount of crap that goes on in Boy Scouting, I really dislike the organization (though I've been a Girl Scout for 10 years - totally different from boy scouting.). Is the Eagle rank like a skillcape? Just having it show off, and not really learning on the way? Nowadays it seems like it is more like that. But I think in the end it's worth it, you can get scholarships and it looks good on a resume. Is the scouts more about instilling values and morals than learning about nature and the extremes of rugged high adventure? Yes, and this is one of the main things I hate about it. You need to have fun. How do you feel about the Scouts (are you a member/were you a member) I've been kind of involved since my brother was a Cub Scout. (so about 8ish years). My mom was his den leader, and is now the treasurer of the troop/my dad's the committee chair... I've never liked how they run it and the huge focus on religion and all the morals. There's a ton of crap that goes on in his troop and I think it's typical (a family friend's troop also had problems) I've never been interested in Venturing, but if you can finish your Eagle there, I would try it. How should I deal with my conflicting interests about scouting (I want to get Eagle, because I've been a scout for 9 years, but I feel forced to believe what everyone else does/I have it harder because my dad doesn't run the troop.)? You don't have to follow the pack. Do what you want, but I would recommend getting your eagle for the reasons I stated above. Ask your dad to get involved if he can, even if it's just joining the committee... You could read up on the regulations in your council and see if your troop is meeting them, because from what you've said, it doesn't seem like they are.