Peter

At this point in my life (things might change when I'm older and wiser)... I wouldn't go for a girl who is very ugly but very smart. Just can't happen. I would have a hard time even starting a conversation with her, even if she initiated it. It might sound shallow, but I also wouldn't go for a girl who is incredibly hot but incredibly stupid. Somehow the two are related though. Compromise. If there was something in between I'd take it. But since there's not, I'd prefer a hot girl with a shred of intelligence where I'm at in life now.

Because when you drink you're always compelled to drive. :roll: Yeah, that's a little exaggerated. I vowed that when I drink, I won't drive. There are always options, and a smart person will do these things first: 1. Have a designated driver. Someone who won't drink, but is fun to be around and is willing to drive you and keep you reasonably safe. 2. Sleep where you drink. Most times people who's house you drink at don't care if you crash on the couch for the night. 3. Call a cab. Costs a little bit of money, but a DUI costs more, and an accident due to being under the influence is an incredible cost. Tonight I went out and was designated driver for some friends. I didn't plan on it being that way, but they needed it so I offered. Fortunately everyone just stayed at the house, but I'm glad I was there if they needed me, and I had a good time. Being one of the few sober people at a party is actually just as fun as being one of the many not sober people. Now, a story. Kid I knew pretty well in high school and his best friend were out partying, and both were drunk and the kid I knew was driving. I knew he was stupid enough to do it, but I didn't think it would happen like it did: He rolled his car, his friend was thrown from the open window (no seatbelt) and killed. But it's not one life ruined, it's two. Last I heard he was still in jail, and it's been a few months now. It was an eye opener for a lot of people, but kids who partied with them still go out and drink and drive. I just heard of one of their friends getting a DUI recently, and I just don't understand it. Maybe they need to kill someone when drunk to understand that they aren't supposed to drink and drive.

It's one of those mistakes you only make once. Even worse is when you're like him, get to sleep around 3am, wake up around 6am, and proceed to work the next day. I'll spare you the details and add to the point you're trying to make. Don't drink too much, and don't do it on an empty stomach. Drink equal parts water to alcohol, and throw in an ibuprofen for good measure.

My dad has had a couple... One maybe 15 years ago, likely stress related. He changed some things, reduced stress in his life, quit smoking, and assumed he was safe. A few months ago he had another one, but it was serious; enough so to the point that if he hadn't have known he was having a heart attack based on his previous experience he probably would have died. He drove himself to the hospital (he was out of town), flew into town on a medical plane, and the next day they did emergency open heart triple-bypass surgery. At the end of the day his arteries were clogged and he needed to eat better and exercise more. But of course, at 18, they're making me do blood tests and get in good habits so I don't see the same fate, because genetics play a small role too. Also, a couple of weeks ago a family friend died from a heart attack. Didn't know him well, but I suddenly realized how close to losing my dad we were. You got lucky with your mom, hopefully there are no recurring problems.

If I were to put a date on it, I'd say today is the day your testosterone production has begun. Welcome to manliness. Keep in mind, the female gender is in place to keep the male gender in check. One might say the opposite is true as well. I'll keep the explanation very basic beyond that: As far as our bodies are concerned, the purpose for women is to have sex. Men want sex as a form of survival; keeping their genes in the pool. You, my friend, obviously want to survive. Good luck with that.

I went to New Mexico backpacking for nine days, that was great. I'm also planning on going to Las Vegas with a couple of friends next month before college starts up. That should be a blast, pending the "What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas" saying stays true. If I can get away with it, I might go out of town a couple of more times within the month. Work is really good at keeping you from making vacation plans, but without work I couldn't afford to go on vacation.

Only legitimate reply to this topic. Even my own reply provides little assistance other than reinforcing the above quoted reply. I'm a bit baffled as to why the person who wants to pick the lock didn't just use a little bit of common sense to solve the problem... I will throw in here that the tool of choice needs to be inserted dead center otherwise it won't hit the actuator.

I don't care if people smoke. Do what you want. If you're going to hit a smoker in the face with a brick every time you smell smoke, you better get your bricks loaded up, because there are a ton of smokers, and you're bound to cross paths with them (and their smoke). I have a single problem with smoking: it is addictive. Without addiction, people wouldn't have ongoing health problems since it would be done in moderation at best. It's like eating a cheese burger. It's unhealthy, and if one was addicted to cheese burgers and ate them 5 times a day, I can guarantee they would get health problems from it. Eating a single cheese burger a couple of times a month won't significantly contribute to health problems (although it's still not good for you).

I work in retail. As people leave the store, sometimes they like to give me their comments. "You didn't have what I want, so I'm going to one of your competitors!" or "I'm never coming here again!" or even "I was waiting for 20 minutes in the appliance department and not once was I offered help." Sure, all valid complaints, but let me break it down for you. I don't care. I'm at the front door and get one of those complaints, I just look back to my work and do whatever. I get 8.75 an hour and don't get paid enough to care about what people think, and I presume the situation is about the same for most retail employees.

I've been known to have an occasional drink or two, but never to the point of even losing motor skills. That said, I've got a few good reasons why I think alcohol can totally mess peoples' lives up. In the last six months, there were a few incidences around me that made me think: A family friend's daughter committed suicide while drunk. Two guys from school, the driver of whom I was decent friends with, were both drinking and he hit a turn too fast causing a rollover and the passenger died. A guy I went to elementary school with and have known since I was little apparently had a mom who was an alcoholic yet a very functional member of society, and she had a little too much to drink one night and died. The brother of someone I work with managed to get himself three DUIs in a three month period, and he's go a few years in jail now. Rightfully so, but his life is basically over and his family has to live with it, and that's the worst part. A friend of my sister went to a party, had "a couple of beers" and blacked out and found herself in the back of an ambulance after she rolled her car into a ditch and totaled it. She's got a DUI and no license for a couple of years as she was only 16. A couple weeks before she went to the hospital for alcohol poisoning. Not a very smart girl apparently. My cousin, after wandering from his dorm room, was suspected as being drunk (he was, but not as bad as they thought he was). Paramedics were called, and the police picked up the chatter and decided to stop by, and suddenly he was in the drunk tank with an MIC, minor in consumption. Not too life changing, but still sucks. It's obvious that the above are extreme situations, but I can almost guarantee you that each of those people, before they started drinking, said they would be smart about it and not do stupid things when drunk. It goes to show that alcohol impairs your judgment, and you may even surprise yourself when drunk. The best thing to do is always have a sober person around to drive you, to interact with police or other people, to make sure you don't do anything stupid, and ultimately to make sure you make it home alive. Now that I've been thrown my views around... When I drink, which is maybe once every two to three months, I have maybe one or two drinks. I go to parties, and I don't drink. The only time I do drink is when it's just a couple of friends, maybe four or five people (at least one being sober), and then it's just relaxing. Nowhere to go, nothing to do, and it's enjoyable. Just don't be stupid, and plan ahead when you drink.

I watched a video on it when they went from New York to LA a few years back. Basically some of the richest guys around actually drive their incredibly expensive cars (much respect) in the real world. It's a highly organized, long distance street race for the wealthy. Cops hate it (or love it if they need to meet a quota). It's on my to-do list, along with getting a few really nice cars to do it in.

I know this is an incredibly hard concept to grasp when it matters the most, but why do you care what they think or say about you? It's a rhetorical question, I've pondered it many times myself. But really it doesn't matter what someone else thinks about you. Something else to think about is to look at what you think about other people. Maybe you think someone is an idiot or you just can't stand them, but no matter what you think, it never seems to affect them. So the same goes for you. No matter what other people think, it shouldn't matter to you. Besides, who knows what they are really thinking? Everyone judges other people, it's human nature. You just can't let it get to your head, and that's a skill that some people have when they're born, and others of us take a few years to perfect. Pretty much everything above, after re-reading, makes absolutely no sense unless you're in my head. I know what I'm thinking, but I can't spell it out correctly. But take from it what you will.

Umm... Nothing serious here, but certainly humorous in the "haha, that's funny you're wasting your time talking to a little kid and not solving some real crime, McGruff" kind of way. When I was younger, maybe 3rd grade, I did model rockets. The kind with the engine in them that ignites and goes up pretty high and, in theory, a parachute pops out and it falls safely to the ground. Well I just dropped like $30 on a rocket, which was like six weeks allowance, and I didn't want to lose it. I was at a friend's house who lived across town and we put his phone number on it saying "if found, please call..." We didn't successfully launch that day, but the next day I was at home and launched it. All I remember is seeing it go up and straight back down and hearing a slight pop when it landed, but I never could find it. Well the Sheriff called my friend's dad and wondered how a rocket landed, nay, impaled itself in someone's yard that was 20 miles away. He went to my friend's dad's office armed with high gloss 8x10 photos of the "incident" and talked to him about launching these things safely and they're dangerous and such. I got it back and it was a solid 8 inches into this guy's lawn and he was really concerned about the safety of his animals and whatever. So this sound like a once in a lifetime incident, but a few months later I launched a rocket, this time with my phone number on it, and it's parachute didn't deploy. The odds of it landing in the same guy's yard are slim to none, but somehow the stars were aligned for me that day, and he called the Sheriff again and this time I got a talking to. My dad had to leave the room so he didn't inadvertently insult the officer. What could one rationally say to a nine year old child that could make it so the incident doesn't happen like that? Seriously, there are crimes being committed. I like this one: When I was in probably 6th grade, I used to shoot my pellet gun in the side yard of my house, just plinking. I got a gun with a scope and modified stock, but it was a long-barreled pistol. It held like a rifle, so my hand would normally be about medium way up the barrel. But since it was a pistol, there was no barrel there, and my finger was left dangling at the end of the barrel, and since I was looking through a scope, I didn't notice it. It felt more like getting shocked and punctured at the same time, and stopped hurting after a few seconds. My dad thought the pellet fell out, and a couple days later (after the healing process had begun) I felt it in there. We got an xray done, and it was clear as day what was in my finger. After a lot of pulling and prodding at the family doctor's office, I had to go to surgeon to get it taken out. When I was in the waiting room a Sheriff showed up, and I needed to fill out a gunshot report, which is the most ridiculous waste of paper I've seen yet, at least in this instance. You're making a 12 year old fill out an accidental gunshot report for shooting himself in the finger. Wow. Once again, real crimes are being committed in the dozens as he sits there in the lobby of a doctor's office. Long story short, it got removed and maybe I won't be able to ever buy a gun or something. And most recently I got pulled over and weaseled my way out of a 55 in a 35. 20 over would have been a pretty big ticket.

Your situation sucks. When my dad was growing up it used to be a set menu, week after week. Every Monday they would have the same thing, Tuesday, Wednesday, etc. He hated it and learned how to cook. Both of my parents know how to cook well, and I'm not too shabby myself, so there is a lot of variety in what we eat and we try to keep it healthy. My problem is that I'm a five meal a day person, and I eat in between normal meals. And when I work, I usually have to buy something or make a snack at home, so I know how it is not to have anything to eat. I haven't been on a trip to the grocery store sponsored by my parents in months, and I still live at home. If I'm hungry and I want something, I go buy it. At the very least suggest to your mom that she adds sauces or something (my dad took a sauce making class and meals haven't been the same since).

Lmao... During class? moron... Yeah, the teacher didnt catch him, but his peers did, he hasnt lived it down yet (that was 2 yrs ago) I honestly can't believe anyone would actually do this. How morally off must one be to, in the middle of a class full of peers, do something like that. All of the females in the room are instantly violated by this act and for that the other guys in the room deserve to just beat the crap out of this person. I'm just saying, there's a right time and a right place. School isn't one of them. If he ever lives it down I'd be surprised. I've always been a good kid, and never cared enough about school to put any effort into malicious acts towards it. I did manage to get a hold of a copy of a pretty big test the week before we were to take it. But that doesn't do any good without answers. Someone got caught (namely the kid who found it in the copy machine and proceeded to print a few off), but the teacher was more sad about it than anything else. She didn't punish him directly, but made sure the rest of his high school career would have a few speed bumps.

I rarely get stressed these days, but I certainly do like to relax from time to time. One way that I've managed to do so is to put on more relaxing music (changes from person to person; I have a special playlist). Sometimes I make some tea, because it's good and because there is a chemical in it (Theanine) that is proven to increase alertness while inducing relaxation, which is the mindset I need to study or do work. Usually I get really reflective and do heavy thinking like this, and I can sometimes maintain this state of mind for a couple of hours, feeling better when it's over. Maybe it's a form of meditation, but it works. Speaking of meditation, have you tried it? One of the simplest ways to do it is to get in a very comfortable position, close your eyes, and breathe. Concentrate only on your breathing, and don't let your mind wander. It's hard for me, but when I can do it, it's pretty relaxing. I've found that, if I'm stressed out about a deadline or something, I sleep on it. Usually if I put some thought into it when I'm going to sleep, when I wake up I've found a solution to build off of. For me stress is usually due to uncertainty in what I'm doing, and not enough time to do it. Getting a game plan is enough to take the stress away for me. Maybe those methods will help. But the bar is always open to drink your sorrows away.

I don't know I'm getting punk'd or something and by explaining this the joke's on me... Does everyone know that your blood regenerates itself? We're not talking about a kidney here.

I've given three times. It's one of those things that's selfish not to do (I guess a fear of needles is a legitimate excuse) as long as you are a healthy person. I don't do it every time I can, only at convenience (when they are at my school, work, whatever). I was at a hospital a few months ago and I saw first hand how often they use donated blood on patients. Even the slightest loss of blood and they will get a pint from the refrigerator. It just reinforced my reasons to donate.

Wow... Did you fly into Caracas originally? I have a good friend from Aruba that I have actually visited down there and we had kicked around going to Venezuela to see Angel Falls but from the sound of things Caracas is nuts. He was saying I would have to buy really crummy clothes so I wouldn't get attacked. I was like umm... no thanks... I'd love to do the hike but I don't feel like dying... This was about 10 years ago. Yes, we flew to Caracas. We knew some people who lived there, so we stayed with them, and they were locals so they more or less knew the way of things. Here's how I saw it at that age: We had been flying for the greater part of 12 hours throughout the day, and it's late at night local time, and we arrive at the apartment complex, and there's three sets of heavily locked gates: One at the parking lot, one to get inside, and another at the door. It was a bit discouraging. We managed to fly out of there to Canima and that's where the less industrialized part of the country is, and it was quite a bit safer by those regards, and that was more or less the center of the jungle travels. I wouldn't even think about going there today, especially with an American passport and the tension between our countries.

I have a Wells Fargo checking account, and with it I got a debit card. I'm going to go so far as to guess that this is the same thing you have, since it's the most basic account they offer, and if you had more than that you would know what you've gotten into. So to answer your question, Wells Fargo uses Visa on their debit cards, and yes, you can use it to make purchases online. The difference between this card and a credit card is that the funds are removed from your checking account, and a credit card bills you for your purchases.

I did Philmont a while back too. Was only about a 55 mile trek, plus side trips, and we never sat down, so it was well over 55 miles total. But 55 miles with a 42 pound pack on my back. We went from around 5,500 ft 11,700 ft in elevation. That was a life changing experience for me. I can honestly say I was a different person, for better or worse, after coming back. You just get a lot of time to think about things while hiking like that, and it introduced thoughts within me that spurred change. The crew had been preparing for over a year, and two weeks before the trek one of the guys dropped out, and I had an opportunity to get in on it, and I literally had 5 days to prepare myself, mentally and physically, for this trip. I hiked around here (the Sierras) with a buddy and did some backpacking in the wilderness. We found a map, had it all planned out, and started hiking... We got to the top of the mountain range, and on the other side of the mountain the trail had not been maintained, so we were just about winging it, with only a map and compass for a few miles. We hiked from about 5,500 ft to about 8,900 ft over a couple of days. I think it was about a 20 mile trek. Those are the only big trips I've done, backpacking at least. I've done TONS of day hiking, all over the world. One of the more memorable hikes I've had was when I was quite a bit younger, we went to Angel Falls in Venezuela (tallest waterfall in the world). It was a 6 hour ride in a hollowed-out log boat with a weak engine going upstream. Of course, we had to go in the rainy season otherwise the waterfall isn't flowing, so it was raining the whole time. Then there was a couple hour hike through the jungle to get to the base of the waterfall, and it was awesome. I've hiked the Narrows as someone else did, but it was raining and due to the danger of flash-floods, I couldn't hike the whole way. In Yosemite, I've hiked to the top of many of the waterfalls, but not half-dome or El Capitan just yet. It's on the list. I'm also trying to get a Grand Canyon hike planned. I'm going to Hawaii soon and want to do a lot of hiking there.

Since you asked... I can't believe someone would actually be having this battle going on in their head. For that reason alone I wouldn't want associate myself with you, whether you smoke or not, and if your friends are anything like that, I'd stop hanging out with them quickly. Don't want to come off as mean or anything, but that's the thought process that went through my head as I read through the two pages of this thread. But some real advice. You'll realize as you get older that being cool isn't everything. High school is a mere four years of your life, and being cool for those years isn't important. I'll also throw in there that most of the kids I see smoking as I'm driving to school are those that one could call "losers," but I don't judge. You make the decision. If you have any regrets, you made the wrong choice.

I've given a few times (three I think...). Every experience has been good. First time I did it, I was a bit nervous, and didn't know what to expect, and I didn't really get a good breakfast, so it took a little while. The second time I ate a lot and drank a lot of water starting the day before, and it went incredibly well, and I didn't even feel the needle, and it went very fast, since I was hydrated. The last time I did it, it was a bit uncomfortable in my arm, I think because of how it was put in. I haven't ever needed blood, but I'd like to think that when I need it, it will be there for me. And last time I went, some kid puked all over the place right before I donated. He didn't take it so well...

Do you want to look back at your life and only be able to count on one hand what you've accomplished? I'm pretty sure I got my current job because I am an Eagle Scout, if that helps your decision any. Plus, you're at Life... There's no reason to quit now.

I have lots of little recipes... One that comes directly to mind is, get an egg and crack it over a bowl of your choice of unsweetened cereal (I've used raisin bran the most often, it's probably the best choice) then mix it up. Then I throw it in a pan and cook it like scrambled eggs, and put cinnamon in it, and cook it all up. Then I put honey on it and eat it. It's a pretty hearty meal... It's like having an egg AND a bowl of cereal, minus milk.