YSIC

I am looking to buy a laptop. I don't need anything super fancy. All I really do is surf the net, check email, watch the occasional movie, etc. I am changing from a desktop to an laptop (I know, welcome to the 21st century! )

Please post what you recommend - or even what I should steer clear of. I'm looking for details like price, operating system, and so on. I'm open to both Mac or Windows, brand new or refurbished, bells and whistles or basic. I do know that I'm not in the market for a tablet this time around. I appreciate uour response.

I am looking for a good pair of outdoor rollerskates. I will primarily use them on an asphalt trail in my local park. I am not a fan of inline skates and prefer the traditional style; I'm old school like that. What brand and style would be a good bet for me? I'm not an ace but I'm not a novice either. I'm looking for a super fun way to stay in shape.

Thank you for the help!

I am really annoyed by the idea of clinking glasses after a toast. I find it tacky and prefer to raise my glass, then acknowledge the speaker and others present with eye contact & a smile. Are there any etiquette rules that say I am required to clink my glass?

Thanks.

I make charitable contributions to various organization during the year. At the end of each year, I always receive these statements in the mail for proof of how much I gave if I wanted to use it as a tax deduction.

I rarely ever do because the concept is strange to me. I always figured the point of giving was to GIVE and not take anything in return. Getting a tax break - to me - would be like getting something in return. I'm conflicted about this every year. Am I the only one?

I saw the movie this weekend and I'm not sure what to make of it.

It's not the best movie I've seen...but not the worst. I think I understand it for the most part. The blindness, his memorizing and all that jazz, but it left a lot of loose ends. Like what happened to that evil guy at the end? What was Solara doing? (yes, she said she was going home, but why?)

What did I miss???

Thanks!

If you are 40+ (or even late 30s), would you have children at that age? For example if you were single and you met a younger woman and you fell in love. Would you have children with her? Why or why not?

Thanks for the answers!

I once heard that the main cause of death in car accidents is not the accident itself. The reason that people die is because their bladder is full and the impact of the crash causes it to burst, sending a large amount of toxins into the body and *that* kills the person.

Is this true or just a myth? I couldn't find anything on the Internet about it, so if you have any links, that would be appreciated.

Thanks!

Do you have any strange fears or phobias that have manifested themselves into your daily life?

For example, I'm terrified of some serial killer breaking into my apartment while I'm in the shower and hacking me to death with a knife. That is why 4 out of my 5 shower curtains are clear - I don't want to be taken by surprise. At least I can see him as he approaches.

Strange, I know.

Anyone else have oddities like that?

I'm not a huge fan of avocados. I know they are a super food in a lot of ways, so I do try to eat them here and there. I mainly only buy them when I am making sushi rolls at home. I almost always have a lot left over.

Besides sushi, how else can I use them? I am not a fan of guacamole, so that obvious idea won't work for me.

The other day I mashed it and used it as a "dressing" on my veggie sandwich and it wasn't too bad. Any other creative ideas that will mask the taste and texture would be fab.

Thanks!

{{veggie hugs}}

I'm in the market for a user-friendly car. I'm only looking to spend about 4K as I don't want a car payment. I want something reliable, but is easily and inexpensively fixed if something goes wrong. I would like a 4WD if possible. Any suggestions?

I know that 4K is a small budget, but I'm tired of car payments on TOP of super-expensive repair bills. Does anyone have experience with "down-grading" to a reliable older car? What types should I go for and which ones should I avoid?

Thank you for you help...I'm a novice.

Just curious to see what everyone is eating this week.

I'm having stuffed manicotti with spinach and soy-free ricotta (using the pine nut recipe). I hope it turns out well.

Any-who...Merry Christmas to you all!

{{veggie hugs}}

What team (or teams) do you find yourself watching or respecting this season when you normally wouldn't? Why?

For me it's the Broncos. I just enjoy watching them play for some reason. I've disliked them all my life until this season (because of "the drive"). I can't explain it. They've played some exciting games this year and their head coach is young....I respect their effort.

Wow. Okay. I went to a sports medicine specialist at my gym and he did a body composition analysis. He took my measurements, tested some things and found that I would need to eat 2600 calories per day for my body to be in peak form.

I'm very active - I run (just ran a marathon), I lift, I practice yoga - basically, I'm in the gym 6 days/ week.

I know that I don't come close to eating that many calories. Any suggestions?

Here's what a typical day's worth of meals looks like:

Before the gym: Tall glass of water and 1 banana.

Breakfast: Medium-sized bowl of (old fashioned) oatmeal with raisins, walnuts, rice milk, and brown sugar. Small glass of orange juice.

Lunch: Huge tossed salad with romaine lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, mushrooms, broccoli, pine nuts, green or red peppers, marinated artichoke hearts and homemade dressing (of EVOO and vinegar).

Supper: Veggie stir-fry over brown rice or quinoa. Or a sweet potato with steamed veggies. Or some whole wheat pasta.....

I do have snacks during the day - one around 10:00 a.m. and one around 3:30 p.m. I'll have a piece of fruit, baby carrots and hummus, chips and salsa, or a handful of nuts. Nothing too excessive.

I'm thinking I top out at 1700 and on any given day, I feel like I'm super stuffed. I could not imagine eating another 900 calories.

Any suggestions or tips you can give is greatly appreciated. I'm a vegan, so I do not eat meat, seafood, dairy, or honey. Thanks much!

Wow. Okay. I went to a sports medicine specialist at my gym and he did a body composition analysis. He took my measurements, tested some things and found that I would need to eat 2600 calories per day for my body to be in peak form.

I'm very active - I run (just ran a marathon), I lift, I practice yoga - basically, I'm in the gym 6 days/ week.

I know that I don't come close to eating that many calories. Any suggestions?

Here's what a typical day's worth of meals looks like:

Before the gym: Tall glass of water and 1 banana.

Breakfast: Medium-sized bowl of (old fashioned) oatmeal with raisins, walnuts, rice milk, and brown sugar. Small glass of orange juice.

Lunch: Huge tossed salad with romaine lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, mushrooms, broccoli, pine nuts, green or red peppers, marinated artichoke hearts and homemade dressing (of EVOO and vinegar).

Supper: Veggie stir-fry over brown rice or quinoa. Or a sweet potato with steamed veggies. Or some whole wheat pasta.....

I do have snacks during the day - one around 10:00 a.m. and one around 3:30 p.m. I'll have a piece of fruit, baby carrots and hummus, chips and salsa, or a handful of nuts. Nothing too excessive.

I'm thinking I top out at 1700 and on any given day, I feel like I'm super stuffed. I could not imagine eating another 900 calories. Any suggestions or tips you can give for this confused vegan? Thanks much!

I respect Illinois, Ron Zook and the program. But I did NOT think that they would beat Michigan today - especially by that many points.

Did any of you see that coming?

Which leads me to the second part of my question - with all the talk about the lack of parity in the NFL, is college football guilty of stealing it from the pros? We've witnessed a lot of top ten teams squeak by opponents that they were supposed to destroy...Besides Florida and Texas, the top 25 changes significantly every week.

Should we football fans change our slogan to "Any given Saturday"?

Thoughts?

I am running my very first marathon in two weeks. I would like to get a tattoo to commemorate the accomplishment.

This is my first tattoo, so I want it to be unique and sort of abstract. I also want to incorporate a Bible verse (2 Timothy 4:7) in the design, but I have somewhat of a hesitancy to get numbers inked on me.

Does anyone have any design ideas?

Thanks in advance!

Oh, I already know where I want it: I want it toward the front of my right hip and I would like it to be 3-4".

I had an odd dream about snakes this morning (right before the alarm went off).

I was in a furniture store but the furniture was from the 70s and 80s. There were other people in the store with me, but only a couple and I didn't know them personally. Perhaps we were co-workers at the store...

There was a row of floor-model television sets and in the middle of the row were two sets that both had a green snake on top of the television. The snakes were identical - Kelly green with triangular heads and light eyes. They were coiled up and only their heads were moving around.

Customers came in the store and looked around and each time, I warned them, "be careful of the snakes!"

Finally, one of my co-workers corralled each snake into a Ziploc baggie and sealed it. I praised him for his bravery (as we were all terrified of the snakes) and he grew confident with the snakes. He started throwing them around onto the model beds.

It was then that we noticed that they had rattles on their tails that were going crazy. I yelled at him that the snakes were angry and that he should poke holes in the baggies so they could breathe.

And that was the end of my dream.

I was aware that it was a dream, but I was still frightened (I am afraid of snakes in waking life). When I woke up, my body was very rigid. I think those are all the additional details I have.

Thanks for your help!

I was thinking about this the other day and I just wanted to throw out this theory for what it's worth and get others' take on it.

There's been much buzz this season about Dante Stallworth, Plaxico Burress, Michael Vick and their off-field troubles. Should they play? Are their penalties appropriate? (both in the league and with the law) Who wants to work with them with tarnished images? and so on.

I've always understood professional sports to be entertainment. ESPN (for goodness sakes) stands for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network. So while they are athletes who are talented and good at what they do, they are here to entertain us.

This is where the double standard comes into play. Lindsay Lohan, Robert Downey Jr., Drew Barrymore, and Mel Gibson (just to name a few) have all had issues with substance abuse and very public run-ins with the law. I never hear people talk about them in the same vein: should they be allowed to act again? Were their penalties stiff enough? Should the stuidos cease to work with them? etc. These people are entertainers too.

Do we hold athletes to a higher standard? If so, why? What makes them more of a moral compass than other entertainers? When you boil it all down, each one of these people is getting paid millions of dollars to entertain us. Why the contrast?

No wrong answers. Just want to hear your thoughts (and thanks!)

I've noticed a lot of repeats lately (is this diet okay? can vegetarians eat animal crackers?) and I just wanted to post something different.

Here we go...let's create a David Letterman-esque top ten list of the benefits of being a vegetarian or vegan.

Here are 5 of mine to get us started:

#5:No one touches your food in the community fridge at work b/c they have no idea what it is

#4: Watches not needed - we can tell what time it is by our bathroom schedule as we go multiple times per day

#3: Friends and family will never ask us to help them move because we are the "weak" veg*ns

#2: We can continue to be "naive" about the ways of the world and food chain because we sit high atop our mountain of moral superiority

#1: Friends, family and coworkers never ask for a prepared dish for get-togethers; but we can bring plates, cups, napkins and ice!

What else could we add?