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Oh my aching right foot that, along with its counterpart, is about to run a marathon...

holdenjordahl — Sat, 26 Dec 2009 17:03:09 -0800

i can't see a specialist for three weeks but i've got a marathon coming up and i need to know before that. these are the facts and i'm trying to figure out the cause...
1. i wear orthodics. the right one is the neutral one. it cracked. i noticed a few weeks before that that, below the third and forth toes, a dull sensation. i originally thought it was caused by the crack in the orthodic.
2. i went back to my prior set of orthodics. they were essentially the same orthodics as the pair i had been using.
3. now i'm noticing that EXACTLY after 75 minutes i get this sudden pain, as if i'm stepping on a marble (not a beebee, not a golf ball, a marble). it hurts like crazy. the pain doesn't radiate throughout the foot or up the leg.
4. and then, after EXACTLY 15 minutes, the pain suddenly vanishes.
5. i haven't done any sudden ramping up of mileage, i run mostly on sand, grass, or dirt. there's nothing that i've stepped on that could have wedged in my shoe, the interior of the shoe is smooth, et cetera.
6. i've looked on all the obvious running sites and can find nothing about what this could be. any suggestions, please???

What you gon do with all that junk inside your trunk?

sickinthehead — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 15:08:12 -0800

Which is the safer car position for my dog? We have a VW Golf and a German Shepherd. Traditionally, when the dog travels with us he sits in the back seat. Yesterday we drove 12 hours home for Thanksgiving and I had to sit in the back with my dog the entire time as we drove an additional person home with us this time. It was an...adventure.

This led to the following debate between my husband and I:

He wants to get one of those bar things that extend from the back seat to the roof of the car and start putting the dog in the trunk. I think it's an unsafe proposition because I think we're most likely to be rear-ended if in an accident, and that would effectively smush my dog. I think he's way safer sitting in the back seat, and therefore we should continue this arrangement. What do you think? Note I'm only looking at this from the perspective of his safety.

I am not nearly young or cool enough to make this happen

msali — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 15:53:13 -0800

I thought this would be simple, but it isn't. I want to purchase a song as the new ringtone of my At&t Blackberry Pearl, and I have hit all sorts of roadblocks. So the song is Nelly Furtado's "Manos al aire", more specifically, I want JUST the chorus to be my ringtone, and damned if I can't make that happen. I am not particularly web or phone savvy, but somehow in the past, I managed to make "Man of constant sorrow" and "Cigarettes and chocolate milk" as my ringtones. Now I want a song that is one of those chart-toppers, and I can't make it happen without purchasing a subscription! I want to pay my US$ 2.49 and make this happen, but it isn't working, even on the AT&T website (which asks me to enter my type of cellphone, and after I do so, the site just shuts down). Help?!?

How much is reasonable (if anything) to pay to a lender for a mortgage application fee?

mockjovial — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 13:32:18 -0800

How much is reasonable (if anything) to pay to a lender for a mortgage application fee? The fiancé' and I have finally found the perfect house…a condo actually. The contract was accepted by the seller yesterday, and we are super excited! I went into the process benefitting from many of the great posts on the green that came before me. One of the things I did was get preapproved for financing of a 30 year fixed rate mortgage. Now that the contract has been accepted, the mortgage company wants to meet to complete the actual application. I was surprised when the representative told me that there is a $350 application fee. In your opinion / experience, is this outrageous? Should I find a different company? I’m not sure if it matters that I have excellent credit and can qualify for the most favorable interest rate offered. I am in Chicagoland. I am of course hoping to close by 11/30 for the tax credit, so time is of the essence to secure financing. Thanks in advance!

Buying a house on a busy road

mooza — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 01:37:40 -0800

I have been trying to buy a house in the inner-west in Sydney, Australia for several months. Contrary to what's going on in the rest of the world, Oz houses are effing crazy high and have jumped between $20-$100k (esp in my area) in the past year. I have found a good house for a price I can do - but it's on a fairly busy road. Would you want to go to there? The suburb the house is in is great. The house itself is in excellent condition. It is just on an arterial road, which sounds bad, but the section the house is in is just like a big street, plenty of other houses surround it. It gets busy at certain times of the day, but you can park on the street and it seems fine...I think. The noise seems OK, but what about air-quality? I am a little concerned that my love for this house is partly due to my despair over long term house-hunting. If this particular house was one block away, it would easily fetch $100k over what it's likely to go for.

Do you own a house on a busy road? What's it like? Is living on a such road not a big deal, or is it a deal-breaker?

mini solar chimney for micro power generation

kimyo — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 14:17:51 -0800

i'm fascinated with the solar chimney concept for electric power generation. i'd like to build a small, fabric-based model, see if it might be able to provide enough power to charge a couple of car batteries. does the mefi hivemind want to help me brainstorm? there's some pretty decent video here of a large scale project in australia (not yet constructed).

i'd like to design something which could be built from locally available materials, nothing too complex.

a smallish tethered hot air balloon might serve to support the structure.

a long tapered cylinder made from fabric (fireproof at the bottom) would be suspended from the balloon and anchored to the ground.

at the top of the cylinder we need some kind of turbine. hot air exiting might also feed the balloon. at the base we'd have a small wood fire.

i'd love to hear from any and all mefites, with or without experience in power generation/off grid/ballooning.

if it works, i think we should call it a montgo.

Not casual sex, but not not casual either.

Anonymous — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 20:09:04 -0800

How do you handle sex, in regards to dating a couple of people at once? (I'm a dude, for the record) I was starting to write a ridiculously long version of this question that wasn’t making any sense. So I’ll assume you know where I’m at when I’m asking it. I’m internet dating. I’ve done it quite a bit. In the past, I would sort of go out with anyone that moved. I’ve become much more selective about who I’lll go out with. So lets say for example that everyone I meet likes me and I like them, and we want to go on more dates.

Say also that I’m staggering meeting women based on schedules, so that sometimes, if I’m writing back and forth to 3 women, I might meet woman A on a Monday one week, have a 2nd date the Monday of the following week, have a first date with woman B on the next Tuesday, a first date with woman C on that Friday.

Basically: I’m equally emotionally involved in 3 situations, trying to get to know 3 women, and not be a jerk to any of them, or to myself.

So if I make it to date 3 or so with woman A, and intimacy starts to enter the picture, do I slow things down and explain that I’m also getting to know B and C? Do I say, hey, I’m into this physically and I want to do it, but you need to know there is B and C too? Or do I say, well, time to decide what to do about A, and whether I’d like to go with door B and C instead of A? Or something else.

I'm not on a 3 date=sex schedule. But sometimes it happens. This kind of thing also makes me nervous on dates, and I'd like to find a way to feel relaxed and honorable about the whole thing.

Identify a simple font

phaedon — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 09:22:53 -0800

Can someone help me identify this font? Sorry, I am whatthefont retarded.

WHo benefits from an over appraised house?

will wait 4 tanjents — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 16:51:59 -0800

Buying my first house: Who benefits from the over appraisal? I have a feeling our house was over appraised and I cannot figure out why this would be done and yes I have googled.

It was appraised for $40,000 more than the selling price.
I am in the United States.
Any information - relevant or not will be most appreciated.

Does she not want to go home?

tylerfulltilt — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 11:32:52 -0800

[Spoilers for Song of Ice and Fire books] Why is that Arya Stark... In a clash of kings, When Arya is at harrenhall and Roose Bolton takes over the Place from Vargo Hoat, why doesn't Arya reveal herself to him and ask him to take her home? She couldn't have known that Roose was gonna betray her brother. She should have known that Roose was her brother's man, right?

This has been bugging me

Didn't Get Car Rebate

Elsie — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 20:10:30 -0800

Can I Still Get a Cash-Back Car Rebate After Buying a Car? I negotiated and purchased a car for cash without knowing the car company was offering $750 rebate to customers who paid cash for that model. The sales guy never mentioned any rebates in all our negotiations. Two weeks after getting the car, registering it, driving, etc. I just got a confused call from salesperson yesterday saying I needed to re-sign some papers--nothing that affected me, etc. I couldn't make heads or tails of what this "accounting error" was about. It was inconvenient to talk, so I ask the guy to e-mail me the details. Herewith:

There was a small accounting error on our behalf resulting in a couple of documents needing to be resigned. Basically, there are 2 type of cash back from the manufacturer. One is dealer cash which is given to the dealer to use at their discretion and there is customer cash which is given to the customer to use at their discretion. We showed it as dealer cash when it should have been done as customer cash. There is absolutely no affect to you whatsoever. All we need is for you to sign the documents I'll be sending to you and return them to us. Please enclose the signed documents along with the plate in the return envelope we gave you. Once we receive the plate, we'll return the $50 plate deposit fee. Let me know if you have any other questions. Thanks.

WTF? Despite having had what I thought was a decent deal and buying experience, something bothered me about this request. So I went to Cars101.com and discovered the manufacturer's rebate offer for cash buyers for my model. (Yes, I should've done more homework, but I'm in the middle of an overseas move and couldn't. Shouldn't I have gotten this manufacturer's rebate anyway?) Is there some way for me to get this money?

Whats the time? Well let me see here...

Admira — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 22:26:47 -0800

I'm looking for a new watch. My current watch is a Lorus Fusion 7T92-X001 as pictured here, and I'm very happy with the look of it (its a lot more silver looking than that picture implies). Mostly it seems to have an organic flow to the look of it which I like, its not chunky or anything like that. However all the knobs have stopped working, I can't change the date/time, the pins keep breaking, and the cost to repair seems inordinately high, perhaps its time for a new watch. Can anyone have a look at that and pick something they think I might like? Don't worry about cost or anything like that :) Thanks!

Plot my IT computer certification schedule.

l2yangop — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 08:15:48 -0800

Plot my IT computer certification schedule. I graduated 3 years ago and have a bachelors degree in Computer info Tech and am working full time on a help desk. I want to further my career and start getting some certifications. I have heard that A+ is viewed as a joke by most serious tech companies. is that something i should persue? i am interested i getting multiple certs, but am unsure where to start and what path i should take. FYI- i am mostly interested in networking, hardware, and security.

Can anyone provide some suggestions to get me started?

Teaching the Teachers

Holly — Tue, 26 May 2009 14:00:58 -0800

I'm in Spain and have been asked to give summer courses in English for academic purposes to university researchers and teachers of engineering. Apart from "English Academic Vocabulary in Use" (CUP), which I used last year - it's good - do any MeFites have any tried and tested recommendations for books and other materials that might be suitable? Amazon is great, but too often you can't get a feel for the book.

Seeking a A System for Selling Videos A La Cart

dbarefoot — Mon, 25 May 2009 21:58:06 -0800

I'm working on a new project that has some particular requirements for selling video online. * We need to sell online videos (of, say, 20 to 30 minutes in length). They’ll be viewable online, behind a some kind of password protection, or available for download as well (again, with password protection).
* Users will choose from a menu of videos, add them to a cart, pay for them and then get access (through streamed videos, downloads or both) only to those videos.
* Ideally this happens within our own site, or something we can tweak to look something like our own site.

No, it's not for pr0n.

I checked out some courseware systems, but they’re really about delivering structured multi-part classes. I’m also aware of E-Junkie. They’re a good option for downloadables, but don’t offer flash-based video for viewing only.

I’m happy to pay for a turn-key solution, assuming it doesn’t cost a ridiculous amount of money. That’s preferable, actually, to messing around with Drupal or whatever.

I found these two previous questions, but they weren't particularly fruitful. All suggestions welcome.

Please help me, stat!

timpollard — Tue, 19 May 2009 02:49:14 -0800

How can I transfer my free Motigo Webstats icon (and history) from my old MS Frontpage designed website to my shiny new Wordpress one - do I have to modify the theme somehow (and if so, how)? Thanks!

Vitamin A cream a decent stand in for Accutane?

Anonymous — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 07:29:14 -0800

Acne and/or Rosacea problem. Vitamin A as a cure? I have an acne and/or rosacea issue. Background: I am late 20s and fair skinned and have ruddiness on my cheeks and redness in the crease where my nose meets my face. I also have a few blackheads and whiteheads on my nose and under my eyes respectively. And my facial skin has an overall dullness about it. But, the main concern for me is the redness.... because even when I'm having a great skin week and everything is clear and blemish-free, there's still a noticable uneveness.

Two things have fixed this in the past: 1) Accutane- I could only afford 2 months worth, but it worked like a charm and 2) pregnancy hormones (not at the same time as Accutane, of course). Those things are not repeatable right now, and nothing else has helped. I don't have health insurance or the discretionary funds to go to a dr. unless absolutely necessary, but I would like to know what I can do for this.... Food/ drink doesn't seem to be a factor for me. Although weather does (always worse in Summer).

What I'm wondering is, since Accutane worked, and it is concentrated Vitamin A, would a Vitamin A cream help? I'm using Neutrogena retional cream, but it's only helping a tiny bit... Has anyone had a good experience with a stronger OTC Vitamin A cream? If so, what's the brand?

Thanks in advance for your help.

Seeking A Good Remote Computing Software Package

Mckoan1 — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 15:23:13 -0800

I am looking for a commercial software package that allows me to perform REMOTE COMPUTING while on business trips. About every six months, I travel extensively and then there is a lull to my travels. I do not want to pay a monthly fee; yet I want a REMOTE SOFTWARE package that will perform seamlessly. I want, and I am willing to purchase, a good program that will allow me to connect to my home computer to perform various tasks. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

New liquor for the bar owners!

amelioration — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 08:15:21 -0800

What fantastic bourbons are not available in the Atlanta area? I'm going to be staying with some friends in Atlanta in a few weeks. I want to take them a thank-you gift, and I think a lovely bottle of bourbon would be great. Thing is, they own a bar. A really fantastic bar. So I don't want to bring something that is already sitting on their shelves. Any recommendations for a great bourbon that isn't distributed in Georgia/the Atlanta metro area? I'm in Indiana, and the selection here is very broad. I'm hoping to spend around $80, maybe up to $100.

Making a smart offer on a house

whatgorilla — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 08:10:42 -0800

How do we make the most strategically sound offer on a house, and how to best estimate the monthly costs (mortgage+taxes+insurance+PMI)? Part 1:
I found out that a great house was being put on the market two days ago. Called the listing agent, who had just put the sign in the yard. $154.9K for 3/1, 1500sq ft + lots of extras. We saw the house yesterday, loved it, and decided to put an offer on it today; however, the listing agent left a message with our realtor that someone else had looked at the house yesterday as well, and was also putting an offer on it today. We are prepared to offer the full price, but if the other offer is super low, and the sellers would accept an offer of $150K from us, then it seems like we're just giving away $5K out of fear that the other offer is really high (which might be the case, since I'm assume the listing agent told them about us as well). However, if we offer $150K and the other prospective buyer offers $151K (or the full price), we'd lose out. Our offer goes in at 5:30pm; theirs goes in at 7:30pm. The house really is worth $150K easily (it sold for $150K in 1/05, and they've added nice, new appliances and all-new windows since then). $155K is definitely a fair price, though $5-$15K more than we'd planned on spending.

What should we do in order to maximize our chances of getting this house? (Note -- time isn't on our side: wife is pregnant with twins and may go on bed-rest in May, so we really need to find a place, but our backup plans are all short-sales, which take forever.)

Part 2;
What's the most accurate way to estimate our monthly house-payment (mortgage+taxes+insurance+PMI) on a mortgage of $144K in Jacksonville, FL (32205)? How accurate is the zillow mortgage calculator? I can't tell if it's taking the $50K homestead deduction into consideration nor how high/low it's insurance estimate is.

Thanks.

What can I say... I love growing things!

Mastercheddaar — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 08:57:54 -0800

Spring time gardening care filter. Need a little advice. With warming weather coming I thought it would be a good idea to prepare everything now. I have a green thumb and I pretty much can grow anything so general maintenance is a snap. The only problem is I need some help with the more complicated stuff.
I have planted the following: a Victory Garden! (many years running), Raspberry bushes (1 year old), Blueberry bushes(1 year old), 2 peach trees (2 years old), a nectarine tree( 3 years old), 2 cherry trees(2 years old), a buckeye tree(1 year old), a dogwood tree(1 year old), and lastly a fig tree(1 year old).

For the bushes: I have read on several different sites plenty of different pruning methods (cut the cranes, don't cut the canes, let them grow out, give them something to grow on, etc.) Which ones work? Which ones don't?

For the peach/nectarine: I had peach scab on them bad last year. What can I spray them with to prevent that this year?

For the Cherries: Japanese beetles nearly killed one of them last year. Any hints on how to prevent that from happening again? I heard an herb "Rue" helps keep them away. Anyone ever hear of that?

For the victory garden: I have done this for a while and have the regular veggies down pat. Any unique ones anyone can think of? I got a small patch of about 10-15 feet square I can use.

AND lastly I order some hop rhizomes to plant along my fence. Anyone have any hints for those as well?

Sorry for the huge question but any suggestions are welcome.

How do I make this thing I came up with?

borkingchikapa — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 14:40:10 -0800

I had a great idea the other day that would require a little bit of simple programming and engineering, but I have no background in either of those. Basically, I'd like to make a USB device with a little motor that vibrates at several different specific frequencies, determined by the user (preferably through the computer). Where do I even start? First, is there something out there that does just that?

What programming language would I use? What physical device would I need to control the motor? A transistor? Resistor? Step-sister? Maybe some amps and a watt or two? I don't know anything about any of this, but I'm willing to spend some time figuring it out if the Oracle of AskMe can point me in the right direction.

p.s. this is not a sex toy, I promise

Utter fail all the time?

Anonymous — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 15:34:55 -0800

Have I transformed an insanely great and clear-cut early relationship into a friendship? Oh boy, relationship filter.

So, last semester I met a girl at a party briefly, and we both went back to our friends raving about how cool each other was. So, we saw each other a few times early this semester, and everything went great. At that point, I was just hitting the end of a rough, annoying non-relationship with a girl (literally not a relationship, but just the constant possibility of one culminated in her simply lying)

And so, after a party, I woke up to see that she had asked me out to eat something sometime Awesome, pure win. We schedule a date, and I hear from some mutual friends that she seems to consider it a big enough deal to tell some of them about it, and one simply asks "so you're kind of into him?" And she says yeah!

Cool. Date. Then a few more, mostly really lots of talking, great conversations and great times. Some of the time with mutual friends there too, sometimes without Good times, maybe 3 hours of just chatting in front of a lake or whatnot. She took the initiative about the first and really many of the other times we hung out, although I arranged a few too.

So, I try to be more gutsy (long history of just being nervous and these things slipping past). After a show we went to, asked what she was up to, and she was really positive about doing something afterwards. So, movie, her apartment. Great movie, great time. Her roommate comes back, we talk to her for a bit, it's great, everything's great. During movie - holding hands, cuddling, arm around, etc. Roommate goes to bed, movie ends, lights still off. So... earlier we had a funny conversation about how her roommate's gaydar is absolutely terrible and that sometimes they just end up with that... so I try to be funny, and say "Ha, well on to an earlier topic, I'm totally not gay, and I think you're awesome." Yeah, I know, I'm an expert wordsmith when I'm nervous.

To which she responds "Yeah, well, I think it's awesome hanging out with you. I mean, is that cool with you?"

And I respond, sure, yeah, definitely, anything's fine with me.

Hmm. Up to this point, we had been hanging out, talking, close, good times, absolutely no signal otherwise. My spider sense sucks, sure, but I feel like given the signals I was getting 95% of guys would have guessed something other than friends. Especially when it's been totally endorsed and advised by friends who have talked to her about this.

So, possibilities:

Somehow I'm a master at achieving the friend-zone, and here I've done it somehow by being awesome to hang out with.
What I said conveyed that I wasn't interested, or was too interested, or some other option.
She wants to just hang out, because it's the best, with me.
She wants to hang out and then hook up, because that would be the best ever.

I'm not terribly broken up because (unlike previousgirl), she seems to be 100% honest, and I hugely appreciate that. And, I haven't gone all in here, she's the only girl I'm currently interested in, but we've only known each other well for a few weeks, I haven't been yearning for months, etc. I do, however, have few relationships under my belt for my advanced age (early 20s) and apparently have transformed at least one previous mutual crush into a friendship that she "wouldn't want to turn into a silly short term relationship."

So what should I do? This hit me as very much a surprise, and I feel like the best thing is to keep going at it, although that so directly conflicts with what's been said.

Dumass Think Mix Tape Will Re-spark Relationship

Carbolic — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 21:26:03 -0800

I had a very deep relationship with a woman a couple of years ago. She ended it and my reaction, to say the least. was not the best (no violence or threats). I've had a number of short lived overtures from this lady over the last year (yesterday was the latest - call in to rescue her at 2:30 this morning.) and have apologized for my past behavior.

For whatever insane reason I now think the perfect mixed tape might do some good. Just something to send her that might emphasis how wrong I know I was and how much I'd like to try again. I come up with Al Green songs (So Tired of Being Alone, etc.) If we ever reconnect it will be a slow process.

What would 37-ish year old women recommend that I include in such a mix?

Thanks folks. I really think we're close but she can't quite get past the way the initial breakup went. I expect comments along the lines of DTMFA and am willing to listen so long as they include the mix tape suggestions.

Artist Forming a Business

bdoop21 — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 15:37:57 -0800

What is the difference between a Master of Business License and a LLC in Washington State? Which one would be more appropriate for a freelance artist/product designer/jeweler to have? I need to have a Tax ID number for my business, is that the same as a UBI number? Thanks!