Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with removal

Who will take bed buggy furniture?

Anonymous — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 10:48:22 -0800

Does anyone know a junk removal service in Vancouver, B.C. that will take bed bug infested furniture? Most of it I can get rid of myself in the bin for my building, but I have an old Yamaha organ and a chair that's too heavy to get in there. Suggestions? If you prefer, email me at bedbughell@gmail.com.

Like me, but less hairy.

Foam Pants — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 17:09:26 -0800

If it works, Tria Beauty would change my hairy life. Anybody have any experience with a home laser hair removal gadget?

Well at least my Halloween costume looks good...

lucy.jakobs — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 20:29:28 -0800

How do I remove sticky residue from Elmer's Multipurpose Spray Adhesive from my wooden desk? I used Elmer's Multipurpose Spray Adhesive while working on a Halloween costume and accidentally sprayed...well...quite a lot of it onto my wooden desk. It's been over a day and the desk is is now very sticky. For better or worse I've tried basically everything I can get a hold of (water, water and soap, fingernail polish remover, Vaseline, hand sanitizer, and Apple Cider Vinegar) but the residue is still there. I'm hoping someone will be able to help me figure out how to get my desk back to normal! Some things to note: The residue isn't gummy...just sticky. It doesn't look any different from the rest of the desk, but it feels very sticky. And the desk is a generic dorm room desk, meaning I have no idea what kind of wood it is or what the finish on it is or anything.

When I was young I drew all over the neck of one of my guitars with a sharpie, thinking it would make me "metal." I am now older and wiser. How do can I remove this mistake?

ichthuz — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 20:41:53 -0800

When I was young I drew all over the neck of one of my guitars with a sharpie, thinking it would make me "metal." I am now older and wiser. How do can I remove this mistake?

What, you're trying to get in National Geographic?

fatbird — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 14:10:32 -0800

If I remove my nipple ring, will I experience nipple sag? I've had a pierced nipple for 19 years (a simple 14 gauge ring), and I'm feeling ambivalent about it now. It was awesome for shocking people and relatives, but at 38, it seems a little bit like I'm trying too hard to hold onto my rebellious youth, and I'd like to remove it for good.

The weird problem is that my girlfriend wants me to keep it in because she's afraid that I'll have a gross, distended, saggy, XXL nipple--and just one, since the other has never been touched by a needle.

As a man, I don't have enough nipple for the piercing, so the ring actually goes through the areola behind the nipple--maybe 3/8" of an inch altogether. Besides the ring itself, it's obvious that something is going through the skin, but overall my nipple/areola isn't saggy or distended now. Mainly, my girlfriend fears that, without the ring, the flesh won't settle back into a very normal looking male nipple.

So, mefites who've removed nipple rings: How did your nipple respond over time? Is it now indistinguishable from its virginal state, or is it obvious that there used to be something there that's now sadly absent?

Excel Macro Removal

CancerMan — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 11:58:49 -0800

Excel 2003 says I have macros in one workbook. I want to delete them, but Excel won't let me. NeoOffice (for the Mac) also won't let me. When I look for them using the Macro Dialog box or the VB editor, I can't find them. Can I delete these macros, or do I have a serious problem? This is only happening in one workbook, which I use frequently between Excel 2003 (WinXP SP3) and NeoOffice (Mac 10.5.x). I do not intentionally use macros and set the security to Very High, but I do not know if I accidentally created one. The Macro Dialog Box tells me I have nothing. The Visual Basic editor does not display any modules I would expect to have macros, so I have nothing to delete.

It seems each sheet does have the following:

Private Sub Worksheet_SelectionChange(ByVal Target As Range)

End Sub

but my impression is that this is part of a standard library, since other spreadsheets that I use also have it. Yet the workbook in question is the only one that generates the "you have macros" message.

There are also no hidden sheets, as far as Excel is able to tell me.

The way I move from Mac to PC is by uploading my files from one machine via SSH to a unix account, then downloading them on the other. I know I could use a flash drive, but this is what I do, and I like having a copy of files on a separate machine monitored by a sys-admin.

Please help me figure out how to remove these hidden macros. I am not familiar enough with macros nor with VB. I hope this isn't a sign of something more serious (a virus/spyware scan reveals nothing), and I'd hate to have to write a completely new workbook with the same amount of data.

Mother cat in basement/crawl space, nursing two newborn kittens (likely less than two weeks old) soliciting solutions.

weakcore — Fri, 01 May 2009 10:50:35 -0800

I just moved into a duplex two weeks ago, and yesterday I discovered two kittens (w/ mother) underneath my unit ... I can't afford (both financially and emotionally) to care for them at the moment .... Three main questions:

1. Does anybody know how high a cat is able to jump with a one/two week old kitten in her mouth? What is the best way to encourage a mother to relocate her litter?

2. What can I expect from animal control should I choose to call them for removal?

3. What do you think is best way to handle this? Call the local animal control to have them come get them or "encourage" the mother cat to relocate her litter?

context:

The kittens are probably one to two weeks old, they look like they've just begun to open their eyes and are [clumsily] stumbling about.

There is a trap door in one of my closets w/ stairs that leads down to about a 15x8'x5' (LxWxH) hole dug into the crawl space underneath the unit that functions as a tiny basement of sorts, containing two water heaters and some other odds and ends like paint buckets, tarps, etc.

The mother cat is able to exit and enter using various objects as a step ladder (said object is some sort of large iron anchor about 3.5' tall and REALLY heavy--too heavy for even two/three people to lift by my guesstimate, unless they're recent competitors in The World's Strongest Man). I imagine that she'd be able to make the 5' jump if she really had to, but I think the height makes it difficult/impossible for her to relocate her offspring. Maybe I can give her some help by making a serious of shorter jumps for her .... What would be the best way to encourage the mother cat to relocate should I choose this path?

I'm leaning towards animal control as opposed to encouraging relocation, but can't really decide (thus my post). I don't really want to just let nature take its course (I don't want a bunch of cat pee and poo down there and I don't think my landlord would be very happy). I am open to any other suggestions (that may be more ethical/humane?) that I might not yet considered too. Thanks in advance.

Virus-free or virus hiding: is my computer Conficked or just fine?

librarylis — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 11:44:38 -0800

On or around April 1, my computer caught something that caused havoc with my antivirus programs but now everything seems fine--this can't be correct? On April 1 (bad news, I know), my antivirus program (Avira) warned me that it had not been able to retrieve definition updates from the internet.

It has been a frustrating saga to figure out what might be wrong; if you're not into the saga, skip to the last paragraph for an executive summary.

I immediately had Avira run a full-system virus scan, which picked up what Avira called a Trojan (dropper?) in my Temp files that was promptly quarantined. Searching Google, the only info I found to get rid of Dropper was to install MalwareBytes and run a full scan. Well...

I checked MalwareBytes, which I already had installed eight months ago, to find that it also wasn't updating. MalwareBytes did not pick anything up in its full scan. I tried re-naming MB, but the problem was not accessing it but rather updating, and renaming did nothing.

At this point, I tried TrendMicro to see if a program that was not on my computer would pick anything up. It did not.

I then tried grabbing manual updates for Avira via a USB drive from an uninfected computer. The files fail to correctly integrate with Avira.

I also know that my Adobe, Flash, and Java programs were all nagging me to update, and I had not done so for at least five months (not my brightest move).

Several days later, I checked to see if Windows Update was working, which it wasn't. The internet, yes, Update, no.

I then downloaded Avast to see if that would pick anything up. The most up-to-date version available did not pick anything up in its full system scan. Once Avast was installed, it too was unable to update.

I deleted Avast, then restarted my computer. With restart, the desktop, start menu, and system tray failed to become visible, as did a program (Rocketdock) that I installed two years ago. Restarting again did nothing, but once I restarted in Safe Mode I was able to see the desktop, start menu, etc.

However, at that point, Firefox and IE both stopped connecting to the internet. I know it wasn't my ethernet cord, and I know it wasn't the network. The network has a kick-ass automatic quarantine that I know was functioning correctly at the time, as well as some species of firewall.

I did a system restore to a point shortly before April 1st.

At the exact same time, my power cord died. With the battery dead and no AC adapter, I unplugged the ethernet cable and let the computer sit in hibernation.

Fast forward three weeks, and I was finally able to acquire a power cord and I re-connected the ethernet cable. My computer wakes up, with Firefox open and the tabs all reloaded to current information (i.e. Slate had yesterdays's articles not those from three weeks ago). Well, great.

Avira automatically starts updating, and the update goes through. MalwareBytes updates. Windows Update updates. I immediately do a full system scan, using both MB and Avira. MB once again picks up nothing, while Avira picks up another two Trojans (different ones, this time) in my Temp files. I then deleted the named files. I updated Java, then Flash, but haven't gotten to Adobe yet.

Here is the problem: my system seems fine. Antivirus programs, Update, everything that was haywire, now seem good to go. This just doesn't seem possible when the only thing I did was disconnect the computer to the internet for three weeks, and the system restore (which didn't seem to solve the problem three weeks ago).

Executive summary: Antivirus programs, Windows Update and other critical programs failed to update around April 1, Avira antivirus sees nothing but Trojans in temp files while Malware Bytes sees nothing, power cord dies and is resurrected three weeks later at which point the computer miraculously updates all problem programs and all seems well. This surely can't be right?

Tech specs: I am running Win XP (Media) on a Dell E1405, typically using Firefox 3, with Avira Antivirus, MalwareBytes, and Spybot Search and Destroy all installed and regularly updated, Windows Firewall is on and the network also runs a firewall.

"Honey, I noticed a little fuzz this morning..."

Bakuun — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 20:27:08 -0800

Growing up with a mindset that bodyhair is icky and no one should see any of it ever ever ever, I now find myself questioning just how crazy most people get about removing it, or discovering it on their partners. I feel so naive about the whole thing, it's embarrassing. Are women expected to be silky-smooth every day? Is leg stubble horribly mortifying? Do men run away screaming when they find unsightly patches? (Well, probably not.) For example, shaving for me nearly always meant ingrown hair, no matter how I did it and no matter how religious I was about exfoliating, and I've never considered that a pretty sight. So, I've been extremely shy with partners if we were getting together during those in-between days when I didn't look my absolute best. Even if I've been dating the guy for a few months, seeing him every day, I just had this paranoia that I wasn't reaching some level of smoothiness perfection. But I never brought this up, because hey... embarrassing and whatnot.

I'm guessing most people don't quite get their knickers into knots over this, and most guys don't expect your average non-airbrushed-lasered-girl to retain that softness for every hour of her life. And yet, I'm still really weirded out over the whole thing.

What's normal? What's expected? How the heck does this work?

Removing a single Google Toolbar Bookmark?

wylde21 — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 20:02:45 -0800

Google Toolbar Bookmark removal - can not get one particular bookmark to stay removed Odd question...but hey, I'm in the right place.

I started using Google Toolbar for my saved websites about a year ago. I have been enjoying taking my "favorites" wherever I log in.

However, I have one particualr website I can not remove and have stayed removed. I can delete the site, but when I close and reopen google toolbar (in explorer or firefox) the bookmark comes back.

Here is the website: http://www.reusablebags.com/store/acme-bags%EF%BF%BD-workhorse-style-1501-black-mesh-p-906.html

Any suggestions for permenant removal? I have removed other random websites from my bookmarks, and they stay deleted.

"Out, damn carpeting!" says Spot.

thebrokedown — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 09:24:14 -0800

I need some suggestions for removing glued-on indoor/outdoor carpeting. The animal shelter with which I volunteer is has a building with carpeting that has been glued over linoleum tiling, over concrete.
This carpeting must be removed to make the building useful for their purposes. All attempts to remove it have been fruitless so far, including brute pulling and solvents (WD-40, FWIW). The glue is thick, brown and very brittle, and the linoleum is ancient and crumbly. Removing just the carpet is good, also removing the linoleum would be ok.
The local flooring place has quoted them an exorbitant price for doing this. Anybody have any ideas for removing these layers with as little effort as possible? Solvents to try? We can get our hands on as many volunteers as needed. C'mon, MeFites, I've bragged about y'all's amazing ability to solve all manner of problems in short order.

Music vs. speech detection software?

Mwongozi — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 07:52:55 -0800

Music vs. speech detection software? Say you have a recording of a radio show that includes some speech and some music, but you only want to hear the speech. Is there any software that can automatically detect music, and remove it?

Ah. Yes. Where do the legs go on that thing again?

neblina_matinal — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 11:03:20 -0800

I have a few questions about bellow-the-belt laser hair removal. I've decided I want to get a full bikini hair laser removal. Everything gone. I have a few questions about the whole process though (which yes, I will also be asking when I go in to get the thing done, but I'd still like to know what to expect beforehand).

- When you go in for the first consultation, the one when they assess your skin and hair type and whether you are a good candidate, are you supposed to not wax/shave beforehand for a while? I mean, they have to see the hair, so you're not supposed to be groomed, right?

- When doing the actual procedure, how do they place you? Stir-ups like a Gyn? Or... what? FYI, I've never got a Brazilian wax done at a salon, so a description of... placement is welcome.

- Also, do they protect your *most delicate* skin and bits *right next to that laser beam* with something?

- Has anyone had this done and then regretted it? I can't see any reason why I'd need pubic hair anytime in my life, but still, I've never done anything so permanent, ever.

- If there's anything important I'm forgetting, or something you wish you'd known before you had this done, please do share.

Tattoo Removal NJ

Anonymous — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 16:07:31 -0800

Tattoo removal in Central NJ -- Can anyone recommend a tattoo removal place that is within an hours drive from Princeton, NJ? I have had a few expensive and painful sessions already, but I have recently relocated here to NJ and need a new laser shop.

Thank you.

What to use to get stickers off of RAM sticks?

bartleby — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 13:02:00 -0800

I have a shoebox full of RAM sticks that I want to make some art out of. What should I use to soak the stickers off? That's pretty much it; lots of obsolete desktop and laptop RAM modules that would look nice covering the fridge or a file cabinet (I'm thinking glue gun & minimagnets). But I want to get all the manufacturer's adhesive stickers off cleanly, without discoloring or otherwise dissolving the modules themselves.

Anyone recommend a solvent or favorite goop?

Removing a Fireplace

bananafish — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 21:30:02 -0800

Fireplace removal. We just bought a house (an Eichler if your familiar with that style) and it has an outdated, ugly big red brick fireplace in the middle of the room. We really hate the way it breaks up the room, but we're not sure who we would even call to have it removed. It's an especially difficult removal since there's a hole in the roof for the stovepipe. So: 1. who would you call to remove the fireplace and 2. how much would something like that cost (ballparking it)?

Bandito!

FatherDagon — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 08:27:27 -0800

Any ideas on how to remove a raccoon from my basement suspended ceiling? Apparently we've got a raccoon that found it's way into our suspended tile ceiling area recently - we've heard him moving around, found yellow spots soaked into the tiles (yum!) and at one point lifted up a tile to spot him trundling around up there. We're not sure how he got in - we have a townhouse, so vents or shared wallspace with neighbors is an option.

He's not always present, so if we get a pest removal group to come out, I'd like a way to ensure he's still obtainable by the time they arrive. There's not much space for a cage trap or anything where he circulates - maybe 12-14" of clearance up there, and lots of cables/pipes etc. We thought about poison, but then we'd have to track down a mouldering carcass in our walls in a week... no fun there. I considered laying out a hundred glue traps, and just bundling him up when he got too gummed up to move, but that's starting to get silly. Any ideas, hivemind?

Wisdom tooth chip right after my insurance ended. D'oh

special-k — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 19:28:52 -0800

I seem to have chipped a tiny bit of my upper-left wisdom tooth. My dental insurance also ran out a month ago. Now what? This evening I was trying to dislodge a piece of food but instead took out a tiny chip off my upper-left wisdom tooth. It doesn’t hurt but I can feel the jagged edge with my tongue. My dental insurance also ran out a month ago and I will not have one until I start a new job (January at the earliest, possibly as late as March).

What should I do? Is this something that needs to get fixed immediately before it gets worse? Or can I just be extra careful, taking all preventative measures to prevent bacteria from accumulating there until I have the insurance to cover this? I am not broke and can spend a few hundred bucks to fix this (but I fear that wisdom tooth removal may be in the thousands).

I live in the bay area if it matters.

how to remove shrink plastic insulation tape

let444 — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 20:20:59 -0800

does the double sided tape from shrink plastic window insulation kits come off a painted wood window frame all the way without peeling the paint?

Laser hair removal in Philadelphia

ludwig_van — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 23:24:28 -0800

Where should I go for laser hair removal in Philadelphia? I want them to remove the hair with lasers.

How do I get rid of just one character?

deezil — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 07:06:44 -0800

I need a way to remove one character from a fixed width file, and put a zero in another spot to compensate. How would I get this done? I've got this file, full of record sets like this: http://pastebin.ca/1253309

In the RDG record, you see the 0000017549 from positions 34-43. What I need is for the 9 to be removed, and a zero to be put in the front of the reading to look like 0000001754 . It's always going to be the 43rd character that is lost, and it's always going to be a zero to be put added in at position 34. Would the hive mind please help a person out?

How to remove dye stains from hardwood?

Felicity Rilke — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 09:38:45 -0800

Ho do I remove confetti and streamer stains from hardwood floors? We held an election party last night complete with streamers and that metallic confetti which shoots out of poppers. Some of the streamers and confetti sat in pools of alcohol all night and today I am faced with candy-coloured marks all over my light-coloured hardwood. What's the best way to get rid of them (or, at the very least, fade them so they're less noticeable). I don't want to ruin the floors with my experimentation.

Removing the smell of smoke from apartment?

spacesbetween — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 09:02:49 -0800

Any tips or advice on how to remove the smell of smoke from an entire apartment? Roommate left a pot of boiling eggs on and forgot about it, am I in the clear if I ask my roommate that caused the problem to pay for it? So my roommate was cooking late last night and ended up falling asleep while leaving the stove on with his hard boiled eggs. It was only due to the smoke detector that I managed to wake up in the middle of the night and found the entire apartment filled with smoke, thankfully there wasn't any fire but the place took an hour to clear of the smoke.

I noticed just how bad it was this morning when I went outside for some errands and came back inside. I don't think there is no amount of febreeze that could stop the smell.

I'm thinking we would actually need to do professional cleaning? Am I right to ask him to pay for all the cleaning? I know if we don't clean this we would end up losing our deposit and probably paying extra to get the smell removed anyway..

Thanks for your input or opinions.

Getting latex paint off a car

dw — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 09:28:41 -0800

Yesterday I managed to rub my car against a steel pole with about umpteen layers of latex paint on it. It left a streak of latex on my car. How do I get the paint off without wrecking the clear-coat finish of my car? So I'm at the gas station, and I'm backing my car (1996 Contour) up to the pump at about 2-3 MPH, and after I do so I notice I'm too close to the pump. So I slowly back out, move the car over, and then realize what this weird noise I heard twice was.

There are these steel poles filled with concrete that are there to protect the gas pump from, well, people like me hitting them. The poles were covered with about 100 layers of white latex paint. I was too close to the poll, and the top of my wheelwell rubbed against it.

The physical damage doesn't appear to be much -- a tiny dent that looks like it was hit by a hail stone. But it did deposit this white line of latex paint on the car. There was no green paint on the pole, and a little bit of picking at the white paint revealed the green clearcoat is still there, so that gives me hope I can get the white paint off and that'll be good enough. (I'm about to sell this car in a couple months, anyway.)

So, how do I get it off without wrecking the paint underneath? Buff it off? Goo Gone? Any ideas?

A hairy situation

Anonymous — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 10:37:48 -0800

I'm a woman with a close guy friend who has a LOT of back hair. He has decided he wants to get it removed, and has asked me for help. I know there are different alternative methods for this (i.e., wax, shaving, hair removal lotions/creams), but I'm at a loss as to which method would be best. He is in his late 30s, and has never had this hair removed. While his entire back is hairy, the majority of the "real hairiness" is concentrated in 4 sectors of his back: the upper left and right shoulder areas and the lower left and right lower-back area. These areas are about 6"- 8" in diameter, and the hair in these areas is approx. 1/2" long.

I will be helping him with this, because, let's face it, this is not something that anyone could physically do on their own. I purchased a couple of tubes of Hansen for Men Hair Removal Lotion (which specifically mentions it's for removal of back hair, among other things). I have used hair removal lotions on me over the years with no problems, so I thought that this would be a good route to take. Here are my specific questions:

*Is hair removal lotion a good method to remove all this hair the first time around? If it's not, what is?

*Does the hair grow back any quicker depending on which hair removal method is used?

*Some people have mentioned using "hard wax." I'm not sure I could handle doing this to him--wouldn't it hurt (him) like hell?

*Is there any technique/device he will be able to use after the initial hair removal so he can handle upkeep and maintenance on his own?

*Any omigods, or DO NOT EVER DO THIS(es) that any of you can share are greatly appreciated.

Thanks, hivemind!!