Nightingale

I think smoking should be banned in public, city-owned areas like sidewalks, civic centers, parks and places like that. Your right to smoke ends where my right to breathe begins. I don't want to be standing in line waiting to renew my passport and be stuck breathing someone's cigarette smoke. Ditto with airplanes. With regards to private buildings, let the business owners decide. People will vote with their wallet. I also don't see a problem with smoking and non smoking sections of arenas and stadiums, smoking and non smoking movies, etc...

my cat does all that... likes water, will play fetch occasionally, and will walk on a leash. He's just a shelter tabby cat. pretty much any cat will tolerate water and walk on a leash if you teach them when they're really little.

LOL... my books: Contract Law Civil Procedure Criminal Law Property Law Legal Research and Writing Torts There's a book by Mercedes Lackey that's been sitting on my table for... months now. I think I'm about halfway through it and the last time I had time to read it was at Christmas.

If people want to hunt on their computer, they can play a damned video game. Hunting over the internet is not sporting. The animal doesn't have a chance, because you're not even there.

I don't remember seeing Shiner... next time I go to the three story liquor store with the huge walk-in beer fridge, I'll look for it, though. They've got damn near everything (Hi-Times Wine Cellar in Costa Mesa, in case any So-Cal people want to check it out)

Yes, it is possible to ship animals. US Airways and BAX global are two companies that come to mind. I'm sure there are others.

I'm so sorry about your kitty. Losing fur-friends is never easy. I was inconsolable for days when the kitty I grew up with died, and just about went ballistic on the first person who said "why are you so upset, it was only a cat." I don't think my mother was aware I even knew some of those four letter words until she overheard that. I took all the photos I could find and put them in an album along with all of my favorite kitty stories. It really helped, and got me thinking about the times my cat made me laugh rather than about how sad I was. Perhaps, when you are ready, you would consider adopting a kitty from a pound or shelter in her memory. There's so many wonderful pets waiting for people who care.

I wouldn't even consider drinking anything named "Bud", "Coors", "Michelob" etc... Sam Adams is about the only American beer I'll drink (except a couple of microbrews). I'd rather drink water than bad beer.

When you restrict a substance, you merely create a black market. You don't stop the substance from being sold or used, the government just doesn't collect tax money on it. Lower the drinking age to 14 in the home and restaurants when accompanied by adults, 18 to purchase or drink in bars, and I think that a lot of the drinking problems we have now will stop. Getting totally wasted in college has become a right of passage, considered "cool" and the thing to do. There's tremendous pressure from peers and society about this. They haven't learned to drink responsibly from their parents or family, because by the time they start drinking, they're out of the house. Alcohol represents a forbidden fruit, and people go way overboard when its new to them. Many people's first alcoholic beverage isn't beer or wine, it's vodka spiked punch, shots or other hard alcohol, which makes it a lot easier to be irresponsible. It's harder to get drunk on beer or wine, simply because of the volume of liquid. Imagine if you drank as much Jack Daniels as your friend drank beer... you'd probably end up in the hospital. The alcohol policies here need to change... but raising the legal drinking age isn't going to help, as any kid over the age of 12 knows where to get alcohol if they try. Society can't prevent teens from drinking, but it can encourage them, by lowering the legal drinking age, to learn about alcohol in a responsible environment at home rather than from friends and frat/sorority buddies at college.

Right now, I'm listening to John Denver on my iPod. I listen to most of the same stuff my parents do. Music is one of the few things we can all agree on.

As fun as tunnel is... it isn't skydiving.

Cool!

They're fun to make, too. I love it when skydivers send me photos of themselves with their bears.

I've got all the fabric and stuff for your bear, and the pieces are all cut out. It'll be sewn a day or two after finals are over. =)

My last jump was in January! During the late winter and early spring, we had really shitty weather. Lots of rain and low clouds. Of course, the weekends that were clear, I was stuck doing something else that had to get done. Now, I've got a pretty badly sprained ankle (slipped on a stairway when I stepped on a bunch of wet leaves during the rain). I was silly and walked on it for two weeks before going to the doctor (but I was good... resting, icing, ace-wrapping, and elevating, everything you're supposed to do). So, after two weeks when it still hurt, I went to the doc and she (after yelling at me for not coming in sooner) told me to put an air cast on it. So, I've been wearing an air cast for about three weeks, and the damn thing still hurts. I managed to get 40 minutes in the tunnel over the last 2 months, so I'm keeping up my freefall skills, but I miss skydiving! The doc estimates that the earliest she wants me trying to land on the ankle is June 1. sigh.

If your insurance will cover a trip to urgent care rather than the ER, you could go there for your regular co-pay office cost. That's what I do unless I know I'm gonna need an x-ray or blood tests or something, because then they'll just send you to the ER anyway. Whether you go to the ER or to urgent care, please get to a doctor.

One of the things I learned when I was working as a leasing agent for an apartment complex was to get to know the maintenance staff. So, when I moved, I made friends with the staff. I'm really glad I did. One of the guys on staff came over to tell me that there'd been a few break-ins and attempted break-ins at downstairs apartments in the complex, sometimes when the residents were home. He knows I live alone, and went out of his way to tell me what was happening. I bought a new security lock for the front door that can't be opened from the outside or kicked open, put window locks on all my windows and screws in the tracks so the window can't be lifted. With the modifications to the windows, the only way in would be to break the glass or the window frame itself. Very noisy, and I'm a very light sleeper. I also bought a shotgun. I live in a nice neighborhood in orange county, but just because someplace looks nice doesn't mean there aren't risks. I don't feel like I'm being paranoid because I take measures to protect myself and my home against intruders that have already victimized other people in my complex.

I was referring more to my dagger, because knife fighting is close quarters. I think most people with at least basic firearms training could manage to pull the trigger before the attacker crossed the room.

http://www.earthwatch.org/expedselect.html

I've gotten great customer service from Kama at GroundZero (elsinore). When I ordered my jumpsuit, we spent hours going over colors and options. Bonnie at Gravity Gear was awesome when I needed new risers and we were trying to figure out the best color match for my container, which had faded. I've also gotten great service from Square 1.

Can't go wrong with Martin or Ovation for acoustic, and Fender for electric. I've got an Ovation and a Yamaha acoustic, but Yamaha can sometimes be hit or miss, and the action can be a lot harder than the Ovations. The yamaha has a nice sound, but the ovation is sooo much easier on my hands.

I haven't had a chance to try anything made by Kahr. I've only used the rental guns at the range (sig, glock, baretta), and my boyfriend's HK, which I really liked, and a 22 revolver (don't remember what kind) for target practice.

I thought they were legally married. Britney said in an interview that they'd turned in the marriage license and all that.

I have 16 years of martial arts lessons, plus a dagger that is out of sight but within easy grasp, that I have trained with extensively and know how to use. At the moment, it's the only weapon I feel confident enough with in a fight that I know I know how to use it and won't simply be handing a weapon to my attacker. I think when you're not trained with a weapon, it's best not to have one, because you're probably more likely to have it taken from you by the attacker, and, if the attacker was unarmed, you've just armed him and made a bad situation a heck of a lot worse. I don't own a handgun...yet. When I do, the dagger will probably be replaced with the handgun, once I feel as confident with it as I do the dagger. I'm looking at the Glock 17 or Glock 19... just have to save up the cash.

I bought the 20 gauge because it was more comfortable to me than the 12. I think it's a little smaller. I think I've got 7.5s in there now.