AndyMan

I grew up in Ontario where the drinking age is 19. I went to College in Ottawa where we could head accross the river to Quebec and the drinking age is 18. I can't even begin to imagine what it would be like to go through college not being old enough to drink. I imagine, most Americans can't imagine that anyways, as underage drinking in college seems to be the norm. Whenever cultural differences between Canada and the US come up, I can't help but compare the two countries, since these cultural differences seem to be very minimal. The standard arguments against lowering the drinking age is that: a: A lower drinking age leads to more alcoholics. b: A lower drinking age leads to more alcohol abuse. c: A lower drinking age leads to more alcohol related car accidents. Well, in two countries that share very similar cultures, Canada has a lower drinking age. They do not have a higher incidence of alcoholism among the general population. They do not have a higher rate of alcolhol abuse among the general population. They do not have a higher rate of alcolhol related car accidents. I do not like the idea that people "learn to drink" while they're in their senior years of college, away from their families and exposed only to the "college lifestyle". I would much rather that people learn to drink in the comfort of their own home, with the supervision and direction of their parents. This is the case in Canada, where traditionally high school was 5 years long, and kids were old enough to drink in their last year of high school. Doing as is done in Canada also means that schools can endorse and control drinking during a college freshmans first year. In the US, freshman drinking is forced underground, a system that never works. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

I thought it was REALLY funny Especially Ashcroft singing in a press breifing. I can't wait to see the rest of that footage... I'll be sure to see it, I'm sure it'll be entertaining. However, what I'm really looking forward to is hearing all the Bush apologists try to rip it apart while continually missing the point. Now THAT'S entertainment! _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

Amazing. Just a year ago I thought the UN was "irrelevant". If only the administration had worked the system then, I'm sure there'd be far fewer dead American soldiers. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

Clowdburner said: MattM then said: And both are consistent with my 7 years in the IT business. Dell consistently puts out a rock solid line of Desktops (specifically Dimension and Precision), and Servers, both rack-mount and tower. Their products and support in these two areas are unbeatable. The price:performance is fantastic. However, their laptops are altogeather a completely different beast. Specifically, the Inspiron line of laptops is totally weak. They're prone to hardware failures, and are extremely fragile, too. The latitude line of laptops is significanlty better, but still failure prone. Customer Support for Inspiron is outsourced to India, and I've frequently had calls where I could not understand the tech. If you are going to buy a Dell laptop, make sure to buy the extended waranty, you will use it extensively. After 8 onsite tech visits with my old Inspiron 5000, Dell actually upgraded me to a new Inspriron 8200 about a year ago. I'm still having problems, but I'm now out of waranty so I have to buy parts myself. My next task will be replacing the cooling fans, as they're on the way out - after only a year. In the last year I've already replaced the hard disk and motherboard. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

Yah, we did that. Then we went online and bought the exact same ring for less than half the price. The website I linked does have a brick & mortar storefront in Utah. They also have a good return policy. After going through the experience and seeing the huge differences in price for the exact same product, we really got a clear understanding of how much you're ripped off when you buy at most jewelers. Craichead sez its probably more important to have a jeweler you know if you're buying an engagement ring, but she doesn't see the point in using one for wedding bands. As I mentioned, I didn't have to buy an engagement ring. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

Talk to Nathan. His Wing jackets are pretty versatile, and probably easier to fit then a whole camera suit. Cheaper, too. If I were buying now, I'd just get a jacket. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

Well, if you're not gonna take that advice, why would you take any other? Don't use the JVC. Even if it does work, it will break. Guarantee. Don't use it unless you WANT to lose it. You will. Spend the $500 to get a Sony that will last a few years. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

My last jump on saturday I was videoing a tandem. After a normal freefall, I backed off for the pull, then went into deep wings and pitched up for deployment. After the pair went out of sight I relaxed, went to normal pitch, and well... pitched. My opening was a bit "brisk", and the tandem sniveled. A few seconds after opening I found myself on a colision course with the now fully deployed tandem.. It wasn't a close call, we had good separation. Both TM and I went to rear risers and avoided each other by a wide margin. That said, I will be sure to give a bit more delay in the future. What are other tricks people use to avoid the situation? Is it common to give a short track once you're done shooting deployment? Another thought I had was simply to change my heading so that we wouldn't be flying towards each other should it happen again, but this seems weak as I rarely have 100% on-heading openings. Also, what techniques do people use to ensure a tandem doesn't cutaway with you below them? _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

Toshibas are good. I agree, avoid Dell. They are simply not durable. The advice I always give when buying computers is simple: Buy the most powerful machine that you can afford and it will serve you well. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

There's no poll option for what we did... First, the engagement ring was free. Mom gave me my late grandmother's ring. It cost $30 to get it cleaned and resized. It was roughly a quarter karat, but the history of the ring made it priceless. As for the wedding bands, craichead's was $400, and mine was $630. Both are platinum. We got them here . I strongly recommend buying wedding bands off the internet. The rings we bought would've both cost over $1000 each had we bought through traditional outlets. Also, Walmart, SamsClub, and Costco both have half decent jewlery collections, but not as thrifty as the internet was. We're buying our first house right now, and we're real happy to have not spent as much money on rings as others have. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

Strangely, the bill would also forbid most forms of cliff diving, which often involved "frefalling" for over 10 meters. The simple fact that this bill even made it to the floor of the legislature is a tremendous failure of the CSPA. I really do hope they get their heads out of their posteriors, and do it quickly. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

Tell Roy to stop sending nasty PM's. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

Jack, you and Lynn are an inspiration. I hope Craichead and I will grow to have a relationship as strong as yours after so many years. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

I saw that on the news last night. Whats amazing is that the dog was in the backseat, and the divider (to keep the dog in the backseat) was closed. The dog opened the divider -yeah, the dogproof one - then hopped into the front and attacked the theif. The theif then crashed the car into the side of the alley. Dumbass... _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

You haven't partied "backstage", until you've partied with the Great Big Sea. They played "frosh week" when I was at Carleton. We went up into a skyhill/waterpark in Gatineau and just got wrecked. GBS played all day long, then drank with us all night... _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

Bitter Much? It's gotta be better then it was a few years ago when I was going to Carleton. Back then, pot was still illegal! To answer your question, yes. Canadians DO have to like The Tragically Hip. Specifically, their album Road Apples. Speaking of Road Apples, there's a coverband in Kingston by the same name. They often play at A.J.'s Hanger. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

Absolutely true. I took some ribs out to the DZ last weekend, and had a series of meat-heads tell me they were the best ribs they'd ever had. I blushed. Now, if only I could figure out how to do that with corn... _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

I have told people I think they're making a stupid choice. If I don't think they'll listen to me, I mention that person to someone who they will listen to, and let them have a chat togeather. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

So.. you have to go back 60 years to find a succesful episode of Nation Building, and all the attempts since then are failures? _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

The United States is not a signatory to the International War Crimes Court, in The Hague. That said, because the Court has been ratified by whatever number of countries that was established, the court does exist, and does have internation backing to charge and prosecute people from countries that aren't signatories. However, the court only prosecutes people if the nation in question does NOT prosecute them, themselves. For example, If the US were not prosecuting those responsible for the prison tortures, then the International war crimes court would. Because the US is actively involved in prosecuting those responsible for human rights violations in Iraq, then the International War Crimes court will not get involved. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

This is an interesting point. What does a "management" resume look like? Honestly, I have no idea. Clearly, I'm a developer who's trying to step into a management position. How do I do that? _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

I mean my last 3 employers all knew about it before they hired me, and all thought it was really cool. Maybe its because I'm a geek, and its specific to the high tech industry. I've always had very positive responses. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

The locations are autogenerated by Hotjobs. I can't put commas there on the online version. Hotjobs seems to do a better job with US cities and states. A similar statement has been there for 3 previous sucessful interviews, and in all honesty I've found it a good conversation starter, which is why its there. I've never heard any negative comments from any interviewer. In all honesty, I would rather work at a company that understands who I am, and supports me in that. My current (former) employers at one point offered to buy me a custom canopy if I were to jump off the Sears tower. I declined because a: I don't do BASE, and b: I'm sure the logistics of getting to the Sears roofdeck would be nearly impossible these days. Thanks for the comments... _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

I still haven't mastered that art, clearly. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

Any tips for the AndyMan Needs a Job campaign? http://resumes.hotjobs.com/ametcalf_1999/andrewmetcalfe _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.