?

I am 1/4 Latvian (my mother's mother was 100% and raised my mother Latvian). My mother never really shared that much about her heritage, I think because her mother died when she was relatively young and it was painful, but recently I have gotten her to open up and I find I am more excited the more I learn.

My husband and I are expecting a child in September. I would like to honor my heritage (to an extent) and make it a part of her life. We were going to name our daughter Dagny for a middle name, but have decided to go with a Latvian middle name, however, my husband doesn't like the way the common Latvian variation (Dagnija) sounds. Given my (limited) knowledge of the language, we modified the name to Dādžnija. My understanding is that this would be pronounced Dahge-nee-yuh, with the dz making the hard j sound in english (like in judge). This was the pronunciation we were looking for.

If someone who speaks Latvian fluently could confirm the pronunication and let me know if there is anything gramatically wrong with the name, I would be most appreciative.

Thanks!

My husband and I are expecting a child in September of this year. We had already made plans to visit a friend in Montreal in September, but we decided to push it back due to the baby coming. We are planning on visiting friends for a few days, then coming home. Assuming our babe is healthy and there are no other reasons we shouldn't travel, we hope to go up there around the time the baby will be 1-1.5 months old. We live in VA and will be traveling by car.

We have taken the trip a few times without an infant (but with a 2-4 year old) and I was looking for any advice on traveling with a one-month old. I know she will still be sleeping a lot, and I know that between feedings and changings and stretchings we will have to make numerous extra stops, so we are planning to add a few hours at least to the trip. Our son will be staying with relatives for this one, so we won't have him with us.

Please, no condemnation of the decision to travel; we are quite adventurous when it comes to our kids and I want to take advantage of the fact that I won't be working; I'm not one of those moms who barricades herself in the house until the babe is older. Our friends can't wait to have us and the baby stay with them, so there shouldn't be any issues there. My only fears so far are about exposing her still new immune system to a totally different environment, any advice on extra protection on that front?

I read that below 3 months of age, you only need the baby's birth certificate to cross the border, is that true? We are taking a station wagon, and we were wondering what to take, how often to stop, and for tips on how to keep her entertained. Also, anyone who has stayed a few days outside home with a one month old, feel free to tell me about your experiences. I've heard it can actually be easier since the babe is still imobile and completely attached to you (I plan to put my Maya Wrap to good use).

Thanks, All!

Hello everyone.

I am in Virginia and my hubby and I are looking to start a small retail business. We are working on our business plan now, but I am a little confused as to how we go about finding capital.

We don't have much money ourselves, so we are looking into getting a small business loan, but the whole opening a business deal is new to us. Since our actually going through with the business at this time is reliant on us getting a loan, which comes first?

I know we need to incorporate (we are going to do an LLC) first with the state, but what comes next? Do we then try to secure the loan, then apply for the local business license? We have a specific location we want to be in, and we might not want to go ahead if we were unable to secure the location, but will the leasing office talk to us if we don't officially have funding yet? Further, business plans include hard data on financials, so should we be contacting vendors and the leasing places before going to the bank?

Luckily my husband is already in the business and has some relationships with vendors, but I really want to move forward; it's just that no one is really telling us which step to go in first?

Any advice would be much appreciated.

Thanks!

I have a great husband, but recently I've been feeling unsuported. I work full time, and am the breadwinner, bringing in 80% of the income. My work is an hour away, so I'm gone 10 hours a day, at least. I also have a auto-immune condition that is triggered by stress. My husband is working two jobs and going to school full time. He leaves before I get up (4:30), goes to first job, goes to second job, then goes to school and gets home after I'm asleep (11:00) 4 days out of the week. It took some adjusting, but I've come to terms with his absence most of the time. We recently moved into his parent's house to save up the final funds to buy our first house, so we are never alone now, which I've also adjusted to. My issue is, when he is around, he's great as long as I have on a happy face. But if I had a bad day, or need some extra cuddling as we go to bed, or just need someone to talk to, he pulls the "I need to relax/I need to sleep, I don't need this right now, you are so selfish" card. I have told him multiple times that we don't need the extra income from his first job, but he won't give up hours. The second job falls completely within the time I'm at work, so no problem there. I feel like he's burning himself out but he says he wants to get school over with so he can start brining in real money. I feel like he's putting them before me, and if I can't get the support I need (rarely, I might add), why am I married? Isn't that what marriage is for? I am there in a heartbeat to do anything he needs, but this lack of reciprocation is making me think I might be better on my own. I love him dearly in every other way, but I'm at my wits end and am incredibly lonely, and it's affecting my health. Talking to him camly (and not so calmly) on many occasions has not helped (he always says he will try harder, but never does.) What should I do?

Hello,

My best friend is trying to buy a home with her husband. Her mother is a real estate agent, but that side of the family also wants to give them the down payment. I told her that I don't think this will work because of the gift restrictions. Can the money come from her father and not be part of an “interested party”? Or is his being married to their real estate agent an issue? Can they buy the house without an agent? Or could her mom forfeit the comission? Wondering how this would work ….

I am running office 2007.

I am trying to sort a list of about 19000 entries. Below is a sampling:

per-24

per-62-3

per-6-2-3

per-62-4

adm-4-1

adm-9-2

opm-2

opm-9

per-11

per-2

per-3

per-32-2

per-32-9

per-6-1

per-6-2-1

per-6-2-2

per-6-2-3

per-7

per-9-1

per-9-2

per-9-2-1

per-9-5-2

tng-5

Currently, if I sort these, I get the following:

adm-4-1

adm-9-2

opm-2

opm-9

per-11

per-2

per-24

per-3

per-32-2

per-32-9

per-6-1

per-6-2-1

per-6-2-2

per-62-3

per-6-2-3

per-6-2-3

per-62-4

per-7

per-9-1

per-9-2

per-9-2-1

per-9-5-2

tng-5

Obviously, this is a problem, since 11 needs to come after 9 and 32 should come after 4 etc. No matter how I format the cells (general, number, text, etc.) this still happens. Help!!

p.s if the inclusion of the dashes is a problem, I can replace them with a periods, so they might read as decimals?

I have a document that was created/edited in Microsoft Word 2003. Using the forms toolbar, the document was locked for editing.

I was upgraded to Word 2007 and I need to edit the document to make a formal revision; how do I unlock the document? There is no forms toolbar and I went to Microsoft and ran through the compatibility wizard, and it told me that option is no longer available.

Help!

A friend is looking into training for the CIA; I knew someone once that was telling me that her daughter went to a school in DC that had a CIA program, but I can't remember what school she said ... does anyone know of a school in DC area that offers something like that? He doesn't want to take classes at an online-only school.

Thanks!

My husband and I were wondering - Would it be "five flights is a lot of staris" or "five flights are a lot of stairs"?

Does anybody know of a site or a freeware program that helps make fictional maps? I'm writing a fantasy book and have some drawings done for the world, but would like the ability to see it digitally. It could be a resource for a computer game, or a civil engineering aid? Anything will do.

Thanks!