lilmark_utsa

Our new home we picked a chocolate colored grout for our floor tiles. However, it wasn't until after we moved in that we took notice that the grout isn't chocolate colored anymore. It's turned a white-ish color. I am pretty sure it is from the sheet rock of the walls when they were building the house and rather than cover the tile they just let stuff fall everywhere and at the end when the cleaned up they just ended up spreading it all over the chocolate colored grout on our tiled floor.

We just got a new house recently and I need advice on laying sod in my backyard.

The ground is rocky and clay like and likely not going to grow anything. However, they did lay a top soil all over the backyard. I'll have to follow up with them on how many inches of top soil they put.

The back of the yard goes upward like a hill and it has been raining, so I fear the top soil has thinned out up there. Plus, i see areas around the fence where it seems rocky and the original ground is visible.

Does it matter what type of top soil I get to add an extra layer throughout the entire backyard (or maybe just the areas where it's thinned out)? Or is it bad to mix different top soils and I should find out which they used and try to get that same one?

If it makes a difference I am planning to get Bermuda Celebration.

My wife is prior military and we were wondering if we qualify for a VA Loan. The lender sent a request for a Certificate of Eligibility, but said it can take up to 2 weeks before we find if we qualify.

So, since we hate waiting we were hoping to see if any experienced people may be able to fill us in?

My wife's certifcate of release basically says this...

Date entered AD This Period: 2/28/2003

Separation Date This Period: 1/14/2005

Net Active Serice This Period: 1yr 10mon 17days

Discharged under Honorable Conditions (General)

We live in Texas and I am not the biological father, but I am with the mother.

I "believe" we need to get written permission from the biological father to change the child's last name, right?

Assuming he gives us permission to change her last name to that of the mother's maiden name......do we need to get permission from the biological father a "second" time when we get married to change her last name to match mine?

So, the biological father hasn't seen my g/f's daughter since she was 1-week old. He did not assist with any of the medical bills nor pay any child support at the time.

When the child was 2yr I met her mother and have raised her these last 6yrs.

When the child was 4yr the mother's file for child support had finally processed and the bio-father was being forced to pay now by court order. So, technically, he did not pay child support the first 4yrs of the child's life and after that it wasn't done willingly.

The child is 8yr old now and the bio-father has never visited her. However, out of the blue recently we received a message from him. It seems like he may finally be in the "mood" to be the father. He also lives in another state so any visitation would not be frequent.

Can we take him to court and request to deny his visitation rights? Or file for child abandonment? Technically, during the first 4yrs of the child's life he abandoned the child according to law. However, since he was "forced" to pay child support by the courts the second half of the child's life can abandonment still be filed?

If the bio-father lived in town and wanted frequent visits that'd be one thing. I could deal with that. But we know this is going to be one of those "once a year" visits just to put his 2cents in which we don't feel is in the best interest of the child. Of course, this is up to the law, so I was hoping for more info.

I installed an old GPU (I upgraded GPU's a few months ago) into a used HP computer I bought on ebay. The GPU is a Radeon HD 5850. I also put in a new 700w PSU.

When I turn on the PC the screen is black. The BIOS beeps multiple times (didn't count sorry...i'll count tomorrow) and nothing comes up. My first thought was that it had to be the GPU since it hadn't been used for a few months and the PSU was new. I took out the GPU and connected the monitor to the motherboard. The computer runs fine now with no issues.

So, obviously it's the GPU causing the problems. Will counting the beeps just tell me which part (ex. gpu, ram, etc) has the issue, which doesn't matter at this point since I know it's the GPU, or does the number of beeps also tell me specifically what's wrong with the GPU?

Any idea why the GPU is causing problems? It fits into the pci-e slot perfectly. The fans on the GPU are spinning fine. The screen just stays black and the bios beeps multiple times when I put the GPU in there.

My 10 / 100 Linksys router took a dump on me 3 days ago. I was conflicted on buying a more expensive Linksys router which had 10 / 100 /1000 or the cheaper 10 / 100 Linksys. From my understanding the 10 / 100 is sufficient since we never even reach the 100mbps for home use. I've done a speed test through my cable company and through another random site and my download speed ranged from 16-24mbps. So, in theory the 10 / 100 router is more than sufficient.

However, I said "F" it and bought the 10 / 100 / 1000 linksys router anyways because...well, because I could. lol

After setting up the new router last night (after upgrading my g/f's power supply & video card) I decided to test my connection by going to youtube. I found a 30 min video and set the quality to 1080 HD. I was able to watch the video stream in and the download speed move ahead of the play speed. Previously, with my old router, if I tried to watch a video like this I would have to hit "Pause" and let the video download awhile otherwise it would pause repeatedly as the download couldn't keep ahead of the play speed. So, I was able to quickly notice a difference in my speed.

1) If 10 / 100 / 1000 has no affect on internet speed why was I able to experience a faster "connection" so to speak? Should I assume it's just because I purchased new hardware (my old router was like 10 yrs old) which was made with newer & better quality components?

2) When I looked at the details of my connection the speed said 1GB. Am I correct to assume my motherboard (not using a NIC card) is already built with a 10 / 100 / 1000 ethernet port or would it have shown 1GB regardless if it had a 10 / 100 built in ethernet port?

3) We normally have 2 PC's and 1 xbox or laptop connected to the internet at a time. We're all pretty much online gamers. I was looking to upgrade my internet speed with my ISP in the next few months as well. Would trading in my modem for a newer model and purchasing cat6 cable lines show me an increase in my connection or was this recent increase with the new router just a fluke?

I currently have High-Speed Cable Internet + Turbo ($10 more). Recently I noticed my cable company starting to offer even faster speeds of internet service for additional $$$. I'm an online gamer which is why this interests me.

I've never been savy when it comes to internet speeds/bandwidth which is why I am asking.

Now the questions...

1) Would I need to get a new specific type of cat-5 cable to ensure I get the full bandwidth so it isn't funneled to a lesser extent?

2) Do I need to get a special ethernet card for my PC to make sure I get full use of the bandwidth so again it isn't funneled down by using the default ethernet connection on my motherboard?

3) Do I need a special router or modem to ensure I get the full bandwidth so it isn't funneled down?

I basically don't want to pay additional money for faster speeds if in the end, due to hardware capabilities, it's just being reduced in which case I'm wasting my money. Of course I don't mind buying new cables/cards if needed.

Woot, got my beta invite for Final Fantasy 14: A Realm Reborn's first beta test on Feb 25th. Looks like accidentally leaving my account active for 3 months making me a Legacy member and guaranteed beta access had some benefits. ^^/

Has anyone received a beta invite who does NOT have Legacy status? I'm curious if this first beta test is sending invites to Legacy members only or others as well since my g/f said I'll have to share if she doesn't get an invite. ><

Ok, so I married Ysolda.

Then, the innkeeper, Hulda, at the Bannered Inn in Whiterun had an "accident".

It seems like Ysolda has taken over the inn as her dialogue is now showing those innkeeper options...."10 gold to rent a room"...."heard any rumors"...etc

However, Ysolda isn't inside the inn. She seems to stay inside my house. Is Ysolda supposed to start appearing inside the Bannered Inn after she takes over? If so, how can I make her start appearing there? I tried reloading and fast traveling and she doesn't leave my house.

I had a question on the effectiveness of Light Armor vs Dragons.

I've been doing good against dragons using Light Armor & Dual Wield. My Health is....335 I think and I am wearing Glass Armor. My Light Armor skills is in the 60's I believe and I have the first 2 perks in the Light Armor tree.

The game has been easy...too easy. So, I move the difficulty settings to Master. I noticed that monsters have been tougher, which is what I wanted, but they've still seem pretty easy to defeat. The issue I am having is with some Elder Dragons.

I generally hang back a little to let my Sword/Shield companion Lydia grab his attention while I move in from the side/behind to slice him up. Most of the times I win, but sometimes I'll draw his attention. I've had around 80% health when he will sometimes just instant kill me.

My question is...am I doing something wrong or is this instant kill normal on Master Difficulty?

I've been having issues with my Sneak skill. My primary skills are basically Sneak, One-Handed, Light Armor, and Archery.

While Archery is fun, I also enjoy the idea of being able to sneak up to someone and deliver that 15x dmg with my dagger. However, the problem is I can never sneak up on anything because I'm always being discovered.

I have 29% sneaking on my ring & necklace.

I believe I have around 60+ sneaking...possibly 70+.

I wear light armor.

I'm sure to move slow since that does affect detection.

And I know light affects detection as well.

So, what's up with "always" being discovered?

So, I pre-ordered the game and after participating in beta...cancelled my pre-order. lol Then, a week or two after launch I went ahead and purchased the game to give it one last try because I love Final Fantasy and grew up with it since the first one on Nintendo. However, as with many others, I found too many things wrong with the game that made it unbearable (mostly involving combat and an indepth crafting system with no Auction House available).

Anyways, I stopped playing obviously. Then, I started receiving the emails from Square Enix a few months ago about A Realm Reborn, so I checked it out and it seemed hopeful...or at least I was hopeful.

Last night I decided to follow-up on it to see if there were any videos on combat. So far the combat system seemed back in tune with FF XI where you can instantly use any of your skills and eventually build enough limit points to use a special move as opposed to the original release of FF14 where you had to auto-attack forever just to build points to use any of your skills....literally had me falling asleep in the game (first for an mmo for me).

Anyways, I'm hoping some people who have more knowledge on the subject can fill me in with the below questions. I've heard yes & no's on these questions, so what I'm looking for is "facts" not rumors/opinions/i'm-pretty-sure. If you have any links to articles/interviews on this it would be awesome. Thanks in advance!

1) I have the original FF14 game. Will I need to diss out another $50 for A Realm Reborn or can I just install my original game and download the updates/patches?

2) Will this new version of the game completely eradicate the original storyline? I'm curious if I'll have to continue with the new version/story or if I will still be able to play through the original storyline of the game to get the full experience before continuing with A Realm Reborn's storyline?

3) Release date? I heard Jan 2013 in forums.

4) Any PvP? I know in FF XI they had...Ballista is what I think it was called...but people rarely participated in it. PvP was never really a concern to the game-makers it seemed. Probably too hard to balance out 20 classes all of which can have sub-classes of the other classes. Not really a deal breaker for me. I love PvP....but I love storyline too and played FF XI for 5-6 years despite the lack of PvP.

You know that yellow light that flashes a lot on your PC when it's loading/processing during startup and the noise your hard drive makes as well?

Well, my g/f's hard drive is making that noise non-stop and I don't know why.

I checked the Task Manager to see what applications were running and there's a list of stuff running, but they all read as 0 in usage so it doesn't seem like anything is actually running.

However, even if the PC is just sitting there was nothing going on the hard drive makes that processing noise non-stop.

Any idea what the problem is and how I can get it to stop?

I already purchased the new Skylanders Giants starter pack (xmas gift for my daughter).

I bought the 6-8 series 1 characters that weren't remade in Series 2.

I bought a bunch of the series 2 characters

My question is on the actual game. Is the game (Spryo's Adventure) that came out with the Series 1 characters a completely different game/story from the new game coming out in the Giants starter pack?

If so, is there any way I can buy "just the game" that came out with the series 1 characters (Spyro's Adventure)? Where and how much?

Ok, so I'm trying to keep tabs on skylanders and make sure I don't get any duplicates (ex. I plan to buy series 2 bash and not series 1 bash...only want the recent).

Anyways, here is the list I compiled so far and I'm looking for comfirmation on my list and any corrections I need to make. Plus, I'm hoping this might be useful for other people as well. I really wish the official site had a better listing like this to make things easier.

List created 11/20/2012. It may not be 100% accurate but i think it's 95% accurate. :)

Series 1 (not returning in series 2):

Boomer

Camo

Dino-Rang

Ghost Roaster

Sunburn

Voodood

Warnado

Wham-Shell

Series 2 (new characters):

Chill

Flashwing

Fright Rider

Hot Dog (not out yet)

Pop Fizz

Shroomboom

Sprocket

Series 2 (also in series 1):

Bash

Chop Chop

Cynder

Drill Sergeant

Drobot

Eruptor

Flameslinger

Gill Grunt

Hex

Ignitor

Jet Vac

Prism Break

Slam Bam

Sonic Boom

Stump Smash

Terrafin

Trigger Happy

Whirlwind

Zook

Double Trouble (not out yet)

Lightning Rod (not out yet)

Spyro (not out yet)

Stealth Elf (not out yet)

Wrecking Ball (not out yet)

Zap (not out yet)

Lightcores:

Drobot

Eruptor

Jet Vac

Prism Break

Hex (not out yet)

Pop Fizz (not out yet)

Shroomboom (not out yet)

??? (think there's one more)

Giants:

Bouncer

Crusher

Hot Head

Swarm

Tree Rex

Eye-Brawl (not out yet)

Thump??? whale guy (not out yet)

Ninjini (not out yet)

Can anyone give me a list of the Series 1 characters for Skylanders along with which Series 1 characters were re-released in series 2?

For example, I know Hex comes out in Series 1 & 2, so I only plan to buy teh Series 2 version. However, I know there are some Series 1 that aren't being released in Series 2 like....Sunburn. I'm buying them for my little girl and don't want to get duplicates.

So, if you got the time I'd appreciate the list. Thanks!

Does anyone know a site that lists valid information on all the characters?

For example...

Which are the Series 1 skylanders?

Which are the Series 2 skylanders?

Which are the lightcore skylanders?

Which are the Giant Skylanders?

And, which ones are already released and when are the others gong to be released?

I'm not interested in the limited edition or legendary ones as I am getting them for my little girl for christmas. But the Lightcore ones I am interested in getting. I recently found that Ninjini and Hotdog were not even out yet, so it turns out my searching for them was pointless.

So, again, can anyone help me with the questions I listed above?

So, got my new game a little over a week ago. Had a long day at work yesterday and was looking forward to playing my game when the power supply on my Xbox 360 slim died on me. When I mean died I mean died...the light is not red.....it's not on. Tried multiple plugs and with no luck.

So, I went ahead and ordered a new one from Microsoft since I'm past the warranty. They told me it's going to take 5-10 days and I was really looking forward to playing my game this weekend. I checked Gamestop first, but they said none of their stores has the power supply for the xbox 350 slim.

Luckily, I have a second xbox 360 (not slim) to play it on, the problem of course being that the game was still in my Xbox 360 Slim when the power supply had a heart attack so it's stuck in there now.

I'd really like to play my game this weekend on my other xbox, but I don't know anyone that has an xbox 360 slim who could lend me their power supply for 10 seconds to turn it on and get the disc out.

My intial plan after work is to call gamestop. While they don't have the power supply for sale individually I'm hoping they'll allow me to bring over my xbox slim and maybe borrow a power supply from one of their used xbox 360 slims to get my disc out. *crosses fingers*

1st Question: Anyone know if Gamestop does that type of thing?

Anyways, after looking in the yahoo answers here I saw someone mention opening the front panel of the disc tray and hitting a small button with a paperclip to force the disc tray open.

2nd question: Can anyone tell me if the xbox 360 slim has this button on the cd drive to push and force the tray open so I can take my disc out?

I know I've seen a button like that on cd/dvd drives for computers.....and I'm assuming xbox uses the same kinda drive, but I thought I'd ask since I want to know now instead of waiting until I get home after work. :P

So, got my new game a little over a week ago. Had a long day at work yesterday and was looking forward to playing my game when the power supply on my Xbox 360 slim died on me. When I mean died I mean died...the light is not red.....it's not on. Tried multiple plugs and with no luck.

So, I went ahead and ordered a new one from Microsoft since I'm past the warranty. They told me it's going to take 5-10 days and I was really looking forward to playing my game this weekend. I checked Gamestop first, but they said none of their stores has the power supply for the xbox 350 slim.

Luckily, I have a second xbox 360 (not slim) to play it on, the problem of course being that the game was still in my Xbox 360 Slim when the power supply had a heart attack so it's stuck in there now.

I'd really like to play my game this weekend on my other xbox, but I don't know anyone that has an xbox 360 slim who could lend me their power supply for 10 seconds to turn it on and get the disc out.

My intial plan after work is to call gamestop. While they don't have the power supply for sale individually I'm hoping they'll allow me to bring over my xbox slim and maybe borrow a power supply from one of their used xbox 360 slims to get my disc out. *crosses fingers* Anyone know if Gamestop does that type of thing?

Anyways, after looking in the yahoo answers here I saw someone mention opening the front panel of the disc tray and hitting a small button with a paperclip to force the disc tray open. Can anyone tell me if the xbox 360 slim has this button so I can take my disc out?

I know I've seen a button like that on cd/dvd drives for computers.....and I'm assuming xbox uses the same kinda drive, but I thought I'd ask since I want to know now instead of waiting until I get home after work. :P