xajide

My mom is turning 60 this April and since my parents split, she has been single. She also doesn't have the financial means to pay for a vacation so I would like to surprise her with a vacation for her birthday.

Since I won't have the time to travel with her, I am thinking of finding a great singles trip to send her on so she can meet new people.

Some of the websites out there seem somewhat cheap though so I'm hoping somebody here has experienced a great singles trip or knows of a travel service they can recommend.

Any pointers are greatly appreciated!

I just purchased a littermaid plus litter box. I got it at a store closing sale, so no returns.

When I tried to set it up, I realized that somebody must have stolen the power adapter.

I've looked online, but there is no website that can tell me what kind of adapter to get for the box.

So - whoever has a littermaid plus self-scooping cat box... could you tell me what adapter it is?

I just need the voltage output and other specs so I can go and buy a replacement.

Thanks so much!

I have an S Corporation which currently consists of me and one other employee.

The office is located in my own house and I was wondering if it is legal for me to charge my company rent for the office space.

It would help me draw income from the company without having to pay income taxes on everything.

I still write myself a paycheck, but this would help divert some of those funds through other channels.

Any advice?

I am born in Germany and have assumed all my life that I was born on the first day of fall/the last day of the sign of Virgo.

My birthday is September 23.

After moving to the States, I now have to realize that apparently not everybody calculates that way. The date is the 22nd here - which makes it impossible for me to get anything with my sign/date on it.

Not that big of a problem, but it does get annoying having to tell people that yes, I am born on Sept. 23rd, but no, I am not a Libra - without being able to tell the reason why it's different.

Want proof? Follow this link to yahoo Germany - you'll see the virgo sign (called "Jungfrau") with the dates:

http://de.lifestyle.yahoo.com/sterne/horoskop.html

Does anybody know why it is that America seems to be a day ahead in their measurement? It would be nice to have a real explanation for a change ;)

I've been with my boyfriend for almost five years now.

We have a house together, have three animals and get along like an old married couple. There is no doubt in either of our minds that we're going to get married and start a family together.

He says he's got no problem with the whole idea of being married.

If we could just walk over to town hall and sign the contracts, he'd do it tomorrow.

Now that said - that's not going to happen... for a few reasons.

First off - both our families would kill us if we got married, didn't tell anybody before and didn't throw a party.

And secondly - I happen to be one of the girls (as I'm sure many of you are too) who is not willing to give up the only chance in my life to throw a huge party, dress up like crazy and invite all the friends I haven't seen in eons. Unlike him, I enjoy being the center of attention and I think if he truly loves me, he should be able to endure one day of celebrating (especially since I'd be doing all the organizing and all he'd have to do is show up).

I'm also quite partial to the old-fashioned way of going about the whole thing. It's important to me that he proposes - not so much for tradition, but more to show me that he's truly ready - and not just ready to sign some paperwork.

A bit of background is probably necessary here:

I'm the one in our relationship who makes the real money. We both have jobs, but I make almost triple what he does and I am the one carrying the household. Both our house as well as our cars are in my name and I'm the one paying all the bills.

He is the kind of guy who is most comfortable when he feels that he's looking after me and providing for me - so I know being in this situation is incredibly hard for him. Unluckily, it doesn't look like anything about that money relationship is going to change anytime soon.

I'm not sure how much this affects his feelings of manhood... but I do suspect that it does play a role in his hesitance to propose.

If this underlying problem wasn't there, I'd simply sit him down, talk to him and tell him I think it's time we got married.

But I'm afraid that it will further undermine his feelings of being the man in the relationship. So I've told him that if he wants to get married, he needs to ask me.

He never says he doesn't want to propose, never says he'll never have a wedding party... but he doesn't do anything positive either.

It's been a while and I'm starting to feel as though nothing about this situation is going to change.

I'm ready to get to that next level in our lives, but I'm all out of ideas how to do it.

Now add to that the fact that we've both agreed the only wedding fit for us would be a halloween wedding.... he'd have to propose pretty damn soon if we want to make it for next year (.. sigh).

Has anybody been in a similar situation or has any advice?

If you can tell me something I've been doing horribly wrong - any advice is appreciated.

Okay.. so I bought a few new fish for our large fish tank at home.

Five of those were red platys.

Two days after I put them in the tank, the platys were covered with Ich.

Since everybody else was perfectly healthy and fine, my and my boyfriend fished all five Platys back out of the tank and put them into a large bucket for quarantine. We used half fishtank water, half tap water and spiked it with Rid-Ich to help clear up the disease.

I put the bucket into our little bathroom and kept the door closed to keep our animals out.

Well... I forgot to tell my boyfriend to keep the door closed.

When I came home yesterday, the door was open, the bucket empty of fish, blood on the tiles and one single, sad, beheaded Platy on the floor.

My two cats seem to be perfectly fine and healthy (the little killers!), but I wanted to make sure that the disease the fish had (or the Rid-Ich they've been splashing around in) won't affect them.

So - anybody heard of something like this before?

We bought an '89 Bayliner Cruiser with a GM 3.0Litre OMC engine in it.

The owner told us it only needed minor repair (of course a complete ripoff!). We wound up having to purchase a used engine block because the one in the boat was broken beyond repair. My boyfriend (who's an auto mechanic and quite good with engines) took everything apart and put it back together beautifully.

We installed the engine into the boat and when turned on briefly, it purred like a kitten. Now here's where the problem comes:

When we hooked up a garden hose to the motor to get the water cooling system running, the oil mixed with the water and acquired that unhappy milkshake consistency within all of ten seconds of running time.

When we bought the used block, by boyfriend realized that somebody must have run it in salt water and not rinsed it out properly - the cooling channels were rusted like crazy.

He is now convinced that the salt water must have eaten at least a dime-sized hole somewhere into the channels, allowing the oil and water to mix so quickly. He's pretty much given up the engine as dead.

If there are other (fixable) causes for this water/oil mix that anybody knows about, please please let us know!

Any help (even advise on how that kind of leak may be fixed) would be much appreciated.

Here's a little question for everybody:

You think you know who the better candidate is - did you watch any background information on the opposite candidate?

McCain supporters - did you ever bother going on Obama's website to find out his history and ideas? Did you listen to his speech yesterday?

And Obama supporters - will you listen to McCain's speech when it's his turn?

Or will all of you just continue to rant and rave about the negatives of the others without having any solid background (other than what your own side is trying to convince you of)?

I've been reading a lot of the buzz going on in the last few minutes and it's astounding how few people are actually making truly informed choices on this board.

So let's hear it - who's actually making an effort to listen to the other side's story too?

Okay... I know there are plenty of boyfriends/girlfriends/spouses out there who can't help but give their loved ones odd or embarrassing nicknames.

My girlfriend wound up with "bucket" (it apparently started as "love bucket"... and then turned to the even more unflattering short form).

My boyfriend started calling me "chicken" after a bad pun gone awry... and it stuck! My girlfriend and me tend to joke - thrown together we could be "bucket of chicken". Veeeery funny boys!

So let's see - anybody else got a nickname they want to share?

Can't be much worse than mine now, can it?

A good friend of mine has just finished her first four years of medical school in Germany.

She would now embark on another four years of more specialized study and residency at a local hospital.

Her goal is to become a plastic surgeon for reconstructive and beauty surgery in the US.

If she could, she would like to do her last four years of study here too, but does not know how to even start. Requirements for medical schools and hospitals are hard to find and I haven't been able to locate a single explicit program for plastic surgery yet.

She has a 4-year med degree from Germany.

Now what would she need to enter the field of Plastic Surgery in the US?

If anybody knows of any good Hospitals or Med Schools in New York, NJ or PA, it would be even better.

Our fish tank is set up all natural... with slate as a backdrop, black sand in the bottom, a gnarled tree trunk and live plants.

After introducing some plants into the tank, we saw a new kind of algae sprouting - not the slimy green kind that's normal and will set up on the glass, but long, stringy algae that grows enormously and will engulf the whole tank with spiderwebs within a week after each cleaning. It's suffocating all the other plants and making the tank look terrible.

We've tried cleaning it off by scrubbing the tank down, but it just keeps coming back with a vengeance.

Is there any product I can safely use to get rid of this algae without affecting my fish negatively?

We have cichlids and platys.

At this point, I don't really care if the product kills some of my other plants too... they can be replanted.

Oh - we also got a snail infestation at the same time the algae came in, so if anybody knows something against that too... would be great!

I am starting my own business as a photo retoucher and was wondering if anybody in the print business could recommend a proofing system.

I'm currently looking at Epson proofers which I know is the industry standard at the moment. Which model would be your preference?

My mom is in trouble....

She's what you may call an alcoholic in hiding. She insists that she doesn't drink at all, yet hides liquor bottles all over the house and is rarely sober.

It's destroyed my parents marriage because my father tried to help her and didn't succeed... he finally got so disgusted with her that he couldn't deal with it anymore.

I thought I had perfectly normal parents until I found out a year ago that my father had split with my mom and he finally told me why.

Since then, my mom has moved into an apartment closer to me - to help me with my household and to be there for me. Yet it feels like everything is getting worse.

What we hoped could be a new start for her is turning into a downward spiral. She's drunk all the time, yet insists she doesn't drink. I'm always worried and her presence is destroying my own relationship because my boyfriend cannot deal with the situation.

I love my mom dearly - she's my best friend.

How do I handle this situation the best?

I've just booked us and my parents a campsite for four days by the north-south lake in the Adirondacks in NY.

Would be grateful for any pointers of things to do, places to see.. restaurants, points of interest or anything that's fun to do in the near area.

Now I know all the general requirements to get your tax rebate check...

But I filed electronically, filed way ahead of the April deadline and my social is in the very first bracket of people who are supposed to receive their rebate checks.

I still haven't received it.

Now I'm here on a work visa, have been paying my taxes and filing for returns for the past eight years....

So the question is:

Do the rebate checks go out to US citizens only or to anybody who's in the country legally and files a tax return?

My yahoo inbox contains quite a few emails that are absolutely essential to me. Same goes for my email addresses in my yahoo address book.

Is there a simple way for me to save them to my computer's hard drive so I can view them without having to use a mail program?

My boyfriend's parents are the toughest people in the world to get a gift for.

What we're looking to give them is a nice evening or weekend together - dinner, maybe dancing, maybe a special activity...

They're not quirky people, don't have a big sense of humor and his dad is dry, doesn't like wine or Broadway shows...

We live in Central New Jersey - anything within Jersey, Philadelphia or close Pennsylvania would be fine.

His dad hates New York City, so that kills a lot of options.

Any ideas would be great, but please try to name actual places, web links or specific information.

Please help!

I am employed full time, but my company is too small to pay its employees any benefits.

So I'm shopping for my own insurance.

What I'd like:

Insurance that covers all my current doctors, not just giving me a list to pick from.

Something that will pay for both living and hospital expenses should a sickness or accident prevent me from working - and will keep paying.

Good Dental coverage

I'll gladly do a co-pay for doctor's visits.

I'm 28 and in excellent health, non smoker - this should give me a good starting point....

Right now, I'm on an international health insurance out of Germany (which is where I'm from) which reimburses me for every medical expense, but I am sick and tired of having to front the money.

Any advice?

It's tough to just start shopping, so I'd like to get input from people who have insurance.

Let me know which company you feel is the best one.

I'm looking to fly to Colorado for two weeks - end of November/beginning of December.

I'd like to find a cozy Hotel in a town that has hiking trails, restaurants, shops and other assorted things to keep us happy while we're there. Skiing is an option, but not a must.

And if Skiing - Snowboarding more than anything else.

We're on a budged, so I'm hoping to find a place that's not overrun with tourism and has decent prices.

Cities I'd like to be close to: Boulder and Golden, CO

But even that's not essential - as long as it's Colorado ;)

For all of you who have vacationed in Colorado and those of you who live there -

Any tips, ideas and personal preferences you can share would be deeply appreciated.

My boyfriend has shoulder-length hair and has decided to slick it all up into a mohawk and go all-out punk rocker this halloween.

Anybody know a styling product that will get his long hair to stand up straight like that?