Kathy P-W

We adopted a local cat, not feral.. he'd clearly had a home some time in the past. He won't get along with our 7 year old cat Sirius, but sometimes attacks if we don't keep them apart. At the moment, Sirius is living downstairs and Jake is living upstairs, but that's an imperfect solution. We took Jake to the vet to make sure he was neutered and got all of his shots; the vet estimates Jake is about 3 years old. Sirius refuses to come upstairs if Jake is there, but sits at the door between the floors and growls.

Do you have any suggestions as to how we could get these two to stop fighting?

I teach ESL in small groups or pull-outs, ranging from 30 minutes to 1 hour. The management method our school is using doesn't really work for small groups, as it involves whole class activities lasting 20+ minutes 1-2 times per week. I'm under pressure to teach content, and so, feel stuck.

What are your classroom rules, and what are the consequences if students don't follow those rules? I have taught K-12, and will most likely be teaching grades K-6 this year. In the past 8 years, I've taught grades 6-12, so I'm out of practice with these younger ones. However, I'm looking for answers across the K-12 spectrum.

Our fridge is only 10 years old, but has gone on the fritz a few times. A year ago, we paid about $400 in repairs, and again a few years ago. It seems to be doing it again. Should we call the repair place again only to have it fixed for $300 or more, or just go ahead and buy a new one? When is the time to give up?

Recently for the Safari browser, it says:

"Keychain 'login' cannot be found to store 'Safari.' " I've tried resetting to the default, but it still does it. I can't figure out how to get the dang thing to either (a) save passwords or (b) stop showing me that notice!

I have a Mac running OSX 10.6.3

I've seen a couple of books with pictures from the movie, but they go further than the American version of the film. I've read the actual "Golden Compass" trilogy and know that the American film ended before the actual end of the first book, but these picture books imply the movie should have gone further, to the true end of the book. So I was wondering where the European version of the movie ended, with Lyra and Roger in Mr. Scoresby's airship on the way to see her father, or after Roger was separated from his daemon.

I haven't bought new skis for more than 25 years (!), though my bindings are newer I'm used to the old, straight-edged skis, 180s. I'm an intermediate skier, do some moguls, but I don't use poles. What are the advantages of the new curved-edged skis? Will I be able to continue skiing without poles? I love that feeling of freedom.

I bought a "Golden Compass" movie book when I was in Russia last month and noticed the plotline was much more like the original novel than the American version of the movie. Was the European version different? If so, does anyone know why the American version was chopped up so much?

Some friends use Weight Watchers online and they love it because they can do the program without going to the meetings. Is that the same thing as the Weight Watchers e-tools you get if you join WW by going to meetings?

My dad is traveling to Russia from the USA next month and he is wondering how much money he should bring with him. Should he bring travelers checks or can he use his credit card? Are there many ATMs for getting cash, and if so, is English one of the options? Any information would be helpful!

My sister is traveling to Russia and wants to know if it's generally safe to find taxis from the St. Petersburg airport, and from central Moscow to Sheremetevo airport. She doesn't speak any Russian.

I have looked at a few insurance websites and they all seem to say the insurance must be obtained within 15 days of travel booking. Well, I paid for the trip in January and it's for late July. I had no idea I'd need to get insurance my mid-February. Does anyone know of any travel insurance companies without this requirement?

I have MS Word for Macintosh. Today I let a student work on my computer and when I opened a document, the little paragraph symbol was showing. I can't figure out what button the kid hit to do this or how to UNdo it. Help!

Also, when I bring some toolbars to the top (view-->toolbars), a black box appears around each toolbar and it doesn't automatically displace the open document. Again... help!

My 5 year old Macintosh is on OSX 10.4. Recently, the finder has been periodically asserting itself. That is to say that I can be typing here, and then the Finder comes to the forefront and I have to click on this window to resume typing. It's been going on for a couple of weeks now and is *really* annoying! I notice the icons on the desktop often disappear for a moment when it's happening.

I had to upgrade to a new Macintosh which runs Panther, I believe (OSX v.10.5.4). I knew that this new system won't run OS 9 programs, but, while I had a chance to back-up my old data, I didn't have a chance to copy some of the OS9 files which I would like now, such as Notepad. I tried opening it with MS Word, to no avail. Any other ideas?

My husband and I are thinking of adding another story to our home. Basically, we live in an area which has become more flood-prone in the past few years, so rather than remodel our ground level only to have it flood again and again, we're thinking of going UP. How do we go about the process to add another story to our home? We want to get a ballpark figure as to costs. I presume we must consult an architect or an engineer, but we're not sure how to go about all this. Ideas?

I have one particular class with two or three girls who cannot stop talking to save their lives. I have tried separating them, but they always manage to get back together. They have filled our our "behavior reflections" form, but that didn't do much. Once they settle down, other pockets of students go off-task. I want to teach, and other students want to learn! I can't kick them out of class permanently.. help!

This is a high school level intermediate ESL writing class.

My husband & I need some ideas for Halloween costumes, either as a pair or separate. We are in our forties, midsized to XL.

My husband and I will travel to the Punta Cana area of the Dominican Republic this summer.

Do you have any general travel tips for the area? Any "must-sees!"? Any safety tips? Thanks in advance!

I don't fully wake up to stumble out of bed and into the bathroom, but I wake up enough. Will I ever get a full night's sleep again?

I need to uninstall a program, then reinstall it. I've used the program "AppZapper," but when I download the installer and try to reinstall, it's obvious my old preferences or extensions are still saved on the HD. Back in the "good old days" before OSX, I would just find the Extensions and/or Prefs files and toss them, but on OSX, I can't find what to delete. Any ideas?

P.S. This isn't the newest OSX, but the one just before it. I can't remember.. the cat name, be it Tiger or Panther.. one of the kitties.