Jo Spumoni

I m renting a room in a house, and they have a portable AC unit in the window. I m not using it (I prefer the ceiling fan), and it s been off since I got here--almost four months now. Out of the blue, though, it s started making this loud, intermittent click noise, as if there s a drip somewhere. However, if it s a leak, the water doesn t seem to be collecting in my room.

Any insights? Should I make my landlord look at it? I really don t care if the thing works, but I live in a buggy place and I don t want to attract roaches or anything with moisture.

I bought a new phone recently, and I went to Tracfone's website and went through the whole process of transferring...and then right as it was about to confirm, my internet died. So I don't know if it worked, and their website is so confusing and full of glitches, I can't figure it out.

My old phone now says that the SIM card is unregistered, so I can't make or get calls on it, but my new phone doesn't seem to be receiving calls or texts either. I tried calling them just now, but their office is closed, and there's no way to email them. Their live chat option is done by the time I get home from work.

This is kind of serious--this is my only phone, and it's the only way people get in contact with me. I need my phone to work within the next few days. Any suggestions??

Sometimes (not presently, obviously), I'll be connected to the internet, but unable to load any pages. I can get to google, type stuff in the search bar, and look at the results, but I can't actually load any of the results I just searched for or load any website that I try to type in directly--I get the "oops! Google Chrome can't find this page" and the equivalent if I try it in Internet Explorer. It doesn't matter what browser I use (though I don't have Mozilla). This problem has occurred twice, and then has randomly "fixed" itself for no reason I can determine. But I'm curious: what's going on with that? Is there anything I can do to fix it if and when it happens again?

I was away from home for a few weeks and using a shaky internet connection out in the middle of nowhere. Then, I came home three days ago and tried the use the same network I've used for years without a problem, and suddenly, I could only connect to the network with limited access because supposedly there was another computer with the same ip address as mine on the network. I tried resetting the wireless network adapter probably fifty times or so, disabling and re-enabling the network and adapter, renewing the ip address, and pretty much anything and everything else I could think of. Nothing worked at home, so I finally gave up and went to Starbucks to get some public wifi and I had the exact same problem with the ip address. Finally, I ran system restore, and it worked at Starbucks, but again, not at home. Today, I thought I'd try it at McDonalds, and again I got the ip address error. I tried the usual stuff with no luck, and then restored it to a prior point, but couldn't get it to work at all at McDonalds. But now, I'm back using the shaky connection out in the middle of nowhere and for the moment, it's working fine. I have the suspicion, however, that this is only a temporary fix, which is why I'm asking this now, while I have internet.

So what's going on? Obviously, there isn't a computer with the exact same ip address as mine at every network I try! Anyone know how the heck I solve this?

I'm trying to download QGIS (free GIS software) from their website, and my computer told me first that it would take 1 hour, then switched to 3 hours, then to 13 hours, and now it's been fluctuating between 5 and 13 hours. I'm in a coffee shop, and obviously I can't sit here for 13 hours. Even 3 would be annoying, although I really need this program, so I guess I'd do it. Does the estimate the computer gives me actually mean anything, or is it just BS?

I'm from California, and I have a Chase account, but I'm working in New Mexico and there are apparently no Chase banks anywhere in the state. The closest bank is a Wells Fargo--would they cash a paycheck for me? If so, would I have to show extra ID and pay a fee or anything like that? Sorry if this is a stupid question--this is basically my first job, so I 've never cashed a paycheck before, let alone one at a bank I don't have an account with.

I have a lexmark s300-400 series, and two days ago, I installed a brand new black ink cartridge. Nonetheless, whenever I try to print anything, it's so light you can barely even read it. I had to print my school assignments in bold so that they were even a little bit legible. I've done everything I can think of--taking the cartridge out, shaking it up, cleaning the inside of the printer, printing out alignment pages, etc. Nothing is working. How do I fix this problem? I really need this damn thing to work!!!!!!

I know this is a weird question, but a minor character in a novel I'm trying to write has to be suffering from a chronic disease that prevents her from working. She's about 33 years old, and the year is 1922, so the disease has to have been diagnosed back then. If it makes a difference, the woman is severely malnourished, though this doesn't have to be the cause of her condition, and she lives in Germany (hyperinflation is occurring, though not as bad as it will become later). It doesn't have to be anything real specific. It's just a quick thing I can drop into the story.

Thanks in advance for any replies.

I know that not being face-to-face with each other means that it's easy to be mean. I've fallen into the trap myself. But I'm dead sick of it. Why can't people just be respectful of each other? Is it really so impossible? Do people really lack the courtesy to realize that human beings with feelings type things? Being able to write online means that you have time to consider and edit what you are saying...which means that there is no excuse for being rude.

I'd almost like to stop using the internet altogether, but in this day and age, that is fully impossible. The rudeness is something I have to live with. But I can't escape the feeling that as a society, we're going in a disturbing direction by depriving ourselves of face-to-face contact. Faces and body language give us subtle visual cues that allow us to interpret the subtexts. When this is taken away, a great deal of communication feels lost.

Anyone have any thoughts? And no trolling, PLEASE. On a question like this, it will be pathetically obvious...and yes, I will report abuse if I feel so inclined.

I was using Word this morning (I think it's Word 2000, but I'm not sure) to edit a document when the program suddenly crashed and had to close. When I opened Word again and tried to reopen the document, I got a message that said the document was locked for editing by me. I'm the only one who has access to the document, so no one is locking me out. My Word program is just under a bizarre delusion that I don't want myself to edit my own document. So how should I fix it? Please, if you know, speak very simply; I don't know very much about computers at all.

I've been living in Europe for 5 months, and in that time, I've accumulated about 11 euro in change, most of it 5 cent pieces and pennies. The thing is, I'm going back to the United States in two days, and I can't exchange euros for USD, so I either lose that 11 euro or I spend it. The thing is...I don't want to be that total dick who dumps all her nickels on the counter and makes everyone wait. Any ideas for what I could buy where it wouldn't be stupid to pay in change? And yes, I know vending machines, but not all of them take five cents. A lot of them are 10-20 cents and higher.

Yeah, this is a stupid question, I know, but I'm writing a poem, and I have this line about a coat:

"A --- coat of scorn." I need a two-syllable word for a fabric that describes a fancy coat, preferably an old-fashioned one (the character in question wears a bow tie and carries a silver cane). I had "winter" before, but that doesn't mean anything special; it was just a place-holder. Any suggestions

I'm studying medieval history for the first time ever (I'm an American), and we've been learning about a bunch of Anglo-Irish earls. One of them called himself "The Brown Earl" of Ulster and one of them was "The White Earl" of Ormond. Maybe this is a stupid question, but what's with the colors? Where did those come from?

I wrote a poem about making tea, and I just don't have a good ear for poetry. This might be dumb and it might be great and I just haven't the slightest idea. Feedback? Thoughts?

I watch the bitter liquid steam

And slowly drift into a dream

Where the rising warmth is not

The water boiling in the pot

But is instead your hand on mine.

Then I hear the kettle scream

And I awaken from my dream

Alone, except for warm caffeine.

Something relatively quiet and easy to follow. I'm feeling tired and really not in the mood for action or complex plot.

For no discernible reason, I enjoy eating the peel after I have finished the orange (this goes for tangerines and clementines, too, not that it matters). I know it's weird and everything, but can it make me sick? I've been doing it for a while and I've never gotten sick from it, but I know that I'm not "supposed" to.

I don't know, I'm dead bored right now, and I wrote a writer's survey a while ago that became a lot of fun. So if you feel like it, here's a readers survey:

1) What's your favorite book?

3) What book(s) did you read as a kid that now makes you cringe as an adult or young adult?

4) What book do you feel was most ruined when they made it into a movie?

5) What plot devices or writing styles annoy you most?

6) What subject, topic, etc would you like to see more of in new books?

I was thinking of writing a "minimalist" story where each chapter is a page or less. The goal would be to boil the story down to the raw essentials and try to create emotional power in very few words. My plot would be a simple boy meets girl/coming of age. Thoughts, anyone?

I'm looking for non-fiction books about Nazi Germany, preferably the 1930s. The key word is "Germany". I want to know what it was like to live in Germany during the Third Reich. Yes, I've googled. There are thousands of books. I'm asking for personal recommendations: which have you people read and thought were especially good?