crickey23

I've tried twice now to make curry, but both times it's turned into a very soupy mess. I followed the instructions on the box (they're in Japanese but it clearly says 900mL on the box and has all the instructions in picture form, and I can read/speak Japanese so it's not a problem), but once I add the water and let it boil, then add the curry brick it just turns into a brown, flavorless soup, even after letting it boil down for ages. I want it to be thick like curry *should* be; perhaps I'm adding too much water? I used a measuring cup with metric on it, and I doubt the box's recipe would be incorrect.

Anyone have any ideas? It's a huge waste of food to keep making curry soup instead of curry.

Did he really dies?? :(

OMG! I just watched the movie and that main vampire Twilight was soooo hoooootttttt!!!! I love how he sparkled in the sunlight and how that emo girl drooled all over him. OMG TWILIGHT FOREVER!!!!

MARRY ME TWILIGHT!!!

OMG now I'm really excited to meet that warewolf in the next movie!! New Moon looks even cuter than Twilight!!!

I'm curious to know: If there's Christian rock, are there other forms of faith-based rock such as Jewish rock or Islamic rock? If there is can I have some examples?

Thanks!

I recently went to a store that sold older video games. After seeing some of the ridiculous prices they wanted for unlicensed NES games (the baby blue cartridges that can't be played without some sort of add-on), I figured they were just selling these games without looking up the values. Then I came across a copy of Final Fantasy VII for the PC. Now, I know this game is good, but the price tag said $99.99! Is this a fair price for a Final Fantasy port?

I don't plan on buying it, by the way, I just want to know if that really is the value of this version. It seems highly overpriced.

This has been bugging me for some time. It's not only the word iron, but also many words where people switch two letters around, like irony. Why do English-speakers do this? Is it just a natural evolution of the language, or is it that we've heard it wrong from so many people it's become acceptable to pronounce it wrong?

Thanks!

My mom has a 3G Sprint mobile broadband card that has a 5GB limit per month (which she told me yesterday was 500GB and I had to look it up to be sure). A friend informed me that using the broadband card plugged into my laptop, and then running an ethernet cord to the Xbox, then enabling network sharing, that I can use XBL. Is this possible to do with only a 5GB limit?

My mom is very paranoid about using up all of her allotted usage and getting slapped with an overage fee, but it would be cool to actually be able to play on XBL in such a rural area (I can't get wireless or broadband here, only dial-up). If there is little risk of going over the 5GB limit how do I convince her that it's ok?

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!

My mom recently got a Sprint wireless broadband card that comes with a 500GB limit per month. She lets me use it but says that I can't download anything or watch too many videos. I was wondering just how fast you can go through 500GBs in a month, and if little things like browsing and watching videos will drain a lot of it quickly?

Any (good) answer will be appreciated!

Thanks!

My brother plays F.E.A.R. often on my mom's computer because it has connection to the Internet. Since I've been home on winter break I've been trying to resolve the multiple issue her computer has. I'll try to give as many details as to what I did and what problems have been happening.

First, I had to redownload AVG Free for her because something happened to it and it refused to update. We have dial up and it took five hours, but it downloaded fine. When I ran a scan the Internet stopped working. It would say it was connected but I was unable to browse using Firefox or use any program that involved being online. Since then the problem occurs at least once or twice a day and only lasts about an hour at most.

Next I installed the update that has probably been waiting to be installed for a very long time, which was XP Service Pack 3. It installed no problem. I then installed a new version of Windows Defender because the version on this computer was a beta and was expired. The installation was a success.

After that I uninstalled the games nobody plays, such as World of Warcraft, since my mom doesn't want them using up space. Then I turned off some of the boot processes for MusicMatch Jukebox because ShellIconHiddenWindow wouldn't turn off at shutdown. Everything was fine, except for the Internet connection problem.

When my brother tried to play F.E.A.R. later that night, it would get to the title screen but it would freeze. I've uninstalled it and reinstalled it but the game still freezes. There are no scratches on the disc an we never had a problem with it before until I installed the service pack. Is it just a coincidence or did installing the service pack (along with AVG Free and Windows Defender) make the game unplayable?

Any help would be appreciated, and sorry for the detailed descriptions. I really would like to fix the issue before I have to return to university.

Thank you!

We have burgundy-colored carpets in our living room and dining room, and three pets who seem to do nothing but shed year-round! No matter how many times a week I vacuum the dog and cat hair never seems to get picked up. It's not just the vacuum I use, either. I've tried three different ones and all had the same results.

When I was younger I remember my grandmother sprinkling some sort of powder on the carpet and it got up all the dog hair. Would something like that work? I've tried baking soda, but all that does is deodorize the carpet. It's driving me mad that no matter how much I clean the pet hair keeps coming back!

What can you suggest that is inexpensive and will work every time?

Thank you!

My parents have smoked since before my siblings and I were born. My mom even smoked while she was pregnant with all three of us! They smoke like chimneys, and they swear up and down they would quit, but whenever they say they're going to they give up after one or two days.

They roll their own cigarettes, which I guess saves money, but it's still a horrible habit. There's always tobacco everywhere because they're roll their cigarettes wherever they please, and the ashtrays are always full, even after I empty them.

I wish they wouldn't smoke in the house either. Our house smells and no amount of Febreeze will get rid of it. My clothing stinks and I'm pretty sure that people can tell that our house smells when they visit.

My question is this: How do I get my parents to stop smoking once and for all? I hate it when they smoke, and no matter what I say their response is always, "It's my house, I'll do what I want!" It makes me upset that they don't care about their health, or my siblings and I either!

I thought of taking all of their cigarettes, lighters, and ashtrays and hiding them, but with my luck they'll get angry and go buy more stuff instead. What can I do? I don't want them to live the rest of their lives sick because they won't quit. How can I get them to commit to a plan and get them smoke free?

Thank you.

My sister has moved out and has left behind her fish tank, full of about 20 guppies, maybe more. Apparently no one in my house pays any mind to it, and when I came home from school for break I was disgusted with what I saw. There is what I believe to be mold or algae growing on the sides of the tank, and there is sediment built up all over the bottom and on the decorations. There is also about one-fourth of the tank's water missing. The only food I found was some Oscar chow that my dad used to feed his old Oscar fish. One fish has already died since I've been home. The rest of them seem fine but I'm a little concerned.

What can I do to clean her tank and keep it clean for a low cost? I'm only at home for a couple more weeks but I want to make sure that after I leave her fish will be alright. There is no filter and the bubbler is broken, meaning that there is no air circulating through the tank.

Would a sucker fish (I don't know the real name for them, sorry) be a good investment? My dad had one once and it did a pretty good job at keeping his big tank clean. Would one of those fish be okay to leave in a tank full of guppies, especially with the baby ones I sometimes see hiding in the sediment at the bottom?

Any help would be appreciated. I'm new at taking care of fish, and apparently my sister has no clue either!

Thank you!

We rescued a cat we found in our backyard about three years ago. At the time he was starving to death, but he's pretty healthy now. My problem with him is that he swallows his dry food whole, and then throws it up on our carpet in our living room, only to go back to his food bowl to eat more! He also eats like a glutton and will complain when he's hungry. We only feed him and our other cat once a day, sometimes twice, with plenty of water.

Does he do this because he almost starved to death? Since it's been three years wouldn't he have stopped doing this by now? Could it be because our other cat thinks she's the alpha female and tries to eat all the food? She doesn't swallow her food whole like he does, though.

Thank you!

My dog is medium sized, somewhere between 50 and 70 pounds. He's deathly afraid of water for some reason, so when we bathe him in summer we have to put a heavy leash on him and tether it to our basketball hoop. It gets the job done but the poor thing fights it all the way, and after we let him loose he runs off and won't come back until the hose is put away again!

In winter we can't bathe him because it's too cold outside, and we cant get him to get into the bathtub. Plus he sheds like no other dog I've seen before and even if we did get him to bathe in the tub we'd be pulling dog hair out of the drain for months! I don't want to have to take him to a groomer, either. He's a very kind dog and has never bitten anyone but I'd hate to see what would happen if the groomer tried to douse him in water!

So how can we bathe our dog in the winter without taking him to the groomers? He's starting to stink and I get the feeling visitors think we don't take good care of him. Also, is there any way to get him to be less afraid of water?

Thank you!

I have a friend who is an employee of Vector Marketing, that scam company that forces you to work door-to-door selling knives, then refuses to pay you. She's never once received a paycheck from them, and all summer she kept getting harassing calls from her manager. Yet she still refuses to quit.

I've done a lot of research on the company and their business practices, and frankly I'm worried. She's been lied to, manipulated, harassed, embarrassed, and all sorts of other horrible things. I can't just come out and tell her that who she works for is a scam, because I know she'll get mad at me.

What would you do in a situation like this? Should I just let her find out the hard way, or should I stop beating around the bush?

Thank you.

I recently saw an ad on television about a website where they pay you to test products and take surveys. In fact, over the years I've seen multiple ads like this. Are all sites like these scams, or are some actually legitimate?

I ask because as a college student, earning some extra cash for doing next to nothing sounds great, but at the same time almost too good to be true. If there are some real--and safe--sites like these I'd like to hear about them.

Thank you!

I want to start to work out to get down to a healthy weight. My dormitory has a weight/exercise room in the basement, and since it's pretty cheap for membership I think I'll buy one. As far as I know the exercise room has different weight-lifting machines, free weights, treadmills, and stair climber machines.

The catch is for my height (I'm 5'1") whenever I do a lot of running I don't lose weight, instead I build bulky, short muscles in my legs. It makes me look like I weigh more, and I'd rather have long, lean muscles than bulky ones. The same goes for my arms, too. I want to look lean, not like I'm trying out Miss Olympian! Does anyone out there have any suggestions as to what I can do given the machines in the weight room that will help me to achieve my goal?

Any suggestions are most welcomed! Thank you in advance.

I'm 5'1" and my calves are a little thick due to my height (They have always been, even when I weighed less than I do now). The other day I went to try on snow boots, and I couldn't get the zipper ones to zip around my calves. I figured it was no big deal so I tried on a pair of slip-on boots, but to my horror they were too tight around my calves!

My feet fit fine, it's my calves that are giving me the problem. Am I the only one who has this problem? If anyone else shares my problem, could you suggest what kind of boots I can fit into? Any suggestions (Other than, "You should lose weight!" because there's no way I can lose weight in my calves that fast!) would be most welcome.

Thanks!

Now that the U.S. mint has finished its 50 state quarters, are they going to go back to the eagle-backed quarters, or do something entirely new?

I'm just curious. Thanks!

I remember in forth grade attempting to read one of the Oz books (Not The Wonderful Wizard of Oz), but gave up shortly into the book. I don't remember the plot, but what I do remember is that there was a word that no one could pronounce and if someone could something special would happen. It's driving me nuts that I cannot think of the title!

I tried looking on the list of Oz books Wikipedia page, but I still can't seem to figure it out. Are there any Oz fans out there who might be able to provide me with the title? Sorry if my description is a little vague.

Thank you!