Kim G

My son is travelling by plane from Alabama to California. He will be taking the all-in-one computer, as opposed to the laptop, which is smaller. I've heard (and seen) plenty about baggage-handlers not being careful with luggage.

How likely is it that the computer will make it safely to its destination (my son's flight has two connecting flights, not just one)? My son said he will use his packed clothing as protection in the suitcase. It's not really a hard-side suitcase, but it's definitely not a soft-side either. I already checked American Airlines, and the all-in-one is 6 inches too big in height to qualify for carry-on luggage, so it (and the computer) would definitely have to be checked in.

Any thoughts on if the computer will make the trip? Or if I should try harder to get my son to carry the laptop instead? (The all-in-one is his, the laptop is mine, and he likes his because it has better speed for gaming.)

I appreciate any help.

My 20-year-old son has decided to move from Alabama to Southern California where he has no place to live and no prospects yet for a job. He is going there to be with his 18-year-old girlfriend whose ultra-traditional Asian parents have already told her they do not want him in their house. (Her parents have never met my son).

Part of the problem is that my son is incredibly naive and has only held one summer job, which is where all of his $1200 is from. He also has no car, but will be flying in on a one-way plane ticket. He plans to stay in a motel near his girlfriend. In addition, he has no car and no concept of the cost of living, which I'm sure is a lot higher than here in Alabama.

I would appreciate any advice for this worried mom, or for my son for when he gets there.

I am trying to find a cheap/second-hand case for my cellphone. I bought this cellphone second-hand at an Unclaimed Baggage. However, every time I look for a case on eBay, I never can seem to find one that is specifically for what I have. When I do a search, I include the terms "T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy S," but I basically get results for the S2, S3, and S4, but not just for the "S." On the other hand, I do get results of T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy S G4 SGH T-959 VIBRANT phone, which looks like my cellphone.

To get an idea of what I'm looking for, I went to the T-Mobile store last week, and I asked to see what a case for my cell looks like - they couldn't show me b/c they don't have any in stock. And I asked them to write down exactly what I have. She wrote "T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy S G4." We asked if it was a "this model" or "that model" (like a Vibrant or whatever) and was told no, it was just an "S G4." The one I just found in eBay has the name VIBRANT, and as I said, it looks like what I have.

Any ideas, thoughts? I had thought that once I found out the exact name of my phone, that finding a case would be easy. Not so.

My sister is 53 - I will call her Mary. Six months ago she seemed to have a break with reality. Mary called her 30-year-old daughter, said her husband was trying to kill her and her best friend was helping him. There doesn't seem to be any validity to what she's said, and a few days later, Mary suddenly started singing the praises of her husband and his family. (From what she's told us when she was not acting this way, her in-laws tend to "long-term borrow" items like lawnmowers and yard equipment and never bring them back, then complain when Mary and her husband have to buy another newer one - "why can't you buy one for us?")

The night that this "break" happened, Mary was taken to a psych facility who did an exam, said there was nothing wrong with her. However, she had no insurance, and we believe this contributed to their turning her out after an hour. She did go to her regular doctor at her daughter's insistence, but Mary didn't tell the doctor about THESE symptoms. Now she won't go back because "there's nothing wrong with me."

In the past 6 months, Mary has gotten worse. From what we can determine, she seems to have some form of schizophrenia, probably paranoid schizophrenia. When she visits our parents, she'll suddenly look at them and say she has to go now, she can't stay, and she <quote> *knows* what's going on <unquote>. Other times she'll tell them and/or her daughter and/or friend that she knows everyone has their phones wired so they can monitor her cellphone calls. She tells our parents that her husband has THEIR home wired so he can monitor her moves and her phone usage (including cellphone usage).

Mary upset our Thanksgiving by being so suspicious about everything. Our parents are in their 80's and don't need this stress. However, Mary's husband never visits or calls us. His take on it when it first happened was "Well, I'll be going to my lawyer tomorrow and filing for divorce." As for Thanksgiving, he said "that's how she's been acting here, I figured the change of scenery would help her out." (in other words, it's our problem, not his)

The reason I write is b/c of the Newtown, Connecticut shooting. While she doesn't seem dangerous to anyone, I don't want to take a chance on her becoming the next "unstable" statistic. We have no idea of how to help get her treatment. She lives in another state, has no insurance, but is getting worse. Doesn't seem to be any form of Alzheimer's Disease, just sheer paranoia. Our family has very little resources, but makes too much for Medicaid, and her situation is the same. However, her home state *does* have a provision that if a patient needs it, they will put the patient on some form of Medicaid on a temporary basis.

We don't know where to go from here. Do we start calling lawyers from her home state? Would it do any good to contact psychiatrists when she refuses to go? We can't have her committed unless she's a danger to herself or others, but ,,,,, I don't want to wait until she reaches that point. I'm sure it would do her some good to talk to a psychiatrist except she says she doesn't need to talk to anyone, she's "FINE"!

Any help would be appreciated.

I am not overly knowledgeable when it comes to a laptop, so what I need is the SPECIFICATIONS for a laptop that meets my needs. This way, if I find something I like, I will know whether or not it will work as needed. Basically, I will use it extensively for surfing, paying bills, general research, playing some videos from news sites, and simple online games such as checkers, chess, and scrabble.

On the other hand, my son needs to be able to use it for taking notes at college as well as watching videos on YouTube. He also spends alot of time on a game called Runescape.

Any thoughts would be appreciated on the specs we should be looking for. I don't understand the terminology in general, but I think we need more than a dual processor. The rest of the specs, I'm clueless on. General price range will be below $775. Thanks for any input!!

I recently started substitute teaching as a way to extend my unemployment. What I was very surprised to find out is that I really enjoy what I do. I've also learned that I get so much more out of my day when I work with Special Needs kids - autistic, OCD, physically challenged, developmentally delayed, etc.

Most of the Special Needs children I work with are from Pre-K to around 6th grade, The last few times I've worked with the Pre-K kids, it was so fulfilling. Then this evening I received a call from the Teacher's Aide whom I subbed for last month. She had spoken to the teacher who leads the class, and the teacher suggested she call me because she thought I did such a good job during the two days I spent with the kids.

So now I am wondering if it's possible to change careers at age 47. I've done secretarial work for over 25 years but wanted to be a teacher when I was still in middle school and high school. Now, 30 years later, maybe that's where I should be??

Which brings me to this:

** what could I do to increase my chances for getting a Teacher's Aide job when one becomes available?

** is there some way to learn even more about dealing with these children? I have already volunteered once at the same school for a half day to see if I thought I could handle the autistic children, and it went well.

** any other thoughts, considerations, even warnings regarding this possible career change?

My daughter has a Spanish project due on the verbs "ser" and "estar." I can help her on most of it, but I am stumped on one. One of the "ser" categories is Identification. In parenthesis, it says "por medio de sustantivos predicados--Ejemplo: Es heoe", with an accent mark over the first E in "heoe".

I checked Altavista for translations, but the answer made no sense. And I don't know how to do the accent mark. Please help??

I have had a 1991 Camry a little over 2 months. It was wrecked, salvaged, then repaired before I bought it. Didn't buy it expecting miracles, just needed a car to get me around town, and to that end, I'm pretty much happy with it.

Over the weekend, my daughter came in and said the speedometer wasn't working. I noticed after checking it out that the odometer had also quit working, and now the "O/D off" light blinks on and off at times.

Is it going to be a big deal to get the speedometer working again? Is it something my dad (shade tree mechanic) can do? Is the blinking light a serious problem? I'm experienced enough in driving that I have a pretty decent idea if I'm speeding. However, my two teenagers are not. If it weren't for them driving the car at times, I could live with the speedometer being broken.

I have to have the CV joints replaced, which I knew when I bought the car. Would it be better to just let whoever does the CV joints to also take care of the speedometer?

Appreciate any help.

I've had a 1991 Camry a little over 2 months. It was wrecked, salvaged, then repaired before I bought it. Didn't buy it expecting miracles, just needed a car to get me around town, and to that end, I'm pretty much happy with it.

Over the weekend, my daughter came in and said the speedometer wasn't working. I noticed after checking it out that the odometer had also quit working, and now the "O/D off" light blinks on and off at times.

Is it going to be a big deal to get the speedometer working again? Is it something my dad (shade tree mechanic) can do? Is the blinking light a serious problem? I'm experienced enough in driving that I have a pretty decent idea if I'm speeding. However, my two teenagers are not. If it weren't for them driving the car at times, I could live with the speedometer being broken.

I have to have the CV joints replaced, which I knew when I bought the car. Would it be better to just let whoever does the CV joints to also take care of the speedometer?

Appreciate any help.

My ex-husband has said he wants legal custody of our 15-year-old son. Our son went to live with his father in August. I had to go through DHR to force him to pay child support from the past few years on both of the kids, and he is still over $7,000 in arrears. DHR just started withholding from him two weeks ago, but I am finally getting regular payments.

I am trying to find low-cost legal aid in Alabama. I don't necessarily want to fight my ex for custody. But my son told me they may be moving out of state if his father's girlfriend gets a job there.

As it is now, my ex and his girlfriend won't even give messages from me to our son. As a result I rarely hear from him (maybe once a month). I just want some legal advice on how to get to talk to my son more often. I miss him.

I should mention that DHR said they do not handle child custody cases. I called Legal Services of Alabama and they said THEY don't handle child custody, but that DHR *does*. I can't reach a human on DHR's phone system to get clarification.

My questions is, does anyone know how to find low-cost legal services in Alabama?

My ex-husband has said he wants legal custody of our 15-year-old son. Our son went to live with his father in August. I had to go through DHR to force him to pay child support from the past few years on both of the kids, and he is still over $7,000 in arrears. DHR just started withholding from him two weeks ago, but I am finally getting regular payments.

I am trying to find low-cost legal aid in Alabama. I don't necessarily want to fight my ex for custody. But my son told me they may be moving out of state if his father's girlfriend gets a job there.

As it is now, my ex and his girlfriend won't even give messages from me to our son. As a result I rarely hear from him (maybe once a month). I just want some legal advice on how to get to talk to my son more often. I miss him.

I should mention that DHR said they do not handle child custody cases. I called Legal Services of Alabama and they said THEY don't handle child custody, but that DHR *does*. I can't reach a human on DHR's phone system to get clarification.

My questions is, does anyone know how to find low-cost legal services in Alabama? I plan to post this in a Law category too, but thought someone here might have suggestions.

My daughter totalled my 1996 Toyota Camry 2 weeks ago. I only had liability on the car b/c it was having major issues, so there was nothing to recover from the insurance company. I got laid off in November so money was a huge issue for replacing the car. I found a 1991 Toyota Camry for $1500. All I need is a car to get me by for at least a year.

The car had been wrecked and rebuilt, and needs CV joints. Other than that and an engine that seems to rev up too high when I start it, it seems to be a basically sound car. A few cosmetic issues - cigarette burns on the seat and floor board, no round knob for radio, missing a door-lock on one door.

I would greatly appreciate it if anyone could give me some suggestions of what to look out for. I am assuming since the car is older, I will need to keep a close check on the oil, but other than that, any suggestions?

If it matters, when it was wrecked, it was the front end.

"Single in the Suburbs" is a dating blog/column of a recently divorced woman. It's been interesting reading how she's dealt with being single again, and I've been following this column for months. Every few weeks they have a new installment.

I've been out of pocket for a week (short vacation), and when I went to check for the latest update, it was gone. I tried googling it, and got many hits. Unfortunately, all of them seem to go back to a MSN page that says "this column is no longer available."

Does anyone know what may have happened to it? Her most recent "interest" named Chris was going to tell her something important.

Three days ago, my 14-year-old son decided he wanted to live with his father. My ex had been threatening for 5 years to take the kids, and kept telling both kids that the only reason I wanted them was for the child support (he is currently $11,000 behind in child support). He finally convinced our son to live with him.

In the past year or so, Cameron has given me nothing but attitude. Overall, he is a good kid, but is open to basically being "bought out." Example: once I asked, "theoretically if Daddy offered you a car if you would live with him, would you take him up on it?" (It happened once in our extended family). When Cameron asked, "Are we talking a new car or used?", it told me he could be bought.

Anyway, Cameron called to tell me he was going to stay with his dad and his girlfriend and their families permanently, including changing school districts. Part of me is devastated, but for some strange reason, part of me is relieved. I go from calm and efficient to "I want my son!" to unable to function. I can't think straight, and I can't keep track of what I am trying to say most of the time. (This post so far has taken almost 90 minutes to type).

With all that said, I need ideas on how to deal with all the emotions going through me. I spent most of Friday at work in a daze. I got very little done - my boss sits about 5 feet away. He is very understanding (and knows the whole story, including how my ex kidnapped the kids four years ago). But I don't know how much more patience my boss will have. I have no money for legal fees, but will be looking into that Monday *if* I can think clearly for long enough.

Any idea for handling the situation? I am mildly disabled - waiting for another total knee replacement, and can walk only small distances. I used to be able to walk for enjoyment *and* as a mood booster. I miss being able to do that. Thanks for listening.

I'm posting this a couple of places to get more input. Here's the story: My 15y/o daughter Cait has liked LT several years (he's 19). She used to sneak around to see him, and when she was only 13 (he was 17), he had her perform oral sex on him. Last fall he moved 30 miles away to live in a college dorm.

I admit I am overprotective, but I do let her go places with friends. My requirements - let me talk to an adult who will be where you say you are going, and call me on arrival and if you will run late.

A few weeks ago, her friends' mom (Michelle) needed her to babysit for a few hours and would provide transportation. I said ok. Cait confessed 2 days ago that Michelle had said I am too overprotective and if Cait wanted to see LT, she'd make it happen. She drove Cait 30 miles to see him, dropped her off, and picked her up a few hours later. I had already told Cait she could meet w/ LT but only in a public place and if I was within about 100 yards. [KEEP READING]

My 15y/o daughter Cait has liked LT several years (he's four years older than her). She'd sneak around to see him, and when she was only 13 (he was 17), he had her perform oral sex on him. Last fall he moved 30 miles away to live in a college dorm.

I admit I am overprotective, but I do let her go places with friends. My requirements are simple - let me talk to an adult who will be where you say you are going, and call me on arrival and if you will run late.

A few weeks ago, her friends' mom needed her to babysit for a few hours and would provide transportation. I said ok. Cait confessed 2 days ago that the mother had said I am too overprotective and if Cait wanted to see LT, she'd make it happen. She drove Cait 30 miles to see him, dropped her off, and picked her up a few hours later. I had already told Cait she could meet w/ LT but only in a public place and if I was within about 100 yards. She assured me she just wanted to put closure on this relationship.

KEEP READING.

I live in Alabama, finalized my divorce Oct 2006. Custody hasn't been decided. I retained a lawyer b/c my ex-husband wasn't paying child support & owed $2000 in arrears. I garnished his wages in Dec 2006, started getting regular child support in March 2007. He quit his job 7 months later, won't say where he's working. I can't garnish his wages again until I know where he works.

He pays whatever amt he wants to pay, whenever he wants to. I had to take out a loan to pay the retainer, and am scrimping while he takes the kids on $750 trips. I haven't talked to my lawyer since ~Dec.20. I have left 15 messages (voice message and msgs w/ secretary), but she won't return my call. Her secretary said she has a chronic condition and has been sick.

She still hasn't cashed the check I gave her Dec. 27 as a retainer. At this point, I'm wondering about just putting a stop payment on it, and going thru DHR, forgetting about the custody issue. Any suggestions or thoughts?

During the funeral, a young lady is singing a song. All I can remember is hearing the words "sweet Jesus". I have never been able to find the listed anywhere.