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Hey all. I'm trying to strike the right balance here. I train jiu-jitsu and recently had a tournament. I needed to be within a certain weight (below 220 with a gi) and worked out extra hard to make sure I would be under. My weight has been stubborn over the years. I track my meals with Myfitnesspal and use a fitbit to track activity. I work nights so in the morning I'd eat two pieces of wheat bread with Jiff Naturals peanut butter and honey, go workout, drink a muscle milk and some baked lays, go to sleep and then wake up and do anther workout and 3 mile run before going to work. For two weeks my weight bounced up and down never getting below 215 until the week before when I just cut out the solid food mostly and stuck to protein shakes and the occasional yam or wheat bread with peanut butter and honey. The weight came off in that last week. The only thing I could think of was the fact that the I buy the Three Bridges Spinach & Bell Pepper Egg White Bites and perhaps it was the sodium making me retrain water but with would so little sodium really do that? I was eating less than 2000 calories and working out twice a day with cardio.

Most of my work involves desk duty and I have a release to return to work from the doctor. I'd like to keep the operation private however I'm wondering if there could be any repressions from doing so even though my doctor says its okay for me to perform my duties.

I was rear ended last August by a woman in a mini van while stopped at a light. We pulled over, exchanged info, she admitted fault, etc, etc. After her insurance company sent me to get a damage estimate - about $500.00 - I didn't hear back for weeks. I called and they told me they were trying to get hold of the woman who hit me. Couple more weeks and I call back. They tell me they were denying my claim because they couldn't get hold of her. Called my insurance company for back up but by October they said I was out of luck so naturally I filed a lawsuit against the driver who proceeded to ignore every court summons and date and I got a default judgment and have sent it to the constables to go collect my money - over $1700 now after court cost are added. Suddenly last Friday I get a surprise call from the insurance company asking why I had not cashed the check they sent me. Naturally I responded, "You sent me no check. You denied me." They insist they did but offer to send another for the $500.00. I'm concerned what it would mean for my judgement if I took this money now.

I have a 2002 Toyota Corolla with 173K on it. The pistons are shot and from ever source I can find - including my mechanic and Toyota itself - I need to replace that engine. The car still runs it just burns an ungodly amount of oil. This has fouled the catalytic converter and a few O2 sensors as well. I'm looking at roughly $2000.00 for an engine - short block with one year warranty, with probably at least another $1000 to install it. On top of that probably another $900.00 to fix the catalytic converter and O2 sensors. All told that's probably $4000 - $4500 to get this car up to speed.

This is probably more than the car is worth however what I have to take into consideration is the fact that these are the only major problems the car has. The transmission is solid. I need the car for at least the next 3 years. My girlfriend and I are already making payments on her car and won't have that paid off for another 30 months so the idea of taking on another car payment right now is pretty much out of the question...do-able if we HAD to but it'd be painful with no room for error for over 2 years.

All this being said, I want to get some feedback on WHERE the best place is to get this work done. I have a mechanic I trust to do the work however I have several people telling me to go to a Toyota dealership. I have no idea at this point what the cost of that would be. Would there be any sort of advantage to using the dealership or should I just order the new - not used - engine and have my guy do it?

I am trying to get a used 09 Chevy Colbat at a dealership. I've never done this before though I've heard enough stories to be exceedingly weary. I applied for financing from Chase and was told it'd take a day to see if I'm approved. In the mean time I went to test drive the car. They offered to finance me for the vehicle and I should have stuck with my original instinct of saying no but decided to see what they were offering since they said they finance through Chase as well. Well they came back with an offer that took this car that is priced at $7,991 to a little over $12,000 bucks. $2,997 of THAT was for something called a "sign and ride fee". Explination of that fee was vague. And the APR was 16.99%. Obviously I wasn't signing that. I told them I'd just wait to see what Chase had to say. They offered to bump the APR down to somewhere closer to 10% however I walked away at that point. My question is what the HECK is that $3000 fee and if I did get financed through Chase would that mystery fee go away or would it stick around?

I have a very nice computer that I use to record TV shows, do some video editing, etc. I need a new TV and was in the market for one when this thought struck me: should I just buy a 30 inch or larger monitor and use THAT as my TV or should I invest in a nice TV and use THAT as my monitor? What would be the pros and cons of both ideas? Has anyone else done this? What was your experience?

I have a very nice computer that I use to record TV shows, do some video editing, etc. I need a new TV and was in the market for one when this thought struck me: should I just buy a 30 inch or larger monitor and use THAT as my TV or should I invest in a nice TV and use THAT as my monitor? What would be the pros and cons of both ideas? Has anyone else done this? What was your experience?

I live in Arlington, Tx. I was called by a company I had left my resume with a few months ago and offered a job with a higher rate of pay than the job I currently have. I went in to interview and was offered in writing a certain set number of hours and a set pay rate for the site. I got my pay check for the first two weeks and found my pay rate was lower than what I was offered in writing. I brought it to HR's attention and they told me they would make up the difference on my next check but that my future checks will probably be at the lower pay rate. I still have a copy of the form I signed with the promised higher pay rate. I took this job because of the higher pay. It seems less than legal for a company to promise one pay rate then once you've quit your other job yank that extra pay out from under you. Advice?

I have a PC that I built a few years back that I want to convert to hook up to my TV. I have an ATI TV Wonder 650 USB TV tuner at the moment and I need a video card to go along with it. The motherboard is a G31-M7

http://www1.au.shopping.com/xPO-Elitegroup-ECS-G31...

Since I want to have the ability to play streaming video - such as from Hulu and Netflix - on the TV I need a card with a video out of some sort. Will a cheaper card work for this or do I need to cough up some cash for a mid range or high end graphics board? Feel free to post some board suggestions. Thanks.

Here in Texas a number of times over the years, I have seen people pull out cards at checkout counters that appear to be of similar quality to drivers licenses, have their pictures and date of birth, and have in giant red letters the word "offender". What exactly IS this card for? Does this indicate the person is on probation or is this for sex offenders? Just extremely curious.

For the last week, I've been going out - in the cold, cold rain - and walking/jogging 2 and a half miles every morning. I radically changed my diet. I sleep a full 8 hours at night. I drink a crap load of water. Yet to my very unpleasant surprise this morning when I weighed myself I hadn't lost a single pound. Not a great way to start the morning.

This has been my general eating:

Breakfast - 2 whole eggs, 2 egg whites, Two pieces of toasted wheat bread, Two pieces of fat free turkey lunch meat, two pieces of fat free cheese, fat free yogurt, water or diet soda.

Morning snack - fat free yogurt/bagel with fat free cream cheese.

Lunch - boneless/skinless chicken breast baked in the oven, broccoli side, and more yogurt.

Dinner - More chicken, or Salmon, with broccoli and a diet soda or water.

Snack before bed if I have one is a banana or yogurt.

I doing something wrong here?

I am considering joining the military and had thought the reserve the best bet but my older brother - Army reservist - says its a better bet to go full time for a two or three year contract and then get out rather than stay in for the six years in the reserve plus the two years in the individual ready reserve.

What, if any, extra benefits are there to joining the regular army rather than the reserve?

I recently decided to change my diet. Eating more fruit, lots of boneless skinless chicken breast, veggies, fish and the like as well as drinking diet sodas and water. I've noticed though that I seem to be getting headaches. Really bad ones that just make me want to lay down and not move. They seem to lessen or go away if I eat a candy bar or a burger. What's the deal with that? Is my body actively trying to sabotage me here? What is going on and how do I solve it?

I know the Secret Service protects the President and his family but which agency protects Congressmen and their families?

I’m an amateur computer enthusiast and I’ve been planning out my new system for a few weeks. I’ve been looking up components, reading reviews, adjusting for my current and future needs and came up with this selection of parts and cost

BIOSTAR TForce 590 SLI Motherboard - $187.31

http://www.motherboards.org/reviews/motherboards/1...

AMD Athlon 64 X2 5200+ AM2 – $303.00

http://www.antaresdigital.com/customer/product.php...

OCZ EL DDR2 PC2-6400 / 800 MHz / Enhanced Latency / Platinum XTC Edition / Dual Channel - $114.99

http://shop1.outpost.com/product/4797419?site=sr:S...

HIS Hightech H195PRF256DDN-R Radeon X1950PRO 256MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP Video Card - $189.99

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82...

Sound Blaster X-Fi Fatal1ty - $129.99

http://www.acnt.com/product.asp?pf_id=SCCL046XFI

Case - $50 - $200

HP/COMPAQ - 800WATT HOT- PLUG REDUNDANT POWER SUPPLY FOR PROLIANT DL580 G2 (192147-001) - $110.00

https://www.serversupply.com/products/part_search/...

The major argument that illegals fill jobs Americans won't do is bullthe corner stone of the argument for amnesty. But look at the Swift raids. The owners knew the raid was coming and before the plants were raided in December they raised the minimum starting wage and increased benefits. (perhaps they knew that this was needed to attract American's to those jobs?) The company claimed it would cost them 40% of its work force if they were raided. It cost no more than 10%. They claimed huge mark ups in meat prices. Prices have stayed steady and the company even made a profit last quarter. The plants will need about four to six months to get back to full capacity and who are taking these jobs that "no American will do"? It seems to be Americans.

This month armed gunmen attacked a National Guard observation post on the Mexican boarder. I'd really like to see comments from all those thay say all the people coming across the boarder just want a better life and are good people who love this country.

http://www.nbc5.com/news/10677961/detail.html?rss=...

http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=536...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ibd/20070106/bs_ibd_ibd/20...

http://www.ksat.com/news/10677961/detail.html?rss=...

Dallas Morning News, The (KRT) via NewsEdge Corporation :

Dec. 8--AUSTIN -- Illegal immigration is draining hundreds of millions of dollars from local governments but bolstering the Texas economy by $17.7 billion a year, the state comptroller estimates in a new report.

And when it comes to taxes, illegal immigrants are a boon. They cost the state $1.16 billion in services, such as public health services and education, but they pay $1.58 billion every year in taxes and fees, according to the report, released Thursday.

That's a net profit to the state of $420 million.

But counties pay the price: They're taking in $513 million in local taxes and revenues -- but spending $1.44 billion in indigent care and law-enforcement costs. Cities and school districts suffer as well, the report said.

http://www.completelandlord.com/USDemographicsIlle...

Apparently my position was HORRIBLY missunderstood before so lets try this again I'll leave no room for ambiguity. I am AGAINST nuclear proliferation.

Many people ask, "If the U.S. has nukes what right do they have to tell others they can't?"

You see how much conflict and killing there is in the world right now? Now imagine that EVERY conflict, just or not, has the potential to be a NUCLEAR conflict. This crap in Somalia? Nuclear. Turkey and the Kurds? Nuclear. Sri Lenka and the Tamil Tigers? Nuclear. Think of every conflict that happens not only on a yearly or monthly basis but DAILY becoming a stand off between nuclear armed rivals. Eventually someone WILL slip and a whole region will go up in a mushroom cloud with global consequences.