Julia S

I've started tossing the I Ching nearly every day. I've noticed that there is a pattern going on. Every time I've tossed for the last couple of weeks, the Heaven trigram has shown up in the lower position. The only thing that I can come up with is that such a thing indicates an increase in creative power and energy (due to the high number of yang lines), but is there anything else that this might indicate?

I am in a period of my life where I'm undergoing a lot of changes (in the short term, I'm moving; in the long term, I'm changing careers). When I throw the I Ching, I usually look for a general reading, but a couple of times I've had a specific question in mind. No matter what, I still get Heaven in the lower position.

While I don't necessarily believe in divination, I do think the I Ching offers good life advice about staying in touch with your best self and acting in a good way. So can you tell me what this Heaven business might be advising me to do? I'm painting more, but that's pretty much the only creative thing I've been up to lately.

I have been backing up Mac to an external hard drive. I started with a smaller one with just 300 GB, but then got an Iomega with 3 TB. Unfortunately, the hard drive in my MacBook Pro just died. I replaced it, but now I can't find any of the Windows programs on my hard drive! I have checked everywhere, but no dice. I was pretty sure that I'd set my hard drive to back up everything. Am I going to have to buy a new copy, or am I looking in the wrong place? (I am required to use Windows for work.) Is there a free program that works like Microsoft Word that I can use in the meantime?

I found a dove outside of my workplace. S/he was huddled up against the windows and apparently had been for hours. S/he didn't fly away. I think s/he might be injured, or have clipped wings. It looks like s/he is missing some of the long, stiff feathers on the wings.

S/he seemed very healthy and looked clean. It also was pretty calm around people, but was not a fan of being herded into a box. Anyway,, I didn't want to leave it to freeze or get eaten, so I brought it home. It is now in my bathtub with the box (I put in some TP in case it wanted to build a nest), waterr, and birdseed recommended on a caring for doves page.

How can I track down the owner?

I noticed that my electrical usage seems absurdly high over the last couple of months (since I moved in). I'm trying to figure out why it is so high. One thing that I noticed is that there are three hot water out pipes coming from my hot water heater. Only one has a meter on it. Does that mean that my hot water heater is providing hot water for other units? If this is the case, does that mean I am paying the electricity to heat the water for other people? Is this legal? I wasn't informed of it and did not see anything to that effect in the lease.

I can hear clicks and water moving around in the heater even when I'm not running any water. (The hot water heater is in my bedroom closet, so obviously I don't hear it when I'm running my own water... but maybe some older water heaters cycle water through?)

I also kept my furnace on at 55 degrees this month. I have zone heating (last month, I kept it on only in my bedroom). I walked in one day and noticed that the thermostat on my clock said my bedroom was almost 80 degrees. I assume that means that the thermostat is broken. I figure I'm probably still responsible for the electricity (it isn't the power company's fault that the heater stayed on when it didn't need to), but can I ask my landlord for help if it turns out that the high bill was due to a problem with my apartment? I'm not sure.

So, this is a question for vegetarians (and non-vegetarians, I suppose).

A co-worker, Anne, once told me a story about her cousin's child. She was eating lunch with her cousin and her cousin's daughter when the girl noticed that Anne wasn't eating the ham. The girl asked why, and Anne explained that she didn't eat animals. The girl asked what she meant, and Anne explained that ham was from a pig. The girl apparently was horrified and pushed it away, when her mom assured her that "no, no it isn't," then pointedly asked Anne, "IS it?"

What would you do in this situation? One issue is obviously respecting a person's right to raise their own children. However, on the other hand, there is simple honesty. So what do you think? Is it okay to tell kids that meat is animals if they ask why you don't eat it?

What if there's a child who is trying to be "vegetarian" because they don't want to eat animals, but they continue to eat fish and/or poultry and/or hamburger (or something else that is unidentifiable as meat). If you say no to whatever they're eating on the grounds that you are a vegetarian and they say, "Me, too," what would be your response? Should you say nothing and affirm their belief that fish/hamburger isn't from an animal, or explain that you don't eat any animals (and again, risk upsetting them)?

This should go without saying, but I obviously do not think it is appropriate to tell young children the gory details about factory farms and slaughterhouses, etc., or to tell a kid that they're a murderer or whatever. I am simply asking whether you think it is better to be honest with a child when asked a direct question (and risk upsetting them), or directly lie to them to keep the peace.

This is obviously over and done, nothing I can do about it now, but I'm wondering if I should have handled this differently. I'd appreciate your thoughts.

I was at the mall with my friend, shopping for school clothes for her young daughter. We stopped for a snack in the food court. There was a table of teenage girls sitting near us. I noticed that one of them had a sweater with the security tag (yes, the big plastic thing full of ink and glass) still attached. I deliberated with my friend for a moment over what to do.

I decided to give the girls the benefit of the doubt and assume that the salesperson had just forgotten to take it off. That does happen from time to time.

I walked over to the girl as we were leaving and said, "I noticed that the salesperson forgot to remove the security tag from your friend's sweater. You should go back and have them take it off; you can't get them off yourself." It was immediately plain from her reaction that the saleslady had no idea that the sweater had been "purchased" in the first place. I feel like I should have said or done something more.

What would you have done?

I'm overall happy with my body shape and size. However, I am kind of out of shape. I'd like to tone up (and maybe lose some of the jiggle in my wiggle) but I really don't want to lose much weight. (I can't afford to buy new clothes, and some of mine are already a little bit loose on me.) I could lose up to about 15 pounds and technically not be underweight, but I am pretty close to my "happy weight."

Strength and flexibility are important to me and will help me with my current hobby/fitness activity (a rather acrobatic form of dancing), so I definitely will do some weight training. But how much cardio should I do?

I'm an ESL teacher and one of my students wants to talk about Christianity in America. I'd be interested to hear in people's stereotypes about Christians (I'm most interested in stereotypes held by Americans).

I'd like to hear from Christians and non-Christians about their perceptions (and the perceptions of others that they know).

What are some stereotypes about Christians/Christianity in general?

Catholics/Catholicism?

Baptists? Evangelicals? Others?

I'm also interested in any stereotypes (real or perceived) that Christians might have about non-Christians.

Thanks very much! Please let me know whether you're Christian or something else in your answer.

Assume that you pay the same amount, get the same return, etc. Where would you want your tax dollars to be spent? Education? The military? The sciences? The arts?

Just curious to know what others think should be economic priorities for the country.

My laptop gets a strong signal strength to the wireless router but I can't browse the net through it. Someone else can connect from their laptop when standing in the same place, so it looks like it isn't the router.

However, I can connect to the internet through another network from my computer, even though the signal strength is significantly weaker.

What's going on?

I was an independent contractor this year. I'm trying to figure out whether box 7 (the non-employee compensation) includes or excludes the reimbursement of my expenses. The company that I work for reimburses me for mileage and materials. There's no separate box on the form to let me know, nor is there anything on my e-file form to indicate this.

A little help? Do I just put down what is in that box? Do I seriously have to pay taxes on reimbursement (which I already paid sales taxes on and I didn't actually earn)?

I think it is my fan, anyway. My fans turn on after I shut off my engine. This is normal. However, a couple of times lately, the sound has been kind of strange... it sounds kind of whiny and screamy. Today it sounded a bit strangled. Once it was quite high-pitched, today it was more low-pitched.

I'm pretty sure it's the front left fan. It started doing it again today, but only when I had the heater on.

Any ideas about what this is?

I had an accident and got my bumper, bumper cover, grill, and headlights replaced. They didn't mention replacing a fan, but the fans are visibly different. I'll mention it when I take it in tomorrow for a little touch-up, but any thoughts? What could it be? It only started after I had the work done.

I don't mean organ donation from patients who have died, I mean living patients. Would you support a law requiring people to give their non-essential organs and tissues to people who need them in order to live?

For the purpose of this situation, assume that those for whom the surgery or loss of organ/tissue/blood would be deadly or extremely dangerous would be exempt. Only people whose life depended on it would receive organs. Assume also that there would be no compensation, except, perhaps, that the government would cover the cost of the surgery and medical care before, during, and after the procedure.

Why would you support this? Why not? Would you support it under any circumstances? (For example, if someone causes a car accident that destroys another person's kidneys, should the person who caused the accident need to give up a kidney so the injured party has one, be it through an exchange program or a direct transplant?)

What about blood? Should people be required to give blood on an ongoing basis to sustain the lives of others? Plasma? Bone marrow?

Thanks.

What annoys you most (as a vegetarian)? It can be something that makes life difficult for you. It can be something that people do. Basically, what do you have to deal with that non-vegetarians don't have to deal with? I'm curious to know what gets everyone else's blood pressure up.

Vegans and semi-vegetarians, please feel free to chime in too.

I live in Seattle, so it rains a lot in the fall, winter, and spring. This morning, when I got to my car, there was a puddle on the floor right under my pedals. (Great.)

My seats are never wet, nor are there drips or anything on any of my windows, so I don't think it's the seal around my doors or windows. What could be causing it and how do I fix it?

It's a '95 Accord, if that matters at all.

One thing that I've noticed from this that people seem desperate to be "right" about G-d or the lack thereof. Why is it so important to you that other people agree with or affirm your beliefs, and so annoying that other people don't?

I understand with things like politics and where to go for dinner, since you have a stake in what happens. But if someone else has a different take on religion than you, why is it so troublesome? You're not the one who is going to be in trouble with a deity, or wasting your time, or whatever consequence you think the "wrong" person will face.

Just curious.

I'm interested in trying out an Ayurvedic lifestyle for awhile to see what it does for me. My dosha recently changed.

Physically, I'm mainly a kapha.

Emotionally I am more pitta.

So which dosha do I go by?

When I get cravings, they are usually for salty, sour, and/or spicy foods. I almost never crave sweet things.

Anyone have a tip for me? I just want to try this for a month and see how it effects a few things that have been bothering me (physically and emotionally).

I realize that Ayurveda is a lifestyle rather than a diet, but I'm not sure I'm ready to make the commitment to spending money, etc without giving it a test drive first.