evil undead

My beloved pet rat seems to be on the decline. He's only 18 months old. His cagemate is the same age and is in great health.

So, my poorly rat started off about 2 months ago, sneezing and wheezing. I took him to the vet 4 times over two weeks and he had injections of antibiotic.

Since then, he has continued to sneeze, is lethargic, falls over a lot (mainly when he's grooming himself) loosing a lot of weight, and can't hold his food properly so I've been purée-ing everything for him. He eats plenty, can still walk, and grooms himself... and he still loves cuddles and treats.

What's wrong with him and how can I help him?

He's going to the vets in the morning, but I just wanted a heads up to see what I can ask the vet for, and what might be wrong.

Thanks

My friend has invited me and my wife to a small gathering at his house for new years eve.

I'm not bothered about going out clubbing etc on NYE but a small party sounds fun and I'd quite like to go. But it's not the end of the world if I don't go.

My wife however doesn't want to go... She's got a terrible cold and feels really rough, plus she's not the most sociable person in the world. She says I should go and have fun, but I don't feel right going to a NYE party without her.

So, what should I do?

Firstly, I know I need to see a doctor and I will be making an appointment ASAP. But I want to see if anyone can offer advice in the mean time.

For about 6 months I have been having the feeling of something stuck in my throat. 24/7, never goes. And constant painful mouth ulcers on my tongue (so bad it hurts to speak), itchy throat, often sore.

I had a barium swallow test which revealed nothing, this was about 4 months ago.

And now for the last month or two, I keep choking on nothing. Once or twice a day, just out of nowhere coughing so much I can hardly breathe, can't speak. It only lasts maybe 2 or 3 minutes but I wheeze for about an hour afterwards like I've inhaled something. And I taste blood every time.

Any suggestions? Please don't tell me to see a doctor, as I said above, I'm going to :)

I have a laptop as my only PC. It's a bit old but fine for iTunes and the internet etc. It probably could do with being updated.

But tablets are just cool!

So, which shall I go for?

I brought my two baby rats home yesterday, both male, 10 weeks old. They're brothers so they're bonded with each other.

Ever since I got them home they've pretty much stayed in their little house, and they come out maybe once an hour, drink for ages, and then go back in again.

Is this normal behaviour while they get used to their new home? I'm a bit worried that they drink for so long, but perhaps that's because they get dehydrated from staying in their house for so long.

Any advice?

I have an Acer Aspire 5630 series laptop

And I have a 1GB PC2-6400 DDR2 SDRAM

Are the two compatible? Done a thorough google search, results are a bit vague!

Thanks

Been trying to update my ipod OS to the latest (version 4.0.2) but I'm getting halfway through the download and it stops and spits out an error - err = -3259

Tried about 3 times, also tried it with the firewall and the antivirus disabled, and also made sure that iTunes was accepted through the firewall.

Will my ipod still operate properly if I don't update it? If not, how do I get around this issue?

Thanks

I bought some steak from the butchers this morning. It's a nice colour, deep red.

But the smell, I'm not sure about... it's very strong, and meaty. I don't think it's going off but I'm not 100% sure... I've never smelled such a strong smell on steak before.

Any suggestions?

My computer gives me the option to create a system image, and also to create a system repair disc!

What's the difference?

I have a new laptop and I'm confused a bit. It came with a windows re-installation disc which is sealed and has a product key on it, so I thought this is the same as the recovery disc

But when I turned it on, it told me I should burn a recovery disc.

Are these not the same thing? I think it's more likely that I'm confused rather than the computer, but you never can tell....

I can't get onto my own page or onto webs.com

anyone have any info?

I've decided to strip my guitar and paint a design on it.

So the sanding and priming is done (primed using Plasti-kote Primer Super), and I've used Plasti-kote fast dry enamel on the back, which looks great and has dried nicely.

I want to paint a design on the front using ordinary brush acrylics, and then clear-coat the whole thing for protection. But I have to use the same clear coat for both sides because of the shape.

So, my problem is, if I use Plasti-kote clear super acrylic over the top of the acrylic on the front it should be fine, but I'm not sure how it would cope over the enamel on the back? It's not a lacquer, but I'm still uncertain as to whether it would bubble or lift the enamel?

But if I decide to use a fast dry clear enamel, it would be fine over the enamel back but would it affect the acrylic paints on the front?

I'm so confused, please help!!!

Thanks

PS I've contacted Plasti-kote, but the woman on the phone didn't seem like she really knew!!!

Ok, so I'm using about 900 kWh of electricity per month, which is loads!

The only thing I can think of that's using all this is my cooker, it's from the 1950s. Would a cooker this old use loads more electricity than a newer one?

I only put the hot water on once a week for 45 mins, take cold showers, my light bulbs are all energy saving ones, I have no fridge, no tv, no central heating and no computer (I'm using the one at work!)

So is my oven draining my power?

Some people have asked me if I'm autistic, and I said no, cos I've never been diagnosed with that... don't even know much about it

So I was wondering why they keep asking and I did an autism test and I scored 40.

Looked further down the page and found this...

"The higher the score, the more likely a person is to be considered autistic. Fully autistic people usually score about a 35."

So does this mean that I have autism? I've been diagnosed with depression several times in my life... could the doctors have got it wrong and I'm autistic instead? Are they similar?

I'm confused and don't know what to make of this

Argh! I don't want to download MSN messenger, so I always use the web version. When I used firefox it was fine, but since I switched to chrome, it's gone from the action bar.... grrrr

If I go back to firefox and sign in to my e-mail from there, it's back, so it must be a chrome thing.

I searched google for compatibility issues with chrome but everyone else says it's fine.

Any suggestions?

I'm importing a guitar from the USA to the UK and it hasn't arrived yet

here's the tracking info

Date Time Location Tracking Event

07-04-2010 22:27 Delivery Agent - CHICAGO Left origin country

07-04-2010 21:25 Delivery Agent - CHICAGO Arrived at Outward OE

06-04-2010 16:11 Delivery Agent - UNITED STATES AMERICA Collected from customer

It left the USA 3 days ago and still hasn't arrived in the UK according to this! Argh!

Any ideas how long it takes and when I should have it?

I am having a guitar imported to the UK from the USA. It has been sent via US postal service.

I’m wondering what happens when it arrives in the UK? As it’s over Royal Mail’s weight limit (it will be about 7kg’s) I assume they won’t bring it to my house from customs.

So what happens? Do customs appoint a courier to bring it the rest of the way to my house, or do I have to arrange collection myself?

Confused!

thanks

Ok... some guy has offered me the guitar of my dreams... new, this costs £1800, that's without a case and without shipping. But he's offered it to me for £730 INCLUDING hard case (normally £60) and shipping (usually £75)

Seriously is the perfect guitar, beautiful, versatile... just awesome.

I do have the money in a savings account and part of me knows this chance won't come again and thinks life's too short and all that, so why not spend my money on my hobby, my passion?

And the other part of me is thinking what if I need this money for something else? Something more important?

I've been agonising for a week now and it's decision time... to buy or not to buy?

I have here a gammon ham joint, 750g (which I think is about 1.6 lbs)

I want to boil it but not sure how long it needs to be boiled for.

Please help... the Mrs is home in an hour and I need to make a good dinner!!!!!!

I am trying to rip a whole load of my dvd's to my hard drive

All of them have worked fine, except one (grrr)

This particular one is ok when I play it back, up until about 1.5 hours in, when the visual suddenly starts to lag slightly behind the audio.

Any ideas would be appreciated as to how I can solve this.

Thanks