Alex

I have been trying to get a simple job at Kroger. The person who's doing the hiring really likes me and the job perfectly fits my schedule. But, a personality assessment that is attached to the application got in the way; i didn't pass it. The person doing the hiring did ask me to fill out another application.

My problem is that I've heard conflicting approaches to passing these. I've always heard that you are supposed to answer these questions honestly. If they ask if you know anyone that's stolen anything, you answer yes, because there isn't a single person alive that could say they agree with that. If they ask if you've ever been late to anything, you say yes. The theory is that the employers are looking to see if you are honest.

However, I just did some searching online, and I've found many sources that say to answer these questions as if the person asking them is completely out of touch with reality. You've never been late, you don't know anyone who's stolen anything before, and your things are always messy, and you're always polite.

Which of these approaches should i take? Be honest, or act like i am a vessel for morality on earth?

And one other specific question. It says, "i don't fake being polite." Strongly disagree to strongly agree. As far as I'm concerned, any answer is wrong. If you say you agree, it means that if you are in a situation where you wouldn't normally be polite, you won't be polite. If you disagree, it suggests that you're never sincerely polite. What's the right answer to this question?

The laptop I have right now doesn't really work for me. It's a 17 inch HP with 1 gig that BARELY runs Vista, it has a 1.6 GHz processor, integrated graphics, a 2 cell battery and a 160gig hard drive. I use my computer mainly for school, and if i use a flash drive to boost system memory it does the job fine. I mainly use my laptop because while i do have a desktop, it's 6 years old.

I was looking into getting a netbook, which after seeing how little they can do i decided to buy a new laptop. The ones in my price range (about $500) didn't really impress me.

However, after earning $500 in rebates and coupons, I can get a 16 inch laptop with a 2.2 GHz processor, 4 gigs of ram, a 320 gig harddrive, blu-ray player, thumbprint reader, 12 cell battery, an NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GT graphics card with 512k memory, and an HD screen all for about $830. I don't need all that because it's stuff I don't use, but I'd definitely start using it if I had all that. Especially because my current battery lasts only 30 minutes before dying.

I know that's cheap for what it is, and it would be nice because this would blow my desktop so out of the water that I could just get rid of it and free up space. I'm debating whether or not I get this. My parents gave me $300 to save for a PC, and my friend is willing to give me $250 for this. That leaves me to scrounge up about $300 myself, and while I can get the money, I'd empty my savings account, and my job is only giving me 5 hours a week.

If I wait till, say christmas, I could save up some money and not be flat broke by the end of the deal and stressing because I can't even afford a comic book, and maybe even spend just as much and get a better machine, or get a similar machine for less.

However, around that time I might not be able to get such a good deal, as the blu-ray player, thumbprint reader, hard drive, 4 gig memory, and HD screen were all free because of an HP clearance sale. If I do wait I can earn more money, but my friend won't be interested in buying my laptop for $250, and while the price may go down, with all the extra bells and whistles that make me like it in the first place, I really doubt it.

So, what should I do? My coupon expires tomorrow. Do I jump on the bandwagon and buy what will end up being abuot a $2500 computer for $800 that I do have but REALLY shouldn't spend, or wait till i have money and hope a better deal comes up?

I'm taking a survey of religion class, and a few things got me thinking about some other religions, specifically Buddhism and Jainism. I was wondering, would God really condemn such people to hell?

When you think about it, both religions center around the idea of rejecting personal desires, goals, and indulgences. They have no desire for possessions; some even renounce owning a house, because having attachment to such things could lead to suffering. Jains even live life naked, for attachment to their clothing could prolong their suffering in life.

In short, these people have trained themselves to live completely without sin. They do not hate, they do not desire, steal, harm, or manipulate, because with having shed desire for all forms of physical happiness, they manage to become blissful in the moment. They even shed their fear of death.

However, there are two aspects about these religions that I cannot imagine a God would be very happy with. The first is that these two religions do not worship any God. Jainism especially, because while Buddhists simply do not have a God, Jains outright renounce God, for even worshiping a God could lead to a form of attachment they would want to avoid.

Secondly, these two religions maintain that the only way to "salvation" (in their eyes, escaping Samsara, or the cycle of death and rebirth) is from your own labors. The only way you can save yourself is if you do the work for yourself, for only through meditation and metacognition can you reach the desire state of mind. Buddha even said to look at his teachings as a raft to get you to the shores, not as passages describing the shores themselves.

So, I personally don't know what to think about this. On one hand, we have a group of people who either do not believe in God or denounce him outright, and who believe that only they themselves are their gateway to salvation. On the other hand, they are peaceful, helpful, and kind (if not rather apathetic) people who are likely, albeit inadvertently, more devoted to the sinless lifestyle that Jesus preached than anyone on Earth has been since He himself walked it.

God does say that we must have Faith in him, because without Faith he is nothing, and many Christians believe that Jesus is the only path to salvation. If that is the case, Buddhists and Jains would have the deck stacked thoroughly against them. But, don't actions speak louder than words? For example, it's not good enough to ask forgiveness for a Sin, you have to genuinely be sorry you did it. If such things can be thought of as such, in Gods eyes, am I really so much better than someone who is infinitely devoted than i am to a lifestyle that His Son told us we should live, simply because I acknowledge Him?

I'm not trying to start any fights here, but I have a hard time seeing the Bible as being the Ultimate word of God. I have a hard time seeing it even being a credible source for religion.

The way i see it, ancient religious texts, the Koran for example, are credible sources of information and inspiration for that religion because they are so old that their roots cannot be traced. The Koran was even supposedly IN a divine Language, word for word what that God said.

The Bible, on the other hand, is just a collection of stories written by "prophets." Long story short, they were written by Man, not God. It is not the word of God, but the word of Man retelling the actions of God. And while God is infallible, Man definitely is not.

The Bible details Christ's life, before and after death. Seeing as Peter before the end of the Bible, that would suggest that it happened before all of the other events in the bible, which in turn means that the bible was written after the birth of Catholicism. So, when the Bible was written, it would have to have been written, at least in some form, to work to convert people to Christianity. As far as I'm concerned, not only was the Bible written by men rather than God, but written by men with an agenda no less. This makes it much less credible to me.

Finally, there's the fact that the Bible has been translated over and over from many different languages. Not only does it give people the opportunity to make their own revisions, but many things simply do not translate directly from one language to another. Do that over 7 or 8 translations of translations, and even if the Bible WAS, at one time, the word of God, the English versions we're reading are not.

I do read the Bible, and I do believe some of what it says. But, I simply see it as a guideline; an interesting story. To me, it is only the works of men who were writing propaganda, which has been translated so many times that it is very unlikely to have any similarity to the source material anyway.

Am I thinking about it wrong? Or are my facts wrong? I honestly cannot see how anyone can look to the bible as the word of God.

I've got a bunch of friends who are all getting their 360s modded. They are all being rather stubborn about it. They all keep saying that the only way that you can get caught with a modded box is by playing a game online that hasn't been released yet. I did the research, and everything I read said not to bring a modded 360 online, because to mod the box you have to change the firmware, which they can easily look into.

Does anyone know if there are ways to mod a box that makes it safe to go on xbl? The person who's showing my friends claims to have been playing on a modded box for 2 years and have encountered no problems. I'm trying to talk them out of it, but if it really IS safe, i want to get off their case about it.

I usually take halloween very seriously, but I don't have alot of money on hand this year, so rather than make a very expensive costume again this year, I decided to perfect an old one.

I went as The Joker from The Dark Knight last year. I have a very nice costume, but the makeup I had was horrible. It was something I picked up from a costume shop. It went on wet, and dried like paint.While it looked good for about 20 minutes, it turned solid, would crack, chip, and fall off. Another problem was that it was so itchy that I couldn't bare to wear it for more than an hour or so at a time.

Is there a certain kind of makeup I could use that would go on pitch white and stay that way? I understand that I probably couldn't do much eating or sweating, but the makeup I had last year ruined halloween for me, because I have a long standing tradition of only going out in public on hallween in costume, and I'd like to actually stay looking like my character this year.

I usually take halloween very seriously, but I don't have alot of money on hand this year, so rather than make a very expensive costume again this year, I decided to perfect an old one.

I went as The Joker from The Dark Knight last year. I have a very nice costume, but the makeup I had was horrible. It was something I picked up from a costume shop. It went on wet, and dried like paint.While it looked good for about 20 minutes, it turned solid, would crack, chip, and fall off. Another problem was that it was so itchy that I couldn't bare to wear it for more than an hour or so at a time.

Is there a certain kind of makeup I could use that would go on pitch white and stay that way? I understand that I probably couldn't do much eating or sweating, but the makeup I had last year ruined halloween for me, because I have a long standing tradition of only going out in public on hallween in costume, and I'd like to actually stay looking like my character this year.

I have a rather challenging relationship with someone. A girl and I dated on and off for about 7 years (all through highschool, took a break after that, and dated again for three years) We'd been happy, even talked about getting married.

But, I hit a rough spot in life. My mother was sick, and might have died. I lost my job. I lost my car. My dog got sick. I couldn't afford school. Etc. Etc. Long story short, I didn't see her for a while. So, she said that she was sick of never seeing me and the drama(?), and said that she wanted to take a break. I thought, fair enough.

This happened september of last year. I know for a FACT that she met someone at a Halloween party and started dating him a few days later.

And she was engaged before new years.

I'm not so stupid as to realize she wanted out of our relationship badly. But, I couldn't help but feel a little betrayed that she dated me for essentially 7 years straight, and then MARRIES someone 10 years older than her within two months of breaking up with me. I just can't help wondering if she could do that, if she could ever have felt anything for me. I can't call her a whore, seeing as she is marrying him, but I can't help thinking that's probably the stupidest thing I've ever heard in my life.

I have since then begun to loath her, and it's working very well. But, last night, the grandmother that she and her husband have been living with died. Now, I absolutely hate every fiber of this girl's being. I did, however, like her family. I don't exactly get on well with them, because they kept trying to talk to me whenever I ran into them at the mall or grocery store, and I'd usually just ignore them with a "Why on earth do you think I'd want to talk to you" mood.

I'm debating whether or not I should go. As much as I try not to hate people, I probably would do everything in my power to make this moment as hard on my ex as possible. However, I do kind of want to be there for her family. But, on the same hand, while I do have no love or affection left for this girl at all, I still probably couldn't stop myself from starting a fight with the 30 year old who married a girl who can't legally buy alcohol.

So, what should I do?

My friend showed me the first episode of "How I Met Your Mother" earlier today. Right before the episode ended, as it was wrapping up, a song started playing. It reminds me of the song "Jessica." I've been wanting to learn this song on guitar for YEARS, but as I only know the tune, I can't exactly look up what the title is. Please, if anyone knows what the song title is, please brighten my day.

I've just managed to find a job after about six months of being unemployed. All of my friends have gotten into comics, and I've always kind of wanted to get into them myself. I do like alot of the Marvel super heroes, but when I look at the Marvel Universe, it's just so huge that I have no idea where to start.

As far as Marvel comics go, the only thing I've actually read is 1602. Other than that, the only exposure I've had is movies and videogames. What is a good place to start? Which books should i read first?

It has recently come to my attention that any flavored tobacco, except menthol, will be taken off of American store shelves within about a month. I'm not a regular smoker, and while i do smoke Djarum Blacks, one pack will last me upwards of two weeks. I really like them, and I live in michigan, and i'm about a half an hour drive from canada. Does anyone know if they sell Djarums, or any other clove cigarette, in canada?

I see everyone praising RE5, and I can't figure out why. I look at it the same way i look at the movie series. They're good, but the fact that they put they name "Resident Evil" on something that is absolutely nothing like resident evil should be makes the game garbage to me. Everyone keeps saying "embrace the change," but if the next Die Hard movie was a romantic comedy, everyone would hate it. Why should games be different?

I've been a fan of the series ever since the original came out on the playstation, and there are several reasons this game isn't Resident Evil to me. First off, there are several things that make a Resident Evil game a Resident Evil game. Zombies, Tyrants, Typewriters, Herbs, and a timer counting down to an explosion at the end of the game. RE5 had the herbs, that was it. While RE4 didn't have zombies, i'll forgive it because the game hinted that zombies would be back at the end.

I could go on, but my biggest beef is that the plot is, there's no other word for it. Wrong. Wesker is some super-human test tube baby experiment, although it's already been established that he got his super powers from a virus. The T virus came from african plants, even though it's already been established that it came from leeches. Oswell E Spencer was the head of Umbrella, although it was already established that the Ashfords started Umbrella.

Resident Evil is supposed to be, at its core, a Survival Horror game. Despite being largely action based, RE4's attache case still limited your inventory space, which still preserved the horde-and-conserve mindset that is really what RE is all about. RE5 even managed to kill this. Sure, you can only have 9 items per level, but seeing as you have unlimited inventory space and simply choose your items between levels and every time you die, 999 handgun bullets are never more than ten minutes away. And, as you can replay levels, it's actually rather EASY to get that many bullets.

I really wanted to like this game, but as a loyal RE fan, I can't see anything worth liking. The gameplay is just like every other action title available, beyond the main character having a partner and the herbs, there are literally none of the Resident Evil staples in the game, and aside from the plot of the game not making sense for the Resident Evil series, it straight up ignores the previous Resident Evil Cannon. So, please, tell me what the big deal is? And if your excuse would be "I like this game because I didn't like the other Resident Evils and this one made it fun for me," don't answer. If you like this game because it's different from the other ones, that means that you don't like resident evil, and not to be rude, you can't tell me anything I want to hear. In fact, the mere fact that they're now making Resident Evil games for people who are not Resident Evil fans kind of proves my point. It is a good game, and with another title i'd love it. But I can't see a single thing that makes it a good Resident Evil game, and if someone can help me see why everyone says it's the best in the series, I'd love to know. As far as i'm concerned, it doesn't even exist.

I want to record and make my own movie reviews, and I want to use clips from the movies i'm talking about in the review. I'm using windows movie maker, and I was wondering how to do it. Similar to people who record scene from a movie and upload it to youtube.

I'm trying to watch a movie on my computer using Media Player, and at first i thought the audtio track was broken, as I couldn't hear anything. However, after hearing ambient noises and music, I looked into the sound settings and there are only options for 5.1 surround sound audio. This isn't normal, because I've played the DVD on my regular TV without my stereo turned on and heard it fine. Is there anyway to make media player play in stereo?

My girlfriend has always been a rather lethargic person. Usually slept in, wasn't very active after dark, but as I'm relatively the same way, it never really got in the way. Over the year or so, however, it's gotten worse.

She constantly wants to sleep. And not sleep in, or even taking an occasional nap. It's escalated from her starting to always suggest we watch a movie and she'll fall asleep, to now, where she'll flat out say I can do whatever, she wants to take a nap. Just yesterday she woke up at 3:00 pm, came over at 4:00, and then took a nap until 7:00.

Apart from putting a serious strain on the relationship, where my partner will only do anything with me accepting that she can sleep through it, it's starting to affect her life. She's sleeping through work, and on the rare times she wakes up in time for class, she goes to class and sleeps through it. Last semester, out of four classes, she dropped one, failed another, and got an incomplete from a teacher for sleeping through a test.

The worst part is that she fails to acknowledge that this isn't normal. She insists that she wouldn't be so tired if she didn't have to get up so early for school sometimes, and only naps when she does get up early. I've pointed out a few times that aside from it being abnormal for a person to sleep from 2 am until 3 pm, then wake up and take a three hour nap an hour later, it's abnormal for a person to actually have the physical ability to fall asleep again after sleeping for 13 hours. When I do, she says i'm being selfish because I don't want her to sleep so I can do "Whatever I want to."

Does anyone have any advice? I've been with her for three years, and it's getting so in the way that I'm seriously considering just leaving her. But, I do care about her a great deal, and I can't bring myself to just abandon her when I think she really needs help.

I myself have Altot of trouble sleeping, sometimes I can go two days before I can manage to catch a few hours, so my views are kind of skewed. Are there some people who can always just manage to sleep whenever they want, or is this a serious problem? If it's not, does it make me selfish for demanding that I be able to actually date someone, rather than just constantly have someone sleeping in my room?

My desktop recently died. I don't even get a login screen. I am going to format the harddrive, but I want to get some files off my computer first. I can boot in safe mode, but some of my bank information is in hidden folders, and "Folder Options" isn't on the tools list in safe mode. Is it even possible to access hidden files in safe mode, even if i know they're there?

I recently got my tax return money, and I decided to fix the problem that i am probably one of only twenty people in America without an Ipod/zune. I was going to buy an Ipod, but everyone who has a zune swears by them. Should I get a zune or an Ipod, and why?

I've had a horrible, stressful school semester, and it ends wednesday. I've also put on quite a bit of weight since last summer. To celebrate, and correct the problem that i'm probably one of only 17 people in the civilized world who don't have an Ipod, I'm looking to buy one, not only because I want one, but I can never stay excercising long because my Rampant ADHD causes me to become bored with listening to only one or two CDs at a time.

I know there are two types of memory for ipods and zunes. Hard Drives, and digital memory. I've heard that, as the hard drive has moving parts, excessive shaking can cause them to break. I was looking at prices online, and couldn't help but notice that a 16 gig ipod with digital memory costs $200, but for $250, i can get an ipod that has a 120 gig hard drive.

Does it really matter that much if you have a hard drive over digital memory? I don't want to buy a hard drive one and have it break after a month or two, but its' hard to ignore that for $50 more I can completely remove any risk of ever running out of memory.

My mother has always had good hearing, but the last few years, it's gotten steadily worse, and the past few months, it's begun to severely affect my life.

Our bedrooms are next to each other, and the walls are rather thin. In the past, I would wake her up if i turned on a TV and it was too loud, or jumped on the bed and it knocked the wall. Lately, it's gotten ridiculous.

She claims that she can't get any sleep with any noise going on. when she goes to bed at ten, I'm not allowed to leave my room, turn on a television, or run water, because she cant get to sleep. I've lived with it for years, but it's just gotten out of hand. I have a creaky desk chair, and whenever i sit in it, or move in it, she wakes up and comes in screaming that I'm as loud as if i had a party. There have been times when my girlfriend was over, and I was whispering to her. She couldn't hear what i was saying, but my mother told me to keep it down because she COULD hear me. This is through a wall, mind. My mother often takes two hour long showers, starting two hours before i have to go to class. So, I either have to go to class an hour late in the morning, or get up at 5 to take a shower. A few days ago, I got sick of it and went into the bathroom with a wash cloth to simply wash up, and go to class ratty, yet clean. The sink woke her up. I wake her up when I come home at night. Not because i'm loud when i come in. Not because i'm playing music. My car engine wakes her up.

Just now, I woke her up typing.

I don't know what to do anymore. If you can be woken up by someone typing in the next room, through a wall, i can hardly consider that sleep to begin with. I'm willing to work with her, abiding by the rules she put in place. But, I feel there's a point when she needs to start working with me.

Does anyone have any suggestions? I keep saying she needs to go to the doctor, or at least invest in a pair of ear plugs. She insists that it's all me, and if i can just be civil she won't need to take any extra precautions. I'd love to move out, but i'm going to school full time and don't have a job. I've had college funds since i was born, and i'm using that to go to school. I can't really move out. But, I'm sick of living in conditions where someone goes to bed five hours before me, and I'm honestly afraid to do as much as open a drawer for fear that she'll wake out of the semi-trance she calls sleep.

I've been dating a girl for five months now. She and I dated before for a few months a few years ago, and when she broke up with me i was crushed. I didn't get out of bed for five days, and still wasn't over her six months later. There's nothing wrong right now, but I'm wondering if I was missing something that wasn't there.

I'm not planning on breaking up with her, but i'm not sure if I should consider this a permanent relationship. I love her to death. We've got alot in common, and there's usually never a dull moment with each other. There are some differences, however, and they're enough to make me question it. I'm mildly religious, but believe heavily in our rights, free speech, freedom of religion, etc. She's a hardcore catholic who thinks stubbornly that abortion, homosexuality, and atheism is evil. I could respect that, but she never backs up any of her beliefs.

There are more examples. We do love each other, but i'll be out of college this year, and i'm starting to evaluate my life. I've always thought I wanted a girl who could tell me 10 things i don't already know, then cuddle while we watch starwars. Is that unrealistic? Is it right for me to want to marry someone I perfectly identify with, or am i being emotionally dead for not accepting this girl for who she is?

Basically, are the best marriages the ones where the couples loves each other for what they have in common, or the ones where the couple loves each other despite their differences?