chapstick

currently i drive a first generation miata. Because of this, I enjoy low fuel costs, low maintenance costs, amazing handling, and flip up headlights B]. I have thoroughly enjoyed driving this car in autocross as well (always fun to beat some corvette times right?) I don't want to lose too much of these characteristics.

However, I need more room. Not THAT much room. (a 2006 civic si/coupe turned out to have a perfect amount of space for my needs. more is nice i guess, but no less than that.)

I want to keep my budget under $10,000. upgrading from a car that cost me $2000, that's a pretty good jump.

so far i've been looking at cars like like civics and VW GTI's but i feel like i will miss rear wheel drive, so i'm looking at E46 BMW's.. buuuut 99% in my area are automatic. i don't know how i feel about that.

anyway, without getting into too much specifics, i wonder what others can recommend as a good replacement?

I just called it deja vu ever since I was a kid. But now I have these things more often.

I will just be going about my daily life, then suddenly it will just hit me, where everything seems very familiar, and to the point where I am able to say what is about to happen in a way and it works. As if it were something i've seen in a dream, and remember.

Is there a proper name for this? some people tell me deja vu is different, where it is just something is repeated...but that's just the word i've been using.

for example, let's say i'm just washing dishes and having a conversation with someone. and something happens like i drop the fork, then suddenly i will get this rush of familiarity (engaging almost all 5 of my senses), and then i will be able to say just know exactly what is going to happen as they happen and what will be said until the point where i say, "omg deja vu again, and feel like i dreamed this, and dreamed everything you just said, and are about to say, but me saying this altered what will be said."

idk. it's really weird. i'm no BSing either. i thought it was normal, but it happens more frequently now, so i started to become more interested.

1) an internship directly related to what you were studying. It doesn't pay very high as it is an internship, but can lead to big doors opening later, and it never hurts to build up your resume with relevant experience! the internship will only last until the end of summer, so you better hope it opened doors.

2) A full time job you are almost 100% guaranteed to get that pays fairly well and offers some benefits, but is completely unrelated to what you were majoring in, and is not something you want to make a career out of. the particular job itself is only temporary ( either 6 month, 1 yr, or 3 years) , and will not offer any relevant job experience, just good pay right after college. once done, you are pretty much where you were right after you graduated college, no relevant job experience in the field you studied.

I currently live in Sacramento, and moved here in 2005. Before that I had NO allergies, but lived overseas (Japan, coastal, mainland, humid, ). It's always been bad, but usually claritin or zyrtec did the job. This year, they are completely useless.

Where can I live comfortably but still be in lovely California? I was thinking somewhere in SoCal..? since it is a drier place with less trees.

I have allergies in Sacramento ever since I moved here. However this is the first year its been like this bad... I have had constant allergies for almost 3 weeks. I wake up with my sinuses clogged, go to sleep with my sinuses clogged. And they're not just clogged, they feel IRRITATED. Almost like a sore throat, but if I swallow, the irritation is slightly above the back of the roof of my mouth. It feels really scratchy and mucus sticky.

If I hawk it up good enough, I'm spitting out yellow mucus. It's disgusting, but why is it yellow?

please help, claritin and zyrtec do absolutely nothing for me. Last year zyrtec was amazing, but this year it does nothing. ANd I wonder if it's because there is something wrong internally.

Let's say you have a loan of $10,000 total. and you already own a cheap old sports car track toy that serves as your daily driver (miata). but now you need a little more space for whatever reason. you are the type of person who likes to attend roughly 4-6 track/autocross events a year.

OptionA) sell your car, use that money for downpayment, spend $10,000 loan on a sporty daily driver. (something along the lines of a civic Si, mazdaspeed 3, VW Gti, celica GTS, etc. etc.) Something that will just do the job on track/auto cross days, but also take you there and back, serve you well on your daily commute to/from work, get good gas mileage, be reliable, etc.

OptionB) Spend $5000 on a dedicated daily commuter/ utility vehicle (i.e. generic civic, toyota matrix, small truck like ranger or tacoma, etc.) that you can drive daily to and from work, rely on, get decent gas mileage, and be cheap to maintain. SINCE you didn't sell your sports car, you have no downpayment, so must make the sacrifice of a lower overall price on the second car.

Spend the rest of what you have on maintenance and upkeep of your new used car, and maybe a treat for your track toy.

what are the pros and cons?

to me i'd say having 1 car

PROS: keeps things simple. you pay insurance on ONE car, you only take up ONE parking space if you live in an apartment or share a house with people, it isn't reliant on any other car. a one-size fits all sort of deal.

CONS: if you crash or break something during a track day or anything, and you must get to work the next day, you can be in a dilemma. because of the sacrifices made in order to keep it tame for daily driving, it won't handle like a real sports car by nature.

having 2 cars: pros and cons almost exactly the opposite of above.

I have a pretty clean example of an original 1990 miata. (one of the very first, built in 1989). I tried price checking it, and noticed on NADA that it is now a classic. and their price has actually gone up for it. I have 195k miles on it, but runs better than a lot of miatas i know with less than that. Do you think keeping it will increase the value over time? I think it might, but only marginally since it is so common of a car. compared to what I see on craigslist though, mine is pretty darn clean.

Reasons for considering selling: I need more space! I'm into many different actions sports such as snowboading, i like camping, and I'm in the National Guard, and on several occasions I've had to scramble to borrow someone's car for a drill weekend that involved me carrying all my gear to drill.

So, I am considering selling for a replacement. Now, my space needs aren't HUGE. I could make due with a civic Si coupe, for example. Just fold the seats down and that's good enough for me. a roof rack would help for snowboarding. I would sell the miata and use the earnings for a down payment on a reasonably newish car.

However, I LOVE my miata...I just autocrossed for the first time recently and it made me love it even more. So, I'm also considering perhaps picking up a second car as a utility/daily driver. like a small truck or 5 door hatchback. If I go this route, I will not have a downpayment, and it would probably be wise not to buy a relatively new ish car, and kind of keep the budget for this under $5000 or so.

I feel like replacing my current car with a newer one will be more costly, but more "efficient" as I would just have one car, one parking space, one etc. But having two cars is handy. One fun car, and one utility car, and if something goes wrong with one, i will always have the other. So there are pros and cons to both.

ULTIMATELY: the question HERE is, is the miata worth keeping in a value perspective. I own it. I bought it for $2000, NADA says it's worth $3000-$3400 and they don't care about mileage since it's a classic to them. If I keep it longer, will the value go up? I think I will keep it if it is bound to go up, and just get a second car. But if it will be stagnant at around $3000 then, that just seems like a good downpayment on a car that costs $15k with only like...50k miles on it.

sorry for the long post. Just want to avoid people asking ME qeustions.

I notice a lot of the old school pool skaters have somewhat bigger wheels and they really shred those pools compared to your typical swagster street skaters.

What are the ideal wheel sizes for pool skating? Durometer?

So I'm going to sell my beloved daily driven miata because I need something with more space. I don't need a whole lot of space, as you can tell from my 3 choices of cars, but a 1st gen miata has almost none. Moving on...

The choices are

-2006+ Honda Civic Si coupe

-1999+ Mustang GT

-2004+ Subaru WRX

So far I've test driven a civic si and a 2005 mustang GT. I haven't test driven the WRX yet, still planning to.

Impressions:

1) Civic: Overall this is the most practical of the bunch. Fuel economy is the best out of the choices, and the space is perfectly adequate for my needs. Also it being a Honda, the probability of failure of anything is super low. Coming from a lightweight RWD car, I must say the civic Si changed my mind about FWD cars, as it handled exceptionally well. The vtec engine is awesome, but not breathtaking. This car is generally satisfying in all aspects of performance and practicality.

2) Mustang GT: This car is COOL! The retro styling is awesome. It really adds character to the car. And that V8...it was intoxicating, from it's sound to it's amazing torque. Handling wasn't as bad as I thought it would be knowing it's big, heavy, and has a live solid rear axle vs independent rear suspension. It wasn't a civic Si or miata in that department, but I understand it was never trying to be. I can see where simply upgrading to lower stiffer springs, thicker sway bars, and better tires would help. Space is more just as adequate as the civic, fuel economy however is not. For a Daily Driver, it's not the best. But I suppose I'm ok with that. Overall: impressive performance and feel, not so impressive practicality.

3) WRX: I haven't driven it yet so I can't say much. But from what I've gathered, fuel economy is barely better than a mustang GT, since a WRX is turbo and awd. However, this offers the most "go anywhere-ness" of all the cars. It can kill at the track, it can kill off the track, be a good car for outdoors activities like snowboarding and camping, has 4 doors,, etc etc. I'm sure the handling is good, though probably doesn't FEEL as nimble as a civic si, but surely better than a mustang GT. overall power compared to the mustang GT, well, obviously is not as exhilarating. Looks wise, doesn't LOOK as cool as the other cars (that's preference, I'm a coupe guy)Overall: Still need to drive it.

So that's that. seems a bit long. but yeah.

My price range is no more than $20k, though I'd prefer to stay far under that, around $15k-$16k.

This is a tough decision for me because I'm coming from a track/autocross star of a car that still gets 30mpg, trying to get something else for the sake of space. The upgrades in overall street/track performance are great though in all 3 choices.

I have a mossberg 500 (combo 18" cylinder and 28" modified) that i bought off someone. I just shot trap for the first time ever (so fun!) but didn't do so well, and to my understanding it's because most trap shooters use a full choke.

anyway, so my 28" barrel says modified choke on it. Does this mean it is not compatible with separate choke tubes? If so, how do I go about getting a full choke? Do I have to buy a whole new barrel? What are my options here?

I only use this shotgun for HD, and trap. I do not plan on getting into skeet any time soon, so having a dedicated trap barrel is not an issue for me. I just want what is most cost-effective.

I am getting a B.A. in Geography with a concentration in GIS and analysis in May (finally). While there are opportunities in the GIS and planning world, I am curious what else I should look for to broaden my scope. Honestly, I can't even see myself being a computer rat programming and running GIS junk all day in a chair my whole life.

My goals are to be making $45,000+ / year realistically. Most of the planning/GIS related jobs are about $50,000+.

They were a hip hop group or duo. They were male. it was around 1995;1996 on the show All That from Nickelodeon. All I remember is like 3 seconds of the melody and the fact that the word raindrops was in the chorus. I want to say they were similar to Kris Kross.

I am a NG Soldier and I've applied for so many jobs and internships that I don't even remember how many. None of which I have even got a phone call for... I wouldn't say it is because I am under qualified because I make sure that I meet all the requirements before I apply anyway. I am going to be graduating with a bachelors degree in May, and I was honor grad at AIT for the JAG paralegal specialist school, so I know it's not because of my intellectual abilities. This is discouraging because now I feel like I can't get a job, or will have a significantly harder time finding one compared to regular civilians. I feel like serving was a mistake. I am underpaid as a Soldier, and it seems like that's all I will have, even after getting my bachelors degree.

Is this true? Does anyone have any experience with this? How can I combat this?

I'm graduating in the Spring and am torn between two concentrations within my major (geography). The two concentrations I am deciding between are:

1. Human Geography

2. Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and Analysis

Either way I will have taken 3-4 GIS related courses. But with human geography concentration, I will have taken more actual geography courses (the GIS courses are heavily computer based; don't learn about geography as a subject, just techniques).

Do employers care to look at what courses you've taken? If I had a human geography degree, they would be wrong if they assumed I knew nothing about GIS. Or do they just care what the degree says?

I'm graduating in the Spring and am torn between two concentrations within my major (geography). The two concentrations I am deciding between are:

1. Human Geography

2. Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and Analysis

Either way I will have taken 3-4 GIS related courses. But with human geography concentration, I will have taken more actual geography courses (the GIS courses are heavily computer based; don't learn about geography as a subject, just techniques).

Do employers care to look at what courses you've taken? If I had a human geography degree, they would be wrong if they assumed I knew nothing about GIS. Or do they just care what the degree says?

Which should I get? I don't really have tight spaces in my house so I don't feel worried about pieing corners and stuff. And I know to carry at the low ready.

anyway. what is your opinion? an old used police remington 870 or a new ish charter arms 38 special undercover model revolver?

The shotgun right now seems best, but a revolver is so convenient due to its size. and you can practice accuracy with it more often, and others in the house would be more likely to know how to use it. Revolvers are so intuitively easy to understand more than any other firearm.

the shotgun is the king of HD i would say, but for other people in the house, it may not be as simple to use as a revolver. Also, going to range you can't do much when shooting paper, but I suppose shooting clays can be fun.

I always wonder also what I would do if I had a shotgun and a bad guy had a family member hostage with a knife to the neck while standing behind the family member...

There are pros and cons to both. And if anything, just buy both ! but if you could only have 1 for the next half year, which would you choose?

I am inclined to purchase a home defense fire arm because of the frequency of crimes in my area suddenly. There has been an armed robbery and an armed hostage situation where SWAT came (CRAZY RIGHT?!!! I could see it from my window across the street!) I have experience with handguns and rifles. I don't really want an AR 15 so don't bring rifles into this. And it's not that I don't like it, I am a Soldier and know how to handle that platform. I do not have any experience with shotguns though.

To me it's a toss up...but i'm hoping I can be convinced one way.

I am a CA army national guard soldier (brigade paralegal specialist). I am also graduating with a bachelors degree in human geography this spring.

How are my chances of getting into the chp academy?

I'm a senior in college and I am currently en route to getting a B.A. in geography with a concentration in GIS. I graduate next semester.

I can still switch to the concentration of Human geography

Is it really worth it to have the GIS concentration? I feel like I'm doing it because it seems like it gives me marketable skills for a job. But I'm finding I do not enjoy it very much, and that there aren't even that many GIS jobs out there. Is the GIS concentration really going to make a difference vs a human geog concentration?

My GIS specific course load so far is

-intro to GIS

-advanced GIS

-computer cartography

-intro to mapping

next semester:

-spatial analysis

-remote sensing

-applied GIS

My current human geography specific courseload involves

-urban geogrphy

-geography of europe

if i switch to human geography i would take

-georaphy of united states and canada, or of africa

-transportation geography

and to fill space an elective such as

-economic geography

-population geography

either way the B.A. is IN geography and requires a certain course load that touches all 4 concentrations (GIS, Physical, Human, Metropolitan Planning); it's just one concentration requires more classes in that specific field obviously.

Let's say in 1 year, 3 years, 5 years, 10 years. I know different banks have different funds, but just on average generally. I'm young and I don't have much, but I'd like to invest in something rather than spend.

It's either one or the other:

http://store.titleboxing.com/thgff.html

or

http://store.titleboxing.com/thgt.html

I suppose the full face is more protective, but is it THAT much more protective? Today I sparred for the first time and have only been boxing for a month. I weigh 118lbs. I didn't get hit in the chin mostly in the cheeks, temples, and nose (a lot...yes i'm a noob). I was using really crappy headgear that had like 0 padding. I want to have good visibility, but also good protection.

The two are the same price, but I'm leaning more toward the traditional one because it is simpler. I was looking at some with face bars, but decided it would probably just get in the way. The chin protector...i'm not sure if that's needed. However I don't want to be that guy that regrets it when i get an uppercut to the chin.