RaccoonRawr

I have some film files on my laptop that weren't bought through iTunes and I use VLC media player to watch them.

I've just got a new iPad Mini 2 and I'd like to be able to put the films onto my iPad so I can watch them whenever/wherever I feel like.

I thought that I could just use Dropbox to transfer the files and install the VLC media player app on my iPad to watch them, however when I looked online, some people are saying that this method won't work.

So, is it as simple as using Dropbox and the VLC media player app? Or if not, can you give me another (as easy as possible) method to do this?

Thanks

I've just started the NHS Couch to 5k challenge, only done 2 runs so far, but I think I have shin splints.

I get a mild, aching pain in my lower shins when I run. The pain stops immediately when I start walking. There's no swelling, and the pain doesn't continue after I've finished my run. I stretch before and after I run, and also do a warm up and cool down walk before and after too.

I make sure my running form is correct; not heel-striking, making sure my feet land under my hips etc. so I'm not sure it's that I have bad form.

I don't have flat feet but I do over-pronate when I walk, so I made sure that I got running shoes with arch support and various other 'stabilizing technology' to ensure that my feet were supported. However, my feet a bit 'too' supported, and it feels a bit unnatural to even walk in the shoes; they kind of force me to really emphasize the natural "heel-toe" way of walking. Has anyone ever had shoes that are too supportive causing shin pain?

Is it just because I'm a beginner runner? I've seen a few websites saying that the pain will go away after a few runs as your body get's used to it, but I don't want to do myself permanent injury and have to stop running altogether as I'm really enjoying it so far.

I'm not really sure that resting for a few weeks is going to help, as I've had this pain before, when doing the occasional run on the treadmill, and the pain happened every time, no matter how long I left in between.

Any advice is appreciated!

So I was reversing out of my driveway, got a bit too close to the gate post on the passenger side and my wing mirror caught it and snapped off.

The glass isn't smashed, and I have the wing mirror because I just picked it up off my driveway.

The mirrors aren't electric or heated or painted to match the car, just a bog standard wing mirror.

I'm not sure how bad the damage is (I'm not really a car person) but there's like 3 wires sticking out of the bracket where the mirror was. They aren't bent, but I imagine there's likely to be some internal damage to the mirror that I can't see as they don't just snap off.

Anyway, there's a garage about 10 minutes down the road, if I like Duct Tape the mirror back on (as an emergency) am I allowed to drive down there so they can fix it? I really don't want to have to call them to my house.

And secondly, could anyone tell me roughly how much it would be to either re-attach the mirror I have, or if it's too damaged, get a new one fitted on?

Thanks.

I've just put a deposit down on my first car, and I'm picking it up and paying the rest of the balance next week.

It's a used car, but in really good condition and the guy who sold it to me is putting it through an MOT for me so I don't have to worry about servicing etc. for a bit.

So,

1) what kind of things do people keep in their car? It's only a small city car, so the boot and glove box aren't exactly huge; what do you think is essential to keep in your car at all times?

2) Because it's in good condition (especially the interior) I'd like to keep it that way. The boot and back seats look like they've barely been used! I've got some car mats to keep the floor clean, but does anyone have any other tips?

and lastly

3) Because it's my first car, and I've been relying on buses/people giving me lifts for years, it's naturally a bit of a novelty and I'm very excited about it. I'd like to jazz it up a bit (not go overboard!) and just make it feel more like MY car. Does anyone have any ideas for any little accessories etc. I can add?

Thanks!

I found this Latin phrase that I really like and I want a way to display it.

The phrase is 'Per aspera ad astra' which translates as "Through hardships to the stars"

But anyway, I really like it, and I want a way to be able to display it so I can see it often. I already have some tattoos, but I don't want it tattooed on me, I think I'd rather display it in my room somehow.

My parent's have just paid for my room to be redecorated, so I doubt they'd be very happy if I wrote it on the wall, and I would put it on my noticeboard (corkboard, whatever you call them) but that's usually covered in little reminder notes for myself so I doubt I'd see it that often.

I was thinking to get a friend who's quite arty to write it out in a fancy way and then put it in a photo frame, but I don't know.

Does anyone have any other ideas?

I'm getting a small tattoo done in the next couple of months and I want it to represent either my life, or life in general.

I've decided on three words that sum up the most important things in life for me personally. I'm hoping to have these written in an infinity sign shape as I like to think that people's lives never really end, they carry on living through memories, photos etc. that other people have of them.

However, at either side of the sign (the left and right) I'd like to have a small symbol or picture that could represent childhood or the past and the future.

My first thought was the Deathly Hallows sign for childhood because Harry Potter was my ultimate favourite thing as a child (and still is now). The books were like a magical dreamworld that I could escape to when things at school and home got hard.

And then I was thinking a dreamcatcher on the other side to represent dreams and aspirations I have for the future.

But, I don't know. For a start, the dreamcatcher might be too intricate to be done at the size I want, and I'm just unsure about the Harry Potter thing.

So, does anyone have any ideas of what could be used to symbolise the past/childhood and the future?

I'm going to chat with my artist about this as well as it may not fit where I want it etc. but any ideas are appreciated.

Thanks

I'm buying my first car in a couple of months and out of all the cars I've researched, it looks like a previously owned 2006 - 2008 Ford Ka is what I'm going to get.

I'm mainly going to use it for driving to work, university and just around the local area for shopping etc. although there might be the very occasional long trip on the motorway.

From what I've researched so far, a lot of people seem to like these cars but have said to check for rust before I buy one.

Does anyone else have any tips/things I should check for when buying one of these cars?

Has anyone ever owned one of these cars? If so, what did you think of it?

And lastly, I know there's lots of different models e.g LuxuryKa, Ka Collection, Ka 2, Ka 3 etc. Which one would you reccomend, or is there not much difference?

Thanks

I've already been told advice by the studio such as "have something to eat and drink before my appointment" etc.

Just wondering if anyone has any tips on how to relax and manage the pain or any other last minute advice for me?

Thanks :)

I've bought my boyfriend a gift and usually I would just hand it to him all wrapped up and say "Happy Birthday" or whatever because he wouldn't know what the gift was.

However, this time, he knows what the gift is because I asked him to choose something he wanted himself. So because the gift isn't a surprise, I wanted some kind of unique or interesting way to give it to him. We'll probably be out in town when I give it to him as we're meeting up for lunch to start.

I was thinking about doing a scavenger hunt/treasure trail type thing around the town but I have a number of problems with that.

1) I'm working in the morning, and all my friends are either working or on holiday too, so I don't know how I'd prepare it.

2) I don't really know how people get them to work? If I had clues leading to places where he would find another clue then surely the clues would blow away or get picked up by a litter picker? And if you just left the gift somewhere for the end of the trail then someone's going to steal it or something? And if it rains then it won't be very fun as I doubt he's going to want to spend his day looking for clues in the rain.

3) Also, I'm a little worried it might be a bit over the top, like, it's only a little gift and most people seem to do these treasure trail things to propose to their girlfriend or something.

So yeah, if anyone has any interesting ways I can give him the gift that wouldn't be too over the top and also quite simple and quick to prepare (I'm working all week and I'm giving him the gift at the weekend) then I would much appreciate it.

Thanks :)

I want a small phrase tattooed on me (it's three words long) and I would like some ideas on where to get it.

I like the idea of putting it on my ribs, but everyone I've spoken to have said that the ribs are really painful and it's putting me off a little.

Does anyone have any estimates on how long a three word phrase just in black would take to do, because if it's not too long I'd probably be able to sit through it on my ribs, maybe taking a break halfway through or something.

Also, does anyone have any suggestions where else I could get the tattoo? I'd like it to be somewhere that I could easily cover for when I get a job. I'm looking to go into a career in sport (coaching, personal training etc.) so please bear in mind that I'm likely to be wearing shorts and t-shirts a lot of the time, and I won't be able to cover it with jewelry (such as wear a bracelet to cover a wrist tattoo).

Also, as much as I like tattoo's on the shoulder blade, I would like to be able to look at my tattoo without craning my neck in a mirror.

Obviously I know wherever I get the tattoo it's going to be at least a little bit painful, it's just if the ribs really are as painful as everyone says, I'd rather get it somewhere else.

On the inside of one of my wrists I've developed this weird little rash that looks like insect bites.

I've just spent a week in Spain, and the rash appeared the day before I was going home. To start with, it looked like two little insect bites, which I just passed off as nothing. I expected to get insect bites as it was hot weather, and my boyfriend had a couple of bites so I just assumed that's what they were.

They weren't immediately itchy, but when I noticed them that evening, I put some bite cream on. The next morning, while applying the bite cream again, I noticed a third one seemed to have appeared. I just assumed that it was another bite that had taken a little longer to swell up for some reason, so again, apart from applying bite cream, I ignored it.

However, I have now been back in the UK for about three days, and over these three days, more and more little lumps that looked like bites began to appear, and there's now a small cluster of insect bite looking lumps on the inside of my wrist, that spreads across an area about the size of a tin of Vaseline.

I have continued to apply the bite cream as it stops them itching and seems to be helping the swelling go down. I know I'm not allergic to the cream as I've used it before so it can't be that causing the rash.

I also don't remember scratching my wrist on any sort of plant or anything, or even really touching anything that could of caused the rash.

I don't know if when I've scratched the original bites I possibly managed to spread some of the poison from the bites to nearby areas of my wrist, that's my thoughts at the moment.

I am intending to go the doctor if it doesn't clear up in the next couple of days, but does anyone have any experience of bites turning into a small rash, or have any ideas what else could be causing the rash if not bites?

I don't know if this really matters but I do have very mild eczema on my hands and areas of my face, but that never really itches or comes up in a rash on me, it usually just gives me dry skin, so I don't think the rash is anything to do with it.

Any ideas on what it could be, or advice on how to treat it would be appreciated.

Thanks.

I recently got a new external disc drive for my laptop. However, I'm having a number of problems with it.

The first time I used it, my laptop recognized the device, however when I inserted a DVD with the intention to watch a film nothing happened. I went to 'My Computer' so that I could run the disc manually, however when I went to do this, the disc wasn't there. It was basically like I hadn't inserted anything into the disc drive.

I've just tried to use it again tonight by putting a different DVD in, and now my laptop isn't recognizing the drive properly. It isn't always listed in "My Computer" when I refresh it and the only recognition I have is an icon in my Start bar enabling me to "Safely remove hardware".

I also got two error messages. One said that "there was a problem installing the device and it may not work properly" and the other was in "My Computer" when it did recognize the drive saying that it "refers to a location that is unavailable. Check that the disk is properly inserted or that you are connected to the internet or your network and then try again. If it still cannot be located, the information may have been moved to a different location."

The company recommends that Windows Media Player or VLC media player are used, both of which I have already installed and are completely up to date.

This is probably really badly explained to all you computer whizzes out there, but basically, do you think it's a problem with the drive and I should just buy a new one, or are there some steps I could take on my laptop to fix the problem?

Thanks :)

I want a phrase tattooed on my inner bicep that has the general idea of "turn your wounds into wisdom" or "learn from your failures" or something along those lines, but everything I come up with sounds very cliched and impersonal.

I'm not going to go into all the personal reasons behind this tattoo, but I would just like the phrase to have that general meaning, but be a bit more original, and not just look like some cliched tattoo that I'm having because it's "fashionable" or whatever.

I am going to talk ideas through with the tattoo artist as well, but I was just wondering if any of you could give me some inspiration before I go for my design consultation.

Also, I'd prefer something that isn't taken from the Bible or any other religious book because I'm not religious and I'd feel that I was being rather offensive if I tattooed other people's religious teachings on my body.

Thank you to anyone who can help me out :)