rknapp

Thighs touching means fat? Sorry, I think if you're thighs aren't touching, you need to eat a couple more twinkies every day... the delicious snackfood, not delicious young men. Seriously, there is morbidly obese and morbidly skinny. If I can see your joints, your cheekbones, etc., then you've got to eat more. It's not uncommon for people to tell me I'm skinny, but it's just an optical illusion due to my height. In reality, I'm presently 18 pounds overweight (was 20 pounds over last week and 25 pounds over in January, working on it slowly) and have a lot of stomach fat that I don't like, and not for any superficial reason. I want my stomach fat gone for two reasons. The first is I had to struggle to reach my snowboard bindings this year. I can reach them easily while standing, but I don't have the right balance to do it that way. I always have to sit down on the snow and lean forward, which for the first time ever became a problem in January. I changed my eating habits (not in a good way; I ate much less, which is a bad way of losing weight). Then I learned of ways to increase my metabolism to eat away at that stored body fat (cold water, green tea, and eating at least two big meals a day and small snacks every 3-4 hours). Doing that, combined with walking a bit more each day, and I managed to lose a few pounds in the span of week. Hell in the span of three days last week, where I brought up my 20" alloy wheels and installed on my car for the summer on Tuesday, took John to AC on Wednesday and walked around on the boardwalk, and hanging out with him on Thursday, I lost four pounds. My goal is 200 pounds, right where I should be for my height and age. The other reason is overall health. Stomach fat can lead to a "beer belly", which is something has been known to encourage heart and lung complications. I've had trouble breathing and a rough heartbeat before, I'd like to avoid a heart attack or stroke early in life, especially since my pastimes require me to be able to board down a mountain at 50-60 MPH and stop quicker than a 'Vette, and be able to lift wheels and tires weighing in at over 60 pounds each.

I don't have my own place, but when I move out in a few months I'm not planning on having a land line unless it comes as part of some cable internet/tv and voice package. Even then I might not bother hooking up my phone... I've had a cordless phone in my room for many years and I've used it maybe ten times. Otherwise my cell phone is my life. Calls, text messaging, clock, alarm clock, email on the go, digital camera, etc. If they don't force it down my throat, I'm not gonna piss money away on a land line when I'm going to have a cell number no matter what (and I love my number... last four digits are my favorite year!).

Loving partner, well paid/interesting job, healthy, long life, and other. Loving partner is obvious, someone to share my life with and to keep me in check. While it might seem materialistic, the importance of having a well paid and interesting job does a number of things to make you happy. For one, you don't have to wonder if the car will start in the morning, or if you will be robbed in the middle of the night because you live in a sketchy neighborhood. You also will come home at the end of the day to your super model husband who walks around the house oiled up and in a thong 24/7 and feel good about yourself (okay maybe the supermodel husband is a stretch, but a gay boy can dream, can't he?). Health is obvious as well. Without it, you can't expect to live comfortably all the time, nor can you expect your friends and family to be happy if you're in and out of the hospital for something. Long life: More time to enjoy the things and the people that make you happy. Other? Well, everyone has their own personal happiness. Mine is materialistic. Sure, I could say some hippy BS like "world peace, end of hunger" blah blah, but I'd like to see technology continue to make leaps and bounds. I don't mean just my hobbies of cars, computers, and energy systems, I mean everything, which I guess would extend to world happiness in a way. Advancements in medicine to cure AIDS or cancer, advancements in automobiles to make them safer and have smaller carbon footprints, and a whole host of things. Things that would help people live longer and create jobs so people can live better. Also, one thing I like to do is expect the worst of any situation. When the worst doesn't come, I wind up pretty happy. When it does, I'm no worse off than if I had expected better.

I stayed out of the way for the most part. Told a teacher and the vice principal precisely what dark and nasty place they could shove a few rules, and antagonized them quite frequently. That's about it.

I have a 16GB Creative Zen X-Fi with Wi-Fi. Love it. Wouldn't get anything from any other brand. It's predecessor was a 30GB Creative Zen Xtra, which I still have. Both of them have very high sound quality. The Xtra had Creative's then-stellar 24-bit audio. The X-Fi utilizes Creative's current X-Fi sound technology, which blows anything made by crApple out of the water. crApple has yet to produce anything even remotely interesting to me. It seems Creative always produces something with equal features and superior quality.

You are needy.

Graeme has personal experience with this. Personally, I think it's unfair to her, to you, and to any potential children. BUT, that depends on how important sex is to you. Personally, I feel that sexuality is base largely on, well, sex. With other people (not just your hand!). If indeed you are gay, you might find it quite difficult to have sex with your wife and pleasure her. You might get away with picturing George Clooney in her place, but for how long? Otherwise, the deep emotional connection is the real thing to consider if you want to have a successful relationship with another person (regardless of what may or may not be swinging between their legs), provided sexual pleasure is unimportant for you both. If you find a stunning connection with a woman and neither of you is too interested in sex beyond its reproductive consequence, then I see no reason for why you two couldn't be happy. On the plus side, you'll be less likely to scar the kids for life by walking on you and she doing the nasty.

All That, Clarissa Explains it All, Are You Afraid of the Dark, Goosebumps, Power Rangers, Batman cartoons... *sigh* Pogs and Yo-Yos were big. As for music, I hated most of it. Silverchair, Bush, Green Day, Offspring, Godsmack, Korn, all of those were good. Britney, Christina, Backstreet Boys, N'Sync, 98 Degrees, their records should be destroyed. Video game consoles - Super NES (and NES when it worked!), N64, Dreamcast, Saturn, PlayStation, Game Boy Original, Pocket, and Color... and their games like Sonic, Super Mario, Mario Kart. I think we're also at the stage where we watch movies made then, see all the hair styles and the fashion of the day, and wonder, "WTF?" At least, in the early 90s. I suppose there was still some 80s influence.

I totally agree. With a loaded U-haul, our Tahoe takes a lot longer to slow down. I can't even begin to imagine what a fully-loaded 18-wheel would take. When I cut off an 18-wheeler, it's not really considered "cutting off" in the full sense of the phrase. I dart in front of them, but I make sure I can see his face (or 90% of his windshield) before I move in front of him. If I can see him, he can see me. It's no different when you're behind them. If you can't see him [in his extended mirrors], he can't see you.

Who said anything about radar guns... I was talking about PA drivers insisting on driving at or below the speed suggestion. 65 really means 80, pick a lane and get with the program! lol

To answer those question, one need only look to Charles Darwin, and his theory of "Survival of the Fittest." This phenomenon has been progressing since the dawn of time. Who are we, as humans, to stop the natural order? Of course, the conservative base of the Republican party would totally disagree with you. [Austin Powers] Yay, capitalism![/Austin Powers] I'd help, but my Modern Physics textbook is in storage, along with all my other Physics books. Conservation of mass says that mass, or matter, can neither be created nor destroyed. If you were to transfigure a man into a frog, you would theoretically be left with a frog the size of a man. Indeed. When you enter Modern Physics (Physics III, including quantum mechanics and Einstein's theory of relativity), the first thing you are told is to forget everything you learned in Classical Physics (I and II). Depends upon the manner in which the man is transfigured into the frog. If you want the resultant frog to be the size of an actual frog, then you would have to find something to do with the rest of the man that is not used. Alternatively, you could transfigure the man into a group of frogs of equal or varying frog-like sizes such that there is no mass left over, or transfigure him into one frog in the same space as that which the mass of the man originally occupied. How do these conservation principles break down? Even at the atomic, or nuclear level, mass cannot be destroyed. Additionally, in studying power plants, HVAC systems, and automotive dynamics, I have found that energy can neither be created nor destroyed. It can be derived from materials, manipulated, converted from mechanical to electrical, dissipated as heat, but can never be created or destroyed.

The Smart FourTwo employs a 3-cylinder engine between the rear wheels. If you want to weave in traffic, you'd have better luck with a Toyota. At least that one will do all the wide-open throttle acceleration (whether you like it or not!).

Jack is right, they're not meant for highways. Unfortunately, Americans drive on highways all the time, so they should not even be sold here. I remember see one after a dump truck whacked it. They pulled the driver out in pieces, and the lower section of his spine was cleanly severed from his pelvis. Talk to me when you've kissed 120 MPH in a Chrysler sedan. Even better, learn to drive in New Jersey anywhere along its border with Pennsylvania. PENNDOT doesn't have "Lanes" in the lesson plan, and neglected to mention that speed limits are merely suggestions. Add to that the high salaries here and the low cost of living there, and I have a recipe for an interesting morning commute. Thank the gods for handling that would make a 5-series blush.

John certainly knows how to find all of that... the boy's obsessed!

Yes, but it would make a fruit into a salad. Well, splatter it all over the place, but you get what I mean.

Cartoon Network. I like to get in touch with my inner child, so what, wanna fight about it? :2hands:

I'm not convinced that Dirk did anything wrong, merely the victim of circumstance and his own uncontrolled temper. So many people are laboring under the assumption that he murdered his wife, and intends to murder his son for "knowing too much", with their only evidence being that the police have him listed as a suspect in the case. News flash: spouses are always murder suspects until proven otherwise. The one person that I am watching, concerning this plot device, is Bridget. She's the only one of the bunch who has any shred of legal experience, and only because of her husband (I think). Even still, I don't recall her saying, "DE DID IT! HE DID IT! THROW HIS COLD-BLOODED ASS IN FEDERAL POUND-ME-IN-THE-ASS PRISON!!!1!11one". She's given advice on what to do to protect themselves in the event that he is bound for federal pound-me-in-the-ass prison, but it seems that everyone is taking that and blowing it out of proportion. Dirk's temper isn't helping. I think the one thing that might illuminate everyone to his past is if Lisa (and only Lisa) somehow gets into contact with Jim. He knows a lot more than anyone else does (though he has hinted that Dirk hasn't been completely forthcoming with him) and might be able to shed credible light on the issue... probably in exchange for information on Trevor's whereabouts or intentions since he'd probably be breaching some client-clause thing-a-ma-shit. I specified Lisa because she seems to be the only character in the story who knows Trevor the best, next to Joel, and has at least a somewhat good head on her shoulders (I say somewhat, because she is the epicenter of the pound-me-in-the-ass prison future for Dirk theory). At the same time, I'm thinking we're not going to get the truth until we're nearing either the end of Trevor's world trip, or the end of the story (might not coincide!). It's a major plot device with more holes than Swiss cheese and CJ is milking it like a horny frat goat.

Unless the laws in Wisconsin are different, the school has no authority over things occurring off school grounds and out of school hours and not interfering with school functions. The athletes had signed their extracurricular time away to the school, but the other three did not and the school has no right to displace the parents and law enforcement. If the parents are unable to perform their parental duties, the children become wards of the state, not the school system.

No. Plans for a super bridge have been drawn up, but as far I know no one has taken the bid to build it. It remains a concept.

I'm dating my crush. Many of you know who he is so I won't bother telling you.

I'll shoot one off later, as a gay 23 yr old in the US, with a boyfriend who wants kids.

Hm interesting. I'm very curious to see what will happen with Dirk's current plan. Will he succeed in getting the information from her? Or, will Lisa's father figure things out for himself? If so, who will he help? Assuming he helps anyone at all. I get the feeling that the next few chapters (at least, the ones concerning the Med) will be quite pivotal in setting the stage for the rest of the story, with the approaching navigation of the Suez Canal.

It should be legal, because people are raging pussies, and it's quickest way to practice Darwinism and great for entertainment value. I would finish a friend off. It's the neighborly thing to do.

Zuel, Battle Axe, AC/DC, Zombiecicles, Hummer. I figure it'd be some refridgerator-bitch who would unleash the darkness of hell on us. When you run out of bullets, WTF are you going to do? Meelee! Highway to Hell, depths of Hell, it works. Easiest to just smash them with the back of the axe when they're frozen, than waste the sharpness of the blade and waste precious time sharpening it! My friend and I have discussed this before. If we wind up in a "Dawn of the Dead", "Day of the Dead," end-world scenario, we're heading to the hummer dealer and taking an H1. Versatile and strong, just have to stay close to dense population centers (gas!). You can run them over when they crowd you.

The Big Bang. Seriously. It's the foundation of my beliefs. I don't take it to a religious level, like many bible-thumping ass-clowns do with their beliefs, but its at the core of how I explain the world. How do I explain humanity? It starts before 9/11. Back in middle school, we had one extra drill besides the fire drill. It was a lock-down procedure where all students lined up against the wall that contained the entrance to the classroom. Then, the teacher would close the windows and blinds, shut off the lights, lock the door, and guard the students. Anyone in the halls had to quickly break off their course and head to the nearest open classroom, before they were locked. School administrators would scans the halls, bathrooms, gyms, lunchrooms, etc. for strays. Why? School shootings. These drills were my first indication of how moronic the world is, as certain brain-damaged individuals felt the need to shoot up schools. This was probably in the wake of Columbine. How is my particular world defined? One simple word. Energy.