CuriousMatt

Happy Birthday Robyn... I hope you have had a very special day! :)

On my way home to Montreal!

Forgiveness is not an easy thing. Especially when that anger and bitterness has been built up and held on for a long time. That being said, isn't just about forgiving the person that wronged you. It is also about letting go all of those negative emotions and forgiving oneself. You forgive yourself for the weakness that allowed you to hold on to that grudge for so long. You forgive yourself, because you could not find a way to bridge the divide... and so on and so forth. What I am trying to say is that forgiving someone, even after they have passed can be a very cathartic experience.

It is sad. Animals give us unconditional love and then some of their people treat them horribly. Laws should be much tougher, and we should be making examples of some of these people. I recently lost the second miniature schnauzer I had, so now my home is an empty one. I am not ready to adopt myself again, however I have decided that I will foster dogs that need assistance. For one reason or another they are not doing well in the shelter. Usually within 2 weeks they look much healthier, more energetic. Having washed him/her given them love, they are then ready to be adopted by another family. The SPCA I work with finds that fostered dogs tend to be adopted nearly twice as fast. I just wish there was more that could be done...

I have taken the time to read all the posts although some made me laugh so hard that I did cry, they are really do get to the point. That being said, thanks OD and the other contributors. There was only one thing I don't remember seeing mentioned. It is important to be on time. But it is just as important to leave on time. If the appointment is for 60 minutes, it really does not mean you can extend it to 90 minutes, that is not what no rush service means. If you think you may like to have more time, this is especially true for those new to the hobby as you may not know what to expect, ask her what is her policy for time extensions are for this particular visit. I would recommend to always prepare a second envelope just in case. From what I have read on this site the women are amazing, and it will be easy to get caught up and want to with them. Really the Boy Scouts really did have it right "Be Prepared"... That being said, you must respect their time and schedule, if she may not be able to accommodate an extension for whatever reason respect it and be ready to leave when your time is up. She may have another rendez-vous after yours, or some other plans. At the end of the day it comes down to R.E.S.P.E.C.T. (yes I can hear that song playing in my head right now!

Interesting selection from a I have seen in this thread. Everything from some of my current favorites including Daft Punk and Robin Thicke to a a few of some old guilty pleasures... Dire Straights, Gina Vanelli (thanks RR), Huey Lewis (thanks sexy Cleo). Finally to some that kind of freak me out "What does the Fox say" (emiafish I agree, please do make it stop). I am glad no one decided to include any of Barney's songs. However I once was stuck with this song in my head for nearly a week:

NY Strip Steak medium rare, with vegetables and for dessert homemade dessert. Posted via Mobile Device

Fortunateone: I agree that everyone is entitled to their opinion because we are all different and unique... However here is the caveat, it is only acceptable as long as it does not harm others or infringe on their rights. It is absolutely perfectly within your right to "rant" about a situation that has happened to you and you know that it is happening to others. Rants can be very educational if done in a respectable manner. As long as you do not name names, making of them a social pariah you have nothing to feel guilty about it. However these unnamed persons and other thinking of emulating such behavior may themselves feel uncomfortable enough not to repeat it in the future knowing how it affects others. A conscience is a power educational tool, for most that is. Peachy: Forums and bulletin boards where designed exactly for this. To allow different people from different walks of life to gather in a central place to share their views on the world or a specific topic without being judged. Being able to put ourselves "out there" as you so elegantly put it is one of the great benefits of living in such a free un-oppressed democratic society with a diverse mix of cultures and backgrounds. That being said you cannot please everyone and therefore as you pointed out there will be some that like the idea, those that do not care and those that will dislike it. What really bother's me about this is in many occasions the person is not even upset/mad with the person being attacked, they have been hurt in some other way or by another person and the target happens to be the nearest thing/person that he can lash out to. However all that being said, one must be honest and true to themselves, in my opinion it is the only way to live. The challenge is that the Internet has made it is too easy for less than moral among us to be disrespectful to others and to say hateful and hurtful things just because they are upset or in a fowl mood with little to minimal consequences. And that makes me sad.

I have to agree wholeheartedly. It is very hard to convey the subtle intricacies of what is really meant by the words being used without being able to hear a person say it out loud. Tone, pitch, speed of a delivery can express an entire different meaning. Add to that people's body language and in some cases the mere words being used are meaningless if not contradictory to the point the person is attempting to make. For example, it is not always evident that someone is being sarcastic without hearing them say it or watching them while the say it. Also most of us have a difficult time conveying the entirety of the message in writing because we may have left out pieces of the idea. What is important to note that this is not done intentionally, it is done because we know what message we are trying to convey so we miss the word or item because we know it should be there. It is the reason why even professional writers have editors and other people proof read the material to make sure nothing is missing in the writing to bring the person to the to the intended conclusion.

Hacking today in large part is heavily dependent on social engineering, convincing people to download and email, running an attachment and/or convincing the intended victim to give sensitive and personal information. So it always makes me laugh when these guys call my home, you can hear the lack of confidence and hear the uncertainty in their voices. That being said, this scam is still ongoing because too many fall prey and victim to them. Being a techie myself. I let them remotely access a virtual machine that I spin up for the purchase just to be able to get their IP. The machine contains all false information which pollutes their databases. I then attempt to hack them. If that doesn't work and I can be relatively certain that they aren't in some kind of protected network (one guy was actually working for Microsoft and doing this on his spare time) I perform a DDOS attack and report them to the RCMP cyber-crimes unit. For the guy that worked for Microsoft, I didn't bother attacking them... I simply emailed Microsoft cyber security department with the identifying information I was able to gather from his connection to my computer. Before anyone here asks me to hack someone's email/computer/account/bank etc., understand that I won't do it. Although I still work in IT my hacking days, mostly whitehat, are long gone. There are a multitude of reasons for it, which I won't go into here. Thank you for your understanding.

First off you really need to decide what size of TV you want. The size is highly dependent by the distance away you will be sitting from it. Crutchfield.com has a great article reading this information: http://www.crutchfield.com/S-I5fnBfyTrNC/learn/learningcenter/home/TV_placement.html The next question you need to ask is what are you planing on using the TV for most of the time. Is it for gaming, sports and high speed action movies? Then I would tend to lead with a Plasma TV as the refresh rates tend to be higher, and the blacks are blacker. The concern with Plasma's centered around primarily due to the fact that they would quickly get that "burned-in" look and the back light tubes would burn out fairly quickly. If it is for most over kinds of viewing, including watching your extensive porn collection :P I would then say that and LED TV would be better. They are thinner, lighter, require no "back light" bulb(s) and tend to provide the best image quality. LED/LCD I would look at Samsung models Plasma I would look at Panasonic models. Now on the the questions of 2D vs 3D and 720 vs 1080 vs 4k. If you have an extra few dollars, won't be using primarily for fast action scenes. I would consider getting a 3D TV, as they give you the option for 3D, but also provide typically the best 2D quality images. The one caveat I have is stay away from 3D TVs that require active glasses. They aren't always easy to find and can be as much as 3 times the cost of passive 3D glasses. Also most active 3D glasses are more fragile and require a battery that eventually will stop charging over time. 720P vs 1080P vs 4k Most programming being transmitted over standard cable without a decoder box is often still 480i/p this means a 720P TV would be more than enough. Also if you plan on buy a TV smaller than 32in, the difference is hardly noticeable between 720P and 1080P. DVDs don't even play at 1080P so if that is your only source outside of cable forget it. Cable with a decoder box usually also on sends the signal at a maximum of 720P. The only exception would be the occassional action movie and some of the more important sporting events whereby they may broadcast it in 1080i. OTA: Over the Air digital signals will provide you with a free and easy source of 1080i content. Blueray devices have the abiilty to do at least 1080P, can often even rescale 720P DVD movies to 1080P. They are also the only devices available able to output content at 4K also known as Ultra HD. However there is very slim picking right now for 4K. Smart TVs vs Regular TVs As a certified techie/propeller head. I really don't put to much focus on whether or not the TV comes with "SMART" technology included. The reason being is that in the past the technology was already old by the time the TV was on the market. Which means it needed upgrading, which doesn't always work flawlessly. I would rather connect up my own seperate box "i.e. GoogleTV" or as I did in my case a mini computer which is not be limited by the functionality that Samsung, Sony, Panasonic, etc... decided to include or not include in their solution. Another option to consider would be getting a BluRay player that had the functionality, because should it break or you decide you want to get additional features it will be much easier and cheaper to replace it that the TV, that I took the time to mount and calibrate. There is the question of TV calibration. I paid to have it done on the two bigger TVs I have on my home and it has made an entire world of the difference. Go to your local audio video store or Best Buy/Future Shop and look at the TVs they have side by side and compare the quality of the image of the non calibrated TV vs the one that is. The image quality difference is noticeable to the naked eye. It also has the added side affect of reducing the power being output to the screen thereby increase the life of your TV. With these larger and higher performance AV equipment, you always have to worry about dirty power (common with both long haul Hydro power or power being generated by nuclear plants). You will want to get yourself a decent power, not that 2$ job that you picked up at the dollar store. They will both add life to your TV and provide you with better image quality. Finally be also wary of dollar store HDMI cables. Although you really don't need that 100$ cable for 720P, pushing 1080i, 3D images or Ultra HD images will usually be less problematic with something better than the base quality cable. PM me if you have any questions.