Carolyn R

OK, so please tell me we are not crazy. Two of us at the office got boxes of Trinidads over Thanksgiving and they seem different - thicker shell, less coconut or less crunchy coconut and they have flatter tops. Others of us also think that the filling is slightly different (although I did not notice it personally). They were purchased at Fannie May stores, not at the freezer case in Jewel-Osco.

Has any one else noticed this? The Fannie May people say they have not changed their recipe but we disagree. Any insight from an inside source?

also searchable under Fanny Mae, Fannie Mae, Fanny May

OK, so I've tried to ask the waitresses many times about what's in the salsa but I took French in high school so fat lot of good that did me. I don't know that it's even technically salsa, but I'm talking about the brown stuff you get for free that you can eat with the limes and saltines while you wait for your entree. That stuff is awesome and I would love to know how it's made / what's in it.

what is the name of the sound a horse makes when it swims in the ocean?

what is the cause of that noise - the water pressure compressing its lungs?

I just saw her on a Hallmark show not too long ago and she played a librarian. I think it was one of the episodes from Dick Van Dyke's Murder 101. Ugh it is driving me crazy!

My off again/on again boyfriend of 5 years just broke up with me again this week (we had been solid for the past year). He's done this before - just gets incredibly depressed and wants to be alone all the time. Says he isn't sure he loves me any more, but hates to hurt me. It usually lasts 1-2 months and then he comes back all contrite. He's not cheating, he's just entrenched in his "man cave". I know deep down he really loves me but is just very mixed up right now. Does not want to "feel", won't seek treatment. He tried meds once, did not like the side effects. He thinks talk therapy is crap, won't give it a shot. I gave him 2 names that I got from my dr, but he says will not go. I can't go through this again, it breaks my heart so badly. I'm truly at a loss as to how to motivate him to get better. He thinks he's fated to be miserable. For such a smart, driven & logical guy he's being so irrational about this.

So what worked to motivate you to finally get help?

I have a 40 gig drive which was previously used and partitioned into two drives. My problem is that when you look at the capacity of the two drives in Disk Management, it only adds up to 34 gigs. I ran FDISK and it also said that the partitions only added up to 34 gigs. I ran PC Doctor and it passed all tests, so it's not like there are damaged sectors. I tried quick and long formats in both NTFS and FAT32. I'm at a loss as to explain the missing 6 gigs or get them back as useable.

I have a friend & neighbor who is expecting her first. She can't do stuff like go up & down stairs or lift anything. Her husband's work takes him out of the country for weeks at a time & family lives far away. She's had a rough time of it and I am 100% sympathetic. I'm conflicted about the constant favors she asks - not so much asks as expects ("I need you to..." not "Please do me a favor, I'd really appreciate it if you could..."). I seem to be the only friend she has in the area so she's needy in more ways than one. The things she asks aren't really a big deal when you look at them individually (groceries, post office, take trash to cans) but it's non-stop. I have a history of being a doormat and then blowing up when I realize how badly I've been used. I don't want to repeat this pattern. I've suggested things like getting grocery delivery or a mother's helper but that gets shot down. I really do like her and want to maintain the friendship but don't know how to set limits

I am re-doing my kitchen and everything has to be trashed (bought a fixer-upper last year). I'd like to put in a wall oven to replace the stove, but I don't know what brands are good. Anyone have experience with this and can tell me what brands / models I should buy or avoid? I've heard bad things about some of the GE models. I like to cook so this will be in use almost daily. Also, for those of you who have a double oven how often do you use it? Is it worth it or should I just get a single-oven model?

I've come to the conclusion that his brain does not work as it should (he continually mispronounces names of people he has worked with for years even after he's been corrected, he can't retain stuff we've taught him, he does things on the face of it that seem lazy / inconsiderate like never picking up voicemail messages on a shared group line, taking vacation on our busiest days, etc.). For a variety of reasons that I can't go into here, management won't fire him. If it did not impact my ability to do my job I would not care, but I'm ending up doing most of the work and getting really stressed. People just bypass him and go to me directly even though we're "equals". And when he is working, he asks questions when he should be using his own logic/past experiences. My patience with asking him to take notes or think it through is long gone.

Other than dealing with him I really love my job and don't want to leave. When he's not here I have a much better day.

What can I do?

Yeah I know I'm wasting points but he is SO IRRITATING. I want to reach into the TV and strangle him just to get him to stop talking. I'm sure there are hundreds of more deserving people who want this job and would do a much better job. Shut up, Phil!!!

Please help me, vegans!

I am not a vegetarian or vegan but I have a friend who was veggie and her New Year's resolution was to go vegan. I want to support her.

A few of us are going over to her house to scrapbook and in the past we've normally done potluck for snacks. Her being veggie was not a problem, it was easy to make stuff. But now that she's vegan I know that I can't use any ingredients that came from anything that used to have a face.

I wanted to bring over something other than plain fruit or veggies. I'm not opposed to a hard recipe, and I live in a city so I can go get ingredients easily. Please give me some cool ideas or recipes for snacks (ideally something that does not need utensils to eat). Ethnic foods like samosas would work, we all like to try new stuff.

Also, what is a good resource for seeing if prepared foods (e.g., Fritos) are vegan?

Thank you so much!!

Help! One of the end users I support is having a problem and I've looked on Google and other search engines and can't find too much info on this. I saw it once before about 6 months ago on a different machine and the problem magically went away on its own. The user has a brand new IBM T60 laptop. Whenever she uses a search field on a web page, the text she enters gets typed in backwards. So, if she types the word "phone", it turns out as "enohp". I've done a virus scan, a spyware scan and updated her BIOS. Doubt its hardware-specific thing since the last computer I saw it happening on was a T42. It happens intermittently on various web pages and it's getting worse.

Due to the gross habits of the tennants (and the neglectful attitude of the owners) of the apartment building next door to us, the backyard in my condo now has rats. We have tried to rat-proof our area (put heavy metal lids on the dumpster, etc.) but we still have rats. I wrote to our local Aldermand who seems to not give a rat's you know what about our rat problem. So, I need to get rid of the rats that are coming over from next door. One person in the condo said that there is a product called Rat-Away which is made with the urine of predators like foxes. Does anyone have expereince with a product like this in an urban setting. How do our city rats know what a fox smells like anyway? Any why would they be afraid of it?