Miranda

Check with your local fire and police departments, they sometimes do their own thing. I worked for a fire dept. (Chief's Secretary) for about 6 years and every year we sponsored a few needy families in addition to the program that we ran.

Thankfully I didn't remove anything. I read that other people had problems with it "coming back" but I think the RegCure got it so hopefully we won't have that problem. So far everything seems good.

I had tried to manually remove it using those instructions and also tried the malware but neither worked. I ended up using RegCure but only after I finally got the task manager working again. There is definitely help out there for those of us who need it. My problem was that for the past 4 days I had been trying to figure out what was going on but never even realized it was actually a virus. I did install the AVG as soon as I sucessfully removed the virus so hopefully the problem is remedied.

My daughter got a new Dell Inspiron for Christmas from her dad. He gave it to her and she immediately started using it...without any sort of virus protection. The first day she got a virus called Security Tool Virus. It's really nasty and I had a tough time getting it off of her computer. I'll admit I don't know anything about computers so you all may already know about this, but I thought I'd share anyway and hopefully save someone else the headache. Oh, and please don't tell me that only an idiot would use a computer without some sort of virus protection...we already know that ;~)

I live in Alabama and have DIRECTV. We do lose signal sometimes if the weather gets really bad but my mother has Dish and hers is MUCH worse.

My two youngest kiddos have had similar "eye goop" before. One had a clogged tear duct and the other was just sinus infection that caused eye drainage/goop. Both times the doctor prescribed an antibiotic ointment that went directly in the eye and didn't seem to bother/sting/burn either one of the kids. It cleared up pretty quickly. But, my doctor did actually physically examine both before prescribing the med. Good luck, I'm sure all will be fine.

Easy....they were only suggestions so please don't assume that I was lecturing you or anyone else for that matter. I was simply pointing out what has been helpful to me and what might possibly be helpful to others trying to stick to their New Year's resolutions. No need to be nasty (to them or me.)

Both of my little ones and I came down with a nasty stomach virus on Sunday night so no gym for me on Monday or Tuesday, but Wednesday I was back at it. Unfortunately, it really sucked....my run was terrible and my body pump class started late and with a whole new routine that even the instructor wasn't too familiar with (late cues and so forth), and I was still weak from the virus. But yesterday and today were much better and I have another run scheduled for tomorrow with a friend. Don't know how the rest of you feel about it but I've been having much stronger, faster, and longer runs when I run with a partner so some of you who (like me) are just getting "into running" might give that a try. Oh, and one more thing.....I know the New Year's Resolution crowd is frustrating at the gym, but maybe try to befriend a few new people...you never know who might turn out to be a faithful "workout partner." Something brought them there in the first place, don't let your attitude towards them be the excuse they need to quit, instead give them a reason to stick with it . Have a great weekend everyone!!

Admittedly I've been slacking a little yesterday and today - no exercise and a few brownies and cookies. No classes at the gym today or tomorrow but I'll definitely be there on Wednesday. I also switched up my routine a little bit last week and even added in a run on Saturday morning which I'm now thinking will be a permanent change. I've never been a "runner"...not even in school, but I have a friend who is and she's agreed to the task of helping me train for my first 5k in March. I believe it's an attainable goal. Wish me luck. Oh, and Merry Christmas my fellow fitness freaks!

I'm still hitting the gym M-F, 2 hours per day. Good news: scale says I'm down to 135- my target weight (I'm 5'7" and comfortable with the way my clothes fit). Bad news: I've dropped a cup size--not fair that the girls have to suffer so I can be a little thin. Anyway, I don't know if anyone else's gyms offer any of the Les Mills classes, but if so....give 'em a try. We have Body Pump www.lesmills.com at my gym 3 mornings a week and I've seen some changes in myself after doing the classes regularly for only 4 weeks. It's a really tough workout but so much fun. My spin instructor told me yesterday that my workouts would always be hard as long as I wanted to really work...I must really want to work because my muscles are screaming. Good luck with the holiday goodies everyone--make good choices.

Never said it was right but it is what it is.

I have a 13 year old daughter and I bought her a Nano last year for Christmas. She loves it and has taken excellent care of it. This year she's getting the new ipod touch. No she doesn't need it and no there's nothing wrong with her current Nano. BUT, she's 13, it's all the kid wants for Christmas and she wouldn't be satisfied with anything else. Try to put yourself in the kid's shoes: When all the other kids get this year's "cool gadget" for Christmas and you show up with a cheap $50 imitation how likely would you be to tell others what you got for Christmas? Just try it from a 13 year olds perspective...I'm just sayin.....

I've lost 2.5lbs in the last 3 weeks....only 14.5 more to go. I actually made it to the gym 5 days this week for 2 hours each day. Oh, and I have a new love ~ SPIN!! It's great!! It's sooooo hard but feels so good when I finish! I saw a girl with a t-shirt on last week that read - Enjoy the pain....it's the weakness leaving the body. That's been my motto this week and it's really helped me to push myself that extra step. Man I love this stuff, wish I had started this sooner and not been such a slacker. One more thing, ACME- thanks for the FITNESS THREADS, they're extremely motivating.

I've hit the gym 3 days a week, 2 hrs per day for the last 2 weeks. (I'm one of the late joiners) So far, can't tell anything except that I feel a little more energetic. Stepping up to five days this week, maybe that will help.

Ok, normally I just lurk here, but I've decided that now I want to play (errr, get in shape) too. I started back to the gym on Wednesday after doing nothing but having 2 kids within the last 3 years. I knew I was out of shape, but had no idea I was so weak. I spent 2 hours there on Wed., 2 hours yesterday, and 2 hours today. I tried the elliptical thing on Wed., and that lasted all of about 5 minutes before I thought I'd absolutely die!! Then today I decided to work out for an hour before the Pilates class....after the first 15 minutes of Pilates, I realized I had probably made a mistake. I liked the class but a lot of yoga was incorporated too, and well...I'm lacking in the coordination/balance department. Anyway, I'm really excited about getting into shape again but don't really know how to go about it. A friend told me today to be careful not to overdo it, he said I probably didn't need to go every day. What do you guys think? Help a girl out.