Err, I am definitely not a troll, and I'm seriously writing a paper on this; if I can get enough data, that is. And yes, quite a lot of people name their appliances, mostly computers and phones, but also hoovers, fridges, microwaves, even bookends (my favourite so far is a hoover called Gollum). As to why: well, that's one of the things I want to know. If you don't name any objects, then there's absolutely no need for you to click on that link. If you do, though, your answers would really be helpful to me. weedmeister, if you consistently refer to that one microwave as "Piece of Crap", that does indeed count. But if you call any appliance that's acting up "Piece of Crap" and the microwave just happens to be called that most often because it's just rubbish, then that's not a name.

The things you don't like about other peoples dogs, you may not believe it now, but having your own, a lot of times those annoying things end up being the things you love about them the most. One of my dogs is a beagle/lab and beagles were near the top of my list of dog breeds i did not want, and she is everything I thought she'd be, but I love her personality. She does bark but it is fairy easy to teach the "quiet" command to a dog once you've taught them speak. Dogs won't track in much, mine aren't on flea and tick preventative because i am uncomfortable with it and i know i don' have any fleas in my yard, and i just tick check them daily during normal affection, but as easy way to avoid that is just to use a flea/tick preventative from the start and you won't have a problem. Most will have fleas when you get them so the pill from the vet that kills fleas before it's in the house plus a bath with blue dawn dishsoap will get rid of any fleas and you won't have a problem. Mine sleep in bed and they are allowed on the couches and they don't track a whole lot of dirt in. I can't imagine not having a fenced in yard with my dogs though, my life would be miserable and so would theirs. They like to run around out back and hang out. My beagle/lab came from a house with cats when she was a puppy and still 3 years later she loves cats. So gentle and submissive around them, and she is a very hyper playful dog you would not expect to be good with cats. I was a cat person and I love having dogs. A big thing to consider is how much work they are. They are like kids you can't just leave them like you can cats. Especially one that hasn't been trained because they will wreck stuff. Crate training is great for this though, and they learn pretty quickly. You can train a dog out of almost anything, but there are some things that you are better off just adjusting your life to. Trash picking is one of those things, a trash picker is usually going to trash pick given the opportunity and chance alone, so we shut our bathroom doors instead of leaving temptation out there. A digger is gonna dig especially when it comes to hounds, and while you can train some out of it sometimes you just have to give them a designated digging spot. Jumping up is very easily corrected I've worked with a lot of fosters and it's the easiest thing to stop. Crotch sniffing more difficult but I would say most don't have that problem. intact males mostly. They CAN be very well trained and it doesn't take a ton of work to do so. They will learn a lot of things without you even teaching it to them, mine picked up room names and i can tell them which room to go to and they will go. If told to get off they won't come back up until invited. You can teach them to go to their crate very easily, and use that command when people knock on the door, and soon they will learn knocks on the door mean crate until invited out. The key is to get basic commands down and use them to teach the dog more complicated commands. One big thing I can't stress enough, if you get a puppy do not adopt a puppy from someone who has the litter and is adopting them out at 6 weeks. 8-9 weeks is the responsible thing to do. I've fostered litters and they learn bite inhibition starting at week 7, any dog leaving before that will have the mouthing problem and it's very annoying to have a dog mouthing constantly and so much more work to train that when two more weeks with it's siblings and it would learn most of it on their own. If you want to avoid a dog gutting things it's simple, never give them any toys with stuffing. There are plenty of stuffing free toys to keep a dog happy. Give them plush toys to tear into and they do not understand why it's ok to do that and not gut pillows etc. One plush toy removed and corrected the second the dog starts to gut it so they learn gutting is bad. Clicker training is someting i can't recommend enough. It is one of the best training tools out there. People don't understand why their dog isn't learning things because they have people with different tones, a clicker is cheap and the dog will remember that click means good and the click can come immediately after the dog has correctly done what you wanted. So many people praise their dog too late and the dog has no idea what it's getting praised for, and so many people have monotone voices that a dog can't distinguish positive from negative. That is also the cause of so many dogs not listening to commands, a stern voice is needed, i could take any dog ive trained who knows the "off" command, or get off. or down. and will do it immediately. Now tell them to do it but say it in a cheerful voice and no they are not going to do it. They are taught commands in stern voices, they obey stern voices, not voices that mix in with normal conversation that they hear all the time. It's not mean it's communicating with your dog. The biggest thing is to understand that your dog doesn't know what you want. If your dog isn't trained yet, you can't throw out commands and expect them to understand. You can't expect them not to do bad things, they aren't doing it to make you mad, they are following their instincts and you need to teach them what you want from them. you need to show them the behavior you like and what you don't like. Dogs like to please, training sessions are a great bonding experience and provide a lot of mental stimulation which a dog needs just as much as physical to tire them out. They are happy when you are happy, the moment you first teach a dog a trick and they do it and understand it you will understand by the look on their face that they are happy, and how awesome it is to have been able to communicate your wants to them and have them understand. Great bonding, training sessions, not necessarily from a trainer, just you and the dog are highly beneficial even for adult dogs as an ongoing thing it strengthens your relationship with the dog. It's really not work either,, it's just taking a few minutes to work with them. Socialization is also key,and it doesn't stop with dog to dog interation and dog to human interaction. It involves experience and situations as well. You don't want a dog afraid of storms or who won't go out in the rain, so when it's raining, excited play time in the rain so the dog sees it as a good thing. Car rides. you leaving the house, come back with something for the dog and they will learn that you leaving can be rewarding. Even with the worst barkers that i couldn't train 'quiet' effectively, i could train lay down and stay, and that is usually effective in stopping them from barking.

I'm not trying to stir the pot but really, the realtors here keep saying things that realtors do that I just don't have personal experience with. I'm willing to concede that maybe Linda and Bernie are exceptional realtors but I have not ever run into a Linda or Bernie. I think some of us would just like the realtors here to acknowledge that. "People search the internet, but most don't know particular areas, streets, whats next door, problems in the area etc" Granted I haven't bought and sold that many houses but most realtors I've asked these sorts of questions didn't know the answers. For example.... "So, do you know of any changes going on around here? Street construction, new shopping centers, school district changes that might change the future value if I buy this property?" Response - 'deer in headlights look' One did help me find a builder after I found land on my own. (the land wasn't on the mls, it didn't have a sign but it was on a real estate lawyers website, he was selling it for his uncle and I found it by looking at everything on the internet I could find). I do give her credit (never let it be said I won't give a realtor their due for doing a good thing) for steering me away from a builder who unbeknowst was having credit problems and later went out of business. That was having been in the business and knowing people and asking other knowledegable friends in the biz what the behind the scenes scoop was. This I have a particular problem with: " A good realtor knows exactly what type of house the buyer wants sometimes even before the buyer knows." I have been looking and looking for a realtor who can do this for me ! Personal recommendation, long time realtor at the biggest RE CO in town - 4 months before I move to my new state I contact her. She wants to "get a sense of what I'm really looking for". Sends me a HUGE cut and paste from the MLS and ask me to respond with comments on each property. Took me 3 hours. 3 weeks later another huge cut and paste, with many of the same properties. Another 3 hours spent writing an email. Meanwhile I keep getting emails of repeat individual listings that I've already sent comments on in the huge cut and pastes. Apparently there is some sort of automatic mls send email thing they can do? I don't know but it wasn't helping! The third time she sends me a huge file with repeats to comment on I complain - and she tells me she's spent HOURS looking for me ???? - what's she's done is do three bulk MLS searches and sent them to me and not read any of my comments. So then her company gets some portal MLS program - they send you the mls basically and you use the software to discard what you don't like so you don't have the repeat problem. Whats the freaking point? I can look at the MLS myself and contact them without their emails filling my inbox. This is they way all realtors I've run into seem to work for a buyer - We look at the MLS, you the buyer choose 10 or 15 properties to look at - you buy one. Anything other than that and you are considered difficult. If someone falls outside that dynamic, you are on your own they don't want to work with someone in a different way. What I want is someone willing to work WITH me, long term if necessary. To agree to a process. We discuss, look at the MLS together. Then we both do drive by's on our own - them while going to and from other showings, me on my own. Email each other updates - I drove by these MLS listings on the way to other appt and they looked like a dump, much worse than the pictures, or yes this looked good from the driveway, take a drive by. Or, I took a client to this listing that isn't on your list (they weren't interested) but even though on the MLS it doesn't seem to fit your criteria I think you need to visit because....Or I saw a FSBO sign go up in a neighborhood I was in that I think you would love, maybe we can work out a percentage if I handle the deal for you. Thats working with me on what I see on the MLS but don't have time to drive around to see myself. That's personalized service and teamwork - something I haven't found anyone willing to do.

I teach mostly freshmen at a public university. I have come to the conclusion that most of my students are mediocre intellectually (also, I don't teach the more gifted freshmen who test into the advanced composition class in the fall). Now, some of them seem to be better at science and math than English; they can solve a math problem with a definite answer, memorize for a test, but abstractions (ideas, ideologies, connections, parallels, analogues) and the ongoing intellectual curiosity that relies on analysis and synthesis and contextualization to explore them eludes them. And of course few actually read. The few (very few) that do read popular fiction. Most of my students are Hispanic in origin, varying in generations away from Mexico or other countries. Many are bilingual, which I actually think should be an asset to learning grammar (we only spoke English in my house; my Dad heard my grandmother speak Polish, but it was not encouraged in a family that wanted to assimilate in the 1940s); if one learns a different language, one has to learn the grammar, but they grew up speaking English and Spanish fluently. It's not like they went to school to be taught another language. Also, many of my students are Polish (Chicago holds the largest population of Poles next to Warsaw), and in contrast to my Dad's upbringing, many speak Polish at home, and even though they may have been born here, English is the second language. It is a challenge, and more so each year as the school takes in more underserved students who are more unprepared and need remediation. Some do show potential, but their background (as well their own internal struggles) often keeps them from achieving what they could do. And it's not just the minority students who are underserved; most of the students are struggling financially, and I've seen more who need to work full time to support themselves and their families. The traditional student who goes away for four years at age 18 and lives in the dorm and graduates in four years is more the minority. I could say more, but I've spent the last two days grading their first major project; I have so many papers to grade I cancelled class tomorrow (I gave them plenty to do in the interim) in order to get caught up. I do agree with some posters that basic writing techniques like cursive, civics, and grammar are no longer emphasized. Now, one can still learn them without the beat it into you/rote method I encountered, especially in Catholic school, but sometimes the new mediums to do so overwhelm the message,