Guadalupe Spears Weblog

I need suggestions for a baby boy’s name that “straddles” American and Viet culture.?

guadalupespears — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 02:37:41 +0000

1- English first name and Vietnamese middle name will work best. So, the kid won’t have a “weid” or hard-to-say name. You can also pick another name to call him at home (it’s pretty popular in Vietnam to have a nickname that only your family call you by). 2- If possible, try to find a name that easy to say in both language so relatives on your side and your wife’s side can say it. I am saving the name “Liz” and “Kim” to use for my daughter since it’s the easiest English name for Vietnamese people to say. For boy, Mike/Ben/Sam sound pretty good. 3- Double check with your wife to make sure the name won’t sound weird in either languages. For example: stay away from “Bob” since it sounds like “squeeze” in Vietnamese, lol, and don’t even think about “Steve”. 4- On the two that you have in mind. The first one (Benjamin) is not bad at all, but how about a vietnamese middle name instead of Monroe ? That way, both sides will have its part. About the second one, Michael, is the middle name your wife’s last name ? If so, how about choosing a Vietnamese name that popular in her family history instead ? Something that comes from one of her parents or ancestors’s names or even her own middle name or first name, it will have a lot more meaning that way. 5- CONGRATULATION TO YOU GUYS, woohoo.

Climate Change: A Big Con?

guadalupespears — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 02:37:38 +0000

We’ll never really know. Antartica ice is actually getting thicker. I think the western governments are jumping on the green bandwagon to reduce our dependance on oil becuase of the instability of the main oil-producing regions (Middle East + Russia) + get votes. There is lots of data and theories on both sides, so you choose to believe what you want. To all the ‘of course it happening’ brigade, the temperature of the earth rose by 0.5 degrees in the first half of the 20th centuiry, and 0.25 degree in the 2nd. The rate of increase is actually going down. The debate is not whether its happening, but whether its part of the natural cycle and nothing to do with green huose gases. I’m not sure either way, but people screming “it must be becuase I don;t remember it being this hot” is pathetic

PHOTOGRPAHERS!? i need help with lights and lighting?

guadalupespears — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 02:37:37 +0000

Whoa! Slow down. How accomplished are you as a photographer? Have you completed at least an associate program in photography? Have you worked as an assistant to a professional photographer? Have you mastered composition, light, f-stops, ISO and shutter speeds? Do you know every setting and feature on your camera and when and how to use them? Do you know when a scene will benefit from +1 EV? Or -1 EV? Buying an expensive camera and owning a dozen lenses and an impressive array of lighting equipment does NOT make you - or anyone else - a professional photographer. Giving a Stradivarius violin to someone untrained on the violin does not somehow magically transform them into a concert violinist. Giving every power tool made by Dewalt to an untrained person does not instantly make them a journeyman carpenter. I just sit and shake my head every time some variation of this question is asked. Seems as though anybody who owns a DSLR thinks they have become a professional photographer by virtue of their purchase.

a charitable donation is tax deductable what does this mean?

guadalupespears — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 02:37:35 +0000

This is a donation to a charity (A church or an organization that has nonprofit status with IRS). If you itemize deductions the form will show you exactly how to take these deductions. You’ll need a receipt for what you gave and the IRS is much tighter on that this yr. If you gave a lot you can potentially increase your refund by doing that but you have to do the paperwork it doesn’t just automatically show up in the check. It is far from nonsense but you need to figure your taxes both ways (itemized or standard deductions) to see what gets you the most money back or makes you pay the least. For example if you toss a few $1 inn the offering plate once or twice a month, drop a few coins in the Salvation Army bucket, and drop off some old clothes at the thrift store and buy an MDA shamrock once a year and that’s about it take trhe standard deduction. If you tithe regularly and make extra offerings at church, volunteer to help a 4H or scout group and buy a leader’s uniform, and drive your car to do this volunteering and decide to donate that boat your uncle left you to a charity since you hate sailing you may find itemizing deductions will be best for you financially. Go to www.irs.gov for more info.

more short story help?

guadalupespears — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 02:37:34 +0000

Endings are always the hardest part, aren’t they? Maybe you should think of an ending first, and then think of how that happened. Obviously you’d write it forwards, but think of it backwards. Like. . .maybe you want it to end with a boy starting a new life in foster care. So then . . . why did he get sent to foster care? Maybe his parents were abusive or negligent. Then you could have him describe a specific incident of abuse or neglect. Or how the social worker found out about the problems at his house. Maybe he’s got a little brother who told someone at school and he’s mad at his brother because now he’s being taken away from his home. Then you could think of a way to start. Sometimes I like to start stories mid-conversation or mid-action. Or you could start with the kid telling his story to someone else. “Well, I guess it all started when my brother told . . . ” Good luck!

Why do people go to a restaurant 5 minutes before they close and then sit there all night???

guadalupespears — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 02:37:32 +0000

I have no clue, but it’s soooo annoying. I know when I’m on the road or something and need a quick bite, I ASK them if they’re still serving. If the grill’s down, OK, I’ll at least ask for a cold sandwich or something quick for the road. But I understand if they’re cleaning. Now, at my restaurant I ran into those same boorish people you’re talking about. One family of SIX would always show up 15 minutes before close. They were always rude, never tipped more than ONE dollar. So we’d clean up around them, after all we were closed! We’d even park the vacuum cleaner in the middle of the dining room as a “hint”. For some other late diners, I could forgive them if they apologized for eating late or they’d been in the fields. If they were nice, I could let that go.

Computer Surround Sound Help…?

guadalupespears — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 02:37:29 +0000

Using the 3.5mm outputs would be pretty much the same as the ones you see on a DVD audio player. You would have to get three sets of stereo 3.5mm jack-2 RCA connector plugs and each of the 6 connectors will be for your front, center, surround and subwoofer channels. Make sure you use a program like Windvd or Powerdvd without those you are stuck with 2 channel sound that will played on all your speakers. Windvd and Powerdvd have decoders for Dolby 5.1, Dolby Pro Logic Xll and DTS 6.1 and DTS Neo6. I’ve used this type of connection in the past with a receiver that was only Dolby 5.1 and regular pro logic…this gave me the chance to hear the DTS sound and the at the time new pro logic 2 decoder without having to upgrade my receiver. If you were to get a sound card with either coax or optical out then you would have to rely on whatever decoders your receiver has. If your receiver is fairly new and has all the Dolby and DTS decoders then you would get a better sound using optical or coax since the stereo RCA cables are analog.

what is archeology related to?

guadalupespears — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 02:37:26 +0000

It’s both. In archeology you study both the cultural and the physical characteristics. I’ll give you an example, it will be clear to you after this. Suppose you are studying about the Spartans (they are hot these days.. ;o) .. 300?) Now you won’t get the perfect picture about them unless you consider both their physical and cultural anthropologies. Do you get it? Spartans were culturally a warring tribe, and had larger frames than rest of the Europeans. Now knowing both the cultural aspects and the lineage from which they evolved will help you unravel the Spartan puzzle much more quickly than if you only restrict yourself to their cultural evolution without accounting for their massive builts which might have at some point of time made them feel that they are superior to others…. that’s about it.. tc )

Acne Treatment?

guadalupespears — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 02:37:24 +0000

try going to the dermatologist. he/she will prescribe you something for your face. something that won’t completely feel off your skin so it can release all the oil causing the acne, since your acne isn’t that bad. but he/she’ll prescribe something just right for your type of skin and the severity of your acne. it’s not an embarassing thing to go to the dermatologist, and if it is for you, then no one has to know…you can just say you have a doctor’s appointment. lol well i hope this helps. also if you want to go completely natural, try Aubrey Organics face wash and moisturizer, etc. it’s made completely of natural stuff and it works. so you might want to give that a try. and remember, even if your skin is oily, still put moisturizer on, because if you don’t and your skin starts getting a little dry, your face will start producing oil, and if your skin is already oily, it will produce more oil and it will eventually get trapped in your pores and you’ll break out even more. so yea hope these tips helped.

Hello world!

guadalupespears — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 20:18:19 +0000

Welcome to Findmornington.com. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start blogging!