Gone

Is BA purposely trying not to be a "Brewers announcer" or is he now a Cardinal fan?

The largest factor in your credit score is your pay history (makes up 35%) and surprisingly to many the next largest is your availability (30%). The availability factor in your score isnt based on the $ amount available, rather the percent available. Someone with only a $100 credit card with zero balance will have 100% available, the same as someone with a $1,000 credit card w/zero balance. The less your available (%), the lower your credit score. This is a huge part because the scoring modules look at someone who spends to their max capacity as a larger risk than one who does not abuse their available lines. A person who is living in the 0-10% available area is generally living on inflated income. 1% available can equal as much as 1 point on your score. Other factors in your score are how long you've had credit open, and how many major credit cards (Visa, MasterCard) you have. If you have 5, that's about perfect. These factors only make up 5-10% of your score though. In most cases, I recommend to people never to close their credit cards... unless they have an annual fee. It sounds like this is your first ever credit card, so it likely will drop your score a bit by replacing the card with another with the same limit, but I'd recommend doing that, unless you're ready to make a major credit transaction. In my job I've seen close to a million credit reports. None are the same, but if you have on time pay history over the last 3+ years and 80% + available on your credit cards you're likely going to be over a 700 credit score and going to have no problem getting very good rates and credit when needed.

I loved the episode last night. My theory is that Jacob is now Sayid similar to the way Jacob's long time nemisis is now Locke. This would explain why Jacob told Hurley to bring Sayid to the temple. It will surely be interesting to see a major battle between Sayid and Locke (nemisis and Jacob) and who follows whomb. I spent yesterday prepairing for Lost by reading some popular internet theories about what the meaning of this show is, and it's pretty crazy. I'm glad I have all the seasons as after this season I surely will have to watch again to put all the pieces together.

When's the next episode? It's been almost a month without a new one!

I've already got a few things for my parents. Now looking for something under $50 for my mom or maybe $80-$90 as a joint present for both of my parents. They really dont have high expectations. I have got them huge things in the past and they dont seem to care. They have the same reaction as when I give them a card or if I buy them a new TV.

Any ideas for Christmas presents out there? My parents are soon to be retired and soon to be grandparents.

Right now they're trying to put the best team possible together for a playoff run. LaRoche would not be an upgrade at 3rd base for 2008, so right now it makes little sense. Hall/Branyan > Dillon Branyan

I don't think it's that awful, but it doesn't seem to be a salary dump which I think is needed at this point. They're giving up too much talent to not lose at least one really bad contract (Gadz, Mo, Redd). I really hate the NBA's cap/salary system.

I had the same thing happen to mine last year and Xbox replaced it for no charge and it was fairly painless. It took about 3 weeks to get fixed, but it's summer so you shouldn't miss it too much. You can also go to Xbox.com and check to see if your console is still under warranty and also file the claim info there.

I really am hoping for Friedrich

I bike fairly regularly (50 miles/wk) and feel like I obey all the traffic laws as I do when I'm driving. I realize as a biker I'm the one that needs to watch out for my own safety as drivers generally wont as much. That being said, I can see why some cyclists may take another approach. I regularly am honked at, given the one finger salute, yelled at, told to use the sidewalk (illegal) etc. by incredibly impatient/rude drivers. That kind of attitude from the fat guy who just pulled out of the McDs parking lot for his daily "run" gets pretty old. It definately doesn't justify cyclists being stupid about things, but sometimes we just want to get out of the vehicles way as quickly as possible or are so tired of bad drivers that we may say "screw it". Believe me, even those cyclists who are consious of the laws get it a lot worse than those poor drivers who have to deal with the random cyclists.

I think there's something like a 4.3% chance of the Bucks landing the #1 pick tonight, so I'm thinking #7 or 8 is likely. I agree that PG is probably the biggest need and there are 3 good ones after Rose. Out of Bayless, Augustine, and Westbrook I like Westbrook the best as he's clearly the best defender, Bayless seems to have a little Mo Williams in him in that he loves to shoot and really isn't the distributor the team needs and Augustine has some issues defensively. This team needs guys who can/want to pass and can/want to defend.

There's a lot of things that could cause this. It could be as simple as your diet. As I got older I realized more and more how necessary a good healthy diet is for my energy level.

You've never heard of people overtraining and the serious damage that can do? Google overtraining and you'll find a bunch of articles about the negative effects it has and how it's actually counter productive. Here you'll find a few - http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/bbinfo.php?page=Overtraining Also, there is a difference between working your muscle to failure (which you should do) and working it to fatigue (which isn't what you should do). I'm never going to say Cardio is bad for you. However, it is can slow down your goal if you're looking to add mass. As another poster indicated, you need to take in more calories than what you burn to gain weight. If you're trying to add weight and at the same time burning 500 calories on the treadmill that just means you need to eat 500 more calories to make up for that. Everyone is different as some people can work out all day and not lose weight. At the same time there are others that are the exact opposite and can sit on their butt, eat bad food all day and not gain a pound. Then there are the people that are right in the middle. I'm one of the slow burners, so I am extremely careful with the calories I burn as if I'm not I'll be forcing 7-8 meals a day down.

If you are trying to add mass then an hour a day every day is probably too much. Remember, muscle isn't built while working out, but while you're resting. Many people overtrain which stunts their muscle growth. Also, the calories you consume are precious if you're trying to add mass and working out an hour a day just means you have to eat that much more. I'd suggest going to 3-4 times a week, max 45 minutes and don't do much cardio. What kind of protein shake are you drinking? Is it a pre mixed/thick shake? I use ON whey protein and can easily eat 5-6 meals/day + 4-5 servings of the protein.