I am an aspiring English teacher. There are numerous pros and cons to each, and I am desperately hoping that someone will be able to tip the scale. I also want to have some social life- if I go to Humboldt I will live in a dorm, and if I go to SF State or community college I will just live in my own apartment.

My family includes 2 teen boys, 1 preteen girl, and my mom and dad. We’re going for 1 week and it has to be in or near California. Thxxxxxxxx. [:

If you’re in the water in standard swimming gear and you encounter a horde which decide to go for you, what should/can you do?

The fence that I will be painting is made out of redwood and has been painted over before. It is in the SF Bay Area so there is no snow. Temperature generally ranges from 30-100 F. I would like to know if I have to use primer, what kind of paint to use, if I should paint at a specific time of day, if I need to clean off the first coat of paint with paint thinner or anything, etc.

Basically I don’t know anything about it. If you could back up your answer with websites or personal experience that would be great because I don’t want to paint it a second time 🙂 Thanks!

My wife and I have lived in the Chicago area since we got married over 20 years ago. I absolutely hate, hate, hate, HATE it here, and the thought of living here much longer makes me literally suicidal.

I am a real outdoorsy person. I need to get out into wild country and enjoy some solitude and natural beauty. But within 200 miles of where we live there isn’t even a decent place to go camping or take a hike. (Believe me, I’ve looked very hard to find such a place. There’s nothing!) In fact, nothing but endless subdivisions and malls, surrounded by endless fields of corn and soybeans.

For complicated reasons, I had to work in the San Francisco area for an extended period a few years ago, and I really loved it. (She resented every day I was out there.) Northern California is everything Illinois isn’t. It’s paradise! In fact, any place on the west coast, from Santa Barbara CA to Vancouver BC would be a vast improvement in living conditions.

The problem is, my wife loves it here, and will not consider moving. She says the cost of living on the west coast is too high, we would both have to change jobs (actually, not a problem since we both have highly valuable skills). She says she doesn’t see anything wrong with living here, and, no matter how many times I explain my feelings, she can’t seem to understand why I’m not happy here. I’ve traveled with her to the west coast on vacation to show her how beautiful it is, but she was unmoved by the experience.

At one point, when I threatened to leave her, she agreed to move when our younger child finishes high school in a few years, but now she has made it clear that she has absolutely no intention of ever doing that.

So now I’m out of ideas. What can I do?

also if you could – please name a nice hotel in the area! 🙂 thanks!

I’m mixed race ( black and white ) and I have naturally curly hair. It’s hard to find a hairdresser who can work with my hair type without always trying to force me to blowdry my hair straight. I always end up leaving the salong with my hair all frizzed out because the hairdresser didn’t know what to do with it! So – I’m looking for recommendations for a good hairdresser in my part of town who is not too expensive and knows how to deal with my hair type! Any suggestions?

What’s a beautiful, outdoor location to have a wedding in NC?
Garden wedding?
An Inn, Bed and Breakfast?
You know…somewhere pretty

Redwood National forest in pictures looks amazing and my friend and I (both from Kentucky) would like to backpack in there for a couple of days. Is this a good idea or do you have other suggestions on where to backpack in California?

My wife and I have lived in the Chicago area since we got married over 20 years ago. I absolutely hate, hate, hate, HATE it here, and the thought of living here much longer makes me literally suicidal.

I am a real outdoorsy person. I need to get out into wild country and enjoy some solitude and natural beauty. But within 200 miles of where we live there isn’t even a decent place to go camping or take a hike. (Believe me, I’ve looked very hard to find such a place. There’s nothing!) In fact, nothing but endless subdivisions and malls, surrounded by endless fields of corn and soybeans.

For complicated reasons, I had to work in the San Francisco area for an extended period a few years ago, and I really loved it. (She resented every day I was out there.) Northern California is everything Illinois isn’t. It’s paradise! In fact, any place on the west coast, from Santa Barbara CA to Vancouver BC would be a vast improvement in living conditions.

The problem is, my wife loves it here, and will not consider moving. She says the cost of living on the west coast is too high, we would both have to change jobs (actually, not a problem since we both have highly valuable skills). She says she doesn’t see anything wrong with living here, and, no matter how many times I explain my feelings, she can’t seem to understand why I’m not happy here. I’ve traveled with her to San Francisco on vacation to show her how beautiful it is, but she was unmoved by the experience.

At one point she agreed to move when our younger child finishes high school in a few years, but now she has made it clear that she has absolutely no intention of ever doing that.

So now I’m out of ideas. What can I do?