Advice Thread

[AdmiralMemo]

I mean professional counseling.

Oh, I knew you did, but I was just going off mentioning that even informal counseling might help me at this point, at least in the short term. Something to stave it off until I can get better help.

[Tycherin]

For what it's worth, while I don't doubt that counseling can be done over the phone, assessment is a much trickier proposition. Part of the psychological assessment process is... well, the process itself: how the client speaks, moves, acts, responds, dresses, all that sort of thing. There's a reason why psychological assessment hasn't been replaced by automated systems.

[Duckay]

I understand that it's difficult to get to a doctor (hence why I was researching home visits). However, I'm not trying to say "drop everything and go to a doctor right this second", I'm saying "don't self-diagnose yourself with a condition that you know virtually nothing about until you can see a doctor". There is a middle-ground if you can't see a doctor just yet, because I understand it is not always practical, which is don't self-diagnose.

I've talked with AdmiralMemo before and I know it's important to him to put a name to what he's feeling which is why I've tried to go to lengths to find him that help, but if none of that is practical I want to impress upon him that self-diagnosing with Asperger's based on the internet is actually worse than not having a name for it.

[My pseudonym is Ix]

It can indeed, even informally, but no one ever reaches out to talk to me via Skype or Google Hangouts or whatever, as I've lamented numerous times. And I don't want to just interrupt anyone else, because I don't know whether they're available or not. Should I just be more forthright and barge in saying "Hey! Let's talk!" more often?

I know the physical isolation is definitely a factor in my state of mind, and the digital isolation may also contribute.

There are many who tell me they care about me in public, but rarely do I ever see it in private as well.

If I'm ever on Skype, I'm available to talk. I don't have it at work. I don't ever contact you directly 'cause your status always seems to be 'away' so I didn't think I could get a response. Was I incorrect to presume so?

[AdmiralMemo]

I probably forget to update it after work because I forget to due to the fact that I'm on the same computer, since my home PC is inaccessible. When my parents move back out, hopefully, I'll correct that.

Suffice to say, if it's after 6 PM EDT and it's not Wednesday, I should be available.

[Kapol]

Has anyone had any experience with Lenovo computers? I've had an offer to replace my laptop by trading my old laptop, as well as paying $200, for a referbished Lenovo g500s. 6 gigs of ram, a terabyte HD, and... I think it was supposed to be a quad-core processor. I should find out the details, cause what I'm seeing says some have a 2 gigahertz processor, but I think it said 3.2 Ghertz when I was checking out the one the guy showed me. The main issue I've been hearing of is stability of the system.

So does anyone have any idea if this is a good deal or not? For the record, the laptop I have now is an Acer Aspire 7552. I would happily hold onto it. But between the battery being worthless, and the fact the power socket on the computer seems to have come loose (it won't charge with the normal charger, and a similar charger works very sporadically, with it often just coming loose for no reason. Meaning it keeps beeping then quickly dying).

For the record, I'd mostly be using this for fairly basic stuff. Though I'd like to also be able to run at least indie games (like Goat Sim) or some AAA games with low settings on it too.

[ch3m1kal]

It's impossible to tell exactly what the performance is like without you posting the exact specs.

The G500 series is a lower end model, and at least according to all the specs I could find on it, doesn't come with a quad core processor. What it does come with is a dual core i5 with hyperthreading enabled.
If you're not familiar with it, hyperthreading is a feature in Intel CPUs that lets them execute multiple threads on one core, which in theory offers some minor performance gains, but in practice is at best nearly useless, at worst actually degrades performance in certain applications.
In practice it's mostly a marketing tool so that Intel CPUs show up with more cores than they physically posses.

That said the CPU is still significantly faster than the quad core Phenom in your old laptop, however the catch is that the Lenovo does not have a discreet graphics chip, but instead uses the Intel HD4000 GPU built into the i5 processor.

What this basically means to you is that gaming performance will be worse, day to day computing tasks will be somewhat better.

As for Lenovo in general, they're one of the best brands on the market. As of 2012 they're the largest PC manufacturer in the world.
They're the ones who always made IBM computers, including the legendarily indestructible Thinkpad series, but some years ago IBM decided it doesn't want to make desktop PCs and laptops anymore so Lenovo basically carried on under its own brand.

[Kapol]

So the hyperthreading was likely why it showed up as a quad-core then. That seems pretty scummy, but there's not much to do about it.

I suppose the graphics part is the issue I have. While I feel I know a decent amount about computers, GPUs are something I've never been able to get the hang of. I know that the Intel HD4000 would be severly worse due to being built-in graphic processor rather than a dedicated graphics card. I suppose the question is how much would it be able to realistically run with an acceptable framerate. 2D indie games like Shovel Knight? Fairly gaphics-light 3D games like Goat Sim? I figure that the bar is low, but I'd rather have an idea how low.

That said, having all of the specs is important. I know for sure it's 6 gigs of RAM, and the graphics are from the HD4000. I'll try to contact the guy to find out the CPU for sure. Other than that, is there any other information that would be relevant to look for.

As a side-note, are there any good, relatively cheap laptops about the same level as my current Aspire that might be available? I am grateful for the help on this. Making decisions like this make me nervous, so I try to do as much research as possible.

[ch3m1kal]

Err relevant information is whatever is relevant to you.

I'd personally care about screen resolution, whether the battery has been replaced/ how old it is.

As for other laptops, well It all depends on just how much you're willing to spend. Honestly if it's less than about $500, it's probably not worth it.

I think your best bet is to check just check out your favorite IT retailer, sort their listings by price and preferably dedicated graphics and see what falls at the top end of your budget.

Also your old Acer can probably be fixed fairly easily. Pretty much any laptop service shop can solder the charging socket back on the motherboard for probably not that much money, and then you can simply buy a new battery.

[Kapol]

Well, the screen resolution seems to be set at an odd 1366 x 768. It's not a major selling point for me. The battery is something I hadn't considered though.

And I already checked out TigerDirect, Newegg, and even Amazon to see what options are available. Most models that seem even slightly geared towards gaming seem to be around $800+. Which is out of the budget by a long shot at this point. But... well, I don't really need the laptop for anything specific, so I'll likely just hold out at this point.

For getting it fixed, that's actually the idea that kind of spurred all of this. I had taken it to get an estimate for fixing, and apparently it'd cost $150-200 to fix it. I think that'd include getting a new battery, fixing the power issue, and maybe getting a new keyboard as the j key is out. The missing key isn't really an issue for me though. The main thing is that I think the laptop is 4-6 years old and kind of falling apart. I'm not sure it's worth trying to get it repaired for the last few years I'd get out of it.

That said, I might try to take it somewhere else to get a different idea of how much fixing the socket would cost. That's honestly the only thing that causes any kind of issue with it.

[Darkobra]

Job interview today. They loved me. They want me back for a second interview later in the week. I have a work trial tomorrow at another place. If I get it, I may end up with that job.

Now job 1 is my priority choice. Job 2 is a safety net. Neither job is a guarantee.

Job 1 will let me know later in the week. I may find out if I get job 2 tomorrow. It will be bad form to say "Thanks for the job but I'm going to job 1 and handing in my notice." Also if I tell them about it at the work trial tomorrow, they may just not hire me at all and I might not get job 1.

What is the most professional way to keep the cards close to the chest without deceiving anyone?

[Tycherin]

"Your job offer is important to us, please hold."

[RedNightmare]

Job 1 will let me know later in the week. I may find out if I get job 2 tomorrow. It will be bad form to say "Thanks for the job but I'm going to job 1 and handing in my notice."

It may sound a bit shitty, but that's what I would do. As long as you haven't signed anything it's perfectly legal and you really don't want to let a job go that you want more, just to be polite. I bet it wouldn't be the first time they'd experience this anyway.

[Mums]

It may sound a bit shitty, but that's what I would do. As long as you haven't signed anything it's perfectly legal and you really don't want to let a job go that you want more, just to be polite. I bet it wouldn't be the first time they'd experience this anyway.

This, also most jobs interview a lot of applicants, why should they not expect you to apply for more than one job?

[Master Gunner]

Ask if you can have a couple days to consider their offer. If they need a response right away, then say yes, and if you get an offer from Job 1, tell Job 2 straight up "Thanks for the opportunity, but I've received an offer elsewhere that I think is a better fit for me.".

[Bebop Man]

How do I promote a Twitter page in a Facebook post? Do I just post on FB something like "Follow us here" and type #twitteraccount? Or is it @twitteraccount? The point is it's supposed to either link back to the Twitter page or at least let you know the name.

[viscomica]

How do I promote a Twitter page in a Facebook post? Do I just post on FB something like "Follow us here" and type #twitteraccount? Or is it @twitteraccount? The point is it's supposed to either link back to the Twitter page or at least let you know the name.

I think you can synchronize your Twitter account with your Facebook account from Twitter. Go to your Twitter account and try to do that (clueless panda)

[Duckay]

User accounts in Twitter are @username. So something like "Follow us on Twitter at @username" would work well.

[Darkobra]

The problem with job 2 is it was a friend who got me in. So me up and leaving might reflect badly on him. But fact is, I can make a career out of job 1 rather than be stuck doing the same thing in job 2.

I suppose I should just do what's better for me and they'll get over it.

[Bebop Man]

User accounts in Twitter are @username. So something like "Follow us on Twitter at @username" would work well.

Thank you!

[plummeting_sloth]

Question for the group... has anyone ever purchased a leather palm before? Any recommendations? I nearly put a hole in my hand working on this sea-bag and I'd like some protection.

[plummeting_sloth]

Question for the group... has anyone ever purchased a leather palm before? Any recommendations? I nearly put a hole in my hand working on this sea-bag and I'd like some protection.

[Dutch guy]

I don't even know what a leather palm is, so can't help you there.

(Seriously though, what the hell is it?)

[Merrymaker_Mortalis]

How long could it take for me to learn Spanish to a decent level where I could mostly comfortably live in Spain?

[Jamfalcon]

I'd imagine that answer would largely depend on how good you are with languages, since some people seem to have a far easier time memorizing them than others.

Speaking as someone with next to no talent in any language except English, I'd think you could probably get to that level in a year if you put a lot of time into it, but I'm probably not the best person to answer this.