[Foxy_Rei]

Thanks Joel! My husband finally came right out and said he was being a bit jealous and possessive, and as long as I wasn’t posting videos of me acting like a stripper (with the exception being our May Challenge https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_e_smile.gif), it was fine. He sounded like he was choking on the words a bit, though https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_lol.gif I don’t think it was that he was worried about the internet freaks; he was probably just using it as an excuse.

But I will try to keep my videos more on the, um, shall we say "tasteful" side. Meaning no crazy stripping, no outfits showing more skin than needed, and none of my actual undergarments (as in "real" bras and such). Trying to meet in the middle a bit. Besides, I, and I know most of the rest of you are, too, working against the stereotype that pole dancing is just for strippers, so there’s no need for all that in anything I post, anyway.

Thanks, everyone!

[Foxy_Rei]

For the floor piece, I know what Joel did: he bought a piece of wood from a craft store, glued a piece of non-skid rubber stuff to the bottom (or was it sandpaper? I can’t remember…), then screwed the bottom flange for the pole into the top of it. I don’t believe it was screwed into the floor at all.

He also has exposed beams in the basement where he put up his pole. The top of the pole is attached to the side of one of the beams with brackets. He had to reinforce the beams a bit, just in case. The only drawback of his way of doing it is part of the fixture for the bottom part of the pole has exposed screw heads; they stick out a good quarter to half an inch. He had to wrap it up good with electrical tape and some foam.

Here’s some links to his videos:
Doing the base: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=POM-hW2Silc
"Part 1" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=abSwZ0DC_i4&feature=related
Installation: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PpCQT_iyfOw&feature=channel_page
This is when he went to buy the parts when he changed to a larger diameter pole, dunno how much of this is repeated information or not: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JS3_1Eusd34&feature=channel_page

[Foxy_Rei]

Good decision! I haven’t heard good things about that pole. I started off with a Carmen Electra pole and was mad because I spent $150 on a piece of crap. I wished I had just gone for the x-pole in the first place and saved a few bucks, but at least I didn’t spend all that money to find out poling wasn’t for me…. I just spent all that money to find out I should’ve just gone for it in the first place! https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_lol.gif

Pretty much the only poles recommended by anyone here, including Veena, are Platinum Stages, Lil Mynx, and X-Pole. X-Pole is the favorite here and it’s what Veena sells. https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_cheers.gif

[Foxy_Rei]

I’ve used both a digital camera and webcam. My digital camera worked much better than the webcam – better quality, and I had audio. I just uploaded the video to the computer and edited it using Windows Movie Maker; then saved it as a movie file on my hard drive. Then the camera died…

My laptop has a built-in webcam just above the screen. I can’t seem to get it to record audio for whatever reason, even when the microphone is on. If you use Windows Movie Maker there’s an option to record using the webcam through the program. I had to add the music back over the video and match it up with my movements… annoying.

I don’t own a camcorder, so I can’t help you there https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_tongue.gif

[Foxy_Rei]

Well I installed Ubuntu this afternoon, keeping Windows for now, and I’m already experiencing some very good and very frustrating things.

First the frustrating thing: I’m new to this whole partitioning thing and must have not done something right because I haven’t saved anything to the new OS yet, and it’s trying to install updates to Ubuntu and it’s saying there’s not enough space. Oops. https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_redface.gif Looking like I’m going to have to re-install and manually set the partitions. Oh well, I haven’t saved anything yet so nothing lost. https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_rolleyes.gif

However, in my quest to look for more information on partitions and such, I’m finding a wealth of information. Lots of support for problems and questions, and I just found a chart with the Ubuntu equivalents to Windows programs – including all the ones I want like iTunes and Photoshop. The good news is some of these alternative programs are ones I already use like Firefox, Pidgin, and Open Office. I’m going to have to use Gimp instead of Photoshop, which I’ve tried before and really didn’t like, but I think it’s just a matter of getting used to it. And I don’t have to sacrifice updating my iPod because there’s a program that can do that, too. https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_e_biggrin.gif So far so good.

Torrents is going to be a challenge because it’s a whole new ballpark for me. Does Linux do any direct downloads at all or do you absolutely have to use the torrents??? https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_scratch.gif *sigh*

Any general tips and advice would be appreciated for anyone that uses Linux (and Ubuntu), either here in the thread or a PM. I swear I catch on to this stuff pretty quick it’s just more annoying when I’m trying to get it figured out by myself! https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_e_ugeek.gif

EDIT/UPDATE: it’s now 11:15 PM eastern standard time and I finally got things running the way they’re supposed to! I had to find out how to uninstall Linux because I ended up with 2 (almost 3) Ubuntus on my computer, so I had to uninstall to get a clean install. Apparently this doesn’t happen often and it took me an hour of Googling, trial and error, and just taking bits and pieces of everything I read to do it. So I now finally have Ubuntu and it’s partitioned to just over half of my hard drive…. whew! Windows was a bit stupid when I tried to run it again, but it still worked. Now I can finally get settled… yay!

[Foxy_Rei]

I wish I could twirl on street signs! Here where I live, the posts are made differently, so it’s not a smooth, round pole. *pout*

For me it’s more terminology and forgetting that everyone doesn’t know what I’m talking about. I was talking with a friend on IM last night and he asked me what was new, and I started to say that my wrist was bothering me from practicing my half-handspring mount to butterfly the night before and that my skin’s grip has been shot the past few days so I couldn’t practice my superman and etc. etc. I stopped myself because I realized he would have no idea what I was talking about… lol.

But other than that, whenever I see something even remotely resembling a pole I wonder how big around it must be (50mm? 45 maybe??) and what it’s made out of, and what the grip is like.

Oh, and I’m one of those people who gets obsessed with the same song for like a week and just listen to it over and over and over and over again… well, when I’m at work mulling the song of the week over in my head, I think up what I would do on the pole and find myself starting to move more dance-y like. Picture this: wearing scrubs, a white apron, a hairnet, and yellow dish washing gloves; standing at a stainless steel counter next to a dishwasher and a hose washing dishes. When I sidestep to the dishwasher, I’m pointing my toes and picking my leg up gracefully instead of sliding it along the floor, etc. etc. I haven’t done any twirls or anything yet, but I’m waiting for someone to give me the crooked eyebrow one of these days! https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_lol.gif

[Foxy_Rei]

I’m sensitive to spider bites, too, but never had a reaction that bad. I’m glad she’s doing better, RaRa!

Just as a precaution, I’m sensitive to spider bites because I’m allergic to bee stings… dunno if your daughter has been stung by a bee recently or anything, but it should be something to look out for. She may not be allergic per-say, but may be more sensitive to it or to certain kinds of bees. I’m personally ok with bumble bee stings (they have no poison, just a stinger) and I don’t get a really bad reaction from wasps (a lot of swelling and itching, and of course pain). It’s the hornets and Yellow Jackets that get me – I get hives covering every inch of my body and I get dizzy and black out ("anaphylactic shock" is what that’s called). So just be cautious if she gets stung… :-/

[Foxy_Rei]

Poledancefan, Joel, is a male poler who built his own poles – had a smaller diameter one then changed to a 50mm one. He has some videos on YouTube of him doing it and even going to the store to buy the parts. He just went to Home Depot and loaded up the cart. If you search YouTube for his user name (Poledancefan) and find his channel you’ll find a wealth of information. https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_cheers.gif He’s on this site, too, if you want to look him up and send him a message to get some advice.

[Foxy_Rei]

Still hate to be the bad guy here, but animals are animals… If you live alone then I can understand the attachment to pets because there is no other companionship, but when you have a partner or family or whatever and they are inconvenienced by the pets, then the humans come first. But at the same time, those family members should have a certain amount of respect for the pets, too. I mean if you have a partner that gets mad because the dog hogs the bed, then ok, the dog sleeps on the floor. However, if that partner also just seems to hate the dog for no reason and/or abuses the animal or whatever, then the partner is in the wrong.

Couples and families must be on the same page where the pets stand. If the whole family worships the dog, then so be it! At least they’re in agreement. It’s the situations like in the show where one person excuses an animals unacceptable behavior and the rest of the family is suffering. That’s basically all I was saying.

I love animals and have had pets all my life, until I moved out of my parents’ and got married, anyway. I personally can’t wait to have a dog again – I’ve always wanted a Shetland Sheepdog… But you’ll never catch me yelling at my husband for yelling at the dog for peeing on the floor or something, and dogs sleep on the floor, not in bed. That’s how I feel. I mean, my mom used to work at the Cornell Vet College and saw a woman in the waiting room for the clinic french kissing her dog… that’s just sick… You gotta draw the line somewhere.

[Foxy_Rei]

https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_lol.gif https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_lol.gif https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_lol.gif LOL Webmaster! my husband is sitting next to me laughing hysterically! And so am I! You’re right, Vista is a virus… I’m still using XP myself but my mother and sister both have Vista and I hate it.

And thanks for the input, Beccagirl, but I already do shut off stuff running in the background with XP as much as possible. But there’s still a lot of programs taking up space on the hard drive that are just sitting there, and I don’t know what they do so I don’t want to delete them just in case. I’d say I have above-average computer knowledge, but not nearly enough to know what every single stupid program that comes with Windows does. But thank you anyway! https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_e_smile.gif

So I’ll probably install Ubuntu, but partition the hard drive and keep XP on there for now. I have several programs that I use regularly that I want to make sure that I can find a Linux equivalent to before I delete everything. I have an iPod so I’ll need to find something like iTunes, something for my digital camera (well, since my camera is broken I could go without that for now…), Adobe Photoshop (probably GIMP???), and some random games like Step Mania (same as Dance Dance revolution, but for a computer). I have Limewire too, but my husband says Linux runs off of torrents, so Limewire won’t work. He hasn’t figured out the torrents yet, so we’ll have fun with that lol. When I get it all straightened out I’ll probably get rid of Windows entirely.

Wish me luck on the transition! https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_cheers.gif

[Foxy_Rei]

Oh wow a response from the Webmaster himself! Who better to get an opinion from??? https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_e_smile.gif

Yes I’ve heard of people running their servers for years without having to reboot on Linux, which is mind-blowing.

I’ll have to think about the Dell thing. I can’t even afford that right now, but it’s something to keep in mind, definitely. Thank you!

So which version of Linux do you recommend?? (Like I said, my husband got Ubuntu)

[Foxy_Rei]

Nothing I tried really did much of a difference, and I don’t use moisturizers. I work in a kitchen, gets too hot and sweaty to bother using many products like that…

It’s also been a very long time since I was actually given anything extreme to use – like junior high. I’ve been thinking about seeing a dermatologist just to see what they have for me.

[Foxy_Rei]

I used to have horrible acne, and for my age, I still do… it’s gotten better since high school, but it’s still really bad. It’s all stuff under the skin. My husband picks on me sometimes, says some of the pimples need their own area code. https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_lol.gif I refuse to wear make-up because of it.

Almost everything I’ve tried has dried my face out really badly, like the dry skin peeling off my face is just as unsightly as the acne itself (hence the reason why I stopped using anything). So does this stuff do that, too??? https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_scratch.gif

[Foxy_Rei]

Dude… he sucked.

At least the girls on the poles knew what they were doing! https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_e_smile.gif

I wanna know what kind of gloves they were wearing! Where do I get some of those?

[Foxy_Rei]

Oh I used to watch that show every now and then… it’s amazing how attached to their pets people can get that they are able to put up with some of the behavior that their dogs (or cats, etc.) exhibit. One woman on there had a dog that would attack their daughter whenever she tried to play with her toys on the floor (to the poor kid couldn’t play on the floor at all), would go through the kitchen and pull out the drawers to make stairs up to the counter and eat everything, then proceed to pee on the cabinets, and even found out how to open the oven and refrigerator and eat all that, too. And on top of this, the dog also wouldn’t let the husband sleep in the bed with the wife – the dog and the woman got the bed every night.

The husband is the one who obviously called in the dog trainer. But to think, the wife was basically choosing the dog over the rest of the family! Any dog that did that, in any part or portion, would be out the door. I can’t believe how easily people forget that their pets are ANIMALS and not another human!