HazelStone

...I don't have cable at my house. Mom and Dad occasionally watch the show and so Sweetie and I were watching it with them tonight. For others who don't have cable either, two self-proclaimed survivalists, a man and a woman who've never met, are dropped into a wilderness environment for 21 days- no clothes, no food, no water, and one basic tool of one's choice (like a machete, or, in the case of one person, a cooking pot). We've been visiting the parents a little over a week. Sweetie is very particular about some of the brands he uses- he drinks bottled water, almost always Deer Park or Kirkland...but there's no Costco nearby and he's run out. We pick up more bottled water (store brand) on a run to Meijer (no stores of theirs where we live, so Sweetie's not that familiar with them). Won't drink the tap water; our house has terrible hard water and even the miniscule chlorine of the tap at my parents' is unpalatable to him. Aquafina tastes odd and I don't know why he won't touch Dasani either, but whatever. In the evening, as we're watching the show, he says "Hey, the Meijer water is just as good as the Deer Park water! Taste it!" and hands me the bottle. I just break out in laughter. After some giggles I am able to point out the joke.

There is also the old rhyme: Johnny was a chemist's son but Johnny is no more What he thought was H20 Was H2S04 (I don't even know if I can do subscript/superscript in this forum so deal with it).

Ambergris... the point is that it should be *your* decision. Personally, the same State that left me to rot in school (or worse, be unpaid teacher assistant to the slow students) because the bright kids can take care of themselves... I would not trust to mandate medical decisions beyond basic epidemiological concerns (for which there is actually court precedent).

There is the argument for "herd immunity" on contagious diseases. If a baby is too young to have their full courses of vaccines it benefits by everyone else having had them and the contagion less likely to spread to the not-yet-vaccinated baby. Lean on that too much and helloooo, abuse of the commons! Though from what contagion was your doctor office arguing "but babies in our area die from that."? They also die from other viruses (say, RSV) that aren't a big deal for adults but can land a toddler in the PICU for a while. If a disease is not casually communicable, then the government has no business pushing the shot. The HPV vaccine falls squarely into that group. (Argue to me that sexual activity = casual contact and there will be Words...) I have strong adverse reactions to tetanus shots (because, it turns out, I have very strong natural immunity already). But my decision not to have the tetanus boosters directly affects only me.

Amazing how many points you score with engineering or IT people by having a Leatherman in your purse or car. You get odd looks giving yourself a manicure with one though... The obstacle I have to deal with is that my vehicle is the nicer one (and, having AWD, would be the BOV). I keep minor prep items in the car; it results in inconveniences like covering the auxiliary stereo port and DC outlet. Well gee...stuff to keep you from freezing vs. making it easier to plug in your MP3 player? I want to keep more water in the car; I get comments that "baked" water bottles are bad for you (so's dehydration)...and the bottles disappear. It becomes a territory issue- MY car, but Sweetie switches stuff around when he drives it. The my stuff isn't "organized," because it gets unplugged and tossed aside on every trip more than twenty minutes. I start a new job soon with an average commute time; the car preps will be reconfigured and upgraded, and Sweetie can simply deal.

I might stop at Steak n Shake on my way back out. 8-)

I got the other ones, but I'm afraid this one is above my head. Can you explain??? Doppler Shift. It applies to light as well as sound. Longer wavelength = red, shorter wavelength = blue (or high pitch = short, low pitch = long). The reason we "know" that the universe is expanding is due to the Red Shift viewed in our telescopes (such as with distant stars/galaxies viewed through the Hubble telescope). As stuff in the universe moves away from us, or out of a gravitational field, the light "reddens." Conversely, if something moves closer, or into a gravitational field, you get a blueshift. So if an (astronomical) object is moving toward you, or you moving toward it, you get the blueshift...turning that "red" sticker "blue." In short, someone's trying to ram their BMW up your tailpipe hard. This glosses over a lot, and I can just hear my old physicist boyfriend going "Waiiiiiiiit....." but that's the general idea. One Shift Two Shift Red Shift Blue Shift

Bumper sticker that I saw while stuck in a traffic jam next to Goddard Space Flight Center...the background was red, with white text, and read: "If this sticker is blue you are driving WAY too fast." Took me a couple seconds.

I think this is my hint to put BOBs together finally. We drove back to the Midwest to visit friends and family and spend our anniversary where we got married. It's a ten hour trip if rest stops are minimized and cops are sparse. First, Sweetie was out of sorts and we had a late start. Then we stopped for something we couldn't find and Sweetie had to have (not a necessity). Finally, just as we're passing Notre Dame's exit...we realize that my suitcase, packed for ten days, is still sitting at home. I tried...but I simply ended up picking up my half of the fight. Wasn't pretty. It was after many hours of driving and nerves were frayed. If this had been an emergency? Ye gods and little fishes... :frying pan:

luma, the point of the exercise is addressing how much health 'insurance' costs you in the aggregate, not just your *current* employee-paid portion of the premium. What would the plan cost you under COBRA continuation (assuming your DH does not work for a tiny company that may be exempt from COBRA)? Paying it all on your own is almost certainly more than the $8949 cited! Never mind if your employer isn't subject to COBRA and you had to go to the general market... I second your gripe- the costs on this will explode because there's no real cost containment measures. I remember Mom doing the taxes one year and she found that almost her entire (piddling, social worker) salary went to pay the taxes- Dad and her basically funded a small family's welfare benefits through their tax payments. She poured herself a large glass of wine when she finished the number-crunching...

My husband would agree. But think on this: have you ever stopped to think on how pink does not show up in a prism or other depiction of the range of visual spectrum? Rainbows don't have pink... Yes, there is an explanation for it- but have you ever thought it over?

They've also changed the formula on the Milanos (and made them smaller). Then my husband got upset when he picked up some Chessmen on sale and found them decorated for the "holidays" instead of the chess pieces. (Sweetie is Jewish). He was unnecessarily getting bent out of shape, but with these things (and the prices now!) I don't buy them anymore. Sad. When I worked at an outlet mall nearby I'd swing by their outlet store and grab gobs of 'em. I'd miss them more if not for the formula change.

I was not aware of the high deductible/lower cost plans available for the under-30 crowd. That's a help, at least. Too bad the older people don't have that option, too...

Praise God... at this point I have only a few weeks of "regular" unemployment benefits left. Yes, there's still the extended benefits if it came to that. I've been through the long unemployment routine before, though, and the day several years ago when I had to file for extended unemployment was a rather bleak one. The job is a better version of what I was doing before- I'll get more good experience and it's a rather visible role so good for making connections. I'll still pursue IT certifications as a backup, but this job will pay better *and* will pay for overtime. Finally- the medical bills will DIE. Then there's the bureaucratic nightmare the unemployment office has been putting me through. I am glad I saved some cash rather than pay down some bills faster. They have frozen benefit payments on me twice! And this was a simple claim that wasn't contested by my former employer. That finally got resolved last week. I shudder to think of those living paycheck to paycheck and/or are the primary breadwinner of their household facing such epic screw-ups and facing no cashflow.

Yeah, I could see my husband doing that... when we have car troubles I'm usually driving him to work...

He has risen, indeed.

Making the rounds, already Snopes-ed it. I am a pathetic coffee-fiend, so this almost makes me cry: http://blog.accidentaltourist.com/2011/01/paid-coffee-and-dignified-charity/ A well dressed gentleman of about 80 with a Borsalino hat and and elegant cane, walks to the cash register and asks to pay for “a coffee, and a suspended coffee”. Then drinks his coffee and leaves the bar. I tried to ignore my curiosity, but I only could for so long. Then I just had to ask the man at the register, what in the world is a “suspended coffee”. So he patiently explained, trying to speak as close to a scholastic italian as he could (my question had given me away as an ignorant stranger): fair use rules, etc. so I didn't paste in the key bit...simple, low bandwidth blog though.

I spent several years working part time and summers in a bakery. The owners were fellow Catholics, so they didn't blink at me clocking out to go to Mass and coming back (when you start work at 6 a.m.....). Mama taught me never to sneak out right after Communion, and it would get back to her if I did (and with a 12 hour day I'm going to take the rest and quiet, dang it). So, I'd get through the after-Mass traffic jam and slink back to work. As I'm coming in (through the front door like all the customers), I hear one tourist complain about the wait time and the line backing up- there's not enough staff up front! blah blah. My boss just smiled sweetly and said, "My fourth girl just came in 30 seconds ago and will be out momentarily. SHE actually waits till the END of Mass before leaving!" Lots of shuffling and muttering ensued among the tourists in the crowd. I took refuge behind one of the bread racks while I had a giggle fit. Leaving early availed them nothing!

My sympathies to you and your family.

Long story short, those who live in the more affluent areas see better online deals than those in the rural areas. The excuse given is the amount of competition in a given area. Maybe I'll lock down/sanitize a couple of my browsers and play around with this. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323777204578189391813881534.html?mod=WSJ_article_RecentColumns_WhatTheyKnow

Yay! I didn't miss out this time! Thanks for posting these.

Hi there!

Argh. The opening is "cancelled." I've gotten that status on several other things I applied to elsewhere.

Yes, but has anyone here actually used the aluminum pans to good effect? This is a bit different than pouring batter into one-sided molds.

So every year Grandma would make a lamb cake. It was most excellent and I have some wonderful memories of her showing me how to do the cake and make the frosting (Mom doesn't bake worth crap so seeing frosting not from a plastic can and cake not from a mix was enlightening). Grandma sold her house over 20 years ago, her kitchen stuff went into an aunt's basement, and all her wonderful kitchen items got passed down to the cousins who lived closer by and I didn't get jack. So someone else got her wonderful cast iron lammie cake mold. And the...aww heck I'll stop griping now I guess. Years later I worked in a bakery for a while and at Easter time every time I closed my eyes I could see flocks upon flocks of lamb cakes. Those molds were cast iron too (careful as you scrub them! *CLANG* OWW @#$%%^&!!!!). I suspect that the aluminum pans don't have the mass to really hold the cake down since online recipes tell you to tie the molds down and I never saw that necessary with the cast iron. However, I don't think my husband would be enthused about me spending $100+ for the cast iron. So does anyone here use an aluminum mold to good effect, and if so, which one?