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My husband has held on to a part-time gig at Best Buy for years because of the employee discount (employee price = 5% over Best Buy's cost). He doesn't really like working there, but finds it worthwhile between the discount and his hourly rate as an AV/Computer tech. Because the employee...

I like my job. I work with good, dedicated people (for the most part), feel like I'm contributing to society, and find my work intellectually stimulating (sometimes too much so). But I'm paid pathetically considering my levels of skill and education. I make about half of what many of my...

Neil, There might be something here that will help you: Demco.com Try "Magazine Protection" under "Library Supplies."

Dennis, I'm not a string player (I'm a clarinetist), but my husband's a bass player, and he just bought a new bass this summer. He bought a Chinese-made instrument made by Samuel Shen. I don't know anything about their violins, but their basses are pretty well-regarded. My husband plays at a...

I have a 3-year-old black lab mix. He sheds a lot, and drools in the presence of food, but I wouldn't trade him for anything, as he is possibly the sweetest dog on the planet. As for the chewing, we had a few problems when he was a puppy, but we trained him well to chew only his toys. He...

A female friend of mine has met a lot of guys through internet dating services (mostly match.com and salon.com personals). She's had mixed luck. She did seriously date one of the guys she met -- even lived with him for a year or so -- but he turned out to have some pretty major problems, so it...

We had a Rainbow demonstration a while ago. The way they got us to book it was pretty deceptive: let us have 30 minutes of your time to demonstrate "our product" (no mention of what it was), and choose a "thank-you gift." I said yes to get them off my back, since they had called twice a day...

I said:

A few words on fair use: The problem with deciding that something qualifies as fair use by analogy is that the courts must determine what is and isn't a fair use on a case-by-case basis. It's extremely difficult to generalize about what is and is not a fair use. The courts make the...

This will be long and boring, but some of you might like to know. Rob Gardiner wrote:

Philip, What a cute puppy! My dog (Lando, a lab mix) showed signs of potential hip dysplasia when he was a puppy (he's now going on 3 years old). What our vet saw was in an x-ray: the left hip socket wasn't giving quite enough coverage. When the vet moved the hip joint, however, it wasn't...

I second Brian's suggestion. My sister-in-law is having her first child any day now (she's actually eleven days overdue). She was immensely cheered and touched when her husband gave her a lovely mother-and-child gold and diamond pendant just before her due date. She has not taken it off since...

Well, I didn't say (and didn't mean to imply) that the contents of a person's media collection provides insight into every aspect of their personality, or that it paints a complete picture of a person. It's not an all-revealing crystal ball. That is a laughable claim, and not what I was trying...

I'm all for not judging anyone based on the strength (or lack thereof) of their DVD collection. Cleary, that's just silly. But I do think that a person's taste in movies (music, books, etc.) says something about their personality. What it says, though, is a hard thing to determine. Five people...

I haven't thought about this in years, but I was 11 when "The Day After" aired, and I had nightmares and insomnia for weeks afterward. Marc Carra:

I have two of those "mediocre" titles: Blast From the Past (what can I say? It's not a great movie, but I love Brendan Fraser and Dave Foley, and I paid about $7 for it), and Mad About You season 1 (a show I have a real fondness for, especially the early seasons -- and it's gotten hard to find...

I know lots of people hate these albums, but you might want to check out Harry Connick Jr.'s "She" and "Star Turtle." Both albums depart from his usual standards/New Orleans Jazz styles, into something more like funk-pop. I like them, but I know I'm in a minority.

I love MTM, but haven't yet purchased Season 1. Mostly that's because of a problem that others have already identified: too many other great titles competing for the tiny amount in my bank account. In particular, I dropped a huge chunk of change last year to acquire ST:TNG, and that pretty much...

Fiona Apple. And another vote for Ben Folds and Tori Amos.

Tori Amos: To Venus and Back (Ho-hum) Indigo Girls: Shaming of the Sun (a couple of great songs, especially "Leeds," but otherwise just okay) Steely Dan: Gaucho (love "Babylon Sisters" and "Gaucho," but otherwise, I don't find much here) R.E.M.: Monster (I hate to say it, since I think...

Chuck says:

Love the Dan. Looking forward to the new album. Even more excited about the summer tour, since they're playing in the Twin Cities this time. :)

Considering Sathyan's taste for jazz, I can't believe no one has yet suggested Steely Dan, the quintessential jazz-rock masters. Excellent, clever lyrics (even when they're obscure), endlessly interesting arrangements, and fantastic playing (especially on their later albums). They get a bad rap...

Jeffrey, sorry if I pried too much. I'm right there with your fiance on the whole pregnancy thing, but are you sure that's the only reason she doesn't want to have sex? Does she enjoy it when you do? Don't feel obligated to answer -- I just think that you should make sure she doesn't have any...

I love Radiohead. I think OK Computer is a masterpiece. And most bands would be lucky to release even one album as good as The Bends, Kid A, or Amnesiac. The best thing about any of these albums is that even though there are plenty of individual standout tracks, the whole is much more than the...

Jeffrey, it's not clear from your post if you and your fiance have even had sex yet (you mentioned that she's "the responsible one" -- does that mean she wants to wait?) Not that that's necessarily a problem, just that if that's the case, you won't know if there's a deal-breaking sexual...

The Panny S35 has only Toslink.

I completed both federal and state returns via Turbo Tax Online. After completing the federal return, the state return was a piece of cake since TT already knew all of my numbers. It worked great, and I really appreciated not having to install anything on my computer in order to do it. The...

I'm dying to read it (have been hooked since I read The Eye of the World and The Great Hunt my sophomore year of college -- 10 years ago!!!), but I have to wait until I finish my January term class in two weeks. I'm so tempted to pick it up this weekend and read it in one sitting, but I just...