I've never made it with bechamel or ricotta. I use mozzarella instead.

Also, two cans of tomato paste? I use two of tomato sauce + two of tomato paste and then cook it down.
posted to Ask Metafilter by dw at 6:02 PM on June 29, 2008 marked best answer

Ooh Child.
posted to Ask Metafilter by dw at 11:11 AM on June 13, 2008

Pyramid does a kolsch-style pilsner called Curveball for summer. I like it, but other more beer-snobby types don't.
posted to Ask Metafilter by dw at 3:16 PM on June 10, 2008

You pretty much described my 4 year old, except she doesn't run away, she just says "I don't know." She can spell her name and other people's names and sometimes can recognize the names of her daycare friends, but she certainly can't read.

Her daycare class has been working on phonics now. Why? Because her daycare teacher feels like the class is ready for phonics. And in her opinion, my daughter is one of the brightest kids in the class -- she "gets it,... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by dw at 10:56 PM on May 25, 2008

First off, don't go on about how bad American beer is until you've had a microbrew or three.

Boston is pretty easy to get around thanks to the T. No need to rent a car, and you probably shouldn't, since the street system is a nightmare to get around. You'll be milling with the summer tourists, but it has a lot to do and see, lots of history, great museums. If you have the money, buy a Red Sox ticket from a broker.

If you want to get out of Boston,... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by dw at 1:33 PM on May 25, 2008

Thanks all. Keep 'em coming.
posted to Ask Metafilter by dw at 4:45 PM on May 16, 2008

Expect to pay a heck of a lot for one.

Cards are graded on a scale with Mint at the top, then Excellent, Very Good, Good, and on. Anything below good is virtually unsaleable, save really old cards.

The 1952 Topps Mantle card is one of those Holy Grail collectibles; even good condition cards go for thousands. Prices go down from there as the years progress. You can get a 1959 Topps Mantle for a few hundred bucks.... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by dw at 9:18 PM on May 13, 2008

You might need more than 5% for a conventional mortgage in some cases.

Housing prices in Tulsa have been going up, as have Oklahoma City's. They're still pretty low over all. Rest of the state has been flat or declining, though the smaller towns around Tulsa and OKC are big-time bedroom communities now.

OHFA offers low-interest mortgages for teachers through OHFA Advantage. If you end up in Tulsa, Tulsa Teachers Credit Union writes mortgages for... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by dw at 4:17 PM on May 12, 2008

I don't think I've seen much of an impact here in Seattle or personally.

Food prices are up indeed. A week's groceries used to be $90. Now it's $120. And we've adjusted -- less meat, more pasta.

Gas prices increases here have slowed. If we had a longer commute I think we'd feel the pain, but I usually only need to gas up once a month as is. I'm considering whether to replace my car or whether I should even replace it and go to an all bus commute.... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by dw at 1:00 PM on May 5, 2008

I want to argue that rent is rising because there are fewer available units, not because of demand, but but because so many units have been converted to condos and now sit unsold and unoccupied. Same with rental houses, many of which were recently put on the market and now also sit unoccupied.

In Seattle, all the above is true, but there's an added factor of Seattle still being a place for younger people want to move to, so there's still demand for... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by dw at 2:16 PM on May 5, 2008

In some parts of the western US, people are hoarding rice and stores are limiting how much customers can buy.

This has been overblown. It's Costco and Sam's that have put the limits on purchases, and it was mostly due to hoarding by a small group. Smaller stores and Asian food stores have reported no real issues.

Most of the supply problems have been with imports, e.g. basmati and jasmine rice, since the export market is getting curbed by government restrictions.
posted to Ask Metafilter by dw at 3:15 PM on May 5, 2008

Arrgh. It was the "reverse axis" part of preceding-sibling I was missing. Thank you!
posted to Ask Metafilter by dw at 4:55 PM on April 30, 2008

You're going through northern Kansas and southeastern Colorado? That's some boring country. The Four Corners is, well, this marker. And then you're off into Utah.

If it were me, I'd do some research and drive some of the old Route 66 alignment. There's a huge tourist industry wrapped around it, and it's (mostly) tasteful. So much of it is going away now, though.
posted to Ask Metafilter by dw at 6:49 PM on April 27, 2008

Where do you live?

North of the Ship Canal.

Is it convenient to drive to the east side?

It's fine for us, but Special Snowflake's daycare friends are not all upper middle class sorts.

Is that too young for a roller rink?

Unfortunately, yes. 4 year olds can barely tie their shoes.... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by dw at 2:33 PM on April 2, 2008

Children's Museum it will be. Next year I'll get us in the lottery for a picnic shelter a lot earlier.
posted to Ask Metafilter by dw at 3:43 PM on April 3, 2008

Children's Museum was fine. Came in and set up; they did the cleanup. Had an hour party and then loosed the kids upon the museum. The rooms have small fridges and busy boxes on the wall, so that kept a bunch of 3 and 4 year olds well entertained.

The one drawback -- it's in the Center House, and the Center House is a long way from any parking. So you're schlepping all that party stuff from the car with the kid, then schlepping it back at the end of it.
posted to Ask Metafilter by dw at 12:05 AM on April 27, 2008

Nthing take your time on this. If you don't know what it is, then you're going to get taken.

The baseball memorabilia market is very cyclical. For example, baseball cards went through almost a "speculative bubble" in the 80s and 90s, only to see a drop in value in all but the rarest of the rare. However, other forms of memorabilia, especially the one-of-a-kind items -- signed contracts, letters, ephemera -- have held up pretty well.

The... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by dw at 3:55 PM on April 25, 2008

Yup, Thermapen. But that means opening the oven and stabbing the meat repeatedly. If you're doing a roast, you want something like the Polder.

I have the Williams-Sonoma branded version of this thermometer, and it hasn't let me down in six years of use.
posted to Ask Metafilter by dw at 11:28 AM on April 21, 2008

Honestly, I don’t think the difference in rated accuracy of 1° vs. 2° will make a big difference in cooking meat.

True, but Thermapens are also standard issue for health inspectors.
posted to Ask Metafilter by dw at 1:17 PM on April 21, 2008

When I was a kid I wanted to take piano, so my mom a couple blocks to Saied and asked them where I could take lessons. They pointed her to a woman on the other side of Yale who taught. Perfect, because I could ride my bike there from the house. That was in 1980. I think, a generation on, Saied can still make recommendations.

Bought my violin there, too.
posted to Ask Metafilter by dw at 11:33 AM on April 21, 2008

Baking soda. They sell it in boxes for fridge and freezer. But I've also heard that baking soda is a fairly weak odor absorber.

It's dirt cheap, though, so you'll only be out a couple of bucks if it doesn't work.
posted to Ask Metafilter by dw at 4:20 PM on April 18, 2008

ATL is not only Delta's hub, it's also the hub for AirTran and Atlantic Southeast (Delta's contract regional carrier).

Also, ATL is the main hub for the entire Southeast now that US Airways shifted most of its operations out of Charlotte. So, if you're flying to Birmingham or Nashville or Columbia, you're probably flying through ATL.
posted to Ask Metafilter by dw at 12:19 AM on April 15, 2008

A lot of people underestimate how large North America is. On the train, you can get from Berlin to London in ten hours.

Well, European trains run much faster than Americans drive, so it's probably better to think in distance:

Paris to Berlin: 933mi
Los Angeles to Denver: 1016mi

It always boggled my mind that some companies would keep hubs in Colorado or Minnesota.... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by dw at 8:15 AM on April 15, 2008

I've got 60 year old professors using Doodle. It's dead simple -- type in your name, check some boxes, hit the button.
posted to Ask Metafilter by dw at 12:24 AM on April 15, 2008

I like Little Thai more than Thai Tom.

There's always Schultzy's.

There used to be a really nice sandwich shop down on the west side of the Ave between 41st and 43rd, but it's gone now and become another teriyaki place.

Agua Verde you just have to time it right. Go at 11:30 or 1 and it's nowhere near as bad as it is in the 12 o'clock hour.

Honestly, the further south you go on the Ave, the fewer... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by dw at 9:50 PM on April 10, 2008

As far as south-end gems, a lot of people like Schultzy's (4114), as mentioned, but I find their food kind of grease-packed.

Well, just depends on what you order. There are a load of other non-sausage options, like sandwiches.

And honestly, their sausages aren't that greasy. Some of those teriyaki places are worse on grease.
posted to Ask Metafilter by dw at 8:03 AM on April 11, 2008

I don't think KXOT is running the pledge drive this week, so if you're south of the Ship Canal there's that.

However, they run Diane Rehm from 7-9am. She makes Steve Scher sound good.
posted to Ask Metafilter by dw at 6:36 AM on April 10, 2008

Styxno and Pater Aletheias pretty much covered what I was going to say. As someone who's still a Christian after all these years, I can say that there's no such thing as airtight certainty. People who think there are such things are desperate people trying to cram the world into their small box and ignoring their box ripping and tearing as they do that.

Let me drop in a Flannery O'Connor quote to think about:
What people don’t realise is how much religion... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by dw at 9:29 PM on April 8, 2008

So, my big goal is to find somewhere where I can:
A.) Continue doing video work on a freelance or employed basis, while I
B.) Meet regularly with a like-minded community of independent Mac developers,
C.) Find a reasonably priced rental with 3 bedrooms within a 45-60m drive from the city, and
D.) My wife can continue to homeschool the kids, assuming living expenses are reasonable enough, or a place that has phenomenal public schooling, if... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by dw at 1:26 AM on April 6, 2008

I interact in some small way with online Mac dev communities, but I'm just the kind of person that finds it harder to interact with people online until I've met them in person.

You don't have to move to the West Coast to interact with the Mac dev community. For basic, local interactions, DC has the oldest Apple SIG in the country. Beyond that, there are a number of Mac dev conferences across the country every year. I'm not up on them (I'm a web... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by dw at 7:47 AM on April 7, 2008

If you want something much cheaper and considerably less hip, the area around North Seattle Community College in Northgate usually has lots of cheap housing, and I think it's pretty safe.

It's my neighborhood (Licton Springs), and I can vouch for the "pretty safe" part. Some of the Aurora traffic comes over every once in a while, and there's a small homeless population, but I think it's a little safer than Capitol Hill. Aurora can be dicey,... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by dw at 12:02 PM on April 2, 2008

You know, he kinda sounds depressed. Not saying he is, and he could just be a prick who is stringing you along, but that does sound like he's withdrawing.

I'd throw the damn book away. You'll get more mileage out of confronting him -- he's pushing you away, he's not communicating, if he still wants this relationship he better start acting it.

Just be ready to move on if he's still cold. If he's depressed, he needs support, but significant others... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by dw at 11:15 AM on March 30, 2008

I'm an old-school web generalist -- a combination web designer, web developer, web producer, web strategist. In other words, my organization can't afford four people, so they have me.

I read. Lots. Mostly blogs (praise Jeebus for RSS), but also the latest web books.

My Twitter account is loaded down with other geeks I can throw ideas off of.

For design and development, I go out looking for inspiration. If there's some... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by dw at 11:43 AM on March 29, 2008

My personal calculus would be this:

If you feel like you have unfinished business with him, go immediately.

If you feel like your mother or family needs you there for comfort/help, go as soon as possible and plan to stay as long as it takes.

If you feel like you and your father have settled your accounts and your mother/family doesn't need you, then plan on leaving the moment you hear the news.

My... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by dw at 3:25 PM on March 28, 2008

My former next-door neighbors didn't use an architect when they put a second story on their square house. They drew up some basic plans and the builder went from there. They've had no issues five years in.

I can get you in touch with their contractor is you'd like.
posted to Ask Metafilter by dw at 8:16 PM on March 27, 2008

Wow, so many choices. I'm not even sure where to begin. Thanks for all the help!
posted to Ask Metafilter by dw at 10:05 AM on March 22, 2008

Not one mention of Sleep Country? We got ours there for a good price. They can be pushy, but just go in with your eyes open.

And, of course, if you're not picky about color....
posted to Ask Metafilter by dw at 11:30 PM on March 17, 2008

I've been working on websites since the days of Mosaic, and it seems like every year there's some New Thing That Will Be The Game Changer/Big Disrupter and everyone talks like it's either the End Of HTML or the End Of The Web.

And it's huge, CIOs and CEOs banter about it, and a year later... it's there. It's being used. But it found its niche it could change and the web went on.

Flash. ASP. XML. Cold Fusion. PHP. Rails. The "wet floor"... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by dw at 2:01 PM on March 14, 2008

I have a similar problem; I need to look up the price of Amoco on March 22, 1994. I tried WSJ in ProQuest and can't get the stock listings to come up. Any other ideas? Or a link to something public?
posted to Ask Metafilter by dw at 2:29 PM on March 12, 2008

Nthing Trading Musician. That's where my wife sold her guitar (and where I'll eventually sell my banjo when I finally realize I'm never going to get back into lessons).

And Costco always has cheap guitars. That's where my former neighbor got his. He seems happy with it.
posted to Ask Metafilter by dw at 8:08 AM on March 9, 2008

You could always park at the Northgate Park and Ride - an exit right off the freeway - and catch the 41 into town. It runs every 15 minutes or so and takes 17 minutes to get there. Parking is free, of course.

They do tow, though, and there's been occasional crime sprees there.

If you can leave your car at home, all the better. Downtown transit is massively improved since 3rd because transit only and the Tunnel reopened.
posted to Ask Metafilter by dw at 5:30 PM on February 19, 2008

I've done the Southern route from Tulsa to Seattle. One thing no one has mentioned is the Siskiyou Pass on the Oregon-California border. I had to stop and buy chains just to get over the top, and it was slick and nasty all the way down.

The way around it is to take 101 and then cut back over. But there's really not a lot of anywhere to cut back over on, and they're long, crooked mountain roads that also get snow. So you might end up in the Bay Area before you can start... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by dw at 9:02 AM on February 17, 2008

Capitol Hill has both Broadway and 15th; Broadway is the main drag (and is apparently getting increasingly unsafe), while 15th is a little more staid with more pubs and sit-down places.

Queen Anne is heavily gentrified, but does have El Diablo.

The U District, honestly, I'd avoid it. And I work there. I think it's finally hit bottom, but it's so hard to tell with all the assaults that have happened lately. Two exceptions: Flowers, which is a... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by dw at 8:40 AM on February 15, 2008

Thanks all.

My two biggest limitations right now are a complete lack of time to code something like this up (really, my to-do list is 20 items long and it's all due in the next three weeks) and my worry about these older folks not being very web savvy.

Ultimately, I want something that will end up in Simile Timeline. If I write to our DB, we have a boatload of storedprocs we've written up to spew XML, so I can just bind Timeline to that XML feed.... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by dw at 3:04 PM on February 12, 2008

Tulsa, where I grew up, has an extremely orderly street system that originated 100 years ago and has few exceptions:

Main Street divides east and west, Admiral Drive divides north and south
N-S streets are "Avenues," E-W streets are "Streets"
Major E-W streets S of Admiral are every 10, e.g. 11th/21st/31st
East of Main all N-S street names are towns/places in the US EAST of the Mississippi
West of Main... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by dw at 1:19 PM on February 11, 2008

I'd try getting a second opinion with another psych/therapist. If you're really distracted, drugs might help. But they're not perfect, you will probably be trying loads of drugs before you find the right combination, and as I've unfortunately discovered, the older you get, the less likely they'll work.

But to actually answer your question, when I need to knuckle down and focus, I do one of three things:

1. Self-medicate with a double tall mocha.... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by dw at 8:17 PM on January 26, 2008

The more overall noise and activity as a background is best for those with ADD.

I've never found that to be so. Well, at least for noise/activity that I can't control.

I worked in a open office that cow orkers decided to use as an impromptu meeting room. The endless arguments jammed my ability to think. I tried using headphones, but people complained that didn't look "helpful." Eventually, I... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by dw at 9:51 AM on January 27, 2008

I was in a pub in Wales when "Don't Look Back In Anger" came on, and the whole place kicked into the chorus.

AND SOOOOO SALLY CAN WAIT....

As well, nthing "Don't Stop Believin'."
posted to Ask Metafilter by dw at 12:22 AM on January 25, 2008

Romio's in Greenwood has a banquet room, but I think you might have to call in advance. On a weeknight, though, you might be able to walk in.
posted to Ask Metafilter by dw at 9:24 PM on January 5, 2008

Didn't work. The hot water and ice didn't work. Prying didn't work. Rotating didn't work. Soap didn't work. I finally go so angry I threw them, bent the top pan severely, all the water ran out... and they STILL wouldn't come apart.

Any more bright ideas?
posted to Ask Metafilter by dw at 10:14 PM on December 5, 2007