email consumerist!
posted to Ask Metafilter by lia at 4:11 PM on July 24, 2008

if you're settled in the uk, finish your degree there, even if it costs you more money/takes more time than doing it online—the contacts that you'll make with your fellow students as well as your professors might prove to be more useful to you in the long run than your actual diploma, especially if you decide to work in the field or go to grad school. don't underestimate the value of face-to-face networking!
posted to Ask Metafilter by lia at 12:16 PM on July 21, 2008 marked best answer

your post is titled "How to accept someone who's a "masseuse", a goldigger and an old men snatcher?" but reading through it, clearly you don't really want to learn how to accept her—you want us to tell you that she's doing terrible things and that you're correct to be outraged. maybe she is, and maybe you are, but honestly, she's a grown woman and can sleep with whomever she wants for whatever reasons she has. if you don't approve of how she chooses to live her life, don't be... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by lia at 10:33 PM on July 18, 2008

bryan boyer's indyjunior works just fine, but like google maps, it requires manual updates.
posted to Ask Metafilter by lia at 9:13 PM on July 17, 2008

Just a bit of common sense stuff here -- if this character comes on in such a way that you KNOW that he's going to bail on you, change the locks

holy shit, dancestoblue, is there any place in the known universe where this is not completely bad idea jeans? here in new york, only a marshal can throw someone out after a whole lot of legal stuff has gone on—a landlord that changed the locks here will get fined massive $$$ and have the book thrown at them in court.
posted to Ask Metafilter by lia at 10:28 AM on July 16, 2008

when gillian anderson finally realized scully being frumpy wasn't going to do either of their careers any favors, they started dressing her in armani.
posted to Ask Metafilter by lia at 3:03 PM on July 15, 2008 marked best answer

b&h is great, especially if you're going on a weekday. they see this all the time and so since the store was reconfigured late last year, they actually now have two different lines in the camera department—a fast-moving one for people who know exactly what they want and just need to buy it and get out, and a slower one for people who need to talk to a rep and test equipment out.
posted to Ask Metafilter by lia at 1:35 PM on July 15, 2008 marked best answer

take the train down to nyc and go to h&m or uniqlo, they have a good selection of dress shirts. pick ones that fit your chest and shoulders and are a little bit long in the sleeves for you, then take them to your local tailors to be fitted. tailors have seen it all, they will know exactly what to do for you and how much it will cost.
posted to Ask Metafilter by lia at 5:33 PM on July 14, 2008

there are girls like that, there are guys like that—being overly needy and controlling crosses gender barriers. it happens, but no, it's not normal healthy behavior, and yes, it's totally ridiculous. anyone who freaks out when you want to visit your mother for a) a single day that b) happens to be her birthday needs to be seeing a therapist, at the very least. i would immediately dump anyone who tried to pull this on me. if you were a girl instead of a guy, people would be falling over... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by lia at 5:00 PM on July 11, 2008

have you tried installing it? if you do, and then run software update, does it give you the option to upgrade ichat to version 4?
posted to Ask Metafilter by lia at 1:31 PM on July 11, 2008

i love love love my year-old canon rebel xti. his year's new model, the rebel xsi, is 12 megapixel, has a lcd viewfinder and runs under 1k for just the body, so she could afford a bunch of new lenses if she wanted to get them.
posted to Ask Metafilter by lia at 12:11 PM on July 11, 2008

err, this year's, not his year's
posted to Ask Metafilter by lia at 12:11 PM on July 11, 2008

movable type 4 does this perfectly, and it comes in a fully-functional open source flavor!
posted to Ask Metafilter by lia at 12:08 PM on July 11, 2008

best way to do this while still keeping track of who took which photos is if you all get flickr accounts, create a group and add all your photos to it. flickr basic is free, you can tag every photo with the persons in them to make browsing easy, you can print photos (either through an online service or at home) and you can make all the photos private so only friends/family/group members can see them.
posted to Ask Metafilter by lia at 2:38 PM on July 10, 2008

pretty sure it's "reign over" and google has about 2,910,000 results for "reign over" and about 42,500 for "rein over"—of course, neither my memory nor google are qualified substitutes for the oed, but hey.
posted to Ask Metafilter by lia at 12:13 AM on July 10, 2008

if you have an awesome portfolio—and i do mean mindblowingly awesome, not just not one that shows that hey! i know how to do stuff out of a textbook!—there are companies that will take a chance on you, but you're not likely to get in the door anyplace big enough to have an hr department. certs don't mean a thing unless you have work to back them up, and a lone year of college will give people pause.
posted to Ask Metafilter by lia at 12:11 AM on July 10, 2008

man or woman, i think if someone compliments you and you always give them a compliment straight away, it doesn't always seem sincere—it's like you felt obligated to say something, and really, a compliment should be given and accepted freely. you have to learn to accept a compliment graciously for what it is, and just say thank you. compliment the person later on if you want to, but only if you really mean it.
posted to Ask Metafilter by lia at 10:24 PM on July 9, 2008

certain-dri changed my life, no kidding. i was like you once, so it's still amazing to me that i can put it on and not ever have to worry about sweating through anything ever again—my armpits are totally dry even on the hottest, most humid days!
posted to Ask Metafilter by lia at 11:19 AM on July 9, 2008

do you shampoo your hair every day? my hair is also dry and wavy (but thick) and i've found that it's far less frizzy, much healthier, and less prone to breakage since i switched to washing it every three or four days.
posted to Ask Metafilter by lia at 11:16 AM on July 9, 2008

james is, at the very least, quite the tease—the absolute LAST thing you do when a friend tells you they like you and you're not interested is to to engage in any physical contact, let alone more. it's cruel, it gives them false hope, it makes it harder for them to move on. take this from me, both as a flirt and as someone who has had to shut down more than a handful of guy friends who've put the moves on me.

i can't tell you if he's straight or closeted or interested in... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by lia at 8:14 PM on July 7, 2008

arrghhh, but i can tell you that he's not,
posted to Ask Metafilter by lia at 8:16 PM on July 7, 2008

i'm sorry the reverend is so rude, but it takes two people to have a conversation—tell him you don't want to talk to him anymore and to stop calling. and then, seriously, don't talk to him ever again—if he calls you again, repeat the request and then put the phone down. also: stop going to church with your parents, it probably gives them false hope that you will come around one day.

really, all you can do in situations like this is say, "i'm not going to discuss... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by lia at 6:12 PM on July 7, 2008

if a ring is pretty and you know she'd like it on her finger forever and it's within your price range, who cares what it's called? you could get a plastic ring out of a toy capsule machine and ask her to marry you with it, and that would still be an engagement ring—which is to say it should be far far more about the sentiment and the people than it is about cost.

(case in point: i was watching bridezillas last night and a man remarrying his ex-wife gave her an engagement... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by lia at 2:02 PM on July 7, 2008

the way this question is worded tells me you already know the answer: colon cleansing is not the easy way to solve your problems because there is no easy way—you have to eat right and get off your butt to exercise if you want to feel better.
posted to Ask Metafilter by lia at 11:43 AM on July 6, 2008

suedehead has it, it's momo's work. part of my dog walk route is on this, so i see it every day!
posted to Ask Metafilter by lia at 10:50 PM on July 4, 2008

that's really, really, really weird—i live in new york and none of the mailmen i've ever had in any zip code have ever demanded this (none of my mailboxes have ever had names outside them), or have ever not delivered mail addressed to the apartment, whether the residents are current or not. i call bullshit on this being policy. tell your mailman you are happy to place a sticker with your name INSIDE the box but not out for privacy reasons.
posted to Ask Metafilter by lia at 11:27 AM on July 4, 2008

nothing beats mayonnaise you make yourself—maki itoh has a great recipe for a creamy mayonnaise like my all-time favorite brand, kewpie, which is easily available at your nearest Japanese grocery—but mark bittman of the nyt wrote a great piece last year on jazzing up store-bought mayo (with an accompanying video, even).... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by lia at 3:33 PM on July 3, 2008

i've been with lovers who've hit my cervix and for me it's very much a sharp pain, sometimes enough to make me gasp in a bad way, and i always have my partner reposition somewhat so it doesn't happen again. if that's what happening, don't worry—as you get used to each other's bodies and figure out what you like and what works, it'll happen less and less often.

i've never had any bleeding though but since i'm not a doctor so i can't say if that's related to your cervix at... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by lia at 9:07 PM on July 2, 2008

plantains cash & carry, (212) 777-1044, 155 attorney st—this is where many of our neighborhood bars get their supplies, you can walk in off the street and get cases of stuff at the same wholesale price.
posted to Ask Metafilter by lia at 1:01 PM on July 2, 2008

flickr for photos + vimeo for videos + tumblr for blog posts that you want to write AND automatic aggregation of stuff you post to flickr and vimeo. all free, all awesome.
posted to Ask Metafilter by lia at 2:23 PM on July 1, 2008

don't go the religious/modest swimwear route—they're unattractive and awkward, and will therefore make you stick out like a sore thumb, plus they're not going to be as great for vigorous activity as stuff made for surfers. no reason you can't be covered up AND stylish AND sporty!

roxy's got boardshorts and rashguards, patagonia has rashguards, sporty lifestyle retailer moosejaw has boardshorts from many different brands (including roxy and patagonia), women's sports... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by lia at 9:04 PM on June 26, 2008

i live with three guys and we've got a super great cleaning lady who does great work and is very affordable, i can't recommend her enough. we're on the les but she might consider doing williamsburg, mefimail me for her rates and contact info.
posted to Ask Metafilter by lia at 5:43 PM on June 25, 2008

california to the uk is a really really really long flight for an older dog to be in the cargo hold, especially if he's never flown before—and then he'd still have to go through all the customs/quarantine, which will be extra stressful. also if she flies in the summer or early fall, it might be too hot in california (and therefore the tarmac) for the airlines to even accept him to fly in the first place.
posted to Ask Metafilter by lia at 1:23 PM on June 25, 2008

here's a list of places with the free condoms, courtesy of the city—but honestly, it's new york city in the year 2008, no one gives a shit about your sexual habits, no one is going to look twice if you're in line at duane reade with a giant box of condoms or care if you go into babeland.
posted to Ask Metafilter by lia at 4:34 PM on June 22, 2008

i have thick and wavy hair too and decided short hair just doesn't work for me, it takes more effort than i'm willing to put in. having said that,

I have occasionally seen people with my hair texture who had good-looking short cuts, but I can't exactly whip out my camera to photograph strangers' haircuts.

forget the camera—just stop them and ask where they get their hair cut! everyone loves to be told they look good and asked... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by lia at 4:05 PM on June 18, 2008

the new york housing market is extremely tight, and 1300 is not an unreasonably price for a big room in a good neighborhood like park slope—if your roommate puts an ad for it on craigslist, he won't have any problems filling the room for that price within a few days of posting the ad.
posted to Ask Metafilter by lia at 10:54 PM on June 17, 2008

indexhibit is pretty simple to set up, use and customize.
posted to Ask Metafilter by lia at 6:49 PM on June 17, 2008

It looks like they only allow dogs to be brought as carry-on items but I don't think that my dog (25 lbs) will fit under the seat.

i've never known airlines to weigh a carry-on animal, so if your dog will fit in a Sherpa Bag—designed initially to carry lhasa apsos, the biggest of which are about 25 pounds—it should be fine to go under the seat if you have a pet ticket reserved and the vet paperwork. my friend went to california and back with his shiba... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by lia at 7:03 PM on June 16, 2008

It's very difficult to network with a blog. Why not do conferences and start networking in the real world instead.

parmanparman, you're talking nonsense—if you're a great writer and know what you're writing about, having a blog is actually one of the best ways to network, as the careers of many of metafilter's earliest members continue to bear out. if your blog is interesting, people in your field will read it, and you'll be a leg up on your fellow... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by lia at 8:40 PM on June 15, 2008

if you can find anything by lino brocka, mike de leon, or ishmael bernal, watch them—they're my three favorite of the older generation of filipino directors.

more modern stuff (with the caveat that because manila is small and i went to up diliman, these four people are all friends of friends): jeffrey jeturian's kubrador (his tuhog is fantastic, but might not make sense to you), quark henares' keka, aureus solito's ang pagdadalaga ni maximo oliveros, yam laranas' sigaw... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by lia at 8:33 PM on June 15, 2008 marked best answer

sometimes the best way to keep a business growing is to cut back, in the same way that you'd prune a tree to keep it healthy. the way you're working and living right now is not sustainable, and it doesn't make you happy, so it's time for a change. go through your list of projects and figure out what you can put off, what needs to be done now, and perhaps most critically from your description—what you can actually hire other people to do. and then either hire people, or outsource those tasks to... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by lia at 3:02 PM on June 12, 2008

also! start scheduling downtime and stick with it. if you're working 20 hours a day every day you're probably so tired physically and mentally that you're not getting 20 hours worth of work done. the beauty of being your own bosses is you can make your own hours—as Bruce H and crickets said, take less jobs and charge more for the ones you do take.
posted to Ask Metafilter by lia at 3:05 PM on June 12, 2008

do you have an amazon wishlist, and is the record on it? someone might've bought you a present off of it from a registered third party seller and the buyer or seller could've forgotten to write a note.
posted to Ask Metafilter by lia at 10:58 AM on June 9, 2008

utada hikaru - traveling, or really anything else she's put out from 2000 onwards.
posted to Ask Metafilter by lia at 7:18 PM on June 7, 2008 marked best answer

i forget my id sometimes—i'm almost 30 but can pass for college-age easily—and i usually just tell bouncers how old i am, my year of birth and that i don't care enough about booze to drink so if they want they can just write a big black x on my wrists so the bartenders know not to serve me alcohol, and they always just let me in without even doing that. i'm a cute girl though and bouncers tend to be nice to cute girls, so your mileage may vary.
posted to Ask Metafilter by lia at 7:17 PM on June 7, 2008

if he's still got the negatives, is there any reason why you don't want to just scan those?
posted to Ask Metafilter by lia at 1:10 PM on June 5, 2008

Where to go in NYC (preferably around Union Square) for this?

now that the weather is great, bring a picnic blanket with you to work, and then on your lunch break walk up a few blocks up to madison square park (23rd & broadway) and nap on the grass. it's quieter than union square and great under the shade! plus if the lines are not too long, you can get lunch at the shake shack.

alternately: just do what i, a very... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by lia at 11:54 AM on June 3, 2008

rub some peanut butter on there, let it sit for a bit and then start working it out, that should do the trick. then soap and water afterwards to wash!
posted to Ask Metafilter by lia at 5:53 PM on June 2, 2008 marked best answer

have you considered concrete?
posted to Ask Metafilter by lia at 7:35 PM on June 1, 2008

Anyhow, there's a Popeye's right off the First Ave. stop of the L, at like 13th Street.

that popeye's closed fairly recently, alas—there's one on 14th st between 5th & 6th avenues (so basically two and a half blocks from an L stop either way) and another right off the essex/delancey stop of the f/j/m/z.
posted to Ask Metafilter by lia at 1:45 PM on May 29, 2008 marked best answer