I did exactly what your friend did as far as adding the name, using the same three names she does professionally and the other two socially. Exactly.

I wouldn't change a thing. The only time I EVER ran into a problem was when British Airways got confused as to whether I was filed under "F" or "C." I explained it, a manager nodded and waved me on.

I'd just suggest that, even though you kept your middle name, you use the maiden... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by GaelFC at 2:43 PM on August 19, 2008 marked best answer

This is personalized, not monogrammed, but I get raves when I give a personalized puzzle stool.
posted to Ask Metafilter by GaelFC at 9:18 PM on July 30, 2008

Some awesome things on Etsy.com. Try searching on "Chicago Cubs" or "Wrigley Field."

I love this Wrigley chalkboard, but there are also plenty of prints, etc.
posted to Ask Metafilter by GaelFC at 8:35 AM on July 23, 2008

Little House on the Prairie was one of my firsts.
posted to Ask Metafilter by GaelFC at 8:28 AM on July 23, 2008

Have you thought of calling a place like Seattle Laptop Repair? Even if they don't sell them, they might know where to send you.
posted to Ask Metafilter by GaelFC at 3:32 PM on July 14, 2008

Yeah, I don't get what you mean by cheesy/corny either, and I know you say "no Tarantino," but "Bang Bang My Baby Shot Me Down" in "Kill Bill" was used to chilling effect.

And I'm just rewatching "Juno," and the childlike lyrics of Kimya Dawson are perfect for that film.
posted to Ask Metafilter by GaelFC at 2:51 PM on July 5, 2008

65 is still pretty young, relatively speaking, but if you want a list of older famous people, go to stiffs.com and see who's popular on their Dead Pool lists.
posted to Ask Metafilter by GaelFC at 7:39 PM on July 2, 2008

Wander around the Ballard locks--check out the salmon ladder, watch the boats, stroll through that park there, get burgers at the Lockspot afterwards.
posted to Ask Metafilter by GaelFC at 2:41 PM on June 30, 2008

Where is he roadtripping?

When we drove the American South, we counted the number of Waffle Houses we saw. When our friends came to visit us in Seattle, they enjoyed counting the number of coffeehouses they saw.
posted to Ask Metafilter by GaelFC at 5:16 PM on June 25, 2008

Hate to be cliched, but video camera. Also, iPhone. I used nothing more than the iPhone...took a million baby pics, emailed them to grandmas instantly, checked email while rocking a sleepy baby, took notes on her naps, etc.
posted to Ask Metafilter by GaelFC at 11:26 AM on June 19, 2008

A guy on IMDB once posted it to YouTube, maybe email him?
posted to Ask Metafilter by GaelFC at 1:51 PM on June 13, 2008

Still don't know the month in 1983, but the entire advertorial is here. Woo!
posted to Ask Metafilter by GaelFC at 3:21 PM on June 5, 2008 marked best answer

It's my general experience that everyone in journalism would like to work from home. As I suspect you know, the best way is to get a fulltime job doing it and then slowly convince that company to let you telecommute. No one knows your work habits better, whereas a new company is likely to be wary about people they've never met working in an unsupervised environment. Yes, we should be trusted to work from home, and editing hardly requires an office, but good luck convincing most corporations to... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by GaelFC at 9:13 PM on June 4, 2008

Go to a podiatrist. I did for the first time for a messed-up toenail when I was eight months pregnant. He fixed it right in the office without any pain meds (none needed, I didn't feel a thing). Once the baby came, I was doing a lot of kneeling to change diapers, and had I been kneeling on that nail, I would have been howling the kind of stars and other characters you see cartoon characters yelling in comic strips.

Why the heck would a wedge resection, which I've never... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by GaelFC at 9:09 PM on June 4, 2008

My husband's at Microsoft in Redmond. They did go-karting and whitewater rafting. They loved both, but the go-karting was especially a hoot because the top three got giant goofy trophies which they display in their offices (he came in second).

What about Jillian's or Gameworks? An Argosy cruise?
posted to Ask Metafilter by GaelFC at 9:28 AM on June 4, 2008

Not everything Tartt references in TSH is real. I always assumed the horror story was as fictional as the Charlie Sheen movie Richard later goes to see.
posted to Ask Metafilter by GaelFC at 12:47 PM on June 1, 2008 marked best answer

But Ed Gein was real, so it's not like this store-running couple inspired HIM. And stories about Ed Gein (Psycho, et al) were inspired by Gein so...what's the fictional story? Again, I think this was Tartt being creative and inventing the "much-anthologized story."
posted to Ask Metafilter by GaelFC at 2:44 PM on June 1, 2008

OK, apparently this is from "Sex and the City" (!), but:

We had you, and then we had everything.
posted to Ask Metafilter by GaelFC at 7:04 PM on May 20, 2008

I did make (well, had someone make) a video of photos from throughout our family's life...beginnning with my parents as kids and then through their marriage, WW II, their kids, grandkids, our various homes, pets, etc. My folks loved it and I made copies for all the family. Can your mom not see at all? It's easier for my mom to watch our video on a computer because she can sit right up close and stop it as it progresses. We also set it to songs they liked, from their era, that fit the theme of... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by GaelFC at 8:52 AM on May 18, 2008

Man, my last name is on the "trendy for 2015" list. In fact, every other name on there seems to be a last name.
posted to Ask Metafilter by GaelFC at 10:44 PM on May 14, 2008

Do you know about TV Shows on DVD? That's the best way to keep track of whether a show is likely to be released on DVD, and if so, when. It has an entry for Thompson but no info right now though.
posted to Ask Metafilter by GaelFC at 4:46 PM on May 5, 2008

I looooove that model, but I've only found it at Amazon.com or King Arthur Flour.com.
posted to Ask Metafilter by GaelFC at 1:28 PM on May 4, 2008

Pippa was also the annoying Australian girl on "Facts of Life." Just sayin'.
posted to Ask Metafilter by GaelFC at 8:42 PM on May 2, 2008

Also, check out my neighborhood of Ballard. Just got back from our little downtown area and man, is it hopping. Have pizza at the restored firehouse, cupcakes at Cupcake Royale, take in a movie at the independent Majestic Bay theater, shop for CDs at Sonic Boom, and people-watch like mad.
posted to Ask Metafilter by GaelFC at 8:38 PM on May 2, 2008

consider the source?
posted to Ask Metafilter by GaelFC at 9:29 PM on April 28, 2008

Use the lace as part of a wedding garter for a future daughter or daughter-in-law?
posted to Ask Metafilter by GaelFC at 10:21 PM on April 23, 2008

I have never seen or used your guillotine type. I have always used and loved this kind of clipper, which apparently is called a claw scissors. I'm so used to it now I wouldn't feel safe using anything else.
posted to Ask Metafilter by GaelFC at 4:01 PM on April 20, 2008

Also, some paperbacks came with ads in them. Cardboardy ads that were connected kind of like those blow-in subscription cards in magazines...remember that?
posted to Ask Metafilter by GaelFC at 2:55 PM on April 10, 2008

We just took our 4-month-old on a day-and-a-half Amtrak trip. She was great, but it got a little long. We rented a bedroom...are you just sitting in the regular seats?

There were no changing stations that I saw on our train, but I was able to easily change her on the bench seats in our room.

Re: car seat, depends again on if you are sitting in seats or in a bedroom, and how long the trip is. Our baby is great on 3-hour flights in her car seat the... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by GaelFC at 7:28 AM on April 4, 2008

PS: We had none of the issues Drastic mentions. I made sure to have plenty of diapers, wipes, toys, and bottles, of course. You might find it easier to bring some of your own food, too, so you don't have to juggle her on a trip down to the food car.
posted to Ask Metafilter by GaelFC at 7:29 AM on April 4, 2008

Thank you! I actually didn't realize that OLDER POSTS would still only show posts with the label I was looking for, and will try the other hack, too.
posted to Ask Metafilter by GaelFC at 8:16 AM on March 22, 2008

My husband works for Microsoft and in his building, there aren't enough offices, so people who are willing to give up having an office are assigned to work from home. They do have to come in occasionally (once a week?) and when they do, work in a communal office.

But you can't just apply at Microsoft and say "I want one o' them work-from-home jobs." You need to establish yourself as someone they want and trust, generally by working there, in the office, for a... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by GaelFC at 10:15 AM on March 7, 2008

Doug Coupland's "Microserfs" has been mentioned, and it's awesome. At one point a programmer locks himself in his office after Bill Gates flames him, and his worried co-workers head to Costo, buy only flat foods, and shove them under the door.
posted to Ask Metafilter by GaelFC at 2:33 PM on March 5, 2008 marked best answer

We just bought a pair and I do think they result in less-wrinkled clothes.
posted to Ask Metafilter by GaelFC at 8:48 AM on March 4, 2008

Car alarm on our street went off for 6+ hours while the owner was tubing down a river. It would stop every 5 minutes or so but always restarted. People were leaving notes on the car but we just fled the neighborhood for a movie to get away from it.

I used to have a car alarm but it would stop after a short amount of time, 5 minutes or so. Cycled through various sounds and then stopped.
posted to Ask Metafilter by GaelFC at 8:02 AM on March 3, 2008

Do you mean "Curse of the Blair Witch," a mocumentary that aired on SciFi to generate interest in the movie?
posted to Ask Metafilter by GaelFC at 8:33 AM on February 26, 2008

From the Wikipedia article linked above:

"The teaser poster and other advertisements for the film were designed to reinforce the 'documentary' concept, leading many people to think the film was an actual documentary, and that the three protagonists really had disappeared in the woods near Burkittsville, Maryland.

To reinforce this idea, the Sci-Fi Channel aired a fake documentary, Curse of the Blair Witch, that claimed to investigate the... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by GaelFC at 8:36 AM on February 26, 2008

Kate Mantilini's now has a Woodland Hills location (other one is in Beverly Hills). We went there and it was good, if pricey. No wait for a table though we might have called ahead.

My in-laws LOVE Monty's, but...they're in their 70s, and the clientele and menu fit that generation. Which might be good (no surprises) but might also not be what you're looking for.
posted to Ask Metafilter by GaelFC at 8:21 PM on February 23, 2008

My fallback: Personalized stools from Cubbyhole Toys.
posted to Ask Metafilter by GaelFC at 6:56 PM on February 19, 2008

I just do this in regular blog format. But offline, I use Master Cook, which seems to be among the most popular recipe-keeping software.
posted to Ask Metafilter by GaelFC at 6:26 PM on February 16, 2008

When someone says "how are you?" to my father-in-law, he always replies "Oh, I've never had a bad day."

When someone trips: "First day with the new legs?"
posted to Ask Metafilter by GaelFC at 11:53 AM on February 16, 2008

I've been a journalist since 1989, and we didn't use them until I moved into online journalism in the late 1990s. Suddenly we had the ability to announce the "American Idol" winner online before West Coast viewers had seen the show, and people would flame us to high heaven if we didn't use spoiler alerts and use generic headlines.
posted to Ask Metafilter by GaelFC at 11:13 AM on February 16, 2008

Fits in your "other games" category, but Battle Hangman is a lot of fun.
posted to Ask Metafilter by GaelFC at 2:02 PM on February 15, 2008

It may fizz, but it can taste like CRAP. I was just at a friend's house and had a Diet Coke that was (unbeknownst to me) purchased around 2002. It tasted horribly chemically and we dumped it out instantly.
posted to Ask Metafilter by GaelFC at 5:56 PM on February 14, 2008

We had similar dress choices last year for my best friend's wedding (Bill Levkof, Euro red, floor length, otherwise pick your own).

Hit a local bridal store and ask them to bring you every dress fitting your criteria that you can (in any color, as long as it comes in your red). You'll soon get a sense of what works. For me, I went with a long straight skirt that had a corset-like top. Hardly any of the dresses had sleeves, but the bride bought us all matching red wraps.... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by GaelFC at 11:06 AM on February 14, 2008

Here's an idea: Do you have a friend who is unemployed and can help you out? Have them hit a store tomorrow and pick up 10-12 of those heart-shaped chocolate boxes and then drive around town and deliver them. Assuming your girlfriends all live in the same metro area, that is.
posted to Ask Metafilter by GaelFC at 10:28 PM on February 13, 2008

I thought it was weird that they asked me this question at my first pregnancy appointment. I said it was planned, but had I said unplanned, I wonder if I would have been offered counseling or other information. It seemed an odd thing to ask.
posted to Ask Metafilter by GaelFC at 11:14 AM on February 3, 2008

I've been impressed with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation's work to rid Africa of malaria. Amazing stuff. He could have just dinked around with his billions, buying sports teams and the like, but he's making a difference in the arena of life and death.
posted to Ask Metafilter by GaelFC at 7:56 PM on February 2, 2008

Relativity, from the thirtysomething and My So-Called Life producers. Why is this show not on DVD? What a tragedy. (For that matter...why isn't thirtysomething on DVD?)
posted to Ask Metafilter by GaelFC at 4:08 PM on February 2, 2008

Beer for My Horses, by Toby Keith with Willie Nelson?

Although after 9/11, I admit it was strangely satisfying.

Well a man come on the 6 o'clock news
Said somebody's been shot, somebody's been abused
Somebody blew up a building
Somebody stole a car
Somebody got away
Somebody didn't get too far yeah
They didn't get too far

Grandpappy told my pappy,... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by GaelFC at 8:01 PM on January 31, 2008