It's a zoo. At least, anywhere near Fisherman's Wharf is a zoo.

If you can get up early, and pack a lunch, you can always try Hawk Hill, up at the top of the Marin Headlands. The view from there is great. But the nearest bathroom is a port-o-potty about a 1/4 mile from the top of the hill.

A couple of years ago, quite by accident, we happened to catch much of the airshow from the deck of an Angel Island ferry. We'd been on the island much of the... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by rtha at 2:19 PM on October 10, 2008

A whole bunch of people I know who do social justice stuff work in the world of public policy - specifically, health policy. Some of them work for nonprofits that serve homeless people with HIV; some of them work or have worked for the department of public health, figuring out ways to lower barriers to care for the poor/homeless/living with HIV. My favorite person (reader, I married her) has done HIV policy for years and is now working for an organization dedicated to reforming drug-related... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by rtha at 9:08 AM on October 8, 2008

NPR is doing one here based on their twitter dialtest here.
posted to Ask Metafilter by rtha at 7:11 PM on October 7, 2008

Gallery of Jewels in Noe Valley (they have other locations in SF, but the Noe store is the only one I've been to) has gorgeous stuff. And Yelp folks seem to love them.
posted to Ask Metafilter by rtha at 11:55 AM on October 7, 2008

Yeah, don't quit your day job.

It's nonfiction from a first-time author (yes? not that it probably matters if you'll be using a pseudonym), submitted to small presses, targeting a small market. If you get an advance, it will be tiny; with or without an advance your royalties will be small.

Sorry. Publishing's a rough world.
posted to Ask Metafilter by rtha at 1:44 PM on October 6, 2008

Yes. You can use Airsharing. Or you can do what I did before the app store opened up: email yourself the pdf; using the ipod's mail app, get your email, and download and open the pdf. Now it will be available for viewing even if you're not on a wireless connection.

I also use Stanza, which is awesome, but it's not always great at preserving the formatting of pdfs.
posted to Ask Metafilter by rtha at 4:00 PM on October 2, 2008

Whoops. Missed the no-emailing-to-self part. Sorry. Airsharing does work a treat - pdfs, jpegs, excel sheets, etc. Very cool.
posted to Ask Metafilter by rtha at 4:01 PM on October 2, 2008

What neustile said: Yes, yes you can keep pdfs for viewing, on the iphone/ipod touch, without a wireless connection. I'm looking at one right now on my touch. Airsharing lets you do this.
posted to Ask Metafilter by rtha at 6:14 AM on October 3, 2008

Oh, heck no, averyworld. Oh, but...Stanza has a desktop app that may be Mac-only at this point (not sure about that). So, with the desktop app, I can open a pdf or a word doc in Stanza, and Stanza converts it - sometimes losing all formatting, sometimes only losing bolds/itals (it seems to do better w/ Word docs, but I've had n trouble with some pdfs). Then, with the converted stanza version open, and both my laptop and ipod touch on the same wifi network, I go to Stanza on the touch, select... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by rtha at 2:10 PM on October 3, 2008

I'll keep this short: talk therapy. You're depressed. (IANAD, psychologist, LICSW, etc.) Talk therapy and meds.

but I haven’t come to terms with the fact that I may need to pay for a magic substance to “fix” the way my brain functions.

If you broke your arm you'd have it set. Your brain needs help, and there's no shame or dishonor in seeking it, and it's not a sign of weakness to do so. It's a sign of strength.
posted to Ask Metafilter by rtha at 10:28 AM on October 3, 2008

Yeah, there's almost no incentive for them to hide things about penicillin anymore, since it's been around for so long. Do take the full course - every single pill (unless you show an allergic reaction) - even if you start to feel better halfway through the course. You don't want to contribute to resistant bugs.
posted to Ask Metafilter by rtha at 3:19 PM on October 2, 2008

Any of the Jack Reacher novels by Lee Child. Reacher is a loner, an ex-Army MP. He's like MacGyver, but without the dorkiness. Cool, hard, flinty, fast-paced.

Pretty much anything, but especially the Jane Whitefield series by Thomas Perry. Jane helps people in trouble disappear.

I'll think of more.... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by rtha at 9:11 PM on October 1, 2008

Christ the Redeemer in Rio.
posted to Ask Metafilter by rtha at 3:14 PM on September 29, 2008

Work on your school's newspaper or literary magazine. Get yourself a copy of the Chicago Manual of Style, and the AP Manual, and familiarize yourself with their contents. Chicago, in particular, has excellent stuff about how publishing works - the various stages a book goes through, from ms to bookstore - and a good outline of proofreader's marks and what they mean.

I've been an editor for years and years. My formal, schooled knowledge of grammar is fairly abysmal, but... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by rtha at 3:12 PM on September 29, 2008

In anthologies I've been published in, I have been paid: nothing; $25 and two copies of the book; $500 - this was for an anthology from a major house, with some pretty heavy-hitters in it.

In other words, your terms are normal. If the book becomes an Oprah book, you'll get boast that you're in it. That's it.
posted to Ask Metafilter by rtha at 12:18 PM on September 29, 2008

...And again, I totally believe in evolution and that we evolved from chimps

We didn't, though. We share a common ancestor, but humans did not evolve from chimps, or from any other existing ape.
posted to Ask Metafilter by rtha at 9:55 PM on September 28, 2008

preview is my friend
posted to Ask Metafilter by rtha at 9:56 PM on September 28, 2008

Periodically, I put my most-worn cap in the dishwasher. Top rack. It comes out clean, and then I put it in sunny (indoor) spot until it dried completely (a few hours) and then it's good to go and stinky.
posted to Ask Metafilter by rtha at 9:01 PM on September 28, 2008

Not stinky. NOT stinky. Sorry.
posted to Ask Metafilter by rtha at 9:02 PM on September 28, 2008

Grew up mostly in New England, now live in California; I pronounce them the same way, and have never heard an alternate pronounciation.

(I do pronounce caught/cot slightly differently from one another.)
posted to Ask Metafilter by rtha at 2:53 PM on September 26, 2008

This is probably a question best posted in metatalk, which is where questions about metafilter go, but yeah, I've met lots of mefites. San Francisco mefites like meetups, and even outside of meetups, I sometimes get together with mefites. We're mostly a good bunch.
posted to Ask Metafilter by rtha at 2:11 PM on September 26, 2008

Nthing let it go. Weddings are stressful, and the less you have to stress about (like a cranky MOH) the better. Based on my experience (four weddings (to the same woman!), three of them small and one of them big and fancy and with dinner and whatnot), the day is going to be kind of a blur. You may not remember even talking to half the people at your reception, so with any luck, you won't even notice the parents.

Take a deep breath, keep in mind that pretty much no one... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by rtha at 12:11 PM on September 25, 2008

The hardest thing I've ever done, the thing that tested (to their limits and beyond) my tenacity, stamina, emotional control, and physical capacity for perseverance and good judgement in the face of tiny amounts of sleep, horrendous stress, and terror like you can't imagine, was to care for my mother as she was dying of cancer. Six months. I'm an only child. My father had died a few months earlier. I was not yet thirty.

You will learn more about yourself than you want to... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by rtha at 9:42 AM on September 24, 2008

I've slept in an uninsulated shack in January in NH. I slept inside two sleeping bags, long underwear, sweatpants, socks, two or three shirts, a hat, and mittens. I kept my alarm clock inside the inner bag so it wouldn't freeze.

I woke up one morning so.cold. It was 27 below outside (and inside). It was not a sustainable way to live.

So, nthing everyone else that you can't/shouldn't do this.
posted to Ask Metafilter by rtha at 7:34 PM on September 23, 2008

I also agree with your boyfriend, with the caveats that rossination mentions. One of the things that makes P. D. Q. Bach's compositions so funny is how he toys with the listener's expectations.
posted to Ask Metafilter by rtha at 4:22 PM on September 23, 2008

Regarding lactose intolerance - for you intolerant folks out there who can eat cheese but not ice cream, it's because aged cheeses (and it doesn't have to be super-aged - a Cheddar a few months aged will do it) have virtually no lactose in them. Fresh milk products do. Aged cheeses don't. So yay!
posted to Ask Metafilter by rtha at 2:47 PM on September 23, 2008

Lonely Planet's Thorntree forum is jammed with recent helpful advice. Mostly nice people, too, the last time I hung out there.

I've traveled alone (I'm a woman), and I never ended up being alone very much - and I don't mean that in a creepy way. It's easy and fun to find people to hang out with for a day or week or longer.
posted to Ask Metafilter by rtha at 1:15 PM on September 23, 2008

Regarding the Element: It's got huge amounts of storage space, true, but I can vouch for the fact that the backseats are incredibly uncomfortable for long rides. If you test drive one, take a friend to sit in the back, and drive it as long as you can.
posted to Ask Metafilter by rtha at 11:47 AM on September 23, 2008

So what happened? How was the trip?
posted to Ask Metafilter by rtha at 9:07 AM on September 23, 2008

I reserved a car a few weeks ago with Budget. Did it online, with no credit card info needed; a rate was quoted (I didn't have a coupon, but did have a AAA discount, I think). A couple-three days before I picked it up, I called to confirm the reservation and rate. Got the car at the ABQ airport with no trouble. I did print out the reservation from the webpage and the bit they emailed me. You should be fine.
posted to Ask Metafilter by rtha at 8:44 AM on September 23, 2008

The heterosexual couples that I know who do this do it because they're not married - so no husband/wife language works - but they are far, far beyond the boyfriend/girlfriend stage of things. I dunno - what other word do you think they should use?

queers are on the cutting edge of a lot of cultural stuff; why should language be different?
posted to Ask Metafilter by rtha at 8:41 PM on September 22, 2008

Normal people are just fine about reading on the toilet, except for normal people who are squicked out by it.

Also, colon cleansing is bad for you. Don't do that.
posted to Ask Metafilter by rtha at 3:26 PM on September 22, 2008

If you're going to buy used items like a stroller, crib, high chair, make sure that it's not something that might have been recalled a year or two or five earlier. The Consumer Products Safety Commission - as anemic and understaffed/funded as it is - has a database where you can look things up.

Cloths and bedding should be fine after a good laundering. Congratulations!
posted to Ask Metafilter by rtha at 1:56 PM on September 22, 2008

The Pyrex website says:

# Avoid Sudden Temperature Changes to your Glassware. To avoid the risk of breakage due to a sudden temperature change to your Pyrex glassware, DO NOT add liquid to hot glassware, place hot glassware on a wet or cool surface, or handle hot glassware with a wet towel, wet potholder or other wet cloth. DO NOT place hot glassware directly on a countertop or any metal surface, or in the sink. Allow hot glassware to cool on a cooling rack, dry... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by rtha at 10:49 AM on September 22, 2008 marked best answer

I guess there's the "technical" label, and then there's the personal/political/etc. label. Technically, she's bisexual, since she's slept with men in the past. But the identity she's chosen is lesbian. Maybe it's for political reasons. Maybe she's always like girls more. Maybe she'll tell you if you ask her.
posted to Ask Metafilter by rtha at 5:36 AM on September 22, 2008

Then you should call Comcast and ask them. At $19.70/mo, that sounds like basic-ish cable; you may have been getting other channels accidentally (their accident). If you want more channels, you should call them and ask them what they did, and be prepared to pony up more money for more channels.
posted to Ask Metafilter by rtha at 2:51 PM on September 19, 2008

Is there a reason why going to nursing school in the U.S. is out? (Your question says "travel abroad", which I read as meaning you live in the U.S., and would travel somewhere to go to nursing school).

There must be a way to transfer non-U.S. certifications, since there are lots of foreign-trained nurses working in the U.S.

You might consider contacting the American Nurses Association.
posted to Ask Metafilter by rtha at 1:43 PM on September 19, 2008

Label the boxes "tax receipts 1999-2002." Or something equally dull.
posted to Ask Metafilter by rtha at 9:26 AM on September 19, 2008

Yeah, what jenkinsEar said. Great minds etc.
posted to Ask Metafilter by rtha at 9:27 AM on September 19, 2008

You know, if an adult wants to stay out all night and get hammered - especially when they're far away from their sweetie - then the conversation that's had before the hammering is "Honey, I've had a shitty week, and although it's only Wednesday, I'm going out tonight to get trashed, and may not be back until it's time to go to work. I'll call you when I wake up. And you're listed as my ICE contact in my cell phone in case anything happens - not that it will!... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by rtha at 12:37 PM on September 18, 2008

Mary McCarthy was my first thought, as well. But that's just a gut feeling, not an Answer.
posted to Ask Metafilter by rtha at 9:40 AM on September 16, 2008

Wrong as well - I think Sidhedevil's got it.
posted to Ask Metafilter by rtha at 7:39 AM on September 17, 2008

Ach. One of our cats delevoped bald spots (on his head!) - they came on very suddenly. Took him to the vet and she was all "Yoiks! Ringworm!"

Ringworm is a pain to treat in cats but not that tough in humans. Nobody else in the house - feline or human - has developed it.

But IANAV and your cat might not have ringworm. But a vet's a good idea, sooner rather than later - if it is ringworm, finding out and starting treatment sooner rather... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by rtha at 6:17 AM on September 16, 2008

And, if it is ringworm, vacuum the heck out of your house. It's passed on via fur, so de-fur as much as possible. Good luck and let us know what happens!
posted to Ask Metafilter by rtha at 11:13 AM on September 16, 2008

If you're having the party in Charm City, don't forget about fries and gravy. (Though I'm not sure that would work well at a party....)
posted to Ask Metafilter by rtha at 9:42 AM on September 16, 2008

Worked in France for a while, years ago, and heard it/used it in business contexts often. As long as you use(d) a normal, business-y sort of tone, there's nothing flirtatious about it. In English, "Nice to meet you" and similar can certainly be flirtatious if you bat your eyelashes, lean in, speak like Marilyn Monroe, etc. If your body language and tone are all about the business, then the word will be too.
posted to Ask Metafilter by rtha at 9:28 AM on September 16, 2008

Any of Thomas Perry's Jane Whitefield novels - she helps people in trouble disappear. Great stuff.

This Perry novel is a stand-alone, about an ordinary guy who get caught in some bad stuff, and how he gets out of it. Also great. I don't even pretend any more that I'm going to wait for the paperback.
posted to Ask Metafilter by rtha at 12:12 AM on September 14, 2008

If it's blackstrap (ours came in a bottle), it will also keep forever. You can use it in cookie recipes and things, but it does have a stronger flavor than regular molasses, so you might have to adjust quantities. We make triple ginger cookies with it (powdered, crystalized, and fresh ginger). I've also been known to eat spoonfuls of it. It may be an acquired taste, but I'm darn happy I acquired it.
posted to Ask Metafilter by rtha at 2:58 PM on September 12, 2008

I'd call your vet and ask them what they think, but unless your cats are in the habit of climbing the shower curtain and/or licking the tub, it's probably fine. Shut the door and run the fan for a while, and I would use soap and water to clean the hard surfaces of things in there.
posted to Ask Metafilter by rtha at 2:48 PM on September 12, 2008

Raw salmon? Out of refrigeration overnight?

I would not eat it. Fish goes bad alarmingly quickly.

Sorry about your dinner.
posted to Ask Metafilter by rtha at 8:27 AM on September 12, 2008