to answer your question, no, I don't think anything bad will happen. If your bed is right next to an exterior wall or window, and the vent that used to shoot warm air against that wall is covered by the bed, you will feel colder at night. that's pretty much it. It's not like keeping all that hot air from escaping through the vent is going to make the air hotter and hotter until stuff catches fire. In fact, you won't be keeping air from escaping anyway; the air will simply escape through the... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Chris4d at 3:48 PM on October 8, 2008

seconding lemonade: the most likely reason your mortgage company is making this offer is that they can charge you to set up the payment schedule. They're not doing it as charity.

I believe you can generally make payments on any schedule you wish, but sometimes the fine print of the loan terms may prohibit certain kinds of off-schedule payments, or may only apply payments once per month, or may charge a fee for early payment. It's all in the contract, so read it carefully.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Chris4d at 5:53 PM on October 6, 2008

I work for an architecture firm that does medical offices. We do 200-300 projects a year, in a growing metropolitan area, with a staff of five designers. Certainly it would be nice to give a special touch to each project, but the fees and the schedules involved simply don't allow it. It's likely that any doctor's office you go to will have been designed by one of a handful of firms in the area, and they follow a fairly restrictive template in order to get jobs done on time and under budget... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Chris4d at 1:14 PM on October 6, 2008

drive to phoenix? :)

I spent some time with friends down there and we went to the shanty on 9th, which was nice and laid back. Don't have any recommendations for dinner though, sorry. what about Eegee's? (I kid, I kid)
posted to Ask Metafilter by Chris4d at 9:00 AM on October 3, 2008

itunes keeps its library index in a binary file... should be a .itdb under users/you/music/itunes/. The xml file is actually itunes' own backup of the binary file, in case it somehow becomes corrupted. When the binary file is corrupted, itunes renames it "... (damaged)" and re-builds the library index from the xml file. If you're getting the error message followed by an empty itunes, I'm guessing that a) both files are corrupted, via disk error or something, or b) it's looking for... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Chris4d at 5:32 PM on October 1, 2008

My two cardinal rules: do your homework, and don't bet money you can't lose. Know that the smartest experts can be wrong, and so can you, but doing your research can illuminate opportunities in any market, including this one. Take a measured risk and give it time to pay off -- you have decent odds if you choose wisely.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Chris4d at 6:02 PM on September 29, 2008

Hmm, my song is a little more poppy and maybe less depressed sounding...? The drums had more presence too. In that vein, though, yeah.

I live in Phoenix, AZ, USA and I've heard it on the local alternative station and recently on slacker radio in a sandwich shop. I asked them the name of the track, but it had moved to the next song and they couldn't backtrack.

Thanks for trying though!
posted to Ask Metafilter by Chris4d at 4:21 PM on July 11, 2008

That's the one! I finally heard it again and it's definitely Dinosaur Jr. (and I was sorta misremembering the vocals...)

thanks minifigs!
posted to Ask Metafilter by Chris4d at 4:39 PM on September 29, 2008

potentially relevant.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Chris4d at 4:36 PM on September 29, 2008

That's sorta what I mean, but I don't think greed is quite the appropriate word either ... and I'm not focusing on individual investors so much as the big actors: the investment banks and the corporations who own or traffic in all this paper and are the principal cause of the mess to begin with (you could blame naive homebuyers rather than overzealous lending agents, but that's not relevant to my question). For instance: when the investment banks realized that their operations were going to... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Chris4d at 1:35 PM on September 26, 2008

ah - let me state it differently then. In some cases, yes, the assets in question have turned out to be essentially worthless. But in other cases, the assets just aren't worth enough to cover the debt right now. In the case of an individual homeowner who walks away from the mortgage, they're "cutting their losses" and while I think it's despicable, it makes some sense. In the case of these large firms though, it is no longer in their best interest to cut their... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Chris4d at 3:37 PM on September 26, 2008

for A1 = name, B1 = date, C1 = recent names, D1 = recent dates

formula as follows:
in column C:
=IF(B1<>
in column D:
=IF(B1<(NOW()-14),"",B1)
posted to Ask Metafilter by Chris4d at 12:42 PM on September 26, 2008

meh, use perplexity's!
posted to Ask Metafilter by Chris4d at 12:43 PM on September 26, 2008

apologies for the formatting getting messed up, but perplexity's works anyway. You might also input the data and then sort it according to column B so that you can always move the most recent data to the top.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Chris4d at 12:45 PM on September 26, 2008

FWIW, if I get in my car and turn the radio, A/C, and wipers on, and then turn the ignition to start the car, everything stops while the engine is turning over. It would seem that all power from the battery is applied to turning the engine over, and nonessential items are disengaged until the car starts.

But I'm no mechanic.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Chris4d at 8:44 PM on September 21, 2008

what about SLife?
posted to Ask Metafilter by Chris4d at 7:43 PM on September 21, 2008 marked best answer

thanks for the suggestions, some of those are pretty cool even though they don't fit the bill 100%. The custom google searches aren't half bad, actually. In my own surfing I'd only really found sites that could search by main ingredient, which is worse than useless. I don't need a website to suggest sweet & sour chicken as a recipe just because I have chicken, if I don't have bell peppers or pineapples or anything else that the recipe calls for.

Based on the... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Chris4d at 11:42 PM on September 10, 2008

thanks amf. I swear I searched first...

I would be interested in helping on a project like this, but I'm not a code guy.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Chris4d at 10:08 AM on September 11, 2008

fire&wings has it. I was just teaching my dad something on the drums today, and that's the way to do it. I taught myself drums by playing along to the radio; copying a rhythm in real-time makes it so much easier to do on your own later. I can't sing and drum simultaneously very well, but if I was going to start, I'd learn by the same method.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Chris4d at 6:43 PM on September 7, 2008

The grand canyon is a thrill but as others have said, there's not much to do, eat or enjoy there other than the canyon itself. There's also not a whole lot on the drive to and from, but I think it's worth the trip.

My favorite spots in sedona are oak creek canyon and tlaquepaque, which is a sprawling complex of unique artists' shops and other fun stuff. Don't bother with the main drag in town, it's too crowded and there's not much to see.... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Chris4d at 4:21 PM on September 6, 2008

a geotech consult will provide recommendations for proper slab construction (in your case, should offer recommendations for maintenance or remediation). I've personally never heard of a watering system despite having similar soil heave issues here in arizona, but maybe they're just less common here. More often, non-expansive fill soil will be brought in, and/or a post-tensioned slab will be used so the slab relies less on even support from the soil. Even in new homes, though, moderate... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Chris4d at 12:09 PM on August 20, 2008

happy birthday! my 25th was last thursday. My idea for gauging whether or not you're successfully making the most of your life: take a point-and-shoot camera everywhere you go. If you're not excited enough by your life to snap at least 5 (memory-worthy) pictures a day, then you're missing out on a lot of the opportunities life has to offer. Try new stuff, stimulate your mind, meet new people and keep on learning. When I finished school (I think I'm finally done this time), I was worried... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Chris4d at 5:55 PM on August 18, 2008

++ to pardonyou. People upthread are right about the litigious nature of the USA and the purpose of the courts to resolve disputes and find fault, but that's not an answer to your question as I see it (why are landowners often held to be "responsible" for activities that they are not obviously responsible for?)

The answer is that landowners have certain duties towards people on their land. Since landowners (more or less) have control of what gets built on... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Chris4d at 1:11 PM on August 7, 2008

I also recommend climbing -- even if you're iffy, give it a try at your local rock gym. Controlled environment so you feel safe and lots of friendly people with infectious enthusiasm for the sport. I can also recommend metal working - making things out of steel, wrought iron or copper is pretty cool. For that matter, woodworking is also fun, but you don't get to use hammers and stuff quite so much.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Chris4d at 3:52 PM on July 25, 2008

when I move to seattle from AZ where I grew up, I'm going to need some good mexican food. Glad to hear it's not completely absent from the northwest.

Smoky/spicy does indicate either smoked/roasted peppers or chipotle pepper. Hard to know more since I haven't been there.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Chris4d at 4:39 PM on May 2, 2008

If you haven't already, I suggest you ask this question of actual architects (I mean, even besides the ones on AskMe). Educate yourself by asking the experts. Anyone registered with the AIA will have some experience and a positive reputation, so start interviewing with some AIA member firms and see where it goes from there.

One thing to keep in mind is that deals that seem too good to be true probably are; design is a skilled profession just like medicine or law, and... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Chris4d at 3:39 PM on May 2, 2008 marked best answer

if you scan or photograph the pages and then compile them into a PDF with acrobat pro, you can run OCR that will make them searchable (incl. through google desktop or spotlight) without messing up the formatting or losing the images. I don't know enough about the various OCR options to rate acrobat's OCR quality, but it worked well for a small project I had. Plus your pages stay in "book" format, which is nice if you ever want to read through them in order again. I personally... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Chris4d at 2:18 PM on May 2, 2008

plenty of good advice about keeping it up as long as you're having fun, and stopping when you aren't.

just by way of encouragement, I've owned a guitar for just about 10 years now. I never took lessons or anything, just tried to learn from tabs online. I got to the point where I could play a few parts of a few songs on the guitar but I really had a hard time with it, so I almost never played. Last six months or so I've picked it up again and it's really clicked in a... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Chris4d at 11:21 AM on May 2, 2008

nth rock climbing, because it's a full-body workout that gets harder as you get stronger. I never could gain any mass till I started rock climbing. keep a modified lifting routine though, to balance out your muscle growth, or you'll end up with medial epicondylitis (climbing disproportionately works your pulling muscles over pushing muscles and puts your wrists at odd angles).
posted to Ask Metafilter by Chris4d at 2:23 PM on April 30, 2008

You're definitely not alone, dude. And you know, one of these days a girl is going to fall for you as hard as you fall for her -- problem solved :)
posted to Ask Metafilter by Chris4d at 1:47 PM on April 6, 2008

I do hope you're not planning on walking from the Heard Museum to Taliesin West, but around each place. They're like 30 miles apart.

Assuming you're looking for walkable districts in the valley, you have a few choices. Old town scottsdale has art galleries, western-themed collectibles, nice restaurants, and the SMoCA and performing arts center. Downtown Tempe has shops, tempe beach park, ASU and lots of nice (ahem) scenery. Downtown phoenix isn't... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Chris4d at 9:25 AM on March 31, 2008

A note for if/when you have kids. As an adult, you may be able to choose and lead a happy life of relative solitude, but a child needs to experience both solitude and social activity; a child who doesn't see his parent(s) socialize may have a difficult time learning to socialize for themselves, and this can be a serious developmental handicap.

maybe it's not always an issue, but I think it can be, myself as case in point: my parents only socialized with a few close... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Chris4d at 12:12 AM on March 31, 2008

I'm an architectural designer working in Phoenix. I've also been considering some of the items you have questions about (including complementary skills like writing along with design, etc) and I have a fair bit of experience both with portfolios and with job hunting in general. I don't have time right now to address all your points, but mefimail me if you'd like to pick my brain. The one thing I'll say real quick: your work should be the focus of your portfolio, ie your portfolio is certainly... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Chris4d at 3:49 PM on March 12, 2008

FWIW, the following helped me change long-standing negative habits. I don't believe I have/had actual diagnosable disorders, so maybe my situation was less extreme, but anyway it's worth a shot. Start with little inconsequential things: I will get my ass off the couch and do my dishes tonight, and they will be f'ing spotless. Give yourself credit for getting things right, and whenever you feel yourself focusing on something negative remind yourself of... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Chris4d at 10:50 PM on March 11, 2008

I switched to a macbook last october after a lifetime of PC use. Unlike thomas144, I've rarely experienced application hangs, and it's never been anything so serious that I couldn't force-quit and open again. I am actually amazed at the number of processes I can run simultaneously on my macbook. It's the base model so it can be slow on occasion, but that's really my only complaint.

To answer your question, timing your purchase is a little bit like timing the stock... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Chris4d at 4:19 PM on March 10, 2008

Here's a simple experiment -- can't hurt, might help. Your methods so far have led to consistent "you're nice but no thanks" answers, so just change your methods for a while and see what works by trial and error. If you've been asking girls you know well, ask girls you've only recently met. If you've been falling head-over-heels and getting too nervous to be cool, try asking out a girl you're not very interested in -- it's good practice, and she might turn out to be a good catch... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Chris4d at 10:44 PM on March 4, 2008

I think age is just one of the factors that influence someone's attractiveness. Some guys may write you off because of your age, and you won't have a shot with them even if you are flirty. Other guys, though, may be neutral or positively attracted to you despite or even because of your age. You're all adults, so act adult-y and have fun!
posted to Ask Metafilter by Chris4d at 4:08 PM on March 4, 2008

I know this isn't really an answer to your question, but robin williams' live on broadway got us through architecture school. You can keep working while you listen, and before too long you'll know it by heart... aw, I miss studio.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Chris4d at 9:41 AM on March 4, 2008

I have a bertoia diamond chair that came with the original cushion/cover and a knoll sticker and the legs are bolted. If you don't have the stickers, you'll never know for sure. But congrats and I hope you enjoy them!
posted to Ask Metafilter by Chris4d at 3:28 PM on March 3, 2008

I'm sure campfire will work for you, but I want to throw in another vote for gmail / gchat. You can have live chats with individuals or groups, and the chat transcripts are saved with your email. Taggable, searchable, same as email. You can even respond to an email with a chat, or vice versa. I think it's pretty sweet.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Chris4d at 1:11 PM on March 3, 2008

The Lost Leaf and most downtown bars qualify as hipster and/or scenester. I like em, but you probably won't. You might try Rosie McCaffery's and the Sonora Brewhouse in your neighborhood. I also have to recommend four peaks, even though it's in tempe. just go.

And I love harvey's wineburger. mmmmmm.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Chris4d at 3:55 PM on February 28, 2008

You are welcome to get in touch with our firm's interior designer. I'll memail you.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Chris4d at 3:33 PM on February 28, 2008

I've loved every canon I've ever owned (I'm on my fourth). I haven't used the A590, but I would trust the positive reviews.

w/r/t special batteries, I've always been OK with a special battery if it gives longer charges or faster re-charges. Sony's proprietary memory sticks, on the other hand, really bug me. Long live the powershot!
posted to Ask Metafilter by Chris4d at 3:17 PM on February 28, 2008

In my experience, tools inevitably require DWG format for 2-d stuff and STL for 3-d. Since you're sticking to 2-d, you can choose from any of the many CAD programs that export to the DWG standard, but I would recommend sticking with some variant of autocad because strange bugs can pop up when your finicky machine tools try to read a quirky 3rd-party DWG file. I agree that more recent incarnations of autocad provide far more "functionality" than you want or need; I'd recommend a cheap... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Chris4d at 2:22 PM on February 22, 2008 marked best answer

it would be cool to have an accent map (a la henry higgins). Not sure if the boundaries are still clear enough, or if you'd have time to do it in a week.

you could map density of a physical feature (ie church steeples or instances of graffiti) vs. any of a variety of demographic features (ie household size or income) to gauge the effectiveness of such visible landmarks as indicators of neighborhood character.

you could produce a city image map.... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Chris4d at 4:24 PM on February 21, 2008 marked best answer

flashman beat me to it while I was writing. It does sound like something you could tackle in a week, especially if you do your mapping and interview locals while you're there and compile the data when you return.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Chris4d at 4:26 PM on February 21, 2008

BLDGBLOG.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Chris4d at 3:58 PM on February 21, 2008

Isn't this what folder actions or automator are designed to do? The scripting part is not my forte, but ever since buying a macbook last year I've been able to find a feature within osx to do pretty much anything I can think of.

Actually, looks like folder actions are designed to ease repetitive tasks. I guess if you only wanted to perform this action once, you wouldn't need it.... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Chris4d at 3:47 PM on February 21, 2008

as a neutral observer who checked out your myspace, I'd say your neckline looks perfectly normal. I've never tried facial exercises... but if you want to give them a shot I don't see how they'd hurt anything.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Chris4d at 2:35 PM on February 21, 2008

... apparently mhz and myself missed the memo about how you're keeping your first name, and so neither of our answers are much help. Sorry, carry on.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Chris4d at 2:34 PM on February 18, 2008