Ask MetaFilter posts by fuzzbean

Hobbit seeks hole

fuzzbean — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 14:43:25 -0800

Is it remotely realistic for me to expect to get university housing from UW - Seattle as an incoming grad student? Specifically, I want a studio or one-bedroom and I don't know if I can get it. I was accepted to UW's iSchool a few weeks ago...yay! Now I'm looking at housing options and wondering if I'll actually be able to get on-campus housing or if I should just look for near-UW off-campus housing. I would really really love to live on campus, but it looks like incoming grad students are pretty low on the totem pole for most of the housing communities. What are my odds of being able to 1) get on-campus housing period and 2) get a one-bed or studio?

(I'd also consider a single in a dorm, though I'm less interested in moving every nine months, thanks. I don't deal terribly well with roommates, ergo ruling out the multi-student on-campus apartments.)

If my odds are nil or near it, what are the best neighborhoods near UW to find housing? Should I be looking for off-campus housing now or wait until closer to August? (I could theoretically move any time after June, but I live in LA and am very wary of renting an off-campus apt without seeing it first, which entails flying up, finding a place to stay, etc.)

Lonely movie seeks mate for night of incredible synergy

fuzzbean — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 10:52:11 -0800

Double Feature: Help me come up with pairs of movies that, viewed together, create ULTIMATE AWESOME. I want to host movie nights at my apartment. I'd like to show pairs of movies such that, while initially not connected, together make an evening of total awesome. Movies can be from any genre and together should be under four or five hours (so a Dr. Zhivago and Lawrence of Arabia double feature is RIGHT OUT.) One could be the source material for a subsequent takeoff, they could have similar themes or deal with similar situations in different ways. They do not need to be classics, but they both need to be good in an entertaining, thought-provoking, funny, sick, etc. sense (but they do not need to be all of these things simultaneously). They don't need to be "good" in a critic-approved sense; bad movies that turn into awesome in large groups with popcorn and alcohol is totally fine. They can be from any time period, any genre, any country (subtitles are fine), etc. Go nuts.

My only real restriction is nothing truly excessively gross (think the scab / dinner scene in Dead Alive; Burton's Sweeney Todd was also pretty over-the-top for me). Also no gorno - Hostel, Saw, etc. Basically - avoid luxurious cannibalism and gratuitous torture. Stuff that is trying to make me puke is not okay.

Some things I've come up with so far:
The Princess Bride and Stardust (sweet fairy tales)
Office Space and Resident Evil (evil corporation)
The Wicker Man (1973, tyvm) and Hot Fuzz (cop meets quaint town + referential)
The Great Escape and Chicken Run (takeoff / referential)
Dog Soldiers and Cursed or Ginger Snaps (werewolves)

Feel free to suggest alternate pairings for any of the movies I've listed above (especially Office Space; my bf thinks there will be insufficient people interested both in Office Space and a zombie flick). If anyone's seen The Happiness of the Katakuris and would like to suggest a mate for it, that would be great too.

Bonus question: Suggest movies+sequels that would be well-suited to a bunch of...well, Mefite-type-people sitting around and watching together. I've already done The Addams Family and Addams Family Values, and a full Saturday of the director's cut LOTRs is a distinct possibility, as is Kill Bill I+II

Remember: AWESOME.

Help me work around some complicated food allergies.

fuzzbean — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 20:19:13 -0800

Help me feed thirty people with a lot of food allergies with the fewest possible dishes. All vegetarians, a few vegans, and a bunch of people with gluten intolerance. Not everyone needs to be able to eat every dish, but everyone needs to be able to eat SOMETHING at every meal. And there are five days, including lunches, to plan for.

Breakfast is mostly cereal and rice/soy/almond/cow milk, so not a big deal. Lunch is usually soup. Dinner is the main meal. This is a vegetarian gathering, so no fish, shrimp, meat, or products derived from above (fish sauce, chicken broth). The food budget isn't huge, and stuff that is fairly quick and easy to toss together is a definite bonus (although I will have a lot of people willing to help chop and whatnot). Attendees will be late-teens to mid-thirties.

Several people have allergies to gluten. Some of the GF people have overlapping allergies with other foods:
-oats, rye, barley, millet, quinoa, corn
-dairy
-eggs
-members of the allium family (garlic, onion, leeks, etc.)
-peanuts

Non-GF:
-no eggs, whey, mushrooms, bananas, sesame seeds, peanuts, kidney beans, navy beans
-no MSG

At least one non-GF person is a vegan. There are also a few soy allergies but I'm not sure where they fall (whether they're GF or not). A few other people dislike beans and lentils (but it's not an allergy, so I'm less concerned with accommodating them).

I think it'll be easiest if the GF dishes are also vegan (to avoid milk and eggs). The non-GF vegan will be completely happy eating GF for the week. I might just shoot for vegan across the board to simplify things.

I saw this thread and it was very helpful, but working with a few more constraints than I have. I read Gluten-Free Girl regularly and will trawl her archives again for ideas.

Things that are already planned: ratatouille, an Indian food night with several different dishes, a build-your-own-burrito night, miso soup, some kind of pumpkin-and-coconut-milk Thai soup, popcorn for snacking.

I'd love suggestions for more soups, sides, and mains. Tasty sweets or snacks that are GF/vegan that would be great too. It would also be really awesome to have something particularly nice for breakfast on one morning - it's a gathering that stretches across New Year's and it would be cool to have something extra tasty on the first.

My problem is not in my head, it's in my guts. Help me figure out what it is.

fuzzbean — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 11:47:51 -0800

Help me make my next doctor's appointment more productive than my last one. This is about GI stuff. It is long. It is gross. You are warned. For about the last six months, I've had intermittent but ongoing issues with reflux, diarrhea, constipation, and nausea (but no vomiting). It comes and goes - I'll have a week that's all diarrhea all the time, and then one that's fine. Bad stomach cramps one day, nothing the next.

Over the course of about two months I got progressively worse reflux and heartburn; possibly related I've had abortive burps that feel like cramps in my esophogus. The reflux gets especially bad during exercise and often makes me stop.

I've been woken up in the morning by stomach cramps and needing to poo, I've eaten things and had them go through me in four hours (and yes, I'm sure it was the same thing coming out that just went in), I've had sudden and nearly-irresistible urges to use the bathroom NOW RIGHT NOW. There are a few areas of pain / discomfort (more discomfort than pain), including one near the crest of my right hip, another few inches under my right rib cage, and a third on my left side adjacent to my belly button.

This comes after a lifetime of having an absolutely cast-iron stomach, never nauseous, no diarrhea unless I ate something absurdly unwise, etc. This is very, very weird for me.

My GP gave me Aciphex, which helped with the reflux but not the diarrhea and nausea. A GI doc blew me off with a diagnosis of IBS caused by stress (I have an absurdly low-stress life, for real, but he wouldn't listen to that) and gave me a prescription for Librax, which I didn't fill after finding out that Librax includes a benzo (I have existing issues with depression and can't even take Zyrtec regularly because it makes me too dopey, but I didn't get the chance to discuss it with him - his nurse gave me the scrip after he'd already left.)

I have another appointment with a different GI doc coming up in November, but I'd like some input on what tests I should be pushing for and what this could possibly be. I know you're not doctors and this isn't medical advice. But I really don't want to spend another $60 to be told that it's all in my head.

Other stuff: I eat a fairly healthy diet and mostly cook for myself, whole grains and lots of fruits and veggies. 5'9", 140 lbs. Female. My maternal relatives have a history of gall bladder problems - both aunts and my grandmother. I've been tested for celiac, h. pylori, and intestinal parasites (all negative), and my GP also checked my hepatic function, amylase, and lipase levels and they were normal too.

I am proud to be one of the frogs in the glen. Not.

fuzzbean — Mon, 20 Aug 2007 14:36:01 -0800

Why do I hiccup and burp like a big damn frog? I've been a huge hiccupper and burper my entire life. We're talking 5-10 minute strings of hiccups that are quite uncomfortable-to-painful and that are incredibly loud. Likewise my burps have always been more of belches. The hiccups happen pretty randomly (not after eating or any specific activity) and I'll sometimes have a day when I have five or six attacks over the course of the day. They've gotten rarer and briefer as I've aged, but that may be due to me being better at stopping them. Both are sufficiently loud, weird, and persistent that they're a long-running joke with my family and friends.

Burps will occasionally bring up a feeling of liquid in the back of my throat, especially if I've overeaten or when I'm exercising on my back (doing stomach crunches or similar). This has gotten slightly more frequently recently, but I remember this happening in childhood as well. Especially violent hiccups can do the same.

If you've heard Lady Carlotta in Phantom of the Opera when the Phantom curses her to ribbit like a frog instead of singing, both my hiccups and burps sound like that. This is more than somewhat embarrassing.

I'm not looking for "cures" for hiccups, but I'd like to know if anyone else has this problem and if there's any biological or structural basis for it. Has anyone been treated for some condition and found that all your hiccupping and burping issues went away? NOTE: You are not a doctor, you are not my doctor, this is not medical advice, my mileage may vary. Stated and understood.

I'm 24, female, BMI around 20.5. No major health issues aside from mild asthma and allergies to antibiotics. This isn't troublesome enough to schedule a doctor appointment for, but it is annoying.

Offensive meddling or well-intentioned help? What would Miss Manners do?

fuzzbean — Wed, 02 May 2007 20:08:00 -0800

How should I respond to some friends who are concerned that I'm becoming too codependent, and who have written and given to me a list of things I need to do to become a more balanced person? So the backstory:

1) Last year, I was in a pretty abysmal relationship and pretty unhappy about it. Two of my girl friends (A and B) took me out to dinner and sat me down and had what amounted to an intervention. I broke up with the guy a week later, and it was absolutely the right thing to do.

2) I've started a new relationship, with a guy in the same social circle as A and B. (In fact, they were the ones who nudged us to get together.) Things are going great, and we've decided to move in together after about eight months of talking/dating/spending loads of time together. Let me emphasize that this is a totally different kind of relationship from the previous one and is, by any objective measure, extremely healthy for both parties.

3) I've been sick a lot lately (last two months), with a weird nausea/GI tract thing that's very spotty, mostly mild, but occasionally bad enough to keep me from doing things. I also just caught a cold. (And yes, I'm following up with doctors on the GI thing.)

4) Being sick has made me miss a LOT of social events, often at the last minute (I can think of four in the last three weeks, plus a couple of standing events). However, this lends itself to the perception that I'm cancelling events to stay home with the boyfriend (and the toilet).

SO: Last night we (bf and I) had plans to attend an event with several other people in our group. We cancelled fairly late because we were both exhausted and I was coming down hard with a cold.

This morning I wake up to an email letting me know that A, B, and C (another girl in the group of friends) have started a project called "Fuzzbean Intervention II" in a task-management program we use to organize our social calendar. They're concerned that I'm getting codependent and isolated and want to see me become more balanced. They've made a list of things they think I need to do to become more balanced, with line items like "Identify career goals", "Pursue career goals" "Pursue hobbies with other people", and "Spend less time with (boyfriend)."

I'm trying to figure out how to handle this. I value their friendship and input, and they have certainly been right before. And I understand that they care about me and are concerned about me, and that that's where this is coming from. Further, it's not that they're wrong that I do, in fact, need to get out more (but situations have prevented me from getting to a lot of things I would have liked to attend).

However, I'm pretty offended at the...paternalism? micromanaging?...of my life that the list seems to represent. I'm also annoyed that they're not accepting my explanations at face value (I've spoken with them at some length about symptoms and whatnot, but it's not exactly the kind of thing you want to go into brutal detail on every single time. I also don't yet have a pat diagnosis to hand them.)

How have you handled situations like this with your friends or family members? How would you suggest that I handle it? I don't want to cut them out of my life, but I do find this pretty intrusive and feel the need to reestablish some boundaries here. Specific words and phrases to use are welcome.

Cheap Jeep?

fuzzbean — Thu, 19 Oct 2006 22:00:14 -0800

How hard/expensive is it likely to be to get a ten-year-old Jeep to pass California emissions standards? Here's the deal. My aunt, in FL, has a Jeep (cloth-top, not sure of the exact model). The jeep is roughly ten years old. It's been very well maintained, low mileage, regular oil changes, no known mechanical problems, etc. etc. Gas mileage is in the 20mpg range; not great but not abysmal. I am able to take ownership of said Jeep for a ridiculously small amount of money.

I will be registering Jeep in California. I understand that California has rather stricter standards for emissions than most states. I don't want to try to drive the Jeep across the country only to find that it will cost me a ridiculous sum of money to bring it up to standards or that it can't be done, I can't register it, and I'm SOL.

So tell me: should I take the car and hope that it won't be too pricy to bring it up to meet standards, or should I skip it and just look into buying a used car in CA? The car is cheap enough that if it cost me less than $3K to retrofit it with (whatever) I'd be happy with that outcome, as long as it'll pass.

Devil went down to Georgia...and Louisiana...and Texas...and Arizona

fuzzbean — Thu, 05 Oct 2006 08:06:25 -0800

Planning a cross-country road trip--Florida to California: How do I do this? I'm going to be driving my aunt's Jeep from Jacksonville, FL to Los Angeles, CA. For those of you playing along at home, yes, that is from one coast to the other, all along the southern border. Google Maps informs me that this is roughly 2,500 miles.

I've never done a road trip before. I will be traveling alone. (For the record, 23-yo woman, not very imposing.) I am okay with both of these. I will likely be traveling over the Thanksgiving holiday (leaving Nov. 16/17 and possibly taking up to Nov. 30). I will get the car fully serviced and tuned up before I go.

I want to spend a few days in Baton Rouge/New Orleans (as that's where I grew up). I'd also like to spend a night or two in Austin.

Aside from that....I'm flexible.

1) Tips for traveling long distances. What have you found absolutely invaluable to have in the car? Any food/snack recommendations? Great books on tape? Great music for road trips? Seat covers that will make my life glorious?

2) How many miles should I plan to cover each day? The longest trip I've done thus far has been Boston to NJ (about 300mi). I would guess that I'm comfortable traveling for six to eight hours a day; is this too ambitious/lax? I would also be happy to have a day where I drive for twelve hours and then spend a couple of days in a city at the end of that. In short...I'm super-flexible.

3) Any cities, sites, restaurants, oddities...etc. that you'd recommend I stop at along the way? Is one highway better than another for some reason? Anything to be aware of wrt local cops, etc.? In the northeast corridor I've never had any trouble doing 80 in a 65mph zone (just keeping up with traffic). Can I expect the same to be true in the South?

4) How would you recommend I handle hotels and accomodations? I'm not made of money, and I'm kind of tempted to hostel-hop my way across the US, as I think it would be a lot cooler than just doing a Comfort Inn in each city. How safe is this? Is this a good idea? (I've never been in hostels before.)

5) Safety along the way. Usual rules apply, obviously, no hitchhikers, no strangers, AAA membership and charged cell phone, regular check-in times with family...any other tips, tricks, or warnings. Insert Texas Chainsaw Massacre joke here.

6) I will have more or less all my worldly possessions (clothes, mostly) in a cloth-top Jeep with me. Nothing except my laptop is very valuable, but it would be nice if it all stayed in my possession. I could also, in theory, travel with a duffel or two and ship the rest to California. Any suggestions?

7) Theme suggestions? I'd love to blog this.

8) Catchall - anything else I'm not mentioning that I really should know about?

And hey, if any mefites live along that route and want to grab a beer when I swing through your town...

Live your life with arms wide open!

fuzzbean — Fri, 08 Sep 2006 21:22:12 -0800

Yet another mixtape thread: Looking for songs with the theme "You are valuable." I'm going through a lot of bad stuff right now and I want to make myself a playlist of songs that remind me that I am special, valuable, worthwhile, that life is worth living, etc.

Natascha Bedingfield's "Unwritten" is pretty much perfect, and that's on repeat right now...but I need more!

Upbeat, dancey songs only please; the kind of stuff you can put on your alarm clock and feel good about getting up, the kind of stuff that makes you bop around the kitchen in your jammies. Please NOTHING about love, relationships (this is "I love me," not "He loves me" and absolutely NOT "I love him"), getting over a relationship, etc. I'm an athiest so "God loves me" is not going to work either.

I think a lot of Ani DiFranco's stuff would qualify, but I'd like some specific suggestions. Cheesy bubblegum pop is totally cool--totally perfect, in fact. But the genre is open. Bonus points if I can buy them from iTunes or download them (legally!) somewhere.

Chicago salon recommendations?

fuzzbean — Thu, 17 Aug 2006 14:05:42 -0800

ChicagoFilter: Good place for a mid-priced (female) haircut? And/or a beauty-school type place that can do cornrows or braids on a white girl? My hair is due for its three-month checkup (yes, yes, I know I should do it more often. Shh.). I'm looking for a recommendation for a salon/stylist that does haircuts in the $40 range...preferably someplace with a nice peaceful sort of atmosphere rather than a bright-neon-thumping-bass-uber-hip kind of place.

My hair is shoulder-length and pretty agreeable (slightly wavy and moderately thick). I just want it washed, trimmed, and dried, nothing particularly fancy/edgy/radical. Location is mostly irrelevant although closer to Jefferson Park would be nice.

I'm also interested in a place that can do (cheap) cornrows or twisties on a white girl. Are there any beauty schools in the area that people have had good experiences with? (I don't want to get my hair cut at a beauty school, but braided is fine.)