That was coming from a CDC official emphasizing that the disease was unlikely to take hold in the contiguous US, but could affect Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands. I don’t think they meant that the British Virgin Islands would be any safer, just emphasizing which US territories are vulnerable.

Right, but the sentence above that says that combining finances, in part or entirely, is dumb. That’s the contradictory part.

While combining one’s finances, in part or entirely, with one’s partner might be termed “true romance,” it could also be thought of—if you’re feeling a little less footloose—as “absolute and suicidal stupidity.” To be more tactful about it: we worked hard to get these rights, and all of your money should not ever be…

Thank you for this explanation! I grew up in southeastern Massachusetts and then moved to coastal CT- the ticks are SO MUCH WORSE here than they were in Mass and I’ve been wondering why.

You would be surprised... my mother maintained her Tab addiction up until she quit caffeine last year. I’m convinced that she was the only reason that our hometown grocery store kept stocking it when nearby towns didn’t. Anytime we visited relatives, she had to call the local stores to find out if they stocked it, and…

Exactly. I haven’t taken cash gifts from my folks since graduation, but I have taken and repaid small loans, and it saved my ass. Right after I got my first job, with no savings to speak of, my roommate skipped town and I was on the hook for rent at a place I couldn’t afford on my own. That could have messed up my…

I think modeling good behavior about money when they’re young is key. Basically, you should be saving money for your kids, not spending money for them. Don’t give them expensive tastes, teach them how to budget and comparison shop at the grocery store, talk about your own financial decision making process. More…

Very important point. Family cell phone plans might be new, but the general idea of intergenerational wealth transfer is not.

I would guess that the bacteria were on her skin to begin with, and the friction from the hair tie created tiny little tears that let the bacteria into the underlying tissue. If that’s the case, it’s a freak accident, not at all reflective of the hair tie or her hygiene.

I feel you. Mine has the type of job that involves fancy work lunches at steakhouses and seafood restaurants and I AM SO JEALOUS. He goes to Legal Sea Foods at least once a month. I am obviously in the wrong career path.

My neighbors’ kid uses their initials- Mama A and Mama B. But pronounced all run-together; it took me a little while to figure out the toddler-ese.

I don’t know if the number of deal-breakers is the best way to measure pickiness.

Can you make it a talk about “going to grad school for the right reasons”- ie, that she wants to be a professor (assuming she’s in a field where grad school = teaching position), and that she wants that badly enough to justify the costs and risks? All the better if, during this talk, you can talk about some other…

Cool! I really want to learn more colorwork techniques.

I think there is a very good chance that my fiance and I will end up flipping a coin to decide which last name the kids get. Because we don’t want to hyphenate, there are no viable combination names, and neither of us is going to change our name with marriage.

I use zinc lozenges when I feel a cold coming on. They have decent (though not stellar) evidence for shortening the duration of a cold, and aren’t too expensive on Amazon.

Because getting into a car with a stranger is an inherently risky thing, and I feel a lot safer knowing that there’s a paper trail showing which vehicle I got into, and when and where.

Ooops! I think I mentally inserted an “else” in your comment of “anyone unclear on what happened”.... time for more coffee.

A Random Pervert called the hotel and asked if a specific female celebrity was at the hotel, and they said yes, she was staying there, and told him which room she was in. This is very much against hotel policy, especially when it comes to celebrities. They then let Random Pervert book the room next to hers.

The bride wanted a costume wedding and lost that battle with her mother/MIL. She’s an offbeat type but the families are helping pay for it, so compromise is the name of the game all around. The Bond girl idea is SO TEMPTING though!