I bought mine from Amazon and everything was fine—the package was the real deal, not tampered with, etc. In answer to your question: no. No no no no no. But there's a little pamphlet that says what to do / what not to do that comes with it, and the web site has giant FAQ section.

Happy Birthday! It sounds like you're a more generous person than the people surrounding you... Hope that changes in your favor by your next birthday. Hang in there...

My first freshman-year roommate had never been out of her hometown in Louisiana, resembled Yosemite Sam in both size and steam, and ate, slept, and breathed Kurt Cobain and Nirvana. (Aside: I am old.) She papered the room, including the ceiling, in all things Nirvana, played it nonstop, smoked, and generally hollered…

I'd imagine it could be done... Alterations usually cost me $12-$15 (hemming, waist taken in, etc.). I'm in NYC, and all of the tailoring I've had done has been through various dry cleaners.

Yeah, that's a pain. I would also scour the Time Out New York and New York Magazine sites; TONY just did a find-a-cheap-but-great-apartment feature a couple of months back. Or comb through their "Best of" for cheap broker references. (FWIW, we've lived here for 3 years and have found our two places through…

Have you thought about subletting something? When we first moved to NYC, there were a lot of listings on sublet.com. It's hard to find stuff this time of year, I think, so maybe that's narrowing the pool...

I think the two sides are going to have to come to a compromise that is higher than your side's ideal temperature and lower than their side's ideal temp, and stick to that. But I imagine housing laws aren't going to let you get incredibly low...

Moulin Rouge may have cheesified it, but it's definitely still in my Top Ten: "Nature Boy"

We've been married for 7 years and are doing the one-Christmas-at-one-family's thing, and every other year involves a transatlantic flight, so...I love it, but either my husband or I, or both us us, winds up sick from all the flying or the snowy weather. I really hate the logistics part, but it's worked out for us…

This is breaking my heart: senior pup dumped by owners for health reasons, set to be put down tomorrow: [on.fb.me]

Ooh! Well, good—I hope you guys take her down in a pile of crappy-landlord glory. Meanwhile, good luck nesting and congrats on the little one!

Don't they own a sprawling place in France?

Jesus Christ, this would make me livid. She has no respect for your space, or schedule, or plans. What are housing laws like in your area? Can you get her out somehow, or give her a deadline? Outrageous.

I think it's a crazy mix of genes, spotlight-induced mania, and sixty minutes in a green room stocked, perhaps, with nothing but Pixie Stix and Hawaiian Punch. ;)

Sorry, just saw this—yes! She never let anyone push her around. I still aspire to be her. :)

Gaudy Night has a heady mix of fiercely intelligent and competitive women—most of whom challenge and support Harriet...some of whom try to undermine her. She definitely has women who've been mentors to her, but as to @bookwench's question: Do old teachers ever stop mentoring? ;)

Congrats! Felicitations! Kudos! Etc.!

Yes! But even in that (in the movie, at least), a male authority figure (the executor of Patrick's trust fund) pops up every now and then to make Mame conform to a set of rules.

Dixie Carter as Julia Sugarbaker, "Designing Women." Oh! More recent than 25 years ago? Hmm.

That was my reaction, too. I don't understand why people would taunt their kids for ten seconds of tv fame.