My freshman year in college was in 2003, so laptops were much more expensive back then, but if I can go back, I would have brought a laptop with me instead of a desktop. I liked having a mini-fridge for beverages, but didn't use it for much more than that. My coffee maker was a waste of space since I usually didn't…

@PickledEgg: Call me naive, but I trust Clark Howard. If it's safe enough for him, it's safe enough for me.

One of the best things I did in college was decide to be an RA Sophomore through Senior year. Single rooms hooray, plus my junior and senior years I had the biggest single room on campus, plus my own bathroom.

@Relay: Not only do I keep up with friends on Twitter, but I also get most of my breaking news from Twitter, both national and local. If you think Twitter is only people broadcasting the meals they're eating then you're sorely mistaken.

So does this give us any hope at all that Apple will be forced to reverse its decision, or should I start looking into unlocking my iPhone?

@TheFu: I'm planning to take the test and everything, but I'm sure you know there's more involved than just a test. Like, say, an astronomical application fee.

@AsWater: You probably want a T-Mobile Total Internet Plan:

I'm a permanent resident in the US (live in Georgia), and have been for more than 18 years. I'm not a citizen yet (but I'm married to one).

@comfixit: You see, there's this thing called "recovery" in the bookselling world. It means having to put back everything that people leave sitting around when they're done with it. I wouldn't mind people loitering and sitting at tables if they just cleaned up after themselves afterward, but most of them don't. …

All I can say is that I'm glad I don't work at B&N anymore. The squatters are annoying enough (especially when they use the bookstore as though it's a library and read the books cover-to-cover in the store, even ruining them by spilling coffee on occasion). Then again, I'm sure Steve Riggio knows what he's doing and…

@verticle: I've never heard of such items going directly from retailers to charity stores. That's what outlet stores are usually for: irregular items.

It always pays to know someone. One of my good friends from college ended up managing a Mattress Firm. My husband and I got our bed at employee pricing. In fact, when we went to actually make the purchase (I had gone separately to pick a few options ahead of time) at a different location, they didn't want to honor…

Implying you'll give the rep a good review if they give you what you're asking for is just manipulative and unfair. My philosophy is to be incredibly polite and to express a high degree of gratefulness for their help. If you just treat the person you're speaking to with kindness, they'll be more willing to help you.

I'm still able to write in cursive if I need to, but I find it faster and more comfortable to use print. However, I use only cursive on the rare (now) occasions when I write in Russian. I also used only cursive when I learned Hebrew. Then again, Hebrew cursive is pretty much a more relaxed version of print.

@OneTrickPony: How about change of scenery, or the need for a place to work without the distractions of home?

I used to work at a B&N that had one of those long bar-height counters along one of the walls in the cafe, with tons of outlets. Corporate ended up having the counter removed because of the squatters running their businesses out of the store. Got plenty of complaints from those who had grown accustomed to the…

I've had this happen with my memory stick reader lately. No programs launched and it still wouldn't let me eject the stupid thing. Then it yells at you when you unplug the device without properly ejecting.

These days, I hardly ever log into my personal email accounts. I read practically every email on my iPhone. I do, however, launch Mail on my mbp if I need to look back at an old email.

This is great. Any opportunity to clean up my bookmarks toolbar is greatly appreciated. Now I have a tracker for my reader right next to a tracker for my Twitter feed (in the form of TwitterFox). Very nice and unobtrusive.

I'm staying with my cousin in NYC for 6 nights next month. I guess I'm going to doubly overstay my welcome about halfway through my trip.