Absolutely. I left a field engineer job where I was paid a flat salary, was out of town and living in hotels much of the time, Spent many weekends and most holidays away from my family working and got mediocre benefits. I was supposed to get comp time - but rarely had the time to take it as part of my job was going…

I do some of this, and a few other things as well - The purpose of a budget is not to keep you from spending on what you want, but to keep you from spending on things you really don't need so you will have money for those things you really do want.

September for a Myrtle Beach vacation. The weather is fantastic, the hotel prices are great, no crowds, very few kids screaming. It's very relaxing.

No, There is absolutely no reason to tailgate - If you do it then YOU are the problem. Your whining is just a flimsy excuse. And you will likely whine that it was the guy in front of you going too slow that caused you to customize his bumper. (Try telling that to the judge and see what it gets you) BTW, like many…

Yup, completely agree That statement implies that what they are going to say is actually intended to offend and they know it and are trying to make it so they don't get hammered for it. Sorta kinda like apologizing before doing something you know is wrong. A favorite of the passive aggressive jerks.

Answering a simple definitive statement by repeating what you just said as a question. Doing this occasionally when you really are not sure what was just said is OK, but I have a GF who does this with every simple statement I make.

The new car trap - that one probably wrecks more budgets than any other. They love to see a young person buying their first car (new or used) come in alone. The car salesman will insist that yes you can drive the new guzzler you just fell in love with off the lot for your $350 a month budget price - then , 'Well,…

Get a job, any job. But don't stop looking. Even if you can't find something in your field get a job. Sitting on your duff waiting for the right job will be a major turn off to someone hiring. Flipping burgers or digging ditches while looking for a better job shows initiative and work ethic that sitting around wishing…

The home as an investment is a hold over from the corporate world of the 60s through 90s where nearly every employee of a big corporation that was not a factory worker expected to be moved to a new location every so many years ( the joke at IBM was that the initials stood for 'I've Been Moved'). During that era -…

US Air Force pilots don't land on a carrier. Their planes don't even have the tail hook and heavy duty landing gear required to do it. US Navy & Marine Corps Pilots MUST learn to do it on a daily basis. What a lot of people don't realize it the back of that carrier isn't sitting still, it's moving up and down…

I have been using the tabbed interface for a while now, and am going back to the single inbox - the reason? I don't have a lot of incoming emails - and typically go through them once a day and perform whatever the appropriate action is - delete, archive, reply, or save in one of my personally defined categories. The…

I live in the deep south South Carolina. What you described was just the viewing and service - you left out the part about everyone gathering at someone's house where neighbors and friends bring over lots of food and sit around reminiscing about the deceased for hours. Sometimes called a wake. I tend to skip the…

Unlike many people I don't expect to get out of this life alive. And also, unlike many I don't expect to have much say so in what my family do for a funeral. I have requested that any useful parts be harvested in the hope they will be of some use to someone else and the left over used body be donated to whoever will…

I work out of my home, about 500 miles away from the office and my boss. When I eventually quit for good, It will likely be by email as I can rarely get in contact with the boss over the phone. I am sure he will call me back to discuss it though. The last time I tried to quit, he made me a deal I couldn't turn down.

Several of these seem to be missing a description - or the description doesn't tell you anything about the actual app. Music apps are MUSIC apps, not driving apps - and the noise maker apps???

I do have a smartphone. But I use my older dumb phone for actual telephone calls. It's a better telephone. My Cannon camera is a much better camera. My TomTom GPS is a better GPS (but still far from perfect and requires some common sense). And my desktop computer is a far better computer. The smart phone is relegated…

Some x10 devices do have a 2 way communication capability - But not many. If I had a garage door ( mine is an open front ) I would likely use a separate sensor . I have had a lot of fun with the all on/all off function, and have several devices on a separate house code so they don't go all on/off with the lights -…

Insteon is far more expensive than x10. But some of it does work with x10 making it a viable upgrade. X10 is susceptible to noise - I have installed filters on several circuits that fixed 99% of the instability caused by electrical noise. As for bridging phases, as soon as you add a 220vac x10 component, your bridging…

All of a sudden home automation is a new fad. I have been doing this since the 1970s. Mostly with an ancient protocol known as X10. I automated my first light switch in the late 70s using a BSR X10 switch. Later X10 was sold in Radio Shack and other outlets, often under a brand label - but they all still worked…

I got a wall mount for my TV from Monoprice. It was very inexpensive - less than $20 as opposed to about $100 for something similar from Best Buy - This is a quality piece of hardware, heavy duty and with real working adjustments. Lots of screws included for different kinds of walls. But their price on security…