One piece of advice that has saved my bacon numerous times - FIND and STICK with a Travel Agent. I've been using the same Agent for 15yrs - heck, most times she has already rebooked me on 3 flights - she just cancels the them once she sees the flight I'm on has left. She is worth her weight in gold.

@rodjones: Ahhh... Just to give her further kudos. You do know she is a card carrying member of Mensa; full academic scholarship to Rutgers, teaching @ 16, performed piano @ Carnegie Hall twice by the time she was 15........... So, without further ado - she is my dream girl.

@WordTipping: And to top it off... These genius(s) impose water rationing during the summer months.

@nobodyzhome: 100% spot on...

@k-napped: I would add that when you discount your price, you have invariably established a set value for your work which will be difficult to increase w/o providing substantially more. You are establishing a certain level set that all your other work will be compared against.

@Elena: While it may be standard @ 40hrs - you have to take into account the commute time (for me - it's 4hrs per day & that's if I don't hit traffic) PLUS what about all the wonderful holidays enjoyed in Europe? I can definitely do 40+ hrs no problem if I can take close to a month off - paid (+) my vacation. It's…

Of course you could go with the Belkin or whatever flavor of plug-in, but it is pretty cool to have it look built in. I like the project - may have to tackle over the w/e.

My solution is simple and we learned it in grade school. I will interrupt the meeting and quietly wait for Mr or Ms "I'm so damn important that I can't be offline for one second" to complete their text or email. And when they are finished, I resume the discussion with the adage "now that we have everyone's attention…

Site down?

@mricyfire: well said.

@vlatro: You have way tooooo much time on your hands.

@DeRose.Joe: Then why don't you and Uncle Sam get a room?

Tableau is a fantastic tool for data mining and analysis - the Public version is just a tip of the iceberg. I demo'd the software a while back and besides having the ability to link directly to a variety of data sources, it has a unique ability to view data in a virtually unlimited # of dimensions - all drag n drop. …

@mricyfire: depends on whether the card rides on the Visa / MasterCard rails - if yes, the cards follow the nomenclature @mb outlines; otherwise, it is a different numbering scheme.

@mb: For Amex you have to look at the 1st 2 digits of the PAN (Personal Acct Number). Diner's Club also uses the 3 prefix - although all US issued DC cards are now under MasterCard and the remaining non-US issued DC is under the Discover card umbrella.

Randy,

@dchall8: never works for me. I heat it in a microwave for a few seconds - works decently to get the job done.

I know this is specific to MAC, but has anyone else experienced a problem with the latest version of Astra - i.e. Skype contacts appear offline even when they are clearly online? Got fed up with it to a such a degree - I went back to Astra 4.0 B119 - bingo, problem solved.

@Prairie Moon: LOL. Your probably right - made up or not - she is nice.

Ok - it is unanimous...