PP is great if you have reasonable reproductive health issues or live in a major metropolitan area where there's enough staffing and funding for regular clinic hours. It's less helpful if you've got something difficult that needs to be treated (stage 4 endometriosis, in my case), or live in a small town with a PP…

My testing horror story is pretty low key, overall. The only problem was that my first driving test was at age 31. In Montana, if you take driver's ed and are over 16, your trainer has the option to waive your driving exam. I was lucky/skilled enough to finish at the top of my class, so I never took the practical.…

Good times. I have a 99 Bonneville - wonder if mine is going to need its ignition repaired soon. Luckily, my old 97 Malibu is long gone from my possession...that thing had more crap go wrong with it due to poor craftsmanship than you'd believe. Bad manifold gaskets, the ABS sensors would fail every few months ($250 a…

That makes sense. Last time I was in Oak Park (okay, that was like 2007 or so, but let's pretend this story is current), my friends and I asked a passer-by if she could point us towards a reasonably priced bar (the bar in the hotel we were staying at was absurdly expensive), and she informed us that, "There are no…

This. My parents got a kitten who needed to be neutered and vaccinated, and they had it done rather early (at 5 months if I remember correctly). He was an entirely indoor cat, so there wasn't a huge risk involved in waiting for him to get bigger/stronger before going under anesthesia.

Do you have any tips for finding a new dentist? I've essentially had the same dentist for my entire life (I had The Best Dentist Ever as a kid, and then his son took over the practice and became The Best Dentist Ever Mk II), but I moved far enough away from my hometown last year that I can't see him without booking a…

Worth checking: if your Check Engine light comes on, make sure your gas cap is cranked all the way down. Sometimes if it's lose, it'll throw the Check Engine light to let you know, and you'll feel like an idiot taking your car to the shop just to have the mechanic torque the cap and send you on your way. (Probably…

I have a friend who insists on driving as far to the outside of a lane as possible. If there are parked cars, she will slalom between them to try and keep close to the curb.

Even the UK's "superior" cats-eyes have caused fatalities before.

I saw them at the Hollywood Bowl a couple years back.

I think I'm the thermostat whisperer. Somehow, I've never met a thermostat I couldn't program without a manual. If I can't program your thermostat, your thermostat is broke, and you need to get that shit replaced and have me come over again next weekend to make it work.

Aw man. I have family from La Grande who didn't know Mr. Bell all that closely, but are friends with other members of his family. It's a small, close-knit community. Can't even imagine how much they're all hurting right now, especially after everything that happened with his son's suicide. Tragic.

I figured she's referring to Escalades.

I spent most of this article with my palm on my face thinking, "This is why you pay attention to the signs, dude." Planning ahead is neat!

If no one has mentioned it, the three lane clusterfuck in Portland where the Sunset Highway merges/splits into the I-5 North and 405 South is a bitch. It's well marked from way back, because you have to go through a tunnel where you're not supposed to change lanes (wtf), but it's not like Portland folk read fucking…

I can't picture her in this role, but if she lands it, I am confident she'd own the shit out of it.

One time, in high school, I was on a trip for some club or another, and spent the night in a hotel bathroom trying to do my programming homework by hand. I can't remember exactly why I thought this was a good idea, but between sleep deprivation and at least a gallon of green tea, anything would have seemed like a good…

Too bad their Formula 1 coverage is a goddamn disgrace.

I dunno, I thought they were mediocre, but not the worst. They've got one of the few (only?) non-stop flights from Montana to LAX, and if you aren't checking bags, they're dirt cheap. You can always print your boarding pass ahead of time for free. Not sure if they have a phone pass option like Alaska Air, but I didn't…

You've obviously never flown Alaska Air. Last time I flew, I got free beer in the form of a local microbrew IPA that was damn tasty (and I don't even like IPAs that much, generally). The stewardesses weren't the friendliest people I've ever met, but they weren't bitches, either. We got a complimentary drink (including…