Very true! I actually gained three pounds over the past month, but I lost 1.5 inches on my waist. The scale isn't important. Lean muscle, body fat, and size measurements are the good measurements.

That sounds like a textbook case of internal equity issues in pay structure. Generally, when salary is off by such a large percentage, employees either find new jobs or lower production. It sounds like you lowered production a bit, but not by much. You might have to just find a new job. Research Human Resources…

Good call—I was going to post this info myself. I've found that [Salary.com] can be somewhat inflated in some cases. Linking salary data from any site back to BLS is usually a good way to negotiate a raise with employers because they use the employers as a data source.

Awesome of you to reference "Total Cost to Employer." Well done!

I don't know if this could apply given that I don't know your job or the work environment. At my work, if an employee came to me with such a scenario, I would push the employee to determine what he or she can do in order to resolve the problem before I even considered a raise. An employee who can see the issues and…

Sounds like you work for a terrible company. That's a sign that they don't really care about fair treatment. Note, I'm not talking about equal treatment, I'm talking about being fair. If he's underpaid due to their error, and he agreed to the wage, then he did agree to take a pay cut. However, the company isn't…

It's not a fad, but it's not something you absolutely must engage in either. I think wine with food gives off a fad impression because it might come with a slight learning curve that intimidates some people. Anything that influences the senses impacts a meal. Drinking wine with food adds another flavor and a…

That's BS how they treated you. I would have left. They are scamming you into an upsell for bigger tickets and tips. It's not like you went into a pork-focused restaurant and asked for a kosher meal. Wine is only going to be complimentary IMO, unless the restaurant is fully themed around wine. It can add to the…

Your last two paragraphs describe a huge chunk of how I learned about wine. Ten years ago, I didn't know a thing about wine beyond a general preference for dry reds and whites. I liked drinking the stuff, but I was clueless. Talking to others unlocked an amazing world. Most everyone I talked with was beyond happy…

These are pretty good points. I like wine a lot and I've talked to many people who are at a loss for how to order and enjoy wine at all. I always say the same thing: ask for help and don't be ashamed to say you have no clue. Wine douches exist, but those guys are generally not serving you the wine (in my experience…

I can agree with that! Good call on the toaster oven too.

This works well for hard boiled eggs, but not for the soft boiled variety. I never bother with it because it's expensive to use the oven just to hard boil eggs. Sometimes I'll toss an egg in with other things I'm baking. The flavor of the oven egg awesome, but I much prefer using water to boil or steam the egg. …

If you like a smoky flavor. Try the steam (or boil) method and add some liquid smoke to the water. You can get a pretty good smoked egg out of it. I like using steam and smoke for a soft-boiled egg. Another option is to actually use a smoker to cook the eggs, which works really well but it's a pain in the rear if…

I've been doing this for a few years now—it works great. I use a 16 inch cast iron wok that is a perfect fit for this sort of thing. [www.wokshop.com]

Making your own blends is also great since bottled spice blends usually contain a ton of salt as a base ingredient.

True, but flipping more than once can introduce more opportunity for error. In my experience, the folks who mess up steaks flipped to early and then try to correct by flipping many more times. These people always have busy hands too—they can't ever just leave something to sit without constantly checking, poking,…

You can use egg rings as training wheels to get a good shape while you improve your technique. Google poaching with egg rings and you should be able to find a few videos that illustrate water level with the use of egg rings. Temperature is generally the real issue with bad poached eggs—most people poach at too high a…

Weight is always the best route to take when baking; however, don't forget to learn/consider dry ingredient ratios for basic recipes. The weight of one cup of flour may differ slightly from batch to batch, brand to brand, or based on the weather or location of where you are cooking. Knowing the ratio for some of the…

You're hanging out with the wrong Midwestern folks then.

Good idea.