@BigHarv

I would definitely trade up from my Focus ST to this car if it was for sale.

I loved my 9000. It might not have the chassis dynamics of the old classic 900s (of which I've owned 3) but it makes up for it with more power. And you can still do over 30mpg. Can't argue with that.

I own an ST (as of ~2 weeks ago) and I'd have to agree about the steering. At first it's jarring but after some seat time it does get better. I quite enjoy the feel of it now after I've put about a thousand miles on the car.

I'm personally a fan of mandatory gratuity with an option for adding more. It's part of their salary, as you say. BUT... there still needs to be a system to reward good servers. For large parties, the 18% thing is fine, but for smaller parties, I think it would be ok to use 15% as a baseline, just so that if you got…

If you look at the fine print on the window sticker of a new car, you'll find that they do also express the fuel efficiency in terms of (volume) per (distance). I recently bought a Focus ST and right below the MPG figures it says 3.8 Gallons per 100 miles.

I'll go ahead and corroborate the age 11 thing. Our kid is 11 now, and he started cutting up his own chicken just this year.

Hmm, good idea... But at this point we call it 'wrestling' in conversation, so we can discuss when the kid is around.

Whatever, science. I'm still putting it in MyFitnessPal as "wrestling" so I can go ahead and not feel bad about putting strawberries in my post-coital bowl of Special K.

I pretty consistently use between 1 and 3 GB per month on my iPhone. That will typically include 6-10 hours a week of pandora streaming in the car. I don't really do much else that is super data-intensive, but I never worry about using too much data.

I have to agree. Funny enough, I also bought a 6-1/2" chef's knife a while back for around $100 as a present for an ex. I really need to get myself another one. That length is perfect for the kinds of cutting we typically do in our kitchen. I have an 8" chef's knife and it's just a bit too long in many tasks.

The first Diverging Diamond in Springfield, MO

Why do you keep saying that?

Well, Violet Peacegate doesn't exactly roll off the tongue, but there you go.

Engineering. Construction field.

I feel like I shouldn't say. I do feel pretty lucky but t the same time I recognize that this kind of thing is earned and there are probably lots of people who have it better than I do in my line of work.

Wow, that 25% 401k is a sweet sweet cherry.

(insert "The More You know" graphic here)

I know you've probably heard this before, but don't run up balances on your credit cards. Those rates are high on purpose, because credit cards are designed to be a short-term borrowing tool only. If you need to borrow money for something specific (car, house), your zero balances on your credit cards should result in…

South America?