macarose

The design of the house has a lot to do with it. With the exception of our main bedroom, no room has a ceiling higher than 10 ft. The main living space downstairs is well designed and we have no trouble making the most of it. That's why I had to use so many 'slashes' to describe it earlier in this thread. Fans are in nearly every room. The light bulbs can easily be screwed on or off whenever we need to change the light settings. My wife and I also tend to be very outdoors oriented. Other than computer use and 'family time' we have nothing that keeps us in the house. The indoor temp is

Holy cow! I deeply feel for you. There are so many folks out there who are nuts beyond belief. I just had a lady come over to my lot and I had about $1000 worth of merchandise and heirlooms that her drug-addicted ex-husband had stolen out of her home. The police got the vehicle thanks to a GPS in the rental car. It's a wonderful thing to see justice and good things be done in the face of evil. Now I have all the perps clothes which I'll be happy to return once he refunds the impound fee. I'm not holding my breath. I would hope that the county/state has the means to take care of this

Here's how I would do it. 1) No government funding of ballparks 2) Each team's salary can be no more than the poorest team's revenue from the year before. 3) Limit free agency to no more than three times in a career. Of course the chances of any of these passing is the same as the Atlanta Braves not choking during the playoffs. But in a perfect world where middle-class citizens don't subsidize the wealthy this is exactly what would work.

Gas water heater. We always put the dishwasher on air dry. Our electric usage is about half of what it was the year before. Even then we tended to conserve a bit. But these days it seems like we're even more observant about energy usage. Our oven is packed when we (rarely) use it and the slow cooker along with the George Foreman's used quite a bit for our hot meals. Gas usage for the year is now down about 20%.

Nope, nothing's wrong... 1) We unplug everything and anything when they're not in use. 2) One compact florescent per room. Two if you need to read. We have small rooms and can easily access the light bulbs on the ceiling fans if need be. Our main level has a small living room, an office/playroom, and the kitchen/bathroom. About 650 to 700 sq. ft in total. We rarely need to have three lights on except for bedtime. 3) During daylight hours we simply open a few curtains and use the natural sunlight. No lights needed. 4) Anything that can be kept on an energy saver mode (computer,

Came out to $13.60. I swear my wife must be a Zen master of frugality. We have reduced our electricity expenses by more than half over the year before. This is now the seventh straight month our electric bill has been $20 or less. I may just have to take her out to the Olive Tree as a special thank you.

This portion of the article was a real eye opener... "According to the FAA, Hartsfield-Jackson has another 10 years of capacity, and other estimates allow even more time. “Our updated plans will take us beyond that,” Hartsfield-Jackson general manager Louis Miller said. “We can build more gates, we can build a sixth runway, we could expand capacity.” The FAA’s modernization of its air traffic control infrastructure could also help accommodate more flights. “I would not call it urgent,” said Scott Seritt, FAA Atlanta airports district office manager. “It takes a long time to build [

Worst cars out there? Kia, Suzuki, Land Rover, Jaguar, VW & Saab... The only Kias that are worth a flip are late model Hyundais in drag. An article I wrote about POS cars... and a few good trucks. http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2009/02/hammer-time-kiametrics/

It's far too early to say that the bailout worked... or did not work. As a guy who pretty much lives the auto industry, GM and Chrysler's post-bailout story is barely within the first few chapters. But if I were to put a grade on it all... GM: B Chrysler: D Ford: B+ As for Newt.. you may as well have Vincent K McMahon run for President. As much as I disagree with BOTH parties actions when it comes to fiscal responsibility, I will not vote in any candidate who is the equivalent of a male slut. Herman Cain may be interesting. I like the guy but need to learn a bit

Hmmmm.... a short list... Celebration Come on Aileen You Spin Me Right Round... Rock Around the Clock Summer Lovin' Love Songs... Love Me Tender That's What Friends Are For

The funny thing is that my family has always used ourselves and the neighbors to pick up vehicles from the auctions. I have probably saved somewhere in the mid-five figures over the years by doing it this way. As for our own daily drivers, back in late 2008 I got my wife a 2003 Honda Civic Hybrid with 102k for $6500. 3 years and 45,000 more miles later, I could probably sell it for close to the same price. We use that for those trips and have averaged close to 50 mpg on the highway. City mileage is around 42 MPG. I also have a 1st gen Insight that I bought for $4000 back in 2009. 145k bac

They just said that areas of Ringgold are completely devastated. Bodies on the street and many trapped. Prayers for everyone out there.

I looked at the possibility of doing this at my business and at home. But my electric bill at both sites has been less than $20/month for the last six months. We also have two hybrids. Bought them used. If I ventured down this path I would have no choice but to venture down that path. I just don't think the long-term risk of being gypped is worth the very limited gain.

VW's have been pretty much bottom of the barrel as it relates to reliability and durability. These decontented VW's will more than likely be even worse. At the Carmax auctions, the number of traded-in VW's with less than 100k exceed those that have over 100k by a 10 to 1 margin. They do about 10k trade-in's a week. So the metric is pretty sound from a statistical standpoint. http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2009/02/hammer-time-kiametrics/ If you want some anecdotal evidence, you can try here. http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2011/03/ask-the-best-and-brightest-where-did-the-vw-b

Prices for them will be very stiff due to Japanese supply issues and the high price of gas. As a rejoinder, I've driven a 1st gen Insight for the last two years. http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2009/05/review-1999-honda-insight/

I am seeing a surprising number of Shelby's for sale these days. Carmax recently had two of them at their auctions. One had about 7800 miles and sold for $28k. I don't remember what happened with the other one.

Every once in a while I get reviewed by one of my own. http://money.msn.com/car-buying/the-best-time-to-buy-a-car.aspx Hope you enjoy it!

I think this cuts both ways. Speed limits in the United States tend to be well below what most consider to be an average safe speed. Highways that can easily handle 75 to 80 mph driving in this country are routinely given 65 mph speed limits. Winding one lane roads that can be given 50 to 55 mph are routinely posted with 35 mph speed limits. Then of course you have the wonderful speed traps along the way where the already slow speed limits somehow lose an additional 15 miles per hour in the pure pursuit of profit. The police have no hand in it. But they do directly suffer because

An MBA is no guarantee of job security or high income. Even my fellow Duke MBA grads struggle with that reality.

WARNING! WARNING! Emily Latella inspired rant shall begin in 3... 2... 1... The point is that there is always a line drawn when it comes to 'addictions'. You think kids or young adults should have drugs legalized and marketed to them by the saintly souls of corporate America? Fine. I don't think it's a fair fight or even a 'freedom' based one. In a society already riddled with tens of millions of alcoholics and millions of drug addicts, I don't see how legalization would offer any benefit to our society. Perhaps I am the exception to the 'fiscal conservative' rule when it comes to t

Congrats to the both of you!

We won... Daughter: Timex watch, Towel that said, "Top Noodle 2011", $10 gift certificate Wife: Bottle of Wine, Dark Chocolate, Hickory Farms Smoked Cheese, Beef Summer Sausage Me: Free Oil Change and 2 T-Shirts This was definitely our year. I'm glad I didn't do that wing contest though. Those boys were hardcore (especially the little one.) By the way, is there a way to post the pics online? I have plenty of good car pics.

Yep, mine went down to $4.95 a month.

I got a letter yesterday from my gas company (Fireside) that my fixed rate plan was about to expire. They mentioned that they would match any of their competitors fixed rates. Well I ended up visiting the site here... http://www.psc.state.ga.us/gas/marketerpricing/2011/03/frp.pdf Called them up, and had them verify the 0.699 rate from MX Energy for a 12 month fixed rate. Now I have my gas for about 10% less than it had been with my previous fixed plan. I'm sure that most of your gas company's will offer the same matching service that Fireside does. Either way I hope it helps.

Thank you very much Bama girl. Your husband did an awesome job. I think this was a really great idea for Downtown. If they did every three months or so it would attract a lot more good attention to the downtown area. I never even knew there was a bookstore until I came to this event, and my wife and I are hardcore bibliophiles.