Has has been shared already? I looked but didn't see it -- forgive me if so. It was an interesting read for me this morning. The man who was part of the report detailing how our passwords should have a good mix of uppercase and lowercase letters, as well as numbers and special characters, now says he was wrong. A long string of words is more secure. He also says it's not necessary to force users to change their passwords routinely unless there's been signs of a password hack attempt. I have a system for creating passwords that uses the uppercase, lowercase, numbers and symbols in a routine (but known only to me) way. Looks like I may be able to let go of the password gymnastics. WSJ article

I'm coming in way late to the party, but I just decided two days ago I should take the kids since we're in Washington and within reasonable driving distance to totality. I looked around in some places I'm a little bit familiar with in Oregon and found a KOA near the coast (in the path of totality) for the night OF the eclipse, Monday. I booked it through the website to hold it in case I could still find something for the night before because driving the day-of was not a good option (distance wise and now because I see that it's expected to be crazy busy between Portland and Salem). This morning I popped online again to see if I could find an Airbnb or something (ha! $500-$1000/night) and was reworking the plan in my head, thinking I might even cancel the KOA and go a little bit further north to stay, when on a whim I called the KOA to ask if they possibly had the same small cabin the night before as well (Sunday). The gal said they sure did, and then on another whim, I asked if they happened to have a larger cabin for both nights. She said she had JUST gotten a cancellation (a friend of hers, actually) and had a larger cabin available now for Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. She hadn't put it back in general circulation, figuring she'd save it for something like this -- someone calling in to see if anything was available. "Would you like to book that?" Yes, ma'am! The no-traffic version of the trip is 5.5 hours. We're going to allow hours and hours extra to get there on Sunday and I might even call back tomorrow to see if Saturday is available and go even earlier. ETA: Right now, weather.com is saying "cloudy in the morning" on that day but it's still a ways out. Hopefully that changes!

Angelina's Pizzeria & Cafe in Seaside is a little sort-of dive hole in the wall, but has very, very good food. It's a must-do when we go to Seaside or Gearhart.

When we went to Vancouver a couple of years ago (me, two daughters and a friend of mine), we stayed at the St. Claire Hostel. It was a really great place if you're not doing a traditional hotel. I'm an Airbnb host and I would still consider (myself) staying there again. It's in a great location related to downtown and a lot of the places that are great to visit. You could get a room for just the two of you. We walked everywhere -- out to Stanley Park and back, to the Queen Elizabeth Theatre (to see "Les Miserables"), to/from the train station, to the Gastown area, to Granville Island, etc. You could check to see what is happening at the QE Theatre. We had a lot of fun attending the play and then going out to dinner. We had the best gelato at Bella Gelateria on Cordova Street. They've won people's choice (and other) awards in Italy! Enjoy your trip!

Usually when I tell people I love the name, I get the blank stare -- like, "I don't know what to say to that." ;) I don't know -- I really like it for some reason. (So did my husband and ALL our kids, too.) I think the selling point was on a baby-naming board when someone posted, "I knew a Dagny in school and she so sweet but spunky too" (or something like that lol). Sorry for the side convo, OP!

I notice these a lot in my work (real-time transcribing high school and college classes for hearing impaired students). If a professor has a verbal tic like this, I sometimes put it in my abbreviation dictionary so I can type whatever it is with just a couple of letters since typing it out every time they say it would take too long and cause me to miss real content.

Did I answer already? I can't remember. :P I like Honor and Serene. I like Dagny, too, but that's just a holdover from when I had my last couple of babies but watched them come out boy. It's not a virtue, nothing to help you here. Maybe I'll name my next cat Dagny.

Ha, funny. My mom's middle name is Mae, so we had to use Mae instead of May (which I thought I preferred at the time we were naming the child who now has this as a middle name).

I voted for Bea, and while I like Poppy too, I think "Bea" is a more appropriate nn for a grown up than Poppy could ever be. And I prefer Mae to May.

We have the smoke heavy here, too (central Washington). We can't see the foothills all around us. I was at Puget Sound the past couple of days and some land across the water that we can usually see clear as crystal was nearly not visible at all.

What Tap said. I work in the disability field although I type for hearing impaired students instead of converse. In my case (if I'm working onsite), a professor might say to me, "She needs to turn in the homework by the end of class," and I'll type, "PROFESSOR: She needs to turn in the homework by the end of class" (which the student sees). Then I smile at the professor and say, "You can talk directly to her, I just type what I hear." Then I look down again and leave it be, letting them continue the conversation (which I'll type) -- or not.

The member named Happy is a real estate agent in Texas. http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/user/247-happy/

If you do go to the Ginkgo Petrified Forest, you can choose to either get back on the interstate (back track) to head to Seattle or you can follow the Vantage Highway (back road) to my hometown which sits right on the interstate so you can get back on easily there. Speeds will be a little bit less on the back highway but the drive will be less crowded and prettier (as pretty as no-trees or irrigation can be, LOL; once you get to E-burg, we have irrigation and lots of trees). Going this way, you'll also pass right alongside a really large windmill farm. Once you get to E-burg, Vantage Highway becomes University Way and you can just stay on that same road allll the way back to west end interchange with the interstate. Along the way, you will pass the state university (pretty, with late 1800's buildings), some businesses like Pizza Hut, 7-Eleven, the Copper Kettle, etc. and then in another couple of miles , you'll go through the above-mentioned roundabout (you want to take the second exit off the roundabout, as if you were going straight if it were a 4-way stop) and then can veer right onto the interstate (heading over to Seattle) right after the roundabout.. My grammar really stinks in the above paragraph. :-/ IF you need a pit stop at the point of arriving in E-burg, for coffee / treats / light lunch, turn left into Walnut Street right after you go past Chestnut St. (the second light as you come into town off the Vintage Highway). In the little store area directly to your left, you'll see Vinman's Bakery ~ best bakery in town. Parking is tight there so if you're pulling anything, this might not be possible since street parking is permitted on weekdays. They have great pastries and lunch time foccacias. Just get back on University Way when you're done to finish your trip through town and back to the interstate. Or find our downtown 5-6 blocks away from there and enjoy some time looking around a quaint university town in a very pretty location (lots of shops, restaurants, etc.). If you want to PM me when you'll be driving through, and if you'll be stopping, I'd be happy to try and come say hi for a couple of minutes!

The Ginkgo Petrified Forest is *after* the river coming from Spokane and you have to get on the Old Vintage Highway after crossing the river to get to it (it's not off the interstate). It's not hard to access, but just wanted to mention this -- unless there's a different petrified forest that I'm not aware of on the east side of the river. This is all 2 hours or so after Spokane. Stacey, If you do go to Spokane, they have a riverfront park that's lovely, but I vote for Coeur d'Alene (pr. core duh-LANE) as well. It's less than half an hour before Spokane, I think. I only include the pronunciation because I have in my memory a foreign couple that came to my Airbnb who asked how far it was to "Bwoss" (it took me a minute before I realized they meant Boise!). If you're headed to Seattle on the interstate from Spokane to Seattle, you're going to go right through my town on the interstate about 2.5 hours after leaving Spokane and 2 hours before arriving in seatlle. It's right before you head up into the mountains (the town starts with an E and ends with a g). If you need a pit stop there, take the 2nd exit, turn right at the exit stop sign, start going through the new (still under construction roundabout) and take the first right, and then hit up Jennika's Coffee Shop there on your left. There's also gas on that side of the roundabout. There's some construction going over the mountains so there can be some slow downs. Please do NOT try and head that direction on a Sunday afternoon. You'll have stop and go traffic for 45 minutes to an hour (if not more) as people who came east for the weekend events head back to the Seattle/Tacoma area. If you WERE planning on going this way on a Sunday afternoon, please let me know and I can make suggestions. Happy travels!

I'm late to the party, but we loved "The Long Long Trailer" with Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz.

I just had the wood floors stained and refinished so I think not!! I wish I could post a picture of the floors but my picture hosting site is now charging for third party sharing. :glare: (thus the loss of the Orthodox person crossing themselves in the eastern fashion in my signature, boo-hoo). I chose a coffee/antique brown mix on which the hardwoods guy used a water thingie that pulled out the grain of the wood. LOVE it.

at the new place. She's not the type of cat you can pick up and carry around. My 15yo can once in awhile, but knows when the cat is tense, so puts her down when necessary. You could say Mira is a bit feisty although a friend of mine says she's not just socialized well. Whatevs. ;-) We love her. She has quite the personality and at night, when settled inside, she'll cuddle up next to me and let me rub her head before she goes to sleep. We've been moving for about a month with the major push this week to end a week from today. Mira is an indoor/outdoor cat and since I didn't think we could just load her in the car, because of her not liking to be held very long, I worried that she wouldn't easily find us at our new place two properties away (these are 1.5 acre properties). And then the property we bought is actually the property where her main nemesis cat lived. Ha. But the previous owner -- after asking if we mightn't mind keeping that cat (ha HA) -- dutifully took him to her new little place in town (3-4 miles away); they left about three weeks ago. Today my 15yo DID pick our cat up and DID get her in the car (we were sorta in shock) and we DID slowly drive her to the new property and let her out. We just hung out in the yard as she walked around for about an hour. She even made a 45 second foray into the house before spooking and dashing out again -- and then we had to leave. We left her there stretched out under a tree. When we returned later, we didn't see her right away but eventually she came meowing back around. This time she came in the house for a good amount of time, walking around everywhere but a bit tense, and then went out again. My husband said she's thinking, "Thank you, knavery, for expanding my territory. Yes, yes, this will do well." And then I got a call from the previous owner that Nemesis Cat was missing. And maybe we could keep an eye out for him although certainly he wouldn't travel that far. You probably know what's coming. Not half an hour later, my 11yo came and said "The black and white cat is outside!" From town! 3-4 miles away! Oh, good grief. Such timing. We finally get our cat to the new property and then we have those two dancing around each other again. You almost have to laugh.Nemesis Cat ran off (to our old property, of course) and Mira stayed at the new property. I just texted with my 15yo (some of the family is sleeping there, some at the old house) and was told that Mira came in on her own and is inside for the night. So, yay. And Previous Owner is coming in the morning to try and catch Nemesis Cat again. I hope she is able to! A funny side note is that the house we bought has the exact same floor plan as the house we are moving from (except for a couple of minor differences). You could just see Mira wondering if she'd entered some weird alternate universe twilight zone as she was walking around inside tonight. We don't have hardly any furniture or anything up that would make it seem familiar to her -- nothing other than the floorplan, including where the doors are located. :) What an adventure.

I have nothing for you except that my realtor (who I've been in touch with lately because we just bought a house) said a turmeric and cinnamon tea is what cured her ever-aching shoulders.

I did. I used a box color off and on for about a year when I was a couple of years in to finding gray strands and trying to pluck them out (stupid idea!). My regret is who's got time for that LOL. Obviously some people do! I just don't. I couldn't stay up on it and I don't care enough to do so. I keep my hair tidy and like to style it otherwise, I just don't care if it's gray. I refuse to let the color of my hair age me.

I'm headed to IKEA next week and so have been shopping online to make a list of what I need to pick up (our store is a couple of hours away). One of the things is bed covers for the younger boys and I saw the pickle! I didn't know it was a store wide thing until this thread. A pickle! Who wants to sleep under a pickle with a face, I ask you? Weird. But I'm looking forward to my trip. Rented a full size pick up for the day and everything. :D We just closed on a different house and are moving the next couple of weeks. We're getting some beds, rugs, curtains, bath stuff, maybe bookshelves, etc. I like the occasional trip to IKEA for the most part, and while I'm looking forward to it, I'm sure it'll be a challenging trip too. Lots of decisions, and a new store to learn to boot (it's a newly built store that I haven't been to yet, on the same property as the old one, but a new building).

All I can share is my experience with an infant/toddler daughter. I did no research beforehand and can't say I've done any since but I it worked. When said daughter was very young, she had a weepy eczema/skin problem in a lot of different places, behind the ears, on her scalp, in the elbow and knee creases, etc. This continued for several months as far as I recall. I could peel the dried stuff off in chunks (didn't hurt her because more ooze was coming up from underneath). I mentioned this to a sweet, older lady in passing (or she noticed it perhaps) and all she said was "sulfur powder." I went to the natural foods store, bought some and started applying it topically to the affected areas -- it cleared up within days/a week and never returned. This daughter (who is now 19) will get a patch of something on her skin once in awhile, the only one of my kids to experience this regularly, but nothing like when she was a baby.

If you're there for a decent amount of time, I'd recommend the day trip to Victoria mentioned above. You drive to Port Angeles to park, can walk on in the early morning, walk off in Victoria, and then just walk around for the day.There's a return trip in the evening. Within walking distance of the harbor is a great park, a lot of shopping and sightseeing, and Craigdarroch Castle (a leeetle further away and a leeetle uphill, but doable). We loved this trip a couple of years ago. And the boat ride is fun, too. We saw a dozen or more orcas not too very far away as we neared the city. Anyone 15 or older will need a passport. Kids under 15 don't need them with land/water crossings.

Yes, I know all about WDW. I was a leader for quite awhile. I haven't relooked at it for years because of the Gwen thing (bad taste in the mouth and all that). But the principles are still sound. The Thin Within you're referencing is the .org one that I mentioned in my post but it's not the one I'm doing. The 30-day blaster challenge I'm doing is not based on either of those spiritually-based programs, but on yet a different Thin Within altogether (the .com one I referenced). My role model is my older sister. She was never even really overweight but just struggled with food I think. She looked into TW several years ago now and now it's the way she lives. She just doesn't seem to care about overeating anymore, the appeal is gone That's what I'm after.

I'm starting a Thin Within 30-day Blaster Challenge tomorrow. Thin Within focuses not on the food or exercise, but on the reasons why we overeat or eat when we're not really hungry. I guess I'm learning that while I can get some weight off with certain approaches to food, I usually gain it back because I haven't addressed or conquered why I overeat and how I use food to get me through difficult emotions or just out of mindless habit. There's a Christian-based Thin Within (.org) and one that isn't necessarily based on spirituality (.com). The Blaster Challenge is through the latter.

I don't think so, no. I think the practice had been adapted (or not used) by certain cultures, jurisdictions and parishes, but I don't think it's the historical traditional practice to forgo headcovering. But it's not a hill to die on in Orthodoxy either.