Nope. Everything about it was awful. You won't miss anything by giving up now, except annoyance and disappointment. It's the ultimate case of a terrific show gone horribly, horribly wrong.

And yet it's so pervasive in certain circles--those who scream the loudest to take things away from others suddenly reverse course when someone close is affected. SMH. Over and over and over.

I think my heart just stopped.

I worry about this every.single.day. There is no "being fine". We have essentially zero safety net in this country and I'm beyond appealed that anyone doesn't think it's an utter disgrace. We should be as ashamed for ourselves as the rest of the world is for us.

DS loved Supersize Me; there wasn't a lot of new information presented for him, but it did provide a great jumping off point for lots of terrific questions and discussions. I think he was 11; it was definitely appropriate (for him, anyway) at that age.

So glad you went to urgent care. I hope the rx works quickly and you feel better soon!

I use a citrus based bike degreaser.

Yes. I typically don't have any noticeable symptoms when I get sinus infections. I've learned to act quickly when there is pain, however, because they get worse quickly. I didn't have my first sinus infection until I was past 30; not knowing what it was (no obvious symptoms) I didn't act quickly enough and I think that caused a lot of damage. Eta I second the Flonase. I use it now at my first suspicion.

Sounds like typical sinus infection symptoms. Antibiotics ought to take care of it quickly.

Mine uses one. He hadn't figured out how to floss yet anyway, so the water pic makes it easy and it gets done every day without fail. I would definitely recommend it for ease of use.

That's really common now. It makes dealing with any kind of utility, credit union, etc a huge pain. Even our cable company is like that. I'm so sorry that happened, OP. My credit union recently shut my debit card down due to fraud--thankfully the theif was denied every time he tried to use my info. Still, it feels like a huge violation, and of course it's a hassle to deal with the fallout. I hope it's resolved quickly for you!

We had to replace a roof and a shattered window once after a hailstorm. We called our insurance company which sent an claims adjustor out right away. He gave us an estimate and we were able to find a roofer (and window repair) ho quoted us within that range. It was a huge storm; most of our neighbourhood had new roofs after that. I don't know that it makes any difference if they work together or not. An honest repair company will know what insurance will cover and how much.

That's a great question. Yes, sharing in conversation feels different to me. Not that anyone would be interested; our emails are just the boring everyday details of our lives, totally not share worthy. Somehow passing along the actual emails--with the tone or words I use to that specific person--feels different and more violating than just mentioning to their friend that we got a huge snowstorm or whatever. I'm not sure why.

Yeah, I don't mean sharing with a spouse. In this case it's my parents, so I expect they'll share my news with each other. ;). But I'm baffled why it would be considered good taste to forward my news on to their friends and people I don't know or am not close to. I can't imagine anyone would be interested, for one. But mostly I'm just a really private person, which they don't respect.

This is exactly the kind of thing I'm talking about. Nothing in the emails is private-private ( we don't have that kind of relationship), but nevertheless it really bothers me. I'm glad I'm not the only one.

I'm looking forward to downsizing. At 1600 sq ft, our house is bigger than we need as it is; I can't imagine just two of us here. Of course I would always want an extra room that DS can use when he visits. I don't think he would care if it was his "childhood room" at all. We wanted a single story house when we bought our current home but didn't end up with one. We will definitely go that way in the future, with an eye toward getting older as well as a smaller footprint.

Personal. Not necessarily private, but from a known private person. Yes, the equivalent to a personal letter.

Generally, no. We have a strong family privacy policy, but at the same time it's mostly unavoidable to see what we are all looking at on various screens. I'd say I'd pretty much expect it from DH or DS (because we always hang out together and share what we're reading anyway) but not from anyone else.

Spinning off privacy and open screens, do you consider it okay to forward a personal email to someone else without asking the original sender? Like, you send person X an email, and they send it to their friends or other family members without asking you or telling you? Okay, tacky, or blatant invasion of privacy?

WOW!! Congratulations to your daughter, and to your entire family. Honestly, I have no words. I am in awe.

Good to know. I will then. It was "from the IRS" who "threatened my arrest" (on voicemail!). Even though it's obviously a scam it still unnerved me, and of course they work on an awful lot of people. Ugh.

To report a scam call (in this case voicemail and call back), what actions should one take? Should one call their local police station? Is there any point? Thanks.

I went to a lecture recently regarding college admissions and one minor point that was made in reference to regional differences is what resources kids have available to them, and how certain subjects are considered "cool" in some areas of the country and decidedly not so in others. She pointed out, for example, that it's generally desirable here in New England to be a math and science geek; in other areas, however, that has a negative connotation. The successes and availability of resources in a student's community can have a huge influence on passions and the "hipness" factor in the middle and high school years. I found it good food for thought.

Yeah, same here. High school worries me some, but at least we avoided the public school middle school years, where I'm guessing (hoping) that attitude is at its worst and most influential.

Immature teenagers aside, I wonder that every.single.day.