Search results

  1. J

    MegaMillions: $970M

    I'm in! And I thought I was done with this forum.
  2. J

    About to buy a car. How do you get price quote from dealership...

    I thought holdbacks depended on the specific model, the volume the dealership has, etc. possibly useless anecdote: The last car we purchased was a "2 at this price" deal that was extended by the sales manager to any car of that model (no option camry LE) if we bought that day because he...
  3. J

    buying first home, need advice

    Do you have PMI included in these low(ish) down payment loans?
  4. J

    Hey California - time to start labeling another product as cancerous...

    this has been known for years. Taking a single supplemental vitamin can overload the body into thinking that it has plenty of antioxidants, and it stops producing it's own. But the ingested vitamin isn't as broad spectrum as the body's own antioxidants.* Hrm, maybe it hasn't been proven for...
  5. J

    How much salary does a doctor make

    A good family medicine doctor can treat most things, and you should only be referred to a specialist if you have something super rare or complicated. If yours just constantly punts you off, find a new doctor.
  6. J

    Good Car Quiz!!

    I expected to get an F, too, but C+! 79%
  7. J

    buying first home, need advice

    I'll assume you work near the coast. Buy something close to work in a nice enough neighborhood. 1 bedroom condos should be in your price range. You'll probably grow out of it some day, but it'll be a 1 bedroom condo in a nice enough neighborhood fairly close to the beach. So, it'll be easy to...
  8. J

    ATOT Travel Agents: Need Help With Company Alternate Travel

    you staying in SPG hotels? their lifetime platinum program is pretty amazing. I don't travel enough for work to ever qualify, but if you aren't on it, you should look into it.
  9. J

    ATOT Travel Agents: Need Help With Company Alternate Travel

    Let's see if I have this right: 1) you travel a lot for work. Actually, I think you might be embedded at an away location for a period of up to a year. 2) travel policy you to go home every 6 week or so while you are on assignment for an extended period. 3) you have little interest in traveling...
  10. J

    BY THE POWER OF ATOT! 4th grade science help

    wind tunnel's a fun project. you just need a fan, cowling, and a ton of straws. What would you demonstrate? I feel the electricity demonstrator is a good idea.
  11. J

    anyone know wtf this is?

    maybe they'll start growing grapes this season?
  12. J

    So I offered $180,000 on the house they were asking $199,000 for and...

    That's completely normal. No matter how much you improve your house, you aren't going to change your neighborhood.
  13. J

    Steak Sauce without corn syrup....??

    seriouseats.com has a nice article about the myths of cast iron. The seasoning is chemically bonded to the pan. red wine and scraping won't hurt.
  14. J

    Steak Sauce without corn syrup....??

    Go to Mistral and have their vin rouge sauce. You'll never want to buy steak sauce again. When I have some time, I'm going to be drowning in steak as I try to make something similar at home.
  15. J

    My people embarrass me sometimes.

    cultural differences. Common courtesy and common sense aren't global. If you want to fix it, get a time machine and instill these practices a few generations back, and we should be good. It's not just Asians. I flew into France a few years ago, got to the train that was going to take me to the...
  16. J

    Fast HDR?

    HDR speed has to do with the speed of the imaging chip, and the design of the camera. You're right that the smart phone camera has new tech. Smart phone imaging sensors are constantly changing. Each generation of iPhone probably has a different imaging sensor than the one before it. Apple...
  17. J

    Princeton book or COLLEGE BOARD book for SAT?

    something like this: http://amzn.com/0071822917 That's just an example I found on Amazon. I can't remember what brand book I used. For me, the key was lots of practice in a test taking environment.
  18. J

    Princeton book or COLLEGE BOARD book for SAT?

    If your brother just needs to work on speed, get the books of tests. I think they're sold in books of 10, with solutions so he can figure out what he did wrong. At least they used to be back when I took it. I would check out 1 book at a time from the local public library.
  19. J

    Just venting: ARG...

    I think I got it: OP took time off around Thanksgiving last year using the FMLA, which states that you may take job protecting unpaid leave to take care of your family. But instead of taking unpaid leave, he took paid leave by promising to give the company back his upcoming vacation time (which...
  20. J

    any tungsten carbide ring wearers?

    The same rings you can get on Tango (or whatever that site that used to show up on slickdeals all the time) and amazon is sold in jewelry stores for ~$300 (see Aharami's post) As for the quesiton of Titanium vs Tungsten, Titanium is way lighter. In comparison, it barely feels like anything is...
  21. J

    any tungsten carbide ring wearers?

    The great part about tungsten is that if you lose some weight and lose a ring while waving at someone while going down an inner tube slope, it's only $30 to get a replacement on amazon. My original ring wasn't offered any more, so I got something similar for the same price. My ring is 2 years...
  22. J

    what's the best cashback card now (costco to stop accepting amex)

    I think AMEX said that they would transfer people over to a non-costco-branded card, preserving that line of credit.
  23. J

    Traveling across the USA - Advice Please (hiking/camping)

    I was going to post this. If you don't do the annual pass, your national park entrance fee might cover you for a week at all national parks. Or is that national monuments? I can't remember. And if you happen to be a senior citizen, it's a 1 time fee for lifetime access (I'm just throwing this...
  24. J

    2% credit card?

    BofA's platinum visa signature gives 1% on all, 2% on drug store & grocery, and 3% on gas. There's an annual fee, but if you have enough in BofA+Meril lynch, the fee is waived, and you get up to a 75% bonus on your cash back. (goes to 1.75%, 3.5%, and 5.25%)
  25. J

    Why is it so freaking hard to find anything good?!

    RC is one of those special cases. You've got aluminum screws for weight savings. You could switch to steel. Those will weigh more, be harder to strip, and might be cheaper.
  26. J

    Why is it so freaking hard to find anything good?!

    truism from a rich guy I once knew: Not all expensive things are great, but all great things are expensive. Pay more for higher quality stuff. For your kitchen stuff, go to sur la table or williams & sonoma. Sure, you can get the same items on amazon, but will they provide the same service...
  27. J

    Getting best price on new car? (Northern VA)

    Pretty sure JEDI is buying new. Can't get that from a private party. Most dealerships have an internet sales department that will quote you a price. I would do the same, but instead of forwarding the lowest price, only do that when asked. Because their next offer may be lower.
  28. J

    buying a foreclosure at auction

    The mortgage company already owns the house. I haven't looked that much because I'm not ready to buy yet, but the auction listings I've seen have an inspection period or agent that will let you look around. My brother in law put in an offer on a foreclosure once. The title holder took it to...
  29. J

    My new ride 2015 Tesla Model S 85D

    I agree. great car, and nobody at work is going to dock her for buying Tesla. When I worked with Boeing, we flew with whoever it was that offered the cheapest flight that met our specifications. More often than not, I was flying Airbus!
  30. J

    Your go to stains & varnishes for refinishing wood

    like highland and anubis, I've only used minwax to stain. For varnish, I like to use minwax polyurethane to seal. A couple layers with light sanding in between should do the trick. Keeping people off the stairs for 2 - 3 days as you prep, stain, and seal 2x might be difficult if you only have 1...
  31. J

    LED strip lights

    No LEDs are dimmable. Like boomerang said, it depends on the driver. You have to either get a smarter dimmer, or have a driver that will translate the wall dimmer signal to a dimming response from the LEDs.
  32. J

    The 2014 Annual Anandtech Tax Time Thread!

    That's how it works in America. Your Canadian system may be completely different.
  33. J

    Anyone ever repair an HP 48G? :)

    Mine's been going strong for the last 18 years. Of course, now it sits in a drawer and I use the HP 48G emulator on my android phone if I want to play with RPN. Otherwise, I just use a standard calculator app.
  34. J

    Weight distribution over carpet (>500 pounds)

    500 pounds shouldn't be that much that it causes floor warping. It's rather difficult to move the application of the load from 1 area of the floor to another. What you can do, though, is spread it out over a larger area (which is what it sounds like you want to do) Some interlocking rubber...
  35. J

    ice removal from edge of roof

    how solid is the ice? does your local hardware store still have any roof rakes left? (the proper solution that might be too late for this season)
  36. J

    I've been traveling for over a month now... make it stop

    So, go to an interview, ace it, take the job, and then start a new thread. How many months has it been since you started looking for a job?
  37. J

    The 2014 Annual Anandtech Tax Time Thread!

    I've been (stupidly?) ignoring the AMT as I've been taking the standard deduction on my return. I plan on running through he AMT worksheet as a learning experience as 2015 will be an annoying return with moving expenses and 3 state returns, and 2016 may be an incredibly complicated return with...
  38. J

    New credit card readers at Target?

    Walmart. If your card has a chip in it, you'll get automatic rejection of the swipe. No PIN required, though. (good thing, I don't know mine.)
  39. J

    Help with taxes - Do I really owe this much?

    using http://www.bankrate.com/calculators/tax-planning/1040-form-tax-calculator.aspx and https://webapp.ftb.ca.gov/taxcalc/Calculator.aspx you appear to be off by about $10k. if you don't have many other inputs, you can just do your taxes by hand. it's good to start off with simple taxes...