Bogleheads.org

I've never understood why some people on the Internet (and it's far from a Bogleheads-specific thing) feel the need to talk badly about some places whenever they are mentioned. I grew up in the sticks--and in a lot of ways I prefer that to city life. And I tend to be a somewhat cynical and pessimist...

They are new and in the box, BTW. I considered the Craigslist route, but I've never had anything to do with that and wanted to avoid it if I could. Bought a laser printer based on a reccomendation in a thread here a while back, so hopefully I'm done with ink cartridges. These things are surprisingly...

This is probably a long shot, but...

I have one each of Lexmark cartridges #41 and #42 that I bought for a printer that has since gone to printer heaven.

I would hate for them to go to waste. If you have a use for them, let me know and I'll send 'em your way.

Free of charge, of course.

Jeff

Yep, love the Tyson books. The notion that most average people and non-investment professionals can invest in individual stocks with minimal effort and beat the best full-time, experienced money managers is, how should I say, ludicrous and absurd." Love this quote. It has always resonated with ...

23 years old, makes $70k, lives on $20k?

Add me to the "go on vacation" group.

It is customary (or at least not uncommon) in this part of the country to put the water heater in the attic. It still freaks me out a little to think about that. We recently replaced our 13- or 14-year-old water heater mainly as a precaution. After the new one was installed, the first time I used ho...

We used to stream over wifi to an Internet-capable Blu-ray player (LG). That worked well for a while, but we live in a somewhat crowded neighborhood that has lots of competition/interference when it comes to wifi channels. Eventually saw these on sale at Monoprice and rolled the dice. This approach ...

Which Texas city is "the best" is a source of endless debate, so I would not expect you to find anything resembling consensus. I am from Ohio originally and have been in Houston since 1999 (after a 5-year stint in South Carolina). I like it a lot. Have not lived in Austin, Dallas, and San ...

A few months ago I decided that I needed to start taking advantage of the additional tax-deferred space available in my employer's 457 plan. They have some decent funds available, but none of them really fit my existing investments very well except for this one. The ER that's quoted in my plan's lit...

I've only been to that part of the world once, but let me third (or fourth, or twenty ninth, or whatever) the comments given above about following Rick Steves' advice, particularly the money belt. I remember our tour guide telling us not to carry anything in our pockets that it would be a big deal i...

Not planning to. Have an iPhone 4 and my contract is up next month, but it meets my needs just fine so I don't really see any reason to change. I'm a bit worried about iOS 6, though. Apparently the maps are changing and transit directions will no longer be provided. I use that feature semi-regularly...

Moved to Houston 5 years ago. It's just a job. A couple day's ago, I stopped to help a lady with a stalled car. The abuse from passing cars was remarkable. Co-workers were amazed that I stopped to help. Cheap cost of living ain't free. burt I've lived in Houston for 13 years now. My wife has been h...

Here is a thread on this topic that I started last fall. Thought some of the replies were pretty interesting.

Just FYI.

Plastics.

I've wondered about this, too.

My employer contributes 6% of my salary. Was 6.4% until a couple of years ago.

Public sector (higher ed). No pension.

I can tell you how to NOT buy a car. 1) Only have one shared car in the household, so if/when it were to die it would be a BFD. This is important. 2) Have a hard time agreeing with your spouse about what car to buy to replace your existing, 13-year-old vehicle, until … 3) …said vehicle develops a co...

I switched from BofA to USAA back when the whole $5/month debit card fiasco was in the works. (I don't use my debit card a lot, but I use it a couple of places regularly.) It was a bit of a transition. BofA's online banking and bill pay were much more intuitive IMO, though I suppose at least in part...

We have threads here from time to time asking how much household energy consumption is "normal", etc. It's a question I've always been interested in myself. Just happened to read a blog post highlighting a recently released study by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (didn't know t...

Had no idea that those videos existed, and I visit here every day (often several times). Thanks for the link.

The Bogleheads never cease to amaze me.

Contact is good, but it's a fictional novel, not an important-life changer like "Demon..." They made a movie out of it starring Jodie Foster, I'd forget the book and just rent the movie, for that one. The movie is very good, but the novel is wonderful. More depth, more nuance, more of wha...

"The Demon-Haunted World" and "Contact" are both excellent. Don't know if they'd be the best places to start, but I highly recommend them.

So what you're saying is that you need a green card to do a pharmacy residency but not a medicine residency?

Is that true? I honestly have no idea.

Resisting the urge to tinker.

I am stunned that this thread is nearing 100 posts and nobody has mentioned Andy Bernard, Cornell graduate.

2006 Acura RSX-S, 28,000 miles. Best thing is, my wife and I share it--it's the only car we own.

At this pace we should hit 120,000 miles sometime in 2028.

We are not pack rats in particular, but we had some stuff that we didn't know what to do with so we had 1-800-GOT-JUNK come out maybe a year ago. I guess it was a little on the pricey side, but they were very helpful and friendly and it was extremely convenient. I suppose I also felt better in that ...

I'm a pharmacist too. Faculty, actually. And I've worked pretty extensively with pharmacy, medical, and nursing students over the years. I think in the end it comes down to whether you want to be a pharmacist or a physician. If you really want to be a physician, you should go to medical school. The ...

I got it too. Could it be that Advantage Class shares are now available for the funds you own? When I went and checked, a bunch of them now show up in the list of available funds for my plan. Pretty sure they weren't there before. And thanks for the heads up about the international fund's expenses i...

I try to, but we only put about 5,000 miles per year on our (shared) car so it's tough to figure out what needs to be done when. For example, the owner's manual says to change the oil every 5,000 miles or 6 months. I was taking it in every 6 months at first until one day the guy at the dealership to...

The expenses might be even worse than they first appear. During my (thankfully brief) time as a VALIC client, there was a separate "Mortality and Expense Risk Fee" of something like 1% or 1.25% on top of the substantial expense ratios. Of course, if that's the case in your wife's 403b then...

A little over a year ago I got my first smartphone, an iPhone 4. My wife had a 3GS and loved it, and I didn't really feel like doing research into alternatives. I've been quite happy with it. Then last summer the wife wanted an iPad 2. I'd been looking at tablets, but I figured since I'd already dra...

Having an extra set of eyes in the passenger seat can go a long way toward minimizing this sort of thing in my experience. When I'm driving and my wife is riding beside me (as is usual for our daily commute), we have an understanding that it's okay (and even encouraged) for her to point out pedestri...

For the IPAD2 consider the Otterbox Defender. Look over the numerous reviews both positive and negative. http://goo.gl/e8ckb That's what I have for my phone. I didn't even know there was an iPad version. Personally, my phone takes a lot more abuse than does my iPad, so I'm pretty happy with what I ...

When I first got my iPad 2, I also bought a smart cover from Apple. It was very nice, but after a few months it was filthy. I got this from Monoprice as a replacement. I love it and will definitely be getting another one when the time comes. Plus the price is right. Also, I totally agree with a scre...

I do. My wife has served as an officer for most of the time we've lived here, which helps. It's also a small association (12 units) which keeps the politics to a minimum.

Have you considered running for election?

Jeff

One other thing I didn't think about but wish I had known... If you decide to go the Costco route and have the plain "Gold Star" membership like most people, it might be worth it to upgrade to the "Executive" membership that gives you 2% cash back at least for the year when you h...

Good stuff.

We did it a couple of years ago. It was an independent contractor. First a design person came out to the house and helped us pick out what we wanted. Then a few weeks later the installers came and did the work. I'm sure we could have gotten it done cheaper elsewhere, but for the quality we got I thi...

7. Find a good physical therapist who will "work you until you hate him" during the recovery process. Will be Hell for a month, then you will be glad you did it. It will take you approximately one year before you are "close to normal" again. Two of the funnier things I've heard ...

On the other hand, I was also forced to read The Sound and the Fury in college, hated it and found it almost impenetrable. For years I would have considered it as almost the canonical definition of an overrated book. Finally got around to re-reading it this year and thought it was very good. That w...

I've already opened a USAA account that will replace my 12-year-old BofA account and am in the process of switching over. This announcement is not going to stop me. Too little, too late. I think I'm going to get rid of my BofA-issued credit card too, just for good measure. The thing is, I was a pret...

I know little about this, and my opinions should probably be chased away and/or stomped into oblivion by folks who are bored and need something to do, but... The BBQ/laid-back party route is the way to go. My wife and I had a sit-down dinner at a decently nice restaurant. It went well, no real regre...

gatorman wrote:I don't think anyone had Houston in their top 5.

Speaking as a Cougar fan (and member of the faculty), anyone who thinks Houston is a top-5 team at this point should have their voting privileges rescinded.

Thanks, everyone, for sharing your experiences. Seems like they are all over the place, which is not surprising. If I gave the impression that I was overly perturbed about this, it wasn't my intent. I understand that the issuer, not me, is reponsible for fraudulent charges and that they need to be v...

So I'm currently on vacation in a different part of the country than where I live. I made a purchase with my main credit card yesterday, but today I tried it at two different places and it was declined. Thinking that there must be some sort of fraud alert, I called the issuer tonight. The lady basic...

I have had a BoA checking account since 1999. I have not paid them a cent in fees the entire time. A lot of the criticism they get is deserved, but I've never had any significant problems so I've never had a reason to change. Their ATMs are plentiful, and their online banking/bill pay is excellent. ...

Speaking as someone who turned 40 earlier this year, this thread is depressing.

At least I (mostly) like my job. I am thankful for that.

Why was she stressed out? Was it because she "only" got a B, or that she would not rather deal with chemistry? If she likes the subject, she should continue with a backup plan - like chemical engineering. If she just puts up with the subject, as it's a means to get a good paying job, she ...

I don't think you need to love/be great at chemistry to BE a pharmacist, but to BECOME a pharmacist is a different story. As already pointed out, there is a ton of chemistry, especially early in the curriculum. Problem is, though, if she wanted to go to dental/medical/optometry/podiatry/vet school, ...

We do both, plus cable (well, Uverse actually).

Possibly overkill, but all 3 get used regularly so I don't mind so much.