So, did you survive eating the sandwich?

October 4, 2007 2:41 PM

The great AskMe folllowup roundup -- sort of a pony, sort of a good idea. People, if you have posted an AskMe in the last year or so (meaning it is still live) and you found the answers helpful, and something happened as a result of the AskMe, many people are curious to know what the end result is. Going back, marking best answers if you haven't done so, and telling us what the heck ended up happening would all be much appreciated.

I realize since this really is more of an ongoing thing it might not totally make sense to post this in the gray, but I have no idea how else to communicate this. A lot of people have posted questions that have left MeFites at the edge of their seats. Did they drink the milk? Was the product launch a success? And so on.

If there's some way to post a gentle reminder for a followup for AskMes, that'd be cool as well.

posted by Deathalicious to MetaFilter-Related at 2:41 PM (221 comments total)

I assume that he drank the milk and didn't survive.
posted by The World Famous at 2:44 PM on October 4, 2007 [5 favorites]

Well, I got this lunchbox for my brother for Christmas, and it's really awesome.

The Pie Contest was a great success, some pics here, and believe it or not, the AskMe provided enough mental structure for me to do it well for a first-timer. These food contest people are serious and you don't want to mess up. I'm going to go back and add to the thread that the three classic pie criteria are Taste, Appearance, and Crust.

There are a bunch of AskMes in which I asked for ideas to help with projects at work, and most of those are still in process, so can't report results yet. Same for travel (haven't done the travel yet).

Maybe others will have more scandalous or surprising answers than I did, but man, mine have been seriously useful.
posted by Miko at 2:53 PM on October 4, 2007

Indeed, I am anxiously awaiting the conclusion to the Great Urination Trepidation of Several Weeks Ago.
posted by Partial Law at 2:54 PM on October 4, 2007

This is what the 'resolved' tag is for.
posted by ND¢ at 2:54 PM on October 4, 2007

He sold a "laptop" to an angry guy and when he received the 10 pound box of gravel, they found him and made him eat all of the gravel.
posted by milkrate at 2:55 PM on October 4, 2007 [6 favorites]

I think this is a good idea, and if anyone wants to get off their buttocks and find out what the connection is between the melody in part 7 of Ligeti's "Musica Ricercata" and the same melody in the second movement of his Violin Concerto, I'll be more than happy to go back into that question and mark their answer as best and even make a big stinky deal about what a good answer it is.
posted by sleevener at 3:00 PM on October 4, 2007

I've often wondered about the guy in search of the purple henley who wanted to take a photograph similar to the one he had of his dad 30 years before. I'd like to see the new photo but he never posted a follow-up.
posted by Brittanie at 3:08 PM on October 4, 2007

Oh right, sorry about that. I ended up draining most of their blood, and burning what was left. I then took these remains and dumped them in a fast flowing, deep part of the river. Naturally I did all of this whilst wearing thick rubberized clothing that I also disposed of.

At this point I'm fairly certain that I got away with it.
posted by quin at 3:17 PM on October 4, 2007 [22 favorites]

The really interesting ones would be relationshipfilter. I sometimes wonder how many people actually do dump their partner when faced with a bunch of strangers telling them they should.
posted by Ms. Saint at 3:18 PM on October 4, 2007 [3 favorites]

I always wanted to know the resolution of the one with the chick who had the affair with some big celebrity, and the tabs were hounding her now....
posted by tristeza at 3:26 PM on October 4, 2007 [4 favorites]

Did we ever find out about the guy with the tux and the scuba thing?

Or if those dicks at that bar ever got theirs for not letting that guy in Chicago have his Superbowl party?
posted by mckenney at 3:32 PM on October 4, 2007 [2 favorites]

I want to know what the guy did with the 50 lbs. of chocolate chips!
posted by iamkimiam at 3:32 PM on October 4, 2007

I was investigating charred, bloodless remains which our well-trained diving team dredged up from the city river. There was a bloody, latex protection suit slightly downstream (thanks for reminding us to look around). Unfortunately, we never did catch the perp — so no best answers from me, sorry.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 3:38 PM on October 4, 2007 [12 favorites]

always wanted to know the resolution of the one with the chick who had the affair with some big celebrity, and the tabs were hounding her now....

Did we ever find out about the guy with the tux and the scuba thing?

Two of my faves too. Need closure!
posted by CunningLinguist at 3:39 PM on October 4, 2007

As long as we're on this topic, a related gripe I have is askers who never come back to answer requests for more information. There's been a couple in the last few days that I felt I could help with, but the asker can't be bothered to clarify things that are confusing.

I think there oughta be something in the guidelines about that, something along the lines of, "Don't expect instant answers to complex questions; you will probably have to clarify what you mean, particularly for technical matters. If you're not willing to answer those clarification questions, please don't put up an Ask post."

Something like that, but with a touch less irritation. :)
posted by Malor at 3:50 PM on October 4, 2007 [3 favorites]

CunningLinguist: "... the chick who had the affair with some big celebrity, and the tabs were hounding her now....

... the guy with the tux and the scuba thing?

Two of my faves too. Need closure!"

Turned out the tabloids caught up with her, published her photo and she was the fiancé of the tux guy, so the wedding's off. Small world, huh?
posted by dg at 4:01 PM on October 4, 2007

Needs closure!
posted by shoesfullofdust at 4:05 PM on October 4, 2007

Robert Conquest hasn't replied to my letter, and I still really want to hear the applause.
posted by jack_mo at 4:20 PM on October 4, 2007

Sorry, guys, couldn't get the Jews on the boxcars.
posted by klangklangston at 4:22 PM on October 4, 2007 [5 favorites]

I took the GPS unit to Russia and no one noticed or cared. I actually didn't have any run-ins with authority at all during my 3 days in St. Petersburg.

Gillware totally rescued my hard drive. I got every file back, it cost about $700, and they were very professional about it as well as having that personal touch that you get with a small business. I recommend them highly.

I did get the passenger side mirror from a local Junkyard in Ballard (although the one Jessamyn remembered is now gone) after finding it on car-part.com, and they were very clean and professional and affordable. It also got two writeups on Get Rich Slowly.
posted by matildaben at 4:27 PM on October 4, 2007

It's the anonymous ones that drive me crazy. Like that one where the guy who wrote several thousand words about how he was better than everyone because he followed W3 standards and read Schopenhauer or something. I really wonder about those.
posted by milarepa at 4:31 PM on October 4, 2007 [2 favorites]

The Opera browser for the Nintendo DS does not support Google Calendar.

However, my iPhone does.
posted by sourwookie at 4:36 PM on October 4, 2007

I want to know what happened to this couple. It's the post introduced me to MetaFilter.
posted by spec80 at 5:03 PM on October 4, 2007 [11 favorites]

What Malor said. Not providing follow up or clarifying info when people are trying to help really chaps my hide. Not providing closure (even if the question is just along the lines of 'what's this movie I'm thinking of') pisses me the hell off. Come back and say 'hey yeah that's the one' or 'nope, no one got it yet' so we don't continue to waste our time.
posted by iconomy at 5:08 PM on October 4, 2007

I gave my speech. It was funny. Thanks for the help. I achieved what I wanted: making people laugh and not tripping over my gown. What I didn't know was that I was having a meeting with someone who was in the audience the very next morning. She was extremely helpful when I was researching in Nanjing with contacts I could not have ever possibly made myself. I don't think it was my speech, but still, small world and it gave us something to chit chat about to break the ice.
posted by typewriter at 5:22 PM on October 4, 2007

Indeed, I am anxiously awaiting the conclusion to the Great Urination Trepidation of Several Weeks Ago.

Yeah, no news is good news in that. He hasn't been fired, I assume the results were known within days.
posted by geoff. at 5:24 PM on October 4, 2007

Sometimes I wish there was a "worst answer" flag. For the OP only, of course.
posted by sneakin at 5:27 PM on October 4, 2007 [1 favorite]

They all lived happily ever after.

That's all you need to know.
posted by briank at 5:27 PM on October 4, 2007 [1 favorite]

After 9 months of living with these neighbors, I am reasonably sure that they sell drugs (based on the people I see coming and going from their apartment at all hours and seeing some bag-hiding action in front of the stoop). Also, another neighbor tells me that the female half of the couple is a prostitute.
posted by Airhen at 5:49 PM on October 4, 2007

Generic Business Cards: I ended up going with 3 very nice ones, including an awesome set from OvernightPrints that was amazing.
Restaurant in Alexandria (VA): 100 King was wonderful and is now the default restaurant to go to for any further family meetings.
English professor contact after 8 years: I wrote the email but never sent it.
Needing a job: Ended up with two of em, and several more in the hopper. Still at home, still hating life, but at least I'm making progress on getting the fuck out.
posted by sperose at 5:54 PM on October 4, 2007

My depressed son weathered the storm. Some talk therapy plus a few months of anti-depressants got him through the worst of it.

In May he graduated from the college where I teach. When his name was announced I elbowed the president aside and gave my son his diploma myself. Instead of the quick handshake he gave me a huge bear hug. It totally fucked up the graduation choreography and was one of the greatest moments of my life.

Son is now back in Seattle, working and enjoying life. He feels the edges of depression creeping back sometimes but keeps it at bay with exercise, yoga, and some mental techniques he learned during therapy. He also says that it was the anitdepressants that gave him the space to learn these techniques and that if it ever starts to get bad he will go back on them.

The advice and support of the Metafilter community was of huge assistance as I tried to figure out how to be a good dad to a young man struggling with depression. So many people here who I admire and respect shared their own battles with depression in the thread, it gave me great hope in the dark times. Thank you all.
posted by LambChop at 6:10 PM on October 4, 2007 [64 favorites]

My mom's doing great. Her one-year post-resection checkup was last week. And she's practically a colonoscopy evangelist, now that it's saved her life.

My SO loooooovvved the copy of Finnegans Wake, which I did manage to get in time for his birthday, and was a total surprise.

I still do not use the nutritional yeast as much as I should. But at least I cannot claim a dearth of ideas.

My Philly to Balto drive isn't quite as consistently bad as I thought it would be. But I have had to detour to 13N at the PA border a bunch of times. And I haven't made the drive as often as I planned because of the following update.

I'm fine, sans gallbladder. The hospital took good care of me. I went back to work yesterday.
posted by desuetude at 6:24 PM on October 4, 2007

My husband's mohawk turned out great thanks.

With the encouragement of Mefites, I quit my job, began studying full-time and was offered part-time work (and contract jobs) that suit me really well. I'm still trying too hard and getting perfect grades.
posted by b33j at 6:36 PM on October 4, 2007

I enjoyed staying in the caboose very much.

I decided to take the money from JetBlue and not take them to court.

I still check wifi from outside the airport clubs.

I decided not to drive across Australia, but I did drive along the Great Ocean Road.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 6:39 PM on October 4, 2007

I cut out on caffeine and acidic stuff, and my heartburn's been much better!
posted by dismas at 6:44 PM on October 4, 2007

I got promoted to Vice President a few months after the conference and all the business cards.

Last week, after a delightful speech along the lines of 'I'm in charge, don't you forget it, whippersnapper,' I handed in my resignation letter.

Props to deadmessenger for providing me the text of that letter.
posted by cobaltnine at 6:51 PM on October 4, 2007 [1 favorite]

I must have the most boring set of questions ever.

Let's see...My "valuable" domain is still around...hilariously, every "professional" thinks it's worth a mint and yet no buyer has been willing to come close to the low end of the value range I've been told its worth. Clue phone ringing, perhaps?

Still sharing a well, it was more of an exploratory question, in any case, rather than one likely to result in action. I'm amused at the conclusion one answerer drew, that I am "hen-pecked." (I have many lame qualities, but I don't really think that is one.)

And, hey, I made it through a reduced background check, no SSN or credit report required.

Sorry I don't have any relationship troubles to amuse the masses with. I could be asking tractor gearbox questions, so be thankful.
posted by maxwelton at 7:17 PM on October 4, 2007

I will now provide follow-up on every one of my 50 AskMeta questions.....











Just kidding!
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 7:22 PM on October 4, 2007 [1 favorite]

We had another boy, not a girl, and named him Charles Xavier Lastname.
posted by frogan at 7:27 PM on October 4, 2007 [2 favorites]

Well, if you mix this question with this one, you'll know how I got addicted to Moxie. And this thread helped me write a story that got nominated for an award and will be published in an anthology next year. That ruled.

Oh, and since asking this I've finally found what I was looking for.
posted by Bookhouse at 7:52 PM on October 4, 2007

338 posts tagged with resolved
1 posts tagged with resolved and dating

We work and we slave over the daily "OMG Should I ask him/her out even though s/he's my boss/my co-worker/my neighbor and I'm gay/I'm scared/I'm broke" and what do we get in return? Nothing! You people are ingrates, I'm on strike until I hear your tales of romantic passion and heartrending rejection.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 7:54 PM on October 4, 2007 [5 favorites]

Neo, is, in fact, The One.
posted by The Deej at 7:58 PM on October 4, 2007 [1 favorite]

We still haven't replaced our wedding rings. On the upside, they're still meteoric.

I learned very basic perl.

I just told them to suck it up and use stata.

I pointed the laptop to a specific dns server and all was well.

We bought a CR-V and like it a lot.

I built the pc. It still works fine, but I've put a 2-core chip in it.

Carbondale made somebody else an offer, so it was moot.

I shoved it in the box.

I did what they said.

I'm using that laptop now. It's getting cranky for old-age reasons.

We moved to Snyder. WNY is wonderful. The way I love Wegmans is probably illegal in Texas.

It's like y'all are useful or something.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 7:58 PM on October 4, 2007

I'm all kinds of employed.
posted by tracert at 8:15 PM on October 4, 2007

This was a pretty good idea, I'm enjoying all of these resolutions! I'll post mine tomorrow.
posted by DMan at 8:22 PM on October 4, 2007

Apart from this one, none of my questions have been able to be answered in any useful (to me) way. I'm well aware that I am the statistical anomaly in this and that it is most likely my fault.
posted by dg at 8:46 PM on October 4, 2007

So what if we have like a follow up form. Fill it out and it gets posted to your question in a section towards the bottom or with a different background color than the best answer background. It could also have a little icon next to the post like the best answer check mark. Then we could also create a filter that shows questions that have the 'follow up' status. This could actually be really helpful. It might be very useful, when searching for a question and trying to make use of the answer, to know what happen to the OP when they took (or refused) the advice of the posters.
posted by B(oYo)BIES at 8:53 PM on October 4, 2007 [3 favorites]

My questions aren't all that exciting, but I've been meaning to do this for a while. Thanks for the push, Deathalicious - I'll do it this weekend.
posted by spaceman_spiff at 8:54 PM on October 4, 2007

My turn:

I have given up on ever having Evolution on my MacBook

Found one, kick ass ticket to the States. Plenty of time for the transfer, too.

The cats turned out just fine, thankfully. They're back with their original caretaker and happy as can be.

Summer is technically over, it still does hit 27C here every so often but at this point I'd hardly call it hot. I ended up in a flat with A/C and every so often I wimped out and switched it on.

France was awesome. I highly recommend the city of Pau in the Pays Basque
posted by Deathalicious at 9:02 PM on October 4, 2007

I had a wonderful time in Portland, hung out with family, went to the 8th anniversary meetup where I met Mathowie, Jessamyn, Cortex, PB, Matildaben, Sleepy Pete, Melissa May, stet, librarina, ottereroticist, DaShiv, kindall, foetry_guy and many others and had no trouble at either airport, thanks to great advice from all the helpful posters. I packed my camera and lens in the laptop bag with my laptop and managed not to lose anything. (Note: my MacBook was the only Apple laptop on the conveyor belt!) There was one tiny incident; my barrette set off the metal detector at PDX and they put on their latex gloves, had me put it in a special tray and then they walked it through the metal detector all by itself to make sure that it wasn't part of a terrorist plot to, oh I don't know, blow up hairdos or something.
posted by Lynsey at 9:03 PM on October 4, 2007

I am sure absolutely interested, but as for the parking fines, it turns out that it happens all the time in Baltimore that you get a ticket, it gets removed or blown off your car and you don't hear from the city about it until the late fees are huge.
posted by Airhen at 9:03 PM on October 4, 2007

I'm still ignoring the problem in the hope that it will go away without me having to put any effort into following your excellent advice.

And I'm still very very lonely.
posted by nowonmai at 9:06 PM on October 4, 2007 [2 favorites]

Mine remains yet unsolved. The lady who was helping me out ended up having a family tragedy and hasn't been able to research for me.
Maybe it's just time for me to schedule a trip up there...
posted by czechmate at 9:09 PM on October 4, 2007 [1 favorite]

I nominate the webcam-under-the-desk question for the Most Needed Closure Award. I missed lunch that day from the reloading.

The person who isn't me lost 55 pounds and reversed all bad numbers since I posted. And, we ended up with a Saturn VUE.
posted by gnomeloaf at 9:12 PM on October 4, 2007

Every user is now accessing the database using the same credentials, though I haven't yet tested if that leaves the application open to update anomalies.

No one's tried to hijack the web form, but somebody mistook it for a blog/BBCode comment form and I had to add some checks to it to discard spam anyway.

I still can't visit elbo.ws, but found I didn't miss it.

These were some great book suggestions, and I was making it a point to track them all down but after a dozen or so I got distracted wrapping up school.
posted by Tuwa at 9:19 PM on October 4, 2007

The job I intended to fake until I made it never came to be, I haven't ridden a bicycle since, and the North won the Civil War - but things would never be the same.

Apologies to anyone who's lost sleep over these.
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 9:27 PM on October 4, 2007

Lambchop, your contribution in this thread just about broke my heart with happiness. What a terrific father you must be.
posted by lalex at 10:39 PM on October 4, 2007

I integrated it.

I never did figure out whom Barthes was quoting, but I think it was probably Benveniste.

I got much better grades and did some pretty rockin' research.
...which allowed my paper to be accepted to a panel at a big conference in my field, and also got me a nice scholarship.

I still wear the jacket occasionally, but I still have nagging doubts in the back of my mind.

I sucked it up and paid it, but now I'm no longer as desperate for cash as I was then.

I asked my landlord about the flooding, he laughed at me, sent some dudes to fix the ceiling and walls, the whole thing blew over and I never got free rent.
posted by nasreddin at 11:03 PM on October 4, 2007

I got some Shure EC4 earphones. An audiologist told me not to wear earplugs indoors, but to play emotionally neutral music at 60 decibels to lower my noise sensitivity.

I gave up on googledocs, but understood why it doesn't work with Word 7. Thanks
posted by jennydiski at 12:18 AM on October 5, 2007

I finally tracked down the sheet music (the only copy left in the world as far as I know,) and am working on an arrangement with a chum.
posted by Jofus at 12:31 AM on October 5, 2007 [1 favorite]

Unfortunately, I'm still working as a wage slave and not in my chosen career field, despite some good advice.

I've read some good books in this thread, but there's just too many to individually comment on, perhaps I should hand out some 'best answers'.

Still haven't made the move to some form of Linux or Unix, so I haven't moved away from Windows Media Player.

I hope to read these networking books on my next break from school.


Everybody else has such inspiring success stories that it makes me want to ask more questions about how I can become a better person, make more money, pursue my passions, etc.
posted by philomathoholic at 12:44 AM on October 5, 2007

I loved meeting you when you were in Portland, Lynsey, so I am glad you got the help you needed. Lambchop, I missed that question the first time around, but let me join the chorus: you are a hell of a dad.

I haven't nearly begun to get through all the films recommended, but was inspired to finally sign up for Netflix, and have now watched Primer in a state of near total incomprehension. I was intrigued, though. So watch it, but not if you have a bad cold and are high on Nyquil.

Fish-wise, I had a beautiful birthday dinner at Farm last year and might try Murata for my fast-approaching next one. I've been to Lagniappe several times (and even took DaShiv there when he was in town) -- dang, those po boys are really good. My favorite cheap delicious seafood so far has been found at Ecola at Cannon Beach; it's family run, too, so it's got a great low-key homey feeling. I have not yet had the adult ding-dong which I consider a great personal tragedy.

I tossed that damn Dell LCD monitor after no attempts at repair worked. Two different non-Mefites, on finding the question after researching the problem themselves, wrote me about it and were unable to get resolutions either. Not cool, Dell.

My niece loved Animalia. It is a gorgeous book and I highly recommend it.

My presentation on clinical photography was a big hit thanks to all the amazing advice I got, although I know little about photography and still take the worst photos known to man. I should have thanked Civil_Disobedient, b1tr0t, nakedcodemonkey, and daver ages ago. Sincerely, thanks.

What a great thread. Thanks to you too, Deathalicious.
posted by melissa may at 1:48 AM on October 5, 2007

Mosquitos still torture us, sadly.

David Mamet's film is still puzzling.

I was able to steal my own trousers.

I could talk to mailing list server with a web application.

The cause of the puff of white smoke still eludes me.

I learned that ethanol-based fuel seems like a bit of a scam.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 3:43 AM on October 5, 2007 [1 favorite]

Monday night trivia at the Greenwich Treehouse, 46 Greenwich Ave (it's lots of fun and you should all come join us!)

An hour and a half wait for the free ride, coupled with the remnants of slush, snow and ice meant that we decided to forgo the carriage ride, but I still gave something to the organization.
posted by langeNU at 5:12 AM on October 5, 2007

Mendel sold me his old iRiver CD player, I had to buy new battieries, and I used it for 6 months until I finally bought an iPod nano.

I got a prescription dive mask, despite the suggestions to just get contacts. It works well.
posted by smackfu at 5:57 AM on October 5, 2007

The high school newspaper students were sufficiently schooled in Quark tips and now have a much cleaner-looking layout for their paper.

The discussion of books that changed your life as a girl helped inform a chapter of The Daring Book For Girls titled "Books That Will Change Your Life" (and also generated a shout-out to Metafilter and the women of Ask Metafilter in the book's acknowledgments).
posted by mothershock at 6:15 AM on October 5, 2007

I got lots of good advice on how to give away a free book, and then didn't take any of it. Miserable failure, as a result. Lesson learned: Always obey AskMe. Hope to do better next time!
posted by steef at 6:40 AM on October 5, 2007

I took an 1800 mile road trip to The Spiral Jetty in Utah.
posted by The_Partridge_Family at 6:58 AM on October 5, 2007

Things got a little better with the speedstream modem and a different model of cordless phone, but there's still quite a bit of interference on the line.

I still don't know who the great men on the wall in The World of Apu are.

Nobody here likes Guy Maddin enough to have bought that French DVD set.
posted by Lentrohamsanin at 7:30 AM on October 5, 2007

Still in the process of job hunting; should hear from a couple of my favorites early next week.

Taking Magnesium, having interesting dreams

Enjoyed the springs, loved King's Chef and the cafe.


Had a friend hash out an excel spreadsheet with macros. It's good to have programmer friends

Charges were dismissed, am getting my record sealed.

Hiked to the stout lakes, went to a beer festival on a rest day, and then hiked pikes peak

Made a center island, bike wheel pot rack, used lots of blackboard paint.

Broker made a good move; the fund was taking an ass-kicking.

Proposition 184
posted by craven_morhead at 7:46 AM on October 5, 2007

My parents never did put the cat on weight-loss food. I entered AmeriCorps. I learned to listen more to friends and say very little. My dog died, so the anxiety problems were moot. I went into my backyard with Round-Up, thick gloves, and pulled everything up. I never did find a good handyman. I used a notepad to track phone calls. My coworkers were too computer-scared to do anything with the photos. I just waited coming off Adderall. My friend's parents did nothing about the flooding for fear of community ostracization. Forgot which webcam I bought my friend, but we presented it to him right before Christmas so he could talk with his long-distance girlfriend and he began sobbing and ran out of the room (he liked it, he was just overwhelmed). The Burt's Bees suggestion worked great on my hands, but public transportation issues prevented me from volunteering at the hospice after all. Wonderful Metafilter members donated money to take care of the puppy, my friends also raised money to get me a bus ticket, and I went home for Christmas and the Christmas puppy found a wonderful loving family. The Pilates Body was great, and I finally just returned OmieWise's copy a year-and-a-half or so after borrowing it. Paper and pencil ended up cutting it, since I never really got the time to learn anything else. We used some heavy-duty lag bolts and extra bracing to build the new beds. We never successfully found a way to eliminate the black streaks, but my friend eventually quit his job so it doesn't matter. I haven't been to BJJ in a while due to injury, so the skullcap was moot. Planned Parenthood served excellently as an lady-parts resource until I returned to school and used its wellness center. The skin cancer was just a really bad pimple. Febreeze eliminated the barbecue smell. I never did find a good hairstylist. My friend's parents never got around to cleaning out their house or contacting anyone. I have taken out all the facial piercings, as the Bump never went away and had started to form scars. My cigarette smoke allergies were not as severe as I expected. Numerous letters and copies of checks with my real signature proved to the collection agency I didn't write the false check. They were bullshitting me about the warrant, the bastards. I went to a dermatologist for the warts, they used a laser, it hurt like hell, but the warts are gone. My boyfriend never got muttonchops. My dentist is crazy and I haven't gone back, but I've yet to find a replacement TMJ specialist. My new cats eventually settled down and are eating. My hamstring injury was actually a hip adductor injury, it's still not healing, and I'm in physical therapy and will probably be getting an MRI soon.
posted by schroedinger at 7:49 AM on October 5, 2007 [13 favorites]

They signed divorce papers yesterday, though not without some pretty scary moments in the interim.
posted by jquinby at 8:02 AM on October 5, 2007

stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff My boyfriend never got muttonchops stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff

Wimp.

(great response, schroedinger)
posted by pardonyou? at 8:08 AM on October 5, 2007 [1 favorite]

Nine grizzly bears so far, but the last one broke my knife, the bastard!
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 8:50 AM on October 5, 2007 [6 favorites]

I wish to subscribe to your training newsletter, IRFH
posted by Abiezer at 8:57 AM on October 5, 2007

The Balls Ball was great. Plenty of balls. I'll have to upload photos of the food at some point.

The food was balls.
posted by Greg Nog at 9:11 AM on October 5, 2007 [3 favorites]

IRFH: those ones on the trees that drool a lot? Not grizzly. Koala. I'm not surprised one broke your knife; drop-bears are bastards at knifey-spooney.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 9:26 AM on October 5, 2007 [2 favorites]

I've enjoyed reading this thread, but many of the AskMe questions are still open- it would be great if they were updated as well.
posted by oneirodynia at 9:38 AM on October 5, 2007

It turns out I did, indeed, dealt it.
posted by dirigibleman at 9:44 AM on October 5, 2007

I looked at the singing technique book suggestions and none of them seemed to be quite what my recording engineer boyfriend was looking for. I think he's still trying to find good resources.

But administering interferon to my cat has been going well for the past two years. In combination with softer food and having a few teeth removed that were too far gone to be saved, she's nearly pain-free now, has grown fat and happy, and hardly even fusses about the meds anymore.
posted by Stacey at 9:53 AM on October 5, 2007

Pareidolia hasn't made it to the OED as of 5 minutes ago.
posted by kuujjuarapik at 10:14 AM on October 5, 2007

Well, we broke up eventually, most of the jobs sucked, and buying that house with those friends was a terrible idea just like everyone said (the mold never really went away either) but I wound up marrying one of them and then got into a good grad school and we drove there in a rental truck at 60 Mph and didn't die.

Man. It's been an exciting couple of years.
posted by nebulawindphone at 10:47 AM on October 5, 2007 [1 favorite]

For some reason schroedingers mutton-chop foible thread still makes me smile. I haven't done anything else with the bookshelves.
posted by canine epigram at 10:51 AM on October 5, 2007

I'm kind of in awe at the number of rather important life decisions AskMe has helped make.

Or at least provided fodder for thought, even we bullheaded rebellious OPs ignore the sage advice of the community.
posted by Miko at 10:54 AM on October 5, 2007 [1 favorite]

I found my wedding ring in the middle of the Anza Borrego desert with the help of my wife, my GPS unit, two metal detectors, my topo map, one shovel, and a lot of luck.
posted by escher at 10:56 AM on October 5, 2007 [18 favorites]

HotMail really did hack my settings.
posted by OmieWise at 11:04 AM on October 5, 2007 [8 favorites]

I never heard back from the guy who illustrated the EMS elephant, and nobody appears to know where to find more stickers. I'll probably have the sticker reproduced one of these days, but am resigned that it will look like crap.
posted by majick at 11:04 AM on October 5, 2007

escher, THAT is an amazing story!
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 11:33 AM on October 5, 2007 [1 favorite]

My aquarium is sparkling clean and contains 3 Albino Corys, 3 Clown Loaches, 9 Serpae Tetra, and one big Opaline Gourami. No deaths and everyone is getting along fine.

My buddy is spending all his American money jaunting happily around Europe as we speak.

And I'm exceedingly pleased with my recent yarn purchases.

And thank you, AskMeFi, for entertaining me enough to stay out of any real trouble.
posted by cowbellemoo at 11:35 AM on October 5, 2007

We got a new fax machine, but I have no idea what it was anymore, since that was 3 years ago and I no longer work there. I don’t work there anymore either, since it turned out not to be an adjustment time issue at all, but rather a psychotic boss issue. Straterra made my son suicidally depressed and I took him off it right away. It turns out, btw, that Straterra is closely related to Wellbutrin, so my bad reaction to Wellbutrin meant that my son should never have been prescribed Straterra. Unfortunately, the doctor didn’t bother to figure this out until well after the fact. Consensus is that the proper pronunciation for merc is murk, and be damned with the meaning. I still haven’t read The Rules or any of those books, I’m still single but I no longer care and I don’t think there’s a correlation anyway; also, while I’ve decided that internet dating doesn’t work very well for me, I haven’t been axe murdered yet. My younger dog is now my older dog and we are a pretty happy two dog household again, although the spaniel still does behave like a collie, which cracks me up every time I see it. The clutch got replaced; no big deal; I took the car to the dealership to check on the brake and tail lights, and they worked perfectly while there, so they told me there was nothing they could do unless I could get the car to misbehave again. I’m driving around not thinking about it, but at least I don’t worry about bad gas anymore. My son has recovered just fine from his surgery in about 10 days and has a wicked scar on his arm. I no longer have cats, which means I no longer have wild birds in the house (but covering up the windows and opening the door works really well.) I never had zucchini with spirals on them again, which is kind of too bad. The job was a total scam; the hard drive never recovered despite a lot of mefites extremely gracious help and I lost all my music and photos, bah. I decided against online ads; she quit. I made deep fried hotdogs, pizza and snack cakes; I was sick for three days afterwards. My mom recovered totally from cancer and is now reading biographies and history texts; she loved the photo frame, which I got at Office Depot, btw, and, I postponed the CT scan. Oh, and he’s not my boyfriend anymore, but I don't regret it.
posted by mygothlaundry at 11:43 AM on October 5, 2007

I'm still working for the same crazy lady, although there are job prospects shimmering on the horizon.

However, none of those job prospects involve academe.

And, I'm single with no nibbles, despite being on OKCupid, and therefore have had no opportunity to fix my jerk detector.
posted by LN at 11:53 AM on October 5, 2007 [1 favorite]

The Zelda birthday party was a big hit. Foam swords and cardboard shields for everyone, and the pre-party was everyone chasing everyone else around, and fun was had by all. I had a two-tiered Easter egg hunt (eggs with little plastic bugs in them for kids 3 and under, big black Halloween spiders for kids 4 and above), three Spider-Man Bop Bags covered by white trash bags that I drew Zelda monsters onto, coins hidden in the sandbox and a big Mr. McGroovy's cardboard castle in the basement. I had a big sheet of paper representing a burning monster for kids to throw water balloons at, but I only affixed the ends and the balloons knocked it down rather than burst on its surface, but everything else worked. I got specific inspiration for the Bop Bags and McGroovy's castle (still standing in the basement) from AskMe, so thanks.

I stayed at the Indianapolis Microtel, and there were bedbugs and atrocious management. Stay away at all costs.

My wife made penguins out of Legos.

I was able to get some rare earth magnets from another Mefite and did the whole business with the power drill, but I was ultimately never satisfied with the results on my TV.

Our game Cineplexity is now in stores, published by Out of the Box games. You can demo it online.
posted by blueshammer at 12:02 PM on October 5, 2007 [2 favorites]

I wonder what he named his team.
posted by SBMike at 12:13 PM on October 5, 2007

I haven't taken my guitars in yet, but I know where to go now when they need fixin'.
posted by The World Famous at 12:15 PM on October 5, 2007

I'm changing the path of my graduate studies in computer engineering to line myself up for PhD in some kind of environmental sciences to do something like life cycle analysis on the tech industry. I've met with a number of professors, including a famous ecologist who invented the concept of the ecological footprint (Bill Rees), to talk about my ideas and have received unanimous encouragement. I have a meeting with a prospective future supervisor next week. So far so good.
posted by PercussivePaul at 12:16 PM on October 5, 2007

Cillit Bang and Orthogonality's SQL help is still being used by our primary internal application (banking software).

Many polyglots are to be thanked for helping a poor govt. entity demonstrate some semblance of effort with regard to helping non-native speakers.

My other questions were more informational, so the resolutions are the same (now I know...) and the efforts to answer still appreciated.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 12:58 PM on October 5, 2007

I had a great trip and the advice given was both the reassurance I needed and good practical advice. I ended up staying in the Czech Republic and Poland for the whole time, camped about 3/4 of the time with great success and stayed in the cheap worker/student hostels the rest of the time. I ended up meeting an awesome group of students on summer break and I joined them on their camping canoe trip and at a three day music festival and even stayed with some of them for a week or so. And, as predicted, staying there longer meant I learned some really useful Czech that made the trip a lot easier and more rewarding. Thanks for the good advice, everyone!
posted by mosessis at 1:11 PM on October 5, 2007

I cracked the code on how to get to Newark Airport from Manhattan on the cheap. (Note that one-way fares are now $4.40).
posted by saladin at 1:39 PM on October 5, 2007

I am the girl in question in this thread.

I did my own thing for a while, which was something we both needed. Now we are trying to decide if cheesecake is an appropriate enough wedding cake.

That's all the details I'll spill, it's too sad to think much about.
posted by idiotfactory at 1:41 PM on October 5, 2007 [1 favorite]

For my trip to Israel, I took the train from DC to Newark, but then flew from JFK to Dulles on the return. Train was easiest for getting to Newark, plane easiest and cheapest for getting back, and hte various inter-aiport transfers in New York seemed like a pain.

A month after I got back from Israel, I cut class for a week and went to Barcelona. The changes fuzz described were pretty accurate. It was a great trip.

You can in fact get decent prints from a 640x480 image. We did it with an Epson PictureMate, and then dad got a better camera.

My new hard drive is still hopelessly disorganized. The hard drive on the computer two years after I got the drive in question is also hopelessly disorganized, as I imported the previously disorganized files.

I also went to Australia and New Zealand, both of which were utterly fantastic. I had the pleasure of joining nomis for drinks in Melbourne, and then attending his birthday festivities the following night. I was also treated to a fantastic home-cooked meal by i_am_joe's_spleen when I was in Auckland, for which I probably did not express adequate thanks. I learned a million things that Americans do wrong when traveling to that part of the world*, had an amazing adventure, and met some cool folks. I plan to return to New Zealand as soon as possible.

* If you are planning such a trip, please feel free to email me. I have oodles of tips. First, don't tell Kiwis you are visiting their country because you planned a trip to Australia and figured you'd try to make the most of things while you're down there, no matter how true that may be. They will ask if you got to pet a koala, and after you say yes, they will tell you that koalas all have syphillis. True story.
posted by jewishbuddha at 2:10 PM on October 5, 2007

We named the cat Murphy (though I liked Faulkner and Amergin).

My grandfather did not live long enough to enjoy his computer, but Nessun Dorma played at his very moving funeral.

Mitheral was EXACTLY RIGHT about my fridge.

I start at Simmons GSLIS in January.
posted by Rock Steady at 2:41 PM on October 5, 2007

Possible new pony for the stable: TellMefi

Sort of a reverse AskMe or MeFi-lite...Could be used to recap old AskMe questions and/or members could share good/bad, etc, experiences they have had with services, products, relationships, etc.
posted by jaronson at 5:03 PM on October 5, 2007 [1 favorite]

I went to court, the case was dismissed. (That question was anonymous).

I've asked this question twice, but don't think I'll ever get the video from ESPN.

It was a loose screw -- the second mechanic I took it to fixed it for $20.

I took all the advice for preparing for an interview, nailed it (I assume), and got into grad school and am working for the professor I wanted.
posted by one_bean at 7:52 PM on October 5, 2007

I was allergic to my girlfriend, so I got a different one.


(Fine, I was technically allergic to her lip balm.)
posted by honeydew at 8:13 PM on October 5, 2007

The house is fully framed and the siding will go on in the next couple weeks. Most of the really good home hacks were too expensive, weren't practical, or just wouldn't work. Still though, a few things we ended up with were influenced by that thread.

I'm sure I'll have a few more home-related threads in the coming months as we drill down into the details.
posted by bondcliff at 8:55 PM on October 5, 2007

I always wondred about the eel (and the firecrackers)
posted by growabrain at 10:31 PM on October 5, 2007

thatweirdguy2 answered my Cruise Elroy question two years later.
posted by danb at 10:37 PM on October 5, 2007

ah, some of these are such great catharsis! I didn't even know I remembered mygothlaundry's unique-dressing employee!

The crack house people in my neighborhood moved out! That was shortly after another criminal group nearby got raided, so I guess they were linked. The feel of danger in the neighborhood is about 10% of what it once was.

I never did figure out what any this band and these songs are. I never did find a good place to park a kayak in the financial district.
posted by salvia at 11:01 PM on October 5, 2007

Now that it's harvest time again, I'm going to try roasting my butternut squash rather than peeling it before steaming.

I got a nice setup for my surprise-present betta, but the ungrateful thing died from an infection, despite my best efforts and a whole lot of expensive fish medicine. The experience left me with extra guilt and aquarium supplies.

Outing myself: I still have nothing to wear (although I was recently brave enough to wear a ribbon belt). Once I graduate and have to dress professionally every day, I'll look at having alterations done, but until May, I'm wearing jeans and T-shirts to class.
posted by booksandlibretti at 11:11 PM on October 5, 2007

No worries, mate.

The koalas have chlamydia.
posted by i_am_joe's_spleen at 11:32 PM on October 5, 2007

I've posted 10 questions to AskMe in the last year or so - here's my brief follow-ups:

The replies to my question about Popular 1970's Jewelry were interesting, but they didn't help me identify the two murder victims in a case I'm working on.

"We're not raising grass. We're raising boys." Harmon Killebrew was my most 'favorited' post, and the replies were simply amazing! This summer we completed building the fort - and added on a section that leads to a 'secret' room, complete with a pvc pipe secret message system. A zip line now leads from the fort to our shed on the other side of the yard and the tire swing now has two old double mattresses lying beneath it - the boys can jump from the fort or the tree or the swing and land on the beds. Our big pile of 'construction' dirt now has an awesome ride on backhoe digger (even our oldest fits on it!). We also put up shooting targets on one fence, and the boys dug a water 'moat' through the yard (dad half-filled it with gravel and it's played with ALL the time). Next year we will work on adding more nature to the yard, plants, etc.

I'd never heard of a Hippocamp, which is why I asked What is this beautiful weird thing? It turned out to be a Greek coin circa 390 BC. Now I just wonder why Grandma had it?

How do you know when your doctor's a quack? When he tells you to diet by eating at Burger King. The answers to What is this diet? inspired me to find a new doctor and my type 2 diabetes is now very much under control.

Surprisingly many MeFites broke into sweat and tears when I posted Quick! 9x7=? , but many others had invaluable advice. I posted an amazing follow-up (my son went from a score of 60% to one of 97% in just one week!!). This question, the answers, and the results are a great example of the wonderful lifelong influence that AskMe can have - to this day my son is still getting A's in math.

While I ended up not having to testify, the defendant did lose his case and I found a great new style just because I asked What to wear in court?

We didn't move to Corpus Christi, Texas, thank god.

No one knew why my light fan went Snap, Crackle, Pop, but I did learn a lot about CFL bulbs - and yeah, we bought a new fan :)

If you like John Locke from Lost then maybe you liked the question I wrote in Stories. If you know any more, I'm still looking!
posted by LadyBonita at 2:50 AM on October 6, 2007 [1 favorite]

Mourn it.

I was very insulted, it turns out.

I recently located the CDr mix that has the version I like, so I'm all set.

Gentileschi's Judith killing Holofernes

A dollar bill is 6" long (well, actually about 6 1/8")
A nickel weights exactly 5 g, and is 2 cm in diameter. And it only costs 5 cents!
If you fold an 8.5x11 piece of paper so that it makes a right triangle, the long side of the triangle = 12.02 inches.
A standard size coffee mug is usually about 1 cup.
an LP sleeve (12 inches) or single (7 inches)

I'll hold my ground when relieving myself.

Gotta go without the Crunchberries. So it goes. STUMPED

It is a m^ys_te^ry? STUMPED

It's probably some combination of pressure, dryness, and sweat.
posted by carsonb at 3:15 AM on October 6, 2007

No jerboa. Yet.

I dropped in another 512 MB of RAM on my own dime, which didn't do much. I also resized the swap file. What made the most improvement was turning the colors down to 256. Later that year, the hospital installed a brand new Dell Windows XP box with the same software installed, and the performance was only marginally better.

I use Fidelity now. Totally happy about that.

Still using a dumbphone. Considering an iPhone.

This music sucked. Too bad.

Reader, I moved in with her.
posted by ikkyu2 at 6:08 AM on October 6, 2007

I won't be WOOFing this Nov-Dec-Jan. It's still definitely on the list for next year at that time.

I am still trying to figure out how to write once and get paid twice. It's a tough nut to crack. A friend who freelances a lot more than I do has managed to do it, but mostly through happenstance, where someone has come to him.

I used half-pint jars and all was well. I learned a lot about canning this summer — even found out about a new kind of pectin that lets you use a LOT less sugar. (Pomona's Universal pectin — check it out.)

Also, I dumped the motherfucker, made a totally radical mix CD, and named my goldfish Mathowie.

MetaFilter can now breathe a collective sigh of relief.
posted by veggieboy at 6:20 AM on October 6, 2007

In reverse chronological order:

I have not yet gotten my hands on a used car and an Xbox controller, but I still dream about it occasionally. Followed shortly by visions of low-speed one-vehicle collisions.

Windows XP still can't keep its windows straight, with occasionally hilarious results. Now that Vista officially sucks donkey balls I don't really know what recourse I have left.

My friend ended up spending next to no time in Vegas. The sum total of his activities inside city limits: watching 300 to kill time before the red-eye home. You should see his pictures of the Grand Canyon hike, bouldering at various sites, and driving up the coast of California, though.

My laptop is still in one piece. On the other hand, I can probably count the number of hours I've spent on unknown wireless APs on my fingers. But that SSH knowledge eventually came in handy when I started doing more web development work.

Though I figured out the name of the abortion documentary, I still haven't watched it since university. Somehow YouTube is lacking in the late-70s Canadian experimental feminist documentary short area.

I love you too, AskMe.
posted by chrominance at 7:10 AM on October 6, 2007

The only question I posted that could have a resolved is this one about my broken camera.

With none of the help I wanted forthcoming from this site, I ended up just opening it up and fixing it. I did have to stop halfway through and buy some smaller screwdrivers. I also managed to break the flash, but that's because I was being very careless. I never use a flash that much anyway though.
posted by TheOnlyCoolTim at 8:19 AM on October 6, 2007

• They ostracized Mr. Incorrigible and I took the job.
• We used small photo frames as place card holders at the wedding and everyone loved it when we sent them an assortment of wedding photos for the frame with our thank you card. Total cost per person: $3.75.
• I switched to Ubuntu for 3 months before buying a Macbook Pro. Never looked back.
• The moon conspiracy hasn't come up with my friend yet but using the "constant unrelenting ridicule approach" against any conspiracy has worked wonders. Demonstration: sinn82: wtf! http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7014335.stm me: LATEX CAUSES CANCER TOO! sinn82: really? me: YES, ALL THE PEOPLE THEY SENT TO THE MOON ACTUALLY DIED FROM LATEX CANCER AND NOT RADIATION sinn82: holy sweet jesus fuck thats it Im starting a blog me: it all won't matter once they begin the digitization of our water sources sinn82: nooooooooooo

posted by furtive at 8:21 AM on October 6, 2007 [2 favorites]

Well, I found that IBM's lotus suite does the data filtering I wanted.
posted by Eekacat at 9:33 AM on October 6, 2007

My turn!

My experiment to enter as many contests as possible within a 30 day perioid ended and I won absolutely nothing and get more junk mail/spam. Oh well.

My mysterious health issue has not been resolved even after seeing another doctor. I havent had a fatigue episode in a while. I've also been taking antihistimes in the assumption its some weird allergy. Food allergy or sleep apnea have also been suggested. On the plus side (in a weird way) I had my first real cold again a week ago. I was sneezing and everything. Perhaps my immune system sorted itself out?

The gf ended up getting a new job pretty quick and left it because a much better job called her months later and gave her a great offer.

I have made great strides against negative thinking opening myself up to some new philosophies, especially buddhism. My bouts of negativity come less often and are less potent. I also limt my exposure to negative people and negative sitautions.
posted by damn dirty ape at 9:51 AM on October 6, 2007

Also, I saw a movie at the japanese embassy and had a good time, even though i fell asleep at the begining because of staying up too late the night before. I also took some suggestions from that thread and used them during the weekend with friends and will continue to use those suggestions next time Im in DC, which should be soon.

I did not find out what the stimulant in airborne is, but its pretty potent and is certianly not psychosomatic.

I am still unable to take decent photos in medium to low light conditions with this camera. Different ISO settings help a little but either my hands are too shakey or this is just a crap camera. Carrying around a tripod isnt an option, so Ive resigned myself to only taking photos on good light conditions or using a different camera.
posted by damn dirty ape at 9:58 AM on October 6, 2007

My mother and I still agree to disagree about the proper condition in which to leave the toilet for the next user in my parents' downstairs bathroom. I still say seat down, lid down on top of it so the next user can decide. She still says seat down, lid up just in case the next user happens to be my mother.

As it turns out, Aguardiente Cristal was hiding in plain sight at my local ABC store.
posted by emelenjr at 10:10 AM on October 6, 2007

We never did clean the gutter. Somebody bought the house and now they can worry about it. Meanwhile, the house we bought has covered gutters that never need to be cleaned.
posted by languagehat at 10:15 AM on October 6, 2007

I still haven't run a half marathon but I do run about 8k regularly. I was able to run 10k after about two weeks of training.

My then-girlfriend needed the picture for an assignment. She ended up finding one in a book at the library IIRC.

She didn't go then but she is thinking of taking a summer course at Parsons next year.

800 watts is plenty.

I bought a used computer and set up a dedicated server. I tried a few different Linux distributions and finally settled on Debian. But then I moved and I decided not to set up the server at my new place.

I ended up giving my then-girlfriend a pair of knitting needles and some yarn. It was supposed to be so we could learn to knit together but it just never happened.

I was never able to get LUFS installed. I'm just not much of a Linux user I guess. I've since switched to a Mac.

San Diego won if memory serves.

curtm did my homework beautifully and I got a pretty good grade. I still think it's a good idea for a little program and I wish somebody would implement it for Mac as a dashboard widget or whatever.

There was lots of enthusiasm and drawings and a wiki but not even a single line of code was ever written.

I'm still amazed by the amount of good, free electronic music one can find online. I even did a podcast of some of it for a while. It was moderately popular.
posted by sveskemus at 11:02 AM on October 6, 2007

I got used to CPAP, still don't like salads, didn't find a readable neocon blog, had bedbugs, finally got the 'Chapi Chapo' song out of my head, moved to a great new place, have been mostly happy on RTM, found a good desktop fan, found Wikipedia was the best resource for fandom crap if nothing else, opened a ING Direct savings account, haven't started Babylon 5 yet, got through the biopsy fine, started the "serious weight loss" list but then closed it, never worked out how I could more easily listen to Paul Harvey online, felt too skeptical about Prosper fully funding my request to actually put it through, got a great timed-alarm system working via cron working with growl and various custom-written scripts, got my to-do page working, shaved my head, bought Parallels and avoided Boot Camp, and left Chemistry. Ask Metafilter's a pretty amazing place, and it's with about 97% reliability always steered me well. I'm very grateful.
posted by WCityMike at 11:13 AM on October 6, 2007

Seems like a whole lotta people dumped their girlfriends/boyfriends and got new ones! See the advice in RelationshipFilter must be doing something right!
posted by ericb at 11:15 AM on October 6, 2007

Silly me -- my followups are accidentally here. I hope somebody is keeping tabs on all these fascinating followups for the documentary.
posted by janell at 11:43 AM on October 6, 2007

Can we make requests? Was your mom okay?
posted by salvia at 12:02 PM on October 6, 2007

My first AskMe is unresolved: what WAS that odd tune I used to hear on the radio?

Though I'm one of those Not-A-Math-Person people, I'm finally learning Calculus via The Teaching Company.

I once asked for fantasy-novel recommendations for someone who generally hates fantasy novels. I'm now eagerly awaiting the next Song of Ice and Fire book.

I tried and tried to find someone from my childhood. Someone suggested I post about it on my blog. The person I was trying to find googled herself. The rest is history.

I wondered how to set up a cheap recording studio (for spoken word, not music). My theatre company just recorded a CD which I gave out -- for free -- everyone who came to see our most recent show.

I searched for an amazing poem that I once read on the subway. Found:

Too Much Heat, Too Much Work

It’s the fourteenth of August, and I’m too hot
To endure food, or bed. Steam and the fear of scorpions
Keep me awake. I’m told the heat won’t fade with Autumn.

Swarms of flies arrive. I’m roped into my clothes.
In another moment I’ll scream down the office
As the paper mountains rise higher on my desk.

O those real mountains to the south of here!
I gaze at the ravines kept cool by pines.
If I could walk on ice, with my feet bare!

Tu Fu (712-770)
Translated from the Chinese by Carolyn Kizer

I want to figure out who owns the rights to a somewhat obscure movie, because I'd like to adapt it for the stage. A kind lawyer who reads MeFi offered to help me. Still working on it.

I feel bad, but I never took anyone's suggestions about graphic novels, but my wife has recently gotten into them, so I've steered her towards that thread.

The most important question, I answered myself!
posted by grumblebee at 12:03 PM on October 6, 2007

We went an entirely different route. I quit my job, we kept our old two-flat in Madison and have someone managing it, and we found a year-long lease for a house in inner NE Portland. We love it and our landlord enough we will probably renew the lease three months into it. The rental market in Portland is crazy - hard to find places that are worth what they are charging. We'll probably buy a house eventually.
posted by ugf at 3:06 PM on October 6, 2007

We moved her stuff with our van.
posted by belladonna at 3:18 PM on October 6, 2007

My autosurfing nephew got ELEVEN THOUSAND DOLLARS from his 12 daily pro pyramid scheme and went on a mission for the Mormons.
posted by hortense at 4:36 PM on October 6, 2007 [1 favorite]

Okay, well I'll actually confess to one of my anonymous ones.

A few days after I wrote it, I ended up sending this guy an e-mail featuring a link to the question in hopes that it would become clearer to him that I wasn't ignoring him solely to be cruel. Upon reading the AskMe, it seems he finally got the clue and respected my wishes that he stop texting me every five minutes. Since then he has gone to live overseas and clear his head for a month. He has sent me 2 very polite and friendly one sentence e-mails but otherwise there has been no contact. I'm very, very happy that I wrote that AskMe because it really did help me to handle a difficult situation in absolutely the healthiest way possible. It was really a LOT of help. So... yay.

And yes, I did tell him in the e-mail that if he was still interested in inviting me for a friendly coffee in a few months time I might be agreeable to it. But whether or not that will actually happen, I can't say. He seemed like a very nice guy but that was just WAY too much drama for me, no thank you very much.
posted by miss lynnster at 6:54 PM on October 6, 2007 [1 favorite]

Oh, and I'm not going to teach overseas & my trip to Morocco is postponed, but I might be moving back to LA to get back into seriously pursuing music & stuff. I still suck at Arabic and I'm starting to accept that my friend may just never get out of Egypt. Turned out my dog's belly turned black due to allergies and now she's being pretty good about peeing on pee pads but I stopped working 50 hour weeks and take her hiking on weekends so she's a lot happier. And the Oklahoma wedding was fun. And my Powerbook is still a paperweight. And that French actor was TOTALLY Bernard Giraudeau. Oh, and my back isn't hurting as much but yes my ear still rings loudly every moment of the day and night, and I still hate it with every fiber of my being, the noise machine didn't help much.

I think that about covers it.
posted by miss lynnster at 7:03 PM on October 6, 2007 [1 favorite]

I combined the advice of forrest and media report, and the nasty and erroneous collections calls stopped. My friend is having the eucalypti removed.

Also, one of those anonymous people asked me to post the following on his behalf:

I posted as “anonymous” in this thread. The upshot is that I still talk to the PSO I became close friends with. They’re “regular” calls, which means it's off the clock--she's vain enough that I have to pay her a lot of compliments, but no money--and real first names, not our "phone" names. So this is one friendship that I've kept, and I'm glad for that.
posted by diamondsky at 8:35 PM on October 6, 2007

Huh. Only one of my links worked. I'm not very good with The Html.
posted by diamondsky at 8:36 PM on October 6, 2007

It's been a year since my miscarriage. What it took for me to start dealing with it was to make new plans for the future that didn't involve a baby. We couldn't try again right away, as we ended up having trouble with our sperm donor and have not been able to find another one, so I decided to go back to school at get my Master's degree. We'll save up to go through a sperm bank, and we'll start trying again when I'm six months away from finishing my Master's.

My partner decided to deal with her bus boyfriends by riding her bike halfway to work and getting on the bus once they were gone. Once the school year restarted, their schedules changed and they were no longer on the bus.

My friend passed away on August 5th, while my partner and I were out of province at my family reunion. We returned home and began the preparations to preside over his funeral. We spend a long evening vising with his family and collecting stories, and then we spent at least 20 hours scanning photos and making a slideshow. We played the slideshow along with some music that my friend had chosen before he died, then I gave the eulogy I had prepared with the stories from his family, finally we read a selection from Kahlil Gibran's "The Prophet" (again, chosen by him before he died) as the family lit candles. It was beautiful and we were honoured to be able to do it. I was happy to take that burden off his wife and daughter. His one sister made a small scene (she was upset that the service was not religious) but for the most part everything went well. We dearly miss Bob, and still spend as much time as possible with his wife.
posted by arcticwoman at 9:08 PM on October 6, 2007

arcticwoman, I was wondering how that funeral had gone. Thank you for the update.
posted by salvia at 10:00 PM on October 6, 2007

Woah. I just remembered that I have a huge crush on miss lynnster.

Awesome woman, you need to know two things. 1.) I'm married. Sorry. 2.) Cali is too far from WI to make me change my mind.

Your being a rock star will not convince me otherwise no matter how hard your try.
posted by quin at 10:43 PM on October 6, 2007

I still owe him a gift (doh!). But I did drive with him from Phoenix to Ann Arbor, which I think was nice of me. And he is enjoying grad school very much.

Platial was ok, but Google Maps has since incorporated features that make it possible to do what I wanted to do.

I didn't go back to school (nor do I plan to). I quit the job in question, took a year off and just started a new job similar to the one I quit. The new job is much better so far.
posted by mullacc at 10:47 PM on October 6, 2007

One of the co-authors of Daring Book for Girls offered me a copy after this question.

This post on community groups and money helped with my uni assignment.

We never did get copies of Swap Shop, unfortunately, though later I find out that (a) he's never seen the show, just heard the soundtrack; (b) he already has the soundtrack on his computer through a device that records cassettes into MP3s. Ha.

This question led to this video, which led to a LOT of mail in a few months but currently a rather empty mailbox. I should really get to replying some of those letters.

Some time after this sewing question, I got a second-hand sewing machine (for bloody cheap) and experimented with things. I'm still working on things, but this is my first t-shirt surgery project!

My university completely messed up my student exchange plans, so unfortunately I'm not going.

I FINALLY worked out this song but was disappointed that the version I kept hearing had so little lyrics. bah.

This made my boyfriend really happy.

I never did sign on for the Beauty and Brains pageant, and since they kept changing the location and date of the pageant, I'm more convinced it's a scam.

This needs answers!

This brought childhood fears back, thanks guys.

I didn't get accepted to the student conference in Trondheim, so this proposed trip didn't happen, but it was good advice nonetheless.

The friend with neurofibromatosis is doing OK (not awesome, but a lot better) and she's now helping out another friend with a similar issue.

Brisbane rocks!
posted by divabat at 11:19 PM on October 6, 2007

Woah. I just remembered that I have a huge crush on miss lynnster.


Dammit quin, step off! How many times I gotta kill ya.

Plus... *I* absolutely WOULD travel to LA for the Divine Miss L. And, I'm single. So there.

And if I wasn't single, I would get a divorce at the first hint of Miss L's interest. Ya. I'm classy like that.
posted by The Deej at 11:27 PM on October 6, 2007

Long after post: ha! there you are!
posted by divabat at 11:45 PM on October 6, 2007

I don't reload, I just buy Winchester White Box 9mm ammo at Academy Sports

Properly disposed of the flags when I moved

Bought a used Jerker desk and used it until I moved in 2005

I moved in 2005 and now that fence is someone else's problem

My concentration went back to normal when I stopped taking SSRIs

We traded in the Explorer and bought a Mitsubishi Galant

The Mozilla HTML editor handles foreign characters just fine

I still need to just break down and buy a Nintendo DS
posted by mrbill at 11:58 PM on October 6, 2007

My wife and I both have crushes on Miss Lynnster. I suspect every third male and every seventh female who visits MeFi does.

This is going to be an extremely complicated duel when all of us hash it out.
posted by maxwelton at 12:15 AM on October 7, 2007 [1 favorite]

Jesus. Uhhh... ummmm.... what?

This sudden adoration is all just because I finally got my dog to use pee pads, isn't it?

Trust me, there are also people on here who clearly have the polar opposite of a crush on me. So, thanks for being nice. :)
posted by miss lynnster at 4:49 AM on October 7, 2007

Sudden, Miss L? Fer crying out loud what's a stalker gotta do to get noticed?

;)
posted by The Deej at 5:21 AM on October 7, 2007

Text me 15 times a day?
posted by miss lynnster at 5:31 AM on October 7, 2007

Oh, nevermind. It's been done.
posted by miss lynnster at 5:32 AM on October 7, 2007

Voltaire, Jane Austen and Henry James did make me laugh out loud. I started with Candide and had so much fun with others I made a New Year's resolution to just read classics this year. I never would have believed that Daisy Miller could be so fucking funny.
posted by mediareport at 6:37 AM on October 7, 2007

I never found the jeans I bought in Paris.

We found a pet-friendly apartment on Craigslist.

Firefox miraculously healed itself.

Is there life in the NW Chicago suburbs? No.
posted by desjardins at 7:06 AM on October 7, 2007

The water heater was bad. We're probably suing.

Tenant moved back in after 3rd bombing. I sympathize but she is a drama queen.

Drug house moved out. Block is quiet again.

Song fragments fading from memory. Pity.
posted by dhartung at 9:55 AM on October 7, 2007

Yeah, Drug Houses 0, Mefites 2!

Now we just have to find out what happened to anonymous.
posted by salvia at 10:51 AM on October 7, 2007

We eloped. Our anniversary is coming up soon. His family still don't talk to me (two and a half years later!) but I don't much care.

The bike's still going strong, thanks lekvar, and I know a whole lot more about them now.
posted by nyc123 at 10:53 AM on October 7, 2007

in the past two months off depo, i've lost 7 pounds without trying.

we didn't die. we moved, though, but that's unrelated to the lack of poisonous fumes.

i quit my job. i love what i do now. thanks everyone.
posted by kerning at 11:08 AM on October 7, 2007

I went off depo & didn't lose a pound! So not fair!
posted by miss lynnster at 11:20 AM on October 7, 2007

I found out I'm not Greek after all.

According to an old family letter that turned up, penned by a longdead relative whose word I have no reason to doubt, my real grandmother and her brother in law were consorting rather flagrantly. Grandma wound up preggers. They cooked up a scheme to trick the poor old Greek guy into believing he was the dad. (He owned a bar and had money.) All they wanted out of him was a name for the baby and a paid doctor bill. Both of which he did indeed provide.

Ironically, my aunt (brother in-law's wife) could not have kids, as she'd been kicked in the stomach by a mule. She along with her husband (the real father) raised mom.

Years later, both Aunt M and my grandmother shared a home with great grandma. They all got along. Which to me is the wildest part of it.
posted by konolia at 12:38 PM on October 7, 2007 [2 favorites]

This is a great thread!

As for me, I moved to NM and loved it, I got some help and stopped hurting myself and although I feel confident of doing a little work on the car, it's been problem-free ever since I asked (hope I didn't just jinx it). A sincere thank you to all the people of Ask Metafilter, whose advice has changed a lot of our lives for the better.
posted by Oobidaius at 12:57 PM on October 7, 2007 [1 favorite]

My stolen scooter was found.
posted by dog food sugar at 1:17 PM on October 7, 2007

Aw Mr. Bill! You never found those local pickled eggs did you!
posted by dog food sugar at 1:21 PM on October 7, 2007

Haven't found pickled eggs locally yet, although I found almost everything else under the sun available pickled or in brine at Phoneicia Market. I've discovered a new obsession with pickled pattypan squash!
posted by mrbill at 7:46 PM on October 7, 2007 [1 favorite]

My pictures were clear enough to win some ribbons.

We went to the Farmers' Market and the Art Center, among other things.

My mom did not join Inches A Weigh and in fact the franchise closed down.

I got an awesome Electra Hawaii.

My nose piercing was okay after that incident but the jewelry fell out a couple of months later. I got it repierced this summer and all is well.

We bought a nice platform bed from Room and Board that I admire every morning when I wake up.
posted by sugarfish at 8:03 PM on October 7, 2007

I am currently in the process of re-tooling the radio show. It will still be about environmentalism. But also about much, much more.

Zipcar took $500 from me. I now take BART to work.

I actually had a conversation with Errol Morris' publicist. I was told that no, the outlook was not good on a journalist with no experience interning for two weeks. It was suggested that I look on Craigslist and get some experience as a PA.

I started smoking again. But will quit for good soon, I promise.

She broke it off.
posted by parmanparman at 9:41 PM on October 7, 2007

I didn't find a way to toggle between speakers and a headset.

I wasn't able to calculate how much body fat I had.

I didn't eat the mushrooms thank god.

I'm still having problems with my power settings.

Oh well, I still love you, askmefi
posted by shokod at 5:34 AM on October 8, 2007

What I really want to know is... Did Jake ever find a girl who would let him lick her asshole?
posted by sveskemus at 7:41 AM on October 8, 2007

Jake's only had a month since he asked. Give the boy some time.
posted by desjardins at 7:43 AM on October 8, 2007

I'm still seeing the same doctor, but I've finally convinced him to stop giving me a hard time about my weight.

The company I worked for at the time of this post was bought out by another company last year, a larger company that actively encourages employees to write and publish.
posted by deadmessenger at 7:49 AM on October 8, 2007

I bought a Histomap by emailing John Spark's relative. Cool Tools has the contact information.
posted by scubbadubba at 9:16 AM on October 8, 2007

Excellent idea.

In short; I never made it to Fort Worth for a visit, at least, not yet - I'm going out there for the week including Thanksgiving. I accepted the job anyway, although I've not moved to the US just yet, so I'll need to do some research when I arrive (although the Mazda's still top choice). When I move, I'll take my DVD discs with me, although I'll probably have a few ISOs on the computer as well. And I never did get my hands on that monitor, but LG assured me (via email) that the LG M228WA could in fact support NTSC video, just not via the inbuilt tuner.

Oh, and my parents will have to suck it up and miss UK TV for a while, as I don't think MythTV is quite user-friendly enough for them, just yet.
posted by Nice Guy Mike at 10:39 AM on October 8, 2007

I decided to forget about the fender bender. Willits was okay. I bought some shoes on Sutter Street. My older kid got keloid surgery and steroid injections. My younger kid is starting to outgrow her obsession with racial slurs.
posted by ClaudiaCenter at 10:55 AM on October 8, 2007

I wound up playing it safe on my high school reunion questionnaire. It's a moot point because it wound up being planned so poorly that the event itself is canceled; all the alumni are meeting at the school's homecoming game, and after the game there is an after-party at someone's house. LAME!

I recently had a breakthrough with my trichotillomania after some hypnosis treatment. I'm actually growing my hair longer for the first time in several years.
posted by hermitosis at 11:20 AM on October 8, 2007

The only one of mine that matters is this: my dad didn't die after all. After lots of physical, speech, and occupational therapy, he is home and pretty much back to his old self again. His doctors can't explain it, they just smile and shake their heads. Thank you all so very much for your ideas and support.
posted by vytae at 12:48 PM on October 8, 2007 [2 favorites]

Glad to hear your dad's okay.

And hermitosis... you should cultivate a mullet. That would be so rock and roll.
posted by miss lynnster at 1:17 PM on October 8, 2007

Some high points:

I claimed him as a dependent on my tax return, and also filed for revised returns for the previous two years. I never bought the shutters and sold the house this year. My friend quit using Movable Type for his porn blog. We found a better doctor who is a prince among men. Her leukemia flared up again, and she has been hospitalized several times. He did all his prearrangements, including cremation, but I haven't gotten around to it yet for myself. And he never went back to the nutty surgeon.
posted by Robert Angelo at 3:04 PM on October 8, 2007

The garlic smell is from a crouton factory.

I made the t-shirt with no punctuation.

Unfortunately, I haven't sent the letter to my half-sister yet but now that I re-read the thread, I am going to do it tomorrow (it's already written, I just want to copy it onto nice paper.)
posted by nekton at 5:30 PM on October 8, 2007

Well, my trip to San Francisco was wonderful.
The tomato skins ended up rotting in my fridge.
And I still haven't done the push light project yet.
posted by exceptinsects at 8:57 PM on October 8, 2007

I kept my girlfriend for a year. Bad mistake. Thankfully, my dog helped me see the light (I'm not kidding) and four months later I met the woman of my dreams, who I've been dating for the past five months. The advice has definitely helped with the current one as well.

There's a good way to keep from getting strep... ... and it's called a Tonsillectomy. Here's some advice if you're recovering from a tonsillectomy. (sorry, self-link.)

I sent my laptop off to Apple, where they lost it, and replaced it with the MacBook Pro I'm typing on now.

I still have shin splits, and I've given up on running..

She's still a terror. ... but she's the aforementioned dog that got me out of the bad relationship, and I owe her anything her little heart desires for that tidbit.

Oh, and this one really did have issues. Like, more issues than Reader's Digest.
posted by SpecialK at 9:02 PM on October 8, 2007

Chauvet stage fixtures are cheap for a reason. Ended up getting a few of the Q-Wash LEDs, which whine like hungry children. Too loud for most applications. Wouldn't recommend.
posted by milquetoast at 6:47 AM on October 9, 2007

We watched Sex and Lucia and had orgasms.

Some dude who builds synths fixed my SH101 for free.

The person who posted this got a Macbook.

After a month or two of hounding the bank I finally got my money.

I saw some of the places in London, but eventually moved to a commune in the woods which was much nicer.

I took a bus to JFK from Grand Central, it cost 15 bucks but was headache free.

I was detained by immigrations for several hours and threatened with deportation, but they finally relented. I lived in England for 6 months.

And so on.
posted by cloeburner at 7:04 AM on October 9, 2007

I ended up giving the old 486 laptop with docking station to a local ham radio guy who (just like Myself said) is using it to run some DOS based software.

I did finally get botox injections for my neck. Twice now; most recently about ten days ago. The neurologist has officially diagnosed it as Cervical Dystonia. The shots have helped in some ways, but we haven't found the magic spot yet, so the problem is still there. I think we're closing in on it though; appears to be both prongs of the right hand SCM. Trying again in January. What's really frustrating at the moment is that anything I do to increase my energy levels (magnesium with malic acid, vitamins, antioxidants), or correct my blood sugar issues (vanadium, lipoic acid) makes the dystonia aggressively worse, pretty much negating the effects of the botox. Maybe I'll pitch the issue to askmefi...

My friend who wanted to be a web developer In NYC is now a web developer, but in Atlanta. He works for an agency that rents him out to various client-employers and makes absurd amounts of money. He used the decidedly unprofessional four-and-a-half page resume I helped him assemble and got hired without hesitation.

We got our new computer for the family business: an e-machine. The on-board network adapter died soon after we got it and they mailed us a new network card. Otherwise, it's been spiffy.

My friend didn't have an STD and so did not need to notify anyone.

My sister decided she didn't want any changes made to her off-the-conveyor-belt Dell machine.
posted by Clay201 at 9:16 AM on October 9, 2007

My wife did, indeed, tear her ACL, and has since had surgery to fix it. She says that knee feels better than the other one now, and is running up to 10 miles at a time.

However, she traded in the Hyundai before I could vandalize it.

My neighbor's heelies wore out before he sustained any serious injury, and he has since moved on to bicycling around the neighborhood with headphones, but no helmet. At least he's not on my lawn.

And of course, we got that third dog.
posted by M.C. Lo-Carb! at 10:18 AM on October 9, 2007

My friend did have the yak-themed party and it went off quite well, but she was unable to have yak butter tea. Apparently yak milk is the one thing you can't buy in NYC.
posted by min at 10:30 AM on October 9, 2007

I ended up not only doing the Rim to Rim, but the full Rim to Rim to Rim in the Grand Canyon, along with a bunch of the folks I met through the ultrarunning mailing list suggested by Omniwise. It was amazing... and I went to on to do my first 50 mile ultramarathon, just this very weekend. (Oh, what a strange trip it's been...)
posted by ph00dz at 2:07 PM on October 9, 2007

I put in 30 days notice after I was told I had right of first refusal until my lease was up, and bought my grandmother a Vostro 1000.
posted by nzero at 3:14 PM on October 9, 2007

We had a nice simple wedding, with no bridesmaids, no photographer and all our favorite people.

We keep our money separate, pay the bills on an income proportionate basis, and set financial goals together.

We went to Montana on our honeymoon, but hope to go to Oaxaca and Istanbul on future vacations.

We had a great meal at Genoa and have been back twice.

I relaxed about my hair, but I did not relax my hair. It's as curly as ever.

I bought a bunch of suits at deep discount on eBay.

There was no salvaging the cheesecake.

We bought a condo, and plan to stay here for a long, long time.

Our only shared-wall neighbor says she likes jazz saxophone.

And we lived happily ever after.
posted by croutonsupafreak at 4:34 PM on October 9, 2007 [1 favorite]

It really was 42.

And I'm giving up on the idea of xmas in Phu Quoc, but received a wealth of information from the links provided in those answers.
posted by squasha at 5:24 PM on October 9, 2007

I eventually went on Aropax, which has made an enormous difference to me, am feeling fine and happy and more content in myself than I can remember. Part of this was me telling a few old friends who were really nasty to me to blow off... and I spent the night grinning in relief and have been deeply happy ever since.

I'm still in love with the musician, but not as much, and I've met the girlfriend now - whom he's moved in with - I told you he wasn't a casual sex kinda guy! - and thats ok. I'm dating people, but am content to remain single until someone special comes along.

In the meantime, there's always a bit of magic waiting at home... (I can't believe I 'fessed up to that! *blushes*)
posted by jonathanstrange at 7:00 PM on October 9, 2007

Sometime last year, I was a stammering, cowering apparatchik. Now I send elaborately-worded, thoughtful emails, ask more than I respond, ensure that all parties concerned understand the issues carefully, strive for a consensus and then speedily work at implementing the resolution.

Oh well, who am I kidding. The job still sucks. And what's worse, I don't know what to do about it.

My only thought currently is to chuck it all and embark on an epic train-trip across Eurasia, but that'll require cash. Which, in turn, requires the job.

I have, however, given away my iPod to my brother. Saw no reason to keep it. iTunes displays unicode characters just fine.
posted by the cydonian at 2:32 AM on October 10, 2007 [1 favorite]

I wanted to escape Corporate America and go to Sudan and help the victims of Darfur directly, but I got some good advice on using the skills that I have to help in the best ways that I can.

So I did.

Although I'm not teaching, I'm now working with World Vision doing some global supply chain strategy development and seeing a good deal of their African operations. And I was able to visit their Sudan office (its located in Nairobi due to the conflict in Sudan), and make some great contacts there, so that's something.

I feel like I'm living in my dream-coming-true. I'd just like to thank everyone who gave their time and honest, helpful input to me - I got my head out of the clouds, and now I'm actually making things happen, which is awesome. Thanks.

I am now living in South Africa and got some great advice that helped me get settled in here. My next to-do after finishing this comment is to start the first-ever South Africa MeFi Meetup.

When I was in Nairobi, I made it to Carnivore as suggested, and decided to safari in Masai Mara instead of Lake Nukuru, which turned out fine. Pictures here.

Oh, and before I left the states, I went to court to fight the ticket in Chicago. Which, as previously noted, worked out brilliantly.
posted by allkindsoftime at 6:31 AM on October 10, 2007

Also, I had a close encounter with the monkeys.

The question will forever remain unanswered, but I'm starting to think bears might have their work cut out for them.
posted by allkindsoftime at 6:35 AM on October 10, 2007

I survived eating rotten shark, replaced my oven, replaced my keyboard, and never managed to bowl a perfect 300 game.
posted by roofus at 7:15 AM on October 10, 2007

I ate the sandwich, and died. Thanks for the advice anyway.
posted by SansPoint at 9:09 AM on October 10, 2007

I made ribs, and they were spectacular.

My folks moved, the AV system was a complete surprise that was appreciated beyond belief and looks amazing.
posted by docpops at 11:27 AM on October 10, 2007

I just used CafePress, posted it to Projects and have made a few bucks.

This website never made it beyond the development stage, although I do have some random stories orphaned from it.
posted by mikepop at 12:02 PM on October 10, 2007

No one knows the MUD :(

Paint thinner gets silly string out

No one knows the Atlantis book

Two are unresolved, one is useful. Silly string...my nemesis!
posted by BlackLeotardFront at 4:34 PM on October 10, 2007

I nailed the interview and was offered a crack at the copy-editor's exam. I nailed that, too. Now I'm having the time of my life interning on the copy desk, and I couldn't have done it without the golden advice offered in that thread.

So, a long overdue thanks to every one who was kind enough to answer.
posted by EatTheWeak at 2:37 AM on October 11, 2007

We never did move.

The weird, repeated international calls stopped after about a week.

We have decided to put off becoming innkeepers for the time being because we don't know if we can afford the pay cut now. It's still a possibility for the future, however.

I totally helped my friend with her computer and nothing bad happened.

She has been riding the bus home for a couple of weeks and I plan on having her ride the bus *to* school, as well, starting next week. School busses are like anything in life: there's good and bad. But the alternative is making me consistently late for work as I get caught up in the "parent traffic" exiting the elementary school parking lot.

The answer is, and will continue to be, "No. You're too old for co-ed sleepovers." And I plan to fully enforce the "keep your bedroom door open all the way while you are both playing in your room" rule that my Mom had when I was growing up.
posted by parilous at 11:05 AM on October 11, 2007

We mostly just forced folks to pick up Arial Unicode although the CSS rules emphasized Lucida

The dentist recommendation worked out great.

I drink a lot more water thanks to the frozen water in the Nalgeen bottle trick. I still find the taste a bit ick but have become more accustomed to it.

Mostly curiosity here. I enjoyed the answers.

I'm a web developer / programmer that still finds networking to be some sect of voodoo. It all worked great (and still does).

Thanks for the background, folks. I now work around the problem I was encountering.

No longer matters thanks to some answers on an anonymous relationshipFilter question.

Speaking of... Thank you for helping me realize I created an "overburdened problem." That's what happens when I try to solve a painful/emotional problem without reaching out to friends and family. I've digested this lesson completely and now use my support network when I need it (more often than not anyway). Sometimes relationshipFilter can be useful.

Anyway, I secured a dive apartment near work, informed the spouse I needed some space, canceled all credit cards (the joys of being debt free), and moved my crap in the space of three days. Within a month of my moving out she went on an infidelity binge that more or less sealed the deal from my perspective. Filed for divorce on the day I became eligible and the final hearing is less than a month away. I also had the opportunity to meet a fantastic woman who is sympathetic to my position as she herself had to fight her way through similar incident a few years back.

Troubleshooting helped. Now I generally use a wrapper for my web apps that makes a call to sys.path.insert( 0, "/path/to/library" ) and then import the main application class from my library.

The SO caved and is letting the ex keep the bike in the shed until next spring.
posted by Fezboy! at 11:54 AM on October 11, 2007

Since this thread, where you were kind and thoughtful and understood that I was processing my loss, is useless without pictures, I give you my homie and the new guy that came home just a couple of weeks ago. Note that these pictures were taken within days of Chai coming to live with us, but he was so welcomed. There is still a shrine to my lost sweet cats on my bookshelves, but they too are happier with our newly homed shelter cat. A true thank you to you who were kind and encouraging.
posted by vers at 5:34 PM on October 11, 2007

By the way, for the AskMe I did about needing to stop being everyone's caretaker? It really helped. It's been a huge growth experience I've gone through this year, I'm finally learning to stand up for myself along the way instead of only when something is unbearable. I've learned that I don't have to be tough and that while some people can't deal with it, others have really jumped to support me which shocked me. (Neither being done by the people I necessarily expected -- I've learned a lot about who's a deep friend and who isn't.) At first it was hard because I felt like I was making problems, but I find that I've slowly been training people to realize that I'm human and that they can't always take me for granted. It's really helped my communication with people. I wish I'd started learning this lesson about ten years ago.

Just this morning I actually was able to have a calm and respectful talk with my mom about some comments she made recently that were very manipulative and controlling. I actually told her point blank that being her caretaker was my choice and is a gift I have opted to give to her... but that it isn't her right and it isn't my duty, especially since she has five children. I told her that while I'll always be there for her as much as I possibly can and I'm not going anywhere, she needs to accept that she doesn't own me and that she cannot expect my life to revolve around her. I added that she needs to be a little more sensitive to my feelings at times because I'm human. It was hard because I wasn't sure I was going to get through, but by the end of the conversation she actually apologized and was incredibly kind. I was in shock that it went so smoothly. I couldn't have had that conversation even six months ago. I was pretty proud of myself.
posted by miss lynnster at 11:38 PM on October 11, 2007 [2 favorites]

I told her about it the next day. We had a good chuckle at the absurdity of it all. She told the head of NetOps who sent out a milquetoast "Acceptable Internet Use Policy" reminder later that week.

I doubt Johnny Porno was any the wiser.

My sentiment boiled down to, "If you've got an important job to do at a start-up and you're spending your time fapping at the office, why should I care if this place succeeds?" I quit two weeks later. The company died a few weeks after that.
posted by Loser at 12:23 AM on October 12, 2007

Not that anyone was really paying that much attention, but I ended up brewing my own aftershave and we made the shoes by hand from craft foam.
posted by leapfrog at 4:13 AM on October 13, 2007

My cat tried a few times to jump into my baby's crib, but only when baby wasn't in it. Now, he has a respectful yet vigilant attitude.
posted by signal at 9:33 AM on October 13, 2007

No one in class even notices my age.

Arabic and Photoshop still don't play well together.

He gave me $35. It was all fine.

I stayed with the sure thing, and I'm glad I did.

I said goodbye to Fred, finally.
posted by Liosliath at 6:50 PM on October 13, 2007

The land's end t-shirts were awesome, and look like they might go the distance.

My only question ever, actually.
posted by overhauser at 10:09 PM on October 13, 2007

Probably the only really ask me question that impacted my life was this one where I ask about cheap virtual hosting. And, uh, I got some, which I actually use quite a bit for storing things online.
posted by delmoi at 11:53 PM on October 13, 2007

I killed, skinned and cleaned rabbits and fed them to my dogs. One of them loved the bunny, the other left his half of the carcass uneaten. Thankyou Mefi!
posted by tim_in_oz at 1:42 AM on October 14, 2007

My grandfather did not live long enough to enjoy his computer...
posted by Rock Steady at 2:41 PM on October 5

But the question was not in vain, for in the answers I found a lot of helpful and entertaining things for an elderly lady I was working with to do on her computer.
posted by frobozz at 7:39 PM on October 14, 2007

Suck it, Steven C. den Beste. Suck it hard.
posted by micketymoc at 2:52 AM on October 15, 2007

I slept in my car for two days. We got back together. Our next and final break-up was physically abusive. The manner of our break-up coupled with the aftermath gave me closure.

In turn, I got my shit together, stayed at my mother’s while she was vacationing in California, severed all contact from him and his friends, and found a place to live via Craigslist.com. It hasn’t been easy but I am happier.

I did not pawn the present. It is in the back of my closet. I am planning on giving it to a close friend who is down on her luck.
posted by somersault at 5:23 PM on October 15, 2007

I'm still not over it but, I didn't sue the hospital and I made it through a recent surgery, albeit with lots and lots of drugs and help from an amazing OR nurse as I completely broke down right before the surgery out of fear.

I didn't use the tv. I bought a cheap used IBM thinkpad that seems to be working pretty well for me. Even from bed, following above said surgery.

My other 2 questions are unimportant. u
posted by SuzySmith at 11:53 AM on October 17, 2007

I got the job. The answer is always... as many as we have. I decided to bike instead. I just called them up and had a ten minute conversation explaining that it didn't work in my house. The rep was convinced I would die in an emergency. It's really accurate, but you have to commit to abstaining/protection at the right times.
posted by dial-tone at 12:10 PM on October 17, 2007

In the donkeys for christmas question, I used a lot of suggestions and made a gift basket for my father-in-law. Both he and my MIL love their The Nation subscription and the books that were suggested.

I bought a necklace suggested. I bought, checked out, and read books that were suggested. (Most recently, Like Water for Chocolate.)

I love my house and neighborhood and got over my anxieties of not living in something more upscale. I don't know what I was thinking.

I took the GRE a long time ago and did well enought to apply for a program, but never applied because I realized I wanted to apply to a certain program for all the wrong reasons.

And next Monday I'm taking a morning painting with acrylics class.
posted by LoriFLA at 12:42 PM on October 19, 2007

I don't have a job, but still found a lot of the advice helpful, unfortunately the naysayers appear to have been right. I'm considering becoming a paralegal at a big firm after I graduate just to pay off my loans, as that looks like where I could make the most money.

They still haven't called.

However, I am now friends with many of the secretaries and IT people at work, which is nice.
posted by whoaali at 2:38 PM on October 20, 2007

I wowed him, but he dumped me shortly after my dad died. I'm actually completely fine with it.
posted by Lleyam at 4:08 AM on October 21, 2007

I got laser and it has sort of worked after about 2 years and about 10 treatments. I am going to keep at it (free for the next year), because the hair is much softer now, and I can't wait until it's all gone.

Our log cabin is still under attack from mice, flies, and thieves. The thieves recently tore the windows off and smashed all the glassware inside, actually.

Dentist Jeff Nullman in Miami is wonderful! But I still wish there were much better ways to research and review doctors.

My friend left the the office where boss2 sent her the porno-clip. He hit on the next girl too.

My boyfriend uses baby powder to stop the chafing, and it works like a charm. He also wears boxer briefs (instead of just boxers) when he works out, and that helps.

I do feel like I have somewhat increased my joie de vivre. I think doing yoga almost every day is helping. And life has been incredibly overwhelming and stressful these days - the upside of that seems to be that I don't feel like my days are just passing me by bc instead a few things seem incredibly important. I am spending more time with friends (changing where I lived helped that). I may be doing fewer chores too. And my work got even more interesting. I went on a few overseas trips, and fell in love with Cambodia.

Still no kids yet, but I still want to have them, and I do believe (really I do!) that I will still be happy if I have kids.

I did not die in Thailand, and ate peanut-tinged food every day. I brought an epi-pen with me, and the allergist had told me that I was probably processing the peanut allergy on my own.

While in Thailand, I did hours and hours of (mainly ashtanga) yoga from a book, and came back much improved in flexibility, strength, and yoga-theory. Now I do classes and also yogamazing and yogatoday free podcasts.

I did not get a house-sitting gig, and am going broke paying rent in two cities.
posted by Amizu at 7:56 PM on October 22, 2007

I found a decent roommate option and he is moving in at the first of the month. Thank god my boyfriend is a real-estate agent, so both of us will be protected, financially and otherwise.

I also have become adept at finding weird, one-off gigs thanks to Craigslist and MySpace, like helping friends pack up their places who are moving or selling their homes.

After a general plea for help, an ex from 12 years ago came out of the woodwork and offered me free legal advice. Another friend got me a discount at a tax accountant's office, so I was able to get my IRS stuff evaluated for a mere 50 bucks.

Now, another friend has offered to help me review my Innocent Spouse case at a deep, deep discount. Yet another has donated a computer to me so I can work part-time from home on projects without my company knowing I'm moonlighting, and I've let the horrible ex know that the five grand or so worth of equipment he's let sit in my garage for over a year is now, legally, mine and may be sold to defray the IRS audit costs.

Finally, I could never have gotten through this without the love and support of my amazing boyfriend. He has seen me suffer and things are finally getting better for me, which means for the two of us, there is a good future ahead. He is helping me every step of the way...

I posted this question anonymously because I didn't want my first interaction with Metafilter to be a personal pity party for myself. But I got so much good advice and sympathy and it really, really helped me. It gave me the incentive to do the things I needed to do to help myself get out of the rut I've been in for close to a year now and I can't express my gratitude enough for my new gang of online friends.

Thanks everyone!
posted by Unicorn on the cob at 10:01 AM on October 24, 2007 [1 favorite]

There are so many heartwarming stories in this thread.
I feel bad, because all I want to know is if mach3avelli took a dump on his lady.
posted by The Esteemed Doctor Bunsen Honeydew at 10:43 PM on October 24, 2007

Pretty much all of my questions for the last year have revolved around my job, being unhappy in my job, having to move for my job, etc.

I moved myself from Albuquerque to Chicago a year ago. Two months later my boss informed me that my job duties needed to be done in the Boston office. I reluctantly moved to Boston on April 1 of this year.

In July I met a woman at a conference who made an off-handed comment over a group dinner (with my boss sitting right next to me) that I should come to Denver and work for her.

I arrived in Denver two weeks ago and I cannot remember the last time I was this happy with where I lived.

Thanks to all you mefites who chimed in and kept me sane over the last year.
posted by FlamingBore at 9:22 PM on October 26, 2007

The ghost sausage disappeared days later and has never come back again. (The husband's also out of the house, but it took him a while longer.)
posted by maudlin at 6:43 PM on October 27, 2007

I discovered lots of interesting maneuvers, and have taken up massage therapy as a result.

Yes, we found a microwave oven that doesn't beep. My now ex-housemate had an old microwave oven, the brand was "Tiffany" (she bought it at the Australian Woolworth's chain). It has a timer dial and a power dial. It goes *ping!* when it's finished, and remains blissfully silent thereafter.

The junkies eventually left of their own accord after a huge fight - there were two of them, though only the girl lived there. The police came, and my friend hasn't seen them for months.

I never found out the name of this Italian film about a girl whose bf was a heart donor.

Also, unfortunately, I've still not been able to track down this beautiful lady.
posted by flutable at 1:55 AM on October 29, 2007

Remeber that FPP where everyone argued over a scene in an episode of the Simpsons, wherein Ralph Wiggum either 1) dreams of being a viking or 2) uses the phrase as a way of saying he's good at sleeping? Greg Nog submitted the question to a BoingBoingTV call for questions for an upcoming Q&A with the director of the Simpsons, David Silverman. The questions ends up being the first one asked in the finished interview. The answer? Well, he's not sure, he'll "have to check the script" but he's personally in the 'dreams of being a viking' camp.
posted by statolith at 7:17 AM on November 4, 2007