do you know where you are staying yet?

Not yet -- I'm still taking the pulse of things. I've looked at Roatan and Utila, and Roatan's a lot more expensive...but it seems less likely that I'll end up in a shack with a shared bathroom (don't mind shack, do mind shared bathroom). Some of the places are quite amazingly beautiful.

Thanks so much!

Paying a mover the last time I moved.

I'd probably have to go with Sophia here, as the movers spent 7 hours carrying 4 rooms full of stuff (including some pretty bulky furniture) down one flight of stairs and then up 2 in another state. At the time, lifting a 50 lb. TV up to the 3rd floor nearly put me in an ambulance, so they were quite literally lifesavers.

In terms of enjoyment, the $ I spent to attend PBP 1999 resulted in me meeting internet friends in person for the first time, becoming more invloved in fandom for years after, attending the single best party of my life, and discovering the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel all in a weekend.

There is no question that I, as a single woman/hermit, could not have done it without the movers.

When I told people that I was using movers last time and they asked me why, I pointed out why would I ask my friends and family to help me do something I didn't want to do myself? This time around, I'll have a lot more furniture (if actually fewer books and clothes--I've been purging for the past few months, and will weed out more before I move in March or April), so it's movers again.

What's the best money you ever spent?

My car, my pets, tivo, the 3 or 4 presents I have bought for other people which were exactly the right thing at exactly the right time.

Spending Canadian money is a good time -- all those coins of value make it more exciting. Heft, you know.

How H'wood accessorises a broken neck.

Wait a minute, she dove into a 2-foot-deep pool?

she dove into a 2-foot-deep pool?

Details, schmetails. Apparently it was her pool. Which means I do hope they were snarking about the depth.

Speaking of product placement:

In what appears to be one of the most elaborate product-placement deals ever, the set of NBC's Las Vegas will permanently feature a replica of a Wolfgang Puck restaurant. The network said that the restaurant and Puck himself will be featured in the Jan. 9 episode of the series. In a statement, executive producer Gary Scott Thompson said, "Wolfgang's restaurant is the perfect dining destination for the characters of Las Vegas, and I am pleased he has chosen the Montecito for his seventh Las Vegas establishment." (In fact, the Montecito, the fictional hotel-casino featured in the TV show, was constructed on a soundstage at Century Studios in Los Angeles.)

When I told people that I was using movers last time and they asked me why, I pointed out why would I ask my friends and family to help me do something I didn't want to do myself?

My sister and her DH moved from a 3 bedroom house to a 4 bedroom house about 2 years ago. They are in their mid-40's and make a good income. And yet, they asked their friends to help them move because they are too cheap to pay movers. When I found out, I was shocked and couldn't contain my response, "You're 40 years old and actually asking your friends to move you?? And, more suprisingly, they said yes?"

She looked ashamed and she should have.

I'm apparently friends with your sister. Except they were in their early thirties at the time.

Everyone knows better than to ask me to help them move now.

We moved a gazillion times as a family, and I was shocked and horrified when I had to move on my own, without the government paying for expert movers.

I'm still kinda traumatised, but at least I can now afford to pay folks to do the heavy lifting for me.