There are companies that specialize in management of other people's rental properties. I'm not sure they'd handle a place that small, but maybe it's worth looking into.

Yeah, but if the tenants know the actual owner is living in the same building, who do you think they're gonna bug when their toilet backs up in the middle of the night?

I'm not sure they'd handle a place that small, but maybe it's worth looking into.

It's a definite possibility. (Ideally, I'd love to buy the building I'm in now and convert it back to a single-family triplex -- right now it's 3 apartments -- but we're in a very hot neighborhood so I don't know if my landlord would sell.)

I have been happily inducted into the cult of the toaster waffle. It helps that I don't eat them with a fork and knife with syrup or anything, but out of the hand dry (but hot).

The whole wheat/Nutri Grain ones are especially good for this, because they're moister and more flavorful than the regular kind, so they work really well right out of the hand.

God, when did I become average?

If you're average, ita, then I'm really in trouble.

Very nummy for an instant.

I often grab that instant miso at the grocery, tommyrot.

I totally would have loved this as a kid: [link] In fact, I want one now.

The Digicomp is a plastic mechanical computer from the 1960s. It offered three bits of tabletop computing, back in an age where corded telephones were considered high-tech. The machine arrived in kit form; your first task was to assemble the jumble of tubes, rods, and elastic bands into something that resembles a Jetson's parking garage. Once complete, it's a fantastic hands-on way to teach Boolean algebra and binary numbers.

And apparently, "MacArthur Park" was the #1 song in the country on the day I was born.

"Hey, Jude" for me.

Kalshane, you can get the regular oats and microwave them with milk in 3 minutes. That would probably do more for your cholesterol than the instant stuff. Toss in some cinnamon and vanilla before you nuke and it's pretty tasty.

I totally would have loved this as a kid:

I had one as a kid. I was expecting it to be more like what the C-64 would be. I was... disappointed. I abandoned it shortly after putting it together.

eta: And I heard Cory Doctorow at a panel at Boskone this past weekend.

Any other IL-ians listen to the debate between the Republican gubernatorial candidates? I think my favorite part was when Oberweis inplied that the educational system would work better if teachers worked on commission. Hey, it worked for his delivery drivers!

I owned a Digicomp; I, too, was disappointed.

My Atari 400 (currently holding pencils in my office) was a great computer when I was a kid. Amazing what poking and peeking could do.

I think my favorite part was when Oberweis inplied that the educational system would work better if teachers worked on commission.

I wonder how that would work. Not on grades surely, on standardized test scores? That would be a formula for a well-rounded education.