You should have seen both the 16 year old volunteer and the 20 year old college student worker's faces when I asked them about the phrase "do not fold, spindle or mutilate". It was especially funny because the poor college girl was so very hung-over and it was 8 am. I am too mean!

Also, what is this I here about ita's head (just went back and read), I think she needs a real like Dr. House. Along with my boss's father who spent 4 days! in the emergancy ward with a mystery disease that cause a rash and loss of bowel and bladder functions. They couldn't admit him because they didn't know what was wrong and he recieved crappy emergancy care due to overworked nurses even though a) my boss is a nurse and b) her husband is a nurse in the emergancyroom. My boss says she's going to charge for the servies she performed (bathing, shaving, changing bedpans, making sure he walked so he didn;t get bedsores or become immobilized). It makes me sad thinking how bad his care was WITH medical professionals ther to advocate for him. I mean, what happens to the normal people who don't lnw what is going on and don't knwo the symptoms. My boss says that they just die.

After paying a good sum of money for the plumber to unclog the condensate drain from the AC(what he thought was causing the puddles)

I was going to suggest this (what with it being my problem earlier) but I figured the plumber might know more than me....

I used to make flipbooks and flashcards out of punch cards. My dad would bring home boxes and boxes and mom used them for school stuff. They really were perfect for that. We used to have a 2 box deep, 8 ft tall tower of punchcards in the garage. Probably all computations that can be done by my 15 year old TI-36.

My dad attented Caltech in the early sixties. We didn't used to believe him about the vacuum tube calculator that took up a WHOLE BUILDING. No way, dad. But then, our first computer was a mac you booted from a floppy that was what? 256k? I don't recall. My nephew won't believe us when he's old enough to contemplate such things, I'm sure.

manual adding machine, with the big heavy keys and extra keys for 10, 100, 500, and so on. And a handle you pulled down instead of an enter key.

I think I stil lhave one of these that I bought(at my mother's house), at about age 8, from a school district auction. Man, I loved that thing! It was so satisfying to pull the handle and have it make the noise!

ita could definitely use House. Oh, speaking of House -- a woman at work the other day was saying she had just bought a house in Plainsboro, and explaining that it was right next to Princeton. I was like, "Everyone knows that! Princeton-Plainsboro Hospital!" Luckily, I only said that in my head.

I had to look it up (http://www.answers.com/spindle&r=67) before y'all posted it:

spin·dle (spĭn'dl)

v., -dled, -dling, -dles.

v.tr.

1. To furnish or equip with a spindle or spindles.

2. To impale or perforate on a spindle: Do not fold, spindle, or mutilate this card.

Back when you handed newspaper copy in on paper, the editor had a spindle his desk and, when he decided not to run a story, he spiked it, i.e., stuck in on the spindle. At the first newspaper I worked for, we all had these lethal spikes consisting of a sharp pieces of metal stuck in lumps of lead from the Linotype. They always had about 20 pink "While You Were Out" forms spiked on them.

I wish there were a real-life House who could fix ita.

They're also used in a lot of restaurants for tickets that have gone out.

My MiL was sensitive to smoke and to Windex (and other window cleaners). My FiL smoked but since MiL was so sensitive to it, he only smoked at work and in their car on the way to work. But he always had to clean the car out and couldn't use Windex because of her other sensitivites. So he used vinegar to clean their car windows from the smoke.

Their vehicle smelled highly of vinegar and I swear, I'd get nauseated every time I had to ride in their car.

My magic eraser works great on windows, too. Especially those caked with the crusty mix of dog drool and dirt and tiny hand prints.

The smell of vinegar reminds me of Easter egg dyeing. That smell was the only part of the process that I hated.

I'm overcome with magic eraser love. Today marks my first use and I'm practically orgasmic!

I use white vinegar to clean everything...that and baking soda...the smell says 'clean' to me.