Those are totally single-serving, Cash. My only way around this is to open it up and portion it out into small containers when I first buy it, but that only works if I don't eat it all while portioning.

Kat, that house is so cute! Plus goats! And even Alibelle perhaps.

Alibelle, are you really looking for a place? Oh, and hey, I keep meaning to call you about something. DH's cousin moved to LA a while ago and I think you two would enjoy meeting each other. She's 24, smart, a bit of an introvert, loves Jane Austen and romance novels.

A Hard Day's Night is on tv. Egad, the Beatles are adorable! I want to kiss them all.

My solution to the B&Js problem is to only buy the flavors I only mostly like. If I buy Americone Dream or Mint Cookie, I'm doomed because I eat it all up right away. Other stuff I can parcel out more slowly.

... now my Safeway carries B&Js in smaller containers, little single-serving ones, but not the flavors I love. Sigh.

TJs sells B&J in quarts now.

Thank you, Kristen! I will try that tomorrow. I was trying to get around the soaking aspect since there isn't any place to soak sheets. There's a stand up shower, and a narrow sink thing. But the quick fix did not work, so now it's time for a real fix. I guess I can weight the sheets down with something to hold them in the sink. Maybe a cat. Maybe the one whose fault it is. It seems appropriate, anyway.

Hi, Burrell! Yes, I'm really looking for a place to live, preferably in my beloved Burbank. I had unpleasant moving issues happen. Luckily, my aunt is awesome, even if her apartment involves at least an hour commute. Each way, of course, since this is L.A., home of the happy traffic. Your DH's cousin, however, sounds like much more fun.

Alibelle!

Ugh, sorry about the commute, sounds brutal.

We should arrange a grown-up play date for you and the cousin, Alibelle.

Perkins!

That sounds nice, Burrell.

Okay. My BFF Daniel moved to Durham 6 months ago. Because he'd lived in the DC area for the better part of a decade and he had no social life, he couldn't afford to buy a home, and generally it wasn't working for him. He has been living with his brother while looking for a job in NC. He really likes the area (he grew up there), but he has been in limbo without a job and so he has not made social connections there, either. He has not found a job, and is getting pretty depressed as a result. I talked to him last weekend, and he was feeling better because he is starting to reconcile himself to coming back to the DC area (our company would very likely hire him back).

I am a very lazy person and have never done a concentrated job hunt. So I do not know what I'm talking about, particularly in the current economy. But this is what I think he should do:

• Go door to door. Not literally, but go out scouting companies in commuting range. Stop in with a resume, and ask if they're hiring. I think all of his jobsearching has been online; I'm not sure if he's even been checking the paper.
• Write up a nice, personable cover letter. I hate that shit, but I understand it's kind of necessary, and I'm pretty sure he just sends out his resume without any further info.
• Ignore headhunters; they're a waste of time.
• Widen his range. I suspect he's only looking for jobs similar to what he's done before, and he's probably asking for too much money. If his goal is to live in Durham (and it is) he needs to be more flexible about the other stuff.
• Also, widen his range in location -- he knows DC didn't work, and if he can't find something in the Durham area, he should at least look at other NC cities before giving up and going back to a place that he wasn't happy in to begin with.

He has a ton of savings, so it's not a "He'll starve without a job in the next month" issue. His original plan was that once he got employed, he'd buy a house down there. And I'd be depressed in his situation too, but... I also think he's not giving everything he could to the job-hunt. When I talked to him last weekend he said he figured that if nothing turned up soon, he was going to "give up his dream" and come back to DC. And I'm just thinking, dude, if that's your dream, you need to give it everything you have before you quit.

I wouldn't use those words to him, but I want to know if I'm being sensible or an insensitive ass. He's been a great reality-check friend, and I totally understand the depression issues, god knows, but I feel like, if roles were reversed, he'd be asking, "And what did you do to find a job, any job, today ?"

I don't know what my question is. Am I being a jerk is definitely one. Do y'all have other tips for job-hunting is another. I really want him to be happy, and I can't tell if I should be good cop or bad cop, basically.

Strega, what's his field? My impression is that job-hunting varies a lot by what field he's in. Head-hunters are key in some fields, for example. The one thing you don't mention is networking - if he's been here 6 months and his brother lives here, has he met anybody yet? If he's shy, that's hard, but a ridiculous number of jobs come through contacts.

I think if he's truly your BFF you should be able to judge how he'll take the bad cop routine. If you choose to go that route, couch it with love: "I hate to see you give up on your dream. Here are some things you should do before you give up." (Also is he/has he been *treated* for depression? I know a GREAT counselor.)

We have a bunch of Buffistas in the Triangle, if he needs contacts. We mostly work at local Universities, but have some experience with the job market locally.