DJ, I am boggled that you have to use your marriage license as proof of identity. Did you have to show proof of ID when you applied for the license? We didn't (in MA) -- just had to swear that we were not related to each other. I think we probably did have to put down our SSNs, but at no point did we have to produce any form of ID. Which also seems weird, right? We could have said we were anyone! Or used someone else's SSN.

I can't remember. It's been nearly 14 years since I was married. I'm just not getting why I need proof of name change when I have my birth certificate, passport and ID in married name to get my SS card.

That is seriously SO exciting! Although now I wish I'd thought to ask about it years ago.

I think technically, it's better to tear it out, but recycling systems have gotten more sophisticated in recent years.

Checked my Youtube account. Owen apparently plugged in the Flip this morning, uploaded an old video, titled it, typed a description and everything while I was in the shower.

Owen knows how to do stuff I can't do.

I have derby practice tonight.

I had so much fun at the roller derby in Vermont. (Except for falling down the bleachers [true story], but we won't talk about that.) It amused me that in the program, where they explain how points are scored, etc., they included a line something like, "This is NOT staged -- we are not good enough to PLAN all the falls we make!" I didn't realize that some people thought that roller derby was all fakey and staged.

Some folks think it's like WWF wrestling. There are some theatrics, sure. But it's athletic as all get out.

So says my screaming thighs.

Yes.

Hee. So succinct. I had written this giant post about it, but of course smonster greens it up.

Anyway, I don't know why people keep calling me on my mp3 player/portable internet box. It's very annoying and interrupts me. Oh, it's a phone? Huh.

So! I was saying I thought it depended on the stream for your plastics, but it looks like it's okay. Mine it definitely is, because it's downcycling and gets combined with the local wastewater treatment and ends up as saleable compost. The digester can handle bits of plastic like those and packing tape and styrofoam. Although I try to keep stuff out of that since it's downcycling, and boxes & most styrofoam, packing peanuts and stuff goes to my local mail center where it's reused. Magazines and catalogs go to the VA where they end up in the local paper mill. But unusable cardboard or most generic paper does end up in the paper bins, because downcycling is better than the landfill.

I need to hit shredder hell today too. If I am successful, I will get a swim in too. But the last time I tried, this morning, I ended up spending a half an hour troubleshooting my speaker system. Yeah, I know, but how can I shred without Sweet Emma Barrett singing Bill Bailey?

Yeah, Daisy, I think it's just to tie the birth certificate to your current name.

That can't be done with the birth dates and middle names? I just don't get how a passport is not *the* document needed. It's got everything but proof of address.

hivemind - I have a printed alumni directory from my college. I no longer want. Should I shred it? That is a lot of addresses.

Feel-better~ma to Kathy. ID~ma to DJ. I went through something similar recently. I'd been coasting with my maiden name on SS while everything else had the married name. With the move and different state recs for DL and things, time to clear it up. Took about two months, but that was due to staff error.

Matt mentioned in another thread that Todd Holland and Scotch Ellis Loring were the featured couple in a story about surrogacy on Nightline last night, and linked to an article about it.

I know that tommyrot donated sperm so his sister and her wife could have kids. Does anyone know about a sister donating eggs to her gay brother and his husband or partner? I'm aware it's a more complicated procedure, but if gay couples are turning to a bank of anonymous egg donors, sibling egg donation seems as compassionate a thing to do as donating sperm to a lesbian couple.

Apologies if it's an indelicate question.