Am home! It's freaking wonderful to able to get to my sister's house in 2 hours instead of nine! And back home in 2 hours, even better! We had a really nice T-day. The nieces were nice to each other, and even hugged goodbye. No drama! Youngest niece is preparing to move to the Virgin Islands for her dream job, and oldest niece has a very good chance of getting a job she really wants that will allow her to work from home doing something she likes and give her flexibility to still work with her band. So with luck soon those two will be squared away and we can worry less! I think what made T-day especially calm and pleasant this year is there was only the four of us. My sister's boyfriend was off at a game, and neither niece currently has a boyfriend or any stray friends who needed a place to go on T-day. Also, everyone had something else to do on the weekend, so we all left Friday evening, instead of hanging out together for four days and pushing the limits of our patience with each other.

And I was "good" and only had a couple pieces of pie and a few bites of stuffing! There was plenty of food I could eat, like turkey and ham and "blackened sweet potatoes" (that's sweet potato casserole that my sister forgot about and burned the marshmallows on top). First holiday I didn't gain any weight. I still have to lose 8.5 pounds in 3 days to win this bet, though. Think I'm gonna lose.

A check made out to two people must be signed my both people, unless both people are on the checking account. TCG can sign it over to you.

Well, I guess I'll have to wait until my official marriage certificate comes in and I can officially change my name.

Glad you had a good thanksgiving, Zen.

I am struggling to be productive. Anyone wanna play via email?

ND, all day until midnight. With a short dinner break from 5-6.

A check made out to two people must be signed my both people, unless both people are on the checking account.

That may be technically true, but I've never had any problem depositing checks made out to "Jessica and Ethan Alter" into my personal checking account. (Or checks made out to Dylan, for that matter.)

Yep, what Jessica said. I've never had both of us sign, and we don't even have the same last name.

Also hi. Brain still slow from excessive slounging and turkey. Had a great time with Megan Walker visiting this week and hosting our traditional urban family shindig. It was nice meeting Spidra, too. The problem is that I now have no more excuses and must do school work today and tomorrow. So sad!

Exactly how does one go about legally and officially changing one's name?

I want to switch my first and middle names, because it's a pain in the butt going by my middle name but having half my official paperwork in my full legal name. My DL and both bank accounts, full legal name. My mortgage and credit cards, middle name only. Social Security already has me by the name I want to go by, because in the 1980s I called them and asked to change it and they... just did, no questions asked. But I never followed through on the official name change, and now there will certainly be questions asked if I try to retire with the "wrong" name on my Social Security. The IRS however has had no qualms about accepting my tax payments under my middle name only.

It's a total PITA and involves filling out a ton of paperwork and going in front of a judge (depending on the state), but it's not difficult--just tedious. Google name changing laws for your state.

I did it once to add and later to remove a middle name related to my first marriage, and I admit that I didn't even consider changing my last name when ND and I got married because of all the paperwork involved. And the whole liking my name thing, but you get what I mean.

And that makes it sound like I think you shouldn't do it, but actually I was trying to convey that it's not a big deal--just some paperwork and a fee.

Dudes, I was invited to a special TED party in New York.

Too bad they don't pay for the flights. It's a "if you're in the neighborhood" kind of invitation.

It's 70% compliment/cool thing, 30% cold slap of the reality of my back account.

Thanks, Pix. Looks like I can just go down to the County Court Clerk's office and file some paperwork, and I may not even have to have a hearing.