And yeah, I know with bedbugs and everything people don't like to do this anymore, but my current mattress was $1600. Except it was at a thrift store for $100. And I walked in on 50% day, and bought it for $50. Best mattress I've ever slept on.

shopping for a new mattress.

flea, check out Original Mattress Factory. We got ours there (and Tim bought his previous one there), and it's really good quality and a really good price.

JRM as Drac!

Dracula" is coming to NBC in the form of Jonathan Rhys Meyers. The network has ordered a 10-episode series starring the "Tudors" veteran.

The series picks up with Dracula arriving in London, posing as an American entrepreneur. Dracula's front? He pretends to want to bring modern science to the Victorian society, but his real intentions are revenge on the people who wronged him centuries ago. However, it's not all rage and death because Dracula falls in love with a woman who appears to be a reincarnation of his dead wife.

"We are delighted that Jonathan Rhys Meyers has chosen this project to return to television and have built an amazing team of producers behind the camera to deliver this extraordinary show," Michael Edelstein, president of NBCUniversal International Television Production, said in a statement. "Since 1897, the story of Dracula has captivated readers and viewers alike and this sexy, updated twist on the classic also promises not to disappoint."

JRM strikes me as someone who will not age well. Although this sounds exciting.

Rochester has so many mattress stores, one of my designers asked if they were a front for something. In one shopping area there are mattress stores on 3 out of 4 corners.

I need a new mattress or a new foam topper. Mine is about 20 years old, and I got it from "Dial a Mattress" (there is not store, you just call and tell them how much you want to spend, and they bring you a mattress). I recently got rid of the foam topper because I couldn't figure out how to clean it, and when I had my rash I felt like everything needed to be cleaned. Now my back hurts.

Our mattress is 22 years old, and I can feel every year. We're pretty good about turning it, but it's not going to last much longer. Neither of us sleeps well anymore.

I thought you were one of the tempurpedic people, ita !.

No, futon all the way. I've never owned anything else.

My mattress is ancient. Maybe if I get this job (that I'm still waiting to hear about) I can replace it within the next year.

I've had days when I've felt like I was part of this study. [link]

The best-studied technique of all is the foot in the door. The panhandler who stops to ask you the time before asking you to spare a buck is employing the technique. In contrast to the door in the face, the foot in the door starts by making a very small, easy-to-accomplish request, and then follows up with the real request.

I hate this so much. It actually makes me suspicious of every single person who talks to me on the bus. I am just waiting for them to ask me for something.

The audio to that story is pretty funny -- Shankar Vedantam goes, "studies are good and everything, but you know what's better? Anecdotes!" so then he tries it.

I have a ten-year-old mattress, and when I started having trouble sleeping a few years ago, I got a memory-foam topper at Target. $150 and and immense improvement in the quality of my sleep.

Flea, try a topper out for a while--it's cheaper than a whole new mattress. I won't go back to life without one.