He must have put a ton of money down. A 30 year fixed rate (ten years ago that ran around 6.875%) for an $18,000 house with 20% down gives a payment of $113.35. No idea where you're getting $20. This doesn't include property tax or insurance, either. Also, must have been a very small bank, since almost all of the big banks required at least a $50,000 loan for the better rates. For $14,400 (18k - 20%), they likely would add 3/8 to 5/8 to the rate.

My gas bill and water bill both charge fees to pay online (one is a $1.50 fee, the other is whatever Western Union charges), so I send checks. A stamp is cheaper than their fee. The stupidest one I ever had, though, was a car loan that was through CitiBank (the dealership got me a great rate: 0.9%). They only accepted payments online via Western Union. Yet, the CitiBank credit card my wife has allows us to pay online with no fees. WTF? You're the SAME DAMN COMPANY. Share the payment functionality between divisions. We paid that loan off as quickly as possible and I will be certain to never use CitiBank for a car loan, ever again.

THANK you! That's been pissing me off for a while.

I leave them in piles on my desk until either I, or my wife (usually her), becomes annoyed enough to stick them in the file drawer (neatly organized). We keep all bills on a 2 year cycle and all tax forms (and related documents) on a 7 year cycle. Everything outside of the 2/7 year range that has any identifying information (names, addresses, phone numbers, SS#'s, etc) on it is shredded.

Ever heard of this one? My father in law told me about it.

A Nuclear Incident "Worse Than Three Mile Island"

The wikipedia version.

And this one is fairly close to where I live (though thankfully not WHEN I lived here. Which is now. And not then).

Yeah, but you had to pay up front.

I've always enjoyed utilizing an onomatopoetic nickname.

I guess what surprises me the most is that I'd have thought the biggest problem with having 20 tabs open is... you have 20 tabs open. Are you seriously reading all those websites at the one time? If so, then you must have the worst case of ADHD I've ever come across! Please, get some help :-)

I work in technical support for an eCommerce company. I have two FF browser windows open with 5-8 tabs in each one (minimum). I manage whatever issues I'm working on plus look up other sites to assist the lower level techs with their questions, too. Sometimes I'll need to test email functionality, so I'd open GMail, Yahoo Mail and Hotmail all at once. So, yes, there are real reasons to open multiple tabs (I also have Opera and Safari installed, too, for those rare instances where I need to test those browsers, too).

I type "wrong" but still manage to hit 50-60 wpm when I'm in my stride. I'm not a secretary, nor a programmer. I work in technical support. Some of that support is managed through a chat program. I can handle 4 separate customers, plus questions from subordinates via GAIM/Pigeon, on my QWERTY keyboard.

I use whatever fingers feel comfortable at the time. It depends on the words being typed whether it's the left or right hand. The majority of the typing is done with my index fingers, but ring fingers on each hand get their fair share, as well as the occasional thumb for the spacebar, depending on what the index fingers are doing at the time.

Yeah, I backspace a lot, but still type faster than almost anyone I work with.

I could probably do the same thing with a Dvorak keyboard after a few weeks or practice, but why would I bother? What would be the benefit to learning a new keyboard that would only be at home? Work likely wouldn't provide me with a new keyboard without a valid reason. I have no family nor friends who use Dvorak keyboards. While it would annoy my wife on those rare occasions when she needed to use my computer, that's not enough of a reason to move over.

My first PC was a Micron I bought in February 1996. It was a Pentium 133 with 32megs EDO RAM, a 28.8 modem and a 1.2GB harddrive (I started late with computers). When the modem died, they replaced it. When the CPU died, they replaced it (with a Pentium 166, since they no longer carried the 133). When the modem died, again, they replaced it. When the harddrive died, they replaced it (with a 1.6 GB, since they no longer carried the 1.2GB). When the keyboard died, they replaced it. When the motherboard died, they replaced it. When the modem died, for a third time, it was replaced (with a 56k, since they no longer carried the 28.8).

After the experience with that lemon, I never bought another computer I didn't build myself (aside from a laptop).

Having driven from central Ohio to southern California, southern Vermont to central Ohio, central Ohio to Connecticut, Connecticut to southern Vermont and central Ohio to Cocoa Beach, Florida... I can honestly say the worst drivers in the country are in California. Connecticut was scary (bumper-to-bumper at 85mph), but Californians are just idiots. It gets worse with moisture. Hell, spit in the road and they panic.

Yes, but I'm one of those losers with a custom plate. I don't, however, check both front and rear, so it's possible one, or the other, could be changed and I wouldn't notice (dependent on whether or not I backed into the space).