You only get what you negotiate, not what you deserve or desire. The best way to negotiate is be willing to walk away.

So, you should find another one or two companies willing to pay you what you want in terms of money and options. Then go to your existing employer and say "With the economy picking back up, I'm looking to find a company that will allow me to grow with them. Do you think AbcCorp could be that company for me?" "yeah, sure, excuse me while I fix my pointy hair, ummhmm..." "I've tried to figure out where that puts me, and found that a comparable position at XyzCorp offers 25 scooby snacks plus the opportunity to drive the mystery machine. Do you think my value to AbcCorp puts me in that range at this company?"

Don't use overly confrontational terminology, like "match their rate", "if I stay", etc. Treat it as a fact-finding mission and at the end of the day, you must be OK leaving if you and your employer don't agree on what the facts are.

Additionally, if you don't find other companies willing to pay more, or if you determine in your heart that you wouldn't really want to move companies, then at the end of this process you will be happier even if you stay. That is just as important to discover.

I've been saying this in conversations for about a year now, what does /. think?

Craigslist is responsible for a significant amount of reuse and recycling. This is an incredible amount of energy not required to create new "stuff". Tons of pollution not emitted as that "stuff" no longer needs to be shipped across the ocean to me. Craigslist also reduces the friction on employment searches and makes possible a local small-jobs employment market as a means of supporting employment.

On top of all this, Newmark refuses to run ads on the site, minimizes listing fees, and has repeatedly refused to be bought out. His actions speak volumes, and his site is a great service to humanity.

Craig Newmark for Nobel Peace Prize.

I agree. This was very useful, esp. when driving or otherwise unable to browse. Going to miss it.

I second the above suggestion to use http://www.starfall.com/ and just hand over the mouse (but not the keyboard). Get a cheapo computer off of craigslist for this. By the time your kid is four you're going to have to drag him away from the computer and all of the games he'll then be able to find on his own. Seriously, the first word my 3-4 year old learned to type completely on his own was "games". Google is amazing when it comes to instant feedback and gratification. Now, almost five, he'll ask us how to spell "iron" and then type "ironman games" into google on his own. I don't know whether this is good or not. But if it's what you want, you're asking the right questions.

Agreed. Notice that you referred to the space as a "killer" apartment.

http://www.starfall.com/ is a website that can significantly help your pre-schooler and early reader improve their literacy, based on my son's experience with it. (More self-reporting bias?) I first learned about this site on slashdot a couple of years ago, and it is so good, I want to make sure it is shared.

Wikipedia could post the pictures "after the jump", and allow readers the choice to view them -- after reading a disclaimer that prior viewing could diminish their utility in therapy.

I think the root cause here is a desire for greater control. Prayer is one way of expressing a desire for control. So is instructing doctors to take every measure possible to prolong your life, in whatever quality. If these two observations are not directly causal, they likely have a common root cause.