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Hi, and I'm sorry to hear of your impending loss of coverage. I would suggest taking a look at this web site to learn what high deductible policies may be available to you, and then calling an independent health insurance agent in your area who might be better able to walk you through the...

I have the Pentax *istDL and it's okay, but just okay. That's a higher price than I'd be willing to pay for it. At that price point I'd be thinking Canon.

Sorry for the broken link, thanks to fuego and erd50 for stepping up. I looked through SLM's investor documentation and found that FFELP loans made up a little over 80% of their loan originations in Q1 2009, up from about 70% of loan originations in Q1 2008. The increase isn't a surprise given...

Dark clouds on the horizon for SLM? This was being discussed earlier this year, but then the issue seemed to fade. Now it's back in the news again: link I'm going to see if I can find out what % of SLM's income is related to FFELP. It'd be nice to know if this is a big deal or a little deal.

+1 to FireFox/AdBlock Plus (and NoScript). When I use IE it's kind of jarring to suddenly see the clutter and distraction of ads. It's like advertising on television. For all our lives we've been used to our shows being interrupted by blaring commercials, but after avoiding "live" television in...

I recently asked my general practitioner about the shingles vaccine (at age 40) after seeing my MIL suffer through it. He recommended against it at this time, saying there was not enough information about how long it lasted and uncertainty about whether I would then need some kind of booster at...

The use of tracking advertisements and any privacy implications should be addressed in a site's privacy policy, which I am unable to find for this forum. I searched and only found a history of queries (feb 2008, nov 2007). I know Google Analytics requires disclosure of the use of tracking...

Bad news for Sallie Mae Direct-Lending Program for Student Loans Proposed; Sallie Mae Shares Drop - WSJ.com That's a big "D'OH" for holders of these bonds. At the moment SLM is down 40% to $5, ISM and OSM are down about 20% to ~$8. Could be a huge buying opportunity, or the last chance to...

When I was younger I thought intelligence was one of the most important qualities a potential spouse should have. When I got older I realized that kindness was far more important, and that the world would be a far better place if everyone were kind, much better than if everyone were smart...

Your RV tour sounds like quite an adventure! The old battery may not be worth saving, especially if its been down to 10V a few times. Most (all?) battery shops will take your old battery for recycling. I have heard some RVers will buy 6V golf cart batteries and make a bank of 2, 4, or even 6...

I have not measured this personally, but what I would expect is that each battery would provide a current in proportion to the different resistances between the batteries and the load; some of these resistances would be internal to the battery, and some external (e.g. battery terminal, wires)...

Yes, if they are at 12.5V at the start, they should remain at 12.5V. I'm assuming by "in parallel" you are connecting + to +, and - to -. There will be a small current flow to equalize the voltages as they will probably internally self-discharge at different rates, but I don't see anything...

We lunatics :) appreciate that. I wish driving schools could make all their students drive 1) a scooter, motorcycle, or moped, to experience how vulnerable they are, and 2) a large, heavy truck, to experience how hard it is to stop when a car pulls out in front or changes lanes into the "buffer...

I went out for a motorcycle ride yesterday. In two hours of rural riding on mostly empty roads, I was tailgated VERY closely on three occasions by hyper-aggressive drivers: one pickup truck, one econo-box, and one sedan. Yeah, I was just out for a Sunday cruise, but in all cases I was between...

Our deductible is $10,000 and sometimes a medical office will behave as if we have no insurance at all. So far, in all but one case, I've convinced them that the proper procedure is for them to submit the claim to the insurance company, wait for the insurance company to process the claim, then...

My experience is that Quicken 2008 has many more bugs than Quicken 2000, and Quicken 2000 has many more bugs than Quicken 3.0. I'd roll back except Quicken 3.0 broke at Y2K and Quicken 2000 didn't handle something I needed, possibly mutual fund share class conversions. When I began using...

I have had good bosses and crazy bosses, about 50/50. The crazy boss stories could fill a book, but one is so over the top that I can't help but share. She was a small business owner in a medium size town, I was a college student working part time. She cheated anyone she could to make an extra...

$2M umbrella with Germania here in Texas and they don't care a bit about the motorcycle. If you want to insure the motorcycle itself, it's very expensive -- it's not uncommon for some bikes to be totalled by dropping them at a standstill -- but the agent told me they're really not worried about...

I also place my Vanguard orders late in the day. However, there was one time when I placed an order to sell a Vanguard fund, intending to buy something cheaper at Fidelity, only to find that there was a typo on Fidelity's web site and the minimum purchase was really 10X what was shown. I called...

We ran two HEPA air filters 24/7 for about a year and I don't think it had any impact on the fur in our house. And if they had pulled in enough fur to make a difference, it would have meant changing the expensive filters a lot more often. They also didn't seem to do much for my allergies, were...

I completely agree with the OP. When we saw the Nutcracker last year there were many families with well-behaved children, and one family (very near us, naturally) whose children were either wandering around or talking/whining very loudly the whole time. The parents didn't care a bit and made no...

I thought it was going to be a discussion about precious metals. :)

Indexes like the S&P 500 tilt growth, due to growth stocks' larger than average P/E. I want a value tilt -- some growth, more value -- so I pair each "plain" index with a corresponding value index, where one is available, and put equal amounts into each. An investor seeking more balance might...

Yes, I feel like I must be overlooking something, but I also can't see a good reason for these to have dropped like they did. My inner vulture took over and I couldn't help adding to my stake at these levels. Good to know I'm not the only one. Thanks for your take on this, Ha.

ISM just dropped to 13.75-13.9, OSM to 14.5. Very low volume, but what a yield. Is anybody else nibbling at these levels?