I found some DSL speed tips. They work. If you have DSL, you should read them and do the same.

Speed traps. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch couldn't find anyone willing to speak out about them, for fear of becoming a target. Until my phone rang.

The Slackers were right. I pretty much agree with this editorial. I did things a bit differently. But I think the GenX way is more sustainable.

On a forum I frequent, the discussion turned to garage sales, and some people shared some horror stories. As someone who visits a lot of garage sales (I won't say how many), I've seen the ways people deal with some of the pitfalls.

In the interest of encouraging garage sales, I'll share what I've learned.

So I've been working 50+ hours a week. So the range in the kitchen breaks. All I want is the problem solved, quickly and easily. The range is old. Judging from the styling, I was probably in grade school when it was new. It's probably well over 20 years old. There's probably not much point in fixing something that old. But I'd sure like to get a new one just like it, only with automatic shutoff and the other modern conveniences.

There's no explanation for why some crimes happen, but in the case of the murder of Pastor Fred Winters last week during his Sunday sermon at First Baptist Church in Maryville, Ill., there is an explanation. And it's troubling.

The suspect was receiving treatment for mental illness. It seemed to be working. But the insurance company didn't want to pay for it.

Thanks to this decision, a wife is without a husband, two teenage daughters are without a father, and a church is without a pastor.

My longtime friend Steve brought up a good point as we discussed our job situations. He said he read that some companies may be using the current DEPRESSION (I hate that r-word, let's call things what they are) as an excuse to lay people off that they've been putting off because it would hurt morale.

The idea makes a lot of sense.

It's job interview time again. I haven't lost my job, at least not yet, but I'm not waiting around to see if I'm going to. I'm hitting pavement, talking to potential employers, whether they're connected to what I'm doing now or not.

So, it was off to the mall to buy some clothes this weekend for the interview because all my dress clothes are from 1991. They fit (I wore them to my last interviews in 2005), but when your clothes are old enough to vote, it's probably time for something new.

Another year, another cordless telephone/answering machine.

I bought a cordless phone to replace an aging and failing 2.4 GHz model this week. Our luck with modern phones makes me long for the old days.

I like the old Western Electric 500 (also known simply as "The Bell Phone") because it was specifically designed not to break.

After spending the better part of two weekends on it, the kitchen floor is exactly six tiles away from being complete.

I guess this is as good of a time as any to share what I've learned.

I have no idea why I never found this sooner: papercdcase.com.

Type in an artist and album name (or publisher and software name) and a track list, and this thing generates a PDF that you can print and fold into a paper case/envelope, complete with spine.