I slide mine down so that it is resting more on my knees and less on my upper thighs. That makes a big difference on comfort when sitting there with it in my lap for a while. You could also try one of those lap boards with the big cushion on one side. I haven't tried one yet, but it seems like it would spread the weight around and maybe make it better.

Agreed!

No, actually, I didn't. I do demand at some point to have some level of fairness though.

It's not hard to figure out where people are at based on spending habits and other things. Certainly when the disparity is as large as it is. Nobody has ever told me an actual number as to where their own salary is, but i know the range where everyone else is at. Plus, I helped a friend who is 23 and had no prior experience, degree or training get hired where I work. He was hired at a rate that is significantly above me (although contract and not perm). I helped him negotiate what to ask for ... and they took the first number he put down. That's another strong indicator, lol. I'm glad for him though, and he's working out great. ;)

When I talk with recruiters, because I'm still employed, one of the first questions I am asked is "Why are you looking to leave your company?" ... well, money is the truth. I'm significantly underpaid (by tens of $k compared to co-workers of same or lesser roles) and looking for the pay raise that my managers have been failing to deliver for years (despite promises otherwise). My experiences so far have told me that recruiters don't like the truth. They aren't looking to help me get a raise. I've switched to just saying that I don't want to bash my current company and giving a false number when asked my current salary. That response is typically accepted and recruiters don't prod much beyond that, if at all. But I still don't like it. I really like honesty, but it seems like I have to lie about a number of aspects to actually be considered for positions. Thoughts?

I haven't been in on the hiring decisions, but I've been in meetings where I've watched people in that role sift through resumes. I was really shocked at how quickly they would glance at one and toss it aside. I have to agree with the two pages after seeing that. One is probably not enough substance for a lot of jobs, but more than that and the people I watched would've just tossed it aside unless something really caught their attention on the first page. Key points for the job have to go on the first page and you better make damn sure your grammar and spelling are correct. And don't attach certificates unless requested. Good luck. :)

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Ahh, I was wondering what a FTL drive was. I was kind of hoping it was a really nifty new hard drive. A warp drive engine will do though. Can it be scaled to fit under the hood of an old Chevy Nova? :-D

Man, that's really gonna piss Kaczynski off ... having to use computers to do his bombing. :->

That's what I was going to recommend. IndigoRose Setup Factory ... love it. Used it for years, prefer it to Wise or InstallShield. http://www.indigorose.com/suf/

A timely topic for me, with a perfect reply there. I needed that FEBE. I just dropped in a new hard drive in my second system and reinstalled everything to it. In addition to making it easy to get my extensions transferred over, I can also use this to install them on my GF's profile so she has them too, plus it will make it easy for me to take them to work. Much appreciated for the topic and responses. :-D

Congratulations on the new subclass ... err ... :wtf: ... child. :-D

As probably many did, I screwed around with QBASIC and DOS command "programs" when I was really young. Then, when I was around 14 or so, we got a computer with Windows 95 on it. I think I really started programming shortly after that, like the summer of '96 when school was out and I was at home, bored, Windows 95 was new, the internet was begining to boom, and I was screwing around with AOL. I would see people use programs in it to automate things in AOL (room busters, punters, mass mailers, etc). I had no idea that one program could control another like that and it really sparked my interest as to how it could do that. Looking into it further really started my interest in programming. Learning about windows messaging and the API routines that were being used by simple Visual Basic applications to do all that.

How's about ... Like Keanu Reeves ;P I say go with whatever gets you paid more. Just make sure to avoid something that will get you paid less.

If you count what they were offering for me to stay (and not what I was currently making), I took about a $25k USD per year pay cut to change jobs to one where I only traveled about 6minutes each way instead of an easy hour+ each way. I'm still in college, so maybe time was a bigger necessity for me than for you, but I would say you should ask yourself how much extra time in your day is worth over time spent driving. Any chance you can change where you live to be closer to your new job? That would seem the best solution to me. It wasn't a realistic option for me at the job I left (no way in hell I would live around where I worked). Good luck man, I know its probably not an easy decision. Sometimes, when I look at my paycheck, I still wonder a little bit if I made the right call. Then I drive home, down 3 streets and thru about 5 traffic lights, without even going by a freeway, and I feel better.

A small company working in an exciting field like that should be a fun and rewarding experience. Hopefully the management knows what they're doing and can keep it interesting and progressive so that people aren't getting laid off and the company grows. The cool thing with a job like that is that you gain experience in the field you enjoy working in, so that even if you decide to leave that company or it shuts down or something, you can use that experience to hopefully still continue working in the field you enjoy at another company. Also, in a small company, you will probably end up having more interaction with the people that are or will be using your products. Getting to see people actually make use of what you made is fun, as long as you made it well and they like using it. For me at least, that's a bigger reward than the money I get for making something...although I'm not offering to give away my money, I still need that too. ;P