AJ

I have hundreds upon hundreds of pages.  I know I'll need a good OCR, and probably something to convert CSV to GEDCOM.  I don't expect it to be free.  Your experiences are welcome.

Is there any way to get opinions from doctors and other care providers about different health insurance companies?

I have a family member with a semi-rare medical condition, and he frequently needs services/drugs that require 'prior authorization' from the insurance company to be covered.  When this process (inevitably) gets screwed up, he suffers.

Medical providers, and people who work in their offices, are in the best place to know which companies have their act together.  Sure, problems happen with every plan, but if doctors DREAD dealing with one particular insurer because there's CONSTANTLY an issue, I'd like to know.

Is this out there somewhere?

Most coupon and deal websites are a waste of time if you don't want to download the retailer's app.  Same with the retailers' own mailing lists.

Anyone know any websites that DON'T include app-only deals, or at least filter them out?

I'm thinking about installing solar outdoor safety lights.  Has anyone used these somewhere that doesn't get much daylight in the winter?

At 44°N (roughly even with Minneapolis) we get 8-9 hours in early winter.  Let's call it 5 hours direct sunlight on that side of the house, and that's pretty generous.

Of course, that's the time of year I'd need them the most, since it's dark before I get home.

I have to wonder if it's worth it.  Anyone tried it?  I'm looking for something like a product review, from someone using solar lighting in similar conditions to mine.

The tire pressure warning light on my dashboard goes on and off. My tire pressure's fine -- it's the gauge that isn't working right.

My mechanic had to disconnect the tire pressure sensor to repair the tire a few months ago. Apparently, it can't be re-connected, it would have to be replaced. (I've been told this by other mechanics, too. Gotta love Suzukis.) The part is expensive and would have taken more than a week to arrive, so I had my guy just fix the tire and leave the sensor off/disconnected/whatever he had to do. I'd rather live with the idiot light and occasionally check the pressure manually.

Fast forward to now, and I need a sticker inspection. I'm trying to figure out if the warning light will flunk me, even if the tire pressure is fine.

(I don't think I'm being paranoid -- Maine flunks you for non-working lights, even if the lights themselves aren't required, like running board lights.)

The checklists I've found online all have words like 'including' and 'such as,' making me think they aren't complete, and the 208-page inspection manual isn't appealing. (A ctrl+F search for various terms didn't find much.)

Anybody have a definitive checklist for Maine? Go through this yourself? Thanks!

I'm looking for an offline project management software that can track (and record history of) job status and status date.

I don't need scrum, gantt, scheduling, email integration, mobile app, or any other bells and whistles.

The statuses will not always be in order, and not all jobs will go through all statuses.

I want to be able to see a list of jobs and their current status, something like:

Tom A. Received 01/03/18

Dick B. In Progress 02/05/18

Harry C. Waiting for Client 03/10/18

... and there's a way to see when Dick and Harry were Received, when Harry was In Progress, etc.

I've been using spreadsheets, but keeping the history is a huge pain.

Any suggestions? Thanks!

Does any carrier other than US Cellular have decent coverage in central Maine?

US Cellular has no pay-as-you-go plans and doesn't share their towers with any other phone companies.

I currently use Consumer Cellular (AT&T towers), and it's terrible. I get two bars in a few areas around Bangor, but usually I'm lucky to get one. Forget dropping calls, the calls never ring in the first place. It doesn't work AT ALL in my office, so I have to go out to the parking lot to use it.

Any Northern Mainers or regular visitors happy with your phones? I'd appreciate suggestions.

(Please don't refer me to coverage maps, they don't have much in common with reality around here.)

Thanks.

The opposite of a normal problem -- a cat that WON'T scratch things!

She has a scratching post, which she has never touched. We've tried various types of catnip, still no interest. Treats don't work either.

I caught her scratching at furniture a couple of times, and made her stop by making loud noises, scaring her. That furniture now has scratch-deterrent scent spray or double-sided tape on it.

The problem is, her claws are catching in everything, and I think it's because she isn't scratching enough to keep them short. She usually needs help un-hooking from my sweater when I set her down, and she twists herself into knots trying to get her paw off the rug.

The obvious answer is to trim them myself, but that's likely to be painful (for me), and not something I'd want to do on a regular basis. I'd really like to somehow get her to use the scratching post.

Suggestions?

A friend of mine has invited me to her wedding. It's Hawaiian-themed, with everyone encouraged to dress for a luau. I have an outfit I can wear, but it's black (with red flowers).

I know there are all kinds of opinions on whether or not it's okay to wear black to a wedding. My question is, would it be pushy of me to just up and ask the bride-to-be? I haven't known her very long, and she's been stressed out of her mind with wedding details. I'm also worried she'll feel obliged to tell me it's okay so I don't have to buy a new dress. (I don't particularly *want* to buy a new dress, but I'd manage.)

So... do I ask her? Bite the bullet and go dress shopping? Flip a coin?

I'm considering buying a Sylvania boombox. What's their rep for audio in general? How do they compare to other lower-end electronics like GPX or Cobe? Thanks.

I'm trying to get some real old-school tabletop RPGers to play online. They stopped playing years ago when they all moved, so I'm fighting a lot of inertia in addition to tech-resistance. The closer I keep it to tabletop, the better chance I have of actually getting them to do it.

I'm exploring a few bulletin board and chat programs, plenty of options, but now I'm looking for dice. There are plenty of dice-equivalent random number generators, but it just isn't the same. What I need is a random number generator that actually has the animation of rolling dice -- *all* dice, not just d6.

The problem is, they won't want to download a full-on RPG online world. One of them owns a game store, I'm pretty sure he'd boycott on principle. A couple of the others are a bit technophobic. I need JUST the dice.

Does anyone know a download or website that would work? Thanks!

I'm going for the easy way -- box of mix + can of soda -- but is it better to use fresh or flat soda? Does it make a difference? Thanks.

I don't care for the Windows 7 layout, and I'm fed up with having to learn a new OS every couple of years. When my current machine finally gives up the ghost -- any day now -- I'm thinking about switching to Mac OSX or a freeware product.

The issue is the other systems I work with. My office runs XP Pro SP3, and will probably do so until the accounting program we use stops making compatible software. Most of the clients' computers I would need to work with run Windows 7.

Anyone out there have experience going back and forth between Windows and another OS? How hard is it to make files accessible to both? Thanks.

Does anyone know if Microsoft will keep releasing security patches etc. for Internet Explorer 8? XP is supposed to be covered under their service agreements until 2014, and IE9 and 10 only work on Vista and Windows 7. This _should_ mean they keep putting out updates and so on, but I've seen some disturbing comments about security issues being ignored since last spring....

I need a yard building to store a snowblower between uses, but I'm not really handy and I don't have a lot to spend. Most of the sheds I've looked at look fairly simple to assemble, but don't come with a floor, and the floor/foundation kits look like a nightmare. I've checked out some kids' outdoor playhouses online, but it's hard to tell if the doors are wide enough to get a snowblower through.

To complicate the situation, whatever I build is probably going to have to be moved summer of 2009 or 2010 -- there's a mostly-dead tree that will have to be cut down soon, and the shed will be right in the way.

The only other requirements I have are that the roof be sturdy enough to hold up a couple of feet of snow, and that the doors swing in or out -- doors on sliding tracks don't work well once the tracks fill up with ice. That, and it has to be cheap -- this is for my parents, and they won't accept it if it's too expensive.

Suggestions?