Turk II

Next to my property is a small lot that is undeveloped, lays on wetlands, and basically useless to most people. It is assessed at basically nothing for the area... a few hundred dollars by the city. It is owned by an elderly family that loves on the other side of the country who I can't imagine wants much to do with it.

I'd like to acquire the lot to take down some trees and basically improve my view from my yard. What would be the best way to (legally) acquire and merge our lots assuming the current owner doesnt really want this land anymore?

This year my employer switched us to a high deductible health insurance plan and each employee has their own Health Savings Account to which we can make pre-tax contributions through payroll deduction.

My employer says that we are not allowed to change the amount per paycheck that we elect to contribute to our H.S.A. account during the year and they will only allow us to change our contribution during 'open enrollment' of the insurance program.

I know that there is no IRS or banking regulation that prevents me from making changes throughout the year and this is a "company policy." Is this legal? Can my employer actually prevent me from increasing or decreasing my HSA contribution?

I own a raised ranch in Connecticut that is built on a slab. The entire structure is above grade. The lower level is completely finished, has a large playroom, an office, and a bathroom. It is about 1000 square feet.

During a recent home appraisal the appraiser discounted the 1000 square feet saying that the lower level of a raised ranch doesn't "count" towards livable space. Because of this she compared my house to houses that were half the size of mine and valued my house about $150,000 less than I had expected.

Is she accurate? Does the lower level of my house..... just not exist?

Is it more beneficial to make contributions to my Health Savings Account through payroll deduction on a pre-tax basis, or is it better to make regular transfers from my checking account to my HSA using after tax money and taking the deduction at the end of the year when I file my taxes?

I have two health savings accounts. What is the best way to transfer money from one HSA to another on a regular basis? Can I just write a check from one HSA and deposit it into the second HSA? Is there a limit to how often I can do this? I want to make sure that I am not taxed or penalized.

My employer recently moved all of its employees to a High Deductible insurance plan and opened Health Savings Accounts for us. My employer is going to be contributing money directly into my HSA and I will also have pre-tax contributions from my paycheck going into my HSA.

The problem is, the employer opened the account at "Bank X" and this bank pays 0.01% interest. I have located "Bank Y" that pays 3.00% interest on HSAs and would like to keep most of my HSA money at Bank Y. My employer will only contribute to Bank X and my pretax deductions can only go into Bank X.

Am I allowed to have two HSAs at different banks? And would I be able to move money from Bank X to Bank Y on a regular basis without getting taxed or penalized?

My son poured juice over my Dell Inspiron Laptop and I'm pretty confident the mother board is destroyed. Trying to now salvage data and files on the hard drive. I have removed the hard drive itself from the dead laptop and now figuring out if there is an easy way to connect it to another computer or access the files on it.

If it helps the hard drive is a Western Digital Scorpio Blue, model WD1600BEVT. It has a number of different labels and symbols on it including "RoHS" "SERIAL ATA" "cRJus." It came out of a Dell Inspiron Mini.

Want to use an HD TV as a computer monitor for a new Dell Dimension desktop. I can either use an HDMI cable or a VGA cable. Both the desktop and the TV have both connectors so it's just a matter of picking one, buying it, and connecting it.

Any suggestions, pros, cons, or opinions on either method of using my TV as a computer monitor?

If it matters, the TV is a 37" Sylvania HDTV and the computer is a Dell Dimension 570.

I have an old laptop that I want to connect to my home stereo system and dedicate as a "jukebox" to play MP3's. Connecting and playing music is no problem but there is one problem:

The laptop has to be open. If I close it the laptop goes into sleep mode and obviously won't play music.

Anyway suggestions as to how to get around this? It is a Dell Mini Netbook.

Just bought a Netgear wireless router for my home. It is a dual band with a 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz network. Trying now to connect my two laptops. My MacBook finds the 5 GHz network and connects no problem but my Dell Netbook only finds the 2.4 GHz network and cannot connect to the 5 GHz network. How exactly do these dual band routers work? Is it only allowing certain things to connect to each network?

My wife and I both work full time with different employers that offer health insurance to us. My employer offers a HSA (Health Savings Account) style plan with a high deductible. My wife's employer offers a POS (Point of Service) plan with a co-pay style of insurance.

Assuming we pay the insurance premiums for both plans can I be covered under both my wife's POS plan and my own HSA plan? And can our kids be covered by both plans?

My oil fired forced hot air furnace has been locking out about once every three days. All of the usual suspects have been ruled out by my oil company. Last year I replaced the thermostat - could a problem with a faulty thermostat cause frequent furnace lockouts?

I have an oil fired furnace that keeps going into lockout mode and requires me to press the reset button. It locks out about once every three days or so. It is a new furnace, purchased in 2008. My oil company has been out three times in the last two weeks and it still locks out. All the easy stuff has been checked - new filter, service done, new nozzle. Any suggestions as to why this furnace STILL goes into lockout mode?

Have heard conflicting reports on this one.... does the KIN TWOm require the $30 data plan (or any other data plan) when using it with Verizon? I know it has some powerful internet features that can be accessed through a WiFi connection and I have heard that the internet can NOT be accessed through the Verizon 3G or 4G network and no additional plan (other than a SMS messaging plan) is needed or required. Is this correct?

I have always been a "Windows" guy, but I'm thinking about making the jump over to Mac. Will all my peripheral accessories currently hooked up to a Dell computer run easily on an iMac? Talking about things like an Epson Scanner, Belkin Wireless Router, and HP Deskjet printer. Will there be any issues with Windows based Laptops connecting to a wireless network being run off the iMac?

What amount is used to calculate the 6.2% FICA tax and 1.45% Medicare tax? It is the total gross, the taxable gross, or the taxable gross plus some pre-taxed items?

For example... using this scenario:

Taxable Gross: $100

401(k) Contribution: $10

Health Insurance: $10

Taxable Gross: $80

Is my FICA calculated on $100, $90, or $80.... in other words, is my 6.2% FICA tax $6.20, $5.58, or $4.96?

My family is taking a little road trip NEXT November and I need to book a few hotel rooms. Is it generally cheaper to book well in advance... as in book now for next year, or wait until the last minute and book a few weeks before we go? Or is there some magical month in which all hotels have a big booking sale?

My computer apparently has some pretty nasty mal-ware or a virus. Google chrome will randomly open up webpages or redirect me to other websites. If I try to go to any anti-virus website I get a page not found error. I've tried pulling up norton.com, mcafee.com, avg.com, kaspersky,com, symantic.com, and anything else that comes up with a Google search. Each page says "Oops! Google Chrome could not find...."

Now what?

I'm somewhat of a public transportation idiot, so if you could help me out it would be appreciated:

Taking my 2 year old son to the Intrepid on a Sunday afternoon... coming in by train to Grand Central Station and need to know the best way to get to the piers. Won't have a car seat so taxi is out. Would prefer not to take a bus, although would much less walk the full 2 miles!

I'd like to put an extra pantry type cabinet in my kitchen in a dead space in a wall. Problem is the dead space isn't very deep and the maximum depth of the pantry can be 9-10 inches. The only pantries I can find at Home Depot or Lowes are either 12" or 24" deep. Anyone know of where I can get a generic kitchen cabinet that is less than 10" deep, or is this something that would need to be custom built?