farble1670

i expect to be required to pass a pre-employment drug screen in the near future. i currently have a prescription for a substance that can show up on a drug test. no, it's not medical marijuana.

the first question is ... can i in any way "fail" the drug test because of this? the employment does not require use of machinery, heavy equipment, driving etc. i understand that they may do government contract work (which is why they require the drug screen in the first place).

if i can't fail, what's the procedure to ensure i provide the correct documentation? should i bring the scrips to the drug screen facility? do i need a doctor's note? do i wait to fail and be contacted by the facility, and then provide the documentation?

will i ever be required to provide the employer with any information about my prescription?

thanks.

i had an pre-employment drug test today, and they rejected the sample because of the temperature being too low. the urine 100% came from my body, and there was absolutely no funny stuff. i'm clean, i haven't even had a drink of alcohol for months.

what are my options? i'm very upset about this not only because of the job, but because i know people at this company, and will have to explain why i didn't take the position. this is a white-collar position with a six-figure salary.

i've told the employer i'm willing to take any sort of drug test they want, or re-take the pee test under supervision or even naked for god's sake. i'm waiting to hear back. if they refuse to re-test, etc. do i have any legal recourse? again, it's not the job, it's the personal relationships this is going to hurt.

why did i fail? i typically have a slightly lower than average body temp, but that's only by at most a degree or so. i had drank a lot of water so i'd be able to pee, so maybe my body hadn't had time to warm up the liquids that i drank?

i've googled for this, and all i can come up with is folks having this problem when they are trying to cheat the test. is this even medically possible?!?

help!

i have a 2010 honda fit w/ around 5k miles on it at this point. the car tells me i have 50% oil life left, which i assume means i have some time to go before it tells me i need an oil change.

i'm used to changing the oil every 3k miles or so. is it safe to list to the car's advice as to when it needs an oil change?

my wife is travelling to the philippines for a few weeks (she's leaving soon) and i am wondering about the best, cheapest options for using her AT&T iphone there. it's stock AT&T no mods: not unlocked and not jail broken. she will not have access to wifi.

from AT&T proper, the international plan for the philippines is awful and only saves about 8%, $2.30 vs. $1.99 w/ the plan.

the data plan of course is quite expensive, $29.99 for 20MB on up.

are there any other options? like i said, her phone is *not* unlocked. i assume that means she cannot use any locally purchased SIM cards?

thanks.

my wife and 5 year old son need to travel to the Philippines at the last moment for a death in the family. they both have passports, but my son's expires in july. depending on where i check, it seems that the passport must be valid for 6+ months?

the airline itself tells me this is not the case. we have called them and they tell us his passport that expires in july will work fine. the representative even spoke with her superior and validated that.

does anyone have more information on this?

also, i understand that because only my wife is going and i am not, we need a notarized document from me stating that he can travel. can anyone point me to a form letter for this sort of document? i am sure i write it up myself, but who knows what sort of wording is required.

i could have swore i read somewhere that t-mobile offers a discount if you opt-out of their voicemail service and route everything to google voice. i was just on the phone with their sales rep and he told me he's never heard of that. was i dreaming?

would anyone have any feedback? i'm interested in topics such as work / life balance, career growth, typical hours worked, level of politics, culture, longevity (length of the typical career at cisco). anything else you might think as relevant would be appreciated.

this is on the san jose, US campus.

i owed around $1,000 on my CA state taxes, and mailed them payment around 3 weeks ago. they still have not cashed the check.

when i check the account online, it shows no payment due, but it does not show any payment received for 2009. i'm very confused.

calling them for more information is almost impossible. they aren't open on the weekends, and like a lot of other people i can't sit on hold for 30+ minutes during a work day.

we are considering employing a relative to help us clean our house. we have a ~1,200 sq foot condo.

we are not quite sure what we want her to help with at this point, so i am hoping to get an idea for an hourly rate. at first it would be the basics but it might expand to other tasks like laundry / dishes.

we live in the bay area in california.

thanks.

in 2008, i owed >$1000 and hence i was supposed to pay estimated taxes. i was supposed to make 4 payments of around $1000. i paid around $1000 then never made another payment.

this year (2009), i was again short around $1500. i assume there is some sort of penalty for this, but i am unclear how or when this is going to happen.

i plan to adjust my withholdings this year so i won't owe next year, so i don't plan on paying any estimated taxes in 2010.

i owe ~$1500 in taxes this year, so i apparently need to pay estimated taxes. instead of doing that, i want to adjust my withholdings so i won't owe next year. do i still need to pay estimated taxes if i adjust my withholdings?

the problem is, if i do *both* (pay est. taxes and adjust withholdings), the IRS will probably owe me on the order of $10,000 at the end of the year. i'd like to avoid that.

any ideas?

can the gateway lt21 series netbooks accept memory expansion? what is the maximum? i can't find any documentation about it anywhere.

http://www.gateway.com/systems/product/529668398.p...