Gary

My wife wants to apply for the new Real ID version of the California driver license when her current license expires.

Looking at her birth certificate, you would say that she has a first name ("Mary") and a middle name ("Anne"). She was born at a time when Mary was a very common first name; once in school she was addressed, at least verbally, as Maryanne, to be distinguished from the other girls named Mary in her school. Soon she began to write her name that way, and as far as she is concerned Maryanne is her "first name" (and she has no middle name). She has always used Maryanne for work documents, Social Security, driver license, and passport.

I know it's hard to predict what will happen when she goes to DMV for the Real ID, but my question is this:

What is her "legal name"? Is she likely to ever be tripped up because the way her name is written on her birth certificate differs from the way it has been written on documents since? For that matter, is there such a thing as a "legal name"?

This all started when a friend Elizabeth, who has gone (inconsistently) by Bette since childhood, was told at DMV that she would need to legally change her name to Bette before she could get a Real ID driver license.

Assumptions: No children, no assets to divide, no liabilities to apportion. One party wants out, the other doesn't. I know that the only grounds in California are "irreconcilable differences", so claims of infidelity, etc., have no bearing.

How does the process proceed? Is one party declaring that there are "irreconcilable differences" all that is required for the court to grant a divorce? Would a judge ever say "your spouse disputes the claim of "irreconcilable differences - no divorce granted"?

My sprinkler system uses Hunter PVG valves. The coil is labeled indicating that you turn it (fully?) clockwise for OFF, or 1/4 turn CCW (presumably from the OFF position) for ON. How do I interpret this?

I assume that the ON position is where you want it for normal operation, ready to open when it is energized by the controller, but actually off (no flow) when not energized. (Maybe OPERATE would be better than ON?)

And I assume that OFF is OFF - period, whether energized or not.

I just read: "Randall Stephenson, President, CEO, and Chairman of the Board of AT&T". Obviously, the guy can't put in 120 hours a week doing all these jobs, so how does this work?

OK, the CoB is not a full time job, so set that aside. Stephenson is left with the Pres and CEO jobs. Does he have two ball caps with those labels, and swap them as he changes what he's doing? How does he know when he's doing CEO stuff and when it's President-y stuff?

How many companies have different people in the CEO and President positions, vs. having one person do both? It eems that a really big company like AT&T could use two people to run it, and yet it's always the mega-companies that do the cap-switching thing. Is there a legal requirement that all corporations have (at least on paper) these offices, but they don't necessarily have the work done by different people?

Both President and CEO sound like they would have the same job description - "Run the company." So what is with this common "fiction" about corporate executive staffing? And by the way, does Stephenson really have to work twice as hard? Does he get a separate salary for each? Or is this just an ego sop?

I want to combine text strings from different cells to create a new string:

A B C

1 John Doe John Doe

2. Mary Roe Mary Roe

I know there's a way, did it years ago; something like "A1"+"B1" as the formula for C1.

I am looking at used Mini Coopers, the Countryman in particular. Many have the ALL4 (all wheel drive) package.

I occasionally drive up into snow country, so at first this seemed attractive - then I thought about ground clearance. The low stance of the Mini would seem to negate the snow-country advantage...?

If that's the case, then I should maybe think about the purported superior handling characteristics with AWD? But I don't live where I'd be doing a lot of windy road driving, at least not aggressively.

So I'm wondering if the extra cost, as well as the extra hardware which might fail, is something to avoid?

1. How good are they at plowing through snow?

2. What is the reliability of the AWD system on the Mini?

3. How does AWD affect fuel mileage?

Thanks.

Was given a Telo, want to make sure it does the things we've gotten used to with our AT&T VOIP service before I switch.

1. Dialing *61 after receiving a spam call, to add the caller to my blocking list, has become one of life's simple pleasures - is there a similarly direct way of blocking a number with Telo?

2. Likewise, we use call forwarding a lot. Can I do that with Telo service?

Now that I'm at it, as a general question: how about the other star codes? Like callback, etc.

Haven t opened the box yet, have been told that it will only work with one phone in the house. Is that true?

(If it matters, I have AT&T service for landline and WiFi.)

I want to get one.

Are they being warned that they need to "wrap it up", or ....?

What if the host would like to hear them continue what they are saying.

I assume the main concern is that guests aren't allowed to run long to the point that they can't get their commercials in. Any other reason?

The listing of messages in my Yahoo! Inbox always comes up scrolled all the way to the bottom (oldest messages). In order to see latest messages I have to scroll like crazy to get to the top.

I took it with me on a trip to another time zone two months ago. It s still showing the time from that location

Are all Lions Club local units HOST Lions Clubs? Seems to me I see:

Centerville Lions or

Centerville Host Lions or

Centerville HOST Lions

(the last one suggesting that HOST is an acronym)

So - are there plain Lions Clubs and HOST Lions Clubs? What does HOST/Host indicate?

Or with any other readily available home automation hardware? I have a spare Fire that I want to use to control a couple of lights while on vacation?

Or with a chat function so I can get specific questions answered?

For example: if I have a Chromebook/laptop/iPad in a dedicated soft sleeve or other carrier such that it's the only piece of electronic hardware in that carrier, and it won't be obstructed in X-ray - do they still want me to take it out and place it alone in a bin?

For an iPad in a portfolio-type cover - same question.

I see on the news the new "bigger than a smart phone" procedure.

Can two tablets go in one tray side by side if they fit that way and don t obscure each other? Or must each get its own tray? I assume that what TSA wants to avoid is devices in layers (like a kindle on top of an iPad or iPhone for example).

I usually fly with a multi-pocket vest that holds my Kindle, backup battery pack, earbuds, etc. If I can arrange my vest in the plastic tray so that there s no stacking is that ok? Or must I unload my vest?

I'm on a Yahoo group of retirees who travel often, and who are concerned about getting a prompt response if they need a pickup for an airport ride early in the morning - like 4:00 AM. They are concerned that there might not be drivers around (town of about 20,000) at that time of the night.

Some have the idea that if they use the app to set up a ride days in advance, that will significantly improve their chances of getting a pickup when they need it.

I say, based on my understanding of the Uber (or Lyft) system, it makes no difference whether you tell them you need a pickup right now, an hour from now, or next month, nothing happens to summon a ride until some fixed amount of time before your desired pickup time (measured in minutes, not hours or days)

They think that by calling for a ride days in advance, they have secured a commitment from a specific driver for that time.

Who's right?

I like to wear a multi-pocket vest on long plane trips so I have access to my gadgets, earplugs, tissues, etc. Can anyone point me to a source or brand? Ideally the entire back would be a mesh panel for ventilation.

The last few times we have flown we have had Pre-Check status although we are not enrolled. A friend tells me that this "free" status is no longer happening. True?

I recently moved to a community where people throw around the term "laminate" flooring, describing installation as "snapping it together" edge to edge, and "floating" it on an underlayment.

In the garage of my house are some left-over boards of a type of flooring that is "laminateD" from multiple layers of lower-grade plywood, finished off with a veneer that looks like real wood also. It is joined edge-to-edge via ordinary tongue-and-groove design, but I don't think it would "snap" together. I think this may be what is known as "engineered wood" flooring. From my description of my flooring, what should it be called - Laminate? engineered wood? or something else?