fladabosco

I live in California and our house is paid off and because of Prop 13 our taxes are very low. We bought the house 25 years ago.

If we divorce and I get the house, will the state consider it an event when they can reset our taxes?

If so I don't think I could afford to keep the house.

Hi, I used to work in food service, including a bakery for 5 years, then a steakhouse then a very well regarded French restaurant. I have catered a few weddings and numerous dinner parties.

I am also a classical musician and I got asked to be the camp cook at a workshop that will feature about 25 participants and the 3 celebrity coaches. I'll have an assistant and a dishwasher so we'll be cooking for around 30 people, 3 meals a day and snacks. That's 90 meals a day for five days, so 450 meais. I have a pretty good commercial kitchen to cook in but storage, especially freezer storage is quite limited. The place is on Mt. Tamalpias in Marin County so I'll have access to stores and producers and some farmer's markets.

My dream is to leave camp on Friday with everybody happy and no leftovers! I have never costed anything so large and I don't have access to wholesale products. I am looking for any tips in costing or organizing that will help. Any ideas would be appreciated.

Hi everyone, I am a classical musician and am now working as president of a community orchestra. We live in a large metropolitan area (8 million people) and there is a lot of education and culture. But all the arts organizations have trouble attracting an audience.

I understand some people are uncomfortable with the formality of classical concerts; worrying about clapping at the wrong time or making some other faux pas, or that you have to dress like the paparazzi are following you.

Is there a reason you don't go? Just don't think of it or hear about the concerts? Too much trouble or expense (our most expensive tickets are $25).

I'd really appreciate any insights you can share. Thank you.

Scott

Good day everyone! I have been asked to cook dinner for some friends and to show them how to roast beef and they asked me to get the beef from a halal butcher nearby.

I am familiar with the rules of halal but don't know what to expect in terms of how they cut the meat. Will I be able to find similar cuts to what I would find in a supermarket such as NY steaks, rib roasts, etc?

Thanks for your help,

Scott

Hi, I have done well buying preferred stock, especially banks stocks which payed huge dividends when the economy tanked. I am looking at buying some Bank of America preferred stocks and have a couple of questions.

The stock is selling for $25 right now, which should be the amount paid if the stock is called, right?

If $25 is the call price and right now it's paying over 7% it seems like a no brainer. If the stock price goes up then I am getting 7% on the money I invested and I am getting the capital gains. If the price goes down I can buy more and get more than 7% on my money.

What am I missing?

Hi, I have an older car with a CD player and I would like to play some music that I have in Sibelius 7. Can anyone tell me what format I would have to save or convert the file to to play it on my car CD player?

Thank you,

Scott

Why can't I go to a chiropractor a couple of times a week and get myself adjusted for less than a small fortune? Can't I go for a 5 minute appt and pay $15 or $20?

I don't want bee snot pills or seaweed formula. I don't need nutritional advice, a $200 pillow or anything else - just a quick realignment of my back and neck. It takes 5 minutes. I don't want to pay $70 twice a week. I just won't.

What can I do?

Hi, I don't want to use a flatbed scanner. I want to put a small pile of checks on the machine then get the data. I don't mind going to the bank, I just don't want to enter all that data

Hi, I am involved with a group of symphony musicians who are going to do a recording in June as a fund raiser for the Santa Clara Vanguard Drum and Bugle Corps. We are coming together from all over the country and the level of musicianship is going to be extraordinary. Our players do or have performed with the NY Philharmonic, The SF Symphony and Opera, Boston Brass, etc. We will not have any amplified instruments so although we might get a bit enthusiastic it won't be deafening. We are more the stodgy professor type than long haired rockers or beret wearing jazzers. We'll be playing French horns.

We have a space to practice but not to record. We need a place that is away from traffic and the flight paths and is big enough to sound good. Hard floors and not too much carpeting or drapery helps too.

Perfect locations would be wine aging rooms, quiet warehouses, A-frame churches and school gymnasiums, etc.

The recording will take place over three weekdays the third week of June this year.

Since it is a fund raiser and everyone is contributing their own travel and time I hate to ask them for money but I would be willing to pay a bit if it would help us get the right place.

We can offer you good food, a quality operation (we have the top classical recording engineer and conductor in the area already) and publicity. There are over 7 million people involved with youth and adult drum corps in the US and millions more kids in school bands and adults in community bands.

These recording will go viral in the drum corps world. The players are world class (I humbly say), the arrangers have a long history of winning competitions and awards and the purpose is charitable.

If you can help us or have any ideas please let me know.

Thank you for your time and because it's for the kids,

Scott

Hi everyone. I am have invented something that will help protect athletes from injury. There is a lot of interest in this field and everyone I have shown it to says it will be big, including a friend who used to be a sports agent.

I am going to be meeting with my friend's contacts but I have always been either a corporate employee or sole proprietor and I am unsure how to handle the capital aspect.

I have filed a provisional patent and can make a prototype but I need money to do a thorough patent search, to hire an attorney to file the real patent and to incorporate or create an LLC. I have kids in college and can't take that kind of risk right now, but my capital needs are comparatively small and my ideas are simple and effective. There is a huge market and my design is safer than any I have found, not much more expensive to produce and it will save lives.

Should I consider an SBA loan? What happens if I get the loan, incorporate, then the patent flops?

Before I take any money from a potential backer, should I hire a lawyer to help me draft the paperwork?

I really appreciate any suggestions you have. While I hope to help pay for my kids' education with this in the end I would be happy if it saved one kid.

Scott

I have upgraded from an old version of Firefox. I used to be able to type a URL without a prefix or suffix and it would automatically enter .com and go to the page. Now it goes to a Google search result.

For example in the old version if I typed "Ford" it would automatically load Ford.com.

Now if I type 'Ford' it takes me to a Google results page. The first result will be Ford, but this means that I have extra steps to get where I am going and that Google gets to track every URL I type in that way.

Please, this is driving me nuts. Any help will be appreciated.

The Flad

I just upgraded my Mac and now if I type 'cnn' in the url box it searches for CNN instead of just loading the page. If I wanted to search I'd use the search box!

How do I get it to stop doing this?

Thanks for any help.

Hi, I bought a nice pair of Sennheiser headphones a couple of months ago and the sound keeps coming in and out. Sometimes you hear sound in one headphone and not the other. It seems the wire going into the jack isn't connected properly.

Can I just go to Radio Shack and buy a replacement jack and splice it together? Obviously I don't know a lot about this but I do have a soldering iron and can wire a lamp. I just don't know much about headphone wires.

Thanks in advance,

Fladabosco

I am thinking about driving from San Jose to Marshall and I can go through Mill Valley or I can go along the coast. Is it a difficult drive? Is it along cliffs like Highway 1 south of Carmel, or is it flat and winding?

Hi, I am a foodie and I love Indian food. As I get older I am having problems digesting coconut oil. It just stays in my stomach and makes me nauseous for days. I suspect I no longer produce an enzyme I need to digest it but I am guessing. Does anybody have any suggestions?

Hi, I am a foodie here in California and I love Indian food. As I get older I am having problems digesting coconut oil. It just stays in my stomach and makes me nauseous for days. I suspect I no longer produce an enzyme I need to digest it but I am guessing. Does anybody have any suggestions?