Cuz people are simple minded morons. After a few springs in a local nursery "selling" trees, ie, answering questions people had about the differences between different types, I can tell you people in general just have no clue. Or they read a couple of pages online and think they are experts. In general, i'd say more people like maples than not...actually, i'd say more people are unaware that any other tree exists. We want fall color they'd say, so we want a maple. And when i'd be so crass to suggest that trees other than maple have fall color i'd either be ignored or looked at as though i'd just sprouted a second head. I came to the conclusion there's a romantic notion most people have that is deeply associated with maples over nearly all other trees. It also exists with birch, esp. paper. Just observations. Valid for no one but myself. And since I only have room for one person in my head at this time, myself is the only person whose opinion I care about. Also...maples are one of the few trees that couples can compromise on. Don't like oaks, they have acorns. Magnolias ate pretty, but such a mess. Can't say the name of elm cuz no one thinks the tree still exists. Catalpa? Yikes...the size of those leaves, all that mess... Maples have decent to excellent fall color, seeds that at least don't cause the mower to bounce, reasonably fast establishment and speed of growth. And the vast majority of people like nothing more than what others like...why else would we be so enamored of most popular lists?

Learning how money works is an interesting hobby ... and it pays well. Learning how taxes work is an interesting hobby ... and can be profitable, as well. As a financial advisor, for most of those years selling no financial products, I learned a lot from my clients and passed on a number of useful ideas, as well. And, being frugal myself, didn't overcharge for my services. One person, earning about 50K a year, paid next to no income tax. S/he had a number of Canadian stocks, dividends on which are taxed at a low rate. S/he gave around 20% or sometimes more of income to churches and various charities and to support of a political party. The political deductions died with the year ... but charitable contribution credits could be carried over into another year (5 year max) and s/he almost always had enough credits to bring her/his tax load down to near zero. You may have seen my story over on "Money saving tips" or "Household finance" of how to get a dollar's worth of charitable value for about 50 - 60 cents (applicable mainly in Canada) and that assumes gifts originating from one's bank account ... which contains after-tax money. But ... when a Canadian "taxpayer" transfers stock or mutual funds which have increased in value to a charity ... there is no income tax levied against the capital gain. As for my situation this year, a couple of weeks ago I transferred some stock that I'd bought 47 years ago for $4.20 or so to a local charity for somewhere around $95.00 - 99.00 (haven't heard if it's been certified and sold). If it's $94.20, there'll be $90.00 of capital gain and in the ordinary course I'd have to pay tax at regular marginal (i.e. highest) rate on half of the capital gain, or $45.00. Avoiding tax on $45.00 suits me fine ... if I plan to make substantial gifts to charity, anyway. Should have made the transfer a couple of weeks before I did ... before the market drop: oh, well ... one wins a few ... and loses a few, in this life. ole joyfuelled ... with a dollar or so, here and there, to help - preferably pre-tax ones

We both work full time...my DS at a less demanding 9-5pm job at a university, me at a 50-60hr week + travel management consulting firm. We're remodeling our entire home interior--every room. Plus massive plumbing, electrical, and HVAC upgrades. We hired an architect to draw up the plans, and a GC is doing all the work. I am personally playing the role of interior designer/finish chooser. That being said this project has been a 40 hour a week second job. To make it easier we: 1) MOVED OUT. I can't even imagine how naive we were thinking "oh we could stay and they could move room to room." It would have taken far longer to complete it and would have ruined our life (no exaggeration). 2) PLANNED EXTENSIVELY. There are so many decisions you have to make in a remodel and so many surprises. To keep these items to a manageable level, think out everything in advance that you can and make sure it's in the budget. It will cut down on the mistakes, stress, and change orders. The idea of some people who don't know whatcounter top they want until they put in their cabinets--I couldn't operate that way. 3) ACCEPTED THE AFFECTS ON MY CAREER. I'll be honest with you all--I got a middling mid-year performance review last month. "You don't seem engaged." "Your not selling enough new business" "you haven't done anything 'extra' this year" -- you just have to be at peace with the fact that a major reno has side affects in a lot of areas of your life, including your career. I was willing to sacrifice a better raise and add another year to my promotion timeline because there is no way you can add a 40 hour a week second job and not have it affect your first one. I honestly can't wait to get back my job and try to make up for my distraction this year--I was excited about this project when we started but I am so sick of going to Home Depot and the tile store all the time. I know I know, we're going to love it. TWO MORE WEEKS!

Some people get a feeling of superiority, "I will decide to take or leave you!" Maybe it's time to analyze why this bothers you. Things that have hurt us in the past have a way of rearing their ugly head many, many years later. We had a neighbor while my kids were growing up, that basically made our lives miserable. I did one thing to slight her, that I learned years later, and that set the tone for how she treated us while she lived on the block. She had frequent parties and we were not included. She once had a party for her daughter and did not invite mine. Mind you, many of their mutual friends were invited. Luckily I was tipped off and we went up to our weekend house. This would have been very, very hurtful for my daughter to look over two houses away and see all her friends at this party. So for me, although I did not even want this woman as a friend, it brought up my past feeling of being excluded. Once I figured this out, I was able to get past it. Fortunately for us, she moved off the street. To this day, when I see her I am polite, but I do cringe. It shows you that some adults don't do the right thing and can be petty, vindictive and immature. You, for example, would never think to treat her in anything but a respectful way. Just shows you how different people are.