Ask MetaFilter posts tagged with small

Long sleeve shirts for a small guy

sjl7678 — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 16:44:30 -0800

Where can I find long sleeve, casual, button-down dress shirts for a small guy? Lot's more information inside. I've been looking for some new clothing recently and it's not going very well. I like how I look in long sleeve dressy-ish shirts. The problem is that I'm a fairly small guy. I'm around 5'6" and weigh between 120 and 130 pounds.

All of the size 'small' dress shirts I try on in stores are definitely too big; the sleeves go to my knuckles and the rest of the shirt falls partway down my thighs. I've resorted to using dress shirts from the boys' section for work. The ones I wear are about a size 18 in boys'. The sleeves are slightly too short but I deal with it. Unfortunately they usually only come in black, white, or some ridiculous striped pattern that's not really my thing. Help!

I'd like to find shirts that fit me, aren't just black or white, and would look good untucked with jeans. I'm not looking for really flashy or gaudy patterns; I like muted colors and more subtle patterns. I know I'll probably have to shop online to find what I need and that's fine with me.

A bit more background: I'm a fairly experienced swing and blues dancer and have started tango recently. That means that I usually roll up my sleeves to around the elbows pretty often. That also means they get sweaty and need to be able to be washed in a regular washer (I can't afford constant dry cleaning). As an aside, if anyone has tips for rolling up sleeves so they 1. stay rolled up and 2. don't look absurd, they'd be appreciated too!

I know you might be thinking "Why bother with long sleeves rolled up? Just get short sleeves!" I have tattoos that sometimes need to be covered (for work) so short sleeve shirts are not really an option.

One thing I've considered is tailoring. There are a bunch of tailoring places in my neighborhood; if I bought shirts that were too big for me and brought them there could they tailor them to fit me, or do most tailoring places only deal with suits and the like? If so, how big should I buy so that they have enough to work with? I'm pretty clueless when it comes to that kind of thing.

As for price range, now that I have a full time job I'm more flexible than I was in college, but keeping it under $40 would be wonderful. Less is even better.

Thanks in advance for any help you can give me! If there's anything I left out just ask and I'll reply as soon as I can.

Hi, nice to meet you... I need to pee.

lukeo05 — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 07:31:11 -0800

Is my weak bladder just a weak bladder, or a sign of something else? I pee a lot. I know a lot of people do need to pee regularly when they are well hydrated / beerdrated, but I really do seem to need it far more than anyone else I know by a lot. It is only especially noticable when I drink alcohol, mainly because I try and not drink too much water or tea during the day because the constant toilet going annoys me, but it does happen with all types of drinks.

It is often embarrassing for me, especially when I am drinking with a small number of people, and when they are new acquaintances. Generally I will go to the toilet 2 or 3 times in the space it takes most people to go once, and this is even when I wait for a fair while from when the feeling hits me. If I went as soon as I felt like I needed to, I would probably go every 5 minutes, which is annoying to me personally, and embarrassing when I'm not around close friends.

One thing I have noticed, is that usually in these situations, I will pee with barely anything in my bladder. Though there are times when I pee and there is a lot more, but I feel like I need the toilet a lot less.

Am I just cursed with a small, weak bladder? Or is there anything more sinister at work here (I have heard it could be a sign of diabetes, though of course, IANAD). Is there anything I can do to try and help myself with this annoying problem?

MacOSX in a PC World

SirStan — Fri, 30 May 2008 06:03:35 -0800

Help a PC guy out with Mac/Linux networking. I have a pair of questions I hope someone can help me get a concise answer to:

I am a PC guy, I run a 150pc+ network (Windows 2003 + XP desktops). I am used to being able to run Login scripts to mount network drives, and single sign-on across all desktops.

I am working with a group that has 5-10 Macintosh PC's, and it seems as though they act like standalone XP machines normally (ie, you can share drives between them, but you need to setup user accounts/passwords on each machine).

If we purchase a copy of OSX Server, can we somehow "join" all the Mac's to the server so they all centrally authenticate like XP+Windows 2003 does? (ie, you need a valid 'domain' login to login to any of the OSX workstations).

For bonus points -- how could we bypass purchasing an OSX Server and simply do this jazz with an Ubuntu/Linux Server.

Smallish cities and ambition - can it happen?

brandnew — Thu, 29 May 2008 05:10:12 -0800

Are there any small or medium sized cites that are producing a disproportionate number of famous, ambitious, or motivated people? Recently Paul Graham wrote an interesting essay on the messages that cities send to its denizens. In his essay he implies that it is difficult to achieve cultural, educational, economic, social, or other types of success if one is not immersed in an urban culture that promotes such success.

Mostly I buy his argument. I have lived in a number of cities, and each has had its own unique vibe. And, anecdotally, it seems true that being surrounded by like-minded people makes achievement much easier. It becomes a reinforcing feedback loop. However, his essay implies that these environments can only happen within a city with a sufficiently large population (he uses Paris, London, LA, DC, NYC, Boston, an SF as examples).

However, some people may not want to live in a city with a large population. So, is it possible to achieve success outside of a large city? Are there any small or medium sized cities that encourage success? What are some cities that are churning out a disproportionate number of successful, ambitious, or highly-motivated individuals? Finally, what is the messages that these smallish cities are sending?

Why isn't there a petite sophisticate for men?

woolylambkin — Wed, 07 May 2008 00:32:38 -0800

Suit filter: I'm looking to buy my first suit but I'm having trouble finding anything off the rack. Can anyone point me to somewhere that has 34R jackets and 28x30 trousers on their store floors in Tucson or Phoenix area? I'm not looking for anything too fancy just: Grey or Charcoal pinstripe, 3 button notch, single vented, fully canvassed, 100's wool. My price range is ~$500-$600. I'm 5'7" and weigh 110lbs on a good day. I usually wear a 34R jacket and 28x30 trousers.

So far I've tried places like Nordstrom, Dillard's, Macy's, Men's Warehouse, Banana Republic, etc. but they never seem to have anything smaller than a 36R. I'm not above shopping in the kids' section but I find that most of the stuff there is not up to the quality standard I'm looking for (most of the kid stuff is polyester, yuck). I'm also not above shopping used if you have any good places like that in mind.

My last plan of action will be a mail order MTM suit so if anyone has had any experiences with places like Nicholas-Joseph or Thick as Thieves I'd be more than happy to hear about them. I'd prefer to see a suit on myself before buying but I guess I could trust a tailor without doing a proper fitting if other mefites have had success with it.

I guess I should probably also ask, but what can my local tailor do? Would they be able to alter a 36 jacket down to a 34? Would they be able to make a suit from scratch? Would either of those break the bank on my budget? And of course does anyone have any recommendations for tailors in Tucson or Phoenix?

Small claims court question.

CFMartin — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 09:25:08 -0800

A small construction company did work for a customer. Customer refuses to pay citing not 100% happy. Company disagrees greatly and believes job was well done and customer is being very unreasonable. Company has detailed photographs, a signed contract and wants to go to small claims court to resolve matter. How do we word the answer to the following question? The plaintiff claims you owe $XXXX For the following reasons: How would the hive mind word this? Thanks.

Higher? To the place where blind men see?

tmcw — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 22:51:35 -0800

So I play guitar (fairly well) and ukulele (passably). I'm thinking about getting a baritone or tenor ukulele, but also strongly considering a guitalele. Where can I get one in America (in VA, DC, or NJ?) The specific guitalele that I've been looking at is the Yamaha GL1, and there have been reports of special-ordering it from CA, but I'm not sure? I'd like to figure out

Whether getting a guitalele is a terrible idea. I've taken lessons from Tom Barth and loved his A-tuned guitars, but I'm wondering if there's a catch (tuning problems?) with smaller-scale, higher-tuned guitars.

How much would this be? It seems like they're incredibly cheap (enough that I might make it an acoustic/electric with a Mi-Si pickup for less than a comparable classical guitar.
What to do!?

All right, thanks for any help. I'm going to stick with my current instrument count for now (is 4 unacceptable?), but my next 'thing' will almost certainly be a non-guitar.

Simple online backup for a small business server

baggers — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 12:10:47 -0800

What's the best online backup solution for my ReadyNAS NV+? I'm looking for a good way to backup my small business ReadyNAS NV+ online, in case the office explodes. What's the easiest way to do this? My criteria are as follows:

- simple to use. I'd like this to run from the ReadyNAS NV+ itself; I don't want a solution that requires a separate PC doing the backup.

- can run on an automatic schedule from the ReadyNAS (so it can automatically run at 2am to update the backup while we are all snoozing peacefully in our beds).

- easily accessible. If the office does explode, I'd like to be able to access the data easily from a remote location (assuming I wasn't in the office when it exploded).

- Low cost. I don't mind spending a bit for something that works, but we're a small company and can't afford to build our own data center deep in the amazon jungle.

- We are currently looking at about 1 Terabyte of data, but that could get bigger, so the ability to expand is also required.

Need to find a good survey on small business owner's IT concerns?

jacobean — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 02:02:11 -0800

I need to find a survey on the biggest concerns small business people have when it comes to I.T?
I thought this would be easy but its not - because so many hardware and software manufacturers have done so many "white papers" and "surveys" I am finding it hard to find an un-biased report / survey that is not sponsored.

Survey (preferably quantitative) / report should address the biggest concerns or issues that a small business owner has vis-a-vis daily computing.

Any links, articles, recommendations etc., appreciated.

Smallest brain

wyzewoman — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 21:40:16 -0800

What is the animal with the smallest number of neurons (but more than one cell)? More specifically, is there a multicellular organism that has about 10-50 neurons, thus making its "brain" significantly smaller than that of the nematode C. elegans?

Help us Find a simple Wedding Ceremony and Reception Location in Southern California!

matthelm — Sat, 05 Jan 2008 12:44:29 -0800

Help us find the right place for small wedding ceremony / reception in Southern California We have a budget of about $2500 for a small wedding ceremony and reception. Just trying to find unique places for a ceremony of 10 and then a unique place for a reception of about 25 people were we can eat and dance...any ideas?

Looking for a small business wireless router recommendation

baggers — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 11:11:45 -0800

Our cheapo Linksys just gave up the ghost, so I am looking for a new wireless router for my company . Any recommendations? Our list of requirements are as follows:

- 802.11b/g (no a required)
- Must be able to support 30-40 people
- Must have auto ISP failover that works with our fractional T1 and a backup cable modem connection. If it can do failover to an EVDO connection as well, that's a plus.
- Incoming VPN server
- Easy to administer (I don't have the time or the energy to build and run a linux system to do this, and I'm not always available to fix things)
- Must love dogs

Anybody care to make any recommendations based on what they use?

How to get paid?

GernBlandston — Sat, 08 Dec 2007 12:17:35 -0800

I have a friend that's a handyman (paints, small repairs, lawn care, etc) and is having trouble getting paid for some of the work that he's already done. Some of his customers owe upwards of $1000, but others owe smaller amounts. He has taken some of them to small claims court and won, but the court told him that they do not enforce the decision. What is the cheapest, easiest way for him to collect the money he is owed?

Small Form Fact PC needed in my living room

Napierzaza — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 18:23:44 -0800

I am tired of the P4 Intellistation that picked out of the trash. For some reason all my hard disks keep breaking. I am really tired of having to constantly open up my computer and buying new disks. I'm in the market for a cheap, small Linux PC that can stream HD content over the network. Is there such a thing? Kind of like a Mac mini but not so expensive or powerful. It needs gigabit ethernet, USB2, and a P4 processor.

After that I'm just going to go with some sort of USB drive, like those "MyBooks" instead of wasting my time with all the ebay IDE drives that don't seem to last at all.

Could it be shipped to Canada?

Recommend me a good digital compass + travel clock device

parttimeninja — Sun, 28 Oct 2007 07:06:49 -0800

I'm looking for a digital compass + travel clock device for my oversea trip next year. Do you guys have any recommendation? Ideally, it should be small and has good battery life (and not outrageously priced :).

Starting up a small press publishing company.

survivorman — Thu, 11 Oct 2007 10:31:42 -0800

I'd like to learn the nitty-gritty of starting a small press publishing outfit. Please recommend any (free) resources or howtos that would let me know what's involved with such an operation. I would also be involved the book design, if that's what you were wondering. Thanks.

Please tell me what couch will fit in our building!

sneakin — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 14:21:20 -0800

What couch will fit in our apartment building? Not the specific apartment, mind you, just in the front door and around the stairwell's odd and narrow corners. We recently bought a good-sized couch. I don't have exact measurements, but 3 people could squeeze relatively comfortably. It wasn't unreasonably huge, but big and awkwardly-dimensioned enough that it just couldn't be shoved into the door and around our apartment building's strange corners. The delivery guy recommended couches that "come apart." I can't really figure out what he means other than buying a few sectionals. My question is are there any specific couches you can recommend that can get into a tight space because they a) come apart, b) are sectionals (if those two things are different) c) is economical space-wise even though it seats 3 people? Oh, our budget is modest. This one we got was $380 with tax. Obviously we are willing to do floor models and clearance stuff. The paradox here is that our actual apartment is huge so we can have a football field-sized couch if we could get it through the door. Are there couches that...fold? Or something?

Shopping for clothes makes me wish I was fat

reeddavid — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 00:00:52 -0800

Why don't stores stock more small sizes in mens clothing? The XS/S items sell out immediately, and the L/XL/XXL items are always left over on clearance. This makes my clothing options limited and expensive. What gives? It makes sense to me that stores want to stock more of the most popular sizes. But if there are zero size S shirts on a clearance rack compared to numerous size L/XL/XXL shirts, isn't it clear to the store that they are losing potential sales?

I ask about this at stores, and am told things like, "We usually only get one or two Smalls in for each style, and they are gone within a few days."

Why?!

Help me tackle my website hosting dilemma

anthropomorphic — Mon, 30 Jul 2007 12:19:41 -0800

What sort of hosting should I look for for a website for an independent (one man) lawsuit mediation business? I've got registered domain names, and now i need hosting. I need email, a calendar application (lets clients pick dates subject to manual confirmation by the mediator), an application that will generate pdfs from client-input information, and a payment application. He's also going to automatically generate some sort of economic analysis graph from info the client puts in. The script is not written yet and I have no idea what language it will use. He doesn't either. As for me ... I've got a firm hand on html and css, several computer science classes (C++, Javascript, some lisp), but no direct knowledge of php. And I'm stumped. Help me, hive mind!

Films with very small casts?

fire&wings — Mon, 23 Jul 2007 15:57:53 -0800

Engaging, quality films with very small casts. Recommendations? I've realised that I really like films with small casts. Moreso if they don't take part in confined stage sets (like Tape.) For instance Closer, and to a lesser extent Keane, have miniscule casts yet they never feel like theatrical plays forced onto the big screen. They are shot in various locations, indoors and out, and you don't fully realise there are only a handful of main characters until the credits roll. Looking for more of the same.

Trying to find a specific photo book I once saw with photos of tiny apartments

lorimer — Fri, 06 Jul 2007 10:19:54 -0800

The book that got away! Trying to find a small photo book I once saw with photos of (truly) tiny apartments. Clues:
- The book itself is small, maybe 6 or 7 inches tops on a side (and possibly square shaped rather than rectangular)
- It's more than an inch thick
- It's paperback
- It was published in 1999 or earlier (I saw this in a bookstore in the U.S. in fall 1999)
- All photos are in color
- Text is in English, or possibly in several languages including English. I feel like there was not much text (mostly just photos)
- Many (possibly all?) of the spaces are in Japanese cities
- Most (possibly all?) of the spaces are apartments or rooms, not freestanding houses
- These are real "tiny spaces" (more like 100 or 200 sq ft than like the 400 or 500 sq ft some other books call "tiny")

This was the coolest book. I so wish I'd bought it when I had the chance. I have looked for it in a few well-stocked bookstores (and tried searching online, but my keywords are not specific enough I think). Any ideas?

Have you used RentACoder.com?

worker_bee — Fri, 06 Jul 2007 04:59:39 -0800

Looking for experiences (good and bad) that anyone has had with a service called "RentACoder.com" or any recommendations for a similar service. We found this site by accident and it looks like something that is tailor-made for a small business like us that is looking for someone to design a fairly simple desktop application and later have the same app. delivered over the web. Basically you put the project requirements up for viewing and developers around the world bid on the work based on their quals. and knowledge. You can then compare their credentials and award the "contract" to the person that you think is the best fit. It looks like a very good service as they offer things like escrow, arbitration etc. so I think it may be just what we need to get this job done at the best possible price.

I would just like to hear from anyone that might have used it in the past and get their opinions, or if anyone knows of similar services that they have used we would appreciate a few suggestions of other services to look at.

How do I get money from a shady business?

Anonymous — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 06:32:13 -0800

A shady business, a surprise firing, thousands of dollars up in the air. What have I gotten myself into? A friend of mine, about a month ago, offered to get me a job at the company he was working for. I start grad school in the fall, and needed some quick money. I was told it would be a telemarketing job, and the easiest job I'd ever had. For the last month I sold "debt relief" in what had been a remarkably easy job, though the "product" made me very uncomfortable. Awful stuff, but I need the money pretty badly right about now. Long story short, the guys who run our office have been accused of running a second company out of the same office and, last week, we all received letters informing us that our employment was terminated, and that we all might be sued for theft of leads.

Now, the way that compensation worked at this company, I was paid the following month for any account that was successfully started (first payment received). I had roughly 1500 dollars "in" as well as an expected 1000 dollar bonus for my performance in my first month. I expected another 500-1000 dollars in contracts to be paid in the next few days, and dozens and dozens of clients in my pipeline. I can only imagine, knowing the business ethics of this company, that they're either canceling my contracts, or transferring them to other reps. What recourse do I have with this company? Is small claims court a viable option? I'm on the East Coast, and the company is on the West, if that matters.

Also, I never signed any kind of non-competition agreement, and also did not transfer or steal leads in any way. I simply busted my butt for the company I was working for. To make matters more confusing, however, the guys who ran this office have offered me a job with another company, doing the exact same thing. I don't even want to do this job any longer, was seriously considering quiting, but just want to be compensated for the work I did do. These guys claim they will "take care of me" monetarily, out of their own pockets, but that doesn't really reassure me much. Ugh.

Any questions can be directed at manimscrewed@hotmail.com

Small can be Beautiful - but how to find it

amtho — Thu, 14 Jun 2007 10:51:02 -0800

Please help me find a new(ish) monitor. I'd like a small (15"?), inexpensive, glossy LCD that will work with my old VGA video card (max 1024 x 768), and would prefer it be "mountable" for future ease-of-fitting-somewhere. Since I'd like a larger one pretty soon, I'd prefer not to spend much money on it now ($150/$200). However, the glossy monitors I've seen intrigue me and I see this necessary purchase as a chance to try one out.

I've had a hard time finding any monitors like this (even 17"), and I've spend a decent amount of time this morning reading reviews and doing various product/attribute searches through Google.

Are there any 15" LCDs out there? I'll get a 17" if I must, but it seems too large for the maximum resolution I can muster.

And does the glossy surface increase the cost by a lot? I can't tell by reading individual reviews.

I thought I saw a glossy HP monitor in a store the other day, but can't find "monitors" on HP's site.

If it were possible to get a big, nice monitor now (22", DVI, VGA), that would work well with my new laptop and old computer (not particularly interested in spreading 1024x768 over 22", but maybe there's some kind of cheap adapter or programmable monitor), that would be great, but replacing my video card is not an option.

If you were me, who would you be?

notjustfoxybrown — Mon, 21 May 2007 20:45:18 -0800

Add up all these career skills. What small business do you get? Just wondering what small business I might start with the following skills:

1) More than 10 years as a journalist...both print reporter and copy editor at several large metropolitan dailies.

2) A law degree (but no license) which lead me to the following jobs: state legislative aide where I drafted legislation, wrote speeches and talking points, met with constituents and handled media relations. I also spoke often to constituent groups about relevant issues in the state.

3) I taught business law to community college students.

4) I did PR and government relations for a community-based foster care agency.

5) I pretended to work in county government as an economic development specialst (It involved, as far as I could tell, no actual work.)

Please find a business I might start.

Thanks.