Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with splitting

Money Matters

Anonymous — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 13:40:02 -0800

Am I being unreasonable to think that my SO should pay for more things in our relationship just because he makes 10 times more than me? My SO and I (I'm a woman) have been together for about 6 months now and we are starting to have money issues. He makes about 10 times more than me. I never thought this would be a problem since I've dated both wealthy and poor men and never had a problem.

For instance, I don't know when I should pay for dinners and trips. At first, I gave him silly, inexpensive gifts and paid for simple dinners – such as eating at home or ordering a pizza and he paid for more expensive restaurants. I am embarrassed to say that I can't afford to pay for both of us to eat at nice restaurants. I can afford to go to a nice restaurant maybe once a week and then only if I pay for just my portion. He suggested that I pay one out of every 3 times or so at nicer places. Thinking about this in a cold, rational sense, I suppose I would come out "ahead," but I don't naturally think about it in this way.
I have to keep a budget, while he doesn't. Going to dinner, I need to plan ahead to know how much I can spend. If we go out, I never know ahead of time whether he is going to want me to pay or not. I feel pathetic asking ahead of time if he wants me to pay. It's taking the spontaneity out of our relationship because we can't just decide at 5pm that we're going out to dinner, I need to know ahead of time. I feel anxious each time we eat out, not knowing if he will want me to pay or not.

He gets upset with me when I tell him I can't afford dinner, but then go and buy big ticket items (which I spent months saving for). He says that if I am going to buy expensive items, then he shouldn't pay for dinner because that's in essence him buying the big ticket item for me. Does this logic make sense to the hive mind?

We're going on a vacation in January, which I suggested because he's been busy with work and it's something to look forward to. I suggested it on a whim even though I have another vacation with my closest friend scheduled for April. I'm starting to get in over my head. I'm ashamed to tell him that I can't afford to go. I feel like a child. I also find myself resenting that he hasn't offered to pay for me at all. He thinks that because I'm going on a trip with my friend (also female, so no sexual jealousy), that he should not help pay for my portion of the trip.

I know he loves me, but I feel like he doesn't think I'm worth spending time with. He could easily afford to pay for the trip and has said he'll just go alone if I can't afford it.

I feel selfish for having these feelings. I'm liberal and think relationships should be equitable. I would never expect him to buy me extravagent gifts or my bills. I am proud that I have money saved and don't have to rely on anyone to help me.

Has anyone else been in a situation where one person is wealthy and wants his/her poor SO to split things equally? How did you work money issues out? I don't want him to think that I'm using him (which I am not), but I still find myself with hurt feelings when he doesn't want to share with me. Am I being unreasonable?

monitor-splitting software?

gttommy — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 11:24:28 -0800

What's a good monitor-splitting software for finance people who have wide screen monitors? Ideally to allow a computer to almost appear like two separate computers, for windows XP. From what I read, window's "tile vertically" feature is good enough but just wondering what software is out there which adds value without bugs or headaches.

Lowering the rent for a roommate, but then deciding it wasn't a good idea.

wuMeFi — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 15:45:24 -0800

My roommate asked for me to lower his rent. I said OK. But now I'm not so sure I should have. What should I do? My friend and I are sharing a 1-br apartment in San Diego. He is living in the bedroom, I am living in the living room. The rent division has been 60 / 40, bedroom / living room (it used to be like 65/35, but he felt that was unreasonable, so after the first year I changed it to 60/40. I occupied the apartment first and I do the bills. Our current lease ends in November).

Recently his whole department at work got a pay cut of 8%. He asked me whether I could reduce his rent by 8%. I felt bad for him, and my first thoughts were that in difficult times, friends help each other. So I said yes, and that he'd see the adjustment in next month's bill. I asked him whether his work would undo the pay cut in the future, and he said that it wouldn't, as a cut happened before in the past and was not undone.

So that was a few days ago. But now that I've thought about it, I'm not sure I should've been so quick to say yes. I'm living in the living room, and I'd be paying almost as much as he is, since the rent division would be 52/48. I suppose in an absolute sense, the additional amount I'd be paying per month is not A LOT, but it's not insignificant in the long run. I basically just gave myself ~8% rent increase. It's kind of a lot for me to take on suddenly.

I do want to help him out since we are friends. What is the best way I can do that, while getting myself out of this situation I got myself into? I was thinking of talking to him and maybe saying that "8% is a lot for me to take on, on second thought.. how about 4%?" or something (would it be too late to do that?).

Any help would be appreciated. Thank you!

Splitting a PDF by bookmark

Ritchie — Thu, 28 May 2009 21:17:08 -0800

I'm looking for some inexpensive/free solution to splitting a PDF by bookmark (first level bookmark), and using the bookmark names for the filenames of the split PDF. I've done some research already and discovered 2 products that are almost good enough: PDF Split-Merge and PDF Split and Merge.

The only drawback to PDF Split-Merge is that it costs USD$20-30 per user, and I have about 12 users to roll it out to. (That may sound like nothing, but my IT department runs on a literal shoestring. The other day we each got given a roll of duct-tape so each of us can repair the disintegrating carpet in our respective cubicles.)

The only drawback to PDF Split and Merge (which is free and open-source), is that when it splits the PDF, it doesn't use the bookmark names as filenames. Instead you get generic filenames with an appended counter based on page number.

I've done some scripting, so I'm open to hearing about, for example, Perl modules that help with this. My searches on CPAN have led me to PDF::Core and PDF::Parse, which don't really seem to be built for this.

USB TV Tuner

eunoia — Thu, 08 Feb 2007 17:17:38 -0800

I'm thinking of buying this TV tuner, but I have some questions before I do. I stopped watching TV for 10+ years, but I recently subscribed to digital cable, mostly to take advantage of a deal that gave me a discount if I switched everything (phone, internet, tv) over. But although I pay for cable, I turn my TV on maybe 2 or 3 times a month, mostly because I find it difficult to just sit still and watch TV. I have two monitors and I think that if I buy a TV tuner, I'd be more inclined to use my secondary monitor as a TV (I already use it to watch movies and downloaded TV shows) while I'm doing computer stuff.

My questions are thus:

1. The only cable line going into my bedroom (which is where my computer is) is plugged into my cable modem. On the back of my cable modem, there is also a USB input. Will I need to get a splitter to split the cable line to go into the tuner or can I utilize that USB input in some fashion?
2. Is splitting cable, that I pay, for illegal?
3. Any other recommendations for HD compatible USB TV tuner cards?

How to split a.iso into 2 .iso?

wile e — Wed, 13 Dec 2006 18:34:45 -0800

Can you split an .iso (DVD burn image) file in two? I've been ripping all of my Netflix movies into .iso files before realizing that my burning software (Nero burning rom) doesn't split an image file (.iso) that is larger than 4.7gig into two smaller files. All of these movies require dual layer blank DVDs, but since I have a 100 pack of blank DVDs I would like to try to see if I could split the movies to 2 different discs rather than buy the larger blanks. That was my full question. Any help is appreciated!

How do I split a REALLY big log?

stupidsexyFlanders — Tue, 12 Oct 2004 12:36:01 -0800

Question for the logwebbers (gwebbers, if you will): how do I split a REALLY big log? (more inside) I had a huge tree cut down on my property and I've taken care of most of the reasonably size logs. I'm left with some monsters exceeding 4ft diameter and a couple feet long. It's unsafe to use a chainsaw on that size log; any kind of steel spikey thing I've ever seen will get buried inside it with the first thwack. It's too big to fit in a gaspowered splitter of the type rented by my local splitter renters. WTF?

2 TVs and a TiVo

agregoli — Thu, 08 Jan 2004 13:46:29 -0800

I have TiVo set up in the living room, and a television without cable in the bedroom. I figure it would be possible to split the cable before it hits the TiVo and get cable in the bedroom, but I'm not sure if it would make TiVo appear in the television in there as well. Any insights? I'm obviously clueless.