> But yeah, the purchasing guys will know what the address is.

So ask them for it, and you could also ask them if it's ok to get private 
things delivered to work while you're there.

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>> Their cars seemed way bigger to me.
>
> ...starting to understand why the USA doesn't want to reduce carbon 
> emissions...

But they're definitely changing, the car companies like Ford are scrabbling 
to get more of the European "small" cars over to the US whilst they are 
closing factories that make the big pickups and 4x4s.  Maybe one day diesel 
powered cars will become popular over there too, the Americans will probably 
like them as they typically have more low-end torque than petrol cars.

I don't know if it's true or not, but I read somewhere that if you buy a 
huge vehicle like a Hummer, you actually have to pay way less tax because it 
is classed as a different sort of vehicle (like a goods vehicle or something 
rather than a car).

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scott wrote:
> 
> I don't know if it's true or not, but I read somewhere that if you buy a 
> huge vehicle like a Hummer, you actually have to pay way less tax 
> because it is classed as a different sort of vehicle (like a goods 
> vehicle or something rather than a car).
> 

I think that's true with things like 3/4 ton trucks and vans. The Hummer 
is likely to get a Gas Guzzler tax, though. (Unless the Hummer has the 
3/4 ton payload & towing capacity, then it would be exempt, as it is, 
after all, classified as a truck. Yay lobbyists!)

In Texas I see lots of people driving 3/4 ton trucks as a status symbol. 
  You can always tell, because they usually aren't actually hauling 
anything, and have a tiny ball hitch suitable for pulling a small 
fishing boat that a simple 4 cylinder car could pull. :)



-- 
~Mike

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> I think that's true with things like 3/4 ton trucks and vans. The Hummer 
> is likely to get a Gas Guzzler tax, though. (Unless the Hummer has the 3/4 
> ton payload & towing capacity, then it would be exempt, as it is, after 
> all, classified as a truck. Yay lobbyists!)

I think that's what I read about, that people bought them because they were 
exempt from some tax ... yeh I just looked on Wikipedia about the Hummer H2, 
and yes apparently it is exempt from the gas guzzler tax.  It's also exempt 
from fuel economy standards and emission testing because its gross weight is 
over 8500lbs!  Still, maybe with higher fuel prices the 10mpg performance 
will hit people more than what they save with the tax cuts.

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Orchid XP v8 wrote:

> 2. I don't know the postal address of my place of work.

Hahahahaha... PWN3D!

The address is on my email signature.

[As part of our big rebranding kick, we all got kitted out with new 
email signatures. I hadn't really looked at it, but it actually includes 
the company address!]

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scott wrote:
>> To be fair, I didn't know the postal address where I worked either. I 
>> commuted for a year, and the only time I saw the address was the first 
>> time I stuffed it into the GPS, and never after that.
> 
> DId you really receive no real mail or parcels from outside, 

Not me. Understand, this was a three-person office in a business park 
without even a business phone line. (We took calls on our cell phones, 
including conference calls.)

> in one whole year? What did you do there that was so closed off from 
> everyone else?

No. I just had the lackeys do all that. There were lots of meetings 
there. I just wasn't the one setting them up.

Thinking on it, I think most of the places I worked, I didn't know the 
address, including big places. Even at Bellcore, the address I used was 
2MRE127-H, which doesn't really tell you much outside of Bellcore's 
numbering scheme.

-- 
Darren New / San Diego, CA, USA (PST)

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Invisible wrote:
> Personally, I have no idea what a "PO number" is.

This is actually useful to know if you're ever going to work for 
yourself. A PO# is an authorization the buyer files with his own 
accounting department to pay the seller for the stuff.

So, Fred needs a computer. He gets it approved with his management and 
all, and takes the approval to the accounting department, who gives him 
a PO#. He then fills out a Purchase Order, including the PO# on it, to 
purchase his computer. When the computer arrives, the mail department 
takes him the computer and delivers the included copy of the PO/invoice 
to the accounting department. The accounting department looks up the 
PO#, sees that it should be paid, and pays the bill.

It's a good thing to know, because if there's one thing I've learned 
working as a small consultant to big companies is this: If you don't 
have a PO# before you go to work, it will take you six months to get 
paid, if ever. If you *do* have a PO#, you mail the bill to the 
accounting department, and they pay it. If you *don't*, you mail the 
bill to the guy who hired you, who sits on it because paying you isn't 
his job, until you send it again, and again, and finally start tacking 
on finance charges and CC'ing the accounting department, at which point 
the accounting department goes "Finance charges??" and things start 
moving again.

-- 
Darren New / San Diego, CA, USA (PST)

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Invisible wrote:
> ....starting to understand why the USA doesn't want to reduce carbon 
> emissions...

We already reduce carbon emissions ourselves. We just don't want 
outsiders telling us the only way to do it is to use less energy.

Hey, *our* country isn't the one where the buildings are all melting.

-- 
Darren New / San Diego, CA, USA (PST)

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scott wrote:
> I don't know if it's true or not, but I read somewhere that if you buy a 
> huge vehicle like a Hummer, you actually have to pay way less tax 
> because it is classed as a different sort of vehicle (like a goods 
> vehicle or something rather than a car).

That's one of the reasons we have SUVs. Some people wanted large cars, 
but the government (CAFE) said "all cars must be at least X efficient." 
So the car companies built SUVs, which are heavy enough to be classified 
as trucks.

It always amuses me to see people in monster pickup trucks and SUVs 
coming to an almost complete stop for the speedbumps that I go over at 
20MPH in my Camery.

-- 
Darren New / San Diego, CA, USA (PST)

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Darren New wrote:

> 
> Hey, *our* country isn't the one where the buildings are all melting.
> 

Haha. What?

-- 
~Mike

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