Ten sites that have made my life easier

1. Getting to know my neighbors
   From liens to lot numbers, PropertyShark compiles info from different NYC sources in a central place. My favorite feature is the clickable maps that tell you at a glance who your neighbors are. You get eight reports free a day, or you can pay to find out about foreclosures and sales and get unlimited access.
   
2. Landing a table
   It can often take weeks or even months to get a reservation at a Danny Meyer restaurant. But what about last-minute cancellations? I got a table for three through Open Table at Eleven Madison Park an hour before I arrived. Note: Chili's is not on the list.
   
3. Finding out when The Who did what
   Are The Rascals and The Young Rascals the same group? When was Spirit In The Sky released? What album was Tequila Sunrise on? If you're burning for the answers to these and other musical questions, this is the place. Unlike its movie equivalent, The Internet Movie Database, AllMusic is free to a point. The pay site is worth it if you're a music junkie like me.
   
4. Disentangling the wires
   DSL? Cable? T1? Modem? DSLReports is the broadband techie's command center. Test the speed of your own line, get arcane support from technogeeks, and see how different communication modes stack up.
   
5. Making high-tech low
   Know what sheep, goats, lambs, and wolves mean in biometric verification? Me neither. This site won't lead you astray.
   
6. Taking the A train...or the N...or the 4
   Navigating the MTA site is usually helpful, but sometimes you don't even know what neighbhorhood you're going to, especially if it's in Queens. Although it won't tell you whether you'll like the things that life is showing you, the site does tell you how to get where you're going to. Do you know?
   
7. Buying drugs online
   I hate the icy attitude and high prices of NYC drugstores. After eliminating bank tellers and subway token clerks from my life, this was the next logical step.
   
8. Hiding Mrs. Two, or wordsmithing
   If Mia Farrow could have used the Internet Anagram Server, she wouldn't have needed those Scrabble tiles to figure out Roman Castevet's true identity. It's not something I use every day, but it can make me love locker--oops, look clever--when I need to.
   
9. Becoming a color convert
   Screen colors are made up of red, green, and blue pixels that turn on or off to make millions of colors. HTML uses a hexadecimal code that is closer to machine language. Like the Hatfields and the McCoys, they need a mediator to make them talk. This site does the trick. Plus, it has lots of other useful Web tools.
   
10. Giving a lickin' to a chicken
    Chicken. That's what I feel like having tonight. Click on "chicken" and get 1350 recipes. Click on "quick and easy dishes" and get 100 hits. Check the ingredients, read user reviews, and next thing you know, dinner is served. Formerly the Searchable Online Archive of Recipes (SOAR), this incarnation has more bite.