Age of consent in Illinois (and thus Chicago) is 17. Not to say a 30 year old dating/marrying a 17 year old isn't creepy.

Wizards in the books naturally live longer than normal humans, to the count of 300 to 400 years. They also heal a little bit faster and a lot better than normal people, which is why Harry can repeatedly get the ever-living crap beat out of him and, barring particularly grievous injuries, be good to go by the start of the next book.

Right. And even Gandalf has to go through moldy old books to find out more about Bilbo's ring. He suspects what it is, but he needs to do research to be sure.

Yeah, that's pretty much it.  Or when he's upset or emotional.  Or when the stuff is delicate and high tech.

So was Murphy's computer not going out in "The Boone Identity" an "oops"? Harry was sitting right by it in her cubicle and his emotions were running pretty high between having just been shot at and arguing with Murphy. I was completely expecting a BSOD from it in the least.

Dom has a point about trying to get inside your character's head more and give the reader an idea of what the character feels about what is happening to him, rather than just an endless list of what happens.

As an aside, however, I would hesitate to mention the marigolds during a chase scene, unless they're relevant or you're intentionally writing an off-beat tale. Otherwise your reader might get confused trying to figure out why the marigolds are important and lose track of the real story or get annoyed that you're discussing marigolds then.

Compare: "The mugger sprinted along as if the hounds of hell were on his heels, rather than a slightly pudgy college student with a big stick. Granted, Marcus thought, the stick had some intimidation going for it, but the hell hounds wouldn't be struggling against a stitch in their sides, and have that whole sharp, nasty teeth thing going for them on top of it. Not to mention the fiery eyes of doom angle. Given the choice, three out of four common thugs would probably pick the guy with the stick."

Versus: "The mugger took a hard right, ducking between a set of houses. Marcus glanced at Mrs. Henderson's marigold patch as he passed. They certainly were a cheery addition to the otherwise drab and uniform neighborhood."

The first one--though probably taking a much further detour down smartass lane than it sounds like you're going for-- does, IMHO, work better for the chase scene because even though it's not directly about Marcus chasing the mugger, it's a commentary on the situation. The second has nothing to do with the situation at hand, and commenting on the marigolds is better served in a slower scene and/or "establishing shot" sort of situation unless you're trying to be the next Douglas Adams and regularly go off on amusing tangents.

Of course, not a professional,  so my opinion is hardly gospel.

I always read the previous days/night's work before I start on the next bit and then re-read the whole previous chapter before starting a new one. Never had a real problem with flow or continuity keeping things separate. (The only real problem I have is keeping track of days of the week within the story sometimes, so I keep a timeline in a separate doc.)

I've written a single short story in first-person, and it turned out pretty well, but I prefer writing in 3rd-person. I like being able to get inside the heads of different characters (not within the same scene, obviously). I enjoy taking some time away from my protagonist to explore some things with his love interest, or get his best friend's view on what's going on with the two of them.