so i don't go crazy next time trying to to remember all my favorite add-ons.

appearance:
-persona: two little birds

privacy/security:
-ghostery (amazing; you'd have to pry it from my cold dead hands)
-noscript (feels like a hassle a lot of the time but generally worth it)
-adblock plus (duh)
-wot (web of trust, but with child protection off!)

uploading:
-fireftp (love it)

downloading:
-downthemall!, flashgot, and/or download helper (or somethin' else it doesn't really matter which, just something that can do it, and the YT and flash stuff in addition is nice)

search:
-add to search bar (google, GIS, wiki, amazon, dictionary, youtube, mefi, mefi user activity, mefi faves, imdb, etsy, ebay, bing, forvo)
-context search
-tineye reverse image search

translation:
-quick translator (i wonder if there's something better)

OCD organization:
-menu editor
-organize status bar
-download statusbar

bookmarks:
-xmarks (i also have a feeling i could do better with this too...)

so you don't stab yourself with a fork:
-textarea cache (or something similar...automatically saves any text you put into boxes in case it gets eaten)

printing:
-print edit (lets you highlight the parts of a page you want to print; i know some printer specs already let you do this but it's a crapshoot, and i like that you can pick different parts all at once)

email notifier:
-webmail notifier (was using an older broken gmail-only one; so glad someone made a new one that works!)

weather:
-forecastfox (pared down to bare minimums for today and tomorrow including nighttime)

shopping:
-priceblink

music:
-fire.fm (see below)
-easy pandora
-foxytunes (update: this replaces the need for the other two, as it incorporates a zillion music players all in one without hogging too much space by using a drop-down menu to toggle services, awesome!)

greasemonkey (almost entirely for Mefi):
-metafilter heavy discussion count (uses bars of various thickness to indicate FPP threads with lots of comments)
-metafilter multifavorited multiwidth (similar to heavy discussion count, adds bars of various thickness to comments in-thread indicating how heavily favorited the comment is)
-howlsofoutrage (shows favoriters upon hover)
-mefi deleted posts (shows deleted posts in pink)
-usernotes (lets you put little reminder notes about each user in their profile as well as upon hover over their name, helpful when you can't keep koeselitz and klangklangston straight)
-metafilter mark contact contributions (puts star next to linked contacts site-wide)
-diediedead (kill file, indispensible when that one guy just won't stop derailing threads with evo psych musing)
-mefiquoteplusplus (selected text automatically added in the quote html styling of your choice to the comment box)
-linkify (turns plain text url into clickable html links)
-mefi navigator (labels admins, OPs, and you in-thread...a little busy now that they've instated admin badges onsite)
-metafilter scroll tag (remembers last place you left off reading in threads and lets you automatically jump to it)
-metafilter comment dividers (sections off comments in-thread; i disable it usually bc i like mefi's inherent thread austerity, but i suppose it's nice to have)
-mondo meta (also usually disabled bc it's too busy/annoying, but also potentially nice to have. allows automatic customization of mefi's appearance in almost every way imaginable.)
-metafilter why favorited (gives linking url info when something gets revived and favorited in recent activity)

stuff i've installed before and want to like but notice i always end up disabling:
-fire.fm (too much screen real estate)
-read it later (ditto, and this whole "when you don't have the internet" issue doesn't come up with laptops for me; it can on the mobile devices like the ipad, but then i just use instapaper and dropbox)
-gmail manager (only because lately it's broken :( really miss it, grr google...hm, gonna try webmail notifier update: webmail notifier works and barely takes up any space, huzzah!))
-stylish, stylish custom (would be kinda cool if i had time to find cute themes but most are fugly and adolescent-seeming)
-flashblock

layout notes:
i keep the download status bar in its ministate in the bottom status bar to the left. to the right i keep the weather, mail indicator, and music player. i keep tabs below the url and bookmarks bar. the url bar includes, from left to right: back/forth, print edit, home, wot, url bar with bookmark star and reload "inside" it, new tab, and dropdown search bar. below that is my bookmarks bar with the last one being my drop-down menu folder for all bookmarks. below that in the tabs bar floating to the right (known as the toolbar apparently) are in order: the translator, fireftp, textarea cache, priceblink, download helper of choice, greasemonkey with drop-down menu for its scripts, adblock plus, ghostery, and noscript.