Jagged

As long as you're the first author, I would do all the work and leave their name on it. You'll hopefully have many more and better publications in the future. If you insist on removing them, have they submitted the paper anywhere or contributed anything to the paper? You're probably out of luck if they've done either. If they haven't submitted it anywhere and haven't contributed, tell them you're going to keep working on it and plan on submitting it somewhere. Don't tell them directly you're going to take them off, but don't include them on your revisions either and submit it without them.

A friend of mine recently wrote a scientific book and wanted to have it published by a major publisher. He eventually found one, but he was rejected by a few because he wasn't known in the field. They said he needed to write more journal/conference articles to make a name for himself before publishing a book.

I worked during my PhD so I have some experience on my resume. One other benefit I can think of is giving me extra time to publish more. I think I can spin two publications out of my dissertation. I think the data from one part of my dissertation is strong enough for a journal. Right now I only have 3 conference articles.

Can I still do a postdoc position even if I'm not a recent PhD grad? I'm about to graduate with my PhD. I'd like to do a postdoc at a private company. I'm not interested in academia. Before applying to postdocs though I'm thinking of going back to finish up my second bachelor's degree. Before I received my master's (and hopefully soon my PhD), I was in school for a second bachelor's degree. My first bachelor's degree was in arts, but I ended up working in technology and always wanted a BS related to the field I'm actually working in. I never finished it since I decided to get a master's instead. It's kind of a waste, but I'm so close to finishing the second bachelor's. It would take me 2 semesters to finish it and I think if I don't do it now, I never will. If I finished the BS, I'd be applying for postdocs about a year after I received my PhD.

Check if your department pays for DreamSpark Premium (formely known as MSDN AA). You can get Microsoft Project for free. It's overkill for small projects, but it's a good skill to put on your resume since a lot of companies use it for project management and it shows you like to be organized.

There's a guy in my PhD program who already has a PhD. Seems like a total waste to me. I would never get a second PhD. An MD, JD, or MBA in addition to a PhD on the other hand could be useful in some cases. Since there are so many MBA's and JD's running around, a PhD makes you stand out and gives you more credibility.

I'd go with the Surface and use it to replace all your computers. You can use it as a laptop, tablet, and even a desktop if you buy the docking station and hook up an external monitor. It's nice having the same files and programs available wherever you go.