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  • Cujo
  • Member Since May 8th, 2006

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Recent Comments:

Simon Cowell Book is Most Often Left Behind in Hotels {AOL Travel News}

Sep 29th 2010 3:31AM "if I finish a book while I am away, I tend to leave it in the room I was staying in. Airlines have a 50lb per bag limit, and if I have already read a book, leaving it behind enables someone else to enjoy it, and frees a small amount of space in my suitcase."

Nice rationalization, but you know the book weighs less than a fraction of a pound and will not add any substantial weight or bulk to your airline cargo limit. You left the book behind because it wasn't worth taking home with you and you assume the maids will just take care of it for you. And they will. They will throw it in the trash with all your other discarded belongings.

You are not leaving the book behind for someone else to enjoy--you are leaving the book behind for someone else to throw out for you.

While it's POSSIBLE the hotel maids might find some value in the books you leave behind and want to take them home with them, it's extremely unlikely. Their job is to clean the room, not to amass a literary library from your discarded items. Most likely, that book you left in the hotel room will end up in the trash with your used kleenex, wayward sock, and crumpled newspapers.

If you really want to make a difference in the world with the books you've read and no longer have any interest in--donate them to a library. Chances are, the library doesn't want them, either--especially if the subject matter is as inane and useless as the (auto)biography of a game show host or a talent show judge.

Really, no one needs or wants to read these books. The fact that they were discarded in hotels tells us one thing--these books were not worth keeping.

Can I Make My Family Accept My Baby's Name? {ParentDish}

Sep 13th 2010 3:55AM Lauren said: "The advice I give to my expectant parent friends is this: Don't tell anyone your baby's name until after he/she is born. A lot of people feel that it's okay to give their opinions and tell you why the name you chose is horrible and why they associate it with something negative. But once a baby is named, most people won't say anything negative."

I absolutely agree. My husband and I didn't have a definite name picked out for our baby (nor did we know the baby's gender until the day of birth), but we had several options and preferences in mind for both first and middle names. We waited until our baby was born and then decided on the name that fit the baby best and that we both liked. We chose a name that fit the baby to a T, and no one has ever complained about our name choice (at least not to our faces).

Of course, if you are going to name your child something either 1) very popular or 2) extremely far out and weird well before you actually have the child, people are going to talk. And they are probably not going to say nice things. They will tell you all the negative thoughts and associations they have with that name (especially your mother-in-law, who thought you should have picked a much more traditional or family name.)

It's best not to reveal the child's name until the child is born and you can reveal the child and his/her name at the same time. It's hard to say "Caliope and Zuthrestra are bad baby names" when you are holding a baby "Caliope" or "Zuthrestra" in your arms.

Still, some baby names are better than others. Parents just need to have some common sense--don't name your kids something that will haunt them for the rest of their lives. Give them a name they can live with.

City Jobs: Top 50 Cities for Jobs This Fall {AOL Jobs}

Sep 12th 2010 3:41AM SAC said... "Not the case - if you are under 30 you will have no problem with finding a job but over 30 forget it. I have lived out here for almost 4 years and haven't found a job because I'm over 40."

How do you know it's your age--and no other factor or combination of factors--that's the reason you aren't getting a job? Maybe you aren't highly qualified for the jobs you apply for, maybe you aren't applying for the right jobs for your skills set, maybe you expect too much, maybe you have a bad resume, bad attitude, bad breath, bad people skills...and maybe you're looking for a good job in a bad economy that can't possibly sustain the number of workers it already has, much less add new ones to the payroll?

"And another thing your spanish better be good because you won't get hired if you don't speak spanish fluently. I got a call for a job as soon as I emailed my resume. The first question asked was: Do you speak spanish? I said no but I was born in this country. It's not considered discrimination if you don't speak spanish but if you are refused a job because you don't speak english it is."

Evidently the job you applied for requires Spanish fluency. You don't have it. But that's OK because you were born in this country. You are allowed to be illiterate in many languages and cultures as long as you were born in this country, even though the job you seek clearly requires that you can speak one other language.

You simply don't have the skills that the jobs you apply for require. Period. You may blame your inability to get a job on a variety of factors--age, race, gender, language--but the fact is, you are unemployable because you don't have the necessary skills and abilities that your (potential) future employer absolutely requires.

One Modern Home, Made to Order {Shelterpop}

Aug 30th 2010 2:35AM One word sums up the exterior of this house: Fugly. Way too much reliance on concrete (the ugliest and cheapest building material available on Earth, besides mud). If they had traded up all those drab, cheap concrete slabs for something a bit more patalable and aesthetically pleasing, the exterior appearance would improve dramatically. However, living in Southern California, perhaps they are required to make their house 50% concrete to withstand earthquakes. Still, they could have done something to mask the ugliness of all those drab gray concrete slabs.

The interior is not too bad, if you can tolerate all the shifting slants of light permeating every room in Zebra-like fashion from the metal and glass skylights and windows. Skylights and windows can be great features for any home, but not if they're shackled with heavy metal beams at equal intervals with the glass.

These homeowners/industrial architects have created a dream-home for themselves that is perfect for them. Is it perfect for everyone? Not at all. Many of us find their home hideous, barren and cold, but if it works for them, that's all that matters. I think the rest of us don't have to see it...much less live in it. And we won't be calling these "architects" anytime soon to design our own dream home.

Fantasia Barrino Opens Up About Suicide Attempt, Goes 'Behind the Music' {BV Newswire}

Aug 24th 2010 4:17AM Maybe she did do the "aspirin thing" or something similar when she was just scraping by but no one noticed because at that point she hadn't won AI and wasn't rich and famous. Who knows?

Fame and fortune may be wonderful--and many people aspire to attain them--but they come with a very heavy pricetag. Suddenly everyone wants to get a piece of the newly famous and rich person--friends, relatives, fans, the media, the general public, complete strangers--and that can be daunting and overwhelming.

Newly famous people have to face a whole slew of pressures and challenges that most of us never have to contend with. Our every move is not being tracked by the media and broadcast for all to see, but theirs is.

So it's not too surprising that someone new to the limelight might crack under pressure and do things most of us would not do--or if we do them, it's not immediately picked up by the media and broadcast worldwide.

Fantasia's recent "suicide attempt" to dull her pain with a bottle of aspirin and Nydol was probably not a real attempt to end her life but a call for help. She's in pain, she needs help, and she wants the people in her life to notice it and help her. If she really wanted to off herself, she wouldn't use aspirin and Nydol.

Southwest Boots Thin Flier for Overweight Teen {AOL Travel News}

Jul 27th 2010 3:28AM This is just sensationalism and shoddy journalism--the REAL reason the woman was bumped from her seat had nothing to do with her being "too thin," as the AOL headline and caption misleadingly implied.

The woman is well within normal AMA height and weight recommendations for American females, athough she may be a bit on the thin side.

Her height and weight have nothing to do with the main issue here--which is whether or not a stand-by passenger should be given a boarding pass and a seat on an airplane and then be kicked off the plane when another passenger shows up late and requires not just one but two seats.

The other passenger should have 1)arrived on time for the flight (no matter what excuses he/she had for arriving late) and 2)requested and paid for 2 seats if two seats were necessary. The other passenger in this case did neither.

Lindsay Lohan: From Promising Actress to Box Office Babe to Jail {PopEater}

Jul 8th 2010 2:32AM True--rehab might help, but she's already been in rehab twice, and what good did it do? Not much. Most of us would have learned our lesson by now.

Perhaps a 6-month stint in rehab is what she needs (with no possibility of early release until she's proven that she has reached the necessary benchmarks and goals of the program), but what are the chances that she will go willingly or that the judge has the authority to require her to go to rehab after she's already gone twice and learned nothing?

Rehab might be the answer, but the sad fact is that she already tried rehab twice and it did nothing for her. Could the third time be different?

Maybe, but Lindsey will have to do some serious work to turn her life around and get on a better track. If she's not ready to change her life, no one else can do it for her.

Can Money Buy Happiness? It Depends How You Define 'Happiness' {Asylum}

Jul 6th 2010 1:38AM Dear Jim C--in the Psychology field and in the real world that closely neighbors it, there is a name for the crap you just spewed, and it's called "psycho-babble."

The Most Beautiful American Woman of All Time: Vote Now! {Stylelist}

Jun 30th 2010 3:14AM Yeah, they missed some "All-time American beauties," added some who are far from the most beautiful, and included some unflattering pictures of some women who are normally considered quite attractive, so the list is far from complete and the photos don't do all of the women justice.

Some commenters complained that women like Elizabeth Taylor, Audrey Hepburn, and Raquel Welch (and even Shakira, who is cute as a button) were not on the list--but the article clearly stated that the women had to be American-born, and none of these women were born here (although they may be American citizens and have spent most of their lives here).

Other commenters complained that the list included only Caucasian women and there were no black American beauties or women of color on this list--evidently they didn't notice that Tyra Banks, Vanessa Williams, Beyonce and Halle Berry were all on the list (and I voted for one of them as the most beautiful American woman).

Luv Coach Q&A: Find a New Man {BV on Love}

Jun 24th 2010 2:50AM Kimberly presents a compelling case--but is she telling the whole story? Clearly, it must be very difficult to welcome (and tolerate and live with) her husband's son, the son's girlfriend, and their child in her house.

The son, girlfriend, and child should be living in their own house or apartment by now--if they are old enough to have a child, they should be old enough to have jobs, a place to live and the ability to raise the child. They clearly don't have this.

So they turn to Dad to bail them out--and that is exactly what they are doing.

It's wonderful that Kim and her husband took the son, girlfriend, and baby in, but it clearly is not working. Kim clearly resents the girlfriend to the core--and she has her reasons--but was this the best way to deal with the situation?

She could have done so many things to diffuse the situation--first of all would be not to let the son, girlfriend, and baby move in with them at all. Offer them some temporary financial assistance if they need it (and Kim and her husband can afford it), but do NOT let them move in with you and live off you as though they were kids.

Second, if your grown children with kids of their own MUST move back home with their parents, establish some ground rules. First, the parents of the baby must be gainfully employed in some way or going back to school to gain some valuable and useful skills. If they're just lounging on your sofa all day reading magazines or playing video games, they are doing nothing at all to advance their future.

Second, the parents of the baby need to help out around the house--as they would if it were their own house. They need to cook, clean, take out the garbage, vacuum, dust, do the laundry, replace lightbulbs...and oh yeah, get a job.

These deadbeat kids have destroyed Kim's marriage--and Kim's husband did nothing to prevent it. Kim is better off without them--and it doesn't matter how much she "loved" him...he is no longer the man she married.