Thanks, I appreciate that. :) If I could, I would get my mom to watch America the Beautiful instead, but I think she's more likely to watch the cereal commercial, and I'll take what I can get.

Guys, everyone needs to calm down and do a reality check here. There's no reason my lack of anger over this commercial or expressing my hope that my mother might see it and stop her own negative self-talk should lead to personal attacks or questions about my mental capacity.

Sweetheart, I'm a Democrat and a veteran reader of Adbusters. I'm not taken in by their ad, I just don't think it's worth being enraged about, because it's not the worst thing out there by far.

It's not that I'm unaware of their past commercials. I just can't get mad about them trying to do something different and better than what they have been doing.

Meh. As someone who is overweight and actually does need to lose some, this commercial doesn't really bother me. I saw it earlier today and hoped my mom would see it, because she talks about herself this way, and it rubbed off on me and my sister when we were growing up. Yeah, it's not perfect, but I appreciate that…

Seriously, it sounds like she got the reptilian thing from listening to David Icke (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Ick…). I mean, you probably have to be mentally ill to believe David Icke in the first place, but it's possible she's just a really impressionable racist.

Hyperbole & a Half FTW!

Consider this a virtual ooh-ahh! I'll bet your ring is lovely, and it means so much more that he knew your favorite stone and used that.

I understand that it's become traditional to buy a diamond ring when you get engaged, but the whole blood diamond aspect of things turns my stomach. By all means, get a ring as a sign of commitment. Or a bracelet. Or a tattoo. But a shiny rock that someone likely died over? No, thank you.

Is moving back to your old hometown the only option? Is there somewhere else the two of you could live that isn't New York, but also isn't your hometown?

There's nothing wrong with making those your priorities at all! Having a decent schedule and time with people you love is what makes life worth living.

I think it has a lot to do with being in a female-dominated profession and some of it has to do with people being clueless about what nurses actually do. I'm in a different female-dominated profession, and even though I have a master's degree, people still treat me like I'm a seventeen-year-old selling hamburgers. For…

I vote job #2. Schedule and friendships are so important, and if your friends think you can do it, I'd bet they're right. Go for it!

Have you read Once Upon a Quinceanera, by Julia Alvarez? It's part memoir, part exploration of the quinceanera tradition as it's developed and changed in the U.S. Going Clear, the expose on the history of Scientology, is also a really interesting, bizarre non-fiction book.

Yes, I know exactly what you mean. This is why I'm leaning away from doing the gift card thing again so soon. My dad moved halfway across the country when I was eleven and my half-sisters were born several years later, so I already don't see them as much as I'd like, since we live in different states. I really would…

I've gotten some good off-list suggestions here tonight. (Thanks, everyone!) Secret Santa would not happen, though, because it's not all one family unit, it's Mom's New Family and Dad's New Family. Never the twain shall meet.

Holy shit. You win.

I can't imagine how awful you feel. I realize this sounds stupid and isn't near what you had to deal with, but I ran over a raccoon one night a few years ago. It was crossing the road, so I slowed down to let it pass. When it got to the sidewalk, I took my foot off of the brake, because I thought it was safely across.…

"she is just being set up to have unrealistic expectations about life."

This is brilliant. If this trend continues, I may end up going down that road.