Seeing that kid and the girl right after him cheer'Yay ALS!', I wanted to point out to them that we're not cheering on ALS, because it's not a good thing. We don't want MORE ALS! (Although I wouldn't be surprised if there is an increase in diagnoses in the near future because people were actually more aware of ALS and…

Neck injury awareness looks necessary too.

I like to think the awesomeness of the Mini Mall Rap happened much more organically than the East Hills mall ad. Sammy Stephens (the rapper, as he's named at the start, like a music video) reminds me of someone's dad or uncle who's always making up silly raps and singing silly songs and doing silly dances. And then he…

That reminds me of the situation back in college when I got my beloved 10 year old kitty (Hanzo, who's a gorgeous blue short hair, so I can't jump on the tuxedo love bandwagon). A friend of a friend had rescued a pregnant stray on their college campus and were looking for responsible homes (I had to fill out an…

(The two faces I was referring to would be your daughter's and the baby kitty. I realized that didn't come out right after I hit publish and I haven't figured out how to edit pending posts.)

Oh, you KNOW if your daughter comes along you're DEFINITELY bringing one home. Who could resist two small 'please daddy?' faces?

She is my hero.

East Hills Mall can only wish to one day aspire to the greatness that is Montgomery Flea Market!

I think we can also blame the overuse of mayo on the rest of Europe, as mayo is the only thing to eat with chips in most of the countries! (I'm basing this on my one French friend who loves mayonnaise on his chips.)

I had eaten plenty of mince pies in the month leading up to the Christmas party, so I know (intellectually) that mince pies aren't horrible and won't make me sick. However, they were the last thing I ate before that terrible fortnight.

Sadly, I have a similar relationship with mince pies. My first Christmas in the UK I had to leave a Christmas bash early due to what turned out to be gastroenteritis. Cannot stomach mince pies to this day, even though it's extremely unlikely that they were the cause of my sickness.

I love your last point about having lots of kids and a stay-at-home spouse. My father was career military, retiring as a major (O5). We had no money problems when I was growing up, even with a SAHM, as there was only 2 kids. However, when my father remarried after my mom died, we ended up with a blended family of 4…

My 10-year-old boy kitty Hanzo was in bed with me as well, but completely ignored the video. I think our examples greatly illustrate the differences between the cat sexes.

If your fiancee's mom just passed away in the last few weeks, she's probably still reeling from the loss (hence why she wants to be close to her mother's connections, like the house and church). Losing a parent also isn't something that can be 'fixed' by someone else, so she just may want to be alone with her grief.…

I have the strong feeling that your friend/acquaintance's mom was putting the blame on you rather than directly addressing the issues that led to your friend's trouble. It's a lot easier thinking a friend's suicide attempt led directly to the 'nervous breakdown' than that your child has any problems that might come…

Keep with Slaughterhouse Five. Yes, it's very experimental (combining sci-fi with history), but it works. Basically, the experience of war for the very young men (hence the alternate title 'The Children's Crusade') makes it tough for Vonnegut to address straight on. Pure reminiscence leads to drinking (as demonstrated…

Evolutionary psychology can be very wooly. One criticism is that such explanations are basically 'Just So' stories (I think this is a British cultural reference, so I don't want to over-explain it in case I get it wrong). But it can be very difficult to actually gather empirical support for a lot of these hypotheses.…

Oh believe me I am. That's why I'm looking at a lot of data management stuff, as that's where I am most competitive, rather than pure academic/researcher posts. I know I'm awesome at it, so it's just frustrating that someone has a slight advantage over stuff I can't control. But yeah, I have my tentacles out for…

I really hate it when folks from happy, well-adjusted family just say that family's important. First off, I'm going to recommend this Slate article from last year about toxic parents. Maybe give it to your boyfriend to read. http://www.slate.com/articles/life/…

I'm a little on the fence about this, as I'm still pretty hung up on my last boyfriend (no jerking me around, is a really nice guy but legitimately wasn't ready to be in a relationship). So if he sent me the signal, I'd be flying, but I also do not have anyone new on the horizon. So I can empathize.