Somehow that link takes you back to WOW (what happened, guys?).  Try this one

 http://www.kiva.org/app.php?page=gift&action=home

The best gift for everyone who has so much that you don’t know what to give them is the opportunity to make one or more microloans to people less fortunate than they are.  Go to

http://www.kiva.org/app.php?page=gift&action=home

and buy one or more gift certificates.  The father in your life can make microloans and, when the loans have been repaid, he can cash in his chips or make another round of loans. 
I now give these gifts whenever I need to show my appreciation to someone and these gifts are greeted with much excitement and are universally appreciated.

Here’s another one (why do these things happen to me?).   A woman whom I’d known for thirty years, the kind of friend that causes no end of trouble, was dying.  Two days before she died, I visited her.  She told me her plans for her memorial service, asking me to arrange it with two of the most distinguished women in our local community (everyone has always looked up to these two women while shaking their heads and shrugging their shoulders at the shennanigans of my friend).  Of course, since my friend was on her deathbed, I agreed without hesitation.  So, when we held her memorial, she had "distinction by association" which she had sought all her life.  It is amazing to me that such a need for recognition should have been on her mind as she lay dying.

My best friend’s father, Eddie, was dying of fibrosis of the lungs and was already bedridden.  My parents had just died - a double suicide after an appalling build-up and performance by my narcissistic mother who was, indeed, sick, that could have come straight out of a Woody Alan movie.  For example,

Mother "I have to go to hospital on Wednesday for a scan but it hurts me to walk."

Daughter (me) "Take some morphine; that’s why they’ve given it to you."

Mother "I won’t take morphine because it makes me constipated."

Daughter (me) "Why do you care if you are constipated on Wednesday if you are planning to kill yourself on Thursday?"

(which she did, and my father too!) 

I went to visit Eddie with my friend and "played" the "movie" for him, acting all the parts.  We all laughed hysterically.  What a celebration of life at a deathbed!  It was unbelievable.

The economy has its ups and downs.  When we have the next "up," the wealthy will be a different bunch from those who lost a lot this time around.  The "new rich" will want all the trappings of the "old rich" to give themselves respectability and status.  Moreover, for many "new rich," the whole point has always been to show off your wealth. 

There have always been luxury goods and there always will be — if only to allow the rich to differentiate themselves from the less rich and, also, to recognize each other.  

"By their $1,000 handbags shall ye know them"!  That’s always been true in one form or another.  Indeed, sumptuary laws*** were passed specifically to prevent the simply rich from being mistaken from the rich who had the power to pass laws.

***From Wikipedia, in case you don’t know what sumptuary laws are:

Throughout history, societies have used sumptuary laws for a variety of purposes. They attempted to regulate the balance of trade by limiting the market for expensive imported goods. They were also an easy way to identify social rank and privilege, and often were used for social discrimination. This frequently meant preventing commoners from imitating the appearance of aristocrats, and sometimes also to stigmatize.  Late Middle Ages sumptuary laws were instituted as a way for the nobility to cap the conspicuous consumption of the prosperous bourgeoisie of medieval cities, and they continued to be used for these purposes well into the seventeenth century. 

Great job!  What an entertaining read.  I know one should not rejoice in other people’s misfortunes but "Grock" had it coming to him. 

With respect to the ex-Mrs. Grock, I can understand how she was fooled.  I am a gullible soul, too. Throw in a bit of chemistry and, whooops, I’d be in the same mess she was in.

Stop by for a hug any time!!!  And………..here’s a very small "I love you" parcel for you too :)

I am an atheist Jew, strong on my family’s history (most perished in the Holocaust) and very weak on religious observance.  However, I value both Passover and Thanksgiving because both involve sitting down to ritualistic meal, with many friends, to remember and to give thanks for the fact that we are now in a better place than we might have expected to find ourselves.  Both celebrations involve giving thanks, a fixed menu, and no gifts, with dressing up optional.  What better ritual can you think of??

Letter One.  As others have said, the writer is deluding herself and allowing her needs to overwhelm her good sense.  The one word that resonated with me is DEPRESSION.  Of course, it can be treated but, if you can avoid having a partner with depression, avoid it like the plague.

Nothing about this man strikes me as a bargain.  But the letter says a lot about a woman who is making excuses and more excuses about a man who sounds like a very bad deal indeed.  In addition to his depression, he seems to have a serious case of selfishness.

You’re velcome, I’m sure!

Überhaupt nich, eine Spitze des Kanoodling ist eine gute Sache!!!*  Ver ist your sense of adventure?

*Far from it, a bit of canoodling is a good thing

I’m with those who say that they should find an unknown to play Sinatra.  How about a televised competition, "America’s Got Sinatra?"

I was lucky enough to meet Sinatra (and, let’s remember that he was not a totally admirable character) and spend some time with him.  His charisma and those blue eyes were un-effing-believable.  The only person I’ve ever seen who comes close is Bill Clinton.  

So let’s search for an unknown who can project Sinatra’s charisma and not a star who has to stiffle his charisma before he can start projecting Sinatra’s.

Ah, Phyllis, where is your sense of adventure?  I imagine, by contrast, a short passionate affair, about which Margo kept mum for all these years.  Only now, on WOWOWOW, she reveals to us that she and JFK were soul mates in every way and that she learned more from him (and not about affairs of State!!!) than from any other man.  Then she’d get a big book offer and be able to retire in the luxury to which she wishes she could become accustomed.  A much happier outcome than your suggested version, doncha think?

That was the kookaburra, Mrs. P. :)

What a magnificent role model!!!  What an example!!!  Perhaps, now, young women will aspire to be more like Judge Sotomayor and less like the anorectic celebrities, with their nose jobs, enhanced boobs and skimpy outfits, that get so much publicity for doing so little? Not a chance, is there?