Centrum television commercials make me livid.  They go a little something like this:  "for all the things made just for women," they show a lipstick, a swimsuit, etc., and then they hawk a vitamin made "just for women."

The corresponding men’s vitamin commercial shows a power drill, a recliner and a backyard grill—"all the things made just for men."  I am excellent at using power tools, I can sit in recliners, and I have barbecued carrots (don’t knock it until you try them) on a backyard grill.  How could I possibly do these things?  Those items are just for men!

Whoever came up with those commercials is an idiot.  I would never buy their product now, not that I ever did before.  The world is not split up that way.

It pisses me off when any commercial reduces women to stereotypes.  

Nancy—I know what you mean.  Women are still "less than" in many corporations, even when they do their work as well as, often better, than men.  Men get promoted more.  Men are not judged on their age and looks.  I was in the workforce before stringent sexual harassment laws were in place, at that time a woman would have to prove the harassment, but the men who observed it stuck together and I looked like a fool.  The man I accused had a reduction in his yearly raise and no bonus, which sounds like an admission of guilt to me, why else would that have happened?  It was an awful time.  And I still had to work with that fool.

Young women today don’t know how much we went through to change the workplace.  It isn’t perfect, women still get paid less than men for the same work, but I believe it is changing for the better.  

I agree with Ms. Buck on the smell of Fracas.  It is a timeless perfume.  I have a collection of classic perfumes that I keep in a very small shelf in my refrigerator door.  My boyfriend said a few times, do you really need to take up that space?  Yes.  Yes, I do.

The subject was dropped. 

Jeannot—I like to make my own gift wrap paper—subway maps are great (and free), ink stamps on plain paper, a crazy quilt of paper from gifts I have received in the past, oh, and cloth remnants are wonderful for odd-shaped presents.  I always use cloth ribbon, and put select beads on the ends so the receiver can use it as a bookmark, if they wish.  I make my cards, also, from heavy stock, because I can say exactly what I want instead of a preprinted Hallmark sentiment.

When I was a very young child there were too many kids in the house, I was the youngest, and I could never find paper.  I don’t recall this, but I was told that I used to draw in magazine margins, book margins, on walls—until one day my father brought home a ream of paper from work, and colored pencils, that part I remember vividly.  I was in ecstacy.  To this day, that gesture, nowadays kids would scoff at it, was the best gift I ever got.  Riches beyond belief it seemed.  It cemented my lifelong love of art and writing.

Lila Kuh—My Greek friend says when in Greece never, ever, hold your hand up, fingers extended—in the states, a gesture that means stop is interpreted very differently there.  I don’t know exactly what it means, but it is supposedly much worse than giving the finger, and can get one into big trouble.

I could never gesture to other drivers, or shout the obscenities I hear on a daily basis here in NYC.  You never know how the other driver will react or if they are carrying a weapon.  It is better to be safe on the road than to vent.  There is a whole world of trouble for those who need to express everything without stopping to think first.

Speaking of bad behavior—here is a link to a recent case where a man was actually arrested for flipping off another driver.  Where do we draw the line on such actions?  Personally, I think it was extreme.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/20090916/us_time/08599192312500