More Honey, Less Bee

A lot of time we get stuck in comfort. We get so familiar with a person that we tend to show more than what we should. Sometimes you can go from royalty to a peasant with just a few actions.

Now, over at The Chocolate Knot, Mrs. Maberry has already listed eight things for women not to do in a relationship. So, I figured I would piggy-back that with some traps for men to avoid (even though seven of those eight things she listed could apply to us as well. I'm sure you can figure out which one doesn't apply to us.)

I heard someone on a BlogTalkRadio show (Chloe Brainstorming) that used the phrase, "More honey, less bee." It basically means more of the sweet stuff and less of the bug behind it.

Men, we make our mark on women by our actions. We do things in the beginning of the relationship that captivate our mate. We give her the honey. It could be through flowers, dinner dates, foot rubs, or washing her car. Whatever the way, we're bombarding her with sweetness.

But naturally, over time, we decline in producing nectar. She starts to see more of that big-eyed bug walking around the hive and less honey in which to satisfy her cravings. It's easy for long-term couples to lose focus and forget what attracted their mate to them in the first place.

Treat each interaction as if it's your first date.
If you do that, then your significant other will have more honey than she can eat. Wanda Sykes once said that if a guy and his woman are sitting on the couch and he catches her looking upside his head for no reason, it's because she's thinking of the guy that she should have married instead of him. Don't give her second thoughts.

Treating each day like the first date will also prevent her from falling prey into any of those eight things that are mentioned at The Chocolate Knot. Sometimes, that lack of honey can even lead to her letting her guard down and becoming more like Peg Bundy or Mrs. Castanza instead of more like June Cleaver or Claire Huxtable. We fellas love to say, "she let herself go," but maybe we helped motivate her slothful behavior.

I won't lie and say it's easy. Everyone reaches a comfort zone. It's very difficult to maintain focus when every day is the same routine. Be different. Be out of character, but in a good way. If you're the same ol' "plain John" each day, then your wife may start paying more attention to the guy she runs into regularly at the grocery store and start to think about the fact you haven't been in a grocery store since you were single (guilty as charged). It doesn't mean it will lead to anything bad, but it does break down the image.

Men and women should all have an image of their significant other as the most perfect person in the world.
If you don't, then why are you with them? With every fart, act of selfishness, or any other rude act, that image breaks down even further until you're nothing more than friends who occasionally sleep together or worse, roommates.  That's how you go from royalty to a peasant.  You take away from being special.  You take away from being different from the others.

Don't allow your image to be broken down. Protect your brand.

My final thoughts to the ladies: Go to The Chocolate Knot and start crossing those things off of your list. Protect your brand and be the queen he thinks you are.

My final thoughts to guys: be the man she fell in love with originally. Be her knight in shining armor. Give her flowers for no reason. Cook her dinner. Tell her how nice she looks. Say that you love her.

(Memo to self: take my own advice)

Gotta go.

How Far Will You Go To Save Gas?

I saw this a few Sundays ago while out and about in Jackson.


SN: A happy 70th birthday to my father!

Legalize Prostitution and Weed: Fair or Foul?

Would legalizing hookers actually reduce crime?

The only things that are just as old as prostitution are cockroaches and slavery. We know them as call girls, hookers, lot lizards, escorts, or ladies of the evening. Whatever you call them, they're not going away. So, should they be allowed to legally flip tricks?

I spoke with a friend of mine recently named M&M. He stated that legalizing prostitution would do the following: improve family structure, reduce crime, demolish the unemployment rate, and a few more things. Don't believe me? Click here and hear it for yourself.

After listening to some of his points, I tended to agree with most of them, if not all of them. Some of the deep thinking he brought to the table seemed like a stretch at first. But, after thinking about it longer, it seemed like it would eventually turn out the way he predicted if hookin' was legalized.

Would marijuana being legal reduce crime?

We then got into the subject of legalizing marijuana. M&M pretty much agreed that it should be done as well. But, before we could get deep into the conversation, I got a phone call from my man, Israel Carrasco, from out in L.A. If anyone had the scoop on "the sticky," it would be someone who lives in an area where medicinal "Mary Jane" is legal. Iz gave some great insight on how things work out in Cali and offered his opinion on how things would be if weed were legal nationwide. Like M&M, he also provided a very convincing argument.

Going into the conversation, I thought that the U.S. could benefit greatly from both being legalized. After all, once alcohol was legalized, it did wonders for our economy. Every holiday that we have, or major sporting event, groceries stores and liquor stores get cleaned out of their alcohol. The money that's spent on booze is staggering and it provides a huge boost to our economy.

Weed maybe arguably safer than beer. I've seen an angry drunk, but I've never seen an angry weed head. Worse case scenario on a weed head is that he/she eats up all of your snacks. And if you legalize hookers, then they can have benefits which ensures good health. You'll also all but eliminate back alley head bobs which could lead to rape, robbery, or worse.

So, it's time for the government to get off of its moral high horse. I think it's more immoral to snatch a man's job and give it to someone else overseas on the cheap than to let him roll a blunt and get his jollies at the Bunny Ranch.

Why Do Everyday People Hate Famous People?

Snooki is an author.  Huh?

LeBron James.  Tiger Woods.  Snooki.  Charlie Sheen. People hate them. Well, maybe putting it that way is a tad bit strong, although it's true for some.  But, let me reword it: People hate on them.

Why is that?  What makes us not care for people we don't know? I'll list the three main reasons that people will take time out of their day to post, tweet, or comment about celebs:

Jealousy - Most of us fall into this category, but in different ways. There are women who hate on Beyonce because they're jealous of her. She looks good and sings well (at times) and because they don't have what she has, they analyze her with a microscope to find a flaw. "Oh, she's arrogant."  "She wears a weave." "Her booty is padded." Another way people are jealous, and I fall into this category, is that they hate to see people with very little talent become famous.  I hate on Snooki because she makes more money monthly than I do annually for being a moron and a drunk. Subconciously, I'm jealous of the fact that she had the guts (or lacked the common sense) to lay her dignity down to be the next national idiotic icon.

I can't even Super Size my meal for $21 million.

Resentment against them taking their opportunities for granted - Athletes receive a lot of hate based on this category.  No one group of people take their opportunities for granted like athletes. Quite a few of them will grow old and will end up broke, despite the fact that they once possesed millions. This brings about hate from the masses.  If you're working two jobs for $31k per year and you hear that Latrell Sprewell turned down an NBA contract that would have paid $21 million dollars over three years because he said that he couldn't "feed his family" off of it, then you can easily develop the hate gene.  For the record, Latrell never received another offer to play again after declining that contract and subsequently had his home and yacht repossesed. He is truly having some difficulties "feeding his family" from what I understand. Lindsay Lohan spends more time in court than making movies and we despise her for it. She has had the chance of a lifetime to enjoy being a Hollywood movie starlet and she's trying to blow it. She has an opportunity that many will never receive, yet it appears that she'd rather snort coke and steal things than make the most of what could have been an easy life.

Has a Ph.Double-D in sports.

Racism / Sexism / Media-influence - Let's not pretend as if any of the three don't exists. Prime examples: President Obama, Lebron James, Tiger Woods, Hillary Clinton, Sarah Palin, Michelle Bachmann, any female ESPN reporter covering a man's sport; the list goes on. Naive people thought that racism died when Obama got elected, but it did the opposite: it's resurfaced its ugly head in the worst way. He has received opposition in everything he does and if you think it's just because he's a Democrat, then you also probably believed the world was ending back in May.

Female sports reporters have it bad. I'll be honest, I can't stand the ladies who were hired just because they looked good. There are a lot of sideline reporters or studio hosts who lack so much sports knowledge that they'll tell you there's a such thing as a "football bat." Lisa Guerrero? Jillian Barberie? Clueless! But there are also women who have sports in their blood and they know what they're talking about, yet they get little-to-no respect. Linda Cohn, Jemele Hill, Pam Ward, Michelle Tafoya, and Andrea Kramer to name a few notables. But some prehistoric men feel as if they belong either with pom poms in their hands and in short skirts or bringing them a beer. Sad.

Lebron James is hated for changing jobs. Think about it. He changed jobs! If you left McDonald's for Burger King, would you find it odd if every single customer for McD's hated you? Despite the fact that people have changed jobs since jobs were invented, they chose you out of everyone to hate. What happened to Lebron James is the result of media sensationalism. The media pounded him so much that we all started thinking, "Maybe this dude is a bad guy. He did do Cleveland wrong!"

No, he didn't.  The press conference he had, to announce "The Decision," may have been considered tasteless in the eyes of Cleveland, but it was ground-breaking to most everyone else.  We've seen press conferences of people changing sports teams, but never an entire show.  Lebron did something no one else has done before and made money for charity in doing so (along with pimping his new flavor of Lifewater products).  The same media outlet in which his show aired (ESPN) was also the same media outlet to demonize him to the public. "Oh, this was tasteless! How could he do this to the Cleveland fans?"

Yet, you jumped at the chance of broadcasting "The Decision" and bumped live sports off-air to do so. Hypocrites.

Only a warlock can love me.

So, we all have our reasons for being haters. We will hate someone just for being on TV. We will "boo" an athlete for playing a game. We will hurl insults to someone who is actually more talented than us.

Money and fame are such a powerful thing that it can drive a wedge between people who have never met.

Can You Turn A "Pro" Into A Housewife?

Yes, you read that correctly. Not a ho, but a pro. A professional woman who is career-focused and may not be the "June Cleaver" her husband aspires for her to be. Is that a bad thing? To most people, it probably isn't, but to some, it is.

There are some insecure men who can't handle a woman who is career first, family second. They don't want to play the role of "Mr. Mom." My response to those men on how to deal with it:

GET OVER IT! You should never try to turn a pro into a housewife! If a woman wants to pursue her professional goals and you don't support her, then don't marry her. Allow her to stay single and available to do what is necessary for her to climb as high as she can on the corporate ladder.

If you do decide to marry her and she's "bringing home the bacon," then you cook it. There's nothing wrong with a woman who makes more than a man (as long as she doesn't remind the man of it). If she isn't interested in having kids for fear of stalling her career path, then discuss that before marriage and accept it. Even if she decides to have kids and there isn't enough time for her to care for them and perform "traditional" women roles, then you do it. It's just that simple.

Society has way too many problems today. If a kid is lucky enough to have two parents in a household, then more than likely, both parents work. However, if there is a situation where a woman is career-oriented and is on the path to big things, and she has the income of 2+ people, then fill the role of homemaker and do what's best for the family. Some guys think it's a blow to the ego to stay home while The Mrs. makes the money. Why is that? Do you think Kevin Federline is ashamed to walk around his friends with kids in tow? He's made millions by being Mrs. Britney Spears and that's nothing to be ashamed of at all. After all, should your family suffer just because your pride is dented a bit? Suck it up! Be a man and put family first.

Guess what, boys? It's Fruit Loops and Dora this morning!

Guys, let's support our ladies. With the amount of road blocks in their career path, it's hard for them to succeed in the office if they're being held back at home, too.

Momma Said Knock You Out!

Bert is an iconic sports journalist I idolized as a youth.

I made a promise to myself a year ago that I would visit the Boxing Hall of Fame.

(scribble, scribble)

That's the sound of me scratching that off of my bucket list. A year ago, I got a phone call from my boss. He told me that he was chillin' at a bar with Bert Sugar near the Boxing Hall of Fame and proceeded to put Bert on the phone with me for a brief conversation. One year later, my boss is introducing me to Bert in-person. Not only did I meet him, I actually hung out with him. In fact, Bert ended up catching a ride with us from the Boxing HOF event to a nearby sports bar. In a year's time, I'd gone from talking on the phone to one of my favorite sports personalities, to riding in the back seat with him to a bar. It doesn't get any better than that.

Bert Sugar is an iconic sports journalist who has been around the sport of boxing for 50 years. I first saw him being interviewed when I was a kid. I remember the hat that he wore and how cool I thought that it was. Over time, he became my favorite TV sports personality and eventually led me to think for the first time in my young life, "I would love a job in sports."

I was probably around five years old and boxing was my second favorite sport after football. Growing up in the 70's as a black male, you wanted to either be one of two things when it came to sports: heavyweight champion of the world or an Olympic gold medalist in the 100 meter dash. Sure, football was a lot of fun, but it didn't have the allure of boxing and track & field did. And don't even mention the NBA. It was an after-thought until Magic and Bird hit the scene in 1979.

I spent many Saturday afternoons watching boxing with my father on ABC's Wide World of Sports. It was a program that would show a variety of sporting events every single Saturday. Back then, there was no Pay Per View for every major boxing event. Many of the championship matches were on broadcast TV until the mid-70's when HBO stepped into boxing.

At that point, money and corruption started to ruin what I thought was one of the best sports on the planet. But, before all of that came about, I got to enjoy some of the greatest boxing champions known to man. I saw Muhammad Ali, George Foreman, "Sugar" Ray Leonard, Marvelous Marvin Haggler, and more fight live on ABC on Saturday afternoons.

It's one thing to see some of the greatest of all time on TV. It's another to not just see them in person, but actually talk and hang out with them. I won't bore you all with the details, but I'll share some photos:

Marvelous Marvin Haggler (left) was a great Middleweight champ

Julio Caesar Chaven (yellow) was Mexico's greatest fighter.
(SN: what is the guy on the left wearing!!!???)

Ken Norton, Sr. defeated Ali and had a son win two Super Bowls.

Leon Spinks defeated Ali in only his 8th fight. Biggest upset of the 70's.

So, I had a great time interacting with some of boxing's Hall of Fame fighters. We spent the evening at a local bar in Canastota, NY, listening to Bert Sugar tell stories of athletes from the past. From Joe DiMaggio to Larry Holmes, Bert told us stories of so many people he's come to know in his 75 years on the planet.

But, that's not what makes Bert extraordinary. You see, in today's time, being famous requires little thought or planning (see How to Get Famous 201). Back in Bert's day, you didn't just settle on being good... you had to be better than good. He wasn't just a boxing sportswriter. He became publisher and editor of Ring Magazine. Aside from writing over 80 books, Bert also covered baseball, created the jingle for Nestle's chocolate, passed the bar exam, appeared in several movies (Rocky Balboa was his last film), and is currently working on a children's book about Easter for his grandkids. That is what making the most of your talents is all about. This is the guy who influenced me to become a sportswriter back in '98 for the Clarion-Ledger newspaper.

So, I enjoyed spending an evening cracking jokes with the guy in the cool hat that I remember from my childhood. For the record, I asked Bert for his hat. His reply? "(Bleep) that!"

Classic Bert.

Last Canadian Post, Eh?

Continued from First Canadian Post, Eh?
Continued from Second Canadian Post, Eh?

Coming out of the hotel onto College Street.

Thursday, 1130 AM EDT
We're up too late for breakfast at the hotel, so The Mrs. and I decide to try the Golden Griddle across the street. It's a nice, quiet restaurant with a view of College Street. We decided against getting breakfast at the hotel. Despite the fact that Tripadvisor.com had multiple people recommend that everyone who stays at the hotel eats at the restaurant, I just didn't see the value in it. $13 for pancakes? $11 for a cup of oatmeal and some fruit? Do they use gold dust to make their food?

So, the decision wasn't difficult to roll over to the G.G., but they had their issues, too! First of all, the one downside to coming to Canada is my phone. I received a text message from my carrier about 2 miles after crossing the Canadian border that told me I'd be roaming there and charges would apply. Because of that, I chose to turn the data off on my phone which meant no blogging, tweeting, or status updates without Wi-Fi. So, the "Free Wi-Fi" sign in the window made the place even more enticing.

We get inside and the place is nice. A young gentleman seats us and asked for our drink orders. The Mrs. asks for coffee only to discover that they don't have artificial sweeteners there. It's sugar or no sweetener at all. Maybe that's a Toronto thing, I don't know. Next, I inquire about the Wi-Fi and dude brings out the pass code for me. 15 freaking digits! So, I had to enter this into my device (twice since I missed a letter the first time) just to connect. Two things that have made us unhappy. The last thing to upset us, which was by far the worst, was that dude charged us $1.99 for a glass of water. A glass of water!

"My man, unless you squeezed this water from the tear ducts of a unicorn, I'm not paying you $2 for water not in a bottle."

Okay, I didn't say that, but I thought it. The food itself wasn't bad. I had the steak and eggs and The Mrs. had the pancakes (off the chain), scrambled eggs, and bacon. After breakfast, we hopped in the rental car and drove around Downtown Toronto just to take in sights of the city.

There is so much to see in Toronto! The nightlife is booming and the shopping opportunities are every where. Although my trip to the top of the country wasn't initially supposed to be about going into Canada, I'm very glad that I did. The two nights we've spent here have been great, but now it's time to do what I came to do...

Second Canadian Post, Eh?

Continued from First Canadian Post, Eh?

Wednesday, 530 PM EDT
We get to Toronto and we ride for forever until reaching our hotel which is located on College and Yonge Street. The view from the 6th floor gave me a bird's eye view of the busy downtown Toronto area. We're within walking distance of quite a few restaurants and shopping areas. The famous Eaton Centre is only about three blocks from us, so we appear to be in a good location.

Now, the purpose of me boarding a plane and coming up north in the first place has nothing to do with Toronto. The reason I'm even in the area is to attend a Boxing Hall of Fame event on Friday night near Syracuse, NY. It was supposed to be a trip taken by me to meet some friends of mine in Buffalo and then drive to Syracuse. But, after realizing how close Toronto was to Buffalo and the fact that The Mrs. was not feeling the best when we took our anniversary trip in April, I decided to buy an extra ticket and make it a 2nd vacation for us. Of course that was before realizing there was a strip club within two blocks of my hotel. LOL! Just kidding. Kind of... I shouldn't be surprised that they have them here. After all, this is the home of the Slutwalk.

Wow, they're discussing Anthony Weiner on the news here in Toronto. It appears that his wife is going to have a what Sonia at LogAllot would probably refer to as a "weenie." First your husband publicly admits to sending bulging underwear photos to other women and now you have to have his kid. Sucks for her. Anyway, back to the city of Toronto. The one thing I can say about Toronto is that they have the begging-est (I know it's not a word) people I've ever seen. Every block, you'll be asked for "spare change" at least two or three times. At least! Now, I'm not one to ignore people, so I'll make eye contact and just say "no." But, after a while, it gets old! One lady had a nice Pomeranian dog that (in my opinion) she dirtied up to make it look homeless, too. The dog's coat didn't appear to show long-term dirt. It honestly looked like she threw dirt on him and put on some tattered clothes to make money. I may be wrong, but I doubt it.

Toronto is a busy city of almost 3 million people. The most shocking thing to me about Toronto is the cultural makeup. Asians are every where in Toronto. Everywhere! I've never been to a place where white people are the minority. I'm seeing three Asians for every white person and it's great!

Wait. That sounded bad. I mean that it's great that there's so much diversity in the city. I've always pictured Canada as a land filled of Viking-looking red heads who say "eh" all of the time, but it's far from that. It's a wonderful mix of cultures consisting mostly of Asians and there's a strong Indian influence as well. Either that or I'm seeing a lot of them because a Bollywood festival is in town.

Setting the stage for the Bollywood Film Festival

Actually, Asians aren't the majority. I'm exaggerating a bit. However, they do represent roughly 30% of Toronto, but the area where we're staying is near the University of Toronto which have a lot of Asian students. I guess my noticing this is a product of me growing up in a town that lacked diversity. My one wish, if I had to live my life all over again, would be to grow up in an area with multiple cultures and have more than only just black and white friends.

8:45 PM EDT
The Mrs. and I walk over to Fran's. It's a diner that's been around for 50 years. It serves breakfast 24 hours along with daily specials. The Mrs. goes for a hamburger and I try the daily special which is an order of beef ribs. The food was excellent! I thought the fries weren't all that great, but she enjoyed her burger and I thought my ribs were legit. We leave there and on our walk back to the hotel, I turn my back for a few seconds while looking into a store only to have some guy flirt with The Mrs. and tell her how pretty her eyes were. Look, dude. Just because there are only six black women in Toronto doesn't mean you can have mine.

Okay, I lied, it's more than six. Maybe 10. After a long day of walking and toting luggage, I'm tired. We make it back to the hotel in time for me to finish watching the Bruins destroy (again) the Canucks in the Stanley Cup Finals. It wasn't too long that I got into the bed and slept like a drunk toddler.

Tomorrow, we'll hit up the Eaton Centre and see what it's about.

I added this shot for my homie over @ EmDottie.com. She loves this store.

(To be continued...)

First Canadian Post, Eh?

"O, Canada! Our home and native land!" My first trip out of the United States has been interesting so far, to say the least. I'll catch you up how things have happened so far:

Wednesday, 830 AM CDT
I get to the airport and head to the Southwest gate. There is virtually no line, but then again, Jackson, MS is rarely busy during the mid-week. The Mrs. and I do the TSA thing with no problems. I mean, absolutely no problems. I accidentally forgot to take my keys out of my pocket before I preceded through the metal detector. The guy waves me through and I don't have any problems.

(record scratch)

I'm wearing a ring and have keys in my pocket and the metal detector doesn't go off? Great. Now I have to worry about 9mm toting passengers since I know that someone in Jackson forgot to plug up the machine.

As for flying itself, I'm no longer nervous when it comes to airplanes any more. I'm probably still considered a novice to most, with only roughly 12 round trips to my credit, but I enjoy flying. Well, let me rephrase: I love airplane sleep. I'm not sure what it is about being up in the air, but I'm so relaxed there. Maybe it's from coming off the adrenaline high of the sheer terror I feel as the plane takes off, I don't know.

3:00 PM EDT
After a three hour flight to Baltimore and an hour lay over, we finally arrive in Buffalo, NY and proceed to the car rental counter. The first thing I notice is that there's a lack of air conditioning going on at the airport. I'm not sure what idiot decided to save on the bill, but it's 90 freakin' degrees here today. I saw a dragon in the parking lot with a cup of ice as I reached my rental car. Just because you get snow seven months out of the year, people who fly into your city aren't freakin' from here! Get some A/C!

Sorry about that. So, The Mrs. and I hop in and drive roughly 15 minutes over the bridge and into Canada. She asked me before I got into the car to get the passports out of the trunk. "Nah, we'll get it later," I said thinking we had a longer drive to Canada that would include a stop along the way.

Had I known Canada was just around the corner, then maybe I would have been more prepared. I get to the border and the Border Patrol asked for identification. When I passed her my license and mentioned that my passport was in the trunk, her tone went from accommodating to harsh.

"Why would you not have your info on you, sir?"

"Uh, well, I didn't know we'd reach the border so fast," I stuttered while trying not to look in the direction of The Mrs.

"Pull over to that bay on the left and wait, sir," she said pointing towards a security area.

Great. Now I've pissed Nell Fenwick off. I drive over into Bay 12 and in Bay 11, this guy is getting the business! He's standing at the front of his car while Border Patrol is going through it with a fine tooth comb. His doors are open and the contents of his car are in the street. They'll ask him a question and he would walk towards them only for them to say, "stay in the front of the car, sir!"

Under 35-yr olds may not remember Nell from The Dudley Do-Right Show.

It appears that they've found some liquor in the backseat of this dude's car and they're not happy about it. Now I'm getting nervous. Although I don't have any contraband in the ride, I don't want pissed off agents coming to me and throwing all of my luggage out. Luckily, another guy comes over and gets our license and passports. He asked a lot of questions about the nature of our trip and made small talk with us before sending us on our way. The guy in Bay 11 was on his way to the Border Patrol's office when we were leaving. I guess it won't be a good day for him.

The first think I notice when driving on Canadian soil was the change in the metric system. 100 km/h = 60 mph. What? I have to do math while I drive now? I have to calculate that 50 km to Toronto = 30 miles? Ugh. Not fun. After a two hour drive, we finally arrived to Toronto.

Continued on Second Canadian Post, Eh?

Move Over Oscar-Mayer! There's a New Weiner!

So, NY-Dem, Anthony Weiner, finally admitted to what everyone pretty much knew last week: he sent junk photos to some lady.

Aside from it not being in your best interest to be involved in a penis scandal with the last name "Weiner," it's also a bad idea to lie about something that would inevitably be proven. Not only did Weiner admit to sending a tweet of his underwear-bulging junk to some woman, he also mentioned that there were other women, ages unknown, he did the same before and during his marriage.

Now, personally, I don't care that he cheated. That's between Weiner and Mrs. Weiner and no concern of mine. The issue of him lying does bring his integrity in question. It now makes you wonder if he will (if he hasn't already) lie over something a lot more corrupt and detrimental to his constituents. The funny part about all of this is Weiner's refusal to leave social networking alone. He claims that he will keep his Facebook and Twitter accounts open and play it straight going forward. He also said that he's not quitting his job.

You know what? I don't blame him. Should he quit? Probably, but this isn't anything new in politics. Guys in politics have cheated since ever and it's just the perk of being a member of the "Good Ol' Boys' Network." If you get caught up in a scandal then there's a fake investigation. Not to see if you've violated ethics, but to see if your presence hurts the political party's PR or not. If the investigation drags on long enough, over time, something else will happen that will cause people to forget about you and what you did. Then people who only vote all Republican or all Democrat will vote you back in office because loyalty is more important than having values.

So, the man who has caused Oscar-Mayer's stock to drop (I stole that from a tweet), will now go back to his normal day-to-day life. He's thankful to be in a career that thrives on not doing your best, but showing that your opponent does worse. He's thankful that Oprah is no longer on the air to interview his wife (who I'm sure has book publishing company execs camping in her driveway). Most importantly, he's thankful that the tweets and posts filling the social networks are saying that he's "bigger" than Brett Favre.

Hey, while you're here, check out my guest posts that I've done over at Sonia's site (LogAllot.com) and Brandon's site(LostInIdaho.me)

How Do You Protect Your Brand? (guest post) ~ LogAllot

Mommy, Look at the Penguins! (guest post) ~ My Own Private Idaho

You Marry Their Family

When you marry someone, you marry their family. There's no way around it.

Will you find yourself in the middle of in-law drama?

So many happy couples have the absolutely worst in-laws and it causes problems. I'm so happy to have in-laws who are wonderful. My mother and father-in-law are great people who have treated me like a son. My brothers-in-law have all accepted me and have been a lot of fun to hang around from time-to-time. My nieces and nephews are bright kids ranging from ages 12 - 25 who will grow up to be good people. My family also love my in-laws. In fact, my parents and The Mrs.' parents have known each other for over 40 years and they get along very well.

But, I lucked out. So many others have situations that they "married into" that they are regretting now. I remember dating a lady back in the mid-90's who had a brother with a drug problem. He was a user and a dealer (which is never a good combination). He would smoke his own product and get so high that he'd forget that he smoked it. Then he would accuse everyone in his household that they stole it from him. Her mom was an alcoholic who spent most of her days on the front porch. It was very sad and the end-result was a very short relationship with that girl (roughly six weeks). I didn't want to subject myself to those type of people on a regular basis. Besides, I saw some of those bad habits in her as well. She was always looking for a fast buck and she wasn't motivated to work. Despite the fact that she was cute and was really into me, I had to do what I felt was best long term.

You'll have to accept the family for who they are.  All of them.

Over the years, I've met some people who have had similar, if not worse, situations, yet they chose to "ride out the storm." Almost all of them ended up separated, divorced, or stuck in a volatile marriage. You may think that you're marrying the person and not their family, but that's not the case. Unless it's a situation where you live far away from that family and have little contact, you could be subjecting yourself to inherited drama.

So, know your limits on what you can and cannot endure. Understand that your family may have to interact with your spouse's family regularly. So, it's important that they all be on the same maturity level and get along.

Your family may have to interact with them as well.  Perfect fit or not?

Is it absolutely necessary that your spouse's family are perfect people? No. But, be prepared for a lot of gray hairs if everyone doesn't mesh.


Hey, while you're here, check out my guest posts that I've done over at Sonia's site (LogAllot.com) and Brandon's site(LostInIdaho.me)

How Do You Protect Your Brand? (guest post) ~ LogAllot

Mommy, Look at the Penguins! (guest post) ~ My Own Private Idaho

Women Just Can't Win

Women have it bad. They are always held to a higher standard than men. That's not always a bad thing because I do think there are certain things that are acceptable for a man that's not acceptable for a woman:

I definitely think that women should always be more on-point with hygiene and I think they should maintain some mystery about themselves with certain things.

Having said all of that, I think women catch the short end of the stick when it comes to a lot of things, but especially sex. Women are always held to a higher standard and although it is commendable, I do think there are times when a woman expresses herself sexually that men (and some other women) criticize unnecessarily.

Here is an example:

A man should be happy to see a woman with a top drawer of condoms next to her bed.

A guy goes out with a lady and they have a vibe going. It's a first date, but the tension is high and he can tell that it could lead to something later. He arrives at her house and before you know it, the clothes hit the floor and she's ready to do the horizontal mambo. He then pause and informs her that he doesn't have a condom. She tells him not to worry and goes into her top drawer to pull out one.

(record scratches)

To a lot of guys, this is what comes to mind: "Uh, oh. If she has condoms readily available in her top drawer, then she must be a ho."

(buzzer)

Wrong answer. A woman who would let you "smang it" without a condom is more likely a ho than one who has one. Maybe this lady is just prepared. Guys need to get the image out of their head that a woman with condoms is a ho. I mean, it's a possibility, but it could also mean that she's just responsible.

Most babies are conceived and most diseases are transmitted from people who are not prepared. Maybe this lady should be applauded rather than criticized. Fellas, don't assume that a woman with a condom in her purse has a longer line than In-N-Out. Okay, maybe I should have used another restaurant name, but you get my point.

Ladies have it rough because in a country where men made the rules during the days that women were not even allowed to vote, there are still a lot of things that men think are unacceptable for women, but are acceptable for men. Let's do away with the prehistoric thinking and recognize that rules that were created 200 years ago on what a woman should be do not apply to today's female.

While women should act like queens in order to be treated as such, we men have to do away with some of the double standards.

And to the ladies, stop letting society dictate the things you do. You can be you without worrying about what some shallow-minded person thinks.

Stop letting people guilt you into thinking you're a bad person when you're not.
My friend, Chaplain Donna, posted an absolutely brilliant piece on "being the good girl" that will release you from the mental chains that society has placed on you. Click the link, open the new window, and be free. :)




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