Geez. Too bad she didn’t nail him for his ridiculous comb over, if the conversation was going to degenerate that much.

In a “real” business meeting, a comment like that would never have been made. I hope.

Egypt still has a way to go as far as women are concerned.  There was the disgraceful attack several weeks ago on newscaster Lara Logan, and then more recently a group of angry men broke up a women’s rights rally in Tahrir Square this past week.  They sexually assaulted and beat the several hundred women who were taking part; “they were touching us everywhere” one of them stated.

Talk about treating women like second class citizens – - women had a decisive role in the uprisings that eventually drove Mubarak out, but it’s not doing them any good.

Statistics:  Sexual harassment is a given in Egyptian society.  In a 2008 survey, 83 percent of women said they had been groped, and 62 percent of men admitted to harassing women.

I hope the women of Egypt can stand strong and end this disgraceful situation.

Kids learn from their parents. Are parents so absent in their children’s lives that they can’t teach them not to bully, and to reprimand them – severely if necessary – if they do? Isn’t it the parent’s responsibility – not the schools’ – to teach the children right from wrong?

WHERE ARE THE PARENTS IN THIS??? Are they tacitly allowing this to happen because they’re so darned busy that they don’t have the time to spend with their children, teaching them manners and how to behave in society? How not to persecute others that may not be like them? To develop an attitude of understanding and tolerance?

Kids get away with these things because they can. It’s time for the parents to step up to the plate and end it.

I noticed a young man walking down the street the other day, iPod cords dangling from his ears, nodding slightly to the music, and I wondered, briefly, if his hearing was ultimately going to be compromised due to the targeted blast of sound.  It made me think back to the many times my generation was told to “Turn that music down!”, and then I remembered a simple science experiment my roommate and two others had performed in college.

Each student was given six clear plastic glasses, six coils of blotter paper, and 12 beans.  The coil of paper was put in the glass so that two beans would be held between it and the side of the glass, which was then filled with water.  The beans were labeled “Rock” and “Bach.”

All six glasses of beans received the exact same amount of sunshine and water on a daily basis.  However, every day, the Rock beans were taken into another room and given an hour of high-volume rock ‘n roll.  The Bach beans were given an hour of quiet classical music.

The results, after a month, were stunning.  The Rock beans were stunted, had few leaves, and had only grown a couple of inches.  The Bach beans, on the other hand, were flourishing, more than twice the height and with many more leaves than their counterparts.  The statement about what high volume rock n’ roll can do was irrefutable.

It was a simple experiment that makes a big impact.  Any family could – and probably should – do this with their children, for fun and for the knowledge.

The “real” employee will have to  shovel out/clean off their car, drive to work or to the transportation that will take you to work, either deal with terrible traffic or wait for delayed bus or train, struggle into work an hour and a half late, and then work all day, knowing they will have to repeat the struggle in the evening to get home.  Work is not as productive because everyone is bitching about the weather and their commute over coffee and the water cooler, and meetings are attended sparsely because of those who had to stay home with snow-bound children.

The virtual employee will sit down and work, productively, all day.

It has been my observation, having worked from home during the last 5 snow days, that working virtually, more work gets done, phone calls are prompter, and certainly the stress level is less than when people are obliged to go to an office to work.  Clearly, many people can’t work virtually all the time, but this is a growing trend and corporate America would do well to embrace it fully.  It is also a great way to guarantee employee loyalty.  Would any virtual employee risk going to a different company where a regular commute (and business wardrobe) was required?

I don’t think so!

One of the earliest things I remember being taught was to say “please” and “thank you”, closely followed by “you’re welcome”.  Sadly, it seems as though in our digital, sound-bite, social media-crazed society today, these words are rapidly becoming archaic.

Why say “you’re welcome” when a much trendier “no problem” or “cool” will suffice?  What ever happened to children standing up when an adult enters the room?  How about a direct look in the face and a firm handshake – does anyone teach this to their children anymore?  I have been on the receiving end of more limp fish handshakes than I care to mention; it’s creepy.  And let’s not talk about thank you notes or bread and butter notes and all those other archaic – but important – little niceties that make a host feel appreciated.

And we won’t even go into table manners – god forbid.  It horrifies me to see high school and college age young adults chewing with their mouths open, eating before the hostess sits down and picks up her fork, failing to enter into the conversation, wearing a baseball cap at the table, and dressing in soiled and/or ripped clothing for family meals.

Oh, I know I’m being old fashioned.  but it’s sad.  With all the headaches, worries and stress in the world today, a little graciousness can take one back to slower, kinder, gentler times, when men were gentlemen and women were ladies, and we all enjoyed it.

A trailing husband.  Of course you know immediately what it means, and of course I could think of several other successful women who also have them.   And is it such a bad thing?  The children had an at-home parent (who probably did some work remotely, thus providing a great role model for them), and the hard working wife could come home and relax with her kids, knowing the house and dinner had been taken care of.

Couples today seem to be much more involved in raising their children, and if one half of the couple really wants to climb the corporate ladder and the other can work part time and/or from home, this seems like a perfect solution – we’re just getting used to the fact that sometimes it’s the husband staying at home now instead of the wife.

The trailing husband.  A nice phrase.

It’s a New Year – why not spend a little more of it feeling good?

There are many ways you can do this – exercise, of course, releases those “feel good” endorphins, and statistics show that giving away money (i.e., to charities) definitely makes you feel good.  So does singing, dancing, and learning not to obsess over failures or bad luck.  Obsessing can even lead to feelings of helplessness.

Other statistically-proven feel goods:  Petting an animal, eating chocolate, volunteering, good social interactions, losing weight, a good laugh and poetry — all do wonders for your mental health and well being.

Then, of course, there are the non-proven feel goods: shopping, drinking wine, eating dinners out with the girls, inside jokes, lots of cheese, driving fast in a sports car, daydreaming about your winning lottery ticket …

It’s easy to feel good.

In this digital age, sometimes it’s nice to have an old-fashioned recording barometer, or a barograph as it’s sometimes called.  It’s a lovely instrument in a mahogany and glass case, smaller than a shoebox, and has a cylinder with the recording paper on it.  It runs all the time, regardless of power; it must be wound up each week.  A delicate wand with an ink tip and a tiny reservoir charts the rise and fall of the atmospheric pressure.  As you can see on this one, the owner records two weeks at a time, simply because the patterns in the weather are more obvious.

The deep plunge of the line during the blizzard speaks volumes!  Old technology, still functioning perfectly and beautiful to look at.

I wrote you a letter!

This is the funniest Christmas story ever.  A local innkeeper moonlights as Santa at various events in town, and enjoys finding out what is on the children’s wish list.  At one event, a little girl climbed onto his knee, and he Ho Ho’d her and then asked what she wanted for Christmas.  She fixed him with a beady eye, and said very firmly, “I wrote you a letter.”

Implied, I did my part, now you do yours.  Deliver.

Santa had a hard time keeping a straight face, and put the blame on the elves who mislaid his correspondence, and has enjoyed telling this tale for years.  It’s a different and amusing outlook on Christmas!