Sorry, wrong answer. I can't see my wonderful marriage lasting more than five seconds if I were to deny who I am, or if my husband denied who he is. We end up in helpless giggles all the time thanks to our complementing senses of humor. Color me glad I didn't try to hide my snarkiness in hopes that some insecure male would find me acceptable.

I'm both a programmer and a DBA (funny how many of us wear so many hats that they brush the ceiling) and I don't see any difficulties with finding work in the current market. I'm in a job that I love, but as a result of two layoffs during this lovely Bush economy, I keep an ear to the ground. It's a rare day when I don't get at least one recruiter contact about a position, and that's based on my resume posted in two places, both anonymously, with restrictions on location and travel.

Maybe the excess of jobs for C# programmers and SQL DBAs is localized in the Carolinas, but that seems a bit unlikely. I may not be making an astronomical salary, but as long as I feel like I can have a job tomorrow if this one disappears today, I feel pretty secure in my chosen field.

I've been on both ends of this situation. I live in an area where freaky weather can knock out the power for literally weeks on end, both when it's cold and when it's stifling hot. I also have a husband who travels a lot, so that I get to spend maybe six days a month with him.

LW is a bitch. Sorry, but it's true. She considers her spooning time to be of infinitely more importance than someone else's difficulties. It's more important that she get to snuggle than it is that her friend get out of the cold. He called her for a reason, and she snubbed him, and now she's whining to Cary that no one understands her. Wah.

You find out who your true friends are when something like this happens. This guy is lucky he found out now, when he had other options. Now he can stay away from her, so when the next crisis strikes, he won't have to waste his time trying to find humanity and common cause in a "me me me" person.

Ugh.

Part of the problem with women's sizing is that they use people instead of measurements like with men's clothes. My aunt is a plus-size fit model, and I had a friend in college who was a misses' fit model. The manufacturer declares, "That person is a size 8," fits the clothing to the model, and then sizes up & down as appropriate. Since the same person isn't used by every manufacturer, you end up with lots of variation.