So us broads have a new page, do we? Nice, Barbie pink. How original. Give me a frickin' break. Would you do a "Cock Block" of news in blue? So now certain news only pertains to women? How many men do you think are going to bother going to this page? For that matter, how many intelligent women are going to go to it? I find it demeaning and humiliating that somehow women need their own news area - tiny nuggets of real news embeded in fluff and slang words. So like, OMG, gag me with a spoon.

I have to say, this letter sounds very familiar. My boyfriend and I were both stuck at a really horrible company (gray walls, in an industrial park next to a cheese factory with a president that screamed and swore at everyone). My boyfriend got fired after being gone for too much from illness (psychosomatic) from the job. I was let go when they didn't have enough work. The whole time I was there I worried about enough money, but once cut lose and and back to freelancing at half the salary, I was just fine. Better than fine, peachy and mostly stress free. Regardless, what kept me sane through the Horrible Job was a marvelous book called "The Way of the Weasel" by Scott Adams (Dilbert cartoonist). I may have cried with depression in my cube on some days and been unable to sleep on Sunday nights, but damn, I got some small revenge by using the nasty weasel advice. Even just thinking about being a weasel made me feel better. Give it a whirl while you drink your coffee and search monster for better jobs...

I wonder if it is politics as much as anything else. 54 years, about time to retire and start collecting some benefits? A few more years and they'll have to pay all her health insurance? Someone in charge's kid wants the job? They can get a younger teacher for half as much? She got on someone's nerves and is so entrenched this is the only way to get rid of her? I wonder... Religion is so often a front for other things, this could very well be a smokescreen.

so what sort of lawsuit do we have here? Something for mental cruelty and humiliation? Any grounds for blocking access to legal medication? Think the ACLU would be interested? Get pissed, find your backbone and give them a call. It's all "morals" and opinion now, but hit 'em in the pocketbook and put their names in glaring headlines and I bet these clinics/pharmacies and hospitals will be chaning their tune after a couple of tidy lawsuits. It's amazing what money can do to change "popular" opinion.

I sympathize with the LW. Been there, done that. The best vacation I ever took I booked via cheaptickets and got everything in one go. I had a job that I hated so much I cracked a molar gritting my teeth in my sleep. We went to Sanibel Island in Fl and did nothing. I am a pasty midwesterner but still enjoyed sitting in the shade on the beach, reading murder mysteries and lolling in the waves. In 3 days my neck and back stopped twanging and my eczema (been there too) had totally healed.

The last vacation was totally the oppposite. Now self-employed, I was working to finish jobs up to the last minute - literally. We spent months planning a trip to London, which just seemed to add to the burden and stress. 2 days in, my body gave up and I got bronchitis; I spent days walking the city, hacking and gasping for air. If anything, the "vacation" made me sicker and more stressed. Plus I kept thinking about how much more work I'd need to do to cover the weeks of work I was missing - one of the pitfalls of self-employment. Given the choice to do it again, I don't think I would.

I think the best vacation for those of us in the self-employed and overworked boat is road trips. They're cheap, you can make them up as you go along, you can bring your computer to check in and assuage your guilt and you can bring your pet (if they let you - cats may not be as eager to hang their head out the window as dogs). Take time off to decompress - but on your own terms and not based on what you think a "vacation" is supposed to be.

I give the daughter a year, maybe two, until she decides to get revenge on her mom by starting smoking to ruin her voice. That'll teach the bossy old broad. Obviously a spiteful and stupid thing to do, but hey, it's definitetly an ingenious way to be malicious.

It doesn't matter how great the "gift" someone supposedly has or is given, if you don't want it, it's nothing but a burden.

did anyone else automatically assume this guy sounds like Pauly Shore when he talks?