I appreciate cdevlin's post - I think women have to be more proactive in finding out what works for them. However, I know from personal experience that hormones can be an issue too. I've had weird fluctuating hormone problems for years (since I was in my mid-20's) and I found that it definitely affected my sex drive (whether I was with a partner or alone). In fact, one of the earliest symptoms I had were difficulties with orgasms, most noteably at particular times of the month - but I assumed this was an emotional problem, not a physical one, so I never went to the doctor about it until my periods went completely wacko. The problem hasn't been completely solved, but just recognizing that my inability to orgasm at certain times might be physical, rather than emotional, was quite reassuring.

After my experience, I wouldn't be surprised if some women with lower level hormone problems could have their libido affected - and if that's the case, what's the problem with getting help with that?

I've given up on reading decent reviews of musicals at Salon. None of the reviewers here can get past "ooh, people singing, and isn't the music weird".

However, although Sweeney Todd certainly contains some challenging music, it's hard to call any musical "unmelodic" that contains the beautiful, haunting "Not While I'm Around", one of the most lovely Sondheim songs ever (even if the context is a bit creepy). I was afraid it might have been cut, but since I found clips of it on You Tube, I assume it made it into the movie.

Solitaire, I feel your pain. I'm in the same situation. I'm single, and I don't have any family to spend the holidays with. That doesn't bother me - I enjoy having the freedom of a day to myself. But no one believes me when I tell them that. They're convinced that I must be desperately unhappy to be alone, and they MUST compel me to spend Christmas with them and their families.

In some ways, it's nice to know that people care about me enough to invite me, but honestly, spending Christmas with other people's relatives is not something I look forward to. No matter how nice they are, it's still like going to the cocktail party from hell, especially if you're an introvert who doesn't really enjoy spending the day with a bunch of strangers.

But most people just can't wrap their minds around this idea. No matter how politely I tell them "thank you, I really appreciate that you asked me, but no", they won't take no for an answer. They don't believe me when I say I'm happy to have a relaxed Christmas by myself. If I don't break down and agree to come, they are hurt. Or offended. Some of them even cry. And I feel bad, because I don't want to hurt their feelings - but why do people get so worked up about this? I really don't get it. I've even lost a friend over this, she was so upset and hurt that I didn't want to go to Christmas at her house. It baffles me completely.

I have to disagree with you when it comes to Huckabee. He may not have gotten a lot of coverage at the beginning of the campaign (when he was mostly unknown), but he's gotten lots of coverage in the past month or so, including lavish and fawning coverage by the NY Times. (Which seems to swoon every time he's mentioned, and rarely mentions any of his ultra-conservative views.) I can't say whether he gets this kind of coverage on TV - I don't watch those yappy political shows - but I don't see any "media hostility" toward him. More like "media butt-kissing".

These books sound great - I'll definitely be picking up the book on knife techniques. However, I wish someone would put out a great DVD set that matched up with these great instructional books. I had to learn to cook from nothing - my mother cooked every night, but she didn't allow anyone to set foot in "her" kitchen to "make a mess", so I had never seen anyone cooking until I went away to college. And I found it very difficult to learn to cook from books - how do you know what "saute" means if you've never heard the word before and have only seen it in a cookbook? Even a great book about techniques can't really show you in the same way a video could. I only really became a confident cook after watching a lot of cooking shows on TV and copying what they did - it was so much easier than trying to figure it out from some text and perhaps a small illustration, with no personal experience to guide me. Unfortunately, most cooking shows aren't very instructional, especially when it comes to techniques, and I can only think of a very few that are available on DVD (some of the old Julia Child episodes, some Jacques Pepin videos that you can order through PBS).

I think there's a great niche for a cookbook author who wants to branch out.

I can take a few "Sex and the City" references, if it means politicians are actually paying attention to issues that affect single women. (They aren't that different from issues that affect other voters, but there are some issues that affect singletons more directly.) It's a vast improvement from previous elections - I remember one candidate in the last election stating that singles weren't "real Americans". (Not that I care that much about being a "real American" but it definitely symbolized his contempt for anyone who wasn't married with 2.2 kids and living in the suburbs.)