This guy was spot-on with his observations. I am roughly the same age and have been thinking the same things for a couple of years now. There is a huge amount of anecdotal evidence to back this up. For example, if you ever see a group of women/girls together and listen to their conversation you will never hear any of them say something to the effect of "you should be a better wife" or "you need to treat your husband better". It is always complaining about what a man is or is not doing, with all the other women nodding in agreement or adding their own anti-male observations. There seems to be no attempt whatsoever to critically evaluate the situation and make recommendations that would actually help. On the flip side, when you hear men talking about women it is very common for one man to tell another he needs to do this or that to be a better husband, father, etc. Another example is from the show "Survivor", virtually any time women outnumber men on the show, the women will band together and vote off the men one at a time. The decision seems to be made solely on gender. Again, on the flip side, if the men outnumber the women, gender seems to play no role in who gets voted. These are just a couple of my recent observations.

As a married person it makes me very nervous to read a letter like this. Barring some major medical condition - if this woman’s husband likes her to shave her legs, than she needs to do it, period! The point is not whether she likes to do it or not, as a married person you have certain responsibilities to your spouse. The idea that spending 15-20 minutes per week is some overwhelming burden is ridiculous. If her husband’s happiness is not worth 20 minutes per week, this marriage will not last. I think the writer is foolish for suggesting this is not a deal-breaking issue - it’s not about the leg shaving, its about her not caring about her husbands feelings and not taking the responsibilities of marriage seriously.

Please do the world a favor and do not have kids!!!

I think the LW's partner should get on his knees and thank God that he never made the mistake of marrying this woman. I almost find it hard to believe that someone would actually hold their partner to a strict 50%/50% split of expenses and not take into account something like an unintentional job loss - the letter could be a fake…

It shoulds like there are serious issues with the marriage that the LW may be unable or unwilling to address. However, I know one thing she can do immediately. Stop buying any processed/junk food and cook only three healthy meals per day. Snacks could be carrot sticks, grapes and similar items. The kids should not be eating processed/junk food anyway, and this could be used as the rational. Also, no fruit juice or soda (or alcohol if that is an issue). The FIL will probably move out himself!

Could Ask the pilot please comment on the recent passenger standings on JetBlue and Delta. I can't even conceive of a legitimate reason way passengers would be forced to sit on a plane on the tarmac for up to 11 hours. On top of this the crew refuses to feed them for several hours!

I can think of a really simple solution to this problem - if a plane sits on the tarmac for more than one hour, they have to go back to the gate and let off the passengers (or unload them with a portable stairs). The result of this would be that airlines would not board a plane until they were very sure it would take off within a short period of time. Also, if there is some stupid rule about a plane losing its position in line if it goes back to the gate than change it - these rules are not exactly the ten commandments carved in stone by God!

This is a little bit off topic, but I have always wondered why fast/junk food is not subject to a sin tax like tobacco and alcohol - to me these items basically fit in the same category. Can you imagine if every bag of chips and bottle of soda had a $1 "health tax" on it? The money collected from such a tax would make the revenue generated from alcohol and cigarettes taxes look like chump change! I would bet such a tax could easily pay for universal health care with money left over...

What a selfish idiot, why did she marry this poor guy if she did not like who he was? She must have known what he was like before tying the knot and having a baby. It is not like she was 20 when she got married, she was 35!!!

This situation sounds really shady; a mysterious illness, a mother who needs to stay with her healthy acting adult child, no advance notice and a "rolling" time frame of when mom is going to leave. I am about ten years out of college and if I have learned anything, it is to trust your instincts - they are almost always correct. One thing I thought of is to leave a scrap of paper or piece of tape on your bedroom door next time you leave. Something that will move and you will be able to tell if anyone has been in your room. I would be curious to see the result... If nothing else, consider this a valuable life lesson to always make sure business-type arrangements are clearly spelled out to all parties ahead of time!

cemeteryman has it right with hendricks gin. try this recipe:

1. fill glass with ice

2. add hendricks gin until glass is half full

3. use regular tonic water to fill remainder of glass

4. garnish with cucumber (compliments hendricks very well)