Am I the only one who thinks all this delegate nonsense is SO last century? We don't need the remnants of yesterday's smoke-filled rooms to choose a nominee! I think Obama's terrific, I think he'd make a great president. But if he wins by delegates and not by nationwide popular vote, it will be a hollow victory indeed. 2000 all over again, within the party. No thanks. If HRC wins the popular vote, then she won it, even if it's only by a hair. That's the ONLY measure that should count. I'll take my lumps and vote for her in the general, if that's the nation's choice.

It's time for the Democratic Party to grow up and toss out this delegate BS. And superdelegates? Don't get me started. I already have enough reasons to think my vote doesn't count, to think that I can cast my primary vote so some party honcho in my state can do whatever they want.

I have a big, athletic retriever mix. She's a lovely, lovable idiot, like one of the kids in our family. She blew out her ACL ligament (dogs have ACLs just like people, it turns out) chasing a ball.

She was six, and in every other way perfectly healthy. We did think long and hard about the money. I don't think I would go the chemotherapy route for a pet--it seems like a lot of trauma to put an animal through when they're on the decline anyway. But she was healthy in every other way, relatively young, and the problem was orthopedic.

So... my dog has what is essentially an artificial knee.

The choice was... do we have a dog who limps and is in pain the rest of her life, or do we get our healthy energetic dog back? We coughed up the money. I don't regret it.

What's happening to all the used-up phones? Are we recycling them, or are they going in the landfill?

I'd suspect the landfill.

I'm not a luddite, but I'm also not a technology bandwagon jumper either. I have a phone, it works fine. It doesn't play music, or send text messages, or take pictures. I've thought about upgrading, but honestly... why? Mine works. And what will happen to my phone, and all the other phones out there that are dumped every day for a new model? Where do they all go? What harmful chemicals/metals/plastics/etc. are in a cell phone?

No question.

that after all this, I just might have a voice from my nowhere, May primary state. The candidates might actually come here and run a campaign, I might see them, they might even pronounce it right.

Oregon. Or eee gun.

What a concept that I might matter. Except for those damn superdelegates. What a crock. Who thought that one up?

We also have in-laws who come from Europe to the US for a yearly visit, loads of kids in tow. My advice is to get your own place. Hock the car, whatever you have to do... get your own efficiency apartment for the duration. Around the corner from Mom and Dad if you have to.

My husband is an introvert. He's a well-behaved, well-socialized introvert, but being a guest in someone's house (especially my parents') sends him over the edge. Yet if he takes a magazine and disappears off to bed early, it's perceived as a slight. No... he's just OVERLOADED and needs a break. I completely understand.

Being around a cranky small baby, for anyone but that baby's immediate household, is very difficult for all.

I would... let your sister and brother's comments go. You've already done what you can (move to another country), you don't see them often, and focus on your relationship with your parents. And get your own place when you visit.

Good luck.

Your logic is full of holes. I was raised as a good little Catholic girl with exactly that kind of thinking. If you don't want kids, don't have sex. Sounds good on paper, in church pamphlets, coming from the mouth of a celibate priest.

Trouble is, it doesn't work. Not for public policy, not for private policy within a marriage. It just doesn't work. The human desire to have sex trumps logic, trumps planning, trumps all the "right" thinking in the world. Face it... we are mammals before we are religious or civic beings. We like to think that the big head can do the thinking for the little head, but it doesn't work that way. Sorry.

I would agree that LW and his wife need to sit down and have a talk. Where you live is a big deal, and it needs to suit both.

But, the suburbs don't have to be the end of life. We live there... there's a lot to be said for space to garden and have two kids and a retriever. I like putting a wading pool in my front yard in the summer and having it fill up with kids without even asking.

I wish shops were closer. I wish there were places to walk other than more houses. But it's nice watching the trees grow up over the years, and having a place to put them. It's nice to have an outdoor clothesline in the back yard. I grow blueberries and raspberries and tomatoes. Kinda fun. My street is flat and my kids learned to ride their bikes on the sidewalks.

My neighbors are artists, immigrants from India, immigrants from Vietnam, engineers, web designers, and a guy who drives a limo. It's fun to see people when they come out of their houses in the spring, and the kids are all a year older.

Those people in those houses aren't as soulless as you think.