What I Learned From Last Week's Issues

1) Cash is king - and, in this market, if you can't sell your house immediately and you have a rental possibility, go for the rental

2) There's a certain sexual allure to the woman who is the First Lady

3) Going to visit somewhere you lived previously, or having someone who lived previously in your current abode come to visit you, is a good thing (note: listen to the Jackson Browne song "Looking Into You" for more on this) - same for visiting a place where you used to work

All But One

Survey question - Do you and your significant other have an active sex life?
Table - All but one claimed yes

One Parent Secrets

Should children be allowed to tell secrets to one parent only?
Trafe is concerned - feeling a bit left out as his daughter has shared some secrets with his spouse and not with him - some being female-related - that he found out later only accidentally by other means as both spouse and daughter kept the secrets tightly wrapped
Artie cannot understand how the secrets could be kept - claims he and his wife discuss everything
Utz wants to know the last time Artie and spouse discussed something significant about the kids, but Artie doesn't hear him
Gump says let it be - nothing wrong with some things being told to one parent or the other - can even add to special relationship between that child and parent
Utz wants to know if any of Gump's children has told him a secret - Gump says no
Trump says that his spouse passes such secrets on to him
Utz wants to know the last time Trump's spouse passed a secret on to him - Trump can't remember
Trafe is still forlorn - wants to be included in family decisions
Gump says don't push it - a few small secrets aren't hurting anything
Utz says push for the big secrets - when decisions have to be made - Utz has a doctrine for all except Artie, who's still talking about pushing for all secrets
Trump's going to ask spouse if he's missed any new secrets

Investment Advice

Your friends at Thursday Night Hoops perform many valuable services - one such service is giving investment advice, especially in these tough economic times - here's the issue:
"I have some monies invested in mutual funds (okay, some might be overstating it - it was a little and now it's puchhh) - I have continued to hold these mutual fund shares - assuming/hoping that the market will start going back up, should I continue to hold these shares, or should I sell them off and invest in individual stocks such as Citigroup that have the potential to rise faster and more substantially?"
Answer from the group - continue to hold the mutual fund shares unless you have the time needed to seriously look into and follow individual stocks (i.e. to become a "day trader") - while the individual stocks have the potential to rise faster and more substantially, they also have the potential to do the opposite - this especially holds if the monies involved are needed in your investment portfolio - however, if these monies are expendable, then taking a flyer on some individual stocks is perhaps a venture worth taking (sort of like the few hundred dollars that you take to a casino having dealt with the fact that you could easily lose it)

Range of Issues

also from Thursday night 11/13....

check out the other issues discussed:
- Should the US normalize relations with Cuba?
- Are you and your significant other comfortable taking dumps in front of each other?
- Is it appropriate for an adult to order off of the kids' menu?
- Do you and your significant other enjoy anal sex? Shower sex?
- Should Israel attack Iran's nuclear facilities?
- child breaks computer in an effort to cover up viewing of inappropriate material - punishment?

Looking forward to the following from you:
- opinions on any of these issues
- comments on the range of topics
- any thoughts on how these issues interconnect

First Nominee for Issue of the Year

from this past Thursday night 11/13....
Have you ever considered shaving the hair in your ass crack? If so, have you asked your significant other to do it for you?

The table said - NO - NO - and WHAT THE FUCK?!!

Issue Score - off the charts - many laughs were had by all, including the lady at the next table

Looking forward to the following from you:
- opinion on issue
- Is this Issue of the Year material?
- other candidates for Issue of the Year

Good Looking? Or Qualified?

Issue 1

(vote on sidebar)

Two women have been interviewed for one open position in the office - one woman (GL) is better looking than the other (NGL) - but the one who's not as good looking is slightly more qualified for the job - Which do you recommend to your boss?

The table said - the first 2/3 of the table favored recommending NGL - but then the last 1/3 of the table made a run, favoring GL in that the marginal job qualification superiority of NGL didn't overcome GL's looks - upon further intensive questioning, the issue host revealed that GL's looks were an 8 (on the 10 scale), while NGL was a 1!! Of course, this turned the entire table to the side of GL

Issue Score - 8 - for GL's looks and the 8 to 1 revelation

Emotional Experiences

Issue 2

Host brought to the table powerful, emotional experiences at the Holocaust Museum and the Vietnam Veterans Memorial wall - survey to find similar experiences at the table
The table said - incredibly interesting answers including:

• attending a Soviet Jewry rally in Washington as a teenager - meeting up with a black person on the bus and discovering how people can care about causes not their own
  
• visiting Treblinka death camp and seeing a family picnicing on the premises
  
• running in a marathon in DC right after 9/11 and running by the Pentagon
  
• hearing Vietnam war stories of torture from Vietnam vets at the VA
  
• watching the events of 9/11 on TV at a plant with the workers, and then seeing management post guards at the plant doors
  
• going to the Wailing Wall and Masada
  
• planning the funeral of a friend - with the friend

Issue Score - 10 - even more heartfelt and intimate than expected

Thanks

Issue 3

Son's Bar Mitzvah recommended giving a donation rather than a gift - some people gave both - thank you notes were written quickly, and in some cases for the gift and not the contribution - Should a second thank you note be written? If so, who should write it - the son or the parents? Special note - potential here for a binding issue offered by both the issue host and spouse.

The table said - Unfortunately, the potential for the issue being binding was lost as the table answers were all over the place - although late sentiment favored somehow doing a second acknowledgement so that the gift givers can know the family was notified about all of the gifts given

Issue Score - 6 - for variety of answers and binding potential