I think the ideal woman should look like Pamela Anderson, survive like Kanaalaq, and fight like Ellen Ripley. Now, is that so much to ask? <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Seriously, I think the stereotypical helpless woman must be more myth than fact. Many if not most of the women I know these days are at least as tough as the guys. Maybe it's a geographical thing or maybe just socio-economic. At any rate, I don't worry about the women in my life so much as I worry about what they'll do to the men who cross them <img src="/images/graemlins/shocked.gif" alt="" />

heh - RE Top shelf
My wife is the same height I am, but I have very short arms and legs, where she is the exact opposite. I ask HER to get things from the top shelf

See, from my perspective the guy blew it a long time ago. I prefer the "Silverback" approach. All my women (wife and two daughters) know what everything I own (that I want them to know about) is for and I have given them some level of training so that they can make most of it work as intended. I've also spent hours trying to get them into a mindset to solve problems and face adversity without panic or taking a victim's stance. Now here's the key part:

When one of them gets overwhelmed, as is the case moreso with the female of this species by my experience, and they have an emotional release, then I do the Silverback thing. I quietly approach and let my gentle confidence (even if only an act, sometimes even the silverback can get his neck hairs raised) calm them, if need be I will groom on them, or display for them, or collect up a bunch of yummy shoots for them to munch (or in this case, raid the chocolate jar). The point is, when someone is upset, the first thing ought to be to get them back into a comfort zone if possible and help them find a way to handle the situation. Training, even the "I told you so" kind, should be done later, when the threat is passed, and criticism can be more easily accepted.

To rear up and beat the chest when the clan is already stirred up just makes you the focus of their rage or further agitation.

ahem, some of my female cousins are drama queen. They demand luxury escape vechile to be provide by bf or they would dump bf. There still plenty of drama queens out there. I often see them shopping on the weekend at high end women clothing store.

Try working tech support. Drama-trauma isn't just for the "queens" any more.

I know that all too well! i used to work level 1 techsupport for a small ISP

Susan said:



While not really related to the original post, the "big deal" was that although it was "just" a power outage, it has turned out to be an outage that has lasted for some people almost 2 weeks now, during the biggest heat wave in 3 years (heat indexed of around 115). It has killed about 25 people in STL now I believe. Also, I don't know if you have ever been to St. Louis, but there are several parts of that city that you would not want to be in when the lights are off for several days.

Shut the power off in this country for a couple weeks and see what happens (especially in the big cities). It wouldn't be pretty.

Greg

Well, yes, I have been there in summer. And I got out as fast as I could. My sympathies to all the residents.

But I'll bet that most of the people who died are old, or working harder than they should be in that awful heat.

But that wasn't Girlie's problem. She wanted lights, she wanted a phone to complain on, and she wanted money. That seemed to be the extent of her grief.

She wasn't in a wheelchair. She wasn't gasping for air because her oxygen machine wasn't working. She wasn't even in the first stage of heat exhaustion. There were no bad guys kicking the door in. The house/apartment wasn't on fire. Her little world was a tiny bit off track and she just wanted to whine.

Sorry, I'll save my sympathy for the people who deserve it. Silly little twits just aren't on my list.

The shallow end of the gene pool still needs more chlorine.

Cynical Sue