When will the media understand....

There have been quite a few shooting sprees lately. It's unfortunate that people have to resort to this but I find it hard to accept that the media will consistently turn the shooter in some kind of "celebrity" by going on and on about the shooter's life, showing his/her pictures, videos etc etc. We have seen times and times again that the shooters' last "wish" is to be famous....Why on earth are granting their wish?
Yes we need to report the news, yes we need to pay tribute to the victims and their families. But we are not obligated to spend days digging and publishing every little details of the life of the shooter.

I think that by making the shooter famous, we "encourage" others to do the same.

The question this week is whether you think that the excessive media coverage of all these shooting sprees encourages copy cats?

A little showbiz...the case of Rihanna & Chris Brown

Over the last few weeks, the media has been feeding us with the Chris Brown vs Rihanna story which brought back the topic of domestic violence on the forefront.

In this particular case, I was shocked to see that Rihanna's father supports his daughter's decision to return with Chris Brown, the man who has been beating his 20 year old daughter.
If Rihanna was not rich and famous, I would try to explain the father's position by saying he wants his daughter to stick with the rich guy in order to enjoy the "good life". But it is not the case. Shouldn't the father play a more assertive role than just support his daughter's decision?

My question this week is: what should be the role of parents whose children are victims of domestic violence, specially when the children are very young adults?

All those necessary lies…

Along with the discipline, the hard work, the patience, the laughter, the love, etc …come the “necessary lies” that parents tell their kids in order to get them to behave a certain way, or simply to explain a situation that might be too complex for the children to understand. Those necessary lies are sometimes funny, other times scary. It’s amazing sometimes, how far a parent will go to break down an issue to the children’s level.

I remember growing up, when asked where money comes from, my father responded that it grows on trees. My siblings and I told him that the family will be better off if we (the kids) joined our parents to collect money instead of going to school. This is when he went on to explain that the collecting sites are fenced up in different sections and our level of education will determine how much money we have access to. For instance, if we end up with just a high school diploma, we will have to go to the area where there is 1 tree for 10,000 people. With a bachelor degree, 1 tree for 1,000 etc etc . He went on to illustrate his story by giving us examples with members of our extended family; after throwing a few questions at him it became very clear to us how important education was.
This story worked for my siblings and I so much so, that we plan to use it when we will be asked the same question.


What are the necessary lies that worked for you? Whether they were told to you or you had to tell your children.

In relationships how important is it to define cheating?

What is your definition of cheating, is not a very common question to ask or be asked while dating. But in this day and age where most marriages end in divorce and infidelity is cited as a common reason why couples abandon their vows....would we be better off to go through the trouble of defining cheating?

The definition of cheating could be obvious to one but not shared by the other. Is cheating emotional? Is it physical? Is it a bit of both? Could it be virtual?

Now what happened if a couple cannot reconcile their definitions, does the strictest definition applies?

For me cheating is engaging in acts that have the potential to damage the trust and /or make your spouse feel insecure, betrayed. This can be translated by engaging in some physical acts, building an emotional connection with another party, etc...

It is interesting how complicated the definition can get. The more I think about it the more clauses I might end up adding. With regards to disagreements regarding the definition, the strictest should apply...why not?

This is a brain storming session so what is your definition of cheating? how important is it to define it? what if the couple does not agree?

With the state of economy, how do we spend less and save more

If you watch any financial expert on TV or pick up any article about the economy , all they say to households is to spend less and save every single penny we can for rainy days that might be ahead. How do we practically spend less, specially if we are already living paycheck to paycheck? This is when a light bulb went on in my head...why not start a blog where people can share practical ideas that already worked for themselves.
Have the difficult times made you more creative about spending money? If yes, please share.

I have been doing the following myself:
- no longer eating out, I do miss it but it's a very expensive habit
- resist going to the vending machine, it's cheaper to buy in bulk a few snacks from the grocery store
- if I absolutely have to go to a drive through, I only choose from the value menu
- make a list before going shopping, it prevents me from forgetting stuff and having to drive back to the store to get the missing items
- called my Internet/cable company to find out if there was a cheaper way for me to get those services, turned that by reducing my Internet speed I could save 20 bucks a month

What about you, what have you been doing to spend less?