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I found myself watching E News Weekend this morning while waiting for a plumber to install a new garbage disposal and toilet.  Need I even say that the appliances in question were surprisingly relevant metaphors for the breathless coverage of a host of "superstars" making headlines on E News - stars like Kendra, Kimora, Kourtney & Khloe, and Jon Gosselin.  We all like to watch people who are dumber than we are, people whose lives [...]

As I’m standing on the shuttle that takes you from the ticketing terminal at the Las Vegas airport to the gates the other day, I notice that the pretty twentysomething woman next to me – accompanied by a group of young female friends – is wearing a t-shirt that reads, “I LOVE TO FART” (the “Love” being a graphic heart, of course, which really classes up the message). This set me to wondering exactly what [...]

For today's twenty or thirtysomething woman, a weekend in Las Vegas seems to provide a unique opportunity to reinvent oneself via contemporary fashion. A stroll through any strip hotel offers hundreds of examples of accountants, lawyers, taxidermists and toxic waste dump personnel who have, for two days and three nights, reimagined themselves as high-priced hookers.  Balancing precariously on four-inch CFM heels, their sparkly mini-dresses casting off all constraints of modesty and good taste, they are [...]

My partner and I were in Vegas this weekend, that bacchanalia of slurpee cocktails and Cirque du Cher. This is not an unusual occurence; he loves gambling and I love the over-the-topness, and since we get free rooms (which, given that he is not even remotely a high roller, should tell you something about the Vegas economy), we go a lot. We typically stay at the Venetian/Palazzo, or occasionally, the Wynn/Encore. And therein lies the [...]

Last night was the closing night of Promax, the annual television marketing convention and self-congratulation extravaganza, beloved by its attendees for its potential for both creative inspiration and hookups. It was held in LA this year, and, because I work for a television network, I was present last night for the closing party, held at the pool of the new J W Marriott hotel downtown. It was a typical Promax party in most respects – [...]

Those of you who have read my book are, perhaps, aware of my mother’s tendency toward slightly obsessive anal retentive behavior. Perhaps you would be unsurprised, then, to learn that I, too, on occasion, can find myself contemplating the need to vacuum the driveway or alphabetize the Christmas decorations.  These can, I suppose, be somewhat self-defeating activities. But they don’t hold a candle to my current favorite (and any of you who are published probably [...]

When you work a full-time job and write a book on the side, it evokes some interesting reactions from people upon its publication. I work for a TV network, and the responses to my being published have ranged from the flattering "You've inspired me" and "Can you sign my boobs so that I can prove to people that I knew you when?" (the practicality of which apparently eluded the woman in question) to the unsportsmanlike [...]

There are moments in life when you really have to pause and consider: “What horrible thing did I do in my past to deserve this?” Recently I was in St. Louis, Missouri for a bookstore event. I was raised in St. Louis and – given that there would be people at this event who were not only in the book but who might want to set me on fire afterwards - I was a trifle [...]