Volkswagen has a new series of ads on what people want and their site is filled with examples of what people want. They encourage you to participate - your name could end up in lights on Times Square, literally. Some of their findings:

• 93% of people want a pop-up free internet. (Yay!)
• 82% want kids to give up video games for grass stains. (They never met my mom.)
• 76% want a job they enjoy rather than a job that pays. (Really.)
• 65% want to get to know their neighbors better. (Hello? Go visit. D’oh.)
• 91% want a partial insurance refund if they make no claims. (I love this one!)
• 60% want more cowbell. (Walken for president!)

What do you want?

If you haven’t participated in the poll yet, here is the link.

So…do you still have Christmas lights, decorations, maybe even a tree up? From Cathy of Domestic Psychology we have a little wagering going on:

It’s that time of year again. Time to place your bets on when the outside Christmas lights will be taken off the house. Will the lights come down:

A. this weekend
B. …

You’ll have to hit her place to see the rest of your options and cast your vote. Personally, I’m rooting for option “D”.

If you’re a beer-lover in Nashville, you have several options for locally-brewed beers, including those from Boscos, Blackstone, Yazoo, and Big River. mDave at The Nashville Feed is asking you to rank your favorites, so what say you? Is there an outstanding local brew?

If you’re from elsewhere, are there local brews you miss and wish you could have shipped in (which state laws prohibit)? I could use a Great Lakes Brewing Company beer from time to time myself.

Good morning, Nashville! There’s only 7 more shopping days until Christmas, and I wanna know- do you have your shopping finished, or is there still a lot more to do?

Me, I am way, WAY behind. Ack. I have got a whole lot to do.

In the same vein- do you wrap your presents as you buy them or do you do it all at once, at the last minute? Normally I’m a last minute gift wrapper, but this time I have been wrapping as I go along. Well, all two of the gifts I have purchased so far…

Hi everybody! I hope you had a great Thanksgiving weekend.

We’d like to get a general idea of what date would be the best for a holiday get-together.  If you would, please take a second to participate in the below poll about the best date (of course, the decision will also depend on availability of the facility).

If you have any other comments and/or suggestions, leave them in the comments…

Fewer middle-class people are having babies. It’s a topic of much discussion these days, causing worries everywhere from conservative talk shows to government think tanks. One of the main reasons–which seems to go largely unspoken– is discussed here at MSNBC.

Despite all those $200 sneakers you hear about and the long lines at Starbucks, consumers are actually spending less of their income — much less — on discretionary items like clothing, entertainment and food than their parents did. In fact, after taking care of essentials like housing and health care, today’s middle class has about half as much spending money as their parents did in the early 1970s, Warren says.

The basics, according to Warren, now take up close to three-fourths of every family’s spending power (it was about 50 percent in 1973), leaving precious little left over at the end of the month — and leaving many families with no cushion in case of a job loss or health crisis.

That may explain–in part–why my parents were able to have four kids on one income, while many others Read the rest of this entry »

I don’t know why, I just love polls, what can I say?