What made me feel old last night was realizing that it was the 25th anniversary of the VMAs. And that I was watching the day MTV premiered (to the sounds of "Video Killed the Radio Star" and "Hungry Like the Wolf" about seventeen zillion times).

Totally!

On the subject of gifts and registries and parties and such, why do people not open gifts at showers/parties anymore? I've gone to a couple lately at which this happened. WTF? It seems very rude to me. I want to see the reaction and I want to see the cute baby stuff received during baby showers. Also, why do I go to the trouble of wrapping the gift all nice when no one sees it? I may be a little more annoyed by this than I should be.

very patrician, WASP-y sounding name for a woman who would've been in her 40s/early 50s circa 1965.

Evelyn, Eleanor, Dorothy, Barbara, Alice, Louise, Brooke and other names based on distinguished ancestors

That was also an era of Unfortunate WASP Nicknames: Muffy, Bunny, Birdie, Babs.

I'm working with a man--I presume--named Sambo

I had a great uncle Sambo. Yes, my family is Southern. And, yes, we're white. It was a nickname he was given by the farm hands when he was a baby and called that his whole life.

The most interesting thing about it to me is that we all called him Uncle Sambo with no irony and not even thinking twice about it.

We didn't have cable, either -- but in the Boston area, we had a local video channel. V-66! Good times.

Loved that channel. They were responsible for breaking "Take On Me" by Aha.

Michael, Prince and Madonna weren't just born in the same year, but roughly in the same part of the rust belt.

Next year Bruce Springsteen (and Tom Waits) will turn 60!

why do people not open gifts at showers/parties anymore?

I think there's a notion out there that is boring for guests to have to watch gifts being opened. Personally, I suspect this notion springs from guest who were bored by interminable gift opening by people who invited everyone they ever met to their shower/party. I also suspect people don't understand that the gift-er wants to hear them coo and smile over the giftee's present, rather than getting a badly written thank-you note.

::thinks of college friend who I didn't see/hardly heard from for years and who then invited me to THREE showers::

I think there's a notion out there that is boring for guests to have to watch gifts being opened.

This is why I want more people to do something like what some friends of mine did at their baby shower -- they had play-doh on the tables, and while they were opening, we were supposed to be sculpting their baby. It was the perfect thing -- enough distraction so it wasn't boring, but you could still see the things and hear the ooh/aah.

My shower is on Sunday. I think my mom is planning on having me open gifts with the individual who gave it before they leave, but I don't think we're going to do a big open all the gifts all at once thing. There are way too many people coming to the shower, imo, but I really didn't have anything to do with it. All of them are either friends that I see or talk to often, Mom's friends, and family.

Some gift opening is boring, but I enjoy seeing baby gifts. My cousin's shower on Saturday had no games (not that I'm complaining) and no gift opening. It was just a regular party, which would have been nice had I known anyone there other than my cousin and my aunt. And that's why I think you should open gifts - give people something to do as most of us don't know each other. Also, no one had any idea of when it was appropriate to leave. It got a little excruciating.

That Ensure was nummy.

I can see rationale behind dropping mass gift opening. It can be a big chunk of time. I like the idea Jesse talks about. Being expected to be engaged with great auntie's idea of a wonderful baby gift may be a bit much the third time round.

My top lip is twice its normal size. That's a big lip.

Resume question: how do you properly indicate different positions/levels at the same company? Write them out like separate jobs? I do that on my resume itself, but on the web forms it feels tight. So I end up putting the aggregate start-end dates and stringing the titles together. I hope it doesn't look crazy.

I think my mom is planning on having me open gifts with the individual who gave it before they leave

dooo eeet. Cooing over the gift and saying thank-you to the gifter means not having to write a thank you note!