Amazon is extremely helpful whether it is used or new books that you need. They also provide music and movies. I find that they have a better selection than most competing websites and better prices. For new items, the people of Amazon.com post the information themselves, but people that want to sell their items online can do so by making an account and posting the information about the item. Users can also write a review about any item they wish and about sellers that they have dealt with. The items are searchable by title, author, subject, and ISBN. The website then tells how many items it has found, if it has found more than one item of the same title you can choose which title is correct and then they will tell you how many matches they found, both used and new. Barnes and Noble is Amazon's largest competing website. Although I prefer Amazon, I do find that Barnes and Noble is easier to navigate and search for books. Also, sometimes the prices are better, especially with used and out of print books. However, Amazon does have a better selection, and most of the time they have better prices also.

Thank you to Emily and Melissa for posting a link to my blog in their blogs!

I added a Google Analytics tracker thingamabob to see how many hits my blog is getting. So far I think it is only the graders for the class that have visited it.

Date Range	Visits	Pageviews
October 3-October 9, 2006	2	2

There were not really any companies that I recognized as having a psychological connection. Instead I chose one that had a literary connection (Amazon.com) since Dear Abby is iconic in periodicals, and the other I chose was Allstate because it is an insurance company, and many times insurance companies are the reason that people can afford to see a therapist. It seemed that an insurance company and Amazon.com may not have too much in common, but low and behold they are connected by only three people, and two of those people sit on the boards of quite a few other companies (4 and 6). So, it seems that despite the expected differences between the two companies, they are obviously easily connected due to the networking of certain individuals.

So I bookmarked a few sites on the Ning website. Pretty much, I bookmarked them because I found them amusing:

• http://ruminationbu.blogspot.com/: Genna Martin's blog amuses me to no extent. Who hasn't had to dance in front of those automatic flushers? And is there anyone in this world that travels on a regular basis and has always had a good experience? It is just so true to life that I couldn't pass it up.
• http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6133452241464387103&pr=goog-sl: The condom commercial, originally posted by lschneid, is enough to make someone not want to have children while being horribly amusing at the same time, and clever.
• http://www.thesuperficial.com/: Who doesn't love hearing some celebrity gossip every once in a while? This website portrays it in an even more amusing way than it normally is. Originally posted by paultoms.

As can be seen at the very bottom of the page, there is a new addition to my blog. That is the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.5 License. I specifically chose this license because I don't care if people use my work as long as they give me credit for the original work. Also, if they modify my work I would like anyone that then also decides to use my work to do so under the same license so that no matter what I am to be given due credit. Since I doubt that anyone would use the contents of my blog for any commercial purposes, that was not even a real consideration for me, and if they do, as long as I get credit I am happy.

If you would also like to add a Creative Commons license to your blog the URL is: http://creativecommons.org/

One of my good friends recently went through a break up. So, of course, I instantly went about trying to find things to cheer her up. I found piles of jokes, especially on the always reliable http://www.funnyhumor.com/. But then I found a great one, despite the fact that her boyfriend broke up with her and that the joke is the other way around, she still got a good chuckle out of it. Click on the broken heart to read the joke.

There are a few websites that I have found to be interesting and helpful as the Dear Abby of my group of friends.

First of all, of course, there is the real Dear Abby's website http://www.uexpress.com/dearabby/, which I have found works wonders at two in the morning when one cannot sleep and is bored out of their mind. Not to say that she is boring, not at all, it's just that I have a very pathetic way of calming myself down and that is to read the questions that people put to her and to see if I would suggest the same thing in her position.

Second of all, there is http://postsecret.blogspot.com/. I find that a lot of people already know about it, but for those of you that don't know about it it is a site that allows people to send in homemade postcards anonymously and share their secrets. It's actually an awesome concept. I've never sent one in, but it's fun to read them. Sometimes they're amusing, sometimes they're horrific, and sometimes they are just plain depressing, but it is still a refreshing and interesting website, especially from a psychological viewpoint.

Some of the things I love about my "position":

• I know everything before everyone else does.
• It makes my life seem not so bad, and it distracts me from my own problems when my life is bad.
• I can genuinely say that I have helped my friends, and in some cases, even changed their lives. How many people can honestly say that?
• Helping my friends discover themselves has helped me discover who I am.

Some of the things I hate about my "position":

• When people say "Please don't tell anyone" after they have been confiding in me for years and know that I have never slipped.
• When people ask me what the other person said about them when they know full well that my lips are sealed, which goes along with the next one.
• Being caught between two people and having loyalties to both.
• Sometimes talking to people for hours and just wanting to scream "What is so hard about this to understand?!"
• When I get blamed if something goes wrong: I only help come to decisions, I don't make them or carry them out.
• Most of my friends are only used to talking and don't know how to listen.

I guess it all comes down to which outweighs which, and sadly, that changes from time to time. I finally understand what people mean when they say that something is both a gift and a curse.

First, an explanation of the title: While sitting in my friend's living room one day she commented that I should write a book about my life. I sat there thinking to myself "This is the third time that someone has said that to me. What, pray tell, is so interesting about my life?" This was accompanied by my other friend's suggestion of a title that included vulgar language and Dr Phil (let your mind wander), but that has little to do with anything, it's just kind of amusing. He then proceeded to comment that people's lives revolved around me and that if I disappeared their worlds would come to an end. Now I found this just a tad extreme. However, it was slightly applicable. I had become known as the "Dear Abby" within my group of friends, and as a stage manager in theater I had people that barely knew me finding solace in me and confiding in me. I had become a therapist for many people, as well as a mediator, and confidant.

I have always found this slightly ironic considering that I myself rarely take the advice from myself that I should, but that's ok, because my friends take it for me. I dole out advice, they most likely follow. If there is no advice involved, I at least usually prevent breakdowns, screaming, fights, break ups, or a little bit of all of it. I am the reason and maturity. How that happened I will never know, but I have accepted my position, begrudgingly most times, but I have accepted it none the less. It is because of this position that I know all and see all. I am the center of the infamous "loop". Yes, that is rather nonsensical, but then again I feel that me as a therapist is too.

However, it is because of this position that I am able to write a blog dedicated to the craziness of my life as the next "Dear Abby". As Lucy in the Peanuts used to post outside her booth, "The Doctor Is In", but then again I am in 24/7 much unlike Lucy. Ah, to be a cartoon.