Traditional male roles are always changing with society, partly due to roles that females take on, as well as influence of the media. This led to an interesting discussion with my coworkers. I work in an office that is predominantly female, which means the editorial staff is all women and the sales and marketing staff is all women. The balance is slightly offset in a few departments, such as graphic design.

But, as a result, I find myself doing a larger percentage of heavy lifting, even more so since the only male editorial intern goes back to school soon.

Technology has also had a fairly major impact on male roles, which has added more responsibilities to the list.

So far, I have it down to:

1. Move heavy furniture
2. Open jars (pasta sauce, pickles)
3. Reprogram VCRs (now replaced by PVRs, DVRs, etc.)
4. Kill spiders (or, if you like spiders, letting them outside)
   
5. Hunt down buffalo
6. Set up internet connections (we have an IT department for this, so I don't have to, although I was asked how to change the view options on Outlook)
7. Assemble Ikea furniture (instruction manuals optional)
   
   addendums:
   
   
   
8. Clean up a woman's plate (ie: the stuff that's left over from her plate after she's full)
9. Replace objects in the shelves that are harder to reach.
10. Install all electronics (instruction manuals optional).
11. Carry groceries.
    

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Please Eat Tasty Animals.

I've briefly toyed with the idea of going vegetarian, more for environmental reasons (ie: lowering my carbon footprint), although that didn't last too long because tofu burgers don't taste nearly as good as the real thing and I really like to be able to get my vitamin B₁₂ without supplementation. My g.f. is equally glad I'm not a vegetarian, due to the social aspects of eating.

Last weekend, we were over at Memphis Blues, a restaurant that serves a lot of meat products. Pork, chicken, ribs...stuff that would cause the average PETA member to go up in arms. But what amused me the most were the souvenir t-shirts they had for sale. One had the word "vegetarian" with a red circle and slash through it. Another said (words to the effect of), "The best racks in town."

I'm assuming that one only comes in women's petite sizes. Or for really, really fat guys.

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How much do I love my girlfriend? Her dog just puked on the floor and the rug and I just cleaned it up. It smells like skunk spray too.

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At one point, Denise suggested to me that I write a gushing, sappy blog post about how much I love her. I said I would do so when I was in the mood, although she took that to mean when I actually felt that way for her. Considering the tone that my blog usually takes, it's more that it's outside of my regular writing style and subject matter than a reflection of how I feel.

Instead, I will tell you how much I love my girlfriend by talking about the things I do. I took her dog out to the back of her apartment for some fresh air and so she can do her business. Lo and behold, she saw a skunk and decided to chase after it. I have spent the last half hour running around town to find a 24 hour Shoppers Drug Mart to obtain 1L of hydrogen peroxide for the purpose of deodorizing the dog.

As I write this, she is in the bathroom holding the dog down while applying the mixture. In a few minutes, I will be called in to assist.

This is how much I love my girlfriend. If there were any doubts, this should clear all of them.

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