The Game of Gift Giving.. What to Buy for Men

If you haven't started your holiday shopping yet.. Get On It.

With Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales behind us, its time to hunker down on your gift list and start shopping.. How else is our economy going to get out of the gutter?

Since a decent amount of holiday gift pitches come across my desk at work I figured I'd share a few of my favorites here. I'm going to start with some ideas for picking out a gift for the men in your lives. Whether it's your husband, significant other, brother, cousin etc...

 Here are a few manly gifts to consider.

A nationwide dating survey reported that 26% of males are attracted to die-hard sports fans and 46% of men find women who know their sports trivia attractive..So pay attention to what his favorite sports team is and score his MVP (Most Valued Present) this year.


If you can afford it and brave the plausible blustering winter weather grab some sports tickets for the two of you to enjoy... He won't expect you to shell out thousands for the best seats but pick the best ones you can afford... some ticket sites to browse through; www.tktguy.com  www.fansnap.com, www.hookuptickets.com to name a few outside the regular stubhub.com and craigslist hot spots...

If you have to travel to go see his team then start with some fun sports gear that will keep him warm this winter...You can find them here:  http://shop.neweracap.com/search?q=nfl%20on%20field

Let him know you have a sense of humor with a Boobzie, a line of voluptuous coozies to keep those beverages cool. Find them at: http://www.boobzie.com/

Get him off the couch without sounding like a nagging old wife with the gift of NBA Baller Beats... its a motion-based sports video game that requires you to use a real basketball in an interactive beats-driven experience. Players will have to time their dribble to the beat of each song and perform a variety of skill moves displayed on-screen to score points.. The only catch is that its exclusively on Kinect™ for Xbox 360, so make sure he has that type of game counsel before you go ahead and buy it... its sounds like cool concept though that you could easily turn into a fun competitive game to play against each other in. www.nbaballerbeats.com

For a neat semi-techy gift that you might also want for yourself check out the billfold wallet case. Its a sleek wallet/phone case in one! It's a leather phone case that also carries credit cards in a 2 slot holder and an ID in a clear pocket. Find it here: http://www.quirky.com/products/448-Keeper-stick-on-wallet

21 Things Women Wish Men Knew

I always love when I come across these girly lists of what women or men want.. Today I happened to find one from CottonCandymag.com on 21 Thing women wish men knew... the full list is below, of course with some of my own personal antidotes.

21 THINGS WOMEN WISH MEN KNEW

12.08.10

1.)    Shopping IS therapeutic-NOT really or all the time, ever seen a woman go bathingsuit shopping? 

2.)    We know when you’re not listening- The glaze that covers your eyes aren't sunglasses, just because you flipped ESPN on doesn't mean I was finished with my sentence. 

3.)    There’s no such thing as a white lie from a man- No but there is such a thing as a bad lie, so just try being honest and we won't have to call you out on it.

4.)    A man that can cook is REALLY sexy – But boiling spaghetti and microwaving sauce out of a can doesn't count

5.)    Chivalry is NOT dead. Open a door for goodness sake.- Open a door, say excuse me when you burp outloud and try NOT to talk about farts or going # 2 at the dinner table or in front of my girlfriends.

6.)    Nice guys really do finish last. They’re the ones we’re with in the end.- As long as they 'finish' last.

7.)    Only rock stars are allowed to wear leather pants- No leather, pleather or skinny jeans please, no woman wants to be reminded her guy is skinnier than her.

8.)    We LOVE flowers, backrubs and ooo…chocolate. Flowers are at almost every city corner or any grocery store so NO excuses not to pick us up a bouquet at least once a week..

9.)    Intelligence is attractive- In conversation only, don't think your the next TV political analyst because we all have our own opinions and they most likely won't match-up ALL the time.

10.) Honesty is even more attractive- But don't you EVER tell us we gained any kind of weight unless were pregnant.

11.) Calling when you said you would shows integrity- or shows you might not be a douchebag 

12.) Not calling when you said you would is the kiss of death- Only if your really prissy... things come up, just make sure you call eventually.

13.) Men don’t own the remote- And neither do we, it's called get 2 TV's if your living together.

14.) There is no such thing as too many shoes or handbags- But if we're being delusional and diving into debt, you could say so nicely. 

15.) Women ARE good drivers- Just not me... or my mother for that matter

16.) It takes 50 compliments to offset one thoughtless remark- Or a really nice dinner with good wine.

17.) No matter how old we are, we love it when men hold our hands- Yup, it's the small things, if you don't it tells us your too embarrassed to let everyone know you enjoy spending time with your GF.

18.) Decisiveness is attractive.  Indecisiveness is so NOT- Don't always ask us what we want to do tonight or where we want to go, your the man, make a decision. 

19.) We don’t expect you to look like Arnold Schwarneggar. Just be healthy and fit-If you want us to stay fit, you stay fit.

20.) We love it when you tell us what you’re thinking- But not all the time though, this is why boys should have had diary's growing up.

21.) We are the best thing that ever happened to you- Don't forget it, ever. The moment you do we'll know, it's called a woman's intuition. 

original list here: http://cottoncandymag.com/love/21-things-women-wish-men-knew/

Promiscuous Girl? Promiscuous Boy!

Nelly Furtado might have been signing about a promiscuous girl, but a new study says men should keep count of their own "number".

SeekingArrangement.com, a quote "Sugar Daddy dating website", announced its list of the “most promiscuous” cities in America.

 38% of their Sugar Daddy customers claim to have more than 7 partners per year, with the biggest 'casual' cities such as Chicago, Birmingham and Las Vegas topping the list.

Surprisingly enough New York city didn't even make the list! Only 15% of New York men claim to have more than 7 sexual partners a year.

Almost more shocking ( only because its soon to be my new zip code) is how the town of Hoboken, NJ came in #8 on the list with 57% of wealthy men having 7 or more sexual partners annually. I guess its not entirely out of the norm since it was the town that Jersey Shore's Snooky and JWow wanted to tape their spin-off in (even though they were denied by the town and basically banned). The town could also get some spiked #'s by its endearing reputation of being 'HobokaSquan'... aka a mesh of all the young and mostly single Hoboken residents that venture down the Jersey parkway to slum and sleep it up in Manasquan NJ for the summer.


A couple side notes for the rest of the Top 10...

Cities With The Most Promiscuous Men in America

1. Chicago, Illinois 72% -No surprise here after recently visiting the windy city,a large Guy to Gal ratio
2. Birmingham, Alabama 70% - hmm what else is there to do in Alabama...
3. Las Vegas, Nevada 68% -whatever happens in Vegas Stays in Vegas, unless its a anonymous sex survey
4. Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 64% - Bored
5. Atlanta, Georgia 62% - Bored and hot
6. Phoenix, Arizona 61% - Bored with lots of college towns near by
7. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 59% - Wishes they were more like NYC guys
8. Hoboken, New Jersey 57% - 'HobokaSquan' + St.Patty's Day, need I say more?
9. Richmond, Virginia 55% - For every 100 females there are 87 males
10. Hartford, Connecticut 54% - My hometown state!? This must be a typo!

A New Study asks an Old Question: Can Men & Women be "Just Friends"?

It's the age-old question, can men and women really just be friends?


The disputed 'When Harry met Sally' conundrum seems to always go back to the problem of attraction. A news study says that though these platonic relationships are plausible,  there is nearly always a portion of attraction between male and female friends. 


And if some guys wonder why they seem to hear the line "I just want to be friends" or " I think we're better off as friends" more than their female counterparts its because men report more sexual interest in their female friends than their female friends do in them and men are more likely to overestimate how romantically  interested their friends are in them.


Lead author in the study, April Bleske-Rechek says that although men and women want to be friends and have platonic relationships, that data she has collected shows that attraction can get in the way. 


April and her researchers sent questionnaires to 107 young adults asking whether they thought their cross-sex friendships were beneficial or burdensome- the results?


"Everyone was very positive about these friendships, ranking them as overwhelmingly beneficial."


However beneficial these friendships might be, attraction was named as an interference when it came to the relationships 5-times more than it was said to be a benefit and the more attracted someone was to a friend, the lower their satisfaction with their romantic partner. 


So what do we learn from this study? 


I can't help but think of the old Jimmy Soul song, " If you wanna be happy"...


If you wanna be happy for the rest of your life
Never make a pretty woman your wife
So for my personal point of view
Get an ugly girl to marry you

I know the concept may be a little different.. but bottom line.. girls are much better at having platonic friendships with men than men are.. and if your guy has a "best girl-friend" who looks like the next Kate Upton either keep your eye on her or tell him to get uglier girlfriends.