Hello Mistress D, One of the editors usually picks the comments they deem worthy. All you have to do is post something. I was lucky enough to win a Zippo lighter last season. If your comment is chosen one of the editors will send you an E-mail and also mention it in the Blog section. Good luck to you!

....A kick in the ass with a frozen boot.

.....Ask Dyna and the Lipp sisters.

Like Rozsie said, they'll send you an email and ask for your mailing address. I received a MM pen and Don Draper's business card. :-)

If you don't get an email, you may want to check your spam and make sure it didn't get deleted.

.....If this is your first official post, how can you have been quoted?

Were you being quoted on something less official than yesterday's post?

Anyway, I've seen Mistress Draper before.

Dry, I think she meant her first official thread.

.....Thanks, Mambo.....

Dry, did you get one o' them spiffy Mad Men Mugs?

Those are cool, I must say.....also the pens with DD falling, falling, falling through the air, which arrives with that groovy Don Draper business card Mambo mentioned...they are all keepers.

Thanks, AMC, from the Peanut Gallery/Maddicts who have been on the receiving end so far.....

SCfan, your the lucky one to get the mug that has the fill line on it.
I've seen photos of it in the "What you were saying "...blogs but it's not the prize the quotee recieves.
I got the lighter like rozie but have yet to buy fluid. It came in it's own little bed of red velvet sorta like a jewelry box.
Ya told me about that other website that had MM swag but they don't have the mug.... sigh.

.....SCfan....I did, and it's genuine old-school style, too.

This is the part where I clam up!

.....I, for one, take substantial note when various companies choose to employ the best marketing materials. It costs, but it shows.

I'm in marketing, and those who pay more attention to quality and disregard the cost, are the ones that get my attention.

Yes, Dry, quality stands out more than ever...since it becomes more and more rare with every passing day.

Zerelda, didn't you also receive one of the "Fill Whiskey To This Line" mugs?

I hate to think that AMC is now either substituting different mugs to the winners of WYS blogs every Friday...or just simply ran out of the original (pictured) stock...I don't use mine all that often so I won't break it.

I drank hot tea from it during episodes when the new season began, but decided to save it to use only during "new" seasons....what-evah...

Hey guys, thanks for the heads up.

I haven't gotten any sort of email thus far... does that mean it got devoured by my spam folder? That can't be good. Some of this swag sounds killer...

I think I recall being quoted twice, but I have no idea who I should get in touch with to redeem the stuff.

Anyway, thank you for the responses :D

A Don Draper business card? My, I'm drooling already....

And if any of the powers that be happen to be reading this...could something be arranged for the two emails to be sent to me again? I'll have to chain myself to the spam email folder... curse the auto-delete function my email provider has set up....

Well, MistressD, I recall getting an e-mail from John Frankfurt (an Online Producer) he's listed in that box of Online Staff on the main Blog page, I believe.

Anyway, he e-mailed me what looked to be a "form" e-mail asking where to mail the prize (you got a choice from several items back then) but, don't know if the "procedure" has changed since.

Yes, the DD business card comes with the pen (that pic they show of it looks more like a letter opener to me) and it is embossed with a slight texture with "sterlingcooperadagency.com" at the bottom (NOT period correct, of course!) which will take you to AMC's MM section. Very classy card, to be sure, just what you'd imagine DD would carry.

here is John Frankfurt's e-mail (the one he e-mailed me from, anyhow...may not be current anymore)

jmfrankfurt@amc.com

well the link didn't highlight, so must not be current anymore....

well the link didn't highlight, so must not be current anymore....

oops...try this one:

jmfrankfurt@amctv.com

guess he has changed it....

.....That almost looks like a cartoon image of Dyna.....just sayin'.....

Mistress D, try this one: info@amctv.com

SCfan - thank you very much for the email address, I'll try it out to see if it works.

Dry, would you be referring to my picture? It's supposed to be a self-portrait (though to be fair I look nothing like that in real life; yay for creative license!)

Mambo, thanks for the email address as well; I don't know which one to try but I think I might do one and then try another if I don't get a response.

.....Yes, Mistress. It think it's quite good. And cute, too.

Thanks very much, Dry! :D I had a blast drawing it, that's for sure :)

MistressDraper, thanks so much for posting this. I too have been waiting for some direction on claiming a prize for having my quote selected for the "What You're Saying" section. I've been checking my email and spam filter religiously but have not received anything yet. I'm going to try the info@amctv.com address because I can't wait to get my hands on that Mad Men pen!

Thanks for posting that e-mail address, Mambo, I think the one I had for John Frankfurt is no longer working.

That is a cool pen, DD, and the business card is cooler!

Here's the e-mail that popped up when I clicked the "About/Contact" icon at the very bottom of the page...

amccustomerservice@rainbow-media.com

maybe that one'll work.....good luck!

Thanks SCfan!

That pen looks cool. I actually bought the business card and an ultra cool Mad Men business card case off eBay a while back. The pen will be a great addition!

Hey DD...ya mean I could get big bucks for my (free) Don Draper Creative Director business card they sent me with my pen? (not that I'd part with either one) on Ebay????

Did you have to pay a lot? (meaning more than $5)

I thought I was quoted once. But I don't believe I ever got an email. Huummphf!!! Aren't I prize worthy???

I remember when you mentioned that a long time ago, Chelsea... how disgraceful! No excuse for that kind of crap, IMO.

...if I were you, I'd e-mail amc and ask what gives...that's what I had to do when they never e-mailed me about my quote in z's "Hamm It Up" thread...they e-mailed me back and ended up sending me a pen/DD business card set.

It shouldn't happen that way, but fair is fair.

Relieved to see I'm not the only one, DoubleDon.

I noticed this about a week ago but I was a bit nervous about posting something in the Talk forum; I didn't want my first impression to be that of someone obnoxious or greedy :( Of course, just hearing about that pen's making me all excited... I sure hope I can get my hands on it eventually!

Anyway, I sent an email off to the info@amctv.com address yesterday, and so far I haven't gotten a response.

Thanks again also to SCfan for the rainbow-media.com address! You've been such a big help. :)

If nothing happens for about a week or so I'll fire another message off to that address (I don't want to seem too pushy!).

Yes, SCfan, I did get one of the mugs with the "Fill to" lines. I love it and haven't used it for fear I will break it. Silly of me, I know. I think I will start using it. I have been quoted twice, but got nothing the second time. I wondered at the time if I should ask about a prize, but did not want to seem greedy when so many Maddicts have never received anything. Thought perhaps it was a one time only deal.

SCfan, I miss Miss Dee, but your fans are nice. Have you thought of using Sally Rand and her fans - I am sure they would have been a great favorite of the Sterling Cooper boys!

z, the reason I've got two prizes was because JF said that the first prize (mug) was for being asked (by Clayton N....wherever he may be!) to be the subject of a totally different column title ("Meet the Reader" --- many months ago) and the pen I received was for my first quote in What You're Saying...so it was two different columns is why, evidently.

He did indeed mention that a poster does receive only one prize at the time of their first quote in WYS, no prizes for any quotes thereafter.

That's a cool idea (pun intended) about Sally Rand, z...may just do that in a few months after these vintage fans carry me through the summer, if I can find a good pic to use of her, that is.

Then again, Sandra is still out there in Cali with Moondoggie and the surfing gang...never know when she'll turn up again, of course....Hang Ten, Gidget!!!

.....Sigh.....Sorry to be the messenger, but "MistressDraper" works for AMC.

And I, for one, am getting more than a little freaked out by Lily & Co.'s malicious obsession with duping us into wide-eyed, enthusiastic conversations, infiltrating our forum, and generating worshipping adoration for the crazy people that run this thing.

This conversation about "swag" is designed to whip up a frenzy of interest and competition for the weekly morsels being devisively doled out and used as tools for manipulating the unsuspecting.

I've never seen a forum, in all my travels, where the moderators were being paid to stalk and harass the posters.

Is this seriously their JOB???

I'm sorry, but I don't get it and I would love for any resident psychologist to define the personality disorder associated with this behavior.

Wouldn't surprise me a bit to find the word "criminal" embedded in that description somewhere.

Well, Dry, when one clicks her name and is taken to her forum Profile Page, it has a website for her that is on Twitter...and IT says she's a fifteen year old girl...what the hell????

The internet/web is a craaaaaazy place, no?

hmmmmmmmmmmm......

Slow down there a minute; I don't work for AMC and I don't even personally know anybody that does. I came to this website and decided to sign up for an account and here I am. There's no infiltration or stalking of any sort going on here... The accusations are bit heavy-handed and harsh :(

The Twitter page does, in fact, belong to me, and I actually am a 15 year old girl. Even if I'd like to work for AMC, I couldn't yet, anyway.

Hope that clears up the confusion...

I have two questions:

1. Dry, can you tell us what transpired to make you think Mistress D works for AMC? And BTW, I'm skeptical about many posters, too.

2. Mistress D, if you are indeed a 15-year-old girl, what is up with young people and your constant need to be on the internet constantly? Haven't you read "1984"? Big Brother is watching you.

Well, Mistress Draper, excuse my skepticism, but you don't write like a 15 year old girl. But what do I know - I am still having trouble believing the little 9 year old who plays Sally Draper would actually use words like "quintessential" and "conjure" ina conversation.

Mambo - perhaps the younger generation's just bred to be that way? Anyway, I try not to be on the Internet constantly, if that helps. Thanks for the warning...

zerelda - There isn't too much point in my lying about something like that, but there isn't really any other way I can prove it, so you'll just have to take my word for it. Sorry for any confusion I might've caused...

.....All I can say is that all you need is at your disposal.

How you process that is up to you.....

Got it . . .

Why are some of the old posters here so rude to the new ones? I don't get it at all. You would think you would be welcoming of new Mad Men fans since we all love the show and want to discuss it. Instead you accuse people of being spies! WTF? Stop acting like a high school clique.

MistressDraper, I really like your self-portrait. :)

I agree, janeeyre, kind of a hostile response to a newbie on the board. I guess this means that people need to prove their identity to be allowed to post.......Wow! Certainly different when I started posting last year in the second season. I guess I was lucky to get in under the wire before I had to prove my credibility and worthiness - LOL.

Welcome to the forum, MistressDraper!. Have fun, and enjoy yourself. Great self-portrait, by the way! Kinda reminded me of The Simpsons minus the yellow skin and blue hair!

Right, Jamm...we were a couple of the "charter members" I suppose one might say...we started posting and just felt comfortable right away....different "world" here back then...kinda sad that we've all been dragged through the mud and can't seem to shake it all off yet. I, for one, will try to be more welcoming. Until there's a definite reason to not be, that is. ha

If I made you feel unwelcome, MistressDraper, I am truly sorry. Make yourself at home, and know that we of the forum (who've been here more than a few months) are still reeling (or at least still mindful of it) from troll(s) attack(s) not all that long ago.

I guess it has made us (me, anyway) over-cautious and quick to throw up the walls. Please forgive me if I forgot my manners...justified, but not very nice of me.

Welcome and post away...you'll find we're generally nice folks (crazy ~ but nice!) speaking solely for myself there (the crazy part), of course!

The thing about all the inquisition grilling going on is why are any of us assuming the role of moderator police? We're here as participants, not to question the veracity of people who post. Or to be controlling anyone who shows up on this forum to post an opinion.

Why is paranoia, hostility or distrust even present because someone new shows up on the forum? When did the atmosphere of the forum evolve into that? I guess I've been away for a while, but every once in a while when I've logged it, I've seen some pretty nasty responses going on toward new posters, and I'm like WTF is going on, to put it mildly. Relax, folks, it's a public forum, and we're not running it, AMC is. It's their website, their forum.

It's just another participant. Who cares where they came from or what their motive is or why they chose the topic that they did. This is free speech America not some censorship Big Brother outfit.

And if anyone is so bothered by a new participant's identity, motive or opinion, there is a moderator to lodge a complaint with Clayton Neuman, not any of the forum particpants. It's neither their right or their job.

And SCfan, for the record, you didn't used to be that way as far as I remember. You were always welcoming to new people, so don't change.

What do you have to be over-cautious about? How can someone else's words on a computer screen on a public forum be threatening?

Just gotta put this in perspective, it's not like it's a home invasion or a computer virus or spam on your computer. You or I or anyone in the public came to this site to talk, nothing else. Not to be judged, not to seek approval, not to be prying into anyone else's personal background - just to talk and voice opinions, and share a little camaraderie about our favorite show, MadMen! Nothing ulterior about that! LOL.

It's great to see you again SCfan! Look forward to more intense debate of MadMen when the season unrolls, baby!

I'm not a charter member of the forum. Sorry, don't like the sound of that - it sounds too clubbish and like exclusitivity to me. I'm a participant like everyone else, AND I didn't even start commenting until Season 2. Plenty of other people have been here long before I ever showed up, and will probably continue long after me. I'm not entitled just because I've been posting here since Season 2. Nobody cares about that.

SCfan and this isn't directed specifically at you. It's the overall mood I see on the forum - I hope it lightens up by the time the Season starts, otherwise I won't bother coming here. If it's not fun, I ain't hanging around.

MistressDraper Hope like hell you win something this season for your comments! Good Luck!

scfan Don't buy in to being suspicious or worrying about others' motives, and checking up on them. It becomes a bad habit, and will destroy your enjoyment of those who post.

Hey all, thanks for the comments. I must admit I was a bit taken aback when some of the slightly more pointed comments were hurled at me... just as janeeyre said, I'm here to chat with (and hopefully befriend) the forumers because we all have one thing in common - our love for Mad Men!

Anyway, the last thing I wanted to do was spark controversy over anything... all wanted to know what was to happen after my comments were quoted on the blog...

jamm54, thank you so much for the well wishes. It's greatly appreciated. :)

SCfan, I was not aware of the troll attacks that took place, but I can really understand why that's made the attitude of the regular posters a bit more wary. It can be pretty rough when insensitive jerks post things on a forum; I've been on the receiving end of troll flaming countless times, but I'd like to just say once and for all that the last thing I want to do here is to be rude to anybody.

Now, this has been a bit of a rough start for me, but by season's end I hope to become a fully-fledged member of this community. :)

(also, many thanks to janeeyre and jamm54 for your comments on my picture :D)

MistressDraper Troll attacks are not a good excuse for lapsing into unfriendliness or distrust toward everyone who posts. It's rather a poor way to operate in the world if you're always looking out to be attacked.

Besides, it's relatively easy to avoid (there haven't been that many). Don't respond by defending, justifying or apologizing for your comments. Spare yourself and leave the conversation immediately. Any response keeps you stuck in an interaction with an attacker. You won't win or smooth ruffled feathers. The point is to have a victim, and dump on them in words with both barrels.

You didn't spark controversy, and your topic shouldn't have been considered controversial for chrissakes. You were asking about the prizes, certainly not the crime of the century. People are overanalyzing or being a little overzealously suspicious for no good reason.

You already ARE a regular just by your desire to show up and talk on this site. No qualifications to be here are required. At least I haven't read of any posted by AMC, and I don't think a Who's Allowed to Post on the Forum Guidebook is published anywhere - LOL.

Again, hope you win a prize this year - if for nothing else but having to go through an unnecessary gauntlet just to talk here. Take care, and welcome!

MistressDraper, jamm54 has reminded us of our manners (eloquently, indeed, though it felt like a poke with a sharp stick, but, hey, who doesn't need a sharp poke once in a while, hmmm? Thanks, jamm.), so allow me to say I am sorry for doubting you.

Welcome to the Sunny Acres Asylum for Crabby Old Maddicts. Please don't hesitate to post your comments and opinions on all things Mad Men and anything else you want to toss into the pot - lord knows none of us ever hesitate, and your young point of view will be very refreshing.

I must say, the punctuation, grammar and general clarity of your posts are the main reason I doubted your claim of being 15 yrs. old. You are to be congratulated for taking the time to write so intelligently. (Yeah, I know I sound like a cranky old English teacher, but poorly constructed, hard to understand posts are a pet peeve of mine. See what I mean about our tendency to go off topic?)

Again, welcome, and I like your picture, also!

jamm54, I have been meaning to tell you that I like your new picture. If I could figure out how to do so, I would post an actual picture of myself. I am afraid, however, that is way beyond my talents as far as computers are concerned. Yours turned out very well, and you look lovely.

zerelda Thank you! That's my bathroom portrait taken by yours truly holding the camera! LOL

To Post Your Picture

1. Go to EDIT PROFILE at the top right of the forum page.
2. Scroll down to where you see the user pic bottom lower left of page.
3. Click on the BROWSE button to right of your current user pic. From there you can go to your own Documents or Pictures on your computer. Click on the folder that has the picture of yourself you want to use. Click on that picture.
4. Click the SAVE button at the bottom left of the EDIT PROFILE page. That should put the new user pic on the forum.

MistressDraper I don't know if your questions about the prizes were ever actually answered. So, here goes.....

Each week, AMC quotes a snippet of several of the posters' writings or opinions in their "Talk Forum and Comments - What You're Saying" column which you can find under the Blog section of the MadMen website page. The prize being awarded for that week will be displayed in that week's column.

If you're chosen, you will receive an email from either Clayton Neuman or John Frankfurt telling you that you were chosen. They will request that you email them back with mailing information (Your Name, Mailing Address) for where you want the prize sent. It will usually take about 4-6 weeks for the prize to come in the mail (more like 6 weeks usually).

You are only allowed to win once in the "Talk Forum and Comments - What You're Saying" column. I won again this year for something I wrote and received an email, but then never got the prize. I think they checked and realized I had already won once. The only time you can win something else is if it's in some other contest (like SCfan who was profiled as a viewer).

Hope that answers your question. If after 6 weeks, you haven't received your prize, yes, email them again. At that point, I'd be sure to note to them the week that you won as a reminder.

If you need either one's address, let me know, and I'll post them here (don't like to do it if I don't have to). I have Clayton's email from March 2009 and John's from April 2009. Those should still be the most current addresses, I would think.

Thanks very much, Zerelda :) Yes, grammar and punctuation are enormous pet peeves of mine as well, which is why I take care in using both properly.

Thanks for clearing that up, jamm; so you're only allowed one prize for the What You're Saying section no matter how many times you are quoted?

The very first time I was quoted was on April the 17th... (http://blogs.amctv.com/mad-men/2009/04/talk-forum-mad-men-041709.php) I think it's safe to say that six weeks have passed and I still haven't heard back from anybody (assuming that it wasn't my spam filter that neutralized the email).

I'd appreciate getting email addresses to contact, as I sent an email to the info@amctv.com address a short while ago and haven't heard back since.

Thanks again for your all your help and counsel, jamm; you've been a life saver. :)

Mistress Draper These are the two possible email addresses to find out about your prize. Yep, limit one prize per person for that column. I won last year, and even though I was quoted again in April 2009, I never received a prize. I emailed them, but I think they discovered I'd already gotten a prize in 2008. It's only fair - there are a lot of posters.

When you do email them, include screen name and give them your name and mailing address again. Clayton may be your best bet, but try both.

Clayton Neuman
cmneuman@rainbow-media.com

or

John M. Frankfurt
jmfrankfurt@amctv.com

And of course, name the week you were quoted. Be sure to keep all your received/sent MadMen-related emails in a folder on your email account for future reference. Then you'll have their email addresses and a specific record of that correspondence.

.....Nothing like taking straight over the top.....

My, aren't we the SANGUINE ones!

.....Sorry....IT straight OVER the top.....

.....Anyone who knows me, knows that I say NOTHING without loads of truthful backup.

And that is all I am going to say.

Dry Manhattan If you feel that way, why enlist the group in your suspicions for what seems and reads like a gang up on one poster rather than lodging a complaint with Clayton Neuman who is paid to moderate this forum and the behavior of any poster, not you.

Your behavior then takes it to the personal, rather keeping the rest of the forum participants free of such behavior. You may be right, you may not. But for such an innocent question, regardless of your suspicions, to launch them in a topic discussion turns this forum into a COURT OF JUDGMENT rather than a discussion forum about MadMen.

And yes, you may think my response was over the top, but I was looking at it from the experience of the poster.

If I had come to this site, asked a topic question, and gotten the responses and pointed questions that MistressDraper, all because one poster drops a bomb that I'm a fake right in the middle of the discussion, how would I feel as a new poster.

I've never come back to this fucking unfriendly forum again.

And if you like, since you are such an authority on anyone and everyone who seems to comment, and their comments don't please you or your knowledge, maybe you should apply to be the moderator of this forum.

Or decide who should or shouldn't be here.

Go ahead now - it's time to belittle or disparage my response or character as being out of my mind or over the top or she's lost it. Whatever......

But this forum is about discussion of ideas, not about the posters themselves, who they are or their validity to be here and present an idea for discussion.

So, SCfan, how's the weather out there in Oklahoma? That wind still sweeping down the plain? It is a lovely sunny morning here in Illinois, and my petunias and roses are looking lovely. The sweet man I married has informed me he will be grilling steaks later. Wish I could invite you over to sit in the shade of my umbrella table and imbibe a peach iced tea with me. You could bring your Mad Men cup and I would get mine, and we could toast to the coming Season 3....

Well, z, thank ya kindly (to quote "Mose" in "The Searchers"!!) for the invite...wish we could!

Yep, that wind is sweeping pretty good today...not near as much as it can, though, just nice and breezy & beautiful (but hot!) day today.

Yes, my Tiffany roses have been blooming along for the last month and I cut them and bring them in to vases. Some shrubs are blooming now or are done (lilacs, forsythia) and some don't until late summer (altheas, crepe myrtles) but they hold that promise of late summer color. Can't wait for my paltry little 2 tomato plants in pots to produce....months and months away, of course...love those 'maters!

I just think it'd be great if we were neighbors, z...there are several on the forum I feel that way about. The fun we could all have in person, with the added advantage of expressions, nuances in comments, etc. sigh....we must settle for online get-togethers....

Oh well, here's a "cyber toast" to you and your sweet hubby and that lovely steak dinner coming up tonight...munch away and don't forget the citronella!

Dry Had it in for you? I didn't know I was following you around the forum or that I have even been here much since last fall. If I've offended you before, and you've felt I really threw under the bus several times, I apologize.

I don't EVER remember getting into any argument with you on the forum before. So, I stand corrected on that, and you can consider me a once-in-a-while fan who's been a complete bitch, I guess.

I just chose to disagree with your opinion on this poster and give them the benefit of the doubt. I didn't want them to walk away with this kind of impression from the forum participants. If that makes me a policeman, I stand chastised for getting on my high horse and being a hypocrite.

And, I guess, we will avoid each other in the future.

I starting to think the site is one big Skinner Box: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operant_conditioning_chamber

But then again I'm so cynical, I think the Russian Olympic hockey team threw the game.

Not that's any of my business, but you really aren't 15, are you Mistress D?

....What's a skinner box?

Sorry, but what IS it???

Dear God, Mambo....ya think we're all just an experiment??? God knows it would be just the sort of thing that goes on every day on this oh so f'd up planet!!

just a bunch of giant lab rats....or monkeys....I guess stranger things have happened....although I can't imagine what....

what do you suppose they're studying...our patience? That would make sense at least....putting MM on a month later than usual.

Creeeeeepy

Hey Dry,
it's a box invented in the 30s or so by B.F. Skinner, a psychologist, to study rats and other lab animals that enabled the researcher to use various stimuli (lights, sounds, food) on the animals. That way their responses could be studied; it also gave the researchers info that they could use to change or predict behavior.
If you want a more intelligible definition than this :-), just click on my link up there.

SC, I'm starting to think the whole internet, tv, movies, ADVERTISING is one big Skinner Box!

like I said, Mambo.....C-R-E-E-P-Y

.....No, we've never had an overt personal disagreement. We used to be “so-called friends,” in fact.

(Memba' that???)

You simply wait until you think my back is turned to commence assemblage of the torch-wielding villagers to stab me in the back, and evidently you don't care WHO you enlist to do it, be it a fictional "new person," the “bad kids” at AMC, or a psychotic troll.

(And I have a whole other set of theories on THAT woman, and am dreading the day that “CHOCOLATE CHERRY,” and HER “101 Felonious Personalities” reappears here.)

You’ve really got the whole “vilification” “spin-doctoring” and “character assassination” thing down pat. I don’t subscribe to that, as a method OR a tool. Never did. I’m a mouthy and occasionally misguided bitch, but I’m not an assassin, and gratefully and blissfully travel through the universe, absolutely grudge-free.

It has become quite evident that your feelings (as well as those of one or two others, as times goes by) toward me are not at all objective, but are rather more dark, disturbing and personal than anyone might have guessed, from the look of things on the surface.

Case in point, in particular, I mean this thread.

The danger there is the “wolf in sheep’s clothing” aspect, which we have discussed here before. Who knows why, and as I said, it ain't my problem. I am not a psychologist, and my mind simply just does NOT work that way, which is one of the reasons I get victimized a lot. Goofy, bloviating, dumb-ass “Dry,” right?

My friends are everything to me, I’m extremely loyal, and I protect those relationships fiercely. What I have unhappily discovered is that not everyone thinks that same way, and I know that now. Monumentally sad, and also true.

I’m just Dry, doing my “Dry thing,” no more, no less. I got plenty o’ jobs already, and I’m not here for any of this. I just like to come here, shoot off at the mouth a little bit, tease and be teased, and have some fun. Period.

The people on any forum who slink around, brandishing all these dark and personal resentments, calculating their big, covert power-plays, projecting their deep, twisted personal hang-ups on faceless strangers, are the ones who I fully consider dangerous. They craft in their minds elaborate personal issues connected with the subject of their resentment, and THAT is the BIG FAT AGENDA I was talking about before.

Feh!!!

I’m not ashamed of my fancy new forensic skills. I think it’s amazing and great, and very helpful too. It’s delightful! Now I know what to look for in a friend, and also an enemy.

Yay, me! woo woo!

In the spirit of truth-telling, I was a really big fan of yours for a long time, and considered your voice one of the most, if not THE most, reasonable on this forum, and that’s saying a whole lot, for me.

I also thought you were a friend, and a kindred spirit, which is also saying a whole lot.

I don't feel comfortable at all being harsh (nothing is free, right?), but the fact is, someone here warned me a LONG time ago about your spurious, hidden motives, and tendency to viciously backstab.

I blindly refused to believe it, until I saw it with my own two eyes, and it took me MONTHS to get over that fast-and-cheap, transitory, self-serving betrayal.

Was it good for you?

I do believe you've dashed off more posts on this one thread, in a frenzied effort to discredit me, than in the entire past six months put together. You are, in fact, on fire about it.

In a slightly different vein, I’ve watched you struggle these past months, with a NUMBER of things. I’m very glad for you now that you have “gotten your MoJo back,” but am once again infuriated and saddened that you feel your only option is to do it at my expense. Why? Why me?

I’m telling the truth here, and that is all.

The funny thing that flashed in my mind just now (don’t ask me, but I already totally KNOW you won’t like it) here is that this thread does harken back to the Duck Phillips / Don Draper conflict.

Duck, who had been manipulating and scheming like crazy behind the scenes for months and months, at the same time dealing with his very bad internal demons, took some hard lumps and humiliations, as well as graciously and intelligently enduring a long, sad losing streak. (NOT Chauncey!!)

We felt bad and admired his stepping up with dignity to the ugly plate of failure……we rooted for him, and felt his pain even as we are horrified by his devious, divisive machinations and cut-throat, bitter nature.

With the SC/PP&L merger deal seemingly unfolding just as he calculated, Duck really thought he FINALLY had something in the bag – FINALLY had the “one-up” on that CURSED damned handsome, lifetime-winning DEVIL, Don Draper – but he crash and burned.

His resentment, rage and desperation are what sunk him there.

Honestly? I still feel bad for the guy. He thought he had it all wired, and when he realized he didn’t have the control he thought, he totally lost his s**t in the final merger meeting. I’m personally fascinated to discover the outcome there, in 1963.

Duck, or no Duck??

As an observer? This is going to sound incredibly condescending, and I don’t know how to avoid that, so I’ll just say it……

I'd say you are a very intelligent, well-read, interesting, “hip” and fun woman…..with some heart, despite the one or two holes and blackened bits, undergoing some very difficult life changes. You are suddenly adrift in a changing world, at a bad time in life, with no compass, and it has brought you face-to-face with the insecurities you never had time before to address. That’s some load.

Like many of us, you kind of got the fuzzy end of the lollipop in the family deal, and I wonder if a professional might help you sort that out. I wish I had done it. I didn't, and it cost me, big time. I think that’s evident!

Please do not take this out on me. I'm just one little girl trying to do an honest day’s work and tell the truth, with little real support.

What is happening here with this crazy feud between AMC and it’s show, Mad Men, is not good, and I for one have no intention of looking the other way.

Sorry, guess this makes me a big pain in the corn-holio......

.....Mambo and SCfan....Oh, THAT skinner box.... (just kidding, I have no idea, ha ha!!)

Thank you for the 'splainin'!

I don't know what it is about you, Dry, but your posts always make me wish I could flop down in a corner of your couch and have a good old chin wag about whatever comes to mind.

No matter how disgusted or disappointed you become with this Forum and your fellow Maddicts, especially yours truly, the original dim bulb, please don't ever abandon us. Sooner or later (and God knows, it seems like it is going to be later rather than sooner), we will have a whole new season of Mad Men to talk over, and I will want your very eloquent input about all their various shenanigans.

Dry...from one "tease" to another....(uh...that was ol' Scfan you were referring to up there in the "tease and be teased" segment, wasn't it??) I think you and me and z could really generate the old hot air in person ...talk about chin wagging (to paraphrase z)...those chins would be a blur!...now that would be a gabfest for the ages, no???

Weeeeeeeeee

.....You are both very kind, and I'm lucky you put up with me and all my crap.

Sorry for the outbursts. Never have been one for airing the dirty laundry in front of "company" (until now I guess).

Chin-wagging - never heard that one before - how funny!!

.....One funny thing I've discovered about differences between men and women is that women are actually able to talk and listen at the same time.

I was sitting talking with two of my friends, and hubby-beau was overhearing. It was true, we were all talking AND listening at the same time - without difficulty!

If you're a yacker like me, two people can sound like four people, and if you're a Gemini on top of that, you'd better get a prescription of some kind.

For yourself and everyone else around you!

My husband and my late brother used to just stand and stare when me, my sister-in-law, my nieces and my Mom used to all be talking at the same time....they'd just nod at each other and shake their heads in amazement....and make remarks to each other as to when we would all stop long enough to breathe!

They were so in awe of how we could all be talking at once -- and still understand what we all had said to each other. Yes, Dry, it is definitely a female trait. I don't know how we do it, I'm just happy we can!

Dry, I just want to know where I can get me some of them thar fancy new forensic skills!

.....Mambo, are you being mean???

Answer: "www.Spyz-R-Us.com"

SCfan, I wonder if my experience as a SCUBA diver comes into play here....

"INHALE....EXHALE....INHALE....

"LUKE, I AM YO'AH FATHA'.......

(inhale, exhale, inhale....)

kack! cough cough!!

damn this body mic!!!

No, I would never be mean to you, Dry. I went to Spyz-R-Us but I didn't have a high enough security clearance.

And I'm still trying to grasp the fact that you and SC's comments seem to imply that men have the ability to listen; I always thought that was an urban myth. Kind of like a dog playing the piano.

Mambo....HAW!

I have been known to threaten mine with a baseball bat to get him to "tune in" (esp. if watching "a game" of any sort....baseball or any other)

If I wave it in front of him (or even in the area of his peripheral vision) that might work....

.....Mambo.....The password is "carbuncle." Your comment is somewhat comforting ("oh good, it's not just me....")

SCfan.....That is funny.....I basically have to yell, "ATTENTION K-MART SHOPPERS!!" or "OH MY GOSH WHAT IS THAT???" or "IS THAT YOUR "BENJAMIN" LAYING ON THE FLOOR IN THE OTHER ROOM?"

The one that is really fun is looking out the window and saying, "Oh my God, put some clothes on, you chippie!" He, of course, immediately runs to the window to see.

Haven't tried the baseball bat thing yet....we do have some big candlesticks.....that might work.

Do the rest of you take a lot of flack for talking too much at home?

Dry, ROFL!!!!!

.....{;) ..... I try!

Dry, are you sure he wouldn't say "Well, bring it to me....the bases are loaded and Jeter's up to bat..."

(the "Benjamin" laying on the floor)

I don't get "flack" exactly, but I get the "speed it up" hand motion and the fake falling asleep/snoring during some of my stories. Then I just go and buy another pair of shoes. :-)

Don't they realize we are spouting gems when we speak????

sigh