Extracurriculars

I've always found it much easier to meet people while we're enjoying recreation together; golf, whitewater rafting, bicycling, all put me in a convivial state of mind.

If you feel the same, and if you're looking for romance, you might wonder what kinds of recreation would offer you the best opportunity to find a mate? We have the answers, thanks to a study that the National Sporting Goods Association was kind enough to share with us.

I was recently having dinner with an old friend, discussing astrology over steamed dumplings. While my friend was skeptical, I insisted I believe in it.

I suggested she check out the only published horoscopes I swear by -- in Elle magazine. They have proved, in my experience, uncannily accurate. The next day I received an e-mail from Susan Miller, the famous astrologist who writes the horoscopes for Elle!

Miller invited me to cover her event, "Susan's Year Ahead 2010," an all-day program raising money for the Red Cross efforts in Haiti. Susan contacted me after running into a mutual friend at a coffee shop who suggested I might want to attend.

The very next morning, I cleared my schedule and I was there, sitting front row with editors and marketers of Elle, there to support their colleague and hang on Susan's every cheery word. (It's impossible to convey in print just how upbeat she is).

It's hard to say no to a pint-sized cookie peddler, sweetly asking: "Would you like to buy a box of Girl Scout cookies?" But in an age where you're watching every penny, it can be equally hard to cough up between $3.50 and $4 for a box of 15 cookies -- even if those Samoas are perhaps the best thing that will ever cross your lips.

Despite their undeniable tastiness, there's no denying that, at $3.50 to $4 per box, Girl Scout cookies can be costly. But it might soften the blow to know where your cookie money really goes.

Last night on another roller-coaster episode of Shark Tank, we met Michele Kapustka and Melisa Moroko, sisters behind SendABall, a Web-based company that sends inflated balls through the mail -- address it, stamp it, and send it, no box required -- instead of greeting cards. Between them, they have seven kids, and the families collaborate out of a garage.

In their taped introduction, they confessed they were doing so well, they couldn't keep up anymore. "We are slammed with orders. We need the Sharks and we need them now," said one of them. (Which one? We needed more time to distinguish them.) A problem like that -- too much guaranteed income -- is the sweet smell of chum to such finely tuned noses as our Sharks'.



They wanted $86,000 for 20% of their biz, and right away, they explained what they would do with the cash: They wanted to buy their own manufacture equipment so they wouldn't have to pay to outsource anymore. One of the sisters (the one whose name starts with M) said they would put their new equipment in "our little place in Chicago."

Will Lauren McClusky, the Chicago teenager who raised the ire of McDonald's attorneys after she tried to copyright the charity concert name McFest, finally get to Have It Her Way

While it's too soon to tell, WalletPop has learned in an exclusive that high-level McDonald's officials reached out to McClusky on Friday to request a meeting to resolve the matter and move forward. Though on an ocean liner headed for Japan as part of the Semester at Sea program, McClusky has tentatively agreed to speak with McDonald's executives by video conference.

The McSummit could take place within the next two weeks -- and marks a huge break in the logjam between the fast-food giant and McClusky, whose McFest concerts have raised more than $30,000 for Special Olympics.

He'd worked in the Starbucks in Sherman, Texas -- an hour due north of Dallas -- for seven years, and shift-manager Benjamin Amos wouldn't have been blamed for thinking that his tattoos were a non-issue. It hadn't just been the cultural mainstreaming of tattoos in the past decade; the popularity of the A&E television series Inked in 2005 and 2006 was just one indication; but he was hired with the tattoos firmly in place and he says he'd worked, covering them per dress code, for so many years.

Last February, however, it suddenly became a problem and, say filings with the United States District Court Eastern District of Texas, and the store manager told him the regional and district managers didn't like the tattoos. When he refused to resign, according to Amos, she fired him -- later phoning him to apologize for the poor handling of his termination.

When we consider the rogue's gallery of devilish, over-sized, greedy and disproportionately powerful corporations, we generally come up with outfits like Microsoft, Bechtel, AIG, Halliburton, Goldman-Sachs, Exxon-Mobil and the United States Senate. Yet somehow, Monsanto, arguably the most devilish, over-sized, greedy and disproportionately powerful corporation in the world has been able to more or less skulk between the raindrops -- only a household name in households where documentaries like Food Inc. are regarded as light Friday evening entertainment. My house, for example. But for the most part, if you were to ask an average American for their list of sinister corporations, Monsanto probably wouldn't make the cut.

It should.

Founded by Missouri pharmacist John Francis Queeny in 1901, Monsanto is literally everywhere. Just about every non-organic food product available to consumers has some sort of connection with Monsanto.

Taking your honey out for Valentine's Day? A prix-fixe four-course special at one of Atlanta's finest restaurants, Aria, will set you back $85 per person BEFORE tax and tip.

Fear not, though; those of us of more modest means can still enjoy dining by candlelight at a southern restaurant famous for its unique menu: the Waffle House.

Eating breakfast before facing the day is important, numerous research has found, making the stories of hungry job interviewees a perfect example of why fueling up is important.

Golden Grahams cereal -- which I'd normally associate as a breakfast cereal for children, but is apparently popular with adults -- is giving away what it calls 75 Golden Grants, which are 12 boxes of its cereal every week for three months, to winners of its contest for the best description of a job hunt experience in 120 characters or less.

The contest started Feb. 3. Two of the best submissions each week will be turned into videos each week with the job hunt advice, such as not to lie or exaggerate on your resume:

From sweatpants to the Snuggie to footed pajamas, does America really need another piece of clothing to keep it warm while lazing around the house?

Yes, according to the makers of PajamaJeans, which almost seems like a hoax Saturday Night Live commercial on its Web site. A pajama seller calls them "Pajamas to live in. Jeans to sleep in."

The recession must make people willing to spend $40 on a blanket or pair of sweats with pockets to lounge around in, and now these soft blue jeans make going outside in public a comfortable alternative.

Disneyland may indeed be the happiest place on Earth. At least, that would help explain why the park's extremely expensive and exclusive Club 33 has managed to accrue a 14-year long waiting list -- in the middle of a recession.

Located behind a nondescript green door marked "33" in Disneyland's New Orleans Square, the members-only five-star restaurant was built by Walt Disney in 1967 as a place where he could privately entertain guests and dignitaries that visited the theme park. However, Walt passed away before he could enjoy the highly-rated food and the unique features that he had installed in the club, including talking chandeliers and a mechanical vulture who can participate in the dinner chit-chat.

So you've been inspired by the Oscar nominations and want to make a movie without going into debt for life.

WalletPop has the experts for you. Todd and Brad Barnes won the Best of Next award for directing the top low-budget film at the recent Sundance Film Festival. The brothers' screwball comedy "Homewrecker" follows a jailbird locksmith on work release who falls for a troublemaking ditz.

"Homewrecker is an example of what two manic brothers with little money and a lot of imagination can produce," said the Hollywood Reporter.

It's the hottest new theme park opening in a decade: Universal Orlando Resort's Islands of Adventure park is putting the finishing touches on its feverishly anticipated The Wizarding World of Harry Potter section. This Sunday, Feb. 7, the world gets a sneak peek at the new 20-acre attraction when a top secret commercial airs during the Saints-Colts Super Bowl battle. Among the surprises: Daniel Radcliffe himself appears as Harry Potter to promote the opening, which was designed with the full cooperation and approval of series author J.K. Rowling. Guess what, Potterheads? WalletPop.com has an exclusive first online look at the entire spot.

When asked about spending cuts because of the recession, pet owners in a recent Catalyst Direct study said that they would cut back on personal purchases before cutting back on spending for their dogs and cats: 79% would reduce spending on vacations; 77% on clothing; 49% on certain personal/family food items.

Which makes what's going on at community animal shelters that much harder to fathom. The spcaLA (the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Los Angeles), which cares for more than 4,000 unwanted and abused animals a year, has seen its food donations drop by 90%. Madeline Bernstein, the president of the group, said it is receiving 90% less food from big box stores, supermarkets, pet food suppliers, dry dog/cat food manufacturers.

Friday night on ABC's Shark Tank, we were introduced to a product that could, as infomercial godfather Kevin Harrington put it, make "$100 million on TV." It was LipStix ReMix, an ingenious lipstick recycler.

Although the pitch ended in a fantastic six-figure deal, its inventor made a simple negotiating mistake that could end up costing her an untold fortune. Jason Cochran found out what it was in WalletPop's exclusive AfterShark interview. (Make sure you stay tuned for the end of the interview, when Quillin offers an exclusive two-for-one deal exclusively for WalletPop readers.)