Rant #1,846: Never Judge a Book By the Cover

How was your President's Day weekend?

Mine was fine.

I did absolutely nothing.

I did the few chores I had to do this weekend, and when they were done, I basically planted myself in front of the TV and did what I traditionally do when I have a lazy day: watch a few movies.

I certainly did not go out and protest like others did, making yesterday into "Not My President's Day."

I don't know who wasted the time off more: myself or the protestors, who at this point have become caricatures of themselves, so angry yet so vapid.

This week, I hope to put to rest any problems I have had about the money in my former 401K plan. A bank official said that my money should be in my new IRA by Thursday at the latest, and he will call me when the money is in there.

Now, if I don't get the call, and the money is not in there by Thursday, then I have to go to the next step, but let's just say that right now, I am positive that this situation will be resolved by Thursday.

Then, I have to deal with a profit sharing account from my work, and I hope that that doesn't become the fiasco that this situation became.

I am ready to give my work the benefit of the doubt. I just want my money where it should be. I have already gone out of my way to make this right; I would expect my work would do the same for me.

(Based on past experience, I am taking a pollyanna-ish attitude on the whole thing, but also at this point, what more can I do?)

One minor news item broke over the past couple of days that really did not get much coverage, nor did it deserve any more than it received.

According to sources, Playboy Magazine has gone back to some nudity in the pages of its magazine, or at least it soon will be going this way.

You might remember that in an act of desperation to try to save the magazine from extinction, its publishers decided about a year ago to drop the nudity to try to get new ad revenue from advertisers who would never have their ads in a skin mag,

While the process worked to an extent, it did not satisfy founder Hugh Hefner's son, Cooper, who had been the magazine's creative director since November. He had voiced his opposition to the no-nudity policy since he took on this role, and whether he was creative director or mail room clerk, since he is a Hefner, people had to listen to what he said.

Although he admitted that the way the magazine had portrayed female nudity was dated, he said that the magazine would be "taking its identity back" by reinstalling nudity in its pages.

No, there won't be any full frontal nudity in its pages, but there will be breasts and butts, which for the past year were covered up.

Yes, the magazine will pretty much return to its roots, where the showing or full fontal nudity was pretty much verboten until the late 1960s.

And yes, many staffers who were hired in the wake of the nudity ban were leaving the publication, and time will tell if many advertisers will stick around, too.

And there is one last item that fits the title of today's Rant, another one that barely made the news, but is something I would like to talk about here.

George "The Animal" Steele, one of the most popular wrestlers of the 1960s and 1970s, died the other day after a long period of failing health.

Steele took the theatrical side of wrestling to another level. With his huge size, and his ultra hairy body (but not on his head), the wrestler behaved like a crazed individual when he was in the ring, even going as far as eating the turnbuckles and gyrating as if he wasn't in possession of his body.

It was all a show, and Steele--who was actually a gym teacher with a master's degree in education--knew it, and milked it as much as he possibly could.

He was also a gifted wrestler, and he became among the most popular wrestlers of his time period, paving the way for others who portrayed themselves as somewhat "left of center" to compete at this level.

So, the theme of today, and what I leave you with here, is never to judge a book by the cover, even if you are actually talking about an actual book.

All I am saying is give things a chance.