Pension calculator (ok, call me a financial services geek if you will)

I am loving the pension calculator from Hargreaves Lansdown. It's a really simple, graphic way of showing you how what you contribute to your pension will turn out as an income, and what the impact of changing the various variables (contributions, retirement age, tax free cash) is.

I may be getting older and wiser (or, possibly, more boring).

Molly Ringwald, now what's she been up to...

So I was so delighted to read Molly's reminiscence of John Hughes in yesterday's Guardian: I've been thinking about him since he died, and at the weekend we watched The Breakfast Club (obviously for like the umpteenth time in our lives) and felt sad, but uplifted. And also, what an innocent era the 80s was: Alison (Ally Sheedy) would be a self-harming Emo, and Molly (Claire) would have anorexia (or be a Mean Girl, or both), and John Bender (Judd) would be doing serious drugs, he'd be like the guys from the Wire, and Andrew (Emilio) would be on serious (sports) drugs, and Brian (Anthony Michael Hall) would be... well, no one would be as nice, or endearing. That's for sure.

But Molly, please. I googled, because I thought, we've not been in (metaphorical) touch for a while, and I caught up. You have a five year old daughter. You're married to someone called Piano who has not quite got the hang of either Twitter or hosting his own website, but hey, he's got a cool name. You just had twins in July (can't help thinking, woman over 40 - could be IVF?). You still have red hair.

But Molly, Molly, Molly. It's the interweb era. We all know if you sell the exact same story to the New York Times (login with sashablog / sashablog). Or, the other way around: that was Wednesday, the Guardian is Thursday / Friday. We all find out.

Doesn't mean I don't think Pretty in Pink is like the coolest film ever. But, please, get with the programme.

I am very sad that John Hughes died

Like a lot of people who grew up in the eighties, John Hughes was a huge part of my life.

I'd seen pretty much every movie, but was particularly spoken to by The Breakfast Club (guess which one I was), Pretty In Pink, Sixteen Candles and Ferris Bueller.

So I was pretty devestated this morning (and even had a little cry) when I heard he'd died - and also, 59 seems remarkably young.

RIP John. You gave me (and my whole generation) and language for being a teenager. Also, I suspect you may have had a big impact on proms becoming part of the UK school scene. (And, also, just discovered you wrote Maid in Manhattan, which I also loved - what do post-teens do for kicks when they grow up? Watch chick flicks.)

Can a man... ?

Can a man... ?
Originally uploaded by sashinka-uk

See, there are times in your life when you have big philosophical questions and your university philosphy tutor is (probably) dead and your spiritual leader's busy and you don't know where to turn.

S'obvious. T'internet. Google can answer all your questions. We've had a lot of fun this morning finding out the most popular questions, and ... guess what?

"Can a man change" wins hands down.

A question I've often wondered about myself. Some - not I, clearly - are of the view that all men are slightly aspergic, and it certainly seems to be the case that (some) men get stuck in patterns of behaviour. But then, so do some women.

Perhaps not the time or place for a philosophical treatise, but who knew the interweb could engage so deeply?