I’m putting together a five days of the golden slipper feature. Day One is general information about the horse race, the second day was about tickets, where and how to buy, the third (which is the latest currently) is about the current field. Day 4 & Day 5 are still on their way and will be published today and tomorrow respectively.

For those of you who have no idea about horse racing, let alone the golden slipper – I’ll fill you in. The golden slipper is a 1200m race that (as stated above) will race on the second of April at Rosehill as part of the Sydney Racing Carnival. It’s a major group one race and will be an exciting day of racing, fashion and drinking. If that is something that you think sounds fun (and let’s be honest – who wouldn’t enjoy that?) then you should definitely check out my feature. The day itself is comparable to the Melbourne Cup, but on a far smaller scale. Still, there’s no doubt it will be a fun day.

In terms of betting and betting odds, all major bookmakers have Sepoy as the favorite at around $3.00 to win. This is horse racing we are talking about though, and while Sepoy is likely to win pending track conditions and health, sometimes things can go wrong – just like any sport. So if you do decide to have a bet, please remember to do responsibly!

If you have any questions or queries or about anything horse racing, or the golden slipper, head on over to www.horseracingoffers.com.au.

She recently blogged about how career opportunities for women are in the long, drawn out process of becoming equal with men and how they effect relationships. Ultimately, the question she left her readers with was “But what do you think? Man or woman, would you prefer to be the breadwinner or homemaker? Why? Why not? Would you be happier if housewifery made a comeback? And can men be happy housewives too?”.

This topic is particularly interesting to me because right now, ideally, I’d like to end up with someone who is successful in the career path they choose. Whether that be business, public relations, marketing – whatever. A successful woman – or someone I believe will be successful, is the biggest selling point to me in terms of dating and relationships.

There are plenty of ‘women belong in the kitchen’ jokes and while I find them amusing, I don’t necessarily agree with them. Now sure, a relationship is probably easier when we stick to the stereotypes of men working and women cooking and cleaning. But just because it may be easier, doesn’t make it better.

If I was to get married, I absolutely would not expect my wife to cook and clean all day. Kids currently for me are left in the category of ‘TBD – To Be Decided’ so I’m intentionally leaving that particular and potentially massive factor out of this equation.

I’ve always thought I would end up with somebody who, like me, takes their career seriously and wants to be successful at what they do. Not someone who wants to sit at home, cook for me or keep the house and yard clean. Not that I have anything against people who do this – I don’t. When kids are in the equation – I understand how it changes everything. Not to mention my ideal living place would be in an apartment rather than a house. I have no intention of gardening or spending time keeping my pool clean and my grass cut.

The thing is though, everybody is different. So to answer you Katherine, while we continue to push for equality in the world of business and careers amongst men and women, the typical housewife will naturally become a rare breed. Personally, that suits me quite well – but I understand there are people who like to respect and hold onto older fashioned values. That doesn’t mean anybody is right or wrong – but WHAT does it mean?

Ultimately you are responsible for who you choose to be with – it’s one of the great things in life. You always have choices (which I wrote about recently). In a household where both adults work, the income is stronger, but then it’s probably fair to say that the quality time spent together will suffer as a result. This is the opposite to having a husband or wife who stays at home and does all the household ‘choirs’.

It’s a personal choice and it comes down to each person individually. What sort of life do you want? Do you want to come home to a hot cooked dinner and be family orientated – or would you be content arriving home late at night, drained, tired and exhausted from a massive day? Do you want to sacrifice quality time with your significant other just to be better off financially?

Everybody is different and from personal experience – when you’ve worked out what type of person you want, and what sort of relationship you want, you’re able to save yourself a lot of time by only dating people you are compatible with and people you share the same values with.

There is no right or wrong. It simply depends on the person you are and what you want from life. If you want to be all about family and the typical 9 – 5 with a housewife and kids. Then DO IT. If you’d rather be like me, where my partner / wife takes her career as seriously as I do, then just do it. It’s simple.

Today, 1st of February, 2010 – I (as I always do) hopped onto www.news.com.au because the site always has leading news information not just from my state and country, but on a global scale. They have great personal blogs, integration with Fox Sports and other sites that represent leading newspapers in our country. On an average day, I would probably visit news.com.au about four times.

But today, I logged on to see this -

Five advertisements in your face about ING direct. I have no issue at all with the 728 at the top in the header, or the 250 on the right under the weather forecast, but the giant, long and wide advertisements that take over the left, top and right of the website seems unnessecary to me.

Here it is again with the ads highlighted in a red border -

It would almost definitely drop the user experience, it did for me. Normally, I would be drawn to the featured article at the top left, but after logging on today, the orange from the advertisements took over and was completely overwhelming.

And before anyone decides to point out the obvious – yes, I am aware this is probably NOT an affiliate marketing program and more than likely a sponsored CPM deal.

News.com.au has been like this since (I assume midnight last night). Hopefully it doesnt last too long. As I’ve already said, I love news.com.au, I visit it on average four times a day because they are (in my opinion) the most reliable website for the latest and breaking news. I just wish they dont crowd their design too often with too many advertisements like they have done today.

What does everyone else think? Am I being unfair or overexagerating?