yupster - A hipster with a professional job who seeks to climb the corporate ladder but remains true to indie musical tastes, lives in a hipster neighborhood, and likely has a hipster hairstyle.

Financial analyst Chad, a known yupster, couldn’t wait to wear his new Brooks Brothers sportcoat with his vintage “Jake the Snake” t-shirt to the Unicorns show at the Empty Bottle on Friday.

My wife bought something called “Bac-os Bits”. I pretty much love bacon, she knows it, and I thought those “Bac-os Bits” were little bite sized peices of bacon for those occations when people who love bacon are running short on time. I chucked a handful in my mouth before I realized that those “Bac-os Bits” are not real bacon.

I read the label, they are some kind of a vegitarian thing. There was nothing close to meat or meat by-products listed on the ingrediaents list. We have been married for over 10 years and I have never, absolutly never gave my wife any indication that I was dissatisfied with real bacon, now she’s buying “Bac-os Bits”.

I looked through the rest of the refrigerator and I saw something called “Boca Burgers”, we normally use fresh ground beef for burgers, so this was odd. I read the package and again-no meat. Why would anyone want a burger with no meat?

I think she is having an affair.

I bet she is seeing some skinny metro-sexual vegitarian or something. She probably met this guy at her finger nail place, she told me once about “guys” going there to get their nails done. When she said that, I chuckled- but perhaps this what these “guys” do to hit on married women.

I don’t know what to do. Should I confront her about the affair? Should I join her and try to enjoy some of these new things she is trying and ignore the affair for now? I need some advice. Thanks

There is an excellent on-the-ground article about the descending situation in Gaza and Palestine in Salon today. My favorite passages illustrate the effect of sanctions and the price of democracy for the average Palestinian leading up to what appears to be an emerging civil war:

“Honesty should count for something, and anyone who doesn’t think all the Fatah guys aren’t also hoping to get the chance to push the Israelis into the sea is dreaming. And this kind of honesty translates into governance. Hamas was elected primarily because they’re semi-competent technocrats who give the impression that they’ll steal a hell of a lot less and do a hell of a lot more for the average Palestinian than Fatah…

“And the Palestinians’ reward for throwing out a bunch of corrupt hoodlums in favor of a more honest bunch? The U.S., Israel and the E.U. cut off aid or block earned tax revenue and now the public sector of Gaza — or about 70 percent of the workforce — hasn’t been paid for months. And this was one of the poorest and most densely populated parts of the world to begin with.

So everyone is cranky. The streets were filled with unpaid, heavily armed volunteers, which left everyone massively on edge all week. And after a day of rest for the funeral for the innocent victims of the Israeli attack, Fatah and Hamas went at it full bore.”

My response on Salon was “I enjoyed this article a lot, and I think this helps realize that blanket sanctions against Palestine are ineffective, and worst, destabilizing. Instead of promoting moderation, Western sanctions have choked away medical supplies, food, and salaries, basically making life unlivable for many in the region. Unfortunately, this has had the opposite effect on the extremism America was hoping to stifle — Fatah and Hamas have both shown a vigilance to militarize in an environment where they are fighting for scraps. It is unfortunate that in the politics of the Middle East, our actions are harming the average Palestinian and reinforcing the extremist beliefs we seek to defeat.”

Ever wondered why the Democratic Party has sucked since LBJ? Well, the answer is not that in the face of aggressive Republican corruption they are spineless cowards (surprise!). It’s those god damn consultants(and they are overpaid to boot).

And for the two ironies of the day: a Saudi textbook (after the intolerance was removed), and a recent scientific study showing no link between marijuana smoking and lung cancer.

Women, listen to your mothers
Don’t just succumb to the wishes of your brothers
Take a step back, take a look at one another
You need to know the difference…
Between a father and a lover