The Slice Free Advice Is Always Nice - If You Don’t Pay For It Later

You really learn about people’s values and attitudes when you overhear them offering guidance to a newcomer about where to look for a place to live and where to avoid.

Much of what’s said is personal preference, of course. But we’re convinced a lot of it is based on uninformed stereotypes and narrow-mindedness. And the built-in assumption that the newcomer shares the speaker’s sensibilities always kills us.

A century of service: The Children’s Home Society of Washington is throwing a party next Thursday in Spokane to note the organization’s centennial. Anyone who has been involved with CHSW over the years is invited. That includes staff, volunteers and clients.

Laws governing adoption records have made it difficult to put together a complete invitation list. But if you have had some link to the society, you’ll be welcome at the event.

For details, call 747-4174.

People’s sex drives wax and wane: And the passion to make a pile of money can rise and fall. But for some people, the urge to put down John Denver never eases up.

How to watch an NHL preseason game: Focus on action in the corners.

Resist: Halloween encroachment. It will be here soon enough.

Taking a mental health day: A friend named Phyllis told us about a postal worker who finished his shift, went home and took a nap. But when he next looked at the clock, he mistakenly thought it was 12 hours later than it really was.

So he scrambled to the phone and called in sick. He’d had some bad fish, he reported.

OK, said the guy taking the call. “But you could have waited till tomorrow,” he added. “You just left here a couple of hours ago.”

Just wondering: Has anyone else ever had a dream about founding a utopian community based, in part, on the belief that hummus is holy?

If you have lousy diction: Avoid saying “Puyallup” or “peanut sauce.”

Warm-up question: What was the Inland Northwest’s “Trial of the Century”?

Today’s Slice question: What Spokane area workplace has the most intense concentration of people with the same first name?

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Drawing

MEMO: The Slice appears Monday, Tuesday, Friday and Saturday. Write The Slice at P.O. Box 2160, Spokane, WA 99210; call (509) 459-5470; fax (509) 459-5098. We blame snowbirds for America’s continuing dependence on foreign oil.