Trends for March 26, 2001

Lisa Ferguson

Monday, March 26, 2001 | 8:45 a.m.

Working for a living

This year's Grammy Awards have come and gone. But at least one company New Jersey's AOC Financial Staffing and Recruiting Specialists hasn't forgotten them.

The company recently sponsored a nationwide telephone survey asking American workers which Grammy-nominated song and/or album best reflects their working situation. The results: 21 percent of people queried answered "I Try" by Macy Gray (which won Best Female Pop Vocal Performance).

Meanwhile only 6 percent related to Aimee Mann's "Save Me." And try explaining this one 17 percent named Baha Men's "Who Let the Dogs Out."

Seven percent of workers compared their working situation to Nine Inch Nails' "Into the Void" as well as Britney Spears' "Oops! I Did It Again." Eleven percent identified with 'Nsync's "No Strings Attached." Twenty-six percent opted for none of these tunes/discs, while another 6 percent claimed they just didn't know.

Word from the wise?

What does Dr. Dottie Billington know about being a mom?

At least enough, it seems by her rationale, to include tips for being a "better mom" in her new book, "Life Is an Attitude: How to Grow Forever Better"(Lowell Leigh Books, $12.95).

"Ya gotta be juicy." No, this doesn't mean toting those goofy boxed juices around with you. "Help your children be healthier and happier by laughing, playing, having fun together."

Be a "balcony mom." Cheer your little ones on "to stimulate them to do their best."

Oh, you mean do the stuff a mom is supposed to do.

You talkin' to me?

If you haven't caught "The Sopranos" fever yet, well, fugheddaboutit.

It may be tough at this late date to jump headfirst into the HBO hit series' storyline and snuggle up to its assorted cast of characters.

But with the help of a new book the aptly titled "Fuhgeddaboutit: How to Badda Boom, Badda Bing, and Find Your Inner Mobster" (Simon & Schuster, $12) written by "The Tonight Show" and "Hollywood Squares" writer Jon Macks you'll at least be able to understand jargon uttered on the show, and why members of the Soprano clan do what they do.

According to the book, there are three mobster apparel items that never go out of style: gold chains, bulletproof vests and moustaches.

There's more tongue-in-cheek mobster advice to live and die by. How does one tell the difference between a legitimate restaurant and a mob restaurant?

Legitimate restaurant: "When you walk in you see specials written on a chalkboard."

Mob restaurant: "When you walk in you see a body outline chalked on the floor."

Legitimate restaurant: "People are packed in."

Mob restaurant: "People are packing heat."