Here’s something I’ve wanted to address for a while:

I’m working from home today, sitting on my lanai and halfway through the last blog post when I suddenly realize I’m being watched. Not just watched, though, I’m being yelled at, whistled at, chirped at.

The units in my building that face away from the street also happen to face another hotel with balconies. The two buildings are so close that I could probably talk without yelling to someone on the balcony directly opposite me, or toss a tennis ball to them without exerting myself.

On some days, this can be frustrating (having to close your blinds all the time when it’s hot out), entertaining (watching people lose their towels they hang out to dry on the railings) or infuriating (listening to teenagers scream out their phone numbers at 3 a.m. from the lanais at our building to guys on the lanais at the hotel — yes, this has actually happened).

Today, though, it’s just downright annoying. A small handful of guys (I can tell they are guys) are standing on one of the balconies of the hotel catcalling down at me. I know they can’t see my face because I’m sitting with my back turned to them, so they’re yelling at the back of my head as I type away at my computer. They are probably about five balconies down and four balconies up away from me.

“Hey girl! You so sexy! Woooooooo!”

I never knew men found the back of my head so attractive.

So, I grab my camera, turn around, smile, and take their picture.

I think the turning around is what they wanted. The picture is not. They go inside almost immediately, perhaps because they are uneasy, but probably more so because they got me to turn around and are now bored with the situation.

Catcalling. It’s one of the ugliest things a guy can do. I don’t know the correlation between the number of catcalls a woman receives and her attractiveness level, as guys have made kissy noises at me when I’m walking home from the gym with my hair is a greasy pony tail, wearing an oversize t-shirt and knee-length athletic shorts. And when I get fed up, whirl around and confront the perpetrators, they usually clam up or looked shocked or just walk away. So, I know they’re not actually trying to strike up a conversation.

I’ve got nice guy friends, and I’ve never known any of them to catcall at a woman. As a female, it’s baffling to me. Is it an ego thing? A dominance thing? A machismo thing? And why does being in a group of men somehow seem to encourage this kind of juvenile behavior? Does riling a random female or getting her to give you the finger really elevate you that much in the eyes of your boys?

I’m also often faced with a difficult choice when catcalls happen, since I can’t always dispel them with a camera, and I’m not always dealing with them from the safety of my balcony. Although my first instinct is to rage at the group of men, I also remind myself that it’s not always a good idea, especially if I’m outnumbered or walking by myself late at night.

I didn’t know whether to laugh or get angry about this “Diary of a Catcall Hater,” written by the Washington City Paper’s Kimberly Klinger.

Klinger, who lives in D.C., writes: “It’s crazy, unbelievable, utter crap to think that a good chunk of my time out in the world is spent dodging unwanted comments … if all the women in this city wrote their own diaries of harassment, we’d run out of paper to print them.”

At least she’s managed to turn something annoying into a mildly entertaining post that millions of women everywhere can relate to. I’m not sure what those silly boys on the balcony wanted from me, but I’m pretty sure they didn’t expect their picture to be posted on the internet an as illustration of truly pathetic behavior.

Reporting Rule of Thumb #2785: Asking for the full name of the interviewee should always be your first question.

The reason? Many times, I’ll be out collecting quotes for a man-on-the-street type story and will get this fantastic interview, where the person has all these great things to say about health care or shopping centers or counterfeit toothpaste.

Finally, I’ll end with the last, and seemingly easiest, question: “Can I get your name?”

The response? “Oh, no. I’m sorry. I don’t want my name in the paper.”

Let me start by saying that I totally respect the right of anyone to not give a full name when I interview them. If I get that reply from a person, I’ll just say “Thank you,” and move on to the next person, since we have a general policy or not quoting people anonymously and cannot use just their first name.

But I’ve always wondered about people’s reasons for not wanting to have their names in the paper. I guess I haven’t really bothered to ask, because I don’t want to seem like I’m pressuring an interviewee to give me a name.

I do have a couple of theories, actually. In certain situations, if you’re in the military or an employee of a well-known organization, for example, it’s possible that you might not want your personal opinion to be construed as the opinion of your entire business or organization.

And on touchy or controversial subjects, like abortion, or who you’re going to vote for for president, it’s understandable that some people might not want their opinions out there for all their friends, neighbors and co-workers to see (provided these people don’t know your views or political leanings already).

But I’m talking about really innocuous stuff, like what kinds of sports you like, or what you had for breakfast. A woman I once interviewed about organic food declined to give her name, saying, “I know too many people in this town.”

Perhaps she was very well-known in the organic food community, but if not, then I just had to wonder…

I have other theories. An older woman once told me that all her friends would tease her if they saw her name attached to a quote in the newspaper. My first reaction (in my head) was, “Why on earth would they do that?”

A friend recently offered one possible answer. She explained it with the concept of “acting smart” (”no ack smaht”), a phrase that goes back to Small Kid Time growing up in Hawaii. It roughly translates to “being a know-it-all” or always having the answer to the point where it annoys your classmates.

“Having your name in a story is like throwing your opinion on something out there for everyone to read,” she said. “People don’t want others to think that they think they know everything.”

Interesting theory. And if it’s true, then I couldn’t help wondering: is this something that is unique to Hawaii?

Who knows? Maybe next time I’ll just ask: “Why not?”

It starts at early as high school, maybe with softball try-outs. You and your best friend are both dying to make the team. When they finally post the names of who made it, you both scramble to look for your name. Yours isn’t there. But her name is.

You’re so happy for her! But then again…

It continues later in life. Your friend is getting married to the perfect man. Of course you’re happy for her! Never mind the fact that you’re sitting at home on Saturday nights with a tub of ice cream watching “Law & Order” marathons — this is what she’s always dreamed of, and feeling anything less than joy for her would make you a terrible person.

But then again…

An article in the Washington Post this morning looks into that strange feeling some of us may get — not quite pure jealousy, not quite pure happiness — when a close friend, spouse or significant other bests you at something you were both trying to do:

When someone we know or love excels at something, we take pride in her accomplishment because we care about the other person and get to bask in some of her reflected glory. But when we are involved in the same activity as that friend or intimate partner — and feel bested by that person — we can simultaneously feel envious and threatened, in a way we would not if the star performer were a stranger.

…

In a place such as Washington — equal parts global capital and small town — it’s not hard to find lawyers, consultants and journalists who are married to other lawyers, consultants and journalists. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) is just one high-profile example of a person who constantly endures comparisons with her spouse’s outsize achievements in the same field.

Even though Hillary Clinton is amazingly accomplished, I can see how it would be tough to be in her position at times. Feelings of rivalry, especially between spouses, can be problematic, as people tend to gravitate towards others with common interests, often even those in the same profession.

So, we want to be close to people who are accomplished — just as long as they’re not more accomplished than we are at the same things. What a conundrum.

In some ways, I saw this article as reassurance that it’s okay to not feel 100 percent happy for a close friend, even though you might secretly feel envious of her accomplishments. It doesn’t make you a horrible person.

I’m an only child, so I’ve never really known sibling rivalry. But I do consider myself a pretty driven person, and I can be competitive at times. I have definitely known that feeling, call it “guilty jealousy” when you know you should be happy for someone close to you, but you just can’t help feeling, well, a little envious.

And yes, the softball example was from personal experience.

How do you know when you’ve had enough to drink?

“You see beers all over a table so you lift each one up until you find one half full and chug it when no one is looking.” (#10)

“You call your ex-boyfriend 1,000 times and leave lots of really nice voicemails saying that ya’ll need to hang out more.” (#29)

“You’ve become convinced that dancing with your arms overhead, shaking your ass, and yelling WOO HOO is truly the sexiest dance move EVER.” (#3)

A Facebook group called “30 Reasons Girls Should Call it a Night” is getting attention because of its list of 30 reasons, plus nearly 5,000 photos posted on the site of girls being, well, just drunk and ridiculous.

The group has 174,685 members.

From ABCNews.com:

[M]any photos on the site are accompanied by full names and the colleges they attend, showing a blatant disregard for the fact that potential employers could be viewing their drunken exploits.

A study by the networking firm Viadeo recently found that one in five employers now uses social networking Web sites, such as Facebook and MySpace, to research information on job candidates and to view how they project themselves. Almost two thirds said their recruitment decisions were influenced by the contents of an individual’s profile, while a quarter said that they had changed their mind and decided not to hire someone because of what they found online.

As if you needed another reason to not post ridiculous photos of yourself or your friends online…