Before eHarmony

If I were to create "How I Met My Husband" into a feature length film (which would blow apart the box office) I would change a few things.
Characterization
While the roles of the characters would remain as they did in the story I would expand the character role of many people. First Lorretta Bird would become more of a main character. For example in the part of the story where Edie is trying on the dress, the scene would flash to Lorretta meeting Alice in town. Of course this trip in town would portray all of Loretta's annoying habits. The idea would that Lorretta would be the stereotypical goofy character to making this romantic movie into a romantic comedy (similar to Betty White's character in "The Proposal"). Also Alice would be a bit more stalker-ish than she is in this story.
Plot
The plot would remain more or less the same, although in addition to the added town scene. I would also add a scene that shows a flashback to Chris and Alice's relationship. Also there would be a scene of present day Edie and her husband, with Edie's husband saying things like "and your mother would wait for me at the mailbox everyday" and Edie would agree with him, but the movie viewer would then see the entire story (later in the movie). This scene would occur at the very beginning. I think the addition would explain the point of view of this story a bit better.
Point of View
The point of view would remain the same in this movie, the irony of the story would not work out any other way. So Edie would continue to drink her Ginger ale with ice cubes.
Setting
I envision a more modern (perhaps 1950s or 1960s) instead of the 1920s-1940s this story is set in. That way I can have cheesy 50's songs playing the background (for example "Hound Dog" by Elvis). These songs don't really add anything other than a cheesy factor. Which would make this movie swing into more of a comedy than a chick flick.
This story really would only need some additions to it, the story itself is okay. Chris would still be a nomadic bachelor and Edie would remain a naive child. The climatic scene (where Alice accuses Edie of having sex with Chris) would remain very close to what was written, and Mrs. Peebles would save the day.

I Won't Shed a Tear, Just as long as you stand, "Stand By Me"

"Stand by Me" the movie based on Stephan King's "The Body" remained pretty accurate towards the overall work. Really the movie was just the work times Hollywood.

Lets start with the main character Gordon. In the story, Gordon's brother Denis dies and this affects Gordon's relationship with his parents. Now in the original story Gordon really doesn't know his brother and "only cried at the funeral because of his parents" but in the movie there were several brother-ly scenes to tug at the heart strings. This changed the over character of Gordon as he went from a mature but invisible boy (in the orginal) to a heart broken little boy left behind (in the movie). The movie also changes Chris into a more father-ly character for the gang of boys. He seemed a lot more mature than the other boys as he led them through the forest weather they were crying or fighting, and he "kept the peace". Vern went from another boy in the gang into the movie stable "funny fat kid" role, and Teddy was crazier in the movie than the book.
The Setting was riddled with more pop culture in the movie than in the story. The large amounts of 50's music added a time stamp element on the setting that wasn't really there before. It made the story seem more dated. In way this made the point of view an easier pill to swallow. However I found it harder for me to relate to the characters due to this time stamp. Also the movie carried more scenes of the older boys than in the book, making the older boys more evil and cynical. And finally the boys walked straight through the night in the movie but I'm pretty sure they didn't do that in the book.
The Point of the View was the same person in both pieces (the older Gordon looking back on his life). However in the movie the view hears the older Gordon far more than the reader does. I think this has to do with transitions of the movie more than the script writers trying to add the older Gordon character. For example at one point the action of the movie stops and the Older Gordon explains something, but in the book that interruption wasn't in there at all. I guess Stephan King didn't feel the need to explain everything to his readers. There was a random scene of the older Gordon with his kids that added another dimension on the older Gordon's character.
Finally the overall theme of this movie was more of a tale about how Gordon is inspired and pushed to not let other people hold him back. This is mainly carried by Chris as he has many one on one talks with Gordon that didn't occur in the book. Actually the viewer sees a lot of separation of the group into the two pairs (Vern and Teddy, and Gordon and Chris) they don't seem as much of a group. By the end of the film, for Gordon the "Town seemed different...smaller". In someways this was because Chris had told him he was being held back in that town and that he shouldn't let other people's opinions stop him.
Overall the movie and story are close, it's really small details that affect this story.

It's all fun and games until you have a gash above your eyes

Today Mr. Christian Powers made an excellent point about the story "The Drunkard" which I also noticed as I was reading. This story might be funny but it is the irony that really carries this story's message. For example the whole little role-reversal is the entire plot of this story. However without the background story the reader wouldn't be able to understand/appreciate the drunk boy at all. But with this info the irony of this story pulls this story from a story of slap-stick comedy to a story of ironic situations.
Also the title "The Drunkard" also carries some ironic merit. I personally think the title is more towards the father. However the title is ironic because the reader doesn't know to who, the title is directed.

Umm May I get a Third Opinon

Okay, I don't know who this Lorrie Moore is but I don't like how she describes Midwesterners as "spacey with estrogen from large quantities of meat and cheese....they were complacent. They had been purchases...they seemed actually to know very little about anything, but they were good-natured about it". I mean the random jab towards other states or other parts of the country are okay. It's all good nature teasing (for example it's only natural for Hoosiers to call people from Kentucky what they are...hicks). But seriously it's overdoing it a little to spend 3 or 4 entire sentences against another part of the country. I mean seriously was Miss Moore abused in the Midwest or something, we really aren't that bad.
Other than that though I think having Zoe as a teacher would be awesome. I'm not quite sure why her students wouldn't want a crazy teacher like her?

Want and how it affects one's child

The short, and blunt-ness of "Popular Mechanics" helps illustrate the point that I think Raymond Carver was trying to make through his narrative. The lack of quotations kind of causes the reader to rush through the piece and in a way the characters. If the women and man had just slowed down I don't think that they would of had a literal tug of war with their child. They just got so caught up with their moment that they didn't have time to think. They only had time to think of the stuff they wanted: clothes, the will to leave...half of a child. I kind of wish I knew what the couple was fighting about but it's not overly important. All that matters is the "want" these two have for their things. This want drives them to fight and scream and to fight and scream over their child. This want drove them to rush through their story, not stopping for quotations in their dialogue or indentations in their paragraphs.

...and you may ask where did this tradition come from?... I don't know

While reading "The Lottery" I had the song "Tradition" from Fiddler on the Roof stuck in my head (Which can be heard and watch from here). This town is stuck in their ways of the lottery, or as it seems to be the first time this piece is read. However upon reading this work a second time I thought that none of the town other than Old Man Warner really supported the lottery at all, and while many people claims that the town has a "blind acceptance" to this lottery I'm convinced that the community just doesn't know how to escape their tradition. I first found this idea when the community is talking together, and they are talking about how there doesn't seem time between the lotteries any more, or how sad it is that one of the boys has to be head of the family. While this might be stepping outside of the cone, I think that the community just doesn't know what to do and that's why they accept it. They don't really believe the lottery does anything for them, they just can't get away from it.