Whims... A thing of the past?

I agree that many of the whims feel random and change too easily based on mood. I especially find it annoying when my sim (a retail owner) constantly has whims to go hang out with one of her customers. I think whims would be better if they operated more like in TS3, where they would appear, and you could decide on 4 to work towards. I especially think it was more satisfying when baby-themed whims appeared for pregnant sims and mid life crises made it so you either had to ignore all or pursue all related whims. However, I do think whims are an essential part of the game and the rewards, for me, are worth the frustration. There are some that are actually interesting for developing gameplay, but it would be nice if they didn't shift so often or seem really out of character for a sim.

P.S. My username has nothing with whims in TS4 (although it's a funny coincidence). I picked it a long time ago as my Steam username.