No doubt, No Fear

Pics

jack is doing well. Fergie adores him and lays down so he can bounce all over her.

Jack & my friend Autumn.

More pictures as soon as I charge the batteries to my camera. He was born on August 8th and weighs 13 1/2lbs right now.

bleah to people who steal

Someone smashed a window to the car while I was in a store on 39th st. I was in the little parking lot behind some stores. They didn't get anything of value except my mp3 player. Well, of value to anyone else. They got my gratitude journal and my bag of rocks that I have collected, my new lipstick and two magazines that I haven't read yet. I had my cellphone and money in my small purse with me. Mostly they stole my good mood. At least that I will eventually get back.

bleah to people who do this stuff. I hope they cut themselves on the window glass.

Thelma & Louise

I'm going to pick up a car next month. My friend Stephanie is coming along for the ride so that I don't have to drive back by myself. It's a convertible. I just picked up big sunglasses and scarves for us to wear. Yep, we're gonna do the Thelma and Louise thing. With a much better ending. LOL

Holiday

Hallmark gets to invent holidays so I think i should too. May 28th is now Vivification Day.

And if you drink as part of your celebration, saying Happy Vivification Day! will probably be hysterical!

hahahhahahahaha

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QDXMMNNWBHEDBUOHVMSJEUDECRIJVWWWWUNSEC


they didn't even fake the return email well, it's a yahoo mail.

geeze if you're going to scam at least put some effort into it.

NSVs

For people not acquainted with online weight loss support groups NSVs are non scale victories.

here are some of mine.

Getting to where I can hold the stationary bike above 90rpms for the entire 15 min.
Doing 15 reps per set on the chest press machine instead of 10
Buying new undies because mine were too big.

And one of my favorites... walking from the shower to the lockers in my bra and panties with other people in the room. That one was hard because I have body issues, but I did it and again, the world didn't end. Nobody even noticed me. :-)

Sunglasses

I have a thing for really big sunglasses. I got these at Boomerang's. Any other suggestions for places to find them - let me know. Can never have too many sunglasses.

A WTF kind of moment

everyone has WTF moments. I know I certainly do. Moments that defy explanation and WTF is really all you can say.

Here is one told to me by my friend Stephanie.

She was out behind her store having a cigarette and she sees a man walking up between the buildings. He's super friendly and has a beard that she thought was kind of cool. She notices that he is wearing headphones and carrying a weed whacker. He strolls up to a few feet from her, still smiling and then starts up the weed whacker and starts to weed eat the devoid of any plant material gravel parking lot. She looks at him for a second as he's weed eating the invisible grass and then says to herself "Oh Hell, this is NOT how my life ends." and goes inside.

Once inside she tells her partner David about the man. His response? "Oh yeah, he's been having problems getting that weed eater started all day." David then goes outside to have a conversation and watch the man cut down the GRASS THAT DOESN'T EXIST. Now there are two men outside who think it's totally normal to weed whack gravel. I don't know, maybe David sees the grass too.

Stephanie who is lacks the magic grass seeing gene just said "WTF?!"

Girls eat too

for some reason women have issues with people seeing them eat. I have heard whole discussions on "date" food and ways to avoid him noticing you actually consuming it.

eating in public issues go triple for anyone who is or has been overweight.

So I'm posting a picture of me eating.

Nope, world didn't end.

Chop Tops

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewProfile&friendID=443575140

I love this place and Sophia who did my hair is amazing! I went in for a trim, changed my mind and she created a style that I love!

different picture

I haz less hairz

Parents Please

I just worked a very long gig and there were very long lines for everything including balloons. Most people took it in stride and handled things well, but there were more than a few parents who set out to teach their kids the wrong way to handle things. Cutting in line is not nice. The people who wait 20 min don't like it if you go around them. Getting snotty with the balloon lady when she won't take your kid next because you are "in a hurry" or "too tired to wait in such a long line." is not endearing. It's also not very motivating for me. Want me to consider letting you cut? Pull out a hundred dollar bill. I will CONSIDER IT. No guarantees because I don't want to deal with 40 mad customers. For 2 hundred you're pretty much guaranteed to be next. LOL

otherwise get in line and act like a grown up.

Jack

Aren't they all sorts of adorable???

Before picture

I am getting a hair cut next Tuesday.

This is the before picture.

Curves Shoes from Avon

I tried these tennis shoes. I've heard wonderful things about mbt shoes, but while Dan is unemployed I am not spending over 200 on tennis shoes. Same basic concept but a bit cheaper so I thought I would try them.

I love them. I have a high arch so I need to add an insole but other than that they are great. I could feel the workout all the way up my leg when I wore them to the gym this morning. I didn't feel tired exactly, but I could feel different muscles working more. Especially in my ass - which is a good thing. LOL

I wiggle a lot so I like the rocking motion. I go back and forth anyway and this makes it easier and more fun.

The sole did make it a bit harder to go up and down stairs, but I'm sure I will adjust to that.

Bleah!!!!

I didn't eat meat for a long time because I thought it was a large part of my health issues. It wasn't. Wheat was. So I've been trying various things.

McDonald's. Had one. Never ever having a second one. That stuff is RANCID. Why do people eat it??? How do they stay in business?????

Hardee's. Tiny bit better. Never having another one of those either. Same with Sonic and Taco Bell. I'm not even going to try Burger King.

Now I'm pretty much back to not eating meat. I like steak and I like chicken. I don't like a lot of dairy anymore either. I like chocolate milk, cottage cheese and yogurt, but some cheeses that I used to like taste icky now.

Some days I feel like I am rediscovering food all over again. It's weird, but kinda cool.

I am a foolish foolish woman

I own sunscreen and hats. Just forgot them. Worked an outside gig without them and now I am paying the price. I even sunburned my scalp. bleah. At least I remembered sunscreen the second day so it didn't get worse.

I have brown hair

I have been dying my hair red since I was 18. The other day I dyed it brown. It's still a shade or two lighter than my natural (before gray) hair color, but it's closer than I have been in years.

I kinda like it.

One more post

Since I stopped eating wheat I started losing weight. Since the depression lifted I've started exercising. It feels good.

so far I have lost somewhere around 30lbs. I don't own a scale, but that's my estimate. I know I have lost 2 dress sizes in my stomach and maybe 4 in my legs. After 4 c-sections it's going to take awhile for my tummy to shrink.

I go to the gym several days a week and get together with Stephanie on Tuesday. Our exercise sessions are as much about having fun as they are getting in shape. It's nice to work out with someone who won't laugh at how uncordinated I am.

Last week we tried hula hooping. It seems like good exercise. I got most of my workout from bending over to pick the thing up again. LOL I'm not shaped right for that yet. You need an actual waist I think.

There's a certain joy I'm finding in trying and failing. I don't mind the failing and the trying is fun. It's nice to be able to share that with someone.

doing the right thing

I have posted before about my son being an addict. He's not using the hard stuff yet, but I can see the road he's headed down and it scares the hell out of me. I watched my brother suffer through decades of drug use before he managed to turn his life around.

My husband is an enabler. He makes it easy for our son to be an addict. That's not good. He loves him and doesn't mean to hurt him, but sometimes help hurts if you know what I mean.

I sent my son to live with my brother in Arkansas last weekend. My brother is not going to let his nephew get away with crap and he won't buy the lies. My brother knows the score and has been there, done that. It's also a chance for my son to actually finish high school and get away from the stuff that makes it easy for him to use. That's what his friends do and with a reputation as a stoner it was hard to make friends who didn't use.

It was a hard choice and it broke my heart to leave him there. Things are not perfect yet - things are never perfect - but I know it was the right choice. He started school yesterday and when I spoke to him the said he loved me for the first time in 2 years. He also called his sister and told her the same thing.

there are drugs in Arkansas, lots of them. Drugs are everywhere from small towns to big cities to the upscale suburbs. My kid has to make the choice to use or not use. I just wanted to give him a chance to start over and make new choices.

Depression

I was depressed. That is to say I was suffering from long term chemically induced depression. I didn't know it. I mean I sort of knew it, but didn't know to call it depression. I just knew that inside I didn't feel like me. Depression is hard to explain if you've never felt it. If you haven't felt it then I hope you never do 'cause it kinda sucks.

Wheat seems to have been the cause of my depression. I looked around and found several articles on the subject. Depression is not an uncommon side effect of a wheat intolerance. I know that as the allergen left my system it was like someone turned a light on in my brain. The fog lifted and it was like "wow!". I have energy and focus and clarity. I don't have to fake anything just to get by.

Not faking it is a big thing for me. I'm a balloon artist. I have to be happy and energetic. I had to fake that and faking it is exhausting.

Several other changes in my life in the week since I last posted. those get their own posts.

prepare to be jealous

I have a little blue balloon dog pendant. Genea made it for me. She does cool work, check her out at genea.etsy.com

Shoes

I went to the mall. Found lots and lots of cool shoes, but don't want to spend $70 to buy them. well, except one pair that's clear and will show off my cute socks. It's also not $70.

Went to Wal-mart. Found a pair of BORING shoes that were comfortable and only $9.

Fixed them.

Now they are not boring.

Computer is almost up to speed

It broke (some 16 year old who is in trouble got a virus at a porn site)
Teddy fixed it. He also made me a live usb for web browsing so that the virus thing is less of an issue.

While reinstalling drivers for the bluetooth it broke again.

Teddy fixed it again.

While I was working out of town 16 year old broke it again.

Teddy fixed it again.

Having a compugeek around the house is very very handy.

other son is NOT touching this computer again.

Jack is here

I am on my way to a big job in Sedalia this weekend, but I had to take time to make an announcement.

Jack was born last night!!!

For those who have no idea what I mean Jack is a great dane puppy. He is a blood relation to both Zelda and Fergie. There were 4 in the litter (2 girls, 2 boys) and I told Terry I wanted the black boy. I've been planning to name him Jack since I decided to get him - way before he was born.

I'm Back!

Unscheduled vacation. My computer decided to quit on me and it took me a couple of days to get it up and running again.

:-)

Maybe an actual post tomorrow!

Another Mirror Pic

Totally is the world's greatest freakout

I love the part where he hits himself with the shoe.

Stuff that made me laugh

too lazy right now to do pictures and that stuff. Just click on the links.

http://itemnotasdescribed.com/2009/06/17/funny-classifieds-free-bibles/

http://itemnotasdescribed.com/2009/06/03/funny-classifieds-house-plant/

http://itemnotasdescribed.com/2009/05/07/funny-classifieds-half-a-surf-board/

http://emailsfromcrazypeople.com/2009/07/29/old-school-anger/

http://emailsfromcrazypeople.com/2009/07/23/the-infamous-pider-drawing/

Look what I got!!

A box of legos!! Just came in the mail today!

In the mirror

I have a new hobby. Taking pictures of myself in the mirror. It started because my arms are too short to take a picture of myself so I decided to use a mirror. The one in the pink shirt is VERY important. That shirt used to fit before I stopped eating wheat. Now when I lift one arm up it slides off the other one. It's my new favorite shirt! LOL

We went for a walk

And these are some of the things I saw.

I'll post pictures of the other things I saw tomorrow. First i need to work up a post on the evils of littering.

In other news...

I finally did the diet coke/mentos thing yesterday.

That was super fun

I want more diet coke and mentos

I can't believe I waited this long to try it!!

Joining the ranks

A couple of weeks before he should be starting back at work Dan just found out that he may be joining the ranks of the laid off teachers.

F'ing KCMSD. They held onto this until it was too late for many teachers to find new jobs in that field for the year.

They don't want 'em but they don't want anyone else to have them either.

This winter is going to be rather suckish. I need to redouble efforts to find a couple of restaurants. Monday anyway. We just found out when we got home last night and I'm still in shock.

I'm glad that we have a cheap mortgage.

Cats in the Cradle

Today a friend told me that his wife was annoyed because she was stuck with the kids for the day while he made up some hours at work. My initial reaction was kinda harsh. I couldn't help but think WTF???? Stuck with them? Why have them if you resent spending time with them.

In this case I was probably being over harsh. I don't know if she really feels that way or if he was just venting. Either way, I don't get to judge her based on something he said.

Everyone else that's crossed my path this week. Them I get to judge.

I think if it's at all possible a parent needs to be home with the kids when they are little. Doesn't have to be mom. Actually doesn't have to be a parent, but at the very least a family member. Problem is lots of people don't make enough to afford to do this. I wish that were different.

Now to the ones that annoy the crap out of me. Women who can stay home and then don't bother to interact with their children. Off to daycare so mommy can have some alone time. Yeah I know it's hectic to be around small children all day. I've got kids and 3 of them were small at the same time. Mommy needs time off yes, but not 3 or more hours every day. I know one woman who hired a nanny even though she was a stay at home mom. Spent most of her time working on her golf game at the club. She's starting to pay the price for that now. Her kids aren't little anymore and don't have time for her. Whole Cats in the Cradle thing. Sometimes I worry that we're raising a generation of kids who fit that mold.

You get back what you give. actually with kids you get way more than you give, especially if you give them love and attention.

Back to awesomeness

Teddy has been spending time this week reminding me of how much more awesome I used to be. I think he's referring to it as weird, but I choose not to hear it that way.

He's right. I used to be much more awesome and there's no reason I can't still be.

One of the things he brought up was how I used to discipline my CampFire Boys & Girls. If they didn't listen at meetings they risked getting Barneyed. What sort of this is this you ask? It's an amazing tool that parents around the world can use.

You go up to the misbehaving kid in front of their friends. Preferably at school and sing the Barney theme song at the top of your lungs. Fear of the Barney will keep most kids in check. Doesn't even have to be Barney's theme. Any mushy song will do.

I think Teddy will be Barneyed when school starts this fall.

hahahahahaha

http://thereifixedit.com/2009/07/22/epic-kludge-photo-hanes-his-way/

Never Enough

Why are there never enough outlets in my world. I can never find a place to plug stuff in where i want it.

It's probably a sign that i use too many electrical gizmos.

Goal for the week. - cut down on electrical gizmos.

Maybe then I'll feel like I have more than enough plugs. :-)

High School Friends

I don't have a lot of close associations with people I knew in high school. I have a lot of 'friends' on facebook that are people I knew then, but for most of them I can barely remember a conversation. There's one I would like to track down, but have had no luck. One I found on a whim and one that I gave much thought to before re-establishing contact. Those are all from my days in Ansbach. Honestly I can't name 10 people from my senior class in Arkansas. The few people I spent time with were either older or younger than me. It's odd, but that's how it goes.

College - I can remember the names of lots of people. Only care about one and I'm in contact with her.

This comes to mind because I know a lot of people who really want to find people from their 'glory days'. Maybe that's what it is. I don't look back on high school as the best time of my life. I'm not a sentimental person to begin with and high school was pretty suckish for lots of reasons. I think that age is suckish for most kids. Movie like to pretend it's not, but most of my friends remember it as hard, awkward and difficult. Of course a lot of my friends are a bit outside of society's standard for normal. Being different as a teen can be difficult.

I do enjoy parts of the facebook reunion thing. Some people I didn't know very well in school have turned into very interesting people and I enjoy seeing what they are up to. I just don't get the same feelings of nostalgia when pictures are posted. I look at the faces and the memories do not come flooding back. Besides memories will fool you. What you remember may not be the whole truth.

One person from middle school I always wondered about. I wanted to know where he was but could never quite track him down. Then I found out that he tried to do some bad stuff to my little brother who was 6 or 7 at the time. Now I would prefer to run over him rather than into him.

To any old high school friends reading this - I'm sure you were the one I found on a whim and am thrilled to be in contact with. And if you're Susi Jordan - email me. I have been trying to get in touch with you.

Old Sheet Music

Last night I bought some vintage sheet music with the intent of turning it into some kind of art project.

Those intentions have failed. After looking it over I just can't bear to cut it up. One magazine was from 1914 and one was from 1916. The ads are facinating. Of the others they range in age from 1918 to 1940. One called Any Man's Sister has a copyright of 1918 by Kay-See Music Co. Kansas City, MO. It starts with a paragraph above the song that says

NOTE! - This song was written to relate the story of a poor girl who became the victim of circumstances which might befall any girl not knowing conditions that exist in the larger cities.

Newspapers, reformers and societies have been trying to help these poor souls who have fallen into the mercy of traffic dealers.

They are trying to eliminate these unworthy conditions and help the innocent victims to live a legitimate life again before it is too late.

We hope this song will add to the cause.
The Writers.

Now how could I cut that up? Not sure what I am going to do with it, but cutting it into pieces isn't an option.

3 more weeks.

Life is kinda chaotic right now, but the end is in sight. I just have to get through 3 more weeks before the next period of calm. Don't know how long that will last, because life is never always calm.

After that my big project is getting a couple of restaurants for the fall. Anyone in KC have any suggestions? We lost two last year and that cut our income by 1500/month. It made for a suckish winter. I don't want to repeat it. City market is good, but it will end and I want to be ready when it does.

Oh F@#k No he didn't?!!

Saw this on @readheadgirl 's twitter stream

http://jezebel.com/5316314/what-is-the-matter-with-kansas

The title of article asks a good question

What is the matter with Kansas?

What the fuck is wrong with with someplace where this could happen?

If you haven't clicked on the link yet let me sum it up.

17 year old goes to a party and drinks.
Then some men put her in the back of a truck where she is raped.
She may have had some alcohol, but she's with it enough to scream no the entire time.
Other assholes photograph the whole thing.
Rape is reported.
County Attorney declines to prosecute the male.
CA then shows pictures of the assault to the parents of the attacker because of the alcohol being served at the party.
He's then punished by a six month suspension.


spread the word, email everyone. Don't let the people get away with this abuse of the a girl. Yes she should not have been drinking but having a drink DOES NOT MEAN SHE IS ASKING TO GET RAPED OR THAT THE PEOPLE WHO SHOULD HELP HAVE LIBERTY TO VIOLATE HER ALL OVER AGAIN.

Bag Making

I've spent part of tonight remembering why I prefer to sew or crochet bags. Fusing is hard. Seems easy. Should be easy, but is kinda hard. Still I managed to get several ready to sew. Should have some pics by Tuesday.

Gonna learn to photoshop

I played with my mugshot style pic today and this is what I came up with.

I think I will take a class in photoshopping pictures.

1. fake, plastic me




2. funner things that I liked.

It doesn't seem like enough

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31938315/ns/us_news-crime_and_courts/

A 17 year old girl is going to jail for letting a kitten named Tiger Lily roast to death. She and her 14 year old friend broke into an apartment, ransacked it and put the kitten in the oven.

Jail isn't enough. She need to be locked up in the loony bin. Maybe we can designate Antarctica as a place to send these dangers to society. She will get out and she won't be any better. I don't want to live near her. As she walked by a group of animal activists she stuck out her tongue and said that Tiger Lily was dead. Her reason for letting the kitten burn to death? She doesn't like cats. I don't see much evidence of a conscience there.

It's harsh I know, but I honestly think some people can not be fixed. She probably belongs on that list.

Rest in peace Tiger Lily. Burn in hell Cheyenne Cherry.

I love this song

Hair

I needed a hair cut. Humanature does hair cuts - so off I went.

First I dyed my hair last night.

This is what I looked like before. All scraggly and stuff

I didn't go as wild as I wanted to. I'm going to do something funky, but this stylist didn't seem like the funky type. Funky hair requires a funky stylist to be done right. So I went for normal and not exciting, but not scraggly.

My first after shot looked like a mugshot. I really really need to get more sleep. Lack of makeup didn't help much either.

My daughter is going to hate it because it does drift into my eyes. Looking back, she'll like this one better than the one I am getting next month. :-)

It's as bad as you think and they are all out to get you

At least according to my husband and son yesterday.

Tommy wanted to be home NOW, not later. He was a whiney pain in the ass about it. I didn't tell him to come with us and I wasn't cutting my errands short because he felt like ending his excursion. Dan just wanted to be out of the car.

Coming back from Martin City we noticed them putting up Road Closed signs. Only they were putting them in the grass, not on the road itself. They are getting ready to do some work on hwy 150 and we figured this was part of the preparation. Later we noticed another road closed sign, again in the grass on the side of the road, kinda sideways even, like it had been set there for future use. There was an LED sign too, but it wasn't turned on yet. Just blank, waiting for them to get ready to rip the road up and complcate my driving experience.

A min later we joined the line of people discovering that the road was indeed closed. The signs were in the street when you got actually up to the construciton with little place to turn around.

So we go back and turn down Botts road. Head up to 139th street and hook up with the access road from there. Excpet 39th street was closed too. This time the signs were crossing the road making sure you didn't go down there. Tommy and Dan took it kinda personal. Me, I just started laughing. Their reactions were a bit over the top and it was just a comedy of errors. A couple of wrong turns later and we were finally on hwy 71. Then it's just a skip and a jump to home.

two things.

1. my family needs to lighten up a bit.

2. MODOT needs to learn how to actually block a road off if they are closing it.

Lists

These lists are not all inclusive and I've tried to eliminate the obvious answers.

Then things that make me smile.

1. Legos
2. Bubbles
3. Spirographs
4. My nickel from 1941
5. New books
6. My kitchen aid mixer
7. Schoolhouse Rock
8. Fireflies
9. The ocean
10.Giant trees

Nine things that make me sad.

1. Empty fortune coookies

2. Finding a lost toy on the street.

3. Watching a child stand outside the group.

4. Very poor people buying lottery tickets.

5. Senior citizens with nobody to talk to.

6. Giant SUVs with one occupant.

7. Beautiful buildings that are abandoned

8. Children's beauty pagents

9. Stray animals

Eight things that scare me.

1. Spiders

2. Things that in any way resemble spiders.

3. Deep water. Not so much the water, but the drowning part.

4. Public speaking - unless it's teaching balloons.

5. People who are politically to the far right or left.

6. Quality of public education in the United States

7. When elevators jerk.

8. Flying - again, not the flying, but the crashing part.

Seven things that make me say ewwwwww.

1. Slugs

2. Bot flies

3. People who get their tongue split.

4. When Dan blows air out of his tear ducts.

5. Smokers' breath

6. The smell of cooking eggs.

7. People swapping gum.

Six things that I think should be invented.

1. Heels that are cute AND comfortable.

2. Non-stinky hair dye.

3. A pill that allows me to eat wheat.

4. Upgradeable printers. Don't trash them, upgrade them.

5. Sharpies with lids that are attached so they won't get lost. (not clickable ones)

6. Scratchproof cds and dvds

Five places I plan to go before I die.

1. Mt. Rushmore

2. Pacific Coast Highway

3. Yosemite

4. Big Bend National Park.

5. Burning Man

Four things I miss.

1. Waffles. I can't eat them and I miss them.

2. Beer. Same reason.

3. The breasts I had at 20.

4. Saturday morning cartoons.

Three things that I would buy if they were easily available here.

1. Eddings markers (UK)

2. Kinder Eggs (Germany)

3. Super giant modeling balloons. (Austria)

Two things I want to learn.

1. Latin.

2. To bellydance WITHOUT looking like a camel having a seizure (how I do it now)

One Wish I would make on a falling star.

Can't tell. If you do it won't come true.

Sex Ed toys that made me laugh.

got this off of twitter

cracked me up!!

Safe for my work where I'm the boss, but your work? maybe not so much

http://bitchmagazine.org/post/strange-sex-ed-tools-from-around-the-world

A velvet vulva puppet? Going to have to order one just to say I own it.

People - my friend Donna

Donna is my best friend. We don't live anywhere close to each other, but modern communication makes it easy to stay close.

I've known her since the fall of 1985. We lived in the same dorm at the University of Arkansas. We lost touch for awhile but she tracked me down in 1993 and we've be in constant contact ever since.

Donna is legally blind. She can see, just not all that well. It's rarely stopped her and I admire that. I've told her 1000 times to get on SSI. Especially when $$ was tight for her and John, but she never does. Instead she went to college and got a degree in teaching. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that she finds a job soon. She deserves one and the kids deserve to have her as a teacher.

Knowing her has changed my life in little and not so little ways. It's nice to know that there is someone I can tell anything and everything too. She knows the good and she knows the bad and for some reason still loves me. I love her too.

She's one of 3 people I know who I would call a 'real' Christian. I know a lot of people who give lip service to being Christian, but don't seem to follow those beliefs very well. Although there's a lot to her religion that I don't get, she lives it instead of just preaching it.

This isn't written to give you a real picture of my friend. I don't think I can do that in a blog. This post is just to say that I'm lucky to have this really cool person in my life. I hope you have someone equally as cool in yours.

Wussy Baby Pants

I was having a discussion with my husband yesterday on catheters and who they are more painful for - men or women. He, like so many others assumed they would be more painful for men.

why?

It's a heck of a lot easier to find the entrance on a guy and then go from there. For women there's a bit more looking to do. Once you get inside the plumbing isn't that different. It's a tube that leads to the bladder where the balloon will be inflated. Why that would be worse for a man than a woman I don't know. except that men are wussy baby pants when it comes to anything to do with their penises. I've had several catheters and while none felt good they were not all that bad either.

As a nurses aide I assisted in the insertion of lots of them. Both on men and women. Nervous people felt more pain, calm people felt less. Men were more likely to freak out when you came at them with it than women, but if they were calmed down enough there didn't seem to be any more problems than with women.

The most pain from a catheter is when something happens to cause it to get ripped out while the balloon is still inflated. I've seen several patients with dementia do that. It didn't look good. Going in - not so bad. Coming out properly - not so bad. Over all - way less painful than stepping on a thumb tack. (which I did yesterday and it hurt like hell)

I stand by my totally unscientific analysis on men and catheters. Wussy Baby Pants Syndrome.

If you haven't grimaced enough yet fellows - look up sounding. Those guys LIKE catheters.

And next time you have to get one - put on your big girl panties and deal with it.

Why

I came across this "program" (scam) that helps you to become an elite power user of twitter. here's the url. I'm not going to bother to rehash it for you. you can check it out if you want to.

My question is Why???

Is being in the top ranks of twitter so important that you will spend $197 on it? Maybe you can argue that it will bring you $$ somehow. I don't know how, but maybe it will. I know twitter has brought me $$ in the form of jobs, but those are local. I don't think being in the top 200 of the world users will benefit me that much. I just want to keep up with what's going on in my neck of the woods.

I think usually it's an ego thing. If I have 2k followers I am more important than someone who has 1k. bleah. I follow a lot of people and have about the same number of followers. I can't keep up with everything, but I do only follow people who generally interest me. I twitter when I can and can't imagine trying to keep up with over a thousand people.

auto DM's on twitter suck

On twitter I get automated messages that say "thanks for following me" About half the time I immediately unfollow the person.

I hate automated messages.

I got one today that was as generic as the rest and the irksome part is that it was from someone who I know. Someone I've met in person several times. bleah.

I wish there was a way to block automatic DM's without blocking the person.

Chad Gibson

Read this and even though most of you are not in Ft. Worth - write them anyway.

http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2009/06/30/fort-worth-police-chief-that-faggot-had-it-coming

Classes

I'm going to be offering some classes during the rest of the summer. Several of us are actually.

July 13 - How to make recycled bag totes. I'll provide the plastic bags. I have LOTS of them. You provide a basic knowledge of crochet skills and a large (n or p) hook.

July 20 - Basic ballooning Making balloon animals is a lot of fun. We'll provide a kit that includes balloons and a hand pump.

Teddy will be teaching trumpet lessons 3 days a week Tues. Wed, Thurs. from 10 - 12:30 and 7 - 8:30 in half hour sessions. If you know any beginning trumpet students who want some extra instruction - send them his way. He's saving up extra $$ for college expenses since it's only a year away. The boy is scary good, and his trumpet teacher thought it was a good time for him to start sharing that.

Call 816-401-1465 for prices and more information.

In other news....

Here are a few things that happened recently that DON'T REVOLVE AROUND MICHAEL JACKSON.

* India recently overturned a 148 year old law that criminalized gay sex. I don't know where people stand on it morally, but legally you can be gay in India now.

* North Korea fired two short range missiles. There is some fear in Japan and South Korea that N.Korea may be planning a long rage attack.

* Venus & Serena may make Wimbledon an all Williams final.

* Amnesty International has issued a report detailing Gaza war crimes.

* The gap between Aboriginal people and non-aboriginal people in Australia is growing.

* A two year old girl was strangled by her mom's boyfriend's pet python in Florida.

That all came from the front page of www.bbc.co.uk where they seem to have managed to have gotten back to non-Michael news. Lots of other stuff has happened in the world and I wish American media would talk more about that and less about Jackson.

I also hope they don't make Neverland into a shrine like Graceland. What is it with our need to make posthumous heroes out of men who were not such great role models in life? Are we going to get reports that MJ's death was faked and he's been seen in a mall in New Jersey? bleah

Karl Malden died. I didn't know much about him outside of his work. I'm starting to kinda like that in a celebrity. I liked his work and the rest of his life didn't really matter to me. I wish Brad & Angie would make me like them more. Or Miley Cyrus. Actually I don't care what they do. I wish the media would stop treating every little move made by a celebrity as breaking news. Talk more about missing kids (of ALL races) or corporations harming the environment. Maybe talk more about normal folk who manage to do good stuff in the course of every day life. I would rather hear about a paramedic who saved a life over what the Jonas Brothers had for dinner any day.

That means that we, the American public, have to STOP GIVING $$ TO THE PEOPLE WHO PUBLISH THIS CRAP. next time you see Kate & John on a cover - DON'T BUY IT. If we shrink the demand, the supply will shrink too. And I think a world with more focus on what matters will be a better world for the next generation.

Obligatory Michael Jackson Post

When I heard that Michael Jackson died I had 3 thoughts.

1. Maybe he has the peace now that he never got in life.
2. What is going to happen to his kids?
3. There goes any sort of real news coverage for the next week.

Is it callous to say that I'm not going to miss him? I didn't know him personally and his life now seemed to be more about the freak show he had become than the music. I wasn't looking forward to buying a new cd or anticipating anything he had planned. I can and still do listen to his music from the past, but the present MJ kinda weirded me out.

I think a whole lot of the mourning is not mourning the man, but rather bemoaning a visible end to many people's youth. His death is a mirror that reminds people that they are not any more immortal than those the idolized in their youth. A woman on the radio today said that she's sad that her kids are never going to know Michael Jackson. Of course they can. I know the music of a whole lot of folks who died before I was born or when I was very young. She talked about how important he was when she was a teen. Again, it's not missing the man, but missing what she associated with him. Her kids can know Michael Jackson. They can know his music and not have to know about the trials, surgeries or general oddness that surrounded him.

All that being said. My heart goes out to the people who did really know him. His family and friends. I wish them comfort in this time of grief.

Question about Tornados

For most of my life I've lived in places that get tornadoes. I've been up close and personal with two and I don't want to make it 3. Recently I've been wondering about tornadoes in other parts of the world. I never hear about them. I lived in Germany for 5 years and never once recall a tornado warning. It seems likely that they do occur other places, but I am surprised that that I don't know for sure.

So I looked it up.

Every continent except Antarctica has them. Here is a link to Wikipedia's list of European ones. At least the worst ones.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_European_tornadoes_and_tornado_outbreaks

I guess they have them, we just seem to have more. The US has about 1000 tornadoes a year. Due to the size of the nation the UK has a higher percentage of land covered by tornadic activity.

Information about tornadoes

http://www.nssl.noaa.gov/edu/safety/tornadoguide.html