Ed Lover Is Back C’mon Son 7

Tiger Woods, White House Gatecrashers, Shaquille Oneal, and Rihanna are all discussed and broken down……

There is still a flood of secondary offerings coming down the pipe.  We have secondaries from Consolidated Edison Inc. (NYSE: ED), Kinder Morgan Energy Partners, L.P. (NYSE: KMP), Vanguard Natural Resources, LLC (NYSE: VNR), Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE: AGO), and U.S. Energy Corp. (NASDAQ: USEG).  We have compiled details in a summary of each showing capital raised, the use of proceeds, underwriters, and the reaction on each.

Consolidated Edison Inc. (NYSE: ED) is selling 5 million shares of its common stock through UBS to raise approximately $215 million based upon the closing prices on Monday.  A formal pricing has not been seen as of the pre-market time and shares are actually up a penny at $42.92 this morning.  Con-Ed plans to use proceeds from the sale of shares to fund construction costs and for other general corporate purposes.

Kinder Morgan Energy Partners, L.P. (NYSE: KMP) has priced a public secondary offering of 4,500,000 common limited partner interests at $57.15 per common unit.  The underwriters, Goldman Sachs, Citi, Barclays, and others have a 30-day option to purchase up to 675,000 additional common units to cover over-allotments.  The company will be raising more than $250 million.  Shares, or LP interests, are down 2% at $57.09 on triple average volume.

Vanguard Natural Resources, LLC (NYSE: VNR) priced its public secondary offering of 2.25 million shares (common units representing limited liability company interests) at $18.00 per unit.  Vanguard said it expects to receive net proceeds of approximately $38.5 million and it intends to use the net proceeds to redeem 250,000 common units from one of its unitholders, Nami Capital Partners, LLC, and to repay debt.  Citi, Wells Fargo Securities and RBC Capital Markets are the joint book-running managers for the offering and they have been granted a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional 337,500 common units.

Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE: AGO) has announced an agreement to sell 23,924,000 common shares via a public secondary offering.  Assured Guaranty intends to use the net proceeds for general corporate purposes and to complete the external capital portion of the rating agency capital initiatives announced in November, but the company noted that it does not expect to complete the external reinsurance arrangement discussed then. UBS is the sole underwriter for the offering and it will have a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional 3,588,600 common shares to cover overallotments.  This will raise more than $500 million and shares are down 4.6% at $21.62 this morning.

U.S. Energy Corp. (NASDAQ: USEG) has announced a public secondary offering of 5,000,000 shares of common stock to fund its capital expenditure program through 2010, with specific emphasis on the expansion of its Williston Basin drilling program with Brigham Exploration Company and further drilling participation with PetroQuest Energy and Yuma Exploration.  SMH Capital Inc. is the sole book-running and lead manager and C.K. Cooper is co-manager, and these underwriters will have a 30-day option to purchase up to 750,000 additional shares of common stock to cover over-allotments.  This will raise approximately $30 million in gross funds and the stock is actually up 2.5% at $6.09.

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JON C. OGG

i know..in fact i have ever known..people in others love personality not how they look..or even when first its the look..then after that more important is personality..but i thought..the problem is in my body..nooo its in me..im too boring..or i dunno..it hurts a little bit..okay…ill go  jogging..it will help..i hope

By lwdewhirst

Now that our suspicions have been confirmed by the recently published East Anglia CRU emails, it’s time to seriously think about how science might reorient itself away from a philosophy of sacrifice, privation, and doom toward ideas which might actually be useful. The scientific community could find the return to valid, optimistic and unbiased research as refreshing as it is liberating.

So many issues deserve the positive attention of science that it has truly been sad to see such a large proportion of the world’s intelligence focused on strategies designed to not only restrict human progress, but to reverse it.

Fear is not the source of achievement. It is disabling to achievement. Fear has driven climate science and closed the metaphoric door to the future. Instead of thinking about what can be done, climate science thinks about what can’t be done. Instead of exploring what is possible, climate science has defined what is impossible. In short, climate science has become the last venue within which capitalism, the free market, optimism, and progress are implicitly derogated. Climate science is not science. Climate science is politics. It is a political agenda of opinion and it has been heavily manipulated for the sake of controlling its message; a message camouflaged in “green.” The medium is the message, remember?

Who isn’t in favor of “green?” Green is healthy. Green is as emotionally appealing as it is philosophically irresistible. “Green” is the vanguard of a blatant propaganda campaign. The idea of “green” is brilliantly Orwellian, promising life while leading to stagnation and death.

It is time to replace “green” with “blue.” Blue skies are full of promise. Green is jealous and advocates a primitive life. Blue is poetic and suggests the confidence we find when we trust in our belief that much is yet to be discovered…provided we remain open to discovery.

From space the Earth is blue…would “green” ever have sent us to the Moon?

Does “green” stand for commerce, growth, real energy, peace, health, achievement, enterprise, or hope? No. “Green” stands for collectivism, deprivation, authority, restriction, and control.

“Blue” stands for freedom, future, hope, enterprise, prosperity, progress, peace, and possibility.

THINK BLUE.

Read more innovative articles from Paris is the Capitol of Rome

If you read my previous entry you would know that today was Mummy and Charlotte Day. OMG…. I love M&C day. She seemed to know I was there for ONLY her today. She was such a sweetie. She would walk up to me nad just kiss my knee, make a big MWAH sound, smile and me then walk away ot do whatever she was doing, only to return a little while later adn do it again.

That being said, NEVER LEAVE A PAIR OF SHORTS OFF A BABY WHEN YOU PUT THEM TO BED…. THEY PUSH POO THROUGH THIER MESH SIDED COT. Yep.. you guessed it… i spent nearly a hour scrubbing mesh ot clean the cot after having to wash my “darling” and brushing her teeth.. yep.. her breath was a little suspect smelling.

All in all, it was a great day… NO hypos from Emily, no heat ot upset Charlotte, and i made the yummiest dinner.

Can’t wait to see what tomorrow brings.. but I can promise I wont be makign the shorts mistake again

Good morning and happy December to you all!  Today marks the start of our Christmas-related coverage, and what better way to start it than with information on cut Christmas trees!  Below is our podcast on the subject:

Ed’s Podcasts: Cut Christmas Trees

As always, if you’d like to save the podcast for later playback on your iTunes or iPod, right-click the link above and select “save target as” (Mac users select “save link as”).

We have lots of fantastic holiday advice lined up for you.  Have a safe Monday, and we’ll see you all in two days!

Sincerely,

Ed

Ahhh…another day, another depressing doctor visit…

Disclaimer:  If you have found yourself with rolling eyes or laughter at the dramatic prose in which I describe my personal situations, please stop reading now.  Continuing could roll your eyes so far into your head that they don’t come back.  And if you are an eye roller, I respect your rolling, because I would have rolled too, before ED.  You can’t understand something like this until it happens to you.  But I’d advise just living in mis-understanding about it…the experience is not worth the comprehension!!!

Anyways, after the conclusion that I am ailing with severe overtraining syndrome, my ND decided on a new and fresh batch of tests to decide how to start putting the damaged pieces of my body back together, so a few weeks ago I had a full blood, urine, and metabolic panel test done, as well as a take home saliva adrenal hormone test.  The results were received and discussed with my ND Friday morning. 

The hormones were as expected, completely backwards.  I run high at night, which is why I can’t sleep, and then low in the morning and all day, which is why I drag and am exhausted (on top of lack of sleep.)  Nothing new to report, except that now its “proven” by the test results I guess.  Basically, I never really get into a deep sleep.  So. Tired.  My WBC count was low, which it has been for every medical test I’ve taken for the last 4 years.  This signals a chronic infection and low immune function.  I am a bit anemic, and vitamins B and D deficient, which simply means I up the vitamins I’m taking—no biggie.  I’m becoming more severely hypoglycemic, which goes hand in hand with the adrenal dysfunction.  My screwed up hormones just can’t regulate my blood sugars and my energy levels. 

Here are the surprises.  My weight and body fat have not really increased, maybe 1-2 lbs.  I was sure it was more.  I was SURE!  Sigh.  And, I’m gluten intolerant.  Not allergic or celiac at this point, but my digestive lining is so, well, gone, that it is very hard on my system and further irritating recovery.  My ND was pretty adamant that this was a big player.  I’m not convinced but I’m going to give it a go.  It isn’t going to “fix” me, but it should make recovery faster if gluten really is that much of a bear on my system right now.    The stomach lining thing makes a lot of sense.  There is a mucous membrane lining the whole digestive tract.  And mine is null and void.  I’m raw.  I think of it like a rash on the inside I guess…which is why everything burns and hurts.  Even water.  This is how I am envisioning it. 

I was fully expecting to be started on a bioidentical or other hormone type therapy regarding the adrenals, but ND insisted that there isn’t a point until I gain weight.  At least 10 lbs.  And at least 10% body fat.  I cried and cried.

It is all on me now.  I cried first because ED started to celebrate and cheer for joy when it saw the gluten intolerant diagnosis.  More restrictions!  Moving farther away from normalcy!  (I know that is a relative term but in the world involving my family, its pretty far.)  I cried because ED took over and then I cried because oats were on the list, and then I cried because how can I gain 10 lbs and 10% fat without going insane?  I cried but ND kept praying and pushing positive at me. 

The gluten thing shouldn’t be forever.  Just “right now” while I’m so hurt inside.  For now, it’s an adventure in new foods, right?!  But ED is still there; ready to pounce….sitting on my shoulder, watching for his in.

I don’t know how I’m going to do this.  The weight gain part.  It’s been years that I’ve lived with this…I wanted a pill or a therapy.  But it all comes back to me again.  My responsibility. 

Aside from the mental blocks here, it still hurts physically…almost everything I swallow burns.  In yoga I preach against “no pain no gain.”  But this isn’t yoga.  This is my temple which I’ve desecrated.  So gain = pain.  Most people would look at a mandated weight gain as fun!  Heck yah, you get to eat more fun things, and relax a little bit!  Not me.  It means more work to figure out what isn’t hurting me, more time spent cooking, more physical pain and discomfort, and I foresee more depression and anxiety related to all.  This isn’t fun now, and the gain isn’t going to be fun.

I have 2 choices:

1. Continue to live like this.  Cycles of pain, fatigue, exhaustion, constantly in anxiety waiting for the next crash…on a day to day and week to week basis.  Little enjoyment of life, hopelessness, depression, more easily inviting in disease, cancers, bone loss, early aging, and never recovering, ever. 
2. Put on weight, and not only weight, but FAT.  How I’ll react emotionally, who knows?  I don’t want to say it would be bad, that boxes me on.  Maybe it could be good.  Maybe I can just stay positive.  Because all the bad stuff that comes with the weight gain is temporary.  I have to get up the mountain and then I can enjoy the scene.  But with option #1…I’ll be forever trudging up the mountain only to tumble back down before I reach even halfway. 

So it’s either 1. forever negative or 2.temporary negative and then hopefully forevermore positive.  I know some of you ED sufferers could think 3^rd choice, but I’m not even going to go there.  That is not an option. 

After all the woe and despair, I guess #2 is where it’s at.  Now where to start…I guess intake goes up.  I picked up gluten-free buckwheat cereal, and then some of this:

And made this:

Cream of rice with pumpkin and cranberries

I really enjoyed it!  I made it in the crockpot, it got nice and puffy.  I added big chunks of pumpkin and fresh cranberries, cinnamon, ginger, stevia, and vanilla extract.  I know I can find gluten-free oats too.  I’m not broken up about this gluten-free thing, although I will miss my Fiber One cereal.  Smaps is a cereal I’ve liked because it is high protein, but now I extra like it because it is gluten free, and ND approved!  I don’t like quinoa.  But I may try quinoa flakes again.  Maybe. 

Here are a few meaty mains to share.  Salmon sautéed with broccoli, onion, celery, garlic, mushrooms, mixed with a dash of dill, lemon juice, and a bit of Imagine Foods Roasted Turkey Gravy (gluten-free!!)

Salmon veggie saute

And another pan sautéed chicken and veggies…(click for recipe)

Chicken with spinach and mushrooms

I could really use some encouragement from my fellow recoverers.  Tell me this is going to be ok, I can do it, and it is the right thing to do?  Tell me gaining weight will make me healthy and stronger, not lazy or out of control or slothful or gluttonous.  Tell me you’ve gained and got to the top of the mountain and joined the peaceful village that was settled there…where nobody judges you, nobody thought you had “let yourself go” or asked if you were pregnant or told you that you “looked great” without looking in your eyes.  Tell me to stop going in circles and get to the heart of what damaged me in the first place.  Tell me to take responsibility for my health.      

Tell me I need to do this…that there isn’t any other choice?

Hello Beautiful People!

How I’ve missed writing here. Sorry for being AWOL for so long… I’m getting into finals at school and my two jobs are keeping me busy. Gotta make the goods before Christmas! I hope you’ve all been fantastic. I’ve been keeping up on your blogs, just not commenting as much or sometimes at all. I can’t wait for break to begin so I can start up!

I have been doing surprisingly well the past few weeks. I still count, and for a little while there, I’ll admit I slipped a little. But I’m back up with my calories and I’m opening myself to more foods! Atleast one or two days in a week (usually when I’m at school/work all day, or just out with friends) I don’t count and just eat what I want, based on hunger. Hunger cues are REALLY hard to figure out for me…has anyone successfully moved from counting to intuitive eating (post recovery)? Tips would be rad.

My health has been getting better to. I got another visit from Aunt Flow (just a few days ago ) which was great, cause it’s been about two months since her last brief stay. Unfortunately, after two days she was gone again. (Two years ago, I would never have used the work “unfortunately”, haha) My hair is thicker and my nails are REALLY nice! No more flakiness! My bruises from anemia are still there, unfortunately. I’m tired now too, but I think that’s more from over working/exams a coming rather than ED!

For those of you who have days where you don’t count your calories – do you find yourself trying to tally up the calories anyways? Compulsively? I do this, and it just frustrates me. It’s like even though I feel like I’m liberating myself from this disease, he just won’t let me go completely. Bah!

Like I said, school is in full swing and I’m happy to say I’ve gotten my grades up since earlier on in the semester. There’s just two classes I’m not doing as great in (not failing, nowhere near it!). It’s frustrating though, maybe cause I’m a bit of a perfectionist.

As for food, I’ve definitely slacked on picturing them! There have been some epic concoctions made though: the best bowl of Pumpkin Pie Oats happened about a week ago; Chocolate Chip Cookies (the yummy, unhealthy kinds!) also occurred, which were shared with friends as a Monday morning treat; and a helluva lotta variations of Tuna Wraps. Here are a few I managed to capture photographically, though:

[[ Tofu Stir-Fry (with real olive oil and soy sauce!) - the 'Fu; Carrots; Green Pepper; Peanuts ]]

[[ Sorry about  the shit photos - it's been getting dark early resulting in bad lighting! *sigh* A sign of the times... ]]

[[ Morning Glory Oats - Oats; Soya Milk; Raspberries; Almonds; Raisins ]]

[[ Another FuFry! with Sweet Tater Fries - Extra Firm Tofu; Celery; Carrots; Green Pepper; Sweet Tater; with garlic powder, curry and chili powder ]]

[[ Baked Apple stuffed with Oats; PB & Co; Cinnamon...and there was defs something else, but I forgot! ]]

[[ Stolen from the lovely Magdelene, and modified slightly ]]

Also, I tried my uber expensive William-Sonoma Pecan Pumpkin Butter. It’s fantastic! But definitely not worth the $14.50 per tiny jar. I’m currently rationing it, allowing myself 3 servings per week. Blah : ( On another note, is pumpkin butter supposed to be kinda watery? 0__0

Anywho, I’m gonna wrap it up for now. Promise I’ll be back much sooner than last time!

Mucho love,

izzyy xoxoxx

Well, the begining of a crazy week in the Reid/Wright house.

The kids got home from thier fathers last night and they are tired but now at school. They are tired but they had a great time.

Charlotte is teething her eye teeth so panadol is our friend.

Daves grandad is coming for dinner wednesday for dinner and on thursday dave is having surdgery to have the cyst removed from his brow.

But today we are having a Mummy Charlotte day, and the weather is nice and cool.

yestarday i had suuuuuper day..everything was so good..(in fact a little bit too good).  i was in koncert with some new people..and i could speak and communicate..as normal human… it was so relaxing.  after that..i went to another party..there were some people of my university..and i get drunk ..not too much..but the best thing is the fact that i let my ME1 out..and danced and danced..and i had no fear..the sad thing there-i can do that only when im drunk…but i woke up this morning and thought-you dont need to feel bad right now..you had good time..

and ME2 can also be satisfied..because dancing burns  calories too ( i need to find sarcastic smiley )..and when i remember  that i also jogged  yestarday( as everyday)..oh jogging is something that is made for me..when im running, i feel more alive then ever..i love this feeling…alone on the street..in the dark..with music..sometimes this is the best moment of my day.  my roomate thinks..im freak of sport..because of jogging, yoga and sit-ups…cool..so im sportfreak…but when it makes me feel better..why not? the only problem is..i become a liitle bit stressful..when i have no time for this..but last month i had always time ..so for now..no problems

this is my second favorite holiday… and can be my favorite in years when christmas doesn’t go as planned. before ed was a while ago so i can’t remember the exact feeling, but i remember loving everything about thanksgiving. i was always so hungry before the dinner that i thought that year would be the year that i finally didn’t get stuffed halfway through my small plate.

i wish being able to stop eating when i’m full.

i was talking to someone today and i realized that i’m a very extreme, all-or-nothing girl… especially when it comes to food. i mean, it’s not like i’ll literally eat nothing or a ton of food… it’s that i either have to be significantly under my alloted calories or i feel like it isn’t worth it and have a mini-binge to go over it. that’s why i’m very rarely in the 1200-1400 zone. it’s 1000 or it’s 1600.

but i’ve had a month or so of luck and have been able to stay closer to 1000… and i feel like that luck’s running out, or perhaps it’s just the leftovers screwing me over. either way, i’m very stressed and unhappy right now because i’ve had no deficit the last three days and my thighs, arms, and stomach are undoubtably bigger.

and now i’ve forgotten how to spell undoubtably and am spelling it wrong. frick.

and no my friend is calling me and asking her to drink with her and i finally understand peer pressure… but the one thing keeping me from going might just be my ed. who’d waste calories on vodka, right?

ugh. i blame this all on my swine flu. even before my past three days of disaster i had four days when i was home sick that went over the limit. my stomach probably stretched and is definitely stretching now and i have to go to frickin school on monday.

what a jolly post for a jolly holiday season, eh?

next post won’t be a rant. i promise.

Part II: Male

The problems:

1. Medications. Drugs for high blood pressure, high cholesterol lowering, and enlarged prostate can all interfere with sexual performance. In addition, these conditions being treated themselves can adversely affect the sex life. Damned if you do and damned if you don’t.

2. Seventy pounds overweight, out of shape, very little lung capacity. No more need be said! Add to this arthritic hips, knees and shoulders, and one wouldn’t expect the man to be an athlete in bed.

3. Age. Sexual performance generally declines with age, for multiple reasons, including vascular problems, loss of nitric oxide in the apparatus, decrease in testosterone, and loss of compliance of tissues in the corpus cavernosa. I sound like I know what I’m talking about, don’t I? Well, I just copied most of this stuff off some website. All the same, it’s “common knowledge” that ED (erectile dysfunction) increases with age.

4. No sex partner for 20 years. Celibacy is not recommended for those who want to remain in tip-top shape sexually.

The solutions:

1. Viagra. The first line treatment by primary care providers for any man complaining of ED. Related treatments included Levitra and Cialis … and Rock Hard Weekend.

We took a bottle of Rock Hard Weekend to my husband’s internist for evaluation. White-haired himself, he had a hard time reading the fine print on the bottle, but finally made out “yohimbe” – he said, “I can tell you one thing, it doesn’t work.” I replied, “Oh, it works – but I just wondered how safe it was, especially if you take a Viagra, too.” Old Doc said not to do that.

2. Penis pump. When Viagra didn’t do the trick, the Mister asked his doc about this modality. He was told don’t just buy anything … you have to go through this special contact (at least to have insurance pay for part of it) … and follow the instructions.

One of the interesting things about the instructions were that it may take some practice and conditioning to get the erectile tissues working again. Even before attempting intercourse, the user was told to do daily exercises with the pump. I used to have to nag him to keep up with his practice sessions.

3. Sex therapy. This one deserves a blog post of its own. I still think sex therapy may have merit, but unfortunately we ended up with a nut who diagnosed my guy (who had been faithful for 40+ years during his marriage, and celibate for 20 of those) as having a sex addiction.

4. A willing partner. I do believe this is the best treatment for sexual dysfunction of all.

In TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine) we see an emphasis on the kidneys as holding the essence for life. Out of everyone I have worked with over the years, 98% of people have some stress to their kidneys. This also includes children. Stress, toxins, thoughts, water intake, food choices, quality of food, exercise, pH, sexual activities, etc. all contribute to stress in the kidneys.

In Asia, they are typically not fond of drinking a lot of fluid because it harms the kidneys. Yet, here in the USA, we are instructed to drink half your weight in water to flush out the toxic lifestyle we have from living in America. But not drinking enough pure water and being dehydrated also puts a strain on the kidneys.

American boys and teens are different than in the traditional Asian culture. Sex and bodily fluids is a badge of honor here, yet it begins to deplete life force and life essence very early on. This depletion continues through adulthood until men lose their active sex drive or develop Erectile Dysfunction (ED). The erection of the penis during sexual excitation is mediated by the Nitric oxide (NO) that is released from nerve endings close to the blood vessels of the penis. NO also regulates adrenal function and endocrine function. We generally see a correlation between ED and imbalanced hormone levels, which is traced back to endocrine and adrenal function. In teens, testosterone can be too high. In middle age men, testosterone tends to be too low. Kids are now maturing faster and much more is accepted and available now to kids so they have a mature life style at way to young of physical or emotional age.

Kidney stress is often shown in the quality and color of hair. Hair is one of the parts of the body that the body will sacrifice first. If the body is off, the hair will stop receiving nutrition and energy, thus the graying and thinning that occurs.

Kidneys also have an impact on bone marrow. So much so that now they are doing kidney and bone marrow transplants at the same time. I think we can look at Nitric Oxide (NO) as the key player. Release of NO around the glomeruli of the kidneys increases blood flow through them thus increases the rate of filtration and urine formation. The overall production of NO is decreased in kidney stress. The brain’s glial cells produces sodium nitrite, in presence of organic acid, it breaks down to nitric oxide for use. Nitric oxide is used by the bone’s marrow cells, which in turn creates stem cells or at least allows stem cells to further develop. The problem occurs whenever people eat acid forming food, have toxicity, physical stress, emotional or mental stress, or heavy metal poisoning causing the condition known as acidosis or low pH. Whenever this happens, the sodium nitrite breaks down into nitric oxide before the sodium nitrite reaches the bone marrow and stem cell production begins to slow down. When people are low on stem cells, we see the hair thin and begin to lose color or turn gray.

Something to help? Here are my recommendations:

Stop all mineral supplements for 3 days. Check your pH. Restore the bicarbonate reserves in your intestines, organs, and tissues. The remedy for regeneration of marrow cells is: Squeeze one whole lime (about 8 teaspoon), plus 1/2 teaspoon of aluminum free baking soda in 1/2 glass of water, taken twice a day. To get some improvement it would generally take about 3 weeks for the body to have sufficient amount of bicarbonates and alkalinity for nitric oxide. This total process usually takes a total of 6 months to completely saturate your tissues.

Increase the voltage of your cells. An ionic foot bath, infrared sauna, walking on the sand on a beach, touching the Earth with your feet, etc. are all ways to increase cellular voltage.

Silver and Gold Colloidals will also help.

Go Raw- a 70%+ raw diet works well.

He Shou Wou is a good TCM supplement to also add in.

Simplify your life and remove any negativity or stress including thoughts, people and situations.

After sleeping in late today, Ed and I decided to skip breakfast and take a drive out to Shady Maple Farm Market to have Brunch/Lunch at their smorgasbord.   I’d heard and read really great things about this place, so I’m afraid I was somewhat disappointed with the food there.  It’s an all-you-can eat buffet type place, and as promised on their website there were an impressive number of different food items available.

The salad bar was fresh and good.  We each made a small salad plate, and we both selected one of the pickled hard boiled eggs.  I haven’t seen those around in years.   There were four different grilling stations offering fish, beef, ham, etc.  I selected a grilled tenderloin and Ed picked out salmon and catfish.  Then we went to the self-serve side dishes, and added to our plates.

Once we sat down, I tried to cut my tenderloin, but it was extremely tough.  I discarded it and had Ed get me some brisket instead.  That was much better, as were the homemade butter noodles.  Even if the food had been outstanding, these type of restaurants make their money on people like us, because neither one of us is inclined to go back for seconds or thirds of anything.

We each picked pie for dessert.  Ed had apple and I had coconut cream.  Both were very good.  There was, again, a huge selection of desserts, but I don’t really have much of a sweet tooth.

After we left the restaurant, we went downstairs to the gift shop.  It was very hot and crowded and there was a seemingly endless display of almost every imaginable chotskie item for sale.  We walked a short distance down the first aisle, and I told Ed I’d had enough, and he had as well. 

Would we go back again?  Probably not, but it was an enjoyable drive out in Pennsylvania Amish farming land.

It was a pleasure to shoot this wedding for a couple of great friends from college.  I have known Tera & Eddie for 4 years now, and it is easy to see why they get along with each other so well, they are both caring and genuinely fun-loving people to be around.  Congratulations you guys!

~Dan

This weekend Emily and Sarah are in Canberra at thier Aunty’s wedding and Dave’s Mum has Charlotte so we could have some time without them for a break.

We had friends around for a few drinks and a bbq, we laughed, danced, made crude jokes and drank some more. They were all gone by 10.30, its now midnight and I’m in bed playing games on facebook and missing my chickens so so so much. This is the first time in a long time I dont have to worry and I feel lost. My routine is broken and I miss them so much it hurts..

So this means one or 2 things… either I love the caos or I’m so organised that my world falls apart without those monsters here to bting caos.

I miss them.

By Hans Bader

On Saturday, (11-21-09) the Senate voted 60-to-39, along party lines, to press towards passage of a massive health care bill, by blocking a Republican filibuster.  Senators ignored the fact that the bill received a failing grade from health care experts like the Dean of Harvard Medical School, since it will raise taxes, deficits, and medical costs, while reducing lifesaving medical innovations.

Afterward, however, the bill drew criticism even from moderate Democrats who usually support the Obama administration, which backs the bill.  Veteran Washington Post editorialist David Broder called the bill a “budget buster in the making,” saying it will violate President Obama’s “pledge that health insurance reform will not add to our federal budget deficit over the next decade.”  He pleaded with the Obama administration and Congress not to “pass along unfunded programs to our children and grandchildren.”

In the Examiner, a Democrat who backed Obama in 2008 criticized the administration for backing a health care bill that violates Obama’s campaign promises by raising taxes on the middle class, citing the bill’s many tax increases, such as its tax on uninsured people and taxes on cosmetic surgery and other medical procedures.

Earlier, Tennessee Governor Phil Bredesen (D) criticized ObamaCare for driving up state spending and budget deficits, calling it “the mother of all unfunded mandates.”

Washington Post columnist Robert Samuelson today called ObamaCare a generational rip-off.  Earlier, he noted that the health care bill is “hypocritical” and “dishonest” and aggravates the worst features of the “status quo.”

In the Senate, all Democrats voted for the bill.  But many received payoffs for doing so.  And there really are no “moderate” Democrats left in the Senate: most of its so-called “moderate” Democrats are not moderate or conservative on anything except on a handful of social issues needed to survive in a “red state,” like gun control.    —-

No Senate Democrat today deviates from the liberal party line as often as the moderate Democrats who once served in the Senate, like Senators Alan Dixon of Illinois and J. James Exon of Nebraska.

As I noted yesterday, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) lined up the 60 votes through payoffs to wavering Senators and powerful unions (some mismanaged unions will receive a taxpayer bailout of their health plans, to the tune of up to $10 billion).

The Dean of Harvard Medical School recently gave Obama’s health care plan a “failing grade,” saying it will harm America’s health and finances, and hamper medical innovations needed to save patients’ lives.  Dean Jeffrey S. Flier wrote in The Wall Street Journal that along “with dozens of health-care leaders and economists,” he had concluded that the bill “will markedly accelerate national health-care spending,” would harm care “by overregulating the health-care system in the service of special interests such as insurance companies,” and would reduce “our capacity to innovate and develop new therapies” that save lives.

Other experts agree.  The health care “reform” bill backed by President Obama “would reduce senior care,” increase “medical costs,”  and “could jeopardize access to care for millions,” report health care experts at the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.  The House recently passed a similar bill by the razor-thin margin of 220 to 215.

The bill will raise taxes on the middle class.  It will increase taxes on individuals, employers, and hospitals, impose new taxes on medical devices and cosmetic surgery, and levy a 40% tax on health-care plans above $8,500.  It will increase the deficit, drive up state government spending, and cost taxpayers at least twice as much as predicted.  It is one of the most expensive bills of all time.

It contains special-interest pork, such as payoffs for trial lawyers, and racial preferences that drew criticism from the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. The bill restricts national competition in health insurance, which is permitted in countries with cheaper health care.

ObamaCare spends money on frills like “cultural competency,” while cutting spending on crucial things like anesthesia.

“ObamaCare is all about rationing,” and tax increases, says one of Obama’s own economic advisers, Martin Feldstein.

Fact-checkers say Obama is lying about health care. Obama often contradicts himself. In the very same speech, Obama claimed that Medicare is “unsustainable” and “running out of money,” then contradicted himself by claiming that “Medicare is a government program that works really well,” making it a model for national health care.

CNN noted that Obama’s plan would take away “5 freedoms,” contradicting Obama’s claim that the bill will leave you free to choose your doctor and keep your healthcare plan without government interference.

The bill does nothing to curb massive waste and fraud in existing government health care systems like Medicare and Medicaid, even though it proposes to make massive cuts in Medicare (cuts so painful that most of them will never happen: year after year, Congress waives “the annual cut in fees paid by Medicare to physicians” mandated by an earlier law.  The cuts were added to the bill only to reduce its apparent cost.  As economist and former Congressional Budget Office director Douglas Holtz-Eakin notes in The Wall Street Journal, the promised cuts to pay for ObamaCare will not happen: “Senate Democrats chose to ignore this reality and rely on the promise of a cut to make their bill add up. Taking note of this fact . . . destroys any pretense of budget balance.”)

Backers of ObamaCare have refused to cut medical costs through malpractice reform, with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid saying that such reforms would save “only” $54 billion.  The Pacific Research Institute estimates that just one type of cost that could be reduced through malpractice-lawsuit reform — defensive medicine — costs around $200 billion annually (which is almost as much as France spends annually on health care for all of its citizens; like most countries, France has no punitive damages, and fewer lawsuits against doctors).

One reform opposed by the Democrats — setting up specialized health tribunals to hear malpractice cases — would be particularly helpful. Replacing uninformed juries with specialized health courts would provide more consistent rulings from case to case, eliminate meritless cases, reduce defensive medicine, and more speedily compensate injured people who truly are victimized by doctors’ carelessness. Such tribunals already exist in countries like “Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Iceland and New Zealand.”

Martin Feldstein, one of Obama’s own advisors, has said that Obama’s health-care plan would explode the federal budget deficit and lead to “crippling deficits,” as well as “higher taxes, debt payments, and interest rates” that would cut America’s standard of living. Feldstein also noted that Obama’s health-care plan would harm people with insurance, and predicted that it would lead to massive tax increases. Other analysts have predicted that it will drive up medical costs and inflation.

Obama has relied on $2 trillion in imaginary savings to pay for healthcare “reform.”

Read more informative articles at OpenMarket.org

Mine and Chris’ families, to be exact.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to make it to my family’s actual Thanksgiving supper due to some poor planning on my part, and a lot of traffic–but these are some highlights from a visit with a very small portion my family visiting from Colorado the day before Thanksgiving. I never get to see them, so it was really nice.

This photo is just awkward enough that I feel it deserves to be posted. These are two of my cousins. Jessey was not down to be an active participant in the picture-taking process, but my mom managed to get her in the background. I also like how mine and Madeleine’s feet are cut off. It adds a little… je ne sais quoi.

Mother and daughter. Tobia, my cousin Michael’s wife, and Madeleine.

This is lady, Michael and Tobia’s new dog. She is a mini-dachshund puppy, and she has puppy breath. Puppy breath is probably one of my top 5 favorite things.

I could take photos of Jessey all day long.

And here is Colton, the newest baby in our family. (We’ve had 5 new babies on my mom’s side of the family this year, and Chris’ sister also had a baby.) That is my aunt Loey holding him. She is a proud grandma! And a good one, too. When my sister and I were little, she used to sit with us in the grass for hours and read us things like James and the Giant Peach.

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I spent Thanksgiving Day with Chris’ family, who were all incredibly tolerant of my incessant picture-taking, as per usual.

Suk, Chris’ sister Melissa’s mother in law, and Stephanie, her daughter, doing the mashed potato.

Riley and his Grandpa Ed man-snuggling. Riley is practically impossible to take pictures of because he is two and he never, ever stops moving. Except to go the the bathroom. I had the pleasure of taking him to go pee, at which he is quite adept. And speedy!

Chris and his Dad. The Renner men. Doing manly things.

Tony telling Stephanie that he knows who she is. She’s Rachel!

Kendall, Chris’ sister Melissa’s new baby, with her aunt Stephanie. How pretty is Stephanie, btw? Ridiculous. I don’t think she even wears makeup.

So I went to a Thanksgiving party yesterday and I was welcomed in by my almost-the-same-age-as-me cousin, who was wearing a blond wig and a pair of sunglasses inside the house. It seems that the few lights that were there were absolutely blinding him to death. I could see the smoke coming out from behind the lenses. Of course, I just sarcastically smiled and passed through, because the whole sight was completely hilarious or something.

No, he looked nothing like this. Hellsing is to cool for him (no offense, cousin). This is more like the cartoon version of Ozzy Osbourne without the speech impediment.

After that, I just sat down and talked with my family as I normally would if I were not in a party. Don’t you find that extremely exciting? I mean, I’m not sure. It seems pretty routine, to me, you know. Holy shit I’m going crazy with the italicizing. But, anyhow, so I went with my cousin (lets call him Ed) to one of the rooms and played some form of unfair 1-to-2 dodgeball with this kid (who also happens to be a relative, apparently), and you could see the fear in his eyes when Ed had the ball. Yet he wanted to continue playing?

Apparently he didn't know the reason.

So what did I do? Knowing I was most likely wack (Whack? I don’t know. Damn these slang terms!) at making a throw that would tear his eyes or die some skin cells, I occasionally passed it to Ed. And the ball was like an angry girlfriend, because you could hear it smack him from miles away.

I accidentally hit him in the balls and he didn’t even whimper – it rebounded. My cousin hit him at his ear, and apparently it imploded and it hurt more than him getting hit in the balls (or maybe his balls are part of his eardrums?), since he started crying.

The funny – well, really, the disturbing – thing is that Ed started filming the whole thing mocking him, and then he even said he’s going to post it on Myspace. What the hell kind of shit is that? That is sick. For real. I just stood there in inner shock giving him [Ed] the face.

The Popeye Face.

Sometimes I think he jokes too much, which creeps me out. I found that sort of insensitive and crap. But I didn’t have the guts to do anything. Wish I would’ve said something. I just left the room, and when I came back Ed was giving him some talk about not crying over stupid stuff like that, to suck it up – which I found even more preposterous. I just carried along with a petrified feeling in mi corazon.

It all seemed familiar though..and that’s when I remembered: he was acting just like CJ, that asshole back in them old camp days. Pfft. What a damn role model. I also realized, that at any minute, he could do the same to me if I get out of my gender box and stuff, you know?

But, anyhow, the kid started feeling better, and there was no more dodgeball after that.

Then, thinking I’m probably going to be going to Xavier, out of all the schools I put down, I asked him how it is there, since he just entered as a sophomore. Apparently, you have to pay for food, and they do teach you how to play instruments, if you join for the class of course, and the homework is fine. Looks pretty good to me.

The he told me I’m going to Harvard, which is cool, though Harvard is just a bit overrated.

He also told me he’s planning on going to West Point. I told him there’s no way in pornographic hell I’d go there. But what I really meant was:

1) What the hell are you thinking?!

2) HA! Good luck wit’ that!

I'm sure it will be fun.

Then after that, we listened to some music – Ed dancing around humorously as I laughed at him, and me interrupting the music on his Blackberry with my radio station. He was trying to do air guitar. Didn’t do very good. I think leg guitar would’ve been better for him – that is, if he’s into contortionist stunts.

The food didn’t taste very good, and I had a lot of it left on my plate. I went and inconspicuously threw it out, because I didn’t want to insult whoever cooked that day. Surprisingly, there was no Turkey.

“What better way to spend Thanksgiving than with family?”

Ever heard that rhetorical proverb? Well, how about 22 members of someone else’s family?

The neighbors invited us (my actual family and I) over for a Turkey day get-together. We felt rather out of place among strangers. Mom got jittery being a guest, doing nothing–you could practically see her holding herself back from helping the hostess. Kind of funny.

Also funny that the food was stone cold. Why the hilarity? Well, one of the neighbor’s family members took absolut control of the kitchen. When we came over, the house smelled like hot food. My brother joked with the man: “Wow, it smells awful in here.” If looks could kill, my bro would be dead. Dad tried to cut the bread that he’d brought over. Kitchen-man was over his shoulder the whole time.

Then, after all the effort Kitchen-man put into making the layout of the food absolutly perfect in his minds’ eye, an hour had passed and everything was cold. Irony.

Overall, though, it was a fairly good day. I started out with a fruit salad (1 whole apple, 1 whole persimmon, blueberries), a homemade protein muffin, and the rest of a jar of pb (about 1/3 cup). A few hours later, I felt so sick I could hardly stand. Napped for 2 hours, then took an Advil and headed next door.

At first I thought there was no way I could make it over. Of all the days to be sick! I told my mom I was feeling crummy, and she gave me the disbelieving look and said, “Come on, Katherine.”

It’s so frustrating being sick and having an ED. My parents won’t believe when I’m sick–they think I’m faking to get out of eating. What sucks is that I’ve never faked sick to avoid meals. It’s just one of those stereotypes that I’ve been pinned with because of ED. Life’s a b&*%.

The Advil helped, though, and I tried a little of everything. For once, I didn’t worry about calories, nutritional value or fat content. I just ate what I wanted to. Despite the chilly weather and food, it was liberating.

After a bit, the family and I went AWOL to walk the dog, came back to the neighbors’ for desert. I’d had a bit of mom’s pumpkin pie before the walk. After, I pretty much had a second dinner. 3 servings of mousse cake, 1 smear of lemon cheesecake, 1 dollop of some other cakey thing, then 3 pieces of pumpkin bread. I hit the cold bar again, too, for a repeat of sweet potatoes and veggie/lentil medley.

So, I pretty much had 2 dinners. Did I count cals? Nope. Did I exercise after? Nope. Just watched some tube with my folks, stretched my stiff muscles and went to bed on time (for once!).

I was so proud of myself for not calorie-counting that day, and eating again even though no one would have made me. I just hope that showed my parents (who’ve been wary lately about ED alluva sudden) that, at least for a day, I was capable of being ‘normal’.

I need to consider the extra nutrition as a way of giving thanks to my body–for being strong for me even when I deprived it and made it work harder than any body should–and to my parents–who have managed to remain loving and caring despite my self-destructive yo-yo for 4 years. What else am I thankful for?

-That it’s sunny today

-That we have coupons to Evos (omfg yesss!)

-That I have a room, a bed, a roof over my head

-For my brother, who’s been my rock since day 1 of life

-For Beauregard, our little dog with a little tail and a big personality (and name) to compensate

-For the friends that still talk to me

-For the friendships that have passed but remain fond memories

-For the wide variety of teas in the world, warming me on cold mornings

-For exercise, which despite the usual connotations, has kept me sane and able to quell anorexic thoughts

-For rest, which is sort of like a supernatural phenomenon–rare and wonderful