Don’t you love sequels. Blue Pyramid has just released a new “What book are you” quiz.  I took Quiz 1 and I was ‘The Mist of Avalon”, now I am now a Shakespeare novel. Strange, I don’t feel star-crossed. I would have preferred to be one of the comedy’s, but I loved this one when I was a teen so it’s okay. I still think they are the two stupidest teenagers on the planet and should have shown better sense, but then we wouldn’t have this great classic tragedy of star-crossed lovers and that beautiful soliloquy on the balcony. I do believe in the power of love and songs have been sung about my name, ie rocking robin . People do reference the things I say, usually my kids in order to win arguments, it doesn’t work. I am practical to the point of boring and have often longed for a more exciting life but am too practical to take that leap, unless you double dog dare me and then all bets are off. Take the quiz and share what book you are.

You’re Romeo and Juliet!

by William Shakespeare

While people think of you as the most romantic person alive,
you may actually be more prone to offer practical warnings of what happens when
people follow their feelings too severely. You do believe that love has the power
to conquer the sharpest divides, no matter the cost. It’s just not entirely clear
whether that cost is worth it. People spend a great deal of time referencing the
things you’ve said or even singing about you. Nevertheless, they are most likely
to describe you as “star-crossed”.

Take the Book Quiz II
at the Blue Pyramid.

A week which was cooler.

And in which nothing out of the ordinary happened.

There are times when dull is good.

Last week I was the sole dunces hat winner with a miserable 1/7.

This week I struggled back up to 4/7

How will you go in this week’s BBC Quiz of the Week?

Good luck.

Previous Dunces

20th Nov, 1/7, Ærchie
13th Nov, 0/7, Rob, azahar
6th Nov, 2/7, magic hands, Little fish
30th Oct, 3/7, nursemyra
23rd Oct, 0/7, Karen
16th Oct, 1/7, Cybe R. Wizard
9th Oct, 2/7, Rob, nursemyra, healingmagichands
2nd Oct, 1/7, azahar, healingmagichands
25th Sept, 1/7, Daddy Papersurfer
18th Sept, 2/7, Rob
11th Sept, 3/7, azahar, Puddock, Rob,
4th Sept, 1/7, azahar
28th Aug, 0/7, Herr G EaGle
21st Aug, 2/7, Bunk Strutts, Daddy Papersurfer
14th Aug, 2/7, azahar Puddock, sandy, daisymae81, anniegirl1138,
7th Aug, 2/7, silverstar98121, Bunk Strutts, Mrs Eagle, Cybe R. Wizard, Puddock
31st July, 1/7,silverstar98121
24th Jul, 2/7, sandy,
17th Jul, 2/7, azahar
10th Jul, 1/7, gitwizard, Mrs Eagle

Crown Winners (7/7)

17th Octember Buff
26th Octember, healing magic hands
5th Dec. Buff
9th Jan 2009, azahar
6th Feb 2009, archie
20th Feb 2009, healing magic hands
27th Feb, 2009, Buff
20th Mar, 2009, healing magic hands
3rd Apr, 2009, sledpress
17th Apr, 2009, anniegirl1138, Buff, Archie
15th May, Buff
5th June, Buff
4th July, healing magic hands
29th Aug Buff
5th Sept Buff
12th Sept Daddy P
11th Sept, nursemyra
18th Sept, Buff
25th Sept, Gitwizard
30th Oct 2009, Marty
6th Oct 2009, Buff

The B in a BLT

and all through the house, the smell of bacon is wafting about. The pre Thanksgiving wheels are in full swing. Theo and Debbie are starting desserts. Bacon seems to be the common thread running throughout the entire Thanksgiving meal. Today Debbie sizzled up two pounds of the pork to be diced up for the Brussel sprouts. The bacon grease is reserved and later drizzled into the stuffing.

Oh precious nectar

I wouldn’t even begin to know all what Debbie’s puts in her stuffing, but here are some of the ingredients that I know. It all starts off with fresh pain demi, chanterelle mushrooms, artichoke hearts, dried apricots and a bunch of other stuff. And, as I said before bound together with bacon grease.

Stuffing Starter

For lunch today I fried up polenta in the bacon grease and leftover Bolognese sauce. Really, what’s not to like when it’s cooked in bacon?

never a drop we shall spill

This year I used a dry Sicilian sea salt rub on the Kosher turkey. I’ve been giving the bird a few daily massages and today applied some fresh herbs which Debbie got from the Santa Monica Farmers Market and Bell’s Poultry Seasoning. And of course, I put bacon on top of the turkey before cooking.

The herbs

A Falmouth Tradition

Sam and Henry have been incessantly bickering ( actually some violence ensued) all day about their trivia quizzes they hand out at Thanksgiving and our annual Saturday after Thanksgiving leftover party. Sam started this 2 years ago and last year Henry concocted a Harry Potter quiz. This year Sam somehow convinced (coerced) Henry that 80% of his quiz MUST be sports related. They made me take a photo of them shaking hands in accordance to this agreement.

Here's a photo of them shaking hands

Besides massaging turkey breasts I’ve been trying to get the yard in shape for the holidays. We had a guy come out yesterday to give us an estimate to put artificial grass on the side of the yard the boys practice their athleticism on. That side of the yard seems to take the hardest beating. I’ll give everyone a little quiz here. How much do you think it costs to scalp our old grass, level our soil, put 3″ of decomposed granite and install artificial grass in an area roughly 36″ X 15″? The answer is $6,295.00!  And if we do it before the new year he could do the job for $6000.00. Yeah, well that’s not going to happen. Anyways, I’m getting off the subject. Tomorrow we cook, eat and oh yeah give thanks.

Relaxing after a massage

Be sure that you have finished your independent reading book by Monday.

You can find information on the assignment in Class Notes & Handouts.

Here are my quiz results:

Better dating through Chemistry…No, I don’t mean that you should drop a tab of LSD before an internet date; although I’ve had a few in the past that made me wish I’d been medicated for them. What I’m talking about is that chemical spark that inexplicably ignites when you meet certain people. Sometimes it happens immediately and sometimes it happens after a few dates…and you just don’t know why. I don’t think I want to know exactly what creates chemistry between a couple, I like the mystery. I like meeting someone, feeling that connection and then experiencing the delicious excitement of not knowing why it’s there or where it will lead us.

I think sometimes that I’m alone in that opinion. At least that’s the impression I get from many of the dating sites I’ve seen. They all seem to feature a personality test or a compatibility matching system or some other form of cyber-voodoo that will “guarantee” (this word is usually followed by the dreaded * – which means that you should take that word very, very loosely) your chances at finding true love.

eHarmony has an hours long test that matches you on different levels of compatibility. Of course, after all this there are a few people that eHarmony pronounces as “unmatchable”. WOW…my mother always told me that there’s a lid for every pot – apparently not. Of course she never had to take a test to find my dad. Chemistry.com has a test that rates you in four areas. Perfect Match has a test created by a relationship expert. Even the free sites have quizzes and surveys that you can take that will give you insights into who you really are and who you really want to find. I’ve yet to find a site that uses astrology, tarot or tea leaves, but I wouldn’t be surprised if one of these showed up in the mix one day.

If all these guarantees of perfect compatibility through psycho-social poking, prodding and rating were a sure thing, dating sites would all be out of business and all the Las Vegas wedding chapels would be on the Fortune 500 list.

I remember a few years ago, the opening episode of that season’s “The Bachelor” included a young woman who was chosen for the bachelor based on their mutual eHarmony compatibility matching. She never made it past the first episode..yep…tossed off on her compatible little keister. So much for scientific matching.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I like taking all those quirky personality tests. It brings me back to my tween years when my girlfriends and I would spend hours taking Cosmopolitan’s quizzes….”Are You Virtuous or Vixenish?”. We had no idea what some of those questions meant, but what a hoot trying to answer them…:) So now after all these years of Cosmo quizzes and internet chemistry tests I am probably the bane of psycho therapists everywhere….she who knows herself too well.

In the end though, when you’re meeting a new man or woman, it still comes down to that elusive, non-measurable chemical reaction. And I like that…the mystery, the excitement, the wondering where it will lead. That’s what I like about internet dating, it gives you so many more chances to find that.

I am submitting a proposal for a paper for a conference. (Association of Popular/American Culture)  My topic is about the eating disorder community on Facebook.  There has been research done about media, magazines, advertising, and pro-ana sites.  I think it’s time we look at how healthy Facebook is, whether it encourages recovery or not or whether it encourages an individual to stay stuck in his or her illness.

There are two parts to the survey, only because I only have a basic account and can’t have more than 10 questions on any one survey.  I am asking you to please take a few minutes and answer 20 questions, 19 of which are simple multiple choice questions.

Facebook and Eating Disorders:

Survey One

Survey Two

Today, on my 44th birthday, I reached another milestone.  165 lbs off.

The next milestones coming up are pretty cool:

• in 0.7 lbs I will drop into the 160s.  Which is where I was in COLLEGE.  (And briefly in grad school after I lost 100+ lbs the first time.)
• in 2.8 lbs I will literally be HALF the woman I once was, by weight.
• in 11.1 lbs I will be out of “overweight” and into “normal” according to BMI.  I’m not sure I EVER really believed I might get there.  Hoped, yes.  Believed?  I dunno.  But now I’m sure I can.

DDOORN on Spark People has an amusing tradition. Each year on his birthday he goes to realage.com to calculate how much YOUNGER he’s getting, biologically, due to the improvements he’s made in his health and fitness.

This is a fun idea, and I’ve adopted it this year.

I went there and filled out the information for approximately what I did, ate, and weighed last year (around 330) and got the answer that I was 46.1 (3 years older than my calendar age). I can tell you, I FELT a lot older than that. I was already having trouble with my arthritic knee going up and down the stairs in my house and was starting to wonder how I was going to cope as I aged further.

Things happened (you can see my Spark Page for details) and I started losing weight again in early December. I had lost 40 lbs by the time I was introduced to SparkPeople in March.

Now, 160 lbs lighter than my maximum recorded weight and approximately 150 lbs lighter than last year, my supposed biological age is 38 and a half. It feels like less than that – I haven’t felt this healthy or strong since I was in my 20s. Of course, I don’t actually KNOW what it feels like to be biologically 38, because I was over 300 lbs for approximately the last 15 years…

Some other thoughts about the changes since my last birthday, some of which may be uncomfortable to read:

While talking with Lisa on the phone this morning we discussed how the world is different for me now. One of the things that came up is how it felt to be super morbidly obese and how people treat others who are obese.

I felt kind-of cushioned and “safe” in my “fat suit.” My parents were very strict and physical disciplinarians. As a child I never considered myself to be “abused,” as there was always a “reason” for hitting me – with the metal end of the belt, with a heavy hairbrush, etc.

One incident that sticks out in my mind is the day around 8 years old when I went to school in shorts and a classmate asked why there were giant, father-sized handprint-shaped welts on my thighs. I explained that I’d done something I wasn’t supposed to the previous evening, and had been spanked. She was horrified and offered to tell her parents for me (her father was on the city council). I declined, and after that wore long pants to school. Looking back on it, this strikes me as the behavior of a child who might be experiencing a degree of physical abuse.

My mom wasn’t the most nurturing person in the world, either. She was extremely tightly wound, insecure, and unhappy as a homemaker. Just about the only time I felt loved and accepted was when I was being fed. I came home for lunch in elementary school. She’d make me lunch and we’d watch Split Second and Password on TV, shouting suggestions to the contestants. I remember when I was 8 or so one of my favorite lunches was Kraft macaroni and cheese. I could have as much as I wanted. It was common for me to eat THE ENTIRE POT. I still love boxed macaroni and cheese, and for this reason studiously avoid it.

Don’t get me wrong – you could do a lot worse for parents; they pushed me to excel in school, provided more than adequate food, shelter, and clothing, taught me how to read at 4, bought a 1972 World Book encyclopedia and put it in my bedroom, brought me on trips (Boston in 1970, San Diego in 1975, all around the US in 1976, England in 1977), taught me how to garden and fish, encouraged me in music and scouting, brought me camping every summer, etc. They were just from a different generation where kids were brought up strictly and a fat baby was a healthy baby (he was born in 1910; she, in 1921).

Anyhow, the result was that I associated food (quantity rather than quality) with emotional comfort and felt the need to protect myself physically from the world.

Fast forward to a year ago. Although I was physically uncomfortable, the fat suit made me feel safe. There was a physical buffer between myself and the rest of the world. And it also helped keep away people who didn’t genuinely like me for my mind and my personality.

What I didn’t factor in is that the fat suit also attracted people who saw me (rightfully) as emotionally vulnerable and used that information to get things from me by stroking my ego. I didn’t factor in the fact that the fat suit, while acting as a physical buffer, also weighed me down and made me slower and weaker physically.

And here’s the part that may be uncomfortable to read. Wearing a fat suit was blatant advertising that something was wrong with me, mentally and/or emotionally. It’s not just that it made me physically less able. It broadcast to the world that I had serious problems that were interfering with taking care of myself.

I am not talking about the fat that constitutes “overweight,” or even necessarily “obese.” These conditions are the new “normal” in the US, and can sometimes be caused by medical problems. But when you get into “morbid obesity” and “super morbid obesity” (which is where I was a year ago), it’s like wearing a big sign that says “I’m a mess. I may be high-functioning and in denial about it, but scratch below that veneer, and you’ll find a messy unresolved issue.”

This is the ugly fact that Lisa pointed out, and I have to say I agree with her. No wonder people often give other Very Large People a wide berth. It isn’t necessarily right or fair or kind, but it does make sense.

150 lbs of fat less, and “8″ biological years younger, where does that leave me now? I still have a bunch of the issues that I had a year ago. With years of counseling and drugs they haven’t disappeared; losing over 100 lbs isn’t going to make them go away fast, either. But at least I’m no longer advertising them to the world or letting them get in the way of taking care of myself physically. And that’s something.

If I have to be vulnerable (and it seems that I do, since that’s basically the human condition) I might as well be in good physical shape to face it.

Answers to last week’s Renee Zellweger quiz here.

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday and one of my favorite movies is about one man’s struggle to get home for Thanksgiving (it’s #1).  So, I thought I’d feature some other movies that featured the day for giving thanks.  See if you can identify these movies by their quotes or stills.  Leave the # and your answer.  No googling.  That’s cheating and no fun!

1. Planes, Trains, & Automobiles - Wrighty’s Reads

Neal: What’s the flight situation?
Del: Simple. There’s no way on earth we’re going to get out of here tonight. We’d have more luck playing pickup sticks with our butt-cheeks than we will getting a flight out of here before daybreak.
Neal: I guess we’ll find out soon enough.
Del: Yeah, but by the time the airline cancels this flight, which they will sooner or later, you’d have more of a chance to find a three-legged ballerina than you would a hotel room.
Neal: Are you saying I could be *stuck* in Wichita?
Del: I’m saying you *are* stuck in Wichita.
 

2.  HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS

Adele: I’m giving thanks that we don’t have to go through this for another year. Except we do, because those bastards went and put Christmas right in the middle, just to punish us.  (picture Anne Bancroft saying this)

3. Pieces of April - Calila

 April: [discussing old-fashioned turkey shaped salt and pepper shakers that Bobby bought] We had these when I was a kid.
[pause]  The one time Joy let me hold them she said, “Be careful, they’re worth more than you are.”
Bobby: Well, that’s terrible.
April: Next year they were gone.
Bobby: So, what happened?
April: A hammer I was holding fell on them.
(picture Mrs. Tom Cruise)

4. A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving - Wrighty’s Reads

5.  HOUSE OF YES

6. TADPOLE

(Miss Sigourney Weaver and Bebe Neuwirth are showing us their backs)

7.  WHAT’S COOKING?

8. HANNAH & HER SISTERS

Mickey: I had a great evening; it was like the Nuremberg Trials.

(picture Woody Allen)

9. Dutch – ‘Nise

 Dutch: Listen you little son of a bitch, you could’ve killed someone with a stunt like that. That poor bastard was on his way home to see his family and because you wanted to play some kind of a spoiled brat prank, you put his life in jeopardy. Now what gives you the right to do that?
Doyle: I guess I didn’t think about that.
Dutch: Well you better start thinking about a little something else besides your own spoiled ass! I took on this idiotic assignment because I love your mother. I gotta wonder how nuts I am. Man I’ve met some scum in my life but you beat all, man, you are absolutely worthless. You know what, this is a full blown mission, you’re not gonna beat me. I’ve had my head split open, my nose mashed, I’ve been kicked and beat and left for dead, and when I set you on your mama’s doorstep, you’re gonna be one whipped little puppy.

(picture Ed O’Neil)

10. Son-In-Law - Calila

Walter: Lets chow down and munch on some grindage!

(picture Lane Smith.  Don’t know him?  Pauley Shore is also in this one)

This book is called “A Girl’s Guide to the Body and Soul”. I really like that. I think all women remember those tough teenage years when we struggled with the changes of our bodies, dealing with hormones, moods, boys, school and so many other confusing and difficult things. I would’ve loved to have something that helped me think that I wasn’t crazy

Nikki Goldstein has put together a great guide for teens and she has wonderful information on one of her websites for the mothers of teen girls. I have a feeling my mother would’ve appreciated that information when I was a teen. We were both at a loss about how to deal with so many things that happened during those years.

This is the table of contents to give you an idea of what Goldstein covers in this book –

Chapter One – Who Are You?

Chapter Two – Create Your Own GirlForce Body Type Balancing Plan

Chapter Three – Eat Right for Your Body Type

Chapter Four – DIY Body Blast

Chapter Five – Celebrate Your Unique Beauty

Chapter Six – The Lowdown on Stress

Chapter Seven – Get In Touch With Your Inner Self

Chapter Eight – Talking about Relationships

Chapter Nine – Get it Together

Chapter Ten – Your GirlForce Questions Answered

I couldn’t find a topic that isn’t covered in this book. In addition to the invaluable information that helps teen girls – this book is gorgeous. The pages are all colorful, the illustrations are wonderful and you will simply love the appearance. There are various quizzes in the book to help teen girls determine their body type, and much more. Once you find your type — there is a wealth of information to help understand many other elements of your life.

I think any teen girl, any mother of a teen girl, any pre teen and any other family or friend who supports a teen or pre teen needs to read this book.

In June we did a virtual blog tour for GirlForce and we offered all blog hosts a wealth of information to post on their blogs. If you would like to take a peek inside this book, visit this summary page and you can take a look at a big list of ideas – http://virtualblogtour.ning.com/group/girlforce/forum/topics/download-page-for-girlforce-by

This content is by, Nikki Goldstein, author of the GirlForce series. Nikki Goldstein has worked as a beauty editor and writer for Marie Claire, Vogue, Elle, InStyle and Cosmopolitan. She regularly blogs on her two websites – www.mygirlforce.com and www.gettoknowyourdaughter.com which give further information about the power of GirlForce, as well as fun quizzes, activities and forums. You can also visit Nikki at http://www.facebook.com/pages/GirlForce/76740694436 or http://twitter.com/MyGirlForce. Learn more about the book at http://www.amazon.com/GirlForce-Nikki-Goldstein/dp/1599903547.

Testimonials

Testimonials for Nikki Goldstein & GirlForce

Pictures, Images, Posters, & Banners for GirlForce

GirlForce Posters – One Horizontal and One Vertical

Logos and Horizontal Banners for GirlForce

Excerpts/Images from the Book:

Table of Contents

Book Cover, Book Excerpt Images and Author Picture for Girl Force

Chapter 1 – Pages 1-4

Chapter 1 – Pages 5-8

Chapter 1 – Pages 9-12

Chapter 1 — Pages 13-16

Chapter 1 — Pages 17-20

Air, Fire and Earth Girl Pictures

Quizzes Exploring Topics in GirlForce:

Body Type Quiz – Which Body Type Are You

Air, Fire and Earth: The Awesome GirlForce Body Types

Air, Fire and Earth Girl Pictures

Quiz – How’s Your Body-Lurve?

Quiz – Unleash Your Creative Powers

Quiz – Tame Your Dark Side

Quiz – Discover Your Emotional Self

Quiz – Love or Loathe Clothes?

Quiz – Friend or Foe

Quiz – Get To Know Your Mum

Information for Young Women Discussed in Girl Force:

Ayurveda

Meditation and Affirmations

Yoga

Stress Management

Beauty and Style Tips

Romance

Try some of these links to the Sciencegeek.net website:

Equation Identification
Predicting Products
Balancing Chemical Equations

And this one is good too as it generates new ones from a list:
Balancing Equations

Reminder, you have a quiz on Monday, November 23 during the 2:30 class. The subject of the quiz is chapter 12 (angular momentum and statics).

In D2L, you have the capability of editing multiple items on one screen for Content, Dropbox, Quizzes and Grades. This is especially useful for the converted courses. For example, you can hide enumeration for all the items in Content at once. However, the options that you can edit on the multiple items page are limited. For some detailed settings, you still need to edit the items one by one. Let’s look at what you can do on the edit multiple items page for Content, Dropbox, Quizzes and Grades.

First, you have to use the checkbox in the left upper corner to select all the items. Then, click on the double pencil icon to bring up the edit multiple items page.

Content

In Content, you can change titles, hide or make files available, and hide enumeration.

Dropbox

In Dropbox, you will see the list of assignment folders on the page. You can change the name of assignments and the assignment’s category if you have categories set up, as well as set the date availability for the assignments (which maybe the most useful option).

Grades
In Grades, you can change the name of Grade items, max points, weight, grade scheme, and category. You may find the capability of editing points here is the most useful option.

Quizzes
In Quizzes, you can change the name of quizzes and the assignment’s category, make the quizzes active or inactive, and change the attempts allowed setting. If you are using Start date to control the availability, make sure it is set to active so students will see the quizzes when Start date begins.

Posted by Chia-Chi Yang

 My story would be titled My Journey.  Something very simple and that basically says what the story is about.

My story would probably be either a novel or a collection of letters.  I would choose these because a novel allows the story to go into a lot of detail allows the reader to get a full understanding of the story and the life of the character.  Or I would choose a collection of letters because I think that the diary that I have kept has basically been a collection of letters, not just to God but also to myself.

I think that the main characters of the story would be one of each.  I think that there would be a protagonist, an antagonist, travelling companions, and a guardian angel.  I think that all of these characters are needed to make a story interesting.  I also think that there are people in my life that exhibit these characteristics and could be the characters in my story.

I think that the main conflict would be trying to find myself.  I think that I am constantly trying to find myself and create myself so I think that would be the main conflict.

I think that the settings would happen both in Pennsylvania and Virginia.  Everywhere that my life has taken me.  I think that the basic plot would be my life.  Everything that has happened in my life would be the plot.  Everyone who has come into my life and the everyday happenings would be the plot.

I think that I would most likely emulate either Alice Walker or Richard Adams.  I enjoyed most of those authors books the best.  Both of the books was able to captivate my attention.

So I just played this game where you have 12 minutes to guess the 100 most commonly used words in the English language.

How’d I do?*

It was A LOT tougher than I imagined… so help me figure out how well I did by doing it yourself!

*N.B. I did take the test while on a conference call…

Answers to last week’s Thanksgiving Movies Quiz here.

Can you identify these books by their censored titles?  Leave a comment with the number, title and author or authors.

1.2.

3. The Night Before Christmas – Wrighty’s Reads

4.5.

6.7.

8. Deck the Halls by MaryHiggins Clark & Carol Higgins Clark – Wrighty’s Reads

9.

10. Skipping Christmas by John Grisham – Wrighty’s Reads