http://www.wekidyounot.org/wkyn/ Sun, 05 Feb 2012 14:30:20 +0000 MyBB http://www.wekidyounot.org/wkyn/showthread.php?tid=4361 Sun, 05 Feb 2012 07:20:29 -0700 http://www.wekidyounot.org/wkyn/showthread.php?tid=4361 http://www.mercurynews.com/health/ci_19872038

Mark Goldman was a relative newcomer to yoga when he found himself teetering in standing lotus pose with an instructor barking over him like a drill sergeant.

"You can get into this pose," the yogi said. "Push harder."

Goldman, a "typical Silicon Valley" go-getter who works in high tech sales, took the bait. The harder the better, he thought. He deepened his squat, forcing his knee down. Then -- snap.

He'd torn his meniscus, the tissue that aids motion in the knee. Surgery would repair it. However, it would take Goldman, a longtime runner with a stiff body, years to develop a mindful yoga practice more in line with what Indians intended when they developed the lifestyle 5,000 years ago.

He listens to his body. And he doesn't compete with the person sitting next to him. "I'm much smarter," says Goldman, 61, of Los Gatos. "When I start feeling any discomfort now, I back off."

Yoga is a physical, mental and spiritual discipline with numerous styles. In the West, where the popularity of the postural component has helped yoga to stretch from 4 million practitioners in 2001 to as many as 20 million in 2010, injury -- as with any exercise regimen -- is a possibility.

Classes are too big, restricting one-on-one attention. Instructors often are inexperienced, missing opportunities to prevent injuries. And the ego -- that inner-voice telling us to push -- increases chances of pain, even for advanced students. However,
experts say that if you develop a practice based on proper form and your own ability, you can avoid injury and reap yoga's benefits, such as stress reduction and heart health.

When you match the postural practice to the person's needs, then you're being true to the intention of yoga, says Roger Cole, a UC San Francisco-trained psychobiologist and certified Iyengar yoga instructor of 30 years. Iyengar encourages the use of props such as blankets, blocks and straps to help bring the body into alignment. Cole has studied and written extensively on the topic of yoga injuries. The most common injuries he sees involve the knees, lower back and neck.

"Injuries happen, but when they do either the teacher or the student did something wrong," says Cole, who lives in Del Mar. "The people I'd be concerned about especially are the ones who are trying to go beyond the limits that they once achieved."

Doris Livezey had been practicing yoga for at least five years when she popped into her San Jose gym for a class. The regular instructor, who often walked around the room adjusting improper form, was out sick, and the substitute had the students in a pose Livezey had never done.

It was a chest opener that involved using a strap to bring your hands behind your back while bending at the hips and allowing gravity to bring your arms forward and over your head. She tried it.

"My left arm didn't make it, and I tore my rotator cuff," says Livezey, who froze her gym membership because of the shoulder injury. It required a cortisone shot for pain. A simple strengthening exercise recommended by a surgeon eventually fixed the problem. By then, Livezey had traded in yoga for hiking and square dancing. However, she still loves doing the basic stretches at home.

"Yoga is a great workout," says Livezey, a 60-something. "But if you have a big class moving quickly through some poses, you can't rely on the teacher to help you. You have to know your body."

Tony Briggs strives to develop an intimate relationship with every student's spine. He brings 34 years of experience, including training under the legendary B.K.S. Iyengar, to every class he teaches at the Berkeley Yoga Center and Turtle Island Yoga in San Anselmo, where he trains soon-to-be-instructors. Injury prevention is one of the things he stresses most.

"I know all of their aches and pains," says Briggs, who uses teaching assistants when there are more than 25 people in class or he's having a hard time seeing everyone. "If I don't recognize someone, I go over and ask, 'Do you have any issues I need to know about?' "

Disclosure can be a problem. Once, he was guiding a student he had known for a few months in a shoulder stand for the first time. In the advanced pose, the student's upper back and shoulders are on the floor while their hips and legs are shooting up to the ceiling in a straight line.

"She looked up from the floor and asked me, 'You think this is OK for my pacemaker?' " Briggs says. He asked her to get out of the pose. Very carefully.

Briggs says the sad truth is that the competitiveness behind so many injuries is not necessarily driven by the students. It often is the teachers who have the ego problems.

"A lot of teachers have an investment in creating razzle-dazzle students," he says, referring to those who can do head stands, deep back bends and other difficult poses. "But yoga is done to make your life work better. It's not about getting better at yoga. Teachers have to be really careful with this."

Noelle Gillies learned that the hard way. She had been practicing yoga for 26 years when she enlisted in a teacher-training program in 2010. One day, the instructor asked her to take over for 20 minutes. Gillies thought she'd start her fellow trainees in a plank pose.

"I wasn't warmed up, and I felt a sort of crunch in my right shoulder," says Gilles, who developed rotator cuff tendinitis as a result. "It was inflamed, and I couldn't move my arm for a couple of days."

Physical therapy put her on the mend, and now, Gillies, 47, practices a therapeutic style of yoga that she loves. Looking back, she says too many people strive for the epitome of the pose.

"You have to take it in steps, not get hung up on the end result, but it's hard in this culture because we're always trying to get ahead," Gillies says.

In her three decades as an orthopedic physical therapist, Linda Meneken has seen hamstring tears and various strains and sprains as a result of yoga. Still, she sings its virtues over its potential dangers with the caveat that anyone who wants to start a yoga practice should consult their doctor. And they should focus on proper alignment and always ask for modifications if they can't do something.

"Pushing through the pain? No, no, no," she says.

Yoga tips

Practice with common sense. Move slowly, pay attention and ask for help. Poses can be modified.

Know your body. Don't just listen to it. Know your troubled spots and how to avoid irritating them.

The instructor is not king. You don't have to do everything the teacher says.

Practice at your own pace. Don't try to keep up with the person sitting next to you. There may be postures you are unfamiliar with that require more time and patience. Know your limits.

Yoga is about technique. Just like you learn proper technique before starting a weight-training program, you need to practice proper alignment to avoid a yoga injury.

It's all about the breath. If your teacher doesn't integrate breath work in class, find another instructor.

Pain is not good. Don't push into it. Don't hold your breath. Just get out of the pose.

Repetition increases injury risk. Some yoga disciplines employ a set number of the same postures at every class, such as Bikram. Others, such as Ashtanga, move rapidly from one posture to another and can compromise proper form. Both situations increase the chance of injury.

-- Sources include Roger Cole and Tony Briggs

Five postures worth pondering

According to the research of Roger Cole, a UCSF-trained psychobiologist who teaches yoga and studies its effects, these are the five postures most likely to cause injury depending on body structure, previous injury, and fitness level.

Lotus. Avoid this seated pose if you are really stiff in the hips or leg muscles because it can put stress on the inner knee. Some people's joints are aligned and bones are shaped in a way that makes lotus difficult. If it hurts, don't do it.

Forward fold. This seated or standing bend can cause a hamstring tear or compressed or herniated disc in the lower backs of people who push too hard. Aim for a modest curve and gentle stretch of the back.

Shoulder stand. Because of the neck flexion involved in this pose, a stack of blankets should always be used to support and help to elevate the hips and lower back and avoid putting strain on the neck muscles. Otherwise, there is a risk for ligament tears, and, while rare, bone spurs in the neck.

Chaturanga. This flowing pose, which begins as a plank pose that you slowly lower to the ground, is not dangerous but because it's often done multiple times, form can be compromised, resulting in a repetitive strain injury in the back or shoulders.

Splits. Yoga instructors and other flexible types who practice the front-to-back splits and other postures where the pelvis tilts forward can retain muscle tears resulting in scar tissue.]]> http://www.mercurynews.com/health/ci_19872038

Mark Goldman was a relative newcomer to yoga when he found himself teetering in standing lotus pose with an instructor barking over him like a drill sergeant.

"You can get into this pose," the yogi said. "Push harder."

Goldman, a "typical Silicon Valley" go-getter who works in high tech sales, took the bait. The harder the better, he thought. He deepened his squat, forcing his knee down. Then -- snap.

He'd torn his meniscus, the tissue that aids motion in the knee. Surgery would repair it. However, it would take Goldman, a longtime runner with a stiff body, years to develop a mindful yoga practice more in line with what Indians intended when they developed the lifestyle 5,000 years ago.

He listens to his body. And he doesn't compete with the person sitting next to him. "I'm much smarter," says Goldman, 61, of Los Gatos. "When I start feeling any discomfort now, I back off."

Yoga is a physical, mental and spiritual discipline with numerous styles. In the West, where the popularity of the postural component has helped yoga to stretch from 4 million practitioners in 2001 to as many as 20 million in 2010, injury -- as with any exercise regimen -- is a possibility.

Classes are too big, restricting one-on-one attention. Instructors often are inexperienced, missing opportunities to prevent injuries. And the ego -- that inner-voice telling us to push -- increases chances of pain, even for advanced students. However,
experts say that if you develop a practice based on proper form and your own ability, you can avoid injury and reap yoga's benefits, such as stress reduction and heart health.

When you match the postural practice to the person's needs, then you're being true to the intention of yoga, says Roger Cole, a UC San Francisco-trained psychobiologist and certified Iyengar yoga instructor of 30 years. Iyengar encourages the use of props such as blankets, blocks and straps to help bring the body into alignment. Cole has studied and written extensively on the topic of yoga injuries. The most common injuries he sees involve the knees, lower back and neck.

"Injuries happen, but when they do either the teacher or the student did something wrong," says Cole, who lives in Del Mar. "The people I'd be concerned about especially are the ones who are trying to go beyond the limits that they once achieved."

Doris Livezey had been practicing yoga for at least five years when she popped into her San Jose gym for a class. The regular instructor, who often walked around the room adjusting improper form, was out sick, and the substitute had the students in a pose Livezey had never done.

It was a chest opener that involved using a strap to bring your hands behind your back while bending at the hips and allowing gravity to bring your arms forward and over your head. She tried it.

"My left arm didn't make it, and I tore my rotator cuff," says Livezey, who froze her gym membership because of the shoulder injury. It required a cortisone shot for pain. A simple strengthening exercise recommended by a surgeon eventually fixed the problem. By then, Livezey had traded in yoga for hiking and square dancing. However, she still loves doing the basic stretches at home.

"Yoga is a great workout," says Livezey, a 60-something. "But if you have a big class moving quickly through some poses, you can't rely on the teacher to help you. You have to know your body."

Tony Briggs strives to develop an intimate relationship with every student's spine. He brings 34 years of experience, including training under the legendary B.K.S. Iyengar, to every class he teaches at the Berkeley Yoga Center and Turtle Island Yoga in San Anselmo, where he trains soon-to-be-instructors. Injury prevention is one of the things he stresses most.

"I know all of their aches and pains," says Briggs, who uses teaching assistants when there are more than 25 people in class or he's having a hard time seeing everyone. "If I don't recognize someone, I go over and ask, 'Do you have any issues I need to know about?' "

Disclosure can be a problem. Once, he was guiding a student he had known for a few months in a shoulder stand for the first time. In the advanced pose, the student's upper back and shoulders are on the floor while their hips and legs are shooting up to the ceiling in a straight line.

"She looked up from the floor and asked me, 'You think this is OK for my pacemaker?' " Briggs says. He asked her to get out of the pose. Very carefully.

Briggs says the sad truth is that the competitiveness behind so many injuries is not necessarily driven by the students. It often is the teachers who have the ego problems.

"A lot of teachers have an investment in creating razzle-dazzle students," he says, referring to those who can do head stands, deep back bends and other difficult poses. "But yoga is done to make your life work better. It's not about getting better at yoga. Teachers have to be really careful with this."

Noelle Gillies learned that the hard way. She had been practicing yoga for 26 years when she enlisted in a teacher-training program in 2010. One day, the instructor asked her to take over for 20 minutes. Gillies thought she'd start her fellow trainees in a plank pose.

"I wasn't warmed up, and I felt a sort of crunch in my right shoulder," says Gilles, who developed rotator cuff tendinitis as a result. "It was inflamed, and I couldn't move my arm for a couple of days."

Physical therapy put her on the mend, and now, Gillies, 47, practices a therapeutic style of yoga that she loves. Looking back, she says too many people strive for the epitome of the pose.

"You have to take it in steps, not get hung up on the end result, but it's hard in this culture because we're always trying to get ahead," Gillies says.

In her three decades as an orthopedic physical therapist, Linda Meneken has seen hamstring tears and various strains and sprains as a result of yoga. Still, she sings its virtues over its potential dangers with the caveat that anyone who wants to start a yoga practice should consult their doctor. And they should focus on proper alignment and always ask for modifications if they can't do something.

"Pushing through the pain? No, no, no," she says.

Yoga tips

Practice with common sense. Move slowly, pay attention and ask for help. Poses can be modified.

Know your body. Don't just listen to it. Know your troubled spots and how to avoid irritating them.

The instructor is not king. You don't have to do everything the teacher says.

Practice at your own pace. Don't try to keep up with the person sitting next to you. There may be postures you are unfamiliar with that require more time and patience. Know your limits.

Yoga is about technique. Just like you learn proper technique before starting a weight-training program, you need to practice proper alignment to avoid a yoga injury.

It's all about the breath. If your teacher doesn't integrate breath work in class, find another instructor.

Pain is not good. Don't push into it. Don't hold your breath. Just get out of the pose.

Repetition increases injury risk. Some yoga disciplines employ a set number of the same postures at every class, such as Bikram. Others, such as Ashtanga, move rapidly from one posture to another and can compromise proper form. Both situations increase the chance of injury.

-- Sources include Roger Cole and Tony Briggs

Five postures worth pondering

According to the research of Roger Cole, a UCSF-trained psychobiologist who teaches yoga and studies its effects, these are the five postures most likely to cause injury depending on body structure, previous injury, and fitness level.

Lotus. Avoid this seated pose if you are really stiff in the hips or leg muscles because it can put stress on the inner knee. Some people's joints are aligned and bones are shaped in a way that makes lotus difficult. If it hurts, don't do it.

Forward fold. This seated or standing bend can cause a hamstring tear or compressed or herniated disc in the lower backs of people who push too hard. Aim for a modest curve and gentle stretch of the back.

Shoulder stand. Because of the neck flexion involved in this pose, a stack of blankets should always be used to support and help to elevate the hips and lower back and avoid putting strain on the neck muscles. Otherwise, there is a risk for ligament tears, and, while rare, bone spurs in the neck.

Chaturanga. This flowing pose, which begins as a plank pose that you slowly lower to the ground, is not dangerous but because it's often done multiple times, form can be compromised, resulting in a repetitive strain injury in the back or shoulders.

Splits. Yoga instructors and other flexible types who practice the front-to-back splits and other postures where the pelvis tilts forward can retain muscle tears resulting in scar tissue.]]> http://www.wekidyounot.org/wkyn/showthread.php?tid=4359 Tue, 31 Jan 2012 09:43:12 -0700 http://www.wekidyounot.org/wkyn/showthread.php?tid=4359
http://www.cnn.com/2012/01/31/world/asia...index.html]]>
http://www.cnn.com/2012/01/31/world/asia...index.html]]> http://www.wekidyounot.org/wkyn/showthread.php?tid=4358 Mon, 30 Jan 2012 11:41:04 -0700 http://www.wekidyounot.org/wkyn/showthread.php?tid=4358

Seriously, I couldn't care less about the Super Bowl...]]>

Seriously, I couldn't care less about the Super Bowl...]]> http://www.wekidyounot.org/wkyn/showthread.php?tid=4357 Sat, 28 Jan 2012 09:12:26 -0700 http://www.wekidyounot.org/wkyn/showthread.php?tid=4357 I love the fact that "Hurley" aka Jorge Garcia from "Lost" is in it.
And it looks to me that he dropped a few pounds, Kudos to him.
But anyway, this is a good show and I hope it has an audiance.
Bob & I always seem to pick the losers lately, lol.
But we will enjoy the show for as long as it is on.]]> I love the fact that "Hurley" aka Jorge Garcia from "Lost" is in it.
And it looks to me that he dropped a few pounds, Kudos to him.
But anyway, this is a good show and I hope it has an audiance.
Bob & I always seem to pick the losers lately, lol.
But we will enjoy the show for as long as it is on.]]> http://www.wekidyounot.org/wkyn/showthread.php?tid=4356 Fri, 27 Jan 2012 08:46:13 -0700 http://www.wekidyounot.org/wkyn/showthread.php?tid=4356 http://www.buzzfeed.com/lilyboo/pictures...wwwwwwwwww

Mostly animals.]]> http://www.buzzfeed.com/lilyboo/pictures...wwwwwwwwww

Mostly animals.]]> http://www.wekidyounot.org/wkyn/showthread.php?tid=4355 Thu, 26 Jan 2012 19:11:47 -0700 http://www.wekidyounot.org/wkyn/showthread.php?tid=4355 By DAVE ITZKOFF

Two months after she gave birth to twins, Ahna Tessler was feeling confined in her Manhattan apartment and in need of artistic expression. So on Jan. 14 Ms. Tessler, a comedian who lives on the Upper West Side, did what came naturally: she recorded a humorous skit that incorporated her routine of breast-feeding her babies, Madelyn and Elliot, and tried to post the video on the online comedy site Funny or Die.

But a few hours after uploading the video, Ms. Tessler discovered that it had not been published — and that all of her previous Funny or Die videos had been taken down, and her account with the site had been suspended. When she asked Funny or Die for an explanation, she was told “the breast-feeding video” was the cause.

After an inquiry from The New York Times, Funny or Die restored Ms. Tessler’s account and her videos. But the incident was the latest example of how the depiction of nursing bedevils popular Web sites, online communities and other mass media, and left Ms. Tessler uncertain about Funny or Die’s overall standards.

“If I wanted to shock them,” Ms. Tessler said in a telephone interview, “I would have shown my breasts in a very sexual manner. I wouldn’t have been feeding my children.”

In the video, called “Leah got a job!,” she plays a vulgar character who has been hired as a children’s art teacher, and who declares that she hates kids even as she is shown with an infant at either breast. (The video, which contains coarse language, was also posted on YouTube.)

On the afternoon of Jan. 14 Ms. Tessler reached out to Funny or Die in a public area of the site, noting that the video had not been posted and that another video she had previously published was missing. That evening a site administrator replied, “Sorry, but your latest video got flagged as obscene, and we removed your account in response.”

When Ms. Tessler wrote back to say she “had no idea you couldn’t swear” on the site, the response was, “It was the breast-feeding video, not swearing.”

Asked why Ms. Tessler’s video and account had been removed, Ken Scott-Hlebek, vice president for engineering at Funny or Die, said in a statement: “We get a lot of content uploaded. A first-time uploader with a short video of breast-feeding can easily get mistaken for a spammer, which is a constant issue for us. It doesn’t have to be obscene to get taken down — anything that looks like spam or not in the spirit of the site can be removed. With the volume we have, and to protect the site and our users, we have to err on the side of caution whether it’s obscenity, advertisements, spam, or copyright concerns. We’re always happy to reconsider any decisions, and, of course, we apologize if she felt she wasn’t heard. We are in the process of reinstating the account and apologizing to the uploader.”

The site’s press representatives added, “Funny or Die supports breast-feeding in all forms, especially among consenting adults.”

In recent weeks social networks like Facebook have come under fire for deleting pictures that show children breast-feeding and for closing accounts of the mothers who posted the photos. In some of these cases the mothers were told they had violated the site’s terms of service by publishing sexual or obscene material. A separate online campaign has urged the children’s television series “Sesame Street” to show more images of breast-feeding.

Funny or Die, which is directed at an 18-and-over audience, often posts R-rated movie trailers and other bawdy content. But it does not appear to have a strict no-nudity policy: bare breasts can be seen in blooper videos on the site, and in the short “Jon Benjamin’s Ultimate Trick Shot Video” the camera frequently lingers on the genitals of a naked man.

Ms. Tessler said she was not seeking to test the boundaries of Funny or Die when she posted her video, but simply wanted to find something constructive in one of the more mundane aspects of new motherhood.

“I’m not performing, I’m not doing anything, ” she said. “It’s the hardest thing I’ve ever done, and I was thinking I have to get something out of this for me. I have to find the humor in this because it’s so insane right now, the amount of work and how exhausting it is.”

Ms. Tessler said she was glad to have her account back but ultimately unsure why her video had caused any trouble.

“My main question is, What were the rules to begin with?” she said. “I want to say so many inappropriate things, but you’re writing this down, so I can’t.”]]> By DAVE ITZKOFF

Two months after she gave birth to twins, Ahna Tessler was feeling confined in her Manhattan apartment and in need of artistic expression. So on Jan. 14 Ms. Tessler, a comedian who lives on the Upper West Side, did what came naturally: she recorded a humorous skit that incorporated her routine of breast-feeding her babies, Madelyn and Elliot, and tried to post the video on the online comedy site Funny or Die.

But a few hours after uploading the video, Ms. Tessler discovered that it had not been published — and that all of her previous Funny or Die videos had been taken down, and her account with the site had been suspended. When she asked Funny or Die for an explanation, she was told “the breast-feeding video” was the cause.

After an inquiry from The New York Times, Funny or Die restored Ms. Tessler’s account and her videos. But the incident was the latest example of how the depiction of nursing bedevils popular Web sites, online communities and other mass media, and left Ms. Tessler uncertain about Funny or Die’s overall standards.

“If I wanted to shock them,” Ms. Tessler said in a telephone interview, “I would have shown my breasts in a very sexual manner. I wouldn’t have been feeding my children.”

In the video, called “Leah got a job!,” she plays a vulgar character who has been hired as a children’s art teacher, and who declares that she hates kids even as she is shown with an infant at either breast. (The video, which contains coarse language, was also posted on YouTube.)

On the afternoon of Jan. 14 Ms. Tessler reached out to Funny or Die in a public area of the site, noting that the video had not been posted and that another video she had previously published was missing. That evening a site administrator replied, “Sorry, but your latest video got flagged as obscene, and we removed your account in response.”

When Ms. Tessler wrote back to say she “had no idea you couldn’t swear” on the site, the response was, “It was the breast-feeding video, not swearing.”

Asked why Ms. Tessler’s video and account had been removed, Ken Scott-Hlebek, vice president for engineering at Funny or Die, said in a statement: “We get a lot of content uploaded. A first-time uploader with a short video of breast-feeding can easily get mistaken for a spammer, which is a constant issue for us. It doesn’t have to be obscene to get taken down — anything that looks like spam or not in the spirit of the site can be removed. With the volume we have, and to protect the site and our users, we have to err on the side of caution whether it’s obscenity, advertisements, spam, or copyright concerns. We’re always happy to reconsider any decisions, and, of course, we apologize if she felt she wasn’t heard. We are in the process of reinstating the account and apologizing to the uploader.”

The site’s press representatives added, “Funny or Die supports breast-feeding in all forms, especially among consenting adults.”

In recent weeks social networks like Facebook have come under fire for deleting pictures that show children breast-feeding and for closing accounts of the mothers who posted the photos. In some of these cases the mothers were told they had violated the site’s terms of service by publishing sexual or obscene material. A separate online campaign has urged the children’s television series “Sesame Street” to show more images of breast-feeding.

Funny or Die, which is directed at an 18-and-over audience, often posts R-rated movie trailers and other bawdy content. But it does not appear to have a strict no-nudity policy: bare breasts can be seen in blooper videos on the site, and in the short “Jon Benjamin’s Ultimate Trick Shot Video” the camera frequently lingers on the genitals of a naked man.

Ms. Tessler said she was not seeking to test the boundaries of Funny or Die when she posted her video, but simply wanted to find something constructive in one of the more mundane aspects of new motherhood.

“I’m not performing, I’m not doing anything, ” she said. “It’s the hardest thing I’ve ever done, and I was thinking I have to get something out of this for me. I have to find the humor in this because it’s so insane right now, the amount of work and how exhausting it is.”

Ms. Tessler said she was glad to have her account back but ultimately unsure why her video had caused any trouble.

“My main question is, What were the rules to begin with?” she said. “I want to say so many inappropriate things, but you’re writing this down, so I can’t.”]]> http://www.wekidyounot.org/wkyn/showthread.php?tid=4353 Wed, 25 Jan 2012 11:16:46 -0700 http://www.wekidyounot.org/wkyn/showthread.php?tid=4353
3 months ago I had to put my beloved Shelby to sleep after a lengthy illness. She was 15 years old, so she lived a good long life. The thing is I am still crying *every day*, and nobody in my life seems to understand.

My boyfriend and I got another dog pretty quickly--within 2 weeks. The empty house was just more than I could bear. I love this dog (Maci) with all my heart, and I refer to her and Shelby as "my girls."

But I feel guilty, like I am a horrible person for replacing Shelby so soon. But what's done is done, and Maci is not going anywhere. It's just hard to establish a relationship with one dog while grieving another.

I am sure you guys have lost pets. How did you cope, and when does it get easier? Thanks!

Shelby is the first pet I had on my own (not with my parents) so this is especially hard. I have never cried this much over anyone--human or animal--in my entire life.]]>
3 months ago I had to put my beloved Shelby to sleep after a lengthy illness. She was 15 years old, so she lived a good long life. The thing is I am still crying *every day*, and nobody in my life seems to understand.

My boyfriend and I got another dog pretty quickly--within 2 weeks. The empty house was just more than I could bear. I love this dog (Maci) with all my heart, and I refer to her and Shelby as "my girls."

But I feel guilty, like I am a horrible person for replacing Shelby so soon. But what's done is done, and Maci is not going anywhere. It's just hard to establish a relationship with one dog while grieving another.

I am sure you guys have lost pets. How did you cope, and when does it get easier? Thanks!

Shelby is the first pet I had on my own (not with my parents) so this is especially hard. I have never cried this much over anyone--human or animal--in my entire life.]]> http://www.wekidyounot.org/wkyn/showthread.php?tid=4352 Mon, 23 Jan 2012 16:38:11 -0700 http://www.wekidyounot.org/wkyn/showthread.php?tid=4352 https://www.getplaqueattack.com/Index.dtm

OK so I took the plunge and bought some of this stuff today.
They said it takes about 6 weeks for delivery. But, I might get lucky and get it sooner. Anyway, for us cat lovers they have it in a gel form, so that you can rub some on your cats paw or tail and they will lick it off. Pretty neat idea.
Anyway, I will keep you posted on this product and let you all know if it really works.
Hey I don't mind being a guinea pig once in a while if I feel the product may be worth it.
]]> https://www.getplaqueattack.com/Index.dtm

OK so I took the plunge and bought some of this stuff today.
They said it takes about 6 weeks for delivery. But, I might get lucky and get it sooner. Anyway, for us cat lovers they have it in a gel form, so that you can rub some on your cats paw or tail and they will lick it off. Pretty neat idea.
Anyway, I will keep you posted on this product and let you all know if it really works.
Hey I don't mind being a guinea pig once in a while if I feel the product may be worth it.
]]> http://www.wekidyounot.org/wkyn/showthread.php?tid=4351 Mon, 23 Jan 2012 05:08:56 -0700 http://www.wekidyounot.org/wkyn/showthread.php?tid=4351
http://blisstree.com/eat/another-reason-...ontent=api]]>
http://blisstree.com/eat/another-reason-...ontent=api]]> http://www.wekidyounot.org/wkyn/showthread.php?tid=4350 Sun, 22 Jan 2012 14:08:36 -0700 http://www.wekidyounot.org/wkyn/showthread.php?tid=4350
I have had a terrible, terrible weekend. Audiodef has been super great and wonderful and understanding, but I know that I have not been good company.

Today, I was supposed to run two errands in downtown DC by car. Both locations are pretty easy to get to, and I have a GPS. I was supposed to go buy a tent for shows from one person and then, on my way back north toward home, stop in on a friend to do head shots and discuss some things with him. The two people do not live far from each other, and again--both are fairly easy to get to and not way down in the heart of the city.

Yesterday, I had a really bad day. My printer stopped working in the middle of my trying to print documentation out for my accountant, and I misconstrued something I saw on my BF's computer screen (we share office space and have nothing to hide from one another, so I saw it as I was going about my business) and said something really dumb. I basically spent all day yesterday crying for no good reason/out of sheer frustration and stress.

Today, I freaked out around lunch time and canceled both of my appointments downtown. I panicked over...nothing. Right now, I feel like a stupid, shitty, useless person, and I just want to forget this weekend ever happened and go crawl in a hole.

Is this how panic attacks worK? This awful, being so paralyzed that I can't even go SEE A FRIEND!

I guess I just wanted to talk about panic attacks--how they can affect people and how people cope. I have not yet found a therapist, and I'm still pretty much against the idea of taking medication, so I thought I'd ask for feedback.



Jen M.]]>
I have had a terrible, terrible weekend. Audiodef has been super great and wonderful and understanding, but I know that I have not been good company.

Today, I was supposed to run two errands in downtown DC by car. Both locations are pretty easy to get to, and I have a GPS. I was supposed to go buy a tent for shows from one person and then, on my way back north toward home, stop in on a friend to do head shots and discuss some things with him. The two people do not live far from each other, and again--both are fairly easy to get to and not way down in the heart of the city.

Yesterday, I had a really bad day. My printer stopped working in the middle of my trying to print documentation out for my accountant, and I misconstrued something I saw on my BF's computer screen (we share office space and have nothing to hide from one another, so I saw it as I was going about my business) and said something really dumb. I basically spent all day yesterday crying for no good reason/out of sheer frustration and stress.

Today, I freaked out around lunch time and canceled both of my appointments downtown. I panicked over...nothing. Right now, I feel like a stupid, shitty, useless person, and I just want to forget this weekend ever happened and go crawl in a hole.

Is this how panic attacks worK? This awful, being so paralyzed that I can't even go SEE A FRIEND!

I guess I just wanted to talk about panic attacks--how they can affect people and how people cope. I have not yet found a therapist, and I'm still pretty much against the idea of taking medication, so I thought I'd ask for feedback.



Jen M.]]> http://www.wekidyounot.org/wkyn/showthread.php?tid=4349 Sun, 22 Jan 2012 09:35:15 -0700 http://www.wekidyounot.org/wkyn/showthread.php?tid=4349 article, my paper tends to shorten them)
Then today on NPR they had a story about how the CIA was using social networking sites to gather intelligence. I guess I am not very trusting.

Shunning Facebook, and living to tell about it

By Jenna Wortham

New York Times
Posted: 01/20/2012 07:37:24 PM PST
Updated: 01/22/2012 06:59:05 AM PST

Tyson Balcomb quit Facebook after a chance encounter on an elevator. He found himself standing next to a woman he had never met -- yet through Facebook he knew what her older brother looked like, that she was from a tiny island off the coast of Washington and that she had recently visited the Space Needle in Seattle.

"I knew all these things about her, but I'd never even talked to her," said Balcomb, a premed student in Oregon who had some real-life friends in common with the woman. "At that point I thought, maybe this is a little unhealthy."

As Facebook prepares for a much-anticipated public offering, the company is eager to show off its momentum
by building on its huge membership: more than 800 million active users around the world, Facebook says, and roughly 200 million in the United States, or two-thirds of the population.

But the company is running into a roadblock in this country. Some people, even on the younger end of the age spectrum, just refuse to participate, including people who have given it a try.

One of Facebook's main selling points is that it builds closer ties among friends and colleagues. But some who steer clear of the site say it can have the opposite effect of making them feel more, not less, alienated.

"I wasn't calling my friends anymore," said Ashleigh Elser, 24, who is in graduate school in Charlottesville, Va. "I was just seeing their
pictures and updates and felt like that was really connecting to them."

To be sure, the Facebook-free life has its disadvantages in an era when people announce all kinds of major life milestones on the Web. Elser has missed engagements and pictures of new-born babies. But none of that hurt as much as the gap she said her Facebook account had created between her and her closest friends. So she shut it down. Many of the holdouts mention concerns about privacy. Those who study social networking say this issue boils down to trust. Amanda Lenhart, who directs research on teenagers, children and families at the Pew Internet and American Life Project, said that people who use Facebook tend to have "a general sense of trust in others and trust in institutions." She added: "Some people make the decision not to use it because they are afraid of what might happen."

Lenhart noted that about 16 percent of Americans don't have cellphones. "There will always be holdouts," she said.

Facebook executives say they don't expect everyone in the country to sign up. Instead they are working on ways to keep current users on the site longer, which gives the company more chances to show them ads. And the company's biggest growth is now in places like Asia and Latin America, where there might actually be people who have not yet heard of Facebook.

"Our goal is to offer people a meaningful, fun and free way to connect with their friends, and we hope that's appealing to a broad audience," said Jonathan Thaw, a Facebook spokesman.

But the figures on growth in this country are stark. The number of Americans who visited Facebook grew 10 percent in the year that ended in October -- down from 56 percent growth over the previous year, according to comScore, which tracks Internet traffic.

Erika Gable, 29, who lives in New York and does public relations for restaurants, never understood the appeal of Facebook in the first place. She says the daily chatter that flows through the site -- updates about bad hair days and pictures from dinner -- is virtual clutter she doesn't need in her life.

"If I want to see my fifth cousin's second baby, I'll call them," she said with a laugh. "I remember having MySpace for a bit and always feeling so weird about seeing other people's stuff all the time," she said. "I'm not into it."

And whether there is haranguing involved or not, the rebels say their no-Facebook status tends to be a hot topic of conversation -- much as a decision not to own a television might have been in an earlier media era.

"People always raise an eyebrow," said Chris Munns, 29, who works as a systems administrator in New York. "But my life has gone on just fine without it. I'm not a shut-in. I have friends and quite an enjoyable life in Manhattan."

But the peer pressure is only going to increase. Susan Etlinger, an analyst at the Altimeter Group, said society was adopting new behaviors and expectations in response to the near-ubiquity of Facebook and other social networks.

"People may start to ask the question that, if you aren't on social channels, why not? Are you hiding something?" she said. "The norms are shifting."

This kind of thinking cuts both ways for the Facebook holdouts. Munns said his dating life had benefited from his lack of an online dossier: "They haven't had a chance to dig up your entire life on Facebook before you meet."

But Gable said such background checks were the one thing she needed Facebook for.

"If I have a crush on a guy, I'll make my friends look him up for me," Gable said. "But that's as far as it goes."]]> article, my paper tends to shorten them)
Then today on NPR they had a story about how the CIA was using social networking sites to gather intelligence. I guess I am not very trusting.

Shunning Facebook, and living to tell about it

By Jenna Wortham

New York Times
Posted: 01/20/2012 07:37:24 PM PST
Updated: 01/22/2012 06:59:05 AM PST

Tyson Balcomb quit Facebook after a chance encounter on an elevator. He found himself standing next to a woman he had never met -- yet through Facebook he knew what her older brother looked like, that she was from a tiny island off the coast of Washington and that she had recently visited the Space Needle in Seattle.

"I knew all these things about her, but I'd never even talked to her," said Balcomb, a premed student in Oregon who had some real-life friends in common with the woman. "At that point I thought, maybe this is a little unhealthy."

As Facebook prepares for a much-anticipated public offering, the company is eager to show off its momentum
by building on its huge membership: more than 800 million active users around the world, Facebook says, and roughly 200 million in the United States, or two-thirds of the population.

But the company is running into a roadblock in this country. Some people, even on the younger end of the age spectrum, just refuse to participate, including people who have given it a try.

One of Facebook's main selling points is that it builds closer ties among friends and colleagues. But some who steer clear of the site say it can have the opposite effect of making them feel more, not less, alienated.

"I wasn't calling my friends anymore," said Ashleigh Elser, 24, who is in graduate school in Charlottesville, Va. "I was just seeing their
pictures and updates and felt like that was really connecting to them."

To be sure, the Facebook-free life has its disadvantages in an era when people announce all kinds of major life milestones on the Web. Elser has missed engagements and pictures of new-born babies. But none of that hurt as much as the gap she said her Facebook account had created between her and her closest friends. So she shut it down. Many of the holdouts mention concerns about privacy. Those who study social networking say this issue boils down to trust. Amanda Lenhart, who directs research on teenagers, children and families at the Pew Internet and American Life Project, said that people who use Facebook tend to have "a general sense of trust in others and trust in institutions." She added: "Some people make the decision not to use it because they are afraid of what might happen."

Lenhart noted that about 16 percent of Americans don't have cellphones. "There will always be holdouts," she said.

Facebook executives say they don't expect everyone in the country to sign up. Instead they are working on ways to keep current users on the site longer, which gives the company more chances to show them ads. And the company's biggest growth is now in places like Asia and Latin America, where there might actually be people who have not yet heard of Facebook.

"Our goal is to offer people a meaningful, fun and free way to connect with their friends, and we hope that's appealing to a broad audience," said Jonathan Thaw, a Facebook spokesman.

But the figures on growth in this country are stark. The number of Americans who visited Facebook grew 10 percent in the year that ended in October -- down from 56 percent growth over the previous year, according to comScore, which tracks Internet traffic.

Erika Gable, 29, who lives in New York and does public relations for restaurants, never understood the appeal of Facebook in the first place. She says the daily chatter that flows through the site -- updates about bad hair days and pictures from dinner -- is virtual clutter she doesn't need in her life.

"If I want to see my fifth cousin's second baby, I'll call them," she said with a laugh. "I remember having MySpace for a bit and always feeling so weird about seeing other people's stuff all the time," she said. "I'm not into it."

And whether there is haranguing involved or not, the rebels say their no-Facebook status tends to be a hot topic of conversation -- much as a decision not to own a television might have been in an earlier media era.

"People always raise an eyebrow," said Chris Munns, 29, who works as a systems administrator in New York. "But my life has gone on just fine without it. I'm not a shut-in. I have friends and quite an enjoyable life in Manhattan."

But the peer pressure is only going to increase. Susan Etlinger, an analyst at the Altimeter Group, said society was adopting new behaviors and expectations in response to the near-ubiquity of Facebook and other social networks.

"People may start to ask the question that, if you aren't on social channels, why not? Are you hiding something?" she said. "The norms are shifting."

This kind of thinking cuts both ways for the Facebook holdouts. Munns said his dating life had benefited from his lack of an online dossier: "They haven't had a chance to dig up your entire life on Facebook before you meet."

But Gable said such background checks were the one thing she needed Facebook for.

"If I have a crush on a guy, I'll make my friends look him up for me," Gable said. "But that's as far as it goes."]]> http://www.wekidyounot.org/wkyn/showthread.php?tid=4348 Sun, 22 Jan 2012 08:41:09 -0700 http://www.wekidyounot.org/wkyn/showthread.php?tid=4348 And meeting Anastasia and her DH was great. They drove up in their motorcycle and sidecar. She showed us photos of their dogs. And she updated her status on Facebook when we were waiting for the films to begin(those who know her on FB already know).
Looking forward to meeting again. We live about an hour's drive away from eachother.]]> And meeting Anastasia and her DH was great. They drove up in their motorcycle and sidecar. She showed us photos of their dogs. And she updated her status on Facebook when we were waiting for the films to begin(those who know her on FB already know).
Looking forward to meeting again. We live about an hour's drive away from eachother.]]> http://www.wekidyounot.org/wkyn/showthread.php?tid=4347 Sat, 21 Jan 2012 09:38:17 -0700 http://www.wekidyounot.org/wkyn/showthread.php?tid=4347 Her mother reassured her; 'Don't worry, Maria, Tony's a good man. Go upstairs and he'll take care of you.
Meanwhile, I'll be making pasta."
So, up she went. When she got upstairs, Tony took off his shirt and exposed his hairy chest. Maria ran downstairs to her mother and says, "Mama, Mama, Tony's got a big hairy chest."
"Don't worry, Maria," says the mother, "all good men have hairy chests. Go upstairs. He'll take good care of you."
So, up she went again. When she got up in the bedroom, Tony took off his pants exposing his hairy legs. Again, Maria ran downstairs to her mother. "Mama, Mama, Tony took off his pants and he's got hairy legs!"
"Don't worry! All good men have hairy legs. Tony's a good man. Go upstairs and he'll take good care of you."
So, up she went again. When she got there, Tony took off his socks and on his left foot he was missing three toes. When Maria saw this, she ran downstairs. "Mama, Mama, Tony's got a foot and a half!"
Her Mama said, "Stay here and stir the pasta." ]]> Her mother reassured her; 'Don't worry, Maria, Tony's a good man. Go upstairs and he'll take care of you.
Meanwhile, I'll be making pasta."
So, up she went. When she got upstairs, Tony took off his shirt and exposed his hairy chest. Maria ran downstairs to her mother and says, "Mama, Mama, Tony's got a big hairy chest."
"Don't worry, Maria," says the mother, "all good men have hairy chests. Go upstairs. He'll take good care of you."
So, up she went again. When she got up in the bedroom, Tony took off his pants exposing his hairy legs. Again, Maria ran downstairs to her mother. "Mama, Mama, Tony took off his pants and he's got hairy legs!"
"Don't worry! All good men have hairy legs. Tony's a good man. Go upstairs and he'll take good care of you."
So, up she went again. When she got there, Tony took off his socks and on his left foot he was missing three toes. When Maria saw this, she ran downstairs. "Mama, Mama, Tony's got a foot and a half!"
Her Mama said, "Stay here and stir the pasta." ]]> http://www.wekidyounot.org/wkyn/showthread.php?tid=4346 Fri, 20 Jan 2012 17:20:16 -0700 http://www.wekidyounot.org/wkyn/showthread.php?tid=4346 By Piper Weiss, Shine Staff | Parenting – 5 hours ago

It's a boy! And he's five. Beck Laxton, 46, and partner Kieran Cooper, 44, have spent half the decade concealing the gender of their son, Sasha.

"I wanted to avoid all that stereotyping," Laxton said in an interview with the Cambridge News. "Stereotypes seem fundamentally stupid. Why would you want to slot people into boxes?"

Take a look at the most controversial parenting stories of the year.

Laxton, a UK-based web editor, and her partner, Cooper, decided to keep Sasha's sex a secret when he was still in the womb. The birth announcement stated the name of the gender-neutral name of their child, but skipped the big reveal. Up until recently, the couple only told a few close friends and family members that Sasha was a boy and managed to keep the rest of the world in the dark. But now that he's starting school the secret's out.

For years, Becks has been referring to her child, the youngest of three, as "the infant" on her personal blog. But guarding the public from her son's gender was only part of her quest to let her kid just be a kid.

Sasha dresses in clothes he likes -- be it a hand-me-downs from his sister or his brother. The big no-no's are hyper-masculine outfits like skull-print shirts. In one photo, sent to friends and family, Sasha's dressed in a shiny pink girl's swimsuit. "Children like sparkly things," says Beck. "And if someone thought Sasha was a girl because he was wearing a pink swimming costume, then what effect would that have? "

Sasha's also not short on dolls, though Barbie is also off limits. "She's banned because she's horrible," Laxton says in Cambridge interview.

On a macro level she hopes her son sets an example for other parents and makes them reconsider buying their sons trucks or forcing their daughters into tights. She's seen how those consumer trappings affect how and who kids play with in the sandbox.

See how one preschool is fighting gender bias in the classroom

But the sandbox is just a precursor to the classroom. When Sasha turned five and headed to school, Laxton was forced to make her son's sex public. That meant Sasha would have to get used to being a boy in the eyes of his peers. Still, his mom is intervening. While the school requires different uniforms for boys and girls, Sasha wears a girl's blouse with his pants.

"I don't think I'd do it if I thought it was going to make him unhappy, but at the moment he's not really bothered either way. We haven't had any difficult scenarios yet."

Last year another couple, Kathy Witterick, 38, and David Stocker, 39, of Toronto made a similar decision when they had their baby, Storm. At the time, certain psychiatric experts voiced concern over their decision. "To have a sense of self and personal identity is a critical part of normal healthy development," Dr. Eugene Beresin, director of training in child and adolescent psychiatry at Massachusetts General Hospital, told ABC News. "This blocks that and sets the child up for bullying, scapegoating and marginalization."

But as parents well know, bullying is hard for any child to avoid. It's more important to raise someone who's confident enough in himself to overcome peer pressure. It's also important to have his parents have his back (remember the mom who defended her son's choice in a Halloween costume?) Maybe Sasha's early years will be character building, maybe he'll have a higher emotional quotient being raised with dual perspectives on gender. Or the reverse could be true: Sasha may have less of a formed identity because of his upbringing, and feel angry at his mom for dressing him in flowery shirts and telling the world about it. Then again, maybe he'll get over it.

As for Laxton, she says she's open to her son pursing any career or sexual preference he chooses as he matures. "As long as he has good relationships and good friends," she says, "then nothing else matters, does it?"

Related:
Costume makes moms mad, boy happy
Why I'm fine with my son playing with Barbies
Boys with nail polish: no big deal http://http://shine.yahoo.com/parenting/...00388.html]]> By Piper Weiss, Shine Staff | Parenting – 5 hours ago

It's a boy! And he's five. Beck Laxton, 46, and partner Kieran Cooper, 44, have spent half the decade concealing the gender of their son, Sasha.

"I wanted to avoid all that stereotyping," Laxton said in an interview with the Cambridge News. "Stereotypes seem fundamentally stupid. Why would you want to slot people into boxes?"

Take a look at the most controversial parenting stories of the year.

Laxton, a UK-based web editor, and her partner, Cooper, decided to keep Sasha's sex a secret when he was still in the womb. The birth announcement stated the name of the gender-neutral name of their child, but skipped the big reveal. Up until recently, the couple only told a few close friends and family members that Sasha was a boy and managed to keep the rest of the world in the dark. But now that he's starting school the secret's out.

For years, Becks has been referring to her child, the youngest of three, as "the infant" on her personal blog. But guarding the public from her son's gender was only part of her quest to let her kid just be a kid.

Sasha dresses in clothes he likes -- be it a hand-me-downs from his sister or his brother. The big no-no's are hyper-masculine outfits like skull-print shirts. In one photo, sent to friends and family, Sasha's dressed in a shiny pink girl's swimsuit. "Children like sparkly things," says Beck. "And if someone thought Sasha was a girl because he was wearing a pink swimming costume, then what effect would that have? "

Sasha's also not short on dolls, though Barbie is also off limits. "She's banned because she's horrible," Laxton says in Cambridge interview.

On a macro level she hopes her son sets an example for other parents and makes them reconsider buying their sons trucks or forcing their daughters into tights. She's seen how those consumer trappings affect how and who kids play with in the sandbox.

See how one preschool is fighting gender bias in the classroom

But the sandbox is just a precursor to the classroom. When Sasha turned five and headed to school, Laxton was forced to make her son's sex public. That meant Sasha would have to get used to being a boy in the eyes of his peers. Still, his mom is intervening. While the school requires different uniforms for boys and girls, Sasha wears a girl's blouse with his pants.

"I don't think I'd do it if I thought it was going to make him unhappy, but at the moment he's not really bothered either way. We haven't had any difficult scenarios yet."

Last year another couple, Kathy Witterick, 38, and David Stocker, 39, of Toronto made a similar decision when they had their baby, Storm. At the time, certain psychiatric experts voiced concern over their decision. "To have a sense of self and personal identity is a critical part of normal healthy development," Dr. Eugene Beresin, director of training in child and adolescent psychiatry at Massachusetts General Hospital, told ABC News. "This blocks that and sets the child up for bullying, scapegoating and marginalization."

But as parents well know, bullying is hard for any child to avoid. It's more important to raise someone who's confident enough in himself to overcome peer pressure. It's also important to have his parents have his back (remember the mom who defended her son's choice in a Halloween costume?) Maybe Sasha's early years will be character building, maybe he'll have a higher emotional quotient being raised with dual perspectives on gender. Or the reverse could be true: Sasha may have less of a formed identity because of his upbringing, and feel angry at his mom for dressing him in flowery shirts and telling the world about it. Then again, maybe he'll get over it.

As for Laxton, she says she's open to her son pursing any career or sexual preference he chooses as he matures. "As long as he has good relationships and good friends," she says, "then nothing else matters, does it?"

Related:
Costume makes moms mad, boy happy
Why I'm fine with my son playing with Barbies
Boys with nail polish: no big deal http://http://shine.yahoo.com/parenting/...00388.html]]> http://www.wekidyounot.org/wkyn/showthread.php?tid=4345 Thu, 19 Jan 2012 10:37:41 -0700 http://www.wekidyounot.org/wkyn/showthread.php?tid=4345 http://thestir.cafemom.com/big_kid/13132...ate?next=1

Really? Shut the fuck up.]]> http://thestir.cafemom.com/big_kid/13132...ate?next=1

Really? Shut the fuck up.]]> http://www.wekidyounot.org/wkyn/showthread.php?tid=4344 Wed, 18 Jan 2012 15:33:22 -0700 http://www.wekidyounot.org/wkyn/showthread.php?tid=4344 I hope we will do OK. We have had this happen before and survived!]]> I hope we will do OK. We have had this happen before and survived!]]> http://www.wekidyounot.org/wkyn/showthread.php?tid=4342 Tue, 17 Jan 2012 14:04:31 -0700 http://www.wekidyounot.org/wkyn/showthread.php?tid=4342
http://www.apostrophe.org.uk/index.htm]]>
http://www.apostrophe.org.uk/index.htm]]> http://www.wekidyounot.org/wkyn/showthread.php?tid=4340 Tue, 17 Jan 2012 11:29:14 -0700 http://www.wekidyounot.org/wkyn/showthread.php?tid=4340 Well this is a letter long overdue. And the reason why It has taken me so long to write is due to the fact that this whole story is so very embarrassing as well as well as humiliating.
Anyway, I am sure all of you
had a wonderful New Years Eve?
The reason I ask is that
I know it had to have been better then mine. OK well I sort of jest. My NYE was not so bad. It is what happend the 2nd day of Jan that had my panties in a bunch sort of speak.
Well anyway I digress,
At first all I knew about NYE is that I was going out.
But, around 8PM NYE my tummy felt like WW 2, lol.
And I took my temp and it was 102
But not to disappoint my husband who had plans of surprising me by taking me to a place called
"Harry Buffalos"
[url=http://www.harrybuffalo.com/
]http://www.harrybuffalo.com/[/url]
I told him I would still go. I felt like going like a hole in the head. And he KNEW my temp was at 102 but he said it was not that bad!



Moving on... We went out,
it was an open bar. And I figured maybe I would drown my fever
in alcohol, lol.
So, I like an idiot got plastered.
Of course when Midnight came I still had my darling hubby to kiss in the new year with.
And that is about all I remember after that.
He was sober, so he was able to drive us home.
And that was then end of our NYE

New Years Day, Jan 1st. I still had the same fever.
But DH had tickets to the last "Browns" Football game.
So he had to go as he had invited our nephew to come along.
( this was planned months in advance, so he could not get out of it)

I was all alone, and I just monitoring my temp.
It had not moved from 102 no matter how much Tylenol
I took. So, when he finally got home.
I was not feeling any better. Progressively I got worse
But I managed to hold on for another day.

Jan 2nd: Came along and since it was a Monday, Bob was still home.
My nausea had gotten worse. And I thought for sure I would barf.
I did try, but it was a dry heave. After which I took my temp again and it was 103
I asked Bob if that was high enough for him?
And he had the nerve to get mad at me for saying that.
But anyway, he took me to Southwest Urgicare.

By the time I got there, my fever had spiked to 104!.
And they insisted that I go to the hospital. Now Bob had me & the car he could have take us both to Fairview to where my DR works out of.

But no, what does my idiot hubby do? He puts me in an ambulance and they took me to SouthWest aka SW General Hospital. And now I not only have a hospital that My DR is not part of but I am stuck with an ambulance bill as well.

Anyway to try & make a
long story short. What was causing my fever was a horrible case of Cellulitis

[url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cellulitis
]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cellulitis[/url]
on my rear end.
That is the embarrassing part.
I never knew anything was wrong back there. I mean who looks at there own rear? lol.
But anyway, it was horribly inflamed and RED as blood. But it never really hurt. I guess my fever took the pain away.
But, that was what caused my
high fever to begin with.


The whole night I was at ER at SW we waited over 10 hours to get a room! That was a nightmare. As I was stuck in this little hospital gurney bed, with no room to get comfortable.
My fever had me zoning in & out of a coma type sleep.
But, at long last, I finally got a room.

I was admitted Jan 2nd and stayed till Jan 6th.
I have not been able to be on the computer that much, due the fact that I have had to allow time for my butt to heal
I had a follow up appt with my own Dr yesterday ( 1-16-12)
And he says it is still infected.
I am on even more antibiotics.
If this does not help my situation they will have to lance the lump that remains on my backside.
I am hoping they won't have to do that. I won't know till Thurs (1-19-12)

So, for my sake please send all the good vibes and prayers that you have so that I won't have to have that procedure done.
Anyway as for my mini week in hell at SW Hospital, that was a trip and a half.

I never got the proper rest I needed. They were always waking me up at 4:30AM to give me a pill. And I could not get back to sleep due to my roommate who snored like a truck driver.
And, to make matters worse, after my roommate was discharged they brought in a new roommate in the middle of the night waking me up once again and that one snored even worse then the first one did.

So, I never got any proper REM sleep. And my Blood pressure was high die to that fact. And then they wanted to drug me for my Blood pressure.
Well gang, I have had
many ailments in my life time.
But my B/P was NEVER an issue in my life.
I have never had the need for any B/P Meds ever!

But of course due to me not
getting any sleep for 3 days
straight. Of course my BP would hit the roof.

But, Thankfully, I was able to explain
that to the Dr who was treating my wounded ass. And he backed off the B/P issue.
I had it checked yesterday, and it was of course normal as it always has been
Its amazing what sleep can do to cure High B/P
At least for me it did.

Anyway, I was never so happy to be home as I was on Jan 6th of 2012.
Of course my sweet Boots has missed me horribly. And once I was home he never left my sight, lol.
Bob was an angel too. And had the house spotless for me when I came home.
He even put Xmas away for me too. So, I had nothing to worry about other then to take care of my wounded butt, lol. I guess he felt
guilty for not taking my fever more
seriously. I bet next time he
will think twice about a 102 fever.


So anyway I sat here long enough to explain my situation to you all.
And to make matters worse, I need even more prayers as due to all the hospital procedures and exams they maanged to find some cysts on my ovaries.

So, I have an appt with my OBGYN tomorrow. ( 1-18-12)
So, I am hoping this can go away too? But, one never knows.
So, I need all the good vibes I can get.
Cause it looks like 2012 will be even a crappier year for me then 2011 was. Talk about bringing in the new year the hard way! LOL.
So anyway, I need all the help I can get.
Sorry to be a bummer gang,
But that is how it is for me for Jan 2012

I will keep you updated only upon request.
I would not want to bore anyone.
So, thanks in advance for all of your support.
And Have a good January.
Hugs to one and ALL
TW ]]> Well this is a letter long overdue. And the reason why It has taken me so long to write is due to the fact that this whole story is so very embarrassing as well as well as humiliating.
Anyway, I am sure all of you
had a wonderful New Years Eve?
The reason I ask is that
I know it had to have been better then mine. OK well I sort of jest. My NYE was not so bad. It is what happend the 2nd day of Jan that had my panties in a bunch sort of speak.
Well anyway I digress,
At first all I knew about NYE is that I was going out.
But, around 8PM NYE my tummy felt like WW 2, lol.
And I took my temp and it was 102
But not to disappoint my husband who had plans of surprising me by taking me to a place called
"Harry Buffalos"
[url=http://www.harrybuffalo.com/
]http://www.harrybuffalo.com/[/url]
I told him I would still go. I felt like going like a hole in the head. And he KNEW my temp was at 102 but he said it was not that bad!



Moving on... We went out,
it was an open bar. And I figured maybe I would drown my fever
in alcohol, lol.
So, I like an idiot got plastered.
Of course when Midnight came I still had my darling hubby to kiss in the new year with.
And that is about all I remember after that.
He was sober, so he was able to drive us home.
And that was then end of our NYE

New Years Day, Jan 1st. I still had the same fever.
But DH had tickets to the last "Browns" Football game.
So he had to go as he had invited our nephew to come along.
( this was planned months in advance, so he could not get out of it)

I was all alone, and I just monitoring my temp.
It had not moved from 102 no matter how much Tylenol
I took. So, when he finally got home.
I was not feeling any better. Progressively I got worse
But I managed to hold on for another day.

Jan 2nd: Came along and since it was a Monday, Bob was still home.
My nausea had gotten worse. And I thought for sure I would barf.
I did try, but it was a dry heave. After which I took my temp again and it was 103
I asked Bob if that was high enough for him?
And he had the nerve to get mad at me for saying that.
But anyway, he took me to Southwest Urgicare.

By the time I got there, my fever had spiked to 104!.
And they insisted that I go to the hospital. Now Bob had me & the car he could have take us both to Fairview to where my DR works out of.

But no, what does my idiot hubby do? He puts me in an ambulance and they took me to SouthWest aka SW General Hospital. And now I not only have a hospital that My DR is not part of but I am stuck with an ambulance bill as well.

Anyway to try & make a
long story short. What was causing my fever was a horrible case of Cellulitis

[url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cellulitis
]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cellulitis[/url]
on my rear end.
That is the embarrassing part.
I never knew anything was wrong back there. I mean who looks at there own rear? lol.
But anyway, it was horribly inflamed and RED as blood. But it never really hurt. I guess my fever took the pain away.
But, that was what caused my
high fever to begin with.


The whole night I was at ER at SW we waited over 10 hours to get a room! That was a nightmare. As I was stuck in this little hospital gurney bed, with no room to get comfortable.
My fever had me zoning in & out of a coma type sleep.
But, at long last, I finally got a room.

I was admitted Jan 2nd and stayed till Jan 6th.
I have not been able to be on the computer that much, due the fact that I have had to allow time for my butt to heal
I had a follow up appt with my own Dr yesterday ( 1-16-12)
And he says it is still infected.
I am on even more antibiotics.
If this does not help my situation they will have to lance the lump that remains on my backside.
I am hoping they won't have to do that. I won't know till Thurs (1-19-12)

So, for my sake please send all the good vibes and prayers that you have so that I won't have to have that procedure done.
Anyway as for my mini week in hell at SW Hospital, that was a trip and a half.

I never got the proper rest I needed. They were always waking me up at 4:30AM to give me a pill. And I could not get back to sleep due to my roommate who snored like a truck driver.
And, to make matters worse, after my roommate was discharged they brought in a new roommate in the middle of the night waking me up once again and that one snored even worse then the first one did.

So, I never got any proper REM sleep. And my Blood pressure was high die to that fact. And then they wanted to drug me for my Blood pressure.
Well gang, I have had
many ailments in my life time.
But my B/P was NEVER an issue in my life.
I have never had the need for any B/P Meds ever!

But of course due to me not
getting any sleep for 3 days
straight. Of course my BP would hit the roof.

But, Thankfully, I was able to explain
that to the Dr who was treating my wounded ass. And he backed off the B/P issue.
I had it checked yesterday, and it was of course normal as it always has been
Its amazing what sleep can do to cure High B/P
At least for me it did.

Anyway, I was never so happy to be home as I was on Jan 6th of 2012.
Of course my sweet Boots has missed me horribly. And once I was home he never left my sight, lol.
Bob was an angel too. And had the house spotless for me when I came home.
He even put Xmas away for me too. So, I had nothing to worry about other then to take care of my wounded butt, lol. I guess he felt
guilty for not taking my fever more
seriously. I bet next time he
will think twice about a 102 fever.


So anyway I sat here long enough to explain my situation to you all.
And to make matters worse, I need even more prayers as due to all the hospital procedures and exams they maanged to find some cysts on my ovaries.

So, I have an appt with my OBGYN tomorrow. ( 1-18-12)
So, I am hoping this can go away too? But, one never knows.
So, I need all the good vibes I can get.
Cause it looks like 2012 will be even a crappier year for me then 2011 was. Talk about bringing in the new year the hard way! LOL.
So anyway, I need all the help I can get.
Sorry to be a bummer gang,
But that is how it is for me for Jan 2012

I will keep you updated only upon request.
I would not want to bore anyone.
So, thanks in advance for all of your support.
And Have a good January.
Hugs to one and ALL
TW ]]> http://www.wekidyounot.org/wkyn/showthread.php?tid=4339 Tue, 17 Jan 2012 06:40:48 -0700 http://www.wekidyounot.org/wkyn/showthread.php?tid=4339
http://www.timesunion.com/local/article/...531752.php

The woman knew she had terminal cancer but decided to go ahead with a pregnancy anyway - she already had 4 kids and there was NO mention at all of a father of the new one in the article. The other four were from different guys, of course. WTH?]]>
http://www.timesunion.com/local/article/...531752.php

The woman knew she had terminal cancer but decided to go ahead with a pregnancy anyway - she already had 4 kids and there was NO mention at all of a father of the new one in the article. The other four were from different guys, of course. WTH?]]> http://www.wekidyounot.org/wkyn/showthread.php?tid=4338 Mon, 16 Jan 2012 07:43:06 -0700 http://www.wekidyounot.org/wkyn/showthread.php?tid=4338
A couple we know is planning a huge wedding for the spring. They are pushing 40. Although they've lived away from home for going on 20 years, they have a massive gift registry. Does that strike anyone else other than me as unseemly? I find it hard to imagine asking friends/family for gifts for my household when I've lived on my own all these years...]]>
A couple we know is planning a huge wedding for the spring. They are pushing 40. Although they've lived away from home for going on 20 years, they have a massive gift registry. Does that strike anyone else other than me as unseemly? I find it hard to imagine asking friends/family for gifts for my household when I've lived on my own all these years...]]>