http://feeds.villagevoice.com/~r/articles/savage_love/~3/289927160/0820,my-boyfriend-s-kink-is-getting-fat-what-do-i-do,440948,24.html

http://villagevoice.com/people/0820,my-boyfriend-s-kink-is-getting-fat-what-do-i-do,440948,24.html

Q: I'm a 31-year-old man, and my girlfriend is 28. We've been in a monogamous relationship for four years. Recently, we've been doing the long-distance thing, and we're going to be doing it for a while until I can move from Canada to the United States. This is our problem: She brought up the idea of an open relationship until I get down there. I said OK—trying to be GGG—then called her back 24 hours later and reneged.Dan, I can't . . . read more (By Dan Savage)

tito and i are alive and cozily ensconced her in ellensburg with cheesepuppet, gregtitus, their offspring, and their dogs.

the move that would never end finally did end. i've had some bad moves in my time (not that there are good moves) but this was the nightmare of bad moves. being sick two weeks prior and during most of it really reduced my stamina. and despite having gotten rid of quite a bit of stuff since the beginning of the year - i have too much stuff. so it took 4-5 days longer than i planned and so i get to pay 4 days extra rent. but it is done and most everything i own is in storage. at some point, i'll be posting a cautionary tale in ogres_club about my move and my too much stuff.

i've actually felt pretty non-stressed since i got here. part of it is the contrast to the stress of the previous 3 weeks. part of it is the lack of stuff i have around me right now. i actually managed to have a slack like you mean it saturday where i slacked and my brain didn't constantly nag me about the tasks i thought i should be doing.

tito had been doing well adjusting to things here but then, last night, he had these violent sneezing fits and one of them was so violent that he smacked his snout on the floor and broke a tooth. he had a little blood, either from the tooth or from biting his tongue, and my first thought was he had some illness or disease with internal bleeding and it was coming out his nose. yeah, my brain was real logical there. hollie called their vet to find out what we should do (some aspirin for the pain). today, tito is totally fine. no sneezing, no problems eating, and just as spazzy as ever. i've been really fortunate with tito. other than this, his two major issues were a bee sting on the snout when he was a puppy and blisters on his paw pads after hiking up a mountain a few years back.

i should take a moment to mention how awesome the people are who helped me in my move of doom. a) it would have taken me way longer to finish and b) pretty sure i would have had a nervous breakdown. in addition, there is awesomosity in greg and hollie for inviting me to stay here and having such a wonderful home with the wacky, but delightful, miles and beth.

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Some self promotion unrelated to any of the above: Adagio Teas lets you create your own custom tea blends. Not only does this allow you to get your tea just like you like it but they make it available for other people to try. If people buy your tea, you get 10 point credit towards purchases (effectively $1). Thirty-one people have tried my tea and one person wrote a review and gave it five stars out of five stars! My blend is called "Fresh Picked Berries'n'Cream" and I had the perfect picture for it to go on the label. Click on the image to find out more about my tea blend. (and buy it if you think you might like it! i want to get a new 32 oz tea infuser!)

checked the memories and tags.....

how often do you need to reapply sunscreen? usually i am just out and about doing chores, walking to and from school/home/the apartment and that's about it. if i'm outside reading it's under a covered area. every now and then i may go to an outdoors concert or an event outdoors or walk outside, but not usually.

i put on shea butter every day and i use a face lotion with an spf of 15 i got at whole foods as my sunscreen.

so if i'm out, how often should i reapply? every 5 minutes, every 15, 30...etc?

http://feeds.villagevoice.com/~r/articles/savage_love/~3/289898630/0820,my-boyfriend-s-k,440948,24.html

http://villagevoice.com/people/0820,my-boyfriend-s-k,440948,24.html

Q: I'm a 31-year-old man, and my girlfriend is 28. We've been in a monogamous relationship for four years. Recently, we've been doing the long-distance thing, and we're going to be doing it for a while until I can move from Canada to the United States. This is our problem: She brought up the idea of an open relationship until I get down there. I said OK—trying to be GGG—then called her back 24 hours later and reneged.Dan, I can't stand the idea . . . read more (By Dan Savage)

The kitchen floor is done, and the cabinets are halfway back in. Still some work to be done and appliances to be installed. Johnny is hoping to have the kitchen completed by the weekend at the latest, then we'll have a few days to put stuff away and move everything out of the dining room and the right side of the living room so that he can start putting down the hardwood floors, w00t! We're anticipating getting phase 2 started by Wednesday. I'm not sure how long the hardwood floor installation will take, but hopefully not as long as the kitchen - although at least we'll be able to cook and do dishes while it is going on.

I miss having a dishwasher... and a kitchen sink, for that matter!

We got our federal tax return in the mail a few days ago, plus the final check from my grandfather's estate (the bank held some back in case there were tax issues) so I'll deposit that money tomorrow, w00t. Still no sign of our stimulus check, but I expect that'll be another month coming.

Thursday I'll have the day off work to hang out with Knight, since he'll be getting his Lasik surgery done, which I know he's looking forward too.

I got the glasses that I ordered from Zenni Optical in the mail today, and I totally love them! Ihey were only $30 including shipping for a single vision prescription - I don't quite need bifocals yet. The frames are red metal, sort of rounded rectangles if that makes sense. Anyway, they're tres cool, and I plan on wearing them to work tomorrow. Nobody noticed the other new frames I got last week, although they are admittedly very subtle changes. These, not so much! I took a photo of myself, I'll get it off the camera and post it tomorrow, since I'd better be heading off to bed now as it's getting late.

Kara got her stitches out yesterday from her neutering, and she's up to 2.2 lbs. Still as adorable and excitable as ever.

Not much else that I can think of for right now... so I guess it's off to bed.

It's just a fact....

Oh, Rich Cronin......you are somethin' else.

   A lot of people who love to cook are very fond of herbs and spices and look for every opportunity to present them into a dish.
Some cooks go overabundant, and sprinkle them in everything on the off chance they will find something new.
Then there are those who avoid seasonings altogether for fear they will ruin an entire dish by over-seasoning, or worse, adding the wrong seasoning.

One such herb is thyme; its most active ingredient - thymol - is a well-known ingredient in products like Listerine and Vicks.
Thymol has antibacterial and antifungal properties, which makes it useful for a number of things.

Its oil, when inhaled, can help to loosen phlegm and relax the muscles in the respiratory tract and when made into a tea, thyme is helpful for colds and flu. Adding thyme to a dish infuses a whole new flavor and fragrance; its dry aroma and slightly minty flavor allow it to pair perfectly with minced garlic in rubs for lamb, pork, or even beef roasts, or by itself to enhance cheese, tomato, and egg dishes.

Try adding some thyme to stuffing, spaghetti, pizza sauces or chilli.
Thyme retains its flavor on drying better than many other herbs, and dried thyme, especially powdered, occupies less space than fresh, so less of it is required when substituted in a recipe.

As a rule of thumb, use one-third as much dried as fresh thyme, a little less if it is ground.
Thyme is slow to release its flavors so it is best added early in the cooking process to ensure proper flavor penetration.

Thyme is great on roast beef, which makes a great Kummelweck.
Kummelweck or a weck is a roast beef sandwich made famous in Buffalo, New York by being served on a special Kaiser roll topped with lots of pretzel salt and caraway seeds.
Its name comes from its creator who is believed to have been William Wahr, a German baker from the Black Forest, an area of Germany where bread rolls are known as wecks.
View video of how to grow Thyme

Please don't go see 'Speed Racer'. Take a stand against chimpanzee abuse. And tell your friends / loved ones not to see this movie also.

http://getactive.peta.org/campaign/speed_racer_chimpanzee

I've been through the memories and tagged everything so I know this hasn't been covered.

I have acne scars on my face and under my jawline.  I've been using cocoa butter mixed with jojoba oil.  It's kinda helping.  Before I was using vitamin E and it didn't do anything.  rosa mosqueta oil didn't help either.

What else can I try?

A long time ago, and for a long time (1500 years?), Romans drank from beautiful stone aqueducts.   Legendary engineering, brilliant designs, our best engineers today would be severely challenged to match the feat.

These folks were smart, strong, tall and well fed.   Then, someone started making pipes out of lead, instead of the precision cut rock tubes and channels.  The easy way -- and the poisonous one.   To be fair, they consumed a fair amount of lead from many sources, there at the end -- soaked themselves in poisons.  Folks still bicker about which poison did the damage.  Which is amusing, actually.

Rome fell, from a city of a million (like Phoenix) to a city of 30,000.  Where did 960,000 people go?    Either way, those that remained were blithering idiots.   Within 3 generations, there wasn't a bright star amongst them, and they were robbed blind by folks with sticks.    Children of children of poisoned fools.   They didn't have a chance, really.

_____

That was then, this is now.   Now, we make our pipes out of copper -- a deadly poison.   Well... its only poisonous (like anything) in certain concentrations, and only peels out of your pipes at certain acidity of the water within.   If  you have neutral or basic water, its likely not a real problem.     So.... what's your water Ph?     Truth is, most people don't know.   oops!     

Our water is extremely acidic.   Which is no big deal, completely  harmless... except when it sits in copper pipes all night, we wake up and pour ourselves a nice cup for coffee.    Then drink it....

EPA fact sheet on Copper
Symptoms:  resembles arsenic poisoning
                       permanent liver damage
                       brain damage (Rome II?)
                       mental illness
                       Insensibility
                       Convulsions
                       Gastric distress
                       Nasal inflammation  (masking as allergies?)

Australian Government's Copper Fact Sheet (PDF File)

I have a weakness for music that sounds like it ought to belong in some smoky blues club. Welsh singer songwriter Duffy fits the bill. (Note: the page loads an audioplayer.) I like "Warwich Avenue", but my favorite is her current single, "Mercy".

I have my Yahoo, AIM, and MSN turned on, so IM me and keep me entertained while me and Amy watch SVU all night! Do it! Do it NOW!

AIM: TheJenn021282
Yahoo: missjenn021282
MSN: TheJenn021282@hotmail.com


( I know...I'm unoriginal, but I'm too lazy to create new screen names)

i'm not sure if anyone has talked about it in this community, but i thought i would bring it up, because i find it both fascinating and terrifying.

http://www.naturalnews.com/023004.html

"On August 1, 2007, the CDC issued the following statement regarding Morgellons Disease: “Morgellons is an unexplained and debilitating condition that has emerged as a public health concern. Recently, the CDC has received an increased number of inquiries from the public, health care providers, public health officials, Congress, and the media regarding this condition. Persons who suffer from this condition report a range of coetaneous symptoms including crawling, biting and stinging sensations; granules, threads or black speck-like materials on or beneath the skin; and/or lesions (e.g., rashes or sores) and some sufferers also report systemic manifestations such as fatigue, mental confusion, short term memory loss, joint pain, and changes in vision. Moreover, some who suffer from this condition appear to have substantial morbidity and social dysfunction, which can include decreased work productivity or job loss, total disability, familial estrangement, divorce, loss of child custody, home abandonment, and suicidal ideation.”

As of February, 2007, approximately 10,000 families had registered with the Morgellons Research Foundation (MRF) and felt they or a member of their family met criteria for Morgellons as defined by the MRF. Of the U.S. families in the MRF registry, 24% reside in California with geographic clustering in the San Francisco metropolitan areas.

In New Science magazine, Sept. 15-21 edition, Daniel Elkan describes a patient who for years has been “finding tiny blue, red and black fibers growing from intensely itchy lesions on his skin.” These fibers appear like pliable plastic and can be several millimeters long. Some appear in a zig-zag pattern. These fibers can be as fine as spider silk, yet they are strong enough to distend the skin when pulled.

A May 18, 2006 story carried by KGW, a local news channel in Oregon, recounts the story of a family practice doctor experiencing the disease. She reported feeling like bugs were crawling under her skin. “If I fully tell people what has gone on with me medically, they think they’re in the twilight zone,” said Dr. Drottar who woke up with the feeling that fluid was flowing just below her skin. When black or blue hair-like fibers protruded from her skin, she reported thinking she had been exposed to asbestos. “I thought I was having asbestos fibers come out of my skin. I was pulling long, thin, small hair-like fibers that were extremely sharp that could literally pierce through my finger nail.”

According to Dr. Drottar, these symptoms were accompanied by severe depression, chronic fatigue and a weakened immune system. This debilitating condition forced her to give up her medical practice.

Effective treatment for Morgellons suffers has been elusive. Doctors have claimed that this type of disease must be caused by a parasite, but even the strongest anti-parasitic medications have not helped. In the past, psychologists have insisted that this was a new version of delusional parasitosis, a form of psychosis in which suffers hold a delusional belief that they are infected by parasites"





click the above link for more. i'm really interested in the discourse that could ensue.

This is a filk about one of the many inspirational parts of Miles Vorkosigan's character.

( Spoilers for much of the Vorkosigan Universe )

Guy Clark's The Cape is a song about a person much like Miles in that regard. Naturally, it had to be filked to fall more in line.

( Crossball: With guitar tabs! )