Wheetsin

That's kind of funny, and true. I have $2 bills that were given to me, and *barely* remember them being used in circulation... but never being common. When I was a kid I volunteered in the concession stand at our neighborhood ball park, and I can so so vaguely remember people - every now and then - paying for something with a $2 bill.

When I was younger my mother worked at the American Cancer Society. Both my parents also smoked. Sometimes I would go to work with my mother. I can remember - clearly - walking down the corridor that lead to her office. There were several acrylic-encased cross-sections of lungs riddled with cancer. I also remember from a very early age having a hypersenitivity to the idea of addiction, and being unwilling if not afraid to try things because I did not want to become addicted to them. I'm talking 6 or 7 years old, at the time. With two smoking parents and smoking friends in school, you'd think I would have picked up the habit. But I have not. Those acrylic-encased horrors may have just a little to do with it. We learn the most when we are traumatized. It may take you a life time to learn not to open the envelope with your finger, because those tiny papercuts are hardly a great deterrent given the convenience, but most people only stick their hand into the fire once or twice before never doing it again. I have not seen the ads, but shock or trauma based b-mod is very powerful and effective when done correctly. I will have to go check out the clip from home this evening.

I'm partial to some of the older episodes. The one with Ms. Ellen (where all the boys are trying to become lesbians) is probably my all-time favorite... I think it's called "Tom's Rhinoplasty". An Elephant Makes Love to a Pig. This has some of the best Cartman dialogue. "Why don't you quit dressing me up like the mailman and making me dance for you while you go and smoke crack in your bedroom, and have sex with some guy I don't even know, on my dad's bed!" Christian Rock Hard -- "Token, give me a sweet bass line." "I don't know how to play the bass." "Token, how many times do we have to go through this? You're black. You can play bass." "I'm getting sick of your stereotypes." "Get as sick as you want, just give me a god damn bass line!" "Oh, god damnit..." General wittiness - the Bob Denver plane ride in the episode where Cartman buys the amusement park. Others on my list of favs: Jared has Aides Bebe's Boobs Destroy Society Cartmen Gets an Anal Probe -- "MOM, kitty's being a dildo!" "Then I know a certain kitty kitty who's sleeping with mommy tonight!"

My surgeon indicates an unfill is needed IF you're unable to get the amount of calories you need while filled. And that if you can get in the amount of calories you need while filled, then you can maintain your fill level.

A good psychologist can ask you a handful of questions and tell you more about your life than the best psychic. But I did see this couple once that was pretty impressive. It was on some TV show a few years ago, how's that for specifics? What I do remember was that it was a scientific study of their abilities with controls, etc. "Their" because it was a husband/wife team. I don't remember what the husband did, but the wife would draw pictures of people. The people she drew were supposed to be connected somehow to the guests. The guests were both actors/actresses, and people off the street. Their success rate ended up being 6/8. After the stuff was filmed they got back in touch and had people submit the actual photos of their family, and compared them to the drawings. Some were exceptionally close - close enough to make you wonder how they did it. (aside from TV magic, of course). But they weren't (I don't think) telling people things, they were just talking to them, and then she'd get this picture and start drawing it. After the drawing was already created, they'd start talking about who it was.

Non bodily function one. No funny story, either. Just raw humiliation. When I was about 13 I had this friend - we'll call her "Sue" - that my parents hated. With 20/20 hindsight, I was being an idiot, but hey - she was 15 and dated boys in the Navy, snuck vodka in her lunch bag, and used to talk me into "fun" things like crossing the TJ border on a Friday night w/o telling our parents where we were going. There was nothing uncool about that, right? :tired Anyway, I was in a pretentious area, and my parents were VERY active in the community, so it was one of those "you never get away with anything places". At the time I admired "Sue" because she got away with things -- that rebel attraction. Let's just say "bad company" and leave it at that, or this will turn into an entirely different topic. Once while we were out "Sue" taught me how to steal. Her family had no money, they could pay their mortgage and little else. They were definitely the black sheep of the neighborhood. She had taken to shoplifting the things she wanted since she could never buy them. One day we were out and I was buying something for my mother, and she dared me to steal it. And being 13, I agreed. And got away with it. And liked it. So over the course of the next few weeks, we amassed quite a collection of stolen goods - candy bars, key chains, pencils, nail polish. We never even did anything with the stuff, we just liked the thrill we got from shoplifting. So one day we go to this sort of dime store that was in the neighborhood and she decides she's going to try and steal something expensive. I don't remember what it was, but it was much more valuable than the things we had stolen so far. I really didn't want anything, but what the hell, it was fun, so I grabbed this stupid keychain. Then she asked me to hold her drink, which I thought was weird but I didn't think anything of it. She says "Come on, you go!" and starts steering me toward the front door. I don't think a thing of it. I try to walk out and the detector goes off. The clerks come over to me and start asking questions, and she walks out (with the alarm still going off) and takes off. I have no idea what to do. One of them asks if I'd recently bought a new purse so I'm like... uh, sure... and give it to them to look. Then I try to be sneaky and ditch the keychain, because I thought that's what striggered the alarm. One of them sees me, alerts the other, and I end up upstairs in the manager's office. He's using a wand and keeps getting a beep, even though I'm insinsting the only thing I had was the keychain. Then he beeps the drink cup, and finds a makeup compact with a detector tag on it in the dirnk. "Sue" had put something with a visible detector tag in the cup, then given me the cup and sent me through the door... while the alarm was going off, she went through (since it wouldn't re-trigger) with the expensive item she stole, and left me to take the blame. The manager tells me, "I can call the cops or I can call your parents, which would you prefer?" I really had to think about it... but eventually called my mom. While I'm waiting for her to get there, two kids from my school show up. They worked there - I had no idea. They're like, "I know you, aren't you so and so's friend?" I couldn't even answer them, all I could do was stand there humiliated, ashamed and embarassed. Of course the next day at school, EVERYONE knew what had happened. And "Sue" tells me in front of a large group of people that she's not allowed to hang out with me anymore, that she went home and told them I got caught shoplifting and tried to make her steal things for me, so they thought I was a bad influence for her to hang around with. As happens with 13 y/o the entire thing was forgotten (publically) within the week, but I still clearly remember the embarassment of the whole thing.

I have seen "Jesus saves sinners. Then he redeems them for valuable prizes." Recently have seen: "Honk if you voted for Bush. It's the big button in the middle of your steering wheel." "Despite this car, I am not a lesbian." Always liked the "Visualize Whirled Peas" and "Stop the Violins". Had a shirt once that came in a sticker too that said, "Stop Plate Tectonics!"

Didn't make group, a family emergency has me out of town. Congratulations on your date. It's ironic - that that particular person would appear in your nightmares. I've referred many ppl to Dr. H, and I know more than a handful have sought other surgeons after the way that either they were treated/talked do during info night, or after observing the same treatment of others. I can think of 6 in this situation off the top of my head, with a 7th on the way. Of course, then they all want to come to me and tell me the stories... unfortunately. It's sad because I have complete trust in him as a surgeon and respect for the work he did, and think he can help others, but they just can't get past her. What size do you wear/need?

Definitely not your band's doing. Pregnancy doesn't even require unfill. Unfill is only needed if you can't get in enough calories, or on a preventative basis (e.g. slip that might require surgery during pregnancy). Trust me, I've researched it. The fetus takes what it needs - you go without before it does. Don't feel that any of this had anything to do with the quanitity of food you were eating. You would have seen the problems in yourself before they caused any problems, had that been the case.

I saw her live once. A friend had an extra ticket and asked me to go. Much to my dismay. It was a total crock. She was very good at telling people things to make them feel better, I will agree with that. In fact, those were pretty much my exact words when my friend asked me what I thought after the "show". She brought up maybe 5 people from the audience to talk with. On the first 4 she missed everything. The people couldn't even guess who/what she was referring to. She would just say "You just don't remember" or "look into it, maybe you just don't know". Much like John Edwards *barf* did. On the fifth person, the lady was asking about her daughter's murder. Sylvia told her there were two people who comitted the crime, not one. The lady freaked - I KNEW IT I KNEW IT I KNEW IT it was <bleep> and <bleep>!!! Yes, she actually screamed the names out in front of the microphone. After probably 30 "not even close" questions/pieces of information, she got "2 people not 1" right and the audience bought it hook, line and sinker. If I remember correctly, my friend paid something like $150 per ticket. She did so b/c she had questions about a crime in her family, and wanted to ask. Something about how the tickets were sold (I wasn't there so I don't know) lead her to believe that everyone who bought this kind of ticket got to ask questions.

If you up your fiber, make sure you also up your Water. I knew someone who did not do this and became impacted (cannot remember the official term). It was not a nice thing. For me the added fiber does not make a difference, I still have problems sometimes. I did when I was following Atkins, too. I tried everything from nuts to FiberOne to juices... doesn't seem to make much difference for me.

Oh my Kat, that happened to me once, walking in to work. I'd grabbed some jeans from the dryer late at night because I had to make a quick run to the store. When I took the jeans off, I took underwear off at the same time. DIdn't think twice about it, laid the jeans out to wear the next day. Next day I put on underwear, put on jeans, go in to work. Where I worked then there was a 5ish min walk from the parking lot to the building. Get in the building, log in, get a drink, etc. Morning rush comes and goes. Then I remember I'd left some papers in my car that I needed for a meeting later that morning, so I walk back out and about 15ft from my car, there are last night's underwear, laying in the middle of the sidewalk. Theyy must have gotten scrunched in the pant leg, and worked their way out as I was walking. What do you do? I kept walking, like I didn't notice them. Got my papers out of my car. While I'm getting the papers out, the security guard walks by, sees them, PICKS THEM UP, looks at them, walks over and drapes them on the "employee parking only" sign. Then he says to me, "Can you believe it? Some hussy left her underwear on the sidwalk after whatever fun she had here last night." I said, "Makes me jealous." I go in, finish my day, come out and they're still there, hanging on the sign in front of my car. I never did claim them. That probably would have embarassed me. When I came in the next day, they had been removed.

The blended cottage cheese is good for a lot of things other than the Protein pudding (which I make using SF pudding and whatever I want in it... Peanut Butter, or a bod of SF strawberry preserves in Cheesecake pudding, etc.). It's a great sour craem substitute. I've used it to mix tuna or chicken in, instead of mayo. Heck, half the time when I ate it, I just stirred it into my cottage cheese... may as well cut out the mayo if I can do that. Casserole toppings, mousse base, etc. It has a very neutral flavor and a perfect consistency. Instead of adding the cup of ice, try blending everything ahead of time (my last batch was blended cottage cheese + SF fudge pudding + crunchy peanut butter + chocolate Protein powder... do the pudding first, then mix in the rest), portioning out, and freezing. It will get really hard so if you want some right then, monitor it. Otherwise just take it out a little while before you will be eating. It doesn't have ice cream consistency... more like a mix of gellato crossed with popsicle, but it is enough (IMO) to kill he cravings.

Not for my own sake. Like I said - had a hard time writing it without it sounding like a porn.

Been a rough week, this will be a nice change of pace/thought. This is hard because I really don't get embarassed, even over things that I know would mortify others. I have quick "oh crap" reactions, but then it's "oh well". Hmm... I had a "Something About Mary" moment once. Before the movie came out. I swear they got that idea from our camping incident. Funny that would be brought up already. It was with DH. We were camping and I'm big on being able to shower after - you know. I just can't stand the feeling lubed... and just trying to wipe it away doesn't cut it for me. Sorry, TMI, but you gotta do what you gotta do. And I don't use public showers. So I told DH ok, but he would have to pull out. How the fark do I tell this without it sounding like a porn? He pulls out and is kneeling/straddling me as he finishes. I'm helping him out. Right as he starts to "arrive", I get this HUGE leg cramp (come on ladies, we've all been there) and have to pull my leg up, which hits his arm/hand and makes him loosen his grip so he wasn't able to "contain" his ...guys... hopefully you know what I'm talking about. So ok, we'll have a little mess to clean up, no biggie, except we can't freaking find it. We're looking everywhere - on the tent walls, on the sleeping bag... on the flashlight... and I'll be a son of a bitch but we can't find his guys anywhere. And I'm thinking - maybe he did one of those weird things where the guy orgasms without ejaculating, because there is no ejaculate in this tent (my husband the tantric???). We're baffled, but our friends are calling us to come out so we can eat, figuring we're just missing it in one of the folds of the sleeping bags or something. We go out, eat, socialize, all is well. And then I notice people are looking at me funny. Don't think a single thing about it, my hair must be messed up. Get paranoid enough to reach up there and check it out, and my hair is all gooey. Wtf? Oh! Yep, there it is, on my head. Mostly on my hair, and somehow pooled at my hairline. Don't ask me, I can't explain it. But see... it didn't embarass me. It went something like: Me - Why the F didn't you guys tell me I had spooge in my hair? Friend 1 - I couldn't figure out what it was. Friend 5 - I thought it was a bug. Friend 2 - I though that's what it was, but how the hell did it get there? Me - We were looking EVERYWHERE for that. DH - Is easily embarassed, and just kind of sits there before sliding into a fetal position. Friend 6 - *takes a picture*

This is hard because by legal definition they are property (Carlene is spot on) but most people with pets consider them family members and have much deeper and stronger emotional ties to their pets than they do, say, their couch. We have no kids. Our dog is our baby. He goes out with us, sleeps in our bed with us, etc. If he died, we would mourn for a very long time. If my couch were destroyed, bummer - go buy another.

What thread did you want this added to?

Dr. C, could you describe - or do you have any way of visually communicating - where the band would normally be placed? In other words, where would it be (in the picture) if it were not slipped? If you can describe it, I can photoshop it for you. I had forgotten how ugly we are on the (literal) inside.

:clap2: :clap2: :clap2:

Umm. Ow. My doctor friend that I mentioned on one of the other threads tells me stories of the things they see come into the ER. A hot curling iron doesn't touch the tip of the iceberg. A like to have my fun - but man - I'm just not as creative as some of these ladies. Or men.

My port is about an inch or two below my bra band, just slightly to the right of centered. I can feel it when I push, but cannot see it from the outside. But boy oh boy can I feel it if I move just wrong. I thought I could see it at one time, but that was just a scar tissue lump. It feels like a button.

I can guarantee that. A friend of mine is a doctor (she is finishing her residency this year, and has elected to go into emergencya medicine -- ER doctors. But as much as she would like to return home to our state, she won't, because we're pretty high up on the list of outrageous medical malpractice premiums. When I last visited her, she gave me some stuff to read. It was a while ago dso I don't remember the numbers exactly, but the average rookie salary for a doctor in that field was just under $200k/yr. In emergency mediciine, since she would automatically be dealing with higher risk cases, she has to carry a policy with much more coverage. And just like new drivers cost more to insure, so do new doctors. Anyway... once you subtracted her med mal premiums first year, her salary was cut to something like $118k. And people want to bitch about how much their doctor's fees are. Yeah, $118k is a nice income, but the fact doesn't change that she's paying close to 50% of her salary back, just to be able to do her job. Between premiums and student loans, new doctors really don't make a ton of money. Private practice makes more, but what new doctor is going to open a private practice? She lives in Florida in a houes that needs a new roof and drives a Hyundai because it's what they can afford right now. There's a debate around who's to blame... is it the lawsuits, or is it the insurance companies making up for investment lawsuits (investment of premiums and spillover reserves are where most insurance companies make their money, not in collecting premiums as most people think.) Doctors are vacating my state like crazy. My PCP is thinking about leaving and going to a state where the premiums are more affordable. It's sad. BTW, Wheets was once a pre med student, but focusing on medical research (specifically genetics and study of congential malformations). She's very happy she opted not to pursue her MD.

I son't know about the bartender thing. Seems like if you're going to hold the bartender accountable for a consequential drunk driving accident, then you have to hold a cigarette vendor accountable for second hand smoke damage. Both enable the unfortunate event to occur, in exchange for money, neither are directly involved with the outcome.

Don't forget the people who played video games for so long that they developed Carpal tunnel (or Nintendo Thumb, I think they dubbed it). Right around the time we left California, there was a lawsuit started up where a daughter was suing her parents because she was ugly. Her position was that -- Hey, both of my parents are ugly. And I'm ugly. And they knew I'd be ugly because they're both ugly. And because I'm ugly, my life has been unbelievably hard and my quality of life has been cut down to nothing. Therefore, by knowingly brining me into the world destined to be ugly, and knowing the hardships ugly people face, they have committed child abuse. And don't forget about the catalysts for good samaritan laws (which saved me once, after CPR I performed on someone broke his rib, for which he later tried to sue me). Yeah, you're alive thanks to me, but you're pissy because I cracked a rib saving your life? Next time maybe I'll just stop and stare like everyone else. That's safe, at least. Sue that, you b@stard.

Carlene, I hate that there are no accidents anymore. Sometimes it would be better to say "part my fault" and "part my fault" or "really no one's fault" and leave it at that, but we're so money hungry that it just doesn't really happen that much anymore. A neighbor of ours (single man) was visiting his mother during the last ice storm. While he was away, two kids were goofing around ont he sidewalk in front of his house. One pushed the other playfully, the pushee slipped on the ice and tried to catch her fall, ending up with a broken arm. The pushee's parents sued our neighbor because the sidewalk is considered his property, for reasons of liability. Then they tried to sue the city because they fail to provide a means of sidewalk ice removal. They were claiming pain & suffering on their child's behalf. When I was a kid and someone pushed me, and I fell down and broke my arm, it was called an accident, not "easy money". Once I was walking by a ball field and someone hit a foul ball that went over the fence and got me right in the cheekbone. It knocked me out for a few minutes, and have me ONE HECK of a black eye, three days before senior pictures and prom. It was an accident, and I should have been paying more attention. I certainly didn't sue the person who hit the ball, the person who owned the complex, the company that made the bat, or the company that made the ball. Once a kid ran his bike into me and, long story short, I ended up needing about 20 stitches in my leg, on the very visible out calf area. My parents talked with the lawyer about a potential lawsuit because the kid ran into me intentionally, and there was speculation that I woud lose mobile function in my leg (a decent amount of muscle had to be removed to get enough skin together, and the bottom inch or so had to be left open because any more removal would have caused "extreme" disfigurement). We didn't sue (and I have a wide but well-faded scar, no permanent disfiguration), nor was the event anything you'd consider an accident. In my husband's country, if you take someone to court and lose, you're responsible for not just your fees, but all of the defendant's fees too. If your case is determined to be frivilous, there's a pretty hefty fine. They don't see many frivilous or greed-driven lawsuits there.