green

LOL I've had mine since last September and I still find myself playing with it.

My father was born Jewish but didn't believe in God. There are two main branches of Jews, the Sephardim and the Ashkhenazim who are the Eastern European Jews. The Ashkhenazim have a bit of genetic material which identifies them as such and so being a Jew is also a matter of birth as well as religion and culture. A great number of famous Jews were/are atheists: Karl Marx and Noam Chomsky are the only names which spring to my mind at the moment. (It is very early for me and I am usually asleep at this hour but today I have an appointment at 9 AM. ugh! This is why I find myself being blonder than usual. ) Bloodlines are very important to the Jewish people and this is why it is only those people whose mothers are Jews who can truly call themselves Jews. The logic behind this is that one knows who the mother is, the father is questionable. This is an ancient law designed long before modern genetic research. My own mother was Scottish and French and this is why I am only considered Jewish to a racist and, sadly enough, I had encountered quite a number of those through my work when I was building aircraft. :phanvan As you may be aware, the Jews have one of the few religions that is not out there seeking new followers and perhaps my explanation may have helped you understand why. You may be interested to know that many devout Jews are very concerned that so many Jews are now marrying outside of the blood. They feel that it is possible that one day the Jews will disappear. Certainly this has happened in my own family. The few survivors of the Holocaust have mostly married gentiles.

LMAO Yep, me too. :heh:

You have made very good points. Thanks from Green.

Yah, the cat is hard work but I guess I am not feeling as vexed as many of the rest of you are. I do find a number of Lee4's topics to be very interesting. He is curious about the possible correlation of poverty and obesity. He is also curious about the fact that so many very young girls seem to be sporting the signs of sexual maturity. (This was the comment which earned him the epithet of perv, by the way.) And he is wondering why these very young girls are entering into sexual maturity - he wonders whether this might have something to do with the growth hormones which are fed into our food animals. As to his questions concerning male-female relationships, well, I have got to admit that I would have been mightily offended by these before I started working in an all male environment. In those days I was a politickally correct individual and a feminist. For the past 25 years, however, I have been building aircraft and working mainly with men. Men have their own worries and concerns and they are as vulnerable as we are in their own way. I guess I don't find Lee4's questions about women and finding a mate all that disturbing because they are typical of the questions which men have asked me. The way I figure it he is a dude who is raising two young sons on his own and he is also part of the lapband community. By his own account he is getting less than zero support from his own family in his work to lose weight. I think of Lee4 as one of our family.

I gotta agree with Marjon. How blonde can any one adult be???? And isn't there a fundamental disparity between being an individual who is committed to following a lifestyle as exemplified by Jesus and prostituting yourself on TV with a bordello's worth of make-up on your face in order to flog a bunch of cheap crappy razz-ma-tazz Jesus-village time share garbage to a clutch of innocent people who have more faith than money or brains? There is a disparity between talking Jesus and living rich and that was something which Tammy Faye surely must have noticed. I cannot believe that this chick was a complete innocent. At some level she was complicit; she must have liked the lifestyle, she must have like the recognition, she must have liked the make-up. She sure as hell wasn't channelling Mother Theresa, was she?

Wow. That is interesting. In my city the garbage thing is quite elaborate. We have one bin for paper goods, another for glass and plastics, another for used paper tissues, sanitary napkins, diapers, leftover food stuffs including uneaten meat and bones, kitty litter, and then anything not covered by the above is considered unrecyclable and is placed in the garbage. We also have a toxic waste pick-up for unused paints and stains, etc. As you can see, the local approach to garbage is quite elaborate. I had a French friend babysitting the house while we were in Turkey and even though I printed out The Rules he almost had a nervous breakdown. :help: haha

Now, my reactions towards those of Lee4's communiques which he has recently been posting in R&R have been qualified by having read some of his earlier posts, ones which he had submitted in the general lapband forums. Those posts were wordy but open and friendly. He had been very direct about describing himself, his family, and his particular weight issues. Now he has discovered what is arguably LBT's most challenging and most interesting forum. This is the area where those of us who are interested in this kind of thing have the freedom to get together and discuss controversial topics, usually very controversial topics. As we all know there are many LBT folk who are uncomfortable with R&R and who would be happy to see this particular arena shut down. But those of us who like it here like it here a lot. It is possible that I am a Pollyanna but I do not believe that Lee4 is a troll, a perv, or on drugs. I do believe that neither his formal education nor his life experiences marry up with many of ours in a slick fit but I don't think that that means that he doesn't have a right to engage in conversation with us. Now, the individual to whom BJean was referring to was an odious type who was called Ron Cusano. He had serious problems with spelling and syntax, an annoyance for sure, but the cat was smug and also had an agenda which he was pushing big time. I for one have no sense that Lee4 wishes anything more than to engage in discussion with the rest of us though it is true that he can become kinda cranky at times. Of course some of us have given him a rough ride, too.

Ah, pierogis are seriously deadly being as they are a combo of carbs and saturated fats with a whole bunch of sodium in order to make yer dining experience extra divine. They are part of my father's awful dining heritage what with him being a Polish Jew who was born within short kilometers from the Ukrainian border. Most of the cuisine which comes from this part of the world is strong on carbs and sat fats. We used to eat potato pancakes (latkes) and chopped liver. The first was grated potato which, once wrung dry of all juice and added to beaten egg whites, was fried until crisp in butter or lard. As for the second, this was a mash of hard boiled egg, cooked chicken livers, onion, and some kind of fat. Because my father was an atheist Jew I believe that we used butter. The old man was a real fan of butter. When the mate and I were in Moscow we were treated to cheese blintzes (crepes stuffed with a cheese, lemon zest, and sugar mixture) for Breakfast. All other meals featured fatty meats, potatoes, bread, and cabbage in various forms. The cabbage thing was interesting; you would see this pickled and boiled. Sometimes borscht (beet soup) would be on the menu. (I didn't poop for a week, something which concerned moi quite a bit at the time.) I hadn't been exposed to this kind of cuisine for many years and I had been happy about this. However, a couple of years ago my husband and I were invited to a saint's day party for one of his good friends, a Polish guy. It was a good thing that we decided to go there by public transit and to cab it home. The food consisted of devilled eggs, cheese, bread, and meats. Not a fresh veggie to be seen. The drinks consisted of, well, serious drinking. We were the only folks there who were not Polish. We left at 4 AM. I had a hangover that lasted for 2 days. I also had an appt for a root canal short hours after I got home. The drill jockey and his assistant laughed at me but they were very kind. As fer chicken-fried stuff, I have always assumed that this means meat done KFC style and I am hoping that I am right. While you can find chicken, fish, and seafood which have been dipped into batter and then deep-fried up here it is impossible to obtain chicken-fried steak; this is steak en croute, I assume. Please tell me if I am wrong for we Canadians hear a lot about chicken-fried steak and yet most of us have never, ever seen it. Food is so fascinating, isn't it? I am so enjoying our discussions. And hasn't this thread wandered off course?

I have got to confess that before I got my sexual wings clipped thanks to my considerable array of anti-depressants I used to be more than a little offended that my husband seemed to like wankerie as much as he liked me. This was especially annoying because I am a total and utter failure at self-abuse. I thought that this was because my imaginary life had more to do with shopping, home decor, and food and that when I tried to think hot I ended up giggling but it turns out that my ma was a flop at this as well. Guess it's genetics, eh. To tell you the truth, the other thing which I had noticed about myself long before I ended up on modern anti-depressants is that I do tend to lose sexual interest in my partner after life becomes, well, too domesticated. The more deeply I love someone and am settled in with them the less I am interested in having sex with them. My sexual interest in my mates is always the most powerful during the first 6 months to a year of coupledom, then it does plummet. From my observances of men and women and the sex thang sexual passion and deep emotional or spiritual love do not always go together. I know a couple who have gone their own sexual ways for decades now. In fact they once jointly decided that the husband should sleep with me "in order to get it out of his system." He has not been physically faithful and yet he is one of the most profoundly emotionally attached men whom I have ever met. His wife, a woman who has only strayed once, I believe, is much less emotionally engaged in her relationship with her husband. How can I speak about this couple with such authority? Well, I have been friends with them independently of each other for decades now. I have been a confidant of both. I divorced my ex-husband because he was unfaithful to me and he was a disappointment to me in other ways. He later became involved with a fabulous woman who loved him enough that she was willing to swallow the infidelities, though these did cause her pain, because she felt that the relationship which she shared with my ex was worth it in oh so many ways. Indeed she was his main woman, the one who really counted, as I had been while I was married to him. She is a splendid woman and she chose to stay with my ex for decades, until he died of cancer in fact. She is also one of my best friends, by the way - a really cool divorce present, eh. In every relationship there is an equation which, though based on psychological intangibles, roughly mirrors a business relationship. We are not only giving, we are trading a collection of personal items, and if we come to feel that we are getting nothing back then we will eventually split. Of course these personal items which we are trading may not be particularly healthy - we could be talking an appetite for emotional abuse, for playing the role of martyr, of victim, or whatever........ These may be items which we have created out of our low self-esteem and feelings of self-disgust. It is possible that we are desirous of a little bit of bad treatment because we have never, ever learned anything else. We figure that we are the inferior trading partners, eh. Very long post from Green, eh?

Delo, I think that you must go to see your doctor again for I find your experience to be awfully strange. I would also like to see you repost this question as a new post in one of the two categories that you will see listed when you go to the top of your screen and hit "home" on the LBT chat menu. When you enter this site from home you will see two categories which deal with any and all questions to do with the lapband. Enter either one of these and post this question under new topic! You will need to give your question a title and I would suggest something along the line of Help! My port area is filling with liquid! By making a fresh post on one of these two subsections of LBT you will ensure the maximum amount of readers and you will be sure of getting advice from oldtimers who have experienced your problem. Good luck, grrl.

In fabulous southern Ontario, the province which believes that it is the centre of the Canuck universe, we don't get them 4 litre jugs. I do know that my mate and myself prefer the milk en sacs en plastique arrangement because I am always baffled about which category of our elaborate garbage system those cartons belong to. Are they cardboard and therefore eligible to be recycled under the paper category. But they are coated with something mysterious. If this is plastic then these boxes may belong in our glass and plastics category. Or maybe, being a hybrid, these cartons are just plain garbage. Another reason why I like milk in bags is that those plastic bags left over after the milk has been consumed pack down real small. The final reason why I like milk in plastic bags is that you can say "honey, is there another udder/bladder of milk in the fridge or are we down to the last one?"

It would be a good thing if there were charitable organisations or foundations set up in order to assist individuals who are anxious to adopt needy out of country children. These might assist such families by providing interest free loans which the adoptive family could start to pay back upon or after receiving their tax credits. Making the loan interest free means that the family isn't on the hook for still further debt in the form of interest payments, and making the aid available in the form of a loan means that the fund would be able to assist other families in the future. And as for those families whose finances do run aground through the loss of a job, medical issues, etc, perhaps a share of their loans might be forgiven by these foundations. We are talking charity afterall, aren't we? Maybe Angelina Jolie herself might even want to start a foundation of this nature.......? It would be a natural fit with her own ethical concerns. If anyone of you thinks that my idea is not a dumb idea, please feel free to run with it.

I think that I am lucky that my husband has no hang-ups in this area. He's always been an enthusiastic wanker. He had a truly horrible case of acne when he was a teenager and so was a total wash-out on the dating scene. This is when he began to apply himself seriously to solitary pleasures. He has since grown up to be a very handsome man but he has mixed feelings about women coming onto him because he was so badly dissed by them when he was young. His feelings are very similar to ours when we lose weight and find ourselves being taken notice of by men, I guess.

My husband loves to masturbate. This is a good thing for me because I have no sex drive at all thanks to being on anti-depressants. I am lucky that he is a loving man but he does leave me feeling sad that I am chemically castrated and don't do much for him except go through the motions every few months.

Wow! White glop! Now you've got me all interested again. Tell me more, grrl, tell me more. :ranger: As for poutine, I have to confess that I have never tried it. It is a Quebecois treat and not available in Toronto. I suspect that it is rather nasty as well as a recipe for a coronary event or a stroke. :omg: Within that line of cuisine I do confess that I am fond of pierogis. I like 'em fried in butter along with onions and then eaten with globs of sour cream. :hungry:

I just wonder if we are not being just a little bit elitist because all of us who post on this particular forum are lucky to have unusually fine written communication skills is all.......

Right on, sister BJean! Thank you for expressing this so well.

I don't know why we are sold milk in plastic bags but this has been the way of things for a number of years now. We have the option of a one-litre or two-litre carton or a bag containing 3 one-litre bags of milk. Of course you have to make a one time buy of the special jug that you drop your bag of milk into before opening it. Many years ago we used to have returnable 3-litre jugs made out of hard plastic but not anymore. It is true that "green" Canada does use a lot of plastic bags but it seems that we will soon be recycling them as part of our recyclable garbage and many of our grocery chains already sell recyclable shopping bags which you can use over and over again. The ones which I and my mate have got are really great. We have used them as carry-ons on planes and as beach bags and we paid 5 bucks for 5 of them. Because they are made for carrying groceries they are very strong and the store will replace them for free if they fall apart. @Enterprise: do come to Toronto. We are situated in the same province as Thunder Bay but we are in the south. You will notice great differences with respect to size and affluence, I am sure, but all Canadians look pale and sickly after a long Canadian winter, even our visible minorities. :phanvan By May our local temperatures are in the 60s, 70s, and 80s and the outdoor cafes are open. This is when you get to see huge numbers of pasty people soaking up the rays. It is one of the natural wonders of Canada. :heh: Haha

Aw, Chickie, now that's just a bummer! Hearing about your weight loss within the context of these boards is very, very different from your story being the poster story for a lapband clinic. I am so sorry to hear that you have been receiving these PMs questioning the truth of your personal history. The truth is that I believe that your story is as important to the rest of the LBT members as the stories of those individuals who lose slowly or who have run into other difficulties. There are always newbies here who are doing their homework, trying to decide whether the lapband is the right choice and it is important for them to read about the very, very good as well as the good, the bad, and the ugly. Folks like yourself are a real inspiration to the rest of us, you know.

Honestly, Chickie, if I had heard your wonderful story before getting banded I would have been so bluddy skeptical that I would have dealt myself out of a sweet piece of weight loss hardware. Your weight loss is truly extraordinary and both you and the inventor of the band are to be congratulated for this. At the same time individuals on this side of the Atlantic are so used to being sold miracle cures that people like myself run the other way when confronted with stories such as your own. And remember that up here in Canada we do have to pay for the lapband. I ponied up 16 grand in Can-bucks for my equipment. And it has served me well. I, too, am hovering around my target weight and now have a BMI of 23.9.

Hah! Right on! There is that info which is contained in the fine print. :heh:

This makes sense. Thanks for this info, Derick.

And you must resubmit your application.......

Ugh! Bastards! Of course you are the most eligible individual and the hiring committee is utterly blind.