Hey Everybody,

Sometimes we just want to chat about our life, our day, our frustrations or whatever. This is the place to do it. No worries about "thread jacking", the conversation will take us wherever it takes us, so stop by and chat whenever you like. Even the "night owls" should be able to find someone to talk to here!

Let's see what should I talk about. Worked out today, knee still hurts. Had to go to Kinkos and order a banner. Not too interesting maybe y'all can come up with something better.

i am very frustrated at church lately
Sometimes I wonder why cant people get along, and then I look at church, and they can't get along there, and we have "common intrest"
how can the world get along
sandi

Good question Sandi. I've always thought that tolerance and open mindedness for other people's view points were important, but a lot of people don't see it that way. They get kind of single minded and in their own world.

Phew...My day is still going at work. I am a Barracks manager and I am dealing with redeployed soldiers. I am responsible for making sure 160 people have a place to live...nerve challenging for sure.

I can't wait to get home and pop in my Taebo DVD ...I have some frustration to kick out!

Sounds tough but interesting. Are you military or a civilian employee?

How did I miss this? Melodie, great idea setting this up. I am working working working. Getting tired of having to respond to the NC State game, and wish people would learn crappy food + heat + excessive alcohol consumption = EMS It pretty much goes back to that accountability you were referring to in another thread Melodie. They get looped, and then it is MY problem. This combined with being up most of the night, only getting an hour nap, and feeling like I could blow chunks, has made me pretty ill mood wise.

I am dreading Oct 7th coming up...... a year ago my friend died in combat......geez I will never forget THAT day.
Another one going through post combat stress..........he is messed up but there isn't much I can do<<<<<<<<<<<just what I feel like..........

And the problem with talking to yourself is that ????????????

ok gotta go fold some laundry......can't seem to get going since the two hours in the gym this afternoon

Wanda, I love my job, but it is idiots who intentionally do things to themselves, then play the victim that irritatates me. We have a lot of BMXers around her, and most of them have medical teams and good insurance, they are fully informed about what could happen, and they actually anticipate things going wrong. I can respect this.

Now, for punks who pull stupid stunts like base jumping without knowing what they are doing, or who try to immitate the pros without taking the proper pre-cautions, for the idiots who drink way too much, or who do meth, crack or coke and call us because their heart is beating fast, there has been more than one time that I have wanted to say "you got what you deserve, have a nice day" of course I cannot do that, so I smile and say "sign here, press hard, the pink copy is yours, which hospital would you like to go to?

Hi Everybody,

I took a break tonight from my "addiction" and went to see a friend who is a closing attorney by day and a rock n roll singer by night. He's a hoot. Had a great time. I don't mean this bad, but I actually am more entertained by the drunks in the bar.

My Dad owned a rock n roll bar for years and would you believe I almost never drink, and neither does he. I used to watch the same sad people show up night after night with no real life, and the girls who got passed around trading sex for what they hoped would be love with whoever and the guys who took advantage of them, and the drug heads who just didn't show up one day because they were dead. It was a sad state of affairs that I decided I wanted no part of.

Simon, I'm sure you see a lot of the scourge who are constantly making bad choices and expecting everyone else to clean up their messes. The sad thing is their bad choices sometimes impact other's lives as in the poor guy who gets taken out by a drunk. The best place for drunks who drive is in the ditch were they can't hurt anyone else. O.K., now I'm off on a rant. Time to stop with that. LOL. Like I said before, I don't know how you do it, but I'm glad you do. Hope your shift got a little quieter this evening. I guess you guys must do the 24 on/24 off thing. Did you have to have a lot of training to be a paramedic? I would think that you would, you have to know a lot to do that job.

Wanda, I'm so sorry you lost your friend and you have another who is not doing too well. I lost my Mom 5 years ago next month. Every year I cry on her birthday and I cry on the anniversary of her death ( and a lot of other times too). This year I decided that instead of observing her death, it was time to celebrate her life. So on her birthday, I baked her favorite cake, and invited everyone over. I really felt her presence. I hope some day you will be able to celebrate your friend's life too.

Other than that, I worked all day designing some kitchens in 3D. We are just beginning construction on some 500k houses so the budget is generous and they are a lot more fun from a design standpoint. 500k used to buy you a mansion here in Atlanta, but not anymore. Now it's 1/4 acre lot for 100k in a subdivision, and I'm in the burbs. The market is bad because everybody is suffering from "sticker shock" and of course all the bad mortgages that were made, and the economy.

Melodie,

The housing market is very similar here in North Idaho. Within the last couple of years housing prices sky-rocketed. Now there are so many houses for sale and not many buying. And real estate is so high that first time buyers cannot afford a home. It is sad. I told DH today that WHEN I win the lottery I am going to build a bunch of affordable homes for first time buyers and young families. He gets this panicked look on his face when I talk about thinks like that! I think he's afraid I am going to clean out our bank account and do something like that anyway!

DH and I are quite different in that respect. I am the oldest of 5 and he is the youngest of 4. I am more about giving back to the community and volunteering, and paying it forward, etc. He is more about building our personal wealth, buying more toys, etc. I guess we balance each other out!

Robin

Sounds like you do Robin. I think you have to have a balance of both. It's sad, but I think most everywhere there is an affordability gap in the housing market. What really seemed to get the ball rolling was Hurricane Katrina. Suppliers raised everything. Sometimes it was justified and sometimes it wasn't. Our hard cost on a 325k house actually went up $50,000 dollars in a six month period. To me that was what seemed like the beginning. Some material costs are actually starting to roll back a little now, but not many.

I'm glad you have a good heart! Sometimes I wonder how much do people really need. I don't think that more things make you any happier. I love George Carlin's definition about home, "Home is a place to keep your shit, while you're out buying more shit". I guess that's what makes comedy so funny, it's a parody on life.

Just checking in. I am waiting for my relief to show up, and then I am going to be busy most of the day, and I really need to get some sleep, so I am not sure if I will have a chance to get here or not. We ended up running 9 calls yesterday 4 after midnight Gotta love drunk drivers, especially when they do not speak English. Makes my job lots of fun Melodie I'm with you sister, drunks belong in the ditch.

Melodie you asked about education and all. There really is not a lot of education. I have a 4 year degree in economics, but could never find a job, so I went back and got a 2 year Paramedic Certification. They did not have a degree program then, but I have since gone back ang got a 2 year in emergency science. The certification program is fairly intense, and you have to be state certified, well actually I am nationally certified, but that's not a requirement, and then each person has to be boarded in each county they work in, so even though it is just a certification program, it's a lot of intense information, and only about 50% of the people finish the program each year.

I do work 24/24s my schedule rotates, and it really hard to describe, so I will just give you an example. If I work M, W, F, I get Sa, Su, M, Tu, off. Work W, F, Su, get M, Tu, W, Th off, and it keeps rotating like that. Of course, I am single with no children, so I work more than most, because I feel like I am always doing a time-swap with someone. Time-swaps are when someone from another shift works for you, but they are not paid, you "pay" them back by working for them. I was looking at priceline last night at Las Vegas packages. My mother's birthday is coming up and I was thinking of taking her. She probably would not gamble, but has always wanted to go to see what it was all about

Your steak sounds good. I love a NY Strip, but am one of those people that gets grossed out by fat . I had a rib eye last nigth and was sick from it until 5 this morning! I will never do that again. It tasted pretty good, but it sat in my stomach like a rock all night, and for some reason I found myself wanting to eat and eat all night. Not the affect I was trying for. I have never had a time like this, I was so miserable, but my mind kept telling me to eat. I ended up eating my salad aound 8:00 p.m. and then stopped by a greasy spoon and got a 1/2 lb. cheese burger at 10 p.m. I can't even tell you how bad I wanted to blow chunks.

You all were talking about housing. The same is happening here. You cannot find a starter home here anymore. Everything is either a step up from project houseing, and costs $150, or it is what I would consider an "average" home 1600-1800 square feet and starts at 300K. This is part of the reason I decided to keep my dad's house. I am in and out of people's houses all the time, and I am frequently surprised at the furnishings inside the higher dollar houses. Many of them are furnished very cheaply. A couple have things like patio furniture, the actual PVC sets, for kitchen tables. Then I have been in others that are decorated to the hills, and the people living there pull out Medicaid cards. Never will understand that one. But I will not get on my Medicaid soapbox here

OMG don't even get me started on medicaid. Same here with the furniture. So many people were buying so far above their heads, that they are doing what you said, living on lawn furniture and then sleeping on mattresses on the floor, or they immediately went out ran the plastic up to the hilt and then struggled to get closed. Even with all the talk about new mortgage policies we still closed on one the other day with someone who had no job, and this was a 275k house. I can't tell you how many people have gotten in 450k houses with no down payment, and really bad credit scores. As far as the size you are right, 350K isn't buying you much in sq.ft. anymore. Sometimes I'm embarrassed by the price as it relates to the size. But even at that are margins aren't even that good anymore.

You said you were tired, and then you said the rib eye didn't agree with you and made you hungry. I don't know about you but being tired always makes me hungrier and if I'm really tired it makes me nauseous too. Sounds like you are just tired and need some stress relief.

I've been to Vegas, not for a long time though. You don't have to gamble to have fun. I get bored with the old "one arm bandit" it's kind of mindless entertainment really, but I really get off on the casino architecture and the attention to detail. Just that alone is fun to see. Maybe your Mom would like the shows out there, that would be fun too. So you don't have to gamble to have a good time.

Well time to start my day which I have been sorely neglecting in favor of my "addiction". Get some sleep Simon, it sounds like you need it.

Wanda,

I can imagine they would get gone pretty fast. Where in Canada do you live? I lived part of my life in Michigan just across the border from Windsor, Ontario. I love Toronto, pretty city, and went to Victoria Island a few years back. I regret not getting to VanCouver while I was up there. Ottawa was cool too. We got to tour your Parliament. It's a little strange to me in Canada because it's so uncrowded compared to here(which is not a bad thing). I had to go to a Fedex office while in Ottawa and I was surprised at how small it was for such a big city.

I was really amazed that as far North as Victoria Island is the plants are the same as many of ours in the Southeast. I guess it's the ocean currents or something that keeps it pretty mild.

Since you are Canadian, what has been your experience with your socialized medicine. We hear a few horror stories about it here with people having to wait a long time for needed procedures. As you probably know they are talking about doing it here. I just don't see it working very well. The Veteran's Administration provides those types of services for our Vets and from all I've seen and heard they are not doing such a good job with it, so I can't even begin to imagine what a nightmare it will be here with the size of our population and the inefficiencies in our government.

I don't live far from Ottawa.

As far as the health care, I have nothing to compare it to but there are very long line ups for some of the surgeries etc even finding a family doctor which alot of people around here don't have and have to go to clinics.....I know alot of the problem has to do with the gov't only paying so much for certain things so the doctors go down to the states once they get experience and open up their own practice.
Alot of people think our health care is all free and most of it is but the govt decided what they will pay for so it isn't all free........of course there are abusers of any systems which ticks me off big time..........

Someone emailed this to me today.

Plane problems and solutions
>
>After every flight, UPS pilots fill out a form, called a "gripe sheet,"
>which tells mechanics about problems with the aircraft. The mechanics
>correct the problems, document their repairs on the form, and then
>pilots review the gripe sheets before the next flight.
>
>Never let it be said that ground crews lack a sense of humor. Here are
>some actual maintenance complaints submitted by UPS ' pilots (marked
>with a P) and the solutions recorded (marked with an S) by maintenance
>engineers.
>
>
>By the way, UPS is the only major airline that has never, ever, had an
>accident.
>
>P: Left inside main tire almost needs replacement.
>S: Almost replaced left inside main tire.
& gt;
>
>P: Test flight OK, except auto-land very rough.
>S: Auto-land not installed on this aircraft.
>
>P: Something loose in cockpit.
>S: Something tightened in cockpit
>
>P: Dead bugs on windshield.
>S: Live bugs on back-order.
>
>P: Autopilot in altitude-hold mode produces a 200 feet per minute
>descent.
>S: Cannot reproduce problem on ground.
>
>P: Evidence of leak on right main landing gear.
>S: Evidence removed.
>
>P: DME volume unbelievably loud.
>S: DME volume set to more believable level.
>
>P: Friction locks causes throttle levers to stick.
>S: That's what friction locks are for.
>
>P: IFF inoperative in OFF mode.
>S: IFF always inoperative in OFF mode.
>
>P: Suspected crack in windshield.
>S: Suspect you're right.
>
>P: Number 3 engine missing.
>S: Engine fo und on right wing after brief search.
>
>P: Aircraft handles funny. (I love this one!)
>S: Aircraft warned to straighten up, fly right, and be serious.
>
>P: Target radar hums.
>S: Reprogrammed target radar with lyrics.
>
>P: Mouse in cockpit.
>S: Cat installed.
>
>And the best one for last..................
>
>P: Noise coming from under instrument panel. Sounds like a midget
>pounding on something with a hammer.
>S: Took hammer away from midget.

Yeah Wanda, no free lunch! I'm sure you are paying for it with higher income tax rates. Ottawa is a beautiful city, but soooo cold!!!

Oh yeah a friend of mine and I compared taxes one time and mine are very High!!!!!

I live North west of Ottawa and we are always about 8-10 degrees colder then Ottawa.
Everyone I know says it's cold and it is but I guess my blood is thicker then most because of it

I think that is really true. I once flew to Detroit to visit my best friend. It was 20 below there and it had been 70 when I left here. I ached all over and felt like I had arthritis. I just couldn't get warm. It's all what your body gets used to. She dies when she comes to see me down here, in fact she won't even visit me unless it's before June or after September.

I have been 'sold' so many lies in my life.

[This is not a complaint, more of a reflection]

I do sometimes get angry, and sometimes passionate about topics.

People find it hard to deal with my energy at times.

It also gets me into trouble.

But I think it's important to remember, the popular folks who sit back, say all the right things, never step out of line, always appear morally superior etc...... well those folks are just sheep.

I was just thinking when I looked in the mirror. (Remember that Michael Jackson song, The Man in the Mirror)...

...that I've been living in a dreamy haze. Trying to 'numb' myself to fit in with all the other sheep. Trying to be like everyone else. Trying to fit in and be a good little boy. Trying to not make waves, trying to make sure I don't 'offend' anyone.

In real life I'm like that.

But I think I'm not alone, I see a lot of folks like me. We are trained and educated, we have the same thoughts and ideas re-enforced over and over by politicans and the media.

It makes you think of the movie, The Matrix. Are we all just controlled and living in a dream world?

Dream world, Dave...................
Boy I would hope my dreams are better then what i am living now
sandi

Hey Dave,

How are things Down Under? In many ways believe it or not we are wanting the same things. You sound to be decidedly liberal and I'm somewhat conservative, but not straight line so to speak. With what I think I've seen you elude to in your posts, you are a free thinker, and that is not a bad thing. The problem is governments that take care of you and thereby control you aren't very tolerant of "free thinkers" like yourself. What I'm trying to say is with every handout we take from our respective governments, we give up the freedom to make our own choices. It's not really a handout anyway it's just income redistribution in the form of higher taxes. It's not a matter of being afraid to offend someone, but people who are mad and insulted aren't going to listen to your point of view anyway. They tend to disconnect from that kind of behavior. So what do you think Dave, don't you think that the more socialised we get, the more choices we give up? I think that is probably what you are talking about in your post.

Our Democratic Party over here is liberal, and our Republican party is conservative. I'm not wholly crazy about either party to be honest with you. The republicans tend to get into everybody's religious business a little too much for me and yet the Democrats don't want you to even say Merry Christmas because you might insult someone who is non-Christian which I think is crazy. After all we are prmarily a Christian nation. The Republicans are more for personal responsibility and less government where the Democrats want just the opposite. There is a saying in our country that goes like this, "If you are young and a Republican you have no heart. If you are old and a Democrat, you have no brain."

Good Morning,

It's another pretty morning here. Fall is such a relief after the summer heat we've had.

Last night was pretty quiet on the boards. I had to entertain myself so please disregard my "rant du jour". LOL

My Groves diet is working almost too good as far as the appetite is concerned. Mine is gone. I didn't really eat breakfast yesterday so when I went to the book store around noon I wasn't feeling so hot. I actually broke down and went to McDonald's got a 1/4 Pounder with cheese and threw away half the bun. I needed the other half because I felt better after I ate. I guess because the day before was so low on carbs followed by no breakfast it was too much. So it's time for breakfast again and no appetite. Nothing even really sounds good to me, low carb, high carb, or otherwise. It will probably be bacon on a low carb tortilla with mayo and lettuce. I gotta go work out today so I have to eat and pretty soon. I like to eat 3 hours before my work out otherwise I feel kind of weak.

Today is pants "try-on" day. I try them on once a week instead of weighing. My water weight goes up and down too much for the scale and I get too frustrated. Britches are better for me. I started a "conquest clothes" thread, lose 1 size by Halloween, so I'm hoping I'll make it. I can get these jeans zipped but right now they look like a spray painted them on. Goal by Halloween is to get them to fit. That would put me into a tight size 8. I'm shooting for a loose size 6 and that will probably be it for me due to my "big butt" which is always round and big no matter what size I am. It's genetic. When my Grandma died at 81, she had been sick for awhile and got pretty skinny, but she still had her butt. LOL. I guess no butt at all would be worse.

Hi Simon,

I'm not sure how to add multiple quotes either, other than the way you did it. Hope you are feeling better now. I don't know how you work so much all the time.

Moods can definitely affect eating. I don't know what it is but when the weather gets cool, I always get in these strange moods. I can set the calender by it. It's weird and so am I sometimes. Thanks for the "nice" part, but I do tend to go on occasionally.

How was your weekend once you actually got to have one?

It's supposed to be a SCORCHER today. A record breaker. I'm so MAD !!! I REALLLLYYYYYY hate the heat. My hubby wants to head to Orlando to live after my daughter graduates from high school. Guess I'll have to stay inside during the summer! LOL

I posted something in the another area (What's Your Beef) about the government getting involved in our "diet". I also remarked about Sandy's Junkfoodscience blog about the "socialized medicine" they are trying to push on us. She brings up a very valid point about them controlling even the medicines we are taking (she quotes something she's read to this idea) about them "fixing" our health, "fixing" our obesity, "fixing" our diabetes and "fixing" our cholesterol by FORCING us to take their meds and then testing our blood to MAKE SURE we take them. Checking to see if we are being COMPLIENT.

Well after reading Dr. Grooves information on statins, my husband was determined to be taken off of his statins. He's now off of them and is taking Red Rice Yeast instead. He is going for blood work and is going to have that blood test done that Dr. Eades recommends (the inflamitory properties) which is far more of a marker for heart disease than the actual cholesterol numbers. I'm sure with his diet changes and red rice yeast he'll be good to go!

But what "if" they forced him to take statins, checked his blood and then penalized our "socialized healthcare" because he refused to take them. All because "they" feel it's the best thing for us.

We pay over $500 a month for healthcare for our family of 3 and frankly, I'd rather pay that outrageous price and CHOSE to go to whom I want (all my doctors are handpicked and ALL support our LC lifestyle).

I have nothing to post other than I am a total forum addict and I am checking in...my rant for the day is posted elsewhere (see link in sig)...and I am a really nice girl, IYKWIM, usually...

Yvonne, I so agree with you on that I'd like to able to choose. How's it going with the weight? Sound like you are doing great!

Okay I feel dumb for asking, but I have been searching for the answer and cannot seem to find it.

What is with all the ducks?

Not that I mind or anything, I am just wondering

Kim,

Like I said this is an open door for ranting, raving, or whatever. You're welcome anytime. I did read your rant. Nothing wrong with saying what you think.

Well I'm back from the workout and back on the board again. Looks like there is a little more going on then when I left. The knee feels pretty good. We'll see how it does tonight.

I'm mad because the pants aren't any looser than they were last week. I've got to step it up if I'm going to make the Halloween goal. That means more cardio which is hard to do when the knee hurts. I lift weights 3 times a week so that is not really a problem, except I can't do squats (I think that's how I hurt my knee to begin with), which I hate anyway. I hate the squats that is, not my knee.

Kimmer the inventor and scam artist said something like she never trusted anyone who used a duck avatar. At least I think that's what it's all about.

Simon, I should have said the inventor of Kimkins. Hey did you see my post over on your thread about MD's sharing info. I left some links over there. I wanted to see about the book and did a google and found some interesting stuff. He did indeed write a book with no mention of low carb other than you get a choice of plans at different carb levels. He's the big guy, he's the director of Duke's clinic, and he's been on the Today Show. So that was pretty cool that you ran into him like that.

Kim, I was pretty vocal about Kimkins. I used to go over there all the time just to see what my friends were up to. I didn't post, I just checked in on them. A couple of weeks ago when the photos came out I wrote on my blog about "Can you really get sued for being too fat". I guess someone over there must have read it because needless to say I got banned after that. LOL. No biggie. I hadn't posted over there since I found out so many people were starving themselves almost to death. I just couldn't be a part of that. All I ever did over there was a low cal version of Atkins.

Thanks for the information about the ducks I figured it was some kind of inside joke

I read your post about the dr., and responded there. I have not had a chance to do any searching, so thanks for the links. I am going to order the book. The doctor said he was not very proud of it, because a lot of what he wanted to include was edited, but I still think he has a lot of valuable information, and am interested in reading it.

It is really cool running into him, and the fact that he is obviously a big dog, yet took time to talk to me, and gave me free advice One of the women I work with said she knew someone who was an in-patient at their facility and it costed upwards of $30K

Melodie I am going to pm you.

Hi everyone, just checking in.

I thought I would do the ducky thing and join the cause.....I had alot of red flags and didn't join the "other" site but I like the ducks

As far as the medicare, yep the gov't comes down and tells doctors how to do their job, etc etc. NOt sure exactly but I know they do. I know the older folks with healthcare get told what kinds of drugs will be covered and what will not be.......like I said not sure in all the specifics.

Hey Wanda, how's your day going? No teenagers under foot today? I think I'm going to have to break down and find a duck too.

You can't even legally purchase your own healthcare over there can you?

no we can't purchase it , but hubby gets insurance for most of the stuff NOt covered.
The insurance companies are smart and know exactly what the gov't will cover and won't.
I just had surgery on my foot and had to pay out 300 bucks but got 80% of it back so it wasn't bad.

No teenagers underfoot today, but just got back from work.
one came home from school and told us his MP3 player was stolen..........what don't you understand about being told to lock it up in your locker when you have to leave it (gym) don't you understand
ugggggggggg he was told and told and to make matters worse it was hubby's which he borrowed because his was broken because he didn't take it out of his pants and it got washed!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am trying to figure out what to cook for supper and then I am heading to the gym later..........tomorrow night I can't go so I really have to go tonight.

(ok what is with the flood controls when you want to post something else right away)
Anyway just goggle ducks in images and you can choose all kinds.

Oh well, let me recommend some sites..

http://www.katiejeffreys.com/ducky/duckpix.html

http://www.fotosearch.com/photos-images/rubber-duck.html

DUCK is GREAT for the Low carb WOE!

I know what you mean, Melodie, about being forced to do something we should do...I need to have someone force me to run, but I am getting to the point that I enjoy it--I need to add in weights and do some toning now...I want Jillian's abs!

Thanks guys!

Tonight is the first Dancing with the Stars show of the season. I'm hooked on that one for some reason. I never watched American Idol, but I like Dancing with the stars. Anybody else watch it?