CBS News Report - Military Malpractice

As I was at the gym this evening I was watching the CBS Evening News and a chilling story came on about Sgt. Carmelo Rodriguez and the pain and suffering he went through after being misdiagnosed by U.S. military doctors. The story entitled "A Question of Care: Military Malpractice" outlined the man he was and the man he became once cancer had ravaged his body.....unnecessarily.

The story....with the accompanying video.....was quite disturbing and left me feeling angry that our service men and women receive such sub-par diagnosis and treatment when they are putting their lives on the line for us. I had already known about the poor conditions at our military hospitals thanks to the media awareness last year but this story gave me a new sense of awareness.

In my opinion, if you enlist in the military and serve this country, you should be paid well and receive the best medical attention our society has to offer. I would gladly step aside and let someone cut in line if they had served in time of war and put their life on the line. I will never have to fear for my life fighting a war that I may or may not fully support. No one will ever say......"Rita!...On your feet....here's your gun......get out there. The enemy is over the next hill."
I will never be obligated to take that command from anyone.

The very least (and I do mean very because we should be doing more!) we can do for these solidiers is to provide the best medical care in the best hospitals available. Don't they at least deserve that much??

I can wait my turn. If it were possible, it would be the very least that I could do for them.

Women Out Front

Here in the Cincinnati tri-state area we are lucky enough to have a lesbian organization with some real promise. Now I don't mean for it to sound like we are without hope here, but Cincinnati is one of the most conservative cities in the U.S. It is not one of the top spots that come to mind when you think about the GLBT community. However, thanks to Women Out Front, we do have a very nice social network in place for the lesbian community.

The Women Out Front organization was developed by one woman with a vision and the resources behind the vision to make it work. As their mission statement aptly puts it:

"Women OUT Front (WOF) seeks to enrich the lives of women by providing opportunities for social interaction at a variety of both professional and social events."

While I don't think we have every lesbian attending all of the WOF events, I do think it has opened some closed lesbian minds to what is available in this area. I mean let's face it.....some women won't come out and attend any GLBT events no matter what you do and then there are some that are regulars. But the fact is......we have now been given options. Options that this area hasn't seen in some time and it is quite refreshing.

Sure, WOF is no where as big as some of the other well endowed GLBT cities in the U.S., but it is something for Cincinnati. The most important part of it being that this org tries to reach out to all ages in our community and as some of you may know that is not an easy thing to do. You have to try and fill the void the best way you can and try to reach a happy medium with most of those who are interested in participating.

I know some of you live near the "gay meccas" of the U.S., but I would be interested in hearing what options you all have in regards to really participating in your lesbian community.

Weeds.

A very quick post just to prove I can top Rita's review and excitement over the pending release of the next generation I phone thingy. Yes. I said thingy. That's about how excited I get about all things techie. But, it should be noted, I successfully docked my I-pod this morning in the hotel room clock/music thingy.

At any rate, I'm in lovely Jacksonville Fl for a conference -- no, not the primary. Not a sign of Mitt or Huckleberry.

But the big conference in town (I'm attending the one no one can find the registration table for) is some Southeastern Weed Science Institute.

I kid you not. They are everywhere. Kind of like... weeds.

So of course I googled weed science. Who knew? I mean, I went for a minute to a large state university (UK), and actually majored in animal science for about a week. So I knew people get degrees in agronomy and the like, but didn't have a clue you could specialize in weeds... I may have to sneak into one of their sessions just to see what it's all about.

New iPhone - June 2008?

If anyone is following the iPhone craze, it should be noted that the first release of the iPhone was reliant on the old 2G (2nd generation) internet technology. 3G has been on the market for some time with various carriers besides AT&T, but not available on the first version of the iPhone.

What does this mean to you? Faster internet connections with the new 3G technology will make the iPhone more of a pleasure to use. However, you can gain more speed if you are using WIFI so there are some advantages right now by using it wherever WIFI is available (Starbucks, Panera, etc) but the real advantage will be when the new iPhone is available.

By the way......the iPhone you are using now will not utilize the 3G technology. Just another reason to always buy the 2nd or 3rd generation of new technology so you are not obsolete shortly after making your expensive purchase.

I have been holding out on upgrading my Treo because of the release of a better iPhone so hopefully I will not have to wait much longer.

Below is the CNBC snippet about the possible release of iPhone 3G in June 2008.

iPhone - CNBC

Cinci-yawwwn-nnati

This week I've been lucky enough to escape my 'home' town twice -- Monday in Louisville, and last night a quick trip to Indianapolis.

Both trips reminded me again how easy it is to find the Cincinnati area just a bit... off.

Yes, we're getting an IKEA. Yes we're centrally located within easy range of other cities -- Columbus, Lexington, even Chicago and Cleveland, in addition to Louisville and Indy. Yes, there's actually a pretty significant and active lesbian community.

But I go to these other cities and no matter what neighborhood I visit, it just seems more vibrant than my own. People were everywhere in downtown Indy last night and again this cold, grey Saturday morning. And Louisville's quirky Highlands area was bustling at 3 on a cold holiday afternoon.

It's hard to find vibrant here. Or bustling, unless it's a Wal-Mart parking lot. And of the cute, quirky, walkable neighborhoods that do exist, well, sometimes I expect to be asked for a passport to enter.

Is it because I'm not a native? Because I lived first on the all-but-ignored West side of Cincinnati, then moved to Northern Kentucky, both acts of self-imposed exile?

I see first-hand in my work the compassion and the generousity of the people of this community. But they're not easy to get to know. To mingle with. Heck, some times they don't even smile.

So thanks Louisville. And Indy. For the respite.

Monday, it's off to Florida. We'll see how Jacksonville stacks up. 60 degrees sounds pretty good right now...

Middle-aged?

Ok.....this blog is just a quick spin-off to something I read in another lesbian blog this afternoon. The author referred to 30ish year old women as middle-aged. I gasped at first and then I chuckled a bit.

I don't consider "30 anything" to be middle-aged. I am just now beginning to accept that 42 is probably middle-aged. Lordy....I don't want to inflict that label on those who are only 30!

So I am curious and I am going to throw it out to all of you. What age to you consider to be "middle-aged"?

Birthday

Tomorrow is my birthday. Again. It seems like my last birthday was just last week.....last month...or something like that. The years are flying by now and as much as I try to throw logs, boulders or banana peels in its path.....it keeps chugging forward.

Since my fortieth birthday, I have tried to do something unique near or on my birthday......a step out of the proverbial box. This year I decided to take snowboarding lessons. I was off all week so I thought....what the heck. Did any of my friends want to accompany me on this little excursion when they found out about my plan? No. No one leaped up and screamed, "Oh can I go with you pleeeeease!". And that was ok. After all, this was something I wanted to try and I wasn't quite sure if I wanted an audience while I was glued to a board careening down a hill. The fewer witnesses to that type of spectacle the better, I thought to myself.

I spent about 2 hours out on the slope giving it my best shot. I did skateboard as a child so I thought this would lend itself to trying to balance on the board. I think it would have if I didn't have to wear "Herman Munster" snowboots. They were heavy and clunky and clung to my calves. It was like I had Hulk Hogan clenching on to my calves as I dragged him through the snow. Yeah.....they felt a bit awkward and the more I tried to steer myself on the board the more my calves began speaking to me.

I must say though.....I did have several brief 15 seconds of brilliance on the hill after I my training. I don't think it was because I was mastering the trainers techniques. I think I was just adapting so that I wouldn't look completely "over the hill" to the other trainees in my group.....two twentysomething Orange County wannabees. I did fall several times in a variety of positions but I did get back up, snapped myself back on to that board and continued down the hill. Needlesstosay, I was soaked, sore and hungry by the time I headed back home.

I wanted to try it and so I did. I think everyone should take a step out of the box around their birthday and celebrate who they are and keep living life. I can't say that I will rush back to snowboarding.......in fact, those boots pretty well cancelled any thought I had of learning how to ski.......but I am satisfied that I made the attempt. Regardless of my grace and presence.........

Competitive? Not so much.

I will never admit to having a competitive bone in my body. Not a one.

But boy, do I tend to surround myself with friends who do.

Scrabble where it's just not a game until somebody's ego isn't just bruised, but bleeding.

Cornhole by flashlight.

Bitching, endlessly, about the Patriots and how they can't be beaten.

Actually caring that you lost the softball game when everyone else just shows up for the beer.

Whipping out the Palm pilot to wiki-prove a point during dinner table discussion.

And on. And on.

I'm looking for the common denominator among them and have just a few theories...

1) Religion. By far my most upfront competitive friends are/were Catholic. There may be one or two Episcopalians in the bunch, but that's Catholic-lite, so close enough. Do the nuns have something to do with it? Or the cute little plaid skirts y'all wore to school? (Excuse me while I grin at that picture in my head for a second.)

2) Intelligence. Save for a completely inexplicable 12-year detour, the geekier you are, the more likely I'm going to be to invite you to join me at the Scrabble board. The first woman I loved studied Latin in high school. I was so stupidly in love I played Scrabble with her. Morris Hall, Miami U. Rolling Rock beer. Long, long winter that was. And I was perfectly fine with that:)

3) Butch vs. femme tendencies. Hmmm. Maybe. But I have noticed that the more femme tend to be cut throat competitive in other ways -- their career, for example, or I don't know, shopping.

4) Birth order. This one actually makes sense. Fighting for the last fish stick or running to claim the front seat of the car is good training. An only child, I didn't have to do either.

Maybe I should just leave well-enough alone...

And continue to root for the underdog.

No NFL surprises here!

As I said a month or so ago, there is no joy in whoville now that we have an "Evil Empire" in the National Football League. No surprise to anyone.....the Patriots are going to the Superbowl.

And wow....they get to play Peyton's little brother! The poor Giants think they have a shot at winning the Superbowl. Little do they know that the only way that will happen is if Tom Brady's arm falls off.

I will make a small prediction that ratings will be high at the start of the game but will drop drastically after half time. You see....unless you live in the great state of Massachusetts there really will be no reason to remain glued to the set. Besides.....with The L Word coming on at 9pm now....it's even more reason to abandon ship and watch something more entertaining.

We can only hope that this will end the Patriots domination of the Super Bowl titles for this decade. They will have to make big money decisions next year in regards to some of their players - namely Randy Moss - who will request a higher salary for his part in the conquest. Aging players such as Bruschi and Seau will likely be thinking of retirement soon. They simply don't have that many games left in them. Besides this......they will not have as many draft choices because of their wins and their mid-year cheating scandal. Yeah.....I feel really sorry for them. Was my sympathy convincing there? I reeeally tried to be heartfelt.

With that said....this ends my football ramblings for yet another season.


Rah Rah Sis Boom Bah!

More political stuff - as I see it

As the primaries and caucuses speed past us, it is important for all of us to watch, listen and learn. It has to be a point of discussion. The one thing that never fails to amaze me are the folks who say...."Oh...I am sick of hearing about the campaigns so I change the channel" or "I haven't really been following it". There is so much talk about the black and Hispanic vote that they are forgetting about the gay and lesbian vote. It DOES count and it can speak in volumes for the best candidate.

Here is how I see some of the top performers thus far in both parties.

McCain

• Following the Conservative party line - no tax breaks and no troop withdrawals
• Huge Evangelical following
• Comprehensive Planner
• He will do well in Florida.
• Dubya Part Deux

Romney

• Will use his CEO experience to run this country - great.... more profits for big business and more money for the elite while the grunt workers get nothing.
• Evangelical Christians are afraid of him
• I predict a Bronze medal for him in Florida

Giuliani

• Mayor 911 is concentrating on Florida and has basically forgot about the other states in the nation.
• Jumping from Mayor to President without the necessary experience is a long shot
• I predict he will come in 2nd to McCain in Florida. Without an overall win, I think we will see him withdrawal shortly after.

Huckleby

• Fading fast. Losses in New Hampshire and South Carolina did not help his cause.
• His Baptist minister viewpoints were on display this past week in SC and they were frightening.
• Short on funds. I expect him to withdrawal after Florida.

Clinton

• Experience is not an issue here - personality is.
• Comprehensive Planner - she has a clue.
• A win in South Carolina will be huge and telling.
• She is in it for the long haul. I expect her to do well on Super Tuesday.
• She won't accept anything but the Presidential role.

Obama

• Likeable and is speaking the language of "change" in his stump speeches
• Language of change is not equating to any comprehensive plans. We hear what he is wants to do not how he plans to do it.
• He is projected to win in South Carolina but then he was predicted to win in NH. It will be a close race with Hillary but I think he will pull it out by at least 7 percentage points.
• He is also "in it to win it" but if he fails to take Florida he will struggle with the other states.

Edwards

• Failing to meet Obama and Clinton head on in any of the primaries. This is really a two-person race now.
• Best relates to American's struggles and displays the most compassion about helping the downtrodden.
• Good ideas and comprehensive plans.
• He needs the overall win in South Carolina to survive.
• I don't see him accepting a VP position with Barack or Hillary. I think this will be his last stand.

A dog. A dining room table...

And maybe a few pairs of shoes.

But that's it. The sum of everything left from my 'first' commitment/non-sanctioned civil union/marriage.

Yes, it ended 4+ years ago. But when you're working with one nonprofit income, it takes a while to replace 12 years of life's 'stuff' you've been slowly dumping in the Goodwill bin. Silverware. Bedding. Towels. All gone.

Today I got rid of what it now occurs to me maybe should have been the first piece to go.

Not the muttlet -- no way.

Not the table. As we know from last week's post, I become deeply attached to furniture once it's acquired, and sometimes even before. And in the last four years many good conversations, bottles of wine, meals and friendships have cleansed the table of its bad karma.

The ring.

The symbol of whatever the hell I thought I was doing for 12 years.

Is finally gone.

It was yellow gold. Did I ever actually wear yellow gold jewelry? Did I request yellow gold for the ring because I knew that way I'd never really wear it all the time? And a round cut diamond -- decent size, crappy quality. Kind of like that 12 year relationship it symbolized.

Now that the final shard of that relationship has been disposed of, I'm kind of wondering what tells us it's finally time to get rid of something? Does selling it do any more to devalue its relevance in my life than letting it roll around in a drawer for years?

It took me about two years into this cleansing ritual to realize what I was doing. But once the silverware was replaced during last month's great post-holiday-clean-out, it dawned on me how little was left.

And now, there's even less.
Forward motion.
A good thing.

No Autographs Please - Band Meme

Thanx to Hahn at Home for the tag...

Kind of freakish... but I'd listen to it for the title alone.




1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random
The first article title on the page is the name of your band.

2. http://www.quotationspage.com/random.php3

The last four words of the very last quote is the title of your album.

3. http://www.flickr.com/explore/interesting/7days/

The third picture, no matter what it is, will be your album cover.

4. Use your graphics program of choice to throw them together, and post the result as a comment in this post. Also, pass it along in your own journal because it’s more amusing that way.

If you want to play, please do… post your efforts in a comment back, or on your own site and link.

Thanks, Sweden...

...and Ingvar's family. I know you chose March 12 to mark the auspicious occasion of my birthday.

I've been watching the big blue walls and the shiny yellow signs go up along the highway in Westchester throughout my fall/winter trips north of town. Opening Spring 2008 sounded so far away.

If you're on a east/west/north coast of the U.S., IKEA is nothing new. But when one sprouts in the middle of southern Ohio farm-country-turned-suburb-on-steroids, well, it's a personal gift from the home decor design gods.

I inherited my mom's unfortunate inability to 'settle' for anything without first scouring the countryside to be sure I wasn't missing out on the perfect chair/table/duvet cover/desk/sofa. It took me two full years to replace the worn out sofa I took in the settlement with she-whose-name-is-not-to-be-mentioned-here.

And several folks are still recovering from this year's fruitless quest for the perfect black leather occasional chair. Not too mention the ongoing quest for a writing desk of no more than 41" in width -- oh, but not in the cherry finish.

Yes, I could order online and pay shipping. But not EVERYTHING is sold on line. What might I be missing?

Frankly, if the Steelers weren't also in Pittsburgh, we would have taken a road trip to the store there by now.

IKEA. Two months from today.

I'll be borrowing an SUV, fortifying with a stop at the SBUX drive thru and browsing to my little heart's content. Happy Birthday to ME!

Ahhhh.....a glass of wine

What I wouldn't give for a nice glass of vino right about now. You see....I am on Phase 1 of the South Beach diet and as I am constantly reminded by the Diet Police..........it is not allowed during Phase 1. I grumble and growl in agreement and slink away to drink my Diet Coke quietly.

I would say my infatuation with wine came in the early 90's. I am ashamed to say that I have put away my share of boxed wine or "boxo", as I like to call it, during those years. In fact, I can't look a White Zinfandel in the face anymore. I slowly graduated to Chardonnay (which remains a real weakness) and to good, meaty Cabernets. Thanks to several visits to my friend in Napa I learned to stretch to Pinots, Muscatos and Port. Much to the dismay and disbelief of my friend I could never bring myself to enjoy a good Merlot. It's one that I just can't seem to get my hands and taste buds around. I think it is the dreaded tannins. Yep....its the tannins.

Our Spring vacation is leading us out to Napa this year. This will be my 3rd (4th?) visit to wine country. I am never disappointed in my trips out there. I always find another unique wine that broadens my horizons and spirit. My friend will likely be able to pinpoint some unique points of interest or kindly remind me of places that I found to be interesting the last time I was out there. One spot that I especially like is a winery called Viansa - a little bit of Tuscany in Northern California. It really is a beautiful spot. Their wines are only available at the winery or through their website and they have a fabulous gourmet food selection - hmmmm......Smokey Mozzarella spread.

Lyn and I take in the occasional wine tastings here locally and we have found some pretty good and generous ones! Our last tasting was a Port tasting. Yeah......Port is not for the faint of heart by any means. It can be quite overwhelming after a while. Ports have a sweet chocolaty thing going on so it is definitely not a "4oz pour" experience. However, it is a very nice substitution for an overwhelming dessert in the presence of the diet police.

So if anyone else shares in my infatuation with wine. I'd like to hear from you! Do you have a favorite? An old standby that never lets you down when you reach for that glass? Or maybe it is a new vintage you have tried recently?

Check out the wine blogs on this site for some great information about what is new out there!

Random Wednesday Ramble

Things leading to an attempted raised eyebrow* midway through a wicked, wineless, work week.

• Photos of Paris Hilton at the L-Word premiere party. Check them out at Dorothy Surrenders. Troubling. Isn't it?
• News that two of my ghost chasing friends are stepping off in a new direction... storm chasing. And have been in personal contact with WE's Twister Sisters. (Why don't I do thinks like that? I wouldn't be writing lame blog posts if I had a more 'active' hobby. Or would I? Maybe I'd just have something more interesting to write about?)
• Polling. At least among New Hampshire voters.

* I've been trying to effect that raised eyebrow, quizzical look since 1981 -- October, 1981 to be exact. My face doesn't move that way, even without botox.

Lesbian sightings!

Last night was the HRC / Women Out Front sponsored L-Word premiere here in Cincinnati. Hundreds of women attended. That's not something I get to say often about local events outside of Pride, so let me bask in the moment.


Living in the mid-west/mid-atlantic/upper south -- we hibernate November - March. So the fun thing about such events is the opportunity for people watching and occasionally running into one or more women I haven't seen, in some cases, for years. Seeing who's there with someone new. Or who's there without the someone new you saw them with at the volleyball tourney last summer, U-Haul hitched to the back of their new jointly-purchased SUV.


This is a relatively small community and I've said more than once it would be so cool to take over a wall at a bar and do a local version of Alice's chart. I know you can link up on the Web at ourchart.com... but can you imagine the fun of someone just taking out a magic marker and starting to draw?


Sure, there'd be some degree of drama as possibly unknown connections were posted. But we're fairly non-violent in these parts. And yes, there may be a few folks who thought they were hubs whose... orbit isn't quite as complete as they might have thought.


Chart-planning aside, the season 5 premiere solidified at least two opinions shared by a majority of the Cincinnati crowd: We find Tasha and Alice hooking up worthy of at least a semi-outbreak of applause, the only one of the evening. And Jenny's an annoying bitch. Why couldn't she stay in the raft?

The great debates - who knew?

I watched several minutes of the debates last night and caught a few of the "prime clips" later in the news. Overall, I think Edwards, Obama, Richardson and Clinton are continuing to prove that the Democrats - no matter who is elected - will be hard to overcome in the presidential election.

I find myself watching the Republican debates just out of sheer amusement now. They are in such a state of confusion and angst that it is mostly a televised arguefest. McPain, Mitt the Twit, Huckleberry and 9ui11iani are providing instant gratification when I need a good laugh. Do you notice that they still cannot bring themselves to utter Dubya's name even in dissension? They talk about reforming things but they still can't quite bring themselves to point the finger because if they do they will find that the finger is really pointing at themselves and everything that their party represents.

Last night I heard that Bill O'Reilly (now there is a fine upstanding so-called journalist) actually attacked an Obama aide just so he could interrogate.....I mean....interview Obama himself. He actually had to be pulled away by the Secret Service. I am not a fan of Bill O'Reilly so seeing the clips of him being manhandled made for even better television!

The whole campaign leading up to the November election is really a marvelous thing to see thanks to today's technology. I often wonder what my grandparents would have thought if they had this type of technology available to them to broaden their views and analyze each candidates views and opinions. Twenty or more years ago, they had to rely on what was being reported from the local news, newspapers or even their churches to make sense of what was happening. Each one of those mediums provided their own biases for the direction they should take in making the decision. I find myself keeping my parents informed on what is happening since they do not have a computer or cable tv.

So no matter what side of the fence you happen to fall on, you can't say "I didn't know" or "I was confused". You now have the ability to research, analyze and discuss in multiple forums. Times have changed all of us in this respect.

Just the fact that I am blogging about this today would blow my grandmother's mind........

And Today's Pre-L-Word Entertainment...New Hampshire.

I'm back into the work/weekend groove and have already successfully slotted CNN's Ballot Bowl '08 coverage and the gym in. I even got the channel changed on one of the gym tvs from Fox to CNN!

Tomorrow, we'll join a few hundred other family members for an HRC/Women Out Front L-Word early premiere party. Tina. Shane. Alice. Girl drama. Not sure there's a need to say much more on that front.

Add in the black bean soup simmering on the stove and it's shaping up as a pretty good start to '08.

I've done a lot of candidate-related surfing since Thursday's caucus. Read many blogs, watched Youtube more than I probably ever have before. I gotta admit. I'm catching something. And it's kind of exciting. Check it out.

Oh, and just so you know, we're calling the scary guy from Arkansas 'Huckleberry' from now on...

Missing female hiker

I was just listening to CNN this morning about a missing female hike in Georgia. She has been missing since New Year's Day. She was hiking a mountain trail alone with her dog.

I have to weigh in on this one because I simply don't understand why as women we continue to put ourselves in situations that open us up for attack and murder. Hiking a mountain trail alone? Are we not acutely aware of news stories that replay similar situations over and over again? How many more incidents have to happen before we have the common sense to say to ourselves....gee.....I should take someone with me or go in a group?

I am not going to belabor this in a huge post today but I just stand in amazement every time I hear another "missing woman" story on the news. Are we really that stupid?

Iowa? Caucus? Has it always been...

... such a live coverage event? There are five, count 'em, five political analyst lined up on CNN as I blog at 8:33 Eastern time.

Lap tops open in front of them, they're giving Anderson Cooper analysis of everything from the turnout of blue-haired ladies for Hillary to what effect the Bhutto assassination and the 'Pakistan' situation might have. Did I miss this type of coverage the last three or four elections?

Jack Cafferty just suggested we let the people of Iowa decide it all -- forget the rest of the primary season.

What would I do until November!!??? I've been listening to or watching CNN for the last three hours.

Now I have to keep watching and waiting for someone to give us the official entrance polling thoughts from gay and lesbian caucus goers (caucus voters? caucusers? whatever?). I'm taking bets on whether we'll hear results from that demographic as often as I've heard the word evangelical in the last few hours.

Gotta go, results from the democratic caucus in Persia, Iowa are coming up!

Resolutions? No Thanks.

In my ongoing quest to live what some might call a more authentic life I've entered 2008 resolution free.

It's not about fear of failure. Or lack of energy to strive for some goal or the other.

It is about reality.

I know my faults. Some of them better than others. Procrastination and I are *like this*. If I make a resolution or two I'll find a reason to not begin pursuing it until, oh, maybe March. You did notice this New Year's post is a day late, right?

Resolution free. That's me.

New Year's ramblings

I am maintaining a low profile this New Year's Day mainly because I am trying to fight off a cold I acquired from "somewhere" over the past holiday week. So as I sit here drinking my hot toddy and finishing off some leftover raw veggies from last night's New Year's Eve non-party, I am filled with mindless ramblings about resolutions, bowl games and the disgusted thought about going back to work tomorrow after being off the last 9 days.

As for resolutions......there is only one and that is to get back to the South Beach diet plan and continue to move gaily forward with the weight loss. The holiday season.....since Thanksgiving....was too kind to me and the scale is showing it. La la la la la.....nuts and meats for me!

The bowl game menu today is quite extensive with the variety of bowl games. I'm not really cheering for one particular team over the over so as my hot toddy's increase deep into the afternoon, I will miss nothing. I am puzzled about one team's collapse into this bowl season. I will reach out to my friend Susan to assist me in understanding how the Seminoles could lose so many players for one bowl game. (30?) I saw Coach Bobby Bowden on television over the weekend and he really didn't appear to explain it well either. In fact, it looks like he found out when everyone else did. I will have to read up on it a bit more but I think it surrounds academic cheating. Methinks that FSU is not the only school who have athletes who cheat. I am just wondering if the NCAA needed to make an example of someone so FSU was the lucky winner.

And finally, like many of you, I have to go back to work tomorrow. What?? No cheers or exaltation's of joy??!! Yeah ok. I am hoping for a fresh 2008. New things to do....new challenges.....new direction! I need something new to pursue.......to devour......that will expand my growth potential. Energy is being wasted here and this is not productive for this competitive, highly organized woman.

Ok......my toddy cup is empty now. Time for more fluids. I am going to creep back to my favorite chair, cover myself with a blanket and provide a warm nesting spot for one of my two cats.

Happy New Year!

TA TA!