"Stuck on You"

adam and i went to see "Stuck on You" this evening - cute movie...roger ebert's review was right on...the cameo appearances were pretty cool, particularly frankie muniz and meryl streep

hrmm....

Take the What Should Your New Year's Resolution Be? Quiz

the Best Of 2003, continued...

more bests of 2003, a little more personally relevant to me and me alone:

BEST medical procedure: the Vagus Nerve Stimulator surgery on March 17, 2003 was pretty spiffy - the VNS isn't working as well as i'd like, but there's still chance for significant improvement...as far as neurosurgeons go, Dr. Young's great...(granted, he's the ONLY neurosurgeon i've had, but i've definitely got no complaints)

honorable mention: Hurrle Orthopedic Physical Therapy's treatments for the tendonitis and carpal tunnel in my right hand - the cortisone shot at the hand surgeon didn't seem to help much, but the moist heat wraps and ultrasound has made things a lot better - i hadn't realized just how much things hurt before and think i overlooked the pain more than i should have...


BEST prescription medication: the Vicodin prescribed after the aforementioned surgery and during other trips to the emergency room - the sensation of being drunk, without all the booze! yeah, i guess i could see how people (Matthew Perry, for instance) get hooked on taking this stuff recreationally...

Lori's List - the Best Of 2003

hell, everybody else does it, why can't i? let's recap some of the highlights of 2003...

let's start with pop culture stuff....

BEST tv show: is it too cliche to say Queer Eye For The Straight Guy - yeah, they're taking a bit of the "real" out of "reality tv" and some people complain that it promotes stereotypes of gay (and straight) men, but it's just so damned good...

honorable mention: Survivor: Pearl Islands (go Rupert!)


BEST tv channel: hafta give this one to Bravo - with Queer Eye, Boy Meets Boy (an interesting spin in the monotonous world of reality dating shows), Celebrity Poker Showdown - they've got some good original programming and reruns of West Wing and the Restaurant are cool too...

honorable mention: gotta love Court TV! and i think TNT and USA oughta give up on their rerunning episodes of Law & Order and Law & Order SVU and let's just create a freakin Law & Order Channel! hell, between all the franchises i'm sure there's more than enough episodes to fill a schedule - if not, run CSI and the Practice on the weekends. *8-)


BEST tv character: The Practice has sadly jumped the shark, but the addition of James Spader to the cast, as evil slimy lawyer Alan Shore is one of the few reasons left to continue watching.


BEST talk show host: Ellen DeGeneres - ellen made setting the VCR timer a requirement - even if i don't watch the show all the time, taping it means there's always something funny to watch...


more when i think of 'em...

MERRIAM-WEBSTER'S WORDS OF THE YEAR 2003

2003's top ten words:

what the hell does it say about us that the most looked-up word this year is DEMOCRACY?

Christmas et al...

holidays were nice, i suppose - monday i went to my physical therapy appointment and once i got there it was pretty obvious that i wasn't in my right mind. kind of embarrassing, realizing you're wearing your clothes inside out AFTER you get somewhere. so we didn't go through with the physical therapy - we called my mom and she came from work and picked me up and took me to the hospital. not sure if i had a seizure or not, but woke up with the most god awful evil bastard from hell headache. it still hasn't totally gone away. so they didn't find anything suspect at the emergency room and sent me home. i'm just tired as all hell, and my brain's just scrambled. i muddled through christmas though, had a nice enough time.

let 'em know what America REALLY thinks...

stop by the "Pro-Family" (ie Pro-Heterosexual-And-That's-It) website of the American Family Association at marriagepoll.com and tell 'em you're in favor of the legalization of marriage for gays & lesbians as well as heteros!

ya know, i think that perhaps what i really would select is option #4 on that poll, except it doesn't exist - why the hell should married people get any benefits that single people don't? the divorce rates these days show that it's not exactly "til death do us part" any more - i think everyone should have the same, EQUAL rights. i'm not married, but hey, if i wanna fill out legal paperwork that says if something should happen to me, i want this person to make any important decisions, it should be just as easy for me to do it than as if it were a husband/wife situation.

Downhillbattle.org's stickering campaign

downhillbattle.org's stickering campaign is focussed on enlightening people about what their purchase of music from major labels does to independent music...very interesting.

found that link through whatacrappypresent.com, another amusing site...

Penn & Teller: Bullshit!

woo hoo - Penn & Teller: Bullshit! is gonna be back for another season!

creepy...

...is the Indianapolis Star trying to publish it's own version of Nuvo, entitled INtake? Judging by the cover, yes. I'll hafta actually read a copy first though...

cutting back on the hand jobs, i guess...

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What Finding Nemo Character are You?

What Finding Nemo Character are You?
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best comment on Fark regarding the capture of Saddam...

props go out to Farker Purple_Jack, who said:

IT'S OFFICIAL:
Osama is now the undisputed 'World Hide and Seek Champion'.



now one thing i don't understand all the news reports trumpeting the fact that Saddam was captured without a shot being fired...errrr, well, okay, they captured him and didn't shoot anyone at that specific time, but i believe more than a few shots have been fired in this thing, and the friends and families of those killed in Iraq this year might take some offense to that thoughtless comment...

who the hell calls me at the ungodly hour of 9am?!?!?

...oh - the unemployment office. i guess that's okay then, particularly when they tell me i'm going to be getting benefits. woo hoo - guess i'll be getting my prescriptions filled this month!!! thanks santa!

sorry Rush, you can't have my extras. *8-P

yesterday was a day of doc appointments...

saw dr. wisler (internal medicine doc) in the morning - guess it's back to the hand surgeon next monday to see about this carpal tunnel crap, since it appears to be re-emerging....another cortisone shot? i dunno....also got my flu shot (finally!)

the afternoon schedule had an appt with the psychiatrist, over at gallahue on the east side...how convenient, that's right across the street from the neurologist's office at community hospital, and i needed to stop by there because i left my VNS magnet there at my appointment last week...so i head in to the hospital, and TRIP on the floor mat they have inside the door from the parking garage. not a silly little slip, noooooo - can't do it that way. i went BOOOOOOOOOM, down on my knees, down on my wrist, and actually hit my head, above my forehead. how fucking embarassing is that? next thing i know, there's a swarm of people around me - are you okay?!?!? embarrassed as hell is how i am, and i can feel the skin scraped off my knees and my wrist is killing me (it was already hurting from the carpal tunnel, but then of course i had to land on THAT HAND and make it hurt even more) i'm crying, but tell everyone i'm fine. one of the guys, who i think was a hospital employee, tells me i should go over to the emergency room and get checked out, and to fill out an incident report. naah, i'm fine, i tell him. so i go into the doc's office, get my magnet and head back to my car - walking back to the car made it very obvious that i wasn't fine, the pain in my wrist and knees was excruciating. so i head for the ER. so much for the shrink appointment across the street.

long story short, x-rays of my wrist were fine...i didn't lose nearly as much skin on my knees as i thought i had, just got some bruises and some major pain to go with em - i swear, when i fell it felt like i was running my bare knees over one of those cheap-ass green doormats with the daisy in the corner...i was surprised there was still skin there...gave me a new wrist splint and an rX for Vicodin and i was on my merry way. how fortunate that i'll be seeing the hand surgeon next week.

i tell ya, the vicodin is quite a pill - couldn't tell if i was in pain or not, and i really didn't care. felt like i was drunk off my ass...and that was from one pill. how limbaugh could gobble those things up, i haven't a clue...guess it all comes down to tolerance (ironic, Mr. Intolerance seems to have built up a tolerance for the painkillers)...

Igby Goes Down

Igby Goes Down - i got the DVD from the library and watched it last night.

igby's played by Kieran Culkin - yes, one of those Culkins (born on my 10th birthday, actually) - and was very interesting...i'll definitely keep an eye out for him in other roles...

yes, i confess - my susan sarandon obsession was what originally led me to this movie, but i was pleased to discover a purty good movie as well. jeff goldblum's character was rather interesting...hell, all the characters were interesting

if ever there was a time to judge a DVD by its cover, this is it - the blue wall igby's sitting against is the color of the movie...rich, intense, hard to take your eyes away from it...pix on the web don't do it justice...

i agree with ebert's review - 3 and a half stars.

maybe bill gates isn't all that bad...

...i mean, he IS giving 27 million bucks to combat Japanese encephalitis...

i've always wondered - how do gazillionaires decide how much $$ to give to various charities or activities? what made him say TWENTY-SEVEN MILLION instead of $28,000,000 or $26,395,291?

the weird thoughts that creep through my head sometimes....

10 years?!?!?

postcard in the mail: "Mark your calendar for October 15-17, 2004!" - ugh, 10th reunion! well, 10th reunion of when i SHOULD'VE graduated from earlham...

damn, doesn't seem like it's been that long, but then again it seems like it's been much longer...

what in the hell have i gotten myself into?!?!?

greg asked me for some help on a little project. seems he's got some recipes from "Nanny" (his grandmother, i presume?) and other people and he'd like it all typed up and made into a cookbook. he wants to get them printed up for xmas presents for family members. okay, i tell him, get me the stuff ASAP. last weekend he tells me he'll drop it off monday - guess what, i didn't get stuff till tonight, THREE WEEKS till xmas!! and it's stuff clipped from newspapers and magazines, or recipes scribbled down on scraps of paper, some of it barely legible, some of it not legible at all. there are duplicates in there too - some index cards have the exact same ingredients and directions on them. i suppose what's scarier is when they ALMOST are exactly the same - there was one for some sort of jello salad...one called for Dream Whip, the other said Miracle Whip! Eeeeeek! Quite a difference there - we're talking Cool Whip vs. Mayo!

and of course my fucking carpal tunnel has been flaring up like a bitch - time for another cortisone shot, or time to look into surgery? dunno.

not sure if i'm gonna be able to get this thing done in time for him to send em out before xmas, but it'll be good to have for the portfolio (hopefully) when it's all done

VNS update update...

followed up yesterday's appointment with dr. mohan with a visit to him at the community hospital office today. since the computer at st. vincent's didn't appear to work properly, we met today so he could make sure my VNS was working and then increase the settings. so doc gets puter #2 set up - same shit happens...the screen says that the wand connected to the computer isn't making any connection with the implant. i know the implant's working - swiping the magnet over the vns makes it very obvious. thankfully, they had another computer in the office (apparently cyberonics is swapping out computers and limiting each office to only one machine - a bad thing to do, in my opinion) and on the 3rd try, things worked just fine. 3rd time's a charm, i guess. so now we've bumped up the stimulator from 1 to 1.25 and the magnet working at 1.5. no changes to the keppra i'm taking - dr. mohan wants to increase the vns more before doing that, since i'm apparently at medium as far as vns settings go...

1.25 is definitely causing some pain - seems like it may take longer to adjust to this than previous increases - the sharp pain in my left ear every time it goes off really sucks.

VNS update...

had a follow-up with Dr. Mohan today...

an example of words you don't want to be hearing out of your doctor's mouth? "What is this contraption? I have absolutely no clue how to use it." he'd asked the nurse for the VNS machine, to check my settings and increase the pulse strength. the nurse apparently misunderstood what he'd wanted and brought another machine, something looking about 87 years old. in tape on the case it said "nerve stimulator" and so i guess she assumed it was the vagus nerve stimulator - wrong! he later found out it was something they use in spinal cord surgeries or something that he doesn't deal with. eventually they rustled up the one machine they had at the office (in order to get an appointment asap after my seizure, i agreed to meet him at the office they have at the st. vincent's professional bldg - way up on the northwest side o' town) but it turned out that the machine was malfunctioning - however, they had 5 machines waiting at their office at community hospital, where i normally go. so, bright & early tomorrow morning i go over to the eastside and get reprogrammed.

the one benefit to going to going to dr. m's office up at st. vincent's is that it makes a terrific excuse to go to dunkin' donuts - there's only one shop in indy now, far far away from where i live...i suppose i'm glad i don't have to face the irony of having the endocrinologist that oversees my diabetes having her office way up there. *8-) ummmm, chocolate creme filled....

thanksgiving was cool...

went to my aunt's house for the big family gathering on turkey day - it was great...my huge selection of family photos inspired me to create a few presents for the kids - my cousin's little kids got tshirts with their pix on them, the bigger kids got other presents - one a snow globe, one a jigsaw puzzle with her pic on it...

i didn't do the Black Friday shopping thing - just didn't have the energy (let alone the money) for it. so i slept in, had a relaxing day...i wasn't able to adhere to adbusters "Buy Nothing Day" because of my need for prescriptions and food, but i restricted the amount of crass consumerism that is so typical the day after thanksgiving.

this is the time of year that i always seem to be a bit more introspective about stuff - thinking about what i'm thankful for and such...i'm thankful that i can be unemployed and still have a roof over my head...thankful for my wonderful mother and all she's done for me...thankful for friends that have stuck by me, even when i'm not such a good friend...

Pez Lez!

i now have in my possession all three of the pez dispensers that i'd featured on my Pez Lez halloween shirt - Peppermint Patty, Wonder Woman, and Policewoman! Dyke cop was, by far, the hardest to find - had to win her in an auction on ebay. the seller has a whole site of pezzes, so i made some additional purchases - got the dyke cop a girlfriend - the nurse. mom agreed that they both looked very butch - they're a cute couple.

unemployed life...

...ain't so bad - yet. went to orientation on monday to find out all the services offered at WorkOne - apparently, the image that most people have of "the unemployment office" is a big misconception...i figured i'd go in, fill out paperwork, and wait for a check - but there's a lot more to the office...a big chunk of services is provided by Goodwill ("we do more than just sell used clothes" the orientation chick told us) - training, job search assistance, computers to do your resumes, help with resumes, all sorts of things...

i'm wondering if the trader's gonna attempt to contest my unemployment claim...guess we'll find out soon enough...

paging Amanda Hugenkiss...

seems Bart Simpson's infiltrated Heathrow airport...

names of people paged include:

Arheddis Varkenjaab - I hate this fucking job
Aywellbe Fayed - I will be fired
Arjevbin Fayed - I've just been fired
Bybeiev Rhibodie - Bye-bye everybody
Aynayda Pizaqvick - I need a piss quick
Malexa Krost - My legs are crossed
Nowaynayda Zheet - Now I need a shit
Makollig Jezvahted and Levdaroum DeBahzted - My colleague just farted and left the room, the bastard.

recordings are at www.ourpointlesslives.com/announcements

and the subsequent fark discussion has more suggestions...

an apology from the guy that coined the word "metrosexual"...

the story on yahoo tells of British writer Mark Simpson's use of the word and how it took off when a story he wrote for Salon introduced it to the US...

Here is Simpson's pithy definition from that article: 'The typical metrosexual is a young man with money to spend, living in or within easy reach of a metropolis -- because that's where all the best shops, clubs, gyms and hairdressers are. He might be officially gay, straight or bisexual, but this is utterly immaterial because he has clearly taken himself as his own love object and pleasure as his sexual preference. Particular professions, such as modeling, waiting tables, media, pop music and, nowadays, sport, seem to attract them but, truth be told, like male vanity products and herpes, they're pretty much everywhere.'

Which Princess Bride Character are You?

Which Princess Bride Character are You?
this quiz was made by mysti

unemployment.

went to the unemployment office today...although their hours are supposedly 8am to 4:30pm, at 2pm they weren't processing any new applications. so come back tomorrow, they tell me. they did let me know how much i can look to receive on unemployment tho - about $225/wk after taxes. i figure COBRA and my car payment will eat most of that up, and we'll slowly drain the savings account paying the other bills. $400ish a month for health insurance is gonna SUCK ASS, but it'd suck more ass to be uninsured.

shiver in my bones just thinking about the weather...

ya know, "like the weather" was really never a fave song by 10,000 maniacs, but that's what popped into my head trying to think of a title for this entry...

warm weather (in the 60's) for the rest of the week, but they're saying we're looking at a possibility of some snow on monday...in preparation for that, i present Make Yer Own Snowflake.

What Kind of Hipster Are You?

You are the Consummate Hipster. Newbies bow to
you, everyone else just stares, as you swagger
down the street with "Little Green
Bag" stuck in your head.


What Kind of Hipster Are You?
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woo hoo - i'm fired!

just got off the phone with the so-called "human resources" person and i've been terminated.

ugh

had a seizure friday night, after sitting around all day waiting for "human resources" to call. and apparently this isn't the time of year to be getting sick - generally, when i call the neurologist's office and tell them i've had a seizure they usually get me in on the same day - this time i've gotta wait two weeks. dr. mohan's definitely worth it though.

evil scammy bastards...

hey there, Internet Corporation Listing Service - where do i rank in all the search engines when ya do a search for my website on the net?

going through the bills i got in the mail, i open one from ICLS.net...right up at the top, there's my domain name, a Customer Number, etc...

at the bottom, there's a tear-off section, says make checks payable to:... - they want $35 from me.

now waitaminute here - i'm definitely NOT a web geek by ANY stretch of the imagination, but didn't i just register that domain in june, and wasn't it more like ten bucks instead of thirty-five?

the letter says "Description of services: annual website search engine listing from jan 1, 2004 thru jan 1, 2005 -- $35.00"

what's that $35 get me? "domain name submission to 14 major search engines, eight keyword/phrase listings, quarterly search engine position and ranking reports." - hmmm, sounds like they tell the search engines "hey, lori's website's over there", do some of the stuff i get from SiteMeter.com for FREE and make $35.00.

i wouldn't be pissed if it didn't look so much like a bill - i had to read halfway down, past the sales pitch but a bit above the tear-off portion of the not-a-bill to read "this is not a bill. this is a solicitation. you are under no obligation to pay the amount state above unless you accept this offer."

i just wonder how much money these evil scammy bastards have made from people not too web-literate thinking they have to pay a bill to keep their domain. a customer number? totally made up, i've never been a customer of theirs. "please remit payment on or before december 15, 2003"? makes it look more like a bill. "all listings are final"? - yeah, then they can fall back on that when you realize you were scammed and they took $35 from you for shit that's basically worthless.

World Diabetes Day

hmmm...today is World Diabetes Day...perhaps i'll go to Dairy Queen to celebrate! ha ha, just kidding of course...

speaking of books....

just finished up Dude, Where's My Country? by Michael Moore. my review? overall, a good read, but a bit uneven - sorry, the chapter where mike leaves the computer and God takes over to write a chapter? it just didn't work. but there were some things of interest there...

a few quotes:

"They call it a war on 'terror.'" How exactly do you conduct a war on a noun? Wars are fought against countries, religions, and peoples. They are not fought against nouns or problems, and any time it has been attempted -- the 'war on drugs,' the 'war on poverty' -- it fails." - Dude, Where's My Country?, pg 96

"Look, I don't know how to put it any gentler than to say that these bastards who run our country are a bunch of conniving, thieving, smug pricks who need to be brought down and removed and replaced with a whole new system that we control. That is what democracy is supposed to be about -- we, the people, in fucking charge. What happened to us? Perhaps we were never were really in charge and those words just sounded good at Independence Hall on that sweltering day in 1776. Maybe if the Founding Fathers had air conditioning and a corporate jet they never would have written such a foolish thing. But they did, and that's what we're left to work with." - Dude, Where's My Country?, ppg 148-9

"But Webster's Collegiate Dictionary defines the word liberal this way: 'Not narrow or contracted in mind; not selfish' and 'not bound by orthodox tenets or established forms in political or religious philosophy; independent in opinion; not conservative; friendly to great freedom in the institution or administration of government....' Liberal is also defined as generous, 'and implies largeness of spirit in giving, judging, acting, etc.'
And that is exactly how the majority of Americans think, act, and behave these days. Though they won't use the word itself, they are the living, breathing definition of liberal in their everyday words and deeds. Just as most independent, free-thinking women rarely use the word 'feminist' anymore; their actions speak louder than their lack of a lable, and feminist is exactly what they are.
So let's not get hung up on the terms. Most Americans don't approach the world with labels, but with common sense." - Dude, Where's My Country?, pg 179

there's also followup stuff on his website -

Run Oprah Run! - yup, Mike, i agree - it's time for a black woman to be president - and who doesn't love oprah? no money issues there, she's got plenty of her own. and we know she's good at saying what she thinks.

Send your receipts to Ashcroft - the so called USA PATRIOT Act means the damned bastard's spying on us enough as it is, let's just cut out the middleman and send him our receipts from book purchases so he can decide whether or not we're too subversive for his liking.

Also on that page are some rather humorous/scary form letters you can send to John - for instance:

Dear Attorney General Ashcroft:

Thought I'd do my part and let you know that I've switched internet service providers (AOL really sucks) and now I'm with (insert name). My new password is (insert). Some of the websites I've been visiting recently are (insert).

Helpfully yours,
Your Name here

they're humorous because you read em and say "there's no way he'd do something like that, invading our privacy in such a way!" and scary because you read em and say "hell yes, he'd do something like that!"

oh dear...Amazon, ya have it all wrong...

so...i'm a poor chick that likes to read - i'm a member of QPB's book club, and they have some very interesting books...so, i have this tendency to go through their catalog and then check out those books from the library...

it was in this way that i had stumbled across Skin Flutes and Velvet Gloves: A Collection of Facts and Fancies, Legends and Oddities About the Body's Private Parts - a very interesting read. interesting enough that when i saw it available on amazon from a 3rd party seller, i bought two copies - one for myself, one for my friend greg - he really likes penises and stuff. *8-)

so anyhoo....i just logged in at amazon, and now they're recommending me all these books about penises! eeeeeek! thanks for thinking of me, Amazon, but i think A Mind of Its Own: A Cultural History of the Penis is gonna be pretty far down on my list of books to purchase. read it? perhaps...checking the database, i see that the Indianapolis Marion County Public Library system has 6 copies of it...but even if it's free, it's still pretty far down on the list of books to read...

Will the Pez Lez overtake the Pillsbury Dough Dyke?

yesterday i was out shopping and got a Wonder Woman Pez dispenser - whoo hoo! now i just gotta find the Lesbo Cop and then i'll have all three that i put on the Pez Lez shirt: Peppermint Patty, Wonder Woman and Lesbo Cop (er, i guess her official Pez title is Emergency Heroes: Policewoman, but we all know...lift up that little plastic head, and you can tell she's a dyke through and through!)

hrmm, will this be a smaller, more portable addiction than my pillsbury doughboy collection? i've been pondering selling stuff off from it...*shrug* i just dunno what to do...part of me says to hold off til the economy gets better and people have more cash to spend on frivolous crap like this, another part of me says - hey, i need the money NOW...

tres strange...

getting ready for the afternoon appointment with the therapist, printing up my blog (not this one, the one you don't know about *8-P) and peeked in to see what i was blogging about a year ago - kinda weird, the stuff i was pissing and moaning about in therapy a year ago is the same stuff i'm pissing and moaning about now...

encouraging me to be evil...

steph mentioned in her blog that i should check out the Church Sign Generator - cute, but doing it in person is much more fulfilling. *8-)

Salon's got the script for the Reagan movie that CBS is censoring...

so i guess since we won't be able to see what was originally supposed to be onscreen (who knows how much editing Showtime will do, now that it's got the rights to it - hopefully they'll take the high road and show what CBS was too chickenshit to show) you can read the script in a 213 page PDF.

random, babbling, free association type post...

nothing in particular to report, but i feel like blogging, so....

amazing how you can take a car in for service, tell em you just need a coolant flush, then they offer ya a free safety inspection to let ya know what else might be going on with yer car...they found $1800 worth of stuff that will need repaired on it at some point in the next year or so - my brakes should last through the winter, the clutch has a year left on it, and so on and so forth...

meanwhile, mom got out of her lease three months early and is picking up her new car tomorrow...a 2004 saturn ion coupe - my mom, got a coupe! granted, it's still four doors, but she typically doesn't go for the sporty type of car, she's more of a sedan gal.

what i thought might be a VNS problem just turns out to be an extended case of laryngitis - been going on for more than a week now - now my throat's sore, but i'm not sure if it's cuz i'm sick or because when people want to hear me, i have to scream to make anything come out.

one advantage to Xmas merchandise already being sold in the stores...

...is that i've been reminded early enough this year that i'd like to make Christmas Crackers - question is, do i wanna try making them from scratch, or buy a ready to make kit that comes with most of the stuff, but ya can add more personal prizes to them?

a few links i've found thus far:

http://www.oldenglishcrackers.com/cracker-gift.htm - fill yer own

http://www.absolutelycrackers.com/home.html - fill your own or pre-filled

http://www.imagitek.com/xmas/crafts/cracker.html - a from scratch recipe

http://www.christmas-crackers-usa.com/ - all of the above

go google yerself...

heh heh heh - title refers to this thread on fark: Ego surfing - search google for your own name. Any strange people with your name out there?

well, i KNOW my current name will bring up a bazillion hits as just a first and middle name, so i doubt i'll even try it...

i just had to try it - a bazillion equals 6200, apparently...still, i doubt many (if any) of em have Beth as a last name...currently, this blog comes up as google hit number 71 for "Lori Beth"...and of course there are 2489 hits for tv listings of "Happy Days", in which Richie Cunningham's girlfriend makes an appearance...

googling myself under my previous last name brought up about 15 hits, one of which was my own, from 1992 - an entry in the Queer Resources Directory, when I compiled a list of queer musicians for my lesbigay radio show at Earlham, "Think Pink!"...ya know, i didn't even know the QRD was still around...

a little step back in time, thanks to google - back in 1992 i was on the internet, a sophomore in college, and hosting my very own queer radio show...good times...

VNS update - or is it?

something weird's going on, but i'm not sure if it's VNS related. a few days ago i noticed my voice getting hoarse. it's gotten worse and worse. sounds like it has previously when i've used the magnet and gotten a stronger pulse than the constant setting. what the hell?!? i tried using the magnet a couple of times, and afterwards, it seems like my voice is actually getting better, but it only lasts a short while. huh?!?

i really wish we hadn't had that inital problem with the settings - now i'm constantly wondering if everything's cool with the twenty grand worth of hardware lodged in my chest and neck....

gonna see if it continues through thursday, when i've got my appointment with the internal medicine doc (yeah, the doc that told me to wait 5 weeks to see her when i called with a sore throat, cough, and variety of other crap going on)...

my hunch that it's VNS related is based solely on the fact that i'm not exhibiting any other symptoms - no sore throat or congestion, it's not like i've got a cold or anything. kind of annoying, being at david & garrett's party where i didn't know a whole lot of people and having to repeat myself over and over and over, because people couldn't understand what the hell i was saying.

halloween was cool...

finally got that urge to go out and be social, so i went to garrett & david's party - kinda stupid, putting together a costume 3 hours before the halloween party starts! but oh well, it turned out, some people really liked it...i was:



yup, the pez lez - big dyke lori made a t-shirt with the logo and handed out pez dispensers. *8-) heh heh heh, if only halloween was back in march, when i really LOOKED like a human pez dispenser after my VNS surgery....

speaking of, i need to post a VNS update soon...and get the damned website up and running!!

so anyhoo, the party was fun (doug and dan made a great gilligan and skipper combo) and afterwards a bunch of the party group decided to head to talbott street...by the time i got there and searched for a parking spot, i decided i was too tired (i think the mulled cider w/brandy was really kicking in), and just headed home...all in all a much better halloween than i had originally planned....

haven't been blogging much lately...

...cuz most of what i've got to say isn't all that nice, and i wouldn't want my words to appear on the monitors of certain people...not overly paranoid, i don't think - i know how words can come back to haunt ya.

not sure what to do for halloween - gotten a few invites, but i'm not feeling all that social. actually, i'm in an organizing sort of mood - get my bills in order, sort through some of the crap i've accumulated and put it up for sale on ebay, clean out my email box, those sorts of things. guess i'm wanting to do things that i actually have some control over, unlike the things that are stressing me out in a major ass way.

painfully true lyric of the moment...

"...it's a hard road when you know where you're going
and it's harder when you know where you're not..."

- "the best man's fall", trashcan sinatras

haven't done this in a long time...

i actually went out and bought a new CD today...actually, a CD/DVD set - the limited edition of Everything to Everyone by Barenaked Ladies...

so i'm listening to it here at work...first impression? makes me wanna go out to the car and get Maybe You Should Drive, my favorite BNL disc - but then again, when i first heard Maybe..., i didn't like it at all, now i like it even more than Gordon, which i thought could never be topped...

pretty sad that the number of CDs i've bought this year could probably be counted on both hands, if not just one - and it's not got a damned thing to do with Kazaa - there just hasn't been anything out there calling my name. got annie lennox's latest, but that didn't do much for me - i've just been sticking with the old faves...lately it's been Home Is In Your Head by His Name Is Alive, Walking Wounded by Everything But The Girl and a few mixes i've made...

BNL will be at the Murat on November 2 - a Sunday...question is, will that still be a work night for me?

what was she thinking?

i went to see the shrink last week...while in the waiting room, a woman walked in - bleeding from her wrist - asking to talk to her doctor...i sat there, speechless...all i could think was "what was she thinking when she did that? what makes a person feel THAT bad to sit there and cut yourself open like that?"

after the past two days, i think i can relate. i know slashing your wrists isn't a serious attempt at suicide, it's a cry for help, but dammit, i'm so frustrated right now, doing something to move the pain from psychological to physical almost sounds normal.

funny t-shirts & stuff!

ebaynham.com

Drinking Games...

from slappyjack.com and slappyjack.com:

Queer Eye For the Straight Guy, The Drinking Game.

THE RULES ARE AS FOLLOWS:

Drink SIX if you're watching an episode of Q.E.F.T.S.G. on NBC, because they reedit all the best shit out of it.

Drink if someone says "Oooo, he's a hottie" during the opening briefing.

Drink if the Straight Guy looks like he hasn't shaved in a week.

Imbibe also if the Straight Guy has hair like a wookie at the beginning of the episode.

If the Straight Guy ever survives an episode with his long hair, FINISH YOUR DRINK, POUR ANOTHER, AND SLAM THAT TOO.

Drink if the Straight Guy's Mother is present.

Drink if the Guy's New York apartment is the size of a shoebox.

Drink when they do one of them cool freeze-to-gray-highlighted-text-with-colored-bar focus on one of the episode's tips.

Drink every time one of the cast members touches the Straight Guy's underwear
Do it twice if it's Thom
...and then again if it's followed buy a comment about skidmarks or bodily fluids.
Drink YET AGAIN if the Straight Guy is there saying "Dude, you're not going to put that on TV are you?"

Drink if they make it through the wardrobe-ripping without finding at least one sports jersey (or a sweater, if the Guy is a hockey fan)
When the Straight Guy is shown explaining, "THey're a sports team, you know... sports?" Please drink.

Sip your drink when one of the Fab Five are shown eating the Straight Guy's food

Drink whenever Thom says somehting bad about the Straight Guy's apartment.

Whenever Thom is struck speechless about the current pigsty the Straight Guy lives in, please drink.
Drink again if this is when they use this scene to cut to the "THOM" title

Drink if they show Jai helping Thom clean and organize the apartment.

Drink if the Guy is so hairy and they wax him somewhere.

Drink if they accidentally show Thom wearing socks.

Drink whenever the Guy's girlfriend is hotter than that Guy has any business being with.
Conversely, drink whenever the Guy's is hotter than the girlfriend any business being with.
(Yes, it's shallow, but for Christ's sake this is a MAKEOVE SHOW. And for thinking that, drink again.)


Drink if Ted comments on the cheese found in the fridge.
Do it twice if it is "american cheese".
Drink the drink if the contents of the 'fridge are 50% condiments.

When Carson touches the Guy's crotch, you should be taking a drink.
Drink again when he makes an overtly sexual comment.

Drink for each of the the Guy's friends and that are just plain hard to look at.
(During that part when, you know, they show them all commenting on the Straight Guy.)

Drink when they show the Straight Guy Fake Tanning.

Drink if they let the Guy actually keep his facial hair,

Drink if they take the Straight Guy out for a meal.
Drink anytime it's not just Ted buying food with the Straight Guy

Drink every time someone watching the show sees the Straight Guy in a new outfit and says "That's just too gay for him."

Drink Whanever they show all the cast out shopping except Thom, because he's at the apartment working his ass off.

Drink When they show the apartment after Thom worked his magic on it and someone in the viewing group says, "OOOH!"

Thom just do a product placement for Pier One? Yes, drink.
If Kirsty Alley gets mentioned, drink again.

Drink if the Straight Guy cries because he's so touched.
Drink if the Straight Guy cries out because he's touched so innapropriately. - from: Gabe


Drink Whenever someone yells "CHEERS, QUEERS!"
Drink three if the Straight Guy ever says it.

By this time, someone in your viewing group has probably hummed or otherwise sang the Queer Eye Dance Party Theme Song. Whoever did it should definately be taking a drink.

When they show the FabCave for the first time, drink to show your respect.

For every Fab Five cocktail that isn't in a martini glass, take a sip for yourself.
If your cocktail is in a martini glass, take another sip.

Drink if they comment negatively about the Guy's girlfriend.

If they shamelessly plug Disaronno as a fine apertif with dinner for that special lady: Drink, drink and be happy youre not drinking Disaronno.

Fuckit, whenever they show that goddamn Disaronno commercial - You know, the one with that woman thats shaped like a PEZ Dispenser (grossly skinny body, topped by a big big meatless head with extremely pulled back hair) sucking on the ice cube with her big ugly lips?
Drink again, and be happy youre not drinking Disaronno.

Drink when the camera crew works in a little shot of the Straight Guy's ass.

Drink whenever the Fab Five say "He looks Hot!"

Drink any time someone in the FabCave hugs someone else at the Couch.

Drink when they make fun of the straight people.
Drink when you make fun of the straight people.

Drink every time Cyan bitches about the way the Guy shaves
...and every time one of them mentions "Straight Guy Speed Shaving"
Dear Fab Five,
WHAT THE FUCK? How slow do YOU shave?
Is there a mimimum time you should take shaving?
Is it like brushing your teeth, which you should do for three minutes?
Please tell us. I don't want to be shaving wrong for the rest of my life!
- SJ

Drink any one of them say, "Thats NOT what I told him to do!"

Drink everything the Fab Five in unison scream "NOOOO!"

Drink TWICE if the camera crew has to cut away from the Straight Guy's night out suddenly/quickly because the loving couple obviously went straight to doing some serious scrumping.

Drink anytime the cast does something so gay that a gay guy in your viewing group says, "Ooh, that was really gay."
ADDED/SUGGESTED BY READERS!


Drink whenever any of the fab five use the buzzwords hip, trendy, edgy, or vintage.
- from: Nick
[i know. i'm pissed i didn't think of it, either]

Drink whenever Carson teaches the Straight Guy to say "coture", or how to say a designer's name.
- from: Spumanti
[actually, Drink whenever they teach the Guy to say ANYTHING]

Drink for everytime Carson says "Jujj" or "Jujjing"
- from: Cassie & Amie
[Note: This is the first, and probably only, time I get to take care of the requests ot two women simultaneously]

If one of the Fab Five says, "Ooohhh, she SO wants to sleep with him" about some hottie who's now keen on the Straight Guy, due to incredible whirlwind makeover - Drink.
- from: Lynn


Drink when one of the Fab Five has to go on how pricey something is (e.g - That was $200 worth of Foie Gras!)
- from: Frank


Take a sip when any one of the Fab Five take part in blatant product placement not mentioned above (e.g. - "Your bedroom is Benjamine Moore Baltic Blue")
- from: Frank [again! you go, girl!]




and then there's
American Chopper, The Drinking Game.

THE RULES ARE AS FOLLOWS:

When someone days "Awesome," drink.
When someone says "incredible," drink.
In the unlikely event somone on the show should have the word "FAAAAAABulous" come out of their mouths, EVERYONE finishes their drink immediately.

When Big Paul calls Paul Junior "stupid," drink.
If Paul Junior comes back with "You're Crazy," drink again.

Drink whenever Mikey is shown.
Drink two if Mikey does something stupid.
Drink Three if Paul Sr. OR Junior hits Mikey in any way.

Drink when Big Paul is shown riding his chopper in a "pensive mood."
Drink two if he is doing a philosophical vioceover during the shot.
Drink three whenever Big Paul is shown slumming it by riding his Harley Davidson.
Drink four if he's riding his HD and talking about how relaxing it is.

On road trip, drink every time ANYONE mentions:
how nice it is to get away.
how hard it is to be on the road.
how the trip is a great way to catch up on sleep.

When Cody is shown working on a bike, drink.
Drink Two when Big Paul gives Cody a fatherly hug or advice.
Drink Two Paul Jr. acknowledges Cody's existence.

If a fireman is shown with the "Fire bike", drink.
If he's got the Dalmatian with him, drink two.
If there is ALSO an actual fire truck shown in the background, finish your drink.

Whenever Paul Jr. yells as Big Paul about how he never does any work. Drink.
When Big Paul comes back with something about "I could come out of retirement and work circles around you," drink yet again.

Drink everytime an object gets thrown.

Drink whenever someone slams a door.
Drink Three if the person slamming the door is Vinnie.

Drink when Paul Jr. Test rides a new chopper.
Drink two if the voiceover is Paul Jr. talking about how special the bike is.

Dink whenever someone punches that punchy-dummy thingie.

Drink if someone gets a new tattoo.

If Mikey ever gets his motorcycle license in an episode, drink it down! Drink the whole thing! w00t for Mikey!
ADDED/SUGGESTED BY READERS!


Drink whenever Paul Jr. says "sick".
- from: Closet Chopper Dude
You should take a drink anytime Mike, Paul Jr., Paul Sr., or Vinny says, "But I gotta be honest with you."
- from: Brian
Drink anytime anyone uses the word "fabricate."
- from: Matt

I originally had some reservations about this one.
With it, you'll probably not be sober enough to finish watching the show.
Drink everytime someone says, "I gatta tell ya"

- from: Deanna
Drink whenever Paul Sr. invokes how big his feet are.
- from a suggestion by Kevin Harley
Drink two if Paul Sr. invoked his feet by not only saying they are big, but their exact size. (Size 12).
- from a suggestion by Kevin Harley
Drink whenever Paul Sr. Threatens to start kicking some butt
- from a suggestion by Kevin Harley
Kev originally wanted you to Drink three whenever Paul Sr says, "I'm gonna take my Size 12s and kick some Butt!!"
I judged this as a RULE COMBO, and split it into three separate rules
Slam-Dunk for Kevin! If I had any money, I'd send him a SlappyJack.com t-shirt.

Drink once everytime Paul Sr. says, IDEAR - from: Chad

yes yes yes!!!!!!

slightly late announcement, as we approach the middle of the month, but i just found out...

October is National Orgasm Month!

yes!!!!

as declared by Erotic University - "National Orgasm Month...takes place in October because, "it's the only month that starts with an 'O'"."

a gay ol' time...

had a cool time at the Autumn Fest - mom enjoyed it too...i suppose some people out there might think i'm a freak, bringing my mommy to stuff like this, but it was a family gathering as well as a family gathering, so i brought her along.

getting ready for the Mutual Friends Autumn Fest...

cool way to spend National Coming Out Day, i suppose - tomorrow i'll be hanging out at Stoney Creek Farms with a bunch o' Mutual Friends...

meanwhile, lots of prep to do - i volunteered to supply music, so i'm burning mixes and such - it's made me think a lot about my music collection and the types of music that i like...more on that later.

One of Jay Leno's Headlines:

Jay's comment: "I love when they talk to people on the street. This is from "The Chronicle" in Central Washington. The question is, 'Would you be willing to attend a church where the minister was gay?' Samantha Searles says, 'No, because I don't feel that's what God wants. I don't think he's ready for that. He'd be turning over in his grave.' You might want to go to church a little more, Samantha."

VNS Update

Saw Dr. Mohan finally - of all my docs, he might be the favorite. Told him of all the weird symptoms I've been having recently, and how everything just sort of came to a head at work monday night. he double checked the VNS to make sure we didn't have a problem as we did before - everything's still kosher there. So then he set me up for an EEG that afternoon - ugh, the gritty nasty glue's still in my hair, although I must say this stuff's a LOT better than years ago - the glue they used back then was AWFUL and took FOREVER to come out. No changes to VNS settings or meds...

well whaddaya know....

i sent out an email to various people here in Indy, encouraging them to send messages to Let It Out, the water-cooler talk column here in Indy...some people did it, and comments are getting published already (i figured they'd wait till saturday)...

donna, i presume that's your comment about you and your husband?? *8-)

George W. Bush is a fucking retard.

Apologies in advance to all the fucking retards out there that I've just offended and/or demeaned by comparing them to Dubya, but I'm pissed.

Clara's sent me off to the Million For Civil Marriage site - cool PDF poster for the project, too bad National Coming Out Day (oct 11th) falls on a saturday - not a work day...well fuck it, i'll put the damned thing on my cubicle on sunday. it might be even MORE important to do it on the 12th, than on National Coming Out Day.

Why? well, go take a look at this White House News Release - seems Dubya has proclaimed 10/12 - 10/18 to be "Marriage Protection Week". Yeah, cuz us queers are doing soooooooooo much to demean the ideals of marriage. just totally fucking it up for all the straight people.

I don't know if it's because he's REALLY fucking stupid or just really fucking MEAN - did he pick those dates specifically for a reason? Perhaps it's a coincidence (the "stupid" theory) or perhaps he's an even bigger dick than I'd ever thought him to be (the "mean" theory) but "Marriage Protection Week" (aka 'Fuck all of y'all queers') starts October 12th, the day after National Coming Out Day AS WELL AS the the 5th anniversary of the murder of Matthew Shepard.

argh this shit pisses me off - lemme just take a second to ask everyone out there to do something extra special this weekend & next week...write a letter to dubya and tell him marriage should be for EVERYONE...do some volunteer work and let people know you support liberty and justice FOR ALL...whatever it takes to get the word out...

the library's web site - good and bad....

it's really cool that you can go online and check out books and such from the library, and they'll email you when they come in - except when it just so happens that everything comes in at the same time! and of course i've been too busy lately to sit around and watch dvd's, so i'm just gonna take most of 'em back....

an inventory of DVD's going back:

Love, Liza - woah, Phillip Seymour Hoffman is just simply amazing. very depressing movie, but a wonderful performance. might hafta re-rent this one to watch the commentary track...

9 to 5 - someone mentioned this movie, and i figured i'd watch it again - i remembered just loving it when it originally came out...suppose watching lily tomlin when i was 8 years old is what made me a big ol dyke? i didn't get around to watching all of it, but i know i can check it out some other time...

and these i didn't even get to see yet:

American Psycho - based on the Bret Easton Ellis book - i've heard it's bad, but i dunno, Ellis is a guilty pleasure because of Less Than Zero (the BOOK, not the movie!)

Big Trouble - based on the novel by Dave Barry, it's got my woman Janeane Garofalo in it....

Dahmer - title should make the subject obvious....

Girlfight - again, the title should make the subject obvious....

Pollock - and yet again, the title should make the subject obvious....

Hedwig and the Angry Inch - ashamed to admit it - i STILL have not seen this one...they'll prolly be coming to revoke my queerness any day now...

Straight a conversion comedy - a stage show about trying to convert the queers....

poor gal - can't imagine what elementary school was like for her....

Would you buy a house from this woman?

deja vu, all over again....

Yay Steph!!! Lookee, it's a title!!

mucho thanks to Steph the web goddess for helping me (the pathetic HTML-challenged blogger) by giving me the code to make my titles show up!!! Now go check out her mega cool website - commonplacebook.com!!!

hrmmm, i don't think i'm quite as much of a geek as this quiz says...

You're an "at" sign!


What Punctuation Mark are You?
brought to you by Quizilla

Eddie Izzard is sooooooooooo Sexie!!!!!

fave bits of Eddie Izzard's show, "Sexie" at the Shubert Theatre
Chicago, IL on my 31st birthday, 30 September 2003:

after my shouting "whoo hoo!" when he did some strutting, he said it sounded like a squirrel was nibbling on my genetalia (can't remember the exact words he used), to which i replied "WHOO HOO!" - his response to that? "Okay, you can shut the fuck up now." - Eddie Izzard told ME to shut the fuck up!!!

the man's comedy is amazing - how he's able to point out such obvious things and make them hysterically funny. i can't remember everything word for word, but here are a few observations he made:

Eddie said that everyone in the world was confused about what happened in the US during 9/11 - that's the 9th of November after all. oh wait, us americans have to be non-logical and go month, then day, then back to the year instead of doing it in logical order, ie day month year. so we're actually talking about September 11 when everyone else does it the other way around...

he also talked about how in Britain they have guide dogs for the blind, but over here we have "Seeing Eye Dogs" - isn't that a bit redundant? Too many words, just a Seeing Dog or Eye Dog would get the point across - why not just call them "Ocular Vision Seeing Eye Dogs"?

he talked about reading the Koran - and how his being born in Yemen automatically made him somewhat suspicious, so he didn't pack the Koran in the luggage when he travelled...talked about the bible as well, and reading it in the hotel, but he didn't get to read all of it - so are you supposed to steal the bibles they leave there?? "Thou shall not steal" - but wouldn't this be a good exception?

eddie had a nice set of tits in this show - he wore a pair of black boots with stilletto heels (they may even be the ones he's wearing in the poster pic), silver hot pants, and a tight light blue button down shirt with red shirt underneath - the tightness was no doubt done intentionally to accentuate the tits...

when he came back after the intermission, he'd changed some of his wardrobe - from the silver pants to a slinky black skirt with shimmery gold lining...wearing a skirt showed the hose he was wearing...it was similar to what's in the poster pic, but glittery and the stuff - hell, i dunno pantyhose terminology - the webbing or whatever, was larger.* that man's got some MUSCULAR legs. i tell ya, i honestly can't recall the last time i was turned on by a person in pantyhose, but Eddie did it - i'd switch teams for one night with him. and i don't understand it - why is it this guy all femmed up turns me on, but seeing a woman in stuff like that doesn't really do it for me?


so, other parts of the trip - we stayed at Hotel Allegro in Chicago - very nice hotel!!! i chuckled at the "Fully stocked honor bar" in the room - honor bar?!? then why's there a lock on the refrigerator?!? But of course greg & dale brought plenty of booze - we realized that next time we do this, we're gonna hafta bring snacks - plenty of booze, no food, and we weren't about to spend $4 for a bag of M&Ms. Other items available for purchase in our room included 3 different choices of bottled water, a sewing kit, a shaving kit, a bottle of tylenol, a harmonica - huh??!?? yeah, i know when i'm out at the hotels i'm always thinking - DAMN, if only i had a harmonica!!!

i actually ate calamari...always been a bit ambivalent about eating squid, but i tried it when we went to the hotel restaurant and ordered a bunch of appetizers to share...it was grilled with some frou-frou stuff with it...interesting, but i think i might prefer it fried....at least next time i won't be totally unwilling to try it...

i found it humorous when we went back to the hotel from the concert and asked about dining options, since it was a bit late - one of the guys checking in just laughed at us, and said "hey, this isn't new york, you're in chicago" - rather similar to what ya hear around here, "hey, this isn't chicago, you're in indianapolis"...we did rather well though - there was a restaurant that delivered to the hotel and we chowed down before crashing for the night. greg sat on my bed (2 double beds in the room) and ate his nachos - and of course made a mess. then i insisted to him that meant he had to sleep in the wet spot. so he did, for a little while before climbing into bed with his husband - think dale woulda been a bit pissed had i stolen greg away for the whole night. *8-) but while we finished eating and watched a little tv, greg and i laid in bed together. greg informs me that i'm a "good snuggler" - too bad more women here in town don't wanna know that!!

for lunch wednesday we had to partake of the famous deep dish chicago style pizza. very good, but the service at Giordano's sucked.

right down the block from our hotel was a Dunkin' Donuts!!! so i insisted we make a stop before heading back to indy. yeah, i know there's one at 86th & ditch, but for this southsider, the one in chicago was closer! majorly bummed to find they didn't have any chocolate creme filleds, but still got some goodies!

my favorite thing about chicago? the cabs - it was so fucking easy to catch a cab to go somewhere, and not expensive at all. hell, if that weren't an option, we probably coulda taken the El, but that wasn't necessary. lack of good public transportation is really holding indianapolis back.

least favorite thing about chicago? a tie between the snotty ass drivers and the guys begging us for money EVERYWHERE. it's a mistake to give one money - all the others see you and will follow you for blocks...it made me realize how cool indy can be - having some of the good aspects of a large city without a lot of the bad stuff - granted, there's still lots of room for improvement here...

*UPDATE: after discussing it with Mommy, she edumacated me to the fact that those were FISHNET stockings he was wearing - not the "webbing" as i clumsily described it...so the nets in his act were a lot bigger than what's in the poster, and they were accented with sequins...

heh heh heh, anyone wishing to pick me up a last minute birthday present, lemme give ya an idea:

the Pioneer DVR-810H is an 80 hour Tivo with a DVD burner!!

Hrmmmm - interesting info from ZIPCodeWorld - type in yer zip code and get all sorts of demographic info...

so here's what we get for 46227, my zip code:

ZIP_CODE 46227
CITY INDIANAPOLIS
STATE IN
AREA_CODE 317
CITY_ALIAS_NAME SOUTHPORT
CITY_TYPE P
COUNTY_NAME MARION
COUNTY_FIPS 097 what the hell's a FIPS? is it good or bad to have 097 of em?
TIME_ZONE 5
DAY_LIGHT_SAVING N thank goodness!!
LATITUDE 39.6785
LONGITUDE -86.1297
ELEVATION 708 that's compared to 5183 for Denver, the "mile high city"
PERSONS_PER_HOUSEHOLD 2.49 hrmmm, we're .49 people short in our household
ZIPCODE_POPULATION 52818
COUNTIES_AREA 367
HOUSEHOLDS_PER_ZIPCODE 24403
WHITE_POPULATION 49364 honkyville!!
BLACK_POPULATION 1313
HISPANIC_POPULATION 1740 interesting, there are more hispanic people living here than black people - and i wonder what ethnicities the 401 people not counted amongst the whites, blacks or hispanics are?
INCOME_PER_HOUSEHOLD 37406
AVERAGE_HOUSE_VALUE 101800
MSA 3480
CBSA 26900 not a clue what MSA or CBSA mean...

all you horn-dog condom users out there, go to http://www.lifestyles.com/cgi-bin/sample_condoms.cgi and get ya some free samples... (sorry, i can't give ya a direct link, you'll hafta copy/paste it yerself....)

http://www.lifestyles.com/cgi-bin/sample_condoms.cgi

ya know, if i were a coffee drinker and i lived in new zealand, these stupid fuckers at Fagg's Coffee would be hearing from me...

"The word "straight" had been used to distinguish Fagg's Coffee from other more pretentious brands.

"We are straight forward ... what you see is what you get and it's common knowledge that there's quite a lot of coffees that take themselves extremely seriously," Mr Ford said."

*beep beep beep* back that truck up Mr. Ford....

ermmm, i call bullshit - ya can't have a name like Fagg's and then use words like straight without people making a homosexual connection....

makes ya wonder - what were they thinking when they came up with that billboard? either someone is totally naive/stupid (hard to think that's the case - more than one person had to work on that ad) or they're going with the "there's no such thing as bad publicity" approach - i mean, hey, they got a hell of a lot more advertising done for free when the newspapers and such picked up on it...

hrmmm - would a $80 b/w laser printer (after coupon/rebate, of course) be a good buy? The toner cart that it comes with only prints 1500 pages, and after ya use that one up, a new cartridge (that prints 3000 pgs) will cost as much as the printer...

this slickdeals.net site might be a good site to check on a regular basis...

uh oh - one of the potential side effects for one of the new meds i'm on? "prolonged or inappropriate erection"

as if this weren't TOTALLY obvious:




You are "Kraft Macaroni and Cheese". You cost a little more,
due to your promotional shapes and packaging, but the kids
won't stand for less. You try and be individual in
spite of this though. You prefer to be called "Cheese and
Macaroni" thank you very much.

Take the What Kind of Macaroni and Cheese Are You? Quiz

Created by LJ User RobProv222

quote o de day:

"Because I am somebody who wouldn't necessarily have a lot of self esteem, as I am considered a minority. And if you are a woman, if you are a person of color, or gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, if you are a person of size, if you are a person of intelligence, if you're a person of integrity, then YOU are considered a minority in this world. And it's going to be really hard to find messages of self-love and support anywhere, especially women's and gay men's culture. It's all about how you have to look a certain way, or else your worthless. You know when you look in the mirror and say, 'Uh, I'm so ugly; I'm so fat; I'm so old'--don't you know that's not your authentic self? But that is billons upon billons of dollars of advertising, magazines, movies, billboards, all geared to make you feel shitty about yourself so you will take your hard earned money and spend it at the mall on some turn around cream that doesn't turn around shit.

"If you don't have self-esteem, you will hesitate before you do anything in your life. You will hesitate to go for the job you really want to go for. You will hesitate to ask for a raise. You will hesitate to call yourself an American. You will hesitate to report a rape. You will hesitate to defend yourself when you are discriminated against because of your race, your sexuality, your size, your gender. You will hesitate to vote. You will hesitate to dream. For us to have self esteem is truly an act of revolution. And OUR revolution is long overdue. I urge you all today, especially today, in these times of terrorism and chaos, to love yourselves without reservation. And to love each other without restraint...unless you're into leather. Then by all means, use restraints."

-- Margaret Cho

Carson: Fashion Savant


Which Member from Queer Eye for the Straight Guy is your type?
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This link will take you to the person that people are saying is going to win Survivor (so DUH, don't click it if ya don't wanna know who might be the winner) - i dunno tho, i woulda picked several other people before picking that one....

well, whaddaya know - Xanax is the rX that jeb bush's kid was busted for trying to obtain illegally with a forged prescription - "Xanax also is growing in popularity in the club drug scene, where it is used as a "parachute drug" taken to reduce the impact of the drug ecstasy, said Joe Kilmer of Drug Enforcement Administration's Miami office."

i've taken it for several days now, and i can't say that i've found it to be all that exciting...maybe i need to start doing ecstasy to fully feel the effect. ;-)

Cliche Kitty has a blog!

Love Liza - checked this DVD out from the library and just finished watching it...woah. Philip Seymour Hoffman is so cool. Bummer of a movie, but very well done.

hrmmmmm - has someone leaked the winner of Survivor: Pearl Islands? An offshore bookie thinks so, because he's getting more bets than usual at this stage of the game, and they're all for the same person....hrmmmm...

Welp, September 20 2002 was the day the tornado swept through our neighborhood - can't believe it's been a year. in some ways it seems like it wasn't that long ago, in other ways it seems like it's been longer...

friday i went to Johnie's calling with mom - had i not invited tons o queer people over to the house for a pool party/ice cream social for saturday afternoon, i'd be going to his funeral. tho he wasn't a celebrity, he completed one of those weird death trifectas - Johnny Cash, John Ritter, Johnie Means - all Johnnies.

It's weird all the deaths that have happened lately - had i not gone to Johnie's calling, i might have gone to Frank O'Bannon's funeral downtown. i really liked the O'Bannon family's request that people donate school and/or art supplies rather than spend money on flowers - just one more way for Frank to contribute to education in Indiana. it's also cool that his death has brought about discussions of living wills and organ donation - there never seems to be the "right time" to talk about that sort of thing, but it's easier to make your wishes known when you can talk about someone else doing it. i certainly don't want to be hooked up to machines to prolong my time on this planet - that's not really life. i dunno if any of my organs would be worthy of donation (maybe i should donate my body to science fiction??) but i certainly don't mind them checking me out for possibilities. i know it's probably irrational, and certainly selfish, but the only thing i wanna keep is my eyes - something about taking my eyes squicks me, so lemme hang on to em, okay? doubt they'd be wanted by the time i'm gone anyways, my vision's getting worse and worse, it seems.

so, apparently they're gonna continue John Ritter's sitcom, even though he's dead...

farkers are of different minds - most seem to feel the same way i do, that it seems like ABC's just milking it cuz they know they'll get some ratings when people will watch the show just to see what it's all about. but if i'm not mistaken (which is possible, i've only seen the show once), it was a John Ritter sitcom, something that revolved around him, mainly...

other farkers suggested that ABC should keep putting the show out because if they didn't, 50 people would lose their jobs because of the show's cancellation - errrr, naah, i doubt that's ABC's take on it. And certainly people in show biz know that there are no guarantees on how long a show will last, and they shouldn't have too hard a time finding new work...not to mention the fact that this is a SITCOM - har har har, dad's dead! *chuckle chuckle!*

other shows have had differing ways of dealing with the situation of stars leaving unexpectedly, and it's turned out differently each time. it was really creepy seeing Nancy Marchand on the Soprano's when we knew she was dead and her last episodes were computer generated...Cheers did fine when Coach died - made a star of Woody Harrelson - but had it been Ted Danson, the main character, I don't think they could've gone on with the show...

it's a good thing that yesterday i didn't start the new meds the psychiatrist gave me in my appointment on monday - after getting the rx's filled, i noticed 2489 warnings about taking the stuff with AED's (that's anti-epileptic drugs) and other similar precautions. so i called and left a message with the neurologist, just to double check and make sure he agrees with the drug selections. well, didn't hear back from the office yesterday, so i didn't take the new stuff.

the reason i'm glad i didn't start the stuff yesterday? if i had, i'd probably stop taking it after this morning - had some majorly fucked up dreams/nightmares. had i had such vivid dreams as these the night after starting new meds, i woulda figured they caused em and stopped taking the stuff.

why were there 2 HUGE crickets (huge as in TEN FEET TALL!) in my bedroom, staring me down and looking as though they were ready to eat me? or rather, why the hell was i DREAMING about the aforementioned crickets?? very strange dreams - i felt very small, very vulnerable, and like being human was a distinct disadvantage....

A spiffy blog for Scrabble Geeks...

This Popular Science article makes it obvious - maybe my job ain't so bad after all - at least i'm not sniffing other people's farts...

hrmmmmm - looking to try a new recipe? well, check out Mr. Brain's Faggots - they've got recipes for stuff like Faggot Kebabs, Faggot Stuffed Peppers, and Faggot Cobbler

another article on the homophobe IU professor and his weblog....sorry, even though he's an employee of the school and probably shouldn't say stuff like that, i don't think the school should take away his right to do so...i'd certainly agree with the idea that IU's got a right to put a disclaimer on any website saying they don't necessarily speak for the school, but to censor the guy isn't cool, no matter how deplorable and idiotic his comments might be.

"Rasmusen said he keeps the site -- not so much for others to read, but as a journal to record his thoughts." - that, i think, is a crock of shit though - if he wasn't intending for it to be read by people, there are lots of ways to do that without publishing it on your employers' web space, for christ's sake...

a little personal note to Julie Millam, of the "Montana Family Coalition" - you're a CUNT.

ya don't like queer eye for the straight guy? fine, don't watch it.

your comment about reality tv for gays is inappropriate though:

"To me, that's not a reality show about gay people," said Julie Millam, who said she watched clips from the show. "A really good reality show for gay people would be five gay men dying of AIDS."

Opus is returning!

ha ha ha, seems this dave barry article about telemarketers has caused an uproar - ol' dave published the American Teleservices Association's toll-free phone number (that's 1-877-779-3974) and encouraged people to call and tell the telemarketers what they think...

so ... "The article generated thousands of phone calls to the ATA number, said Tim Searcy, ATA executive director. As a result, the association switched the number, which it formerly answered live, to a voice recording. The recording advises callers that the organization is unable to take the call because of "overwhelming positive response to recent media" and asks that they leave a message. "

farkers are talking about continuing the phone campaign to the telemarketers - methinks they'll be changing their phone number in the very near future...

they're labeling it a "prank" by dave barry - i don't think they understand how freaking ANNOYING it is to get 24890 unsolicited phone calls for crap you don't want at all hours of the day. i dunno, i might be a bit more annoyed at it than other people, simply because i sleep during the day and it's amazing how many stupid calls are made at 1 in the afternoon (ugh, can we also get these freaking landscape people to quit knocking on the door asking if we'd like the stumps in our front yard removed??)

hrmmm, wonder which bartender at which bar this is at bitterwaitress.com - "indyboy101" seems to have some delusions of grandeur...yes, leaving a good tip is the right thing to do, but it sounds like this person's got a little too much attitude...

VNS Update - saw Dr. Mohan today, had to see him after having a seizure last week and the couple the week before that. since it wasn't a thursday appointment, i had to go see him all the way up at st. vincent's - they don't seem as familiar with the VNS stuff there, for some reason. doc upped my keppra dosage as well as upping the VNS zappage - now it's 1.0 with the magnet zapping it at 1.25. i can definitely feel it going off, a sharp pain in my left ear every 5 minutes. i know it'll become less noticable as time goes by, but it's annoying as hell right now.

woah, even fark's lit up about o'bannon's cerebral hemorrhage - what a major bummer. hope the guy pulls through okay

well here's a URL you can't dispute: SpellingMistakesCostLives

do NOT click on this link if you're hung over - Japanese eye tricks - you have been warned...

IU professor keeps anti-gay Web log - hmmm, apparently indiana university economics professor Eric Rasmusen doesn't like the homos and feels the need to mention it in his workplace weblog...i don't agree with the people that have tried to get this man's opinions removed - hey, he's an asshole, he should be totally free to express that. taking away his right to express his opinions, as stupid as they may be, isn't cool.

and here i thought Aldi was just a place to get el cheapo groceries - they've got a notebook computer for sale at the store! dvd writer and everything, 1500 bucks...

How to make bedroom slippers out of maxi pads

hrmmm, perhaps i should get a rX for this one - Proloxil

life these days, summed up into one word? ARGH.

i can't believe this link i posted to fark actually made it on the main page - i figured asking people for anagram suggestions would garner a few responses from TotalFarkers (those of us that pay to see every link submitted) but a farker grown-up actually put it on the main page....

hrmmm, now what to do with the suggestions i've received....

omigod - it's true, and here's more proof of it than just my general hunch - dale's new car has been declared "the sports car for nerds"

well whaddaya know, ted - the food guy on "queer eye for the straight guy" - graduated from carmel high school...

my vote for sign of the day....

i love The Onion - check out this infographic on Gay TV:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BLOG! it was 2 years ago yesterday that i got this baby up and running - awwwwwwwww....

awww man - A Christmas Story: 20th Anniversary Special Edition, to be released October 7 - even though I've got the damned movie on DVD, i'll probably be shelling out for this one, since it's got a disc of what looks to be very interesting extras...

VNS Update - still ticking away, i've noticed the pulsing a lot more over the past few days. not sure if it's more noticeable because i'm fighting off a head cold or what, but the voice changing's been a lot more prevalent.

the keppra seems to be a good anticonvulsant for me - i've been totally off of the dilantin for a few weeks now and no seizure activity to report *knock on wood*

mid september i'll be meeting with a new psychiatrist, who also happens to be a neurologist - hopefully that means i won't have to give her a lesson on the whole Vagus Nerve Stimulator thing. my Internal Medicine doc wasn't familiar with it at all, and i've also given education sessions to a variety of other docs, nurses and assorted medical personnel. i hope the new shrink can come up with a good combo of meds to stave off the panic attacks and keep me seizure-free as well. i'm also hoping the shrink can give me some answers about the VNS as a treatment for depression, which my regular neurologist didn't have - is it possible that we can treat my epilepsy and depression at the same time, or do they use different pulse settings for each?

dad was in town this weekend, so i saw him for a little bit - it was the first time i'd seen him since christmas, which was before the surgery. it's obvious that he's totally clueless about this stuff, but doesn't seem all that interested in learning more about it either. whatever.

i need to get some work done on the website, but that's too close to actually doing work...

the 5 flavor LifeSavers roll has consisted of the same five original flavors -- Cherry, Pineapple, Orange, Lemon and Lime.

Next month, that's gonna change - cherry and pineapple will stay, but they're getting rid of orange, lemon and lime...

their replacements? raspberry, watermelon and blackberry - what the hell?!?

supposedly there was a vote, but nobody asked me. raspberry? yuck. watermelon? ehhh, okay, instead of lemon or lime, i could deal with that. blackberry? errrr, no thanks. i'm surprised they'd get rid of orange - cherry and orange are the two best ones!

as for the single flavor rolls, butter rum's good, but the favorite's gotta be cryst-o-mint....

heh heh heh - if you weren't a big fan of the Dubya in the flight suit doll, how about this ebay auction for a Texas Air National Guard George W Bush Action Figure. seems the doll's gone AWOL from the box it's being shipped in...

here's the list of candidates on the California recall ballot...

will schwarzenegger actually have a chance at winning this thing?!? the whole thing just seems so crazy - but then again, we ARE talking about california...

welcome to my Fair & Balanced blog! why the hell should Fox News consider themselves any more Fair & Balanced than Al Franken??

What time is it?

well, now that Gary Coleman's gotten a key endorsement, i think it's OBVIOUS that he's gonna whoop Arnold Schwarzenegger's ass in the California recall election - Nellie Oleson from Little House On The Prairie thinks Coleman is qualified...

The Unabomber Wants His Stuff Back - one of the things he mentioned wanting returned to him is his copy of "On Being Sane in Insane Places"...hmmm...

jeezus - scrape yer forty bucks together, so that you can get your very own dubya military action figure!

For those of you that like to forward email to everyone, in the hopes of curing cancer or getting a $953 gift certificate: CHECK THIS OUT!

interesting blog: Medical Rants

totalfark's lit up with articles about flash mobs - hell, maybe something like this could work here in Indy...hrmm...

flashmob

A Website and Weblog about Topics and Issues discussed in the book Smart Mobs: The Next Social Revolution by Howard Rheingold

Stunts involving 'mob' silliness latest e-mail craze

SFBA Mob #2 - Instructions @ robzazueta.com

In a flash, `mobs' gather in a gaggle, then are gone

hrm, perhaps i should just BUY one...

Interesting ("disturbing" is more like it) facts via Harper's Index:

Amount of the $106,185 price of a Hummer H1 that businesses may deduct under the proposed Bush tax plan : $88,722

Number of Grateful Dead concerts attended by columnist Ann Coulter : 67

Bill Maher is blogging now.

My favorite fark headline of yesterday referred to this story on slate.com: "Liberian soldiers cross-dress to gain element of surprise. Eddie Izzard hired by pentagon as military advisor."

"Because we all know one of the main factors of war is the element of surprise. And what could be more surprising than the First Batallion Transvestite Brigade?" - Eddie Izzard, Dress To Kill

going through the list of Behavioral Care Providers, i see there's an alphabet soup of acronyms - MD's easy...since i have a LCSW i know it means licensed clinical social worker - but what's an ACSW? LP? LMHC? LMFT? this Acronym City page gives a few answers...

VNS Update - Saw Dr. Mohan today after a major anxiety attack before I was supposed to be going to work on Tuesday (didn't go). He's deferring to my family doc, who told me to take a couple more weeks off and find a new psychiatrist (the one I was seeing left the practice early this year) to make decisions on meds.

That stuff's not particularily VNS related, but when I saw Dr. Mohan today I asked him about the use of the VNS as a depression treatment. Since it's not FDA approved for that use in the US, he doesn't know have the info on how it works. So I don't know if just having the VNS in me to treat my seizures will provide an added benefit of treating my depression, or if they have different settings to use in the treatment of depression - something to look in to, certainly.

Death by caffeine! ever wonder how much pop ya'd hafta drink to die of a caffeine overdose? well now you can find out!

hoo doggie! i didn't know that Roscoe P. Coltrane was a Hoosier. not only a Hoosier, but a Sagamore of the Wabash - Indiana's highest honor!

VNS Update - Had a followup visit with the neurologist on Friday, 25 July...he asked me if i wanted more time off from work. As tempting as it was to say HELL YES, I refrained - so back to work I go on Monday! No seizures since I last saw him, so we made no adjustments to the settings - still 30 seconds at .75 every 5 minutes. I was half expecting him to tell me that something happened again with it not going off as much as it should, but it is going off (according to the computer) as it should - guess I've gotten used to it quickly. I'm sure that the relative ease in my getting used to the stimulation is from Dr. Mohan's philosophy of starting low and upping it if need be - sounds as tho the other patients on the Cyberonics website and such have side effects that are more intense because they're pulsing either stronger or more frequently right off the bat.

Work - eek! Part of me's ready to go back, part isn't. I just hope I'm not getting in over my head by going back full time.

argh, building the VNS website is gonna kill me, or i'm gonna kill a machine or four in the process...wish i could jump into the time machine and go back to college and go into comp sci...

VNS Update - It's been a really muggy day out there. High temps and high humidity. Those two factors collide to give me some difficulties breathing (aka dyspnea). I've not had breathing problems before the VNS surgery, which is a bit surprising considering the difficulties my mom and brother have had with asthma (although mom's may also be related to her cystic fibrosis as well) but after the surgery I had complications, including atelectasis that made breathing very difficult. That cleared up, but when the heat and humidity get to be overbearing, I find myself getting out of breath very easily.

Otherwise, things seem to be going well - no seizures. Still slightly paranoid cuz i don't notice the pulsing as much, but at my appointment to see the neurologist on Friday we'll check everything out to make sure all's still good - if that's the case, it's back to work Monday!

pics of adam in australia (beware, they're high res) - http://www.squarenine.com.au/adamjay/

time to return books to the library and pick up a new batch...

returning:

The Clinton Wars - by Sidney Blumenthal - didn't get around to reading it and it's apparently on hold for someone else, so i couldn't renew it - maybe some other time...

Skin flutes & velvet gloves : a collection of facts and fancies, legends and oddities about the body's private parts - by Terri Hamilton - this was such an interesting book I bought two copies of it on amazon - one for me, one for greg. i knew greg would love this book of weird trivia about penises and vaginas (definitely more penis-centric, but interesting nonetheless.)

The wisdom of the enneagram : the complete guide to psychological and spiritual growth for the nine personality types - Don Richard Riso - gonna hafta buy this one so i can write in the margins - very cool book.

Leaving reality behind : etoy vs eToys.com & other battles to control cyberspace - by Adam Wishart - definitely a case of you can't judge a book by it's cover. very interesting, but really it's two separate books, one about etoy and one about etoys.com, then a bit at the end about the fight over the domain name. don't know where the "other battles" portion of the book is - i was expecting stuff about things like the fight over nissan.com - the computer guy with the last name of Nissan vs. Nissan motors. i'm very interested in etoy.com tho - weird guys, dunno if i like em or not.

Arch - book of photos of Andy Goldsworthy's art. after seeing Rivers and Tides, i've found myself very interested in Goldsworthy's stuff.

Google hacks : [100 industrial-strength tips & tools] - too industrial strength for me, tho i did learn a few interesting things.

101 survival secrets : how to make $1,000,000, lose 100 pounds, and just plain live happily - by Rich Hatch, winner of Survivor. i was amazed and how intelligent this guy is - a surprisingly interesting read.

Kill duck before serving : red faces at The New York Times : a collection of the newspaper's most interesting, embarrassing and off-beat corrections - by Tom Bloom - funny, but it's more of an article than a book: there's lots of filler in this one.

No logo : taking aim at the brand bullies - by Naomi Klein - found this in doing a search for culture jamming, didn't get to read the whole thing, maybe another time...

Second acts : creating the life you really want, building the career you truly desire - Stephen M. Pollan - no time to read this one, maybe another time...

Your own worst enemy : breaking the habit of adult underachievement - Kenneth Christian - no time to read this one either, maybe another time...