the immortalization of a king

2011-04-11T07:48:00.001-07:00

Have i mentioned that i la-La-LA-LOVE my new job?! anyplace serving unlimited free coffee has my vote =)

2011-04-10T20:15:00.001-07:00

My best and most important investment in 2011 is me! -S.Tensai!

2011-04-01T23:59:00.001-07:00

What i've learned from clubing is that if you're the third wheel, you're easy prey & you must hold STRONG will & little patience. Hence my Excellence...

life has changed

2010-07-27T00:06:00.000-07:00

so, i moved

i did it, i finally left everything i hated about Oregon and opted for everything i loved about SoCal. im in Sunny Los Angeles

="(

... i also left a few things behind i didn't want to leave. well a person, not a thing. i spent my whole time after graduation in Portland so i could continue the relationship with someone that i cared for so much, and every day i realized that i was sadder than the last and doing nothing different about it.

that is, until half way through April 2010 when we were doing the same thing we did every evening with our friends after another crappy day. not even a quarter the way through it all, after having gotten ready for a good night while avoiding an argument, i got tired. i didn't need a nap but my body was exhausted from the repetition and my mind was weary from stagnation. i nearly snapped at a coworker who recognized me at the bar and that's when i knew drinking wouldn't solve my problems.

two miles later i had sore calves and a good sweat on my forehead as i finished walking home at midnight. by morning i woke up with a sad smile and said the words that ruined my relationship, "i think im going to move to LA at the end of May."

then i turned around, took a shower, and watched my world fall apart with nothing but hope that id find a way to rebuild.

im in East LA now, back almost where i was a few years ago. my future is a bit more vague but my present is much more exciting. my heart has been painfully torn apart by my own hands into nearly irreparable pieces, but on the plus side, i've lost some weight and regained my focus. i still think about my ex-love whom i still love. a lot. (sigh)

i should really blog about happier moments...

2010-01-27T12:51:00.001-08:00

Omg lost season 6 in six days!

2010-01-26T12:23:00.001-08:00

I have taken the next step towards excellence: im officially applying as a volunteer for good sam hospital!

2009-12-31T14:29:00.001-08:00

Omg omg omg! Im so lame and just like all holidays, New Years eve has krept up on me! Got any ideas on how best to celebrate?

2009-11-26T10:34:00.001-08:00

HAPPY THANKSGIVING! =)

S.Tensai

2009-11-07T18:48:00.001-08:00

Im afraid i have a bias for which i h8 myself. I cannot control the feelings i have for this dog carrier or the fool speaking loudly on the phone in the train.

2009-11-07T18:47:00.001-08:00

There is a man who seems unhomeless but walks tackily loving a canine albino pit-bull. The genetically crazy animal makes me think less of him than i should but

2009-11-07T18:45:00.001-08:00

The differences btwx peopl throughout the world infuriate me more than i could ever LIKE the people OF the world but i so very much LOVE our individuality. huh.

2009-11-07T18:11:00.001-08:00

I never feel skinny until nights where i look down and my fat thighs finally stop spreading. I think, 'finally! I disresemble butter!'

2009-11-07T10:14:00.001-08:00

I am now getting facebook.com notifications via my phone, along w/twitter and a slew of others. No wonder my phone battery dies daily =P

you know, there's a great lack of something on TV when...

2009-10-13T01:19:00.000-07:00

Has anyone else noticed the lack of something in entertainment lately? Something is just not there that was around when I was a kid. And normally I would make a big stink about me getting too close to thirty and ‘when I was a kid,’ but damn it, I am just not old and it’s taken less than a decade for me to get really disappointed in what I’m seeing. What happened to “Lethal Weapon” style movies? And “Who Framed Roger Rabbit?” was so cool I still watch it with my siblings. I’m not saying I didn’t like the “Transformers” movies but I feel like I’m seeing more graphic enhancement than acting or even thought provoking scripts. Mind benders like “Fight Club” were a treat, and I mean a real damn treat. I swear even the kids shows were entertaining. Somehow even Disney lost its way. Excuse me while I search “Family Matters” on hulu.com. I’m in a rut only grandma Winslow can get me out of.

my top three topics

2009-10-12T23:43:00.000-07:00

If anyone knows me, and even if you don’t, all you have to do is listen to me talk for more than five minutes, you’ll notice I put emphasis on a few things. And let’s not trump myself up, it really is ONLY three things: 1) money, 2) calories, and 3) tree hugging.

The third item is only the idealized version of me because, and let there be no mistake, I will not go outside unless I have to. I just like to recycle. I like saving my trash so I can take it and separate things at the recycling center down the street. I got excited when I found out plastic bags were now recyclable. I seem like an alcoholic not because I actually drink much, but because I save up weeks and weeks worth of bottles and cans so I can take one big trip to the recycling center so I can save gasoline. I even consider my family lucky because we compost and make very little trash. Nothing aggravates me like watching people throw away things that could easily be reused, reduced, OR recycled.

The second item (calories) is the beast I wage constant war with. It’s like the evil mother-in-law that just won’t leave you alone, constantly egging you on just to watch you crash and burn by no one else’s hand but your own. I count my calories, I burn my calories, I make bargains with calories, and still I win no prize. The biggest problem anyone faces in conversing with me is how to avoid talking about my great new way to skim the calories. Honestly, my appetite for low-cal/no-cal, fat-free, sugar-free meals will send me to some ward lined with pillows and beginning with the word ‘psych-’.

Lastly (also number one in my list, probably also meaning most important) is money. Boy do I like money. No, not really money, I like what money can buy. I like what having money can get me. I am mostly unashamed at the fact that I know and appreciate my fondness for money. How can I be this way you ask? Easily. For the same reason that a million other bloggers said they are this way. And for the same reason hundreds of other bloggers wrote that same exact sentence. Money does things for me that this blog cannot, namely paying my heating bill (I am much attached to my heating bill, only because I am very much into lying around in heated areas. I’m like a salamander that way).

Anyways, I love money, hate calories, and heck, forests are nice to look at sometimes. From behind the window of my house. With heat. Or better yet in pictures from my loft in the city (I’ll have a city loft one day, you mark my words).

just photos of the friends i may have... jealous?

2009-10-01T00:53:00.000-07:00

these lovely flowers were given to me by Liz Eggers from her own garden for my birthday. they were GORGEOUS until their last dried up day

Brian Erik Amanda Dante and Ben all came to my bifday shindig and boy was it interesting. i don't know who let some of those people in, but either way, i need a doorman next year.

it's mah Liz! Ms Eggers and i have been homies for years now. how she managed to stay lookin young i dunno, but i look a bit tired myself lol

i finally found glasses that make me look so super cool. gosh, even i want to be my friend. then i take them off... not so super cool =(

@drvivanco shrieks at Star Wars characters in the Star Wars store in Clackamas mall. the only reason we ended up there was because the shooting range was closed that day, which was way lame. or maybe it was just another trip. either way, BriLum absolutely FORCED us to go in there. he's such a wild and crazy guy.

Blumg and a master of the force (Yoda?)

MandyRuhl Dante and i at one of my fav restaurants Rock Bottom Brewery

A.Ruhl and Dante and i again... we're tots cool.

this is Mr Vivanco Sr beer tasting. it was GREAT!

Lisa's B-day that Dante and i went to at Silver Dollar Pizza or Old Town Pizza. i think it may be Old town, but either way, that place is bomb and sits above the tunnels of Portland (Shanghai Tunnel, i really want to go on that tour!)

i hate that i love my loathsome laptop

2009-09-30T22:42:00.000-07:00

You know what I wish?

I wish computers were sensible. I wish someone would program a computer to actually do what a person wanted… ALL THE TIME!!!

I know what you’re thinking. I should stop complaining and get an upgrade. But you know what I’m thinking? I’m thinking, “I pressed this mouse so many damn times on this one link and why hasn’t the computer acknowledged my request? Why is it focusing on something else? Why is a program I have not opened taking up ANY RAM ever? WHY DO YOU SHUT OFF FIREFOX WHEN I’M WORKING ON IT?!?!?!”

I think this computer is lucky it has no pain receptors. I feel as if I may go to jail for what I would do to a living being if it treated me the way my computer treats me. I plug it in, it slows down. I upgrade the memory, it slows down. I get rid of any spyware/virus, it slows down. I swear, if it went any slower, there would be a time/space warp in my screen and I would die, I would just die.

I want to ask technology, “Why must you thwart me so?” and then shoot it in the knee cap so it learns a lesson.

Which reminds me; I need to buy a glock. Those things are just cool. Terrifying and cool.

signs like this would make the US more fun

2009-09-30T21:08:00.001-07:00

i just think this is too funny

please click on the title link and enjoy the rest of the photos someone else found. i'm too boring to have my own =(

OK GO YOUR SO DAMN HOT

2009-09-30T21:00:00.000-07:00

I *heart* this song by OK GO almost more than the other one!!!

i don't know when i became alternative or emo, but i can't help being better than most.

OK GO A MILLION WAYS

2009-09-30T20:53:00.000-07:00

i miss hearing music from this band. i wish the radio didn't make them out to be one hit wonders. i like this song and this video is cool i think. maybe i'm just uber lame =P

some people are an experience...

2009-09-30T20:46:00.000-07:00

I’m amazed constantly by humans. I am probably one of the most sane humans I know and still I amaze myself. I’m boring and selfish at the same time as caring and exciting. I’m an enigma wrapped in something or other, which is a half-assed quote from some wonderful 1990’s situation comedy (aka sitcom (I’m so excited I finally figured out what sitcom stood for, so I’m sharing it with you now as well)).

As I have said many times before, I am from a small town in Oregon. It’s boring (Oregon actually has a city named Boring, but that’s not where I’m from), and it’s sprawled out, but I like it. I don’t like it enough to stay here forever, but it’s not horrible all the time.

I digress. Humans amaze me. I was working today at the bank and a woman came in to make a deposit. She said she was shorted $200, no doubt thinking that the bank was somewhat like McDonalds and would refund her the missing items no questions asked. Had we been McDonalds, we would have still said, “no ma’am we will not give you the extra fries,” and she would have still cause a raucous and asked to see the manager in front of a busy line at rush hour.

Scammers amaze me. It’s not enough that people have clothes on their backs and food on their tables at their houses with electricity. People amaze me because dishonesty is an inherently human attribute. It’s tragic, indeed, but true, which is more of a tragedy than my old District Manager from AnF (really, what was she thinking? Didn’t she own a mirror?)

That’s quite a great note to end my message on though eh? About crappy people in this world? A light one about my old heffer of a DM? It made me smile. Ah heffers, they make the world wobble with their heft.

the hell kinda blog...

2009-09-28T09:20:00.001-07:00

So I have neglected my work on the blog. It’s a fact that I have come to terms with.

But I refuse to be one of the many who start a blog and never go back to it. That’s the way it was with Myspace.com and this blog is NOT Myspace. I’m very nearly anti-myspace (except for the great artists you can find every now and then).

Blogging has gone beyond the simple and really hit upon many facets of the world. There are celebrity blogs, and political blogs, and food blogs, and PR blogs. I even saw a porn blog (ok, more than a few).

What about my blog? What is my blog? Originally it started out as a way for me to keep a journal of my young life, so that when I hit 30 or something I could look back and hopefully be proud. I wanted to be able to read my posts and know that I did things I wanted to do, because I know if I write things down, I’m more likely to do them.

But really, what have I done?

I haven’t moved back to southern California like I wanted to.

I’m not famous (at all) enough to make it rain.

I have a degree that only set me up to go to more school, and lord knows I’m staving off of that for as long as possible (I have yet to forget the stress of exams and the inevitable ulcer).

I gotta figure out what kind of blog I’m runnin here. Even I can only write about myself so much without filling space with emoticons =P

CONDITIONAL HEL(L)...p...

2009-08-13T17:10:00.000-07:00

Help. It’s an awesome thing. I appreciate it. I doubt there are many people who actively avoid it. But it always seems to come with strings attached.

I’m not one to assist a person or cause without some sort of reward. If you drive your friends out to a bar, expect a drink. If you write a letter of recommendation, expect a fruit basket or something. These are practical “strings of attachment” if you will.

What I do not understand are conditions. I understand that it’s one thing to award help to those who deserve it most and who put forth the most effort. It seems practical to apply a condition like that and seems efficient even.

The situation I am in however is a bit different. I ask my parents for help every now and again when I absolutely need it. I had a job and I lost a job. Now I am in school and the money I had saved up has gone to pay for said schooling. I am definitely in need of help and the first people I looked to were my parents.

I should preface any further description of my situation by first describing the relationship my parents have. They really have always been something of an enigma to me. I don’t know how they got along and their initial marriage still is a mystery to me as I was not born out of wedlock. They are the opposite of yin and yang and do not fit together at all. They more resemble hot oil and cold water. Explosions are seldom avoided.

Therefore it surprised me to find out that they were going to work on helping me together. They separated themselves on the opposite sides of the United States and somehow they can work together and help me. Eagerly I accepted and pushed aside the little voice in my mind telling to be wary. I don’t know why I ignored that voice; I just know I needed the money. Food I could afford & I have enough clothes. I can even afford gasoline every now and then. School is different though because it’s a bill that can easily be racked up high into the thousands.

Now that voice has come back to bit me in the arse. It’s been more than a month since I paid the bill with my credit card and still I haven’t been “helped” by my folks. “Why?” you ask. Well let me sum it up: INEFFICIENCY.

Upon hearing of my predicament my father sent the school money to my mother within a couple weeks. My mother was to deposit the check into her account then take redeposit the funds into my account. It seems like an easy thing, though admittedly the longer route in lieu of a visible short cut. The major road block is more of a scheduling conflict. My mother works a lot and the banks are open only at times when she is working. She gets off work when the bank closes so depositing the money is impossible, directly affecting her ability to deposit ANYTHING into my account at my bank. And what of my credit card bill? Yeah, it’s not a pretty picture.

Oil and water folks. My parents, in terms of cooking products, individually work great. But my mother and father are individuals that become oil and water, respectively, real quick, drawn together by me in my hour of need. The product? Me getting burned, or more accurately, my blood pressure rising faster than my un-paid credit card balance. I need some of Obama’s free health care quick, I’m going downhill fast. Lord help me, I’m sick and tired of conditional help.

2009-08-05T12:05:00.001-07:00

A man so fat driving without a shirt on was sitting upright and stil his stomach was visible pressing against the stearing wheel. I cannot imagine that being ok

2009-08-05T10:58:00.001-07:00

I met a man today, Bill Wagner. Retired educated well traveled & active, he inspired me. Strangers can make a huge positive difference.

2009-08-03T12:15:00.001-07:00

Oh someone save me from spending money on a recipe book for Splenda No Calorie Sweetener recipes. I MUST WALK AWAY.

2009-08-03T11:49:00.001-07:00

FINALLY! Someone FINALLY got back to me and scheduled a job interview - AND IT'S WITH A BANK! Im super excited & even if i am not accepted, what an opportunity!

2009-08-01T14:55:00.001-07:00

AWKWARD: people flossig in public restrooms. It's practical, like having a rolling back pack &, coicidentally, just as unsightly. Ugh!

2009-08-01T14:34:00.001-07:00

Ok, well, maybe mean isn't the word to use for mi madre, but i wouldn't call he sweet either. She's like a lemon. U must first add water & sugar to enjoy =)

2009-08-01T14:32:00.001-07:00

Why must stats. be so difficult? Why can't i be the numerical genius i once was? Im totally smart, too. Even my mom thinks so (& she's mean)

2009-08-01T14:18:00.001-07:00

Im pretty sure half the PSU population is Asian - and i do include TONS of Middle Easterners. It's a GREAT thing =)i

just another omg moment

2009-07-30T14:05:00.001-07:00

OH MY GOODNESS

2009-07-29T18:19:00.001-07:00

2009-07-29T12:54:00.001-07:00

Gosh! Why are shows still sufferring from the writers' strike?! I thought the issues were settled a while ago! Aaaaarg!

FREAKIN SEEMS AWESOME! WANNA SEE IT!

2009-07-01T01:01:00.000-07:00

I HAVE TO SEE!

2009-07-01T01:00:00.000-07:00

WANNA WATCH!

2009-07-01T00:57:00.000-07:00

WANNA WATCH!

2009-07-01T00:56:00.001-07:00

MUST SEE!

2009-07-01T00:54:00.000-07:00

someone died

2009-06-30T23:38:00.000-07:00

a long time ago the Jackson five came out and everyone was happy. the music was great and the kids were great and the father was abusive and the mother was endlessly supportive and there was scandal everywhere! who didn't want more?

Michael. little michael didn't want more. he wanted less. less of his skin color. less of his nose. less of his own sanity really. what where we left with when the J5 grew up and michael was big and the brothers disappeared and janet got fat and latoya got skinny and joe got richer and Katherine got smart?

wacko-jacko. that's what the world called him. Pedi-man jackson is what he was known for being (really, what grown ass man hangs out with kids?). now all of a sudden he dies and he's a legend? he was always a MUSIC legend. he just never grew up. he went straight to crazy and disappointed us all as a role model. sure he stood up for the poor and hungry and young and weak. so does Bono and his band still makes music (without sleepovers from random children).

i think the story that should have been given more attention was that of Ms Farrah Fawcett. she was a family woman who had family struggles and mostly down to earth (as much as you can be when you're a rich celebrity).

i think it's amazing that they both died the same day and still i got constant texts about MJ's death ('king of pop is dead' or 'a legend has passed' etc) but no one mentioned the mysterious circumstances.

AND no one mentioned Fawcett's untimely death of Cancer. call me whatever, but i think cancer is a bit of a harder way to go than Jackson's rumored heart attack.

yeah and i just got those photos off of google. props to whomever really took them.b

laid...

2009-06-30T23:12:00.000-07:00

OFF!!!

'wtf? ' you may ask? 'WTF?!' INDEED!

i started working for my very first job-job like not-at-a-desk-at-school job in October of 2008 as a manager in training (MIT) for Abercrombie & Fitch. it was great.

until now. now i had to part company with the company and i feel like the housewife who cared for the family and home until she was secluded from family and friends and i don't know what i'm talking about anymore but i'm so mad and my friends are all gone moving on with their life and i think that was the gist of things because i feel subconsciously pleased with myself.

at least i'm skinny and have nice clothes. yeah, i did luck out there. great frame for the great wardrobe ;)

f*in abercrombie, you sexy beast of a life shattering, self-esteem wrecking, bitch-factory clothes company.

i hEaRt cookies!

2009-06-07T23:24:00.000-07:00

if u know me, u realize that i'm very critical with food. i love food just as much as i hate it. i choose decadent desserts and curse them with every mouthful. i complain at the lack of bacon in my bacon burger then dissect the fat from its length. i even go so far as to dab the oil off of my pepperoni pizza before dipping the slice into ranch dressing.

yes, i'm mysterious in my thinking, i know. it's a curse.

anyways, one thing i do know is that i cant eat something salty without crazing something sweet afterward, and lord knows my soul would gnaw at my brain incessantly if i dared eat dessert without a proper meal ahead of time. i blame it on evolution, this need for both salty and sweet portions. there has to be something biological about it (i assume it was a mechanism that would ensure my winter survival or something).

anyways (again), i really REALLY like sweet things. what i don't like too much of, however, are calories. calories seem to really be sticking to me lately (literally - back fat is gross and yet i feel like its magnet) and i recently found out that sugar has a lot of calories (i'm not even kidding, it's been a recent internal realization). another recent discovery: 'artificial' sweetener!

everyone sees the pink packets and the blue packets right next to the white packets of sugar, but what i like most are the little yellow packets of Splenda! or more importantly SUCRALOSE. sucralose is my favotire sweetner because so far no one has anything bad to say about it (unlike aspartame). i put it in almost everything! my favorite restaurant drink is chilled water with lemon wedges, no ice, and one packet of splenda. it is refreshing and lightly tart with a sweet hint and a clean feel.

but i digress (as per usual).

i really REALLY rEaLlY like sucralose because you don't need nearly as much sucralose as sugar to be sweet (and it doesn't add to that nasty anti-summer back fat) so i thought id get a recipe for sugar free oatmeal craisin cookies!

INGREDIENTS (Nutrition)

* 1 cup butter, softened (MMMMM BUTTER! don't use margarine - it's too watery)
* 1 cup packed brown sugar (2/3 CUP OF SUCRALOSE INSTEAD!)
* 1 cup white sugar (2/3 CUP OF SUCRALOSE INSTEAD!)
* 2 eggs (REPLACE WITH THREE EGG WHITES AND THROW AWAY THE YOLKS!)
* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
* 2 cups quick cooking oats
* 2 cups all-purpose flour (COME ON NOW! REPLACE WITH WHOLE WHEAT FLOUR!)
* 1 teaspoon baking soda (DON'T PLAY AROUND - HALF A TSP!)
* 1 teaspoon baking powder (DON'T PLAY AROUND - HALF A TSP!)
* 1 teaspoon salt
* 1 cup raisins
* 1 cup dried cranberries

* add to recipe box Add to Recipe Box
My folders:
* add to shopping list Add to Shopping List
* Customize Recipe
* add a personal note Add a Personal Note

DIRECTIONS

1. Beat butter, sugars(SUCRALOSE), eggs (EGG WHITES) and vanilla for 5 minutes. In another bowl, combine oats, (WHOLE WHEAT) flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Add to butter mixture 1 cup at a time.
2. Mix in raisins and craisins.
3. Drop by spoonfuls onto greased (OLIVE OIL) cookie sheets and bake for 12-14 minutes at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). These freeze very well. Enjoy!!

(recipe from allrecipes.com)

retail me

2009-04-02T15:12:00.000-07:00

i work for a company that i think is nice. it's the best retail company to work for in my opinion. i am not a fan of gap companies or american eagle. but abercrombie and fitch and it's companies seem just amazing to me. the business has been stream lined in so many ways and when times get tough, so does management.

that's where i come in. i graduated in september of 2008 and after two weeks of unemployment and no schooling, i interviewed for a position as an assistant manager for the largest abercrombie and fitch store in oregon.

i got the job!!!

but only as manager in training!!!

this MIT program is supposed to last three months or less. i'm about to enter my sixth month pretty soon. i'm not too happy about that. i'm excited to have a job at all during this economic climate, but i'd be happier with security.

AnF recruits people based on looks. pretty people get hired, unattractive people are avoided. i work hard at my job knowing that i was lucky enough to be born to attractive people in the first place, but that i'm the one maintaining a standing in the business based on my performance. but my performance seems to not be seen well by some of my superiors. i had a problem with an assistant manager who constantly talked down to me and made me feel like i was lesser (thank god he got promoted and moved on and away). my store manager things i work well enough and she can trust me to open and close a store by myself, but my "sense of urgency" is not always consistent. my district manager sees me only a few times a week for short periods of time and has mande some pretty harsh remarks about me. if i heard someone else saying this i would probably think they must be blinded by their own magnificence. however, i'm not so much blinded by myself. i'm constantly worried that i'm not good enough.

i run around the store deterring theft while customer servicing and cleaning in between tasking out part time associates on the sales floor and upstairs in the stock room all the while making sure my tasks for the day get done before the next managers shift starts/ends. i barely get time to use the restroom or get a drink of water before being called down to do some other duty. no wonder i'm tired all the time and frustrated that my good work is not being recognized fully. all that my DM sees is a mistake i made a month ago or a paper i didn't sign off on last week or an audit i didn't copy onto a tracker immediately.

i strive for perfection and like with any job i've ever had, i immerse myself in it completely to be better than my best. but i've never had nightmares about work before and i've never thought about work all day long during my day off. i've never been worried i wouldn't be able to pay off bills and school debts on time. i don't want to drown in this sinking economy. i want to stand high and dry and make something of myself.

i don't want to lose my job..

oh woe is me - sh*t...

2009-04-02T15:00:00.000-07:00

so, i like working. i like my job and i like exercising. as long as i'm out and about, i'm probably enjoying myself (unless i'm literally outside and it's cold or around plants where my allergies are acting up).

anyways, i like being productive. so after work yesterday, which ended at 11:00pm, i went to the gym to give myself some good cardio and great lifting. i did it and man did i feel awesome. i'm fit, i'm beautiful, i'm happy - what more could i want?

hot water. hot water is what i could want. and damn it i got home and took a nice hot shower. little did i know that it would possibly be one of the last hot showers i would have for a while.

i sat down to enjoy my new dvds of little brittain. it's a hilarious comedy and i honestly can't get enough. i was excited for it to be delivered and when i came home last night i saw it... unwrapped and opened! who the hell opens other peoples mail? that is just illegal and immoral and in some countries i'm sure it could be considered just as bad as stealing and warrant the chopping of fingers. i could have written a nasty letter threatening the culprit but i decided to watch the shows instead.

as i sat there about to put the disc into my computer, i heard a noise. as i'm out int he woods where i live, any noise frightens me. i'm like a little jumpy kitty, ready to run at any moment, and boy was i ready to run. something sounded like nit exploded and i nearly sharted. nearly.

oh dread!!! oh misery!!! my shower doesn't work. the hot water pipe exploded and my carpet's completely soaked!

bye bye $300

INAPPROPRIATE GOODNESS: Ciara & J.Timberlake - Love Sex Magic

2009-03-25T01:54:00.000-07:00

OMG!!! OMG OMG!!! OMG I CAN'T WAIT!!! OMG OMG HOLY DAMN OH MY GOD

2009-03-24T02:29:00.000-07:00

this is why this show succeeds! (i will not cry... i will not cry...)

2009-03-24T02:20:00.000-07:00

THIS MOVIE SUX

2009-03-23T01:19:00.001-07:00

MUST SEE MOVIE

2009-03-23T01:14:00.000-07:00

apparently there were drug problems in Mexico. who knew?!

2009-03-15T00:11:00.000-07:00

i think we can all blame a certain M. Phelps for his contribution to drug trafficking.

oh where for out thou big brother?

2009-03-14T23:57:00.000-07:00

Behold: THE AIRLESS TIRE!!! (there are angels waiting to sing in the background for this moment)

2009-03-14T23:50:00.000-07:00

our present vice-prez Joe Biden (from wiki)

2009-03-14T23:43:00.000-07:00

Joseph Robinette "Joe" Biden, Jr. (pronounced /'dʒoʊzɪf rɒbɪ'nɛt 'baɪdən/; born November 20, 1942) is the 47th and current Vice President of the United States. He was a United States Senator from Delaware from January 3, 1973 until his resignation on January 15, 2009, following his election to the Vice Presidency. Biden was born in Scranton, Pennsylvania and lived there for ten years before moving to Delaware. He became an attorney in 1969, and was elected to a county council in 1970. Biden was first elected to the Senate in 1972 and became the sixth-youngest senator in U.S. history. He was re-elected to the Senate six times, and was the fourth most senior senator at the time of his resignation.

Biden was a long-time member and former chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee. His strong advocacy helped bring about U.S. military assistance and intervention during the Bosnian War. He opposed the Gulf War in 1991. He voted in favor of the Iraq War Resolution in 2002, but later proposed resolutions to alter U.S. strategy there. He has also served as chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, dealing with issues related to drug policy, crime prevention, and civil liberties, and led creation of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act and Violence Against Women Act. He chaired the Judiciary Committee during the contentious U.S. Supreme Court nominations of Robert Bork and Clarence Thomas.

Biden unsuccessfully sought the Democratic presidential nomination in 1988 and 2008, both times dropping out early in the process. Barack Obama selected Biden to be the Democratic Party nominee for Vice President in the 2008 U.S. election. Biden is the first Roman Catholic and the first Delawarean to become Vice President of the United States.

our present prez (from wiki)

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Barack Hussein Obama II (pronounced /bəˈrɑːk huːˈseɪn oʊˈbɑːmə/; born August 4, 1961) is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama was the junior United States Senator from Illinois from January 2005 until November 2008, when he resigned following his election to the presidency.

Obama is a graduate of Columbia University and Harvard Law School, where he was the first African American president of the Harvard Law Review. He worked as a community organizer in Chicago prior to earning his law degree, and practiced as a civil rights attorney in Chicago before serving three terms in the Illinois Senate from 1997 to 2004. He also taught constitutional law at the University of Chicago Law School from 1992 to 2004.

Following an unsuccessful bid for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives in 2000, Obama was elected to the United States Senate in November 2004. Obama delivered the keynote address at the Democratic National Convention in July 2004. During his tenure as Senator, he served on several committees, including the Foreign Relations, Environment and Public Works, Veterans' Affairs, Health, Education, Labor and Pensions and Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.

After a particularly close campaign in the 2008 Democratic Party presidential primary against rival Hillary Rodham Clinton, he won his party's nomination as a candidate for president, becoming the first major African American candidate for president. In the 2008 general election, he defeated Republican candidate John McCain and was sworn in as president on January 20, 2009.

the prez chart!

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Ammendments 11-27 to US Constitution

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Amendment 11 - Judicial Limits. Ratified 2/7/1795. Note History

The Judicial power of the United States shall not be construed to extend to any suit in law or equity, commenced or prosecuted against one of the United States by Citizens of another State, or by Citizens or Subjects of any Foreign State.

Amendment 12 - Choosing the President, Vice-President. Ratified 6/15/1804. Note History The Electoral College

The Electors shall meet in their respective states, and vote by ballot for President and Vice-President, one of whom, at least, shall not be an inhabitant of the same state with themselves; they shall name in their ballots the person voted for as President, and in distinct ballots the person voted for as Vice-President, and they shall make distinct lists of all persons voted for as President, and of all persons voted for as Vice-President and of the number of votes for each, which lists they shall sign and certify, and transmit sealed to the seat of the government of the United States, directed to the President of the Senate;

The President of the Senate shall, in the presence of the Senate and House of Representatives, open all the certificates and the votes shall then be counted;

The person having the greatest Number of votes for President, shall be the President, if such number be a majority of the whole number of Electors appointed; and if no person have such majority, then from the persons having the highest numbers not exceeding three on the list of those voted for as President, the House of Representatives shall choose immediately, by ballot, the President. But in choosing the President, the votes shall be taken by states, the representation from each state having one vote; a quorum for this purpose shall consist of a member or members from two-thirds of the states, and a majority of all the states shall be necessary to a choice. And if the House of Representatives shall not choose a President whenever the right of choice shall devolve upon them, before the fourth day of March next following, then the Vice-President shall act as President, as in the case of the death or other constitutional disability of the President.

The person having the greatest number of votes as Vice-President, shall be the Vice-President, if such number be a majority of the whole number of Electors appointed, and if no person have a majority, then from the two highest numbers on the list, the Senate shall choose the Vice-President; a quorum for the purpose shall consist of two-thirds of the whole number of Senators, and a majority of the whole number shall be necessary to a choice. But no person constitutionally ineligible to the office of President shall be eligible to that of Vice-President of the United States.

Amendment 13 - Slavery Abolished. Ratified 12/6/1865. History

1. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.

2. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

Amendment 14 - Citizenship Rights. Ratified 7/9/1868. Note History

1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

2. Representatives shall be apportioned among the several States according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each State, excluding Indians not taxed. But when the right to vote at any election for the choice of electors for President and Vice-President of the United States, Representatives in Congress, the Executive and Judicial officers of a State, or the members of the Legislature thereof, is denied to any of the male inhabitants of such State, being twenty-one years of age, and citizens of the United States, or in any way abridged, except for participation in rebellion, or other crime, the basis of representation therein shall be reduced in the proportion which the number of such male citizens shall bear to the whole number of male citizens twenty-one years of age in such State.

3. No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice-President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.

4. The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned. But neither the United States nor any State shall assume or pay any debt or obligation incurred in aid of insurrection or rebellion against the United States, or any claim for the loss or emancipation of any slave; but all such debts, obligations and claims shall be held illegal and void.

5. The Congress shall have power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.

Amendment 15 - Race No Bar to Vote. Ratified 2/3/1870. History

1. The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.

2. The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

Amendment 16 - Status of Income Tax Clarified. Ratified 2/3/1913. Note History

The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes on incomes, from whatever source derived, without apportionment among the several States, and without regard to any census or enumeration.

Amendment 17 - Senators Elected by Popular Vote. Ratified 4/8/1913. History

The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators from each State, elected by the people thereof, for six years; and each Senator shall have one vote. The electors in each State shall have the qualifications requisite for electors of the most numerous branch of the State legislatures.

When vacancies happen in the representation of any State in the Senate, the executive authority of such State shall issue writs of election to fill such vacancies: Provided, That the legislature of any State may empower the executive thereof to make temporary appointments until the people fill the vacancies by election as the legislature may direct.

This amendment shall not be so construed as to affect the election or term of any Senator chosen before it becomes valid as part of the Constitution.

Amendment 18 - Liquor Abolished. Ratified 1/16/1919. Repealed by Amendment 21, 12/5/1933. History

1. After one year from the ratification of this article the manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors within, the importation thereof into, or the exportation thereof from the United States and all territory subject to the jurisdiction thereof for beverage purposes is hereby prohibited.

2. The Congress and the several States shall have concurrent power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

3. This article shall be inoperative unless it shall have been ratified as an amendment to the Constitution by the legislatures of the several States, as provided in the Constitution, within seven years from the date of the submission hereof to the States by the Congress.

Amendment 19 - Women's Suffrage. Ratified 8/18/1920. History

The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.

Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

Amendment 20 - Presidential, Congressional Terms. Ratified 1/23/1933. History

1. The terms of the President and Vice President shall end at noon on the 20th day of January, and the terms of Senators and Representatives at noon on the 3d day of January, of the years in which such terms would have ended if this article had not been ratified; and the terms of their successors shall then begin.

2. The Congress shall assemble at least once in every year, and such meeting shall begin at noon on the 3d day of January, unless they shall by law appoint a different day.

3. If, at the time fixed for the beginning of the term of the President, the President elect shall have died, the Vice President elect shall become President. If a President shall not have been chosen before the time fixed for the beginning of his term, or if the President elect shall have failed to qualify, then the Vice President elect shall act as President until a President shall have qualified; and the Congress may by law provide for the case wherein neither a President elect nor a Vice President elect shall have qualified, declaring who shall then act as President, or the manner in which one who is to act shall be selected, and such person shall act accordingly until a President or Vice President shall have qualified.

4. The Congress may by law provide for the case of the death of any of the persons from whom the House of Representatives may choose a President whenever the right of choice shall have devolved upon them, and for the case of the death of any of the persons from whom the Senate may choose a Vice President whenever the right of choice shall have devolved upon them.

5. Sections 1 and 2 shall take effect on the 15th day of October following the ratification of this article.

6. This article shall be inoperative unless it shall have been ratified as an amendment to the Constitution by the legislatures of three-fourths of the several States within seven years from the date of its submission.

Amendment 21 - Amendment 18 Repealed. Ratified 12/5/1933. History

1. The eighteenth article of amendment to the Constitution of the United States is hereby repealed.

2. The transportation or importation into any State, Territory, or possession of the United States for delivery or use therein of intoxicating liquors, in violation of the laws thereof, is hereby prohibited.

3. The article shall be inoperative unless it shall have been ratified as an amendment to the Constitution by conventions in the several States, as provided in the Constitution, within seven years from the date of the submission hereof to the States by the Congress.

Amendment 22 - Presidential Term Limits. Ratified 2/27/1951. History

1. No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice, and no person who has held the office of President, or acted as President, for more than two years of a term to which some other person was elected President shall be elected to the office of the President more than once. But this Article shall not apply to any person holding the office of President, when this Article was proposed by the Congress, and shall not prevent any person who may be holding the office of President, or acting as President, during the term within which this Article becomes operative from holding the office of President or acting as President during the remainder of such term.

2. This article shall be inoperative unless it shall have been ratified as an amendment to the Constitution by the legislatures of three-fourths of the several States within seven years from the date of its submission to the States by the Congress.

Amendment 23 - Presidential Vote for District of Columbia. Ratified 3/29/1961. History

1. The District constituting the seat of Government of the United States shall appoint in such manner as the Congress may direct: A number of electors of President and Vice President equal to the whole number of Senators and Representatives in Congress to which the District would be entitled if it were a State, but in no event more than the least populous State; they shall be in addition to those appointed by the States, but they shall be considered, for the purposes of the election of President and Vice President, to be electors appointed by a State; and they shall meet in the District and perform such duties as provided by the twelfth article of amendment.

2. The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

Amendment 24 - Poll Tax Barred. Ratified 1/23/1964. History

1. The right of citizens of the United States to vote in any primary or other election for President or Vice President, for electors for President or Vice President, or for Senator or Representative in Congress, shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or any State by reason of failure to pay any poll tax or other tax.

2. The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

Amendment 25 - Presidential Disability and Succession. Ratified 2/10/1967. Note History

1. In case of the removal of the President from office or of his death or resignation, the Vice President shall become President.

2. Whenever there is a vacancy in the office of the Vice President, the President shall nominate a Vice President who shall take office upon confirmation by a majority vote of both Houses of Congress.

3. Whenever the President transmits to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives his written declaration that he is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, and until he transmits to them a written declaration to the contrary, such powers and duties shall be discharged by the Vice President as Acting President.

4. Whenever the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive departments or of such other body as Congress may by law provide, transmit to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall immediately assume the powers and duties of the office as Acting President.

Thereafter, when the President transmits to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives his written declaration that no inability exists, he shall resume the powers and duties of his office unless the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive department or of such other body as Congress may by law provide, transmit within four days to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office. Thereupon Congress shall decide the issue, assembling within forty eight hours for that purpose if not in session. If the Congress, within twenty one days after receipt of the latter written declaration, or, if Congress is not in session, within twenty one days after Congress is required to assemble, determines by two thirds vote of both Houses that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall continue to discharge the same as Acting President; otherwise, the President shall resume the powers and duties of his office.

Amendment 26 - Voting Age Set to 18 Years. Ratified 7/1/1971. History

1. The right of citizens of the United States, who are eighteen years of age or older, to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of age.

2. The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

Amendment 27 - Limiting Congressional Pay Increases. Ratified 5/7/1992. History

No law, varying the compensation for the services of the Senators and Representatives, shall take effect, until an election of Representatives shall have intervened.

The US Constitution

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The Constitution of the United States
Preamble Note

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.
Article I - The Legislative Branch Note

Section 1 - The Legislature

All legislative Powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives.

Section 2 - The House

The House of Representatives shall be composed of Members chosen every second Year by the People of the several States, and the Electors in each State shall have the Qualifications requisite for Electors of the most numerous Branch of the State Legislature.

No Person shall be a Representative who shall not have attained to the Age of twenty five Years, and been seven Years a Citizen of the United States, and who shall not, when elected, be an Inhabitant of that State in which he shall be chosen.

(Representatives and direct Taxes shall be apportioned among the several States which may be included within this Union, according to their respective Numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole Number of free Persons, including those bound to Service for a Term of Years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three fifths of all other Persons.) (The previous sentence in parentheses was modified by the 14th Amendment, section 2.) The actual Enumeration shall be made within three Years after the first Meeting of the Congress of the United States, and within every subsequent Term of ten Years, in such Manner as they shall by Law direct. The Number of Representatives shall not exceed one for every thirty Thousand, but each State shall have at Least one Representative; and until such enumeration shall be made, the State of New Hampshire shall be entitled to chuse three, Massachusetts eight, Rhode Island and Providence Plantations one, Connecticut five, New York six, New Jersey four, Pennsylvania eight, Delaware one, Maryland six, Virginia ten, North Carolina five, South Carolina five and Georgia three.

When vacancies happen in the Representation from any State, the Executive Authority thereof shall issue Writs of Election to fill such Vacancies.

The House of Representatives shall chuse their Speaker and other Officers; and shall have the sole Power of Impeachment.

Section 3 - The Senate

The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators from each State, (chosen by the Legislature thereof,) (The preceding words in parentheses superseded by 17th Amendment, section 1.) for six Years; and each Senator shall have one Vote.

Immediately after they shall be assembled in Consequence of the first Election, they shall be divided as equally as may be into three Classes. The Seats of the Senators of the first Class shall be vacated at the Expiration of the second Year, of the second Class at the Expiration of the fourth Year, and of the third Class at the Expiration of the sixth Year, so that one third may be chosen every second Year; (and if Vacancies happen by Resignation, or otherwise, during the Recess of the Legislature of any State, the Executive thereof may make temporary Appointments until the next Meeting of the Legislature, which shall then fill such Vacancies.) (The preceding words in parentheses were superseded by the 17th Amendment, section 2.)

No person shall be a Senator who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty Years, and been nine Years a Citizen of the United States, and who shall not, when elected, be an Inhabitant of that State for which he shall be chosen.

The Vice President of the United States shall be President of the Senate, but shall have no Vote, unless they be equally divided.

The Senate shall chuse their other Officers, and also a President pro tempore, in the absence of the Vice President, or when he shall exercise the Office of President of the United States.

The Senate shall have the sole Power to try all Impeachments. When sitting for that Purpose, they shall be on Oath or Affirmation. When the President of the United States is tried, the Chief Justice shall preside: And no Person shall be convicted without the Concurrence of two thirds of the Members present.

Judgment in Cases of Impeachment shall not extend further than to removal from Office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy any Office of honor, Trust or Profit under the United States: but the Party convicted shall nevertheless be liable and subject to Indictment, Trial, Judgment and Punishment, according to Law.

Section 4 - Elections, Meetings

The Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections for Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed in each State by the Legislature thereof; but the Congress may at any time by Law make or alter such Regulations, except as to the Place of Chusing Senators.

The Congress shall assemble at least once in every Year, and such Meeting shall (be on the first Monday in December,) (The preceding words in parentheses were superseded by the 20th Amendment, section 2.) unless they shall by Law appoint a different Day.

Section 5 - Membership, Rules, Journals, Adjournment

Each House shall be the Judge of the Elections, Returns and Qualifications of its own Members, and a Majority of each shall constitute a Quorum to do Business; but a smaller number may adjourn from day to day, and may be authorized to compel the Attendance of absent Members, in such Manner, and under such Penalties as each House may provide.

Each House may determine the Rules of its Proceedings, punish its Members for disorderly Behavior, and, with the Concurrence of two-thirds, expel a Member.

Each House shall keep a Journal of its Proceedings, and from time to time publish the same, excepting such Parts as may in their Judgment require Secrecy; and the Yeas and Nays of the Members of either House on any question shall, at the Desire of one fifth of those Present, be entered on the Journal.

Neither House, during the Session of Congress, shall, without the Consent of the other, adjourn for more than three days, nor to any other Place than that in which the two Houses shall be sitting.

Section 6 - Compensation

(The Senators and Representatives shall receive a Compensation for their Services, to be ascertained by Law, and paid out of the Treasury of the United States.) (The preceding words in parentheses were modified by the 27th Amendment.) They shall in all Cases, except Treason, Felony and Breach of the Peace, be privileged from Arrest during their Attendance at the Session of their respective Houses, and in going to and returning from the same; and for any Speech or Debate in either House, they shall not be questioned in any other Place.

No Senator or Representative shall, during the Time for which he was elected, be appointed to any civil Office under the Authority of the United States which shall have been created, or the Emoluments whereof shall have been increased during such time; and no Person holding any Office under the United States, shall be a Member of either House during his Continuance in Office.

Section 7 - Revenue Bills, Legislative Process, Presidential Veto

All bills for raising Revenue shall originate in the House of Representatives; but the Senate may propose or concur with Amendments as on other Bills.

Every Bill which shall have passed the House of Representatives and the Senate, shall, before it become a Law, be presented to the President of the United States; If he approve he shall sign it, but if not he shall return it, with his Objections to that House in which it shall have originated, who shall enter the Objections at large on their Journal, and proceed to reconsider it. If after such Reconsideration two thirds of that House shall agree to pass the Bill, it shall be sent, together with the Objections, to the other House, by which it shall likewise be reconsidered, and if approved by two thirds of that House, it shall become a Law. But in all such Cases the Votes of both Houses shall be determined by Yeas and Nays, and the Names of the Persons voting for and against the Bill shall be entered on the Journal of each House respectively. If any Bill shall not be returned by the President within ten Days (Sundays excepted) after it shall have been presented to him, the Same shall be a Law, in like Manner as if he had signed it, unless the Congress by their Adjournment prevent its Return, in which Case it shall not be a Law.

Every Order, Resolution, or Vote to which the Concurrence of the Senate and House of Representatives may be necessary (except on a question of Adjournment) shall be presented to the President of the United States; and before the Same shall take Effect, shall be approved by him, or being disapproved by him, shall be repassed by two thirds of the Senate and House of Representatives, according to the Rules and Limitations prescribed in the Case of a Bill.

Section 8 - Powers of Congress

The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States;

To borrow money on the credit of the United States;

To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes;

To establish an uniform Rule of Naturalization, and uniform Laws on the subject of Bankruptcies throughout the United States;

To coin Money, regulate the Value thereof, and of foreign Coin, and fix the Standard of Weights and Measures;

To provide for the Punishment of counterfeiting the Securities and current Coin of the United States;

To establish Post Offices and Post Roads;

To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries;

To constitute Tribunals inferior to the supreme Court;

To define and punish Piracies and Felonies committed on the high Seas, and Offenses against the Law of Nations;

To declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water;

To raise and support Armies, but no Appropriation of Money to that Use shall be for a longer Term than two Years;

To provide and maintain a Navy;

To make Rules for the Government and Regulation of the land and naval Forces;

To provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions;

To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining the Militia, and for governing such Part of them as may be employed in the Service of the United States, reserving to the States respectively, the Appointment of the Officers, and the Authority of training the Militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress;

To exercise exclusive Legislation in all Cases whatsoever, over such District (not exceeding ten Miles square) as may, by Cession of particular States, and the acceptance of Congress, become the Seat of the Government of the United States, and to exercise like Authority over all Places purchased by the Consent of the Legislature of the State in which the Same shall be, for the Erection of Forts, Magazines, Arsenals, dock-Yards, and other needful Buildings; And

To make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution the foregoing Powers, and all other Powers vested by this Constitution in the Government of the United States, or in any Department or Officer thereof.

Section 9 - Limits on Congress

The Migration or Importation of such Persons as any of the States now existing shall think proper to admit, shall not be prohibited by the Congress prior to the Year one thousand eight hundred and eight, but a tax or duty may be imposed on such Importation, not exceeding ten dollars for each Person.

The privilege of the Writ of Habeas Corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in Cases of Rebellion or Invasion the public Safety may require it.

No Bill of Attainder or ex post facto Law shall be passed.

(No capitation, or other direct, Tax shall be laid, unless in Proportion to the Census or Enumeration herein before directed to be taken.) (Section in parentheses clarified by the 16th Amendment.)

No Tax or Duty shall be laid on Articles exported from any State.

No Preference shall be given by any Regulation of Commerce or Revenue to the Ports of one State over those of another: nor shall Vessels bound to, or from, one State, be obliged to enter, clear, or pay Duties in another.

No Money shall be drawn from the Treasury, but in Consequence of Appropriations made by Law; and a regular Statement and Account of the Receipts and Expenditures of all public Money shall be published from time to time.

No Title of Nobility shall be granted by the United States: And no Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under them, shall, without the Consent of the Congress, accept of any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince or foreign State.

Section 10 - Powers prohibited of States

No State shall enter into any Treaty, Alliance, or Confederation; grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal; coin Money; emit Bills of Credit; make any Thing but gold and silver Coin a Tender in Payment of Debts; pass any Bill of Attainder, ex post facto Law, or Law impairing the Obligation of Contracts, or grant any Title of Nobility.

No State shall, without the Consent of the Congress, lay any Imposts or Duties on Imports or Exports, except what may be absolutely necessary for executing it's inspection Laws: and the net Produce of all Duties and Imposts, laid by any State on Imports or Exports, shall be for the Use of the Treasury of the United States; and all such Laws shall be subject to the Revision and Controul of the Congress.

No State shall, without the Consent of Congress, lay any duty of Tonnage, keep Troops, or Ships of War in time of Peace, enter into any Agreement or Compact with another State, or with a foreign Power, or engage in War, unless actually invaded, or in such imminent Danger as will not admit of delay.
Article II - The Executive Branch Note

Section 1 - The President Note1 Note2

The executive Power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America. He shall hold his Office during the Term of four Years, and, together with the Vice-President chosen for the same Term, be elected, as follows:

Each State shall appoint, in such Manner as the Legislature thereof may direct, a Number of Electors, equal to the whole Number of Senators and Representatives to which the State may be entitled in the Congress: but no Senator or Representative, or Person holding an Office of Trust or Profit under the United States, shall be appointed an Elector.

(The Electors shall meet in their respective States, and vote by Ballot for two persons, of whom one at least shall not lie an Inhabitant of the same State with themselves. And they shall make a List of all the Persons voted for, and of the Number of Votes for each; which List they shall sign and certify, and transmit sealed to the Seat of the Government of the United States, directed to the President of the Senate. The President of the Senate shall, in the Presence of the Senate and House of Representatives, open all the Certificates, and the Votes shall then be counted. The Person having the greatest Number of Votes shall be the President, if such Number be a Majority of the whole Number of Electors appointed; and if there be more than one who have such Majority, and have an equal Number of Votes, then the House of Representatives shall immediately chuse by Ballot one of them for President; and if no Person have a Majority, then from the five highest on the List the said House shall in like Manner chuse the President. But in chusing the President, the Votes shall be taken by States, the Representation from each State having one Vote; a quorum for this Purpose shall consist of a Member or Members from two-thirds of the States, and a Majority of all the States shall be necessary to a Choice. In every Case, after the Choice of the President, the Person having the greatest Number of Votes of the Electors shall be the Vice President. But if there should remain two or more who have equal Votes, the Senate shall chuse from them by Ballot the Vice-President.) (This clause in parentheses was superseded by the 12th Amendment.)

The Congress may determine the Time of chusing the Electors, and the Day on which they shall give their Votes; which Day shall be the same throughout the United States.

No person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President; neither shall any Person be eligible to that Office who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty-five Years, and been fourteen Years a Resident within the United States.

(In Case of the Removal of the President from Office, or of his Death, Resignation, or Inability to discharge the Powers and Duties of the said Office, the same shall devolve on the Vice President, and the Congress may by Law provide for the Case of Removal, Death, Resignation or Inability, both of the President and Vice President, declaring what Officer shall then act as President, and such Officer shall act accordingly, until the Disability be removed, or a President shall be elected.) (This clause in parentheses has been modified by the 20th and 25th Amendments.)

The President shall, at stated Times, receive for his Services, a Compensation, which shall neither be increased nor diminished during the Period for which he shall have been elected, and he shall not receive within that Period any other Emolument from the United States, or any of them.

Before he enter on the Execution of his Office, he shall take the following Oath or Affirmation:

"I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States."

Section 2 - Civilian Power over Military, Cabinet, Pardon Power, Appointments

The President shall be Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, and of the Militia of the several States, when called into the actual Service of the United States; he may require the Opinion, in writing, of the principal Officer in each of the executive Departments, upon any subject relating to the Duties of their respective Offices, and he shall have Power to Grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offenses against the United States, except in Cases of Impeachment.

He shall have Power, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, to make Treaties, provided two thirds of the Senators present concur; and he shall nominate, and by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, shall appoint Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, Judges of the supreme Court, and all other Officers of the United States, whose Appointments are not herein otherwise provided for, and which shall be established by Law: but the Congress may by Law vest the Appointment of such inferior Officers, as they think proper, in the President alone, in the Courts of Law, or in the Heads of Departments.

The President shall have Power to fill up all Vacancies that may happen during the Recess of the Senate, by granting Commissions which shall expire at the End of their next Session.

Section 3 - State of the Union, Convening Congress

He shall from time to time give to the Congress Information of the State of the Union, and recommend to their Consideration such Measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient; he may, on extraordinary Occasions, convene both Houses, or either of them, and in Case of Disagreement between them, with Respect to the Time of Adjournment, he may adjourn them to such Time as he shall think proper; he shall receive Ambassadors and other public Ministers; he shall take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed, and shall Commission all the Officers of the United States.

Section 4 - Disqualification

The President, Vice President and all civil Officers of the United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.
Article III - The Judicial Branch Note

Section 1 - Judicial powers

The judicial Power of the United States, shall be vested in one supreme Court, and in such inferior Courts as the Congress may from time to time ordain and establish. The Judges, both of the supreme and inferior Courts, shall hold their Offices during good Behavior, and shall, at stated Times, receive for their Services a Compensation which shall not be diminished during their Continuance in Office.

Section 2 - Trial by Jury, Original Jurisdiction, Jury Trials

(The judicial Power shall extend to all Cases, in Law and Equity, arising under this Constitution, the Laws of the United States, and Treaties made, or which shall be made, under their Authority; to all Cases affecting Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls; to all Cases of admiralty and maritime Jurisdiction; to Controversies to which the United States shall be a Party; to Controversies between two or more States; between a State and Citizens of another State; between Citizens of different States; between Citizens of the same State claiming Lands under Grants of different States, and between a State, or the Citizens thereof, and foreign States, Citizens or Subjects.) (This section in parentheses is modified by the 11th Amendment.)

In all Cases affecting Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, and those in which a State shall be Party, the supreme Court shall have original Jurisdiction. In all the other Cases before mentioned, the supreme Court shall have appellate Jurisdiction, both as to Law and Fact, with such Exceptions, and under such Regulations as the Congress shall make.

The Trial of all Crimes, except in Cases of Impeachment, shall be by Jury; and such Trial shall be held in the State where the said Crimes shall have been committed; but when not committed within any State, the Trial shall be at such Place or Places as the Congress may by Law have directed.

Section 3 - Treason Note

Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort. No Person shall be convicted of Treason unless on the Testimony of two Witnesses to the same overt Act, or on Confession in open Court.

The Congress shall have power to declare the Punishment of Treason, but no Attainder of Treason shall work Corruption of Blood, or Forfeiture except during the Life of the Person attainted.
Article IV - The States

Section 1 - Each State to Honor all others

Full Faith and Credit shall be given in each State to the public Acts, Records, and judicial Proceedings of every other State. And the Congress may by general Laws prescribe the Manner in which such Acts, Records and Proceedings shall be proved, and the Effect thereof.

Section 2 - State citizens, Extradition

The Citizens of each State shall be entitled to all Privileges and Immunities of Citizens in the several States.

A Person charged in any State with Treason, Felony, or other Crime, who shall flee from Justice, and be found in another State, shall on demand of the executive Authority of the State from which he fled, be delivered up, to be removed to the State having Jurisdiction of the Crime.

(No Person held to Service or Labour in one State, under the Laws thereof, escaping into another, shall, in Consequence of any Law or Regulation therein, be discharged from such Service or Labour, But shall be delivered up on Claim of the Party to whom such Service or Labour may be due.) (This clause in parentheses is superseded by the 13th Amendment.)

Section 3 - New States

New States may be admitted by the Congress into this Union; but no new States shall be formed or erected within the Jurisdiction of any other State; nor any State be formed by the Junction of two or more States, or parts of States, without the Consent of the Legislatures of the States concerned as well as of the Congress.

The Congress shall have Power to dispose of and make all needful Rules and Regulations respecting the Territory or other Property belonging to the United States; and nothing in this Constitution shall be so construed as to Prejudice any Claims of the United States, or of any particular State.

Section 4 - Republican government

The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government, and shall protect each of them against Invasion; and on Application of the Legislature, or of the Executive (when the Legislature cannot be convened) against domestic Violence.
Article V - Amendment Note1 - Note2 - Note3

The Congress, whenever two thirds of both Houses shall deem it necessary, shall propose Amendments to this Constitution, or, on the Application of the Legislatures of two thirds of the several States, shall call a Convention for proposing Amendments, which, in either Case, shall be valid to all Intents and Purposes, as part of this Constitution, when ratified by the Legislatures of three fourths of the several States, or by Conventions in three fourths thereof, as the one or the other Mode of Ratification may be proposed by the Congress; Provided that no Amendment which may be made prior to the Year One thousand eight hundred and eight shall in any Manner affect the first and fourth Clauses in the Ninth Section of the first Article; and that no State, without its Consent, shall be deprived of its equal Suffrage in the Senate.
Article VI - Debts, Supremacy, Oaths

All Debts contracted and Engagements entered into, before the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be as valid against the United States under this Constitution, as under the Confederation.

This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall be made in Pursuance thereof; and all Treaties made, or which shall be made, under the Authority of the United States, shall be the supreme Law of the Land; and the Judges in every State shall be bound thereby, any Thing in the Constitution or Laws of any State to the Contrary notwithstanding.

The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the Members of the several State Legislatures, and all executive and judicial Officers, both of the United States and of the several States, shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution; but no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States.
Article VII - Ratification Documents

The Ratification of the Conventions of nine States, shall be sufficient for the Establishment of this Constitution between the States so ratifying the Same.

Done in Convention by the Unanimous Consent of the States present the Seventeenth Day of September in the Year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and Eighty seven and of the Independence of the United States of America the Twelfth. In Witness whereof We have hereunto subscribed our Names. Note

Go Washington - President and deputy from Virginia

New Hampshire - John Langdon, Nicholas Gilman

Massachusetts - Nathaniel Gorham, Rufus King

Connecticut - Wm Saml Johnson, Roger Sherman

New York - Alexander Hamilton

New Jersey - Wil Livingston, David Brearley, Wm Paterson, Jona. Dayton

Pensylvania - B Franklin, Thomas Mifflin, Robt Morris, Geo. Clymer, Thos FitzSimons, Jared Ingersoll, James Wilson, Gouv Morris

Delaware - Geo. Read, Gunning Bedford jun, John Dickinson, Richard Bassett, Jaco. Broom

Maryland - James McHenry, Dan of St Tho Jenifer, Danl Carroll

Virginia - John Blair, James Madison Jr.

North Carolina - Wm Blount, Richd Dobbs Spaight, Hu Williamson

South Carolina - J. Rutledge, Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, Charles Pinckney, Pierce Butler

Georgia - William Few, Abr Baldwin

Attest: William Jackson, Secretary

The US Bill of Rights

2009-03-14T23:27:00.000-07:00

Amendment 1
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

Amendment 2
A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.

Amendment 3
No soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law.

Amendment 4
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

Amendment 5
No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a grand jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the militia, when in actual service in time of war or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.

Amendment 6
In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the state and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the assistance of counsel for his defense.

Amendment 7
In suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact tried by a jury, shall be otherwise reexamined in any court of the United States, than according to the rules of the common law.

Amendment 8
Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.

Amendment 9
The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.

Amendment 10
The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people.

Slumdog Millionaire

2009-03-06T12:15:00.001-08:00

doesn't this just look fun?!

Tyler Perry's Madea Goes to Jail

2009-03-06T12:12:00.000-08:00

i cannot wait to see this damn movie!!!

Transformers 2 Revenge Of The Fallen

2009-03-06T11:59:00.000-08:00

i soooo wanna watch this

The Secret Life of Bees Trailer

2009-03-06T11:56:00.000-08:00

GREAT MOVIE

this kid is going no where in life...

2009-03-06T11:49:00.000-08:00

what is the matter with this boy?! he can't just sit down? he has to be the token black kid who beats people up? someone castrate him please. totally would solve problems down the road.

whoa chris brown - slow yer roll

2009-03-06T11:43:00.000-08:00

he's a dumb ass - really, he must be stupid. fun and stupid. but stupid doesn't make up for fun.

honestly, he must be half retarded. it's ri-ri. if you notice though, the woman said rihanna's career is higher than chris browns - no shit! his is OVER!

U.S. sued for benefits for same-sex marriages (retrieved from cnn.com/us)

2009-03-06T11:31:00.000-08:00

A legal advocacy group sued the federal government Tuesday, seeking benefits for 15 gay and lesbian Massachusetts residents who wed after the state legalized same-sex marriage.

Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders -- the same Boston-based group that successfully argued in 2003 for same-sex marriage rights in Massachusetts -- filed the lawsuit Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Boston on behalf of six couples and three men whose husbands have died.

The suit contends the federal Defense of Marriage Act denies them protections and benefits that heterosexual couples receive, including health insurance for federal employees, the ability to file as "married filing jointly" on federal income taxes and Social Security spousal protections.

Two other couples plan to file suit after they receive an anticipated rejection of their amended tax returns from the Internal Revenue Service, GLAD said.

President Clinton signed the Defense of Marriage Act into law in 1996. It effectively bars the federal government from recognizing same-sex unions by defining marriage as "a legal union between one man and one woman as husband and wife" and a spouse as "a person of the opposite sex who is a husband or a wife."

GLAD's suit addresses only Section 3 of the law, a portion that prevents the federal government from giving Social Security and other protections to same-sex married couples. GLAD says there are 1,138 federal laws in which marital status is a factor.

Only Massachusetts and Connecticut allow same-sex marriage. Vermont, New Jersey and New Hampshire allow civil unions.

One of the plaintiffs in the suit is Dean Hara, who was married to former U.S. Rep. Gerry E. Studds, the first openly gay member of Congress. The two legally married in 2004, a week after Massachusetts began issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples. Studds, who by then had retired from politics, died in October 2006.

"Gerry was a public servant for 27 years, worked hard for our country and paid as much into the system as anyone else," Hara, 51, said, according to the GLAD Web site.

"But after he died, I was treated differently than other surviving spouses. Every federal employee counts on their surviving spouses having basic protections, but the federal government denies me those protections because of DOMA."

Other plaintiffs include state trooper Sgt. Mary Ritchie and her spouse, Kathy Bush. They said not being able to file federal taxes jointly denies them deductions afforded to heterosexual married couples.

"We work hard, pay taxes, volunteer and do our part for our community. But the federal government still tells us we're less of a family than other families in our neighborhood -- families Mary works to protect," Bush said, according to the GLAD Web site.

Others named in the suit include a postal worker who hasn't been allowed to add her spouse to her health plan, a widower who hasn't been able to collect his spouse's Social Security payments and a Social Security Administration retiree who is denied health insurance for his spouse.

The United States of America and several federal agencies are named as defendants.

Unemployment hits 25-year high (retrieved from CNNMoney.com)

2009-03-06T11:26:00.000-08:00

Jobless rate hits 8.1% in February as a record-high 12.5 million people are unemployed.

By Chris Isidore, CNNMoney.com senior writer
Last Updated: March 6, 2009: 11:29 AM ET

The U.S. economy continued to hemorrhage jobs in February, bringing total job losses over the last six months to more than 3.3 million, and taking the unemployment rate to its highest level in 25 years.

The government reported Friday that employers slashed 651,000 jobs in February, down from a revised loss of 655,000 jobs in January. December's loss was also revised higher to a loss of 681,000 jobs, a 59-year high for losses in one month.

Economists surveyed by Briefing.com had forecast a loss of 650,000 jobs in February.

"The economy is headed south with a vengeance," said Kurt Karl, head of economic research for the U.S. unit of insurer Swiss Re.

The unemployment rate rose to 8.1% from 7.6% in January. It was the highest reading since December 1983 and higher than economists' projections of 7.9%.

Most workers who have jobs today are not old enough to have worked in a labor market this bad, while 13% of workers weren't even alive the last time unemployment was at this level.

The survey of households found 12.5 million people are now unemployed, the most since records started being kept in 1940.

The U.S. economy has now lost 4.4 million jobs since the start of 2008. To put that in perspective, that's about equal to the total number of jobs in each of the following states -- Georgia, Michigan and North Carolina -- at the end of 2007.

"It's a dismal report. We thought we'd have another month like this, and I think we have a couple of more coming," said Tig Gilliam, chief executive of Adecco Group North America, a unit of the world's largest employment firm. "We've got a lot of layoffs being announced that haven't been implemented."

Gilliam said he expects the unemployment rate to rise to 9% within the next few months.

Other economists echoed Gilliam's view that the battered labor market has yet to hit bottom. John Silvia, chief economist at Wachovia, pointed to the weekly initial jobless claims, which are still above 600,000 a week, and the large increase in the number of people working part time when they'd prefer full-time work as signs of more job losses to come.

"I'd love to believe this is the worst, but I suspect we'll continue to lose jobs for months to come," he said. "All we can hope is that the pace would slow down."

The Obama administration issued a statement saying that the jobs report and overall economic problems are the reasons why it moved quickly to get an economic stimulus package passed by Congress last month.

"There's no doubt that we have a long way to go to get this economy moving again, and the jobs numbers are one more reminder of that," White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters aboard Air Force One.

But some economists questioned whether the stimulus package will be able to do much to address job losses in the near term.

"The stimulus won't have immediate effect on job creation even though some planned layoffs could be cancelled," said Sung Won Sohn, economics professor at Cal State University Channel Islands. He said most of the job growth that the $787 billion in government spending will create won't be seen until 2010.
Underemployment rate keeps rising as well

The number of workers with part-time jobs who either can't find full-time positions or have had their hours cut jumped by 787,000 in February to 8.6 million.

Counting those part-time workers, along with discouraged job seekers no longer counted as unemployed by the government, the so-called underemployment rate hit 14.8% in February, up from 13.9% in January. This was the fifth straight record high for that reading, which has been calculated since 1994.

Silvia said the cut in total hours worked and the jump in those now working only part-time are both signs that the overall economy will continue to slow.

He said many people with part-time jobs are not earning enough to pay their bills. That will probably lead to more cuts in consumer spending, which in turn will lead to more drops in revenue for businesses and more layoffs.

The job losses were widespread, with manufacturing and construction companies, as well as business and professional services firms all losing more than 100,000 workers.

The report also showed that businesses in more three-quarters of the sectors in the economy reduced the number of jobs in the last month. Over the last three months, 83.2% percent of industries have lost workers, a record high for that reading.

"What started in construction and manufacturing and financial services has spread to every industry," said Gilliam.

The death of Mrs Tsvangirai (retrieved from worldhaveyoursay.wordpress.com)

2009-03-06T11:19:00.000-08:00

by Mark Sandell
It’s been confirmed that Susan Tsvangirai, the wife of Morgan Tsvangirai, the new prime minister of Zimbabwe, has been killed in a car crash south of the capital, Harare. Morgan Tsvangirai was slightly injured. A member of Mr Tsvangirai’s MDC party, said the couple were travelling to their country home in Buhera where Mr Tsvangirai was due to hold a rally on Saturday, when their car was in collision with a truck.

The crash came just two days after Mr Tsvangirai delivered his maiden speech to parliament after being sworn in as prime minister in Zimbabwe’s government, in which the MDC is sharing power with President Mugabe’s Zanu-PF party. The Tsvangirais were married in 1978 and had six children.

omfg im roflmao

2009-02-21T11:24:00.000-08:00

yeah - holy damn...

MEAL PICK 2-08-09: Bacon, Potato, and Egg Taco

2009-02-08T02:21:00.000-08:00

so i have been missing on my MEAL PICKS but i have had a great excuse - i bought myself a gym membership and boy have i been trimming down and toning up. all this healthy lifestyle has gotten me though (besides a sexy man in the mirror to look at continuously) is a big appetite. i'm hungry all the time! between walking on my feet for eight hours at a time at work and then lifting and tread-milling for nearly excessive amounts, i have finally begun burning more calories than i take in.
the quick fix would be to drive through the taco bell (it shares the same parking lot as my gym) but i feel those calories would be unhelpful in my never ending quest to rediscover my post-LA body. my diet needs more protein and i have found that there are inexpensive ways of finding lean high protein meals when working with eggs especially.
this recipe (and the photo) was retrieved from allrecipes.com and my only suggestion is to carmelize the onions first and add the salt and pepper last while using only three yolks (i tend to use only one yolk per three eggs i eat).
P.S. turkey bacon is surprisingly amazing and please for god's sake, if you use traditional bacon - THROW AWAY THE DRIPPINGS! nothing tastes as good as being healthy feels...

INGREDIENTS (Nutrition)

* 8 bacon strips
* 8 eggs
* 1/3 cup milk
* 3 tablespoons water
* salt and pepper to taste
* 1/3 cup diced onion
* 2 large potatoes, peeled and chopped
* 1 tablespoon butter
* 4 corn or flour tortilla

DIRECTIONS

1. Place bacon in a skillet. Cook over medium high heat until evenly brown. Keeping drippings in the skillet, remove the bacon and drain on paper towels. Crumble the bacon.
2. While the bacon is cooking, mix the eggs, milk, water, salt, and pepper in a bowl until combined.
3. Add potatoes to the bacon drippings and cook until semi-soft. Stir in the onions. Cook and stir for 1 minute. Pour the egg mixture into the skillet. Stir in the crumbled bacon and the butter. Cook until the eggs set to your desired firmness. Spoon mixture into tortillas and serve.

random dance moves i thought were awesome

2009-02-08T02:18:00.000-08:00

omg this kids a keeper

2009-02-08T02:11:00.000-08:00

MUSIC PICK 2-08-09: At Last...

2009-02-08T02:02:00.000-08:00

Beyonce outdoes herself this time performing Etta James' song 'At Last' for Barack Obama and his wife, First Lady, Michelle Obama - the only person pissed off was Etta James.

i just love this version so much more than Etta's version and perhaps that is why Etta hates Beyonce so damn much - B's ten times better than Etta ever could have been (plus Beyonce never tried opiates).

Statement stattements 1-8-2009

2009-01-08T01:30:00.000-08:00

Coins In My Car.

everyone has them. everyone who drives at least. or you should have them anyhow. i guess even if you don't drive, you should always have coins handy, right? i never do, but my car sure does.

so over the years i have collected quite a few coins. not for hobby, but because there are a lot of things i buy for 99 cents. i end up with pockets full of pennies. awkward to walk around with, let me tell you. i mean, not really, but could you imagine? me, walking around with pockets of pennies. why not consolidate them into quarters and dimes? because that would make the penny feel worthless, that's why. 'copper is cool' is my anthem.

anyways, i collected coins in a bag in my car, mostly in case i needed to pay a parking meter or give some homeless person some ray of sunshine in their dreary pointless life. the outpouring of sunshine or parking payment was a lot slower than the inflow of coins however, so gradually i did my part to crash the economy by hoarding my large collection of coins. the bag expanded and i was unperturbed, knowing that one day i would find something useful for that money bag.

funny story: i don't have a fear of spiders, so much as i often feel a great need to run from them quickly.

do you see where this is going?

you see, it was whilst driving my car one day that a spider finally gave me the reason i needed to use my money bag.

in the end, when the air was cleared, my frantic screams were drowned by the clinking of coin against coin as i swerved in the road, desperate to escape an eight legged predator. i was blinded by a shower of pennies, nickles, and dimes that had exploded as i smashed the frail old plastic bag-o-money against the steering wheel, where the spider had at one time been threatening me with vulgar gestures.

sadly, the spider in question didn't survive the attack. don't feel sorry for it folks, it had it comin.

had terror not been 95% of my being at the time, i would have found my predicament funny. i can see the humor in my actions now, and as i wander back to my old car and see the floor littered with pennies, i even let out a low chuckle. aaaaah, fun memories with money.

M-Y-M-U-S-I-C-P-I-C-K.....Kerli

2008-12-25T00:49:00.000-08:00

so, i'm a music fan. who isn't, right? right! music is something i work with, i do, i live, every day. i find it very fun to find new artists to listen to, and every once in a while i get amazed.

a few months back i listened to a song called "walking on air" and i thought it was amazing. not just amazing, but astounding. the melodies in the background were so deep and penetrating while simultaneously engulfing and profoundly modern. i struggled for weeks trying to find the song again, and i thought my radio search futile until i fond the sense to type in a few lyrics into google. the name that popped up was Kerli. i have never looked back since.

she is obviously not from the United States and amazing foreigners are the best musicians i believe. they always have some distinction when they speak and their actions are so perfectly different from that of a purebred picket fence US kid. just look at her and you know she is different: i don't think it is legal to make chemicals that make your hair that white in the states. i'm pretty sure you have to import that sh*t. P.S. she's an Estonian beauty.

her album was produced with Def Jam records and released in summer or 2008 and i am not sure why she isn't hugely famous yet, but you mark my words, she will be my bff if i ever get the chance.

salad of the week: Spinach & Berries in Curry Dressing

2008-12-25T00:13:00.000-08:00

so, i'm a foodaholic. everyone knows it, i don't deny it, i just go with the flow. until recently i have eaten only a few thing (in the great scheme of worldly dishes) and finally i have begun a branching out of tastes. for instance, i no longer turn my nose at vegetables and now when pizza is offered i allow the offerer the chance to finish their offer before rudely engulfing the pie in vacuum form. little adjustments make me the wonderful human being i am today.

one of my favorite vegetables (yes, only one, for i have so very quickly found many) is spinach. i have long since childhood been a Popeye fan, and the fact that spinach was able to make a top ten vegetable for me makes me nostalgic for olden days of Saturday morning cartoons and VHS players. as an adult, i have found that the best way to pique my interest in different foods is to inquire upon it's nutritional benefits, of which spinach seems to have many. spinach in its raw form carries vitamins, minerals, and flavanoids (aka antioxidants) that, when combined with it's green leafy cellulose composed ruffage system, make spinach one awesome veggie.

i took it upon myself to find a great recipe for a spinach salad that can easily add some extra healthy tasty servings to whatever meal one may wish to accent. what follows is the directions to make an awesome spinach and berry salad in nonfat curry dressing. as a side note, don't forget that ingredients can easily be replaced or removed. i don't like balsamic vinegar much, but i do like cashews and walnuts better than pecans for salad and four tablespoons of honey can easily be replaced with four tablespoons of water & two packets of splenda (a great calorie cutter).

INGREDIENTS (Nutrition)

* 6 ounces fresh spinach, torn in bite-sized pieces
* 1 cup thickly sliced strawberries
* 1 cup blueberries
* 1 small red onion, thinly sliced, pulled into rings
* 1/2 cup chopped pecans
* Non-Fat Curry Dressing
* 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
* 2 tablespoons rice vinegar
* 4 teaspoons honey
* 1 teaspoon curry powder
* 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
* Salt, pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS

1. Wash and dry spinach. Whip together dressing. Add to spinach and toss lightly. Add berries, onion and pecans. Toss lightly.

statement statements 12.24.12.23

2008-12-24T00:12:00.000-08:00

wow, what statements do i have today. i find that blogging is more of a sport losers than winners. much like the competition of myspace friends in the early millennium. so passe yet so very chic all at once.

i may as well compose something since i am on a rush of happiness, counteracting my rage of earlier. what rage, you ask? why, the rage only mothers can bring forth of course. it is my firmest belief that no one has the ability to tempt one into murderous ways than ones own mother. usually this killing would leave the murderer an orphan, as the violent act would be directed upon said parent, but thank god for will power. trust me, if i had none, i would have been going to jail today! you all thought i was playing about the weight comment from the madre. nope. true statement. she said it. she meant it. she can't take it back; she doesn't even care. i, however, remember each comment and thank my jesus for strength each day. had i been a weaker soul, i'm sure bulemia would have been a regular tuesday for me.

today had nothing to do with my weight problem though. no, today had everything to do with my dimwitted acts and lazy ass. you see, when my mother is not home, but i am, i must be doing nothing. that is all i could be doing. nothing. i must be sitting in bed doing nothing constructive and waiting for nothing to happen all around me. this is a must you see. as a must, any other action besides nothing must be nullified and any evidence of action void. "what clean clothes? what clean dishes? what clean carpet? what food did you cook? you were at home all day while i worked. you are a fat lazy person you lazy fatty," her eyes seem to say to me as she penetrates the premises of the house.

i'm a good boy though: i don't argue; i don't point out the obvious proof of toiling exertion; i simply continue doing more. i'm near perfect i tell you (and i lost some weight, so i KNOW my ass isn't fat, so HA!).

but if you ever notice anything about me, you will realize that under certain circumstances i will end all niceties in favor of blunt anger, ignorance, and arrogance in the face of adversity. basically i get real pissed off real easily when i'm cold (like while i was standing in the f*cking snow this morning) and i'm pretty lethal when i'm hungry (like while i starving in the f*cking snow this morning).

so there i was, hungry and cold, struggling to not be so late for work as i tried in vain to attach chains to my tires in hopes of not needing to inconvenience my mother by asking for a ride to work.

guess who chose that moment to start talking smack. it was only by the grace of god that the woman survived a near death experience she never knew existed. i closed my eyes and imagined tears of fire burning from my eyes and shooting into the air she breathed as i somehow shot stones of ice at her from my frozen fingers, hoping the hot air and cold ice mixture would combine to create an unstable environment, in which the very molecules that made the woman snear and laugh at me would explode into a billion tiny shards of rage that would make my ears ring with satisfaction. this is what i imagined. this is not, however, what happened.

but if it did, man, i would have felt so cool. i mean seriously, fire through the eyes? b-a-d-a-s-s.

DESSERT OF THE DAY: Raspberry Peach Pie

2008-12-21T22:38:00.000-08:00

i know i don't reveal too much about myself on here, but i feel i must at last divulge some bit of information about my past right here and right now. i have had an addiction i have been fighting and failing against day in and day out for the past couple decades. i cannot stop eating. every morning when i wake i think about eating. somewhere between then and night time i search for food yet again, and then before bed, I'm munching on some piece of once living material. i have come to terms with my addiction. it is one i feel i have formed a symbiotic relationship with and am ready to share with you, my humble reader(s).

like Oprah, i too have bounced up and down in weight with the tides. the month that i don't gain or loose a couple inches around my hips is the month i celebrate with a drink or five (coincidentally, i drink when i gain weight too, so it's lose-lose-drink situation all year round).

as of late i decided to start checking my sugar and calorie intake and i am startled to say that it has been startlingly high, to say the least. i eat a damn lot of sugar (which i was startled yet again to find is a carbohydrate) (P.S. bad carbohydrates can really make you fat).

anyways, i eat too many carbohydrates and take in too many calories for my liking, so i have started taking note of some healthy options i would like to share with you, courtesy of www.allrecipies.com (it's like Wikipedia for chefs).

today's dessert of choice is Raspberry Peach Pie. it seems like something awful for the waistline, but it is filled with fruits rich in healthy carbohydrates, vitamins, and antioxidants. and of course, as i often do, feel free to add and/or substitute ingredients (like calcium fortified frozen orange juice concentrate instead of 1/2 cup sugar in this pies filling).

INGREDIENTS

* 1 1/2 cups reduced fat vanilla wafer crumbs
* 2 tablespoons sugar
* 2 tablespoons butter or stick margarine, melted
* 1 egg white
* FILLING:
* 1/2 cup sugar
* 3 tablespoons cornstarch
* 1/4 cup water
* 4 cups sliced peeled fresh peaches or frozen unsweetened peach slices, thawed
* 3 cups raspberries

DIRECTIONS

1. In a food processor, combine the wafer crumbs, sugar and butter; pulse until blended. Add egg white; pulse until moistened. Press mixture onto the bottom and up the sides of a 9-in. pie plate. Bake at 375 degrees F for 8-10 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool completely on a wire rack.
2. In a large saucepan, combine sugar and cornstarch. Stir in water until smooth. Add peaches; stir to coat. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened. Remove from the heat; gently stir in raspberries. Spoon into prepared crust. Refrigerate until chilled. Refrigerate leftovers.

FOOTNOTE:
* Nutritional Analysis: One piece equals 252 calories, 5 g fat (2 g saturated fat), 8 mg cholesterol, 119 mg sodium, 52 g carbohydrate, 5 g fiber, 2 g protein.

what gives me hives: snow edition

2008-12-20T22:56:00.000-08:00

wow. what a week.

so i started this week out much like the rest. i woke up and did some ball scratching followed by hand sanitizing and teeth brushing. same thing i do every day.

then it snowed.

it's pretty hard to scratch anything with frozen fingers. god i hate snow. i hate it not because it is white (i am no racist) and not only because even after you shower and it falls between your back and sweater it makes you feel dirty, but mostly because at any given moment anything with water in it will slowly begin to freeze.

it's like watching death fall from the sky.

tree branches fall like homeless people outside, encumbered by the ice (both the hobos and the tree limbs fall, victims to the snow and ice smoten down upon us by our lord and savior).

i hate snow so much i stay indoors and mock it from behind my warm windows. then to one-up me, the f*cking snow freezes my water well pipes. i lost the battle folks, and boy was i hurting. if i were a tad paler, i would have been turning blue. good thing i'm not pale eh?

f*cking snow.

Hey Nature, what's up? I see you called?..

2008-12-11T23:39:00.000-08:00

funny story. it starts out with a question.

but before the question, there is a point i need to make.

comedy, like many aspects of life, is very much a nature vs. nurture debate. do humans instinctively know what is friggin hilarious? or are we taught what a true knee slapper really is? does it have to be an action that is funny? or can it be mere words? and regarding words, can't one use the same words to mean different things in order to make a joke even more hilarious? further more, does it not get funnier to mean the same thing yet use different well chosen words?

take for instance poop. man that's a laugh. poop is just fuuuuuunie. it's AWKWARDLY funny. really damn awkward.

so, funny story. last night i ate a butt load of spicy boneless buffalo wings.

question: have you ever felt the wrath of spicy buffalo wings the day after eating two and a half plates of it?

(pause...)

now wasn't that way funnier than saying: man did i have to poop this morning or what?

iT'S oFFICIAL

2008-12-07T14:05:00.000-08:00

i'm a country music half-fan.

i don't love country music, but i do think there are some damn good songs.

you may listen to my playlist on from time to time and enjoy the songs you hear. in those hand selected pieces, you may have heard some carrie underwood, or rascal flatts, maybe even a bit of taylor swift or something.

good shit huh?

mY gOODNESS wHY

2008-12-07T13:53:00.000-08:00

why have i been away from my blog in so long?

i'll tell you why

I GOT A JOB!!!

"in these tough economic times" it's tough, life is. really tough. especially after graduating college with a degree that you can do nothing with. ABSOLUETLY (almost) nothing with. my science degree does nothing to ensure a future for myself. i may as well just join the peace corps.

not that it's a bad idea to join the peace corps. i really would like to join the peace corps.

i'm just not gong to join the peace corps.

but anyways, i got a job!!!
i am not the impact manager in training at the largest Abercrombie and Fitch store in Oregon at Washington Square Mall and my oh my do i love getting paid. do i ever!! i love getting direct deposits and i love having benefits and i love having a credit card that i can pay off with my own money. i love all these things.

i hate being given ridiculous tickets by police officers and having to pay them because i'm a good citizen but watching as others drive past making roads dangerous as i drive slow and look both ways while entering any place with my car. give them tickets ya douche bag, not me!

anyways, i'm busy working at my job 8-10 hours a day, five days a week, and i've lost weight and look even more AMAZING than i did before.

cheers!

life is like a scrambled egg...

2008-11-13T00:58:00.000-08:00

i'm a mess. quite literally. i am messy and although i will only show the world that i'm neatly put together and such, i'm actually a shamble of unfolded ideas and unfilled potential, which is the worst kind of course.

unfilled potential is such an oxy moron by the way (i hope i'm using that term correctly). but seriously, what the hell else is potential but something unfilled? if the action or energy had been fulfilled, it would no longer be potential but something kinetic right?

anyways, i'm so much of a damn mess that i can't even finish a sent... oh look at the sea gull that just flew by!!! oh how pretty (sighing of contentment).

(sighing in aggravation)

what the hell is wrong with me (wo)man?! i can't even complete a thought without getting distracted.

i was working today when i told myself and my associate a total of three times i was going to sweep our store floor.

an hour later someone had to ask me to clean my floor as i juggled finding items for customers and cleaning up clearance shelves while tasking associates. my mind was a mess of thoughts and ideas and potential that left me burnt out and my work half assed.

then i came up with the idea that i'm going about things the wrong way. i'm trying to find time for things to happen where there is no time. it is like making scrambled eggs and going over the bottom of the pan, knowing there isn't enough time to get from one side of the pan to the other thoroughly without letting any of it burn - the thing is that you can't let it burn whether you have time or not, because damn it, no one wants burnt eggs. somehow you have to just work with the time you've got and still get the ish done without problems because no one will care about what you had to go up against when stooopid John Doe right next to you somehow got the burn free eggs scrambled with bacon on the side and a fruit cup for dessert. that kinetic sunofabitch looks real impressive over there with his f*ing fruit cup and bacon.

anyways, that's what i learned i need to be able to do too. i need stop being so messy minded and start making some damn side orders. it's really getting old hearing from people that i have such potential - potential never paid my bills. i guess it's finally time to take some action. i'm makin some bacon b*tches.

politically minded me

2008-11-13T00:35:00.000-08:00

if i could do anything at all, i would become a political figure. i'm a nice guy with an assertive edge and a quick tongue during conversation (and i look great in a suit). i have a firm handshake and morally just views on the world and the actions of the worlds leaders complete with appropriate reasoning for why my views are best.

what i don't have is time. i'm not one to say, "why should i vote?" or "i know who's going to win anyhow" or god forbid, "what's the point?"
non-voters are society's big ugly jokes really. waste of space in a country where immigrants want to work to pay bills and citizens could care less who makes the rules.

i care who makes my rules. i want to make the rules. i also just want to sleep a little more too. i work so many hours a week it is very nearly sad. i have bills to pay and i have school to look forward to, but it is all dependent on my job that i work too many hours for. i was even too busy to pay attention to when election day approached - i was the last person to know that Barack Obama had become the new president elect. whilst running up and down stairs and cleaning and managing my store in the mall, i missed several calls about his landslide win.

but though i missed election day, i did not miss voter registration deadline, and i certainly did not miss the deadline to vote for president. even through the tired red eyes (which i have at present) i read each ballot measure and description of each person running in each election for my county, state, and country. i found that time.

i found that time while wallowing in a week of unfolded laundry. i found that time while sorting out recyclables in my room. i found the time to go to the post office and buy stamps so that i could achieve the smallest piece of my dream of political involvement.

because i found the time, my candidate won.

HOW DO I MAKE THIS?!?!?!?!

2008-09-29T01:06:00.000-07:00

I NEED TO KNOW HOW TO MAKE THIS FOR MY HOUSE!!!!

SOLANGE IS BACK!!!

2008-09-28T14:40:00.000-07:00

yeah, she's come a long way since her debut song "Feelin You" a few years back

NOW: she's come out and sent out a hit single with a fresh beet and a new look to brighten up her controversial past riddled with premarital baby making and accusations of riding her sisters coat tails

It's true, she may not be as vocally gifted as her older sister Beyonce, but she has proven herself a worthy entertainer as both an actor and with the ability to sing on stage with the enthusiasm befitting a Knowles. She has even written songs for other contemporary R&B singers including her sister Beyonce and Destiny's Child bandmates Kelly Rowland and Michelle Williams.

This is the video to her new song, "I Decided"

her performance at Radio City's Fashion Rocks '08 is below - equally as entertaining and almost more so because she is clearly NOT lip syncing!

REAL TIME WITH CHRIS ROCK (9-26-2008)

2008-09-28T12:57:00.000-07:00

The Effects of the Lingering Ternus

2008-09-26T14:33:00.000-07:00

As many of you know, i am from a small town in Oregon known as Hillsboro. Hillsboro is gaining in population more and more but still, the small town vibe can and WILL throw you loops just to remind you who's boss.

The most blatant loop throwing caused by my pretty little town is the ever awkward random meeting. You see, There are only so many places to buy things, and as we hillsborites are mostly non-pilfering people, we are always buying things. as such, we are apt to accidentally meet awkwardly in places and times when we are most likely not in the proper mind set to have such awkward meetings, invariably making the already random awkward meeting even more horribly awkward.

Speaking of horribly awkward random meetings, the most notable occur in grocery store: specifically in low budget produce aisles. i nearly ran into my high school algebra teacher the other day in just the place. i say nearly because i did a funny thing midway into our run in.

You may at some point in your life have been walking in between other store patrons when you noticed a small nook or cranny by which you could run through quickly to get from one end of the store to another, before of course being gorged between some desperate housewives spiny cucumber laden cart and a flustered father with his three small rambunctious "we-got-pregnant-on-accident" children. i was in this position, running a carefully coordinated path between perfect replicas of aforementioned patrons and their aforementioned carts and dragging said aforementioned children when i noticed a familiar face.

Now this is one market with too many of the same people, and too many of those same people happened to be small town teaches, and wouldn't you know it, some of those teachers taught my trendy ass in that damn small town.

Which teacher did i run into? Mrs. 'Get-out-of-my-class-right-now' Ternus. i got in trouble a lot in that class. not that i'm no good at doing mathematics, but i just couldn't be bothered with proving my genius at the time. Unfortunately she just couldn't be bothered with telling me to be quiet one more time. long story short, i took one too many trips to the front office because of that woman to want to have a conversation with her amongst the lean beef and fatty chicken.

guess who nearly got gorged by a cucumber?

i booked it! all wide-eyed and everything, knocking bowling-ball-pin sized children out of my way on a quest to something more important than avoiding them: ESCAPE!

what if i was asked questions? what is she asked me how i was doing? what if she asked me what i was doing with my life? what if she asked me a math question? WHAT IF SHE TOLD ME HOW HER LIFE WAS GOING?! i'm just not ready for this type of interaction at this point in my life, and i didn't care what grocery cart traffic i had to stop to avoid it, i was willing to go that extra mile, and that's just what the hell i did.

lets face it people, when push comes to shove, you beter just get those damn kids the hell out of my way 'cause i'm probably ret' to bowl someone over - true story.

Hello Fear, my name is Steven

2008-09-22T13:01:00.001-07:00

i found this post on my list of draft blogs that never got posted. i like it and i am now posting it with the realization as to what i am going to do, which only proves that with time, answers follow, like an opaque shadow.

so, i am a man of many fears.
i'm afraid of loud noises at night (everyone says ghosts and monsters don't exist until they get messed up by one).
i'm also afraid of sharp objects. i feel that there are just too many sharp things available to run into these days, and they are all a bit too un-dull for my liking.
there's a longer list of things i'm scared of, but i'll simply provide this abridged version: beyond anything, i fear my failure in life.
i have been going to school for about 16 years. there's always a schedule of where to go at what time in a certain place with specified individuals. once college hit, things became more intense and structured. so little time was spent wondering what to do with all my free time because i didn't really have free time. my time was very expensively spent signing up for classes and studying for said classes and attending said classes and not doing so well in said classes.
this brings me back to my fear of an unsuccessful future.
guess whose dumb-a** signed up to be a science major...
guess who's not good at science?
i wanted to be a dentist for about seven years before i realized i could not pull teeth. now i want to become a dental hygienist, but have to raise my grade point average. too bad i'm graduating and have no damn time. so i guess i'm going to become a dental assistant for a while, which means i have to go to dental assistant school first.
the plan? i have got to get accepted to dental assistant school in california. gotta move back to los angeles. i may have to work first. that means i won't be going to school for a while.
so back to my fears: OH-EM-GEEE I'M FREAKIN OUT ABOUT NEXT YEAR!!!
where do i work? where do i live? when will i get back to school?

A-D-A-Y-I-N-T-H-E-L-I-F-E

2008-09-18T13:59:00.002-07:00

(this photo was taken by, me, Steven Tensai, btw)
greetings all.
i have recently been not working much on this page. i do throw in some lil ditties that other, more literary individuals, have written, depending on how relevant to my immediate life their article is (i'm fat now, so weight loss articles are top notch for me).
but now, i have a grip of free time. and i mean a grip. tons of free time.
of course i spend all my free time looking for a job now and applying to graduate school.
it's official, i'm an adult. i know this not just because i finally have hair in my manly parts and my voice stopped cracking. but i'm officially using my free time wisely.
it's weird, i get done with one thing and in an attempt to relax, i start another. i can't sit still!
within this one week, i have wandered around downtown portland in search of employment opportunities. i have walked into countless places asking if they are willing to hire a handsome young devil (i always point to myself just to leave no question as to who wants the job).
i have turned in so many resumes it's insane and i'm worried about the mass deforestation i'm contributing too. this is all aside to the fact that i have been working on getting into Portland States University's Master of Public Health Community Health program.
here's an interesting fact: although i graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Genreal Science (which you may know is almost the same as a Biology Major) i do not need to have taken Biology to get into the MPH prgram - however statistics (which i did not have to take for my major) is necessary.
i skipped statistics and jumped right into calculus. excuse me for being a freakin genius.
F*CK SH*TTY F*CK F*CK
this is how i'm feeling.
jobless and tired (though admittedly looking thinner).
...
damnation.
...
...

Rihanna's Radio City Fashion Rocks 2008 Vogue - blows minds!

2008-09-18T13:59:00.001-07:00

this is why i believe Rihanna is amazing! this performance was even better than Madonna's vogue video (which i thought was boring, not gonna lie)

"I Put In 5 Miles at the Office " retreived from the New York Times

2008-09-18T13:59:00.000-07:00

By MANDY KATZ
Published: September 16, 2008

TERRI KRIVOSHA, a partner at a Minneapolis law firm, logs three miles each workday on a treadmill without leaving her desk. She finds it easier to exercise while she types than to attend aerobics classes at the crack of dawn.

Brad Rhoads, a computer programmer and missionary in Princeton, Ill., faces a computer monitor on a file cabinet and gets in about five miles a day on a treadmill while working in his home office.

“After a while, your legs do get kind of tired,” said Mr. Rhoads, 40, who started exercising in March, when doctors advised him to lose weight after open-heart surgery.

Ms. Krivosha and Mr. Rhoads are part of a small but growing group of desk jockeys who were inspired by Dr. James Levine, an endocrinologist at the Mayo Clinic. In 2005, Dr. Levine led a study showing that lean people burn about 350 more calories a day than those who are overweight, by doing ordinary things like fidgeting, pacing or walking to the copier.

To incorporate extra movement into the routines of sedentary workers (himself included), Dr. Levine constructed the first known treadmill desk by sliding a bedside hospital tray over a $400 treadmill. With a laptop and a phone headset, he said he can go all day at a leisurely 1.4 miles an hour.

Without breaking a sweat, the so-called work-walker can burn an estimated 100 to 130 calories an hour at speeds slower than two miles an hour, Mayo research shows.

Enthusiasts began following Dr. Levine’s example, constructing treadmill desks that range from sleekly robotic set-ups to rickety mash-ups that could be Wall-E’s long-lost kin. But the recent introduction of an all-in-one treadmill desk from Details may inch work-walking into the mainstream, as dozens of businesses invest in the hardware to let their employees walk (and, ideally, lose a little weight) at work.

Since last November, about 335 Walkstations, have been sold nationwide to companies including Humana, Mutual of Omaha, GlaxoSmithKline and Best Buy.

The Walkstation, which Dr. Levine helped develop, costs about $4,000 and comes in 36 laminate finishes with an ergonomically curved desktop. Its quiet motor is designed for slow speeds, said David Kagan, director of marketing communications at Details, a division of Steelcase.

STILL, to most, work-walking is “a freaky thing to do,” said Joe Stirt, 60, an anesthesiologist in Charlottesville, Va., who works and blogs in his off hours while walking up to six hours a day in his home office.

Mr. Stirt’s site, www.bookofjoe.com/2007/10/treadmill-works.html, is one of some dozen work-walking blogs, including www.treadmill-desk.com and treadmill-workstation.com.

“I know lots of people who are using them,” Dr. Stirt said of the treadmill desks. “But there are probably a hundred times more who we don’t read about on the Internet.”

There is even a burgeoning social network (officewalkers.ning.com), with around 30 members, that Mr. Rhoads started in March.

To the uninitiated, work-walking sounds like a recipe for distraction. But devotees say the treadmill desks increase not only their activity but also their concentration.

“I thought it was ridiculous until I tried it,” said Ms. Krivosha, 49, a partner in the law firm of Maslon Edelman Borman & Brand.

Ms. Krivosha said it is tempting to become distracted during conference calls, but when she is exercising, she listens more intently.

“Walking just takes care of the A.D.D. part,” she said.

Still, work-walking can require crafty maneuvering. When colleagues drop in on Bruce Langer, another work-walker, he pivots, then keeps striding backward while facing them.

“It’s more polite and, from a workout standpoint, it works different muscles,” said Mr. Langer, a vice president of Tealwood Asset Management in Minneapolis.

In 2005, Salo, a professional placement firm in Minneapolis, contacted Dr. Levine after fashioning its first treadmill unit. (Employees called the cobbled-together unit “the Frankendesk.”) By 2007, Salo had become a test site for early Walkstation models and now has 16.

At Mutual of Omaha’s 150-person call center in Omaha, four Walkstations have been in use since July as part of a small company study to figure out whether work-walking could maintain productivity while reducing employees’ cholesterol, weight and blood-sugar levels. Sixteen subjects of different ages, weights and fitness levels work-walk two hours a day, said Peggy Rivedal, the manager of employee health services. A similarly diverse control group works the old-fashioned way.

After leaving the military two years ago, Kirk Hurley, 40, a customer service representative at Mutual of Omaha, gained 75 pounds. In two months of work-walking two hours a day, he has lost 16 pounds.

“You don’t really feel the physical strain on your body because your mind’s occupied with your work,” he said.

Treadmill desks will not likely replace the sit-down kind any time soon. In corporate settings, they are usually in open areas where employees can just jump on. At a few firms, including Salo, they have replaced conference tables.

SOME business colleagues arrive at meetings with walking shoes in hand, said Amy Langer, a Salo founder (and Mr. Langer’s wife).

But not every employee has the enthusiasm to keep work-walking day after day. Take the trial Walkstation at Humana, a health insurer in Louisville, Ky.

After a year on site, the treadmill is in use about 60 percent of the workday, mostly for conference calls, said Grant Harrison, the vice president of consumer innovation. Many workers, he said, may “try it out, but they don’t make it a part of their daily life.”

Nor does everyone have the coordination to walk and work, said Andrew Wood, the director of ergonomics and corporate services for Muve, a weight-management consultancy affiliated with the Mayo Clinic.

“If you can’t walk and chew gum at the same time, this may not be the workstation for you,” Mr. Wood said. But it should be a piece of cake for most people, he added.

James O. Hill, an obesity researcher and the director of the University of Colorado’s Center for Human Nutrition in Denver, shares this opinion: “There are not very many people who can’t walk,” he said. “You should have a doctor’s note to not walk.”

Will work-walking free you from the gym forever? Not if you’re seeking serious weight loss or peak cardio-respiratory fitness. “Walking on the treadmill could be enough to prevent weight gain, but it’s not going to melt the pounds off,” Dr. Hill said.

Still, something is better than nothing, say workwalkers like Mr. Rhoads.

“At least a little bit of exercise will just be part of my day and part of my working,” he said. “The one thing I always do is work.”

T-H-E-B-R-E-A-K-U-P-P-O-E-M

2008-09-09T09:44:00.000-07:00

The numbness soothes my pain
And my pain slowly ebbs away
Like a blanket of dread falling off the bed
As the streams of sorrow collect
Like the tears laid falled from my eyes
Having washed off all my sadness
The feelings are now mere memories of things
Which I will never feel again

My heart feels like it’s dead.

I said my heart feels like it’s dead
But
I can feel it in my chest
(boom boom)
I can feel my heart still beating
(boom boom)
I can feel it feel like stinging
(boom boom)

And it feels so faint so lonely
Like the beats are squeezed out coldly
And though I feel the squeeze resounding
deep within my chest
I know that once this chest was full of something
And then that something up and left

And now what this half assed beating proves
Is that once was not enough
Cause the other half a beat it’s missing
Was devoted just for you

I AM SO STARVING: point

2008-09-08T18:03:00.000-07:00

By Brittany Birnbaum

Oh, my God, I am so starving. I swear, if I don't get something to eat in like two minutes, I am going to die.

I cannot believe how completely famished I am. Why do we have to wait for Tyler to get home from soccer practice? I want to eat now. It's almost 6:15.

I didn't even get to eat lunch today. Erica and I had to sign up for kickline tryouts at noon. We got to the cafeteria way late, and we weren't about to stand in line with the sophomores. All I had was a Twix and half a bag of Fritos. Plus, the stupid machine was out of Diet Coke.

No, I did not still have those carrot sticks left at lunch. I ate them all after second period. Duh.

Did you hear that? I can totally hear my stomach making these weird growling noises. I think I'm going to faint.

Please, please, please let me eat now so I can go up to my room--I have a ton of people to call tonight. It's so lame how you make us all wait to eat dinner together. Erica always gets to eat by herself in the living room with the TV on.

If we're going to wait this long for Tyler, he has to load the dishwasher. I did it last night, and it was totally nasty because you made that lasagna, and I had to scrape all the gunky cheese off the pan.

I am so totally starving. You know, it's against the law to treat your kids like this. You could get thrown in jail by the social-services people for this kind of abuse.

Oh my God, what are you taking out of the oven? Is that, like, salisbury steak? I could seriously puke just looking at that. You actually expect me to eat that? Yeah, right. Like I'm really gonna put that in my mouth. I'll be in my room if I get any phone calls.

Ugh. I swear, I could just die.

I AM SO STARVING: counterpoint

2008-09-08T17:58:00.000-07:00

By Kitum Asosa

My God, I am starving. If I do not find something to eat soon, I will surely die.

Hunger consumes my life. My young body is hunched and weak, as if I were an old man. Some days, I pass the time by counting my bones.

I would walk 100 miles through the desert to reach a handful of millet. The sight of a sparrow carcass would make my mouth water, if only I were not too dehydrated to salivate. I have not eaten a full meal since the last rain, which caused a few precious patches of field grass to sprout. Soon, there will be none of us left.

I am so very, very hungry. I grow thinner and thinner, as my body starts to digest its very self. The last thing I ate was a small lizard. This was nine days ago. I gave half of it to my only remaining brother. I did this to return a favor: Last month, he discovered a piece of tree bark and shared his bounty with me. Unfortunately, my body was so unaccustomed to food, I was soon doubled over in pain, as a flood of liquid shot from my bowels. Ever since then, my rectum has protruded from my anus. My lower intestines have begun to push their way out, as well.

They say it is almost the new year, but I do not know if I will live to see it. My stomach is swollen as if I were pregnant. I joked with my brother about this yesterday, rubbing my bloated belly and calling it "my little one." My brother did not laugh. He lowered his head and cried.

My legs are like sticks and my eyes nearly sightless. I am careful not to allow myself to daydream about the harvest feasts of my youth, for my weak heart might race and burst in my chest. Those who are still alive have taken to swallowing dirt and rocks in an attempt to stop the hunger pains. Oh, God, why are we made to suffer so?

My only distraction from the constant, gnawing hunger is the chill that runs through my bones. Even in the sweltering heat, I am cold. Perhaps I will soon die of pneumonia. This would finally quell the pangs of hunger. I long to live, but, even more, I long to die.

why i am the way i am

2008-09-08T16:09:00.000-07:00

There are a few things about me that I don't bandy about. Sure I do like to brag a lot (and lord knows no one deserves to do it like I do) and sometimes I do have my good days when everyone looks much more awful than I do.

Lately I have been writing things about my amazingness (I do like using the word amazing – it’s an all purpose word in terms of my general description). This may seem conceited.

It is.

But really, don’t I deserve to be conceited? I am pretty great. And after all, no one else tells me about how good I am. Why shouldn’t I compliment myself if no one else does?

Well, that’s a lie. There is one person who praises me a bit. And my parents. But they don’t really count. They have to tell me good things about myself. Though my mom doesn’t do it enough. I swear I already feel bad about my weight gain and here she goes making me feel even worse. Not like I didn’t notice the encroaching muffin top, she had to just point at my fat ass and ask to check my BMI.

She checked it.

My dear mother then promptly told my brother and sister that I was the fattest of them all. I was in the room. It’s funny; when people say mean things about you, you are generally in the vicinity. It’s like a sport of sorts; how loud can you say something rude while still being considered modest? But the only time I hear of my mother saying good things about me is when strangers meet me and say, “Your mother has told me many good things about you.”

I’m always surprised and ask them to point her out to me just to make sure we’re thinking of the same person.

I don’t write these things to pick on my mother. Really I’m just using her as a prime example.

But it all comes back to the same thing. I don’t hear people telling me what a good person I am much. I try hard and there are many nights I am up tiring myself out just trying to keep up with my course work. I have a job and I take classes and I’ve been wearing the same clothes for about two years now. Maybe I just need an ego boost. Maybe I want to hear that I still got it, whatever it is. Maybe I’m not really conceited, but I just need to point out to myself that I really am succeeding.

Maybe this is my blog and I can write whatever the frick that I want whenever I want to because I rock this piece.

Maybe no one is even reading this because they actually have things happening in their lives.. Goodness I’m lame sometimes...

AMAZINGLY lame that is, because FYI: i have officially graduated. guess i am pretty amazing after all eh?

oh my how the japanese amaze me

2008-09-08T16:07:00.000-07:00

i want one

A-M-A-Z-I-N-G

2008-09-04T12:08:00.000-07:00

you know it's amazing...

what is amazing you may ask?

possible answer: lots of things. tons of things. so freakin many really.
correct answer: me. i'm freakin amazing. oh, not you dear reader, but me, Steven Tensai. i am the amazing one.

you may think you are.
you may wish you were.
but in fact i am the one who wrote this. i'm sure if you could have written this you would have lied in attempts to steal my title, but you didn't, and i'll thank copy right laws for keeping you from stealing this from me.

now, as for the reason for my amazingness... the fact that i was able to use a word like 'amazingness', a word that is in fact not a word (and therefore has no meaning), and yet you still understood me, already proves i deserve this title.

but really, i am amazing simply because i am. i don't think people say that enough (and as i stated earlier, in most cases for you to say that would be a lie, and as such would also be a mortal sin which, as most of you know, will eventually send you to purgatory, or in the most severe cases, which equate also to the least amazing individuals, straight to hell itself).

anyways, i'm just amazing. true, luck delt me a nice hand: i'm attractive, i'm smart, i have great hair, i'm tall-esque, i'm in college, i have a face to die for, and i can afford to eat food on a daily basis.

however, it was i who had to work for the rest. after all, luck doesn't give you the ability to convince people to pay for your rent. luck doesn't give you a flat stomach. luck doesn't give you the uncanny ability to get all your teachers to notice and like you (in most instances at least). luck for damn sure didn't teach me to strive for perfection.

you have to be positively remarkable for all this to add to the sum of your existence. needless to say, i feel that i may possibly be positively and remarkably amazing.

cheers!

be giddy at their amazing talent

2008-08-18T13:19:00.000-07:00

oh-em-gee....

Your Mixers Matter: Say What?

2008-08-10T14:26:00.000-07:00

By: Brie Cadman

Ethanol may be the active ingredient that keeps bartenders in business, but there is often speculation as to whether mixers effect our immediate intoxication or the morning after. Does what we consume with our drinks help us to process alcohol, or should we always ask for it neat?

The Straight Talk
Intoxication is largely based on our bodies’ ability to absorb and detoxify ethanol, so it makes sense that anything that can prevent the absorption will slow its effects, and anything that speeds this process will result in our becoming drunker faster. In addition to the obvious things that affect this process—drinking on an empty stomach, drinking at a fast rate, being fatigued, to name a few—it turns out that the type of mixer does matter, at least a little, in our ability to remain standing at the end of a night.

Carbonation
Champagne is notorious for going to the head faster than other alcoholic beverages and a recent study, published in the Journal of Forensic and Legal Medicine, may help explain why. The researchers gave 21 people three different concoctions: straight vodka, vodka with water, and vodka with carbonated water. Using a breathalyzer, the researchers found that subjects absorbed the diluted alcohol drinks at a faster rate than the pure alcohol, and that they absorbed the carbonated drink the fastest.

Why is that? It seems that the bubbles in carbonated beverages help speed gastric emptying, which is the process of food leaving the stomach and entering the small intestine. Since the majority of alcohol enters the bloodstream from the small intestine, increased gastric emptying means a faster rate of alcohol absorption, which means feeling tipsier, earlier. Without food to help delay absorption, carbonated drinks will move even quicker to the bloodstream.

Smoking
Though technically not a mixer, smoking and drinking often go hand in hand, and most “social smokers” do so when having drinks or when they’re at a bar. But do the two vices have any effect on each other?

Evidence indicates they do. A small study in the British Medical Journal measured gastric emptying and blood alcohol levels, with and without smoking. The results found that cigarette smoking slows gastric emptying and thus, delays alcohol absorption.

But that’s not all. Numerous studies have shown that nicotine and ethanol induce one of the cytochrome p450 enzymes, CYP2E1, which is involved in metabolizing foreign chemicals. Since alcohol is partially metabolized by this enzyme (the majority is done by alcohol dehydrogenase), smoking increases the rate by which ethanol is cleared from the body. Therefore, smoking not only prevents absorption of ethanol by delaying gastric emptying, it can also increase the rate at which it is cleared from the body.

For those looking to drink a lot and show little effects, this may sound like a good thing. But the synergistic actions of ethanol and tobacco are harmful. Studies in rats have shown that long-term nicotine exposure increases ethanol consumption, and this may be a similar case for humans; the rate of alcoholism is ten times higher among smokers than it is for nonsmokers.” Studies also indicate that induction of CYP2E1 by both alcohol and nicotine leads to the formation of procarcinogens, and they may work in tandem to increase the risk of liver and organ disease. Plus, you have to spend more at the bar.

Sugar—With or Without?
I’ll never forget meeting a very large, very tough man at a bar who confessed to me that because he was on the Atkins diet, he was drinking (his fifth) Captain Morgan’s and Diet Coke. Though I wanted to make fun (who drinks diet at a bar?), I thought better of it—maybe diet sodas were easier to stomach than no drinks at all.

But a recent study suggests that diet drinks may be giving drinkers more than just low cal. Comparing the rate at which alcohol was absorbed when drinking a vodka beverage with an orange flavored mixer versus a vodka beverage mixed with a diet mixer, they found that peak blood ethanol concentrations were greater with the diet drink. This may have been due to a faster rate of gastric emptying, or because sugar helps slow the rate of absorption in the stomach. Whatever the reason, diet drinks may give new meaning to cheap date.

But a common theory is that sugary drinks lead to worse hangovers. Should you avoid them for this reason?

The evidence on the subject thus far seems to conclude that mixers with sugars in them don’t result in a worse hangover. Two studies have looked at the effect of simple carbohydrates (glucose or fructose) on hangover severity. Compared with those that received alcohol alone, those that drank either a fructose or a glucose solution reported no change in subjective or objective hangover measures. However, neither study looked at mixers with high fructose corn syrup, common today in soda and packaged mixers, so it’s unclear how those may affect severity of a hangovers.

Energy Drinks
Energy drinks are popular mixers, and their high caffeine content is believed to counteract the depressant effects of alcohol. The problem, or so a few studies have shown, is that drinkers perceive themselves to be more sober than they think. (And we all know how that usually ends up.)

One study compared subjects who received a vodka drink with those that received vodka with Red Bull. The subjects who drank the energy drink reported less headaches, impairment of motor coordination, and weakness, but objective measurements showed no difference compared to the vodka alone drinkers. Breath alcohol concentrations were the same for both groups. Another study showed that energy drinkers perceived themselves to be less intoxicated, though objective error measurements were the same as the alcohol only group.

Color Matters
What is clear is that the type of alcohol you drink matters. Darker liquors have more congeners, which are byproducts of distillation that can cause or aggravate hangovers. In one study, 33 percent of participants who drank bourbon (which has a high congener level) had a severe hangover, compared with just 3 percent of those who consumed the same dose of vodka.

The Take Away
If you’re looking to maintain your cool while having a few, avoid carbonated drinks and diet drinks, opt instead for fruit juice mixers. Energy drinks will have you thinking you’re on top of the world, while in fact you’re stumbling like everyone else. And while it seems like smoking may decrease the rate at which your body absorbs alcohol—thereby increasing your tolerance—the synergistic effect may increase your propensity for organ damage, and because you may end up drinking more, hangovers. Finally, though we often attribute sugar as a reason for a bad hangover, there’s no evidence of this, but darker drinks will make the morning after a bit rougher. And although we can troubleshoot our mixers and bar-time accessories, our level of intoxication and severity of hangover is ultimately dependent on one thing—the amount of alcohol we ingest.

Say What? is a series created to support or debunk common health myths. If you have a question for Brie, please send it to her in care of the editor at rbrown@realgirlsmedia.com.

First published August 2008

Nine Cold, Hard Weight Loss Truths

2008-08-10T14:14:00.000-07:00

By: Brie Cadman

Even if you’re not trying to lose weight, chances are you’ve seen some ideas on how to do so:

“Eat what you want and lose weight!”
“Lose thirty pounds in thirty days!”
“Finally, a diet that really works!”
“Lose one jean size every seven days!”
“Top three fat burners revealed”
“Ten minutes to a tighter tummy!”

But these claims are readily rebuked by anyone who’s tried to lose five, ten, or one hundred pounds. Losing weight ain’t that easy. It’s not in a pill, it doesn’t (usually) happen in thirty days, and judging from the myriad plans out there, there is no one diet that works for everyone.

Looking past the outrageous claims, there are a few hard truths the diet/food industry isn’t going to tell you, but might just help you take a more realistic approach to sustained weight loss.

1. You have to exercise more than you think.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends getting at least thirty minutes of moderate exercise most days of the week; this includes things like shoveling snow and gardening. And while this is great for improving heart health and staying active, research indicates that those looking to lose weight or maintain weight loss have to do more—about twice as much.

For instance, members of the National Weight Control Registry (NWCR)—a group of over 5,000 individuals who have lost an average of sixty-six pounds and kept it off for five and a half years—exercise for about an hour, every day.

A study published in the July 28, 2008 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine supports this observational finding. The researchers enrolled 200 overweight and obese women on a diet and exercise regimen and followed them for two years. Compared with those that gained some of their weight back, the women who were able to sustain a weight loss of 10 percent of their initial weight for two years exercised consistently and regularly—about 275 minutes a week, or fifty-five minutes of exercise at least five days a week.

In other words, things like taking the stairs, walking to the store, and gardening are great ways to boost activity level, but losing serious weight means exercising regularly for an hour or so. However, this doesn’t mean you have to start running or kickboxing—the most frequently reported form of activity in the NWCR group is walking.

2. A half-hour walk doesn’t equal a brownie.
I remember going out to eat with some friends after a bike ride. Someone commented on how we deserved dessert because we had just spent the day exercising; in fact, we had taken a leisurely twenty-minute ride through the park. This probably burned the calories in a slice of our French bread, but definitely not those in the caramel fudge brownie dessert. Bummer.

And while it’s easy to underestimate how many calories something has, it’s also easy to overestimate how many calories we burn while exercising. Double bummer.

Even if you exercise a fair amount, it’s not carte blanche to eat whatever you want. (Unless you exercise a ton, have the metabolism of a sixteen-year-old boy, and really can eat whatever you want). A report investigating the commonly-held beliefs about exercising, published in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association, concludes that although exercise does burn calories during and after exercise, for overweight persons, “excessive caloric expenditure has limited implications for substantially reducing body weight independent of nutritional modifications.” In other words, to lose weight, you have to cut calories and increase exercise.

3. You have time to exercise.
If you have time to check email, watch a sitcom or two, surf the internet, have drinks/coffee/dinner with friends, go clothes shopping, and on and on, then you have time to exercise. Yes, sometimes you have to sacrifice sleep, TV, or leisure time to fit it in. Yes, sometimes you have to prioritize your exercise time over other things. But your health and the feeling you get after having worked out is well worth it.

4. Eating more of something won’t help you lose weight.
The food industry is keen to latch onto weight loss research and spin it for their sales purposes. A prime example is the widespread claim that eating more dairy products will help you lose weight. However, a recent review of forty-nine clinical trials from 1966 to 2007 showed that “neither dairy nor calcium supplements helped people lose weight.”

This idea—that eating more of a certain type of product will help you lose weight—is constantly regurgitated on supermarket shelves (think low-fat cake, low-carb crackers, high in whole grain cookies, and trans fat-free chips), but is in direct opposition to the basic idea behind weight loss—that we have to eat less, not more.

5. Calories in = calories out?
There is a fair amount of controversy over the basic question of how people gain weight. Is it simply a matter of energy intake being greater than energy expenditure? Or is there more too it; do the type of calories we eat matter and can avoiding certain types help to lose or prevent weight? The low-fat, low-carb, and glycemic index advocates can’t seem to agree on which it is.

However, most can agree, and logical sense would tell us, that drinking 500 calories of soda is not equal to eating 500 calories of chicken and broccoli. One is simply “empty” calories—those that provide no real nutritional benefit and don’t do much to combat hunger. Whether you ascribe to the simple idea of trying to burn more calories than you take in or focus on avoiding certain types of calories, you want to minimize intake of empty calories, and maximize nutrient-dense calories.

6. Your body is working against you.
Most people have noticed that it’s hard to lose weight, but easy to gain it. This is a relic of harder times, when food was not as abundant as it is today. Our genetic taste buds made energy-dense food desirable because it was necessary to pack away calories so we could make it through the thin times. We feasted when we could, in preparation for the famine.

But now that we live in a time of abundance, that system predisposes many of us for weight gain and retention. And for obese dieters, this system is even harder to overcome; after weight loss, they become better at using fuel and storing fat, making it harder to keep weight off. However, this isn’t to say that many haven’t lost weight and kept it off successfully. It just means you have to be diligent.

7. Our cultural environment is also working against you.
Let’s face it, American society does not make it easy on those trying to eat healthfully and exercise. According to Linda Bacon, associate professor of nutrition at UC Davis, “We get a tremendous amount of pressure to eat for reasons other than nurturing ourselves, and over time, people lose sensitivity to hunger/fullness/appetite signals meant to keep them healthy and well nourished. It’s hard for people to come to a healthy sense of themselves given the cultural climate, and nutritious and pleasurable options for healthy food are not as easily accessible as less nutritious.”

That doesn’t mean this can’t be overcome, but it does require maybe putting other parts of your life on a “diet.” TV would be the biggest culprit, since many food advertisements, especially for children’s junk food, come during this time. Other areas to put on a “diet” are chain and fast food restaurants (where portion sizes are distorted), a bad-influence friend, or driving, which may help increase walking and biking.

8. Maybe you don’t need to lose weight.
Some feel that the medical problems associated with excess weight are exaggerated. Gina Kolata, a New York Times science writer questions the notion that thin is a realistic or necessary objective for most. In her book, Rethinking Thin, she asserts that weight loss is an unachievable goal for many, and that losing weight isn’t so much about health as it is about money, trends, and impossible ideals. Recent research also challenges the idea that being overweight is bad. A study in JAMA found that being twenty-five pounds overweight did not increase the risk of heart disease and cancer, and may even help stave off infections.

It’s true that people can be fit and healthy and not necessarily be thin, just as it’s true that thin people may not necessarily be healthy. Good health, rather than weight, should be our focus; too often, it’s not. Striving for an unhealthy level of thinness may be detrimental to our health, but understanding the health repercussions of obesity is also critical.

9. This is not a diet; this is your life.
The diet industry would have us all think that we can lose weight fast, and that’s that. But most people who maintain their weight understand that eating and exercising are not temporary conditions, to be dumped once a pair of jeans fit. Instead, they are lifestyle choices, and ones to be made for the long haul.

First published August 2008

the immortalization of a king

life has changed

you know, there's a great lack of something on TV when...

my top three topics

just photos of the friends i may have... jealous?

i hate that i love my loathsome laptop

signs like this would make the US more fun

OK GO YOUR SO DAMN HOT

OK GO A MILLION WAYS

some people are an experience...

the hell kinda blog...

CONDITIONAL HEL(L)...p...

just another omg moment

OH MY GOODNESS

FREAKIN SEEMS AWESOME! WANNA SEE IT!

I HAVE TO SEE!

WANNA WATCH!

WANNA WATCH!

MUST SEE!

someone died

laid...

i *hEaRt* cookies!

retail me

oh woe is me - sh*t...

INAPPROPRIATE GOODNESS: Ciara & J.Timberlake - Love Sex Magic

OMG!!! OMG OMG!!! OMG I CAN'T WAIT!!! OMG OMG HOLY DAMN OH MY GOD

this is why this show succeeds! (i will not cry... i will not cry...)

THIS MOVIE SUX

MUST SEE MOVIE

apparently there were drug problems in Mexico. who knew?!

oh where for out thou big brother?

Behold: THE AIRLESS TIRE!!! (there are angels waiting to sing in the background for this moment)

our present vice-prez Joe Biden (from wiki)

our present prez (from wiki)

the prez chart!

Ammendments 11-27 to US Constitution

The US Constitution

The US Bill of Rights

Slumdog Millionaire

Tyler Perry's Madea Goes to Jail

Transformers 2 Revenge Of The Fallen

The Secret Life of Bees Trailer

this kid is going no where in life...

whoa chris brown - slow yer roll

U.S. sued for benefits for same-sex marriages (retrieved from cnn.com/us)

Unemployment hits 25-year high (retrieved from CNNMoney.com)

The death of Mrs Tsvangirai (retrieved from worldhaveyoursay.wordpress.com)

omfg im roflmao

MEAL PICK 2-08-09: Bacon, Potato, and Egg Taco

random dance moves i thought were awesome

omg this kids a keeper

MUSIC PICK 2-08-09: At Last...

Statement stattements 1-8-2009

M-Y-M-U-S-I-C-P-I-C-K.....Kerli

salad of the week: Spinach & Berries in Curry Dressing

statement statements 12.24.12.23

DESSERT OF THE DAY: Raspberry Peach Pie

what gives me hives: snow edition

Hey Nature, what's up? I see you called?..

iT'S oFFICIAL

mY gOODNESS wHY

life is like a scrambled egg...

politically minded me

HOW DO I MAKE THIS?!?!?!?!

SOLANGE IS BACK!!!

REAL TIME WITH CHRIS ROCK (9-26-2008)

The Effects of the Lingering Ternus

Hello Fear, my name is Steven

A-D-A-Y-I-N-T-H-E-L-I-F-E

Rihanna's Radio City Fashion Rocks 2008 Vogue - blows minds!

"I Put In 5 Miles at the Office " retreived from the New York Times

T-H-E-B-R-E-A-K-U-P-P-O-E-M

I AM SO STARVING: point

I AM SO STARVING: counterpoint

why i am the way i am

oh my how the japanese amaze me

A-M-A-Z-I-N-G

be giddy at their amazing talent

Your Mixers Matter: Say What?

Nine Cold, Hard Weight Loss Truths

i hEaRt cookies!