What makes a gentleman?

This morning my alarm went off and I've got it set to Kiss 98.5. It's not a station I like so it makes me move faster so I can turn if off faster. Anyway, today's topic was what makes a guy a gentleman? Lots of people called in with things from "My boyfriend doesn't far in front of me anymore." to "After our first baby my husband carried the diaper bag, the car seat, opened doors, cooked..' yada yada yada.

I went to Wegmans about lunch time to get some grapefruit juice and chicken for lunch. I drooled a bit over these 2 guys I saw in uniform to! LOL As I was leaving this car stopped so I could pull out into the driveway and as I went passed I noticed it was an old man of about 90. As I drove past he took his cap off and did a little head bob. Like if he'd been standing he'd have bowed. Wow, to me, that makes a guy a gentleman.

I am White!

My parents have always taught me that it's wrong to be racist. If I was racist then I'd be a racist against my Mexican aunt or my black uncle and they're not differnt, they're family. I have to agree that I'm tired of being called a racist just because of my color.......... which I didn't pick by the way................ I think the most racist ones are the ones who scream "Racist!" every chance they get. That being said, Kudos to Kramer.

This is great. I have been wondering about why Whites are racists, and no
other race is.
Proud to be White Michael Richards makes his point...
Michael Richards better known as Kramer from TVs Seinfeld does make a good
point.
This was his defense speech in court after making racial comments in his
comedy act. He makes some very interesting points...
Someone finally said it... How many are actually paying attention to this?
There are African Americans, Mexican Americans, Asian Americans, Arab
Americans, etc. And then there are just Ameri- cans. You pass me on the
street and sneer in my direction. You call me 'White boy,' 'Cracker,'
'Honkey,' 'Whitey,' 'Caveman' ... and that's OK.
But when I call you, Nigger, Kike, Towel head, Sand- nigger, Camel Jockey,
Beaner, Gook, or Chink ... You call me a racist. You say that whi tes commit
a lot of violence against you... so why are the ghettos the most dangerous
places to live?
You have the United Negro College Fund. You have Martin Luther King Day. You
have Black History Month. You have Cesar Chavez Day. You have Yom Hashoah.
You have Ma'uled Al-Nabi. You have the NAACP. You have BET... If we had WET
(White Entertainment Television), we'd be racists. If we had a White Pride
Day, you would call us racists. If we had White History Month, we'd be
racists.
If we had any organization for only whites to 'advance' OUR, lives we'd be
racists.
We have a Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, a Black Chamber of Commerce, and
then we just have the plain Chamber of Commerce.
Wonder who pays for that??
A white woman could not be in the Miss Black American pageant, but any color
can be in the Miss America pageant.
If we had a college fund that only gave white students scholarships ...You know we'd be racists.
There are over 60 openly proclaimed Black Colleges in the US .
Yet if there were 'White colleges' That would be a racist college.
In the Million Man March, you believed that you were marching for your race
and rights.
If we marched for our race and rights, you would call us racists.
You are proud to be black, brown, yellow and orange, and you're not afraid
to announce it.
But when we announce our white pride, you call us racists.
You rob us, carjack us, and shoot at us. But, when a white police officer
shoots a black gang member or beats up a black drug- dealer running from the
law and posing a threat to society, you call him a racist.
I am proud... But you call me a racist.
Why is it that only whites can be racists??
There is nothing improper about this e-mail. Let's see which of you are
proud enough to send it on. I sadly don't think many will. That's why we
have lost most of OUR RIGHTS in this country. We won't stand up for
ourselves!
BE PROUD TO BE WHITE!
It's not a crime yet . but getting really close

Happy Happy Joy Joy

I'm stoked!!! The Bills just beat the Rams to become 4-0 .....AND...... I got an email from Travis. My Grinchy is alive, well and stationed in Germany. YEAH!!!!

Grey's Gone Bad

Last night I anxiously awaited the start of Grey's Anatomy's new season. To say it was lacking would be a bit of an understatement. There were weird flashback and flash-forwards. Christina meets Major Hunky after getting impaled by an icicle and then there's Rose. Remember her? The OR nurse that McDreamy had a brief fling with between him and Meredith's 50th break up? She goes a bit psycho then transfers to peds. Hmm..... Chief goes crazy because he's not #1 anymore and promises a shake up. Hahn and Cali persue a lesbian relationship but both are nervous. Maybe I need to re-watch the end of last season but wasn't Hahn already a lesbian? Either way it was a bit confusing and had me reaching for my crochet. If this is what the season's gonna be like, I see an E.R. coming. When they started having "major disasters" and the main characters started disappearing. We all know what happened to E.R., it's being cancelled.
To the writers...... please don't screw with this. In a world where just about everything sucks, how about some happiness and peace. In an episode or two?

Made of Honor

This weekend I rented the movie Made of Honor and it was GREAT! There's love and comedy and a man becoming...well... a man. Tom finds out he is more than best friends with Hannah but that she's actually the girl for him. When he is asked to be her "Maid of Honor" his friends convince him this is the perfect way to win the girl. Does he do it? How does he do it? Well, the answer to both are in the movie. My suggestion, go to Tops or Wegmans and rent it from the Redbox for $1. If you love it as much as I did, buy it for yourself or an upcoming girls night. Also makes a great Christmas gift! LOL "HINT HINT!!"

Power to the Boobies!

I've been driving the van quite a bit lately and it needed new wipers so I went up to the AutoParts Plus near the house and bought one for each side. I leaned on the counter in my scoop neck shirt and asked if they were hard to install. After about a 30 second delay, he said he'd install them for me. :-) Power to the boobies! LOL

It'll be 2 months this Wednesday and I'm......

..... 44lbs lighter. Yup, I'm excited about that but I'm doubting my decision still. I'm having some troubles with solids in the last week which is rough but I'm hopeful for the future! More updates to come!

Economy

So, the federal government is gonna bail out the big financial industries and the CEO's are walking away with seriously golden parachutes while the worker bee's get screwed. I won't go into my own feelings on that. While I really don't think that's right, I want to know what is going to be done for the little guy? And what are these boards thinking? Shouldn't CEO's be held accountable if the company goes down to? I heard an interesting fact on the news though. The Dems love to blame this all on Bush and his administration. Turns out this all started with deals made by ......... you guessed it, Bill Clinton back in the late 90's. Hmm..... Rome wasn't built in a day and neither were these problems. Let's stop pointing fingers, tossing blame and being children. Sit down, shut up and figure out a solution!!

Trying to be Kermit........sorta

I've been really interested over the past year in becoming more Earth Friendly. This past weekend I even bought a biodegradible (sp?) toothbrush by Dr. Du-More. It looks & works like a regular toothbrush but it's made from recycled plastics!

One of my FAVORITE t.v. channels is the Discovery Channel. They've got a show called Wa$ted that tells you your earth "footprint" and gives you tips to be more eco-friendly and save money. They give you tips / tools and 3 weeks to make changes. They then calculate the savings from that 3 week time period and multiplies that to equal a year and then gives you the cash. Today's episode the couple got over $2,000!!!! I know I could sure use that.

Well, I went onto their website and took the test. I was pretty nervous but optimistic at the same time. I mean, we do make an effort but would it be enough? Turns out that to sustain our type of lifestyle for everyone, it would take 4.8 planet earths. YIKES!!! I was araid it would be something like 8 like today's couple but 4.8 isn't exactly great either. One thing I noticed was that this couple didn't recycle and when they got them the bins to do so from their town, they were HUGE compared to the ones we get from the city. So, I called our new 3-1-1 number - surprised it actually worked - and asked about larger bins. Turns out, there's no limit to the number of recycle bins you can put out or you can put them in bigger bins of your own or even clear plastic bags! This is great news! Recycling faster means I can clean faster - always a good thing.

I read once that out in California they give you 4 bins of different colors. Plastic / glass, paper, cans and a black one for trash. I think you get a discount on your taxes the less trash you throw away. It might have only been one city and I'll have to find the article again (I'll post as soon as I do) but wouldn't that be cool?!?!?!? Just think, the Green Industry coming to Buffalo AND a rockin', tax savin', earth savin' program! Ahhh...... to dream............or take action!

Fun Football Birthday

I don't have kids, I have cakes! Here's my latest. It's a variation on one I've done before and it's for a friend's birthday. Actually he's the boyfriend of a friend of my mother. Whew! Talk about 6 Degree's of Separation!!! LOL

Fire At Will

So, if you've read my blog then you know I've been downsized. I've been assured that it has nothing to do with my work or performance but it doesn't take the sting out. I checked with the NYS Department of Labor to see if they could lay me off while I'm out on disability. Turns out that NY is an "employ at will" state and that you can be let go at any time for any reason. Take too many days off.... you're gone. Do something illegal... you're gone. Ok, even I'd let someone go for those 2 reasons but say a boss gets jealous... you're still gone. According to the DOL, you don't have to be given a reason. Thanks guys, thanks a lot.

Go Baby Joe!!

I was so happy to see last night that Joe Mesi won his primary. My brother met him when he was working with the Mayor's Summer Youth Program years ago and had been assigned to the Northwest Buffalo Community Center. He even got to spar with Joe a couple of times. Did I mention he's wicked hot!!! LOL

Way to go Joe! Next stop Washington!!!

38lbs Down and Groovy!

Hi everyone, wanted to let you all know that I am 32lbs down since the day of surgery and 38lbs down from my highest weight. Medically I'm feeling pretty great and enjoying the compliments. Dad was right, the best is when you run into someone you haven't seen in a while.

Looking forward to seeing my girls this Friday for Senorita's with Margarita's!!!

A group I could fit in with..

From CNN 9/8/08

Although he wasn't the neighborhood Lothario, and he didn't have a significant other, Jason Eskridge opted to have a vasectomy when he was 27.
"I did not want to raise children or be a parent due to some sort of mistaken encounter," explains the video engineer from San Jose, California, who is now 34 and lives with his girlfriend of three years.
It's not that Eskridge doesn't like kids; he has eight nieces and nephews whom he adores. He just likes his freedom more, especially the ability to travel throughout the U.S. and Europe, honing his photography chops.
"I've quit steady, solid jobs to work for next to nothing to live somewhere else in the country," Eskridge says. "Not having kids and not having to worry about finding a good city with a good school system certainly does free me to do that."
Eskridge isn't alone in downplaying the act of reproduction. In a 2007 Pew Research Center telephone survey of 2,000 U.S. men and women, only 41 percent said children are "very important to a successful marriage." In 1990, that figure was 65 percent.
Better sterile than sorry
According to the National Institutes of Health, by 2006 one in six U.S. men over age 35 has had a vasectomy, with about half a million getting snipped each year. And while men in their late 30s or 40s are often the ones who opt for the surgery, Dr. Dale McClure, director of Male Infertility at Virginia Mason Medical Center in Seattle, says he sees "a fair number of people under 35" who have undergone the procedure.
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"I'm actually seeing more people than I have in the past that are younger that had a vasectomy at age 21 or 22," says McClure.
That doesn't mean doctors are doling out vasectomies like condoms at a free health clinic.
"I jokingly tell patients it's like buying a gun in Chicago," says Dr. Lawrence Ross, professor of urology at the University of Illinois at Chicago. "You can go look at the gun but you can't buy it right away."
That's because, Ross says, "there's no 100 percent guarantee in any case that we can reverse it." Within 10 years of having a vasectomy, there's a 90 to 95 percent success rate for reversal surgery. Beyond that, the success rate drops to 75 to 80 percent.
Given those stats, it's best to consider a vasectomy "a permanent form of sterilization," Ross says. "I will always tell young men that in my 38 years of practice, I've seen many men change their minds."
Second -- and third -- thoughts
McClure says he spends most of his time "putting vasectomies back together," performing more than 2,000 reversals since 1975.
"Over the last several years, it appears that more males under the age of 25 who've never had children and who had a vasectomy are coming in [for a reversal] because they've found a new partner and they want to have children," says McClure.
And sometimes there's more than one change of heart.
"Probably several times per year," the doctor says, "I have people come in who've done the reversal and had a couple kids and want the vasectomy again."
That can end up being an expensive form of birth control: Fees for a vasectomy range from several hundred dollars to $1,000, although it's often covered in part by insurance. Not so for reversals -- McClure charges $6,000, and the cost can run as high as $15,000.
Saving money was one incentive for Eskridge, whose insurance covered $800 of the cost of the procedure. The decision to have a vasectomy was drama-free. "It was something that I'd thought about for years," he says. "It wasn't like the idea came to me three months beforehand."
'So what does your girlfriend think?'
Eskridge's vasectomy wasn't a surprise to girlfriend Sonya Carr, 27, a sales accounts manager. The two were friends for several years before dating, so she knew all about his decision.
"I plan to spend the rest of my life with him, so before I moved in, I did have to consider that I was basically giving up the option of having children," Carr says. "I was already on the fence about having kids, and since realizing I either had to find a new guy or live without them, I've only become more convinced it was the right choice for me, too."
Gloria Mashayekhi, 29, from Houston, can relate. She and husband Dan Mitten, a security supervisor, weren't interested in raising children. But Mashayekhi's birth control pills were sending her blood pressure through the roof.
"I had to go off the birth control in January and he got the vasectomy in February," says Mashayekhi, an executive assistant. "I think the month of no sex was enough of an initiative to quickly find an alternative."
Mitten spent his 30th birthday getting a vasectomy.
Staying snipped
Chuck Rathmann, 42, had a vasectomy during his first marriage at age 33 and then warmed up to the idea of starting a family when he remarried at 38. But rather than undergo reversal surgery, he and his current wife adopted a daughter.
"Frankly, I don't think there is anything really special about my genetic material," says the marketing analyst from Delafield, Wisconsin.
Seven years after his decision, Eskridge admits to only one regret:
"My [best friend] from high school, she's going to get inseminated," he says. "She's a lesbian and she wants to have kids and she hasn't found a partner. I certainly would have liked to have donated [sperm] for her."

When Downsizing Hits Home

We all know that the economy has been going through a tough time lately. It's pretty hard to ignore in fact. I have to say that it's all about leadership and being prepared but I'm guilty of not being prepared myself. I know I certainly wasn't prepared yesterday when I got a phone call from my HR Director telling me that not only did I not get either of the 2 jobs I interviewed for, but that I as being laid off. The fact that I was in a doctor's office at the time might have been a blessing. If I'd stroked out I'd have been in good hands. I knew we were reorganizing at work and had even - as a precaution - sent out a couple resume's to play it safe. I honestly never thought that I'd find myself in the job market again though. I've been at this job for 6years and can't imagine working somewhere else. With my leaving, this takes my "group" from 5 down to 2 left. Chris left to work somewhere else. Caron got laid off not once but twice and now it's my turn. I won't give them the chance to do it twice, no offense Caron.

I've heard before, many times lately, and firmly believe that when God closes a door, somewhere he opens a window. Now that I'm 27lbs lighter I can get through that window. I can't help feeling that I've let my family down though. I was assured it had nothing to do with my work and that they'd be happy to write a letter of recommendation / make any phone calls needed. I harbor no ill-will toward our HR Director. She's got probably the worst job in the place and takes the brunt when insurance goes up, people get laid off or basically anything unpleasant. I guess it's how the Hangman in the old west felt. LOL

While I cherish the memories and the friends I've made over the years I know this for sure. I'll never set foot in that building again and I'll never donate to any United Way ever again.

A victim and frustrated

I've been fighting identity theft for about 8 years now and have more than reached my boiling point. The the collection agencies who type in a name and just go through the list until the find the right person and to the credit agencies who don't update their records like their supposed to - yup, a lady from the FTC told me your dirty little secret - I have only one thing to say:

GET YOUR FUCKING HEADS OUT OF YOUR ASSES!!!!!!!!!

Sarah Palin Debut

I did something tonight that I don't usually do. I got into politics. As a right wing, conservative Republican, I prefer to let actions speak vs arguing. Tonight I watched the lead up to and speech from Sarah Palin. The woman's got my vote. She's down to earth, wasn't slinging mud, addressed what her plans are and mader herself real. She's a hockey mom, more importantly she's a mom. Her kids are adorable and that baby!! What a cutie! Ok, so that has nothing to do with her politics but I hope people remember that when they talk about her unmarried pregnant daughter. Does anyone really think that is going to make me blink? There are girls that age in my own neighborhood with 2 and 3 kids. I'm talking individual births here folks so let's just let that sit to the side.

Like Mrs. Palin said, no one is perfect. She came across as a real person who has real goals. I hope you take a second to sit back, take a good look and make the right choice. My personal choice is McCain / Palin.

1 month down, a million more to go!

Saturday I officially marked the one month point for my sugery. I'm down 27 lbs and couldn't be happier. Well I could be but I'm just impatient. LOL

A great night with the girls

Sunday's were meant for gatherings and relaxed fun and that's just what we had this past Sunday at Nicole's. About 30 people - half kids! - got together for a Birthday / Labor Day party and it was so nice. There was tons of food, millions of laughs and priceless memories. Thanks again for hosting yet another FAB-YOU-LUSS party!