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• San Diego seems to have come to me. Searing skies here in Southend. Have developed mild tan - skin is now white instead of usual pale blue. #
• Local atmosphere has turned to hot soup. Going out to country restaurant, where trained professionals will administer emergency beer to me. #

(Automatically crossposted from warrenellis.com. Feel free to comment here or at my internet church at Whitechapel. If anything in this post looks weird, it's because LJ is run on steampipes and rubber bands -- please click through to the main site.)

hi everyone, 
you've been such a great group and all. thanks for welcoming me. :) i've been packing up this week to go back to the border of the usa & mexico, a place that i call home known as the Rio Grande Valley :) 
so to thank you in a way, i was wondering any of you wanted something from mexico. i know sometimes shipping from another country is pricey, so if i can find it i will mail to ya for cheaper.  

just thought i'd put it out there. take care and see ya'll in august. i leave this weekend so i'll still be posting comments before i leave :-p

http://www.dictionary.com/wordoftheday/archive/2008/07/24.html

melange: a mixture.

so it's been about 20 years. i think i might almost be ready for a wardrobe change.

i think i've been holding off for at least the last 5 of that 20 just because there's just so many damn microfads out there anymore. the instant and global gratification of Internet ensures that anything that isn't dopey hip cellphone-commercial trying-too-hard-at-the-indie-rock-show neo-fedora-type fare -- or else totally over-the-top silly 80s-retro peacock cocaine-chic bling -- will instantly become that after just a week of flickr posts.

i'm not asking for a lot. i just want my own thing, you know? no pyrotechnics, no blazingly sexy celebrity-lookalike updos, no Supercred under-under-underground twee ironic japanese cowboy sweaters. just something cheap, solid, comfortable, lo-pro, that'll work every day of my life whether i do the laundry or not. something optimized for my environment, rather than the other way around. something old people will approve, but that can take plenty of trauma and sweat -- but that abercrombie cargo-shorts malldudes won't appropriate because they want to look as if they give their clothes sweat and/or trauma while they're on their way between the multiplex and the ruby tuesday's. you know... something that nobody with a blackberry could pull off.

hmm. tabulating this data, it appears that i'm looking for something more or less like... this:



oy. you just can't win!

really though, all i want is to not signify anything. like "gen x," or "critical-mass-variety anarcho-armchairist," or "just another douchey boring american white guy."

in other words, i want to start looking like something other than what i am. after all, isn't that the whole point of clothes?

the best part is i know no matter what i end up in, some hipster will still pop up and call me a hipster.

man the 21st century is hard guys. bah... i'll give it another 10 years. maybe then i can just wear bison hide.

Dawn Page receives £800k payout for brain injury caused by high-fluid diet
July 23, 2008

A mother of two has won more than £800,000 at the High Court after she claimed that a radical detox diet left her brain-damaged and epileptic.

...

Within days of going on “The Amazing Hydration Diet” she began vomiting and, less than a week after starting the diet, suffered a massive epileptic fit. She was taken to intensive care but doctors were unable to prevent permanent brain injury.

Mrs Page now suffers from epilepsy and a “cognitive deficit” that affects her memory, concentration and her ability to speak normally. She was forced to quit her job as a conference organiser, suffers from frequent mood swings and relies on her husband, Geoff, for help around the house.

...

In September 2001 Mrs Page paid Mrs Nash £50 for an initial consultation. She said that she was advised to drink four pints of mineral water per day as well as the tea and other fluids that she normally drank.

After a few days she started vomiting but was allegedly assured by Mrs Nash that it was “all part of the detoxification process”.

---

That part I italicized in the last sentence is something I've heard very often around here. Make sure you read long and hard about each side of the detox debate before you decide to go on one!

I put Trader Joe's Soy Protien powder in my fresh fruit smoothie every morning..then I remembered that I thought I heard that women shouldn't consume a lot of soy products. Should I find something else? Any recommendations for a good non-soy based protien powder? Or is it maybe ok to do the soy powder?

I've had kidney stones once in my life and from the pain in my side I'm afraid I may have another one. I've tried drinking olive oil mixed with lemon juice. Does anyone know of any other home remedies that work?

The ophthalmologist I saw at DDD insisted that progressive lenses would be the greatest thing for me. I've had them one day--one day too long. I adjusted within an hour to the progression thing, it's not that. It's just that they really limit my field of vision and I also can't see my monitor or sheet music, which was the whole reason I went there in the first place (I had previously gone to Eye Contact but was hoping to get higher-quality treatment from an ophthalmologist).

So, I want to just return these damned glasses and have him rewrite the prescription for what I need it for--computer monitor. My old glasses are fine for driving (no change to that Rx) and I don't NEED glasses for up close, I just take them off to read. So--has anyone ever returned glasses to DDD? Are they reasonable about it, or should I prepare for a fight?

Is there a brand of powdered sugar out there that DOES NOT have cornstarch as an ingrediant?

I would like to use it for creating frosting, but my daughter is allergice to corn.

Thanks!

The name of the tree is Chinese Soapberry. Does anyone know if this tree is available in the United States? Or what climate it grows in? I'd like to find a tree and grow my own soap nuts if possible.

I have three garbage bags full of packing paper, four large boxes, one medium, and a handful of small boxes. We also have some of those postcard change of address cards if you need those!

We need to get the boxes and papers out of the apartment by this weekend, so they're free to the first person who can stop by and pick them up. I'm home all day most days, so leave a comment with an email I can reach you at and times/days you can swing by the east side and it's yours!

Going to freecycle with this notice tomorrow if I don't get any comments here, so act fast! :)

So my husband tested his blood pressure on one of those blood pressure machines that pharmacies have and he got a reading of 131/74 one day and 136/74 the next day.  Apparently, this puts him in the "prehypertension" category.  How much should we be concerned?  I'm trying to google it and it sounds like prehypertension is a relatively new condition that a few years ago would have just been considered on the high end of normal blood pressure.  So I'm not sure how worried I should be.

He's only 24 and very thin and athletic, but unfortunately, does not have the best diet.  If I'm not around to feed him, he'll go the whole day just eating things like Fritos and ice cream (and of course, even if I am around to feed him meals, he'll eat plenty of those kinds of things in between meals).   He seems to have the attitude that as long as he is excercising, it's okay to eat whatever he wants. 

His father is on medication for having severely high blood pressure, so it looks like there may be a genetic risk.  

I was reading about how low-fat, low-salt diets were helpful in lowering blood pressure, but my husband will regularly go on pretty strenuous bike rides that he feels requires him to increase his salt intake (to make up for what he's losing in sweat) and he had a pretty low-fat diet when we were in Asia for seven months and he felt pretty miserable on that...so I'm not really sure low-fat, low-salt is the best option for him.  Advice?

   

    Don't know what happened last time when the photos didn't go through. And this time the picture to the left insists on lying down rather than sitting up straight (must be a teenager).

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US middle class losing ground. “America's middle class is growing increasingly squeezed by sagging incomes and soaring expenses, experts told Congress on Wednesday.”

Pffffffft! There goes the vacation. " ...halfway through the 2008 season, vacationers (and would-be vacationers) are being squeezed by a confluence of dismal economic realities: fuel prices that have nearly doubled since the start of last year; airlines that have jacked up fares 17 percent since the start of the year; a dollar that stands like a pygmy alongside foreign currencies."

Long distance commuters’ road to nowhere. “The weak housing market, high gas prices and iffy job market are proving a nasty mix, leaving many Americans stuck with long commutes, unwanted homes and few options.”

Bank of America profit tumbles 41%.

Merrill Lynch reports $4.9 billion loss. “Merrill Lynch reported a nearly $5 billion quarterly loss Thursday that surpassed even the worst estimates, hit hard yet again by writedowns across its books.”

Wachovia reports $9 billion loss. “Wachovia Corp. posted a nearly $9 billion loss for its second quarter Tuesday on losses related to home mortgages and the bank's declining market value.”

Washington Mutual loses $3.3 billion. “Washington Mutual reported a $3.3 billion quarterly loss Tuesday -- far worse than Wall Street was anticipating -- as it set aside more money for bad loans.”

American to lay off 1500 maintenance workers. “American Airlines will cut 1,500 jobs in its maintenance division as it reduces its fleet of aircraft.”

Chrysler plans to cut 1000 salaried jobs.

US highway trust fund veers towards crisis. "The principal source of funding for highway projects will soon hit a big financial pothole. The federal highway trust fund could be in the red by $3.2 billion or more next year."

Pemex oil production falls 11% in June on aging field. “Petroleos Mexicanos, the state-owned energy company, said oil output fell 11 percent in June from a year earlier as new wells failed to keep pace with a four-year decline in the aging Cantarell field, the nation's largest. Production dropped to 2.839 million barrels a day in June from 3.206 million a year earlier…”

Merrill Lynch’s North American economist warns ‘brutal winter coming for utility bills’. “'This is going to be huge,' Rosenberg wrote. As it stands, he noted, 'in states like New York, shutoffs of utilities services for households in arrears on their bills were up 41% through April.'”

Fuel prices leave boaters docked. "High gas prices are hitting recreational boaters and the boating industry across the USA in a variety of ways, says Scott Croft, spokesman for the Boat Owners Association of the United States..."

Seafood shortages send Viet Nam firms fishing for products abroad. "In the north and south, there is a shortage of seafood for processing, in these regions catch volumes are low because the high cost of fuel does not make fishing viable. Based on this reality, VASEP decided to ask for the Government’s permission to import seafood for processing."

Small, developing nations feel impact of food and energy crisis. “The Marshall Islands said Friday electrical power in the small Pacific nation may be switched off in September when its fuel supplies are expected to run out, as high food and energy prices have begun to hit hard some developing countries, particularly small islands isolated from the rest of the world.“

You probably don't hear this one every day, but I'm wondering where I might find a collection of what, for lack of a better term, I call "Asian Elevator Music". You know, the kind of music you hear at a Chinese restaurant. I really like the stuff, but I don't have the first clue where to find it.

I'm also soliciting suggestions for "quirky lamp stores" in Madison.

I am so woefully unaware of the parking rules in Madison. I'm only living here for the summer, and I don't have a car, but my brother is going to be visiting me Fri 1st - Sun 3rd August. I live in one of those high-res neighborhoods (where the ratio of permits issued to spaces offered is, what, 3:1?) and we really can't afford to stick the thing in a ramp for the entire weekend.

What options are there for visitor parking? This is assuming that parking rules are enforced on weekends. What hours is parking free/unlimited, and what hours is it 2h maximum? Are there temporary permits issued, or daily permits?

One of my (also summer-residence only) coworkers suggested that since I have a bus pass, he could park at a Park-N-Ride and we could bus about for the weekend - is there a weekend pass offered by the bus system that could facilitate this? Are those lots pretty safe from vandalism/theft? (It wouldn't be too much of a hassle if so, since -most- of what we need is in walking distance - campus/Terrace/lake/State Street/Farmer's Market.)

Other suggestions? Is anyone in the area going to be out of town that weekend and have a space I could use...? I have no idea how these things work.

http://www.dane101.com/regular_feature/2008/07/23/biy_bike_it_yourself_a_bike_for_everyone

Some health issues have kept me off of my bike for the last month. An attempted ride last weekend convinced me that I ought to stay off the bike for a week or so more.

It's strange to adjust to life out of the saddle, especially during the warmer half of the year. Because I'm not physically able to bike without significant discomfort, I don't feel too guilty about taking time off. But it does feel strange to not ride for so long. Even in the winter, I rarely take off more than a week or two at a stretch.

I've had friends in the past who have been sidelined off of their bikes due to various injuries, usually back or knee problems. I know that it frustrated them, perhaps most of all because they wondered if they'd ever be able to get back on the bike. Luckily, my hiatus should pretty certainly last no longer than 6 weeks at the longest.

http://www.warrenellis.com/?p=6198

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My editor just sent me a link to a review of CROOKED LITTLE VEIN at Ain’t It Cool News, coinciding with the paperback release.  AICN would be pretty much the last place I’d expect to get reviewed.  I haven’t read it yet, but, still, very nice of them to take the time, I thought…

(Automatically crossposted from warrenellis.com. Feel free to comment here or at my internet church at Whitechapel. If anything in this post looks weird, it's because LJ is run on steampipes and rubber bands -- please click through to the main site.)

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(Automatically crossposted from warrenellis.com. Feel free to comment here or at my internet church at Whitechapel. If anything in this post looks weird, it's because LJ is run on steampipes and rubber bands -- please click through to the main site.)

Hi all. Since I get some marks on my face by squeezing that horrible spots, or blackheads, I remember that once I used a pore strip, and it really worked. But sometimes I don't find it on shops, and I think it's better for me to learn how to make pore strips on my own, in order to not stay dependent from 'that' particular product. I know the pore strips have some kind of glue, but I don't know how to make one which really works and not hurt my skin. I'm open to suggestions ;)  thanks in advance ^^

What do you all do to keep yourselves from getting tired, cranky, or just yucky-feeling when travelling by airplane?
I'll be taking a trip soon, and for important and inescapable reasons I'll have been really, really busy the last few days before I go. I'll have to stay up late the night before and get up early that morning, even though my flight isn't until evening. So not only will I be exhausted from that, but then there's the problem that even at the best of times airports and airplanes just make me unhappy and frustrated.
I know that the last time I was this busy and sleep-deprived I absolutely had to drink coffee to get me through the day (I generally drink coffee about once a week or so), but I've also heard that caffeine tends to make people not feel great on flights because of the pressure change. But coffee does tend to put me in a better mood as well as keeping me awake. Yea or nay?
What else? Any meditation techniques or anything of the sort? Food choices that could be helpful?