Rowhouse Logic - Breathtaking Inanity

I just finished my dinner, which included the yummiest low calorie/fat/point coleslaw. I modified a weight watchers recipe, but at least I’m saying where I got it from, so I think I’m OK from a legal standpoint. (Ahem, right Chris?)

Here are the approximately ingredients:

One bag cole slaw mix

1/2 cup non-fat mayonnaise

1/2 cup light sour cream (the original recipe calls for non-fat sour cream, but Whole Foods didn’t have any, so this is a good but slightly less healthy alternative)

2 tablespoons dijon mustard

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

If you make this with the non-fat sour cream, as opposed to the light, each 1/2 cup serving is 1 very tasty point. I didn’t calculate the points for the low fat sour cream, but I can guarantee, it’ll be fewer points and a lot tastier than the coleslaw that you get from the average deli counter.

This can also be made with 1 head of shredded cabbage, but in that case, you need to use 1 cup each of the fat free mayo and sour cream, and you should also add 2 grated carrots.

Have fun!

I’ve always been a huge proponent of therapy. As in psychotherapy. I went to a therapist for a short time while I was in high school and found it to be a very beneficial experience. I never actually saw my diagnosis, if there even was one, but whatever I had went away just about as quickly as it came.

I survived college, occasionally I felt the urge to skip all my classes, stay in bed, and just wallow in misery. I did that a few times, but usually I could pull myself out of the doldrums by talking to one of my friends about whatever happened to be bothering me.

I haven’t been feeling so good lately and I’m not having much luck thinking myself out of the funk. In fact, thinking seems to be sucking me farther into whatever black hole I’m in.

What makes this different than other episodes of depression I’ve had is that I can’t really pinpoint a cause. Yes, my father’s death is contributing, as well as the end of the two relationships that I’ve written of before. All are factors, definitely, but I feel like something else is wrong. I feel incredibly alone, isolated even from people I consider my friends, and just not myself. I’ve never cared much for joining groups, but I’m trying to do the Weight Watchers thing and I hope the belly dancing class will also be a positive thing; if either activity yields a new friend or two, that would be a bonus. Right now, though, I have all too rare moments when I feel the warmth of the sun on my face; much more frequently, I feel surrounded by shadows and no matter where I go or what I do, I can’t seem to escape them.

Tonight the realization hit me. I can’t pull myself out of this alone. All my friends know me at “the strong one”, I can handle everything; but in the past few months, they have seen incredible moments of weakness, tears over things that I never cried over before(men), tears over the loss of my dad, tears over a movie about a goddamned robot who goes to the big city to make something of himself. Stuff that I normally shove desperately behind the facade was hanging out for everyone to see.

So, I’m going to quit yakking about it and I’m going to put my money where my mouth is. Hope to see you all on the bright side of the street someday soon.

For some reason, I really seem to like what Chris Satullo has to say.

To be honest, we probably need a complete overhaul of the power structure of the Democratic party in Philadelphia so that corruption can’t continue to thrive and eventually drive our city into the ground. I think we might be hearing more about this in the future, but I’ll leave that discussion to the experts.

My only hope is that Chris Satullo’s bad mood assertion isn’t right.

“People aren’t looking to end the sordid deal-making; they’re just looking to get cut in on the next deal.”

Are people really only offended by corruption because they’re not getting a piece of the action?

I hope he’s wrong, but I don’t really think so. Can you tell that I’m slowly losing faith in humanity?

Here are the shocking results of yet another study that I’d classify as fairly obvious.

People have been abusing painkillers for a long, long time. My ex-boyfriend has been clean from abusing them for over 13 years, but he actually lied and cheated for his own painkillers, rather than “borrowing” them from his parents.

Kids today are just getting smarter. How long have teenagers been raiding their parents liquor cabinets? And we couldn’t have expected this to happen?

I just can’t help myself. I’m such a complete sucker for animal stories and this one is just wonderful. A river otter was recently observed in the Schuykill River near the fish ladder. The experts are saying this means that the Schuylkill River is getting cleaner, apparently clean enough to attract the fish that the river otters like to eat.

Go here to check out the rest of the story, still photos, and video.

I haven’t done much playing around with the Google satellite maps until now. But I figured I’d show you a slightly greener view from the sky. I grew up in York PA. The pink dot in this picture (hopefully, if I can get it to show up) shows my parent’s house. The large river running through the image is the Susquehanna River, which separates York and Lancaster Counties. If you look north, near the top of the picture, you can see an island with buildings on it. That island, my friends, is the famed Three Mile Island.

Yes, I grew up within the 15 mile radius. The day of the accident, my friends and I sat around in our junior high school cafeteria, laughing about the possible irradiation of our green pistachio pudding. It was a strange day, but I don’t recall being particularly scared. I think at that point, we just knew that the core of the reactor hadn’t melted down, so it just didn’t seem like that big of a deal. I don’t even recall any of my friend’s families evacuating. Different mindset in Central Pennsylvania, I think. Interesting place.

Maybe goddess isn’t exactly the right word, that conjures images of Wicca and that’s probably a discussion for another day. Let’s just say that I’m getting in tune with my inner seductress. (Chris, stop laughing…now)

I went to my first belly dancing class tonight. I’ve known lots of people who’ve taken classes as part of an adult education program, but I’m embarking on this as a part of a fitness program. This might sound ridiculous, but tonight I learned that belly dancing is one hell of a workout. Some of the movements are familiar, the hip shimmy, for instance, but in this type of dance, you learn to isolate very specific groups of muscles and move them in defined ways to achieve a certain type of motion and appearance.

And if you’ve ever actually watched a belly dancer, you know they wear scarves tied around their hips. Even we amateurs get to wear scarves. In addition to looking great, they are a big help in learning how to perfect your movements. You can tell whether you’re moving correctly by watching the motion of the scarf.

Lots of exercise classes cater to women, particularly younger women, but this class is excellent for women of all ages and fitness levels. There are breaks in the action, so you don’t need to be in perfect shape. No running or jumping happens, so this can be classified as an absolutely no-impact workout. And the body movements you will learn by isolating various groups of muscles are ideal for toning and shaping a woman’s body.

I rarely get excited about exercise, but as you can probably tell, I’m pretty damn stoked about belly dancing. Maybe it’s because it feels more like fun than exercise. I’ve always been a dancing fool, so I’m hoping that maybe I’ve finally found the perfect workout.

As always, I’ll keep you guys posted. If anybody wants more information about classes, just shoot me an email and I’ll tell you whatever you need to know.

I find myself fascinated by all the discussion of Pope Benedict’s rather conservative posture on the usual litany of items including: abortion, euthanasia, and death penalty. So, while I was browsing the discussion at Talk Left, I stumbled across this very amusing comment by Conscious Angel…

“I am a little disappointed that they have selected a Catholic again. I think a Unitarian would have shaken things up a bit.

If you want a more conservative era, go with a Southern Baptist, but no the Cardinals did it again, another Catholic. How many is that now in a row?

Has anyone explained diversity to the folks at Vatican City?

At least a Latin American would have been familiar with the language. What does a German guy know about Latin?”

I don’t have anything new and interesting to say about the discussion, but I thought the comment was worthy of a mention.

Well, the first week of my Weight Watchers venture has ended on a happy note. I went away this weekend and didn’t get weighed on Saturday, so I stepped on the scale this morning. Down 6 lbs.!!! Of course, this is great news and I’m thrilled. I’m especially happy because I went out to dinner 5 times and still lost 6 lbs.

I’m no expert and I’d encourage everyone to take my advice with a grain of salt. That being said, this website has the Weight Watcher’s point counts of various items at tons of national chain restaurants. They even have Wawa on their list, which I thought was particularly handy.

I like eating lots of ethnic food and I think some of it is actually pretty diet friendly. 4 pieces of nigiri sushi (just fish with rice) is 2 points. 4 pieces of maki sushi (fish and veggies, rolled in rice and seaweed) is the same. Be cautious with tempura rolls or anything with sauces. The vegetarian and chicken menu items in Ethiopian food are also good. The lentils and peas are filling and their fiber probably offsets the fat in the sauces. I’m not so sure of that wonderful spongy bread; it’s delicious and addictive and probably not so good for dieters, but for now I’m eating it anyway.

Anyway, I guess I should do a little work today, so I’ll be back with an update on Saturday.

True, Monaco is a only tiny principality in Europe, but how bad was poor Prince Rainier’s timing?

If he’d died just a little bit earlier or later, his passing probably would have gotten tons of media coverage in this country. Any other week and we’d probably be busy complaining about “all Prince Rainier all the time” coverage, just like I was bitching about “all Terri all the time” coverage.

I’m not a big royalty aficianado, but I will be curious to see whether single, heirless Prince Albert ascends to the throne or whether the rules are changed to allow Princess Caroline to ascend so that her son can one day become the ruler of the principality.

I’ll wait and watch. Until then, I’ll just plan my Monaco vacation. (Do you think you can go there on a budget?)

In the spirit of generosity, and because my co-workers are probably sick to death of my trivial offerings, I’m bestowing on you my famous feature. Drum Roll please…

The German Phrase of the Day!!

My German phrase of the day is taken from my German phrase calendar, however the selected phrase is not always from the day on which it is posted. Today’s phrase however, is too perfect to post on any day, other than today.

This one goes out to all the last minute tax filers, of which I’m happily not one this year!

Nur die Ruhe!

Don’t Worry.

(Literal Translation: Just the Calmness)

Don’t you feel better now?

Have a great day and Happy Taxes!

You’ve heard about my plan to diet, you even read about the first meeting, now you get to read about the item that may well sabotage my attempts at a healthier lifestyle.

These delectable bits of sugared, fried dough can be found at the Mexican grocery right below Carpenter Street in the Italian Market. Every 3 days or so (I wouldn’t hold my breath on the timing), a Mexican baker in Reading apparently hand delivers a bounty of these pillowy light, freshly baked doughnuts to my neighborhood store.(Not sure why nobody in Philly knows how to make them, but from a purely selfish standpoint, that’s probably a good thing. ;) They seem to be very popular, at least among the Latino population in the neighborhood. And when they’re gone, they’re gone; you’ll just have to wait another 3 days for the next delivery.

In spite of the doughnut that I ate tonight, I actually had a good Weight Watchers day. Thank God for sushi!! 4 points for 8 pieces of a lovely salmon avocado roll made with brown rice. Yummy and good for me too! Oh, and the Mexican store also has a limited stock of produce, so I picked up a couple of plantains and pan-fried one with a little cooking spray and some salt.

Honestly, I haven’t had the best diet week; way too much going out to dinner, which is never easy on the points tracking. I know I did alright, in comparison to the way I’d been eating, but I could have been more diligent. I’m not beating myself up over it, I’ll just try to be better next week. Besides, I’m not even going to my meeting this weekend; it’s the weekend to go to York and spend time with my mom.

Happy Almost Friday everybody!

You just can’t fathom how relieved I was to find out that Britney Spears and her husband are expecting. And then to add to my joy, I learned that both mother and baby are fine after spending some quality time at the hospital this weekend.

Do you remember that song from a few years back by Harvey Danger? I believe the apropos lyric went like this…”been around the world and found that only stupid people are breeding.”

OK, maybe I’m being too harsh. But it really does seem like lots of stupid people are breeding.

Maybe now we’ll have a little reprieve from the “way too interested in Britney” media until “baby Federline” arrives.

We can only hope.

On Saturday, I overcame a bad case of terror and went to my first Weight Watchers meeting in over a year. I shouldn’t have been quite so worried. Of the 40 lbs I had originally lost, I only gained back 18. I’m just glad I was able to drag myself back to a meeting before my eating spun too far out of control again. I figure if I can keep this up for another 40 or 50 years, I’ll be good.

One of the women at the meeting told us a story that scared the living hell out of me. She started Weight Watcher’s about 8 years ago; I guess it took her about a year, but she lost over 100 lbs. After losing the weight, she stopped going to meetings and gained all the weight back, plus a little extra for good measure. So she went back to Weight Watchers, lost over 100 lbs again and believe it or not, she again stopped going to meetings, and gained all the weight back, plus some extra. She’s now back at the meetings and she has lost all the weight for the third time. This time, I think she’s going to stick with the meetings.

I’ve gone through some rough emotional patches, but I hope I never find myself in that kind of a situation. It was hard for me to get the courage and the motivation to go back to meetings, but I knew it would only get harder and I would just pack on more weight if I didn’t go back. I’m so happy I did.

I wish I had talked to the woman who told her story. What could possibly be going on in your head that would keep you away from Weight Watchers so long that you could go from a size 8 or 10 to a size 26(or bigger, I didn’t ask, she didn’t tell)? I wouldn’t want to hurt her, she’s obviously been through a lot, but I just want to understand and maybe take some lessons from her painful experience.

Maybe I’ll muster the nerve to ask her one of these weeks. Until then, I’ll just count my points, eat healthier foods, take my dog for longer walks, and be thrilled when I can again remove my jeans without undoing the fly. :)

Tonight after a major grocery shopping trip (gotta stock up on the Weight Watcher’s friendly items in preparation for tomorrow), some chili-cooking, and a chat with a friend, I decided to watch The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.

In the interest of full disclosure, I’ve never really liked Leno. I adored Johnny Carson, and back in the day (way, way back in the day to all you young’uns out there) I would watch Letterman when it followed the Tonight Show on NBC. Tonight, the start of Letterman was delayed by coverage of the Master’s Tournament(fucking golf), so I tuned in for the first half of Leno.

Let me tell you, I really haven’t been missing much. He used to be a pretty decent comedian. I used to enjoy his political humor, I mean, Clinton gave him some great material with all the Monica Lewinsky stuff, but Bush is no slouch as a comedy goldmine either. If you watch Letterman or even if you don’t, just check out the first half of his show sometime. Not sure exactly how, but they get completely unedited tapes of Bush appearances all over the country and edit them or just play them with such titles that Bush ends up looking like a complete buffoon.(Yeah, I know, it’s not that difficult)

For some reason, Leno has been beating Letterman in the ratings for years. NBC’s complete dominance over other networks for most of the 90’s is probably the big reason for this, but since CBS is doing much better now, I certainly hope the Nielsen voters wake up to the loopy delights of Dave and leave Leno scratching his oft-ridiculed chin.

Until then, I’ll just take comfort in my superior taste and unparalled sense of humor. :)

I’ve always heard it said that if you want to make sure you follow through on a plan, you should tell people about it and maybe even write it down. I’m definitely not much for excessive planning or even making lists, but I have a goal in mind that I guess I should announce in a public forum and hopefully you readers can help keep me on the right path. (Pretty please, with hot fudge, cinnamon pecans, and whipped cream on top??)

This Saturday, I’m going to go to my first Weight Watchers meeting in about a year and a half. I lost 40 lbs. through their plan in 2003 and I found it relatively easy to follow. I’ve gained about half of the weight back, maybe more; I really have no clue since I refuse to step on a scale. I’ll have to do it to start Weight Watchers, but I can do it for them, I just have no interest in torturing myself until I’m actually ready to tackle the problem.

I got laid off from my job shortly after starting Weight Watchers. Actually, I started on March 15, 2003 and got laid off on April 15, 2003. (Who the hell gets laid off on tax day? Me!!!) So, I stuck with the healthy eating for a while, but after I started school, the old habits started to creep back and once I started my current job, any good habits I’d developed went to hell in a hand basket. Then of course, there were the relationship problems and my father’s illness. The past 6 months haven’t been a good time to embark on anything significant.

But in the last couple of weeks, I’ve been feeling a little better and I’m hoping that I’m in the right frame of mind to get my eating habits back under control. I’m not sure about my weight loss goal, but I think I would look great if I lost about 50 lbs.

I’ll keep you guys posted.

It’s time for yet another of my true confessions. I enjoy watching Fox News occasionally. Sometimes I genuinely like what I’m seeing and hearing. Other times, it’s like watching a car wreck.

I guess I should clarify before I get kicked off the internet (and Chris’ blog) forever. I watch the O’Reilly Factor pretty regularly. Bill’s an asshole, I know it, you know it, for God’s sake, he knows it. He seems to be an egotistical jerk, who fancies himself a bit of a stud and I think he deserves most of the grief that he got over his well-publicized dalliance with his producer.

But I have to give him credit for his handling of the Terri Schiavo situation. If you ever watch the show, you know that he comes down clearly on the pro-life side, but I thought he did a respectable job of trying to understand all the issues in regard to that sad situation. He spoke with a wide array of doctors from a variety of specialties, neurologists, end of life specialists, and he also spoke with religious experts. He did not rush out to Pinellas Park to further exploit an already ugly situation. He opined that the husband should just allow the parents to take care of Terri, as long as he were granted a divorce, but at the same time, he tended to agree that Ms. Schiavo was not going to get better and he acknowledged the opinion of the majority of the country who felt she should be allowed to die.

In direct contrast to the restraint shown by the O’Reilly Factor, Hannity & Colmes (to be fair, I’m pretty sure it was just Sean Hannity) rushed out to the hospice and made sure to interview what seemed like every single nurse in the state of Florida who had treated Terri Schiavo and thought Michael Schiavo was an evil adulterer and likely a wife-beater to boot. I’m not sure what I expected, I mean, this guy never makes an attempt to be objective. Alan Colmes must get paid lots of money to tolerate Hannity or maybe he was just desperate for work when this gig came along.

So anyway, I’m lying in bed tonight, trying to sleep off this killer spring cold that hit me and I’m listening to Hannity interviewing some Catholic guy about the selection process for the new pope. Now, I’m not Catholic, so I have very little room to talk about the Catholic church, but while I agree that the pope was likely a good, religious man, I’m not really so sure about his leadership qualities, especially in his later years. When all of the hullabaloo about the priest sex scandal started and continued for years, I don’t recalling hearing much out of the pope. He needed to come down hard on that shit, but unless my memory fails me, I don’t think he did any such thing. So Hannity is going out of his way to say what a super duper fabulous pope John Paul II was. Their discussion turned toward what type of person should be pope next. In their infinite wisdom, they decided that the new pope should not try to make significant changes in the Catholic church.

Say What? OK, let me get this straight. 1.)You have a pretty widespread problem with your priests fucking little boys (maybe the occasional girl too). 2.) The vow of celibacy (based on number 1. doesn’t appear to be working out so well. 3.)The number of men signing up to be priests is in serious decline and what’s the reason women couldn’t do the job? 4.) Abortions are anything but rare, and as much as they dislike that option, God forbid they’d give any consideration to allowing birth control. 5.) And AIDS is running rampant, at least partly because the Catholic church in it’s infinite wisdom doesn’t approve of condom use for disease prevention (or anything else from what I can gather.)

I don’t even know what else to say about it. From my Theraflu induced state, all I can see is that Sean Hannity is a delusional wacko and he needs to be slapped pronto.

Goodnight Everybody. Here’s hoping that my sinuses are clear tomorrow.

Neither are lots of people. Unfortunately, the following City Council Members seem to be happy with the status quo: Jannie Blackwell, Darrell Clarke, Rick Mariano, Donna Reed Miller, and Marianne Tasco. Apparently, they’re so satisfied that they voted against the bills that would have reformed the way contracts are awarded in the city.

Take a few minutes and visit the Stop Pay to Play in Philadelphia website. They’ve got links to printable flyers, links to directly email the above-mentioned individuals, and an online petition to sign.

When I signed the petition on Friday, I was near number 60. Seems like this site should be getting more attention. Go have a look!

You can call me crazy. You can also accuse me of knowing nothing, since I have no children. But when I read this article, I just couldn’t fathom any parents who would allow their 9 year old daughters to sleep over at the home of a 56 year old man.

We don’t know if the man is a relative, a family friend, or just a complete freak who is into little girls. But we do know that two (count em, two) sets of parents deemed it appropriate to send their children to his house to sleep, otherwise unsupervised.

I know I just ranted about this subject in my last post, but really, how many kids have to be exploited before we wise the fuck up.

I’ve never had a significant beef with the Boy Scouts of America. It’s not that I agreed with their stance on gays, but I wanted to believe that the organization taught valuable life lessons to young men and boys. And I thought that it remained worthwhile despite some questionable decisions in recent years.

I attended both Brownies and Girl Scouts as a child, and I learned wonderful things, both at my meetings and at camp. Working toward earning the merit badges was fun. If I’d never been a girl scout, I probably never would have learned how to tie a slip knot (not that I remember it now - that’s not the point), I never would have experienced the supremely zen activity of whittling a piece of wood into a smooth shape with my trusty pocket knife, and I certainly never would have learned the words to all those terrific camp songs; John Jacob Jingle Heimer Schmidt, anyone? How about B-I-N-G-O or I Love the Mountains? The girl scouts taught me that raw hot dogs are not bad for you. In fact, they taste just like beef bologna; you know, the pink stuff? And they taught me that swinging from vines, just like Tarzan did, was a whole lot of fun.

I always imagined that the Boy Scouts learned similar stuff and if they had anywhere near as much fun as I had, there was no reason not to give the organization my stamp of approval.

But then I see news stories like this one and I am tremendously saddened. All the wackos in our society who want to prey on the innocent, start out by getting involved in organizations like the Boy Scouts. And we’re worried about the possible influence from gay scouts and scout leaders? How many children have to have their innocence stolen before we realize that straight is not synonymous with moral and gay does not mean perverted?