Merry Christmas

Happy Thanksgiving

So much to do and so little time...
I would have liked to write something of my own about the meaning of Thanksgiving.
It is a very traditional holiday and strictly American, we give thanks yet it is so much more.
The original settlers to the new land overcame hardships we could never imagine. Some went and turned to go back on their ships and some stayed beyond the crossing. And thank goodness for the ones who stayed.
Here is a nice piece written by Caroline Baum for Bloomberg News

COLUMNIST_BAUM

A THANKSGIVING PRAYER FROM THE IROQUOIS (SENECA) PEOPLE
Gwa! Gwa! Gwa! Now the time has come!
Hear us, Lord of the Sky! We are here to speak the truth,
for you do not hear lies, We are your children, Lord of the Sky.
Now begins the Gayant' gogwus
This sacred fire and sacred tobacco
And through this smoke We offer our prayers
We are your children, Lord of the Sky.
Now in the beginning of all things
You provided that we inherit your creation
You said: I shall make the earth
on which people shall live
And they shall look to the earth as their mother
And they shall say, "It is she who supports us."
You said that we should always be thankful
For our earth and for each other
So it is that we are gathered here
We are your children, Lord of the Sky.

Now again the smoke rises
And again we offer prayers
You said that food should be placed beside us
And it should be ours in exchange for our labor.
You thought that ours should be a world
where green grass of many kinds should grow
You said that some should be medicines
And that one should be Ona'o
the sacred food, our sister corn
You gave to her two clinging sisters
beautiful Oa'geta, our sister beans
and bountiful Nyo'sowane, our sister squash
The three sacred sisters; they who sustain us.
This is what you thought, Lord of the Sky.
Thus did you think to provide for us
That we should see the return of life
And remember you, and be thankful,
and gather here by the sacred fire.
So now again the smoke arises
We the people offer our prayers
We speak to you through the rising smoke
We are thankful, Lord of the Sky.
(Liberally translated) Chuck Larsen, Seneca

I love this story

"We are so small between the stars
so large against the sky
and lost among the subway crowds
I try to catch your eye."
Leonard Cohen

Boy sees girl. Boy loses girl. Boy finds girl — thanks to the Internet
By Belinda Goldsmith, Reuters


NEW YORK - A tale of online love inspired usually cynical New Yorkers this week to help a young man find the girl of his dreams after he spotted her on a crowded subway train.
For Web designer Patrick Moberg, 21, from Brooklyn, it was love at first sight when he locked eyes with a rosy-cheeked woman while riding in Manhattan on Sunday night. She was writing in her journal.
The train was so full that he lost her in the crowd when they both got off, so he set up a Web site dedicated to finding the mystery woman — http://www.nygirlofmydreams.com/.

He drew a picture of the girl, who was wearing blue shorts, blue tights, and a red flower in her hair, and posted his cell phone number, e-mail address and an appeal for help finding her.
It worked.
Within hours Moberg's inbox was overflowing with e-mails and his phone ringing non-stop. He told the New York Post that he even received e-mails offering him love. "Some people said I'm not the girl but you're so adorable, pick me instead."
On Tuesday night a friend of the woman contacted him and sent him a picture so he could confirm her identity. "Found Her! Seriously!" a notice on his Web site said.
"We've been put in touch with one another and we'll see what happens."
The mysterious subway brunette was named on Thursday as Camille Hayton, an intern at magazine BlackBook from Melbourne, Australia, who also lives in Brooklyn.
"This is crazy. I can't believe it's happening," Hayton, 22, told the New York Post.
But Moberg said he is now pulling the shutters on his love life, scribbling out the cell phone number on his Web site and leaving a message on his phone saying he will do no more interviews.
"In our best interest, there will be no more updates to this website," he wrote.

Veterans Day

Lest we forget all of the brave troops past and present.

A Criminal Act?

When the authorities are not on the lookout for people smoking cigarettes or taking in too many trans grams of fat, it is children and chalk. There was a time when chalk on sidewalks was permissible. Missing the days of hop scotch for fun.

http://www.brooklynpaper.com/stories/30/40/30_40graffitigirl.html

Since when is there a fine to pay for a child to use chalk?

Pray for California

Photo source: AOL

1-800-redcross

Lead in Lipsticks

FDA to investigate report on lead levels in lipstick.

A consumer group says that certain popular, U.S.-made red lipsticks contain "surprisingly high levels of lead" that might be potentially dangerous, and the Food and Drug Administration said it would investigate, while cautioning that previous claims "have not generally been supported" by FDA analysis, the Associated Press says.

http://blogs.usatoday.com/ondeadline/2007/10/fda-to-investig.html

Top brands mentioned on the press release include L'Oreal, Cover Girl and Christian Dior. So far only red is under scrutiny. L'Oreal is the brand named with the highest levels.

PRESSRELEASE

Last cigarette

I was thinking as I smoked my last cigarette about how we were Dutch once before we were English.

Forget Harlem and forget Amsterdam Avenue. We also have New Breukelin known as Brooklyn and a New Utrecht Avenue, among others....Bronx..... Van Wyck...

Can't find my way home

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QEAxSQBCXPk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=23--PE0aVZU

Sorry I am a neanderthal and dinasaur when it comes to modern technology. I tried to post the video and didn't succeed.

Anyway, I just love love Eric Clapton and Steve Winwood.

Enjoy.

Sort of Funny

Have to admit this is sort of funny. Sorry Newt.

Newt thought The NYTimes editorial staff was taking Mockmood DinnerJacket to the Four Seasons per Laura Ingraham joke.

Can’t help noticing the term “right wing-leaning portions of the blogosphere” in the short Media Bistro article.

http://www.mediabistro.com/fishbowlny/video/uhh_ahmadinejad_didnt_lunch_with_the_times_sorry_newt_67534.asp

Sister Nun meet....

http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/?entry=27161_Homeland_Absurdity#comments

Sister Nun meet your TSA employee with a headcovering at your local airport.

I couldn't resist this. I stole it from LGF.

Guess it is true that 9/11 was the catalyst for the brazen acts to follow from the what are they called? Oh yes, Religion of Peace(ers).

As a former Catholic school girl who was both respectful and fearful of our nuns, I am truly appalled by this display. At an American airport??? It was after reading the comments on the thread that I realized the TSA employee was wearing an Islamaniac head covering. Talk about upside down.

Is there a Stairway to Heaven? Drumroll please.

Teach Your Children Well

BRAVE NEW SCHOOLS

Muslim religion taught under guise of history' Students perform skits about the tenets of Islam belief'

Posted: September 20, 20071:00 a.m. Eastern
By Bob Unruh© 2007 WorldNetDaily.com

The "Five Pillars" of Islam – charity, fasting, prayer, belief and pilgrimage – are being taught to public school students in Nyssa, Ore., under the guise of world history, the school has confirmed to WND, even though a parent raised a complaint about the same teachings a year ago.
In a letter to parents following the concerns that were raised at that point, Supt. Don Grotting and other school officials told parents that the text called "Journey Across Time" features a chapter on "Islamic Civilizations."

As part of that, "class activities have included guest speakers (including an American soldier serving in Iraq and a practicing Muslim woman who is an American citizen living in Mountain Home) who talked about geography, dress, climate, religion, economy and culture and student skits, in which students prepare and perform three- to five-minute skits about the tenets of Islam belief: charity, fasting, prayer, belief, and pilgrimage."
Janine Weeks, the curriculum director at the school, this week told WND that the curriculum, and class activities, are continuing.

"We've not made any changes," she said. "The content standards require that we present information about the rise of Islam in the context of world history."

Story continues-

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=57738

Schools and Flags

A North Carolina school banned flags and then rescinded the ban but for all flags. For God sakes, it was September 11th after all.http://www.nbc17.com/midatlantic/ncn/news.apx.-content-articles-NCN-2007-09-11-0027.html

This reminded me of a story earlier in the month about Sweden posted at Gates of Vienna.

http://gatesofvienna.blogspot.com/2007/09/that-racist-swedish-flag.html#readfurther

By coincidence, a commenter mentions North Carolina's steps to join the North American Union which I hadn't known about. A caller to a radio program talked about his new license plate with a NAFTA emblem on the back. I hadn't realized North Carolina was such a progressive state.

9/11

Why are they celebrating?

Disgusting. Unspeakable. Two days before 9/11 and they have a parade.


http://atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com/atlas_shrugs/2007/09/the-islamists-d.html#comments

Delta Flight 1824

I found this on Michael Savage.com and on "TheReligionOfPeace".com

The Untold Story of Delta Flight 1824

http://www.homelandsecurityus.com/090907Flt1824

Now it's Swedish Flags?

They got the color wrong. Duh.

http://news.yahoo.com/photo/070831/481/lhr10308311423

Psychedelic Era Revisited

The Whitney Museum has been holding an exhibition "Summer of Love - Art of the Psychelelic Era" from May through September 16, 2007. http://www.whitney.org/www/exhibition/SOL_exhib.jsp

I must confess that as a child I found the hippy dippy culture to be fascinating. I mean who doesn't want to believe in love, love, love and peace in our time. Of course, there was a dark side to this culture as in drugs and hedonism but the music was fantastic. Plus the posters for rock concerts and the art work on the album covers. Nothing today can compare to it.

I myself would have chosen Swinging London 67 and the mod clothing to Haight Ashbury in San Francisco. These do happen to be two of my favorite cities.

For a sobering and truthful look at the "Summer of Love", San Francisco based writer Cinnamon Stillwell wrote an excellent piece as always and reminds us of the repercussions we are still facing today from this era.
"Rethinking the Summer of Love"
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/g/a/2007/07/25/cstillwell.DTL

They call her Hill

"Hill Eyes National Cig Curb"
by Geoff Earle, Post Correspondent

HERE

and this, but she never inhaled.

happybirthday

Do you believe in trolls?

Icelander photographs trolls from the air.
Video shows photographer capturing face like images.

http://www.dw-world.de/popups/popup_single_mediaplayer/0,,2738241_type_video_struct_9097,00.html?mytitle=Icelander%2Bphotographs%2Btrolls%2Bfrom%2Bthe%2Bair

"A Minnesota Mystery"

Interesting story about runes, Vikings and Norwegian explorers, oh my.

A Minnesota Mystery: The Kensington Runestone
Ben Tracy

(WCCO) It's one of Minnesota's greatest mysteries. It's something that puts settlers in America well before Columbus. A Minnesota geologist thinks the controversial Kensington Runestone is the real thing and there is evidence that he says backs up the theory.

The Kensington Runestone is a rock found near Alexandria a century ago. It's inscription speaking of Norwegians here in 1362. It begs the question. Were Vikings exploring our land more than 100 years before Columbus? Or is it just an elaborate hoax?

STORY:HERE

A Mets Fan

He was on a one night layover in San Francisco on his way to Australia. A Mets fan from Queens caught the ball that made history for Barry Bonds. The 756th home runner beating the Hank Aaron record and a boy from New York who had to fight the crowds for that ball.
I liked this story as I am tired of hearing bad news.



SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- With the crack of the bat a brief stillness settled over the right-center field bleachers at AT&T Park as Barry Bonds' record-breaking homer rocketed toward the crowd.
Then the scrum was on.
As the specially marked baseball landed a few rows up in the fifth inning Tuesday night, dozens of fans wrestled for it and the promise of riches it carried. Suddenly, the metal bleachers vibrated with energy. Grunts, cheers and the cries of frightened children broke the silence as parents sought to shield their youngsters from the chaos.
In the middle of it all was 22-year-old New Yorker Matt Murphy, who emerged from beneath the pile holding the ball Bonds hit for career home run No. 756. His face was bloodied and his clothes stretched and torn from his battle in the bleachers.
A team of San Francisco police officers moved in, extracted Murphy from the crowd, and quickly led him through a tunnel and into a secure room.
As he high-fived other fans, Murphy, wearing a New York Mets jersey and cap, slid the ball into the back pocket of his plaid Bermuda shorts.
Reporters screamed questions, but all he managed to say was, "I'm Matt Murphy from Queens, N.Y."
"I just hope he didn't get hurt," Bonds said after the game, which the Giants lost 8-6 to the Washington Nationals. He said he had no interest in getting the ball back for himself.
"I don't want the ball," Bonds said. "I've never believed a home run ball belonged to the player. If he caught it, it's his."
Murphy and a friend were en route to Australia and in San Francisco for a one-day layover, a Giants spokesman said. They purchased tickets just before the game.
He and the friend, dressed in New York Yankees regalia, were razzed by nearby Giants fans. "Hey, this isn't New York!" one shouted. Murphy and his friend just laughed it off before settling into their seats.
Murphy declined to make himself available to the media.
Baseball memorabilia experts have pegged the ball's value at $400,000 to $500,000. That's well below the $3.3 million fetched by Mark McGwire's 70th home run ball in 1998.



SOURCE: YAHOOSPORTS

The Yankee or Dixie Quiz

I received this quiz in an e-mail forwarding. It's silly but just for fun.
The Yankee or Dixie quiz
Check on your dialect and see if you might have crossed over to the "other side"!

Be aware that television entertainment has a lot of northern dialect in it. This will have more of an influence on you than you expect.
This test is based on results from the Harvard Computer Society Dialect Survey of 30788 respondents.

1. How do you pronounce Aunt?
Like the word want
Like the word ant
Like the word caught
I pronounce them all the same
Like the word ant -
RESULT: Common throughout entire U.S., spoken by 75% of the population


2. How do you pronounce caramel?
Two syllables ("car-ml")
Three syllables ("car-a-mel")
Either
Don't know
“car-a-mel” - RESULT: Common on the Atlantic coast and southern United States

3. How do you pronounce creek?
Rhymes with meek
Rhymes with kick
EitherDon't know
Like meek - RESULT: Common throughout the entire United States

4. How do you pronounce the second syllable in pajamas?
Rhymes with jam
Rhymes with father
Either
Don't know
Don’t know - RESULT: We don’t know either

5. How do you pronounce route?
Rhymes with clout
Rhymes with toot
Either
Don't know
Either - RESULT: No Bias

(toot- Centered on Chicago and the Great Lakes region south to Tennessee. clout-- Most common to the Northeast United States)

6. Do you pronounce "cot" and "caught" the same way?
Yes
No
No answer
Don't know
No - RESULT: Favored from Pennsylvania to Ohio and Indiana


7. How do you address a group of people?
You all
Youse
You'uns, yins
Y'all
Youse - RESULT Very localized center in New York and New Jersey

8. What kind of sale is it on the front lawn?
Rummage sale
Tag sale
Yard sale
Garage sale
Yard or garage sale
RESULT: garage- All of U.S.; southeast not favored

9. What's that long sandwich with lots of cold cuts and toppings?
Sub
Hoagie
Grinder
Hero
Hero - RESULT: Maine!

10. What's the tiny lobster that crawls around in creek bottoms?
Crawfish
Crayfish
Crawdad
I don't know
Huh? I don’t know- Crayfish?
RESULT: Northeast U.S. and Great Lakes region

11. What do you call gym shoes?
Sneakers
Tennis shoes
Gymshoes
Runnning shoes
Sneakers - RESULT: Very strongly biased toward the Northeast United States

12. What is spread onto the tops of cakes?
Frosting
Icing
Don't know
No answer
Frosting or Icing, okay Frosting
RESULT: New England and western Great Lakes

13. What's that road along an Interstate highway?
Frontage road
Service road
Access road
Feeder
Service road - RESULT: Used nationwide, especially in urban areas

14. What do you put groceries in?
Bag
Sack
Poke
No answer
Bag - RESULT: Used nationwide and in southern urban areas

15. Where might you get water in a public building?
Water fountain
Drinking fountain
Bubbler
No answer
Water fountain - RESULT: Most common nationwide except for Great Lakes area

16. What is that bubbly carbonated drink called?
Soda
Coke
Pop
Soft drink
Soda -RESULT: Used heavily in northeast US and California

17. What's it called when you throw toilet paper over a house?
TP'ing
Toilet papering
Rolling
Papering
Huh? I have no clue
RESULT: Papering is used in New York City region

18. What's the night before Halloween called?
I don't use any word for this
Devil's night
Mischief night
Cabbage night
Mischief- but I thought it was Halloween night.
RESULT: Centered heavily on New York City and New Jersey.


19. What's a drive through liquor store called?
I haven't heard of any such thing,
or none of the below
Brew thru
Beverage barn
Party barn
I haven’t heard of any such thing RESULT: Dont worry, this is a common response.

20. What's that bug that rolls into a ball when you touch it?
(NOTE: This is not a doodle bug (ant lion), which is the larvae of Myrmeleontidae spp.)
Roly poly
Pillbug
Potato bug
Sow bug
Huh? What is that? Pillbug? RESULT: Great Lakes region and northeast U.S.

39% (Yankee) A definitive Yankee

Flag Burners

First Sighting

I saw my first sighting on Saturday afternoon while walking down an undisclosed street and it was walking toward me. It was a hot and humid day and I just couldn't believe my eyes but there I saw it. Just like in the picture. Just like I've been reading about.

And just as thought I had smoked my last pack of Parliament Lights over the weekend as I had promised myself, there I went today and bought more. I've gone back and forth with these cigarettes and am getting better at smoking less and will take it one day at a time.

It's too darn hot to write.

Not just a beach resort

Took two small road trips so far this summer but haven't replaced my old camera and didn't bother to get a disposable which are not so bad. Now I am sorry I have no pictures of my own.

Outer Banks, North Carolina- There are lighthouses and unspoiled beaches. I went to the northern part of these islands. Places with names such as Duck which is very quaint and stayed in Corolla where I was surprised to see so much advertising for surf shops. When I think of surfing, I think of California, Hawaii, Australia, not North Carolina. There's horseback riding too. But more than shopping, dining and the beach there is history to experience here.

You can experience The Lost Colony as an outdoor drama about the first group of settlers from England, where Virginia Dare, the first child of these colonists was born. This is a sad story, for the people disappeared and no one has ever found out what really happened. http://www.outerbanks.com/lostcolony/

We also have the museum of the Wright Brothers. Everyone knows this story about one of America's most important historic events. http://www.outerbanks.com/wrightbrothers/

North Carolina to this day celebrates this with their license motto reading: "First In Flight".

Also the beaches are truly unspoiled and some of the most pristine I have seen so far on the East coast. Here is why: "And the American government, determined to protect this fragile environment, set aside much of these islands as the country's first National Seashore. Cape Hatteras National Seashore now preserves some of the finest beaches in the country." Who needs the Hamptons anyway and it might not be the south of France but it is ever so lovely. It is a low key area and the people are polite and nice and also as expected there is good seafood. I think I could live here.

I took an over night trip in July to New Hampshire for a family reunion where the house was near a lake. The area was very rustic and I felt as though I was completely away from it all. There is still an old world feel to this place and though the traffic on the highway can be heavy, once you go further inward, you know you are in the country. It's one of those places where you can see there are many patriotic people who still fly our flag. Sounds corny to some, I know.

If only I'd had a camera, this place was beautiful. I love New England!

I was told that there are more people moving in from nearby Massachusetts.

The motto for New Hampshire license plates is: "Live Free Or Die." I'm just sorry I didn't have more time to spend as we Americans do not get enough VACATION TIME!

same old, same old

I missed the Live Earth concert on t.v. on Saturday night. I was sorry I didn’t get to see the Police perform together because I love them. I was told that in between performances and commercials there were little antidotes to tell people how to conserve energy. I resent this and do not need to be told. I have been recycling for years, separating the garbage and carefully not putting newspapers and paper in with the regular garbage. I take care not to put glass and plastic in with regular garbage too. Where I live it is the law and I am more than willing to oblige. During hot summer months when I need to use the air conditioner, I put the setting most of the time on “energy saver”. And because I live in a large city, I am able to get around on mass transportation and do not have to rely on foreign oil for a car as do most people I know. Where some people live driving is necessary. Actually, where most people live this is a must. And let’s remember that unfortunately there is more carbon monoxide spewed out into the atmosphere through car exhaust fumes then can ever be harmful through people smoking cigarettes. Hey, we live in a modern country filled with scientists, why then has there never been an alternative to the blood oil needed for driving and flying?
So when I hear rich over paid spoiled entertainers who do not live in the real world anyway, telling me how I should protect our lovely planet, I truly resent it.
There was a special on Fox news which was repeated at midnight and I got to see this and it was interesting “Banned by PBS: Muslims against Jihad”. This film was originally to air on PBS. (I did notice that sometimes E.D. Hill was cutting off Martyn Burke)
This had been shown earlier Saturday night coinciding with the broadcast of the Live Earth concert and there was an interview with a French rapper named Abd Al Malik in France who had been targeted by an Islamist leader to join up. He told how he had his Barry White records destroyed by these very extremist people who condemn music as the Taliban had done and broke his records because he did not want to be a part of them.
We use music that we love to try and get important messages across for different reasons, be it famine or the environment. Or maybe this is used by our overpaid entertainers to feed their already overblown egos. Who knows and who cares.
The government which tells us how we should separate our garbage and where to smoke still cannot come up with an alternative to the blood oil which is the fuel that is killing us as they are in bed with the head of this gang of thugs.
This is not the Summer of Love, this is not Woodstock, this is post 9/11.
So for the infidels who entertain and know nothing about the threat we face far scarier than so called global warming, let them keep that hot air in their pipes and smoke it.

We Remember

Let the memory of loved ones lost
shine down like rays of sunlight
on those of us left behind to carry
on in the world with faith and love,
and may God bless everyone in
this upside down state of affairs.

Happy July 4th

Independence Day falling smack in the middle of the week. Not supposed to happen that way. Should be a three day weekend.

I went and did it. I bought a pack of cigs tonight. Not Parliament or Marlboro but Pall Mall. So annoyed. Spent a week in the quiet Outer Banks of North Carolina where I kept seeing signs for cigarettes at $3.49. WTF. Can't explain why I fell off the wagon just tonight after only one day back to reality. There's never an excuse.

vacation time

I can't wait to get away to the beach. A whole week. If I didn't buy a pack of cigarettes today, I know I'm doing good because today I wanted one so bad. Still do actually. It was rough for a Friday but I don't want to talk about it.

Yesterday was officially the first day of summer. Time to forget our worries and cares.

Oh, the good old days.

How do I look?

I feel pretty.

I was glad to find these pictures in an article in the New York Times- "Muslims veils test limits of Britain's tolerance". Though reading the story, I got the impression all the comfort should be for the ones in the strange costumes and not for us dressed normal. Somehow reminds me of The Munsters where Marilyn is considered the weird one. The world is upside down. I see more and more coverings on women here at home but not as extreme as these. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/22/world/europe/22veil.html?pagewanted=1&en=824eb302053d4208&ei=5059&ex=1183176000&partner=AOL

Don't burn that flag!

"I don't want to talk about it"

On Saturday afternoon, while doing chores with the t.v. on, I happened to come across the movie Moonstruck. I had forgotten how much I loved this movie. It is from the late 80's and is filmed on location in New York City and there are some beautiful shots with the Twin Towers. We see these every now and then in past films and t.v. shows.

This is the movie where Cher gets her oscar, though she was better in Mask where she was first nominated and this particular oscar I thought should have gone to Glenn Close for Fatal Attraction.

"Snap out of it" and "I don't want to talk about it". It was all Cosmo's moon. There is a lot of drinking (and eating) but no smoking. Lots of amore and good dialogue. Definitely thumbs up on this one!

Yes, we have a Flag Day

I would not have known it was Flag Day had I not seen it on the internet. Don't remember hearing anything about the anniversary of D-Day, what June 6th was it? Oh well. I have nothing to write about.

Cheers.

Forty years ago?

40 years ago, say it isn't so.....

Sometimes, can't sleep, sometimes need a cigarette badly. Has nothing to do with the Beatles, I know. But there is lots of talk about the 40th anniversary of this album. I'd rather not talk about it right now.

Author unknown

It is the soldier, not the reporter,
who has given us freedom of the press.
It is the soldier, not the reporter,
who has given us freedom of speech.

It is the soldier, not the campus organizer,
who has give us the freedom to demonstrate.
It is the soldier, not the lawyer,
who has given us the right to a fair trial.

It is the soldier, who salutes the flag,
who serves under the flag,
and whose coffin is draped by the flag.
who allows the protestor to burn the flag.

Author Unknown


God bless our troops, past and present.

Let them smoke

When they said we can't smoke in bars I knew things had gotten crazy. Now, they want to put a rating on a movie as a warning where there is actors smoking. Where does it end? Why not just outlaw smoking completely.

In old movies and t.v. shows there is a lot of smoking going on. It doesn't bother me, it was a sign of the times. Now, things have gone too far.

PUFFING AWAY THAT P.G .RATING

Don't forget calories

Not smoking and trying not to eat a lot of junk food. My main snacks are:
lollypops
pumpkin seeds
sunflower seeds.
It's always a concern for people not to want to gain weight especially if you've been smoking for so many years and it just becomes a big part of you. And then there's the "smoking curbs your appetite" factor which it does. I am more hungry now.
I have heard Brian Wansink, Phd on a radio program and liked things he said about how people eat the wrong foods. We think if it's low fat, that it must be good but then it's high in calories. What with all of the fad diets, which many I can't remember, we have forgotten to count calories. I have noticed low fat snacks are high in sodium. He mentioned the different fads that come and go such as low carbohydrates, etc. and that it's better to eat a real meal. Think Lean Cuisine and just go for the gusto. Well not too much.

His web sight is

http://mindlesseating.org

Now it's Nikki

In the aftermath of the horrible shooting at Virginia Tech, we now have a known poet by the name of Nikki Giovanni. According to AOL, she is a popular search.
"Isn't it a pity
Isn't it a shame" (in the words of George Harrison)

Why wasn't she poplular before?
She may be more famous now then ever. Who knew she was the poet in residence at that school?

I liked a poem of hers from years back titled: the kidnap poem

ever been kidnapped
by a poet
if i were a poet
i'd kidnap you
put you in my phrases and meter
you to jones beach
or maybe coney island
or maybe just to my house
lyric you in lilacs
dash you in the rain
blend into the beach
to complement my see
play the lyre for you
ode you with my love song
anything to win you
wrap you in the red Black green
show you off to mama
yeah if i were a poet i'd kidnap you

Attempt No.7

Attempt No. 7, Day 7 Not smoking. Hope this time it sticks.

I woke up on Saturday and had a strong urge to go to the store and buy a pack but I was able to stop myself....