AshevilleEddie

That's scary. Of course, the far right will say it's us Gays recruiting...

Oh yes! A burnt sacrifice is the best! :flame:

The uncured stuff is plenty salty. It just doesn't taste like you're nibbling on a salt lick.

Ok, here's a great recipe for you. It's easy, Lap-Band, Lo Carb-, & Lo Fat-friendly and above all, it's quite tasty! Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Take a small pork loin and wrap it in a pound of bacon (don't get too up in arms yet). Coat the entire outside of the now pork-wrapped pork (LOL, couldn't resist) in lemon pepper seasoning, whatever brand you like. Make sure it's well-coated. Place the loin on a wire roasting rack over a pan and bake until the center reaches whatever temperature you're comfortable cooking pork to (I usually let it hit about 155, then let it rest in the oven for another 5-10 minutes). Just don't overcook it or else it will no longer be LB-friendly (too dry). The majority of the fat from the bacon will drip off during the roasting process, and pork loin is naturally low-fat already & the only carbs (negligible t best) in the recipe come from the seasoning. Back to the bacon for a moment - I have started trying to avoid processed/cured meats and have found that uncured bacon is now available in my area. It tastes almost exactly the same as regular cured bacon, only not quite as salty. Despite my wordy post, this is hands-down one of the easiest and most delicious recipes I have ever made. :hungry:

:boy_hug: Ditto for me. Although I don't recall being at the receiving end of any post of yours...

You are evil and must be destroyed. See, I am Gay enough to quote (loosely) lines from Steel Magnolias!

Are you sure? They were so wholesome...

Well, I did listen to her a lot during my formative years. Do you think that's why I'm Gay?? If I'd only listened to the Osmonds instead...

SEE?? I knew I should have just kept my mouth shut. Damn. :faint: Mark, are you really from Chile or are you just giving me shit??

No, you're right there. But I will narrow it down to a continent for you - it was in South America. Oh what the hell - it was Chile. It's a very beautiful country, and Chilenos are overall the most friendly, open people I have ever met. They just have bad sewers...

Hopefully, that will be me very soon. <fingers crossed> My old doc's office actually put together a recap today of all my weights for the two years I saw him. It's going to the insurance company in the morning. It's not the full chart, but hopefully they'll accept it. Please say a prayer (light a candle, cut up a chicken - whatever it is you do) for me...

Eww. ROTFLMFAO!!! I have been to the third world and for the most part their toilets are actually pretty clean. Of course, they throw their used toilet paper into the trash (or onto the floor behind the toilet if there's no trash can) because their septic systems can't handle it. I won't say what country lest there be natives of said country among us... :guess

Green, I hate to disappoint you, but not all of us Gay boys got that gene! While our house is decorated reasonably nicely, it will never be on the cover of a magazine. In fact, most of the time it could use a good cleaning. As for dinner parties, unless you count the Halloween party we had two years ago we've never hosted one. And guess what else? Neither of us know how to style hair or arrange flowers and neither of us has ever been in any musical theater productions! I can hear the collective gasp already... :biggrin1:

Well, I saw a tiny light at the end of the tunnel today. My current PCP's office called the old doc's. Let me just say, I've got the best doc with the best staff in the entire world! Don't know which of the ladies made the call, but she got the old doc's office (the nasty biotch, I assume :ogre ) to agree to print out a history of my weights for the two years I saw him! I can still get the full charts if necessary, but the WLC said this info should suffice. And the best part? They should have it by tomorrow!! I'm not getting overly excited yet, but I am certainly more optimistic today. God, this is such a roller coaster ride...

Actually dear, it was a triple post. :heh: On a completely separate note, I got denied today! :angry WTF? I'm apparently not fat enough to be automatically approved. My BMI is just under 37, but I'm diabetic and have high blood pressure (I'm on three diabetes meds and three BP meds for Christ's sake!) and high cholesterol/triglycerides. They want FIVE YEARS' of medical records! And if that wasn't enough, the WLC faxed a records request to my old PCP - it's going to be 7-10 days before they will MAIL my records - they won't even fax them! And the woman I talked to there was such a bitch! "That's our protocol." WHAT? There's a protocol for getting a copy of a chart? Oh yeah, here's the kicker. She snidely pointed out that there were other people waiting for their records and that I "haven't been seen in the office for over three years." What the fuck does that have to do with anything??? Is she mad because I changed doctors and now go to one less than a mile from my home and work? AAARRRRGGGGHHHHH!!!!! Ok, rant over. At least for the time being...

:angry Damn those friggin' insurance companies and doctors' offices! I was denied today too! My BMI is just under 37, but I have diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol/triglycerides. They want to see FIVE years' worth of medical records before they'll even consider approving me! Three years with my current PCP plus the psych letter from a psychiatrist I've actually been seeing for about 7 years aren't enough. So the WLC faxed a records request over to my old PCP's office. I called to follow up and get an ETA and was told that since I hadn't been seen in their office for over three years that it would be 7 to 10 days, plus they were going to mail my records, they won't fax them. That's going to add another two weeks to the process, not to mention how long it's going to take the insurance company to review my case. How many f'ing hoops do I have to jump through to prove I've been fat for 34 of m 42 years?!? The insurance company has probably spent more on me for prescriptions and Dr visits in the last two years alone than WLS will cost them to cover. I'm just so PISSED!!!

Well, that's ok. It would have been difficult to explain to DH anyway...

Hmm, you don't happen to play for my team, do you? :guess

You know what they say about a guy with big feet, right? He wears big shoes!

Ok, I went to my PCP for pre-op check-up and medical clearance. Well, earlier in the morning (10:00) I had gone in for my Upper GI. When I called the hospital's scheduling department, I asked them how long it would take as I was leaving work in the middle of the day. I was told "about an hour." Based on that info, I also scheduled a loan closing for 12:00. Well, three hours later I finally left the hospital. I had to call my client and postpone the closing, plus I felt like had thrown my employees under the bus after being gone for so long. Sooo, I get back to work about 2:30, only to have to leave and be at the Dr's office by 4:00 for my appointment. The MT checks my vitals and lo and behold, my blood pressure is something like 196/103! Given that I have a history of high blood pressure, the fact that I was still extremely upset over the events of the day didn't deter my PCP from refusing to sign my clearance paperwork. He added another BP med to the two I'm already taking (and maxed out on) and told me to come back on Monday. If the BP is down to a more normal level, he'll clear me for surgery. So here's my question. What are some safe ways I can lower my BP before I go in on Monday afternoon? I don't want to do anything that would be "deceitful" as going into surgery with BP that high would be dangerous. But I do want it to be low enough to be cleared, then I can concentrate on keeping it down for surgery. Any suggestions? :help:

I haven't done this one personally, but I've heard it really does work. I may actually use it as my pre-op diet to get my blood sugars under better control before I go in...

Um, wow! That's today, right? (it's been a loooonnnggg day) Congrats! :high5: How are you feeling? I'm pretty impressed that you are even looking at a computer today! I still don't have a date yet, but insurance was filed yesterday so it's getting close...

Damn, I know this the Rants & Raves section, but some of the comments in this thread are absurd. Gadgetlady, I understand how you feel about abortion. I feel pretty much the same way. There is no way, scientific or otherwise that we can ever know exactly when life begins, so I err on the side of caution and believe that it begins at conception. HOWEVER, NO ONE has the right to tell a woman what she can do with her body or anything inside it. Taking away personal rights is your Crisco-laden slippery slope. And as for the abortion clinic protesters who demonize women headed into those clinics, I can speak from personal experience because I've been there - that is exactly what happens. Those women are shown pictures of (supposedly) aborted fetuses and told (screamed at, to be exact) that they are murderers and are going to hell. So don't tell me it doesn't happen that way. Are you kidding me? If you're going to have a rational, adult dialogue don't say sh!t like this. You're stooping to a very low level, one to which, from reading many of your posts, you are intelligent and articulate enough to not have to stoop (that was a compliment, BTW...).

BJean, you asked for it, so here it is! I can speak from both personal experience and first hand knowledge of others on the Nature vs. Nurture thing. My earliest childhood memories are from about age 3 1/2 and even at that age I knew that I was somehow different. By 6 or so, I knew that I liked taking a bath with my best friend, and it wasn't because we played with toy sailboats in the tub! Of course at that age there was no overt sexual connotation. By 9 or 10 (about the time that most kids start to have some understanding of sex) I knew what it was that made me different. It was very difficult to grow up Gay in the South, especially in a very religious community. One of my sisters was (and still is) married to a Baptist pastor, the other was very involved in her (Southern Baptist) church. Oddly enough, my brother was the most accepting. My mother said she always knew but just didn't want to admit it, because she thought it was "her fault." My dad simply didn't want to know anything. Although I had always tried to suppress my true feelings, after becoming a Christian at age 16, I began to try and seek assistance from others in an attempt to be Str8. For almost two decades I tried everything. Secular counseling, pastoral counseling, sex therapy, prayer, fasting, you name it I tried it. The sex therapist I saw went so far as to put me through aversion therapy. This consisted of two things; First, if I was at home, I had to keep ammonia and cotton balls handy. If I had a "homosexual thought" I had to douse a cotton ball with the ammonia and inhale as deeply as I could, over and over until the thoughts went away. Second, If I was away from home, I had to wear a rubber band around my wrist, and every time I had one of those "homosexual thoughts" I had to snap the rubber band on my wrist as hard as I could. I also spent several months living on the base of a conservative Christian youth organization. I was expected (though in all fairness not forced) to share every intimate detail of my life, including thoughts and feelings, as well as actions. Of course masturbation was a sin, so if I did it I "confessed" and was given "consequences" (usually bible verses to memorize, and sometimes extra chores). And those homosexual thoughts? Well, that usually amounted to having to memorize entire chapters of the bible, then write what amounted to essays about what I'd read plus those lovely extra chores. I could go on and on, but I think I've made my point. I did all those things willingly and sincerely. I honestly wanted to change. But the more I tried (or didn't try, just "let go and let God") the more depressed and despondant I became. Ultimately, the faith that had been so strong for so long simply vanished. I literally wanted to die. The only thing that kept me from doing the deed was my children. And it was as much for my children as for myself that I finally decided to stop trying to live a false life. My faith never did come back as strongly as it had once been. After everything I had been put through by so-called Christians and being asked to leave two churches simply for being Gay, I sorta gave up on organized religion. And while I do still identify as Christian, I now have more questions than answers. But at least I am now living an honest, truthful life. I don't wear my orientation on my sleeve, but I don't lie about who I am either. I'm just me. Now at the beginning of this soliloquy, I stated that I was also drawing on the experiences of others, as well as my own. I know countless other GLBT (Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual & Transgendered) people whose stories are in every way except the exact details just like mine. As for those who say that have successfully changed their orientation, I believe with all my heart that while they may be sincere in that belief, they are only deluding themselves and in time they will either come to realize that or die very unhappy and unfulfilled. EVERY person I have ever known that has had the misfortune of being a part of an ex-gay ministry (oh, I forgot to mention that I did that too) has ultimately come to realize who they truly are. So to wrap up this extremely long post, there is no doubt in my mind that where sexual orientation is concerned, every human being is born with a genetic destiny that (while repressible and hideable) is inerrant and unchangeable. JMHO...

Hmm, ok. Been there, tried that. Got two kids out of it. Won't go back. Maybe one day I'll spill the whole story, but here's the gist of it: I was raised Southern Baptist, so even though I'd known all my life that I was Gay, I tried everything possible to be Str8, including getting married and having kids. My ex-wife turned out to be a psycho bitch so I divorced her to keep my kids safe (not because I was Gay, just to clarify). Nine months after the divorce was final I decided to quit playing "the game." I came out and started dating men. A year or so later I met DH and we've been together ever since. In fact, Monday was nine years. We're going to New England/New York for vacation next spring and he asked me to marry him in Massachusetts :sleep(the only state where same-sex marriage is legal). I told him I'd have to check my calendar and get back to him. Don't want to come across as easy, you know...