Carlene

I can't find it either. Sounds like a great post, though. I'm hoping you will give us another shot at it.

Obnoxious, moi? LOL...thank you, BOH. I enjoy your posts, too. And Geezer Sue's....and sometimes TOM's. I get a lot of PMs that say "I love your posts", and that's very flattering. I love writing the funny stuff, and I am compelled to write the rest because I feel passionately about certain issues. Other people feel just as strongly, but take the opposing view. That's okay....that's GREAT, in fact. A good, spirited debate is a beautiful thing. However....in a battle of minds, name-calling simply serves as an announcement that one side has run out of ammunition.

My DH joined the Air Force so as not to be drafted. He spent his entire enlistment (1964-68) at Luke Air Force Base in Arizona. As you said - the luck of the draw. My brother-in-law was able to get in the National Guard (W VA) with no problem at all, and certainly no "connections". I know some guys had trouble getting in the Guard, but evidently many did not. My brother enlisted in 1961 (also USAF). He was stationed in NJ but they sent him to Vietnam 3 times TDY (temp duty). He and my DH had the same rank and same training. My first husband skipped from one deferment to another - married, then married with a child, then student. Later we found out that he was automatically deferred all along because he was the sole surviving son of a father killed on active duty.

I am humbled by your post, Kat. You truly Celebrate the spirit of Christmas.

Someone posted this in the Rants and Raves forum.... Thanks! I'm new to this site to learn about lap-banding. Now I know this is a political commentary site, with some very ignorant people. I won't need to come back here again. Some of us took exception to being called ignorant.

Yeah, just look at Arnold S, Ronald Reagan, and Jesse Ventura. Those guys had some major qualifications, didn't they? Did any of them even finish college? You can be forgiven for that.

A reporter asked Jimmy Carter's mom if she planned to vote for him and she said, "I don't know. It depends on who else is running."

Better dead than red! (Although I live in a red state that was BLUE for many, many years.)

Kelly Ann... We have almost exactly the same story, you and I - except that I got to within 10 pounds of my goal weight. I am 2 years post-op today and down 97 pounds. I've been over-filled twice...once to the point of reflux and aspiration pneumonia. (You want to be careful that doesn't happen to you. It makes you VERY sick and you end up in the hospital and they unfill your band.) My personal take on it is that the last few pounds are just a bitch to lose. It takes discipline, as far as food choices AND exercise. Unfortunately, I have been too lazy to apply those principles to my own lifestyle, so my extra 10 pounds are still hanging around (literally). I guess we just need to get our butts to the gym, girlfriend! And back away from the Cheetos!

It'll happen. My youngest son was visiting us one evening and when I walked into the room, he just stopped in the middle of a conversation with my DH and said, "Mom, you are so thin. I hope you aren't trying to lose more weight." I told him he was my favorite child. I'm rewriting the will and cutting out everyone else...LOL.

There is a Bandsters support dinner this Thursday night (9/21) at Mercado Juarez in Arlington. Contact me for directions if you are interested. It starts at 6:30 and they give us a private room. This is a good place to ask questions about specific doctors, surgery centers, etc. We also have people who were banded in Mexico and other places.

Which airline? Southwest is the worst one for making you buy a second ticket.

I have heard that, too. But I don't think getting arrested would be a good thing for someone dealing with Cancer. Come to think of it....I don't think getting arrested would be a good thing for ANYONE. I'm all for avoiding the jailhouse, myself.

Are you too tight? Sounds like you need an unfill, but if that's not the case, you should still eat your "good" food (or as good as it gets for you) before you allow yourself carbs, sweets, etc. How about chunky Soups (give them a go in the blender first if they are too chunky). Tomato or tomato bisque Soup. Chili. Eat 1 to 1 1/2 cups of any of those first and see if you don't have little room left for carbs. Eat 5 times a day if you are hungry, but always eat the Protein first. If you are living on mashed potatoes, you are going to have nutritional issues after a while. Your hair is going to fall out. At least drink some skim milk with Protein powder added. What does your doctor/nutritionist say about all this? PS....I can't eat fruit, many veggies, salad, etc myself. chicken is a sometimes thing, too. But Cheetos go down just fine. So well in fact that I had to stop buying them. I am helpless in the presence of a bag of crunchy Cheetos.

PJ... This Forum - "Rants and Raves" - is for threads that are NOT necessarily WLS related. It's for blowing off steam, expressing yourself, crying, whining, gathering advice, etc. Some people love it....some hate it. That's okay. No one has to participate if they don't want to. As long as they allow the rest of us to vent our spleen. In the nicest possible way, of course.

Probably....but it was bnorth who initiated the name-calling - something that I take great exception to, as well. If you can't take it, don't dish it out. That's my motto. And it has nothing to do with whether someone agrees with my views or not. Unless bnorth is under the age of, oh, 10 or so....he/she should know better than to call people names. It's rude. It's childish. It's uncalled for. Being a new member is not an excuse for behaving badly.

They are absolutely NOT one and the same. I respect and support our troops worldwide. I know that they are doing the job they were ordered to do. I know that they had nothing to do with the decision to invade Iraq. I pray for their safe return. I have been on flights with men/women in uniform since the war began and cheered and clapped louder than anyone else on the plane. My son was in Iraq twice and I know how HARD it is to have your child on the other side of the world, in harm's way. It isn't us bring-'em-home types who have no regard for the troops, hon....it's BUSH. His "honor" is on the line and he won't back down, no matter how many young men and women die as a result of his horrific error in judgment. I want to keep them alive - each and every one of them....how much more supportive can you get? [=itsuptome;337176]I vote in every election, not as a rep/dem or ind. but for the individual that has the same beliefs as me (or as close as possible) i base my decision on specifics not on tv hype, biased articals etc. simply on the issues. Personally, I think invading a country under false pretenses - a country that had not made one single hostile, overt move in our direction - could be considered "specific". I think lining the pockets of drug manufacturing companies at the expense of the elderly by not allowing Medicare Part D to negotiate for lower wholesale drug prices is pretty "specific". I think blowing through the national surplus that he inherited from Clinton and putting us billions and billions of dollars in debt is very "specific". Or not....maybe I'm just too broad minded to be a Republican.

"Rants and Raves" is a forum for just that - ranting and raving about stuff/life in general. It is not a Lap Band forum. We are all very conscientious about keeping non-band topics off the band forums. Please respect our right to post appropriate (that means ANYTHING) views in this section of LB Talk. And don't be calling us "ignorant". Name-calling is against the rules, in ANY forum.

Can you at least do this....force yourself to eat your hard Protein first, then allow yourself to eat the other stuff. I promise you will eat much less of it than pre-band, or what you eat of it on an empty pouch/stomach. This does not require will power - just a minimal amount of discipline.

To thine own self be true. He will get used to it, believe me. If he really hates your skinny butt, you can always put it back on. As we all know, that won't be a problem!

Skin Cancer is usually treatable. Liver Cancer is usually not, but it's not one of the horrifically painful types of Cancer, either. It often creates an uncomfortable condition called asides, which is a large collection of fluid in the abdomen - like 40 pounds of fluid. This can be drained off, but it comes back pretty quickly. You can't live without a liver, so when it gets really sick from the Cancer, the body's systems begin to shut down, one after the other. At the end the patient goes into a coma. I would contact Hospice. They are dedicated to end-of-life comfort, rather than treatment. You don't have to be at death's door to participate in Hospice. Be there for your friend. Be a strong arm to lean on, and a soft shoulder to cry on. She will need you more now than she ever has.

My brother-in-law has worked at the Pentagon for over 30 years. His nomination for worst ever President of the US is George W Bush.

Today is my two year anniversary. I have lost 97 pounds.

Cingular has a feature you can activate for $5.00 (for a month) that will give you calls to/from Mexico at no extra charge. Otherwise, it's 99 cents per minute.

Between us, we have 5 children, 5 children in-law, and 14 grandchildren. Don't ask how much Christmas costs around our house. My take on it is that Christmas presents are for children. Everyone else might just as well trade money.