anonemouse

Not all. Most smokers that I have been around don't care where their smoke winds up. Some, admittedly, do blow it away from people, but not all or even most. When there is a cloud of smoke hanging over the entrance to a building, I can't see the graciousness of smokers.

Green, it wasn't the cigarette smell of a regular smoker that I was talking about earlier. I have friends that smoke, and I don't mind being around them for the most part. It's the stale, smokey smell of chain smokers that bothers them. Not the smell that you can smell within a foot or two of someone, but the stench you can smell from literally 20 feet away. That smell's a little harder to tolerate. And to be honest, if it is strong enough to literally make someone sick, it's intolerable.

Yup. I made a thread in the suggestions, feedback, and questions forum.

Part of what delayed me was that I had to switch surgeons in January. I had been with one group and got everything submitted to insurance and then found out that they weren't covered. One of the other things that is delaying me is that my new surgeon is on maternity leave, so even if I do get my date moved up, the earliest it would be is sometime in July.

If you smoke around other people, you are forcing them to inhale your smoke. It isn't like they are wearing gas masks. People can't just stop breathing. When I said that I hate hearing people say that they are addicts, I meant that I hate hearing the excuse. Addicts think that just because they are addicts, their behavior is socially acceptable or somehow excusable. I don't care if a crack addict is an addict or not, I don't want them smoking crack next to me. And I don't go around forcing other people to eat, get fat, and die of a heart attack. All addictions are not equal. When I force someone to gain 20 pounds by just being around them, then you can talk to me about food addictions being the same as smoking. Yeah, they are both addictions. But one can kill the people around you, the other can't.

I don't hate smokers, I hate their habit. I'd be just as pissed off if a crack addict decided to smoke his crack pipe in my face as I am when a cigarette addict decides to smoke their cigarette in my face. What I am sick and tired of is people using the excuse, "But I'm an addict!" It pissed me off when Mel Gibson used it to excuse his antisemitism, and it pisses me off when smokers use it to excuse putting the health of other people at risk. Should I go around stuffing double cheeseburgers and milkshakes down people's throats just because I am a food addict? No. And smokers shouldn't be going around and forcing other people to inhale their smoke.

The semester is officially over! I came out of it with a 4.0 and no finals to take. Now I get to start my fieldwork again. Yay. (Meant with all sarcasm possible.) Lots more work and less pay. What more could I ask for? Oh well, at least I am completely through with the course-work for my Master's degree. I'll probably be teaching labs and classes full time next semester while I work on my thesis. I am hoping to graduate in December.:clap2:

I could tell from the tone of her email that she was getting irritated by me, but I couldn't care less. If she hadn't lost my stuff in the first place, I probably wouldn't be in the position of having to nag her about it. And from my experiences with her, I learned that if I don't keep after her, she either doesn't get things done very quickly.

Okay, I heard back from the office manager. She's working on getting me moved up, because they don't want to have to resubmit my stuff. She said that I should hear something from them by next week.

Well, I just sent the office manager an email. I asked if I could be put on a cancellation list, so that if an appointment came open, I could get in earlier. I also mentioned how nervous I was about having to resubmit to insurance once the new policy takes effect, and how I will be starting classes again in mid-August.

I'm getting lots of error messages. The new posts page isn't there, and I got an error when I tried to send a PM.

I just don't want to have to change surgeons again. This is my second one. If I change again, I'll have to go with someone out of state, because the only other surgeon in this state that my insurance will pay for is very pro-RNY. The new policy is with the same company I am with now, and is exactly the same as the one I have now. I am just being forced to get my own policy (right now I am on my parents' policy) when I turn 24 on August 2nd. The company is really good about giving quick approvals (once they have all the materials, that is), so I doubt it would take very long to get reapproved, but I just don't want to wait that long.

The way I see it, RnR DOES appeal to the younger bandsters. Many of us aren't quite as conservative as the older ones.

Wait, so we're supposed to appeal to an audience that really isn't FDA approved, anyway? There is nothing in RnR that's above an R rating. And there are very few that I would give an R rating to. If someone is old enough to go to a PG-13 movie, they are old enough to read the posts in RnR.

Exactly. It would suck if this place turned into another OH, seemingly around just to make a quick buck off the fat folks. I don't want to belong to another place where people can have the posts of other people removed from threads they start, where they are sheltered from life and told that everything they ever do is perfectly okay (even when it's not). To be really blunt, places like that are a dime a dozen on the internet. I love LBT because it's REAL. We aren't children that need to be sheltered from life. Every person that joins LBT is an adult, and adults can deal with RnR on their own. They don't need to be protected. RnR is a part of LBT. If someone disregards LBT just because of one measly little forum, that's their business. I'm sure they would be welcomed to the fold over at OH.

That's exactly what I did, in hopes that it might stop the bitching and hand-waving over threads that people can already ignore. That's the kicker. We've already got a function that people can use to ignore entire forums, if they would only use it.

I totally agree with you, Mark. I think people should have the CHOICE of whether or not to see a thread or a forum, but I don't think the decision should be made for them. And if ultimately, they end up in the RnR forum because they clicked when they shouldn't have, then tough. They should have read about what the forums were before they started posting. Or my option of turning off the "new posts" and "top 5" entirely, and making LBT inconvenient for everyone.

Yes, it would. I even voted for it.

That's true, and it's actually the point I was trying to make. People wouldn't be so happy about having to go directly to the forum when it's the posts that they want to see. Like I've said before, I have no real problem with people having the option of whether or not they see certain threads. I just have a problem with them deciding what threads everyone else can see.

You know, I think I have a solution that would make all of us happy (or all of us equally miserable, same dif). Disable the "new threads"; and "top 5"; function entirely. Make it so that the only way any thread can be accessed is by going through the forum that the thread is in. That way, no one can have threads "forced" upon them and no one can say that they didn't know what they were getting themselves into.

I would love to be able to give myself a pedicure. Unfortunately, most of my fat is on my stomach, making it impossible for me to be able to bend the way I would need to in order to do it. It shoves all my fat into my diaphragm, and I can't breathe after a few seconds. I love professional pedicures, though, but I don't get them nearly often enough.

I wish they were combined. I can't remember where I've posted certain posts. I'm getting internet whiplash.

You're right. And I was able to step away from the thread by putting the person making the posts on my ignore list. That makes it a lot easier to ignore a thread.

Not any more than knowing to click "new posts." All they would have to do is double click the icon next to the forum.

True. But it is a possible solution. And it is better than making everyone who is happy with the way things are go out of their way to read a few threads.