Tired_Old_Man

It doesn't have to be Lap-Band related. This section and the lounge are for other than Lap-Band related items.

Instead of the standard prep, one of my doctors suggested a clear liquid (water) diet for 3 days. Since that is about the same thing as I have done after each of my fills, it was the easiest way for me to prep myself. I have had about 10 colonoscopies, because in 1981 or 82, they found pre-cancerous polyps. That meant multiple colonoscopies for a period of time until finally I am back on the 5 year spacing.

Oh, I guess I could have used "Apple" for "A", but that would not have been standard either.

I also am fluent with the Military's phonetic alphabet, since as an aircraft mechanic who had to contact the tower and ask for taxi directions through taxiways with alpha-numeric designations, I was required to use the military's phonetic alphabet. However when dealing with "civilians", I found that Alpha, bravo, delta, kilo, Quebec and Zulu sometimes caused a "what" and X-ray sometimes caused an "X" and "R" instead of just an "X" to be understood. And while "Michael" is not the standard for "M", "Mike" is. If someone does not understand "Michael" one of my middle names and I while spelling in phonetically, I say "M like in Mary" because if they don't understand Michael, why would they understand "Mike"(?) and then I find that they used "Mary" for my middle-name, do not blame me for being intransigent.

I agree with most of what you wrote except why would someone ask any of those 5 "W" questions if they thought they understood the instruction or statement? A few years ago, our old friends flew in from Colorado to NY to visit us at our home in Brooklyn. My friend Dominic, his wife Idalina, their son George and daughter-in-law Maria joined my wife, Mrs. TOM, my son TOM Jr., my daughter-in-law Daria and me in our living-room for a lively chat session. During the visit my wife said something and I asked, "Do you mean...?" My wife said, "No, I meant...!" I have forgotten what was said, but the pertinent part to this narrative was that I asked each of the 6 other people (besides my wife and myself) what the sentence meant. Idalina and Maria agreed with my wife. Dominic, TOM Jr. and George agreed with me. It seemed like this was a “Men from Mars, Women from Venus” type thing, until we asked my daughter-in-law Daria. Daria did not want to answer. WHY? Because she was a school teacher who taught English. And she did not want to be a traitor to her gender. After much prodding, she finally admitted that the men were correct in the meaning of the sentence. Idalina and Maria both said that she knew what Mrs. TOM meant, but if she had said that and I hadn't questioned her, some of us would have thought she had said one thing and some would have thought that she said something else. If only Idalina and Maria had been in the room with Mrs. Tom, they would not asked any of the 5 "W" questions and yes, they would have known what she meant. But if only Dominic, TOM Jr. and George had been in the room with Mrs. Tom, they would not have asked any of the 5 "W" questions, because they would have thought they knew what she meant, but they would have totally misunderstood what was meant. I do not remember what the issue was. But if it had to do with where we were going to meet later that day to go sight-seeing and half the people wound up there and half the people wound up somewhere else, that could have ruined a nice trip. No one wants to ask their friends, relatives or co-workers to repeat things, nor do they want to seem like they are being overly aggressive. Maybe that is why most men do not like asking directions when they get lost while driving. The directions get you more lost as often as they help.

The epitome of the hypocrisy of the "Pro-Life" extremists are the ones (like some ex-coworkers of mine) who told me that killing a "Planned Parenthood" doctor is not murder because it saves the lives of "unborn babies". When we heard on the radio news-broadcast that a man was arrested for "murdering" a "Planned Parenthood" doctor, my ex-coworker told me that the story illustrated the liberal media. I asked why, since I heard no commentary or editorializing. He told me that it was not "murder". It was killing, but not murder. Saving Life Through Killing sort of like Peace Through War Bombers to Promote Life

If you remember, in "The Christmas Carol" the ghost of Bob Marly tells Scrooge that his chain is the accumulation of his life's bad deeds. We all carry around an analogous chain emblematic of our age. Well, as a man of 61, let me tell you that our weight also adds to our chain as does our age to serve as an anchor. The added weight to the chain each 5 years feels, like double of that which was added in the previous 5 years. Removing 10 or 20 pounds during a 5 year period actually makes it feel as if the last 5 years only added as much to your chain as the previous 5 years. No! You can never lose enough weight to reverse the effects of aging long term, but you can lose enough to feel younger as if your chain was reduced during the last 5 years compared to the previous. Please do not ask me to repeat what I just wrote, because it no longer makes any sense to me, either.:faint:

Why isn't our government raising the same concern about this abuse of women as they are making over the abuse of steroids for (mostly male) athletes??

The amount of weight that I hope to eventually have lost with my Lap-Band will be more than the body weight this of poor creature. I truly feel sorry for what our merchandising economy has wrought on our women and it starts with brainwashing the young helpless and most vulnerable girls.

I think I know who it might be. A friend of my wife and I, a Black woman who we have known 22 years, first in Brooklyn and now in Florida (she lives about 100 miles from us), told us that her minister (of an over 90% Black congregation) had a guest minister come in on the Sunday before the 2004 election to tell the congregation that a vote for Kerry was a vote for Satan. I have to think that at least one of the few 100 Black women in that church might have fallen for that "fire and brimstone" line. Our friend didn't, but she's not too sure about her sister.

I think we have a double standard in this country. I think she may be brilliant but she is such a hard-head, that she can not picture things from any other point of view than BuSh's. She even describes herself as a "True Believer". I don't really see him as a Republican. He is the consumate officer. He will swear that he believes what ever plan the leader decides on is the way he believes. When I was a aircraft mechanic, I spent 3 of my 35 years in management. When upper management would come out with a new plan, we would have these elaborate parties (known as road-shows) in which the CEO or some other over-paid muckity muck would tell us of the new direction that our company was going to take to fly us into the world of profitability. We were allowed, at the meetings to disagree, complain, explain and tear away at the plan's underpinnings to the CEO. I usually shot holes in the plan and was seldom wrong because invariably we did an about face within a year. However, after all the debate was over, we were supposed to go back to the troops and act as if we were in 100% agreement with the plan. When mechanics told us that the plan would not work because...even if they used the exact argument that we had used to our superiors, we were supposed to refute their argument. Some of us did a half-way job of selling the programs we didn't believe in. Some of us actually brainwashed ourselves into thinking the CEO makes 10 times what we make, so they must know what's right. Then there were the Colin Powell types: They argued like tigers with the CEO, but argued just as forcefully the opposite side of the debate when they explained the company's plan to the workforce. I believe that Colin Powell was in a debate with Rumsfeld, Rice and Cheney, but when BuSh made his decision against Powell's advice, Powell like the good soldier that he is, then sold the UN and the US public the same bill of goods, with the same dedication as Rumsfeld, Rice, Cheney and BuSh. I don't think he is further to the right than a moderate Republican or a Moderate Democrat. I don't think he is further right that either Bill or Hillary. He is just a better soldier.

How about "Pro-Life means, I want every baby to live until they take their first breath and then they are on their own." The congressman that the Pro-Life groups support: Cut food stamp program Cut Medicaid program Support Capital punishment Support the war in Iraq None of the above are "Pro-life" in my book.

I have been predicting for over a year, that if Hillary runs, the Republicans will run Condoleezza Rice against her. WHY? Because the Democrats take almost 90% of the Black vote and 98% of the Black women (It is rumored that Condoleezza Rice was one of the only three Black women in the country that voted for BuSh). The Democrats also win a majority of the women's vote. Many Blacks would be torn between being able to point to Ms. Rice as being "one of us (finally)" in the White House and it might split the women's vote. I would not doubt that the Republican think-tanks are calculating as I write this, how many extra Black votes and women's votes they could garner versus how many good old boys they might lose. I think that Rice is one of the few people in the world who's head is as thick as BuSh's. It was rumored that they were romantically involved, but if they tried to kiss and banged their heads together, the seismology detectors would elert everyone and the secret service would be dispatched to find the IED that had been detonated in the White House. Could you picture a threesome of Laura-Rice-BuSh? It boggles the mind. Could you picture Ms. Rice asking BuSh to be her secretary of state? She would want to keep him around for advice...

My Employee Provided Medical Insurance Plan is run out of Texas by a company situated in Texas and the My ex-Employer who pays the bills is also based in Texas. Not only do they not pay for Birth Control Pills, but they will not pay for Estrogen Replacement Therapy if the pills have a similar formulation as Birth Control Pills. They were afraid my wife was trying to stop herself from getting pregnant at 55, I guess. Oh, and they can not claim that it is to save money. A 3 month supply of pills would be under $30. Compare that to the price of a birth in a hospital, pre-natal, post natal care and paying for all other medical insurance claims for the child until he is 18 years old. I am speaking of other women insured by my ex-employer, not my wife of course in the above paragraph.

It makes her seem like a moderate Margaret Thatcher.

When I wrote: I meant (and I guess should have wrote) To get a good Democratic president it would take a (wo)man who shows no diplomacy (or mercy) toward his Republican opponent in the campaign, but could shift to a (wo)man with the diplomatic skills of Benjamin Franklin. It is a shame that Colin Powell does not jump from the Republican Party to the Democratic Party. He would make a good president. I think she has a chance in the general election. In fact I have been predicting for over a year, that he Hillary wins the nomination, the Republicans will run Condoleezza Rice against her. WHY? Because the Democrats take almost 90% of the Black vote and 98% of the Black women (It is rumored that Condoleezza Rice was one of the only three Black women in the country that voted for BuSh). The Democrats also win a majority of the women's vote. Many Blacks would be torn between being able to point to Ms. Rice as being "one of us (finally)" in the White House and it might split the women's vote. I would not doubt that the Republican think-tanks are calculating as I write this, how many extra Black votes and women's votes they could garner versus how many good old boys they might lose. I think that Rice is one of the few people in the world who's head is as thick as BuSh's. It was rumored that they were romantically involved, but if they tried to kiss and banged their heads together, the seismology detectors would alert everyone and the secret service would be dispatched to find the IED that had been detonated in the White House. Could you picture a threesome of Laura-Rice-BuSh? It boggles the mind. Could you picture Ms. Rice asking BuSh to be her secretary of state? She would want to keep him around for advice... Anyway, have you seen this?

Why would BuSh want anyone with a degree in Middle-Eastern Political Science? He already has the whole Middle-East figured out and he doesn't believe in science. If you had a degree in Middle-Eastern Intelligent Design, BuSh would probably hire you to go on a talk show on Al-Jazeera and give a fair and balanced speech on why Democracy is needed in all the Middle-Eastern countries hostile to the USA, but not in the Middle-Eastern countries that are allies if the USA.

I am surprised that the UN does not send sacks of grain to these starving refugees.

BuSh is as stubborn as they come. I don't know if his stubborn streak was born of his spoiled upbringing or if he really thinks he communicates with Jesus. In many places in this country, hearing voices means you are insane. But it some places, hearing voices means you are either in cahoots with Satan or a Man of God. I liked much of Kerry's basic principles, but not his temperament. The same can be said of Al Gore. To get a good Democratic president it would take a man who shows no diplomacy (or mercy) toward his Republican opponent in the campaign, but could shift to a man with the diplomatic skills of Benjamin Franklin. Part Mike Tyson and part Benjamin Franklin.

Maybe eating is foreplay. :faint:

Here is the Actual Law

And they have been abused. If BuSh wants to keep on fighting these wars efficiently, he will need to ask congress to legislate a draft. But, ah, there's the rub. If BuSh reactivates the draft, he would have to be more selective which wars he starts and he will have to prove that the wars are needed. The public will be less gullible to BuSh and Rove when they have their children taken away from them forcefully. Point to Ponder: Why didn't George W. BuSh select Karl Rove to be his Secretary of State? Was it because BuSh realized that the foreign diplomats are too smart to fall for Rove's mind-games? or Was it because keeping political power was more important to BuSh than a successful foreign policy?

I guess by now everyone is aware that John MarK Karr was released with all charges dropped on all the cases against him. From the Linked Article: Karr was released from jail Thursday after Sonoma County authorities lost critical evidence in a 5-year-old child pornography case. He was released a little more than a month after DNA evidence cleared him of suspicion in the slaying of child beauty queen JonBenet, whom he claimed to have been with when she died in Colorado.

We are confronted with two issues. One is our brain. The other is the assault on our brain. Our brain is sometimes compared with a computer, but it is very different although it makes many computations. Our brain has separate parts that control different things. On one extreme is our primitive brain (sometimes caused the reptilian brain) and on the other extreme is our intellect. At it's most primitive is the need to stay alive. Then there is the urge to mate and pass on our genes. We can not be blamed for being attracted to beautiful people. In the poll/thread about liking fat people as a mate, many admitted that they would not want a fat mate. That is a biological urge. Males can not control what type of female gives them an erection. I have noticed subtle biological changes in women when someone that meets their idea of attractive walks into the area. It is not within our control to be turned on by certain physical traits of the opposite sex (or the same gender in some of us). Then there is the assault on our brain. The people that need to sell products have learned what and how to get people to want things that their primitive brain would not want. Sometimes they find a way to use our primitive urges against us to sell us something. What does a half-naked women have to do with the pro's and con's of a car brand, shaving cream or a myriad of other products? Besides not being able to control who we are attracted to, we know instinctively what attracts the members of the gender that attracts us, so we preen ourselves to attract them. Sometimes we do it with hair products, sometimes with physical fitness, sometimes with clothing (fashions), and sometimes with surgery. Why did Michael Jackson and Cher have so much cosmetic surgery? Probably for very different reasons. But maybe not as different as we would like to think. They both wanted to be loved, maybe Michael wanted to be loved by himself and maybe Cher wanted her audience to love her. But it still goes back to the basic (though distorted by modern life) primitive needs. When I was in post surgery group therapy, all the women talked about looks. I told them I didn't care about my looks. “Then why did you have Bariatric surgery?” “For my Health!!” When you let your intellect rule, that is the reason, but we are complex beings with a complex brain. Our brain is in a tug of war within itself and our brain is in a tug of war with the sellers of merchandise. All cosmetic surgery has risks. Many types have benefits. Some benefits are more real than others. Some benefits are more important to some than to others. I know a women who has had repetitive cosmetic surgery and Bariatric surgery. She had the some cosmetic surgery before the Bariatric surgery, but the Bariatric surgery spurred her on because she continually set her goals higher and higher as her weight went lower and lower. We must reach a medium, a happy medium with our brains. Too much of a good thing may not be good. Too much of a bad thing is definitely a bad thing.

I would love to be an elephant: They need to eat 18 out of 24 hours They need to eat 18 out of 24 hours They need to eat 18 out of 24 hours They need to eat 18 out of 24 hours They need to eat 18 out of 24 hours They need to eat 18 out of 24 hours They need to eat 18 out of 24 hours They need to eat 18 out of 24 hours They need to eat 18 out of 24 hours and I would never get Pregant!! :girl_hug: :faint: