lunch. I ate at Quiznos today and got really annoyed by the line on my credit card slip for a tip. It's a fast food deli! It's not even a locally owned deli. (Keep Austin Weird!) I am with the author on this one. Why the hell are we tipping for services we already paid for?!? And if these people are asking for tips for reasons other than supporting the business or supplementing the lower than minimum-wage income of the employees, it's not a tip. It's charity! Let's call it what it is and if you're brave enough to ask for charity money, be brave enough to explain where my hard-earned money is going.

Okay - I'm through with my rant.

Amy

Yep, Canadians love their donuts. We were so excited about finally getting the fabled Krispy Kreme donut up here that there were line-ups on the opening day of the outlet but the Kremes have since flopped. This is because Tim Horton makes a magnificent donut and there are Tim Hortons everywhere. Now us city types do love Starbucks coffee. :biggrin1: So much better than the stuff available in any Canadian donut shop!

As for deep fryers, even my ma finally got herself one sometime in the 1970s although she didn't use it all that often. I think cleaning it was a bit of a chore. Are they not that common south of the border?

By the way, her best breakfast when we were kids was to fry up eggs, left over boiled potatoes, and bacon in bacon fat. :hungry: A festival of cholesterol. :omg:

When I was a child, we used to go camping a lot. Mom loved to cook out over an open campfire. Her breakfast sounds similar to your mom's.

Krispy Kremes should be outlawed! Or at least they should come with a warning, like cigarettes do.

I saw all the Tim Hortons and I did notice that they were very popular, but I confess I never partook.

I went crazy this morning and had a Starbucks Decaf Tall Latte with a slice of their Zuchinni loaf. Cloud nine time! I imagine the combination straps me with at least 450 - 500 calories or more. I'd be much better off with a couple of poached eggs and a half a piece of nearly burnt toast. As far as I'm concerned they make the best toast in England. It's thin and nearly crisp. I even bought a Dualit toaster so that I can duplicate their toast.

Some time ago I read a post that Jack made and he said that he and his wife have one egg each for breakfast. Made me recall memories when one egg was all I ever wanted. Boy how times change!!!

High five for Starbucks :clap2:

I make a very nice little eggy meal for myself these days. I crack a couple of eggs into a bowl, add a little skim milk, a diced fresh tomato, fresh ground pepper and some grated old cheddar cheese. I whisk the mixture together in a rather incompetant fashion, then nuke it between 3-4 minutes. It looks a bit like vomit but is healthy and tastes divine. Fresh herbs are a nice addition. I am going to make some in a few minutes. Then I am going to eat fresh blueberries for desert. Ahhh............:hungry:

It sounds great except for the tomato. You mention tomatoes pretty often. They are just not all that easy for me to eat. I can do the center pretty easily, but the skin is a problem. Otherwise I might just try your recipe. I'll give you my report when I get time to try it~ Blueberries are nutritionally fantastic. I can eat one or two by themselves, but then I tend to want something around them or under them, like a cheesecake. So I don't have blueberries very often. You are doing so well, Green. I am very proud of you.

Do you think that you've just reached the "sweet spot" everyone talks about with your fills? I don't hear you mention fills. I've been getting them pretty often and that just doesn't seem right to me. I wish I could get to a place where I wasn't so hungry and didn't obsess about food so much. Every single day I say I'm going to do better and most days I still struggle. :phanvan

...It looks a bit like vomit but is healthy and tastes divine. ...

Mmmmm yummm!

It is true that I am absolutely nuts about tomatoes and will pay a big buck for greenhouse tomatoes in the winter. My favourite ones are the giant field tomatoes that we only see in the summer. My other weakness is cheese. :hungry:

I don't know about my restriction being at the sweet spot. I can still eat all sorts of things which give problems to other bandsters, most notably fibrous vegetables, bread and pasta, but I cannot eat large amounts of food anymore and I sure cannot mix food and liquids, either. That is a surefire recipe for a PB event. And if I forget to chew, chew, chew, I will get that golfball feeling. :help:

I was filled up to 7 cc but had to get .5 cc removed almost 2 weeks ago because of possible acid reflux. :sick I am still feeling like my throat is painted with acid upon waking up in the morning and I have quite a nasty little cough even though I have been on prescription reflux meds for about 3 weeks now. (I started using my husband's meds before I got my own.) This Tuesday I am going for an upper G.I. X-ray exam. My doctor had me do blood work which turned out wonky and so I see her on Wed in order to discuss this. If this problem is unrelated and quickly fixable I might get another fill.... I am feeling hungrier now that I had the defill.

It does sound to me, BJean, that you have not hit the sweet spot yet and that perhaps you might have some head hunger issues as well. ? Do you have a sweet tooth or are you a volume eater? My problem is volume. I don't really have the sweet tooth issue to contend with. That would make one's fight more difficult. :phanvan

Green: You've outed me. I love, love, love ice cream. It is my drug of choice. I am about ice cream, as an alcoholic is about booze. It is of course somewhat a head issue, but I believe that it is a chemical issue as well. I just feel too good inside and I get too elated (high?) when I consume ice cream. That's a tough row to hoe. But I do know that I have to get to it and git 'er done!

I do not crave volumes of food and that's a good thing because I can't really eat massive quantities anyway. You'd think I'd lose weight since I am not eating quite a few of the dense calories and white foods that I ate before banding.

I guess I will try again this week. My doc is very conservative with the fills. I reckon that's why I've had so many but still haven't reached nirvana yet. :cry

Gosh I hope your bloodwork abnormality is nothing to worry about. It always pays to check things out though. I hope you will keep me informed because I really do care about you, grrl!

@BJean: Thanks, kid. Green feels the same about you, grrl.

Icecream is nice cream and that is a problem..........

Ah... I really missed conversing with some of you guys. Don't think for a second that my summer classes were a fraction as intellectually stimulating as some of the conversations here.

Anyway, the title amused me. Here are places where I've noticed (oddly placed) tip jars lately:

• The deli counter at a grocery store
  
• A pastry store (all they do is box it up, they don't even have chairs there)
  
• Ice cream stores - Baskin Robbins, Cold Stone, etc. Umm... not that I've been eating ice cream...
  
• The gas station near our house
  
• The Hobby Lobby custom framing counter
  
• Many fast food places including Quizno's, Chipotle, Subway and Taco Bell
  
• Cash register lanes

I don't tip any of the above situations, but I have noticed that they all use the "put a dollar in here so people think that others tip us" strategy!

Wheets, it sure is nice to see your face again! Alexandra and laurend have been MIA for awhile but now they are back, too.

I consider myself a really good tipper and I never leave less than 20% on a restaurant bill unless the service is really horrible. I often leave more than 20%. I believe that waiters and waitresses have a difficult job and I don't mind rewarding them for serving me.

On the other hand, one thing I really hate, is when tips are expected for things I really don't want someone doing for me in the first place. A good example of this is a bathroom attendant. I hate it when I go to the bathroom and the attendant insists on handing me a paper towel. I can get my own paper towel, and handing me a paper towel is not worth a dollar. This pisses me off no end. I would sooo much rather take care of my own hygiene duties and not leave a tip. And, I'd much rather the bathroom be totally empty except for me when I am in it, and an attendant ruins that.

The other thing that enrages me is the people who come up to my car and just start washing my windshield while at a red light. (If you don't live in a big city you probably have never experienced this). I roll down my window and scream at them to stop, since they totally expect a tip when they are done. This is actually just another form of begging.

And speaking of that, I hate it even ten times more when teenagers, or even little kids, stand in the middle of traffic, causing serious traffic hazards, and hold out buckets for their "basketball uniforms" or whatever. That drives me nuts. Half the time I highly doubt that's even what it's for.

I also don't appreciate haircut places and salons expecting such huge tips for like 20 minutes worth of work. I mean, I always do tip, but I feel I am already paying soooo much for what they're doing. I mean, $50 for a 20 minute haircut? and then they expect a 20% tip? I mean the salon is pulling down basically $150 an hour at that rate! That's waaay more money than I make!

I almost never tip at places like the ice cream shop or Starbucks. Or if I do, it's just loose change. What they're doing is not really all that difficult and they should be being paid a fair wage in the first place.

I don't mind tipping the bellhop, but only if they actually do something for me! I hate it when the hotel attendant opens the door for me and then expects a tip. I would rather open my own door!

So, I guess in a nutshell, it depends on the situation, but in general I feel we've gone a little overboard in the tipping department.

Sunta I totally agree!

Hey this is getting fun. Wheet, Sunta, Green, laurend and Alexandra - now if we could just hear from TOM and Jack Where's funny Mark and TommyO?

Right before TOM stopped posting, he had a little health scare and of course, his DW's mother was very ill. I hope his health scare didn't turn out to be anything significant. Does anyone know anything about him?

@ BJean: ugh! I have a hiatus hernia and this is what has been causing me so much grief over the past 6-7 weeks. I had an upper G.I. exam done this morning at 8 A.M. and this was the diagnosis. Of course my first reaction was jubilation because it ain't cancer - in fact I hugged the antique doc who was overseeing the tests when he gave me the news - but now I find myself eating the reality sandwhich and thinking that a hiatus hernia is seriously ugh! for Green. I went on the internet as soon as I got home and I saw the creepy little diagrams, eh. blehhh!

I will be seeing my doc tomorrow in order to discuss my latest health issues. I do find myself wondering whether this hernia thing is the result of my band surgery or not. I still find myself feeling much happier about my new-found slenderness. On the other hand, I am kind of freaking out about this hernia bizness! Oh! I am in such a flap!!! And my throat continues to feel like it has been painted with acid and I cough a lot and I am hoarse when I speak. I do sound like a Goodfellow, if ya know what I mean.......:omg:

Whoa there Green. Calm down. I know that you're very worried and right now you're very uncomfortable and anything you eat causes you grief. But trust me, it can get better and if you play your cards right, it will!

The very first thing you should to TONIGHT is to elevate the head of your bed.

You will probably be told to take some kind of medication that will calm down the cough and reflux (making your throat burn) and the pain in your chest. That will take some time to get resolved because yours is in such an inflamed and angry state.

I have had a hiatal hernia for 20 years. At least I did until I had the LB surgery. When my doc did the surgery, he repaired my hiatus hernia. Many of the people who post at LBT, have one too or did until they had theirs repaired. It is usually diagnosed with an upper G.I. series of x-rays.

I didn't consider the surgery sooner because the surgery for many years was not all that successful and many times made the situation worse. That was before doctors became so proficient at laparoscopic surgery.

My LB doctor was chosen by me because for years he has been a leader in the laparoscopic surgery for correction of a hiatal hernia. He has taught many other doctors how to do the procedure and has done thousands himself over the years. He decided to start doing the LB surgery because with his exposure to so many overweight people who he treated for their hiatal hernias; he knew how difficult it was for them to lose weight and keep it off. He felt that the Lap Band was the first thing with a relatively low risk and high success rating, and since he'd been working in the "neighborhood" for so many years, with a laparoscope, it was a natural transition.

You have to understand though that I lived for over 20 years with my hiatus hernia. Gaviscon was the drug of choice back then, but I just couldn't gag the stuff down. Nowadays, they have Prilosec and Prevacid which are much more effective. The one that worked the best for me was Prevacid. When I took it and elevated the head of our bed, it was almost like I didn't have a hiatal hernia anymore. Sweet relief!!!

So don't worry too much. It is definitely treatable. Personally, I wouldn't recommend a repair since you already have the LB, but of course I'm not a doctor, much less YOUR doctor. If you can get a medication to work for you, long enough for it to calm the area down, and you stay really aware of what you eat and drink, and smoke... you can whip this into submission.

Now for the not fun part. You really do have to quit drinking coffee or tea for a while. You have to quit drinking Scotch (or other alcohol) for a while. You really do have to not eat chocolate. And smoking really aggravates it. You need to stop that too. You just have to baby it until you get the thing under control. Spicy foods are out. You can forget chicken fried steak or barbeque, at least for the time being.

Yeah I know, for a while it's going to be a huge, seemingly impossible way to live. But when you have as many problems as you're having, you just have to give it a chance to heal as much as possible and then baby it for a longer period of time. The Prevacid takes about 3 weeks to really kick in, but you'll find yourself not coughing and uncomfortable after a meal.

Any other wisdom out there for Green on this topic?

Who loves ya, baby?