80s Photos

The Broncos lost. The Ags won. How are my Texans going to do today?! And will they run over time into the Golden Globes? 'Cuz the Golden Globes win there.


Had a hilarious photo posting exchange with Doug on Facebook yesterday. I posted a pic of him from NYE 1986 on his wall and Kimberly commented that maybe I should have asked him first. It's an awesome photo, and I guess she either thought it looked like he had been drinking a lot (I don't think he had been), or that the 80s outfit he's wearing is a complete fashion tragedy (no comment). She didn't say which, but I said if he didn't like it, I would post the matching photo of me at the same party.

He got a total kick out of it, of course, so I sent him the other two photos from the party in a private message- the one of me, and another that showed both of our very-80s ensembles from head-to-toe. While I was out and unavailable last night, he posted those two pics.  

Touché.

Lots of great comments! Very funny stuff. And he made the original photo his profile picture.

I'm actually very careful about posting photos without asking. I always err on the side of caution and PM a photo instead, if I have any doubts at all... or if I know that person has revenge photos of me.


Sunday Stealing: 40 of The Most Random Questions Meme, Part Two

21) What’s something you’ve always wanted?
BMW Z4

22) Do you have hairy legs?
No

23) What does “Semper Fidelis” stand for?
Always faithful.

24) Would you rather swim in the ocean or a lake?
ocean

25) Do you wear a lot of black?
I wear a lot of black pants and shorts. I only own one black top and one black dress.

26) Describe your hair:
Very curly/wavy and requiring products and/or a flat iron.

27) Do you have Entomophobia?
If my Latin is still good, I believe this is a fear of insects. No.

28) Are you an adult?
Um, yes.

29) Do you own or rent?
Own

30) Do you have a tan?
Ahahaha. No.

31) Are you addicted to TV?
Not really. I do appreciate TV, but I can live without it.

32) Do you enjoy spending time with your in-laws?
Yes.

33) Are you a sugar freak?
No.

34) What happened to Larry King?
Anderson Cooper dethroned him.

35) What sign are you?
Aries

36) What do you wish on your birthday?
For three more wishes.

37) Who did you copy this from?
Sunday Stealing

38) Do you eat breakfast?
Yes

39) What would you name the royal baby?
I'm not much of a royal watcher, but I'll go with Sebastian for a boy or Alexandria for a girl.

40) Do you buy a newspaper?
Nope

Read more...

Saturday 9

I had a momentary thought of reactivating my Mafia Wars account, but I got over it. I do sort of miss it though. All my charts and lists... It really can be as complicated as you wanna make it. Ha.

I've had it completely blocked for so long that I had forgotten all about it. I checked in and I see that all my buddies are still on there. By this point, they're probably all advanced mob bosses or something.

It's just one of those activities that you find yourself thinking about at all hours. Gah. Such fun though! I stopped because it started feeling like a job to keep up with it. And like all social games, you feel obligated to help your friends, gifting them things, etc., which makes you feel like you have to check in at least once a day.

I'm trying to talk myself into staying away. Can you tell?


Saturday 9: We Owned the Night

1) Can you recall a time when you danced and romanced like you "owned the night?"
New Year's Eve 1998. Overnight party at the Hyatt Regency Town Lake with Chris and Alicia.

2) Samantha Winters admits she earned the name "Crazy Sam" during her party girl days in the 1980s. But now she's in bed by 11:00 PM. Do you have a regular bedtime?
Not really. During the week, I prefer to be in bed by 11 and asleep around midnight, but I'll happily stay up if anything is going on.

3) Lady Antebellum is one of the most popular acts in country music. Do you often listen to country music?
I only listen to country if a friend recommends a particular song. Every now and then, a country crossover song finds its way onto my radio station. Otherwise, I make efforts to avoid it.

4) Are you responding to this meme on a desktop or laptop or phone or tablet?
On a phone or tablet? Are you nuts? It would take me sixteen years to type this out. I'm on my desktop.

5) How often do you check your horoscope?
Never

6) Congratulations! You just won a trip to Switzerland! Is your passport up to date?
As a matter-of-fact, mine just expired and I need to get a new one.

7) Do you know how to snow ski?
No, but I would love to learn!

8) What's the first beverage you drink in the morning?
SlimFast. The beverage that's a meal.

9) Are you a good speller?
Oh yes.

Read more...

Disappointments Diary 2013

I saw Asbury & Asbury's Disappointments Diary 2013 (that's a "calendar/planner," for us Yanks) on Lost at E Minor. Each page is a week, and has a phrase like "When one door closes, another one opens in your face." I'm optimistic to the point of being annoying, and I totally want one. So I Googled to see where one might order it, perhaps Amazon US, but it's doesn't seem to be available outside the UK. *sad face*

My search turned up a post about the Disappointments Diary on this awesome site called So Freaking Cool, where I had a good giggle at Sam's comment, "I'm a true pessimist. To me, the glass isn’t half-empty, it’s half-empty and half-filled with polluted air." I ended up reading through the site for a good half hour, just looking at everything. The stuff is so freaking cool and the writing is very entertaining. (And it's a good place to find gift ideas for guys.) Check it out.


Friday Five: Hurried

1. When did you last find yourself in a real hurry?
New Year's Eve, when we were trying to make it to our dinner reservation downtown. It was raining and we got caught in traffic, because there were three major accidents on Mopac within about 1/2 mile. Not. Even. Kidding. That morning, there had been an accident there as well. A few days before that, it had been raining and there were two accidents along the same 1/2 mile stretch on our way out of the house AND two more on our way back later. There's got to be something oily that spilled on the freeway there, when it was dry. No accidents in the opposite direction.

2. Often, when we’re in a hurry, we make stupid mistakes. What’s an example from your life that supports this, and what do you do to prevent such things from happening again?
I update websites all day, and if I do it in a hurry, I can make errors. My favorite is seeing html code on my rendered page... a couple of weeks later. OOPS. I just don't do that anymore. I'm super-careful with content updates, and always view my pages in browsers after updating.

3. Why are some people so loud in places where quieter voices are usually appropriate, such as this cafe that’s closing in a couple of minutes, where these high-schoolers are being so loud it’s difficult for me to write these questions?
Ha. As I am occasionally one of the loud people to whom this question is referring, I can say that it's usually because they are having a good time, have become unaware of their surroundings and are exhibiting a momentary lapse in standards of etiquette. I try to give them a break, but sometimes it goes on too long and I just go somewhere else.

4. How’s 2013 treating you so far?
Pretty well!

5. Are you more of a December person or a January person? What does this mean, anyway, and why are you whatever you are?
December. January is a let-down after the excitement of the holidays. It's back to the normal schedule.

Read more...

Genetic Testing for Cancer Risk

Disclaimer: Medical information you want to use for anything other than casual table talk with your friends should always be found through reliable medical sources (not blogs) and discussed with your own doctor. I get my information from reliable sources, including my docs and reputable online sources like the Mayo Clinic and others, but this info changes over time, so the following may be out-of-date when you read it. It may be totally incorrect info for your particular case. Check with your doctor if you have questions. Cancer treatment improves over time, so data is variable and ever-improving. Your mileage may vary.

So....

For the past two years, my oncologist has been trying to get me to have the BRCA test done. That's the genetic mutation test for familial breast cancer. I've resisted for three reasons:

1) For twenty years, my breast cancer has been assumed by him and other physicians to have been caused by my radiation treatments for Hodgkins Disease. (Breast cancer in up to 30% of female Hodgkins survivors is reported, for those who had mantle radiation treatment when I did in the late 80s.)
2) I have no history of breast cancer in my family.
3) They're already watching me closely for breast cancer, because of both my radiation exposure and having had breast cancer, so what would be the difference in my healthcare if the test were positive?

We talked about it again at my annual checkup in December. He said one could never be sure of the cause of a breast cancer, and I was very young (25) when I had it, which is a risk factor for the BRCA mutation. In the regular population, the incidence of breast cancer is 12%. If you have the mutation, it is up to 80%. Many women elect to have preventative mastectomy, and the surveillance is actually more rigorous than what I am doing.

Additionally, there is increased ovarian cancer risk (from less than 1% in the general population to up to 44% with the BRCA mutation). I would have my ovaries removed in a New York minute, if I knew I had that risk.

I finally decided to do it. It's odd that I didn't want to do the test as soon as it was offered to me, because I am a very scientifically-minded person. If there is information I can get about my own health, I want it. Plus, this is life and death stuff, not insignificant. Why wouldn't I do it?

Because I was scared to death that I might have the mutation.

I just decided that, like any of the myriad diagnostic procedures I've had in my lifetime, having the test does not change the facts, it only reveals them. The situation is what it is, and you are better off knowing than not knowing, so you can fight your illness (or significant chance of one) armed with knowledge. Also, Dr. L pointed out that if the test showed I didn't have the mutation, it would be quite a load off my mind.

He forgets that until he mentioned it a few years ago, it wasn't a concern to me at all. Thanks, Doc!

A few days later, I met with the nurse practitioner who does genetic counseling and prepares the samples for the lab. While we were going through every detail of my family members' health, all the way back to my great-grandparents, she discovered a pattern that actually indicated a greater likelihood of another genetic issue in our family, called Lynch Syndrome. I have several relatives on my mom's side of the family with cancers of the brain, kidney and uterus, and many with colon polyps, which are benign but can sometimes be associated with colon cancer.

If you have Lynch Syndrome, your risk of colon cancer is up to 82%, compared to the general population's risk of 2%. Uterine cancer- up to 71% compared to 1.5% of the general population. You are also at increased risk of cancers of the stomach, ovaries, urinary tract, breast, brain, small bowel and pancreas. This is why it is sometimes called Cancer Family Syndrome.

So the nurse ordered up the Lynch Syndrome test as well. Why not. If I'm going to be sweating a test, I may as well sweat two. The only other genetic test available was one for melanoma, which is probably the only cancer my mom's family doesn't have.

I just got the results of both, and they were... negative! Whee!

One of the things cancer survivors deal with is having many medical tests for the rest of their lives. They may be part of your regular follow-up. You may have a symptom a little out-of-the-norm that wouldn't be a concern for the general population, but they want to "be cautious" and do an MRI or other diagnostic tests.

I've had a lot of unpleasant and/or worrisome tests and biopsies over the years, after which I waited anxiously for what ended up being negative results, but I will take a hundred nerve-wracking negative tests over one positive. Heck, I'm happy to be alive to have those tests at all. I'm thankful we've got the technology and knowledge we have.

Still waiting for the tricorder that they just wave over you for diagnosis and treatment.

He's dead, Jim.

Read more...

Happy Hump Day

Awesomeness:



That's Walk Off the Earth ft. Terry "KRNFX" Im. If only the lead singer were a bit more animated, it would really rock. The dubstep sound... how on earth does he do that?!


So glad that ESPN apologized for Musberger's weirdo comments during the Alabama/Notre Dame game about McCarron's girlfriend. While we were watching, afterwards we just looked at each other and said, "What the heck was that all about?" I found it sexist, and I'm not sensitive to that sort of thing. Additionally, it was just creepy because of his age and the ongoing comments. Make a quick observation about her being pretty and move on. Don't keep going on and on about it like a drunk frat boy.

AJ McCarron was so funny when he found out about the million people who started following his girlfriend on Twitter that night, including LeBron James:



"...That is messed up."

Read more...

Finally Got a Gmail Account

Wanna make your day really exciting? Change your email addy.

See, months ago, Yahoo's contacts were constantly screwing up, randomly adding back in very old addresses, not keeping track of which address is the primary for each person, sometimes not syncing with my phone, etc. I moved my contacts to Google, which solved that problem, but then I was having to keep two lists of contacts- one in Google (for my addresses) and one in Yahoo Mail (for email). *head spinning*

I read an article on LinkedIn that said if you have a hotmail or Yahoo address, you are totally old schooling it, and should come into the 21st century with a Gmail address. Of course, I have hotmail AND yahoo. The only reason I don't have Gmail is that the last time I tried to get an account, I couldn't ever come up with a username that wasn't already taken.

I jumped all over the username firstname.lastname the minute Facebook said we could. I am firstnamelastname@hotmail.com. YEAH BABY. Keep in mind, I have a very common name. (My maiden name is not that common. I should have considered that when I got married... ;)  )

Now that Gmail has been around for a thousand years, every imaginable version of my name is taken. I finally ended up with the dreaded firstnamelastname###@gmail.com address.

Those numbers. Gah. You don't want to use your birthday or grad year, which eliminates any two number combos, which people will assume is the year of something. You can't use your atm card PIN. (Which is your birthday, isn't it? Ha!) It has to be something totally random, which is oh so boring, and hard to remember. So I chose three semi-random numbers, which if anyone asks, I will say is my weight.

Changed the addy. Sent out the mass email about changing the addy.

Realized I have an email forwarder from Texas A&M. *facepalm*

I thought about sending out a new email to everyone with the address at Aggie Network (which is WAY cooler than my gmail addy). I didn't. You're welcome. (If you have that address, it will also work. Just saying.)

Now I have to set up my old folders and stuff at Gmail and forward myself a bunch of things from my old account. I also use so many Google products now, that I need to figure out how they relate at this point. And I have to get used to a new email interface as well.

Maybe I'll just spend the afternoon seeing Les Mis again.

The only good thing- after my email, I'm hearing from some people I haven't talked to in a long time. We'll talk and then they'll forget to update my address in their contacts. That's what I would do, anyway!

Read more...

Saturday Six on Monday

Patrick's Saturday Six: R

1. R is for RACE: If you had to attend some sort of race — horse race, NASCAR, etc. — which type would you most likely choose?
BMX

2. R is for REALITY: If you had to choose one reality show to watch, which would it be?
Impractical Jokers

3. R is for REINCARNATION: If you could come back after death as an animal, which would you choose?
domestic cat- quite the life!

4. R is for REPORTER: Which local reporters do you trust more: your local newspaper’s or your local TV stations’?
Local TV stations. The Statesman slants pretty far left of center.

5. R is for ROBOT: If science provided a practical robot to take care of chores around the house, would you be interested, or would you prefer doing it yourself?
Good heavens, why would I do it myself? Sign me up!

6. R is for RUDE: When you encounter what you consider is rude customer service, are you more likely to contact the manager on site or call the corporate office?
I'm most likely to contact no one at the business, but tell all my friends about it.

Read more...

Lookie-Loo...ing?

Kathy and I walked a bunch of model homes in our area this week. So fun! She was looking for guest room decor and bathroom remodel ideas. I was looking at microwave and oven installation options. It turned out, every home had a media room (after Jeff tried to tell me media rooms are soooo over- nice try, Hon'), so I took photos of all those as well. I was going to show you here, but I don't think people are allowed to post photos of model home interiors. Can someone check with Legal on that? Kthanks.

There really should be a term for checking out model homes when you aren't looking to buy. We always say right off the bat that we are just taking a look. I want to say something like, "We're just lookie-looing," but lookie-loo was never intended to be a verb.

Some builder reps just dump you at that point, which is fine, but some are really cool and if there aren't any other clients, they chat with you about the house, the neighborhood, and the ironically "oddly" wintery weather. I'm sending friends to them, when they want to buy a house.


Sunday Stealing: 40 of The Most Random Questions Meme, Part One

1) What side of the heart do you draw first?
left

2) Can you dive without plugging your nose?
yes

3) What color is your razor?
pink

4) What is your blood-type?
O+

5) Who would you want to be tied to for 24 hours?
I initially read this as "what," not "who." I was about to say, "my iPhone," which would have read a little more kooky than it should have. I'll go with Bradley Cooper.

6) What is a rumor someone has spread about you?
that I'm a mathematics prodigy who took calculus in 7th grade

7) How do you feel about carrots?
I only like cooked carrots. Raw ones are so icky on all levels- taste, texture, the way they squeak against your teeth. Ack.

8) How many chairs at the dining room table?
4

9) Which is the best Spice Girl?
Paprika

10) Do you know what time it is?
I have no idea.

11) Do you know all the words to the Fresh Prince Theme Song?
Yes!

12) What would you do if you were stuck in an elevator?
Text people about being stuck in the stupid elevator.

13) What’s your favorite kind of gum?
wintergreen

14) All’s fair in love and war?
Nope. That's a cop out, and positively deplorable to declare about either love or war. All's fair in strip poker though.

15) Do you have a crush on anyone?
No real people- just Bradley Cooper and George Clooney, although I don't know if I'm allowed to split my celebrity pass.

16) Do you know how to use some words correctly, but not know the meaning?
I don't think I get this question. If I'm using it correctly, I know the meaning. I've used a few words that I eventually found out didn't mean what I thought they meant. (I know. It seems... inconceivable!) Years ago, I used to use the word "peruse" to mean I was randomly skimming through a written item, when it actually means to study it very carefully.

17) Do you like to sleep?
No, I don't want to miss anything.

18) Do you know which US states don’t use Daylight Savings time?
Arizona? Let me check... WRONG- Hawaii does not observe DST either. Hmm!

19) Do you know the words to the song "Total Eclipse of the Heart?"
Yes

20) Do you want a bright yellow ‘06 mustang?
For free? Sure. Otherwise, no thanks!

Read more...

Cotton Bowl Champs!!

WHOOP!

A&M 41  OU 13



Beautiful finish to a freakin' amazing season!

During last night's game, our pal StephenB sang the Aggie War Hymn on Bondi Beach in Australia (where it was a summer Saturday at the time), all by himself, while local beachgoers "looked at him funny."

Dude. I would have paid cash money to see that.

Cannot WAIT for next season. Is it August yet??!


In other news, we finally saw the Les Misérables movie. It's a very powerful production of the musical. I'm not an Anne Hathaway fan, but she is utterly amazing as Fantine. Just WOW. My other fave was Samantha Barks as Eponine, a role she played in the West End production. Here's Samantha, singing the same role at Les Misérables in Concert: The 25th Anniversary in London...



Russell Crowe was the only weak singer in the film. Not sure why they went with him. I kept wanting to tell him to put a little umph into it! He was hitting all the right notes, but just doesn't have the strength in his voice to match the rest of the cast.

Bring a ton of tissues, so you don't cry all over your jacket for three hours, like I did!

Read more...

Happy Belated New Year!

I just haven't been interesting enough to write for the past few days. (Please, no "or the last several years" comments, Peanut Gallery.) We did have a blast on NYE out with Scott and Julie, and later with Lolo at home. Since then, I've been cleaning and de-Christmasing and working on the new website.

I saw that cool thing Wordpress does with their blogs, with the End-Of-Year auto-created infographic you can post. One of my friends posted it on her blog, so I was reminded to share this blog's stats. It won't be an infographic, but let's see if it's interesting!

2012

Top search terms
"talkingforfree" (Laura, stop looking for this blog on Google and bookmark the darn thing)
"sick face cartoon"
"the more you know" (ahaha!)
"nicole kidman moulin rouge"
"over-the-range microwave short height"

"Anal girl" is finally out of the top five! Woooooo!

Top countries visiting
USA, Brazil, UK, Indonesia, India

Top posts/pages
1. The archive of Mar 2009?? What the...? I guess Gorgeous George is at the top, and someone posted a link somewhere without taking the time to go to the individual post. You know, I can't blame them one bit.
2. The Sunday Stealing Movie Meme includes Nicole Kidman's Moulin Rouge costumes... so pretty!
3. Over-the-Range Microwave Height Problem We're finally about to have a cabinetry guy out to fix this at our house.
4. Oasis of the Seas Cruise Nice ship!
5. In High School They Called Me Anal Girl Of course.

Read more...