Evil Lesbian strikes again!

June 25, 2016 at 07:28PM

2016-06-25T19:28:00.001-05:00

Testing out connection to do note
via http://ift.tt/28VwEvD

Been a long time...

2009-03-25T23:36:00.003-05:00

Wow - it has been a really long time since I've updated my blog! Time just zooms right by doesn't it? So what has been going on here at da casa in all this time? I'm still doing my wii fit everyday. Haven't missed a single day in the last 6 weeks. It would be longer than that but I logged in late one night and found out I had forgotten to change the time on the wii so it thought that day was already over.
Anyhow - I'm only down about 8 pounds since the start of the year but I'm in much better shape. My resting heart rate has dropped from 88-92 down to 69-74. My recovery heart rate drops 30 beats in just under a minute. I've lost a full inch off my waist and hips. Needless to say I'm pretty happy with my results so far. In fact so much so that I'm signed up to do a mini triathlon on May 30th. I'm very excited because I've always wanted to do one and never have. It's short - a 300 meter swim, 9 miles on the bike and 2 mile run. Still I'm really looking forward to it. I'm starting to stress a little because it is just over 8 weeks away and I have a long ways to go to get ready for it. I did run a mile yesterday and 3/4 mile the day before. I've been doing a half hour or so either on a stationary bike or on my regular bike on a trainer. I'm going to have to start pushing more though if I'm going to be ready in time.

getting shorted on a purchase....

2009-01-19T22:15:00.002-06:00

I'm a little annoyed at the moment. I've been working on cleaning up my basement and putting things where they belong instead of where they get piled. I bought a box of those space bags - has one jumbo cube, one extra large and one large bag. This should be enough to store my extra linens and comforters I don't use but are still perfectly good. I take my box down to the basement to try out the ultra wonderful space bags... right... okay - first problem, there is only the jumbo cube in the box - the other two bags aren't there. Grrr - this is a constant problem at the stores by my house. People steal from boxes and leave enough to make it look right when you peek in to make sure the stuff is there. Somehow or another, my hand goes right to the package that doesn't have what it is supposed to in it. If it isn't that, it's grabbing one that is damaged in a way that I don't see until I get it home. Then, how can you really take it back? Who is to say I didn't use two of the bags out of the box and then take it back and say I got shorted? I mean besides the fact that I wouldn't do that, but they don't know me and can't know I wouldn't do something like that. Plus I'd feel guilty even though I didn't do anything because they'd be looking at me and thinking right - this is a scam.
I think part of my problem is I hate shopping. I want to get what I need and go. The store is always crowded, you can hardly ever get to what you need to without having to wait for other people to spend 5 minutes trying to make a decision, and the checkout lines are crazy long. I think I really need to start driving to stores outside my neighborhood - maybe that would help. I used to live right by a grocery store that primarily served a pretty upscale area and the shopping experience was completely different. The biggest difference I noticed was no matter what the hour there was always way more lanes open than you'd expect given the number of customers in the store. In the year I shopped there, I don't think I ever had to wait in line behind more than one person. Maybe because of that fact - people seemed much nicer there. The employees weren't all rushed and frazzled, and so everyone was calm and polite.
I do make an effort to try and go to the store at really odd hours in the hopes that it won't be so crowded, but the downside to that is that you can end up in a really super long checkout line. And the 24 hour stores are further away for me to drive to. Hmmm... so is it really worth the extra time and money to drive further to have a better shopping experience? I'm starting to think it is at least worth trying. I'd really like to be able to come home from the store and actually have all the things I bought and have them all be in good working order.
So it looks like my space bag experience will have to wait - the one bag I did actually have in the box, tore when I went to close it. Guess I tried to put too much stuff in there. Grrr... just not a good thing all the way around. Heh, maybe I'm just not supposed to get organized!

Easy & affordable homemade hard cider

2009-01-19T21:43:00.002-06:00

Homemade hard cider on the cheap!

Making your own hard cider is fun and so easy you really won't believe it. You can use a traditional brewers kit with buckets and airlocks and all that - or you can make do with stuff you probably have on hand already. I recommend trying it the cheap way first - make a gallon and see if you like it. Later on you can always buy the buckets and ramp up your production if you like. This recipe is for one gallon and you can adjust it accordingly with one slight change - one packet of yeast will do up to 5 gallons.
Equipment you need:
2 clean 2 liter soda bottles with lids
2 Regular balloons
Juice pitcher that will hold 2 liters
Large pot & something to stir with
funnel
safety pin

Ingredients you need:
1 pound Sugar - brown or white - I usually use both together
1 packet yeast - can be dry yeast or champagne yeast. Champagne yeast gives a better flavor to finished product but it's easy enough to fix it up if you just use regular yeast. Dry Yeast is in your baking isle at the grocery store and is sold in three pack strips for about $1.19. Champagne yeast runs about 50 cents a pack and is sold individually at home brew stores.
3 cans frozen juice concentrate - Very Important - It must NOT contain any preservatives! No Potassium sorbate, no sodium citrate or any other odd unknown ingredient. It can have asorbic acid which is just vitamin C. Other than that it can't have any chemical sounding indgredients. You really want it to be just juice from concentrate. Generally speaking that means no Welch's brand because it has sodium citrate in it. Old Orchard is fine and so is Langers. It seems most store brand are fine also but be sure and read the label. You can also use regular juice rather than frozen but you'll need to buy a whole gallon and same rule applies as far as not having any kind of preservatives. Generally it is cheaper and easier to just work with the frozen - especially on your first try. And yes - the juice can be any flavor you want although most people start with apple. After you get the hang of it you can even combine different flavors - whatever you want to do.

The main principle of making homemade alcohol is that yeast turns sugar into alcohol. You can basically say that yeast eats sugar and craps alcohol - and that is a beautiful thing! With about a pound of sugar to each gallon I get about 9% alcohol content. More sugar and yeast equals more alcohol content. Trust me though - 9% is a pretty high level. Store bought hard cider is usually 5%. Also be aware that the sugar you put in to start will be gone by the end - if you want to make your cider sweeter it won't do any good to add more sugar at the start! I'll tell you later how to sweeten your finished product.

So are you ready? Open your cans and dump the contents into your pot (on a medium low setting) - don't add the recommended amount of water to it. Add your sugar and stir until until it dissolves. If you want to kill any wild yeast that might be in the juice already - let it warm to about 140 degrees for a half hour to 45 minutes. The deal with wild yeast is that you have no idea if it is there or isn't and if it will make your finished product better, worse or no effect. Some people skip this step and just warm it enough to dissolve the sugar. No matter what you choose - don't let it boil or you'll end up with a cloudy or hazy finished product.

Once your juice is ready, use the funnel and split it between the two 2 liter bottles as evenly you can. Now you can add the water as recommended on the concentrated juice label. If you can't add as much water as they recommend - don't worry, it will just make the flavor a little bolder. Put the lids on the bottles and let it sit until it gets to room temperature. I generally just start mine in the evening and let it sit overnight so I'm not so tempted to toss the yeast in early.

Rinse out your balloons to get the powder out of them. While they have water in them, use a safety pin to poke 5 or 6 holes in the balloon then dump the water out. This is how the carbon dioxide created by the fermentation process is going to get out of the bottle without letting anything else back in. If you have a hydrometer and want to measure your alcohol content, now is the time to take the initial reading before the yeast goes in. Now put your yeast in splitting it between the two 2 liter bottles. Don't stress over this part - the single packet of yeast is enough to make 5 gallons of cider with so guestimating is plenty good enough. Stretch the balloon over the opening of the bottles and put the lids away somewhere that you can find them in a few weeks. Put the bottles somewhere they won't need to be moved and is dark and cool - between 60 and 70 degrees is best. In a day or two the balloon will inflate - generally to about the size of a golf ball or maybe a cue ball. This means the fermentation process is working fine. It won't blow up any bigger because the pin holes are letting the carbon dioxide out.

Your done with the major part, now the rest is super easy and requires no precision at all. Let it sit about 10 days to two weeks without messing with it at all. Then, very gently remove the balloon and pour the cider into a pitcher or some other container - try very hard not to disturb the sediment at the bottom of the two liter bottle while your doing this. After the cider is in the pitcher, rinse out the two liter bottle to get rid of all the sediment and then pour the cider back in, put the balloon back on and put it back where it was. You can actually skip this step entirely and it will still work but your finished product will have a much stronger yeast taste to it.

Let it sit another 10 days to two weeks. It really only takes three weeks start to finish but I've had better taste results when I give it 4 weeks total. Gently pour into your pitcher and rinse out the two liter. Now you have a choice to make - do you want to wait three more weeks and make a carbonated hard cider or just drink it now? Personally - I'm not patient enough to let it carbonate so I'd just put it back in the 2 liter bottle and put the cap on it (you did save the cap didn't you?). If you have a hydrometer and want to know your alcohol content - now is the time to take your second measurement and figure out how much alcohol is in there (there should be a chart and directions that came with the hydrometer). If you want to carbonate your cider, heat up a small amount of water and dissolve 3-4 tablespoons of sugar in it. Pour it into your 2 liter bottle, pour the cider back in, cap it and wait another three weeks and it will carbonate.

If your flavor isn't bold enough or sweet enough, get another can of frozen concentrate and add the pure juice to your 2 liter bottles with no extra water. You can also add more sugar now if you want but be aware that if you do add sugar and leave the cap on without releasing the pressure periodically - you'll end up with a carbonated drink. Actually, it will carbonate on it's own eventually but I think it takes a few months to do it on it's own.

Hard Cider doesn't last long around my house because I have several friends that really love it too. However, I've read that it ages just like wine and gets better and better as it ages. I hear that it is amazing after about 9 months but I've yet to be able to keep it around long enough to find out - in spite of the fact that I mostly make mine in 5 gallon batches! Another thing to be aware of is that when your first able to drink it, your cider will be cloudy. If your wanting it to look nice and clear, it will need to sit about another 2-3 weeks after the second time you get rid of the sediment. If it still has a lot of sediment, you might have to repeat the step with the pitcher again.

If you like it and want to make larger amounts, you can get a basic bewers kit with 6.5 gallon buckets. You'll also need to consider how you want to store it, bottles? Kegs? Something else? Also you need to be aware that if you do bottle it, your cider needs to have a specific gravity of less than one or you risk having bottles explode from pressure. There is a way around this though - if you heat your cider up again to 140 for 45 minutes, that will kill any active yeast that is left so you won't have any more fermentation going on and hence - no pressure build up. Be sure to let it cool down again before bottling. I personally haven't done this so I'm just telling what I've read. If your wanting to get serious I recommend doing more research and see what more experienced people than me have to say about it.

Have fun & enjoy!

Better today - w00t!

2009-01-03T16:29:00.002-06:00

Day 3 of playing DDR2 (Dance Dance Revolution 2 for wii) is much better than day 2 was... yesterday I stiffened up mid afternoon and could hardly move. Of course that meant I had to play the game more and work through the stiffness. I did that and then spent a good hour in the massage chair letting it work it's magic and get the kinks out. True it would be much better for me to actually go see my massage therapist but the chair is right in my living room and better than nothing. The results are good so far - today I'm a little tight but no where near as sore. And considering I just played DDR for like an hour or so - I feel good. There is another great side effect to playing the wii - I'm drinking way more water and less soda. Now for most people that probably isn't a big deal. For me though - that is huge. See - I hate the taste of plain water. I generally always drink flavored water or propel if I can get myself to drink any water at all. But, with the wii - my body is demanding just plain water and I don't even care how it tastes. About the only water I actually like the taste of is Fiji which is a pretty expensive water... right now though I'm drinking the ultra cheap nestle water with no problem. Amazing - a positive side effect I never expected.
In other news - I am still making my homemade hard apple cider and still going through it at a shocking rate. Of course I don't drink it all myself. Out of this last 5 gallon batch I took a gallon to a friends house for christmas and we polished it off between three people. Gave a half gallon away, put another gallon into a growler to maybe end up carbonating if I can keep my hands off it long enough and I have about 2 gallons left in the bucket. So really, between my roommate and I we've only gone through about a half gallon here at home in the last week and a half. As easy as it drinks that isn't too bad at all. This is the batch with the cherry flavor added and I really didn't notice much effect other than some extra bitterness. Don't think I'm going to mess with that again anytime soon. I have 6 more gallons working right now also - this will just be regular apple with no experimenting. Well other than using a mix of brown and white sugar that is! I've decided to hold off on experimenting until I actually am stocked up on the apple. I don't want to make a crappy batch and then be stuck without for three weeks while waiting for a new one! Plus I've heard that apple cider is kind of like wine in that it gets better with age. In order to test that theory I need to get to where we aren't drinking it as fast as I can make it! lol - easier said than done. I'll probably start another batch here in the next few days so I can get a good rhythm going with it.
Well - break time is over, time to get back to my game... ummm and to think about cleaning house sometime soon! ;)

and to 2008 - good night and good riddance

2009-01-01T02:08:00.002-06:00

And so we have reached the start of a new year, a new chapter in the saga of life. As with many, I am hopeful that 2009 will indeed be a better year. My roommate, Randi and I brought in the new year quietly - playing some rather physically demanding games on the wii and then watching the dog whisperer and dogtown on the national geographic channel. Today on national geographic we also watch some of Earth: a biography which I found very interesting as they talked about polar ice and the recent changes as well as historical changes. It makes me concerned for the melting polar ice and I'm troubled that it seems the changes are taking place much sooner and faster than the experts predicted. I both agree and disagree with the doomsayers about the future of the planet and our need to protect it. I think we look at it backwards most of the time. It isn't the planet we need to save, I think the Earth will save itself no matter what we do or choose not to do. If we keep going as we go, I think the planet will shake us off like the pests we are and will stabilize itself to try again - this time without humanity as we know it. Yet human nature is not to really see or care about the future as much as we should. If we really were able to comprehend what our actions now will cause later - no one would take up smoking or any other unhealthy lifestyle. But it is in our nature to think that bad things will always hit someone else and not ourselves. How many people do you know that are prepared for even a small disaster - say a week long power outage? I know a handful of people that think that having some kind of food and water on hand is a good idea and even less that actually do it. Yet a bad storm can happen anywhere and take power down for a week or more. Still when it happens, most people are not ready. What does that say for the future for our kind? If you do nothing else in this new year, take the time and make the effort to put some food, water, cash and basic first aide supplies aside - even if it is just a little. Make yourself a little more ready to deal with whatever may come than what you are today.
I hope that this year will be a much better year for everyone. I also hope that more people will start to see the importance of taking some basic precautions to protect themselves and their loved ones "just in case".
Peace to all!

Carol

countdown to 2009...

2008-12-29T21:26:00.002-06:00

I've heard it said that whatever your doing at midnight new years eve is what you'll be doing all next year. An interesting thought... how much thought do you put into what your doing new years eve? Do you think it does or doesn't have any effect on the rest of your year? Or do you think that is only if you let it?
This year will be the first year in several years that I'm not on pager duty for new years. I'm pretty happy about that because it is one less thing to worry about. However, I have yet to decide what, if anything I will be doing that night. The last several years I've gone to see a friends band play but this year they are playing an hour and a half from my house. I'm not real excited about the though of driving that far on new years and am leaning towards not going. It's a long drive on small roads on one of the most dangerous nights of the year to be driving. I'm not sure I really want to take that chance. In addition, I'm really feeling like I don't want to drink much - I really don't want to start the new year with a hangover. My other thought is I really don't want to spend a lot of money. If I go a long ways or decide to drink, then I need a hotel room and a cab to get back and forth - money I don't need to spend.
But if I don't do that - then what? I'm not really interested in watching all the festivities on TV... I'm not really interested in going where there will be big crowds... I'm kind of leaning towards a quiet night at home, maybe playing on the wii or doing something more positive than drinking a lot. But I have friends that do want me to come out and that makes it kind of a tough choice. I've been burnt out on the whole bar thing lately. Kind of bored with doing the same old things - ya know?
I am spending a fair amount of time each day playing the wii fit and have some very sore muscles to show for it. Each day starts with a body test which gives me my weight and BMI. Of course to be really accurate, you need to do that at the same time each day which I've yet to manage. Right now, my focus is more on making sure I do it and varying my routine enough to keep it interesting. I start off with the step and advanced step and do them at least twice each. From there I either do yoga, strength (which is pilates) or more aerobics until I get to 30 minutes. Then I take a break and come back to do whatever else I feel like after that. My weight is up two pounds over the last week but since I'm not doing it at the same time every day I don't know or really care how accurate that is. Plus some days I'm in sweats and others I'm in jeans so I'm sure all that makes a difference. I'm still focused on getting to feel better rather than anything else and think once the soreness starts to fade I will feel quite a bit better. Well that and when I start getting better at some of this stuff. My balance is particularly bad so I'll be really happy when that starts getting better. I think that is probably a big part of why I feel so far out of shape. I've noticed that I don't move with the same ease and control as I am used to and really want to get that back. I know - I shouldn't find it shocking that such things fade with time as you don't use those muscles as often. I do find it funny that my wii fit age was as low as 36 before I got so sore and now it is up to 39... it will come back down as I adjust to the new activity level. I'm actually kind of glad for the soreness because it reminds me of what I need to be doing in order to get to where I want to go... in this case the old saying is true - pain is just weakness leaving the body!

mind and body....

2008-12-28T01:02:00.002-06:00

Life has been a little on the quiet side lately - a very nice thing indeed. Around the holidays people tend to get really busy, especially with so many family things going on. Some years I've had trouble with this being a lonely time of year for people like me that don't have all that stuff going on. I'd miss my family and friends that are no longer around and basically get pretty bummed. This year I decided on a different approach. I've spent more time doing things to help myself and less time thinking. I went shopping and bought myself some new clothes with a totally different look than usual. I've been logging on to pogo more often and playing more games that make me think and react. I've been playing wii fit more often - especially the aerobics to keep my heart rate up for a half hour at a time. I'm spending more time at home and less time going out. Some would say that isn't really such a good thing but I see it as a healthy break. After the first of the year when things start going back to normal, I'll probably start going out more again. Although I may not - I really don't like the cold at all and sometimes I just really hate going out in it any more than I just have to. What I've come to realize is going out isn't really the important thing - being more active physically and mentally is.
Through my teenage years I was active in sports and I would spend a lot of time playing various card games with my Mom. We got into a routine of playing every day for at least a while. Those are some of the memories I treasure most, just her and I sitting, playing, laughing and talking the afternoon away. I was thinking of that the other day - it bothers me that it seems to me that my brain moves slower than it used to. It also bothers me that my body doesn't respond as easily to activity as it used to. then it dawned on me that the brain functions much like a muscle - the more you use it, the better and more efficient it works. Hmmm... I haven't been challenging my brain any more than I have been my body. I can either feel bad about how I used to be or I can step up and start doing something about it. I decided to start doing something about it.
I'm not big on new years resolutions. Culturally we have a mind set that they are discarded in relatively short order and we all laugh and sympathize with each other about our lack of will power. So this isn't a new years resolution, it isn't a resolution at all. It's just a choice to start focusing on myself and committing to start making myself better than I am right now. I know they say you need solid goals but I'm not at the point that I want to do that. Right now the goal is to start working my mind and body more regularly and accept whatever the outcome of that is. I don't feel I must lose 20 pounds - although honestly I'd really like to. I just need to be more healthy no matter what weight and shape it makes me. It's much more about how I feel rather than how I look. To me this was a huge bright light bulb when I realized that is what my priority should be - and now it will be going forward.
BTW, on the wii fit tonight, my wii fit age was 36 which made me feel pretty good since I'm 41. Now I just wish they would make a balance board game that has a lot of the step and rhythm boxing type things on them. I'm having a lot of fun with those but there aren't a whole lot of varieties of them. I'm considering getting something like dance dance revolution even though it is on a flat pad rather than using the step. I think that will help keep my activity level up and provide new challenges. Still - wii games designers - more step and rhythm boxing please!!!!!

On bailing out the auto industry....

2008-12-09T19:44:00.002-06:00

I've been watching all this unfold with the big three while the stock market bounces like a yo-yo on steroids... Massive job cut announcements are a daily thing... it's official - the economy is in the toilet... are we going to flush it down the pipes and into the sewer? If we don't bailout the big three - I suspect that is exactly what will happen. There are so very many angles to consider here. First - no one I know of wants to buy a new car... or a used car... or anything that costs anything more than $500 right now. Most of us are in hording mode - trying to stock up on food, cut expenses and concentrating on surviving. Luxuries like a new car are really hard to justify. I look in the driveway and see my truck that I've had a little over two years now and have no intentions of getting rid of. In times past, by the time I hit the two year mark with a truck, I'm ready to get a new one. Now I sit here and think well, it should live at least 150,000 miles so I should have 100,000 or so more to go. I think my thought process is not unique at all, actually I think it is very common right now. So by bailing out the car makers - are we just delaying the inevitable? Or will the economy come back in 2010 like they say?
Granted - the big three have done nothing worth noting to try and prevent this from happening. They seem to spend money like there are no limits. Paying workers most of their salary for not working just doesn't seem like the brightest business model to me. It's been more than three years since hurricane Katrina hit and gas prices jumped to $3 a gallon. That kind of made me take a look at gas mileage as something that needs to be strongly considered. I know the car companies have made strides in improving gas mileage but there is such a very long way still to go.
For the average person - the math is pretty simple.... you need money to survive, keep a roof over your head and food in your belly.... so you need a job... and a way to get too and from that job. When it takes $60 a tank to fill your SUV - how far can you realistically afford to drive to work? I'm not bashing SUVs - I have one myself. I like to take road trips and I want a vehicle big enough to take passengers in comfort and big enough to haul my camping gear. But I did trade down from a 4x4 V6 (16 mpg) to a 2wd 4 cylinder to pick up the extra 4-6 miles per gallon (there were other reasons as well - primary being I wanted to be able to carry more than one passenger at a time). In town if I don't need to haul anything other than myself - I prefer my motorcycle at 55 mpg or my scooter at 83 mpg. So yes, I have an SUV that gets 20 - 22 mpg but I also have other, cheaper alternatives as well.
Back to the car companies... if they go under, it effects many other businesses... including a lot of mom and pop businesses that are near the various manufacturing plants. Diners, day care centers, gas stations, bars... the trickle down effect could be huge. But what good does it to make cars no one can afford? And are they even the cars people want if they can afford them? Honestly - who is going to buy a car right now without concerns about how long that car will live? How much it might cost to maintain?
I think the car companies need to take a good look at real people and see what their needs are and then figure out how they can meet those needs. They need to make "made in America" a symbol of pride and quality, of innovation, of affordability and dependability. We do need need to save the car companies - we can't afford not to. In turn they need to adjust and learn how to take care of the consumers that are indeed their lifeblood.

hard apple cider and more...

2008-11-29T16:52:00.002-06:00

Woot! Woot! My first batch of hard apple cider is ready and oh boy does it have a kick... I generally jump into things with both feet without really taking a whole lot of time to check things out. I started my first batch without doing much more than read the instructions and some comments on a few websites... I didn't make one important connection from any of my sources... the amount of sugar determines the alcohol content - not the sweetness of the finished product... I wanted a very sweet hard cider and got one that could knock down a moose. Not a bad thing, just unexpected. It finished it's fermentation so the next step was to move it to another bucket to allow it to clarify. You have to try not disturb the sediment at the bottom so your supposed to siphon it off into the next barrel - sounds simple enough, until you consider that I have no luck with siphoning that is... I've had waterbeds for more than 20 years and draining them has always been a nightmare until I started renting a pump to do it with. I understand how to siphon and I get it started with no real problems but after a while it always stops and won't restart. That is exactly what happened in this case. Not even half the bucket had transfered when it quit. So I try and try to get it to go again. I ended up a little drunk and never got it going again. I opted to give up and just pour it very carefully into the second bucket... The second bucket has a spigot on it so I've been pouring some glasses to drink. I haven't yet bought bottles to actually bottle it in. I did get a one gallon growler, added some sugar water and filled it with cider. That will cause it to carbonate all on it's own in a few weeks. The rest, now that fermenation is done, I'm going to sweeten it a little bit and call it good. I don't think this first batch is going to make it to the bottling stage... I think instead it is going to stay right in the bucket and be dispensed a glass at a time.
Tomorrow I'm going to start my second batch and this time I'm going to add a little thing of cherry flavor to the cider and see how that goes... other than that I'm keeping it exactly the same as the first batch. Well and now I'll know better than to attempt the siphon again unless I'm actually looking for a buzz that is!

The world has gone crazy...

2008-11-15T02:09:00.002-06:00

The last week or so has just been whacked. I've been on vacation, no big plans, hang out with friends, get some stuff taken care of around the house - that kind of thing. That should make for a calm week but it didn't. Among other things there seems to have been a rash of people getting killed lately. First was the shooting at mack and micks in granite city, I've hung out there a couple times and have a friend that lives less than a mile from there. Then a double homicide at a steak and shake right around the corner practically from where a friend of mine works. Then a broad daylight murder with an assault rifle not but a half mile from my house. Then a friend tells me this morning that a guy she knew and we had talked to not long ago got killed in a hit and run accident and his 9 month old baby boy had to be airlifted to the hospital. If that is horrible enough - his wife is 6 months pregnant. It seems to me that there have been an awful lot of people getting killed lately. In addition to that, it seems like nearly everyone I talk to has really had a bad time of things lately. Money problems, job problems, family problems, health problems - you name it. It's almost like the collective stress level of this area is really shooting up. The stock market has lost it's mind, jobs are going away everywhere, cost of living is skyrocketing at a pace few peoples income can keep up with. People are saying things like - if you have a job - hold on tight to it because there isn't anything out there.
The world indeed seems to have gone crazy. The only thing I can think to say is that compassion and understanding is something we need to try and focus on as a society right now. Understand that the people around you are going through hard times as well and cut some slack. It won't fix anything, but it sure might make things a little easier to deal with.

Toksee chat widget

2008-06-16T20:37:00.002-05:00

I'm testing this out... let's see what happens if.....

tokseechatgreat free widgetsWidgetbox

or maybe a different one?

So far have dad very little luck getting any widgetbox code to work...

So now what?

2008-06-10T12:38:00.000-05:00

With gas prices breaking the $4 barrier across nearly the whole country and food prices skyrocketing in response - what is next? When Katrina hit - we knew gas prices would jump - so much of our oil production is in the gulf of Mexico that it didn't take a genius to see what would happen. Gas prices jumped to $3+ and once oil production got underway, they dropped back. No one was happy about it but we understood. Now with $3 a gallon gas a fond memory of the "good ole days" - no one is bothering to to make excuses about why gas is going up up up... no one is making predictions about when it will go back down - if it indeed ever does.
So now what happens? Food prices go up because the trucking industry has got to keep up with rising fuel costs. People that were just barely making ends meet are totally screwed. They need gas to get to work, they need food to feed, cloth and house their families. I suspect we are going to start seeing more extended families living under the same roof for one thing. There will be an increase in cheap transportation - from public transportation to bikes, motorcycles and scooters. Already Aldi is seeing drastic increases in sales - so we're going from name brands being priority to just getting as much food for our money as we can. The fastest growing segment of crime? Stealing food.
More long term effects - people that were doing okay but not great. If they have been putting money in their 401k - they will stop doing that. You can't save for retirement at the expense of feeding your family. What about people with adjustable rate mortgages? Ouch! They are getting a serious double whammy. Not only are they paying more for everything else - but their house payments are going up. So the housing market drops and suddenly people are trapped upside down in mortgages they can't get out of. What do they do?
Where does it end? It depends on why this is happening. Is it political? I'm serious - we are in a presidential election year and in the middle of what looks like an artificial inflation in gas prices with it's ever expanding ripple effect. Who will ride in and save the day? Will it be just prior to the election? If so - who gets the great PR for saving the day? Never mind that it smells like a setup and mostly likely whoever does save the day was guilty in the first place. Just like any good TV detective will tell you - you have to follow the money. Who stands to profit most? Who has the means to pull off something like this? I don't have any answers but I'm thinking if we pay attention - we'll be able to get a pretty good idea...
In the mean time - stock up on long shelf life food. If your not already budget consious - get that way. Start thinking and planning ahead because in spite of what I said about when will this end - I doubt it will just poof away overnight. There are pretty fair odds that we are in for some tough times for a while here. If you have extra - please - support your local food pantries. With it being summer - be aware of your elderly neighbors - especially if they are on fixed incomes. They most likely can't afford to run their AC even if they have it. It's time to stop focusing on "me" and start working together and taking care of each other.

Peace,
Carol

New free traffic websites

2008-06-09T12:36:00.002-05:00

Sorry for the big gap in posts - it has been crazy busy here lately! Mix in a nasty fight with the flu that seemed it would never end, a week in the hospital, working crazy hours at my day job, and the launch of four new free traffic websites and you start getting the picture of what a crazy life I've had lately.

Before I get into the new websites and all that I want to tell you how I ended up spending a week in the hospital for something that was so easy to prevent it is just crazy. First I have to admit - my eating habits are wicked bad. I'm a long time computer geek, am single and always busy. So food for me is something I toss in the microwave and munch on while working. I came down with the flu first and followed it up with a nasty cough that came very close to going into pneumonia. During all the time that was going on, I had no energy but was still working constantly and eating worse and worse. By the last week before going into the hospital I had stopped eating. All I was doing was drinking soda and propel. I finally went to the ER because of the cough and they gave me cough syrup with codeine... turns out I'm allergic to codeine. I started getting really confused and lost my short term memory. I don't remember much about a couple days there but it was getting worse and worse. Lucky for me my friends realized something was going really wrong and they came to check on me and ended up calling 911. After nearly a week in the hospital they started me on B1 and within a day and a half my brain started clearing up.

By the second day I was able to be released from the hospital. I've been through all kinds of tests trying to figure out the reason I ran so low on B1 and the only explanation they can come up with is malnutrition.

I think the thing that scared me the most was B1 deficiency hits your brain - which means you can't save yourself. You have to have someone else realize there is a problem and act on it. I've always depended on my brain - my day job is a UNIX server admin - troubleshooting is my bread and butter. I have to be able to think and remember. It took a couple weeks on B1 before I started finally feeling like my brain was coming back up to speed. Now it has been just over a month since I've been out of the hospital and I don't miss a day of taking my vitamins. I'm trying to eat better, sleep more regular and stuff like that but even just the addition of a good multi-vitamin plus an extra B1 has got me feeling a good ten years younger. And it was so very simple to prevent if I had any idea it was happening.

Now, looking back I can see symptoms going back at least a year but much more seriously over the 3-4 months before I went in the hospital. I noticed my memory getting worse - I assumed it was because of age. I turned 40 last summer so I really thought that was what was going on. Wrong. So if you take nothing else from this - find a good multi-vitamin and take it. If your memory starts going downhill - try some B1 and see if that helps. It's an easy fix - I think a bottle of B1 was like $3 at walgreens.

Okay - so that was my public service announcement - on to the rest of my update...

Like I said - I have four new sites - two traffic exchanges and two text ad exchanges... I launched WhyClickTraffic.com and WhyClickAds.com
before my hospital stay and TrafficWolves.com and TextAdWolf.com a week ago.

I love the script the traffic exchanges run on. I knew the first time I surfed an exchange with this script that it was the one I wanted. It has a progressive surf ratio so the more you surf, the more you get for surfing. You don't have to use credits for banner or text links - they are in rotation as long as you have credits in your account. There are surf contests and lottery drawings and random credit give aways. It's just a great traffic exchange for surfers - which is why I had to have it! Check it out for yourself at WhyClickTraffic.com and TrafficWolves.com

My first text ad exchange - WhyClickAds.com - has a special offer going for the first 300 members - we only have about 85 more openings before this special is gone for good... you get a free pro membership, 3 solo ads and 1 banner with 1000 credits - just for signing up. (Hint: there is also a special offer on the member page that you can get a free gold upgrade at http://www.WhyClickTraffic.com as well).

My newest text exchange TextAdWolf.com is running on the very popular script like TextAdProfits.com made famous. I'm getting ready to start a big referral contest there so keep your eyes open. But until then - if you sign up, then click on advertising and enter promo code startmeup you will get 3 solo ads and 3 banners with 1000 credits each, plus 1000 extra credits.

So that is, believe it or not, the short version of what has been going on here the last several months. Hopefully your life has been much calmer than mine!

Peace & Much Success,

Carol

PS Take your vitamins!!!!!

Addictive and fun new Advertising website

2008-05-15T23:15:00.001-05:00

Very cool and unique new advertising website has totally got me addicted.

You buy these really cool advertising cubes for under $2 (website is in pounds rather than dollars so Im not sure the exchange rate. In pounds it is 1 per year)

You get funds into your account for referrals, clicks and visits to your referral page. Im a premium member so I get $1 for every 30 hits to my referral page and $2 for everyone that joins. Then you use the funds to build the value of your cube and try and get it onto the first page. When your ready, sell your cube and make a nice profit. In addition you get commissions based on what your referrals buy.

Not only all that but your cube gets traffic to your website because members log in and click everyday because they get funds for it.

This is a very cool site - I highly recommend checking it out because once people find out how fun and addictive it is, it will grow fast. I've been playing with it for a week now and my original cube is up to position 60 so it is on the front page and above the fold - which means it should get a pretty decent amount of clicks. And because it is above the fold - it should be worth a pretty decent amount if I wanted to sell it.

After I bought my cube I added my referral link into my hit tracker/rotator at hitsconnect.com
(if you use traffic exchanges you really need a good rotator with a tracker like hitsconnect so you can see which exchanges give you the best results. Not only that but if you use a lot of traffic exchanges like I do - if you use a rotator you can change your promoted websites on the rotator rather than having to go to each individual traffic exchange. If you don't want to pay $20 for a hitsconnect membership, check out freerotator - they have almost as many features for only $12 a month. Okay I'll get off my soapbox and continue my original train of thought).... So as soon as I added the link to my rotator it is being promoted on like 20+ traffic exchanges. So the hits start rolling in which gives me funds to improve my position. So that jumped me up enough, I decided to buy some hits from linkgrand.com - they are a PTC that is very affordable - get 1000 20 second hits for $5. I've used them a lot and my experience is that you don't get a great response for paid programs through them but you do get good response for free and ultra cheap programs. So I advertised there and got some sign ups and lots more hits and before a couple days went by my cube was valued at $169.

That was so much fun, I bought a couple more cubes and have been playing with them.... and did I mention - while I'm playing with cubes and such - my website is getting some pretty decent traffic? Indeed it is...

So if your interested check it out for yourself - all links open in new windows:

The other sites I mentioned above are:

what if you had to tell someone the most important thing and they were never going to beleive it?

2008-04-28T12:13:00.004-05:00

See that tip jar over there? The part of the website that asks if you are in my top spots? That is really a tip jar. It costs like $1 and you get a link on this page until you get bumped off... It's only $1 and you could be there a year if no one reads this page or you could be there 5 minutes if a gazzilion people decend on this page waving dollar bills. One little dollar gets you a link from http://EvilLesbian.Blogspot.com - come on now - you know you want to - just say you did. Especially if you liked the movie Deja Vu - now that was a wicked smart movie... Click the button, follow the directions - all there is to it. So what are you waiting for? Do you need to watch to movie first and see if you agree with me or disagree? The real question is what if you had to tell someone the most important thing ever but you knew there was no way they were going to believe you?

Myspace vs Yuwie - battle lines are drawn

2008-03-06T00:15:00.002-06:00

What the heck is Yuwie and why do myspace and facebook care?

Social Media... it is what web 2.0 is all about... we twitter, we digg, we stumble we utterz and we mutterz... we're on myspace, facebook and utube, and we blog, micro blog, photo blog and everything else. We chat, text, and IM and what is that old way - right - email. Web 2.0... nice... it is the way we are moving... we have all these amazing ways to communicate and share and shrink the globe down even smaller. So what is the other thing the internet has always been about - and don't say porn - because while true - it isn't the answer I'm looking for here... the other thing besides communication is money. Yes the dot com bust came and went but there is still a ton of money on the internet and more being made all the time. Why else would google spend billions on it's latest toy? Any Microsoft trying to buy yahoo... It's all about the advertising money. Do you think the ad revenue generated by myspace or facebook - do you think that would be a fairly large sum of money? I don't know but I would have to guess it is. And that money just might be in a bit of danger in the coming years.... let me tell you why...

See there is a smaller company - building a social networking site just like myspace or facebook... but you know - that has already been done. What can this little guy do to get in on those big ad dollars that the big players are making... hmmm what if this little guy offered to share the ad revenue with the members? Would that make them start backing away from the big guys and moving to this new site? Yes... it will be a trickle before it becomes a flood. I mean why not? You do all the things you already do but you make a little money at the same time. Only makes sense... and over time - that trickle will become a flood and either myspace and facebook will start sharing revenue with their members or they will gamble and lose it all... I'll still keep my myspace page and all - it is a great place to be... but you can bet I also have my Yuwie page and I'm ready for when that trickle starts growing into a flood... I'll be ready to cash some nice checks then.

How about you? You ready to cash some checks for doing what you already do anyhow? The things you do that make money fr myspace or facebook - you can do on Yuwie and make money for you! So give it a go - tell your friends and let's get this party started!

JagerBombs Away!!!!!!!

Hit me up when you get to the other side - I'll hook you up with some great info about just how you do make money - and baby it is easy breazzy all the way to the bank.

affection at home and out and about....

2008-02-27T21:27:00.002-06:00

I had a conversation recently that honestly has me puzzled at the double standards shown by people. I was talking to a lady - straight, married, one jr high age daughter. Down the street is a lesbian with a daughter in the same grade. The complaint was that lesbian and her partner hug and kiss in front of the kid and they sleep in the same bed even though they are not married. Yet the person telling me this lived with her husband before they got married and I am willing to bet they hugged and kissed in front of the kid and most likely even other peoples kids.
So the same behavior in a same gender couple is inappropriate while it is perfectly acceptable in the opposite gender couple. And, mind you this is behavior taking place inside the home. I was stunned into not being able to comment at the time. I am a very affectionate person - my whole family is. Hugs and kisses are how we say "hi", "i missed you", "i love you", "good to see you", "take care", "good-night", "I'm happy for you", "I'm sad for you", "I wish I could help", and anything else we can think of. I don't censor myself about hugs and kisses like that. I am a lesbian but I don't give any thought to hugs and kisses with anyone I care about no matter what gender or sexual orientation. As long as the other person is comfortable with that level of affection then I'm good. There is nothing sexual about it.
I find it completely ridiculous that the whole issue was that the lesbians daughter would find it okay to kiss another girl... wow - if the daughter should turn out to be gay she won't have to go through all the self hatred and stress of trying to come to terms with discovering you are the worst kind of different a person can be. That would be a total shame wouldn't it?

Idiots & morons or just not thinking?

2008-02-21T18:12:00.002-06:00

Okay - I know now is the "me" generation. I know that we have lost all patience for anything. We fidget and fuss if our lunch takes 2 minutes to warm up in the microwave. I was probably in junior high when we got our first microwave - so having warm food cook that fast was just amazing. Before that I was too young to pay attention - how long did it take to make a "fast" dinner? half hour? hour? A lot longer than a "fast" dinner is now. I remember being amazed at pizza delivery... they would make pizza and drive it to our house? really? Now I don't even pick up the phone - I use the internet... order my pizza and before I know - it's here. Life is good.
So here I sit this evening and the weather forecast is call for "thunder freezing rain" tonight... after we got a sleety snowy mix today that makes it look like a giant slushie threw up outside... so if they are right, we are going to have a thunderstorm and the rain is going to freeze when it hits the ground. Beautiful. I live in St Louis, Mo for and for those that don't know it - we got hit with a major ice storm last year that was just insane. Well first in late summer we had a major wind storm... on the news they said it was the great tree pruning... there are about 6 different routes I can take to leave my house and get to a major road. Of the 6, 4 were blocked by trees down... not limbs - trees... 100 year old trees laying across the road - everywhere. I lost about a 90 year old elm to that storm although it didn't split until a couple weeks later. So then we get this major ice storm and my other elm of the same age lost probably a good 1/3 of it's limbs and somehow lived. Most of the city was without power for a week after both of those incidents. I'm not looking forward to "thunder freezing rain".
So what is my gripe? You know I have one... this isn't random... I decide to run to the store this afternoon before the ice... it is a St Louis tradition. We go buy bread, milk and eggs on the eve of winter weather. Well I bought bread, lunchmeat and alcohol but I don't have a family to feed so I'm allowed... I drive to the store which is just two long blocks away and the roads are passable but slush covered... and ice pellets are falling out of the sky. I find a parking space and walk to the store. I go to cross from the parking lot to the store and the people in cars are not even slowing down for the stop sign by the door so the people walking are stuck standing out in the weather waiting. This is a level parking lot - there is no reason for them to not stop - except that they don't want to wait an extra 15 seconds in their warm sheltered car so that the people wading through the slush, getting hit with ice pellets, can cross to cover and get out of the weather.
15 seconds... 30 tops... but it is too much to ask for most people. They don't notice or care that the person walking is getting rained, snowed, or sleeted on while they are warm and dry in their vehicle... they don't care that there is a big red stop sign and a pedestrian crossing...
So honestly - why have we become so self centered that we don't pause to consider that person out in the weather... that we can't slow down for 3 seconds to allow a stranger to merge safely on the highway... that we can't just take a moment to be considerate of another person and do for them what you would do for a beloved parent or grandparent. You don't even have to be actually nice and hold the door for someone... just be a little considerate.

Way too much working this weekend!

2008-02-17T17:59:00.002-06:00

Uggghhh - yes, this was major release weekend at work and very busy. I'll get some pretty decent OT hours from it so that is pretty cool... So what kind of fun is going on? My chihuahua is doing great recovering from knee surgery. It has been a little over a week and already she is getting around better than she was before the surgery.
Spring training has started - WooHoo! Baseball will soon be back and I can't wait. So what about the steroids thing? going to be interesting to see what happens next. I think Roger Clemens didn't do much to help himself with his testimony. Him and McNamme testified to total opposite versions was no big surprise. Clemens was not as convincing as McNamme was though and I think that hurt the Rocket in the court of public opinion.
At the same time - major kudos to Paul Lo Duca - I think his handling of it was just right. I'm sorry - I messed up - I wish I hadn't - lets move on. We don't need details, we don't need drama, we really just want our sports heros to do it the right way and discourage kids from juicing. That's all I want any how. We're all people and we all make mistakes. But part of life is being strong enough to admit that, take your lumps and move on. I don't know about anyone else but I am ready to start concentrating on what will happen in baseball this season - Go Cardinals!

check out this new ad type

2008-02-14T20:38:00.002-06:00

Is this like way cool or what? Mouseover to see what I mean....

spaghetti wrestling!

2008-02-13T22:47:00.002-06:00

Tonight I got out of the house for a couple hours for the first time since Mo had surgery. I went to Jacks iron horse to watch spaghetti wrestling. It was a blast as always and it was awesome to see everyone and hang out for a while. The ladies were hot and the wrestling even hotter. If you want to know what I'm talking about you really need to come out to jacks any wed night at 7 and experience the fun for yourself. Jacks is on St charles rock road just west of 70/270 interchange, on the left the next parking lot after car credit city. Used to be called Cadillac Jacks. Ever Wed night, they pul out the kiddie pool, dump 100 pounds of spaghetti noodles into it and two hotties in bikinis get in for 5 rounds of wrestling... A $10 tip allows you to be a coach which is what I like to do... the coach oils up the wrestler in between rounds and removes any stray noodles from where ever they might have migrated.... For a $5 tip, you can be a judge and have a front row seat for the match... after each round you vote for your winner... It is a blast and you can find me there almost every wed night.
So it was nice to get out of the house for a little while. It's been a busy week at work so I haven't had a whole lot of time to pay attention to the news. I know the steroids thing is going on but I haven't heard any updates on it. I'm curious if we'll ever know the truth. Noth much else in the news has caught my interest other than Microsoft making an offer for yahoo. I totally hope that doesn't happen and so far it looks like it won't. I'm a unix geek and never been a fan of microsoft. I wish I could say I'm on a mac writing this but I have a budget and a mac doesn't fit into it... So I am indeed on a windows machine - I actually like windows XP more than I've liked any of their other OS except maybe win 2000... I've used windows 2000 pro at work for well I guess about 8 years now... It works pretty good. I've had windows XP and win 2000 pro at home for several years and that works good for me as well. My old laptop with win 2000 on it just died so i went to tigerdirect.com to find a new one... found a thinkpad t43 with win xp on it for $500 and grabbed that right up. I've been using a t43 as my work laptop fo about a year and a half and I love it. So now I have another one for my personal laptop. Life is good!

internet money makers or bad jokes?

2008-02-11T22:17:00.000-06:00

I mean come on folks... some of this crapola is just exactly that... I saw an ad that said invest 25 cents and make $4000 a month... ummm yeah - I'm right on that. In fact let me bring you 10 rolls of quarters and lets see what that turns into... If I remember right a roll of quarters is $10 so each roll would be 160,000 a month so my 100 bucks should magically turn into 1.6 million a month... yeah - that is going to happen. And tomorrow morning I will wear my underwear outside my jeans and fly to work. Never mind if it is 10 degress outside.
I saw another ad that says "Widow finds something that works!!!!!!" What? A vibrator? For real - that is what popped into my head... who writes this stuff?
Here let me write my own - "Homeless man finds free warm bed and food. For just $69 you can learn his secret method for earning free room and board"... would you click and pay me the $69? What is his method? Simple do something very inappropriate in front of the worst possible audience.... that is the most I'm going to say - if you can't fill in the blanks with something that would get any human tossed in jail for the night then come back when you've had a little more life experience.
No kidding, right?

You remember back in the day when you would see the ads in the newspaper saying something along the lines of send us $10 and a SASE (self addressed stamped envelope for those of you too young to know about snail mail) and we'll show you how to make hundreds of dollars a day stuffing envelopes..... and if you were indeed silly enough to send them $10 you would have gotten some kind of note or photocopy depending on what year you fell for this, telling you to rent a po box and put the same ad in the paper and then send each person the same instructions to put an ad in the paper and send these instructions to the people that reply. That is indeed the scam.

Would I like to make money online? Of course! But not by scamming people out of their hard earned $$$$. I'm sorry - I believe that what comes around goes around... so I just can't do that stuff. Sadly there are way too many out there that can. When I do find the magic route to online income - I will share it and I won't charge a dime for it. I want other people to succeed and I want to build up lots of good karma... so until next time - remember - if it sounds to good to be true - hold your nose because there is something stinky nearby!

Peace out,
Carol

Chihuahua update!

2008-02-10T19:29:00.000-06:00

My Chihuahua that just has knee surgery is doing much better today. She is putting a little weight on the leg at a time and moving around much better. No I can just put her on the floor and she'll go do what she needs to do - much better than me trying to guess what she needs! Now I'm exhausted from the last couple days of keep an eagle on on every twitch she makes. Think I'm going to sleep good tonight! Thanks to all that sent well wishes for her - very much appreciated.

My chihuahua had surgery

2008-02-09T23:58:00.000-06:00

Yesterday, my one of my Chihuahua's, Baby Mo (usually just call her Mo or Mo-Dee-Doe or Molicious or Mo-dee or booger dog... you get the idea) had knee surgery. For real - she had a floating kneecap and it started hurting her. Well since she came home from the vet yesterday she has been on a pillow next me. She hasn't complained a bit. I tell her not to lick and she stops. She doesn't try to move around. I bring her food and water and carry her over to her potty pad. But the thing that is killing me is she doesn't let me know anything... I have no idea when she needs or wants something because she is so quiet. That is good and all but I hope I am doing okay by her and getting her what she needs or wants relatively promptly. I know she is in pain and I totally respect how well she has handled herself. But giving me a little clue when she has some kind of need would really help a lot too. At least I would feel more confident that I'm doing good by her... grrrr....