I've had a number of friends and family lose people they love the past couple years. Spouses, partners, children, parents, siblings, friends...people who make up the cornerstones of their lives. I know the holiday season can be incredibly difficult as it is but so much more so when someone so important to you is missing. I was thinking about this on the way to work this morning, and of all of you that I know who are going through this, and I just wanted you all to know that I'm thinking about you and sending you strength and (for those that want them) prayers. I know it's not much, but know you are not forgotten and that I am wishing you happy memories instead of the painful ones. And if you ever need to talk, I am here.

Peace be with you.

This is my loldog (cut for size).

( Read more... )
Note lack of stretch required for him to get his head onto the table.

Other new pics up
here
I tried to get him to stand by the couch so y'all could see him "to scale" but he looked sad and confused, since normally when I give "commands" it is to sit :)

He's my sweet glue-baby (as in glued to my leg, not as in turn-into-glue).

Movie Review Haiku: The Hebrew Hammer

Crossed Shaft and Esther
Made lots of money jokes
and fun of Yentl

Someone should tell the
Hebrew Hammer that Tattoos
are non-Halachic

Guilt is the biggest
Weapon in the Jewish
Arsenal...sounds right.

http://anyesellers.fotopic.net/c1717536.html

These are from last night. That is my hand in the picture of his paw, for scale. My hands aren't particularly small.

We started playing Eve again. No idea if it will stick or not.

For now just mission running in empire space, earning money, training skills.

My character has crap all over the place, it would take me a month to gather it all in one place.

Gulf Games was great, played lots of games, saw lots of friends, yay!

Favorite new-to-me games were Founding Fathers (great, though needing a few tweaks still), Battle for Hill 218 (sadly out of print), Masters of Venice (bits fiddly but fun), Campaign Manager 2008 (fast, easy-to-play, relatively innocuous thematically), Finca (lightweight set collection with a rondel), Automobile (economics & logistics but not too complex) and Royal Palace (meeple management, probably best with 2-3 because of downtime & a/p).

Snow Tails & Steam were also good (though I still prefer Age of Steam, those who don't like the auctions will likely prefer Steam), 2 de Mayo good with some reservations, Yetisburg didn't do it for me despite the amusing theme, and we abandoned Fruit Fair during the rules explanation. I got to play Die Macher again (thanks!) and played lots of Tichu.

The other purpose of this post though is picspam of my baby-dog. He has the most adorable face, it isn't all that "mastiff-y" yet though. He is a bundle of love.

( cut for discussion of dog stuff )

(cross-posted to fatshionista

I recently reconnected with a friend of mine from college and it turns out now she is a professor of psychology at the University of Hawai'i whose field of study is obesity, eating disorders and weight bias. She has a number of interesting research papers out but one I specifically wanted to share with you all is a comparison of weight bias to other forms of bias (in this instance, gay bias and Muslim bias). You can read the study for yourself but the crux of the findings were that in two studies of University student populations (one in the US, one in New Zealand) weight bias was significantly higher than the other two, even among people who are themselves overweight.

http://www2.hawaii.edu/~jlatner/downloads/pubs/IJO-2008.pdf

(Her other research on this and weight related topics can be found here: http://www2.hawaii.edu/~jlatner/research.html)

She chose gay bias and Muslim bias specifically because they are two biases that a significant portion of people think it is "ok" to express (albeit wrongly, and as opposed to racial bias which in this day and age most people know they should keep their mouths shut about if they still have it). I don't think it is surprising how prevalent weight bias is, not only because weight is not a classification for a protected class and it is a stereotype perpetuated by the media, and unfortunately it is not surprising either how even many fat people are biased against fat people (given how much self-hate there is out there with a basis in weight).

I asked her if she minded my reposting a link to her study and she indicated that she would be delighted if it could "help combat this pervasive and harmful stigma" - so I think you may feel free to repost anywhere you think it might be helpful.

It makes me happy that there is at least one professor out there educating college students about this topic. I think the more exposure the topic gets the better.

One of the LJ spotlights this week is selinker who I've played board games with at the Gathering. I don't know him *well*, and he probably has no idea who I am, but that's ok.

Cool.

I resisted the clothes. I am going to focus on saving money for as long as I can, barring that will at least wait until I drop a size to buy new clothes :) I should just put a picture of the dress I like the best on my desktop with a note that says "drop a size and you can buy it". Motivation! Don't tell the folks at fatshionista that I'm trying to lose weight though, such talk is Not Permitted. *grin*

Brownie's new dog food is rather pricey but I am happy with it so far. His poops seem appropriately sized, interval-ed, and formed. (TMI, I know.) I did a thorough analysis of the options and decided to put him on Innova Large Breed Puppy. Though mastiff "Conventional Wisdom" is to feed adult food, for the Innova brand the puppy is better formulated to control growth while keeping their nutrients up. The puppy food is lower in calorie but higher in vitamins C, E, and K. It doesn't contain glucosamine & chondrotoin, but that can be added as a supplement if need be. Those apparently work to repair cartilage -- which probably isn't already damaged in a young pup -- which is why the puppy formulas don't contain it yet. I will hold off for now. He isn't growing all that fast right now... just 4 pounds since we got him. He is such a great dog though. I love him to pieces.

Two of my coworkers were sick as dogs for about a week. I am really hoping I don't catch it. We have Gulf Games next week and I don't want anything interfering. I have felt a little off last couple days though, nothing horrible YET. STAY AWAY, PLAGUE!

eShakti is having an overstock dress sale. There are some really cute dresses on sale cheap (some as low as $25ish). I am trying to resist, but I really like the last dress I got there and I really only have a couple work dresses.

http://www.eshakti.com/clothsrpage.asp?catalog=Clothes&cate=overstock+dresses&pagecount=1&from=LB&pcat=overstock

We'll see how I feel about these later today.

The good - I adore Brownie the Giganto-pup. He is a sweetheart and very, very good. Knock on wood it has been about 3 or 4 days since his last accident.

The bad - I am soooo tired from early morning wakeups to take him out.

The ugly - What is it with banks? Are they all incompetent? I switched to USAA checking because BofA screwed up one too many bill-pays and now USAA royally cocked up one. They sent it to the wrong address. And I don't mean slightly wrong. I mean how do you get from 345 S. Peters St to 75 5th St SW #800???

I doublechecked and I had it correct in the payee info. They had the name of the payee and the city/state/zip right, but the totally wrong street address. WTF?

I am full of hate and spite.

Giganto-pup has arrived and he is absolutely adorable. He is VERY calm, quiet and lovable. He has pottied outside 3 times already and (as of yet) not in the house. He does indeed make giganto-poop so hopefully we can housebreak him with minimal accidents.

He slept very quietly in his soft kennel last night, and the only things he seems interested in chewing are his bed and the knotted chewie I got him. So, off to a very good start.

Pics can be found here:
http://anyesellers.fotopic.net/c1717536.html

Giganto-pup and Adorable-Nephew are arriving today. It shall be crazy, but good.

Giganto-pups make giganto-poops. I amuse myself sometimes.

ETA - We aren't naming him Spaja, we're saving that name for a future English Bulldog. So far, he is just Giganto-pup.

We have the opportunity to get a mastiff puppy free.

We have wanted a dog for awhile. Mastiffs have very good temperaments but are HUGE. I don't mind the huge so much except that we'd have to take two cars to go to the park as a family.

I *want* the dog but am hesitant because of the housebreaking, training, and socialization required. It's summer, so it's hot which affects training and socialization. Manda is here, so at least it would not be home all day alone and could be more easily housebroken now, but she has her hands full with the kids. Of course, the kids would love to play with a puppy I'm sure and it gives her another "treat" to incentivise (sp?) good behavior ("want to take Spaja to the park? stop fighting!")

We probably won't get another opportunity to get a healthy dog of known parentage free. I don't really care about the money, it is the other stuff that is of concern to me. I have done some research, I do think other than the size it is a good breed for us. They require a lot of early socialization though so that will mean lots of trips to the dog park and puppy class. I know how to obedience train, I've done it several times, I don't know if there is a class nearby that uses the same methodology though. I do desperately need to start getting some exercise and this would force it on me. But it's a responsibility and I don't take those on lightly.

Friends, feel free to give me additional pros and cons.

Hope vol. 2 is now officially my favorite song.

Have a nice day.

( city vs. country meme )

I wonder where the other 7% is.... geek, probably.

*sigh*

Babylon 5 (which we just finished) and Firefly.

Here's a yummy kugel recipe, requested by a friend from High School.

( Fruity-Cheesy Kugel: )

swiped from several people.
( FOOD!!!!! )

Zack and Miri make a porno

A great date movie
If you don't mind lots of boobs
and dangly bits too

Rule of thumb before
Any Kevin Smith movie
Empty bladder FIRST.

A few scenes were quite
gratuitously grody
but overall was sweet

More romantic than
you would guess from the title
but not a kids film.

and while you're list-ning
I didn't think that Jersey
Girl was all that bad.