Members' News

I love penny arcade.

Colic is the pain associated with organs that work using peristaltic waves, like the ureters and the bowels. Its characteristic is that it comes and goes.

Kidney stones are very painful and renal colic has been compared to childbirth. Your husband may need to change his diet in order to avoid a reprisal.

Grace : Thanks I have actually played the game a little on a demo thingy, but I'm impatient to go over and try it at a friend's house, he has just bought it... AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH !!

Hsing & Sacharissa : Thanks people Any suggestions as to diet changes Avgi ? We have already reduced the fattiness a lot since November (except on holiday, don't laugh Dutchcon attenders ) as I am supposed to be dieting... Ha ha. The docteurs mainly said that he should make sure he was drinking enough, but that's more or less it... he still has to have an ultrasound thingy done, that won't be until next week...

::hugs Kat and shares cranberry juice with Reg::

::retroactive hug to Hsing::

::fingers crossed for Fairyliquid's holiday reunion::

Had the following conversation with my boss a few days ago, during employee evaluation.

Boss: "Don't worry, this should be painless- I gave you mostly ones on the scale of one to five, with only a couple of twos, just so it won't look weird"

Me: "Um... one means good, right?"

Boss: "Oh yeah - one means VERY good! You deserve it!"

Me (reading the evaluation sheet) "Please rate your employees' performance on the scale of one to five, one being abysmal and five being excellent"

...

Me: "Um, you just wrote that I suck. At EVERYTHING"

Boss: "Oh boy!"

Does your boss have pointy black hair? ( clue )

Jeez, that sucks, mowgli. Administration generally. . . :?

Gotta love when bosses make themselves look silly...

*Hugs to everyone*

I'm about to leave for Adelaide so will be out of contact for a couple of weeks, if I get a chance to use the internet at the in-laws I'll stop in but otherwise I'll say seeya and hope you all have a super new year

Hugs for all who need them -- and those who don't but would like them.
I like giving hugs, what can I say?

In other news, I officially have my grades in for first semester. Looks like I have an A in Civilization and Lit, an A- in Writing from Lit, two B+'s -- one in Classical Mythology, the other in Power and Politics in America -- and a B- in World History.
A 3.4 Grade Point Average overall.

Which is pretty good. Not pleased with my History grade, but I should have studied harder I suppose.
Oh well, better luck next semester with my new classes. I'm looking forward to my new History class: History 231, England up to 1866. Fun stuff, and a class I should be able to ace without much trouble.

Now to enjoy my Christmas break with family and friends. My best friend is back from Kentucky and we've been eating burrito's and going to movies since she arrived.
Strangely enough, I'm looking forward to going back to campus. It's kind of grown on me... you know, the way mould does.

Way to go, Hex!

Come back soon, Spiky!

Buzz, does "situation resolving itself" mean "Evil manager decided to join a faraway back-to-nature cult and is not coming back, ever?"

BTW, my boss is actually quite awesome, he's just way overworked. (From what it seems, his main job is to shield the animation department from OTHER managers, who can be a bit unreasonable at times)

Just dropping by as am visiting with someone who has the infernal web.

Sympathy to those who lost loved ones,
congrats to those who achieved their accomplishments,
and commisserations to all those who've suffered trauma/annoyance/distress etc. since last I tread this board.

Sorry Buzz, forgive the spelling haven't got much time but will correct if I get the chance. Hopefully will be back where the mobile has better signal later next year.

Happy 'Hog-ma-neigh' to all.

Today, some good and some bad. I went to a job interview, which although the job isn't so good after all (only a 1 year contract, I'm in a permanent job at the moment, so not much point there) it feels good to be contacted by companies when I'm not even looking, they just pulled up my profile on Monster.

And on the bad side, my Mum just called to say that they had to have our cat put down. We sent him to live with my parents a couple of years ago because life on the 5th floor in a small flat is not good for a big cat... His abdomen had swollen up a lot, it was quite amazing and scary when we saw him at christmas. He had liver cancer, my Dad knew by then, but didn't want to spoil christmas so he played it down saying it was just some kind of infection that was filling his tummy with liquid and the vet would tell him more next time. Winnie will be buried with my beloved Tommy at the bottom of their garden, two great cats... it's really sad, as he was quite young still, but we couldn't have done anything and at least he had a few years of free countryside and feline company before he went...

awww ...

Here's to Winnie enjoying open spaces and cat-friends before he had to go.

Well hi to all. Hope everyone had a cool Christmas.

My mom has been staying with us for Christmas and new year. I have been a misery though so i hope she will forgive me! I have a chest infection (you will remember i had one in January, I seem to get them bianually for some reason) I think i have coughed a lung up and broken several ribs with my hacking. I must have added to the national snot mountain that is going around at this time of year too. (at least it started boxing day and i was ok for Christmas its self)

I can actually say this has been the best Christmas of my life. I spent it with the people i love the most and didn't have to work. What a bargain!

I have had to leave mom on her own to come and browse the board so i think i should get back to her. Dave is busy next to me on the other PC playing a game he got for Christmas. The cries of " i promise i wont be long" and "god have i really been gone 4 hours" are becoming a regular thing with that game!

Its so nice to see him happy.

Well i really miss you guys and my new years resolution is to try and come on a bit more often. I don't know how well that will go.

Kat, I'm so sorry to hear about your cat! Hsing, what are you looking for?

Its been a busy day,I procrastinated leaving my house yesterday and I even left the packing to come here for the weekend,so I had to do it in between attending the funeral of a dear friend of the family, and going to my aunt's home for a family gathering.

The funeral was the second this month for this family. Their mom was buried December 18th and today they buried their dad. She was 84 and had spent the last several years partially paralysed and aphasic from a stroke, he has been battling cancer for almost as long as she was disabled and was 82. There are seven children and dozens of grand kids and great- grand kids all of whom are convinced they had the best parents, grandparents, and greatgrandparents ever. Even after the stroke we would see them at most community events. they didn't let their troubles take everything away from them. Anyway it was one of those funerals that is rightly called a celebration of a life well lived, as sad as it is that the two of them have died, there is no denying that they are better off wherever they are now.

Then I dashed back home to toast some ramen noodles, almonds and sesame seeds and make the dressing for a Napa cabbage and green onion salad called "silage salad", that my aunt had requested I bring to the dinner at her house. I took the cabbages whole and chopped them up at her house because the fresher the cabbage the better I like it. I don't know how much of it was left over but they didn't send any home with me and almost everyone ate some. I stayed to watch them open their Christmas presents, they have two little girls so that was fun, and then I drove my other aunt to her house in the rain (it just seems wrong to be having rain here this time of year).

I almost decided to just stay home but then I thought of how the roads would be in the morning and how Connor is probably going to be going to his other grandpa's house tomorrow for his 2nd birthday, so I gutted it out and drove the 25 miles in the rain that I was expecting to turn to ice at any minute and got here safe and sound. I've had a blast watching him and my brother Sam playing, got to eat some of the big fish my neice caught, prepared "poor man's lobster" style ( poached in water with equal amounts of salt and sugar then dipped in butter) by my brother Rich and finding out what a tank engine is.

Tomorrow we are going to celebrate Connor's birthday and probably go to a local resort for their annual New Year's Eve potluck and bingo party. I'm going home Monday and my folks are going to Fargo, because 7:30 am Tuesday my dad is getting his battery replaced in his defibrillating pacemaker. They should have lasted 11 years but it has been only three years and they need replacing. I guess the defibrillating is hell on the batteries just like it is on Dad.

I just hope '007 is a better year then '006, for me and everbody.

Good luck to all who need it/would like it, and hugs ditto.

Hope everyone has a good New Year's celebration!

I'll raise my glass to you both you and your husband Hsing and wish you well for this year. :drinkers:
I'm fascinated by this lead pouring tradition, I have never heard of it before. Would love to see you post some pics of your 'translations of the shapes'.
Our college tradition (many years ago) was to put pretty coloured mushrooms into boiling water and then drink it. You saw some pretty weird sights with that as well :roll:

I'm going to be careful with the answer here...
I have a mother-in-law. There, enough said! :badgrin:

:badgrin:

I just got back from London yesterday, we were over to visit my aunt and uncle. It was fun.

I had heard of this tradition, there is a great programme on the franco-german channel here called Karambolage, which tells both countries about the customs, language, everyday life etc. of both sides, it's quite fun...

Here's a link that explains it and the shapes' meanings...

http://www.serve.com/shea/germusa/bleimean.htm

I'm at home, there is a skating rink in place of my driveway and the front walkway is the same. This is going to be an interesting winter.

Thanks for the link , Katcal. Now I need some lead...hmmm.
At this time of the morning there is only one place. The roof of the local supermarket. Great idea.

Too many uni assignments, too little time, and fear of what the future will bring once my soon-to-be-finished degree is actually finished...

Ah, the joys of life.

Yeah, but I'll still have the lead gnh, gnh, gnh! :evil:

Yeah.. but I'm not sure if I like the alternative!

I'm copying this from the welcome thread since it is more appropriate here

At the moment - stuck in a motorway services hotel near Bristol with a borrowed but immobile minibus ( to take back to Brussels those things that I wish to keep as my brother and I sorted out our late parents' house to clear it to complete the sale). The minibus which I have frequently borrowed with no problems chose this trip to develop demonic possession.

When I was trying to leave Brussels, it would not start, so the owner came along with jump leads and we got it started, and it worked, including starting normaly after the Eurotunnel, two stops for petrol and a coffee break. It then stalled at traffic lights leading on to a major roundabout entering Exeter and would not start again. A mechanic arranged by the polce got me started again, but I decided to play safe (as it was about half past ten at night) and booked into the Holiday Inn on the other side of the roundabout.

The following morning, since the mechanic was convinced that the problem was the battery, I chased up a replacement by phone, took a taxi to collect it, and then had to call the mechanic again to fit it because I thought at the time that I had no tools with me. By that time, I didn't want to start the rest of my journey, so I booked in for another night.

The following morning (Christmas Eve) it only started with great difficulty, and then was making strange "blowing" noises that it had never made before. At this point, my brother drove up from Liskeard in Cornwall to pick up me and my luggage.

Christmas and Boxing Day were great!

On Wednesday I went back to Exeter by train and got the minibus to the local Toyota garage. They diagnosed a faulty gasket on the inlet manifold, for which a replacement would take about ten days to arrive - Toyota is notorious for this sort of delay. In consultation by phone with the owner, it was decided that with all bolts on the manifold tightened up, I could keep on using it. It got me to Liskeard.

We spent three days sorting the house (it's not finished, but we have emptied the loft - which was definitely a two person job - one to lower stuff down and one to receive - one person would have had to be up and down the ladder all the time - even working together, the loft still took us two days).

Leaving to go home seemed to start OK - until I noticed a strange noise every time I steered left. A call to the owner reassured me that this was nothing to worry about.

Then I noticed that the engine temperature was rising - and from my previous use of the vehicle I knew it normally ran fairly cool. i stopped to let it cool down while I had something to eat, topped up the water in the radiator, and carried on. Within 20 kilometers it was overheating again so I stopped on the motorway hard shoulder to let it cool. At this point the police turned up - they had me freewheel down he slope I was on and as far up the next uphill bit momentum would take me, then let it cool down so I could add water. Then I drove the last quarter of a mile to the next service area and in that short distance, he temperature was nearly into the red.

At this point, Touring Secours and the AA come into the picture.(Touring Secours is the Belgian equivalent of the AA and they have reciprocal arrangements). The AA mechanic who (finally!) arrived identified the problem as a leaking water pump. At this point, the obvious answer, given the delay on Toyota spares, was to invoke the "Get-You-Home" clause in the Touring Secours cover. That's when we discovered that it was only valid if the owner was driving the vehicle!

The AA (in theory) arranged for a tow to a garage to try and solve the problem - however, this was Sunday - Monday was New Years Day - so nothing could be done till Tuesday. I waited all day Tuesday in my hotel room waiting for the promised call to arrange picku-up - when I lost patience and started phoning round again, I discovered that the record of the request for my tow had been lost! They have now promised me that someone will turn up at 8 am Wednesday to do the tow. In the meantime, I am paying out for hotel rooms, etc.

So that's where I am at the moment. Prior to all this, I had two shows in two weeks, an emergency techie stand-in, two weeks of a bad cold possibly mild flu and preparations for my UK trip. Not much time to spare on the Board!

Edited for spelling

Update January 3rd:

Having promised me a tow-truck at 8 am, what they sent me was an AA man in a normal van at 7:15 am - calling me away from my breakfast! Eventually we got this sorted out and a tow-truck arrived at about half past nine. It got me to a garage, who - by a miracle considering it is a Toyota - have managed to locate the required replacement part to be delivered to them tomorrow - once it is fitted I can pick up the minibus on Friday morning, and with luck will be home by Friday evening - only 5 days late!

You certainly had an eventful Christmas Pixel!

My internet connection at home is finally working. They sent me an e-mail with a link I had to visit to activate the account. Which I couldn't receive at home as I didn't have a connection :roll: . (Sorted it out at work)

My kitchen is installed and it looks nice (but will look nicer when I get the flooring and tiling done). It is great to finally have a hob and an oven again and somewhere to put all my kitchen stuff. Microwave cooking is so limiting.

Pixel : Ouch. Double Ouch. Triple Ouch, even.

I just got to 400 posts! Woohoo! #does a funky dance#

Pixel I feel for you, I once was stranded in Rawlins,WY for nine days waiting for my husband's truck to be fixed (the oil pump fell off inside the engine because it wasn't properly tightened, ended up costing over $9,000). The only thing we did besides watch TV was take a taxi up town to see a museum that had a pair of boots made of the hide of a hanged criminal, one of the toes had the guy's nose on it, it was one of the most gruesome things I've ever seen.

On a happier note my cousin's grandkids were found and returned! They were found near Malibu,CA at a campground. They are 7 and 5 and were taken by their dad on the 3rd of December and returned on Monday, January 1. He will probably be extradited to face felony charges of deprivation of parental rights in Becker county and a DWI charge in Hubbard county. The Internet helped the lady at the campground recognize them as missing children.

My Dad won't be let out of the hospital until Friday. He was on the ventilator all night and had other tubes stuck in various places and he felt just terrible,"the worst night of my life" he told my mom. Hopefully they got enough of the tubing out so he can get a decent nights sleep and start feeling like it was worth it to get the new pacemaker/defibrillator. Mom came home today to get clothes and some rest in her own bed, they first thought it would be a same day discharge but it is going to be a 4 day visit.

Good news about the children!

And I wish your dad a speedy recovery.

Thank you, Wonderllama

I have good news (well for me)

I AM NORMAL.

Oh my god, i can't get over it, its been hard work but ive finally got to the "normal" part on the diabetic graph.
Your sugar level is supposed to run at a constant 4-8 and mine is at 8.2 (just over normal but whos counting) The last time i went to the doctors for a check up (when i didn't live here) i was at 15 and didn't care less.
I am now at a lower risk of stroke, heartattack and blindness.

I'm so chuffed. I have worked really hard since moving here on making myself healthier and i was starting to get a bit disheartened, but i'm gonna join a weight loss group and see if i can reduce my risks even more after that good news.

I know it doesn't seem like alot to all the people with their awful problems and bad news (my heart goes out to you all, especially Tamyra, its awful when a loved one is so sick) but i wanted to put something good up on the board as i don't think there is enough happy stuff said.

Just as a last note, I wanted to say thanks to Dave for helping me and supporting me, no one has ever done that in such a way as to make a difference and i really appreciate that. Thanks honey.

Thank god they were found. That kind of thing just puts the heart sideways in you. . .

I'll reiterate hsing....
Pixel...wow, nice little adventure you had
Tamyra, glad to hear everyone is safe and sound

Missy, well done! you've prevented anything worse from happening because of your disbetes...thats certainly something.

Me...well with earthquakes in Taiwan* and holidays and familys and so forth I haven't been on line at all in the last few weeks.

My brother made it home for Christmas (after the fog cancelled heaps of flights to Heathrow, including his, and we thought he'd still be in the UK) ...although spend most of it in bed from jet lag , poor guy.



*Somehow a big earthquake in Taiwan broke off communications all over Asia-Pacific. We had a big article on the front page of our news paper abouit why this happened and how they were fixing it and what internet was down and so forth, then a paragraph at the end telling us 14 people had died. (but it's okay because the internet is fixed.)

Well between Christmas and New Year my brother was up with his girlfriend so we had some more noise in the house. I got a coffee machine for one of my presents but there seams to be a problem when I have finished using it and realises the steam (its really a cappuccino machine but I use it for coffee) it seams to nock off the power for some strange reason so my dad is going to check with the local election a friend of ours and he some times works with my dad.

I got some bad news today one of my friends in America who I went to stay with over the summer. She has ended up in hospital due to problems in school. I just hope she gets better soon.

My dads already back at work and my mum goes back next week and I get the house to myself again. Also I applied for a job in Manchester England and it looks like I may be getting an interview but the closing date is the begging of next week so I just have to wait. If I did get this job I would move in with my brother since he lives in Manchester and its good that we get on.

I think that’s all for now hugs all round
Peapod

Reg has just reported that I have received the books I ordered from England (Equal Rites and Wyrd Sisters), they have arrived in a parce labelled "Paperback USA" with a postal stamp that says "Auckland, NZ"...

LOL all those places and it came from little old Blighty! You will have to let me know what they are like as i haven't read those yet!

parce did of cource mean parcel

Yep, I do confirm that they were sent from New Zealand, with a return address in Illinois, USA, and I ordered them from England... The joys of internet shopping !

Also, as I was leaving my boss's office this afternoon, my mobile phone rang and it was someone from the company that called me for a job interview between christmas and new year. They want to see me again, I had said I wasn't interested as it wasn't for a permanent job, and I would be rather silly to drop a permanent one for a one year contract, but they are now offering a permanent contract, so I'll be going back for a further interview and negociation on Tuesday ! This was quite surreal, the call having started in my boss's office, I really should have stayed and chatted with them in there Instant payrise I think that's called

The place where I would be working is also just the other side of the road from my flat and even if we moved, it's only 5 minutes from the metro which would reduce my daily journey from an hour and a half to... 5 minutes. Hmm, it is tempting I must say !

WOW kat, congratulations. I hope you (and all of you out there waiting to hear of interview results) all get what you want.

*hugs* to TamyraMcG. I hope your dad pulls thru, hun. Please keep us updated.
Miss Wendy, Good Job!! Keep on trying to get yourself healthier and know you have a big ole support "group" right here if you need me.
Good Luck Katcal on the new job prospect. Man, I would love to be 5 minutes from work. I really despise my commute some days.
*hugs* to the Garners too since both of them are feeling a bit under the weather. I hope you guys recover soon.
To everyone I have missed, please accept my *hugs*, congratulations, or condolences as needed.

No real update from me, other than I'm beginning to feel HUGE. Sigh. 96 days til Little James is due to arrive. :lol: