I can dig that. I think I might take a break from reading blogs, too. It’s a beautiful spring day, and I should be grilling, walking my dogs and mowing my lawn.
Weekend went too fast. I was just exhausted at work today.
6.
Politically Lost
Something I’ve been meaning to articulate for awhile. But too embarrassed to do it unless I was anonymous. So, here goes.
Am I the only one that kinda has a thing for the extremely crazy GOP women. Harris, Pfotenahuer, Bachman, Perino etc. (Malkin and Coulter are way too skank)
It’s like a liberal’s guilty fantasy or something.
Someone please tell me I’m not to only one. Therapy on this would be way too expensive.
7.
Ash
Really eemom? I thought that dress was definitely not doing her any favors…
Also, I’m seeing Star Trek for the second time tonight. I hate myself for thinking it was good enough for a second (probably third) viewing.
Yeah, well I wasted too much time today reading FMyLife. Thanks, tbogg, that’s another one I owe you.
9.
SpotWeld
Star Trek, seconded.
10.
Dennis-SGMM
@eemom:
“Does he even know who the f— I am?”
Possible answers:
Someone who got lost on the way to the prom?
Part of a Balkan folk dancing troupe?
Or:
A really spoiled little girl with a titanic sense of entitlement?
Well here’s what’s been amusing me. I read twodifferent threads on Rapture Ready that went to the same insane place. Yes, Rapture Ready is supposed to look insane to non-believers but still.
So Obama made a self-depreciating joke at the journalism dinner, “My next 100 days will be so successful, I will complete them in 72 days. And on the 73rd day, I will rest.” OK, I shouldn’t be stunned that the RR crowd didn’t catch that it was self mockery. The bit that cracked me up is that they started obsessing over that 72.
Uh oh, I think you hit something here. Not only does he make a mockery of our LORD God of Israel, why else would he say 72 days and rest on the 73rd? Why not pick some other number? Because 72 is the number of virgins that jihadists are promised in paradise if they die in the name of Islam!
Hmmmm………the 72nd day of his second 100 days in office will be July 11th. Guess we’ll have to watch and see if he meant something ominous.
And my favorite:
This just Jumped out at me… he was basically making a joke about his muslim faith. THATS WHY THEY LAUGHED. He was illuding to obtaining the 72 virgins…. one per day and then he will rest on the 73rd.
Yes, that’s it. It wasn’t a joke making fun of Obama’s image. It was an obscure reference that everyone got instantly. I’m sure that’s what was happening.
That’s what’s so great about conspriacists. They always can find pointles meaning in the most trivial actions.
12.
Ash
@Dennis-SGMM: Don’t you just love how offended she was at the Cindy McCain joke? I mean, I would probably be spitting with rage if someone made a joke about MY mother being rich. BASTARDS!!!!!!11!1!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
13.
asiangrrlMN
@eemom: Princess McCain is right. I think the dress is pretty, but it doesn’t really suit her.
@Dennis-SGMM: Hahaha! I like your answer the best so far.
John, eh, it’s Monday. You’ve been working hard. You deserve some time off.
@Politically Lost: No, you are not the only one. I have seen many guys on this very blog articulate the same guilty pleasure. Feel better?
I am mourning the loss of winter. I’ll be in my corner sulking.
14.
Tonal Crow
Oh-oh, Jeff Sessions just stepped off the reservation : “I can vote for a gay nominee [to the Supreme Court]– we’ll just have to see.”
Limbaugh blast, and subsequent retraction, will follow in 4…3…2…1….
Me too! I need penguin temperatures back. Not that we had a lot of those in D.C. this year. :/
16.
Krista
@ Politically Lost: Well, at least you’ve ruled out Malkin and Coulter, so there’s hope for you yet.
Any diabetics out there? Turns out I’ve got gestational diabetes (fuck, fuckity-fuck-fuck!) and am now maneuvering my way through the Byzantine rules of food exchanges and carb counting. Is is as complicated and frustrating as it looks, or do dietitians just make it seem that way because they enjoy demoralizing pregnant women?
17.
John PM
Sorry to hear you are burnt out on blogging. On the plus side, I was able to get a lot of work done today. Of course, I am also burnt out on work. Thankfully, only 12 more days until the wife and I leave for Mexico for six days (looks like H1N1 has finally cleared up.
I’m just seriously sick of wingnuts. For 48 hours, memeorandum has been dominated by the butthurt whines from people mortified that a comedienne said something nasty about a shock jock.
Just a total bunch of losers.
Even James Joyner is losing his damned mind, linking to crap calling Biden an idiot because he told a joke about his dog being smarter than Obama’s.
Seriously, these people are hopeless. Lefties weren’t this out of control after 2000.
19.
Comrade Mary, Would-Be Minion Of Bad Horse
Aw, damn it, Krista. I can’t imagine how frustrating that is.
There are two lengthy discussions about GD here and here, heavy on both anecdotes and links to other information. I hope this helps!
20.
Mr. Stuck
Because 72 is the number of virgins that jihadists are promised in paradise if they die in the name of Islam!
You gotta admit, it’s a hell of a marketing ploy. The God of Israel only promises eternal paradise without the the bennies.
And that’s only if the Pearly Gatekeeper likes you for the right price.
Who could have predicted that the election victory would bring us round the clock Limbaugh analysis, Valley Girl Mehgan McCain, and endless loops of Dick Cheney predicting death for America.
I just wish they’d bring back the Man Show with my nightly fix of Girls on Trampolines. I do miss it so.
I will admit: Perino is a stone fox, and Bachman–if you could put a new person in her head like in “The Man With Two Brains”–has her good features too.
That being said: go rent a Scarlett Johansenn movie.
27.
asiangrrlMN
@Zzyzx: Oh, good grief. They know more about Islam than we supposed Muslim-lovers do. It’s like the guy (Peter something) who keeps a website that seems to be solely dedicated to all the disgusting acts them homosexuals do to each other–purportedly so he, as a strong Christian, can act all horrified or something. In fact, I have learned more from him about gay sex acts than I have anywhere else.
@dmv: We had a pretty decent winter, but it’s never long enough for me. Shut up, other Minnesotans. Eight months of autumn and winter is not NEARLY enough.
@Ash: The only thing that would make me feel better about how insanely rich my mother was would be for me to buy an island or something so I could go sit there and sulk.
I know some liberals think Meghan McCain is the reasonable voice of the GOP, but I never bought it. She’s just another privileged girl who thinks she’s earned everything she has.
How much will it matter if they object? Can they shoot them all down?
31.
asiangrrlMN
@John Cole: That’s because we were too fucking demoralized and cowering under the couches, whimpering, when Gore lost. In addition, it’s because MOST of our wingnuts tend to just wander in the field with their tinfoil hats, picking berries. They tend not to get on the teevee and the intertoobes to rail about their conspiracy theory.
Plus, like it or not, the rightwingnutters are just meaner. Plus, they are used to being in charge. Not like the leftnutters who are used to being losers.
eemom, oooh, I never thought of that. True. One thing I like about Meghan McCaine is how unapologetically she loves her body. I wish more women were like that–women of ALL shapes and sizes.
dmv, nicely done.
32.
eemom
actually, I suspect the slender, stylish Cindy must be cringing over Juniorette’s taste in clothing………that is why I like it.
33.
demkat620
@Krista: Aw, Krista, I am sorry to hear that. Yes it is complicated. The hardest part is carbs are in pretty much everything.
There are some good resources out there at the ADA
34.
demkat620
Bah the link didn’t work. Try diabetes.org, Krista.
I’m also tired of people picking on Meghan McCain’s appearance (and I’m not saying you were, eemom, so don’t misinterpret that statement). I don’t think she is fat at all, and in fact looks normal to me.
36.
DougL (frmrly: Conservatively Liberal)
I’ve been mostly reading and not responding lately because I am playing mechanic in my off-hours. I had a vibration in the front end of our Mustang and decided to replace the strut rod bushings since they were shot. Removing the strut rods, I discovered that the strut rod mounting bracket bushings were also wasted. I quickly discovered that the bushings for the mounting bracket were no longer in production and the design is such that nothing can be easily adapted.
High performance vehicles (models equipped with strut rods) normally have these brackets as a solid mount but Ford was looking to give this model a smoother ride so they isolated the strut rod mounts with the rubber bushings. I got some aluminum plate and cut a set of solid bushings from it. Fixes the problem and tightens up the suspension, which works for me.
Pulling the strut rod mounts exposed another problem; the front unibody ‘frame’ is spot welded to the body and the passenger side frame is pulling away from the body; about a quarter inch where it connects to the outboard firewall/floorpan areas. The exposed metal was rusting but it is surface rust, not rot. Fixing the frame separation necessitated pulling the torque boxes, two ‘boxes’ mounted just behind each front wheelwell that tie the floorpan, firewall, sidewall and frame together to improve structural integrity of the unibody.
While pulling the passenger torque box, I noticed a small stress crack at the top of the frame where it meets the firewall and turns down. The crack is closed but it passes through a ridge that Ford stamped into the frame to provide extra strength. The problem is that the area has a half-moon radius cut out of it and that introduced the stress riser that led to the crack. The drivers side doesn’t have this ‘feature’ and it is just fine. I will have to magnaflux the crack, find the end of the crack and drill it out to stop it, grind a V into the crack, weld it up and grind it flat, weld two pieces af steel above and below the the stamped ridge and tie it together with a large steel plate welded over the repair.
Bummer deal but I can fix it myself so that works for me. I am now welding up a set of floor/frame braces that will tie the frame and the body together, clamping them between steel plates that act to keep the parts together and stiffen the floorpan/frame junction. While the drivers side is fine, I still have to add the new brace to it because the stiffer passenger side will put more work on an unmodified drivers side frame. Lots of work but that is the price I pay for owning an old car.
Thank goodness for modern medicine, that is the only reason I am able to still do this work. I pay for it in pain but at least the pain meds are there to assist (and make things interesting at times).
@Krista:
I had toxic type 2 for about a year and a half. I didn’t eat starch or refined sugar. I felt hollow all of the time.
They say that it’s not a good idea for the sugar to go down fast. Causes heart problems.
I’m so sorry you’ve got this on top of everything else.
I kept the food simple. I didn’t think about it. I was too scared to cheat.
You’ll feel better when you get the food right.
I’ll be thinking of you.
Someone please tell me I’m not to only one. Therapy on this would be way too expensive.
Well so long as all you want to do is fuck ’em and not fall in love and then take them home to meet dear ol’ mom, I guess you’re okay.
40.
JL
@Politically Lost: Suck it up! Palin’s allure was the same as Debbie does Dallas. She could take off her glasses, let her hair down and become someone else. It’s a fantasy. Most likely she would let her hair down, take off her glasses and become Lorena Bobbitt.
@John Cole: Well, since the female body is solely for public consumption and scrutiny, what can she expect?
/snark.
As I said earlier, the fact that she’s comfortable in her body is one of the things I admire about her. I hope she can inspire young girls in that respect. We have too much body shame in this culture.
P.S. eemom wasn’t dissing McCain’s looks–she (I’m assuming eemom is a she–was admiring the dress.
Yes. But I’m a starburst-afflicted Palin-lover, so my tastes are a bit off to begin with.
46.
JL
@Krista: You can get through this. The diet is hard but fortunately, you will still be rewarded with a beautiful baby come August. Thirty years ago when my baby was born, I lived on a street that had twenty houses. Three of my neighbors were pregnant at the same time. (It was a long winter) One developed diabetes and she did fine. Do you know the sex of the baby yet and are you sharing?
47.
Brick Oven Bill
Regarding: Gay Judges
On my road trip, I stopped at a place called Taco Time. This was at 3 in the afternoon. There was one car in front of me and it took around 5 minutes for the employee to hand the food to the car. This made me angry as I have places to go.
Then I pulled up to the window. The attendant was an effeminate male, who I believe was gay. My service was slow too, and all I ordered was one taco. Hitler’s SA (Brownshirts) leadership were also gays. As were those Californians who were beating up those ladies from the church group.
I think we need to be very careful about putting a gay on the Supreme Court. The last thing we need on the Supreme Court is a Nazi. I should also note that we should not put Veterans on the Supreme Court. Timothy McVeigh was a Veteran.
I have a certain level of respect for Rohm however. When Hitler’s guy told Rhom to commit suicide, Rhom refused, and opened his shirt to bare his chest for his executioner to shoot. This shows character to me. The guy from Taco Time would not have the same character, in my judgment. He just seemed to be a little twit.
48.
Mr. Stuck
Your electric train has done gone around the bend Bobbolu/
…My road trip was completed in fewer indicated miles than ever before. I attribute this to one of three things:1. There is a problem with my odometer; or2. The wheels on my car have grown in diameter; or3. I made fewer wrong turns.
What? You didn’t consult Rush Limbaugh about this? If you had, he’d have revealed that (1) Your odometer is defective because it was made by a liberal union worker; (2) Even if it isn’t defective, your tires have grown in diameter due to “Al Gore’s hot air about global warming”; and (3) Even if (1) and (2) are total B.S., you made a whole journey’s-worth of wrong turns by not consulting him first.
51.
TenguPhule
Am I the only one that kinda has a thing for the extremely crazy GOP women. Harris, Pfotenahuer, Bachman, Perino etc. (Malkin and Coulter are way too skank)
Yes.
Obviously you’ve had too much to drink.
Or not enough.
52.
TenguPhule
I think we need to be very careful about putting a gay on the Supreme Court. The last thing we need on the Supreme Court is a Nazi. I should also note that we should not put Veterans on the Supreme Court. Timothy McVeigh was a Veteran.
BOB, bringing the stupid things to life.
53.
Politically Lost
Yes, I do feel better now.
Sometimes the crazy is good sex.
Speaking of crazy, something else that I was wanting to articulate.
I know that the Shiavo pushed many normal GOP buttons out of the party, and the Frost’s countertopgate was a last, last straw for more normal GOPs. However, the mustard thing for me was more than just the average crazy. What really drives me up the wall is the media feeding it. (It being the beast)
Would anyone hear the crazy if it fell in a GOP forest without the overly stupid media to relay it?
54.
TenguPhule
Because 72 is the number of virgins that jihadists are promised in paradise if they die in the name of Islam!
It’s also the number of hours Jesus was “dead” before rising again. Just sayin’, wingnuts.
So Jesus spent an hour with each virgin before boogying back.
Bastard.
55.
Litlebritdifrnt
John it’s easy to cheer yourself up, just go to the Youtube of POTUS at the WCD and listen to the Rahm joke “he has a hard time saying day after the word mother” cracks me up every single time. Best line of the whole night.
56.
TenguPhule
Would anyone hear the crazy if it fell in a GOP forest without the overly stupid media to relay it?
Yes, because crazy is an infinitely renewable resource.
57.
TenguPhule
Sometimes the crazy is good sex.
Except all of the GOP crazy is also obsessed with banning all kinds of sex that isn’t for procreation and involves as little pleasure as possible.
I am mourning the loss of winter. I’ll be in my corner sulking.
Oh, me too. It’s miserably hot and humid here. The teevee weather guys are saying the temperatures are like July. Horrid, horrid weather. I’m not a fan of hot weather at all. Especially not after last year’s adventure of having to go two weeks without electricity in September. Dire.
59.
dbrown
@Brick Oven Bill: What type of idiot are you? A person is a Nazi if they are gay!? If this is your idea of humor you have gone over the top and need to back peddle. Otherwise, you are a really sick person that needs to leave this sight and get real help.
Also, Brown shirts comprised no extra number of gay people than any other group of Germans, Americans or any large group of populations do. Sure, some top people in many groups are gay just like some top Repub-a-thugs are gay – big deal.
To have respect for the sick bastards that helped Nazism slaughter nearly 100 million people in WW II is a really stupid thing to say and really beyond any sense. You do need help and I realize you have a lot of deep issues.
60.
Tonal Crow
@dbrown: BOB is a perfect olog-hai specimen. Don’t take him seriously.
61.
Krista
@Krista: You can get through this. The diet is hard but fortunately, you will still be rewarded with a beautiful baby come August.
Not necessarily. The child could be funny-looking as all hell. Hey, it happens. I’ve already made plans to trade it in for a Shih-tzu, should that be the case.
Do you know the sex of the baby yet and are you sharing?
Nope, we’re leaving it a surprise. My sister thinks it’s a girl, my husband thinks it’s a boy. I’m trying not to think about it, because I don’t want to get too emotionally attached to one prediction or the other.
Thanks for the tips, everybody. It’s just all very frustrating and scary. I don’t mind having to change my diet, but I’m frightened that it may not be enough.
My supper tonight was perfectly spot-on to the dietitian’s recommendations: 4 oz. chicken, a small baked potato (w/ the skin), a big honking salad w/ reduced-calorie dressing, 1 cup of milk, and a small apple for dessert. My glucose level one hour afterwards was 18.1 mmol/l (325 mg/dl), so it was a definite “WTF?” moment.
It’s frustrating when you feel like you’re doing everything right, but it’s not making a dent. And I really don’t want to have to go on insulin — I feel like I should be able to control this via diet. Plus, I was a size 12/14 prior to getting pregnant, so there’s the worry that when people find out I have GD, they’ll be thinking, “Well, no fucking wonder, lardass!”
62.
asiangrrlMN
@Violet: I researched the coldest place on earth, and it’s a Canadian territory. They average -10 degrees, year round. I think it was Fahrenheit. I could do that.
63.
sus
Except all of the GOP crazy is also obsessed with banning all kinds of sex that isn’t for procreation and involves as little pleasure as possible.
Isn’t that the truth? Even self-gratification. I understand dildos are illegal in Texas. And, a few years ago, a Republican named Swafford tried to have them outlawed in Tennessee as well.
Krista, baked potatoes have one of the highest glycemic loads out there. Off the charts. A baked potato will raise your blood sugar much more than french fries because fries have the fat that slow down the absorption of the sugars. If you have a baked potato, you’re actually better loading it with butter and cheese to slow down how fast it hits your body. Try a baked sweet potato next time if you like sweet potatoes. They’re much, much lower on the GI scale. But things like brown rice are even better.
Depending on the apple, they can be high on the GI too. Add something like a piece of cheese or handful of nuts to your fruit to slow down absorption of sugars – protein and fat both help.
Try adding olive oil to your meal. Fats are great for slowing down how fast you absorb your meal and olive oil is good for you. If you have pasta (whole wheat is best), you can do a simple thing like toss it in olive oil and lemon juice. Add a bit of real parmesan and you’re good to go.
I recommend getting a copy of The South Beach Diet book. You can probably find one super cheap at a used book store. It’s extremely basic, but it goes over the whole glycemic index and has a basic chart with glycemic index of foods. Skip Phase One, which wouldn’t be safe for pregnancy, but look into Phases Two and Three, which allow more carbs (good carbs). There are recipes for all phases in the second half of the book, so it might give you some ideas. I don’t recommend actually doing the diet, especially since you’re pregnant, but it’s a really good basic overview of how the whole GI thing works.
Eating low on the GI scale is really dull, but you can spice it up with herbs, etc. The key for me is to be sure to have protein at breakfast and lunch. Dinner for me is less of an issue, but if I don’t have protein at breakfast and lunch it throws off my whole day.
Hope that helps!
68.
LD50
I will admit: Perino is a stone fox,
Disagree. I’ve never been a fan of that Ice Maiden look.
It’s hard to get past Bachmann’s crazy woman eyes.
69.
Krista
Dildo Police? Imagine the uniforms.
They don’t have a police force in Dildo, just a local RCMP detachment.
70.
sus
@Krista:
I know there are some great recipe blogs online that do the South Beach diet thing. Maybe you could find some good recipes there.
71.
Krista
Krista, baked potatoes have one of the highest glycemic loads out there. Off the charts.
I did have a tsp. of butter on it, because I remember reading somewhere that fat slows the absorption of carbs. I loooove sweet potatoes, though, so that’s good to know. One of my fave things is to make sweet potato wedges, toss ’em in olive oil and rosemary, and bake them. Sounds like I’ll be able to hang on to that little treat. :)
Those are some awesome tips, though, Violet. Thanks! It’ll be a bit of a pain in the arse, but it’s probably best for me to just get into the permanent habit of eating as though I’m diabetic, even if my GD does go away. It’ll probably make it easier to lose the baby weight, and will probably help prevent problems in the future (Dad’s type II, so I’ve got family history against me.)
72.
AnneLaurie
Oh-oh, Jeff Sessions just stepped off the reservation : “I can vote for a gay nominee [to the Supreme Court]– we’ll just have to see.”
Shorter Sessions: “I’d rather risk a kweer boy, even if that means the Real Men on the court have to change under their robes in the locker room, than take the chance that two Vagina-Americans on the same bench will cause the dreaded Wingnut Willy Vaporization Catastrophe!”
Yeah, it’s kind of good practice to eat low on the GI scale. I think most people benefit from it. And definitely it helps you lose that belly fat. Okay, not until you’ve actually had the baby. LOL. If you’ve got a family history, then yeah, it’s probably good to be aware of the principles.
That’s why I like the South Beach book. It goes over the principles in an easy to understand way. It’s fairly simplistic, and occasionally contradictory, but since it’s written by a doctor it does have some science behind it. And the chart on the GI of various foods has come in handy for me.
Oh, btw your reduced-fat salad dressing is probably loaded with sugar and salt. You’re actually probably better off eating something with full fat, but with a good fat – like olive oil – than you are eating the reduced-fat dressing. It’s okay to eat that occasionally, but as a general principle remember that all those reduced-fat things usually substitute other junk for the fat.
When dealing with the glycemic index, fat is not your enemy. That doesn’t mean you should go full Atkins and subsist on steak, bacon, butter and cheese. But it’s a good principle to keep in mind. Sugars and other refined carbs are not your friend.
A simple way to approach it is to “avoid white foods.” That means potatoes, sugar, rice, pasta, bread, etc. That’s a little harsh, and of course there are some that are better than others – brown rice is better than Wonder bread, for instance. But that’s a good rule of thumb to work from.
Let me know if I can help in any other way. Been navigating this annoying way of living and eating for awhile now.
My AIC test was 6.1 for the third time in a row (one every six months) during my doc visit last week. Apparently that’s pre-diabetic, so I got the ten dollar lecture on diet and exercise. I have basically a very healthy diet except eating way too much bread, rice and potatoes. My father is a type 2 and half brother a type 1 juvenile diabetic.
Carbs are the enemy, I think, and this time I’m going to be serious about limiting them. But I hate having someone tell me what to eat, or for that matter to do anything. Good luck and take care of yerself.
76.
anonevent
I figured out the script that Joe the Plumber is following: Can’t Buy Me Love. First, he makes a deal with the Republican Party to make him look cool. Now he’s dumped the Republicans in a bid to look even cooler. All we have to do now is wait until the GOP let’s out the truth about him.
The scary thing will be if he shows up on a doctor show 20 years from now.
77.
JL
@Krista: Herbs help. You could probably take a sweet potato, dice it and mix it with a small amount of olive oil and chopped fresh onions and herbs (I use rosemary) and bake it for 20 to 25 minutes at 400. Sweet potatoes are healthy carbs and are quite flavorful cooked this way. Your life doesn’t have to be bland.
All babies are beautiful. My thirty year old was the smallest in the nursery and he was 8lbs 6 oz and 22 inches long. He looked so skinny when he was born cause of his long legs. They weighed him immediately thinking he was about 5 lbs. He’s 6’4″ but filled out nicely.
I figured out the script that Joe the Plumber is following: Can’t Buy Me Love.
So, next, we can expect a wrap-up scene involving a distraught, defeated Joe at the wheel of a riding lawnmower? Yuck. :-(
79.
JL
@Krista: Gee, I should have refreshed first. Rosemary is great and I love the smell in the kitchen when sweet potatoes, rosemary and onions are cooking.
80.
demkat620
@Krista: It is not easy to get in your range. The hormones complicate things. Drink lots of water and try as hard as you can to follow the RD’s instructions.
My first born had the conehead to end all coneheads so you’ve got that to look forward to.
81.
Colette
BOB definitively reveals himself as a spoof. The Timothy McVeigh reference is a dead giveaway. Doug, is that you?
Haven’t seen a post here in a while about Erik Erickson and the Red State Trike Force. Surely they haven’t been acting sensible and reasonable lately?
Get on Teh Ball, Cole!!!!!!!!111111111
84.
Krista
But I hate having someone tell me what to eat, or for that matter to do anything
No kidding. And then I sometimes get a raging case of the “life ain’t fair”s, where I become bitter and resentful that other preggo women can eat ice cream, but I can’t.
At least the husband is being awesome about it, saying that he needs to eat better anyway, and that he’s going to eat all the same things I eat (in larger quantities, of course, as he has a very physical job), and won’t bring sweets and stuff into the house.
Besides, it could be worse. I could be ugly.
85.
asiangrrlMN
@Tonal Crow: Thanks, Tonal Crow, for that image. I will never be able to look at my dildo without worrying that O’Reilly is coming after me (pun sorta intended). Really. Thanks. No, I mean it. (mumbles under breath) jerk.
JenJen, if someone pays me $25,000, I’ll come up with a speech that would knock Tom Friedman out. Seriously. “It’s more inspiring to hear it in person.” Uh, no.
86.
Jay C
Dildo Police? Imagine the uniforms.
Or the holsters.
87.
DonkeyKong
Take a tender slice of blog, coat with olive oil and sea salt and grill it for 2 1/2 minutes each side. Pair it up with a riesling or viogier……..that my friend is heaven.
88.
Notorious P.A.T.
Agency pays $75,000 to hear a Friedman speech that’s posted online
So Jesus spent an hour with each virgin before boogying back.
Bastard.
LOL! Hey, he earned it.
90.
Krista
I will never be able to look at my dildo without worrying that O’Reilly is coming after me
That’s sad. You should never mentally associate your own dildo with Bill O’Reilly. Dildos in general, fine. But not one that is near and dear to you — that just kind of spoils the mood, I’d think.
That’s sad. You should never mentally associate your own dildo with Bill O’Reilly. Dildos in general, fine. But not one that is near and dear to you—that just kind of spoils the mood, I’d think.
Well, there’s something to be said for jumping to the end of the comments when you’re checking a particular thread for the first time.
Hang in there – my wife had GD with our last baby, and she was pretty freaked out for the first couple of days, but once you get adjusted to the new routine it’s not as overwhelming as it appears at first.
Also, second Violet on the South Beach diet book. It lays out some fairly complex metabolic concepts in a very readable way – I don’t think it’s a very sustainable diet in the long term, but the book does have a lot of useful, practical information for cutting your overall carb load.
The child could be funny-looking as all hell. Hey, it happens. I’ve already made plans to trade it in for a Shih-tzu, should that be the case.
ROLF Actually the hormones that surge through you when you give birth pretty much assure that you will not think your own baby is ugly.
I look back at pics and my twins looked like they had been kick boxing each other for space for 4 monthes and my older son was magenta from coming through the birth canal in one push. I thought they were all the most gorgeous babies I had ever seen. My daughter was actually a very pretty newborn – her brothers not so much, but you couldn’t have convinced me of that when they were born.
Good luck dealing with the diabetes, I was borderline with my twins, but luckily never went over the line.
Am I the only one that kinda has a thing for the extremely crazy GOP women?
No, although you should be ashamed of yourself and you should stop it immediately or you’ll go blind. Perino, I’m with you. Bachmann, maybe, in an “I did some crazy shit last night after I dropped that acid” kind of way.
But I’m blind to them all now that I have an FLILF. Sigh . . .
97.
steve s
18
May 11th, 2009 at 6:54 pm Reply to this comment
John Cole
I’m just seriously sick of wingnuts. For 48 hours, memeorandum has been dominated by the butthurt whines from people mortified that a comedienne said something nasty about a shock jock.
Just a total bunch of losers.
Even James Joyner is losing his damned mind, linking to crap calling Biden an idiot because he told a joke about his dog being smarter than Obama’s.
Seriously, these people are hopeless. Lefties weren’t this out of control after 2000.
I know what you mean. For about three years I followed the ‘Intelligent Design’ retards on a daily basis. I went to Uncommon Descent, Evolution News and Views, etc. Even after a while was moderator on a discussion board where we laughed at them. Every day I did lines of pure, uncut Tard. After 3 years I burned out hard. Couldn’t even go to the websites anymore. Quit following them, quit moderating the board, etc. It was fun while it lasted, but in the end, the burnout went pretty deep.
98.
asiangrrlMN
@Krista: 14 is the AVERAGE female size, at least in America. So, you could move down here to feel skinny. Then again, you have soci a l ized healthcare up there, so it’s a wash.
That’s sad. You should never mentally associate your own dildo with Bill O’Reilly. Dildos in general, fine. But not one that is near and dear to you—that just kind of spoils the mood, I’d think.
Tell me about it! I can see it now. I put on some Barry White, light some candles, snuggle up to Mr. D, and then, a picture of Bill O’Reilly and his falafel pops into my mind. Talk about a buzz-kill!
99.
YellowJournalism
ROLF Actually the hormones that surge through you when you give birth pretty much assure that you will not think your own baby is ugly.
Six months after my first son was born (Found out last week that this next one’s a boy, too!), I looked at his newborn pics and realized that the Most Beautiful Newborn in the World had actually for the most part looked like a little old man in duckie pj’s.
Krista, I’m about to go in for my blood test soon. Crossing my fingers that I dodge that bullet a second time around. Pretty much all types of diabetes run in my family, including gestational diabetes. Don’t get discouraged, though. Let your body adjust to the new diet. Everyone here is great, too, for all the wonderful suggestions.
Actually the hormones that surge through you when you give birth pretty much assure that you will not think your own baby is ugly.
He’s …. breathtaking.
It’s not just hormones, though – we had one who looked like one of the California Raisins at birth (he had fluid in his lungs and was this horrible purplish-blue color in pictures), but at the time both his mother and I thought he couldn’t have been any more perfect. And he did turn out to be quite a good-looking kid, if I do say so myself, but those early photos . . . yikes.
101.
asiangrrlMN
@JenJen: I have never seen Friedman in person, but I can tell by his Serious Picture at the NYT that he’s a pompous, bloviating bore.
I, on the other hand, am funny, sarcastic, can give a good speech, have an impressive bosom–and I’m willing to do it for a third the price.
Steeplejack, plus, Michelle Obama has the added bonus of not being bat-shit crazy!
102.
Fulcanelli
Am I the only one that kinda has a thing for the extremely crazy GOP women?
I’d bet a bushel of benjamins these aforementioned uber-conservative GOP females are utter freaks in luuurve department. They’ve got the right mix of religious repression and guilt concealing a diabolical lust for power, attitude to burn and a sub-par IQ wrapped up with a total lack of self-awareness. A lot of ’em seem to be kind of busty too, what’s up with that? Great if you like your pet rabbit boiled or if you enjoy being stalked because you never called ’em again after the one nighter…
103.
TenguPhule
Besides, it could be worse. I could be ugly.Palin.
Fixed it for you, Krista.
There are far worse things then being ugly.
104.
Mr. Stuck
Am I the only one that kinda has a thing for the extremely crazy GOP women?
I hear ya man. All these poh pohers don’t know what their talking about. Bachmann is best of the lot, especially I bet 20 years ago. Something about black hair, blue eyes, and a black heart that is stirring. Maybe like the little male Preying Mantis who does his thing, knowing he could become his mates dinner if things go bad.
Then there’s Sarah Barracuda. the woman beside her ain’t half bad netter.
105.
TenguPhule
A lot of ‘em seem to be kind of busty too, what’s up with that?
Nutrients need to go somewhere. Obviously not going to the brain
106.
tripletee (formerly tBone)
Besides, it could be worse. I could be ugly.Palin Bill O’Reilly’s dildo.
Fixed again.
107.
Gus
I am mourning the loss of winter. I’ll be in my corner sulking.
grrl, you must be insane. Minnesota winters are endless and miserable.
@Steeplejack: Oooh, you do know how to court a lady, don’t you? Too bad the POTUS would kick your ass if you put a move on Michelle.
@Gus: I am insane. That said, I love Minnesota autumns and winters. I love three-foot blizzards and sub-zero temps. I love it when my eyelids go numb and my snot freezes. It makes me feel alive.
110.
Fulcanelli
Damn. After some of the lusty comments by a few of the ladies here this evening, I’m thinking this is the openest thread I’ve ever seen on BJ and then tripletee has to go talking about Bill O’Reilly having a dildo. Supreme buzzkill. Let’s hope BOB doesn’t toss his cookies ‘er… hat into the ring.
111.
Gus
@asiangrrlMN: I love all that about winter, too, until about mid-January. Then, when I’m ready for winter to be over, it goes on and on and on. I find if I don’t go somewhere reasonably warm in late February or so, I’m surly and drink too much.
I’m thinking this is the openest thread I’ve ever seen on BJ and then tripletee has to go talking about Bill O’Reilly having a dildo.
To be fair, I wasn’t the first to broach the subject of Bill O vis-a-vis dildos. I was just the first to suggest that he has one of his own. Man cannot live on falafel alone, after all.
Is there anywhere else on the Internets where an open thread can encompass gestational diabetes, Bill O’Reilly, dildos, and crazy-GOP-hag fetishism?
Too bad the POTUS would kick your ass if you put a move on Michelle.
Hey, no, I’m not like that. I’ve got Barry’s back. I’m just here for Michelle in case she needs to talk. You know. Just talk.
114.
asiangrrlMN
@Fulcanelli: You should have seen the other thread that I instigated. Lots of hawt talk, and nary a mention of O’Reilly. I think you would have appreciated it.
@Gus: I wish winter lasted all year long. There. I said it. I’m not taking it back.
115.
Fulcanelli
I love winter too. Right up until December 26th. Then I want balmy 80 degree, ride around with the windows open summer nights for the other 10 months of the year. I don’t know how you snowbirds stand it. Shoveling snow, cars stuck. Meh. Me and the wife want a retirement shack in the Carribean heat. Fuck the cold. Too expensive.
116.
asiangrrlMN
@Steeplejack: Uh huh. I know your type. You’re the friend, the one a woman can lean on, and then, BAM! You’re in like Flynn. The YouTube video to which you linked is exactly right.
@Fulcanelli: I hate the heat. I become even bitchier in the spring/summer. I count the days until autumn rolls around again. It’s in my blood.
I could tell that the heating of the earth is now accelerating, in accordance with Global Warming theory, as I drove through a snow storm yesterday. Wait, do you mean that the data actually shows that the earth is cooling? OK, let’s call it ‘Climate Change’.
BOB – do we really have to have the discussion about the difference between “climate” and “weather”. More snow storms and colder “weather” is not inconsistent with the global “climate” warming – in fact, it’s exactly what you would expect!
Then I pulled up to the window. The attendant was an effeminate male, who I believe was gay. My service was slow too, and all I ordered was one taco. Hitler’s SA (Brownshirts) leadership were also gays. As were those Californians who were beating up those ladies from the church group. I think we need to be very careful about putting a gay on the Supreme Court. The last thing we need on the Supreme Court is a Nazi. I should also note that we should not put Veterans on the Supreme Court. Timothy McVeigh was a Veteran.
I know that you are effectively spoof a lot of the time, but fuck you. Really. Fuck. You.
Is there anywhere else on the Internets where an open thread can encompass gestational diabetes, Bill O’Reilly, dildos, and crazy-GOP-hag fetishism?
Excellent point, and true! And twisted!
And a penny for the thoughts of our host, who seems to be keeping a low profile amidst all this chatter about sexual devices, hawt GOP females and right wing felafel fetishists… maybe he’s rethinking his defection to the dark (blue) side.
They are sexual demonstration devices. This Molly Ivins video is a crackup.
120.
JL
@Brick Oven Bill: Even if you are a spoof, this post indicates that you need help. To compare gays and Nazi’s is repulsive.
121.
Left Coast Tom
That said, I love Minnesota autumns and winters. I love three-foot blizzards and sub-zero temps. I love it when my eyelids go numb and my snot freezes. It makes me feel alive.
I can do without sub-zero…but six-foot overnight dumps in the Sierra are wonderful. Despite the work required to dig my car out in order to enjoy the snow.
Also, too. I happen to like spring corn skiing. Even better in April and May when, often, I can ski in shorts and t-shirt.
I’m OK with the changing of the seasons, as long as six-foot powder dumps are one of those seasons.
I love it when my eyelids go numb and my snot freezes.
I’m having second thoughts about our fake-marriage.
123.
wasabi gasp
Dana Perino is as alluring as cardboard, not a sexy fiber in her body.
Katherine Harris, on the other hand, is an adorable retarded kitten, a delicious milfy nutbar, a voluptuous nightmare.
124.
Fulcanelli
@Tatuagem do Sydney: Probably the only way a lot of those pig-headed, right-wing knuckleheads can get any lovin’ from the missus. Eliminate the competition. Let’s all do the Lone Star Lysistrata, ladies. It’s a two-step… (With apologies to any sane Texans present.)
125.
DWieboldt1959
@assiangrrlMN
I’m with you! I want winter all year long!
It looks like I’m moving from Portland Maine to Phoenix Arizona. Oh my Dog, I’ve been sentenced to Hell instead of heaven…
I guess that every cent I save in heating bills, will be spent on the Air Conditioner.
DougL, I want to give you props on this post for two things:
(1) subject mastery and (2) self-revelation.
I love it when someone just lets fly on a subject that they know well and, more important, care about deeply. I’m not a big car guy. I was with you right up to about this point: “I had a vibration in the front end of our Mustang”–my father had a baby blue ’66 when I was a kid and (I see in retrospect) he let me drive it way more than I deserved to–“and decided to replace the strut rod bushings since they were shot.”
Okay, I got nothing after that, but I still admire anyone who knows their subject and loves to talk about it in a “real” way–no ego, no “I’m cool because I know this and you don’t,” no bullshit.
And–self-revelation–is willing to open themself up and be seen by the world for who they really are. So often we hide our interests, our passions, our real selves, because we think that others will judge us or won’t accept us.
That’s one of the reasons I gravitated to this blog. I came last fall for the political commentary, and I stayed for the sense of eccentric community that animates the place. Humor. Recipes. Pet pics. Music-video throwdowns. Social commentary. John Cole as curmudgeonly fussbudget. DougJ and the on-line Washington Post things. (I laugh on an almost daily basis when I think about him lying in wait for them with trick questions.) Tunch! Even Brick Oven Bill, although, BOB, you have been sliding toward the dark side lately. Tighten up, bro’.
But most of all I like the voices of the other readers that I hear here. I feel like I know you people–some more than others–and I like the feeling I get here.
So, right on, dude. Let your automotive freak flag fly. Don’t ever think that you’re writing into the void.
God, I think I’m crying on my velvet smoking jacket. I need another Courvoisier.
@Tatuagem do Sydney: Hey, fake-hubby. I always wipe my nose before entering the house. Does that help? Besides, what other wife would allow you to have a real hubby to boot?
And, don’t pay attention to B.O.B. He’s truly a fucker for posting that shit.
@Fulcanelli: If I were Texan lady, I would use a cucumber to spite my hubby. If I had a real hubby. Which I don’t.
You straight guys really do have odd taste in women. Personally, I don’t find any of the nutters attractive–male or female. As I have said before, I’m the crazy one in my relationships!
My fake-hubby has better taste in women than do you straight guys. Hmmmmmm.
Steeplejack, right on, bro. Right on. I second this post. I love that we can talk about a wide variety of things on this blog. I, too, like it when people wax passionately, even if I don’t have the same passions.
You straight guys really do have odd taste in women. Personally, I don’t find any of the nutters attractive—male or female. As I have said before, I’m the crazy one in my relationships!
Well, there you go. When you are the crazy, you’re not looking for the crazy. You’re looking for prey, I assume.
129.
wasabi gasp
@asiangrrlMN: Passion Wax is the other name John was mulling for this blog.
130.
TenguPhule
You straight guys really do have odd taste in women.
Hey, don’t tar us all with the same brush.
I think the GOP lineup to a woman is skankville.
Also, did you get your Mort on yet?
131.
asiangrrlMN
@Steeplejack: You stumbled onto my secret! Except, I’m not a nutter. I won’t boil your bunny if you don’t call me the next day. I won’t give you the silent treatment if you forget my birthday (I don’t bother with it). I like sports, and I hate the mall.
This is starting to sound like a personal ad!
As for looking for prey, hey, I can’t help it if I am insatiable.
@wasabi gasp: wasabi gasp, I gotta say, you crack me the fuck up. Passion Wax. Snort. Hi-larious.
I got Mort today. I started it. I gotta say . . . I’m not enthralled yet.
I started Guards! Guards! over the weekend. I’m warming up to it, but at first it was a little cloying, like a Monty Python sketch turned up to 11. But I’m willing to go the distance, and it is getting better.
134.
TenguPhule
I got Mort today. I started it. I gotta say…I’m not enthralled yet.
You may need to try the audio books then.
Hearing DEATH talking in his DEATH VOICE rather then ALL CAPS is like discovering fried clams after steamed ones.
Or it might just be you need to relate to a different character.
Try Witches Abroad next (A fairy tale gone horribly horribly wrong) if Mort doesn’t hook you on first go.
135.
TenguPhule
I started Guards! Guards! over the weekend. I’m warming up to it, but at first it was a little cloying, like a Monty Python sketch turned up to 11. But I’m willing to go the distance, and it is getting better.
It’s worth it, trust me. When you read Men at Arms, you’ll appreciate the background you picked up from Guards, Guards.
136.
asiangrrlMN
@Steeplejack: Yeah, I agree it’s sketch-like which is not my thing.
@TenguPhule: Oh, I’ll stick it out. I like Death. I just don’t much care for Mort’s father thus far. I really am at the very beginning, so I can’t comment too much on it.
Hey, fake-hubby. I always wipe my nose before entering the house.
Oh, ok… wait, if it’s frozen in there, don’t you have to lever it out?
Besides, what other wife would allow you to have a real hubby to boot?
v. true. I suppose I can forgive your strange frozen mucus fetish.
And, don’t pay attention to B.O.B. He’s truly a fucker for posting that shit.
I love me some BOB, so I suppose I have to take the batshit crazy homophobe in order to get the odd anecdotes about lunch trays and Franken. That said, fuck you BOB you fucking arse.
I got Mort today. I started it. I gotta say . . . I’m not enthralled yet.
I started Guards! Guards! over the weekend. I’m warming up to it, but at first it was a little cloying, like a Monty Python sketch turned up to 11.
I love both of those books, but I understand where you are coming from. Unfortunately, you have to read “Mort” to understand all of the background to “Reaper Man” and “Hogfather” (which are both wonderful), and you have to read “Guards, Guards” to really get “Nightwatch”, “Monstrous Regiment” and “Thud” (which are IMO his most subtle and interesting books).
“Nightwatch” is truly great writing – compelling, dark, finely drawn.
139.
asiangrrlMN
@Tatuagem do Sydney: Um, you were supposed to overlook the fact that frozen snot doesn’t wipe off easily. I have big boobs. Does that help? Of course not.
So you have strange taste in men (your love of B.O.B.). What is it with the guys on this site and your weird-ass taste in the gender/s of your choice?
In other words, I have to read all of Pratchett’s work to appreciate the arcs. Duly noted.
140.
TenguPhule
I just don’t much care for Mort’s father thus far.
Oh him, don’t worry.
Just get to chapter 2 or 3 and you should be fine.
141.
asiangrrlMN
@TenguPhule: Cool. I am committed to reading the book because so many people on this board like Pratchett.
In other words, I have to read all of Pratchett’s work to appreciate the arcs. Duly noted.
Yep. Sorry – some of us have been doing it for 20 years or more …. You’ve got some catching up to do.
144.
TenguPhule
and you have to read “Guards, Guards” to really get “Nightwatch”, “Monstrous Regiment” and “Thud” (which are IMO his most subtle and interesting books).
Actually you don’t for Monstrous Regiment. That one only has the Watch as minor bit players.
Also, I’d say Going Postal and Making Money are his cream de la creme for interesting. Of course, I just love how many things the “hero” gets away with through the power of audacity.
Thud and Nightwatch do have Vimes at his best (or worst, depending on which end of the crossbow you’re on) but I’m more partial to Men at Arms, Feet of Clay and the Fifth Elephant for the overall growth of Vimes and the Watch.
By Nightwatch, most of the growing pains are over and by Thud the watch is pretty much a power to be reckoned with in Ankmorepork.
145.
TenguPhule
In other words, I have to read all of Pratchett’s work to appreciate the arcs. Duly noted.
Not really. But it helps to catch all of the in-jokes and references to other characters from other novels.
Besides, once we have you truly hooked you’ll want to read them all anyway. :P
146.
tripletee (formerly tBone)
I think the GOP lineup to a woman is skankville.
I’m with TengPhule. Coulter, Malkin, Palin, Ingram et al have the collective sex appeal of a car accident. One that releases vast clouds of airborne syphilis and rabies instead of pools of oil and antifreeze.
147.
demimondian
@asiangrrlMN: For what it’s worth — that’d be “not much” if you’re playing the home game — I don’t care for Pratchett’s work.
Actually you don’t for Monstrous Regiment. That one only has the Watch as minor bit players.
This is true, although some of the nuance might be missed in the sections where Vimes and his men and Otto show up…
Monstrous Regiment is a very good one for reading as a stand alone starter book – a demonstration that a truly “feminist” book can be both written by a man, and very funny.
150.
tripletee (formerly tBone)
I don’t care for Pratchett’s work.
I bet you get off on 10-pundit pileups, you sick bastard.
Pratchett was one of the author’s I didn’t get into; I probably went off to read some godawful Anne McCaffrey potboiler. OK, enjoyable, not godawful, but potboilers nonetheless. Although I hated Moreta at the time I read it, it’s probably her best Dragon book.
Other authors who can turn a series of books into a cruel and pointless brutalization of your time: L. E. Modesitt, Jr., Orson Scott Card, Piers Anthony (although each of them has very good books; if you can find I see they reprinted Anthony’s Macroscope, it is an interesting book).
CJ Cherryh was tempted to sin by her Explorer series, but otherwise is really good a leaving you wanting more than you get.
I saw Sherwood Smith commenting the other day. If it is (and even if it isn’t) the same author who co-wrote the Exordium series, it is actually a highly entertaining use of time. Very complex, emotionally fraught, large body-count. Good series.
I really like Steven Brust, I just don’t know if he is going to make to 18 Vlad books.
Dan Simmons’s Hyperion series is also really, really good. Complex, engrossing, and very creative.
@Tatuagem do Sydney: Well, good lord, you don’t have to be gay to have a weakness for gay men!
156.
asiangrrlMN
@AhabTRuler: Yeah, we’ll see how it goes. My ex turned me onto Steven Brust, but I thought he should have ended it after…I can’t remember the name…got it, Issola. He should have just ended there.
Ahem. i would like to make an announcement: I really am a female. I was falsely accused on another thread of not being a woman. I know there is no way I can prove it, but I am.
@AhabTRuler: I am a sad example of that. My first crush in college was gay. We were really good friends. People would say, “You guys make a cute couple,” to which I’d have to say to myself, “I’m the wrong gender.”
Well, good lord, you don’t have to be gay to have a weakness for gay men!
True – although the end result of such weakness is often different…
160.
asiangrrlMN
@Tatuagem do Sydney: Yes. I went home with blue ovaries from my play-dates with my gay male friend. All he wanted was to be someone’s wife some day. Lord, was he pretty.
AhabTRuler, and I bet it was so hard for you to turn down the lads, wasn’t it?
True – although the end result of such weakness is often different…
Well, it’s not like the boys, sweet lads that they are, didn’t try to convert me, but I just had to be firm persistent in saying that I wasn’t ashamed of being straight!
Fado is the traditional music style of Portugal… it tends to be described as having saudade (which is supposedly untranslatable, but close in meaning to nostalgia felt while missing someone.
(I’m a little obsessed with Portugal – my retirement plans all involve living in Lisbon (cheap, ancient, lovely people, genetically short and handsome men, and an hour and a half by plane from Amsterdam).
The foremost proponent of Fado is a stunningly beautiful, tall, half Portuguese, half Mozambican woman called Mariza…
here she is giving a concert in Lisbon in front of the Torre de Belem
166.
asiangrrlMN
@Tatuagem do Sydney: Wow. She has a fabulous smile. I didn’t think much of her, and then, wham. What a gorgeous voice, too.
I think I heard about Fado on NPR this weekend. Odd coincidence.
At first I didn’t understand what FLILF was but now that I know, all I can say is that the First Lady has so much class that I can’t make any jokes about her. She’s just great. Especially in purple. She kills me in purple.
Re: Perino, in the dustup in Baghdad where Dubya got the shoe tossed at him, she got roughed up and was given a black eye. I was uncomfortable at acknowledging she looked even cuter with the black eye.
Bachmann doesn’t do anything for me but some of the shots of her in yellow at the RNC convention were nice. Otherwise, y’all can have her.
I had trouble getting into Mort, but it was the first Pratchett I picked up. I should get back to it one day. I’m still working on Pyramids. I was a third of the way into the book before I got the Doctor Who reference.
I’ve been listening to the Milladoiro CDs I bought from Amazon (through the BJ link, natch!) Galician music from northern Spain, a Celtic and Iberian mix. Here‘s a track with the gaita, the Spanish bagpipe.
I was a third of the way into the book before I got the Doctor Who reference.
Bloody hell. What does it say about me that I have read that book four times and NEVER made that connection?
Don’t answer that.
174.
asiangrrlMN
@OriGuy: Very nice music. I’m liking the music tonight.
@Tatuagem do Sydney: Aw, I felt so bad for the capybara. Sniff sniff. Just like I would feel if any of our find friends here at BJ were to be devoured by Bachmann.
TS, that you are as thick as a post? I don’t like Dr. Who, either, so i won’t catch any such references. I did like one doctor. I can’t remember his name, though.
Other authors who can turn a series of books into a cruel and pointless brutalization of your time: L.E. Modesitt Jr., Orson Scott Card, Piers Anthony [. . .].
Agree with you about Card and Anthony. In fact, one of my fears about Pratchett going in–not completely allayed after 110 pages–was that he was sort of in the Piers Anthony zone. Kitschy, maybe, and “It’s all for a laugh, luv.” As for Card, I liked the first Ender books, but then they all but had “franchise series” stamped on them. Ugh.
I just finished Simmons’s Hyperion series a month or two ago. It was pretty good, but there was some heavy sledding at times. One of the books–the second one?–just seemed to drag and drag, and I kept thinking, “Get on with it!” And I thought Endymion (the character–Raul?) was too much of a lunkhead in the last book. But, hey, Simmons held me for the entire run, so I can’t complain too much.
Lately I have been reading some of Iain M. Banks’s Culture novels. Blanking on exact names right now. They’re pretty good.
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Gus
I can dig that. I think I might take a break from reading blogs, too. It’s a beautiful spring day, and I should be grilling, walking my dogs and mowing my lawn.
De Toten Rabbit
We can tell, dude. Go see Star Trek.
Agi
Blawg!!!
eemom
how bout some comedy relief? I thought this little blurb about Princess McCain at the Saturday pressfest was hilarious.
http://www.nydailynews.com/gossip/2009/05/11/2009-05-11_meghan_mccain_a_real_pain_at_dc_dinner.html
And I just luuuuv that dress.
demkat620
Weekend went too fast. I was just exhausted at work today.
Politically Lost
Something I’ve been meaning to articulate for awhile. But too embarrassed to do it unless I was anonymous. So, here goes.
Am I the only one that kinda has a thing for the extremely crazy GOP women. Harris, Pfotenahuer, Bachman, Perino etc. (Malkin and Coulter are way too skank)
It’s like a liberal’s guilty fantasy or something.
Someone please tell me I’m not to only one. Therapy on this would be way too expensive.
Ash
Really eemom? I thought that dress was definitely not doing her any favors…
Also, I’m seeing Star Trek for the second time tonight. I hate myself for thinking it was good enough for a second (probably third) viewing.
AhabTRuler
Yeah, well I wasted too much time today reading FMyLife. Thanks, tbogg, that’s another one I owe you.
SpotWeld
Star Trek, seconded.
Dennis-SGMM
@eemom:
“Does he even know who the f— I am?”
Possible answers:
Someone who got lost on the way to the prom?
Part of a Balkan folk dancing troupe?
Or:
A really spoiled little girl with a titanic sense of entitlement?
Zzyzx
Well here’s what’s been amusing me. I read two different threads on Rapture Ready that went to the same insane place. Yes, Rapture Ready is supposed to look insane to non-believers but still.
So Obama made a self-depreciating joke at the journalism dinner, “My next 100 days will be so successful, I will complete them in 72 days. And on the 73rd day, I will rest.” OK, I shouldn’t be stunned that the RR crowd didn’t catch that it was self mockery. The bit that cracked me up is that they started obsessing over that 72.
And my favorite:
Yes, that’s it. It wasn’t a joke making fun of Obama’s image. It was an obscure reference that everyone got instantly. I’m sure that’s what was happening.
That’s what’s so great about conspriacists. They always can find pointles meaning in the most trivial actions.
Ash
@Dennis-SGMM: Don’t you just love how offended she was at the Cindy McCain joke? I mean, I would probably be spitting with rage if someone made a joke about MY mother being rich. BASTARDS!!!!!!11!1!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
asiangrrlMN
@eemom: Princess McCain is right. I think the dress is pretty, but it doesn’t really suit her.
@Dennis-SGMM: Hahaha! I like your answer the best so far.
John, eh, it’s Monday. You’ve been working hard. You deserve some time off.
@Politically Lost: No, you are not the only one. I have seen many guys on this very blog articulate the same guilty pleasure. Feel better?
I am mourning the loss of winter. I’ll be in my corner sulking.
Tonal Crow
Oh-oh, Jeff Sessions just stepped off the reservation : “I can vote for a gay nominee [to the Supreme Court]– we’ll just have to see.”
Limbaugh blast, and subsequent retraction, will follow in 4…3…2…1….
dmv
@Politically Lost:
Ew.
@asiangrrlMN:
Me too! I need penguin temperatures back. Not that we had a lot of those in D.C. this year. :/
Krista
@ Politically Lost: Well, at least you’ve ruled out Malkin and Coulter, so there’s hope for you yet.
Any diabetics out there? Turns out I’ve got gestational diabetes (fuck, fuckity-fuck-fuck!) and am now maneuvering my way through the Byzantine rules of food exchanges and carb counting. Is is as complicated and frustrating as it looks, or do dietitians just make it seem that way because they enjoy demoralizing pregnant women?
John PM
Sorry to hear you are burnt out on blogging. On the plus side, I was able to get a lot of work done today. Of course, I am also burnt out on work. Thankfully, only 12 more days until the wife and I leave for Mexico for six days (looks like H1N1 has finally cleared up.
John Cole
I’m just seriously sick of wingnuts. For 48 hours, memeorandum has been dominated by the butthurt whines from people mortified that a comedienne said something nasty about a shock jock.
Just a total bunch of losers.
Even James Joyner is losing his damned mind, linking to crap calling Biden an idiot because he told a joke about his dog being smarter than Obama’s.
Seriously, these people are hopeless. Lefties weren’t this out of control after 2000.
Comrade Mary, Would-Be Minion Of Bad Horse
Aw, damn it, Krista. I can’t imagine how frustrating that is.
There are two lengthy discussions about GD here and here, heavy on both anecdotes and links to other information. I hope this helps!
Mr. Stuck
You gotta admit, it’s a hell of a marketing ploy. The God of Israel only promises eternal paradise without the the bennies.
And that’s only if the Pearly Gatekeeper likes you for the right price.
Zzyzx
@John Cole: Sorry for posting those even wingnuttier things then…
John Cole
And Ron Christy seriously has a stick up his ass.
dmv
@John Cole:
Well, that’s totally not news.
Joe Beese
How Republicans Should Oppose Obama’s Supreme Court Nominee
Whoever they are.
Mr. Stuck
@John Cole:
Who could have predicted that the election victory would bring us round the clock Limbaugh analysis, Valley Girl Mehgan McCain, and endless loops of Dick Cheney predicting death for America.
I just wish they’d bring back the Man Show with my nightly fix of Girls on Trampolines. I do miss it so.
Notorious P.A.T.
@Politically Lost:
I will admit: Perino is a stone fox, and Bachman–if you could put a new person in her head like in “The Man With Two Brains”–has her good features too.
That being said: go rent a Scarlett Johansenn movie.
asiangrrlMN
@Zzyzx: Oh, good grief. They know more about Islam than we supposed Muslim-lovers do. It’s like the guy (Peter something) who keeps a website that seems to be solely dedicated to all the disgusting acts them homosexuals do to each other–purportedly so he, as a strong Christian, can act all horrified or something. In fact, I have learned more from him about gay sex acts than I have anywhere else.
@dmv: We had a pretty decent winter, but it’s never long enough for me. Shut up, other Minnesotans. Eight months of autumn and winter is not NEARLY enough.
@Ash: The only thing that would make me feel better about how insanely rich my mother was would be for me to buy an island or something so I could go sit there and sulk.
I know some liberals think Meghan McCain is the reasonable voice of the GOP, but I never bought it. She’s just another privileged girl who thinks she’s earned everything she has.
dmv
@asiangrrlMN:
There are liberals out there who think that there is such a thing as “the reasonable voice of the GOP?”
Notorious P.A.T.
It’s also the number of hours Jesus was “dead” before rising again. Just sayin’, wingnuts.
sus
@Joe Beese:
How much will it matter if they object? Can they shoot them all down?
asiangrrlMN
@John Cole: That’s because we were too fucking demoralized and cowering under the couches, whimpering, when Gore lost. In addition, it’s because MOST of our wingnuts tend to just wander in the field with their tinfoil hats, picking berries. They tend not to get on the teevee and the intertoobes to rail about their conspiracy theory.
Plus, like it or not, the rightwingnutters are just meaner. Plus, they are used to being in charge. Not like the leftnutters who are used to being losers.
eemom, oooh, I never thought of that. True. One thing I like about Meghan McCaine is how unapologetically she loves her body. I wish more women were like that–women of ALL shapes and sizes.
dmv, nicely done.
eemom
actually, I suspect the slender, stylish Cindy must be cringing over Juniorette’s taste in clothing………that is why I like it.
demkat620
@Krista: Aw, Krista, I am sorry to hear that. Yes it is complicated. The hardest part is carbs are in pretty much everything.
There are some good resources out there at the ADA
demkat620
Bah the link didn’t work. Try diabetes.org, Krista.
John Cole
I’m also tired of people picking on Meghan McCain’s appearance (and I’m not saying you were, eemom, so don’t misinterpret that statement). I don’t think she is fat at all, and in fact looks normal to me.
DougL (frmrly: Conservatively Liberal)
I’ve been mostly reading and not responding lately because I am playing mechanic in my off-hours. I had a vibration in the front end of our Mustang and decided to replace the strut rod bushings since they were shot. Removing the strut rods, I discovered that the strut rod mounting bracket bushings were also wasted. I quickly discovered that the bushings for the mounting bracket were no longer in production and the design is such that nothing can be easily adapted.
High performance vehicles (models equipped with strut rods) normally have these brackets as a solid mount but Ford was looking to give this model a smoother ride so they isolated the strut rod mounts with the rubber bushings. I got some aluminum plate and cut a set of solid bushings from it. Fixes the problem and tightens up the suspension, which works for me.
Pulling the strut rod mounts exposed another problem; the front unibody ‘frame’ is spot welded to the body and the passenger side frame is pulling away from the body; about a quarter inch where it connects to the outboard firewall/floorpan areas. The exposed metal was rusting but it is surface rust, not rot. Fixing the frame separation necessitated pulling the torque boxes, two ‘boxes’ mounted just behind each front wheelwell that tie the floorpan, firewall, sidewall and frame together to improve structural integrity of the unibody.
While pulling the passenger torque box, I noticed a small stress crack at the top of the frame where it meets the firewall and turns down. The crack is closed but it passes through a ridge that Ford stamped into the frame to provide extra strength. The problem is that the area has a half-moon radius cut out of it and that introduced the stress riser that led to the crack. The drivers side doesn’t have this ‘feature’ and it is just fine. I will have to magnaflux the crack, find the end of the crack and drill it out to stop it, grind a V into the crack, weld it up and grind it flat, weld two pieces af steel above and below the the stamped ridge and tie it together with a large steel plate welded over the repair.
Bummer deal but I can fix it myself so that works for me. I am now welding up a set of floor/frame braces that will tie the frame and the body together, clamping them between steel plates that act to keep the parts together and stiffen the floorpan/frame junction. While the drivers side is fine, I still have to add the new brace to it because the stiffer passenger side will put more work on an unmodified drivers side frame. Lots of work but that is the price I pay for owning an old car.
Thank goodness for modern medicine, that is the only reason I am able to still do this work. I pay for it in pain but at least the pain meds are there to assist (and make things interesting at times).
Brick Oven Bill
Yesterday, I drove through a snow storm.
My road trip was completed in fewer indicated miles than ever before. I attribute this to one of three things:
1. There is a problem with my odometer; or
2. The wheels on my car have grown in diameter; or
3. I made fewer wrong turns.
Maude
@Krista:
I had toxic type 2 for about a year and a half. I didn’t eat starch or refined sugar. I felt hollow all of the time.
They say that it’s not a good idea for the sugar to go down fast. Causes heart problems.
I’m so sorry you’ve got this on top of everything else.
I kept the food simple. I didn’t think about it. I was too scared to cheat.
You’ll feel better when you get the food right.
I’ll be thinking of you.
Little Dreamer
@Politically Lost:
Well so long as all you want to do is fuck ’em and not fall in love and then take them home to meet dear ol’ mom, I guess you’re okay.
JL
@Politically Lost: Suck it up! Palin’s allure was the same as Debbie does Dallas. She could take off her glasses, let her hair down and become someone else. It’s a fantasy. Most likely she would let her hair down, take off her glasses and become Lorena Bobbitt.
sus
@BOB:
New GPS?
asiangrrlMN
@John Cole: Well, since the female body is solely for public consumption and scrutiny, what can she expect?
/snark.
As I said earlier, the fact that she’s comfortable in her body is one of the things I admire about her. I hope she can inspire young girls in that respect. We have too much body shame in this culture.
P.S. eemom wasn’t dissing McCain’s looks–she (I’m assuming eemom is a she–was admiring the dress.
Tonal Crow
@Notorious P.A.T.:
Wingnut death-threats inbound in 4…3…2…1….
Mr. Stuck
@Brick Oven Bill:
Shrinkage BoB. It happens/
robertdsc
Yes. But I’m a starburst-afflicted Palin-lover, so my tastes are a bit off to begin with.
JL
@Krista: You can get through this. The diet is hard but fortunately, you will still be rewarded with a beautiful baby come August. Thirty years ago when my baby was born, I lived on a street that had twenty houses. Three of my neighbors were pregnant at the same time. (It was a long winter) One developed diabetes and she did fine. Do you know the sex of the baby yet and are you sharing?
Brick Oven Bill
Regarding: Gay Judges
On my road trip, I stopped at a place called Taco Time. This was at 3 in the afternoon. There was one car in front of me and it took around 5 minutes for the employee to hand the food to the car. This made me angry as I have places to go.
Then I pulled up to the window. The attendant was an effeminate male, who I believe was gay. My service was slow too, and all I ordered was one taco. Hitler’s SA (Brownshirts) leadership were also gays. As were those Californians who were beating up those ladies from the church group.
I think we need to be very careful about putting a gay on the Supreme Court. The last thing we need on the Supreme Court is a Nazi. I should also note that we should not put Veterans on the Supreme Court. Timothy McVeigh was a Veteran.
I have a certain level of respect for Rohm however. When Hitler’s guy told Rhom to commit suicide, Rhom refused, and opened his shirt to bare his chest for his executioner to shoot. This shows character to me. The guy from Taco Time would not have the same character, in my judgment. He just seemed to be a little twit.
Mr. Stuck
Your electric train has done gone around the bend Bobbolu/
dmv
Judging by this thread so far, I have concluded that Balloon Juice male readers have a strange taste in women.
That is all.
Tonal Crow
@Brick Oven Bill:
What? You didn’t consult Rush Limbaugh about this? If you had, he’d have revealed that (1) Your odometer is defective because it was made by a liberal union worker; (2) Even if it isn’t defective, your tires have grown in diameter due to “Al Gore’s hot air about global warming”; and (3) Even if (1) and (2) are total B.S., you made a whole journey’s-worth of wrong turns by not consulting him first.
TenguPhule
Yes.
Obviously you’ve had too much to drink.
Or not enough.
TenguPhule
BOB, bringing the stupid things to life.
Politically Lost
Yes, I do feel better now.
Sometimes the crazy is good sex.
Speaking of crazy, something else that I was wanting to articulate.
I know that the Shiavo pushed many normal GOP buttons out of the party, and the Frost’s countertopgate was a last, last straw for more normal GOPs. However, the mustard thing for me was more than just the average crazy. What really drives me up the wall is the media feeding it. (It being the beast)
Would anyone hear the crazy if it fell in a GOP forest without the overly stupid media to relay it?
TenguPhule
So Jesus spent an hour with each virgin before boogying back.
Bastard.
Litlebritdifrnt
John it’s easy to cheer yourself up, just go to the Youtube of POTUS at the WCD and listen to the Rahm joke “he has a hard time saying day after the word mother” cracks me up every single time. Best line of the whole night.
TenguPhule
Yes, because crazy is an infinitely renewable resource.
TenguPhule
Except all of the GOP crazy is also obsessed with banning all kinds of sex that isn’t for procreation and involves as little pleasure as possible.
Violet
@asiangrrlMN:
Oh, me too. It’s miserably hot and humid here. The teevee weather guys are saying the temperatures are like July. Horrid, horrid weather. I’m not a fan of hot weather at all. Especially not after last year’s adventure of having to go two weeks without electricity in September. Dire.
dbrown
@Brick Oven Bill: What type of idiot are you? A person is a Nazi if they are gay!? If this is your idea of humor you have gone over the top and need to back peddle. Otherwise, you are a really sick person that needs to leave this sight and get real help.
Also, Brown shirts comprised no extra number of gay people than any other group of Germans, Americans or any large group of populations do. Sure, some top people in many groups are gay just like some top Repub-a-thugs are gay – big deal.
To have respect for the sick bastards that helped Nazism slaughter nearly 100 million people in WW II is a really stupid thing to say and really beyond any sense. You do need help and I realize you have a lot of deep issues.
Tonal Crow
@dbrown: BOB is a perfect olog-hai specimen. Don’t take him seriously.
Krista
Not necessarily. The child could be funny-looking as all hell. Hey, it happens. I’ve already made plans to trade it in for a Shih-tzu, should that be the case.
Nope, we’re leaving it a surprise. My sister thinks it’s a girl, my husband thinks it’s a boy. I’m trying not to think about it, because I don’t want to get too emotionally attached to one prediction or the other.
Thanks for the tips, everybody. It’s just all very frustrating and scary. I don’t mind having to change my diet, but I’m frightened that it may not be enough.
My supper tonight was perfectly spot-on to the dietitian’s recommendations: 4 oz. chicken, a small baked potato (w/ the skin), a big honking salad w/ reduced-calorie dressing, 1 cup of milk, and a small apple for dessert. My glucose level one hour afterwards was 18.1 mmol/l (325 mg/dl), so it was a definite “WTF?” moment.
It’s frustrating when you feel like you’re doing everything right, but it’s not making a dent. And I really don’t want to have to go on insulin — I feel like I should be able to control this via diet. Plus, I was a size 12/14 prior to getting pregnant, so there’s the worry that when people find out I have GD, they’ll be thinking, “Well, no fucking wonder, lardass!”
asiangrrlMN
@Violet: I researched the coldest place on earth, and it’s a Canadian territory. They average -10 degrees, year round. I think it was Fahrenheit. I could do that.
sus
Isn’t that the truth? Even self-gratification. I understand dildos are illegal in Texas. And, a few years ago, a Republican named Swafford tried to have them outlawed in Tennessee as well.
Dildo Police? Imagine the uniforms.
Tonal Crow
@sus:
Don’t they all look like this? Or are those the police that *give* you dildos? Or the ones who give you them, then arrest you for possessing them?
Mr. Stuck
Meh. The War on Dildo’s rages on.
Mr. Stuck
Wetsuit with a gun.
Violet
@Krista:
Krista, baked potatoes have one of the highest glycemic loads out there. Off the charts. A baked potato will raise your blood sugar much more than french fries because fries have the fat that slow down the absorption of the sugars. If you have a baked potato, you’re actually better loading it with butter and cheese to slow down how fast it hits your body. Try a baked sweet potato next time if you like sweet potatoes. They’re much, much lower on the GI scale. But things like brown rice are even better.
Depending on the apple, they can be high on the GI too. Add something like a piece of cheese or handful of nuts to your fruit to slow down absorption of sugars – protein and fat both help.
Try adding olive oil to your meal. Fats are great for slowing down how fast you absorb your meal and olive oil is good for you. If you have pasta (whole wheat is best), you can do a simple thing like toss it in olive oil and lemon juice. Add a bit of real parmesan and you’re good to go.
I recommend getting a copy of The South Beach Diet book. You can probably find one super cheap at a used book store. It’s extremely basic, but it goes over the whole glycemic index and has a basic chart with glycemic index of foods. Skip Phase One, which wouldn’t be safe for pregnancy, but look into Phases Two and Three, which allow more carbs (good carbs). There are recipes for all phases in the second half of the book, so it might give you some ideas. I don’t recommend actually doing the diet, especially since you’re pregnant, but it’s a really good basic overview of how the whole GI thing works.
Eating low on the GI scale is really dull, but you can spice it up with herbs, etc. The key for me is to be sure to have protein at breakfast and lunch. Dinner for me is less of an issue, but if I don’t have protein at breakfast and lunch it throws off my whole day.
Hope that helps!
LD50
Disagree. I’ve never been a fan of that Ice Maiden look.
It’s hard to get past Bachmann’s crazy woman eyes.
Krista
They don’t have a police force in Dildo, just a local RCMP detachment.
sus
@Krista:
I know there are some great recipe blogs online that do the South Beach diet thing. Maybe you could find some good recipes there.
Krista
I did have a tsp. of butter on it, because I remember reading somewhere that fat slows the absorption of carbs. I loooove sweet potatoes, though, so that’s good to know. One of my fave things is to make sweet potato wedges, toss ’em in olive oil and rosemary, and bake them. Sounds like I’ll be able to hang on to that little treat. :)
Those are some awesome tips, though, Violet. Thanks! It’ll be a bit of a pain in the arse, but it’s probably best for me to just get into the permanent habit of eating as though I’m diabetic, even if my GD does go away. It’ll probably make it easier to lose the baby weight, and will probably help prevent problems in the future (Dad’s type II, so I’ve got family history against me.)
AnneLaurie
Shorter Sessions: “I’d rather risk a kweer boy, even if that means the Real Men on the court have to change under their robes in the locker room, than take the chance that two Vagina-Americans on the same bench will cause the dreaded Wingnut Willy Vaporization Catastrophe!”
JenJen
Matt Taibbi (I mean, why not, it’s an open thread) links to this little nugget of a Romenesko post:
Agency pays $75,000 to hear a Friedman speech that’s posted online
Let the games begin! I’m going with “The Fee Is Flat.”
Violet
@Krista:
Yeah, it’s kind of good practice to eat low on the GI scale. I think most people benefit from it. And definitely it helps you lose that belly fat. Okay, not until you’ve actually had the baby. LOL. If you’ve got a family history, then yeah, it’s probably good to be aware of the principles.
That’s why I like the South Beach book. It goes over the principles in an easy to understand way. It’s fairly simplistic, and occasionally contradictory, but since it’s written by a doctor it does have some science behind it. And the chart on the GI of various foods has come in handy for me.
Oh, btw your reduced-fat salad dressing is probably loaded with sugar and salt. You’re actually probably better off eating something with full fat, but with a good fat – like olive oil – than you are eating the reduced-fat dressing. It’s okay to eat that occasionally, but as a general principle remember that all those reduced-fat things usually substitute other junk for the fat.
When dealing with the glycemic index, fat is not your enemy. That doesn’t mean you should go full Atkins and subsist on steak, bacon, butter and cheese. But it’s a good principle to keep in mind. Sugars and other refined carbs are not your friend.
A simple way to approach it is to “avoid white foods.” That means potatoes, sugar, rice, pasta, bread, etc. That’s a little harsh, and of course there are some that are better than others – brown rice is better than Wonder bread, for instance. But that’s a good rule of thumb to work from.
Let me know if I can help in any other way. Been navigating this annoying way of living and eating for awhile now.
Mr. Stuck
@Krista:
My AIC test was 6.1 for the third time in a row (one every six months) during my doc visit last week. Apparently that’s pre-diabetic, so I got the ten dollar lecture on diet and exercise. I have basically a very healthy diet except eating way too much bread, rice and potatoes. My father is a type 2 and half brother a type 1 juvenile diabetic.
Carbs are the enemy, I think, and this time I’m going to be serious about limiting them. But I hate having someone tell me what to eat, or for that matter to do anything. Good luck and take care of yerself.
anonevent
I figured out the script that Joe the Plumber is following: Can’t Buy Me Love. First, he makes a deal with the Republican Party to make him look cool. Now he’s dumped the Republicans in a bid to look even cooler. All we have to do now is wait until the GOP let’s out the truth about him.
The scary thing will be if he shows up on a doctor show 20 years from now.
JL
@Krista: Herbs help. You could probably take a sweet potato, dice it and mix it with a small amount of olive oil and chopped fresh onions and herbs (I use rosemary) and bake it for 20 to 25 minutes at 400. Sweet potatoes are healthy carbs and are quite flavorful cooked this way. Your life doesn’t have to be bland.
All babies are beautiful. My thirty year old was the smallest in the nursery and he was 8lbs 6 oz and 22 inches long. He looked so skinny when he was born cause of his long legs. They weighed him immediately thinking he was about 5 lbs. He’s 6’4″ but filled out nicely.
JenJen
@anonevent:
So, next, we can expect a wrap-up scene involving a distraught, defeated Joe at the wheel of a riding lawnmower? Yuck. :-(
JL
@Krista: Gee, I should have refreshed first. Rosemary is great and I love the smell in the kitchen when sweet potatoes, rosemary and onions are cooking.
demkat620
@Krista: It is not easy to get in your range. The hormones complicate things. Drink lots of water and try as hard as you can to follow the RD’s instructions.
My first born had the conehead to end all coneheads so you’ve got that to look forward to.
Colette
BOB definitively reveals himself as a spoof. The Timothy McVeigh reference is a dead giveaway. Doug, is that you?
demkat620
@Violet: What Violet said.
steve s
Haven’t seen a post here in a while about Erik Erickson and the Red State Trike Force. Surely they haven’t been acting sensible and reasonable lately?
Get on Teh Ball, Cole!!!!!!!!111111111
Krista
No kidding. And then I sometimes get a raging case of the “life ain’t fair”s, where I become bitter and resentful that other preggo women can eat ice cream, but I can’t.
At least the husband is being awesome about it, saying that he needs to eat better anyway, and that he’s going to eat all the same things I eat (in larger quantities, of course, as he has a very physical job), and won’t bring sweets and stuff into the house.
Besides, it could be worse. I could be ugly.
asiangrrlMN
@Tonal Crow: Thanks, Tonal Crow, for that image. I will never be able to look at my dildo without worrying that O’Reilly is coming after me (pun sorta intended). Really. Thanks. No, I mean it. (mumbles under breath) jerk.
JenJen, if someone pays me $25,000, I’ll come up with a speech that would knock Tom Friedman out. Seriously. “It’s more inspiring to hear it in person.” Uh, no.
Jay C
Or the holsters.
DonkeyKong
Take a tender slice of blog, coat with olive oil and sea salt and grill it for 2 1/2 minutes each side. Pair it up with a riesling or viogier……..that my friend is heaven.
Notorious P.A.T.
O my god.
Ash Can
@John Cole:
That cracked me right the hell up.
@TenguPhule:
LOL! Hey, he earned it.
Krista
That’s sad. You should never mentally associate your own dildo with Bill O’Reilly. Dildos in general, fine. But not one that is near and dear to you — that just kind of spoils the mood, I’d think.
Xanthippas
Well, there’s something to be said for jumping to the end of the comments when you’re checking a particular thread for the first time.
tripletee (formerly tBone)
@Krista:
Hang in there – my wife had GD with our last baby, and she was pretty freaked out for the first couple of days, but once you get adjusted to the new routine it’s not as overwhelming as it appears at first.
Also, second Violet on the South Beach diet book. It lays out some fairly complex metabolic concepts in a very readable way – I don’t think it’s a very sustainable diet in the long term, but the book does have a lot of useful, practical information for cutting your overall carb load.
tripletee (formerly tBone)
@Krista:
I see the GD hasn’t affected your ability to bring the funny, though.
JenJen
@asiangrrlMN: I mean, really. Apparently, this person had never actually seen Friedman?
Indylib
@Krista:
ROLF Actually the hormones that surge through you when you give birth pretty much assure that you will not think your own baby is ugly.
I look back at pics and my twins looked like they had been kick boxing each other for space for 4 monthes and my older son was magenta from coming through the birth canal in one push. I thought they were all the most gorgeous babies I had ever seen. My daughter was actually a very pretty newborn – her brothers not so much, but you couldn’t have convinced me of that when they were born.
Good luck dealing with the diabetes, I was borderline with my twins, but luckily never went over the line.
Steeplejack
@Politically Lost:
No, although you should be ashamed of yourself and you should stop it immediately or you’ll go blind. Perino, I’m with you. Bachmann, maybe, in an “I did some crazy shit last night after I dropped that acid” kind of way.
But I’m blind to them all now that I have an FLILF. Sigh . . .
steve s
I know what you mean. For about three years I followed the ‘Intelligent Design’ retards on a daily basis. I went to Uncommon Descent, Evolution News and Views, etc. Even after a while was moderator on a discussion board where we laughed at them. Every day I did lines of pure, uncut Tard. After 3 years I burned out hard. Couldn’t even go to the websites anymore. Quit following them, quit moderating the board, etc. It was fun while it lasted, but in the end, the burnout went pretty deep.
asiangrrlMN
@Krista: 14 is the AVERAGE female size, at least in America. So, you could move down here to feel skinny. Then again, you have soci a l ized healthcare up there, so it’s a wash.
Tell me about it! I can see it now. I put on some Barry White, light some candles, snuggle up to Mr. D, and then, a picture of Bill O’Reilly and his falafel pops into my mind. Talk about a buzz-kill!
YellowJournalism
Six months after my first son was born (Found out last week that this next one’s a boy, too!), I looked at his newborn pics and realized that the Most Beautiful Newborn in the World had actually for the most part looked like a little old man in duckie pj’s.
Krista, I’m about to go in for my blood test soon. Crossing my fingers that I dodge that bullet a second time around. Pretty much all types of diabetes run in my family, including gestational diabetes. Don’t get discouraged, though. Let your body adjust to the new diet. Everyone here is great, too, for all the wonderful suggestions.
tripletee (formerly tBone)
@Indylib:
He’s …. breathtaking.
It’s not just hormones, though – we had one who looked like one of the California Raisins at birth (he had fluid in his lungs and was this horrible purplish-blue color in pictures), but at the time both his mother and I thought he couldn’t have been any more perfect. And he did turn out to be quite a good-looking kid, if I do say so myself, but those early photos . . . yikes.
asiangrrlMN
@JenJen: I have never seen Friedman in person, but I can tell by his Serious Picture at the NYT that he’s a pompous, bloviating bore.
I, on the other hand, am funny, sarcastic, can give a good speech, have an impressive bosom–and I’m willing to do it for a third the price.
Steeplejack, plus, Michelle Obama has the added bonus of not being bat-shit crazy!
Fulcanelli
I’d bet a bushel of benjamins these aforementioned uber-conservative GOP females are utter freaks in luuurve department. They’ve got the right mix of religious repression and guilt concealing a diabolical lust for power, attitude to burn and a sub-par IQ wrapped up with a total lack of self-awareness. A lot of ’em seem to be kind of busty too, what’s up with that? Great if you like your pet rabbit boiled or if you enjoy being stalked because you never called ’em again after the one nighter…
TenguPhule
Fixed it for you, Krista.
There are far worse things then being ugly.
Mr. Stuck
I hear ya man. All these poh pohers don’t know what their talking about. Bachmann is best of the lot, especially I bet 20 years ago. Something about black hair, blue eyes, and a black heart that is stirring. Maybe like the little male Preying Mantis who does his thing, knowing he could become his mates dinner if things go bad.
Then there’s Sarah Barracuda. the woman beside her ain’t half bad netter.
TenguPhule
Nutrients need to go somewhere. Obviously not going to the brain
tripletee (formerly tBone)
Fixed again.
Gus
grrl, you must be insane. Minnesota winters are endless and miserable.
Steeplejack
@asiangrrlMN:
Gosh, you mean there could be talking and sharing and . . . and stuff? Rapture. I just don’t know what to say.
Michelle, ma belle . . .
[Putting on velvet smoking jacket and reaching for the Courvoisier]
asiangrrlMN
@tripletee (formerly tBone): Gaaaah! No more talk of O’Reilly and dildi! It’s making my head explode.
@Steeplejack: Oooh, you do know how to court a lady, don’t you? Too bad the POTUS would kick your ass if you put a move on Michelle.
@Gus: I am insane. That said, I love Minnesota autumns and winters. I love three-foot blizzards and sub-zero temps. I love it when my eyelids go numb and my snot freezes. It makes me feel alive.
Fulcanelli
Damn. After some of the lusty comments by a few of the ladies here this evening, I’m thinking this is the openest thread I’ve ever seen on BJ and then tripletee has to go talking about Bill O’Reilly having a dildo. Supreme buzzkill. Let’s hope BOB doesn’t toss his
cookies‘er… hat into the ring.Gus
@asiangrrlMN: I love all that about winter, too, until about mid-January. Then, when I’m ready for winter to be over, it goes on and on and on. I find if I don’t go somewhere reasonably warm in late February or so, I’m surly and drink too much.
tripletee (formerly tBone)
@Fulcanelli:
To be fair, I wasn’t the first to broach the subject of Bill O vis-a-vis dildos. I was just the first to suggest that he has one of his own. Man cannot live on falafel alone, after all.
Is there anywhere else on the Internets where an open thread can encompass gestational diabetes, Bill O’Reilly, dildos, and crazy-GOP-hag fetishism?
Steeplejack
@asiangrrlMN:
Hey, no, I’m not like that. I’ve got Barry’s back. I’m just here for Michelle in case she needs to talk. You know. Just talk.
asiangrrlMN
@Fulcanelli: You should have seen the other thread that I instigated. Lots of hawt talk, and nary a mention of O’Reilly. I think you would have appreciated it.
@Gus: I wish winter lasted all year long. There. I said it. I’m not taking it back.
Fulcanelli
I love winter too. Right up until December 26th. Then I want balmy 80 degree, ride around with the windows open summer nights for the other 10 months of the year. I don’t know how you snowbirds stand it. Shoveling snow, cars stuck. Meh. Me and the wife want a retirement shack in the Carribean heat. Fuck the cold. Too expensive.
asiangrrlMN
@Steeplejack: Uh huh. I know your type. You’re the friend, the one a woman can lean on, and then, BAM! You’re in like Flynn. The YouTube video to which you linked is exactly right.
@Fulcanelli: I hate the heat. I become even bitchier in the spring/summer. I count the days until autumn rolls around again. It’s in my blood.
Tatuagem do Sydney
@Brick Oven Bill:
BOB – do we really have to have the discussion about the difference between “climate” and “weather”. More snow storms and colder “weather” is not inconsistent with the global “climate” warming – in fact, it’s exactly what you would expect!
I know that you are effectively spoof a lot of the time, but fuck you. Really. Fuck. You.
Fulcanelli
@tripletee (formerly tBone):
Excellent point, and true! And twisted!
And a penny for the thoughts of our host, who seems to be keeping a low profile amidst all this chatter about sexual devices, hawt GOP females and right wing felafel fetishists… maybe he’s rethinking his defection to the dark (blue) side.
Tatuagem do Sydney
@sus:
They are sexual demonstration devices. This Molly Ivins video is a crackup.
JL
@Brick Oven Bill: Even if you are a spoof, this post indicates that you need help. To compare gays and Nazi’s is repulsive.
Left Coast Tom
I can do without sub-zero…but six-foot overnight dumps in the Sierra are wonderful. Despite the work required to dig my car out in order to enjoy the snow.
Also, too. I happen to like spring corn skiing. Even better in April and May when, often, I can ski in shorts and t-shirt.
I’m OK with the changing of the seasons, as long as six-foot powder dumps are one of those seasons.
Tatuagem do Sydney
@asiangrrlMN:
I’m having second thoughts about our fake-marriage.
wasabi gasp
Dana Perino is as alluring as cardboard, not a sexy fiber in her body.
Katherine Harris, on the other hand, is an adorable retarded kitten, a delicious milfy nutbar, a voluptuous nightmare.
Fulcanelli
@Tatuagem do Sydney: Probably the only way a lot of those pig-headed, right-wing knuckleheads can get any lovin’ from the missus. Eliminate the competition. Let’s all do the Lone Star Lysistrata, ladies. It’s a two-step… (With apologies to any sane Texans present.)
DWieboldt1959
@assiangrrlMN
I’m with you! I want winter all year long!
It looks like I’m moving from Portland Maine to Phoenix Arizona. Oh my Dog, I’ve been sentenced to Hell instead of heaven…
I guess that every cent I save in heating bills, will be spent on the Air Conditioner.
Steeplejack
@DougL:
DougL, I want to give you props on this post for two things:
(1) subject mastery and (2) self-revelation.
I love it when someone just lets fly on a subject that they know well and, more important, care about deeply. I’m not a big car guy. I was with you right up to about this point: “I had a vibration in the front end of our Mustang”–my father had a baby blue ’66 when I was a kid and (I see in retrospect) he let me drive it way more than I deserved to–“and decided to replace the strut rod bushings since they were shot.”
Okay, I got nothing after that, but I still admire anyone who knows their subject and loves to talk about it in a “real” way–no ego, no “I’m cool because I know this and you don’t,” no bullshit.
And–self-revelation–is willing to open themself up and be seen by the world for who they really are. So often we hide our interests, our passions, our real selves, because we think that others will judge us or won’t accept us.
That’s one of the reasons I gravitated to this blog. I came last fall for the political commentary, and I stayed for the sense of eccentric community that animates the place. Humor. Recipes. Pet pics. Music-video throwdowns. Social commentary. John Cole as curmudgeonly fussbudget. DougJ and the on-line Washington Post things. (I laugh on an almost daily basis when I think about him lying in wait for them with trick questions.) Tunch! Even Brick Oven Bill, although, BOB, you have been sliding toward the dark side lately. Tighten up, bro’.
But most of all I like the voices of the other readers that I hear here. I feel like I know you people–some more than others–and I like the feeling I get here.
So, right on, dude. Let your automotive freak flag fly. Don’t ever think that you’re writing into the void.
God, I think I’m crying on my velvet smoking jacket. I need another Courvoisier.
[Adjusts magic stereo]
asiangrrlMN
@Tatuagem do Sydney: Hey, fake-hubby. I always wipe my nose before entering the house. Does that help? Besides, what other wife would allow you to have a real hubby to boot?
And, don’t pay attention to B.O.B. He’s truly a fucker for posting that shit.
@Fulcanelli: If I were Texan lady, I would use a cucumber to spite my hubby. If I had a real hubby. Which I don’t.
You straight guys really do have odd taste in women. Personally, I don’t find any of the nutters attractive–male or female. As I have said before, I’m the crazy one in my relationships!
My fake-hubby has better taste in women than do you straight guys. Hmmmmmm.
Steeplejack, right on, bro. Right on. I second this post. I love that we can talk about a wide variety of things on this blog. I, too, like it when people wax passionately, even if I don’t have the same passions.
Steeplejack
@asiangrrlMN:
Well, there you go. When you are the crazy, you’re not looking for the crazy. You’re looking for prey, I assume.
wasabi gasp
@asiangrrlMN: Passion Wax is the other name John was mulling for this blog.
TenguPhule
Hey, don’t tar us all with the same brush.
I think the GOP lineup to a woman is skankville.
Also, did you get your Mort on yet?
asiangrrlMN
@Steeplejack: You stumbled onto my secret! Except, I’m not a nutter. I won’t boil your bunny if you don’t call me the next day. I won’t give you the silent treatment if you forget my birthday (I don’t bother with it). I like sports, and I hate the mall.
This is starting to sound like a personal ad!
As for looking for prey, hey, I can’t help it if I am insatiable.
@wasabi gasp: wasabi gasp, I gotta say, you crack me the fuck up. Passion Wax. Snort. Hi-larious.
asiangrrlMN
@TenguPhule: You are a prince among men!
I got Mort today. I started it. I gotta say…I’m not enthralled yet.
Steeplejack
@asiangrrlMN:
I started Guards! Guards! over the weekend. I’m warming up to it, but at first it was a little cloying, like a Monty Python sketch turned up to 11. But I’m willing to go the distance, and it is getting better.
TenguPhule
You may need to try the audio books then.
Hearing DEATH talking in his DEATH VOICE rather then ALL CAPS is like discovering fried clams after steamed ones.
Or it might just be you need to relate to a different character.
Try Witches Abroad next (A fairy tale gone horribly horribly wrong) if Mort doesn’t hook you on first go.
TenguPhule
It’s worth it, trust me. When you read Men at Arms, you’ll appreciate the background you picked up from Guards, Guards.
asiangrrlMN
@Steeplejack: Yeah, I agree it’s sketch-like which is not my thing.
@TenguPhule: Oh, I’ll stick it out. I like Death. I just don’t much care for Mort’s father thus far. I really am at the very beginning, so I can’t comment too much on it.
Tatuagem do Sydney
@asiangrrlMN:
Oh, ok… wait, if it’s frozen in there, don’t you have to lever it out?
v. true. I suppose I can forgive your strange frozen mucus fetish.
I love me some BOB, so I suppose I have to take the batshit crazy homophobe in order to get the odd anecdotes about lunch trays and Franken. That said, fuck you BOB you fucking arse.
Tatuagem do Sydney
@asiangrrlMN:
@Steeplejack:
I love both of those books, but I understand where you are coming from. Unfortunately, you have to read “Mort” to understand all of the background to “Reaper Man” and “Hogfather” (which are both wonderful), and you have to read “Guards, Guards” to really get “Nightwatch”, “Monstrous Regiment” and “Thud” (which are IMO his most subtle and interesting books).
“Nightwatch” is truly great writing – compelling, dark, finely drawn.
asiangrrlMN
@Tatuagem do Sydney: Um, you were supposed to overlook the fact that frozen snot doesn’t wipe off easily. I have big boobs. Does that help? Of course not.
So you have strange taste in men (your love of B.O.B.). What is it with the guys on this site and your weird-ass taste in the gender/s of your choice?
In other words, I have to read all of Pratchett’s work to appreciate the arcs. Duly noted.
TenguPhule
Oh him, don’t worry.
Just get to chapter 2 or 3 and you should be fine.
asiangrrlMN
@TenguPhule: Cool. I am committed to reading the book because so many people on this board like Pratchett.
Tatuagem do Sydney
@asiangrrlMN:
I like READING BoB. There’s nothing sexual about it at all.
I feel a little ill.
Tatuagem do Sydney
@asiangrrlMN:
Yep. Sorry – some of us have been doing it for 20 years or more …. You’ve got some catching up to do.
TenguPhule
Actually you don’t for Monstrous Regiment. That one only has the Watch as minor bit players.
Also, I’d say Going Postal and Making Money are his cream de la creme for interesting. Of course, I just love how many things the “hero” gets away with through the power of audacity.
Thud and Nightwatch do have Vimes at his best (or worst, depending on which end of the crossbow you’re on) but I’m more partial to Men at Arms, Feet of Clay and the Fifth Elephant for the overall growth of Vimes and the Watch.
By Nightwatch, most of the growing pains are over and by Thud the watch is pretty much a power to be reckoned with in Ankmorepork.
TenguPhule
Not really. But it helps to catch all of the in-jokes and references to other characters from other novels.
Besides, once we have you truly hooked you’ll want to read them all anyway. :P
tripletee (formerly tBone)
I’m with TengPhule. Coulter, Malkin, Palin, Ingram et al have the collective sex appeal of a car accident. One that releases vast clouds of airborne syphilis and rabies instead of pools of oil and antifreeze.
demimondian
@asiangrrlMN: For what it’s worth — that’d be “not much” if you’re playing the home game — I don’t care for Pratchett’s work.
demimondian
@tripletee (formerly tBone): Well, if that’s what floats your boat…
Tatuagem do Sydney
@TenguPhule:
This is true, although some of the nuance might be missed in the sections where Vimes and his men and Otto show up…
Monstrous Regiment is a very good one for reading as a stand alone starter book – a demonstration that a truly “feminist” book can be both written by a man, and very funny.
tripletee (formerly tBone)
I bet you get off on 10-pundit pileups, you sick bastard.
asiangrrlMN
@Tatuagem do Sydney: I am a fast reader, so I will get ‘er done.
As for your affinity for BOB, it’s ok, hon. We all have our weaknesses. Mine, for example, is gay men.
@demimondian: Cool. So if I do end up not liking Pratchett, I won’t be alone.
AhabTRuler
Pratchett was one of the author’s I didn’t get into; I probably went off to read some godawful Anne McCaffrey potboiler. OK, enjoyable, not godawful, but potboilers nonetheless. Although I hated Moreta at the time I read it, it’s probably her best Dragon book.
Other authors who can turn a series of books into a cruel and pointless brutalization of your time: L. E. Modesitt, Jr., Orson Scott Card, Piers Anthony (although each of them has very good books; if you can find I see they reprinted Anthony’s Macroscope, it is an interesting book).
CJ Cherryh was tempted to sin by her Explorer series, but otherwise is really good a leaving you wanting more than you get.
I saw Sherwood Smith commenting the other day. If it is (and even if it isn’t) the same author who co-wrote the Exordium series, it is actually a highly entertaining use of time. Very complex, emotionally fraught, large body-count. Good series.
I really like Steven Brust, I just don’t know if he is going to make to 18 Vlad books.
Dan Simmons’s Hyperion series is also really, really good. Complex, engrossing, and very creative.
AhabTRuler
dammit ‘authors’
and WP dropped my fucking strike tags, again.
John, does this fucker ever actually work? You’re killing me, here.
Tatuagem do Sydney
@asiangrrlMN:
How odd… that’s mine too!
AhabTRuler
@Tatuagem do Sydney: Well, good lord, you don’t have to be gay to have a weakness for gay men!
asiangrrlMN
@AhabTRuler: Yeah, we’ll see how it goes. My ex turned me onto Steven Brust, but I thought he should have ended it after…I can’t remember the name…got it, Issola. He should have just ended there.
Ahem. i would like to make an announcement: I really am a female. I was falsely accused on another thread of not being a woman. I know there is no way I can prove it, but I am.
asiangrrlMN
@Tatuagem do Sydney: That’s why we get along so well.
@AhabTRuler: I am a sad example of that. My first crush in college was gay. We were really good friends. People would say, “You guys make a cute couple,” to which I’d have to say to myself, “I’m the wrong gender.”
AhabTRuler
And right on schedule, Relax comes up in the iTunes rotation, and that’s pretty gay.
Or is it gay and pretty? I get confused!
Tatuagem do Sydney
@AhabTRuler:
True – although the end result of such weakness is often different…
asiangrrlMN
@Tatuagem do Sydney: Yes. I went home with blue ovaries from my play-dates with my gay male friend. All he wanted was to be someone’s wife some day. Lord, was he pretty.
AhabTRuler, and I bet it was so hard for you to turn down the lads, wasn’t it?
AhabTRuler
Well, it’s not like the boys, sweet lads that they are, didn’t try to convert me, but I just had to be
firmpersistent in saying that I wasn’t ashamed of being straight!Tatuagem do Sydney
@AhabTRuler:
My itunes playlist today has consisted of Pet Shop Boys, Portuguese fado and this song (which I can’t stop listening to)… It’s been a very gay day…
Tatuagem do Sydney
@asiangrrlMN:
Heh!
asiangrrlMN
@Tatuagem do Sydney: I love that last video you posted–yum, yum. What is Portuguese fado?
TS, he was ungodly beautiful. First time I saw him, he was in drag. Sigh.
Tatuagem do Sydney
@asiangrrlMN:
Fado is the traditional music style of Portugal… it tends to be described as having saudade (which is supposedly untranslatable, but close in meaning to nostalgia felt while missing someone.
(I’m a little obsessed with Portugal – my retirement plans all involve living in Lisbon (cheap, ancient, lovely people, genetically short and handsome men, and an hour and a half by plane from Amsterdam).
The foremost proponent of Fado is a stunningly beautiful, tall, half Portuguese, half Mozambican woman called Mariza…
here she is giving a concert in Lisbon in front of the Torre de Belem
asiangrrlMN
@Tatuagem do Sydney: Wow. She has a fabulous smile. I didn’t think much of her, and then, wham. What a gorgeous voice, too.
I think I heard about Fado on NPR this weekend. Odd coincidence.
Tatuagem do Sydney
@asiangrrlMN:
Another…
asiangrrlMN
@Tatuagem do Sydney: I really like this one. I wish I were that slim.
Tatuagem do Sydney
@asiangrrlMN:
A sad song about rain…
Robertdsc-iphone
At first I didn’t understand what FLILF was but now that I know, all I can say is that the First Lady has so much class that I can’t make any jokes about her. She’s just great. Especially in purple. She kills me in purple.
Re: Perino, in the dustup in Baghdad where Dubya got the shoe tossed at him, she got roughed up and was given a black eye. I was uncomfortable at acknowledging she looked even cuter with the black eye.
Bachmann doesn’t do anything for me but some of the shots of her in yellow at the RNC convention were nice. Otherwise, y’all can have her.
Tatuagem do Sydney
@Robertdsc-iphone:
If anyone actually took Bachmann home, I imagine the scene would look something like this…
OriGuy
I had trouble getting into Mort, but it was the first Pratchett I picked up. I should get back to it one day. I’m still working on Pyramids. I was a third of the way into the book before I got the Doctor Who reference.
I’ve been listening to the Milladoiro CDs I bought from Amazon (through the BJ link, natch!) Galician music from northern Spain, a Celtic and Iberian mix. Here‘s a track with the gaita, the Spanish bagpipe.
Tatuagem do Sydney
@OriGuy:
Bloody hell. What does it say about me that I have read that book four times and NEVER made that connection?
Don’t answer that.
asiangrrlMN
@OriGuy: Very nice music. I’m liking the music tonight.
@Tatuagem do Sydney: Aw, I felt so bad for the capybara. Sniff sniff. Just like I would feel if any of our find friends here at BJ were to be devoured by Bachmann.
TS, that you are as thick as a post? I don’t like Dr. Who, either, so i won’t catch any such references. I did like one doctor. I can’t remember his name, though.
Tatuagem do Sydney
@asiangrrlMN:
Night, fake wife… I am off to the gym for an hour of torment.
(shouldn’t you be in bed?)
AnneW
@Tatuagem do Sydney:
FWIW, I read Hogfather first and had no trouble. It was my favorite Pratchett until I read Going Postal.
Steeplejack
@AhabTRuler:
Agree with you about Card and Anthony. In fact, one of my fears about Pratchett going in–not completely allayed after 110 pages–was that he was sort of in the Piers Anthony zone. Kitschy, maybe, and “It’s all for a laugh, luv.” As for Card, I liked the first Ender books, but then they all but had “franchise series” stamped on them. Ugh.
I just finished Simmons’s Hyperion series a month or two ago. It was pretty good, but there was some heavy sledding at times. One of the books–the second one?–just seemed to drag and drag, and I kept thinking, “Get on with it!” And I thought Endymion (the character–Raul?) was too much of a lunkhead in the last book. But, hey, Simmons held me for the entire run, so I can’t complain too much.
Lately I have been reading some of Iain M. Banks’s Culture novels. Blanking on exact names right now. They’re pretty good.