Back To Work

I got a phone call yesterday from the owner of my "former" place of employment. It seems they are on the verge of re-opening, at least in a limited capacity, and want me to come in and manage that for them. Of course, I am so horribly broke that I will do just that. I don't have all the details yet, beyond the fact that they have an event for MTV booked for the second week of November. No idea what else they have coming up, nor how many hours they want me to put in etc. All of that will impact how much I will need them to compensate me. Also, I plan on making sure that I am paid for any new work that I do immediately. I have a formal meeting with the owner on Tuesday morning and I'm assuming we'll hash all this out to everyone's satisfaction.

I also got an email response from a job listing on Craigslist wanting me to haul my ass out to Stamford, Ct. for a job interview. That is so not going to happen. It's over an hour away, so whatever job they are offering, unless it's a blow job, I don't want it.

I have no plans for Halloween this year. As I was scrubbing the living room this morning I found a Rock and Roll thermal shirt I had cut that I made Jet wear on a couple of cold days last year. I put it on Riley to see if it would fit and he really seemed aggravated by it. I swear, he looked at me like "WTF?" Then he put it in his mouth to try and get it off. When that didn't work he sat on the couch with the collar in his mouth just staring at me until I came and removed it. Then he tried to rip it up. Big surprise.

The Whole Tooth

I did in fact get my ambitious list of "Things To Do" yesterday all completed. You can also add in a trip to the pharmacy and a visit to the Petco in a desperate attempt to find things, besides everything I own, for Riley to chew on. I bought him two large compressed (long-lasting) rawhide bones and he finished the first one in one sitting. Took over an hour though.

I'm thrilled to report that I finally got the entire root canal procedure finished. Finally! In a relatively quick visit, he took off the temporary crown and popped in the permanent replacement. It looks just like all the other teeth in my mouth, but I have to say it feels funny. That tooth was broken and sheared off many many years ago and it feels odd to have a whole tooth there. (Remind me to tell you about the night I broke that tooth off.) I'm also surprised how big and smooth it is when I run my tongue behind it. We also talked about filing down a couple of my front teeth, as I've been obsessing that they are uneven, but my dentist pointed out that I was making something out of nothing and besides, filing down my teeth would leave them sensitive (according to my dentist) to heat and cold for a long time and I hate that. So I will learn to live with my "slightly" uneven teeth. It turns out the root canal procedure took so long that I had to make an appointment for next month to have my 2X a year check-up and cleaning. But then I should be good to go. Had you told me two years ago that I would make/keep my dental appointments as casually as I buy shoes I would have laughed in your face.

Today's schedule is decidedly less ambitious, and there's a much bigger domestic agenda. I have a yoga class to take at 1:15, and the laundry will need to get done. Besides that I've been wanting to empty out the living room and scrub the floors. And Riley is about due for his first bath. That should be an experience.

Busy Day

I went to my first meeting of the Community Advisory Board at the Health Center last night. It was everything I hoped it would be. Frustrating, as people tend to have trouble staying on topic and/or expressing themselves understandably, but I already learned a ton about how things will work and more than I ever thought I could fathom about Medicaid and health insurance and medical administrative terminology. I loved it.

Now I best get showered and changed. As you can see, I'm a real gal about town today.

Broke And Living With A Demon

Yesterday Riley climbed up on a living room chair and upended the glass table sitting off in the corner by the window. Thankfully the glass table top didn't fall but the glass table lamp on top of it most certainly did. All of my sorted mail and papers went flying and broken glass crashed to the floor scattering across the whole room. Riley scampered and dove for cover away landing squarely in my lap as I sat on the couch finishing dinner. I guess I should be happy he views me as protection, despite my urge to beat him senseless. I won't be replacing the lamp anytime soon as I'm almost completely broke.

Last week I inadvertently left for the evening, not noticing I had left several vitamin bottles on the coffee table. By the time I returned he had bitten through a bottle of Fish Oil supplements and finished the two pills at the bottom. He had completely chewed the top off a bottle of iron pills. Those he didn't eat, I'm assuming they tasted bad, but he scattered the pills all over the couch. He had started on a bottle of baby aspirin but I guess I got home before he could do more than chew the label. He has ripped up another futon cover and bitten a hole in another bed sheet.

Oh, and last night when I got home, before the glass table disaster, I found that he had picked up a pouch of Crystal Light lemonade that had fallen on the floor and chewed it open. He scattered the contents all over the sofa.

I had a job interview yesterday morning first thing, and when I arrived across town I felt as if I was spiking a fever. This morning when I woke up, my nose was completely stuffed and I sneezed every 1/2 hour. Something horrible went on in my digestive tract overnight and well ... I needn't elaborate. On the plus side, the man I interviewed with was really nice and obviously pretty sharp and I think I did a great job on the interview. I doubt from what we discussed it will lead to an immediate job offer, but it was good practice and a nice confidence boost.

Last night I had a speaking engagement at a detox ward in a local hospital. My Gay-A home group does an outgoing speaker program at various locations and one of them is in a hospital down the street from me. I met up with the meeting chair and his buddy outside the hospital. We had to sign in at the elevator and then get buzzed in to a locked ward. Detox doesn't necessarily mean only alcohol, so we were speaking to addicts in the general sense, but they were a captive audience. They weren't forced to attend the meeting so some of the patients came and went, but they were all in hospital gowns and most of them looked pretty down and out. The meeting chair was pretty hardcore, with prison stints and heroin use and at least one suicide attempt under his belt, I almost felt like an addiction poser in this crowd, but I guess my story of pissing the bed, mystery injuries and an unrelenting decade of panic attacks and anxiety phobias won them over. Plus I always play the HIV card to add to my world experience cred.

An hour later we got buzzed out and I was heading home to start dinner and whatever fresh hell Riley had in store for me, but at least I wasn't in an open backed hospital gown locked inside a detox ward down the street. I'll live.

Comic Shop Open

I've decided that I really must get rid of my comic book collection. I need the space for some up-coming events (hint), and I'm finding that I curiously feel absolutely no attachement to these comics anymore. I get nothing out of owning them. I never re-read them or go through them except when I'm making yet another attempt to catalogue them. Plus, I desperately need whatever money I can realize from selling them off. So I plan on making a concerted effort to sell them all off in the coming months. I plan on pricing them at what I hope will be a fair and attractive price. Originally, I wanted to try and maximize the profit. Now I just want to make some money and get them out of my house. Whatever I don't sell in the next few months, I guess I will pack up and donate to some kid's charity.

So here's the links to the first bunch of comics up for sale on EBay. There will be many more soon.

Hawk & Dove #1-5 1988 complete series.

Robin III Cry of the Huntress #1-6 1993 complete.

Silver Surfer/Warlock: RESURRECTION #1-4 complete.

War of The Gods #1-4 1991 complete.

Saturday In Review

I had planned on attending/photographing the Halloween Dog Parade at Tompkins Square Park during the afternoon, but with threatening skies and pressed for time I had to 86 that from the agenda. I had/have no plans to dress up Riley for Halloween. I can pretty much guarantee he would bite off and chew up anything I tried to attach to him.

I did manage to hit the gym for a cardio workout. My feet and left ankle are still really bothering me but I'm trying to stay active despite the pain. Besides, I rarely feel the soreness during the actual workout. I'm assuming it's endorphins or some such. It's only first thing in the morning and after really long walks that the pain is really extreme. I've read a posting on The Body.com that fish oil supplements can be very beneficial in alleviating inflammation, particularly in joints and tendons, so I started taking a big dose of supplements twice a day. No improvement so far.

Saturday afternoon I walked over to Washington Square Park to a church on the south side. The 12th St. Workshop, which is my Gay-A home group was having an anniversary meeting/dinner/dance and I had volunteered to help with the set-up as well as the food service if needed. It was really familiar to me as it was pretty much like getting ready for the hundreds of events I've set up and run over the years. Once I got a sense of what the agenda for the event was going to be I just got busy arranging 100+ meeting chairs and then the buffet service tables and then tables and seating for dinner. It only took about an hour and a half. After that I helped hang a few last minute decorations and then sat down in a chair and nodded off for about 10 minutes. (Riley woke me up a bit early in the morning.)

We had a Gay-A meeting to start. Instead of the usual beginning they had everyone stand as they called out varying lengths of sobriety. You had to sit when your sober time was called, until the long-term sober vets were all that was left. They stopped at 25 years when only one man was standing. He had 38 years sober, and I still see him at meetings at least twice a week. Needless to say, at under two years I sat early. But not first! Three people spoke at the meeting, and I got a lot out of it, as I do when I'm receptive to things. I'm not always so generous of spirit. Last week I almost called everyone at a meeting I went to self-centered assholes. But I've been learning when I'm that annoyed at everyone, it's probably me who needs to be checked.

After the meeting, they opened up the buffet and I helped clear all the chairs from the meeting floor so they would have a dance floor for later. The food line was pretty long and I abhor standing in a long line waiting for food. It just feels really Oliver Twist/Government Cheese to me and I get very uncomfortable. So I skipped dinner and helped clean up the kitchen and re-stock the bottled water and canned sodas. I played to my strengths. Once it seemed that dinner was under control I grabbed my bag and left. I had no desire to attend the dance, I knew Riley was waiting, and I was in fact hungry. Just not hungry enough to stand in line.

So I headed home and got caught in a torrential rainstorm. I finally got back to my apartment soaked from the knees down and changed in to some comfy dry sweats. I heated up some leftover pork chops and mashed potatoes, and shortly after I ate, the rain stopped and Riley got a nice walk in a light drizzle.

You. Go. Miss. Girrrrrrrrrrrl!

Seriously fabulous.

Long Winded

The court appearance turned out to be a non-event. I arrived on time at the courtroom and within a minute or two they called my name and I met up with the corporate lawyer. We both waited for the owner to show, and once he did we had a meeting in the hallway with the attorney representing the city. After a few questions back and forth between the owner and "our" lawyer and the city's, they agreed to have the appearance re-scheduled for mid-December. The thinking being that they would have their permits and repairs in order by then and some, if not all the infractions would be mitigated and/or dismissed. I believe the only one potentially inconvenienced by this plan was me. File this under unresolved.

I did learn, surprisingly, that the owner and his partners still plan on re-opening the venue. He claims they are still awaiting more inspections and permits and that it would be a matter of weeks. Of course, that's exactly what he said a matter of weeks past. And in the interim I found out that my immediate boss, the Operations Manager, stopped coming in to work because he hadn't been paid in almost two months. So I was surprised when the owner said they would be calling me "soon" to gather up whatever staff is still available and hire new employees to open as a private event space (for now). It kind of puts me in the middle as far as loyalties go, and I admit I'm baffled as to the course of action, considering they supposedly have events booked in November, and it's almost the end of October. Either way, before I accept a returning position we will have to come to some agreement (possibly in writing) as to when and how I get paid. The minute that does not come to pass I am out the door.

I do have some other news. Some of it potentially off the chain but unfortunately I feel it's too soon to do more than tease you with it. But I am kind of pleased to report I've been accepted on to the Community Advisory Board at the Callen-Lorde Community Health Center. It sounds impressive (doesn't it?) but the reality is they meet up to 9 times a year, basically one Tuesday a month with the summer off, and discuss ... well, I assume, community health issues for LGBT and HIV+ people. Plus, I hear there's pizza. So maybe not so earth shattering (as some of my other news *snicker*), but still, I'm kind of excited to be doing a little bit to affect my people's well-being and pay it forward a little bit, considering how well taken care of I've been the last few years.

And to make a long post longer, I did indeed beg off the Boot Camp sessions. Not that I had agreed to anything beyond the first week. I just cried poor and said I would be in touch, should that change dramatically. Which was true. Although to tell the whole truth, while I was sore as shit from that first session, part of the reason for that was that the class had no warm-up or stretching before the session nor any post work-out cool down. Well, beyond a perfunctory (big word!) stretch in the beginning that was more like, why bother? Granted, the class was only an hour, but in my opinion, the sign of a trainer that really knows and cares about a client, particularly one that's not in top shape, as we all weren't, lies in how much attention he pays to minimizing soreness and potential injury. This trainer went immediately in to a routine. Besides, some of it involved jumping on little colored circles and rolling under rope and nonsense with those teeny orange traffic cones and I hate that shit. So true to my earlier post I took a yoga class at my gym on Tuesday night, and while I am pathetically horrid at yoga poses, I took my place off in the corner with several other "yoga retards" and worked up a helluva sweat. And by the end of it most of the soreness in my lower back and legs had evaporated. Plus I was all dreamy and centered and feeling all kinds of peace, love and granola afterward. But there was no pizza.

This N' That (2)

Still looking for a job.

But I have extended my search to include bartending and I'm prepared to get more than one job to make ends meet if I have to. Why the change? The economy being in the shitter for one. Also, the influences in my life from Gay-A as well. The "old" me would have never even considered "going back" to bartending. And believe me, it's not something I want to do into my 50's. But I need work, I need money, and I really need to get my credit balance paid down. Bartending is a quick route to that. Particularly since this time (higher power willing) I won't be spending my money back across some other bar after every shift.

And between the current state of the job market and my new found sense of humility, I no longer consider myself too good for any job. It's more important to me that I get the bills paid, as long as it's an honest living. What I do isn't so important, at least for now.

I've also unfortunately had to re-think my decision to take that "Boot Camp" course I started last week. I've had a chance to budget money and bills for the next two weeks and I'll be living on about $100 per. Spending 1/4 of that on an unnecessary luxury I already can find as part of my current gym membership is just stupid. There's a yoga class tomorrow at 8:00 pm at my gym. And while yoga is no boot camp, it does make me feel great afterward and it won't cost me 25 bucks. Boot camp is officially off the agenda.

What's on the agenda for now is an early morning trip to court first thing tomorrow. I'm meeting the restaurant/nightclub owner and his lawyer at 9:30am so we can all cool our heels waiting to answer the first round of summonses from that awful inspection in August. I'll be bringing a pile of newspapers and some crossword puzzles. Sometimes they make you sit for hours.

Plus, I have to get up at 7:30 in order to get cleaned up and get the dog walked before I go. Best get to bed.

Um, I Don't Think So

I Can See!

Picked up my new glasses this afternoon. I plan on stretching out in bed in a little bit and watching some TV while I fall asleep. A luxury I've had to do without the past couple of weeks. And if a certain dog makes the mistake of chewing up this pair you can be sure you'll find his bloody carcass dangling from my fire escape.

I'm trying to make good use of my time off while I search for a new position. So sometime last week I got an e-mail offering an 8 week "boot camp" training course designed to challenge you physically, and hopefully in my case, help me drop a couple of pounds of ice cream fat. Plus, this particular offer came with a generous 1/2 off the training price for people with HIV. Is there no end to the benefits of being ravaged by this virus? Apparently not.

So even though I really can't afford the $25 per session fee right now, I couldn't resist signing up. It just means I can't really do any gratuitous shopping and no thrift stores for the duration. Come to think of it I may have made a bad deal.

At any rate, yesterday was the first session and now I can barely walk. My upper body isn't that sore but my abs are tender and my legs are like two sand filled sacks dangling from my waist. It's all I can do to shuffle in to the kitchen for a bowl of mint chocolate chip.

Cool Tech Restaurant & Alpha Dog

Intriguing news of a new Asian-fusion restaurant/lounge freshly opened in London. Inamo features projectors built in to the ceiling above 2,4 and 6 top tables. Customers have interactive touch panels to order food and drinks, and can change their E-cloths (gag) to one of seven available choices, as well as scroll through the menu. Each interactive table is capable of running games and ordering up taxi service. The waiters apparently answer questions and coddle technoboobs.



I took Riley to Madison Square dog run Sunday morning. He had a fantastic time running and wrestling with the other pooches. I did have to repeatedly pull him off of a Schnauzer he had become enamored with and couldn't stop with the Humpty-Hump. He is still humping, particularly when he gets over stimulated, but he generally doesn't bother the little dogs anymore, which was what was freaking out other owners. We had been there well over 1/2 hour and I had taken up a space on a wrap-around tree bench while Riley walked around and mostly sniffed some butt.

At some point a pair of long-haired Labs had come in, and after taking the obligatory sniff, Riley opted to assume the position on one. At which point the other dog's owner, a seemingly grown man at least my age, suddenly started grabbing Riley to throw him off while he screeched like a woman: NOOOOOO! MY DOG IS AN ALPHA DOG!!! HE WILL ATTACK!!

Seriously. Those were his exact words and he practically wailed them.

He didn't hurt Riley and all I said was "wow". Everyone sort of stopped and stared at the man while he regained his composure. Riley had no idea anything had occurred so as calmly as could be, but with an appropriate hint of sarcasm I called him over:

"Come here, Riley. You don't want to upset the Alpha Dog." Some of the other owners snickered and one woman called Riley over to give him a pat and re-assure him:

"You didn't do anything wrong."

The crazy screechy dog man muttered something under his breath, and I hung out with Riley for an extra 10 minutes just to aggravate him further. Had I thought of it at the time I would have walked over without a word and peed on him.

I'm the Alpha Dog that will attack.

AIDS Vigil

Here's a photo I don't think I ever put up. It's a shot from an AIDS vigil during Gay Pride week in 2006. There was a gospel choir and memorial in the middle of Sheridan Square before a candelight march down Christopher St. to the waterfront.

Apropos Of Nothing

As I mentioned previously, I signed up tonight to take a speaking commitment at a Gay-A detox group out of a local hospital. It's two weeks from tomorrow so I have plenty of time to obsess about it and convince myself I will stink it up.

I also broke down and ordered a new pair of glasses, even though I really can't afford them. Cujo decided to demolish my reading glasses one night last week, and by reading glasses, I mean the pair I need to get out of bed in the morning and find my feet. Blind as a bat I am without them and I don't always feel like putting in my lenses first thing. Plus, I like to put my glasses on at the end of the night before bed to watch TV and rest my eyes. So I juggled some credit while I have any left and ordered a replacement. They wanted to charge me over $600 until I explained I needed glasses to be able to get up in the middle of the night and pee, and I didn't require glasses with laser beam stud finders and a built in GPS navigation system that will also Google up a restaurant reservation and start your car. I ended up escaping with a $240 tab and I feel lucky for it.

Earlier this week I sent my mom a couple of pictures. One was of Riley, just so she could see what he looked like, and the other was a shot I had taken a few years ago of my brother and neice. It was at sundown along the rocks of a small town waterfront. They are partly in shadow and my brother has his arm around my neice. There's a single boat off in the distance and a little duck in the water next to them. I absolutely love it, and that's all that really matters. Still, I wasn't so sure my mom or anyone would see what I did. So I was strangely thrilled when my mom genuinely thanked me for the picture and gushed:

"You could take pictures professionally, I think."

I realize that's my mom talking, but she's not given to random bursts of encouragement. So to my ears it was a ringing endorsement. And it's not lost on me that even at my advanced years, apparently a compliment and approval from my mommy still can make me feel good all day.

Saturday Morning

A rare moment of calm here at From The Ashes HQ. The TV isn't on nor the radio, there are church bells ringing 11 am somewhere downtown. Mr. Riley is napping in the sun that is spilling across my bed, as he patiently waits for his morning walk and some food.

I've been actively looking for work, not counting on my previous employer to ever get their shit together enough to re-open. I am still in contact with them however, as I have some court appearances to make in response to the summonses they were hit with back in August. Even though I'm not technically responsible for any of it, some of the summonses were written directly to me, in order to ensure that they were answered. I guess that worked. So I have a court appearance in two weeks and another in November. That should be it.

The job search is tedious, and with the economy in the toilet it's kind of tricky. The jobs haven't completely dried up, but hiring has slowed. It's an inevitable fact of life that people need to eat and go out in New York so there will always be a need for people to run the nightclubs and restaurants. It's also true that right now, people are vary wary of just quitting their jobs with nothing to fall back on. And there have been many reports of new venues scrapping their openings or scaling back the size. This makes my job search more difficult. I'm at a point in my career where I can't really take any old restaurant job. I've sort of specialized, and pigeonholed myself, as someone who runs fairly large, very high volume venues. I need a lot of activity and the chance to multi-task, to work in different areas and have a lot of responsibilities. Otherwise I get bored, then crabby, then pretty apathetic. A little 80 seat restaurant in Hell's Kitchen that gets 10 tables for lunch then a really busy theater rush is not a challenge for me and not a job that I would be successful in for very long.

I've been going to a lot of Gay-A meetings while I've been off. A lot. Not that I feel particularly like I would drink, but I read a great book recently by David Carr called The Night of the Gun. It's a pretty good read not just about addiction and recovery but also about memory, and how an individual's recollection of the time and severity of any particular event can be colored, and frequently remade, to suit that person's emotional or psychological needs. In any case, Mr. Carr relates on more than one occasion that it's never a good idea for an alcoholic to spend too much time alone. An alcoholic with only himself to be with is hanging out in a very bad neighborhood. That's paraphrasing, but it's the idea. So I go to several Gay-A meetings every week instead of one or two. I make sure I raise my hand to talk often. I'm also looking for a new sponsor, admittedly not very hard but I'm looking. And I'll be speaking at a detox meeting at one of the local hospitals, possibly as early as Monday.

Beyond that, I've been spending a lot of time hanging out again in parks and the dog runs. I'm working out regularly and I think I lost about 5 pounds. I never worry too much about actual weight, more the appearance, and the appearance is still pretty flabby. I've taken to comparing myself to other men that seem to be close in age to me and I feel like I'm somewhere in between ridiculously overweight, and in good shape for my age. I would certainly like to move towards the good shape side, but at least I don't have back hair and my underwear fits. Seriously, what's up with the ripped up saggy drawers when you pass 45?

Shits N' Giggles

A literal video re-creation of the classic 80's a-ha video Take on Me. Pretty funny.

See more funny videos at Funny or Die

Indestructible My Ass

Here is a picture of the "virtually indestructible" rubber dog bone I bought for Riley. I gave it to him around 3:00 this afternoon and snapped this picture around 7:30. This is after I took it from him twice to give him a break and also took him out for a walk. So I would say he was working on it for two hours, tops. Fortunately, the checkout at Petco scanned it for a much cheaper price than it was supposedly selling for, or I'd be really pissed instead of simply dismayed that my dog is obviously Bionic. Which is totally cool, as I was always running around the neighborhood as a young gay-let imagining how much I would love to be Jaime Sommers, and of course, I always wanted my own Max.





UPDATE: Steve, the first part of that video post is indeed from the original Bionic Dog episode. Jaime finds out that Max is in a research hospital where Dr. Rudy Wells informs her that Max is rejecting his bionics. In reality, he has a traumatic fear of fire and is also depressed being stuck in a cage. Sensing this, Jaime busts Max out of his cage and they jump out the window and across the field for a super slo-mo bionic run. This is the origin of my desire for a bionic dog. And I am completely embarrassed to admit I didn't have to look any of this up.

U.S.A.! U.S.A.!

CDC says 1.1 million Americans infected with HIV.

Go Team!

The CDC estimated that about one in five -- 232,700 of the 1.1 million people infected with the human immunodeficiency virus that causes AIDS -- did not know they were infected.

What's The Point Of A Congressional Mandate?

The Department of Homeland Security announces "streamlined" waiver applications for HIV+ travelers wishing to enter the US. This despite a congressional order to remove HIV as a barrier to travel.

- via Immigration Equality:

Three months after Congress voted to repeal the ban on HIV-positive travelers to the U.S., the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced yesterday that it has issued regulations which purport to “streamline” the waiver application process for HIV-positive short-term visitors. The move comes nearly two years after President Bush directed the agency to streamline the process and fails to follow Congress’ mandate to end the ban.

.The timing of these regulations is deeply troubling.

.In July, Congress issued a bipartisan message to this Administration – remove HIV as a barrier to travel and immigration. Instead of simply ending the HIV travel ban, the administration is again treating HIV differently from any other medical condition.

.Under the new rules, a short-term traveler must meet twelve stringent criteria that impose unnecessary burdens on HIV-positive travelers and continue to stigmatize those living with HIV. Some criteria are inconsistent with current medical knowledge of HIV transmission and treatment.

.Additionally, a traveler who avails him- or herself of the waiver must give up the right to apply for a green card from within the United States – even if he or she marries a U.S. citizen. By DHS’s own account, the “streamlining” provided by this rule simply shaves off eighteen days in processing time by allowing Department of State consular officers to make decisions on waivers without sending them to DHS for approval.

.We are on the eve of lifting this ban once and for all. Why is the Administration setting new waiver requirements in stone now? The time has come for this Administration to finish the job that Congress started this summer. It’s time to lift the HIV ban.

Now That I'm Sick I Feel Better

No wonder I was so run down and out of sorts the last couple of days. Turns out I caught a cold. I woke up yesterday before my dental appointment with a scratchy throat. I assumed I had been snoring, but it stayed with me well in to the afternoon and as the day went on my head clogged up and I started spiking a fever. Today I have a cough and chest congestion and I've had a fever off and on all day.

But here's the thing, I actually feel better. Now that I know I'm sick I don't feel all worn out and old, just ill. And that makes me feel better.

Speaking of not feeling good, here's a sobering look at something a lot of people jam down their throats far too often. A nutritionist/wellness consultant (?) has put up this picture:



The McDonalds burger on the right (off the paper) is a 2008 burger bought for this photograph. The burger on the left was also bought at McDonalds ... 12 years ago !! It was not preserved in anything other than a plastic sandwich container. There is no mold, no degrading of the bun and no change in the burger other than a reported "odd smell". That's because McDonalds really isn't food. It's a collection of chemicals shaped and treated to resemble food. And it's no damn good for you.