Sim Natzi's

Dad & I got into a discussion today about The Sims & Sim City. I was arguing that it was a good tool in the teaching of city planning... If more city planners utilized it to plan their cities they could plan cities that could function "perfectly".

This discussion arose due to a walk along busy Hespeler Rd. Wherein I commented that the walk would be nicer if it were through a forest or a park and not alongside a busy highway. I commented that if I could re-build the city as well as one can in Sim City I could make it perfect because I could design it the way a city should function. All the people who were like-minded about city design could then come live in my city.

I commented on how in the game Sim City everyone can design cities that are perfect and that they can make them as they feel they should function. Dad pointed out that they weren't actually the way people wanted them... They were the way the creators of Sim City deigned them to want them. The game functions within the parameters of the designers design, one can only do what the creators allow us to do through the programming of the game.

Sim City lets people make a world in which they can create the world to be exactly as they always dreamed it to be... Within the parameters of the game.... Rather ironic isn't it?

Song of the Week

"How Do you Do?" - Mouth & Macneal

Once I said I wanted you
I don't remember why
I often wonder if it's true
That you could make me cry
I only know it's long ago
You said I love you too
But I got one solution that
We're gonna start anew

How do you do
Mm Mm
I thought
Wa-na Na-na Na-na
Just me and you
And then we can
Na-na Na-na
Just like before
And you will say
Na-na Na-na
Please give me more
And you will think
Na-na Na-na
Hey that's what I'm living for

How do you do
Uh huh
I thought
Why na Na-na
Just me and you
And then we can
Na-na Na-na
Just like before
And you will say
Na-na Na-na
Please give me more
And you will think
Na-na Na-na
Hey that's what I'm living for

Once I said I wanted you
And I remember why
I often wonder if it's true
You still can make me cry
And now it's not so long ago
You said I love you true
'Cause I had one solution left
And that's we start anew

How do you do
Uh huh
I thought
Wa-na Na-na
Just me and you
And then we can
Na-na Na-na
Just like before
And you will say
Na-na Na-na
Please give me more
And you will think
Na-na Na-na
Hey that's what I'm living for

How do you do
Uh huh
I thought
By na Na-na
Just me and you
And then we can
Na-na Na-na
Just like before
And you will say
Na-na Na-na
Please give me more
And you will think
Na-na Na-na
Hey that's what I'm living for

How do you do
Uh-huh
La-la-la-la...
Hey that's what I'm living for

How do you do
La-la
La-la La-la-la-la-la...


http://www.oldielyrics.com/lyrics/mouth_and_macneal/how_do_you_do.html

Family Portraits

It occured to me today that if I were to get a family portrait with my entire family in it it would more closely resemble a team photo than a family one. Not because I have all that many siblings... but because I have that many parents. I'm up to 6 now... and 5 siblings and about 8 sets of grandparents... LOL... So much for a "nice, normal family" and "a mom, dad and 2.5 children"!!

Ostrich eggs

Random Facts 'bout Ostrich eggs:

* One ostrich egg is equal to 20 to 24 large chicken eggs

* An ostrich egg weighs about 3 pounds (1,360g)

* It would take roughly 40 minutes to hard-boil an ostrich egg

* Produce 40-70 eggs per year

* An ostrich egg shell retails for approx. $20 USD, it can go as high as $200 USD if painted

* Raw ostrich eggs run about $50 USD


More on ostriches:
http://www.hormel.com/templates/knowledge/knowledge.asp?catitemid=2&id=187
http://www.wildoats.com/redesign/hn.php?org=wildoats&ContentID=1747001
http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/poulsci/tech_manuals/ostrich.html
http://www.ext.nodak.edu/extpubs/alt-ag/ostrich.htm
http://azostrich.com/miva/merchant.mv?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=AZO&Category_Code=E_BLOWN
http://www.spyglassgifts.com/products_list.php/info2/Ostrich%20Eggs
http://www.efendos.com/ostricheggs.html
http://www.ostrichesonline.com/shop/cat?cmd=search&category=photo&type=ostrich&subtype=egg

In the Hood of Hamilton

So today I found myself in "the hood" of Hamilton. Dad, Thressa & I went to the Farmer's Market there and then walked to this really good Japanese type restaurant for Ramen bowls for lunch. On the way there we came up to a stop sign and a police car went by... At that same moment a car backfired sounding very much like a gunshot and a car-full of black guys listening to rap music pulled up beside up... If only they had some blind & hydraulics I'd swear I was in L.A.

Reality TV

Did it ever occur to you that the amount of time people spend watching reality TV is directly prportionate to the amount of time they could spend living real life?


" The degree to which a blog is based in reality is inversely proportionate to the degree it emphasizes the "reality-based" meme." - Richard Nokes

Karaoke

My family plays this game that we've played for... well... ever, the players have changed over the years as we've added and subtracted to our family but the game has stayed the same.

We all gather 'round the computers and pick MP3's to sing along with, we then all search the lyrics out and sing along... it's kind of dorky, but oh so fun. :P Over the years we've subjecated various friends to this game, some go for it, others not so much, but it remains a favourite for my boo, my mum & I.

Common fare on our karaoke nights includes:

"Paradise By the Dashboard Lights" - Meatloaf
"Playground in my Mind" - BJ Thomas
"Patricia the Stripper" - Chris de Burgh
"Cryin'" - Aerosmith
"November Rain" - Guns 'n Roses
"Summer Nights" - Olivia Newton John
"Reason to Believe" - Rod Stewart
"Shambala" - Three Dog Night
"How Do You Do" - Mouth & Macneal
"Don't Stop Believin'" - Journey
When You Say Nothing At All" - Allison Kraus

DDR Part ?

So I played DDR with Boo today, we stole Ty's PS2 while he was at work and hooked it up down here in the kitchen to play. I played against Boo & Steve and it was loads of fun, but I sucked at it!

I was so disappointed at how badly I did, I seriously need to work my butt off at it when I get back to Lethy and get back my skills! No work and no play make Amby a dull girl. :(

Country Music

In the past year or so I have taken a real shine to country music, next to Christian music it's my favourite genre at the moment. Well actually let me re-phrase, it's not my favourite genre but Country 95.5 is my second favourite radio station after Shine FM 97.1. Also if I'm online I listen to accuradio.com and more specifically the AccuCountry station. For any of you who read my livejournal you'll also note that many of my "music" choices for the day are country songs.

So why is this middle-class city girl from Ontario so interested in country music all of a sudden? Well I'm glad you asked. The reason is two-fold. The first part is that I believe in subliminal messaging, not all creepy like the government-is-out-to-get-me, but within reason like you can lose weight by listening to tapes or if you believe a medication will make you better it probably will. (As an aside to this I believe a ton of societies problems could be solved by people being less neurotic, but I'll leave that for another day.) On the subliminal notion I feel that the music you listen to affects your mood positively or negatively and as I have lessened vision I feel my sense of hearing is more acute That many people's, sometimes after I listen to the radio I hum tunes that I didn't even know I'd heard that day until I start humming them. So I think about all the hard-metal crap with its depressing lyrics and vulgar language and I don't feel I need that going into my head subliminally when I'm not specifically monitoring my content. Country music, although some of the topics are harsh, is rarely outright vulgar or depressing.

Going on that theme of non-depressing music brings up my second point. Country music is also often honouring to God. Either the songs outright speak of God or allude to Him. They often tell stories of God saving or acting out miracles or the like. I find them uplifting for my soul. When I turn on Christian music I know it will be God-honouring by its very nature but when I turn on country music it's a pleasant surprise to hear about God.

Quarters

My dad is a coin collector, every year he gets the yearly prints of the coins delivered to him in their special little books directly from the mint. I've always thought dad's stamps to be very cool.

In my older years I've started a bit of a collection of my own, nothing fancy. My main priority is Canadian quarters. I want to get a hold of every Canadian quarter they've minted that were more special than the typical Caribou on one side, Queen on the other. To date there are 45 minted without a caribou/queen combo. I have all but 2 of them!

The first I don't have is the one that was in circulation prior to 1936 so that's gonna be a toughie to find. The 2nd is one minted in 1967 with a picture of a bobcat on it, I've never even seen one of these coins. I have the entire 1992 province set in a frame on a map that was given to me from dad so they are minted, but the rest, including the entire '99 set, '00 set, Veterans coins (2) and centennial coins (2) I have gotten through sorting change.

That was the goal actually, to get them all through change sorting. I think it's really neat to have minted coins but it's way harder to collect them all yourself! I'm quite proud of my quarters, and yes I realize how extremely dorky that is! :P

http://www.mint.ca/royalcanadianmintpublic/index.aspx?requestedPath=/en-CA/Home/default.htm

U of W Library

I went up to the library at the University of Waterloo today and as I walked in I was trying to recall the last time I had been in that particular building. I believe it to be in around grade 10 or 11 when I was part of the Fed/Prov Simulation team at my high school. Fed/Prov is this club where schools are gathered together in a Canadian government simulation with each school representing a province, a school representing the federal government and schools representing the press. If a school had too many members to all be ministers to their province they could be deputy ministers.

So anyways I was in this for two years. I was a deputy minister the first year and full minister the next year. The one year (when I was a deputy) we (fellow deputies and myself) got quite bored with the whole game as their is very little for deputies to do. We decided to make a tabloid newspaper instead. My friends and I created this one page 'newspaper" and put it out to the press... It was very risque, biting and controversial and if they had found out it was us we would have gotten in a lot of trouble. It was awesome.

So in conclusion the last time I was in the U of W library was when we were searching for a photocopier to photocopy this paper with for distribution. LOL

Oh and as an aside: I remember last time I was there how mature and old all the guys seemed and how much I wanted one of them to give me a second glance. Well today I was in there and I thought how young they all were and how if any of them gave me a second glance I'd be too old for them. LOL How times change!! :P

Song of the Week

"Must Be Doing Something Right" - Billy Currington

A woman is a mystery
A man just cant understand
Sometimes all it takes to please her
Is the touch of your hand
N' Other times you got to take it slow
And hold her all night long
Heaven knows there's so many ways
A man can go wrong

*Chorus*
Must be doin' somethin' right
I just heard ya sigh
N' Lean into my kiss
And close those deep blue need to eyes
Don't know what I did
To earn a love like this
But baby I must be doin' somethin' right

Anywhere you wanna go
Baby show me the way
I'm open to suggestions
Mmm whatever you say
Tonight's about givin' you what you want
Whatever it takes
Girl I hope i'm on the right road
Judgin by the smile on your face

*Chorus* (2X)
Must be doin' somethin' right
I just heard ya sigh
N' Lean into my kiss
And close those deep blue need to eyes
Don't know what I did
To earn a love like this
But baby I must be doin' somethin' right

Geeks In Love

K so y'all have to check out this video... It's too funny!!!

http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/295165

New Journal

Hey all, just wanted to let y'all know I've started a blog at livejournal as well. It's gonna be for my more day-to-day journally stuff that I don't post here or on my drelwin livejournal.

As it is many of my friends were complaining that I don't talk about my day-to-day update kind of stuff in either of my journals so I've started a new one.

My other livejournal I post mostly jokes, fwds & quizes on, it can be found here:
http://drelwin.livejournal.com

My new livejournal with daily day-to-day update kind of mundane life stuff can be found here:
http://ambeebear.livejournal.com

Also I made a pictures website... you can access it here:
http://photos.yahoo.com/drel_dragon

Oh and while I'm posting random webpages... LOL Here's my Geocities homepage (although I haven't updated it in about a year):
http://www.geocities.com/drel_dragon

My Piczo webpage that is overtly random:
http://www.piczo.com/amby

Also I bought a domain... but as my server is down (due to my monitor not working) can be found here:
http://www.drelwin.com

I'm hoping to have all the above links hooked to my domain as soon as I get my monitor up and running again and get back to Lethy.

Oh and I got an IMDB account thingy so you can see my list of movies there... It's not organized or anything yet... but you can take a look and see what I like to watch LOL:
http://www.imdb.com/mymovies/list?l=17496260

Change of Plans

Hey all, FYI... I just wanted to let y'all know that I won't be back to Lethy until March 1st. Sorry all... Airmiles will only let you book tickets round-trip and you can't book the second half as open-ended... and since I flew out with Aeroplan I only need one way. LOL

Hamsters Part 8

So bad news on the hamsters. Gerbil passed away this morning. Mark called min Ontario to tell me that he went to feed them and Gerbil didn't get up for food like Mouse did. Gerbil probably died in his sleep, but Mark said he had an odd lump on his leg. I'm sad but dwarf hamsters are only s'posed to live 1-3 years and 3 years is a stretch. I have no idea how old Mouse & Gerbil were when I got them 'cuz they were the original two from the pet store. So that is very sad. :(

Oh and also none of the babies made it... they all died, so we're to four hamsters again. :(

Quote of the Day

"Oh great my fate's in the hands of a four-year-old who has seven other imaginary friends." - Elizabeth "Just Like Heaven"

Uses for the Internet Part 2

K So I ordered Swiss Chalet for supper tonight over the internt... A bit more complex than the Pizza 73, to order with Swiss Chalet you have to create an account on the website and then place your order. It doesn't require a credit card though so that's one nice thing. :)

Food took 'bout an hour to arrive. It was delicious!!

V-Day

Happy Valentine's Day to y'all out there. Or as some of you prefer to recognize it as Single's Awareness Day (SAD Day). I hope you all had a good one! I spent mine with my sister, the perfect valentine! YAY.
So Happy V-Day to all the boys and girls in my life! To you in AB I miss you tons and to you in ON I hope to see y'all soon!

Song of the Week

"You're Beautiful" - James Blunt

My life is brilliant.

My life is brilliant.
My love is pure.
I saw an angel.
Of that I'm sure.
She smiled at me on the subway.
She was with another man.
But I won't lose no sleep on that,
'Cause I've got a plan.

You're beautiful. You're beautiful.
You're beautiful, it's true.
I saw your face in a crowded place,
And I don't know what to do,
'Cause I'll never be with you.

Yeah, she caught my eye,
As we walked on by.
She could see from my face that I was,
Flying high, [ - video/radio edited version]
Fucking high, [ - CD version]
And I don't think that I'll see her again,
But we shared a moment that will last till the end.

You're beautiful. You're beautiful.
You're beautiful, it's true.
I saw your face in a crowded place,
And I don't know what to do,
'Cause I'll never be with you.

You're beautiful. You're beautiful.
You're beautiful, it's true.
There must be an angel with a smile on her face,
When she thought up that I should be with you.
But it's time to face the truth,
I will never be with you.

IKEA Test

I used to go to Bible college in Three Hills, as most off all y'all know. Well the girls there were very... Domestic to say the least. To impress a Prairie (Prairie Bible College) boy a girl would bake him cookies or offer to hem his trousers, anything to show off her domestic or motherly skills. The Prairie boys likewise tried to show how handy and masculine they were by playing sports and ripping clothes, getting cuts and the like.
More times than I can count I overheard conversations in the dining hall between two people obviously interested in one another where the boy was bragging about some accident or injury he had undergone and the girl telling of how she would have bandaged and cared for him had she been there. LOL It was really quite surreal for a 90's girl like me. :P

That being said I would like to tell you about "The IKEA Test". This was honestly a test a Prairie girl would put a potential husband through before she would even consider marrying him. In many cases before she would even consider going steady with him.

So a Prairie girl would invite a boy to go to IKEA with her on a Saturday afternoon. They would go to Calgary, usually as a group with friends, but once at IKEA the group would split leaving the girl and guy alone in the store. The test would then begin. The test was a cross between testing endurance and domestic skill. The girl would start up a conversation about some random piece of furniture questioning the boy on style, colour, placement, etc. If he went along with this she would then begin to "daydream" about what she would like in "her" house someday and what he thought of all her plans. If he went along with this she would begin to question him about what he would have in "his" house someday.

The boy, to pass the test, would have to endure this for upwards of three hours, in all departments of the store. He would have to have similar tastes to the girl and show active participation in her game and not just "put up" with her throughout the store.

Quite a fun test though. You'd be amazed how many futures of relationships were decided based on IKEA. :P LOL

Sparkle Banners

So Boo & I found a site that lets you make banners and then another site that lets you add sparkles! So here's some banners we made....

Here's the linky's to make your own banners...
Instructions
Banner Generator
Image Magick
Sparkles:
http://www.wtv-zone.com/aylana/bringontheglitter/bringontheglitter-1.html
http://www.lalaalyssa.com/aly/AGlitterFills.html

Zuma

Started playing this obsessive game yesterday. Actually the whole family been playing it for awhile now... But as I just got home I was just introduced to it. It's called Zuma. It's sort of a puzzle game. There are balls that a frog spits out that you have to match to like-coloured balls that are running along a ramp on the screen. You have to make all the ramp balls disappear by hitting them and matching at least three-in-a-row with the frog balls before the sun (who sits at the end of the track) eats them. Yes I realize how odd that sounds LOL but that's the premise of the game.

There are 13 levels in all and each level has multiple stages (between 6-10). Mumby beat level 13 today and it was quite exciting! She was so thrilled although the ending is kind of anti-climactic, but I won't ruin it for y'all. LOL

Apparently Ty plays and swears like a trucker, Boo screeches when she loses a level and Hindy & Mumby have selected curse words and screams of frustration. It's really quite funny to watch them all play, almost more amusing than playing myself. :P

I got to level 6 today. I hope to beat the game here soon... LOL
So I bet y'all wanna try it out huh? K well here's a linky to the trial version... We had to "unlock" ours by somewhat devious means... But you'll have to figure that out for yourself ;)

http://games.yahoo.com/games/downloads/zu.html

Missing DDR disk!

So a great tragedy occurred in my world today. Boo and I covertly snuck into Ty's room to appropriate his PS2 only to find out the DDR disk was left in Alberta!!!

So I used up half my suitcase bringing home my two dance pads and the case for the DDR game was empty! Which means either the game is in my PS2 in AB or else sitting beside it... As is often the case. :( I was quite horrified to find this out!

So Mark better mail it to me or the world may end.... LOL

Home Again!!

I made it home safe and sound and I'm able to connect to the internet! YAY It so happens that my family has a wireless network running and they didn't even know it. :P So I just popped in ye olde network card and was able to surf, best part being the net even works in my dungeon of a room. LOL So if any of you need me I should be on msn and I can check e-mail regularly. :)

The flights were both good, here's a pic I took from the little 18-seater that flies from Lethbridge to Calgary.

I wasn't able to get any pics on the next flight from Calgary to Toronto 'cuz I didn't have a window seat. It's a shame too 'cuz the sunset tonight was absolutely gorgeous from the plane. I considered asking the guy in the window to snap a few pics with my camera but him and his buddy traveling with him spoke German and very little English so I really think the language barrier would've been too great. LOL C'est la vive.

anyways here's my family at the airport! YAY my family!! :D

I'm Going Home!

Hey all,
I'm off to Ontario for a few weeks. I'm leaving tomorrow morning and I won't be back 'til February 27th. I'll have e-mail and msn at home and I'm bringing my cell so if y'all need me you can still get a hold of me.
I'll try to post, but if my postings are more sporadic now y'all know why.
love y'all tons!
- Amby

Hamsters Part 7

GP & CC had another litter. There were nine babies. I never did separate them as I said I would after last time. The reason is that I have not had the money to get a new cage and CC & Kuskus fight too much to co-habitate and putting GP with Kus wouldn't solve the mating problem. LOL

So I left them together and lo-and-behold last night another litter was born. Mark didn't tell me 'til this morning due to the horrible cannibalistic tendencies of the last time. They all seem to be okay though today. Well not exactly. There are six in the litter and one died, but the other five are doing very well!

So in a few weeks we have to sex all the hamsters and SEPARATE them. LOL (I've now reached my limit as Mark said I could have 9 hamsters and the babies brings me up to 10)

I also have to think up five more rodent names... Any suggestions?

btw: baby hamsters look funny and kinda gross! :P

Song of the Week

*"I'm already Taken" - Steve Wariner


My little third grade hand wrote I love you
On a note of yellow paper
And sent it to the front of the row to a little blonde-haired girl
The blonde-haired girl just opened it and read it to herself
I was so embarrassed when she turned around and said

I'm already taken
You spoke up too late
I love somebody else
So you'll just have to wait

The years flew by so quickly
And there we were in junior high
I realized that I still loved her so
So I called her up and told her exactly how I felt
Then she said there's something that you really ought to know

I'm already taken
You spoke up too late
I love somebody else
So you'll just have to wait

So wait I did and never changed my love for that little blonde-haired girl
Whos' now the mother of our little blonde-haired boy
Who's to our hearts so close
I hate to think how fast he's growing up
Last night I overheard them as she tucked him into bed
He said, Mommy will you marry me
And this is what she said

I'm already taken
You spoke up too late
I love your daddy son
So you'll just have to wait

I'm already taken
You spoke up too late
I love your daddy son
So you'll just have to wait

All Hail King Ralph!

Here's a bit of randomness for y'all. I did in fact get a King Ralph Prosperity check which was a total blessing as I was sure I would not get one. Yay for $400!! LOL

The humourous part is that the government of Alberta sent my check for being an Alberta citizen to my Ontario address. LOL

Sleepy

Can't think, brain numb, inspiration won't come....
I have been up for 30+ hours... I am way too tired to blog today!!! My only hope is that this will fix my sleeping patterns so that I can get up at decent hours and get back to work soon!

Pictures!!

Hey, guess what? I got a yahoo photo album so I thought I'd share it with y'all.

http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/drel_dragon/my_photos

Enjoy!!!

A Pastor With Guts

This is fwd I received the other day, but I really like the message behind it so I'm going to post it here for y'all:


Regardless of the religious slant to this, this Pastor sure got people's attention. This Pastor has guts!!

Thought you might enjoy this interesting prayer given in Kansas at the opening session of their Senate. It seems prayer still upsets some people.
When Minister Joe Wright was asked to open the new session of the Kansas Senate, everyone was expecting the usual generalities,but this is what they heard:

"Heavenly Father, we come before you today to ask your forgiveness and to seek your direction and guidance. We know Your Word says, 'Woe to those who call evil good,' but that is exactly what we have done. We have lost our spiritual equilibrium and reversed our values.

We have exploited the poor and called it the lottery.

We have rewarded laziness and called it welfare.

We have killed our unborn children and called it a choice.

We have neglected to discipline our children and called it building self-esteem.

We have abused power and called it politics.

We have coveted our neighbor's possessions and called it ambition.

We have polluted the air with profanity and pornography and called it freedom of expression.

We have ridiculed the time-honored values of our forefathers and called it enlightenment.

Search us, Oh, God, and know our hearts today; cleanse us from every sin and set us free. Amen!"

The response was immediate. A number of legislators walked out during the prayer in protest. In 6 short weeks, Central Christian Church, where Rev. Wright is pastor, logged more than 5,000 phone calls with only 47 of those calls responding negatively. The church is now receiving international requests for copies of this prayer from India, Africa and Korea.

Commentator Paul Harvey aired this prayer on his radio program, "The Rest of the Story," and received a larger response to this program than any other he has ever aired.

If possible, please pass this prayer on to your friends. "If you don't stand for something, you will fall for everything."

Think about this: If you forward this prayer to everyone on your e-mail list in less than 30 days it would be heard by the world. How many people in your address book will not receive this prayer?

Nocturnal

It occurred to me that I have managed to get myself on almost a completely nocturnal sleeping pattern. It's also occurred to me that I enjoy this pattern a lot better than the norm. I find that I am far more ambitious and I get far more done in the night hours than in the day ones. I do however miss the sun... But I think that will remedy itself as the days get longer. As it is I go to bed between 6 & 9 am and get up again between 3 & 5pm. I do get a few hours of sun and I try to get out at least once daily while daylight still persists, somedays this works, somedays not so much.

It's odd though that the world, for the most part, works on a daytime 9-5 kind of schedule. I mean I can't imagine that I'm the only one in the world who prefers the nocturnal pattern... Odd how we make everyone conform to some people's view of the world and when others views are expressed the ones expressing them are seen as odd or weird.

"The Way I See It"

"Recently I eavesdropped on a conversation between two twenty-something employees at a local Starbucks. I listened as the barista mused about his taste in music when the cashier asked him if he had ever heard of the song "Strawberry Fields Forever" After a pause the barista answered "No, can't say I ever heard that one before." That's when I knew there really was such a thing as a generation gap." - The Way I See It #52 (-Mary Chapin-Carpenter singer/songwriter)

Allright the Way I See It Starbucks seriously needs to come up with some new quotes. This is the same quote I have been getting since the original Gingerbread lattee back in November! I am getting quite sick of it!

For those of you who don't frequent Starbucks (I still don't consider myself a regualr, I don't carry the discount card adn I still refuse to use terms like viente, grande & tall.) on the sides of all their cups they publish these little "The Way I See It" quotes, they are generally thoughts on life or famous quotes from famous people on life. They are generally quite good and quirkly, the problem is when I receive the same ruddy quote for about 10 cups now! (This is more than I've drank from Starbucks in the past year, damn Gingerbread Lattees.) But still one would think I would've seen at least some variety over the past 2 months!

http://www.starbucks.com/retail/thewayiseeit_default.asp

HAVE A BANANA

Here's a fwd I got that I found particularly interesting, thought I'd share it with y'all. I don't know if all the claims are true... but I like bananas so I'd like to think they are actually THIS good for me. LOL


After Reading THIS, you'll NEVER look at a banana in the same way again!

Bananas Containing three natural sugars - sucrose, fructose and glucose combined with fiber, a banana gives an instant, sustained and substantial boost of energy. Research has proven that just two bananas provide enough energy for a strenuous 90-minute workout. No wonder the banana is the number one fruit with the world's leading athletes.

But energy isn't the only way a banana can help us keep fit. It can also help overcome or prevent a substantial number of illnesses and conditions, making it a must to add to our daily diet.

Depression: According to a recent survey undertaken by MIND amongst people suffering from depression, many felt much better after eating a banana. This is because bananas contain tryptophan, a type of protein that the body converts into serotonin, known to make you relax, improve your mood and generally make you feel happier.

PMS: Forget the pills -- eat a banana. The vitamin B6 it contains regulates blood glucose levels, which can affect your mood.

Anemia: High in iron, bananas can stimulate the production of hemoglobin in the blood and so helps in cases of anemia.

Blood Pressure: This unique tropical fruit is extremely high in potassium yet low in salt, making it the perfect way to beat blood pressure. So much so, the US Food and Drug Administration has just allowed the banana industry to make official claims for the fruit's ability to reduce the risk of blood pressure and stroke.

Brain Power: 200 students at a Twickenham (Middlesex) school were helped through their exams this year by eating bananas at breakfast, break, and lunch in a bid to boost their brain power. Research has shown that the potassium-packed fruit can assist learning by making pupils more alert.

Constipation: High in fiber, including bananas in the diet can help restore normal bowel action, helping to overcome the problem without resorting to laxatives.

Hangovers: One of the quickest ways of curing a hangover is to make a banana milkshake, sweetened with honey. The banana calms the stomach and, with the help of the honey, builds up depleted blood sugar levels, while the milk soothes and re-hydrates your system.

Heartburn: Bananas have a natural antacid effect in the body, so if you suffer from heartburn, try eating a banana for soothing relief.

Morning Sickness: Snacking on bananas between meals helps to keep blood sugar levels up and avoid morning sickness.

Mosquito bites: Before reaching for the insect bite cream, try rubbing the affected area with the inside of a banana skin. Many people find it amazingly successful at reducing swelling and irritation.

Nerves: Bananas are high in B vitamins that help calm the nervous system.

Overweight and at work? Studies at the Institute of Psychology in Austria found pressure at work leads to gorging on comfort food like chocolate and chips. Looking at 5,000 hospital patients, researchers found the most obese were more likely to be in high-pressure jobs. The report concluded that, to avoid panic-induced food cravings, we need to control our blood sugar levels by snacking on high carbohydrate foods every two hours to keep levels steady.

Ulcers: The banana is used as the dietary food against intestinal disorders because of its soft texture and smoothness. It is the only raw fruit that can be eaten without distress in over-chronicler cases. It also neutralizes over-acidity and reduces irritation by coating the lining of the stomach.

Temperature control: Many other cultures see bananas as a "cooling" fruit that can lower both the physical and emotional temperature of expectant mothers. In Thailand, for example, pregnant women eat bananas to ensure their baby is born with a cool temperature.

Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD): Bananas can help SAD sufferers because they contain the natural mood enhancer tryptophan.

Smoking: Bananas can also help people trying to give up smoking. The B6, B12 they contain, as well as the potassium and magnesium found in them, help the body recover from the effects of nicotine withdrawal.

Stress: Potassium is a vital mineral, which helps normalize the heartbeat, sends oxygen to the brain and regulates your body's water balance. When we are stressed, our metabolic rate rises, thereby reducing our potassium levels. These can be rebalanced with the help of a high-potassium banana snack.

Strokes: According to research in "The New England Journal of Medicine," eating bananas as part of a regular diet can cut the risk of death by strokes by as much as 40%!

So, a banana really is a natural remedy for many ills. When you compare it to an apple, it has four times the protein, twice the carbohydrates, three times the phosphorus, five times the vitamin A and iron, and twice the other vitamins and minerals. It is also rich in potassium and is one of the best value foods around. So maybe its time to change that well-known phrase so that we say, "A banana a day keeps the doctor away!"

February

In February it will be my snowman’s anniversary,
With cake for him and soup for me!
Happy once, happy twice, happy chicken soup with rice.