Posts by emer13

Compared to many of the other fast food breakfast options, the turkey sausage eggwhite flatbread sandwich is a great choice.  I just found out one of Dunkin Donuts' pumpkin muffins was a little over 600 calories--sheesh!

Original Post by driftpsychosis:

I only overeat or consume more calories than usual if I'm at a buffet or a gathering with family and relatives.

 Same here... which is why I'm terrified of my office holiday party this afternoon!  I'm mentally gearing up for the cookie onslaught...

If you can get your hands on it, Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything Vegetarian has great, easy-to-understand instructions on knife skills and cooking techniques (even if you aren't vegetarian).  I think that's half the battle there.  Moosewood Restaurant Cooks at Home has a very helpful appendix (again, vegetarian, but still helpful).

I learned a lot through trial and error, but also through observation.  I watch a lot of TV shows about cooking and try to note what they're doing to duplicate it.  I have a science background, so I approach every recipe as if I'm doing an experiment--methodical and precise... but thankfully, cooking allows for a lot of flexibility.  I go to AllRecipes.com to find easy meal ideas.

I think if you get the staples down (cooking grains/starches and proteins), you can have fun experimenting with the other stuff (sauces etc.) that makes the staples tasty.  When all else fails, having a backup salad waiting in the wings will help if you botch up whatever it is you're cooking.  A good sense of humor helps too.

 Good luck, and have fun!

There's some ab work that doesn't involve laying down in this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQgLd1fmre4

Also, if you can get one of those inflating exercise balls, you can do some of these exercises, which will strengthen both your back and abs: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rFd1Gk8Cgl0

Good luck!

That's such a thoughtful gift--what a wonderful idea!

I think if you stick with songs that have open chords, you'll be fine.  Green Day's "Time of Your Life" is pretty easy (G, C, D, and Em are all you need--I think.  It's been a while).  Now that I think of it, almost any punk song will be easy (simplicity at its best!).  Some Beatles songs are pretty easy ("All My Life" comes to mind), as is John Lennon's "Imagine".  Keep an open ear, and you'll find out that it's not that hard to cover a lot of songs--you may not be able to do all the fancy intricate solo parts, but getting the gist of it will go a long way.

Good luck!  I hope it works out well.

It's mighty fluffy reading, but I really enjoyed David Eddings stuff.  Not his most recent books, but the earlier stuff (The Belgariad series is a fantastic start).

I loved it--then again, I love it whenever I see stars singing, regardless the topic (especially Jack Black).

Wow, I really dislike that misconception of nice guys finishing last.  And here's why:

I don't think it's right to have a relationship be the reason why you're finishing first.  There's so much more to a person than who they're dating!  I blame unrealistic media for making us feel like we're incomplete people unless we have that special someone by our side.

A person who posesses self-confidence, independence, and sense of purpose in their life is attractive... and a big part of that attraction is because they don't need anyone else to make them feel happy or complete.

And I mean, think about it--what's the cutoff time for finishing "last"?  The end of high school?  College?  Middle age?  Death?  Most of the nice guys I knew in high school who finished "last" are now at the top of the heap as they exit out of their 20's.  Time will be on your side.  I know that's not comforting right now (it wasn't comforting for me when someone told me that when I was younger). 

Dude, you're in the 9th grade.  I know it's no consolation, but give it some time.  Girls your age take a while to figure out that nice guys are waaaay more worthwhile than jerks.  I think it has something to do with figuring out who you are and being OK with yourself.  In my experience (and I know this sounds cheesy), once a person can love themselves, they can let themselves be loved by someone who really values them.  Otherwise, they'll settle for whatever they can get.

The way I see it--no one finishes first, and no one finishes last.  Everyone feels like they're lacking something in their life, be it grades, relationships, a good family, etc. that makes them finish last in their mind.  It's a neverending uphill climb... so give yourself some time and give the girls your age time to grow up and see that jerks aren't worth their time.

I don't drink much--empty calories and all--but I tend to have one or two nights a month where I give in and have more than I think I can handle at the time.  There as a point in my life where I was drinking every weekend though--grad school--I don't think I have the stamina for that sort of alcohol consumption (and the effects thereafter)

I really don't think there is any "normal" amount to drink--especially when you factor in things that moderate the effect of alcohol (time, gender, food, other drug interactions, etc.) as well as social perceptions and cultural norms of what's acceptable to consume.

You are right, it's not healthy to consume that much alcohol per week!  In the states, the general guideline is 1-2 drinks a day (as in 1 oz. of 100-proof liquor, a 12 oz. beer, or 4 oz. of wine) is "OK".  Once you start going over 5 drinks per session, you enter into a high-risk drinking category.

There's a lot of good resources out there if you're interested.

Original Post by bagga:

Mr. Waldorf and Statler (grumpy old dudes in the balcony)

 Ditto!

They're also flying to San Francisco for dates in their private jets.  The show clearly doesn't represent real life.

They're too skinny.  But then again, can you really name any non-reality based TV show that portrays REAL body types?

The entertainment industry really irks me sometimes.

Totally not whorish.  Not only do I respect someone who can bare it all in front of a crowd, I admire anyone who can sit still for that long.

I had a friend do it, and she said it was a great experience.

I always get ads about Las Vegas vacations.  I don't think CC has any control over the ads--it's just some sort of spontaneously generated general ad.

Yep!  1 gram of alcohol contains 7 calories, therefore, the more alcohol in a drink, the more calories it contains.  They don't call it a beer belly for nothing!

Here's a helpful site to figure out how many calories you drink when you consume alcohol.

Belgians are mighty tasty, aren't they?

I met my husband on friendster.com 5 years ago.  It clearly worked out well--but let me tell you, I had met plenty of other dates from the internet, and there were some really...uh... interesting ones.  I will never forget the dull physics Ph.D. student who wore his pants around his armpits, or the guy who asked to have sex within 30 minutes of meeting.

My inspiring story (obviously) has to be my husband.  We didn't live in the same state, but his grandma lived near me and he was looking for someone with similar interests to hang out with whenever he visited her.  We went from sending messages, to chatting online, to phone calls that started lasting all night.  I was nervous about meeting him, but it went better than I expected   I was visiting friends near his home, and he was home for the weekend.  We went out for pizza, and the initial nervousness dissapated once we bonded over an appreciation of cheese and dough.  The long distance relationship thing wasn't a walk in the park, but we made it work because we wanted to.

The funny thing is--we found out around 3 months into dating each other that his aunt used to babysit me.  The world is smaller than you think, eh?

I think online dating has changed a lot in the course of the past few years.  Just play it safe, trust your instincts, listen to your friends.  Don't rush yourself, and you'll find that dating online is just like dating in real life.