Er?

I dig the bullet form I've developed lately so here it goes again.

1) Don Imus fired. Right or wrong? I'm thinking wrong cause it ain't cool that only some people can say certain words, and that should be the issue addressed. Suspended longer than two weeks? Definitely a transgression worthy of a lengthy suspension but not a firing

2) NO MORE SANJAYA!!!!

3)Rosie O'Donnell has had enough of her View

4) The Inferno is lame. Too many crazy people from recent seasons.

5) Andy the Actor was on AMC this week. Word up to him, fantastic job

6) Very first "Professional Appreciation Day". Got myself a couple of very unexpected gifts.

7) There was something that was totally on my mind that i wanted to discuss and now i cannot remember what it was. Damn I hate getting old. Shoot. Maybe I'll have to do a quick double post when I get refreshed.

Breaking News....

1) Lance Bass is gay?! Who saw that one coming?
2) Larry Birkhead is the baby daddy. Gotta say I feel bad for Howard Stern. I think he's kinda scummy, but I also think he actually believed he was the father so that's gotta suck
3) Most shocking news of all: Tori Spelling's boobs are REAL. Definitely did not see that revelation coming, but sure enough she talks about breastfeeding in last week's People. And unless her kid is on a silicone supplemented diet, that means that she has not been "enhanced" like so many, including myself, believed
4)Ran into a new snafu with my cake business. Haven't quite figured out how I would ship some items that require refrigeration. I know it is doable, I just haven't put it together in a feasible fashion for me
5)Don Imus was fired. This isn't really a good forum but I tend to think that this should not have happened. A two week suspension was not right, but neither was firing him. I do find the hypocrisy somewhat enjoyable to watch when Sharpton and Jesse Jackson get involved and people for the most forget the hurtful things that they have said about other groups. Even jumping on the bandwagon with no evidence in calling the Duke Lacrosse player rapists. Also enjoy when Oprah gets involved. Don't get me wrong, she does a lot of good. But, Lord help you if you are on her show and she disagrees with your point of view, particularly when it comes to race relations. It's like you don't exist on the show. Check out a tape of the Crash cast's visit to the Oprah show and you can watch her shut Don Cheadle and Ludacris out of the conversation because she didn't like what they had to say.

Stay tuned, sometime this week I shall have my list of company names posted.

My thoughts on the patella

This one is for you JW!

To the left is a picture of the "knee" with all the ligaments, tendons, and bones involved. It really is an intricate piece of work this part of the body. You need the lateral and medial components to work in harmony in order to be pain free. Gain too much lateral muscle strength and OUCH. Have a medial tendon that is too tight? Double OUCH OUCH.

Why do I know so much about the knee? What is my fascination? Well I started to have some patella issues when I was in high school. No one could tell me what was going on. Many theories abound and I was forced to endure some pretty humiliating treatments. Like when the trainer thought I was accident prone and insisted I wear a giant pad on my knee so when I fell it wouldn't hurt. that was dead sexay! In fact, it got so bad that the trainer I became closest too told me how proud he was that I made it through four years of athletics because he had doubts on whether I would tolerate or give in to the pain. Unfortunately, when i went to the doctor, I naturally was not experiencing any pain so he could not help. He took an X-Ray and told me to come back if the pain returned. The crunching sounds whenever I bent my knee were pretty nauseating but with a variety of therapies I muscled through. Flash forward to junior year of college. I am diligently working out on an Elliptical when I feel a popping sensation on the left side of my left knee. Finished out the work out, limping slightly. The next day I wasn't so much walking as hobbling. My parents flew me home for spring break where I had my first encounter with Doc Feel Good. He manipulated my leg causing a snap in three separate locations. Unprepared for this he proceeded to do this 4 more times. Needless to say I left in worse condition. I did the PT thing, were I increased my knowledge cause I talked to the therapists about what was going on and they liked talking to me since I was one of the few who was under the age of 65. Did the surgery thing. Did PT at school for 2 weeks and then the pain increased again. Therapist sends me home for re-evaluation. Dr. Feel Good has no clue and claims my bod is "healing funny". Therapist does not like this and sends me for second opinion in DC. Second Doc Feel Good offers to break my leg, shave it done and screw it back in place. Ummmm, no thanks. Third Doc thinks its a ligament thing and offers to begin an injection therapy to rebuild some cartilage. Something like every three months for the rest of my life....I'm 22 at this point. Again no thanks. Once again the parentals fly me home and set me up with the Doc who fixed A Wash's arm back in the day. This man is a genius!!! He takes a look at what was done before, is appalled that I was told not to move for two weeks following surgery. We do the MRI, Xray thing again and schedule surgery. While he's in there he does the same surgery as before and finds that some how my Meniscus was knicked and the scar tissue seems to have shifted everything out of place. He also discovers that because of the damage my cartilage is in a stage two deterioration state. Meaning that by the age of 24 he has told me that I need to officially limit keeping my knees in a bent state, jumping and kneeling. Werd! However, he also says that since I'm a PT master, I do not need to go back I just must begin my self therapy withing two days of surgery. End result? I am a healed woman and only feel excruciating pain when it rains and not constantly.

So JW. You say that you have lateral pain when you ride the bike? You say you have a brace. My first question will be do you have the correct brace? This is important. My second question is the positioning of your feet when you pedal. You are a bit pigeon toed when you walk so you need to be sure the your feet are not bent inward on the pedal or this could cause pain. The third question is where the pain is exactly, depending on the answer to this there are exercises that you can do that may alleviate this pain. Hope that helps:)

Mo, I did not include Loki cause I was never such a big fan of his and I'm not sure where he wound up. However, I'm sure that Buddy and Samson are becoming very interesting friends.

Matzah for everyone!!!!

With the spring comes my least favorite tribal holiday...Passover. Now don't get me wrong, the story behind the holiday is pretty rad when you think of biblical epics but I'm not down with the cardboard aka Matzah. A huge part of the holiday is called the Seder, this is when everyone gathers together over dinner and recounts the story of the Exodus from Egypt. Like I said, a very deep and meaningful story. This year, like all years in recent memory, we went to our good friend's the Mo's house. The Mo's are like family to me and I was thrilled to hear that the newest Mo would be brining her family cause they are all great folk too. Good times and good eats and even the people I don't have a liking for were relatively well behaved.
I brought a dessert for all to enjoy. A hard feat during this holiday because of the dietary restrictions related to the holiday. For all you goyem out there. Since my people were fleeing from Egypt there was no time to bake or cook food to prepare for the trip. In remembrance of this, we do not partake of anything leavened, no flour, no grains...etc. Thus baking typically involves many many many eggs and many many many visions of a heart attack on a plate. To avoid this, i make a cheesecake with low fat products and make a crust out of coconut macaroons. Nice lil cheat, don't ya think? Anywho, during dessert Jen once again mentioned that I could sell my wares. Now given that i'm not entirely thrilled with my latest career path, I have seriously started thinking about this. I priced out some shipping materials and decorating things while frame shopping at Michaels and AC Moore and i think it is totally doable. Now all i need is a name. Suggestions are welcome and when I have a list of 10 I shall post it and allow the voting to commence. Then the world shall be able to enjoy Taryn's Tasty Treats :)

The other thing I couldn't help but notice at Seder were the wedding pictures all around the house. I felt very proud that several of the framed and prominently placed were pictures were ones that I had personally taken! Very flattering. The next time I get some unexpected cash, I think i'll finally go and get that SLR camera I've been wanting and take a class. I keep getting emails from digital photography courses that I had contacted about new classes and locations and it could be very convenient once I get my act together.

Today is Easter. I know this is a big deal to the Christian world but I guess I still don't understand why it is that the only two days that everything is closed fall on the holiest of Christian holidays. Surely, there are enough employees of non-Christian faith that could keep the shoppes up and running. Ah well, guess that just forces me into doing some hard core cleaning that I've been avoiding for weeks.

Got an email from this GS Breeder today. He is desperately trying to sell his last male puppy before another litter arrives. This new litter's arrival is imminent. So soon that dude has already knocked off $700 from the first quote he gave me. Sounds somewhat fishy to me, but i guess the cold weather prevented people from grabbing them all. Of course the last time we got the last pup left in a litter it worked out very well, but the price is still a bit over what i'm willing to spend right now. Plus, i'm still not entirely sure i'm ready

I have finally caught up in my movie watching. I'm not so capable of Karpian reviews though so I will not attempt to provide a review because I'd bore you all to tears. At least those of you that are still reading...but now I have seen The Departed, Blood Diamond, Rocky Balboa, and The Holiday.

Lastly, once again I was not the lucky lotto winner so I must continue working at my job and probably not be able to blog as regularly. Partly because the site is blocked and partly cause I don't have as much free time at work as I used to. I'll try to keep it up better than I have been.

4 weeks til san fran

Everything I need to know I learned from my perro

So first of all, I would like to thank people for extending their sadness over the loss of Samson. I know he wasn't the most popular dog in the neighborhood, but he meant a lot to me and my family and he it means a lot that people can understand that.

I understand that there are five stages of grief. In fact, the OC this season apparently did a funny episode about these stages as one character mourned the death of her bff. Well, I can definitely say that I saw myself moving through three of these stages.
1) Denial: Denial is more than a river in Egypt as they like to say. I cannot count for you the number of times that I have returned home and expected to see my furry greeter awaiting me on the top of the steps or how many times i've taken an absurdly large leap out of my bed to avoid my furry roommate sleeping beside my bed.
2) Anger: Boy was I angry. I was angry at our local vet for not catching the heart defect. I was angry that she led me to believe that he would be okay and was suzy sunshine instead of adequately preparing me for the more distressing possibility that an 11 year old dog in respiratory distress was probably not a good thing. anyone that encountered me on the road can probably attest to my anger level which was hovering at a code blood red for a few days.
3)Acceptance: I have accepted that I shall not see Samson for a long time. I have accepted that he is now frolicking in doggie heaven with Shayna and Muffin and I'm curious which one of them has established themselves as alpha dog. I have also accepted that he will always be watching over me and shall continue our pact to keep me safe.

So in moving forward with my sadness I have chosen to remember the things that Samson taught me. You may remember that I once wrote of the unconditional love of a puppy. That was the first gift from Samson. You can never love too much or too hard. Second, anything that can come out of the digestive tract can go in it without worry. Chocolate is poisonous to dogs. Says who? Samson had good taste and would grab Godiva chocolates whenever he could. No ill effects. He also ate a brillo pad with no effect except a very interesting shade of elimination for a few days. Thirdly, if you have gas don't sweat it. Let it out discreetly and then be the first to accuse someone else of having done it and walk out of the room in disgust. Fourth, it is perfectly reasonable to be picky about your associates. Furthermore, it is perfectly okay to not associate yourself with everyone and anyone. It is better to have a few close friends that you truly like than be "nice" to everyone and their mother and not like any of them :) Fifth, it is okay to ask for and take help when you need it. In his golden age, samson realized that he was not the young pup he used to be. He was willing, despite his better judgment, to take help from me in helping him up the stairs or tending to his wounds or even take care of his smelly accidents that required some baby wipes. It is not a sign of weakness to need help. This is one of the most crucial lessons he taught me. Lastly, the world can be your toilet as long as you take care to be discreet about it.

I went to Buddy Dog to visit my friend Titus and was instead taken aback. I was petting my buddy when I heard footsteps behind me. I had not seen a dog in the run across from Titus. I slowly turned my head and there was a Black German Shepherd staring back at me. A friendly reminder from my baby that he was still watching me.

So while my inner and outer wounds are not healed completely, I am on my way and thats all you can ask for.


PS: My brackets are complete crap this year. Thanks a lot DJ Strawberry.

RIP

Samson Washkowitz
March 1996-March 2007

Apparently we did not have as much time left together as I had thought. I'll be peacing out of the blog scene while I grieve a loss that most will not understand.

Sell Out

I hate to admit it, but I have finally sold out. I was offered a permanent position at the company I've been temping at. Based on the concept of benefits and a guaranteed salary, I caved to this offer. I must say that I've been second guessing myself ever sense. I have less than zero interest in this field nor do I see myself getting a spark of inspiration. This "training" week has stressed me out more than I can ever remember being. I do not stress over this kind of thing easily. Case in point? Brother JW and wife Yan have a wedding in March while I was in grad school. No biggie you say, spring break. Alas, the scheduling did not work out and instead of spending my spring break chillin in LA and celebrating, I wind up having to bring some reading material to prep for my comprehensive exam that I have to take one day after returning on a red eye flight. so wha??? I partied with my Jamaican brethren and enjoyed every minute of (once my luggage arrived of course). So what if I didn't fully pass the first time around, no biggie at all. Second time works for me and I have the degree to prove it. So anywho, my point is that it is not ME to stress over this kind of business which should tell you a lot. I'm somewhat overwhelmed with the feeling that I gave up on myself a lil too early and was lured by the health insurance since I was recently informed of the expense of my needed individual policy. If the folks didn't rock I would be straight out. Needless to say this week has felt like months already. Everytime, I get up to do something I come back and there are more piles for me things to do. Things that I don't even know what they mean, let alone know how to process. Ugggggh.

Also falling into the sad category is that Sammy Wammy has taken a turn. He shall make it to the golden age of 11 in a few weeks, but whether he'll be around by Turkey Day is seeming less and less likely and that makes me sadder than I can even say. But until the day when he decides he's had enough, we shall enjoy the remaining time together. Especially once this stupid ice melts away and he can bathroom without risk of hurting himself.

Peace out, I must try to collect myself before starting another day of "training"

Deuce

So I've had a lot of time to form my opinions...about a quarter century and this is the conclusion I've come to when describing the differences between girls and boys. Boys are messy but girls are dirrrrrrtay. Allow me to state my case. I worked for the Dept of Athletics at GW for six years so as luck would have it, I got to spend a lot of time in the men's and women's locker rooms for work purposes. There may also be an incident regarding the men's and women's basketball team locker rooms, but I digress. In my years of management at LHWC, I couldn't help but notice some things. One, the men's room had a certain stank quality about the air. There were several more incidents of thievery that occurred in the men's locker room. But here's the thing, if you plugged your nose, you never wanted to vomit from anything you would see in there. Girls? Holy crapido batman but girls can be nasty in locker rooms. I have a theory that i'll put forth later. Girls have a lot more hair than boys, meaning that there tends to be a lot of shedding. Well, seeing balls of gnarly hair in the floor and in the shower is certainly cringe inducing but nothing can top the fact that women have a certain monthly visitor. Sadly, I cannot count on all of my appendages the number of times that I would come across certain artifacts that would attest to the fact that members of our facility were currently having one of these visits. That is GROSS. Nasty. No true word can describe the vileness of leaving stuff like this in a public place. I'm a woman, i get it, but damn people it's called a trash can, use it. I also found a greater tendency for random nakedness and overflowing toilets.

But this is why I bring up the issue today. Today I went to use the lavatory and was shocked to discover a floater in the toilet I was about to use. YUCK, so I said "Yuck" and promptly moved on to another stall. While I was "indisposed" I heard no less than two other women come in, say similar statements and also use other stalls. Now this raises a couple of issues. One, who the hell leaves a floater? I mean really, how do you not know that you've left a man behind? You don't like germs and touching the handle, but you've got feet use them. Second, why did I and all the other women feel compelled to comment on the nastiness, but not do anything to resolve the situation. Eventually, someone is going to flush it but why did we delay it? Very strange but I find myself acting that way every time it happens. I don't flush probably because I'm not into cleaning up other people's messes. Plus if the floater's mommy didn't want to say goodbye, who am I to intervene?

Theory time: Women make a mess of locker rooms and public restrooms because they never get to let loose in their homes. Women are supposed to be tidy, so I would imagine that most women spend an inordinate amount of time making sure their personal lavatories are in fantastic condition. Therefore, when they are not responsible for the cleaning, they do all of the things that they would never do at home. Men? Well they're not really responsible for cleaning are they? So they act the same in public facilities as they would at home, cause they are used to having someone to clean up after them.