i thought mccain's speech last night was excellent. my friends and i who gathered to watch the results all agreed: that was the mccain we remembered from before this campaign, before he turned into an RNC-rhetoric spouting machine, before he chose a wildly unqualified running mate in a cynical, calculated and transparent move, before he sacrificed what i can only assume were his innate values to campaign the way the republican machine dictates you have to run a campaign these days. last night he looked relaxed, honest, and earnest. i liked him again. i wish he had run his campaign with that same sense of honesty and dignity.
the Great Europen Recap will start tomorrow (hopefully!) - included but not limited to the grand reveal of my FancyPants Parisian Haircut, which involves ACTUAL BANGS ON MY FACE for literally the first time in my life. it's CRAZYTOWN in these parts, i tell you! bangs!
in the meantime, i'll consider trying to catch up on the 400 posts in my reader. eek.
yes we can. yes we did. :-)
YAY!!! I can't stop saying YAY!!! YAY!!!
ReplyDeleteSounds like you had a crazy time in France! I love this election. And my birthday is on Jan. 20, so it'll be like the best present I could ever have.
ReplyDeleteYAY! I agree about McCain, it was like he was REALLY there for the first time in a long time.
ReplyDeleteSo glad America welcomed you home with reasons to party. And I could not agree with you more about McCain. I feel like had he run a campaign similar to the politician I knew years ago, this race would've been very very different and my decision would have been much more difficult.
ReplyDeleteAn amazing way to return indeed.
ReplyDeleteAnd I particularly enjoyed the part where he said "Welcome back Alice. I hope you enjoyed your trip to Paris!"
yay yay yay
ReplyDeletewelcome back!
ReplyDeleteI agree with you re: McCain. If he'd acted like that throughout the election, I might've been tempted to vote for him (also, no Palin picked).
If you're going to get bangs, I've always heard Parisian bangs are the way to go!
ReplyDeleteYeah, I kind of feel bad for McCain because he's a good guy, but that's what you get when you spend too much time playing in the crazy conservative sandbox.
ReplyDeleteWelcome back!!
ReplyDeleteI had the exact same reaction to McCain's speech. Glad to know I'm not alone in that feeling.
I know you have lots of blogs to catch up on, but I've got a Thankfulness contest that ends Sunday at midnight, so don't forget to enter!
I'm looking forward to those pictures & stories you've got. :)
I can't wait to see the BANGS. Do they make you crazy at all? I remember doing some bangs in college and they lasted for about 5 seconds before I couldn't stand the wispy-wispy feeling on my forehead.
ReplyDeleteAlso: I totally agree about McCain.
What happens if your poop floats? Does that mean something?
ReplyDeleteDear Della,
Judging by the number of times it is asked, this question is a source of great concern to the masses. The Floaters versus Sinkers controversy (hey, wouldn't those be great names for PoopReport basketball teams?) has been raging since time began... OK, since the Internet began... OK, since this morning.
WHAT MAKES POOP FLOAT?
Surprisingly, not what you might think.
Conventional medical wisdom attributes Floaters to the amount of fat in your poop. While this IS true for certain diseases (cystic fibrosis, celiac disease, biliary atresia, abetalipoprotenimia and a few other weird sounding illnesses), it is NOT true for your run-of-the-mill healthy person.
Vegetarians would have you believe that the "perfect" stool (that is, one uncontaminated by the consumption of animal parts) is the Floater. Many vegetarians have spent their entire lives in the quest to produce perfection -- when in fact no particular diet can reliably produce Floaters. The vast majority of us bring forth Sinkers.
Sinkers really need a good P.R. person -- they have gotten a bad rap over the ages. Sure, Floaters are cute and all, but a good solid Sinker will never let you down.
BACK TO WHAT MAKES POOP FLOAT...
Actually, it is gas that does it. Increased levels of air and gas in the poop make it less dense, and cause it to float. Simple as that. Dietary changes can lead to an increase in the amount of gas produced by the bacteria that live in the gut, which is probably what the vegetarians are basing their whole "perfect stool" theory on. I don't know -- the whole time I was vegan I never consistently produced Floaters.
Then, after a couple of years, I grew disenchanted and yearned for a hamburger. And that was the end of Poonurse the Vegetarian.
WHY DOES IT MATTER?
Well, I'm a little unclear on that. It must matter greatly to a lot of people, or else they wouldn't take so much time to write to me about it. I guess it could matter if you are worried that you are sick or something.
If you have diarrheal-esque Floaters for more than two weeks, you may have a malabsorption problem -- a dysfunction of the GI tract that affects the body's ability to digest and absorb fat. Acute gastrointestinal infections can also result in increased gas content in the intestines, due to rapid movement of stool through the GI tract.
SO WHAT?
So I am forced to assume that Floaters are NOT the most desirable of all stools. Sinkers are by far more common. Don't spend your life chowing down on tofu burgers just because you think you are being cheated out of a Floater. Neither tofu burgers nor Floaters are worth the trouble. Sinkers are our destiny.
Thanks for asking Poonurse!
Poonurse is an RN with 25 years experience in labor and delivery. Her qualifications include seeing a lot of poop, and owning a computer. Also, she works in Michigan, which she calls the asshole of the universe, so that's another bit of credibility. Got a question for her?
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pooQueen (not verified) -- 05.05.2004
Very informative, poonurse. I always thought producing floaters meant you had plenty of fiber in your diet. I have a combination of both floaters and sinkers which apparently coincide with my gassiness. Cool. Now I know.
Um, I was just about to send another great big WHOOOOO back into the Internet, but now I'm all distracted by that poop comment. What the heck?
ReplyDelete