Just got wind of a new (alpha) web site for calculating bicycle routes in six US cities including New York, Seattle, San Diego, Chicago, Austin, Louisville (surprised not to see San Francisco in that list).
What seems to be cool about the site is that it actually tells you where you’ll be riding during your route (sidewalks, bike lanes, etc). and you can drag your start and end point on the map and it will automatically recalculate your route.
Here’s a song that I started writing:
It’s morning,
And we’re together getting ready for another day – in the bathroom.
You’re screaming over the sound of running water, talking about somethin’, fixing some light sockets, somethin’, somethin’.
And I wish that I could hear you but I can’t – cuz I’m on the toilet reading on my iPhone.
Chorus: Can you hear me? I’m talking to you from the inside. There’s so much to say and there doesn’t seem to be a way. I’m silent.
That’s all I have for now. I don’t have a title yet either. Anyone want to help put guitar music to it? If you do, email me.
Recently I was on an airplane. It was a short trip and I killed some time reading the airline magazine. I’m one of those people who actually like to read through the “advertisement” section at the end of the local paper and periodicals – there’s always all kinds of goodies in there (and I’m not talking about the soft porn)!
For instance, this exercise machine: the “ROM”. It costs $14,615.00 (yes, you read that right) and you only have to exercise 4 minutes per day!
Sounds like a scam? Well, you should know that “the typical ROM purchaser goes through several stages:
AMAZING!
Here’s what I think really happens:
If anyone reading this post has actually bought a ROM – I think you’re a total idiot and I would love to hear from you! Who are you, you ROM-buyer-people (person)? Why did you do it? Are you fat? Anorexic? Rich? Bored? I have to know. Please leave a comment or email me.
OK – enough of that. If you think the ROM is outrageous(ly good), then you also have to check out Cenegenics Medical Institute (in Las Vegas, NV). Basically, in just over 10 years you can do from looking like a fat old guy to an old guy with a rockin’ body.
Just check out Jeffry Life, now chief medical officer of Cenegenics:
To reinforce their legitimacy, they’ve (paid enough to have) been mentioned in Today, 60 Minutes, Nightline and The Associated Press.
Meanwhile, Dr. Alan Mintz, founder of Cenegenics, died at the relatively young age of 69 due to complications during a brain biopsy.
Some research has suggested that human growth hormone injections can cause cancer. They've also been linked with nerve pain, elevated cholesterol and increased risks for diabetes.
Even so, Life, now chief medical officer at Cenegenics, remains steadfast. Among other things, he points to studies that suggest that human growth hormone in low doses poses no cancer risk, if there is no pre-existing cancer.
"Within the next 10 years, maybe less, this is going to be thought of as mainstream medicine -- preventing disease, slowing the aging process down, preventing people from losing their ability to take care of themselves when they get older and ending up in nursing homes," Life says.
I think Loqi from powderroom.com might have gone this route. I mean, just look at him:
Unfortunately, no insurance, nor Medicare, accepted – so you gotta pay every pretty penny yourself. At $1500.00/month minimum, it makes the price of the ROM look good!
This was not my first miscarriage. I had what they call a chemical pregnancy (which is basically a very early miscarriage) back in September.
Before all of this, I had only experienced miscarriage through others – stories from my mother’s experience (having a miscarriage between me and my sister) and other friends and relatives struggling with pregnancy. Particularly with my friends and relatives closer to my age I had always been a little surprised at how much they mourned their miscarriage and how much sadness it caused. I had never been able to identify with that feeling and, at the time, had never experience one – so who was I to judge?
But it all didn’t seem to add up to me. I mean, isn’t the whole process of miscarriage your body processing the amazing task of recognizing that the pregnancy is not developing correctly and getting rid of it (like it’s supposed to)? Is that not the most healthy, natural, and fortunate thing that could happen to everyone involved (including the unborn child)? Isn’t it great to know that you can get pregnant (given all the couples that struggle with pregnancy for years)? I had always thought it was and, now after having two, I still do. In fact, the miscarriage I just had was the most intense and empowering experience and I’m so glad that it happened to me.
I have been terrified of pregnancy ever since I had the notion that “one day” I would have a child. I was terrified of getting fat and staying fat, terrified of giving birth (the pain, the tearing of my vagina, the whole experience) and terrified of loosing myself. As The Business of Being Born describes it, most women are made to feel like they don’t know how to give birth – and I sure felt that message. In fact, most (not all) of my imagined scenarios of me giving birth have me dying immediately after. Contrast that with my partner who, I don’t think, had feelings one way or the other except that he wanted children (another topic).
Nevertheless, I decided that I was ready and wanted to be a pregnant. And this time (at least we thought) I finally was. I struggled through the months of nausea, exhaustion, and basically all the other symptoms that come with this alien (and the hormones) that literally takes over your entire body - physically and emotionally. Like learning how to accept the fact that “holy shit, I’m really pregnant,” I had to learn how to exist in my new body with new feelings and limitations, for example, when it wanted to eat and what it wanted to eat. It required me to have to spend a lot of energy and thought on the parts of life that had become automatic – it was taxing! And my partner had to learn how to co-exist with this new body and person – the pregnant, tired, nauseous, emotional and unpredictable wife – much different that who he married.
We gracefully got through all of that and made it to our first midwife appointment in our 11th week. We covered both of our medial and familial history, drew the blood, peed in the cup, all of it. We even tried to listen to the baby’s heartbeat – but didn’t get to hear it. We thought it was likely due to the fact that my uterus was so tilted toward the back that the sonogram couldn’t reach the fetus through my pelvis bone and that, next time, we’d be able to hear it. After that milestone we left feeling even more on the baby-train and ready to really embark on this journey. Only a few more days until we could start sharing our news.
Within a week of that appointment, I had a miscarriage. And this miscarriage was nothing like my chemical miscarriage back in September. First thing was different was the agony of determining if I was really having a miscarriage or just having normal spotting and, if I was having a miscarriage, when it would actually happen. Once we had determined that the miscarriage was inevitable, my doctor had already told me that I probably want to be at home and not stuck at work because when the miscarriage started I would be uncomfortable, so I had already planned with work to be out for the week. Then she proceeds to tell me that I could spot for 2 – 3 weeks before the miscarriage happens – I couldn’t keep telling my office “just one more day”.
The other thing that was different is how it went down. Luckily, everything transpired within 3 days of when I started to spot and under the best circumstances possible: it was 8 PM, both my partner and I were home, well fed and nobody else was at the house. I had spoken to my midwife about what to expect and what would be considered warning signs. She explained that I would have a period and I would experience contractions – that I would likely feel sweaty and nauseous. This didn’t sound too much different than when I had bad cramping during my period – so I concluded that this miscarriage would be a really bad period with some contractions instead of cramps. OK.
Not so much. What really happened is a labored, and gave birth to, a fetus. Literally, I went into labor with contractions for about 2 hours before passing the fetus. While it was very tissue-y looking, it was the size and length of two fingers put together, and you could see the shape of a small head, arms and black beads for eyes. After that I had a somewhat normal period that was longer than normal and where I passed more clots than normal.
Having gone through a mini-birthing process was the most intense and empowering experience for both of us. Mostly because it demystified birth in a way that it didn’t feel like something to fear and like something that, while very challenging, we could handle. We were proud to have managed through it on our own in the comfort of our own home. And when it was done, it felt like the right thing had happened. I couldn’t have felt more healthy at that moment.
And while we’re both disappointed to have gone through the hardest part of the first trimester without a baby as the reward, we don’t at all feel a sense of loss or mourning. Yet, of the few people who did know we were pregnant, many of those who knew about our miscarriage expected us to be saddened and mourning like so many people we had known before us. My sister-in-law even sent us a card that reassured us that our baby was with Jesus. It was all very strange and hard to explain to people, “no really, we’re not sad.”
In fact, since having gone through my miscarriage – and read so much about it – I find people’s reactions not only strange, but also horrifying. There are a lot of poor attitudes and misinformation that exists today around miscarriage especially as it pertains to vilification and brutality toward women. These constructs are amplified in an interesting way when the topic turns toward elective termination.
When reading about “miscarriage,” none of the articles spoke about miscarriage as a natural process. There was also no mention of the sex partner in these articles. I was most shocked to find Wikipedia article that sites yoga, acupuncture, and receiving kicks or blow to the stomach as methods of causing a miscarriage, while the Mayo Clinic explicitly states that exercise is not a cause of miscarriage – and of course they don’t mention kicks or blows to the stomach as causes of miscarriage because that would imply someone beating the living shit out of you. Even worse, a 17-year old girl who went to a Yahoo newsgroup to get advice on how to terminate her pregnancy was told by several people on the group that she was evil, that the problem was all on her, and that she should kill herself. While there were several people that attempted to defend and help this scared young women, there was no mention of her sex partner and his responsibility in all of this.
I realize that this just a glimpse of information and glossing over a lot and it’s a pretty sad commentary on how we as a culture think about miscarriage. I do hope that if I ever decide to get pregnant again and I am able have a child that we will have evolved past this kind of thinking. Because, where we are right now, I think it kind of sucks the way it is.
After 10 years, I just got a new ride (for the pow pow <wink>) and I’m so excited. When I was shopping around, it was hard to get good advice, or find reviews, from other “powder room” ladies so I was inspired to write my own product review.
If you found this page because you were looking for opinions about women’s snowboard gear – I hope this helps you.
The features I was looking for in a new snowboard this time around were: better control, more responsiveness, great handling in deep powder, and little bit more fun and “pop” for natural terrain and park features. I figured any new board would have a better control and be more responsive than my 10-year old Feelgood - just because so much of the technology has changed and a new board, bindings and boots would just be stiffer and not as worn out as my current gear. Plus, I’ve always loved Burton boards – especially since they have been one of the pace-setters with making equipment specifically designed for women, with input from actual women (imagine that!).
Burton has also gotten smarter about the construction of the board and bindings so that the board flexes in the right places and you feel “more connected” to the board (you feel less gap between the binding and the board). I figured this might be the right amount of newness to get the features I was looking for with all the same things I’ve love for the last 10 years about my prior board. And, it happened that the store I was at had the new Burton Feelgood on sale in my size – so I bought her up: Burton Feelgood (152) with some Lexa EST bindings. I was so excited!
My first day on the slope was a real mixed bag, if not totally disappointing. I set up my stance with -15 in the front and 0 in the back (which was pretty close to my old stance). It was a powder day where it was light and fluffy at the top, but heavier at the bottom. I took it all over the mountain and even hiked to some terrain that was in-bounds but not accessible by lift. There were times that I was shredding through powder faster than I ever had. But then there were times where I felt like I couldn’t control the board at all and completely loosing my edges. I left feeling very unhappy and not optimistic about my purchase. The following weekend I changed up my stance a bit (-15 in front, -15 in back and slightly more narrow). This day I felt SO much better, I even dare say unstoppable. And while it felt as good as my last, reliable, Feelgood, I still wanted more.
So I turned back to the awesome sales people at SNOCON to get some advice. The dude rented me a Skate Banana with high recommendations. Essentially they figured out how to make a shorter board (easier maneuverability) that stays on top of powder. They did this by making the board convex (which they call “rocker curve”) in the middle – thinking that this would be an awesome feature for people in the park (and that the convex curvature would make them “pop” off features). Turns out this also makes the nose and tail stay on top of powder really well. They boards also have MAGNE-TRACTION which essentially curvy edges that give you seven points of contact with the slope while making turns instead of two. I took this board out one day and fell in love with it instantly. I couldn’t make a bad turn.
Mervin Manufacturing (the maker of the Skate Banana) also makes GNU boards. They’re pretty much just like the Skate Banana, just a different brand, and is what I needed up getting (what they call the B-Street Series).
The B-Street is back in the USA. Because Banana is the world's best jib design, the B-Street was originally intended to be our soft flexing, twin, urban, jib board. However, we just can't hold this board back. The B-Street is also an unbelievable all mountain freestyle board. It is unreal in the park, pipe, ice, pow, steeps, and everywhere else. Welcome to the future: one board does it all better from a centered freestyle jib stance. If you are just learning or a veteran shredder this is one banana that will change the way you look at the mountain.
It’s all true. This board absolutely rocks!! This board is great in the park, great in pow, great on crud. I can’t say enough. I hooked it up with some K2 Virtue bindings and it’s been a dream! And will last me another 10 years (at least)! Thank you Mervin!
About me:
I bought my first snowboard ten years ago in Colorado. It was a Burton Feelgood (152 cm) with Burton Custom bindings. It was a great board for me as I’ve transitioned from a beginner to intermediate and expert riding. I’m an all-mountain/freestyle kind of rider. You’ll find me at the resort on the steeps, in the trees, hiking in-bounds, jibbing (or attempting to) off natural terrain and playing on the beginner features in the parks. I’ve finally signed up for avalanche training (in two weeks) and hope to start venturing into the real backcountry for some untouched turns.
I bought my first domain name in 1999. It was like most personal web sites of that time – the URL was http://www.myname.com , I had my own email address iam@myname.com, it had my pictures, my resume and portfolio, links to other places on the web that I liked (or wanted to be affiliated with) – all kinds of fun stuff. My family and friends thought I was cool and would write me email that said stuff like “you web site is awesome” (it really wasn’t).
Then web starting birthing free hosting sites – most of them for for personal profiles, blogs, resumes, and the like - FOR FREE! So why was I paying? Well, it also happened that I needed to re-purchase my web hosting subscription and I didn’t feel like spending the money. So with some new money in my pocket I hopped on the web 2.0 train and started a blog. I also couldn’t help but purchase a new domain name. That’s where the story behind the name of this blog comes in.
I started my search for a new domain name knowing that it might be harder to find a free one that I also liked. It had now been 10 years since I bought a domain name a lot of them were taken up. Sure http://www.ihavechlamydia.com is available – but that just doesn’t resonate with me.
I started typing in names of web sites that I thought I might like to have - checking if they'd already been taken. Throughout my search I became increasingly, and obsessively, frustrated and annoyed with all these fucking companies that went and bought up every combination of two and three-word domain names, that I got to the point where I was typing some of them in twice (or even 3, 4, 5 times) just to make sure they were really taken. I was especially broken when, after an hour of searching, I typed what I thought was "the one":
I even thought about compromising for http://www.powderroom.com/. Here’s the rub: not only are the web sites I wanted taken (and, frankly wasting valuable space on the web) but they’re also owned by these jokers:
| Berkley, CA, owner of http://powderroom.com (I’m not kidding) | Grand Cayman and British Virgin Islands, owner of http://thepowderroom.com
|
Here’s the best (or worst) part (depending on your sense of humor), when explaining why they are located in the British Virgin and Cayman islands, Name Administration so kindly explains:
How come you are based in the British Virgin Islands and the Cayman
Islands?
Doesn't everbody dream of living in the Caribbean? We are in the Cayman
Islands because it is a great place to live. The weather is warm, the people are
friendly and there is good Internet access. Everyone lives somewhere. We live
here (http://www.caymanislands.ky/). We may be
contacted via email or through the Contact form on this
website.
So, some dude in a bunny outfit and a guy sipping pina coladas in both the Cayman Islands and British Virgin Islands are buying up sites on the internet, filling it with their useless shit, and making money off it. Awesome. Clearly, I’m doing something wrong with my life.
Hence, the inspiration for the name of my site. I think it does a good job of capturing not only the essence of what I might end up writing about but also an appropriate dedication to the fuckers at Name Administration Inc: you Can't Buy This!!
Peace.
