thisthatandhim: Wally, Wally, Wednesday (isn't that what they say in Australia?

Date: Wednesday, November 3rd, 2010

Word of the Day: hyperbolic (hahy\ber\BOL\ik); using hyperbole, exagerrating

Weight: 209 pounds

Goal: lose 100 pounds in one year duration

Pounds to lose: 77 pounds
Waist Size: 45 inches

Rowing Duration: 92 minutes, three (3) seconds

An announcement, before I forget to make it, I will soon be getting a new email address, be prepared to update your address list. The reason for the change is that I will be switching to Bell as at Bell, as it will cost nineteen dollars a month less, over a year, that is quite a savings, don't you think? Maybe you should consider switching to Bell, nah, wait until they hire me and I get a commission.

Once again, the Oprah Show reigned supreme yesterday, Ricky Martin was a guest on it. Mr. Martin spoke quite eloquently about why he decided to "come out," he doesn't want his twin boys to think of him as a liar, he wants to live a proud life and to show his children that they should be proud of who they are, he really did speak eloquently. I know that next year on the Broadway stage, Ricky Martin will be playing the demanding singing part of "Che" in "Evita," which has always been one of my very favourite musicals. I think if I were to meet Ricky Martin I would tell him that his twin boys, Matteo and Valentino need haircuts, gosh their hair was so long, but they are beautiful boys, they're just adorable.

My sister Judy is coming over for a visit today, and will stay through the weekend. I won`t be seeing my sister for a long time and I will miss her terribly over the winter months, I sure hope one of my relatives thinks enough to invite Judy to Christmas, I hate to think of her spending it all alone.

I forgot to mention giving cudo`s to the San Francisco Giants for winning the World Series, I believe since the Giants moved to San Francisco, this is the first time that they won the series, so many congratulations to them, whatever happened to our Blue JaysÉ, didn`t we win the World Series two years in a row, the way the Blue Jays are now playing, no one would ever believe it. However, I am an eternal optimist and I have a feeling that the year 2011 will be a year that the Blue Jays make a big comeback, you read it here first people.

Whilst I am away, tickets will go on sale for the musical ``The Secret Garden,`` and I am recommending that all of you get tickets to see this show, the music is by Lucy Simon, Carly`s sister, and is beautiful. The story is a classic one, many of you probably read it when you were small, or perhaps you may have even read it to your daughters, if you haven`t read it to your children, and they`re still young, do pick up the book and give them, and you, a treat.

Yesterday, I completed one of those tasks that I needed to do before we leave for Gainesville, Florida, and that was doing my Christmas cards. I know alot of people have stopped sending Xmas cards, but I still do, and silly me, instead of holding on to the cards until the time we actually leave, when I gave Winter her evening walk, I put the Xmas cards in the mail. Yup some people are going to be surprised when they receive, what I`m sure will be their first Christmas Card from me this week, or early next week, you know what the Post Office is like, some things never change.

I was talking to a friend of mine yesterday, I won`t say her name as that would be indiscrete, let`s just call her Annette, anyway, Annette was being extremely negative and I began to wonder how many people waste time being negative and worry about things that they can`t possibly change. My philosophy is, and it wasn`t always so, but I have matured a little over the years, is why worry, put your energy towards something positive. I know that this isn`t always easy, but it is possible, and one has to train their self to do it, like one does exercise, you don`t start off strong, you build up. And speaking of exercise, I finally got back into the swimming pool, yikes it was so cold. Unbelievable. Anyway, all I could do was swim two lengths, and I couldn`t do anymore. You know, I used to be such an amazing swimmer, I have everything that is possible to get as far as swimming badges and medals go. I could even teach swimming, if I wanted, and if, when, I get back in better shape. Zac said that I still have a beautiful style to my swimming, and I must say, that I do swim nicely, I have a fluidity and a grace to my swimming, those are Zac`s words people, not mine.

Okay people, there are only fifty-one (51) days until Christmas, tomorrow I shall make this announcement even bigger. Yes, the big day is fast approaching and if you visit the stores in all of the shopping malls, you will not only see many Christmas displays up, you will see a drastic change in prices on many shopping items, I warned you about this long ago.

And since Christmas is fast approaching, and another holiday is fast coming, at least for our neighbours to the South of us, Thanksgiving, I wanted to say a few words about alcohol, and the consumption of it. People, drinking is just getting out of hand, and we all better start realizing that we all need to change our drinking habits and be a better example to our children.

Alcohol is a more dangerous drug than both crack and heroin when the combined harms to the user and to others are assessed, British scientists said Monday.   Presenting a new scale of drug harm that rates the damage to users themselves and to wider society, the scientists rated alcohol the most harmful overall and almost three times as harmful as cocaine or tobacco, yes, you never thought about that, did youÉ

According to the scale, devised by a group of scientists including Britain's Independent Scientific Committee on Drugs (ISCD) and an expert adviser to the European Monitoring Center for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA), heroin and crack cocaine rank as the second and third most harmful drugs. Ecstasy is only an eighth as harmful as alcohol, according to the scientists' analysis, so the next time you lecture your children on `drugs,`what is it they say in the Bible, `Physician, heal thyself!

Professor David Nutt, chairman of the ISCD, whose work was published in the Lancet medical journal, said the findings showed that "aggressively targeting alcohol harms is a valid and necessary public health strategy." Professor Nutt, I would love to be in one of his classes and to call out his name, Oh Professor Nutt, its me again. Anyway, back to what Professor Nutt has to say about alcohol. Professor Nutt said they also showed that current drug classification systems had little relation to the evidence of harm. `

Alcohol and tobacco are legal for adults in Britain and many other countries, while drugs such as ecstasy and cannabis and LSD are often illegal and carry the threat of prison sentences.   "It is intriguing to note that the two legal drugs assessed, alcohol and tobacco, score in the upper segment of the ranking scale, indicating that legal drugs cause at least as much harm as do illegal substances," Nutt, who was formerly head of the influential British Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD), said in a statement about the study.

Professor Nutt was forced to quit the ACMD a year ago after publicly criticizing ministers for ignoring scientific advice suggesting cannabis was less harmful than alcohol.

The World Health Organization estimates that risks linked to alcohol cause 2.5 million deaths a year from heart and liver disease, road accidents, suicides and cancer, accounting for 3.8 percent of all deaths. Drinking alcohol is the third leading risk factor for premature death and disabilities worldwide.

In an effort to offer a guide to policy makers in health, policing, and social care, Nutt's team rated drugs using a technique called multicriteria decision analysis (MCDA) which assessed damage according to nine criteria on harm to the user and seven criteria on harm to others.

Harms to the user included things such as drug-specific or drug-related death, damage to health, drug dependence and loss of relationships, while harms to others included crime, environmental damage, family conflict, international damage, economic cost, and damage to community cohesion, its rather frightening, when you think about it, don`t you thinkÉ

Drugs were then scored out of 100, with 100 given to the most harmful drug and zero indicating no harm at all.

The scientists found alcohol was most harmful, with a score of 72, followed by heroin with 55 and crack with 54.

Among some of the other drugs assessed were: crystal meth (33), cocaine (27), tobacco (26), amphetamine or speed (23), cannabis (20), benzodiazepines, such as Valium (15), ketamine (15), methadone (14), mephedrone (13), ecstasy (9), anabolic steroids (9), LSD (7) and magic mushrooms (5).

I don`t mean to give a superior attitude on drinking, but I do think that we need to set a better example to the young, as previously mentioned, and that killing someone while drunk, which I can`t believe still happens every day, is reprehensible and that anyone caught doing this, driving while under the influence of alcohol should have the book thrown at them.

A few years ago, I was visiting one of my relatives, and one of my in-laws, and I won`t say their name because that will just get me into trouble, but one of my in-laws, with some more relatives of mine, sat around the kitchen table discussing what to do if they were caught driving drunk by the police. I was so disgusted when they talked about ways that you could get off, I foolishly said, `maybe you should be discussing ways to avoid drinking if you have to drive`and naturally my family was annoyed with me when I opened my big mouth.   I don`t think I`ll ever forget that day, and I`m glad I won`t.

  I know I should learn and not criticise my family`s behaviour, but I just feel that if I see someone headed for trouble, it is my responsibility, not just as a member of one`s family, but also as a member of the human race, it is my responsibility to at least make people aware of the danger that one is headed for, and offer ways to avoid getting into trouble. That`s how I feel people.

Okay, I`m off my soapbox, at least for today, tomorrow I`ll be bitching about something else. Have a great day people, and remember, now is the best time to start exercising and change bad eating habits.

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