Linda Z

Cowgirl, isn't that Kathy Mattea? I really like her! And thanks for the glimpse of spring. It sure doesn't look like that now, but it will!

Okay, maybe that was a bit harsh, and I'm sorry for my tone last night, but some posts ticked me off. Let me say it a nicer way. Can't ssome of us disagree without being so dismissive of a couple of intelligent people's (i.e., David's and Krys's) opinions? I've read the abstracts of the "anti" articles about oxygenated water, and some of the claims of the "this is the fountain of youth" on Web sites. I'm not convinced one way or the other at this point. But I do know the two studies the naysayers refer to in this thread had so few subjects as to render them darn near meaningless. And as Krys pointed out, using athletic types likely influenced that 12-person study's findings. I hope the thread continues. I think it's been interesting.

Me, too, Exsie. I cry at the greeting card racks on a regular basis.

Krys, I hope you won't abandon this thread because of the rudeness of a few. I've learned a lot from your posts. I haven't posted much since the beginning of this thread because I wanted to defer to those who have a scientific background (e.g., you and David) and just consider your words and read some more on the subject. You, my GS friend with the lovely butterfly, DO have credentials. They come from your consistently posting honestly and from the heart. They come from sharing on subjects you know about, as opposed to trying to show everyone how smart you are by denigrating others' opinions. So I hope you'll stick around on this thread (and of course around GS!), dear Krys. Ditto for you, David. To everyone who's so self-righteously pooh-poohing what David and Krys have said, let me just say that skepticism is healthy, but that it can reach a point where it just becomes disrespectful and contentious. And Garth, David's name isn't "Davey," it's David. Whether you agree with what he says or not, MUST you so frequently reduce discussions to a derisive form of someone's name?

I just love you guys for sharing all these little tidbits. Keep 'em coming! Here are some: I was named after one of the daughers of Roy Rogers and Dale Evans (coulda been worse: Trigger Z!) I once attended a party in L.A. for Tennessee Williams--my friend and I were invited because TW wanted to mingle with some "real people" and not just all the "Hollywood phoneys." First thing I do when I get home from work is take off my shoes, then the bra...clearly the invention of a sadist!

And here are some more versions: http://www.geekfocus.com/content/view/20/45/ http://www.geekfocus.com/content/view/22/47/ Or go to this link to see several versions: http://www.geekfocus.com/content/blogcategory/7/43/

Tomorrow's the game's b'day. Check this out: http://www.yetisports.org/

Belle, lest suspicion run too rampant here: I know for a fact that HCW isn't Oldies or Mike. He's a real, live person; we used to be on staff together. He's not blinded to the bad things that happened in twi, not by a long shot. He's simply expressing his firsthand observations and perceptions. I wish HCW well in his efforts to share his viewpoint. Around here, it ain't easy to say, "Yes, there were bad things...really bad things...that went on in twi, and there were good things...really good things." To do so, one runs the risk of being called a "vp worshiper," "vp apologist," "waybrained" and any number of similar things. I find criticisms of/observations about VPW, LCM, et al that come from people who knew them to be far more enlightening than the many criticisms that come from people who didn't know them or who never even laid eyes on them but are just passing on what they heard.

Thanks, everyone. It sure is a fun car! It even has a moon roof. I keep wondering if the overhead light's on when I drive under street lights!! It has a little cover inside that I can slide shut, but I've never had a moon roof, so I like it open, just because I can. It has a whopping 22 miles on the odometer so far. The weather sucks, or it'd have a lot more, but in a little while I'm going to drive in the 6" of snow we got this morning to see how it handles that.

Here's the little cutey now!

Shell, this is a great thread. Thanks for starting it. What fun to read of each other's quirks and unique experiences! Here are a few more: Abi reminded me of this one, with her fear of tall pine trees. When I was in first grade, I was so terrified by kids in skeleton costumes at our Halloween party that I crawled under the teacher's desk and wouldn't come out until my mom came and got me. I peed my pants in about 5th grade while on a tour of a WW II submarine (it's still permanently "docked" in Cleveland) with my summer day camp. I was too embarrassed to ask a sailor (they were all men in those days) where the bathroom was. Thank God I was wearing a dress, cuz no one noticed except me and whichever lucky sailor got to mop up my puddle. :o--> I was once engaged to a guy whose last name was Baggs.

About three years ago I was in line at a drive-up ATM and noticed a red and white Way bumper sticker on the car in front of me. I think it had the word "prevailing" in it. I haven't seen one since.

Thanks for all your congrats, everyone! I'm excited. I like Fords, too. My last 4 cars have been Fords! But I went to check out the Focus last night, and it was a tad small for my taste, and I don't want one of their big cars. I'll try to post a photo later.

I'm gonna do it. I'm gonna take the big plunge tomorrow and buy my first brand-spankin' new car ever. I've always avoided new cars because of the depreciation hit you take the minute you drive off the lot. But I wanted one new car in my lifetime, and by golly, I'm gonna have me one! I'll miss my old Ford Contour--I got her when she was a year old, and she's been the best car I ever had (I don't know why Ford had to discontinue such a great model, or I might have bought another one). She's served me well for 7.5 years and 74,000 miles, but now she's going to my son, whose I-think-I-can Isuzu Trooper w/ 170,000 miles on it got him here from Denver and then started springing leaks and leaking springs the day he arrived. (He said, "Oh well, I only prayed it would make it here. I didn't ask for anything beyond that.") :D--> Anyway, my new car's gonna be a sweet little Toyota Matrix XR, Indigo Ink Pearl (dreamy blue), with plenty of room for taking dogs for rides and picking up cool stuff at auctions and flea markets and garage sales....ooooh, I'm excited! I'm sure my excitement will fade a little when I write that check every month, but I'd just spend it on somethin' else if not on this. So what the hey! Whee!

Hahahah P-Mosh. Alas, I'll have no such distractions--unless you can count slot machines.

Belle, you've reminded me of my most embarrassing moment of all time. Back in the early 70s, my boyfriend and I took my son to the local county fair. Just that day, my friend at work had heard about this sideshow "attraction" named Tiny Peter (I kid you not, that was his name), and we'd laughed about his name and various suppositions about his anatomy. So, the night of the fair, my boyfriend and my son and I strolled around, and we came to the row of sideshow tents. Lo and behold, the sign said, "Tiny Peter. Only 1 foot tall. Married to a normal-size woman, blah blah." I'd never been to a sideshow before (and never have since...something creepy about gawking at other human beings like that), but for the sake of telling my friend Nancy I'd seen Tiny Peter, I decided to pay my money and go in. My boyfriend had better sense. He took my son on a ride while I was inside. So it was just me. I paid my money and went into the tent, and guess what? There was no one inside but Tiny Peter, sitting on his tiny chair, swinging his tiny legs. There was no crowd to blend in with. No tall guy to stand behind and peek around. Just me. And Tiny Peter. My nose at the level of his tiny toes. I was so ashamed for being there that I wanted to crawl under the stage his chair was sitting on, but I was in, and I figured it would be more rude to flee in embarrassment than to just talk to the guy. I couldn't just stand there staring at him! We had a nice little chat, and he talked about how his kids all took after their mom in size and about other things I don't remember. And then I got out of there as fast as I graciously could. I was so embarrassed for going to a "freak" show, and it was ten times worse being the only member of the audience! Back to the circus midgets: I have to say collecting circus midget stuff would be a very odd hobby! :D-->

I'm glad to hear that P-Mosh, because that's where I'm staying in June. I hope their air-conditioning system is good!

By golly, Pirate, you're right, it wasMr. Peepers. I thought for sure it was Our Miss Brooks,. So much for my childhood memory capacity!

johniam, you said: Are you saying, then, that if a woman verbally annoys a man, his involuntary response is to hit her??? I'd say that's a scary thought, if a man can't control his reactions any better than that. (And I'd say the same of a woman who clobbered her husband with a skillet because he annoyed her.) What about just walking away until the annoying woman shuts up? And if she never can regain her composure in these situations, if she never shuts up, how about going for counseling and figuring out why? Or, failing that, how about divorcing her? How can you even consider "clocking her" a viable solution to anything? So hitting a woman is justified if you "need your space"? Man, I can't believe what I'm reading here. 90%??? You just make this stuff up, don't you? And "so-called" domestic violence cases??? You astound me. You think when a man beats the crap out of a woman, it's just so-called abuse? I'll grant you that some women don't know when to back off and let things cool down. But that in no way justifies hitting them. Convenient??? In case you haven't noticed, most men are FAR stronger than most women. It's illegal because if it weren't, there wouldn't be a deterrent that would keep men who feel like you apparently do from killing the women in their lives--because they needed their space. Good Lord in heaven. I think you are a man born out of his proper era. If I'm reading you right, you should have lived when women were no more than property... mere chattel to do with as the men would like. Back to the original subject (before I get "swatted like a fly" for daring to speak up to a man... I still contend that the father in this case is partly responsible for what happened to his children. Let's say for the sake of argument, that I had a mentally handicapped adult male child who happened to be a rapist of little girls, and I knew this about him. Then let's say I let him watch over a group of my daughter's young friends who were having a slumber party at our house, while I went off shopping. And let's say he raped several of them. Yes, in that scenario, my son would be a criminal, but are you trying to tell me I'd share none of the blame? That woman's husband knew about her mental state. He left their children in her care, with no one else supervising. And you think he shares none of the blame? You've totally sidetracked this discussion by claiming that to say the husband shared the responsibility is "men bashing" by the way. I happen to like men--a lot. I happen to think most of them are great. I also happen to think the man who fathered those five babies made a huge mistake and is partly to blame for their deaths.

WWJLA is right--Wally Cox was on Our Miss Brooks (again, ask your mothers). :D--> I'd forgotten about the Underdog thing. My friends laughed at me when I told them I had a crush on ol' Wally.

UH: Sweet pickles with peanut butter??? Sounds weird, but then, I like peanut butter on hot dogs. This started when I went to an old-fashioned burger joint that used to serve "peanut burgers"--hamburgers with peanut butter melted on them. I figured, why not hot dogs? Everyone thinks this is weird. I can't imagine why. Peanut butter's like the duct tape of the food world!!

ZShot asked: "Linda, Got pictures" Sorry, ZShot. Tintypes don't scan all that well. ;)--> And trust me when I tell you, you wouldn't want a photo of me skinny-dipping today!! LOL

I once skinny-dipped in Hollywood director Paul Mazursky's swimming pool while my friend was housesitting for him.

In the late 60s, I had a crush on Wally Cox when he was on Hollywood Squares (if you don't know who that is, ask your mom). (He was kinda geeky but sooooooooooo funny and smart.)

They need someone nice, like Mr. Rogers, but alas, he died. :(-->