pawtucket

my target is just inbetween, 190. I will do a fat analysis then and see if I need to lose any more.

I promised last year to continue the forums until the 9th Anniversary. Well we are upon that time this month. I would like to go back to that time and fill you in on some details. For the past few years, I was beginning to have some health problems. They were all related to weight. I was obese, clinically I was morbidly obese. When I started Greasespot, I wore 2X shirts. By this time last year, I was getting ready to start wearing 5X. Common daily tasks were getting harder and harder to do. I was becoming more and more reclusive. Things were not at a good point for me. I wanted to get rid of things that held me back. Greasespot, in my mind, was one of them. I was not thinking about it's purpose and reason for being. I was very short tempered about everything. About that same time, I went to a seminar on obesity that was sponsored by a local hospital, at the urging of my family. I was sick of diets. I could never seem to ever get close to or below 300 lbs. I was sick and tired. I went to the seminar. It was broken up into 3 parts. One was the gastro-bypass. Second was this Nazi exercise program that included taking your television out of your house and the third was a diet. The seminar included dinner, which was the selling point for me. I knew a lady that did the bypass thing and she had gained the weight back. And the thought of this leash on my stomach was creepy. The exercise Nazis brought back nasty thoughts of a Way Home with 5 am wake up calls, 50 lb sacks of oatmeal and blackstrap molasses. And the diet, well been there done that. I would have left after the dinner, except some family came with me. And we got a free water bottle to boot. Well I was tolerating the gastro stuff as I ate some "healthy" potato chips. During the Nazi exercise program, I had the half of the wrap that my sister couldn't finish. Then a doctor came up to talk about this diet. The figures he was throwing out were staggering 70, 80, 150 lb weight loss in six months. I stopped eating and listened, truth be told the food was finished save one dill pickle. He laid out statistics, realistic ones. It wasn't perfect, only one third didn't gain the weight back. Better than the Nazi exercise and the gastro noose around one's tummy. He had my attention. The diet was medically supervised with weekly weigh-ins and doctor visits. Most of it covered by some medical insurances. He said for those that were morbidly obese, me, there was a full fast which was all liquid. I was familiar with liquid diets back in my drinking days, but this was different. I was reading the handouts, but it didn't have alot of detail. He said that there were info sessions in the next few weeks and gave a number to call if you were interested in it. It was the first time in about a year that I had much interest in anything. Fat isn't fun. The next morning I was on the phone and left a message. I drove myself and them crazy. I looked around their site until I could talk to a live person. I made an appointment at the earliest possible date, which was about 6 weeks away. I figured I could start that week, but no it would be six weeks to get the details and then another 6 weeks until they would schedule a psych exam and physical. I was excited for the first time in a long time. I got to the meeting close to the end of May. Then the numbers came out. It was very expensive, very expensive. While insurance covered the medical end, the liquid shakes were over $20 a box and you needed 6 a week. I did some number crunching and it was tight. I should mention that around Christmas the previous year, I decided to start smoking after a 15 year break. When life is collapsing around you, smoke. Well that was costing about $200 a month. So I decided while waiting for the start date of the program, I would quit smoking. I needed the money more than the smokes and I had only been smoking about 5 months. And my family said they would help when necessary. So I finally got an appointment for the physical and psych evaluation. July 1st. So I set a date of June 15th for quitting smoking. And from June 16th through the 1st of July I visited all my favorite food places; and ordered my favorite pizzas from the local shops. All went well. I went through the psych eval and physical on the afternoon of July 1st. I asked the Doctor when I could start. He said whenever you want. Tomorrow? He said I would have to go to at least one group meeting to get a feel before starting. I asked if there was one that evening. He said if you want, yes, but you been here all afternoon. I wanted this to start. So that afternoon, I bought my first week's worth of mixes, two chocolate, two strawberry and two vanilla. I went to the meeting that night. On the way home, I stopped at Burger King to get their Big Angus Texas whosamadinker burger with fries and a diet coke to balance the calories. The next morning, I began. The first week is losing a lot of water weight. I lost 24 lbs. I was able to bring my leg up to my knee to tie my shoes comfortably. I began a program that I continue to do to this day. Up until January, my weight loss was an average of a half lb. a day. I hit the 130 lb. mark last week. I have lost about 20 inches from my waist and I no longer welcome at the Big and Tall store. My divorce with Domino's was finalized a few months ago. At the end of November, I ate for the first time as I went to one meal a day. With the shakes and meal, I maintain an 800-1000 calorie a day diet. I finally started exercising. And I keep a diary of everything that I eat and drink. And, although a bit snug, I can fit into a Large shirt with no X multipliers next to it. I broke the 300 lb mark that I hadn't been able to in about a decade. In the next month or so, I will break the 200 lb mark, a place I haven't been in decades. I can go into the ocean without fear of causing a Tsunami. And jump without the Richter scale going off. That is where I was a year ago. The moderators, who never get enough thanks, have helped tremendously over the past year. There would be no forum without them. And the reason that they stay anonymous is so that they can post normally. I tried the model of them being known and certain people drove them away. So they are anonymous for a reason. So what about today? Well, this site still serves a vital service. And should continue to do so. The mission hasn't changed and it is much more than just me. I knew that when I started. So let's continue. I am much healthier than I was a year ago. My frame of mind is better set. Thanks for reading. There will be some interviews coming up soon. Michael

Well there is still another Battlestar movie in the fall. Basically from the cylons' viewpoint. And then Caprica the prequel will see the light of day. It's been in development for about 4-5 years now.

Kimberly, I would recommend Gmail.com from Google. Fast reliable and Free. You get about 8 gigs of storage and can send files as large as 8-10 megs. I've used it for about 4 years now and recommend it highly. You can get your mail from everywhere you have an internet connection. It has a chat feature that ties in with AIM. You can even save documents and share them and even collaborate with others.

I love old Motown stuff. Harmonies, Horns and Style. Anyway, I was checking out Amazon.com's MP3 section and they have loads of sampler albums for free. Some of them are just okay, but there is one there called "This is Daptones' Records" A wonderful sampler. In the vein of Motown from the late 60's. I'm wearing it out playing it so often.

A couple of things. The mods make the decisions to not allow someone to post. And I am one of them. Voting on it just seems wrong to me. White Dove was not banned. I have to approve his posts before they go public. Excathedra really brings up the heart of the matter. Someone sharing something that is painful and personal, and having them attacked by fellow posters is just wrong. Opinions are one thing, trying to play defense attorney for TWI on here is quite another. One thing that TWI instilled in people is this false sense of self-righteousness. Not even closely biblical, it is probably delusional. I can't and won't try to change people, people have to do that on their own. There is more than ample information here to make an educated decision on what you believe in relationship to TWI. On the subject of banning. In the mission, "All are welcome here" that was and is true. It does NOT say "All are welcome to POST here" Certain individual want to make this a court of law, it is not that. Never will be. I just decided that enough is enough. White Dove was given many warnings. He wants this forum to be something that it is not. He knows that. My offer to let him have his own forum still stands. The decisions made by the moderating team are not going to please everyone. I wish they could, but the reality is they won't.

Every year Google likes to introduce a new product on 4/1/ Here is this years. http://mail.google.com/mail/help/autopilot/index.html

Oldiesman, I am not going to "clarify" anything. It's pretty darn clear, as Wierwille used to say, "If you have ears to hear" and eyes to read and a mind to understand.

Oldies, Have you ever been to our front page under About Us? I put in bold the mission. Nothing has changed. Take the time to read the whole thing. Harassing behaviour is the root reason for what I said to White Dove. He, as well as you, have done your best to derail issues of importance. For some reason, you think we have to "try" every issue in a court of law, well we don't. You are welcome to your opinion here, and I will defend that right and have, you know that! But by the same token, I have removed things that you have posted that were inappropriate. We have rules to keep things civil. My offer to White Dove was an honest one. I've made the same offer to Mike. I welcome different opinions, but not at the cost of the site and it's mission. There are some threads that should be episodes of Law & Order with the legal wrangling. This is a discussion site, pure and simple. It's focus is "Telling the Other side of the story" Always was, nothing changed. I think that if you want to have a "pro-TWI" discussion, then you or others should have one to promote your thoughts and feeling. Having a primary focus doesn't disallow other opinions. Discussion boards vary on focus. The ones that I enjoy the most are the ones with a specific focus. I don't expect you or White Dove to agree with me, that's fine. But that doesn't give you the right to make this site suit your mission. When important topics that many want is derailed by a few, something has to be done.

Well ATI is owned by AMD. Get the model number of your video card and go here. http://ati.amd.com/products/index.html I come across this all the time. I would search for drivers in this order 1-video card manufacturer 2-computer maker (Dell and Apple stay pretty current, I've had mixed results with other companies) 3- third parties as suggested in another post. if the card is an old one and drivers aren't made anymore, then get a new one. Depending on what you do with your PC (surfing to Video games) will determine how much you have to spend. You can get a generic for about $50. One other thing to check is to see if you have an onboard video card in addition to the ATI. Not likely but some makers have an onboard video card. What is the model of the ATI card? How old is it? The problem, in my opinion, does not lay in the monitor.

White Dove, You are nothing more than a school yard bully. You have a right to your opinion. What you don't have, is a right on these forums to call people liars, albeit reworded. The primary focus of this forum is to discuss the OTHER side of the story, we know the TWI side! You have not added to the discussion, rather you distract any discussion from happening. If you want to defend TWI, that is your privilege. Here we are discussing the other side. I will even set up a site for you for free, if you want talk about the greatness of TWI and it's leadership. I'll even link to it!! But the bullying and demanding will end today.

i don't know if you caught it, but when the fleet is flying into the sun, they played a little bit of the theme from the original series. And the two producers had cameos. David Eick is seen for a moment donning his helmet as they prepare for battle. And Ron Moore is reading the magazine at the very end. (You have to be Newhart fans to get the following) I think the producer when he cut to black showing Adama on the hill next to the grave, a moment of darkness then a light comes on and Adama is in bed, this woman sits up and takes off her wig to reveal Bob Newhart. "What's wrong dear" Newhart asks. Adama shakes his head and rubs his eyes. "I've got to lay off the Bourbon" Fade to black.

A number of years ago, a friend of mine was in New Knoxville driving further up, decided to see what she could see. I was in chat and said to the chatters where she was, less than a minute later the "Way Police" come storming down the drive to her car. Yes they watch. Another poster said something in the forums and a few days later received a package from them with all of his posts in print about 200 pages.

For What It is Worth One thing that is great about threads like this is formulating and conveying how you feel about something. One thing that got lost when we were in TWI was thinking critically. The top leadership were great manipulators of words and thoughts. Followers were relegated to just accepting what they said. One of the biggest reasons that I ever started the forum section was to promote debate and let you really think, "what do you believe". We were deprived of that while in.

Is there anyone that is fluent in Spanish? There is someone in South America the was with TWI years ago that has some questions. If you would be willing to correspond with him, PM me. Thanks

Groucho, RumRunner has NOT been disabled. If he told you that he isn't telling you straight. If someone wants to make claims, let the person that was involved say something first. I am not saying it isn't true, but at this point I've gotten no corroboration.

CONGRATULATIONS Leonardo Olmeda, Cub Reporter!!!

You should change your passwords often. Do NOT use passwords that are known entities in your life. Examples are your petnames significant others name, children's names, your address or a nickname. In fact, you should make it a random set of numbers and letters. But if you do use names or things familiar, then make it as obscure as possible. If you were a jefferson airplane groupie in the 60's, you might pick something like this, J35534son making the E a 3 and the F a 5 and the R a 4. A straight word can be hacked by a computer. The odds of getting hacked are greater by the shortness of the word. At this point in time, you should never use a password with less than 6 characters, the longer and more random the better. Always have at least one number in the password and a few Capital Letters can't hurt either. NEVER mix your social and financial passwords. Each online financial institution should have it's own password. And don't have your computer remember them. It is WAY too easy to hack into your computer and get the complete password. Having to type it in each time is worth the effort. If you don't need banking online, then don't do it at all; it is convenient access, but not worth it if you are not willing to take the necessary precautions. Have one of your friends try to figure out your current passwords, if they guess it or even come close, you aren't secure.

What can happen when your account is hijacked. Click Here

Today I reached a milestone, the 100 lb mark. I've lost a total of 101.7 lbs. I feel so much better and more energetic. I still have a ways to go, but I never thought that I would be able to lose this much, but with the help of a structured program I did.

This is a very good discussion. I got an answer to my question via an email just after Christmas. A dear friend that I met through TWI wanted to talk with me. She was in the corps and close to a number of leaders. Most of her family was involved on some level. And after leaving TWI, she was involved in some offshoot. I always knew that she had seen alot, but she seemed happy in her situation. We never talked about GS or any of the horrific side of TWI. So she called. Got all the updates out and away. She told me that she's been listening to stuff that some ex-corps folks have been saying and realized that the "rosy" picture she's been remembering may not the real picture. (I am wondering why she is calling me) She went on to talk about an interview she listened to at a site called, GreaseSpot Cafe. The interview was with Kris Skedgell, who she has known for many years. She recognized the interviewer, me. She wanted to know about the site and finding different articles, what to read first. Were the articles fact based. And she said, "Since it looks like you've done some work for them, do you have any recommendations about the site?" My mind brought back that commercial about Hair for Men. "I'm not only the president, I"m a member, too." We spent a few hours on the phone. Someone that left about 20 years ago, is getting some solid answers to questions that have plagued her for decades. The viability answer was delivered to me by one of my dearest friends. I didn't like it at first, but it's grown on me in the past week. Believe it or not, some of the things I want to accomplish have to do with this site. I have some interviews that I want to do. And some personal goals, too. I've gotten some great suggestions. I have proposed some things with the moderators and if we work out everything, then we will continue to keep the forums open. I appreciate all the input.

Here is a thread in the Apple forums that says they will replace units with this problem http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?m...49

Check this out http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWiXy55OHyY

Happy New Year, Everyone. May it be a year for dreams to come true.

Let me make one thing very clear, this site will never require a poster to use their real name in public or private!!! The Way Corps site is heavily regulated on what can and can not be discussed. And it only allows a limited section of people that were involved in TWI.