Steve Went Parasailing

I spent last weekend at Cape Hatteras, learning how to use a Boogy-board (spelling?) and sitting on the beach reading Orson Scott Card's latest book. This was all well and good, but the most exciting part was the parasailing, which I have documented with pictures and videos available here.

A friend of mine showed me this, and I thought it was cool. Below is my personalized world-map. It shows where I have been (in dark blue) and what areas of the world I am linked to through family/close friends (in white).

My personal world map

visited 20 countries-
have connections through family/friends to 18 countries


Like to visit: All countries! Except maybe California.

Pretty cool, eh? You can make your own here. (go to "fun" under "specials")

P.S. Kudos to Carl, the only member of my family -- Besides dad, who claims Panama, but he was in the canal zone when it was part of the U.S. -- who can select any color directly below the United States and say they've been there.

P.S.S. Here's a challenge: Try to name all the white countries and how they are related to me. (through whom do I have connection to those countries?) I'll give you a ... cookie if you can get them all. -Laura -- NOTE, this challenge has changed. See comments below. (It has gotten easier.)

My "Hippie" Diet

I started my funky "eat mostly raw fruits and veggies, no sugar, no night shade veggies, and no fatty meat" diet (see below for more info) to see if I could eliminate fibromyalgia pain. It's proved to be about 80 to 95% successful. (It'd probably be 98% successful if I wouldn't keep "cheating.")

It's had a nice side effect. I've lost around ten pounds in the last three months. This may seem like an obvious side effect to most of you, but I have NEVER (I repeat: NEVER) been successful at dieting before. Plus when I started this diet I was determined that I would NOT starve myself, reminding myself that I wasn't in this for the weight loss, just for the loss of pain. So I stuffed myself on nuts and apples and anything else that was "allowed."

Now I'm back to my pre-freshman weight. To celebrate I put on a suit top that I'd gotten right before going off to college my freshman year. Mom thought it'd be good for student teaching, that it would make me look professional, but I'd never gotten the chance to use it. By the time I got to the spring of my freshman year (when school visits began) I'd gained five pounds, making the suit bulge in odd places and just not look good. My floor mates wore the suit more often than I did.

I'm wearing the suit now! And no weird bulges. I don't care much about my weight fluctuating ten pounds here or there (Steve admittedly doesn't notice if I loose or gain 10 pounds) but it is nice to have some old outfits back again. I am now back to dreaming that I can maybe someday reach my "ideal" weight (which is about 15 pounds less than my current weight -- a weight I haven't been at since junior high/high school). We shall see... may the positive side effects continue.

P.S. to those who have been following my heart-saga... I am fine. The ultra sound gave the docs a wonderful picture of a perfectly healthy 25 year old heart. Sometimes my chambers contract early, but it is not a problem, just a little weird. :) But then again, we've always known I was...

Boring, Obtuse, and Apathetic Economics Professor Appreciation Day

I have actually gotten some extra money lately from tutoring students outside of my TA responsibilities. $10 an hour is not going to get me rich (I know, I could charge more, but I am a softie), but it does not hurt.

So I declare today "Boring, obtuse, and Apathetic Economics professor Appreciation Day" to honor the generous men and women who teach their econ classes in such a manner that their students are willing to pay me to help them rather than go to their professor or TA.
(Note: The spelling in this post has been changed from the original to better reflect official spelling rules found in a dictionary.)