An Inconsequential Yarn

<span id="goog_932988669"></span><span id="goog_932988670"></span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><span style="font-size: small;"><i><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">by guest contributor Steven DeRosa</span></i></span><br /><span style="font-size: small;"> </span><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCgPE0fsRPY8R6hm6vUeismJ9RLViYNQGoghEjgoCpgD_DbiUks2ZkDOQaRwvj4RV3CngSDg2uPp4PCTxSQnfSaFkaW50bWtWli1gN6YXbNFJBmL0ZJbFRZNFunhDhlAsuGNDLPYjnInpF/s1600/good+finale+graphic.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="233" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCgPE0fsRPY8R6hm6vUeismJ9RLViYNQGoghEjgoCpgD_DbiUks2ZkDOQaRwvj4RV3CngSDg2uPp4PCTxSQnfSaFkaW50bWtWli1gN6YXbNFJBmL0ZJbFRZNFunhDhlAsuGNDLPYjnInpF/s400/good+finale+graphic.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 15pt 0.0001pt 42pt;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">“They say every true San Franciscan has one foot on a hill and the other in the past.”—Kate in Samuel Taylor’s <i>The Pleasure of His Company</i></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">Since <i>Vertigo</i> is a film that garners such personal reactions, I wanted to begin this piece on something of a personal note. It’s not a matter of whether one likes the film or doesn’t.  For those who truly connect with <i>Vertigo</i>, it’s because it resonates with something inside of them. I was in high school when I saw <i>Vertigo</i> for the first time and the build up to seeing it was intense. It was only a few months before that I had begun to seriously study the master’s work, having been introduced to <i>The Lodger</i>, <i>The 39 Steps</i>, <i>Sabotage</i>, <i>Notorious</i>, <i>Rear Window</i>, and <i>North by Northwest</i>. Having become hooked on Hitchcock through that line up in school, I began my own exploration of every Hitchcock film I could get my hands on and by reading the corresponding chapter from Donald Spoto’s <i>The Art of Alfred Hitchcock</i> afterward. Then I’d re-watch the film over again, etc. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /><a name='more'></a><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">Given the laudatory opening paragraphs on <i>Vertigo</i> in Spoto’s chapter, as well as its massive size in relation to chapters on other films, I knew to expect something very special. When I finally did see <i>Vertigo</i>, I was swept away by its beauty, its movement, the emotional punch it delivered, and by its haunting images and score. Over the next five years or so, I would watch it once a month—yes, I was that obsessed (I would perform the same monthly ritual with <i>Rear Window</i> and <i>North by Northwest </i>as well). To this day, I still get goose bumps during certain sequences, and on occasion well up by the final moments of the film.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">After a few years of immersing myself in my own Hitchcock education, I had become increasingly curious about his collaborators, particularly his screenwriters. I was of course familiar with the countless statements Hitchcock made about how for him the most creative part of the filmmaking process was the writing and preparation stage, and that the actual process of shooting the picture was boring. Statements like this fed my curiosity to know how much of an impact his writers had on the finished films. What did they bring to the table? What contributions did they make beyond the dialogue? I found myself becoming more and more fascinated by these writers who had sat beside Hitchcock, not merely observing him create and taking down dictation, but who’d earned a seat in the inner sanctum and engaged with him in creating these films. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg12Dv5d1hEpwVf-ChIYDmBCG3xKn91C4l864anpn6TYotN2hxvNnPV4eEXP8MdhJyVGE_WHhMVgyeRLsS_4rMHz43xzLE9mp7F3y1-FRn-VU2NtdoK4olObpBHJ9g5K4md6wXkAVaWekiG/s1600/Vertigo+Taylor+1+b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="216" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg12Dv5d1hEpwVf-ChIYDmBCG3xKn91C4l864anpn6TYotN2hxvNnPV4eEXP8MdhJyVGE_WHhMVgyeRLsS_4rMHz43xzLE9mp7F3y1-FRn-VU2NtdoK4olObpBHJ9g5K4md6wXkAVaWekiG/s320/Vertigo+Taylor+1+b.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Screenwriter Samuel Taylor</td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: right;"></div><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">Of the Hitchcock screenwriters of the 1950s and 1960s, Samuel Taylor was not the most prolific. Although he directed a film after having written only two screenplays, Taylor did not adapt quite as well to the Hollywood lifestyle as say John Michael Hayes, Ernest Lehman, or even Joseph Stefano. Each of these writers found their niche—Hayes as adapter of “difficult” material, Lehman as adapter of road-show musicals, and Stefano brought his special touch to the small screen as principal writer for <i>The Outer Limits</i>. Sam Taylor however was more at home writing plays in Maine and then seeing them through to production on the New York stage. Yet, in spite of a short list of screenwriting credits in comparison to say Lehman or Hayes, Taylor played a significant role in shaping and refining Hitchcock’s most dreamlike film.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><u><span style="font-size: small;"><i><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">An Unconventional Screenplay</span></i></span></u></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgTWEpckP4HUK87NjtG28E6o7t09SU3zY_n2SatAtOkuusDH8d8xRUyRA2Y9sCT7pWtdX2jJYukaWBLOWpZC4LHJfEuu8NDkQCVGTpXUm3N6zhVZEVYkw6HIDZ3M8apLeBJ5G2S0CD0UPY/s1600/opening+credits.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="177" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgTWEpckP4HUK87NjtG28E6o7t09SU3zY_n2SatAtOkuusDH8d8xRUyRA2Y9sCT7pWtdX2jJYukaWBLOWpZC4LHJfEuu8NDkQCVGTpXUm3N6zhVZEVYkw6HIDZ3M8apLeBJ5G2S0CD0UPY/s320/opening+credits.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">By conventional screenwriting standards, the screenplay for <i>Vertigo</i> could be regarded as a failure. It contains so many “no-nos,” cheats, and just plain writing crutches that most writers would never attempt to get away with all in the same script—flashbacks, a dream sequence, and a lengthy voiceover where a character composes a letter <i>on screen</i> in order to explain much of the plot. But these devices, to name just a few, are exactly what make <i>Vertigo</i> work. The illusory nature of the movie required an unconventional script.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">By the end of 1956, Hitchcock had already been through three writers in adapting the Boileau and Narcejac novel <i>D’Entre les Morts</i>. Playwright Maxwell Anderson had a go at a first draft which Hitchcock found lacking in mood, direction and structure. Hitchcock then turned to his old friend Angus MacPhail who knocked out a very rough outline—what today might be called a step-sheet. Structurally, the MacPhail outline closely resembles the finished film and Hitchcock hoped he would be up to the task of roughing out a construction or treatment from which Anderson would write a second draft. However, MacPhail opted to bow out gracefully. Hitchcock then turned to Paramount contract writer Alec Coppel, who had provided the text for one of the threatening notes used in <i>To Catch a Thief</i> when a re-take was needed after principal photography. Coppel worked closely with Hitchcock in fashioning a screenplay that followed MacPhail’s structure and now included most of the visual set pieces that Hitchcock envisioned for the film. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">With Coppel’s draft, Hitchcock now had a mysterious, moody love story with elements of the supernatural, and a big twist to be revealed in the final scene—the supernatural elements were merely a hoax conceived to cover up a murder. Hitchcock returned to Anderson to finesse the dialogue and clarify the characters’ motivations, but the writer turned him down. As was custom when he needed a new writer, Hitchcock reached out to his go-to agents, one of which was Kay Brown, who on learning the film was to be set in San Francisco immediately suggested her client Samuel Taylor.  </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbqafi3qSNa1bzo77JGw0Qh9NbMawUCoo9irVuyPTnwwkLtft5tuw1LEW_syKwT9_ppRNg37UF2VUpPPjUsA8PDF7wX9Lu_3GSh_IY3YOFLB2ZJm_5VUHaclEemtvijGz3IjBvlPDOA13S/s1600/SF+hill.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="245" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbqafi3qSNa1bzo77JGw0Qh9NbMawUCoo9irVuyPTnwwkLtft5tuw1LEW_syKwT9_ppRNg37UF2VUpPPjUsA8PDF7wX9Lu_3GSh_IY3YOFLB2ZJm_5VUHaclEemtvijGz3IjBvlPDOA13S/s400/SF+hill.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><u><span style="font-size: small;"><i><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">Hitchcock’s New Writer</span></i></span></u></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">Although born in Chicago, Samuel Taylor grew up in San Francisco and attended the University of California, Berkeley, so he was already quite familiar with both the flavor and history of the City by the Bay. In fact, at the time Kay Brown suggested Taylor to Hitchcock, he was busy writing his play <i>The Pleasure of His Company</i> which was also set in San Francisco. No doubt, this appealed to Hitchcock who longed to film the city for the big screen (an early treatment for <i>I Confess </i>and an aborted adaptation of David Duncan’s <i>The Bramble Bush</i> had both been set in and around San Francisco).</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">Taylor</span><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"> was sent the Coppel script and Hitchcock’s notes and after some initial uncertainty, he accepted the assignment and met with the director. “When I read the screenplay that had been written, I was quite confused because I couldn’t follow it at all,” recalled Taylor. “When I saw Hitchcock after I read the script, I knew what the problem was. I said to him, ‘It’s a matter of finding the reality and humanity for these people. You haven’t got anybody in this story who is a human being—nobody at all. They’re all cut-out cardboard figures.’”</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">This was exactly what Hitchcock wanted and needed to hear. When writing for Hitchcock, you were hired because you brought something to the table that Hitchcock, as producer, felt the project needed. In the case of <i>Vertigo</i>, it was the emotional story and characters that needed work at this point. Taylor told Hitchcock he would need to invent a character to help make Scottie real. To Taylor’s surprise Hitchcock said, “Fine.” And with very little discussion about it, he went off and created Midge. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoQfSagBoFIi44JLz3mwMbN3ZjT23tTvmm-7sl8yBb7PsTYkeykAg3LDciU3sE-_2dyou73Z_Nmunk3wsKc8R-LGMUEjaM_RMXmxdrFlZMlr4xjQDPa7D3zQsMT8vSFpSM_mxx0jfyIgAP/s1600/midge.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="282" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoQfSagBoFIi44JLz3mwMbN3ZjT23tTvmm-7sl8yBb7PsTYkeykAg3LDciU3sE-_2dyou73Z_Nmunk3wsKc8R-LGMUEjaM_RMXmxdrFlZMlr4xjQDPa7D3zQsMT8vSFpSM_mxx0jfyIgAP/s400/midge.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">According to Taylor, once he invented Midge, the whole picture fell into place for him.  “All the Midge scenes were mine,” recalled Taylor. “He didn’t know anything about Midge until he read the script and liked it.” Midge provided Taylor the opportunity to give Scottie more back story and allowed him to eliminate any scenes with Scottie’s police colleagues. Midge became the cynical voice of reason—much like Stella in <i>Rear Window</i>—not believing in any of the Carlotta Valdes nonsense. Taylor also added to the San Francisco flavor of the story by changing Madeleine’s dead ancestor from the novel’s Pauline Lagarlac to Carlotta Valdes, drawing on the local Spanish history. The Carlotta Valdes back story—that she was of Spanish-American ancestry, had been raised on a mission settlement, and that at a young age was a cabaret entertainer who became the kept woman of a wealthy, powerful man who abandoned her after having his child—added a social/sexual subtext that had been lacking in the previous scripts. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfskzjCignYXMkSChgkTcI-RgsVrruGveWx5NreckzEfuL1QswHHHIWKg8lITwiu3eV1nBcB5zC5Zf6nIdP5QUCs84MGM3QNWcVsLQY4Lzd_XwyGbGgLzMjfLCnyvOtgj-fu__vwrEIYkr/s1600/pop+leibel.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfskzjCignYXMkSChgkTcI-RgsVrruGveWx5NreckzEfuL1QswHHHIWKg8lITwiu3eV1nBcB5zC5Zf6nIdP5QUCs84MGM3QNWcVsLQY4Lzd_XwyGbGgLzMjfLCnyvOtgj-fu__vwrEIYkr/s400/pop+leibel.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">To speak even more about that history, Taylor added the character Pop Leibel. The Pop Leibel Taylor recalled from his childhood ran a candy store instead of a bookshop. Taylor knew the bookshop atmosphere well from having worked in a similar one while in college. With the invention of Pop Leibel, Taylor introduced a phrase that added to the script’s subtext. “Power and freedom” are used three times in the film significantly—first by Elster to Scottie, then when Pop Leibel refers to the man who left Carlotta but kept her child, and finally by Scottie to Judy. All the talk about “wandering” that pervades the movie also came from Taylor. And with these changes, Taylor helped Hitchcock layer the script into something very special.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">And yet Taylor found that something was still missing. Something he couldn’t quite put his finger on. He told Hitchcock that it was lacking a “Hitchcockian thing.” And then it hit him. Rather than saving the big reveal for the ending, they should let the audience in on the secret—that Judy was the woman who had pretended to be Madeleine. “The whole first act is deception,” said Taylor. “But once you get past the death and actually have destroyed the man, you’ve got to tell the audience that this was a plot. It can’t be a surprise. You can’t go all the way to the end of the picture.” </span></span><br /><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglj8Vfd1Te3EMBB4vdqBQOTuFS3U71GSHHkoIAPbdb-StD9QuIXiTvlmuihN_luB71aN0f1Pel52XvT9d5LP31r1k53vpcWNOhCGkR5QVq1HSi5Ftp9TwaZEaZlzExIPi6syl61F9kznPc/s1600/reveal.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="231" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglj8Vfd1Te3EMBB4vdqBQOTuFS3U71GSHHkoIAPbdb-StD9QuIXiTvlmuihN_luB71aN0f1Pel52XvT9d5LP31r1k53vpcWNOhCGkR5QVq1HSi5Ftp9TwaZEaZlzExIPi6syl61F9kznPc/s400/reveal.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">Hitchcock agreed. Thus the flashback showing Judy reaching the top of the mission tower where Elster was waiting with his dead wife and Judy’s letter writing scene were written. Taylor’s instinct was exactly correct and followed the Hitchcock suspense principle in providing the audience with information. Yet, in retrospect, Taylor felt that the letter writing scene was weak. “I think, Hitchcock and I goofed,” remembered Taylor. “After the Mozart scene, we should have said, ‘What about the girl? This is the time to tell the audience what is happening.’ And we should have gone back to Gavin Elster. We shouldn’t have forgotten about him and the girl that cavalierly.”</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">Taylor</span><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"> said years later that the letter writing scene was inept; pointing out that he also hated resorting to it in the film adaptation of his own play <i>Sabrina Fair</i>, which he adapted with Billy Wilder. Taylor suggested that the “argument scene” between Judy and Gavin Elster should not have been played offstage. “You would get a much stronger feeling about the girl if she had to face Gavin Elster and say, ‘You’re going away, and without me.’”</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtNgTmw4nd-0QRsYInrMI8FtwodJfJc8w70DE_YzLhfIS7CHycAGr-E5FBoL6fjvLOenXGR-89PqXTAGIha8mATLrx7kmvAYmEmXzk7XSIrDQmE2uUMIs1U2_sTWhbJTeNBv7onLv8qn-T/s1600/scottie+and+judy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="238" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtNgTmw4nd-0QRsYInrMI8FtwodJfJc8w70DE_YzLhfIS7CHycAGr-E5FBoL6fjvLOenXGR-89PqXTAGIha8mATLrx7kmvAYmEmXzk7XSIrDQmE2uUMIs1U2_sTWhbJTeNBv7onLv8qn-T/s400/scottie+and+judy.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">Taylor</span><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"> reasoned that primed with this knowledge before hand, the audience would have a much greater sense of apprehension, anxiety, and foreboding at watching Scottie wander around San Francisco looking for Madeleine. On this point, I couldn’t disagree more. The audience needed to meet Judy from Scottie’s point of view <i>before</i> Hitchcock could cut away to hers. Furthermore, Hitchcock’s concern was with Scottie and Judy. There was no dramatic reason to see Elster or Midge again. As the world of the film became smaller—i.e. fewer and fewer characters—the situation between Scottie and Judy intensified. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">Perhaps Taylor’s Monday morning quarterbacking was due to the criticism <i>Vertigo</i> received on its initial release. Nevertheless, even with its disappointing performance at the box office, Hitchcock had enjoyed working with Taylor enough to invite him back to collaborate on the screenplay for <i>No Bail for the Judge</i>—after Ernest Lehman turned him down. Sadly, Taylor’s script was victim to the director’s move from Paramount to Universal in 1961 and it remained unproduced. Taylor and Hitchcock would remain friends socially, and the writer came back to help Hitchcock with a rewrite on the troubled <i>Topaz.</i></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><u><span style="font-size: small;"><i><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">Inconsequential Material</span></i></span></u></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">I’ve always felt that Samuel Taylor best articulated Hitchcock’s approach to film and to working with writers when he said that constructing a film was like putting together a mosaic. And for Hitchcock, that mosaic was comprised of his favorite scenes, but when he didn’t have a good writer, there were pieces missing in that mosaic. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">Taylor</span><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"> also understood that to Hitchcock, plot was secondary to story, observing that while the plot of <i>Vertigo</i> may be farfetched, the story is honest and true. “Hitchcock was a very emotional man,” recalled Taylor. “And having a good actor in Stewart, and having a good situation of a man driven almost to madness by what has happened, he was able to infuse it with enormous emotion. He preferred telling an inconsequential yarn, but bringing to it all the artistry he had.” </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><span style="font-size: small;"> <span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">Taylor</span><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"> was not denigrating his own work when he referred to <i>Vertigo</i> as “an inconsequential yarn.” To put it in other terms, one could say that the director and his writers were constructing their yarn out of—if not smoke and mirrors—mirrors and some carefully placed fog. The film was constructed and designed to be Hitchcock’s ultimate love story, and in that respect, it succeeded on every level.</span></span><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHKjVn8deOZe0YqhlwazrSvk1Eb9iBE3qT1-sQlfztA3OFYIwwke8wmWEomh756ILHsIyc1GeQLEUdEPW3qvDEJX12WillRtQ_8qB0iRkPc5xw5BxmApuR2flouyeewD6AOENWkhwfDwfx/s1600/finale+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="216" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHKjVn8deOZe0YqhlwazrSvk1Eb9iBE3qT1-sQlfztA3OFYIwwke8wmWEomh756ILHsIyc1GeQLEUdEPW3qvDEJX12WillRtQ_8qB0iRkPc5xw5BxmApuR2flouyeewD6AOENWkhwfDwfx/s400/finale+2.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><br /><ul style="margin-top: 0in;" type="disc"><li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">Samuel Taylor is quoted from a talk he gave at Pace University (my alma mater) in June 1986, and from the BBC’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Omnibus</i> (1986).</span></li><li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">For more on the structure of the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Vertigo</i> screenplay see <a href="http://youtu.be/iu6tI8nCslI" style="color: #990000;">The Hitchcock Kiss</a>.</span></li><li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">For a complete account of the screenplay’s development, I recommend Dan Auiler’s <i>Vertigo: The Making of a Hitchcock Classic.</i></span></span></li></ul><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">~ </span></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjF5aGuc7m8LmI9ymHHj0qdgqG2An1tSob9X94Iq7y7iTsfJadXw6v_Yi99iA1QUbh337BfaQ801-2ba3RUBc-iFOMNnweSKHlmjP1333N4vN0kgEK2_gp3LAIXUnJlrsnw6cW5x5qLz5DL/s1600/Steven+DeRosa+3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjF5aGuc7m8LmI9ymHHj0qdgqG2An1tSob9X94Iq7y7iTsfJadXw6v_Yi99iA1QUbh337BfaQ801-2ba3RUBc-iFOMNnweSKHlmjP1333N4vN0kgEK2_gp3LAIXUnJlrsnw6cW5x5qLz5DL/s320/Steven+DeRosa+3.jpg" width="275" /></a></td></tr><tr style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Steven DeRosa</td></tr></tbody></table><i><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">Steven DeRosa</span></b><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"> is the author of <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Writing-Hitchcock-Collaboration-Alfred-Michael/dp/0983205604/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1326502456&sr=8-1" style="color: #990000;">Writing with Hitchcock</a>. He has lectured on screenwriting and film at NYU's Hitchcock Centennial Conference, The American Museum of the Moving Image, Film Forum, and New School University, and has been a contributing writer to the Writers Guild of America Awards. Steven can be seen on-screen in the documentary, </span></i><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">The Master's Touch: Hitchcock's Signature Style</span><i><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">, available on Warner Home Video's 50th Anniversary Blu-ray of </span></i><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">North by Northwest</span><i><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">, as well as in featurettes on Paramount's forthcoming Blu-ray of </span></i><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">To Catch a Thief</span><i><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">. Steven's website is </span></i><a href="http://blog.writingwithhitchcock.com/" style="color: #990000;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">Writing with Hitchcock</span></a><i><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">. He has a <a href="https://www.facebook.com/writingwithhitch" style="color: #990000;">facebook page</a> of the same name and can be found on Twitter as <a href="https://twitter.com/#%21/WriteHitchcock" style="color: #990000;">@WriteHitchcock</a>...</span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><ul style="margin-top: 0in;" type="disc"></ul>

A Month of Vertigo Alfred Hitchcock Samuel Taylor Steven DeRosa An Inconsequential Yarn

by guest contributor Steven DeRosa “They say every true San Franciscan has one foot on a hill and the other in the past.”—Kate in Samuel Ta...

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What gets you through the workday?

<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://emj.cbdr.com/artieimages/75/ar5l8gm6j87zbhfsrs75.gif?time=11/4/2011%2011:17:57%20am" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://emj.cbdr.com/artieimages/75/ar5l8gm6j87zbhfsrs75.gif?time=11/4/2011%2011:17:57%20am" /></a></div><div class="ArticleHeadline" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin-top: -30px;"><div class="hdr_org_bld" style="color: #ff6600; font: normal normal bold 18px/normal arial, helvetica;"><h1 id="articleHeadline" style="color: #ff7700; font-size: 18px; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><br /></h1></div><b><span id="cbArticle_lblByLine">Rachel Zupek Farrell, Special to CareerBuilder</span></b><br /><br /><div class="cbmsnArticleImage">Distractions in the workplace are inevitable, and they happen for a multitude of reasons.</div></div><div class="ArticleContent" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"><br /><div style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Perhaps you've been staring at the <a href="http://www.careerbuilder.com/jobs/keyword/computer/" style="color: #3300cc; font-family: Arial; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none;">computer</a> for two hours straight and need to tear your eyes away for a few minutes. Maybe it's nearing the end of a long day and you need to get outside for the first time. Or maybe you're trying to get work done, but all the people around you are making that impossible.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">It's smart for workplaces to view distractions in two ways, says Rachel Permuth-Levine, Ph.D.,<a href="http://www.careerbuilder.com/jobs/keyword/senior+director/" style="color: #3300cc; font-family: Arial; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none;">senior director</a> of human capital research and outcomes at the blog "toLive."</div><div style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">"It is important to minimize distractions in the workplace and at the same time promote those 'pleasant' distractions that allow us to have a reprieve from the stressors of our job," Permuth-Levine says.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">"Some types of distractions -- too much paperwork, multitasking, too much noise -- are harmful. They can lead to safety issues, lack of productivity or absenteeism. The pleasant distractions -- coffee break, taking a walk, talking to colleagues -- recharge us and help our health and performance on the job."</div><div style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">In a recent survey conducted by GSN Digital, the interactive division of the Game Show Network, nearly 80 percent of respondents who play <a href="http://www.bing.com/search?q=online+games&src=IE-SearchBox&FORM=msns07" style="color: #3300cc; font-family: Arial; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none;">online games</a> during the workday said they feel more focused on work as a result of periodic mental breaks associated with game play.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Fifty-nine percent of those who play games at work play for 30 minutes or less. These respondents reported that taking just a few minutes off from work to play games helps them refocus, increases creativity and calms them down during stressful situations.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">We asked our readers how they get through the workday. Here's what they had to say:</div><div style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><strong>Completion is calming</strong><br />"One thing that gets me through the day is to get paperwork or computer work 'completed' during whatever breaks I can get through the day. The feeling of 'completion' is important to me, and I actually feel it improves my overall attitude and effectiveness. When work piles up, I feel more stressed and very time sensitive." <i>-- Len Saunders, public education </i><a href="http://www.careerbuilder.com/jobs/keyword/teacher/" style="color: #3300cc; font-family: Arial; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none;"><i>teacher</i></a><i></i></div><div style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><strong>White noise works</strong><br />"White noise on my iPod has become my new best friend in the workplace. I changed jobs recently and the new company has an open office floor plan. The constant chatter in the office can be extremely distracting. <a href="http://www.careerbuilder.com/jobs/keyword/music/" style="color: #3300cc; font-family: Arial; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none;">Music</a> tends to overstimulate and distract me as much as office chatter, but I find white noise at varying frequencies does the trick." <i>-- Troy Adkins, director of marketing and membership, CoreNet Global Inc</i>.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><b>Soothing surroundings</b><br />"In a <a href="http://www.careerbuilder.com/jobs/keyword/creative/" style="color: #3300cc; font-family: Arial; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none;">creative</a> industry, it is super-critical to be able to keep the inspiration flowing and avoid workday burnout. Here are some of the things I do to make sure I stay focused and inspired: 'Bing' your favorite color. Surprisingly, a simple search can result in some gorgeous images to keep you smiling from the inside out. Fresh flowers on your desk make a huge difference; they not only add a lovely and fragrant element, but they greet everyone who walks into your office or work space. Take a few minutes to create a <a href="http://www.pandora.com/" style="color: #3300cc; font-family: Arial; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none;">Pandora</a> music channel that provides hours of your favorite music to keep you in a happy workplace rhythm. Watch a three-minute travel video to inspire you and have you looking forward to that well-earned vacation. Beautiful imagery and daydreams of that perfect vacation can keep you plugging away another day." <i>-- Gina Samarotto, </i><a href="http://www.careerbuilder.com/jobs/keyword/principal/" style="color: #3300cc; font-family: Arial; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none;"><i>principal</i></a><i>, The Samarotto Design Group</i></div><div style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><strong>Working out stress</strong><br />"The workplace distraction that gets me through my day is running at lunchtime. When I run, I can choose to sort out work items in my head or just zone out, not think and listen to music or my feet pounding the pavement. Running at lunch breaks up my day, and I come back for the afternoon energized and productive. Not only am I getting exercise, but my co-workers and clients are also benefiting from my workplace distraction." <i>-- Jenika Scott, channel </i><a href="http://www.careerbuilder.com/jobs/keyword/marketing+manager/" style="color: #3300cc; font-family: Arial; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none;"><i>marketing manager</i></a><i>, Hall Internet Marketing</i></div><div style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><strong>Video game break</strong><br />"My favorite workplace distraction is the on-site massage. Our company has an in-house masseuse that visits the office once a week. I make sure I am on her schedule, as the quiet down time helps keep me motivated throughout the day. On days when I don't have a massage, I find solace playing one of the many video games found in our office, as they help sidetrack my attention, if only for a few minutes. Pac-Man never gets old!" <i>--Taryn Lomas, </i><a href="http://www.careerbuilder.com/jobs/keyword/vice+president/" style="color: #3300cc; font-family: Arial; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none;"><i>vice president</i></a><i> of strategic accounts, Underground Elephant</i></div><div style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><i>Rachel Zupek Farrell researches and writes about job search strategy, career management, hiring trends and workplace issues for CareerBuilder.</i></div></div>

What gets you through the workday?

Rachel Zupek Farrell, Special to CareerBuilder Distractions in the workplace are inevitable, and they happen for a multitude of reasons. Per...

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The Right To Exist

“Ever since the “Holy Land” was invented as a pilgrimage-center by the <br />Empress Helena in the fourth century, it had been the scene of acrimony <br />and violence among the rival religious groups. . . . Throughout four centuries <br />(15th- 19th) it had been the task of the Ottoman sultans to impose, for the <br />sake of civil order, a culture of mutual tolerance . . . . Where religious difference <br />was in question there really was only one political option: live and let live. Muslims <br />and Jews were nearly always able to accept this in relation to one another <br />and to the Christians. The followers of Christ, however, while finding <br />it possible to live at peace with . . . monotheists of the Islamic or Jewish <br />persuasion, could not always resist outbursts of violence against their <br />co-religionists (fellow Christians) . . . .” A.N. Wilson, The Victorians<br /><br /> For a long time, it seems, Christians have been more tolerant of other people of other faiths than we are of each other. Strange, how proximity breeds intolerance. I suspect it is that the closer people are to us, the more they make us nervous about our right to be here.<br /><br /> Today, a sticking point in the search for peace in the Holy Land is “the right to exist.” Israel insists on one key point before making major agreements with its neighbors – that the neighbors acknowledge Israel’s right to exist. Palestinians want to be recognized as a state with the right to defend its borders and preserve its sovereignty, which is essentially the same thing. The situation is admittedly complex. Both God and the devil are in the details. But the threshold question they cannot seem to get past is simple: acknowledging each other’s right to be present.<br /><br /> To deny someone the right to exist is the primal attack. In Madeleine L ‘Engle’s sci-fi book, A Wind In The Door, the galaxy is threatened by death-eater-like beings called Echtroi who go about x-ing or un-naming things, denying their existence. L’Enlge insists on the innate value of each of us and on our right to be here. She challenges us not only to acknowledge that each other belong on this earth but to actively defend each other’s right to exist. <br /><br /> One may well wonder: why is this an issue? Why do we deny each other’s right to exist? Why is there genocide? Why is there war? Why are the different oppressed? Why are English speakers so distressed by the sound of Spanish? <br /><br /> If we are secure in our own place, confident that we belong on this earth, we can allow others to be here too. We can even enjoy the wild diversity of creation. We can delight that God is a unity who proliferates into diversity and that the diversity of creation is rooted in one existential ground, God. But if our self-worth, our sense of belonging, is fragile, then the presence of someone a bit different from us becomes a threat. We need to be the only ones here; or if we cannot be the only ones, then the others must be entirely like us. By being like us, they reassure us that we are the right way to be.<br /><br /> One way to avoid feeling threatened by people who are different is to avoid them. In his book, The Big Sort: Why The Clustering Of Like-Minded America Is Tearing Us Apart, Bill Bishop demonstrates that our nation is dividing up into smaller and smaller conclaves of people who look, think, and live more and more alike. Our gated communities are populated by racially, economically, socially, and politically similar people. The new social ghettos are far less porous than the ethnic neighborhoods of old, perhaps because they so intentionally formed out of fear of encountering someone different. <br /><br /> We invest a lot of energy and money so that we can at least pretend each other do not exist – to make for ourselves a seemingly safer but smaller and less interesting world. A political consequence of this fragmenting of society is the polarizing of our politics. Each congressional district has a cohesive ideology and elects people to represent that ideology. A think tank that rates congressional representatives as liberals, conservatives, or moderates notes that the number of moderates has steadily declined until the current congress, which for the first time in their studies, does not contain a single moderate. The moderates are the folks who broker the deals and work things out of gridlock. Without the moderates to negotiate the compromises, each side seeks to make the government work by subjugating the other. <br /><br /> The Episcopal Church, in keeping with the Anglican tradition of moderation, the via media, tolerance, and our identity as a “bridge church” has traditionally resisted such polarization. We have been a people who worship and serve together out of personal affection and a common form of prayer – not theological or ideological agreement. How has that played out in Nevada?<br /><br /> I am continuing my pastoral questioning of the divisions in our Diocese that keep us from flourishing in God’s mission. I am also continuing to look for whatever bonds of affection might run counter to those divisions. The first thing I sense here is a quiet respect for each other’s right to exist, a willingness to sit at the same table. It isn’t a bold statement of conviction. It’s more of a tacit assumption which is probably better. Even this tacit acknowledgement runs counter to secular culture. The divisions in Nevada are not merely North and South. There are divisions of East and West, urban and rural, mining and ranching. The groups so divided resent each other’s presence most grievously. So it is a spiritual accomplishment to be a diocese of people, parishes, and missions that accept each other’s place at the table.<br /><br /> But there is a residue of resentment, a suspicion that others do not respect us, a prickly defense against those who might do harm. That confused me at first since I have so rarely experienced any group here actually hostile to any other. But the sense that someone does not want us here is not pure fantasy. There is real history to our nervousness about each other.<br /><br /> There have been times in the past when people in larger churches said that the smaller churches should be closed – which naturally lead to people in smaller churches saying that larger churches should be closed or rather broken up into small churches. There really were people proposing to close Camp Galilee. Others suggested that saving Galilee could be best achieved by preventing or stopping ministries in cities. Seminary trained priests thought the locally trained should not be ordained; the locally trained thought the seminary trained should not be called. Parishes have divided internally over whether to engage in spiritual renewal of the congregation or commit to mission serving those outside the church – as if either project could succeed without the other. We also participated in “the controversies” as they say – meaning national disputes over the roles of women and LGBT persons in the church. Both sides of “the controversies” eventually tried to exterminate, excommunicate, or deport each other – though those issues have not divided Nevada to the extent that they did elsewhere -- perhaps we had too many other kinds of differences to identify with.<br /><br /> Two things here strike me as noteworthy: First, we stopped x-ing each other years ago. Second, we still feel at risk of being x-ed by our fellow Nevada Episcopalians. For example, I have found only one seminary trained priest and one locally trained priest who actually speak ill of those who were trained differently. But it is not that unusual for me to find clergy who suspect that they are secretly disrespected by clergy of the other species. I never hear people from one area speak ill of the churches in another region, except that they suspect that the people elsewhere think ill of them. It is as if the bullets have been removed from the flesh, but the wounds have not yet healed. <br /><br /> Where then do we go from here? I am sure of only one thing. It is good to trust in God’s grace. It is good to know that we belong here, that God has claimed us as beloved children, that God has named us (Isaiah 49: 1), sealed us with the Holy Spirit in Baptism and marked us as Christ’s own forever. We don’t have to x each other to claim a space. God has given us our space, our right to exist. We know that, we feel it, and we believe it. That is why we have stopped x-ing one another. But what about the wounds that are not yet healed? I do not know the answer to that.<br /><br /> At John 5: 1-17, we read about a man who had been ill for 38 years lying near a healing fountain. Jesus, with his insight, did not assume the obvious. He asked. He said, “Do you want to be healed?” (v. 6) The man’s answer was equivocal. Do we want to be healed? We may have grown accustomed to the wounds. We may have identified with them. We may not be ready to part with them just yet. We are not x-ing each other. We trust in God’s grace. That much is good. Do we want to be healed? What would happen if we were? Who would we be if we were? How might that healing take place?

The Right To Exist

“Ever since the “Holy Land” was invented as a pilgrimage-center by the Empress Helena in the fourth century, it had been the scene of acrimo...

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This is a currency war and the EUROZONE is on the way to lose it.

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPGksRsoCU8KsNihF20EVJUv0BP7HDBkaGhvpI4wVpjiSzIKOjBj62GeR3yGp_DlHCjeVhdWMi1OLJgcUwulU9rPXFNmR2Bl8jghpTkqx-qQAXqjDJu2p2SMYQ59aP9IQfMKorIf_8NRU3/s1600/Euro-brezinys_EC1-600x449.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="297" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPGksRsoCU8KsNihF20EVJUv0BP7HDBkaGhvpI4wVpjiSzIKOjBj62GeR3yGp_DlHCjeVhdWMi1OLJgcUwulU9rPXFNmR2Bl8jghpTkqx-qQAXqjDJu2p2SMYQ59aP9IQfMKorIf_8NRU3/s400/Euro-brezinys_EC1-600x449.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><span style="font-size: large;">            <span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="color: red;">S&P ON</span> AUSTRIA’S <span style="color: red;">DOWNGRADING</span></span></span><br />                                 <br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWleJUELCpRhnlIuG_JlxitwDA17AyblEbxQJvbpnZcjGtVN7swEyGNL-xtDgZBLFhYiTHSzlTP3T_2qGWZd6U_yqB6Coc_oTU8UNWG7GVEcYW20Itt2qOPntEBZ1fwqwrRptEuF3BbLWl/s1600/Standard-and-Poor.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="206" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWleJUELCpRhnlIuG_JlxitwDA17AyblEbxQJvbpnZcjGtVN7swEyGNL-xtDgZBLFhYiTHSzlTP3T_2qGWZd6U_yqB6Coc_oTU8UNWG7GVEcYW20Itt2qOPntEBZ1fwqwrRptEuF3BbLWl/s320/Standard-and-Poor.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Via Prudent Investor <br /><br /><b>IF ECONOMIC GROWTH IS WEAKER THAN WE EXPECT, THIS COULD UNDERMINE THE GOVERNMENT'S ATTEMPTS TO CONSOLIDATE ITS BUDGETS</b><br /><br />Austrian banks' balance sheets could suffer from negative developments in major trading and outward direct investment partners (such as ITALY and HUNGARY). In this instance, the banks could require additional government support. Furthermore, if economic growth is much weaker than we expect, this could undermine the government's attempts to consolidate its budgets, and could also render structural reforms ineffective. <br />The outlook on the long-term rating on AUSTRIA is negative; indicating that we believe that there is at least a one-in-three chance that we could lower the rating further in 2012 or 2013. Rating may be lowered if:<br /><br />•    The weakening of AUSTRIAN BANKS' balance sheets stemming from negative developments in major trading and outward direct investment partners meant that the <b style="color: blue;">AUSTRIAN government needed to recapitalize the banks</b><span style="color: blue;">.</span> This could in turn lead to net general government debt rising above 80% of GDP, and could also further increase contingent liabilities; and/or<br />•    Economic growth is much weaker than we currently expect. This could undermine the government's attempts to consolidate its budgets, and could also render structural reforms ineffective. This could lead to an increase in net general government debt beyond 80% of GDP.<br /><br /><span style="background-color: #76a5af; color: yellow;">The ratings could stabilize at the current level if the risks from the banking sector remained contained, and if AUSTRIA were to enter into a more-ambitious consolidation phase by implementing structural reforms, without damaging economic growth prospects and competitiveness</span>. In our view, such consolidation measures would likely enable AUSTRIA to structurally balance its accounts and decrease its net general government debt.<br /><span><span style="background-color: white;"></span></span><br />Analysis from “The Prudent Investor” <br /><br /><b>OVERDUE DOWNGRADING LIKELY TO BE REPEATED</b><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjk3rYXwzpfTVL-bnYO_iZ2wSyIpAFNxlYGUaJE6AbpmErnhd7JnHzABUhPaPeQFVuHB0s1hmgv_1LK1LewcBkdZDbqcyehsDqY2OGQgrLGg-cKBICgjWfJEobSXopT9ClCzRFtyBE-qmXm/s1600/imagewws.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjk3rYXwzpfTVL-bnYO_iZ2wSyIpAFNxlYGUaJE6AbpmErnhd7JnHzABUhPaPeQFVuHB0s1hmgv_1LK1LewcBkdZDbqcyehsDqY2OGQgrLGg-cKBICgjWfJEobSXopT9ClCzRFtyBE-qmXm/s1600/imagewws.jpg" /></a></div>While remaining most critical of the opaque rating process of the rating agencies we are even more critical of the whining posture of AUSTRIA'S politicians who act as if this overdue downgrade - that will very likely be repeated in the near future due to the chaos in the EUROZONE-is unjustified.<br /><div style="color: blue;">As a reminder: AUSTRIAN government debt stands currently at EUR 218 billion or 76% of GDP and races higher because the ruling coalition officially attempts to come up with a €3 billion to €10 billion budget cuts package by end of February while it cannot even agree on €250 million savings on the state level of the republic. Place you bet on every ounce of gold that there will be no multi-billion austerity package by the end of February.</div>Statements by the government and central bank governor EWALD NOWOTNY, who called the downgrade incomprehensible, are unrealistic in the light of S&P's warning from December 6 and the ensuing non-action by AUSTRIA'S government.<br /><br /><b>DOWNGRADES WERE A POLITICALLY MOTIVATED ACTION BY S&P WHICH IS OWNED BY MCGRAWHILL</b><br /><br />Unofficial mumblings that markets should not take the downgrade too serious are actually a call to break the law: Bond fund managers are tightly restricted by investment fund laws that oblige them to observe the ratings of the three major rating agencies.<br /><div style="color: blue;">Nevertheless one can agree with governor NOWOTNY that the downgrades were a politically motivated action by <b>S&P</b> which is owned by <b>MCGRAWHILL</b>. <span style="font-size: small;">It seems difficult to establish who the majority owner of this company is, that has so far failed to downgrade the USA despite its much higher level of debt that already stands at more than 100% of US GDP. The rating agencies also veil their rating process in secrecy and it will be interesting to see the math behind a one-step downgrade.</span></div><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAygPCIhM8nRk8oG4xue6EGJQvaMl95B0HiuoynKDgzZoAzet6nAIeie_ioIApIk4iepS4DW0wgcynfDa33CrI4XhXJoZ55m-1exZBwLkTQiVm-IJzjQS6ASz6Z40au1Eqymm0VmWsL-KG/s1600/images.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="134" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAygPCIhM8nRk8oG4xue6EGJQvaMl95B0HiuoynKDgzZoAzet6nAIeie_ioIApIk4iepS4DW0wgcynfDa33CrI4XhXJoZ55m-1exZBwLkTQiVm-IJzjQS6ASz6Z40au1Eqymm0VmWsL-KG/s200/images.jpg" width="200" /></a> A look at AUSTRIA'S yield differential to its peer GERMANY shows that spreads have risen dramatically over the past months. AUSTRIA used to pay a spread of 30 to 40 basis points 'liquidity premium' for almost two decades. This has changed dramatically: 10-year government bonds now yield around 3.60% vs. GERMANY'S 1.90%, showing that markets assess AUSTRIA by now much worse than GERMANY.<br /><br /><br /><b>GOVERNMENT NOT ADDRESSING THE KEY OBSTACLES OF THE FUTURE</b> <br /><br />Markets are, as always, most correct in their evaluation of AUSTRIAN debt: Members of parliament and the government waste time haggling about changes in the national hymn while not addressing the key obstacles of the future that are:<span style="font-size: large;"><b style="color: yellow;"><br /><span style="color: blue;">• </span>  <span style="color: blue;"> a huge pension problem as demographics change (what a surprise for politicians: we all become older),</span><br style="color: blue;" /><span style="color: blue;">•    a growing budget deficit due to a still growing public sector, and</span><br style="color: blue;" /><span style="color: blue;">•    huge problems of several Austrian banks who recolonised Eastern Europe and now face billions in loans in default.</span></b></span><br /> <span style="font-size: small;"> </span><br /><span style="font-size: small;">The concernment in the EUROZONE about the downgrade 'shock' proves once more that while EU politicians are never shy of trying to cut corners to their advantage they lack creative ideas to save the EUROZONE from rapid disintegration.</span><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><span style="font-size: small;"><b>TONGUE-IN-CHEEK SOLUTION:</b><br /><br />MCGRAWHILL is currently valued at billion. It would have been a lot cheaper to buy MCGRAWHILL and gag its subsidiary S&P. These billions would have brought ownership of a flourishing publishing company. Now this money will end up in the coffers of JP MORGAN, GOLDMAN SACHS, who can borrow trillions from the FEDERAL RESERVE for next to nothing and buy up higher yielding EUROPEAN GOVERNMENT DEBT.<br /><span style="color: red; font-size: large;">This is a currency war and the EUROZONE is on the way to lose it.</span></span>

This is a currency war and the EUROZONE is on the way to lose it.

            S&P ON AUSTRIA’S DOWNGRADING                                   Via Prudent Investor IF ECONOMIC GROWTH IS WEAKER THAN WE EX...

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And I thought I didn't do that bad yesterday...ROFL!

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>It was a 70-Point day yesterday. Wow! What's so crazy about it is that I thought I was doing okay by not going totally overboard.<br /><br />I eyed all the Valentine's Day candy last night at the grocery store, but walked by it without picking up a single package. I thought I was doing a halfway decent compromise with the somewhat healthy California extra-thin crust pizza and the caramel popcorn as my big splurge. I'm pretty sure if I had calculated out the Points first I would have chosen something different. I have all the Weight Watcher apps on my phone so there's no excuse other than I was very tired and hungry. Lesson learned.<br /><br />Dinner was an entire package of the Caramel popcorn and 3/4 of an entire frozen pizza (it was sort of small on very thin crust but it was 21 Points). Breakfast and lunch were healthy. Oh, and let's not forget the two glasses of sweet red wine. I normally don't have alcohol, but it was just that kind of day. Crazy niece threats, police involvement, brain-damaged sister, snow, fireplace, tired, sad, hungry, husband asleep so no one to vent to = wine on the menu.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I didn't even go to the gym yesterday, because I was too rushed with crazy niece/sister stuff. I know that's just an excuse, but it's true.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">In case you're wondering, I didn't get on the scale this morning. I'm not that crazy!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I know it'll take a few days to undo the damage from last night. My goal for this week was to get down to 176 by next Saturday. I just made it a lot harder with losing my mind last night. Funny how I can talk myself into anything when I'm tired and feeling sad.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I'll give it my best shot this week. Healthy eating, tracking, focusing on the healthy eating guidelines and lots of exercise. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihmCn8l3Y3i_mNoMKKyw1Uv4WeVyJRmB73xrvYN4PjJXzWeIU7CFbRXQnWLy6eaAqqVaCqoDWh4FSVQM4jxlF8WEEVp8Bzdp3eW5dumNflSvImCQ-Vv3LdKgShyphenhyphenu0WIWe4jhdOolAFxF6b/s1600/sat2.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="53" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihmCn8l3Y3i_mNoMKKyw1Uv4WeVyJRmB73xrvYN4PjJXzWeIU7CFbRXQnWLy6eaAqqVaCqoDWh4FSVQM4jxlF8WEEVp8Bzdp3eW5dumNflSvImCQ-Vv3LdKgShyphenhyphenu0WIWe4jhdOolAFxF6b/s400/sat2.png" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><img alt="Weight Watchers Online" id="m_imgWWLogo" src="http://aka.weightwatchers.com/images/1033/logo_print.gif" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-width: 0px;" /><br /><img id="m_imgDotLine" src="http://aka.weightwatchers.com/images/1033/dots_537.gif" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; height: 1px; width: 537px;" /><br /><br /><b><i>PointsPlus®</i></b> Tracker entries<br /><br /><b>Saturday, January 14, 2012</b><br /><table border="1" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" style="width: 412px;"><tbody><tr><td align="left" colspan="2"><b class="boldgray">Morning</b></td></tr><tr><td><span class="value-ff-left" style="float: none;">1  large banana(s)</span></td><td><br /><center><div class="value-ff-right" style="display: block; float: none;"><b>0</b></div></center></td></tr><tr><td>Diana McMuffin</td><td><br /><center><div class="value-ffnon" style="display: block; float: none;"><b>8</b></div></center></td></tr><tr><td align="right"><b class="boldgray">Subtotal</b></td><td><b>8</b></td></tr><tr><td align="left" colspan="2"><b class="boldgray">Midday</b></td></tr><tr><td><span class="value-ff-left" style="float: none;">1  item(s) Light Multi-Grain English Muffin</span></td><td><br /><center><div class="value-ff-right" style="display: block; float: none;"><b>3</b></div></center></td></tr><tr><td>1  serving(s) Kirkland Salmon Burger</td><td><br /><center><div class="value-b" style="display: block; float: none;"><b>4</b></div></center></td></tr><tr><td><span class="value-ff-left" style="float: none;">2  medium pear(s)</span></td><td><br /><center><div class="value-ff-right" style="display: block; float: none;"><b>0</b></div></center></td></tr><tr><td>1  serving(s) Litehouse Dressing & Dip, Lite Bleu Cheese</td><td><br /><br /><center><div class="value-b" style="display: block; float: none;"><b>2</b></div></center></td></tr><tr><td><span class="value-ff-left" style="float: none;">1  cup(s) fat-free skim milk</span></td><td><br /><center><div class="value-ff-right" style="display: block; float: none;"><b>2</b></div></center></td></tr><tr><td><span class="value-ff-left" style="float: none;">1/3 cup(s) uncooked onion(s)</span></td><td><br /><center><div class="value-ff-right" style="display: block; float: none;"><b>0</b></div></center></td></tr><tr><td>1  tsp olive oil</td><td><br /><center><div class="value-ffnon" style="display: block; float: none;"><b>1</b></div></center></td></tr><tr><td align="right"><b class="boldgray">Subtotal</b></td><td><b>12</b></td></tr><tr><td align="left" colspan="2"><b class="boldgray">Evening</b></td></tr><tr><td>4 1/2 serving(s) Orville Redenbacher Caramel Popcorn</td><td><br /><br /><center><div class="value-b" style="display: block; float: none;"><b>22</b></div></center></td></tr><tr><td>3/4 serving(s) California Pizza Crispy Thin Sicilian (3/4 entire pizza)</td><td><br /><br /><center><div class="value-b" style="display: block; float: none;"><b>21</b></div></center></td></tr><tr><td>8  oz red wine</td><td><br /><center><div class="value-ffnon" style="display: block; float: none;"><b>7</b></div></center></td></tr><tr><td align="right"><b class="boldgray">Subtotal</b></td><td><b>50</b></td></tr><tr><td align="left" colspan="2"><b class="boldgray">Anytime</b></td></tr><tr><td><i>No entries for this meal time.</i></td><td><br /></td></tr><tr><td align="right"><b class="boldgray">Subtotal</b></td><td><b>0</b></td></tr><tr><td align="right"><b class="boldgray">Food <i>PointsPlus</i> values total used</b></td><td><b>70</b></td></tr><tr><td align="right"><b class="boldgray">Food <i>PointsPlus</i> values remaining</b></td><td><b>0</b></td></tr><tr><td align="left" colspan="2"><b class="boldgray"><b>Activity</b></b></td></tr><tr><td><i>No entries for activity.</i></td><td><br /></td></tr><tr><td align="right"><b class="boldgray">Activity <i>PointsPlus</i> values earned</b></td><td><b>0</b></td></tr><tr><td colspan="2">Check off these important items daily:</td></tr><tr><td colspan="2" width="100%"><table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" style="width: 386px;"><tbody><tr><td>Liquids<br /><img alt="" border="0" height="11" src="http://aka.weightwatchers.com/images/checkbox_checked.gif" width="11" /> <img alt="" border="0" height="11" src="http://aka.weightwatchers.com/images/checkbox_checked.gif" width="11" /> <img alt="" border="0" height="11" src="http://aka.weightwatchers.com/images/checkbox_checked.gif" width="11" /> <img alt="" border="0" height="11" src="http://aka.weightwatchers.com/images/checkbox_checked.gif" width="11" /> <img alt="" border="0" height="11" src="http://aka.weightwatchers.com/images/checkbox_checked.gif" width="11" /> <img alt="" border="0" height="11" src="http://aka.weightwatchers.com/images/checkbox.gif" width="11" /> <img alt="" border="0" height="11" src="http://aka.weightwatchers.com/images/checkbox.gif" width="11" /> <img alt="" border="0" height="11" src="http://aka.weightwatchers.com/images/checkbox.gif" width="11" /> </td><td>Milk & Milk Products<br /><img alt="" border="0" height="11" src="http://aka.weightwatchers.com/images/checkbox_checked.gif" width="11" /> <img alt="" border="0" height="11" src="http://aka.weightwatchers.com/images/checkbox.gif" width="11" /> <img alt="" border="0" height="11" src="http://aka.weightwatchers.com/images/checkbox.gif" width="11" /> </td></tr><tr><td>Fruit & vegetables<br /><img alt="" border="0" height="11" src="http://aka.weightwatchers.com/images/checkbox_checked.gif" width="11" /> <img alt="" border="0" height="11" src="http://aka.weightwatchers.com/images/checkbox_checked.gif" width="11" /> <img alt="" border="0" height="11" src="http://aka.weightwatchers.com/images/checkbox_checked.gif" width="11" /> <img alt="" border="0" height="11" src="http://aka.weightwatchers.com/images/checkbox_checked.gif" width="11" /> <img alt="" border="0" height="11" src="http://aka.weightwatchers.com/images/checkbox.gif" width="11" /> <img alt="" border="0" height="11" src="http://aka.weightwatchers.com/images/checkbox.gif" width="11" /> <img alt="" border="0" height="11" src="http://aka.weightwatchers.com/images/checkbox.gif" width="11" /> <img alt="" border="0" height="11" src="http://aka.weightwatchers.com/images/checkbox.gif" width="11" /> </td><td>Multivitamin/Mineral<br /><img alt="" border="0" height="11" src="http://aka.weightwatchers.com/images/checkbox_checked.gif" width="11" /> </td></tr><tr><td>Healthy Oil<br /><img alt="" border="0" height="11" src="http://aka.weightwatchers.com/images/checkbox_checked.gif" width="11" /> <img alt="" border="0" height="11" src="http://aka.weightwatchers.com/images/checkbox.gif" width="11" /> <img alt="" border="0" height="11" src="http://aka.weightwatchers.com/images/checkbox.gif" width="11" /> </td><td>Activity<br /><img alt="" border="0" height="11" src="http://aka.weightwatchers.com/images/checkbox.gif" width="11" /> </td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table><br />

And I thought I didn't do that bad yesterday...ROFL!

It was a 70-Point day yesterday. Wow! What's so crazy about it is that I thought I was doing okay by not going totally overboard. I eyed...

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LEPTIN RESISTANCE: NOT DURING THE HCG PROTOCOL

I have been asked on numerous occasions why I don't discuss leptin resistance, or even mention the fact that all science speculates that the more leptin you produce the less it works. First, I am not an expert. I am a motivated person who really appreciates explanation for why and how things works. If there isn't an answer I'm not afraid to work to find one that might make some sense of things. Second, the idea that there is leptin resistance is because scientists are still not quite sure why the body is doing what it's doing because there is still an incredible amount of research to be done, and leptin resistance is an easy way to explain that something changes from what we'd expect, which creates a point of diminishing returns. To make this easier to understand: leptin resistance = more doesn't function the same as less.<br /><br />I see leptin from two angles:<br />1) Leptin within the endocrine system,<br />2) and leptin within fat cells for fueling purposes.<br /><br />The science of leptin began in the brain, observing the function of hunger. When obese mice have elevated leptin levels they won't eat, even when they have an abundance of food available. The feeding behavior of mice is very predictable based on their hypothalamic (brain) leptin levels. Because the method of thought has been (and for most still is) to assume "calories in vs. calories out" all fat people, based on this concept, have to eat more than they expend in a day (which could total more than 4000 calories per day). Scientists have assumed fatter people must be hungry all the time and therefore must be eating, <em>all the time</em>. NOT TRUE. They first hypothesized the more fat a person had, the less leptin they have which is why they must eat all the time. Well, that turned out to be false. The more fat you have, the exponentially higher your leptin levels are.<br /><br />In order to eat as many calories it requires to gain fat, they speculated there must be a problem with leptin that would force Americans to eat so much. They have to be hungry all the time, so there must be some resistance. Now this is where I have observed the opposite. <br /><br />The more fat a person has the less hunger they have, and the less they eat relative to their expenditure. Per calorie burned they eat less then their leaner counter parts! (ready why skinny b*tches eat more) Mice may not eat when their leptin levels are elevated, but put a bunch of Americans in a room with food, and there is no discussion of hunger but instead, how good the food must taste, how deserving we are to eat it for whatever reason, and it's free! Eat up! Eating in our culture has NOTHING to do with hunger. NOTHING.<br /><br />Here's what I've observed: the more fat a person has the less hunger they experience- whether they are on the protocol or not. More fat = less frequency of hunger.  (read my blog on why breakfast isn't as important as we thought it was)<br /><br /><em>Where leptin resistance does make complete sense is within the endocrine system and team of organs that directly work for and against leptin</em>. As fat cells multiply, and new fat cells are bigger and more explosive than the original fat cells, the amount of leptin a person is capable of producing grows at an accelerated rate. A serious problem occurs when corresponding organs can't grow in size and cannot create the correlated response at the same rate. For example, as fat accumulates and more and more leptin is produced, the pancreas is challenged to match the output of leptin with insulin. As fat cells get bigger, and continue to multiply, the pancreas hits a rate limit that can no longer match the output of leptin, <em>unless the pancreas were to grow in size</em>. There comes a point where it is impossible for the pancreas to excrete insulin at the level that fat is excreting leptin, because fat cells outweigh and outnumber what the pancreas is capable of.  The only solution would be for the pancreas to grow in size (which is impossible) or to inject insulin to match the output of leptin from fat.<br /><br />On the other hand, if leptin suppresses an organ, the more leptin you have the more suppressed the organ becomes. For example, leptin in the anterior pituitary suppresses the signal to the adrenals. The adrenals stimulate your fight-or-flight response and produce hormones that help you feel active, motivated, and excited. The more leptin you have the more suppressed the activation from the brain is to the adrenals. However, there is a point where the adrenals can't suppress any lower because those organs would die. My point is that each organ that corresponds to leptin has a limit and the more leptin you have there does come a point where that organ can no longer respond. <em>This would be leptin resistance.</em><br /><br />Lets discuss leptin and it's function in fat cells. Each fat cell produces over six hormones! Leptin has been the main focus of science because of it's influence on the entire endocrine system, and also because of it's control over fueling from fat cells and energy homeostasis. This is where I believe there is no leptin resistance. Why? Because fat cells can increase in size and can multiply and spread, so there is no limit with the function that leptin has within fat cells for fuel. The more leptin you have the more fuel is released. <br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">THE MORE LEPTIN YOU HAVE THE MORE FUEL IS RELEASED! </div><br />There is no cap, no rate limit, no resistance. Otherwise, every obese person would be in continual starvation with severe hunger, have severe drops in blood glucose uncountable times daily, would have muscle wasting, and would have difficulty gaining fat. If there was leptin resistance in fat cells, there would be a limit to how much leptin is created, how much fuel is released, there would be a limit to how much fat is gained, and there would be a bell curve graph to fat's function as more fat is accumulated. This is NOT the case. The curve is an exponential curve, that shows only acceleration. As fat increases, leptin levels increase even more. If fat cells were "leptin resistant" there would be a point of deceleration within the function of fat and this is not the case.<br /><br />If leptin resistance does not apply to the function within fat cells and energy fueling, then the body has the ability to adapt, to create more fat cells, and to and store more fuel, which would make sense based on the human body's need to survive chronic famine. I believe, based on what I've witnessed and observed through thousands of hCG protocols, fat metabolism doesn't have resistance to leptin which is why hunger is not resistant to leptin either. Hunger is in direct proportion to fueling and is communicated in response to maintain fueling balance. This is why I never force anyone to eat breakfast, meals, or pre-portioned food  because hunger is a better assessment of fueling needs then anything else.  The more fat you have the more fuel you get, the less frequent you experience hunger, and the less hormonal need you have for food. It is that simple.<br /><br />So I speculate that corresponding organs that cannot grow in size to match fat's growth will absolutely have leptin resistance. Fat on the other hand, has no resistance to leptin due to the fact that as leptin increases so does fat cell count, and so does fat's fueling function. <br /><br />I COULD BE WRONG, BUT IF I WAS- THE HCG PROTOCOL WOULD NOT MAKE SENSE.

LEPTIN RESISTANCE: NOT DURING THE HCG PROTOCOL

I have been asked on numerous occasions why I don't discuss leptin resistance, or even mention the fact that all science speculates that...

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I want my life back

I keep telling myself things will get better, that I will be able to enjoy my old life again. I never thought my life was that great, but after all the BS I've gone through recently I realized I had a pretty decent life. It's funny how you never appreciate what you had until it's taken away from you.<br /><br />I spent yesterday morning talking to the local sheriff's department and the Fairbanks police department. I was trying to find out what I could do to protect my sister from my crazy niece until I get a court ordered restraining order against my niece (which hopefully I can get this week).<br /><br />Everyone was very kind and helpful. They told me to write up a brief synopsis of my niece's issues, along with her physical description and a picture of her, a copy of my guardian papers and strict instructions to call 911 if they see my niece on the premises. Then give the synopsis to the police. I felt like I was putting together a "wanted poster" on her. It made me sad that it has come to this, but she's forced my hand by threatening to get on the next plane and fly down here to see her mother. Luckily it's an adult family home with only six residents and one caregiver, plus the owner that lives across the street and pops over all the time. It's not a huge facility so they can easily keep an eye on who comes into the home.<br /><br />Then I spent three hours visiting my sister yesterday. I cut her bangs short, which she prefers. The hair stylist that cut her hair last week made long bangs that swept to the side. I knew my sister hated them because she kept fussing with them. Then I put makeup on her and gave her a manicure with pretty pink polish. She's still a beauty, even at 73 and all she's gone through. I sat at the dinner table with her and two other ladies as she ate her food perfectly with her left hand.<br /><br />Although my sister was happy when I got there, she was not having the greatest day. For the most part it was good, but she gets really frustrated that I can't understand her. I get frustrated because she gets mad and starts to cry. I can't figure out what is wrong, then she scrunches up her face and tries to hold back the tears. I hate it. I know there's going to be a transition time for both of us and we just have to get through it until things settle down and we fall into a routine. I really wish we could communicate better. That's the hardest part.<br /><br />After dinner she went to bed, which is her normal routine. Under the instruction of the home caregiver I lifted my sister into bed. She weighs almost nothing. Maybe 130 pounds. I expected her to be much heavier. I dressed her in her soft, new pajamas that I had just bought and washed the night before. She was complaining her back hurt her but she'd been up since 7am and it was 6pm. For a woman that had been bedridden 24/7 for the last four months it's pretty amazing that she's up and in her wheelchair or the a recliner all day for the last six days. She takes her meals at the dining room table and not in her bed. She likes to wheel around he huge house in her wheelchair or sit in her favorite recliner in the family room and watch a little TV.<br /><br />By the time I got home I was mentally and physically drained. I'd had a really healthy breakfast and lunch (about 500 calories total), and I was starving. I had stopped at the store to get some groceries. BIG MISTAKE. I was so tired I wanted something easy for dinner. I bought a frozen California Pizza on thin crust, some Orville Redenbacher Caramel microwave popcorn, along with a ton of there stuff, but the pizza and popcorn were going to be my dinner.<br /><br />By the time I got home it was 8pm. My husband was asleep. I ate 3/4 of the pizza (810 calories) and a bag of the popcorn (850 calories). Today I'm actually going to go back and put all this in my Weight Watcher tracker. I know it was more than I was suppose to eat, but what can I say. It was a hell of a day. I'm not use to talking to police departments and putting together wanted posters. I overate. Big deal. Today I'll be back at the gym and back on track (I went to the gym four out of five days last week). I'm not sweating the small stuff anymore, I have too much big stuff to get freaked out about now.<br /><br />My main goal is to settle into some type of routine visiting schedule with my sister. Spending most of my day on sister stuff isn't really working for me. I want to spend time on some Diana stuff too. I just need to find the balance. <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />

I want my life back

I keep telling myself things will get better, that I will be able to enjoy my old life again. I never thought my life was that great, but af...

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Staat kann Österreichs Banken nicht genügend Kapital zur Verfügung stellen

<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0AVX1doBeg0Vj47T8VPeNXifjGXK2-vg2T55OhnE08n9xgjrdt96BlTAXeORNndfegHOkomGB4q9HRo8I38S5YGy-aoAubejYZ8NttpGMKCbrGc5kxcpDTPP1I4gwfI7hPc_UYseyzvvB/s1600/306682_m3t1w456h320q75v36623_Fotolia_6717435_Subscription_XL.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="280" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0AVX1doBeg0Vj47T8VPeNXifjGXK2-vg2T55OhnE08n9xgjrdt96BlTAXeORNndfegHOkomGB4q9HRo8I38S5YGy-aoAubejYZ8NttpGMKCbrGc5kxcpDTPP1I4gwfI7hPc_UYseyzvvB/s400/306682_m3t1w456h320q75v36623_Fotolia_6717435_Subscription_XL.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: red; font-size: x-large;"><b>Darüber findet man keine Schlagzeile in Österreichs Tageszeitungen:</b></span><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>Osteuropa-Abschwung: Österreich fehlt Kapital zur Bankenrettung </b></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: red;">Artikel aus Deutsche-Mittelstands-Nachrichten</span></span></div><br />Die erwartete Rezession in Ungarn, Rumänien und Bulgarien gefährdet die österreichischen Banken massiv. Nun stellt sich heraus: Die Republik hat nicht genug Geld für einen Banken-Bailout. <br /><br />Das starke Engagement österreichischer Banken in Osteuropa bedroht die Institute nun wegen der schlechten Konjunkturprognosen. Sollten die Banken Hilfe vom Staat brauchen, um ihre Geschäfte im Osten abzusichern, könnte ihnen die Republik Österreich ihnen nicht genügend Kapital zur Verfügung stellen.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuys8HH6L5T8YhflTvjqwzOyWD6RG0W2hJDWe0ihEtkB3V2duOYuezdJBJ3A2F1vn4mFMV66-36yqBMX1abGIcgJOcYUbt1MkHirYjRFt21xPBoFHzuuRbeUUx4h2mBsReNcVU3QePc9cq/s1600/Austria_banks_1280.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="224" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuys8HH6L5T8YhflTvjqwzOyWD6RG0W2hJDWe0ihEtkB3V2duOYuezdJBJ3A2F1vn4mFMV66-36yqBMX1abGIcgJOcYUbt1MkHirYjRFt21xPBoFHzuuRbeUUx4h2mBsReNcVU3QePc9cq/s320/Austria_banks_1280.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Das Risiko vor Zahlungsausfällen nimmt zu, weil sich die wirtschaftliche Situation in Europa verschlechtert. Bei der Präsentation der aktuellen Wachstumsprognose der europäischen Wirtschaft in Brüssel wurde deutlich, wie ernst die Lage ist: „Wir leben in angespannten Zeiten. Dieser Ausblick ist ein letzter Weckruf. Der Aufschwung in Europa ist zum Stillstand gekommen und die Aussichten sind düster“, sagte der EU-Kommissar für Wirtschaft und Währung, Olli Rehn bei der Pressekonferenz über die wirtschaftliche Lage.</div><br />Nicht nur das angeschlagene Italien, das bisher die Berichterstattung beherrschte, ist eine Gefahr. Rehn geht davon aus, dass einige Staaten große Verluste erleiden werden – auch wenn der Eurozone als Ganzes eine Rezession im Jahr 2012 erspart bleiben sollte. Unter den Ländern, die besonders betroffen sein werden, weil sie zu wenig gegen ihre Defizite unternehmen, nannte der Wirtschaftskommissar auch Ungarn, einen der größten Schuldner Österreichs.<br /><br /><b>Die Rating-Agenturen haben das Risiko für Österreich erkannt</b>: „Die österreichische Regierung könnte nicht die Kapazität haben, alle Auslandsgeschäfte der großen heimischen Banken zu stützen“, schreiben Analysten der Rating-Agentur Standard & Poor’s (S&P) in einem Bericht. Die Risikobewertung der österreichischen Bankenbranche hat unter der massiven Beteiligung einiger Geldhäuser in Osteuropa gelitten: S&P stufte Österreich in der Risikoskala der Bankenbranche diese Woche um eine Position ab. Es rangiert nun auf der dritten von zehn Risikostufen.<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzCSsqrH6zmHsUmd51ekDhaiI1n3DXx0SQAUAFW7ZoJ-ENPsg8zdnpZE6VxmqvRNZWiOGZccHyTubU-EtxUqfQD1wCsefiuni8Oern27eie8xTXgIz20oJIbAAt5ZxYcJ4zOZvwGkChplT/s1600/Stratfor+diagram+3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzCSsqrH6zmHsUmd51ekDhaiI1n3DXx0SQAUAFW7ZoJ-ENPsg8zdnpZE6VxmqvRNZWiOGZccHyTubU-EtxUqfQD1wCsefiuni8Oern27eie8xTXgIz20oJIbAAt5ZxYcJ4zOZvwGkChplT/s320/Stratfor+diagram+3.jpg" width="206" /></a></div><br />In den vergangenen beiden Jahren hatte die österreichische Regierung neun Milliarden Euro als Garantien für Banken bereitgestellt. Die Gewährung der Garantien wurde allerdings nicht auf Österreich beschränkt. Zwei Drittel dieser Gelder sind noch verfügbar. Sie würden aber bei weitem nicht ausreichen, um die Risiken der Osteuropa-Geschäfte abzudecken. Insgesamt haben heimische Banken fast 194 Milliarden Euro in Staaten wie Rumänien, Ungarn oder Tschechien zur Verfügung gestellt. Zu den Schuldnern zählen Regierungen und Unternehmen genauso wie private Haushalte. Dies geht aus den Statistiken der Bank für Internationalen Zahlungsausgleich hervor. Demnach sind österreichische Banken die größten Geldgeber in Osteuropa. Besonders betroffen sind die Erste Bank und die Raiffeisen Bank.<br /><br />Die Erste Bank musste erst vor wenigen Wochen massive Wertberichtigungen wegen fauler Kreditversicherungen vornehmen.<br /><br />Erste Bank, Raiffeisen, Hypo und die Österreichische Volksbanken AG haben angekündigt, keine weiteren Hilfen vom Staat mehr in Anspruch nehmen zu wollen. Keine besonders heldenhafte Aussage, weil die Mittel ohnehin nicht ausreichen: Wenn nämlich auch nur ein Bruchteil der österreichischen Kredite in Osteuropa tatsächlich platzt, kommen die Banken mit sechs Milliarden Euro an Garantien nicht weit.

Staat kann Österreichs Banken nicht genügend Kapital zur Verfügung stellen

Darüber findet man keine Schlagzeile in Österreichs Tageszeitungen: Osteuropa-Abschwung: Österreich fehlt Kapital zur Bankenrettung Artikel ...

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Look at this interactive heart!

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div style="color: black; font-family: inherit;">The internet is full of amazing animations and infographics that can really aid our visual learners. I love this explanation of how the heart works which is found at <a href="http://www.explania.com/en/channels/health/detail/the-human-heart">http://www.explania.com/en/channels/health/detail/the-human-heart</a><br /><br /><b><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: large;">Explore the embedded infographic below </span></b></div><div style="color: black; font-family: inherit;"><br /></div><span style="color: black; font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><span style="background-color: white; display: inline ! important; float: none; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 300; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18px; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">This interactive infographic explains the anatomy and function of the human heart. Follow the instructions on the inforgraphic and use it to see how the blood flows through the different chambers and valves. Visualize the blood flow inside the heart using using the scroll bar provided on the infographic. </span> </span><br /><br /><object align="middle" classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=9,0,0,0" height="305" id="animation342" width="500"><param name="movie" value="http://www.explania.com/api/1.0/?method=animations.getPlayer" /><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /><param name="quality" value="high" /><param name="bgcolor" value="#ffffff" /><param name="wmode" value="transparent" /><param name="FlashVars" value="id=342&language=en&embedded=true&type=infograph" /><embed src="http://www.explania.com/api/1.0/?method=animations.getPlayer" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" wmode="transparent" allowfullscreen="true" width="500" height="305" bgcolor="#ffffff" flashvars="id=342&language=en&embedded=true&type=infograph"></embed></object><br /><a href="http://www.explania.com/en/channels/health/detail/the-human-heart">The Human Heart </a> - <a href="http://www.explania.com/">Explania</a><br /><br /><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Classroom application</span></b></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;">This could be a very useful supplement resource for a Life Sciences teacher. More examples of animations and videos can be found at:</span></span></div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;">The Medical animation library: </span></span><a href="http://www.pennmedicine.org/health_info/animationplayer/">http://www.pennmedicine.org/health_info/animationplayer/</a></li><li style="font-family: inherit;">Interactive Biology: <a href="http://www.interactive-biology.com/">http://www.interactive-biology.com/</a><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></li><li><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">Interactive Biology on YouTube: </span><a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/InteractiveBiology" style="font-family: inherit;">http://www.youtube.com/user/InteractiveBiology</a></li></ul></div>

Web tools Look at this interactive heart!

The internet is full of amazing animations and infographics that can really aid our visual learners. I love this explanation of how the hear...

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Stress and belly fat

<br /><div class="MsoNormal">I’ve noticed I have a lot of belly fat, which we all know is the worst kind of fat. It’s better to carry it on your hips and thighs, and not the belly.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">Even  as my weight goes down, my waistband seems tighter. The thighs of my pants are looser, but my waist and abdomen are bigger. The video from a couple days ago showed me just how bad it looks. Not only is is visually unappealing, but I know it’s killing me from the inside out. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">I have a sick feeling the growth of my abdomen has a lot to do with the incredible stress I’ve been under since September 21, 2011, when my sister had her stroke. We’ve all heard how stress produces a hormone called cortisol that causes belly fat.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">I’m 56 years old and have never dealt with a mess like what I’ve gone through with my sister. I didn’t know my family was so totally screwed up, including my own brother.  If I hear him say “Poor Linda, you should be nicer to her” one more time, I think I will just freaking lose it. Linda is the crazy niece that continues to torture me with her insanity. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">The latest is that my other niece called me last night (the one I’m having evicted from the apartment complex my sister owns) to tell me that Linda is on a plane to Seattle this weekend to see her mother. She was crying and apologizing for being such a loser herself, she sounded drunk, so I don't even know if it was a true statement.<br /><br />Regardless, this means I have to head down to the Sheriff’s department this morning and see what can be done to stop craziest niece if she shows up at the home this weekend. I can't have her causing a disruption at the home or upsetting her mother. As my sister’s legal guardian I have control over who can see her and who can’t. For now, craziest niece is on the “can’t see my sister” list. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">Since this is such an odd situation, the Alaska Courts granted guardianship to me, Alaska Adult Protection Services and Alaska State attorney general’s office are involved, and my sister is still technically a resident of Alaska, it’s not easy to secure a restraining order against my niece that lives in Alaska. I have to hire another attorney down here to help me, and he didn’t call me back yesterday. Stress level at the moment, off the Richter scale.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoListBullet" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: none; tab-stops: .5in; text-indent: 0in;">Even if I could take crazy niece out of the picture (which seems to be outside my realm of possibilities), I still have the stress of managing sister’s fiances. She has some money left, but at the rate it's going, it's being quickly depleted which is scaring the hell out of me.<br /><br />I paid $7,000 of bills yesterday for my sister's basically abandoned apartment complex in Fairbanks (just the niece and grand-niece still live them and of course, haven’t paid rent for two years). This is only the tip of the iceberg of month bills. There's tons more, bills for her house, medical bills, credit card bills, property and car insurance, property and income taxes (did I mention there's a possible $39,000 IRS bill looming over my head for my sister?). I pray the sale goes through the end of this week for the apartments. Otherwise, my sister is only good for a few more months. Even down here the cost is $4,800/month just for her room and board (it was $7,500/month in Fairbanks).   </div><div class="MsoListBullet" style="margin-left: 0in; text-indent: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">Since my stress level isn’t going down anytime soon, what do I do about my belly fat that seems to be growing by the minute? It’s actually kind of frightening. I measured my waist this morning and it’s 34 ½ inches. My abdomen is 43 inches. That's really dangerous, especially at my age. I can imagine that my internal organs are covered in a really thick layer of disgusting yellowish fat, and that my organs are struggling to function.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">Obviously, I need a plan. I’ve read many times that cardio will melt belly fat. Almost every day I do at least 30 minutes of cardio. I do an Intense, hard core cardio workout on the StairMaster or elliptical. It’s a crazy-fast interval program on both machines (on alternating days).  And I do mean crazy fast where the sweat is pouring off of me and my clothes are wet with sweat within the first two minutes. After my cardio, I lift weights, alternating different sets of muscles on different days. Obviously the exercise isn’t the answer to melting my belly fat. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">I just searched “Belly Fat” on Amazon.com. 3,387 matches. Where to start? I’m not really sure, but I have a feeling the answer is out there. I need to do something different. Eat different food, change my exercise. There has to be something that works. If anyone has any ideas for melting the belly fat, please post a comment. I know there are “melt belly fat” pills, I’ve seen them advertised in weight loss magazines. I’m not a pill person so I wouldn’t even consider trying a belly fat reducing pill. I’m sure it’s false advertising. There aren’t any magic pills.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">I'm thinking about starting yoga. Not for exercise but just so I can calm the hell down for at least a few hours a week. Not hot yoga which I hate, but the regular kind that focuses on breathing and stretching. I like that kind. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">Of course, I strongly suspect if I just lose the weight, the belly fat will be reduced significantly. That’s probably the real answer. <sigh><br /></sigh></div>

Stress and belly fat

I’ve noticed I have a lot of belly fat, which we all know is the worst kind of fat. It’s better to carry it on your hips and thighs, and not...

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OMG! When did I get so fat!!!

You've probably had this happen to you. You're kind of going along in life, lots of things pulling you in different directions, and you're not really focused on diet and exercise. You're trying to make the best possible choices, sometimes you do and sometimes you don't. You think you're eating right and you're squeezing in the exercise when you can.<br /><br />Then it happens. You see a picture of yourself. You can't believe your eyes. That can't be YOU!<br /><br />Actually, my moment of realization that I'm fat was even worse. It was a video taken by my husband last night. It was suppose to be a video of my sister but since my husband was handling the camera there's several minutes of me wheeling around in my sister's wheelchair at her new home (really kind of fun too). But when I saw the video, all I could see was a very fat Diana:<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" class="b-hbp-video b-uploaded" frameborder="0" height="266" id="BLOGGER-video-1ee478a19b820e5e-4187" mozallowfullscreen="mozallowfullscreen" src="https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dy6Fk1y2AcuMapmCK6rk5sdSnqpSK3QtCUXreLQ2eB2zdOY7LsGqHKvoO2VXNXE7u7KVZ8XhIeF4AzGT7B3wMiYNdK6MIK3hzMsGd76cAh_-OG4Yca_O2MQMkFLG9-ezd4b-B4" webkitallowfullscreen="webkitallowfullscreen" width="320"></iframe></div><br />I "thought" I was doing okay. I was weighing every day and was even down a few pounds recently, weighing 178 yesterday morning. I knew I wasn't skinny, but what the hell is that thing around my waist. It looks like I have an inflated inner tube under my shirt around my middle.<br /><br />How did I not see this when I looked in the mirror? Maybe because I don't look in the mirror when I'm sitting down. Maybe I should look in the mirror when I'm sitting down. Honestly, I had no idea I looked this bad. If I didn't know better I'd say I was well over 200 pounds. I wonder if my scale is broken.<br /><br />Okay, so I'm upset about how bad I look. I guess what really bothers me is that I didn't think I looked that bad. Boy, what an eye opener. Videos get me every time. They do not lie.<br /><br />Now I'm really serious about losing this weight. It's ridiculous I've waited this long and goofed off. I should have been at goal years ago. Plus, with all that fat around my middle I'm a strong candidate for a heart attack, or heaven foribd, a stroke!<br /><br />My tools of choice to lose weight, Weight Watchers of course, and my Polar heart rate monitor, as well as my BodyMedia. I'm going to track Points, starting today.<br /><br />Pictures of my sister's new home<br />Lastly, a few pictures of Arbor Rose, were my sister is living now. I love it. It's an adult family home with only six residents. Those are the flowers my niece Camille sent her. Camille is the sweet one.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbG8LRofW6RbPBvVSX8NqTWYdjgg-8eJaEzIu62WVga0CJP0K8Kr17OWtXqtoo3Qaz8lZe8z8AEowPORMsT02ov-nG-AUJfd2fo1QG429fdYJoX0xXZx8lGKKSNc7eyrstNPrUUfDHqfxf/s1600/Joyce_with_flowers.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbG8LRofW6RbPBvVSX8NqTWYdjgg-8eJaEzIu62WVga0CJP0K8Kr17OWtXqtoo3Qaz8lZe8z8AEowPORMsT02ov-nG-AUJfd2fo1QG429fdYJoX0xXZx8lGKKSNc7eyrstNPrUUfDHqfxf/s400/Joyce_with_flowers.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9mhj3jRrCvrZLb10RMlyRcCMWWuCRapNHjLOxfMuypil2goxI4HE8SrjKyJyCmAV9DMsIjYjLWACTwH2aCNTYEmniu8qjHtDhUhz0iQk06V8_mbIqxazqHNFah3QKRQTZcoR5dfymTp7D/s1600/DiningRoom.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9mhj3jRrCvrZLb10RMlyRcCMWWuCRapNHjLOxfMuypil2goxI4HE8SrjKyJyCmAV9DMsIjYjLWACTwH2aCNTYEmniu8qjHtDhUhz0iQk06V8_mbIqxazqHNFah3QKRQTZcoR5dfymTp7D/s400/DiningRoom.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEillxhlgyD1VAUon2-gvChBbd-cDACCSVoSX7EtQpkMA17HKdYO7EQyt_cLdrinnsxjAsEf5mIgHglf7fVcbDP4Y8fzlwvEpf3qGAGZVtGMDjXBUUd4Y409WkaImPPzzb7RpuYIGoUFFB7A/s1600/EntryWay.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEillxhlgyD1VAUon2-gvChBbd-cDACCSVoSX7EtQpkMA17HKdYO7EQyt_cLdrinnsxjAsEf5mIgHglf7fVcbDP4Y8fzlwvEpf3qGAGZVtGMDjXBUUd4Y409WkaImPPzzb7RpuYIGoUFFB7A/s400/EntryWay.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhntqZoweiEyu6N47qmSsVpqTWqL7yNwxITW4r1Brx8cRku50XPDVyTb-Cz9Tx55LukA6xZW5XzpGZf8NlMc2SMXKTSeyeHjju5iRVwp3xrHzewZ4iowB-NxNurqCLYWXwfhOzAoEbxgxPh/s1600/P1030969.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhntqZoweiEyu6N47qmSsVpqTWqL7yNwxITW4r1Brx8cRku50XPDVyTb-Cz9Tx55LukA6xZW5XzpGZf8NlMc2SMXKTSeyeHjju5iRVwp3xrHzewZ4iowB-NxNurqCLYWXwfhOzAoEbxgxPh/s400/P1030969.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdBIsBSsjmCQ-rj_cLrnc92JvyMkCOYA2KRPMMeGhaZmEWmjN4YGBmvuKLnRMk92AqLBMc0Pmd4RJy1oK_Mz5Hxl2dmnFITZrReZq85NokaEvWVKwbqsYeiKrUfCxAIMow4hlXVPXHvdHi/s1600/Kitchen.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdBIsBSsjmCQ-rj_cLrnc92JvyMkCOYA2KRPMMeGhaZmEWmjN4YGBmvuKLnRMk92AqLBMc0Pmd4RJy1oK_Mz5Hxl2dmnFITZrReZq85NokaEvWVKwbqsYeiKrUfCxAIMow4hlXVPXHvdHi/s400/Kitchen.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9LigrYJLO_gBSF0Cczoa2kRhw8VorXe6vcK9LGEIr-whQPpZVG1mHveNg0t4yHeIADOGKGktbW8GffpMQH79gV6w00b3Y1us7q1AH-znxZZ84AIivXFPuNx4jJnNDIQH-s7Am0K3CRxxU/s1600/FamilyRoomView.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9LigrYJLO_gBSF0Cczoa2kRhw8VorXe6vcK9LGEIr-whQPpZVG1mHveNg0t4yHeIADOGKGktbW8GffpMQH79gV6w00b3Y1us7q1AH-znxZZ84AIivXFPuNx4jJnNDIQH-s7Am0K3CRxxU/s400/FamilyRoomView.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />

OMG! When did I get so fat!!!

You've probably had this happen to you. You're kind of going along in life, lots of things pulling you in different directions, and ...

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