#7 Vinegar vs. Alcohol

Preambulary explanation for Cajan guy(if you aren't him you can skip down): Most of my globs are going to be ten minute writings. One method that is used to get people to write more is to get them to convince themselves they are only writing for ten minutes. The must just put down their idea in that ten minutes but they must spend at least 10 minutes writing, even if it's just filling space. Once they get started people keep going and can focus on details instead of worrying they don't have anything to write. In my case I have too much to write but get concerned with being attacked so I always want to reseach something to death or predict every angle of defense before I commit to paper that others will read. Instead, 10 minute globs are where I try to throw them down with a minimum of spelling and grammar errors as I want them mostly as a record of interesting(to me and I hope you) ideas that can further discussion or controversy or enlighten or entertain.

That was 10 minutes in and of itself, whew...

Few people would have a hard time believing that a hard night of drinking might be hard on your stomach. It's hard to remember that alcohol is actually a drug instead of the "good times" social lubricant we've been inculcated into accepting it as. Personally, my stomach has taken quite a few beatings over the years and though I get up without a hangover nowadays(2000mg of vitamin C, 20 drops echinacea tincture, 500 mg Vitamin E Before drinking, and lots of water= no hangover) my stomach has been troubling me. So beer especially, is hard on my G.I. track so that like many people who drink cheap draft, I'm spending the next morning in the bathroom wasting 3 times as much time and toilet paper as usual.

This past 6 weeks, I've had some sort of infectio which I kept hoping would get better but it never did. Immodium, KaoPectate, Pepto bismal all those did nothing to really "firm" me up. Their effectiveness was limited, I mean. Hell, I even gave up drinking 4 weeks ago and that didn't help either. Finally, I turned to.....the internet. Ya, before a doctor's office, I hit the google search button for home cures for diarrhea. One that caught my eye was vinegar. I remembered my father pouring us Apple cider vinegar when we were younger and the sour taste but his insistance it was good for us. So I decided to try it, I mean I'm a Sciences Major and I have a verifiable condition, perfect for a test.

Wow. 1 Table spoon of vinegar 5 times a day controls the G.I. tract really nicely. 80 to 90 percent reduction in gas, and diarrhea was significantly reduced both in number of times per day as well as how watery. It didn't cure the cause mind you as any cessation resulted in the condition returning hence my eventual trip to the doctor (yes here in Taiwan). Sigh. He gave me a three day package of pills all of which are different bungs. Nothing to treat the underlying cause until 3 days henceforth when I return to get my "tests" which will tell him which particular bug I have. I'm betting on a non-ameobic dysentry like bacterium? Any takers?

hahahhaha

Moral of the story: if you are a drinker and you've just had a hard night of drinking, try drinking a couple of shots of vinegar before you go to bed, and when you wake up in the morning. It's not bad, just like you swallowed a quick package of salt and vinegar chips...

If you have any other home-remedies let me know...

#6 Dual monitors.

Allow me a short ten minute burst of enthusiasm. The rarest of rare occasions came up last weekend and I found my self a designated driver, yes, driver. Not drunk. I wish I could proudly say I'm on the wagon but in fact I'm shackled to the wagon by a bad gut which won't tolerate so much as a snort of beer let alone a nice glass of wine... but I digress.

Kelly, a friend of a friend, was having his going away party. Nantou, a smallish mountain city, was only 30 minutes away so a carload of women and I decided to check out if it was a saugsage factory at the party. Actually, it was pretty evenly matched so the scenery was delightful for me as I soberly surveyed the crowd. Interestingly, Kelly's house is festooned with art, as nearly every nook and cranny has photos pasted to the wall, sketches delighting the eye or even a giant piece from Ubud, Bali. Kelly has creativity ooozing from his pores, but he brings delight to a capitalists heart as he's willing to take that step to at least market some of his stuff. Music too was eminating from his van outside, where there was a barbeque going on and then inside from his computer. Truly an all purpose party: chicks, art, music, booze, trips upstairs for those inclined to get a higher view...

Tucked away in the corner was his computer and I was able to resist it's Mermaid-like call for at least the first hour. But then the music died out and he invited me to tinker saying, "I trust you AND I've already deleated my Temporary Internet files and all my Caches." hahahaha. A man after my own heart. Well, I sat down and the first thing that I noticed was that he has a dual monitor set up. Nothing as fancy as my buddy Sparkles or Ian might be used to but really my first serious encounter at a dual monitor set up where I was trying to download, reorganize and *ahem* bitleg. Beautiful!

For everyone who's ever used a computer and been frustrated with tiling horizontally or switching back and forth, or even just wanted a bigger screen, consider this.Two 15 inch monitors is infinitely better than just one 30 inch monitor. Obviously you need a little real estate on your desk but with the proliferation of flat screens these days I'd highly recommend you snag someone's leftover monitor as they upgrade or if you yourself upgrade then consider keeping the old monitor and hooking it up as a second one if your graphics card allows it... I've a desk note so it's part of the package but some assembly required.

Ten minutes is up.

#5 Ten Minute Blogs

Did you ever have one of those highschool teachers into far-out or avant garde teaching techniques? Mr. Ursilak, my junior high school teacher was like that and then there was Mr. MacKenzie. Now, years later, I guess I should somehow atone for all the times I thought or muttered under my breath what wackos they were... Karmically, or even better Karmacomically, I am now of that persuasion as I attempt to get across even simple things to the Taiwanese children I teach/babysit. But I digress, looking at the dates of my last entry until today, I realized I'd been avoiding my glob, but I couldn't put my finger on why, exactly.

It seems that I'm a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to my writings. Obsessively so, some might complain, especially those that know me and have had me chase them away when I'm writing or bitch at them because I can't finish a simple sentence the way I like. So, I'm forcing myself to write 10 minute globs with as little editing as possible so I can get used to the fact that people are going to criticize my writing/opinion, etc. Basically, if it's not pertinent to the topic I'm going to try not to worry about it ie, grammar, spellings, exact references, etc.

Once, during a brainstorming session with LC, the only person who could ever stand to write with me, he remarked something about the fact that too many ideas get stalled at the "I should write an article about that" stage not for lack of effort but that they get forgotten or sidetracked or just plain ignored... Of course, this must seem like common sense, but what I propose is that if I can ignore them great, but if someone wants me to expand on a short idea I lay down or headline I create, then they can say so and I'll take the initiative from there... In the last few days I've had these:

1) Diapers for women. I mean pads of course, though this seems so common sense that the article writes itself, n'est pas?
2) The movie Sideways has an actress called Suzanne Oh, which I thought was a pretty cocky name(pun intended). Further, she is Oriental-looking(I'd say Oriental, per se, but perhaps she classifies herself by Origin not looks and she feels Canadian/American, etc.) The point of this is that after living in Asia for a while I've come to the conclusion that Asian women are anclimactic, that is, totally without concept of what a female orgasm is. Further, a friend, fuelled by a few beers, challenged me to give reasons why any man would want to change this ignorance on their part... indeed, "Why inform women about their inherent ability to orgasm?" Suzanne Oh, indeed.
3)Most of my Taiwanese vacations, with Taiwanese people that is, have been like acid trips. This would be a compare and contrast piece...
4) A piece dedicated to ex-girlfriends. ("End is the only part of the word that I heard, call me morbid or absurd." Cake lyric)

10 minutes are up.
ciao

#4.5 Bitlegging

Bitlegging

First of all, "what is bitlegging?" It seems it's a snappy new term that's combining Bootlegging and bit and refers to the downloading of copyrighted materials. http://www.wordspy.com/words/bitlegging.asp
Not my term, though I wish I could take credit. Actually, I found it in an airline magazine!!

http://www.pointlesswasteoftime.com/

Yes, I've been wasting time here lately.

Not much else. Take it easy.