Yeah for Dairy Queen!!

I am so glad that I am able to eat dairy in controlled amounts again. Last year at this time I started realizing that eating ice cream and cheese was causing some serious gastrointestinal disturbances. So I stopped eating dairy and a few weeks later stopped eating any kind of gluten. After about a year of not eating dairy I am able to eat small amounts again, and it has been so wonderful.

From what I understand from my readings, people with any kind of gluten intolerance can suffer other sensitivities because their system is damaged from the irritation. Diary is usually one of the first things that people become sensitive too. Because the cause and effect was noticeable when I ate dairy it wasn't a hard thing to give up, but I did miss ice cream and cheese quite a lot. I started drinking soy milk right away and I really enjoy unsweetened Silk, it has a great taste and some very essential nutrients. Since I have been completely gluten free and have no desire to ever go back to eating gluten I decided to try eating some ice cream. It's been so good, I appreciate it so much more after not being able to eat it for a year.

Today I walked to the Dairy Queen. It was such good incentive to get me out of the house and walking as I am suppose to be getting exercise. And I had been craving a hot fudge sundae so badly. So I got my fix and will be good for a couple more days. It's officially summer, and I've had my official summer sundae. :)

What I'm Disliking: The Weather

The past week or so has been horrendous for me.  The warm weather has made me nothing but miserable, irritable, and exhausted.  I normally welcome summer, the sunshine, the warmth, and the chance to go swimming.  But this year it has been rough.  With the fibromyalgia it has just been too much to bare.

I grew up without air conditioning and never really cared much for a cold room when it was so nice and summer out.  But not having air conditioning in an apartment that gets full sun all day is pretty rough.  I sit in front of the fan and sometimes all I can do is sleep.

I don't really mean this to sound all whiny like it is coming out.  I just can't really think of much else to say, and I feel I should write something.  Hopefully soon, maybe in the middle of the night when it is much cooler, I will write something of substance.  I will update you on what is going on in my life.  And maybe share some good entertainment news with you while I'm at it.

What I Miss: Cartoons

Recently I've been thinking about the rare availability of quality cartoons.  As a kid I rarely watched TV but some of my favorite things to watch were cartoons.  I remember watching the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in the mornings, but mostly I remember watching cartoon specials.  My older sisters or Mom would tape the specials for me on our VCR so I could watch them again and again.  

I watched them so much that I wore some of the tapes out.  I had three favorites.  The first was "Snoopy: The Musical."  I can still sing most of the songs from this wonderful gem.  The second was a tape that had several different Garfield shows on it.  My mom especially liked Garfield. 

The third is the reason I'm writing this post.  I use to LOVE the Looney Tunes.  Most of what we had on tape were season specials that played classic Looney Tune segments.  Bugs Bunny was my favorite and I remember more than one shopping trip in the Warner Bros. Store in NYC.  Last night I watched The Bugs Bunny RoadRunner Movie.  It had some of my very favorite segments in it and it's hosted by Bugs Bunny himself.  It really made my day, made me laugh like I was seeing them for the first time, and also made me smile to remember how much I loved them as a kid.  

Below is a short trailer for the film. 

When Ryan and I first started dating, we enjoyed "Dexter's Laboratory."  It was a story about a boy genius with a secret lab in his basement.  He fought evil villains as well as dealt with his older sister DeeDee.  It's been awhile since I've seen it, so I can't really remember what we liked about it so much.

Some cartoons that are being produced today are quality, but most are obnoxious and not all that funny.  Last summer I spent six weeks at my sisters house and had a lot of time to watch cartoons with my nephew who was 5 at the time.  He watched some things that weren't really aimed at anyone but his specific age group and I didn't mind them, but I didn't really pay much attention either.  "Ben 10: was one of these, it wasn't bad I just didn't care for it much.  "The Fairly Odd Parents" on the other hand are extremely obnoxious and happen to be

on the list of things my sister does not care for my nephew to watch.  They promote bad habits and obnoxious noises, and of course kids find them funny but there is never much of a story.  

My favorite from the summer had to be "Chowder."  This was a cartoon about a "bear-cat thing" who was an apprentice to a chef.  They live in this imaginative and colorful world of food and cooking.  The things they make are all made up and there are always great stories about adventures and misadventures.  Perhaps one of my favorite parts of the show is the theme song which I enjoy sining with my nephew.

Tour de Cure 2009

Team NESPAC Rocks!!!

If you click above you will be taken to the Team NESPAC page for the 2009 Tour de Cure, Westerville.  The tour is a bike ride of various milage with riders of skills who raise money for their ride.  The money raised goes to the American Diabetes Association. 

The ADA is committed to caring for and curing diabetes.  This is especially important to me because many friends and family are dealing with diabetes daily, including Team NESPAC captain Bruce Weaver.

Please consider donating to Team NESPAC's ride as they are a driving force in the central Ohio's fundraising and they are very close to their team goal and cool prizes.  Since I am unable to ride I feel I must make the way to raising funds easier for them.  The ride takes place on Saturday so get those donations in please. 

Music I Dig: Green Day

Green Day had a kick ass performance on Conan's second night hosting The Tonight Show.  When Conan introduced the band he said our very close friends, and they proved that friendship by presenting Conan with a guitar at the end of their performance.  Many of you may not know that Conan actually plays guitar and does so fairly well.

I've been a fan of Green Day since middle school, thanks mostly to my good childhood friend Becki who introduced me to them.  We would watch MTV in her basement and she even ordered VHS tapes of Green Day concerts that we would watch to learn even more of their songs. We also spent summers crushing over the guys in the band and dreaming of meeting them someday.  One of the most amazing things I ever saw, and I still remember how I felt, was a t-shirt on the boardwalk in Seaside Height's, NJ.  The entire front was airbrushed with Billie Joe Armstrong's face.  What a fun time.

I'm sure we knew little about music at the time, but we did know we dug Green Day and their amazing sound.  Not much has changed about them since then and they have a new album, 21st Century Breakdown.  They may be older than they were back in the mid 90s when I liked them so much, but so am I.  They have grown up, their sound has grown up, and I believe their lyrics can speak to anyone in America.

I may not be a music genius, but I enjoy a good sound, a good performance, and I love to be entertained.  Green Day has always done just that.  They don't appear to be coming to Columbus anytime soon, but when they do, I hope to be there.

What I'm Watching- The Tonight Show

It's a new era for The Tonight Show.  Conan O'Brien debuted as host last night and it was the first night that I watched a late night talk show in a very long time.  Ryan and I have been waiting for this day.  

Back when we were in undergrad we heard the announcement that Conan would be taking over when Jay left.  At the time we were faithful fans of Conan and watched what ever show had the better guests before hand.  We thought, by the time Conan gets to an earlier slot we will be too old to stay up that late.  And we were almost right.  We made a special effort last night however because we had been waiting so long.

Critics have mixed reviews about last nights show, but for me it was right on par with what I was expecting.  In the opening scene Conan was seen with a check list of things to do to move to the Tonight Show when he realized he had not moved to LA.  The next several minutes are scenes of him running and even swimming in his suit across the country.  The thought of it itself is funny, but the actual scenes were him in different parts of the country, like the St. Louis Arch.  The entire sequence can be seen below:

With Andy Richter returning as the new Tonight Show announcer, Max Weinberg behind the drum set as always, and new beautiful set it seemed that the show couldn't get any better.  Then his guest was Will Ferrell who had a perfectly appropriate entrance.  Conan of course isn't overly optimistic about his place in late night as he said in his opening monologue "I have to admit I think I timed this moment perfectly -- I'm on a last place network, I've moved to a state that is bankrupt and tonight's show is sponsored by General Motors." 

Conan might have a different kind of humor than Jay, but I believe he will speak to younger generations like Ryan and I better than Jay did.  His guest tonight is Tom Hanks and his musical guests is a favorite of mine, Green Day.  I can't wait.