Melyssa-with-a-Y

Breast cancer impacts both men and women, although women are diagnosed with it almost 100x more than men. According to the American Cancer Society , "In 2007, about 40,910 people will die from breast cancer in the United States (40,460 women, 450 men)." So ladies, be sure you do your self-test, and go get that mammogram - especially if you are high risk, like me. Unfortunately, the mammogram itself is not particularly pleasant, what with the metal plates squishing everything and the standing x-ray and all. (...whereas "turn your head and cough" is the worst thing a man gets in a medical exam - consider yourselves lucky.) Here's a new technology that will make the whole thing much more pleasant - a quick procedure with no radiation and no squishing! It's not perfected yet - or widely available - but I'm looking forward to that day with great anticipation. Speaking of breast cancer, the National Race for the Cure is coming up on June 2 in Washington, D...

Just for the fun of it, you can design your own M&M - pick the body type, eyes, lips, hair, shoes and accessories, and make it your favorite color! Here's mine:

... but apparently An Inconvenient Truth isn't "balanced" enough . A town in Washington state is in an uproar because a science teacher wanted to show her class Al Gore's Oscar-nominated documentary on global warming, but a group of the (Evangelical Christian) parents objected. "No you will not teach or show that propagandist Al Gore video to my child, blaming our nation -- the greatest nation ever to exist on this planet -- for global warming," So, just because we are a great nation, we can't be doing anything wrong? Sounds like something Dubya would say! The school board has lifted the "moratorium" so that the teacher can show the movie -- as long as she also presents the other side of the story. Unfortuntely, she's having trouble finding anything that *doesn't* say the world is getting warmer! [Flashbacks to Inherit the Wind , anyone? We aren't harming the planet, and we didn't evolve from monkeys, either.]

Saturday night was my monthly Cooking Light Supper Club meeting. We made Chinese food, in celebration of Chinese New Year, which is coming up on February 18th. 2007 is the Year of the Pig. I made Barbecued Chinese Chicken Lettuce Wraps . It's a Rachael Ray recipe, but it's definitely "light" enough -- the only really bad thing in it is the hoisin sauce. And you eat it wrapped in lettuce, so that's healthy, too! The biggest challenge for me was dicing up the chicken. It takes a long time to cut 3lbs of chicken into little tiny pieces! And if I'd thought of it, I would have put the red bell pepper and the water chestnuts and the scallions into the food processor instead of chopping them by hand. I think the cutting and chopping took an hour... the actual cooking only took 15 minutes. We also had potstickers and shumai, shrimp fried rice, rice meatballs (sounds weird, but they were very tasty made with ground turkey), sweet and sour short ribs, and a noodle dish....

Dani and I saw Carbon Leaf at the 9:30 Club in December of '05. It was a nice small venue, and although the songs were mostly new and some were kind of sad, it was great. When I heard that the band was coming to Stubb's (a famous BBQ & live music place in downtown Austin), I had to be there! Andy, Faith and Matthew agreed to go along. I don't think any of them had heard of Carbon Leaf before- or if they had, they hadn't heard much. We decided to have dinner at Stubb's, too. There was a huge line outside, but it turned out those people were waiting to get in and get their tickets for the show; there was only a very short wait to eat at the restaurant. The food was very good! I had the brisket sandwich, but everybody's food - the brisket, the sausage, the chopped beef - looked excellent. We listened to the opening band from the (heated) patio, and then went inside and downstairs at 10pm to see Carbon Leaf. We ended up standing near the bar at the back...

There may be a reason for that. Apparently a bunch of NIH scientists have figured out that the pain-killing effects of acetaminophen (Tylenol) or paracetamol (the UK version of Tylenol) are caused by a reaction in the brain that is similar (if not identical) to marijuana! "Although paracetamol has been used clinically for more than a century, its mode of action has been a mystery until about one year ago, when two independent groups (Zygmunt and colleagues and Bertolini and colleagues) produced experimental data unequivocally demonstrating that the analgesic effect of paracetamol is due to the indirect activation of cannabinoid CB(1) receptors." Yep, cannabinoids. The stuff that makes people "feel no pain" when they smoke marijuana* is also what kills your headache when you take Tylenol. So, if this is true, couldn't marijuana be made legal? Or, conversely, couldn't the people who get to take medical marijuana just take Tylenol instead? NORML is going to...

(Thanks, Andy, that was a great title for a post, so I borrowed it -- and I know the song!) After a brief power outage this morning (about a minute), everything seems to be fine. I poked my head out my front door (brr! 28 degrees!) and took a picture of the icicles that are slowly melting onto the porch. Then I stepped out the back door and caught the ice forming on the pine needles. This is apparently the worst ice storm to hit Austin in 8 years. It's supposed to get up to 33 degrees later today, so I might venture out. Marcia got out yesterday and went running - I definitely should have gone out then too - and said it wasn't nearly as bad as the local news was leading us to believe. Coming from DC, this would seem like *nothing* -- if I lived on a flat street. It had better warm up a little more tomorrow, or there's no way my car is making it off this hill! and many thanks to Jen, who called yesterday to relieve me of some of my stir-craziness, and let me babble for ha...

[other than chocolate and peanut-butter] Apparently there's a Knitting movie in the works! I know you muggles (in addition to non-magic folk in the Harry Potter series, that's the term that the Yarn Harlot uses for non-knitters) out there might not be terribly excited, but it just sounds like fun! I'll admit, a movie of a bunch of women sitting around knitting might not be that fantastic, but I'm sure the story line has more to it than that. And if Julia Roberts likes the idea, then it may turn into a pretty good movie. :) I might have to get the book , although the reviews aren't too stellar. Here's hoping Hollywood can do something to improve it!

Today I finished a third American Flag sock (I had more yarn, whate else was I going to do with it?) and thought I should take a picture. I decided to make the second pair with white toe and heel, instead of red. Looks just as nice, although I'm still having trouble making the stripes on the seam side match up. I found a new way to make a heel, so I might try that on the second (fourth) sock. Last week at the Knitting Meetup, I worked on another square of the modular scarf, so I thought I'd show you what that looks like, too. I love the pattern, but I'm not sure I love it made with this yarn. The ladies at the Meetup were really impressed, and were very interested in the book. (and I taught someone to crochet!) I'd take a pic of Rebeka's poncho, but it'd just look like a purple-orange-green blob. I'll take a picture of her wearing it, I'm sure that will look much better. :)

I wouldn't wish the night I had (or more correctly, the morning) on my worst enemy. I woke up at 6am to a massive thunderstorm outside, and the sound of dripping inside. Turns out the hole that the previous tenant drilled to hang her curtains went straight into something that drains rainwater... so when it rains really hard, the rain drips onto my windowsill. It's never happened before, so I'm thinking either the gutter is backed up (although the water was clean) or it just hadn't rained this hard or this much before. There was certainly enough thunder and lightning. [I am also starting to think that I may be allergic to mold - my allergies are always worse when I've been in my bedroom for a few hours, and this may be the culprit.] So, I got up and went to the kitchen to get a mixing bowl to put on the windowsill. Turning around from the sink, I noticed something moving out of the corner of my eye. Wouldn't you know it? A HUGE roach running across the floo...

(Thanks to Dani , who wanted to know what " Yo la tejo " meant.) First, I assumed (incorrectly) that the infinitive was tejar - it's not. It's tejer . From context, I guessed that the word tejer is Spanish for knit... then I went to check. I usually use Babelfish to help with my translations, but over there, knitting translates as "hacer punto" - literally, to make points. I found another dictionary that lists tejer. I might have to use that site more often, as Babelfish tends to foul things up more often than not. [In case you're wondering, "tejar" means to tile, as in putting down the bathroom floor.] Speaking of Babelfish, here's a site with a fun script called Multibabel: you enter a sentence in English, and it translates in and out of five different languages, so the end result is totally skewed. Spanish and knitting are two of the biggest things in my life, but this is the first time I have ever put the two together (for good...

More on the "men vs. women" front, though this time not directly related to Judaism: LiveScience has published an article about how women choose the men they want to have 'flings' with vs. the ones they would marry. Overwhelmingly, participants said those with more masculine features were likely to be risky and competitive and also more apt to fight, challenge bosses, cheat on spouses and put less effort into parenting. Those with more feminine faces were seen as good parents and husbands, hard workers and emotionally supportive mates [ compare examples ]. They also link to an article that says that "fighting for a mate" makes men more apt to die sooner . "excessive risk taking, aggression, and the suppression of emotions by boys and young men" [are] directly related to lower life expectancy in men. If I'm reading this right, basically, if a woman chooses to marry the really high-testosterone and super-handsome (though not necessarily Mr. Ris...

The Austin JCC is offering an Empowerment Workshop for Jewish Women next week. I hate to state the obvious, but this seems unnecessary (especially if you believe the stereotypes)... shouldn't they be offering an empowerment workshop for Jewish MEN ? hee hee * If you raised your right arm and heard the 'He-Man' theme in your head when you read these words, you're a child of the 80's, just like me. (Ahem. Not only is there a website , it seems a movie version of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe is in the works! ACK!)

There are perks to having George Lucas serve as the Grand Marshall of the Tournament of Roses Parade . :) Not only were there two Star Wars-related floats ( Endor , the Ewok planet, and Naboo , Princess Amidala's planet)... there was also a platoon of Storm Troopers (the 501st Legion )! Obi-Wan Kenobi, C-3PO and R2-D2, Boba Fett, and Anakin Skywalker walked or rode along with the floats. There's some great video on YouTube of the whole thing. Ok, so the members of the 501st Legion are a little bit nutty with their Star Wars affinity... it was still cool to see them all marching down the street. Of course, the most exciting part of New Year's Day is "The Granddaddy of Them All" -- the Rose Bowl Game! USC showed convincingly that the game against UCLA last month was really a fluke, and may in fact start next year at #1 again!

5 Best Things about being in DC this week: 1) Hanging out with the fam. Yes, they're a little bit nutty, but we have had a good time. Although for future reference, a week may be a little bit too long for family bonding. 2) Seeing all my pals. I managed to get together with most of the people I wanted to see this week, with one notable exception ( she knows who she is, she was off getting tan in Florida !) I also missed seeing some of the new mommies and their wee ones, but I'll be back in either March or June - or both! 3) Driving mom's car. My car is just going to seem like a sluggish tin can when I get back. Oh well. I still love my Cruiser. 4) The food! I had sushi, Indian food (twice), dim sum, bison, and even some Mexican food this week. urp. (Have to find a dim sum place in Austin.) 5) Staying an extra day to watch USC in the Rose Bowl! As long as UT is closed for the President Ford remembrance day, Dad offered to pay for me to stay an extra day, and this wa...