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A cup of Joe for your health | ScrippsNews

the risk for developing gout was 40 percent lower for those drinking 4 or 5 cups of coffee a day, and 59 percent lower for those downing 6 or more cups a day

HAHA!! EXCELLENT! Finally a study touting the benefits of coffee! All this time I have been avoiding coffee whenever my foot was feeling a little gouty because I suspected the coffee had something to do with it. Little did I know it was HELPING the gout!!

WOOHOO!!

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NUTS for Jericho - NutsOnline

One of my favorite shows from this season was Jericho.

Yes, its about post-apocalyptic Kansas and how a small town survives the end of the world. The bottomline is that by the end of each episode I was on the edge of my seat and was deeply invested in the show’s characters. The story they tell is really outstanding.

I can’t believe CBS cancelled it. I am really disappointed because it was on a short list of shows I kept close track of (Lost & Heroes make up the remainder of that list).

Now it looks like fans aren’t giving up hope. At the end of the last episode, when the bad guys were about to descend upon our heroes they called and asked the goodguys to surrender. The leader replied “NUTS!”

So the fans have started going to nutsonline.com and sending thousands of pounds of nuts to CBS in LA and New York! At the time of this writing they had sent almost 15 TONS of peanuts!

I chipped in my $5.

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On Saturday I spent the morning getting ready for our cookout. Our first guests arrived at about 10:45am, which was good. I think I told people we were starting around 11am. They drove up from NJ and I think their kids were eager to stretch their legs. In total I think we had eight adults, eleven kids and five dogs. The last guest left around 8:45pm – so it was a long and very good day.

The kids all got along well and ranged in age from about six months to 11 years. The dogs chased each other all over the yard and we all sat around eating and drinking and talking. It was good catching up with everyone and I’m happy with how the event turned out. I would do it again. In fact, I think we’re planning on having another one in August for our local friends.

We were wiped out on Saturday evening so we left most of the cleaning for Sunday morning. After that I started getting ready for the Memorial Day parade. Ben had been selected to lead the parade by holding the parade-banner with another boy scout. Previously he was going to help me set up and dish out the “slush”. But when he got the offer to lead the parade he jumped at it, which was fine. My other helper, a cub scout mother had already bailed due to a family committment. Suddenly I was all alone! Which turned out to be fine. It wasn’t a problem. My job was to get the slush, set up a shelter/tent-thing, set up a table, set up a water cooler and serve the slush.

Gabriel got to walk in the parade and hold the banner for the cub scouts while Chloe walked with the Brownies and waved to all the on-lookers.

It turned out well. Everything worked out great. We had too much slush so we gave away the remainder to people who didn’t have any. All the other groups had provided just a “water-station”. we were the only ones to give away slush to our kids. And once our kids had finished their share we fed the rest of the marchers too. We had a really good time.

Then I think we rested for the remainder of the day. Whew!

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Flickr: pvt_idaho’s photos tagged with fishing

On Friday afternoon I came home from work early and brought about two-dozen of my wriggliest friends with me. Yes, I stopped at the bait shop on the way home and Grace thought a box of wriggly little wormy-friends was about the coolest thing ever. We went to Spot Pond in Stoneham and found it deserted. Perfect. As we arrived at our spot I saw what looked like a two-foot brown trout swimming by! I was thrilled! I thought this might be our lucky day!

It wasn’t.

That was the last full-sized fish we saw all day. None even deigned to nibble our meager bait. We got not even a nibble all day. Well, we were only there for an hour or so. But none of the fishes were interested in us. I don’t mean to point the finger here, but it might have had something to do with all the cackling coming from my colleague, Grace. She also managed to go through two bobbers. One she broke with her unique casting style (she slammed it on the rocks in front of her while she was getting used to casting) and the other one… well… it floated away.

I don’t know how. I tried to fish some too, but Grace needed some tending. She did, however manage to put several of her wormy-friends on the hooks. She was completely unphased by the gore of killing the worms and putting them on a hook.

In the end, a good time was had by all. Admittedly, less of a good time was had by our wormy-friends.

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dfwhorn.pdf (application/pdf Object)

Gone fishin’

I’m taking Gracie fishing today. The weather is fantastic and I’ve never taken her fishing. I’ll let you know how we do.

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Buy.com - LaCie 500GB USB 2.0 External Hard Drive Designed By F.A. Porsche - 301103U - 301103U

So this is a 500GB external USB 2.0 hard drive for only $119. I was intrigued by the price and when I saw it was deisgned by Porche I wondered what on earth they could have brought to the party. Style. I figured they must have brought an interesting and eye-catching style.

nope.

Its an aluminum box. Ok, there are a couple of grooves cut in the top of it, but it is no more interesting than any other enclosure out there.

1. I like the price.
2. I don’t mind the aluminum brick styling
3. “Tiffany” from LaCie who does the little advert. on buy.com is kind of a hottie.

All things considered I would say its a winner. Two Thumbs Up*!

* but this includes Tiffany

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Massachusetts Wildlife and Outdoor Recreation

Hah! Its that time of year again. Its time to pretend I’m going to go fishing. Yes, the annual rite of getting the license and then trying to get out to go fishing has begun.

I happened to have my last two licenses in my wallet and it looks like I get my new license every year at about this time. Actually, I’m a little early. According to the dates, I usually get the license next week.

Now the trick is to actually get out there and get a fish. Last year the kids grandfather visited in July and we went to a fishing competition for kids in Wakefield. And each kid managed to catch some kind of sunny or bluegill. That was it. All year. We went once. THIS year I would like to catch a damn fish. One worth keeping. I need to put some planning in to this and figure out a good spot. last year or the year before I took the boys to Horn Pond in Woburn and had no luck. Not even a nibble. I probably don’t know the right places to go. I tried to find shady places where the trees hung over steep drops in the pond floor. But the fish weren’t biting that day. So I’m giving up on Horn Pond.

I will report any progress here.

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Things have been kind of quiet lately. Maybe too quiet? For a very long time my goal here has been to add an update of some kind every day – or at least five days a week. I’ve been having trouble with that goal lately. Not for any particular reason, I have just been absorbed in work, I guess. So it isn’t that I’ve forgotten about you, my fans – just distracted by an overabundance of work.

Last night after dinner I informed my dependents that we would be taking the dogs for a walk in the Fells. To a less motivated hiker the apparent universal lack of enthusiasm would have had a detrimental impact on their spirits. Not me! The kids were informed they were coming with me, but that they could bring their bikes if they wanted. This offer was aimed at the boys, of course, because they’re the only ones who know how to ride a bike. We grabbed the dawgs and went hiking around the resovoir. The boys rode off ahead but stayed generally within shouting distance. it wasn’t long before me and the girls spotted a 2′ garter snake! The dogs were intrigued by the wriggly little guy.

A little while later we ran across a half dozen teenagers fishing. They were popping fish out of the lake as fast as they could put their lines in! They were also throwing every one of them back. They let Chloe and Grace toss them back. The girls decided that they didn’t really like handling fish very much: they’re kind of slimy.
The dogs were pretty good. Not great, but good. It underscored to me that I really need to spend more time just walking the dogs. A few months ago Bucky ate through a nylon leash when Ben was walking him. He literally ate through the whole thing. We were really mad at Ben for letting him completely destroy a $20 leash. Bucky started trying that with me and I informed him that he wouldn’t be destroying any more leashes.

All in all it was a good walk. We were gone for about an hour and a half I guess.

Tomorrow is the kids’ last swimming lesson until the fall. For Mother’s Day we’re going to a special event down at Plimoth Plantation.

I think that’s about it. I’ll probably try to get some exercise in. I’ve been sitting on my duff for too long and need to get active again. It isn’t good for me to remain so sedentary.

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ABC News: Is Clemens Worth the Money?

With the addition of Clemens, the Yankees payroll is now estimated to be a staggering $195 million this year.

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Chloe is sick today. 
She was sick yesterday too.  With
a fever.  Its very sad.  She’s just been laying on the sofa watching
TV, which is distinctly NOT her modus operandi.  Liz said she got up a couple of times to play
with dolls but quickly return to the couch.  She didn’t even try to get on the computer,
which is something she likes to do.

She did manager to rouse herself for some of Liz’s special
home made macaroni and cheese and a bath.  I’m sure she’ll be much better today,
though.  I saw her this morning before
work and although she was still droopy she was optimistic about feeling better.

Over the weekend Ben had his eleventh birthday.  He had a party for himself and six of his
friends at a laser-tag arena and I think it was one of our best birthday
parties ever.  There were no kids with
strange “issues” or behavioral problems. 
Everyone got along and threw themselves in to the spirit of the game.  I have to admit that it was fun.

Nonetheless, its probably about time to start wrapping up
the whole birthday party thing.  I
thought that his tenth should have been the last with cake and ice cream and
whatnot but we went ahead and did it anyway.  I think we need to start having sleep overs or
special outings for just a couple of Ben’s friends.  As the other kids get older I would like to
stop the birthday parties as well.

On Saturday the kids had swimming and there was a can drive
held to benefit the local cub scouts.  I
think they made a couple of hundred dollars. 
We showed up and worked for about 45 minutes.  I pulled those stupid little tabs off of the
aluminum cans while the kids sorted bottles by brand and type.

The rest of Saturday was rainy and kind of unpleasant so I
think we stayed inside.

On Sunday afternoon Chloe had a birthday party to go
to. 

It was a busy weekend but was certainly manageable.

Oi.  Work is starting
to pick up.  I’d better run.

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