Apartment Pictures

Since there were some issues emailing pictures, I'm gonna post 'em here (if it works). This is the cleanest our place has ever been! Though it's not hard to get a place clean when you don't have much stuff!

We started packing last night, even though we're not positive when we're moving. We did get a couple to take over our lease though! That's a load off my mind.

Life Imitates Cartoons

Do you remember that episode of Winnie the Pooh where Pooh goes over to Rabbit's house and eats so much honey that he gets stuck trying to get back out? He's so fat now he gets stuck in the hole Rabbit uses as a front door. They have to wait all winter for Pooh to get thin again before they can pull him out. Pooh tries to bribe anyone who passes by to give him some food, while Rabbit uses his butt as an end table.

This story is the human version of that:

"An overweight woman who got stuck in a South African cave trapped 22 fellow tourists for more than 10 hours and had to be prised free with liquid paraffin.
The woman became trapped in the Tunnel of Love obstacle in the Cango Caves in Western Cape on New Year's Day.
The caves' manager said the woman had been warned she might not be suitable but she insisted on trying.
One of those trapped was a diabetic who had to be brought insulin. The woman and the other tourists were unhurt.
The rescue operation involved several ambulance teams and a helicopter."

Read the full version here.

Kinda makes me want to stick with WW even more now...

Oscar Party

Now, normally the idea of actually sitting and watching the Oscars is about as interesting to me as, oh, sitting and watching the Superbowl.
But, as I learned with the Superbowl, you just throw a party and voila! It's actually fun.
Fancy dress was required. I wore a long black skirt, shiny purple shirt and a pretty scarf. Christy wore a beautiful blue ball gown, Joe wore a suit jacket, and Luke and Aliza showed up in full-on 80's dance party garb.
Whatever floats your boat.
A few more of Luke's friends showed up too. They brought beer, Christy brought snacks and we ordered Chinese food for dinner.
I had been gathering uber-lame prizes (mostly from Goodwill and the post-Valentine's Day sales at Walgreens) just for this night. Luckily, I had just enough for everybody. Everyone voted on who they thought would win, then first place got to pick their prize first.
Joe won by a landslide, with 16 categories right. He got a Japanese handtowel.
Luke and I tied for second, with 9 each. Luke got a Wisconsin photo magnet that I just happened to find at Goodwill. I bowed out of the prize picking, but even after everyone chose, the one thing I actually wanted was left--a pink, plastic piggybank. His nose screws off so you can get the money out!
The one bummer was that our silly DVR (which we used to record the Oscars because people couldn't get there until after it started) failed to record the last 30 minutes. So we missed out on seeing the biggest awards!
Oh well. Thank goodness for the internet.

Chocolate in My Bra (happens more than I care to admit)

I have discovered the greatest thing ever: Scharffen Berger's "Nibby" bar. I grabbed it because it was small and made of dark chocolate. Only when I sat down to eat it did I realize that there were actual CHUNKS of cocao beans in it.

Oh, heck yeah.

Belated Valentine's Day

Our real Valentine's Day celebration began, as all good celebrations should, with copious amounts of drinking before noon.
After brunch, we went to the Barleywine Festival over at Toronado on Haight Street. Barleywine is basically really really really strong beer. One kind we tried was 27% proof. Compare that to Bud Lite's 5%. You could buy it in tiny little tasting glasses though, so you would be able to try lots of different kinds. We only made it through 6, mostly because it simply got too crowded in there for us. There are some people who wait outside before the place even opens at 11:30 am, then camp at a table with a picnic lunch and 5 of their best friends. They then proceed to try ALL 50 KINDS! Not that hard with 6 people and only 3 oz glasses, but still amazing.
After that we headed to the Antiquarian Book Fair. I wasn't terribly excited to go, mostly because Joe was excited about the stuff like a Plato manuscript. Which is cool and all, but boooooring.
But there was tons of cool stuff. Recent books, super old books. The most expensive one we saw was a first edition of Gulliver's Travels for $150,000. Wow. Pretty good condition too. There was a first edition of Bartholomew and the Oobleck I would have loved, but what I really wanted, and what I would buy if I had a few tens of thousands of dollars lying around, was a first edition copy of "Where the Wild Things Are." They ranged in price from $18-35,000.
Mom, did you have a copy of this when you were a kid? It was published in 1964. Please say yes.
Then say that you think you still have it up in Grandpa's attic. That would be a great inheritance...
Our final destination was the Cliff House, a restaurant that juts out over the Pacific Ocean (not the Bay, by where Luke works). The food was excellent, though still overpriced as we expected. It was neat. The Sutro Bathhouse used to be there, and the restaurant kept part of the original ceiling. They would pump in ocean water and heat it. 10 cents a swim! You can still see part of the ruins.

SF has its perks

It's soooooo nice out today!
I feel like I did in high school, when you'd get one of those Friday afternoons in May, where it was so nice out and so close to the end of the school year that it actually caused you physical pain to stay inside.

If you were one of the bad kids, you'd skip your last class and go drive around.

If you were a good kid, you'd run outside for a few minutes between classes to bask in the sun on the front stairs.

And if, like me, you were one of those good kids who was so good that you could actually get away with anything, you'd tell the teacher of your last class that you had to run to the store to get something for, um, shop class. Yeah, the hardware store. Only open until 3 on Fridays.
THEN you'd go drive around.

Unless Mrs. Bartlein was your last class teacher. Then you would get a snort of disbelief and an eyeball roll. Then you would sit down. And probably learn something.

Probably something important, in fact.

Whale Chase

Blogger is making me do weird things, changing the way you sign in and post. Ugh. I may switch over the Live Journal entirely.

I've been having intensely weird dreams lately. Last night I dreamt I was being chased by a whale. When I finally got out of the water. the whale jumped onto the beach and kept chasing me by kind of flopping foward. He gashed my leg with his teeth (yes, I know whales don't really have teeth, per se, but I'm sure he could draw blood with his jaws, regardless). However then he was too far inland and had to go back. I drew a line in the sand so I knew how far he could get, because I knew he would try again later. I was too scared to go into the jungle on this desert island, so I needed to know where it was safe to sleep on the beach.

I think it's no coincidence I was dreaming about work just before this. Feel trapped much?

I got my hair cut again, and this may be the shortest it's ever been. I have learned (in my wise old age) the value of a really good haircut. Even when the old one started to grow out, even when I don't do anything to it, my hair looks much nicer than it ever did before.

I always tell them it needs to be super low maintanence. I am not a blow dryer kind of girl. I am not a hot iron kind of girl. I'm barely even a product kind of girl. And they swear to me that it will look fine if I just let it air-dry and it does, but...
It never looks nearly as cool as when they do it. My hair is sort of...fluffy. Not curly, but not totally straight either. So the super-shortness can look a little weird. It makes my head look incredibly round, which is why hairstylists are often hesistant to cut it that short.

So yesterday I found myself buying a hot iron. I haven't burned myself yet.

On Valentines' Day, Joe and I got takeout burgers, then stopped at the new candy store on the way home. That candy store is SO MUCH FUN! They have all kinds of stuff, and we got lots of little baggies of things to try.
I swear, we didn't even eat that much, but both of us did not feel well afterwards. I don't know if it was the burgers or the candy or the collective rot of eating junk food we're not used to. Bleh.

But Saturday is our real Valentines' Day. We're going out to eat at a restaurant overlooking the ocean, way out by the beach. Hopefully it won't make us sick.

More rejection

So after my "good" rejection from Black Gate of my "depressing" story, I decided (hoped) that Chiaroscuro Magazine, being of a darker ilk, would be the proper home for it. Today I received the following rejection:

Thank you for sending "Of Its Own Accord" our way (though on the story itself, the title's given as "Her Own Accord"). I'm afraid we'll be taking a pass this time. I'm predisposed to like this sort of post-disaster scenario and there are some really nice, deft moments here, as with that initial imagined conversation. But Justin hovers a bit too uneasily between sensible and deranged, and the Phil-and-Derek storyline and the end of the piece don't quite come together for me.

Best of luck placing this one elsewhere, and please do keep us in mind for your future work.

Cheers,

Fiction Editor
http://chizine.com/

I don't know if I can count this among my good rejections. I suspect they give a line or two of ideas to every story, though I'm not sure. Anyways:

Justin hovers a bit too uneasily between sensible and deranged

Er, that's sort of the point of the story, so I'm not sure how to work on that one. I think I'll chalk it up to artistic differences.

the Phil-and-Derek storyline and the end of the piece don't quite come together for me

This one I understand, though that doesn't mean I know how to fix it. The ending isn't a direct cause-and-effect line, and I can see how some people wouldn't buy it. It may be time to put this story into the "Needs Serious Rewrites" folder.

However, I then looked at the history of this story, wondering where I can submit it next, when I realized that I never got an answer on it from Ideomancer. A loooooooong time ago. So long ago that at this point it is totally my fault for not following up. They wrote back once asking for it in a different format, I sent the new format, then...nothing.

And yes, I know I'm not supposed to sub to another market until I've heard from the one before (at least not without telling them) but I simply FORGOT. Obviously. Which is why I'll never be annoyed at editors when they don't get back to me. If I can't even keep track of my own submissions, how can I expect them to?

Heck, I can't even keep the title of my story straight. Though both titles are awful, I admit.

Ok, off to hassle the Ideomancer folk.

I'm Melting!

The Rain! The rain has come at last! For months now, every time we got a little sprinkle people would say, Oh it's going to rain for MONTHS now. And then the next day would be sunshiney.
But I believe them this time. It is February, and it has been downpouring for two days. As much as I completely dig the constant sunshine, I'm kind of excited about the rain.
I suppose I ought to go get myself a rainjacket.
The Superbowl was fun. Joe and I had a last minute party with Luke, Aliza and Christy. Luckily we had ingredients for guacamole, everyone brought beer, and then we ordered a pizza (Chicago style, of course!) Luke and I both had money in Superbowl pools, but lost miserably. This is the first time I have watched an entire Superbowl since the Packers were in it.
My Weight Watchers total is at 25 pounds now! They give you a fun little magnet for that. Also, I now officially weigh less than I did in high school, though just barely.
I've started my next novel, almost accidentally. I just didn't know what to start on next. Sometimes having too many ideas is a bigger problem for me than having none at all. In fact, that's always a problem. I need to do a lot more research for this novel, though some thing can be put in later. Sometimes you just need to get the characters moving!
I bought my brother a Betty Crocker cookbook, the new edition, for his birthday and I liked it so much, I might have to go buy my own! Sunday morning I got up and made muffins out of it. They were lemon muffins, because we'd just gotten Meyer lemons at the farmer's market. Then, when they had 7 minutes left to cook, Luke and Aliza just happened to be walking by and stopped over. I think they followed their noses. So I gave Luke the cookbook along with a fresh muffin.
Everyone has been completely ignoring STNB, to the point where I feel kind of bad for him and have been trying to tolerate him better. I actually listen to his ramblings and am the first to voluteer to help on his projects. Sigh. I try to tell people I'm really a mean person most of the time, but nobody ever believes it.

On Second Thought

On second thought, I see an entire keg of Bud Light in the kitchen for the Superbowl party. I forgive them for forgetting my donuts.
In other news, Slow Talking Nerd Boy (STNB) has been moved to our side of the cubicle divide. Apparently he has seniority over the recently vacated window desk.
uuuuuuggggghhhh.
Just today I heard him talking to a new girl in a different department. As I walked by, he said to her, "Oh, I think you have something on your chin."
"Yes," she said. "It's a mole."
Shudder.
The only good parts are that he's still not next to me (still plenty of unsuspecting victims in between us) and that the Interesting Irish guy might also be moving over here too. He seems to be able to put up with STNB better than the rest of us.

Great Big Walls of Stupid

I keep running into big walls of stupid today at work.
People who can't read an email all the way to the bottom.
People who don't understand or cannot manage to use the "reply to all" function in email, despite my tutorial.
People who like to guess at times and dates, assuming I enjoy scanning four hours of football coverage looking for a mention of Bud Light.
If I go home with another ripping headache today, I'm going to have to take some anger management classes.
And apparently we're having some half-assed Superbowl party this afternoon, which is cool and all, but I believe it has pre-empted the traditional Friday morning doughnut run. Not cool, people. I demand BOTH.
Also, apparently most adults (at least the ones who work for my company) don't understand how time zones work.
And did you all know that Canada has some half-time zones? Those crazy Canadians!

Shopping and Such

I bought shoes on sale! Shoes that are cute. Heels, in fact, though they're incredibly comfortable. They make me very happy. I replace my everyday tennis shoes on average about every 6 months. This is because they get stinky (which no washing can remove) and because the lining of the heels tends to disintegrate. Other than that, I haven't bought new shoes in probably a year. Oh, and they're green.
This weekend was spent at home, puttering and watching TV and trying to write. Joe is basically homebound for the next 2 months, having to work every weekend until he meets some deadline. Silly jobs. I went to the crappier, smaller farmer's market that is closer to our house just to get us some fruit to make it through the week. Though there is one stand I really like there, and I bought kiwis! They're in season, and all misshapen and wonderfully not uniform. I like that.
Friday night (at a going away party after work) I finally asked the other girls in my department if Slow Talking Nerd Boy bugs them too, and they can't STAND him. We complained all the way home. See it's not just that he's a nerd. He's creepy too.
Finally, I saw Dreamgirls Friday night with Christy. It was good. Not amazing. I would like to see the actual musical. The thing is, their mouths didn't always quite match up with the singing, which constantly reminded you that they were lipsynching to a studio recording they had done. I dunno, kinda kills the magic.
I've been watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer, starting with season 1. It always seemed overly cheesy and Sarah Michelle Gellar was too cutesy to me. But all my scifi buddies love it, so I thought I'd give it a shot. Apparently it gets better in Season 3. We'll see.

Slow Talking Nerd Boys Who Think They Stand A Chance

So today I went into the lunchroom to sit and write
(and eat). I've been writing there every lunch hour
for a few weeks now. Someone else was sitting at the
table by the one outlet in the room. That's fine,
since I had my notebook today, not my laptop. I sat
down at the table next to it to eat.
5 min later, that person leaves and Slow Talking Nerd
Boy comes and sits down. Lately he's been cornering me
to ask if I'm a writer and have I ever published
anything and he's a writer too and boy it's hard to
find time and wah wah wah.
So he pulls out his laptop, plugs it in and starts
typing.
AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!
He tried to talk to me, but I ignored him. I kept my
head down and because I had headphones on, I could
pretend like I didn't hear him. But when I got up to
put my dishes away, he FOLLOWED me into the kitchen to
tell me about these siamese twins and then ask what
kind of books I read (we've been over this, idiot) and
lament the lack of good female protagonists. wah wah
wah. I nodded and stared at my food in the microwave.
Then I went back to my table and put my headphones on
again.
Does he take my ignoring and borderline rude behavior
as mysteriousness and aloofness?
He knows I have a boyfriend. He commented on my Commander shirt one day
(way to stare at my chest, jerk) and I said my
BOYFRIEND got it because my BOYFRIEND works there.
Does he think we'll be writing buddies?!?! Because we
won't!!
And I was getting so much work done. Now I have to
start going to Starbucks to write. Maybe I can use one
of those outside tables.

Muir Woods

This Sunday, Joe, Christy and I hopped in Christy's car and took a trip over to Muir Woods, a mere 20 minutes away. It's really amazing the things you find just outside the city. Another 30 minutes north of that is Napa Valley.
On the way, we stopped in Sausalito for brunch, which is just on the other side of the Golden Gate Bridge. It was the most gorgeous day out. We had decent food and even got to eat outside. Sausalito's main street leads right into the water facing San Francisco. It's a cute town full of coffeeshops and art stores that I'd love to spend more time in. We found out that there's actually a ferry from SF to there, so we might try to do that one day.
Then off down a winding, twisting, vomit-inducing road to the woods. We didn't have a whole lot of time before the park closed (Christy, you putterer you!) so we just did the easy main trail at Muir woods, but it was worth it. Redwoods are breathtaking, even the ones that are only medium-sized. They're just so old! The woods really do look as misty and majestic as photographs make them out to be. The eco-system is delicate though. We saw the remains of what used to be that really famous walk-through tree that everyone took their picture in front of. It collapsed and died in 1971 from too many people walking over the roots. Now they're really hard-core about conservation.
It's a very soul-refreshing kind of place. I hope Christy keeps wanting to go on these outings. Having a car in SF is definitely a plus. I didn't miss it a bit in NYC, but here it would be nice. Joe and I want to sign up for zipcar soon, though. People have shown that even if you rented a car every single weekend, it would still be cheaper than actually owning a car in the city.
I'm all excited about going camping now. Once it warms up, we want to go up to Point Reyes just like Luke and Aliza did.
I'll try to get Joe to upload some of the digital pics from Muir Woods for y'all to ooh and aah over.
On our way home, we saw a small sign for Muir Beach, which is where the stream that runs through Muir Woods empties into the ocean. After driving down a cruddy little road and climbing over sand dunes and a smelly board walk, you come upon a beach, hidden in a bay among craggy cliffs. To the west was the sunset, and to the east, the foggy lights of San Francisco. Familys were packing up picnics and dogs ran around in the waves. A lovely end to a lovely day.

Ivy League

I had an interview this morning that I was NOT looking forward to, mostly because I scheduled it at 7:30 a.m. so I could still get in most of a day of work. Plus, it was an hour away, at Stanford University, in the OPPOSITE direction of work.
But nothing, nothing compares to seeing Stanford University for the first time when it is completely empty of all people, when the sun is just rising, when is is 30 degrees out.
I got tears in my eyes.
This is Ivy League, baby.
It is a campus. Other colleges I've seen, like NYU and Madison, are integrated right into the city they're in. NYU is cool, of course, but it's hard to tell when, if ever, you actually cross into the "campus." And Madison has things like Bascom Hall that are all up on a hill and cool, but mainly the rest of the campus is just buildings.
Stanford is grand brown sandstone buildings, with red slate roofs as far as the eye can see. Arched outer hallways and statues of Plato and Socrates by Rodin give the whole place a historic feel. There is a big church, with gorgeous stained glass windows that borders one side of the main quad, and while I stood there gaping at it, a guy came up, knelt in the middle of the quad facing the church and starting praying.
No kidding.
I was glad I got there early, so I had some time to wander around, though my ears were ice cubes by the time I could go inside.
Be sure to click on the pictures I linked to.
I'm not sure how the interview went, but it was totally worth it, just for the views!

WW

As of last night, I've lost 21.2 pounds on Weight Watchers. Yay! They even gave me a fun little keychain for it. Let's hope I can keep it up. Only forty or so more to go...
Bizarrely, when I showed up at the meeting on Wednesday, they said that was the last time we'd be meeting there because the hospital (where we meet) was throwing us out! In fact, we weren't even allowed a normal meeting that night. The meetings had gotten too big.
Apparently they had been meeting at a church before this that was condemned DURING a meeting, and proceeded to toss everyone out then too!
This could throw a lot of people off completely. I'm not sure where I'm going to go next week. Maybe I'll skip a week and see if they start up at a new place in the same area.

On Bras

How can bra designers be so bad at their jobs? Seriously, how hard is it to design a properly fitting bra that doesn't stab or scrap me in four places?
I'll admit, I'm not an easy girl to fit. But there are some common sense things we could learn.
For example, NO ONE buying a DD cup is going to be happy with those half-inch ribbons you call straps. Those won't hold up squat. All those will do is cut red, raw lines into my shoulders.
Same goes for that frilly bit of lace you included along the bottom. Sure, it looks pretty. And yes, that's part of what suckered me into buying it. But now it's hurting me. It has folded under and it itching me horrendously, causing me to reach up under my shirt and scratch myself in polite company. I will never buy a bra that looks like that again.
This goes for every other raw seam, unpadded edge and weirdly shaped underwire out there. I am not buying cheap bras, here, either. There is no excuse for this.
Sure, I could buy those big, white matronly things. They would give me great support. However, they generally seem to be made out of recycled army tent canvas and are no more comfortable than their highly decorated sisters.
And WHAT is with my straps falling down constantly?!?! Do I have uncommonly narrow shoulders? I don't think so. I'm built like a linebacker. Are these designed by men who LIKE to watch women reach inside their shirt every three minutes to haul up a strap? Can we possibly find someone inventive enough, creative and brilliant enough, to design straps that don't slip down to my elbows? Perhaps someday my bra savior will rise to power and create such a thing.
Give me a little help here, folks.

Stuff Lately

It is very cold here today. It makes my bones ache. I think I will take a hot bath tonight.

In other news, I think I got a place to sleep in the main hotel for WisCon. I hope it all works out. It will be fun to meet new people by having roommates, and to be right there for all the parties and mingling and networking. It will also be fun to NOT sleep on my cousin's couch while he and his drunken friends romp around.
Now I just have to buy plane tickets. I wish I knew what job I will have in May.

Meta stayed with us Mon-Wed this week and bought us a wok as a thank-you present! Then, she proceeded to cook us dinner on it. That's my kind of houseguest.
My birthday was nice too. Meta and I made homemade pizza, Christy came over, and the four of us ate ice cream and played the Wii.
Thanks for the clothes, Mom!
Joe's present to me is that jewelery class at the Crucible I've been eyeing. I think I'll have a blast!

This post sort of reads like a small-town gossip column :)
"On Monday, Miss Jones was visited by her friend from Australia. A good time was had by all..."

Zad and Oriana

Zad and Oriana have been visiting for the past week, along with Prufrock, who's been pretty well behaved so far. On New Year's Eve we went and saw the fireworks. We had a great view, but ended up walking all the way home. It took us an hour, and my feet still hurt. There were just too many people, and the buses were packed. We tried to walk along Fisherman's Wharf earlier, but it was plagued by what Zad calls "rampant scumbagery." Meaning, teenagers. Ugh.
Lots and lots of eating out too. Which is fun, but tough to do while trying to lose weight. I realize now that there were a lot of things that made me gain so much weight in NYC--we have a very specific way we all eat together. We order appetizers, then entrees (which everyone shares) and then usually dessert. Then drinking afterwards. Then once we get home, someone pulls out chips and salsa, or cookies, or whatever. The other night, after eating Burmese food, Joe got home and started to get himself a bowl of cereal. We never do that on our own! At least not anymore. I've never been a night eater, and I think I've influenced Joe out of that too (instead of the other way around, finally).
Last night we showed them our trip pictures and Joe gave Oriana all the rocks he'd collected for her along the way. Before that, we got sushi at a sushi boat place (Mom, remind me to bring you there. You'll plotz in happiness, like Oriana did). Then we walked around Japantown. Those are the times I miss the most, just wandering around with people. We did that in NYC all the time, but people don't seem to do that here. And Zad and Oriana are the most fun--Oriana is entertained by everything, and Zad usually makes me laugh until I cry. He's been sick with stomach problems for most of the trip, which must be awful and I feel so bad for him, but I must admit is pretty hilarious for the rest of us. We can be ruthless.
What else...we had dinner at Zuppenkuche on Zad's first night here, a German restaurant just down the street that's so popular we've never even been able to get a table before. Pretty good food, but what was most exciting was that they have the 2 liter glass boots, just like the Essenhaus in Madison. And, even more exciting, you can order a 5 liter stein of beer. That's right. I thought Zad's eyes were going to fall out. He is determined to drink one before he leaves (not even our favorite beer joints in NYC have a 5 liter stein) but even Zad has the good sense to realize he will die if he drinks it alone. So he has been actively recruiting Joe to help him out. Great.
Oh, and my FAVORITE part of the weekend: The Green Apple Book Sale. Green Apple books is sort of like the Strand of SF. Much smaller, but the same glorious, cramped piles of books. During the last week of December, they open up their warehouse to the public and mark the already discounted books off 50%. Luke went right away and called me from the warehouse because he was so excited, but I knew I had to wait for Oriana. We spent over an hour there. Oriana might even go back at the end of the week, as they were constantly replenishing picked-over shelves. There is very little organization, so you just scan the shelves, tossing books into your basket with abandon. I had to ask them to hold a pile for me behind the cash register because I couldn't carry any more. Between Joe and I, we spend $80. Sounds like a lot, but it was as many books as we could fit into our 2 backpacks and still walk upright. I would have bought more if we had a way to get them home! I got more than Joe (as he likes to point out) but his actually cost more because they were cookbooks, while mine were dirtcheap because fiction was 75% off (as I like to point out). I'm so excited. Now we just need a bookshelf to put them on.

Doorknobs

It sort of annoys me when people go through the whole using a paper towel to open the bathroom doorhandle routine. What exactly does this do? What are they afraid of? Cold or flu germs? Beyond The Plague That Will End The World Someday (ala 12 Monkeys), I don't think there is much else you can catch from a doorknob, barring any actual, you know, blood on it. Are these people going to be sticking their fingers in their mouth, or the mouths of others immediately afterwards? If so, I apologize for my sarcasm and eye-rolling when you do this.
Has anyone ever done a study to see if these people get noticably less colds or flu bugs than the rest of us? I'd put my money on no.