Since graduating from high school, my interest in baking, bartending and cooking has steadily increased–and in the last few months, it has spiked. So much so, in fact, that it can no longer be contained by facebook status updates or dessert deliveries to the office. It seemed worth keeping track of recipes & results, so I centralized it all online at a blog called Eat the Gold. I’ll update it with best practices, resources, and (of course!) recipes.

I’m off to salt some caramels. Enjoy the site!

Popularity: 1% [?]

but at the same time still felt bad for the donkey.

Popularity: 1% [?]

Today I came across an article called Big Bias that talks about the barriers fat people face in the health care system. There’s an accompanying video here.

Throughout my adult life, I’ve had some unsavory doctor’s appointments because I’m queer. Several doctors have skipped basic screenings and exams because they’ve interpreted lesbians’ “reduced risk” as “no risk.” One nurse suggested I seek therapy when I told him my partner at the time was a transgender man. Though these interactions stung, they had an internal logic. I could retrace the mental footsteps that led to those remarks & choices. Maybe she misread my chart. Maybe he wanted to make sure I had support in the face of homophobia and transphobia.

But those experiences pale in comparison to the way I’ve been treated as a fat person. Nurses wince when they ask me to step on the scale, or they take it upon themselves to announce that they’re going to have to look for the larger size hospital gown. Doctors act put off, too, and their advice feels tinged. No matter what I seek care for, the answer always seems to be weight loss. I’ve been told to lose weight to deal with everything–even ear infections. There may well be truth and urgency to what they’re saying. But from where I stand, most doctors just end up sounding like the boy who cried “fat.”

Earlier this year, I was given a big diagnosis. It has proven a tectonic shift in the way I think about myself, the way I interact with the world, and the way I seek medical care. And I’ve had it from birth. It’s been repeatedly confirmed that it’s in my DNA, and all the medical literature I’ve been able to find eschews any link to weight gain. But when I saw a new primary care provider last month, she told me in my very first visit that I’d been misdiagnosed, that I was “just obese,” and that I should lose weight. When I asked her how my weight could interact with this congenital condition, she said, “I think it’s premature to make any diagnosis for you without losing weight a substantial amount of weight first.”

I don’t think doctors are mean, or thoughtless, or fatphobic. And I don’t think the advice I’ve been given is necessarily wrong. Lord knows I’m in no position to judge the merit of any medical findings.

But there’s a whole lot of moralizing that happens when we in the US talk about fat people. We all hold deep-rooted assumptions about the hygiene, strength, character and fundamental worth of fat people. We have strong ideas about what fat individuals should do, what they shouldn’t wear, how confident they should feel, when and whether they should date, and how they should act, eat, socialize and live. Even as a fat positive fat person, I still catch myself giving other fat girls the stink eye for wearing cropped jackets or cap sleeves. And practitioners are just as subject to this pervasive thinking as anyone.

Although doctors and nurses are highly trained in the mechanics of human anatomy, and in how to intervene in complex bodily crises, there doesn’t seem to be similar training in confronting the biases that could prevent issuing appropriate diagnoses, or that could create barriers to patients’ compliance with treatment. And as a result, the increasing numbers of fat people receive incomplete health care (for example, because their doctor might not have a blood pressure cuff that fits their arm). Others steel themselves to contend with doctors’ prejudices and stereotypes. And some fat people even stop seeing doctors altogether in order to avoid the sting of shame and judgment.

I don’t have a call to action, or a tidy wrap-up for this post. There just seems to be a broad lack of understanding about just how many social barriers, big and small, that fat people face on a daily basis. So I thought I’d share.

Popularity: 1% [?]

I’m only posting this because, even a couple of hours after the chat, I’m still frankly bemused and left to wonder: Am I not explaining this right? How many different ways can I ask the same question?

*Note: you’ll only find this of any interest whatsoever if you’re a web geek. If not, move along…

Welcome to Earthlink LiveChat. Your chat session will begin shortly. Feel free to begin typing your question.

Please hold for an agent. While you are waiting, please feel free to begin typing your issue in the box below. Try to be as descriptive as possible. Once an agent is assigned to the chat, click SEND to transmit what you have typed. 

‘Sharon G’ says: Thank you for contacting EarthLink LiveChat, how may I help you today?

Me: Hi. I’m setting up our website on an Earthlink hosted account. We have not yet transferred over our domain name, as we wish to first verify and test the new site on the new account. Until then, we are leaving our old account active. In the interim, as we test, what URL may we type in order to view our Earthlink hosted account in a web browser, given that our actual domain directs to our old existing site?

Sharon G: Hello, Please give me a moment to read your message. 

Sharon G: Thank you for staying on hold. 

Sharon G: I am sorry for the delay. 

Sharon G: I understand that your domain is transferred form another provider to EarthLink. And you want to check the domain is working or not. Am I correct? 

Me: Um, no. We have set up an Earthlink hosting account. We have another hosting account where are domain currently resides. We will transfer the domain name once we have verified that the site is up and tested. SO, I need a URL of the Earthlink hosted account, be it server address or other, where I can actually view the test account. Once we have done all of our testing on the new account and are sure we have the site running correctly, then we will contact Network Solutions and transfer the domain. Make sense? So, I need an address where I can view my site which doesn’t need our domain name.

Sharon G: I understand your concern. 

Sharon G: I am sorry to say you, but but you need to contact our Web Hosting phone support to resolve it. Because, it is the something that can be done from our server end. As a Live Chat representative, I do not have privileges to access it due to security reasons. Please call our Web Hosting customer service at 800-955-0186

Sharon G: Is there anything else I may assist you with today?

Me: Actually, it doesn’t technically have to involve server access. In most instances, as I understand it, the URL would be something like:

Me: http://earthlink.net/hostaccount/yadda/yadda/index.html

Me: If I still need to dial in and speak to a rep, I understand.

Me: Again, we’re just talking about viewing. I already have ftp access.

Sharon G: Are you referring to Control center of the domain? 

Me: No, I don’t think so. I’ve been to my control center. What I’m actually hoping to get is an actual, physical URL that I can type into a browser which will let me view our site, that is irrespective of our domain name, which currently points elsewhere. Make sense?

Sharon G: Yes, please let me know your domain name to pull up your account. 

Me: [theactualdomainwehavebeentalkingabout].org

Sharon G: Thank you for the information. 

Sharon G: Please use the link given below to access your website. 

Sharon G: http://www.[the actual domain we have been talking about].org/index.htm

Sharon G: Is there anything else I may assist you with today?

Me: That actually won’t work, as our domain name currently directs to another provider. We won’t be switching over the domain name until the Earthlink account is up and running. So, typing in that URL will only take me to our old account with Charter. See? That’s why I need the URL of the server address at Earthlink.

Me: I do appreciate your patience in this matter. =)

Sharon G: I understand your concern. But I see that your domain is already released from our portal .Name servers for the domain are se to WEBHOSTING.COM

Sharon G: *set to WEBHOSTING.COM

Sharon G: Is there anything else I may assist you with today?

Me: Right. Looking at the WHOIS with NetSol shows that the domain name points to SBC servers. Which is where it will stay until we test the new account with Earthlink. See, we are coming TO Earthlink FROM SBC (Sorry, I think I said Charter earlier). But first we need to test it. And to do that, we need a viewable URL on the Earthlink Server.

Sharon G: I am sorry to say you, but you need to contact our Phone support regarding this. This can be accusable form our server end. 

Me: I’m not entirely sure what that last part means. 

Sharon G: I am sorry to say you, but but you need to contact our Web Hosting phone support to resolve it. Because, it is the something that can be done from our server end. As a Live Chat representative, I do not have privileges to access it due to security reasons. Please call our Web Hosting customer service at 800-955-0186

Me: Alrighty. Thanks.

Sharon G: Is there anything else I may assist you with today?

Me: I don’t think so.

Popularity: 1% [?]

It’s 勤労感謝の日(kinrou kansha no hi) today, and a national holiday. The English translation in my happy little planner says “Labor Thanksgiving Day”, and essentially that’s what it is: a celebration of the year’s work and/or production, and a time to ritually thank others for their contribution to that work. [Ancient tradition says that the holiday came from the annual rice harvest, when the emperor would hold a ceremony to bless the year's crop and thank his people for their hard work. This baffles me just a little, because the rice harvest here in Shikoku happened back in May, and again a couple of months ago.]
It occurred to me when I woke up this morning that due to the fact we’ve all got the day off, I would be wholly unable to ritually thank any of my co-workers today for all the hard work they’ve put in this year. The thought brought a smile to my face, helped me ignore the cold outside my bed long enough to turn on the space heater and get the tea going.

Popularity: 1% [?]

Here’s the easy part: B+

Now, you might have seen the movie and are already dismissing me with a gentle handwave. But give me 2 minutes to explain myself and let’s see if we can’t reconcile our relationship, ok?

This movie was awesome, top to bottom. The reason it is getting middling reviews? The direction during the action scenes was shite. Grade A shite. And that’s a shame. It’s obvious from the opening scene; you simply can’t tell what is happening.

A directors job is to tell a story, visually. And Mr. Forster totally dropped the ball here. Never have I been in a movie wishing to read the script over watching the projection in front of me. Until this evening. This movie is, perfectly, all you could want from a James Bond movie in 2008. Except for the action scenes.

I doubt many of you who read my writings regularly are comic book nerds like me. But go with me for a moment: this movie follows, in a surprising way, what Grant Morrison is currently doing in DC’s “Final Crisis.” In “FC,” Morrison is writing the line-wide crossover event as a serious of events, glossing over the action to focus on character moments.* Morrison is writing an excellent cross-over event where the focus isn’t on splash pages of people knocking each other silly, but on the moments inbetween.

It’s as if he decided, “We all know that the heroes are going to win. The fights don’t matter; those are just the silly details. What matters are the interactions between the fights; the reasons for the fights and the aftermaths.”

This is true and it appears in “Quantum of Solace” as well. The interactions between the characters matter more — and, in fact, we jump often from one item to another without a logical connection visually. You are left to fill in the blanks. And it works.

It’s refreshing and most certainly a product of it’s time. If you need more reassurance, look to the opening credits and (over-)designed sub-titles each time Bond jumps to a new city. All are good, but reinforce that this is a product of 2008.

I stick with my b+.

* I would like to provide you links with reviews saying such and more, but I can’t find them. Sigh.

Popularity: 1% [?]

I’ve got a race in about 2 1/2 hours and I’m just not feeling as motivated as I’d like. It’s going to be a fun course with lots of spectators, at night, under the lights, with beer tents and people ringing cowbells. And I just really want to take a nap. Sad, right?

Popularity: 1% [?]