Stupid Anti-Gay Law to be Repealed

The bill to repeal the 1913 law is on its way to Governor Deval Patrick, who will sign it into law.

The bill cleared a final hurdle this afternoon, when the House of Representatives passed the bill on a roll call vote after about 45 minutes of debate. The vote was 118-35, with five members not voting.

The 1913 law prohibits out-of-state couples from marrying in Massachusetts if their marriage would be considered void in their home state, and it has prevented most same-sex couples from out of state from marrying in Massachusetts. LGBT advocates and their allies in the legislature have argued that the law was passed in 1913 in part to prevent interracial couples from skirting anti-miscegenationlaws in their home states. Full Story

Kudos: Bay Windows

George Michael

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On Sunday, we went to a George Michael concert. Mike’s sister and life-partner were unable to go, so we ended up with their tickets. The show was an hour and a half late as his plane was late, but it was worth the wait. I have always been a fan, especially of his early stuff, and he puts on a great show. I can’t believe that it was 24 years ago that I used his music when I was teaching my aerobics classes for Richard Simmons! Careless Whisper was so great for slow abdominal crunches!

29 lbs in Three Weeks!

I feel like an ad for the weight loss you see posted on telephone poles! It has been three weeks since my gastric bypass surgery and I seem to be doing well. I am not hungry at all and I am eating small meals throughout the day. I am on the soft food stage and it seems that I can tolerate most foods fairly well as long as I eat slowly and chew them thoroughly. I am finding it hard that I really can only fit in the protein at a meal. I know how important after gastric bypass surgery it is to get in 60 to 70 grams of protein, but protein does get boring after a while. I know that I will fit more in later in the diet, but I have no delay of gratification! I admit that I have tried a few crackers now and then and a bit of toasted tortilla and that really satisfied me. I made sure to chew, chew, chew and they went down fine. My energy seems to come and go but I guess that is normal considering the limited amount of calories that I am consuming. I haven’t been on a scheduled exercise plan yet, but I am increasing my distance while walking whenever I can. I would like to go to the gym this week and get back to the arc trainer. I am interested to see how long I can last. I was up to 45 minutes before the surgery and I think I will have to build up to that again. I am in no pain and my incisions are healing well. I had a meeting with Dr. Lautz’s office for my first post surgical follow up and was given the go ahead to take my medications in pill form as long as they were no bigger than my pinkie fingernail. This was great news as I hated crushing pills and chewing chaulky ones! They also let me switch from chewable Pepcid back to my Prilosec in pill form. Pepcid never really worked for me before surgery with heartburn, but Prilosec always did the trick! I didn’t meet with Dr. Lautz at the appointment, but did see him in the hallway and shook his hand. He asked how I was doing and I told him great!

Current Weight: 231 lbs Weight Loss This Week: 2lbs Total Weight Loss So Far: 29 lbs

Back to SSSchool!

Last night was my first in classroom experience at Quincy College. I have been so lucky to have been able to take most of my prerequisites for their nursing program online. Unfortunately, I wasn’t allowed to transfer any more classes in, so I had to take this last course, microbiology, at the college. I haven’t been in a physical classroom since my last attempt at nursing in 1993 so I was a little apprehensive. The class meets Mondays and Wednesdays, with a lab portion on Thursdays. Each class is four hours long, and after last night feels like eight! When I first saw the professor I was relieved to find that he spoke english quite clearly. I have had to drop classes in the past because english was their second language, and they hadn’t quite mastered it yet! Well my joy was short lived, because as soon as we got settled, my english speaking professor began to stt.. stt… stutter! Oh my God! Every other sentence takes forever for him to get out! He is really nice, but the stuttering gets unbearable after about an hour. I am also finding that I have trouble sitting that long. My bad back starts to ache, and I get really uncomfortable. There will only be a midterm and a final, and the professor bases everything on his notes that you can download in class to a zip drive, so it seem ridiculous that I have to sit there when I could be at home reading the book and his notes. I really have adapted to online learning and very much prefer it. Thank God it is only for 5 weeks! Well, I better go stt… stt… study!

Happy 4th of July!

Another 4th! They seem to come closer and closer together now. We went to the Walpole Fireworks Spectacular last night. We almost didn’t go due to a strong thunderstorm a few hours before, but it cleared up. Walpole puts on an amazing show and we always have a good time when we link up with our friends, Karen and Ron, who always save us a place with the best viewing. Mike’s Mom and Dad also joined us, so it was even more special. I am coming along after my surgery. I am so sick of protein drinks, but only have to drink them for a few more days. I can’t wait till I am on full solid food, even if it won’t be the amounts I used to eat! I wish everyone a happy and safe holidayJul032008_0010.JPG