Hairy Frogs 2

And if you didn't have enough with the first round...

Seemed a good idea at the time...

Somewhere in the candy design world long past 2 am:

"Ants love sugar, right?"
"Uh, yeah."
"How about drowning the ants in sugar and then drying them out and selling them as candy?"
"Dude - that's fracking* gross - no one will buy them."
"Aw come on."
"No way dude - nasty!"
"oooh - I got it - how about sugar coated marshmallow ants?"
"We could make them a little ant colony - and call them Marshmallow Farms."
"And we could make the marshmallows a scary fleshy brown-ish color!"
"Brilliant!!"
"And we can send the design off to China to be manufactured for pennies!"
"And the folks manufacturing the Marshmallow sugar coated ant candy will once again shake their heads in amazement at the stupid Americans."


My folks found these beauties in the bargain bin.


They even made a queen -


Seemed like a good idea at the time...

And on a kinda cool note - it seems I've reached 10,000 hits!! Woohooo! Thanks guys!

fracking* - a testament to me watching WAY too much Battlestar Galactica, and now being hopelessly addicted to it. So much so I've gone through three seasons of the new show (PLEASE COME OUT WITH SEASON 4 SOON!)- and now Paul and I bought the original series on Saturday and are now speedily chomping through it too

Gallimaufry #3

More doors, more choices of where they will take you.

Door #1 - Orange is Never-Ending

Door #2 - Bunnies are fast

Door #3 - Got a Lite?

Gallimaufry #2

Wow. What's a girl go to do to get someone to comment around here? Well I dug up some more fun links just for the curious of heart for your Friday afternoon viewing pleasure. Perhaps one of them will earn a comment.

Door #1: Just one sentence

Door #2: Who's Your Baby Daddy?

Door #3: Metabo

Ultra Light

Paul and I are beginning to entertain possible places to go on our backpacking honeymoon. I've been reading up on backpacking and gear of late. A friend passed me this great link for edible hiking/backpacking/camping gear. I'm beginning to wonder why Paul and I registered at REI when we could have gotten all out backpacking gear at Eastern Active Technologies. I would have gone for a blueberry SnackPack™ instead of an Osprey Aura 65, but now that I have one I guess I'll just happily use my non-edible pack.

Muppets on a Tuesday Make Me Happy

I have quite a few photos to post from the first weekend in April (the DUG/HSV campout) but for now - Muppets on a Tuesday make me happy!! They're sure to make you happy too!

A totally Cool Beaker "singing" Yellow by Coldplay (this one is dubbed - but its funny!):


And an original:


And Finally - the Banana Sharpener (I've got to get me one of these!)

YeeeHaw Mother Russia

A Finnish rock group, The Leningrad Cowboys, backed up by the Red Army Choir singing "Sweet Home Alabama" in English. Seriously. What could be cooler?

Monday Morning Silliness

Just a sweet video with no particular purpose - other than general coolness. Happy Monday folks! When you click on the link above - be patient - it takes a minute for the web page to load - but its worth it!

Hyperactive Amateur

Here's some crazy fun for your Friday "I'm so ready for the weekend" Morning!



AND

I'm It

So I got tagged by my bestest roomie, Laura. She's hitting me up for 7 weird/strange items about myself.

The rules of the game:
*Link to the person that tagged you and post the rules on your blog.
*Share 7 random and/or weird facts about yourself on your blog, we all want to know them.
*Tag 7 random people at the end of your post and include links to their blogs.
*Let each person know that they've been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

So I guess things like "I have an 1800lb. letterpress named Preston in my garage" and "I like to go in deep dark holes in the and swing from ropes in pits hundreds of feet off the ground on the weekends" would kind of be a bit blazié since if you read my blog regularly you already know that about me.

Gee Laura, only 7? Seems a bit scant don't you think?

1. I don't like chocolate. There are some exceptions to this (oreos & tootsie rolls) mainly because they don't taste like chocolate. So I don't care for candy bars, chocolate cake, icing or fudge. I do like white chocolate - but there's no cocao in it. When I tell people I don't like chocolate I always get really strange looks and actual exclaimations like; "Are you sure you're female?!" and "What are you a communist?!" Yes I am a female and no last time I checked I wasn't a communist - I just don't like chocolate.
2. I still haven't decided what I want to do "when I grow up." Hopefully I never will. There are just way too many options.
3. I am the very last person to carry my family surname. Meaning - my dad is the only son of an only son and I'm an only child. So the family name will die with me. Pretty depressing really.
4. If I don't go caving two weekends in a row I start really missing it. Almost like withdrawal - the earthy smell - the climate - the sport - the challenge of it. And I have a pair of googly-eyes glued to the back of my caving helmet - so yes I do have "eyes in the back of my head" - at least while I cave anyway. OK so that was two for the price of one.

totally stolen from - Taneushka

5. If I see something that can be recycled in the trash at work I will pull it out and toss it in the recycle bin. And then I go scrub my hands really really well. There's no excuse in not recycling, especially when the recycle bit is about 4 feet away from the trash bin.
6. Like Laura - I talk in my sleep too. And sometimes I sit up and point and do other things. (Which makes me wonder if we had conversations in our sleep while we were roommates at Flagler? Maybe I'd catch the imaginary purple spiders she was diving under the covers to hide from. ) Until this past Saturday night I don't think I'd ever done any sleep walking. But according to Paul I got up and started petting the dog... in my sleep. I totally don't remember any of it. Um yeah - totally freaky!! I'm hoping I don't make a habit of it.

7. I have every single movie ticket stub from every movie that I've ever seen in the movie theatre since about 1989, in order from oldest to latest, with who I went to go see the movie with written on the back all in a small wooden cigar box. I have no idea why I started keeping track of all of them like this. They used to be just piled in the box, but several years back I organized them by date. It was kind of fun to look at how many movies I've seen and with whom. Now when I go to see a new movie I just put it on the top of the neat rubber-banded stack.

Now - who to TAG? I think I'll have to tag Christin, (because she's cool like that), Anne (because she needs a new post on her blog), Joy (same reason), Unclaimed Mysteries, Bo (just because he's cool), Jen and Chuck (because it'd be fun), Arvid and Lotta (in English please) and then Karisse (because I want to know some happy/quirky things about her)

Lenticular Superman

A while back I added the "Ultimate Collector's Edition" of Superman to Paul and I's DVD collection. When I flipped it over to the back I had to laugh. Who the heck was their marketing director?

The copy reads:
Unique Keepsake Case Contains:
• Eye-popping lenticular package
with 7 special edition movies
• Reproduction of vintage Superman comic book
• And Superman mail-in offer for 5 movie posters

Come on now. Lenticular? Len-tic-u-lar? That's the first thing you list for folks who are thinking about dropping $70 on the Superman DVD spectacular? I think the art director somewhere lost a bet somewhere.

Obviously I could infer the lenticular reference to the front of the slipcover. The cover does have a cool kind of holographic Superman flying up through the "S" symbol and into the clouds when you tilt it back a forth. I dropped the $70 for the DVD's not the packaging and ran to my nearest encyclopedia (wiki).

Lenticular printing is a multi-step process consisting of creating a lenticular image from at least two existing images, and combining it with a lenticular lens. This process can be used to create various frames of animation (for a motion effect), offsetting the various layers at different increments (for a 3d effect), or simply to show a set of alternate images which may appear to transform into each other. Once the various images are collected, they are flattened into individual, different frame files, and then digitally combined into a single final file in a process called interlacing. From there the interlaced image can be printed directly to the back (smooth side) of the lens or it can be printed to a substrate (ideally a synthetic paper) and laminated to the lens. When printing to the backside of the lens, the critical registration of the fine "slices" of interlaced images must be absolutely correct during the lithographic or screenprinting process or "ghosting" and poor imagery might result. The combined effect can be used to show two or more different images simply by changing the one views the print from. If you use more images, taken in a sequence (30+), one can even show a short video of about one second. Though normally produced in sheet form, by interlacing simple images or different colors throughout the artwork, lenticulars can be created in roll form with 3D effects or multi-color changes. Alternatively, one can use several images of the same object from slightly different angles and then create a lenticular print, which will then result in a three-dimensional effect. 3D effects can only be achieved in a side to side (left to right) direction, as your left eye needs to be seeing a slightly different angle as your right to achieve the stereoscopic effect. Other effects, like morphs, motion, zooms work better (less ghosting or latent effects) as top-to-bottom effects but can be achieved in both directions.

So basically someone spent a heck of a lot of money on the lenticular graphic and they wanted to be darn sure that it was listed first - even before the actual DVDs. Silly art director, packaging is for product, not the packaging.

Lost in Translation

I dig using chopsticks. They're fun and handy - working your brain and fingers a bit more than a boring old fork. Paul and I even have travel chopsticks. We take them to our favorite sushi restaurant all the time. So both of us are well versed in chopstick usage. We ran to go buy groceries and stopped at China Sun for dinner (because every one knows its a bad idea to shop when you're hungry, right?) and had to use some throw aways this time because we were without our cool Snow Peak chopsticks.

I follow directions as much as the rest of the world. But I think somewhere along the line some bits got lost in translation here. I was a afraid to follow these directions at the table for fear of indecent exposure. Perhaps with a bit of practice at home? Next time I will try to uphold glonous Chinese history and use chcosticks the way they were apparently supposed to be used - by tuking them under my tnufnb.....um.....wherever that is.

What's in a name?

What's in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet...

That which is called a Brina Bat,
would still be as goofy even under a nom de plume!

1. MY ROCK STAR NAME: (first pet & current car)
Sherlock Intrepid

2. MY GANGSTA NAME: (fave ice cream flavor, favorite cookie)
Vanilla Sugar

3. MY DETECTIVE NAME: (favorite color, favorite animal)
Green Wolf

4. SUPERHERO NAME: (”The” + 2nd favorite color, favorite drink)
The Orange Apple

5. STRIPPER NAME: ( the name of your favorite perfume/cologne/scent, favorite candy) Spearmint Candy Apple (I really like Nerds and Swedish Fish too...)

6. TV WEATHER ANCHOR NAME: (Your 5th grade teacher’s last name, a major city that starts with the same letter)
Duke Denver

7. MY SPY NAME/BOND GIRL: (your favorite season/holiday, flower)
Summer Gerber Daisy

8. MY CARTOON NAME: (favorite fruit, article of clothing you’re wearing right now with optional + “ie” or “y”)
Strawberry Jean Tee

9. MY HIPPY NAME: (What you ate for breakfast, your favorite tree)
Yogurt Live Oak

10. YOUR ROCK STAR TOUR NAME: (”The” + Your fave hobby/craft, fave weather element + “Tour”)
The Caving Sunshine Tour

Thanks Laura! (I snatched this off her blog fair and square.)
So if anyone decides to do the same - put a link in my comments - so I can have a laugh at your spy, rock star, hippie, superhero names!

Hunstville - The Fair City of Fallout Shelters

Ok - so first - read this article:


Dave Martin, AP

Alabama City Reopening Fallout Shelters
By JAY REEVES,
HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (Sept. 27) - In an age of al-Qaida, sleeper cells and the threat of nuclear terrorism, Huntsville is dusting off its Cold War manual to create the nation's most ambitious fallout-shelter plan, featuring an abandoned mine big enough for 20,000 people to take cover underground.

A fallout shelter sign is seen Sept. 19 in Huntsville, Ala. Fearing a nuclear strike by terrorists, officials are working to identify potential shelters for 300,000 people in the city and surrounding county. Others would hunker down in college dorms, churches, libraries and research halls that planners hope will bring the community's shelter capacity to 300,000, or space for every man, woman and child in Huntsville and the surrounding county.

Emergency planners in Huntsville - an out-of-the-way city best known as the home of NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center - say the idea makes sense because radioactive fallout could be scattered for hundreds of miles if terrorists detonated a nuclear bomb.

''If Huntsville is in the blast zone, there's not much we can do. But if it's just fallout ... shelters would absorb 90 percent of the radiation,'' said longtime emergency management planner Kirk Paradise, whose Cold War expertise with fallout shelters led local leaders to renew Huntsville's program.

Huntsville's project, developed using $70,000 from a Homeland Security grant, goes against the grain because the United States essentially scrapped its national plan for fallout shelters after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Congress cut off funding and the government published its last list of approved shelters at the end of 1992.

After Sept. 11, Homeland Security created a metropolitan protection program that includes nuclear-attack preparation and mass shelters. But no other city has taken the idea as far as Huntsville has, officials said.

Many cities advise residents to stay at home and seal up a room with plastic and duct tape during a biological, chemical or nuclear attack. Huntsville does too, in certain cases.

Local officials agree the ''shelter-in-place'' method would be best for a ''dirty bomb'' that scattered nuclear contamination through conventional explosives. But they say full-fledged shelters would be needed to protect from the fallout of a nuclear bomb.

Program leaders recently briefed members of Congress, including Rep. Charlie Dent, R-Pa., who called the shelter plan an example of the ''all-hazards'' approach needed for emergency preparedness.

''Al-Qaida, we know, is interested in a nuclear capability. It's our nation's fear that a nuclear weapon could get into terrorists' hands,'' Dent said.

As fallout shelters go, the Three Caves Quarry just outside downtown offers the kind of protection that would make Dr. Strangelove proud, with space for an arena-size crowd of some 20,000 people.

Last mined in the early '50s, the limestone quarry is dug 300 yards into the side of the mountain, with ceilings as high as 60 feet and 10 acres of floor space covered with jagged rocks. Jet-black in places with a year-round temperature of about 60 degrees, it has a colony of bats living in its highest reaches and baby stalactites hanging from the ceiling.

''It would be a little trying, but it's better than the alternative,'' said Andy Prewett, a manager with The Land Trust of Huntsville and North Alabama, a nonprofit preservation group that owns the mine and is making it available for free.

In all, the Huntsville-Madison County Emergency Management Agency has identified 105 places that can be used as fallout shelters for about 210,000 people. They are still looking for about 50 more shelters that would hold an additional 100,000 people.

While officials have yet to launch a campaign to inform people of the shelters, a local access TV channel showed a video about the program, which also is explained on a county Web site.

If a bomb went off tomorrow, Paradise said, officials would tell people where to find shelter through emergency alerts on TV and radio stations. ''We're pretty much ready to go because we have a list of shelters,'' he said.

Most of the shelters would offer more comfort than the abandoned mine, such as buildings at the University of Alabama in Huntsville that would house 37,643. A single research hall could hold more than 8,100.

Homeland Security spokeswoman Alexandra Kirin said of Huntsville's wide-ranging plan: ''We're not aware of any other cities that are doing that.''

Plans call for staying inside for as long as two weeks after a bomb blast, though shelters might be needed for only a few hours in a less dire emergency.

Unlike the fallout shelters set up during the Cold War, the new ones will not be stocked with water, food or other supplies. For survivors of a nuclear attack, it would be strictly ''BYOE'' - bring your own everything. Just throw down a sleeping bag on the courthouse floor - or move some of the rocks on the mine floor - and make yourself at home.

''We do not guarantee them comfort, just protection,'' said Paradise, who is coordinating the shelter plans for the local emergency management agency.

Convenience store owner Tandi Prince said she cannot imagine living in the cavern after a bombing.

''That would probably not be very fun,'' she said.

I totally stole this from AOL News - please don't be mad - here's the original link.

***************************************************************************
And Now Comments from the Peanut Gallery:

There are a couple things I have to laugh at on this (sorry Jay). First off the "colony" of bats at Three Caves, isn't really a colony in the grand sense - not one that I've seen anyway - try about 20 or so in the summer time. The HCRU has their monthly meetings during the spring and summer time there. Three Caves is an abandoned quarry and is very large, but it has three entrances - the largest of which you'd have to stand probably three billboards on end side-by-side to be able to cover it. You can't exactly leave it wide open if nuclear debris is falling all over the place, right? And its not exactly like they have a gigantic plastic blind all set up at the top of the entrance to yank down when everyone runs inside to stay for two weeks. Although I'd love to hear someone from the Huntsville City Department place an order at Home Depot:

(recorded voice)
"Please hold while I connect you...."
(after 10 minutes on hold someone finally picks up)
"Home Depot Window treatment Department this is Terry"

"Hi Terry, I'd like to place an order a cellular shade."

"Sure, I can help you with that. Let me get some dimensions from you."

"About 45 1/2 high and 92 wide"

"Wow, that's some window, ok 45 1/2 inches high by 90 inches wide"

"No mam, that's 45 1/2 feet high and 92 feet wide."

(stifled chuckle)
" 'Scuse me sir?"

"Oh yeah and it has to be able to protect against nuclear fallout too."

"You know, you and your friend really need to stop this crap!"

"No wait - M'am - I'm Not..."

"I can take a joke like the rest of them - but if you crank call here again
I'm going to hunt you down and beat you!"
(click)

(In the Huntsville City Fallout Shelter Planning Office)
"So Fred - I take it she didn't believe you either?"

(hanging up the phone)
"Nope, sure didn't Bob."

"Maybe we should try Lowe's?"

Not So Silent Banking

So I'm standing in line at the bank not even an hour ago... when I hear, "phr.....phrrrrrrr....fuph....fuph....fuph....fuph...fuph...fuph...fuph...
fuph...fuph...phrrrr...rrr...rrrr...rrrrrrphf!"

The cute little white-haired lady in front of me ripped the loudest longest fart I think I've EVER heard! And I'm not talking just an escaped quick toot. She must have been sitting on this one to impress the local high school football team in the locker room after the big game. We're talking at least 5.6 on the Richter scale. Remember that scene in Blazing Saddles where they're all sitting around the fire ripping them? - that was nothing! You would have had to seriously concentrate to get this kind of tone and depth. This one reverberated like one of those hot-rod cars zooming past you on the highway!

At first I couldn't believe it. I just stood there. Finally coming to my senses - I quickly took several steps backward and turned away to try and stifle my chuckling. Surely she must have realized what she'd just done!? I looked around but there wasn't anyone within close enough range to have heard it. It was just she and I standing in line. Everyone else was at least 20 feet away behind desks, and the tellers were deep in conversation with their customers. She had to have heard it because she didn't have any problems talking to the soft-spoken teller when her turn came. Two people walked in the main door right after the echo died down. I was still trying to keep a lid on the temptation of tapping the lady on the shoulder and asking her to fess up to the fart and say excuse me. I tried to turn my quiet snickering into a welcoming smile which I know ended up extremely goofy-looking, somewhere between a giggle and grimace of pain - leaving the the fellow bank-goers to at first return my smile which eventually turned into a "what's wrong with her?" look.

I pointed at the cute little white-haired lady's back and yelled "She just ripped the loudest fart ever! Was I honestly the only one who heard it - or is everyone playing like it didn't happen?!" into the hushed bank lobby as an explanation for my stifled-giggling-pained look.

At least that's what I wanted to do.

Gelatinous Orange Creature of the Sea

Ok Folks I know you've been waiting on pins and needles for me to post the video of the gelatinous orange sea creature I found washed ashore on Sanibel Island. He is in a blue bucket full of sea water sitting on a table - so all the movement is some sort of gelatinous orange sea creature jazzersize - no current in the water. Well here he is:



Twenty guesses as to what exactly he is. I've already ruled out various jellyfish and sea cucumbers and slugs. Perhaps he's undiscovered...doubtful...but what if, right? So let's play name that sea creature! I think Orangicanus Squishalopticus has a nice ring, maybe Larry for short.

Sanibel Island Redux

Wo. Its almost been 10 days since my last post. I know I know - shame on me. I had all these good intentions on hopping on and posting the other half of the Sanibel photos right after I got home - but playing catch-up from all that wonderful relaxing has taken a while. Now I have new and neglected projects surfacing all over the place and all I hear is the clock doing a double-time tick-tick-tick.

I have a short video of an oddly cool ocean critter that washed up on shore that I will post later. (I can already hear Laura, Joy and AM's "Ewwww! s") Him/Her/It doesn't fit into the category of any jelly fish that I could find - nor sea cucumbers either. So if anyone has even a remote guess - please let me know! For now here's a still shot of Orange gelatinous sea creature of Sanibel Island:


Everything - even storms - are beautiful at the beach, the sand even gets caught in that eerie blue/gray hue and you can see the rain add water to the salty sea.


We did drive into Ft. Myer's to see Edison's Winter residence and lab. I learned that we have Edison's rubber production experiments during WWII to thank for the 2nd largest Banyan (Ficus benghalensis) tree in the world. Planted in 1925 from a 4 foot cutting it now covers about 400 feet! I SO want to grow one of these!


Edison's lab - everything is pretty much in its original state with all the cool equipment, beakers and chemicals jars still out on the tables.


There was also a small museum attached to the grounds/gardens/lab. They had these fantastic light bulbs that had been manufactured specifically for the anniversary of the light bulb. Hmmm... I wonder if I could get one of these helmet mounted?


Coconuts, some building materials, a few plastic items (that I picked up to throw away) driftwood and this broken crab trap were among some of the items to wash up on shore. This crab trap was literally teeming with life. There were little red-clawed shrimp, tiny crabs, brightly colored sponges. Paul and I manged to rescue the visible shrimp and tiny crabs before the trap was picked over by the seagulls.


As I said before a lot of things washed up on shore....


My Mom helped us sort through handfuls of shells for the pretties - like the nice one (center) in the very first picture. She's so cute.


This is by far one of the most interesting shots I took. I took about 7 of these - right on the ground - with various ranges of focus - some more on the shells, some more on Paul. I really like this one because its right in between. Its like you've just looked up and are beginning to focus on the figure walking down the beach. And the sky's subtle rainbow as day turns into night really makes it moody.


Sanibel already feels like a distant dream.

Holy Huge Carrot Batman!

So I was pulling a few of the fun little round carrots up from the garden when I started tugging on this puppy.... Holy HUGE carrot Batman! That's Paul's hand - and the carrot dwarfs it! I'm trying to figure out what happened? Mutant carrot genes? A patch of extra potent fertilizer that landed only on it? The Orange Carrot Fairy decided to grant this carrot's wish of possible world domination? (Glad I caught it before it grew legs!) Or perhaps its as simple as the first seed to germinate, plenty of water and sunshine?

A Thriller

Don't know what's more scary - thinking the "girl" was actually a real chick at first or the whole bit of prisoners performing a Michael Jackson song - and them actually being good! Either way its worth a gander.

6 Odd Things About Me

1.Hypermobility

The thumb on my left hand it double jointed. So I can bend it backwards, down in the direction of my wrist, which looks pretty freaky. I don't have anything else that's double jointed as far as I know, just my thumb.

2. Cans and Fake Sweets

I avoid drinking from aluminum cans, or eating anything with aspartame in it. Some time ago I heard a study about Alzheimer's patients having large concentrations of aluminum in their brains, possibly being one of the causes of their disease. I had a grandmother who was reduced to a completely different personality and finally silence just before she died - and it was all from Alzheimer's. I think it was the worst death a person could ever have - not knowing your family and dying utterly and mentally alone, in a prison of your own mind. I think it would be worse than drowning or being shot, or starving, or falling down a 400' pit. Way back when everyone used aluminum pots and pans, and ate off plates of aluminum etc, so its very easy to imagine how all that aluminum was absorbed. I avoid all aluminum cookware. And it has been proven that sodas can eat small amounts of aluminum from the inside of their cans - the longer they sit - the more they flake off. My friends in high school made fun of me because I wouldn't drink from cans. And some still do. I know, I know - call me paranoid - and it isn't completely proven- but I do avoid drinking an awful lot of soda also - which has its benefits too.

Aspartame - whenever I have tried it - make me feel hyper and squirrely. I get the jitters and can't calm down for hours. Its really weird. And as a side note aspartame has not really been completely ok'd in medical studies. Hence - I will NOT consume it in any form or fashion! You'd be surprised - but almost every chewing gum now contains aspartame.

So next time you pick up that can of diet soda - read these: Aspartame & Aluminum

3. Say NO to Cocoa

I don't like chocolate. So I refuse M&Ms, candy bars, dark chocolate, milk chocolate, etc. I do like white chocolate - which has no actual cocoa in it. There are a few exceptions to the rule: a. Thin Mint cookies - because they only taste minty, b. the interiors of 3 Musketeers bars, and c. Oreo cookies - but only dipped in milk.

I've gotten some pretty interesting reactions to my refusal of chocolate, among them are:
"Are you female?," "What are you, communist?" and "That's just un-American."

4. Sticky Feet

I don't like wearing shoes without socks. It drives me crazy! Sticky feet in tennis shoes are so icky. I will wear flip-flops since they are totally open and airy.

5. Good Clean Dirt

I enjoy the earthy smell of dirt and clay, (and caves of course.) I guess potting plants and cuttings at my grandfather's & father's nursery growing up sort of nurtured that.

6. Stabbed in the Back

The only recurring dream (nightmare) that I've ever had I kept having in grade school: I dreamt that I was in a huge warehouse full of row after row of boxes and crates (picture the last scene in Indian Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark), and I was running up and down the rows as fast as I could. The Incredible Hulk was chasing me and every time the dream ended I'd wake up with a start and a back spasm, knowing the Hulk had finally caught up with me because he'd just stabbed me in the back.

The Incredible Hulks supposed to be a good guy, right? Haven't had that that dream in years but there's an odd permanent kink in the middle of my back right where I'd always thought I'd been stabbed. If it gets pushed on it makes my whole back spasm, even if I push on it myself. The one and only time I tried having a massage a few years ago -the gal doing it, found "a huge knot" in my back and tried to work it out, every time she hit that goosey spot on my back - my back would spasm, until I finally had to tell her to stop trying to fix it. She told me that I should go see someone about it to get it worked out. I passed on the idea. And probably will never have a massage again. Darn that Incredible Hulk stabbing me in the back!