Growing Bolder Community

Mom called me yesterday. She was pretty worried. It seemed that when my brother tried to access the internet, an official-lookig notice popped up that said his computer is blocked from internet access by the FBI for dowloading child porn. It went on to cite the laws about internet child pornography and made sure to highlight that even if illegal porn is accidentally loaded by a virus, you may be...

Yesterday morning before the Sandusky verdict came down, my hub was tuned into the Mike & Mike show on ESPN. They were discussing the Sandusky case, and they had a caller on the line. I didn't catch who it was, but it was a colleague and not just a listener. We all know the facts of the case, right? Ten victims, now adult, came forward with painful and humiliating stories of sexual abuse, with...

Once in a while I watch the Dr. Oz show, and while I find some of it helpful and most of it entertaining, I can't decide whether it's good medicine advice. See, here's the thing. If you've read my blog in the past, you know I go off on an occasional rant about opinion masquerading as fact (usually aimed at Fox News Channel). A similar issue is snippets masquerading as information. It really bugs...

Remember that time before there was an internet, when socialization meant leaving your house and research involved a trip to the local library? Yeah, me neither. How did we survive? I do a lot of staying at home. I work from home and, let's face it, this is Florida. It's 900 degrees out there and air-conditioned in here. So I socialize a lot from home as well. Being online has also changed my...

After five weeks of steady weight loss at 2 pounds a week, my scale hasn't budged in nearly 2 weeks. That's 4 pounds I haven't lost! Is this a reason to panic? Not a chance, but it did cause me to stop and examine what's changed. I've gotten a little complacent. It's hard to track every bite of food every single day, and I stopped doing it. I suspect my calorie count has gone up a little, maybe...

The diet industry is huge. More than 40 billion is spent every year in the U.S. alone. Why? Because we want a magic bullet. We have tried everything and we continue to hope that the next diet fad, whatever it is, will be the thing that speaks to us, that sparks our weight loss and keeps us motivated. Is it going to work? no. It's hooey. Balderdash. Snake oil. Here's how I know. Every diet book,...

This is hardly my first weight loss go-round, but I think I finally have it together enough to make it happen. To be honest, I can't believe I've already lost a few pounds. My thyroid is completely out of whack. Losing weight with a thyroid issue and diabetes is nearly impossible. But I'm lucky in some ways. I never allowed myself to become completely sedentary and I fought my weight gain to a...

I have been successfully dieting now for nearly a full month. If you've tried and failed to diet as many times as I have, you know how hard that is. Since I need to lose more than a hundred pounds, it's a long, discouraging road. Here's why I think I will succeed.My theory is that diets fail due to lack of preparedness. It's working this time because I'm prepared. When I get hungry - and, frankly,...

I started considering bariatric surgery - lap band, stomach stapling, gastric bypass, whatever - about a year ago when it looked like nothing would ever change. I was diagnosed with diabetes about 10 years ago and while I drastically changed my diet, it has only gotten worse over the years until now it's incredibly hard to control. Several doctors have suggested surgery as my best option, but is...

It's been a long time since I read a book I felt the urge to comment about, but The Race, by Richard North Patterson, has really captured me. It's about politics, including religion and race issues, and it highlights everything that is wrong with the way we vote and how the media shapes our decisions. The lead character is a Republican senator struggling to run a campaign just to the right of...