The NFL
 

Those are better names for the NBA. "Tune in Sunday to ESPN to watch the Miami Heat take on the Houston Humidity." Though it would be a little sad to think of the Executioners going up against the Pacers.

Edited to add: Executioners should be NFL. Saints versus Executioners would be pretty funny.

Question for medical (and not) types
 

A few years back I went to a Denny's or Perkins or something in Washington state and let me tell you, EVERYONE in there was at least 50 pounds overweight. I couldn't fucking believe it...until I saw the menu. There is absolutely nothing healthy on that menu (or if there is, it is well hidden). The "diet" special had three pieces of bacon instead of six and less eggs. Are you kidding?

TM

The NFL
 

Well, you know, "It's not the Heat, it's the Humidity." And they did have a contest, but none of my suggestions made the final cut (Toxic Sunset was another).

Question for medical (and not) types
 

that's what we said the last time we met people at Fridays - we said is there anything on this menu that isn't deep fried? The answer of course was no - except for the potato skins with cheese, sour cream and bacon. Hmm - same difference.

The NFL
 

Hey, I think the cow design is pretty cool - and this from someone with no intention of seeing any games and who could not care less about their record.

I like the "executioners" though, but I think we're trying to get away from that public image (while secretly digging it). I believe there was a contest at one point, but the other names sucked even worse. What do you think about the Houston Potholes or the West Nile Virus or the Africanized Honey Bees? - at least it would be truth in advertising.

We* do have season tickets to every single UH game there is and will ever be, if anyone wants to go. Go Coogs.

-TL

*I don't go to these either, but the other one is rabid about attendance.

Question for medical (and not) types
 

This was your first mistake. Never set foot in a food serving establishment that does not serve alcohol. This excludes fast food places (in the U.S. at least) and crappy "all you can eat" type places. Another rule of thumb--do not eat anywhere where the wait staff are required to wear visors and/or aprons.

Question for medical (and not) types
 

Or flair.

Ultimate
 

I don't think my parents ever ordered me to eat everything that was on my plate. My grandparents did though. But the fact is that whether you eat that food or not, it isn't going to go to starving kids. And if you eat it to the point where you become unhealthy, you aren't doing anyone, including the starving kids, any good.

If you can order a smaller size and order a larger one and waste it that is one thing, but that isn't what we are talking about here. You are right, most places don't offer a half portion, and frequently, it takes more effort to explain they can charge you full price and give you half the food than it is worth.

What is the average portion size for chicken supposed to be? 3-4 oz I think. That is about the size of your fist. Compare that to the slab of chicken you are given in some restaurants, never mind the amount of pasta they give you. It's nuts.

I have to eat out a lot, and sometimes I have no choice but to grab something at a rest stop on the turn pike. As far as restaurants, I have learned what and how to order so I don't look like I am causing a fuss and yet still get a reasonably healthy meal. It took me a little while to figure it out though.

As far as rest stops, I just remind myself it is fuel and do the best I can to make the most healthy thing I can find reasonably tasty.

Ultimate
 

Heh.

The NFL
 

You mean kind of like how Vancouver canucks got to see the Vancouver Canucks?

Ultimate
 

I don't think the point is that you shouldn't have ordered the extra french fries so they could've gone to the starving Chinese. The point was that you should be thankful that you have food, and shouldn't waste it. My parents were like your grandparents in this regard -- their view was that tossing good food is a "sin". There's just no debating with that. And in truth, it's pretty easy to understand their point of view, considering that they grew up in environments where they regularly prayed for food -- not thanking God for giving them food (i.e., grace), but praying for more because they were hungry.

It's really a cultural shift -- the notion of eating so much that it is unhealthy is something my parents simply didn't grow up with. They grew up with hunger. It's pretty hard to leave that behind, and to see a wasted 15 cents worth of pasta as worth only, well, 15 cents.

I still have trouble leaving food behind, but I've progressively gotten over it as portions have gotten so out of control. And, I do have my mom's tendency to over-shop and over-cook, which ultimately leads to wasted food.

Ultimate
 

My mother was just the opposite. "Always leave something behind on your plate. A clean plate is the first step to getting fat, dear." So I have noticed that I am a little obsessive about this, actually. Even if I am starving and want to eat everything on the plate, I always leave something behind, even if it is just a few grains of rice or something.

Edited to note that although my mother grew up with rations in wartime England, she is not frugal about food. When it comes to plastic containers that food comes in though, she is a freak. She hoards them until the collection takes over the house.

The NFL
 

Precisely.

Ultimate
 

I think that's exactly right. My grandparents lived through the depression and my parents were poor. The thought of wasting food of any kind was unthinkable. I'm thinking that if you've grown up in an environment where you could have food one day and then not again for awhile, you would tend to eat everything you had, not knowing if you would ever see the bounty again.
The way it is now, and the fact that most people have enough money and enough food to have never known hunger is foreign to the older folks.
I guess it's all about where you come from.

Ultimate
 

My grandma washes plastic bags (the foldover kind, not even the ziploc kind) and hangs them out to dry so she can reuse them. She also thinks it is 1973, which is the last time she actually purchased plastic baggies.

Ultimate
 

Does she also save and wash every plastic container that anything ever came in? My mom was the paper bag hoarder.

Ultimate
 

Well, considering that my mom couldn't cook worth a shit I guess that is one sin I haven't done -- I was tossing the food but it certainly wasn't good. I remember once that my folks tried to get my older sister to clean her plate -- she promptly vomited all over the dinner table and thereafter there were never to be any food "issues" in our house. Well, there was an issue when we had that Jell-O fight while being watched after by our childless aunt and uncle while mom and dad were on vacation -- we were denied Jell-O for about a year after that and it took another 15 years before my aunt and uncle had a child of their own.

Ultimate
 

Yep. My dad lived through the depression (as did all my grandparents), and he would never, ever throw anything out. It's certainly understandable. War-era rationing probably also contributed to this.* It was reinforced by the army mess-hall mantra of "take all you want, eat all you take."

*Except for the fact that his uncle was a butcher, and no one wanted to use their meat coupons on the best cuts (which took many more coupons), so they often ended up with the filets and sirloins.

Ultimate
 

Oh, I understand the motivation behind it, but as you say it is different times, we have way too much food for the most part here in the US. My grandparents suffered through the depression, my parents didn't. But there is debating with it. I think it is a shame to waste good food. I think it is a bigger one to eat so much you risk your health.

So to no particular person, I say, for your future and present children. If you are carrying too much weight (which I am and I'm working on it) do something about it. If you have issues about food, figure out what they are and deal with them. It isn't easy, but it is worth it.

The alternative is that your children will get to sit at your funeral in shock after you die much too young and much too suddenly after years of carrying too much weight and having high blood pressure. I only wish my mom had learned that particular lesson before it was too late. I guess I should be thankful she taught it to me.

The NFL
 

Au contrair. The weakest attempt was the renaming of the Bullets. None on the choices had anything to do with DC being the freaking capital of the country and they were so underwhelming in their selection that Wizards was selected. There was a theory at the time that the names were intentionally bad and the owners wanted to go through another renaming down the road (more jackets and t-shirts to be purchased, more $$$). Also there was a huff about DC taking on a name that has been associated with the kkk (grand wizards or whatever).

Mainly I'm bitter because my suggestions -- the Potholes and the Incompetant Government Timecard Punchers -- were summarily rejected.

Ultimate
 

Your grandparents/parents really should have more self control. How fat are they? That's disgusting. They can't figure out that it's calories in vs. calories out that determines weight gain, and adjust their eating and exercise habits accordingly? What fucking morons.

The NFL
 

Well, the "no change" option had a fair amount to do with DC's capital status.

Question for medical (and not) types
 

How did you get into a Denny's? I thought they didn't serve people of color.

Ultimate
 

Bitch.
First of all, did anyone say my grandparents were fat you pigheaded name-calling hump?

Question for medical (and not) types
 

He never said the waiters served him. Which probably made it his lucky day.

Ultimate
 

Grow a skin, missy.

Ultimate
 

My ex-GF's mom basically took over a huge 5-BR house with the stuff she saved for theoretical future use. Piles of egg cartons 5 feet high. Boxes filled with plastic six-pack rings. Four Hefty bags full of dog hair (seriously -- every time they brushed the dog, they would save the hair, on the theory that someday they would get it spun into yarn). Plastic jugs and glass jars on virtually every surface, all ready for someone to reuse them, someday in the future.

She filled so many rooms with this crap that she let me and the GF sleep together when we visited -- something she normally would have objected to -- because she didn't want to clean out another room. We wanted to use the old pool table, and spent 15 minutes clearing crap off of it.

Perhaps needless to say, this visit to Mom was the beginning of the end for our relationship.



Edited to note that the part about "sleeping together" and the part about "wanting to use the old pool table" are distinct thoughts.

Edited again to note that I made the prior edit before seeing Gwinky's response.

Ultimate
 

Oh, no dear. I'm from Roman Catholic stock (parents' food issues were developed from growing up in wartime Europe). Once a Roman Catholic mother uses the word "sin," there is no room for debate.

You do it or you don't, but you don't debate about it.

Ultimate
 

Yes, it all tends to go downhill after the sex on the cluttered pool table.

Ultimate
 

In Virginia, they arrest such people: Clicky

Quick Ketchup
 

You can make a reasonable meal at Denny's -- eggwhite vegetable omelette, no cheese, no toast, fruit on the side.

Aussie Football -- I loved this in the early years of ESPN. I can still remember the refs signals.

NFL Football -- the Texans were an old baseball team, so I like the name. Of course for Houston, it should have been something more regional like the Rockets, Astros, and Comets.

My team can only go down from here, so I am not so excited about the start of the season.

I am very excited about tomorrow's TT.

Even(go Lance!)Odds

Ultimate
 

Huh-uhn. You dis on my people you get it right back.

Question for medical (and not) types
 

Service entrance.

TM

Quick Ketchup
 

What was wrong with Hurricanes? Too Floridian?

Ultimate
 

Mine does also. She saves everything -- yogurt containers, aluminum foil, plastic baggies, paper bags. My sister and mom both ended up with this trait as well. I avoided it (they aren't even sure I'm related). Other than I can't seem to get rid of awful clothes that I never wear. I need Carson to come and throw some of that shit away for me.

It is understandable when I hear stories about how poor my garndma's family was when she was a kid. Rural poor, big family, depression. Not fun.

Quick Ketchup
 

Everyone here associates Hurricanes with New Orleans.

Ultimate
 

Late to the League/QE discussion, but I was amused by his use of tongs to move butch's disgusting clothes on the NBC abbreviated version.

Anyway, find a local homeless shelter or battered women's shelter. ONce I did that, my no-longer-needed clothes and towels found a very happy home.

Ultimate
 

Leading to the weekend poll: Most disturbing place you've had sex.

The NFL
 

I liked the no change option. Bullets was a way cooler team name than any of the crap replacement names. Also the colors/logo were better. I never knew anyone in DC who was offended by the name. They were named after a proposed bullet train for godsakes. Lighten up. Redskins is way more offensive and I haven't heard anything about that changing.

Ultimate
 

Yeah I do that every time I move (about once a year), it is the actual forcing myself to part with things that is an issue (I might want to wear that again some year even though I despise it now). That is why it is a packrat throwback. But if some stranger came in and threw my stuff away, I'm sure I wouldn't miss it.