No Bacon on McDonald's Bacon, Egg, and Cheese Biscuit

McDonald's, where is the bacon? Check out the article at my Newsvine column I wrote yesterday regarding the baconless bacon, egg, and cheese biscuit. There is apparently something going on in within the golden arches - and if you check the comments of that article - that does not seem entirely golden. I'll give you the meat of the article before you go clicking. For the second time in a row I have been to our local McDonald's drive thru and after having ordered a Bacon, Egg, and Cheese biscuit, have driven away and gotten home to discover there was no bacon on my biscuit. One thing that I did fail to mention in the article, that occurred to me after an ex-employee "admitted" a bacon-less conspiracy, is that both times, I did arrive at promptly the same time. Could this suggest that McDonald's is engaged in some sort of cost-saving dubious mechanism for skimping on the bacon? And what about the bacon crumble I found on the latter biscuit? Does this suggest that what began as bacon on my biscuit was either snagged by a tweaking employee who needed the bacon more than I, or is the plot more sinister? You decide! And if you like the article or think it's wrong that McDonald's is skimping on the bacon, please Digg it! We're going for front page status so the world can sit up and say, "No more McDonald's Baconless Biscuits!" McDonald's Neglects Bacon on Bacon, Egg, and Cheese Biscuit Technorati: mcdonalds, bacon, biscuits, consumer rights, consumer information, fast food, drive thru, conspiracy, baconless, bacon crumb, food, eating, not loving it, golden arches

Born Straight? Born an Alcoholic?

My friend, Alan Bamboo who is a gay recovering alcoholic, asks the question "Born Gay? Born an Alcoholic?" and because I agree with him I decided to come out myself. Born Straight? Yes. I was born straight. It was nothing anyone could have prevented. I feel that from the tips of my perfectly pedicured toes all the way up to my [not overdone] waxed brows. But lord knows, my Mom tried. She signed me up for basketball as a kid, and I even tried the track thing in the 8th grade but even that was because a boy I liked was on the track team. She encouraged other boyish sports when I was a kid and complete with my "Welcome Back Kotter" shoes and my corduroy jeans, I was almost set; Even put me through a bowl cut when I was just a tender 5. I was 5 for God's sake! Was already missing both my two front teeth; Did I really need the bowl cut Mom? Really? For picture day? WTF? I know you read this! I've seem your bookmarks Mom! Born an Alcoholic? Yes. I was born an alcoholic. Remember that stint at track I just mentioned? I joined for the innocent love of a newly adolescent crush. I quit for the same reasons: for the pure love of alcohol and cigarettes. True! I started hanging out with people who had alcohol at their disposal and decided that to continue wasting time with track would not be in furtherance of my better interests. Something about drinking and smoking sounded - even then - opposite of what track was about. You know? [I recently wrote 7 drunk and alcoholic things I did as a kid at my recovery nook.] I was a Child Alcoholic Forget Drinking for Fun ~ I Needed it In two short years, at 15 years old, I would be headed to rehab - and it was called "Straight, Inc", and I tell that story at my Newsvine column - because that was the kind of hold and fast paced number alcohol did to me. I was completely in love with alcohol for no particular reason at all except I had a small taste of it when I was goofing around at maybe 9 or 10...Or maybe I snuck a sip or something at 6 or 7... But whatever the reason, I instantly began craving alcohol. I was not unlike other kids my age. I had no particular tragedies in my life. I was not a freak of nature. The largest handicap I can think of as early as 5 years old was just "not fitting in." I remember I was painfully shy and felt extremely socially retarded. [I am still socially retarded but have to utilize different remedies other than alcohol. It's not like I ever really grew out of that. :-)] My parents didn't beat me. I wasn't denied food. I never went to an orphanage. All this to say that not one external thing *caused* my alcoholism. It just was. It just is. Phenomenon of Craving I was sharing at an A.A. meeting just this week that I am a pure alcoholic; the minute I was born I was already set. I got it honest, too, but I am not about going to mention the demons of my relatives but suffice it to say...if we get it from a gene that is indeed passed on, it wouldn't have mattered who my mother would have been, I would have been born this way. On the other side, it wouldn't have mattered who my father would have been, I would have still been a winner! I don't want to go too in depth with my theory on the alcoholic gene but let me just say that the Doctor's Opinion in the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous says a lot more about it and when Dr. Silkworth said all this, it was well over 50 years ago. Science has determined - or at least I have read - that indeed there *is* a gene. Some people can argue about *turning* alcoholic but still. I think one has to have the predisposed gene for it. It's this phenomenon of craving that differentiates the alcoholic from the non-alcoholic and that's it. Doesn't matter how much you drink, when you drink, or what you do when you drink...it's this "craving" that sets in after the first drink that determines whether you are an "alcoholic" [or prone to "alcoholic drinking" for fear of casting labels about]. I'm not writing an article here. Just a regulation blog post where I wanted to give Alan a thumbs up and let him know I'm right with him. You should check out his blog....if you're gay or straight or alcoholic or non-alcoholic... It's an interesting read and his stories are enlightening with respect to his journey as a straight alcoholic and gay man... Alan Bamboo is Straight and Gay! [Yeah. Kinda hurts your brain to think about it doesn't it? :)] But hey...if you're interested in alcoholism or my opinions or experience on alcoholic recovery, or even my autobiography, I have another place I keep all that. If you think you or a loved one may have a problem with alcohol, I have some suggestions in...How to help an Alcoholic Quit Drinking or Stop Drinking without Alcoholics Anonymous. Technorati: alcoholism, alcoholic, sexuality, nurture nature, drinking, alcohol, phenomenon of craving, drinking as a kid, young alcoholic, straight, rehab, detox, homosexuality, nature vs nurture, gay, alan bamboo, born alcoholic, born gay, alcoholic gene, drinking

Free and Legal Adobe Photoshop CS2

Free and Legal Adobe Photoshop CS2 or Other Software Would you like a free and legal download and license for Adobe Photoshop CS2? Forget cracking and potential warez trojans and the illegality of it all anyway...Right now you can get a FREE Photoshop CS2 download and registration! Actually, you get your choice from three quality software titles: Free Photoshop CS2 (including optional plug-ins, sample files, textures, web swatches and stock photography) Microsoft® Windows Vista Ultimate (UPGRADE with SP1) VMware Workstation 6 for Windows But act now because the titles change every week! It's a special incentive program during July and you can read the details and learn how to get the free software from a generous website called bastillwork.net. According to their post, this is all we do... For website owners, bloggers: Write an article about this offer on your site, be sure to link to this post (like I did above). Subscribe to their website for updates via email. Stumble their article - here - with your comment. [Stumbleupon / Me on SU] For non website owners or bloggers: Write at least five quality reviews (or comments) for five distinct softwares listed at their website. (Write a quality review. They will check it after you submit it.) Subscribe to their website for updates via email. Stumble their article - here - with your comment. [Stumbleupon / Me on SU] After you have finished send an email to from the same email you used to subscribe to their RSS feed. In the email include: State the location of your post/article. Your StumbleUpon nick name. One of 3 famous software titles from above. After 48 hours they will send the license to your email. Et voila! Free Adobe Photoshop CS2 or your choice! According to the post, the software titles will rotate in three's every week so this means that by next week, if I understand it correctly, there will be three different software titles to choose from for this incentivization program. Thanks bastillwork.net!

Drug Addict Friend in Active Addiction

I am shaking so bad inside right now. I am shaking because I usually leave my alcoholic recovery stuff over there at my other nook; Usually with some damn lesson or some damn helpful information or in the least hopeful advice or sentiment. But I wanted to share it here because it's ugly. It's the ugly side of drug addiction. That and I'm shaking. I keep my online life separate from my real life probably like most people. But I can't I guess. And my journals are still packed up. And I've already talked to my sponsor about this problem. Well, I've talked to several recovering friends and the sentiment is usually the same: "Shake her loose." Until a person puts down the drugs or the alcohol I can't "sponsor" them in any A.A. 12 Step program and addicts in A.A. is a different animal altogether. [And is why I don't sponsor addicts! I am an alcoholic; I have no experience to offer. I don't know anything about street drugs like crack, meth, heroin or pill heads, doctor hopping, percocet, oxycontin or vicodin... My experience with pill-heads and doctor hoppers are limited to being on the receiving end of the lies these people tell. That's it.] Well. So we moved to this new town in October and became quickly involved with A.A. - Alcoholics Anonymous - here. This girl - I say, "girl" but she's my age - cute as a little bug seems to like me. I didn't care for how other women in the room treated her and the gossip I heard about her. So I immediately did the preliminary questioning when she asked if I would sponsor her, "What do I have that you think you want?" She answered [my version of] "correctly". So off we went into the sunset. This has been a few months. Like I typically do, I developed a friendship with her. Then, like I typically do, I went into a state of confusion trying to get it clear in my mind the responsibilities of friendship versus sponsorship. Well. So when I started noticing weird behaviors I became conflicted. No sooner had it became apparent that she was abusing her prescriptions [or some other drugs] than all hell broke loose. Hell Started Breaking Loose In an obsession characterized by pill-popping addicts [I do have experience with being on the receiving end of pill-popping, doctor hopping addicts and particularly their need to control people, their blaming everyone for everything, their "better than thou" attitude toward street users, their attitudes of entitlement, and also their incessant lies. Read Prescription Drug Abuse and Prescription Drug Addiction for more information on this newer phenomenon of drug abuse.] she called one night 6 or 7 times. I ignored the phone. She then called my beloved's phone and left a message vaguely threatening... ..."So tell her that if she does not call me back, I am going to over there tomorrow. I mean no disrespect but I need my sponsor. So I'll be over there tomorrow unless she calls me back"... I told my beloved - because I am a normally laid back easy breezy unless someone threatens my domain - "She threatened me?! Oh I swear to God I will make her cry. Let her come over here unannounced." [She knew how often I had discussions with newcomers who just dropped in at my house. Let me take that back. I had told her of such situations; I suppose it's possible the drugs I suspect her of being on could have made her forget - but if that was the case why would she phrase her dropping by as a threatened consequence for my not calling her back?] Friday - She Sneaks Up on Me and She is High I had planned on calling her back in the morning anyway but after the "threat" I decided to adopt a wait and see attitude. Long story short, the next day I am in my office [which is at home], working a deadline - as I normally do - and I see out my back window...no kidding... She is tiptoeing up my deck steps as if she is trying to go undetected! This means she entered through my back gate to begin with! Not only had she never done this before, but anyone who tries to tell me she wasn't trying to "sneak" in or "sneak up on me", I'll kiss their foot! I fly - yes, I flew! I attempted to walk fast but I really think I was flying... - to the back sliding glass door before she even gets there, slid it open wide and fast - and she was still tip-toeing looking down at her feet [why? trying to stare them into being quiet? She was so out of it, she did not remember my scenic office view encompassed the deck?] - and made her jump when I did all this in less than .001 seconds: "What the hell are you doing?" Trying to shorten this up a bit, she does jump and does start crying [but i think it was the influence of her pills rather than me because I was not that harsh!] along with the slurring and cotton mouth and the falling over and the... "I need my sponsor..." I also then noticed she had taken her tip-toeing seriously. She had her shoes off and in her hand! It was sad. I took pity on her. Then she slurred and complete with cottonmouth told me she wasn't high and she swears this was the first time she took this pill that the doctor prescribed. She claimed it was Atarax and the bottle I would see later said 90 pills at 50 mg. That it must be badly reacting with her and she will never take it again. She almost convinced me - like I said, I don't work with people who have drug problems and for the reasons already stated along with the fact I have no interest in learning pharmacology - so I let her hang out with me in our new pool that day. That would be a clear mistake. Friday Evening - Lies, Lies, Self-Absorption & More Lies. All evening she was uncharacteristic in talking about nothing but herself. She talked badly about everyone I cared about in the rooms of recovery. She bad-mouthed so and so and said he had an ego problem. She bad-mouthed this girl because she was a drug addict ["not really an alcoholic" she said]. She tried to bad-mouth another sponsee by inventing lies that my sponsee had said she really did not want to work the steps but only wanted to get close to me, to be my friend. I know she lied because that sponsee was over at my house when this phone call ensued as well as other proof. Later on during our pool time, my beloved came home with his daughter. We all played amid my friends' continual talking about herself. I had to get out from the sun because of my ever-increasing dark skin that nothing prevents from darkening; not to mention my nerves. Eventually she came in and we went to get dinner. When we came back, my beloved had something to show me. Our 'Lil Bit' had done something she'd never done before. She swam all by herself! Without floatees and without her noodle! She jumped in the deep end, and swam to the shallow end! I laughed and screamed and said, "Hooray!" And I was so excited! That should have been all glory to the almost 5 year old and just a precious time! But. Friend kept talking. About herself. I said, "Would you stop please? 'Lil Bit' has done something she has never done before and I want to enjoy it. This time is about her." Since that day I bet it has still never occurred to her that her self-absorption was paramount to egomania at its finest. Nevertheless. I still managed to get an awesome video clip of the kid swimming fearlessly! It was a beautiful sight! Then when her eyes were still at half mast hours later... She lied. Said she'd only tried that pill and that that morning it was the first time she'd taken one. I said, "So 89 are left right?" She said, "Yes." So I counted them. 43. THEN - like a good addict does - she invents another lie. Says they were originally in a large bottle but she took the label off the large bottle and put it on the small bottle along with putting the tiny pills in a small bottle. ["Why would you change bottles?" I asked. "The large bottle was too big" she said. Uh. Said the pharmacy had run out of large bottles.] Again. I wanted to believe her. Sunday - This is when I start Losing my Mind But then on Sunday. On the phone. The lies. She began telling different kinds of lies. I told her our entire relationship was hinging on the lie she continued to perpetuate. I guess in total I gave her 10 point-blank opportunities to just come clean and be honest. She never did. To make matters worse, she added another lie: "All the rest of the pills are here in the big bottle." "All rest of the 89 pills you are telling me are there with you in the big bottle." "Yes." "Are you sure?" "Yes. I swear!" "This is one of those conversations that define our relationship. Believe that." "I am not lying! I swear on my grave; My mother's grave." So I shocked her when I said, "Okay. Then. I'm coming over in 15 minutes to count your pills. If you're lying, I'm done." Shortened version. Different pills were in the big bottle. At least two different kinds. She tried to tell me that pharmacists sometimes put different pills in when they run out of generics. LoL... I shouted this while in her room after I'd counted: "You really do think I am stupid!" I didn't care if her parents heard me. For her to go this far means she is far gone anyway. I looked the pills up on the internet at a pill identification database. Just in time for her Mom to call me and [not knowing why I had been there that day] tell me she could not find her pain pills. Said she went into her daughter's room and found the bottle though! Coincidentally enough, of the three pills I looked up on the internet, though all of them being circular small and white - but with different imprints - NONE were what was *supposed* to have been in the bottle and one was her mothers pain pill. The other two were 25 mg of Atarax - after telling me she had never had it before. [Considering this last bottle was a 50 mg and 90 count of Adarax and that she would show me an earlier bottle of 25 mg Atarax...I just know she combined her 25 mgs with her mothers pain pills along with the 50 mg Atarax...all pills are white and round but, like I said, naturally different imprints.] Today, Thursday, I Escort her from My House For the past week since Sunday she has been calling incessantly. Her story keeps changing. Now she wants me to call the pharmacist because she does not think I know she could have one of her refills filled. She wants me to call the pharmacist because she is using some weird addict logic that I'll not bore you with. But I am incensed that her "hocus pocus change the focus" keeps pulling me back in. As a result I have been practicing my codependent and al-anon recovery principles but it has not been easy. Today, for example. She apparently manipulated someone to bring her to my house. I went out to his car and told him I was sorry she has involved him but that she could not stay at my house. We agreed I would give her two minutes and that he would take her back home. In that 2 minutes, she managed to reaffirm her lies and also successfully failed to receive my only requirement for sponsorship; honesty. From my relationship with my friend, I have discovered that addicts - or at least "righteously using" pill heads - seem to not receive information from other people and particularly when it interferes with their version of reality. I have also learned that when their version of reality [based in their lies] is not bought, that they will talk down everything into a microcosm so that people become so confused and tired by listening to them that the listener just gives up and either sees it the addicts way or pretends to. I am not most people. I am in recovery. This means that I will allow you so much of my time to screw with. After that, my patience is short-lived. After her two minutes was up, when I said, "Okay let's go." She kept steady talking. [How do you know when an addict is lying? Their mouth is moving.] She did not move. So I grabbed her purse [that has her pills], her notepad [that she is keeping track of her lies with], and her water [to keep the cottonmouth at bay I imagine]. I walked to the front door and opened it. "Come on. He's waiting." Now she starts with the crying again. As it was, I put her stuff in his vehicle and said goodbye to them both. As I walked back to my front walk I heard her start crying louder and screaming after me. She is still not in his vehicle at this time but I kept walking with a pain in my stomach. I felt saddened with every step I took. With every step I took closer back to my house I wished she could get honest. With every step I took I wished I could believe her lies. With every step I took I wished I could put my arms around her and make her well. And with every step I took I wished there was no such thing as drug addiction. Technorati: drugs, addiction, al-anon, nar-anon, atarax, recovery, alcoholics anonymous, pill heads, drug abuse, narcotics anonymous, prescription abuse, doctor shopping, doctor hopping, relapse, boundaries, percocet, effexor, lortab, suboxone, oxycontin, valium, vicodin, street drugs, crack, heroin, meth, addicted to drugs, addicted, addicts, alcoholic, alcoholics, alcoholism, narcotics, narcotic addiction, prescription drugs

Hillary Clinton, Stupid Men, and Sexism

You mean someone loathes Hillary Clinton so much that they are going to invoke an insipidly sexist remark on a poster board and proudly display their idiocy despite the overwhelmingly clear stupidity of this statement? She Couldnt Satisfy Her Husband She Wont Satisfy America I'm sure this guy just made friends with every woman who has ever been cheated on eh? You know what he's saying about you ladies? That cooking your husband's food, cleaning his house and changing his children's dirty asses while probably working 40 hours a week to boot; that it's your own fault he was diddling the sexy new clerk working for the company. Aw. Poor little man. He was horny and you did not satisfy his primal urge. You know...primal? Like innate. Like, opposite of rational mind, like brains in the balls, like id business here... The id is the only component of personality that is present from birth. This aspect of personality is entirely unconscious and includes of the instinctive and primitive behaviors. According to Freud, the id is the source of all psychic energy, making it the primary component of personality. The id is driven by the pleasure principle, which strives for immediate gratification of all desires, wants, and needs. If these needs are not satisfied immediately, the result is a state anxiety or tension. For example, an increase in hunger or thirst should produce an immediate attempt to eat or drink. The id is very important early in life, because it ensures that an infants needs are met. If the infant is hungry or uncomfortable, he or she will cry until the demands of the id are met. So basically your husband or man or other half or whatever, while stomping his baby feet gettin' it on with the woman not washing his sharted up underwear and not having to put up with stinky breath and nasty body expellations day in and day out, was really a physically overdeveloped child being ruled by his primal urges. Which tells me his logical and reasonable brain wasn't all that developed, but then this guy is telling us it's the woman's fault so don't vote for Hillary Clinton because she couldn't bring the pathetic state of affairs of this country out of it's infantile brain? So once again, the woman is expected to save the house, save the kids, save the marriage, AND save the day, while simultaneously, being told by these misogynistic twads that they're not good enough, never have been good enough and never will be good enough. But we're expected to save men from themselves, for us, by satisfying their infantile regressivism? Uh... I doubt that. My man will have the testicles to take care of himself. I don't know about the rest of male population, but if my dearest half needs to go diddle an imitation of me, I would encourage it. Separate the wheat from the chaffe is what I always say. Yep. That's about it. Technorati: misogyny, Hillary Clinton, sexism, politics, presidential election, infidelity, cheating, unfaithful husbands, marriage, sexist remarks, bill clinton, hillary clinton, feminism, gender equality, stupid men, id, freud