Hello all . . . . . .

I was going to reply to the "Step Up - Sign In" thread , until the topic abruptly changed in mid-stream and then I saw that it was completely closed. Well, duh! , can't reply in a closed thread , even bigger duh!

I have thought of you guys , but homework and the need to over-acheive seems to have permeated every facet of my life , execpt , of course , my day job. Couldn't give a rat's ass whether I over-acheive there or not! I go in , do the best I can , and then leave.

Can't remember when I posted last so I daresay it's been well over a year if not 2 - egad!

Still plugging thru school - yes , most normal people would have been done by now , but I haven't been "normal" for like , ever. Still have about 2 yrs +/- left , and that time will increase IF I decide to do the minor in Criminology. No , I haven't decided yet. Mainly it's the $ that are stalling the decision at this point. My student loan barely pays for my tuition as it is and that tuition has even been reduced. So what does the Govt. do ? ? ? Reduce my student loan of course. I know that's not exaclty how it's connected , but it sure feels that way.

However , I can report that as of the end of this last semester I still have all A's. And not even "counting-the-chickens" of this coming semester.

Other than that , no major things that I can think of at the moment.

E , congrats on the newest edition. And Gypsy I'm glad that your brother made it home safely. One of my classmates has a son who is headed to Iraq when he ships out this time. One 4-letter word that stikes fear into the hearts of so many.

Oh , oh , oh , I almost forgot ! ! ! ! ! ! !

I went to a firewalking seminar for my b-day. Yes , you read that correctly! Dull , predictable , book-worm me went to a seminar where you actually walk across a bed of hot coals. Now the pic attached is me - in green and orange (major ugh! , I hate to have my pic taken) - just seconds AFTER I broke my board in 2 with the heel of my right hand. [[[ pic was removed by me , , much too much ugh! factor - see below ]]] The lady in front of me is Dr. Karen Frank who was the main seminar speaker/organizer. The board was a piece of finished lumber and if you look in the far left corner of the pic you can see one of the guys holding his board. So , yes there was a board. My hand , wrist and forearm hurt for 4 days. I thought there was a trick to it , but it was a solid piece of lumber about 1/2" to 3/4" thick. The small 'owie' I got from breaking my board did sit at the edge of my mind and really kept me from walking across the pile of broken glass or thru the hot coals. You need to be able to free your mind and concentrate on how you WILL NOT be injured and that's hard to do when there's an 'owie' lingering. Yes , you again read that correctly. There were 'steps' to the evening and with the completion of each step that gave you more empowerment to continue on to the next step. But participation in any step or steps was entirely up to you - no one made you feel badly because you didn't participate. I did the board , then did not walk thru the broken glass bottles , nor did I try to break an arrow with my neck , and I watched the firewalk but did not go thru the coals.

Overall , the evening was just very surreal. And when I got up the next day it was like I had been in a dream but the pain in my arm told me that it had been very real. And at some point I do plan on going again - and this time I'm going to try to get one of my g'friends to go with me. Then I'll have a witness.

Here's hoping that everyone has a prosperous and healthy new year. May your roads be level, your trials and tribulations , if any , very short, and the warm wind always at your back.

Hugs to all . . . . . . . . . .


Merri


pss - there was a pic and once I looked at it thru the board it was just toooooooooo gross , , , I HAD to remove it !!!!!! Sorry! Mf

I've been away from posting too long.

More hugs!!!!


Merri

Merri! So glad to see you back! We've been having some problems with spammers and the like; thus your problem with finding the "Step Up - Sign In" thread, although I think it's still around in some shape, form or fashion...

Anyway, you see that we're in the midst of changing servers so that administrators like Sea-Shel can block those spamming pests and we can continue to do our thing without their intervention. We're still ironing out the kinks, but I think all should be well soon...

Fire walking, huh? Why am really not surprised? We Fehr Ladies are a wild bunch, I'll give you that -- and most of us really are not afraid to try something new. You should have left the picture, though. You're among friends and you know none of us would care about something like the lack of photogenic genes. Shoot, said genes were washed out of my pool at birth! "Photogenic" is not even in my vocabulary! But I end up getting my picture taken every once in a while...

Basically, what I'm saying is that we want to see the picture! Please?

Whatever you decide, don't be a stranger! Let's hear more from you!

Yep - I closed that one - can be re-opened at any time ---- I think the spammers bots have some "trigger" words they look for in topic thread titles and I think "Sign In" may be one of them along with "News" and "Discussion" - that's where it seemed like 90% of our spam was being posted......

since those topics threads have been closed we've really dropped off with the spam posters - BUT if you take a look we're still getting between 10 and 20 "New" members (really spammers) a day!!....

But I didn't delete the topic so we can re-open when we move. As far as that goes - I'm just waiting for the word from the message board people as they are going to move the content for me since I don't have access to Jen and Richy's server..... (basically if they didn't do that - we'd have to start all over again)

so everyone get ready to use www.odedfehrfans.net as our new home.... you might want to bookmark it now. Just an FYI - this address will remain up and running so I will post something here in all forums when we move


Picture Picture let's see the picture! Hi Merri! Glad to see you here and there!

Merri, it's SO good to see you again! I'm so proud of all the work you're putting into your education.

Hugs,
Shel

I always get yelled at for not being the one in the picture. I always say its becuase I'm taking it! Can't be in two places at once! I'm good but not that good!


Firewalking? Really? And how was the experience? Breaking boards? You are a busy girl. Sounds intersting and fun. Maybe you will inspire me to do something so daring one day.

Student loans? Know all about that. Hubby finished his BA in May ( a huge 13 year ordeal!) and now wants to get his masters and doctorite, and starts that direction in a couple of weeks. Thanks to 'ol Mr. Bush, we have to cover part of it every year. But I guess that is what tax returns are for? ugh, good luck. Its hard, but its worth it in the end. Everyone seems to need a degree for anything anymore. I wish you lots of luck. What are your goals when you get done? Criminology? Really? Cool. Major?

Thanks for congrats on baby. She is 17 months old, just started walking (there was a whole thing with ear infections that lead to ear tubes, so she started walking late due to equilibrium..). Cute as a button, but I might be biased. All my kids are extremly photogenic, just not me! So cute! Anyway they keep me busy. If I slow down soon, maybe when we move I'll post a pic.

Not much going on here. Work, work, work. Not enjoying it yet again. Threatning our jobs yet again. Fun. Hubby works nights so I don't see him. Very depressed a couple of nights ago when for my birthday, I'm eating cake and ice cream by myself! (could have eaten with the kids, but I had eaten too much dinner!) ugh. Generally life sucks. Possible hysterectamy in my future, scares me, sounds good, yet scary. We shall see. We are going to see if the last surgery took or not. I don't know. Maybe a head transplant would be better! Did I mention that one old dog is senile and barks at everything (including the dryer, its apparently evil- but she's not violent, just confused) one dog dying with heart condition, and the youngest one just happy? Life is good for her.

So, now I'm here and enjoying my company with my girls. Ya-Ya!

Ok, step up, who's next?

e

ps- put up the picture!!

Howdy Howdy . . .

ok , , ok . . . I'll attach that horrific pic to this post . . you guys happy now ?!


I'm the green and orange ugh! and Dr. Frank is in front of me.

Well , it's good to be missed , but damn a lot of things happen when you are gone for 2 years . . .

I've already got the new domain bookmarked so that I won't have to remember that later and just a curious question . . do you techno guys think that an odd spelling for our major topics might slow down the spammers even more before the move is final? Like : Newz or Knewz or Di$ku$$ion . . we would know what it means but . . . just thinking out loud here . . I'm on the way low end of techno-geek-ville and don't have a clue about those spam bot critters. Except they need to be squashed , but Ahh-nold has a busted leg , and Rambo is busy. Oh , ohh , , I know , , let's call John Cena - or better yet the guys from The Unit.

Better yet still , we'll just have to give Frank a call and have him quietly read the riot act to some people. Now that would get their attention!

OH!! oh!! oh!! who on the board , memory is shot , usually does the screen caps/shots of DVD's and such ? ? ? I just need to find out how to do that as I now have the 1st 2 seasons of Miami Vice , the 3rd season of Starsky and Hutch ((I would have started with the 1st season but it was a gift)) and the 1st season of Hercules the Legendary Journeys including all 5 Hercules movies and I really really really really want to save some screen shots to put up as wallpaper on my pc.

I have a DVD player on this mow-chine that I'm very happy with so I can stop and pause and inch forward and backward ,,, I just can't seem to capture the images I want.

Needless to say my DVD collection is bulging at the seams with testosterone . . and I have been oohhh-ing and ahhh-ing over Don Johnson , Philip Michael Thomas , Paul Michael Glaser and Kevin Sorbo. NO , scratch that , , no ohh-ing or ahh-ing , , just plain old salivating and lusting.

Can you tell that my xmas break from school has involved numerous hours in front of the tv ? ? ?

I don't really know what compelled me to attend that firewalking seminar. Of course there was the expense , , but I don't know what made me decide to actually sign up. I am NOT an outgoing meet-and-greet kind of person , , so picture this . . . . I am sitting in an empty garage in a semi-circle with a whole bunch of strangers staring at what I think is a pile of broken glass laying on top of a folded sheet in the middle of the room. My eyes say it's glass , my brain is not so sure. I am forcing myself to sit and not bolt from the room and I'm also trying not to cry. Emotions are just bouncing. To add to my internal chaos , I know that one of the local tv stations is going to be there - at some point - taping and a reporter and photog from a local weekly neighborhood-type newspaper are also there.

Dr. Frank (( here's her website )) started us off slow. A little laughter , calm the nerves a little , and she tells us how she came to be Dr. Frank and why she does this , and how she got her husband involved , etc. Eventually we get to the board breaking , which was the first of the "activities." After we made it thru that , then she talked some more and then it was either the glass walking or the arrow breaking. But we didn't just get in a line and do these things , we were given instructions on how to stand , how to position our body , how to breathe , that we needed to concentrate on the "I can do it" factor. The broken glass was walked thru barefoot - and the arrow was a regulation steel-tipped arrow that you could use in archery. The steel tip was placed in the hollow of your throat and the feather end up against the wall. Then you leaned into the arrow until you broke it. No , no one was injured.

After all these activities , the final activity was the firewalk. By that time everyone was pumped up and was going to be able to do anything. My `owie` had broken my concentration so I knew that somehow I would get hurt , but I can report that on a rainy November night I was outside , barefoot , in the dark and rain watching people walk thru a bed of hot coals.

And the expressions on the face of the tv camera guy were just fun to watch. He couldn't believe what he was seeing either.

. . . enough about that . . . .

E , congrats to the Hubby on the BA , , and now a Masters and beyond , , holy cow ! ! ! ! Makes me cringe just to think about it. My current major is Accounting and the minor I'm considering would be in Criminology , , so that - hopefully one day when I'm all `growed up` I can be a fraud/forensic accountant. But some days that goal is nowhere on the horizon !

Thanks for the good thoughts Dreamy ! I need all the good thoughts and good karma I can get.

Shel if you can put the ki-bosh on those spam bot critters , then U is da bomb - or whatever the most current wooo-hooo lingo is.

And hey Diva , your royalness . . I'm back until homework sucks me back down into that twisting , swirling vortex , which starts again next week. Was thinking of you just the other day as I now have an Oded pic screensaver running and how you had mentioned some of the more interesting highlights of those Razor pics he had taken - and yes they are still soooooo nice to look at. And also how you had regaled us - as we hung onto the edge of our keyboards - of your very own personal phone call in the middle of the grocery store. Ok , I can't remember names , but I remember that.

And I just saw the time so I will close this chapter of the novel for now.

hugggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggg

And you've been warned about the pic. It is major ugh!


Merri

Additional note - - this is a pic - I hope - of someone walking thru the broken glass , , it's a copy from a scan of the newspaper article.

Cross your fingers this works . . .


Merri

Merri, is that you? And you were worried about what again?

Not a bad pic.


Good to hear from you! Have fun watching the movies!!

e

Not a bad picture at all! Am I remembering another picture correctly? Did you cut your hair -- or am I thinking of someone else...?

You guys say the nicest things . . . .

Nope, Diva, no major hair cuts for me , , mine has been that short for years , , although the pic does make it look shorter and redder. Must be someone else.


Thanks , all . . .



Merri