Casto Creations Elegant Handcrafted Jewelry Designs

Can I rant again? It's not a very serious rant though, don't worry.

Having my own website is great. I love the freedom to post anything I want and make occasional sales.

What I HATE is seeing a message from my contact page coming through my e-mail with this boilerplate link request...

Dear Webmaster,

My name is XYZ and I have just gone through your site, and visited many
pages. I have noticed that you have good content on the site. It would be
better if we link to each other as reciprocal link place an important role
in a search engine ranking algorithm.

Good grief. I have gotten at least 50 of these in six months. Nearly identical text. I don't bother reading them any longer. I just hit the delete button. But the problem is that I do still have to open the message to see if it's an actual message from a customer.

If someone actually wants to link with me they better type up a specific request directly to me. Of course, I still might say no, but I'd at least respond instead of ignore them. Sometimes I even say yes and add their link! Though I admit it's been ages since I updated my links page.

Canned messages are so lame. :)

Wow...just wow.

This story had my jaw dropping and eyes popping. Seriously?!?! SERIOUSLY!?!?

A South Carolina breast-cancer survivor has beaten the State Department and convinced judges in Washington that the inability to have sex is a disability protected under federal anti-discrimination laws.

Oh my freaking goodness. You have got to be kidding me. Not only is this ridiculous but it's frightening that she convinced the courts on her side.

In its 2-1 decision, issued Friday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled that Adams has a case against the State Department. Most significantly, the influential D.C. circuit court ruled for its first time that laws that protect people with disabilities from discrimination cover "sexual relations."

Right...so any guy who couldn't get it 'up' can sue their employers or former employers for discrimination. Yeah, that seems like the original intent of the law doesn't it? (insert sarcasm here)

It's things like this that make me feel like the country is going down the tubes. What is WRONG with this woman's brain? She thinks that it's okay to sue a potential employer because she can't have sex? Really? To me that speaks to her lack of common sense and I wouldn't want to hire her either.

Scary. Just scary.

...why should I? They constantly contradict each other.

Eggs are good for you. No eggs are bad for you. No they are good for you again.

Coffee is bad...no good...no bad...but maybe good.

Wine is bad...good...bad...good.

Atkins. Mediterranean. Weight Watchers. No meat. All meat. No carbs. All carbs.

Who the heck can keep track?

And now Saturated fat may find itself vindicated after being the villain of so many diets and health warnings.

The one thing that I know is that every person's body is different. Some people can eat anything they want and never gain weight (my grandfather) and others can't even look at a piece of bread without ballooning up four sizes. We need to figure out what is right for us personally.

I have a fairly high metabolism so that when I'm active I can pretty much eat whatever I want in moderation. However when I start to be a couch potato and not running around busy I balloon up. Lately I've been super busy running from store to store to get awesome discounts and free things. I've been going to agility twice a week with Trooper, which can get quite a workout. And I've been trying to sit at my laptop less. I've also been eating ice cream like there's no tomorrow. So far I'm only up around one pound from my original loss of 17. I do want to try to add back in my arm and middle area weight training because I want that muscle to be better developed.

I'm sure one of these days they'll come out with a study that lifting weights is dangerous to my health too.

Yet another reason to not believe anything "they" say.

We now have four dogs in our house. None of them small. It's been a crazy weekend.

Read all about Bullet on my Home Zookeeper blog. She's an angel and available for adoption!

I hope I'll be able to let her go. :(

The mainstream media may be ignoring all the amazing work our soldiers are doing in Iraq, but thanks to the Internet we can still get the real news.

Via Instapundit, I found Armed and Curious, a great blog of a soldier over there doing the hard work so I can have a cushy life. I wish I could do more than just say Thank You!


Check out his latest post - Finding Inspiration in Tears of Joy.

I remember when hubby graduated from the State Trooper Academy. It was so emotional - we were all so proud of him. I can only imagine that feeling is 1,000 times stronger for the soldiers and families of Iraqis who will step up and fight for their country. Amazing. It brought tears to my eyes.

History will look back on this time and will confirm that this is a historical moment. Victory rarely comes easily. Sometimes the best things require the most work to be truly appreciated.