I have a few areas where I send myself an email with a keyword in the subject line and let Yahoo sort it out. Delivery times vary considerably. Like someone above I once wondered "why". Then it occurred to, even if I knew "why" nothing would change. One of the advantages that come with dotage is caring less about why.

Good morning Ladies - here it is Memorial Day morning and all my holiday activities are over. Had all the family (all eight of us) together Thursday Friday and Saturday to celebrate my mom's 79th. I was reviewing my quiktrak today and I'm not feeling very optimistic about my next weigh in, which is supposed to be today (which coincidentally is probably the first day of my period). Maybe I'll just eat a few carrots here and there until 5 (and then find out they're not doing the weigh in because of the holiday). This will be the end of my fourth week on the plan. One thing I have noticed was that in my "honeymoon" first couple of weeks of WW, I had rediscovered what it felt like to be somewhat hungry, and that it didn't kill me. In the last week or so, I haven't been letting myself get hungry. I know it's not good to get so hungry we can't control our eating, but I need to get back to being able to tolerate low level hunger without panicking. I want that honeymoon glow back! OK, I'm done whining - hope you all are doing better and have a day of sunshine ahead.

Big ole plops of raindrops off and on all night. Now raining 'normally' off and on. DH wants a short ceasefire so he can take his walk around the condo property (23 acres on a hillside). The mynahs are arguing over shelter in one preferred palm on the lawn beyond our lanai while the doves are choosing the big monkeypod farther down the hill. I won't need to 'discourage' the quail with the squirt gun this morning. I have a load of DH's clothes in the washer being de-chocolate-ed. Chocolate chip cookies "melt in your hand" here...fast. We have cookies at teatime matinee. We are dividing "The Company You Keep" into two afternoons. Gosh this movie reminds us we are part of 'history' along with the Weathermen. DH was an Andy Frain usher at the Dem. convention -- an arm's length from Da Mayor as he urged the cops to beat war protesters in Grant Park. Young people today don't have the same intimate involvement in our nation's wars that we all had during the Draft. Mercenary armies are not good for nations, IMO. Oops! Sorry for the 'serious stuff'. Yes, Patti, I need to make lists. I am not an easy hostess. Don't know whether that's because I seldom entertain or the reason. Have a good visit!

Randy Newman Quotes American - Comedian Born: November 28, 1943 Thank God for the potholes on memory lane. Randy Newman My music has a high irritation factor. I've always tried to say something. Eccentric lyrics about eccentric people. Often it was a joke. But I would plead guilty on the grounds that I prefer eccentricity to the bland. Randy Newman I like the idea of taking a true classic written by a true genius and destroying it essentially! I like the idea of bringing it down to earth a bit - and even a bit lower than that. Randy Newman Learn about the world, the way it works, any kind of science and anthropology, it's really an interesting place we live in. Evolution is a really fantastic idea, even more than the idea of God I think. Randy Newman It's funny; people get so doctrinaire about music. It should be the last thing you don't have an open mind about. Randy Newman If we'd had another carefree 70's, I'd have been dead. It was a little too carefree, you know? I don't know how carefree they were for me, I think I was worried then, I can't remember what about. Randy Newman Most of my songs are about insensitivity of some kind. Randy Newman I think the tax cut is ridiculous but so am I. Randy Newman I've always had a lot of respect from the people I respected. Randy Newman I like science - geography, meteorology, cosmology. Randy Newman I am not overlooking any mail. I'm looking at all of it. I even wrote back to the Viagra people. Randy Newman Stay away from drugs. They're not worth it. I've tried, but there's none of them that's worth it. Randy Newman But if you're doing something, show up everyday, and something good might happen - it's not going to happen if you don't show up. Randy Newman I once had dinner with Madonna and I wasn't nervous but within about a minute I found myself talking about underwear. Randy Newman I started recording because I was always complaining about the records that I was getting of my songs. At least if I did them and messed them up, I wouldn't have anyone else to blame. Randy Newman It's very hard to get rich and famous at a young age and handle it well. Randy Newman I like the performing. And interviews, even. And the stuff that's not sitting in a room by yourself with empty paper. But I never loved writing, to tell you the truth. Randy Newman I don't remember ever having writer's block. If I sit in there for four hours, I'll usually have something. Randy Newman I've written a song for Prince. I never showed it to Prince, but just to see if I could do it. At the time, when I sort of knew him, he was recording a song a day. I wondered if I could do that. So I wrote it. Randy Newman But I don't want to sing everything out of the side of my mouth, I want people to understand what I mean. Randy Newman What I'm most pleased about is that there's no particular decline. The songs I wrote 40 years ago are no worse and no better - there's a consistency. Randy Newman Mostly, I don't write overtly personal stuff. Randy Newman 'Rednecks' always made me nervous to play, but I'm glad I wrote it and I continue to play it. It's just that the language is so rough. Randy Newman I've worked with a band, and it's nice to have someone to travel around with, but I didn't like it as well on stage. Randy Newman I always thought my best album was 'Trouble in Paradise.' I was the happiest with that one. Randy Newman I like Public Enemy a great deal. Randy Newman I'm pretty proud of my film music in general. Randy Newman Rita Mae Brown Quotes American - Writer Born: November 28, 1944 Life is too short to be miserable. Rita Mae Brown Language exerts hidden power, like the moon on the tides. Rita Mae Brown You can't be truly rude until you understand good manners. Rita Mae Brown The reward for conformity is that everyone likes you but yourself. Rita Mae Brown I became a lesbian because of women, because women are beautiful, strong, and compassionate. Rita Mae Brown Intuition is a suspension of logic due to impatience. Rita Mae Brown Humor comes from self-confidence. Rita Mae Brown Good judgment comes from experience, and experience comes from bad judgment. Rita Mae Brown The statistics on sanity are that one out of every four Americans is suffering from some form of mental illness. Think of your three best friends. If they're okay, then it's you. Rita Mae Brown A deadline is negative inspiration. Still, it's better than no inspiration at all. Rita Mae Brown The only queer people are those who don't love anybody. Rita Mae Brown Lead me not into temptation; I can find the way myself. Rita Mae Brown A peacefulness follows any decision, even the wrong one. Rita Mae Brown Creativity comes from trust. Trust your instincts. And never hope more than you work. Rita Mae Brown I believe in a lively disrespect for most forms of authority. Rita Mae Brown Morals are private. Decency is public. Rita Mae Brown One of the keys to happiness is a bad memory. Rita Mae Brown A life of reaction is a life of slavery, intellectually and spiritually. One must fight for a life of action, not reaction. Rita Mae Brown If the world were a logical place, men would ride side saddle. Rita Mae Brown About all you can do in life is be who you are. Some people will love you for you. Most will love you for what you can do for them, and some won't like you at all. Rita Mae Brown While cats can be infuriating, little old women in fur coats, they make me laugh. Of course, dogs, horses and my highly social chickens are dear to me, too. Rita Mae Brown Women who love women are Lesbians. Men, because they can only think of women in sexual terms, define Lesbian as sex between women. Rita Mae Brown Virginia Woolf said that writers must be androgynous. I'll go a step further. You must be bisexual. Rita Mae Brown As a woman, I find it very embarrassing to be in a meeting and realize I'm the only one in the room with balls. Rita Mae Brown Art is moral passion married to entertainment. Moral passion without entertainment is propaganda, and entertainment without moral passion is television. Rita Mae Brown Leroy bet me I couldn't find a pot of gold at the end, and I told him that was a stupid bet because the rainbow was enough. Rita Mae Brown If you don't like my book, write your own. If you don't think you can write a novel, that ought to tell you something. If you think you can, do. No excuses. If you still don't like my novels, find a book you do like. Rita Mae Brown All creatures tread across the rubble of ruined civilizations. The trick is to keep moving. No animal ever goes about dispensing shallow compassion. Rita Mae Brown I've met many irresponsible people in my life but never an irresponsible cat. Rita Mae Brown I finally figured out the only reason to be alive is to enjoy it. Rita Mae Brown I am a comic writer, which means I get to slay the dragons, and shoot the bull. Rita Mae Brown Cats and dogs believe politicians are like cemetery caregivers; they are on top of everyone, but nobody listens. Rita Mae Brown We animals live life in all its glorious uncertainty. Why do politicians think they can control events? Rita Mae Brown If you like my novels, I commend your good taste. Rita Mae Brown Divorce is the one human tragedy that reduces everything to cash. Rita Mae Brown Every action is either strong or weak, and when every action is strong we are successful. Rita Mae Brown To love without role, without power plays, is revolution. Rita Mae Brown Don't ask to live in tranquil times. Literature doesn't grow there. Rita Mae Brown No animal on the face of the earth could conceive of taxation. You and I work roughly six months a year to pay our local, state and federal taxes. If nothing else, this should convince you that animals are smarter than people. Rita Mae Brown I earned two Emmy nominations for writing, and two of the shows I had written were nominated for best in their category. Rita Mae Brown I have no idea what will come next in my writing life or life in general. I like not knowing, but I know what I want. That doesn't mean it will happen, but I'll give it my best try. Rita Mae Brown Moral passion without entertainment is propaganda, and entertainment without moral passion is television. Rita Mae Brown I think the reason I choose the comic approach so often is because it's harder, therefore affording me the opportunity to show off. Rita Mae Brown Hollywood called just as I crested thirty. My novels did not and still do not interest them, but my writing ability did. Rita Mae Brown You sell a screenplay like you sell a car. If someone drives it off a cliff, that's it. Rita Mae Brown I believe you are your work. Don't trade the stuff of your life, time, for nothing more than dollars. That's a rotten bargain. Rita Mae Brown I believe the true function of age is memory. I'm recording as fast as I can. Rita Mae Brown Writers will happen in the best of families. Rita Mae Brown Recognition of function always precedes recognition of being. Rita Mae Brown Education is a wonderful thing. If you couldn't sign your name you'd have to pay cash. Rita Mae Brown Normal is the average of deviance. Rita Mae Brown There are very few people who are creative and imaginative. Therefore, fiction is difficult for people to embrace. Rita Mae Brown Not until my middle thirties did I consider myself a novelist. Rita Mae Brown There hasn't been a day in my life since I started Latin in ninth grade that I haven't benefited by the lives of the ancients. Rita Mae Brown I don't think you can ever assess your work. I don't think Turgenev could assess his any more than I can assess mine, and his didn't have a social impact as much as great literary impact. Rita Mae Brown Political elections are not life and death. Rita Mae Brown Alan Lightman Quotes American - Physicist Born: November 28, 1948 We're plugged in 24 hours a day now. We're all part of one big machine, whether we are conscious of that or not. And if we can't unplug from that machine, eventually we're going to become mindless. Alan Lightman If I were not a writer, I would spend more time doing the things that I am already doing, which include doing research in physics, teaching, and running a nonprofit organization with a mission to empower women in Cambodia. Alan Lightman As both a scientist and a humanist myself, I have struggled to understand different claims to knowledge, and I have eventually come to a formulation of the kind of religious belief that would, in my view, be compatible with science. Alan Lightman Music is, of course, a universal emotional experience, cutting across cultures and languages. I studied piano for ten years as a child and consider that experience one of the most valuable in my life. Alan Lightman I've taken a philosophical position on e-mail. Although I think it's a wonderful communication technology, and it has a lot of good uses, it is abused quite a lot. Alan Lightman I have for a long time loved fabulist, imaginative fiction, such as the writing of Italo Calvino, Jose Saramago, Michael Bulgakov, and Salman Rushdie. I also like the magic realist writers, such as Borges and Marquez, and feel that interesting truths can be learned about our world by exploring highly distorted worlds. Alan Lightman With a background in science I am extremely interested in the meeting ground of science, theology, and philosophy, especially the ethical questions at the border of science and theology. Alan Lightman I have too many friends who tell me that they spend the first hour of every morning going through their e-mail messages. I'd like to use my time more carefully. Alan Lightman I think e-mail is representative of our fast food mentality in the United States, where everything has gotten faster and faster, and we're required to respond to inputs more quickly with less time for thought and reflection. I believe that we need to slow down. Alan Lightman I have always loved magic realism as a form of writing. I have also been fascinated for a long time with the intersection of science and religion. Alan Lightman All writers have roots they draw from - travel, work, family. My roots are in science and it is fertile ground for fiction. Alan Lightman I oppose any belief that contradicts experimental evidence as determined by the methods of science. All beliefs not in such contradiction may be considered as faith. Whether faith in a particular belief is beneficial or not is another matter. Alan Lightman I consider myself a spiritual atheist. I certainly believe there are forces bigger than ourselves, and that we should be searching, individually, for meaning in our lives. But I don't believe there's a supreme being, an intelligence that created everything. Alan Lightman I still will sit down at the piano and play when I am wrestling with something emotionally or just want to move into the musical world. Alan Lightman For me, consciousness is the most interesting unsolved problem of science, and, in fact, we may never know what it is about a particular arrangement of neurons that gives rise to consciousness. Our consciousness, like the air we breathe or like the passage of time, is central to our existence as intelligent beings. Alan Lightman Novels aren't pedagogical instruments, or instructions in law or physics or any other discipline. A novel has to be an emotional experience, a trip of the imagination, and because science has raised so many issues that concern and affect humans, it's a good starting place for me. Alan Lightman As a scientist, I don't believe science will ever discover whether God exists. Nor do I believe religion will ever prove it. Alan Lightman Except for a God who sits down after the universe begins, all other gods conflict with the assumptions of science. Alan Lightman We live in a highly polarized society. We need to try to understand each other in respectful ways. To that end, I believe that we should make room for both spiritual atheists and thinking believers. Alan Lightman