Yikes, Calli. I hope they figure it out quickly.

Calli, most common causes for ascites (fluid in the belly) are;

1) Liver disease
2) Kidney failure
(easy to detect in the lab through simple blood/urine test)
3) Right-sided heart failure

Good luck to your mom w/r/t the tests.

Dear Time Warner,

The ideal time to tell me that I've been in a discounted promotional package—a fact that was not made clear to me when I signed up—for the past year and that my cable charges will increase $20/month starting with my next bill is NOT:

a) two weeks after the the last of the shows I was buying premium channels for finishes its second and possibly final season (all the others having been cancelled already or grown so tiresome that I no longer care about watching them).

b) the day I've just used my tax refund in its entirety to pay credit card debt.

c) ever.

d) all of the above.

signed,
Back to the Books

Susan, I'm not familiar with either of those movies. So can't help there, except to note that a number of Buffistas have fought for Sean Bean as SCB.

Is it time for your husband to take Annabel out for an afternoon (or morning, or evening) while you lounge with a decadent snack for a double feature?

They just wanted to know how I find speakers and get them to come here.

I said, "I just read the paper and salon.com, check out who's authoring interesting things, and call."

I'm so frustrated. I should start charging fees.

Did Jilli link Princess TickyBox's picture over here, too? If not, it's in min's lj.

Thanks, aurelia and Vonnie K.

Of the list, I'm afraid the right-side heart failure option is the most likely. Mom's had heart problems for a while now.

She linked it in Spike's Bitches but here she is!

David, you know Phil is on The E! Hollywood Hold'Em show, right?

I was just googling him, and saw that he's the dealer. Then I checked his earnings. Shit! Phil is rich. He so owes me dinner. I can't tell you how many times I made him dinner when he lived in San Francisco. It was so funny reading poker boards where everybody had an opinion on him. Phil is 100% motivated by What's Fun. Anybody that thinks he's pumping it up for TV is dead wrong. He's also brilliantly smart, so people that think he's coasting on luck couldn't be more off. Phil's biggest flaw as a gambler (though probably his biggest calling card as a tv personality) is that he's too bold.

I don't know why people keep calling him Irish, though. I think he was born in Ireland, but he's an American citizen and spent his whole life here. Also, it's interesting that his bio keeps portraying him as somebody who just happened to stumble into poker a few years ago. Shit, he was a backgammon hustler for 10 years - he damn well knew every game that had money at stake. He purposefully applied himself (and he can be incredibly crazy-focused) to learn poker because there was more action there.

Susan, I've sort of seen Bravo Two Zero, if it's the one I think it is. Sean Bean as British soldier during Gulf War? I think it's fairly intense but worth watching, as a Bean fan. Plus, if you have a non network-censored version, there's nudity. Not erotic nudity, but still. I didn't pay all that much attention to it because war movies are generally Not My Thing.