Hi! I'm needing the power of Buffistas in order to get my quota of Facebook likes on a piece I wrote for a beer website, which pays me almost double if I'm able to get 400 Facebook shares (through the site) in 30 days. This one seems to be stalled out at 128 (sob!) so if you are so inclined, please share on your Facebook page, using the Facebook share icon just above the title of the piece, "Cask Ale's Journey into the Modern Beer World." [link]

This is the same piece that another publication eventually rejected after engaging me to write it (earning me my first "kill fee") so I have all sorts of insecurity feels about it. Thanks in advance!

Hey, y'all - I am actually in the same boat with a second article published on the same site as the cask article only one day after. (Makes it hard to pimp effectively!)

Anyway, this is about beer and food and science, and I got to talk to a kickass lady scientist and a chef and really nerd out during my research and writing of the piece. If you could go read and share on Facebook using the icons above the title of the piece on the page itself, that would be so awesome.

These low FB share numbers on both features are killing the shred of self-confidence I still had that I have anything interesting to contribute to the conversation.

3 Overlooked Beer Styles to Pair with Food.

Any Denver istas online? I have someone stranded at the Denver bus station. Please call my cell [deleted] It's my learning disabled brother so I'm fairly freaked out.

Edit: My heroes. Thanks

Prayers and vibes requested for my mom. She ended up back in the hospital on Saturday night. She had a fall, which was not a huge deal, except I had to call paramedics to help me get her up. But she was also starting to show confusion and incoherence, so the paramedics brought her in. It's been diagnosed as an infection (she has a wound on her toe we've been fighting a couple/few months, fucking diabetes), that's gone septic. They put her on IV antibiotics, and she seemed better yesterday, but then by the evening she was confused again and agitated and kind of incoherent. The doctors say it's not that unusual to go in and out of coherence when fighting an infection that's gone to the blood stream, but it still freaked me right out. I'm very much hoping that the antibiotics will do their job quickly and bring her back mentally, but then there's still the toe to deal with. It's her big toe, and she already has bad balance issues, so she can't really afford to lose an important one like that.

So anyway, very worried and feeling the lack of SO super-strongly (yes, I have a brother, but he doesn't do supportive), plus super-resentful of things like having to go to work or take out the trash when I want to either focus on her, or completely check out mentally and not focus on anything.

My brother has finally arrived. I wish I reached out more often than when I was in crisis, but I've activated the Scoobies more than once over my twelve years on the board and someone always walks through the fire for me and mine. Bottom line is brother is safe for those playing the home game.

Keep a good thought for my grandma(at 85, I'm not sure that the best thought is not an easy passing, with her recurrent heart problems, but you know, above my pay grade)She's a good woman, though in recent years has gotten narrow-minded and not sociable but that is not the person I'm going to remember. In my childhood and beyond, she was a talented cook and curious auto-didact and right now I guess could use stent-ma to keep her arteries open. Thanks!

Hate to pile on the ~ma requests, but if you can spare some for my mom. She's going in for shoulder surgery on the right side tomorrow.

She's 88, has had the heart surgery, hip surgery, and one shoulder socket replaced in the last few years. I think she'll be full on bionic by age 100.

I've already wished her May the Fourth be with her.

Bad news for my mom, the infection has gotten to the bone in her toe. So there will be some degree of amputation. Unknown yet how much will have to go, whether she'll still be able to walk after, and how in hell I'm going to take care of her if she can't walk.

Continued prayers and ~ma, please.

My mother's shoulder surgery has been cancelled due to evidence of afib in her EKG. She decided it was too much of a risk at this time.

Forwarding any spare ~ma to others for now.