There's a good piece at Salon about the long running battle about voter fraud between Dems and Repubs that is the backstory of the U.S. Attorney firings.

I guess I hadn't really understood the issue properly because everytime I heard little snippets about voter fraud I just thought, "But the Republicans are the fraud-a-roonies! Bush wouldn't be in office without voter fraud." But actually it's one of those perception/rhetorical divides.

What the heck is jicama, and how am I supposed to eat it? I've got two little slabs of it in my lunch, but have no idea if it's a fruit, veg, carb...what?

Jimama is a root/tuber, similar to a potato. Flavor and texture are closer to an apple or pear. Almost pure starch, but also very high in fiber.

Thanks, Jessica!

::takes a bite::

Texture very apple-y, but the flavor is more like celery or maybe a really bland Red Delicious. Not bad, but not my first choice for dessert (I'd rather have a Braeburn).

jicama goes in the carrot category for me

I like jicama better than most Red Delicious. Unlike most apple bits, I'm perfectly fine with it in a salad.

The UN's first all-female unit keeps peace in Liberia

I can see jicama in a salad easily. It's definitely something to add to my "things to buy when I have to cook my own food" list.

I'm going to have to forgo most of my birthday pigout this weekend. I'm still getting together with my friend on Saturday, but I'll be skipping most of the food (save me money as well as calories!), and I'll also have my splurge salad for lunch on Friday.

When my back was out last week, I reverted back to my old habit of eating really bad food when I feel sick/in pain. Then yesterday I found a scale at Bed, Bath, and Beyond that went up to my current weight. When I got on it this morning, I found I've only lost 3 pounds since I was on the Weight Watchers scale on 2/28. That's three pounds in three weeks, which totally blows.

So, I'm making sure I stick with the diet as much as possible and going into the fitness center every damn day of the week. My swim yesterday was cut short after only an hour and 23 laps, but Thursday, I'll make sure I get in the full mile. Tonight's treadmill workout is going to be more for time than speed or distance--I'm aiming for 35 minutes at a slower pace, so I might not even get a full mile in, but that's okay.

On doctor's orders I've now switched from Atkins to a low fat, high fiber diet. Which means lots of fruit, multigrain breads, wheat crackers, and raisin bran while dialing back on the meat and cheese. Also, full range of Asian food is back on the menu.

Hopefully this will kick start my metabolism again, as the low carb option had slowed to about a 1 lb/week loss there at the end.

I can eat jicama until I make myself sick on it. I love the stuff.