Heh. It's kind of like that "adopt a baby, immediately get pregnant" thing isn't it?

My plans for this weekend are few: go get sushi for lunch in an hour or so, then look for sheets at Target and stop by the office to photocopy tax info and check work e-mails so I don't leave an industrious freelancer in the lurch over the weekend.

Fish oil and oatmeal brought my cholesterol down to under 200 for the first time in YEARS.

I'm not sure what my cholesterol is (I need to get labs done like whoa), but Anne recommended it for arthritis. My hands are getting really painful, and the last couple of days have been torture.

Fish oil and oatmeal brought my cholesterol down to under 200 for the first time in YEARS.

I'm not sure what my cholesterol is (I need to get labs done like whoa), but Anne recommended it for arthritis. My hands are getting really painful, and the last couple of days have been torture.

D'oh. I just ran with the cholesterol assumption, since people were talking about the torture of giving up cheese and whatnot. I don't think I realized it's good for arthritis. That's cool. Plus, it'll make your hair shiny!

Regarding eliminating cheese, eggs, etc., to lower cholesterol, I've read a lot of boring-ass medical studies on it, and -- overall, in large population studies -- it's not really that effective. That said, I have no doubt that it's effective for some people (in a large population study, there are always going to be subjects for whom it worked), so I would never say to not change your diet and instead go right for the drugs. Personally, I'd rather try that first than take Lipitor.

This summer I was at a party with a bunch of old friends and was commiserating with my friend Mike who was saying he had finally resigned himself to the fact that he was destined to be a lifelong bachelor.

I'm going to his engagement party tonight.

Pretty much happened that way for me!

Maybe I'll have steel cut oatmeal for breakfast.

Any magic trick recipes for making it that are better than what's on the box?

I was gonna go see The Adjustment Bureau, but the IO9 review left me feeling kinda cold. So today is probably just electronics shopping.

Is here where I admit I don't like oatmeal?

::prepares to be shunned::

Plus, it'll make your hair shiny!

Excellent!

I flavor my oatmeal with sugar-free syrup. Current flavor is hazelnut. It helps a lot.

Maybe I'll have steel cut oatmeal for breakfast.

Any magic trick recipes for making it that are better than what's on the box?

I actually don't like the texture of steel-cut oatmeal. I feel so out of step. I was all prepared to like it, and it was too...creamy, and the oat part is too small. I like the big giant whole oat. I'm like a damn horse.

I prefer rolled oats, myself. Or instant, which always tastes like camping.

Also, I looked up the nutritional information of McDonald's oatmeal, and I really don't get why people are outraged about it (for values of people that equal Mark Bittman). The *price,* I grant you, is crazy high. But the nutritional value, in terms of calories/fiber/fat, is good, and the ingredients are honestly not the devil that Bittman makes them out to be.

Which -- maybe I have a disconnect, here. When people make oatmeal at home, do they just cook it in water and then eat it plain? Because, okay, compared to that Oliver Twistian gustatory nightmare, then McDonald's oatmeal is going to seem horrifically bad. But their oatmeal adds dried fruit, and I was under the impression that raisins are not an uncommon addition that people put in their own homemade oatmeal.

McDonald's also adds cream of some sort, and I know a lot of people who add milk to their homemade oatmeal, or even cook their oatmeal in milk.

And then there's the whole dealie where McDonald's adds brown sugar to the oatmeal. Honestly, I put applesauce in mine instead of sugar, but if I'm at a restaurant for breakfast and get oatmeal, I put sugar in it because there is no applesauce option.

So...I admit I don't get the food snob pearl-clutching over this one.

Actually, the way I make my oatmeal, it has about 30 calories more than McDonald's, and about the same amount of sugar and fiber. And I stand by the nutritional content of my oatmeal as healthy. So I also think McDonald's oatmeal sounds like a pretty good option for breakfast.