Yeah, B, right on. It's a Scandinavian thing! My British-descended, NYC-born dad taught debate, but in his personal life, he usually preferred to take it easy and tell a lot of jokes and anecdotes. (Not that the Brits are any wimps when it comes to a jolly opinion exchange-- far from it!) My mom was just a natural debater, however, as was her Danish dad, and his Danish dad before him. Danes, at least the ones here in Iowa (the state with the most people of Danish descent), are WAY too stubborn and contrary to agree on much, heh heh, except good food and good beer! Which latter item, btw, my stubborn Swedish ex used to go to Danmark just to buy... partly for the price, though, I guess.

I was going to take a vacation from the board, at least for a day or two, but of course, despite waking up with a bad headache, I was curious to see what may have been written in this thread since I last posted. I appreciate your good intentions, Dave, but I find I can't resist commenting that it wasn't arguing politics that caused the problem here last night. It was the point at which Dale let loose with overt and seemingly hostile personal insult-- that I've allegedly been "blasting" people on the board and then "snuggling up" to them when they agree with me, that I "always" misquote them, making their comments about me when they're not, indulging in "paranoia", etc.-- all of which was so startling and hurtful that I couldn't help but defend myself. NONE of that was fated to be simply because we were talking politics! His attacking me personally among friends in a public forum just because I was debating Obama with him more stringently or successfully than he was apparently comfortable with is not OK with me, and if I can't say so in reply, then to Hel with it all. It was wrong of him, deeply offensive to me, and it just wasn't in me to back down. I wanted him and everyone who was reading to know exactly what I thought of it, though I sought to word myself reasonably, if angrily and with characteristic forthrightness. I don't believe in sweeping things under a rug. Nothing gets learned that way. This kind of sorting-out process needs to happen after something like this, in my view, or the whole thing was in vain. Dale's insults were extreme, unwarranted, and I think an apology is an order.

Laurie, I admire your attitude. I always take things far too personally. I feel your pain re the neck arthritis. I recently obtained a tens unit and one of those over-the-door traction devices which help immensely , although I doubt they can help with the temperature changes.

Thanks, Robin. :-) I've gotten tens therapy at the chiropractor's, but maybe I should get one of those traction thingies to have at home. Sounds like we're close in age-- I just turned 60 on the 6th. Alvin's music makes me feel like I'm 17 again, too! 1969 "was a very good year", to quote the Sinatra song... ;-)

Used to be a hothead, but the older I get, the more "comfortably numb" I become. A bit worrying in a way, because I can even laugh at stupid politicians these days and I don't even try to argue with the wife anymore. I mean, she's won every argument for 35 years, so why bother..

PS, Swedes used to go to Denmark because they had beer with more alcohol in it. Today people go to Germany or Poland for cheaper price. I don't go anywhere, because pure water is the cheapest and healthiest drink of them all.

Happy Birthday Laurie.

I will be 60 in April. I look forward to it. My youngest son is getting married two days after my birthday. I will be spending my b-day alone with my two sons walking around Manhattan, which is my favorite thing to do there.

I spent over $2,000 at the chiro getting tens treatments at $50 per 15-minute treatment. It helped a lot, but I stopped because that is a lot of money. You can imagine how upset I was to find that a very good quality home unit can be purchased online for about $30 or $40. You may need a prescription, I am not sure. But, now whenever I feel a flare-up coming on, I zap myself with the tens unit and it never develops. I was almost in despair and now I am happy as a lark.

As for Alvin and his music.... this morning I noticed that I have the smile of Mona Lisa on my face at all times. It feels so good to have his music and his face and his voice running through me like a river, every waking moment.

It is good to know that I am not alone in cherishing those juicy feelings of young love (and other things ). I wonder if men can really know just how powerful Alvin's attraction is for women.

Oh, I imagine about 10% of them do! ;-)

Ah, yes.

Tee hee....of course she has! I love it!