Ten things I like about Tom

All dressed up: Tom and I, out on the town.

All good things come to those who wait ...

After years of striking out in the love department, this time -- maybe -- I have found the right one! Of course, I have thought that in the first blush of past relationships (witness my blog post of Aug. 9, 2011), only to have the relationship end after it became apparent that we were not really suited.

But well, this time just feels different somehow. I actually me Tom a couple of years ago, when he attended a party I hosted for a mutual friend of ours, Alicia. But he was dating someone at the time, so that was that. Fast forward to early 2012, when he asked Alicia for my phone number and promptly called me. From our first phone conversastion -- which lasted almost two hours and could have gone on who-knows-how-long -- we were simpatico, in sync, on the same wavelength, etc. etc.
Here, in no particular order, are 10 things I find so great about Tom:

• He is patient.
• He is thoughtful and kind.
• He is sexy and loving.
• He is communicative.
• He is ambitious.
• He is very intelligent.
• He is a compromiser.
• He is a planner.
• He is funny and fun to be with.
• He really digs ME!

So, there you have it. As I write this, I am thinking of him and the next time I will see him.
Can't wait ...

The right plate to lose weight

Pile it on: A white plate and mostly whitish food
is a bad combination for portion control.

On a diet or weight maintenance plan? Here's a simple strategy that I ran across, as reported in Scientific America, to help control your portion sizes: Choose your plate color according to what's in the meal.

A study found that people tend to pile more food on their plates when the food color and the plate color are similar. So, for instance, if you're eating spaghetti in marinara sauce, stay away from a red plate! And if it's in alfredo, choose any dinnerware other than white.

This makes sense, if you think about it. It's much easier not to "see" how much food is actually on the plate when it blends into the background, whereas a starker contrast would act as a better visual signal of portion size.

Of course, many of us don't have a plethora of plates in our pantry -- meaning we can't easily adjust the dinnerware color to the meal content. However, it's good to keep this study in mind when dishing out servings, no matter what color you're dishing them on!

Errr ... never mind

Well, things are over between Kerry and me. Turns out, once the bloom of new love wore off, there were too many things standing in the way of any kind of long-term commitment. He wasn't the guy I thought he was .... sigh. And I realized that I deserve much more.

So, while I'm in a period of sadness and mourning for the failed relationship, I know I will bounce back soon and be ready for the next adventures in my life -- with or without a partner.

For, after all of these years of being single, I've learned how to be happy in this status and have a rewarding and rich social life, with as much activity as I care to engage in.

Oh, don't get me wrong, I still prefer to be in a relationship, for all of the wonderful things that having a partner in life can bring -- but NOT with the wrong person!!

Onward and upward ....

Five things I like best about Kerry

 So, I met this great guy a couple of months ago, at a Memorial Weekend gathering. His name is Kerry, he is a little more than a year older than I, and we hit it off immediately. The first good omen was that he is a longtime friend of my good friend Cori -- always the preferable way to meet someone, if you ask me.

Ironically, we might have met almost a year earlier -- at an engagement party for Cori's daughter that we both attended, but we never ran into each other that night. But so be it: May 30, 2011 was the date of our first fateful meeting.

Anyway, like I said, he is a great guy with many wonderful qualities. We DO have our differences, of course, but we are working those out as the relationship goes along. Which leads me to the first on my list of the five things I like best about Kerry:

1. He shows great respect for me by honoring my wishes and needs and working toward a mutual compromise -- which, yes, sometimes means doing it MY way!

2. He loves to touch and be touched. This adds a wonderful element to our lovemaking, because I think it's sexy as hell!

3. He is extremely kind and thoughtful. This was never so apparent than when he stepped up to provide invaluable assistance during a recent, intense caregiving bout with my parents.

4. He also has a strong streak of devil-may-care, which has led to some fun adventures already (and I'll plead the fifth on providing any details!).

5. He is in this for keeps. I'm still taking things step by step and day by day, but I do sense the possibility of long-term with this guy.

So, stay tuned ... there might very well be a Part 2 to this blog -- five MORE things I like best about Kerry!

The dangers of dildos

The health risks from toxins found in plastics such as water bottles and food containers have been increasingly brought to light in recent years, including by yours truly, in former blogs about dumping BPAs from my kitchen cabinets.

But I never really thought about the dangers lurking in my bedside nightstand -- in the form of the few sex toys that reside there. That is, until I spotted an article about the Green Party of Germany's movement to protect the country's citizens from the toxic plastics found in many of these sex "enhancers."

Says a story in Spiegel:

Dildos and vibrators contain dangerously high levels of phthalates and other
plasticizers, which can cause infertility and hormone imbalances, they
claim. Now the party wants the government to take action to protect the 20
percent of Germans who use sex toys.

Yuk!

The story goes on to say that the Green Party is recommending that people put condoms on their devices when using them. I guess that would work, but way to ruin a mood, huh?!?

Rather, I think it might be time to ditch the dangerous dildos and go green instead, by restocking my "toy chest" with environmentally friendlier products. Here are a couple of websites to get started on this new quest:

Earth Erotics

Good Vibes Ecorotics

Orgasmic Earth

Free money! (aka asset recovery)

So, I get this notice in the mail from an entity called "Estate Trust Asset Recovery," informing me that I'm owed $125.51 from various unclaimed funds. In legal parlance, I'm the "claimant" and the monies due to me are from "property accounts." In order to receive these funds, I need to send this organization personal ID info, and in due time I'll get back $100.51 (the total, minus a $25 cut for ETAR).

Being wary of sending personal info to any unsolicited source, I did an Internet search on "estate asset recovery, Florida," to see whether the company is legit. It is.

I also discovered that, indeed, I AM owed money! But guess what? There's no reason to fork over any finder's fee to anyone. All you need to do is log on to the site fltreasurehunt.org, a government-run site with a searchable database of unclaimed properties in the state of Florida. Fill in the information as you go along, for all accounts you have claim to, and print out the claim form -- which you then mail in with the required proofs of identification (listed clearly on the form).

Woo-hoo! Free money! Well -- not exactly, of course. It's money that was yours all along. But it's kind of like finding cash in your house that you forgot was there -- tucked into the pocket of a pair of jeans; stashed in a fancy going-out purse; stuffed in the back of a junk drawer. Don't you love when that happens? Makes you want to undertake a treasure hunt in other places around the house ...

Just like this blog should make you want to do a treasure hunt on the Web. Oh, and in case you live elsewhere than Florida, or think you might be owed monies in another state, check out the site missingmoney.com, an aggregate of databases from multiple states. Again, it's fairly straightforward to navigate.

Good luck on your treasure hunt for free money!!

Has blogging 'hit the wall'?

I ran across an interesting study about how different generations are using the Internet, put out by Pew Internet research and reported on Mashable.

The results reveal some unsurprising facts, such as that

The Millennials – those ages 18 to 33 – are more likely to engage in many online activities than older generations, namely social networking, using online classifieds, instant messaging, playing online games, listening to music, participating in virtual worlds and reading blogs.

Or that social networking (i.e., FACEBOOK!) is on the rise among all generations. Or that everyone uses e-mail.

But there was also one fact that I found extremely interesting: Blog writing is, apparently, on the decline (except for a slight uptick in the older generations -- those over 33). Not only that, but only a slim percentage of people even have a blog: 9-19%, depending on the age group.

The researchers posit that social media sites like Facebook and Twitter allow users to share personal information and opinions, thereby supplanting the need or desire to write a blog. And, judging by personal experience, this theory has great merit. For, my own posts on this site have plunged quite a bit, as I have grown more active and interactive on Facebook.

But I also suspect there's another phenomenon at play, which I'll call "social media fatigue." Perhaps the Internet is reaching the "tipping point" of saturation. People's time, and interest, and attention -- these are all things in limited supply. There are only so many social media platforms, or news sites, or online stores, or blogs, that a person can browse on any given day, before the eyes glaze over and the mind begins to wander ...

Not only that, but blogging is hard work! And, for the vast majority of us, it's purely a labor of love -- in other words, we do it for free. Well, guess what? If you do something for free, you'll only be willing to dedicate free time to it on a regular basis.

Now, I don't know about you, but my free time is becoming more and more precious each day! And sitting down to post a new blog is slipping further and further down the list ....