LJWorld.com

Just going to post the list and the link.... Your thoughts?.....

http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20100216/sc_livescience/happieststateshawaiimovesintofirstplace

If you needed an extra twist of the arm to set off on a Hawaii vacation, here it is: The big-wave state was the happiest place to live in 2009, according to a newly released national survey.

Topping the well-being list among all 50 states, Hawaii pulled ahead of the 2008 leader Utah. But Utah and its neighbors still have plenty to smile about. Nine of the top 10 well-being states reside in the Midwest and the West. The south didn't fare so well, taking seven of the 11 lowest well-being spots on the list.

The results come from interviews with more than 350,000 American adults who took part in the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index in 2009. This is the second year of the survey.

The well-being score for each state is an average of six sub-categories, including: life evaluation (self-evaluation about your present life situation and anticipated one in five years); emotional health; work environment (such as job satisfaction); physical health; healthy behavior; basic access (access to healthcare, a doctor, a safe place to exercise and walk, as well as community satisfaction).

The top 10 states and their average well-being scores (out of a possible 100 points):

Hawaii: 70.2 Utah: 68.3 Montana: 68.3 Minnesota: 67.8 Iowa: 67.6 Vermont: 67.4 Colorado: 67.3 Alaska: 67.3 North Dakota: 67.3 Kansas: 67.2

This is going to be a short blog... I was going to just make this a comment in my white Christmas thread but I thought it was worthy of its own space.

One of the most asinine things about work is the practice of buying one's boss a Christmas gift. Now, I'm not talking about a gift exchange where you draw numbers, straws, whatever and everyone participates (that in and of itself is a bit dumb as well but not quite as stupid as the subject at hand). I am talking about one representative of the staff going around collecting 5 bucks from everyone to purchase a gift for the boss man or woman. I never did understand this... First of all, doesn't this person make alot MORE than me salary-wise? So I am supposed to take from my measly, meager wages and contribute so that my boss can have yet another Precious Moments statuette to display in her much-nicer-than-my-own home.

Actually, at my current job, we don't practice this nonsense. The ironic thing is that my former boss here (she retired a few months ago) was one of the ONLY supervisors I've ever had who I would deem nice enough to purchase a gift for! Most of my bosses I could give a rat's ass if they have a merry Christmas, a happy Hannukah or a cool Kwanza. After we both clock out in the afternoon, you go your way and I go mine. Sayonara.

And on that note, Happy Christmas to all. :)

Okay, first of all, let's get the innuendo out of the way... For those of you who I have had banter with in threads pertaining to race, this has NOTHING to do with the color of anyone's skin. Let's get that out in the open and get past it. So shut yer yapper if that's where you were planning on going with the question at hand.

I just looked at the forecast and it said that Salina is supposed to have flurries (with a high of 29) on Christmas day. I didn't look at Lawrence's forecast but you guys are only a buck and change away from Salina so if we get snow, it is a good chance that you will as well.

To answer my own question, I don't want a white Christmas? Why? I am already tired of winter. I told my 15 year old son the other day I am getting too old for this cold. It is starting to affect me alot worse than it used to when I was his age, or even in my 20s. It cuts through me like steel and is relentless... Laughing at me with an evil cackle everytime I have to venture outside my door. I don't like winter. I don't like 100 degree weather either but anymore, I'd take that over 10 degrees.

Do any of you actually welcome the white stuff?-- Snow, that is...

As a few of you know, I live in Salina and as even fewer of you know, I had signed up for a city wide fitness deal called the Pounds Plunge. It was a 12 week stint of watching what we ate and exercising. There were weekly weigh ins at the YMCA and everyone's progress was tracked electronically.

Well the Pounds Plunge ended yesterday. I think I lost a total of 5 pounds. Yeh, I know, atleast I lost something and didn't gain any weight. And I realize that as a Tubby American (the new policitally correct term for lard butt), I must keep eating sensibly and exercising... The exercising part isn't that bad. I've always enjoyed working out. I don't mind cardio and I really like training with free weights as well as the nautilus-type weight machines. I have a membership to the Y as well as a 24 hour fitness center so I do have access to that sort of thing.

I will freely admit, however, that I enjoyed eating on Sunday. I knew I had no more weigh ins so I took my children out to eat at a breakfast buffet. I had french toast, whole grain pancakes, a sticky bun, some eggs (I am not a big egg fan but when I'm having breakfast, I need atleast a spoonful of them), a few hashbrowns, a slice of ham, quite a bit of bacon and fruit. Oh, I forgot, I have a biscuit with sausage gravy.

Don't pity the fat girl. Sometimes we're actually a happy bunch. We're not always jolly just for appearances, but many times we are jolly because damn that sticky bun certainly was delicious!!

Made you look you dirty crook, you stole your mother's pocketbook! :P

Okay, so I actually made myself chuckle there... If nothing else becomes of this blog, atleast it was worth a little laugh for myself. :D

The title of this blog is a spin on the song "Pimpin' Ain't Easy" and I'm sure that neither profession is without complication. I once got offered $200 to perform a certain act on someone sitting next to me at a bar-- this was a regular little dive here in Salina-- no, I didn't take the money. LOL But it made me think of all that strippers have to go through pretty much every night that they work. To be real honest with you, I don't think that I could endure the constant objectifying. Not that I'm Pamela Anderson or anything, but the few physical traits that I do possess that maybe deemed "attractive" get noticed a bit too much when I do patronize drunken establishments and I am keeping my garments on the entire time! It would really get obnoxious if I removed my sweatshirt. Geesh!

To my fellow novel writers-- keep on plugging away! That sizeable dent I made in my 50K words hasn't grown any since last weekend. LOL You'll get there though... I may not get there with you... No, I will get there with you. Yay us!

With cuddles and smooches,

Honeychild (and no, that's not a stripper name... That's my phone sex name dammit. How dare you suggest such a thing!)

Did you catch it? I just happened upon it... Was waiting for Leno to go off and the news to come on. Anyway, he asks a different famous person 10 random questions every night and this time it was our esteemed former governor.

Hopefully this link will work. I can't access youtube at work. ;P

Help me out if you can put up a better link...

Anyway, I thought she was pretty deadpan (as usual), BUT i really liked her answer to the question about keeping our children safe-- She actually was pretty funny w/ her response. I also liked her answer when asked who would in in a game of horse, Kathleen or Obama.

I usually watch the Late Show w/ David Letterman but for whatever reason, did not last night. So I wake up and watch the CBS Early Show this morning and see a clip of Dave talking about how someone was trying to use extortion as a means to extract $2 million dollars from him:

On his late night talk show Thursday, David Letterman shocked fans by revealing that someone tried to extort him over "sexual relationships" he had with female employees.

"This morning, I did something I've never done in my life," Letterman, 62, told his audience. "I had to go downtown and testify before a grand jury."

He said he had received a package from an individual who claimed to have information on his flingsandnbsp; with female employees and threatened to go to the press unless Letterman handed over $2 million.

Letterman contacted the Manhattan District Attorney's office, who launched an investigation.

Investigators advised Letterman to mail a phony $2 million check to the individual, which led to the extortionist's arrest on Thursday. Police have identified Robert Halderman, 51, an Emmy Award-winning producer, as a suspect.

Asked if he had sexual relationships, "My response to that is, yes I have. Would it be embarrassing if it were made public? Perhaps it would," Letterman told his audience. "I feel like I need to protect these people - I need to certainly protect my family."

http://omg.yahoo.com/news/david-letterman-target-of-extortion-plot-over-sexual-affairs/23613

And John Travolta recently had to testify in front of a Bahamian court that someone was trying to blackmail him right after the death of his son (which is foul in the foulest sense of foul).

I personally like the way that David Letterman handled it. He didn't have to put himself on blast like that in front of a live audience, as well as millions of viewers. I suppose this goes down as being "the best defense is a good offense". He could've let it play out behind the scenes but he chose to shed light on it himself. No saint, of course, but a good strategy nonetheless and I do think it shows integrity on his part, considering the circumstances.

I wouldn't want to be famous. I think that would suck... Rich? Maybe. Famous? Naaaw.

This is going to be a very short blog because its basically just a rant. As most of y'all know by now, I am a former resident and still a semi-frequent visitor of your charming little hamlet. I love Lawrence... It has such a embracing spirit about it that I haven't encountered in any other town I've lived in or have even visited. Everyone I know, from California to Chicago, who have been to Lawrence (most of them musicians who are friends of my boyfriend and are scattered throughout) have nothing but positive things to say about it.

BUT.... I happened to drive though Lawrence yesterday and encountered the crappiest traffic clusterf**k I have seen in many years. I knew that there was construction on 23rd BUT i didn't know that it was for pretty much the entire length of the street, from Iowa to K-10, and that BOTH sides of the street would be messed up at the same time, making the flow of cars not flow at all.

Salina is my home and I do have my issues w/ it. Like most of Kansas, it is occupied by alot of right-wing boomers who see no other way of doing things other than the ways that their parents and grandparents carried on. My boyfriend (who is a Chicago native) calls Salina "Lawrence's boring, conservative sister". So don't get me wrong-- I'm not trying to act like my hometown doesn't have its problem. HOWEVER the public works department here does have the good sense to know that, when you are fixing a major thoroughfare, you do NOT close off BOTH lanes at the same dang time! When we are fixing a major artery like Crawford, Broadway, Ohio or South 9th street here, we fix one lane at a time just so atleast in one direction, traffic can still flow normally.

What the hell, Larryville? You almost had me cussing you out yesterday morning and afternoon!! Don't inconvenience me like that again, understand?!