I have been trying to lose some pounds for a while now. I’ve been doing yoga, dancercise and even considered top diet pills. All to no avail (of course, just considering the diet pills doesn’t help, buy you get my gist). I have been steadily gaining the pounds. I was having a difficult time understanding it, but then realized something.

My medication for the FM is probably making this happen.

One of the methods of treating Fibromyalgia is anti-depressants. I can’t take the usual kind- such as Lexapro – because I’m allergic to SSRIs. So I’m taking Elavil in small doses. Still, one of the side effects is, sadly, weight gain. And it’s working a little too well in that area, I think. Yikes!

Another thing that could be working against my efforts to slim down is my reproductive ills. I have a 3.3 cm (1.15… inch) cystic mass on my left ovary. My Gyn says that it’s nothing to be worried about, but that it could be messing with my hormones. That can cause a whole range of issues, most of which I’m certain affect me right now. The solution? Medication, of course. Birth control pills. I think we all know what one of the side effects of those is. That’s right, folks. Weight gain.

I should be thinking about my self in a more positive manner, but I am absolutely convinced that some of my medical issues are stemming from my weight. For instance, my lack of energy. Were I a few pounds lighter I would no doubt have more energy. Also, my hip and ankle issues. Hello? I’m 5 foot 1 inch tall and my poor ankles and hips aren’t designed to carry this much weight. I think if I dropped down to a more healthy weight these issues would resolve themselves. Ya know?

Of course, it doesn’t help that my beautiful daughter weighed in at 161 lbs when she gave birth and almost two weeks later is a svelt 120 lbs. She’s lost 40 pounds and that makes me green, green, GREEN with envy. Seriously, I want to do that. LOL! I would like to mention, though, that I’m happy for her because she’s gotten past the danger of the pre-eclampsia and my jealously is purely selfish wishing. She still looks much better than that cheeky friend of hers that I can’t stand.

Today we go for a long walk and HOPEFULLY I’ll be able to manage my pain afterward.

Keep your fingers crossed.

I have been not-so secretly reading some EntreCard blogs (blogs that are listed in EC, in case you didn’t know). I don’t have this blog over there, because, well, I’ve already got one (or two) and I just don’t feel like dropping for one more blog. Recently there have been quite a few ads featuring women in fine lingerie or tacky lingerie, as the case may be. Most of these ads pointed to blogs about making money blogging. HUH? What does making money blogging at home in your dirty underwear have to do with sexy women in sexy underwear?

Well, Graham took action and banned to offending ads from EC. I think this was a wise move. It’s one thing to show a scantily clad lady on your card if your site is all about lingerie (with which I have no problem, owning a few pieces myself), but it’s quite another to try to trick some horny internet surfers to click your boring site.

At any rate, it caused a slight stir with some internet marketers. These are the ones who have no qualms about doing whatever it takes. They didn’t think that their ads should have been censored. The problem was, though, that as soon as one guy put up a sexy woman then 10 more did the same (a bunch of independent thinkers there). I imagine that they did get some clicks, but nothing that would ever cause visitors to come back.

Imagine if you’re looking for something nice to wear on Valentine’s Day and thought “Wow! That site looks like it might be the ticket!” and then you end up reading about how to optimize your page for StumbeUpon users. *Yawn* I imagine that would really increase someone’s “bounce rate” and I really can’t imagine that the visitors looking for the sexy women are going to click on the ads on the make money online blog. Really?

I think I’m becoming burnt out on surfing anyway. I spend too much time reading (and rolling my eyes) than being productive. I think I do much better without online social interaction. I get a lot more done.

Updated Below

Apparently Google’s out smacking the hell out of blogs again (warning: that link goes to a really long forum thread). Everyone in that thread got smacked down to a PR 0. So did I. Woot! I’ve looked around and noticed that not everyone was effected this time.  There’s a huge uproar in the PayPerPost forums. People are wondering what they should do, what will Google’s next move be, where’s the money going to come from now? Of course, those hurt the worst were those that needed that little bit of extra income the most. Ah, isn’t that nice?

I’ve only just started paid blogging. I don’t spend a whole lot of time at it and only do it when the opp seems too good to pass up. Back when I was a PR 2 (hahaha!!!) I did a couple of higher priced ones, but generally I was too slow to get to them simply because everyone who had been slapped down was grabbing at them too. I’ve been keeping my options open and continued to do my own thing. I’m by no means rich from those couple of opps, but it’s nice to have that extra little bit of money in my account. That little bit of money goes up and down, but overall I’m still not wealthy. So I’m still going to take paid opportunities if they suit my fancy as well as doing other things.

I’m definitely not going to start letting Google give me fits now, after all this time of not knowing or caring about PageRank. I’m not going to boycott Google or ban them or give a damned about them anymore.  I’ll change only so much as going back to 3 months ago when I had no idea what was so special about PR.

I do see some people taking action to ease their PR woes, like removing paid links or adding nofollow. Some are even removing links to their own sites from signatures. It’s sad to see Google have that kind of effect on honest people just trying to make an honest buck. Go after the scrapers and the real splogs. Lord knows enough of them have trackbacked to this site since I joined the Do Follow movement. Yet there they are, full of adsense ads and other people’s content. Gah! They don’t care about PR and they’re getting Google’s money. Go figure.

There’s one bright spot to all of this. Costa at Blog Gigs has a really funny post up called “If Your PR Hasn’t Been Demoted, You Are a Square“. It’ll make you smile even if you’re crying. Way to lighten the mood, Costa. Thanks.

Update:

Please visit this post for an up-to-date opinion on this whole flippin’ matter.