Wish I'd Said That: Hell Explained

The following is an actual question given on a University of Washington chemistry mid term. The answer by one student was so 'profound' that the professor shared it with colleagues, via the Internet:

Bonus Question: Is Hell exothermic (gives off heat) or endothermic (absorbs heat)?

Most of the students wrote proofs of their beliefs using Boyle's Law (gas cools when it expands and heats when it is compressed) or some variant.

However, one student wrote the following:

Bonus Question: Is Hell exothermic (gives off heat) or endothermic (absorbs heat)?

Most of the students wrote proofs of their beliefs using Boyle's Law (gas cools when it expands and heats when it is compressed) or some variant.

One student,... however, wrote the following:

First, we need to know how the mass of Hell is changing in time. So we need to know the rate at which souls are moving into Hell and the rate at which they are leaving. I think that we can safely assume that once a soul gets to Hell, it will not leave. Therefore, no souls are leaving. As for how many souls are entering Hell, let's look at the different religions that exist in the world today.

Most of these religions state that if you are not a member of their religion, you will go to Hell. Since there is more than one of these religions and since people do not belong to more than one religion, we can project that all souls go to Hell. With birth and death rates as they are, we can expect the number of souls in Hell to increase exponentially. Now, we look at the rate of change of the volume in Hell because Boyle's Law states that in order for the temperature and pressure in Hell to stay the same, the volume of Hell has to expand proportionately as souls are added.

This gives two possibilities:

1. If Hell is expanding at a slower rate than the rate at which souls enter Hell, then the temperature and pressure in Hell will increase until all Hell breaks loose.

2. If Hell is expanding at a rate faster than the increase of souls in Hell, then the temperature and pressure will drop until Hell freezes over.

So which is it?

If we accept the postulate given to me by Teresa during my Freshman year that, 'It will be a cold day in Hell before I sleep with you,' and take into account the fact that I slept with her last night, then number two must be true, and thus I am sure that Hell is exothermic and has already frozen over. The corollary of this theory is that since Hell has frozen over, it follows that it is not accepting any more souls and is therefore, extinct.........leaving only Heaven, thereby proving the existence of a divine being which explains why, last night, Teresa kept shouting 'Oh my God.'

THIS STUDENT RECEIVED AN A+

Wish I'd Said That is a series of posts where I re-publish reader comments to stories around the Internet that I wish I'd made myself.

Wish I'd Said That: The Glock

From a Huffington Post article on the surge in sales of Glock semi-automatic guns in Arizona after the killings there.

SionShankel writes:

Just remember it was not a NRA glock toting member that jumped in and stopped this violence on Sat.

It was done by unarmed liberals. And in a state where anyone can have and carry a concealed weapon anywhere..­.and yet these unarmed liberals saved lives and took down the shooter while he was still shooting.

Wish I'd Said That is a series of posts where I re-publish reader comments to stories around the Internet that I wish I'd made myself.

Wish I'd Said That: Socialism

An anonymous commenter posted this on Yahoo! News regarding the GOP's plans to block all bills until the rich are rewarded with an extension of their tax cuts. Snarky and makes the point:

(1) If you live in subsidized housing, move. Into the street, if necessary. But not to a shelter. All shelters receive government support one way or another-either getting money directly from the government, using government-subsidized resources, or being subsidized via the tax code.

(2) If you're on food stamps, tear them up, throw them away, and don't get any more. Just starve. Food banks are a no-no, just like shelters. All non-profits are government subsidized through the tax code.

(3) If you're on Medicaid, or your children are on SCHIP, just say no! Pay out of pocket or get sick and die. Like the man said, "Give me liberty AND give me death!"

(4) If you are on Medicare, drop out. Refuse to use your Medicare card, and pay for all your medical expenses yourself. You can try to get medical insurance, of course. Good luck with that. Aside from supplemental Medicare coverage, you'll probably have to go to Switzerland, or something.

(5) Pull your kids out of school. Obviously, public schools are socialist. But so are charter schools that receive public money. And even purely private schools employ teachers who went to public school. Yes, I know it's shocking, but it's true! So, no school! It's socialist, through and through.

(6) Stay off the streets. Almost all streets, roads and highways in America are socialist. Private roads are incredibly rare, so unless you live on one, stay off the streets entirely. Besides, you can't buy gas without paying state and federal taxes.

(7) Stay off the sidewalks. They're just as socialist as the streets, if not moreso.

(8) Stop using municipal water. Municipal water is socialist. Use only commercial bottled water for cooking, bathing, clothes-washing, etc.

(9) Tell the fire department to screw off. Notify your local fire department that if your house catches on fire, you do not want them to come. They're socialists, after all. You'd rather have your children die a horrible death.

(10) Tell the police to screw off, too! Notify your local police department that you don't need their help if anyone steals your stuff, or tries to kill you or anything like that. In fact, you'll kill them if they try. You've warned them politely... this time!

Wish I'd Said That is a series of posts where I re-publish reader comments to stories around the Internet that I wish I'd made myself.

Wish I'd Said That: God

One of my Mafia Wars buddies on Facebook posted this one:

“You can safely assume that you've created God in your own image when it turns out that God hates all the same people you do.”

— Anne Lamott

Wish I'd Said That is a series of posts where I re-publish reader comments to stories around the Internet that I wish I'd made myself.

If I'm Pissy, Blame My Kidney Stones

Well, folks, things have been rather quiet here in Why Oh Why? land. I feel like my stories of kidney stones are a broken records and I don't want to bore y'all with my day-to-day struggles. I find the whole thing tedious myself!

When last I wrote, back in March, I had just passed two stones and had the results of the one passed in January.

A whole lot has happened since then so let me catch you up. This is a long, long post so pull up a chair or start reading if you're having trouble getting to sleep!

** THESE ARE MY PERSONAL EXPERIENCES. DON'T SUBSTITUTE THEM FOR THE ADVICE AND CARE OF YOUR TRAINED MEDICAL PROFESSIONALS! **

Since that time in March, I had passed quite a bit of blood. When I say "quite a bit," I mean that my pee is dark brown for days at a time. Based on my previous personal experience, I thought it took about 3 months from the time of first blood until the time that a stone passes. In hindsight, I think this was simply a coincidence and there really is no way to determine when all these things take place.

I was afflicted with this on both of my summer trips to NYC. Passing lots of blood, discomfort/pain, and the anxiety of possibly passing a stone. It's hard to enjoy anything when, in the back of your mind, you think that you could be in debilitating pain at any moment. What would I do? Where would I go? How do you get to a hospital in NYC?

The Diagnosis
So mid-summer, after four months of bleeding and I had returned from my second trip to the city, I went in to my primary doctor to get it sorted out. She sent me for a CT scan of my back to see what exactly we were dealing with.

The news wasn't good. You see, every time I would pass a stone, I told myself that it was the last. That it was a leftover from years ago and it had finally made its way to daylight.

The CT showed that I had four stones in my left kidney and eight in my right. Two of the four in the left were 15mm at their largest width. (One was shaped like a boomerang.) Since a max of about 2mm maybe 3mm in diameter can pass — they can be maybe 6-8mm long x 2mm wide like my others...shaped like a grain of rice — these two 15mm's were not going anywhere and would require some form of surgery. On the right, the largest was 7mm but thin and possibly could pass on its own.

I was referred to a urologist and I finally had someone who was going to do all the testing on WHY I keep making these stones. He said that kidney stones are not really a mystery. Once they find out why my body makes them, then we can prevent them, and get rid of the ones I have. The analysis of the January stone showed it to be the most common calcium oxalate type.

I was also told that kidney stones aren't exactly as harmless as I thought. They can cause serious kidney problems that could lead to kidney disease and dialysis! Had I known that, I would have been more proactive in my own care. I thought it was a matter of toughing out the pain and that be that. The CT scan also showed that my right kidney has lost about 20% of its mass.

He ran a series of blood tests and all the blood work was fine. That was great news! I then had to complete a urine collection test. I was sent two 64 oz containers, and I was to collect all urine for 48 hours — 24 hours per jug. When I saw these jugs, I thought it was rather ridiculous. Even funnier was that there was instructions for people that urinate more than that. More than that? I filled about 2" in the bottom on both days.

It turns out that I am severely dehydrated. Not such a surprise since I found out I was supposed to be filling one of those jugs a day! All of the other indicators of stones showed some elevation in the lab tests, but that was because of the lack of water to dilute them.

As I thought about it, I always have a drink with me but I rarely drink. And when I do, I take a couple of swallows and that's it. There's always some discussion about how much water people need to drink a day. Regardless of who you are, your pee should be CLEAR. You may need to drink a quart or gallon to achieve that. If your pee is yellow, you aren't drinking enough. End of story.

The "prescription" for my stones? Drink more water. Now, I thought I drank a lot during the day but this clearly showed me that wasn't even close to the case. I'm now required to drink 3 liters a day in order to pee 2.5 liters. This has NOT been easy but they assure me it becomes habit. Now I drink an 8 oz glass of fluid (usually Crystal Light) an hour. I set the oven timer for an hour so I can't slack off. I was also told to use a straw since we drink more through a straw than just from a bottle or glass. I still have to avoid foods that are high in oxalate including chocolate, spinach, cola drinks, coffee, pepper, peanuts, and a bunch of other items. Luckily, my dietary changes are minimal except the fluid intake.

The Options
What to do with those existing stones? I had 3 surgical options, each of which meant being under general anesthesia.

Option 1 was Extracorporeal Shock Wave Lithotripsy. That's the process where they send sound shockwaves from different directions to collide on the stone to break it up. I have had this before, once on each kidney, back in the mid 90's. You may have heard about this when people describe sitting in a tub of water. The times I had it weren't in a tub, rather I was on a table with my lower back resting on a "bag of jelly" through which the waves were sent.

I decided against Option 1 because the stones are big and it would take forever. When all was said and done, it is about 70% effective and anything that is left behind would be the basis for a new stone to form. It can also physically damage the kidney and have other side effects.

Option 2 was Ureteroscopy. They send a scope up through the penis, prostate, urethra, bladder, and ureter to the kidney. The scope includes a camera and a laser to break up the stones.

I decided against Option 2 because it seemed the most invasive. It involved a lot more of the urinary tract, which I think has had enough trauma throughout my life, and it is a procedure best for stones caught in the ureter.

Option 3 was Percutaneous Nephrolithotomy. This meant going in through my back. At first I was a little worried about how invasive it would be in relation to Option 2. When I asked about the size of the incision, I was told there would be no cutting. Essentially, they poke a hold in your back, push it through the kidney to the hollow center (renal pelvis) where the stones are, and put the scope through that. It also uses a camera and laser to break up the stones. The fragments are removed through the tube in the back.

I selected Option 3 because the chances of success (over 90%) were much higher. If things went well, all stones would be removed. Another nice about no cutting is that the scar should be a small dot like a puncture wound.

My goal is to have both kidneys stone free so I don't ever have to worry about this again!


The Surgery
When I met with the surgeon, he initially thought that we'd have to schedule for the end of October. When I said that the sooner the better worked for me, we decided to do it the following Monday. In our meeting, the doctor was knowledgeable, reassuring, calming, and explained things very well.

Two weeks ago, I went in and had the surgery. I really wasn't afraid at all. The surgeon had come with the highest of recommendations (my doctor's husband had gone to him for the same thing) and I figured they do these things all the time.

My brother dropped me off at 7 a.m. and I headed up to admitting. I told him there was no need to stay, and if there was a problem, they'd call him. Maybe I shouldn't have been so nonchalant about it but when you live alone for as long as I have, I don't have the need for the comfort of others.

A handsome and comedic nurse came in and took all my vital signs. The next nurse, who was to put the ports in my arm, wasn't nearly as skilled. I still have huge bruises on my right arm where she was unsuccessful. An RN came in and put a needle in my left arm without much trouble. It seems that my veins would collapse from dehydration. Notice a pattern here?

I was wheeled down to the prep area where I met with several anesthesiologists that asked lots of the same questions. Have I had surgery before? Were there any problems? Am I allergic to any meds? Why was I there? When I told them I was subject to motion sickness, they put a patch behind my ear. Apparently people with motion sickness are more prone to be sick from anesthesia and the patch helps.

The surgeon came in and went through the whole litany again. He asked (although he knew) which kidney was being operated on and then marked my left arm with a pen. All standard procedure.

A neighbor mentioned that her niece worked at the hospital and she'd send her my way to make sure I was okay. Talk about serendipity! She came by while I was in pre-op and told me she'd been assigned to my operation! That made me feel a bit better. Although I wonder if she's the one that put in my catheter. *blush*

I was wheeled in to the operating room at 9:30 and I woke up at 1:30. They wheeled me upstairs and into a regular room. Everything felt fine. The surgeon came in about 5 and told me that everything went extremely well, that he'd sealed me up on the outside (sometimes they have to leave the tube in) and that I was able to go home if I wanted. My next door neighbor was on her way from work to visit me so I got a ride home with her. Bod-a-bing, bod-a-boom!

The surgeon also told me that he'd placed a stent through the ureter from the kidney to the bladder. We'd discussed this prior. It assured drainage without the tube coming out the back. Since there is quite a bit of bleeding, they want to make sure that a blood clot doesn't block the passage of urine and causing any post-op complications.

We dropped off my prescriptions on the way home, and I picked them up in the morning. General antibiotic (Cipro), a pain med (generic Vicadin), and another med for the urinary tract.

I peed a lot of blood for the remainder of the week which was normal and I was told to expect it. I was able to walk around immediately. The pain was a dull throb; I took only one pain pill every four hours. By the end of week, however, I was constipated which was causing more discomfort that the kidney. It was a side effect from the pain med. I stopped taking that and things moved through with the assistance of a suppository.

The throbbing kept up throughout the weekend but it wasn't so bad that it was unbearable. All of the online information says that patients should expect to be in the hospital for 2-3 days after this procedure. Being sore for a week was something I expected.

One nice bonus of going home the same day is that my health insurance plan is set up that I pay a co-pay for the various parts of the operation. If it is out-patient, my co-pay to the hospital is $75. If I had stayed overnight, the co-pay would have jumped to $500. So I ended up saving $425!

I went in for a follow up appointment the following Thursday. They took a KUB (Kidney, Ureter, Bladder) X-ray in the office. The doctor thought he saw a little something on the X-ray that he may not have gotten during surgery but he couldn't be sure. I have a follow up CT scan in 2 weeks where we'll know for sure. I hope he got them all!

Also on that doctors visit was the thing I feared the most. The removal of the stent. You see, when the stent is put in, you're under anesthesia. When they take it out, you ain't. When I had this done back in the 90s, it was one of the most traumatic things I've ever gone through. The doctor assured me it wouldn't be as bad this time since they used to use stiff metal hardware as opposed to the flexible plastic used nowadays.

I'm not gonna lie, it wasn't a walk on the park. I laid on the table and they covered me from chest to toe with a 3" diameter hole cut in the center. He grabbed my penis and I closed my eyes! He pushed the probe down through. It pumped in numbing gel that helped somewhat. The doctor had great bedside manner and he talked to me the whole time. He watched a screen on the wall that showed what was going on inside. He wasn't able to grab the end of the stent right away. It was pressed up against the side of my bladder so he had to fish around for it. Once he grabbed it, he started pulling everything out. It was over in about two minutes.

What's Next?
First, I keep on drinking the water and monitoring my diet.

I go for the CT scan to make sure everything on the left is in good shape. Then, we have to decide what to do on the right. I'm inclined to do the same thing but we'll see what the scan shows and what he recommends.

In the interest of clarity, these links are in temporal order.

First Signs Of A Stone May 7, 2007
What I Know About Kidney Stones May 8, 2007
A Discussion Of Lithotripsy May 9, 2007
Peeing Blood, No Pain May 11, 2007
Pain Returns May 18, 2007
Pain Again In The Back May 26, 2007
Bloody Urine Is Back July 12, 2007
Passed Kidney Stone #1 July 26, 2007
Passed Kidney Stone #2 July 30, 2007
I'm The Morton's Salt Girl March 26, 2008
Stone On The Move March 28, 2008
Well At Least I'm Not Having A Baby April 4, 2008
Passing Kidney Stones Spring, 2008
I May Finally Have A Solution To My Kidney Stones! March 15, 2010
If I'm Pissy, Blame My Kidney Stones October 11, 2010

I wish you well.

It Gets Better: Sister Unity

Sex columnist and frequent MSNBC contributor Dan Savage has started the "It Gets Better Project" on YouTube and Facebook. It is designed to give desperate LGBT students hope. A sort of voice from their future. People recount their own bouts with homophobia, with the message that if you just hang on, life gets better.

A couple of my friends have recorded messages. I'm posting this one, tipped by Jeff, because Sister Unity Divine strikes such an imposing visual but the message is even more powerful. (Prince Poppycock from America's Got Talent reminds me of The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence.)

Wish I'd Said That: Teabagging

From a Huffington Post article on whether the Tea Party should embrace or eshew socially conservative positions.

DallasDon writes:

TeaBagging used to refer to one gay man lowering his test_ickles into the mouth of another.......

But it's taken the far Rightwing fringe to turn TeaBagging into something silly and disgusting.

Wish I'd Said That is a series of posts where I re-publish reader comments to stories around the Internet that I wish I'd made myself.

Saturday Sh!ts & Giggles: Glee Meets Mother Lode

Wish I'd Said That: Is My Husband Gay?

As I cruise the Internet, I always come upon reader comments that I wish I'd made myself. Here's a reply to the "Is My Husband GAY?" article over on parody site Christwire. The bogus article, picked up by The Huffington Post, uses funny stereotypes in an attempt to help women determine if their husband is gay.

Here are 10 more ways you can definitely know if your husband is gay:

1. A male hooker reveals to the press that he has been having sex for the past three years with your husband, the vehemently anti-gay pastor of a 12,000 member “church” in Colorado Springs and president of the National Association of evangelicals.

2. Your husband, a Republican senator from Idaho who has actively opposed gay rights and voted for every piece of legislation to limit them, has been arrested by undercover cops in an airport men’s room after being caught groping into the toilet stall next to his.

3. Your husband, who has made a career out of marginalizing gay people and fighting against equal protection for them, got caught after hiring a gay prostitute from Rentboy.com to give him daily nude massages on a tour of Europe.

4. After losing his Republican bid for the California senate race that he just spent $6 million on, your husband tells the press he is “bi-sexual” and now donates more than half of the total funds the Log Cabin Republicans raise each year.

5. Your outspokenly anti-gay husband, who also happens to be a former Republican member of the Washington state legislature and now is the mayor of Spokane, is caught in an internet sting making explicit sexual advances to an 18-year-old man. He has also been accused by two other men of having had sex with them while they were underage and in the boy scouts. All this happens after your husband just vetoed domestic partnership benefits for city employees.

6. Your state assemblyman husband, who supported Proposition 8 and has worked to pass other legislation against gay people, is arrested for drunk driving at 2 a.m. after spending the evening in a gay bar in Sacramento. He has another man in his car when he’s pulled over.

7. Your husband, the chairman of the Republican Party of Wisconsin, is prosecuted for having sex with an underage boy.

8. Your husband, a Washington State lawmaker, resigns after it is revealed that he has been paying men to have sex with him.

9. Your husband, [an aide to — editor's note] the chairman of the Orange County, California GOP, is arrested after having sex with a 14-year-old boy he met on the internet.

10. You walk in on your husband–the outspokenly anti-gay Attorney General of Alabama, who has worked to get legislation enacted to criminalize gay sex in that state–having sex with the Homecoming King of Troy University.

Bonus highly suspicious behaviors that probably mean your husband is gay:

1. He starts a quasi religious political organization called “Focus on the Family” and uses it as a platform to spread misconceptions about gay people.

2. He has any involvement whatsoever in any anti-gay or ex-gay group.

3. He uses the word “faggot.”

Basically, ladies, it’s like this: if your husband is a Republican Evangelical politician or minister, there’s about a 70 percent chance he secretly admires Judy Garland, Cher, Madonna, or Lady Gaga, depending on his age. He is in the closet, girls. However, once he is outed, don’t expect him to get a rousing welcome in the Castro, Provincetown, Chelsea, West Hollywood, or Key West. We don’t want his sorry, flabby ass, bad dye job comb-over, and hypocrisy.

Signed,

America’s Homosexuals

Why Can't I Own A Canadian?

I think this is an oldie, but worth repeating.

In her radio show, Dr Laura Schlesinger said that, as an observant Orthodox Jew, homosexuality is an abomination according to Leviticus 18:22, and cannot be condoned under any circumstance.

The following response is an open letter to Dr. Laura, written by a U.S. man, and posted on the Internet. It's funny, as well as informative:

Dear Dr. Laura:

Thank you for doing so much to educate people regarding God's Law. I have learned a great deal from your show, and try to share that knowledge with as many people as I can. When someone tries to defend the homosexual lifestyle, for example, I simply remind them that Leviticus 18:22 clearly states it to be an abomination ... End of debate.

I do need some advice from you, however, regarding some other elements of God's Laws and how to follow them.

1. Leviticus 25:44 states that I may possess slaves, both male and female, provided they are from neighboring nations. A friend of mine claims that this applies to Mexicans, but not Canadians. Can you clarify? Why can't I own Canadians?

2. I would like to sell my daughter into slavery, as sanctioned in Exodus 21:7. In this day and age, what do you think would be a fair price for her?

3. I know that I am allowed no contact with a woman while she is in her period of Menstrual uncleanliness - Lev.15: 19-24. The problem is how do I tell? I have tried asking, but most women take offense.

4. When I burn a bull on the altar as a sacrifice, I know it creates a pleasing odor for the Lord - Lev.1:9. The problem is my neighbors. They claim the odor is not pleasing to them. Should I smite them?

5. I have a neighbor who insists on working on the Sabbath. Exodus 35:2 clearly states he should be put to death. Am I morally obligated to kill him myself, or should I ask the police to do it?

6. A friend of mine feels that even though eating shellfish is an abomination, Lev. 11:10, it is a lesser abomination than homosexuality. I don't agree. Can you settle this? Are there 'degrees' of abomination?

7. Lev. 21:20 states that I may not approach the altar of God if I have a defect in my sight. I have to admit that I wear reading glasses. Does my vision have to be 20/20, or is there some wiggle-room here?

8. Most of my male friends get their hair trimmed, including the hair around their temples, even though this is expressly forbidden by Lev. 19:27. How should they die?

9. I know from Lev. 11:6-8 that touching the skin of a dead pig makes me unclean, but may I still play football if I wear gloves?

10. My uncle has a farm. He violates Lev.19:19 by planting two different crops in the same field, as does his wife by wearing garments made of two different kinds of thread (cotton/polyester blend). He also tends to curse and blaspheme a lot. Is it really necessary that we go to all the trouble of getting the whole town together to stone them? Lev.24:10-16. Couldn't we just burn them to death at a private family affair, like we do with people who sleep with their in-laws? (Lev. 20:14)

I know you have studied these things extensively and thus enjoy considerable expertise in such matters, so I'm confident you can help.

Thank you again for reminding us that God's word is eternal and unchanging.

Your adoring fan.

James M. Kauffman, Ed.D. Professor Emeritus,
Dept. Of Curriculum, Instruction, and Special Education
University of Virginia
PS (It would be a damn shame if we couldn't own a Canadian)

I copied from the Internet and haven't verify the author's information.

Saturday Sh!ts & Giggles: A Mad Tea(bagger) Party

Review: American Idiot

An assault on the senses.

That's my best summary for American Idiot, based on songs and book written by rock band Green Day.

A stage-to-rafters media wall is the backdrop, constantly moving with images on televisions built within it and additional graphics projected onto it. If that wasn't enough, strobe lights are used at some points. Given its dominating size, it's hard to ignore. Besides, the images and graphics give context to the story and what's happening with the actors as they perform, so you have a reason to pay attention.

Musically, it's loud and the cast blasts out the songs at full throttle.

The show was nominated for Best Musical at the 2010 Tony Awards. It won Tony's for Best Scenic Design for a Musical, and Best Lighting Design for a Musical. The cast has no stars that I knew but I was familiar with the many Green Day songs that are featured.

Here's a clip from the Tony Awards show as the cast sings the show's opening number. They are introduced by Green Day's front man Billie Joe Armstrong.



Billed as a "rock opera," American Idiot reminds me of Rent where there is no dialog — everything is sung. Also like Rent, I had a hard time following the story because the words could be difficult to understand. Add in the acting/dancing and visuals, and there's too much to comprehend. I didn't fully appreciate Rent until I saw it the second time. Perhaps that would be the same for this show, too.

The story follows three friends whose lives lead them on very divergent journeys. One becomes a father, the next a heroin addict, and the last a soldier. There's lots of symbolism going on; this isn't a story that is spoon fed to the audience.

I recommend the show if you are an enthusiastic fan of Green Day, Rent, or high-energy rock performances. Weekend ticket prices range from $49.00 to $122.00. This is currently a popular new show so availability at TKTS isn't a guarantee. I suspect that discounts are minimal even if tickets are available. If you're visiting from out of town, pay the extra and guarantee your attendance. The show ran about 1 hour and 45 minutes with no intermission.

---

American Idiot is now playing at the St. James Theatre on 44th between 7th and 8th Avenues. The theater seems small even though it has a capacity of over 1,700. For this performance, I don't think there is a bad seat in the house. We had a wonderful view from the third row in the mezzanine. I saw Barnum here way back in 1980 on a school trip!

The famous John's Pizza restaurant, fashioned in an old church, is right next door. Really good food, well priced, and the location was great being 20 steps from the theater's front doors. I had the Italiano panini sandwich (chicken breast, tomato, mozzarella, pesto) that came with a baby greens salad dressed in vinaigrette for $10. Six of us ate a combination of (two) pizzas and entrees with a split of Chianti for $100 including tip. Our waitress was efficient and personable. I'm always impressed when someone can take meal orders for a group of people, never write any of it down, and have it all arrive correctly.

Hunk-A-Lot Hump Day: Adam Levine

Hunk-A-Lot Hump Day: Matthew Morrison

Saturday Sh!ts & Giggles: Jock Fun

I spotted these over at Huffington Post.