Someone decided to load my comment box with spam. The graphics, of course, don't load because this isn't an e-mail address, so what I see in my comment box is just a bunch of garble.

Whoever is doing this is wasting their time. We have a family rule that we never (emphasize never) respond to telephone or e-mail solicitation. You are irritating me, as well as the legitimate readers who want to make comments. It's too easy for a real message to get lost among all of the unreadable computer symbols.

Spam - either the pork product or the computer variety - is decidedly avoid.

I was stuck in a long check out line at Wal-Mart today. (They really do have organic produce now.) The best way to control my impatience in a long check out line is to pick up a magazine and start reading. It doesn't make the line move any quicker, but it does make the time go faster. I picked up a Prevention magazine, and learned two things.

First they did a study in Israel about grapefruit and cholesterol. They found that ruby red grapefruit lowered total and LDL cholesterol (the bad cholesterol) twice as much as white grapefruit. Triglycerides dropped three times as much with red over white.

Second, somebody did a study about doing crunches for a flatter stomach. The way most people do them, doesn't work according to the study. However, if you pull in your abs before curling off the floor, you will generate twice as much muscle activity. Here is what they said, "Before you roll up, pull your navel toward your spine. Keep the abs hollowed throughout the move, imagining your ribs flaring out to the sides."