Are we supposed to give brief answers to these questions? I weigh about 170 pounds, which in my estimation (including a wee bit of abdominal pinching) is about 5 to 8 pounds too much. About two years ago I weighed well over 200-pounds and had a 40-inch waist. A woman in a bar called me "fat," and that was enought to transform me into "gym man." Over 9-months, I lost 55-pounds...and 8 inches off my waist. I've gained some back...along with some muscle...but that's the "skinny" on my fat. I hike on Sundays in wilderness areas with www.wanderbirds.org...usually 8-12 miles...and then drink a beer. Leo identified this as calorically contradictory behavior, and to some degree he is correct, but if he hiked that far and sweated so profusely that his briefs and socks lost all their cling, he'd understand perfectly. On the last hike I drank a bottle of "Bigfoot Beer," perhaps the nastiest swill to ever fill a container. Ah, life's simple pleasures...

The Iraq War? Yes, and...well...no. I have a civic duty as a U.S. citizen to support the course of our democracy...which would unfortunately include chasing Islamic sandfleas in tunics across the dusty plain of what used to be the fertile delta/breadbasket of ancient Mesopotamia. But...I've honestly thought that Iraq War II (the sequel) was poorly conceived and inartfully executed from the beginning based on scanty evidence and unsound logic. In the end, I fear that the Bush Administration has actually furthered the cause of terrorism. I fully anticipate this action will escalate the frequency of terrorism. And sadly, because its cost is swiftly eclipsing a third of a trillion dollars, our children and grandchildren will be selling their hair and saving boxtops to pay for it for many decades to come...

I read the list of suggested exchange student "do's and don'ts." Is this list just for exchange students? I know some people I'd like to use this list when they're with me... LOL