UmmSqueakster

We have the most adorable black and white kitty at our shelter. Her previous people lost their homes, so she's with us. She's obviously very overweight, so she's in her own room on a special diet. Whenever you walk by, she squeaks for attention. Loves loves loves to sit on your lap.

The pictures do not do justice to her rotundness. She's a huge beach ball body with a little baseball sized head.

I'm working on operation get a second cat and she's the target. I've tentatively renamed her Squishy, so I will have a Squishy who is squeaky and a Squeaky who is squishy.

Literally - laughed out loud when I read this!

The title of the book wasn't "Cats are from Mars; Women are From Venus" for a reason!

UmmS is on a roll today!

Thank you, thank you, I'll be here for the next 5 years, growing ever more bitter and jaded.

And sharing the Squeaky love.

If he's threatening you, also call the police. Although it's scary, it could potentially be helpful to kick his behind out of the country if he is convicted of a crime.

Get a restraining order as well.

But it is happiness..........don't you agree?

Happiness is a purring puddle of cat fuzz on your lap.

Husbands, not so much.

Congratulation on getting 1/2 way to your wt loss goal. Anything particularly useful and helpful you've been doing?

Thanks! It's taken me a year to reach the halfway point, and I hope to be finished one year hence (wooo, I used hence in a sentence ). It's basically the usual - eating very healthy and exercising. I've reduced my meat consumption to almost 0, eat only chicken on occasion, and fill up on whole foods like fruits, vegetables, whole grains (especially those close to their native form like brown rice, bulgar, etc, instead of whole grain breads) and beans. I make almost everything for myself, which is time consuming, but I've found that processed foods have so much crud in them, it's worth it to make stuff where you know everything that goes into it.

And the biggest for me is not eating out. Even with being pretty much a vegetarian, there are still so many tempting choices for lunch close to my office that I have to hide my wallet from myself. Basically, when I eat out I fail. When I pack my lunch, all is well.

I've tried to blog about this, but as with just about everything in my life that isn't Squeaky related, I'm not too good at keeping up with it. The 2 series are Food Rules and Food Matters.

I post pictures of my cat, because I don't care if the entire world sees my cat.

I'd rather not have pictures of AbuS and I floating around the world wide web, being used as an example of MENA men using fat american women for GCs (although I'm halfway to my weight loss goal, so maybe when I'm a smokin hot babe, I'll put a few out there ).

Everyone here is at different points in their visajourney. If you're new and perky and optimistic and happy, good for you. But those of us who are bitter, warn torn veterans have a right to be here and speak about our experiences, the good and the bad.

Should we just not speak about the negatives? Pretend that the scammers don't exist? Or just look the other way and be smiley happy?

Successful marriages do exist. I believe I live one. We've known each other for 9 and a half years, and have been married here in the US together for 5 and a half. On paper, we're a great match - we share the same values, are both bookworms, enjoy the same pastimes, like the same movies, are both cat crazy, are of the same faith, are both political junkies/revolutionaries, are very close in age, come from similar socio-economic backgrounds, have the same level of education, and have the same goals in life. If we were someone from each other's respective countries, we'd still have married each other.

But, every day is hard work. There was no "he got the visa and they lived happily ever after." AbuS came and has struggled mightily. It took him years to find meaningful work in his field. Then, the economy collapsed and he was laid off. And the struggle began again. The struggles in jobs and in adjustment have negatively effected our marriage. I do think that now, 5 years on, we're hitting our stride and actually talking about the whole ark of our future - having kids, buying a house, possibly moving overseas, pursuing advanced degrees. I feel like the last 5 years, we've been frantically treading water, trying not to drown, and only recently been able to actually start swimming in any meaningful direction.

So if I'm bitter and jaded, I think I've earned the right to say so. By all means, those who are at the beginning, continue. Just be forewarned that the process sucks, there are scammers out there, and you may end up bitter and jaded in 5 years time.

I don't ever remember being stared at.

My poor brother on the other hand, whew. We visited Mahalla, and my brother was the center of attention. He was 16 at the time, over 6 feet tall, and blond, and he acquired a flock of followers. A group of school girls were trailing behind him, giggling, and trying to shoot him goo goo eyes

Harry Smith, obvious american, seems to have had a pretty darn good time - http://www.cbsnews.c...ch/?id=7341978n

If we could drop our jobs right now, AbuS and I would be there. We're trying to plan a trip there in March before or after we make umrah.

Like with the Wael Ghonim situation, I won't believe it until I hear it, but it does look good

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/41506482/ns/world_news-mideastn_africa/

Of course, transferring power to Suiliman isn't really helpful. I saw this quote on twitter earlier today by Alexis de Tocqueville:

Mubarak out is but the first step. A lot still needs to be written. Corruption pervades most aspects of the government, and it needs somehow to be addressed and reformed. But if the government itself is corrupt, how then can it be trusted to make adequate reforms? Thus, the conundrum currently facing those who may lead.

Has Ben Wedeman always been as insightful/clear thinking as he's seemed to me thru this revolution?

I forget where I saw it - think it was Hamza Yusuf's comments about situation in Egypt - he said that interviewers/reporters like Anderson Cooper (and another report whose name I forget)sound more militant about the situation than the guests they're interviewing!

I honestly don't remember hearing about him before this - I'm more of an NPR gal than a CNN watcher. But I think that when you're on the ground, in the midst of the revolution, there's an effect on a person. Especially if you've been beaten by pro Mubarak thugs a la Anderson Cooper. I think a lot of the talking heads haven't actually been in Egypt during the protests.

BREAKING NEWS ON TWITTER - MUBARAK MAY BE STEPPING DOWN TODAY!

Hey congrats!

Hopefully another one to add to the "have survived" column

A reporter finally made it to Mahalla!

http://twitter.com/#!/bencnn

Very nice. Thanks for sharing the photos. Any English translations of his speech to the crowd?

Here's a video with subtitles from the Guardian, although it's not the whole thing.

This WSJ article contains more.

A summary of his speech plus an interview with Al Masry Al-Youm

Thanks for the link msheesha!

Another something that made me cry. The mother of Khaled Said embraces Wael Ghonim:

And Wael addressing the crowds in Tahrir today.

God, crying again at work while Wael Ghonim is being interviewed. This is why all the hand ringing about the MB upsets me to know end - it devalues the sacrifice of the youth of Egypt, those who were willing to risk imprisonment and even death to stand up to a dictator because they knew that he was wrong.

photographic proof, Wael is free!

http://twitpic.com/3xgz68

The NYTs, in particulare NIck Kristof, have written some great articles and op eds.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/06/opinion/06kristof.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/04/opinion/04kristof.html

AbuS has been putting together a history of the egyptian youth movement and the underlying causes. Part of that has been investigating the exposure of police corruption and abuse, including, but not limited to, police video of officers sodomizing prisoners with broom handles. Police abuse and corruption are unfortunately the rule, not the exception. I shudder to think what jailed protesters have experienced.

4 pm has come and gone in Egypt.

Tweeps who are in contact with Wael's family say that they deny that he has been released.

This is why Egypt needs a complete reboot of their legal system. We need a new constitution, and Law 162 of 1958 aka the Emergency Law needs to go the way of the dodo. A government should not be allowed to hold its citizens without charges, all the while denying that they're actually holding them. And, they should be allowed to indiscriminately kill them either without repercussions.

Also, my fav NPR podcast did a piece on the Egyptian Military last week

http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2011/02/07/133503696/the-friday-podcast-egypts-military-inc?ps=cprs

Honestly, until I see a picture of him live on the street, I don't think I can believe it.

re: Mubarak wealth:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/feb/04/hosni-mubarak-family-fortune

So, while the majority of Egyptians live on less than $2 a day, Mubarak used his position and authority to stockpile massive amounts of wealth. At least Bill Gates actually made something.

Protest leaders and opposition figures met with Omar Suleiman - http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/02/20112764216497806.html

The government is giving a 15% raise to their employees, thinking they can buy their compliance

Copts held a mass in Tahrir, followed by an interfaith prayer for the martyrs of #Jan25

News broke that the Mubarak family is worth $70 BILLION, more than Bill Gates.

Youth leaders are being threatened and beaten up. According to AbuS, through his contacts in the 6 April movement, Asmaa Mahfouz was beaten, but I haven't found anything on it in english.

And, we are all anxiously awaiting confirmation of the supposed release of Wael Ghonim, who has been held by the government for more than a week.